Seth Karlo

[Seth Karlo]

//Ok, sorry that its been awhile...I might have to open up a feedback thread to stop everyone posting in here...

The cruiser LNS Houston hung lifeless in space. The lights were dead, the engines black, it seemed like a ghost ship. However, a bay door on the side of the cruiser opened slowly, and a docking arm slid out. Hanging underneath it was a strange sight for a liberty cruiser to be near. The Bloodhound light fighter had its lights on, and its engines burning.

It gave a small burst of energy from the thruster, sending the cruiser into a slight spin, and it was released. It sped into the darkness quickly, shooting like a moth towards light. Behind it the cruiser started its engines, and started to head towards West Point Military Academy.

It never made it. 4 Sabres and a Falcata spotted it starting up and shot towards it, vultures closing in for the kill. The cruiser was never expected to survive. It had dropped of the Bloodhound, and it itself was close to being decommissioned due to age.

The explosion from its destruction was seen by the Bloodhound.

Inside it, Seth wiped sweat from his brow. He had been taking Cardimine now for close to 5 hours. It was to psyche him, make him not worry, and act normally, for a rogue anyway.

He headed towards the deadly shadow looming in front of him.

"Unidentified ship. This is the Liberty Rogue Destroyer Alpha. State your Business and designation."

Seth pulled out the file with his details on it.

"This is Seth Karlo of the Bloodhound light fighter Lucifer. I am carrying some Cardimine to a friend aboard. May I have permission to land?"

He waited, cutting his engines just outside weapons range for him. Not for them.

"This is the Destroyer. Proceed to landing bay 2. You will be searched."

Seth let out his breath he had been holding. The smell of sweat and Cardimine infiltrated his clothes, and he slowly stood up, letting the autopilot do his work for him.

He picked up his jacket, it was leather, smelled of hard work, looked like it had been working for years. That was the idea.

He had taken his swords with him. Sometimes Rogues wore them apparently. And anyway, his Liberty Blasters had to stay hidden, tucked into armpit holsters under the jacket, his Outcast blaster was prominent at his belt, but it was small, Jerks werent afraid of them, so he would have to use it.

Swords needed no such demonstration.

One was still on his back, for his left hand. The other was hanging down his left hand side, loose from his leg. He would be able to grab it quickly with his right hand.

The landing clamps fell into place with a loud "Clang" noise. Outside the rust bucket he was in he could see 2 guards heading towards him. He drew a lighter from his pocket, and burned all the documents from the Navy, letting them fall into the waste chute. He drew his Outcast Blaster, and walked towards the exit, hitting the button with his free hand. The door slid open.

"Ok, easy there buddy! Lets get this over with quick-like so I can get to my business ok?"

Seths Manhattan accent had been completely wiped away with his acting skills. He sounded like a guy from the sewer now.

Perfect.

The two goons held large automatic repeating blasters. One stepped forwards and let his gun fall to the side.

"Right, stand still, lets see what you've got."

Seth showed the Blaster by pointing it straight into the guys face.

"Right, I got this here Blaster, and I also got meself these two swords. You got a problem with that?"

The guard looked puzzled. It was obviously a look that he usually had on him. Seth was frankly amazed that he could walk and talk at the same time.

"Oh, ok. What you here for?"

"Yeah!" yelled the other one.

"To drop off some cardi. Tell you what, you guys let me get my job done and you can have a packet of cardi each. 200 credits usually on the market. Free."

The guys practically dropped there weapons in their haste to agree. Seth stepped back into the ship, grabbed some of the cardi, threw it at the two of them and then left the bay, letting them slobber over the drugs.

As soon as he was sin the hallway he headed towards a computer station set into the wall. He pulled a small electronic chip from his back pocket and slid it into a socket on the side of the station.

He then walked to the bar.

On the way, 2 Outcasts were fighting with 2 Rogues. The Rogues had their backs to Seth when he walked around the corner.

"You promised me cardi you son of a bitch!"

The Rogues had their hands on their guns. The outcasts seemed to be traders; they didn't have any blasters at their belts. They seemed to be as angry as the Rogues were.

"Your crappy prices would have put us bankrupt! Go to hell! We sold it to some people in there, for good prices!"

"You *******!"

The rogue pulled out his Blaster, ignoring the slight hissing sound behind him; after all, what makes a slight hissing sound?

Once the sword touched the side of his neck, he figured it out.

Seth stood with one sword on the rogues neck, and the other held his Blaster, pointed at the second Rogue.

"Well well boys. Lets not get into a fight now shall we? I have some cardi which I'd be willing to sell. Interested?"

The outcasts had pulled large guns from behind them, surprise surprise. With a small gesture the rogues dropped their blasters to the floor, and Seth slid his sword away.

The rogues were very interested in the Cardi, and once they returned to the cargo bay, they set themselves upon it like tigers on a Wilder beast.

Seth walked away from that close to a million credits richer than he entered.

He slid back into the corridor, and checked the chip on the computer console.

Finished.

With a small sigh of relief he picked off the chip and slid it back into his pocket.

"Alright there mate?"

Seth spun around, prepared to fight his way out. It was the outcast traders from earlier.

"Umm, yeah, just you know...looking at the Computer"

"What you looking for?"

"Oh, well an ummm, new ship. Yeah, that bloody rustbuckets fallin' apart you know?"

The Outcasts nodded sympathetically.

"Well, how much have you got? We're kinda grateful for your help earlier, and I know a guy at Buffalo who could suit you out in a good ship."

Seth hesitated.

"Ummm, sure. I'll head there later."

The Outcast who had spoken grinned a bit and pulled out a communication device.

"Grish? Hey, its Laneth. Yeah, have you got any nice ships in at the moment? A friend. About a million. 1.2 million? Ok, I'll tell- What? Here? Brilliant! I'll tell him. Sure, I'll get him to pay me, and I'll pay you later. That sound Ok? Great. Thanks Grish."

He closed the comm. device.

"Well...Whats your name?"

"Oh, umm, Seth, Seth Karlo"

"Laneth. And this is Harled. We're Outcast traders. My friend Grish, he has a Sabre in docking bay 3 that you can have. Give me the million and we'll pay the rest for you helping us earlier."

Seth slowly nodded, knowing that the Navy would kill for a Sabre to examine.

"Excellent! Follow me."

Seth followed them, keeping his palm on his Blaster, and keeping wary. They arrived at docking bay 3, Seth handed over the money and the ship was his.

"Have fun in it mate. And here, take this, in case you ever need a hand."

Laneth handed over a Comms device.

"Its got my code in it. So you can contact us. Good luck mate."

With that the two of them left the docking bay.

Seth thought to himself. Why was that so easy? I'm getting out of here now.

He slowly walked to the ship, and eased himself into the cockpit. With a roar the engines engaged, the cockpit shut, and Seths hands found the controls.

The docking bay was open, and the Sabre slid through the force field, before Seth hit the cruise engines.

He set a course for Zone 21 where a Liberty dreadnought was waiting.

The Destroyer sat behind him, little did they know he had just copied all of their files, inserted a computer virus and taken one of their Sabres.

Suckers.


//Next part will come soon. Might rewrite the end of that, seems a bit rushed to me.

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