My name is Cherry LeMorgne, and my personal mission is to steal The Love Experiment and make enough money to retire.
My first mission was to assassinate a Sovereign rogue. I had done the training missions. I had seen Sader Fiasco, the old woman of the revolution, sitting at the bar. She didn’t look so tough. I though I had what it took.
I loaded into my pod and headed out from the central Independent cluster into the edges of Sovereign space. My quarry was drifting just this side of the border, keeping low. In the dust I caught glimpses of larger ships, distant stations, surfacing and receding. I began to feel slightly out of my depth.
I cut the engines as I approached the ship, instantly realizing I had wildly miscalculated the speed and distance. As I struggled to come around I began to realize I had whipped around and was now approaching from the opposite side of the entrance hatch. Desperate to course correct, I flew directly into the enemy ship’s sensor view, banging against the hull. It was only for a moment, though, and I breathed a sigh of relief as no one seemed to have noticed. Again, I attempted to come around, both of us moving at high speed, and this time managed to bounce my ship all around their nose. Sirens went off, lights began to flash, and a proximity alert boomed. They had certainly noticed this time.
They bounced me off their hull with some sort of barrage and I was left to limp home on emergency fuel and get my ship repaired. The mechanic warned me that next time I would not have access to as much emergency fuel. I assured him that that would not be necessary, and headed out once again.
My second encounter with the ship was shockingly similar to the first. Maybe, I thought, maybe I am not a very good pilot. Maybe I would not be drifting here in my damaged ship, once again, if I had exercised a little more caution and restraint.
On my third try, my third try which ended with getting a barrage to the face once again and having to frantically shut down emergency systems as I spun away, I resolved “No more!” Rather than limp home I used the last of my emergency fuel to turn and head right back to the enemy ship.
I silently and slowly crept alongside. It was touch and go for a bit, but I slid up and docked. “Ha-ha!” I cried in triumph. Then I unlocked by accident. “Fuck!” I slowly caught back up and once again docked. This time I crept out of my pod. Distracting one guard, I stealth-shielded past another, and slit the throat of my target with my sword. I picked the body up and hid it in a side room where no one was likely to go for some time. Then I headed home, triumphant.
3 jobs later, and I am a shadow in the space-ways. No one has ever seen my face or heard a whisper of my presence but that I want them to. I have looted ships entire, stolen keys out of guard’s pockets, and extracted data valuable to the war effort without anyone the wiser.
I’m Cherry, and I’m gonna get The Love Experiment.