Logan Stevens repressed a sigh of relief.
Jumping in Okinawa was becoming harder and harder these days.
But still...
He leaned back in his chair, taking a confortable position.
A wily smile appeared on his face...
The old good tricks he learnt during his long carreer were still working like a charm.
Waiting for them to have a bigger fish to fry... And take your chances.
He tried that specific one.
Seems they were lucky today. No hostile patrols...
A fine day to gamble.
Satisfied, He started to scan the area, looking for that lane leading to some Interspace station, if he reminded correctly.
There it was. He skillfully engaged the docking sequence with the lane and leaned forward to reach the packet of cigarettes lying on the console nearby.
Looking around sneakily, he finally took it after a moment of hesitation.
Logan's face turned red with anger. There was only a little paper inside.
A large and feminine writing was filling it with the words 'Bad for your health! Love you! <3'.
He almost got on his feet, tempted to go shake that brat to make her give him back his cigarettes.
But instead he sat back...
She was sleeping and it was better this way. Not like he came to hate the passenger he -like it or not- came to welcome in his ship.
However she had a knack to annoy him at times.
At times? Hell... Actually all the time!
He stood up and started to search in the pilot cabin... No... It was doubtful he would find them there.
Resigning himself, he finally sat again, thinking about the events of last week...
It all started on last Monday... Or was it Sunday?
Logan was in front of a bottle of bad whiskey...
Unbewust was known to be quite stingy, and also fairly shameful about it.
Every time they were meeting, he was insisting on ordering and paying the drinks. And every single time he was choosing some awfully low quality alcohol.
Not like Logan didn't like to drink. He took the habit to do so about ten years ago...
But drinking this...
Thus, on this fine evening, Logan was glancing dolefully at the aforementioned bottle while a positively pleased Unbewust was talking about yet another fantastic and safe way to make money fast.
Unbewust was glad to see that old friend. But above all he was glad because he succeeded to negotiate that bottle for the incredible sum of Twenty-Two Sirian credits.
Logan reached his hand to take the bottle after a moment of hesitation and poured some alcohol in his glass while nodding, pretending to listen to the speech.
He knew better.
Unbewust -always- came up with torturous tricks that were -never ever- working.
He took a sip of whiskey and made a grimace when he swallowed that horrible rotgut. Yes...
Probably the worst whiskey one could find on Manhattan.
Once he convinced himself it wasn't a good idea to refill his glass, he put his glass back on the table while absently glancing at his voluble friend.
Unbewust was a trader who drifted a lot. Probably even more than Logan himself.
They met in Sigma 13 about a dozen of years ago...
Logan was harassed by a party of Maltese pirates and was trying to run. However the hunters weren't quite keen to let the prey cruise away...
Things were starting to turn really bad when he suddenly heard on the comms an extravagant voice mimicking - with a reasonable amount of skill he had to admit afterward - the communication exchanges between a large patrol of Kusarian soldiers.
Disgusted, the pirates finally left him as he was heading toward the 'patrol'.
What was his surprise when, emerging out of the gaz field, instead of finding that patrol he bumped into a lonely Humpback!
Enjoying to play to the gallery as always, Unbewust then pretended on the comms it was a strike group heading to Malta, which comforted Logan in the idea to sail quickly far from this strange character...
... Yet, he couldn't refuse to pay a drink to his savior for this time.
The two men were rarely together. They both had their own way to do business.
And Sirius sector was vast... The chances for two freelancers to randomly meet were quite thin.
Still, even if he knew his friend would make him drink ignominiously cheap beverages, he couldn't resist to spend some time with that strange Rheinlander, when they met near Pittsburg.
However, even good things had an end, and he reminded he had those supplies that were slowly deteriorating in the hold of the Albedo...
Logan found an excuse to refuse yet another drink of that awful whiskey and took leave of his friend.
Manhattan spaceports were almost always packed.
Getting a slot wasn't easy.
Of course there was those users having priority... Navy personnel, Medical vessels, Sometimes Police and of course... The mysterious LSF.
What an independent freelancer running aground could do except waiting for a free slot and hoping for someone to not pinch it at the last minute?
Anyhow... That evening wasn't making exception.
Oh yes... Indeed. A Sunday that was. They were always terrible in that regard.
Logan was already cursing because of that cab pilot who insisted - probably to get an higher bill - to take the touristic road to reach the spaceport...
... And when he eventually stepped into the hall, he shook his head, almost successfully repressing a sigh.
He wouldn't be leaving that damn rock until at least a few hours - if not tomorrow.
Cursing once again, he headed to his ship...
The landing slots of such a big spaceport were quite a maze, but he became used to it... With time.
He opened the airlock and entered in the hold. Examining his load, he cursed for the third time.. Those wouldn't make it if he had to wait his turn to take off.
Logan closed the refrigerator he just opened and headed to the cockpit of the vessel, muttering something about that stupid Unbewust who wasted his time for nothing.
Sitting on his flight chair, the man then stayed there during a while, drumming his fingers on the console impatiently.
"Ah dang it. And too bad for Trisha." Trisha was a relative working in LPI. She would probably cut his head off if she heard what he was about to do.
Cutting the links with the traffic regulation center and turning off assisted piloting, he started the engines of the Dromadery.
The vessel rose only by one meter and the control was already after him. No time to lose.
He turned off the last securities and started to take off, looking around cautiously to avoid any guided vessel that could bump into the Albedo.
Now the voices on the comms were starting to be really angry. Nonchalantly he switched off his transmitter and started to head out of the atmosphere of Manhattan.
There were little chances for him to be arrested... After all, LPI had bigger fishes to fry...
However... It happened.
Logan jumped when his vessel trembled as someone was shooting at him.
Soon after, a patriot showed up on his left. Its pilot seemed to shout all he could.
Logan smiled and waved at him.
In response, the LPI pilot thumbed down to intimate him to return to the astroport.
Logan was still waving, grinning. "Yes yes. Look at that cheerful idiot."He said to himself as he was doing friendly gesture to the LPI pilot.
He then saluted. "You really think i will follow you back there, don't you?"
The pilot reproduced again the gesture with more authority while another warning shot was absorbed by the Albedo's shield.
He made the gesture he understood and lowered his speed.
... And when the two pilots were starting to believe that strange vessel was complying, it suddenly turned around and moved out of the atmosphere in a blink.
A fair amount of them was doing both...
Logan wasn't quite keen to stay and chitchat, for some strange reason.
He started to breath again once he reached Kepler.
That's when he noticed the ship tractored something while he was running.
Logan rubbed his hands, a wily smile appearing on his face.
Profit!
However... How did that happen...
The man shook his head.
...Bah! Who cares!
He quickly stopped the ship after checking if nobody was around and headed to the hold to see what was beamed on board.
When he opened the door, he bumped into a girl, making her fall to the ground.
"Ouch!"She said, massaging her head.
He remained speechless for a short while, but finally was able to ask"What...What the hell... What are you doing here?"
Meanwhile the girl got on her feet. She glanced at him, smiling mischievously. "Rmmm? I don't know?"She then looked around, while dusting her skirt."It's funny here!"
He gave her a side-look, studying her as she was looking around.
She looked rather young. A bit too young actually.
The girl had a beautiful smile. She seemed to be quite happy for someone being in an unknown vessel, facing a stranger.
She wasn't very tall. Her clothes were somewhat dirty.
He noticed her black hairs and looked into her plain dark eyes... As if she didn't have any iris...
Two bottomless wells...
He finally cleared his throat.
"Ahem... Who the hell are you?" "Concordia?"The girl just said. She seemed to have noticed the refrigerators that were filling the hold of the albedo.
Opening one, she opened her eyes wide, beaming"Whoooooo!" "Hey.. Don't touch that!"
Too late. The girl had grabbed a bar of chocolate. She munched it and made a big smile"Hmmmm... Delicious!"
Logan couldn't stand it anymore. Taking the girl by her shoulders, he quickly directed her towards the life quarters of the vessel.
He then pushed her to make her sit on the little couch that was there. "Hey! Calm down!" Standing in front of her, he asked. "Who... Are.. You?" "I told you!" She munched the bar again and looked around"You live here?" "Yes that's... Hey! Don't change the topic!" "Hmmmm..."She looked at him, tilting her head. "I'm Concordia. Hey!"She then waved, smiling.
He sighed. That girl strangely reminded him someone... And that was quite painful. "Right... And how did you get into my vessel..." She opened her arms wide, tilting her head to one side "I don't know? I was on the puppy then... He died... And i spent several hours in that tiny pod annnnnd... It was scary! And suddenly i ended up there!" "Hmmmm..." "You saved me?"She was now looking into his eyes, with an innocent expression. "Erh... I guess" "Thank you!"
The girl jumped on him, hugging him.
He couldn't do anything but patting her back with a fair amount of embarrassment.
"Okay enough of this."He pushed her back softly and moved to the control room of the Dromedary, after checking the girl was following him.
He interrogated the primitive AI, requesting what was the closest base.... Ames... Perfect. "I will drop you at Ames Research Station. From there you will be able to go wherever you want" "Ohhhh? Thank you, love!"He turned around and noticed his head was just in front of her chest. He quickly turned back, facing the controls. "Rmm... You're welcome, i guess." "Hmmm? Something wrong." "Just... How old are you? Shouldn't you be somewhere else? School maybe?" "Nooooo?" "Hmpf..."He focused on the controls, heading to Ames... Only one hour from there... Good... He allowed himself to sigh of relief. That passenger was already getting on his nerves... Somehow...
Actually... He wasn't accustomed anymore to have company.
"Right. We will be at Ames in around an h... What the ...?!"He turned around as he was speaking and suddenly noticed the girl disappeared.
Logan jumped on his feet and started to leave the control room, shouting "Hey! You! Where did you go? Hmm... Connulala?!"
The girl was smiling mischievously.
She was hiding in a small compartment of the hold, pricking up her ears to check if there was any noise.
There was no light on the tiny compartment and she couldn't do much but wait there... Until she would be reasonably sure he felled asleep.
However...
She wriggled and banged her head softly to the partition. "Ouch..."the girl whispered.
That was so funny to hide there, waiting for him to sleep like a dog and suddenly jump on him. She was feeling like an heroine in some thriller!
She planned to stay there a few hours but she wouldn't be able to wait forever....
Particularly because she needed to go to the toilet. She forgot that little detail.
She wriggled once again, fighting the urge while trying to listen at the same time... No noises anymore?
The girl shook her head. She couldn't wait anymore.
Cautiously, she opened the door of the compartment and stuck her head out, moving it to the left... Then to the right... "Sector clear!"She whispered, beaming.
Carefully getting on her feet, she started to walk on the sly in quite an hilarious way... Yet, no one was there to witness it.
She was half tempted to dance a bit, but in the dark it wouldn't be very funny.
Oh yes! She needed to pee.
She vaguely remembered the little bathroom of the life quarters where somewhere nearby...
Looking around like a conspirator as she was walking stealthily, she noticed a sheet lying inside a basket.
Ah! perfect!
The young girl quickly took it and hid under it.
It now just seemed a ghost was wandering in the ship, sometimes bumping into an obstacle and whispering a"Shhhh!" to it as if said object was the one to blame.
One of those encounters was quite soundful and someone shouted in an unassured voice : "Who is there?! I warn you! I'm armed!" "Uhuhhh..." The 'ghost' curled up behind a table, trying to hide. "G... Get out of here!" She whined with a pathetic voice"Don't shoot me! It's Concordia!"
The lights were switched on.
Logan was sitting on his bed, his legs under the blanket. He was holding a gun, aiming at the girl.
His expression was shared between stupor, embarrassment and a hint of anger.
She grinned tenderly and asked innocently "You sleep naked?" "Wh... What? Ohhhh!"Logan quickly pulled the blanket over himself.
He confusedly noticed the girl was smiling, glancing at him... Which added to his embarrassment.
Finally able to gain back a tad of dignity, he asked, quavering : "What the... What are you..." Concordia didn't let him finish"Oh excuse me, love. I really need to pee!" She then moved in a blink to the bathroom...
When she came back, Logan almost fully regained his composure.
He was frowning, looking quite displeased. He had time to dress with an old dressing gown meanwhile. "How the hell did you get back here?" "Ohhh? That was easy..."She started carelessly. "I said i was your daughter and Voila!"The girl took a victorious pause, smiling.
Logan was shaking his head, furious. He finally sighed. "Gah... Great! Just great! Why didn't you stay in Ames?" "Hmmm? I thought it would be funnier to stay with you."
He ranted in exasperation but finally calmed down a bit after a few. "I will have to move back to Ames then... Drop you there, And lock my ship!" "Ohhh!" She ran to him and hugged him."Don't do that please!" "Errrh..."he mumbled reluctantly.
Concordia raised her head and looked into his eyes innocently. "I could help you?" "I don't need help."he replied coldly, ignoring the hug. "I could do dishes? Clean the shippie?" She smiled again "Dance for you?" "No, no and no."
He pushed her quite rudely and moved to the control room.
She followed him, jumping while shouting : "Clean your clothes!" "No." "Cook!" "Nope." "Pilot the shippie for you!" "Hell no." "Hmmm... I don't know? Sing?"
He turned around "Quit trying." "No!"
She was still jumping, overexcited.
He was starting to feel tired just by observing her doing so.
The girl eventually stopped and took his hand, caressing it softly. "Come on, love. Please?" He grunted and finally said"I don't have a second bed in my quarters anyway." Smiling teasingly, she replied"Oh i don't mind... We can sleep in the same bed..."
"What?!" "Just kiddin'!"
Logan studied her incredulously. Was she stupid?
She just stuck out her tongue as she was noticing his glance.
He finally sighed. "Fine. Fine! I will drop you in New Tokyo." "Yay! Hmm... I'm tired..." "Wait... Where are you... Oh great."
He knew already she would curl up in his bed...
Logan wondered where he would sleep - in his own ship - tonight.
The whip lacerated the skin of the man. His back was starting to take that characteristic red shade. "Seven." A grunt passed through the man's lips as he was whipped again. "Height." Bryan Miller was vaguely gazing at the man, looking quite bored. He was actually thinking about his quota. He was far from it. "Nine."Another yell followed...
Those punishments were boring as hell, but he couldn't avoid them nor take the liberty to not assist personally to them. "Ten!"The man cried and finally sighed of relief.
"Good. We're done with you." said quietly Bryan, staring at the crew member who was being freed. "Remember, Natanael... Next time you are caught violating my orders, you will be thrown in space... And i will be the one pushing the button of the airlock..." The crew member mumbled something indistincly, massaging his back.
Bryan frowned at this answer - or absence of answer. "Ohhh?" He started with a soft-spoken voice"Do you even know what happens when you end up in space without a spacesuit?"
He stood slowly and walked to the man while the others were keeping a respectable distance from the object of his attention. "First... You will feel how cold it is. You will desperately try to breath, doing your best to fill up your lungs with void. Your eyes will freeze and finally explode. Your heart will beat at an incredible rate first, because of the fear... But don't worry, my friend... It will soon decrease its pace... Little by little..."
Bryan made a pause, obviously savoring the effects of his little speech. "I heard some men were able to stay alive during several minutes, crying all they could... Or trying to at least. Because there was no air.
Alone, gesticulating like a puppet, with no one to hear your pathetic yells for help."
He was smiling now, staring at the crew member. "Think about it Natanael... That's probably the funniest way to die, don't you think?" As the crew member was remaining silent, he chuckled and tapped his back rudely, making him grunt in pain. "Glad you agree."
He was exaggerating of course. Nobody thrown outside of a ship survived to tell how it was. A lot of versions were circulating...
Bryan was personally thinking one couldn't survive more than a few seconds outside... But it was better for Natanael to think otherwise...
He looked at his men, studying them quickly, his merciless expression back. "Enough. Back to the maneuver places." The men quickly left the room, leaving him alone. Bryan whistled carelessly, walking to the command room of his ship.
Quotas... Quotas were the only thing that mattered.
Bryan didn't have any illusions about why he got the command of the Ruthless scammer.
That wasn't because of the skill he showed by eliminating the others favorites, nor because he knew how to make the men under his command obey.
No. It was simply because he always paid more than his quota... Without delay.
And for the first time, he may soon fail to follow that simple rule, making his boss frown in disappointment.
That, of course, leading to him getting back into an old and dirty bloodhound... Starting from scratch.
Gunships were rare. Even rarer were the ones operating without being the little toy of a boss.
That said, the amount of money needed to make one fly during a week was unbelievable... This explaining that.
Bryan reached the command room and sat carelessly on what could be seen as a command chair, sniffing aggressively.
Business was not going well with all those wars. He didn't decide yet who was the one to blame for this lack of preys.
But anyhow... When he would find out, he would punch him in the face with pleasure.
"We gotta contact" mumbled one of his men while chewing tobacco. "Yes? So what do we have...?" "Hmm.. Small signature. Whitebait, boss."
Bryan suppressed a sigh. Oh well...
Littles fishes were better than nothing. "We gettin' back in business, boys. Catch this one."
+++++
Logan was mentally pulling his hairs out.
Because of that brat endlessly bothering him with stupid questions, he didn't notice that rogue vessel until it was too late.
It seems they planned to board his ship. Not good.
He pushed the girl into a small compartment, mumbling "Stay there." "We're playing hide and see..-" He closed the door, not listening to her, and moved to the control room, almost having a fit of hysterics.
The rogue gunship already synchronized its speed with the Albedo. It seems its crew was taking care of the mooring procedure. Logan could hear already bumps on his ship's hull.
He thought about what they would maybe do to him. Those Rogues were not known to be the most gentle folks wandering in Kepler...
With some luck, he would lose only his cargo.
Then he thought about that young brat hiding in the compartment.
He repressed a shiver and prayed they would not find her.
He made a somewhat comic pout, shaking his head.
Not like he really cared about her.
Logan had the draft of a plan...
He didn't have time to think more, however. They were coming in.
The airlock opened and two of his men, carrying their weapons, looked for any trap or hostiles that may have waited them inside.
They slowly entered, on their guard.
It just looked as he imagined it. A poor trade vessel. Worthless.
The man almost sighed. He would never ever succeed to reach his quota in time with catches like that one...
They found a somewhat aged man on the control room. He was smiling in a friendly way, his hands up.
"Well hello boyos. No need to use your guns my friends, I'm unarmed." Bryan studied him while his men where searching him. "Nothing." "You're alone here?"He asked, glancing around contemptuously. "Yes cap'n. Paying a crew is quite expensive." "Tell me about it."replied Bryan with an ironic sorry expression on his face.
He motioned his men to search the ship and pulled a chair to sit on it.
With a sardonic smile, he then put his feet on the table in front of him, glancing at the man who was almost dancing on his feet in embarrassment...
"So... Whatever-your-name-is... How much do you value your life?" Logan mumbled, caught on the hop : "My name is Logan, cap'n... And i value it a lot, i guess." Bryan was smiling coldly, staring at him. "Good, good. You seem to be a reasonable man. Maybe we can do some business, yes?"
His men came back. "Nobody's around, boss." "Great... We will be able to talk between gentle persons, then." "Boss. There is bunch of nice food in the hold." Bryan smirked while Logan perspired a bit...
He finally coughed "Listen gentlefolks, take what you want and be on your way please? I'm sure you have way more important things to do" Logan chuckled uneasily. "Oh thank you for your permission."replied Bryan, frowning.
He didn't like the tone of that idiot.
"Uhoh... I was sure i knew that voice!" Concordia was standing in the entry of the hold, smiling.
She waved at them all and slowly walked in, winking at the two crew members who lowered their weapons a bit, unsure of how to react.
"What is 'dat..." mumbled one the rogues, staring at the girl lustfully. "Ohhhh?"A big smile appeared on her face when she saw Bryan"That's you, Brayie?"
"Errrh... Concordia..."he said, losing quite noticeably his composure.
He then coughed, glancing at her. She was wearing what seemed to be men clothes. Those were however unable to hide fully the curves of her hips.
Bryan then frowned when he noticed the expression of his men. "What are you doing here...?"
"Hmmm?"The girl smiled softly, walking to him. She then caressed his cheek, looking into his eyes.
"Annnnd you?" "Erh.. Doing busi... Ehmm... Just answer the question."He pushed her hand a bit, trying to look uncaring and all those cool stuffs.
Bryan then suddenly frowned once again as he saw one of his men smiling quite mockingly. The man noticed his glance and coughed, looking away.
The girl was still looking at Bryan, trying to keep eye contact. "Rmmm? Logie saved me! Annnnnnd... I'm helping him in return!"
She smiled and suddenly leaned forward, hugging him. "I missed you! Why do you never call me?!" "Err... Busy... Enough woman! Go away!"He almost yelled. She leaned back a bit, surprised"Awww... You're angry with me?"
Bryan closed his eyes and counted to ten...
When he opened them again, the girl already turned around, studying everyone. "Ohhhh? Those are your friends? They are cute!" she giggled and then smiled at Logan who was obviously quite lost.
"Anyway!"She turned around suddenly and grinned teasingly, glancing at Bryan "You were terrorizing that poor Logie? That's not nice!" He mumbled indistinctly"And you ruined it all..." "Can i play too?"
Concordia laughed and sat on Bryan laps. She messed with his hairs, grinning. "So how are you love...?" He finally sighed and -almost- smiled. "Fine 'lass... Fine... I'm surprised to see you here however." "Ohhhh? I told you, sweetheart. Logie saved me!"
Bryan was now frowning, looking at her clothes. "You have sex with that old thing?"
A smile... "Yeees? Noooo? Just maybe?" He grabbed her by her wrist. "-Just- answer." Which led to the girl bursting out laughing.
"Awwww... But you're jealous! Mymy!" "I'm not." "Youuuu arrree..."She said, trying to reach his belly to tickle him. "Hmm.." He wriggled a bit, trying to stop her... But her hands were like snakes. "Stop it." "Noooooo?"
In desperation, he finally pushed her, making her fall to the ground on her bottom.
The girl laughed. She then stuck out her tongue, saying"Ouch... You're mean!" "I know."he replied with a wily grin.
She finally got back on her feet, dusting her bottom. "Sooooo... You came because you wanted to see me?" "Errh... Not exact... Yes..."He rolled his eyes and shrugged imperceptibly "Because i did want to."
She smiled and started to dance lasciviously, making Logan jaws drop quite noticeably. She giggled. "You remember that night in Alcatraz bar, honey...?"