[center][h3][color=gold]Episode 1
"Payday"[/color][/h3][/center][hr]

[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/qqcqhv.jpg[/IMG]

[i]The old corvette class ship, [i]Sweet Anne[/i], was hauled up, disassembled and put back together with pieces to spare. She was an old ship, a human ship, and she is your ride. The job sounds easy enough-track down the freighter [i]"Gargatha"[/i], get on-board and abduct some rich guy's daughter. Travelling to the Hyklian homeworld is a little sketchy, but the 20,000 Hyksos Tongs for payment make it a whole hell of a lot more enticing. Besides, what could go wrong?[/i][hr]

[h3][center]Captain Erek[/center][/h3]

[indent]Between the repairs, the port docking fees and bribing the planet authorities to keep his ship off the books, Captain Erek of Carpas was beginning to wonder where he would find his next meal. From a balcony near the port blast doors he looked over the brown and grey bulk of a ship he would soon be commanding. She had streaks of verdigris down her sides, blaster impact craters the workmen had given up trying to buff out. A couple of the port mechanics sat on top of her smoking and tossing empty beer bottles into her topside correction-thruster ports. 

"Get the hell off my ship you maggots!" Erek shouted at the drunk workmen standing on top of the [i]"Sweet Anne"[/i]. The crewmen only laughed and one dropped his coveralls and started relieving himself over the side. Erek frowned and gave them the appropriate gesture. The [i]Sweet Anne[/i] had been through hell, that was for sure. She was no longer [i]sweet[/i]. But she would get the job done. Erek popped a data pad out of a pouch on his utility belt. He checked the local nets-all hush-hush and encrypted of course-for any replies to his inquiry:[/indent]

[indent][indent][indent][indent][color=olivedrab][b]RE:Payday[/b]; « « no replies » »
Erek again. Ship departing 10:00, Port Hangar 6, south bay. Simple grab-bag-and-deliver job. Payment upon receipt. Details given for serious inquiries. Probable belligerents. Bring a gun or two.[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[indent]Erek didn't like using the local-nets to look for a crew, but he needed to get a hold of a ships compliment before [i]his[/i] boss lost track of the [i]"Gargatha"[/i]. With a post on the nets Erek was sure to secure a crew before the freighter headed into Empire space. If that happened then the princess was as a good as dead and Erek's head would be on a plate in the hall of Hyksos. Of course Erek didn't mention in his inquiry that the [i]"Gargatha"[/i] was now under Ygar control, or that it was headed for Empire space. These mercs were a shaky bunch anyways, no sense in getting them all riled up before they even got out there. Still, Erek was starting to feel a little shaky. Then he realized he was only hungry. [i]Really hungry.[/i] [/indent]