Walking through Section 8 to get to the bar ‘Dent’ had
mentioned caused a little bit of a stir. Oh, it wasn’t like people were
recognizing the Princess or anything like that. But a guy walking with four
armed and armored ladies definitely made an impression, even on a station like
this one. Thankfully, I hadn’t run into anyone who thought trying to harass a
guy for having a harem was a good idea yet. (Being heavily armed myself
probably had something to do with that.)
Mindy Lou’s Brew was run by a former soldier who had tired
of the day to day grind of Army life. The fact that she had ‘issues’ with
authority didn’t help any, and probably explained why she had never made it as
a merc or private security, after being discharged. Still, she’d managed to get
the credits together to open this bar on the shadiest station in Sol system, so
it wasn’t all bad.
Mindy Lou was what people commonly called an Amazon.
Augmentations were a big thing, and they came in many forms. The Amazon package
was a set of mods that basically turned the target female into a seven foot
tall avatar of walking death and destruction. Some bone lacing, genetic boosts,
enhanced muscles, increased aggression, and so on. Only women could safely get
the full Amazon package. Oh sure, you could stick it in a male, but something
in the combination of mods screwed their intelligence up, basically turning
them into feral berserkers. The first time they got in a fight, even in
training, it became a deathmatch, and they wouldn’t stop until they died, or there
was literally no one else to fight. Sometimes not even then. Any men who got
the package were called Draugr, because they were dead men walking. In war, a
Draugr would sometimes be dropped into an enemy formation, wearing heavy armor
and carrying the nastiest weapons available, and would massacre the enemy until
they were killed. Amazons at least had a chance of living past their first real
combat.
Mindy Lou set the tone for the Brew and its patrons. You
kept your business polite, and took any trouble outside, then there was no
problem. Pretty much anything that didn’t leave blood on the floor or cause
property damage was fine with her. All types came to the Brew, and it was
basically treated as ‘neutral ground’ by everyone on the station. If you started
trouble, however… well, you would be lucky if one of the other patrons kicked
you out. The last person Mindy Lou had to throw out couldn’t handle their
liquor, and ‘slipped’ on their way out the door, breaking both legs and
suffering damage to their spine before they ended up landing in heap on the
promenade. By the time the station patrol got there, he the pain had made him
so delusional that he had ‘gifted’ all his possessions to passersby, so he was
arrested for indecent exposure.
No one caused trouble at the Brew. At least, no one did it
twice.
The girls and I ordered some drinks, and took a booth
towards the back. We still had some time until the meeting, so I started by
checking the job boards, seeing if there were any jobs heading towards Alpha Centauri.
After checking the size of the Raven’s
hold, I accepted a couple of the jobs.
Intellectual Property Shipment
The Drachen Group needs a shipment of
‘intellectual property’ designed for stress relief, including reading
material, vids, and sims, to be delivered to Lieutenant Maxwell Black at
Fleet Base Bagthara for redistribution. While not illegal, the material is
considered contraband aboard military vessels and in the Mormon Colonies.
|
|
Difficulty
|
D
|
Task
|
Deliver stress relief supplies to
Lieutenant Black.
|
Payment
|
10000 Credits
|
Neptunian Ale Shipment
The Officer’s Club at Fleet Base
Bagthara is planning a wedding celebration for Captain Markham of the Endurance. Captain Markham, a native
of Triton, requested Neptunian Ale as part of the celebration, but there are
no local suppliers in Alpha Centauri.
|
|
Difficulty
|
F
|
Task
|
Deliver six cases of Neptunian Ale to
the Officer’s Club at Fleet Base Bagthara.
|
Payment
|
20000 Credits
|
An Admiral’s Favor
Admiral Nimitz of the Second Fleet has
a taste for certain rare delicacies from Mars. These delicacies are not
easily obtained through official channels. The Black Sun Pharmaceuticals
Group would like you to take a shipment of these delicacies to the Admiral.
|
|
Difficulty
|
C
|
Task
|
Deliver the crate of ‘luxury
pharmaceuticals’ to the Admiral.
|
Payment
|
60000 Credits
|
Medical Resupply Run
The recent earthquake on Primo,
orbiting Proxima Centauri, has caused a shortage of desperately needed
medical supplies for some of the smaller towns on the tidally locked planet.
Worse, we have reports that pirates are attempting to intercept relief
shipments for sale on the black market. While the towns are short on cash due
to the disaster, they are willing to offer goods in trade.
|
|
Difficulty
|
A
|
Task
|
Deliver four cases of medical supplies
to the town of Todea on the Night Side of Primo.
|
Payment
|
200 units of Centauri Power Crystals
(retail value 200,000 credits)
|
Mail Order Delivery
Samantha Hart, of the Hart Trading
Company on Primo has purchased a ‘special’ package through an agent at the
Choson Ring. Now, she just needs her new toy delivered to her residence on
Primo so she can enjoy the Sunside’s heat. Discretion preferred.
|
|
Difficulty
|
D
|
Task
|
Deliver the stasis pod (unopened) to
Samantha Hart’s residence.
|
Payment
|
50000 Credits (Bonus of 50000 Credits
if delivery is not noted on local news networks. Bonus of 50000 credits if
package delivered within 7 days.)
|
Black Don Ramirez
Pirate leader ‘Black Don’ Ramirez has
been making a nuisance of himself in the Alpha Centauri system.
Unfortunately, he has friends in the local Navy, so he’s been allowed to run
rampant for far too long. Kindly have a ‘discussion’ with ‘Black Don’, and
kill the bastard.
|
|
Difficulty
|
C
|
Task
|
Kill ‘Black Don’ Ramirez, a pirate
captain.
|
Payment
|
200000 Credits
|
Some of the jobs were cake, honestly, but easy money is
still money. And I figured that the Admiral’s secret habit would be a bit of
leverage should things prove nasty when we delivered the Princess to him. But
that medical supply run looked like something that would be a ton of fun.
Fighting pirates should be some good XP, and will help keep my crew
entertained.
Ok, so the A difficulty meant that there was probably more
to it than that, but I liked to think that the Raven could surprise a few people. With both turrets manned, a
mechanic in the engine room keeping us flying, and me trying to up my piloting
skill as much as possible, it would be a fun ride. Key to it all was that I
didn’t need to kill the enemy ships. I just needed to get away from them. Once
we were in port, then we would be (mostly) safe from pirates. Unless they
decided that they wanted to draw the Navy down on them from the nearby base.
Jaynie Cobb
Human Female
Level 15
Titles: Gunner, Sharpshooter, Fugitive
|
As I was considering the jobs we’d taken over a pint of beer
(not the best I’d tasted, but certainly not the worst, and I could tell it wasn’t
watered down, which was a plus), a woman decked out for ‘playtime’ just like we
were came up to the table, and said, “M.Mollen? I’m Guns.”
I looked the woman over more carefully as I waved her to
take a seat. She was short, about 1.6 meters tall, but had a bright pink mohawk
that added another 8 centimeters to her height. She had on a long black duster
like I did, and I could see that she had a plethora of weapons. I noticed at
least two pistols, a couple knives, and there was the stock of a shotgun
sticking out behind her back, ready for ‘easy access’.
“Yes, but call me Mirikon, or Captain while we’re here. So,
you’re looking to be a member of my crew, right? What is it you bring to the
party? No offense, but I want to know what your skills are before I consider
hiring you on.”
The girl nodded, and said, “Sure, sure. Name’s Jaynie, by
the way. I’m a gunner, plain and simple. Both handheld guns and ship-mounted, I’ve
got perks that increase accuracy and crit rates when I’m shooting. I’ve already
got my Pistols skill up to 12/100, and I’ve been working on increasing my
physical stats.”
“Any notable Powers?”
“Yeah, I got a couple passive ones, that increase my eyesight
and help me aim faster. Not much on the actives, though.”
I nodded, considering. That was actually really damn good for
it being so early in the game. I looked the woman over again, and said, “And
what is this I hear about you being a fugitive?”
Jaynie blushed at that. “Well, I had a bit of trouble due to
one of the jobs I was doing down on Earth. It was a nasty bit of business, even
though it was supposed to be a simple courier run. The reward was supposed to
be a chance for some rare augments, though. Unfortunately, there was a
doublecross at the end, when the guy who gave me the job thought it would be
easier to pay off the local cops to put me away than to pay me. So I split, and
now I got a bounty on my head.”
“Which brings us to why you were looking to get on my ship,
I take it. Trying to find paying work to get out of system, and see where
things go from there?”
“Pretty much. Plus, I saw on the chat that you’ve done some
pretty wicked things in the last couple days. Figured you wouldn’t leave me
being bored, at the very least.”
“True enough. Well, I do have room for a gunner, if you’re
looking for work. It’ll be paying work, but I’m the Captain, so final decision
on things is mine. You do anything stupid to put my ship or my crew at risk, we’ll
have words, trust me.”
“Sounds fair. What’s the pay like?”
“Standard four-part split on the income from our gigs. One
share for the ship, to cover fuel, food, ammo, and repairs. One share for the
owner. One share for the Captain. And one share for the crew, split evenly
between all the free individuals.”
She chuckled, “And since you’re the owner and captain…”
I nodded. “I get two shares, yeah. But it isn’t all bad. You’re
the only free member of the crew, so you’ll be getting a good share of the
spoils. Anyways, the reason I set it up like this is in case we find ourselves
with more than one ship at some point.”
“Because you won’t be able to be Captain of more than one
ship, but if you’re the Owner, then you still get a piece of their pie,
whenever they complete a job, right?”
“Right in one. I’ve been under a rock, so to speak, so I
haven’t had a chance to see what kind of banking services we got available, but
I figure that if we get things to automatically distribute into people’s
accounts, that’ll work best.”
Carissa broke into the conversation at that point. “Master,
individual accounts are fairly simple. They link to your bracer, but if your
bracer is lost, you the money is protected, at least a bit. But there are fees
when using banks in other nations on individual accounts. Business Accounts,
however, can be tailored in the ways you’re talking about, which would allow
the automatic distributions for not only the Raven, but also any other ships you purchase and register under the
business.”
I nodded, and looked back to Jaynie. “Carissa here is the
ship’s doc, and my business manager.” Looking back to Carissa, I said, “Are
there any banks you’d trust that we can access from the station? I’d like to
set that up now, if I could.”
“Yes, Imperial First Bank should have a branch on the
station.” I checked the station map with my bracer, and smiled when I saw that
the bank was in this section. I looked up to Jaynie, and said, “Well, if you’re
going to join the crew, let’s set up some accounts, and then get going. We’ve
got a few jobs waiting on us already.”
“Sure thing, Cap’n.”
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