RP: 188604 [188604] 8: Uso and Errowyn's Supply mission

[Zack]

ON Unnamed ship>

"You know... we still haven't named this thing. Its bad luck not to name the ship." Uso said, casually laying on the floor of the cockpit, a sleeping bag set out like a large cushion as she scanned through options on her Datapad. "Going by our current name schema it'll probably end up being called Ragna-ship."

Errowyn gave a soft laugh. "Then we better name it." She was thoughtful as she flew the F-6. "Queens Slave?" She just threw the first thing that popped in her mind. "We will christen it when we reach port. You haven
t given me a destination? Iceball?"

"Hmph..." Uso pouted at the thought of trying to find a destination, "Trying to get ahold of someone we can cut a deal with but it isn't as easy as I make it sound. I have some reds that just aren't willing to play ball right now... maybe the garts... I'd hate to have to start my own company to handle distribution... Course, we could just find a nice beach for a while. What do you think?"

"I have an Island that me and Cyrus found and set up a base there." She looked thoughtful. "I know of an old UOCPF Tech base that we could hit. Its just another two days farther than Iceball." She spoke thoughtfully a she brought up the starcharts of the sector.

Uso looked over from her datapad, "Occupied?" She asked.

"Yeah...Outer Colony base. Bunch of techs work off an old derelicts combined together. Used a lot by Freespacers. I am sure if you could work out a deal. Food for tech stuff, munitions...." She spoke glancing back and down at Uso on the deck.

"Spacers..." Uso said, tapping her fingers on her datapad. The aspiring empress dressed in an over-large T shirt that covered most of her body, "I hate spacers.... Their ships are so... boring, busy, always pre-occupied with the most pointless of things... buuut I guess any port will do. Lets go talk to them." Uso said, lifting her legs up for a moment then using the momentum to roll forward and up onto her toes, Her hand heroically sweeping forward to point towards the stars in front of them, "Make it so!"

Errowyn turned back to the flight controls and inputted the coordinates, "Might want to park your sweet toosh in a seat." Speed up the ship heading out system, gaining speed to make the jump a lot easier while powering up the jump generator.

"And here I thought you had your eye on some OTHER toosh," Uso said, her voice dripping with a coy interest in Errowyn's choices

"He is kinda sweet and gullible," Errowyn winks at Uso. She switched from normal drive right into the jump when the ship reached max sublight speeds.

Uso moved from her spot, pressing herself up against the back of Errowyn's head, "To think you dumped ME for HIM!" She teased, "What's he got that I don't?"

"Slaves to do his biddings," She teased, pressing slightly back against her.

"Like I don't have slaves?!" Uso said incredulously, "...Wait, forget I said that."

Errowyn gave a soft laugh. "Dont worry. I'm sure once those people come around... you will have plenty of willing puppets."

"Like I care about that! Here I am, YOUR first kiss, and Cyrus steals you out from under me?," Uso said,

Errowyn takes Uso hand in hers. Giving it a gentle squeeze. "It means a lot and I will always remember it."

"Don't make this about you!" Uso teased, ruffling her hair a bit, "I got shown up! I've got a reputation to uphold and Cyrus has besmirched it... BESMIRCHED!"

"Well... " Errowyn leans back in her seat, letting the backrest drop back a few inches making room between her and the console. "Yeah.. Looks who is spending more consecutive days with me." She pulls Uso onto her lap. "I need more teaching Kissing Sensei."

Uso was happy to let her warm hips land on Errowyn's lap, "Kisses are easy, you just have to mean it!" Uso didn't waste a moment, placing her warm hands on either side of Errowyn's face, tilting her gently towards her own lips as she planted a rather possessive kiss on the pilot's lips, her tongue gently sliding against Errowyn's mouth before she pulled back just a hair, looking right into Errowyn's eyes.

Errowyn nodded, "Let me try that." Gently as she placed her hand behind Uso"s and pulled her to her. She kissed Uso, and gently ran her tongue over Uso"s lips.

"Mnnn...." Uso said, gently humming into Errowyn's kiss, placing her hands on the back of Erroywn's neck, gently holding onto the pilot as they shared another kiss, Uso's eyes closing, her face tilting slightly as she gently sucked on the tip of the tongue presented to her.

Errowyn tongue tip touched Uso and she gave a squeak of surprise. "Mmmmm... Is that suppose to happen?"

"Depends on how...." Uso kissed Errowyn's cheek,

"... Into it....", another kiss on her jaw,

"... you want to get..." Uso's lips finally found her neck, her mouth opening, her tongue sliding along Errowyn's skin as her hands moved down to her shoulders.

"mmmmm.." Errowyn purred softly. Her nipple budding against the tigh fabric of her t-shirt. She let her hand slide down the back of Uso. "I see... she spoke softly.

"'Course, you don't need to just kiss the lips..." She replied, gently kissing Errowyn's collar bone, and then the center of her chest just above the top of her shirt, She then looked up at Errowyn, "Just how close have you two gotten?" She asked, her hands moving to Errowyn's sides as her lips moved to Errowyn's ear,

"We sleep together. and thats about it. He could have had me. but we just kissed." She sighed.

"Too afraid to make a move on him?" Uso asked, resting her head on Errowyn's shoulder.

"I think it was him. I mean... I was naked at the time." She blushed a bit as she held onto Uso as she leaned forward to set the timer and alarm just before exiting the FTL jump.

"A goody-two-shoes like him? He probably missed the signals... was trying to uh... respect your wishes or something.... Why don't you show me what you did?" Uso asked.

"Later, Uso, We'd have to switch positions." Errowyn still had one hand Usos back.

"You wanna be on top?" Uso said, "I don't have the same reservations Cyrus has. I'm not going to pass up an opportunity."

"Mmmm..." Errowyn thoughtfully spoke. "Give me a few seconds to make sure we will end up at the first jump coordinates."

A minute later Errowyn was done wit the Helm and locked it down. She liked the F-6. It could be ran with minimum crew. She picked Uso up off her and set her on the deck. She was stronger than she looked.. She stood up, shucking off the flight suit and then took off her t-shirt. standing naked , except for booted feet.

"And he turned that down?" Uso asked,

"Yeah." She spoke softly. "All we did was kiss. "

Uso put one hand on the back of Errowyn's neck, firmly pulling her in for another kiss, greedily sucking on her lips, her tongue sliding up against her once more. She pulled away with a soft, "pop' , "How long do we have before arrival?"

"This jump," Errowyn fell quiet as she sat on the pilots seat and removed her boots. " 6 hour jump." After she did the calculations in her mind without looking at helm or the timer slowly counting down the jump time.

"Very well, " Uso said, leaning over Errowyn as she sat, her face getting right up next to her pilot's, "I want you in my bed for those 6 hours."

"Make it 5. I gotta eat. High metabolism." Errowyn spoke a she picked up her clothes and walked off the bridge naked, pausing at her cabin to throw her clothes on her bunk and continued on her way to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat.

Uso watched those hips leave the cockpit with a bit of a smirk, "You grow a spine at the weirdest times!" She would chuckle a bit as she watched Errowyn leave, yelling after her, "MAYBE YOU SHOULDA PUT THE MOVES ON HIM INSTEAD OF THE OTHER WAY AROUND!"

"Maybe hes a virgin also!" Errowyn yells back as she begins to cook. soon there is a burnt smell to the air. and soft cussing.

"There's a way to fix that you know," Uso replied, checking the console once before going to the kitchen, taking a seat and reaching for her datapad again.

Errowyn takes the pan off the stove where the burnt food aroma is coming from. She tosses the lid into the sink and grabs a fork from one of the drawers. She begins to eat. straight from the pan.

"Whatcha working on?" Errowyn spoke between bites.

"Besides the pleasant mental images you're providin, I'm still trying to find more buyers for our Ragna-products.... plus I got a guy who's great at this kinda thing HE JUST FUCKING ISN'T ANSWERING MY MESSAGES," she snapped.

"Whose you calling?" She spoke softly.

"James Wazu," She replied, sounding defeated.

Wazu? What type of name is that?" Errowyn spoke as she set the pan aside.

Uso laughed, "Not one from around here. He's easy enough to get to do something, he's just always hung up on stupid shit." She'd toss the pad onto the table for a moment and huffed, "He's got connections too, the legit kind. Not my 'friend of a friend' type stuff."

Errowyn picked up the pad and accessed it. She looked thoughtful for a second. "Oh..." She tapped in commands and rerouted the message through a different server that wasn't Uso's standard carrier, but the YSS Heitens. As far as she knew. The YSS Heiten was still around. "There that ought to get his attention." Tossing the pad onto the Table. "SAoY servers."

Uso picked up the pad and gave it a try, sending her usual, "HEY LISTEN!" message out.

"You do your best work in the nude," Uso replied,

Errowyn laughed softly. It was one of those shy natural sounding laughter. "I wish.... Probaly gotten a higher mish kill count."

Uso sat the pad down, "You'll cave eventually."

Errowyn moved seductively over to Uso and leaned towards her closely, resting her hand on the table and gave Uso a kiss. and a bit of tongue, pressing a bit against her mouth. "I will be back. Gotta brush my teeth."

"I'M AN EMPRESS NOW YOU KNOW!?" Uso shouted after her, barely keeping back a laugh, "I COULD HAVE TERRIBLE THINGS DONE TO YOU IN RETALIATION FOR THIS TEASING!"

"I am Captain on this ship!" She yell back. "So get naked!" as she entered her quarters. She brushed her teeth and used a bit of mouthwash to get rid of the burnt food taste

"I usually don't take orders like that unless I've got a collar around my neck!" Uso would make her way towards Errowyn's room, lifting the shirt off her head and tossing it aside. By the time she finished washing her mouth, Uso's clothes were in a pile on the floor, the green hair'd woman hidden under Errowyn's blankets, "Any further orders Captain?"

Errowyn pulled the covers down, exposing Uso. "Look who is the shy one." She settles on the bed facing Uso. "What now? we kiss?"

"Depends on what you want to do," Uso said, her NH-7 body now on full display, her legs pressing together ever so slightly, "Are you a gentle and loving captain?"

"I dont know," Errowyn spoke shyly, then hisses sharply, "go away!" then a pause. "Cant I get a moments privacy without having you barge in?"

"Uh... you broadcasting this?" Uso asked, suddenly feeling the need to cover her chest with her arm.

"My sisters.." Errowyn looked down as she sits next to Uso. "No.. not broadcasting. I am .... Defective.. and escaped termination. I was the best of my Batch Sisters. They decided to let me serve in the SAoY. Cause they dont know about them." She brought her knees up and hugged them and crossed her ankles.

"Like a 5 in 1 Gessault type situation?" Uso asked, "Or do you got some other bodies somewhere else?"

"5 in 1" Errowyn spoke softly. "I.. dont tell anyone about them. Well you and Cyrus knows. It freaked him out."

"So he turned down 5 women at once? Maybe I hired the wrong PMC!" Uso chuckled, leaning in and giving Errowyn a reassuring kiss on the neck.

Errowyn looked at Uso. "We.. we were suppose to be a team for special operations. But during the incubation period, There was a radiation leak. Im the only one that didnt mutate."

Uso suddenly realized why Errowyn's personality seemed to swing from time to time.

"Their... souls... spirits invaded my body. But I was the dominate one. Since I was in the correct body and they weren't" She spoke softly. "I survived to maturity. That is why 5 been my lucky number."

Errowyn looked at Uso. "So you want to still be with me? I understand if you want to flee."

Uso put her hands on Errowyn's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "I want you to wrap your hands around my throat, kiss me, and then do terrible things to my body,"

Errowyns eyes went wide, "You want me to kill you?!!" Falling off the bed onto the floor. "After I kiss you?"

Uso flopped back onto the bed, "Ok, if I ever give you an order that sounds like, 'Kill me' then you've grossly misunderstood my order!" She sighed, "... ok, so you're the gentle-kissy-captain... not the stern dominatrix."

"Dominatrix? What the hell is that?" Sitting up, her head showing over the edge of the bed to look at Uso.

Uso ran her hand down her own face,, "Its like... a girl really into telling you what to do."

"Like a Ship Captain giving orders to get ready for battle?" Errowyn watching Uso.

"Something like that," Uso said, patting a space beside her in bed, "Come over here and lets cuddle,"

Errowyn gets up off the floor and lays next to Uso. Gently hugs Uso. "You must think I'm a total idiot...."

"I think things got kinda intimate, and you got a bit scared." She said, kissing Errowyn on the nose as she rolled Errowyn so she was laying on-top of her, Uso's hand gently running through her hair. "You look like you can use a hug.... but don't get any ideas.... I'm still trying to lure you into my bed."

"I have all these new feelings that I have not experienced before. And they are .." Errowyn flounders a bit and falls quiet., She hugs Uso to her, gently. "Does it matter? We are on a bed." She was liking having Uso on top of her as they hugged. She opened her legs to bracket Uso"s

Uso ruffled her hair, "You are serious?" She asked, laughing a bit, rolling over so that she was ontop of Errowyn, rubbing their noses together as she warmly hugged her,

"You're adorable...."

 

[Zack]

A few hours later,

"Mnmnnn.... This has been nice.... but we should get out of bed." Uso prompted, running her hand down the back of Errowyn's neck.

Errowyn nodded, she deftly rolled Uso onto the bed and and sat up and pivoting to place her feet on the floor to get dressed. "I have ship duties to do while we still have time before I have to fly again." She leaned back and gave Uso a nice kiss.

"Mnn... Yeah you do that," Uso said, gently holding Errowyn's hips for a moment, "How long do we have before I've got to go talk to your spacer friends?"

"Another hour or so" Errowyn stood up as she pulled her pants up and fastened them. Then put on a tank top. "Just wanted to make sure my stored Daisy has not been tampered with by those Mercs."

"I'm not sure they'd know how to tamper with it," Uso chuckled, laying back in bed and pulling the covers up tightly to her neck, "They are all a bit green... Honestly I wasn't sure about you either but I trust you more than I trust them."

"I give my best at all times. And a Team player. You hired me to do a job for 2 months. I accepted. I may not condone a lot of crap. but you are the boss. They are my teammates. I am going to look out after them also by any means possibles. If I lose out on the money through usage of ordnances. I will charge more. This is a learning experience for me." Errowyn spoke as she put on her socks and shipboard boots. "When we get back. Our contract expires." She stood up and left the room, heading to do her shipboard duties.

"That'll be a shame," Uso said, laying back down and napping off the remaining time.

About an hour later she'd roll out of bed, sliding her shirt back on over her head before making her way back to her room to brush out her hair, "HEY ERROWYN!" she yelled out, "WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THESE GUYS ANYWAYS?"

"BE TOUGH YET FAIR. THEY WILL TRY GET YOUR LAST COIN IF YOU AINT CAREFUL!" Errowyn yelled back as she brought the F6 out of FTL.

Up ahead what looked like a multi-ship collision of large capitol ships. It was well lit up with lights from multiple viewports of varying sizes. It was a beehive of ongoing construction to smooth out the rougher edges, repairs and additional construction for new sections.The big exhaust ports were sealed off and used as hangers for the smaller ship hanger bays and maintenance bays. There were a few Mish ships part of the over all space station. There were a lot of Freespacers ships. A few ORIGIN ships parked at the their assigned docking berths.

Uso would reluctantly slide back into her bodysuit, pulling it tight against her body and grabbing the helmet add on just in case, clipping it to her hips before making her way back up to the cockpit, "Then lets do this, find us a place to dock and let your contacts know we're eager to talk business. This place have some sort of highly public common area we can use?" She asked.

Errowyn nodded acknowledging Uso as she had a glazed look. Occasionally her mouth would move but no sound emitted. her hands moved over the helm controls, guiding the F6 to its berting spot. One of the visible sealed off exhaust ports, a panel slid open. She lined up with the big station and her assigned landing hanger. As the got closer guide lights flicker inward to guide them to their assigned slot. She followed them down the central part of the hanger bay. All sorts of freighters, and assorted crafts paked along the exhaust blackened walls begin energy shield that kept the atmosphere from escaping out into space.

"That would be towards the center section of the station." Errowyn finally answered after finishing her communication call with the station. "We will be heading to Zbras place."

"Zbras place? That a Bar? A Den of Iniquity? Laundromat?" Uso inquired.

Traders Eporium, where you talk with the Dealers. And they have vids of their wares they have to offer. Plus a few samples to see what you are getting on display. Freelance dealers come from all over the sector and beyond to deal their cargo."

"Sounds safe enough." Uso replied, picking up the datapad she had left on her chair earlier, clipping that to the other side of her hip, "You wanna stay with the ship and make sure no baddies come to take it? Or do you have time to spare from your busy captain schedule to be my arm candy?"

"It safe enough. Got a serious police force to enforce what laws they have." Errowyn parked the F6 in its assigned slot and began to power it down to minumal power. "Besides, there are monitors that keep track who belong where and such." Errowyn stood up. "Let me change,"

Errowyn moved to her quarters and changed into her star army dress uniform, minus the patches and jacket. Instead of blouse, she wore a silk speghetti strapped top. At her waist was her service pistol and a few combat knives on her utility belt. She took her time in doing up her hair. She exited her cabin, giving Uso a shy demure smile. "Ready?"

Uso took her time, her eyes slowly working their way up Errowyn until they reached her face. "MMnhmm...Yeah I'm ready," She said, putting an arm around Errowyn's waist and heading for the Zbras place, "You've got some knowledge of this place, so feel free to clue me in on anything you feel I need to know."

"Lower decks are for the Merc and the more rougher element to hang out at." Errowyn put her arm around Uso waist and rested her hand on her hip, gently guiding her after they left the ship and into the docking corridor towards the more busier section of the station. "Upper decks are for the residents, hotels, cribs to pass the night if staying over for a few days." This deck and the upper level is for business and pleasure. Even though the lower decks offer pleasure. But watch your back while down on the lower decks.

Exiting the Docking Corridor, right into the noisy business section that ran off into the distance as the various space faring species mingled and went about their business.

"Well, we don't need to go that far down," Uso replied, as they reached the large open areas of the station. Zbra's place was, quite literally, just a place here. Tables, spacers, wires, all strewn about like a modern bazaar. Uso working her way around the edges of the open space at first, her eyes taking in what was around them as she got a feel for the area, "I'm OK with the police-types so long as they are policing what I want policed."

"They dont bother anyone unless they are an obvious threat to the peace of this deck and higher levels." Errowyn nodded towards a group of uniformed men and women armed and with a badge that stated "Police" They wore old UOCPF uniforms minus the patches, except for rank. They looked ready for anything.

"So which one of these guys are the ones you're familiar with? Or is this more of a 'We got to talk to everyone' kind of deal?" Uso asked.

"We talk to everyone for the best deals. Or if you are planning to come back here to do business on a permanant bases. Better to go to a Broker." Errowyn gently guided Uso through the isles and around groups of buyers before booths as the dealer hawked his wares or waiting to be next with the dealer. "They ve booths near the back and out on the promenade, which we left."

"Ugh... this sounds like a lot of work," She replied, gently putting both hands on Errowyn's hips as she turned to face her, looking into her eyes for a moment... then looking away... slowly continuing to scan the room. Uso's focus wasn't on the woman infront of her, though it may have seemed like that to the outside observer. "Spacer spacers are so busy..." She added, "Lots of people here... lots of talking... lots of deals being made. Few exits... plenty of things that could cause trouble..." Uso thinking out loud for Errowyn's sake, "Wanna just jump on it to it? Looks like that guy... thing.... handles commercial level food stocks. That's right in line with what we got."

Errowyn stood there keeping an eye on Uso back. "To sell, need a Broker. Dealers sell only. Lets go talk to a Broker. Here or on the Concourse?" She played the eye-candy for Uso to giver her time to think..

"These places all look the same, How do you tell the difference between the concourse and the prominade anyways?" Uso asked, gently pushing on Errowyn's hips to get her moving towards the broker back on the Concourse, reluctantly adding, "... Lets go back to the promenade."

Errowyn nodded and spun to face the other way at Uso side and they worked their way out. "Same thing, just called either concourse or promenade. Usually Promenade has a lot of business. Concourse the corridor that leads to the ship hanger bays and berthings and warehousing." Errowyn led her back to the main section where they entered Zbars. She led to a store front with Bonnies Brokerage House. "We can try here. They offer shipping." Pointing to the sign near the hours of business.

"Well then why don't they just call the whole thing the concourse? ... " Uso said, before realizing the truth of the matter, ".... because they are spacers and can't build a space to save their lives.... " She'd let Errowyn lead on, but intentionally go slowly, drinking in their surroundings as much as possible. When they finally reached bonnie's Brokerage House Uso would again take the lead, strutting in through the front door and asking,

"SO WHO DO I TALK TO ABOUT SELLING SOME FOOD-STOCK AROUND HERE?"

The clerks in the front main area all looked at Uso, like she just crawled out of an air vent."That would be me." A matron looking woman stood up and moved to the counter. "Whatcha offering?" And leaned on it looking from Uso to Errowyn.

"Food Stock, we've got this algae stuff, high in protein, contains a lot of water. We've got in in large quantities, and we want to turn it into cash." Uso would strust forward, moving out infront of her arm candy as she approached the matron.

"Algae..." The woman typed on a keyboard, looking it up. "proteins.... Good demand for that. Are you interested in buying or trading it for stuff?" She looked up at Uso. After seeing Errowyn had flopped down in a seat and looking through one of their catalogs.

"I'd like to trade, or at least get some store credit. We're looking to get ahold of infrastructure type stuff. Milling and refining equipment, fabricators, cargo containers, even something as basic as concrete mixing gear." Uso would remain standing, leaning against the woman's desk as she typed away.

The woman typed the list as Uso made mention of the stuff she was interested in. "How much concrete would you be asking for?" The Matronly woman looked up at Uso, poised and ready to type some more.

"Dont forget munitions," Errowyn spoke up as she looked through the catalog.

"That would be Bremmers Brokerage House that handles Munition sales. Miss." The woman replied to Errowyn as her main focus was on Uso.

"UHh.... I promise I'll get you all the missiles you want later," Uso would then turn her attention back to the matron,

"I can get most of the precursor stuff for the concrete, I really just need the mixing and refining gear to get it ready to pour. Still, I'm going to need all that you've got. I can get a cargo container or two of my product out here fairly fast, but it will take maybe a week or two to really ramp up distribution and for that I need cash, containers, and ships."

"We have the ships," The woman looked at her screen which was hidden from Uso view. "I can have the stuff you requested out on the next flight. But you have to have a t least 5 metric tons. As for the containers.... I have few I could round up on short notice. If you carry at least 2 containers. I can get you started with them. But I need guarantee to receive the algie for the stuff shipped out to where you need it to go." The woman tapped in a few commands.

"Hellcat, think we can strap two SSCCs to the Queen's slave?" Uso called out over her shoulder

Errowyn nodded, not looking up. Just have to be in space to do it." She flipped a page in the catalog.

The woman just listened in. "okay... Now the guarantee. What you have to use?" Looking at Uso, then to Errowyn as she stood up and moved to the counter, placing 20 gold coins o the counter. "95 percent pure Buy the containers. Swap containers out when the ship arrives. At least we have two to call our own."

The lady picked up one coin and called an assistance up and gave her the coin, "Check this out and bring back the results with coin."

The girl nodded, taking the coin and took off from Bonnie s.

"That's waaay more than enough for some cargo containers and a promise to come back with some stuff... Think we could get a hand connecting those containers to our ship too? I bet you've got some junker drones not doing anything useful around here." Uso added.

"You would have to go see Sammy Ship Emporium in section 12 east." The Woman spoke as she placed the 19 coins on the lower counter on her side of the higher one that separated customers from employees. "Getting assistance would be no problem in maneuvering them to your ship."

Uso would look at the spacer for a moment, annoyed with how their words didn't quite flow right. "Yeah, sure. we'll do that. I'll give you ca call when we're back with your protien and water supplies."

In a moment, Uso would turn back toward her ace pilot, "You ready?"

Errowyn shrugged and stood up after she just sat down. She kept the catalog with her. "Yeah. Lets go see Bremmer. A good chap. for munitions."

"Miss. we will ship the stuff you ordered to where ever you need it to go." The woman called after Uso. "Star coordinates if possible."

Errowyn glanced at Uso, if it was okay to give the location of the planet they were in the process of conquering.

"We can pick it up on our own ship. Just hold onto it until we get back with our end of the deal ok?" Uso replied.

The Assistance return with the coin and flimsy [sheet of paper] with data on it, confirming Errowyn assessment on the coin. "We need the space and it is better all around if we deliver." The Head clerk spoke as she took the flimsy and read it.

"Great, are we done here? Something we need to sign or do you spacers even keep records?" Uso asked.

"We keep records. Can I have your name please? So I can tag your goods." The lady spoke up as she glanced at Uso. "The containers will be ready in 30 minutes for pick up at Outside."

Uso gave a pause for a moment as she mulled over giving her real name, vs using an alias.... there really wasn't anything illegal about what she was doing.... but on the other hand she really wanted to use the new alias she thought up. "Uso Tasuki, My pilot and I will be ready in 30!"

"Enjoy your time here, Miss Tasuki." The lady typed some more and then returned to desk, leaving the service counter.

Errowyn just smiled, keeping the expression hidden from the employees of Bonny Brokers. "I will go get the ship moved. You make sure you get me my Hellfires. At least one." Then Errowyn took off heading back to the Queens Slave. their F6 freighter. "I will meet you at Airlock 15A."

 

[Zack]

ON>

The message itself came from an unfamiliar number, with just the generic outline of a person assigned to it as the user's picture.

Arccos said you wanted a job and needed a ride. Any chance you could meet us in Roger Wilco City around 3ish today? The Stim-burger joint nearest the starport.
- Uso

The message came immediately, this one came attached with a veterna's service number and profile picture from SMiDIoN, showing a youg ID-SOL, with simple silvery cybernetic eyes and wearing the service beret with a company insignia and the medic's red cross on a white circle.

Can it wait until 3:30-4? I'll be getting out of an operation at my Clinic in Funky City at 2:30. Will take me that long to get there. If you want you can also come directly to my Clinic, Probably not great cooking but I can promise a good grilled cheese and a cold beer.
-Rip D. Sol

Attached was a destination file for one of the slums worst hit by the NMX invasion during the Second Mishhu War.

It would take a while for the response to come through.

I'm sure I can find something to do for an hour. See you then.
- Uso

The establishment in question was just as advertised, a bit of a run down burger shack built next to one of the hefty support beams that held a starship landing platform up off the streets of Nepleslia, blocking out all but the artificial light that was beamed down from the illuminators inset into the platform itself. Uso had arrived nearly an hour early, and picked out a table looking towards the door. Sure, the place made her feel dirty, just the smell of beef cooking made the entire area seem like it was dipped in fatty oil. Luckily this place also served beer...

She'd spend the time checking her datapad, and then casually watching the cutomers come in and out, getting a good feel for who should and shouldn't be there. A black hoodie pulled over her head hiding her neko-ears, her datapad making her seem lost in another world so as to avoid the attentions of the disproportionately high number of men that frequented the area.

She could have met Rip at his place... he would have propably prefered that... but she wasn't going to give up the familiar ground so easily. She half expected some duchie nepleslian dude-bro with a scalple to walk through that door at any moment.

In truth, what walked through the door looked more like a jovial old man, an ID-SOL who had shaved off a year or two here and there with irregular age rejuvenation medication until he reached a look he felt comfortable with. His eyes looked black with golden pupils, and his golden blond hair was not the usual crew cut of ID-SOLs, or the absolute mess of gangers, but a neatly trimmed and combed style swept back from his forehead, streaks of silvery-white running through it. He sported a silvery gauntlet, probably a prosthetic, over his left arm, that was oddly manufactured, the top and bottom halves of it looking like two different devices shoved together. He was dressed in an old military jacket, still bearing unit patches but having had the rank patches removed. Under it was an obviously well loved and worn Aethersperm t-shirt, and a large set of cargo pants.

This place was built for ID-SOL and half-ID-SOL clientele, and still he had to duck his head slightly through the entrance, his 9 foot meaning he could reach the ceiling easily even in this over sized and over engineered grease kitchen. The man moved with the calm fluidity of someone who was combat trained, for all the casualness in his stance, his cyber eyes, likely providing a greater degree of vision than normal eyes would, shifting ever so slightly to cover access ways, potential threats, and finally landed on the person who looked most out of place. Arccos had given him a brief description of Uso, but that didn't stop the very short lived look of distaste that swept across the face of the ID-SOL as he actually laid eyes on the Neko. It was gone so fast that she might not have seen it at all if not for the fact she'd been looking at him when it happened.

He went up to the counter and placed his own order, before walking over to her table, knowing one of the greasy, barely upkept server drones would bring his food out when it was ready. The ID-SOL sat down across from her with a soda in a paper cup which he sipped from briefly, just looking Uso over, likely getting a great deal of data just from his eyes. From this close she'd see that his cyber eyes were not black, but an incredibly dark navy blue, the pupils tiny pin pricks of gold that ratcheted and changed size with the focusing of the internal lenses. He waited a few more moments, seeming to consider the best course to take on this, then just extended his still organic right hand, which was almost the size of a dinner plate, "A pleasure to meet you. Uso right? I'm Rip. D. Torr."

"Hanako's Hips...."

Uso took a moment to just look at the ID-Sol infront of her. It felt exhausting just moving her eyes down from his face towards his torso... there was just so MUCH of him to look at. She couldn't help but wonder what terrible things he'd done to his prom date.

"... first off, shorten that name or I'm just going to call you 'The D'." She would extend her hand to shake, her other hand placing the datapad back into the pocket of her hoodie. "And yeah, I'm Uso. Arccos said you were the guy. Ragnarok needs a medic, but you look like you already have a job, and a place... even if it is a crappy slum-hole. So why sign up for adventures in space?"

"Just Rip would be fine." His hand gripped hers firmly, not with the bone crushing grip that might have been suspected of one like himself, but with a careful control meant to keep his grip comfortable. "And because I like to go where I'll do the most good, and I need the occasional big pay day to keep the clinic running or get it some proper upgrades" he jerks his hand to the medic's insignia patch on one shoulder, underneath his unit patch, "This kinda thing gets me a certain amount of leeway, the street gangs won't cause me much trouble because they know I do good work for the folks out here, and I do it at cost or less, they help me make ends meet, but I still need larger influxes every so often." He shrugs as he says it, "Besides, my operation here is fairly well set up, people won't kick the door down for the drugs while I'm gone, and the people I hire can handle even fairly large emergencies if necessary, and know how to play the system to get any of our clients into the bigger hospitals if they can't, they owe me another year's service for their tuition, but after that they might leave and set up their own operations. After this year I don't know when I'll next be able to leave to do this sorta thing."

"So one part 'I need the money' one part 'I'm a do-gooder'?" Uso asked, doing her best to clarify just why Rip was out here in the first place, "Have you already talked compensation with Cyrus and Arc? I mean, you have to have some idea of what you're getting into right? We are not talking about setting up a clinic in gang-land. There is some serious risk involved in this. People like you don't stomach games of chance that well." Uso replied, her eyes still wandering over his body, his head, his massive shoulders.... he looked like he was sitting in a clown car with just how big his body was compared to the size of the bench in this burger stand. 9 feet was large even for an ID-Sol!

"I'll be receiving my usual rates from Cyruss, but I was told by Arccos I should probably see if I can get requisitions through you since you're the one here in civilized space and all." At this point his meal, a massive burger loaded with cheese, veggies, ketchup, mayo, and pretty much everything, as tall as his hand was wide, and reaking of hot cooked beef and grease, with a load of cheesy fries, was hovered over to the table, and the drone skipped away at a considerable tick of speed faster than it had arrived with. He checked through the burger as he answered her question, knowing better than to trust a dive like this to not slip in something rotten or stale if he wasn't careful. Nepleslians took their meat seriously, but everything else was sorta an optional extra as far as quality control was concerned. "You preform a lung bypass on someone in power armor while NMX or Red weapon's fire rain around you and tell me that 'my type' don't stomach games of chance that well," He said casually, "And from what Arccos told me, helping you sort out medicinal and educational infrastructure will be a cake walk compared to setting up my clinic in a former NMX warzone. I didn't get the specifics, but the locals aren't armed with power armor, automated weaponry, or heavy explosives. Provided they aren't habitually using incredibly lethal poisons, or I let one walk up to stab me in the base of my skull, I can probably shrug off just about anything they can throw at me short of an artillery round." He looks up smiling at her, "besides, I suspect the majority of my work will be at aid stations behind your front line or well behind it educating folks in modern medicine. I'll need more specifics on the planet's exact technology level, which may or may not be related to their medicinal knowledge all things considered, before I can tell you exactly where I'd be best placed." So saying, he began to dig into his gigantic burger.

"They are primitives yeah... but a spear can still kill ya if you aren't careful." Uso rolled her eyes as she thought back to her group, "I mean, I'd offer to get you a power armor or something... but the ragnarok soldiers can't WAIT to strip down the moment the shooting stops. One of 'em is gonna get their head taken off by some local with a knife one day..."

Her eyes would return to him, looking him squarely in the neck,

"Though they'd probably just stab your ankles or something I don't think they could reach your head!"

She would then turn her attention to the burger, looking at it for a bit before returning to his face.

"Look, I got a medic on my staff... but Cyrus needs one on his. We have zero infrastructure setup so everything that we need to setup a medical facility on planet has to come from off world. I don't.... I mean, WE don't just need a medic. We need someone that is highly motivated." Her head would move from side to side a bit, "... and I suppose you do fit the bill Mr. 'I have my own clinic.' Cyrus is already willing to pay you, and I got a ship waiting up top.

I suppose you have some sort of mental instability too?"

"I keep inside my armor unless the area is declared secure, been in too many ambushes and the medic's always who they target first." He said while fishing around in a pocket, "As for mental instability, I'm under treatment for PTSD," He said, holding up a mostly full bottle of small pills, shaking it gently, "I was getting help for it long before I retired, and it's very much under control these days. I take these if I feel a panic attack coming on to shut it down before it can effect or impair me." He places the pill bottle back inside of his coat pocket before continuing, "I've worked with Ragnarok before, and I'm more than willing to help keep them on their feet in the field. As for infrastructure, well, provide me with enough translated text books" he said, taking another bite out of his burger, swallowing it, and washing it down with another pull of soda before continuing, "and I'll help get the population up to snuff and building their own infrastructure when I'm not busy making sure Cyrrus' crew isn't bleeding out from some lucky arrow.... are they really that primitive? Arrows and spears?" The last part was said with as much curiosity as concern, he had no idea the place was THAT far back on the technological chain, if it was, then it was very possible the folks hadn't even figured out proper surgery or even the rudiments of proper medical practice, which would make his job all the harder.

"Well... they have guns but they are primative at best. They'd wound ya but it isn't like you have to worry about getting killed by a single shot unless you get unlucky. I'm basically immune to them... well, they have cannons too but if you get killed by a cannon you were probably doing something really stupid to begin with."

Uso would shift around, leaning back in the booth, a bit more comfort creeping into her voice as she continued to talk,

"Some of these ragna-guys are like... poster-children for mental disorders. I suppose that is Cyrus's problem.... but it is also MY problem too, which also makes it YOUR problem... I suppose now I should be asking you what you need and how long you need to get ready?"

"WATER v2 Power armor," he laughs as he says it, "That you'll have to get custom for me, they don't make them in my size often, my specs are all listed in the files i'll be sending you, anyway, it'll need to be kitted for field medic duty, with a supply to last until the next shipment of ammo and such, standard operating supplies for a front line AID station," He pulled out his own data pad, and started sending her the items one by one, "cheap, but serviceable prosthetics, if they're at cannons and muskets stage, then the common wounds are likely to be loss of limbs and restoring that ability in people will be enormously helpful and win hearts and minds... antibiotics will be useless on that planet, we'll have to custom brew our own likely," he puts together a list of about 2 dozen other items, all of them practically ANCIENT, as well as a supply of 100 of the cheapest and most durable datapads, with literally just enough space to run a communications program and hold a set of historical texts on the practice of medicine, practical texts. "This is what I'd like -ideally-. All of these will help get us on our feet to start, but we'll want to boot strap their local industries into modern pharmaceuticals as quickly as possible. That'll require a modern industrial base," he grins wickedly as he says this, "Uplifting a planet isn't cheap, but if you achieve it, then you'll get a populace who loves you rather than one that fears you."

"Yeah..." Uso said, looking at the list, tallying up the increasing cost in her head, each item driving that number further and further up. "... but I suppose we could do this cheap, or we could do this right. You sound a lot like Raphael... you've already given the uplifting process some thought haven't you? Basing this on your own personal experience? A book you read? Maybe some video game?... Winning hearts and minds is only a small part of this fight. We also have to monetize all of this stuff. You're used to buying product, but what do you know about sellin? Maybe turning local medicines into something you can use here? Or making use of te genetic material on that planet for.... whatever."

"It's not all that different from repairing a world devastated by war. The only difference is that I'll be training personnel without even a conceptual grasp through common media for what I'm doing," He thinks on the second part, "Honestly? I'm unsure why you're that worried about it... if you control planetary trade, you can make money that way easily," he shrugs, "but as for selling stuff? I'm sure we'll find useful bacteria if nothing else, the genetic templates will be worth something as well, but I can't tell you more until the start up costs are done and we have the planet actually helping leverage their population towards these things."

"Huh.... well I can't find anything wrong with you." Uso said, checking the datapad again, "These datapads I think I can get at the store in the space port... these... looks like old-timey medical bits... "

Uso would swipe the list away, sending a quick message to her own medic.

*Beep*

*boop*​

...

*Beep*

*boop*​

She'd leave Rip there to wait on her as she texted back and forth, "Some of it we got, the containers and such Ivory's happy to share. The rest of it We can order and have it here by tomorrow. That gives us a day to find that power armor of yours.... what books do you want to give these guys anyways? Like a thousand copies of how to serve man or what?" Uso asked.

"Not books, ebooks will do the job, that hundred datapads is to set up the core for an educational system and move from there. The full list of texts to be loaded into it can be found in the list of documentation I sent you, there should be enough space on the datajockies I suggested."

He would continue a back and forth with her, explaining his reasoning for various requisitions and decisions, his over all goal being to eventually setup an educational program that would handle further uplifting efforts of the planet, building the place up and up, further and further, until it was self sustaining without any need of outside structure. Medicine would help with that, but a proper agricultural and industrial base would be necessary as well. He felt that when they could get them constructing their own orbital infrastructure, the place would be self sufficient and start paying back any investments Uso had put into it. Before that, any attempts to 'milk the cow' prior to that point might risk, at least as far as he saw it, the slowing of the uplift effort, as requiring a wartorn world still in the process of rebuilding to focus it's industrial output outward into trade items rather than repair efforts could slow down the repair of that world's infrastructure. The best way to monetize might simply to provide seed money to any and all companies or other profit seeking entities on the planet willing to organize efforts, and then have them pay that investment back with reasonable interest over time. It was a common investment tactic for getting returns on 'charity' efforts in the rebuilding of warzones, and in those circumstances was tax deductible.

Despite an attitude that implied otherwise, Uso could get quite detailed with her questions... dipping down into probably ROI, investment strategies, even the minutia of procurement. Unfortunately, none of this was particularly Rip's fortay, he knew the broad strategies, how large groups invested in rebuilding and war recovery efforts, how governments, companies, charities, etc, all played a role in that effort, having had taken a low to middling level hand in such efforts himself at various stages of his tenure with SMiDIoN, he was able to direct her to certain scholarly articles on the subject, things he had skimmed but never gotten deeply into, but when it got more specific than 'Well this is basically how it was done, for example, in how they helped rebuild Funky City following the Greens taking it,' or 'I had to go through a long term strategy meeting I almost fell asleep during back right before I retired after the Rok'Veru Offensive cleared up."

"Well... I guess you're part of the team now." Uso slid herself out of the booth, "We'll be on the landing pad the rest of the day, I'll even look up that 9 foot tall power armor for you... see what I can get my hands on."