The system of Ovreer was quite the busy one, the presence of a navy bastion which permanently stationed a fleet consisting of 12 destroyers, 4 cruisers and a single battleship was quite the stabilizing element in not only this system, but also several other nearby systems as the bastion tended a few smaller patrol fleets which lay regular patrol routes through those systems. Needless to say, pirates didn't really like being in the same neighborhood as military bases, never mind one that permanently hosted a battleship which hosted laser cannons with barrels that were wider than most civilian ships
Thus trade flourished, with this trade came amenities for the sailors, so the mild information security risk that came with having rank and file sailors drinking copious amounts of beer in port was well worth it in the morale boost it brought. Military police was still heavily present on the civilian stations where their sailors let off steam to stop things from going too far out of hand
'...I shouldn't have let father convince me so easily to accept my promotion'
Walking through the bust streets dressed in an MP uniform was a young woman, the straight beige pants and shirt were orderly and freshly ironed before her patrol, on her chest and shoulders she carried the insignia for the rank of First Lieutenant which displayed her excellent performance as an officer in the military police, however often as of late it had become a source of critique for her family connections with a carefully hidden nepotistic undertone
"First Lieutenant Alita, is there something wrong?"
The young Lieutenant let out a sigh before she straightened herself, physically and mentally
"No, Nick I was only momentarily distracted"
By her side was an older enlisted soldier, Nick had earned his rank of Second Lieutenant fairly, however it was by her father's design that he had been placed as her subordinate and patrol partner to keep her safe from external threats and internal criticism
"Alright, are you getting enough rest these days?"
Alita felt her face heat up for a few moments before she let out a huff with her response
"I don't believe that is an appropriate question to ask one's superior, never mind our shared history"
"You're right, my apologies First Lieutenant"
The two continued their patrol in silence for a few moments before Alita coughed twice and spoke in a quiet tone
"I have a little trouble getting used to my new quarters"
Nick flashed a smile that he quickly hid away when Alita glanced his way, almost getting caught Nick scratch his neck and offered a word of apology
"I apologize for my insensitive question, First Lieutenant"
Before Alita could respond Nick followed up
"You can visit the commissary when you have free time, they stock a variety of different types of bedding if you require a more firm madders"
Instead of rebuking her subordinate, Alita simply nodded and ordered as she scratched her cheek
"Take me there when we're finished with our patrol"
"Yes ma'am"
Stopping the idle chatter, Alita focused on the crowds, while she had originally believed patrolling would involve breaking up fights and arresting misbehaving soldiers now that she was on her 2nd year of the job she knew that was pretty far from the truth. In reality, it was about visibility, a sailor wouldn't get drunk and start a bar fight if he or she knew that the MP's patrolled the area regularly, at the same time it also put the civilians more at ease.
However, that didn't mean incidents never happened
"You old bastard, say that again!"
Alita shared a brief look with Nick that nodded, the two quickly followed the yells and entered a crowded bar, she pushed past the gathered crowds and soon saw what the commotion was about, a elderly man was laying on the floor, surrounding him were several sailors with one that landed a kick on his stomach as soon as Alita laid eyes on them
"HEY!"
Immediately she commanded the sailor with a loud yell, the young man looked up and saw her for a moment before the military police uniform registered in his mind, he immediately took a step back from the old man and stammered out
"This old timer has been harassing us all evening, then he clocked me in the face!"
"Shut it! Step back, Nick"
"On it, First Lieutenant"
Nick stepped up with a hand on the hilt of his stun baton, at the first sign of non corporation he would mercilessly smack them with a 50.000 volt, Alita quickly manipulated her console and documented the scene as she called for an ambulance for the old man that still lay on the floor holding his stomach, Alita quickly exclaimed him
'...He's not conscious, breathing is erratic, bruises around the stomach and side suggest internal bleeding'
What followed were more or less standard procedures, despite the horrific details
'This has gotten out of hand…'
Alita let out a sigh, she stood in a hospital corridor outside the room where the elderly man that had been beat up by a group of soldiers, he had made it through surgery, however he was still unconscious
'...What is taking Nick so long?'
Alita turned her head towards the entrance to the hospital room where the elderly man was, a few minutes earlier Nick had gone in to take a few pictures for the incident report, but he had yet to emerge, Alita knocked on the door and waited a few moments without hearing a response so she opened the door and walked in
"Nick?"
The hospital sterile room was empty except for the medical pod that stood against the opposite wall, Alita felt something off about the whole situation but nevertheless walked over to the medical pod and peered inside. There lay Nick, his neck bruised with distinct handprints around his throat, the hairs on the back of Alita's neck rose and just before she could yell she felt something brush against the back of her neck before a sudden electric shock robbed her of her consciousness…
-
Waking up, Alita found herself in a dark room, holding no illusions that she had simply fallen asleep or was having a bad dream. She quietly felt around and quickly discovered her wrists and ankles were shackled. Not only that but she was confined inside what she guessed was some sort of pod
"Oh, you are awake"
Hearing a voice echo out in the still darkness Alita froze up for a few moments before she closed her mouth shut, her anti-interrogation training taking over as she started the mental compartment technique before she asked
"Who are you"
A few moments passed in silence before the voice responded, surprisingly casually
"I'm Mark… Let's see, who I am beyond that isn't for you to know. What I am is simple however… Let's see…"
Alita sharpened her senses, despite the closed pod she found herself in, sound was passing through continuously. Yet she couldn't hear her capture breathing
'He's not in the room?'
"Have you ever heard of the term, murder hobo?"
"...Excuse me?"
Alita's mind went blank, what kind of term was that? She knew both in isolation, however before she could put the two together in her mind her capture spoke again
"I'll take that as a no? Well, I basically roamed around killing people that needed to die while getting paid for it, I would say I am pretty good at it too… Well, after scraping enough credits I became a hermit with my own small outpost and anchoring permit too"
Alita kept silent, the more her captured spoke, the more intelligence she could gather
"It worked out great too, I would have been happy to run combat simulations and taking out the occasional pirate bounty to get the grocery bill to not bounce… Well, then our anchoring permit got revoked"
"Why did it get revoked? According to anchoring law—"
"Yeah, that wasn't what happened in the slightest, someone wanted someone dead so they leveraged our permit for us to take the job… Well, minor mass casualty event related to a few grenades aside, job got done"
So far what her capture said didn't really make sense to Alita, it wasn't that she needed to understand his motivations, however knowing them would help her out, so she asked
"How does this relate to me getting stuffed into this pod?"
"Well, mostly pure chance, you see by completing the job we became a loose end, and now we're on the run"
"Then why did you—"
"I told you, pure chance… You can't really expect me to see a piece like you on the table and not take it?"
Alita fell silent, by now a profile of her kidnapper were building in her mind and the picture wasn't pretty
"It seems like you don't get it, well to put it plainly… Anton Vindica put a policy into motion that utilizes highly skilled dangerous individuals, our loose end didn't get tied so now we're crippling this system infrastructure and stations and smashing Anton's R&D lab along the way"
Before Alita could respond the room suddenly lit up, a young man pulled himself up to the clear glass of the pod and manipulated the console on the front of it as he spoke
"And so, just as I finished setting the final bomb at the hospital, timed to go off just as it will be filling up nicely, the 4th daughter of Anton Vindica walks in and just begs to get herself kidnapped… Well, don't worry too much sweetie, I am cutting you loose in a few moments"
Alita shivered, the man's eyes were completely devoid of emotions as he showed a smile and lifted the pod off the floor and pulled it towards a vacuum barrier before giving it a push
"See you, princess, if your luck holds up the beacon will start up before you run out of air—"
The young man showed an uncanny smile and finally added
"This has been your vengeful neighborhood murder hobo, signing off"
Alita felt her vision narrow as she began to panic, the modified medical pod she was confined in floated out into the cold vacuum of space, she tried to focus on the features of her kidnappers ship but after the 2nd spin it was gone.
That's when it really hit her
"No… No, this can't be happening! Please! Somebody!"
She had been dumped in the cold void of empty space inside a small seal container with a limited air supply