The Bounty
26 Aug 2024CMDR GRIND
Thinking to myself ,"The universe is not a safe place, so Its a good thing that I had myself cloned when I did................. ".
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Sitting at the guardian ruins of a long extinct race while harvesting blueprints and mats my thoughts were viciously interrupted when out of no where and without provocation I was attacked by the notorious villian know as Cmdr Sanchez. The attack was so sudden and ruthless that I barely had time to respond to the incoming barrage that destroyed my unmanned Ship in seconds. A sitting duck is an understatement. I was helpless to fend off the fiendish Cmdr who turned to face me. Knowing his thoughts, I could almost see his cold-blooded grin through the front window of his magnificent ship as he reduced me and my SRV to a smoldering wreck on the planet surface. Game over.
Suddenly, I awoke at the cloning facility. It seems that a kind explorer had found my Dog Tags which are issued to everyone when submitting DNA to the cloning facility. He sent in the confirmation of my demise which resulted in the cloning facility respawning me into a new clone sleeve based on my DNA profile. I am so thankful he did.
Now becoming aware of my respawn, I was handed the SRV blackbox data that informed me of my final moments in my last life along with the details of my murderer. Should I just go on and leave the guilty commanders crime un-punished or should I seek vengeance? The decision was not a hard one. I wanted payback. I wanted to make that Cmdr feel as helpless and alone as I did at the moment of my realization that I was about to exit the universe.
The decision made, I headed to the closest bounty contract office to issue my Bounty Kill Contract on the offending commander. Within moments of the contract being posted, the contract communications hub was flooded with chatter as various commanders decided on whether they wanted to take the risk of apprehending my target.
The discussion was robust, with the debate raging on whether the bounty was indeed ethical or not. At the end of the day the Allure of a 50 000 000 Credit bounty to the successful commander proved too much for some and the the contract was quickly accepted by a Commander simply known as "The Fox". He was called this because of his sly demeanor and his ability to locate his contract victim quickly using his universal network of informants. Some said he is as criminal as Sanchez......but you know how the old saying goes " The enemy of my enemy is my friend." So I didn't mind who or how the contract got completed as long as it did.
A few hours later, confirmation was received from Cmdr Fox's flight recorder that the bounty contract had been completed. I almost felt for Sanchez who put up a great fight but ultimately paid his debt. My murder avenged and my soul given the peace it deserved. I could now go on in my new body safe in the knowledge that my killer was no longer around.
Unless.
Unless, he had also had the foresight to have his DNA uploaded at a cloning facility somewhere in the dark reaches of open space. In which case he will be lurking out there waiting to strike again.
A chilling thought.