In the center of the circle crouched a lone figure, feasting on the raw remains of what was once a human. Its talons soaked and dripping with the blood of its victim, it ripped a chunk of a shoulder from the pink bone, sinking its hungry fangs into the juicy meet. Dozens of tendrils attached to its spine snaked and hissed around the floor, wrapping around discarded limbs, tearing them into smaller pieces. A long tailed twitched along the smooth marble, at the tip a three-talon claw tapping rhythmical. The figure’s long dark hair hung over its face, only two dim, golden eyes glaring a mystical evil into the dark chamber.

"Angelseed?" A sweet melodious voice clashed with the sinister atmosphere, as a slim shadow of a woman entered the black chamber.

"I told you to wait until I finished." The figure stood from the circle, leaving the mostly eaten carcass on the emblem, the tendrils retreating into his spine. Brushing his hair from his eyes, Angelseed’s eyes flashed gold, filling the entire chamber with the luminous gaze.

"I got bored." The woman’s voice smug and sarcastic. "Lights." Light grew from multiple fixtures on the walls, sending the shadows into retreat.

"I hate being bothered in the middle of my meal Cathleen." Angelseed growled wiping away the blood smeared around his mouth. "What is it?"

"You have a job." Cathleen offered a small disk to Angelseed.

Angelseed took the disc. "Consol." A long board-like object hovered before him. Placing the disk in the side, a giant holographic image emerged from the projectors along the ceiling. A 3d rendering of a tall, slender built human male with light blue eyes and peculiar fire orange hair rotated in the space above the chamber floor. As Angelseed analyzed the character the voiceover briefing began.

"Hunt 112-34-566M, Sully Smite. This individual is wanted for computer and technological based crimes against the Empire. A full list of offenses and personal information can be downloaded from the Imperial criminal database." The hologram morphed into an image of a small, dull green planet. "Smite is suspected to be on Vissel. The bounty is fifty thousand ICs dead or alive. Preferably alive." The image swirled into the Imperial symbol. "This is not a closed contract." The hologram blinked the shut off.

"Why bring me this hit? This is hardly worth my time." Angelseed growled.

"I figured you’d be looking for something to do. It’s an easy hunt, that’s worth some money." Cathleen stretched, flexing her fingers in catlike fashion.

"Fine. I need more exercise." Angelseed pushed a button on the floating consol. "Blinky, look up information on Sully Smite, specifically family members and download it to the Broken Wing."

"Kay Boss." A high scratchy voice answered.

"Family?" Cathleen raised an eyebrow at her friend.

Angelseed answered with a mischievous grin.

"You’re a sick puppy." Cathleen said as she turned away walking towards the heavy black wood doors, exiting into the hallway outside.

Pressing another button on the consol. Angelseed turned around towards the far wall, watching as the massive painting of the Incubusiu tribe emblem raised into the ceiling followed by the twelve foot black marble slabs pressing outwards then sliding to opposite sides, leaving a wide space leading towards a brightly lit corridor.

Angelseed strolled through the marble hallway until reaching the metal catwalk of the hanger. There, standing like a dark angel, the Broken Wing, a modern marvel of Gabrielian gear designs.

"Are we ready Rex?" Angelseed asked a short, skinny, green Darkling with blades for fingers.

"Yup. Are you sure you want to take the new Buster Rifle?" The little creature referred to the twin barrel gun gripped in the gear’s right hand.

"Yes. I want to kill as many things on this mission as possible." The sides of his mouth twisted into a sadist grin as he walked towards the cockpit seated inside the machine’s chest. Pressing a button on the left armrest, the chest closed, enclosing Angelseed in a red glow of buttons and switches.

"All systems are functioning at optimum. Hyperspace and Nav points set. Operations will commence in three standard hours after exit from hyperspace." Quill, the deep voice of the gear’s AI sounded through the cockpit as the HUD and visual displays flickered to life along the walls. "Environmental and gravity actuators have been modified for best possible response time."

The large hanger doors slowly swung outwards into the windy fields of Pitfall. "Lets get out of here." Angelseed slipped his fingers into the slots of flight sticks on both sides of the command seat, pushing the rudders at his feet fully down. A sudden blast of blue engine thrust and the bipedal machine of chaos soared into the deep gray sky.

Through misty white clouds the atmosphere grew thinner, transforming into a brilliant field of stars. The angelic wings attached to the Broken Wing’s back rotated into a soaring position, then folded over the front body like a mechanized feathered cloak. Two smaller wings locked into a triangular formation, the durasteel feathers opening, more blue engine exhaust trailing behind the gear.

"Preparations for hyperspace complete." Quill boomed.

"On starlit wings the great demon rides to war." Angelseed versed then flipped a switch overhead. A bright flare of hyperspace engines and the Broken Wing disappeared into the womb of space.

"Exiting from hyperspace." Quill said, awakening Angelseed from his three-hour nap. The Broken Wing dropped from hyperspace above a dull green sphere. "Entering Vissel space."

Angelseed shrugged the sleep from his body, stretching his arms and flexing his talons in the dimly lit cockpit. He watched the planet spin on the display screens, thinking little of the boring planet he was about to visit.

"What’s the time like down there?" Angelseed clicked a few buttons, bringing up a map of Vissel’s only city, Bileham.

"Vissel makes a complete axel rotation every two standard hours."

"Hm." Angelseed brought up another display of personal information of Smite’s family. "Quill, set op points for Smite’s family residence, and anywhere with abnormal power usage. Smite’s going to be running some heavy equipment with a lot of draw."

"Op points set." Three yellow dots appeared on the map.

"Begin operations."

The Broken Wing dropped through Vissel’s atmosphere headfirst, producing a long fiery tail, gently fading away as the gear plummeted to the thicker air. Through thick, vaporous clouds the Broken Wing continued it’s decent, until the ground came clearly into view. Angelseed flipped a protective covering, and then pressed a large red button. The two large wings over the Broken Wing’s chest flung to their places at the gear’s shoulders, the two minor wings rotating and compressing against the center of the back. A sudden blast of thrusters on either side of the minor wings and the Broken Wing was upright, spreading its wings against the pale green sky.

Far off in the distance Angelseed noticed a streak in the sky. "Quill, give me a scan of sector twelve through fifteen."

A deep green wire frame display of a heavy freighter appeared in the top, right corner of the HUD. "It’s an SSL Assassin."

"An Assassin?"

"Can do much else than identify the chassis. It has some very nice sensor buffers."

"Hm. Any identifying marks?’

"No. But my guess is that it’s from the BHG."

Angelseed growled at the image, then decided to ignore it, piloting the Broken Wing to the landing zone outside of the city Bileham.

Dust and debris kicked up by the Broken Wing’s thrusters grew into a cloud, engulfing the gear. Its feet hit the ground with a soft thud, then crouched into a kneeling position, it’s left hand moving palm up under the cockpit’s entryway. The chest opened, revealing it’s unholy pilot. Angelseed jumped from the gear, landing hard on the scrubby grassland.

"Stay in standby incase I need to get out of here."

Quill beeped his response, closing the chest.

Bileham was a dirty city with streets and buildings cracked, and crumbling from years of neglect. A stench like manure invaded Angelseed’s senses as he wondered through shallow canyons of disorderly, ugly structures to his first Op point at the Smite family residence.

Like much of the other buildings Angelseed had seen, the Smite household was a small, featureless, two-story block of masonry. A small scrub brush lawn surrounded by a quaint white fence and gate with a stone walkway leading to a metal sliding front door gave the impression of an old holo-sitcom promoting family morals and neighborly love.

"How sickening." Angelseed growled tearing the gate from its hinges and stalking up the pathway. Reaching the doorway, the bounty hunter, pressed the glowing orange button of the doorbell.

An explosion flung Angelseed off his feet and across the street into the wall of a nearby building. Fire erupted throughout the entire bottom floor as another explosion sent more debris through the doorway of the Smite home.

Looking upwards Angelseed noticed a female hunter, adorn in black, formfitting armor, long black hair and deep indigo eyes, looking down at him with a body slung over her right shoulder, with bright red hair. Angelseed glared furious at the figure, shaking dust and debris from his hair and armor.

"Too late little demon." The woman leapt from the building, dropping behind the burning house.

Angelseed ran around the house, hoping to be able to catch a sight of where the mysterious huntress had gone. "Quill! Pick me up. I’ve got competition for this hunt." Angelseed screamed into his comm., feet pounding against the street, as he ran in the general direction of the rival hunter.

"ETA thirty seconds. I’ve been tracking that Assassin." Quill’s noted, a bit edgy.

"And?"

"And, it’s leaving right now."

Angelseed swore to himself, seeing the Broken Wing drop down over the buildings into the street, scooping the hunter up into its large mechanical hands, then into the dim cockpit.

Grabbing the controls Angelseed shot the gear into the sky. "Keep a lock on that Assassin. I don’t want to loose it."

"It’s entering hyperspace."

Another string of swears escaped the bounty hunter’s lips, arming the buster rifle. "If I can’t get that bounty, I’ll be damned if some upstart will get it."

The Broken Wing left the atmosphere, just seconds behind the Assassin starfighter. "Here comes the pain." The right arm of the Broken Wing came up, the twin buster rifle aimed at the fleeing ship. A flash of tremendous energy left the rifle as it executed a long stream of bright golden death. Moments before the blast reached the Assassin, the ship disappeared into the realms of hyperspace.

"Dammit!" Angelseed slammed his fist into the consol next to him. "Quill, give me an idea of where that Assassin went."

Quill stayed silent for a moment then brought up a stellar map into the bottom right corner of the HUD. "Planetoid Cernun or Pitfall."

"She’s going to cash in my bounty." Angelseed flipped a switch and pushed a series of keys, locking the Broken Wing into its hyperspace mode. "I’m going to be there to introduce her to thirty-one different flavors of pain."

A flash of hyperspace engines and the Broken Wing was on its way to Planetoid Cernun.

The Assassin was already heading into the hanger by the time the Broken Wing exited hyperspace. Wings extended and thrusters at max, Angelseed flew the gear to and through Planetoid Cernun’s hanger, landing at the main entrance to the hanger from the hallway. Angelseed dropped from the cockpit, using his talons to neatly cut the throat of a hanger traffic official at the foot of the Broken Wing, screaming about how that was not a parking space.

Fire and debris flushed into the corridor, as Angelseed blew the doors of the entrance to splinters with his infamous Omega cannon, running to the claims department where all bounties where cashed in. Rage boiled throughout his veins, growing more and more intense as he grew near to the claims office. Rounding the corner, he saw her, that vile vixen that had stolen his bounty, smiling as she handed Sully Smite over to the holding officials, and counting the credits she had collected.

Shoving various hunters out of his way until reaching the mysterious female hunter. Angelseed grabbed her by the throat, pushing her against the wall. His golden eyes flared with anger staring at her smug face and strange indigo eyes.

"You stole my bounty." Angelseed hissed.

"Mmmm…" The woman licked at Angelseed’s wrist. "I wasn’t aware it was your hunt. It was open, so I took it." Her eyes glimmered as a broad smirk creeping across her face.

"Any bounty I’m after is a closed contract." Angelseed uncharacteristically loosened his grip. "Give me one reason I shouldn’t turn you into my next meal."

"Because our master would be very angry my little demon." The female hunter brought her hand up to his, leading it away from her throat.

"What?" Angelseed took his hand away from the woman, stepping back a few paces surprised.

"My name is Venessa. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again." The woman turned and slowly walked away, followed by gazes and gawks of horny, young, hunters.

Angelseed stared after the mysterious Venessa, wondering how much she actually knew about his other worldly mission, completely forgetting his anger over the loss of a simple bounty.