Benjamin strolled into the Shipp Inn with the evening paper clasped behind his back, breasts of the ever-present greatcoat. He stopped and sniffed the air.
Cardamine. And full-blooded Cardamine, the pure essence found in Malta's air, not the cheap concentrate they fed the Hackers and Rogues.
He dropped his smile a bit and took a stool several seats down to see what the Outcast Sophie was serving was waiting for.
"Maltese Ale, Cardamine still in it?" Sophie leaned on the bar, adjusting her vest.
"As always, my dear, thank you," he gave her a wide, grizzled smile as he flipped open his paper.
His smile disappeared when next he looked up.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
The doors slammed open as the newcommer strolled in, proceeded by a long shadow. The bar regulars casually looked up, looked away again, then slowly tried to edge as far away as possible from the man, whilst subconsciously shielding their drinks with their hands.
He came to a halt at the front of the room, a thumb in each pocket. Several of the younger men, who had not spent much time in the bar burst out laughing, for before them was not the vision they had been expecting by the behaviour of the regulars.
Before them stood a short, skinny, straggly man, somewhere between fourty and two hundred and sixty-five, dirty, greasy long hair, covered in a thin layer of dark looking hair from head to toe. You could see the dirt under his fingernails. Sophie, who was already reaching for her special glasses, could smell the liquor on his breath from the other side of the room.
"Sho..." He says, "I hear there'sh shome'o' yew young'n's who be thinkin' yer pretty good 't keepin' yer licker down?"
This was met by a general cheer from the younger members.
"Any o' yew be prepared ter put yer liversh to the tesht?" he says, followed by a snicker.
"Then man up an' fashe me!" he said, before throwing himself down on the chair. The dramatic effect was somewhat ruined was when he failed to find the seat once, twice, and a third time, then was helped up and into the right position by a regular.
The door swung open and a man with a long leather trenchcoat walked through. With a smile, he nodded at the patrons as he walked to the bar, taking a seat next to his old friend.
"Hey Winchester, you old space dog!! I thought you were out running MOX in the Omicrons? Whatca doin' back here already?"
His face widened into a smile once again as Sophie glided over to him.
"You wouldn't happen to have some hot Junyo Sake back there dear, would ya?" He leaned in a bit closer and said in a low voice, "And maybe a tiny pinch 'o' Cardi for some flavor?"
She winked at him, and moved down the bar with a smile, fetching his cocktail.
He reached in his trenchcoat and pulled out 2 big cigars, flipping one on the bar in front of Jonathon. "Try this." He said. "Just picked 'em up on the Culebra Smelter yesterday. My buddy there gets a box brought in for me from time to time."
He pulled a lighter from his pocket and fired up his cigar. Taking a deep drag, he said with a grin,"Yep, this is what it's all about."
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you.
You blame me for my silence, say Its time I changed and grew.
But the war's still going on dear, and theres no end that I know...
And I cant say if were ever...
I cant say if were ever gonna be free.
Gourgia walks in wearing A short black and red flowered dress.
"Do I get a first time discount?" she says to the young man behind the counter.
"Umm...I errr..You ..umm..You, you can have the FREE" young guy manages to say will trying not to stare.
"Hehe, I'll take that as a yes, So I'll just have a Soy coffee please if you have it?" Gourgia says with a wink.
She then moves on over to the Table over looking the Planet.
"Beautiful isn't it?"
Gourgia's happiness disappears and is replaced by nothingness and just sits there staring.
' Wrote:I like how he doesn't even attempt to hide a +1.
Unlike me, I'm pro at making it look like I actually have an opinion on the topic.
Except in this post.
I'm feeling rebellious.
Andrew Harris, pilot of the Casual Friday, walked into the bar looking dejected.
"Oh, what a day I've had..." he said as he sat down at the bar. "Or is it night? Whatever. It's space, it's irrelevant. Hey, Sophie, get me a... ah, I don't care. Get me a something. Something stiff."
Andy looked about the bar. There weren't many people there, and certainly not many of the regulars he'd come to know. Regardless, he felt he had to tell his story to whoever was present. He turned to the man closest to him.
"So I was on New Berlin, right? I was doing the usual diamonds-niobium run between there and Kyushu. Y'know, pulling the Kyofu Burn and all that... But as I got into Sigma-13, I ran into these two guys. Guess who they were?"
The man sitting next to Andy didn't respond. In fact, he didn't even really seem to care. Andy went on with his story, anyway.
"Phantoms. Just my luck. Phantoms! Those crazy... I made my way fast as I could to the Chugoku jump hole, but one of 'em followed. Disrupted me and proceeded to beat the crap outta me. Although don't get me wrong, I gave him a good fight. I, uh..."
Andy stared into space for a moment, as if focusing on a point somewhere a few inches above the bar.
"Nah, I didn't give him a good fight. Who am I kiddin'? He really did beat the crap outta me. Took out my engines, popped my hull with a torp, blew up my ship and left. One of the Blood Dragons picked up my pod, lucky I paid for that bribe. They set me up for transport back to Bonn Station in New Berlin. They were nice enough to go so far outta their way..."
Sophie arrived with Andy's drink. He took a few sips and put the glass down again. "So yeah, I got to Bonn," he continued, "And borrowed one of Interspace's ships. I'm one of their employees, technically, so it's just as much mine as it is theirs, right? Well, that's how I figure it. Hope Interspace sees it the same... But, uh, yeah, so I took it back the the planet, figured, 'Well, I ain't going that way again,' so I decide to play it safe. Stick to the tradelanes with a different run.
"I loaded up on engine components and headed off to the Stuttgart jump gate. I was gonna take 'em to the Mollys down in Dublin... but then the tradelane got disrupted. And sittin' there was on of those creepy "Wild" guys, started shootin' me on the spot. I dodged as best I could, then thought, 'hell with this.' I dropped like two dozen countermeasures and cruised all the way to the next tradelane. Didn't even bother gettin' back in that one. But thenyou wouldnt believe itthen, the guy was there waitin' for me. I guess he took the tradelane and got there 'fore I did."
Andy stopped and took another gulp from his drink. "So he blew up my ship. Well, Interspace's ship, y'know... I ejected again, and I think the guy had all intention of destroying my pod, too, but a battleship patrol came around and scared him off before he could. They picked me up, offered to take me back to Bonn, but I told 'em to drop me off at the planet. Hell, I wasn't about to tell Interspace that I'd 'borrowed' one of their ship and got it blasted to pieces."
Andy put his face in his hands and groaned. "Lost my ship, lost someone else's ship, got no money to show for it." He looked back up, took another sip of his drink, and then chuckled softly to himself. "Y'know," he went on, "I used to travel without nanobots and shield batteries. I figured, 'pfft, when will I ever need those?' Well, I'll tell ya now, I'm not leaving another station without 'em" Andy turned to the man sitting next to him, only to find that he was no longer there.
Andy looked to Sophie. "Uh, when did he..." Andy began.
"A while ago, hon," Sophie answered before he could finish
"Ah..." Andy said to himself. He continued to stare at the bar stool where the man had been for about a minute longer.
"Some day," Andy finally muttered, and went back to his drink.
Greg walked in, walking tall, leaner and fitter than he'd looked in a while. Almost back to his old self, but not quite.
"Orange juice please, Sophie."
He kicked Ted as he walked past him.
"Get up you drunkard. The floor is no place for a gentleman. Even one such as yourself."
"Changed your tune a bit, Greg. Last time I saw you, you were as drunk as he intends to be."
"Different times, my lady, I find myself in a position where I needed to change my lifestyle. Alciohol has been the first casualty, ethics and morality may well be the second." He smiled.
"Well you're in the IND ain't ya? Where were you morals and ethics in the first place?" Sophie smiled also.
"Touche, my darling, touche."
Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.
Cutter leans back against his barstool and lets out a chuckle.
"Ya know there Ted," he called to him "your bank account ain't gonna get no bigger while your shinin' the floor with that ass 'o yours. But then again, Manhattan airspace is just a tad bit safer with you in here instead of in your cargo hauler."
He reaches in his pocket and flips Sophie a 100 credit chip. "Give ol' Ted another one of them pints, and put just a pinch of cardi in there for flavor. And PLEASE make sure he doesn't fly for another few hours. He almost took out the relay tower on top of the station last time!"
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you.
You blame me for my silence, say Its time I changed and grew.
But the war's still going on dear, and theres no end that I know...
And I cant say if were ever...
I cant say if were ever gonna be free.
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![[Image: SethSig.png]](http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p272/Sedrander/SethSig.png)
![[Image: Del1.png]](http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/Spiderjerusalem1979/Del1.png)