The sun set at about 4 o'clock where the Scraper Rats normally patrolled, falling behind the ridge of skyscrapers to create an orange glow above the packed streets. Sunset wouldn't come to the rest of Colorado for another 3 hours. The rats like to operate in this time of day people were out and the orange glow blinded people to what was happening in the darker areas of town. The rats were a type of street gang that popped up occasionally trademarked by extreme violent individuals with big ambitions, Generally anti-social youths who, lacking proper outlets, took to the streets intent to get as much money as fast as possible. Another characteristic of these gangs was there abrupt violent end normally only days after their formation.
The rats were different still violent but smarter. Their leader was Patrick Fitzwilliam and he alone knew when to play it smart. When provoked he was cold, ruthless, and mercy was never given. Tracking him among the packed streets had been the hardest thing Tracy Long had ever done but his fellows had given him away in the end. 'I knew you could pull it off' said Ethan as if sensing what she thought 'you've tracked people who were a lot more generic looking than him.' While it was true that he did have very standard libertonian features, that wasn't what made the chase hard. 'It's not his looks it's his demeanour unless he's provoked he doesn't cause a stir. Normally when you lose them you just wait for them to hassle someone but not this guy.'
'Ah now I see how you tracked that guy back in June the one with the reversible jacket and hood never thought of that. Well we gunna go make the arrest.'
'Sure'
The 4 members of the rats were walking down an alley when 4 officers moved out of hiding.
'Freeze!' shouted Tracy 'You are under arrest.'
Patrick just smiled 'I'm afraid we have a misunderstanding miss...'
'Shut up, now get on the ground'
'Now that's a bit hasty don't you think? I'm no threat to you.'
'Alright let's do this the hard way then. Ethan Gareth cuff em'
'I'm afraid I won't let you do that officer.'
At that moment the gangster standing next Patrick launched himself at Tracy homemade shivs coming out of nowhere only to be halted by a laser shot from Ethan 'get them'. The Rats behind Patrick had more luck and manage to overpower and stab another officer before being tazed by another. Cornered and alone Tracy tried one more attempt at peace. 'Surrender now or we will shoot you.'
'Oh my I'm afraid I can't let you do that either.' He said pulling a detonator out of his pocket.
The explosion detonated next to Ethan throwing him off his feet into another officer while Patrick fired his pistol at Tracy. The first shot went wide and hit a nearby pedestrian 'no! Dad cried his son before he was crash tackled by a bounty hunter recruiter desperate for a new pilot.
Tracy had to dive away from the second shot giving Patrick the time e needed to run into the street.
'He got the jump on us sniper do you see him.'
'Yes' replied the man hidden in a small opening in a construction site 'taking the shot.'
At that point Patrick let out a high pitched squeal.
'What the' yelled the sniper as a colourful bird descended from the sky. Cybernetic beak and claws tearing through his flesh and almost knocking him over as he tumbled around looking for something to swat it off with the bird flew away. The sudden change in weight caused him to fall forwards. Too late he realised that the lines he grasped fro support said high voltage.
'Good job Clarence' shouted Patrick running to an abandoned store bird, landing on his shoulder as he did so.
Tracy observing the death of the sniper swore. Bringing her comm unit up to her mouth she said 'Ach suspect has eliminate our sniper and stunned Ethan and Gareth I'm following him into his hideout.'
'Negative, wait for backup!' came the response but Tracy had already turned it off.
As Tracy rounded the corner shot was fired. Instinctively she rolled into cover and returned fire at the source she heard a short sharp scream coming from the direction of her shot, she hit him. She walked over to his body the parrot pecked tentatively at his face. Turning her radio on she said 'Subject has been neutralised but we have wounded and need a shuttle.'
'Acknowledged paramedics on their way'
At this Patrick leapt up with tazer in hand stunning Tracy before she could radio for help.
'Thank you very much for calling down that shuttle saves me a lot of trouble. Now if you will just have the thoughtfulness to die you b****h he said stabbing his knife into her chest' before sitting down to wait
The paramedics touched down in the street as normal but as they exited the ramp they were met with an unexpected sight.
'All right now if you would just step out of the ship' said Patrick
One of the medics tried to draw his pistol but wasn't able to shoot before Patricks own gun had killed all the occupants of the shuttle.
'Ah well went Clarence in the ship' he said to his parrot before climbing in and shooting for orbit.
'Who would have thought huh Clarence Patrick Fitzwilliam hitting the big time actually managing to steal a ship?' Looking back into the cargo bay Clarence was having a ball swinging of wires and chewing cargo before a beeping on his console drew his attention along with a flashing Artificial gravity failing button. As soon as gravity finally shut off Clarence knew he wasn't going to like space travel.
Patrick walked off his ships ramp into Alcatraz with blood dripping from his arms and face in a sour mood, his Cyber-parrot Clarence close behind screeching louder than the bulkheads of the ramp opening. As it turns out flying Animals don't like zero gravity environments. Patrick was here to purchase a new ship as the few traders he had stopped didn't take the puny armament of his civilian shuttle seriously and with very good reason.
Walking up to the ship dealer Patrick made his offer 'Hey I need a new ship so how about you give me one and I'll give you mine plus some credits.'
'No can do your reps no good with us we don't want to supply just any pirate all you do is scare away the traders.'
'Well then how can I get a ship? I can't fly around in that piece of junk.'
'Well we do have some errands you can run.'
'Fine if it will just get me a ship with artificial gravity for Clarence.'
'Sure just go to the way point ad destroy what you find here are the details.'
Grabbing the PDA Patrick went back to his ship shouting an order at Clarence who was too busy hassling a slave to notice.
It was Patrick's first day in a new ship and hopefully his first haul. He flew out to a trade lane and had already stoped 2 traders when he noticed an Outcast gunboat on his scanner engaging a bounty hunter.
'Hey want some hel...' before he could finish his transmission the ship exploded in a shower of sparks 'looks like you don't need it'
'Well actually if you don't mind this is my first time round here anything I should know about the area'
'What's there to know? These big ring thingies carry ships, ships carry loot, oh and cop wear blue about all there is to know.'
'Fair enough looks like a big haul on the scanner.'
'Alright drop the loot' said Patrick
'Excuse me' said the pilot of a cruiser escort 'Well if its gunna be that way'
'Uh oh run!!!!!' shouted Patrick as he charged his engines outcast close behind fleeing to the field. When they we out of scanner range Patrick turned to the outcast 'I think that's enough pirating for today.'
'Yes I think the fish here are a little big I think I'm going back to Malta.'
'Yeah you know I think I might need a bit of help round here too.'
'Good luck in you endeavours'
'You too.' Said Patrick before flying back to Alcatraz.
Patrick sat on the lanes one Sunday afternoon keeping one eye on his sensors while trying to coax Clarence out of the electrics with a cracker. Some would say a lost cause as whenever Clarence went to grab the tasty treat he lost his grip and suffered the same panic attack he always did when his flight instinct failed in zero gravity. But Patrick's faith in the little bird's intelligence was not misplaced as it finally figured out how to gently push off from the cables and glide towards his prize. Just about to grab his reward a siren blared from the cockpit shattering his concentration causing his flight reflex to take over sending the poor parrot careening around the cargo bay.
Patrick left the bird to his own devices as he investigated the alarm, liberty gunboat approaching at high speeds. Hitting the cruise engines he plotted a vector to the nearest asteroid field when a disrupter shot out of the offending gunboat. As he ordered a countermeasure to be fired Patrick focused on finetuning his course. The disruptor hit the ship bringing it to a sickening halt. Checking the launch bays for disruptions he noticed his countermeasure counter was at zero and swore.
'I knew there was something I forgot this morning. Ok step 1. Act natural wait for a hail and explain you're self. Step 2. Run. Step 3. Gut the bastard later with a bomber.'
What happened next was very unexpected. Instead of the usual by the books navy hail a razor shot collided with his windscreen sending sparks as his shield dissipated and the escape pod activated.
'CLARENCE!!!!!!' He screamed as the pod closed around him.
'Clarence!' He said as he searched the pod hopeful that his beloved pet and guardian was in the right place at the time of the explosion. He was searching in the cramped confines of the pod when he felt a familiar rasp of claws through fabric.
' Oh thank god you bloody bird.' He said as the bird climbed up his shirt. But the bird seemed distracted. Tracing his eye line Patrick finally noticed the illusive cracker floating just above his head
'Oh No' He said as the bird tried to fly towards it only to panic and rebound around the impossibly small space screeching the whole time.
***Warning power low life support failing***
Patrick looked at the flashing light on the console once more before fiddling half heatedly with some knobs before admitting defeat and slamming his fist into the console. He had allowed for his temper to get the better of him. The way the successful recruits sneered behind his back while he waited for the boss to contact him. It snapped him. He barge his way into some random leaders office put a gun to his head and ended up in the slave pens.
With nothing to lose he fashioned a weapon from some of the dead slaves and made his escape aboard the hyena. he has spent the past weeks drifting Liberty space looking for a port. But it was useless.
No one took him in he had no money no spare parts a ship that couldn't destroy a starflier and a bad reputation with both the navy and the unlawfuls. At last the air was running out.
Patrick lay slouched in front of the escape pod gears inside whirring as it awaited its doomed passenger.
"Where would I go? I go to the rouges I'm dead I go to a planet I'm imprisoned and I"m not going back to jail."
He stepped back from the waiting pod and slouched in a corner. Clarence finally mastering zero G flight swooped down to his master, holding a torn photograph of the Scraper Rats. The faces of all the member except for Fitzwillam torn with Clarence perched on his shoulder.
Failing to hold back the tear he turned to his prized pet.
"You know this is it. The wages of sin finally paid huh. What I wouldn't give to be back on Denver with the gang. We wouldn't even need to be looking for that next big haul. Damn I had such hopes for space I thought 'Now's the time to make a name for myself' and 'Now i can finally move up in the world gain some respect."
Patrick broke further into tears verging on blubbering.
" And now, now I have nothing save you. Well those bastards wont get you. YOU WON'T GET EVERYTHING!!!!" he swore to the empty void filled with rocks and scrap.
Doing his best to stand up in zero G Patrick walked to the escape pod holding his sole possession in his arms. With renewed vigor he turned to address his bird.
"If I go back to Denver the cops will get me but they won't shoot a bird."
With that he shoved Clarence into the airlock despite the bird raging protests. When the hatch sealed their eyes locked for a brief second before the pod flew away and Patrick watched it speed off towards a jumphole.
He sat there for hours watching the direction the pod flew off into. The air was starting to run out and every breath became a labour. The lone pistol in the armoury rack was becoming more and more prominent. When the warning lights on the console finally went out Patrick picked it up and without a word bit the barrel
... and pulled the trigger