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Pyromaniac · 02-18-2011, 01:01 AM,

Episode 5

The light vocals mixed together with the cacophony of the pounding drums, distorted guitar, and powerful bass line. Alex turned his headphones up louder hoping the music would drown out his thoughts and he would lose himself in the cadence.

No such luck. The music continued as did his thoughts. Even as the song grew to its inevitable conclusion and Care Failure's, the lead singer, voice became tinged with far more desperation his thoughts continued uninterrupted. The final words were sung and the Die Mannequin song faded to nothing. There was a brief silence until his music player shuffled to a Papa Roach song he couldn't remember the name of.
Alex sighed and checked his watch. It was starting to get late and he was beginning to contemplate calling it a night and returning to base. The trade lane hummed quietly and his ship beeped to alert him to an approaching vessel.

It was a freighter. Small time independent trader. He didn't bother dropping the trade lane and the freighter shot through. Alex flicked his hair out of his eyes and turned down his music as his com system beeped.

He checked who it was, Blain, and hit talk.

'What's up?' He questioned.

'Not much, just making sure the Probie didn't fall asleep on me.' Blain replied. Alex sighed. Blain Spike was The Society's desk jockey. He was the one who had initially approached Alex with a job offer after Alex had traced the Intruder's location. Since Alex signed on Blain had taken to calling him 'Probie' short for 'Probation'.

'I prefer the term NUB if you don't mind.' Alex replied watching a few Starfliers shoot through the trade lane.

'Which stands for?'

'New Useless Bastard.'

'Whatever. How's it going out there?'

'Fine I guess.' Alex replied with a sigh.

'Specifics man, I do have to write a report on this.'

Alex rolled his eyes.

'I can write my own reports you know.'

'Mr. Ex-BAF wants to write his own reports? Don't make me laugh. Rufus wants these things short and to the point if he ever wants them at all. You're overly long overly detailed version will only end up in the pile of unread stuff on his desk.'

'Whatever.' Alex replied.

'Just give me the details.'

'There was an independent trader I hit up for one million and a second one that wouldn't pay and then escaped when I engaged them.'

'This is why you don't operate alone. You're guns are far more menacing when there's a second ship with you.'

'I know. But no one was around and I needed some air.'

'So is that all?'

'Yeah, quiet night.'

'Alright, how much longer are you planning on being out?'

'Thirty minutes tops. Why?'

'So I know whether to call you again or just wait for you to get back. Anyway, that's it. Carry on, Blain out.'
Alex sighed and put his headphones back on. The song had cycled again but he wasn't really listening anymore.

An Orbital Spa and Cruise liner had just showed up on his systems. He acted quickly and dropped the lane. The ship came to a sudden halt.

'Attention all passengers, please remain calm this situation will be resolved shortly.' The Captain of the ship said.

'Evening,' Alex greeted the captain. He was quickly joined by a Liberty Rogue who was flying by.

'Nice ship.' The Rogue commented flying in lazy circles around the stopped liner.

'Indeed, it'd be a shame if something'¦ happened to it.' Alex interjected.

'You've got a nice ship too,' The Captain commented to the Rogue. 'Don't usually see Rouges flying that model.'

'Enough chit chat.' Alex declared. 'Let's talk cash. There's a small tariff for safe travel around here.'

'How much are we talking?' The Captain asked.

'Two million and you can be happily on your way.' Alex replied. The Captain was silent for a moment.

'Alright.' He said finally. Alex checked his data pad and saw that the transaction had been successfully received. The liner began pulling away.

'Thank ye kindly.' Alex called after it with a slight tone of menace. The Rogue angled his ship to fly off.

'You want a cut?' Alex asked since the Rogue had technically assisted him.

'Naw, I'm good. You can keep it.' The Rogue replied as his ship took off. Alex sighed and angled his ship back to its place next to the lane. Then he noticed a system wide update from LPI. Unfortunately for him it included his location as a sight of pirate activity.

He sighed and angled his ship back towards home. So what if he went back fifteen minutes early? It wasn't like anything was going to be coming his way now. He engaged his cruise engines and headed back to base.
Alex's thoughts turned to home as he cruised silently through space. Evan had said that Emma wasn't really getting better when they had talked last. He just hoped she wouldn't fall back into old habits. She'd be far better off forgetting about him and moving on with her life.

Yet at the back of his mind he knew she'd never forget about him, and never forgive him. He could only hope she wouldn't make any rash decisions.

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