A New Life for the Broken Bird

[Doc Holliday]

The Next Morning

Gilbert arrived early. He was a big, burly man with long hair and a big, bushy beard. He looked like someone who came out of the mountains. It was obvious through how him and Doc were chest to chest talking tough to one another that they were old friends and it was a good thing as Gilbert dwarfed Doc! When they were finished, they hugged and he turned his attention to the young lady nearby.
"Ye' must be Sonja," he said to her kindly with his odd accent. "A friend the' ol' Doc here is a friend o' mine. Gilbert Malloy at ye' su'vice!" He gently took her hand his huge hand and gave a gentle shake.
"Make damn sure ol' Doc here takes care o' ye' or I shall kick his ass meself!" he told her.
"In your dreams, you old Junker," he replied to him.
"Fear not, Doc," he said to him, "ye' place will be fine in me care."

Within minutes, they boarded a shuttle in a nearby field that Gilbert had arrived in with the clothing they needed. Sonja had her pick of the old wardrobe left behind by his late wife and he himself took enough for a couple of days plus his medical bag. The shuttle left the ground and headed for an atmospheric point on the backside of the planet. It was there that it docked with a much larger ship, a Junker tagged cargo ship headed to an undisclosed location.
"Take care o' my friends," Gilbert told the captain. "You will find a shipment o' arms in the hold o' your other ship and a generous overpayment for ye' help."
When Gilbert left, the trip began.

They travelled through New York and California with no problem. Cortez was busy with some Bretonian military ships in the region but an empty Junker freighter was of no concern to them. In Manchester, only a Hacker patrol stopped them briefly but let them be. Why shouldn't they? Junkers and Hackers did business quite often. New London and Leeds were uneventful as they continued through Tau 31, Tau 29 and finally Bafffin. The only real incident were some bounty hunters around Freeport 6. They were disappointed to find the ship empty. Junkers and hunters had no love of each other but they left each other alone with no good reason to cause a ruckus.

By the time they arrived at "Med Force General and Research" in Baffin, Doc was finally awoken to give clearance codes for docking. He had been sleeping since Cortez. Upon docking, a large shipment of arms was awaiting the Junker ship as promised. As a personal thank you, Doc heavily tipped the captain.
"If ever you need medical help, come see us," Doc told him with a hand shake. Within minutes, the now full transport left for wherever.

The day was one of travel and was long. Even though he slept through most of the trip, he was tired and he was certain that Sonja was as well. He then escorted Sonja and Niki to her quarters as a security guard carried her baggage to the door. Doc thanked him and dismissed him.
"Tomorrow morning we begin," he explained to her. He then handed her a com badge.
"I will be in my quarters if you need me."

With that he took his leave of her for the evening.

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[MFE]Med Force One | Tales of Recovery|Med Force Enterprises