Talet

Ok, I thought I might give this a go, This is just the plot I’ll get to the actual story in my next post.

2067-The Earth has become over populated and so colonies have been built in outer space. The Moon, Mars, Io and Titan have all been colonised as well. Small jet-like space ships have been invented to fly between colonies and planets. Most of these only seat one person although there are much larger vessels for large groups of people. In order to make space travel easier Hyperspace gates have been made which propel ships into hyperspace, making travel a lot quicker. Money is now digitalised and is kept on a card. There is only one form of currency, the Unicred, which can be used among all colonies and planets. The health service is better than ever, now being able to heal any injury instantly. The only thing that can’t be cured is death, so as long as you’re still alive you’re fine. The police service is pretty much powerless, so in order to bring in suspects the police hire bounty hunters to do the job for them, while they work on other cases such as drug busts. Bounty hunters have the advantage of being able to use any force necessary to bring the suspect in, dead or alive (although the bounty paid was quite often substantially less when bought in dead). However, when there is no jobs to do life can be very boring. Due to this there are not to many bounty hunters.

Colony Epsilon 8, near Jupiter. The blonde haired man, Christan Talet, CT to his friends, sat at his desk in his small office. He was playing solitaire at his desk, business had been slow so he was just passing time. He was a bounty hunter who took any job that paid, although he usually didn’t bother with bounties under 10,000U mark, they were just small fries. He sighed, when was a good paying job going to come along? He placed another card down. “Solitaire, is a lonely mans game CT” a voice came from the door. CT sighed again, “It passes the time, Mart.” Martin or Mart was CT’s source on the police force, it was how he got information on bounties before it came public. Mart sat down, “I’ve got some news that might interest you,” Mart said “There is a bounty worth 1,000,000U coming soon.” CT slowed his hand, which was just about to place the seven of clubs on the six, he looked up. “Thought that would get your attention, apparently that accident at the Delta 5 Colony was no accident. This fellow, Simon Masters is apparently the fellow behind it. We can’t do anything about it, we’re to busy on bigger cases. Anyway, you want to take the job?” CT had returned to placing the cards on the table, there was one card left, he picked it up “Do you even have to ask?” He placed the card in his pocket and went to get his jacket. “Be careful pal, this hasn’t been made public yet, you can’t make a move until it has.” “Got it,” CT walked towards the door, “I’ll just find out where he is and wait until it is, then he’s mine.” CT walked out of the door.

CT landed his small space ship, the Phoenix I. It was only a couple of blocks until his contacts shop so he decided to walk it. The Delta 5 Colony had been destroyed a month before. It had seemed like an accident, it could have happened to any of the colonies, an explosion in the engine room, colonies need power in order to stay in orbit. The explosion had apparently been caused by a crack in one of the Lithium Hydropumps. The explosion took out five floors. One of the floors had the lower atmospheric shield generator on, without that the lower half of the colony lost atmosphere and shielding, killing hundreds instantly. From there, there was a huge panic people were running for escape pods. No-one really knows what happened after that, that’s when the Capitan’s distress call ended. Unfortunately, no-one survived. Every bounty hunter in the Solar System would be after Simon Masters when the news got out. He got to his contacts shop, a weapons shop, it was where he got most of his weapons from. He opened the door, “Hello? Dan?” He asked. “Well, well, well if it isn’t my old friend CT. So what will it be this time? Dan answered. He was short and fat, with greasy black hair, the complete opposite of CT. “Information,” CT replied, “I need to know everything about Simon Masters.” Dan sighed “It’ll take a while, and it’ll cost you but ok” So CT settled in, it was going to be a long afternoon.

you're a huge Cowboy Bebop fan huh?

Yeah, its not going to be the same eventually, i'm going to change it and make it so it's not so similar, i'm going to try and draw insperation from loads of games, films and anime.

Simon was apparently now hiding out on Mars, in a little known bar, trying to avoid all attention. CT had already set off into space and was in a Hyperspace gate, heading towards Mars. He didn’t really need to concentrate all to much in Hyperspace gates, it was just a straight line, and at the minute it wasn’t too busy. He was checking over his weapons. His weapon of choice was his Walther CP88, he had got it when he became a bounty hunter and had become quite attached to it. He made sure he had enough ammo with him, he had restocked back on Epsilon 8, grenades and throwing knives. He also had a couple of back up pistols just in case one got lost or jammed. The LCD on the Phoenix lit up saying that he would arrive at Mars in thirty seconds and to disengage the Hyperspace engines. CT did so and returned to normal space. Mars was in his sights, looking like a big red orb. CT smiled, this was one of the reasons he loved space. He engaged the normal engines and set off towards the planet.

CT landed the Phoenix in a street near where Simon was hidden. He looked at his watch and set it to beep as soon as he received the message opening the bounty. He walked into the bar which Simon was hiding in and took a quick glance round, checking to make sure he knew where all the exits were, where Simon was and where any possible threats were. He sat down on a stool and ordered a drink, keeping his eyes on the mirror so he could see everything Simon was up to. He was drinking by himself, CT picked up his drink and walked over to Simon, “Hi, mind if I sit here?” he asked. “Get lost if you know what’s good for you,” Simon answered, his voice was deep and rough. He looked like he hadn’t had a wash in weeks, he had a tattoo on his left bicep. CT sat down anyway, he looked at his watch, still no message. CT felt a gun against him under the table, “I said get lost!” Simon said. CT’s watch beeped it was about time, now he could capture this guy.

CT turned around, spun his pistol out of its place at his hip and onto the table “Are you going to come peacefully Simon?” He asked. Simon looked up, he thought he would have had more time, he smiled and pulled his gun from under the table. CT kicked Simons gun out of his hand and across to the other side of the bar. He then punched Simon in the face and pulled him off his chair and onto the floor. Several men stood up as CT had guessed, Simon had paid some men to act as body guards, they drew their guns. CT leapt behind a table and turned it over to protect himself. Simon was wanted alive, he couldn’t risk letting him die while saving himself, what could he do? He bent around the table and let a couple of shots off. It was a good thing the table was made out of metal, it would protect him for just a little bit longer. He needed to know exactly where Simon was so he could plan a suitable course of action…but how?

Crouched behind the overturned table CT pulled a grenade from his jacket pocked, the card he had placed in there fell out. It would have to do, he picked it up and threw it to his right, before peeking out of the left side of the table, it worked. Simon was lying on the floor in the middle of the bar cowering. CT threw a grenade to where the bodyguards were at the other end of the bar. It blew up, CT stood up and ran towards the door grabbing Simon by the collar. When they were outside he cuffed Simon and walked him towards the Phoenix, he kept his gun drawn to take care of anyone who tried to stop him.

Simon was in the back of the Phoenix. It was only a one man ship but it had a small area behind the seat, which could be used for passengers if it was needed, CT used it for transporting his bounties. “You have no idea why they put a bounty on me do you?” Simon asked. “You blew up the Delta 5 Colony” CT answered inspecting a disk he had found on Simon. “No, I…” Simon stopped, “Well I guess that is my fault. I only stole that disk from there, it blew up a good day after I left.” CT put the disk in his pocket and checked that everything was ok. He was taking Simon to the police station on Epsilon 8. “You know what.” CT said, “It doesn’t really bother me what you say, I get my 1,000,000U either way. You can lie all you like, I’m not going to let you go.”

CT had been tired when he had got home that night. He had claimed his 1,000,000U, put the strange disk into one of his draws and collapsed onto his bed. A woman opened the door, she snuck across the room, being careful not to make a sound. She drew a pistol from its holster and held it at her side still walking towards the sleeping CT. CT’s hand was underneath the pillow. The woman got to the bed and aimed the gun at CT’s head. In a swift movement CT pulled his hand from under the pillow and aimed the gun at her. She was shocked, she had been so silent how could he know. “You after something?” CT asked. “I’m after the bounty on your head, Christan.” Now it was CT’s turn to be surprised. “You’ve got a 500,000U bounty on your head, for murder, theft, and terrorism.” CT was shocked, he had never done any of that. “What?” He asked lowering his gun. “You murdered Simon Masters, stole some disk and blew up a bar on Mars.” Was the reply he got. Suddenly, the door broke down and three armed men entered and started tearing the place up. CT grabbed the woman and pulled her over the bed to the other side. “Listen, I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, but right now we’ve got to get out of here.” He told her looking around. The window it was the only way out. He grabbed her by the hand and ran towards the window, jumping out of it with her onto the street below. The men stopped firing and began to search for something in his apartment. “We’ve found it.” Said one man, “We’ve got the disk. What about the girl?” A second man said, “Post a bounty on her too, we don’t know what he’s told her. Pay more for them dead, we can’t take any chances.”

~This is where the story starts, everything before this post was just a prologue.~

CT still held onto the woman’s arm. They had landed on the street and run into the ship park underneath the apartments. CT finally let go of the woman’s hand and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up into a gun barrel, “I don’t know who they were, but I’m still going to take you in.” CT gently pushed the gun aside, “I don’t know who they were either, I do know I didn’t do any of that stuff you said about. I also know we stand a better chance together.” He opened the Phoenix’s cockpit and started to climb on it, he looked back, “You can come with me if you want, otherwise stay here and don’t come after me.” “If you think you can get away from me that easily you’ve got another thing coming. I’m not letting you out of my sights.” The door from the apartments opened and the men came down. CT now safely in the cockpit grabbed the woman’s hand and pulled her into the cockpit, he then activated the ships shields. “Get in the back” he said, the woman complying. CT closed the cockpit and blasted off into space.

With the colony clear CT had a chance to relax. The woman was sitting in the backseat where Simon Masters had sat in his custody earlier. Behind that was a small compartment with a locked door on holding supplies, just in case he ever got trapped in space. The ship was no bigger than an old Tornado jet from the 20th century. “What’s your name?” CT asked curiously while checking the scanners for any pursuing ships. “Dawn. Dawn Kemp. Now I demand that you take me to the nearest police station, so that I can take you in.” A light flashed on the phoenix’s control board, indicating there was a new bounty on offer. CT pressed the button. “Not if you don’t want to get arrested too.” Dawn looked at the screen to see her name, with a dead award. She didn’t say anything, instead she just sat, without saying a word. The sensor picked something up, five jets and one transporter, all with their guns activated. “Here they come.” CT said activating the nearest Hyperspace gate and taking the Phoenix through it.

The five jets had followed the Phoenix into the gate. “Damn! Hold on to something!” CT shouted. He did a barrel roll to the left to avoid the incoming fire. It was hard to manoeuvre in Hyperspace, many pilots can’t handle it, those who can usually become ‘Hyperspace Racers’. The reason CT could do this was as his father had been a Hyperspace Racer and taught him everything to do. CT slowed the Phoenix down so he was behind two of the jets. He let off the machine guns blowing them up and flew through the flames. “This is going to be tricky!” He spun the ship around and fired at two more of the jets blowing them up, and spinning back around facing the end of the gateway. “Only one more left…but where is he?” Suddenly bullets hit the Phoenix’s left wing. CT saw the ship closing in fast, it was going for a collision and there was no time to avoid. He did the only thing he could do and tried to reduce the damage by turning the ship on its side. Instead of hitting the cockpit the ship hit the Phoenix’s already weakened left wing causing it to fly off, the jet blew up and the Phoenix shot out of hyperspace, heading towards a planet.

“CT do something” Dawn was yelling in his ear. “Like what? We’ve got one wing and the controls aren’t responding” The planet was getting larger and larger. They had entered the atmosphere of the planet Earth. They were right above the desert, “We’re going to die aren’t we?” Dawn asked. CT sighed, he didn’t have a clue. It was likely they would die, but there had been miracles in the past, and now was time for one. The dashboard lit up. CT quickly grabbed the joysticks (like in Cowboy Bebop with the Swordfish’s control joystick) and pulled back on them. He hoped it would reduce the damage done.

The ship crashed in the desert, both CT and Dawn were knocked unconscious by the crash.

CT finally woke, he opened his eyes to the red hot blaze of the desert. The sand seemed to ripple due to the heat. Luckily, he hadn’t been hurt from the crash, which couldn’t be said for the Phoenix itself, which lay on its side. Glass from the cockpit lay scattered on the sand, the left wing was missing and one of the jets on the back had disappeared. He thought it was a miracle he was still alive. He sighed a sigh of relief and then remembered, “Dawn!” He crawled out of the cockpit, narrowly escaping getting cut on some of the glass. He crawled to the backseat of the Phoenix and checked Dawns pulse, she was still alive, and by the looks of things unhurt. He pulled her out of the seat and onto the desert floor about five metres away from the ship. After making sure she was OK he returned to the ship and opened the compartment at the back, where the emergency supplies were kept. There was mostly food, all stored in cans, tins and boxes. Other than the food there was a couple of blankets, some bottles of water and a pop-up tent. It wasn’t much but it would do, they needed to keep themselves shaded from the sun which was shining brighter than he’d ever seen before.

CT released the latch on the tent, causing it to form itself. Dawn had woken up, to CT’s delight and was helping him set up their camp. They would go out in search of help tomorrow, but they would later find out that they wouldn’t need to and that help would come for them in the night.

The wind had picked up and was blowing the shards of the Phoenix’s cockpit everywhere. CT and Dawn were safe in the tent eating a can of warmish beans, heated over a small fire each. Not too far away a middle aged man with a scar cutting across his left eye was travelling the desert looking for what had crashed into his planet. His small buggy trundled across the sand. He had seen something crash and had been the one sent out to investigate. This area of the desert was an unknown hiding place for runaways, bounties, and hackers. This particular man was an ex-pirate. He had been betrayed by his men and locked in an escape pod, with no food or water. He had been lucky to survive, if his men found out about him surviving there was a possibility that they would come for him. He had stayed on Earth for three months and bought a small ship. It was larger than the Jet ships, about the size of a large house, a carrier ship. It had the space to hold three jets, a kitchen, main room, bridge, engine room and weapons for defence. He had got it in-case he had needed to escape the planet quickly. He was now only a minute away from the crash site, and he was about to get good use of his ship.

CT heard the buggy approaching, “looks like it’s our rescue party” he said stepping outside of the tent and putting his hand on his gun. The buggy came to a stop and the driver got out looking at the damaged Phoenix, “Looks like you could use some help.” He was really looking at the ship to make sure it wasn’t a pirate or Space Police one, “Come on I’ll give you guys a lift.” He said it while uncoiling a cable from the back of the buggy. “Where to?” CT asked. The man looked at him, “Home. I’ll explain more later.” CT and Dawn had no other choice but to trust him.

CT and Dawn rode in the back of the buggy, with Horris, the man, in the driving seat. “So how’d you two find yourselves to be out here? I mean you two are those two bounty hunters on the run, aren’t you?” He asked. CT stopped Dawn from pulling her gun out, she at least had learnt to trust him now, she knew the only way to survive was to stay with him. Plus she liked CT, although she tried to hide it, as he hid his feelings for her. “How did you know all about that?” CT asked keeping his cool. Horris replied “Oh no no no, I’m not after you two. You see the place I called ‘home’ is a hiding place for those who wish not to be found, hardly anyone knows about it, but they’ve all heard of you two. It’s not every day you hear about two bounty hunters being forced to become the hunted.” CT didn’t know whether or not to be flattered, instead he just began to tell Horris his story.