Okay, yeah, all three of ya...
Good times. Anywho, I read a bit of Straylight's work, and I figured "Why not do what they're doing and continue L'Kas' story?" So, Let's pick up where we left off, shall we?
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Got back from VY Canis Majoris three or four days ago. I decided to take a break from exploring and try my hand at bounty hunting. Luckily, TZ Arietis 3, just a stone’s throw away from the station, has a few mining spots in its rings that pirates like to plague. Assuming you can handle the pirates that jump in, the money’s pretty decent. Use a Kill-Warrant scanner, and you can even see any other bounties outside the current jurisdiction the pirate might have against him. Rack up enough kills, and you can have 100k to cash in at an Alliance and/or Imperial starport.
I actually like the idea of taking out some of the trash that flies around. Because of Izumi, and despite my
thoughts on the major political powers, I do have a sense of justice. It’s harsh, but sometimes you need to be in order to survive. Bounty hunters tend to get a bad rap. Regular law-abiding citizens tend to fear them because they mistakenly see them as soldier-of-fortune thugs willing to back the highest bidder. Obviously pirates, smugglers, and other criminals dislike them. And law enforcement tends to frown upon their selfishness. I honestly don’t care, so long as I can do my part to take out the trash.
Because to me, that’s all criminals are - trash. Sure, a true pirate has a code and usually prefers not to harm his/her mark, but they’re still muggers and thieves in my eyes. I see smugglers as degenerates willing to reinforce the criminal underground by supplying them. Reavers, slayers, “griefers,” whatever you want to call them, that one should be obvious. To kill for the sake of killing is deplorable at best, and should be persecuted with extreme prejudice. There are others, but those are the big three. I may be an anarchist, but order should not be forsaken despite lack of a government. Rules exist, in theory, to keep a civilization from devolving into chaos.
Speaking of, I’ve heard “anarchy” and “chaos” used interchangeably, but it really isn’t so. Anarchy just means lack of a governing body. Granted, a lot of anarchistic societies are indeed chaotic, but that’s just because they are the ones who decide that no government equates to no rules. Carry a big stick and if someone tries to hurt or steal from you, hit them with that stick. That’s usually the extent of consequences in such a chaotic society.
I guess I’m just rambling at this point. My overall point is that I’m starting to figure things out. Finding my place in this vast sea of stars. Sometimes I think it’s all meaningless, and that nothing I do will matter. But then I see how many bounty bonds I can cash in on, or I see that a state of famine has gotten a bit better, or I see my name attached to a star as being the first person to actually scan it. I see any and all of that and I think, “Maybe I’m small, maybe I don’t matter all that much in the bigger picture. But somebody’s life was made just a little bit better because of what I did, or what I discovered.” And it makes it all worth it.
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A bit deep there at the end. Too bad it doesn’t work that way irl, but that’s a rant for another place and time.