Schutzengel - Personal Logs

[aerelm]

Chapter 10: Personal Favor
811 A.S

"[font=Book Antiqua]Can I sit down?" The boy heard a woman behind him and turned around. A Middle-aged Lady was standing behind him. "um ... sure!" The boy said and waited for the woman to sit down in front of him. "Thank you." The woman said with a warm smile, but the boy was confused, "What for?" he asked, "Well, I'm Ralph's wife, I think that explains enough..." The woman said, "Ah... I see..." The boy said and nodded, The woman chuckled and said "That stupid man will get himself killed one of these days... Thank you for saving him. Everyone tells him those stupid Guns he is looking for do not exist, but he keeps looking and looking and looking...." The woman sighed and then looked at the boy and said, "Can I ask you something?" The boy didn't know what to say, "Depend on what it is..." he answered, "Well, I know its so much, but..." The woman said and then continued after a short pause, "...But, if you can look after Ralph for a while, and fly around with him to make sure he wont get himself killed, maybe even convince him that those Stupid guns don't exist..." The woman stopped and stared out of the Bar window without a single word. The boy didn't know what to say, he was just looking down at his hands and thinking, after a minute or so he looked up and noticed the woman is pressing her lips together, maybe trying not to cry. "Sure ma'am..." The boy said, The woman looked back at the boy and smiled, then shook her head and said, "Stupid me! I even forgot to introduce myself! I'm Suzanne, Don't call me 'ma'am' ..." She then took a deep breath and said, "And Thank you! I know it's really selfish of me, but I seriously don't want Ralph to get himself killed in a place like this... We don't even have enough cash to buy a better ship, and now that his ship is left in the nowhere, I don't even know what he's gonna do anymore, But keep an eye on him please, he is crazier than you think..." Suzanne said and stood up, then said, "Again, Thank you!" and walked to the Elevator without a word. The boy grabbed his glass again and started drinking, He was thinking to the endless blue of the cloud he had seen when he first jumped to Sigma-13, it was just hours ago, but already felt like months ago. He was thinking and drinking, unaware of his surroundings as his mind drifted back to his days in Freeport 9, as he suddenly heard some whispers from one of the tables.
Probably two men were talking, but what got his attention was name of his Ship, "That Roc seems to survive pretty well around here, I think we should ask the Guildmasters to buy us some of those." The first man said, "What do you mean? Wasn't that ship on of ours?" The second man replied, "Nah, That kid over there is the one flies that ship! He is a Freelancer or something." The boy took his Notepad out and pretended he is typing something in it, buy all he was doing, was to listen to the two men's conversation. He heard the second man chuckle and say, "You kiddin', right? How can that kid even know how to fly a Ship?" The First man answered, "I don't know, but he seems to be pretty good in it! He is the one that saved the Old Retard ya know!" "Old Retard? What do you mean?" The second man asked, then the first man chuckled and said, "You haven't been around long enough to know him, Saw that guy who was shouting all like crazy in the corridor? He is the one, his name is Ralph, but we call him Old Retard, cause he really is!" The first man laughed and started tapping his fingers on the table. "Oh, Him! So What is he doing around here? He is not one of ours, is he?" The second man asked. The first man chuckled again and said, "No, He is a Freelancer as well, but he haven't left Sigmas for the past Eight years! He is looking for... Codenames!" "And what the hell is that?" The second man asked, The first man lowered his voice and started to explain, and the boy had to listen more carefully to catch it all, "Well, I don't even know if they exist, I mean, It might just be a fairy tale and all, But some say Codenames are some type of Experimental Weapons that in the Eighty Years War, some of the Old Imperial Guard Ships used to have them mounted on their Ships, But that was only for the High Ranking Pilots, thats why they are so rare that some even don't believe they might exist. I mean, even if they -Do- exist, they are worth a Huge Price! And that Old Retard is not the first one who had heard about them, right? Even I know about it! So, he came here long ago, with his Wife and only Son, and came here to find those Codenames. I mean, come on! Eight Years and he doesn't want to admit they don't exist! His Son left him, His Wife nearly did the same twice, but returned again, cause knew he will get himself killed if no one watches after him, And she is right. Poor woman! Anyway, Time to get back to work, come on!" The boy heard them get up and move for the Elevator.

----Loading Log Entry #10----

"Codenames" "Experimental Weapons" "Old Imperial Guard"
"High Ranking Pilots" "Huge Price" "So rare" "The First one"
"Long ago" "His only Son" "Poor woman" "Get himself killed"
"Time to get back to work"

----End of Log Entry #10----

After they left, the boy looked down at the Notepad he was holding and realized he had typed in some random words of the conversation without knowing it, so he shook his head and put the Pad back in his bag, and went to the Elevator as well.