Hillbilly

[Stoat]

......***bzzzt*** Are we on?

This is Richard Hargreaves reporting exclusively from the fabled Montezuma Base in the Cortez system. Dragged from my house at three this morning, I had been 'summoned' by William Wainwright to enable him to tell some of his story. I was unsure what to expect. Here of follows a recording our conversation.


So William….. Is it okay to call you William?

**Blue'll do yeh jus' fine, feller.

Right, er.., Blue. So what was it you wanted me to relay to the people of Liberty

**Weeell, ah's'a jus' wantin ter clear up sum stuff that ah've herd while ah's bin back. Yer see, ah's bin hearin tha ah's'a bin getting a real bad name fer me'sel lately, an it seems ter me that folks needs ter know whuts really goin on. Ah ain't no threat to the ordinry folks aroun. Ah aint gut no quar'l wi 'em me'sel. Ah's jus here ter make sure them damn LSF remember that they aint jus gunna git away wi' whut they's dun. They kill't mah cuzin! He di'n have a chance, yer see. The jus shot first an di'n worry bout the consequences. Well, ah's ere ter make sure they know there's consequences ter their actions, and they's gunna pay fer em. Ter ME!! Ah ain't sure how, an ah aint sure when, but them as did it'll pay. All 'o 'em. An anyone what trys ter stop meh'll pay 'n'all. However long it takes. Ah's got the rest've meh life ter git em all.

So, let me see if I've got this right. You are here solely to extract revenge for the killing of your cousin, a convicted felon, that you yourself broke out of a Rheinland prison. You still maintain that it was the LSF that handed your cousin over to the Rheinland military authorities, despite the current climate of tension between those two groups.

**Yeah, ah wuz there, remember? Ah know whut ah saw. An Jimmy weren’t so bad. We wuz jus tryin ter keep our famlys fed. They wuz gunna execute him! Jus fer tryin ter take sumin whut would’n be misst anyhows. Course ah broke him out. What wuz ah suppose t’do? Anyhow, like ah says, ordinary folks aint gut nuthin ter fear. Ah’s going fer the LSF. Ah’s gut one o’ em already.

I understand that you’ve lost a couple of ships in the process?

**Weeeel, ah’s’a still gettin use ter the darn thangs. It’s sum LSF prototype that ah cum across, an ah had the cash ter get it. Nuthin better than getting em back wi their own hardware, heh! But yeah, ah took a bit ‘o a beatin at first. There wuz a feller callt Chill first off. He dropt a nuke on meh, so ah wuz lucky ter get outta that ‘un. Mah contact wuz able ter get us anuther ship tho. Next ah wuz jumped by three or four o’ em outside a Riverside, y’know, in California? Ah gut one o em, wi a nuke n’all. Hah, that made meh fair howl!! But then the rest o’ em laid inter meh. Two LSF flyers an sum cruiser. Ah think they gut a lucky shot onna nuke as ah dropped an it kicked out mah pod. They thought they’d got the ship n’all, but Paw foun it driftin inter orbit roun Mojave an hauled it back. That were a’fore he pullt mah pod in tho. He wuz fair riled, ah’s’ll tell yer!! Callt meh all sorta names. Hah, he soon changed his tune when ah tolt him whut ah wuz doin. He hault meh back ter Rochester and we fixed up Hillbilly good. That’s mah ship, Hillbilly. Hah hah hah, they all thinks ah’s sum kinda inbred cos’ve that. Ah’s’ll be telling yer, anyone else as trys that’ll be gettin a rite kickin an no mistake. Anywho, it were yesterday ah gut a tipoff that the boss o’ the LSF wuz in California. So ah heads rite o’er there. There wuz jus im an sum ship callt Gladiater, or sumsuch, so ah foun em an took em on. Damn, those little ships’re fast. They give us a right pastin till ah gut mah hed roun how ter fight ‘em. Ah wuz jus about holdin out agin em, an ah’d damn near taken out the LSF bossman, when sum cruisers and other ships turnt up. Theys’d callt in more troops ah guess, so ah hightailed it outta there fast as ah could. Ah’s lost one o’ these ‘Claws already an ah caint afford ter lose anuther cos mah source’s run dry. If ah mess up agin mah ship’s gone fer good. Ah’s’ll have ter get sum other ship an ah wanna get em in this un. Ah’m gunna ram Hillbilly down their stinkin throats till they choke. At least ah saw this on mah comms unit afore ah gut here.



**Ah caint see as he’ll be dead, there wuz too many LSF ships around ter miss his pod, but ah reckons ah owes Sam White a drink. Yer hear me Sam White? Here’s to yer feller.


And that was it. I was hauled out of the Base and bundled onto this docked trading ship, which I understand is about to depart for New York. I am happy to say that I am unharmed, and hope to remain so. I feel certain that had he meant me harm I would be long dead already. I have a feeling I have not seen the last of this man.

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