= = = = = Location: Planet New Berlin, New Berlin System, Rhienland Space = = = =
It was a clear sky of the lightened part of New Berlin, a former bounty hunter guild member was casually walking along in town square out in the suburbs of the city.
His name was Kevin Turner. Checking the local food markets for supplies for the long journey that was ahead of him, he stumbled upon a list of an official RM criminal top news coverage of a massive ship theft. As he scrolled down the screen to a name that he was looking for, he set a search entry, typed in a name, and peered at the results. Unfortunately, the desired name was not successfully located. Expecting disappointment of this outcome, he started to continue walking. The moment he took about three steps forward the local news channel was brought to full screen on the same monitor that he was just using. He stopped, took one glance at the screen and held his breath for about five seconds. Reports that were coming in showed his ship classed as destroyed from a suspected sapper that rigged an explosive device onto his ship.
Quickly, he pulled out his handheld console and selected his ship with the displayed icon representing it. There was a time-out error that displayed right when he selected it. He attempted another go, fearing that his recently paid off vessel was destroyed. He returned to the news. While listening in on other vessels that shared the same fate, he quickly set a course for a fast route back to the last location of his ship.
= = = 20 Minutes Later, Location: Civilian-use air port and control. = = =
Kevin, just passing by a Rhienland Police security checkpoint, is stopped by three officers. They ask for a scan of Kevins neural net card and ID. Cleared to be a border-line mercenary, they start to ask some questions on were hes recently been on New Berlin. Kevin explains that he has some business with an important Republican shipping mega-corporation official. However, he made it unclear who he was to conduct business with. One of the three police officers started to insist that he would talk to Kevin in a more quiet area. Kevin, unsure what was going out on the landing pads, agreed to walk with the police officer down the hall to what appeared to be a metal door. The officer waved his hand over a sensor that ejected near the crease of the door and wall. The officer waved his right hand over the blue strip of the sensor array, and the door made a noise resembling the sound when air undergoes immediate decompression. The Rhienland Police officer started to walk forward towards the door. It suddenly latched open on two vertical sides, and then two horizontal latches released behind that with the texture of diamond-pattern safety strip. When the door fully opened, there was an intense ray of light that would make one squint if not fully adapted yet to cope with sudden changes.
Then, all went completely dark. The officer quickly put a black bag over Kevins head. Kevin felt a cold, metallic, rough surface collide with his head, he was unconscious.
"The path to hell is paved with good intentions."
Quote:* Nodoka Hanamura is all about that SSH life
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy - from our odyssey into Hell, we have returned with a gift."
