Bounty

Bounty hunting is a thankless job. You hunt down the vicious criminals and gangsters the federation authorities can’t find; or the ones they can’t reach, because they’re hiding in the border worlds beyond federation authority. The criminals you hunt want you dead, your fellow bounty hunters will betray or kill you to steal your bounty and your clients see you as low or lower than the gangsters your hunting. It’s very dangerous work, but the pay is very good; that is if you live long enough to spend it, and….. I’m very good at it.

I’m on Delphi 7 in the outer rim of Sector 294, a newly colonized world just beyond Federation territory. It’s pretty lawless here, a real wild west. The local authorities try to govern and maintain order, but the real power rests with the syndicates vying for control of the various settlements.

I’m in Helleron, the largest settlement on the planet; two hundred thousand and growing. The Terrepons and Riptiresyndicates are currently fighting for control here. My source informed me that the bounty I’m hunting is staying in a luxury suite at the Fist Magma, a Riptire establishment of gaming, drugs and prostitution, or anything else your heart could desire.

The bounty I’m after is a particularly dangerous female Gregarion shape-shifter that has gone by the names of Nectar, Siphen, and Rasha, and in this case is registered at the Fist Magna as Amoua; so my source tells me.

She has been operating for at least ten years on planets throughout federation territory. She finds a wealthy prospect and shape-shifts into his hearts desire. She then woos and enchants him to fall in love with her. There is a grand wedding ceremony followed by a lavish reception. Then on their wedding night, in the most intimate moment, when he is in the throes of passion, she transmits a charge of electric current; a nasty talent Gragarion shape-shifters have, throughout his body, causing a massive and fatal heart attack. She mourns the loss of her husband for a period of time and then moves on unable to bear his memory.

My plan is to incapacitate her at the Fist Magma, get her back to my ship at the space dock on the south end of the settlement, then put her in the cryo-storage containment unit on my ship and fly back to Testeras Station back in Feredation space and collect the bounty. As plans go it’s pretty basic, but I’d fill in the details as I went based on the situation. Improvising on the fly can go along way in keeping you alive in the bounty hunting business.

I walked into the Fist Magma like I owned the place. A faded tan leather jacket over a dark tee, light brown pants with shit-kicker boots and a plasma firearm at my side. At six foot three, muscularly built with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes, I fit right in with the rough crowd that frequented the place.

I went to the bar, ordered a drink and casually looked over the place. There were tables scattered around the bar. In another room to my left were gaming tables filled with gamblers roaring approval or cursing misfortune every second or two. In front of me, a small stage on the back wall, three naked dancers gyrating to the loud music blaring throughout the place. To the right of the stage were two elevators presumably going up to the luxury suites for the VIP’s.

I watched a couple getting on the elevator. Their eyes were scanned with retinal scanners before the doors would open, and in the ceilings and walls throughout the place there were cameras everywhere. Very tight security, this was not going to be easy.

“Do you want another drink” asked the Berrilian bartender. His translucent blue skin changing to shades of red and then back again.

“No thanks” I replied, “I’m gonna try my luck at the tables.”

I walked into the gaming room. Tables of card games were all about, a large oblong dice table in the middle and a few spinning wheel and numbers games along the walls. All manner of patrons, from the grungy poor, a variety of criminal types and even the rich and elite were shoulder to shoulder gambling.

There was a sudden commotion and yelling to my left. I looked over as chairs were overturned and cards scattered, one gambler accusing the other of cheating. The accused gambler pulled his weapon just as security arrived. A large armored hand swiftly grabbed his wrist with the weapon, and I heard the snapping of bones over the noise in the room. The weapon dropped to the floor and the gambler screamed in pain. The large security guard then grabbed him by the other shoulder, picking him up as if he were a feather and slamming him to the ground. He then casually grabbed one leg and dragged him out of the room.

The security guard was a Granitite, a six foot tall and half as wide armored brute, his skin a kind of armored plating. Extremely strong and quick for his size and weighing in at around five hundred pounds. You didn’t want to mess with one of these guys.

Cheering erupted behind me. “Amoua, you did it again” cried a joyous voice. I turned to see a beautiful young woman at the dice table being congratulated by the crowd around her. She was tall and shapely, long blond hair with hazel eyes and a button nose wearing a tight-fitting green dress. She was…..stunning.

I wandered over to the table and shouldered in next to her. “Do you think you could rub some of your luck off on me” I said suggestively.

She looked me up and down and smiled. “Hmm…. you want me to rub” she said quietly, accenting the word rub slightly, “some of my luck off on you.”

“Well, I do feel lucky tonight” I said, “but every little bit helps.”

“We’ll see” she said coyly.

“Next shooter up” announced the boxman. The dice went round the table, sometimes hot, sometimes cold. We had several drinks while we played, and we bantered back and forth as the night went on.

“Well, I think that’s enough for me” she finally stated. “I think I’m going to retire.”

“So soon” I pleaded. “The night is still young.”

She looked me over again in thought. “I suppose, you could come up for a drink if you’d like” she said demurely.

“I am a bit parched” I replied.

Amoua motioned to one of the security guards and he came over. “He’s with me” she stated flatly.

“Yes, miss Amoure” he said. He pulled a small pen size scanner from his pocket and shined it in my eyes, then put it back in his pocket and walked away.

“Shall we” she said. We walked to the elevator. The retinal scanners scanned us both and the elevator doors opened. The elevator stopped on the third floor. There were only four suites on this floor and she led us to the one left of the elevator. Another retinal scan, this time only of her and the door slid open.

We walked into a massive suite, a full living room with lavish furnishings, a bar and full kitchen to the left and a master bedroom on the right. “Make yourself at home” she said. “I’ll fix us a couple of drinks.” I settled myself on the sofa and casually reached into my jacket’s inner lined pocket to feel for the stunner I had hidden there.

A minute later Amoure came over with two drinks and sat down right next to me. “You never did tell me your name” she said.

“Orion” I said, “Orion Banyon.”

“Amoure” she replied, “Amoure Volterra.”

“So Amoure, what are you doing way out here in the outer rim. Things can get a little…. dangerous, out here beyond the federation’s borders.”

Amoure smiled at me. “I like living dangerously” she replied. ‘Nothing like a little danger to make you really feel alive.”

“So, what are you doing out here Orion” she asked in return.

“I’m here on business” I replied. “I guess you could say I’m in the transportation business. Although, not strictly the legal kind, if you know what I mean.”

“Hmm, that sounds fascinating” she purred. “Let’s drink to living dangerously.”

“The more dangerous the better” I replied. As we finished our drinks things got cozier and cozier. Amoure got up to retrieve us another set of drinks, and as she did I retrieved the stunner from my jacket pocket.

When she returned we took a few sips, and then I cozied up to her. We put down our drinks and then I pulled her closer to me my left arm around her and kissed her. At the same time my right arm went around her as well, and with my right hand I stabbed her with the stunner in back of the neck.

Her eyes went wide and she jerked suddenly, then her eyes went glassy and her body limp as she became unconscious. ‘Well, that was all easier than I expected” I said, pleased with myself.

I laid her back on the sofa and stood up, or at least I tried. As I rose to my feet the room started spinning, my legs felt like jello and I suddenly felt very faint. I looked back down at the drink I was drinking.

“Oh shit” I cried quietly, as I collapsed to the floor unconscious.

I don’t know long I was out, but I woke up tied to a chair. “That wasn’t a very gentlemanly way to treat a lady” said Amoure from across the room.

“A lady wouldn’t drug a gentleman’s drink” I replied.

“Well, I guess that makes us even, except, that you’re the one tied to the chair” she said with a sly smile. “So tell me, who sent you and how did you find me.”

“You’ve made enemies of a lot of wealthy and powerful people over the last several years” I stated. “You offer enough money, and somebody’s bound to talk.”

“So….. I guess that makes you a bounty hunter.” She slowly walked towards me and as she did the beautiful blond Amoure transformed into a reptilian Gregarion with smooth, oily looking black skin.

The shape-shifter cupped my face with her cold, clammy hands. A shock of electric current coursed through my body and I spasmed in pain. After a few moments, she released me and stepped back, regarding me with reptilian eyes, lids blinking repeatedly.

“That’s just a small sample of what I’m going to do to you” she said acidly. “I’m going to burn every single nerve in your body to a crisp.”

“You know” she said as she smiled, “I find that you feel the most intense pain when your senses are heightened with pleasure first.” With that, the reptilian Gregarion in front of me transformed back into the beautiful and desirable Amoure.

Amoure walked up to me and straddling her legs around me sat in my lap and started moving in a way that my body could not ignore. She cupped my face with her soft warm hands kissing my forehead and my cheeks and then finally sensually kissing me on the lips. A slight electric spark from her lips went through me and instantly a heightened sense of arousal and pleasure made every nerve in my body scream in ecstasy.

Then without warning, I felt a huge shock and spasmed uncontrollably as every nerve in my body was suddenly on fire. I screamed at the top of my lungs for what seemed an eternity. The pain so intense I wished for death so it would stop.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it had started. I was panting and sweating profusely. And there was Amoure still in my lap looking at me with an evil smile on her face.

Hmm, that was most enjoyable,” she purred. “Shall we do it again.”

She leaned in to kiss me again, and I momentarily came to my senses. I leaned back and at the same time pushed down as hard as I could with my toes and feet. The chair flipped over backwards with me and Amoure’s full weight on it. The chair breaking apart, my arms becoming free. I pushed her away as we hit the floor and she rolled a few feet away. I reach down to untie my legs from the chair legs they were still fastened to.

Amoure reached out with her arm and gripped my left shoulder. An electrical shock and intense pain shot through my shoulder. My right arm reflexively grabbed a piece of the broken chair arm and I struck her across the side of the face. Amoure released her grip and fell back momentarily. She appeared dazed for a second, then with her eyes burning with hated she lunged for me again. I swung the piece of chair arm again with all the weight of my upper body bashing her on the side of the head. She went down in a heap.

I collected my thoughts for a minute and then I looked at the time. It was three o’clock in the morning. I knew what I had to do. I went to the bathroom and found some makeup. I used it cover up the bruises on the side of Amoure’s face. I found my stunner on a table and as I picked her up I stabbed her once again to make sure she wouldn’t wake anytime soon. I then called for a robotransport to pick us up.

I put her arm around my neck, and my arm around her waist, and made our way through the Suite’s door to the elevator. At this time of night the Fist Magma would be fairly quiet and we hopefully could slip out without being noticed.

The bar was slow with only a few patrons, however the gaming room was full of rowdy gamblers. The Granitite security guards I saw were focusing their attention there.

We made it around the bar and were nearing the front entrance when a deep gravelly voice behind us said “Are you alright Miss Amoure”

“She’s fine” I said, as we kept moving. “Just had a little too much to drink. We’re going out to get some air.”

‘Hold on there” the Granitite security guard said roughly as he grabbed my shoulder to turn us around. As he did, I fired my Plasma gun in my free hand into his chest. It threw him against the wall leaving a large dent as he collapsed. His armor plated skin glowing red hot where I’d shot him. His eyes looked up at me in rage and he started getting up.

I raced out the door dragging Amoure with me. I tossed her in the back of the robotransport and I jumped in the front. “Go, go, go” I yelled. The robotransport engine whined into life and the wheels started spinning furiously, but the vehicle was not moving.

I looked behind me and saw the Granitite security guard holding on to the back of the vehicle. Then a second Granititeguard came swiftly out of the Fist Magma. He grabbed the door of the robotransport and ripped it right off the vehicle. He reached for me and I responded by firing two plasma bolts into his face. He was ready for the attack and it only pushed him back a few feet.

“Full reverse now” I screamed. The robotransport lurched backwards and over the Granitite guard pulling it from behind, smashing into another vehicle thirty feet behind us.

“Go, go, go” I screamed again, and the robotransport shot into motion racing away from the Fist Magma toward the space dock.

We reached my ship and I quickly carried Amoure aboard and below deck, placing her into the cryo-storage containment unit. Then I went to the cockpit and began firing up the engines and systems for a quick departure.

I looked out the viewport and saw a large vehicle in the distance approaching rapidly. Leaning out of the passenger window was a Granitite with a large plasma cannon. He fired the cannon, the shot passing overhead missing the ship.

I continued initiating systems and checking propulsion levels. The plasma cannon fired again as the vehicle closed the distance between us. The cannon blast glancing off the left side of the ship, making it shudder, then slamming into a nearby building, obliterating it.

The vehicle made a final turn and headed straight for us, no more than a hundred yards away, the Granitite steadying his weapon for one final shot. Just then, the weapon systems came online and I got a lock on the vehicle. I fired the ship’s railgun and half the vehicle just disintegrated, the other half launching thirty feet into the air before exploding into a fireball as it hit the ground.

All systems now ready, I lifted the ship off the pad and within a minute we had cleared the atmosphere. I then engaged the fusion drive and we hurtled through space toward Federation territory.

As I left Testeras Station, bounty credits in my account, I thought back on the last few days. Amoure had left a lasting impression on me. Even with all that had transpired, I still felt a desire and longing for her somewhere deep inside me. She was very good at what she did, but then again… so was I.