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Adventure Beyond the Stars (Kloey and El)

K

KloeyShyla2012

Planetoid
Joined
Sep 1, 2012
"Damnit!" She growled under her breath, they got away! Again! "Bastard!" She yelled at the emptiness in front of her, her fist colliding with the iron wall, it sent a shock of pain through her arm but she ignored it, starting to pace in her bunk of the ship. "Leigh, we are almost there." The male voice came from the radio at her waist, Leigh just ignored it, even though she heard it - they were landing on the next planet to get some supplies, Leigh had been in her bunk since the dirtbag they were after slipped through their hands again. This was the third time and it was frustrating.

Leigh took in a deep breath and exhaled as she left her bunk. Her ship wasn't that large, but it wasn't very tiny either. There were a total of six bunks that were arranged off of a common area that held a couch, and chairs. There were many bookcases with books on them about various subjects. Also off the common area was a infirmary that they kept quite well stocked. Besides that the ship had your usual assortment of amenities, including a dining area and a secured weapons closet that they held an assortment of things, just in case they needed anything stronger, weaker, or more than what they usually kept on them. They also had three custom made cells for any bounties that they caught, they were secure and extremely hard to get out of.

Leigh walked into the cockpit and stood with her hand on her hip, looking out to see they were approaching the planet. She took her usual seat and her crew, which was made up of four others, glanced at her, they were skeptical. "I'm fine," she stated coldly as if reading their minds.

Leigh knew that word had gotten out about who they are looking for, though they also had a reputation of usually getting whoever they were after. Leigh left the ship after it docked, along with her right-hand, Jet. Leigh stood five foot five inches and at only 130 pounds she was often underestimated and not what people thought about when they heard about her or her ship. She was athletic in build, she had muscle but it was masked under her skin. Her reddish-brown hair was cut at an angle, with the front longer than the back, but the angle was subtle and helped define her heart-shaped face, which was home to a pair of full lips and entrancing auburn eyes. She was currently wearing a black t-shirt that was a little loose but still hugged her hourglass figure. Since it was a little loose it hid her her c, bordering d-cup breasts a tad bit. Over her hands were a pair of black gloves, and her black shirt was tucked into a pair of dark blue jeans. A pair of dark brown boots protected her feet from most things and around her waist was a belt that was home to a holstered pistol - she also had a knife in a pouch on the belt. She was an attractive woman, which also tended to catch people off guard and underestimate her.

Jet on the other hand, was a six foot man of pure muscle, definitely the idea of a bounty hunter. He had a shoulder holster and two pistols. He wore a white t-shirt and regular blue jeans, his boots were also work boots, but were a black color instead of brown. With the two walking side by side, it seemed that Jet would be the one in charge, not Leigh. Which was really the only thing that bugged Leigh about having Jet go with her.
 
Alexander wrinkled his nose at the sharp stench of starship exhaust as he moved quickly through the crowds. Lassan had the largest port on the colony and ships were constantly coming and going. The crowds of people were somewhat of an aggravation for him, they made his search difficult and the constant jostling and pushing to get through was slowly starting to make him regret this decision. If I don't find them in the next twenty minutes... he let the thought trail off as he pushed past an arguing couple and stepped to the side of what was apparently a pawn shop in order to get out of the crushing press of people for a moment. Alexander sighed and ran a hand through his short, black hair before scratching the back of his neck. He pulled a slightly crumpled picture out of the pocket of his jacket and looked it over again.

The pair of images were blurry and taken from poor angles. One showed a ship just about to break atmo and the second was of a small group of people. It wasn't much, but they were the best images that he could find of the ship and bounty hunter crew that he was looking for. He looked at the ship again, the image was too blurry to make out the ship's name but it was possible to make out its general shape. He looked up from the images and started searching, once again, for the ship. He had been coming down to the largest refueling area in the city for the last three days in the hope of spotting just this one ship but hadn't had any luck in locating it. There were rumors that the bounty hunter Leigh and her crew were tracking down the same person who was responsible for the deaths of his family and the local police forces had been eight different kinds of useless in tracking down the killer. Alexander thought he knew where the man had gone to ground but the police hadn't found his information good enough to act on. So here he was searching the largest port on the colony for a single ship with every intention of convincing Leigh and her crew to help him capture the bastard, or kill him if necessary. His hand went to the small of his back for a moment, feeling the reassuring weight of the pistol tucked away beneath his jacket. Either way, his family was going to rest easy.

He started to turn to continue on his way but paused for a moment. He looked back down the line of docked ships and and squinted slightly before looking back down at the images in his hand. He grinned and made his way back into the crowd, shoving his way through the people. Alexander was just shy of being six feet tall and had a physique that came from working daily in the fields. His black hair was slightly tousled from his habit of running a hand through it when he was frustrated but frustration had been replaced with elation now and as he pushed through the crowd that elation rapidly turned into a firm certainty. That's the ship. That means they're here. he told himself as he started scanning the crowd, searching for the bounty hunters. The ship's engines were still winding down so that meant they had landed recently, they couldn't have gotten far. He climbed onto some stacked crates to get a better view and started scanning the crowd, green eyes roaming over the press of people until he spotted a pair of people moving through the crowd together. A large muscular man with a smaller woman wearing gloves at his side. The pair of pistols the man wore in his shoulder holsters were what confirmed it for him though. Not too many people carried their weapons openly around here, there were no laws against it it was just something people didn't really do. Alex hopped down from the crates and took off in pursuit, pushing through the crowd. He'd follow the pair for a bit, make sure he had the right people. If they weren't who he was hoping they were then he'd head back to the starship and attempt to talk to whoever on the crew had been left to mind it.
 
"I hate crowds," Leigh groaned as she pushed her way through the crowd. Jet smiled down at her, he wasn't having that much trouble, most people were moving out of his way, "Do you want me to carry you?" He teased playfully and laughed when Leigh glared at him.

They kept walking, it didn't take them long to notice the person following them, it wasn't that hard to realize that was what they were doing, they were kind of sloppy at it. Jet and Leigh exchanged glances and without giving off anything they knew exactly what the other was thinking. It was a benefit of knowing each other for such a long time, you could anticipate each others moves.

Leigh and Jet led the person on for a little, but never stopped, and never slowed down. They were actually giving the person a chance to give up, but when they didn't they made their move, they both turned down an alley wondering if the guy following them would continue following them down the alley that was a refreshing change from the crowded main street.

They had disappeared from view in the alley way, almost a impossibility, but who could expect less from he bounty hunters? Though they didn't disappear and when the person followed them into the alley it was only a split second before Leigh was in front of him and Jet was behind him, blocking any escape, they both had a gun drawn and pointed at him. Leigh's eyes narrowed at him, "Who are you and why are you following us?" She demanded, her tone sharp.
 
That's got to be them Alexander thought as he watched them move into an alleyway. They were probably planning on cutting through it in order to reach wherever it was that they were heading. He picked up his pace a bit, not wanting to lose them. As he moved into the alleyway he frowned in confusion as he saw that they had vanished. The frown dissapeared as Leigh appeared before him, as if from thin air, and he found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol. His hand twitched, starting to head for his pistol, before he stopped it. He turned his head slightly, looking behind him from the corner of his eye before looking back at Leigh. Moves pretty quietly for such a big guy.

"I'm Alexander Jager. Am I right in assuming you're the bounty hunter who goes by the name of Leigh?", he asked, making sure to keep his hands still. Last thing he wanted was to be shot, especially if these were the people he was looking for. "I didn't mean to make you two uncomfortable. I just didn't want to be wrong about who you were before coming up and speaking with you. So, if you wouldn't mind lowering the pistols? I promise I wont make any fast moves and try to draw on you. I don't have a death wish or anything like that." He smiled as he spoke, trying his best to sound like a calm and reasonable person and not like somebody who was going to attack two armed and likely well trained bounty hunters. He kept his attention on the woman in front of him as he spoke. She was shorter than he had thought Leigh would be, if it was her anyways. Prettier too.
 
Leigh listened to this Alexander person, when he asked about them lowering their pistols her eyes darted over his shoulder to Jet, who met her gaze with a shrug, "I don't think anyone who actually poses a threat would follow us into an alley." Jet said, kind of in a teasing tone, as he spoke he lowered his pistol, but didn't holster it. Leigh, took a moment longer, she locked eyes with Alexander for a moment, as if summing him up, before lowering her pistol, also not holstering it, though she was pretty sure he knew that if he did make a move they would have him flattened before he could even think about aiming - but still she was a little skeptical.

Leigh placed a hand on her hip and transferring her weight to one foo, in more of a relaxed pose, "That is correct, and that is Jet" she said, her head motioning towards the man standing behind him. "So, you aren't wrong about who we are, what do you want to speak to us about?" She asked, she was wondering if it was about the head they were after, willing to put up with anyone if it led to good information. But she was impatient with people that wasted her time.

As he started speaking both Leigh and Jet holstered their pistols, Jet walking around the guy to stand slightly behind Leigh, seeing no point in being so defensive.
 
Alex grinned widely as she confirmed that she was in fact Leigh and then she was polite enough to lower her pistol. The day just kept getting better and better! "Rumor is that you've been hunting down a certain man. Rumor is that you've been chasing this person across three planets now. This person is supposed to have landed here about three days ago, already stands accused of four new murders on top of twelve previous ones, and is currently looking for a way off the planet. Does this sound about right so far?"

He was watching her face carefully as he spoke, watching for any reaction. "What if I told you that this man has visited the same four bars looking for a cheap ride the last two days? And that I'd be willing to name these bars for you?" Alexander let the question hang in the air. He assumed that somebody with Leigh's reputation would be hungry for information. He had looked her up, or at least what information on her that was available. She had one of the highest success rates in capturing bounty heads in the entire system and he was willing to bet that the fact that her current target had managed to avoid her for so long was an issue for her.

"What if I told you that I could all but hand you Charles Hatcher and all you have to do is bring me along with you so I can see it happen in person."
 
Leigh's reaction was mixed, Jet could tell what was going through her head but anyone that hadn't been around her for very long might only be able to see her guard, the tenseness in her. Her eyes held steady on Alex, not looking away as he talked, giving him her undivided attention. Information was key, they had a few haunches on where to begin, but having someplace direct to start would save them some time, and stress. She visibly looked Alex up and down as if summing him up, trying to figure out what type of person he was. He could be working with Charles, trying to keep them off his trail, or he could have known the people that had been murdered which would fuel his desire for him getting caught.

Leigh's eyes narrowed, apprehensive about him, "I don't trust you," she stated simply. Jet lifted a hand and placed it on Leigh's shoulder, causing her to look at him, "What do we have to loose, Leigh?"

"Charles," she answered immediately, her gaze going back to Alex, "How do we know you aren't working for Charles to throw us off?"

"Come on Leigh, you know Charles, do you think he would really hire someone that didn't know how to track people?" Jet said as he shrugged his shoulders and let his hand fall from her shoulder to his side.

Leigh sighed, placing a hand on her hip and moving her other to pinch the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed, "Fine." She stood straight and extended her hand, "We'll take your information, allow you to come to the bars with us to watch, but if you take us on a wild goose chase," her eyes narrowed, "I don't like my time being wasted," it was a statement but a warning as well - the actual warning or threat didn't have to be uttered.
 
Alexander shook her hand after a moment. "Trust me, I have no intention of wasting your time. I want this as much as you do. Maybe even more.", he said. The unspoken threat was understood perfectly but Alexander intended to make sure that everything went as it should. That bastard would be caught and Alex would be able to rest easy at night. Caught or killed., Alex thought to himself as he released Leigh's hand, Either one would work just fine for me. Trouble was he hadn't gotten to look up what the conditions were on Charles' capture. If the man was wanted dead or alive then Alexander had no qualms with putting a bullet in the his heart.

Alex took a quick look around before speaking again "He wont be showing up until later though. So unless you two want to stand around in this alley for the next five hours I'd suggest we meet up later? I managed to spot your ship in the port so if you'd like I can come back later and meet you in front of it.", he said as he motioned back the way they had come, "It was hard as hell to find any images of you lot by the way. I get not wanting to have your faces all over the place but you two wouldn't believe the trouble I went through just to find any recorded images of your ship. And the only image I could find of yourselves was taken by some tabloid, at a terrible angle at a pretty good distance."

"Anyways, that's not important. We meet back up in four hours and I give you the names of the bars. Then we go on down, scoop ourselves up a certain bounty head, collect our reward and it'll be smiles and beers all around. Sound good to you two?" He looked back and forth between the two of them, trying his best to keep any excitement from entering his voice. The chance had finally come to get some form of justice for what had happened. Not to mention he had managed to track down some pretty elusive people in order to get things in motion, he couldn't help but feel a little proud of that.
 
Leigh couldn't keep her lips from curling into a small smile as he talked, he rambled, it was kind of cute. Leigh really hated pictures, for many reasons. She listened to him, she could tell he was excited, even though he was pretty good at hiding it, his talking sped up a little and his breathing got a little more spastic. Jet commented on it with a chuckle, "Yeah, Leigh's paranoid." His tone was teasing towards Leigh, who ended up shooting a glare his way as soon as he said it, but she still had the smile that Alex had enticed which didn't make it look very threatening.

"We will meet you in front of the ship in four hours," Leigh confirmed with a nod before walking past Alex, out of the alley, and into the crowd. Jet followed lifting his hand and giving a lazy goodbye salute to Alex.

"How do you know that he is telling the truth?" Jason, one of the hands that stayed on the ship asked Leigh and Jet after they informed the crew of what was going on.

"He has no reason to lie," Leigh responded simply.

"It could be a trap," Jason argued.

"A trap for what?" She retorted, which caused Jason to close his mouth and look at his feet. "Jet and I will go into the bar, I need two more to come with us." She instructed, Charles was slippery.

--

Jet, Jason, Duncan, and Leigh were all waiting outside the ship. Jason and Duncan were more athletic than anything else, but looked like they could hold their own. Leigh had her hands on her hips, ready to get to the bar and get everything handled. They all had their weapons strapped to them, though Jason and Duncan's were hidden, and each of them had handcuffs, they even had an extra pair for Alex, just in case he had an opportunity but they still wanted him out of the way.
 
Alexander watched the two leave with a smile. He waited a few minutes in the alley, not wanting to be seen leaving at the same time as them, before heading back out into the crowds. He hummed a song softly as he made his way to the hotel he had been renting a room at. The crowds were no longer an issue, he wasn't fighting against them in search of something, so he just let himself be carried along in it's current. A massive river of people streaming along side starships and those who catered to the people aboard them. He looked up at a particularly large one as he passed, remembering how his father had called them 'a testament to human achievement' and how humanity was free to spread itself amongst the stars. "No longer slaves to gravity." Alex said softly before letting the press of people take him again.
--

Alexander walked down the dark street. There were less people out now, particularly down along the docking area for the star ships. He passed the Port Authority's office, lights on even now in case some ship came in this late into the evening. Alex made his way down the street, plain brown jacket open revealing a white button up shirt loosely tucked into a pair of black slacks. He looked like an office worker who had just gotten off the job, which was intentional. He wanted to look as unthreatening as possible. His pistol was tucked in it's holster in the small of his back along with a spare magazine, hidden by both his jacket and his shirt.

He turned the corner and spotted Leigh and her crew. He jogged the remaining distance and gave them a little wave as a greeting. The group was a bit larger than he had been expecting but he wasn't going to complain. More people meant a better chance to capture the guy. "Ready then?", he asked as he accepted the offered handcuffs. He slipped them into a jacket pocket as he pointed down the street, "The first two bars are pretty close to eachother. A lot of crew members for cargo ships drink there since they offer discounts for certain companies. So, follow me I guess."

It was easy to figure out why Charles would be looking around for somebody who would let him hitch onto a cargo ship. The things were massive and had plenty of nooks and crannies, perfect for a fugitive on the run. They also tended to be out for weeks at a time pulling long trips through deep space so even if anybody on the crew did find the stowaway it would be pretty easy to kill the crew member and shunt the body out into space.
 
The crew nodded and followed Alex. Jason was glaring at Alex, obviously not happy about trusting a stranger, he even mumbled some things under his breath, which caused Leigh to shoot him a glare that would send chills down the spine of even the coldest blooded people. Jason took in a sharp breath and then sighed, as if giving up a silent argument with Leigh.

Leigh looked around as they walked around towards the bars. Things seemed to have settled down a bit, crews were back on their ships or at the bars, doing what they do to get ready to leave the dock. All of them were trained to keep their eyes open and ears tuned, keeping alert for anything that might be helpful to them.

The first bar didn't yield anything, the bartender had remembered seeing Charles but he had finally been banished the night before because he was bugging the other guests - told to never show up again or the bartender would have him skinned alive. The thought made Leigh's lips curl into a small smile as they continued their search. The second bar they struck gold - just as they were about to enter, two people who looked like dock workers were leaving complaining about a guy that keeps bugging people about a ride.

Jet took the opportunity to pursuade more information out of the usually tight lipped workers - Charles was in the bar.

"Jason, Duncan, you know your positions," Leigh directed as they nodded and disappeared in different directions. Leigh nodded to Jet who nodded back, no words were needed with him. She then looked at Alex, "Stay back, and stay out of the way," she warned, knowing he would probably follow them inside but hoping he wouldn't do anything stupid, stealth was the key with Charles.

When they ducked into the bar Leigh and Jet went separate ways and nearly disappeared into the crowd. Charles was sitting at the bar, chatting up someone sitting next to him. He looked, happy and carefree.
 
Alex was oblivious to James' behavior, the only thing on his mind was the chance to capture Charles. He had thought a lot about what he would do once he had seen the man brought to justice. Maybe go back to the ranch, hire some new hands and just go on. Maybe he'd be able to figure out a way to get a couple more heads to round out the herds. He could think of worse plans. But this first. he thought as he lead them into the first bar. After being told that Charles had been sent packing by the first bartender Alex had had a brief moment of panic. What if he had managed to find a way off-planet already? Or even worse, what if Charles had given up on finding a ride out of Lassan and had left the city for one of the other ports on the colony? At least if he had gotten a ride there was a chance to find some sort of trail to follow. If he had slunk off though, there was no telling where he would have gone. He dismissed the worries after a moment though, just because he wasn't at the first place didn't mean they wouldn't find him at any of the others.

At the second bar Alexander's information paid off. Neither of the two men knew who the man was that was pestering people for a chance to get aboard their ship but judging from their description it was Charles. Leigh gave two of her crew members orders and they moved off. Alexander swallowed and nodded as she told him to stay back and out of the way, there was a certain tone to the way she said it that made him want to sit back in a corner somewhere, as far back as possible. He watched her and Jet enter the bar and waited a few moments before following in after the two. By the time he was in they had already vanished into the crowd. Alexander moved along the back wall, brushing past people as he scanned the room in search of Charles. After a moment he spotted the man sitting at the bar with a beer, talking and laughing with another man.

Alex's breath caught in his throat as his jaw tightened. This man had destroyed Alexander's life and he was sitting here at a bar. Laughing. Alex forced himself to breathe and look away, not wanting Charles to get spooked. He could feel his hate for the man, like stomach bile in the back of his throat. If Alex had his way the only sort of justice that Charles would get would be a bullet to the back of the skull and a shallow grave. But the man had ran, and hid so Alex had had to follow him and enlist the aid of Leigh and her crew. If I'm lucky he'll attack them. I can kill him then. Claim it was defense. he told himself as he moved through the crowd. He could feel the reassuring presence of the pistol tucked away at his back. All he would have to do is draw and squeeze the trigger. That was all it would take to make sure Charles was stopped. All it would take to make sure the man paid for what he had done. Alexander reached back under his shirt and wrapped his hand around the grip of his pistol, the texture now so familiar to him. He glanced back up at Charles and Alex realized he had halved the distance between where he had originally been standing and the bar. Alex started to draw, the pistol half cleared of its holster, when he was bumped into by a giggly blonde.

The contact broke him out of his murderous reverie and as he slipped past the drunk woman he realized he was breathing heavily. Calm down. Can't fuck this up. he told himself. No matter how much he wanted to kill Charles, pulling his pistol and gunning the man down in the middle of a crowded bar was the worst thing he could do. Alexander started moving away from Charles despite everything in him calling for the killer's blood.
 
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