Bounty hunting ain\u2019t for everyone. It\u2019s a lonely business for one thing, and it can be violent. I\u2019ve seen men put their blasters in their mouths and fire for fear of being taken in. Taking their own lives is often an easier solution. I\u2019ve had men ask me to do it for them when they break down at the last minute, too weak of spirit to do it themselves.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been chasing Bai Wei-Yn for five years. Not actively, mind you, just whenever I happen to have a hankering for some real home cooking.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t turn her in. Every so often though, it helps my pocket if someone wants to hand me a per diem to go after her. The bosses don\u2019t need to know she and I have a side deal. If you could see her, you\u2019d understand. Imagine a petite, curvy Asian chick with black eyes and the weirdest, most unnatural naturally blonde hair you\u2019ve ever seen. A shade somewhere between true yellow and gold. She claims her parents were into the experimental genetics testing in 2205, and that\u2019s where her hair came from. It\u2019s freaky.<\/p>\n
I woke up this morning, thinking about her. The feeling that she needed me was strong enough that I had to go out and track down a compo to put in a bid for her case. An hour later, I was a thousand crikes richer, and loading Amphipolis Rising with enough supplies for two weeks. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m a loner. It\u2019s just me, myself and I on my rock hopper. I like it that way. Everything on the ship is automated, right down to the flying. All I have to do is punch in the coordinates, and I\u2019m off. This time, I\u2019d have to hit the cryo-chamber though\u2026 a little research told me Bai was on a passenger ferry, coming home from Sirius. What she\u2019d been doing there, I don\u2019t know, and I don\u2019t care to know. No one goes to Sirius with good intentions, at least, not anymore. The Siriphi do not like Terrans, and frankly we don\u2019t like them much either. Too much bad blood. If they\u2019d left our ancestors alone instead of probing their darkest innards\u2026 well, maybe things would have been different.<\/p>\n
So anyway, Bai\u2019s on the Dog-Star Earth. I\u2019ve been on that hulking clunker before. Had a narrow miss of the Moon the last time. I figure I can dock the AR on her, find Bai, and drag her off \u2013 probably kicking and screaming, which is how I like it \u2013 in a year. Dog-Star was about three years out, on her steam. My little hopper doubles her speed, so\u2026 a year. <\/p>\n
See you then, Bai-babe.<\/em><\/p>\n The alarm was sounding as I fought my way out of the drugs that the cryo-chamber used to keep me unconscious. I\u2019d thawed about a week ago, maybe a little more or less. I\u2019d set it that way on purpose, so I\u2019d be wide awake and feisty when AR came across the Dog-Star.<\/p>\n Nothing works the way I want it to, when I\u2019m in that damn chamber.<\/p>\n When I finally made it to the flight pit, I slammed the alarm button down, and blessed the silence. I took my seat and had a good look at the charts; before too long, I was pissed. Somehow, I\u2019d managed to slip right past the Dog-Star, and I was now about five days behind it.<\/p>\n I programmed a turn and speed into the computer, and went below for food. As usual, my second reaction to waking (the first being to visit the flight pit) was hunger. I pulled the meal out of the freezer, zapped it in the micro and ate it while I wandered through the rest of the ship.<\/p>\n My cabin was an ever-loving mess. It looked like someone had been in it, dumped everything everywhere, and took off. I couldn\u2019t remember having left it in such a tip before I cryo\u2019d myself, so\u2026 the first thing I did was look for my crikes.<\/p>\n All there.<\/p>\n The info on Bai, however, was gone. What the fuck?<\/em><\/p>\n I found a note taped to the equipment room. I ripped it off as I listened to some faint banging coming from inside. When I opened the door, I saw Bai, tied on the floor, kicking out with her feet against the wall of the room.<\/p>\n \u201cBai? What the hell, girl, how\u2019d you get in here?\u201d I crouched down and cut the ties on her legs and rolled her over to cut those on her wrists. I let her pull the tape from her mouth herself, because I\u2019d be damned if I was going to.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no fucking idea, Deck. I woke up in here. I was in cryo on the Dog-Star.\u201d<\/p>\n I helped her up, pulling her close as I did so. Her hair smelled of lemon and strawberries. And sweat. A lot of sweat. \u201cSo\u2026 you want a shower while I get you something to eat?\u201d<\/p>\n She glared at me. \u201cI\u2019ll get something to eat, then have a shower. I don\u2019t want any of your crap\u2026you got anything good?\u201d<\/p>\n Bai pushed past me, practically sprinting to the mess. After she\u2019d picked through what I had, she threw together a couple things, offering me half. I took it, even though I\u2019d eaten already. Naturally, it was heaven in a bowl. <\/p>\n \u201cSo, what now?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat now? I have no idea, Deck. You\u2019re not planning on turning me in, are you?\u201d<\/p>\n I had to think about it this time. I had a feeling I was being set up, I just couldn\u2019t figure out how.<\/p>\n Or who.<\/p>\n \u201cGimme a minute, Bai-bee.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI told you not to call me that, Deck. You want a punch?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re being set up, darlin\u2019, and I think we need to make a move. Fast.\u201d<\/p>\n So we tried\u2026 but when I hit the flight pit, I saw the looming hull of another hunter ship. <\/p>\n \u201cFuck,\u201d we said, simultaneously. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dog-Star Earth Bounty hunting ain\u2019t for everyone. It\u2019s a lonely business for one thing, and it can be violent. I\u2019ve seen men put their blasters in their mouths and fire for fear of being taken in. Taking their own lives is often an easier solution. I\u2019ve had men ask me to do it for them when they break down at the last minute, too weak of spirit to do it themselves.
\n\u00a9 2014 Jodi Lee, all rights reserved
\nWritten for Terrible Minds Flash Fiction Challenge
\nRoll For Title<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve been chasing Bai Wei-Yn for five …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":134,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3257","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3257"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3314,"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3257\/revisions\/3314"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}