Having taken an entire self-contained cell of separatists and stuffed (most of) their decapitated heads into a large backpack before taking a selfie, Mark pulled out his console again and connected to the Sparrow's EWAR center to spoof his SubNet connection before he opened a browser and typed
"How to make a firebomb… Come on, no results?"
As Mark continued, the type of searches that would definitely put him on a list if he wasn't running through several virtual and real networks, several mangled bullets fell out from his body onto the surrounding floor. He had been shot a total of 12 times, but in reality being shot had been nothing but a slight inconvenience as the bullets extracted themselves as he restored his form
"Oh, this might be good… Never mind"
A beep echoed out in the bloodstained room, a small electronic device the size of a deck of cards had let out a beep, Mark picked it up and held it out in front of him as he pivoted around the room until it let out another beep
"Over there? Really, next to the entrance?"
Mark walked up to the wall and tapped it a few times finding a hollow compartment inside which he quickly forced open, inside he found a weapons cache, opening a box below the rack of assault rifles Mark found a store of grenades
'Nope, nope… Oh, this one seems good?'
Removing a small mechanical timer from his belt Mark secured the incendiary grenade to it before he laid it on top of the pile of bodies and activated, then he emptied the box of loose ammunition on top of it before finally piling on the grenades
"Alright, that should do"
Leaving the hidden basement behind, Mark walked back of the alley and onto the streets as he continued to browse the SubNet before he found a catalog from a weapons manufacture which included the types of grenades he had just piled onto a live timed, an incendiary grenade
"Oh…"
Doing some quick and loose calculations while counting on his fingers, Mark began speeding his gait slightly as he changed his destination to the dock instead of the hotel while initiating a comprehensive cyberattack on the station's surveillance systems as he called up Lisa
"Mark?"
"Sorry, but could you head to the dock"
"Sure, what's going on?"
"We're going to get a sizable bounty in a few days, I would like to be back home before then"
"...Alright, but please explain what's going on when you can"
"Sure thing"
Continuing his brisk walk Mark arrived at the dock and boarded the Sparrow where Lisa waited in the cockpit, however before greeting her he took his seat and physically requested docking release instead of taking control of the Sparrow like he usually did
"...What's going on Mark?"
Mark flashed a small smile before he simply stated
"Well, the station is about to be decompressed, I kind of lit the fuse on a grenade stash to cover up the bodies before I realized what kind of grenades they were"
Lisa looked blankly at him for a few moments as she blinked before letting out a deep sigh and asked the very reasonable question
"...Is our sponsor going to be happy with this result?"
Mark piloted the Sparrow out of the docking bay and as soon as he was clear he lit the afterburner and plotted a FTL jump towards a nearby system
"No idea, but Luna should have gotten clear by now… Brace for jump"
"Got it"
A moment passed before the Sparrow jumped, leaving the Zir system behind. Only a few minutes later what Mark had predicted came to pass, the timer that he had added to the incendiary grenade worked flawlessly and triggered a large explosion that rocked the entire station before it violently decompressed, damning 311 souls to an early gave
-
"Hmm…"
Arriving back in the Vrod system, Mark had submitted proof of the job competition to their 'employer' and the fact that they had received a response at all instead of a detachment of security force ships was already a pleasant surprise
'Another job?'
Continuing to read through the message, Mark ignored the obvious calls for national pride and well hidden attempts to try and stroke his non-existent patriotic pride
'I guess they assume we've undergone military training and are trying to hook us that way?'
Continuing further down in the message, Mark noted that their anchoring permit had been returned and a few hundred thousand credits had been awarded as 'compensation' for the sudden mission assignment
'Like you have any right to give me orders in the first place… Well from this it's clear that we are dealing with a state actor and someone quite high on the totem pole at that too'
Narrowing his eyes, Mark scrolled down further and found several other carefully crafted psychological traps to ensure a favorable response to the offer
'Well, there's also the not so hidden threat of legal enforcement for the mess at that station in Zir if we refuse the job…'
Mark let out a sigh before he encoded the message and sent it to the home base for Luna's back-up systems to pass along to it along with a simple status update then he leaned back in the pilot seat and closed his eyes for a few moments. Mark hated to admit it, but the mission that had been forced upon them had been entertaining enough for him to consider doing something similar again
'...Is that what they call the thrill of the hunt?'
Mark though it over a few more times before he muttered out loud
"No, fuck that, fuck this, fuck everything… I am the one that decides where my life leads"
Connecting to the SubNet Mark began browsing historical texts and publicly available records of noble houses and corporations in the Sungi empire and surround nations, however before he could get very far the senses he still shared with the Sparrow felt something stir in the distance
'What is… Oh, shit!'
Mark immediately kicked the Sparrow's reactor up in gear as he immediately started a full reverse burn while the hard points deployed, as the course of Mark's sudden panic began it 'sprint'
"Come on, come on!"
Not having the usual 3 seconds a full hard point deployment would take to spare Mark opened up with the rail cannons half deployed and though half luck and half skill he managed to hit the shielded torpedo that had entered its final approach or 'sprint' towards the Sparrow, the visual sensors were blinded with a brilliant explosion as Mark began shooting out countermeasures while he sent out a powerful sensor ping
"Mark? What the fuck is going on!?"
"We're under attack, get strapped down"
Spotting another 2 torpedoes from the sensor ping Mark warmed up the rail cannon again only for the electronics on the entire hard point to short before starting an electrical fire
"Fuck"
With the rail cannon out Mark was quickly activated the internal fire suppression systems, with the rail cannon out of the picture he was left with multi cannons, missiles and a large caliber cannon, none of which were optimal with deal incoming torpedoes
'Easy does it…'
Opening up with the multi cannons while he continued backing up, Mark continued to deploy countermeasures, a few moments later another torpedo explode just as it had begun sprinting, with his sensors blinded for a few moments Mark fired blindly after the final torpedo as it closed the distance rapidly
'There!'
As soon as he reacquired sensor contact with the final torpedo, he painted it and sent a salvo of missiles after it while continuing to blast away at it with the multi cannon, a few tense moments passed before he finally managed to destroy the final torpedo, though it had gotten far too close for comfort
'Now I really wish I had gotten some laser cannons as Luna had suggested…'
With the final torpedo destroyed, Mark kicked the Sparrow into gear as he lit the afterburners and started gaining distance perpendicular from the approach direction of the torpedoes towards the SubNet satellite array while combing the surrounding open space for the craft that had launched the torpedoes in the first place, however having a moment to breath Mark spotted another problem that needed dealing with
"Lisa"
"Yeah?"
"Suit up, I've vented the ship except for your room, I need you to detach the rail cannon hard point"
"The entire gun?"
"Yeah, the internal fire suppression isn't working and if the fire spreads, and we loose electronics we're dead in the water"
"On it, just give me a heads-up if you do any drastic maneuvers"
"Be quick about it, I want you strapped down again before the next wave hits"
Turning his attention back towards the sensors, Mark quickly came to the conclusion that whatever had launched the 3 torpedoes was some sort of stealth craft
'In which case what I am looking for isn't a sensor return, but a void instead… There you are…'
Having spotted the stealth craft that was following him towards the SubNet satellite array at a comfortable distance, Mark didn't feel inclined to take any immediate shots at it, instead he continued luring it in as he fled while dumping the occasional thermal, LIDAR and electronic countermeasure sprinkled with a few cold missiles and sensor drones
'Come on now, you want me before I reach the SubNet satellite array and cry wolf…'
"I got it free, hard point detached"
"Confirmed, the electronic fire is out too"
Just as Mark had suspected, the stealth craft began closing the distance as it became obvious Mark was fleeing towards the satellite array
"Maneuver incoming Lisa, 8 seconds"
"I got it, hit it"
As soon as Lisa finished speaking, Mark reversed his thrust and rapidly decelerated as he flipped the Sparrow around and opened up towards the stealth craft with the multi cannons, the traces danced across empty space before seeming hitting something hidden from view only a few round found their marks
"I see you, fucker!"
Refining his target lock as the stealth craft tried to disengage Mark lit the cold missiles he had dumped while fleeing, suddenly faced with a missile attack from its front the sheath craft dumped countermeasures, however with the sensor lock the Sparrow had achieved this didn't help a bit as it was pummeled with missile impacts, and in a few moments the state-of-the-art stealth torpedo craft lit up from the inside as its active camouflage flashed and blinked like the death thrashings of a deep sea cuttlefish before being reduced to space debris