Standing amidships within his trusty corvette [i]Bessy Girl[/i] Jean Wylder watched the scene played out before him in quiet contemplation. Normally he’d pace the observation deck while in deep thought but at this moment his hand was strapped to a small hovering medical droid. The bot whizzed and whirled, laying open Jean’s hand and repairing the severe damage done. Moving bones, nerves, and veins around in an attempt to restore the appendage to its proper functions. The droid had injected a nervous agent to freeze Jean’s entire arm, reminding him a little too much of the immobilization drug from back at the saloon. The droid worked on and Jean stared intently out the porthole not wanting to look at the mess of bones, and opened flesh his hand currently was.

	The [i]Bessy Girl[/i] currently sat in stasis in the shadow of a massive gaseous planet Theonia Z14 a few hundred light years from Theonia Z17. The ship’s placement made it effectively invisible to the naked eye, and Jean knew from experience that the massive waves of energy wafting off of Z14 would scramble long range scanners, camouflaging him to any unwanted observers. Jean felt this precaution necessary as through his own observation screens he could see nearly thirty light attack frigates orbiting Theonia Z14. Each one alone having enough weaponry to rip [i]Bessy Girl[/i] to shreds.

	[color=0072bc]“So there’s who you’re workin’ for Bart ya asshole.”[/color] Jean muttered to himself, watching as a small fleet of landing ships returned to the frigates, seemingly offloading a cargo of some kind taken from the planet’s surface. [color=0072bc]“Just what are y’all up too?”
[/color]

	“[i]Sheriff, communication with the [/i]Bessy Girl[i] is being attempted from Tajax Prime. Station thirteen. Access code seven, seven, bravo, six, two.[i]” A computer generated feminine voice startled Jean from his thoughts. [i]Shall I patch them through?[/i]

	Jean extended his head ever so slightly. [color=0072bc]“Go ahead, pull up the display in the observation deck.”[/color]

	[i]”Aye Sheriff.[/i]

	For a moment the screen in front of Jean wavered and crackled before a shotty image of another human came into focus. She wore a similar outfit and badge as Jean, with her booted feet propped up on her desk. Seeing who it was Jean touched the tip of his hat in greeting, which the newcomer copied.

	[color=0072bc]“Well howdy there Director Jane Krytok, fancy you patching in ma’am. I didn’t reckon I’d see you for another couple months at least. I must’ve done something right. Or.” [/color]He added as an afterthought. [color=0072bc]“Really wrong…”
[/color]

	[color=f26522]“What in the Hell happened with Bart!” [/color]Jane blurted out, getting straight to the point. [color=f26522]“I just received word from the Cajjy space that they have him in custody! You were supposed to drag his hide back here, not allow the corrupt Cajjinx cops to snag him. He’ll be sitting in a comfy cell for two years before being released on parole, rather than being hung from the noose like he deserves! Now when ‘e gets released we’ll have to send another Marshal into dangerous space to hunt him down. We’ve lost enough good marshals, and rangers pursuing this one man an’ you had to go an’ botch it again. This isn’t good for your record Sheriff, and what th’ Hell happened to you! You look like ya just got stampeded by a herd of Spugheffers! There better be a god damn good reason for all this Sheriff. This don’t look good.”
[/color]

	[color=0072bc]“Something wrong then.” [/color]Jean muttered when Jane paused to take a breath. [color=0072bc]“Listen, we’ve got a bigger problem. I had Bart but-“
[/color]

	[color=f26522]“YOU FUCKING HAD HIM!” [/color]Jane screamed. [color=f26522]“WHAT THE ACTUAL-“[/color]

	[color=0072bc]“Listen Director! I let the Cajjy police take him because he was connected to the situation at Theonia Z17, an’ it don’t seem to dandy. He was smuggling a cache of untraceable kredits to the invasion fleet here. I’m staked out an’ watching them now, it’s a handful of unmarked frigates, a few landing craft an’ snub fighters. They look kinda raggedy, like they were bought independently.”
[/color]

	[color=f26522]“Like someone’s building themselves a personal fleet.”[/color] Jane cut in, looking a little less angry and a little more interested[color=f26522]. “What’s the situation on the surface?”[/color]

	[color=0072bc]“I ain’t sure, I can’t get much closer, my camouflaging capabilities ain’t good enough- hang on.” [/color]As Jean watched a small smuggling freighter zipped by the invasion fleet off the planet plotting a course past Jean’s hiding spot. The two lawkeepers watched in interest as the freighter zoomed past less than ten lightyears away providing a clear picture for the long range scanners. [color=0072bc]“The [i]Ranger[/i], looks like another smuggler for the invasion fleet, maybe.”
[/color]

	[color=f26522]“They were cloaked, th’ invaders might’ve not even noticed them. They could just be sneaking past.” [/color]Jane cautioned. [color=f26522]“Was mere luck we saw ‘em.”
[/color]

	[color=0072bc]“Yeah, or not. It’s a good lead either way an’ [i]Bessy Girl[/i] is better suited to dealin’ with freighters than frigates.”
[/color]

	[color=f26522]“Right, well follow them then and see if you can detain and question. I’ll get some more marshals on the Theonia situation in the meantime, this is looking to be an intergalactic incident. An’ don’t think I ain’t still mad at ya about Bart. I’m still as pissed as a wet mountain lion.”

[/color]	

	[color=0072bc]“Aye Director I don’t doubt it. Catch ya ‘round.” [/color]The display screen switched off and Jean checked his hand, glad to see the bot was nearly finished. Tilting his head up the Sheriff called in a loud, clear voice. [color=0072bc]“Ship, begin plotting a course after that freighter’s hyperspace trail. Don’t lose the signal. And prepare the engines for a jump, we’re going after the [i]Ranger[/i].”
[/color]