"Please, keep going on with your story for now. I'd like to have a conversation that doesn't involve me shooting down somebody three days down the line" - Dixon laughed, and took a long drag from his cigar
Ampere placed his cigar down on the side of an ashtray to rest it. His datapad finished uploading to the new one and the old one started beeping. Amper quickly grabbed the old one and tossed it to the corner of the room where after a few beeps its zapped itself to ashes.
"Sorry... i should have warned you it has copy protection... I'm no Lane Hacker but still got my background hehe"
He leaned back and looked Dixon in the eyes. Amperes' brown eyes were filled with hate and sadness at the same time. All those things fueling his anger and passion. Despite being called a "Desk monkey" he had his fair share of troubles and triumphs.
"I lost the line with normality a long time ago Dixon... I did horrible things to people in the name of "Finding my Wife" I tricked people into believing that their loved ones are still with them with holograms only to mine information from them... and once they told everything I wanted to know.. i watched them as the holograms disappeared in front of them leaving the same pain in their mind that troubles mine. I tortured them by shooting their arms and limbs... i shot down innocent people for a few bottles of whiskey just so there is something to ease the pain. I lost the way a long time ago in this. "
Ampere broke the eye contact and leaned a bit forward-looking downwards
"The last transmission that the Liberty received from her was years and years ago... ever so since I tried to triangulate the source of the signal... I know that she is gone, and I know that I might never see her again till I die. It changed me. For the better or worse its not up to me to decide. The only way is forward eh?"
He drank half of his drink while leaning back a bit along with deep sighs
Dixon took another long drag, as he looked at the man in front of him. Ampere was smart, passionate, but a lot less ferocious and aggressive than what someone in his position was required, in Dixon's mind at least. "Y'know, that's a pretty common case. Rogues are usually born into this luxurious existince, make friends in prison, or like us, just strays without a meaning, stumbling into here."
He laid back in his seat, making himself comfortable, and with a motion he pulled up a hologram of a long range transport. The image slowly spinned around it's vertical axis, and the ship itself was an interesting design as well: Pretty decent armor, although it showed it's age, a large pressurized cargohold on the front, crew module in the middle, from which 6 heavy-duty engines stuck out in 3 pairs. "This is the Sojourner. Don't search for the type, it's an one-off design a crazy junker high on engine fumes put together decades ago. It used to prowl the distant Edge Worlds, but lately it's only gathering dust. It was the collateral for a failed business deal, you see."
He looked at the hologram of the ship, recognizing all the different modules but, as for why its there he could not grasp
"Ye.. my prison time is clean off. They never caught me before, either they died or lost the track of me. And while many thinks I'm no real Rogue... well... aren't we all a bit different in these days compared to the.. age-old ones."
"Depends on who you compare yourself to. My "mentor" Rokku, he wasn't a big fan of idiots, you see. He lived those old times, and according to him, there aren't that much a difference. Sometimes someone'll walk thru the door, running from the law, seeking revenge or glory or people to grab his stupid little political notion or whatever"
Dixon took a big sip of whisky, and put out the small remainder of his cigar. "We're having our own conflicts amongst us, kill people, rob, enslave. As fun it is, we haven't had a purpose for who knows how long. We're pretty much the first ones in a while who are trying to put back the word "Organized" into our Crime Syndicate title."
Ampere looked at his wound finally stopped bleeding, he removed the patch and took out another from his pocket holding it there. He coughed a bit, his adrenalin from the fights wearing out, so his pain slowly started to return. Finished his drink in no time.
"Gosh dang it is it gonna be the times with Amy? A more organized pack? You better than that Dixon"
"Don't insult me, please. I'm talking about proper organized crime, not this willy-nilly gang bullshit most people associate our name with." - Dixon let out an annoyed sigh - "I mean, look around: We've got the manpower, the goods, the underworld presence, yet nothing happened for decades. I mean we have this opinion to go for, or we turn towards politics. All the problems with Liberty's "justice" system might give us a legitimate background, but it would be a windmill fight as far as I'm concerned."
His eyes wandered to the armor again. The more he looked at it, the more it grasped his attention, although he couldn't give a reason. After quickly sending the remainder of his drink down, Dixon turned back to Ampere. "Both options would bring... changes. Big ones"
He reached for his cigar and continued to enjoy the relaxing sensations as the warm smoke filled his lungs and slowly exhaled it.
"Our biggest moneymaker is the addicts of Liberty... The yellow cloud keeps them occupied for long. We got people yes... we got limited but, nowadays quite reliable technology... What do you suggest?"
"I don't care about the effects of cardamine, as you know it. But you're well aware of my opinion about the outcasts. We'll need to secure... alternative sources of that crap. But firstly stock up for our own people. This also comes with the short term side effect of us creating a shortage, thus we can charge more for the stuff. Unfortunately for Nox, our routes are no longer profitable, due to the war's being over, and that little festival the Federals, Imps, and Confederacy making in the Zurich corridor."
Dixon lighted up another cigar, and started forming smoke rings with every exhale. It was a rather good tasting cigar, although the habit of smoking largely eluded him. But this day was a special occasion: A day that would largely shape the Rogues place in Liberty.
"It's a complex plan, so I won't start the next segment of it, before I'll hear your opinion"
Ampere listened in silence to Dixon. Years of control by the outcasts, he has made its mark on the rogues and everyone felt the side effects of it.
"So you suggest to jeopardize our Cardamine sources, for who knows how long and try to stand on more legs than what we have? our biggest moneymaker is that stuff and all the addicts that hooked on it... we might have the manpower, we might have more bases and installations than anybody in liberty... But last time I checked they got Battleships and Dreadnaught class ships. I assume you have a cunning plan too"