Misao popped open the hatch to the electronic components of the ship, and began fixing the systems. A manual restart of the targeting reticule, which required some manual efforts, followed by some more work on the ship console, aligning the reticule on each axis...
Misao smiled softly as the reticule flashed green, confirming it was now aligned with the weapon systems.
"It's done, m... uh, Rommie!" she said, her voice a bit more enthusiastic. She closed the hatch of the electronic components again, and came out of the ship.
Noam turned back at Rommie, still playing with the gun.
"They are working, all right, have your AI run a simulation, if you must - would take an hour or two, I guess, but as long as you coded him right, he'll give you the confirmation you need. I do take pride in the quality of work I do. As for the trip..."
He took a pause to reassemble the gun, and not five seconds passed until it was whole again. "Just keep it cool, Noam, we need to get a point across here, or we could very well end up as a corpse.", he thought, as he reached for the clip from his belt.
"As long as you can get someone to move my ship, I'm fine with it, we could talk and tweak the gear some more. Just..."
He slid the clip in a blur and pointed the gun at Rommie's chest.
"Don't try to shoot me."
He put the laser back in it's holster, and grinned like a jester.
Rommie was a little shocked that he pulled a gun on her, after all she was rather nice to him... Unusual for her.
"The only time I will shoot you is if you ever pulled a gun on me again, I maybe a bit tipsy but, I's still just a dangerous" Rommie patted Noam on the shoulder and smiled at him.
"If it makes you feel any better you can follow me in your ship"
She turned to face Misao and smiled at her
"Thanks kid, you are quite the little mechanic aint ya? If you ever need my help here is my comm code"
Rommie went back to the bar to look for the rest of her crew, their comm's were switched off... They better have a damn good reason for being late... She saw her helmsman getting roughed up by some unknown figure on her way to the bar.......
"Oi.... leave him alone punk" She drew her weapon and fired a warning shot, he looked at her and went for his gun.... Rommie fired two shots into his chest killing him instantly.....
"What did you do to annoy him? Don't bother answering lets get outta here before the Junkers come to investigate".................
More than a week had passed since Rommie escorted Noam to Mactan Base, she was stressed and tired of evading Liberty patrols... Her crew needed some downtime and for that Rochester was always the place for it.
Rommie walked into the bar, with her was the helmsman of he ship, clutching her weapon just in case... She was convinced someone was stalking her.
"Gimme a whiskey barkeep, and a Liberty Ale" Rommie demanded...
"Hey skipper, are you ok?" Said the helmsman....
"Aye, I'm alive and kicking so that's all that counts... Just a word of advice Sean" Rommie glared at him, expecting him to say something but he was silent.
"Next time you see a Navy battlegroup, don't try and fly straight passed it... you make yourself invisible and go around them you bloody fool."
"Aye skip, it wont happen again."
They both got their drinks and Sean went and sat down, while Rommie stood at the bar for a while..........
Noam got the tea he ordered earlier and started sipping on it.
"No dice, Rommie, I'm in a ground-breaking medical trial, you see, and I'm not even making this up. About the story, though... So here I am, flying through Pennsylvania, and this miner - miner, of all things a miner - remembered he had a gripe with Phate, and decided to wage a war on all Lane Hackers. Long story made short, *he* tried to hunt *me* down, masterfully coordinating his search... on the public comms channel. And it gets better..."
"Ah, door surveillance. A fine habit, I would be into it if I didn't have more on my mind, but I have a story to tell, now don't I?"
He took another sip of tea to regain some composition.
"Well, he found me, allright - not that I was running away, being to busy laughing and all, but there. So, what does he do? He stops before shooting. He's sitting there, motionless. And I'm in a Dagger, so you can imagine how that went - he couldn't even *hit* me. And it gets better... an Outcast gunboat came along and asked what was up. A few seconds later, my angry miner is in an escape pod, having had his second ship destroyed by outlaws... and he was *still* spamming the public comms frequency with his war on all outlaws plans. Some people don't learn, I guess. So, how have you been lately?"
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