The metal hand of opportunity

[Geoffacake]

---

Big Liners mean big things, although sometimes the smallest of things can make a change. Dusting away on the hall ways and corridors of the vessel, a man who doesn't seem to sleep is brushing and sweeping away, with a janitor trolly next to him. Humming to himself a song continuously. A few footsteps are heard coming around the corner, followed by a blue figure, she stops a few feet away from him. "I question your activities, you don't normally clean." He stops sweeping and turns around facing her. "I know, but we have real guests visiting... Ones that won't blow us up, shoot us or..." "Extort us?" "Yes."

He packs away the mop into the trolly, and starts to wheel it away. "Right all done." "Can you confirm that you have just cleaned all five hundred corridor sections of our vessel." "Yes, like I said, we have guests... Now Open the Right section mooring points to a Kusarian Luxury Yacht. I just hope he thinks we're not compensating." As they walk away, they continue to converse on other matters.

[Hans von Goeben]

- A few hours later -

The green blinking lights around the airlock frame indicate a secussfully completed mooring procedure.
One look outside the big panorama windows next to it would reveal a -compared to the big Renzu Liner- rather small "Geisha"-classed vessel. Even for a Kusarian's taste, its accessoires would probably count as "exotic":
The big dragon statues on the outer hull, picturesque towers on the upside and the Shiro-like command bridge are only topped by the flamboyant lights the whole ship are illuminated in: A pink-blue-white mess of colors. Constantly blinking.

Like master, like man, the ship's Captain who is stepping through his hosts' airlock door right now, can also be labelled for the "Unusual" drawer.
The lean, tall man of Rheinland origin wears a long, white laboratory coat, which pockets are filled with various pens and small devices. They already knew that he is a scientist, but together with his three-day beard, the blue holo-glasses and the baggy jeans, he is one heck of a stereotypical scientist.

He smiles at them and nods one time.

"Good day, Geoff! Nice to finally see you in person after all this time!", the man cheerfully exclaims, "...and also your better half.", making a slight bow towards the blue silhouette.

[Geoffacake]

He extends out his metal hand, greeting him with a firm handshake. Zeal stands beside him and only nods with a neutral face, her expressions seem un-noticeable. "Hans, its good to see you. After all this time its good to finally have a proper talk." "Before any exchange in conversation happens, we recommended a tour of our vessel. Did we not?" "Ah yes! Come, we'll show you around for a bit." Walking off, they move through the many corridors of the ship, reaching a large area that seemed to be a plaza or atrium.

---

---

There is a small ambiance in the atrium, two birds occupy the trees, their bodies all black to the chest to wings, a bright yellow beak and an orange pair of feet. A gentle breeze passes through the dark green leaves, and the light feels natural as it is emitted strongly from one side; feels as it was natural.
"Aha~ Beautiful is it not? We call those yellow billed stirlings Sally and Emelie, the crew enjoy feeding them by hand, docile things. Even the tree and plants are real, I'd thought that putting some effort to make this thing really feel... Like.... Like... Zeal?" "Its a simulation reconstruction of an environment normally found at the high end areas of planet-side city apartments. Wind or breeze is generated through the ventilation shafts at optimal speed just below room temperature, simulating a spring time climate at~" "We try out best to make this Indoors feel outside!" "In simple terms, yes." Geoff happily moves along, finding his words, suiting the his little tour walk.

[Hans von Goeben]

While the trio was walking through the great halls and chambers of the lucurious vessel, Hans patiently listened and only commented his hosts' tour with friendly nods and smiles to Geoff's statements and presentations.
Zeal was keeping a close eye on Goeben; observing his reactions and what he was doing while her husband wandered in front of his guest. She was nosey about this geek's exposure to such a
... high-class display of property.

Curiously enough, Hans did not look annoyed at any time, and his reservation in words and questions was not the result of boredom or a sign of good manner, but appearently sheer interest.
He seemed to prefer letting his host talk and explain the things onboard rather than commenting every sentence to mime mentioned interest, so he wouldn't stop the flow of information.
Neither was enviousness the cause of his hush. The biometrical data and facial scanners didn't register any signs of this emotion.

This circumstance was one which Zeal did not plan for: It is widely known that nowadays Freelancers, especially scientists, do not count as the rich ones of their profession, since they are only some kind of "rented" specialized workers and researchers, which cheaply fill the companies' gaps of employees if needed. This guy here has to have some good side-jobs, considering he owns a fancy yacht, plus his reaction towards the wealth onboard the liner.

'A fishy Freelancer...', she thought.

Much to everyones' joy, Geoff decided to end the tour with a relaxing stay in the most stylish room of the liner: The salon.
After almost half an hour of looking at every corner, the wooden doors of the salon open and welcome the visitors with a comfy, red divan in which front a great table with many beaverages is placed. Truly, a nice view after such a long walk!

"Please, Hans, take a seat and tell me what you would like to drink! I am sure we can please every kind of taste in the bar...", Geoff smiles as they are walking towards the table.

"Oh, thank you! In that case...hmm...", Goeben's view wanders over a large variety of bottle shapes and labels, "...I'll take a classic Long Island!" , he smirks and sits down.
Half a minute of silence passes while Geoff is mixing the drinks and Hans is looking around the fancy room.

"So, Enfield...", taking the offered drink out of his host's hand, "...I am honestly impressed by your liner. You own one of the best I have seen around Sirius so far...even compared to The Hawaii in Sigma 17! I didn't know the BDM pays so well that their agents were able to fly such beauties...!"

For the first time, a different tone swings in his voice; the sound of sarcasm. And to emphasize this intention, Hans shows a quick, wolfish smile before taking the first sip of the Long Island.

[Geoffacake]

---

He takes a bottle from the top shelf, seems like a dry gin, and takes a smaller bottle of soda water, and pours them together. "Ahhh~ thats where you're wrong... The BDM didn't pay for the Liner, although they will be paying for its modifications." He takes a sip from the mix, before giving it an approval with a single nod. "I've done some other jobs, some that i regret, although... They've come back quite profitable. If the BDM was going to spend tax money on a Luxury Liner, that Liner wouldn't be for me." He takes a larger sip of his Gin & Tonic before moving away from around the bar and sitting beside Hans.

"Now, its a bit strange how scientists like us always dig for More, but I guess that is just our kind of habit, and sometimes we're not aware of the cost." He takes out a few papers from his pocket, and passes them over to him. "It's a new model, still currently working on it. Its a combat augmentation, I'm currently wearing the L7 model, but this one is supposed to be Less discreet." Zeal approaches like a ghost from nowhere and pats Enfield on the shoulder. "I'm heading to the server room." "Okay honey." He looks back at Hans, giving a chuckle. "She likes it in there, its cold, keeps her chip cool too." He passes him over another document, giving him the details of the past model. "Its hard to have them mass-produced, they're expensive, luckily, I'm the only one who wears these types of Aug's."

---

Spoiler

Fenrir” Class-12M-L7 Cybernetic arm prosthesis.
From the labs from Fenrir, the 12M cybernetic augmentation is one of the deadliest ever made, but with a number alterations from after the creation of the first version. The 12M is an augmented artificial limb built on a framework of advanced carbon polymers and lightweight metals with layers of tungsten carbide. In place of an organic musculature, these augmentations utilize myomers -- bunches of electro-stimulated plastic cables that mimic the actions of muscle tissues, but to a greatly strengthened degree. In combination with tiny motors and shock-absorbing liquid polymer buffers, these cyber-limbs are capable of far exceeding human physical abilities. Its main feature is housing a combat assistant A.I. that is made to assist its user through neural implants, from it being able to process calculations at high speed and to be able to defend its user by upgrading its abilities while still maintaining user independence.
Developed for combat use, fine-motors and gyroscopes are made to combat the practical problems found in the field of combat from recoil, small injury from rough handling, and with advanced systems such as touch contact access to computers with a touch surface or direct wired connection to a main system.
The L7 is an altered version from the original L1 and the rest, it comes with multiple technologies such as an inbuilt tachyon-bolter capable of piercing through 10mm of tungsten carbide plating. Although powerful, its highly energy inefficient and is normally used as a last resort weapon.
It is also built with a melee combat upgrade, used to pass a range of 25,000KV - 100,000KV through multiple stun points located on the knuckle motors, lethal levels are disabled to prevent damage to the hardware but is still able to potentially knock out a hostile if hit in the correct locations.
Also housing a small processing center, although its normally hooked to a larger system via wireless neural net access but can easily run independently from any main server. Its main processor is a plug-in A.I. used as a combat assistant although alterations have been made to be able to handle and process multiple levels of “Stress” and peak performance.

---

"So, whats your insight on this?"

[Hans von Goeben]

It's a fact that someone, while enjoying his favourite drink, isn't easily flappable. One way to accomplish exactly this is hitting him with a plank right into the face. Of course nobody clobbered Hans literally with a plank right into his visage, but Geoff's statements sure felt like it!

What did his old pal just say? Dirty sidelines? That he has combat-augmentations? That he is developing military equipment? That he is no longer working for The Buro?
For an observer, it might look like Goeben is looking concentrated at the blueprint, but this is in fact the look of a shocked man whose irritated thoughts are buzzing through his head.

One must know that two years ago, when they had met the first time on a congress, Hans got to know Geoff as a loyal and peaceful, even though secluded researcher of the Rheinwehr, whose common sense was surprisingly sane. A rare exception for military scientists.
During the following months, their encounters in bars and after work were dominated by shared interest and profession which originally brought them together:
The Augmentation Technology of the Human Body.

Since Hans had left Rheinland for good 18 months ago, his wanderlust and Geoff's job as a researcher inside Rheinland's borders reduced communication between both to a few sparse long-range text transmissions. They simply drifted apart.

Now, Goeben is sitting in someone's salon who doesn't resemble the old Geoff anymore:
In the calm of this room, looking a longer time at his host's face rather than his back during the tour, he sees a battle-scarred fighter who left his home, family and former employers to work on killing tools.

The more the thoughts increase, the darker his frown grows. Hans didn't plan for such a reunion, and also not holding a potential weapon plan in his hands, even though Enfield mentioned that he wanted to show Hans something interesting.
He snapped out of his worries and pulls himself together. A colleague asked for a professional opinion. First business, then questions.

With a slow motion, Hans leans backwards and sinks deep into the comfy divan.

"Uhm, well, Geoff...about the energy management, insulation...material and flexability...this prototype appears highly advanced to me...impressive, even...", Goeben comments after a few minutes of thinking,"...but you know I do not posses any knowledge in respect of combat aspects, and I do not even want to know anything about them. If you recall, I have always been against the development of lethal weapons! Just like a certain someone in this room..."

For the last part of the sentence, he reproachfully looks in Geoff's eyes.