'Slater' - A new Bounty Hunter

[Fletcher]

Be advised this character bio is now out of date and deemed void.
Yours sincerely, Fletcher.
4th March 2012

Sigma Shenanigans

Slater spent some time in Liberty earning some bread, and visiting his old home on Texas, looked like some freeloaders moved in on his home. He was stressed out and needed time to think.

Slater left for the Kusari border systems of Sigma, apparently they are the best thing to see if you want to unwind, turns out the Hawaii is stationed there too, the jewel of the Orbital Spa and Cruise company.

Going through Kusari was always a pain for Slater, the Farmers Alliance were still sore after he blew away a few of their ships in a skirmish a month or two back. They had a good memory, luckily their equipment didn't reflect this... The repair crews would be happy at least. Once Slater got to the Honshu system, he found the Sigma 19 jump gate, he gated through after entering the codes to open the gate.

----------

"Welcome to Sigma 19, system of the blue fuel". This is what the GMG auto announcement said once he gated through to Sigma 19, all that you could see was blue gas, its like flying through a Bretonian Aquas Ale, blue and cloudy. Upon finding the nearest trade lane, Slater flew to the Gas Miner Ogashawa, what a sight. A pocket in the gas allowed him to see the splendor of the Ogashawa's spider-like conduits and walkways that make it one of the largest structures he has ever seen.

"Sheffield Buckshot to Ogashawa Control, Sheffield Buckshot to Ogashawa Control, this is Bounty Hunter Slater, I am requesting permission to land, refuel and re-arm if possible. Over"

"This is Ogashawa Control we read you loud and clear Sheffield Buckshot, welcome to the Gas Miner Ogashawa, finest station in the Sigma's. Our repair engineers will be standing by and be ready to pay the fee's when asked to. You are cleared to dock in Dock 2, over."

"Uh that is affirmative Control, wouldn't expect anything less. Coming into docking pattern, autopilot engaged. Over and out"


Slater docked with the station where he was greeted by a pair of engineers, they appeared to be twins. They looked, dressed, hell even talked the same. It was kind of eerie, but they seemed friendly and skilled enough. I asked them to give my ship the level 2 treatment, refuel, re-arm and any repairs that are necessary. They quickly got to work and I headed for the station's bar.

The bar was pretty decent enough, it had a good stock, a nice view through the heavy space window conduit, and the bar had many customers from what seemed to be all over Siruis. There were Bounty Hunters, Mercenaries, Gas Miners, Kusari Officials and many transport pilots from various Houses. Its like taking a few people from each house and throwing them into the cauldron.

Slater went to the bar and had a few drinks to myself, he always did that. You can't make friends as a Bounty Hunter, never know when you will get back stabbed. Slater got a call from the engineering bay, turns out my ship is ready for launch. He paid the fees in the stations credit account machine, and left to get my ship.

The twins told him that his ship had a few damaged engine components, they replaced them for him which is handy, Slater inspected the engines and they are in tip top shape. He thanked the repair teams and left the station soon afterward.

-------------

Slater began exploring the Sigma systems, and true enough, there were many beautiful and dangerous sights to behold in these parts. Tri star formations, the 'green' planet, the Hawaii and the skirmished between Outcasts and Corsairs, the true pirates. Never tangle with them.

Flying through Sigma 17, Slater picked up alot of comm chatter on the unsecure frequencies, he listened in..

"We got him, come around and rip his wings off of him!"

"Ha-hang on my weapons are fluctuating, compensating"

"He's com-ming around for another attack!! Ev-ev-ade!"

"My hull is.. %@"?@argh!"

"Look at that waste burn!"

"For Malta!!"

"For Crete!!"

Looks like a battle was going on, Slater was curious, and decided to slowly get closer to the battle. The sight he saw was incredible, a major fight was unfolding between the Corsairs and Oucasts. From what the scanner told him, 60 ships were in the battle, big and small. A few gunboats and a whole fleet of fighters for both sides, seemed evenly matched. Feeling cautious, Slater backed out of visual range of the fight and turned off his tracking systems, effectively running silent...

-------------

The battle had been raging for hours, and no victor had been decided yet, the gunboats on both sides were on fire and still firing at each other, and the fighters were almost all gone, either from exhaustion or lack of fuel.

In the end both sides retreated, ending up in a draw. If only Slater kept in range to actually see the fight, watching the radar wasn't good enough. When the hostiles were gone, Slater approached the battlefield of pirates, many ships were derelict, life pods destroyed or damaged beyond repair. There were no survivors in the wreckage...

Slater began to pick through the wreckage, hoping to find viewable gun camera footage to see the fight... But in true fashion, all the computer components were shot. From what he could tell, half these pilots were fighting un-aided by the computer systems. These were damn good pilots, its such a waste to see them die like this, but they went out fighting.

Warning, ships inbound The computer sounded off.

Junkers... Typical vultures. They got in visual range of him. "Attention Bounty Hunter, this is the Junker Sigma group, you will vacate the battlefield are now, we lay claim to this wreckage. You will leave all the salvage and not take any with you. Failure to comply will result in termination"

"This is the Sheffield Buckshot, you have no right to lay claim to this wreckage, I was here first, not to mention since when do lowly scrappers give orders to Bounty Hunters?"

"You've just made a big mistake Hunter dog, all pilots, fire at will! Take him apart!"

"Prepare to be taken down Vultures!"

A skirmish ensued between Slater and about 7 Junker ships, a few collectors and a pirate transport comprised the Junker group. Slater decided to focus on the pirate transport, hit them in the pocket and take out the commander of the group. However those Barrager turrets were pretty accurate, not giving him the chance to get clean shots on the engine bays, the Collectors were a hassle with their Lancer missiles too.

Eventually, the Buckshot guns he had managed to rip into the Junker's transport's fusion core, another salvo would spell doom for the transport.

[i]"All right, all right already! We surrender! Don't breach the core!"

"Good choice Junker, take yourself and your group with you, go now!"

The group left in a hurry. Slater picked up some left over weapons from what could be salvaged and left for the 'green' planet of Kurile. He needed to repair and refuel. Not to mention rest, he's been awake for too long now.

--------------

Slater managed to land on Kurile with no incident, but as soon as he opened the cockpit to the air of Kurile, he was in a sense of euphoria, the air was so clean and pure. It turns out the planet's microorganisms turn some elements into oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. An Earth like air quality its rumored.

Slater loved the air here, if only the scenery was the same. Nothing but murky water which was populated by trillions of these organisms. Pretty weird.

He then paid the repair crews to repair his ship while he went to the local health clinic, turns out the Kusarian girls there are great! Not to mention, Slater was hooked on the air here, and the food. the food was great, none of that Synth Paste junk.

*Chapter Ends*

---

"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread