Futuristic Bounty Hunters

[Syrli]

NotSure

Ester was lying down in the tight ventilation tunnel over the teemed main hall of the casino, looking down at the crowd through the gaps of a small vent. She could feel the dust covering her like a thick blanket, and tried her best not to sneeze. Not that anyone would notice, the sound would drown in the chatter, music and laughter, but the sudden movement and burst of air would stir more dust into her face.

"I'm in now," Kimber reported. "Heading towards the roulette on the far left."

"Roger that. I'll be a bit delayed, it seems that someone before me in line is having trouble with the bouncer," Jaeke sighed. "Eagle eyes, have you reached the nest yet?"

"Just did," Ester muttered. "Unlike you guys who can just stroll right through the main entrance I have to crawl through dust that's probably like a gazillion years old. Not fair." Only laughter followed. They had discussed the plan back on the ship, and both Jaeke and Kimber had agreed on that she should keep watch from above. The official reasoning behind that plan was that she knew the place better than any of them, but she knew that the truth was that they thought that she would get distracted if she was surrounded by cards and chips.

The target was Ghar'ed Taig; a long, skinny fella with ice blue skin and reptilian eyes. Ran a network of shipping endangered and exotic wildlife across the universe, among other more secretive (and illegal) things. Anyways, the important thing was the 67 000 big ones that were put under his portrait. A credible source had informed them that he would swing by here tonight, and surely enough, there he was strolling around the big tables, drinking, talking, laughing. He surely had lifeguards with him, which is why they had to wait for the perfect opportunity. A bathroom break, going out for a smoke, anything really. Guards would probably still be around, but there'd be less of them. "I see him, over towards the left of the bar. Grey suit, weird hat. You can't miss him." She spoke into the microphone on her wrist. She spotted Kimber and Jaeke in the crowd who turned their heads towards his direction. "Keep your distance, I'll tell you when he moves."

It didn't seem like Taig was very concerned with laying low, even though he had quite a big sum on his head. Just watching him chat and drink for about half an hour was almost making Ester drowsy. Her stare swayed over towards Kimber at the roulette table. You'd think that she'd stand out with her red hair and bright yellow dress, but with the whole crowd adorned in bright fabrics and shiny metals, she blended right in. She looked for Jaeke, and finally found his stout figure in the middle of a small crowd. Judging by the laughing people around him and the bright smile on his face he was clearly the light of the party. But what was that? Standing next to him...was he holding his arm around that girl? She snapped down the visor over her eyes and enhanced the view, focusing on Jaeke and the girl standing next to him. She was looking up at him with admiration all over her face. Ester frowned inside of her helmet and tried to zoom in closer, when a gunshot suddenly echoed through the room, followed by panicked screams.

Ester flipped up the visor and started desperately searching for Taig in the midst of the commotion. At the corner of the room she saw a circle of people holding their guns pointed towards the casino-goers who were fleeing for their life. In the middle of the circle two people were pulling Taig towards a fire exit. She recognized one of the captors. "God dammit!" She groaned into the mic. "Zilas and his whole gang is here, they're taking Taig out through the northern fire exit. Go, go!"

Sweat dripped down her forehead as she watched Jaeke and Kimber struggle to make their way against the river of frightened people. Kimber's voice cursed her out for not keeping watch through the radio, but to Ester her voice seemed like a distant murmur as she watched the distance between them and Taig remaining pretty much constant. They would never be able to reach then in time at this rate.

She knocked out the air vent with her elbow. They were not too far from her hiding place, so she might be able to stop them. She was not going to let Zilas get away with stealing their target again. She pulled a blaster pistol from her holster and lowered almost her whole upper body through the hole and fired wildly towards the general direction of the escaping hunters. Her aim was terrible as she was basically hanging upside down, but somehow managed to hit Zilas in the shoulder.

She grabbed the edge of the vent and swung down her lower body down before letting go and landing on a sofa at the lounge section of the bar. She made her way through the guests and followed them out through the emergency exit, but outside she saw nothing except for the lights of hundreds of ships leaving the planet. She felt like dropping to her knees in the agony of her defeat, but she knew that guards would soon be here, so it was best to do as everyone else and get going.

Neither Jaeke or Kimber responded to her attempts to contact them, and she couldn't find their ship anywhere. They must've bailed without her. As most of the guests had already left she had no other choice than to hijack an old StarSailer.

The morning after Ester had found her own portrait on the wanted screen. Below it was the number 30 000, along with the list of all her troubles. Property damage, breaking and entering, aggravated assault, manslaughter. Last seen last night fleeing Phoenix Casino in a StarSailer Class 3 Cruiser. Just fantastic.

 

[NotSure]

It's not like Declan had never failed a scam before. Actually, it was far from uncommon for him. The good thing about this line of work was that if you knew what you were doing, you could minimize failures. He had a system, after all. Start out with small cases of fraud, get the experience and the small profit margin, and any time he was caught he could easily pay it off. He always imagined that if he ever got a bounty worth 30 000, it would most certainly be from some big scheme, a huge plan that he was finally confident enough to pull off after years of practice, that just fell apart somehow.

Well, he was wrong.

"C'mon, Kal! I know you, I know your skills! Remember, haha, remember that time you scared that rich guy so much, he basically straight up gave you his top of the line cruiser? God, the look on his face! I swear, I think he wet himself, that look was priceless! Well, not as priceless as that cruiser, which by the way you never fully paid me for, so you kinda owe me one, y'know?" Declan pleaded, as he stood next to the bar-stool where Kal was seated. They were at that bar that Kal seemed to like so much, smack dab in the middle of an asteroid sized, backwater crumb of a planet. The only reason Declan could imagine anyone would ever visit this place is because there was almost no reason any law would go anywhere near it, as the entire world was a dried out, desert like wasteland.

Kal gave him a glare that pierced Declan's soul, his face beet red with rage. "You come to me... you tell me you are a damned RAT, and you tell me I OWE YOU!?" Kal screamed, standing up suddenly from the bar where he was sitting and knocking over the large mug he was drinking from in the process. It shattered across the floor, making Declan flinch slightly as a shard of glass flying from the crash barely missed his face. It took all of Declan's willpower to stop him from bolting, as he stared up at Kal. Kal was a good 2 feet taller than him, and while Declan wasn't the tallest man around it was still pretty intimidating, especially since Kal seemed to be one giant mass of muscles and looked like he wanted to try tearing Declan in half with his two meaty hands.

"Okay Kal, calm down, I was mostly joking about that owing me thing, and I'm not a rat, okay? I'm a bounty hunter. Those are big words, I know, but I'll repeat them slowly for you, okay? Bounty. Hunter. Pretty much just a different kind of criminal, alright?" Declan explained, which prompted Kal to lift Declan up by his shirt collar, the effortlessness of the action almost scared Declan more than being held five feet off the ground. "Bounty hunters take away my friends, they grab YOUR friends. I should beat you to a pulp right now. One less pig sniffing around." Kal growled, speaking to Declan through gritted teeth. "I'm not taking away any friends, alright Kal? L-listen, man, it's just one guy, we just find this one guy, and his bounty will be enough to pay off both of our crimes, and then some. You can buy this damn crummy bar, since you like it so much!" Declan croaked, feeling quite choked even though Kal was only holding him by his collar. He couldn't see Kal's expression exceptionally well from so high up, but he could see well enough to tell that he wasn't doing a great job of persuading him.

"Kal? C'mon, you don't want to kill me. I know you like me, and you don't want to mess up your favorite bar. I don't think the owner would appreciate that. Right Jim?" He begged, looking over at the bartender who owned the bar. The bartender didn't even glance in his direction, looking completely unaffected while cleaning the bar as if he had seen this sort of thing a million times over, which he probably had. "My name's not Jim." The bartender replied, still not looking up from what he was doing. Declan tried to look around for other bar patrons, anyone who might be a witness or a good Samaritan of sorts, but it became pretty obvious that he wasn't going to find anything like that at this criminal hideout.

Kal smirked as he watched Declan's eyes fearfully dart around. After a moment he slowly lowered him down. "You're right Declan, I do like you. You're a funny, scrawny little guy. I'd like to say you have guts too, but that might be going a step too far." As Kal spoke, he kneeled down next to Declan and began to whisper. "But if you ever become a threat to me, I'll show you why bounty hunters don't come looking for me." He muttered in a dark, emotionless tone. Kal stood up and went right back to drinking at the bar. Declan, shaken up from the whole experience, slowly began to stumble his way to the bar's exit. He stopped and turned towards Kal before leaving. "So, uh, is that a no on the job, or...?" Declan asked. As he saw Kal slowly rise up from his chair again, he was barely able to spit out an apology before sprinting out of the bar and towards his ship.

Well, that was it. Declan had asked every single person he could think of that might help him with a bounty, save for those who were behind bars or would undoubtedly stab him in the back if he gave them a chance. Hanna, Ward, Barclay, Kal. Those were just the few that almost killed him. That was it then. Declan was going to have to find someone with a bounty worth 30 000 that he could somehow manage to collect on his own. Now who the hell would that be?

 

[Syrli]

Ester sat in the piloting chair with her legs slung over one of the armrests and her back against the other. Her head was hanging upside down. Maybe she’d seen wrong. Maybe it was Estre or Aster or Esthær or Êßthäré that was wanted. She grabbed the edge of the control panel to pull herself upright, blinded by denial, and checked the name on the terminal for maybe the twentieth time. She let her body sink down again. She had flipped through the seemingly endless pages of names enough times to know that neither Zilas’, Jaeke’s nor Kimber’s portraits were up there. Well, good for them. She would figure out some way to solve things on her own, get the bounty cleared and then she could confront Jaeke and Kimber about leaving her in the lurch. Hell, maybe they even ratted her out.

So, what’s the plan? Going after a couple low-numbers seemed like the obvious choice, but to her experience easy target meant high competition, and while she normally could enjoy a healthy dose of rivalry the last thing she wanted right now was to be around other bounty hunters. No, she needed to get the whole sum in one non-hunter target. And now wasn’t the time to be greedy, so preferably one as close to 30 000 as possible. She began flipping through the portraits once more, now with a slightly more productive goal compared to the numerous times before.

Some people were simply too far away, some looked too dangerous to take on alone and others she recognized and knew were apart of a bigger gang or team. It seemed like everyone had a disqualifying factor. After nearly giving up hope the number 30 000 caught her eye. She clicked open the profile. Declan Turner, con artist, last seen last week, but not that far away from here. Good, good. She could definitely work with that. He looked harmless enough. The only problem would be how to find him. In her experience targets tended to not leave the quadrant unless they really needed to, but that still left her with a pretty big search area.

Turner’s last known position was at Supernova Powerstation. According to the ship’s computer it was a relatively small power station in the outskirts of the galaxy. Ester must admit that it was a weak lead, especially since it was a week since the position was updated. But he could be a regular there, meaning that the staff might be able to tell her something. The stolen ship’s voice control seemed to be broken, so she manually put in the coordinates and blasted off. The StarSailor, although retro and charming, obviously wasn’t optimized for bounty hunting. The navigation system was ancient at best, and there wasn’t really a place to hold captives. Ester guessed she would just have to cuff him to a pipe or something.

She walked across the landing port of the station. She had found some cash hidden in the ship, so she should swing by the store and pick up some supplies.

“Essie!” The voice calling her caught her completely off guard. She grabbed her pistol and spun around, aiming towards the source of the voice. “Whoa, whoa, calm down. You know I don’t bite.” The person smiled, flashing their bulky but pointy teeth. Their skin was a pale purple. “Olvar, back off”. Ester recognized the fellow hunter, but didn’t lower her gun. It didn’t stop him from coming closer though. “Essie, Essie, Essie...How can you be so hostile towards an old colleague? I haven’t seen you in ages...Oh wait, actually - I saw your face just this morning!” He grinned. “30 000! Not bad, you scoundrel. Now, you don’t need to worry about me, but if you don’t take that gun away from my face I might not be so generous anymore.”

Ester lowered her gun reluctantly. “What do you want?” Olvar peaked over her shoulder. “Well, I didn’t really plan to meet you here, I usually come here for...other reasons. Have you seen that girl working in the store? Her chest is - just wow!” Ester chuckled. “I thought you were gay, has she converted you?” Olvar shook his head, but judging by his facial expression he appreciated her more relaxed tone. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Essie, Essie...it’s about admiration, not attraction! I mean, you should really see it for yourself, it’s like a natural wonder, the size of those ti-“ Ester interrupted him before he could finish the sentence and he cleared his throat. “Well, to get back to the point,” he continued. “You seem like you could use some help, since I guess your team dumped you. And when I think about it, I do actually need a new on-board mechanic. I got into an argument with the last one, you see, and he’s....well, he’s simply not around anymore.”

Olvar was a eccentric gangster at worst and a douchebag at best, but considering the circumstances his offer might not be so bad after all. “Great!” he exclaimed. “I promise you won’t regret it. Of course, you’re only allowed to be a part of the crew after you’re cleared your bounty - I obviously don’t work with criminals. But if you’re looking for a target, you may use our tracking system, it’s fantastic - very illegal - but absolutely fantastic! It almost takes the fun out of the chase, if you ask me.”

It didn’t take long until Ester left the station. Now she had a small, flashing dot on her radar marking the location of Declan’s ship, and she was heading straight for it.

 

[NotSure]

Declan kept surfing through the terminal, not finding a single bounty worth at least 30 000 that he could realistically see himself collecting. Farien Rowe, wanted for numerous acts of violence among them two known cases of murder, wow no. Urami Hayes, high priority gang member, that was a definite no, Declan had been in trouble with a gang before and it was NOT fun. Ester Fernott, bounty hunter wanted for assault, manslaughter, the works. Declan groaned, leaning back in his chair. All these people were god damned psychos. He had a pretty decent chance of sneaking up on them maybe, but arresting them? The only thing he would get out of that attempt is a laser sized hole in the face.

After fidgeting for a bit, trying to think of what to do, Declan found himself looking at his own bounty. He told himself it was so he knew what to expect on the off chance a bounty hunter had some kind of scanner that could hunt down his crappy, decade old Cosmic Flare brand Cruiser, but he was pretty confident most bounty hunters would still be trying to track him down around that powerstation he left about a week ago. In reality, he was just reminding himself how badly he screwed up. The listing hadn't changed since the last time he saw it. 30 000. Declan Turner. Known con artist, wanted for Fraud, Attempted Robbery, Evading Arrest, all pretty typical stuff. It was the last charge that really messed him up.

Murder. A memory that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"I don't know, this is not really in my comfort zone. I told you Vance, I'm sticking with scams now." Declan argued. Vance scoffed. "Man, and here I thought you had ambition. Comfort zone? This is Ten. Grand. Ten thousand we are talking about here! And it's so easy! A two person job, 50/50 pay. Honestly I'm a little disappointed. I thought you would jump at the sound of this." Vance said, sounding disappointed. Declan had known Vance for a long time. He liked him, but didn't quite trust him. Vance was a pretty sketchy looking individual, he had this creepy scraggly mustache along with his unkempt hair, and had that kind of smile a loan shark has. Of course, his skill wasn't being trustworthy, it was his ability to skulk around. Whether you wanted a pocket picked, someone to eavesdrop, or something stolen in a matter of minutes, Vance was your man. Declan often wondered why he stopped working with Vance, but he knew why. Vance was cocky. He would often do things without thinking them through, and he enjoyed a challenge in his jobs. And in Declan's experience, jobs that promised "challenge" typically lead to people getting arrested, or worse.

Declan looked around. "What is with you and these shitty alien restaurants? Couldn't we meet somewhere less public, and, I don't know, better smelling?" He criticized, looking around at the diner where Vance chose to sell him on his plan. "Wow Declan, could you not be racist for like, five seconds? Is this why you only have human friends?" Vance accused. "Wha- I have have other types of friends! For example, there was, uh... well hey there was- no wait, um..." Vance chuckled as Declan stuttered a defense. "Alright alright, shut up. All I was saying was that I don't really like the food here. I mean, what are you eating? Is that slime?" Declan asked, looking at the strange, gelatinous dish that Vance had ordered. "So close minded. That's why you won't take the job, and probably why you have so few friends. Listen, just this once, five big ones, all you have to do is do that talking thing you do, and I'll be pretty much doing all the work." Vance insisted. Declan sighed. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You want to rob a cargo ship? How do you even plan on doing that? Last time I checked that ancient artifact you call a ship wasn't fit for speedy getaways" Vance rolled his eyes. "Alright, seriously, it's not that old. And besides, we aren't going to need a speedy getaway. Just listen for half a second, okay?" Vance pleaded. Declan crossed his arms. "Fine."

"So, this cargo ship is carrying tons of parts for a chain of high end ship repair stores. The kind designed for those rich pricks with their party cruisers. I'm talking top of the line engines, hulls imbued with valuable metals, I don't know, diamond windshield wipers, whatever rich people use for their ships." Declan leaned back as Vance discussed his plan. "Yeah yeah, I get it, it's super valuable. How are we gonna rob it? Those ships never stop until they've reached their destination, except to resupply on power." Vance smirked. "That's the beauty of the whole thing Declan. These cargo resupply stations? They act all secure and what not, but there are so many of them, and none of the companies actually invest enough money for security. And as for the employees at these stations? Swapped in and out all the time, making it easy for us to pretend to be station workers. You help the cargo ship "refuel", stall a bit, I sneak in, grab a crate, sneak out, and just like that. No witnesses." Vance said gleefully. He was obviously quite proud of his little plan. "What about the crew for the cargo ship? Won't they see you?" Declan questioned. Vance shook his head. "Normally, yeah, but not these ships. These greedy little corporate bastards didn't want to spend money on a full crew, so it's just the pilot. You distract him, and that's the only guy we have to worry about." Declan raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Just the pilot? For real? Wait, where are you getting this info?" Vance snarled. "Man, you are one suspicious asshole. From the guy I'm gonna sell it to, obviously. He's the one paying me to grab the stuff. And before you get all paranoid on him too, he's not gonna screw us over. He wants to scrap these parts and get paid just as much as we do." Declan opened his mouth to protest, but Vance interrupted him. "Look, I've told you everything. Are you in, or what?" Vance asked, looking at Declan with a demanding expression. Declan scratched his head, looking around nervously. "...alright, I'm in."

The job was going as smoothly as they had hoped. They arrived on the station and changed into stolen uniforms. None of the other employees so much as looked their way, not even when they volunteered to power the cargo ship, which wasn't as large as Declan imagined it might be. Declan pretended to hook up the ship in the landing pad, making up some lie about how it would take longer to power up due to malfunctions with the station, etc etc. The pilot was surprisingly easy to distract, as weeks of being on a cargo ship made him eager for a conversation. Vance snuck on the ship without any problems. "...Yeah, and get this, you can get fired for falling asleep while piloting, which makes sense right? But then, these assholes make it to where you have to fly non-stop in order to get to your destination on time. Oh, and if you miss the deadline? You get fired." The pilot ranted, seeming surprisingly awake despite the massive bags under his eyes. They were talking just outside the ship, which worked for Vance perfectly. "Jeez, really? Can't you, I dunno, issue a complaint? Join a union?" Declan advised. "Shhhh! Don't say the 'U' word around here! C'mon man, you're a station worker, you know how it is!" The pilot warned, in an alarmed hushed voice. "R-right, yeah, sorry." The pilot sighed. "Conditions must be pretty good here, if you can talk like that. Maybe I should consider trying to land a job here after I'm done with this shipment." He mused. Declan shrugged. "Yeah, it's alright. Worth a look I suppose." He peered over to see Vance sneaking out, crate in hand.

He waited a little bit for Vance to make it to his ship. "Yep, well I think we are just about done here. It was actually pretty good talking to you, uh..." Declan looked at the pilot's name tag. "Horrace." The pilot smiled. "Yeah, well, it was nice talking to you too... Um, Ha'qli? Is that how you pronounce it? Pretty strange name for a guy like you. No offense intended, of course." The pilot noted, looking at the name tag on Declan's stolen uniform. "O-oh, yeah, um, name comes from my mother's side. I'm adopted. Yeah, pretty interesting story, but I guess it's one for another time." Declan concluded, before seeing Vance sneak back to the cargo ship. "What the hell...?" Declan quietly muttered to himself. "Is everything all right?" Horrace asked, concerned. "Oh, yeah, no, sorry I just thought I saw something, but it was just my imagination. Anyways, I think I was wrong, we still got a little time with this damn thing, the power has been malfunctioning all week." Declan explained, silently worrying about Vance. They were only supposed to grab one crate, but of course Vance was getting greedy. Declan reassured himself. This pilot wasn't going to notice, and it meant more money for him. At least, that's what he told himself the first three crates.

But Vance kept grabbing more and more. "I just can't wait to get back to my kids. I hate being away so long, but someone's gotta pay the bills. You know, I used to be sort of distant towards my dad, since he was never around, but now I kinda get it. It's like they say, you don't know how hard your parents have it until you got little ones of your own, right? ...Say, what is taking so long?" The pilot finally wondered. Declan tried to find an explanation, but couldn't think of any. "Ah, you know, it is taking a bit long, huh? That's... really weird." Declan managed to say, in a fairly unconvincing manner. The pilot seemed suspicious. Without warning, he walked around to the back of his ship where Vance was stealing the parts. "H-hey, wait a second Harold, or Horrace or- hey just wait!" Declan yelled, running in front of the pilot in a desperate attempt to block his view, but it was too late. The pilot was staring at Vance, who was currently dragging down another crate. Declan suddenly noticed all the empty spots were the crates should be. Vance must've taken at least ten times the amount that was planned. Vance, seeing the pilot, dropped the crate. "What is going on here...?" Horrace said, shocked. In one swift movement Vance pulled out his blaster pistol, and aimed it at the pilot. "No witnesses." He stated in a horrifyingly cold tone. The only thing Declan could recall next was hearing the gunshot.

Declan didn't remember taking out his gun, it just happened out of instinct. "D-Declan...?" Vance gasped. He was lying on the ground, staring in disbelief at the gruesome blaster wound in his chest. That's when Declan realized he had shot his friend, and he could tell it had been lethal. "I-I'm sorry Vance, I couldn't let you do that. He was a father, and he was innocent an-and..." But Vance didn't seem like he was listening, he was too busy spluttering and struggling to get up. "I'm so sorry." He shot Vance again, putting him out of his misery. Declan ran past Horrace, trying not to think of what he had just done as he looked around for his escape. Station worker's were approaching, trying to see what happened. He saw Vance's Cosmic Flare Cruiser, and hastily scrambled his way to it. He took off, tears streaming down his face, flying as fast as he could away from the station.

It wasn't long after that he had seen his bounty posted. He had been flying in that ship ever since, a constant reminder of what he had done. That was a couple of months ago, and since then he had done nothing but dodge bounty hunters and look for ways to pay off his bounty. It took him a while to land on bounty hunting, but he realized it was the only way, since almost no one would work with him after what happened. A lot of people thought Declan killed Vance for the money, which was funny since he couldn't even sell the parts he stole. There was too much attention, he would surely get caught if he tried. The few people who would overlook what happened turned their backs on Declan when he became a bounty hunter, a decision he was regretting, since he wasn't at all good at the job. He had managed to capture a few extremely low level people, mostly smugglers and the like, but it was way too much of a hassle. He had almost gotten arrested by other bounty hunters numerous times, and he had already spent what little money he earned. The only choice he had was to find a large bounty that he could grab, but even that was looking hopeless.

Declan went back to looking through targets. There was no way to go but forward. The only way to redeem himself was to find that bounty. The risk was worth it. He just had to try.

 

[Syrli]

The singer's hoarse voice blasted through the radio as Ester lay on the floor beneath the control panel, inspecting the mechanics and cable work above her. The song must be at least a century old, judging by the quality of the recording and the style. The distorted electric guitar was aggressive, but melodic, and the chorus told of drinks and bullets and death. It was strange how the music sounded upbeat and funky if you ignored the darker tones in the lyrics. Kimber would probably been able to tell her when the album came out and where the band members had grown up. Ester frowned. The basic functions of the ship seemed to be at least somewhat intact. She stood up and wiped her hands off on her pants and turned the radio down. She was getting closer to Declan's ship, and it was time to start preparing. She pulled on a spacesuit that was left in the wardrobe, and strapped on a blaster pistol and a homemade tether-stun gun, along with a few tools. She had spotted a heavy-duty jetpack in the back storage of the ship, probably used as an alternative escape pod. It was too heavy to put on this early. She went back up to the main windshield, and according to the radar she should be within spotting distance. She slowed down the engines, only gently floating by, keeping lookout for his ship. Ester guessed that they were close to a asteroid belt, as different sizes of rock and space junk was partly blocking the view. She spotted something in the distance, and the ship's position lined up with the dot on her radar. She turned up the radio again. Showtime.

She picked up a decent amount off speed, navigating carefully through the debris. Her course made it seem like she was just going to pass by behind him, still keeping distance and a slow pace, trying to get as close as she could without it being suspicious. When she had gotten as close as she dared to go, she rapidly turned and fired the two front anchors off towards the ship in front of her. The anchors were made to pull ships into power stations, but hopefully they would work as boarding hooks too. One of the anchors managed to connect and grab onto the side of Declan's ship, and she began too reel in her catch as fast as possible. She left the control panel and put on her helmet and began strapping on the jetpack, it's weight almost making her stumble backwards. She made her way over to the airlock, and as the second pairs of doors opened up into space she pressed the button on her chest. The jets folded out from her back, extending from her shoulder blades like bulky wings. She jumped out.

She watched the collision floating from afar. It was completely silent, but she could imagine the screeching sound of metal against metal. She turned on the jets and moved closer, flying along the sides of Declan's ship. She found the hatch to the engine room, and used a tool to remove the bolts. Once the hatch was off she pressed the button on her chest again, making the jets fold back onto her back so she could squeeze into the tight gap.

In the engine room she waited a few minutes. She wanted to make him, and any companions, confused. What had happened? Why had a ship hooked onto them, and then just stayed there? Maybe they would go out explore the strange ship or head out to unhook themselves. It was also possible that the crash had left them unconscious. After enough time had passed she entered the airlock to the main deck, and let the heavy jetpack drop to the floor. She pressed herself up towards the wall beside the door, and as it opened she dove around the corner gun-first.

 

[NotSure]

Declan had been surfing through bounties for hours. Each one more impossible to capture than the last. "No, no, no, no, NO!" He punched the terminal hard enough to crack the screen, his frustrations finally creating an outburst of rage. Every friend he knew had left him, every one was out to get him, and the only skill he had was his silver tongue. Actually, did he even have that? His supposed social skills had consistently failed to help him in any way. He took a deep breath. "It's okay, everything is fine. At least things can't get any worse." He comforted himself by saying.

Screeeeeeeech

Declan was jolted awake from his self-pity by a sudden and discomforting noise. "What the hell?" He stood up and strapped on his belt with his holstered blaster pistol attached, and started to run to investigate the sound but stopped himself. Something was wrong here. His head swarmed with possibilities of what had just happened, what he could do. He could run out, blaster in hand- no, he was terrible at that sort of thing, especially if he didn't know what he was looking for. Maybe he could sneak up on whoever was infiltrating the ship? No, that wouldn't work, he had no idea where they were. And maybe it wasn't anyone? Maybe it was just asteroids, scrapping the hull of his ship and making it even crappier.

He wasn't willing to take any chances, but he was low on options. He decided to do something risky. Declan grabbed a distress signal transmitter from next to his terminal and hid it in his pocket. He wasn't willing to press it yet, not until he was sure. Not knowing what else to do, he quickly went to the cabinet of alien alcoholic drinks that Vance used to collect, taking a bottle and two glasses, and brought it to the dining table in the main deck. He filled the two glasses full of whatever greenish fluid the bottle contained, set them on the table, and sat down in one of the two chairs nearby, attempting to look as calm and non-threatening as possible. He waited for something to happen as he sipped his drink, his hand in his pocket resting on the transmitter. He was almost ready to cross off the noise as stray projectiles hitting his ship, when he heard a door open.

He pressed the button to activate it, and kept the transmitter in his pocket where he hoped the intruder wouldn't notice. He put both of his hands up when Ester dove in. "Woah! Jeez, didn't feel like hailing me first? 'Hey Declan, I heard the galaxy's greatest con artist was in town, and I just had to visit'. That too much for you?" He joked, his demeanor towards her was almost like that of an old friend, aside from his hands in the air. Other than the pistol holstered in his belt, he wasn't equipped with any other weaponry or armor, and was making no attempt to escape or resist. "Um, hey, care for a drink? You know, before you arrest me, or kill me, or whatever it is you're here for?" He proposed, nervously motioning towards the glasses on the table. He was really hoping this dumb idea would work.

 

[Syrli]

Ester froze. There he was. Sitting at a dining table, drinks poured, leaning back with his hands up. She held the gun up towards him with both hands, but her shock would be visible even from a distance. Words seemed to flash red inside her head. Trap. Danger. She spun around quickly, scanning the room for other people but couldn't see any. She hadn't even taken the mission lightly at all, but she still must've underestimated him gravely. When she thought that she would catch him by surprise, he had actually been expecting her. How could he have known? Had Olvar been leading her right into a trap?

She looked at him as if a ghost had just invited her to sit down and have a drink. What the hell was she supposed to do? There was something fishy going on, for sure, but what exactly? Was the drink poisoned? Was the ship surrounded? Was he just some kind of android decoy? She had clearly been outsmarted once already, so she had no idea what to expect. And without fully knowing what was going on, she clearly struggled deciding on how to act.

"Don't. Move." She finally spoke, trying to put as much confidence and force as possible behind her words. She approached slowly and grabbed a pair of handcuffs from her pocket, and cuffed his wrists together. She put the pistol to the side of his head and leaned down towards him. "What the hell is going on here? What's this act all about? Are there other people here?" Ester asked, trying to remain calm, but the barrel of her gun was slightly shaking against his temple. Saying that she was on edge would be a understatement, and his calm and joking demeanor only made it worse. "If the greatest scammer in the galaxy wants to see the light of day again, h-he better speak now. Don't think that your bounty will keep me from doing anything rash. I will value my own safety over that money any -" She was interrupted by a sound coming from the control panel.

"AE-31D-07C, can you hear us? We're the cargo ship to the northeast of you. We caught your distress signal, what's the emergency?" A woman's voice spoke through the radio. "...Hello? Can you hear us? "

Ester glared at Declan. "Oh, you fucker..." She quickly patted him down, finding the transmitter and his gun. She pocketed them both and backed up towards the control panel, keeping her aim locked on Declan as she responded to the call. "I hear you. Uh...I was just towing my friend's ship who had ran out of gas, and we crashed when I, uh...tried to avoid an asteroid. He got hurt, and I've just gotten him back into my ship. So... yeah, I can't really leave him here to bleed out, but if you could just help me unhook us from his ship, then, then I can take us to the hospital right away."

"We got a medic on board, we'll send a team over to you." Ester leaned away from the mic and cursed under her breath. "N-no! No, actually, he seems to be better already. I'm sure he just needs a bit of rest. The voice on the radio was silent for a moment. "Ma'am, are you sure? You just said that he was bleeding out. Are you certain that everything is okay? You sound like you're in shock." Ester saw on the navigation screen that the cargo ship had started to slowly approach them while they were talking.

 

[NotSure]

He noticed her surprise, and her discomfort at him seeming to expect her. Honestly, he was just being paranoid, he had no idea if someone was really on his ship. And he had no idea how to deal with her. But he could tell was not the way she was thinking of him now. Honestly, he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Maybe it was better to be underestimated than overestimated? He didn't want to get shot.

Declan sat still as she cuffed him and patted him down, even though he knew she would find the transmitter. He had a plan for that. She was shaken up, she sounded a bit desperate, and he could capitalize on that. When wondering why, and why she seemed to be alone, he realized she looked a little familiar. He couldn't quite figure out why though. As the woman responded to the emergency signal, Declan finally spoked in a hushed tone, so the responder couldn't hear him. "Okay, okay, relax. The squad of good Samaritans are fine, we can easily get rid of them. I don't want them on my ship either, one guest is enough for me. That being said, those were not the people I was trying to attract." He said with a coy smile, his friendly demeanor shifting to that of a mocking one.

"Do you know what's gonna happen when certain people notice that my ship, seen a week ago in a nearby powerstation, is suddenly emitting a signal saying 'Hey everyone! I'm right here and I'm not moving!', because I'm pretty sure neither of us want to be here when that happens. Unless you are willing to throw away 30 000, that is." Declan shifted uncomfortably in his cuffs. "So listen, if you help me I help you, alright? I'll tell the rescue squad that I butt-dialed them, or whatever, and then you uncuff me and we can figure out a way to flee the mass of bounty hunters that is surely headed this way. And hey, after that, we can finally have that drink! I was really hoping we could kick back and exchange pleasantries. You know, I'm an aspiring bounty hunter myself. Maybe later you could lend me some pointers?"

He was acting very confident, but in reality he was frozen in fear. He was held at gunpoint by a very nervous and potentially unstable individual, and he had also rolled out the welcome mat for about a hundred other people who might want his head on a platter. He honestly had no clue how they were going to deal with that, and if that would even be that much of a problem to this particular bounty hunter. After all, they were much less of a threat to her than they were to him. Not only that, but his dismissal of the rescue team was very much faked, as if they came aboard and noticed the crates and crates of stolen ship parts in his cargo, well honestly he didn't know what would happen since he already attracted the law but it still made him uneasy.

He was going to have to wait out one hell of a perfect storm.

 

[Syrli]

Ester's eyes shifted between the radio and Declan, as she realized what was coming. They would be in the middle of a swarm of bounty hunters if they didn't get a move on, and that fast. God, she had just met him and he was already giving her trouble after trouble. Her head couldn't keep up with the infinite loops of "what ifs" and possible tricks he could be pulling, so it might be better just to trust him. The situation could hardly get any worse, anyways. She muttered slightly to herself before leaning down to speak into the mic again. "I can assure you that everything is under control. Here, I'll go get my friend so you can hear it from him himself." She muted the mic and gestured for him to come with a jerk of her head. "If you try to pull anything off I'll cut the call immediately and bail. So, unless you think you can fend off all these hunters you've whistled for with your hands tied behind your back, I wouldn't recommend it. If I were you I would not want to be in the middle of a shootout, but it's your choice I guess." Ester paused and took a deep breath. "So please, go ahead and tell the nice lady that you're not in need of medical help." She unmuted the mic again.

She wasn't very keen on uncuffing him, still wary after thinking she had already been fooled once. Maybe a drink would be nice though, after they had gotten out of this mess. He seemed like a entertaining enough person to have a chat with, even though she would prefer him to be tied up, and she had been yearning for a drink since she left the casino. The ship she had stolen must've, to her disappointment, been owned by a non-drinker since there was nothing on board. But maybe it had been for the better. Being alone with booze and heartache was rarely a good combination. But if she managed to get out of this one, that could be a cause of celebration. She'd be able to clear her bounty and reunite with Kimber and Jaeke. On second thought, maybe especially with Jaeke. The deal she made with Olvar might be a problem, but now was not the time to think about that.

She tried to keep an eye on the navigation screen for any incoming ships. So far they seemed to be clear, but she knew that it only was a matter of time until it would be much trickier to escape. She wondered if she would have enough time to go outside and try to cut them loose from the anchor. Otherwise...well, they wouldn't be able to fly fast enough if they were dragging the StarSailer behind them.

 

[NotSure]

He smiled, and leaned as close to the mic as he could, still being cuffed. "Hey, hey guys, it's fine. Jeez..." He sighs loudly, in a very exaggerated manner. "My friend here is just, god she is SO neurotic. I tell her it's fine, that she doesn't need to tow me if she could just call someone, but nooooo she HAS to hook her ship onto mine in the middle of an asteroid field! I mean, can you believe that? And then, we crash, and suddenly she has to call someone and I'm just wondering jeez who had that great idea, and of course she is a total drama queen so she says I'm, what was it?" He looked directly at Ester. "Bleeding out? I mean, c'mon, who says that? Okay, so I snagged my arm a little bit but obviously I'm fine. Oh, and get this..." Declan continued to blabber on and on about whatever random thing came to mind. In his experience, annoying someone like that can be a pretty quick way to stop their suspicions, since they usually are too focused on trying to leave a tedious conversation to worry about what someone said beforehand.

In the back of his mind he ran a lot of plans on how to escape. Okay, so the plan worked for now, and he felt like he could probably escape the approaching bounty hunters with an experience one on his side, but that still meant he had to escape her. He thought about possibly shooting her when she turned her back, but that just didn't feel right, and his ship didn't need blood stains all over it. And of course she had his blaster pistol, which he was kind of missing now. His first plan was to potentially poison her with a drink, but one she obviously wouldn't fall for that and two: He had no poison, what was he some black market smuggler? Maybe he could shoot her out of the airlock. He wondered what that would look like. Probably not a fun thing to witness, actually. Well, whatever he did would have to be spur of the moment. He would just have to wait and see what opportunity arose.

 

[Syrli]

Well, at least he was cooperating. Ester rolled her eyes as Declan meticulously blabbered on about her shortcomings regarding her attempted maneuver through the asteroid belt. She had to admit though, that it was convincing. He was so good at making up stories that Ester herself almost began too see the chain of events unfolding in front of her, as if she was reminiscing about something that had actually happened. She, on the other hand, had tripped and stumbled all over her own words when trying to improvise. He was a professional after all.

"Okay, okay. That's enough, I think she got the point." Ester groaned as she stuck her head between Declan and the radio, finally cutting him off. She had grown increasingly more and more impatient after listening to his endless slander. "Are we clear?"

"All clear. We sent out some people to cut off the anchor for you, they should be done any minute now. And hey, take it easy out there. Maybe you should rest a bit and hand the controls over to your friend." Ester rolled her eyes again. Did he really have to paint the picture of her being a hysterical wreck? Ester faked a slight chuckle, as it was probably best to just play along. "Yes, yes...You're probably right. I'll let him take over from here." Her voice sounded slightly strained. "Thank you for all the help. Over and out." Right after cutting the signal she could feel a slight shake, meaning that they must've been cut loose. Good, good.

She exhaled deeply, for the first time since she entered at least somewhat more relaxed. She turned on the engines and set the course away from the asteroid belt. Hopefully they wouldn't bump into anyone. When she had finished setting the course she glanced over to the table behind her. Now, about that drink... She went up to the two glasses, and almost instinctively grabbed the one that stood where Declan had been sitting. But instead of bringing it to her mouth, she just stood there and stared at it. Of course anyone would take his glass, and he would know that. But what if he realized that she would realize that he had realized...Thinking about all of this reverse psychology made her head hurt. Screw it. She shut her eyes and took a big gulp. The liquid was acidic and tasted a bit like the way fireworks smell, mixed with some kind of unfamiliar fruitiness. At least it seemed strong enough. Two more gulps, still quite sizable. She looked over at Declan. He might judge her, but honestly, she didn't care. She raised her glass slightly. "Cheers."

 

[NotSure]

He leaned back, and glanced over at Ester as she gulped down her drink. "I knew I should've poisoned it..." He remarked, not bothering to be quiet enough so that she couldn't hear. His coy behavior was still there, but now that there was less tension in the air he seemed tired, dark circles underlining his eyes showing that he had not slept in a while. He sighed, awkwardly grabbing his drink with cuffed hands. "Cheers. To two people, stumbling their way through life on opposite sides of the law. And if that isn't something to celebrate, well I don't know what is." He lifted his glass slightly as he gave his toast, and took a large gulp of his drink "And hey, since I'm so nice, you can treat yourself to the rest of the bottle. And if you want more there is plenty in that cabinet over there. My friend was quite the collector, and he was generous enough to pass it on to me." He said with a half-hearted chuckle as he gulped down the remainder of his drink. "You can go ahead and refill mine too if you feel so inclined. I don't know about you, but I've been having a pretty stressful time recently. This is actually really nice, even if you are about to throw me in jail. I can't say it's the nicest drink I've ever had at gunpoint, but it's still definitely in the top ten, so good on you."

He didn't sound as confident anymore, but he still had a forced grin. He really did seem like someone who would crack a joke even as the world crumbled around him. As he looked at Ester, he couldn't help but think, maybe she could help him. Of course, a lot of murderous plots still ran in his head, but the more he thought about it the more he realized he needed her, or someone like her, to partner up with in order to free him from his bounty. Yeah, it seemed like he could talk his way out of anything, but he couldn't win a fight if his life literally depended on it. A sense of humor for a defense mechanism was great and all, but her? She had 'actually defending herself' as a defense mechanism. He could really use that.

"Listen, whatever your name is. What are the odds... well, what if I could...? Okay, well here's deal, if you..." He struggled with his words, for once not thinking of what to say. "Ah, fuck, forget it." He sighed, and put his head down on the table. What the hell was he thinking? She had 30 000 reasons not to help him. As terrible as it sounded, he was ready to surrender. Maybe prison wasn't so bad, a smart guy like him could talk his way into a gang. Or he would run into an old enemy/spiteful friend, and get stabbed to death. Either way, might be a better chance of survival than trying to go against the mercenary sitting before him.

Well, maybe something would happen, and he would have a chance at escape. Or maybe not. He tried not to worry about it.

 

[Syrli]

Ester chuckled. “Yes, you probably should have poisoned it.” Even a decently inattentive person would notice that she was more relaxed now. The obvious factor was the alcohol, but while it might play at part, it certainly wasn’t the main reason. A realization had been slowly dawning on her, and with it a feeling of...hopelessness that seemed to numb her nerves. She would turn in this guy, but then what? Did she really think that Jaeke and Kimber wanted her back? Pfft. Her other choice was to work for Olvar, until he eventually got bored of her and ditched her. Working alone was not her thing, so that wasn’t really a tempting option either. Gulp, gulp.

At least Declan was an interesting person to spend these awful moments with. She hadn’t ever been offered a drink by any of their targets before. Of course, they’d take whatever was on the ship anyways, but since she didn’t have any other company it was nice that he sat down with her and shared it, instead of cursing or shouting and crying like they usually did. She got up and grabbed the bottle and refilled his glass, before topping her own glass up. She noticed his struggle to hold the glass while cuffed. “Careful, you might drop it. Let me help you with that.” She said, and uncuffed his left hand and locked the other link around the arm rest of the chair. She sat down again. “Opposite? I’m pretty sure that the law wouldn’t even be able to tell us apart. Just numbers under a portrait.” The thought that she should be more careful about letting him know about her bounty didn’t even cross her mind. Admittedly, she had never had a bounty on her head before, and she didn’t even remotely see him as a fellow hunter. To her, he was just a con artist.

“Top ten? Well, I guess that ain’t so bad...but I’d definitely prefer to be at least top five. I’m not a very good loser.” She looked around the room, twisting her pursed lips to the side in a thoughtful expression. “What about some snacks? Music? Do you have a deck of cards or something?” She stood up again, bringing her glass, and turned on the radio. A familiar warmth had begun to spread throughout her body. Oh, how she had missed it. “My name‘s Ester, by the way. I assume it’s only fair that you know since I know yours.”

 

[NotSure]

"Ester huh? Nice name! I kind of expected your name would be like, 'Killer', or something. Then again, I'm not very creative with names. And I don't drink with most of my bounty hunters, so I wouldn't know." He sipped his drink. He was pretty calm, seeming to be enjoying the company despite the circumstances "Not a good loser? Well, an easy way to get to my top five would be to let me go. Hell, I'd make you number one!" Declan chuckled. "Joking of course. Number one was that time I saved my life winning a drinking contest with a mob boss, so you can't beat that. Man, that was great. Don't remember much of it though. Oh, by the way, there is a deck of cards in that same cabinet. I warn you, I play a mean game of cards. It's one of those kinds of decks with, you know, nude-y images? Before you judge me, the ad said it was 'great for long, lonesome voyages', so it was right up my alley. If you aren't a prude I'm sure you'll appreciate it. It's got guys and girls, all kinds of weird alien races, whatever your thing is." He explained, not at all bashful about it. Not like he would care much of what she thought though, she was about to turn him in.

He tugged at his handcuff. Not coming loose, unless he chewed off his arm. Well, at least only one was cuffed. And hell, he wouldn't have the worst time before he got arrested. Maybe he should try to learn more about her, see if he could reason with her or learn some kind of weakness. "Well Ester, I gotta admit it's not every day I meet a bounty hunter who is able to track me down. So what's your story? If you want I can tell you my story too. I can't say I'll be completely truthful, but you will be entertained!" Thinking about it though, he didn't have a great story to tell. Sure, a few great cons and all that, but mostly it was him scrambling out of dangerous situations, barely able to leave with his life and if he was lucky a pitiful profit. He didn't regret it though, he only wished he was able to accomplish more. After all he had been through, it was a little depressing that it might end here. He wasn't done plotting his escape though, he was certain he had heard of Ester before. He just had to remember where.

 

[Syrli]

Ester knew that he was joking about her letting him go, but would it really matter for her? If she did, at least she'd get the occasional entertainment of someone trying to catch her every once in a while, and since she still would be wanted she'd have a great excuse to not join Olvar's crew. If she did turn Declan in, after that she would...well, drift around endlessly in space? Hopeless, homeless, penniless. Teaming up with Olvar started to seem less and less bearable the more she thought about it.

"Well, I've been called a lot of adjectives, but I'm pretty sure prude hasn't been one of them." She said as she grabbed the deck of cards and began flipping them through. She tilted her head slightly as she looked closer at the motifs. "My, oh my." She mumbled. The cards were decorated with images of varying levels of raunchiness, ranging from somewhat innocently seductive and teasing poses on the low cards to distinctively more explicit ones on the higher values. She sat down opposite to him and started shuffling it.

"Well, I guess you could say that I sold my sold to the devil to find you. I guess if you truly are an aspiring bounty hunter you should know his name; Olvar. I'd advice you to not get involved with him." She smirked, seeing the ironic hypocrisy. "Big ship, big crew - sure, but in reality it's nothing more than a big circus, and he's the director of it all. If he gets bored of you, if you're not entertaining enough, interesting enough, sexy enough, exotic enough, you'll have to walk the plank. And while your at it, why don't you do a flip on the way down? It would make your fall sooooo much more thrilling for the rest of us, darling." For the last sentence she mockingly copied his way of talking and accent. "Anything before that...isn't really relevant anymore." She knitted her eyebrows slightly and continued to shuffle in silence, until she finally spoke again. "I'm not really interested in hearing your backstory. "She said and gently shook her head with a slight smirk on her lips. "If you think you can manage to tug on my heartstrings and convince you to let you go with some sad childhood trauma, I can already tell you that it would be a waste of time."

She finished shuffling, and she was beginning to get excited. Not because of the risqué cards, but because she had no doubt that Declan was good. Jaeke and Kimber were too bad to be fun to play with, and they didn't really have any interest to play with her either. But with Declan's experience in bluffing she was sure that it would be an interesting game. "Oh, you think you're good? What do you play, Go Fish?" Ester teased. By the look of her shuffling anyone would have been able to tell that this wasn't the first time she had held a deck of cards either. They decided on a game which had a fair share of both bluffing and strategy involved. She started dealing out the cards, but stopped herself. "Oh wait! What are we playing for? Your freedom?" She was only half joking. High stakes made everything a bit more fun. She looked around the room, trying to think of anything. She didn't really have any cash. After a few moments she pulled up the keys for the handcuffs from her pocket and let them dangle from her finger. "What about these? I'd imagine they'd greatly increase your odds of escaping, but if you have anything good to place as a bet I'd be up for it."

 

[NotSure]

He chuckled at her reaction to the cards, since he had never actually used them that much and wasn't sure of how raunchy they were. He didn't have anyone to play with after all. However, seeing them now he remembered the interesting... design of the deck.

As he listened to her, he tried to think of who Olvar was. He did know him somewhat. "Olvar, huh? Yeah, okay, I remember him. Not as a bounty hunter, but I was conning this banker, and he wizened up and hired one of Olvar's bounty hunters. I never met him personally, but he sent this real pretty guy after me, so I can see what you mean by the whole 'sexy' enough thing. Now I'm kind of hoping that Olvar didn't kill him after I escaped. Maybe you should ask him about that when you turn me in, or whatever your agreement is with him." He suggested, noticing her hesitance in working with him.

He lightly laughed when she shot down his invitation to talk about himself. Admittedly he might have tried to tell a sob story if he thought she'd buy it, but clearly she wouldn't. "Alright, suit yourself! But I'm willing to bet I have a much happier back story than you. I mean, lone wolf con artist versus friendless bounty hunter? Er, lone wolf being better than friendless, mind you." He paused for a second, realizing it didn't sound as cool as he wanted it to. "...lone wolf is better, okay? Like, it's by choice, 'cause... ah forget it. Let's just play cards." He dismissed himself, feeling lightly embarrassed. He forgot it shortly though, when she finished shuffling the cards.

At the sight of cards on the table, Declan almost forgot about his worries. If there was one thing Declan loved, it was gambling. The act of bluffing and planning his actions in order to win some sort of prize was how Declan had spent a majority of his life, and he knew she was going to be fun to play against. "Hey, I could kick your ass at Go Fish, doesn't mean I won't kick your ass at this too. I'm a master of both strategy and luck, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. As for our bet, I think you and I both know that me being uncuffed doesn't do much for my chances. How about this, if you win I'll give you a crate of gold plated ship hulling, only slightly stolen of course, and in exchange you throw in my blaster along with uncuffing me. Unless you think I'm a better shot then you, because if so then by all means keep it, and I'll enjoy knowing that." He smirked. He didn't even have a plan to use the blaster, but he enjoyed adding risk to the bet.

 

[Syrli]

"Friendless? Ouch, how rude." She tried to keep a joking tone, but she started wondering how he really saw her. A desperate, lonely alcoholic? Wow, how pathetic. What bounty hunter in their right mind sits down to have a drink and card game with their target? She opened her mouth, as if she was about to defend her image as a sane person and maybe make up a story or two about how she did in fact have friends, but closed it again before saying anything.

She glanced up from the cards and chuckled slightly. "Luck?" She looked at Declan sitting cuffed to the chair in front of her. "Yeah, you surely look like the epitome of fortune." Ester said sarcastically. As he presented his wager and suggested raising the stakes by adding his blaster to the bet you could probably see the spark of excitement in her eyes. "Oh, you're on!" She said and placed the keys and his blaster on the table in front of her before finishing dealing out the cards. She picked up her hand and motioned for Declan to start. "Well then, Mr. Lucky, let me see those alleged skills of yours in action."

15 minutes later Ester was sitting leaning down closely over her cards. Her eyebrows were knitted into a frown and her lips pursed to the side. How had she ended up like this? She had such a great hand midgame! She had basically felt like she held the win in her hands, and normally she would have, but somehow he had managed to turn things around in the very last few rounds. And now she sat there, and the cards that once had so much potential were now hopeless. The models on the cards suddenly seemed to be mocking her, with their teasing smirks and penetrating gazes. She laid down her cards on the table as she muttered curses under her breath. She turned her head over towards the control panel, avoiding eye contact, and crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair, trying to act unaffected. "How about best of three?" She suggested through gritted teeth, still not looking in his direction. It didn't take long until she changed her mind however, after all she was a woman of her word and a bet was a bet. "Ugh, whatever. It was mostly luck anyways." She said and shoved the blaster and keys so that they slid across the table over to him. She glanced over carefully, just so that she could be ready for whatever trick he tried to pull. Maybe she should just take the opportunity to excuse herself and leave. At this point letting him go didn't really do much difference, but she would prefer to not be left alone with a bullet wound.

 

[NotSure]

It didn't occur to Declan that he might've hurt her feelings, or that she would have felt lonely at all. Not only did she have Olvar's crew, who he figured she had to have been running with for a while now, but she seemed like a tough bounty hunter, who would never feel lonely. Not like Declan at all, as he had to stop himself from showing that he was a depressing loser who was giving in to complete surrender in front of her. He wondered if she caught on to that, and he figured she did if she trusted him enough to play cards with his gun as a bet. However, he had hoped that his charisma had hid that somewhat, and maybe it had.

Declan enjoyed scheming and bluffing while exchanging taunts with his opponent. He tried to make it seem effortless, but was trying really hard to win not only to be uncuffed but also to prove to her that he was a skilled gambler, as he felt that his failure to evade her previously might show the wrong example. She seemed to be winning at first, and this made him uncomfortable, but he pretended not to care and soon enough he was on the winning side. He thought of taunting her more, but he could tell that she didn't enjoy losing and didn't want to be a sore winner. "Ah, you're right, it was mostly luck. Hey, if you think of anything else to bet, we can play again. You almost had me for a second there so I'm sure you'd have better luck next time." He said it to be comforting, but realized that not only did it sound patronizing but was also one of his lines from when he would act as a pool shark in bars.

He uncuffed himself and picked up his blaster with an undeniable look of joy. Now he could... well... what was he planning to do anyway? He figured he would find some way to shoot her, or something, but the more he thought of it the more it made him nauseous. She was actually beginning to feel like a friend, as weird as that sounds, and she was the only friend he felt he had in a long time. After a long moment of hesitation, he sighed and put the blaster back on the table. "Ah, you know what, I don't really have any use for this right now. It's not that you aren't threatening, trust me you are, but I just don't feel like shooting you." He glanced her way. "And you know, I think you are having similar feelings about arresting me. Or am I being optimistic?" He asked, not entirely sure but hoping that they had made some sort of connection. He wanted to make a deal with her, he just wasn't sure what. Maybe they would find some sort of common interest, or he would figure out why she seemed vaguely familiar.

 

[Syrli]

At least he didn't rub his victory in her face, which was a relief. It was probably best for him too, even though he probably didn't even realize it. It was rarely a good idea to taunt an emotionally unstable sore loser with a gun. She had to admit that a rematch was slightly tempting, but she ultimately decided against it. She had embarrassed herself enough already, and it was better to leave now before he figured out how to use the gun he was staring at in his hand.

She stood up from her chair, and to her surprise the floor seemed to sway a bit under her feet. Maybe she had had one or two glasses too many. She leaned, as nonchalantly as she could, against the backrest of the chair as she patted her pockets down, making sure she still had everything she had brought. "Oh, please." she snorted and rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. If you try to pull anything I wouldn't hesitate to blow your head off, I just don't think bringing you in is worth the effort. We should be surrounded by bounty hunters any minute now, if your little trick from earlier worked. So it's time for me to...leave." The only question was how. What she had said about shooting him or bringing him in wasn't completely true, but he certainly didn't need to know that.

She looked around the ship, slowly, to not make herself sick. "This ship does have some kind of escape pod, right?" She released the chair and walked over to the back, where there was in fact an escape pod. Spending a couple of hours crammed into it didn't exactly sound exciting, but it would have to do. "Would you be so kind as to not tell your new captors about me when they get you? That would truly be lovely of you, if so." She pulled on her helmet and glanced over towards Declan. She walked up to the table and grabbed the half-finished bottle. "I'll be taking that, if you don't mind. Or if you do mind. I don't really care, if I'm being completely honest with you." She thought that she at least deserved some kind of entertainment while being stuck floating around in a tiny capsule.