I haven't gotten my usual wave from Otto and I'm starting to get worried.. He's totally alone on that boat, he could have dropped dead for all I know. But that ain't the only problem. I've got about three days worth left of Pescaline and if I don't restock soon, I'm humped. I could follow through with Lily's little plan, but.. if there's one thing I don't need right now, it's Alliance attention.. Yet I can't wait for Otto forever. That gorram fogey, where the hell is he?
I learned a fair bit more about Lily after a little chat today. She's a construct, designed for espionage and information gathering I reckon. She gave me some long winded explanation of her origins, but I could barely understand half of what she said. Something about a collar? I don't know, I'm just a backwater bum. I'm still not sure what to make of her, but she says she can arrange an.. opportunity to restock on Pescaline, so I got no kinda choice but to take her word for it. She's generous enough as it is. I'll meet her tomorrow.
I also took a little trip down to Blackburne at her recommendation. Someone took a few shots at me for no gorram reason, but I got out in one piece. I think I'll fit in nicely at that dump.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Hale's Comet
I touched down at Hale's Comet this morning. Pretty junky place, but I heard they got work for my type, and I'm getting desperate. If not bounty hunting, I could at least be local enforcement or somethin'. Met a bizarre girl named Lily near the bar, talks like a child and moves like a cat. But she's a sweetheart, gave me a tour of the whole town, a meal, and even let me crash at her apartment- and allowed me a shower to boot! That's hospitality you don't see anywhere else in the 'verse.
Something seems off about her though, I'm not quite sure what. For all her child like behavior, she's a brilliant mechanic and she's packing some heavy duty guns. Hell, she's even the town deputy. She looks innocent and harmless enough, but I think I'd better stay on her good side. I reckon the girl's dealt her share of death and seen somethin' more than most.
Something seems off about her though, I'm not quite sure what. For all her child like behavior, she's a brilliant mechanic and she's packing some heavy duty guns. Hell, she's even the town deputy. She looks innocent and harmless enough, but I think I'd better stay on her good side. I reckon the girl's dealt her share of death and seen somethin' more than most.
The Bitter Reunion
It's been six weeks since that ruttin' bitch, Sylph, shot my arse down over Santo. She thought it was such a hoot to patch me up in her infirmary while she sifted through my ship's wreckage for salvage and cargo. No sooner'n I was patched up, that gorram devil-woman threw me into the desert and left me for the slavers. The final knife was her smug face when she tossed me my Pescaline D, sayin' "At least now you'll give 'em a fight before they break you.". She'd probably have me believe that was a spot of mercy. I swear I'll put a bullet in that huai dan one of these days after all she's done to me.
Fortunately, lady luck came smilin' my way for once in my life. After wandering the ruttin' desert for damn near a week and runnin' clean out of Pescaline, I got picked up by a couple settlers from a nearby colony and scored a roof, a meal, and a bed. They were good folk; old, wrinkly, and overly kind to whatever strangers they found stumblin' through the desert. I reckon I wasn't the first to swindle 'em. It's not usually my game to swindle folk like them, but I had no kinda choice. I jacked an old short range transport and somehow broke atmo. Drifted about for a spell before Otto finally picked me up in The Hog. That shitty old boat is older'n he is and feels like to crumble every time I'm on it, but it's still kicking after all these years, just like the old man.
Fortunately, lady luck came smilin' my way for once in my life. After wandering the ruttin' desert for damn near a week and runnin' clean out of Pescaline, I got picked up by a couple settlers from a nearby colony and scored a roof, a meal, and a bed. They were good folk; old, wrinkly, and overly kind to whatever strangers they found stumblin' through the desert. I reckon I wasn't the first to swindle 'em. It's not usually my game to swindle folk like them, but I had no kinda choice. I jacked an old short range transport and somehow broke atmo. Drifted about for a spell before Otto finally picked me up in The Hog. That shitty old boat is older'n he is and feels like to crumble every time I'm on it, but it's still kicking after all these years, just like the old man.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Origins and Memories
I grew up with Otto back on Regina, so he's always loaded with Pescaline D for the Bowden's. He's got it too, though much worse than me. Poor fogey spent near his whole life in those damned mines. Ol' Otto's the only family I got left in this shit verse.. He adopted me from the orphanage when I was five or six, I don't recall, and taught me every little detail there is to know about mining.
That was my life for the next twelve years. Deep in the mines, breathin' fumes and hoping the next shipment of Pescaline D didn't get nicked before we dropped dead.
When I was around eighteen, a crew of bounty hunters rolled through town. They were a rough lot, said they were lookin' for a criminal that they tracked to Regina. They came askin' me and Old Otto about it, and it so happened that I did notice one odd fella who came by the night before all quiet and suspicious like. Turns out that sap was the one they were looking for after all. The next morning, one of the hunters came to me with a pouch full of platinum and pressed one right into my hand, sayin' it was my cut. I got to thinkin' then, bounty hunting seems an easy enough trade and with good pay to boot. Couldn't be much worse than staying in the mines and waiting for the Bowden's to kill me. That's how I got into it. Two years later, when I was twenty, I was a fair shot with a pistol. I'd been practicing with some old relic that Otto kept layin' around.
It was around then that Otto and me bailed out of that shithole planet in his Hog . Business started slow, but we made enough in bounty money to get by. We tracked thieves, criminals, murderers, anyone with a price on their head. A few of our contracts were questionable to say the least, but we needed the money. Pescaline D isn't cheap on the black market.
Some years later, Otto told me he wanted out of our business. I could understand why.. I sometimes forgot that Otto was a relic, and that life of excitement was too much for him. He didn't want to return to Regina by any means, but he was more than content to retire to a life of drifting through space. We had earned just enough money for me to buy the shittiest ship I could find, and then I was on my own.
Five years and a good amount of contracts later... I met her. It was a routine job, the target was a middle-aged fella holding out somewhere in Persephone. Murdered a merchant and nicked his wares. I sympathized with the guy, these aren't easy times. A middle-aged man with no criminal history who probably turned to thievery to feed his family. But like I said.. these aren't easy times.. It was only my third visit to the luxury of one of the core planets, so I wasn't in any kinda hurry to get out. I took it nice and slow for a while. Got some grub at one of those fancy restaurants, saw a couple street performers doing magic tricks and the like, the regular tourist things. When I decided it was time to get busy, I mosey'd on over to the local bar to start asking questions about the target. The barkeep, who was a long time friend of Otto and one of my most reliable contacts, gave me the scoop for a fistful of platinum.
"You better get your ass in gear, di di, you're not the only Hunter tracking this prey."
I nearly choked on my drink. "You already talked to someone?! Who was it!? When!? Give me back the platinum! I'm not paying for useless information."
He gave me a cold stare. "If you weren't Otto's boy, I'd break your arm. These aren't easy times, kid. I sing my birdsong to whoever throws me the seeds. You aren't too late."
I almost wanted to laugh.
He was right, I had to get my ass in gear then. I was a ruttin' fool for putting pleasure before business, I never made that mistake again. The target was holed up on the tenth floor of an apartment complex downtown. I made my way over there and bolted through the building and up the spiral stairs. I went double time up the last flight, slamming a clip into Otto's pistol and flicking the safety off. When I reached the tenth floor, I pressed my back against the wall and peeked around the corner, down the long hallway. I heard a muffled voice from an opened door and stalked closer, silently pulling back the gun's hammer. I needed this bounty, and I was prepared to kill another Hunter for it. Inches from the doorway where the voice came from, a gorram floorboard under my foot squeaked loud enough to shatter Earth-that-was all over again. Before I could even look down, a bullet exploded through the other side of the wall just across my ear. I hit the deck and scrambled back around the corner, and I could hear the other Hunter scrambling too.
"Kwai jio kai! He's mine!" The voice screamed at me. To my utter surprise, it belonged to a girl.
"Chui se!" I called back, firing a couple of blind shots for the door. I heard a gasp and a heavy thud. Thinking I may have hit her after all, I prowled back to the door, staying low as I could. This girl was slick, or maybe I was stupid. Another shot exploded through the very same wall as before, and I wasn't so lucky this time around. I felt the bullet burn through the shoulder of my gun arm. Otto's pistol went skidding a few feet away and I collapsed backward. Same stupid mistake twice. Damn was I a rookie back then. Finally, the woman stepped out of the doorway, her gun aimed at my head. Despite the agony in my shoulder and the blood seeping through my shirt, I couldn't help but notice she looked like something out of a dream. In her loosely tied pony tail, her tangled hair was a shade of red more beautiful then any I'd ever seen, her tanned skin and her dazzling emerald eyes had me captivated. Her many earrings varied in shades of silver and gold that matched the pattern on her bandana, and she wore a ragged brown tank-top with baggy camo pants that tucked into leather boots. Somethin' tells me she fancied me too, I saw her eyes widen and her mouth open ever so slightly when she looked at me. Maybe she was expecting something else.
"Planning to steal my bounty? You're pretty pathetic. And desperate by the looks of it." She flashed me the smuggest of smirks.. that fucking smugness.. I'll never forget it.
I struggled to prop myself against the wall, panting heavily. "You going to kill me or what?" I asked through raspy breaths.
"Eventually." She replied, "Who are you?"
"A Hunter."
She moved forward and pressed the still warm barrel of her pistol into my forehead. "Your name, smartass."
I tried to glare at her in defiance. "What does it matter?"
"Would you like 'some guy' carved on your tomb stone then?" She replied, grinning wickedly.
I found the strength to laugh. This girl wasn't too bright after all.
"What's so funny, chun zhu!?" She pressed the barrel harder into my forehead and clicked back the hammer."
"While you were playing tough girl with me, your bounty crawled out the window and down the fire escape." I told her.
The look on her face was priceless. She half-turned as if she didn't want to give me the satisfaction, then looked back at me, panicked and blushing."
I laughed again as she pulled the gun away and hurried out the window to chase down the bounty without another word.
A few months passed and I took on some jobs here and there, but money was tight. I couldn't help but think that bitch was snatching up all the contracts in the 'verse before me. I was feeling bitter for thinking of her so much, so I decided to go back to Persephone and meet with my contact again, see if I couldn't get some info about her. Incidentally, right when I walked through the door, I saw her sitting right there at the bar! I wasn't sure whether to reach for my gun or flat out ignore her. Before I could decide, she caught my eye and it looked like she was thinking the same thing. We stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, I walked to the bar and sat in the stool next to her as passively as possible. I could tell she was relieved. She turned back to her drink and pretended I didn't exist. I ordered a drink and did the same.
Without thinking, my mouth moved and asked, "So did you make the coin?"
She shot me a furious look and her cheeks flared almost as red as her hair, but gave no direct answer.
"Guess not." I replied with a chuckle.
"At least I didn't fall for the oldest trick in the book not once, but twice." She said venomously.
"I'll give you that." I said, burying the silence that followed with a long drink from my glass.
I found myself wanting an excuse to look at her again, so I faced her. "Got a name?" My eyes wandered down her body on their own, only now able to take in her slender, but fit figure. Her cheeks were flushed again, I could tell she noticed me ogling her. Anticipating a slap in the face, I instead got a name..
Over the next five years.. life was a dream.. Sylph and me got closer and teamed up that same night, and earned a reputation to be proud of in the world of Bounty Hunting. The buzz from planet to planet, bar to bar, was all about 'Ben and Sylph'. We were partners in everything, fifty-fifty. When we turned in our bounties and collected our pay, she would grin at me, and I would grin right back. We were the best there was, and we knew it.
And during those long stretches of time that we sailed from planet to planet and moon to moon, job to job, we were never lonely. We had each other.
I heard her gentle tapping at my door and stood from my bunk to open it. I found her standing there, her wavy red hair hanging loose above her shoulders, gently biting the bottom of her soft lip. She wore one of my t-shirts as she usually did around the ship, hanging all the way down to her thighs. But this time there was nothing else. Her flushed face met mine, and as I gazed into those beautiful emerald eyes that I had come to adore, she pushed her lips into mine. That spark of lust that had dwelled so long in my gut since we first met ignited into a glorious, roaring flame. I put one hand on her waist while the other caressed her cheek, and kissed her lips with delicate, blissful passion. I felt her push her body into mine, her firm breasts pressing against my chest as her tongue found its way between my lips. My head was spinning and I saw stars. I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. She pulled her lips away briefly and slung her arms around my neck, nuzzling the side of her head into my chest for a few moments. I wrapped my arms around her, stroking the back of her hair affectionately. Neither of us spoke.
She looked up at me, and I at her, and she slowly moved to slide out of her shirt, revealing her lusting, naked body. She gently took my hand in hers and pressed it into her perfect breast, her erect nipple poking out between my fingers. She shut her watery green eyes and let out the quietest gasp as I caressed her. I felt myself ache for her, lust for her soft body, the powerful desire to claim her body as my own. So lost in the moment, I didn't notice the bulge that formed in my pants. But she did. I felt her hand push eagerly against my nether region and I sighed. She generously massaged me before slipping out of my embrace and easing herself onto the bunk, staring at me with those sensual green emeralds. I moved to the bed, throwing off my shirt and pants on the way to lay against her, I ran my hand up and down her smooth, beautifully curved hips, swelling for her, needing to explore every inch of her. I took one of her tight pink nipples in my mouth, feeling her gasp and shiver as I did. I brought one hand down her taut stomach, brushing a fingertip over her most forbidden region, already moist and eager and wanting..
Panting softly, Sylph flipped me over and straddled my waist, displaying her sweating, steaming body, her flushed face looking down at me. My hands slid along her thighs sensually as she slowly eased me into her. Ecstasy coursed through me as I slowly disappeared inside of her. Sylph bit her lip hard and wore a pained expression, me being her first. Whimpering quietly in that perfect blend of pain and pleasure, she wrapped her arms protectively around my neck. It wasn't the spontaneous occurrence of a lustful moment between two people, it was love; deep and passionate love. The rest of that amazing night was something straight out of my deepest and most heartfelt desires and dreams, ..just like she was.. I sometimes wonder if it was all just a dream after all. Could something so perfect truly have happened?
..But that's all ancient history now. I'm surprised I remembered it so clearly...
That was my life for the next twelve years. Deep in the mines, breathin' fumes and hoping the next shipment of Pescaline D didn't get nicked before we dropped dead.
When I was around eighteen, a crew of bounty hunters rolled through town. They were a rough lot, said they were lookin' for a criminal that they tracked to Regina. They came askin' me and Old Otto about it, and it so happened that I did notice one odd fella who came by the night before all quiet and suspicious like. Turns out that sap was the one they were looking for after all. The next morning, one of the hunters came to me with a pouch full of platinum and pressed one right into my hand, sayin' it was my cut. I got to thinkin' then, bounty hunting seems an easy enough trade and with good pay to boot. Couldn't be much worse than staying in the mines and waiting for the Bowden's to kill me. That's how I got into it. Two years later, when I was twenty, I was a fair shot with a pistol. I'd been practicing with some old relic that Otto kept layin' around.
It was around then that Otto and me bailed out of that shithole planet in his Hog . Business started slow, but we made enough in bounty money to get by. We tracked thieves, criminals, murderers, anyone with a price on their head. A few of our contracts were questionable to say the least, but we needed the money. Pescaline D isn't cheap on the black market.
Some years later, Otto told me he wanted out of our business. I could understand why.. I sometimes forgot that Otto was a relic, and that life of excitement was too much for him. He didn't want to return to Regina by any means, but he was more than content to retire to a life of drifting through space. We had earned just enough money for me to buy the shittiest ship I could find, and then I was on my own.
Five years and a good amount of contracts later... I met her. It was a routine job, the target was a middle-aged fella holding out somewhere in Persephone. Murdered a merchant and nicked his wares. I sympathized with the guy, these aren't easy times. A middle-aged man with no criminal history who probably turned to thievery to feed his family. But like I said.. these aren't easy times.. It was only my third visit to the luxury of one of the core planets, so I wasn't in any kinda hurry to get out. I took it nice and slow for a while. Got some grub at one of those fancy restaurants, saw a couple street performers doing magic tricks and the like, the regular tourist things. When I decided it was time to get busy, I mosey'd on over to the local bar to start asking questions about the target. The barkeep, who was a long time friend of Otto and one of my most reliable contacts, gave me the scoop for a fistful of platinum.
"You better get your ass in gear, di di, you're not the only Hunter tracking this prey."
I nearly choked on my drink. "You already talked to someone?! Who was it!? When!? Give me back the platinum! I'm not paying for useless information."
He gave me a cold stare. "If you weren't Otto's boy, I'd break your arm. These aren't easy times, kid. I sing my birdsong to whoever throws me the seeds. You aren't too late."
I almost wanted to laugh.
He was right, I had to get my ass in gear then. I was a ruttin' fool for putting pleasure before business, I never made that mistake again. The target was holed up on the tenth floor of an apartment complex downtown. I made my way over there and bolted through the building and up the spiral stairs. I went double time up the last flight, slamming a clip into Otto's pistol and flicking the safety off. When I reached the tenth floor, I pressed my back against the wall and peeked around the corner, down the long hallway. I heard a muffled voice from an opened door and stalked closer, silently pulling back the gun's hammer. I needed this bounty, and I was prepared to kill another Hunter for it. Inches from the doorway where the voice came from, a gorram floorboard under my foot squeaked loud enough to shatter Earth-that-was all over again. Before I could even look down, a bullet exploded through the other side of the wall just across my ear. I hit the deck and scrambled back around the corner, and I could hear the other Hunter scrambling too.
"Kwai jio kai! He's mine!" The voice screamed at me. To my utter surprise, it belonged to a girl.
"Chui se!" I called back, firing a couple of blind shots for the door. I heard a gasp and a heavy thud. Thinking I may have hit her after all, I prowled back to the door, staying low as I could. This girl was slick, or maybe I was stupid. Another shot exploded through the very same wall as before, and I wasn't so lucky this time around. I felt the bullet burn through the shoulder of my gun arm. Otto's pistol went skidding a few feet away and I collapsed backward. Same stupid mistake twice. Damn was I a rookie back then. Finally, the woman stepped out of the doorway, her gun aimed at my head. Despite the agony in my shoulder and the blood seeping through my shirt, I couldn't help but notice she looked like something out of a dream. In her loosely tied pony tail, her tangled hair was a shade of red more beautiful then any I'd ever seen, her tanned skin and her dazzling emerald eyes had me captivated. Her many earrings varied in shades of silver and gold that matched the pattern on her bandana, and she wore a ragged brown tank-top with baggy camo pants that tucked into leather boots. Somethin' tells me she fancied me too, I saw her eyes widen and her mouth open ever so slightly when she looked at me. Maybe she was expecting something else.
"Planning to steal my bounty? You're pretty pathetic. And desperate by the looks of it." She flashed me the smuggest of smirks.. that fucking smugness.. I'll never forget it.
I struggled to prop myself against the wall, panting heavily. "You going to kill me or what?" I asked through raspy breaths.
"Eventually." She replied, "Who are you?"
"A Hunter."
She moved forward and pressed the still warm barrel of her pistol into my forehead. "Your name, smartass."
I tried to glare at her in defiance. "What does it matter?"
"Would you like 'some guy' carved on your tomb stone then?" She replied, grinning wickedly.
I found the strength to laugh. This girl wasn't too bright after all.
"What's so funny, chun zhu!?" She pressed the barrel harder into my forehead and clicked back the hammer."
"While you were playing tough girl with me, your bounty crawled out the window and down the fire escape." I told her.
The look on her face was priceless. She half-turned as if she didn't want to give me the satisfaction, then looked back at me, panicked and blushing."
I laughed again as she pulled the gun away and hurried out the window to chase down the bounty without another word.
A few months passed and I took on some jobs here and there, but money was tight. I couldn't help but think that bitch was snatching up all the contracts in the 'verse before me. I was feeling bitter for thinking of her so much, so I decided to go back to Persephone and meet with my contact again, see if I couldn't get some info about her. Incidentally, right when I walked through the door, I saw her sitting right there at the bar! I wasn't sure whether to reach for my gun or flat out ignore her. Before I could decide, she caught my eye and it looked like she was thinking the same thing. We stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, I walked to the bar and sat in the stool next to her as passively as possible. I could tell she was relieved. She turned back to her drink and pretended I didn't exist. I ordered a drink and did the same.
Without thinking, my mouth moved and asked, "So did you make the coin?"
She shot me a furious look and her cheeks flared almost as red as her hair, but gave no direct answer.
"Guess not." I replied with a chuckle.
"At least I didn't fall for the oldest trick in the book not once, but twice." She said venomously.
"I'll give you that." I said, burying the silence that followed with a long drink from my glass.
I found myself wanting an excuse to look at her again, so I faced her. "Got a name?" My eyes wandered down her body on their own, only now able to take in her slender, but fit figure. Her cheeks were flushed again, I could tell she noticed me ogling her. Anticipating a slap in the face, I instead got a name..
"Sylph."
Over the next five years.. life was a dream.. Sylph and me got closer and teamed up that same night, and earned a reputation to be proud of in the world of Bounty Hunting. The buzz from planet to planet, bar to bar, was all about 'Ben and Sylph'. We were partners in everything, fifty-fifty. When we turned in our bounties and collected our pay, she would grin at me, and I would grin right back. We were the best there was, and we knew it.
And during those long stretches of time that we sailed from planet to planet and moon to moon, job to job, we were never lonely. We had each other.
I remember our first night..the memory is so clear in my mind as I write this.
I heard her gentle tapping at my door and stood from my bunk to open it. I found her standing there, her wavy red hair hanging loose above her shoulders, gently biting the bottom of her soft lip. She wore one of my t-shirts as she usually did around the ship, hanging all the way down to her thighs. But this time there was nothing else. Her flushed face met mine, and as I gazed into those beautiful emerald eyes that I had come to adore, she pushed her lips into mine. That spark of lust that had dwelled so long in my gut since we first met ignited into a glorious, roaring flame. I put one hand on her waist while the other caressed her cheek, and kissed her lips with delicate, blissful passion. I felt her push her body into mine, her firm breasts pressing against my chest as her tongue found its way between my lips. My head was spinning and I saw stars. I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. She pulled her lips away briefly and slung her arms around my neck, nuzzling the side of her head into my chest for a few moments. I wrapped my arms around her, stroking the back of her hair affectionately. Neither of us spoke.
She looked up at me, and I at her, and she slowly moved to slide out of her shirt, revealing her lusting, naked body. She gently took my hand in hers and pressed it into her perfect breast, her erect nipple poking out between my fingers. She shut her watery green eyes and let out the quietest gasp as I caressed her. I felt myself ache for her, lust for her soft body, the powerful desire to claim her body as my own. So lost in the moment, I didn't notice the bulge that formed in my pants. But she did. I felt her hand push eagerly against my nether region and I sighed. She generously massaged me before slipping out of my embrace and easing herself onto the bunk, staring at me with those sensual green emeralds. I moved to the bed, throwing off my shirt and pants on the way to lay against her, I ran my hand up and down her smooth, beautifully curved hips, swelling for her, needing to explore every inch of her. I took one of her tight pink nipples in my mouth, feeling her gasp and shiver as I did. I brought one hand down her taut stomach, brushing a fingertip over her most forbidden region, already moist and eager and wanting..
Panting softly, Sylph flipped me over and straddled my waist, displaying her sweating, steaming body, her flushed face looking down at me. My hands slid along her thighs sensually as she slowly eased me into her. Ecstasy coursed through me as I slowly disappeared inside of her. Sylph bit her lip hard and wore a pained expression, me being her first. Whimpering quietly in that perfect blend of pain and pleasure, she wrapped her arms protectively around my neck. It wasn't the spontaneous occurrence of a lustful moment between two people, it was love; deep and passionate love. The rest of that amazing night was something straight out of my deepest and most heartfelt desires and dreams, ..just like she was.. I sometimes wonder if it was all just a dream after all. Could something so perfect truly have happened?
..But that's all ancient history now. I'm surprised I remembered it so clearly...
Sylph... If only that damned girl...
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