Session 1

It wasn't easy being a criminal.

Life on the run was not nearly as thrilling as the movies made it out to be, and unfortunately for Quinn, this life was her reality. For the past 9 months Quinn had been running from police, government officials, bounty hunters, and anyone else who had a problem with her. Life wasn't as easy as it used to be, and needless to say, Quinn was majorly burnt out.

As she finished the last sip of her drink, she wondered if she'd ever have the chance to sleep in a warm bed again. The thought made her sick, and as she placed her empty glass down on the counter she figured it would be her last. But that's what she had thought about the last 3 drinks; or was it 4? She couldn't quite remember.

Spending a night at the bar used to be something she enjoyed. It always meant she had accomplished another hard day at work or finished another grueling project, but not anymore. This was her reality almost every night and it was really starting to get old. At first it was fun, living life on the edge and surviving like a real movie runaway, but it had been months since a home cooked meal had hit her stomach and the comfort her old life gave her was now becoming nothing more than a distant memory.

Moments after her glass had hit the counter top, the familiar jingle of a door bell indicated that a new patron had just entered the bar. Quinn looked around for a moment, and noticed the bar was far from being full. Plenty of empty seats were scattered throughout the room, but to Quinn's dismay, the patron who had just entered decided to make himself comfortable in the seat next to her.

Quinn mentally cursed to herself as she heavily judged the patrons bar etiquette. There were plenty of empty seats along the counter and of course it was just her luck that this guy wanted to sit next to her. Even in her downtime she was never able to catch a break.

She didn't think much of his presence and she certainly didn't want to give off any signs of interest, so she gave him nothing more than a side eyed glance. She swirled around the ice in her empty cup as the man dug around in his coat pocket before flicking out a lighter. In her peripheral she saw that he had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

The lighter flicked on and within seconds the pungent odor of cigarette smoke began to fill the air around her. It didn't surprise her that he was a smoker, and judging by the tacky blue jacket he was wearing she figured he was nothing more than a lowlife like herself. But even then, she didn't want to associate herself with someone like that.

"An old fashioned please," the man suddenly called out as he raised a finger. The bartender gave him a nod before preparing to fix his drink.

"Actually," the stranger paused for a second before glancing towards Quinn.

"Make it two," he added, and the bartended nodded in response.

Quinn rolled her eyes as she placed her empty glass on the countertop.

"Thanks," she sighed audibly before propping her elbow up onto the counter.

"But I'm not interested," she added before turning to face the mystery man.

Between the smoke filled air and the dimness of the bar lights Quinn could barely make out what he looked like. His shirt collar was unusually popped out and while she couldn't quite make out much more of his appearance she knew she had never encountered him before.

He raised a hand to his lips before pulling the cigarette out of his mouth. He let the smoke drain slowly through a small side smile while he kept the cigarette between his fingers. He maintained a steady forward gaze and if Quinn hadn't been the one to start the conversation she wouldn't have guessed that he was talking to her at all.

"I didn't ask if you were interested," he mumbled through the smoke before the bartender slid the drinks down the counter.

The stranger caught both before sliding one to Quinn. She gave a nod towards the bartender before taking a sip. The man was silent as she drank, and for awhile the only sound between the two of them was the sharp clinking of ice hitting against the inside of their cups. It was clear he wasn't much of a gentleman, and considering the fact that he hadn't even made the effort to introduce himself, Quinn found that his intentions were quite clear.

"I'm not as easy as I may appear," Quinn stated hesitantly as she watched the condensation drip down the edge of her cup. The man laughed.

"Don't flatter yourself," he smirked before lifting the glass to his lips. Quinn scoffed before turning towards him.

"Is this your whole schtick?" Quinn grumbled as her eyebrows knit together in anger. She had seen too many men like him, and she wasn't going to let him pick her up no matter how many drinks he bought her. To be fair what he said wasn't necessarily an insult, but the tone behind it was more than enough to piss Quinn off.

"My schtick?" The man cocked his head to the side as he turned to face her.

Quinn gulped as her eyes locked with his. He was without a doubt an attractive man, but Quinn wasn't so easily persuaded. Even the idea of sleeping in a warm bed for the first time in months wasn't enough for her to give in to a guy like himself.

"You come here, act like an arrogant frat boy and hope a girl falls for you? Pathetic, keep it in your pants asshole," She scoffed before slamming down the rest of her drink. The man kept his mouth shut as he turned his head away from Quinn. She was relatively tipsy if not drunk, and in this state her anger seemed to bubble to the surface faster than any other emotion available. Once the mans gaze was directed elsewhere, Quinn attempted to hop off the barstool.

"I'm not here to pick you up," he groaned before nudging Quinn back onto her seat. She felt her heart leap into her throat as his body came in contact with hers.

"What kinda sick joke is this?" Quinn sneered as she felt something cold hit the skin beneath her ribcage. A familiar feeling of tension washed over her as adrenaline began pumping through her veins. Of course over her many months of running she had had many guns pointed at her, on her, and in her (she didn't like to talk about that one) yet despite how common the occurrence was, she never really got used to the feeling of it.

"You've been running for quite some time Quinn," the man uttered as he pressed the gun deeper into her side. Quinn's eyes grew wide as she felt the metal  scrape against her exposed skin. She knew at some point she'd have to stop running, but she didn't consider how soon that time would come.

"You're one of those bounty hunters aren't you?" Quinn exhaled slowly as she watched the man press the end of the cigarette into the counter top before tossing the butt over his shoulder. He shrugged as he pushed the gun deeper into her side. Quinn gasped as she heard the safety lock click out of place.

"Listen," Quinn began to negotiate as she slowly leaned in closer towards the nameless cowboy. She tried her best to play it cool, and even though it wasn't hot inside, she was sweating. Nerve was something she had learned to embrace into her life, but she never truly learned to love it.

"If you're going to just turn me in for a bounty can I at least have one last drink before you sell me out?" Quinn asked, and to her surprise the cowboy agreed with her offer. He nodded in response before grabbing the bartenders attention.

"Just a beer please, in the bottle," she asked, and the cowboy gave her a surprised look.

"I'm a simple girl," Quinn shrugged as the bartender popped the cap off of a bottle and sent it down the counter. She caught it seamlessly. The coldness of the bottle countered the heat in her palms as she wrapped her fingers around the glass. She winced as she took a swig.

"It never gets good," she laughed as the bottle tip left her lips. The cowboy hardly reacted, but for a split second  she swore she saw him smile.

"Anyways," Quinn huffed as she slowly lifted the bottle up to her mouth.

"See you space cowboy," she grinned as she swiftly smashed the bottle overtop of the mans head. His gun fired, but it missed as she hopped off the barstool. The loud combination of glass shattering and a gun firing caught the attention of almost every patron in the bar. Within seconds, Quinn was the center of attention, but as much as she adored the spotlight, she made a run for it. All heads turned as she pushed her way through the bar door, listening to the bell jingle as it closed behind her.

A few seconds later, she heard the bell ring again. The cowboy had began to chase her, and within moments he was hot on her heels. As agile and clever as she was, Quinn feared that she wouldn't be able to out run him.

The man's gun fired again as Quinn zigzagged through the dirt. In the distance Quinn eyed her escape. No more than 30 meters away was her ship, and the only thing that stood in between her and her destination was another shuttle parked ahead of hers. It was long, angular, and from what she could see it was painted bright red.

Gunshots continued to ring out behind her as she skillfully dodged each flying bullet. She arrived at her ship within seconds, and her entry into her pod was more than graceful. Quinn was always admirably fluid with her motions. It was a skill many adored, but few could master. As she sealed the pod around her and took control of her ship, she watched the cowboy enter his ship in a similar aqueous fashion. She scoffed at this fluidity. She had never met such a worthy opponent.

As she took off from the desolate planet, the man followed close behind her. She didn't particularly have a plan to run, but she at the very least knew she couldn't stay here any longer.

"You're quick, I'll give you that," the man complimented through Quinn's coms as they both pulled out of the planets gravitational field.

"So are you, but as skillful as you are I'd appreciate if you let me go before I have to kill you," Quinn chuckled as she accelerated her ship away from the planets atmosphere.  The cowboy followed.

"That'll only increase your bounty, and if I can't catch you, which I doubt, someone else will," he taunted to which Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Don't be so cocky," Quinn shot back as she fired off her main cannons. Regrettably, she missed.

"And you think you're gonna kill me," the cowboy scoffed as he dropped his ship beneath hers before shooting the bottom of her secondary fire arms. Quinn groaned as alert messages popped up along her control panel.

"Nice shot," Quinn sighed as she veered right.

"But it's gonna take a lot more to get me outta the sky," she teased playfully as the mans ship followed her direction. Quinn had to admit she was on edge. Between all the twists and turns she was taking and all the warning messages flooding her screen she was worried that this could possibly be the end of her running.

Out of nowhere a second ship joined the fight. It was white, and the front had long claws extending from the front.

"Hi!" a mocking, almost ear splitting female voice came through Quinn's coms before a shower of projectiles came flying at her primary canons. The opposing ship was in too close of a range for Quinn to dodge it's fires. No matter how fast her shuttle moved, there was no way she would have been able to get out of losing a cannon.

"Shit!" Quinn cursed as she held on tight to her last remaining primary firearm.

"Four down, one to go!" The female voice chuckled as Quinn accelerated forwards before flipping upside down and rounding back to the first cowboys ship.

As Quinn passed above the red ship, she let out a small sigh of relief when she eyed the straight path ahead of her. It wasn't going to be an easy path of escape but she figured as long as she kept the two cowboys on her tail, she could potentially throw them off her trail by using surrounding space  rock as a distraction. Using her last cannon she fired at  a rock ahead of her, causing it to explode and shatter into hundreds of pieces.

Over the coms she heard one of the cowboys curse under their breath while shards of rock flew into their paths. Quinn foolishly made the decision to look behind her as she watched the rock's smash against her opponents pods. Quinn wasn't typically one to be cocky, but in this moment (perhaps it was fate) she felt as if she needed to boast. But as her head was turned, a larger ship had began to situate itself in front of her while she was distracted.

When she turned her head forwards, she panicked as the approaching ship caught her off-guard. The ships loading bay was open, and as her shuttle continued to get closer, she had the option but to either crash and (essentially) end her own life, or land.

Quinn figured it would be better for her health if she accepted the second offer, but as he listened to the celebratory  hooting and hollering of her opponents behind her, she almost wished she had taken the first option. Quinn wasn't one to be bested; especially not by two random strangers. After all she had made it 9 months without ever getting this close to capture.

For now, her running was over, but she still had some hope left in her. As she docked her ship and allowed the two cowboys to cuff her arms behind her back, she prayed to God they'd hear her out when she told her truth. She had been framed for all of her crimes, and for the last 9 months she had been running away from a life that been stolen from her.