he kept returning to the erisian texts. Dischordianisim had its points, they were few, but uncompromising.
The medical cruiser was coming along well zoners had shown their ability to stick to a construction estimate even in this case.
Jim was about to dictate into his journal when someone... From his past arrived.
The black skinned man had a bald head and graying mustache... about Jims age the man folded his arms and leaned on his door frame.
"Always thought you junkers needed a backbone." The black gentle.. not so gentle man said.
"Ho ho thats rich coming out of your mouth." Jim said.
Jim squinted his eyes to make sure he wasn't guessing incorrectly who it was.. it had been nearly 20 years.
"Mike?" jim guessed
"Your blind too? Crap you survive the years for what." Mike walked closer to Jim..
Confirming his suspicions it was none other then the most annoying LSF agent he ever knew... and ever met three times.. now counting four times in his life.
"So who do you work for now?" Jim asked.
"Myself. Ive been retired for about eight months and Ive been following a few leads that... have always... bothered me." Mike said rubbing his bald head
"So when the beard goes white you run out and they throw you out." Jim joked.
Mike smiled a little.. a facial expression that didn't last long outside a bar for him. Jim and Mike weren't friends... if anything there was a preceptive rivalry or antagonism but not even that flourished.
And now? Had he a gun Jim would have shot at him... but now? ... it seems age.. and time has weathered all that down.
"How many times I wanted to plant a bolt in yer arse for being such a... Agh.. yer tensing me up you blasted.." jim said half in pain.. he hit the button on his morphine but.. found the reduced doses John had him on didn't grant relief more of.. a removal of the edge.
"Relax Smith. I aint here to shake you down. I just have questions and then im gone." Mike had a data pad and put in in-front of Jims face. it was one of the new ones.. had a nice silver finish.
"I got problems with your kinda questions... but lucky for me my nurse thats doing a coat rack impression by the door there you walked past has had a stun carbine pointed at the back of your chocolate flavored dome the whole time... Ask away King." Jim relaxed.. opiates.. gotta love em.
The former navy man... turned lsf agent.. turned thorn in the side of profits looked back at tinny.. who had pointed said weapon at mike.. wih a pile of coats over its head.. the pair of robotic arms holding the stun rifle sticking out. Mike grinned.
"When we were younger and in our prime our first meeting was the result of something you and your boss Matthias had undertaken regarding some second hand shelters you delivered around.. oh 799 a.s. December?" Mike said straight to the point.
"Matty.... OH.. the Rhinelander dig..... delivered some mining equipment to Pygar during the lull, it was easy money.. Zoners, GMG, DSE, or course Junkers got paid a ton of credits because the sandstorms where down tot he point ships could land... Then.. well.. Trafalgar got torn up by some Wild.. you remember how wierd those times where." Jim said. Recollecting.
"Oh I definitely remember. Where you ever down on Pygar?" King asked.
Jim thought hard. So much happened in those years.. Pygars storms where in full swing in less then a year when they died down.
"I spent a whole of fifteen minutes down there picking up scrap from containers and such and Matthias and I basically left for Bretonia when the excavations stopped paying for tunneling gear. I remember Pygar smelled terrible... and a load of artifacts was already being pulled up marked crates with dirt. It seemed like they where just digging up dirt and dumping it into bins. We of course tried to get in on it... But Uh we heard stories about Corsairs ... like.. they'll eat you if you deal in artifacts that aren't theirs. So no money to be made.. we moved on home." Jims answer complete he looked at King wondering if such a person in the thick of it like he was.. Was was he chasing?
"You took scrap to New London? And then the wild attacked?" King asked further.
" I dont recall. Matty dropped me off at Leeds I heard about the Rhinelander ships everywhere and the whole war on the BBC." Jim said.
"We met up some time after that that first load of artifacts you saw was what I was after. Turns out that load never made it to Freeport seven so its scattered out there still." Mike admitted.
"Well if Matty saw you he woulda shot you before coming int he room rest his soul." Jim said pointing a finger at him... Freeport seven was just a cathedral type with those bio domes added... It didnt surprise Jim when he heard it was blown to bits... Even a junker wouldn't have slapped those components together like that.
"I did what I had to do Smith... I dont know if you can appreciate that." Mike said almost apologetic like.. that pissed Jim off.
"Oh dont you start. Matty was a cleaner junker then I ever was we all ain't sinners and slavers I (he emphasis the I like it was a monument) tend to assume the best in people, you and your roughing up an old man... you luck he lived ten years after that... he was tough.. tougher then me." Jim said out of breath he had shouted much during that sentence but didn't have the breath.
King nodded and took his data pad that jim almost threw at him.
"Doesent take a genious to figure out if your coming to me for leads on something like this your chasing a dead trail. Whats the point in chasing the past Mike... Im just living to make up for mine." Jim said raspy still getting his breath.
The bald old man put his pad away.
"Almost the same... I followed many of orders back then went on tons of assignments. And in hindsight I guess Im making sence of it all now. This lead isnt cold though... The artifact trade is still held legally by Kusari and before I left that was a serious concern some beleave that its the artifacts themselves responsible for Nomads in colony space." King Stated.
Jim chuckled " Good luck there.. I know a few collectors that use that stuff as flower pitchers and they dont want to give them up cause a few space jockeys get scared witless int he void."
"They are the one true threat to humanity Smith and the sooner we figure out a solution..." king was inturrupted.
"The sooner we can all go back to killing each other.. Have you paid attention to the news? I dont think the colony's are worried about Nomads anymore... That crusade or whatever shat hit the wind tunnel in eight dubba zero but now the sooner we get the Boorman treaty resigned and everyone back to business without warring one another and expanding into space the longer we will survive as a species." Jim didn't shake his finger too much.. he was find of it.. if it was a cudgel King would have been a red puddle.
"Well Mr. James... I cant sleep at night because im sure this will sneak up and bite us all when we arent paying attention... but I thank you for not shooting me." King said.
"Well.. Fine.. Then.. let this old man fade away into history and if YOUR smart... you will to." Jim said to a so called hero of the nomad war..
He had known him in the LSF during his time with the mind control and conditioning programs He had actually performed quite a few interrogations in the late 790's so while King was a navy officer and a new lsf kid Jim technically outranked him.. They were roughly the same ago too.. Jim didnt get along with anyone his age or older. Unless excessively older...
When the fat lady sung on Jims career and he went "native-junker" he had the honor of running into king on New London when they needed smelted scrap for alloys for replenishing the fleet over the Artifact trade.
Every time Jim had a run in alone or with his "mentor" Matthias (whom jim inherited a salvage frigate and later.. was blasted in half) it was over those stupid million year old trinkets. It basically lead Jim to never trade in it... Ever for fear some Ninja bad ass would fly out of jims closet at night and beat his routes out of him.
he turned to a life of supplying militant kusarian lesbian political action group with a poem as a mascot with feminine hygiene products because a.) it was safe and b) none of the other junkers THOUGHT of it as a priority. Jim had a sister he grew up with.. and later lost touch with cause of... Him being a space fairer and her being a much larger fan of ground based living.
Jim looked at his journal... calmed his mind.. and started his log as usual.
