In part because I was looking for some reason Jet and Ford would be working together on troubleshooting missions.... without making Ford a troubleshooter herself, and partly because it fits with Ford's Gunsmith Cats inspiration, I've been thinking about Bounty Hunting in Fenspace.

There's bound to be Cowboy Bebop fen up there too,

The reason is simple enough. The Space Patrol aren't that big an organisation, compared to the size and complexity of Fenspace, and weren't generally able to pursue fleeing felons as thoroughly as they'd like. At the 2014 Convention, [[Some Fen] proposed that the Convention legalise and regulate Bounty Hunting as a solution, inspired by Cowboy Bebop. It was a controversial suggestion, with some vehement arguments against from some Fen who felt that it would be intruding on Patrol territory, that it opened the gates to vigilante justice.... and any number of valid and reasoned arguments I can't quite think of

The motion passed by a fair margin, though some stations and settlement have opted to ban bounty hunters within their own jurisdiction.

The system established was somewhat inspired by the source, but is much more heavily regulated. Bounty Hunters must apply for a license from a local Space Patrol officer, demonstrating that they are 'of good character' and have had no prior run-ins with the law in Fenspace. In general, they would also be called for an interview, be required to demonstrate some competency beyond the ability to fill in a form, and not be of obviously impaired judgement. Bounty Hunter licenses are issued for a year(365*24hours) and must be renewed at the end of each year. Renewal can be refused 'for good reason'. A license can also be revoked for misconduct or criminal acts. It can be somewhat arbitrary, and depends on how friendly the local Patrol are to the prospective hunter.

(Basically, like getting a Firearms certificate in the UK or Ireland. )

Bounty hunters are required to bring their bounty in alive and in a condition fit for justice to get paid.... though are authorised to use lethal force for defence. In general, any bounty hunter shooting a bounty is going to be required to give a very good reason in front of the local patrol. Bounty Hunters are also held responsible for any collateral damage they cause in the course of capturing the bounty.... so in practice have to be far more careful about using force than popular fiction depicts. Active members of the Space Patrol and Operation Great Justice are prohibited from registering as bounty hunters.

Bounties are posted through the Space Patrol, and the patrol maintains a list of bounties on the interwave, kept publicly accessible. Bounties are set according to the crimes committed by the subject, and often include rewards posted by victims along with the patrol bounty. Bounties are paid on presentation of the fugitive in a condition fit to face justice to a space patrol officer, along with a valid bounty-hunting license.

The highest bounty yet posted is that posted on the head of Asmodeus Grey, who is specifically wanted alive. It's boosted further by reward money offered by a number of different individuals and Fen corporations, to the point where it's more than enough to buy your own L5 Station and be set for life, but as of October 2014, nobody has yet claimed it.

Bounty Hunters are occasionally known as Cowboys, Jubals or Blade Runners, depending on the Fen. Some are former cops, or demobbed OGJ. Most have acquired a small network of reliable contacts who can feed them leads on fugitives, in exchange for a cut of the bounty or a flat fee. Most bounty hunters are pragmatic individuals, who might well overlook a small fry if they're able to provide good information on a bigger fish with a bigger reward. Bounty Hunters rely on their reputations far more than a cop, both with the Space Patrol, and among their sources... and often walk a precarious balance keeping both sides happy. Bounty Hunting is most common in the frontier parts of Mars and Serenity Valley, but Hunters can be found all over Fenspace.

There are a few career Bounty Hunters going after the big rewards, but the vast majority see it as something of a side-dish, to add a little variety to their lives. Most only chase up prospective bounties within their local settlement. Ford Sierra is one such Bounty Hunter, maintaining her mechanic's shop as her main source of income, and Bounty Hunting on her spare time, or if a particularly nice fish just landed at Marsbase Sara.

A few Bounty Hunters will work alongside a troubleshooter. The troubleshooter gets access to the bounty hunters contacts, while the bounty hunter gets access to the troubleshooter's target... sometimes they can have big bounties on them.

------------

Thoughts? Flames?.... And I can't remember the name of that show on Cowboy Bebop.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

All right.  Per the IST thread, I'll be posting images of the Warriors here as I work on them.  I'll make a post with the existing Silverbolt shortly.
This is a very rough version right now (less than 80 samples) of Doug.  I know I need a different outfit for him, and I'm looking for it.  The girl is Rose.
The conversation with MonkeyFist went:
Me:  "Does he look amused or like a doofus?"
MF:  "That's not an 'or' question."
Me:  "Bite me!"
Edit: Deleted image to post new one lower.

I'm very sad now.
Elisabeth Sladen--Sarah Jane Smith from Doctor Who--died today.
News clip

A craft idea I've been kicking around for a while as part of redoing Dakota.

"Yes
she's mostly made of foam and fiberglass. Sure, laugh, she got me to
-orbit- and beyond. I'd not trade her for anything in the world. Oh? no
one would want that death trap? I've gotten offers for her from
macross fen, even a few from the Aussies wanting to look her
over." - Dakota to a tourist

Ship: “Junkyard Lynx”
Base Hull: F-14 Tomcat Mock-up
Owner/Pilot: Dakota
Launched:

History:
The Junkyard Lynx
started life as a full-scale replica of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Dakota
found her languishing in pieces in a old junkyard along with some other
replicas of aviation related items.

Her
main pre-wave construction is fiberglass over a hard but carvable foam.
A center frame of welded steel links the landing gear together and
provides a frame for the rest of the parts to attach to. With a
extension that runs out under where the seats would be.

Given
the care shown towards making sure parts that should move could and
thoughts towards wiring runs between the pieces. Has caused Dakota to
suspect that she was a abandoned fencraft project.(Or a interactive
museum mock-up that was never finished.)  She had clearly been siting
there for a while from the weathering.

While
Dakota doesn’t like the thought of having stolen the work of another
fen. Even if it was abandoned work. Him having a blue fur(hair) moment
when he realized he had a nearly intact plane hull, took that decision
right out of his hands. The uncontrollable cackling didn’t help matters
ether.

Her
aviation suit is cobbled together from whatever he could get his hands
on in the junkyard. It works, but confuses anyone else that tries to
pilot her beyond the basics.

Markings

She bares the VF-84 Jolly Rogers markings.

Quirks

Kick the tires, light the fires:
Needs to be said inside the cockpit before the engines will start.
Actually kicking the tires and throwing a match into a intake will work
as well.

Show off: There is a noticeable improvement in performance when kids are watching.

Nothing rides like a Cadillac: Even
when flying with full afterburner the ride remains smooth. Though the
cornering sucks.... and the trim inside's all plasticky and rattly....
like all Cadillacs.

I spy with my little radar: Her sensors more powerful then what one would expect from a craft of her size.

Cat-a-Pult-ed: When using a non-runway surface to take off, she launches as if she is being catapulted from the deck of a carrier.

Tomboy: Most people get the impression that the F-14 is female after being in it’s presence for a while.

Close, but no cigar: Anyone
looking closely or having worked on real F-14s. Will notice some of her
angles are little too sharp and some minor details are missing that
aren’t normally seen.

Weapons:

One 40mil coilgun

Six AIM-54-B Screamin’ Phoenix long range missiles.

“More then one Bosk pilot has learned the hard way that he’s already in range when a phoenix comes screamin’ out of the dark.”

Weapon Quirk

In space no one can hear your scream:
The phoenix has a rather comically long fire plume when fired. This has
the down side of making them rather noticeable by the target, but also
rather intimidating on the upside.
_______________________________________________________________
Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota

One of the regulars at DeviantArt, GreenLantern24601, has been doing soda labels featuring CoX characters. Flavors include Mountain Dew Enriche and Pepsi Nemesis Plot. Pretty clever stuff.
And, speaking of Enriche... the Randalls supermarket chain here in the US has a store-brand called "Refreshe." Coincidence? That's just what they want you think!
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

Tokyopop Shutting Down note that the article is not dated April 1.
Quoting the first bit of the article...

Quote:The comics publishing culling of 2011 claimed its most prominent victim
as it was announced today that Tokyopop is shutting down its US
operations, as of May 31. The German office will stay open to handle
publishing rights and the film division will continue.

I had some ideas about this (unwritten) part of Fen history and wanted some feedback about a possible prologue... it should be compatible with the two forum threads I found with stuff about SerenityCon:

http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/rep ... renity-con
http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... kone-Prime

What do you think... interesting enough to keep working on it ?

The last time I did this, we turned a FenWiki stub into http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Lalande_21185]a full article about a place we probably otherwise wouldn't have ever written up - so I'm trying it again.

I've just added an image to the page for http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Ross_128]Ross 128, the eighth-closest stellar system to Sol. Other than the dry astronomical data, it's the only content on the page. Here it is as a thumbnail:



The challenge: Tell me about the image...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

(April 15), go do so now, and enjoy.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

http://store.bandai-ent.com/category_s/180.htm]%[link=http://store.bandai-ent.com/category_s/180.htm]http://store.bandai-ent.com/category_s/180.htm] - from a quick glance, this looks like everything's half-price. (At least, there are a few box sets I want to buy that are at half-price...) I don't know how long the sale will be on.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012