Sonya was a little bit confused sharing a table with a man she just knew from pictures. During her work for the Liberty Security Force she was looking at Lancehead a lot of times as he was one of Liberty's most wanted which neither the DHS or the SpecOps were able to turn down.
But she was here with him, he brought her here, he invited her!
Thoughts were spinning in her head as she sat down with the man she once was ordered to kill on sight if he would have shown up on an occasion like this.
While she was entering the Inn her eyes wandered through the whole room, something she learned back in the agency. Yet there were a lot of familiar faces in the watering hole, a lot of people she turned into Sugarland ' and worse ' herself. Many had sworn to show themselves grateful for that and now she was in their turf all alone.
The three glasses on the table made clear that somebody else was about to join them soon, maybe somebody else she turned in?
'So, who's the guest we're waiting for?' She turned her face straight to Lamcehead who began filling the glasses on the table. 'And most important, do you trust that fellow?'
She clearly knew that one word of her host could get her killed within seconds so Sonya decided to rest her right arm under the table. It was Lancehead himself who offered her to keep her sidearm during that trip and this gun was her only insurance to protect herself if necessary.
Ronnie finished filling up the glasses. With one quick move, he dried one of 'em and filled it up again.
As he noticed his companion looking around and keeping one hand under the table, he smiled. "Relax, you're perfectly safe here."
He leans back on the sofa and lights up a cigar. "You should've seen me when I first came here... Those scars" - he points at his face - "I already had them when I joined with xenos. Some bar fights back in times when I reached the bottom..." He lights the cigar again, puffs a few times and empties half of his glass. "So... I contacted the xenos. They told me to meet 'em on Ames... just like we've met today. I think it was that crazy bitch, Coral. Anyway, they brought me here... I was so scared, I almost crapped my pants. But it's all stereotypes. You say 'xenos', you think 'bloodthirsty barbarians'... yet, as you can see, we're quite calm people..." He takes a longer look at Sonya. She doesn't seem like she believed him. "But, if it will make you feel better..." Gently, he pulls out his firearm and removes the battery from it. "Now... you asked about another guest? It's my boss, Death Adder. I'm sure you've heard about him... maybe even met him..." He grins and it makes him look even more ugly.
"It's easy to tell somebody he or she is safe in a place like this." Her eyes followed the glass towards Lanceheads mouth. "You see, I turned at least one third of the people in prison. Guess they're not looking forward to thank me for this. I've built myself a reputation in Liberty and from your point of view it's not the best one can have to enter a place like this."
For a second her face showed a little smile before it turned back to the - despite the soft face itself - hardened lines. Her left hand reached for the glass right in front of her, now filled with some liquor. She took it and started to play with it a little before she actually drained it.
"Quite a brew that's been served here," she said nearly coughing while the glass turned back to the table.
Was that just stupidity or a way to show her host that she kind of trusted him. There still was a chance that the drink had been poisoned. Yes, Lancehead took a sip himself but he might have been able to take an antidote before the meeting.
Suddenly her companion made a move that looked like he was reaching a gun and her adrenaline level rushed within the second. From under the table a little click could be heard as she released the safety of her sidearm. "No fast moves... please."
As it was clear that Ronnie just disarmed his gun she put the safety of hers back on and took the sidearm on top of the table. Somehow that man really was about to deal with her in a way she'd never seen by any Xenos before and she met a lot of them in space. "Well, that stereotype you mentioned might be in the heads of those who were spaced by you and your cronies. I sure met some fitting in that but there's been others and I guess you've heard about some incidents involving me where your buddies made it back to the barn without one gun being fired."
"Oh, come on... we all started like you. We were all shooting xenos. Everyone is. I was a security pilot once. Flying for DSE. You think I never killed before? I popped a few xenos too. But then I got fired. 'Cutting down on emlpoyment costs' they said... you know... and after some unpleasant time, I realised that I can't change my life in Liberty without changing the Liberty itself first..."
He finishes his drink and fills the glass with another portion of strong, brown alcohol. "It's the Mother's Finest. The best booze you can get in Liberty." He grins again watching as she tries not to wince. She must have balls of steel to come here, he realizes. I can guarantee whatever I like but if I were her, I wouldn't trust me... or maybe she's that desperate...?
He inhales strongly and blows a huge cloud of aromatic smoke. "But yeah... I've heard stories. I hear a lot of stories, you know... And that particular ones got my attention. Why would an LSF officer let a xeno run away without being fired upon?"
Sonya spend the last minutes nodding her head slightly while listening to Ronnie speaking. In some ways he shared the same story with her and she knew that feeling he probably had.
As it seems the files about Lancehead she had access to weren't that good at all.
"Mother's finest," she said before she started laughing a little. "Mother really must be a tough one if she's capable to brew this stuff."
Sonya tried to figure out what her opposite might be thinking about her sitting in this dive, facing one of the most wanted within the republic and having a chat with him. Was this some kind of test? Was he expecting to be informed about a =LSF= squad ready to bust the whole gang present?
"Well, if you're flying through Liberty all the time you get used to the customs," she started before a little pause to take another sip of that liquor. "We all know there's a lot of things going wrong in the republic and the whole legal systems is about to went nuts. I believe in a situation where 'not guilty until proven otherwise' is the way to handle things."
During her speech Mosby took a great interest in studying the facial expression of Ronnie, this was her way to decide if he was able to follow her thoughts or not but as it seemed to her, he was still with her.
"So whenever I came close to a vessel transmitting a Xeno IFF it was not about busting it. Was that pilot just cruising around not posing any threat to the traffic? Heck, why should I go and blast the pilot out of his vessel? The motives for joining the Xenos weren't important for me but I knew that those people I let go were fighting for a cause. The cause to preserve Liberty in a way it was meant to be years ago.
That cause was to become a nation for the people, protecting those who lived there and not to turn it into some place ruled by the military who's facing a huge amount of paranoia."
"Xeno mothers has to be tough to live in fear of loosing their children"Ronnie answered wondering if the purpose of Sonya's visit isn't making more xeno mothers loosing their sons and daughters.
As he listened to her words, Lancehead's face started becoming more and more serious and focused. He leaned forward and replied - quietly in the beginning but while talking, his voice was becoming more and more emotional, louder with every word. "You see, that's the point. They call us terrorists. Yeah, we're destroing foreign transports. Yeah, we kill filthy LPI pigs with their pockets full of dirty credits from bribes. Yeah, we destroy the property of so called 'corporations', their automated production lines, automated defences, robots and drones. But did anyone ever listened to our reasons? No. They dont' want to know they're slaves. They don't want to know that the government steals not only their hard earned credits, but also their lifes. Those who saw it on their own, those who got fired from their jobs, those who got imprisoned for protesting... yes, these people know what's going on. They got their eyes opened. They usually can't help us though. They need help themselves. They come to our soup kitchens on Pittsburgh and Houston to get something warm to eat. That's how the government defines 'liberty'.
Instead of protecting them, it enslaves them, shackles 'em in chains and forces 'em to turn their sweat into pearls and diamonds... cigars and wine for the richest. And for those who oppose this slavery, there are LPI batons and rubber bullets. And for those who fights this slavery, they have laser beams and plasma fire!"
He snorted, dried another glass of Mother's Finest and calmed down. "But you're a smart girl. You know that all. That's why you're here."
He smiled slightly and filled up her glass. "Oh, and here's my boss..."
"Sonya, meet Jonathon Jones, known widely as Death Adder, Liberty's public enemy number one. Jonathon, meet Sonya Mosby, our dear guest and ex LSF officer."
Jonathon walks back to his usual table to find Lancehead and a rather good looking young lady.
"Miss Mosby, I presume. Though I am sure Lanchead here has already told you who I am. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jonathon Jones, Commander of the Xeno Alliance." With that Jonathon sits down and pours a shot of "Mother's Finest". Knocks it back with one swallow and motions for the bartender to bring him some coffee.
"Lancehead had told me that you would be arriving today. I am not very surprised actually, with the way everything in Liberty has been going." Jonathon nods to the bartender as he sets the coffee down.
"So, Miss Mosby, has your opinion changed any regarding the Xenos from what you've seen so far?"
Mosby didn't made a secret about her feelings when Ronnie started talking, she knew how he felt about what he was talking but still she couldn't erase the thought about dealing with her enemy here. The time within the LSF has been long and she trained a lot of people for the governments cause.
Yet she was sitting in this hideout surrounded by Xenos and their allies, talking to them about how the government was killing what the republic stands for, Liberty. "Yes, you're right," she was adding after Ronnie made his line about the government stealing credits and life of the people. While Lancehead continued talking she pulled an ID card out of her pocket, started spinning it between her fingers and looked at it.
'Guess I won't need you anymore, do I? Well, you're still good enough to get rid of those secondaries, the Navy and the LPI,' she was thinking. It seemed way to early to throw away everything from the past. 'God damn it, what the hell am I doing here? Yes, Leroy and his associates have to go but is that a reason to become an ally of the Xenos? Is that a way I might be able to get this prick out of his chair?'
Her view fell back on the empty glass right in front of her and it seemed that Lancehead had seen it too. Within the blink of an eye he grabbed the bottle and refilled her glass. Was he trying to get her drunk or waiting for her to pass out on the alcohol?
In the corner of the eye she noticed a person coming closer to the table which shortly after was introduced by her opposite. Finally she was meeting the man who really seemed to be the number one on the most wanted list in Liberty.
"Yes, I know who you are," she said while she turned her head towards Jones to get a closer look. "And I gotta admit that the mugshot doesn't suit you a bit." She'd seen his face at least a dozen of times while she was questioning Xenos that were caught by the LSF. "Well, to be honest I've never had a opinion on the Alliance apart from what's in the books. You just were people I tried to get my hands on but since I'm not following the books anymore..." She sighed and took another sip from the glass. "I begin to understand that we might have something in common. That's the reason why I'm here, at least from my point of view. Somehow I got the feeling that you might also have some ideas regarding my presence and the invitation that Lancehead sent me."
Seing Adder joining the conversation, Lancehead decided it's the best moment to settle some other business. "Excuse me for a moment" he mumbled.
Ronnie pulled out his communicator, pushed a few buttons, stared at the display for a while, smashed it against the table a few times, checked out the display again and began talking: "Ava?.... Damn.... Ava, when you recieve this... call the Ames. Tell 'em that I asked to check out the bomber we've left there.... you know, homing beacons and so on. Tell the Ames boss, Malrone, that I'll pay for their time and all. Then go to Nome, take the Liberty and get that bomber docked on her. Then bring it to Ouray. You'll have to unload whatever's docked on Liberty to get your Talon and the bomber onboard. When you're back, meet us in the bar.... oh, and call me when you get this message"
He turned the communicator off and left it on the table. "I hope there's no self-destruction mechanisms on your bomber?" he asked returning to conversation with Sonya.
"No, she's clean. It's a basic Li-117 since the tech guys ripped everything out when I got dropped. The only thing that might be able to kill your work crew might be the mines, I hope they know how to not push some buttons in the cockpit," she said smirking and waiting for a response from Ronnie.
It was obvious that the Xenos were trying to get a hand on what ever might be useful to crack the Liberty Security Force and she would've done the same when one of them asked for a meeting. "Oh," it popped out of her, "before I forget about it. Tell your crew they better don't try to break into the computer system. It's locked and will destroy the database without the correct deactivation. I guess you might be interested in the data, right?"