Noncompliance is my middle name

[Hardnight]

The place was hopping with prospectives... it reminded Hardnight of what the old Wall Street Trading Center must've looked like back on Earth. There were all sorts of "job vendors" and all sorts of matching "job hunters". Yea, it was a bar on Freeport 11 in System Omicron Delta... but there was more than drinking going on in this establishment... alot more. And he was no different... on this occasion he was not here for the sauce but for the dough. He wanted a fat juicy bounty hunting mission to top off his personal treasury. His investments in a new ship lighter but potentially more lethal than his Nephthys had depleted it to an unsatisfactory degree. It needed beefing up somewhat. And that either meant commissioning a trade run with his hired freightship HNS_Leopardclaw or doing what he was doing... going in search of bounty. And, there was an alternative issue here. He needed to work the bugs out of his weps selection, and learn the curves of his new ride...

"Hardnight, right?" came a quip in his right ear, which he somehow managed to hear over the din of chaotic chatter in the bar. He turned to face the source of the question.

"And who are you?" These days it was safer to get a few answers before giving any.

"Elgatodiablo."

"Well now... ain't that a mouthful." the pilot looked the man up and down minutely, scrutinizing him in detail. "...if I were Hardnight exactly what would be your business with him?"

"No business. Just a question."

"Well, okay... let's hear it."

"I heard about your little run-in over in Omi Minor with the authorities." He stated, pausing here for a quick sip of his drink, its froth sparkling on his upper lip as he continued. "And from what I hear you are a lawful pilot... so my question is: Why did you kill a lawful authority."

"It's real simple pal. He chased me down to Connecticut and announced that he was going to kill me. The reason was that I had come through his area of influence without properly bowing to his authority."

"So then you are a rebel against authority?"

"Not so fast there cowboy! Those are your words not mine. I told him that I was going on my way and that my business was MY business and I did leave the system. He tracked me down and shot at me... so I finished the fight, but I didn't start it. As far as I'm concerned it is over... unless someone wants to make something else of it, that is. But I still consider myself lawful."

---