The Hunt

[Guest]

Coltons perspective

Eden Falls night club, Manhattan

Nine hours ago.

The air was buzzing with excitement. Shifting beams of light illuminated the crowd. The rave was in full swing. The rave was for the students who had just finished their final exams. Apparently exhausted by the workload leading up to the exams, new found energy allowed them to attend the rave.

Colton sat at the clubs bar, sipping down a glass of water. The last week had been profitable to an extent. But it was mere pocket change to what he could be making. Of course, hunting bounties on one planet was never going to be a money maker.

Looking to his left he saw a young girl staring. Young was relative, Colton was only 23 but his life touched far greater borders than what a university student would. He laughed realising that there was a possibility that she was his age.

He had grown up quite fast after hed left home at 18. His father had set him on a path that Colton had not wanted to follow. Colton had rebelled quite spectacularly. In his first year of university he had punched a Dukes son in the face. Coltons fathers contacts had not been able to save him from being thrown from the university.

The things he had been through since then had forced him to grow up. Realising now that his father had wanted the best for him, but it was too late. Guilt hung on Coltons mind. He had not spoken to his father once hed left, then the news came that he had died. Colton realised for the first time, he was alone. His family were dead, Yoko was missing. He had no one, but he was determined to find Yoko.

But first, he needed friends to defend him. Friends with contacts.

Shifting to his feet, he began walking to the exit. The music blared in his ears he already regretted his decision to take the quick route to the exit. The music systems technology made sure that very little noise made it to the bar. He waded through the crowd. Provocatively dressed women brushed against him, spinning his senses. Breathing hard as he escaped the crowd, tight spaces were not something he liked. Ironic considering his love of fighters.

The club was a five mile walk from the apartment but he was in the mode for a long walk. He wondered what to do. He knew his first step would have to be Coronado. Plenty of mercenary groups based themselves there. Most mercenary groups recruited fast, to make up for the rate of attrition amongst new mercenaries.

His next step would be to sign up with one of the mercenary groups. All of them had pros and cons. Hed have to stick with the lawful side of merc work, purely because he needed to move around house space without being hunted by every would-be hero.

After that hed have to make contacts within the group. One of the smaller groups would be ideal for that, but the smaller groups also lacked influence within the houses. Within the larger groups, he may have difficulty networking, but the larger groups obviously had a large amount of contracts and influence.

Soon enough hed have to make contacts outside of the groups. Hopefully contacts with power that owe him a favour, if everything went to plan hed be able to find Yoko. Yoko could be resourceful but she was no spy, she couldnt have hidden that well.

Could she?