Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:46 am by neuromancer
And here we go. Chapter 1, for your reading pleasure.
Chapter 1
Curacao, Matt Deckard thought bitterly to himself, was a hell of a place to have your ship stolen.
He sat in the security office filling out his report, and he took extra care to make sure the bastards that were in charge knew exactly how he felt about things. He had just spent some major scratch outfitting his beloved Sabre with brand-new GMG Skyblast cannons. Now both ship and weaponry were now most likely in the hands of some Liberty Rogue joyriding around showing the Sirius Sector what a badass he had become. If I ever find the guy, Deckard thought to himself, I'll tear his nuts off with a crescent wrench.
The worst part about the whole thing, knowing how long it took Orbital Spa and Cruise to do anything, was that until the inevitable insurance hassle was resolved, he would have to replace his Sabre with a lame-ass Barracuda, the only ship the dealer sold on Curacao. The finger to this place.
He finished his report and handed it to the Orbital Spa and Cruise representative, who was the most pleasant part of the whole fiasco. She was very nice-looking, with silvery hair and a gorgeous tan.
"Have a nice day," she called out as he left the room.
Bit late for that, don't you think? he thought to himself as he headed for the ship dealer.
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An hour later, Deckard was in the bar. He had completed his ship purchase and decided he needed a drink to calm him down. Despite all the crap that the Curacao resort had put him through, this place served some of the best drinks in Sirius. He grabbed a Rheinland Lager and sat down. He had no idea what he was going to do next. Here he was, a Sirius Sector frelancer. He could go anywhere, do anything, and he hadn't the foggiest what the hell he was going to do.
Matt Deckard had grown up on Denver in the Colorado system. His father had worked for Cryer Pharmaceuticals, but was killed in an ambush by Liberty Rogues when Deckard was twelve. Saddened and angered by his father's death, he joined the Liberty Police as soon as he was old enough, distingushing himself as a superior pilot and marksman. He left after two years of service, realizing that the Police were paying freelance pilots more money to do their dirty work than they were paying their own people.
Deckard purchased a Startracker light fighter and moved to Manhattan to seek his fortune. He still occasionally flew missions for his old employer, but discovered the money to be made by working freelance for the Bounty Hunter's Guild and the major corporations. He became known throughout New York as a reliable gun-for-hire and as his wealth and fame grew he began to offer his services to the other Houses. With each big payday he upgraded his ship, each time wondering why the hell Liberty didn't build ships like that.
He had, of course, made several enemies along the way. The Liberty Rogues, as expected, placed substantial bounties on his head, and their allies the Outcasts had followed suit, as he was responsible for many disruptions of their smuggling operations. Because of his reputation as a crack pilot, even they thought twice now about taking him out.
Deckard cursed to himself and downed the last of the lager. It was an excellent brew, and Curacao and Rheinland were the only places he could get it. He decided to check the job board just for the hell of it. Dusting some Liberty Rogues was sure to make him feel better.
He scanned the listings. Most of it was the usual: So-and-so has done this, and we want him eliminated. There's a weapons platform out here, go destroy it. Same old crap.
Hello. What's this?
Deckard read the job posting. "Private individual requests reliable freelancer for courier run. If you are that reliable freelancer, click Accept and you will be contacted as to the remaining details of job, where you will be free to accept or decline at that time. Payment upon successful delivery is one million credits."
Whoa, Deckard thought, there's a payday. And no strings attached at this point. How could he lose? He clicked the Accept button and entered his neural net code into the computer. Things were finally starting to look up.
---Liberty Ale: The alcoholic equivalent of Kool-Aid.
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/14/2005 11:48:57 AM
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/14/2005 11:50:20 AM