Ted laughed loudly and glanced at Lou "That works for ol' Ted, but does it work for the old man " Ted winked at Lenny "I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Have you ever made the trip to Alpha, in one piece that is?"
"Your story sounds all too familiar, kid. You're not the only one that had a little blood on your hands." - Lou drank from his whiskey - "I tell you what, Lenny. We have some passengers for you to take on a trip to the beautiful Malta. Take them there, bring the orange back here to us without getting caught. Show us the cargo manifests for both deliveries. Simple, ahn? We might have some more work for you, if you get back in one piece. Sounds good?" - looking to Thompson - "I think it's a good deal, hein Ted?"
Ted grinned "That should give us enough time to get the Roach Coach back down here for a once over" Ted stood and downed the rest of his new drink "Lenny, hope to see you again soon; Lou, I'll be down in the launch bay"
A few days later a small pock-marked Anki lay in the bay while Lenny looked for the other two. Gone. "Oh well, Moe, can you give this to Ted when he gets back? Oh, and I'll have a drink. Something strong." He handed him a datastick with some docking logs saved on it.
Niverton Base - Pennsylvania System
January 14th - 823 A.S.
The Roach Coach had finally returned to Niverton after almost two months away. Under new colors and a slight scrub the ship was as pretty as she was ever going to get. Ted entered the bar with a handful of other people, some dressed as engineers and crew members, others dressed as hired marines. Ted, who was in the lead of the group gestured to the group around him to Moe and mouthed the words "Bill Them". Noticing that Lenny had returned as well Ted wondered over and dropped into his chair. He narrowed his eyes watching the marines as they went up to the main bar and started ordering drinks. "You would think I had enough on the ship itself. But never mind them" Ted nudged Lenny, it was clear he was already drunk "Well your back alive and thatch 3/4th of the job right there. If you don't mind I saw that you were back when I finely got moored, once my boys get done they are going to unload your ship as well and pass it along to our dealer, your cut will be transferred to you shortly." Ted held out his hand "But welcome to the Family"
Ted glanced down at his data-pad, it was flashing with a reply to a message he had sent earlier that day. "Well, Lenny looks like we got our first major contract, 14,000 slaves to the Junkyard. In the Inverness, just past cortez." Ted paused and slammed down the drink that appeared in front of him, gasping for air for a moment after. "I wonder if our dealer can handle those numbers, only one way to find out though am I right?" he chuckled to himself.
Once again, the NR-Side.Effect was docking at Niverton, returning from another trip to Malta. After parking the ship at its usual spot, and ordering the cardamine to be moved to the market, Crazy Lou got the lift down to the lower lever of the station, where The Cave was located. Strangely, several people were at the bar. Moe was not happy. Lou located Ted and Lenny at his usual table at the corner, and went to sit with them, after getting a whiskey from Moe.
"Another uneventful trip to Malta, kiddos. Oh, and Moe showed me your cargo manifests, Lenny. Well done. If we want to step up our game here, we will need pilots like you..." - Lou drank from his whiskey - "Ok, now let's cut the crap. Any news from the Mollys yet??"
Ted smiled as Lou approached and joined him and Lenny. "They got back to me, no slaves, no artifacts and no non-molly gold while we have the Jackals on escort with us." Ted sneered slightly, "I obviously agreed but we will need to be slightly on our guard while we cross Cortez, otherwise we should be well out of their territory for the majority of our trip to Alpha and back." Ted signaled the already busy Moe for another drink. "I'm also slightly sorry about the crowed, the Zoners restricted them to the ship after the amount of damaged they caused on their second day, but at least they are spending there money here, I think, I've been drinking on your tab so I wouldn't know." Ted smiled at Lou, "And if you think Moe is overworked I got us a contract for 14,000 slaves for the Congress, you think we can keep up with that?"
"Fourteen thousand? Uh, well I can take 475 a load, I might be able to knock off a few round trips. Is there anything worth it to bring back?"
He looked skeptical, sooner or later he would need a larger ship for this sort of thing. He did enjoy being able to outrun most people though, and going large would increase transit time. Getting caught versus making money. He reflected on his recent prison term. He didn't want to get snapped again, yet.
