Bora Bora

[Tenacity]

((// Continued from this story: http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18620 //))

<One Week Later, Rochester Base, New York System>

A week and no hits, no offers, nothing. She had this advanced peice of equipment and nobody wanted to buy it... piss poor luck.

All the pirates refused it because they were afraid it'd turn around and shoot them for bounties. The lawfuls didnt want it because they were afraid they couldnt control it. Nobody wanted to spend money on a crippled psycho killer robot ship.

Rikku slammed back another shot of de-greaser, or whatever the rochester bartender called it... whatever it was, it burned, bad, and it got you messed up quick. Rikku didnt drink often, drinking made people aggressive, but she was down on her luck with no ship, no money, and no offers for the peice of scrap Chris had helped her haul back from Maine.

She stared longingly out the viewport at the stars beyond the scrap field. The nebulae wisping around the far corners of sirius coupled with ancient stars that had gone supernova aeons ago, but were still visible due to light-lag, as they called it here. As she turned back to take another shot, she saw a man in a very fancy blue suit approach her table, briefcase in-hand. He had grey hair, but it was cut short and bold... an intimidating look, one of professionalism - everything about his appearance and stance told her that this guy meant business and was serious about it.

"Ms. ..." he paused a minute, holding up a datapad and reading it before proceeding, "Rikku? I presume."

Rikku nodded and motioned for him to sit down. She held a shotglass out as an offer, he shook his head and waved his hand at it.

"No thanks, I dont drink. Ms. Rikku, I'm here to offer you a proposition for that ship you've been trying to sell."

She sat up with a snap, at full attention, "Really? I was starting to think nobody would buy that hunk'a'junk!"

"Yes... we realize it is old, and not exactly controllable. That is not our concern. You see, I work for a company with a very large amount of money at it's disposal, and we're willing to offer you almost anything you want in exchange for that drone, whole and intact."

She formed a puzzled look on her face, "Why? What makes it so valuable to you guys when nobody else wants it?"

He set his briefcase on the table, and clasped his hands together as he looked her in the eyes, "The company I work for is called Orbital Spa and Cruise. We offer luxury trips to those who can afford it, but lately we've been forced to deal with more and more criminal and terrorist attacks on our luxury liners operating in deep space. Some of the engineers in the company believe that they can 'reverse engineer' the ship you found, and from it create our own drones with programming to defend our ships. This would be expensive at first, no doubt, but in the long run it saves us the hassle of trying to hire escort pilots that demand daily wages."

She leaned back in her chair, "I see... so what can you offer me for it?"

"What do you want? I have been authorized to give you almost anything you desire in exchange for that vessel. Within reason, of course." He said with a stern look.

She thought for a moment, then looked back up at him; "I want a ship, a big ship.. a fancy ship, you folks got all sorts'a fancy ships right? I always wanted to go see the stars without the scrap fields being in the way, maybe make a little money while I'm at it, live my life in comfort like all them rich folk on manhattan y'know? Why's they gotta be the only ones with money, they dont even work for a livin! While we're all out here sweatin our bee-hinds off just tryin t'make enough scratch for dinner."

The man smiled, "This is a fair deal, we have quite a few luxury yachts we could part with." He opened his briefcase and turned it around towards her, the computer screen inside showed a list of various ship models. "Pick one, and we'll get started on the paperwork Ms. Rikku."

The list was extensive, and all the ships looked beautiful... she had trouble deciding. Most were a little too small for her tastes; she had been cramped up in a CSV for almost her entire life, she wanted something big... grand... majestic. And, well, if the ship was big enough she might even be able to make money taking those fancy folk out on day-trips, just like spa and cruise did!

She cycled through each ship, looking at it's specs... how big it was, how many rooms it had, what engines it used... she paid close attention to the engines, she knew which ones wouldnt last a month and which ones were likely to last longer than she would. Finally she settled on one design - a modified series ST borderworlds transport.

The interior had been completely made-over. Most of the cargo space was gone, replaced by the most luxurious rooms she had ever seen. There was a central dining area, and the "bridge" area was huge - large enough for passengers to admire space without being in the way of the pilot.

She turned the briefcase back around towards the man, "that one! and one other thing..."

"Yes, Ms. Rikku?"

"Can it be sponsored by Spa and Cruise? I want to start up my own private sight-seeing thing, take folk up in the ship for a while and show them the stars, make a little money on the side, y'know?"

"Absolutely, Spa and Cruise would love to have another independent vessel sporting our name." He turned the briefcase back around, this time the screen was full of 'paperwork' - titles and such to be altered, "If you'll fill this out, we can get you a transport out to the ship's current location on curacao and you can get to flying."

Rikku giggled as she started filling out the forms... finally her dream was coming true.

---