The Price We Pay
By PhantomChajo



Have you ever thought about the Price you pay when something happens? I mean really thing about it. Not in the Short Term goal, but in the Long term. The really long term, as in the rest of your life.

No? Yes? Sometimes maybe?

If you answered 'No', then you are either young and foolish, or stupid. Or possibly both. If you answered 'Yes', then you are either old and smarter, or wise, if not both. But I have a feeling you answered 'Sometimes'. Then you are just the average person going about their lives.

As I sit here and watch the events unfolding around me I wonder if those people involved have thought about the Price they are paying now. Maybe I'll get a chance to sit down and ask them about it later.

And when I say 'them' I mean all of the them. The good guys and bad, and those caught in the middle of it all.

What about Me you ask? Well, In the beginning I wasn't thinking at all beyond the 'Glory and Fame'. I was pretty stupid back then. And I paid the price for it. Now I look at what I do and think on the price I will pay for each move I make. For the Long term that is.

Who am I? Well... that's a long story. But I'll give you the basics. Here it goes.

At 17 I lied about my age and signed up for the Military. I got away with it too. I went through training and made it to Fighter Pilot status. I was pretty young too. I had just turned 20.

It seemed that out on one of the Frontiers there was trouble brewing with a group of pirates calling themselves the "Demon Clan". And let me tell you, they were pretty nasty. I know from first hand knowledge. But more of that later.

Anyways the Group I was with got sent out to help the locals deal with them. We went in Cold Sleep. Weird thing that was. One moment your in once place then you wake up and your somewhere else, several hundred Light-years away. No dreams, no nothing. It took us a couple of days to set up base and all that other stuff.

It seems that in that time the Pirates had taken over the planet and was in control of the area. We were the Calvary. Remember in all the old movie flicks the good guys rushing in and saving the day? Well it's not true. We fought for months and never made a dent it seemed.

Again let me remind you that I was looking at the short term goal of 'Fame and Glory".

I climbed ranks pretty fast due to the fact that a lot of my wing-mates were taken out of action in one way or another. Pretty soon a new batch of rookies came in to replace them. I lost a lot of good friends in those months.

Then Fate decided I had been the top of the heap long enough and Lady luck turned fickle.

Here I was in the middle of a serious, and quite deadly, dog fight when I got hit. Serious damage and I was behind Enemy lines. No chance of Rescue. None what so ever. My world came crashing down on me. Or rather I came crashing down on the World below me.

I managed to crash land my ship in a way that it allowed me to limp away. As I did I saw the Demon Clan Fighter scream across the skies above me. Seems I was a very popular person. Had a pretty high price on my head since I had take out so many of their top notch fighters. Again, More on that later.

Now, Fast forward to nearly a year later. The Demon Clan had been beaten. Finally. And I had Survived. If you call it that.

Again Skipping though all the stuff. I was discharged with full benefits and pensions. Plus I got nice little share of the Money that came from the profits of selling off Demon Clan fighters to the locals, a share of the unclaimed loot, and all my back pay that included my raise in ranks if I had still been up there.

And now here I am, a Retired fighter Pilot that's partly metal, partly real. Before you ask, I chose to have it done since I can't stand being dirt-side anymore, among other reasons. Space has always been my home.

That's my story in short.

What am I doing here in this place now? You mean besides enjoying a cup of coffee? I'm now a private Courier and I decided that I want to work here in this place. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not exactly the best place to work and live. But it's my choice.

Oh, I forgot. What's your name? Harry? Nice to meet you Harry. Call me Phantom. Well Gotta go. I'm sure you'll be seeing me around more.

Bye.







~~~~~~~~~

Notes on Phantom:

I'm placing Phantom in the same category as Seymour and Zeek. She hangs in the Background more then she does in Center Stage.

Since it's been said unaltered Humans can't make the journey past a certain point, I decided that they would go into a hibernation process and be re-awoken when they got there. They were going to a newly opened frontier world somewhere in the opposite direction of Limbo. The "war" itself lasted barely 2 years, But Phantom was in re-hab for nearly a year, had the alteration done and then spent the rest of the time before she got to Limbo as a Private Courier.


Name: Zannatasia Izzabella Vernadeua
Rank: Captain (Retired)
Former Call Sign: Star Wolf
Current Call Sign: Phantom
Age: 28 (Earth Standard)
Height: 5'7"
Eyes: Blue-gray
Hair: Gray-Brown, waist Length. (More gray then brown)

Description: Zan went though the same process that was used to create the Silverhawks. Though there are some differences. She dose not have wings, built in weapons or communicator. The extent of her metal parts are from her chest to her ankles. Her shoulders, arms, all of her head and her feet is still real flesh. She tends to wear black jeans, a black leather halter top, a sleeveless white shirt that is tied in the front and a black fringed suede leather jacket. She also wears a black leather Stetson hat, that is decorated with several feathers, fingerless gloves and black boots that have metal tips, ankle straps and fighting spurs, all in silver. In the hatband is a small communications device (Think Cell phone).

Occupation: A Retired Fighter Pilot, Currently she is a Private Courier. She will pick up anything from letters to moderate sized packages and deliver them to anyplace in the Limbo Galaxy, that includes outside the Light-Year limit. That includes purchasing items that are to be delivered. Her only rule is that it's not drugs or other illegal items.

Location: She currently lives on an asteroid that is with in the Light-year Limit. She's converted several of the natural caverns into living quarters and with some help, carved the rest of the space she needed out of the rock. She has her master bedroom suite, several guest suites. A kitchen and Dining room area. The open living room, den area that has a small communications panel. There is also a small hanger bay, a Small recording studio, and a Garden/Greenhouse for plants that can be used in both a medicinal and a culinary, not to mention for looks. There is also a small but fully stocked infirmary for emergency purposes.

Transportation: She has 3 vehicles she uses. All unarmed.
1) A Vintage Space-Harley, The Shadownyte, for general use when it comes to small items that need to be delivered
2) A Custom Space Hauler, the Blue Goose, for the large and bulky stuff
3) The HummingBird, a small, super fast ship. It's smaller then the SprintHawk. It was originally a de-commissioned Fighter that She had overhauled and refitted. There is enough room for up to 2 extra people. But they have to not mind getting very close. It's also equipped with a awesome sound system! Used for jobs that need speed. So far very few vehicles can match it or outrun it.