TARGET ID: James Arland SUBJECT: Work – Barrier Gate ORIGIN: Barrier Gate Station, Coronado ATTACHMENTS: None.
”Hey Spookshow. How’s it going?” Sarah grinned at the camera and raised a hand in greeting, a little surprised at how heavy it felt. As per usual she was holed up in the Galley’s mess, a datapad tossed on the table next to her - actually resting on it, rather than hovering above the plastic, - and the low drone of heavy machinery hanging in the air. ”Hope I’m not disturbing some top-secret, national-security thing.
Look, Leslie, the Admiral, and I jumped into the Barrier a couple of days ago. The nebula, that is, not the station. We only hit that last night. Turned out it hits back.” Sarah rubbed at a fresh bruise, blossoming purple on her cheek. ”Anyway, the sensors were picking up some odd stuff on the way in. Returns where there shouldn’t have been any, transponder codes that didn’t line up, that sort of thing. I figured we must’ve just been picking up junk from the station or something, but I kept an eye on it and, er. It’s not junk.”
Sarah paused, glanced at the datapad. ”Well, it is junk. But not on the scale I was thinking.
I’m sending this through the station relay, so I’d really rather not go into detail here, but we’re looking at a salvage job. The network’s apparently secure, but with so many people using it I bet it’s got more holes than a block of swiss cheese on a firing range.” Sarah shrugged. ”Long story slightly less long I think we’ve found something valuable out there, something old, and it’d be really good to have another body around when we make a move on it. Things could get really interesting if the rest of the station catches on.
Which they will. In about three days, when the system starts sharing data.” Sarah’s fingers drummed a nervous beat on the table. ”And that’s only if no-one puts one and one together on their own before then. But that’s pretty much the limit on things turning into the black friday shop from hell.”
For a moment, the mess was silent.
”I haven’t talked to Leslie about it yet. She’s out on the station, but I’m sure she’ll be up for it. We’ll have to start burning on the 6th so, if you can make it, that’s the deadline. It’d be good if you could let me know a little earlier if you’re coming though, and how much you’ll need to bring so I can factor it in for the burn. Prefer not to have to dump someone out the airlock to keep things balanced, yeah?” Sarah grinned, only half-joking. ”We’re heading a little way out, so you might want to bring a change of clothes and a toothbrush, if you are coming. Think a month, give or take. I know the people you’re working for might not exactly go for a sudden holiday to the barrier, but I promise, I can explain when you get here. I don’t expect you to rock up just to bask in our presence either, so we can talk about payment, too. You can always be back in Liberty in a few days if you can’t do it.
Let me know.”
Message Ends.
"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."
- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.
COMM ID:Arland, James TARGET ID:McFarlen, Sarah SUBJECT:RE: Work
Hey, Sarah.
I'm doing alright. Sorry about responding with only text, I'm currently being errand boy for my CO so I've been running around base a lot without much time to sit down to make a proper video message. Between that and the endless training drills, I figure that's just his way of congratulating me on my promotion.
As it happens, my unit has finished up some business recently, and it'll be a while until I'm deployed again due to some logistics prep that I have nothing to do with. I'll talk to my CO about some leave, after what went down on the last mission, I'm fairly confident I've earned some.
Now, about the job... Given that we'll be relatively isolated, and that we don't really know who else might be gunning for whatever you've found, I think it'd be for the best if I show up with some hardware.
I estimate I'll be bringing along about 120-150 kilos worth of equipment on this job. My regular fare, plus ammo, plus a few doodads that might be useful.
TARGET ID: James Arland SUBJECT: Work – Barrier Gate ORIGIN: Barrier Gate Station, Coronado ATTACHMENTS: None.
”Hey again.” She raised an ink-stained hand to the camera.
Sarah was still in the mess, the strip lights dimming with the passage of the ship’s day. The datapad was surrounded by hand-scrawled notes. Before she made the call Sarah had piled them together in a heap that approached, if didn’t entirely reach, tidy. It was an effort, at least, and more than her hair had got. Slowly, painfully, she was getting used to the concept of constant gravity, but her hair was stalwartly refusing to deviate from the floaty, clumpy mess that it drifted to in zero-g. She'd given up on trying to convince it to yield to little things like gravity.
She grinned. ”Glad to hear you can make it. I’ll ask Leslie to clear a room. And then she’ll probably tell me to clear it but, hey, you’ve got to try. I’ll leave an empty section in the hold for your gear. They’ll be a bit more fuel floating around than usual, so if you smoke, this’d probably be a good time to think about quitting.
We’re down in Bay Eight. Adventure Galley, Leslie Durant, usual stuff. It’s a big hunk of starship. Can’t miss it.” Sarah nodded down the hallway. ”Might want to call ahead anyway though. As much as I liked meeting you, I’d really prefer not to lock you in the airlock again. I like the ship just fine with atmosphere.”
She picked up a scrawled mission profile, scowled at the figures covering it, and promptly put it back down again. ”I should get back to these. Drop us a line once you’re in-system, and I’ll make sure we’re at the ship to meet you.
Oh, and congratulations on the promotion! Unit gopher sounds like a very prestigious position.” She grinned. ”I think.
Catch you later, Spookshow.”
Message Ends.
"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."
- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.
