To: Hellfire Legion || From: Sorrontis || Topic: I need to escape Liberty

[Sorrontis]

Encrypting Alpha-Level ... ... ... successful
Locating Sender ... ... ... Planet Pittsburgh
Locating Recipient ... ... ... *error*

Sirius wide broadcasting ... ... ... successful

You've got to help me out.

I've been charged with feloniously attacking Rheinland Military, and torturing Rheinland pilots. I'm currently on Pittsburgh, awaiting transfer to LPI Sugarland. The trial was bullshit, I didn't even have a JAG. It was in and out, took less than an hour. They didn't care about my reasons, why I did it. It's all messed up now. They even took my Navy ID away. I can't fly, I'll need a new identity. I've got a friend out there that can transfer you some cash if you help me, but you got to get me off the planet before the end of next week.

Liberty has gotten soft and rotten. I see the corruption now, they even have secret files on me that I can't access. I'm not special navy pilot, why do they need a special file on me. Something is going on, I don't know what, but it's time for me to make a difference.

Respond quickly,

Sorrontis

---

Good bye my friends. Good luck in space. Fly safe.

[Psyentific]

The transceiver buzzes and crackles with fragments of transmissions as it scans the networks for a reply.

*kzzscht*"CRAZY HASSAN'S USED--*kzzscht*--BC Galaxy New--*kzzscht*--Transport F***fly. Pickup War****se 31B, ****sburgh. Premium s**** to Coro***do. Cra**s m**ked Boron. **ve fas--*kzzscht*--SO NO CHI NO SA DA--*kzzscht*--16, 32, 25, 7--

The transceiver continues to scan the airwaves...

One of those transmission fragments mentioned a pickup and snippets of a location. If one managed to stow away in the shipment or the transport itself, it might be a way off planet...

Spoiler

I have messaged Sorrontis regarding this post, and he has approved. Please do not report or delete this.

[Sorrontis]

Sorrontis knew that this was going to be his last chance to escape. Obviously, the message he sent out was going to be discovered by the authorities sooner than later. He's not a hacker or a programmer, it was the best he could do with this old entertainment system that was present in his temporary prison. It was obvious that the navy was so distracted with the civil war that they didn't worry about securing prisoner properly. A crappy motel room with two guards at the door, Jonas and Elric, if Sorrontis remembered correctly. They didn't even remember to disable the entertainment system, luckily.

After looking around the room, Sorrontis only found a single weapon. The pen they had given him to write down a will... He wasn't going to live long in Sugarland after all, he's ex-Navy. There was less than an hour before the change of the guard, so Sorrontis had to act now. He knew that neither Elric nor Jonas would be able to stop him if he's quick enough. Elric should still be on the right side of the door, and Jonas on the left. If he's lucky, he'll catch them by surprise.

Sorrontis quietly approaches the door... *click* *swoosh* The door slides open right after Sorrontis unlocks it. Before they have a chance to look at Sorrontis, he kicks Elric's left knee. A loud crunch can be heard, followed shortly by the blood curdling scream of Elric as he fall to the floor. Sorrontis swiftly turns to Jonas who is fumbling to unholster his weapon. Sorrontis takes his pen and jabs it in Jonas' eye. As Jonas instinctively lifts his hands to cover his eye, Sorrontis grabs the right arm and bends it at the elbow... the wrong way. Elric, recovering from the shock, pulls his pistol out and aims it at Sorrontis. *bang* Blood splatters along the wall and the deadening thump of Elric's limp body hitting the floor is heard. Sorrontis is left towering over Jonas, with a freshly fired pistol. He looks at Jonas, who is cowering and shaking from the pain.

"I'm sorry."

*bang* Jonas' body slowly topples over as Sorrontis runs out of the motel.

"I've got to get to warehouse 31 B. That's not far from here, about 5 blocks."

Sorrontis runs through the streets, until he gets to a back alley. There, finding buckets of old dirty water, he washes his hands. "It's best that I stay inconspicuous." He takes a bucket and pours it on himself. He smells his clothes. "Good, now I smell like shit. People'll think I'm a drunkard that fell asleep in the alley."

Arriving at the warehouse, he can start hearing the sirens of law enforcement. He slips inside the warehouse and starts searching for the crates. The sirens are getting closer. "Come on. Come on. Come on. Where's those damn crates?! Was that message not for me?" After panicking for a few seconds, he finds large crates of material /Boron/ /Colorado/ ... "These be the right ones. These things probably weigh a ton each." After climbing over a few of them, Sorrontis finds a crate whose top is loose. Straining with all his might, he opens the top. There's a gap no more than few handspans deep. "I'll fit. It'll be tight, but it's better than Sugarland." Sorrontis crawls into the crate, and closes the top as best he can. "Now I gotta wait."

[Psyentific]

For once in her life, the Firefly was running legit.

Don't get the wrong idea, her captain wasn't going straight. As a matter of fact, Captain Williams' reputation with the authorities was about as dirty as they come, with a nice long laundry list of smuggling and smuggling-related infractions. Not quite the sort of 'guilty until proven innocent' reputation that the Liberty authorities liked to hand out, but alllmost. Today's cargo, if you could even call such an ordinary and lawful thing a real cargo, was a haul of Boron from Pittsburgh out to the Barrier Gate. From there, well, it's no secret what the Barrier Gate exports at criminally-high markups. From Pittsburgh, the route was a clean and easy shot - just take the trade lanes right by Manhattan and carry on to the border.

---

"Hold it right there, Freelancer. Cut your engines, this is a cargo check."
And here they come - As a matter of principle, Howard Williams never missed an opportunity to mess with the Liberty Navy. He pulled back the throttle, pushed up his cowboy hat and thumbed his comms.
"Complyin'. What's the trouble, officer?" Sounds like he's in luck - This particular patroller had tried to stop him before. Tried, being the operative word.
"Williams, is that you, ya piece of scrap? What're you running today? It's slaves again, isn't it, you know damned well how illegal that is."
"Just some Boron, Officer Franklin. Good, honest trading work. Taking this stuff out to Colorado, they pay good y'know."
"Boron. Boron. Boron. Boron. Sixty crates of Boron. In a hold fit for thirty five hundred. Williams, are you messin' with me?"
"Why, you didn't think I was a smuggler or something, did you? C'mon, innocent ol' me?"
"... ... God, I can *hear* that ugly ****-eating grin. Get the hell outta here, I'll get you next time."

Williams keyed his cruise engines - easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
"What'd that old Jedi say about trying, Franklin? See ya tomorrow, heh heh."

---

For a brief few moments, the jumpgate hurled Williams' Firefly well-clear of reality before landing softly in the California system. With the Liberty patrols concentrated on the New York lanes and the outlying pirates appropriately bribed, it ought to be a clear shot into Cortez, then through the Barrier Pass into Coronado. At least, it would be, barring any unforeseen interruptions. With the dummy load dropped off at the Barrier Gate, Williams could get back to real work.

[Sorrontis]

Sorrontis is sitting on Monterrey Base, deep in thought.

"I survived. I got out. Somehow, the ship wasn't I boarded wasn't sent by Hellfire. Dear god, this could have ended badly. Really, why did everything work out so nicely?"

Sorrontis replays the recording from his rescue.

[31.07.2016 04:57:39] WMD.Firefly: "What the he---Alright, I'm still legal. Fly casual."
[31.07.2016 04:57:40] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: There's our VIP. Lieutenant with, cut the lanes. Disruptors hot.
[31.07.2016 04:58:06] WMD.Firefly: "Rude. Alright, what do you Navy boys want this time?"
[31.07.2016 04:58:12] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: you've already cut your engines, smart.
[31.07.2016 04:58:46] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: We're in the business of defending Liberty's civilians so believe me when I tell you that this is a very awkward situation.
[31.07.2016 04:59:20] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: We believe you have a defector onboard. He sent out a communique to the Legion a day ago and received a dispatch response for your vessel first.
[31.07.2016 04:59:58] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: All you need to do is hand over the VIP and we'll each go our separate ways.
[31.07.2016 05:00:20] WMD.Firefly: "I'm not carrying any human cargo on this run, Navy. And, uh, you being shot at by the gateguns doesn't exactly inspire confidence."
[31.07.2016 05:00:35] [HF]-Kelly.With: "This run?"
[31.07.2016 05:00:40] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Check your transponder privledge, captain.
[31.07.2016 05:00:49] [HF]-Kelly.With: That also doesn't inspire confidence, sir.
[31.07.2016 05:01:11] WMD.Firefly: "I plead the fifth."
[31.07.2016 05:01:13] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: We are not the Navy, at least, not the Republic's.
[31.07.2016 05:01:28] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: We are the Legion, and our allegiance lies with the Commonwealth.
[31.07.2016 05:01:52] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: So I'll ask again, search your holds, check for stowaways.
[31.07.2016 05:02:14] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Unless you'd rather have a Legion S&R team pull the panels off of every shady compartment you've got on that ship.
[31.07.2016 05:02:22] WMD.Firefly: "Alright, if you're not Liberty Navy then I guess that's worth something. Let me go down and have a look."
[31.07.2016 05:02:43] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "Hassan, you've got the conn." H: "Yessir."
[31.07.2016 05:03:51] [HF]-Kelly.With: Very cooperative. Pleasant surprise, eh?
[31.07.2016 05:04:04] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Don't jinx it Lieutenant.
[31.07.2016 05:04:09] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "... ..."
[31.07.2016 05:04:23] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "Can you still hear me? I'm using a hand radio from the 'bay."
[31.07.2016 05:04:31] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: We're reading you.
[31.07.2016 05:04:48] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "One of these crates is open. I've got a stowaway, which means it's probably your man."
[31.07.2016 05:05:10] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: I need three things to confirm his identity.
[31.07.2016 05:05:27] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "You're on speaker for the whole 'bay. Go ahead, Legion."
[31.07.2016 05:06:14] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Alright. I'm going to need your name, your rank, and I need you to tell me where the master arm switch is located in a Guardian.
[31.07.2016 05:07:09] Sorrontis: Sorrontis pops his head out of the crate... "Sorrontis sir."
[31.07.2016 05:07:25] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Other two. Now. We've got multiple contacts popping up on LRS.
[31.07.2016 05:07:26] Sorrontis: "I'm a low ranked pilot, no one you've ever heard of before."
[31.07.2016 05:07:39] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: I still need a rank.
[31.07.2016 05:07:45] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Cadet? Lieutenant?
[31.07.2016 05:07:57] Sorrontis: "It's on the inside of my left leg"
[31.07.2016 05:08:19] Sorrontis: "I'm just a cadet sir!"
[31.07.2016 05:08:32] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: *He sighs*, good enough. Suit him up and throw him out the airlock.
[31.07.2016 05:08:36] WMD.Firefly: Hassan: "Sir? Navy on scan, closing fast." Williams: "Ffffuddle duddle."
[31.07.2016 05:08:37] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: We'll take it from here.
[31.07.2016 05:08:53] Sorrontis: "what?"
[31.07.2016 05:09:06] Sorrontis: "isn't there, you know, a safer way"
[31.07.2016 05:09:06] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Get him onboard my ship, -now-
[31.07.2016 05:09:08] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "He said you're going for a walk. EVA's this way, c'mon."
[31.07.2016 05:09:24] Sorrontis: "alright. alright. I gotta save my skin after all. thanks for the ride"
[31.07.2016 05:09:39] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "Yeah, yeah. Get outta here."
[31.07.2016 05:10:05] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "He's out, topside cargo airlock. All yours."
[31.07.2016 05:10:21] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Tac, prep the cloak and tractor him in.
[31.07.2016 05:10:27] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Helm, take us out.
[31.07.2016 05:10:49] [HF]-Kelly.With: "On with ya, lad."
[31.07.2016 05:10:50] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: VIP is secure. Legion flight, cover our trip home.
[31.07.2016 05:10:52] WMD.Firefly: Williams: "And a nice day to you too. I'm getting outta here before the Navy geeks me for complicity."
[31.07.2016 05:10:57] [HF]-HFBC-Invictus: Locklear: Thank you for your cooperation captain.
[31.07.2016 05:11:10] [HF]-Kelly.With: Smart move. Safe flights.
[31.07.2016 05:11:23] WMD.Firefly: W: "Don't mention it. Always good to help an unfortunate spacer."
[31.07.2016 05:11:49] WMD.Firefly: W: "And tell your quartermasters to call Williams-Mordhauser Distributing if they need supplies or munitions."

"I'm the luckiest b*****d in Sirius right now. I probably have a target on the back of my head, but the LNS won't be bothered for a while. Thanks LSF for distracting them."

Sorrontis starts laughing seriously loud.

"Alrighty, I ready get to work, these guys want to bring back Liberty to something respectable."

Sorrontis walks out of his room, and grabs the first person he sees.

"Hey there, who do I have to talk to to get a mission and a ship?"