Standard disclaimer applies. Crossovers and characters will be used at my discretion. Don't bother trying to threaten me or sue me, 'cause I won't listen. La la la, I can't hear you...

Chapter 2
Escape from Paradise
**********************************************************************************

"Whoa, you were serious when you mentioned a vacation?" Rayden stared in awe at the planet's landscape as the Wild Horse flew above the buildings. They were currently flying over the planet Triar, nicknamed "Paradise" by the local inhabitants and businesses there. It was, essentially, a resort planet, with much of the land being turned into huge, extravagant hotels with several buildings for shopping and recreation. Because the only land masses on the planet were islands, it also provided the planet's populace and visitors with plenty of beaches.
"Of course I was serious. You thought I was lying?" Ranma asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Huh? No. This is just so unlike you. I thought that maybe we'd be here to destroy this resort company and take all the money." Rayden gave Ranma a questioning look.
"Hmm. Maybe later. For now, let's all get some down time!"
Rayden and Arak looked at each other, then shrugged.
__________________________________________________________________________________

*Sigh* The young security guard sighed and slowly pulled himself off of the bench he had been sitting on. Being a security guard on Triar had about the same amount of career excitement as staring up at the sky all day to see if it starts to rain.
It was true. It seemed that even the criminals only came to Triar with relaxation in mind. Nobody ever tried to smuggle in weapons or drugs.
Yet even he had to admit that guards were necessary. Especially with all the starship thefts on the platforms.
But it seems that no matter how many guards they have, not a single person is apprehended or even caught in the act.
He was so busy thinking about this and ignoring the arrival of the next ship that he didn't even get a look at it until it set down.
His face went pale and his jaw went slack.

"T-th-th-tha-th-tha-that-th-th-tha-that's-th-that's th-"
The man was stuttering so badly that he didn't notice the men that had left the ship until one of them tapped him on the shoulder.
"That's the Wild Horse!" He yelled in recognition of the spacecraft.
"No, it's the Red Crow," said a calm and tired voice.
The guard directed his gaze toward the voice and then reeled backward in shock.
"Y-you're R-Ranma Saotome!" The guards crawled backward as he said this, ready to run for help.
"No, I'm... somebody else."
The guard stopped crawling backwards and gave Ranma a skeptical look.
"Somebody else?"
"Um... I'm uh... Jackie Chan! That's it!"
The guard got up off the floor and gave Ranma (duh, you knew it was him) a look.
"Really? You look a lot like Ranma, the famous space pirate. I think I'll have to take you in and ask you a few questions, sir." The guard turned around and began to walk out of the hangar when a strong, iron grip held him in place. He looked over his shoulder to see "Jackie Chan" glaring at him.
"Now you look here," Ranma began, "me and my crew have traveled a long way to get here, and will not tolerate this kind of welcome. We came here to relax, not to be questioned because I happen to look like a wanted criminal!"
The guard gulped and nodded rapidly. "Of course, of course! Go right on through! I apologize Mr. Chan!"
Ranma stared down at the guard the way a lion looks down at a wounded antelope. The guard suddenly wondered if maybe he could get another job; guard duty was suddenly far too stressful for him.
"Thank you."
The guard subconciously wiped the sweat off his brow, then turned towards the ship. He saw the other two men and immediately did a double-take.
The larger one noticed his reaction, then spoke.
"Oh, and in case you're wondering, no, we're not Arak and Rayden, Ranma's partners in crime."
The gaurd looked at them and suddenly developed a bad twitch in his left eye. "No, of course not."

The three walked through the weapons detector, and then out of the hangar. Rayden turned to Ranma.
"So, should one of us kill that guy back there?"
Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head.
"Nah, why bother when the guy'll probably have a heart attack before the day is out?"
"Or worse, if he tries to inspect the ship." Arak said as he glanced at the various billboards and advertisements.
"Anyway," Ranma continued, "we came here to relax, not to kill or destroy or steal or kidnap or any of those things." Ranma clapped his hands together and rubbed them in anticipation. "For a whole week we'll have nothing but the best living quarters, food, and alcohol within 5,000 lightyears, so let's sit back and enjoy it!"
Rayden and Arak gave each other a high-five, then yelled an enthusiastic agreement.
"Hear hear!"
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Ah, now this is the life."
Ranma sighed in contentment as he laid back down on his big, plush pillow, and opened his mouth just as one of the girls lifted the wine glass to his lips.

The whole room was like that. Gold platters covered in the remaining scraps of food, jewel encrusted wine glasses full of liquor, and seven girls in Arabian slave-dancer costumes to hand feed them. The resort that Ranma and his group were staying at was intended only for the super-rich, and for at least 6 more days, Ranma fit that description perfectly.

"So then I had to detonate the bomb anyway, and got caught in the blast. Man did that hurt." Rayden leaned back and took a long sip from his wine glass, as one of the girls around him giggled.
"Wow, Mel Gibson, you're so strong!"
Rayden grinned and downed another cup of liquor.

"And then I only had two seconds to upload the vital DUI data! If I wasn't able to program the computer to reroute the shield system, our ship would've surely been destroyed!"
Arak continued with his story, ignoring the two young ladies sound asleep at his sides. Despite his best efforts to keep the story interesting, his stories about computer hacking still lacked the excitement of Rayden's tales. But he didn't mind. Having two shapely young women asleep in your lap was enough for him.

"Another drink, Mr. Chan?"

Everyone in the room, including the previously sleeping girls, turned to the sound of the voice, a busty older woman in a revealing bikini.
Rayden arched an eyebrow. Arak suddenly forgot how to decode a TIF helix code. Ranma smiled.
"Sure, I'll take another glass."
The woman held a gold platter, and on it, three drinks of odd coloration.
Rayden and Arak got up and got a glass, and one of the girls next to Ranma got up and took the glass from the woman, then held it up to Ranma's lips. She was very startled when Ranma's hand shot out and grabbed the cup, spilling a bit of the liquid on himself.
"Don't drink it," Ranma commanded in a firm, cold voice. Arak and Rayden immediately set their cups down. Ranma turned a hard stare towards the woman.
"What is this?"
The three girls sitting next to him suddenly scooted away. The woman gulped at the ice in his voice, and slowly responded.
"It's a glass of special wine from the front desk. As a thank you to our guests that use this room, management sends up some special liquor."
Ranma stared into the cup. "So they did. Mel, drink it."
Rayden blinked, then shrugged. "Yessir." He lifted the glass to his lips, then swallowed the whole thing in one gulp.
Rayden licked his lips. "Yep, it's poisoned."
At this, the woman went wide-eyed, and all the girls started to inch away from the three men.
Ranma turned a hard glare toward the woman, and she immediately started spouting excuses.
"B-but, Mr. Saotome sir! I h-had n-no idea it was poisoned! Really!"
Ranma dissolved his glare and raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Saotome? What happened to Mr. Chan?"
The woman slapped both her hands over her mouth, then moved them, at the same time muttering "Oops."
The other girls were now all crowded around her, staring at the assembled men in abject horror.
Ranma stood up. "Well now, I'm very disappointed. I was hoping to have stayed at a nice, assassin-free hotel."
The assembled females gulped as he picked up a glass of normal wine and took a short sip.
"Don't do it again."
The assembled females blinked.
"Wh-what" stuttered the woman in the bikini.
Ranma stared at her. "I said, 'don't do it again'. If you do, I might have to hurt you." He smiled as he took another sip of wine. "And I wouldn't want to have to do that."
"So... you're not going to kill us?"
Ranma shrugged. "What would be the point?"
"Um, well... your partner did drink the poison..."
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. He has a liver like durasteel."
Rayden smiled as he drank the other two cups of poison. "I've got stronger stuff in the liquor cabinet back on the ship!"
The girls all sweatdropped, then quickly filed out of the room.
The three men looked at each other, then let out a sigh.
"Women." They all said as one.

"Wow, I can't believe they let us just walk out of there unharmed!"
The woman in the bikini silenced the other with a glare.
"Yes, we are lucky. Now we must report this."
"Do we have to? I mean, we're not really done up there."
The woman blinked, then turned to the girls. "What do you mean?"
"Well..." the girl started, "we still owe them back massages!"
*Crash* the woman facefaulted.
"Yeah, it's part of our spa therapy program!"
"Why are you worrying about that now?!"
"Well, I just think we should finish up while they're not going to kill us. They're a lot nicer and sexier than all those fat, ugly merchants we're usually dealing with."
The girls all nodded in agreement. The bikini woman hit the speaker in the head.
"We are not going back up there! We are dealing with criminals, remember that!"
The group of women piled into the elevator before one of them asked another question.
"But aren't you a criminal for trying to kill them?"
The sounds of violence echoed throughout the hotel.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"So, what should we do now?' Arak asked as he removed the emptied food platters.
Ranma thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "First thing to do is get to another hotel."
Rayden glanced over from the entertainment viewscreen where he was watching a documentary on space eels. "Do you think that'll help?"
Ranma looked at him, then sighed heavily. "No, probably not, but maybe we'll find a place where the employees won't willingly assist the assassins."
Rayden chuckled. "You know, most wanted criminals would get nervous after someone tried to kill them and probably cut their vacation short."
Ranma smiled. "Yeah, but we're not like most wanted criminals, are we?"
Arak finished putting away the empty food plates and started packing up his things.
"No, most criminals are sane. Except for the murderers and mad scientists, of course."
"And don't forget stalkers!" chimed in Rayden.
Ranma let out a short laugh. "Remember that girl who tried to stalk Luke Skywalker?"
Rayden suddenly burst out laughing. "She didn't do very well, did she?"
Ranma began laughing again and soon Arak joined in. "I heard she broke down crying when she learned she couldn't get within thirty meters of him without being spotted, yelling 'it's just not fair! Damn the force!'"

They continued laughing for about three more minutes, before they sobered up and then looked at each other, somber expressions on their faces.

"Shoot, we do need a vacation." Rayden was the first to speak.
"No kidding," Ranma agreed.
"Heck, when we start laughing at something like that, let's skip stress reduction and go straight for neurotherapy," Arak concluded.
Ranma thought it over, then shook his head. "The last time we tried that, the doctor tried to fry Rayden's brain."
Arak thought that over. "Oh yeah. I guess that would be a problem."
Rayden finished packing, and locked up his suitcase. "You ever worry that too many people want us dead?"
Ranma once again stopped to think, then turned back towards his friend. "No, not really."
*Vrrrrrrrrrr* *thunk*
Ranma and his crew looked towards the source of the noises, to see a thick metal sheet closing over the windows and doors.
*Pssssssshhhhhhhhht*
The sound of gas being leaked into the room was very apparent.
Ranma looked around him and blinked. "Then again, maybe."
Arak quickly wet a sheet and tore into three pieces, handing it to each of his companions.
Ranma took the sheet and gestured toward Rayden. "Rayden, make us some air holes."
Rayden took the wet cloth and walked toward one of the windows. "Yes sir."
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh yes, this is wonderful!" exclaimed the happy young woman, as she looked out at the sprawling city below. It was brightly lit, and exuded a feeling of relaxation, unlike the ugly, industrial look of Coruscant or Drelmin.
Her fiancee walked up and slipped his arms around her as they gazed out from the balcony of their hotel room.
"It is, isn't it," he whispered into his ear as she blushed.
*Clang!* *Clang!*
They both blinked, then looked up in time to see two large, heavily dented metal plates fall from the room above them, followed by a short shower of glass. They looked down to see the people below scatter just before the objects hit, kicking up dirt and concrete.
His fiancee held him close. "Wh-what's going on?" she asked fearfully.
He looked up to the room above to see two large holes where the room's windows used to be. There was a thick, purple smoke of some sort escaping from the windows and rising into the sky.
"I have no idea."

Inside the room above, one would expect the situation to be panicked. Actually, it was far from it. The gas that was supposed to kill the room's inhabitants rose harmlessly to the ceiling, and then flowed out the new "windows". Given that this was a super deluxe luxury suite, the ceiling was fairly high, so Ranma and company had little trouble avoiding the fumes. Ranma was currenlty finishing his packing, as Arak and Rayden stood by, awaiting orders. Ranma would've been whistling a tune if he didn't have a wet cloth over his nose and mouth.
Ranma locked up his suitcase, then turned towards an unopened suitcase and broke the lock in his hand.
Rayden and Arak glanced at each other, then smiled. So, he was going to use that.
Ranma slid the suitcase towards Arak and nodded, then he turned towards the phone and dialed the number for the front desk. He removed the cloth from his face.
"Hello, I'd like to report a bomb in the building... Yes, I'm positive. It's on the 24th floor and will detonate in 15 minutes. I suggest you evacuate the building." Ranma turned towards Arak and Rayden. "Well, you heard me. Now get going!"
They nodded, and Arak picked up the bomb as Rayden opened the door with a powerful kick. They hadn't bothered to bring their normal armaments with them, as it would take a lot of time and resources to get them all through the detectors, but they had to take something with them, in case of an emergency like this one. So, Ranma had picked out one of Arak's special explosives.
Arak and Rayden left, Rayden toting their luggage with him. Ranma picked up his own bags and jumped out the window.

The man peered up at the room above them, trying to figure out what could possibly be happening. His eyes widened as he saw someone jump out of the hole in the building and he stumbled backwards, nearly knocking over his fiancee. The man landed on the balcony, upright and unharmed.
'Shoot, I forgot about the balconies. I was trying to get to the street.'
Ranma turned to the couple, and quickly bowed.
"Sorry about that. It was an accident, really."
The woman steadied herself behind the man and then angrily turned to face Ranma.
"Sorry? SORRY?! It's- um... no trouble at all."
Ranma smiled at her. "Oh, that's good to hear."
As the woman swooned, her fiacee quickly got very angry.
"You there! What to you think you're doing?!"
The woman turned to her fiancee. "Oh, you're still here?"
Ranma smiled again, this time to the man.
"Sorry about this. I'll be on my way now. By the way, there's a bomb in this hotel, so I suggest you get out. See ya!"
The woman yelled out as Ranma jumped over the edge of the balcony and out to the street, which was still a good 70 feet below.
"No, wait! Don't jump!"

Many people on the ground were quit surprised when a man carrying two large suitcases fell out of the sky and onto the street. Many more were surprised when he didn't go *splat* when he landed, completely unhurt, and smiling. But the most people were surprised when a huge rush of people, many of them badly panicking and some not fully dressed, came running out of the hotel as if their lives depended on it. Which is understandable, because their lives did depend on it.

Two police officers arrived to help traffic out of the hotel.
"There has been a bomb threat! The security of the building has been compromised! All civilians are to leave the area in a calm and orderly manner!"

Rayden and Arak met up with Ranma as they made their way through the crowd. They backed off to where a crowd of people were watching and waited. Ranma looked at his his watch, counting off the seconds until the scheduled explosion.
"6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
Nothing happened.
Ranma raised an eyebrow as Rayden and Arak started sweating nervously.
*KAAABOOOOOM!!!!*
The middle of the hotel exploded outward, and a shockwave traveled through the entire foundation, causing the building to collapse in on itself. Rayden blinked, then checked his watch as the dust settled.
"Oops. My bad. Chrono's slow." Arak facefaulted. Ranma just shrugged.
"Oh well, so much for our first day of vacation. Now we need to find another hotel." Ranma took out a brochure and started walking down the street.
"I hope the next one doesn't hire assassins," said Arak as he followed.
"Yeah, we only brought one bomb." Arak facefaulted again.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"So this is what's it's like to actually relax at a beach," Rayden looked around, and decided that he liked it. The only other time he'd been on a beach was when they were salvaging a wrecked ship, and that didn't leave him much time to sit down and enjoy it.
"So Arak, about how much do you think that this place is worth?" Ranma gestured to the gigantic hotel behind them.
"Offhand... I'd say around 8 million credits. Why?"
"Oh, just in case we come back and decide to threaten to blow this place up."
*Gulp*
Ranma turned at the quiet noise, to see one of the beach waitresses nervously putting down his drink. Upon seeing she'd been noticed, she quickly turned to scurry away.
"Stop."
The word seemed to paralyze the woman, and she felt a chill down her spine as Ranma took hold of her hand...... and dropped a stack of coins in it.
"Wha-"
"Your tip. Don't spend it all in one place."
Ranma smiled as the woman looked at him confusedly and then ran off with the money. He turned toward Rayden.
"They're cute when they're afraid for their lives, aren't they?"
Rayden chuckled.

Ranma sighed as he leaned back in his beach chair, just relaxing like anyone else on the beach. He took a sip of his soda. He watched a group of kids play volleyball. He leaned his head to the side as a blaster bolt zipped by...
Ranma frowned as Rayden and Arak fell out of their chairs in surprise. A blaster bolt?
Ranma sat up, avoiding another laser that put a hole in his lounge chair.
Ranma calmly walked toward the group of guards who were looking around frantically for the sniper. He stopped halfway, allowing another blast to hit the sand.
One of the guards stopped and stared as Ranma approached him, casually ducking to avoid a laser bolt. He walked up to him, took a step back to avoid another bolt, then pointed to the guard's blaster.
"May I borrow that please?"
The man was so confused that he handed over his gun without a word.
Ranma twirled the blaster around in his hand, pointed it quickly towards the hotel, and fired.
The rest of the guards blinked as a scream of pain echoed from one of the distant hotel balconies, and a body fell down to the beach.
Ranma looked at his handiwork and frowned, handing the gun back to the guard.
"Hmm. Hit him in the leg. My eyesight must be going."
The guard was too shocked to disagree.

Ranma walked back toward his friends, who had started up a game of cards during all the commotion. "You get him?" Rayden asked, not looking up.
"Yeah. I think somebody here is determined to kill us. If we want to enjoy the rest of our vacation, we should probably find out who they are and pay them a visit."
Arak nodded as he put down another card. "That we should."
"But for now..." Ranma snapped his fingers at a nearby waitress, "another cola over here!"
__________________________________________________________________________________

"You said you have the Wild Horse?" Chief of the police, officer Takenza, excitedly asked the docking manager, Mr. Tai. He wasn't so excited because this was his chance to arrest some very wanted criminals, but because the Wild Horse was a very advanced ship. Contrary to what one would think, the chief was there to assist in the theft of several spacecraft. The Triar Syndicate, which commonly worked for much larger criminal organizations, had agents in every level of government and planetary security. For the last 12 years, they had been stealing ships from wealthy tourists right under their noses.
"Hello Mr. Tai, Officer Takenza," the guard waved to each of them casually, then went back to looking for criminals who would steal the docked space ships.

The two men entered the hangar and beheld the ship before them.
"It seems awfully big for just three people, huh?" Tai chuckled at his observation, then turned serious.
"Which reminds me, did you take care of its former owners? Anyone else we would just tell that their ship was stolen, but these guys are smarter than that. And I really don't want to get on their bad side."
"Don't worry about, I've got my best men on the job. Now let's take this ship."
Takenza took out a keypad, then pushed a combination of buttons on it. The door to the Wild Horse opened, and the polic chief walked in.

'Now let's see, where's that bridge?' Takenza thought to himself as he walked into the hull of the ship. Suddenly, a thin viewscreen lowered itself from the ceiling to right in front of him. The viewscreen activated, to show a picture of a red sensor lens on a steel gray background. Takenza blinked.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF," the senor lens asked.
Takenza blinked again, and then backed off slightly, only to bump into something. Looking behind him, he found two floating orbs with a red sensor each that matched the one on the viewscreen. He turned back to the viewscreen and spoke.
"Who-what are you?"
"I AM RAC, WILD HORSE SENTIENT COMPUTER SYSTEM. YOU ARE AN INTRUDER. IDENTIFY YOURSELF."
"Er....... I'm police chief Takenza, and this ship is being confiscated for-"
"UNACCEPTABLE."
"Is that so? What are you going to do about it?"
At that moment, two autoguns popped out of the ceiling, and aimed at Takenza.
"HAVE A NICE DAY."
*Rattattattattattattatta*

At the sound of gunfire, Mr. Tai was about to go investigate the ship himself, when the entry hatch closed by itself. Also, he noted, the primary turbolaser mounted right under the head of the ship had just turned toward him...
*Scree* *Kroom!*
Tai was disintigrated instantly.
The guard, who had already had way too much excitement that week, entered at the sound of a laser cannon being fired, to find the main turbolaser battery aiming at him.
He froze like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.
Then an electronic-sounding voice came from the ship.
"ESTIMATED THREAT: MINIMAL. YOUR DESTRUCTION IS NOT YET NECESSARY. YOU DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING HERE. TURN AROUND AND WALK AWAY."
The guard's legs suddenly unlocked, and he immediately left to write his resignation letter.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Police captain Garrat checked his watch and sighed for what had to be the 148th time since the chief left. He once again started fiddling with his communicator, expecting it to beep at any moment. Takenza had been ordered to contact him when he had taken the Wild Horse, and give Garrat a report on the sort of stuff that was inside. Given that the ship belonged to one of the most powerful and successful pirates in the galaxy, it was expected that the cargo alone would be worth more than half of the Triar Syndicate.
But Takenza hadn't called back! Where was he?!
He could be out joyriding in the ship... no, he would never do anything so foolish. It had taken a lot of effort to keep the "real" police from finding out about Ranma's presence on Triar, and Takenza wouldn't risk being spotted in the middle of a heist.

*Beep* "Sir, Mr. Hiryu is here to see you."
Garrat puched the button on the speaker linked to his secretary's desk, "Yes, send him in."

Mr. Hiryu, to many of the officers he passed on his way to meet the captain and chief, was a government agent who occasionally stopped by to give special orders to Takenza.
In fact, he was the leader of a group of assassins who occasionally stopped by to recieve special orders from Takenza.

Garrat smiled warmly, then opened a suitcase to reveal several stacks of credits inside. Hiryu looked expressionlessly at the cash, and then raised his head to look at the captain.

"Where's Takenza?"
"He's... acquiring a cerain item, now that its former owner is no longer of this world. I assume you took care of him?"
Hiryu looked at him for a moment, then answered as he reached for the briefcase.
"No, not yet."
The briefcase slammed shut. Hiryu looked up to find Garrat glaring at him.
"The deal was cash on delivery. If you don't deliver, you don't get the cash."
Hiryu slammed his hand on the table, causing the whole thing to shake.
"Don't you give me that! This guy ain't like all those pathetic rich losers or politicians we've had to take care of before. Ranma's different."
Garrat just rolled his eyes.
"Oh please. Just snipe the fool."
"Tried that. He avoided 5 shots before firing back with a normal blaster carbine and hitting our guy on the first shot."
Garrat blinked. "Okay, so kill him in his sleep."
"Tried that last night. Our guy came back with lots of bruises and cracked bones, claiming that Saotome fought him off in his sleep."
Garrat raised an eyebrow. "Is your organization truly so pathetic?"
Hiryu glared at him, and then replied flatly. "Saotome's like nothing we've had to deal with before. He's stronger, faster, tougher, smarter, and a better shot than any agents we've got."
"And don't you forget it!"

The two men turned, and then went pale as they found Ranma in the corner of the office. He was wearing his "I know something you don't want me to know" grin.
Hiryu tried to draw his blaster, but had it grabbed away from him before he could take aim. Ranma quickly put the gun up to the man's neck and fired.
The police captain paled further as Hiryu's corpse hit the floor, then quickly tried to calm himself. Ranma looked at him and smiled.
"Well well well, I was wondering why the police would hire assassins to take care of me. That is, until I found out your little secret."
Garrat tried to avoid paling further and clasped his hands together in front of him. Then he spoke in what he hoped was a controlled tone of voice.
"So, you're still alive. I'm impressed. I'd like to ask if you'd be interested in a position in our little organization."
Ranma laughed. "Well, let me think... you tried to kill me several times, you ruined my vacation, you made me come all the way up here just so I could take care of all of it...... hmm, I'd say no."
"Talent like yours is hard to come by, except maybe in Jedi Knights, it'd be a shame to have to kill you."
Ranma laughed again. "Now there's an empty threat if I've ever heard one. Besides, if I wanted to have a position in an organization, I wouldn't choose one as small and pathetic as this."
With that, Ranma tore the whole desk up from the floor and tossed it into the wall, preventing Garrat from hitting the hidden button that would've alerted the entire force to that room. Garrat gulped.
"So you're going to kill me?"
Ranma smiled again. "No, I think that punishment for all your other evil deeds will be enough."
Ranma took out a communicator and pushed the button.
"Arak, give them the tape."
Garrat smirked. "How quaint. No doubt it's a tape holding all the proof of my involvement in the Syndicate that you're handing over to the authorities?"
"Not just your involvement. Arak found it rather easy to hack into your files. Oh, and we're not giving it to the authorities."
Garrat blinked. "You're not?"
"No, I'm sure that nearly everyone with the authority to process the information is working for you, and that officers that supply that information have a habit of mysteriously 'disappearing'. So I'm putting it where it will do the most good. The press."
Garrat paled. Again. Most sheets would have been jealous by now.
Ranma picked up the suitcase full of credits and made his way to the window.
"Yup, by tomorrow, everyone with a shred of creditibility will either be ratting you out or investigating you."
Ranma gave a last smile as he opened the window. "You messed with the wrong guy, captain."
He jumped.

The police captain, who, by next week, would be locked up in prison for life, fell back into his chair like he was made of lead.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma, Rayden, and Arak made their way into the hangar, carrying their luggage behind them. They stopped in front of the Wild Horse, and Ranma called out to it.

"Yo Rac, anything happen while we were gone?"
The entry ramp lowered itself, and the ship answered.
"WE HAD TWO INTRUDERS. ONE WAS IDENTIFIED AS POLICE CHIEF RONALD TOKENZA. THE OTHER WAS UNABLE TO BE IDENTIFIED BECAUSE THERE WERE NO REMAINS."
Ranma blinked and turned towards a spot in the hangar.
"So that's what the big black mark is!"
The three proceeded into the ship.
"Rac! You didn't even get rid of the body?! It stinks in here!"
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma sat down on the bridge of the Wild Horse and sighed. They had come here for a vacation, and all they did was blow up a hotel, kill a few people, break up a small crime ring, and steal a couple thousand credits. True, they had fun, but he had come here to relax.
Rayden turned to him. "So where to now?"
Ranma looked at him for a moment, then called out to the computer.
"Rac, figure a course for Coruscant."
Arak turned a questioning look toward his leader. "We're going to Coruscant?"
"Yeah, but first, we'd better make a little stop."
__________________________________________________________________________________

A young man exited a building, whistling to himself as he pocketed a wad of credits. His whistling started to slow, and then he stopped all together, as he watched a bright blue streak head toward the bank he just walked out of. There was an Earth-jarring shake as the proton torpedo impacted, spraying duracrete and metal everywhere. Then a large, red ship descended quickly from the clouds, its laser cannons tearing up the side of the bank. The young man thanked the gods that he already made his withdrawal and proceeded to run for his life.

Aboard the bridge of the Wild Horse, Ranma and his friends were just getting back into the spirit of pirating again.
"Rac! Bring up the blueprints of that building!"
At Ranma's request, one of the floating spheres hovered nearby and generated a hologram of the bank's structure.
"Adjust firing angle by 38 degrees port, and break through that safe wall! Rayden, get ready to load the credits into the cargo bay!"
"I'm reading two corvettes coming at our flank!" Arak yelled.
Ranma responded. "Lock turrets 8 through 11 onto those ship on their approach! Feed power from the forward deflector screen into the weapons systems and prepare to fire the hyper laser!"

Outside, the spectators watched in awe and fear as the Wild Horse started trading fire with the desperately outmatched corvettes, which were trying to buy time for the cruisers to arrive. A rather large hatch popped open beneath one of the Wild Horse's wings, and an oversized beam cannon popped out. The barrel glowed briefly, and then a hot, yellow, continuous beam shot out of it, digging deep into the armored bank safe. Soon it carved a reasonably sized hole in the thick metal wall, and the laser retracted itself as the other turrets directed their fire on the incoming ships.
Soon the Wild Horse landed, still firing at the ships, which had lost shields and were starting to catch fire in various places.
Two minutes later the light frigate was airborn again, and rising past the smoldering wrecks that used to be modified Corellian Corvettes.
Everyone below thought that the pirates were certain to be caught when they started to see the outline of three light cruisers through the clouds. Then the Wild Horse disappeared.

Back on the bridge......
"Cloaking device engaged. We're outta here!" Arak exclaimed.
"They can't risk firing down without missing and hitting something below. Score."
Ranma laughed and took out some bottles. "This calls for a celebration!"
Rayden quickly filled his glass and swallowed it in one gulp. "Now this is how to reduce stress!"
Ranma lifted his glass. "To the Republic!"
"To the Republic!"
"To the Empire!"
"............... Which one?"
"Um, Jurian!"
"To the Jurian Empire!"
"To the Confederacy!"
"To the Confederacy!"
"And...... to our pocketbooks!"
"TO OUR POCKETBOOKS!!!!!"
There was much rejoicing.

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End Chapter 2