OT: Fanfic

[JAFisher44]

Haven't named it yet, but here it is.


Kiran hated these dirty [censored] hole dives. He hated the filth, he hated the bad air, he hated the sents[1]. But, coming here was something of a necessary evil. You just couldn't find the kind of work Kiran was looking for in the kind of places he would like to hang out.

This bar was the kind of place where you always wanted to sit with your back to a wall, preferably with a straight shot to an exit, just in case. He couldn't even imagine the kind of damage being done to his clothes by... whatever it was on this seat. He sniffed the drink he had bought when he came in and decided not to risk it. Whether he drank it or not it was probably a good idea to buy it. The bartender had been giving him less dirty looks since he bought it.

'Where the hell is this guy?' he wondered. He looked around the bar nervously. This contact had offered him pretty good pay on the job he was hiring for, but the bar was filling up with sents, and by the look of things Kiran was gonna have to move on soon job or no. Humans weren't very popular anywhere Kiran had ever been, and the patrons of this bar looked like they were itching to let him know just how they felt. Luckily this planet's locals were kinda small and weedy, but given numbers and enough time to work themselves up to it, undoubtedly there would be trouble.

No sooner had Kiran pondered it than a group of about 5 of the patrons started making their way across the room, moving in his direction. The leader of the group was prominently sporting something that looked like it was likely a weapon of some sort.

"Hey, MAN!" The translator bud was only a few milliseconds behind the gibberish that emitted from the alien. It's probably worth mentioning here that the term "man" is usually a slur applied to humans and is rarely intended in any other way.

"My friends and I noticed that you are sitting at our table." There was a chorus of chirping and squelching that the translator couldn't keep up with, but was likely affirmatives and jeering.

"No problem," Kiran started to stand, "I'll find another."

The little alien put a hand on his chest, "They are all our tables."

"Fine." Kiran pushed his hand away, "I'll leave."

Kiran doubted that this little antagonist was gonna let it go at that, and he circled around the group, trying to get to the door. He noticed that the bartender was already keying a com, likely summoning local security. That was trouble that Kiran desperately wanted to avoid. Humans didn't usually fare well with local authorities. The lead bully saw that Kiran was making for the door and went for his weapon.

'[censored]!' this is exactly what Kiran had hoped to avoid. It wouldn't matter that it was self defense, he had no rights here. It was hard to reign in his finely honed combat reflexes, but he managed to avoid killing most of them. The leader wasn't so lucky. It was over in about ten seconds. The leader was dead before his weapon cleared its holster, Several important parts of its body broken or smashed. Kiran managed to hold back on the rest and just broke most of their limbs before he vaulted to the door and started randomly weaving down side streets and alleys. Once he could no longer hear the security alerts, he stopped his flight and found a dark corner and settled down, covering himself in cast off garbage.

He came to this hellhole of a planet to get a well paying job, and now he would probably have to spend a great deal of money just to get off planet with his skin intact. Of course he would check on his ship, but he was not optimistic at all about the chances of it being unmolested. The local security would likely connect it to the incident at the bar and impound it.

He stayed in the pile of refuse for about twelve hours before night fell and he felt comfortable moving out again. Even so, he skulked through alleys and moved across streets only when he could see and hear nothing. It took him nearly nine hours to cover the 5 clicks to the docking bay that hopefully held his ship. Once there he had to take more chances, there were just too many sents around to avoid all of them.

He made his way to the access portal for the dock. The terminal confirmed his fears, It was in security lock down. He moved on without stopping hoping that the stakeout that was certainly watching the portal didn't notice his slight pause. He pulled stolen blanket lower over his face and ducked into a dark corner. After just a few seconds he saw two security officers move into view from the direction he had just come.

They were moving cautiously, obviously looking for him. Well, he was already in deep [censored]. He waited till they were within about 3 meters and uncoiled like a snake. They didn't even make a sound. Both of the officers were dead before they even had time to recognize the threat. Kiran quickly searched the bodies and found access cards on both of them. He hurried back to the portal and swiped the cards over the reader. the readout went yellow and the door opened.

Kiran ducked into the dock and looked around, closing the portal behind him. It seemed empty. Even if he did get into his ship, there was no way he could take off without the security lockout being released, they would just shoot him down. Even if he evaded that he would be met in orbit by some military craft that would board him or blow him up. He had only one chance, and it was quite a risk. However, it was a risk he would have to take.

Kiran keyed his comp and queried for local access. There it was, a security access point. If he got caught doing this it was the end. They would lock everything down if he was lucky, fry his brain with feedback if he wasn't. He up-linked to the security card he took off the officer and assigned a brute force crack to its encryption. Thirty seconds only seems like a long time when you are hiding from security right under their noses. Once he unlocked all the secrets of the access card he started using its info to try to get into the dock security system. He was lucky and his comp managed to hit on the right access algorithm before it set off a security warning. Now that he was in the security system he turned off the monitoring software and boarded his vessel. If they discovered him mucking around in their system maybe he would be able to dump and try to run for it. He likely wouldn't make it, but dying in a bright explosion was better than dying in some alien prison.

Finally! Kiran keyed in the last code to release his vessel from security lock down. The system processed the request and approved it. He monitored the lock down status. It didn't change.

"[censored]!" They must be on to him. He dumped. It was mildly painful and very disorienting. After a few seconds he shook it off. Quickly he keyed in the startup sequence for his ship. Hopefully they wouldn't be expecting this. It would take his ship five minutes to power up for liftoff. It was the longest five minutes of his life. As he ran through the final checklist for takeoff he saw small forms scurrying across the causeway to the dock's AA guns.

Kiran smirked, "Too late you stupid ****s." VT liftoff was pretty much a universal docking standard, most planets forbid EV thrust lower than ten kilometers. There was a very good reason for this. Kiran reminded everyone within half a click of his dock just why EV thrust wasn't used at ground level. The downside is that that much thermal energy really draws attention.

Kiran's small vessel rose on a pillar of flame that obliterated everything within 100 meters of his dock. He really regretted the loss of innocent life, but his survival instinct was keener than his conscience. At least he wouldn't have to worry about being shot down yet. That would have to wait for orbit.

[1] Sents is a slang for sentients. It refers to any sentient being