The Disreputable Dunlin

[Mr. Lime]

Part IIb, The New Girl

"Reddu-berry." "All right, she found my notes." "Who is this Redbelly guy anyway?" Lime shrugged. "It's not a guy, it's a project. If one of our new friends asks us what we're doing something for, we can say it's for Redbelly." "Why are you-" Lime pointed in the general direction of the very Kusari figure, still missing most of its bits. "We have to get her out of here or they'll think we brought her as an art exhibit to mock."

Speaking of those newfound friends, they were landing on the pressurized portion of Boulder as they spoke. Several of them had arrived on board and seemingly out of nowhere, out came the graffiti. That was definitely a card game being played, and several open flames popping up. Cobra's organized force, these were not.

Calico shoved off within the hour. For all their seeming laxity and recklessness, the Xenos took pride in their handiwork, and Mr. Lime was sure they could take it from there. Only time would tell whether this assessment would be correct. The comfortable thrum of the engines took ahold and the crew looked at the manifest Lime was holding. All the platinum they could carry was tucked away on board. It wasn't smuggling, but it felt like it.

---

---

Steel Gangster Idol Ganmoru will be right back

---

---

Closed captioning for Steel Gangster Idol Ganmoru is brought to you by the Republican Provisional Assembly.

---

---

Steel Gangster Idol Ganmoru is back, hope you didn't go anywhere!

---

---

A massively bandaged figure walked onto the bridge. "Please remove these, they impede my function." "We need something specialized to restore you, you'll be better before you know it." "I already know it." "This is going to be a long trip."

It sure was for them, but it almost felt like an instant before they had arrived to meet their buyer for the platinum. Regular tramp steamers had it so easy, Lime was looking for specific people. And this one wasn't even a shady buyer, this guy looked to represent a BMM contract needing platinum additive for something industrial and wanting to cut some corners. But it was a buyer, and near where they wanted to go anyway. Then came the fun part.

The Calico slipped past the Dublin blockade to purchase gold from yet another set of Lime's associates, these a little closer to who he was looking for.

Connacht was exactly what they expected: a bunch of dreary yet hopeful miners more than happy to give them a huge pile of gold. It was a damn shame practicality forced them to wear attire more suited for their employment and not anything leprechaun-related, but apart from that, the experience was perfect.

The Calico breezed out, her hold laden with gold. The gift shop had those tricorn hats, and Mr. Lime had put one on. It looked stupid, but he insisted it was neat. And so the disreputable Dunlin continued onwards, tramp steaming its way across the stars.

Redbelly

I have my doubts as to the likelihood of pulling this off. If war breaks out now, the mass deployment will impede our efforts to an unacceptable degree. We'll be returning to Galileo soon. I will have another task for you soon, Mr. Cherry.

---

Steel Gangster Idol Ganmoru
"Uwa! Still no fanservice!"
Directed by Mr. Lime
Starring
Mr. Lime as Himself
Bob Uhsmith as Himself
Felix Brooks as Himself
Ganmoru as Herself

---

"They named this episode after me and I barely got any screentime! Hmph! Just wait until these bandages come off, which might happen in the next episode of Steel Gangster Idol Ganmoru! Bye, now!"

---

The Starfliers base wasn't the best place for a person such as Mr. Lime to be, but it would have to do. His associate, Mr. Cherry, landed, and they immediately began their discussions.

"Are you sure it's wise giving them this much? There's nothing stopping them from taking everything and pointing it right back at us." "I am running this project as I see fit, and your ass has been in that fighter too long. This is your chance to do some sit-down work and keep an ear open for something nice without going to look for it. I'm trying to give you opportunities."
The other man, Mr. Cherry, chuckled. "It has been a dry spell. I'll be there."

"Oh, and one more thing. You wouldn't know any plastic surgeons needing work, would you?" "Finally doing something about that, huh?" "Look, I wasn't going to tell him, but no. We found a humanoid robot, like all the way aggressively normal human robot. It needs a little TLC, we found it in some pretty bad shape. Or, well, I guess it found us." "You'll understand if I don't land on the Calico's bay anymore, right?" "She isn't that bad. A bit of a drama queen with a short temper and a shorter battery life, but the place is suddenly a lot nicer. Cleaner, that kind of deal." "You have a robot housewife? The stars will be painted red in your blood when she's through with you." "Oh, stop it."

Mr. Cherry was only slightly surprised to see a bandaged figure waving to him from atop the Calico. Well, Lime said he was good at what he did, and he had just lined up a new kickass desk job for him, so he was probably... "You do realize she's on top of your ship waving at me, right?" "Oh that's where she went." The Calico's engines died down, a wise decision, as the small bits floating in space were already starting to leave pockmarks on the parts of her not covered up, as well as tearing clean through the bandages. She climbed down and the airlock cycled. Whatever words were had then, Mr. Cherry did not hear them, he figured it would either be a rampage and he was in danger, or Lime would take care of it. Either way, he had an appointment to keep.

---

"What is this, Reservoir Mercenaries? Why can't they have names like normal people? Don't look at me, I'm a robot! Anyway, what will our gold fevered crew do next? Find out on the next episode of The Disreputable Dunlin! Bye now, for real!"