Freelancer - The Void

Toast staggers in,slurring an old Space-Shanty....

...Bottle o' JD & a pint of the black stuff wench!...

...ta very mussshh

ToAst my friend, one bottle of JD comin' up  - and Viki will pour ya a black one, now would that be regular or iced?

Zeb noticed Pi's dreadful state after his encounter with the suits - not good. He gave Lil' Beth a nod and she walked over to Pi and started making soothing noises and stroked his long shaggy hair. His eyes were glazed and full of fear, his slack jaws drooling onto the table. Lil'Beth looked over at Zeb. "Boss, we gotta take care of this guy, he's in a bad way." Zeb sighed "Ok but remember..." He pointed to the sign above the door that said: NO PETS ALLOWED......

"Well if dat wut meetin brass types doez ta a man, I'll stick ta da esspresso an pizza..."
<Wanders over ta Pi's table and sets an esspresso down in front of him>  "Drink some a dis, it'll sooth ya b might".  <Wanders>  "Hey boss man, when da woof gonna get back?  I can't set him inta the system less he's here, and ya know how he likes ta sneak things in dat might get him zapped by da system since he don't know bout it yet.  I also got dat bot set up ta watch da back and da side".
 <Grabs>  "hhhhhhhmmmm.....  wonder why dey make deze things likd dis... don't make no sense ta tye sumptin inta a not just fer a snack..... and so much salt.....  ain't good fer ya ta eat so much salt...  hhhhmmmmm........" <Wanders>

I opened my eyes and saw nothing. Well, almost nothing. Giant stalks of some kind of tree rose sharply toward my eyes.

I moaned. Well, I almost moaned. I might have moaned if it weren't for the dirt and rocks in my mouth. I rolled over and the trees gave way to two concerned faces.  

My first thought was, "Weird how big the grass looks when you're lying face first in it.' My next thought was, "Who are these guys?" followed quickly by "What happened?" and "Where am I?" in a dead heat.

I tried to get up. Bad mistake. I dropped back to the ground. I felt like I'd been tossed out of a skimmer and been dragged behind it, then beaten up for good measure. "What happened?" I mumbled through a swollen mouth after I spit out a couple of rocks that turned out to be teeth.

"Mate, you OK?" A face asked. " That was some thrashing you took there. We heard the yelling and came on fast as we could..."

"Yeah!" the other face said. "Soon as we arrived they hopped into a skimmer and sped off."

Another face appeared, puffing, out of breath. "Is he alive?" it asked. "He can't be alive..."

"Yeah, " I mumbled. "Am I alive?"

"I don't believe it!" The puffing face said. "How could you be alive after falling that far and flopping around behind that thing? I thought I'd never catch up!"

"Just lucky, I guess. Who're you guys?"

"Easy now, mate. Let's see if we can get you up now."

Someone took my arms and hauled me up. Someone else drove a spike though my head and pulled it out my ribcage. I  screamed. Well, I almost screamed. I couldn't  breathe enough to get it out. All I could manage was another moan.

"Now  then, that's better," said face number two. I figured this was probably the funny one.

"Where can we take ya, mate?" asked the puffy one.

"Right" agreed face number one. "What's your name?"

I thought about that for a minute. Then I thought about it for another one. A few minutes more didn't help.

"Jeez, man. What is my name? Who am I?"

Zeb was worried. A report came through that the "Peregrine" had been sighted heading for Tohoku. Wolf had been following up a lead on some information regarding the new trade agreements between Kusari and Europa, using some of our listed contacts. That had been nearly a week ago.  A couple of Outcasts had been in the bar last night and had been talking to some other pirate types about seeing a ship go down in a firefight with one of the most spectacular re-entries they had seen in a long time.  From the discription and colours on the ship it sounded a lot like the "Peregrine".  Zeb tried to get it out of them who it was that had shot the ship down. They were vague at best. Sounded like a well planned hit. Zeb needed to know more.  He took Argh to one side.

"Mate I need ya to do something pretty urgent. I need you to find out who it was that blasted that ship and where it happened. "

Argh nodded.  "Sure boss, I'll start in Alexandria and work my way over via Babylonia, but I'd put my money on the DTA bein' involved anyday."

Zeb paused. "Yeah thats a good start. Can you also get the Wombat brothers to be on the alert also.  Just be careful round Alpha he can be a mite unpredictable."

Argh muttered through some pizza, "ok, I'm on it!"

Vengeance just about burst through the door into the pub. He was greeted with several red dots on his chest and a security bot telling him to stop and hand over his sidearm.

"No way, sweetheart." he growled and reached inside his longcoat.

The sound of blasters charging and safeties coming off filled the silence that had fallen in the room.

"Easy now, sweetheart." he pulled his hand out slowly and opened a small leather folder. "I got a liscense to carry. OK? So you can put those peashooters away."

He went straight to the bar and whispered to zeb. "I got something for you mate. Something you need to see."

"Ok, come on back."

Vengeance followed Zeb into teh small office behind the bar. It was the exact opposite of the bar, cluttered and in total chaos. Vengence looked around with a raised eyebrow. Zeb interrupted, saying"Well?"

"Right." Vengeance said. "Listen I got a scoop about Wolf. I been flashing his pic around to some of my contacts and no one seemed to know him until I got to some of the shadier ones. This one guy says he saw him over by the transit hub. I did some more digging and found the skimmer leaving at that time was going to a lot of places but the only one that made any sense was the starport. So I went there and snooped around."

Zeb nodded. "Good. good. What did you find then?"

Vengeance continued. "The guard remembered him, said he looked pretty bad and he remembered him most becasue he didn't have any ID. ANd the weirdest part is, he left with this real big guy who was holding onto his arm like he wanted to be sure he didnt go anywhere. The big guy kept looking back like he was afraid he was being followed.'

"uh oh," Zeb frowned. 'That doesn't sound good."

"Yeah, well there's more. I snooped around the hangar where the guard saw Wolf and I found his ship. And let me tell you he's got a fine ship. But a little weird."

"How so?"

"It talks."

"It talks." Zeb repeated. "This isn't a good time for jokes, mate"

"Seriously, it talks and it's got a mind of it's own too. and I'll tell you the weird part."

"You mean that's not the weird part?"

"No. Here's the weird part. She says she's worried about her boss. That's what she said."

"She?"

"Well yeah.  Anyway, I asked her if she had any ideas where Wolf might be and she said no. But she gave me this."

Vengeance handed a data pad over to Zeb. "It looks like a Journal." Zeb said, turning it over. Let's have a look.

They activated it and Wolf's image started talking...

Zeb motioned to Vengance. "Go take some time at the bar mate, its on the house. Looks like I might be some time."  Vengance nodded and moved out and took a corner of the bar where he could see all the exits and had his back to the wall, with an escape route via the kitchen if need be. The guy was a pro. Zeb had used his services once or twice. He was going to have to pass this on to Argh. We were going to have to find out what had happened to Watchwolf.  
"Vicky?! Can ya fetch some of the coffee that Argh left and pop me up a couple of sandwiches from the kitchen? I'm gonna be in here for a bit - got some work to do."  

Vicky waved her acknowledgement as she poured Vengance a drink.

Zeb sat down and reactivated the journal.  It was going to be a long night.

Zeb shut off the Journal. No wonder we cant find him! He punched a number on the comlink - it buzzed to life.

"Argh - Its Zeb. Ya gotta start lookin around in NY. See if you can find anyone that's seen Wolf's ship in the dock and find out if it ties in with the damaged sign.  While yer at it a quick buzz via Tohoku and Tegaki's place might not be a bad idea. I gotta have a chat with Vengeance. Oh and before I forget - if you get to Manhattan start lookin around for some big fella called Mike - be careful round him cos he may be watching Wolf's six and might not take too kindly to snoopers - There's a little weasley bloke about too - Watch yourself - this one goes deep."

"Sure boss - will do."Argh munched through some pizza. "Im part way to Tohoku now, you want I should drop in there first?"

"Yep - please do and keep your eyes and ears open."  Zeb closed off the com. Well this was going to have to be put somewhere safe. He pressed the small panel in the desk top and a small patch on the wall flickered revealing a narrow document safe. Pressing the combination Zeb placed the data pad in the safe. Buzz and click. It disappeared. Safe. Now for a chat with Vengeance. The guy was either after something or was genuine in his concern for the Wolfmeister.  

Zeb approached Vengeance, who looked up from his drink. Vicky tipped a nod to me. Vengeance saw it too. There were two Freelancers at the bar, both very drunk. In fact a little too drunk. Almost so drunk as not to be realy drunk but just passing it off. Vicky came up to us with drinks. "They've been sitting there making out they are seriously out of it, but every time I catch a glance. They are watching Vengeance. " she whispered.

Vengeance grunted,"No worries sweatheart, I got 'em figured. Once we are done here they'll try and track me when I launch. It'll be short and sweet."  

In a low voice Zeb asked, "Thats all good and well, but who the hell are they?"..............

The door to Hair of the Wolf slowly opened and a dark figure with a cyborg arm walked through.  He was followed by eight men that looked just as rough and awkard.

They all were checked by security at the door, but to everyones surprise...were not packing heat.  The whole room was quitely looking over their shoulders at these new arrivals.  The men sat down at the corner of the room and ordered their drinks.  All but Starkiller, as he was known, ordered the hardest drinks the bar had.  The men talked about their latest raids and their ships new weapons, they were having fun.  

The room began to fill with chatter and laughter again...it seemed everyone had forgotten the strangers had even arrived.   The beer was being passed around, but Starkiller never took a sip.  He just sat there eyeing everyone in the room.  His history had many tales, probably the reason why he never took a drink and was always alarmed.  

He lit a cigaritte and and walked to the bar.  He had medals gleaming on his shoulder, dirty and old, but still there.  Zeb was looking at him as he walked up.  "What war were you in to receive those medals?" He asked.  Starkiller looked at him and for a second had a smile cross his face, but just as quickly as it appeared...it vanished.  "Son, my whole life has been a war...these medals, they aren't mine." He said. "I stole them from a navy officer that wouldn't give me my money a few years ago."  

Zeb took a step back.  "Your..your...your.....RPG?"  He said stammering.  Starkiller winked.  "Security!!!!!!" Zeb yelled to the back room.

"No need to get hostile....we are all friends here."  Starkilled calmly said.  As he finished his sentence there was a bright blue light and a crackling sound.  Starkiller stood there with a new nomad weapon that had just uncloaked itself.  His men quickly stood up with guns drawn.  "Now that we are all friends, I would like to borrow some money....tax please!"  He pointed the nomad gun at Zeb.  

His clan members had guns pointing in every direction.  "Dont you just love the new nomad technology....we had to kill many nomads to get these babys."  The gun began to charge.  "Your not moving fast enough!" Starkiller added.

Zeb slowly began to unload the register into Starkiller's bag.  His men were taking jewels from the nearby bar patrons.  They put all the loot into a bag and after a few seconds a hologram image appeared stating: "100MILL CREDITS".  The hologram shut off and Starkiller threw the loot to Artemis, the coleader of RPG.  They began to walk out of the bar.  The men filed out the room with their new loot, Starkiller was the last to leave.  

He slowly turned around with his gun drawn.  He took a deep breath and looked the whole place over again.  "Im gonna miss this place."  He stated.  He took a bow and put away his gun.  "Your free to go.....have a nice day."  He then turned around and followed his men into their ships.  The strange blue light with the crackling sound came back and their ships were gone.  

Zeb walked out the door scratching his head.  He saw a blue object on the ground and picked it up.  "ZEB, NEXT TIME COME PREPARED!.....-SINCERELY STARKILLER"  A little note was dangling from the side of the nomad gun.  Zeb walked back to the bar and placed the gun in a drawer.  "I will be."  He said.  This was the first and last time Hair of the Wolf would be robbed.  

This was the last time RPG would be heard from in this universe, but tales of their pillages in another universe always circulated around.  Well, thats how the legend goes anyway.

Zeb could have kicked himself stupid.  "Dang it! I knew I had seen those two somewhere before!"

Vengeance had wisely not moved a muscle during the raid, but had eyed the big pirate with a gaze that would have melted rock off a rocky thing from rock land.  Both Vengeance and Vicky were staring at the Nomad Gun.  "Better get that scanned" said Vengeance. Zeb nodded.  It felt weird in his hand, like the thing was almost alive. The pistol grip formed to the hand and there was no sensation of grabbing the gun - it was like an extension of your own arm.  The security unit blipped into life and seemed to be having difficulty categorising the weapon. "Organic Miscellanious" was the final register.  Zeb took the old  trusted blaster out from under the counter and secured the Nomad weapon in its place.  The blaster went back into black leather holster on Zeb's hip. He could try out the Nommie gun a bit later on

The till was definately empty.  Thank the Snook for credit chips. At least all they got was what amounted to tips, but that was still a hefty chunk of cash, not to say that there were many lighter pockets standing round the bar.  Zeb placed the automatic call to the bank and sent the obligatory video link to the police. Just to cover his backside incase the insurance company got funny about it, he got a printout and asked some reliable witnesses to sign it and hardcopied it too the Law Enforcement Department.

Things just were not going the way Zeb felt comfortable with, but then comfortable was for fat old men to enjoy. Zeb had still got the drive in him, that all encompassing drive that grips you when you Respawn. So far? So good.

Meanwhile it was back to running the place. Vengeance was happy to wait and Zeb was pleased to keep him nearby until he could figure out what Vengeance was about and what his connection to the Wolf was.  They would have to wait and hear from Argh or the Wombat Brothers before making their next move.....

"Sorry i wuz gone so long".  "Woof got some one mad fer sure az i got hot up a bit at Tohoku".  "He weren't der and hazn't been der fer some time, and nuttin bout him at Manhattan".  
 Drops a bag on the counter.  "Dis should fix wut dem RPG bums tooked".  "Dey made a mistake on dat robery".  "Never mess wit my system cuz i gets ya back".  "Dey gots a big whole in der base now too cuz i had dis extra torpedo just sittin der and I had ta get rid a it".  "Den dis big safe like tingy comes outa the whole and i grabbed it".  "Paid fer my expenses on dat little jaunt ta Tohoku and ta Manhattan wit a side trip fer dis".  Puts a large box on the counter.  "Is a interestin drink dem Zoners brew out in Collyrada".  "Good stuff too...  I put some in my reacter and it really took off fer a while...".
 "Anyway, i'll fix da scanner ta pick up dem fancy nomad toys in da future and next time dey get zapped wit da leathals at da door".  "Will also set up da system fer der bio scans so dey can't come in reguardless, and if dey try dey fry".  
 "Hey Vickie, can ya get me a pizza an a tripple shot esspresso?"

Zeb was happy to see Argh again. He laughed out loud when Argh produced the large titanium alloy safe with the ElectroLock busted wide open. "Well, at least the girls will get paid this month and the tax man can keep his hands of this bounty thats for sure! Welcome back mate!"  Zeb glanced at Vengeance. He was smiling. Now that is a rare occurence for a man of his trade. Side on it looked as if he new Argh. It was as if they were cast from the same mould, with just one or two differences to make it interesting. Zeb shook his head. Back to the business in hand.
" Looks like the Wolf has gone to ground for a bit then?" asked Zeb. Grabbing his espresso and a handful of pizza, Argh followed Zeb and Vengeance into the back office. "Grab a seat boys we're going to have to figure out what to do and to find out more about whats going on."

Argh nodded, as did Vengeance. For a strange, fleeting second they looked like brothers and for once Zeb began to feel that itch of uneasiness that you get when you feel you don't belong somewhere. Maybe it was the itch to get Void side again, who knew?

"I got some news in from the Wombat brothers, one of em is hanging out in Corsair space keeping his eyes and ears open, another is checking up on Manhattan and NY just doing the money run for light arms, while the last one is trying not to get shot, but is coasting through the systems in the hope of a rumour or at least a sighting of the Wolf.  Angry thought he had a sighting but he was there and then gone, Merry got tangled in a bit of trouble by the Alexandria gate and was fished out by an "unkown" and by the time he had got it together the other had vanished, so our suspicions are not completely unfounded. The Wolf is definately out there." The port tasted good. The clientel were behaving for once, so maybe for some flight time Zeb could go along with Argh and Vengeance to find the ever and always mysterious Watchwolf.

It didn't feel right, knocking off that trader. I mean seriously. Baden Bayfish in a barrel are harder than that. And that pitiful "escort"... well... I thought to myself, the AT's got a lifeboat but a fighter's escape pod doesn't always eject and even then it's iffy... so knocking him around a bit  seemed a better idea. Still, it didn't feel right...

All this ran through my head as I stood in front of the Hair's door. I knew I would be about as welcome as a Harris sand flea in a spacesuit in here but this news was bigger than my pride and besides, I just had to know.

The swinging doors hadn't finished swinging when red dots lit me up like my HUD in Nomad 1. "Hm, never heard a robot growl before..." crossed my mind as I slowly handed over my sidearm. The dots didn't go away so I pulled the miniblaster from my belt. And the dart gun out from my boot. And the knife from my arm band.  Finally the lights flicked off. Damm, they're good...

Zeb's glare was strange. A mix of rage, sadness  and confusion. In fact, he looked like he as about to cry. What little that was left of my heart felt an unfamiliar twinge.

"We gotta talk, partner..." I started.

"Right." came the terse reply. 'You're bloody right about that. In here..." He led the way to the office.

He closed the door and slowly  turned toward me, looked me over. Then we spoke at once.

"Have you gone daft?"  "You lost your mind?"

We stared. The silence turned all green and nasty. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing my ugly side.

"What are you on about?"  "What the f***?"

Zeb's forehead furrowed. My left eyebrow went up.

"You've been shooting my ships!"  "You've been shooting our ships!"

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.  Zeb shook his head, grinning that Zeb grin.

"Mate..."  "Brother..."

He put up his hand... "You first."

"I got this garbled message just before my m-wave blew up saying the AoF had gone renegade and had broken all their agreements. Europa put out a KOS on all of you."

"What?"

I pulled the transcript from my pocket. It was seared and blackened from smoke. I handed it over to Zeb. He squinted and he read it. There were a lot of gaps in the text. Then it was his turn to laugh.

"I sent this message. It was to AoF about bloody pirates. They've run amok. It was a warning."

I felt my eyes bug out, I felt small and stupid. "Oh sh**... Hope I didn't kill anyone..."

"No, but we lost a good bit of profit..." he said, looking at me expectantly.

Whew. Then I remembered why I was here in the first place.

"I got some news about Wolf. Not much, but..."

Zeb simmered down. It had been a tough couple of weeks. AoF had been taking a pounding and some of it had turned out to be no more than a "professional misunderstanding".  Alpha had disappeard completely, like a whole id change or something, rumour had it  that he had done the complete turnaround and had gone and signed up with the Bretonian Navy, him and a couple of disenchanted Hessians.  But that was all still speculative. Nothing had been heard direct.  Argh was still on the look out for the Wolf and had his other eye on the remaining Wombat boys.  911 had gone off the map. Hadn't heard from him in a while. Probably something clandestine and high profit knowing the Vice Pres of AoF.

Some strange comings and goings had occured since Zeb's last venture into the black.  One of the biggest threats to AoF's shipping had disappeard - the DTA and their minions [X]EF were gone - at least for now things were quieter, but as always when the big dogs disappear all the small ones come out to fill the spaces.  Rumours had it that the Shadows were back again and setting up a hive in the Omega 7 corridor.  Clans a plenty were laying claim to places that were blatantly never theirs.  The place had all gone a bit crazy after the Europan Navy had declared a Non Conflict Zone in the Alexandria System.  What was odd was the increase in Naval activity, like someone had roused a sleeping lion.  ESF were on the move again and one regiment of the Rheinlander Navy was starting to make its presences felt.  Pirate clans had fragmented into individuals or Rogues with few taking up the challenge, yet an ever present menace was evolving in the form of a bunch of terrorists under the banner of RIP who were trying to set themselves up in Dresden.  

To make matters more awkward an association of smugglers and pirates in the Omicrom Theta system hanging around Freeport 9 had started to rake in the cash. Freelancers Traders and Pirates was their corporate logo.  Zeb stared at Vengeance and at the memo regarding FTP on his desk along side the slightly cripsy printout from Vengeance's m-wave.

"Mate, its good to have you back." He shook the big mans hand.  For the first time in weeks Zeb looked relieved.

"Listen, the message went out cos someone pulled a nasty and jumped an AoF bank ship in Alexandria, they tried it under a neutral guise passing off as a customer.  They took off with all of Arghs kit and left him hanging till Sang could pick him up. Boy was he pissed off!  Pleased to say the BBB and our other friends got together and hasstled our insurance chaps over at  Takit & Run  Incorporated to pay out.  We even had reports that a well known Pirate (who will remain nameless) hunted down the miscreant and took his pound of flesh in revenge.  Thats what happens when you attack an AoF bank, cos there is more stuff on there belonging to just about anyone in Sirius than you would give credit for. Some serious people were very unhappy about the whole episode.  Luckily some of the safe deposit boxes were recovered and none of the "sensitive" information was taken."

Vengeance looked relieved and then Zeb remembered that the mans "pension" was tied up in Argh's assets.

"You're ok mate - all your gear is safe." Zeb grinned inwardly. It was the first time he had seen the big man look uncomfortable.

"Ive had reports in from a variety of our sources and our next big problem is going to be the Dresden / Omega 7 corridor." Zeb looked up at Vengeance.  The big man nodded.  "Venge, we are going to have to keep that diamond route clear.  We cant back up through Alexandria cos of the duty on the diamonds and as for the long way round it doesnt bear thinking about.  We can rely on the Corsairs for a bit of support and the navy might see their way to helping things along in Stutgart and Berlin.  Im looking at having to do a deal with FTP on this one as they wont be too happy about the closure either, thats unless they have pulled a fast one on us.  For now we are going to have to rely on Merry in that area.  Angry is AoF's  "stand in" bank right now so he is pretty tied up.  This could get messy cos I heard that VLF and SWAT are not on the best of terms - 'professional differences' I believe is the excuse this time.  When will these Navy types realise that when they fight the pirates laugh and AoF stocks take a dive.  Lets hope this is swift and sorted out cos we might need them."

Zeb sighed. Vengeance grunted and looked thoughtfully at Zeb. "What you thinking Big Man?" asked Zeb.

"Well, ya know that new bunch of Rhienlanders that have shown up on the map? The Navy types that have been gathering their strength?"  Zeb listened.  "You could ask them and see, after all Dresden and Stutgart are supposed to be under their wing, are they not?" Vengeance finished and colapsed in the leather chair, sticking his legs on Zebs desk.

Zeb burst out laughing. "Of course! Lets appeal to their sense of duty  and get them out into the lanes."
He looked straight at Vengeance. "Ok - the other business - whats the news on the Wolf?"............