Falken’s target had him on a chase, from Rheinland through the Sigma Border Worlds up into the Dragon’s nest of Kusari. He had to go low key and quick in dispatching his target, he didn’t want to attract the attention of the local Nippon security forces.
Coming in from Sigma, Falken stuck close to the GMG station in Honshu knowing that as long as he did not disrupt their activities, the gas miners would let him be.
Pulling up his nav map Falken began to plan out his insertion into New Tokyo, taking note of any possible areas to pull him closer to his target while covering any likely escape routes his target might take.
Just then a contact-alert went off on his scanner: Bounty Hunter IFF with the ship registry traced to Deshima Station. A League hunter had arrived. From the approximate area of contact, Falken estimated the DL ship was around Honshu. More pressing, Falken was unable to discern if the DL pilot had known his presence in the area.
He had two options - ditch the target for later, or take on the DL pilot and hope he was alive to stick around another day.
A feminine voice all too recognizable came over the comms, “Hey are you even going to say hello, Falken, its rude to keep your host waiting.”
Crap, out of all the hunters in Deshima, Falken was dealing with the one of the most tricky Hunters in Kusari; the pilot known as Kakera. To underestimate her just because her reproductive organs were on her inside was a folly was a mistake that few repeat.
“Hey I swear I’ll pay you back another drink, I’ve just been busy with all that’s going on and your boss kinda made life a tad bit more thorny than usual,” Falken explained.
Kakera laughed away; she always laughed everything away. “Not my problem, I can take this issue of the pirate bounty off your plate. Just walk away Falken, piloting in combat with those chains won’t help your flying."
“Chains, what the hell are you talking about missy,” Falken asked puzzlingly.
“Oh don’t be coy, everyone knows GMS is running on Liberty’s leash. Word they have you chained up to a slave contract,” Kakera said with a hint of satisfaction.
Those chains. “Hey they aren’t bad, you should try ‘em. These cuffs have nice fluffy padding, and I’m sure Liberty has some that are in pink just for you,” Falken teased.
Kakera couldn’t help to chuckle, “No thanks Falken. So are we gonna dance?”
It was go time, “Yukawa Shipyards, five klicks center,” Falken responded. Moving towards the coordinates, Falken set his weapons system to active and his emergency ejection on standby as Kakera’s signal moved closer.
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The battle was rough; Falken lost a mine dropper and a his counter-measures. His battery storage was dry and he barely had any bots left, but he looked better than Kakera’s ship. Falken wasn’t sure if she was alive or dead, ejection pods were usually near-fail proof, but in the midst of combat stress ship systems never ran their 100%. Surveying the area one last time, Falken laid out a SOS beacon just in case.
“Well guess you owe me my drink Kakera,” he said.
Jetting towards the New Tokyo system a priority communication flared to his HUD:
BOUNTY REVOKED. KSP ON HIGH-ALERT. VACATE TO NEURAL SPACE.
“Dammit to all hell,” Falken cursed. After all that his target bounty was withdrawn and now the Blood Empire’s Police was looking for him. He moved towards the Sigma jump gate, dodging Kusari police in the process. As he linked with the gate and prepared to enter the event horizon a message came through his system comms:YOU OWE ME A NEW SHIP FALKEN. -K
Falken smiled to himself as he felt his ship catapult into the Sigma system.
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