Welcome to Limbo, Phantom,
Enjoy the Stay
By Chajo
In the starry darkness of space, a brightly colored ship floated.
It’s pilot rested back in the seat, just watching for now. Music was playing
softly over the speakers, quiet and subdue compared to most of what was played.
With a quiet sigh, the pilot reached forward taking the controls and bringing
the ship to life.
“Time to get the show on the road Phantom” she muttered to herself.
There was a long line of places she needed to stop at so that she could make
sure her licenses were in the clear and legal. Even though she operated out
of Fense, she still wanted to make sure her work within the Limit would not
be questioned.
She knew that she’d have to start out on Bedlama, other wise she’d
be criss-crossing Limbo worse then anything and that might just bring attention
she didn’t want. Toggling the right switch on one control she flipped though
the music selection she currently had loaded into the main computer. Once
she settled on the music, she feathered the throttle open, gaining speed.
The ship she flew was designed for speed, grace and combat. A
lethal combination in the right hands. And she just happened to be that someone.
The ship was her ‘Baby’ as it were. Custom built for her using the base plans
for a combat fighter she had once flown. The only thing not of her choosing
was the color. Someone had decided it would be a joke to paint the ship in
the same color as the creature it was named for. A Hummingbird, a scarlet
throated blue and green hummingbird at that. Jewel bright when resting nearly
motionless, a colorful blur when it was in flight.
As she crossed the Light Year Limit, entering Limbo ‘proper’,
she noted the planets she passed on her way to Bedlama. The first was a dreary
and foreboding place named Brim*star, which was in line with the second place.
More of a dark star then a planet. That was the infamous Moon*Star of Limbo,
the source of the Local Mob Boss’s power if she had heard right. She made
sure she was at a good speed when passing those two. She also noted the time
between crossing the Limit and passing the two. Nearly thirty minutes. If
she went to full throttle she could cut that down to about ten minutes with
no problems.
It was another twenty minutes before she came within site of the
next place worthy of mention. The Penal Planet #10. The place was misnamed,
it wasn’t a planet at all, but a ring shaped orbiting prison. Designed for
some of the most dangerous criminals anywhere in the galaxy. She’d have to
come back to this place to register with the Warden as a Bounty Hunter for
here in Limbo.
It didn’t take her long to pass Automata, but then again she was
heading straight for Bedlama, not zigzagging back and forth between planets
either. In the distance she could see Dolar, the bank world. She needed to
stop there first to set up her accounts, both business and private. Other
wise someone might question why she was carrying around so much money. Though
most of it was in Intergalactic Travelers Checks, it was still quite a lot.
A round about figure of half a million Limbo bucks. To be split between the
two accounts. Most of it would go into her private account, the rest to go
into the business account.
She smiled as her com flashed. She had an incoming message it
seems. Toggling in on she listened to it.
“Dolar to unknown ship, please state your business. I repeat,
Dolar to Unknown ship, please state your business.”
“Dolar, this is the Hummingbird. I’d like to set up several accounts
today. Would that be a problem?” she sent back.
“Hummingbird, this is Lord Cash speaking. It would be a pleasure
to do business with you. I’ll send you a homing beacon for one of the landing
pads.”
“Thank you Lord Cash, I look forward to meeting you. My ETA is
about 10 minutes.”
“I’ll have someone meet you Hummingbird. Lord Cash out.” With
that the com went silent. A moment later a steady signal was received. The
landing pad homing beacon.
It would have been less then ten minutes if she had kept her speed,
but instead she slowed to about half her speed. Didn’t want to upset the
natives as it were. She was sure that Lord Cash had contacted the local Law
Enforcers about her arrival. Can’t blame him with as many times as the place
seems to have been hit by the Mob over the years. As she arrived she feathered
back even more on the throttle, tapping the landing gear switch.
Unlike most ships of similar design, the Hummingbird used a four
point landing gear system with claw like pads that could also act as grapplers.
There were no wheels on those landing pads since the ship could hover, just
like the bird it was named for, a foot or so off the ground. It could also
go backwards and side to side without using any forward thrust.
Once she was landed, she switched all systems to standby. Another
feature of the ship was that the Pilots seat slid back so that it could be
turned around to face the back of the ship and the second seat there. She
got up and headed to the back to retrieve both the backpack and the satchel
she brought on this trip. Once those were in hand she hit the canopy release
switch. There was a familiar hiss as the seals disengaged and it slid back.
The Hummingbird sat low enough to the ground she didn’t really
need a ladder to enter or exit it, though one did emerge from the side and
extend to the ground. Disembarking she waited for the person that was to
meet her to step forward. It was a Sentry Droid rather then a living person
that greeted her. Thankfully her expression was hidden behind the helmet
visor and mask she wore. She’d have to get use to the fact that droids and
robots had equal right as living beings around here.
“Please follow me” the droid said in a voice that blended a base
rumble with a tenor hum.
At least it was a pleasant sounding voice Phantom mused to herself
as she followed the droid to a lift that had transparent walls. The descent
into the vaults of Dolar where Lord Cash’s office was located was both smooth
and fast. As they headed down, Phantom reached up and undid the latch on
the bottom half of her helmet. She then reached up and slid the visor up
out of the way. She’d pull it completely off later.
When she was shown into Lord Cash’s office, he was standing in
front of his desk, waiting. His staff was firmly held in one hand as his
other rested by his side. “I’m Lord Cash. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Lord Cash.” Phantom said as she removed her helmet and nodded
a greeting. “I’m here to open several accounts. Private and business.”
“Good, good, please have a seat.” He said as he moved around to
take his own seat behind the desk.
“Before we get down to business, you do accept Intergalactic travelers
checks, right?” she asked as she stood behind one of the chairs.
“Indeed I do, Ms……?” he said.
“Phantom.” She said sitting down, placing her helmet in a second
nearby chair. Pulling the satchel into her lap she opened it and removed
all the necessary papers and ID cards. She put them on Lord Cash’s desk.
“If you would like to look though my papers before you start anything, that
way I can dig out the checks.” Setting the satchel down and pulling off the
backpack.
Lord Cash shuffled though the papers, looking each over as he
did. “Well everything seems to be in order Ms. Phantom.”
She laughed softly. “It’s just Phantom. No prefixes.” She paused
a moment while unzipping her backpack. “Actually, Phantom is just what I
go by, as you can see from my papers. I’d prefer being called that if you
don’t mind.”
“Oh, dreadfully sorry about that.” He said as he clasp his hands
together on the desk. “How many accounts would you like to open?”
“Just two. A personal account and a business account. Checks and
Cards for both if possible.” She started setting stack after stack of Intergalactic
Travelers checks on his desk. “Oh, and a stamp for the business account so
that I don’t have to sign anything before depositing it.”
“That should be no problem at all.” He was already started setting
up the account information. “How much would you like to open the accounts
with?”
“Umm…. $100,000 in the business account and the rest in the personal
account. Roughly $400,000 in the personal I think.” She said as she brought
out the last stack of checks. Each booklet held ten $100 checks. There were
a total of 500 booklets. “Do you have several pens? I think it’s gonna take
a while for me to sign every one of these so they can be deposited.”
Each check required a signature as well as a thumb print. There
was a space for the thumb print just next to the signature line that was
heat activated. But still it would take time.
It was over an hour later she finally finished with the last one.
“I wish a stamp could have been used for those.” She said massaging her hand
eyeing the several discarded pens that lay to the side.
“I can understand that. But they needed to be signed.” Lord Cash
said with a chuckle as he gathered up the last batch and put them in the
stack with the others to be processed.
“Yeah, I know….” She sat back in the chair watching him shuffle
though a second stack of papers.
“Here, take a look though these. They are the current designs
that are offered for the Checks. Unless, that is, you wish to go with the
plain ones.”
She took the folder that had the sample designs in it and flipped
through them. For the business checks she settled on a simple design. Pale
gray with abstract dark gray patterns on it. For her personal ones, she couldn’t
find one she liked. “Is there any chance I can have the checks custom designed?”
she asked looking up as she closed the folder.
“Well, yes. I don’t think it would be a problem. What design do
you have in mind?” he asked once again clasping his hands together in front
of him.
“Let me show you…” she said as she reached for her satchel again
and dug around. A moment later she came up with a patch. “this one if possible.”
It was kite shaped. The lower half was dark blue with a spear standing upright
and feathers hanging off of it. The top half was red with a black half-sun
and rays. The letters W and H were on either side of the spear point. “A
light sky blue for a background if possible.”
“Hmmmm….Mind if I borrow this a moment?” raising from his seat.
“No, not at all.” She said as she sat the satchel back down on
the floor.
“Thank you.” He moved to one of the computers and laid the patch
face down on the screen. Tapping a few keys it hummed softly as it scanned
in the design. A moment later a larger picture of the patch appeared on the
screen. “How’s this?” he asked motioning her over to join him.
She stood up, joining him. “Looks good.” She smiled.
“Good, the colors will have to be faded somewhat so that the writing
will show up against it, that shouldn’t be a problem though.” He tapped a
few more keys, fading the colors, as well as adding all the information needed.
Once it was finished, he taped the key to print out a sample check. “It shouldn’t
take more then about 10 minutes or so to print up the checks, if you don’t
mind waiting that is.”
She looked it over, running a finger along the design. Her name
was in ornate script in the upper left corner along with her ID number and
Com number. “It’s perfect.” She said softly. “I’ll only need about 500 for
now. I don’t foresee writing that many checks.” She said with a chuckle.
He smiled and saved the data to the file on her account. “I saved
it so that when you need to re-order them, all you will have to do is ask
and they can be printed up.” He handed the patch back to her as they returned
to their seats at the desk. He took the two cards and activated them before
handing them to her. “There, that’s the last thing that needed to be taken
care of. Your deposit stamp will be ready in a few days.”
“Thanks, I’ll pick it up when I have something to deposit.” She
said with a chuckle as she tucked the cards away in a safe place. She then
took the time to put her helmet back on and pack all her papers away. By
the time she was done her checks were ready.
When all was said and done she had spent over an hour and a half
setting up her accounts on Dolar. Her and Lord Cash exchanged pleasantries
then she left.
Once she retuned to the Hummingbird, she stowed everything away
and brought all systems up from standby. She saw a shadow pass over head
and glanced up though the canopy. A ship had passed over head, apparently
the local law out on patrol. She settled back and waited till they had left
before she took off herself.
The trip to Bedlama was quiet enough. When she got there she landed
at the spaceport and took the time to transfer everything into her backpack.
Disembarking from her ship once more, she made sure it was secured before
heading off towards the governmental complex. It was a pleasant walk, giving
her the opportunity to stop at a local café and sample the drinks
they served.
She sighed softly as she left with a cup of Bedlamian coffee in
hand. Wasn’t anywhere as good as New Eden coffee that was for sure. Another
item on the mental list of things to start importing.
The rest of the morning and part of the afternoon was spent in
the governmental offices registering her courier, shipping and importing
company. Like all things, there was a lot of red tape that was time consuming.
Good thing she had everything needed before hand, other wise she’d be running
around for the next two weeks.
By the time she left there, her stomach was grumbling that it
was empty. Ignoring it though she headed to the Military headquarters. She
wanted to be sure that she was registered with them so no one would complain
that she went around armed all the time. Some people were so finicky about
that, she thought to herself with a chuckle.
Her time in the Military HQ was, thankfully short. At least they
knew how to get down to the point. A few questions, some time on their range
to prove she knew how to shot, let alone hit what she was aiming at, getting
a picture as well as fingerprints on record and paying the fee. It was all
done.
The return trip to the space port was just as boring as the first
time, again she stopped at the Café, this time to add a sandwich to
eat on the way. That covered the meal for the day.
“I can here Lisa nagging me now about my current eating habits.”
She muttered in between bites. It’s not like she didn’t have time to cook
a full meal, she just had other things to do first. “Besides, leftovers and
cold cuts are just as good.”
Tossing the empty cup and wrapper in the garbage as she passed
it, she paused looking up as another shadow crossed over head. Actually several
shadows. Seems the Local Law was after a local criminal again. She glanced
at the scattering Bedlamians and shook her head. Apparently property damage
was standard in the chase.
She made sure her helmet was on and the visor was down as she
started walking again. She’d been though worse so it didn’t bother her as
debris started to fall. Which was soon followed by the vehicle that the criminals
were using. They went flying, hitting the ground pretty hard and the vehicle
exploded into a fireball. A moment later a group of figures dropped down
out of the sky, alighting on the ground and proceeded to gather them up.
One of the criminals happened to be sprawled in her way so she
just stepped over them and continued on, ignoring the momentary looks of
puzzlement from two of the approaching figures. Not her concern either way.
Though she did snicker softly as the sound of blaster fire ripped though
the air. Apparently that one that was sprawled wasn’t as out of it as one
would think and took advantage of the law’s momentary distraction.
When she reached the space port she boarded the Hummingbird and
brought all systems up to green. Making sure she had clear space she took
off and headed spaceward again. As she climbed another ship came into her
flight path, forcing her to veer slightly.
Needless to say she was a little annoyed so made sure when she
spun the Hummingbird, the sunlight flashed off the thousands of thumbnail
sized ‘mirrors’ that covered the top of the ship. It created a sun flare
right in the other pilots eyes forcing that one to veer away or be blinded.
She was sure she saw that one giving her the dirtiest look possible.
She just howled in laughter, boosting away into space.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly from there. The last
thing she had to do before heading home was stop by the penal planet and
registering as a bounty hunter with the Warden. Needless to say she crossed
paths with that same pilot as she left. Apparently this time he was with
his fellow Law officers.
Oops, seems they are the law about this place. Oh well. Hehe.
Just someone to annoy while I can, she thought to herself as she headed home.
She had a feeling she would cross paths many more times with that group during
her stay here in Limbo.
“Welcome to Limbo Phantom, Hope you enjoy your stay” she said
to herself with a grin, vanishing into the Light Year Limit.
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