The Bebop

Orbit of Io

"I found something!" Ed squealed in delight.

"Found what?" asked Spike groggily from the couch nearby, he'd been taking a nap.

"About the military thing!" replied Ed.

"What's this all about?" asked Jet walking into the room, Faye right behind him, "I could hear Ed yelling from the other room."

Spike sat up, "Apparently Ed found something about that weird military chatter earlier."

"Well what is it Ed?"

"Here let me show you!" the screen in front of Ed suddenly sprang to life with the image of a news reporter behind a desk, the reporter had a grainy image of a man on the screen next to him and was in the middle of speaking, "Recapping our top story, the Martian Military with full support from the government a few minutes ago, issued a bounty against a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Martian Military, the former Lieutenant Colonel, named Deric Ashtin, along with several personnel from his unit, reportedly deserted from his unit earlier this week without any sort of warning or prior notice. The military stresses that the reason it wants Ashtin brought back unharmed because of the valuable military data that he possesses. General Ragner of the Martian Military High Command said in a statement quote 'Colonel Ashtin's service has been exemplary and his high access in the military reflects this, the idea that he could attempt to sell such secrets to gangs or private individuals is very real and thus, he must be captured alive' end quote. The military has said it will pay a bounty of one hundred and fifty million woolongs to anyone who finds and captures Ashtin. It is also said that Ashtin will most likely be accompanied by the personnel that deserted with him and thus, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous-"

"Turn it off Ed," said Jet.

The news report flicked off-screen.

"So what do you think?" asked Spike, looking at Jet.

Jet shrugged, "Something doesn't feel right about it."

"What do you mean? This is one-hundred and fifty million woolongs we're talking about here! I don't see what feels wrong about it!" Faye cried out.

"Yeah, but a Lieutenant Colonel just deciding to pack it up and leave along with some of his command, that is hardly a normal occurrence," responded Jet.

"I don't like it either, but Faye does have a point, this is one hundred and fifty million we're talking about."

"I know, hey Ed, can you find anything on this Ashtin guy?"

"Already have!" Ed cheerfully responded.

Jet bent down to peer at the information that was scrolling across the screen, the same grainy image of a man was next to the information, and began to read off some of the info.

"Lieutenant Colonel Deric Asthin, forty-three years old, has been in military service for twenty years now. Top graduate at the Hellas Military Academy on Mars, has received virtually every single peace and wartime decoration available, most of his wartime decorations came from his involvement in the Titan Conflict a few years ago. During the conflict he commanded 3rd Battalion of the Martian Special Forces Unit which was involved in heavy fighting at several different times. The unit however received about eighty percent casualties near the end of the conflict and was recalled shortly thereafter. Ashtin himself virtually vanished out of existence, its not mentioned what happened of him until this little incident."

"Is there a better picture of him then what is on that file in there?And is there anybody in his former unit that we can get a hold of to find out where he is?" Spike asked.

"For the photo question, no, Ashtin was considered so valuable, no photographic evidence of his face exists on file to prevent anyone from IDing him while he was in the Special Forces and as to the second question, according to this, every single person that served with Ashtin in the Titan Conflict disappeared along with him, oh and you'll love this,"

"What's that?"

"Apparently 3rd Battalion had a nickname during its existence."

"And what was that?"

"The Crazy Aces."

"Catchy. That would explain the chatter we heard earlier about cards wouldn't it?"

"It would, but that doesn't explain why Ashtin would suddenly pick up and leave the military that he served faithfully for twenty years and take with him a bunch of the most highly trained and decorated men and women in the military."

"Yeah, something isn't right about this, but it is a lot of woolongs just to look into it. We just need a place to start that's all," Spike said, stretching his arms out over him.

"What about people that deserted the unit before Deric Ashtin vanished?" Faye suddenly asked.

"Hmm…" Jet scratched his bearded chin "Worth a try, though I don't think anything will come up, Ed can you find anything about anyone in the Crazy Aces that deserted before a few days ago?"

"Yeah! But the file is pretty confidential a lot of security programs on it!" Ed responded while doing a handstand, her legs bent forward at an awkward angle that Jet wouldn't have believed possible.

"Can you open it?" Jet asked.

"Already trying to!"

Ed then began to roll around on the floor for about five minutes, muttering at how difficult the file was, trying various programs on it. At one point she rolled over Ein who yelped and scurried away, glaring at her.

"I got it!" she suddenly cried in triumph.

"Well?"

"Tobias Craven, former Lieutenant in the Crazy Aces! Deserted from them a few months after they came back from Titan! Arrested for desertion right after and sent to prison!" Ed read off with an odd sort of glee.

Jet meanwhile peered over Ed's shoulder to look at the screen he suddenly said, "Great, just great."

"What's great?" asked Spike from the couch.

"What is the one place we both don't want to go back to?"

Spike's eyes widened, he slappedhis hand to his forehead, "Oh no…"

"What? What place could you both possibly not want to go back to THAT badly?" Faye asked a quizzical look on her face as she glanced back and forth from Jet to Spike.

"Pluto," they both responded simultaneously.

"Tobias Craven is at the penal colony on Pluto?"

"Yeah, lets just say that some time ago, Spike and I had to pay a visit there to deal with some 'friends' of ours. We ended up helping out the warden of Pluto, a corrupt official if there ever was one, a guy by the name of Marcus Miró."

"Well, what's bad about this Miró character?" asked Faye.

"Nothing is free with Marcus, NOTHING. He wouldn't give a glass of water to a man dying of thirst in the desert. The only reason Pluto doesn't tear itself apart is that Marcus allows his guards to run rampant on the prisoner population. There have been rumors of beatings and even torture," said Jet.

"Seems like the kind of person that you two would normally deal with," Faye responded in amusement.

Spike retorted, "This coming from a thief herself right?"

"Hey shut up!"

"Enough! If we're going to get this bounty we've got to work together on this, agreed?"

Spike shrugged, "Sure, whatever," and Faye responded with, "Fine."

"Alright, I'll bring the Bebop to the gate and we'll make our way to Pluto, hopefully we'll find this Tobias character, find out where Ashtin is, and collect one hundred and fifty million."

Jet walked off to go to the Bebop's controls, after he left Spike muttered to no one in particular, "I hate Pluto."