Planet Cambridge, Cambridge System
Grantchester City
Neon Lights Lounge
Rick frowned. His memory of Austin was that of a rising star within the Armed Forces during the Tau conflict against Imperial Kusari. What was this about cardamine, and hiding in shady dives? Still, he had to acknowledge there was an eight year gap between then and now. He had no way of knowing what had become of this once great man in the time since his fighter was shot down near Harris. Besides, this would hardly be the first time something Rick once knew had changed, and people were changeable things to begin with. He took a swig of his porter, mustering up the closest thing he knew to empathy.
"Sorry mate, I've been out of the game a short while." He said, parting his hair and tapping a long scar from brow to back. "Got my head torn open when my Templar decided to kick the bucket in '17, had me in a coma for eight years. I woke up a few months before the blitz, and there hasn't really been..." He considered his next words carefully, his last desire to incite the wrath of a broken man with a blood alcohol level no doubt steering a course towards permanent liver damage. "There hasn't been a whole lot of familiarity, since I came to." He finished softly, taking another sip of his beer.
"Cowards, though, if you'd called me that any other day I'd have put you on the floor. Lucky for you I just returned from the Omega front after gunning down miners by the dozen, so I'm not altogether clear on what it is I'm even fighting for right now. I suppose that's how someone like myself ends up in a place like this." He sighed and took another swig, beginning to outpace Austin at this rate. "That's right, don't let the jacket or the TBI fool you, I reupped as soon as medical cleared me last yeaaa... the hell?" He muttered, turning his head toward the holo-screen.
