Barrier Gate Station West Wing Pub, The Lone Drunkard

[Marrone]

Reggie grinned again, greasing back his oil hair. After pondering which story to tell, he lit up and started the tale; "Well, y'see, with th' Outcasts, I pissed 'em off by jettisoning a bunch of Cardamine tha' I was supposed to smuggle, righ'? So, when I finally gaw' back t' my home an' my sweetheart over in some apartment at some station, I didn't give it no thought, infact, thought they'd understand m'predicament. So, me an' my girl did our nightly ritual, bu' this time with her lil' pink slippers-- Oh, I mean, uh, well, yeah. . .So I woke up in th' middle of th' night, looked at m'girl and really started thinkin' how lucky I was, but then I heard some footsteps outside. Din' really mean nothin' to me, until I could hear th' door bein' tampered with. Thinkin' it was burglers I reached under m' pillow and got my pistol out as soon as the door opened. Pushed my baby down on th' other side of the bed fer' cover and started blastin' an we 'ad a shoot out righ' there. Turns out th' two fellows who were after me were sent t'make me disappear, an' I knew it 'cuz ther' was more headin' my way. So, me an' my sweetheart threw on some clothes an' stole the assassin's keys an' codes to his ship, 'cuz well, I knew tha' my ship woulda' been rigged with 'splosives anyhow. After we finally gaw' off into space, thins' seemed to be gettin' smooth, righ'?"

He took a gulp of his drink, spitting on the bar abruptly afterwards. "Bu'ya'see, they were on our tail, so we 'ad a little ship fight. Wasn't really in m'prime, since I got shot from before, b'I fended 'em off a bit until we reached some planet. So, thins' really turned sour when our hull started bucklin', 'cuz we were actually gettin' pushed into the planets surface, y'see? Not through no gate 'er anythin', no ma'am, the real harsh way everyone tells y'not to try. Well, it was hell comin' down an' it was even worse on tha' planet. My sweet baby died off on th' landin' an' I was darn lucky t'survive me'self. . ." He spat onto the table and smiled, a little disheartened. "So, y'wanna hear th' rest?"

---