The Confrontation
29 Oct 2021KazukoHimura
Kazuko sifted through the different options on the mission board, looking for decent opportunities. Now that CEA Psychiatric is in expansion, she knew that there was going to be high demand for basic minerals-enough so that by securing large amounts and delivering them to the proper station, she could make massive amounts of credits-and share the riches with friends. The lithe woman certainly wasn’t hurting for money, but having extra certainly wouldn’t hurt.A sudden ‘itch’ in her trigger fingers led Kazuko to check the combat postings as well, most of which were for taking down notorious members of Eurybia Blue Mafia. Stifling a chuckle at the fact that the infamous anarchy faction was still meddling in CEA’s affairs, Kazuko continued her perusal of the postings, until a particular mission caused her heart to leap into her throat.
The posting was simple, CEA needed a terrorist known as Marcus Cleary to be taken care of in order to proceed with their expansion plans, and his location could be discovered by connecting to a data link in Lavrador Depot in Alit. But what prompted the lithe woman’s reaction-and to immediately take on said mission-was that Marcus Cleary was one of the Raiders of StKM 1-442. Neither influence, reputation, financial, or material reward was Kazuko’s reason for taking this mission, her reason was vengeance. If Marcus is this notorious, he must be fairly high up in the chain, and thus his demise would cut the head off one of the snakes in the festering pit of a faction that formerly enslaved her. And perhaps he might have some information that Jubei would find useful. The pilot, now filled with a tranquil fury, disembarked her trade vessel, and hopped into her combat Fer-De-Lance, Phoenix, practically gunning it out of the station.
The trip to Alit was a bit longer than expected, due to the shorter jump range, but she made it all the same. Locating Lavrador Depot, however, was quick. Kazuko made her way to the third planet in Alit, carefully angling herself for a swift descent.
After the disorientation of dropping out of supercruise and her suit having to accommodate the high g-forces during the glide, the seething woman slowed down to land. Or so she thought.
“You are trespassing, pilot. Please leave this settlement at once,” The voice of a flight operator came over Kazuko’s comms. She ignored the statement, flying closer-close enough to quickly scan the data link. But before she could answer the message sent to her, Kazuko’s ship was swarmed by security forces.
“I have no time for this!” The agitated pilot exclaimed, setting her throttle to max and zipping out of the settlement. Hearing and somewhat feeling the shots of the security ships hitting her shields, Kazuko punched the button for supercruise, leaving the planet behind. A quick check of her shield’s status reveals that it was merely depleted by a fifth-Kazuko took the recharge time to read the message she got from the data link.
“This informant is…sketchy,” She trailed off. “But at least I have my target’s location. Fucker’s in Coqui Xee.” Kazuko punched in the system’s coordinates, and initiated the hyperspace jump. Upon arrival, the determined pilot began signal scouting.
“Jackpot,” Kazuko remarked, smirking. “Bastard’s got two of his goons with him, ganging up on some poor patrol ship. They’ll be sorry for even attempting that shit!” The vengeful woman locked in the signal and set her throttle to maximum, her Fer-De-Lance zooming ahead.
“If only I had my fighter equipped ship out, Jenelle and I could have double teamed them.” she mused, shortly before dropping out of supercruise. The sight before the pilot was clear as day-A goon in a Sidewinder, a goon in an Eagle, and Marcus Cleary in a Python, all shooting at a Federal Navy Ship. Kazuko immediately pressed a button, turning on her comms.
“Hey, bastards! Three against one isn’t fair at all,” the furious woman announced. “Why don’t we even the playing field?” A few more button presses to deploy hardpoints, and Kazuko’s hands were firmly on her flight stick and throttle, having aimed at the Sidewinder. Upon firing, all three ships were now focused on her. Kazuko deftly twisted and turned, keeping the Sidewinder in her sights as she continued firing, keeping an eye out to make sure the damaged Federal Navy ship had a clear path to safety. Soon, the provided-by-ship-speakers boom echoed that signaled the destruction of the Sidewinder. And not a moment too soon! Kazuko sighed in relief as the Federal Navy ship had just jumped to supercruise.
“You’re next,” Kazuko remarked, turning on the Eagle and firing at it. She kept it in her sights, all while the Python still shot at her. She did take some hits, but her shields were still holding strong as the Eagle was destroyed. Kazuko then opened her comms, and turned to face Marcus Cleary’s Python, hardpoints still deployed. What she didn’t expect, however, was that her adversary was the first to speak.
“I know you,” the gruff, sinister voice of Marcus Cleary rang out through the Fer-De-Lance’s comms speakers. “You’re that do-gooder that’s blowing up all of our ships! What is your problem with us? Why do you hate us so much?” The questions Kazuko heard only caused her right hand to shake as she mentally restrained herself from pulling the trigger on her flight stick.
“You don’t know who I am!?” the scorned woman retorted. “I am Commander Kazuko Himura…or as you depraved bastards referred to me all those years ago, #1515. I don’t think an explanation is needed as to why I hate you and the rest of you fucking Raiders.” With her restraint dropped, Kazuko opened fire on the Python, rage consuming her, and the pocket of space lighting up with the trading of lasers, cannon fire, and missiles. The battle lasted for much longer than the previous two goons, but the enraged pilot came out victorious with a well-timed shot to the Python’s power plant.
Once she came to her senses, Kazuko looked around for escape pods, frowning when she didn’t see any. Something else, however, caught her eye. A data core, floating amid the wreckage. The thin woman carefully maneuvered her ship through the pieces, as her shields were recharging and her hull had some dents in it, and deftly scooped the data core.
“Now to get the contents of this.”
After returning to Keltim, refueling, and swapping from her Fer-De-Lance to her trusty Krait Phantom, Kazuko was tucked away in a pocket of space in Eurybia, awaiting the results of the grey-market data core slicer. Bits and pieces of data trickled in, forming full coherent blocks over time. At first, the contents were inconsequential, things like operational manuals, media and entertainment, and firmware. But as time went on, other, more useful things came in.
First came a roster of prisoners and slaves-Kazuko couldn’t bear to open it herself. Then came weapon inventory, slave acquisitions, harvesting of ‘slave control’ means, even associates. The unnerved woman couldn’t do it. She couldn’t open up any of it. Even with the means to take down anyone who comes her way, Kazuko was scared that she wasn’t as safe as she thought.
The final pieces came in, making Kazuko visibly recoil. Marcus Cleary was an idiot who left his ‘dirty slate files’ out in the open, and contained things that would make most sane humans feel physically ill.
“Such a disgusting person deserves death,” She remarked, transferring the data of consequence to her slate before jettisoning the slicer. “I’ll probably destroy this core if I can’t get someone to wipe it clean when I sell it. And now I have some people to deliver this information to.”