The Confidence displayed by Pirates and criminals in the frontier baffles and astounds me although I do find humor in it.

Case in point I just got Interdicted by a Pirate in the Maia system guessing he was after the load of Meta-alloy I'm carrying anyway the battle ensues and within seconds his shields fail this guy has the nerve to say to me "Just drop 20,000 in cargo and this can all end" Like really you haven't even scratched my shields and your telling me to drop cargo? I'm winning what would possibly entice me to drop my cargo then yesterday and this was priceless had a contract someone placed on me and the hunter caught me ( in truth kinda let him. after a few seconds of pummeling his ship and shields with my quad enhanced beam lasers, he says to me (and this is priceless "You can't kill the contract killer, That ain't right". lmao, I never heard anything so great. I just don't get it, How do you threaten someone when you're obviously going to lose, I mean don't get me wrong I'm very confident but in a cobra mkIII, I ain't talking crap to a commander with an anaconda, that's just suicidal.

That's what I used to call them. At least up until I resigned my commission as a fighter pilot with the Federation Navy. As a Navy Pilot Mercs (Commonly known as Bounty Hunters) were the dredge of the universe living off the greed and misfortune of others and seemingly always getting in the way during Naval operations.

The only problem is Fighter Pilot don't really translate to the Civilian sector as you never quite get over the thrill of action.

So here I find myself now being one of those 'No Good Lousy Mercs"

Yea sure I've managed to incorporate a temporary Passenger Hold and Cargo hold into My ASP Explorer both of which can be swapped out as needed depending on the situation and what missions are currently available. but I never turn down a hunt be it assassination or taking out a deserter what can I say I love the hmm of my quad Beam Lasers and the bloomed explosions caused by my duel seeker missile launchers when my ordinance hits a target.

Don't matter if I got passengers on board or I'm hauling someone's precious cargo or data if there's a fight to be had I'm in. I don't even fight Intradictions cause its usually a good opportunity to collect a bounty that was on the board (Although gotta admit to myself that I'm not sure if its luck or skill that has kept me alive and in business having only had to turn tail and run on 3 intradictions where my would-be assailants managed to take down my shields in less time than it takes a Cadet to complain about the Space Rations (S.M.R.E.) at the academy.

So here I am in my ASP Explorer (Love this ship by the way) trying to earn Creds as a Merc, and having a lot of Transport contacts canceled at the first sign of trouble hell what do they expect says plain as day on the side of my ship "Combat Transports LLC." what part of Combat don't they get when they sign the contract. But I guess words gotten around cause seems the only transport contracts I get anymore the Passengers are either fleeing refugees have someone after them or are criminals trying to get out of the system before they get caught (a nice little detail they tend to leave out at least till after their onboard.) one of these days I'm gonna take a contract with an illegal passenger and as soon as I'm in deep space eject them from the passenger cabin, turn around scoop up the escape pod and sell them to slavers somewhere, that will teach em not to hire a Bounty Hunter to escape a bounty.

But for now I need the Creds, My poor ASP Explorer is due for a refit so its back to the cold dark of space as a "No Good Lousy Merc" with Passengers that are paying me to protect them from others like me no wonder I cant get anyone to join my company or even have drinks with me in the crew lounge guess iv'e kinda become a pariah among Mercs but hey a mans gotta make a living so I do what I gotta do.

Today's mission activity has been overwhelming lost a number of bounties due to accepting too many assignments Started up Combat Tours using my Viper MKIV but get complaints from passengers when I go after a bounty while there on board I mean seriously do they not see the name Combat tours on the side of my ship what do they expect? Guess I'll have to find a breed of travelers that don't mind the rush of combat, shouldn't be to difficult just gotta keep from taking passengers with bounties on them I'd rather be the hunter than the hunted but hey combat is combat.

While Flying my ASP Explorer a few hundred light years to gather Meta-Alloy and another few to see an engineer about Thruster upgrades spotted an Anaconda that was on the wanted list but listed as Elite (Me I'm still a novice in combat, well at first I did the smart thing and decided to leave the over sized beast alone but, as I was preparing to enter super-cruise I heard weapons fire and figured hmmm maybe System Authority is trying to take him down be a good payday if I helped, So I shut down my FDS and swung my ship around and opened fire (Still had the ANACONDA locked in as target from before I activated the FDS well I got two good passes before I realized I was the only fool shooting at this guy needless to say he took all of .2 seconds to cut through my shields, that's when I got wise turned away from this lumbering hulk, activated my FDS and thruster boost and got the hell out off dodge as I entered Super-cruise I thought with a shudder and rush of adrenaline, Wow I just picked a fight with the biggest baddest dog in the yard and I'm alive to tell about it. I usually consider myself a pretty smart Bounty Hunter never picking off more than I can chew. All I can claim as I limp to the nearest station for repairs is temporary insanity but boy will I have a story to tell over drinks at the crew lounge tonight wonder if anyone will believe me? well if not I got the flight recorder and computer logs to prove it but damn probably gonna be grounded weeks waiting on parts.