A Kusari expatriate turned bounty hunter calling himself "Mark" should have been quite pleased with himself. He'd been in fighters ever since he'd escaped his overbearing, workaholic Samura parents (who he still suspected had ties to the Hogosha). Taking small bounties here and there, and turning pirate pilots in at various prison stations, he'd worked his way up to a very heavy fighter over the course of barely a year. Though a romantic and idealistic to a fault, he'd made some friends among a small band of Outcasts shortly after leaving his parents. While he was no longer in regular contact with them, he retained a somewhat un-hunterlike focus on Corsairs.
Things had really taken an upturn when a tolerably wealthy Zoner had taken a liking to him, and decided to (conditionally) sponsor his purchase of a small, old, cheap BHG gunship. It was an old, obsolete model; but it was a gunship, and "Mark" couldn't be happier. Except for one thing: the woman he'd purchased it from had said it came with a crew, but there was nobody aboard, and no sign of anybody having ever been aboard. The bounty hunter had tried a few low-end AI systems...all dismal disappointments. Unable to use his new ship to its full potential without a second crew member, he'd decided to fly back to Liberty, where he'd bought the ship, in an effort to find the missing person - or somebody among his friendly contacts that might be willing to take the job.
However, Mark had been on Planet Pittsburgh for just a few hours when things began to go wrong. It started with an innocuous-sounding knock on the door of the cheap hotel room he'd rented for the week. With a sigh, he put down the datapad he'd been reading - still searching for the unnamed missing crewmember - and went to answer it. Dodging the stray rodents that'd come with the room, he unlatched the door.
Opening it just a crack revealed a severe-looking man wearing an LPI uniform. Mark's expression brightened immediately; maybe they've got some paying work for me! Wouldn't hurt to have a bit more dough to offer a potential copilot. "Please come in, come in." With a surprised nod, the LPI officer did so...but his sidearm's holster was conspicuously unbuttoned, allowing him to draw it quickly. He declined to take a seat, instead choosing to stand near the door.
"I am Lieutenant Scott Wilson of LPI; you are Mark Beran, correct?"
"Yes sir, that's right. Do you have some work for me?"
"Umm...no. Would it be correct to say that you had a clandestine meeting with a member of the TAZ, resulting in the transfer of some twenty million credits to your account?"
"Err...yes, yes I did. Very generous, don't you think?" Alarm bells were starting to go off in Mark's head, though he didn't know what he'd done that could attract unwanted attention.
The officer's eyes narrowed accusingly. "Yes....very generous. Under what conditions was the money given to you?"
"I was supposed to escort some TAZ vessels for cheap, and return to the bar to swap some stories. That's all. Dunno if you've ever heard of them, but they're sort of an odd bunch."
"Riiight...to protect them from the Liberty authorities while they help terrorists kill civilians, is that it?"
"WHAT?! No! What the hell're you talking about?" Mark's stomach descended to an invisible point somewhere close to his thighs while he waited for this very serious-looking man to tell him it was a joke.
He didn't. Instead, the officer stepped aside, revealing two more armed LPI officers just outside the door. "I'd suggest you tell me what you know about the TAZ and the Phantoms, son, and I suggest you make it quick."
Starting to panic, Mark's stomach completed its figurative descent to his angles, and his breathing became rapid and shallow. "How could you even think that? I'm a bounty hunter!"
"Book him for interrogation."
"No! It's a misunderstanding, I didn't-"
"Then you've got nothing to fear, right? Just come along, and we'll get this 'misunderstanding' cleared right up." The man's menacing tone didn't help matters, however. It didn't take long for him and his buddies to cuff the shocked adventurer and start hauling him to an armored transport sitting on the pad.
"Oh my God, this isn't happening...this isn't happening..." He forced himself to take a few deep breaths, and to think. Freaking out isn't gonna do any good. Cool it. Assess the situation. Evaluate your options. Right. Information. Can you at least tell me what's going on?"
"Several witnesses in the LSF say a TAZ vessel passed repair bots and shield batteries to a Phantom in the middle of a pitched battle. All TAZ vessels, be they freighters or warships, are now kill-on-sight. And that makes your situation highly suspect."
The whole way to the transport, Mark tried to think of something, anything…but all he could come up with was “Can I at least get my neural net account data, so I can post bail? I just got here a few hours ago, it's still onboard my ship.”
The officers looked at each other, and finally nodded. “Just be aware that we’ve got a siege cruiser in orbit above the planet, so don’t try to escape. And if you take more than ten minutes, we’re going in with the stun gas. Understood?”
“Yeah.”
They followed him all the way to the landing pad upon which his craft sat…it didn’t do anything to ease his nerves when he noticed several of the defense turrets on the nearby armored transport turning to face his ship. Mark was thinking furiously as he boarded the little thing, trying to figure out some way to change the situation and coming up blank.
As it turned out, the situation changed itself.
“Time to die, y-what the hell?! Who’re you?” Mark whirled to face the voice, ready to fight…until he saw the person in question. A gaunt-faced girl, obviously of Kusari descent and a bit shorter than he, but pointing a sizeable weapon at his chest to make up for her lack of stature. Mark didn’t know exactly what the weapon was, but it looked dangerous enough to give him pause. She might've been pretty, had it not been for the grease-stained jumpsuit that was anything but flattering to what little figure she likely possessed, and the fact that it looked like she hadn't seen the inside of a shower in days.
“I…I own this ship. Bought ‘er last week.”
“A likely story…” She edged closer, while keeping far enough away that it’d be pretty hard for him to reach out and grab her weapon. "And who'd you buy her from?"
With a sigh born almost as much out of exasperation as out of fear, Mark stumbled back into a bulkhead. “I dunno, some washed-up merc. All I thought I needed to know was that he had a ship I could use, and it was cheap. Look, wanna take this outside? I’m sure the three LPI officers waiting to take me in’ll be curious about what you're doing in here with a gun.”
That got her attention; her eyebrows furrowed, though her gun’s muzzle didn’t move. “LPI, eh? What do they want with you?”
“They think I accepted a loan from a Phantom sympathizer. They’re full of garbage, of course, but you know how they are when it comes to Phantoms…”
She scowled – not a pretty expression – and considered her options in pregnant silence. Mark did the same, of course. Damn! Why don’t I have a few sidearms stashed somewhere on board? I could throw something at her to mess up her aim…if there was anything on hand to throw. Crap. Before Mark could consider any more reckless ideas, the girl nodded. “Alright, if this is your ship, get us into space.”
“I would, but there’s a Liberty cruiser sitting in orbit waiting for me to be stupid. Not to mention an armored transport a hundred feet away.”
“The only way you could be stupid right now, mister, is by not doing exactly what I say. I have a gun that can blow you near in two, and I have nothing to lose. I’d rather not kill you, but don’t think for a second I won’t if I have to.”
There was no mistaking the desperation in her face, and in her voice. She was serious as a core leak. “Fine. We’ll BOTH just go and get blown up then, eh?”
“Just go for the debris field.”
“If they don’t space us first…”
“Scanned it on the way in - she's not armed for taking down a ship this small. Siege cruisers are battleship killers, and that puny transport could only hurt this gunship if it sat on it. Now siddown, shaddup, an’ take off!”
“Alright, alright, I’m going!” With the girl close behind, Mark went to the bridge – just a few steps away. “But I know I’m gonna regret this, if I live long en-OW! Was that REALLY necessary?!”
“I’ll knock you upside the head again if you don’t take off now, before those LPI officers outside start getting suspicious.”
“Oh, so now you belie-“ He cut himself off when he saw the butt of her rifle coming towards him again. “Okay okay! Shutting up!” Great. Should’ve kept the Manta…not enough room on that thing for someone to sneak aboard… The adventurer had no way of knowing that his life would never be quite the same when he decided to do as she said, fire up the engines, and boost out of the atmosphere…
