My plan was set. I would spend an entire week hiding out here, let the whole mess blow over, and be back within the month. Within hours of my arrival, it has already been thrown off course. The spaceport had been attacked, and I had been targeted as a bounty. Although I hadn't recognized him at the time, the bounty hunter I was attacked by in the tower was identified in the news as Zarbadok, a bounty hunter who was also on the news recently, as he was one of the few who didn't live by any moral code, and simply doing whatever job given to him, something that was controversial among the community.
I had not received any messages from the unknown person in a while, so I put that part of my mind to rest and started to come up with other contingencies. I had brought the pistol I had used, my armor, and an Erzo-33 laser rifle. Although I wanted to keep a low profile, the recent attack has left my identity out in the open, so that idea was thrown out the window. As I searched around for information about the black market dealers in the area, I heard from the FNN that Zarbadok had died in hospital a few moments before, leaving authorities with no one left to question about the people who had hired him.
Along with this, the regime has announced plans for a massive crackdown on bounty hunters throughout the galaxy, and the federation was not trying to stop them, having grown sick of the chaos currently reigning across the galaxy. However, the two were still feuding about how it should be done so I had a small window of opportunity here. Despite this, I didn't have much time to work with here, so I had to keep moving fast. After continuing my search, I found that there was a smuggler outpost, on the eastern side of the city, where I decided to head next.
The trip to that side of the city was mostly uneventful, as it was mostly assumed I had fled the planet to another area after the attack, and I wanted to keep that assumption. The outpost was in a small, unmarked building with a locked door, guarded by two heavily armed guards. After showing them my ID, they let me enter, before shutting and locking the door behind me. In front of me, was a bar counter, with a green bartender running it, and several tables with different species sitting around them. I ordered my drink and began searching for what I'm looking for, eventually finding it in a green woman sitting at the corner of the room.
I was able to strike a conversation with her, and she told me her name is Kietlan. Although she was Initially skeptical, she agreed to hear my proposal through. Because of the ongoing mess, and manhunt, I needed some way to keep out of the public eye, but needed help to get there, due to fears of being tracked, and attacked as I had been during my previous trip. She gave me some possible locations and her prices for each area. We made an agreement to meet up again tomorrow to finalize this deal, as she still had other commitments to deal with before she could help me. As I got up, I left the outpost, an arkanet with an eyepatch over his left eye sat down in front of her. Having made small amounts of progress to my main goal.
As I returned to the hotel, I heard from the news that the regime was not stepping down and threatening anyone who "prevented" their form of justice from being dealt. They were pushing against the federations rule harder, and harder, and people were already preparing for conflict. Along with this, a new bounty had started up, one painting a massive target on the head of the regimes main spokesperson. The bounty set on his head was 3,000,000 credits! While I was debating whether or not to take it, I received a new message from the unknown number. This one said that I should sit this one out, as they needed my abilities for the conflict. Now at the end of the rope, I sent a message demanding to know who was sending this.
The number didn't answer until the next morning, and as I was getting ready for my meeting with Kietlan, I received it. This one said that I would find out their identity soon, and warning against pursuing them any further, once again finishing with the cryptic message of "Let the games begin." As I left my hotel room again, I finally realized what it meant. With all this recent conflict, a new target had been placed on me, and that I now had to fight even harder to keep myself afloat. The number was clearly involved in this mess somehow but needed me for something. Let the games begin indeed.
ns 15.158.61.45da2
