The Den, Oyster Creek [XA- or Allies only]

[|nfrared]

Jimmy finally entered the bar, late. He had wanted to shower and at least make an effort, but after finding that the only functional airlock on the ship had failed. This had meant another 2 hours sweating in his suit with the plasma arc welder, and costing an entire deck of the Stork to now act as airlock.

He watched as he entered as some of the other men eyed the woman suspiciously in the dimly lit corner. They didn't see many women. Jimmy allowed a slight smile, know that this seemingly harmless young lady was more useful than any of them, or all of them combined. Not to mention that the Legionnaires were rumoured to undergo rigorous physical training. She could probably knock out any of them, he thought silently, maybe even me if she wanted.

He slumped down in the chair opposite Katherine, exhausted. Now clad in jeans and a drab-grey T-shirt, his distinctive mask hanging at his hip. He was tall, a bit lanky, with lean muscle born of a naturally fast metabolism. His blond mullet was out of control, he tried to slick it back out of his face with his hand.

"Hey, uh, sorry! Hope I didn't make you wait too long. I got, uh, stuck. Thirsty? Hungry?"

He motioned to Harold at the bar - "Bring us something good, not that gruel, something with a flavour."

Looking back to the white haired woman, he then suddenly remembered something. A small smile appeared on his tired face.

"Oh, hey, I got this at Freeport 2. You can keep it if you want."

He suddenly produced a small metal sphere from his pocket and looked her in the eye. "I thought it might help, uh... " he let the sentence hang awkwardly, looking away sheepishly.

He placed it in the center of the table and pushed a small depression at the top. there was a slight blue flash of light, as the small sphere projected a blue keyboard of light through small apertures in front of each of them seated at the table. Between them a slight blue hazy square appeared, like a dull blue window pane of glass, translucent, representing the screen. A cursor appeared, flashing a dull blue on each side of the see-through holographic interface projected in the air between them and on the table.

"It works, try it out."

He suddenly looked away again, thinking, hoping he hadn't embarrassed her.