He was an unstable man, Mr. Hawkins was. Still is, as a matter of fact - not like he's dead or anything. It's impolite to talk about people in the past tense like that when they're still sucking air down and thinking even semi-lucid thoughts. I do stress the term "semi-lucid", as indeed at the end, that is all that could be said of dear Mr. Hawkin's thoughts.
The most notable aspect of his life was his former career, for you see, Mr. Arthur Hawkins was an actor, and a damn good one at that. He starred in numerous Bretonian films; from his first childhood flick "A Pauper's Gamble" to the movie that threw him over the edge, he was perhaps one of the best actors in Bretonian history. What, exactly, made the man so good? Rugged good looks? Nay, for he looked like a gentleman of the highest order, not specially endowed in that area. No, his skills lay in his ability to detach from himself, and in essense become the character in the movie.
As you can probably tell, this would be most dangerous if he were playing, say, a terrorist. To lose oneself in the role, to become a madman simply by behaving like one is a most terrible thing. His latest and, unfortunately for him, last movie was titled "Gaia's Angels" (a box-office hit, by the way), portraying the attempts of the Gaians (as well as the fabled Green Front) in their struggle against Planetform. Mr. Hawkins played a Gaian radical. Flawlessly assuming his new identity, he found it rather hard to shake it, and as such after the film was done, he left for the Gaians.
The pitter-patter of Leeds' acid ran strummed across the roof, repelled by some chemical or another that was designed to withstand the brutal beating it took from the mutated ecology of Leeds. The streets were empty, as they always were when it rained - people tended to enjoy the use of all their bodily functions.
The man had entered the building right as the rain started, trench coat pulled tight, collar popped, fedora brim angled to keep his face in shadows. It was the front room of some office or another, a reception desk directly opposite the front door. Behind it was a sullen woman cleaning her fingernails, a bored look on her face. The lighting was dim, only strengthening the shadows shrouding his face.
As he approached the desk and put both hands on it, palms down, the first peal of thunder shook the frame of the building.
"Help you?" she asked, not looking up.
A deep voice responded. "Yes, I have an appointment with the Doctor."
She glanced up, just a flicker of the eyes, before nodding her head to the door to his left. He walked through without a word. On the other side was a short hallway, blue walls and sterile lighting. No carpet, tile. At the end was an ajar door. The man made for the door and pushed it the rest of the way open, and walked in.
The Gaians had no idea who the esteemed Mr. Hawkins was because, quite simply, it wasn't his real name. When I tell you that he lost himself in the character, I mean he completely lost himself, name and memory included. When the CNS had a piece on a "famous actor missing", no one connected the new Gaian to it, and it goes without saying that Mr. Hawkins didn't connect himself to it. He was, undoubtedly, rather shocked when the Gaians on Islay didn't recognize him, or have any record of him. He ranted on about his accomplishments (all fictitious, of course), and some put him down as a madman.
Again, I cannot stress enough that he lost himself in the character. As such, he even gained the skills that Mr. Hawkins from the movie had such pride in, including various forms of terrorism, "persuasion", sabotage, and piloting. The term "jack of all trades" comes to mind, and indeed that is what made the Gaians hesitantly accept the "raving lunatic", as one first-hand witness later described him.
Doctor Applegate was a furtive and shifty man. He was lean to the point of hunger, and could never stand still. He had on the clean white coat of a doctor, but rather un-doctorlike was the five-o'clock shadow and sunken eyes. As the door closed behind the unknown stranger, he made a gesture as if to ask if the room was safe from prying eyes or listening ears. At the doctor's nod, he doffed his hat and pulled the collar down, revealing his face.
"Hawkins, good to see you made it on time. I've secured you some forged papers - good as real, they promised - and passage to Canterbury," the doctor said, competence striking a stark contrast with his disheveled appearance.
Arthur took the papers without a word and turned on his heel, leaving. His disguise popped back into place, leaving just another meeting with a sympathetic member of the Green Front.
Imagine, if you will, one of the most iconic villains of all time coming to life, someone so powerful and yes, even awe-inspiring, that to this day, millenia later, he is still remembered from a fragment of a movie in the 1980s AD, back on Old Earth that was. Imagine Darth Vader stepping out of your viewer.
Some may say this is ludicrous, and be that as it may, a form of it occured when the now-nameless actor let loose Arthur Hawkins upon Bretonia. The Gaians, of course, supplied him an Eagle with basic armaments. He took that and proceeded to expand his coffers and ship's functionability by preying on traders in weak vessels, stealing MOX on the way from LD-14, Boron on its way there, Luxury Food and Alien Organisms in Cambridge, Gold in Dublin. Extortion of credits was also not below him, as little was.
For the kind of man he was, he needed resources, and to get resources he had to steal. For he had plans bigger than anything you or I could imagine.
He walked with a brisk pace down the various criss-crossing arteries of Canterbury, following signs posted on the walls and dangling from the ceiling to his destination - Cargo Bay A7-1. It was the storage facility closest to the center of the station. The man was inconspicuous, blending perfectly with the throng of people. The most distinguishing feature he possessed was the silver, medium-sized briefcase that he carried in his right hand with a veiled care. It was hardly noticeable, unless you were looking - how he shielded the suitcase from any hard impacts, how he walked with his right side to the wall if he could.
Presently he arrived at Cargo Bay A7-1, and entered without any contest. There was no security posted, nor any real reason for it: people couldn't steal, as there was a desk to check items in and out, and ID was required. The man checked the case in. Unlucky for everyone, there was no requirement that security check the contents of stored items, nor was there any scanning technology. The man forked over a few credits to secure a spot, and dumped the suitcase with care.
He left the station then, on board a transport bound for the Luxury Liner Shetland.
An hour later, this was broadcasting on CNS frequencies:
In a shocking turn of events, Canterbury has been reduced to a smoldering ruin in a suspected Gaian terrorist act. Early estimates place the total wounded or dead at around 1,000 individuals, and estimated damages total in the billions of credits. Suspected in the attack is the infamous Gaian terrorist Arthur Hawkins, with an extensive rapsheet including...
The man watching the news on Shetland smiled and took a sip of his bourbon.
There was something about the way Hawkins stoically held his poker face while the case was opened in a ceremonious fashion. You could almost sense the giddiness threatening to bubble forth, even if it was not visible. For, you must be made to understand, the case was filled with one extremely potent explosive, and the case itself was designed to scatter any security scans, making them see instead common items.
The case was silver. It was unremarkable, visibly, in every way.
A rather thorough investigation by the BPA (and a private one by Planetform) was launched on the destruction of the Canterbury. Numerous security breaches had been made, but none could pin it on any single person. It hinted at a larger conspiracy, perhaps dozens of hackers individually doing small things that, when put into the larger tapestry that was the big picture, made an entrance and route to the cargo bay that Hawkins could exploit.
Introduced in this scene was the stunning blond BPA investigator Lauren Devon, an ambitious woman seaking to advance in the ranks of the BPA. She was assigned the lead position on the case, and immediately started a House-wide manhunt for the prime suspect, Arthur Hawkins. To follow was the 'meat' of the plot, a game of cat and mouse that ended in a most unusual way...
Such was the usual message relayed by Mr. Hawkins amidst photon- and pulse- shots, using fear and intimidation as the means to gather support. Apparently he had never heard the adage 'you gather more flies with honey'. Or rather, he had heard it and decided that not only was it a load of crock, but that it was boring as hell. Slowly but surely, credits flowed. Hawkins' reputation grew. Soon, he was at the point where he was just as wanted in the actual world as he was in the movie.
Also of note was that he was making contact with certain members of the Green Front, especially those with certain areas of expertise including computers and the hacking thereof...
Hussars streaked across Edinburgh, sending out docking requests to the Shetland, ordering that the queue for docking be cleared immediately. As they landed, one Lauren Devon held out a warrant to search certain rooms on the Shetland for evidence of an ongoing investigation.
"Of course ma'am, right this way," said a graying man in a business suit, a politician in all but occupation.
Section D room 5, which had been occupied by a Sir Frederick not two days gone. It was, of course, a phony name. The first major break in the case had been isolating Hawkins' false identities, the aliases he traveled under. When they noticed that one had roomed on the Shetland the same day Canterbury had been reduced to space dust, it was simple police work to obtain a warrant and break down the door. He was, of course, long gone. He had launched in an Eagle, ironically flying Planetform colors, bound for the Leeds jump gate. There was no record of it passing through the jump gate. So, either he took a jump hole or he was still in the system...