Agent Breako sat staring out the window at the stars. His Manta, The Rapier, was just eight clicks away form the jump hole. His radar screen showed nothing but the floating rocks drifting back and forth. Even from here the jump hole winked a gold then green light.
He looks down at the picture in his hand. It's old and well used. The picture shows an older gentleman, in a flight suit that is covered with grease stains, standing with a boy of about 12. The ship in the background looks to be a freighter of some kind, maybe a Rhino.
Dad always did love that ship Breako thought
Carl Mako was a freighter pilot based out of California Minor. He made short local runs within Liberty space and the occasional run into Bretonia. For years he braved the trade lanes and border systems to make a live for himself and his wife and child. He planned for his son Brent to take over for him one day. Unfortunately that never got to happen. Carl went out to run a shipment of boron from Newark station to LD-14 in the Leeds system and never returned. Roomer has it he got jumped in the Cortez system.
All Brent new was his father never came home.
Brent's mother Kinley did her best to keep her and her son fed. She worked two jobs to keep clothes on their backs and food in their bellies. At age 14 Brent was at best unruly and angry at the world that took his father. School held no interest for him and the crowd he ran with was know for petty theft and disorderly conduct. Not too bad...but not good either. After several years him and his buddy got caught breaking into a house and were arrested.
Kinley pleaded with the judge to be gentle with her son and promised he would never do it again. The Judge looked down at the three hoodlums and gave them an option. They could join the local Navy patrol wing and do some good, or go to prison for 3 years. Brent and his buddy Jamie Karthal took the deal and the other boys Mirus Dervish decided to do the hard time.
Navy boot was harder then he thought it as going to be. The early mornings and the late nights wore you down till you did what you were told all the time. After testing it was found that he had the potential to be a fighter jock, so off to flight school he went. His buddy Jamie with him they quickly learned the in's and out's of how to fly the Liberty light fighters. Knowing that to get into the bigger ships they need to master the lighter ones, Brent and Jamie gladly took up their Patriots and started working the lanes around California. Call sign Breako and Jester reported for duty.
A year went buy and both boys were upgraded to Liberators. Still a light fighter but much more modern tech. During that time both boys had seen some combat and had been blooded. Still the restrictions of not being able to persue the criminals passed their jump gates or into the asteroid field was starting to get to both of them. Breako had the most trouble with this and wanted to be able to do more instead of just chase the pirates and smugglers off. Jamie on the other had was quite content to do as he was told.
Finally one day after have to pull up short at the Cortez gate as a slaver slipped out of his reach Brent had had enough. Making his way back to Cali Minor he resigned his commission and packed his bags. Jamie caught up with him before he made it on to the transport to Curacao. Brent explained on how sick and tire he was of not being able to make a real difference and how he was gonna go do something about that. Jamie shook his head knowing that Brent was head for the Bounty Hunters Guild. He told Brent to take care and to remember that His buddy Jester would always be there to make him laugh, or watch his back if needed.
Brent sat alone on the transport. His thoughts swirling around as he tried to figure out if he had made the right choice. The pirates and criminals had to pay. To make them pay you had to have the ability to go after them where ever they were and that meant being a Bounty Hunter. He stared down at the picture of his father in front of is freighter and promised not that he would avenge him, but that he would help make the lanes safer for others like his father.
Departing at Curacoa Brent made his way over to the ship dealer. Several shiny new Sea Serpents stood looking proud to be on display. The salesman eyed Brent from his desk. Pushing his chair away he walked over and smiled. Brent explained that he wanted to see the Serpents and was quickly shown the nearest one. The new ship smell wafted out when the door was opened and all the surfaces gleamed. Brent smiled and took the tour and then looked over the spec sheet and test data from the ship. Satisfied he signed the loan paperwork and was the proud new owner of a Bounty Hunter Guild light fighter. A quick jaunt to the weapons dealer brought his new ship up to par and Brent set a course on his nav map for Sheffield station in Manchester.
The flight over to Sheffield was easy and the new ship handled light a dream. She was a quick, lithe, little thing. Her name was The Quillion, after the small dagger of old. He had christened her in the old way by smashing a bottle of Curacaoian wine across her nose. Her flight deck was tiny. No passengers would ride up here Her one cabin, was actually just a bunk set in the wall. Although, she did have a shower and a tiny kitchen. If he really wanted more room he could modify parts of her hold.
His arrival at Sheffield really went without notice. He was checked in with fast, efficient style and left to his own devices. After grabbing a bite to east at a small hole in the wall eatery, Brent wandered over to the Bounty Hunters Guild Hall. Stepping up to the admin desk he asked about how to register. The bored administrator looked up and pushed a booklet at him and waved him over to the terminals on the left wall. Several other folks were there reading over the shining screens. He read through the booklet in about fifteen minutes and worked his way through the forms on the console. After a few hours a message appeared on the screen directing him to report to the main desk.
Walking over to the Administrator he was directed to a door behind the desk for final processing. Final processing turned out to be a body scan and DNA typing to register him the Bounty Hunter Data base. After a short wait he was handed an ID card for himself and an IFF card to load into his ship. Now all he had to do was find some work.
Heading back out to the administration desk he smiled at the new women behind the desk.
So where can I find some work around here. Brent asked
Smirking she replied Why dont you go get yourself a drink and see what you can stir up and with that went back to typing on her console.
Shrugging Brent headed to the bar.
The halls of Sheffield station were a busy place. Cargo ships moved their wares around to the various shops and dealers, Bretonian navy and cops went to and from the ship docks and the bar. Other Hunters lounged in doorways or sat in the common areas. Some even had marks they were taking to the holding wing.
The Bar at Sheffield is a hub for everything. Meals were eaten here, business deals done and works could be found if you knew who to talk to. There was even consoles at most tables that linked into the mission board. The mission board was a listing of all the work folks at the station wanted done. Everything from hauling cargo, clearing and area of a threat to hunting down a particular individual.
Brent walked in and wandered to the bar and grabbed a stool. He put down a 5 credit chip and ordered a Bretonian pale ale. Looking about he noticed that there were all types here. When the bartender returned with his ale, Bretn leaned in and asked
So being new here, where can I find some work.
The Bartender smiled and said Well you can do that in several ways. You can look at one of the consoles on the tables and they will let you access the local mission board as well as the news, or you can ask around to see who has work. Later on, if you survive you can come here and folks will approach you. I would suggest using the mission board for now. Those are more of you generic type of work. Since youre a rookie those should be what you need to work up from.
Brent nodded his thanks and dropped a ten credit chip on the bar. Taking up his ale he walked over to a small empty table that had one of the consoles at it. Sitting down he touched the screen to activate it.
It came to life and green letters flashed up on the screen with touch boxes next to them. He could read the new or look at job listings. He hit the job listings and a list of listings flashed up on the screen and scrolled on down. Sitting back he looked things over. In the upper corner he saw a search function. Hitting that, a new screen popped up. He set the search for bounty missions in the local system.
The list appeared again but this time much shorter. He sorted it by bounty paid and looked at the highest paid missions. Seeing that they required inspection and possible destruction of a hostile Lane Hacker facility, he passed it by and went to the other end of the pay scale.
Here we go Muttered Brent as he inspected a job on tracking down and capturing of a low level Molly informant that went rogue. He hit the accept key and punched in his Hunter ID and Ship IFF. He plugged in his data stick and dumped the contact info for the job as well as the job details. Taking a last sip of his ale he left for the ship hanger.
From his ships computer he added an order for new guns to be mounted to his Sea Serpent. Two new Buckshots and two used Advanced Flashpoint lasers. The equipment dealer had the items to the hanger quickly and within a few hours his guns were replaced and his ship in top working order. Checking his load out, he was full on cruise disrupters and counter measures. Dumping the infor from his data stick to the ships computer he punched up the know locations on his nav map computer for his target. One Charles Xavier was about to have a very bad day.
The Quillion backed out of the dock, turned and maneuvered for the trade lane. Seems Charled like to hang out in the ice fields up by the Magellan jump gate. Setting up way points on the nav map, Brent followed a train transport into the lane. The trade lane charged and grabbed both ships and flung them along the corridor. Each lane section kept accelerating the ships toward the jump gate. Looking over his nav maps Brent was surprised to hear his ship computer spout
trade lane disrupted
Grabbing his the controls Brent eyed his scanner and saw that a few Molly ships must have though that the train transport was worth stopping. Too bad for them they got Brent also. Knowing there was a standing bounty for all Molly ships in Manchester he selected the nearest and opened fire.
His lasers spit out blue shots that sizzled into the Mollys shield and the particles from his Buckshot quickly burst the shield and started scoring the hull of the ship. The Molly realized that they has stopped more then a transport and screamed over the local comms to his two companions to help and he darted forward as his thrusters engaged.
The Transport opened fire with its turrets and one of the Mollys burst into flames before he could get out of range. Brent took the Quillion to top speed and slewed left to fall in behind the Molly ship he had targeted. Punching his scanner he brought up the details of his opponent. The information came up on the screen and his computer beeped. A message scrolled across the screen show that the IFF of the ship he was chasing matched that of Charles Xavier.
Brent smiled and thanked his luck. Flipping on the local comm transmitter and said
Charles Xavier, your are here by notified that you are to be brought to Sheffield for prosecution. Its my job to see that you make it and it can be either dead or alive, so its ups to you how this goes down.
A voice crackled over the radio Eat me, Hunter scum. If you want me you gotta get me.
The Molly ship blasted forward as his cruise engines switched on. Brent cursed and slammed his cruise disrupter launcher. The small missile sped out and exploded to far to the left and Charles quickly started to disappear into the distance. Brent engaged his own cruise engines and just before they engaged his threat computer chirped out a missile warning and his engines shut down. Suddenly lasers slammed into his shields and he has to maneuver fast. He had forgotten about the third Molly.
Spinning right Brent thrusted the Quillion into a tight turn and moved to face the other ship. Lining up the two ships sped straight towards each other. Lasers arched between both ships and Brents particle cannons quickly defeated the Mollys tiny shield and started pealing parts off his ship. Flames leapt into space as his hull ruptured and his air escaped. Hitting the void they snuffed out as all the oxygen was scattered.
Brent searched his scanner and found the two escape pods and tractored them into his hold. Charles was out of range of his scanner so, engaging his cruise engines he went deeper into the ice field to track him down.
Brent squinted at the jump hole. His eyes scanning the surrounding area as he waited for his quarry. He sighed and went back to filling out his report to the Dog House. This guy was starting to get on his nerves.
His ship moved easily through the ice fields. Thankfully the Sea Serpent was a very agile ship. His radar set to search out at max range Breako moved deeper into the field. Ice chunks the ten times the size of is ship slowly moved around him. Ducking past a rather large piece of ice and rock Breako saw his radar blip for just a second. Easing his ship left the blip returned and Breako swung fully toward this new contact.
Seeing that the contact was not moving, Breako pushed the engines to full power and closed. Hitting his scanner once with in range he saw the ship was not powered up and the IFF was turned off. Doing a quick fly by he confirmed that is was the ship type that Charles Xavier was flying. There was a life form reading on the ship, so someone was home. The Scanner also showed life support up and running
Killing the cruise engines, Brent slowly moved his ship up next to the Bloodhound light fighter. Turing on his outside lights he played them over the hull looking for a reason why the ship was powered down. No holes and the engines looked fine.
Hrmm, hes playing possum thought Brent.
Easing back from the Bloodhound. Brent took aim with once of his Buckshots and fired off a volley at the engine of the other ship. The port exhaust crumpled and tore off the other ship and H-Fuel began venting into space. Back further off Brent waited.
Lights flared on in the Bloodhound and movement could be seen in the cockpit. Brent Flipped on his comm. System and smiled
Well now Charles, are you ready to come along or do I get to tough off this H-fuel you are spilling and see what happens to that ship of yours. Asked Brent
Arrrgg! Damn you hunter! Go to hell!
Your call man. Time to pay the piper
Brent warmed up his guns and retargeted the engines. Suddenly the Bloodhound exploded. Light flared as the free H-fuel burned off, blinding Brent. Blinking several times he looked down at the radar. Seeing an object trying to move away as fast as its tiny thrusters could do, he locked his tractor beam on and dragged the escape pod into the Quillions cargo bay.
Unbuckling his straps Brent walked over to the ladder to the hold. Waiting while the atmosphere was restored, Brent readied his side arm. Entering the cargo hold he could see the escape pod was a bit banged up. Grabbing up a welding torch and bar, he walked over to the pod. Keeping out of the sight if the window, Brent quickly welded the bar over the seam of the pods hatch.
There. Now you can stay in there till we get back to Sheffield.
Brent knocked on the window and waved at Charles Xavier. Shaking his head Brent closed the door to the bay, while Xavier screamed and yanked on the hatchs handle in futility.
Charles Xavier was the first of many folks who found themselves on the wrong side of Brents crosshairs. After a while Brent got tired of having to stick to the lesser bounties and moved up into the Manta very heavy fighter. While not as maneuverable as the Sea Serpent, its upgraded firepower was well worth the trade off. He traveled farther now that he had a tougher ship. He visited Rostock station in Omega-15 and Capetown in Omega-56, But mainly he called Sheffield home.
The jump hole flared as a large transport slid out into space. Brent engaged the thrusters on the Manta and hit his scanner. The ships IFF came back as the smuggler he was looking for. His scanner beeped and displayed the listing for the transport.
Yup Cargo hold full of Cardamine, When will they learn Bretonia does not want that crap in their system.
Alright hold it there. Do not try to engage your engines. Your wanted by the Bretonian police and navy for smuggling and dealing drugs. You can either choose to drop your cargo and be taken to the nearest Bretonian base or, I can blow you up and get paid anyway. Brent announced of the comm. Unit.
The pirate transports engines started to flare to life. The Rapier spit forth a cruise disrupter followed by a volley of pulse and lasers. The Transports shield glowed under the assault, and were quickly depleted as the Rapiers improved debilitators walked along the top of the ship. Firing another cruise disrupter for good measure, Brent opened up with his mark three reavers cutting long furrows into the transports hull.
Now do you want to stop this nonsense or are you going to comply.
Static burst over the comm. unit followed by manic laughter.
Dang cardi users, their nuts.
The Transports guns opened up blasting all around him. Side slipping right, Brent fire several more volleys into the ship. Holes in the ship spewed forth gas as it was breached. The guns stopped firing but the ship still continued to thrust forward. Brent moved the Rapier above the transport and continued to burn holes in the ship. The transport still thrusted ahead. Brent noticed that it was going straight into a large asteroid and killed his thrusters. Watching in disbelief as the transport plowed right into the asteroid. The nose of the crumpled and split open and came to rest next to the big rock.
Scanning the ship again he was disappointed to see no life aboard. Moving toward the wreckage Brent laid down a few of his nuclear mines and back off a safe distance. Firing a cruise disrupter at the mines he set them off in an explosion that quickly consumed the ship and all it contents.
Flipping off his recorder he backed up the file and set a course for Leeds to dock for the night. Engaging the Auto pilot he wrote up the encounter and attached the data. Now when he got to Leeds he could send this off to the Doghouse so he could get paid. Smuggling patrol was not all that exciting but it did pay well.
Brent scanned the console for news. Seems the Liberty, Rheinland situation was heating up a tad and Kusari was being even more aggressive with Bretonia. Well it was a place and time of strife. A place where a hunter could live large if they survived. Brent had been working hard for a while and while he did not get every bounty he set out for he made enough to upgrade his Sea Serpent to a Manta.
The Manta, christened The Rapier, was a fine ship. It had a proper cabin and mess area. It even had a spare cabin and second seat for a co-pilot or gunner. The old was much nicer also. It even came with separate areas that could be locked down to hold escaped pods or bounties that were caught on station but needed taken else where. A good load of weapons and she was ready for action. He made the journey to Rostock and Capetown to outfit his new ship with the best equipment he could afford.
He soon discovered that while Bretonia had its issue with unlawfuls Rheinland was by far the worst of the houses. You could not go anywhere in Rheinland and not get jumped by LWB, Unioners, Red Hessians, or even the Wild. That place was just crawling with problems. The Rheinland military was over worked at all turns and the local police were even more so. A great place for a Hunter, but the government refused to place and bounties so there was no profit in working there.
Running alone was starting to take a toll on Brent. Tracking down bounties was a difficult job and sometimes you had to go into places that were not real healthy to be if you were not part of the local faction. After avoiding a real close call where he had to dive into a radioactive field and shut down his power core to escape. Thats what happens when the guy your chasing has friends with large ships though. Took almost a month to get the Rapier back into working order after that.
Brent sat at the terminal looking over the recruitment adds for different Bounty Hunter groups. These groups were organized hunters who all worked together so that everyone was safer and got paid all at the same time. Seemed to be a good idea with what had happened in Omega-41. Each group seemed to have its pros and cons. Some seemed to be just a loose band that flew together. Others were more formalized with rank structure and a probation period. Flipping through the list Brent clicked here and there and read about each offer.
One group seemed to stand out above the rest. While they required a probationary period, there was a bonus at the end. They structured themselves with ranks and each rank had a different task. They seemed to have their stuff together. They even had a trader subsidiary that help finance their operation. The Search and Destroy Agency seemed to be what he was looking for. Clicking on their application the pages of questions scrolled by. Settling in he started typing in the answers.
Brent retired to the apartment he rented on Sheffield and relaxed while he awaited a response. A couple days went by while Brent tended to his regular part of his life. Paying bills, checking the latest bounty listings. He even remembered to send off a message and arrange a gift for his moms birthday, promising that he would stop by the next time he was in system. Coming home from shopping his terminal beeped at him indicating a message was waiting.
Logging into his messages he found a response from the HR folks over at the Search and Destroy Agency. He was to turn his Manta in for inspection by S/Ds team and acquire a Hammer Head VHF as a replacement for his probation period. He was then to report to New London for outfitting at the Dog House, S/Ds head quarters.
Brent sighed. Well I hate to give her up even for just a little while, but if its what I have to do He said out loud to no one.
There was contact information for S/Ds folks on station. Hitting the com unit Brent dialed their number.
Search and Destroy Agency how can I help you the person on the other end answered
Yeah this is Brent Mako. I was told to contact you about turning in my ship for inspection
Hold on second. Ahh, Yes. If you can bring it over to hanger 25 we can begin our inspection and store it for you while you are in your probationary period.
OK, will have it over there within the hour.
We will see then Mr. Mako.
Brent put his groceries away and got his paperwork for The Rapier. Heading down to the main hanger he talked with the dock master and let him know of the ship move. Clearing the main doors, Brent move the Manta over to the doors for hanger 25 and contacted their dock master. The doors opened and Brent move his ship inside.
Tractor beams gently grabbed the Rapier and moved he into a berth and settled her intot he locking arms. The atmo doors closed and Brent waited for the all safe indication. Breaking open the hatch he climbed out and met the men waiting for him.
Wearing overalls and pushing a tool chest they smiled at Brent.
Evening. You must be Brent. Said one of the mechanics
Aye, thats me. Here is her paperwork and maintenance records. How long with this take?
Well we go over her real well. Usually a couple stress tests and such. Call it a week, two tops. We will take real good care of her and store her until you can have her back. Sorry but company regs say you must fly a Hammer Head for starters. Here sign here and we can get started.
Brent looked over the paperwork and nodded. OK, just as long as you take good care of her. Will I get a report when your done? As he signed his name
Oh yeah well hand you a small book on the test results and our findings. She will be running like a dream once we are done. We have some new mods we can install to make her purr.
Well alright, I got a transport to catch so see you all later. Brent said as he left.
Brent made his way quickly over to the transport bay and bought passage to Freistadt station in Omega-7. Settling in he waiting for departure.
Brent rose from his seat and shuffled to the door like the rest of the passengers. Stretching his arms he worked out the stiffness that had settled in during the long flight. While trade lanes and jump gates made travel faster, it still took hours to get from one side of a system to the other. So a trip through several systems could still take half a day.
Friestadt was nothing like Sheffield. More utilitarian then Sheffield, the Independent Mining Guild set up Friestadt to be functional not pretty. Brent wandered around a bit having been to Friestadt before but never taking the time to look around. He located the ship dealer first and since it was closed for the day, retired to the bar for a bite to eat. The rooms at the hostel were sparse but clean. He would see the ship dealer tomorrow then make his way back to Sheffield for outfitting and his assignment.
Brent woke early and headed to the bar for breakfast. He killed time after eating waiting for the Ship dealer to open. At the proper time Brent walked down the hall to see the ship dealer. He explained what he needed and why. The dealer nodded his head and showed him a message from the Search and Destroy Agency. Seems the Agency had a standing arrangement with the dealer for Hammer Head fighters. After signing a few pieces of paper work and registering his new ship. Brent was ready to go. The dealer explained to him that the ship came with weapons that would get him back to Sheffield. Once there the Agency would outfit as he chose and send the weapons back to Friestadt. Brent thanked the Dealer and made his way to the docking bay. Stowing his bag he climbed in the main seat and fired his new ship to life.
The hammerhead handled well. She was a bit more maneuverable then the Manta, but no where near as armored. Well the gun selection at Friestadt was horrible so he needed to get back to Sheffield station to rearm. Sliding out of the docking bay, he power the engines to full thrust and made for the trade lane. The lanes thrust pushed him bake into his seat as the new ship shot forward. The Thrump sound of the gates as they past shook the ship slightly. Arriving at the jump gate he hit the auto dock and waited for a few trade ships to pass. The gate drew him in and charged. Space bent as he was propelled into the man made wormhole. Blue and white lines of light flew by as his ship navigated the rend in space.
The hammerhead appeared in normal space with a pop and stopped dead. Brent brought the engines back online and seeing the trade lane 3.5 clicks away hit the cruise engines to speed up the trip. Docking he once again listened to the sound as he sped forward. Coming out in the ice field he started to hit the cruise engines when the computer chirp a warning. Crud 4 contacts incoming and the were firing off cruise disrupters.
Farking hessains remarked Brent as he went into evasive maneuvers. Dodging left he hit the thrusters to gain speed and targeted the next trade lane. Weaving back and forth he watched as laser pulses flew by his cockpit and danced over his shields. With the push of a button he placed the shield indicator on the front hud and switched on his rear view camera. Border world dagger ships jockeyed for position behind him. All the while blasts flew by.
Brent balanced his thrusters between draining and recharging pulsing them to make sure he had enough left to get to the trade lane. Brent slammed the thrusters to full and dived between the gate and hit the auto dock button and felt the lane grab his ship and slam it forward. Lasers roasted his rear shield and almost brought it down.
His exit form the lane was much less eventful. Even the Hessians will not break the Freeport no fire zone. Brent sighed and hit the cruise engines. Calling up the damage report he saw a few pieces of armor got scorched. The next lane drew him in and took him to the gate to Cambridge system.
After a few hours Sheffield station in the Manchester system came into view. Once he had entered house space things has been a lot easier. With the Bretonian Navy out in force he glided from lane to lane and gate to gate. He was only stopped and inspected twice, which is not too bad.
Sheffield station. This is Bounty Hunter Brent Marko seeking permission to dock said Brent
Bounty hunter Marko, dock at five and welcome back.
Thanks Control
Brent piloted the hammerhead to dock 5 and waited for he beams to draw him in. Station side he contacted the Agency and reported that he was back from Freistadt with a hammerhead and he needed it kitted out. They told him to hit the station dealer in the morning for their standard equipment load and to choose his guns. Bret signed off and headed to his berth.
In the morning he wandered over to the dealer early and was there when they opened the door. He showed them his Search and Destroy ID and told them he had a new ship he needed outfitted with the standard equipment. They also pulled up the Agencies gun stock and he chose two improved debilitators and the rest buckshots. He mentioned he wanted a mini razor instead of a torpedo launcher or cruise disrupter, but they had none in stock.
The dealer checked the register and said that the closet dealer with some were the zoners down on planet Gran Canaria. Brent looked it up and saw it was in Omega forty nine. Not too long a run, but it ran right through Molly and Corsair territory. Well the gun was worth the trouble. Looks like another trip was in the making.
Brent looked over the standard equipment list and smiled. Top end level ten graviton shield, enhanced thrusters, heavy counter measure launcher, nuclear mine dropper and the advanced cargo scanner. Nice stuff, none too cheep neither. The day went buy and the new systems were in place and tested. Brent took her out for a late night spin and blasted some meteors in the field to test the new guns. With everything in order he headed for bed.
He stopped by the office to make sure they knew where he was headed and grabbed his over night bad and some food stuff. Settling into the pilots seat he turned on the power core and started his checks. Red lights cycled to green as systems came online and the ship was ready.
Sheffield Control, Bounty hunter S/D-Breako requesting permission to leave station.
Roger S/D-Breako. Pattern is clear on five. Warning we have an advanced train coming in on six.
Roger Control. Will watch to my left. Breako out.
The hammerhead moved out of the docking bay and Brent moved her over to the lane. Calling up the nav map, Brent noticed that his maps did not have the jump hole to Omega forty nine. Well he knew about where it was he could just find it when he got there. He set a way point in the lower part of the Dublin system. Arriving at the gate he jumped into the New London system. Taking the lanes he shot down to the planet New London and then onto the Dublin gate. Getting into Dublin was easy, getting out well that was another matter. Since he was flying a bounty hunter ship and ran a hunter IFF any Molly or Corsair he ran into was going to be trouble.
Brent set the auto systems on his way point and hit the cruise engines. Stepping out of the seat he went back to his bag for his container of coffee and a sandwich. Space flew by as his ship cruised on. An asteroid field came up on his left and a beep from the radar came up. An unknown station was in the field. Weapons platforms started to show up as he flew closer.
Great, hope they do not have a welcoming committee. Brent mumbled.
He passed the station and the field fell away as Brent munched his sandwich. He turned on his active scanners as he got close to where he though the jump hole should be. His eyes watched the reading on the screen as he looked for the space anomaly.
Incoming missile warned the computer
Crap said Brent as his eyes shot to the radar. Two contacts incoming. The cruise disrupter missile exploded and shut down his engines, dropping the hammerhead to normal speeds. Brent grabbed the stick and jammed it right while hitting the thrusters. Two Corsair light fighters speed by, guns raking his shields. Brent snarled and snapped on the local communicator
Back off *******s. Unless you want me to collect on your sorry asses.
Heh, Hesse. I think it will be us who gets the payday. Kill this hunter scum Pablo. Replied the Corsair
One of the light fighters broke left and Brent decided to follow. Targeting the smalled space craft, Brent fired his debilitators. Pulsed of energy fire off and slammed into the lighter craft, brining its shields down in one volley. Brent next sent his buckshot particle cannons firing, knocking parts of the fighters armor spinning free.
His computer detected the enemy crafts shield coming back online, so he keyed up the debs again and sent another volley into him. Shields down the buckshots then ripped holes in the fighters structure.
The other Corsair moved in behind and started peppering Brents rear shield. Glancing at the shield display Brent saw he could ignore that guy for a bit and continued to pour streams of fire down on the other craft. Soon flames vented from the other fighter as atmosphere vented from it and then boom pieces everywhere.
Youll pay for that hunter man screamed the Corsair over the comm system.
Incoming missile stated the computer.
Brent swerved left and fired off a few counter measures. The missiles exploded on the counter measure and Brent dropped a few nuke mines. Slamming the thruster to full he took as tight a turn as the ship would handle and tried to get the other fighter into his sights. An explosion ripped off to his left as the Corsair found one of his mines. Parts of the other ship coming loose. The other ship slowed as its thrusters sputtered out, torn to shreds by the mine.
Brent moved the other ship into his hud and lit it up with a full volley of his guns. The shields, already downed by the mine, offered no protection. Particles from the buckshots punched large holes into the interior of the ship. The next volley caused the safety feature of the Corsair vessel to launch its escape pod just before the ship exploded. Brent eyed the pod and his hands moved back to his guns. Eyes staring at the helpless pod, he hit the tractor beam and waited for it to get into the cargo bay. Putting the ship onto auto he went down the ladder to the cargo bay. Grabbing up his welder he walked over to the pod. Taking a few strips of metal he welded them over the seals on the pod and satisfied went back up to the cockpit.
Activating the scanner again he started a search pattern looking for the jump hole. After an hour he found it one sector over from where he was. Marking it on his map he jumped into Omega forty nine.
Bright white light washed through his canopy only to be broken up by floating asteroids.. The sun in this system was a large white star that bathed the whole place in its bright light. Flipping on long range scanners he found and unknown planet and set a course. Dodging asteroids he soon came out of the field and could see the planet. In this light the docking ring was visible and he knew he was headed to the right place.
Planet Gran Canaria was a beautiful place it seemed. Clouds floated over the surface that looked almost idyllic. The docking ring was standard so he flipped on his control channel and hailed the planet.
Gran Canaria docking control, this is S/D-Breako, requesting permission to land.
S/D-Breako, please state the nature of your business and let it be know that this is neural territory and there is a ten kilometer no fire zone around the planet.
Roger Control, ten clicks, business is to see the equipment dealer on planet about some upgrades.
Roger S/D-Breako, permission to dock granted, take vector two five once through and land on pad nine. Please bring your ID to customs at the dock masters office.
Roger Control, vector two five and pad niner. ID to customs
Brent slipped through the docking ring and headed to the indicated pad. Grabbing his day pack and his IDs he headed for the Dock masters office. Inside he showed his IDs and restated his business. He got the nod and a copy of his ID was put on file. One thing about Zoners was they were efficient. Grabbing a taxi he headed over to the ship equipment dealer.
The dealer has a nice shop on the other side of the landing field. Walking into the office he admired the hardware on the walls. Large guns for fighters hung there just waiting to deal death. Brent nodded his head and went to the desk.
The Salesman looked up and smiled one of those easy smiles.
How can we help you today, sir
Well I wanted to get a mini razor outfitted on my ship. Replied Brent
ID please.
Brent slid his ID over and the salesman scanned it on the reader.
Im sorry but your reputation with us is unknown. We have no problems working with friends of the Zoners but you are not even in our network. I can not help you.
Really I though you all sold to anyone?
Actually not true, we have to make sure the folks who buy from us will not use the items against us.
Well heck. Now what am I supposed to do?
I am not sure sir, but while there are some basic items I would gladly sell you, that weapon is not one I can.
Brent sighed and turned away. After leaving the shop he told the taxi to take him to the closest hotel. The ride was short since the there was one right off the landing area. Brent rented a room for two nights and then hit their bar for a beer and a bite to eat.
Sitting at the bar drinking his third beer, trying to come up with a way to win over the dealer, Brent turned his eyes to the crowd. Finishing off his beer he motioned to the bartender for another. The bartender filled up a new glass and walked it over. Placing it in front of Brent he said
You seem to be out of sorts
Well I came in today and was over at the dealer, some of the items I want are not for sale it seems to someone with no ties to the Zoners.
Yeah that can happen. We only like to let certain things go to folks who are know friends of the Zoners. Help from those weapons from being used on us.
Well I can understand that but, being a Hunter, the only thing I am good at is hunting down marks. You all do not post bounties so, kinda leaves me out in the cold. I know and respect the Zoners and their ways, but how do you prove that?
The bartender looked long and hard at Brent and then leaned in. Well you know, for a small fee, I may be able to adjust your rep. This way you get what you want and we can get a bit of what we want.
Small fee huh, how small a fee?
Well how about six hundred? That would cover my time for the deed and the potential trouble I may get into.
Six hundred huh. Like as in six hundred k?
Ayup thats about right. Look at it this way. Its an investment that will continue to pay off for a long time as long as you remain true to us. Its a one time investment.
OK, deal. How do we do this?
Well you drink your drink and transfer over the credits to this chit. I put in a call and with a few hours time your in the system and have a rep that will allow you access to most of our equipment.
Brent nodded and the bartender walked back over to the other end of the bar and grabbed a bag. Brining it back over to Brent he pulled out a credit chit and placed it on the bar. Brent picked it up and connected it to his bank card. He thumbed in the amount of six hundred thousand credits and hit transfer. The bartender smiled and walked away. Getting on one of the local comm. units he placed a call. Then brought Brent another beer.
On me. Give it a few hours and youll know. Anything to eat?
Yeah can I get another burger?
You got it.
Brent shrugged and went pack to his beer. He whiled away the time watching the other patrons, scanning the crowed for know faces he might want to note for later. So far nothing. He could spot a few other hunters in the crowd, along with what appeared to be some Corsairs, and the rest seemed to be locals. Dock workers and porters employed on the landing pads.
After a while Brent noticed the bartender on the comm. unit. He spoke to the person on the other end and looked over at Brent and nodded his head at him. Getting off the unit he came over.
All taken care of. Head back to the dealer tomorrow and you see.
Alright, but if things do not work out, I will be back.
I know, dont worry, its all good.
Brent thanked the bartender and finished off his beer. Heading up to his room he was soon fast asleep.
Early the next morning Brent walked over to the dealer. Reentering the shop he found a different salesman behind the desk. Who smiled not to different from the last one.
Can I help you sir?
Yeah I wanted to look into getting a mini razor for my ship. Brent said while handing over his ID
The salesman took it and scanned it with his computer and nodded.
Not a problem sir, if you will fill out these forms on the data pad in front of you and give us the location of your ship we can have it towed into our hanger for outfitting.
Excellent, She is on pad nine. The hammerhead. Brent replied as he started filling out the forms.
We will get right on it.
Brent spent the rest of the day in the hanger supervising the installation. They were defiantly a well trained crew. They removed the fitting for the launch tube and fabricated the housing for the mini razor. Then slid the cannon home and wired it in to his controls. By the afternoon the gun was ready for test firing. They brought in a large plate of ships hull, which looked like it came off a large capital ship. Setting it out at mid range he thumbed the fire switch and the ship bucked as the deadly energy spat forth at the hull piece. Large chunks of hull plating burst off, raining to the ground.
Brent checked his energy and saw that one shot form this bad boy about killed half of his energy. Well he would have to be careful with energy management with this bad boy. Brent thanked the team and watched as they put it back on pad nine. Brent then headed back to the hotel and checked out. Stopping in the bar he smiled and waved at the bartender.
Heading back to the landing pad he climbed into hammerhead. Stowing his gear he brought the power plant online and called Control. Getting his take off vector he strapped in and gently lifted off the pad. Taking his vector to the lift he waited while it lifted him into the upper atmosphere and then to the docking ring. Exiting the ring he plotted the course for the hole back to Dublin and engaged the cruise engines.
Time passed and Brent made his patrols cruising around California system and Texas he tracked down and put five marks in Sugarland prison. After a few months in Liberty he was given leave to patrol Bretonia. There he found much of the same scum, only they were know by different names. Instead of Lane hackers he had Mollys. The Liberty Rogues were replaced by Gaians. Each fell to his guns and tactics.
After the required test period he was allowed to take his manta out of storage. When the day came he smiled as she slid out of the storage hanger and into the main docking bay. He had the mini razor moved to the manta to replace his train cruise disrupter. He then turned the hammerhead over to the folks at the Agency. Sliding back in to the seat of the Rapier once again made him feel good. The manta had definite advantages over the hammerhead. Its power plant would make using the mini razor a lot easier.
Being allowed to operate in Bretonia also opened up the ability to work more with APM trade ships. The APM was the trade arm of Search and Destroy Agency. They brought in ship parts of all types to the ship builders of the Bounty Hunter ship yards. Since they directly affected the abilities of the Bounty Hunters, they became prime targets for their enemies.
One day while out on patrol in Cambridge system, Brent got a private call on his communicator unit. APM-Aquarius was in system getting ready for a run to the Ring in New Berlin system and then return to planet Cambridge. He wanted Brent to run escort if he was free. Since the Bretonia was quiet that day he agreed. They met up at the IMG base Cardiff station where Aquarius was getting loaded with Beryllium. Aquarius launched and Brent formed up on the left of the heavy tanker. They hit the lanes for the Battleship Norfolk.
A quick turn and they entered the lane to the gate to Omega three.
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