Clyde was getting anxious. No one had contacted him in a few hours since they found Rufus in the medical wing on the Freeport. He lined up another rail, took it in, and then decided on going for a walk. He walked past the flight deck, and noticed Zack hard at work on something. He carried on for a few minutes till he reached the mess. You couldn't really call it a mess on any traditional means. Sure it had the cooking facilities, the tables laid out in straight and tidy rows, and different assortments of the crew scattered about in their little social groups, but there was no discipline of a military in there. Clyde walked across the the entertainment corner, and picked the latest edition of Smelly Old Petes Brochure of Slaves. He flicked through it and found himself getting excited. A new haul of Bretonian women were up for sale. "Crikies! Look at the boozums on that one!" He exclaimed to himself. He looked up and noticed Zack was staring at him. "Oi Zack!"Clyde beckoned Zack over"Check out the boobs on this one! You up for a little stress relief? My shout!"
Alex said nothing as he carried the blackbox over to his laptop. He ran it through the programs and file conversions with his fingers flashing nimbly over the keyboard. After a few minutes he unplugged it and tossed it back to Joseph.
"He's clean." He said simply shutting off his laptop and closing it before returning it to his backpack. He finally returned the Lupara to its holster in the small of his back.
"Let's get going Bonnie. Nothing more to see here."
Alex slung his backpack over his shoulder and climbed into his Eagle before starting pre-flight checks.
Joseph walked over to the fighter, and ran his hand along the wing. A custom job he had done for Alex, rewiring the power to make it more efficient. He looked at Alex. "Amigo, how are things there? I miss the crew."
Meanwhile on the intruder....
Zack blushed as he saw the brochure, "Heya man, I'm always up for a party, but your bringing the booze!" He wondered what Bonnie would think of it all.
"That's my lad!"Clyde bellowed as he patted Zack on the back. "I'll make a few calls, and hopefully we can be off our faces and buried deep inside a Bret woman by the time the others get back!"
With that, Clyde proceeded to the communications room to make the appropriate contact to the supplier labelled on the brochure
"Just about the same as always." Alex replied with a sigh. "Clyde's still trying to shag everything with a heart beat, Zack still spends all his time with his beloved engines, and everyone else is telling me they want promotions and pay raises." Alex rubbed his forehead.
"And then of course there's the whole 'Rufus is in a coma and left me in charage' thing. Still not quite used to it yet... not to mention now I gotta figure out who shot him down which is going to involve more hacking." Alex shook his head.
"But at least Emma's not trying to kill me any more so that's a spot of sunshine." He sighed. "What happened with McCarthy anyway?"
[font=Times New Roman]Bonnie had been watching the two in silence, after she was made to put away her gun, She just didn't like Joseph. She headed over to her ship, leaving them alone to talk [color=#FF99FF]"Ill see you back on base" She said to Alex trying to sound friendly, and failing before closing the cockpit of her ship, and manoeuvring it out into space forgetting the pre flight checks. She wondered what she would get home to, Clyde, a whole lot of girls, alcohol; was the usual. Shaking her head, she set her cruise engine power to 100% and headed home.
The Barghest slowly pulled into the docking bay, the first time it's hull had touched dock in a long bit.
None of it's three person crew were on speaking terms.
The battleworn hull shew as docking lights flooded over it, and the structural integrity took a big test when the weight settled down to the deck, groaning for a split second as the scramjets slowed and supported less and less weight before finally conking out.
The young and newly minted engine technician threw a poisonous look at the captain before storming out and down the still lowering access ramp, her red hair flurrying briefly in the last gasp of the engines.
Ian sighed and looked over to his weapons engineer.
Michael steadfastly refused to return the look, retreating to the solitude of the torpedo room and his bunk.
Ian repeated his daily mantra in his head. Well, I was going to kill myself today, but I think I can get through the day. Let's try tommorow.
He shut down the consoles and went outside to work to fix the bloody mess that was his ship.
Meaghann was furious. That bloody tosser, thinks he can pick me up out of the middle of nowhere, recruit me to his bloody pirating crew. I run my life, gorramit!
She closed her eyes and wished once again that everything was all right, and that she was back on Arranmore, before striding into what she presumed was a mess, having followed the often (badly) vandalized signs. Bastards better have real beer, not lukewarm piss.
gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|
Joseph listened solemnly, and nodded at hearing it all."Sounds like Clyde. But you get used to it after awhile."He laughed at it all. "Amigo, if you need some help, I'm around, just call me. I know we weren't on good terms when I left, but theres not much left out here, and maybe doing this will help me finalize my ties with them. He let that sink in for a second before adding a bit about McCarthy."The chica dissapeared on me awhile ago, so I ended up floating around taking what work I could get. Then I just took the money I had saved and retreated here."
"Well, I've gotta get going. I'll see you when I see you." He closed the cockpit and fired up the engines before taking off and heading back towards The Intruder. Sadly the trip to Freeport 14 had left far more questions than answers.
[font=Times New Roman]Bonnie arrived on the intruder. It was abnormally quiet considering Clyde had been left there almost by himself, she didn't expect Zack to stop Clyde doing what he does best. She looked around quickly, trying to spot Zack in the crowd; She wanted to tell him know how Rufus was doing in person, rather then via comm's. Shrugging when she couldn't find him she headed off to the bar to get a cold drink and a new packet of cigarettes - and with a bit of luck to find Clyde in one piece away from other woman he seems so fond of.
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