"Before yeh go, Cutter!" Ted said, stumbling to his feet and placing a hand on his shoulder, "Summat oi wants ta' tell yew, 'ain't never told nobody before."
He leant forward, glanding around conspiratorially and holding out his wallet. "That'sh me daughter, that is. Ain't she beautiful?" Ted proceeded to break down and cry in the arms of a now confused Cutter, his wallet open to a picture of a bowl of breakfast cereal.
Somewhat taken aback at his friend's emotional swing, he held him for a moment before easing him into the nearest barstool. He closed the wallet and stuffed it back into Ted's shirt pocket. "Quite striking, she is." he said as he motioned to Sophie. "Hand me a bottle 'o that mineral water you got back there, and look around for some o' that tissue if you can find some."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold tin containing a few of his Synthetic Marijuana pills. Removing one, he handed it to Ted, along with the water Sophie just brought him.
"Here bud, take this, and go get some sleep. Don't forget, you're scheduled to make that munitions run to Kusari first thing in the morning, and them space dogs up there don't take kindly to late deliveries."
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you.
You blame me for my silence, say Its time I changed and grew.
But the war's still going on dear, and theres no end that I know...
And I cant say if were ever...
I cant say if were ever gonna be free.
Ted looks at the pill, then at Carter, then at Sophie, her back turned to deal with another customer. He knocks the pill out of Carter's hand, breaks free of his arms, vaults over the bar and proceeds to sample the selection of liquors.
Jay walked carry a small example of Detroit finest side arms, which he pointed squarely at Ted's chest.
"Wanna be a dickhead Ted ? Take it elsewhere buddy. Now pay up and leave."
He handed the pistol to Sophie ...
"Call Chief Myers, and have a couple of his finest pop this lout in the cells for a while, and if he comes back,
you have my permission to shoot him on sight.
Oh, and Ted, if you pull a stunt like that again, your contract is terminated permanently, we got no room for
idiots here."
"Now what was I doing." ...
Some say he is a proud member of: "The most paranoid group of people in the Community."
Andy looked up from his drink and peered over into the dark corner of the room.
"Aw, hell. That's... is that a woman I see? Christ. This ain't a job for a woman," he said to himself. "They come, and just as quickly they're gone. Never last."
Andy gulped down the rest of his beer, placed a few credits on the bar, and got up to leave. "Ain't no job for a woman," he muttered again, and headed for the door.
Cutter walked through the door and ambled to the bar, sitting down heavily in the chair closest to the window. Sophie walked over to him, his cardamine brandy cocktail already made and in her hand. She set the huge snifter glass in front of him and said "So, how was your gambling fest on Curacao this time?"
"Ah, them damn craps tables beat my head in again." He said, pulling a huge cigar from his shirt pocket. "Another two mil down the crapper."
Sophie shook her head with a smile and said, "You'll never learn, Jake!"
He fired up his cigar and stared at Planet Manhattan through the window. "Yep, but at least my crew had a good time."
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you.
You blame me for my silence, say Its time I changed and grew.
But the war's still going on dear, and theres no end that I know...
And I cant say if were ever...
I cant say if were ever gonna be free.
Jonathon and Jake were discussing the days events at the bar with the occassional jibe about each others cargo manifest when Jonathon's message indicator started blinking. Must be something important for it to be routed to me here in the bar.
Jake wonders as well, His message indicator has not blinked once today.
Jonathon brings up the message...
-----------------------------------------------
"Our Clients will pay well over market price
(twenty million credits) for the delivery of
Nuremburg Produced Military Vehicles to the
aformentioned site.
The order would include 50 Ajax APC, 4 Sentinel
MkIII Hovertanks, 26 gattling-class laser
cannons of the Mjolnir 13 design, and 4
Screamer-class surface Missile Batteries"
Can your man deliver?
Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe
-----------------------------------------------
"The name is familiar." Jake said, "I think they
are from out near Bretonia."
Jonathon looked curiously at his screen...
"I wonder why they came to us for this delivery?"
Jake punches some keys. "I'm going to try to trace the source and get more information, I need to know a bit more about what we're getting into." He said.
"Although this will be a good run, with all that military gear there's bound to be some more interested parties."
"Indeed, we'll definately need an escort and an advanced recon ship." Jonathon nodded.
Jake smiled, "Here we go, it's coming up now."
They both looked closely at the screen and then at each other, the same expression on their faces.
"This might complicate things." Jake said, "We might just need to call in 22461AA to handle it....."
His voice drifted off as they stared at the screen once again.
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you.
You blame me for my silence, say Its time I changed and grew.
But the war's still going on dear, and theres no end that I know...
And I cant say if were ever...
I cant say if were ever gonna be free.