**Extracts from the diary of Mr Denis, a Planet Erie ship owner**
'Where to begin? Oh god how does one begin? How can you begin to document a single moment that destroys you entire life?
It all started around closing time at the dealership when that vile creature that nomad battleship in human form came up to me and whispered things in my ear things that*sniff* things that*huh*horrible things. He told me my wife's name, what she was wearing, what she was doing when he came. He told me what my kids did at school, the marks James got for his report on the uses of plutonium...*sobs* of what he did to them. And so I run, I ran and ran all the way home... *crying* and saw my home exactly as he described it, the new paining on the wall my kids coats on the floor again and my families bodies... stiff from the poison they drank huddled on the floor. As I weep pepper flew into my mouth and nose, probably some *sniff* sick joke on his part. Then he burst in with the police*Whimpers* and started weeping as the police took me into custody. I protested my innocence and told them the story but they said 'then how come he is their father'. *crying* he even had the papers to prove it. Every digital photo every certificate I owned has him instead of me. Even my own co-workers seemed to think he was me my friends my family as well. I didn't even sit trial. I went to the judge, was refused bail *wails* and now I'm sentenced to death no trial no actual imprisonment... I die tomorrow my family but a week before me, *hysterical* I might as well.
*A minute of crying follow*
I have nothing more to live more. *Calms down*but with every breath left in my body I will curse that name, his real name*yelling* ARTEMIS SWORN!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Aboard Mr Denis's ship in orbit around Erie*
**Personal log of Artemis Sworn**
Evaluation of the operation shows a 100% success in achieving the primary goal of obtaining a ship. The hacks on my old employer's databases were successful, obviously, and the star charts and information required are in my possession. The performance of the perception altering Chemical I have dubbed mystique, was quite poor. It requires almost constant application and is useless for any of the more delicate of my plans another area must be explored. The hack of Mr. Denis's computer allowed for the complete and total application of the illusion, changing his name and picture to mine. All in all I am dissatisfied with the operation as there was no challenge in grinding that mans essence beneath my heel. Perhaps my soon to be allies the lane hackers will be able to provide a challenge. Only time will tell.
*Log ends*
*Artemis then flies off into New York, listening to classical music.*
*Matcan base.... unknown coordinates*
It had been a slow day today, mused the docking officer at Matcan. At least until an unregistered dagger flew through the hangers. While daggers without credentials were not an uncommon site at Matcan with all the new recruits and all, a single ship taking up 2 docking points was not, especially with the design of the software trying to prevent such an action. As a cloaked figure walked out onto the hanger floor the Docking officer closed the distance quickly. “Hey, you’re not allowed to do that” said the dock officer. The clocked stranger quick as a flash drew an aerosol can and sprayed a viscous gas into his face. The solution burned his nostrils and throat like pepper. As he felt the pepper spray penetrate his lungs the feeling intensified until he was forced to pass out. He woke up but a second later, still standing, before him the cloaked figure stood revealed. The stern face of his senior professor bore down on him from within the cloak
‘’is there a problem with MY docking Officer”.
“No No of course not professor”
“Good I suggest you take your break”
“Yeah yeah I should” said the dock officer before walking away and sneezing from the pepper like spray.
As Artemis walked away from the confused dock officer he mused at the ease in which he fooled him. So much for the great hacker intellect he thought secretly hoping the stupidity was restricted to the grunts. The show with the Docking and the modified mystique probably wasn’t necessary but he found it, very, humorous and an adequate way to put the abrupt dock officer in his place. Artemis took a brief sniff of the air and concluded that the bar was on the western side of the ship. He made his way to the bar checking the ids of the ships along the way, when he was confronted at the door by a young girl showing all the signs of a recent cardamine addiction. In a few brief seconds Artemis had deduce from her stance and body language that she didn’t belong here. Her posture lacked confidence which in a hacker base meant one thing, stupidity. “You can’t just waltz in here like you own the place” she said with accusing eyes”
“In that case tell me what an Ageria reject rather than rebel with absolutely no chance of becoming a hacker belongs here how many times have you failed your aptitude test 5 times six if you count the most recent one the one all your hopes were riding on”. The recruit looked at Artemis dumbfounded
“How could you... what gave it...”
“I suggest you leave now.” came the ice cold voice of Artemis. Without a word and trying hard to hold back tears the recruit gathered the failed exam papers at her table and stormed out of the bar. Intel really is a wonderful thing thought Artemis as he strode toward the bar. “What work do you have for me?” asked Artemis to the barkeeper.
“Why should I tell you?”
“Because I can make your life, more so than anyone else, difficult” the barkeeper took one look as the female recruits empty seat and one look into his dark brown eyes and he knew this man spoke the truth. “Ok this is what I got.” This was going to be easier than he thought mused Artemis.
Artemis Sworn stood at the edge of the Matcan base dock well into the afternoon. Slowly he looked down to check his watch. Four hours! That bumbling fool he had roped into helping him was four hours late. Relying on outsider help was not something he took lightly, as few people could ever aid his genius, however the lack of decent hardware forced his hand in the matter. So he pulled a few strings and managed to get himself a minion with slightly larger guns, or so he thought.
His supposed recruit was one Sarah McFarlen a recent addition to the rouges and she was very, very late. In the time since she was scheduled to meet him at the docking bay he had managed to hack enough records to compile a brief history of her life and a comprehensive dossier and had already accurately calculated her combat abilities and reaction time from old home movies of her. However, in Artemis’ eyes she had a single large character flaw, her morality. She had been recorded on several occasions handing captured pilots over to local law enforcement and didn’t have a single death on her hands. In Sworn’s experience morals only caused problems. He was about to return to the bar and initiated plan B when a familiar name came over the News; John King. Immediately drawing the connection Sworn spun around to watch the news.
**Over the News Caster**
“... allegedly wearing the uniform of one John King who had his ship stolen and destroyed in the Badlands several weeks ago. Now in other news the LPI has announced that crime in liberty has...”
Blast. Artemis had missed it. A quick hack into the caster from his data pad and the broadcast was as it was 3 minutes ago.
“Hey” came the disgruntled voice from beside him “I was watching tha...” the mans voice was cut off with a subtle spray from Artemis’ can of mystique.
”Wuh hu what was I doing?”
“Being quiet”
“Ok.....why?”
“shhhh”
**Over the news caster**
“Earlier on today an unidentified female assailant was caught on camera in Rochester base fighting with a number of resident Junkers. As the situation intensified a male assistant came rushing to the scene of the crime. The duo then made their rather unconventional escape which involved among other thing blowing a hole in the side of Rochester base with explosive ordinance.
While the identity of either assailant remains a mystery; we have been informed that the female assailant is a Liberty Rouge and an image of her face was recovered from the security tapes.”
And there it was. The same face Artemis had seen on a dozen home movies and family photos in the past four hours, broadcasted on the News for the world to see.
“The assailant performed the crime allegedly wearing the uniform of one John King who had his ship stolen and destroyed in the badlands several weeks ago.”
While Artemis was distracted with the news a lone and battered Greyhound slid into the dock. The passenger emerged from the dented ship with a grateful sigh; cut short when she saw the broadcast. The girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
“Oh no… Dad is going to kill me.”
Artemis turned to look upon a face that was somewhat more mangled than the one on the news cast but the same face nonetheless, the face of his future assistant and the now infamous assailant and all he saw was the biggest problem he had ever encountered. All he saw was Sarah McFarlen.
Sarah ignored the man staring at her. She'd grown used to such attentions in what was essentially a pirate base. She frowned a little; the action creasing her bruised brow. The Engineer shuddered at the broadcast. She was now a wanted criminal. More so. It didn't make her proud, if anything she was worried about her family. Dad would tell the police her name, surely, they'd be enquiries and searches.... There was no way she could go home now. The realisation hit her hard. None of the last few weeks had felt real. Now she was on the run with an ex-Phantom.
Chris'd stayed behind at Freeport 4 to deal with the Junker. Sarah wasn't entirely sure what he'd meant by 'deal with,' and didn't think she wanted to. The girl shivered, and only partly due to the cold. She'd only recently fully regained consciousness; slipping in and out of reality all the way to Freeport 4. It'd taken her ten minutes to remember where the meeting actually was.
She had no idea who she was looking for. The message hadn't been much more then a few lines of self-righteous text. Still; it'd sounded intreasting. Sarah'd never met a hacker before, though she'd heard of their cardamine addiction. The Engineer had opted to don a gas mask, rather then risk addiction. She didn't need any more troubles. Not to mention the fact that Chris' gloating at that point would probably be enough to drive a person to suicide.
The girl grudgingly sat herself down to wait; noticing that the man hadn't stopped looking at her. She wearily returned his gaze.
Sarah gave an exasperated sigh. If this man was any indicator of behaviour across the Hackers, then her stay would be short indeed.
"So?" She snapped. "It's difficult to be on time when you're so sketchy with details."
"Don't tempt me it's bad enough that you managed to get your face plastered across Sirius but to be four hours late in the process why I ought to...' The man shook his head disbelievingly.
'Get in your ship." he said while taking long purposeful strides towards his own. 'And take that gas mask off you look ridiculous"
Sarah frowned, staggering to her feet to follow the hacker. The girl made a deliberate effort not to dislodge her mask; the heavy seals muffling her speech. She halted at the door of the Harmless, defiantly crossing her arms.
"I'm not doing anything until you tell me where we're going." She made note of the man's self-assured demeanour. "Talk about ridiculous...."
Artemis paused at the insolence in the young girl's voice. Rather than the anger that most normal people would feel at the display Artemis merely regarded it as amusing. He straightened his back and took a quick glance at the cockpit of the Harmless.
"Such defiance is that what made you do it... run away from Daddy. I mean; left you poor mother and baby brother behind'¦ is that why you insist in parading about with those rouges even when you have no interest at all in their major activities? Is that why you stole a ship left your perfect life behind? I wonder what your dad would think of some of your other actions'¦.' The man smirked innocently.
'I doubt he has told you brother about the news broadcast'¦ I wonder how the rouges would feel if they found out that their newest recruit has never even taken a life,' Now his voice had taken on a condescending tone. 'And has in fact gone out of her way to save some of their worst enemies.'
The talk of her family hit the girl like a series of hammer blows. She'd simply shut her kin away in some park corner of her mind; that this man, this stranger, could simply rattle off the facts of her life shook her to the core. It was a moment before she reminded herself that this man was a hacker.
It was their job to know. They probably had files on everyone. She probably wasn't anything special. Probably.
Still; the girl composed herself admirably. She eyed the man suspiciously; attempting to infuse her words with a nonchalant air; while inside she frantically calmed her rushing heart.
"Huh. You've got me at a disadvantage here. You still haven't told me who you are, or where we're going."
She took a breath, looking the man in the eye.
"And until then. I'm not leaving this station."
Sarah composed herself well thought Artemis but the impact of his words was plain to see; especially for someone as adept at reading people as he was. Satisfied that he had won this round of verbal combat he relented if only to get the stubborn engineer moving.
"We are going into the ice fields so you can take care of some bounty hunters for me. I would do it myself but why should I when i can have people at my beck and call? Now are you satisfied?'
The girl chuckled, the motion bringing renewed dizziness to her damaged skull. This man truly seemed to think that she would just obey... Still, she hadn't met a Bounty Hunter before, and a local guide through the ice field would be helpful. She hadn't felt quite comfortable around asteroids since the Buffalo incident.
Sarah gave a curt nod and swung herself into the Harmless' cargo bay. She groaned when she remembered the ladder to the pilot's seat. In her present state, climbing it would be anything but fun.
A voice, distorted by masks and metal made its way to the hacker:
"You still haven't told me your name."
"Quite right" he said before climbing into his own ship a heavily modified dagger that despite its extensive refit still gave off an aura of class and sophistication. He knew that Sarah still wasn't truly obedient yet but sometimes manipulation comes in the subtlest of forms. She would aid him in his tasks set by the hackers and that's all he needed her for.
Climbing into the fighter's cockpit he returned to the ever burning question of if it was worth killing her afterwards.
