To: MM Recruitment Centre
From: Samuel Hennesey
RE: Application to join
Encryption: NONE
Message begins:
Samuel Hennesey was born the son of a DSE Executive. Growing up wealthy in Liberty gave Samuel few challenges and he grew into a dilettante. Rock climbing in California, long lavish cruises, slumming in Freeports, hunting on Gaia; none of these appealed to him for very long. He grew bored.
Then he had an idea. He would be an explorer. Samuel was not stupid, he knew spaces was dangerous so he contacted an old friend of his fathers, a retired Liberty Navy Captain to teach him to fly. Being a friend of the family as well as a professional the grizzled vet took the job seriously and taught Samuel to be a combat pilot. He also taught him the meaning of Loyalty and Honor.
Finally Samuel was ready. He bought a new Eagle and had it outfitted with the best equipment money could buy. Samuel decided to start small and set course for Bretonia. He would get some experience there before heading to the Edge Worlds.
Samuel loved exploring. Flying somewhere unknown to him and seeing it for the first time was grand; nothing like a cruise. But in Cambridge something went wrong.
He was exploring the great ice fields near the research facility, just cruising really. He had heard rumors in bars that there was a jump hole somewhere out here. However, he had NOT heard of the sensor damping effects of the ice. He was looking out the cockpit windows when he heard the chime from his sensors indicating a new contact. 5K away and closing, fast. He was disturbed that someone had gotten so close to him; yet didnt panic. It was probably just a Navy patrol; he had seen a few out here. That assumption was shattered by the incoming missile alert. Before he knew what had happened his ship rocked with the impact and diagnostics alerted him his cruise engines were offline.
"Hola, little lost one. For a paltry one million credits I will give you directions back to your safe little trade lane." A pirate, a Corsair by the sound of him. As the contact roared in he saw he was correct. A Centurion class heavy fighter. He decided to brazen it out. "Im sorry sir, I dont have that kind of money. I just got detached from my convoy. They should be looking for me now. Im sure they could reward you if you got me back to them." WHAM! His shields wilted but still held. Barely. All humor was gone from the Corsair's voice now. "You will pay me one million credits for your life or I will burn you down." Samuel was scared but didnt panic. That had been drilled into him by his instructor over and over. "You panic and you are no better than prey." The memory echoed in his head. Slowly Samuel grew angry. Why should this lout be extorting him? He hadnt done anything wrong, he was just exploring. He couldnt run, that much was obvious; he also couldnt pay. If he paid now, he would always pay. He had gotten combat training for just such an occasion. It was time to fight.
"Hold on a second, transferring funds." Put a tremor in his voice; it wasnt hard. Then he slammed full speed and hit the thrusters, turning INTO the pirate. From the Corsairs' hesitation, he hadnt been expecting THAT. Samuel opened up with everything he had and blew past. Hit and run, hit and run. His teacher had been adamant. If you stay still, you die. The Corsair shook off the attack and came at him. They danced. He wasnt very experienced either, he made a few basic mistakes that Samuel exploited as best he could. Slowly he wore the pirate down, doing everything he could think of; strafing, engine kill to spin faster, using the ice for cover. He even rammed him once. Eventually the pirate had enough. Cursing him and vowing revenge he moved deeper into the ice. Samuel let him go, he didnt have cruise disruptors like his enemy. After making sure the Corsair was well and truly gone he sat back and took a deep breath. His blood roared in his veins, every breath was precious. For the first time in his life, Samuel Hennesey was ALIVE. He made a decision. If he kept exploring it would be like this all the time. Constantly fighting off scum. And he might not be so lucky next time. So instead of being prey he would become a Hunter. Not a Bounty Hunter Guildsman. From what he had seen they were barely better than the ones they sought. But his father had told him about a group of mercs who worked for Liberty. Strangers from somewhere unknown. TRUE hunters who believed in honor; who lived by a code. Mandalorians. He would use his fathers contacts, see if he could find them. See if they would be willing to train him to be like them. Hunters.
