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(Posted on 08-29-2000)
Rogue Justice : Bounty Hunters
=========================== An Escape Velocity : Override Story
This story is based upon the EV: Override universe. Minimal knowledge of the game is necessary to understand the story. All characters are purely fictional, any resemblance to anyone living, dead or undead is purely coincidental.
The Goliath floated away from the grasp of Hurons gravity, and closer to the jump point to the Omm system. Its skipper, Duke Bullwhip, used the ship on his journeys as a bounty hunter. This Turncoat was modified far from the original design.
There were seven crew members aboard the Goliath. Duke Bullwhip was the ships pilot. His copilot was Tom Hunnicut, both of them worked as bounty hunters.
The ship had three pilots, who called themselves the Marauder Wing. Marauder Leader was Harley Quinn. Harley worked as a pilot in a renegade fleet, but joined Dukes crew rather than go to prison. Mike Pearson was an academy graduate, but he did not want to fight in the navy. He liked working with a bounty hunter, or a fugitive-retrieval agent. Marauder Three was Jim Banks. Jim dropped out of the academy in search of adventures (and money). He found them aboard the Goliath.
Jack Lawrence was a technician from Iothe Prime. He was a skilled mechanic, and he and Duke performed all repairs on the ship. Jack used the tricks he learned on Iothe Prime to outfit the ship better than any Turncoat in the galaxy -- almost.
There were eight rooms for the crew to stay in, but only seven crew members. The eighth room was called the Lounge. This room had a holo-projector, a billiards table, and other forms of recreation. It was good for keeping up morale, and a haven for the pilots.
===========================
Part I
Duke Bullwhip stared down at a monitor, and a stream of numbers rolled by. The computer was making calculations for the jump. There was a beeping sound, and Duke knew that the ship was entering hyperspace. There was a low hum as the hyperdrive powered up. Duke stared out the cockpit, and watched as the stars blurred before him.
He stood and headed for the door. Tom Hunnicut followed. Duke headed back to his quarters, to review the mission, while Tom headed for the lounge. When he arrived, he found Jack and the pilots playing a game of poker, with a cheesy, horror holo-flick playing on the holo-projector at full volume. He walked over and grabbed the remote control from the table.
What the hell do you think youre doing ?, protested Harley.
Oh, shut up, Tom said, youve been watching these horror holo-flicks all month.
And what are you going to watch ?, asked Mike.
Tom opened his mouth, but Jim Banks cut him off.
Another one of those documentaries ?, he prompted.
I hope not, Mike replied. That one documentary, he paused to think of the name, I think it was : The Mating Habits of the New Rome Flying Shark, it was one of the most disgusting things Ive ever seen.
There was a chorus of acknowledgements. You fools could use a little education, said Tom. He tossed the remote control back to the table. Rot your brains away with that garbage, he said, see if I care.
Tom noticed Duke standing in the doorway and he shut up. Duke cleared his throat, and got the attention of his crew.
We have a new mission, he told them. Have any of you ever heard of Needle Edwards ?
A few of the crew members nodded, others shook their heads.
For those of you who have not heard of him, I will tell you a bit about him. Needle is a technical mastermind. He can duplicate any mission just by looking at it. He has revolutionized the weapons industry -- for renegades and criminals. This one is going to be hard to catch.
Where are we going ?, Harley asked.
Freeport, Duke told them. So, that means...
...Marauder Wing will be on active duty, Mike finished.
Exactly, said Duke. I suggest you get some rest, we arrive in the Riomor system in thirty-eight hours.
Why do we need to get him ?, asked Tom.
U.E. Intel wont tell us. But they told me it was important -- and I believe them.
Duke turned and left the room.
Freeport station was built from debris of spaceships, and there was plenty of that in the Riomor system. Space battles were always raging outside the station. The station was on the fringes of the Proxima Nebula, and it was the perfect hideaway for these people who lived on the fringes of society.
Duke Bullwhip wore a long, black cloak and had the hood over his head. He kept his hand on his blaze pistol, but concealed it beneath the cloak. His eyes were mismatched. The left eye was green, and the right was brown. This was not natural, however. The left (green) eye was covered by a lens, that scanned people to see if they matched the notorious renegade, Needle Edwards.
Tom Hunnicut wore a black jumpsuit with three silver stripes on the pant-legs. He followed close behind Duke, making no attempt to hide the seven-inch blade in his sheath.
Duke stepped on a sensor, and the door made a whoosh as it slid open. The bar reeked of vomit, and was filled with smoke. Gangs of renegades sat around tables sharing stories about looting convoys and chasing off capitol ships from the navy. He looked around the bar, but did not see a match. In the corner of his eye, he saw a man exit the sliding door of the bar. He had a hunch that this was Needle Edwards. He motioned for Tom to follow him, and they followed the man into the corridor.
The man looked over his shoulder and saw that Duke and Tom were following him. He broke into a run. Duke and Tom chased after him. The man was taller than both Duke and Tom, so he had an advantage over them. Duke was about five meters behind the man, and Tom was about seven meters behind him. The tall man punched something on a wall-terminal. Duke saw a blue light flash behind him, once he passed the terminal. A force field smacked Tom in the face. He fell to the ground.
Duke leaped forward and tackled the tall man. He put the barrel of his blaze pistol to the mans back. Stand, he ordered.
The man did as he was told. Duke kept the barrel against his back.
The lens scanned him. What do you know about Needle Edwards ?, he asked.
The name, the man said, is unfamiliar to me.
Really ?, Duke said disbelievingly. He pulled out the lens and put it in the palm of his hand. Well, this lens tells me that you are Needle Edwards, or a clone.
Thank you, thought Needle. You just bought me enough time to disable your pistol.
Needle fished a tiny object from his pocket. A red light on the end flashed. This jammed the electronic signal of the weapon.
Duke got behind Needle to put handcuffs on him, and Needle drove his elbow into Dukes gut. Duke stepped back, and raised the pistol.
Not smart, Edwards, he said.
You need me alive, and you know it, he said.
Thats what the stun-setting is for. He pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. Damn, he swore aloud. Tom Hunnicut crept up behind Needle, with his dagger drawn. Duke decided to stall him. I guess you are too smart for bounty hunters.
Needle saw Toms reflection in Dukes eye. He braced himself for a hit, but felt a blade plunge into his back. Needle fell to the ground. He woke up in a prisoner containment cell aboard the Goliath. He was handcuffed and had a bad headache. He checked his pockets, all of his gadgets had been confiscated.
Ill make my escape when they stop to refuel, he thought, and then the operation will go off without a hitch.
The Goliath steered towards a landing-pad on the world of Huron. The hatch opened and Duke Bullwhip and Tom Hunnicut were standing in the doorway. They got out and headed towards the Huron spaceport bar, they were meeting with Octavian Augustus -- Special Agent Octavian Augustus. He was an old friend of Dukes and said he had an important message.
The Marauder Wing pilots were taking advantage of eighteen hours of shore-leave, and Jack Lawrence was doing minor repairs around the ship. Needle Edwards was plotting his escape with the little resources he had inside his cell.
There were three types of people in the Huron spaceport bar. Privateers dominated the back of the bar. Tom and Duke sat with this crowd. The front of the bar was dominated by naval officers who were on shore-leave. The middle of the bar was dominated by locals, both sides ignored the middle.
The doors to the bar slid open and a tall man entered. His right eye was entirely black. This was normal with prosthetics, but it made him look -- inhuman. He had a scar running across his face. It stretched from his forehead, across his nose, and on to his left cheek. Duke saw the man and motioned him to sit at their table.
Thats Octavian?, thought Tom. He looked nothing like the Octavian Augustus he imagined based the stories Duke told. But those stories all happened at least ten years ago.
Duke and Octavian shook hands, and Octavian sat across from him. They know, were the first words Octavian uttered when he sat down.
You cant mean --, Duke started.
Yes, he said, I do.
They know about Outpost Omega.
What the hell are they talking about?, thought Tom.
Do they know about the -- ?, Duke started.
No, but if they know about the outpost, then they will soon learn of the task force.
Duke frowned. Tom had no idea what either of them was talking about.
Using a piece of metal on his cot, Needle picked the lock on his handcuffs. He used the electricity in the lighting fixtures to short out the force field that contained him in the cell. Now, all he had to do was get out of the hatch without alerting the mechanic.
He heard the hatch open, and saw Marauder Wing enter. They stood in the doorway, chatting quietly, while Needle reached out and grabbed his belongings. He stuffed them into his pockets, and leaped forward, tackling Jim Banks.
Mike Pearson tried to pull him off, and Harley Quinn was too drunk to do anything but use his comm-unit. Needle used the small device to scramble the comm-units signal.
Hello ? Hello ?, Harley said stupidly.
Needle knocked out Jim Banks and stood to find a blaze pistol in his face. He put his hands up to humor the pilot. Moving as swiftly as possible he managed to disarm the pilot.
Is anybody there ?, Harley asked, while the fight took place.
He leaped out of the hatch and ran off into the forest. Mike would have chased after him, but Harley might have hurt himself, and he certainly wouldnt help Jim.
He called Jack, and they carried Jim off into the infirmary, while Harley sat on the floor playing with his comm-unit.
Everyone knew that Duke would not appreciate losing the prisoner, but he had more important things to worry about...
Stay tuned for Chapters 4 - 6
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 08-29-2000).)
(This message has been edited by Grundle_04 (edited 08-29-2000).)
I really enjoyed the story. It had humor without being campy; it had the kind of tough guy talk you'd expect from bounty hunters ("Not smart, Edwards"); and it left me wondering what was coming next. Awaiting the next three chapters.
------------------ PlanetPhil
if you lived here, you'd be home by now
Thanks, PlanetPhil.
------------------ My other ship is also a Kestrel ... ------------------ AIM : Grundle004
At first I thought that finding Needle Ed in the Freeport bar was a bit of a rip-off. However, I can see that only the name was used.
------------------ I want a doughnut. A doughnut as doughnutty as a doughnut made of flour, water, one large egg, sugar, a pinch of yeast, cinnamon to taste, and jam or jelly filling, depending on preference. Its not a doughnut as something in any way metaphorical. Just a doughnut.
Quote
Originally posted by Jack: **At first I thought that finding Needle Ed in the Freeport bar was a bit of a rip-off.
**
A ripoff of what?
Originally posted by Grundle_04: **A ripoff of what? **
Ah, a ripoff of the Freeport Bar post. Took me long enough to figure it out.
Okay, I am not posting the rest of this story (as if anyone cares), because I have given it a total rewriting, and a new name ( The Omega Conspiracy ). When I finish, maybe I'll post it. But, until then, this is the last you're going to see.
Well, I'd like it see it here when you've finished it. Jude editor of the EV/EVO Chronicles
------------------
Originally posted by Jude: **Well, I'd like it see it here when you've finished it. Jude editor of the EV/EVO Chronicles **
heh, if i finish it is more like it. but thanks for the compliment.
... (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/skyblade500/omega_conspiracy/")http://www.geocities...ega_conspiracy/(/url) ...
(This message has been edited by skyblade (edited 02-04-2001).)