'Walter, would you be so kind as to shoo that obnoxious woman?' The shooting match had aggrivated Axel to a degree which he decided not to tolerate. Walter was staring at the mechanical strobe eye that X was using to observe him, but he quickly turned to Axel and shot him one of his cheery grins.
'Sure thing Fischy!' He moved out of his seat and skipped over to the standing bar. He removed the balloon controlling device from his pocket and activated the high-frequency screech again. The Automated Ear Protection Modules expanded around the ears of Axel and Walter. The woman, who had just said hello to an empty chair, was now taken aback by the sudden assault against her ear drums.
Walter kept the screech on until he was right up to the woman, then shut it off. He removed the arm of a Colonial officer from his jacket and adjusted the index finger into a pointing position, then lifted the arm to point at the woman.
'It's rude to interupt! We are trying to have a conversation over there, and yourself barging in here with people shooting at you is rather rude.' His face suddenly lit up with a smile that would make a child cry. 'And as a fun enthusiast, I am against that.' The woman, still recovering from the ear drum assault, left the bar in a hurry. 'You can come back once we're done!' Walter called out after her.
He turned and grinned back at Axel and took his seat once again, pushing the arm of the poor Colonial back into his jacket.
'Danke Walter,' Axel said to Walter, who replied with a beaming smile. 'X, any tools that you are willing to offer are most acceptable. There is one more thing that I may be able to offer in return for this assistance: my scientific assistance in one of your projects, whatever it may be. I was one of, if not the one, best scientific mind that Rheinland could offer. And that was before the Hamburg Gas Attack. Now I am the best from Rheinland. Perhaps even from the Sirius Sector.
'I'm sure that you have many projects to keep a fresh supply of food available. I'm sure I can offer my assistance on one or two of them if you help repair the Passau to a modern capability status. From what I understand the damage is mainly to the hull structure, which took damage from two Imperial cruisers. I'm sure some advanced nanites could patch it up until more thorough repairs can be given closer to the resources required.' He turned to stare at the three fresh bodies strewn across the bar for a few seconds, before turning back to X.
'I'm sure you can build whatever device that is required to find the Passau, as I may not have the ... expertise to construct such a device that you must have such a wide range of knowledge on. Eighteen years in a mental instititute can do that to someone.'
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
X smirked at the balloon, adjusting himself accordingly.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure I could locate it, scientific assistance is more than a fair trade. I look forward to.... Mmmrmm... Doing business...."
He cracks his neck a little, his eyes still fixed on their prior subjects.
"... However, it would help if you could approximate what distance I would be searching at... If you could equate the drift speed of it, with the time it has spent doing just that."
His claws flex as he stretches them...
"It would make that... Part... Much easier.... Grrrmmmhm... And I could supply you with all-purpose nanites, though that might take me a little more time than usual."
The injections mechanism situated above his armour, on his upper back make a slight hiss, the blue tube of coolant slowly turning orange, and was most likely going to turn red if not attended. X grunted, opening a little 'pouch' on his belt, pulling out a blue tube, the same kind of blue that his eyes emitted. The orange tube in his back popped out, almost automatically, as he replaced it with the new coolant.
"On that topic, before I -actually- do anything, what are your views on the Hessians? And have you made a bad impression on them?"
Axel was surprised by the question about the Hessians. He had not seen it coming. Why did X care about his relations with the Hessians? Axel hadn't actually met the Hessians before so was more on the "awaiting relations decision" viewpoint, and he told X this.
'I have never run into the Hessians before, now that I think of it. Since my escape from the mental asylum on Gran Canaria I have travelled a lot, but so far the unlawful factions of the Sirius Sector have not been on my list of potential visitees. Infact, I've hardly talked to anyone. Just some lawful pilots from various Houses who I easily deceived with some well-placed lies concerning my name, nationality and profession. So I guess that I'm neutral with the Hessians. I don't support them but I don't condemn them either. Their victory or defeat does not concern me.'
Axel wanted to change the subject quickly. He didn't know what angle X was playing at with the question about the Hessians, but Axel had no intention of answering anymore questions that seemed too suspicious. He decided to switch the subject back onto the Passau.
'The engines would have most likely been shutdown during the evacuation of the ship, so drift would have been little. But with the time that it has been drifiting, and a possible lack of care in bringing the ship to a halt once it was evacuated, it could have drift anywhere between five hundred and five thousand klicks.
'Walter does own a Tiger Shark, which was the possession of the previous owner of that body, but it does not carry the fuel nor the cargo space to allow us to get out to the gunboat, repair it and fuel it up to return it to more civilised space. And we'd have to find the Passau first, which would be impractical with such a short scanner range.' He decided it would be best to leave before X had the chance to change his mind for whatever reason.
Axel removed the viewing screen once again from his pocket and tapped in a few short commands. The data-stream with information about where Axel and Walter were currently staying and how to contact them was sent to X, and a small beep of confirmation of transfer came from somewhere in the armoured exo-skeleton.
'When it is all ready, contact me with the frequency and number I gave you then.' With that short note he stood up and began to move toward the exit with haste. He turned and saw that Walter was not following. He remained in his seat, staring at X who now stared back with both eyes. It was as if they were having a conversation with eye-contact alone. He knew better than to interupt, so he waited in the arch of the door for several seconds, to see if X would respond. When its focus remained on Walter, Axel left the bar.
When he was gone, Walter's attitude suddenly changed. His cheeky and fun-loving self was replaced by a stern businessman. His relaxed posture was replaced with a straight sitting position on his chair. He didn't even remove any body parts from his collection to fiddle with as he talked. He focused entirely on X.
'I know you met Macdeath and Newton. I followed their adventures from my prison. We were all linked in some ways. But now they are all dead, as the link is gone. Lost forever. But I recognised you from something I saw when glancing through the eyes of one of my brothers.
'What were they like?'
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
X turned to Walter, pulling over one of the loose seats in the room, and casually sitting down. A slight smile crossed his mouth at Walter's question of Macdeath, and Newton. In the back of his head, he was as always, conversing with ReLIC. After a few moments, he started to speak his piece.
"Macdeath and Newton were... Odd... At best. I did admire their ability to... Survive, to an extent. Sadly, though... I lost respect for them with their association with the Nomads..."
X shook his head slightly.
"As you may have figured, I'm not a fan of the Nomads."
Walter said nothing to this, which was a massive surprise to himself. He was never speechless. He always had something to say. But not this time.
Without breaking eye-contact with X, he pushed his chair back and stood up. He left X sitting alone. After reaching the bodies in the bar, he turned to one of them. Bending down, he forcefully removed the right eye with a scalpel.
'A little souvenir...' he said to X, as if justifying the amputation.
He hurriedly left the bar without another word. He passed several impatient drunkards waiting by the door on the way out, eager to return to their binge drinking. Without a word they swarmed back into the bar. The bodies on the floor were ignored. Nobody wanted to know why they were there.
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
