Staying in the twilight

[Morosz]

Chapter I.

The adventure begins or How to become a pirate after being kidnapped.

"How? How the hell did end up here?" Asked the young man from himself. This was supposed to be a smooth and easy job. He was tasked with boarding a transport ship heading from Roppongi to Shinkaku stations as a corporate overseer of sorts and also deliver a set of company documents there on datapad. His first major leap forward in his career which untill now was not going smoothly. As if his fate could not be worse his ship was attacked by a group of pirates and they boarded. He was now facing two armed individuals who were pointing their guns directly at him, demanding the datapad from him. He was shaking and frozen in place but the yelling of theese two before him made him snap out of it and with a shaking hand he handed the datapad over, hoping that they would leave and they would leave him alone.

He was once again snapped back to reality when one of the pirates spoke. "Hey boss, this is a pain in the ass, i say we shoot him. That way there will be no loose ends."

"There is no need. This datapad will be more than enough compensation for us."

"Tsch.. you call that compensation?" Their conversation was cut short by a voice comming through their communicators.

"Boss, i hope you are done with them cause we've got company. Propably a patrol."

"Don't get your panties in a twist Josh, start the engines, we're out." The leader turned towards the rest of the ship's crew. "Okay people here's whats going to happen. Our business with you is done, we'll disappear and then y'all be free to go. But just so you know the deal is off if anyone decides to play hero and come after us. What you see on our ship is a torpedo launcher. If you don't want to fly back home in escape pods i recommend you stay put for the next hour."

"We're gonna live." Sighed in relief the young man only for one of the pirates to once again point a weapon to his head.

"You're tagging along with us dumbass." This made the young man shiver in fear.

"You..yo..you're joking right?"

And so he was now a hostage of pirates. Heading to god knows where with an extremely uncertain fate. After a few hours the boss of the pirates walked up to him in the cargo bay of the small ship they used.

"Hey. I don't know why she brought you aboard but it doesn't matter. We have our business to take care of." Said the man.

"Whats going to happen to me?"

"I guess we'll make contact with your company somehow and then we'll try to set up a trade."

"So you're going to ransom me? Fucking great, this will go on my permanent record."

"But we have to finish our job first and that means getting this datapad to our client."

"Oh so there is a client, now i'm starting to understand."

"We're nothing more than delivery boys. Maybe we tend to break the rules so we have something to eat at the end of the day, but that's just business." Said the man looking at the bulkhead.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?" The young man looked a bit confused towards his captor.

"Your name. Whats your name?" Asked the big guy next to him.

"Ortiz, Robert Ortiz."

The hours passed and Robert fell asleep. He woke up when the humming of the engines subsided and the ship's cargo bay doors opened. His captors simply disembarked before their leader turned to him and asked.

"So you're gonna join us Rob?" The question took him a bit off guard.

"Join them? For what?" He thought as the third guy who felt a bit out of place from a pirate ship looked at him.

"So you're comming or what? Don't tell me you're not thirsty and we need some drinks."

The four of them were now sitting in a bar at the counter sipping their drinks. Rob looked arround and he was still shocked how the place looked.

"I still don't get it. Why is there a gun on every godforsaken table?" He mused.

"Is this that bar at the end of the world you sometimes see in movies?" The leader spoke up.

"Good analogy, this place was founded by a freelancer who found a way to completly bypass bretonian space making hauling less legal goods to and from liberty easier. Welcome to Barrier Gate station. The place is still privatly owned by said freelancer tho after a couple of years it became a hub for smuggling operations. Before he knew it the place gone straight to hell. Hookers, junkies, mercenaries, hitman, pirates, irredeemable criminals, every single one of them. Don't like it?"

Rob just growled as a couple of drunk patrons started beating up eachother while everyone else was just minding their own business. That is untill another patron looked up from his table holding a couple cards in one of his hands while a gun in the other, clearly annoyed by the ruckuss those two drunks were making.

"HEY SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE I TOSS YOUR ASS OUTA HERE DAMN IT!"

Rob finally spoke up after turning his head back to his drink. "I usually try to avoid confrontations." The boss stood up and walked away. "Your expression says it all. Josh i'm gonna make a call."

"Boss is a little bit unusual." Said Josh as he turned his head towards Rob who was intrigued by the description the guy was giving.

"After being arround him for 3 years all i can tell you is tough, intelligent and eccentric. You can give up on trying to figure him out."

Josh raised his glass to clink it with Rob's who di the same. "Got it." Rob replied.

"You seemed to be different from the other people arround here. Where'd you come from?"

Josh simply smiled at the question but replied nontheless. "A college from planet manhattan. I was fooling arround and i've managed to piss off the maffia and the LPI at the same time and then..."

"Your's truly stepped in and saved his ass before he got stuffed in a bag and spaced into the cold abyss. Now stop the old storytelling, you're way too young to be reminiscing. We came here to drink, it's time we go shot for shot mister!" As she tossed Rob a glass of Rum.

"If you ask me, beer is horsepiss that will never get you drunk. Real men drink RUM. Unless you're affraid." Rob slowly loosened his tie and turned towards Ripley.

"During college we were forced to drink ridiculous ammounts for one reason or another! And we are also forced to drink on company social events! DON'T YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE ME!"

Rob finished his little monologue by chugging down the rum in front of him like it was water. Ripley growled in anger and gritted her teeth. "Why you..."

To which Rob repplied with a satisfied and smug smirk. That did it, Ripley stood up and looked Rob in directly into the eye then both of them turned towards the bartender and shouted in unison.

"HEY BARTENDER! BRING US, ALL THE RUM YOU'VE GOT RIGHT NOW!" Meanwhile in the background Josh simply smirked and sighed in a bit of disbelief.

"Jeez, and i thought you don't like confrontation."

Meanwhile at the other end of the bar Duncan the leader of the group was making an audio call discreetly "Well fuck. That is bad news indeed. Yeah, go on."

Said Duncan in his usual calm monotone voice. /"Something didn't feel right about the company's response. So I left out some bait and a Kusari rat went right for it. In fact i'm talking to him now."/ Said a woman's voice through the comm.

"Who's on the move?" Asked Duncan.

/"One moment." Repplied the voice. "What's your owner's name!? Loud and clear!" A loud cry of pain was the first thing Duncan heard before the owner of the voice clearly still in pain finally screamed out a name.

"Kyousuke. Kyousuke Fujimaru. He sent troops to kill them. He sent mercenaries to Barrier Gate!" The voice cried out in pain.

"You hear that?" Asked the woman.

"Yeah, not good." Repplied Duncan.

/"Tell me the number and affiliation of those soldiers. Speak up and make it fast!"/ The woman demanded from their captive.

"Guys from Black Crow, a mercenary contracting agency, i don't know how many there are!" the voice cried out in pain once again.

/"The BC company employs experienced war veterans Duncan."/

"Man just our luck" Repplied Duncan in a slightly irritated voice.

/"Try not to die." The woman finished the sentence just as a couple of shots were heard through the comm. Duncan repplied nothing but simply terminated the call. All the while in the background the patrons were now cheering and even betting money on the makeshift drinking contest.

Outside the bar. A group of shady heavily armed men approached the bar and took up positions. "Allright let's get this show started." Said a man signaling to the others as they threw in a couple of flashbangs into the bar. The grenades went off and they started shooting inside as they entered the bar. Ripley, Rob and Josh were holding up behind the counter while dutch took cover behind a column. The bartender spoke to revi while holding a gun of his own ready to shoot down the attackers.

"RIPLEY IF THEESE ASSHOLES ARE YOUR FRIENDS THEN YOU BETTER DEAL WITH THEM!" Ripley still holding her glass of rum simply repplied calmly.

"I Don't know them." As she sipped her drink a couple of more shots impacted the counter surprising Ripley a bit she turned towards the bartender.

"WOW, You've reinforced the bar huh?"

"Yep. It can handle up to an E-Web heavy mounted repeater."

"RIPLEY!?" Shouted Duncan's voice from a bit of distance.

"I'm okay" Ripley shouted back.

"JOSH?!"

"It's a fucking miracle but i'M ALIVE!" Said josh as he ran towards Duncan and ran to the back of the bar.

"AND ROB?"

"DEAD TOTALLY DEAD! AFTER FINISHING COLLEGE I ENDED UP AT A BIG CORPORATION TO HAVE A MUNDANE LIFE THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Repplied Rob lamenting and panicking as a grenade went off in the bar causing a small explosion.

"RIPLEY! I THINK IT IS TIME TO SHOW THEM YOUR ART!" The patrons inside were dropping like flies for a couple of moments before suddendly the shots stopped. The man leading the group spoke up after the dust settled a bit.

"Secure the place. I heard voices. And there's nothing i hate more than survivors!"

"What a great line" Ripley said quietly with a smirk on her face before jumping up from behind the counter and started to shoot at their attackers. A couple of the dropped immediatly before they had a chance to react. As the mercs started returning fire Duncan also took a couple of shots to cover Ripley.

"BOSS YOUR TURN!" As Ripley ducked back behind the counter.

"GOD DAMN IT RIPLEY! DON'T HIDE HERE! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU DESTROYED MY BAR!?" One of the mercs jumped up on the counter but was shot down by the bartender while Ripley was still waiting calmly for Duncan to draw enough fire.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY ME FOR ALL THIS DAMAGE YOU GOT IT?! OR ELSE I'M GONNA WELD YOUR ASSHOLE SHUT AND MAKE A NEW ONE OUTTA YER HEAD! GOT IT!" The bartender repplied in anger.

"Got it, BOSS!" Ripley said. Duncan once again started drawing fire doing a couple of shots and finally drawing their fire. Ripley took action immediatly and took out a couple more. Rob intrigued by what is happening arround took a peak from behind the counter then looked at Ripley. "She's smiling?" He mused in his thought as a shot impacted near his head which made him duck back down. Duncan and Ripley were shooting down supressing the attackers as Duncan spoke up.

"Hate to break it to you but trading you is not an option anymore."

"Then what's gonna happen to me?!"

"You weren't part of our plan to begin with. I'd say we part ways here." Replied Duncan.

"That's not fair. I'M GONNA DIE HERE! Take me with you!" Duncan sighed.

"Fine then but don't fall behind or else we'll leave you. RIPLEY! WE'RE LEAVING!" Ripley was now in the middle of bar using one of the mercs as a human shield slowly backing up towards the back exit.

"GOTCHA!" All of them ran out the back with Ripley taking a grenade from the merc she was using as a shield and tossed both it and the now armed grenade inside before slamming her fist on the door controller to close it. After that she simply shot the controller to loose their attackers.

They were running down the corridors of the station heading towards their dock and Ripley spoke up.

"Hey boss. Bao was so pissed off, he looked like a steaming pot. He said unless we pay him back he's gonna weld our assholes."

"Well that scary. I think i'M gonna cry." Repplied dutch in a sarcastic tone.

"What is this...am i having a nightmare? Or am i in a movie?" Asked Rob running next to Ripley.

"Don't be stupid. This is way more entertaining than some bullshit movie you've watched or will ever be able to watch." Ripley said in a cocky mocking tone.

Aboard the ship....

After getting to their ship they quickly left barrier gate and were out in open space. Rob was sitting in the cockpit on the ground looking forward and smoking a cigarette while Duncan was in the pilot's seat manning the ship's controlls.

"If we maintain this speed we should be at Freeport six in about a day or so. We'll meet our employer there, so Rob." ROb raised his head towards Duncan.

"Josh is getting in touch with your company as we speak. If negotiations don't go well we're gonna have to leave you there. I'm sorry. The place is crawling with lowlifes and bandits but you should survive for a while, okay?"

"You're serious?! After kidnapping me, dragging me all the way to Barrier and then dragging me here you're simply gonna leave me behind? The least you could do is leave me someplace safe!"
"I wouldn't push my luck if i were you." Said Ripley as she climbed into the cockpit and slowly walking towards Rob.

"First you come crying to us, then you wanna use us like a taxi?!" Ripley said as she took one her guns out of her holster aiming at Rob's head from mere inches.

"I KNOW! Why don't i do you a fucking favor and show you what color your brain is!?" Rob who was also standing up by now lifted his hands and back into the bulkhead wall behind him.

"W-w--wait" Rob was about to plead for his life when as if fate was still somehow on his side Duncan spoke up and turned to the two.

"Hey Josh says they established the connection. Come on your boss is on the line. Audio only." Duncan handed a headset to Rob who quikcly grabbed it and put it in his ear.

"He-hello sir! Ortiz speaking. Now regarding the loss of the datapad i can-..."

"Right, there's no need to worry about it anymore. As far as i'm concerned that datapad no longer exists." Repplied a man who from the sound of it was clearly in his 40s.

"I don't understand.." Said Rob who was surprised by his boss's repply and was confused.

"Given your situation i suppose it can't hurt to tell you the truth. Keep this to yourself." Rob was slowly descending into shock his face paling as he listened to the man explaining the events that took place.

"It's difficult to explain but in order to rebuild our company after getting nearly bankrupt we assisted certain "groups" in developping various technologies and warships. The truth is that theese groups are for all intents and purposes at war with most of the Houses and that datapad contains detailed information about our liasons and shipments and other things. It's truly been nothing but trouble and headache for managment. For the sake of all our employees Ortiz, accept your fate and disappear into the Tau border worlds."

"Sir?" Was the only thing that Rob could get out from his mouth.

"I'm sorry Ortiz. The professionals we hired to deal with this problem should arriving at your position shortly." Rob felt extremely sick from the things he heard. Sick enough to apparently empty the contents of his stomach onto floor of the cargo bay a couple minutes after the call.

"Well there goes my bonus for the ransom we were trying to get. They won't worry about ditching you either. I guess i can sympathize to a degree. But is all of this really enough to make you throw up?!" Ripley asked him.

"Just leave me the hell alone!"

"Ripley are you on the gun deck?" Asked josh through the comm.

"No why?"

"I'm picking something on long range sensors. It seems like another vessel that is on an intercept course and its coming in hot."

"Great i'll man the guns. Rob do yourself a favor and buckle up we've got company." Ripley rushed to the gun deck and jumped into the seat loading the weapons and arming them. Looking at the sensors she realized that they had about a minute before the ship on their tail would catch up. Turning on the direct comm to Duncan she spoke up.

"Boss! Cut the cruise engines we need the energy for the weapons and shields."

"I know i'm already doing it turning about to face them." Duncan killed the engines letting the ship drift while using the manouvering thrusters to point the ship towards their enemy.

"Son of a bitch! This isn't one ship Ripley but at least 2." He sighed as he looked out the window.

"Here comes trouble. Allright Ripley! Give 'em hell!" The ships closed in on eachother and as soon as they were in range the fighters chasing them opened fire with Ripley quickly returning it after confirmation. The dogfight was fierce but ultimatly the fighters were slowly but surely grinding down the pirates. The battle seemed lost untill a lucky shot from Ripley destroyed the cockpit of one of the fighters completly leaving behind nothing but a floating husk. The other enemy however made sure to remain behind the ship and was able to avoid fire all the while constantly shooting at our "heroes".

"This is not good. We can't shake this fool and at the rate we're getting hit we won't last much longer. Think you idiot, how to get out of this." Duncan was deep in thought while trying his best to evade the incoming shots and then it hit him. Quickly he called up Josh on the comm.

"Josh. Do i remember correctly that there is an old minefield in this system from the war?"

"That is correct. Let me guess you want me to plot a course and send it to you?" Asked Josh as he quickly began looking up the charts.

"Okay, there you go Boss." Duncan looked at screen on his left and he saw the course quickly entering the data into the computer to execute it the waypoints appeared on his HUD and the ship changed course heading there. Meanwhile the fight continued with Ripley trying her best to shoot down their attacker only for the enemy ship to evade most of the fire.

"There is but one problem with your plan boss. We won't reach it before the asshole gets our engines." Said Josh through the comm to Duncan.

"No we won't unless.." He paused for a second and then spoke up.

"Josh get down to the engine room disengage safety limiters and kick the engine into override."

"Roger that." A couple of minutes later the ship suddendly picked up speed and started to gain distance soon enough they were out of range for the weapons of their enemy. Slowly but surely they edged towards the old minefield that was scaterred in the ice crystal fiel that engulfed most of the system making it hard for anyone to detect it.

"Umm boss. The engine can't take it anymore we have to shut down or else we'll loose it completly." Josh said in a worried voice through the comm.

"Don't worry just a little bit more and then everything we'll be good."

"Boss the engine is going critical we have to shut down now!"

"Wait for it." The engine was overheating, the heat was topping the charts in the red zone.

"NOW! CUT THE POWER!" Josh cut the power to all systems from shields to life support. Their ship became nothing but a floating piece of metal heading directly into the minefield. To any scanner or detector they were almost indistinguishable from the floating rocks which allowed them to fly directly through the field. While their prusuer thought that their systems gave up and closed the distance quickly. One bad idea later the only thing that was noticable was a couple of explosions behind their ship as their attacker foolishly triggered the mines. Unfortunatly this knocked a large asteroid off course and it slammed directly into the ship rocking it violently and everyone fell off their seats.

"Well. I can't believe it! My head hasn't been ripped off, my sunglasses aren't broken. Amen, Hallelujah and peanut butter." Duncan said as he crawled back to his seat and looked arround.

Everyone aboard was now gathered in the cockpit, the three pirates where trying to figure out how to get out of this mess without triggering the mines. They where still floating through it but the field was big and while normally they would be able to take the damage for a couple of seconds, with their systems being down they would not lost a single second if the mines detected their presence. Their situation was almost hopeless. That is untill Rob finally spoke up. "Hey why don't we use an old trick. Does this ship have RCS thrusters?"

"Well it does. But without powering up the computer we can't use them. And if we do that we'll end up in pieces." Answered Josh.

"If we only fire up the the thruster controll system we don't need too much power. That could work" Said Ripley chiming in to the conversation.

"What do you know. Our white collar guy actually has a good idea." Duncan said with a smirk on his face.

"Okay people let's move." After about 10 minutes they slowly started inching out towards the edge of the field. Slowly but surely they eventually made it out and Josh was able to fire up all their systems and were on their way. The rest of the journey was uneventfull.

Freeport 6, Docks.

"Excellent work." Said a woman as she extended her hand and Duncan handed over the datapad to her.

"You know i really admire smart work Duncan, but I've gotta tell you. You guys are all looking.." she paused for a second. "A little rough." The three pirates and Robert were standing in front of the woman and her guards. She had a few scars on her face, she also had on her shoulders a jacket that looked like part of a uniform altough Rob could not decide what military. The voice of the woman was the same voice that Duncan spoke to on Barrier. Duncan standing on the far left side simply looked at the woman through his sunglasses with hands in his pocket.

"Well, it's not like we're going to some dinner party. It's just our style."

The woman turned to her right where a man dressed in a black suit was standing. "Now mister Kageyama. We from Hotel Petrograd do have a code of honor." The man standing was surprised by the woman's declaration.

"Oh. I thought you were the representative of the Bougainvillea Trade Company." THe woman walked closer to Kageyama.

"As you can see we followed through on our end of the bargain." Stopping just before him, she handed the datapad to the man.

"So there shouldn't be any hard feelings." The man extended his hand and took the datapad then slid it into the pocket of his suit.

"Of course not. The world is full of things, that cannot be helped."

"Now it's your turn to follow through on your end of the bargain." The woman said.

"We'll go over the details at our office."

"Very well then. Thanks for your good work Ortiz. Now come along let's go." Ortiz looked at his boss and stepped forward.

"Director. Don't you remember? I'm already dead" Rob said as he untied his tie and threw it to the ground.

"And my name is Rob." The director looked at Rob with a neutral face.

"Is that so? Well suit yourself." As the director finished he walked towards the door with the rest of the armed guards. The woman stepped closer to Rob.

"Well Rob. I owe you an apology for making you talk to those idiots. And yet it would have been a waste for a tough guy like you to remain as a chinovnik. I want you to come to us if there is anything you ever need. Good bye."

The woman walked away and the dock was now empty except for Rob and the group. Duncan smiking a cigarette spoke up. "So Rob. What're you gonna do now?"

Rock looked at the three in front of him and started to smile. "Guess i'm not a hostage anymore. And I've got nowhere to go."

Ripley spoke up. "Hey, there's this crew i'Ve heard of that might be looking for a good sailor. You think you could be interested in something like that? They're a delivery company.."

"Who sometimes break the rules to put food on the table. Isn't that right?" Rob chimed in while lighting a cigarette. Ripley just chuckled a bit in response, while Rob walked over to the others and they all boarded their ship.