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A Hunter's Tale
As the Clone Wars were ending, bringing a period of law and order to the new Galactic Empire, people slowly discovered that this law and order only extended as far as the Empire's grasp, which was particularly weak in the worlds of the Outer Rim. As a result, crime lords and smugglers began to shift their operations to these remote worlds, which immediately suffered from their influence.
What was a local government or wealthy legitimate businessman to do? Hire a gang, a mercenary, or better still... a bounty hunter.
For those who were so inclined, the life of a bounty hunter could be quite profitable, albeit dangerous, always officially operating just inside the law, but frequently having to step fairly far outside it's range.
One of the most useful tools for a bounty hunter operating on a small planet is a speeder bike or swoop, usually a fairly common vehicle that is then heavily modified and armed.
Each one comes with a story. This is one such story.
T-42b Swoop Bike
Manufacturer: Aratech Repulsor Company
Model: T-42b
Class: Swoop (Modified)
Length: 4.6 meters
Maximum speed: 600 km/h
Maximum altitude: 25 meters
Armament:
2 Frame Mounted Taim & Bak Light Blaster Cannons
2 Galthor Technologies Heavy Ion Guns
Crew: Pilot (1)
Cargo capacity: 6 kilograms (Rear Compartment)
Our story opens on the remote planet of Xanthor 7, a hot and dry planet not entirely unlike Tatooine, but dammit, how many times can we end up on that same stupid planet? The terrain is mostly made up of white bleached flats and lot of sandy hills, thus the incredibly boring background in our images.
Front Left View
Here you can see both the frame mounted Taim & Bak light blaster cannons positioned under the steering vanes and the Galthor Technologies heavy ion guns mounted directly in front of the steering controls. The blaster cannons can be used to help cripple a fleeing speeder or other small vehicle and the ion cannons can be used to disable it's engines, a droid, or any other electronics they might hit.
To the left of the pilot is a mounted but removable Xana Exotic Arms L52 Liberator, a particularly nasty heavy blaster capable of taking down a bantha in one shot. Imagine what that would do to your average criminal.
Front Right View
From this angle, you can see that our bounty hunter also carries a Blastech E-11 heavy blaster rifle and a pair of specially upgraded binocs within handy reach for those long range scouting jobs.
Back Right View
A good view of the engine and cargo compartment which can be used to carry additional supplies. It is quite possible to camp out for as long as a week with supplies carried by this swoop. Longer if one doesn't mind the lack of bathing.
Back Left View
Another view of the engine and the Xana Exotic Arms L52 Liberator.
Side View
The side profile of the T-42b. Note the curved shape of this model, which is what differentiates it from a normal speeder and puts it in the swoop class. The repulsor nature of this swoop causes it to tilt forward slightly when unoccupied. What appears to be a clear disc under it is just an illusion created by the displacement of sand as it hovers.
And here is our bounty hunter, the not particularly infamous Imperial Shadows.
You'll notice that he's well armoured and carrying both a small blaster and a lightsaber. Don't ask me where he got that, he's no jedi and he'll probably end up cutting his own arm off eventually.
His armour is primarily salvaged Clone armour from a commander who clearly didn't fare as well as he has. The robes are actually covering full climate controlled body armour to keep him comfortable in all conditions. The eyepatch is a cleverly disguised video display that links him to his ship's computers, a number of remote droid cameras and an extended sensor array located in his helmet. Plus 382 channels of holovid broadcasts... and still nothing worth watching.
What? You want to know what's under his helmet? Well, ok...
It's dark blue, dammit!
Huh? Under that? Oh, well, er, uh...
Not a word. Not a single word or
And on that note, it's time for him to leave: he has a target to find, which means it's time to hit the local information brokers.
It's really bright out today, look at all that glare.
After a long day visiting cantinas looking for information, we see our hero sleeping off his drunk.
Just another day in the exciting life of a
