Hey, Aspen. It's been... far too long. How have you been?
I don't want to be a stranger, least of all, to you. I don't know how you managed to pull that off and talk some sense into the guy, but-- I thank you. Nnrgh, man, he's totally gonna verbally destroy me if he ever sees me again.
But besides that, sure, absolutely. I'd welcome the opportunity to hear you out, and be brought up to speed on what I left out from that whole debacle with you-know-who. I'm feeling kind of stupid for not talking about it sooner, and for vanishing off of existence for months, and for leaving my PDA in the washing machine (again). Heck, at this point, I reckon you might just toss an entire coffee cup on my face and leave. You're allowed to do it, so long as its an iced coffee, I don't really want second degree burns.
Uhm, say. Where do you live these days? I can bring Amsel wherever you are with me, she'd love to meet you. I talked plenty about you to her. I also kind of need her to keep me awake on behalf of my... erm, fainting tendencies. I'm not exactly in the best bodily shape, thanks to me being in my situation.
Curses. The consequences of mine own actions!
Playback terminated.
Running end-stream paragraphs.
Running burner paragraphs.
ERROR: exception at 0x00007f found
ERROR: exception at 0x000001 ♐︎□︎◆︎■︎♎︎
☜︎☼︎☼︎⚐︎☼︎?︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ♋︎♍︎⧫︎♓︎□︎■︎
♍︎♋︎■︎■︎□︎⧫︎ ♌︎♏︎ ◆︎■︎♎︎□︎■︎♏︎
Z-NET ACCESS 4.0 | S E C U R E | BETHLEHEM version 0548.81915211L Copyright Alex Maccabelli, 832 A.S., Confederacy of Freeports - You are using FREE edition.
User ID:__Aspen Harlow
Target ID:__Lazurith
Subject:__Sir, You Are Being Hunted (by Me)
So dramatic, bud!
You know I wouldn't want to hurt you. More importantly, that'd be a witless waste of coffee.
Pfff... !
Well, there's simply no way you forgot where I live, since you were there. But I'm out on the Dandelion, taking care of a few things important to me. I'll be near to Vespucci and Pennsylvania for a while, in fact. Do come this way sometime, I'll be thrilled to meet your friend.
Z-NET ACCESS 4.0 | S E C U R E | AUDE version 0543.273719A. Copyright Alex Maccabelli, 832 A.S., Confederacy of Freeports - You are using FREE edition.
User ID:__Aspen Harlow
Target ID:__Lazurith
Subject:__Business
Rendering transcript...
Howdy.
Check your account for receipt of your cut. Just wired it your way. Thanks again for the cover.
If you happened to log any of the wrecks or jump holes yourself, consider submitting your own captures. Sounds like whoever the client is, they'd pay you a bonus for your data as well. Must be an inquisitive bunch. Here's the job posting, if the mood strikes you.
I'll keep my ear open for you about this acquaintance of yours.
Hey, thanks a lot. Check this out: I finally got my stupid comm rig to work as intended! Now I can beam out all kinds of communiques to whoever the hell I want.
Speaking of which, our potential friend is next on the list. So hang on tight, I'll get you in touch with her, and you can talk to her to your heart's content.
Bowman's gotten in contact with me too, recently. I'll delegate that to Amsel, she's really eager to get back to work.
END 05F68000... OK // BYTES TRANSFERRED = 11676665 (B22BF9 HEX) // UPLOAD STATUS... COMPLETED // SHUTDOWN
I've sent Amsel to collect 250 cigar crates instead of the FIVE required ones that Bowman asked for. I was too worried about the individual pricing of each crate, I thought Pinnacle needed two hundred and fifty. And, you know, with all the stuff I'm doing over here, it didn't OCCUR to me to stop for a minute before sending her to Baden-Baden to finalize the purchase.
And on top of that, instead of typing "Prometheum" on the shopping list, I fat-fingered something and it came out as "Promethane".
So... now, uh, I guess Pinnacle now has about one thousand and two hundred fifty units of highly flammable gas from Gallia that's also totally incompatible with Sirian technology. And a lot of cigars. I don't think there's enough chainsmokers in all of Sirius who could go through all that many cigars.
I really should've paid more attention. I haven't been back at this in a good long minute. I really hope this isn't gonna be a problem for you or anyone on Pinnacle. Sorry.
Should I talk to Bowman about this?
END 05F68000... OK // BYTES TRANSFERRED = 11676665 (B22BF9 HEX) // UPLOAD STATUS... COMPLETED // SHUTDOWN
Z-NET ACCESS 4.0 | S E C U R E | AUDE version 0543.273719A. Copyright Alex Maccabelli, 832 A.S., Confederacy of Freeports - You are using FREE edition.
User ID:__Aspen Harlow
Target ID:__Lazurith
Subject:__RE: Help
Rendering transcript...
Yeeeeup, so. I got chewed out myself over this a few hours ago. That was fun. Thanks for that little gift. Lovely way to start the day.
So, you wanna know what I think? NO, don't "talk to Bowman about this". There's nothing you're going to just say to turn around his mood. Best to let that run its course, I believe. After all, the man has every right to his anger, doesn't he? We're only trusting you with a piece of our revolution. I think he can expect you to use spellcheck.
Look, don't take it personally. I got my reprimand in person, so I read a decent impression off of him. He's mad, yes, but it's really not about you. He already started with low expectations of freelancers, but Bowman has a strategist's perspective. He's a planner. Ex-Bret government maybe, but I'm unsure. Being led into allowing an inefficiency to creep in is what really got under his skin. By, um, trusting me. Yep...
I mean to say that if you were to suddenly come through, I doubt he'd hold a grudge. His temper could've been a lot worse. Let him blow off some steam, this error isn't the end of the world. But, it'd be fair if you tried a little harder to not embarrass me for passing you work, don't you think? Remember you've got some other requests I'm still waiting on that are rather pressing.
Think you can finish things out okay? You know... stick the landing?
Z-NET ACCESS 4.0 | S E C U R E | AUDE version 0543.273719A. Copyright Alex Maccabelli, 832 A.S., Confederacy of Freeports - You are using FREE edition.
User ID:__Aspen Harlow
Target ID:__Lazurith
Subject:__Check-in
Rendering transcript...
Hey, Laz.
Tell me. How's it coming on the scrambler devices?More or less explosive, since your last iteration? Our old friend Montes nearly bankrupted me, but I can still pay you handily.
Also, what do you think about Sabah? Not everyone here has a generous appraisal of Crayter, but as I reckon, their behaving contrary to Liberty's line is good news for the rest of us.
[07.02.2026 21:12:16] =CR=ISE-Pleiades: What do zoners want with me?
[07.02.2026 21:12:20] Blackguard: Woah.
[07.02.2026 21:12:30] Blackguard: Relax, man. It's just a Zoner.
[07.02.2026 21:12:30] Red.Dandelion: Just... surprised at seeing an Order battleship, that's all.
[07.02.2026 21:12:34] =CR=ISE-Pleiades: I'm justa supply ship.
[07.02.2026 21:12:48] Red.Dandelion: No word at all about why that's sitting there?
[07.02.2026 21:12:55] Red.Dandelion: It's hard to miss.
[07.02.2026 21:13:05] Red.Dandelion: Does Liberty get upset with you about it?
[07.02.2026 21:13:18] =CR=ISE-Pleiades: Liberty can suck it up.
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