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dammit hort! you missed chapters 14 and 15! Good story btw...
hee hee, Waldoze is in for a stern talking to!
hmm. I guess FUCK best describes it....stby
15. Recovery
Chi walked after John down towards the launch bays, taking care that he didn't see her. Fortunately he seemed to be deep in his own thoughts and so it was no trouble for her. Almost too easy. As he walked around the last intersection, she moved faster to catch up, and ran directly into Hortan who apparently had not seen her. She started to backtrack, but for some reason or other she caught his eye. He looked straight at her, frowned, and then smiled broadly.
"Hi Ms. Chi. What's with the orange hair?"
"Ehm, Hi Hortan," she looked after John, but he had disappeared completely. She stepped back in the corridor she came from before smiling to the young man. "So, what brings you here my dear?"
Hortan blushed slightly. "I am here to speak with NP, he told me to come here and meet him on something with CLM. Didn't read it too closely." Hortan smiled even more, he looked really happy to see her.
"Oh, okay, then I really shouldn't keep you here. Say hi to NP for me, and take care." She squeezed his shoulder and walked back the way she had come. Just making sure that John didn't see her. She needed to get back to Dau before him, and she already knew how. She sent the messages, paid the right people and moved to the launch bay. She would have to get into her training outfit again, John would want to blow some steam off when he came home with all those delays that had incurred on his trip.
Hortan looked admiringly at the lithe orange topped woman as she manoeuvred deftly in and out of the crowd of people in the corridor. Shucks, now he forgot to ask her why she was wearing a wig. He had almost missed her when he walked down the corridor, but he would recognise her brown eyes anywhere. Ah well, better go and meet NP. He walked with no hurry towards the Priggly Pear, smiling with the memories of the stag party. Somehow the bar had grown more gritty since he was there last, and the lights weren't quite as enticing. Maybe it was due to the large amount of alcohol he had drunk last. He turned into the corridor to the right of the bar and almost ran away again. Azumi, fiddling with a stun gun, not exactly what he expected. Why was she here, and what had happened to NP? In usual Hortan fashion, he couldn't decide what to do, and so froze in place like a deer in the headlights. Or in this particular case, like a mouse in front of an extremely hungry Eo Pit Viper. Azumi finished what she was doing with the stun gun and looked up. She must have missed his big entry, because she took an instinctive step back and rose one hand before laughing out loud.
"Dammit Hort, you scared the shit out of me. Thought you would be Vehement or some other VPR."
"Ahm, eh. I ah am sorry Ms. Azumi, I didn't, eh" he managed to croak before she walked one step closer, effectively stopping his ability to speak at all.
"What, cat got your tongue"
"Mh, I, what, no, I mean" Hortan managed to squeal out before she wiggled her eyebrows at him. His face colour turned from slightly pale with small freckles into a landscape dedicated to the colour red.
"What exactly " she drew her words out long and looked at the floor while moving even closer until she was very close, and then looked up at him directly into his eyes, "is it you are trying to say?" The last came out almost whispering. She reached out for him and played innocently with the zipper on his flight suit, twirling it between thumb and index. She drew it a centimetre down and up again.
"Mh, need, ahem, NP," he managed to croak.
"Hun, you have all of me, and you think of NP?" She released his zipper with a flick of her wrist and pushed him back one step. She looked at him before slowly shaking her head and pushing Hortan to the side so she could exit. She moved with the grace of a ninja-ballet dancer, sliding past him like wind through a grassy field. She looked back and up at him, smiling that special Azumi smile he had only seen once or twice. The real Azumi.
"Later hun, take care now, you hear? And stay away from Lebermac for a while, he is slightly mad. "
And with that she was gone in the crowd, and Hortan regained his vocal faculties.
"..because he had sent me a message." Hortan looked in vain for another glimpse of the piratess, but to late. He put a hand in his pocket to look for his pda, but came up with the pda as well as a TGFT cred stick he had thought he had lost. Strange, he was dead certain that he had checked his pocket earlier that morning, but at least now they didn't have to look for it anymore. He checked the message from NP.
"Meet NP contact from CLM in the corridor next to Priggly. Take care, NP"
Oh, he had read wrong, NP wasn't going to be here after all. He was supposed to meet a....
The wheels inside Hortan's head slowly turned, switches connected, power turned on. "Oh!"
Chi left the small self adhesive spy cam on a pillar facing the docking area. Once it had recorded the next twenty minutes, it would code and then squirt the file to her pda before self de-assembling. Only a grey dust would be left. These gadgets were hideously expensive, but she absolutely needed to record John's face when he once more arrived on station. The delays in Sedina and the malfunctioning storm tracker would probably have him somewhat annoyed, if no absolutely furious. She sent an invite to his pda, asking for some more Krav Maga training. She then hurried to her room to change, better be ready when he arrived.
Chi walked after John down towards the launch bays, taking care that he didn't see her. Fortunately he seemed to be deep in his own thoughts and so it was no trouble for her. Almost too easy. As he walked around the last intersection, she moved faster to catch up, and ran directly into Hortan who apparently had not seen her. She started to backtrack, but for some reason or other she caught his eye. He looked straight at her, frowned, and then smiled broadly.
"Hi Ms. Chi. What's with the orange hair?"
"Ehm, Hi Hortan," she looked after John, but he had disappeared completely. She stepped back in the corridor she came from before smiling to the young man. "So, what brings you here my dear?"
Hortan blushed slightly. "I am here to speak with NP, he told me to come here and meet him on something with CLM. Didn't read it too closely." Hortan smiled even more, he looked really happy to see her.
"Oh, okay, then I really shouldn't keep you here. Say hi to NP for me, and take care." She squeezed his shoulder and walked back the way she had come. Just making sure that John didn't see her. She needed to get back to Dau before him, and she already knew how. She sent the messages, paid the right people and moved to the launch bay. She would have to get into her training outfit again, John would want to blow some steam off when he came home with all those delays that had incurred on his trip.
Hortan looked admiringly at the lithe orange topped woman as she manoeuvred deftly in and out of the crowd of people in the corridor. Shucks, now he forgot to ask her why she was wearing a wig. He had almost missed her when he walked down the corridor, but he would recognise her brown eyes anywhere. Ah well, better go and meet NP. He walked with no hurry towards the Priggly Pear, smiling with the memories of the stag party. Somehow the bar had grown more gritty since he was there last, and the lights weren't quite as enticing. Maybe it was due to the large amount of alcohol he had drunk last. He turned into the corridor to the right of the bar and almost ran away again. Azumi, fiddling with a stun gun, not exactly what he expected. Why was she here, and what had happened to NP? In usual Hortan fashion, he couldn't decide what to do, and so froze in place like a deer in the headlights. Or in this particular case, like a mouse in front of an extremely hungry Eo Pit Viper. Azumi finished what she was doing with the stun gun and looked up. She must have missed his big entry, because she took an instinctive step back and rose one hand before laughing out loud.
"Dammit Hort, you scared the shit out of me. Thought you would be Vehement or some other VPR."
"Ahm, eh. I ah am sorry Ms. Azumi, I didn't, eh" he managed to croak before she walked one step closer, effectively stopping his ability to speak at all.
"What, cat got your tongue"
"Mh, I, what, no, I mean" Hortan managed to squeal out before she wiggled her eyebrows at him. His face colour turned from slightly pale with small freckles into a landscape dedicated to the colour red.
"What exactly " she drew her words out long and looked at the floor while moving even closer until she was very close, and then looked up at him directly into his eyes, "is it you are trying to say?" The last came out almost whispering. She reached out for him and played innocently with the zipper on his flight suit, twirling it between thumb and index. She drew it a centimetre down and up again.
"Mh, need, ahem, NP," he managed to croak.
"Hun, you have all of me, and you think of NP?" She released his zipper with a flick of her wrist and pushed him back one step. She looked at him before slowly shaking her head and pushing Hortan to the side so she could exit. She moved with the grace of a ninja-ballet dancer, sliding past him like wind through a grassy field. She looked back and up at him, smiling that special Azumi smile he had only seen once or twice. The real Azumi.
"Later hun, take care now, you hear? And stay away from Lebermac for a while, he is slightly mad. "
And with that she was gone in the crowd, and Hortan regained his vocal faculties.
"..because he had sent me a message." Hortan looked in vain for another glimpse of the piratess, but to late. He put a hand in his pocket to look for his pda, but came up with the pda as well as a TGFT cred stick he had thought he had lost. Strange, he was dead certain that he had checked his pocket earlier that morning, but at least now they didn't have to look for it anymore. He checked the message from NP.
"Meet NP contact from CLM in the corridor next to Priggly. Take care, NP"
Oh, he had read wrong, NP wasn't going to be here after all. He was supposed to meet a....
The wheels inside Hortan's head slowly turned, switches connected, power turned on. "Oh!"
Chi left the small self adhesive spy cam on a pillar facing the docking area. Once it had recorded the next twenty minutes, it would code and then squirt the file to her pda before self de-assembling. Only a grey dust would be left. These gadgets were hideously expensive, but she absolutely needed to record John's face when he once more arrived on station. The delays in Sedina and the malfunctioning storm tracker would probably have him somewhat annoyed, if no absolutely furious. She sent an invite to his pda, asking for some more Krav Maga training. She then hurried to her room to change, better be ready when he arrived.
16. Respite
In a Universe as large and diverse as the one currently inhabited, chances are that everything has happened many times. There are a few select occurrences of events that seems so unlikely or unique that it can be assumed that it happened only once. The Big Bang is probably such an event. Inside the bowels of TGFT HQ, another singular event was about to take place.
Surbius noted what could only be interpreted as an attack against the guild, in the form of a hostile take-over attempt by an entity named TATE. Masterly planned, the take-over was bound to be a success if TGFT failed to provide the 220 million credits before the 1100 deadline. The failure to pay would mean that TGFT would go straight for bankruptcy, and if TATE could provide the money to pick up the debts, they would own TGFT, with all resources and contracts. Surbius looked up at NP who was fiddling with a pencil on the other side of the desk, and from him further up to Naoko who was standing with her usual calm demeanour and detached attention. She was getting to be invaluable to him, he made a mental note to make sure she was set up for priority access, the kind only reserved for council and above. He looked back at his screen, 10.58.38. Soon it would happen, only a few seconds to go. 10.59.00, and Surbius touched the transfer switch, effectively moving the 275 million credits into the TPG account, settling the daily bills as well as the debt. He then switched over to the stock market at Dau central and watched the value of the TGFT stock stay stable through 1100, with the resulting withdrawal of the hostile take-over bid. The Event happened, Surbius smiled and laughed out loud. The effect was enough for Naoko and NP to look at each other in surprise, Naoko quickly regaining her composure.
"Looks like our enemy has withdrawn his attack." He looked up at the still surprised NP again, "at least he has shown his face, and that means we can seize the initiative."
He looked back at his screen and activated the software NP had brought along. A data leech, it attached itself to a secure transmission and provided the physical location of the sender. Upon entering the actual terminal from where the signal was sent, the leech would check for the buttons pushed, telemetrics entered, effectively receiving log-on and personal information. It would then send this to a "dead box" where it could be retrieved with another special piece of software. Needless to say, the leech was highly illegal, owning it meant permanent ban from the UIT data sphere. Using it usually resulted in a very long prison term for the user. Surbius had uploaded the leech to the UIT stock exchange, targeting the bidder from KAOS. He waited until the leech would have found the data and activated the retrieval software that in turn downloaded the information to his screen. User name, LITTLE_MAN_TATE; Log on, All_is_dust_666; location, Remley Orbital. Surbius nodded to NP, who used his own tablet screen to activate the account.
"This guy is slick Surb, the log-on is no longer current. He has changed the log-on while the leech was working. He must be pretty paranoid, no way that he could have known that we leeched his info."
NP frowned as he concentrated, punching the keys furiously.
"Oh, here goes the account. The link is dead Surb." He looked up at Surbius with a crooked smile. "But I know who TATE is."
###
Buzz entered Dau with naught to show for his search. The BioCom trader had disappeared completely and with him the promised anti-nanites. He docked with complete carelessness scratching the wall of the docking bay as well as breaking the left side thruster off. He opened the cockpit and climbed out, ignoring the dockhands that were around. He walked slowly towards the dorms, dragging his bulk along like a sack of potato's. It had been a long time since he had felt this down. Something hit him on the shoulder, sliding to the floor. He looked down at the floor at the oil and grease encrusted rag on the floor.
"Yeah you, I am talking to you ladyboy."
Laughter erupted from his right side, and he looked up at a group of station workers that were idling it on some crates. One of them, long dark hair greased back with powerful muscles and a rather dirty overall was standing in front of the others, obviously the owner of the rag. His hands were out from his side in a "come on" attitude. When he got Buzz's attention he turned to the others for support before re-focusing on Buzz.
"You had those things implanted for your hubby?"
He turned again to the others that laughed loudly. He was about to turn back when a single gunshot pierced the laughter and noise. The station worker dropped and clutched his knee that was now reduced to a single .45 calibre bleeding hole. The men stopped laughing immediately and looked at Buzz who was holding his revolver in his right hand, pointing at the men.
"Come on, one more joke. I dare you wise cracks. Didn't think so."
Buzz put the revolver back and continued towards the room, somewhat less slouching. He felt slightly bad for shooting the man, but he had to admit that deep down it had helped his current mood considerably. If only he could do the same to that BioCom trader....
###
Waldoze's pda beeped softly on his table. Three chimes, then one, then three. TGFT business, and important too. He opened his eyes and moved his head away from the pretty redheaded thing he had picked up earlier. She tried to follow, but he put three fingers on his right hand under her chin while propping himself up on his left elbow.
"Wait a bit gorgeous, I need to take that call."
She rolled to the side of the bed, propping her head up on her arm, the red curls covering the pillow like a flow of snakes. Waldoze walked over to the table, quite unashamed of his nakedness and grabbed the pda. Used to stuff like this, he expertly opened it voice only. Ecka's voice.
"Dozer, need ye fa a job. Get tae strike team an report ASAP tae briefing room B-21. Orders are ticking in on ye pda as we blether. Confarrm reception. And git dressed will ye man."
Waldoze chuckled and signed received. The Old Man knew him too well. He scanned the orders and cursed slowly and methodically under his breath.
"Is something wrong my love?"
The redhead. Shit, he really needed to run and get this thing under way. He turned, ready for some lame dismissing excuse to run off, and saw her lying there. The deep green eyes and pale face perfectly framed by the crown of deep red hair, the coy smile on her red lips.....
Nothing could hurry that much, he went back to the bed. After all, he had a reputation to uphold.
In a Universe as large and diverse as the one currently inhabited, chances are that everything has happened many times. There are a few select occurrences of events that seems so unlikely or unique that it can be assumed that it happened only once. The Big Bang is probably such an event. Inside the bowels of TGFT HQ, another singular event was about to take place.
Surbius noted what could only be interpreted as an attack against the guild, in the form of a hostile take-over attempt by an entity named TATE. Masterly planned, the take-over was bound to be a success if TGFT failed to provide the 220 million credits before the 1100 deadline. The failure to pay would mean that TGFT would go straight for bankruptcy, and if TATE could provide the money to pick up the debts, they would own TGFT, with all resources and contracts. Surbius looked up at NP who was fiddling with a pencil on the other side of the desk, and from him further up to Naoko who was standing with her usual calm demeanour and detached attention. She was getting to be invaluable to him, he made a mental note to make sure she was set up for priority access, the kind only reserved for council and above. He looked back at his screen, 10.58.38. Soon it would happen, only a few seconds to go. 10.59.00, and Surbius touched the transfer switch, effectively moving the 275 million credits into the TPG account, settling the daily bills as well as the debt. He then switched over to the stock market at Dau central and watched the value of the TGFT stock stay stable through 1100, with the resulting withdrawal of the hostile take-over bid. The Event happened, Surbius smiled and laughed out loud. The effect was enough for Naoko and NP to look at each other in surprise, Naoko quickly regaining her composure.
"Looks like our enemy has withdrawn his attack." He looked up at the still surprised NP again, "at least he has shown his face, and that means we can seize the initiative."
He looked back at his screen and activated the software NP had brought along. A data leech, it attached itself to a secure transmission and provided the physical location of the sender. Upon entering the actual terminal from where the signal was sent, the leech would check for the buttons pushed, telemetrics entered, effectively receiving log-on and personal information. It would then send this to a "dead box" where it could be retrieved with another special piece of software. Needless to say, the leech was highly illegal, owning it meant permanent ban from the UIT data sphere. Using it usually resulted in a very long prison term for the user. Surbius had uploaded the leech to the UIT stock exchange, targeting the bidder from KAOS. He waited until the leech would have found the data and activated the retrieval software that in turn downloaded the information to his screen. User name, LITTLE_MAN_TATE; Log on, All_is_dust_666; location, Remley Orbital. Surbius nodded to NP, who used his own tablet screen to activate the account.
"This guy is slick Surb, the log-on is no longer current. He has changed the log-on while the leech was working. He must be pretty paranoid, no way that he could have known that we leeched his info."
NP frowned as he concentrated, punching the keys furiously.
"Oh, here goes the account. The link is dead Surb." He looked up at Surbius with a crooked smile. "But I know who TATE is."
###
Buzz entered Dau with naught to show for his search. The BioCom trader had disappeared completely and with him the promised anti-nanites. He docked with complete carelessness scratching the wall of the docking bay as well as breaking the left side thruster off. He opened the cockpit and climbed out, ignoring the dockhands that were around. He walked slowly towards the dorms, dragging his bulk along like a sack of potato's. It had been a long time since he had felt this down. Something hit him on the shoulder, sliding to the floor. He looked down at the floor at the oil and grease encrusted rag on the floor.
"Yeah you, I am talking to you ladyboy."
Laughter erupted from his right side, and he looked up at a group of station workers that were idling it on some crates. One of them, long dark hair greased back with powerful muscles and a rather dirty overall was standing in front of the others, obviously the owner of the rag. His hands were out from his side in a "come on" attitude. When he got Buzz's attention he turned to the others for support before re-focusing on Buzz.
"You had those things implanted for your hubby?"
He turned again to the others that laughed loudly. He was about to turn back when a single gunshot pierced the laughter and noise. The station worker dropped and clutched his knee that was now reduced to a single .45 calibre bleeding hole. The men stopped laughing immediately and looked at Buzz who was holding his revolver in his right hand, pointing at the men.
"Come on, one more joke. I dare you wise cracks. Didn't think so."
Buzz put the revolver back and continued towards the room, somewhat less slouching. He felt slightly bad for shooting the man, but he had to admit that deep down it had helped his current mood considerably. If only he could do the same to that BioCom trader....
###
Waldoze's pda beeped softly on his table. Three chimes, then one, then three. TGFT business, and important too. He opened his eyes and moved his head away from the pretty redheaded thing he had picked up earlier. She tried to follow, but he put three fingers on his right hand under her chin while propping himself up on his left elbow.
"Wait a bit gorgeous, I need to take that call."
She rolled to the side of the bed, propping her head up on her arm, the red curls covering the pillow like a flow of snakes. Waldoze walked over to the table, quite unashamed of his nakedness and grabbed the pda. Used to stuff like this, he expertly opened it voice only. Ecka's voice.
"Dozer, need ye fa a job. Get tae strike team an report ASAP tae briefing room B-21. Orders are ticking in on ye pda as we blether. Confarrm reception. And git dressed will ye man."
Waldoze chuckled and signed received. The Old Man knew him too well. He scanned the orders and cursed slowly and methodically under his breath.
"Is something wrong my love?"
The redhead. Shit, he really needed to run and get this thing under way. He turned, ready for some lame dismissing excuse to run off, and saw her lying there. The deep green eyes and pale face perfectly framed by the crown of deep red hair, the coy smile on her red lips.....
Nothing could hurry that much, he went back to the bed. After all, he had a reputation to uphold.
gah, sorry for the SNAFU. Posted 14, 15 and 16 in the right order. I was too tired yesterday, and maybe a teensie weenie bit intoxicated^^
Anyway, no more posts for the weekend!
Anyway, no more posts for the weekend!
I look forward to reading the assault and weapons charges that Buzz just earned...
I also didn't know Azumi was intimidated by Vehement...
I also didn't know Azumi was intimidated by Vehement...
*Captain Sraer still ponders who TC's CLM alt is..."Azumi?, no, MysticRogue?, no..."
lol
lol
I see myself as a liberator break.
And I am not intimidated by you Vehement. But only a fool is not wary of the coppers!
I must have been weaponless for a second.
And I am not intimidated by you Vehement. But only a fool is not wary of the coppers!
I must have been weaponless for a second.
Hee hee, I thought I'd give it a try...
17. Planning
Waldoze entered the briefing room as the last one, probably half an hour late. He looked at the crew and tried to keep a straight face. John just looked at him and shook his head, a slight smile mitigating his apparent displeasure. Dozer walked up to the front of the room and turned. Pasquel, Lambin, Fluffy, Gramps, Rowan, Riddik, Vardonx, Neagoth and Strat were sitting more or less relaxed in the reclining chairs. Dozer grabbed his pda.
"Right, this is what we are gonna do troops."
He noted Fluffy raising a hand and sighed.
"Yes Fluffy, what is it?"
"Was it the blonde?"
The rest of the pilots smiled and looked expectantly at Dozer who tried to keep a straight face.
"Just what the hell does that have to....oh well. Nah, it was that redheaded girl I picked up in Ukari last week."
"Yes!" Lambin stood and extended his hand to the other pilots who handed him the money they had been holding in their hands, getting a high five from Pasquel.
"Now that is out of the way, can we get back to business?"
"I have one more question Dozer."
Dozer twirled his mustachio and stared at Fluffy for five seconds with piercing eyes from under his bushy eyebrows trying to intimidate him into yielding. Not a chance, Fluffy's smile widened even further.
"It better be relevant or you are point all the way."
"You have been seeing that redheaded chick for a whole week now, is it official and stuff? And does she have a name?"
Dozer tried to look stern, but failed miserably.
"Shit, I can't win this one, can I? Yeah, I kinda like her, so I figured that I'd ask her to stick around. And yeah she's got a name, it's Melody."
Gramps slowly whistled and smiled.
"Looks like the girls win another round. Best o' lucks ma boy, sounds like you'll need it."
Waldoze grinned and combed his fingers through his hair.
"Yeah, I guess you are right Gramps. Okay, now that this obviously important guild matter has been resolved, can we get back to business?"
He opened the plan on the screen and started the briefing.
###
The remote control slipped from the limp fingers, dropping onto a discarded beer can that had been crumpled before used as floor cover, hitting the change button and resigning the two girls on the screen to the data vault from whence they came. The viewer was lying in his reclining chair, several weeks worth of beard on his face, clad in a crumbled t-shirt matted with beer, food and worse, a pair of equally stained jeans and bare feet. The screen turned to the next channel with a young pretty androgynously looking man in the latest fashion clothes from Verasi.
"....brings us back to the last years complete neutering of the former terrorist movement SYN. This channel attributes it to the alliance of The Guild of Free Traders and the Vipers, which has enabled the complete elimination of the menace to the honest traders in Latos and Sedina. Now we need to do the same to the so-called Cargo Liberation Movement. I say that we need to root the filth out from grey and allow the trade guilds to set up sovereign stations under the benevolent shield of the Union of Independent Traders. Only then can we ensure the continued peace, profit and prosperity for all, that UIT has always been a guarantee for. And some unrelated new; an orphanage in Divinia has burned out completely with no survivors. The police are currently investigating the matter. Dork Rufus, Daily Senate News channel five."
The viewer stirred slightly, and then sat up in the chair. His raspy voice made the German Shepherd in the corner lift his head and raise his ears. He uttered only one word, but that was enough for the dog to start wagging his tail.
"Motherfuckers!"
###
Probably best described as mean and grumpy at best, decidedly vicious and vitriolic at worst, yoda was for once in a very good mood indeed. He switched from DSN five to the regular eighteen split screens that showed a plethora of information. So the UIT was considering CLM as the single worst threat of grey; that must mean that the trade block that had been in effect for three weeks running was actually functioning. They had fulfilled their part of the agreement, now it was about time for a bit of rewards for the guild. He packed a diplomatic parcel and called for his courier.
###
"I cannae give im tae ya coppers, he be one o the members, and that means that Ah protect im. And ye nae wanna farck wit TGFT noo doo ya?"
The TPG station Rent-a-Cop was visibly withering under the visage of Ecka. It was supposed to be a clear-cut case, go and arrest the member of TGFT named Buzz McKenzie. Normally TPG was in charge of the entire station, but for the TGFT HQ. And that is where the suspect was located. Normal protocol was to go directly to the TOC and get the officer on duty to fix it, but this case was special. Buzz was under suspicion for an alleged shooting in the dock area, an offence that was big enough to have him sentenced to exile.
"No Sir, but I must remind you that TPG SecuriCore is the legal police force on station, and as such we do have jurisdiction of all areas Sir."
"Now that is a crock a shait son, and ye ken it. Listen, Ah'll have me a wee blether wit Buzz, 'n then ah'll let ya know. Capiche?"
The Rent-a-Cop nodded and left, taking his security team along. Ecka sent a message to summon Buzz. He'd better find out why one of his more normal pilots suddenly behaved like that.
Waldoze entered the briefing room as the last one, probably half an hour late. He looked at the crew and tried to keep a straight face. John just looked at him and shook his head, a slight smile mitigating his apparent displeasure. Dozer walked up to the front of the room and turned. Pasquel, Lambin, Fluffy, Gramps, Rowan, Riddik, Vardonx, Neagoth and Strat were sitting more or less relaxed in the reclining chairs. Dozer grabbed his pda.
"Right, this is what we are gonna do troops."
He noted Fluffy raising a hand and sighed.
"Yes Fluffy, what is it?"
"Was it the blonde?"
The rest of the pilots smiled and looked expectantly at Dozer who tried to keep a straight face.
"Just what the hell does that have to....oh well. Nah, it was that redheaded girl I picked up in Ukari last week."
"Yes!" Lambin stood and extended his hand to the other pilots who handed him the money they had been holding in their hands, getting a high five from Pasquel.
"Now that is out of the way, can we get back to business?"
"I have one more question Dozer."
Dozer twirled his mustachio and stared at Fluffy for five seconds with piercing eyes from under his bushy eyebrows trying to intimidate him into yielding. Not a chance, Fluffy's smile widened even further.
"It better be relevant or you are point all the way."
"You have been seeing that redheaded chick for a whole week now, is it official and stuff? And does she have a name?"
Dozer tried to look stern, but failed miserably.
"Shit, I can't win this one, can I? Yeah, I kinda like her, so I figured that I'd ask her to stick around. And yeah she's got a name, it's Melody."
Gramps slowly whistled and smiled.
"Looks like the girls win another round. Best o' lucks ma boy, sounds like you'll need it."
Waldoze grinned and combed his fingers through his hair.
"Yeah, I guess you are right Gramps. Okay, now that this obviously important guild matter has been resolved, can we get back to business?"
He opened the plan on the screen and started the briefing.
###
The remote control slipped from the limp fingers, dropping onto a discarded beer can that had been crumpled before used as floor cover, hitting the change button and resigning the two girls on the screen to the data vault from whence they came. The viewer was lying in his reclining chair, several weeks worth of beard on his face, clad in a crumbled t-shirt matted with beer, food and worse, a pair of equally stained jeans and bare feet. The screen turned to the next channel with a young pretty androgynously looking man in the latest fashion clothes from Verasi.
"....brings us back to the last years complete neutering of the former terrorist movement SYN. This channel attributes it to the alliance of The Guild of Free Traders and the Vipers, which has enabled the complete elimination of the menace to the honest traders in Latos and Sedina. Now we need to do the same to the so-called Cargo Liberation Movement. I say that we need to root the filth out from grey and allow the trade guilds to set up sovereign stations under the benevolent shield of the Union of Independent Traders. Only then can we ensure the continued peace, profit and prosperity for all, that UIT has always been a guarantee for. And some unrelated new; an orphanage in Divinia has burned out completely with no survivors. The police are currently investigating the matter. Dork Rufus, Daily Senate News channel five."
The viewer stirred slightly, and then sat up in the chair. His raspy voice made the German Shepherd in the corner lift his head and raise his ears. He uttered only one word, but that was enough for the dog to start wagging his tail.
"Motherfuckers!"
###
Probably best described as mean and grumpy at best, decidedly vicious and vitriolic at worst, yoda was for once in a very good mood indeed. He switched from DSN five to the regular eighteen split screens that showed a plethora of information. So the UIT was considering CLM as the single worst threat of grey; that must mean that the trade block that had been in effect for three weeks running was actually functioning. They had fulfilled their part of the agreement, now it was about time for a bit of rewards for the guild. He packed a diplomatic parcel and called for his courier.
###
"I cannae give im tae ya coppers, he be one o the members, and that means that Ah protect im. And ye nae wanna farck wit TGFT noo doo ya?"
The TPG station Rent-a-Cop was visibly withering under the visage of Ecka. It was supposed to be a clear-cut case, go and arrest the member of TGFT named Buzz McKenzie. Normally TPG was in charge of the entire station, but for the TGFT HQ. And that is where the suspect was located. Normal protocol was to go directly to the TOC and get the officer on duty to fix it, but this case was special. Buzz was under suspicion for an alleged shooting in the dock area, an offence that was big enough to have him sentenced to exile.
"No Sir, but I must remind you that TPG SecuriCore is the legal police force on station, and as such we do have jurisdiction of all areas Sir."
"Now that is a crock a shait son, and ye ken it. Listen, Ah'll have me a wee blether wit Buzz, 'n then ah'll let ya know. Capiche?"
The Rent-a-Cop nodded and left, taking his security team along. Ecka sent a message to summon Buzz. He'd better find out why one of his more normal pilots suddenly behaved like that.
18. New Guy
The tracking software left only the tiniest of traces, but for the right kind of detection gear it could be found. Someone had followed his account to the public terminal that he had used. He would have to assume that they had sent something to track him as well. Asteroth closed the terminal and turned to the small thin man that was standing right behind him. He swallowed his distaste and addressed the foul smelling person.
"Looks like you were right Burn, someone with resources followed us."
"You"
"What? What do you mean?"
"They followed you, not us."
Asteroth decided that his former loathing for the smelling man-ling was about to reach new heights.
"Ok, so they followed me. And what can we do about it?"
"Not my problem. I have done what was asked. My mission is over."
Burn turned and walked with that peculiar gait that comes from having the feet and lower legs replaced with implants shaped like underarms and hands. Asteroth secretly wished that he would fall over, but he was not that lucky. Instead he walked to another terminal and opened his secondary account. He ensured that the communication was secure, and entered the sixteen-digit address to Ahriman.
"Mission not accomplished. Will continue attempt. May have been detected."
He closed the connection and walked to his cubicle. He would have to be ready for moving at very short notice if the authorities ever found out where and who he really was.
###
It was probably the best noodles in UIT space, or at least Hortan thought so. Madam Phatt's Noodle shop in the food plaza in Dau K-10.He always had the same cashew nut with synth-chicken dish, followed by a steaming bowl of sweet and sour synth-cow. He was slowly munching on the last of his sweet and sour when he spotted the New Guy. Looking completely lost in the plaza, dressed up in a completely new green uniform with pants that were slightly too small and very much too tight in the groin, a jacket that had too short sleeves, extremely shiny boots and a propeller cap on his head. He had a large binder stuffed with papers, Hortan assumed they were forms for whatnot, and a name tag that read Prissken. The slightly scared young pale man was staring at the food plaza like a Kalahari Bushman would stare at a Pachinko hall.
Hortan slurped the last of his noodles and walked over to the new pilot. He extended his hand.
"Hortan, and I assume you are not named Prissken?"
"Sir, Recruit Plissken reports for duty Sir."
The young man attempted something that may have passed for a salute and managed to drop the papers to the ground, effectively scattering what amounted to a small forest in paper all over the corridor. Hortan sighed; he could swear he had never been that young or gullible.
"Hey buddy, we don't really Sir at all, well maybe when the Boss is around, but definitely not to me. You look lost, first day?"
"Sir, ehm, yes it is Pilot Hortan. I am so hungry, but I need to fill these forms before I can do it Si..Hortan."
"Easy now, let's go have some noodles, and then I'll help you with the forms, okay? You look famished."
Plissken smiled back at Hortan in gratitude and let him be led towards Madam Phatt's. Hortan smiled broadly; finally he was not the new guy anymore. He considered dropping his own propeller hat, but quickly canned the idea and instead tilted it slightly so it didn't follow regulation 212B-1, Mandatory Headwear for TGFT Personnel.
###
The trade vessel was doomed. Down to 12 percent armour plating on the vulnerable parts of the engine with a Centurion Rev C immediately behind ready to flash more positron fire into it. The crew accepted their fate and activated the APRS systems, leaving the heavy moth to a bath in near light speed positrons. The explosion resulted in a blast wave that was more than a hundred metres in diameter and included the centurion, rocking it slightly while peeling armour and paint of the xithricite hull. Azumi swore, she had been too damned close to that one, now she would have to get "The Pink Fly" a new set of plates. She would have to get a transport ship anyway; those high-density mining beams she just liberated were quite valuable.
She entered real space around the station orbiting Sedina V, Sedina V Hold at the same time, as Chana Slan was just about to exit the station. He promptly tried to turn the Chaos Swarm loaded moth around, knowing that it would be a tight run between the incoming pirate and the 98 tonne ship. And one he could ill afford to loose. He managed to turn the moth around and almost dock when the streaks of positrons started eating away at his armour plating, only stopping when the blast door sealed his ship safely inside.
Azumi swore once more as she turned the Rev C away from the station, deftly avoiding this months edition of rent-a-cops that were scrambling like madmen to get to her. She had missed that nice juicy trader, and now had to run from the strike force. Not because she was afraid of them, but she really couldn't be bothered fighting them. She had some loot that needed to be picked up. She jumped to C-14 and then immediately back, outracing the strike force on the way inbound to the station. She crashed her ship into the docking cradle and jumped out of the ship, a mischievous grin on her elfin face. She looked for Chana and located him next to the rather scarred moth. Her grin got even wider when she saw who was right behind him. She walked slowly towards the trader while peeling her flight suit down to her waist revealing a white tank top with the caption "I went to Sedina, and all I got was flared". Chana slowly backed up to his moth while lifting his hands in the universal defensive posture. Azumi ignored the dockhands and stared directly at him, fixing him like she had immersed him in quick drying cement. She would have some fun yet.
The tracking software left only the tiniest of traces, but for the right kind of detection gear it could be found. Someone had followed his account to the public terminal that he had used. He would have to assume that they had sent something to track him as well. Asteroth closed the terminal and turned to the small thin man that was standing right behind him. He swallowed his distaste and addressed the foul smelling person.
"Looks like you were right Burn, someone with resources followed us."
"You"
"What? What do you mean?"
"They followed you, not us."
Asteroth decided that his former loathing for the smelling man-ling was about to reach new heights.
"Ok, so they followed me. And what can we do about it?"
"Not my problem. I have done what was asked. My mission is over."
Burn turned and walked with that peculiar gait that comes from having the feet and lower legs replaced with implants shaped like underarms and hands. Asteroth secretly wished that he would fall over, but he was not that lucky. Instead he walked to another terminal and opened his secondary account. He ensured that the communication was secure, and entered the sixteen-digit address to Ahriman.
"Mission not accomplished. Will continue attempt. May have been detected."
He closed the connection and walked to his cubicle. He would have to be ready for moving at very short notice if the authorities ever found out where and who he really was.
###
It was probably the best noodles in UIT space, or at least Hortan thought so. Madam Phatt's Noodle shop in the food plaza in Dau K-10.He always had the same cashew nut with synth-chicken dish, followed by a steaming bowl of sweet and sour synth-cow. He was slowly munching on the last of his sweet and sour when he spotted the New Guy. Looking completely lost in the plaza, dressed up in a completely new green uniform with pants that were slightly too small and very much too tight in the groin, a jacket that had too short sleeves, extremely shiny boots and a propeller cap on his head. He had a large binder stuffed with papers, Hortan assumed they were forms for whatnot, and a name tag that read Prissken. The slightly scared young pale man was staring at the food plaza like a Kalahari Bushman would stare at a Pachinko hall.
Hortan slurped the last of his noodles and walked over to the new pilot. He extended his hand.
"Hortan, and I assume you are not named Prissken?"
"Sir, Recruit Plissken reports for duty Sir."
The young man attempted something that may have passed for a salute and managed to drop the papers to the ground, effectively scattering what amounted to a small forest in paper all over the corridor. Hortan sighed; he could swear he had never been that young or gullible.
"Hey buddy, we don't really Sir at all, well maybe when the Boss is around, but definitely not to me. You look lost, first day?"
"Sir, ehm, yes it is Pilot Hortan. I am so hungry, but I need to fill these forms before I can do it Si..Hortan."
"Easy now, let's go have some noodles, and then I'll help you with the forms, okay? You look famished."
Plissken smiled back at Hortan in gratitude and let him be led towards Madam Phatt's. Hortan smiled broadly; finally he was not the new guy anymore. He considered dropping his own propeller hat, but quickly canned the idea and instead tilted it slightly so it didn't follow regulation 212B-1, Mandatory Headwear for TGFT Personnel.
###
The trade vessel was doomed. Down to 12 percent armour plating on the vulnerable parts of the engine with a Centurion Rev C immediately behind ready to flash more positron fire into it. The crew accepted their fate and activated the APRS systems, leaving the heavy moth to a bath in near light speed positrons. The explosion resulted in a blast wave that was more than a hundred metres in diameter and included the centurion, rocking it slightly while peeling armour and paint of the xithricite hull. Azumi swore, she had been too damned close to that one, now she would have to get "The Pink Fly" a new set of plates. She would have to get a transport ship anyway; those high-density mining beams she just liberated were quite valuable.
She entered real space around the station orbiting Sedina V, Sedina V Hold at the same time, as Chana Slan was just about to exit the station. He promptly tried to turn the Chaos Swarm loaded moth around, knowing that it would be a tight run between the incoming pirate and the 98 tonne ship. And one he could ill afford to loose. He managed to turn the moth around and almost dock when the streaks of positrons started eating away at his armour plating, only stopping when the blast door sealed his ship safely inside.
Azumi swore once more as she turned the Rev C away from the station, deftly avoiding this months edition of rent-a-cops that were scrambling like madmen to get to her. She had missed that nice juicy trader, and now had to run from the strike force. Not because she was afraid of them, but she really couldn't be bothered fighting them. She had some loot that needed to be picked up. She jumped to C-14 and then immediately back, outracing the strike force on the way inbound to the station. She crashed her ship into the docking cradle and jumped out of the ship, a mischievous grin on her elfin face. She looked for Chana and located him next to the rather scarred moth. Her grin got even wider when she saw who was right behind him. She walked slowly towards the trader while peeling her flight suit down to her waist revealing a white tank top with the caption "I went to Sedina, and all I got was flared". Chana slowly backed up to his moth while lifting his hands in the universal defensive posture. Azumi ignored the dockhands and stared directly at him, fixing him like she had immersed him in quick drying cement. She would have some fun yet.
19. Snatch
In the end it was completely anti climatic. What was supposed to be a high-risk arrest with the involvement of the Remley Orbital SWAT team supporting the local Rent-a-Cops, turned out to be very un-dramatic. After localising him in one of the many non-descript cubicles of sector DD-56-A3, the SWAT team crashed through his door and found s lightly bewildered man inside. After identifying him on his DNA and prints, he was read his rights, and that was basically it. The prisoner boarded the secure Centurion and was escorted by the specially selected TGFT security detail, but even that turned out to be unnecessary. After escorting Asteroth to Dau K-10, they handed the prisoner over the local Rent-a Cops who took him away to a secure facility. Waldoze was slightly pissed off that he had been pulled away from Melody for this.
###
"Ecka, let me first say how sorry I am for that poor guy, I have no idea what went through my head. I mean, I had a bad day and he really didn't help at all. I don't know how I can make it better, I don't know how to sort myself out."
Buzz was a wreck, the normally so correct and sturdy man was trembling, looking into the floor and keeping his hands in front of him to hide the very female attributes that was the cause of all this. Ecka poured two drams of 18-year-old Nyrius cask strength Pylatis Delicht, handing one to Buzz and ensuring that he drank it before muttering a quick thanks to his ancestors who invented the stuff and drinking his own in one long swallow. He poured another set, one for each.
"Ah cannae tell ya how tae fix that bosom a youse, but ah'll git the coppers oaff ya back fer that shot. Mah best bet would be tae go 'n hae a blether wit Moda son, ya ken?"
Ecka drank his own shot of whisky and nodded to Buzz to do the same. He really didn't have time for all of this, but a guild member was like family, and family needed to look out for each other. He sent Buzz off and turned to his terminal. Who to send to the injured dockhand for persuasion....hm, ah yes, the perfect person for this job.
###
An alert chimed softly in NP's inner ear, making him wake up. He was disoriented for about three seconds, and then the system kicked in making him aware as surely as a three litre pure caffeine shot would do. He smiled; he absolutely loved his new brain toy. He activated the logger and received all the data his systems had deemed worthwhile of his attention while he slept, prioritised for importance. It was not a perfect system, it had absolutely no intuition and lacked the capacity to interpret, but it gave him the basics of news while he slept. He accessed the list and almost opened his eyes in surprise. Somebody was attacking the cognitive semi-self aware network in the HQ. He sent a message to Toha that he would be leaving, got dressed and bolted for his vulture. He had to access the network directly to avert the attack; besides he trusted that Toha could keep on top of the situation here.
###
Azumi walked over towards Chana, the smile widening as she closed. Chana felt the unwelcome cold streaked surface of his behemoth and realised that he could back no further. Azumi walked closer and closer and right by him, switching her gaze to the tall girl with the waist long brown hair that was leaning against a Corvus Vulturius. She smiled right back and when she had Azumi's attention, she pushed herself off the vult and moved towards her.
"Hi baby girl"
"Hi Az, did you miss me?"
"Sure did Jas, as always."
The two girls met and embraced, Jasmine letting herself be spun 180 degrees by Azumi who was once more eyeing Chana.
"Why don't you introduce me to your trader mate there baby girl?"
"Sure hon."
They walked over to Chana still embraced, the two girls grinning like madmen at the complete discomfort that Chana so obviously displayed. Small beads of sweat were appearing on his forehead, and his flight suit felt like a sauna. The two girls walked in very close, Azumi having to look up at Chana unlike Jasmine who was as tall as Chana.
"Azumi, let me present Chana, Chana, this is Azumi."
Chana started nodding to Azumi who cut him short with an even wider grin.
"Isn't he the one they call Mr Tongue?"
Jasmine started giggling and Chana's head started to turn red. Azumi leant in closer to Jasmine and nestled up under her chin while keeping her eyes on Chana, put one finger in her mouth, slightly biting it with her teeth, the grin never leaving her face.
"I wonder why that is hun."
Chana took his arms out to the sides in protest.
"Ms Atamoss, Ms Azumi, I swear I was completely innocent in that incident. As well you know Ms Azumi."
Azumi slid closer to Chana, catching him unaware, and managed to get her hands around his waste.
"Aw, all I did was this deary."
Azumi grabbed his buttocks with one hand, grabbed his neck with the other and tilted his head down so she could reach him.
"Ew, tongue again. It is true enough Jas, he is the undisputed Mr Tongue."
Jas was giggling like a group of pre-school girls at a Ricky Martin concert. Azumi stepped one step back and looked Chana in the eyes.
"I'll get you next time trader."
She took a step over to Jas, placed a kiss on her lips that spread a shock wave of ooh's and aah's from the dockhands and waved to her as she walked slowly over to her own cargo ship. Jasmine had to bite her lip not to laugh at Chana, who was staring at the black and red haired pirate like a child looking at the Christmas presents underneath the tree. He slowly opened and closed his mouth as if he tasted something until she had disappeared from view into the pink CLM tagged Behemoth. Only then did he remember to check his pockets.
"Ah fuck, she took my cred stick again."
"You don't seem too upset Chana, matter of fact you seemed to enjoy it quite a bit."
He snapped out of his semi-comatose state, whirred his head and then realised what Jasmine had said. He shot her a hard glare that failed to impress due to the pretty red colours on his cheeks and stalked over to the dockhands to arrange for a new set of armour plates.
Jasmine laughed out loud and walked back to her vult and the custom paint job she was making on it.
In the end it was completely anti climatic. What was supposed to be a high-risk arrest with the involvement of the Remley Orbital SWAT team supporting the local Rent-a-Cops, turned out to be very un-dramatic. After localising him in one of the many non-descript cubicles of sector DD-56-A3, the SWAT team crashed through his door and found s lightly bewildered man inside. After identifying him on his DNA and prints, he was read his rights, and that was basically it. The prisoner boarded the secure Centurion and was escorted by the specially selected TGFT security detail, but even that turned out to be unnecessary. After escorting Asteroth to Dau K-10, they handed the prisoner over the local Rent-a Cops who took him away to a secure facility. Waldoze was slightly pissed off that he had been pulled away from Melody for this.
###
"Ecka, let me first say how sorry I am for that poor guy, I have no idea what went through my head. I mean, I had a bad day and he really didn't help at all. I don't know how I can make it better, I don't know how to sort myself out."
Buzz was a wreck, the normally so correct and sturdy man was trembling, looking into the floor and keeping his hands in front of him to hide the very female attributes that was the cause of all this. Ecka poured two drams of 18-year-old Nyrius cask strength Pylatis Delicht, handing one to Buzz and ensuring that he drank it before muttering a quick thanks to his ancestors who invented the stuff and drinking his own in one long swallow. He poured another set, one for each.
"Ah cannae tell ya how tae fix that bosom a youse, but ah'll git the coppers oaff ya back fer that shot. Mah best bet would be tae go 'n hae a blether wit Moda son, ya ken?"
Ecka drank his own shot of whisky and nodded to Buzz to do the same. He really didn't have time for all of this, but a guild member was like family, and family needed to look out for each other. He sent Buzz off and turned to his terminal. Who to send to the injured dockhand for persuasion....hm, ah yes, the perfect person for this job.
###
An alert chimed softly in NP's inner ear, making him wake up. He was disoriented for about three seconds, and then the system kicked in making him aware as surely as a three litre pure caffeine shot would do. He smiled; he absolutely loved his new brain toy. He activated the logger and received all the data his systems had deemed worthwhile of his attention while he slept, prioritised for importance. It was not a perfect system, it had absolutely no intuition and lacked the capacity to interpret, but it gave him the basics of news while he slept. He accessed the list and almost opened his eyes in surprise. Somebody was attacking the cognitive semi-self aware network in the HQ. He sent a message to Toha that he would be leaving, got dressed and bolted for his vulture. He had to access the network directly to avert the attack; besides he trusted that Toha could keep on top of the situation here.
###
Azumi walked over towards Chana, the smile widening as she closed. Chana felt the unwelcome cold streaked surface of his behemoth and realised that he could back no further. Azumi walked closer and closer and right by him, switching her gaze to the tall girl with the waist long brown hair that was leaning against a Corvus Vulturius. She smiled right back and when she had Azumi's attention, she pushed herself off the vult and moved towards her.
"Hi baby girl"
"Hi Az, did you miss me?"
"Sure did Jas, as always."
The two girls met and embraced, Jasmine letting herself be spun 180 degrees by Azumi who was once more eyeing Chana.
"Why don't you introduce me to your trader mate there baby girl?"
"Sure hon."
They walked over to Chana still embraced, the two girls grinning like madmen at the complete discomfort that Chana so obviously displayed. Small beads of sweat were appearing on his forehead, and his flight suit felt like a sauna. The two girls walked in very close, Azumi having to look up at Chana unlike Jasmine who was as tall as Chana.
"Azumi, let me present Chana, Chana, this is Azumi."
Chana started nodding to Azumi who cut him short with an even wider grin.
"Isn't he the one they call Mr Tongue?"
Jasmine started giggling and Chana's head started to turn red. Azumi leant in closer to Jasmine and nestled up under her chin while keeping her eyes on Chana, put one finger in her mouth, slightly biting it with her teeth, the grin never leaving her face.
"I wonder why that is hun."
Chana took his arms out to the sides in protest.
"Ms Atamoss, Ms Azumi, I swear I was completely innocent in that incident. As well you know Ms Azumi."
Azumi slid closer to Chana, catching him unaware, and managed to get her hands around his waste.
"Aw, all I did was this deary."
Azumi grabbed his buttocks with one hand, grabbed his neck with the other and tilted his head down so she could reach him.
"Ew, tongue again. It is true enough Jas, he is the undisputed Mr Tongue."
Jas was giggling like a group of pre-school girls at a Ricky Martin concert. Azumi stepped one step back and looked Chana in the eyes.
"I'll get you next time trader."
She took a step over to Jas, placed a kiss on her lips that spread a shock wave of ooh's and aah's from the dockhands and waved to her as she walked slowly over to her own cargo ship. Jasmine had to bite her lip not to laugh at Chana, who was staring at the black and red haired pirate like a child looking at the Christmas presents underneath the tree. He slowly opened and closed his mouth as if he tasted something until she had disappeared from view into the pink CLM tagged Behemoth. Only then did he remember to check his pockets.
"Ah fuck, she took my cred stick again."
"You don't seem too upset Chana, matter of fact you seemed to enjoy it quite a bit."
He snapped out of his semi-comatose state, whirred his head and then realised what Jasmine had said. He shot her a hard glare that failed to impress due to the pretty red colours on his cheeks and stalked over to the dockhands to arrange for a new set of armour plates.
Jasmine laughed out loud and walked back to her vult and the custom paint job she was making on it.
20. Skunk Works
The workshop was it's usual busy mess when Buzz walked into Moda's domain. The usual heavy and loud music was replaced with something that best resembled a cat being dismembered by an industrial harvesting machine that needed oil badly. Buzz looked around and saw Moda and Zathras standing at a metal box, two by three metres, maybe one metre tall that had thick cables entering at various points. Moda was wearing what looked like industrial grade headphones, and Zathras was slowly rocking his buttocks completely out of tune with what may have been music. He even tapped the rhythm out with one boot, out of tune with the music and his own buttocks. Buzz walked over to the duo that and stopped two metres away, not wanting to break their apparent concentration. After a minute or so, Moda extended one finger and pressed a single button on the top of the container, activating something inside. The "music" stopped and Buzz took the chance to shuffle his feet. The slight noise was enough to make Zathras turn, and when he saw Buzz, pull Moda's sleeve and point.
"Brrr, click, we have detected a visitor Moda."
Moda smiled at Buzz and shouted in a very loud voice.
"WE'LL ONLY BE A SECOND. GO GRAB A DARK LADY," and pointed to the fridge.
Buzz turned and walked over to the fridge with the large painting of a happy skunk holding a rifle with a daisy in the muzzle in one paw and a drink in the other, the caption underneath saying "If you can imagine it, we can build it". He opened the fridge and marvelled at the completely full racks of Dark Ladies all cooled to perfection by a constant flow of air that circulated through the precisely placed bottle racks. He grabbed a bottle and turned to look at the duo as they once more bent over the crate. Buzz drank slowly of probably the best ale in the known systems while enduring the horrible sounds that seemed to be enjoyable to Zathras. He had drunk about half of it when Moda exclaimed a "YES!" and turned around holding a small pitcher with maybe two ounces of amber liquid in it. Moda looked up at the speakers, and the electronic sounds died allowing him to take his ear protection off.
"Grab us a set will you buddy?"
Moda walked over to another large machine and inserted the amber liquid into the machine. Buzz walked over with the two ales and passed them on. Moda accepted, opened and drank deep from the bottle. Zathras looked at the bottle for some time before he too took his bottle, opened it and inserted a straw from his pocket. The trio was standing in silence, enjoying the beer until the machine started printing a sheet of paper. Moda took it and compared it to another series of graphs.
"Zath, I think we found it."
"Brrr, click, aye it appears that you and we have indeed done so, fzz click"
"What is it?"
Moda turned to Buzz and smiled.
"Sorry, would spoil the surprise if I told you friend. So, apart from the fantastic beer, the good company and the awesome music we sometimes play, what brings you to the Skunk Works?"
Buzz looked down into the ground and mumbled something.
"This one here cannot hear you. Please to speak up if you can."
Buzz looked at Zathras, who in return stared back intently.
"Sorry Zath. I have a problem with some nanite implants."
"They do not look troubled to this person"
"Aw come on Zath, can't you see he shouldn't have boobs?" Moda pushed Zathras coyly on the shoulder.
"We are not at liberty to judge other persons personal appearances."
Moda shook his head in wonder and looked back at Buzz.
"So, nanite implants? What is wrong apart from the fact that they are very shapely?"
"I want them off."
"Okay, then you'll need some anti-nanites that are tailored to the type of nanites that made them in the first place. Fortunately Zath here is somewhat of an expert on that subject, and he has many connections in BioCom."
Buzz fumed at the mentions of BioCom, but he nodded at Moda.
"Whatever it takes Moda, whatever it takes."
###
Chainslaw Slan was slowly sifting his way through the innards of the outside maintenance bot he had disassembled with a shot from his mega positron blaster. He was looking for the small telltale receiver/recorder he had implanted in the bot, the receiver that had recorded every signal that went in and out of the station and recorded them. He found it and fished it out of the rubble, accidentally cutting himself on the left index finger. He looked at the finger as the blood ran along the it and started dripping into the assorted electronic junk. He took the finger up to his mouth and slowly licked the blood off, relishing in the taste of it. He kept his finger in his mouth while he lifted the receiver/recorder up to his eyes, reading the serial on it's back. Dau-K-10-003C. The one he was looking for. He smiled showing the blood in his teeth and unsettling the two guild members that were sitting opposite him. He gave it to psych0cobra and got up from the rubble.
"This got it all?"
"Yeah, it should get us in."
Psych0cobra inserted the receiver/recorder into his pda and started the search programme that Burn had created. It ran for ten seconds before coming up with a seemingly random series of digits, 160 in all. He logged the signal into his pda and sent it via a one time encryption pad to Ahriman and then gave the receiver/recorder back to Chainsaw Slan.
"He has it, so now we wait."
They got as comfortable as they could in the cramped cargo space of the centaur. It wasn't bad, they had all done much worse. After a while, Red Tide even found a deck of cards.
The workshop was it's usual busy mess when Buzz walked into Moda's domain. The usual heavy and loud music was replaced with something that best resembled a cat being dismembered by an industrial harvesting machine that needed oil badly. Buzz looked around and saw Moda and Zathras standing at a metal box, two by three metres, maybe one metre tall that had thick cables entering at various points. Moda was wearing what looked like industrial grade headphones, and Zathras was slowly rocking his buttocks completely out of tune with what may have been music. He even tapped the rhythm out with one boot, out of tune with the music and his own buttocks. Buzz walked over to the duo that and stopped two metres away, not wanting to break their apparent concentration. After a minute or so, Moda extended one finger and pressed a single button on the top of the container, activating something inside. The "music" stopped and Buzz took the chance to shuffle his feet. The slight noise was enough to make Zathras turn, and when he saw Buzz, pull Moda's sleeve and point.
"Brrr, click, we have detected a visitor Moda."
Moda smiled at Buzz and shouted in a very loud voice.
"WE'LL ONLY BE A SECOND. GO GRAB A DARK LADY," and pointed to the fridge.
Buzz turned and walked over to the fridge with the large painting of a happy skunk holding a rifle with a daisy in the muzzle in one paw and a drink in the other, the caption underneath saying "If you can imagine it, we can build it". He opened the fridge and marvelled at the completely full racks of Dark Ladies all cooled to perfection by a constant flow of air that circulated through the precisely placed bottle racks. He grabbed a bottle and turned to look at the duo as they once more bent over the crate. Buzz drank slowly of probably the best ale in the known systems while enduring the horrible sounds that seemed to be enjoyable to Zathras. He had drunk about half of it when Moda exclaimed a "YES!" and turned around holding a small pitcher with maybe two ounces of amber liquid in it. Moda looked up at the speakers, and the electronic sounds died allowing him to take his ear protection off.
"Grab us a set will you buddy?"
Moda walked over to another large machine and inserted the amber liquid into the machine. Buzz walked over with the two ales and passed them on. Moda accepted, opened and drank deep from the bottle. Zathras looked at the bottle for some time before he too took his bottle, opened it and inserted a straw from his pocket. The trio was standing in silence, enjoying the beer until the machine started printing a sheet of paper. Moda took it and compared it to another series of graphs.
"Zath, I think we found it."
"Brrr, click, aye it appears that you and we have indeed done so, fzz click"
"What is it?"
Moda turned to Buzz and smiled.
"Sorry, would spoil the surprise if I told you friend. So, apart from the fantastic beer, the good company and the awesome music we sometimes play, what brings you to the Skunk Works?"
Buzz looked down into the ground and mumbled something.
"This one here cannot hear you. Please to speak up if you can."
Buzz looked at Zathras, who in return stared back intently.
"Sorry Zath. I have a problem with some nanite implants."
"They do not look troubled to this person"
"Aw come on Zath, can't you see he shouldn't have boobs?" Moda pushed Zathras coyly on the shoulder.
"We are not at liberty to judge other persons personal appearances."
Moda shook his head in wonder and looked back at Buzz.
"So, nanite implants? What is wrong apart from the fact that they are very shapely?"
"I want them off."
"Okay, then you'll need some anti-nanites that are tailored to the type of nanites that made them in the first place. Fortunately Zath here is somewhat of an expert on that subject, and he has many connections in BioCom."
Buzz fumed at the mentions of BioCom, but he nodded at Moda.
"Whatever it takes Moda, whatever it takes."
###
Chainslaw Slan was slowly sifting his way through the innards of the outside maintenance bot he had disassembled with a shot from his mega positron blaster. He was looking for the small telltale receiver/recorder he had implanted in the bot, the receiver that had recorded every signal that went in and out of the station and recorded them. He found it and fished it out of the rubble, accidentally cutting himself on the left index finger. He looked at the finger as the blood ran along the it and started dripping into the assorted electronic junk. He took the finger up to his mouth and slowly licked the blood off, relishing in the taste of it. He kept his finger in his mouth while he lifted the receiver/recorder up to his eyes, reading the serial on it's back. Dau-K-10-003C. The one he was looking for. He smiled showing the blood in his teeth and unsettling the two guild members that were sitting opposite him. He gave it to psych0cobra and got up from the rubble.
"This got it all?"
"Yeah, it should get us in."
Psych0cobra inserted the receiver/recorder into his pda and started the search programme that Burn had created. It ran for ten seconds before coming up with a seemingly random series of digits, 160 in all. He logged the signal into his pda and sent it via a one time encryption pad to Ahriman and then gave the receiver/recorder back to Chainsaw Slan.
"He has it, so now we wait."
They got as comfortable as they could in the cramped cargo space of the centaur. It wasn't bad, they had all done much worse. After a while, Red Tide even found a deck of cards.
Heh , good writing ....
21. Black Ops.
Dozer opened the door slowly, ever so slowly, and sneaked into his new double cubicle. He slowly and silently closed the door, making sure that the lock engaged as silently as possible. He shook one shoe off, and then the other and tip toed over to the bed where someone was snoring slightly under the covers. He smiled at the almost imperceivable sound she made when she slept, it was so cute. He sat down and listened for three whole minutes, almost a new record in concentration for him. He took one of the roses he had brought and placed it near her nose, the deep red of the flower matching the colour of her hair, making sure the fragrance of the flower woke her up gently. She stirred and Dozer smiled like a man on drugs, which he was in a sense. She opened her eyes and looked at the rose, a smile crossing her face like sunlight on a rainy day. She stretched and held her arms out.
"Mmh, where have you been love?"
"Sorry dear, I had to do some urgent guild business, and after that I went to the flower shop and to the...no, O am not going to say anymore. I am not going to ruin he surprise."
He smiled down at her and kissed her on her forehead as she started to rise.
"What, let me go, I want to see."
He grinned and let her up, admiring her milky-white skin that was framed by the long red curls. He had one hand on his back, hidden from sight.
"Promise you'll behave," he said in a mocking voice.
"Absolutely not."
She tried to reavh behind his back, and after a mock fight she grabbed his hand, and what was in it. She took the small box and stared at it with big round eyes. She looked up at Dozer.
"You didn't, you shouldn't, you"
"Why don't you just open it?"
She did, and saw the large deep-red ruby necklace that matched the colour of her hair perfectly. Needless to say, they ordered room service later....much later.
###
Retractile readied his Rev C for a high speed run across Latos and rendezvous with Remley orbital. He was carrying the heavy pouch that yoda had given him containing a single sealed envelope, not sure what was supposed to happen to it. He knew he was supposed to deliver it to a person in Remley station, but he wasn't too keen on searching a whole station for a single packet, no matter how important it may be. He launched and had to focus hard as he moved to the jump point, as a convoy of Orion ships exited the station at the same time, their slow reaction times indicating extremely heavy loads. Weapons or the like, probably very profitable. He sent a message on the pirate net and received a single answer form Swag Man. Retractile jumped to Remley orbital and initiated the docking procedure. Inside the station, he was greeted by four Rent-a-Cops in the finest TPG uniforms, all had readied weapons pointing at him. He ignored them completely and calmly reached into the ship for the pouch. He looked at the large bore rocket hand canon that was inside the cockpit, but merely smiled and turned to the scared cops, his hands in his sides, the pouch dangling from his right hand.
"Now listen I know you all want to do your jobs and be wary of the pirate, safeguard the station and all that stuff that little Betty-Lou Wetpants likes to hear down in the bar, but could you at least do me the courtesy of having the weapons loaded and the safe off?"
The guards all as one looked down at their weapons, and Retractile attacked at that time. He swung the pouch into the face of one of the guards, snapping his head back and launching him across the bay, moved up to two others and placed a single kick in the chest of the second man, crumbling him to the floor. The third guard managed to look up and see Retractile's head impact on his own, the twin metal studs in Retractile's forehead shielding his own brain and working like a club on the guard. The very loud sound of a safety switching off pierced the air, and Retractile turned slowly and by doing so relaxed the guards attention precisely enough that when he ducked and spun, the shot went over his head and impacted on the chest on the guard behind. Retractile kicked a single foot up into the groin of the shooter with all his might, making him double over and loose his taser. Retractile stood and turned slowly around, eyeing the hurting guards.
"Pah, what a bunch of loosers."
He once more kicked the guard that had tried to shoot him and walked off into the station. Now where the hell was he supposed to deliver this pouch?
###
The thirty minutes was almost too much for the automatic defence systems in the PA main computer system. When NP jacked in, the virus was only one level away from the main data core of the host. He immediately counter attacked with everything he had, and managed to freeze the virus where it was presently. Using software that was illegal to use in all nations, he tried to burn the virus out of the immediate critical systems, but only partially succeeded. He cursed in his mothers language, the soft syllables so much better than Standard for swearing, and then started on a smaller infestation with some alternative programmes. Again, he was only moderately successful in burning the virus, but he now had an idea of what to do. He smiled inside, his outward appearance that of a corpse while jacking, this was a nice challenge for once. Whomever made this virus was very good. He found the file that would enable him to attack the virus, opened it and froze. It had been a trap, inside the file was a trojan that took control of NP's headware and shut him down, the mental interface first, and then proceeded to open the headware to the outside attacker. NP could only observe the mind rape that happened on him, while floating impotently in his own head.
###
The order to go was given, and the centaur slowly accelerated towards the station. The lights inside the cargo bay went from yellow to red, and the five troopers inside readied themselves. Outside the station two ships from KAOS with the pilots called William Cutting and Fagious Maximus entered controlled space and engaged the nearest trader with a load of swarms, easily attracting the attention of the tactical operations centre of TPG. The first Strike Force wave was quickly annihilated in a swarm of jackhammers, and the next group readied themselves for launch, even if it was probably a suicide mission.
In the meantime, the centaur docked in the TPG part of the station to the complete black of a station that had lost power. The cyber attack that was the third component of the attack, had succeeded in taking over the power sub-mind, the station was now under foreign control. The doors to the cargo hold of the centaur opened and five figures in black combat suits fanned out, covering the docking bay in seconds. A series of short bursts came from one of the figures, and several thumps were heard where the dockhands had stood before. Sounds of shuffling feet and strip-locks as the dockhands were tied in their prone positions, and then some not quite seen movement towards the entrance to the station proper. The lights went out in the corridor, and the safety door opened. So far the plan had worked very well.
Dozer opened the door slowly, ever so slowly, and sneaked into his new double cubicle. He slowly and silently closed the door, making sure that the lock engaged as silently as possible. He shook one shoe off, and then the other and tip toed over to the bed where someone was snoring slightly under the covers. He smiled at the almost imperceivable sound she made when she slept, it was so cute. He sat down and listened for three whole minutes, almost a new record in concentration for him. He took one of the roses he had brought and placed it near her nose, the deep red of the flower matching the colour of her hair, making sure the fragrance of the flower woke her up gently. She stirred and Dozer smiled like a man on drugs, which he was in a sense. She opened her eyes and looked at the rose, a smile crossing her face like sunlight on a rainy day. She stretched and held her arms out.
"Mmh, where have you been love?"
"Sorry dear, I had to do some urgent guild business, and after that I went to the flower shop and to the...no, O am not going to say anymore. I am not going to ruin he surprise."
He smiled down at her and kissed her on her forehead as she started to rise.
"What, let me go, I want to see."
He grinned and let her up, admiring her milky-white skin that was framed by the long red curls. He had one hand on his back, hidden from sight.
"Promise you'll behave," he said in a mocking voice.
"Absolutely not."
She tried to reavh behind his back, and after a mock fight she grabbed his hand, and what was in it. She took the small box and stared at it with big round eyes. She looked up at Dozer.
"You didn't, you shouldn't, you"
"Why don't you just open it?"
She did, and saw the large deep-red ruby necklace that matched the colour of her hair perfectly. Needless to say, they ordered room service later....much later.
###
Retractile readied his Rev C for a high speed run across Latos and rendezvous with Remley orbital. He was carrying the heavy pouch that yoda had given him containing a single sealed envelope, not sure what was supposed to happen to it. He knew he was supposed to deliver it to a person in Remley station, but he wasn't too keen on searching a whole station for a single packet, no matter how important it may be. He launched and had to focus hard as he moved to the jump point, as a convoy of Orion ships exited the station at the same time, their slow reaction times indicating extremely heavy loads. Weapons or the like, probably very profitable. He sent a message on the pirate net and received a single answer form Swag Man. Retractile jumped to Remley orbital and initiated the docking procedure. Inside the station, he was greeted by four Rent-a-Cops in the finest TPG uniforms, all had readied weapons pointing at him. He ignored them completely and calmly reached into the ship for the pouch. He looked at the large bore rocket hand canon that was inside the cockpit, but merely smiled and turned to the scared cops, his hands in his sides, the pouch dangling from his right hand.
"Now listen I know you all want to do your jobs and be wary of the pirate, safeguard the station and all that stuff that little Betty-Lou Wetpants likes to hear down in the bar, but could you at least do me the courtesy of having the weapons loaded and the safe off?"
The guards all as one looked down at their weapons, and Retractile attacked at that time. He swung the pouch into the face of one of the guards, snapping his head back and launching him across the bay, moved up to two others and placed a single kick in the chest of the second man, crumbling him to the floor. The third guard managed to look up and see Retractile's head impact on his own, the twin metal studs in Retractile's forehead shielding his own brain and working like a club on the guard. The very loud sound of a safety switching off pierced the air, and Retractile turned slowly and by doing so relaxed the guards attention precisely enough that when he ducked and spun, the shot went over his head and impacted on the chest on the guard behind. Retractile kicked a single foot up into the groin of the shooter with all his might, making him double over and loose his taser. Retractile stood and turned slowly around, eyeing the hurting guards.
"Pah, what a bunch of loosers."
He once more kicked the guard that had tried to shoot him and walked off into the station. Now where the hell was he supposed to deliver this pouch?
###
The thirty minutes was almost too much for the automatic defence systems in the PA main computer system. When NP jacked in, the virus was only one level away from the main data core of the host. He immediately counter attacked with everything he had, and managed to freeze the virus where it was presently. Using software that was illegal to use in all nations, he tried to burn the virus out of the immediate critical systems, but only partially succeeded. He cursed in his mothers language, the soft syllables so much better than Standard for swearing, and then started on a smaller infestation with some alternative programmes. Again, he was only moderately successful in burning the virus, but he now had an idea of what to do. He smiled inside, his outward appearance that of a corpse while jacking, this was a nice challenge for once. Whomever made this virus was very good. He found the file that would enable him to attack the virus, opened it and froze. It had been a trap, inside the file was a trojan that took control of NP's headware and shut him down, the mental interface first, and then proceeded to open the headware to the outside attacker. NP could only observe the mind rape that happened on him, while floating impotently in his own head.
###
The order to go was given, and the centaur slowly accelerated towards the station. The lights inside the cargo bay went from yellow to red, and the five troopers inside readied themselves. Outside the station two ships from KAOS with the pilots called William Cutting and Fagious Maximus entered controlled space and engaged the nearest trader with a load of swarms, easily attracting the attention of the tactical operations centre of TPG. The first Strike Force wave was quickly annihilated in a swarm of jackhammers, and the next group readied themselves for launch, even if it was probably a suicide mission.
In the meantime, the centaur docked in the TPG part of the station to the complete black of a station that had lost power. The cyber attack that was the third component of the attack, had succeeded in taking over the power sub-mind, the station was now under foreign control. The doors to the cargo hold of the centaur opened and five figures in black combat suits fanned out, covering the docking bay in seconds. A series of short bursts came from one of the figures, and several thumps were heard where the dockhands had stood before. Sounds of shuffling feet and strip-locks as the dockhands were tied in their prone positions, and then some not quite seen movement towards the entrance to the station proper. The lights went out in the corridor, and the safety door opened. So far the plan had worked very well.
ooo, this getting really suspenseful, keep up the good work, Hortan!
dammit, now I'm regretting that implant... And it was just so much fun...
*sigh*
Oh well, I hope 'ol whytee gets me out of this one, otherwise I'll have a hard time playing...
NP
(keep 'em coming hort, I'm addicted)
*sigh*
Oh well, I hope 'ol whytee gets me out of this one, otherwise I'll have a hard time playing...
NP
(keep 'em coming hort, I'm addicted)
22. Counter Insurgency
Gramps grumbled as he walked down to the TPG infirmary, walking with the slight limp that was his trademark, a legacy of a particular bad fight with a pirate in Odia years ago. He had dressed in a moderately clean boiler suit meant not to intimidate the dock hand he was on his way to talk to. When Ecka had asked him to solve this matter, he had not hesitated a second, after all that was what the council members were supposed to; help the members. He still grumbled, but that was because he had to walk almost the entire length of the station to get there. He arrived at the infirmary and walked up to the nurse on duty.
"Hello Ms, I am here to see the dock hand that was shot in the knee three days ago. I am expected."
The nurse looked at him over her glasses, smiled and flicked through her files.
"Yes, you must be Gramps, legal representative of TGFT? Pardlon is waiting for you with his attorney in room 23, it is right over there."
Gramps nodded his thanks and walked over to the room, ready for negotiations.
###
Naoko enjoyed this particular problem. She had the name of the person that was attacking TGFT, and now she was doing a search for all and any connections across several screens and databases. She had come up with four names already, only one of whom was known. Ahriman, the guild leader of KAOS. She followed up with a search on Ahriman as well, but that came up empty. She allowed a slight frown to cross her picture perfect visage, and tried something else. She stole one of PA's bugs and started leeching data from the TPG mainframe's secondary memory store. She had sifted through data for about ten seconds when the screen went dead. Puzzled, she called up her log and checked what was wrong. Something had snubbed her, but not TPG. It looked like it had been NP, but why would he do that? She tried another access to the mainframe and got the same result within six seconds. Something was wrong, she had to notify Surbius and do it now. She sent the priority note and tried another way in. Something was very wrong, and she wanted to find out what it was.
###
The guards at the entrance to TPG central never knew what happened. One moment they were on boring guard duty, the next second the lights went out. Fumbling for the light switch, they never noticed the group that advanced on them and eventually put a sonic taser to the head of each man in turn. The smell of voided bowels quickly filled the room, not that anybody noticed from behind the masks. The point man used the ID card along with a limp right hand from one of the guards. The door chimed open and showed a dark room behind it, the software still cloaking the attackers in night. A single shot rang out and the lone guardsman who was trying to get his night vision goggles on, dropped in cramps. The cells were three on each side, no marking at all. The point man walked over to the second cell, hesitated for the smallest amount of time, and then set a xith toothed chainsaw to the frame. The noise of a super charged engine revved to the maximum level rocked the corridor, making the guard wince on top of his involuntary shaking. A shower of plasteel rained down on the deck as the point man cut the door frame clean off. When the frame was unsupported, the trooper ripped it out into the corridor, revealing the man behind.
"What took you so long?"
The answer came from the second trooper.
"You know Commander, someone wise once told me that if you want something done, do it right."
Asteroth smiled at that. He remembered the deep penetration mission he had planned with the Serco Spec Ops, and the exact time he himself had said precisely those words.
"Point taken Red. I assume you have a plan for extraction as well?"
"Yes Sir, Skull over here has your survival kit. Cat, are we ready to move out?"
A low female voice responded.
"Aye Chief, we are ready. I have multiple bogeys inbound Chief, I am switching to lethal response instead of stunners."
"Belay that Cat, as long as we have the upper hand, we use stunners only. Respond."
"Aye aye Chief, stunners only."
Asteroth donned his gear quickly, after all he had trained for this scenario many times. Once suited up, he activated the dark vision and watched the former Terror Troops and Red Tide with pride. They moved with the economy of countless hours of training, they still had it. The guy with the chain saw was another chapter entirely. Bearing the saw he was named for, he appeared by almost non showing, an effect that was eerie and scaring. When you didn't look directly at him he seemed to disappear, a very nice trick. Red Tide nodded in appreciation when Asteroth finished within the time limits that he had himself described those years ago when he was commander of their unit.
"Cat, you have point, Skull, you second, Bloody Mayhem, you take rear. Oh, and Chainsaw, with me. Sir, we are ready to move out."
Asteroth nodded, and Cat slid along the wall into the corridor again.
###
The Behemoth could be described with many words. Elegant, slim, sleek, or even vicious were not among those words. To Hortan, there was only one word that could describe the large cargo vessel with the stripes in panic yellow, the colour that contains just enough red that predators go nuts and believe that the wearer of this colour will turn tail and flee at the earliest opportunity, and so will drive said predator to a feeding frenzy, and that word was beautiful. He ran his hands down it's pockmarked sides, the armour having in some places been scoured clean several times by ionstorms, plasmafire or just plain old collisions. He removed the pre-flight caps from the high density mining beams, and ensured that they had no cracks in the crystal lattice that made the focal point. He checked out the cargo, 120 crates of the finest luxury goods, fashion clothes and chocolate, signed the receipt and handed the credits over. Better get this done before he lost his nerves.
At 0920 standard time, he launched, and programmed his NAVCOMP for Sedina. He hoped that his timing would be correct, but he was ready for some evasive manoeuvres if he would encounter pirates. Avoiding the usual ionstorms in Azek by plotting around, he entered the Latos wormhole, and grey space with something resembling the entire collected Monarch butterfly emigration swarm in his stomach. This was going to be intense to say the least. At least space here was empty, most pirates would be asleep now anyway. Or that was what he had been told. He entered Latos O12 some 5k away from the wormhole, and started boosting towards it. The butterfly's were now on helium and acid, because they were more and more active in his stomach. He entered the wormhole and activated the jumpdrive.
###
Azumi sighed deeply. That was without doubt the worst piece of poetry she had ever heard, and the worst part was that it was aimed at her. Fortunately Denji did not know precisely where she was, but this had the unfortunate side-effect that he had broadcast his "dedication" poem on the general news channel. It reminded her of the time where an equally lovesick Hortan had blabbered about His Queen on and on. She sighed again and turned the Rev C around once more to make sure her radar had the best resolution. There, an Atlas that had just jumped out of the system. Crap, it must have been in the slight four degree dead angle that was a legacy of the Rev C's extra mounted weapon, the reason why Rev C pilots had to keep flying in wide turns for full coverage. She sighed once more, she didn't even bother to curse; that poem was just good for nothing!
Retractile: Az, I know you do stuff for yoda, do you know who I have to talk to in Latos?
She looked at the guild coded message from Retractile and shook her head in wonder.
->Retractile: Hun, I have no clue what you are doing deary. How do you expect me to help you then?
Retractile: I need to deliver a pouch to some KAOS dude.
->Retractile: Try their commander, I think he is called Ahriman.
Retractile: Thanks Az, will do.
Azumi shook her head slowly and resumed her sweep of Sedina B-8. There, the telltale tachyons of a ship emerging, and a Moth as well. She engaged the turbo and flew in on the left side of the ship, forty metres away. She targeted the ship, ready to pour positron fire into the helpless trader. Hortan. She punched the controls and disengaged from the firing position.
"Why the hell are you here all alone? Don't you know it is dangerous here? There are pirates all around, they WILL kill you Hortan"
She fumed, she had told him that it was dangerous, she had told him that the pirates were...hang on, she was a pirate. She sat up in her seat as the implications hit her. Why hadn't she pirated him instantly? Why hadn't she fired a warning shot across the bow of his ship?
Inside Hortan's moth, he punched the two buttons he had set up prior to entering Sedina, as he did not trust his nerves to enable him to type once he encountered Azumi. And he was right, he was barely able to even do this. He sent his message and dumped his cargo.
Hortan: Ms Azumi, Roses are red, violets are blue, Heliocene roids are beautiful, and so are you. Please accept these gifts as a token of my gratitude. Yours, Hortan.
Azumi stared at the crates dumbfounded, and barely noticed the moth turn and jump out again. Great, two would be poets without an ounce of talent between them. This was probably the first time she had ever been likened to a roid, but she knew he meant well. Sighing she jumped to D-14 to get her loot-moth, after all a girl needed her chokkies, and it seemed that some of the crates contained the new clothes collection from Dau.
Gramps grumbled as he walked down to the TPG infirmary, walking with the slight limp that was his trademark, a legacy of a particular bad fight with a pirate in Odia years ago. He had dressed in a moderately clean boiler suit meant not to intimidate the dock hand he was on his way to talk to. When Ecka had asked him to solve this matter, he had not hesitated a second, after all that was what the council members were supposed to; help the members. He still grumbled, but that was because he had to walk almost the entire length of the station to get there. He arrived at the infirmary and walked up to the nurse on duty.
"Hello Ms, I am here to see the dock hand that was shot in the knee three days ago. I am expected."
The nurse looked at him over her glasses, smiled and flicked through her files.
"Yes, you must be Gramps, legal representative of TGFT? Pardlon is waiting for you with his attorney in room 23, it is right over there."
Gramps nodded his thanks and walked over to the room, ready for negotiations.
###
Naoko enjoyed this particular problem. She had the name of the person that was attacking TGFT, and now she was doing a search for all and any connections across several screens and databases. She had come up with four names already, only one of whom was known. Ahriman, the guild leader of KAOS. She followed up with a search on Ahriman as well, but that came up empty. She allowed a slight frown to cross her picture perfect visage, and tried something else. She stole one of PA's bugs and started leeching data from the TPG mainframe's secondary memory store. She had sifted through data for about ten seconds when the screen went dead. Puzzled, she called up her log and checked what was wrong. Something had snubbed her, but not TPG. It looked like it had been NP, but why would he do that? She tried another access to the mainframe and got the same result within six seconds. Something was wrong, she had to notify Surbius and do it now. She sent the priority note and tried another way in. Something was very wrong, and she wanted to find out what it was.
###
The guards at the entrance to TPG central never knew what happened. One moment they were on boring guard duty, the next second the lights went out. Fumbling for the light switch, they never noticed the group that advanced on them and eventually put a sonic taser to the head of each man in turn. The smell of voided bowels quickly filled the room, not that anybody noticed from behind the masks. The point man used the ID card along with a limp right hand from one of the guards. The door chimed open and showed a dark room behind it, the software still cloaking the attackers in night. A single shot rang out and the lone guardsman who was trying to get his night vision goggles on, dropped in cramps. The cells were three on each side, no marking at all. The point man walked over to the second cell, hesitated for the smallest amount of time, and then set a xith toothed chainsaw to the frame. The noise of a super charged engine revved to the maximum level rocked the corridor, making the guard wince on top of his involuntary shaking. A shower of plasteel rained down on the deck as the point man cut the door frame clean off. When the frame was unsupported, the trooper ripped it out into the corridor, revealing the man behind.
"What took you so long?"
The answer came from the second trooper.
"You know Commander, someone wise once told me that if you want something done, do it right."
Asteroth smiled at that. He remembered the deep penetration mission he had planned with the Serco Spec Ops, and the exact time he himself had said precisely those words.
"Point taken Red. I assume you have a plan for extraction as well?"
"Yes Sir, Skull over here has your survival kit. Cat, are we ready to move out?"
A low female voice responded.
"Aye Chief, we are ready. I have multiple bogeys inbound Chief, I am switching to lethal response instead of stunners."
"Belay that Cat, as long as we have the upper hand, we use stunners only. Respond."
"Aye aye Chief, stunners only."
Asteroth donned his gear quickly, after all he had trained for this scenario many times. Once suited up, he activated the dark vision and watched the former Terror Troops and Red Tide with pride. They moved with the economy of countless hours of training, they still had it. The guy with the chain saw was another chapter entirely. Bearing the saw he was named for, he appeared by almost non showing, an effect that was eerie and scaring. When you didn't look directly at him he seemed to disappear, a very nice trick. Red Tide nodded in appreciation when Asteroth finished within the time limits that he had himself described those years ago when he was commander of their unit.
"Cat, you have point, Skull, you second, Bloody Mayhem, you take rear. Oh, and Chainsaw, with me. Sir, we are ready to move out."
Asteroth nodded, and Cat slid along the wall into the corridor again.
###
The Behemoth could be described with many words. Elegant, slim, sleek, or even vicious were not among those words. To Hortan, there was only one word that could describe the large cargo vessel with the stripes in panic yellow, the colour that contains just enough red that predators go nuts and believe that the wearer of this colour will turn tail and flee at the earliest opportunity, and so will drive said predator to a feeding frenzy, and that word was beautiful. He ran his hands down it's pockmarked sides, the armour having in some places been scoured clean several times by ionstorms, plasmafire or just plain old collisions. He removed the pre-flight caps from the high density mining beams, and ensured that they had no cracks in the crystal lattice that made the focal point. He checked out the cargo, 120 crates of the finest luxury goods, fashion clothes and chocolate, signed the receipt and handed the credits over. Better get this done before he lost his nerves.
At 0920 standard time, he launched, and programmed his NAVCOMP for Sedina. He hoped that his timing would be correct, but he was ready for some evasive manoeuvres if he would encounter pirates. Avoiding the usual ionstorms in Azek by plotting around, he entered the Latos wormhole, and grey space with something resembling the entire collected Monarch butterfly emigration swarm in his stomach. This was going to be intense to say the least. At least space here was empty, most pirates would be asleep now anyway. Or that was what he had been told. He entered Latos O12 some 5k away from the wormhole, and started boosting towards it. The butterfly's were now on helium and acid, because they were more and more active in his stomach. He entered the wormhole and activated the jumpdrive.
###
Azumi sighed deeply. That was without doubt the worst piece of poetry she had ever heard, and the worst part was that it was aimed at her. Fortunately Denji did not know precisely where she was, but this had the unfortunate side-effect that he had broadcast his "dedication" poem on the general news channel. It reminded her of the time where an equally lovesick Hortan had blabbered about His Queen on and on. She sighed again and turned the Rev C around once more to make sure her radar had the best resolution. There, an Atlas that had just jumped out of the system. Crap, it must have been in the slight four degree dead angle that was a legacy of the Rev C's extra mounted weapon, the reason why Rev C pilots had to keep flying in wide turns for full coverage. She sighed once more, she didn't even bother to curse; that poem was just good for nothing!
Retractile: Az, I know you do stuff for yoda, do you know who I have to talk to in Latos?
She looked at the guild coded message from Retractile and shook her head in wonder.
->Retractile: Hun, I have no clue what you are doing deary. How do you expect me to help you then?
Retractile: I need to deliver a pouch to some KAOS dude.
->Retractile: Try their commander, I think he is called Ahriman.
Retractile: Thanks Az, will do.
Azumi shook her head slowly and resumed her sweep of Sedina B-8. There, the telltale tachyons of a ship emerging, and a Moth as well. She engaged the turbo and flew in on the left side of the ship, forty metres away. She targeted the ship, ready to pour positron fire into the helpless trader. Hortan. She punched the controls and disengaged from the firing position.
"Why the hell are you here all alone? Don't you know it is dangerous here? There are pirates all around, they WILL kill you Hortan"
She fumed, she had told him that it was dangerous, she had told him that the pirates were...hang on, she was a pirate. She sat up in her seat as the implications hit her. Why hadn't she pirated him instantly? Why hadn't she fired a warning shot across the bow of his ship?
Inside Hortan's moth, he punched the two buttons he had set up prior to entering Sedina, as he did not trust his nerves to enable him to type once he encountered Azumi. And he was right, he was barely able to even do this. He sent his message and dumped his cargo.
Hortan: Ms Azumi, Roses are red, violets are blue, Heliocene roids are beautiful, and so are you. Please accept these gifts as a token of my gratitude. Yours, Hortan.
Azumi stared at the crates dumbfounded, and barely noticed the moth turn and jump out again. Great, two would be poets without an ounce of talent between them. This was probably the first time she had ever been likened to a roid, but she knew he meant well. Sighing she jumped to D-14 to get her loot-moth, after all a girl needed her chokkies, and it seemed that some of the crates contained the new clothes collection from Dau.
23. Breaching
NP had no choice but to observe the misuse of his systems as it was being thrust into the TPG mainframe by his own small bugs that he had inserted over the years. The attacker had neutered NP completely, there was nothing at all he could do. He was continuously searching for ways out, but the attacker was too good. All of the normal security measures in the Dau K-10 station were under the attackers control. A glimpse of a way out, but it was closed fast. NP focused in that direction, ready for an emergency squeak of data. There, it happened again, but closed even faster. He got ready and waited for the opening. Once more, the wall of security was breached for 0.12 mili-seconds, but that was enough. NP squirted his location and status out through the breach. He kept his attention on where the breach was located, but nothing happened. Well, he had tried.
###
Cat knelt down and brought her multi purpose gun up. The two guards that walked towards them were suddenly in complete dark, and it was no problem for her to dispatch them with twin shots from the taser. She walked over to them and inserted the stunner between helmet and jacket, firing it at maximum power. The guards went unconscious instantly. Only three more corridors, and the most daring prison break ever would be pulled off with no casualties. The Jacker had ensured complete control over the station; it was almost too easy.
###
With the last crate stowed, Azumi walked out to her pink Rev C. She needed to fly, to pirate, to fight. Something blocked the path to her ship, a packet of something with flowers on top of it. A card was next to it, pastel colours and flowers. She opened the card.
****
My sweet, You have my love not yet spurned
Alas, my limitless attraction is yet to be returned
Lest my hopes will not yet expire
I will act from my hearts desire
A token of my devotion I aim to provide
By dying to your neuts in willing suicide
Denji
****
Azumi cringed, this was almost as bad as the last one, and with the flowers and chocolates it was getting a bit too personal. She dumped them in the cargo hold of her Rev C and climbed aboard. Her ship system was chiming softly, a message in her terminal.
Retractile: Az, I can't find the bubba. Care to help? Will make it up to you
She grabbed her helmet and closed the coffin like lid, the normal snug comfort of her ship calming her mind. She launched, heading for Remley Orbital.
###
Gramps shook hands with the dockhand and his lawyer. This was going to be expensive, but at least he had secured an agreement that would keep Buzz out of court. He got up and started limping towards the TGFT command centre, almost colliding with Fluffy who was moving very fast around the corner. Fluffy dropped a collection of papers that scattered all over the corridor, face down.
"Oh darn. Sorry Gramps, didn't see you there."
Fluffy knelt and started to collect his papers with Gramps watching him while leaning on his cane. Gramps frowned, the papers looked like pictures of somebody semi-naked lying on a floor. Not expecting that from Fluffy, he nodded towards the photos.
"What is that you have there son?"
"Revenge Gramps, sweet sweet revenge."
"How so?"
Fluffy looked up at Gramps and smiled. He bared his shoulder and showed the Behemoth with the caption BAMF underneath.
"Buzz somehow got me and Waldoze to have these made in Sedina in a slight state of intoxication. And now I am going to get even, and get even good."
Gramps looked at the posters again, now he recognised the semi-naked person with the big breasted hairy chest as Buzz.
"Son, I understand your need for revenge, but you may wish to reconsider. Walk with me, I need to enlighten you a bit."
Fluffy got up and walked with Gramps while he was told of the shooting, and just how much trouble Buzz was in.
###
Neagoth and Vardonx were walking down the corridor, heavily loaded with chips, Nyrius Dew, Helio Mists and junk food. The monthly gathering they had with Fluffy, Waldoze and John was today. They had made it a tradition to meet and play Faction War and talk about everything and anything. They arrived and opened the door to Neagoth's cubicle where the board game was already set up on the round table, with five comfortable chairs surrounding it; a screen saver projecting pictures of places that Neagoth had been on the far wall, changing every ten seconds, provided the decoration in the room. John was going to be a bit late but the others should be here any second.
###
Naoko received the message in her terminal. At first it didn't make sense, then she ran it through a language filter. She had been right, something was very wrong, apparently the station was under attack. Where were the claxons? The running troopers? She hit her connection to TPG security and it came up busy. She prioritised the message, no difference. She was deeply puzzled now, and tried to see what was holding the line. Her terminal popped up again.
"PRIORITY DISENGAGE COMM SYSTEM ENABLE GENSTART17289"
Naoko frowned, what was genstart17289? She looked at the message and found the string. She was not sure what would happen, but just maybe it would allow her to punch through the blanket that was covering TPG security. She closed all connections to the TGFT database, typed genstart17289 and pressed enter.
NP had no choice but to observe the misuse of his systems as it was being thrust into the TPG mainframe by his own small bugs that he had inserted over the years. The attacker had neutered NP completely, there was nothing at all he could do. He was continuously searching for ways out, but the attacker was too good. All of the normal security measures in the Dau K-10 station were under the attackers control. A glimpse of a way out, but it was closed fast. NP focused in that direction, ready for an emergency squeak of data. There, it happened again, but closed even faster. He got ready and waited for the opening. Once more, the wall of security was breached for 0.12 mili-seconds, but that was enough. NP squirted his location and status out through the breach. He kept his attention on where the breach was located, but nothing happened. Well, he had tried.
###
Cat knelt down and brought her multi purpose gun up. The two guards that walked towards them were suddenly in complete dark, and it was no problem for her to dispatch them with twin shots from the taser. She walked over to them and inserted the stunner between helmet and jacket, firing it at maximum power. The guards went unconscious instantly. Only three more corridors, and the most daring prison break ever would be pulled off with no casualties. The Jacker had ensured complete control over the station; it was almost too easy.
###
With the last crate stowed, Azumi walked out to her pink Rev C. She needed to fly, to pirate, to fight. Something blocked the path to her ship, a packet of something with flowers on top of it. A card was next to it, pastel colours and flowers. She opened the card.
****
My sweet, You have my love not yet spurned
Alas, my limitless attraction is yet to be returned
Lest my hopes will not yet expire
I will act from my hearts desire
A token of my devotion I aim to provide
By dying to your neuts in willing suicide
Denji
****
Azumi cringed, this was almost as bad as the last one, and with the flowers and chocolates it was getting a bit too personal. She dumped them in the cargo hold of her Rev C and climbed aboard. Her ship system was chiming softly, a message in her terminal.
Retractile: Az, I can't find the bubba. Care to help? Will make it up to you
She grabbed her helmet and closed the coffin like lid, the normal snug comfort of her ship calming her mind. She launched, heading for Remley Orbital.
###
Gramps shook hands with the dockhand and his lawyer. This was going to be expensive, but at least he had secured an agreement that would keep Buzz out of court. He got up and started limping towards the TGFT command centre, almost colliding with Fluffy who was moving very fast around the corner. Fluffy dropped a collection of papers that scattered all over the corridor, face down.
"Oh darn. Sorry Gramps, didn't see you there."
Fluffy knelt and started to collect his papers with Gramps watching him while leaning on his cane. Gramps frowned, the papers looked like pictures of somebody semi-naked lying on a floor. Not expecting that from Fluffy, he nodded towards the photos.
"What is that you have there son?"
"Revenge Gramps, sweet sweet revenge."
"How so?"
Fluffy looked up at Gramps and smiled. He bared his shoulder and showed the Behemoth with the caption BAMF underneath.
"Buzz somehow got me and Waldoze to have these made in Sedina in a slight state of intoxication. And now I am going to get even, and get even good."
Gramps looked at the posters again, now he recognised the semi-naked person with the big breasted hairy chest as Buzz.
"Son, I understand your need for revenge, but you may wish to reconsider. Walk with me, I need to enlighten you a bit."
Fluffy got up and walked with Gramps while he was told of the shooting, and just how much trouble Buzz was in.
###
Neagoth and Vardonx were walking down the corridor, heavily loaded with chips, Nyrius Dew, Helio Mists and junk food. The monthly gathering they had with Fluffy, Waldoze and John was today. They had made it a tradition to meet and play Faction War and talk about everything and anything. They arrived and opened the door to Neagoth's cubicle where the board game was already set up on the round table, with five comfortable chairs surrounding it; a screen saver projecting pictures of places that Neagoth had been on the far wall, changing every ten seconds, provided the decoration in the room. John was going to be a bit late but the others should be here any second.
###
Naoko received the message in her terminal. At first it didn't make sense, then she ran it through a language filter. She had been right, something was very wrong, apparently the station was under attack. Where were the claxons? The running troopers? She hit her connection to TPG security and it came up busy. She prioritised the message, no difference. She was deeply puzzled now, and tried to see what was holding the line. Her terminal popped up again.
"PRIORITY DISENGAGE COMM SYSTEM ENABLE GENSTART17289"
Naoko frowned, what was genstart17289? She looked at the message and found the string. She was not sure what would happen, but just maybe it would allow her to punch through the blanket that was covering TPG security. She closed all connections to the TGFT database, typed genstart17289 and pressed enter.