Nivek Erieth & the November-Coming-Fire

[Damien McEwan]

Che busted out in a prolonged fit of laughter that made his eyes water and his stomach sore.

He's very impressed at the progress Shamus has made in the year since he was last aboard the LochNet.

Che had never met O'Shaunessy back when he was alive, nor when his consciousness was transferred after his death by some sort of TAZ hocus-pocus into something Matt once explained as a floating titanium sphere called a F.N.O.R.D. All he knows is that somehow, Matt has taken a massive amount of acquired broken source code and has been repairing it ever since.

As Che was catching his breath, he received a comm on his neural-net.

It made his day.

"Matthew? I have some good news."

Banger was foraging for berries on a nearby bush by one of the windows, poked his head up and said with a curious tone, "Alright. Out with it, then."

"I was just contacted by a Warden Hitcher of the Gaian Guard. I'm in."

"That's outstanding news my lad!" Matt replied, genuinely happy.

"I'm to meet my contact at Skye Base. If you can drop me off at Freeport 6, I can catch a ride back to Baffin for my ship."

"Nonsense! I won't have it!" Banger said. "We'll turn around and get you back to Shasta ourselves."

He was about to speak on how good of an opportunity it would be for their business Co-op, when he received a comm on his neural-net.

Looking at the name of the sender and the very high level of encryption, Matt's mood went from light, to deadly serious.

"Well, speak of the devil...it's Warden Sherman Hitcher."

Banger locked himself off in another room and took the call.

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