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  Fistful of Credits: Body Snatcher   Bounty Hunters: DeLarge as Garrick Flynt Darth Vader as Xionis Vasimo Zulas   Outlaw: Orcus as Arrien aka 'Leech'   ICARUS Headquarters, Burst Nebula   "Garrick Flynt," said Garrick to the strange, cold-eyed Bounty Hunter who had taken him up on his offer, extending his hand for a handshake. The Hunter looked at his hand, almost emotionless in his reaction, and ignored it.   "Xionis Vasimo Zulas," the Hunter replied, turning on his heel and walking swiftly away from the Bounty Board, "We should depart now if we are to catch the Leech and his host."   "Oh good, you're one of those Hunters," said Garrick, rolling his eyes and following Xionis, "Let me guess...dad was distant and unloving and mom was a simulant? No, I've got it - you've got a computer instead of a brain, right? I worked with a guy like that once, no sense of humour at all, but ruthlessly efficient."   "Do you intend to continue this incessant talking, Terran, or will we be attempting to complete this assignment quickly and decisively?" snapped Xionis, and Garrick held his hands up in a gesture of mock defensiveness.   "Well, in the spirit of speed and decisiveness, we should get to my ship and head towards Elrich so we can get this over with as soon as possible," said Garrick, gesturing in the direction of Felicity's spot in the loading bay. Xionis stopped in his tracks and turned on his heel to face Garrick.   "I believe we would be better served by taking my ship. Ter'Rasth is equipped with Advent technology, and tracking this Outlaw will be far easier if I have access to my onboard AIs," he said, a vague air of smugness in his tone.   "Oh yeah? And what kind of ship is Ter'Rasth?"   "A heavy corvette class that I have personally upgraded. I guarantee that it will be more effective in this mission than whatever vehicle you may have access to."   "A heavy corvette class? My apologies, Xionis, I was under the bizarre impression that you actually wanted to catch this Outlaw, but that must be my mistake."   "What do you mean?" asked Xionis, raising an eyebrow.   "Well this thing's a Vemmen, a slimy little brain-worm that's managed to latch itself onto an Ayenean, one of those big golem things you hear about in school. The two constituent parts are a frankly cowardly criminal, and a big stupid animal, and both of those parts are likely to run and disappear into the wind if they see a goddamned dreadnought of a battle cruiser coming at them. I have a five-man starship that's more than capable of getting us to the Alphonse Train Junction in one piece."   "That may be true," replied Xionis, realising that he had overlooked the drawbacks of having such an imposing means of transport at his disposal, "But my AIs will be invaluable in this situation..."   "Flick could kick your AIs up and down this galaxy," said Garrick dismissively, "But if you're that desperate, bring 'em. Felicity's got an external interface for foreign AIs, they can come along for the ride if you can't bear to be without them. Just meet me at loading bay G-87d4 in thirty and we can head out."   "Very well," replied Xionis, "But if this decision hinders our ability to capture our Bounty, I will hold you personally responsible, Garrick Flynt."   "If I had a credit for every time I've heard that...well, I'd probably still be broke. Catch you on the flip, Johnny Five!" he broke away from his fellow Hunter and headed back towards Felicity.   As soon as he could see that he was out of Xionis' presumably-enhanced earshot, he punched a few digits on his wristpad and called through to Flick.   "Did you get it? Are we rich?" she asked, the sarcasm practically dripping from her words.   "That's...complicated. Listen, Flick, they've got me teamed up with an Advent for the next Bounty..."   "Did you give him a demeaning nickname yet?" interrupted Flick.   "I might have called him Johnny Five," replied Garrick, the tiniest shred of guilt in his voice.   "And you wonder why you have no friends."   "I have friends!"   "Women that you slept with once and then never called again don't count, Garrick."   "Alright, I have one friend. That's not really the point, Flick - I need some information on this guy, to see who I'm working with. His name's Xionis Vasimo Zulas, can you pull up some details for me?"   "Did you ever think about just talking to the guy?"   "Flick, just do it ok?" snapped Garrick, and all the humanity drained out of Flick's voice as she responded.   "Fetching records."   And now I've got to deal with a pissed-off AI. This day is going from bad to worse.   ---   "This guy's kind of a badass," said Garrick, flicking through the holographic records hovering in the air in front of him in Felicity's console room, "Ex-PsiOps, that's the blackest of ops. His rep seems to be pretty solid, good feedback from ICARUS personnel. A few instances of partners dying, but who hasn't had that happen?"   "Wouldn't your time be better spent working out how to track down this...'Leech', rather than the guy you're supposed to be working with?" asked Flick, still a little grumpy from their earlier interaction.   "There'll be time for that on the way to Elrich. I'd like to get a handle on this guy while I can..."   He was interrupted by a short, sharp alarm blaring out throughout the ship.   "Registered Bounty Hunter Xionis Vasimo Zulas, ID number 64977-xxv approaching," said Flick, the holographic representation of her on the ship's dash adding a sarcastic smile to the message. Garrick rolled his eyes and waved his hand to shut down Xionis' records, even though he was sure Xionis had done the same to him. He punched the cargo bay release button on the console and headed out of the back of the ship to meet Xionis.   "Welcome to Felicity!" Garrick exclaimed with his arms oustretched, "Let's go get us a Body Snatcher!"   "My ship has superior weapons capabilities," sneered Xionis as he walked past Garrick up the boarding ramp and into the console room, "And this ship is oversized for a five-man vessel."     "Yeah, this is gonna be fun," sighed Garrick, following the Advent Bounty Hunter into the bowels of the ship.