"Damn it! Where did that brat go?"
"I told you not to give him that tablet."
"How was I supposed to know he could use it to break out! It didn’t even have the capability to access any networks. Just so gas and books downloaded onto it to distract and shut him up."
"You should have known better. Baccigans are crafty. Give them so parts and they cobble together whatever they need. You might as well have just handed him an access key."
Hiding behind a container in a back alley, a small, six-ard humanoid listened to the grumblings of his pursuers.
Around ten days ago he had been caught while hiding out on a small outpost in the Xoatis System.
His captors had shoved him onto a ship and brought him to a new station where he had been detained.
It was only a little later that he learned the reason for his kidnapping. These people were using him as leverage to force his uncle to work for them.
They had been treating him decently well, but only for his uncle’s cooperation in whatever nefarious plans they had brewing. And at the end of the day, he was still a prisoner.
After a couple days of wearing down on one of the guards, he had managed to get his hands on a usable piece of technology that he took apart for components and used to override the security system keeping him locked up.
Unfortunately, his escape was noticed quickly, and his short legs in comparison to the humans hunting him down could not take him very far with any expediency.
To make matters worse, he was in a warehouse district that rarely saw any human traffic. So far, he had been unable to find anyone to ask for help. The only other people around were the guards that wanted to catch him.
Still, he could not allow himself to be recaptured now. For his uncle, and for his own sake.
…
Upon returning to Phregon III, Avery and his team headed towards the nearest Alliance Police station to collect the rewards for the bounties on the pirates they had eliminated.
With an average of thirteen thousand two hundred Krenin, they were looking at a payout of just shy of five million. Along with the base pay of one hundred fifty thousand a day, plus whatever the equipnt the rchant vessels had carried for them sold for, they were looking at more than decent earnings.
"I guess just staying sowhere and hunting down pirates really is the best way to make money. We earned far more in the last two weeks than we did escorting the Moonrise fleet for twenty-two days." Jasmine comnted, comparing the two most recent jobs their group had completed.
"That’s certainly the case this ti, but guard missions are a lot more stable. Only in places like this where there’s tons of pirate activity can you expect to make that much hunting them." Ezra said, looking back at the years of experience he had. There were always varying conditions making one job more profitable than another, and it was difficult to predict when things might change.
As the five of them discussed what they were planning to buy with their money, they found themselves walking close to the station’s warehouse district. Due to so ergency shut down of the magnetic tram transport system, it had been necessary for them to walk and this was the fastest way.
There were a few other people taking this detour as well, and everything seed to be normal. At least until a small, hooded figure ran out onto the street in a hurry.
A mont later, two large n appeared from the sa direction and grabbed the Baccigan as he fell over from exhaustion.
This all happened right in front of Avery and his crew.
Normally this might have caused a bit of a fuss, but the two n were wearing what looked like Alliance Police uniforms. To everyone watching, it rely looked like two officers apprehending soone that was probably a criminal. Everyone except one.
"Is there so sort of problem?" Jasmine said, stepping forward and interrupting the two n.
"Official police business. Step aside." They both said, trying to hurriedly drag their captive away.
One of them had picked him up and had his mouth over the Baccigan’s mouth to prevent him from speaking.
"Doesn’t protocol dictate that you should wait for a vehicle to transport any suspicious individuals? And why are you heading back into the warehouse district? The nearest station is that way."
Having their inconsistencies with actual mbers of the Alliance Police pointed out, the two n beca more aggressive and started threatening Jasmine with arrest if she did not get out of their way.
Unfortunately, they had no idea who they were dealing with.
"Okay, I’ll move aside if you show your badges." Jasmine said, unimpressed by their display so far.
With frustrated expressions on their faces, the two n pulled out their badges and showed them off.
They certainly looked official, and so did their uniforms. Very few people would be able to notice what was wrong on sight. However, Jasmine could.
"I’m really not sure where you obtained these. Those are real uniforms and badges, but they’re all from a decade ago and were decommissioned. The changes to the current unforms and badges might not be drastic, and you’d probably fool most people with these. But not soone that used to wear the uniform every day and had to carry a badge with them at nearly all tis."
When Jasmine suggested that they call the actual police, that was the last straw for the two n.
They both swiftly reached for their laser pistols and planned to eliminate anyone that got in their way. There was no way they would be able to talk their way out of this situation if the real Alliance Police arrived.
Yet, the instant they moved to draw their weapons, several red streaks of light blasted them.
Avery, Kasandra, Jasmine, Ezra, and Kaiden had all drawn their guns first. They had been preparing for things to turn violent from the mont the two n had appeared.
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