Post by contributor on May 2, 2013 15:49:15 GMT -5
I had to grow up fast. I don't know what my dad was thinking when he started calling me Howie, and kept calling me it, until it stuck. Perhaps he was hoping that with a name like that I'd never be able follow him in his illustrious profession. "Privateer" he styled himself. "Our beloved princes have certain business that they can't be expected to take care of themselves." He always said. Most everyone else referred to him as "that dirty pirate."
I guess it could have been worse. Afterall, he didn't name me Sue. But moving from starport to starport my fists got hard and my wits got keen and the other kids learned not to laugh when someone would yell "Here comes Howie the pirate!"
I have yet to figure out who made my old man disappear. I half think that he did it himself. Things probably got too hot and he knew the only way to cool 'em down was to make it look like he had gone to meet The Maker. For my part, I hoped he was sitting down somewhere to a good plate of Ormox beef, looking up at the stars. He had earned it, in his way. Either way, I was only 17 when old Hines showed up with the keys to the Serpent's Tooth and a hastily scrawled note from my dad that said only "do better." And that's just what I was determined to do.
From the beginning, it was clear it wouldn't be easy to make an honest living. At least all the factions were kind enough not to visit the sins of the father on the son and I got to start out with a clean slate, but still, they all seemed to know what kind of work I was cut out for. "Give him a few piddly delivery contracts till he's starving, he'll take that bounty contract, just you see." How many times did I use my last credits to fill up the tank, knowing that I didn't have the luxury of turning down contracts till I got just I right one. I took the work they gave me and more often than not it was a bounty.
It's true, I wasn't a bad scrapper and the pay seemed to be better than other contracts. I would have gladly done some trading to make a little clean money, but to make any real money with the little cargo hold on the Tooth, I would have needed a good shortage or surplus and there didn't seem to be any. Problem with fighting for a living was that all the cash I made just got plowed back into fixing up the ship. That or I had pay off some greasy secretary to get my name taken off of somebody's shit-list, but I was determined not to end up like my old man.
It's somewhat ironic that, with all the bounties, I was still gaining rep with just about everybody. I guess both houses and syndicates need somebody to wash their dirty laundry. I did, however, have a growing deficit with De Valtos that I was eager to clear up. I was coming off a few successful contracts for Cadar, even joined their military faction, had a bit of cash to spend and I thought it was time to settle things with Kashmire. What did Dad say? "Ol Kashi always has a contract for an ambitious captain."
It took half of what I had to get my name cleared and I assumed that meant we were on good terms. With things squared away, it was time to take a few DV contracts and get in their good graces, but my reputation preceded me again. After turning down a few worthless or impossible contracts I was getting to the point where I knew I had to take something. I ended up with two bounties up in the Maker-forsaken mining zone.
I always figured it was better to take a couple of bounties. That way, if I had to back out of one, I didn't waste an entire trip somewheres, and would still end up with positive rep. If I pulled them both off, all the better. The first-one was in some sleepy little independent mining colony, called Nasrah. The poor bastards. Did they even have a clue what they had done to piss of the factions and get a bounty put on their heads. They probably sold a load of ore to the wrong person at the wrong time at the wrong price, and now I was getting paid to make sure it wouldn't happen again.
I was a little surprised when I arrived. Sitting in the dock was one of Kashmire's official cleaners, a hot-shot DV bounty hunter who looked to be a lot more experienced than I was. I told myself he was probably just stopping by to fuel up, but the way he looked at me I started to think he might be there just in case I failed.
Either way, I knew what I had to do. I picked out my mark and followed him until he lifted off in a rickety little escape shuttle. Apparently I wasn't the first one to try and get him, my thoughts went back to the bounty hunter. This was going to be a quick 15k. My target was sneaky though and up in orbit it took us a little while to find his signature again. We caught up to him approaching a larger ship. What was he doing? The larger ship opened one of it's bays and the shuttle glided inside. Just then, Scopes shouted, "Radar contact at 100,000 meters, Captain. De Valtos bounty hunter approaching rapidly!"
Kashmire, the old fox, had played his hand perfectly! The reality of the situation slowly sunk in on me. The contract wasn't mine to fulfill. I was the contract! In an instant it became clear how they always seem to know just where you'll find your target. He'd taken my money and sent me out to the far corner of the quadrant where a report of my disappearance would be crammed into an overstuffed cabinet in some no-name, independent sheriff's office, never to be seen again and shards of the Serpent's Tooth would be left floating to poke holes in the solar sails of passing ore boats. I had to do better than that.
I don't know what it was, in any other situation I would have run as fast as I could, cut my losses. Maybe I had had too much success recently, maybe my judgement was impaired as the reality of my betrayal sunk in.
"Battlestations" I shouted. I knew my greatest chance was to get on board the bounty hunter's rig and take him down one-on-one. We took a torpedo and two bursts of gunfire before we were even close enough. Damn, he was good. It took a few tries to even get onboard. There's something about the frenzy of battle, when all reason goes out the portal. I was so focused on confronting the enemy captain that I quit paying any attention to the damage we were taking, over and over again we rushed to the attack, we were doing some damage, but at the cost of my own crew. I knew we couldn't keep it up. Then over my shoulder I heard my dad's voice as clear as day "Son, there comes a time when a spacer must throw himself at Shalun's feet and plead for mercy."
I knew what had to be done, but it was the hardest thing to do. There in the bounty hunter's bay I threw down my weapon and raised my hands. "I surrender!" The bounty was caught off guard. He glared at me and spat "Little Howie the pirate surrenders. Just like his father." I looked to where my weapon lay. I might be able reach it and pull off a shot before I was decommissioned. My dad's voice spoke again "do better."
"By Shalun, I surrender," I said again. I had found the flaw in Kashmire's plan. If you really want someone dead, don't let him pay you off first and don't send an honest bounty hunter.
It was true, I had made the first aggressive move and I spent a few weeks in Nasrah's jail for that one. It wasn't long enough for the second contract to expire, a nice fat merchant which I was able to loot and use to patch up the Tooth. Kashmire wasn't finished with me yet, nor I with him, and I would do better.
I guess it could have been worse. Afterall, he didn't name me Sue. But moving from starport to starport my fists got hard and my wits got keen and the other kids learned not to laugh when someone would yell "Here comes Howie the pirate!"
I have yet to figure out who made my old man disappear. I half think that he did it himself. Things probably got too hot and he knew the only way to cool 'em down was to make it look like he had gone to meet The Maker. For my part, I hoped he was sitting down somewhere to a good plate of Ormox beef, looking up at the stars. He had earned it, in his way. Either way, I was only 17 when old Hines showed up with the keys to the Serpent's Tooth and a hastily scrawled note from my dad that said only "do better." And that's just what I was determined to do.
From the beginning, it was clear it wouldn't be easy to make an honest living. At least all the factions were kind enough not to visit the sins of the father on the son and I got to start out with a clean slate, but still, they all seemed to know what kind of work I was cut out for. "Give him a few piddly delivery contracts till he's starving, he'll take that bounty contract, just you see." How many times did I use my last credits to fill up the tank, knowing that I didn't have the luxury of turning down contracts till I got just I right one. I took the work they gave me and more often than not it was a bounty.
It's true, I wasn't a bad scrapper and the pay seemed to be better than other contracts. I would have gladly done some trading to make a little clean money, but to make any real money with the little cargo hold on the Tooth, I would have needed a good shortage or surplus and there didn't seem to be any. Problem with fighting for a living was that all the cash I made just got plowed back into fixing up the ship. That or I had pay off some greasy secretary to get my name taken off of somebody's shit-list, but I was determined not to end up like my old man.
It's somewhat ironic that, with all the bounties, I was still gaining rep with just about everybody. I guess both houses and syndicates need somebody to wash their dirty laundry. I did, however, have a growing deficit with De Valtos that I was eager to clear up. I was coming off a few successful contracts for Cadar, even joined their military faction, had a bit of cash to spend and I thought it was time to settle things with Kashmire. What did Dad say? "Ol Kashi always has a contract for an ambitious captain."
It took half of what I had to get my name cleared and I assumed that meant we were on good terms. With things squared away, it was time to take a few DV contracts and get in their good graces, but my reputation preceded me again. After turning down a few worthless or impossible contracts I was getting to the point where I knew I had to take something. I ended up with two bounties up in the Maker-forsaken mining zone.
I always figured it was better to take a couple of bounties. That way, if I had to back out of one, I didn't waste an entire trip somewheres, and would still end up with positive rep. If I pulled them both off, all the better. The first-one was in some sleepy little independent mining colony, called Nasrah. The poor bastards. Did they even have a clue what they had done to piss of the factions and get a bounty put on their heads. They probably sold a load of ore to the wrong person at the wrong time at the wrong price, and now I was getting paid to make sure it wouldn't happen again.
I was a little surprised when I arrived. Sitting in the dock was one of Kashmire's official cleaners, a hot-shot DV bounty hunter who looked to be a lot more experienced than I was. I told myself he was probably just stopping by to fuel up, but the way he looked at me I started to think he might be there just in case I failed.
Either way, I knew what I had to do. I picked out my mark and followed him until he lifted off in a rickety little escape shuttle. Apparently I wasn't the first one to try and get him, my thoughts went back to the bounty hunter. This was going to be a quick 15k. My target was sneaky though and up in orbit it took us a little while to find his signature again. We caught up to him approaching a larger ship. What was he doing? The larger ship opened one of it's bays and the shuttle glided inside. Just then, Scopes shouted, "Radar contact at 100,000 meters, Captain. De Valtos bounty hunter approaching rapidly!"
Kashmire, the old fox, had played his hand perfectly! The reality of the situation slowly sunk in on me. The contract wasn't mine to fulfill. I was the contract! In an instant it became clear how they always seem to know just where you'll find your target. He'd taken my money and sent me out to the far corner of the quadrant where a report of my disappearance would be crammed into an overstuffed cabinet in some no-name, independent sheriff's office, never to be seen again and shards of the Serpent's Tooth would be left floating to poke holes in the solar sails of passing ore boats. I had to do better than that.
I don't know what it was, in any other situation I would have run as fast as I could, cut my losses. Maybe I had had too much success recently, maybe my judgement was impaired as the reality of my betrayal sunk in.
"Battlestations" I shouted. I knew my greatest chance was to get on board the bounty hunter's rig and take him down one-on-one. We took a torpedo and two bursts of gunfire before we were even close enough. Damn, he was good. It took a few tries to even get onboard. There's something about the frenzy of battle, when all reason goes out the portal. I was so focused on confronting the enemy captain that I quit paying any attention to the damage we were taking, over and over again we rushed to the attack, we were doing some damage, but at the cost of my own crew. I knew we couldn't keep it up. Then over my shoulder I heard my dad's voice as clear as day "Son, there comes a time when a spacer must throw himself at Shalun's feet and plead for mercy."
I knew what had to be done, but it was the hardest thing to do. There in the bounty hunter's bay I threw down my weapon and raised my hands. "I surrender!" The bounty was caught off guard. He glared at me and spat "Little Howie the pirate surrenders. Just like his father." I looked to where my weapon lay. I might be able reach it and pull off a shot before I was decommissioned. My dad's voice spoke again "do better."
"By Shalun, I surrender," I said again. I had found the flaw in Kashmire's plan. If you really want someone dead, don't let him pay you off first and don't send an honest bounty hunter.
It was true, I had made the first aggressive move and I spent a few weeks in Nasrah's jail for that one. It wasn't long enough for the second contract to expire, a nice fat merchant which I was able to loot and use to patch up the Tooth. Kashmire wasn't finished with me yet, nor I with him, and I would do better.
