One Roll of the Dice......Chapter Four

[Witchking]

Chapter 1 Click Here

Chapter 2 Click Here

Chapter 3 Click Here



Chapter Four


A voice spoke beside him ”Ahh Argon, perhapsssss we can do businessss together, yesss”
Geiger shook his head, “Sorry, I ain’t buying and right now I’ve nothing to sell”
The Teladi nodded sympathetically “May profitssss soon find you Argon” as she shuffled away. Despite, the rundown and disreputable nature of the docking level, it was still a busy commercial area and numerous shops vied for space and the attention of passersby. Geiger smiled, ”…even lowlifes like us need to consume”, he thought as he looked through the window of a sex shop, selling a huge array of gadgets to suit a wide range of anatomies, all guaranteed to take a space weary pilots mind off his journey for a while.

He stopped at a stand and ordered a Cahoona burger, while he was waiting for his food a cry rang out followed by the sound of glass breaking, the crowd ahead parted as two Split warriors swaggered through, their hands resting belligerently on the stocks of their hand weapons. They were Rhonker judging by the badges on their bandoliers. Geiger stifled a smile, a couple of Jazuras ago he briefly merc’d for the Family Rhonkar during the Thynn’s Abyss Border Conflict with the Xenon. He’d learned a thing or two about the Split then. Putting it as diplomatically as possible, suffice to say that it was no coincidence, the old saying that thrust controls on Split fighters had 16 reverse settings and only one forward, just in case they were attacked from behind.

He continued walking along the thoroughfare at a leisurely pace relishing the experience of simply being on his feet after spending so long strapped into the seat of his ship. He wondered how the great and good were getting on in the lofty heights above, on the levels accessed via the luxury turbo lifts which only open to those with Nividium credit cards.

Something moved fast into his peripheral vision and he was almost knocked off his feet by a young Argon man who came rushing out of a shop, followed by a furious Paranid shopkeeper. Out of nowhere two TerraCorp Security guards appeared and grabbed the kid. One of them stepped in front of the irate Paranid, who looked like he was ready to kill. “He has a DNA scanner, that he stole from my establishment”
“Ok, ok”, said the cop, “Calm down”, he nodded to his partner who quickly and expertly frisked the youngster, pulling the stolen scanner from his pocket.

“Busted”, said the cop, “you wanna press charges”. The shopkeeper shook his head, “He’s not worth my time”, he muttered, “I’ve got my goods back, but if I see him near my shop again, I’ll tear him three arseholes, thieving Argon primate”. The kid looked sullenly at the cops, “I needed the scanner to try and find my sister Suzie, she missing somewhere on the station.” The cop shook his head, man, had he heard that story before.
“Beat it kid, count yourself lucky you’re not on your way to Slam right now”.

Geiger moved on, up ahead he saw the flashing sign for Louie’s, Bar and Grill and quickened his pace. As he stepped inside he paused to let his eyes adjust to the smoke filled gloom, the pungent smell of weed wafted through the place, Chris must be well in with the cops or this place would have been shut down long ago. As he got used to the lighting Geiger saw another old comrade from the squadron working behind the bar. Arturo “Rivets” Spinoza, so named for the robotic arm and leg he earned after being shot down during an atmospheric raid on the planet Chryse, in 347. Known as Saa-Russ by the Boron, Chryse was 90% water and home to a Xenon installation, the Argon brass considered so important, they sacrificed 5 fighter squadrons and 2 destroyers trying to take it out. A lot of good people rest on the ocean floor of Chryse, and Rivets was damn lucky not to be one of them.

Geiger looked around the rest of the bar. It was pretty quiet, a couple of whores in the corner taking a break, A drunk in a booth trying to convince a Teladi to sleep with him, damn he had to be drunk. He walked to the bar and grabbed a stool, “Hey Rivets, gimme a shot of fuel on the rocks will ya”. The Bartender squinted at him in disbelief, “Sal…..Salazer Geiger, you old Argnu-shagger. I don’t believe it. How are you pal?”
“Been a bit better, been a lot worse, how about you, Arturo, how you doing”
Spinoza, spread his arms expansively “Hey, I’m still breathing and at least my dick is real”
Geiger smiled, Rivets really fancied himself as a ladies man, back in the day. Some things never changed.
Spinoza, laughed and shook his head in amazement, “Man, I can’t believe you, just showing up out of nowhere, like this Sally, Chris is gonna go wild when he gets back”
Geiger nodded ruefully, “He’s not on station, huh? Where’s he at?”. Some of the sparkle left Spinoza’s eyes, “He had some business, in Herron’s Neb, was due back 3 stazura’s ago. I hope nothings wrong”.

[RJV]

Good stuff Witchy. I like!

Cheers,

Rob.

[MitchellBaldwin]

Another good one - thanks!