The Price of Freedom
So this is the beginning of not only a story i want to comic out, but also for a campaign for the game Starfinder (from Paizo games, the guys who do pathfinder). This part is telling the story of an Ysoki girl named Ronica, a blind sniper bounty hunter. But i figured i'll see if anyone likes what i have so far. *sighs* not looking forward to the feedback XD. I kid, being an artist, yeah all i want is feedback. Im not confident though.
"How much would you be willing to lose? What would it take? For me, there is no price; nothing worth losing for what they were offering."
The young Ysoki girl darted through an alley way as a gang chased after her.
"My story is of this. My parents died in a deal gone bad. All for 'Freedom'" As she popped a corner, she called her rifle to her hands, returned
facing the alley way, shot twice, and leveled the 6 pursuers. Ronica is her name, and she has been hunting down gang after gang to find the leaders and
take them out for what they did to her parents.
It all started 10 years prior to this. Ronica was a little girl helping her father in his mechanic shop. He was known on Absalom Station as the best
weaponsmith in the 7th business district arm. The great space station was known in the Pact Worlds to have some of the best Ysoki mechanics, and he was no
exception. However she overheard her parents talking one night of a great thing that started to appear on Aballon, the first planet in this system. A 'Freedom'
they were calling it. It was a promise that you would have no debt. You would not die, nor grow old. A cybernetic promise. But there was a price. You would have
to allow yourself to fall to the control of this 'Freedom'. No, she didn't know what was going on, but she did pick up on the tension her mother was feeling
about it. A few weeks later, Ronica's father got a call from a client of his, saying that he has a friend who would like to see his work. Her father, ecstatic
to hear this as business was falling short a bit, agreed to the meeting. A few hours later, this behemoth of a Vesk, a lizard-like folk, walked in and her father
invited the vesk into the back. Ronica tried to eavesdrop, she could make out a few words but she heard that word 'Freedom' again. After awhile the Vesk walks out, tall
and broad. Her father follows with a look of defeat draped across his face. She knew something was wrong but didn't quite understand what happened. That night, while
the 3 rat-folk were talking her father started to explain what happened earlier that day.
"A Vesk came in earlier today, and offered us 'Freedom' from Absalom Station. I tried to politely refuse, but he was so strong with his words." He explained
"Then he said something that i could back down to. He'd come back and take us by force if we don't cooperate."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere, and they can't make us! Can they?" Her mother was very vocal about this. "I mean, can't the Starfinder Society do anything
about this? This is illegal!"
"There's nothing they can do. If we try, we'll be hunted down. The best we can do is pretend as if nothing happened."
That following week a human and a lashunta, an alien known for telepathy, came in her father's workshop.
"Can I help you?"
"We're here to take you and your family to your new location." the human said in a monotone fashion, a sly grin appeared on his face.
"We're not going anywhere!" Ronica's mother piped up. "You can't just come in here and take people from their homes, their lives." She reaches down and grabs
the family laser pistol. A tear rolls down her face as she aims the weapon at the human. "Leave us alone."
"Now now, what's with the hostility?" This human says in a condescending tone. "We're here to escort you to your better life." Ronica's father looks in fear
as the lashunta draws a rifle from under his cloak. "But you are coming, one way or another."
"Please, love. Put down the gun." He begs his wife. "It's not worth our lives. Maybe this can be for the better?"
She pauses, looks at her daughter, "Not for her." And she fires at the human, striking him in the upper right part of his chest.
"Wrong answer." the lashunta replies in a threatening tone. He fires his rifle into the shop, hitting both of Ronica's parents fatally. As this alien keeps
firing his accomplice interjects.
"Stop it you fool. We can't destroy the place. It'll draw too much attention." The lashunta, agitated, lowers his gun. The shop was riddled with holes, tech
destroyed. As they leave thinking all 3 were killed, Ronica begins to move. Unable to see and terrified, she began frantically feeling around and eventually found
the lifeless bodies of her parents. As she began to curl up against her parents' bodies, an entity walked into the shop.
"Child, come with me." An old raspy voice beckoned.
Scared and terrified, the young ysoki girl followed the voice. Who was this, and how did they know of Ronica's location?