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Meanwhile, in another galaxy, high above the stratosphere, on one of the rings of space station gamma, a man sat at what
seemed like an ordinary computer and typed out the first lines of an electronic diary post.
"My name is Chad Lazor.
I'm a bounty hunter for a major intergalactic corporation. It's dangerous for me to even write this. My own corporation would
likely have me jettisoned if they realized I was recording my actions, many of which must naturally be kept secret. And rest
assured that opposing groups would pay to see this. Pay or kill.
If just telling my story is dangerous, than the actual
story of my life is frought with more peril than trying to buy the last can of scale lubricant for sale in the Lizardi system.
I've persued some of the most notorious criminals known to my organization. Out here like this, floating in space, doing this
job, you get to see the best and worst of all the races known to man kind. Mostly though, you figure out that man kind is
the worst of them anyhow."
Just as he finished this line, a voice rang out over the intercom system.
"LAZOR!
We've got a seller that didn't send and a buyer that didn't pay and the galactic parcel service lost three hundred orders
this week alone you don't have time for your damned dear diary get to the bridge!"
Lazor knew the gruff and agitated
voice well, passing it off with a swift apology and agreement before typing a few more lines.
"For instance, my boss
Captain Jack Flange. He's devoted to his job and thinks everyone else should be. Of course he dosn't realize that other people
have families or girlfriends. Well, not anymore, but that's another entry. Signing off." With these last words the view screen
folded down into a small cube and the holo-keyboard dissapeared. The cube was tossed into his pocket and he walked out of
the sparse and almost empty room, his steps echoing down the corridor of the G-bay base of Gamma station. He looked up at
the sign that identified his section as the claims recoverers' sleeping area and then to one empty room.
He shook himself
slightly as if to force out some dream that had stayed with him since waking up and then continued down the corridor to the
bridge, where an angry Jack Flange would be waiting for him. The words he'd share with the captain would either send him on
an adventure to capture the most wanted Gbay fraud in the galaxy, or force him into a mission to find out why a fifteen year
old hadn't received his battlesaurus game card three days after he ordered it from someone on the same planet. Somehow, he
had a feeling that it was going to be the latter.
"Lazor!" Shouted the captain. The lazers were immediately fired, blowing up a small mirabellian cruiser that had been attempting
to dock.
"No damn it, Lazor with an O, it's someone's name!" The captain scolded as several Mirabellians popped and
froze in the chilling vacuum of space.
"Well spelling is quite inconsequential during auditory communication, isn't
it?" Asked the gunman.
"That may be true but you can't just go blowing up cruisers every time I call out the names
of crew members with typical futuristic names, I mean Lazor is as common a name as Smithotron or Cambellmatic!"
"I'm
sorry sir, I suppose we really aught to have some sort of system in place to prevent this then." The first mate admitted.
Meanwhile, Chad Lazor leaned against a wall looking bored and contemplating starting back for his room. However the fact that
the captain would yell his name proved to be preventive, as Chad knew that any further exclamations of his surname would likely
result in further destruction.
While Chad was having a debate on whether he'd be morally responsible for deaths resulting
from his attempted escape, the Captain and gunner were concluding their discussion of protocol.
"Alright then it's
settled. If I say lazer or a word that sounds like it than you'll ask if I want to fire, but if I say lazer while pointing
at something that can be blown up that isn't one of our ships, you'll blow it up." The captain said condescendingly.
"Alright
then!" The gunner replied enthusiasticly.
The captain finally turned to his rather annoyed subject.
"Lazer!"
He cried, pointing at a far off asteroid. "Some kid on that asteroid says that his battlesaurus game card hasn't.... Fuck..."
The
latter word was spoken in regards to the complete and total lazery destruction of the asteroid.
"Damn it all gunner
why did you..." The Captain started out, before he remembered the words they'd previously exchanged and sighed.
"Well
I have a lot of paper work I better get started on. Normally Gbay only has to blow up a structure once a year and that's for
some kind of incredible failure to pay. Two things exploded in the same day, why I'll be doing incident reports for a week!"
The poor man lamented before wondering off in no particular direction.
"Right. Well it looks like I'm going to be in
a spot of trouble with home command, I'd better get something big done. How would you like to go after the most well hunted
Gbay fraud in the galaxy?"
"But I'm really just a claims investigator!" Our hero protested.
"You know how to
use a gun?" The captain asked in his military manner.
"You point it at what you want to die and press the button?"
Chad asked hopefully.
"You see, you're a born bounty hunter! Now get on the case. You'll be assigned a sidekick unit
by the tech squad before you leave."
Chad left the bridge in a daze, not even phased by the reports coming over the
news link that a war had been started over the mysterious destruction of a Mirabellan cruiser.
Continue to CH 4
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