The Hacker shook hands with Sunny while his men remained in respectful distance.
"Thank you Mr Sunny. The trip was relatively short considering we started from Leiden."
Yoshida chuckled at Sunny's response about their ships and turned towards the direction he was looking at.
"That is the Vindicator, my friend. The most advanced small spacecraft in Sirius at this moment. In fact, it has not even entered mass production yet, these are some of the prototypes."
The Provocateur noticed Sunny's interest and curiosity. After all the AFC President was notoriously known for his affinity in fast and impressive spaceships.
"Would you like to see the vessel up close?" Yoshida offered.
Sunny kept glancing over Yoshida's shoulder at the Vindicator and back at him. Yoshida would be able to easily recognize that he was very curious about the ship he had not seen before.
When Yoshida offered to let him see it up close, a smirk came up on Sunny's face.
"You know me too well to know that it would be hard to refuse such an offer." He grinned. "So you mean to say these are just the ones out for testing?..."
Thallia pushed the hair out of her eyes as she walked past the large bouncers who were standing guard at the entrance to the Black Cherry. With a nervous feeling churning in her stomach she pushed the anxiety to one side; willing up the courage to join the frivolity. After all, she had brought herself all the way to Kepler to experience this kind of club for the first time. No point wasting it on fear.
She brought her chin up, as to stand tall in her high heels and dark blue party dress, and scanned the scene in front of her. Spotting the bar with what looked to be a more relaxed experience she walked to the bar and took a seat on a free stool. Waiting ten minutes for the bartender to serve her, "A, urm... ur... do...double vodka, please." Struggling to hear the bartender, she placed some credits on the bar. Hopefully it was enough.
Yoshida turned towards the spacecrafts and started walking to the closest Vindicator.
"The LHX7-F4S has passed all the tests, they are in fact ready for deployment, Mr Sunny."
He then stopped once he reached his vessel.
"However, there are two issues. The first is that because of the amount of details and precision which is applied on this piece, commonly used manufacturing procedures do not apply which means that the production time is substantially increased. You see, Overall Performance was the only criteria used while designing this ship, construction cost, manufacturing difficulties, or efficiency were all ignored. The second reason is that we lack adequate shipbuilding capabilities in order to produce the LHX7-F4S in reasonable time limits which means that the majority of the production is outsourced in Outcast shipyards. So Mr Sunny it will take some time before this ship is used by a 4 digit number of Lane Hacker pilots."
Once he finished with the description he raised his hand towards his ship allowing the AFC President to climb up and take a closer look if he wanted.
The bartender had been busy with several customers and preparing drinks. As he come to the next guest, he looked at the seemingly drunken woman and chuckled a bit at the order.
"Sorry for the wait, babe. One double-vodka comin' up..." He winked and went to fetch the bottles and came back to prepare it for her. "You come here alone, darling, or with someone, huh?" He said as he poured the drink for her and slid it to her. "What brings a girl like you down here?" He asked, making small talk as the other guests had been served.
Sunny listened and then walked up to the ship and started walking around it. He admired the elegant design and craft as he had a good eye for such work.
"Mmm... nicely designed... and not the typical material on the hull either, is it. I suppose it is perhaps also radar resistant to an extent?" He asked as he had noticed some of the curves. Bayonet-inspired, isn't it...?" He commented as he started to walk around some more the ship. "Yep... she's a pretty one, alright."
He looked a bit more and then turned around and walked back to Yoshida. "You make me a bit envious, Yoshida." He grinned. "But perhaps we should go on ahead for now to why I requested our meeting. You'll find it perhaps as intriguing as I find your craft."
"I, urm... ju...just me. Sunny was holding so...some races in Baffin and, ur... after...after..." The woman burst out laughing, smiling widely as if she had told herself a joke. "So..sorry. I was just re...remembering the races. Gr...great fun! Sunny knows how to put on a show." Thallia looks at the double vodka in front of her. Tilting her head back, she downs half the shot.
"Th...the word about the Black Cherry gets around a little, and I, ur... wanted to come see what the fuss was about. Haven't, urm... been to a place like this before so Su...sunny pointed the way." Turning in her stool, she looked out at the shuffling mass on the main floor. With her expression briefly turning a little doubtful, she turns back and downs the rest of the double vodka. "Pl...please may I ha...have another? Yo...you been working here long?"
[img float=left]http://i.imgur.com/9ZEcEA7.jpg?1[/img]"I would rather we talk about it in a more secure location. My proposition is... well... Let's just say this information I do not want to get leaked to anyone." Sunny smirks a little as they enter the elevators and move upwards. "You remember the last operation we had done together still, do you?" Sunny says back with a little grin.
As they exited the elevator, Sunny lead Yoshida and the others down to a side entrace to The Black Cherry and down the corridors to a special VIP lounge. There was no one inside as they walked in and the room was lit with a low red/orange light, with rock music playing as well at a low volume. Couches were around the room and a table was already set for them with some drinks on the table. Sunny invited them all to take a seat around. In the center, a hologram projector built into the table was also present.
Near them was a small stage and an exotic entertainer entered to dance. A server also came to greet Sunny and his guests and Sunny told her they'll let her know if they need anything else and to make sure no one else comes. He nodded and left them to talk in peace.
Sunny reached over and opened a bottle of Dublin brand Whiskey and poured each of them a glass. "So now that we are alone..." he said and he keyed in a few commands on a virtual keyboard that appeared on the table top and the hologram turned on to show a 3D rendering of Planet Manhattan. "does anyone recognize this planet here?" He asked the Hackers.
The bartender nods and pours her another round of the drink for her. He slides it to her and seeing there was no other customers, he leaned over on the table with his arms folded and smiled back at the girl. "Ah so you've met Sunny already, eh?" He chuckles a little. "Yeah I've been around here for a bit... not too long though. The Archangels recruited me over from another bar I used to work at. Offered better pay. It was a good offer that was hard to refuse." He chuckled a little. "So I came... been around here ever since... Mighty fine ladies come down here all the time. One's like yourself." He complimented and winked at her.
He stood back up and started wiping the table top with a white rag. "So you never been to one of these joints, huh? Let me tell yeah somethin'. Not a better place ta' hook up, if yeah asked me." He chuckles a little and shakes his head. "I am surprised you came here alone. Girl like yourself should be wit' someone." He nods.
A young man comes striding into the bar. He pulls up a seat at the bar and motions to the tender he then spins around and takes in the sights. While he hardly ever comes to the bar he finds it a good place to relax from his work and come up with new ideas.
The woman tilt her head, "Wh....why do you say, ur... say that?" She downs half the shot he had past over. "Sh...should I be wo...worried I don't ha...have a bodyguard?" Her slight blush at his compliment was hidden under her rosy cheeks, the drinks of both the race and the evening at the Cherry keeping them flushed. "Af...after all, it ur... sounds like the ladies ar...are what keep you here."
Thallia raises an eyebrow, glancing at the newcomer out of the corner of her eye. "Se...seems your work is about to get busy. Mi...mind if I, ur... sneak in a bl...black russian from you be...beforehand?" She puts more credits in front of him, not even counting them.
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