Mad’s Dash
Out in the Easternly reaches of the rim, Kolde’ta sat relatively undisturbed. Settled long ago by an empire lost to the annals of history, the people there lived their mundane lives as they always had. Unfortunately, a coup d’état was brewing within the planet’s major cities.
The cost of living had far exceeded the means that could be achieved through city life. As such, they turned to far more extreme forms of government. A fascist party was formed, and quickly swept through the cities. It’s propaganda swindled the desperate with it’s false promises, and it’s followers silenced the few who poked holes through the flimsy logic. Most worryingly of all, it spread into the Military, and through the combination of civilian militia, and the indoctrinated military, there was little that Parliament could do when they marched on the capital.
such a revolution was welcomed by Madilta’s family. Her entire family had seen some sort of position that was either directly under, or aided by the military. Matilda however detested the government as they continued to restrict her personal rights and made her family’s life harder.
The Government decided that, in order to deliver on their promises of securing the lifestyle of those in the city, they had to increase the tax on those in the countryside. As a result, Matilda’s family now struggled to make end’s meet. But, they still continued to act as if the Facist Government could do no wrong as the food disappeared from their dinner table.
Luckily, Matilda was rather unsurprisingly not alone in her hatred of the dictatorial regime that had spread over their country. She partook in riots, joined partisan groups and spoke her mind to anyone who would listen. This quickly backfired as she rather quickly said the wrong thing to the wrong people and found herself with a target on her back. She knew that her family would pose no support, and would likely serve the state’s interest. As such, a plan was formed.
Her survival at this point almost entirely relied on her ability to get off-world. But, doing so was easier said than done. The government had nationalised nearly all of the shipping companies going off of the planet and closely controlled what went in or out. She would need to make a mad dash to a spaceport and find a way to smuggle herself off-world. Her main saving grace would be the old car they kept in the barn. It was dusty and old, but she had taken the time to refurbish it with her grandfather when she was younger and she was sure it would get her where she needed to be. It was settled then; She would pack her bags and leave later that night. Once everyone was asleep she grabbed her bags and made her way out of the house.
Once she had gotten to the bottom of the stairs, she saw her great-grandfather’s rifle and revolver sitting up over the mantle place. “Perfect.” she thought to herself, She pulled a chair over, pulled them both from their display case and ran to the barn. She knew that her great-grandfather bought ammunition for his old guns when he had left the military and had kept it in the barn with all of his old military kit. All she was able to find was two boxes, or 80 rounds for the rifle, and 32 bullets for the revolver.
Both of the guns were laughably old and antiquated, but they were better than nothing, and would have to do. Matilda grabbed the keys to the old car and put them into the ignition. The engine coughed and sputtered several times, but would not start. She turned the engine over again, but got similar results.
Panic set in as the lights came on in her house, the sound of the engine had woken them up. “Shit…” Matilda cranked the engine again, pulling back the choke and feathering the throttle. “Start you fucking bastard!” She slammed her fist into the steering wheel, and almost like clockwork, the motor coughed to life.
“YES! FUCK YES!” it was at this time where the front door to her house would slam close, her father had heard the engine start, and she doubted he was happy. Matilda quickly put the car into gear and floored it out of the barn, driving right past her father and then down the road out of the family farm. She could’ve sworn that he had yelled something at her as she drove past, but she couldn’t pick-up as to what it was. Frankly, she didn’t care either, there was little he could do to stop her now, she was already gone.
The next day, her family would call the police informing them that their daughter had ran away. Officially they would place a warrant for her arrest so she could be returned to her family, but behind the scenes all hell was breaking loose as it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was trying to get off world. As such, a bounty for her capture would go out through most comercial channels for those who were willing to take the job. The description read as follows:
"22 year old female named Matilda, may go by “Mads”. Last seen in an olive drab jacket, tank-top and grey pants, driving a Green TR6. Subject is Armed and presumed to be dangerous, wanted alive."
