...hack...initiated...logging in as...login failed...
...***redifined***...checking for newer versions...failed...
...establishing gateway...id...Joe...unrecognised...id...Waiqumbo...recognised...uploading data....
The next day was like a nightmare. Without food, only drinking the shipped water, I finally arrived on Erie once again.
I made some modifications on the ID, changing it to a simple civilian dockworker, who is authorised to use a light fighter ship. It was time, I made use of my connections, and quickly contacted with one of my mates from the past, one who I do not wish to name here.
Let's just say, he came up with an option, the only option, so it was MY option at all. He told me about the people walking in the same gravity-boots as I. He knew about my hacking skills, and somehow he also knew about my work at HTPNN.
I was off the planet just in time. The police tagged holograph pictures on me planetwide. All right there was I, just the basic training with a fighter - I did it when I was 18 -, and Agent Nobodys credits -wich was definetly not enough - this connection of me suggested that I head into New York system. Well the further away from fire the less chance I'm going to burn myself, so I charged my engines and headed towards NY.
During the traveling time I had much time to think. Thinking about my life so far, and thinking about how power can crush the work of an entire family... Anger stirred in me, and I felt someone has got to pay.
When I arrived NY I knew who will be the ones to pay in the first place:
-IC
-Ageira
-Universal
-And all of their lackeys, their bureucrats, and their paid muscles.
First things first however: Set off my destination to Detroit munitions. I knew a gal there, she was once very close to me -was a really long time ago- but she chose to join the Ageira corp chain, we never met afterwards. She greeted me like in the old days, and agreed to help me out buying some guns from the very corp I will use it against.
As it turned out she never liked her employer, so it was only a matter of credits -wich grew very thin after this transaction-, and I was equipped with some power to crack open any ships hull.
Next up my contact sent a message to me, that I should pay a visit to on of the system's crime ports : Rochester Base.
Took me long enough to find it. These stations are well hidden from the eyes of those corp bastards... They eventually let me dock wich surprised me. I expected some fighters coming up shooting on me, but nothing like that happened. I started to calm down for the first time since I was out of the 2x2 cube.
My contact linked me up with a weapons dealer, who sold me two junkpile laser guns and a worn fighter shield.
Better than nothing I guess. Okay what to do next. I got a ship some guns and a shield on, I could really start some laser-fights right?
My contacts last order was clear: I must make a bit of reputation by the criminal organizations of Liberty -hah liberty MY A** - . Well this is best done by shooting at some police storage depots. That will surely anger Mr and Ms Cop, they will come chasing me, and if I can take them down, maybe I will draw some attention on myself.
If only every plan would be so easy to execute as to think out...
I hit a storage depot near Manhattan, but nobody recognised it, except the trade lane rings robotic sentries...
Oh nuts! No alarm, no Cops, no Cops, no attention... Well I really had to do something...
And suddenly, as the helping hand, some Ageira shipment arrived near Manhattan. I knew what to do: I shot with all my weapons, until my panel turend red, indicating I'm pretty-damn low on energy....
But it worked, like a miracle! Cop fighters buzzed out of Trenton and Newark like a swarm of angry bees.
Well bees they were, at least about their skills... Okay one thing. I'm no skilled or Ace fighter pilot, I've been trough the basic learning process back in my time, but these suckers really lost their heads i na spacefight. This was really no grand job. I tracked the escape pods in, along with some cryo-cubed water panels, and fled as fast as I could.
Much to my luck, there were some "Big Kommie Break-in" in the system, wich let me enough time to disappear on Rochester.
I sold the pods to the very same junker who sold me the weapons and shields, and I noticed something in his eyes. 'twas no real respect, but the shadow of it. He saw something in me, as later I asked him, he told me he saw the future in me for the first time since we met.
And that felt f*** good.
Some days passed, and Cops started to put System-Wide bounty on my head. I was overjoyed! It's only a matter of time, and those rag-tag-peasant-texas-creeps will find me. And when they'll find me they'll not catch me unprepared.
The ship I now piloted did not remind me of the ship I got days ago. Its hull was replaced by the Rochester mechanics, the wings repaired beyond my wildest fantasies. It looked like a real monster now.
I was more then ready to face the "Guild"!
Also, my contact mentioned me another secretly operating base deep inside the Badlands. He told me I should visit it, the locals there know much about my past deeds, and won't just shoot me like a civilian dog.
En route to Badlands then. I learned to trick the trade lane rings, usually they recognised me as civilian, and most liberty navy pilots did not give a damn about the little buzz-monster I was flying.
Made it without any problems to Buffalo, and I can tell you guys, it was love at first sight. Call me romantic, but those peep 'o' s built their operations in the right place. I decided to set up my new residence there. Luckily, nobody inside the base argued with that plan, but there was something in their eyes, something I could not put anywhere.
The next day I found out what it was: I was leaving the station, heading towards the edge of Badlands to set a trap for some IC trade caravans, When suddenly a squadron of Piranhas -my nav comp identified them as such - was at my back, shouting on my comms and laughing in the meantime.
So... at long last the Bounty Hunters found me. I knew exactly what to do. Charged my afterburner, nd headed straight back to Badlands, drawing them further from the Lane Way, so that no cops can interfere with our fight. Their lasers burned massive holes trough my internal hull, but I managed to blow up the last of them -they called in for 3 extra reinforcements during the fight the damn freaks- . Tracked their pods in like a routine, and flew right back to Buffalo...
A week passed, and my old ship really turned to a pile of scrap. That was the time, when my contact sent me a message about my next destination. Magellan. He said, it will be the end of a trip, but the very beginning of another. He also told me I should gather my creds, and buy a new ride from the Buffalo mechanic. I made my way down to the hangars, where the bloody mechanic waited me with a grim vigor on his face: He said he kept a Dagger just for me, knowing that I can afford it, and that it will get me some really good times out there in the cold.
He burst out in a loud laughing and I could not get any more info out of him.
We made our deal, and I was now a proud owner of a deep-space fighter, one that could match up ten of my old ship in a laser-fight.
