Ghent Coirse: It started with a bang

[Outrunner]

Herds of Buffalo
It was surprisingly well kept for its location, but it was still a drag. I had docked shortly after the Bactrian and I noticed that they were already preparing to move a lot of people, most likely the slaves I was after. I tried to play it cool, despite all the looks I was getting, and decided to chill in the hangar until I knew what they were doing. I had a couple of things in mind for liberating the slaves, and shooting the ship to pieces was not one of them.

I wandered around the base a little to pass the time, waiting for an opportunity to reach the Bactrian unnoticed. Avoiding the bar was probably smart, even as grim-faced as I was I certainly didn’t look like a rogue. Maybe next time I’ll show up with an Outcast mask full of orange juice, that ought to do the trick. Yeah, right.

My waiting paid off, and after only twelve minutes of idle wandering the hangar was empty. The opportunity was short, but it was all I had. With as much effort as possible, I made my way to the Bactrian without running or speed-walking, rather deciding to take very long but not awkward strides. When I was at the cargo loading bay, I made a dash for the loading garage.

Oddly enough, I found that the door had not been re-locked, probably because they were about to leave and had no fear of stray slaves or thieves. Just my luck I thought, as I made my way into the cargo hold as quietly as possible. If I were to sneak on board, it would be likely that a guard would catch me executing my plan and I would be ejected into space without a second thought. I needed the element of surprise, and this was it.

I planted my equipment next to a rickety piece of scrap in the corner. I felt bad for the slaves, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have that thing bashing around on the inside of the cargo bay while the ship was in flight, helplessly bound to the walls as it threatened each of them with a slow and painful death by extreme blunt trauma. They rattled their chains at me and began to make a ruckus, but all I could do was work as quickly as possible. I had no way to assure them that I would be able to save them, and I’m sure in their fear I looked as much like a rogue as anybody else did in this situation.

After securing my things to the floor, I slipped back out of the ship and thought I had done so quietly. Before I could make it to the end of the walkway leading back to the other parts of the station, two goons walked over to the door and folded their arms. It was like a pair of bouncers paid specifically to block ugly people from entering a dance, but this time they were the ugly ones keeping the pretty girls out.

I raised my arms in a friendly manner, already the generic speech I had prepared earlier coming to my lips. Before I even had a chance to utter the first syllable though, there was a sudden loud bang inside my head as I what I would assume was a metal bar came into contact with the back of my skull. At this point, we’ve come full circle.