Karen was born in New London, spoiled by the riches of a wealthy family who could take care of all her desires as a child, she did not know about any worries of life and she could have anything she wanted. Although very young, at the age of 5, she was a very educated and well mannered girl, knowing not to ask for anything yet receiving the most expensive and nice gifts for a girl of her age. Her life was perfect, if it was not for the troubles that came for her being born in a wealthy family having many enemies... people of ill thought who wanted her family 'gone'.
With all these problems, Karen had her parents killed by contract mercenaries. In the last attempt to make his family survive, her father hid Karen in a place where the mercenaries could not find her, and sent an emergency comm to a friend of his, which was laying low and living a normal life in the borderworlds. Karen was old enough to understand what was happening, as her father ran with her on his arms, she saw her mother falling on the ground after hearing loud bangs coming from the mercenary blasters, she was crying like you would expect, she was scared and confused, abandoned in a hole, hidden from the bad people.
On the same day, the police arrived and found Karen when she was attempting to get out of hiding, her parents were already taken by the forensic specialists, and she was taken by the police to be given into adoption, when the friend of her father arrived and claimed to be of her family, with an official letter from her father Cory McBain, saying that he gave the full custody of the child to him. And that was the start of her new life, where all the safety of a rich family will crumble with the death of her parents, and all the riches she had were gone with them.
When she was taken by a familiar man, she used to call 'uncle' when she was a little girl, she had a feeling of safety, but she was still scared and confused... a 8 year old who was stripped of all life gains from her family, including her parents, was now arriving into a common 'home' in the borderworlds. And she arrived at Barrier Gate Station, her new home!
Although new to her, she was slowly getting back on her feet, and although she couldn't go to school because the station didn't had that luxury, she was learning a lot of things from Mr. Harrison, her father's friend. He taught her about space and the many systems that there are, he even took her on trips outside the station on his shuttle to "see the stars", Karen loved space so much she wished to pilot one day her own ship and live among the stars alone. A child's dream, that would probably be very impossible, but can be possible if interpreted in a more realistic way, as living in a station is very close to living among the stars. But Karen never gave up her dream, even after becoming older.
Her adoptive father taught her to pilot his shuttle very well, and to reinforce her skills he payed an old friend of his, veteran in space flight, to teach her 'everything' about ships and how to pilot them. Something that was very close to a flight academy, since he was an old teacher in one in Liberty. Theoretically and practically she learned everything she needed to know about ships, their components, maintenance, and flight. She was still yet to know about fighting, but Mr. Harrison didn't want her to know about such things, yet you know about human nature, don't help a child to learn how to walk, he will learn to walk on his own.
A very timid girl she was, but very friendly when you got to know her, the charm of the Section 4 on Barrier Gate... they knew her as that. She was from gallic origins so she had a different 'tone' to her hair, a very strange one people would recall, but very very charming. And hence, that was her favorite color, a very warm yet not so bright pink that made her look calm, and made you charmed by her colors.
It was then, at the age of 13, she met the elder, but only son of Mr. Harrison, his name was Justin. A very strong, and charming man, the ladies at the station recall. He came back to visit his father and meet his new 'sister', very excited and looking forward to meeting her in person, as she has already talked to him on the comms... although she was also looking forward to meet her 'brother' she was shy, and very timid when talking to him.
Justin was a mercenary, working for the Liberty authorities, a dangerous job, but when a man makes up on his life... there is no stopping him.
When he finally met Karen, they talked for hours about their interests and he told her about the many adventures he had in space, as he also knew about how she loved space, but also warning her about the dangers of the same. He took her on trips far from the station to meet new people in safe places, and behind the ears and eyes of his father, he taught her everyday, how to defend herself and about guns and weapons for ships, using his own ship, a Borderworld 'Sabre' Very Heavy Fighter as a role model for her teaching. He taught her on his ship how to shoot, and although targets were asteroids, she was always having fun with Justin.
"Shh don't tell dad about this, it will be our little secret, alright?"
She then became adept in space ships pretty quickly, and also became bonded to Justin, looking up to him as a big brother and her guardian. She was always looking forward to his visits and their trips out of the station together. She was happy with her new life, gotten over the death of her parents, and she then became a pretty 15 year old girl.
Chapter 2 - Losses and gains. Little Decisions matter
As soon as she became 16 Karen was given her first neural-net access, with her own account. So she could receive small savings coming from Mr.Harrison who now bought a "Serenity" class transport and started hauling goods for money on short routes. Sometimes she went with him and met new people at different ends, but sometimes she stayed at home waiting for Justin who said he was gonna visit, of course not knowing his father was now working again full time. So they had more time to spend alone, talking about the usual, ships, space, and guns. And adding a little spice when he talked about new dangers he faced and the things he had done while he was gone, while also bringing her gifts he bought for her on different planets. Her favorite gift was a pineal amulet he bought for her on Baffin, although this one looked a bit different, a bit 'cute' for her tastes, she used it as a necklace, and she treasured it. Justin always wanted a little sister, it should be mentioned, which is why he was so close and nice with her.
Months since Mr.Harrison started working deposit credits on Karen's neural-net account grew, and she could buy whatever she wanted. Maybe Mr.Harrison wanted her to live like she used to live, having all the luxuries she could have, but with little restrictions of course.
While Mr.Harrison was out trading far away for a big contract she got a comm arrived at their home terminal, from Justin, saying that he got in a mess and he could not come back... at least not for now. When Karen heard about that, she was really worried, yet sad because he would not come home any time soon, so she did what he asked in the comms, not to do... looked for him.
Using her neural-net device, she remembered people she met who were friends with Justin, and she hit the 'jackpot', a person that was not a friend of Justin, but he knew where he was. He was nothing more than a Lane Hacker... although she didn't know that, and he of course provided her information about his endeavours, in exchange for something, a small amount of credits... or at least for him was a small amount, one million. She was surprised, her eyes became teary when she heard the price for the info... as he remembered the 'cute' girl that was accompanying Justin, he of course offered other ways of getting the information... but that required her to do... a 'favour' for him.
With her inexperience, she decided to take the 'favour' for the Lane Hacker guy. So they agreed to meet on Freeport 4 on Baffin, the place where they met for the first time. Karen forgot that Justin told her not to get involved with people like him. She finally arrived at the Freeport, docked and a few strange looking men received her, telling her about her meeting with 'the boss' and that they will take care of her ship while she stays. Again, with Karen's inexperience on life, she accepted and went straight to the address on the station the man had given her. Finally arriving at the room, she entered, and it was a luxurious suite, obviously rented for that occasion, he was waiting for her on the couch.... drinking luxurious wine imported from Bretonia.
And the meeting went like this, he offered a drink and she said she didn't drink, not yet. So Karen told him she wanted to go straight to business.
"My my, you are an eager one my young lady... I like that..."
He stood up and took her hand, slowly and softly dragging her behind the suite, where the actual room was. As she saw the bed from outside, although inexperienced, she imagined what this 'favour' was about... so she forced her hand off his as he was grabbing her softly.
"Come on dear, don't need to be shy... I got the info on a small portable device, as soon as we finish you are free to go with it."
Karen looked up to him with confused eyes, and was thinking quickly on a way to get out of this... remembering how Justin taught her how to defend herself, she decided to comply with the guy and went straight and slowly into the room with the beds, where there was a blaster on the night table beside one of the beds.
"Good... I like how obedient you are... its just so adorable", the man chuckled.
She then jumped through the bed and got the blaster as soon as she could... stood up and pointed the gun at the man.
"Ho-Hold on! what are you doing? Didn't we make a deal?"
It was a deal that she was not aware of... Karen threatened him and kept pointing the gun at him... while making him back off more and more... she then took the device that he was talking about, and ran with the blaster on hand... but for security reasons, Karen threw it on the trash bin nearby outside the room and ran as fast as she could to the hangar. Just to find out that her ship was being towed by other Hackers, it was useless still, with a different IFF, and without proper launch codes thanks to the Hackers that were 'taking care' of her ship. Karen had only one option, getting caught back, or finding a way out fast. She headed to another hangar, and saw there were transports getting loaded, and a few freighters, which captains were talking about heading far away, about now! So she headed to one of the freighters and hid herself inside the cargo hold, which was not too full. And the ship sailed into space... it seemed like the freighter was only a family freighter and they were traveling, it was only containing luxuries and food.
Several hours, and even a day on the freighter and it hadn't landed or docked yet, Karen started eating the food from the cargo. But as soon as she was eating, she felt the ship was docking... so she hid back with her mouth full and food on her hands. The cargo didn't open, but there was a door to the main side of the ship and it was open, she took that side and headed straight out without anyone noticing... and she explored around the unknown place she was in. Reading a poster, Karen found out she was on Freeport 10, in Tau-37... she was scared, but at the same time the feeling of enthusiasm was overwhelming... she couldn't help but feel excited she was so far from home, yet she was also in a place she never heard of. But excited as she felt, she still had to find her beloved 'brother'. Knowing that Justin told her not to come look for him, and that Mr.Harrison would be very upset and worried for what she has done, she tried to communicate back with them on her neural-net device, but she remembered she left it on her ship... all Karen could do was to sit and relax while thinking of a way to leave the Taus, return home and find her brother with the information on the device she had obtained.
So Karen decided to peek into the device. She didn't find the most pleasant results. What she read on that datapad, was nothing but criminal logs framing Justin, from some corrupted police officer which had a grudge towards him, he was either dead or an outlaw now. The Lane Hacker wanted to keep her posted on the info about him, as he couldn't track his location as of yet, but 'things' happened. But not only that, she didn't take just the datapad of the Lane Hacker, but she took his neural-net account logged pad with 20,000,000 Sirius credits on it. When she realized that, she knew they were gonna track her down. So she spent these money on the only combat able ship she was taught to pilot with weapons, a "Sabre". Karen bought one and fitted it properly and disposed of the Lane hacker device as soon as she could, while also transferring the credits from the logged account to a new device she bought with the 'borrowed' money to her account. She then sailed into space to look for more clues about her brother. But her decision would cost her more than just the trouble of traveling.
Chapter 3 - That guy... with a funny name
After jumping into space eager to go back home and investigate her brother's situation, Karen did not expect things to go down the hill, neither to take different turns on the way. Karen was still the same illegal 16 year old pilot, who lacked combat skills and was inexperienced in space and Sirius itself. Although nobody cared about her being 16 and piloting her ship, after all, nobody cared about anybody in Sirius.
Jumping to Cortez, she was assaulted by the same Lane Hackers that she betrayed back at Freeport, she was being tracked thanks to her account being logged.
"We meet again... my sweet child..."
She was a bit scared, shaking, but eager to engage... The Lane Hackers offered a chance to surrender, to continue what they started, but she didn't accept and they started engaging... Karen's inexperience was showing like nothing in Sirius, she was being beat up by 4 guys and her ship was barely holding up anymore.
During the battle there came a curious individual, with a strange designation of SPHINX, he was just sitting there watching the fight as they took on the weak girl... he then just told them.
"Hey guys, not that I care or anything but this fight is boring as hell.. I am joining the lone ship's side... so start counting your last seconds", and he laughed.
[Karen's journal, entry #354: The guy with the funny name... Sphinx I think it was, he joined the fight and saved me by a hair... I was giving my last breath really... don't know why, and how, but he took on all of them by himself, they died... poor guys, as much as bad guys they were they didn't deserve to die...
On another note, the sphinx guy was totally awesome, he just joined in saying a few words and bam, they were all gone like that... he also shared a few of his nano bots with me, just until we arrived at Barrier for repairs. He also seemed a bit shy, but was treating me more indifferent than anything. End of entry.]
Karen was saved by just a little, by the unknown guy known as Sphinx. Although he was being mean to her, he was nice enough to accompany her back to barrier gate, with the excuse that he was also going there.
"Tch I didn't want to help you or anything... I was just feeling like shooting something down and you happened to be the last one,.. and... well I was already satisfied, and I am also headed to barrier gate to buy something yeah... so don't think anything stupid."
When they arrived at the station Karen wanted to thank him, so she waited on the hangar until he finished docking. When Sphinx got out of his ship he already had a coat jacket with a big hoodie covering his face, like those of the IMG. She just kneeled a bit to look at his face but he instantly looked away.
"God don't try to look at me, I am not that important neither you should know too much about me in the first place. And don't give me your thanks, I don't need them... neither I want a reward or anything, I told you I was just bored. So you can just... go or something."
Still Karen insisted and gave him her thanks with a warm smile... Sphinx was expressionless... She invited him to her home, as she saw the advantage of having him around, with the thought on mind that she could get him to help her. Of course he didn't accept, telling her to bug off, he turned his back and started walking... she then remembered the time she fell into the lots of problems with the Lane Hackers... and she used her charms to get him. Grabbing his arm, she looked up at him and asked him.
"Please... come with me... I will not bother you anymore afterwards, I promise!!!"
The misleading attitude of Karen was surprising, he accepted with the excuse that she would not bother him anymore afterwards. As they arrived back at home, they saw that Mr.Harrison was at home, he was worried but he hid it, and just told Karen that he just arrived.
"Oh, you brought a friend home... my... they grow fast eh?". He mumbled to himself, "tch... an old man... my luck!!!"
Karen then couldn't talk to Sphinx about the business she wanted to talk about... so she brought him to her room.
"Karen... play safe alright?"
Karen blushed and looked with an oblivious face to Mr.Harrison for a few seconds. Then she rushed with Sphinx on her hand to her room. She hurried to her bed and took the backpack she was carrying... opened and searched for the datapad... she had taken all the info from the other datapad and loaded it into her new one. And with a cute face, she showed him the datapad.
As sphinx was reading, he was thinking of all the things he thought about while coming here... and he facepalmed heavily.
"So are you looking for this guy? Is he your boyfriend?"
"No... just my brother..."
"What am I getting out of this...?"
"Anything!!!"
"Don't give me that... when you can't even afford for more expensive info than this... the one who gave you this must suck... like real bad!"
"I mean it... I am willing to do anything to get my brother back to safety!"
Sphinx didn't know what to answer to that... he sighed heavily and took his hoodie off, making a huge sigh.
God! I can't believe what I'm doing! Why is this happening to me! TO ME!!! SPHINX...!!!" He sighed again. "Look, girl... whatever I am gonna help you with, this is just between us, alright? Tell anyone about it and I am going to kill you... literally!"
As he took his hoodie off, Karen saw how handsome he was... staring for a few seconds, she took time to realize what he just told her. As she did, she let out a huge smile, thanking him, while also jumping at him out of joy and hugging him.
"T-thank you! thank you so much!!!"
"Jeez you are so clingy!! Get off!!!"
Soon after that she borrowed him the terminal at home while Mr.Harrison was conveniently out in the bar... she could already imagine him sobbing,
"I can't believe how fast they grow!!!! Another one please!!!"
Sphinx just cracked his fingers and started typing on the terminal, she was surprised, the skills at the terminal were amazing, only using a few commands and a small portable info drive he carried around, he managed to get into the camera records of all Liberty. while also searching for records on Justin in another window. His face was looking dead serious, as he was typing. She couldn't help but feel surprised and overwhelmed by the skills.
"There you go, your boyfriend's on Buffalo, or so I believe, these records were are a day old."
"H-hes not my bo-boyfriend!!"
"Yeah also, he seems to be entangled in a huge mess... nothing I can do about that... but hey, I know where Buffalo is, I can take you there if you want!"
"Yes please! but... how did you do?"
"Hmphf... haven't I told you? The ones that gave you the info were not refined in this art! They lacked originality and contacts! I am a true master!" he said with a heroic laugh.
Karen's eyes were sparkling. Sphinx waited for her until she took a shower... and when they were both ready, they got their ships at the hangar and headed straight to Buffalo in New York.
"Just to let you know, we are taking a long but safe route! I am a notorious person... someone you shouldn't have gotten yourself involved with in the first place!"
Karen's face didn't show any expression... she just smiled after a moment of silence. Their trip to New York was silent and very quiet. Aside from a few police patrols they avoided they got safely to Buffalo, although they were giving Sphinx a bad eye, Then they were at Buffalo where they met Justin on the deck.
"Karen! what are you doing here? I thought I told you not to look for me!"
She rushed to him and hugged him...
"Shut up... you don't know the trouble I went through to find you!"
"Karen.... and what about this guy? Didn't I teach you not to get involved with people like him? This guy is dangerous... Quieter he mumbled to Karen, "while I was working for the police I found out this guy was a bomber and he likes to kill people! We even fought! He nearly killed me if it wasn't for a Navy capital that came to scare him away!"
"Eh? No way!? This guy is a nice guy! He helped me without asking for anything in return! And he also saved me from bad guys when I was nearly killed by them!"
"What? Just how much has you been doing all this time?"
Sphinx cleared his throat.
Excuse me... my part of the deal ends here... no need for a thanks, now I am leaving... there is nothing I can do for you anymore, also don't look for me! You will end up getting killed."
She rushed and held a bit of his jacket from his arm...
"Thank you! I have... I have the feeling that we will meet again... and that time won't be the last time either!"
"Tch... don't count on it, girl! There is no such thing as hope or fate in this life"
And then he walked away to his ship. Karen was looking a bit sad to say goodbye like that... but nothing too deep to bring her down. She was happy to see her step-brother once again and safe!
Justin brought her to his room, where they talked in private about all the events following his disappearance. Karen understood there was nothing for her to do in these matters. although sad, these were matters with the government now... and she had no say about it. She suggested Justin to move from Liberty... perhaps to Kusari or Bretonia... although he accepted, he was not gonna bring her with him... it was too dangerous. So it ended with her sent home by him and he parted ways with her while going to Rheinland.
Karen promised to visit him from time to time... he accepted but was not looking forward to her traveling that far, she made a promise to him, since he told her about how much he loved cats, to get one for him.
So it ends here, the story about the young girl and her big step brother! Or so she believed.
Ending - The cat promise
It's been nearly three years since the events of Justin disappearance and his leave to Rheinland. With Karen's legally piloting a ship now, she decided to pay a visit to him on New Berlin, where he was living. She couldn't fulfill the promise to bring him a cat as a pet because she couldn't find one, but she bought a headgear with cat ears, and decided to play a cat for him once she arrived as a surprise. She has not heard of him for a year now. He had been busy working for 'important' people.
Once she arrived she tried looking for him by asking around... and not finding any clue about her brother Justin. She then tried looking for the bar in New Berlin which he told her once he liked. In there, she found someone who knew him, but he told her something she didn't wanted to hear... he was gone, he was killed by unknown agents during a mission he had.
Devastated she went back to Barrier Gate through Bretonia. Thinking of how easy he was taken away just like that, without even saying goodbye. On the way back once she arrived to Cortez, while traveling to the jumphole, she was ambushed by four LSF agents and an LSF cruiser. It seemed that LSF investigated about Justin, and not to leak information they searched for him and killed him, and were also looking for everyone related to him, Karen and Mr.Harrison. The LSF coldly engaged her without saying a word and were aiming to destroy her. The Cruiser were not letting her through the jumphole, so she had to fight or die. But then when she was almost giving up on her life... someone appeared.
"Hello LSF this is Sphinx, your favorite terrorist!" He laughed, "you are out of Liberty, my friends! I don't like that! I was looking for you all over New York, and here you are bullying a single fighter! So guess who's going to blow up now?"
Sphinx, Karen's last hope, appeared in with a band of Rogue bombers and destroyed the cruiser, while also engaging the very skilled LSF fighters.
"Go cutie, before I blow you up too, he said laughing again.
With a tear of joy on her eyes, she instantly escaped through the jumphole and went directly to Barrier Gate to see Mr.Harrison. She had already realized that if they were going after her, then Justin wasn't the only one getting killed. She rushed to her home on the station. Just to find the LSF surprising her from behind once she entered the room. She was being captured alive, but she somehow forced her way out... disabling the LSF from his gun and running. She knew Mr.Harrison didn't make it, as she was running... she was flooding with tears... her life took a turn for the worse once again, everything she cared for was taken away by force.
As she arrived at the hangar the LSF accused Karen for false charges against Liberty and the security was helping them out to capture her, but once she has lost all hope... the whole station felt and heard a loud explosion in one of the hangars. The station security megaphone was overriden and someone started mumbling,
"God I can't believe I rushed here just for this!". The man gasped and continued loud, "did you guys feel that? YESS!! One of the hangars blew up! Run girl! Run!!! And he laughed hard.
Karen once again was saved by her mysterious guardian angel! The terrorist couldn't just abandon her just like that... somehow.
She couldn't believe her luck, and then she rushed to the hangar with her ship and instantly undocked to escape. She was scared, so she didn't stay to even say goodbye to him. Neither he wanted to in the first place... he just escaped the station and undocked as he saw Karen flying away towards the Taus. And then they never met again.
"Tch... what a waste of time helping her... for nothing... but hey... I had fun... somehow... I couldn't bring myself to abandon the little one."
-Sphinx last testimony on Karen before her becoming Kitty.
Karen retreated and finally arrived to Kusari borderworlds. Living now on a Freeport, she was finally all alone... with lots of regrets, but something was true... her hate for the LSF and the Navy was greater than of any libertonian pirate.
She was sitting in a corner of her bed, holding the headgear she bought to surprise Justin... and then Karen disappeared. A new neural-net account was created by the name of 'Kitty', and she promised to always use the headgear, in the name of Justin, who loved cats, so even afterlife, her brother would love her. Her cheerful expression was gone, she wasn't shy anymore, and she got skilled after training alone by herself. Kitty would come back now to Liberty, and show them that she's not there to play the cat and the mouse.
And there ends the story of the Cat and her promise! Even until now, she is still wearing the headgear in public.
"Whats wrong? Did the mouse bit your tongue?"
- Kitty, to a lone LSF agent on California before he got destroyed with the escape pod and all.