Fortaleza Base, a miserable lump of rock floating in the black of Humboldt. What the dilapidated old station lacked in comfort and beauty, it more than made up for with it's cheap drinks and even cheaper bar girls. Half the stations docking arms and airlocks were barely that, yet there was always an open space for the random Rogue to hold up for the night and a more than capable crew of indentured dock hands ready to repair any damage their vessels may have developed.
One such Rogue, a man in his late 30's had just finished with the standard docking sequence, even though it took an extra ten minutes of his sitting in his fighters cockpit, listening to the dock master yelling at the men just outside his ship. A miscommunication between the terse old man and the crew down below had resulted in one of the docking arms nearly snapping clean off when attempting to prematurely anchor the large fighter to the deck. Climbing down the short 3 step ladder to the extended catwalk, he kindly places his hand on the young man's shoulder who was responsible for the mishap.
"You new to this gig?" he asks with a strangely kind smile, something not often given to a deck hand on such bases.
"I-I'm sorry sir.. I... it was an accident!" he stammers, stepping back, frightened of what the Rogue may do to him.
"Hey, I'm not gunna hurt ya. Just, be careful next time and listen to what the old man tells ya. If I were someone else, you wouldn't be standing there, probably on the floor with a round through your kneecap." While his tone was calm and kind, the look in his eyes told the boy he was dead serious.
"Yes sir.. I. I'm sorry.. I..." The boy was most definitely new and the Rogue knew it now more than ever.
"It's fine, kid, just be more careful, alright? Now do me a favor and give her under carriage a good workup, I bounced a few stones off her on the way in and think I heard somethin fall off." Turning to look at the old fighter, the man couldn't help but smile. "She's saved my hide more than a few times, kid.. one day if you earn your way out of dock work, you may find yourself flying one like her."
"Y-yes sir!" the young kid responds, turning to a somewhat older man who'd just walked up, smiling before climbing down the catwalk ladder to get a look at the underside of the Large fighter.
A few minutes later, the man finds himself standing in the Fortaleza bar doorway, after a moments scan of the near empty room, he moves up to the bar, tapping the counter top to get the bartenders attention.
"Can I get a scotch on the rocks?" he asks with a small glimmer of hope as he knew it was a long shot that the bar had any such stock.
"All we got is liberty ale, friend... and maybe some homemade stuff somewhere in the back."
He couldn't tell, but he swore he'd met this bartender before.... somewhere. "Eh... a Lib Ale will be fine. I've had home brew before on Buffalo and.. damn.... It took 3 days to get that swill out of my system."
"Right..." is all he replies, before taking a bottle, pouring half in a less than clean glass and sliding it up to him. "10 credits."
Taking a pre-loaded 100 credit chip out from his jacket, he holds it up, not handing it over yet. "There will be a lovely young woman coming in sometime soon, whatever she wants, you take from this, got it?" He says sternly as he'd done such things in the past on other bases and ended up having the money disappear. "If I hear that she's paid for her own drinks, then you and I will have words."
"Yeah yeah." he replies, snatching the chip from his hand before moving to the end of the bar, continuing on his haphazard attempt at cleaning the counter.
Taking his drink, the man rolls his eyes as he moves off to a table next to a rather large window looking out into space as he waited. He actually found the view relatively nice given that the Padua bar had only view screens showing images of planet side vistas.
Tori entered the bar, not sure if Marcus was going to turn up or not. What she had offered was vague at best, but she wanted to discuss it with him in person, there was too high of a risk of the transmission being intercepted by the Security Force. She knew that for the moment, she was still a 'nobody'. No one would be interested in listening into a conversation between two old friends meeting over a drink.
As she entered the bar, she looked around, assessing the situation, just as she had done every time she entered the bar for the last three and a half weeks. She prefered Padua, it was cleaner and the drinks were considerably better. She figured out the Ale was a safer choice rather than her usual coffee, she couldn't place why but it tasted.... wrong. She reached the bar and smiled at the bar tender, catching him off guard.
For a female Rogue she was pretty, she had no obvious scars of deformities and she was sure to always dress well, including her makeup. If for no reason other than off chance she would run into someone she use to know. She seemed to have an air of innocence, despite it being completely unwarranted. Since she had left PLR, finding herself in a situation where she had to fend for herself, she had destroyed many ships. While she tried to keep from killing the pilots, she was aware this was not always possible.
"Get me a drink would you... Ale, just the bottle.... I don't want a glass"
She went to pull out some credit chips, only to have the bartender hold up his hand, telling her it was already paid for. She raised an eyebrow, obviously not expecting this. She was, however, smart enough not to argue the point. A free drink is a free drink. He pointed in the direction of the table by the window and she turned to see Marcus already seated.
"Well, thank you." She took the drink and made her way over to where he was waiting. "I wasn't sure you would come" Tori took a seat opposite him without being invited to sit. She looked relieved, and she was sure he would be able to pick up on this. However, it wasn't for the fact he had shown up, it was because she now had solid confirmation he was still alive and well.
Watching as the lovely young woman entered the bar, the man doesn't make a show of keeping his eyes on her, more so he was watching the 3 other men in the room who all seemed to take immediate notice. After assuring himself that none of them would make a move or say anything to her, he turns back to his drink, sipping a bit before looking out the window.
It would take a few moments before she took her seat, yet as she did, Marcus couldn't help nod respectfully to her. "It would be quite rude of me to disappoint someone as lovely as yourself." He tells her with that roguish smile of his, his thick Scottish accent coming through loud and clear. "Did you have a safe trip? I know the Navy's been out in force lately."
While asking his question, he noticeably glances across the room at the Bartender, wondering if the man had done as he'd instructed.
As he speaks, she took a sip of her drink, making a comment about missing the coffee from Padua as he finished.
She smiles and shrugs off his compliment, looking down at the table to hide the fact he had made her blush. It had been some time since someone had called her lovely, and she always did have a soft spot for Marcus. Despite not knowing him well, he seemed like someone she would get along with. After a moment when she was sure he would not notice she looked back across at him, biting her lip, wanting to bring it back on topic before she totally lost her train of thought.
"While it would be disappointing, I am sure you wouldn't want to pass up what I have brought you here to discuss."
He was right about the navy, while is was nothing like the old days - which she could only assume was due to the recent end of the war between Liberty and Rheinland - there were still a number of them around. None of which took kindly to Rogues.
"My trip was rather.... uneventful, if I am honest. The Navy.... They aren't particularly smart. It isn't hard to avoid them. How about yourself, I take it you made it here ok?"
Seeing him glance over at the bar tender, she couldn't help but giggle "So the mystery has been solved then.... He was true to his word, I wasn't asked to pay for this." She held up the ale as she finished speaking before taking another sip of it.
Having noticed her shy expression, Marcus took care to not make it obvious. Looking out the window at a passing rock, he gives Tori a slight nod. "The flight 'ere wasn't too bad, had a run in with a Xeno patrol, but.. well they were Xenos." He remarks with a smirk. "Not much difficulty with their like."
After a moment of letting that bit of evil sink in, he raised his glass a bit in salute. "But 'ey, you called and I answered, love... What business do you have for an old retired Rogue?"
Marcus had a penchant for referring to himself as older than he actually was, but it only added to his charm, as did his strangely non-libertonian accent. "And yeah, the drink was my doing." *Chuckles* Turning to wave at the bartender, the old man nodding in reply before returning his attention to the young woman in front of him.
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