Wildcat

[Tenacity]

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[Tenacity]

Location: Junktown, Planet Pittsburgh, New York System, Liberty Space

Katrina rested one hand on her hip-holstered pulse pistol as she gazed across the rusty, scrap filled landscape. The metal of the scram rail was cold to the touch, the liquid nitrogen cooling cell below it shedding thin wisps of smoke against the scorching heat of Pittsburgh's arid desert. Junktown was a front, Junker owned and operated as a second-hand shipyard and equipment supply depot... but underneath the barely legitimate business, this served as a hub within the criminal underbelly of liberty; a place where shady individuals of all types could come to trade information, supplies, and any other manner of material or immaterial wealth.

She wasnt fond of the Junkers, not in the least. They were always scheming, always trying to rip you off and cheat you out of your last credit. A Junker would fix a ship up just enough that it'd get out of atmo, and sell it to you only to charge you for his repair services later... if you didnt wind up stranded in orbit with a quarter tank of oxygen and the authorities prying your cockpit open.

Still, she didnt have much of a choice. Two days ago a battle lit the skies of Pittsburgh, with a massive collection of Rogues making a strike on a prison ship as it lingered on the dark side of the planet, unable to get a clear transmission outside of the debris fields when it attempted to radio for help. Unfortunately, Rogue intel dropped the ball, they had no idea that the Liberty Navy was conducting debris warfare drills not fifteen kilos away. Just after the assault had started, the navy boys were bearing down on the rogue strike group, nobody made it out of there in one piece.

Well, nobody but Kat. After losing one engine to hostile fire, she set down in the barrens on Pittsburgh, ditching her ship and narrowly evading the search teams sent down by the Navy. Two days of hiking through a wasteland with only the most basic survival kit, it had been neither easy nor pleasant; but now she was here, ready to get off this craphole and back into space.

Her eyes steady as a hawk's, Kat stood in wait as one of the Junktown merchants finished business with a civilian, sold him an old model K starflier for two thousand credits... a ripoff, to say the least. He probably wouldnt survive takeoff, but the Junker couldnt care less, there were always more customers... like Katrina.

He turned to her after pocketing the civvy's credit card and smiled with a wide, lecherous grin, revealing only half a mouth of teeth, and those that were still in place were yellow and rotting. His hair was thin, wild, he looked like a mad scientist covered in grease and grime. He spoke, with a scratchy low voice, "What can I do fer ye, sweet-cheeks?"

His eyes travelled down her body, until he noticed the shining firearm at her side, with her hand resting steady on the grip. His eyes shot back up to hers, suddenly more serious, "Heh, I take it yer one o' them rogues got shot down udder day?"

Kat nodded, [color=#FF6600]"I need a ship, little man, and if you try to rip me off like that last bloke you're gonna get a round in the brainpan, got it?"

He nodded nervously, and scurried off, beckoning her to follow him. As he scampered along, he kept glancing back at her, eying her gun... among other things. "Well, aint got much round right now, hehe, how much ye lookin to pay?"

"Credits arent an issue, old man, but I need something armed and ready for combat, preferrably something with the transponder ripped out, cant have the lawdogs getting suspicious about me. What've you got?"

The man paused for a moment, thinking, then scurried off once more to the far corner of the scrapyard. Kat followed him, climbing over a large pile of rusting hull panels; on the other side sat an old, beat up Combat Service Vehicle, standard Junker issue. The Junker turned back to her with a grin, "This one, yes?"

She sighed, "You've gotta be kidding me..."

"Nonono, she's in good condition, good condition! Little rust never hurt nobody, did it?"

"We'll see if this rusty pipe hurts when I beat you with it, this piece of crap cant be all you've got..."

He hesitated, then nodded, "Told you, not much, havent had a good ship fall from the skies in weeks, how else am I supposed to patch 'em up for sale?"

After another heavy sigh, Kat approached the ship, walking circles around it and running her hands over the hull. There were no obvious breaches, though there were carbon scoring marks on the tail suggesting it had been in a firefight. It wasnt well armed, with only two heavy flashpoints affixed to the sides of the large cargobay and a small debilitator turret on the tail. The guns still looked in good condition, at least.

She kicked at the latch on the engine compartment, causing the thin metal cover to fall off, "Nice, a cheap mockup of an engine cover to replace the original, do I look blind to you?" She unholstered her gun and held it steady on the dealer. He nearly panicked at the sight of the loose barrel, a bright light glowing at the back end, a pulse shot ready to fire.

"Nonono! Wait! I have other covers, somewhere... I'll go find one!" He frantically scampered away, to other corners of the scrapyard, searching for a new engine cover that would fit the ship.

Kat turned back to the engine compartment, studying the piping, reactor outlet, combustion chamber, and thruster nozzles. Everything was covered in layers of rust, dust, and other less identifiable substances, but the ship appeared to be mechanically sound.

Climbing up onto the side of the cargo pod, she opened up the cockpit, almost doubling over backwards as the reeking smell of the ship hit her like a brick wall. It would appear the previous owner had died and rotted inside, the Junkers had cleaned the body out but the seat and control panel still smelled like death. Kat covered her nose and pulled her bottle of perfume out of her vest pocket, spraying the seat and panels until the ship smelled like a Bretonian Whorehouse.

Even with the treatment, the stench wasnt fully covered, but at least it was bearable. She leaned over into the cockpit and flipped the main power breaker on the control panel, lighting the cockpit and sending a hum of electricity through the rest of the craft. Sliding down into the seat, she activated the primary fuel flow and hit the engine ignition... nothing happened.

"Great, just great..." She mumbled under her breath, mashing on the ignition several more times to ill effect. She hopped out of the cockpit once more, swinging around to the engine compartment. She wasnt a mechanic by any means, but typically when the ignition didnt go off, it meant either a ruptured fuel line or blocked filter... fortunately, this was a case of the latter.

Flipping open the filter compartment, Kat fell over backwards firing her pistol reflexively as a swarm of insects flew out and into her face. Large, black, moth-like creatures... Pittsburgh dustbugs, they got into everything, any dark place out of the heat of the sun. Dozens of them could pack into a space no larger than one's fist and they would eat any organic material they could find.

She got up and brushed herself off, cursing at the bugs. Kat had grown up on Pittsburgh, but you never got 'used' to the annoyances of the planet, it was a wasteland through and through. She kicked the side of the filter compartment several times, jarring the remaining insects and forcing them out, before closing the cap again.

As she climbed back up to the cockpit, the scrap merchant stumbled back into the clearing, dragging a heavy engine coverbehind him, "Here, I found one!" He struggled to lift it into place, tightening the bolts that secured the panel to the ship. It wasnt meant for a CSV, looked like it was ripped off of and old Bloodhound engine and cut to fit, but it would do.

Kat strapped herself into the pilot seat and hit the ignition again, half expecting to hear silence. Remarkably, the engine fired up right away, no sputtering even... it was in good condition, the merchant hadnt lied. She looked over at him, standing next to the ship and trying to use his tattered jacket to block the dust being kicked up by the exhaust, and fished a credit card out of her vest, tossing it to his feet. The man scrambled after it, picking up the card and examining the electronic display on the front.

"This is only a thousand credits! This ship is worth three times that!"

She glared at him, "The filter was full of dustbugs and it smells like a sodding corpse in here, you're lucky I'm parting with that much."

The old man hesitated, then yelled back at her over the roar of the engine, "Next time, no discount for you!"

Kat grinned and pulled the cockpit closed. With any luck, the seals were still good and she wouldnt suffocate as she left atmo. She pulled back on the flight stick and the CSV sluggishly lifted off the ground... this ship was definitely not meant for combat, it turned slow and lacked power, but it would have to do. The engine groaned as she throttled up, shooting off into the sky. It wasnt long before the dusty, wind plagued surface of the planet faded, and all that was left was the velvety black veil of space, with New York's sunlight refracting off of the debris in Pittsburgh's scrap fields.

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[Tenacity]

Kat flew for what seemed like hours through the dark clouds of the Pittsburgh debris field, searching for the destroyer she had been operating from days ago. The CSV's scanners were crap, barely able to see past the ship's nose in the cloud... not that it would help her much, the destroyer was running sensor jamming hardware to avoid detection by the Naval patrols.

Without warning, the ship shook violently and pulled to the left, and bright light arcing off the port side. She strained to look back and get a visual, spotting a pair of Hyena rogue fighters on her tail. "Just great," Kat growled under her breath, "friendly fire." She diverted what little power the ship had to it's communications array, trying to boost her signal enough to get an audio link with the patrol.

The comm system was full of static, hardly understandable, but it would have to do. "Rogue patrol, cease fire goddamnit, cease fire!"

Momentarily, the pink-orange laser fire from the two craft halted, and a crackling message came back over the CSV's speakers, "Identify yourself, you're trespassing in Liberty Rogue territory."

"This is Kat Summers, callsign Wildcat, I'm one of yours damnit!"

"What the hell are you doin' in that piece of crap, kat?

She recognized the other voice, it was Ghost, one of her 'associates'. "Ghost? That you?" My fighter was shot down in that suicide attack above Pitts three days ago, this is the only heap I could get my hands on."

She could hear him laughing to himself over the comm, through the breaks and static. "Alright, form up, we'll lead you back to base... Boss aint gonna be happy you wrecked his greyhound."

Location: Liberty Rogue Destroyer, Somewhere near Pittsburgh

[color=#FF6600]CHARACTER PROFILE

Callsign: Ghost
Position: Gunner
<Ghost is an ex-lane hacker, signed on with Boss' crew after being set-up and exiled from Mactan. He's an expert marksman and handles the gunner position aboard the barghest-class bomber operated by Boss. While Ghost typically views Rogue technology as inferior to the Lane Hacker equipment he used to work with, he constantly makes modifications to Boss' ships to keep them ahead of the rest.>

Kat pulled into dock and set the CSV down on the destroyer's makeshift flight deck. This particular warship had it's cargo hold converted into a carrier-style landing and launch bay, allowing Rogue fighters to operate from it in the Pittsburgh field. The ship had also been fitted with basic ECM hardware, allowing it to jam the sensors of any nearby craft, and keep it's energy emissions at a minimum to avoid detection.

Ghost approached the CSV with a grin on his face, shaking his head, "An entire planet of junk and you couldnt get something better than this?" He held out his hand to help her out of the ship, using the other to hold his nose shut, "Ugh, what's that smell?"

"I think the last owner rotted in there for a few weeks before the ship was found... push the damn thing out of the airlock already." They headed towards the exit to the flight deck, and only seconds after the airlock door shut, the bay's loading arm shoved the CSV back out into space, jettisoned just like the trash.

"Come on, Boss is waiting, I dont envy you having to tell him you lost one of his fighters... boy is he gonna be pissed." Ghost took the lead, still laughing to himself as he made his way through the ship's meandering corridors.

After all their time working for him, none of them knew what Boss' real name was. He was one of the many Rogue crimelords, one of the lessers when it came to raw power and influence... but as mean as they came. Boss ran their entire operation, he owned the ships, the equipment, and the pilots... and he made sure everyone knew it. If you screwed up bad enough, he'd kick you out of the airlock without a second thought. A real *******... but the crew didnt have much choice, they had signed a contract to work for him and that was that. You dont go back on a contract... not unless you had a death-wish. At least the pay was good.

Ghost opened the cabin door to Boss' quarters, holding the door open for Kat, but remaining in the hallway and as much out-of-sight as possible. She entered the room apprehensively... most men didnt scare her, she knew how to handle herself and her gun, but even if she managed to shoot boss before he or his guards could take her down, the other Crimelords would brand her a traitor to the Rogues, and they were the only 'family' she had.

Boss sat behind his oversized oak desk, legs propped up onto the desktop and a cigar in his mouth. He loved to shove his wealth in your face... wood was extremely expensive in space, as was just about everything else in his office, and he wanted everyone to know that he was better than they were, even if he was just a bottomfeeding pig compared to the other criminal masterminds behind the Rogues.

CHARACTER PROFILE

Callsign: Boss
Position: Rogue Crimelord
<Boss is an exravagant, self-indulging crimelord among the leadership of the Liberty Rogues. While his actual position leaves him with little power, he exercises that power as frequently and harshly as possible. His underlings fear him, and those with higher rank despise him... but keep him because he's useful, and gets the job done. Boss is currently the temporary captain of a Liberty Rogue Destroyer positioned in the Pittsburgh area, and is tasked with intercepting shipments running from there to Fort Bush and Baltimore Shipyard. His ship also serves as a rendevous point for Rogues smuggling cardamine across New York.>

"Well well well, if it isnt little Ms. kitten. Tell me, where is my Gorram Greyhound, and what the hell was that piece of crap you landed in? I gave you a simple task, and a handfull of men to carry it out, and you come back alone with no loot?"

She started to speak, but he cut her off, standing up from his seat, "No excuses! That fighter was worth ten times more than your pathetic life!" He grabbed her by the throat and shoved her up against the cabin wall, despite her struggling she was pinned and helpless, "Where the hell is my money!?"

She strained to breathe, kicking at his fat stomach and digging her nails into his arms. He pulled her back from the wall and threw her to the floor, "Pathetic wench, you're lucky you're a damn good pilot, or I'd kill you and be rid of your incompetence."

Kat gasped for air, coughing and sputtering as she tried to talk, "It wasnt my fault, the Navy had a dozen ships in the area!"

"Tomorrow you'll be flying the Werewolf, Marcus' crew are going to be hitting shipping along the lanes and will need an escort. Do not screw this up, or I will kill you. Now go, get out of my sight!"

She got up to her feet and left the room, tears welling up in her eyes both from pain and anger. Someone needed to shoot that bastard, he had no right to treat his own people like this. Ghost put an arm around her, helping her to her quarters, "Dont worry about him, kat, he'll get what's coming to him... eventually."

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[Tenacity]

Kat slammed shut the bulkhead door to her quarters onboard the destroyer, and slumped down on her bed with a frustrated sigh. She hated flying the werewolf, it was a piece of junk, never maintained properly... a deathtrap for any pilot that went out in it. Boss knew that, and he was probably betting on the local law dealing with her for him... dead or locked up in sugarland for a few years, either way she'd be out of his way. Not entirely a smart move, since Kat was his best pilot, even Marcus didnt come close, though he was talented in his own right.

She reached down under the bed and retrieved a small metal box, rusted and dusty. The hinges creaked as she lifted the top open, revealing a small nasal inhaler, several canisters, and a syringe filled with milky orange fluid... Liquid Cardamine. It was worth more than any other commodity on the market; more than gold, diamonds, hell it was worth more than food rations to a starving man. Kat had acquired the single syringe of golden liquid years ago on Malta, and had saved it up to this point... either to use as a bargaining chip or for a special occasion; now was neither, but it was as good a time as any to crack the bottle, as it were.

Pulling the plastic cover off of the syringe needle, she held her arm out, fist clenched and veins up. She hesitated for a moment, rethinking whether or not to use such an expensive drug for mere stress relief, before sticking the needle into her arm. Perhaps only half would do, the rest could be saved for later. Pressing in on the plunger, Kat emptied roughly half of the contents of the syringe into her veins before removing the needle and laying back onto the bed.

It was only seconds before the sensation hit, she could feel the cardamine the moment it reached her heart, spreading outwards from her chest like an electric shock. She gasped as the breath was knocked out of her chest, the sensation spreading from her core out to her limbs like dozens of tiny bolts of lightning running through her veins. The experience was not unlike an orgasm, one of the full body sort which could last for minutes on end... longer, if more of the drug was used.

The physical experience was only half the pleasure, though. Her eyesight changed, everything became more clear, more vivid. She could make out a spec of dust on the opposite wall of the room, as if looking through a magnifying glass. Her ears picked up every sound, she could hear people walking on the other end of the ship. She could even smell the chef's cooking two decks up.

Outcast pilots reacted more swiftly and with more focus than any others in Sirius, and it was because of cardamine. The substance not only gave an intangible sense of euphoria, it effected it's user with improved focus, sensory perception, and reaction time. Many of the other Rogue and Hacker pilots were users, but most received 'watered-down' cardamine, the drug was split with other chemicals to make it go further, nothing was in concentrated doses. Kat always bought from the best suppliers, but even pure cardamine taken through an outcast inhaler could not compare with the liquid variant of the drug.

Kat reveled in the high, breathing heavily as she lay on the bed, the world swirling around her in an odd fashion yet it was not in the least bit dizzying. The perfect clarity gave one the feeling of being more than human... sure, the side effect of sterility was of some consequence, but she was not interested in dealing with children any time soon, and the benefit of extended lifespan was worth the tradeoff.

She grinned at the ceiling and laughed to herself, "Damn, that's a kick in the ass."

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