Z
Zack
System 87C
Pscyhopomp Storefront
Uso had been watching the place for quite some time. Her private little investigation of Alex's pod leading her to Alex's former ship... leading her to the dock on Nepleslia that the ship had departed from... to the crew that helped load the ship... to the truck driver that brought the pod there... and finally to the loading dock of this storefront.
Rather than rushing in, she ended up walking by from time to time, casing the joint, learning what she could...
But sometimes you just need the direct approach.
"HEY! Who's in charge here?!" Uso asked, walking in the front door. The neko was dressed in a large black hoodie that helped cover her ears, a grey backpack and slacks rounding out the rest of the outfit.
Two of the four retail associates were in the store that day and one shirked at the entrance this particular customer was apt to give. She lowered her head a bit and swiveled it as she avoided eye contact, looking to her superior, a well-tailored Nepleslian in her middle age, wearing a pencil skirt and blazer over a tight-fitted, collared shirt. She pushed her lips together and clutched the datajockey in her hands, until she relaxed a moment after and let a false smile spread across her face, relinquishing the datajockey to the appalled employee next to her and took quick steps forward, pushing forward a hand as she got close enough to Uso to have her shake it.
"Adele McRee, manager of Psychopomp Cybernetics retail store. It is lovely to make your acquaintance, Miss..." she trailed off with a questioning lilt to her voice.
Uso looked at Adele's hand for a moment, "Oh come on, I'm not here to buy upgrades for me. I was more interested in the bigger stuff."
"Ah," the woman said knowingly. "You're looking to conceive and would like to know about our gene manipulation, then, I see," she said, nearly turning to grab the datajockey before gauging her new customer's reaction as unbefitting of such a product. "Or, am I wrong?"
"Bigger."
"Bigger than that, you say?" Adele said, leaning from one foot to another."
"Yes, about seven meters tall give or take..." Uso added.
"You wouldn't happen..." she trailed off, looking Uso up and down unsurreptitiously, then said, "to be looking into our PMC department, for private military contractors? The only reason I ask-- well, there really is no reason to ask someone like you, I shouldn't have." Digressing, she said while raising one brow, "But should I have?"
"That'd be the one. I got money, I got a need for some force, and I figure I shouldn't need to sneak around to get the answer I want if I'm brandishing funds... So how bout it?" Uso asked.
"I can tell you that you're a woman after what you want," she said, waving her hand about behind her feverishly before the other employee moved the datajockey into her hands. She brought it in front of Uso and the PP of Psychopomp's logo flashed brightly before it waned and was replaced by different listings of what was offered. Swiping away from things like the OGU and MEME, she moved her fingers to the acronym SSI. Then appeared the words Super Soldier Initiative with several forms of men and women standing or kneeling. Behind them were images of the mecha they piloted, overshadowing them. Recognizable to Uso would be an image of a boy, not yet a man. Adele was about to swipe away from those images to show specifications, when she paused, noticing a look on her new client's face.
If Uso recognized the picture, she didn't show it. "So what's your policy on these soldiers? Do we need to purchase a support contract? Are you selling them as-is out of the bag like Yamatai?"
"We would need payment for the soldier and mecha, if you so chose to purchase one with your soldier, and would need no such support contract as our relationship begins and ends with the purchase of said soldier and mecha," Adele said. "We sell them as-is, instead. Out of the bag, so to speak. They have gone through rigorous training as well as the gamut of gene manipulations, cybernetic aided technology, muscle employed mecha enhancements, our brand of endoskeletons, and have operator guidance units outfitted to the soldiers you will be able to purchase."
"Well, how am I supposed to know what I am getting? Do you have one you can show off?" Uso asked.
"We have the ability to bring one to you now, if you would like." Adele converted some pieces of information on a data jockey and moved figures around until she had chosen the appropriate sequence of numbers to unlock the system for calling forward personnel.
"I would like to see one in person, but first can you tell me a bit more about them? Are these willing creatures? Slaves? Not quite sentient systems? What kind of control do you have and what kind of training, effectiveness, and costs can I expect right off the bat?" Uso asked.
"You may see some, then, that is being arranged. We, here at Psychopomp, will work with those that wish to enhance themselves, only. The idea that they're anything but willing and sentient is a bit out of our realm of acceptability. You should expect them to have abilties along the lines of an infantryman and pilot, but superior to any you have ever seen. They come with an operator guidance unit for control over them and have been trained, tried, and true." Answering the question she had been waiting fervently to let loose, she said, "It will be 50000 KS for one soldier and double that for a mecha. 150000 KS in total."
"That includes guns, gears, and shipping?" Uso asked. "I mean, I would like to purchase one now, but I also want to know where your pricebreak is for buying in bulk?"
"That includes the standard package, the deluxe package, which includes a Gauss Assault Rifle, pump action gauss cannon, plasma cannon, a plasma pistol/ saber, and a state of the art torpedo launcher, is a bit pricier... an extra 50,000 KS. Shipping and handling is free when the soldier, mecha, and weapons are bought together. Typically we would charge a few thousand KS," she said, thinking back to the mishap in shipping they had recently experienced, wondering if she should divulge that accidents happened, then decided against it and held her tongue. "Does all of that sound like something you can accommodate?"
"Certainly,I don't need it shipped far. How soon can you arrange a demonstration? I think uhhh....." Uso looked back over at the datapad that Adele was holding, swiping through the list until she found her Alex look-alike, "That one caught my eye. I assume they are all about the same, and he's probably the cutest."
"Well," Adele said, looking at a notification at the top of the screen and tapped on it twice, then entered a series of numbers in order to open it, seeing the information presented, and said, "They're waiting on us, at this point. I'm glad you chose him. He's one of our top performing super soldiers of the initiative. You've chosen well, I myself can see the appeal you speak of."
As she tapped again on the datajockey and entered a new series of digits, her coworker moved to the back of the showroom and opened a door timidly, with hunched shoulders and shivering hands. Out came a series of ten super soldiers, five different people in total, as there were pairs of the same clone standing shoulder to shoulder. One of each clone stepped back as Adele stepped towards them, watching their deadpan expressions as they stared forward, not at her, nor Uso, nor the nameless employee.
"These are all clones, as you can tell, of original soldiers that have been tested and become the greatest members of the project. Psychopomp lets their customers choose between clones as there are slight variations in personality, so we encourage our customers to get to know the newest member of their PMC before buying. This girl, for example," Adele said, tapping a black-haired and broad shouldered girl of about eighteen on her cheek, causing her to step further even more than she already had and turn to Adele, looking at her, "is calm and quiet, wheras her counterpart," Adele motioned for the other girl to step forward, "is capable of lively conversation. Go on," Adele said, beckoning her again.
"Nice to see you again, Miss. It's been a lovely day, hasn't it? I just-" the clone said enthusiastically, then stopped as Adele brought her fingers together, hushing her with the signal.
"Which would you like to speak to?" Adele asked Uso.
"Well, which one of you is the best?" Uso asked the clones.
Both girls looked to one another and, seemingly in unison, pointed to the other.
"Neither is the best," Adele added, "Each one just has a personality different than the next. It's up to you to decide which you think is the best between them. Now, you said you were interested in this model." Adele walked over two boys that stood, one in front of the other, and tapped one on the shoulder, "This one is more than adequate, a top-of-the-line model, if I do say so. What are you looking for?"
"Well, I was hoping one would be self-sure enough to step forward. What is this one's name?" Uso asked, "I need a solid example of what you can offer before I can consider buying in bulk for planetary defense work."
Hearing this, Adele asked the boy in front of her to step aside and pointed to the one behind him, a better match for what her client was asking for, "This one? Jason," she replied.
"Hahaha." The young man stepped out from the crowd with a tremendous smirk on his face, arms spread out wide. "You know when she asked for the best Mrs.McRee, you really should have pointed her my way in the first place."
He set his sights on the hooded woman, giving her a once over before nodding to himself, apparently pleased with whatever secret criteria he was hoping for his potential to employer to meet. "I'm the best fucking pilot, best fucking shot, know more about weapons than anybody in this room, and I have the best looks. Really my sparkling personality should be enough to sell it for you, the rest is on the house."
"This one," Adele said while putting a hand on Jason's shoulder, then removing it as she thought better of it, "may be too brash for your liking. Or is he?" she asked with questioning lilt to her tone. "What he says isn't necessarily wrong, some models become more adept more quickly than others..." she trailed off, looking at the others as she finished making the disparaging remarks.
"So that's a tacit admission that this one is a bit better than the others I see here?" Uso asked, "So, Mr. Jason, is that the only reason I should buy you instead of the others?"
Jason didn't pay much attention to any of the glowers he was sure his fellow subjects were fixing him with at this very moment. He was here to get out of this hellhole, not make friend, and if they couldn't handle the truth? Fuck 'em. Instead he replied with the same confident, self-assured tone. "Well, personally I'd say a bit better is a bit of a understatement, but hey, to each their own. However if you're looking for other reasons..." He glanced around at each of the other nine. "You should really be doing it because I'm smarter, braver, and more willing to do whatever it takes than any of them. And I'm willing to prove it, since words aren't worth shit. I'll fight any of these 1 on 1, 2 on 1...hell, I'll take them on 9 on 1 to prove it. Or any other test you want to set up for me."
"Er..." Adele murmured."What would you prefer, Miss?" she deferred to Uso.
Uso got a good laugh out of that, "Well he certainly doesn't lack in confidence."
"No," Adele said, shaking her head with a smile.
"So then how do we complete this transaction? Do you box him up or something for me?" Uso asked.
"We'll bring him to you, once payment is complete," she said, pushing forward her datajockey, saying simply, "If you wouldn't mind entering your information here..."
A wave of catharsis washed over him as he realized that she was going to purchase him. Turning once more, for the seemingly last time to the cadre that was was behind him he gave a mock bow. "Well, looks like the best candidate won. Really was a blast living through all of this for you. Consider this little exchange my final present, little how to guide on how to sell yourself. Really, no need to thank me."
The super soldiers all gave their own assortment of either praise or hostility in rather more diminutive fashions than he had shown. Half of them stepped back into line, save for Jason's counterpart, who stood gazing at the woman that was buying his clone. To Jason, he gave a curt nod as he looked away from Uso.
Uso got another soft chuckle as she entered her information, transferring over a rather large amount of legitimate spacer-monies in exchange for Jason.
"Well, thank you so very much. We'll have him and his equipment shipped to this..." Adele looked at the numbers, "Landing Pad Gh597 immediately. Expect him there as soon as possible. As always, thank you for coming to Psyhcopomp. On behalf of us all, I thank you."
"Come on kid." Uso said, turning toward the door, and heading out onto the streets once again.
Realizing that he had just seemingly been given permission to actually follow after her, Jason gave a nod of appreciation back to his clone before quickly setting a pace to catch up to her before someone had a chance to inform him this was just one more cruel joke and drag him back to the asteroid. Briskly walking beside the only slightly taller woman, he decided that if their any day for him to push his luck, it was this one. He was on a winning streak, casino rules, and all that. "So, I'm not saying that I care much either way, but I'm a little curious as to who I'll be working for. Now I'm guessing, hoping really, your the one running the outfit? Since you seem to have your hands on the purse strings, after all. Or is this more of a personal purchase?"
Uso stopped for a moment, placing her hand on his shoulder and pressing firmly, pushing up up against the glass wall of the building they were walking beside. Uso certainly looked like a normal woman, maybe Yamatain... it was somewhat hard to tell exactly what was under the hood, but it was very clear she had quite a bit of muscle for her small size. "My understanding," She said, taking a firm hold of his shoulder, "Is that I just bought you, can I can do whatever I like with you..... personal or otherwise."
He wasn't exactly the most adept at picking up on the kind of subtleties that living in polite society sometimes entailed, given he had spent the entirety of his life learning how to better fight, kill, and the inner workings of the tools that made such things ever easier. So he wasn't entirely sure how to interpret her gestures or tone, but he knew that facing things with the utmost confidence was usually the best strategy. "I'd say that pretty much nails it, yeah. I'm at your disposal to kill whoever you want, go wherever you want, do whatever you think I should do till you decide to sell me off. And trust me, I'm going to be a hard purchase to justify letting go of, Mrs..." He trailed off, hoping for to fill in the blank.
She was happy to keep going without filling in that blank, "So how'd you like your life in there? It sounds like you're eager to get out into the world."
"It definitely had it's...ups and downs. Mostly downs, honestly. Imagine coming out of tube with someone telling you you were made to go through life taking anybody out, but instead of letting you tearing through people out the gate they just send you through hours, and days, and weeks, and months of training just to get a chance at being looked at by a potential buyer. Meanwhile you have like, I don't know, hundreds of other guys competing with you for it, and everytime you look like you're doing a little worse then the crowd or make a mistake, they don't holding anything back screwing you over for it. While all that's happening, you're being passed up for a bunch of fuckups and brown-nosers, while the rest of the people in the program have it out for you because people don't like it when you don't pretend that you're as worthless as they are, and the sales-people don't want to tell anyone some products are better then others. So you could say yeah, I'm pretty glad to get away from it all and start doing what I was made for in the first place."
"And in your own words, just what are you made to do?" Uso asked, letting Jason go for the time being and returning to her walk.
Jason let himself relax a bit as he no longer felt the pressure on his shoulder, but didn't skip a beat. "You know. Win skirmishes, win wars. On the ground, in space, wherever. Help take out fleets, suppress insurrections, bury enemy commanders. Of course I have some skill as a technician too, for what it worth, but I like to think my real calling is ruining things, not making sure they keep standing. Of course, like you said, what I do now is up to you."
"So how do they keep you so, focused on what you're doing? I think you'd be eager to run off on your own first chance you get?" Uso asked.
He gave her a strange look, one eyebrow arched in a gesture of beffudled curiousity. "I guess I....I don't know. I mean....with the implants you really can't, I mean...they ordered me to stay. So I had too." He shook his head for a moment, trying to think of some rationalization that was less unsettling to think about then his own lack of agency. "Besides, before they sent me out here they were keeping us at an asteroid. In deep space. And even if I did steal a shuttle, was lucky enough to have a planet in the direction of where ever I set course too, that was close enough that I'd hit it before I ran out of rations..then what? No money, no identification, never met anybody outside of that place till they sent me out here. What was I going to do?" The young man gave her a uncharistic shrug. "By the time I was here, I mean...when you're so close to finally getting bought, even if I could ignore orders why go through the trouble running away? I figured the smarter bet was just to stand out, let people see I'm worth more then anybody else they showed. And I mean...it worked, didn't it?"
"I suppose it did," Uso said, not quite turning her attention to him yet. "I'm Uso by the way. For the time being you're under evaluation with my crew. I would like you to get to know them, let them form an opinion of you, and try to chip in with the other mecha-guys on site. Establish yourself."
"Fair enough, fair enough." His usual demeanor seemed to return him, not caring to much that her focus seemed to be elsewhere. "Sounds like something I can do. So...I'm guessing that if, when, I wow the rest of the outfit i'll get to see some action." The mention of other mecha pilots certainly seemed to pique his curiosity given that he seemed to recall a relative scarcity of frame pilots compared to other, more conventional armor. "Might as well ask, how many other frame pilots do you have? Can you tell me anything about them?" It was always good to prepare as much possible before meeting the enemy, after all. He supposed that adviced counted for allies too, right?
"We've got an arrogant one who's got some skill, and we've got one so green he doesn't even know who he is." Uso explained, "They both need a bit more guidance I think, but training isn't exactly my strong suit."
"Hey, if your looking for someone to get them up the snuff, you picked the right guy." He answered. "Trust me, by the time I'm through they'll be working like well oiled machines. Might even have a reason to be a little arrogant, heh."
"We'll see." Uso said, cutting between two buildings before hailing a cab on the next street, "Lets get you to your new home,"
"Sounds good." Waiting for the hovercar to saddle up, he pulled the door open for Uso to get inside before following her. "Can't wait to get settled in. See some new faces."
Pscyhopomp Storefront
Uso had been watching the place for quite some time. Her private little investigation of Alex's pod leading her to Alex's former ship... leading her to the dock on Nepleslia that the ship had departed from... to the crew that helped load the ship... to the truck driver that brought the pod there... and finally to the loading dock of this storefront.
Rather than rushing in, she ended up walking by from time to time, casing the joint, learning what she could...
But sometimes you just need the direct approach.
"HEY! Who's in charge here?!" Uso asked, walking in the front door. The neko was dressed in a large black hoodie that helped cover her ears, a grey backpack and slacks rounding out the rest of the outfit.
Two of the four retail associates were in the store that day and one shirked at the entrance this particular customer was apt to give. She lowered her head a bit and swiveled it as she avoided eye contact, looking to her superior, a well-tailored Nepleslian in her middle age, wearing a pencil skirt and blazer over a tight-fitted, collared shirt. She pushed her lips together and clutched the datajockey in her hands, until she relaxed a moment after and let a false smile spread across her face, relinquishing the datajockey to the appalled employee next to her and took quick steps forward, pushing forward a hand as she got close enough to Uso to have her shake it.
"Adele McRee, manager of Psychopomp Cybernetics retail store. It is lovely to make your acquaintance, Miss..." she trailed off with a questioning lilt to her voice.
Uso looked at Adele's hand for a moment, "Oh come on, I'm not here to buy upgrades for me. I was more interested in the bigger stuff."
"Ah," the woman said knowingly. "You're looking to conceive and would like to know about our gene manipulation, then, I see," she said, nearly turning to grab the datajockey before gauging her new customer's reaction as unbefitting of such a product. "Or, am I wrong?"
"Bigger."
"Bigger than that, you say?" Adele said, leaning from one foot to another."
"Yes, about seven meters tall give or take..." Uso added.
"You wouldn't happen..." she trailed off, looking Uso up and down unsurreptitiously, then said, "to be looking into our PMC department, for private military contractors? The only reason I ask-- well, there really is no reason to ask someone like you, I shouldn't have." Digressing, she said while raising one brow, "But should I have?"
"That'd be the one. I got money, I got a need for some force, and I figure I shouldn't need to sneak around to get the answer I want if I'm brandishing funds... So how bout it?" Uso asked.
"I can tell you that you're a woman after what you want," she said, waving her hand about behind her feverishly before the other employee moved the datajockey into her hands. She brought it in front of Uso and the PP of Psychopomp's logo flashed brightly before it waned and was replaced by different listings of what was offered. Swiping away from things like the OGU and MEME, she moved her fingers to the acronym SSI. Then appeared the words Super Soldier Initiative with several forms of men and women standing or kneeling. Behind them were images of the mecha they piloted, overshadowing them. Recognizable to Uso would be an image of a boy, not yet a man. Adele was about to swipe away from those images to show specifications, when she paused, noticing a look on her new client's face.
If Uso recognized the picture, she didn't show it. "So what's your policy on these soldiers? Do we need to purchase a support contract? Are you selling them as-is out of the bag like Yamatai?"
"We would need payment for the soldier and mecha, if you so chose to purchase one with your soldier, and would need no such support contract as our relationship begins and ends with the purchase of said soldier and mecha," Adele said. "We sell them as-is, instead. Out of the bag, so to speak. They have gone through rigorous training as well as the gamut of gene manipulations, cybernetic aided technology, muscle employed mecha enhancements, our brand of endoskeletons, and have operator guidance units outfitted to the soldiers you will be able to purchase."
"Well, how am I supposed to know what I am getting? Do you have one you can show off?" Uso asked.
"We have the ability to bring one to you now, if you would like." Adele converted some pieces of information on a data jockey and moved figures around until she had chosen the appropriate sequence of numbers to unlock the system for calling forward personnel.
"I would like to see one in person, but first can you tell me a bit more about them? Are these willing creatures? Slaves? Not quite sentient systems? What kind of control do you have and what kind of training, effectiveness, and costs can I expect right off the bat?" Uso asked.
"You may see some, then, that is being arranged. We, here at Psychopomp, will work with those that wish to enhance themselves, only. The idea that they're anything but willing and sentient is a bit out of our realm of acceptability. You should expect them to have abilties along the lines of an infantryman and pilot, but superior to any you have ever seen. They come with an operator guidance unit for control over them and have been trained, tried, and true." Answering the question she had been waiting fervently to let loose, she said, "It will be 50000 KS for one soldier and double that for a mecha. 150000 KS in total."
"That includes guns, gears, and shipping?" Uso asked. "I mean, I would like to purchase one now, but I also want to know where your pricebreak is for buying in bulk?"
"That includes the standard package, the deluxe package, which includes a Gauss Assault Rifle, pump action gauss cannon, plasma cannon, a plasma pistol/ saber, and a state of the art torpedo launcher, is a bit pricier... an extra 50,000 KS. Shipping and handling is free when the soldier, mecha, and weapons are bought together. Typically we would charge a few thousand KS," she said, thinking back to the mishap in shipping they had recently experienced, wondering if she should divulge that accidents happened, then decided against it and held her tongue. "Does all of that sound like something you can accommodate?"
"Certainly,I don't need it shipped far. How soon can you arrange a demonstration? I think uhhh....." Uso looked back over at the datapad that Adele was holding, swiping through the list until she found her Alex look-alike, "That one caught my eye. I assume they are all about the same, and he's probably the cutest."
"Well," Adele said, looking at a notification at the top of the screen and tapped on it twice, then entered a series of numbers in order to open it, seeing the information presented, and said, "They're waiting on us, at this point. I'm glad you chose him. He's one of our top performing super soldiers of the initiative. You've chosen well, I myself can see the appeal you speak of."
As she tapped again on the datajockey and entered a new series of digits, her coworker moved to the back of the showroom and opened a door timidly, with hunched shoulders and shivering hands. Out came a series of ten super soldiers, five different people in total, as there were pairs of the same clone standing shoulder to shoulder. One of each clone stepped back as Adele stepped towards them, watching their deadpan expressions as they stared forward, not at her, nor Uso, nor the nameless employee.
"These are all clones, as you can tell, of original soldiers that have been tested and become the greatest members of the project. Psychopomp lets their customers choose between clones as there are slight variations in personality, so we encourage our customers to get to know the newest member of their PMC before buying. This girl, for example," Adele said, tapping a black-haired and broad shouldered girl of about eighteen on her cheek, causing her to step further even more than she already had and turn to Adele, looking at her, "is calm and quiet, wheras her counterpart," Adele motioned for the other girl to step forward, "is capable of lively conversation. Go on," Adele said, beckoning her again.
"Nice to see you again, Miss. It's been a lovely day, hasn't it? I just-" the clone said enthusiastically, then stopped as Adele brought her fingers together, hushing her with the signal.
"Which would you like to speak to?" Adele asked Uso.
"Well, which one of you is the best?" Uso asked the clones.
Both girls looked to one another and, seemingly in unison, pointed to the other.
"Neither is the best," Adele added, "Each one just has a personality different than the next. It's up to you to decide which you think is the best between them. Now, you said you were interested in this model." Adele walked over two boys that stood, one in front of the other, and tapped one on the shoulder, "This one is more than adequate, a top-of-the-line model, if I do say so. What are you looking for?"
"Well, I was hoping one would be self-sure enough to step forward. What is this one's name?" Uso asked, "I need a solid example of what you can offer before I can consider buying in bulk for planetary defense work."
Hearing this, Adele asked the boy in front of her to step aside and pointed to the one behind him, a better match for what her client was asking for, "This one? Jason," she replied.
"Hahaha." The young man stepped out from the crowd with a tremendous smirk on his face, arms spread out wide. "You know when she asked for the best Mrs.McRee, you really should have pointed her my way in the first place."
He set his sights on the hooded woman, giving her a once over before nodding to himself, apparently pleased with whatever secret criteria he was hoping for his potential to employer to meet. "I'm the best fucking pilot, best fucking shot, know more about weapons than anybody in this room, and I have the best looks. Really my sparkling personality should be enough to sell it for you, the rest is on the house."
"This one," Adele said while putting a hand on Jason's shoulder, then removing it as she thought better of it, "may be too brash for your liking. Or is he?" she asked with questioning lilt to her tone. "What he says isn't necessarily wrong, some models become more adept more quickly than others..." she trailed off, looking at the others as she finished making the disparaging remarks.
"So that's a tacit admission that this one is a bit better than the others I see here?" Uso asked, "So, Mr. Jason, is that the only reason I should buy you instead of the others?"
Jason didn't pay much attention to any of the glowers he was sure his fellow subjects were fixing him with at this very moment. He was here to get out of this hellhole, not make friend, and if they couldn't handle the truth? Fuck 'em. Instead he replied with the same confident, self-assured tone. "Well, personally I'd say a bit better is a bit of a understatement, but hey, to each their own. However if you're looking for other reasons..." He glanced around at each of the other nine. "You should really be doing it because I'm smarter, braver, and more willing to do whatever it takes than any of them. And I'm willing to prove it, since words aren't worth shit. I'll fight any of these 1 on 1, 2 on 1...hell, I'll take them on 9 on 1 to prove it. Or any other test you want to set up for me."
"Er..." Adele murmured."What would you prefer, Miss?" she deferred to Uso.
Uso got a good laugh out of that, "Well he certainly doesn't lack in confidence."
"No," Adele said, shaking her head with a smile.
"So then how do we complete this transaction? Do you box him up or something for me?" Uso asked.
"We'll bring him to you, once payment is complete," she said, pushing forward her datajockey, saying simply, "If you wouldn't mind entering your information here..."
A wave of catharsis washed over him as he realized that she was going to purchase him. Turning once more, for the seemingly last time to the cadre that was was behind him he gave a mock bow. "Well, looks like the best candidate won. Really was a blast living through all of this for you. Consider this little exchange my final present, little how to guide on how to sell yourself. Really, no need to thank me."
The super soldiers all gave their own assortment of either praise or hostility in rather more diminutive fashions than he had shown. Half of them stepped back into line, save for Jason's counterpart, who stood gazing at the woman that was buying his clone. To Jason, he gave a curt nod as he looked away from Uso.
Uso got another soft chuckle as she entered her information, transferring over a rather large amount of legitimate spacer-monies in exchange for Jason.
"Well, thank you so very much. We'll have him and his equipment shipped to this..." Adele looked at the numbers, "Landing Pad Gh597 immediately. Expect him there as soon as possible. As always, thank you for coming to Psyhcopomp. On behalf of us all, I thank you."
"Come on kid." Uso said, turning toward the door, and heading out onto the streets once again.
Realizing that he had just seemingly been given permission to actually follow after her, Jason gave a nod of appreciation back to his clone before quickly setting a pace to catch up to her before someone had a chance to inform him this was just one more cruel joke and drag him back to the asteroid. Briskly walking beside the only slightly taller woman, he decided that if their any day for him to push his luck, it was this one. He was on a winning streak, casino rules, and all that. "So, I'm not saying that I care much either way, but I'm a little curious as to who I'll be working for. Now I'm guessing, hoping really, your the one running the outfit? Since you seem to have your hands on the purse strings, after all. Or is this more of a personal purchase?"
Uso stopped for a moment, placing her hand on his shoulder and pressing firmly, pushing up up against the glass wall of the building they were walking beside. Uso certainly looked like a normal woman, maybe Yamatain... it was somewhat hard to tell exactly what was under the hood, but it was very clear she had quite a bit of muscle for her small size. "My understanding," She said, taking a firm hold of his shoulder, "Is that I just bought you, can I can do whatever I like with you..... personal or otherwise."
He wasn't exactly the most adept at picking up on the kind of subtleties that living in polite society sometimes entailed, given he had spent the entirety of his life learning how to better fight, kill, and the inner workings of the tools that made such things ever easier. So he wasn't entirely sure how to interpret her gestures or tone, but he knew that facing things with the utmost confidence was usually the best strategy. "I'd say that pretty much nails it, yeah. I'm at your disposal to kill whoever you want, go wherever you want, do whatever you think I should do till you decide to sell me off. And trust me, I'm going to be a hard purchase to justify letting go of, Mrs..." He trailed off, hoping for to fill in the blank.
She was happy to keep going without filling in that blank, "So how'd you like your life in there? It sounds like you're eager to get out into the world."
"It definitely had it's...ups and downs. Mostly downs, honestly. Imagine coming out of tube with someone telling you you were made to go through life taking anybody out, but instead of letting you tearing through people out the gate they just send you through hours, and days, and weeks, and months of training just to get a chance at being looked at by a potential buyer. Meanwhile you have like, I don't know, hundreds of other guys competing with you for it, and everytime you look like you're doing a little worse then the crowd or make a mistake, they don't holding anything back screwing you over for it. While all that's happening, you're being passed up for a bunch of fuckups and brown-nosers, while the rest of the people in the program have it out for you because people don't like it when you don't pretend that you're as worthless as they are, and the sales-people don't want to tell anyone some products are better then others. So you could say yeah, I'm pretty glad to get away from it all and start doing what I was made for in the first place."
"And in your own words, just what are you made to do?" Uso asked, letting Jason go for the time being and returning to her walk.
Jason let himself relax a bit as he no longer felt the pressure on his shoulder, but didn't skip a beat. "You know. Win skirmishes, win wars. On the ground, in space, wherever. Help take out fleets, suppress insurrections, bury enemy commanders. Of course I have some skill as a technician too, for what it worth, but I like to think my real calling is ruining things, not making sure they keep standing. Of course, like you said, what I do now is up to you."
"So how do they keep you so, focused on what you're doing? I think you'd be eager to run off on your own first chance you get?" Uso asked.
He gave her a strange look, one eyebrow arched in a gesture of beffudled curiousity. "I guess I....I don't know. I mean....with the implants you really can't, I mean...they ordered me to stay. So I had too." He shook his head for a moment, trying to think of some rationalization that was less unsettling to think about then his own lack of agency. "Besides, before they sent me out here they were keeping us at an asteroid. In deep space. And even if I did steal a shuttle, was lucky enough to have a planet in the direction of where ever I set course too, that was close enough that I'd hit it before I ran out of rations..then what? No money, no identification, never met anybody outside of that place till they sent me out here. What was I going to do?" The young man gave her a uncharistic shrug. "By the time I was here, I mean...when you're so close to finally getting bought, even if I could ignore orders why go through the trouble running away? I figured the smarter bet was just to stand out, let people see I'm worth more then anybody else they showed. And I mean...it worked, didn't it?"
"I suppose it did," Uso said, not quite turning her attention to him yet. "I'm Uso by the way. For the time being you're under evaluation with my crew. I would like you to get to know them, let them form an opinion of you, and try to chip in with the other mecha-guys on site. Establish yourself."
"Fair enough, fair enough." His usual demeanor seemed to return him, not caring to much that her focus seemed to be elsewhere. "Sounds like something I can do. So...I'm guessing that if, when, I wow the rest of the outfit i'll get to see some action." The mention of other mecha pilots certainly seemed to pique his curiosity given that he seemed to recall a relative scarcity of frame pilots compared to other, more conventional armor. "Might as well ask, how many other frame pilots do you have? Can you tell me anything about them?" It was always good to prepare as much possible before meeting the enemy, after all. He supposed that adviced counted for allies too, right?
"We've got an arrogant one who's got some skill, and we've got one so green he doesn't even know who he is." Uso explained, "They both need a bit more guidance I think, but training isn't exactly my strong suit."
"Hey, if your looking for someone to get them up the snuff, you picked the right guy." He answered. "Trust me, by the time I'm through they'll be working like well oiled machines. Might even have a reason to be a little arrogant, heh."
"We'll see." Uso said, cutting between two buildings before hailing a cab on the next street, "Lets get you to your new home,"
"Sounds good." Waiting for the hovercar to saddle up, he pulled the door open for Uso to get inside before following her. "Can't wait to get settled in. See some new faces."
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