Wildcat

[Tenacity]

Location: Junktown, Planet Pittsburgh, New York System, Liberty Space

Katrina rested one hand on her hip-holstered pulse pistol as she gazed across the rusty, scrap filled landscape. The metal of the scram rail was cold to the touch, the liquid nitrogen cooling cell below it shedding thin wisps of smoke against the scorching heat of Pittsburgh's arid desert. Junktown was a front, Junker owned and operated as a second-hand shipyard and equipment supply depot... but underneath the barely legitimate business, this served as a hub within the criminal underbelly of liberty; a place where shady individuals of all types could come to trade information, supplies, and any other manner of material or immaterial wealth.

She wasnt fond of the Junkers, not in the least. They were always scheming, always trying to rip you off and cheat you out of your last credit. A Junker would fix a ship up just enough that it'd get out of atmo, and sell it to you only to charge you for his repair services later... if you didnt wind up stranded in orbit with a quarter tank of oxygen and the authorities prying your cockpit open.

Still, she didnt have much of a choice. Two days ago a battle lit the skies of Pittsburgh, with a massive collection of Rogues making a strike on a prison ship as it lingered on the dark side of the planet, unable to get a clear transmission outside of the debris fields when it attempted to radio for help. Unfortunately, Rogue intel dropped the ball, they had no idea that the Liberty Navy was conducting debris warfare drills not fifteen kilos away. Just after the assault had started, the navy boys were bearing down on the rogue strike group, nobody made it out of there in one piece.

Well, nobody but Kat. After losing one engine to hostile fire, she set down in the barrens on Pittsburgh, ditching her ship and narrowly evading the search teams sent down by the Navy. Two days of hiking through a wasteland with only the most basic survival kit, it had been neither easy nor pleasant; but now she was here, ready to get off this craphole and back into space.

Her eyes steady as a hawk's, Kat stood in wait as one of the Junktown merchants finished business with a civilian, sold him an old model K starflier for two thousand credits... a ripoff, to say the least. He probably wouldnt survive takeoff, but the Junker couldnt care less, there were always more customers... like Katrina.

He turned to her after pocketing the civvy's credit card and smiled with a wide, lecherous grin, revealing only half a mouth of teeth, and those that were still in place were yellow and rotting. His hair was thin, wild, he looked like a mad scientist covered in grease and grime. He spoke, with a scratchy low voice, "What can I do fer ye, sweet-cheeks?"

His eyes travelled down her body, until he noticed the shining firearm at her side, with her hand resting steady on the grip. His eyes shot back up to hers, suddenly more serious, "Heh, I take it yer one o' them rogues got shot down udder day?"

Kat nodded, [color=#FF6600]"I need a ship, little man, and if you try to rip me off like that last bloke you're gonna get a round in the brainpan, got it?"

He nodded nervously, and scurried off, beckoning her to follow him. As he scampered along, he kept glancing back at her, eying her gun... among other things. "Well, aint got much round right now, hehe, how much ye lookin to pay?"

"Credits arent an issue, old man, but I need something armed and ready for combat, preferrably something with the transponder ripped out, cant have the lawdogs getting suspicious about me. What've you got?"

The man paused for a moment, thinking, then scurried off once more to the far corner of the scrapyard. Kat followed him, climbing over a large pile of rusting hull panels; on the other side sat an old, beat up Combat Service Vehicle, standard Junker issue. The Junker turned back to her with a grin, "This one, yes?"

She sighed, "You've gotta be kidding me..."

"Nonono, she's in good condition, good condition! Little rust never hurt nobody, did it?"

"We'll see if this rusty pipe hurts when I beat you with it, this piece of crap cant be all you've got..."

He hesitated, then nodded, "Told you, not much, havent had a good ship fall from the skies in weeks, how else am I supposed to patch 'em up for sale?"

After another heavy sigh, Kat approached the ship, walking circles around it and running her hands over the hull. There were no obvious breaches, though there were carbon scoring marks on the tail suggesting it had been in a firefight. It wasnt well armed, with only two heavy flashpoints affixed to the sides of the large cargobay and a small debilitator turret on the tail. The guns still looked in good condition, at least.

She kicked at the latch on the engine compartment, causing the thin metal cover to fall off, "Nice, a cheap mockup of an engine cover to replace the original, do I look blind to you?" She unholstered her gun and held it steady on the dealer. He nearly panicked at the sight of the loose barrel, a bright light glowing at the back end, a pulse shot ready to fire.

"Nonono! Wait! I have other covers, somewhere... I'll go find one!" He frantically scampered away, to other corners of the scrapyard, searching for a new engine cover that would fit the ship.

Kat turned back to the engine compartment, studying the piping, reactor outlet, combustion chamber, and thruster nozzles. Everything was covered in layers of rust, dust, and other less identifiable substances, but the ship appeared to be mechanically sound.

Climbing up onto the side of the cargo pod, she opened up the cockpit, almost doubling over backwards as the reeking smell of the ship hit her like a brick wall. It would appear the previous owner had died and rotted inside, the Junkers had cleaned the body out but the seat and control panel still smelled like death. Kat covered her nose and pulled her bottle of perfume out of her vest pocket, spraying the seat and panels until the ship smelled like a Bretonian Whorehouse.

Even with the treatment, the stench wasnt fully covered, but at least it was bearable. She leaned over into the cockpit and flipped the main power breaker on the control panel, lighting the cockpit and sending a hum of electricity through the rest of the craft. Sliding down into the seat, she activated the primary fuel flow and hit the engine ignition... nothing happened.

"Great, just great..." She mumbled under her breath, mashing on the ignition several more times to ill effect. She hopped out of the cockpit once more, swinging around to the engine compartment. She wasnt a mechanic by any means, but typically when the ignition didnt go off, it meant either a ruptured fuel line or blocked filter... fortunately, this was a case of the latter.

Flipping open the filter compartment, Kat fell over backwards firing her pistol reflexively as a swarm of insects flew out and into her face. Large, black, moth-like creatures... Pittsburgh dustbugs, they got into everything, any dark place out of the heat of the sun. Dozens of them could pack into a space no larger than one's fist and they would eat any organic material they could find.

She got up and brushed herself off, cursing at the bugs. Kat had grown up on Pittsburgh, but you never got 'used' to the annoyances of the planet, it was a wasteland through and through. She kicked the side of the filter compartment several times, jarring the remaining insects and forcing them out, before closing the cap again.

As she climbed back up to the cockpit, the scrap merchant stumbled back into the clearing, dragging a heavy engine coverbehind him, "Here, I found one!" He struggled to lift it into place, tightening the bolts that secured the panel to the ship. It wasnt meant for a CSV, looked like it was ripped off of and old Bloodhound engine and cut to fit, but it would do.

Kat strapped herself into the pilot seat and hit the ignition again, half expecting to hear silence. Remarkably, the engine fired up right away, no sputtering even... it was in good condition, the merchant hadnt lied. She looked over at him, standing next to the ship and trying to use his tattered jacket to block the dust being kicked up by the exhaust, and fished a credit card out of her vest, tossing it to his feet. The man scrambled after it, picking up the card and examining the electronic display on the front.

"This is only a thousand credits! This ship is worth three times that!"

She glared at him, "The filter was full of dustbugs and it smells like a sodding corpse in here, you're lucky I'm parting with that much."

The old man hesitated, then yelled back at her over the roar of the engine, "Next time, no discount for you!"

Kat grinned and pulled the cockpit closed. With any luck, the seals were still good and she wouldnt suffocate as she left atmo. She pulled back on the flight stick and the CSV sluggishly lifted off the ground... this ship was definitely not meant for combat, it turned slow and lacked power, but it would have to do. The engine groaned as she throttled up, shooting off into the sky. It wasnt long before the dusty, wind plagued surface of the planet faded, and all that was left was the velvety black veil of space, with New York's sunlight refracting off of the debris in Pittsburgh's scrap fields.

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