Outsider

[Laowai]

The Bridge of the Battleship Venganza was a hive of activity as she hung in a synchronous high orbit with the docking rings above Planet Crete. Her bridge crew handling the dozens of manifest scans, comm transmissions and other administration matters that seemed to come flooding in each time she was taken on patrol.
She was a warship, but sometimes Ben Laowai felt her to be a large floating office, with a few guns to allow the staff to let off steam.
Since the battle in Brettonia however she had been major incident free, the ship and her crew had even managed to amass a few small victories that had done wonders for the regular crews' morale. In a small room behind the bridge, Laowai sat at a desk strewn with papers. Seemingly sprawled across the table with no thought to order there were council matters, finance matters, crew matters and a half a dozen other things that needed attending to.
He sat facing the door, scrawling across a note sent to him by a Tripoli engineer offering a price on an internal upgrade; he had just finished writing the words "You're supposed to pirate outsiders, not corsairs" on it when a soft buzzing sound from the door disturbed his thoughts.

"Open" he called out so that the ships computer would register the command. He always worked with a door locked, it was a habit that he had begun years ago and one that he now did without thinking. Some people thought him paranoid, he just thought himself careful.
Recently a bounty hunter had managed to hack his personal comms and had spent an extremely irritating period of time taunting him over the comm system as he attempted to track Laowai and his personal Titan in Omega 47. Added to that came the news from Corsair intelligence agents that the Outcast Council of Dons had place a personal bounty on his head as part of a general bounty on the whole council. He wasnt exactly looking over his shoulder, but he wasnt giving them any chances, you dont rise to a position of power in the corsairs without the ability to pick your battles.

Phillip Alberto strode into the room "Hola Capitan!" he said. Ben looked up and gestured to a chair on the other side of the desk. Alberto was a good man, and Laowai had found he had come to trust the younger man a great deal. He had proven himself capable many times over, both as the helmsman of the Xibanya Nuren and then commanding the Outsider. He would make a good captain in his own right someday Ben had thought often and now had confidence in trusting the man with a range of important tasks.

"I need you head out to Omicron Delta" he said to him. Alberto nodded quickly, "Si senor, you shall be needing more.. Samples"? Laowai shook his head - "No, not this time". He handed a datapad across the desk on which there was a starchart of the Omicron Delta system. He highlighted part of it "Here" he said "Is a jumphole that goes to an as yet relatively uncharted system". The coordinates now centered on the data pads small screen and Phillip studied them carefully. "i want you to jump though, scan the place and if you meet any significant resistance, get out."
Phillip nodded again "Just scans Captain?"

"Just scans" Ben said nodding.

His comm indicator beeped and he pressed it "What is it?"

"transmission for you captain, coming in from the Texas system"


He scolwed slightly; "Put it through". He looked up and shook his head "This will be the boy". Phillip raised his eyebrows "Your nephew?" and Ben scowled again; "yes, my nephew."

The screen on the desk flickered and the slightly grainy image of a young fair haired Libertonian lad appeared on the screen, his usual cheery countenance, slightly muted for this call. "Howdy there Uncl... i mean Ben" he said.
Laowai scowled 'Howdy nothing boy, you got careless." He held up an intelligence report that was one of many laying on his desk, on it was a list of Bounties being broadcast by the Brettonian Authorities, highlighted was the name "Donny Ren".
Donny was visibly uncomfortable "I can explain that, it was a one off, i swear i wasn't even at the conn and...." he paused... "well, what i rightly mean is..."

Laowai interrupted him "I don't want excuses boy, that cargo was valuable and I'm paying you far more than you should be getting paid to take it. You lose it, and i will NOT be impressed - now with a bounty on your head you will get noticed and NOT being noticed is crucial in what we do do you understand?"

The young man nodded, the image on the screen distorting slightly from interference "Well, i know i know, i done bad there, I'll be much more careful from now on, you'll see."
Ben dropped the report, "you had better be, now, I'll see you next time you're here, Laowai out."

He closed the connection. Phillip raised one eyebrow; "The boy got caught eh?".

"More that he got scanned" Ben answered. He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. "I had to swallow my pride to admit it but the boy is good at what he does, i dare say he's been lucky to not have had a run in this long."

He handed Phillip a code key "Outsiders' new comm frequencies" he said. "Remember, i just want scans for now, thats all."

Phillip took the key and stood to leave "Very well Capitan, i will have them for you as soon as possible." Smiling he turned and left the room.

Ben leaned back in the chair and looked out the window at the stars and the slowly rotating globe far below that was Crete. Its brown and red burnt surface obscured in patches by drifts of cloud that circled it like random brush strokes from a child's painting. On the table near the window, sitting in a black open box which was padded, lined and specially fitted, sat a small purple-bluish crystal.


He still had much work to do....

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