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Into Western Space ( MasterOfWhispers and Ms_Muffintops)

MasterOfWhispers

MasterOfWhispers

Star
Joined
Jan 15, 2009
Name: Jackal 9
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Crime:Destruction of a total of ten federation and Imperial Embassies.
Bounty:200,000 Credits.

The screen flickered, as Miguel Knight made his final landing on his personally fighter ship "Lady Luckless". Stepping out of ship the dark haired man with a few streaks of blond adorning the the sides of his hair stepped out of his space ship and on to the sands of the Desert Planet Wyrm. Brushing off his dusty brown coat, his blue eyes gleamed the horizon, his face feeling the hot winds and sands of the planet, looking at the abandoned warehouse. Looks like this is the place. Miguel thought as he began arming himself with ten grenades, a shot gun and a hand gun. It was just another typical job for him. Go in, kill the bastard, bring his head to the nearest bounty station.

Of course, for the young spacer, things weren't always that simple. Bounties, Smuggling jobs, even heists had a tendency to go awry. Miguel Knight tended to have the worst luck in the world when it came to jobs. High priced bounties he would go after tended to end in massive destruction of property. While, Smuggling often resulted in the feds checking up on the Cargo holds In ships he'd been hired on to, to help with the smuggling. The only silver lining of it all was meeting a certain girl every now and then. A girl whom he enjoyed a little friendly rivalry with. He always intended to ask her out, but never really found the opportunity.

Luck was finally on his side as that oppurutunity came as he saw another ship. Cross the atmosphere and lend several miles away from his own.
"Frequency and I.D recognized: 151.". The ship computer said in a monotone voice. "

With the Eagerness of a child, Miguel soon reached out to his ships radio to contact 151. " Hey It's me Miguel! I take it your after the same bounty!? Nice seeing you again!"
 
Lily Ellenford was less than pleased to hear that message coming out of her own ships radio. A rather unenthusiastic sigh escaped her lips as she rested her forehead against the palm of her hand. He was after this one too? She wanted the kill. She needed it. Why did he of all people have to be after this guy? The petite woman gazed up at the monitor screens hanging from the ceiling of her ship, Le Grenadier. Sure enough, there was his ship on the radar.

"Hi Miguel...", Lily replied with a glum tone. "Yup... got that right. Heading in on it soon. Oh, and if you see any mechanical spiders walking around, don't squash them, I placed them there a few days ago to monitor the place."

On the inside, she wanted to throw a fit and tell him to go away, but she couldn't deny a little challenge. Her approach to bounties were a bit different from his. She chose to make her kills as discrete as possible. Lily was the perfect girl for the job. She was short with a curvaceous and supple body with long chestnut colored hair that hung halfway down her back. Her turquoise eyes were filled with innocence, but that was far from the reality. Lily did not tolerate a man much less ogling her chest. She had yet to kill Miguel. Either he was a genuine guy or he was very discrete about any stares he made.

Part of Lily wanted to hate him, but she couldn't find herself an excuse to hate him, other than the fact that they had always been highly competitive with each other.

"Well. I guess I better hurry my ass up. Enough waiting... got myself some ass to kick", she spoke to herself as she sat down in her seat and took the wheel and increased the speed of her ship which had been circling the planet for a couple days while waiting for the chance to snatch the guy. But with Miguel there, there was no more waiting.

"I'm closing in on ya!" Lily spoke over the radio, letting him know it was almost game on.
 
Slightly disappointed that this conversation would turn into all their other conversations. He resigned himself to his more competitive side once again. "Bah who needs mechanical spiders when you have trusty explosives and my dear Sheila" Sheila of course is referring to his trusty over sized handgun he kept holstered at his chest at all times. Even in the showers. "I'll tell you nothing really gets a bounty like a nice little explosion!"

Perhaps there was some kinda of god out there that loved his little jokes and his own sense of irony. But the moment those words left Miguel's mouth, Several giant machines in shape of human body's appeared all around the abandoned warehouse.
"Shit I didn't know Jackal 9 had cloaking robots!" Miguel yelled over the radio in a surprised and suddenly scared tone. One of the robots turned it's glowing red visor head into Miguel's direction. Raised, one of it's cannon arms, and fired a rocket towards Miguel's ship.

"Oh Shit!" Miguel bolted to the nearest ditch, as soon the Lady Luckless found itself in nothing more then burning debris, and broken hopes. "Damn it I just bought that ship off at Nile Yards!" Miguel cursed. He would spend the next ten to twenty minutes cursing his rather common misfortune. At least he still had Sheila close to his heart. It is probably worth noting that thanks to Miguel's Luck. The bounty revealed some of the weapons he had under his command.
 
Lily was of course oblivious to Miguel's hopes at asking her out. If any other girl thought about it, it was certainly a bit obvious. But Lily was different. She tended to scare men off or attract the ones that were only interested in one thing.

Not long after they spoke, Lily landed her ship in the distance made her way towards the warehouse donning leather boots that laced to her knees, a free flowing skirt that hung down just above her knees only leaving a little flesh exposed. The desert's warm climate called for a tank top. Strapped to her back was her snipers rifle, and to her thigh was a dagger and to the other, a silver revolver.

"Yikes..." Lily mumbled to herself as she saw the gang of robots appear. She had caught them a couple times on the cameras from her spiders on occasion, but it was useless when their naked eyes couldn't see them. Perhaps she should have warned him about them.

But as soon as she saw the Lady Luckless burst into flames, her speed walk turned into a sprint as she rushed to Miguel's aid. Sure, she wanted to get that kill... but she wasn't going to walk past a guy that may be dead just to get some money.

"Miguel!" Lily called out as she got over a dune just before the slop that took her to the warehouse. She placed her snipers rifle down now that their presence was certainly known. She stood there on top of the dune and grabbed her revolve in case she had to rush in to help him. She didn't notice that he had rolled into a ditch. She was at war with herself... rush in and rescue him risking death, or to stand back and shoot them and pray he was okay. "Dammit Miguel, you better not be dead!" Lily called out before being interrupted by a flash of light, instinctively sending the girl rolling down the dune to avoid the blast that had been sent her way. Coincidentally that very blast sent her rolling into the same ditch as Miguel.

A sigh of relief came over her as soon as she laid her eyes on her competition. "Oh thank god..." she groaned. He was alive and he was possible capable of helping her. Thanks to the robots, this was no longer a job she could do alone.
 
"Didn't think you'd come to my rescue darling. I must be on your mind always." Miguel chuckled lightly, watching as Lily patched her self up. " Not exactly, bounty hunter gear your wearing is it." The brown coated man responded, looking at Lily from head to tow. "Hoping on using your feminine wiles on our mysterious Jackal 9?"

Before she could respond, Miguel ducked his head above the ditch t scan the area. The robots were still there and oddly enough they weren't moving in on their location. "Looks like my blood the doors and shooting everything in sight plan didn't come to fruition..." He spoke absentmindedly as he took out the black revolver Sheila, and began loading it. "Ah Plan B it is then...". Of course The brown coat never really did have a Plan B. Plan B was always "Charge in" and make it up as he goes along. Today though was different. Before he went through his plan B, His head turned to Lily "I do feel kind of bad for what happened. I think you had some Master scheme usually planned for hunt's like these. I know ruined it. Say. Why don't you and I team up. split the bounty fifty fifty?"

Miguel was normally not a team player. The list of partners that betrayed him was enormous. Something about today though struck him as kind of odd. His gut feeling was telling him to team up with his rival. Since the brown coat was more of a man who followed his instincts in combat; and ninety percent of the time, his instincts always led him out of injury. He decided to push for it.
"Well what do you say partner?"
 
"You wish", Lily replied to his remark about him always being on her mind. He was such a flirt! As if... he was probably like that with all of the ladies. Ladies man. And what was wrong with what she was wearing? It was hot out! And... she liked to wear skirts on occasion. They were cool and free flowing and they concealed weapons with ease if they were flowing enough. She could walk down the streets of the city looking like a dough eyed Mary Sue while in reality, she was sporting at least 5 guns. Of course she didn't have five guns today... she was expecting to snipe the damn guy and get it over with. But Miguel's direct approach lead to this less than discrete battle against a gang of robots.

But at least he was kind enough to offer to split the bounty. She looked at him with a blank stare that looked like she was caught off guard. And she was. Usually they treated their bounties like a race. Who could get there first... who could move in quicker, and who could get the guy first.

Lily's plan was to simply snipe down all of his guys one by one after having monitored the warehouse. And then she didn't care if she fight was sloppy once everyone was down.

But now they needed each other and neither could deny that. She only had one choice. "Sure. But you better keep your promise. Better not run off once the guy is dead..." she spoke with a grin, "I'd have to hunt you down then, and you know I'm good at that. But how do you propose we approach this? They begin blasting at us the second we're in their line of sight..." If Miguel needed someone to distract them, Lily could surely do it. She was short, but light and quick on her feet. Other than that, she wouldn't be much help with bullets since she couldn't easily snipe in their current position.
 
Ignoring his fellow hunger. He quickly surveyed the robots in the area. The man had sharp eyes when it came to combat. One quick look and he already managed count the number of robots guarding the warehouse. " Twelve robots circling the perimeter. From the looks of them, I'd say there one of the older imperial models, typically used for for tanking enemy infantry. Judging from the customized weapons and rockets launchers, our bounty loves adding new upgrades for his machines " Settling in his usual hiding spot, Miguel removed several bullets from his belt and began loading them in his oversize revolver.

"You'll get your half the bounty sweetie. Though to be honest I wouldn't mind having you hunt me down. Play a little game of cat and mouse. Of course I wonder who would be the cat and who would be the mouse." Miguel grinned and winked." His expression though turned serious for a moment. "Something seems off about this job. I can't place my finger on it." The job seemed run of the mill for a standard Federation/Empire co-sponsored bounty. An infamous terrorist with uncanny talent in with machines pissed off both governments by bombing several locations of great importance. Yet it was surprising that the bounty wasn't any higher then 200,000 creds.

It was only by chance that Miguel came upon intelligence about this particular bounty when he stopped over at the Stardust Night Club. Initially he was there to for information concerning One of the high level enforcers of the Red Eye crime syndicate. But when he received a tip about Jackal 9's location he was of course more then glad to redirect his focus. He had spent months on hunting Red Eye crime bosses. He was looking for some other prey.

"Would have loved to see stuff blow up, but I think going in all spy like is our best bet. I don't have enough explosives to take out the entire force anyway. At this point we're going to have to get into the warehouse and take down the remote center..."

Glancing at the warehouse once again, an idea struck him. "Say sweetheart. Since you've been stalking this warehouse, Do you know where this lot get's their power? A secluded area like this planet I'd guess they got solar power, or a gas powered generator."
 
Lily listened contently as she filled up her own revolver with bullets. Though she was taken off guard by the flirtatious comment of playing cat and mouse. Oh please, as if. "Once again buddy, you wish. As if I'd chase you like that!" she spoke with her nose in the air and a quick flip of her locks, but then thought about what had been said for a second, "Wait a sec... you mean..." She finished her thought with a huff. Was he insinuating that he chases her like that? Lily nonchalantly turned her head away from Miguel, hiding the rosy tint that had covered her cheeks. Even in the middle of battle, he always found something flirtatious to say to her. She wasn't ever sure what he hoped to achieve with such a charm. Then again, Lily was quite oblivious to the advances he had tried to make. They were young and a lot of guys their age were innocent flirts; All talk but no walk.

But there were more important matters at hand aside from Miguel winning over the heart of this stubborn girl.

"Well... I didn't see much..." she began to answer his question, "But from what I can assume is that they are using solar panels to power a generator. As for where the generator is... I have no idea. I assume somewhere underground. He wouldn't leave his power source so easily exposed. Why? Don't tell me you want to shut down the power source. I... I have no idea how to get to it, we'd have to check the cameras from my spiders or somehow sneak in and guess as we go." Getting to a generator would propose a challenge. If Miguel wished it, Lily could probably do it... she was always sneakier than he was. Plus she was small, it was likely that she could get in and around un-noticed if she could navigate herself correctly. Then Miguel could do his dirty work or whatever that man had scheming in his head.

Lily just wanted to get out of the blazing sun, get the kill over with, and get the hell away from this planet. Her cheeks were growing to be a rosy tint and her body glowed with a misty sweat from the humidity. She didn't see how Miguel could dress the way he did.
 
Miguel roared out in to laughter "What did you think I meant?". Honestly, with the number of times he had flirted with her. One would think that she would get the idea. Alas, from Miguel's experience she did come off as remarkably dense when it came to the infamous and long traditional endeavor as the "Romantic Chase". Perhaps that's why he liked her so much. It felt like that once he actually go a date with her, some mysterious and wonderful phenomena would happen.

Of course perhaps after their current predicament, he might just get the chance. As he was briefed on the situation several different plans began to form in his mind. He's never had Lily's tactical brilliance, but he can come up with plans when absolutely needs to.
"Hmm that makes the situation slightly simpler then. We can just wait it out until night time, when the Robots are reduced to using battery power. I caught a good look at where their power supply was before they blew my ship up. With some nice little percision aiming both of us could take them out easily..." It was the first plan he could think of off the top of his head. However before they can press into using his plan he heard a noise off into the distance. His eyes widened as several of the robots were blown a part leaving rubble from behind. Darting his eyes, he soon found the source of the explosion. Another ship came from the sky landing near the warehouse. It wasn't the only ship though several others ships have arrived, out came from there several heavily armed men (and a few women) that He could only assume were also bounty hunters from the looks of them.
"Damn, but that bounty shouldn't be that how should it.".

He knew this bounty was odd from the beginning, but his gut feeling told him to check his Net Tablet to verify something.
"Holy Shit, Jackal 9's bounty has just reason to one million!". He looked quickly over at his partner. " If he's spotted those other bounty hunter ships from his radar, then he's already going to try to escape. I take it you know what route he would take to escape. Care to lead the way Partner?"
 
Miguel's response left the girl feeling a bit flustered. How could he be so honest like that? And was that honestly the truth? Miguel... Miguel... of all people was interested in her? Sure a lot of men had been interested in her, but most of the time, it was merely her rather curvaceous body. Basically... most men simply wanted to sleep with her. With Miguel being her sworn rival, it wouldn't surprise her if all of the competition and excitement between the two over the years had left him feeling excited in other ways. When they first met, Lily did not like the guy one bit, why should she? He was another bounty hunter going after her bounty! Now here they were, resorting to working together. But this was no time to get caught up in flattery by yet another man. They had business to do. Quickly, Lily shook the thought.

Lily took his hand and lead him out of the ditch and headed for the dune from which she came from. Without a doubt with all of these idiots swarming the place, the guy would make a run for it; Lily and Miguel had already made their own presence known. The least they could do was get a couple steps ahead of the rest. As they passed her sniper rifle, she scooped it up and head to her ship that remained untouched.

By time they had reached the ship, many bounty hunters and crews had docked their ships and were taking on the remaining bots and swarming the place. With a few flipped switches and shifts of a lever, Lily had her ship revved up and ready to go. Quickly, the girl mapped out the best approach to take.

"With the current rates at which the current is between the planets, and the gravitational pull on this planet... he will certainly have an easy get away. But, he will have a few troubles. The terrestrial current has been rather tough lately, and according to my charts, is currently flowing from the Northeast. There is a meteor shower scheduled to be passing through from the West, so he will be avoiding that. He is likely to have the finest of machinery to get away... but he likes to go for large and luxurious from past observations, so he will not going too fast. Surely he is the most wanted man in the galaxy currently, so he will want to go to the least inhabitable planet he can in that direction, and the most suitable planet is Esthar."

Lily was confident Jackal 9 would take that route. Her ship was much smaller, only able to house one person, but was much more aerodynamic and packed quite a punch with power. She could fight any current she faced. Without waiting for confirmation from her new partner, Lily ordered the ship to lift off. It hovered a few hundred feet off of the ground. As luck would have it, in the distance, about a football field away from the warehouse, there was an opened, two large metal doors sliding open--- he was going to make a run for it and the two at the very least would be able to follow him.

"Oh well. Either way, if we stay, we've lost him... but I will not follow him. He will come to us..." Lily muttered as she took off, headed towards the planet, Esthar.
 
"There's more to this bounty then we initially thought.". The brown coat responded. " Seriously, the bounty going up from 200,000 to one million creds. It's been on the Bounty boards for only one week." His hand reached out from his jacket, pulling a small square shaped metal box of cigars. With one thumb he opened it's top up only to find much to his disappointment; that he was out. Placing the metal box back into his jacket he stared out into the digital map. "Planet Esthar? It sounds familiar." His eyes closed carefully, the mind slipping into memories long lost.

"Your not serious! Nuking a colony, just to turn the sentiments in the Federation to pro-war?"
"Do you really want to return to the Empire and serve as a slave?"

Miguel's eyes opened "If he's that desperate then hiding in a nuclear wasteland like Esthar would a morons move.". Before he could go on, the engines were revved up, the ship began shaking violently; and Miguel was soon feeling that familiar feeling of being lifted off of one's feet despite standing on solid ground. He nearly fell over to the side as the ship began it's ascent into the atmosphere. The gunman's eyebrows raised as they entered deep space.
"A little warning sweet heart? You nearly damaged Sheila." Miguel's tone was playful though. He rather enjoyed the fire of her eyes as she pursues her targets. It was exhilarating.

"There's an old abandoned space station on Esthars moon." Miguel commented as they were approaching the nuclear wasteland's orbit. "Since he's a bit of a tech head, I figure he's already restored some of the station auto A.I, lets park over here." He typed in certain coordinates in the nav computer. "We can enter through the station scrap yards."

For the first time in years, Miguel began feeling nostalgic. It had been several years since he was last here. Back when he was serving as a mercenary for the federation. He'd never thought he'd be back here to take on a bounty.

The ship landed, and Miguel began preparing Sheila.

"Ready darling?"
 
Lily had merely ignored Miguel's flirtatious banter, but she most certainly did not ignore his input on the planet. The petite bounty hunter simply took his suggestions and acted accordingly. She was too focused on making it to the planet before he did. If she could shut down her ship completely by time he got into the planet's orbit, hopefully they could not detect her tiny ship that had landed on the barren planet. Lily made sure to hide her ship in the shadows of the space station so that it was not easily visible to any ships passing by.

Lily turned off all of the power to the ship before getting up. She crossed the room to a closet and pulled out her sniper rifle and various other necessities she may need when encountering the guy. She also pulled out two miniature oxygen masks for the two for their short walk to the space station. Lily was not familiar with the planet, for she had never been there. But she was aware of its past and current state. The atmosphere wasn't clean, and the oxygen on the moon was low. Normally, she would pull up into the station where they would have no worries, but that would easily give them away.

With a sigh, she nodded, "Now I'm ready. Oh, and no smoking in my ship. Smoking is a bad habit..." she grumbled before handing him a gas mask and stomping past him to put hers on. From their position, they had an amazing view of the planet. The atmosphere surrounding the planet had a black and gray hue with trapped smoke and dust. Below that dust and smoke was a lifeless planet ridden with rubble and ruins. It was as if the entire planet was stuck in the past and the world had simply moved on and forgotten it; It was easy when traveling through the universe was like riding a bicycle.

With the press of a button, the door to the ship came sliding open. Lily stealthily made her way around the building, hugging the wall the entire way. Jackal 9 hadn't yet landed but if their calculations were correct, he'd be joining them soon. "Where do you want me?" Lily asked, unsure of how Miguel was planning on approaching the situation. In normal circumstances, Lily would have planted some of her spiders in the space station and investigated the place from a safe distance; They were now in Miguel's turf.
 
Even though this was the opportunity to say "Oh I can think of a few places.", Miguel knew the situation was urgent enough that the flirtations were to wait. "I'll take point, you watch my back. I know where we can can lay an ambush." Cocking his own weapon, the brown coat and now masked man began leading the way, his eyes taking in every corner of the corridor. As he continued on, the gunmen began hearing the excited sounds of his own heart beat. Looking through every corner of the darkened corridors. The hunt was a foot.

It had been several years since Miguel arrived at this space station as a soldier for the federation. Esthar was once a federation colony known for it's rich trading and wonderful culture. Unfortunately, it was also the place where the infamous "Saint George" bombing occurred; When an imperial cruiser arrived at the planet and launched several nuclear missals at the planet, thus turning the cold war between the two major powers into hot galactic war. However, few knew the truth about the incident in question. Miguel was one of the few that did know, and it haunted him to know end.

"I never thought I'd be back here." Miguel muttered as he guided his partner throughout the abandoned space station. The place could literally be considered haunted. After passing by several crew quarters they finally reached the stations control room.
"Here we are." Miguel said looking through the several blank screens. The station had been abandoned for a hundred years, but there seems to be powering still running into the place. "Alright hopefully the codes to activate it should still be the same.". Entering several numbers into the key pad. The station's began to light up, and the familiar sounds of gears and motors turning soon replaced the facilities silence. "Lets see if our favorite bounty has arrived yet..."

With one flick of the pad, the viewing screen began showing what was going on in the Docking bay camera's section. Sure enough a familiar looking ship began making it's landing.
"What say we set up welcome home party."
 
In an instant the darkened station lit up and came to life. The control room amazed Lily. The old technology wasn't surprisingly all that different from the ones she used in her ship. Her eyes scanned all of the various screens and observed the ship that had just touched down on the moon. Just as she predicted... it was a rather large ship. This guy didn't travel discretely. But why should he when he was one of the most feared men in the galaxy? Why not travel in style? If only Lily could have a ship like that... but such a magnificent ship was rather expensive to run. She'd go broke in a week simply from fueling it.

She gazed up at Will and cocked a brow, "What do you mean welcoming party? What could we possible do from where we are?" she asked with her hands on her hips. Her eyes shifted back to the screens. On the camera, the men could be seen piling in to seek refuge. All of Lily's approaches would be discrete. Maybe sneak out and sabotage his ship, hide in the vents and snipe his men down one by one, pretend to be a harmless lost girl who's ship ran out of fuel and needed help from the big strong men. It was funny how easy men set themselves up for the tricks and games of an attractive young woman. They were such pigs.

"I'm not exactly built to use brute force. If we rush out there, they will surely scoop me up and have me killed in a second..." she added, feeling concerned that Miguel wanted her to take part in an ambush.

(Sorry been away for a few days and was unable to make replies)
 
"If I recall correctly the man has one of those what is it." Miguel's eyes scrunched in deep thought "One of those cyborg brains. Least that's what the rumors says. He can hack into all sorts of systems so long as they are connected to a wireless net. My thinking is, when he hacks in we can just upload some kind of virus. I'm sure you can whip something up with that pretty head of yours." He finished with a grin.

The ship finally docked, and out came the target himself. As the camera's continued to capture the criminal's movements, Miguel's eyes traced every part of the man's body and movements. He wore a dark coat, with blue jeans. The eyes he had were fake replaced with metallic implants, and with the way he walked, one would think that he was not the combat hardened bad ass the Hunt Networks would make him out to be. Of course, being gunmen and bounty hunter for several years, Miguel knew that each mark can hold many surprises.

Such a moment happened, When the lights of the entire station flickered.
"Something's wrong." Miguel whispered to Lily with concern. The vids capturing the camera info themselves began flicker as well. The image beginning to be distorted.
"There's no way a hacker, even with all the fancy implants and software can break into a system like this the moment he arrives." Miguel said prepping Sheila.
"Don't think we should wait here. My gut is telling me we should face him head on. I have the feeling he knows where we are."

The lights flickered once again for the last time, and then; there was only darkness in the room. Miguel pulled a small flash light from his belt lighting up the control room.
"Let's Go."
 
With her hand placed upon Miguel's chest to hold him back, Lily spoke, "Wait. I got an idea. You keep your distance and whatever I say and do to him, for the love of God, please don't believe it... make your move when you see fit." Lily whispered, ending with a sigh. It was one of her many methods of getting close to the enemy. Most men were suckers for a helpless chick and were willing to help her in whatever means if it meant getting on the good side of a cutie. It had worked numbers of times for Lily. This guy looked like a slime ball; Without a doubt it would work on him.

Suddenly, Lily let out a cry. "H-Hello? Anyone there?" The petite bounty hunter then began to walk away from Miguel into the darkness. With a flashlight in hand, she began to wave it around, seeking out her reward. "I.. I'm sorry if this is your space station... I was simply looking for some help. You see... my ship ran out of fuel and I was looking to see if I could buy some more..." But there, a midst the darkness, only revealed for a second, were the metallic eyes of Jackal 9. The lights flashed, revealing the group of lackies who had followed him. With a sigh, Lily ran up to them. Her heart pounded nervously as she prayed they would fall for it. "Oh thank god! People! Please, you have to help me!" she cried out and she stood before Jackal with her flash light shining up her face with a pouting expression upon her face.

The towering man gave her a friendly chuck and crossed his arms, "Hey whats a cutie like you doing out here anyways? No one usually come out this way... not after the war," he spoke before patting her on the head. With a nervous laugh, and a beet red face, Lily replied. "I was just returning home. I was hoping to make a short cut and surf along the terrestrial current. But silly me... I forgot to fuel up my ship before making the trip back. I began to run low on fuel and I landed here hoping I could find someone to help me. But much to my dismay... I found no one. I tried to power up the radios so I could call out for help. I think that is when you guys showed up! I am so glad someone, showed up, I would be so grateful if you could help me..." She looked up at him with an innocent gaze.

With a sigh, Jackal spoke, "Well I'm sorry honey. I have no extra fuel on me. Ya see, I got quite the ship out there and it ain't cheap to fill. But I think I know a way we can make the money to go get you some fuel..." he spoke with his arms crossed. "Um... how?" Lily asked, feeling a bit curious and nervous about what he was getting onto. But before she knew it, the man had effortlessly picked up her with one arm and draped her over his shoulders. "Surely you've heard of the black market eh? I know plenty of guys who would pay a pretty penny for a fine ass like yours. Heck, if the bids aren't high enough, I might keep ya for myself since you seem so quick to throw yourself at me!" Jackal chuckled as he and his men turned around to take their new find to Durendal, a planet that was notorious for its underground marketing. One of the biggest markets there was the sex slave market. Men like Jackal traveled from all over the galaxy to bid on women who had been acquired in various ways. "You think I'm stupid ya idiot broad? I saw your ship outside my warehouse." Jackal chuckled as he reached up Lily's skirt and pulled out all of her guns and her dagger, "You think you're man enough to take me on? Then I'm sure you're tough enough to take the poundins' you're gonne be getting once you're sold!"

"You asshole, let go of me! You don't know what I'm capable of. If it weren't for some idiot who barged in, I'd have sniped your ass long ago!" Lily screeched as she punched into Jackal's back. What the hell was taking Miguel so long?
 
"Hey wait a moment!" The gunmen responded as she began to enact her plan. He had doubts about what she was planning. Don't get Misinterpret? All Miguel could do was follow her into the dark as she made her way to that group of gun men. Though his mind knew what plan she had in mind. Miguel's heart really didn't like it. He would have preferred to shoot everyone there. But his gut feeling told him that patientce would be the greatest virtue this time. Wrath wasn't a sin he could not commit at this moment. Preparing his gun, He gazed from afar as he looked at interaction between the female bounty hunter and their mark.

"The war?" Miguel whispered more to him as watched carefully from the the dark corner. That's not possible. The War was over 100 hundred years ago! It ended when the federation signed that peace treaty with the empire there was no way that can be possible. He watched the man carefully as he continued his movements. The moment he touched her, his blood boiled in anger. However, he managed to keep such an emotion on the down low. The mention of the war, turned his heart cold. Memories of long forgotten battles resurfaced in his mind. He loaded his revolver carefully spinning it's chamber, and holding it close to his head as if he was praying to it. His eyes closed.

One of the reasons he also took this job was because Miguel was hunting for certain members of the criminal organization The Red Eye Syndicate. There were member there who have betrayed Miguel during a certain mission. Perhaps, Jackal 9 was one of the said members. His memories were a blur that day though. In fact, the memories of his entire life was a blur of the time before he entered cryostais. One feeling though was clear though. It was Hatred and a thirst for revenge. He knew he was betrayed. He just had to find out why, and get the bastards who caused him to lose one hundred years of his life.

Spinning the chamber one more time, The brown coated bounty hunter charged forward from the darkness. Time slowed down for the deadly gunmen as he began to count off henchmen surrounding the man's lackey's.
'Eight assholes, including a gang leader. Six shots to take.' Miguel thought as his arm reached out already taking aim at his first target. The heat of battle was the most relaxing thing in the world to Miguel. The moment he fired again, he began feeling a type of peace that he's rarely experienced. A peace only rivaled by the times he would spend with Lily.

The chamber of the barrel struck, and already, Miguel scored a clean shot at his head. The surprise attack throw all the others off guard. Most of them were scrambling for a hiding plus. Most of them would be dead by the time they would manage to find one.
"You mother fu-" The henchmen was shot in the heart before he could get his cussing out. Blood spilled on the ground, and a puddle formed as the henchmen s body feel forward on the ground. A puddle of red appeared shortly after wards.

In a matter of minutes the rest of the henchmen were dead leaving Jackal 9 alive, holding the women who he's had held dear. He made sure to leave him especially alive.
"We meet at least Jackal 9, funny how you mentioned the war." Miguel's eyes were murderous. One of the only henchmen that avoided getting shot tried pulling his gun out. He tried to any way. He was met by a knife in the head.

"Now that the distractions are out of the way." He said aiming carefully at the head of his opponent. He stared coldly at the man. "You seem to no a little bit about the war. Must have been around what was it, a hundred years ago. Got all cyberdized and such. Maybe the reason why your here today. Since your so well acquainted with the war, and you have a certain connections with the red eye maybe you do better then to tell me a little about something about them. And maybe, Maybe I'll forgive you for trying to grab my girl and force her to satisfy all sorts of men."

"Now now, you really don't think Jackal 9 was apart of our little Unit do you." A voice called out of the darkness. A voice which sent cold blinding rage coursing through Miguel blood.
"Ah so the bastard is here at last."
"It's been a while Miguel. You look good for your age you know that."
" It helps when you've been locked into cryostasis for a hundred years." Miguel responded with a tone of bitter hatred.
Laughter echoed in the darkness.
"So that's how you survived. I must say I am impressed. Then again you were always the most unpredictable one of our unit. I think half the reason we survived was because of you."

Silence greeted Miguel and the voice. A silence which was only brief as he pointed his gun into the voices direction.
"Named a criminal organization after our little unit. I'm touched. Care to tell me who else is alive after all these years"

The answer never came, as siren rang out throughout the station.
"Warning self destruct sequence initiated." An artificial voice spoke over the loud speakers!"
"Shit!" Miguel spoke. Taking advantage of the distraction, he managed to shoot the leg of the unsuspecting Jackal 9, charged forward, and grabbed the girl.
"Alright princess. Think it's time you and I get out of here." Miguel responded with a daring smile. His hand's grabbed Lily's and soon he led them towards the docking bay.
"We'll have to take our bounty's ship I'm afraid." Miguel said as he was rushing through the corridors "Sorry princess we're going to have to sacrifice your ship.". The docking bay was the shortest route they could take. He feared by the time they reached the girls ship, they'd end up with the space station blowing up, before they could even get the ship started.

The sight of Jackal 9's ship was a sight to be hold. Miguel had no time to take in it's interior though as he began to operate it to get the both of the them the hell out of there. The ship rose off the ground, and the last sight Miguel saw from the space station was Jackal 9 himself rushing towards his ship, bleeding profusely from his leg.
"Lets get the hell out of here!" Miguel smiled. He was already liking the ship they commandeered. Perhaps this would be compensation for not being able to get the full bounty.
 
Even though she was a midst the crossfire, she trusted Miguel's skills enough to know he would most likely not hit her. The female bounty hunter didn't get much of a good look at the scene as her new partner took down each one of Jackal 9's lackies.

A sigh of relief came over Lily when the echoes of gunshots could be heard, followed by an overall silence. It wasn't often when her tricks were found out. This girl was not about to be sold as some sex slave to some fat and ugly gangster. It was markets like that, that encouraged Lily to become a bounty hunter. Women were not possessions, and any man who's won the heart of a woman should consider himself a lucky one. Speaking of women, she was going to have to talk to Miguel about the "my girl" remark later on. What exactly were his intentions here? Oh well, this was no time to think about such affairs...

Her eyes widened when a deep voice broke the banter between Jackal and Miguel. Who the hell was that? Was Jackal working for him? Was there a higher boss here in this crime chain? There was little time to react, as sirens began to rang. Next thing she knew there was a bang, she was on the floor on all fours, then Miguel was dragging her out of the station towards the immaculate ship. Her gaze turned behind her shoulder as she saw the burly guy struggle to run after them with a blood stained pant leg. "B-but... the bounty!" she squeaked, imagining the bucks go down the drain. If only they could get one shot, they'd have him! But Lily would never get her chance... apparently they were going to be taking the ship instead... leaving her ship and all of her belongings behind.

The petite woman stood there with her face smashed against the window, gazing down at her bounty as they took off and cleared distance from the station. "My bounty... my ship..." she whimpered. Lily realized it was necessary in order to survive... her ship was just too far of a run; They would have been killed.

With a sigh, Lily turned to face her partner who was now captaining the hulking mansion with wings. Slowly she walked over and sat down in the seat next to him. Before her was one of the most sophisticated technology she had ever seen on the control panel of a ship. Her eyes shifted to the side and gazed at Miguel. She stubbornly wanted to hate him, but couldn't find the feelings within her to do it. Why did he have to be so nice? So charming... so handsome. Why was he alone again? And what was this confusing fascination with Lily? Did he like her or not? It was hard to tell when a guy was simply being charming, or he was genuinely interested in a girl.

"Um..." the petite girl spoke quietly as she slouched in her chair. Her cheeks grew as she continued, "Thanks... for earlier, you know, helping me. My plan didn't exactly go as I had coordinated it to be. If you hadn't had been there, who knows what they would have done with me." It was true... granted, if it weren't for him, she probably would have sniped him without even much of a hint, but if he had gotten away, Lily would have recklessly chased him anyways, and would have played coy like she always did when having to directly approach her pray.
 
For a moment, he looked at her with an expression of mild surprise. He was expecting to get chewed out for losing her ship, or even nearly shooting at her with his gun. After a few minutes of silence, The dark haired man broke out into one of his more warm smiles.
"Awe don't worry about that darling. I feel horrible though for you losing you entire ship..."

Another bout of silence settled as Miguel began familiarizing himself with the controls. He would have caught on to some of the nuances of the more sophisticated functions if not for the fact that he found himself distracted by what occurred at station.

Welkin

The owner of the voice in the dark, and one of Miguel's former comrades in the previous war. The red eye unit: Miguel's former regiment, a Unit that was known throughout history as having the strongest and most honarable of soldiers. Miguel laughed at honarable. He knew the truth behind his little Regiment. He was close. Only a little further and he'll be able to settle things once and for all.

For now, It was time to plan his next move and make up for the destruction of Lily's ship. He had just the idea.
"Manage to program the auto pilot, lets see we take a nice little look at this prize here. May have lost the bounty but knowing Jackal 9 I wouldn't be suprised if he left anything lying around.

So the search and exploration of Jackal 9's ship began and what is ship it was to explore. Four stories tall with each deck having at least four rooms, each room having their own bathroom. The captain and vice captains rooms were even the most luxrious; The rooms were adorned with classical earth furniture and wonderful rare paintings. Despite, the luxuries found here Miguel could not find anything remotely close to cash.

The search eventually concluded, and the pair were in lounge. Miguel looked into the fridge, and delightedly found a couple of beers stored there. He tossed one over to Lily, and took one for himself and opened it. Sitting down, and taking a swig another idea entered his mind.
"Since you and I don't have ship sweetie, what say you and I team up and take down a couple of bounties. Bet we can make a killing together going after the Higher tier."

Or a chance. The higher tier normally required a team of bounty hunters to take down their marks. There was a reason why the higher tier entered the domain of the millions. And that was because the higher tier tended to be the most dangerous of the bunch. There was also a Target that the higher Tier had amongst it's ranks. A person whom Miguel had his eye since he awoke from his frozen sleep.

"Well what do you say?" Miguel asked.
 
The ship was indeed luxurious... truthfully it was almost like a dream. It was most certainly a mansion with wings and there weren't even any tiny bunks... there were actual bedrooms... with their own bathrooms! This ship could be heaven for Lily. And she knew somewhere... surely, they had a secret stock of guns hidden. A group like Jackal 9 didn't travel without backup, and backup was an understatement. Knowing him, this ship had more guns than Miguel and Lily had combined.

All Lily needed was some guns to hold her off until she could get the money for her gadgets and gear which she had lost when they made a run for it. They could either cash in the ship, split the money, and go their separate ways. But a ship like this simply wouldn't fetch them enough money each... the damn bounty was worth more! And they'd both be rich if running a ship, stocking ammo, and weapon maintenance wasn't so expensive. She knew they'd probably regret running around in this ship, but it was a nice ship. If she were to have a ship like this... she might as well share it with someone and split the costs for maintaining it. If she had to share with anyone, it'd be Miguel. He was skilled, and he wasn't some perverted ass. Well... he was probably perverted to some level, but at least he was a gentleman towards her; Perhaps it was because he seemed to have a thing for her. Would he be able to stand living on the same ship as a girl he fancies? Up until that day, she couldn't stand the guy... with almost every bounty... there he was! They were competition, yet he was always so sweet to her, and he was so good at what he did. He was even competition, yet he was such a gentleman. It was so uncommon and convenient, she found it easier to hate him. Lily could have easily flipped out on him... shot him ditched him at the next station, and leave him to whoever stumbled upon him, and take the ship to make up for forcing her to sacrifice her ship and bounty. While thinking about all of this, the young woman just sat on the couch across from him and slowly sipped the bottle of beer that he had tossed her. Finally, her gaze shifted to Miguel, that tall, dark, and handsome, bounty hunter and smirked.

"Yeah yeah... anything to get close to me huh? This must be a dream come true... you've been on my trail for so long... and here you have me..." Lily joked as she got up and went over to the bars fridge, hoping to find something to eat. The kitchen was fully stocks... it surely wouldn't stay that way, they couldn't afford the food he had on this ship, but at least it was there for the time being. But Lily would get around to rummaging the stock in there later on. In the fridge was a tray of various finger foods, for when he held parties with reputable guests she presumed. She chose a carrot stick and sat back down on the couch, this time relaxing a bit more than before.

"You know... if we keep this thing... we're going to have to pain it or something. Every bounty hunter in the galaxy knows what this ship looks like and who it belongs to. We could get shot down at any moment. Best to take it into a small town and get it painted or disguised somehow..." she explained before taking a bite out of her carrot stick. Once she swallowed, she continued, "Anyways, while we're partnered up, might as well keep the ship, and if we want to keep the ship, we gotta stay partnered up. Either way, we're stuck together for the time being. Though I'm sure you won't object to that. Still got that damn Jackal 9 to get, and from what it sounds like... he's working for someone else. It sounds like you know him..." The petite bounty hunter let out a soft giggle.
 
His expression darkened for the moment at the mention of him. With Lily's soft giggle though, he lightened up a bit. No need to be all broody. Especially since there was a lovely lady sitting across from him. Turning to the sight of the stars thoughtfully he smiled.

"I think I know of a place nearby." He responded. " A small settlement known as Diana. Lacks a strong connection to the net. In fact, I know a couple of engineers there that can doll up this baby. Made add a few modifications." Miguel spoke, his eyes looking at her, hopeful that she'd accept the modification he planned to make.

"I'll set the coordinates then." He stood up, and approached the elevator to the cockpit. "I have the feeling this is going to be the start of a wonderful relationship."

The Diana settlement was a fairly small place with a only a few buildings to add to its name. It was the size a really small town in fact with the population of about two hundred, on a forest world that had yet to be named by star charters. It would be years before the tiny settlement would grow into a full size colony and city. The planet itself was in an isolated section of space. Perfect to hide way in and plan the next move.

"Alright we're cleared for landing." Miguel called back to Lily. Jackal 9's ship settled on the makeshift air strip into to town. Cutting the engines he turned to Lily.
"I'll talk to some of the engineers here and see if we can get this thing fixed up and changed. Then how about you and I go into town. I think some shopping places opened up. I can get you gift. As a thank you and you know celebrate our new partnership." Miguel said, careful to control his tone at the mention of "gift".
 
Lily's eyes followed the dark haired man as he made his way to the cockpit and flew the ship to this mysterious place he called Diana. She herself had never heard of it, but she trusted her judgment. It was best to get out of the skies before that Jackal 9 guy had a fleet of lackies out to get them. The sooner they got working on the ship, the better. As soon as the ship landed, the young woman stood up, smoothed her flowing skirt a little, just to make sure it hadn't ridden up some, and headed towards the door. With the pull of a lever, the wide door of the ship lowered itself.

Lily shielded her eyes from the sudden surge of the bright sun's light. She turned to gaze back at Miguel, flashes him a smile and a nod. Before stepping out of the ship and taking off, she started to rummage through her pocket. In her hand was a large wad of money. She turned to face her partner, reached out, and placed the money in Miguel's hand. "This is for the ship. I want it to be half mine, so use some of my money on it," she explained, wanting the ship to be fairly split between the two of them.

"Oh but...", she added before reaching at the wad and pulling out a few bills, "I need some of this. I need to get a few things in town...," she mumbled.

Assuming he'd follow, Lily took a step outside of the ship and took a look at their surroundings. They were just outside a small town. It was quiet, hardly anyone looked their way as they landed and stepped out of their massive ship, hopefully it was also free of trouble. As they walked, Lily pulled out a ribbon and tied her long wavy hair up. The air was much fresher and cooler than the planet they had been on earlier that day, and she could use the relief with the fresh air.

As they entered the small town, her head scanned the area. There were a few specialty shops, a diner, pub, barber shop, and a nicely sized market place that aligned the streets.

"So where are these engineers you speak of? We should probably get that started...", she suggested, feeling a little paranoid that someone there would be after them. Whether there was or not, someone was surely after them. "Then we can kill time while they work on the ship."
 
"I sent them message before we departed." Miguel responded, his eyes searching through the crowd of people. "Now if they've followed my instructions they should be.. oh hey!" An older gentlemen approached the pair. He was a very stocky, wearing dirty brown genes a white shirty with suspenders and sporting a a delightful grey beard. The older man roared with laughter as he saw the pair.

"Mister Knight! It's been ages. And who is this lovely lass?" The bearded man responded. Miguel chuckled and began his introduction.
"Lily Elleford, meet Ralph Cain he'll be servicing our ship."

"A pleasure to meet you. So Miguel is there something special you want me to do with this ship."

"Standard tune up, I'll also need you to redo the ships exterior as well as registering the ship under a new I.D." Ralph's raised his eyes brows.

"New I.D?"

"Relax Ralph we took it from a bounty who we wound up killing by accident."

"So long as that's the truth.". Ralph responded. The brown coat then handed the hunter the wad of cash he received earlier. Miguel smiled.
"Lets head to town. I'll get you drink to commemorate our new partnership" Miguel said guiding Lily to the nearest transport. "It's not much but its a quaint place. Shops should have everything you need. Where do you want to go first?"
 
Lily bashfully remained silent as the two men conversed. She only greeted the man with a wave, a smile, and a nod of acknowledgement. Miguel and Ralph seemed to know each other well enough, so that at least put her at ease. Though the way Ralph looked at her, it was as if he was under the assumption that perhaps Lily was Miguel's ladyfriend. Oh well, he could think what he wanted, as long as he got the work done. The sooner they got back to catching bounties, the better.

"Hopefully they won't make it look silly. I don't want us sticking out like a sore thumb," Lily mumbled idly as they made their way down the street and walked past more shops. She started to make mental notes of all of the things she needed for the their new home for awhile. She didn't doubt its supply of guns and ammo, so that was out. They were pretty stocked up on food, the only thing she needed were her more personal and feminine previsions.

"Well...", Lily said as she stopped in her steps, "It's going to take me awhile to get the materials for all of my gadgets again... doubt I could find them here... will have to wait until we end up in the city. So I'm just going to..." her voice faded as she darted off into a general store. A girl had needs that guys typically didn't care for, and she doubted the ship contained any of those things.

When the young woman stepped into the store, she was greeted by an elderly woman who stood behind the counter. She had a face full of wrinkles and curly gray hair. "Good afternoon young lady!" she spoke in a raspy voice. The young bounty hunter giggled nervously and flashed the lady a smile, "H-hi...", she spoke softly. It was awkward having a guy with her when she needed such things.

Quickly, the young woman scurried the aisles grabbing various beauty and care products--- conditioner, lotions, perfume, moisturizer, face cream, masks, soaps that actually smelled a little bit floral and fruity, amongst other things. She lost all of those when Miguel got her ship destroyed. Lily always tried to put up a tough front, but at the end of the day, she was a girl and she had to take care of her looks; It was part of what helped her with her job. She could charm most criminals, catch them off guard, and get her bounty. The guy was probably expecting her to buy some ammo or something more masculine. Nope.

"Will this be all?" the lady asked Lily as she put all of her things up on the counter. The young woman immediately shook her head and gave her the money. As soon as the bag and her change was handed to her, she was out the door.
 
Miguel chuckled as Ellenford was finishing up her purchases in the General store. He found it refreshing really. For all of the tough lethal fronts she tends to put up, the bounty hunter found it rather refreshing that the girl was also that a girl. Perhaps this was what he needed. Somebody far more lighter then himself to join him on his travels and battles. As she came out of the general store, he knew for a fact that partnering up with her was the right thing to do. With any luck, perhaps the girl will be more then just partners.

"Think you've got enough lady." Miguel amusingly remarked "Looks like you bought out the entire store. Those poor people." he finished, his tone half sarcastic, more joking. "Alright Miss Ellenford, looks like you've pretty much finished getting your personal needs. Why don't we book a motel and book it for the night. The tune up job, as well as the modifications will take at least a day. Not to mention, Ralph and his team are going to be sweeping the ship to make sure our dearly diseased bounty did not leave any nasty surprises for us. There is also the creation of new ship I.D markers to add to alliance data bases..." He went on about the details. Of course he stopped for fear of chattering on to long, and instead proceed into checking into the local motel.

The motel in question wasn't much. About three stories and containing about thirty rooms. The most important fact was that it had a decently maintained bedrooms and bathrooms. After checking in and settling there things he turned to Lily.
"Alright, lets take a look around at the town, still more shopping to do. I believe you and I are going to need new clothes...""

The clothing outlet, again wasn't much to look at. Still. He went to purchase his usual attire; A couple of fancy suits for infiltrations into formal areas, clothing suited for running around in combat, and of course trench-coats in several different colors. Once his purchase was done, he had the clerk send his own clothes to the ship over at the strip. Of course he sent a couple of spare over at the motel. "Bit thirsty after that. Lets hit up one of the local diners. We can eat, and pick up any info for new bounties..."

Bob's diner was small yet it had a more homey feel to it. As soon as they entered Miguel asked the hostess for a table and within in minutes they were seated and the waitress was bringing them their drinks.
"I have to say" Miguel said with a smile sipping her water. "It's nice to finally have a partner who doesn't shoot me in the back. its also nice to have one as lovely as you." he winked and took a sip out of his soda.
 
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