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"If you can avoid Puerto Rico, do so," he added. "It is heavily radiated and I have been getting cancer patients from it. If you must pass through, I advise extra armor and not wasting your time getting through. Your best path to Baffin is Tau 29."
He gave a light smile. "Freelancers generally do not bother us. Supplies? Yes, your people have been my prime source of cardamine in the past. I do not need it often but rest assured, the GC will be the ones I call upon for it."
It had been awhile since Doc just had some good company and he was enjoying talking with her. He felt warm and relaxed. In that way she reminded him of his late wife as they would sit and just chat a day away. He did find her mention of "geisha" one of interest as she didn't strike him as that.
"I am guessing that your Geisha background was why you were so helpful on Kyushu the last time we were together," he inquired. "I am guessing that Geisha girls do the kabuki theater as well?"
"Cancer patients? I believe that shield shielding would be able to withstand radiation of that kind, no? At least those of the decent kind, not those rusty outdated models.
I am glad to hear business is going well between us. Means I dont have to smoothe out incidents. You know some of our Sisters can be wild cards at times. Especially Misaki. You know how to reach us."
She smiled and shook her head at his apparent lack of memory of her earlier words.
"I am sure I have told you this in detail before. But geisha and kabuki are close connected as the traditions are closely interwoven. I can repeat it if you would like me to refresh your memory. Oh how you hurt my feelings for treating my words as cheap as water" she said in a playful dramatic tone.
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He just started to laugh at her playful response. Once he finished he just nodded, "OK, OK, I deserved that!" He then sipped his drink. "Thanks for the laugh though. It is sorely needed and hopefully there are more where that one came from."
"But yes, cancer patients. The Junkers have a couple of bases there. If you have some good armor on your ship, a good shield and do not hang around long in the system, you should be OK. I recommended to them to rotate crews out every couple of months to minimize exposure."
He had settled from his laugh and for the moment didn't want to talk about negative things even if there were plenty of them to speak of. He was keeping a watch as to comings and goings in the Freeport but to this point, nothing alarmed him. It seemed the Mariko was just as at ease as he was for the moment. For the moment, he made small talk. She was good company and he was able to admire her a bit without making it obvious. Yes, things were going well.
"Well long time presence is different than staying aboard a station from months on end. Like I said, its a passage through for smugglers. And lets be honest, its the reason why the junkers are present there in the first place. I believe the exposure is much more dangerous for them then the occasional passerby who has all power diverted to the shielding."
Taking a bite from it, she tried to figure out what he was looking at.
"The mochi cakes aren't bad here, but nothing beats homemade."
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He in turn picked one up himself and studied it. He then took a bite of it, cocked his head as he concentrated on the taste. He then nodded, stopped and tasted before nodding again and swallowing the bite.
"This is very good but without one that is homemade, I would not be able to tell," he stated. "But," he said pointing up with a finger, "You are correct. Mass produced food is easy and often not bad but at home people can add their own flare to anything. My mother's biscuits and sausage gravy in the morning was a favorite of mine. She made it like no one else."
For a moment, he thought of his mother through a deep, slow sigh. He had lost her when he was young but remembered her so well. It also reminded him just how old he really was and how that secret stayed hidden. He then looked back to her and smiled.
"Who would have thought we would have some quiet time here on a Freeport. It is rather nice not having to get ready for the next surgery or being called for something in an emergency." He shrugged. "It is even pleasant not being stuck in the cockpit of my freighter running goods and of course, having a good staff takes a lot of the load off of me for the Enterprise."
He then smiled at her. "This may sound cliche but thank you for taking some time to be with me."
"Last time we met, I had them homemade, but this appointment had been on a rather short notice. I simply bought what they sold on the station. I am glad it isn't a bad purchase."
She folded her hands infront of her.
"No problem. I also needed some time to unwind. Politics, space combat, dealing with people. It all can become a chore when stuck in the same rhythm for too long. It is nice to be away from it, if only briefly.
How has the situation in Theta been lately? Wasn't there some new Zoner world being colonised? One of our Sisters escorted a bunch of TAZ to that place."
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"Theta has been quiet," he replied with a smile of satisfaction. "Planet Pygar is a new home to those who once lived on Gran Canaria. It is more of a desert world but with some work, it may be something pleasant one day. What makes it now though is the underground caverns. There is room to grow and our hospital and medical school sits just off the planet."
He thought for a moment as he knew the relations between the Chrysanthemums and the Corsairs was a bad one. "Diplomacy helps as well. It does sit close to Corsair space and their patrols are around but they have been good neighbors to this point."
He then thought of his new administrator in Omega 3. He again smiled. "We just finished another facility in Omega 3 just off of Freeport 1. A young man that has worked with me for awhile is running it. Billy Garand filled in flying my ship to keep the income coming in while I was bowed up in surgery so I rewarded his loyalty with an administratorship. He has earned it and charge of the new ship that comes with the base, the Reclusive. If you see him, say hi."
"Think of it like this. Caverns are well defendable and difficult to scan from orbit. Perhaps this time your people will be left alone. If anything, Pygar will be very hard to take from you. Other than that, there is always room to excavate the caverns if you need to expand and are in need of more room
It might come as no surprise to you that the Corsairs are no friends of ours, but if they serve your purpose, so be it. I still considder them a bunch of barbarians. Luckely I dont get to deal with them often. They usually dont venture out this far into Kusari and if they do, they are quickly disposed off."
She thought about O-3, but hasn't traveled there in a very long time, so she couldn't comment much on the situation there.
"And here I thought you were in charge of all the hospitals owned by Med Force. The Reclusive you say? I will be sure to keep an eye out for him. So Pygar, Baffin and O-3? You have been expanding lately."
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He raised a hand as he had just taken a sip of his drink and his mouth was full. After he swallowed, he quickly replied. "To a point. The base in Baffin was an old mining base that a patrol found. It was isolated so we re-configured it for a research lab. I do not foresee it getting any bigger but really, it does not have to be. Pygar? We maintain a base outside of it but it is a Zoner colony now. Med Force Enterprises only support the medical needs there as we have no real authority there. We have streamlined our operations there. Our old base, Med Force General-B was sold although the new owners never changed the name at least, last I knew that had not."
His face dropped a bit when he thought of the base in Omega 3. "I recently dismissed the administrator of the base. He wanted to build it and did so. What he failed to do was continue its day to day operations. Rather, he disappeared with no notice." A bit of anger was detected in his voice now as he leaned forward a bit. "I mean, how would you feel if you stopped in to check on things to find only thirty members of a 400 man crew remaining because no one brought food, water or oxygen and those thirty were on death's doorstep themselves?"
He then sat back and took a breath as he collected himself. "Luckily, Freeport 1 had commodities so I loaded up the base, saved the thirty crew members and managed to bring 370 more crew on condition that I stay onboard with them as a show of trust. I did so. Once done, I appointed Billy as administrator." He sighed, "Yes, that was a very bad day."
"So in essence, you do run all Medforce stations. It just happens that those that you delegate to those duties fail occasionally. In such situations it all comes back to you eventually, which makes you the boss in my eyes. Very unfortunate about those lost lives... Is it someone you wish for us to hunt if they happen to come into Kusari?"
A waiter passed by, whom Mariko stopped. "A bottle of sake and two glasses, sumimasen."
He noted the order and went on his way.