[Roleplay] No Kind of Atmosphere
11 Dec 2020CrazyGolm
HAZARDOUS RESOURCE EXTRACTION SITE, HIP 69699 PLANET 2The not-quite-pristine Krait MK.2 glided amongst the asteroids in the ring of HIP 69699-2. It was not quite pristine, mainly because its pilot wanted to wear down its neo-Classical paintjob to make it look older than it was, but also because it had been shot at a bit.
The ship's name was the [IDA] Fauteil. Its pilot was CMDR CrazyGolm - vigilante, bounty hunter, space sheriff and IDA Councillor. He was here for business purposes, including but not limited to blowing up wanted pirates to support the Agency. He had spaced a few already - mostly small fighter craft, but there had been an Anaconda too. That was now just debris, following an explosive, kinetically-inspired reactor detonation.
Golm was a veteran of much action, and, though he had doubted himself, and though he hadn't always worn his helmet, he had, if he was actually honest to himself about himself, tried his best to stand for what was right, usually with honour, kindness and comedy as his primary values. His adventures (and misadventures) hadn't yielded any Raxxlas yet, but they had brought him up against various opponents, from mega-armed pirates to irresponsible outlaws, and even to extremist law enforcers.
Oh, and the bugs. You can't forget the bugs.
One could say that Golm had made many foes in his time, you can't blow up many bad guys without doing that, yet he was committed to try to love, not hate, his enemies in whatever way he could, even as he fought back. This perspective was not necessarily a popular one, but he tried to do it anyway. Indeed, there were those who would consider him weak for his commitment not to reciprocate his enemies' hate, not to become just like his enemy, or worse. Unless they instead considered him weak by combat skill comparison, which they could always do and nothing would change that.
Truth be told, Golm was a dangerous man.
He had devoted much of his career to being a vigilante and protecting the innocent.
He was unafraid of using weapons, and indeed had cut short the careers of many aspiring pirates.
He had even stood up to rogue Pilots' Federation Commanders, although more often than not he ended up having to use his standard-issue RemlokTM Emergency Occupiable Escape Pod when his ship started to increasingly become less of a pilotable spacecraft and more of a wreckage field.
But he was relentless: he, at least usually, came back again. He was remarkable: over time, he had gradually learned from experience. He was resourceful: he was smarter than he looked, and often underexaggerated his combat competence, only to let it speak for itself.
Relentless. Remarkable. Resourceful. The 3 'R's.
Also Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, those were equally important.
And the badge said he was dangerous, so he was dangerous.
And he had his next target: Stephen Pointon, a wanted pirate from the infamous, perilous and definitely galactically-feared HIP 69699 Rats who was scanning the Fauteil inquisitively. Small fry in comparison to the enemies Golm had faced before. Pointon wouldn't get any cargo, but he might get more than he asked for in terms of bullets. The Krait's corrosive multicannons had expended their ammo, however it also carried three perfectly good large incendiary multicannons.
Golm held down the trigger, and (after a bit of fighting) Stephen Pointon's Eagle-class space superiority fighter exploded with an unceremonious bang.
That was another one booked. Hopefully he didn't mind the vacuum too much, as space hasn't got a great atmosphere to it, but Golm wasn't going to look for the pirate's escape pod any time soon. The Search And Rescue boys would scoop him up if he was anywhere to be found, and they'd turn him in to the cops in all likelihood.
Golm prepared to cruise the Fauteil over to one of the stations in-system to restock. He had single-handedly gathered three million credits' worth of bounties for the Agency so far, and it hadn't taken him long.
The recent bounty reward increases had gone a long way to putting dinner on bounty hunters' plates again, perhaps marking an end to the days of mining in order to buy your fish and chips at the harbour. Golm hoped it would benefit the Agency as much as it did him.
'Fauteil' is French for 'Armchair'.