The sound of the com system chiming which was normally quiet and non bothersome was anything but at this moment. The sound might as well have been a piercing wail, because that's what it felt like. He had been hung over before but this was something else. The first thoughts to break the haze, was to shut that thing off and hit the head.
Standing up off his old but trusty cot the middle aged military veteran looked more disheveled then he normally would ever let himself look. His short dark hair had somehow achieved "bed head" and his suit looked like it had been shoved in a corner for a month before he put it on.
Slowly making his way over to the com system from the cargo hold of his new ship was harder than he had planned; the fog from the night before still seemed to cloud everything. After nearly tripping over a few things he punched the button on the com terminal.
Luckily he was too far out from any USI com stations so all he could get was audio, which was painful enough at this moment. The familiar sound of his senior patrol leader echoed through the raven’s cockpit.
"Chief! Where are you? We have been trying to raise you for over an hour."
Sliding down into his flight chair he punched up the time, it was rather late indeed.
"Calm down I’m fine, I am still in the omega-49 system." Stopping to rub his temples for a moment he went on. "I.... well I am not sure what I was doing last night but it seems to have caught up with me."
"Well you better get back to the station sooner rather than later the CEO is looking for you, something about the proposal you submitted for changes to the Department of Security. Plus your last message said something about trying to recruit some girl?"
It took a moment but his mind finally churned up some useful information. He had landed here with her after visiting the station in omega-50 to get a new shipment of ravens. The more he remembered the more it all came back. Everything, from meeting her old man, to the fight that took place between them, followed by the binge drinking that took place at the bar.
"Chief, are you still there?"
Letting out a low sigh as he remembered the soul bounding that took place. Both had gotten more than a little drunk and shared some rather heavy stuff.
"Yea, I’m still here. I will head back shortly. Just got to go find a small but feisty girl before I do." He killed the channel before his senior patrol leader could comment.
But before that the head he thought, and with that he made his way to the bathroom. After relieving himself of last night’s left over drinks he jumped in the shower and got cleaned up. One thing he couldn't stand was looking unclean; 20 years in the navy will do that.
Standing in front of his mirror he saw the face of a weary 41 year old veteran, his dark brown eyes duller then they use to be, but containing more wisdom than they once did. Clearing his mind of these thoughts he finished shaving and grabbed a spare suit from his closest.
He chuckled to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror on the door; he had just traded one uniform for another. He did have to admit there were some nice perks to being the new Chief of Security for Universal Shipping. Now that he had fixed himself back up to presentable it was time to find his newest recruit.
As he exited the ship he smiled to himself, he had big plans for her.
She had drunk more than a fish but her grudge would give her no rest, proud and temperamental as she was she could not let it go, despite the fact she had already made a decision. Dayayra's mind replayed the scene and it made her blood boil everytime, oddly enough the rum felt cold and soothing in her burning stomach.
A part of her still remembered that she had things to do and that she should get some rest, she should... Many hours later she was seated on the floor, with an empty bottle at her feet and resting her head on the pilots seat under one of the arms of the chair while music played in the background.
The days events caught up to her head felt heavy so she let it rest on the seat. With no alcohol to fuel her indignation she weighed her choices, she had gotten used to being alone in space, but now she would leave Canaria for the last time and forget her childhood, her family, everything.
The freelancer was not known for backing down on her decisions, no matter how reckless, she tried looking into the future and felt like she widened a gaping hole that she had patched long ago. Her mind was set, she bit back her tears and closed her eyes when she felt a hand brush her hair.
Looking up she saw... The woman who had abandoned her, sitting in her seat. What caught her attention though was the hand that was comforting her, wrapped in ductape and bleeding, the rest of her did not look any better.
“No llores... Tu mama ta' cansada.”
She pulled surprised hitting her head against the armrest which woke her up. Looking back at the seat it was empty... Looking at the clock on the control panel told her that she had fallen asleep for two hours. Obviously she had too much to drink.
Burgos opened a new bottle to chase away the headache and sickness and brushed her teeth to hide her alcohol breath. A rubber band secured her hair into a brown ponytail, she stepped out of the cargo bay of the Griffin and into the large field littered with ships of all shapes and sizes which served as a spaceport. She walked in the shadow of the space elevator towards the busy control tower, pilots, travelers, captains, mechanics, and her old colleagues, flight controllers.
Before she could get to where she was going to she recognized her soon to be Boss amongst a small crowd watching the overtly large info screen, standing at ease, with both hands holding his forearms behind his back, feet at the same distance as his shoulder.
His attention to protocol despite not being in the Navy made her smile. “Hey, officer.” The freelancer gave him a light push to get him out of his rigid posture.
After leaving the ship I made may way back in to town, and quickly got lost. Worse yet i stood out a lot from the average person running around. At six foot two inches i was use to standing out but not this much. I wandered in to a rather unfriendly part of town, I subconsciously patted my suit where i kept my hand gun.
After tracing back the path of last night i found my self back at the spaceport where a large screen displaying information on upcoming arrivals and departures along with current buy and sell prices. I was about to finish skimming and go back to searching when a familiar voice and a gentle push got my attention.
“Hey, officer.”
When i turned around i was greeted by the smiling face of just the girl i had been looking for. I gave a small smile but i was kinda concerned by how she looked, like me when i woke up only more rough. I patted her head, noting the greasy feel "How are you feeling? You look like you didn't get much sleep."
The freelancer beamed him a wide smile that betrayed how tired she was. "Bah... Sleep is for..." She paused as the hand patted her head, with a frown she swatted it away playfully. "I'm not gonna die!" CitlaTzin laughed softly.
"What do we have going on Boss? Huh... Boss... That is gonna take some getting used to." She paced around him to check the listings on the info screen.
She swatted my hand away playfully, "I'm not gonna die!" Shaking my head, "I am sure you wont..." I watched her dance around me reading the info screen. "What do we have going on Boss? Huh... Boss... That is gonna take some getting used to."
I just stood back and watched he for a moment before answering, "Well I was looking for you, we have much to do." Turning on my heel i started back for the raven. "If you are ready we need to get you outfitted and registered." Stopping and looking over my shoulder "And I told you, you don't have to call me that.Coming?"
She turned around about to protest but Thomas was out of earshot by the time and already walking towards his ship which left her with an open mouth full of words. If eyes could kill hers would have burned him into the ground.
She closed the distance with a few hurried strides but by the time she reached him her attention was focused on the sleek black ship in front of them, it was much bigger than her little griffin and it looked... Intimidating. And to think that she would be flying in one of those.
She remembered she had something to say and nudged the military man in the ribs with a finger. “Hey!” But by then she had forgotten what she was going to say. “Uh...” A glance at the ship refreshed her memory. “I reckon that the registration an' stuff happens at USI HQ right?” She looked away into the general direction where she landed her ship. “Since the shipment is going to Manhattan I can fly my ship there and we can strip everything off and - she turned to the Raven in front and patted the hull - install it on mines.” The freelancer beamed him a toothy smile, the prospect of flying such a ship making it easy to ignore the fatigue.
She often reminded me of a kid, then again at her age she still kinda was. Her smile was infectious though, even to an old man with not a lot to smile about like me. I crossed my arms and leaned back looking at the raven. It was bigger but had nicer lines then my old avenger.
Patting her on the back i have an amused chuckle, "Yes yes you can take your old ship back, at this rate the transport will beat us back. And don't worry about the paper work so much."
Turning to face her i uncrossed my arms, "That is if you are ready?"
The new hire swayed back and forth, her sense of balance was already muddled and his large hand on her back would have sent her staggering if she had not been leaning on the Raven.
As ready as I could ever be. "She said..." But as she did her smile wavered. Was she really ready to turn her back to her home planet without one glance back. She was, she had to be, she had made the choice. A small frown appeared on her face. "As ready as I can be..." The freelancer spoke with determination, and she would have been taken seriously if her stomach had not chimed in at the moment with a thunderous growl.
"Well, we might have some breakfast first." Her hand grabbed a piece of his sleeve and pulled him along as she started walking around the control tower. "I know a place not to far from here."
With her superior in tow she led him across a four lanes highway, the oncoming traffic passing less than a meter away. She stopped to let a large truck carrying a 80 foot container pass before jogging the rest of the way across.
On the otherside she led Thomas between two buildings and into an open square surrounded by the equivalent of restaurants on Grand Canaria. Only then did she turn to see if Thomas was still in one piece. "Pick a spot." She beamed him a smile.
As I was more or less pulled along by this small girl, across a busy highway no less, all I could think was I survived two wars and countless battles and this is how I am going to kick it. We finally cleared the highway and entered the ally that lead to a small square with vendors all around.
She looked back at me for the first time sense she grabbed my sleeve and took off.
"Pick a spot."
On the outside I was calm and cool, but on the inside all I could think was this girl was going to be the death of me. I still wasn't sure why he let her pull me around like that another person would have been more likely to have been knocked out for suddenly grabbing me.
While I was pondering all this I had been scanning the open area it seemed safe enough and picking a table that had the most wall behind it I moved to sit there. I handed her some credits, "You are the expert ill let you pick the food."
As i made my way to my seat my brain once again poked at the idea of why i was so overly found of this girl. I watched as she made her way over to one of the vendors. Maybe it was she filled a hole that had been there sense I lost my daughter, or maybe it was something else. For some one like me it was never easy to tell.
One thing was for sure i was drawing a lot of attention, for some reason guys in suits never seemed to be in place around here. Or maybe it wasn't me they where looking at. Either way i didn't like it and I slowly pulled my gun out from under the table in away to be not obvious laying it on my lap with my hand resting on it. Maybe it was nothing, but i had a strange feeling all of a sudden.
Seeing his hard earned money in her hand again, and more than enough to pay both their meals over twice made her frown. He had a knack of giving her things, over the course of the years she explained many times that where she came from all favors had to be repaid somehow and someway. Needless to say, her debt to him was in the millions and rising.
Her dark eyebrows came closer as she frowned at him but thought better against it, the man in uniform was already getting lot of attention and the last he needed was for her to nag him. Dayayra stuck her nose in the menu just as a young boy half her age came to take their orders.
"How's the crickets?" She asked.
"I don't think you want that." The young waiter replied.
"I think, you're right." CitlaTzin looked further down the menu. "Get us two servings of lakeside snails then, with spicy sauce." She then flipped a page. "I want some swamp brew to drink." She peeked over the top of the small booklet to give the boy a stern look. "And don't tell me it's too early for that." Her tone was final but changed to a more friendly tune when she looked over at Thomas. "What do you wanna drink?"
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