The Reaper Chronicles

The Hunt

    Lee eased the ASASN out of hyper speed. The pirate group hadn't been particularly difficult to locate. From the intel he'd gleaned on the BIB (bounty information board) the pirates were utilizing fission reactor cores to power their ships. Said reactors tended to leave a trail of radioactively decaying particulate in their wake. It was easy to forget about because said trail was primarily harmless and the emissions weren't visible to the organic eye, but with the right sniffer attached to even basic shipboard sensory systems, tracking a fission trail was a relatively simple matter. All Lee had to do was jump to their last known location, determine which trails were likely theirs, and let ASASN do the rest in following. Not scattering their emissions was a rookie mistake on the pirate's part, but Lee supposed there was a reason they were class D after all.

    The whole process of tracking the Incarthid to a remote region of uninhabited space orbiting a small star in the Nobar system had only taken a few minutes from start to finish.

    When they had finally caught up to them Lee finally understood why the pirate group was giving the locals such a hard time. They had an extremely sophisticated cloaking device to hide them from the visible eye. It was hard to shoot what one couldn't see. To Lee however, it only went to show just how stypid the Incarthid had to be that they were willing to pay millions of credits to hide from sight but hadn't thought scatter their trails. It was like a rabbit spending days to dig out a proper burrow to hide from predators only to leave a trail of droppings right to the front door. It speaks even worse of the local militia that they couldn't figure this out. Lee realized.

    Samson stepped up beside his partner seated in the pilot's chair. "Ready?" Lee asked. The wider bounty hunter rested the shotgun he was casually holding in one hand on top of his armored shoulder.

    "Ready." He said.

    Lee caught a glint of familiar-looking steel and snapped his head to examine Samson's armor. "Really?" He said.

    Samson grinned. The Lorica. It was a medium-lightweight specially made armor that slightly favored dexterity over raw defense. It's composition featured rigid bits of shiny metal that covered the majority of his body almost entirely but left his joints exposed when bent. Lee hated it. Samson had six other suits that would protect him better but Samson insisted on wearing The Lorica against lower class bounties because he loved the way the mohawk on the helmet bobbed when he moved about. "Look if they get to have mohawk's then I do too." Samson said, defending his armor choice.

    Lee gave a defeated sigh. "Fair enough. Its your mission after all. I hope it gets obliterated in the fighting."

    "Careful what you wish for." ASASN chided.

    "Whatever. Let's just get this over with. I want to get to Big G before his location changes again. The faster we're through these pirates the better.

    Bait and Blast was a classic strategy the two had developed for maximizing profits from hunting pirates in their earlier days; back when they were just getting started bounty hunting. Now that everything was ready, "Beginning bait." Was all Lee needed to say to get the ball rolling.

    "Heard." ASASN acknowledged.

    "Heard." Samson called over his shoulder as he trotted off to the storage unit.

    "ASASN, open a hailing frequency." Lee said after Samson had disappeared from the platform. "Make sure to include video."

    A small portrait of Lee's head and shoulders appeared on the lower right-hand side of the cockpit's window, albeit he appeared on screen in a militia uniform with a thick caterpillar of a moustache above his lip. He had told ASASN on multiple occasions that the moustache was not by any means necessary considering that only a small handful of people in the galaxy actually knew what his face looked like. ASASN preferred to do it anyways just to bug Lee. "Broadcasting to the poorly concealed Incarthid pirates currently located in Nartarik position 1132528, 4429879, -8763527. This is captain Dale Sourgout of the Nartarikin militia. You are under arrest for your crimes against the citizens of this sector and are to lower your stealth and surrender yourselves immediately." Lee said in his best overconfident constable's voice.