It is a quiet morning on Hale's Moon. A little too quiet. The Hunter, Hampton Fensen, waiting atop Firefly's Bar, uses his long-range monocular to hone in on the defenseless bounty, the murdering coward Davion Holmeforth.
Davion Holmeforth steps in quietly, carrying two small bags. One bag with food and electrolyte water, while the other contains fresh bandages. He slowly slips towards Cody's bedside. He places a quick hand above Cody's mouth and nose, feeling his breath. At least he was breathing.
Cody whispers, "Xoxo.. back?.." Davion smiles. "No, just Doc Dav. Brought some food and some clean bandages. We need to take care of that wound." Cody nods. He tries to sit up but feels lousy. He groans a little.
Dav helps Cody sit up, working the blood-stained bandages off. Balling it up, he tosses it aside. Grabbing the fresh clean bandages, he sits bedside, carefully wrapping around the wound, going around a few times extra for good measure. "Now, growl for me." And as Cody growled, Dav tightened the bandages, securing them in place.
"Gorram!" Cody grimaces as Dav tightens the bandages. Dav holds Cody in place, then helps him lay back down. "I know, hurts like ten bastards. But you can't risk getting that infected." Leans over the bed, and removes a bottle of electrolyte water, handing it to Cody. "Can't risk getting dehydrated, either." Cody groans, " I know... Just feel like hell."
The quasi-doc nods slowly, pointing down to the bag. "Got some food in there for you. Nothing fancy, just enough to get by: crackers, some protein, and more of that water." "Don't know as I'm much hungry…" Dav interjects. "Well have some... you might not feel hungry but your body needs some nourishment. I'll be back in a few hours to check on you." Cody nods, reaching into the bag and pulls out a protein bar. He opens it and tries a bite not feeling too good. Dav smiles slowly. "You'll pull through this. Just hold out a little longer." Dav heads for the door.
Dav's route is direct to the Applecado Transport & Salvage Office. Passing by a trash barrel, he deposits the bloody bandages quickly, whistling in his carefree stride. The red stains pick up beautifully in the monocular from the new view above Fook's. The hunter grins deeply.
The time is now. And the Hunter strikes. Climbing into the Eagle's Nest was an easy task. Cody stares up at the stranger. "Who're you?" He tries to sit up holding his side, looking for his weapon. Slow, calculating steps end at the foot of the bed, boots clicking. When he watches the man rise he leans over him, pressing his hand into Cody's stomach, sending a shock of pain up his body. "I'm the man who needs a bargaining chip. And now I have one." His smile grew as he brought his forearm closer to Cody's face, a small compartment pumping out a gas.
Cody grimaces in pain and falls back. He inhales the gas unknowingly and frowns feeling the rooms spin. The stranger notices it's taking more gas then needed to knock him out. Fensen brings his forearm closer to Cody, a second compartment deploying the reserve gas. Fensen twists his head away from it, until the ox is unconscious. Blowing the excess gas out of the way to mix with the stale air, he grins. "Sweet dreams, Mr. Winterwolf." Cody feels the world drift into oblivion.
Climbing into the Eagle's Nest was an easy task, as stated. Now climbing down with an ox on his back proved rather difficult for the old hunter. He keeps to the back of buildings, dodging what little foot traffic there was.
The "Brigand" rests at its quiet, out-of-the-way unauthorized landing pad. With a click at his waist, the entryway opens quickly. Fensen deposits the unconscious body inside, climbing in to drag him to the back of the seats. Firing up the engines, he takes the pilot's chair, almost jumping at the sight of the town's Mayor, Seana Kawanishi, as she raps on the hull. Starting to hover, the repulsers kicking up wind and dust, he lifts the "Brigand" into the air. Seana is forced to duck as the boat moves, kissing sky as it ascends into the clouds. She hauls ass out of the way.
Having a quick chuckle at the ease of his escape, Hampton opens a clear channel to Traffic Control. "Hale's Moon Tower, this is shuttle "Brigand," clearance to break atmo."
"Clearance denied. Please return to port."
Adjusting a few controls, the hunter stops dead in his tracks, the voice sounding vaguely familiar. Like a particular bystander he just almost flattened. Fensen chuckles loudly over the comm. "Too late, sister."
She brings the headset transmitter closer to her lips. "IAV Abraham Sinkov, this is Flight Control: Hale's Moon. We have an unauthorized departure in violation of our control authority. Please reel them in for us." Seana receives the acknowledgement and places some bets on whether the shuttle will escape the Frigate's pursuit.
Fensen grimaces in his pilot's seat, opening a console near his feet, ripping the transponder free. The ship's presence on radar gets fuzzy. He continues pounding at the controls, getting just enough juice out of this old bird to evade the frigate, fancy flying and all. Kawanishi gets the wave from the Frigate, and acknowledgement that the shuttle's profile's been broadcast to the region with the appropriate alerts. "Regional Traffic, this is Hale's Moon Flight Control, addendum to that Hot Boat alert. There's evidence the boat has passengers aboard under duress."
Davion slides out from the shop, hearing all the commotion. Greeting him is Kawanishi and Jai Raghilda. "Hey Dav. Have you seen Cody? We need to conduct a scientificalike experiment."
Davion shakes his head. "Just checked up on him an hour ago. He was too weak to go anywhere. Did you check the Eagle's Nest?"
"His link's dropped out of range." Seana adds.
Davion Holmeforth eyes widen. "Like... flatlined?"
"No, no. Comms link. Just dropped off the air. Boat boosted out of here hot a little while ago. Gut feeling Cody was aboard." She continues.
"I heard it ... didn't think much of it. Just another boat getting too close to the building." Dav gets a might frantic. "I'm'a check upstairs!" He runs off in a dead sprint.
Seana explains. "The Sinkov couldn't get to them. Have a regional alert out with the boat's profile and ident. Might catch them."
"I only ever had to deal with pirates." Jai adds.
Davion returns, bending over, catching his breath. "He ain't there."
Jai asks. "He got his shades and meds?"
Davion shakes his head, wiping at his mouth. "They're still up there. Like he up and vanished!" Jai crosses her arms. "He wouldn't leave without his shades. He's super light sensitive."
"Can hope the pilot's not an expert in hiding a boat in plain sight." Seana goes into detail. "They pulled their pulse beacon, but the boat's not stealthy. Down side is there's some big gaps in NavTrac coverage out there."
The town doc, Aroha Hannu, joins the group. "Anyone know any of the people on the boat?" Jai questions. "Once they get out of range of our arrays, they'll just need to steer clear of the main relays." Seana sighs.
"Did I hear skuttle of a kidnapping?" Doc Hannu pries.
Dav cringes. "'Liance wouldn't just nab him like that. They've got protocol and some such, no?" "Above boards, no. Black ops? In a heartbeat. But more likely to send a bounty hunter." Seana declares. Doc Hannu looks over at the young man. "Not sure about a kidnapping. Had a boat take off under suspicious circumstances and evade the Frigate…" Seana continues. "…Cody might have been board." Hannu asks. "Cody? On someone else's ship? Willingly?"
Jai cringes. "We think he may have been snatched. We got descriptions on any of them?"
Seana checks her data. "Good profile on the boat. Pilot looked like an older guy."
Doc Hannu aids. "Any reg numbers on the hull?" While Dav pulls on his hair. "My one gorram job. Just take care of Cody and make sure he don't die. Now POOF, he's gone!" He kicks at the rocks under his boots.
"There any outstanding bounties on Cody?" Jai wonders.
"Yeah. We've got the idents for the boat. And I wouldn't be surprised about a bounty, knowing how Cody finds trouble." Seana continues. Jai calms. "He's been staying out of trouble lately."
Doc Hannu inquires. "For some time now, he's been good....hasn't he?" She questions herself as she scratches her head. "After he popped a cap in a Marshal's butt, he's been quiet." Jai explains.
Doc Hannu recollects. "That was a time a go.... and from what I heard, the Marshal deserved it."
"Yesterday was the first scuffle in a while…" Jai intervenes. "…someone tried a snatch on Tillery. I don't know the story." Seana agrees. "Aye. Was an odd situation, that." She continues checking the data coming in. "We've got an outbound vector for that boat, and doubt the pilot knows what kind of range we've got. Probably hasn't waited to alter course."
"Deserve has nothing to do with nothing when it comes to law enforcement types." Jai adds. "You mess with the big blue wall, you get the big blue wall." Doc Hannu prepares to leave. "I have my own troubles today.... so I'll leave you to these worries….." Seana heads off as well. "I'll make some calls when I get back to my office. See if we can't find Cody, and whoever took him. If that's the case."
"I will, ummmm. I will think of something." Jai departs. Dav growls under his breath, heading back to his apartment.
Deep in the Black, Hampton adjusts his flightpath, starting a long zig-zagging trajectory to evade any vultures following him. As his hands drop to his knees, he twists around in his pilot's chair, cold ice blue eyes focusing on the unconscious form of his captive, Cody Winterwolf.
