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1. Here we go
Hortan awoke just before the clock was supposed to ring. Today was going to be an exciting day, first the check-up with the shrink, he sniggered, it was Waldoze that had taught him that word yesterday, then a visit to the medical facilities to check up on the bruises from the stag party, and then mining for the rest of the day. He dressed, repositioned his newest John Eldritch action figure, the new "Deep Space Trader with Coolant cargo" so it kicked an alien creature in the face, and got up for breakfast. Pancakes, today as with every other day.
He entered the food court just as they were opening, and went to his usual table. The waitress, Julie, had long time ago stopped asking him what he wanted, since it was always the same. Ten pancakes with syrup, and a large mug of dark Sedina Chocolate. With two marshmallows. The first thing she usually did when she came in on the mornings was making the chocolate so it would be ready. He finished his breakfast, put the credits including a too large tip under his cup, and ran down to the launch bay, to his ship "Ye Olde Sloth Moth XXIV".
The old girl was magnificent in her yellow striped hull plating, with the twin high density mining beams polished to a mirror gleam, one on each side of the cockpit. He checked the pre-flight status and opened the ship comp. True to his word, Mor had assigned eight sectors of Heliocene roids for Hortan to work with. Hortan wondered slightly when Mor had found time for that with the amount of alcohol he had consumed last night, but not to worry. He stocked up on "Primmers" cheese/cardamom/dill flavoured beef jerky, a speciality from Verasi, made sure that the computer had his latest play list, and left the pilot seat. Better go see the shrink. He sniggered again, shrink. Not entirely sure what the word meant, but he wasn't allowed to tell Mr. Wyman, or so Waldoze had told him.
As he walked down to the psychiatrist’s office, he came through corridor 5c, the corridor where Fluffy and Buzz lived. Loud, no very loud electronic music came from Fluffy's room, and the door was open. Hortan peeked in and saw a floor covered in clothes, with Fluffy lying half in, and half off bed. He must have knelt before going to bed for some obscure reason, and then fallen asleep with his head and upper torso on the bed and sitting sideways on his knees. He had almost taken his shirt off, with the process frozen somewhere between attempting to get it over his head and actually doing it. His head and his right arm were still covered by the shirt that was now inside out. Hortan cursed, well he would have if he knew any swear words. Now it amounted to "oh well", and he went inside to help Fluffy properly to bed. Hortan went over to the music and switched it off, turned and looked at Fluffy. Hortan saw with alarm that the shirt was red and wet with blood on the right shoulder. He took the shirt over the shoulder, over Fluffy's head, and looked at the shoulder. A large Behemoth with the TGFT logo was tattooed on the back of the shoulder, with the caption BAMF underneath. Hortan smiled and pushed Fluffy up into bed properly, tugged him tightly, and exited again, this time ensuring that the door was closed.
Expecting silence, he was badly mistaken. Some type of harmonica and fiddle heavy music came from the room that Buzz inhabited. Hortan went over and knocked, no response. He tried the door on the odd chance that Buzz had done the same trick as Fluffy. It was open, and he popped his head inside. Buzz was sitting in his chair, only wearing a pair of boxers, head back and snoring soundly. Hortan sighed and walked in to help Buzz into bed as he had Fluffy. As before, he condemned the twanging male singer to silence, and then turned his attention to Buzz. Seeing him from the back, Hortan could see the new tattoo identical to the one on Fluffy's shoulder. In his right hand was the calibre 45 revolver, lying halfway on the floor. Hortan frowned a bit, why would he have that out? Hortan went over to carry Buzz to bed when he saw a large pair of very shapely, but also very hairy breasts on Buzz's chest. Hortan blushed immensely, then remembered that it was Buzz, and blushed even more. Deciding that he better not touch anything in the front, Hortan pushed the chair over to the bed and pushed Buzz into bed. Buzz started mumbling in his sleep, something about "bstard biocom dead mutha mmmmm better get the mmmm pop a cap in you mmm goddam mofo mmm". Hortan withdrew silently, and left Buzz to dreamland.
Hortan came into the psychiatrist’s office panting hard. He had been running flat out to make it, and even then he was late. Dr. Wyman looked disapprovingly at Hortan over his glasses, and closed the large synth leather book he was sitting with.
"You are late Hortan. For the first time I believe. And what on Eo happened to your face son?"
Hortan looked down at his feet, embarrassed. "Sorry Sir, it won't happen again." He pointed to his face, "it was an accident in Sedina. I slipped and fell."
"I believe you Hortan," Wyman smiled, "shall we?" He opened his hand and pointed to the recliner.
Hortan took his boots off and and got comfortable. He wanted this to be over quickly so he could go mine. Twisting deep into the pillows, he folded his fingers behind his head.
"Now, we were talking of these girls names for roids that you have. Tell me about why you named them with those names you did."
"Well Catherine is a rotating roid, and very roundish with a beautiful colour, and she reminds me of a girl I used to play with when I was younger, so I named it after her. Trinity is all the way out on her own, and that reminded me of a girl I helped with some transport from Helios B-14 to Dau K-10. She was very alone too." Hortan stared hard at the ceiling. "I think she was in trouble, but I hope she is okay now."
Wyman nodded and smiled, "go on." He put his pencil back in his mouth and chewed slowly on the end.
"Tracy is small and chubby. She reminded me of a girl I went to school with." Hortan blushed, "I guess I can just as well call the roid Buzz now, they were very similar really."
Dr. Wyman almost bit through his pencil. "Buzz, as in the TGFT pilot Buzz McKenzie?" He looked at the now frayed end of his pencil, shook his head and started scribbling furiously.
"Yeah, that is why I came too late. Buzz was just sitting in his chair, and when I went in to help him I saw his very large breasts. I was deeply embarrassed, but he didn't seem to mind, and then I took him to bed. It took a little longer than I anticipated, but I think that I got the best out of it." Hortan smiled at Dr. Wyman. "I mean, it didn't hurt or anything, it was just uncomfortable."
"Yes, yes, I am sure." The Dr. was making notes with the same speed a long time desperate junkie snorts cocaine, not digesting what was being said. "And so this is maybe why you currently does not have a girlfriend Hortan?"
"I have My Queen doc, and that is all there is for me."
"Yes, but she had renounced you, right? She said that it was too dangerous, no?"
"Ah, but that was just a cunning plan," Hortan pointed a finger to the side of his nose, thumping it a couple of times, "see, she wanted to protect me by pushing me away, and so it proves that she wants me still."
Dr. Lloyd Wyman M.D, suddenly felt very old, and very sad for the extremely deluded young man who had fallen in love with one of the most dangerous individuals of the universe. And now he was starting to project onto his fellow pilots and was seeing strange visions. He would have to talk to this Buzz, but in the meantime he would have to stabilise the young man.
"Right, I am going to put you on Lithium-carbonate again Hortan, and I am going to give you another type of antipsychotic, okay? You will not feel as drowsy as you did with the last batch, I promise." He wrote a note on his pda. "There, it has been sent to the distribution system, and you will receive the medication in the medical room shortly. I have notified Lieutenant Surbius Bondevo of the medication, so you should go and visit him before anything else, okay?"
Hortan was devastated; this would surely mean that he was grounded again.
"Now, now, let's see how you have been feeling with it after, say a week?"
Hortan got up, and walked slowly, like a condemned man soon to be hanged, out of the office. Instead of turning right towards the medical bay, he turned to the left towards the office of the XO of TGFT.
Hortan entered the small office where Naoko dominated. She had two more screens online now, and she was very focused on the four-dimensonal Fourier transformation that was spread over the three screens. Hortan waited until she had found the error that was hidden deep within the data, and corrected it with a single tab. The screens started rolling streams of data again, and she looked up.
"Yes Pilot Hortan?"
"Ehm, hi Naoko. It is me, we had pancakes together at Miha's place, remember?" Hortan said with an insecure voice, not wanting to appear pushy.
"Yes, I remember, and what can I do for you?" Her tone of voice indicated that the time for social stuff was another time.
"Ah, yes. Can I please see Surb? I need a clearance for launch, my medication has been changed."
She looked at him like a seventeen-year-old testosterone filled teenager looks at the math assignment he has to do before going to the party with the boys.
"Hortan, you know that Lieutenant Bondevo is an immensely busy man. So please write your problem on the screen over there," she indicated a comp next to a chair, "and I'll check it and forward it to him. Then he will let me know if you can get a time, okay?"
Hortan was sick of sentences that ended with "okay?” but he sat down and started jotting his problem.
Hortan awoke just before the clock was supposed to ring. Today was going to be an exciting day, first the check-up with the shrink, he sniggered, it was Waldoze that had taught him that word yesterday, then a visit to the medical facilities to check up on the bruises from the stag party, and then mining for the rest of the day. He dressed, repositioned his newest John Eldritch action figure, the new "Deep Space Trader with Coolant cargo" so it kicked an alien creature in the face, and got up for breakfast. Pancakes, today as with every other day.
He entered the food court just as they were opening, and went to his usual table. The waitress, Julie, had long time ago stopped asking him what he wanted, since it was always the same. Ten pancakes with syrup, and a large mug of dark Sedina Chocolate. With two marshmallows. The first thing she usually did when she came in on the mornings was making the chocolate so it would be ready. He finished his breakfast, put the credits including a too large tip under his cup, and ran down to the launch bay, to his ship "Ye Olde Sloth Moth XXIV".
The old girl was magnificent in her yellow striped hull plating, with the twin high density mining beams polished to a mirror gleam, one on each side of the cockpit. He checked the pre-flight status and opened the ship comp. True to his word, Mor had assigned eight sectors of Heliocene roids for Hortan to work with. Hortan wondered slightly when Mor had found time for that with the amount of alcohol he had consumed last night, but not to worry. He stocked up on "Primmers" cheese/cardamom/dill flavoured beef jerky, a speciality from Verasi, made sure that the computer had his latest play list, and left the pilot seat. Better go see the shrink. He sniggered again, shrink. Not entirely sure what the word meant, but he wasn't allowed to tell Mr. Wyman, or so Waldoze had told him.
As he walked down to the psychiatrist’s office, he came through corridor 5c, the corridor where Fluffy and Buzz lived. Loud, no very loud electronic music came from Fluffy's room, and the door was open. Hortan peeked in and saw a floor covered in clothes, with Fluffy lying half in, and half off bed. He must have knelt before going to bed for some obscure reason, and then fallen asleep with his head and upper torso on the bed and sitting sideways on his knees. He had almost taken his shirt off, with the process frozen somewhere between attempting to get it over his head and actually doing it. His head and his right arm were still covered by the shirt that was now inside out. Hortan cursed, well he would have if he knew any swear words. Now it amounted to "oh well", and he went inside to help Fluffy properly to bed. Hortan went over to the music and switched it off, turned and looked at Fluffy. Hortan saw with alarm that the shirt was red and wet with blood on the right shoulder. He took the shirt over the shoulder, over Fluffy's head, and looked at the shoulder. A large Behemoth with the TGFT logo was tattooed on the back of the shoulder, with the caption BAMF underneath. Hortan smiled and pushed Fluffy up into bed properly, tugged him tightly, and exited again, this time ensuring that the door was closed.
Expecting silence, he was badly mistaken. Some type of harmonica and fiddle heavy music came from the room that Buzz inhabited. Hortan went over and knocked, no response. He tried the door on the odd chance that Buzz had done the same trick as Fluffy. It was open, and he popped his head inside. Buzz was sitting in his chair, only wearing a pair of boxers, head back and snoring soundly. Hortan sighed and walked in to help Buzz into bed as he had Fluffy. As before, he condemned the twanging male singer to silence, and then turned his attention to Buzz. Seeing him from the back, Hortan could see the new tattoo identical to the one on Fluffy's shoulder. In his right hand was the calibre 45 revolver, lying halfway on the floor. Hortan frowned a bit, why would he have that out? Hortan went over to carry Buzz to bed when he saw a large pair of very shapely, but also very hairy breasts on Buzz's chest. Hortan blushed immensely, then remembered that it was Buzz, and blushed even more. Deciding that he better not touch anything in the front, Hortan pushed the chair over to the bed and pushed Buzz into bed. Buzz started mumbling in his sleep, something about "bstard biocom dead mutha mmmmm better get the mmmm pop a cap in you mmm goddam mofo mmm". Hortan withdrew silently, and left Buzz to dreamland.
Hortan came into the psychiatrist’s office panting hard. He had been running flat out to make it, and even then he was late. Dr. Wyman looked disapprovingly at Hortan over his glasses, and closed the large synth leather book he was sitting with.
"You are late Hortan. For the first time I believe. And what on Eo happened to your face son?"
Hortan looked down at his feet, embarrassed. "Sorry Sir, it won't happen again." He pointed to his face, "it was an accident in Sedina. I slipped and fell."
"I believe you Hortan," Wyman smiled, "shall we?" He opened his hand and pointed to the recliner.
Hortan took his boots off and and got comfortable. He wanted this to be over quickly so he could go mine. Twisting deep into the pillows, he folded his fingers behind his head.
"Now, we were talking of these girls names for roids that you have. Tell me about why you named them with those names you did."
"Well Catherine is a rotating roid, and very roundish with a beautiful colour, and she reminds me of a girl I used to play with when I was younger, so I named it after her. Trinity is all the way out on her own, and that reminded me of a girl I helped with some transport from Helios B-14 to Dau K-10. She was very alone too." Hortan stared hard at the ceiling. "I think she was in trouble, but I hope she is okay now."
Wyman nodded and smiled, "go on." He put his pencil back in his mouth and chewed slowly on the end.
"Tracy is small and chubby. She reminded me of a girl I went to school with." Hortan blushed, "I guess I can just as well call the roid Buzz now, they were very similar really."
Dr. Wyman almost bit through his pencil. "Buzz, as in the TGFT pilot Buzz McKenzie?" He looked at the now frayed end of his pencil, shook his head and started scribbling furiously.
"Yeah, that is why I came too late. Buzz was just sitting in his chair, and when I went in to help him I saw his very large breasts. I was deeply embarrassed, but he didn't seem to mind, and then I took him to bed. It took a little longer than I anticipated, but I think that I got the best out of it." Hortan smiled at Dr. Wyman. "I mean, it didn't hurt or anything, it was just uncomfortable."
"Yes, yes, I am sure." The Dr. was making notes with the same speed a long time desperate junkie snorts cocaine, not digesting what was being said. "And so this is maybe why you currently does not have a girlfriend Hortan?"
"I have My Queen doc, and that is all there is for me."
"Yes, but she had renounced you, right? She said that it was too dangerous, no?"
"Ah, but that was just a cunning plan," Hortan pointed a finger to the side of his nose, thumping it a couple of times, "see, she wanted to protect me by pushing me away, and so it proves that she wants me still."
Dr. Lloyd Wyman M.D, suddenly felt very old, and very sad for the extremely deluded young man who had fallen in love with one of the most dangerous individuals of the universe. And now he was starting to project onto his fellow pilots and was seeing strange visions. He would have to talk to this Buzz, but in the meantime he would have to stabilise the young man.
"Right, I am going to put you on Lithium-carbonate again Hortan, and I am going to give you another type of antipsychotic, okay? You will not feel as drowsy as you did with the last batch, I promise." He wrote a note on his pda. "There, it has been sent to the distribution system, and you will receive the medication in the medical room shortly. I have notified Lieutenant Surbius Bondevo of the medication, so you should go and visit him before anything else, okay?"
Hortan was devastated; this would surely mean that he was grounded again.
"Now, now, let's see how you have been feeling with it after, say a week?"
Hortan got up, and walked slowly, like a condemned man soon to be hanged, out of the office. Instead of turning right towards the medical bay, he turned to the left towards the office of the XO of TGFT.
Hortan entered the small office where Naoko dominated. She had two more screens online now, and she was very focused on the four-dimensonal Fourier transformation that was spread over the three screens. Hortan waited until she had found the error that was hidden deep within the data, and corrected it with a single tab. The screens started rolling streams of data again, and she looked up.
"Yes Pilot Hortan?"
"Ehm, hi Naoko. It is me, we had pancakes together at Miha's place, remember?" Hortan said with an insecure voice, not wanting to appear pushy.
"Yes, I remember, and what can I do for you?" Her tone of voice indicated that the time for social stuff was another time.
"Ah, yes. Can I please see Surb? I need a clearance for launch, my medication has been changed."
She looked at him like a seventeen-year-old testosterone filled teenager looks at the math assignment he has to do before going to the party with the boys.
"Hortan, you know that Lieutenant Bondevo is an immensely busy man. So please write your problem on the screen over there," she indicated a comp next to a chair, "and I'll check it and forward it to him. Then he will let me know if you can get a time, okay?"
Hortan was sick of sentences that ended with "okay?” but he sat down and started jotting his problem.
/me makes a solemn vow to never get that drunk again or at least not until he sobers up a bit and can figure out how he got that tattoo
2. Procedures must be followed
Hortan looked anxiously at Naoko as she scanned the document. She was frowning a lot, but eventually she looked up at Hortan and smiled.
"Looks good, I'll send it in, and we'll get an answer shortl..wait, there it is. You can go in."
Hortan got up and entered the small cubicle that contained the XO of TGFT, Surbius Bondevo. The humidifier was softly humming in one corner, but apart from that there were no sounds at all from the cubicle. Hortan wondered if he could hear breathing inside if he were to hold his own breath. Surbius was looking at his completely empty desk. He moved his hand across in a sweeping gesture, and the desk turned all black. He looked up at Hortan with mechanical precision and held his gaze firmly with his eyes. "The man doesn't blink" Hortan thought at first, and when his own eyes started watering in sympathy, he was certain.
"Are you going to take root, or tell me why you are here?" Surbius asked.
Hortan, aware now that he had been starring, stuttered his problem. "Ah, ehm, I have been put on new, ehm, new medication, and the psychiatrist wanted me to ah, check with you Sir."
Surbius let a small frown run across his face at the mentioning of Sir.
"Ah, sorry for the Sir bit, but I am, eh, a bit ehm, nervous Sir. Damn, gah, sorry again."
Surbius cut the almost incoherent blubbering short with an extended index finger across his own lips.
"As I can see from the side effects described on the medication, your flying will not be affected by the drugs, so I will grant you launch rights for today. I will review your flight path and productivity later, and if they are not up to specs, you will be grounded. Don't disappoint me pilot Hortan."
With that, he pointed to the door with the same index finger, and Hortan left bewildered. It was not until he was standing outside that he realised what had happened.
"YES!", Hortan pumped a clenched fist towards himself, and smiled broadly at Naoko. "I can fly, I can mine."
"Good, good, then I suggest you run off and start and let me do my work, ok?" She smiled back, and refocused on the screens.
That was the best suggestion Hortan had received all day. He felt like hugging someone for sheer sharing of his joy, and looked to Naoko. Then again, it would probably result in him lying on his back in pain, with her standing over him in a ninja suit pulled from out of nowhere. He admitted defeat, waved and ran towards the medical facility. He checked his watch; he was going to be so late. He had already used four hours on this, and he still had to see the doc. Outside in the reception centre he spotted Waldoze dozing in a chair. He got a number and sat down heavily next to Waldoze. The giant man opened one eye slowly and peeked out beneath his bushy eyebrows.
"Hi bubba, what are you here for?" he grumbled.
It took Hortan about five seconds to realise that he was being addressed.
"Oh, just minor bruises, cuts and scrapes," Hortan pointed in turn, "and you Dozer?"
"My stomach hurts like hell. Must have been something I ate."
"Like a set of keys?"
Waldoze opened the other eye as well. "I ate keys? Crap, I must have been plastered. Why did I do that?"
"To make sure that Mor couldn't break out of the handcuffs in the Priggly Pear," Hortan said cheerily.
A smile slowly grew under the black walrus like moustache that defined Dozer. "Ah, yeah, now I remember. It seemed like such a good idea at the time." He closed his eyes again and chuckled slowly. Suddenly he opened both eyes and looked directly at Hortan. "Oh, and now I remember where you got those bruises you STUD you."
Hortan looked confused, "what do you mean? I fell and hit my eye when Ms. Azumi caught me with her knee, and I accidentally grazed my chin on her boot. It was just an accident."
Waldoze sat still for a whole second before exploding in loud booming laughter. "And was that before or after you got your head under her dress? Ha, ha, no stop it hurts," he held his stomach tightly and attempted to hold his belly still while laughing his head off. The nurse that called him in saved Hortan, who at this time was as red in the face as the colour of the SCAR fleet.
Three minutes, two pills and one large bandage later, and Hortan was out again. Fortunately, Waldoze had once more closed his eyes and were snoring slightly, and so he got away without more teasing.
He ran to the launch bay and entered Ye Olde Sloth Moth XXIV, got into the pilot seat, engaged the EAPRS, and asked for permission to launch. The ship was ejected from the station by the large magnetic sled that held the ship tightly, and he was in open space. Engaging the thrusters, he oriented his ship for the nearest jump vector and whistled tunelessly while chewing on a Primmers. He was going to do this by the numbers and prove to Surbius that he could do his part.
Hortan looked anxiously at Naoko as she scanned the document. She was frowning a lot, but eventually she looked up at Hortan and smiled.
"Looks good, I'll send it in, and we'll get an answer shortl..wait, there it is. You can go in."
Hortan got up and entered the small cubicle that contained the XO of TGFT, Surbius Bondevo. The humidifier was softly humming in one corner, but apart from that there were no sounds at all from the cubicle. Hortan wondered if he could hear breathing inside if he were to hold his own breath. Surbius was looking at his completely empty desk. He moved his hand across in a sweeping gesture, and the desk turned all black. He looked up at Hortan with mechanical precision and held his gaze firmly with his eyes. "The man doesn't blink" Hortan thought at first, and when his own eyes started watering in sympathy, he was certain.
"Are you going to take root, or tell me why you are here?" Surbius asked.
Hortan, aware now that he had been starring, stuttered his problem. "Ah, ehm, I have been put on new, ehm, new medication, and the psychiatrist wanted me to ah, check with you Sir."
Surbius let a small frown run across his face at the mentioning of Sir.
"Ah, sorry for the Sir bit, but I am, eh, a bit ehm, nervous Sir. Damn, gah, sorry again."
Surbius cut the almost incoherent blubbering short with an extended index finger across his own lips.
"As I can see from the side effects described on the medication, your flying will not be affected by the drugs, so I will grant you launch rights for today. I will review your flight path and productivity later, and if they are not up to specs, you will be grounded. Don't disappoint me pilot Hortan."
With that, he pointed to the door with the same index finger, and Hortan left bewildered. It was not until he was standing outside that he realised what had happened.
"YES!", Hortan pumped a clenched fist towards himself, and smiled broadly at Naoko. "I can fly, I can mine."
"Good, good, then I suggest you run off and start and let me do my work, ok?" She smiled back, and refocused on the screens.
That was the best suggestion Hortan had received all day. He felt like hugging someone for sheer sharing of his joy, and looked to Naoko. Then again, it would probably result in him lying on his back in pain, with her standing over him in a ninja suit pulled from out of nowhere. He admitted defeat, waved and ran towards the medical facility. He checked his watch; he was going to be so late. He had already used four hours on this, and he still had to see the doc. Outside in the reception centre he spotted Waldoze dozing in a chair. He got a number and sat down heavily next to Waldoze. The giant man opened one eye slowly and peeked out beneath his bushy eyebrows.
"Hi bubba, what are you here for?" he grumbled.
It took Hortan about five seconds to realise that he was being addressed.
"Oh, just minor bruises, cuts and scrapes," Hortan pointed in turn, "and you Dozer?"
"My stomach hurts like hell. Must have been something I ate."
"Like a set of keys?"
Waldoze opened the other eye as well. "I ate keys? Crap, I must have been plastered. Why did I do that?"
"To make sure that Mor couldn't break out of the handcuffs in the Priggly Pear," Hortan said cheerily.
A smile slowly grew under the black walrus like moustache that defined Dozer. "Ah, yeah, now I remember. It seemed like such a good idea at the time." He closed his eyes again and chuckled slowly. Suddenly he opened both eyes and looked directly at Hortan. "Oh, and now I remember where you got those bruises you STUD you."
Hortan looked confused, "what do you mean? I fell and hit my eye when Ms. Azumi caught me with her knee, and I accidentally grazed my chin on her boot. It was just an accident."
Waldoze sat still for a whole second before exploding in loud booming laughter. "And was that before or after you got your head under her dress? Ha, ha, no stop it hurts," he held his stomach tightly and attempted to hold his belly still while laughing his head off. The nurse that called him in saved Hortan, who at this time was as red in the face as the colour of the SCAR fleet.
Three minutes, two pills and one large bandage later, and Hortan was out again. Fortunately, Waldoze had once more closed his eyes and were snoring slightly, and so he got away without more teasing.
He ran to the launch bay and entered Ye Olde Sloth Moth XXIV, got into the pilot seat, engaged the EAPRS, and asked for permission to launch. The ship was ejected from the station by the large magnetic sled that held the ship tightly, and he was in open space. Engaging the thrusters, he oriented his ship for the nearest jump vector and whistled tunelessly while chewing on a Primmers. He was going to do this by the numbers and prove to Surbius that he could do his part.
3. Helios
The traffic was very heavy in and out of the Helios wormhole nexus to Ukari, with convoys of Behemoths escorted by Warthogs and vultures all painted in garish pink and violet colours. Hortan had hailed the pilots as usual, but the members of the KAOS guild apparently had a no comms policy, or they simply didn't want to hail back. The names of the members flying the combat ships were enough to make Hortan's blood run cold, but they seemed uninterested in a lone miner. He seemed to remember that the name Chainsaw Slan had been very prominent in Dau last year, something with the disappearance of some young women.
It was a good thing that they ignored him, because as he had a belly full of Heliocene ore his ship was rather unresponsive and heavy. No way he could outrun anything, and as usual he was only armed with twin mining beams, so fighting was equally impossible. He kept to the nadir, and after the convoy had cleared the wormhole, Hortan engaged the turbo and set the course to the jump point. Exiting the unreality of between space, he was greeted by a very unwelcome Atlas TPG X coloured in white.
M. Wittman: Yarr, pays me 300.000 or ye be boomed. Yarr!
Hortan started to turn the cumbersome behemoth way from the roids that were stopping him from jumping, but realised that the Atlas was merely hundreds of metres away, and that he would never get away safe. Sighing deeply, he disengaged the engines and found his cred stick. Even if he were the official TGFT Diplomat to CLM didn't make him less of a target. He had been pirated by Wittman before, and he knew that if he paid he would get off sound and safe. Besides, the cargo was more than 2,5 million credits worth. He keyed his radio.
"I thought you usually charged 100k, not 300. Why are you so expensive now?"
M. Wittman: I have a large beer bill from last week’s party in HQ. 300k will cover about half.
Hortan smiled, he could imagine the party in CLM HQ. He wondered if she...he blushed hard and fumbled the cred stick into the transmission slot. He transferred 500k to Wittman.
"Give some beer on me please?"
M. Wittman: Sure, I'll get some kegs from you. Safe trip Hort.
Hortan re-engaged the drive and accelerated towards the 3k mark. He was smiling like a madman at the thought of the immensely drunk pirates in Latos. He hoped that..he started blushing again. What was in those pills the doctor had prescribed?
He jumped into Dau K-10 and moved the 52-ton craft into the docking bay, with only small taps on the side and top thrusters to guide him to the cradle. As soon as he was allowed, he exited the cockpit and walked the length of his ship, one hand following the flank of the Behemoth like the caressing touch from a lover. He had not felt this happy since, well ever.
John Eldritch woke slowly to light that was too bright and sound that was too loud. He opened his eyes a smidgeon and scanned the room for the goat that must have been tongue kissing with him ever since he came home from the stag party. His tongue felt three sizes too large for his mouth, and he was so thirsty that he contemplated just putting his head into the toilet and slurp the water from within like a dog. He slowly sat up and grabbed his head with both hands to make sure it didn't crack and ooze the contents down on the floor. Why, oh why hadn't he stopped earlier last night? He was never ever going to drink again, not a chance. He looked around for a jump suit, could not find any, put on some loafers that was around his size and got up. He sat down again fast, looked in desperation for some painkillers, and sighed mightily when he saw the bottle on his table. He shook two pills out, decided that two was not going to do it, doubled and chucked them dry. He staggered over to the lavatory and relieved himself of the excesses from his nightly drinking binge. With a sigh of relief he started humming while splashing into the water.
"Mmmm, are you awake?"
John stopped immediately. The female voice was NOT supposed to be there. He was very certain about that. He drew his boxers up and slowly turned, aware of his semi-nakedness. A young girl clad in a pair of high heels and a several sizes too large T-shirt that proclaimed "I Hate All Prejudiced People" sat on the other bed. Her makeup was smeared, and she looked just as fresh as John felt. He looked in panic for a jump suit, and found one that was marginally clean. He quickly put it on while the young woman rubbed her eyes and found her purse. John was in panic. He could absolutely not remember how, where or even when he had seen the girl, and he could not for his death rememb....oh shit. He noticed a blonde wig lying next to a small string dress, and the connection slammed into him like a Teradon on steroids. Her name was Rose, and she was from The Priggly Pear. Now, if he could just remember how she had arrived here...
Waldoze felt more that usually crap today. He was used to headaches, he was used to the heavy fatigue after a binge, and he was used to the shaking and blurred vision that followed the extreme ethanol poisoning that he regularly submitted his body to. He was however not used to be getting several enemas before breakfast, so he was more than regularly sore in his behind. At least the keys came out eventually, and his stomach stopped cramping. This was the last time he swallowed a set of keys, no matter how drunk he was getting. At least he could sleep for the rest of the day, maybe play on the station net or something. He stopped and fumbled with his keycard outside the room, his hands shaking more than normally. Finally he got the card out, and he started to open the door. Laughter greeted him, female laughter. Not entirely what he expected, matter of fact, he had expected to hear a deep snoring from John inside. He opened the door fully and saw John and a slender girl sit on Waldoze's bed. They turned to look at him as he walked into the room with wider than normal steps.
"And so the prodigal son returns. We were just talking about you Wal. Off course you remember Rose, right?"
Waldoze's headache just intensified immensely. He remembered Rose, oh boy how he remembered Rose. How he was going to get out of this one on the other hand, was another matter entirely.
"Rose here told me that you had promised to get her back to Daltas hold in the morning. And I must say that it is way past morning now." Waldoze cursed John's cheerful voice that felt like a cheese grater being pulled across his brains.
"Right, right, just let me find a ship or something." Waldoze sat down hard on the single chair at his desk. He put his head in his hands, pulled up and wiped his hair back. He looked around for salvation, and found a half-full bottle of Helio Mists. He grabbed it and drank a large chunk of it. Pure medicine. "Right, where were we?"
"Easy now big fella, I have arranged for Rose here to be taken by a far less drunk pilot than you." The girl giggled and John grinned at Waldoze's look of relief at getting off the hook.
"Man, I owe you one. My ass, pardon my language Ms., hurts in eighteen different new interesting ways, and I am not sure I would be able to sit down for the entire trip." He got up and crashed himself on John's bed, spilling the covers on the floor.
"That was one crazy party last night, but we got Mor, we got Mor good."
John nodded. "Yep, we sure did. I am not entirely feeling too hot myself. Wonder how Mor is feeling now with all the Helio Mists you poured on him Wal. Not to mention that purple drink that Buzz ordered."
Waldoze could feel the drink in his belly try to force its way up his throat, and grabbed the bottle to force it down again. "Don't mention Buzz. I have to get back at him somehow."
"Oh, why is that?"
Waldoze turned and bared the right shoulder. A large Behemoth with the TGFT logo and BAMF written underneath was tattooed on it. "How he managed to talk us into it, I do not know, but I have to get back at him somehow."
John didn't stop laughing until the door alarm rang despite the hard glare from Waldoze, accompanied by various things he could throw after John.
The traffic was very heavy in and out of the Helios wormhole nexus to Ukari, with convoys of Behemoths escorted by Warthogs and vultures all painted in garish pink and violet colours. Hortan had hailed the pilots as usual, but the members of the KAOS guild apparently had a no comms policy, or they simply didn't want to hail back. The names of the members flying the combat ships were enough to make Hortan's blood run cold, but they seemed uninterested in a lone miner. He seemed to remember that the name Chainsaw Slan had been very prominent in Dau last year, something with the disappearance of some young women.
It was a good thing that they ignored him, because as he had a belly full of Heliocene ore his ship was rather unresponsive and heavy. No way he could outrun anything, and as usual he was only armed with twin mining beams, so fighting was equally impossible. He kept to the nadir, and after the convoy had cleared the wormhole, Hortan engaged the turbo and set the course to the jump point. Exiting the unreality of between space, he was greeted by a very unwelcome Atlas TPG X coloured in white.
M. Wittman: Yarr, pays me 300.000 or ye be boomed. Yarr!
Hortan started to turn the cumbersome behemoth way from the roids that were stopping him from jumping, but realised that the Atlas was merely hundreds of metres away, and that he would never get away safe. Sighing deeply, he disengaged the engines and found his cred stick. Even if he were the official TGFT Diplomat to CLM didn't make him less of a target. He had been pirated by Wittman before, and he knew that if he paid he would get off sound and safe. Besides, the cargo was more than 2,5 million credits worth. He keyed his radio.
"I thought you usually charged 100k, not 300. Why are you so expensive now?"
M. Wittman: I have a large beer bill from last week’s party in HQ. 300k will cover about half.
Hortan smiled, he could imagine the party in CLM HQ. He wondered if she...he blushed hard and fumbled the cred stick into the transmission slot. He transferred 500k to Wittman.
"Give some beer on me please?"
M. Wittman: Sure, I'll get some kegs from you. Safe trip Hort.
Hortan re-engaged the drive and accelerated towards the 3k mark. He was smiling like a madman at the thought of the immensely drunk pirates in Latos. He hoped that..he started blushing again. What was in those pills the doctor had prescribed?
He jumped into Dau K-10 and moved the 52-ton craft into the docking bay, with only small taps on the side and top thrusters to guide him to the cradle. As soon as he was allowed, he exited the cockpit and walked the length of his ship, one hand following the flank of the Behemoth like the caressing touch from a lover. He had not felt this happy since, well ever.
John Eldritch woke slowly to light that was too bright and sound that was too loud. He opened his eyes a smidgeon and scanned the room for the goat that must have been tongue kissing with him ever since he came home from the stag party. His tongue felt three sizes too large for his mouth, and he was so thirsty that he contemplated just putting his head into the toilet and slurp the water from within like a dog. He slowly sat up and grabbed his head with both hands to make sure it didn't crack and ooze the contents down on the floor. Why, oh why hadn't he stopped earlier last night? He was never ever going to drink again, not a chance. He looked around for a jump suit, could not find any, put on some loafers that was around his size and got up. He sat down again fast, looked in desperation for some painkillers, and sighed mightily when he saw the bottle on his table. He shook two pills out, decided that two was not going to do it, doubled and chucked them dry. He staggered over to the lavatory and relieved himself of the excesses from his nightly drinking binge. With a sigh of relief he started humming while splashing into the water.
"Mmmm, are you awake?"
John stopped immediately. The female voice was NOT supposed to be there. He was very certain about that. He drew his boxers up and slowly turned, aware of his semi-nakedness. A young girl clad in a pair of high heels and a several sizes too large T-shirt that proclaimed "I Hate All Prejudiced People" sat on the other bed. Her makeup was smeared, and she looked just as fresh as John felt. He looked in panic for a jump suit, and found one that was marginally clean. He quickly put it on while the young woman rubbed her eyes and found her purse. John was in panic. He could absolutely not remember how, where or even when he had seen the girl, and he could not for his death rememb....oh shit. He noticed a blonde wig lying next to a small string dress, and the connection slammed into him like a Teradon on steroids. Her name was Rose, and she was from The Priggly Pear. Now, if he could just remember how she had arrived here...
Waldoze felt more that usually crap today. He was used to headaches, he was used to the heavy fatigue after a binge, and he was used to the shaking and blurred vision that followed the extreme ethanol poisoning that he regularly submitted his body to. He was however not used to be getting several enemas before breakfast, so he was more than regularly sore in his behind. At least the keys came out eventually, and his stomach stopped cramping. This was the last time he swallowed a set of keys, no matter how drunk he was getting. At least he could sleep for the rest of the day, maybe play on the station net or something. He stopped and fumbled with his keycard outside the room, his hands shaking more than normally. Finally he got the card out, and he started to open the door. Laughter greeted him, female laughter. Not entirely what he expected, matter of fact, he had expected to hear a deep snoring from John inside. He opened the door fully and saw John and a slender girl sit on Waldoze's bed. They turned to look at him as he walked into the room with wider than normal steps.
"And so the prodigal son returns. We were just talking about you Wal. Off course you remember Rose, right?"
Waldoze's headache just intensified immensely. He remembered Rose, oh boy how he remembered Rose. How he was going to get out of this one on the other hand, was another matter entirely.
"Rose here told me that you had promised to get her back to Daltas hold in the morning. And I must say that it is way past morning now." Waldoze cursed John's cheerful voice that felt like a cheese grater being pulled across his brains.
"Right, right, just let me find a ship or something." Waldoze sat down hard on the single chair at his desk. He put his head in his hands, pulled up and wiped his hair back. He looked around for salvation, and found a half-full bottle of Helio Mists. He grabbed it and drank a large chunk of it. Pure medicine. "Right, where were we?"
"Easy now big fella, I have arranged for Rose here to be taken by a far less drunk pilot than you." The girl giggled and John grinned at Waldoze's look of relief at getting off the hook.
"Man, I owe you one. My ass, pardon my language Ms., hurts in eighteen different new interesting ways, and I am not sure I would be able to sit down for the entire trip." He got up and crashed himself on John's bed, spilling the covers on the floor.
"That was one crazy party last night, but we got Mor, we got Mor good."
John nodded. "Yep, we sure did. I am not entirely feeling too hot myself. Wonder how Mor is feeling now with all the Helio Mists you poured on him Wal. Not to mention that purple drink that Buzz ordered."
Waldoze could feel the drink in his belly try to force its way up his throat, and grabbed the bottle to force it down again. "Don't mention Buzz. I have to get back at him somehow."
"Oh, why is that?"
Waldoze turned and bared the right shoulder. A large Behemoth with the TGFT logo and BAMF written underneath was tattooed on it. "How he managed to talk us into it, I do not know, but I have to get back at him somehow."
John didn't stop laughing until the door alarm rang despite the hard glare from Waldoze, accompanied by various things he could throw after John.
4. Sedina
Hortan entered the bachelor suite as John and Waldoze called their common room. He immediately started retreating, as it looked like he had entered a menage a trois that was just about to start. That is, until he looked at the extremely red eyes that were semi closed under the bushy eyebrows that inhabited Dozer's face.
"Your ride is here Ms. Rose." John rose like the gentleman his mum had taught him to be, and handed Rose a cred stick he had found among Dozer's possessions. "I expect that this will cover any expenses you may have had, including the fare back."
Rose had gotten up and smiled at John before letting Hortan take her out into the corridor.
"To Daltas Hold Hort, you know where."
Hortan escorted the young girl from John’s quarters down towards the launch bay. She had clad in a too big cotton coat and very high plateau heels, and had a scarf over her hair. Hortan was glad that she had covered herself up, at least then he stopped blushing. She was a bit unsteady, and so he offered her his hand for support. It turned out that she needed more than a hand, and so he ended having his hand around her waist and her arm over his shoulder, with her head resting on the shoulder as well.
They exited the residential area and ran into Fluffy, who was on his way back to his room with some take-away food, some caffeine enriched Nyrius Dew, a large bag of peanut flavoured potato chips, and a bag of films. He looked at Hortan, at the young girl, and then back at Hortan.
"How the hell do you do it? You are the official TGFT stud man. She is from the Pear, right?" Fluffy padded Hortan on the shoulder and looked admiringly at him.
"Oh, yes, her name is Rose. I am just flying her back to Sedina, she is finished here." Her head nestled a bit deeper into the crook of Hortan's neck.
"Some guys have it, and some guys doon't. You have so much Hort. Respect." With that, Fluffy punched his own chest with a fist and presented and inverted V to Hortan before staggering on down to his room.
Hortan didn't really understand what had just happened, and so he happily helped the young girl down to his Atlas "The Certain Death IX" and got her strapped within. He launched and set course for Daltas Hold, expecting them to be there after about thirty minutes. He turned to make sure that his passenger was okay, but she was fast asleep. He smiled; he was going to make sure that she came home safe. He flew to the wormhole from Latos to Sedina and engaged the warpdrive.
When he re-emerged into real space, the ship was almost immediately pummelled by neutron fire across the flanks, scoring hit upon hit. Hortan engaged the right side thrusters in emergency maximum setting, fired the left roll booster and flicked the slightest turbo drive into the main engines. He broke contact, but it was merely a question of time before the chase ship would once more have target lock. Hortan engaged the turbo, and due to the lack of cargo, the Atlas behaved like a fighter. He accelerated very fast with the vulture trying to keep up. Finally he had time to look at his damage screen. 12% armour remaining, with none on the side and top. He tapped the radar screen and got an echo on his IFF. Some pilot from CLM called Lebermac it seemed. Hortan was furious; this was not how CLM was supposed to act. They were supposed to hail and extort money, not shoot innocent traders. And especially not when those traders had human cargo that was not covered by the EAPRS. He accelerated to the 3k mark and jumped to the relative safety of the Xang Xi station guards around Daltas Hold, but still punched up a radar image. Lebermac was following. Hortan engaged the turbo again and moved as fast as possible towards the docking bay, only disengaging the turbo and hitting the brake immediately before crashing into the bay. Rose woke up when the violent braking stopped the craft.
"Mmh, are we there yet?"
Hortan flipped the off switches and turned slowly. "Yes Ms., we are here now. Let me help you with those straps and get you on your way." Hortan's voice trembled just the tiniest bit, but he tried to keep his hands steady as he unfastened the straps that had kept her in the seat. There was no reason for the girl to find out how close she had come to death just minutes earlier. He escorted her out of the Atlas, and tried to shield the damage that was wrought to the side and top of the ship with his body. She got out and started to walk into the station proper. Hortan followed close behind, he was going to make sure that she got all the way to the Priggly Pear unscathed. She turned and brought a small camera phone up in her right hand.
"I just want to take a picture of you and the beautiful painting on your....." She saw the long melted streaks of xithricite armour plating that had completely destroyed the painting Vardonx had made. She had seen enough combat damaged ships to know that this had been a close call. Several places had the internal wiring showing, and at least two streaks of damage were shown towards the cockpit, but were twisting away just before hitting it. Signs of evasive manoeuvre, signs of near destruction. The melted wreck would take a full set of armour plating to work again.
"I slept through that? But you must have been taking evasive action? How did you do that?" She looked at Hortan with awe, and when he realised this, he started blushing.
"It was nothing Ms., really. I just didn't want to scare you, I promised to John that I'd bring you safe back, and so I had to."
She lifted her left hand to his cheek and gentle stroked it with the outside of her fingers. "You really are special. Thank you pilot." She took a picture of the wreck with Hortan blushing like a beacon next to it, and then she let her be escorted inside to the Priggly Pear.
Hortan walked back to his shattered Atlas. This was going to take some time, but the damage was only to the armour plating. He walked down to the food court and grabbed himself a NutriSoy™ NearlyMeat burger while the mechanics worked. He was wondering how he could make this Lebermac behave properly, and let the traders get a decent chance. Maybe through the regular CLM channels, but how would he get an audience with yoda? Eventually he boarded his now grey ship and launched for Dau K-10. He arrived without problems, and ordered a bright yellow paintjob for the ship. He was going to need it eventually, so he could just as well have it in good shape. He would have to ask Vardonx for a new painting on the front if he could take the time off to do it.
Hortan entered the bachelor suite as John and Waldoze called their common room. He immediately started retreating, as it looked like he had entered a menage a trois that was just about to start. That is, until he looked at the extremely red eyes that were semi closed under the bushy eyebrows that inhabited Dozer's face.
"Your ride is here Ms. Rose." John rose like the gentleman his mum had taught him to be, and handed Rose a cred stick he had found among Dozer's possessions. "I expect that this will cover any expenses you may have had, including the fare back."
Rose had gotten up and smiled at John before letting Hortan take her out into the corridor.
"To Daltas Hold Hort, you know where."
Hortan escorted the young girl from John’s quarters down towards the launch bay. She had clad in a too big cotton coat and very high plateau heels, and had a scarf over her hair. Hortan was glad that she had covered herself up, at least then he stopped blushing. She was a bit unsteady, and so he offered her his hand for support. It turned out that she needed more than a hand, and so he ended having his hand around her waist and her arm over his shoulder, with her head resting on the shoulder as well.
They exited the residential area and ran into Fluffy, who was on his way back to his room with some take-away food, some caffeine enriched Nyrius Dew, a large bag of peanut flavoured potato chips, and a bag of films. He looked at Hortan, at the young girl, and then back at Hortan.
"How the hell do you do it? You are the official TGFT stud man. She is from the Pear, right?" Fluffy padded Hortan on the shoulder and looked admiringly at him.
"Oh, yes, her name is Rose. I am just flying her back to Sedina, she is finished here." Her head nestled a bit deeper into the crook of Hortan's neck.
"Some guys have it, and some guys doon't. You have so much Hort. Respect." With that, Fluffy punched his own chest with a fist and presented and inverted V to Hortan before staggering on down to his room.
Hortan didn't really understand what had just happened, and so he happily helped the young girl down to his Atlas "The Certain Death IX" and got her strapped within. He launched and set course for Daltas Hold, expecting them to be there after about thirty minutes. He turned to make sure that his passenger was okay, but she was fast asleep. He smiled; he was going to make sure that she came home safe. He flew to the wormhole from Latos to Sedina and engaged the warpdrive.
When he re-emerged into real space, the ship was almost immediately pummelled by neutron fire across the flanks, scoring hit upon hit. Hortan engaged the right side thrusters in emergency maximum setting, fired the left roll booster and flicked the slightest turbo drive into the main engines. He broke contact, but it was merely a question of time before the chase ship would once more have target lock. Hortan engaged the turbo, and due to the lack of cargo, the Atlas behaved like a fighter. He accelerated very fast with the vulture trying to keep up. Finally he had time to look at his damage screen. 12% armour remaining, with none on the side and top. He tapped the radar screen and got an echo on his IFF. Some pilot from CLM called Lebermac it seemed. Hortan was furious; this was not how CLM was supposed to act. They were supposed to hail and extort money, not shoot innocent traders. And especially not when those traders had human cargo that was not covered by the EAPRS. He accelerated to the 3k mark and jumped to the relative safety of the Xang Xi station guards around Daltas Hold, but still punched up a radar image. Lebermac was following. Hortan engaged the turbo again and moved as fast as possible towards the docking bay, only disengaging the turbo and hitting the brake immediately before crashing into the bay. Rose woke up when the violent braking stopped the craft.
"Mmh, are we there yet?"
Hortan flipped the off switches and turned slowly. "Yes Ms., we are here now. Let me help you with those straps and get you on your way." Hortan's voice trembled just the tiniest bit, but he tried to keep his hands steady as he unfastened the straps that had kept her in the seat. There was no reason for the girl to find out how close she had come to death just minutes earlier. He escorted her out of the Atlas, and tried to shield the damage that was wrought to the side and top of the ship with his body. She got out and started to walk into the station proper. Hortan followed close behind, he was going to make sure that she got all the way to the Priggly Pear unscathed. She turned and brought a small camera phone up in her right hand.
"I just want to take a picture of you and the beautiful painting on your....." She saw the long melted streaks of xithricite armour plating that had completely destroyed the painting Vardonx had made. She had seen enough combat damaged ships to know that this had been a close call. Several places had the internal wiring showing, and at least two streaks of damage were shown towards the cockpit, but were twisting away just before hitting it. Signs of evasive manoeuvre, signs of near destruction. The melted wreck would take a full set of armour plating to work again.
"I slept through that? But you must have been taking evasive action? How did you do that?" She looked at Hortan with awe, and when he realised this, he started blushing.
"It was nothing Ms., really. I just didn't want to scare you, I promised to John that I'd bring you safe back, and so I had to."
She lifted her left hand to his cheek and gentle stroked it with the outside of her fingers. "You really are special. Thank you pilot." She took a picture of the wreck with Hortan blushing like a beacon next to it, and then she let her be escorted inside to the Priggly Pear.
Hortan walked back to his shattered Atlas. This was going to take some time, but the damage was only to the armour plating. He walked down to the food court and grabbed himself a NutriSoy™ NearlyMeat burger while the mechanics worked. He was wondering how he could make this Lebermac behave properly, and let the traders get a decent chance. Maybe through the regular CLM channels, but how would he get an audience with yoda? Eventually he boarded his now grey ship and launched for Dau K-10. He arrived without problems, and ordered a bright yellow paintjob for the ship. He was going to need it eventually, so he could just as well have it in good shape. He would have to ask Vardonx for a new painting on the front if he could take the time off to do it.
5. CLM HQ
So, maybe the idea wasn't the cleverest in the World, but it was the only one Hortan could come up with on short notice. He would launch in an empty ship and pretend that he was going to visit Azumi. He was certain that she would help him; she seemed so honest and helpful. Not like the other pirates, she was more...he blushed, well that too. He just hoped that he wouldn't run into Mystic as well, or he would probably have the same problem as he did last. He could just barely think coherently around one of them, but with both it would be impossible. He found his newly yellow painted Atlas and launched for the pirates nest.
Hortan entered Latos C-2, CLM Headquarters with the worst feeling of impending doom he had had for a long time. He had stocked up on dipramezine, an anxiety reliever, but it only helped a certain amount. The feeling of dread only intensified as the two guard ships launched. Retractile and Sharingan, two of the most experienced pirates, and not ones given to mercy or free runs.
I am here to see Azumi
Hortan broadcast his message on the sector frequency, but braced for evasive action in case the two pirates decided to give chase.
->Retractile: yarr, pay us 220k each and we'll think about it trader.
Hortan initiated the transfer of the money, after all he felt lucky that it wasn't Lebermac that was on guard. He was pretty sure that no matter the amount, he would just shoot until Hortan's ship exploded.
->Retractile: you can dock trader. For now
Hortan engaged the turbo and flew straight for the launch bay, prepared for evasive action. Just as he was about to dock, streaks of neutron fire flared across the rear of his newly painted Atlas and scoured the armour down to mere microns before he hit the cradle hard. He shut the engine down with emergency procedure, not sure how much damage the engine section had taken. With shaking hands he checked the damage screen, and started shaking even more. One percent armour left on the rear, and almost none around the power coupler and powercell. He opened the canopy manually and swung himself out of the battered Atlas. Two dockhands were approaching, one of them wearing a large grin, was slowly drying his greasy hands on an equally greasy rag.
"Looks like you need the big treatment on that yon ship."
Hortan looked at the two men, remembered what had happened last time and decided that he would go nowhere very fast unless he acted now rather than later.
"I am here to see Azumi, fetch her please. There is a reward for getting her here."
The two dockhands exchanged looks before returning attention to Hortan.
"Ok, we can do that. And who may we say is wanting an audience?"
"Just tell her that Hor...that the TGFT ambassador is here."
"And just how big would this reward be?"
"Well, let's say three hundred for getting her here?"
"Three hundred, sure thing bubba." The dockhands turned and walked into the station, grinning and punching each other along the way. Hortan turned and looked at the damaged craft. He frowned, but then recognised what the neutron scars on the side of his ship was making. It was forming some kind of picture or text. He squinted and finally recognised the CLM written in one metre letters, partially covered by slags from molten xithricite armour. He had been tagged.
Azumi was almost lying in her reclining chair, her feet on the desk listening to some metal band with a female vocalist, while throwing daggers at a picture of a Centaur Mk III on her plasteel wall. The tune fitted her mood perfectly, as "Equally Destructive" described what she was doing to the wall but in reality wanted to do to the owner of the ship. The Centaur was rather holed by now, and it was almost impossible to read the pilot name beneath the cockpit. Just as she threw the last dagger, her door alarm rang, making her hit closer to the name than anticipated and changing the name to Slaine instead. She frowned at that, but got up to open the door. The two snickering dockhands outside stopped their amusement and grabbed their hats in their hands when she opened the door; she was not known for her good temper when interrupted.
"Just what the fuck do you two sad sorry excuses for human beings want?" Her voice was sharp and caustic enough to strip the paint of the doorframe, and the dockhands moved back a bit.
"Eh, sorry Ms Azumi, there is someone to see you, some TGFT dude. Amabasedore or sumthing."
Azumi looked puzzled to one side. "Hortan? What the hell is he doing here." She looked at the dockhands again. "Good, thank you. Now scurry along and do whatever it is you do."
The guards moved away, and Azumi slowly closed the door. Why would he come here? He had not been summoned, at least not that she knew of. And unless she had fallen from yoda's grace, he usually used her to send summons. Maybe he was here for..nah, not likely. She had better go and fetch him. She opened the door, and looked down at her utility jump suit. She closed the door again and smiled. "Not like this you aren't girl, not like this." She had a devious idea that unfortunately would take some time, but what did she care. He could wait, he would wait.
So, maybe the idea wasn't the cleverest in the World, but it was the only one Hortan could come up with on short notice. He would launch in an empty ship and pretend that he was going to visit Azumi. He was certain that she would help him; she seemed so honest and helpful. Not like the other pirates, she was more...he blushed, well that too. He just hoped that he wouldn't run into Mystic as well, or he would probably have the same problem as he did last. He could just barely think coherently around one of them, but with both it would be impossible. He found his newly yellow painted Atlas and launched for the pirates nest.
Hortan entered Latos C-2, CLM Headquarters with the worst feeling of impending doom he had had for a long time. He had stocked up on dipramezine, an anxiety reliever, but it only helped a certain amount. The feeling of dread only intensified as the two guard ships launched. Retractile and Sharingan, two of the most experienced pirates, and not ones given to mercy or free runs.
I am here to see Azumi
Hortan broadcast his message on the sector frequency, but braced for evasive action in case the two pirates decided to give chase.
->Retractile: yarr, pay us 220k each and we'll think about it trader.
Hortan initiated the transfer of the money, after all he felt lucky that it wasn't Lebermac that was on guard. He was pretty sure that no matter the amount, he would just shoot until Hortan's ship exploded.
->Retractile: you can dock trader. For now
Hortan engaged the turbo and flew straight for the launch bay, prepared for evasive action. Just as he was about to dock, streaks of neutron fire flared across the rear of his newly painted Atlas and scoured the armour down to mere microns before he hit the cradle hard. He shut the engine down with emergency procedure, not sure how much damage the engine section had taken. With shaking hands he checked the damage screen, and started shaking even more. One percent armour left on the rear, and almost none around the power coupler and powercell. He opened the canopy manually and swung himself out of the battered Atlas. Two dockhands were approaching, one of them wearing a large grin, was slowly drying his greasy hands on an equally greasy rag.
"Looks like you need the big treatment on that yon ship."
Hortan looked at the two men, remembered what had happened last time and decided that he would go nowhere very fast unless he acted now rather than later.
"I am here to see Azumi, fetch her please. There is a reward for getting her here."
The two dockhands exchanged looks before returning attention to Hortan.
"Ok, we can do that. And who may we say is wanting an audience?"
"Just tell her that Hor...that the TGFT ambassador is here."
"And just how big would this reward be?"
"Well, let's say three hundred for getting her here?"
"Three hundred, sure thing bubba." The dockhands turned and walked into the station, grinning and punching each other along the way. Hortan turned and looked at the damaged craft. He frowned, but then recognised what the neutron scars on the side of his ship was making. It was forming some kind of picture or text. He squinted and finally recognised the CLM written in one metre letters, partially covered by slags from molten xithricite armour. He had been tagged.
Azumi was almost lying in her reclining chair, her feet on the desk listening to some metal band with a female vocalist, while throwing daggers at a picture of a Centaur Mk III on her plasteel wall. The tune fitted her mood perfectly, as "Equally Destructive" described what she was doing to the wall but in reality wanted to do to the owner of the ship. The Centaur was rather holed by now, and it was almost impossible to read the pilot name beneath the cockpit. Just as she threw the last dagger, her door alarm rang, making her hit closer to the name than anticipated and changing the name to Slaine instead. She frowned at that, but got up to open the door. The two snickering dockhands outside stopped their amusement and grabbed their hats in their hands when she opened the door; she was not known for her good temper when interrupted.
"Just what the fuck do you two sad sorry excuses for human beings want?" Her voice was sharp and caustic enough to strip the paint of the doorframe, and the dockhands moved back a bit.
"Eh, sorry Ms Azumi, there is someone to see you, some TGFT dude. Amabasedore or sumthing."
Azumi looked puzzled to one side. "Hortan? What the hell is he doing here." She looked at the dockhands again. "Good, thank you. Now scurry along and do whatever it is you do."
The guards moved away, and Azumi slowly closed the door. Why would he come here? He had not been summoned, at least not that she knew of. And unless she had fallen from yoda's grace, he usually used her to send summons. Maybe he was here for..nah, not likely. She had better go and fetch him. She opened the door, and looked down at her utility jump suit. She closed the door again and smiled. "Not like this you aren't girl, not like this." She had a devious idea that unfortunately would take some time, but what did she care. He could wait, he would wait.
6. Repairs
The two dockhands came back to the bay and went over to where Hortan was standing with the chief artificer of the Latos Stations Custom Designs. Apparently they were haggling over the price of a new suit of armour for the "Certain Death IX"
"I don't care about the new lightweight streamlined chrome covered armour plates, I am happy with the standard plates, preferably painted yellow, but really any colour would do."
"But you save the craft for about 120 kg, and the new rounded angles makes it much easier to dodge the harmful effects of impact weapons. The chromium finish reflects up to two percent of the energy from positron weapons, and we can for a small extra fee put a coating of neutron absorbing material underneath as well."
Hortan sighed loudly. "Listen, I do not care. I just want the cheap and easily replaceable panels installed. I only use it for running, and if the guild needs it for transporting healing nanites. It is never meant to come into combat, nor even a combat zone. How long time will it take you?"
"Well, I do not have any of the cheap Xang Xi plates lying around, my customers are usually willing to pay premium price for the products that we install on their ships. But I will see what I can do, maybe strip some other ship of the factory plating maybe. So, it depends really."
"On the price too I can imagine?" Hortan raised his eyebrows at the man who smiled back at him broadly.
"Well, it depends on how many guys I put on it. For something like this, and in a hurry too, I'd say around 25k would do the trick."
Hortan sighed and grabbed his cred stick. "25.000 it is then, but then I want it yellow as well."
"Yellow indeed. Do you want to see the range of patterns we can make at a fraction more?"
Hortan shook his head and turned to the two dockhands. "So, is she coming?"
"Three hundred first, or we won't tell you that."
Hortan sighed once more. These stations in grey, they only lived to pump the average trader for money. "Not until she is here, that was the agreement. Now, here is a hundred, the rest is when she arrives, agreed?"
The dockhands nodded greedily, and accepted the hundred credits each.
"Aye, she is coming, but she didn't look happy at all. So, you need help unloading that ship?" He indicated the smashed up Atlas with one greasy finger.
"Nah, I do not have any cargo aboard it. Too many pirates around here for that."
The dockhands shrugged and walked over to their pet project in the corner, an Ineubis defence bot they were modding heavily with the addition of an Orion needle gun.
Hortan sat down on an empty crate that was lying on its side, the TPG marks proudly displayed on the side of it. Hortan scratched bit in the residue that was covering the label to see if it had been in a ship he knew of. Time passed slowly with that, accompanied by the hammering of the dockhands as well as the sizzling from his ship. The hammering stopped, as well as the noises from the ship, and Hortan looked up, initially at his Atlas but when he realised that all the mechanics were looking in the same direction, he did the same. Azumi, in a long flowing black lace dress with a bodice that was tied in the front with a red silk ribbon that continued up and was strung around her neck several times before being locked with a needle that was adorned with a single black pearl. She had her raven black hair made in a towering bun netted with a platinum string with white pearls, framed by a blood red gemstone in each ear. Her otherwise bare arms were covered in black silk gloves from her elbows and down. She was looking directly at Hortan with a small coy smile.
"You wanted to see me?" she said in a low husky voice.
Hortan snapped out of the trancelike state he had entered when he saw her. "Ms Azumi, I am so glad to see you. I need to see yoda, can you help me?"
"You need to... right. I should have known." Her voice changed, as did her facial expression. It was like donning a mask, and her piratess’s face was now on. Only showing slight disappointment, she walked over to Hortan. "And what do you want him for?"
"I need to discuss the behaviour of one of your pilots with him."
"Oh, and who might this be?"
"Lebermac."
"He is beyond reach. Besides, he is missing as well. What do you want to discuss about him?"
"He shot me without hailing, and he almost killed my passenger too. It was really quite frightening."
Azumi couldn't help smiling, sometimes he was so innocent and....well, cute.
"Hortan, don't you know anything? Come with me and I will see if he is in." She turned and showed the twin red ribbons that ran from her neck to her waist, each adorned with a small kitty; the ribbons that only partially concealed the rolled up whip attached to her lower back in a single ring, and led him into the station. He entered the trancelike state again, his eyes fixed on her heels as he was used to. He hardly noticed the small gold skull that adorned the hilt of the whip. And definitely not her back that was so enticingly almost covered. He blushed, and remembered who was in front of him. The sense of having an important mission with the associated sense of urgency that could bury his insecurity vanished with the presence of her.
"Ehm, ah...Ms Azumi, I am very thankful that you are helping me like this, I really need to talk to yoda about it, I think that it is a horrible mistake, if only..." Hortan blabbered on, and Azumi smiled to herself. Now, that was the Hortan she knew.
The two dockhands came back to the bay and went over to where Hortan was standing with the chief artificer of the Latos Stations Custom Designs. Apparently they were haggling over the price of a new suit of armour for the "Certain Death IX"
"I don't care about the new lightweight streamlined chrome covered armour plates, I am happy with the standard plates, preferably painted yellow, but really any colour would do."
"But you save the craft for about 120 kg, and the new rounded angles makes it much easier to dodge the harmful effects of impact weapons. The chromium finish reflects up to two percent of the energy from positron weapons, and we can for a small extra fee put a coating of neutron absorbing material underneath as well."
Hortan sighed loudly. "Listen, I do not care. I just want the cheap and easily replaceable panels installed. I only use it for running, and if the guild needs it for transporting healing nanites. It is never meant to come into combat, nor even a combat zone. How long time will it take you?"
"Well, I do not have any of the cheap Xang Xi plates lying around, my customers are usually willing to pay premium price for the products that we install on their ships. But I will see what I can do, maybe strip some other ship of the factory plating maybe. So, it depends really."
"On the price too I can imagine?" Hortan raised his eyebrows at the man who smiled back at him broadly.
"Well, it depends on how many guys I put on it. For something like this, and in a hurry too, I'd say around 25k would do the trick."
Hortan sighed and grabbed his cred stick. "25.000 it is then, but then I want it yellow as well."
"Yellow indeed. Do you want to see the range of patterns we can make at a fraction more?"
Hortan shook his head and turned to the two dockhands. "So, is she coming?"
"Three hundred first, or we won't tell you that."
Hortan sighed once more. These stations in grey, they only lived to pump the average trader for money. "Not until she is here, that was the agreement. Now, here is a hundred, the rest is when she arrives, agreed?"
The dockhands nodded greedily, and accepted the hundred credits each.
"Aye, she is coming, but she didn't look happy at all. So, you need help unloading that ship?" He indicated the smashed up Atlas with one greasy finger.
"Nah, I do not have any cargo aboard it. Too many pirates around here for that."
The dockhands shrugged and walked over to their pet project in the corner, an Ineubis defence bot they were modding heavily with the addition of an Orion needle gun.
Hortan sat down on an empty crate that was lying on its side, the TPG marks proudly displayed on the side of it. Hortan scratched bit in the residue that was covering the label to see if it had been in a ship he knew of. Time passed slowly with that, accompanied by the hammering of the dockhands as well as the sizzling from his ship. The hammering stopped, as well as the noises from the ship, and Hortan looked up, initially at his Atlas but when he realised that all the mechanics were looking in the same direction, he did the same. Azumi, in a long flowing black lace dress with a bodice that was tied in the front with a red silk ribbon that continued up and was strung around her neck several times before being locked with a needle that was adorned with a single black pearl. She had her raven black hair made in a towering bun netted with a platinum string with white pearls, framed by a blood red gemstone in each ear. Her otherwise bare arms were covered in black silk gloves from her elbows and down. She was looking directly at Hortan with a small coy smile.
"You wanted to see me?" she said in a low husky voice.
Hortan snapped out of the trancelike state he had entered when he saw her. "Ms Azumi, I am so glad to see you. I need to see yoda, can you help me?"
"You need to... right. I should have known." Her voice changed, as did her facial expression. It was like donning a mask, and her piratess’s face was now on. Only showing slight disappointment, she walked over to Hortan. "And what do you want him for?"
"I need to discuss the behaviour of one of your pilots with him."
"Oh, and who might this be?"
"Lebermac."
"He is beyond reach. Besides, he is missing as well. What do you want to discuss about him?"
"He shot me without hailing, and he almost killed my passenger too. It was really quite frightening."
Azumi couldn't help smiling, sometimes he was so innocent and....well, cute.
"Hortan, don't you know anything? Come with me and I will see if he is in." She turned and showed the twin red ribbons that ran from her neck to her waist, each adorned with a small kitty; the ribbons that only partially concealed the rolled up whip attached to her lower back in a single ring, and led him into the station. He entered the trancelike state again, his eyes fixed on her heels as he was used to. He hardly noticed the small gold skull that adorned the hilt of the whip. And definitely not her back that was so enticingly almost covered. He blushed, and remembered who was in front of him. The sense of having an important mission with the associated sense of urgency that could bury his insecurity vanished with the presence of her.
"Ehm, ah...Ms Azumi, I am very thankful that you are helping me like this, I really need to talk to yoda about it, I think that it is a horrible mistake, if only..." Hortan blabbered on, and Azumi smiled to herself. Now, that was the Hortan she knew.
7. All traders are KOS
They arrived at yoda's door, and Hortan reached for the buzzer. Azumi stopped him with a gloved hand on his lower arm.
"That is not advisable," she said, and pushed his arm back. She took a step back and kicked sideways at the buzzer, hitting it with her high-heeled boot. The electric arc that flashed from the buzzer was enough to stun a grown man, and would have resulted in Azumi lying on the floor had she not been wearing her isolated boots as always. Now it merely resulted in Hortan staring even more in awe at the young woman than before, and eventually the door opening as well. The small green commander of CLM peeked out at the floor and uttered a sigh of disappointment before turning and returning to his room.
"I guess it is you Azumi, nobody else has the audacity to come here without permission. What do you want?" The voice grew dimmer as he walked inside, and Azumi followed motioning Hortan to follow.
"Indeed it is I yoda-sensei, but I am merely the delivery girl. I have someone here who want's to see you sensei."
Yoda turned slowly and looked. "Ah, Meatan, the TGFT ambassador. Just the person I have absolutely no use for right now. Speak your mind, I am certain your mewling will dull my senses sufficiently that I may sleep well tonight. "
Hortan was stung by the harsh words from the person he had hoped would help him with the Lebermac situation, and his heart sank.
"Sir, I am here to file an official complaint to stop the situation that may be running out of control. The code that CLM has been living by for a long time, namely that of hailing pilots that you intercept and want to help your cause by donating some minor monetary amount, and not shooting said pilots before they have had a chance to respond, has been broken."
Yoda silenced Hortan with an annoyed swinging of his cane. "Eventually you will get to the point I assume. In the meantime I shall stand here silently and listen in utter misery. Don't mind my agony, go on, be as wordy as you like." The sarcasm was flowing as freely as the waters of the Nile, but to no avail.
"I thank you master yoda, for the chance to address this most unpleasant of businesses which I hope we can solve to common satisfaction. The issue here is the misconduct of the CLM pilot named Lebermac, whom I had the unfortunate experience of encountering earlier today, and who shot at me without hailing with the intended purpose to explode my ship and by doing so, hurting myself and killing my passenger who was not covered by the APRS." Hortan bowed slightly with as much grace as he could muster, it seemed the correct ambassadorial thing to do.
"What the fuck is the problem?" yoda barked, annoyed by now.
Hortan's false sense of kinship had now disappeared completely "Ehm, the problem is that leber shot me without hailing Sir."
"So fucking what? I shoot traders without hailing sometimes. Where have you been for the last fourteen days? Do you have a permanent reality filter installed? Or have you just had your head so far up your own ass that you could see your own tonsils? Your pansy trader guild chose to take the side of those backstabbing treacherous pieces of filth in PA, and that means that a state of war exists between your guild and mine. Do you understand that? Next time I see any TGFT member, I will kill that person on sight." Hortan had been slowly moving back while yoda had been moving forwards, but he was just about to run out of space.
"So I guess you have your problem solved for you right there. You and your kind is KOS until further notice, that is Kill On Sight if you are too dim witted to figure it out yourself."
Azumi looked closely at Hortan, who was so stricken with fear of yoda that he was hyperventilating and completely white in the face.
"Sensei, might I lead the ambassador out to his ship?" She grabbed his arm and started to push him towards the door. She moved between yoda and Hortan, and waited for a response from yoda. He looked at her and then at Hortan. The hard glare in his eyes that was best suited for arc welding dimmed in intensity. This young man was scared to death, and he had in reality done nothing apart from being very very gullible.
"Get him safely out of here 'zumi. Make sure the boys know he has my protection until he jumps away. And Hortan, don't come back unless I summon you, it is not safe even for you anymore." With that, yoda opened the door and allowed Azumi to drag the semi-catatonic Hortan out of the room.
Once outside, she turned him around and looked directly into his eyes. No response, he had withdrawn into his happy place. He was in no condition to fly right now, and for lack of other options she dragged him along to her cubicle, fortunately not meeting anyone along the way. Once safely inside she placed him on the bed and frisked him quickly. Two bottles of pills, some papers, an official TGFT cred stick, two no-trace sticks and a memory crystal. She placed the items on the table and read the labels on the pill glasses. Deciding that it could only become better, she shook out a pair and stuffed them into Hortan's mouth. She looked around and found some stale green tea that she had left from earlier today. She poured a cup and made him drink, taking the pills along. He closed his eyes and after a minute or so lay himself on his side. She took his boots and socks off and tucked him on her bed, he was asleep before noticing.
"Shit, where am I going to sleep?” she thought, "and even worse, what the hell am I supposed to do with him?" She shook her head slowly and walked over to grab a jump suit and put it on instead of the dress. She had no idea when he would wake up, she could just as well make herself comfortable. She sat in her reclining chair and put her feet up, opened the pieces of paper from Hortan's pockets and started leafing through them. Haiku poetry, and apparently to roids or girls, she wasn't sure. She once more shook her head and put on her headphones. "Equally destructive that we aaaaree" rang into her very soul. She opened her pda and sent a message to the guards that they were to provide Hortan free passage away from the station as per yoda’s orders, and then leant back and closed her eyes.
Buzz awoke to the hangover from Hell. Something was applying pressure directly to his brain from all directions at once, and the combined drums of the universe were playing from somewhere near his door. He took a pillow and tried to drown the sound by putting it over his head, but he almost gagged with the bad small emanating from his own mouth and had to take it off again. Admitting defeat, he got up and slowly crawled to the door where he pulled himself to standing position before opening it. A flash as intense as one from a nuclear detonation, or at least so it felt to Buzz, filled the room as soon as he opened the door, and Buzz staggered back blinded and hurting. Another flash and what sounded like someone hitting a large piece of sheet metal with an ice pick. He fell on his back and hammered his head into something metallic and cold. His .45 revolver, he would recognise that shape anywhere. He grabbed the revolver and aimed at the location of the first flash when he heard the
"Whoa whoa Buzz, are you all right mate?"
"Do I look all right to you?"
Fluffy grinned, "well, apart from having the largest boosoom in TGFT, I must admit that yoo look immensely like crap. I have pills, Nyrius Dew and chips. And the entire collection of "The Adventures of Hathor the Librarian".
Buzz grunted, "hand me the pills, the chips and the dew and get the fuck out of here. Let me die in peace."
Fluffy grinned even wider and put the package on the floor, took another picture of the prone man and left the cubicle to Buzz and his misery. Now he had picture proof of Buzz's nightly mishap, and that more than made them even for the tattoo on Fluffy's shoulder. He started walking over to his own cubicle when he heard the "Aw CRAP" shout from the room he just left. Apparently Buzz had re-discovered his new boobs.
The TGFT HQ was slowly recovering after the stag party, with most of the members meeting in for the late shift. Trade routes were allocated and co-ordinated, mining missions were delivered, and deals were struck. Tomorrow would be business as usual, immense profits and resource collection.
They arrived at yoda's door, and Hortan reached for the buzzer. Azumi stopped him with a gloved hand on his lower arm.
"That is not advisable," she said, and pushed his arm back. She took a step back and kicked sideways at the buzzer, hitting it with her high-heeled boot. The electric arc that flashed from the buzzer was enough to stun a grown man, and would have resulted in Azumi lying on the floor had she not been wearing her isolated boots as always. Now it merely resulted in Hortan staring even more in awe at the young woman than before, and eventually the door opening as well. The small green commander of CLM peeked out at the floor and uttered a sigh of disappointment before turning and returning to his room.
"I guess it is you Azumi, nobody else has the audacity to come here without permission. What do you want?" The voice grew dimmer as he walked inside, and Azumi followed motioning Hortan to follow.
"Indeed it is I yoda-sensei, but I am merely the delivery girl. I have someone here who want's to see you sensei."
Yoda turned slowly and looked. "Ah, Meatan, the TGFT ambassador. Just the person I have absolutely no use for right now. Speak your mind, I am certain your mewling will dull my senses sufficiently that I may sleep well tonight. "
Hortan was stung by the harsh words from the person he had hoped would help him with the Lebermac situation, and his heart sank.
"Sir, I am here to file an official complaint to stop the situation that may be running out of control. The code that CLM has been living by for a long time, namely that of hailing pilots that you intercept and want to help your cause by donating some minor monetary amount, and not shooting said pilots before they have had a chance to respond, has been broken."
Yoda silenced Hortan with an annoyed swinging of his cane. "Eventually you will get to the point I assume. In the meantime I shall stand here silently and listen in utter misery. Don't mind my agony, go on, be as wordy as you like." The sarcasm was flowing as freely as the waters of the Nile, but to no avail.
"I thank you master yoda, for the chance to address this most unpleasant of businesses which I hope we can solve to common satisfaction. The issue here is the misconduct of the CLM pilot named Lebermac, whom I had the unfortunate experience of encountering earlier today, and who shot at me without hailing with the intended purpose to explode my ship and by doing so, hurting myself and killing my passenger who was not covered by the APRS." Hortan bowed slightly with as much grace as he could muster, it seemed the correct ambassadorial thing to do.
"What the fuck is the problem?" yoda barked, annoyed by now.
Hortan's false sense of kinship had now disappeared completely "Ehm, the problem is that leber shot me without hailing Sir."
"So fucking what? I shoot traders without hailing sometimes. Where have you been for the last fourteen days? Do you have a permanent reality filter installed? Or have you just had your head so far up your own ass that you could see your own tonsils? Your pansy trader guild chose to take the side of those backstabbing treacherous pieces of filth in PA, and that means that a state of war exists between your guild and mine. Do you understand that? Next time I see any TGFT member, I will kill that person on sight." Hortan had been slowly moving back while yoda had been moving forwards, but he was just about to run out of space.
"So I guess you have your problem solved for you right there. You and your kind is KOS until further notice, that is Kill On Sight if you are too dim witted to figure it out yourself."
Azumi looked closely at Hortan, who was so stricken with fear of yoda that he was hyperventilating and completely white in the face.
"Sensei, might I lead the ambassador out to his ship?" She grabbed his arm and started to push him towards the door. She moved between yoda and Hortan, and waited for a response from yoda. He looked at her and then at Hortan. The hard glare in his eyes that was best suited for arc welding dimmed in intensity. This young man was scared to death, and he had in reality done nothing apart from being very very gullible.
"Get him safely out of here 'zumi. Make sure the boys know he has my protection until he jumps away. And Hortan, don't come back unless I summon you, it is not safe even for you anymore." With that, yoda opened the door and allowed Azumi to drag the semi-catatonic Hortan out of the room.
Once outside, she turned him around and looked directly into his eyes. No response, he had withdrawn into his happy place. He was in no condition to fly right now, and for lack of other options she dragged him along to her cubicle, fortunately not meeting anyone along the way. Once safely inside she placed him on the bed and frisked him quickly. Two bottles of pills, some papers, an official TGFT cred stick, two no-trace sticks and a memory crystal. She placed the items on the table and read the labels on the pill glasses. Deciding that it could only become better, she shook out a pair and stuffed them into Hortan's mouth. She looked around and found some stale green tea that she had left from earlier today. She poured a cup and made him drink, taking the pills along. He closed his eyes and after a minute or so lay himself on his side. She took his boots and socks off and tucked him on her bed, he was asleep before noticing.
"Shit, where am I going to sleep?” she thought, "and even worse, what the hell am I supposed to do with him?" She shook her head slowly and walked over to grab a jump suit and put it on instead of the dress. She had no idea when he would wake up, she could just as well make herself comfortable. She sat in her reclining chair and put her feet up, opened the pieces of paper from Hortan's pockets and started leafing through them. Haiku poetry, and apparently to roids or girls, she wasn't sure. She once more shook her head and put on her headphones. "Equally destructive that we aaaaree" rang into her very soul. She opened her pda and sent a message to the guards that they were to provide Hortan free passage away from the station as per yoda’s orders, and then leant back and closed her eyes.
Buzz awoke to the hangover from Hell. Something was applying pressure directly to his brain from all directions at once, and the combined drums of the universe were playing from somewhere near his door. He took a pillow and tried to drown the sound by putting it over his head, but he almost gagged with the bad small emanating from his own mouth and had to take it off again. Admitting defeat, he got up and slowly crawled to the door where he pulled himself to standing position before opening it. A flash as intense as one from a nuclear detonation, or at least so it felt to Buzz, filled the room as soon as he opened the door, and Buzz staggered back blinded and hurting. Another flash and what sounded like someone hitting a large piece of sheet metal with an ice pick. He fell on his back and hammered his head into something metallic and cold. His .45 revolver, he would recognise that shape anywhere. He grabbed the revolver and aimed at the location of the first flash when he heard the
"Whoa whoa Buzz, are you all right mate?"
"Do I look all right to you?"
Fluffy grinned, "well, apart from having the largest boosoom in TGFT, I must admit that yoo look immensely like crap. I have pills, Nyrius Dew and chips. And the entire collection of "The Adventures of Hathor the Librarian".
Buzz grunted, "hand me the pills, the chips and the dew and get the fuck out of here. Let me die in peace."
Fluffy grinned even wider and put the package on the floor, took another picture of the prone man and left the cubicle to Buzz and his misery. Now he had picture proof of Buzz's nightly mishap, and that more than made them even for the tattoo on Fluffy's shoulder. He started walking over to his own cubicle when he heard the "Aw CRAP" shout from the room he just left. Apparently Buzz had re-discovered his new boobs.
The TGFT HQ was slowly recovering after the stag party, with most of the members meeting in for the late shift. Trade routes were allocated and co-ordinated, mining missions were delivered, and deals were struck. Tomorrow would be business as usual, immense profits and resource collection.
och , dockmaster , do we have plenty o' screamers in stock ?
If it will keep you writing this, Whytee, I really like it!
8. Morning
It was in the very early hours of the morning when he received the coded signal; the mission had been effectuated with almost 90% success rate. That was way and above what had been hoped for when the plan had been first suggested, and it was mostly due to him. Without the information he had collected in the last months it would have been very different, but it was only a question of time before they found out now. He entered the database and checked once more that he had left no traces. He entered the mission planner and ordered himself to Sol II for the next two months upon Surbius's order, sent it to his own mailbox and left the command room. The odds were pretty good that he would never come back here again. Not looking like this at least. He checked his Warthog II out and launched, setting a course for Latos and Remley Orbital.
Buzz walked warily down to Surbius's office, to the eternally vigilant Naoko that was looking as fresh as ever. He had dressed in the largest flight suit he had, and it still felt tight across the chest. For the first time in his life he understood why women used braziers, and he wished to the Almighty God in the bottom of the bottle that he had purchased one too. His nipples were chafed raw, and his shoulders were sore. Especially the right one, but that was also pin from the tattoo.
"Naoko, need to have the day off."
She looked up at him and frowned. Something was not right.
"Are you sick Buzz? Then I'll need a 392a-3 form, Request for Sick Leave with the details please."
"Ehm, I'd rather not ma'am, I just need the day off. I need to do some stuff of a medical nature of sorts."
"Not sure I can do that Buzz unless I get the 3922a-3." Naoko found the form and almost printed it.
"Ah, no. How about I show you what the problem is, and then we don't file papers?"
Naoko looked closely at Buzz. He was almost always very loud and in control, but today he looked like he would crawl into just about any hole he could find to avoid attention.
"I can't promise you anything Buzz, but ok, show me."
Buzz opened his jump suit and displayed a very shapely but also distinctly hairy cleavage. Naoko had to hide her face behind her hands not to laugh, but she managed to control herself.
"I really need to get this fixed, and you can probably imagine what would happen if the rest of the crew found out. So I would appreciate it very much if this was kept kinda secret."
"I'll have to tell Lieutenant Surbius, but I think we can work around the form. Just report back when the, well procedure I guess it would be called, is completed."
"Thank you Ms Naoko, I owe you one."
Buzz turned and walked away. Naoko managed to control herself until she couldn't hear his footsteps before submitting to the laughter that was forcing itself up into her throat.
Hortan woke with a start. Something was wrong, the smell, the sounds, the fact that he was wearing his jump suit, the other person breathing inside the room. He opened one eye slowly and was startled again. He sat up on the bed with the blanket in front of him, covering his lower torso and legs. He was in Azumi's cubicle, and sleeping on Azumi's bed. She was sleeping in her recliner, breathing heavily. Hortan looked around bewildered, how on Eo had he fallen asleep here? He looked for his boots, found them and put his bare feet into, lacing them lightly, but fast. He looked for his socks, found them and put them in his pocket. He spied the TGFT cred stick on the table and sneaked over to grab it. When he reached across Azumi, she stirred in her sleep, and he stood absolutely still for a minute until she had resumed her deep sleep. He grabbed the stick and turned for the door. When he was just abut to leave the room, he looked back at Azumi once more. He tiptoed over to the bed and grabbed his blanket and covered Azumi with it. He then exited silently to the corridor and turned in the direction he assumed was the docks. He looked directly at two persons, one in a black coverall with a CLM logo on his left chest and twin silver distinctions on his collar, tall, slender and with light blonde hair; the other was shorter and more muscular, dark haired in a double Elvis mohawk, dressed in a pair of very colourful long shorts, a pair of sandals, an open shirt and several heavy gold chains around his neck. Wittman and Sharingan, and they had just seen him exit from Azumi's cubicle. With nowhere to go, and not knowing how to handle this, he froze completely.
"Hi Horzan, wat are...."
"What the fuck are you....."
The two pirates started talking at the same time and moved in Hortan's direction, with the predictable result that Hortan turned his gaze to the floor and waited for the inevitable. Sharingan grabbed Hortan's arm.
"What did you do in there? Is Azumi inside? Did you hurt her?" His concern was enough to shake Hortan out of his defensive passivity.
"No, I mean, she is fine, I never touched her, I don't know what happened, I just woke up."
Wittman put a hand on Sharingans shoulder to calm him.
"Maybe we should knock on ze door and find out. But if Horzan says zat she is ok, zen I believe him. We are talking about Azumi here Shar. Wat could he do to her?"
Sharingan looked from Hortan to Wittman and nodded.
"Yeah, let us knock and find out, I mean, he could have been stealing her stuff like he did with Leber"
Sharingan pressed the call button, and after some seconds and a lot of noise from inside, the door opened and Azumi peeked out holding the blanket up in front of her. Her hair was caught in a rough ponytail and she had very obviously just awoken.
"What do you want Shar? It better be good." She spied Hortan behind Sharingan and covered her face with one hand. "Shit, ehm, Shar he is with me. Just let me get dressed, I'll come out and take care of him." She closed the door.
Sharingan and Wittman looked at each other, and then at Hortan. And then back at the closed door. Sharingan stared straight into Hortan's eyes.
"I have no idea how you pulled this one off. But you have just made an enemy today."
"Relax Shar, Horzan ist one of ze good traders. He always pays, is zat not true?"
Hortan nodded and looked back to the floor. Sharingan grabbed his chin and tried lifting his face up, but Hortan was saved by the click of the door lock disengaging. A tired looking Azumi came out of the door and grabbed Hortan by the arm.
"Let's go." She started dragging him, but was stopped by Shar that held on to the other arm. "What Shar? Let him go."
"Did he, like do anything Az?"
"Aw, what are you, some kind of chaperone? What is it to you anyway? Let him go I say, I need to get him to the dock."
Shar let Hortan go, and Azumi dragged him along, away from the two confused pirates.
"Verdammt Shar, let us go and drink some beers, and maybe play ze pool, wat do you say?"
"Yeah, let's get plastered. Maybe we can get some of that stuff that was left from the party yesterday."
The two pirates walked off towards the main bar, the beer and the pool table. Important business to do, plans to discuss or friends to talk about. And that would be best resorted intoxicated beyond sane levels.
It was in the very early hours of the morning when he received the coded signal; the mission had been effectuated with almost 90% success rate. That was way and above what had been hoped for when the plan had been first suggested, and it was mostly due to him. Without the information he had collected in the last months it would have been very different, but it was only a question of time before they found out now. He entered the database and checked once more that he had left no traces. He entered the mission planner and ordered himself to Sol II for the next two months upon Surbius's order, sent it to his own mailbox and left the command room. The odds were pretty good that he would never come back here again. Not looking like this at least. He checked his Warthog II out and launched, setting a course for Latos and Remley Orbital.
Buzz walked warily down to Surbius's office, to the eternally vigilant Naoko that was looking as fresh as ever. He had dressed in the largest flight suit he had, and it still felt tight across the chest. For the first time in his life he understood why women used braziers, and he wished to the Almighty God in the bottom of the bottle that he had purchased one too. His nipples were chafed raw, and his shoulders were sore. Especially the right one, but that was also pin from the tattoo.
"Naoko, need to have the day off."
She looked up at him and frowned. Something was not right.
"Are you sick Buzz? Then I'll need a 392a-3 form, Request for Sick Leave with the details please."
"Ehm, I'd rather not ma'am, I just need the day off. I need to do some stuff of a medical nature of sorts."
"Not sure I can do that Buzz unless I get the 3922a-3." Naoko found the form and almost printed it.
"Ah, no. How about I show you what the problem is, and then we don't file papers?"
Naoko looked closely at Buzz. He was almost always very loud and in control, but today he looked like he would crawl into just about any hole he could find to avoid attention.
"I can't promise you anything Buzz, but ok, show me."
Buzz opened his jump suit and displayed a very shapely but also distinctly hairy cleavage. Naoko had to hide her face behind her hands not to laugh, but she managed to control herself.
"I really need to get this fixed, and you can probably imagine what would happen if the rest of the crew found out. So I would appreciate it very much if this was kept kinda secret."
"I'll have to tell Lieutenant Surbius, but I think we can work around the form. Just report back when the, well procedure I guess it would be called, is completed."
"Thank you Ms Naoko, I owe you one."
Buzz turned and walked away. Naoko managed to control herself until she couldn't hear his footsteps before submitting to the laughter that was forcing itself up into her throat.
Hortan woke with a start. Something was wrong, the smell, the sounds, the fact that he was wearing his jump suit, the other person breathing inside the room. He opened one eye slowly and was startled again. He sat up on the bed with the blanket in front of him, covering his lower torso and legs. He was in Azumi's cubicle, and sleeping on Azumi's bed. She was sleeping in her recliner, breathing heavily. Hortan looked around bewildered, how on Eo had he fallen asleep here? He looked for his boots, found them and put his bare feet into, lacing them lightly, but fast. He looked for his socks, found them and put them in his pocket. He spied the TGFT cred stick on the table and sneaked over to grab it. When he reached across Azumi, she stirred in her sleep, and he stood absolutely still for a minute until she had resumed her deep sleep. He grabbed the stick and turned for the door. When he was just abut to leave the room, he looked back at Azumi once more. He tiptoed over to the bed and grabbed his blanket and covered Azumi with it. He then exited silently to the corridor and turned in the direction he assumed was the docks. He looked directly at two persons, one in a black coverall with a CLM logo on his left chest and twin silver distinctions on his collar, tall, slender and with light blonde hair; the other was shorter and more muscular, dark haired in a double Elvis mohawk, dressed in a pair of very colourful long shorts, a pair of sandals, an open shirt and several heavy gold chains around his neck. Wittman and Sharingan, and they had just seen him exit from Azumi's cubicle. With nowhere to go, and not knowing how to handle this, he froze completely.
"Hi Horzan, wat are...."
"What the fuck are you....."
The two pirates started talking at the same time and moved in Hortan's direction, with the predictable result that Hortan turned his gaze to the floor and waited for the inevitable. Sharingan grabbed Hortan's arm.
"What did you do in there? Is Azumi inside? Did you hurt her?" His concern was enough to shake Hortan out of his defensive passivity.
"No, I mean, she is fine, I never touched her, I don't know what happened, I just woke up."
Wittman put a hand on Sharingans shoulder to calm him.
"Maybe we should knock on ze door and find out. But if Horzan says zat she is ok, zen I believe him. We are talking about Azumi here Shar. Wat could he do to her?"
Sharingan looked from Hortan to Wittman and nodded.
"Yeah, let us knock and find out, I mean, he could have been stealing her stuff like he did with Leber"
Sharingan pressed the call button, and after some seconds and a lot of noise from inside, the door opened and Azumi peeked out holding the blanket up in front of her. Her hair was caught in a rough ponytail and she had very obviously just awoken.
"What do you want Shar? It better be good." She spied Hortan behind Sharingan and covered her face with one hand. "Shit, ehm, Shar he is with me. Just let me get dressed, I'll come out and take care of him." She closed the door.
Sharingan and Wittman looked at each other, and then at Hortan. And then back at the closed door. Sharingan stared straight into Hortan's eyes.
"I have no idea how you pulled this one off. But you have just made an enemy today."
"Relax Shar, Horzan ist one of ze good traders. He always pays, is zat not true?"
Hortan nodded and looked back to the floor. Sharingan grabbed his chin and tried lifting his face up, but Hortan was saved by the click of the door lock disengaging. A tired looking Azumi came out of the door and grabbed Hortan by the arm.
"Let's go." She started dragging him, but was stopped by Shar that held on to the other arm. "What Shar? Let him go."
"Did he, like do anything Az?"
"Aw, what are you, some kind of chaperone? What is it to you anyway? Let him go I say, I need to get him to the dock."
Shar let Hortan go, and Azumi dragged him along, away from the two confused pirates.
"Verdammt Shar, let us go and drink some beers, and maybe play ze pool, wat do you say?"
"Yeah, let's get plastered. Maybe we can get some of that stuff that was left from the party yesterday."
The two pirates walked off towards the main bar, the beer and the pool table. Important business to do, plans to discuss or friends to talk about. And that would be best resorted intoxicated beyond sane levels.
9. Late Call
Azumi escorted Hortan down to the docks as fast as possible. How she was going to wiggle her way out of this one, she had no idea. Still, Shar and Witt she could handle. As long as she could avoid running into...
"Leber, hi. And hi Look"
Lebermac and Look were sitting in the corridor, Leber with his head in his hands, the dirty flight suit showing the signs of four days of heavy abuse. Three empty bottles of Tehkillla were scattered around his feet, and the stench of vomit was heavy in the air. Look was leaning back, his head against the wall and his eyes almost closed. He waved a tired claw in greeting. Azumi stepped gingerly over the bottles and motioned for Hortan to follow. He didn't. Instead he stopped in front of Leber and looked as sternly at him as he could. With a sinking feeling about the same as jumping off a cliff only protected by a piece of used dental floss, Azumi saw Hortan's mouth open as if to start speaking.
"Pilot Lebermac. I must protest in the greatest amount about these recent attacks that you do. They are indiscriminate and very dangerous. I did not get the chance to pay for passage, and so you exposed my passenger to high risk. Now, what do you have to say about the matter?"
Hortan folded his arms, very satisfied with himself for speaking up, and looked at Azumi for support. That spared him getting hit in the face at least. Leber answered with the contents of his stomach, vomiting all over the TGFT flight suit, spattering small droplets on Hortan's face.
"Aw, shit." Azumi looked at the vomit splash. " We need to get you into something else. Lets go back, I'll get you something."
Too stunned to do anything, Hortan allowed himself to be dragged back the way the had come, away from the drunken duo. They went back to Azumi's room, leaving footprints in interesting shades of stomach content. They dropped the boots outside and entered the cubicle.
"Take the flight suit off and wash that off. I'll go look for something." She left again, and he did as he was told. The bathroom, or rather the shower room, not much else in there, was very much like his own. Except for the one or two very female only items that made him blush immensely. He stayed in the shower until he heard the door click.
A towel was pushed in for him, pink with frills, and after drying he came out smelling of roses. No, really of roses. Azumi pushed a flight suit at him.
"Was all I could get at such short notice. I'll bag your own clothes."
He nodded and got in the flight suit. A too large light grey flight suit with a large CLM logo on the chest, and the name Sharingan on the tag.
"I can't wear this Azumi, really, I can't"
"Fine, then you will have to walk naked. It is the best I could do. Now move it."
She opened the door and took another corridor to the docks, dragging Hortan behind her. Fortunately they got to the dock with no further incidents, and Azumi could get Hortan into the Atlas. She was having a sinking feeling in her stomach that something was wrong with her. Only one person on base to ask about these kinds of problems, Mystic, and she was not here. Second best thing, get medieval on someone. She walked to the fighter launch bay and got into her pink Rev C.
Hortan looked at the command screen, he was not going to make it for his morning appointment with Mor. How had be allowed this to drag on so long? He asked for launch permission, got it and punched the thrusters to full immediately after coming out of he bay. Nobody followed him, and he made for the speediest route to Dau K-10. Entering the launch bay at breakneck speed, he jumped out of the Atlas and started running for the TGFT mining office. Ms. Miharu, soon to be Mrs he remembered, was outside as any other day, and looked up at him as he arrived puffing hard. She smiled very broadly at him and covered her mouth with one hand.
"I am sorry I am late Ms Miharu, but I fell asleep and woke too late."
"Wait Hort, Mor is going to want to see and hear this."
Hortan's heart sank; he was going to be hammered for being late. The door opened and Mor in his standard green uniform looked out.
"Yes Miha, oh hi Hort.."
"I am sorry I am late Mor, but as I explained to Ms Miharu, I fell asleep and woke too late."
Mor took one knuckle in his mouth and bit on it.
"I see, and where did you sleep? Anywhere in Latos by any chance?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, the CLM flight suit was a dead giveaway" he managed to force out without laughing.
"Oh, Ms Azumi gave that to me after I showered."
Miharu blushed and looked down into her screen, while holding her mouth with one hand.
"Did she now? And was that where you slept as well? With Azumi?"
"Yes. I awoke this morning in her bed. And I must have forgotten to bring my watch, so that is why I am late. Also I seem to have lost my cred sticks and my memory crystal."
Mor started hulking with laughter, and half-turned while pointing to Miharu.
"She, ha, Miha-ha will give you the schedules, ha ha."
He walked back into his cubicle and closed the door before the laughter came rolling for real.
Hortan received the schedules and excused himself. He needed to get into his own clothes as soon as possible. And then he really needed to come out in the tranquillity of his roids.
Azumi escorted Hortan down to the docks as fast as possible. How she was going to wiggle her way out of this one, she had no idea. Still, Shar and Witt she could handle. As long as she could avoid running into...
"Leber, hi. And hi Look"
Lebermac and Look were sitting in the corridor, Leber with his head in his hands, the dirty flight suit showing the signs of four days of heavy abuse. Three empty bottles of Tehkillla were scattered around his feet, and the stench of vomit was heavy in the air. Look was leaning back, his head against the wall and his eyes almost closed. He waved a tired claw in greeting. Azumi stepped gingerly over the bottles and motioned for Hortan to follow. He didn't. Instead he stopped in front of Leber and looked as sternly at him as he could. With a sinking feeling about the same as jumping off a cliff only protected by a piece of used dental floss, Azumi saw Hortan's mouth open as if to start speaking.
"Pilot Lebermac. I must protest in the greatest amount about these recent attacks that you do. They are indiscriminate and very dangerous. I did not get the chance to pay for passage, and so you exposed my passenger to high risk. Now, what do you have to say about the matter?"
Hortan folded his arms, very satisfied with himself for speaking up, and looked at Azumi for support. That spared him getting hit in the face at least. Leber answered with the contents of his stomach, vomiting all over the TGFT flight suit, spattering small droplets on Hortan's face.
"Aw, shit." Azumi looked at the vomit splash. " We need to get you into something else. Lets go back, I'll get you something."
Too stunned to do anything, Hortan allowed himself to be dragged back the way the had come, away from the drunken duo. They went back to Azumi's room, leaving footprints in interesting shades of stomach content. They dropped the boots outside and entered the cubicle.
"Take the flight suit off and wash that off. I'll go look for something." She left again, and he did as he was told. The bathroom, or rather the shower room, not much else in there, was very much like his own. Except for the one or two very female only items that made him blush immensely. He stayed in the shower until he heard the door click.
A towel was pushed in for him, pink with frills, and after drying he came out smelling of roses. No, really of roses. Azumi pushed a flight suit at him.
"Was all I could get at such short notice. I'll bag your own clothes."
He nodded and got in the flight suit. A too large light grey flight suit with a large CLM logo on the chest, and the name Sharingan on the tag.
"I can't wear this Azumi, really, I can't"
"Fine, then you will have to walk naked. It is the best I could do. Now move it."
She opened the door and took another corridor to the docks, dragging Hortan behind her. Fortunately they got to the dock with no further incidents, and Azumi could get Hortan into the Atlas. She was having a sinking feeling in her stomach that something was wrong with her. Only one person on base to ask about these kinds of problems, Mystic, and she was not here. Second best thing, get medieval on someone. She walked to the fighter launch bay and got into her pink Rev C.
Hortan looked at the command screen, he was not going to make it for his morning appointment with Mor. How had be allowed this to drag on so long? He asked for launch permission, got it and punched the thrusters to full immediately after coming out of he bay. Nobody followed him, and he made for the speediest route to Dau K-10. Entering the launch bay at breakneck speed, he jumped out of the Atlas and started running for the TGFT mining office. Ms. Miharu, soon to be Mrs he remembered, was outside as any other day, and looked up at him as he arrived puffing hard. She smiled very broadly at him and covered her mouth with one hand.
"I am sorry I am late Ms Miharu, but I fell asleep and woke too late."
"Wait Hort, Mor is going to want to see and hear this."
Hortan's heart sank; he was going to be hammered for being late. The door opened and Mor in his standard green uniform looked out.
"Yes Miha, oh hi Hort.."
"I am sorry I am late Mor, but as I explained to Ms Miharu, I fell asleep and woke too late."
Mor took one knuckle in his mouth and bit on it.
"I see, and where did you sleep? Anywhere in Latos by any chance?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, the CLM flight suit was a dead giveaway" he managed to force out without laughing.
"Oh, Ms Azumi gave that to me after I showered."
Miharu blushed and looked down into her screen, while holding her mouth with one hand.
"Did she now? And was that where you slept as well? With Azumi?"
"Yes. I awoke this morning in her bed. And I must have forgotten to bring my watch, so that is why I am late. Also I seem to have lost my cred sticks and my memory crystal."
Mor started hulking with laughter, and half-turned while pointing to Miharu.
"She, ha, Miha-ha will give you the schedules, ha ha."
He walked back into his cubicle and closed the door before the laughter came rolling for real.
Hortan received the schedules and excused himself. He needed to get into his own clothes as soon as possible. And then he really needed to come out in the tranquillity of his roids.
ot, nice stuff, man. but to tell the truth, there's NO WAY i could be that guy.. i couldnt even rp him. heh..puke on me? might find a boot on your throat. heh
10. Trade routes
Buzz launched his vulture from Daltas Hold. He was so angry that he had to drink half a bottle of Helio Mists just to keep his hands steady. He steered away from the station, but that single movement reminded him of why he was here, and why he was so angry. As he flew his ship, his chest, or rather, his breasts pressed against the jump suit that was not designed for the double D's that were adorning him. The BioCom salesman that had sold him the nano tech implants had not been present in the shop, apparently he had left for Nyrius. With the antidote to the nano machines that had created his breasts. He set the course for Nyrius and the salesman. He would find him, and then he would get rid of these things. Or else he would have to use his trusty .45 to persuade someone to fix it. Just maybe he would use it on him afterwards anyway.
Somewhere deep in Itani space, John was slowly rolling his bright green Behemoth XC towards the station, his hold filled to the brim with coolant fluid. The last batch of 20.000.000 crates that would guaranteed make an immense profit for him as well as for TGFT. He had borrowed around 400 million credits to pay for the cargo, as well as sinking a massive 1.6 billion into it himself. And today was pay dirt day, with a sell price of 200 credits each, he would net 4 billion, effectively doubling his stake. Then he would repay the guild with interests, but it would still net him a hefty 3.2 billion. That was around 120 million bottles of vodka. He smiled at the thought of so much vodka. He briefly wondered how many cows would be required to make all that vodka into White Russians, but eventually gave up and docked the ship. He sent for the dockhands to unload his vessel, and went to punch up an inventory screen, grabbing a mug of coffee from the stationmaster along the way. Humming tunelessly, he activated his account. He accessed the usual buyers on the station, and punched up the buy screen. Coolant Liquid, buy price 68 credits. He choked on his coffee, getting some in his windpipe, and almost gulped it all over the screen. How the, what the, who had....that would net him 1.36 billion, effectively a loss of 800 million once he had paid the guild. He punched the public SSCU for trade data from his other station. He had almost 20 million holo discs on the station from where he had bought the coolant fluid. He had been chartered of the guild to buy these discs and sell them for the guild, and while they were not his money it still represented four billion credits. Feeling his stomach contract to golfball size, he opened the buy screen. Holo discs, price 124 credits. He suddenly felt nauseous, and as he got up from the chair, he had to support himself before staggering over to the bright green Warthog Mk II he used for moving sensitive cargo. He would have to go to Ecka and discuss this; maybe the old miner knew something that John didn't. No matter what, he would have to explain that 4.4 billion of the guild money was not going to be paid today along with the expected 4.2 billion profit. He felt physically sick, and as he launched he had to keep the cooling fans to high, or sweat through his jump suit.
Dau K-10 was bustling with activity at least thirty TGFT ships were either docking or approaching the station, with only one or two ships leaving. Ato boosted as fast as he could for a docking bay, and smashed the ship into the cradle. Jumping out of the ship, he ignored the dockhands and walked directly towards the XO's office. The room outside was full of guild members shouting and making gestures, with Naoko behind her screen looking all lost.
"..need to see Surbius.", "I have lost", nobody should know".....
"Gentlemen, calm please." Ecka's deep voice cut through the chatter like a fusion torch through a foam wall. "I be sure tha Surbius will hae time fae each n every one a ya. So ya get in yon line behind Pasquel thare, and then when ye are finished, come have a blether with me in the command. Move it."
The guild members got in line as commanded, and Naoko looked admiringly at Ecka. Any other day he would have beamed back, but today he was stressed to the max. He needed a drink badly.
Pasquel moved into Surbius's office, and found it a terrible mess. At least nine papers were scattered semi randomly on the table, and Surbius was staring furiously at his screen.
"Hi Surb."
Surbius waved a hand without looking up, indicated the chair in front of the table and went on reading. After a minute he looked at Pasquel, and spoke, fatigue heavy in his voice.
"Well, how much?"
Pasquel was somewhat surprised about his tone of voice, but managed to stutter a reply.
"Estimated loss of 2.1 billion, including the return goods. How, I mean, I thought I was the only one?"
"If only that Pasquel, if only that. Apparently someone has crashed the entire trade net that TGFT has built over the last four years, and crashed them bad."
"Who would do something like this?" Pasquel was outraged, the amount of skill and money to do that was very high, and would only be possible for one of the semi-nation factions, or one of the major guilds.
"We do not know right now, but we have a couple of leads. Give the details of your trade route to Ms Naoko, and send in the next. We'll get to the bottom of this." With that, Surbius returned to his screen, and the despairing figures displayed upon it.
Hortan received a summons as he was floating in tranquility deep in a Helios roid field listening to Delibés Viéns Mallika Sûr lé Dome, one of his favourite classical pieces of music. He had found it by accident among some data thrash he had purchased from the original diaspora years and years ago. Most of it had been gibberish, but this particular piece of music had survived. Slightly annoyed that somebody interrupted him while he was mining Cassandra, he nevertheless took his feet down, faded the music and pushed the receive button.
"Assembly in the command. All are required to attend. Priority ASAP-Z." From Surbius's own terminal. Something must have gone terribly wrong Hortan knew, and he aborted the mining operations. 109 crates in the bay, it would have to do for now. He slowly turned the Ole Sloth Moth XXIV towards open space and engaged the engines, slowly at first so he wouldn't make heat scars across the surface of the roid, and then engaging full turbo after he was five hundred metres away. He set up the jump sequence, and brought the volume of the music up to full. The twin powerful female voices filled the cockpit to a crescendo as he jumped out of Helios towards Ukari. He would get the bad news in time, no reason not to hear the music out.
Hortan docked his lumbering ship in the cargo unload area of Dau K-10, and took the time to order storage space for the Heliocene. He had a stash of around five thousand metric tonnes of the ore in storage on the station, but he needed space for another thousand metrics for the ore he had mined. He exited the side door on the Moth, and started to walk away to the TGFT command. He only got a few metres before someone shouted.
"Hey Hortan, did yoo get the summons too?" Fluffy exited his own ship and walked over to Hortan. "Yoo know what it is aboot?"
"Hi Fluffy, no I have absolutely no idea. I was just mining when I got the message to come here asap. Do you know?"
"Nah, but I expect we'll find oot soon, don't you?" Fluffy smiled at Hortan. "How's the princess these days?"
Hortan looked confused at Fluffy. "Which one?"
"Ha ha, yoo are so bad mate, yoo are sooo bad." He grabbed Hortan around the shoulders and started walking towards the command centre. "Tell me all aboot it, every sordid little detail mate."
Buzz launched his vulture from Daltas Hold. He was so angry that he had to drink half a bottle of Helio Mists just to keep his hands steady. He steered away from the station, but that single movement reminded him of why he was here, and why he was so angry. As he flew his ship, his chest, or rather, his breasts pressed against the jump suit that was not designed for the double D's that were adorning him. The BioCom salesman that had sold him the nano tech implants had not been present in the shop, apparently he had left for Nyrius. With the antidote to the nano machines that had created his breasts. He set the course for Nyrius and the salesman. He would find him, and then he would get rid of these things. Or else he would have to use his trusty .45 to persuade someone to fix it. Just maybe he would use it on him afterwards anyway.
Somewhere deep in Itani space, John was slowly rolling his bright green Behemoth XC towards the station, his hold filled to the brim with coolant fluid. The last batch of 20.000.000 crates that would guaranteed make an immense profit for him as well as for TGFT. He had borrowed around 400 million credits to pay for the cargo, as well as sinking a massive 1.6 billion into it himself. And today was pay dirt day, with a sell price of 200 credits each, he would net 4 billion, effectively doubling his stake. Then he would repay the guild with interests, but it would still net him a hefty 3.2 billion. That was around 120 million bottles of vodka. He smiled at the thought of so much vodka. He briefly wondered how many cows would be required to make all that vodka into White Russians, but eventually gave up and docked the ship. He sent for the dockhands to unload his vessel, and went to punch up an inventory screen, grabbing a mug of coffee from the stationmaster along the way. Humming tunelessly, he activated his account. He accessed the usual buyers on the station, and punched up the buy screen. Coolant Liquid, buy price 68 credits. He choked on his coffee, getting some in his windpipe, and almost gulped it all over the screen. How the, what the, who had....that would net him 1.36 billion, effectively a loss of 800 million once he had paid the guild. He punched the public SSCU for trade data from his other station. He had almost 20 million holo discs on the station from where he had bought the coolant fluid. He had been chartered of the guild to buy these discs and sell them for the guild, and while they were not his money it still represented four billion credits. Feeling his stomach contract to golfball size, he opened the buy screen. Holo discs, price 124 credits. He suddenly felt nauseous, and as he got up from the chair, he had to support himself before staggering over to the bright green Warthog Mk II he used for moving sensitive cargo. He would have to go to Ecka and discuss this; maybe the old miner knew something that John didn't. No matter what, he would have to explain that 4.4 billion of the guild money was not going to be paid today along with the expected 4.2 billion profit. He felt physically sick, and as he launched he had to keep the cooling fans to high, or sweat through his jump suit.
Dau K-10 was bustling with activity at least thirty TGFT ships were either docking or approaching the station, with only one or two ships leaving. Ato boosted as fast as he could for a docking bay, and smashed the ship into the cradle. Jumping out of the ship, he ignored the dockhands and walked directly towards the XO's office. The room outside was full of guild members shouting and making gestures, with Naoko behind her screen looking all lost.
"..need to see Surbius.", "I have lost", nobody should know".....
"Gentlemen, calm please." Ecka's deep voice cut through the chatter like a fusion torch through a foam wall. "I be sure tha Surbius will hae time fae each n every one a ya. So ya get in yon line behind Pasquel thare, and then when ye are finished, come have a blether with me in the command. Move it."
The guild members got in line as commanded, and Naoko looked admiringly at Ecka. Any other day he would have beamed back, but today he was stressed to the max. He needed a drink badly.
Pasquel moved into Surbius's office, and found it a terrible mess. At least nine papers were scattered semi randomly on the table, and Surbius was staring furiously at his screen.
"Hi Surb."
Surbius waved a hand without looking up, indicated the chair in front of the table and went on reading. After a minute he looked at Pasquel, and spoke, fatigue heavy in his voice.
"Well, how much?"
Pasquel was somewhat surprised about his tone of voice, but managed to stutter a reply.
"Estimated loss of 2.1 billion, including the return goods. How, I mean, I thought I was the only one?"
"If only that Pasquel, if only that. Apparently someone has crashed the entire trade net that TGFT has built over the last four years, and crashed them bad."
"Who would do something like this?" Pasquel was outraged, the amount of skill and money to do that was very high, and would only be possible for one of the semi-nation factions, or one of the major guilds.
"We do not know right now, but we have a couple of leads. Give the details of your trade route to Ms Naoko, and send in the next. We'll get to the bottom of this." With that, Surbius returned to his screen, and the despairing figures displayed upon it.
Hortan received a summons as he was floating in tranquility deep in a Helios roid field listening to Delibés Viéns Mallika Sûr lé Dome, one of his favourite classical pieces of music. He had found it by accident among some data thrash he had purchased from the original diaspora years and years ago. Most of it had been gibberish, but this particular piece of music had survived. Slightly annoyed that somebody interrupted him while he was mining Cassandra, he nevertheless took his feet down, faded the music and pushed the receive button.
"Assembly in the command. All are required to attend. Priority ASAP-Z." From Surbius's own terminal. Something must have gone terribly wrong Hortan knew, and he aborted the mining operations. 109 crates in the bay, it would have to do for now. He slowly turned the Ole Sloth Moth XXIV towards open space and engaged the engines, slowly at first so he wouldn't make heat scars across the surface of the roid, and then engaging full turbo after he was five hundred metres away. He set up the jump sequence, and brought the volume of the music up to full. The twin powerful female voices filled the cockpit to a crescendo as he jumped out of Helios towards Ukari. He would get the bad news in time, no reason not to hear the music out.
Hortan docked his lumbering ship in the cargo unload area of Dau K-10, and took the time to order storage space for the Heliocene. He had a stash of around five thousand metric tonnes of the ore in storage on the station, but he needed space for another thousand metrics for the ore he had mined. He exited the side door on the Moth, and started to walk away to the TGFT command. He only got a few metres before someone shouted.
"Hey Hortan, did yoo get the summons too?" Fluffy exited his own ship and walked over to Hortan. "Yoo know what it is aboot?"
"Hi Fluffy, no I have absolutely no idea. I was just mining when I got the message to come here asap. Do you know?"
"Nah, but I expect we'll find oot soon, don't you?" Fluffy smiled at Hortan. "How's the princess these days?"
Hortan looked confused at Fluffy. "Which one?"
"Ha ha, yoo are so bad mate, yoo are sooo bad." He grabbed Hortan around the shoulders and started walking towards the command centre. "Tell me all aboot it, every sordid little detail mate."
11. The Damages
The command centre was buzzing with voices when Hortan and Fluffy entered. As the last pilots to arrive, they took the last two seats to the rear. Ecka and Surbius were standing to the front discussing something. Surbius noted their arrival on his board and scouted around the room. He looked at Vardonx and nodded. Vardonx stood, turned and faced the crowd.
"Attention Front. We are all gathered except one pilot. I know you are all worried, but please stay calm and listen to the commander." With this he nodded to Ecka and sat.
Ecka, grim looking, walked up to the centre.
"Thank ye Vard. Weel, I cannae even try tae put ah lid on yon here kettle o bad news. The quick version be this un. Somebody crashed all trade routes that TGFT kent. All of 'em. Needless tae say, this has some blerry awful impacts on all o' us. We'll be now 275 million short o' meeting our weekly expenses, and this means we arr gunna have tae ask TPG for more loans, before we can sell some items even at a loss. Any and all information ar help will be appreciated. Surbius."
Ecka looked sternly around the room, making sure he made eye contact with every member before nodding to Surbius. He then sat in his command chair and focused on his XO.
"Gents, this is an attack on TGFT, and a very serious one indeed. If we cannot come up with 220 million within this afternoon, we are bankrupt. Somebody with inside knowledge has effectuated this attack at our most vulnerable time, where, as far as I can see, all published trade routes were coming to fruition. This means that you all have immense assets tied up in goods on various stations, and very little cash. The guild was due a lot of money today, but this looks impossible now. If you by any chance have not tied your assets into goods, come see me afterwards. The second matter is an arrest warrant on the former TGFT member Tufan Oreminer. He is the only pilot that has not responded to this call, and we would like to talk to him. He may be the mole that stole this data."
"I'll fucking kill that bastard," John rose, all red in his face with rage.
"Not if I see him first," Waldoze had risen as well.
Now more pilots started rising and shouting, effectively turning the command centre into a cacophony of angry voices.
"Silence lads, Surb is nae finished." Ecka's voice, powerful like the turbo thrusters on a Valkyrie X-1, cut through the chatter like a Teradon class plasma canon through a govbus.
"Thanks Ecka. This is most important; we need the money this afternoon. Whatever you have will be appreciated and paid back naturally. As soon as we know more we will inform you further. That is all, dismissed."
Hortan looked around the room at the white-faced pilots, well mostly white faced, some of the pilots were crimson in their faces, mostly John and Dozer. If it hadn't been for the reasoning voice of Neagoth who held them back, they would have stormed out of the room, found the first combat ship available, and torn a large hole in the Universe. The only pilot that was appearing to be normal was Fluffy. Well apart from the usual distant semi-mad glare in his eyes, but that was quite the regular thing with him. He turned his head to Hortan and smiled.
"Paranoia, the ultimate survival trait my friend. Just because nobody is oot for yoo now doesn't men that they woon't do so at one time."
Hortan looked at Fluffy without getting it, and it must have been apparent because Fluffy reached over and ruffled Hortan's hair.
"Not all of us have logged oor trade routes in the mainframe, so some of us have all our ill begotten wealth still."
He got up, and with Hortan trailing him he walked up to Surbius, who was trying to calm John Eldritch.
"I know John, but if it comes to the worst solution we are going to have to sell anyway and take the losses. We cannot afford that this gets leaked to the press. We have to carry on regardless, even if we have to kill your trade route."
John looked at Surbius with eyes that were flaring with an anger so deep that Hortan felt sorry for whomever was going to be on the receiving end. Even if they deserved every bit of it.
"Let's not get too hasty Surb, I think that I can handle at least a weeks worth." Fluffy interrupted before John had time to retort. "I have been running my roote ootside the mainframe, and I can realise that for aroond 800 million tomorrow. I have about 100 million in cash you can borrow now and pay the vultures from TPG with."
Surbius and John looked at Fluffy first with incomprehension, and then with joy. John punched Fluffy lightly on the shoulder and then hugged him.
"I have some money too."
They turned and looked at Hortan who looked very concentrated at Surbius, and John smiled for the first time in a day.
"Okay buddy, but we are talking serious money here. I am.. "
"I can supply the remaining money for today up front Surbius." Hortan interrupted John. "I just need to find my TGFT cred stick, it has about 200 mill on it. I usually have it in my pocket, but it seems to be missing"
John looked at Hortan and slowly shook his head.
"You need to find it? How, what do you mean you need to find a 200 mill cred stick? Let's go right now Hort. Where did you last see it?"
Surbius and Fluffy observed John lead Hortan towards the dormitories with Pasquel in tow. It wasn't until they had walked out of the room that they both shook their heads and turned towards Ecka for the immediate rescue plan. One week was not a long time, but it was breathing space, and a lot could happen in a week. Assuming that Hortan found the cred stick.
NP was slowly digesting the daily trade report from UIT with closed eyes via the implant he had installed three months ago in Sol II, while leaning back in his favourite chair and listening to Requiem by Verdi. He was not looking at anything in particular, nor was he looking for specific pieces of data, he was mapping trends. Nothing that was worth noting so far, the fluctuations were well within the normal values for...oops. He opened his eyes in surprise, pure reflex. The data disappeared and he cursed an oath that would blister paint or be used as a sonic weapon. Fortunately he was alone, so no damage was done. He closed his eyes again, and the data popped back on his retina. A person or entity called TATE was launching a hostile take-over bid on TGFT at a price that was around 40% lower than the actual value of it's assets. Actually, it was only two percent above the debt that TGFT had, and immensely undervalued. Something was wrong, very wrong. He checked the data available on TGFT but nothing showed up. Well, almost nothing. A lot of assets were right now tied up in tradeable goods, just around...35 percent. He opened his eyes once more and cursed even harder causing his computer to crash. He needed some answers, and he needed them now. He texted Tohasandra Chi and asked her to join him in the docking bay ASAP. Another day that was supposed to slog along and be remembered by its complete lack of excitement just joined the imaginary league of days that meant massive work to NP. He lived for those days....
The command centre was buzzing with voices when Hortan and Fluffy entered. As the last pilots to arrive, they took the last two seats to the rear. Ecka and Surbius were standing to the front discussing something. Surbius noted their arrival on his board and scouted around the room. He looked at Vardonx and nodded. Vardonx stood, turned and faced the crowd.
"Attention Front. We are all gathered except one pilot. I know you are all worried, but please stay calm and listen to the commander." With this he nodded to Ecka and sat.
Ecka, grim looking, walked up to the centre.
"Thank ye Vard. Weel, I cannae even try tae put ah lid on yon here kettle o bad news. The quick version be this un. Somebody crashed all trade routes that TGFT kent. All of 'em. Needless tae say, this has some blerry awful impacts on all o' us. We'll be now 275 million short o' meeting our weekly expenses, and this means we arr gunna have tae ask TPG for more loans, before we can sell some items even at a loss. Any and all information ar help will be appreciated. Surbius."
Ecka looked sternly around the room, making sure he made eye contact with every member before nodding to Surbius. He then sat in his command chair and focused on his XO.
"Gents, this is an attack on TGFT, and a very serious one indeed. If we cannot come up with 220 million within this afternoon, we are bankrupt. Somebody with inside knowledge has effectuated this attack at our most vulnerable time, where, as far as I can see, all published trade routes were coming to fruition. This means that you all have immense assets tied up in goods on various stations, and very little cash. The guild was due a lot of money today, but this looks impossible now. If you by any chance have not tied your assets into goods, come see me afterwards. The second matter is an arrest warrant on the former TGFT member Tufan Oreminer. He is the only pilot that has not responded to this call, and we would like to talk to him. He may be the mole that stole this data."
"I'll fucking kill that bastard," John rose, all red in his face with rage.
"Not if I see him first," Waldoze had risen as well.
Now more pilots started rising and shouting, effectively turning the command centre into a cacophony of angry voices.
"Silence lads, Surb is nae finished." Ecka's voice, powerful like the turbo thrusters on a Valkyrie X-1, cut through the chatter like a Teradon class plasma canon through a govbus.
"Thanks Ecka. This is most important; we need the money this afternoon. Whatever you have will be appreciated and paid back naturally. As soon as we know more we will inform you further. That is all, dismissed."
Hortan looked around the room at the white-faced pilots, well mostly white faced, some of the pilots were crimson in their faces, mostly John and Dozer. If it hadn't been for the reasoning voice of Neagoth who held them back, they would have stormed out of the room, found the first combat ship available, and torn a large hole in the Universe. The only pilot that was appearing to be normal was Fluffy. Well apart from the usual distant semi-mad glare in his eyes, but that was quite the regular thing with him. He turned his head to Hortan and smiled.
"Paranoia, the ultimate survival trait my friend. Just because nobody is oot for yoo now doesn't men that they woon't do so at one time."
Hortan looked at Fluffy without getting it, and it must have been apparent because Fluffy reached over and ruffled Hortan's hair.
"Not all of us have logged oor trade routes in the mainframe, so some of us have all our ill begotten wealth still."
He got up, and with Hortan trailing him he walked up to Surbius, who was trying to calm John Eldritch.
"I know John, but if it comes to the worst solution we are going to have to sell anyway and take the losses. We cannot afford that this gets leaked to the press. We have to carry on regardless, even if we have to kill your trade route."
John looked at Surbius with eyes that were flaring with an anger so deep that Hortan felt sorry for whomever was going to be on the receiving end. Even if they deserved every bit of it.
"Let's not get too hasty Surb, I think that I can handle at least a weeks worth." Fluffy interrupted before John had time to retort. "I have been running my roote ootside the mainframe, and I can realise that for aroond 800 million tomorrow. I have about 100 million in cash you can borrow now and pay the vultures from TPG with."
Surbius and John looked at Fluffy first with incomprehension, and then with joy. John punched Fluffy lightly on the shoulder and then hugged him.
"I have some money too."
They turned and looked at Hortan who looked very concentrated at Surbius, and John smiled for the first time in a day.
"Okay buddy, but we are talking serious money here. I am.. "
"I can supply the remaining money for today up front Surbius." Hortan interrupted John. "I just need to find my TGFT cred stick, it has about 200 mill on it. I usually have it in my pocket, but it seems to be missing"
John looked at Hortan and slowly shook his head.
"You need to find it? How, what do you mean you need to find a 200 mill cred stick? Let's go right now Hort. Where did you last see it?"
Surbius and Fluffy observed John lead Hortan towards the dormitories with Pasquel in tow. It wasn't until they had walked out of the room that they both shook their heads and turned towards Ecka for the immediate rescue plan. One week was not a long time, but it was breathing space, and a lot could happen in a week. Assuming that Hortan found the cred stick.
NP was slowly digesting the daily trade report from UIT with closed eyes via the implant he had installed three months ago in Sol II, while leaning back in his favourite chair and listening to Requiem by Verdi. He was not looking at anything in particular, nor was he looking for specific pieces of data, he was mapping trends. Nothing that was worth noting so far, the fluctuations were well within the normal values for...oops. He opened his eyes in surprise, pure reflex. The data disappeared and he cursed an oath that would blister paint or be used as a sonic weapon. Fortunately he was alone, so no damage was done. He closed his eyes again, and the data popped back on his retina. A person or entity called TATE was launching a hostile take-over bid on TGFT at a price that was around 40% lower than the actual value of it's assets. Actually, it was only two percent above the debt that TGFT had, and immensely undervalued. Something was wrong, very wrong. He checked the data available on TGFT but nothing showed up. Well, almost nothing. A lot of assets were right now tied up in tradeable goods, just around...35 percent. He opened his eyes once more and cursed even harder causing his computer to crash. He needed some answers, and he needed them now. He texted Tohasandra Chi and asked her to join him in the docking bay ASAP. Another day that was supposed to slog along and be remembered by its complete lack of excitement just joined the imaginary league of days that meant massive work to NP. He lived for those days....
12. As greater complexity develops
John didn't stop speaking as he walked Hortan down to the cubicle.
"I mean, how can you not know where you left two hundred million credits? I can understand ten credits, or even a hundred, but a cred stick worth millions? Where did you have it last, or rather who did you use it with last?"
"I told you John, I put it in my pocket and that is the last time I saw it. I used it when I docked the last Helio down in the cargo bay, but I specifically remember that I put it back in my pocket."
They arrived at Hortan's door and he opened with his thumbprint. The room was somewhat messy with a light grey flight suit and a bag of dirty laundry in a corner. Actually, the room was very neat and tidy compared to some of the other pilots, but Hortan was quite embarrassed about the dirty clothes.
"Uhm, sorry about the mess, let me just clear that up."
He started to move towards the clothes, but was stopped by John.
"Let me look here Hort, and you can go to the dock and make sure. Pas, can you help him with accessing the account and check if it has been used?"
"Sure, let's go Hort, I can do the checking from the dock mainframe, I know the foreman very well, so it shouldn't be a problem buddy."
Pasqual led Hortan down towards the cargo bay and John turned to the room. Ok, if he had dropped it, it would be somewhere on the floor. He dropped and checked under the bed. Clear, actually clean as well. John frowned, who cleans under the bed? He checked under the table but nothing as well. He took the laundry and checked its pockets, empty. Smelly, but empty. He frowned at the light blue uniform, but didn't check it out any further. So, no cred stick here. He took the laundry with him, he could just as well drop it off when he was handing his own in. He opened a link to Pasquel.
"Nothing here, page me when you find it. Tell Hort I took his laundry for washing."
Dammit, this was proving to be the worst day in like forever. He walked down to his own room and dropped the laundry in his already large pile. He would take care of that later after training. Now he needed badly to hurt something. He switched to his training fatigues and loped down to the centre, laundry bag over his shoulder.
Tufan dropped his ID card and his TGFT passkey into the incinerator. There, it was done. He was no longer Tufan, he was now himself again. He had shaved his head and removed the long thin beard. His accent had disappeared and he was now clad in a violet and red flight suit with a large KAOS guild badge. He watched his last four months of life twirl and burn away, and then walked to the launch bay. He was due for a meeting with his guild leader Ahriman in Latos, and he better not let the commander wait for too long. He was generally not known for his patience, maybe the reason he was no longer a member of the Serco Thought Police. Asteroth chuckled as he remembered the first time he had met the brooding hulk of a man. He had just been arrested upon docking in Geira Rutilus with the remains of his command following the catastrophic operation Zephyr, and the interrogator had introduced himself as the Master Inquisitor. Asteroth had been surprised that the Thought Police was interested in the mission, but apparently they had been exposed to some new Itani thought manipulation machine. Asteroth hadn't cared one bit, he was too angry about the losses his unit had taken under his command, but over the next three days Ahriman had slowly unlocked his doubts about his own capabilities and instead shown him how he and his entire 2nd Special Ops group had been sacrificed. When Ahriman called him after the farcical court martial, he was not in any doubts whatsoever. He had joined KAOS with this specific mission in thought, and he had never looked back. He had delivered what they wanted from him, and now it was reward time. He launched from the station in his EC-107 and set course for Latos B-6, a nondescript piece of real estate, just what they needed.
Azumi came out from the shower and was drying her hair when she saw the cred stick on the floor almost under the bed. She bent down to get it while she fixed the towel around her hair and fixed it in a bun. A TGTF cred stick, with no name on it. She frowned and put it into her terminal to see whom it belonged to and more interesting how much money they had previously had. She found some underwear while the terminal was crunching the data, and was just about to get a dress on when the amount available popped up on the screen, resulting in her falling back on the bed. Who in their right mind would keep 211 million credits on one cred stick? She got up from the bed and checked the name, Hortan. She sighed, yeah, who else. She looked at the other cred sticks she had swiped from him and thought about what to do. She eventually came to a conclusion and swore badly under her breath. She was a pirate, not some goddamned immoral thief. She would have to give it back to him, but she couldn't just barge into TGFT HQ unannounced. She took the dress off again and opted for the jump suit instead. She punched in the code to open the programme yoda had given her and sent the coded signal for retrieval to her contact. Time for a rendezvous with Sedina B-8
NP met with Tohasandra Chi in the launch bay. She had a stay-over bag over one shoulder and her helmet under the other.
"What took you so long, you said we had to leave right away."
He shrugged and smiled, turning his hands outwards to his front.
"Sorry Lieutenant, I received a message that I have to respond to. If I could get you to fly ahead and take contact to your usual sources initially, I shall be along shortly and we'll make it an official visit at that time."
"Well, I guess I can do that," she smiled, "I need some exercise anyway. Do you know how long time it will take?"
"Well, it depends on whether or not I am there to pick up a parcel or not. The days that I actually have to receive something tends to take quite a while longer."
"Are you sure you can handle it alone?"
NP grinned back at her, nodded and walked over to his Corvus Vulturius that was ready for launch. He was inbound for an extremely hot if somewhat hostile date in Sedina B-8.
John didn't stop speaking as he walked Hortan down to the cubicle.
"I mean, how can you not know where you left two hundred million credits? I can understand ten credits, or even a hundred, but a cred stick worth millions? Where did you have it last, or rather who did you use it with last?"
"I told you John, I put it in my pocket and that is the last time I saw it. I used it when I docked the last Helio down in the cargo bay, but I specifically remember that I put it back in my pocket."
They arrived at Hortan's door and he opened with his thumbprint. The room was somewhat messy with a light grey flight suit and a bag of dirty laundry in a corner. Actually, the room was very neat and tidy compared to some of the other pilots, but Hortan was quite embarrassed about the dirty clothes.
"Uhm, sorry about the mess, let me just clear that up."
He started to move towards the clothes, but was stopped by John.
"Let me look here Hort, and you can go to the dock and make sure. Pas, can you help him with accessing the account and check if it has been used?"
"Sure, let's go Hort, I can do the checking from the dock mainframe, I know the foreman very well, so it shouldn't be a problem buddy."
Pasqual led Hortan down towards the cargo bay and John turned to the room. Ok, if he had dropped it, it would be somewhere on the floor. He dropped and checked under the bed. Clear, actually clean as well. John frowned, who cleans under the bed? He checked under the table but nothing as well. He took the laundry and checked its pockets, empty. Smelly, but empty. He frowned at the light blue uniform, but didn't check it out any further. So, no cred stick here. He took the laundry with him, he could just as well drop it off when he was handing his own in. He opened a link to Pasquel.
"Nothing here, page me when you find it. Tell Hort I took his laundry for washing."
Dammit, this was proving to be the worst day in like forever. He walked down to his own room and dropped the laundry in his already large pile. He would take care of that later after training. Now he needed badly to hurt something. He switched to his training fatigues and loped down to the centre, laundry bag over his shoulder.
Tufan dropped his ID card and his TGFT passkey into the incinerator. There, it was done. He was no longer Tufan, he was now himself again. He had shaved his head and removed the long thin beard. His accent had disappeared and he was now clad in a violet and red flight suit with a large KAOS guild badge. He watched his last four months of life twirl and burn away, and then walked to the launch bay. He was due for a meeting with his guild leader Ahriman in Latos, and he better not let the commander wait for too long. He was generally not known for his patience, maybe the reason he was no longer a member of the Serco Thought Police. Asteroth chuckled as he remembered the first time he had met the brooding hulk of a man. He had just been arrested upon docking in Geira Rutilus with the remains of his command following the catastrophic operation Zephyr, and the interrogator had introduced himself as the Master Inquisitor. Asteroth had been surprised that the Thought Police was interested in the mission, but apparently they had been exposed to some new Itani thought manipulation machine. Asteroth hadn't cared one bit, he was too angry about the losses his unit had taken under his command, but over the next three days Ahriman had slowly unlocked his doubts about his own capabilities and instead shown him how he and his entire 2nd Special Ops group had been sacrificed. When Ahriman called him after the farcical court martial, he was not in any doubts whatsoever. He had joined KAOS with this specific mission in thought, and he had never looked back. He had delivered what they wanted from him, and now it was reward time. He launched from the station in his EC-107 and set course for Latos B-6, a nondescript piece of real estate, just what they needed.
Azumi came out from the shower and was drying her hair when she saw the cred stick on the floor almost under the bed. She bent down to get it while she fixed the towel around her hair and fixed it in a bun. A TGTF cred stick, with no name on it. She frowned and put it into her terminal to see whom it belonged to and more interesting how much money they had previously had. She found some underwear while the terminal was crunching the data, and was just about to get a dress on when the amount available popped up on the screen, resulting in her falling back on the bed. Who in their right mind would keep 211 million credits on one cred stick? She got up from the bed and checked the name, Hortan. She sighed, yeah, who else. She looked at the other cred sticks she had swiped from him and thought about what to do. She eventually came to a conclusion and swore badly under her breath. She was a pirate, not some goddamned immoral thief. She would have to give it back to him, but she couldn't just barge into TGFT HQ unannounced. She took the dress off again and opted for the jump suit instead. She punched in the code to open the programme yoda had given her and sent the coded signal for retrieval to her contact. Time for a rendezvous with Sedina B-8
NP met with Tohasandra Chi in the launch bay. She had a stay-over bag over one shoulder and her helmet under the other.
"What took you so long, you said we had to leave right away."
He shrugged and smiled, turning his hands outwards to his front.
"Sorry Lieutenant, I received a message that I have to respond to. If I could get you to fly ahead and take contact to your usual sources initially, I shall be along shortly and we'll make it an official visit at that time."
"Well, I guess I can do that," she smiled, "I need some exercise anyway. Do you know how long time it will take?"
"Well, it depends on whether or not I am there to pick up a parcel or not. The days that I actually have to receive something tends to take quite a while longer."
"Are you sure you can handle it alone?"
NP grinned back at her, nodded and walked over to his Corvus Vulturius that was ready for launch. He was inbound for an extremely hot if somewhat hostile date in Sedina B-8.
cmon azumi its in your blood. take 12 mill off the top. you know you want to. besides, no one will miss such a small amount out of such a large one...
"She was a pirate, not some goddamned immoral thief."
a pirate is more easily equated with a mugger.
a thief is usually a sneaky bastard that takes your goods while you are sleeping, aren't home, etc. a mugger puts a gun or knife in your face and says "gimme"
a pirate puts some neutrons or flares in your face and says "gimme"
so yea.. a pirate is more a mugger than a common thief. :)
a pirate is more easily equated with a mugger.
a thief is usually a sneaky bastard that takes your goods while you are sleeping, aren't home, etc. a mugger puts a gun or knife in your face and says "gimme"
a pirate puts some neutrons or flares in your face and says "gimme"
so yea.. a pirate is more a mugger than a common thief. :)
13. Workout
The exotic radiation that preceded an incoming ship looked like an expanding heat ring on the face of reality followed by a spike of equally exotic materials that slowly expanded and left an opening for a ship to exit. In this case a Corvus Vulturius bearing the colours and marks of the Phoenix Alliance and the name tag NP. Azumi smiled, she loved killing his ships, especially in her newest favourite ship, an Orion Centurion, Revision C. Basically a rocket with twin light weapons mounts and a small external cargo space, it was only just rated as a fighter instead of a torpedo with a human guide. It fit her fighting style perfectly, light and agile with the same punch as a CorVult, the only drawback for her was the lack of real armour. Sure, they had welded some xith plates on here and there to protect the most fragile of the systems, but the designers had tried to minimise weight and succeeded. The weapons were just under half the total weight of the ship, but she was used to the performance of the Axia positron beams and so had retained them instead of lighter weapons. She pushed the throttle to maximum and pointed the nose towards NP.
->NP: Thanks for coming, I need a favour.
NP: ehm, ok. I thought I would be shot to bits.
->NP: I can do that later if you feel like it, but this is important so pay attention.
NP grinned. Sometimes he was not sure if it was healthy for her to be as self confident, but she had a point in this particular case. He opened his pda, ready for notes.
Chi flew without incidents to the docking bay of Dau K-10, and walked to her TGFT provided cubicle. She logged onto the station net and punched in her search. The result chimed in on her screen and she smiled a loop sided smile. Looks like she got a chance to use her training suit after all. She changed into her combat fatigues and exited the room, turning for the training area. The music from the inside was loud enough to be heard several corridors away, loud deep booming goth metal. Looks like her search programme had been right. She slowly opened the door and saw John Eldritch move around and attack a full action combat bot. And from the amount of sweat on his body and face, he must have had it on maximum difficulty for quite a while. She slid slowly into the room and left her bag by the door. John attacked the bot again, fist, fist, block, fist, block, kick and retreat, his focus fixed on the combat bot. She slid slowly over towards his rear and extended a single finger to point at his shoulder. As she touched his shoulder he whirled and parried with one hand, slid close and blocked her other arm while hooking her left leg. She lost her footing instantly and her reflexes took over. She let herself drop to the ground while she twisted her right leg around his knee and pulled, dropping him on top of her his lock broken. He realised what he had done and looked down upon his opponent into the most fascinating pair of brown eyes he had ever....
"Do you mind?"
John realised that he was pinning her very efficiently with his bulk, and had done so for some time. He rolled off and helped her get up.
"Sorry Ms Chi, I really am. But I was in the middle of the combat programme, and ..."
She smiled coyly at him and lifted her hands in a defensive posture.
"I was not prepared, the first lesson of Krav Maga, so it is my bad John."
He stepped one step back in preparation for her attack, but instead she smiled broadly and winked at him. He relaxed one iota, but that was too much. Chi lifted one leg forward while tipping her body back, hitting John right in solar plexus with her toe. He bent like a piece of plastic under a ten giga-watt laser, and Chi used the inattention to move in under his reach and hook his legs while punching with all her might at his chest. He lost his balance, but managed to grab the much lighter Chi in the forearms, thus dragging her down on top of him. Once more he looked into those bottomless brown set perfectly in her face, the face that came closer and clo....
"Bdrrriiing bdrrriiiing," something was ringing from the laundry bag.
"Shit Chi, I gotta see what that is." They disentangled and John crawled over to the laundry and found the guilty machine, Hortan's PDA. A priority message, the screen was blinking on and off. He turned the PDA on to see what the message was. He read it and slowly shook his head.
"Oh fuck, what have you done little buddy. Chi, I am sorry, I would love to stay and, well, I would love to stay, but it will have to be another time."
He dropped the PDA into the laundry, grabbed the bag and ran out of the room. He went by Hortan's room and left the PDA inside before running down to the launch bay. He needed to go to Daltas hold, and get there fast.
Chi was a bit confused. She had been tasked with getting information for NP, but ended up with more and less than she had anticipated. It seemed like Hortan was in quite some trouble, but that would not be the first time. She decided that she would have to find out what it was all about. She ran down to her room and switched to a flight suit while letting her implants order up her white Orion version Hornet so it would be ready for launch when she arrived in the dock. She was thrilled, this was fieldwork, real information gathering where she had to think on her feet. She grabbed a thin needlegun and secured it in the low of her back before bolting for the dock.
Pasquel and Hortan had searched the area thoroughly, but no cred stick. Pas had used his connections to make ensure that the stick had not been used, but in the end they had to give up. Hortan wasn't concerned, his stuff had a nasty habit of disappearing and then appearing again. Pasquel walked Hortan down to his room before leaving him for the command room. Hortan entered his room and went over to his bed. The PDA was vibrating and the screen was blinking on and off. Hortan grabbed it and looked at the message. A message from NP, about a meeting in Daltas hold, the corridor where he had....he blushed. How did NP know about that corridor, and why did he want to meet with him right now? And why did he want to meet him on CLM business? Ah well, all would be revealed, and besides NP was good company. Maybe they could go to that new pancake place in the main plaza and get lunch. He grabbed his pills and walked down to the Certain Death IX, mentally preparing for a trip into grey space.
The 107 exited into normal space with a stream of high energy tachyons announcing the fact. Asteroth punched up the radar, searching for the telltale reflection of his commander's ship. There, a 107 like his own, colours violet and yellow. He opened a local channel.
"Mission accomplished boss. Tufan is no more."
He smiled at his accomplishment and anticipated the praise. He would be disappointed.
"You will cease your informal mewling and refer to me as Master Inquisitor as always. Use the one time pad in your ship for secure channel. All is Dust."
Asteroth cursed at himself for forgetting the correct procedure. He should have known better, but it was hard to shake the last twelve months in the trader guild. He engaged the one time pad and opened a direct link.
"Master Inquisitor, I have accomplished the tasks set for me. I request to be released from this assignment and be given a new."
"Well done Asteroth. However, you are not finished. I need you to do one more thing for me, after that I shall find a new use for your skills. The tasks are adhered to the message and should appear on your screen now. Report."
"Yes Master Inquisitor. I shall do your bidding. Asteroth out."
The exotic radiation that preceded an incoming ship looked like an expanding heat ring on the face of reality followed by a spike of equally exotic materials that slowly expanded and left an opening for a ship to exit. In this case a Corvus Vulturius bearing the colours and marks of the Phoenix Alliance and the name tag NP. Azumi smiled, she loved killing his ships, especially in her newest favourite ship, an Orion Centurion, Revision C. Basically a rocket with twin light weapons mounts and a small external cargo space, it was only just rated as a fighter instead of a torpedo with a human guide. It fit her fighting style perfectly, light and agile with the same punch as a CorVult, the only drawback for her was the lack of real armour. Sure, they had welded some xith plates on here and there to protect the most fragile of the systems, but the designers had tried to minimise weight and succeeded. The weapons were just under half the total weight of the ship, but she was used to the performance of the Axia positron beams and so had retained them instead of lighter weapons. She pushed the throttle to maximum and pointed the nose towards NP.
->NP: Thanks for coming, I need a favour.
NP: ehm, ok. I thought I would be shot to bits.
->NP: I can do that later if you feel like it, but this is important so pay attention.
NP grinned. Sometimes he was not sure if it was healthy for her to be as self confident, but she had a point in this particular case. He opened his pda, ready for notes.
Chi flew without incidents to the docking bay of Dau K-10, and walked to her TGFT provided cubicle. She logged onto the station net and punched in her search. The result chimed in on her screen and she smiled a loop sided smile. Looks like she got a chance to use her training suit after all. She changed into her combat fatigues and exited the room, turning for the training area. The music from the inside was loud enough to be heard several corridors away, loud deep booming goth metal. Looks like her search programme had been right. She slowly opened the door and saw John Eldritch move around and attack a full action combat bot. And from the amount of sweat on his body and face, he must have had it on maximum difficulty for quite a while. She slid slowly into the room and left her bag by the door. John attacked the bot again, fist, fist, block, fist, block, kick and retreat, his focus fixed on the combat bot. She slid slowly over towards his rear and extended a single finger to point at his shoulder. As she touched his shoulder he whirled and parried with one hand, slid close and blocked her other arm while hooking her left leg. She lost her footing instantly and her reflexes took over. She let herself drop to the ground while she twisted her right leg around his knee and pulled, dropping him on top of her his lock broken. He realised what he had done and looked down upon his opponent into the most fascinating pair of brown eyes he had ever....
"Do you mind?"
John realised that he was pinning her very efficiently with his bulk, and had done so for some time. He rolled off and helped her get up.
"Sorry Ms Chi, I really am. But I was in the middle of the combat programme, and ..."
She smiled coyly at him and lifted her hands in a defensive posture.
"I was not prepared, the first lesson of Krav Maga, so it is my bad John."
He stepped one step back in preparation for her attack, but instead she smiled broadly and winked at him. He relaxed one iota, but that was too much. Chi lifted one leg forward while tipping her body back, hitting John right in solar plexus with her toe. He bent like a piece of plastic under a ten giga-watt laser, and Chi used the inattention to move in under his reach and hook his legs while punching with all her might at his chest. He lost his balance, but managed to grab the much lighter Chi in the forearms, thus dragging her down on top of him. Once more he looked into those bottomless brown set perfectly in her face, the face that came closer and clo....
"Bdrrriiing bdrrriiiing," something was ringing from the laundry bag.
"Shit Chi, I gotta see what that is." They disentangled and John crawled over to the laundry and found the guilty machine, Hortan's PDA. A priority message, the screen was blinking on and off. He turned the PDA on to see what the message was. He read it and slowly shook his head.
"Oh fuck, what have you done little buddy. Chi, I am sorry, I would love to stay and, well, I would love to stay, but it will have to be another time."
He dropped the PDA into the laundry, grabbed the bag and ran out of the room. He went by Hortan's room and left the PDA inside before running down to the launch bay. He needed to go to Daltas hold, and get there fast.
Chi was a bit confused. She had been tasked with getting information for NP, but ended up with more and less than she had anticipated. It seemed like Hortan was in quite some trouble, but that would not be the first time. She decided that she would have to find out what it was all about. She ran down to her room and switched to a flight suit while letting her implants order up her white Orion version Hornet so it would be ready for launch when she arrived in the dock. She was thrilled, this was fieldwork, real information gathering where she had to think on her feet. She grabbed a thin needlegun and secured it in the low of her back before bolting for the dock.
Pasquel and Hortan had searched the area thoroughly, but no cred stick. Pas had used his connections to make ensure that the stick had not been used, but in the end they had to give up. Hortan wasn't concerned, his stuff had a nasty habit of disappearing and then appearing again. Pasquel walked Hortan down to his room before leaving him for the command room. Hortan entered his room and went over to his bed. The PDA was vibrating and the screen was blinking on and off. Hortan grabbed it and looked at the message. A message from NP, about a meeting in Daltas hold, the corridor where he had....he blushed. How did NP know about that corridor, and why did he want to meet with him right now? And why did he want to meet him on CLM business? Ah well, all would be revealed, and besides NP was good company. Maybe they could go to that new pancake place in the main plaza and get lunch. He grabbed his pills and walked down to the Certain Death IX, mentally preparing for a trip into grey space.
The 107 exited into normal space with a stream of high energy tachyons announcing the fact. Asteroth punched up the radar, searching for the telltale reflection of his commander's ship. There, a 107 like his own, colours violet and yellow. He opened a local channel.
"Mission accomplished boss. Tufan is no more."
He smiled at his accomplishment and anticipated the praise. He would be disappointed.
"You will cease your informal mewling and refer to me as Master Inquisitor as always. Use the one time pad in your ship for secure channel. All is Dust."
Asteroth cursed at himself for forgetting the correct procedure. He should have known better, but it was hard to shake the last twelve months in the trader guild. He engaged the one time pad and opened a direct link.
"Master Inquisitor, I have accomplished the tasks set for me. I request to be released from this assignment and be given a new."
"Well done Asteroth. However, you are not finished. I need you to do one more thing for me, after that I shall find a new use for your skills. The tasks are adhered to the message and should appear on your screen now. Report."
"Yes Master Inquisitor. I shall do your bidding. Asteroth out."
14. Hostile intent
Why is it that when you have to hurry the most, things start to go wrong in spectacular ways? John was fuming, what was meant to be a simple high speed move to Sedina had started out bad and then walked straight to worse. First his ship had been launched from the cradle in Dau, but due to some obscure computer malfunction that was not supposed to happen, it had launched him without a battery. Fortunately he was within range for his pda, or he would have drifted for aeons. Well, at least until the next time that cradle was used and someone had bumped into him. After the old battered station EC-88 salvage vehicle had grasped his ship with the magnetic clamps and shoved it back in the docking bay, he had used ten minutes. Fortunately he had a spare ship that had already been prepared, and he could launch with that immediately. Then his NAVCOMP failed to get the latest storm update from the StormTracker centre, and he hit two ion storms on the way in through Azek. He was practically yearning for a fight when he entered Sedina b-8, but nobody was there to receive him. The Ion storm that blocked his path on the other hand was more than willing to suck him in. Delayed by more than thirty minutes in the end, he finally docked in Daltas hold. He jumped out of his ship and headed directly to his destination, not noticing anything in the docks nor on the way.
This made it so much easier for Chi to follow him. In reality, she probably didn't even need the disguise that she had donned, but the first rule of field operations was never to assume anything and always prepare to the maximum. She had arrived a safe twenty minutes earlier courtesy of her connection in Dau K-10. It had cost her 15k, but when the dockmaster had heard that she wanted to make a friendly prank with John Eldritch, he had made sure that she had the time she needed. She smiled as she imagined the look on John's face as he launched without battery. She followed John at a safe distance, never loosing him from her sight. He walked towards the bar area, and straight for one of the strip clubs named The Priggly Pear. She cursed under her breath, if she was going in there she would have to use some resources or take her disguise off. She was relieved when he walked past and into a corridor next to the club. Chi waited a bit, but John did not come out again. She decided that she needed to see what happened down there, and so slowly walked past, sneaking a view down as she passed. She clicked a picture and stored it as she passed; John was with a young woman she didn't know. She sent the picture to NP and asked for an ID. It came back almost immediately, Councillor Azumi of CLM. Chi cursed herself twice for not bugging John as she had thought of earlier, now she would have to wait and see what happened.
She had been rather surprised to see John Eldritch barge down the corridor towards her, furious and puffing for breath. Why he was here, she had no idea, she had asked NP to send her message to Hortan. Feeling trapped, she took her right hand to the small of her back and grabbed the high power stun gun she had there without taking it out in the open. She would go down fighting, that much was certain.
"Whoa, stop right there. I have no quarrel with you trader, but I warn you fairly. No further."
John stopped as if hit by a xith loaded Behemoth at turbo speed. The lithe young woman had an aura of danger emanating that came from everything she did to the things she wore. The long black dress that was laced up in front and probably also back, her long black gloves that ended above her elbows, and the in-your-face attitude of her black and red make-up all signalled look, but not touch. Her hair was braided with small red silk ribbons, but in such a way that it would fit under a helmet.
"You have called and set up a meeting with Hortan. I am here to make sure you behave."
Azumi smiled coyly and turned her head almost imperceptibly sideways to the right.
"Is that so. And what if I say that you can stuff it?"
"Then we fight here and now. And when we are finished I am going to grief kill you forever."
"Wait, is that a threat? And am I supposed to be scared now? If so, you failed miserably hun, rather you made me curious." She moved one leg slightly back as she said it, and smiled even wider.
John realised that this was going nowhere fast and decided to switch tactics.
"Okay, we may have come off on the wrong foot here. You told Hortan you wanted to meet him here. I do not know why, and that scares me. He is a very special kid, and I am somewhat protective of him. Can you tell me why you wanted to meet him?"
Azumi observed the fury drain from John's face, replaced by obvious concern. She could continue to bash him, although she was a bit uncertain how much more he could take before cracking, or she could maybe gain an ally. Not much competition there really.
"I have asked him to come here so I could give him his cred stick back. I am an honest pirate, not a thief."
John frowned, that would actually explain a lot. Well, some at least.
"Where did you get it?"
"For me to know, and you never to find out hun. Now, I told you why, can you scuttle along to yon trade vessel you came in? It was after all not you the message was sent to, or should I tell Hortan that you read his mails?"
John stared hard at the piratess before nodding. He squinted at her while thinking for a second, but eventually turned and walked out with no further comments, passing Chi without seeing her again, and walked towards his ship. She better be true to her word, or he would use all his resources to fight her. He didn't usually fight women, well Ms. Chi now and again, that was different, but he would make an exception in this case. He would have no problems with getting Azumi across his knees and provide a good spanking if she messed Hortan up.
Why is it that when you have to hurry the most, things start to go wrong in spectacular ways? John was fuming, what was meant to be a simple high speed move to Sedina had started out bad and then walked straight to worse. First his ship had been launched from the cradle in Dau, but due to some obscure computer malfunction that was not supposed to happen, it had launched him without a battery. Fortunately he was within range for his pda, or he would have drifted for aeons. Well, at least until the next time that cradle was used and someone had bumped into him. After the old battered station EC-88 salvage vehicle had grasped his ship with the magnetic clamps and shoved it back in the docking bay, he had used ten minutes. Fortunately he had a spare ship that had already been prepared, and he could launch with that immediately. Then his NAVCOMP failed to get the latest storm update from the StormTracker centre, and he hit two ion storms on the way in through Azek. He was practically yearning for a fight when he entered Sedina b-8, but nobody was there to receive him. The Ion storm that blocked his path on the other hand was more than willing to suck him in. Delayed by more than thirty minutes in the end, he finally docked in Daltas hold. He jumped out of his ship and headed directly to his destination, not noticing anything in the docks nor on the way.
This made it so much easier for Chi to follow him. In reality, she probably didn't even need the disguise that she had donned, but the first rule of field operations was never to assume anything and always prepare to the maximum. She had arrived a safe twenty minutes earlier courtesy of her connection in Dau K-10. It had cost her 15k, but when the dockmaster had heard that she wanted to make a friendly prank with John Eldritch, he had made sure that she had the time she needed. She smiled as she imagined the look on John's face as he launched without battery. She followed John at a safe distance, never loosing him from her sight. He walked towards the bar area, and straight for one of the strip clubs named The Priggly Pear. She cursed under her breath, if she was going in there she would have to use some resources or take her disguise off. She was relieved when he walked past and into a corridor next to the club. Chi waited a bit, but John did not come out again. She decided that she needed to see what happened down there, and so slowly walked past, sneaking a view down as she passed. She clicked a picture and stored it as she passed; John was with a young woman she didn't know. She sent the picture to NP and asked for an ID. It came back almost immediately, Councillor Azumi of CLM. Chi cursed herself twice for not bugging John as she had thought of earlier, now she would have to wait and see what happened.
She had been rather surprised to see John Eldritch barge down the corridor towards her, furious and puffing for breath. Why he was here, she had no idea, she had asked NP to send her message to Hortan. Feeling trapped, she took her right hand to the small of her back and grabbed the high power stun gun she had there without taking it out in the open. She would go down fighting, that much was certain.
"Whoa, stop right there. I have no quarrel with you trader, but I warn you fairly. No further."
John stopped as if hit by a xith loaded Behemoth at turbo speed. The lithe young woman had an aura of danger emanating that came from everything she did to the things she wore. The long black dress that was laced up in front and probably also back, her long black gloves that ended above her elbows, and the in-your-face attitude of her black and red make-up all signalled look, but not touch. Her hair was braided with small red silk ribbons, but in such a way that it would fit under a helmet.
"You have called and set up a meeting with Hortan. I am here to make sure you behave."
Azumi smiled coyly and turned her head almost imperceptibly sideways to the right.
"Is that so. And what if I say that you can stuff it?"
"Then we fight here and now. And when we are finished I am going to grief kill you forever."
"Wait, is that a threat? And am I supposed to be scared now? If so, you failed miserably hun, rather you made me curious." She moved one leg slightly back as she said it, and smiled even wider.
John realised that this was going nowhere fast and decided to switch tactics.
"Okay, we may have come off on the wrong foot here. You told Hortan you wanted to meet him here. I do not know why, and that scares me. He is a very special kid, and I am somewhat protective of him. Can you tell me why you wanted to meet him?"
Azumi observed the fury drain from John's face, replaced by obvious concern. She could continue to bash him, although she was a bit uncertain how much more he could take before cracking, or she could maybe gain an ally. Not much competition there really.
"I have asked him to come here so I could give him his cred stick back. I am an honest pirate, not a thief."
John frowned, that would actually explain a lot. Well, some at least.
"Where did you get it?"
"For me to know, and you never to find out hun. Now, I told you why, can you scuttle along to yon trade vessel you came in? It was after all not you the message was sent to, or should I tell Hortan that you read his mails?"
John stared hard at the piratess before nodding. He squinted at her while thinking for a second, but eventually turned and walked out with no further comments, passing Chi without seeing her again, and walked towards his ship. She better be true to her word, or he would use all his resources to fight her. He didn't usually fight women, well Ms. Chi now and again, that was different, but he would make an exception in this case. He would have no problems with getting Azumi across his knees and provide a good spanking if she messed Hortan up.