Unfortunately, the Explorer was, while roomy, somewhat less capable than Katashi had been led to believe. It had seven turrets, true, and decent armor...but turned horribly. Ren summed it up nicely. "The damn thing turns worse than a cruiser!" Kat couldn't deny the truth of that, but he didn't really think it would matter. They had the firepower and armor, surely a little less agility wouldn't be too terrible...
But after an engagement over Planet Kyushu, Katashi began to have doubts. An IMG gunboat, an advanced train, and his Explorer vs. an IMG GB and a Corsair GB. Mere moments later, he'd had to return to the planet's surface, leaking all kinds of nasty chemicals into the atmosphere from the vessel's critically damaged hull. For the first time, Ren looked scared; and Kat had to admit that he was, too.
After crash-landing, they both stumbled away from the wreck, shaking. After a few minutes, they put their blood and grease-stained arms slowly around each other, and just stared at it. It didn't take a mind reader to tell that they were both thinking about how close that had been, closer than any of their previous encounters. All because the ship they'd chosen due to how comfortable it was just happened to also be a big, fat, target.
After awhile - neither of them were quite sure exactly how long - they finally got up the courage to re-enter the ship, and found that someone had been trying to contact them. Reluctantly, Ren patched it through at Katashi's insistence. A rugged-looking man with a handlebar moustache and a fedora appeared on the screen, shaking his head.
"Heya Mark, I heard about yer little trouble o'er Kyushu from Mama Dis."
"You - how?"
"[TAZ]Discordia ring a bell? That's our Mama Dis. Anyhoo, she told me all 'bout it. Boy, I toldja that thing wasn't fit fer combat!"
"Hey! It's not like I went looking for trouble, y'know? I just took off, and got a facefull of red. Trade lanes got disrupted, and our only choice was to fight."
"'Our'? Who - aaaaah, I see. Heheh. Ya done good, Mark. Anyhow...I wanna help ya out. Be a mite snug in an Orca, though."
"A what? No, no...I can't accept that! Hell, I still haven't paid you back for the last time-"
"Sure ya can! 'Cuz, how're you gonna make enough money to repair that heap, an' then save up fer an Orca yerself, eh? Bounties? On what? Freighters? Naw. You gonna trade in that thing? 430 cargo space don't go too far, y'know."
Katashi sighed, and looked down at a ruined console. But before he could open his mouth, Ren spoke. "We'll accept it, and pay you back with bounties...because we're going fully BHG. No more Freelancing."
He whirled toward her. "What?!"
"I've seen it in your eyes when we hunt, Katashi. You are a hunter. You proved it in orbit today, when you chose to fight the criminals instead of just turning around and docking. A Freelancer would've turned and left immediately. But a Hunter..."
"I thought you agreed I was being true to myself when I got the Explorer?"
"I thought you were! How was I supposed to know this thing would be so awful in a fight?"
"It'll be awfully tight onboard an Orca..."
"Then I'll sleep with you! Geez, you are so difficult!"
"...You'll really sleep with me?"
"GAWD! You know what I mean."
He threw up his hands in surrender. "Fine! Fine! Okay. I don't like taking money from other people, though...I WILL pay you and the TAZ back, Linus. I swear I'll pay you back with interest."
Linus smiled, and the cat on his shoulder licked her lips. "Alrighty, sounds like we got ourselves a deal. I'll meetcha where we met before, 'kay?"
Katashi nodded. "Alright. We'll be there, as soon as we can make this wreck spaceworthy again."
