FSE

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“What the hell are you doing?” That voice, that fucking voice… It was just getting grading at this point. How long had it been… Fuck… it had been long enough.

“Am getting my papers… are time is up… so sad right?” yeah far from it. Five years with this fucker.

“Nah… nah” what the hell is he doing, “five years, I think we agreed ten”

“No… No… five, these are my papers now, and we’re finished” It could not have come soon enough and if he thinks he going to stop me.

“You really think you’ve got the control here… I make the terms, not you, now hand them over!”

“Nah… fuck you” This had been a long time coming “If you want these back, you’ll get them out of my cold dead hands”

“You really think your that fucking scary”

Might not be scary…But am definitely certain am not staying here.

This was always how this was going to turn out right. Was it foolish to ever think things would ever work out? Five years’ service to get your papers back… Should have known better, people never liked to let go. This was not some sentimental BS; this was all about not wanting to give up another payment… For a replacement.

Strong bastard, but overconfident… But too much had gone down so far. I would rather die, then surrender for another few years indentured service only for it to repeat again.

“…Fuck…”

Maybe that was a bit too far…

/S.B. – 10099: Your gravity tether is beyond the recommended limit/

No, it should be fine. This was so close, one more job, one more.

/S.B. – 10099: warning, Tether is losing cohesion, warning/

Come on, come on… just a couple more…

*Pop*

That is the worst feeling. The tether giving way. In the void of space, it made no sound, but the feeling reverb through the suit like a mother fucker.

Oh fuck, oh fuck.

/Warning, warning… Impact…Warning, warning/

The large bit of metal slugged along in Space at a snail’s paste, but the mass behind it made it a flying weapon of death. Yet at the same time the spectacle was hard to take your eyes off of. The whole crew of shipbreakers watched, while I slipped away.

Eventually the chunk of ship collided with the cradle. As expected, it smashed through spreading further chunks of debris about the void of space. For anyone at a distance it was a wonderful display. But the shipbreakers pushed themselves away with their EVA to get away as further debris collide back into the ship… Needless to say. Ship breaking would stop being a profession for the next few months, but least the construction business would make a return.

/S.B. – 10099: Your actions have been reported to the admin, you are to report to the disciplinary briefing/

Yeah no… Time to split.

The station was a flush with activity, as people mulled about to do their business. Walking around was almost like being inside a sardine can. The place was likely comfortable for nearly 500 people, but as of current there was least 875 stuffed inside, if not more.

/Announcement to station residents and visitors; due to damage to the station’s shipbreaker cradle, all large ship traffic is on hold, both incoming and outgoing… Please await further instruction/

There was a collective groan throughout the station, some people swearing and yelling. Some of them were going to be stuck in this sardine can of a space station. Others snickered, with juvenile jibes.

“I told you a larger ship was a bad idea” whispered one, “oh fuck off” his friend replied.

After a tenses minute, somewhat normal life returned.

A nearby station bar, mumbled with life, as friends chattered, strangers exchanged news, and loners drank away their hidden vices.

“I’ve heard the CSS have the Anarchist on the run… literally have them running from the galaxy” … “Yeah… They’ll have them running now… I bet they’ll be back”.

“Hey… have you heard of the new colony on the edge… supposedly they give out currier jobs… four months wages for a single run, nearly 45 thousand credits” … “I don’t trust that… what pays that much for something so simple?”.

“We’ve been moving from the Quill sector, the industry planets are running dry… we’ve been trying to find work”… “Bad news for you pal… Industry’s going down hill round these parts too… FFP strangled it, and the Anarchist destroyed the rest… still got some farming world though”.

A large wolf wondered into the bar, taking a seat at the front. It was not an uncommon species. Though she got a few looks. Mixed looks.

“What can I get you?” The bar drone asked, as its twisted to face the wolfess.

“Just a beer please… had a long day” the wolfess mumbled, as the bar tender gave a stiff nod of the head, “apologies to hear that”. The wolfess ears curled back, the bar tenders’ dry comments were not of much comfort… As fake as this thing personality… The station really should invest in better droids.

/Station Announcement: S.B. 10099: You are required for a meeting with the station administration, Report ASAP… S.B 10099 You are……

The wolfess curled slightly lower to the announcement checking her uniform glad to see the overall had no defining markings. She ditched her equipment in the locker but it was clear that time was limited. The clunk of the beer on the bar top made her jump. “Your beer madam… That is 2.52, credits”. She nodded her head as he handed over the money, and as quick as the drone took it, it snapped back to an uninterested pose. As if it had turned off, likely just a power-saving mode… Hopefully.

Wolfess just slinked back in the chair, as she took a long draw on her beer. Staying here was not an option anymore… But it wasn’t like she could just fly away… Moments like this made her miss Juno. Might have had a ship, but she had no clue how to fly it… Picking up a pilot was always a hard knock. Fuckers always wanted a fortune for simple work.

The bar went quiet for a second as a new figure came into the bar. A clone came into the bar; it was easy to tell even with the helmet; a large white C was stenciled onto the overalls. The looks changed this time… A clone on his own. Always a strange sight…

The clone took a seat at the front of the bar, not too far from the wolfess.

“Can I have a drink please” The voice was clear, even threw the mask. A worn voice, not like an old clone, but a clone which had been well used. The bar drone flicked back to life,

“Apologies, but I am not authorized to service unregistered clones… Do you have your papers?” The drone asked as it waited for a moment.

The clone said nothing as it rooted around in its pocket for some papers. Pulling out a small book as it handed it over to the bartender. The drone quickly looked through for a second before handing it back, before making the clones drink. Once again, once the glass hit the bar top, and the payment was made, the bartender snapped back to its place, and went dark.

The clone watched the drink for a second. He didn’t even take off it his helmet as he thumbed for a tube connected to his helmet, and once it popped off, he places it into his drink, finally taking a more relaxed posture.

The wolfess looked the clone about for a second; a pilot? He’s has to be… looks like a flight suit, and the helmet too… Clearly, he’s got no owner if he has his own papers…

Oh, God… I need an out… But how the hell am I meant to do that?

The clone did not move his helmet as he cocked his eyes to look over to the wolfess… Maybe she just inquisitive, a clone in a bar… It’s quite novel… Clone’s never really drank, least not the fresh ones. Could she be after a pilot?

What if he’s a fucking asshole? Need a pilot, and an out, but if am stuck in that a sardine can of transporter for days? Weeks? Ugh.

What if she’s a bitch… Is that a pun… Well, I need an out, but I don’t want another term of indentured service. If she asks for my papers as part of a contract I’ll fuck off.

The wolfess and the clone sat in silence for another minute, sipping at their drinks, as the two assessed each other. The clone had a far easier time with his helmet. The wolfess finally decided to open the conversation.

“So… you some kind of pilot?” She asked, as the clone slowly pulled its drinking tube from the glass, as it locked it into its helmet.

“Ex-pilot… why are you asking?” The clone slowly twisted its head to look over, as the reflections in the helmet twisted.

The station PA blared to life:

/Station residents… A Reward is available for the arrest of S.B. – 10099… Please contact security or check local data panels for details…/

“Looks like someone’s having a bad day” the clone mulled.

This day has been so fucked, the wolfess thought.

“Okay, am after a pilot…” the wolfess bluntly lay the situation out “… my last cargo pilot left and I’ve been stuck here months, just looking to get out”

The clone nodded his head… Cargo hauling isn’t the worst place to be stuck, least get me out of here.

“I’ll work for you, but I’ve got one condition” The clone rooted in his pocket before pulling the small book back out, “I keep my papers, and we work as mutual partners in this little venture”.

The wolfess debated the point for a moment, giving herself a moment to look about the room, as if to mull on the point, but as she looked outside of bar one sight clarified what she had to do.

A pair of armed station troopers walked about the crowd, stopping to talk to people, as one flicked its wrist as a holographic display popped up. Displaying what to the common eye might have appeared to be a mug – shot, but the wolfess knew well that it was, the id photos the station requested when she got the job breaking ships… It made her glad that she gave them a false name. Luckily as they turned off the hologram, they moved on rather than coming into the bar.

As the wolfess turned back to clone she held out a hand, her situation had finally left her to make up her mind, “fine, you’ve got a deal”.

The clone received it with a firm hand – shake, “good, when can we get underway?”, before the clone knew it, the wolfess was off the bar stool and on her way, “yeah we can go know, you’ve not got anything right?”.

The clone got up, and shook his helmeted head, “no ma’am, I’ve got everything I need on my person”. With that the wolfess gave nod of the head, as she began to make her way out of the bar. She moved with a slight purpose about her, which slightly annoyed the clone as he followed behind her, though he took some pleasure in the fact she seemed able to clear a path. Sitting down in the bar did her no justice. The clone for a moment though he was a tailing giant, was she seven – foot? She least had to be in the far end of six, maybe six – eight or six – nine. The clone was only about 5.9. Though he held his tongue for making any comments.

They both went directly to the hanger bay, the place was a mess, ship captains to larger craft complained to station services about the inability to get their craft out. Even in the office staff crowded about coms terminals likely both trying to organize the cleanup, alongside tempering ship captains that were stuck outside of station looking to dock. Security stood about, but appeared too focused with what was in front of them.

The wolfess held back, as she reached into her own pocket before pulling out the ship licenses. “Can you get our undocking permissions?” the wolfess asked, as the clone finally began to catch up. He said nothing as he took a hold of the license, looking about the small card for a moment.

“Which ship is even ours?” The clone asked for a moment as he waited for the second.

“Don’t worry”, the wolfess replied “I’ll wait outside of it for you”

The clone just shook his head, as he twisted on his foot as he walked over to station services. Waiting for a moment amongst the shouts and yell of pilots and captains the clone twisted about the license, as he looked it over.

‘Juno Tollens’, was that her name? It did not seem to befitting of her, but those humanoid species naming conventions were always so strange. It made the clone think for a moment, he was still yet to pick his own name, he was so used to being referred to by a short – hand of his number. Hell, what name was he going to pick?

“Hello” An attendant called from behind the desk. The clone snapped back as he walked over to desk. A strange lanky fellow, the four eyes blinked in a slow calm unity, as the mandibles about the mouth sat closed, before all of it moved together as it started to speak again, “how can I help you?” The voice had a strange pleasant tone about it, and yet a strange click, as of the mandibles clicked together.

“Am just looking for undocking permission” the clone asked as he placed down the ship license and slid it towards the clerk.

“An no problem, I am sure that you are aware that there is a hold on larger craft due to an accident on our ship – breaker cradle” the clerk stated, as he plugged the licenses into a console. From that a small holographic display came up, displaying the ship, it details, and a small image of the ships captain appeared.

Well that was interesting, Juno Tollens, a rabbit? So, this wolf likely was not the original owner, or maybe something was not being said… FFP citizen as well. The ship itself was something of note, a moderately sized cargo hauler, as was said. Nicely designed thing as well, look as if it had lots of potential internal stowage, and also expansion ports along the bottom to attach cargo pods. So, a moderately sized craft with a good potential for expansion.

The clerk nodded his head, “Yep everything is looking good, you’ll be free to go, keep in mind you’ve got a two hour exit window… Have a wonderful flight… actually one more thing” as the clerk handed back the license, he flicked about at a console to get up another hologram, a very familiar face came up. Mayra Fay… Well this was interesting. “We are looking for this lupine… Shipbreaker, ended up getting a bit of scrap to smash into the cradle... things absolutely fucked”

“Really now” the pilot responded as he placed the license back into his pocket

“Oh yeah… If I can speak candidly, I think the whole thing was an accident, but the administrations on a short tether, CSS relies on the recycled ship scrap we collected here, and if things start to break down someone isn’t going to be happy… Feel bad for the lass… At best this could be fine paid off working in the chalk mines… At worst execution, though I would prefer execution myself, could not bear work in a mine”.

“Yeah” the clone responds with a somewhat cold tone, “I hope you find them”, he said nodding his head and moving on. With that, the clone’s accepted exit permissions seemed to spark the pilots and captains to try again for their own exit.

“What your giving him exit permissions, what’s he flying… ZZ-91 or a DZ-909? My crafts only a meter or two larger, and your saying I can’t fly?”

The clone quick stepped away, he had what he wanted. As he had been told, the wolfess, was waiting for him. She gave a soft nod of the head, as the clone respond with a thumbs up. The two exchanged no words as they board the craft.

It was not in a bad state; it defiantly looked unattended, just like she said, no one had been here for months.

“I hope this ship is still in working condition” the clone mulled in a soft sarcastic tone. It appeared she didn’t hear the comment, or she choice to ignore it, as she continued to the cock – pit.

“Please, get us the hell away from here, there is a nearby moon, if you put us in orbit of that moon, will talk about what’s next right, I’ll meet you in the galley”.

“That’s perfectly fine Mayra… should be they’re in no time at all” he dropped the name in, no point playing around like he didn’t know now.

She said nothing to the comment of her name, only reinforcing what she had just said, “just get us out of here, okay?” with that she stepped out of the cock-pit, while the clone went through all the procedures to get the thing in flight.

Nice and simple, just like before, if anything it was fare better, a smaller craft was always more or a pleasure to handle in comparison to some kind of behemoth. The clone couldn’t deny the smile that curled across his face, he had no real understanding to if the pleasure was natural or part of that in grained training. He didn’t care, good feelings were good feelings, regardless were they came from.

As he expected, it did not take much time, just about an hour, though in his enjoyment of flight the process seemed to go by faster than that. He placed the craft into an orbit around the small moon. Taking a deep breath as he got up and finally made his way over to galley.

After finally getting there, he was slightly taken by surprise as when the door opened, and rather than being inside the room, this Miss Mayra Fay, stood in the door way. She glared down at him for a moment, it was difficult to determine if it was a hostile or not, though as she grab his collar some clarity came to the situation.

“How did you get that name?” She spoke in a soft tone, but it had a very commanding aura.

“The clerk at the station, showed me your picture, had a name… he told me what happened, so you smashed up that cradle, can’t blame you for wanting to get away”, the clone responded in an equal tone, it was slightly difficult to tell what feelings he had about this.

“So, what you going to do?” she asked.

“What do you mean? I find this changes nothing, you have a reason to get away, I have mine, what place would I have to call you out on that… we’re providing each other what we want, I helped you get away, and you provided me the means to do that… Let’s think of this as a circumstantial alliance”

She finally let go, as the clone came back to the ground, but he kept his balance. The wolfess kept a skeptical eye on the clone. “what are you running for?” she asked, as the clone brushed down his collar.

“It’s nothing to worry about… just a disagreement with my previous ‘owner’, maybe that is not the correct words, though I would rather like to avoid the details”.

“Really now… and what if I want to know?” she asked as this time she leaned slightly to get onto the clone’s level.

“Well, I’ll make a deal… You tell me what happened to the previous owner of this craft… um what was the name, Juno… then I’ll tell you what you want…”

The hesitant silence came back…

“No… okay, let’s take this back to how we put in the bar… mutual work partners eh” the clone held his hand out this time around. The wolfess accepted it, and two once again exchanged a firm handshake.

“Wonderful… All I need to ask now is where we are to go know captain Fay” the clone continued, his tone of unbreaking professionalism maintained. She decided against correcting him yet on the name.

“Yes, actually… you’re still yet to tell me your name?”

The clone went silent for a moment, he should have known that this day was going to come, all that work, that fight… Yes…

“Just call me Paul” the ship went silent for another moment. Mayra snickered for a moment.

“Did you really just come up with that in the moment?”

The clone seemed to hunch slightly with disappointment “well, might be silly, but its my name, and I choice it” finishing he seemed to take pride in that small fact. Might have just come up with, but he was still pretty damn happy.

Mayra just shook her head, “alright then Paul… get us out of here, and will look for some work”

“where do you want us to go?” Paul asked, as Mayra began to walk away.

“Anywhere but here” however, just as she got out of sight her voice echoed through the corridor, “but make sure where going to some were with shit… might have said anywhere, but don’t just fly us to empty space”.

Paul just nodded his head to the empty corridor, catching himself after doing it for a second.

After that he just shook his head, as he went to back to the cock – pit.

Well this did not seem too bad. Hopefully thing will only go up from here