Rise of the Bounty Hunter

Recent Past - Quango System


From high altitude, the city of Richmount on Kew looked impressive in the night. Through the canopy of the Cloud Runner, Kursed could see tall the skyscrapers, which covered most of the hill that made up of the centre of the city. Their lights illuminated the water in the bay, while the rest of the city sprawled out in the other three directions. Hope was riding shotgun behind Kursed's seat, and was directing them to a small airport in the suburbs near the bay.

"This beats the shuttle any day!" Hope said excitedly, while taking in the sights as the fighter plane descended towards the city. "Where are you staying?"

Kursed just waved with her thumb over the shoulder to the back of the ship.

"What? You've been sleeping in here?" asked Hope with surprise. Kursed nodded in reply. "That settles it! You need to come to my place, at least to freshen up. Sorry to say it, but you have a wee bit of BO."

Kursed lifted her left arm and had a sniff in the armpit, then wrinkled her nose. Yes, a shower would be good.

Things got a bit complicated when they approached the airfield and was hailed by traffic control, so Kursed just handed Hope the headset to let her to the talking. They got clearance but only after Hope had to pay a landing fee. Kursed felt a bit bad, since she didn't have any credits, but made a note to pay back with interest as soon as she'd earned some money of her own. She didn't feel good about leaving the Cloud Runner at the airfield either, in fear of it being stolen, but she'd have to work out later.

She grabbed a bag with a change of clothes out of the plane, then the two of them walked across the tarmac, through the worn down terminal and hailed a cab once out on the other side. When Hope gave the driver the destination, he wanted to be paid upfront, again with her money.

As they were riding in the back of the cab, Kursed watched the surroundings carefully. From a distance the city had reminded her of Corneria City, but out here in the suburbs it was a different story. Buildings were run down, windows and street lights broken, toppled over rubbish was scattered in laneways, and the odd burnt out hover car had been left on sidewalks. They were clearly out in the slum.

"This is as far as I'll go," said the driver, and they had to get out and walk the last bit. Sirens were blaring in the distance and Kursed could see a police vehicle that had stopped next to a small group of men. She tapped into their minds and saw how the policemen had interrupted a deal of illicit substances, but only to receive their cut of the profit. They walked under neon signs with writing that Kursed could not read, but from the thoughts of the men entering the bars and other establishments, she understood that the signs promised temporary oblivion and bodily pleasures. The few women who were about were scantily clad.

"My flat is kind of close to the red light district, but at least the rent is cheap," Hope explained. She walked first with her posture and steps radiating confidence, but her mind certainly wasn't. Kursed sensed Hope's fear every time they passed someone. They arrived at a plain grey apartment block and had to walk up several flights of stairs.

"The lift has been broken for ages," sighed Hope as they reached the door to her unit. Kursed picked the code out of Hope's mind, as Hope punched it in on the key panel and let them inside. It was a small and sparsely decorated flat with a kitchenette, living room, bath and a bedroom. Still, it was infinitely more spacious than the Cloud Runner.

"Tomorrow we'll meet The Merchant, so how about you have a shower and then get a good night's sleep?" said Hope. "You can sleep on the couch or if you want you can..."

But she trailed off and blushed a little when she saw the puzzled look on Kursed's face. Slow down, Hope. Don't push it!

"Couch!" said Kursed. She was still worried about her ship, but the basic two seater couch looked like luxury compared to sleeping in a cockpit.


A magnificent yacht was sailing through space. It was large enough to host a hundred people, pure white with sweeping lines, long slender wings, a v-shaped stabiliser and an abundance of large windows including a panoramic bridge. The Cloud Runner was on an intercept course.

"That's The Pristine," said Hope cooped up behind Kursed's seat in the cockpit. "It's The Merchant's own ship. But don't let the looks fool you. It's heavily armed."

They were being hailed, so Kursed turned on the comms.

"Unknown vessel, state your purpose or face the consequences!"

"It's me, Hope! I've got an appointment with The Merchant and I'm travelling with the job applicant."

"Okey, that checks out. Bay five is free."

Hope watched in amazement as Kursed pulled up the Cloud Runner and manoeuvred in through the gate to the landing bay, while hardly even looking at the controls she touched. She must have done this a million times. The fighter touched down flawlessly between a sleek speeder and a small fuel cell tanker.

Kursed opened the canopy, secured the black staff on her back and was down on the floor in a single leap. Hope on the other hand carefully scrambled backwards down the sloping wing and had to be helped by Kursed the last bit, although Hope didn't mind. They were met by two hyenas, obviously guards telling by the heavy blasters holstered their waists, but they were rather oddly dressed. One was waring a flight jacket with a fluffy collar, and the other black pants, black shirt, black shades and he was sporting a short ponytail.

"We'll take you to The Merchant," declared the ponytail and led the way through well lit corridors painted in white, with the other guard bringing up the rear.

"There's a saying around here," whispered Hope to Kursed. "Whatever your desire, whatever your vice, The Merchant will have it, but for a price."

After a few minutes of navigating the corridors, they came to a gold framed double sliding door, and the ponytail put his hand on a likewise gold lined panel to have his handprint scanned.

"The Merchant will see you in his office now," he said as the door slid open without a sound. He motioned them inside, while the two guards stayed outside. Kursed didn't know what to make of it. The first thing that caught her eyes was the enormous chandelier that was hanging from the high ceiling, the crystals in it glittering like the stars of a galaxy. On the walls of the large room there were gold framed oil paintings, abstract art, swords and shields next to an array of TV monitors. There were marble statues, a knight in chain mail and plate armour, and even a water feature.

It was all a bit over the top and tasteless to Kursed. She'd recently discovered that not only could she read peoples minds and talk to them telepathically, but she could also gently guide their thoughts, like asking leading questions. She used in on Hope.

"The Merchant likes collecting anything expensive. Like, anything!" whispered Hope.

On the far side of the room there was a large mahogany desk on a raised platform, and behind the desk sat a short and skinny meerkat dressed in a maroon suit over a black shirt with a maroon necktie. On either side of him stood two more hyenas, their clothing continuing the lack of taste. One was wearing a purple and yellow jersey with the number 69, whereas the other was dressed in double denim.

"He's absolutely loaded! That's why he can afford all the security," continued Hope.

"Mr Merchant..." she started out aloud, but the meerkat just waved a hand at her. Both he and the two hyenas were staring intently on one of the monitors, which showed two groups of men running around on a large oval ground. They were tackling and fighting each other, while by any means possible trying to get an odd shaped ball through the goal posts on either end of the ground.

"It's football," explained Hope quietly. Kursed wondered about the name though, since the ball spent precious little time by the players' feet. It looked like a good old pub brawl brought outside, then again every once in a while during the fight, a game did brake out. The favourites had the same colours as the hyena's jersey, but in the dying moments of the game they made a fatal mistake and handed the victory to the underdogs.

"NO!" cried the football fanatic hyena. "How could they lose that?"

"I'm sure The Merchant had a finger in fixing that game," Hope whispered to Kursed.

"Hello, Hope!" said The Merchant. "I have a lucrative job for you. Once of my most prosperous clients would like an escort for an interplanetary cruise, and I can think of no one better than you."

"Thank you!" said Hope, but Kursed picked up mixed feelings of relief to receive credits, but no joy from earning it.

"And who are you, if I may ask?" he continued and turned his attention to Kursed.

"This is Kursed," said Hope.

"And can Kursed talk?" wondered The Merchant.

"She's just arrive and is learning to speak our language, but she understands it quite well" explained Hope and Kursed just shrugged. The meerkat studied the blue vixens curves. She would be quite pretty if she did her hair and dressed up a little. I could thing of a few men who would like someone like her. But the vixens frown deepened and her eyes narrowed, and he shivered as a strange feeling of unease came over him. No, it's maybe not such a good idea to make her a pleasure girl. Why not? Never mind.

"So, what services can you offer me?"

"She's a famous mercenary from Cerinia," continued Hope.

"Famous, is it?" he said thoughtfully. I've never heard of Cerinia. "So why have you come here then? Are you really famous ... or perhaps infamous?"

Kursed just made a wry smile.

"I like your style!" mused the meerkat. "But in absence of a resume, I'm afraid I'll need a little demonstration."

His two grunts walked around the desk and stopped on opposite sides of Kursed, a few paces away.

"No blasters," said The Merchant and without warning the hyenas launched on Kursed, but simultaneously she attacked double denim. She easily dodged his swinging arm, grabbed hold of it and at the same time gave him a forceful push in the back, which sent him crashing straight into the football fan's incoming fist and knocking him out cold. Astonished the football fan watched double denim fall backwards onto the floor, but then he pulled two knifes and went at the blue vixen with double vigour. Kursed ripped the staff from her back. Although she didn't want to show any of its powers, she still easily fended him off as they moved around in circles. First she landed a blow on his hand, sending one knife flying, and then he copped the butt end of the staff right in solar plexus. She spun around him and swung the staff into the back of his head, so he fell face first right on top of double denim. Double denim groaned under the weight where he was lying with the football fan's head between his legs and the tail over his face.

"Hmm, that's not such a good look," said meerkat when he saw the numbers on the football fan's jersey. Still, he was slightly impressed and one of his best grunts had recently gone missing.

"You just got yourself a job. I need another security guard for a transport mission. I'll pay you five thousand credits," said The Merchant and inspected his nails nonchalantly. That's not such a bad deal ... for me. Even a couple of second grade henchmen would cost me ten.

"Ten thousand!" replied Kursed. He looked up in surprise. She has some nerve that girl.

"Seven thousand," he offered. Kursed thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Need fuel," she confessed.

The Merchant put the fingertips of his hands together and contemplated for a moment. "I can set up an account for you and manage your finances. I'll give you an advance, which will be deducted from your future pays. Deal?"

Kursed did not like the sound of it at all. She did not want to be dependant on anybody, least of all a man, but she was hardly in a strong situation to negotiate.

"Deal!" she confirmed.


The coffee machine buzzed and clicked and the not so warm liquid started pouring into a plastic cup. The beverage was dark and foul smelling just like the kitchenette and the whole ship in fact, thought the hyena as he watched the procedure. But it was still caffeine and he needed it to stay awake. He wasn't physically tired yet, but he was tired of running smuggling operations for The Merchant, especially since he was receiving such a small cut of the profits. But he had a plan to change that.

"Want one?" he asked the blue vixen who was standing in the doorway. She shook her head with that long and messy purplish hair. She's an odd one, he thought, as he put another cup in place and pressed a button. He'd made sure that one of the more experienced crew members had 'disappeared' before the trip, hoping that the replacement would be a newbie or even better none at all. But he hadn't expected someone like that chick. The Merchant had strange ideas sometimes.

At first he'd thought she was mute, but she occasionally muttered a word or two, yet she understood the language perfectly. Still, she had fitted in surprisingly well. She'd obviously been on a spaceship before, because she knew the routines when they were securing cargo and getting ready for takeoff.

"Let's take this one to the pilot," he said as the machine had finished the second cup. She was standing behind him, so while she couldn't see it, he slipped a pill into the coffee. That should knock the pilot out nicely.

He let her walk in front of her to the bridge. It was not a big ship, a freighter on the small side of medium, and apart from him, the vixen and the pilot, there were only another guard sound asleep in his cabin, and two crew members. The latter two were nicely tied up in a crate in the cargo bay.

On the short walk to the bridge, he studied her nicely curved figure and her fluffy blue tail, which swayed in rhythm with her hips in those black leather pants. She was pretty, well, she could be if she put more effort into her appearance. But he didn't mind. He liked the edgy look. Maybe she likes playing it rough, like I do? He conjured up a quick fantasy of what they could do in a large enough bed. He was tempted to offer her to come with him, but this was his big break, his chance to make off with a large chunk of The Merchant's money and start new life. There was too much at stake and too little time to bring her in on the plan. Under different circumstances I would have, he told himself. Shame she has to die, but it's just collateral damage.

"How're we tracking?" he asked the pilot as they walked onto the bridge.

"So far so good," answered the mutt flying the ship. "But we're coming up to the Warp Haze and that's the hazardous bit."

Yes, the Warp Haze, thought the hyena. The small but dense nebula was located a short distance from the Quango System. Their rendezvous point was on the other side of it, so first they had to traverse the nebula. That was difficult not just because of the asteroids and wormholes scattered in within it, but also because of the rivalling ships that might be hiding in there. That was the plan of course.

"Here's your coffee," he said and went to hand the pilot the special brew.

"Thanks, just put it on the dash for now," replied the pilot. "I need to concentrate for a little while."

"Ok, let's go check on the cargo, just in case," said the hyena to the vixen as he walked off the bridge, but the vixen stopped in the doorway for just a moment.

Maybe I can have a quick slurp, thought the pilot and grabbed the cup from the dash. Ouch, that's red hot! He dropped the cup and the contents spilled all over him. He cursed and was about to scream, expecting the red-hot liquid to burn his legs, but it didn't. The burning sensation in his hand was gone too, and when he touched his wet pants, he felt that the coffee was in fact just lukewarm. Odd! Was it just my imagination?

The vixen followed the hyena through the gloomy metal corridors towards the cargo hold. He had a gentle manner that was at odds with his robust built, studded leather jacked and those two swords sheathed and strapped in the shape of an X on his back. She stopped when they got to the living quarters.

"Wake up?" she asked and pointed to the door where the other guard was sleeping.

"Nah, The Merchant has been giving him lots of hard jobs lately, so let him have a rest," said the hyena, but not out of concern. I'll deal with him later, once the vixen is out the way. He didn't notice that the vixen didn't follow him right away.

The sleeping guard was having a nice dream about sunscreen, umbrella drinks and girls in bikinis by a pool, when the alarms went off and the pilot was heard shouting 'intruders' over the intercom. The jackal woke up with a start and sat up straight in his bed. But there were no alarms going off, and no voices over the intercom. Odd! I swear I heard alarms. Anyway, I'm awake now, so I might as well do a round of the ship. He got out of his bed and started to get dressed. Oh, yes, better bring some heavy weapons, just in case.

When they got to the hold, the vixen walked around checking the straps securing their cargo, while the hyena loitered near a control panel. As discreetly as he could, he checked his watch, and then on the precise second he hit a switch on the panel. The vixen watched as the cargo door started opening, the ramp slowly moving downward, while the green translucent plasma gate engaged and prevented the air that they were breathing from escaping.

"Watch out! There's another ship approaching. Probably pirates," called the pilot over the comms. What the heck? The pilot should be sound asleep by now. Through the plasma gate the hyena could see the pirate shuttle approaching, the one he'd been waiting for. The vixen ripped that odd looking black staff off her back, and he was stunned to see how the gemstone in the top of it started glowing. Then she pointed it towards the incoming ship and blasts of red energy shot out.

He raised his blaster and fired at her, but she'd spun around and this time a translucent force field extended from the staff, and his blast just bounced off. He fired round after round until the clip ran out, but to no avail. As he was reloading a fresh charge, she retracted the shield, just before the jackal came running into the cargo hold carrying a large assault rifle. The vixen spun around again and fired her blaster towards the ship, which was now entering through the plasma gate. The jackal stopped, dropped down on his knees and took aim with the rifle. As soon as the shuttle door opened and the first pirate jumped out, he fired and downed the pirate with a single shot. He fired a few more shots into the open shuttle door, and was rewarded by a scream of anguish. Then he set to work, firing on the shuttle's external guns, stabilisers, landing gear an everything that looked vulnerable, ripping pieces of metal off with the heavy blasts from his powerful weapon.

Meanwhile the traitor had reloaded, but the vixen was on him and attacked him with the staff. She didn't use any of its special powers this time, but she still managed to knock the blaster out of his hands. He pulled the swords, his favourite weapons, from his back instead. He returned her attack vigorously, driving her backwards, swing after swing with the swords hitting the staff and sending sparks flying through the air. He managed to get her unbalanced, and went for a swift blow to slice through her neck, but she dodged and the blade only nicked her left cheek instead.

She glared at him with a mad look, as a trickle of blood seeped out of the scar and stained the fur on her cheek purple. He went on the attack again, but this time there was a flurry of black leather and blue fur, and the staff came his way pointy end first. He just caught a glimpse of two blades extending from the tip of the staff, just before it penetrated his chest. His swords clattered onto the floor.

"How...?" gasped the traitor and just stared at the vixen in shock with his eyes and mouth wide open. How did she know? Her lips didn't move but he still could hear her voice in his head. Because I can read your mind. You've been Kursed! Then the traitor fell backwards onto he floor and the vixen's staff slid back out of his chest.

She realised that it was the first time she'd killed another person in close combat, Aparoids excluded of course. Sure, she'd killed many times behind the controls in an Arwing, but this was different. Or was it really? And was it really the first time? There were nineteen years of her life that she didn't remember. Maybe this was what she had been trained for? Just numbers, kill marks.

The jackal had forced the pirate shuttle to retreat, and he sent another full clip of blasts into it as it was leaving, taking out one of the thrusters. Then he lowered his weapon and his gaze went from his fallen partner turned traitor to the blue vixen.

"You're seriously badass, Kursed!" he said and nodded approvingly.


The Merchant was peering over his tablets, going through recent transactions and adding up the slowly but steadily increasing revenue stream. His communicator buzzed.

"Yes?"

"Kursed is here to see you, Boss."

He checked his gold watch, an old and very rare analogue time piece which had cost him a small fortune. She was right on time.

"Keep her waiting ten minutes."

"But Boss, she's very ... persistent!" said the guard with a hint of nervousness in his voice. The Merchant could hear arguing voices in the background. For the sake of the guards, he only let her wait five minutes before pressing a button on his desk. Even before the sliding doors were fully open, Kursed barged in with a scowl on her face and as often with Hope in tow.

Kursed was looking scruffier by the day. She'd let her hair grow out and didn't bother brushing it, although she kept dyeing it in that violent shade of violet. She had also long ditched the tiara, added plenty of heavy black eyeliner, and in addition to the scar on her left cheek there was a fresh chip in her left ear, acquired from a blaster shot that came too close in a recent skirmish.

The meerkat's raised desk was meant to give him the psychological advantage of looking down on his visitors, despite his small stature, but that seemed to have no effect on the blue vixen. She walked right up to the desk and stopped with a confident posture, legs a bit apart, one hand on her hip and the other down by her side, close enough to her blaster to put his guards on edge.

"I've worked for you for over a year now, and you keep giving me these petty little jobs," she started without asking for his permission to speak.

"I've got plenty of good men if you don't want the work," he replied, slightly annoyed at her.

"I know what you're doing! You're trying to keep me dependant on you, but I've made contacts. I can branch out."

He startled, since he'd just been thinking that. It was like she knew. But maybe there was something that could work out in his favour, regardless of the outcome. He tapped a few times on one of the tables and then with a swipe of his fingers he sent an image to the projector on his desk. The hologram showed a massive and muscular man with a bald head and tattoos all over his chest and arms.

"This is Tank! He owns me quite a lot of money, and have not treated always treated my ... employees ... very nicely," explained The Marchant and put the fingertips of his hands together in front of him. Kursed's eyes narrowed at the last remark, because she knew that by 'employees' he meant his 'pleasure girls', girls like Hope. "I have already put a two-hundred thousand bounty on his head, but just for you, I'll throw in another fifty-thousand, if you bring him back alive for ... questioning!"

"Any leads?"

"He has been spotted around Anthelios on occasion," said the meerkat, naming the white dwarf star in the binary Quango system. "I'll send his picture and bio to your communicator."

"Consider it done!" confirmed Kursed and barged out of the office in the same manner she had entered.

On the way to the landing bay she pulled up the hologram on her communicator and studied it curiously. She had never seen any man like him. It wasn't his build that was odd. It was the lack of fur on his head as well as on those tattooed arms and chest. Was he some sort of hairless ape? Or maybe a walrus? She could sense Hope's fear.

"Ok, what's up?" Kursed said looking at Hope.

"You can't take him on!"

"Doesn't look so bad to me. I've taken down big guys before."

"But he's humanoid! They're the worst!" continued Hope. "Maybe they're not all like that, but the few that have arrived here at Kew have been, and they've brought their greed, speciesism and sexism with them."

Kursed was puzzled. She'd seen elements of all that on Corneria too of course, but it was on a completely different level here in the Quango system. Maybe it was because of the influence of those humanoids?

"He killed one of the girls because ... just because he could, I think," said Hope with desperation.

"The more reason to stop him!" concluded Kursed.


The spotted female feline was trembling as she was hiding under a bench in the dimly lit kitchen. She had watched in horror as that blue vixen with that violently violet hair had not only taken on Tank, but had taken him down! If the vixen found her, she would be dead, she was sure of it.

Then a pair of black boots appeared in front of her. Whimpering she looked up at the vixens sea green eyes, which were staring straight back down at her. This is it! I'm dead!

"Can you fly?" asked the vixen.

"W-what...?"

"Can you fly a ship?"

The little lynx shook her head. The vixen frowned, deep in thought.

"Here's what we're gonna do. First of all, put some more clothes on! Then grab a flight suit, a helmet, a weapon, and some of Tank's gold if you can find it. Then meet me in the hangar in fifteen," said the vixen. "There's a shuttle and I might be able to set the auto-pilot to nearest space port, but from there you're on your own, okay?"

The lynx just nodded.

"And not a word to anyone!" said the vixen sternly and walked off with confident strides.

But once the lynx was safely back in civilisation by means of that shuttle, of course she told someone, who told someone, who told someone else, and the story of how Kursed took down Tank became a legend of the underworld.


The Merchants guards congregated around the Cloud Runner, which had just touched down in the landing bay of The Pristine. Their eyes were drawn to Kursed, who opened the lower hatch to the pressurised stowaway compartment and out fell a tattooed man. To their horror, the gagged and cuffed body let out a muffled cry as it belly flopped onto the metal floor. Tank was alive! Their hands instinctively reached for blasters.

"No! The Merchant wants him alive," exclaimed Kursed and put a bag over her shoulder. Then she grabbed the wire tied to Tanks' feet and started pulling him along. He grunted with every floor join she dragged him over and moaned when she cut a corner and banged him into a doorway. If she was out of breath by the time she reached the doors to The Merchant's office, she certainly didn't show it. Her stamina and stubbornness were greater than they'd ever been.

This time she didn't have to wait. The guards let her in right away. The Merchant was for once standing up behind his desk and an expression of shock came over his face when he saw Tank. A tablet fell out of the meerkat's hands and Kursed could hear the screen cracking when it hit the floor. She stopped in the middle of the room, pulled out one of Tank's large blasters from the bag on her shoulder and dropped it on the floor. Then she spun Tank around so that his head was facing towards The Merchant and, more importantly, the blaster. Tank wriggled and squirmed, trying to get out of the cuffs binding him, willing himself to the weapon just inches from his head. But he could get no closer as Kursed had a solid grip on the wire tied to his feet.

The Merchant had two guards next to his desk as usual and more goons had followed into the office. Kursed was surrounded by men ready to pull their weapons, but she had a plan for that.

"See this remote on the wire, under my thumb?" she said out loud. "If I let go of that button, Tank will be released."

She heard several gasps from The Merchant's henchmen.

"And you all know how quick my reflexes are," she continued, and while that was true, she of course didn't give away her powers. "Just imagine the carnage the two of us would cause with our blasters. Best you leave yours alone and on safety!"

She waited a few moments for all the goons to obey.

"What's this all about?" The Merchant demanded.

"Life and income insurance! You promised a quarter of a million credits," said Kursed and pulled a small device form her pocket. "And it's going to be on my terms, not yours! I want the balance of that less what I owe you to be transferred this, my very own cyber-coin account."

The Merchant slumped down in his chair, fingertips of his hands put together in front of him and a deep frown on his face, trying to think of a solution.

"I don't think I can hold down this button much longer," she said to help his decision along.

"Okey, you win!" The Marchant had to cave in. "This time!"

From that moment on, Kursed's reputation as a ruthless bounty hunter was firmly cemented across the system.