Candlelit Dinner

[Zapp]

New York, Sector G6

The Shadow Very Heavy Fighter stared down the Guardian, sitting a scant distance from the Texas jump gate in New York. Buzzing about were two Freelancers, very confused about the particulars behind the Phantom Empire, especially the "bloodthirsty terrorists" part. One of them, Kantze, rammed his ship against that of Black Rose, yelling 'Hug!'.

Surprisingly to Galen Anderson, pilot of the Guardian, there was no violent and explosive reaction. Black Rose simply yelled 'Hug!' back.

Then the Phantom did something more surprising -- she forced Galen into going out with her on a date, on Rochester at 7PM MST (Manhattan Standard Time) the following day. The alternative was she would hunt him down and do unpleasant things to him.

Wisely, or perhaps not, he accepted under extreme duress.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next day, Black Rose was in a rented room on Rochester. Her flight suit and Phantom full-body armor hung in the closet, and she wore a brilliant white dress covered in black roses. Sitting in front of a mirror, she was running a brush through her hair repeatedly, it's luscious raven color complimenting her Corsair complexion perfectly. She smiled to herself, looking completely innocent. All her scars were hidden, and not only be clothes.

Reservations had been made at the best bar on the station. As a matter of fact, she had managed to "persuade" the owner of the establishment to make sure she and her date, Galen, were alone.

Completely confident in walking about unarmed, as she could kill just about anyone with her bare hands, she got up and walked to the bar. She found the table, smack in the middle of the room, and sat down at it. Waving off the extremely nervous 'waiter' (she had made clear that the owner would have to play the part), she settled in to wait for Galen. With a clock on the table. If he was even one minute late, well...

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