"Kalashnikov's", Zvezdny Gorodok

[bluntpencil2001]

Afonso, again in the bar on Cape Verde, sat listening to the ancient music, sipping at his beer, thinking that this place's tunes certainly made up for the random eccentricities shown by the regulars.

Hell, they were nowhere near as bad as the boozers in the Dublin system and at least they laid off the drugs. Well, they had plenty Synthetic Mary Jane, its purple haze filling the room, but they stayed away from Cardamine, a policy Afonso approved of, being from Planet Crete himself.

He sipped at his beer, feeling rather relaxed thanks to being half-stoned on the room's ambient smoke. He was to meet his buddy, Ares, for a beer and to inform him on the policies of his new contacts in the Farmer's Alliance.

Ares arrived on time, as expected, but looked... different.

He was in full dress uniform. Sure, it followed the standard Coalition "any colour so long as it's black" philosophy, but he had lost the bandana around his neck and sported the somewhat embarassing cape often seen on the likes of Captain Al'Rahan and Lieutenant Commander Weise. Afonso snickered at Ares' get up, much to his bemusement.

"Enough sass, Afonso, my first diplomatic mission just took a turn for the bloody worse, amigo..."

He plonked himself down on the seat next to Afonso after signalling to the barmaid for a beer. Afonso raised an eyebrow in wonder at his friend's stress.

"Grand-damn-Admiral McIntosh is going to be conducting the negotiations with the Farmers... My first diplomatic mission and it'll probably degenerate into me trying to stop him from commiting murder for a laugh. Fan-bloody-tastic..."

Afonso understood. McItosh was known for relying on his men's efficient insurgent tactics and strategies to run the Revolution, whilst he himself gave it a terrifying and charismatic human face. He was, essentially, a murderous lunatic.

Afonso groaned...

"Unfortunately, my brother, the information I've got for you isn't good. It isn't good at all..."

Ares swore, and not terribly quietly, and buried his head in his hands as Afonso continued...

"The Farmers' Alliance are not the Revolutionary group we thought we were contacting, amigo. They care not for Revolution, but for the status quo. They are essentially puppets of the corporation known as 'Samura'. They want to reestablish Samura's stranglehold on the food industry in Kusari so that they can make more cash. Essentially, they are a selfish and greedy group of Capitalist thieves and pirates..."

Ares groaned, in a similar fashion to Afonso, as the barmaid arrived with his drink.

"This is going to be a long week..."

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