Bast’s energy blast went wide and she could hear the high pitched whine of the super accelerated bolt careen off the thick stone wall, rather than the thick slap of energy on meat that would have indicated she hit her target.

While the life of a bounty hunter often meant using distance weapons like these, she truly preferred sword work. She could feel the comforting weight of her blade on her back and ached to pull it from the scabbard. However, she knew if she did, her bounty would more than likely wind up dead, and this one was worth twice as much alive.  At least to her anyway.

She ran down the alley he had ducked into and cautiously began to pursue her quarry. It was times like these when she was most thankful for the two teachers she had in her life: her father, the swordsman and soldier, and her trusty cat, Meow.

They both had taught her the skills she now used to ply her trade in the new shattered world she found herself in, one that was much more dangerous than the peaceful one she had grown up in.

It was a world that was shattered by an alien artifact, and many were only just now coming to grips with that. Well, at least of those that survived. It was a miracle anyone had. Something about the object itself, or maybe their planet, was special? It had broken into thousands of pieces that now orbited the mysterious space leviathan. However, many of the pieces retained atmosphere, life and weather.

Life simply went on and she did not know how or why.

Another thing that changed was the peace. Before the impact life had been simple and crime was low. There had been a world of abundance, but now it was a fist fight for whatever was left. This meant the strongest thrived, while often the innocent and weak were left with nothing.

Bastet hated that.

She had created her bounty hunting operation to protect people like that. To go out and stop those that preyed on the weak for personal gain, and so far it was going pretty well.

In the years since the first massacre in which she avenged her family, she garnered a reputation on her shard and often made her rounds picking up work and putting down those that stepped out of line. This hunt was a perfect example of how the new world was shaken loose from the old. She had been passing through the mountains when she found a slain farmer and his wife. They obviously had been carrying some goods to market and had been hijacked.

The man who had killed them, could have only robbed them; but no, he committed murder. Now Bast was on his trail. Not for money or a contract, but because it was the way she lived.

Activating her fathers battle helmet she actively scanned the area in several wavelengths and picked up the heat signature from where the man had passed through the stone ruins all around them. Bast had tracked the man here, it looked like an old palace from long before the impact, and half of it was simply gone. It was right on the edge and if you wandered too far out, you'd free fall into space and suffer the death of the vacuum.

Bast winced at the thought of getting stuck in the vacuum. Her helmet would help, but until the rest of her fathers slagged armor was turned into something more useful, she was just as susceptible from something like that as the next person.

Her business partner and substitute father, who had been her fathers closest friend, went by the name of the Broker. He had served that role many times in his life, but now he did exclusively for her. Tracking down bounty contracts and keeping her up to date with the latest and greatest tech to keep her on top of the bounty hunting pile.

So far, an armorer had been able to remove some of the pieces of the battle suit and repurpose it into something of her own creation. The first thing she had done was modify her helmet with extra sensors on the top of her head, and in loving memory of Meow, had put some little ears on top.

Her organization was called Meow after all. Why not look like a cat? A cat that could kill.

The armorer's first success was creating her a pair of greaves and boots. Like the old armor, these were powered and made her much faster and stronger than before, but also a bit bulkier.

Bast was thinking that it wouldn't be so bad if she could look a bit slimmer in them when the man she was hunting popped out from behind a wall. The man was using some sort of lead pipe as his only weapon, and without thinking she kicked his exposed torso and cursed herself as the now limp man flew through the old wall and careened out into the never ending void of space.

“Damn.” she said and snapped her fingers.

The man was a murderer afterall, no need to get that upset about it. She really needed to work on staying calm when she was attacked. It was part of her job now.