'The Old Seven.' - Beaumont Base

[Jeremy Hunter]

Jeremy sighed. He knew that would have come up.

"I don't age. I've looked nineteen since about 786 AS."

He shook his head. This was always awkward, talking about his age.

"When I was five, me and my twin were exposed to a chemical compound that was created by a lab accident. The kicker, was nothing in the lab was lethal. None. But together, and probably with our unique genetic makeup... Our bodies began aging rapidly. In one month, both of us were at age nineteen. It was then our parents placed us in Cryostasis at our cousin's cryogenics company. It worked. For fifteen-ish years, we were in cryogenic suspension. Our mom was twenty one. Dad, twenty five. Both were in thier thirties when we were unthawed. Were were given a counteragent. So far, it seemed to work. Then...dad was killed. It was the Nomads..." He took a moment. "I then left my twin and my beloved little sister, and a baby brother. I joined the Order. And I fought."

Jeremy retrieved a glass of water from the bar.

"Was that enough of an explanation Ms. McFarlen?"

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May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Ash]

"The deal was for six DP's, no less

John's facial expression turned from casually relaxed to a slightly agetated state.

"The deal was six for a group of entrepreneurial gents such as you so clearly insinuated. I don't admire your dishonesty chaps, and if you'd been straight from the start you'd have a bottle of whisky thrown in with what you asked for at cost. But you weren't."

The same volatile looking grunt of the pair stood to confront Smith's counter argument. But yet again his partner gestured to silence him before he could speak.

"Look here, i'm a man of my word and a believer in compromise; although some may consider my trade a dirty business, do I strike you as a dirty bloke?"

John pulled a curved, grip sized mahogany pipe from his inside pocket and began loading it with tobacco. The two rugged looking men glanced dumbly at each other and back to John.

"What do you propose?"

John pulled out a small box of matches, struck one and began to charr the tobacco of the pipe now in his mouth.

"I propose...

Taking tokes on the pipe between phrases as he lit it

"...that the cost...of your dishonest nature gents.........can be deducted from another......more valuable commodity....than mere currency..."

The leader of the two men leant over the table looking quizzically

"...What do you mean?"

John leant back in his chair legs crossed

"Time, gents"

The two across the table looked particularly confused and slightly worried at that concept.

"I'l do the deal for six, agreed price..."

John saw a spark flash into the eyes of the two men across from him.

"...But, to demonstrate your entrepreneurial spirit which you so clearly proposed in your initial request over the net; as an investor, I want to see success before I jump in the deepend, get me?"

"Get to the point Bretonian"

John's expression turned from casual politeness to a careless and cold gaze.

"You'l get two DP's and the compliment of construction materials. You keep this little operation under wraps and intact until it's functional and you'l get the rest."

Finally the second of the men lost his temper. He stood and slammed his fists onto the table where he leant across to meet John at face level.

"Don't think you think you can toy with us Bretonian. You're in the deep end with us and the way you're going you'l have a deep end quite literally; in toxic waste."

John's raised an eyebrow, still toking on his pipe.

"You don't know who you're dealing with. You're looking at the men who blew up the Varsity"

The man still seated thumped the man stood with a vicious gaze.

John sighed rolling his eyes and removed his pipe from his moth gripping it in one fist.

"Well seeing as your such feared and dangerous men i'm guessing your assuming I'l succumb to your threats and whatnot..."

The stood man continued to glare, frozen like a gargoyle over the table, almost growling

"Gents.....please"

"If you'd known how long i've been in this business you would see how redundant your aggression and supposed 'reputation' are. I've heard it all from the idiots who destroyed the HMS Buckingham, the fools that assassinated Liberty's latest Defence Secretary and the morons that tried to Bomb the Westfalen. They had reputations too. Didn't matter after they got slammed up because they turned to Irwinson or Stradt or whatever other Junker claims to sell reliable equipment these days."

"If you want to be the latest addition to Sugarland's all star collection of Liberty's most infamous twits then be my guest."

John's expression turned back to a casual careless manner. The riled man's face went red, looking similar to a balloon ready to burst with a hail of insults and obscenities. He calmed and slowly reclined bitterly. The seated man contemplated with a helpless, frustrated expression.

"Half the pay then, you don't see a credit of the rest until we see the other four"

John's expression turned to a joyful grin

"That's the spirit..."

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