DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
03 Sep 2021Jav Marlo
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE1 SEP 3307, system Orishis.
This is Ayumi, and I want this to be recorded. A series of bases pertaining to Alacagui Holdings have been attacked during the last month. Their personnel... massacred. (Deep sigh) Damn! I have been into most of those bases. I sneaked inside. It is true that I stole some data from there, perhaps some equipment too, but I did not slaughter those people. Somebody is trying to put all those killing on me... I have been framed, and I want to know why.
Ayumi flying on the Katana
I am probably the most searched person of the Empire space right now. Lucky for me, I managed to leave Imperial territory. They chased me and tried to hunt me down in several systems, both security forces and bounty hunters, but my Imperial Courier is everything I expected of it and more. No ship can match its speed.
The Katana
I hid on unhabited moons for a while, but, at some point, I needed to land on a station for supplies and refuel. That is how I found this place. A safe haven to hide when half of the galaxy is looking for you. They call this base the Jackrabbit.
The Jackrabbit
It is run by an engineer called Domino Green. Rich girl, orphan like me and a tech prodigy. We got along pretty fast.
Ayumi meeting Domino Green
No powers presence, or factions or omnipol here. Just a private business run by a mechanical genius. But Domino has a slight weakness. She is a drug addict. Indeed, most of the lads here are. She says it is because of a focus problem. But the truth is she is totally hooked to a drug called Push.
Domino Green and Ayumi
Apart from that, she is OK. She let my crash on her base and did not mind that the ship I parked on her lot was loaded with high yield torpedos. She also has access to a great net of contacts, mostly unstable paranoid crazy people, just like her, but also with incredible resources and talents. They are helping me add all kind of illegal but very practical modifications to my combat suit and weapons: night vision, improved shields, scopes, bigger magazines... “everything a girl needs for a night out”, in Domino’s own words.
Ayumi and Domino Green
But all this help comes with a condition. And that means that I must help supply her base. Which mostly involves getting and providing drugs. And I must admit that I am very good at it. The time I passed on the Pegasi Sector taught me a lot about criminal activities. And I know the places were pirates like to hide their caches. And, besides, who am I to judge? Drugs have been in my life since the moment I left the Empire sold as a slave to the pirates until the moment I met Jav. I probably would be still hooked if Jav would not had taken me to the south fringe of the galaxy. You cannot find dealers on Amudsen’s Star.
Ayumi flying the Katana towards a hidden cache
I think I have caught a signal on that moon. Could be it. A hidden cache.
I remember that bastard of Ferdinand Haim got me on Lazarus most of the time I spent with him on the Lusonda system. I probably was stoned when I cut my face to avoid being delivered to Archon Delaine. The time I spent at Huberath Gateway I consumed lots of Hush. I did it for the pain, at the beginning, but I became and addict very fast. It did not matter what I had to do on that lousy pirate base if I could get my dose at the end of the day. When I escaped the Pegasi sector I continued using it, even of in the civilized systems where it was more difficult to get. And then, I joined the Allied Order of Exemplars in the California Nebula. They accepted me, hid me, healed me. They seek perfection of the mental and physical abilities through cybernetics. They... bettered me. But that involved the use of several performance enhancers illegal in most jurisdictions. And more pain.
Ayumi locating a hidden cache
What do we have here? Three big containers here all alone. I wonder what they would contain.
Truth be said, I never fancied recreational drugs. My drive was always to get stoned, not high. But the Onionhead cultivation and most of its derivative products carry a lot of weight on the Pegasi Sector economy. There is a black market for them in every populated system of the galaxy. Young people love them, and I have recently heard about an injected variation called “Skag” that is really pushing. Damn, even a commercial war is about to explode at any moment because some greedy company now says that a new Onionhead strain may have medical properties and wants to exploit it messing with Archon’s Delaine beautiful monopoly. They can rip themselves apart for what it is worth to me.
I think I might have hit the jackpot with this cache. WAIT!... Damn! I have company. They must have followed me when I descended to the surface. A Daimondback dropship. It seems that somebody wants to protect his assets.
Ayumi spotting a group of pirates descending on her
Here they come. The poor bastards. I have a sniper rifle and hold the high ground. This is going to be a shooting range.
Ayumi shooting some pirates
(Shooting noises)
They never stood a chance. With no armor, running towards me with their short range weapons. Morons! They probably took me for an opportunistic commander who found their cache by chance.
The corpses of several pirates killed by Ayumi
Let’s check them out. It seems they are from the Clan of Hors. An anarchist criminal faction. I wonder what are they hiding here? Weapons? Drugs? Maybe both.
Ayumi checking on the corpse of a pirate
The containers are locked, and I must cut through their security panels with an arc cutter in order to open them.
Ayumi opening a container with the arc cutter
Let’s see what is inside... Wow! Domino will be pleased. There is Push here for quite a while. I think I have earned myself a long stay at the Jackrabbit with the right to use all the amenities.
Ayumi finding drugs on a container
I better leave before the owners of the place realize that the buddies they sent to deal with the intruder are not reporting back and decide to send more colleagues. This place was a gold mine.
Ayumi after completing a larceny on a drug’s cache
...
I have returned to the Jackrabbit and delivered the drugs to Domino. She was very pleased and said that the modifications she was performing on my suit and weapons are almost finished.
Ayumi delivering some drugs to Domino Green
And the timing could not be better. Kit Fowler, one of Domino’s associates, totally paranoid, but a genius with ears in every system, has been helping me decode all the info I got from the Alacagui Holding bases. He says there is no trace of Ander’s Blaine location, but he found proof that the factories and sites that were massacred were secretly manufacturing weapons for the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army. He also believes, based on some surveillance data he has been able to crack, that the attackers of those bases came from within the Alacagui system, and have provided me with a list of military installations. His theory is that somebody is trying to hide his involvement in the Nine Martys attack by killing all the possible witnesses; and taking advantage of my incursions on those bases to charge me with the responsibility of those crimes.
Ayumi at the Jackrabbit base
The bastards! They are terrorizing the imperial systems with the story of the rogue imperial girl that attacks the settlements at night and kills everybody. They call me all sort of things: the White Death, the Knife in the Dark, the Lone Assassin… Perhaps it is time for me to return to the Imperial space. I have something special in my mind for them. If they want a monster, they shall have one. Now they will know the true face of terror.
Ayumi out