“I'd care if they were my bones. Being RG brand doesn't do much for the self esteem.”
“Did you meet with my friend?”
“Yup, Gomez set me up with the man who had just the right machine. Got rid of that stuff I was holding just fine.”
“Glad to hear it. What kind of junk were you destroyin' that needed a mass converter with so much power anyhow?”
He finished chewing a bite of the dense, gritty meal bar before looking up at her seriously. “Like you too much to let you in on that, Lucy. We're all better of with it gone though, a whole lot better off.”
“Our man of mystery, Lucius Wheeler,” she shook her head as she wiped the crumbs from his short meal off the bar with a damp rag.
“Any news from civilized parts?”
“Sure, galaxy's getting her teeth kicked in. Every civilized world this side of the core is covered in mad bots with minds of their own or the Eden Fleet is ripping the hell out of everything in their way. Regent Galactic is doing their best to pick up the pieces, but…” she shrugged.
“What a life. We're all getting to watch the fourth fall from a safe distance. I haven't met anyone who can afford an AI on this rock and as it turns out it makes all us poor ones the safest bunch in the galaxy. Here's to the meek getting their due.”
“Yup, who knew bein' poor would pay off in the end. Still, don't think this is so bad as it's the fourth fall of man. Galaxy's still turning, sun's still warm, we're still eating.”
“Well, I'm still stuck here, you're still stuck back there, who cares if the galaxy's burning?”
“Could be worse I guess,” Lucy said mildly. She looked up as the door opened to admit a thin, sickly looking man with scraggly long dark hair and a tall woman with angular features. She made her companion look even sicklier in comparison, she was the picture of health in a slightly loose fitting dark blue vacsuit, her long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. After glancing around the fluorescent lit bar room she fixed on Wheeler and smiled. “Don't they look just clean and new, friends of yours?” Lucy asked quietly.
“We'll see,” Wheeler replied as he turned in his seat.
“I see you've made yourself at home,” Gabriel Meunez said as he closed the distance between himself and Lucius.
“Not by choice. Is that the real Gloria, or just another copy like me?”
“I'm the real deal Captain, with a few improvements,” she grinned.
“I don't have anything worth Captaining, just call me Wheeler.”
“So you do remember your First Mate, I'm so glad,” Meunez said, pushing his knotty hair out of his face.
“Yup, there are more holes than whole parts, but I still remember some of the best bits. What's the news? Am I getting off this rock?”
“Perhaps we could discuss this in a more private location?” Gabriel asked quietly.
“Here's fine. If there's anything these slugs overhear that's worth selling they won't be able to find anyone who cares to buy it anyway. Order something, be a good customer.”
Gabriel looked around the room, unsure, while Gloria Parker took a seat beside Wheeler. “What he's having,” she ordered.
“Well, what's the news? I've been here at least a month since you flipped the switch in my head with a hand full of credits and no prospects. I'm tired of being out of the way while you and your new bosses set the worlds on fire.” Wheeler griped as he clinked his pint to Gloria's.
“Your predecessor has been killed by Jacob Valance, he's taken the Triton.” Gabriel Meunez whispered as he took a seat at Wheeler's other side.
“I heard my predecessor, ” Wheeler spat the word, “was set off by someone on your end and the little explosive cocktail you keep behind our kneecaps went critical. What happened? He slag some VP's son by mistake?”
Meunez's surprise and discomfort was plain, he glanced at Lucy, who was walking away from the awkward scene leisurely and then pacing back to Wheeler. “You're far more resourceful than I had anticipated,” he closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. There was activity beneath those closed lids, Wheeler could see the other man's eyes were rolling around in his sockets. “Ah, there it is, you managed to find one of your old Vindyne contacts, Cummings. He works for Regent Galactic now and you offered to trade future information against updates on the Triton.”
Wheeler shook his head slowly. “You're more jacked in than last time I ran into you. Is there anything human left?”
“Questions you don't need the answers to. Don't worry, we'll have someone deal with Cummings.”
“Good, one more debt cleared. Speaking of which, how much is my freedom going to cost me?”
“Oh, you're going to like this,” Gabriel said with a grin. “We need you to put a crimp in the Triton's recruiting efforts. Force them out into the open.”
“You know, considering the size of your back yard, you'd think you'd have bigger ants to squash.”
“The Triton is becoming a very large problem. Other fighting ships have begun recruiting from worlds our vessels haven't reached yet. A few independent Captains are beginning to follow Valance's example.”
“So you want me to inconvenience them to death, I get it. Always the long way 'round with you old Vindyne boys.”
“No, we want you to make joining the Triton crew look dangerous and provoke them into stepping into the spotlight. We have intelligence that suggests that they're about to disappear and that is counter to our purposes.”
“Why don't you just give me a few ships, you've probably got a whole battle group sitting in orbit, and I'll go tear the Triton apart. At worst Valance will get off on a smaller ship and he'll be back to being a minor irritation, at best I'll slag him and most of his crew. Then you won't have to worry about him, period.”
“His fame is reaching high enough that we risk martyring him if he is so directly defeated. There's also a chance that Triton could fit into our plans.”
“Oh come on! You've got the biggest propaganda machine outside of the core, and your corp probably owns what, fifty entertainment studios? If there's one thing you people are good at it's making up your own story. Or, I know; you could grow another Valance and set him up as some kind of mass murderer.”
“Then what use would you be? Make no mistake, you came at great expense and not even the results of our research with you and Valance has repaid that. We're giving you the opportunity to balance the equation. You will go out and do what you have to in order to mitigate the damage Valance is causing, to sour the appeal of the small uprising he is causing.”
“Fine, but I do it my way this time. Give me a decent ship with a well trained crew that will follow orders. Not some collection of janitors and mechanics who've never seen the inside of anything but a bulk transport.”
“Yes, yes. There's a ship earmarked for your use with a well trained crew. You'll be placed on her bridge when you're ready.”
“They let me out as a sign of good faith,” Gloria added with a smirk.
“They don't know me very well, do they?” Wheeler smiled back.
“No, they don't.”
“So, do you believe you can accomplish the goals we've set for you?” Gabriel asked peevishly.
“No problem, as long as I'm free once I've finished making serving on the Triton look like a death sentence.”
“You'll have it in writing,” Gabriel Meunez nodded. He stood and started for the door.
Wheeler looked to Lucy, who was half way down the bar and smiled at her. “I'll be right back to pay my tab,” he reassured.
“Better be,” she warned back.
He and Gloria casually walked outside. There were two squads of Regent Galactic soldiers surrounding Gabriel Meunez. All of them were heavily armed, wore grey and dull green armoured vacsuits. “Kill everyone inside.” Gabriel ordered one of the Captains nonchalantly.