Devil's Punchbowl Pub
You go in, into the shady, cool air of the pub. Even if it doesn't look like much, it's good to have a place to just sit down and have a couple of drinks, after a stressful day or just to get some hours off the clock. Maybe you'll meet a pal here and have a few words or who knows, a stranger will just walk in and bring with him a nice little story. You pass the Neural Net Console and make your way to the bar. Voices, faces, sound of glasses all around you. You take a seat and make a discrete sign. A petite blonde joins you in a second, wiping clean the pitcher in her hand. Pulls a small card from under the counter and flips it in front of you. "Anything you want?"
Menu Wrote:Alcoholic beverages
- Bretonian Gin ........................................................................................ 10 $C
- Liberty Ale ............................................................................................ 20 $C
- Rheinbier ............................................................................................... 18 $C
- Zoner Rum ............................................................................................. 15 $C
- Kusarian Sake ........................................................................................ 23 $C
- Vodka ..................................................................................................... 17 $C
- Whiskey ................................................................................................. 20 $C
- Gallic Whine .......................................................................................... 24 $C
Non-alcoholic beverages
- Water ....................................................................................................... 5 $C
- Tea ........................................................................................................... 7 $C
Miscellaneous
- Tobacco ................................................................................................. 20 $C
- Cigars .................................................................................................... 35 $C
- Bar Food ................................................................................................ 15 $C
A man with flight suit shows himself at entrance..."Hmmm. Thats the new Pub eh? Good looking and fits to resting after bloody conflicts with alien scums." He moves to bartender while looking around for a friend."One Liberty Ale please. Did you saw Thrawn around?" Bartender shakes his head. The man in flight suit looks for some quiet place. "Alright, it seems i will wait for Thrawn.
*Tantalus walks into the bar looking around at the progress of the station, then walks over to a table waving to an old friend* Jason! Glad we could meet up *Tantalus takes a seat then looks across to his old friend* So what did you want to discuss?
Jason grinned at the newcomer..."You got some nerve showing your face here...." said Jason, extending his right arm to greet his old acquaintance. "...you've took off without a word. What happened? I presume things in Bretonia did not go that well, last time I've heard of you was one year ago." Jason shacked hands and took a sit across from Jospeh. On the table, two ice-cold Rheinbeirs were waiting caps-off. "You've vanished form anyone's scanner, those chaps at Inverness had no idea what happened to you, still no report of your death anywhere, we've been tracking the news in that area, nothing from there either. I had nothing else to do than to deactivate you..." Jason took one of the biers and took a gulp. "...anyhow, is good to see you! So, what have you been doing all this time?"
*Joseph grabs the beverage and gently spins it looking in the bottle then takes a swig* I've been dealing with life is all, I had to leave so suddenly, I know it seems odd for me to be gone so suddenly and back just the same, but the past is the past, but I gotta say *Joseph gestures around the bar and the rest of the station* O'Rhu isnt just some motley crew anymore, you've done well leading them, I hope I can do my best to help the Cell out now that I'm back.
"Back you say? And if those problems you had in your past will somehow manage to resurface, that means you'll take off once again, with no prior notice?" Jason picked up the bottle off the table, took a sip out, then started spinning the bottle in his hand, silently. A couple of minutes passed this way, then Jason sat the bottle back on the table, just a bit off so that he can look at the man standing in front of him. He sighed and continued. "You know, all you see here, took time to construct, time and effort, and moreover loyalty. So, the question is: where lies yours? How can I be sure you won't fly away again, with no warning, no nothing?"
*Joseph grimaces and gently pushes his bottle away* I've loyalty to begin with, problems that were out of my control are now gone, the only thing I want to do is push those problems away, and with them gone my loyalty to the group I left has finally resurfaced, Jason this is why I came back to the Order, to come back to O'Rhu, I pledged my life to it, so even if I had to leave for a period, I'm not leaving til my death. So have no worries about loyalty Jason, only worry about what can happen in the blink of an eye. So,*he picks his drink back up* Where do I sign?
"I have no need of your signature...I know already your handwriting is bad; You did well to come back to us, I guess you always knew I have a soft spot for you. I let the Quartermaster know of your return and I bet he has already prepared you a bunk in Module B. " Jason took a couple of sips from the bottle laying on the table, in front of him. "Is good to have you back, now only if others would resurface as you did..." Said Jason as he took another swig of the amberish bitter liquid. "Anyways, you got a lot of catching up to do, things changed around here, as you see...new faces, new jobs, same headaches with Nomads and Core...Here's to you, my friend!" Jason picked up the bottle and drunk all it's content dry in one big gulp. "You know, I still expect a few more words on your so sudden leave..." He then pulled himself up from the table and started walking slowly towards the counter.
Following the man into the bar, Thallia shyly scans the environment and frowns. "Is this where you bring all your kidnapped freelancers?" Whilst she smiled as she spoke, her voice was laced with nervousness with her hands slightly trembling at her sides. As the blonde barkeep's attention moves to her, she asks for a tea and looks at the man with a questioning glare."No funny stuff... if you're holding me here against my will, I want to know why." She frowns again as she takes the tea, and walks to a spare booth to take a seat.
Axisdeus moved to the free both after taking his tea form the counter. He took the seat across the table, placed his cup on the table and sat down. All was done tactful, like a ritual of some sort. "I could have sworn you're a coffee person..though I am delightfully surprised to see you like tea." said Axisdeus. "You frown to much, you know, it isn't all that good for your appearance. Loosen up, you're amongst 'friendly kidnappers' " Jason started laughing. "I've been named in may ways, but this..this is a first, you and your buddy AI there made my day!" Jason picked up the cup and took a small sip, waited for the flavor to kick in then swallowed, continuing. "So, no funny stuff you say, I assure you, nothing bad will going to happen to you as long as the rules I've told you earlier are respected. Now, the business...it involves AI manufacturing...well more-like picking up form where it was left off by someone. It will also involve payment, unless you're some sort of good Samaritan and will do this just for the fun of it." Axisdeus stops and looks around. The pub was almost empty at that early hour. "You see all this, the station...it takes time, human power to run and all that, unfortunately, gets down to money. I need an AI to facilitate easier usage of the base's systems, to have it run more efficient and with lower costs. What we have now is nothing more than an AI archivist unit boosted with some basic functions. It may run the automatic defense grid, it may provide some database up-keeping,but that is about it. We've discussed this long and over, we've considering a sentient AI to be the solution for this." Axisdeus took a swig from the still hot tea. Put the cup down and continued. "The work is already started, we have had to postpone the process once our lead man just vanished. I know what you may think now, did we kidnapped him also? No, we didn't. Anyways, the main feature of this sentient unit should be the ability to have multiple instances around the Station premises. My men already thought of a solution, using SSL (Solid State Lasers) and LPI's (Local Interference Points) for data feeding and basic hole-emitters for the visual feed. What are we missing is the AI mainframe, making it sentient...there is where we want to employ your help. What we have now is based on basic bio-nerual computing units..."
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