Over the edge

[AceJoker]

Phantoms are rarely seen in populated systems, they say. Hard to capture, superior combat skills, merciless. But not this time. Not this one.
Hangman had the edge in this fight. After he engaged him in a suprise attack, one Snac sliced through his shields and nearly obliterated the Phantom's ship.
Hangman had betted that the Phantom's ship technology would safe him from instant destruction. And he won. The rest of the fight was more a massacre than a duel.
The Phantom didn't had any chances. As quickly as it began it ended so quickly. The Phantom gave up his ship and ejected himself. That was Taggert's chance.
Even though there was enough usable loot to take from the ship's remains, Hangman's only interest was the pod. Like animals play a few moments with their prey
before they eat it, so did Hangman. He rammed the pod at low speed enjoying every hit. He would do this forever but he needed the Phantom alive so he dragged
the escape pod into his ship and flew off. Taggert set a course above the Austera Nube and walked to the cargohold. Only to see if the Phantom is still alive.

Long he stood there, gloating over his unconsious trophy. He didn't cared if he captured the very one Phantom which he was looking for, for so long.
All that matters is that he got one of them. He ties him up, put him into the open cryocube, injects the chemicals which would paralyze him from the neck downwards
and put him the holotainment band on. The sound of cracking bones echoed through the cargohold. The pain must brought the phantom back to consciousness.
"Welcome to the last moments of your pitiful life, Phantom."
The phantom tried to speak, but he couldn't do anything else than moan.
"Don't try to speak, there's no need for words." he grinned. "And besides, I broke your jaw so I don't have to listen to any silly lectures."
The Phantom stopped to moan. "All you need to know is, that this place here will be your grave. I don't even have to dig your hole.
After I`m finished with you I`ll close this cube and you'll make a nice little trip towards the biggest trashcan of space. Yup, you guessed right.

Right now we`re floating at a save distance in front of a Black Hole. In case you wanna try to tell me that I got the wrong guy, I can assure you that
I don't give a hell if you're the one i'm searching for. I don't care if you're the leader of all Phantoms, a no-name soldier, a janitor, a mindless-puppet
or the last of your kind. Your mistake was simple. You popped out in front of me and your ship is..." he chuckled "i'm sorry, was equipped with the same technology
that killed someone very important to me. But enough about me. Let's talk about you. Do you know that no one dies without a cause?
You'll become an example made for anyone who is like you. It's nothing personal, it's just business.
I want your kind realize that the role of the predator and the prey can switch any time. When I wake up my first thought is about killing one of you.
All my thoughts are focused on "What should i do when i get him?" This condition is annoying and impairs my business. First I thought about to put you in a spacesuit,
chained on my hull, then use a jumphole and see what happens. But this is too much efford. You`re not worth of that much attention.
No... I`ve got a special use for you. But before that, I`ll tell you a little story about my motives. There was once a man named Flynn. A merc like me. My former partner.
One of your kind shot him down over Denver after he chased him all the way from the Kepler jumpgate to the planet. As you can see on the holo-band i put you on,
it was a long chase, cuz Flynn was a master in dodging, y`know? It could have been avoided, if he wouldn`t fly to Kusari to accept a job. It was for a friend.
Flynn agreed to do it for free. But his death reduced my profits to the half. This is the reason why I am so greedy, when it comes to credits."
Hangman looked at a timer.
"Oh, I think it`s time. The chemicals I`ve injected you may loose their effect anytime. Well Phantom, any last words?"
Taggert knew that you can't talk with a broken jaw but he couldn't resist to spice up the final goodbye with some sarcasm.
"No? Oh well, it`s your choise." he shrugged.
Hangman closed the lid, loaded the cube in the torpedo launcher and walked back to the cockpit. One push on a button will end this. One push and his long journey
finally ends. A triumphant smile, one push and the ship launched the tupe to the Black Hole. As the cube flies away, Taggert made a single guncam shot as souvenir
and became once again someone`s hangman.

Flynn`s death is avenged. No reason to stay here any longer...
Now I can finally open this lovely bottle of wine. Should I do it here? Right now? No. No, I know the best place to do it.
Hangman backtracked all the way back to Colorado. He took a position in Denver's orbit from where he had a good view on the location of his buddy's grave.

Then he opened the wine. The wine which was supposed to be shared between him and Flynn. "One year in my cargohold." he thought.
"And now at last it fulfills its purpose." He looked at Flynn's grave and raised the bottle. "Cheers!"
After he emptied the bottle he jettisoned it and watched it falling into Denver's atmosphere.

The sun began to shine through Hangman's cockpit. "Looks like an sunrise." he smiled. "Very touching..."
Hangman couldn't enjoy this sentimental moment for long, because an incoming call interrupted him.

"Armitage here..."
"Hello Naomi..."
"Where are you now?"
"Denver..."
"Hmm. Your ritual again. Listen Hangman, why don`t you just let the past die and move on?"
"Actually, I made it. I got him."
"Really? How?"
"It's better that you shouldn't know. It was a little ugly."
"Did you kill him?"
"Not immediately."
"You pulled the whole thing?"
"Yeah. I told him everything and even drank that wine."
"So you did it in the end. What now? You still think about retirement?"
"Dunno right now."
"Did you got at least any things for sale?"
"No. I only tractored his pod. I was not interested in his toys."
Naomi's voice sighs. How many times i told you that there's no money in revenge?"
"It wasn't revenge it was just business."
Naomi's voice sounded like a blaming mother.
Jack Taggert! You know as good as I that you're a lousy liar! Anyway, there's a big mess around the Taus.
Gallia is making more and more enemies and it seems they wanna take on whole Sirius."
"Okay, i'm checking the Taus. When I figured out what's up, I meet you in your bar at Barrier Gate for another drink."
"Why there? You know that my room is always open to you." she chuckled.
"Since I cracked your door codes, of course it is." he laughed.
"You..."

"Bye, sweetheart."
//Outro soundtrack play and read on
Hangman exhaled deeply and thought about her words. Retirement or something big? Grow older with grace or move on? Hangman made up his mind.
"Once a merc, always a merc." he thought. There will be no retirement. His instincts telling him, that something big was going to happen.
The Taus are everyone's playground. With Gallia now between them, it could become a new market opportunity for him. And besides,
he's too young for early retirement. There will be always work for the Hangman.

He hopped onto the trade lane, opened a channel, leaned back, put his feet up and smiled grimly.
"Next stop, the Taus!"

//feedback thread

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