Sius walked into the big lounge/bar room on Cape Hope station. The room was large with windows facing the icy Toledoan surface. Order members as well as a few Corsair and Zoner allies sat by the tables, chatting and drinking their time away. Sirens above the doors were at stand-by in case of an emergency. He walked up to the bar tender.
"I have something for you Sius," said a deep ominous voice to his right.
Sius turned to see what seemed to be a tall and lanky man sitting at the bar to his right. It was hard to tell as the man was wearing a black cloak and hood.
"I have something very special to offer"
Suddenly the mans eyes began to glow. Sius reflexes kicked in and he drew his blaster in an instant.
"Wait" said the figure, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, "I have come here to offer our unconditional surrender as it is now clear that you and your amazing pilots will soon utterly destroy our slimy, parasitic, parricidal butts"
Sius stood there dumbfounded for a moment and then on the other side of the bar he saw three pilots convulsing and starting to tear up. A moment later they burst out laughing.
The man he was talking to threw back his hood to reveal the smiling face of a young man topped with little wisps of red hair poking out from a very strange looking helmet.
"Ah the old Nomad in a cloak gag, never fails," the man reached behind his helmet and his eyes returned to their normal emerald green. He extended his hand and said, "Will Venture, glad to meet ya"
Aki Kimura sat in the corner of the lounge, watching the prank while simultaneously smiling and shaking her head.
"Good way to get yourself shot rookie, y'know we dont give disability pay for friendly fire incidents" She shouted across the room as the three men at the table rolled in laughter.
Aki went back to her drink, still shaking her head in amusement.
Siting in a dark corner he watched as a the new rookie pulled a little stunt and finished his drink walked out and put the strap of his sword across his chest, thinking to his self "Ill give him about a day."
Later on that day he was asked to help train a new Rookie as he saw it was the same guy from the bar he sighed as one thing went across his mind "God damn it"
Ted Miles walks in, face sagging with exhaustion. Another sleepless night. There was a piece of paper on the stand next to his bed, covered with tallies. One for every night he didn't sleep. When he did sleep, it was not fitful - nightmares plagued him. Shooting his best friend, Mike, who had been infected. His trip through hell. He ordered a beer, hoping to once again drink away his troubled thoughts.
Grabbing the glass, he stumbled over to the table of someone he had never met. A girl, at least. Little hope of any action, but it never hurt to be friendly. "Seat taken," he asked the woman, whom he didn't know was Aki Kimura.
"Think you've had a bit much to drink already, pilot. Go ahead, better sit down before you fall down." Aki said, motioning at the seat across the table. She took a quick glance at his uniform, then stared at him as she thought for a moment, "Hm... Miles, right?" The pilot nodded and Aki sat back again, "I read your file, rough time you've had serving with us. I wont tell you the pain of seeing friends die will go away over time... it wont. I had to watch, and hear, as my nearly the entire crew of my ship were slaughtered by Bounty Hunters, still hear the screams now and then."
The bartender was moving around the room, serving up drinks to those who werent at the bar. Aki motioned at him to pour a round of shots and turned back to Miles as she lifted a glass, "Well, one more drink cant hurt, just dont make a habit of drowning yourself in here pilot, we all have a job to do and I can say with certainty that those who have died would want us to fight on to our last breaths. In their memory..."
Aki tilted her head back and swallowed the ricewine. It burned the throat, but had quick effect... one of the many benefits of the new alliance with the Gas Miner's Guild was quality imports from Kusari that The Order was otherwise unable to procure. Aki couldnt stand most drinks from the other parts of Sirius, but sake was always welcome.
After another day of being shot at Christopher entered the bar seeing that Aki Kimura was still siting in the same place enjoying a drink with another pilot, he walked over to Sius and passed him a message giving a single nod as he handed it back. After a while a new recruit to the primary fleet walked in Will Venture and Chris Beckoned for him to join him "So hows your first day?"
Ted was grateful for the sake, though he wasn't overly fond of it. "It's not just that... ever since then, I can count the number of nights I've slept without a nightmare on one hand, and the number of nights without nightmares is dominated by nights without sleep. Is there anything that can help that? I think my..." he swallows, then continues, "my sanity might be breaking. I don't know how much longer..." he trails off, staring at something in the distance that he doesn't like.
"Ah ah ah, not gonna talk business first, Barkeep, two whiskey shots."
Will raised his glass,
"Here’s to women’s kisses,
and to whiskey, amber clear;
not as sweet as a woman’s kiss,
but a damn sight more sincere."
"Aahh, much better"
Will glanced around the bar, his gaze paused briefly on Aki, but moved on quickly having noticed she was already nursing a wounded bird. Finding nothing of particular interest he returned his attention to Chris.
"You know how it goes around here, Nomads and Bounty hunters and then more Bounty Hunters and then more Bounty Hunters. I'll tell you one thing though, I never thought I'd have to cool off a situation between a trigger happy Osiris captain and and three Zoner Cruisers."