Ted smiled "Sure why not, I'll be right back" Ted walked over to the bartender and came back a few moments later with a drink. "Hope you don't mind I had him add it to your tab." He chuckled and sat down. "So tell me, are you a full time dealer or is this just a one time sale for you?"
Lou released another cloud of blue smoke over their heads.
"Well, I don't make money by selling Liberty Ale, so don't mind the drinks. So yeah, you guessed right, this is not a one time sale." - Lou finished his whiskey, and took another smoke of his spliff - "I used to be part of the old Liberty Rogues, and besides the occasional raid, my main mission was on the Malta run." - he raised his empty glass, signaling the bartender - "Moe, another one, yes?! Anyway... Since you have the habit of visiting Rogue stations, Ted, you must know that in the last year the things were bad, and the main Liberty Rogues organization ended up breaking into several small groups. So I'm trying to step up my game here, make my own space on the market. It's not like there is much competition anyway."
Ted nodded has he knocked back his drink signaling for another. "So if your trying to start up your little outfit again you must be looking for an experienced smuggler." Ted giggled for a moment than broke down laughing loudly. "And I need new colors to fly to get the Roach Coach out of impound." He giggled a little more and finely sighed heavily. "Are you looking for a permanent crew? Because I can work with that."
Lou was really in need of a new pilot to speed things up.
"I could have some use for an 'experienced smuggler', yes." - Lou laughed, while Moe was returning with two whiskeys - "Let's say this run will be like a test. If you don't screw up, we might make a more permanent deal. How does it sound, hein kiddo?" - Lou smoked the last bit of his spliff, dropping the rest on the ashtray, and picked up the glass of whiskey - "But tell me about your old ship... Roach what? What kind of vessel is it? And what happened with it, anyway? Impound, you say? That's a first for me..."
Lou was really curious about this Ted kid. Was that really a good idea? He sipped his scotch, waiting to hear the guy's story.
He sighed heavily again. "Yeah, impounded. By the Zoners of all people. You see I usually fly a 350ish year old Pilgrim Liner, named Roach Coach. Recently I found an extra few hundred square feet of storage space in a sealed off personnel wing. After having the crew eject the spoiled bodies I saw we could fit almost an extra 500 people aboard." Ted sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And apparently those few hundred feet of cargo space make me ineligible to fly. Luckily the crew is willing to sit idle, for gods only know how long." Ted paused a moment to take a drink from his glass. "You would think being Captain for 8 years would qualify me but its what ever." Taking another drink he continued, "So at the moment I'm trying to hack my ID to give me the necessary clearance, but you know hackers don't work for free either."
A Pilgrim Liner, ahn? That could be useful. It was no coincidence truckers called them Slave Liners.
"A Pilgrim, ahn? I never piloted one myself, but I've been in a couple, dealing with some junkers. It's amazing how the junkers can mantain and repair such old ships, but I've always felt like the thing could fall apart at any moment!" - Lou smiled, while he lighted up another spliff - "Sssssss... Pfffff... *cough-cough* I know, I know, those ships have the hull of a small 'capship', I know. Well, looks like someone big flagged your ship as unairworthy, but the Zoners don't do that. They are being pushed by someone else to do it. You must've pissed off someone big, kiddo." - he took another sip of the whiskey, that was starting to slowly get to his head - "One thing we could do is... I can get Rogue papers and IFF for you, Ted. The houses don't recognize them, of course, but the Outcasts do. The Zoners would be forced to let you go, being practicaly across the street from Malta. They avoid trouble like a corsair avoids a shower..."
For some reason he felt he could trust the young captain. Even so, instincts are not all. Caution is an important quality in that kind of business.
Lou took another smoke on his spliff and continued: "What do you say? Pfffff... I can get new identification for your ship, and in return we could put it to some use, and split the profits, ahn?" - He was taking a little bit of risk, dealing with a complete stranger. Then again, he was a 'business man', and risk is a constant part of that. Of course, he could always shoot the guy in the face if he screwed up. But that would be a shame. Ted looked like a nice kid. - "But first don't screw up on this run in the Bactrian, then we see about your Slave Liner."
Ted nodded, but frowned slightly. "halfsies would be a little hard to push past the crew, we have a share system aboard the vessel" He drew a circle with his finger in the air. "Think of whole pie. Each crew member has a set number of shares, or slices of pie, even the ship has a number of shares to allow funds for repairs and upgrades." Ted paused a moment and finished his drink, signaling Moe for another round. "I've only got a crew of 45 including myself, I would wager that the majority would stay aboard, but I can think of a few immediately that would want to sell out their shares and find work elsewhere, you would be committing to buying them out as well." Ted shrugged then started grinning "But it wouldn't be to much, the total value of the shares stands at a hair less than 50 million at the moment, and once we get rolling again profits will increase the value of the shares." Tad glanced at his watch, "Of course this is nothing but a mental exercise if I can't get outta here with your cargo."
The guy knew his accounting. Not a particularly Rogue trait, what was good after all.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I said split, but not in how many pieces. In any case, being a captain I would not take less than 40% of the pie, after expenses of course. And I would only get a slice of that, in any case. " - Moe was looking at him, and Lou moved his head slightly - "Then again, I will be supplying the slaves, and making the contacts to distribute the cardamine back here in Liberty. I will also be supplying you the rogue IFF, and access to the ground crews here in Niverton to service the ships, so it would be a good slice. But I'm not unreasonable. I'm trying to look at this as an investment. As I said, I want to step up my game. I have some resources, but the average rogue is too dumb for this business. I lost a couple shipments when I was not piloting myself." - Moe arrived with two more whiskeys - "If you are flying this thing on the Malta run for a while and you are not dead yet I could certainly use your help. I can't babysit all the new pilots by myself. And I will need more crews if I want to expand. Niverton has a huge protential."
A plan was forming on Lou's mind. Still fuzzy, but definitely taking form. They would need to contact the junkers, and build or retrofit a couple more liners. But everything at its time.
"I could certainly buy the shares of your crewmembers that decide to leave. If you really want to broadcast a Rogue IFF around, that is. But with the steady flow of slaves that Niverton can provide, and with the big demand for cardie here, none of us will complain about the profits, that's for sure."
Lou drinked of his whiskey, while glancing at his guitar standing at the corner on the other side of the bar.
Ted smiled as another drink arrived "Now we are talking business, I'll run your proposal past the gang on the ship but anything that gets us moving again would be welcome." taking another drink Ted continued, "And don't you worry about your cargo, I've only lost a few hundred on the way up at any point, and most of the losses are to disease, so if its clean going in they'll be clean coming out." Ted giggled and glanced at his watch again "Gotta be getting close to done with that engine..."
"Well, I'm only losing money with this delay because I try to keep'em alive. The 'casts pay way more for them if they are healthy. Besides, no one wants to do the clean up afterwards if something happens."
Ted was very nervous, looking at the clock all the time. Long time cardamine users tend to develop a little anxiety, but the guy was also obviously worried with getting his ship back.
"A bigger transport could be of great use to me. Back when I was still flying for the old Liberty Rogues, I used to captain a Pirate Train. But that thing's hull is thin as a synth paste can. In the last run I did with it, I was ambushed by some bunters in California. The ship was hit so bad, that the engines quit as I was entering the asteroid field. Luckly, they did not follow. I drifted all the way to the station, with only the lateral thrusters usable to stear clear of the asteroids. What's left of it is still there, floating near Alcatraz." - the glass was empty again - "Another round for us, Moe, will'ya?! Since then I changed strategy to smaller ships, so the eventual losses would not be big. But there is a vacuum now on this market, since the end of the Rogue Council. That's an opportunity I can't miss. And a Pilgrim Liner can take a lot more kicks in the rear than a Train and..."
Lou was interrupted by a chime sound coming from his pad. He picked it up and read the message that arrived.
"Well, looks like your ship is ready. I will reply back telling them to move our 'passengers' aboard."
