Red Fire, Kasern Ep. 2, Seas. 2

[Kasern]

Three Days After Leaving Bernadette

Kasern races away from the scene of the crime; no lingering or looking back to admire their handiwork. There's no need to. The disaster at the Arts Awards has split across the Cortex like wildfire. The footage is enough to chuckle over, or would be if not for the cargo-load of unmarketables they're now stuck with. At least until peace can be made with Duke Righteous and his people.

So they race away, and forward, towards a rendevoux on Persephone with The Esclavizar, and Captain Jaime in hopes that the enigmatic captain might have the key to fencing the stolen goods, or at least a way of dealing of Righteous.

Unknowing to Kasern's crew, even more surprises await them at The Brown Bottle, and news that will change everything that Kasern is...

[Brun]

Brun Bradley leaned against the crate in the cargo hold, cleverly disguised with engine parts labels. Near him, Princess Janes shifted nervously as they set down into Persephone Docks, her fingers working again and again at the barrel of the rifle she was cleaning.

The rest of the crew would be ready soon to head out into Persephone, where the news of the 'terror at Arts' was still making the circuits. Brun was fair certain it would follow them out to the Rim, as news traveled slower the further it got from The Core.

"Rub any harder and that thing's gonna come apart." He mentioned in an aside to Janes.

The woman shrugged, flipped the gun over in her hands and reached for the oil. "Can't be too careful."

Her one good eye glanced up at him, telling a tale she'd tried hard to forget. The protective metal mesh over her padded eye-patch caught the light, "I'm still wanted for questioning about Harrow. I'm just... not ready to go there yet."

Brun nodded in respect as he shrugged on his shoulder holsters and dropped his nine and one of Mira's .45s, snapping down down the .45 but leaving the nine open for easy draw. "Can't blame you. Still, no one knows you're here. You stay on ship, and no one's like to come lookin'."

Janes sighed heavily, "I know. I just... I could do with a real bath, you know. And a meal that isn't, no offense meant here, isn't made out of dried mush. We were just on a Core planet and all I did was save your sorry pigus. Sorry." She twisted a smile up at Brun, "I just got used to a different quality of living, you know. And when Harrow..." Her dark strands curled under her chin as she shook her head, "Eh. I'm just feeling sorry for myself."

Brun didn't smile, his head cocking in encouragement, "You'll be fine, Janes. But you know... your name doesn't really fit you anymore." He gestured the leather jacket and boots, the cargo pants and t-shirt. "Ain't never seen a Princess with a thirty ot six in her hands. You should think on changin' it."

She grinned, maybe for the first time in a very long time, "Yes. Maybe stop carrying around an Alliance Warrant on my back, you mean? Not a bad idea. Got any suggestions?"

"How about... Millicent? Or Faruka? Petunia! Albamay!"The gunhand grinned back, grey eyes dancing like leaves in a storm, "Or Steve. No, we've got one of those already...."

Her dark eye rolled heavenward. "Please be to Buddha, just don't let Delilah name me."

[Ben]

"Ain't never seen a Princess with a thirty ot six in her hands. You should think on changin' it."

"Matris Curatoria Puppilaris"

Ben's whisper was so loud that it visibly snapped him out of his dazed half-day-dream, half-bored stupor. If he hadn't recognized the bizarre not-language that the whispers were using, he would have sworn that Brun had said it. Usually it wasn't so loud in his head...

Ben looked down from his perch atop a crate a few feet away from Brun and Janes. He had entered the cargo bay with his best sneaky tip toe moves and had started to doze off waiting for the two to notice him. Tiny eyes watching the pair, he mused over their conversation with his miniscule chin propped very so Ben-like in his miniscule palms.

"Please be to Buddha, just don't let Delilah name me."

Inspired by his favorite corcast action adventure, Ben had already arrived at the name of "Cyclopsia Six-Thousand" for the Janes-Lady, which was the clear and obvious choice to any sane individual. The thought of Delilah attempting to name Janes something frivolous amused Ben to no end, and he legitimately wondered if the captain really would let Delilah rename Janes.

Ben imagined the cool announcer guy narrating their current scene in his mind:
"In today's adventure, MegaDude, UltraBoy and Princess "Nummy Kookoo BooBoo LaLa" begin in the cargo bay..."

Raising a hand to his face, Ben tried his best to suppress his giggle.

Giggling was very much not a sneaky-tip-toe move.

This post has been edited by Ben on Apr 12 2011, 06:26 PM

[Zira]

"We've got a Stephen, not a Steve. Still, might make things confusing," Zira declared, walking down the stairs into the cargo hold. "Are we looking to rename us all at this point? Might be the only way to get jobs done anymore. We seem to be making a reputation for ourselves that we might not be able to hold with."

As she spoke, she ran hands through her hair, pulling it back and smoothing it until it was at a place she liked. Her hair had grown longer than it had ever been before, past her shoulders now and she had started to braid it like her mother used to do to her back when she was younger.

"We're heading off to Persephone. Jamie said to meet him at the Brown Bottle there. I'm hoping we might find a way between our two crews to get rid of this," she jerked a head at their stolen cargo, "before it ends up getting into even more trouble."

Her hands flew behind her head, weaving her hair in and out until it was a nice french braid. "So, no killing of him when we get in there. Or anyone else for that matter. Not unless they try to kill us first." She gave both Brun and the Princess a grin, letting them know that though she was serious, she knew them well enough that they would be smart about it.

[Delilah Vass]

Delilah rose up up and stepped. She turned around and around and around. Dancing. Head ducked low so's she could copy the slide of Mim's feet, heel to toe and out out out, head and shoulders and arms dipped to curve round an invisible sword, so, flatten the fingers and the toes, and she stepped and stepped and the spinning grew faster, faster, until her hair lay flat in the air, loose as anything. Drifted up and caught in the whirling, until up up up came Mim's sword and Delilah's dowel rod, right quick! Smack! in the palms of their hands. Delilah stumbled back and lost the flow of the dance, rubbing at her hand, but Mim kept right on going and with her mouth Mim made a noise that was sword on shield, nothing but, and it rolled through the hall like a flood. Again! lower, and again! Down! Catch it on your shield! Ring it out! And up! And up it went, Mim's sword, up and through Delilah and gone, because she was too. Too little, too slow on the steps and too dumb, cause now she didn't remember what went next.

A peek through the fall of her hair showed Mim was still down the way in her room doing something fluttery and pretty, so she didn't see Delilah stealing her shadow again as she got up and and down and sideways until her hips went twang and rang it out, from the beginning.

Tap tap went her feet, tap tap, went her heart, right to her head, so hard it made her want to cry, made her heart feel a little too big for her ribs, and that, too, was joy, because there were happy tears, too, the kind that made you cry when nothing was wrong at all. When it lasted for just a few moments, or was supposed to, but now it just... didn't stop. Even when she stopped, her head felt like it was still spinning, and she laughed, whooping breathless giddy triumph as she ran up Brun and Janes, practically bouncing out of her practice shoes in her excitement. "Oooh ooh ooh! You saw, right? Y'saw? I gotting better, see? See? Good 'nough t'try 'n pretend likes theres eight strangers dancin' wif Delilah, anna tha's a lot more differencult a cause you can't trip 'em up even if they ain't there! So's I'm good enough now, right? Cause I saw the 'visible guys? Like you? So I can go? Please?"

This post has been edited by Taokan on Apr 13 2011, 11:48 PM

[Claudia James]

Persephone. Home. Or as near as any as Claudia had had since Molly Marie had gone up in flames above Verbena. At Eavesdown Docks, she had an apartment, contacts she knew by their faces instead of their screen names. And she knew the dealers. At least the ones that had been there before she had left... How long ago was that? Could it really only have been a few weeks? It felt more like an eternity. A lifetime ago.

Sitting in her bunk, Claudia stared at her trembling fingers as she held her hands out in front of her. The painkillers the doctor had given her weren't doing the job any more, they weren't capable of keeping the shakes at bay and the cravings, combined with the knowledge that she would be on home turf soon, had kept her up all night, counting the hours, the minutes, the seconds until she could get something stronger and better than Romulus' weak medicine.

Feeling the touchdown, she reached out for the hooded jacket she had borrowed from Brun. Far too large for her, it hung over her frame as she shrugged into it, but it would serve its purpose just fine and would disguise her adequately in case she ran into people she would rather not talk to. Pulling her the half-size too large borrowed boots, she looked forward to collecting her own spare boots and her own clothes, longing for those almost as much as she did for a decent high.

All she had to do was make an excuse to get off on her own. The truth should do fine, she figure. Or most of it, anyway. No reason anyone on the crew wouldn't let her go back to her place to fetch her own things. Getting to her feet, she hooked up the jeans and tightened the belt, then headed out into the cargo bay, pushing her hands into the pockets of the coat to hide the tremors in her fingers.

"We're heading off to Persephone. Jamie said to meet him at the Brown Bottle there. I'm hoping we might find a way between our two crews to get rid of this, before it ends up getting into even more trouble. So, no killing of him when we get in there. Or anyone else for that matter. Not unless they try to kill us first."

The Brown Bottle. Claudia knew the bar well enough and she wouldn't have minded dropping by there to let Sid know that she was still alive and well, but the way Zira was talking, it didn't sound like there would be much time for that. Before she could say anything about not joining them at the bar, Delilah bounced in, containing such energy and enthusiasm that Claudia found herself envying the girl for it. She grinned crookedly and gave a shrug of the shoulder to Zira and Brun. "She could go in my stead. I'd like to go pick up some stuff from my apartment," she said, giving a look down herself. "Let you all have your clothes back."

[Princess Janes]

"We're heading off to Persephone. Jamie said to meet him at the Brown Bottle there. I'm hoping we might find a way between our two crews to get rid of this," she jerked a head at their stolen cargo, "before it ends up getting into even more trouble."

"I'll stay here," Princess gave the earstwhile captain a quick shake of her head, "And mind the gate. There's still a little issue of a warrant with my name on it out there."

Even as she spoke, she let her gaze travel up the crates, seeking the sound she'd heard before. Sure enough, Ben had managed to get himself in 'seek and destroy' position, and right where he could be out the door and gone before anyone saw him scamper off. Quickly, she averted her eye, pretending she hadn't seen him.

"Oooh ooh ooh! You saw, right? Y'saw? I gotting better, see? See? Good 'nough t'try 'n pretend likes theres eight strangers dancin' wif Delilah, anna tha's a lot more differencult a cause you can't trip 'em up even if they ain't there! So's I'm good enough now, right? Cause I saw the 'visible guys? Like you? So I can go? Please?"

"It was very impressive, Delilah. But... The Brown Bottle is no kind of place for a proper lady," Janes gave the girl a smile to take the sting from her words, "See, that's why I'm staying behind. But I'll tell you what. If you and Ben stay here with me and do a really good job helping me guard the ship, then I'll give you coin to go for an ice planet. Even let you walk across the fairway by yourselves."

[Galvin Schueto]

Gavin stood on the catwalk away from the rest, watching them all as his thoughts turned to a few days before. After Claudia had run away from him trying to help, he had stood there a moment, trying to figure out just what had happened, and if he should go after her. It didn't seem like the best of plans though, mainly because he was unsure if this was normal behavior or not. It didn't seem like it was, but...Who am I to know ,I am still so new to all of this.

So he spent the next few nights in his room, unable to sleep and playing video games, because of the strange feelings his encounter with Claudia had left. When he was awake he just tried to learn more about the crew by observing them.

When the clock hit 3am that morning he had managed to exhaust his body. His mind wouldn't stop moving though, so there were some dreams he preferred not to share.

When his alarm went off at 8, he growled out "ruttin hell..." and hit at it until it turned off. He cursed himself for forgetting to turn it off, and decided that just one day of NOT doing any exercise wasn't going to kill him. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, it didn't work...

With a groan, at his body's willingness to keep to a schedule, he got up. Or at least he would be after he had what passed for coffee. He grabbed a cup that was sitting in the sink. He put it back with a face after seeing the grey in it, maybe he didn't need coffee that badly. Instead he rinsed out a different cup and filled it. The coffee tasted like crud and it was cold, but at least it was coffee. When he finally got around to his room again, he grabbed his pistols. Then he headed to the cargo bay to clean them since it had the most room to lay them out.

But most of the crew was there already. Tiny Delilah was fighting with the enemies in her mind. Zira was looking tired still, but maybe not as bad as earlier like when he first met her. Brun and the Princess were there as well, the latter cleaning one of her weapons.

And there was Claudia, looking like a small child playing dress up in her father's clothing. "I'd like to go pick up some stuff from my apartment. Let you all have your clothes back." he heard her say. He took that as his cue to walk down the stairs from the lower catwalk and joined the rest in the bay. While walking down to the rest of the crew he holstered both of his pistols and out of habit he pulled on his coat to cover up his pistols.

"I would like to go with you Claudia. I don't mind. Need to go out anyway too... Want to see if I can find a store that sells some Sabot rounds and some ammo for my pistols, maybe even some less than lethal ammo too. Seems like that might be something that we might be needing with these more, interesting jobs of ours. Maybe keep an ear to the ground as well, to see how much is on the cortex about the chaos at the Awards Ceremony?"

[Kasern]

The Gateway to the Rim.

Kasern has been here before and will be again; just another ship in another dock. For an old Corsair that wears the scars of her miles with tired pride, Persephone doesn't take much notice. There was much they might note if they knew to look, for each scar tells a story of a ship that has much to say.

Below her extended nose, blackening her throat, a peppered line of dents tell the story of a deadly battle on the secreted planet of Nihalchi. Kasern, though her name remains unknown, pried open that lid of promise that masked the true intents of Unity Life and the charismatic leader Dolenz.

This small blast scar along her cargo bay doors tells a story of piracy and cargo gone missing. It's a story of failure for Kasern, but one that touches the good name of Howard Tong and Vecto Ventus Enterprises. That same pirate's suited fate at the hands of another cargo vessel, one that matches Kasern in size, and perhaps even in heart, remains unwhispered to Kasern's ears.

A long scrape along her belly marks a prison break, a job which brought the acquaintance of Saskia Vass and Lance Wainwright. And broke free the crew of the anti-establishment Browncoat terrorist ship The Hammurabi.

A thousand scratches, a few dents, a dark spot of rust: These are Kasern's lines, her maps through which a thousand adventures can be drawn like the scribbles of the explorers of old. They mark not only the ways the Universe has touched her, but how she has touched the Universe.

How many lives saved on Nihalchi? How many lost to the Hammurabi and Vecto Ventus? How many touches and caresses, like the remembered ghosts of lovers come and gone, has Kasern left upon the 'Verse without knowing what she leaves in her wake?

The cargo bay doors slide open to reveal Eavesdown Docks. The morning rain has faded away and an unrelenting sun breaks through the cloud-cover. Mud, sticky and thick, has begun to dry, leaving cracked rivulets in it's wake. The humidity remains, thick, damp and cool, and the drying of the water rises steam from mouldery corners, lifting with it the rancid and wicked scents of the dockside.

This is Persephone. Kasern has been here before.

It remains to be seen whether the mapping of her scars will bring her back again.



OOC: PLOT PROGRESS INFORMATION

KASERN has landed:

ZIRA, BRUN, & SASKIA continue at The Brown Bottle.

CLAUDIA & GALVIN - Can continue on their errands. Please remain posting in THIS THREAD, with headers to let us know where you are. Your free to create whatever vendor/landlord, whatever npcs you need to.

PRINCESS, DELILAH & BEN remain at the ship. (That's... never a good thing... is it?... uh... hmm)

If you have not posted for your character, you are welcome to either bring them along to The Brown Bottle OR have them remain on ship.

I'm going to keep Kasern in dock for a "Couple of Hours" in game time, one week in 'real time'. That means that you have until Tuesday April 26th before the next plot progress which will take us off Persephone. If for some reason, you can't post for your characters before April 26th, please let me know. The rest of this episode will NOT be childs play, so if you'd rather have your characters remain on Persephone let me know and we'll pick you up at the start of the next episode. ... ( :unsure: I hope... )

[Piecemeal]

He had retreated back to the sanctity of the engine room as soon as the shuttle door had opened. It was about what he had figured it would be; his big slow hindquarters trying to keep up with the quickened crew as soon as the go se had hit the rotating oscillating air mover.

So he hunkered amid the spinning and puffing and all the orderly chaos that was the Kas' drive train. He hadn't been here long and already he thought of this room as his haven, where he could tuck his tail firmly between his ragged cheeks and hide. And speaking of which.....

With the ship in dock, he was able to power down the drive, the usual frentic spinning paused like a scalpel jockey would pause a meat heart to operate. Which in his case, was half truth since he was cleaning the pivot points but more importantly it meant he had access to his stash. He opened the ammo box he had welded on the inside cowling of the drive, the one modification he had attempted so far and regarded the six doses of Aenestitin he had secreted there. He had been sober now for the better part of four days what with thinking he would need a clear head for the boss lady's mission. For all the gorram good THAT did, he was still the proverbial iron man amid the hummingbirds and on top of that, his stumps burned like the metal attached to them was fresh from the fire hot. It was tempting to go ahead and shoot up, unplug his brain for a while and just wrap himself in cool fluffly clouds of Not Hurting....

But the brushings needed cleaning and everything needed to be lubed and running again As Soon As Ruttin' Possible just in case the trend continued and things went pear shaped at the meetin'. Then there were the sprouts, outspoken Deliah and hidden Ben, not his but instinctively he felt protective of them. What would they think if they found him bombed out of his brainpan? So he just ended up slamming the lid closed and latching it before taking a swig from his bottle. They didn't have enough hooch on board to seriously monkey him up but at least it took the edge off the hurt so he could get back to work.

Kasern wouldn't fix herself.

[Claudia James]

Eavesdown Docks - Starlight Towers - Apartment 4D

At least she'd managed to ditch Galvin at the ammo shop, leaving him there to talk with the guy behind the counter about things that seemed like a foreign language to Claudia. She had slipped out after introducing the two and she wasn't even sure whether Galvin had noticed her leaving without saying goodbye. After that, she had hurried through the crowd, hood pulled up over her head even though the heat was starting to return to the air after the rain, pegging her to anyone on the Docks as someone wanting to be anonymous as possible.

Calling her place an apartment was something of a misnomer, but the room had a tiny bathroom and a kitchenette, which gave the landlord the right to rent it out as an apartment instead of the room that it genuinely was. You couldn't even call the place a loft or a studio, it was far too small for that and when Claudia pushed open the door she stepped almost directly into her bed, which had double duty as couch, though without being an actual sofabed. Across from the bed was her workspace and covering half the window stood a wobbly wardrobe made of plastic.

Crossing the room in four long strides, Claudia wrenched open the closet door and dug out whatever clothes were there. Five old t-shirts, a couple of hoodies, two pairs of jeans, a third pair of jeans with the legs cut short and a pair of pyjamas. Underwear and socks followed the pile onto the bed along with a single knitted scarf. Simple and utilitarian. In her line of work there wasn't often a need for pretty and stylish outfits. Digging under the bed, she extracted a duffel and stuffed it quickly, then turned to the cupboard that was the bathroom, pausing there for a moment with her hand on the sliding door.

It could stop. Right here. Right now. She could just turn around and go back to the ship and once into the Black there would be no temptations, no places to run and a doctor at hand to see her through withdrawal. The thought of everyone knowing shifted her into action and she pushed the door aside and stepped into the bathroom with its fold-down toilet and sink and the showerhead up above. Removing the loose tile in the wall, she pulled out the cash and the small bag of pills, putting the former in a pocket and hid the latter in the secret pocket inside the duffel. Another dig under the bed and she came out with her extra CorPad and a pair of old boots. The CorPad went into the duffel along with the rest of her belongings, but she tied the laces of the boots together to carry them with her easily.

One last look around the room and she decided that she had packed all she wanted from this life and zipped the duffel, slinging it over one shoulder with the boots over the other, wincing as the boot-straps dug into the still healing wound. Once back on the ship, she decided, she would cut off the automatic rent payments and within two weeks, the landlord would be clearing out what was left and then renting the room to someone else. This had never been home anyway, and as she closed the door behind her, she wished with all her heart that Kasern would live up to the hope she had of a new home, a new family. It just never occurred to her that her next stop on her errand rounds was not the best way to begin a new life...


<<OOC: Ditching of Galvin approved by Ken>>

[Galvin Schueto]

Eavesdown Docks - Ammos R'us

Galvin had been bickering with the store keep as Claudia had left, he noticed, but could tell she was eager to ditch him. As much as he wanted to help her she needed to do something on her own and he had recognized it. When she had left he stopped bickering with the store keep and started requesting ammos. He hoped that what little money left in his accounts would cover the purchase.Thankfully he had just been payed by his employer and was sitting pretty with enough to look at extra goodies. Every little bit that he was getting ,he needed and thankfully he managed to get some new cleaning supplies. While he was there he looked at some scopes for rifles thinking one might come in handy for his automatic rifle back on ship. As it turned out the infrared scope the shopkeep was offering was a perfect match for his rifle and he began debating for a lower price.

"What do you mean it cost that much you gose pigu. I could get it for two thirds as much on Osirus

"Well you're not on Osirus so get used to it pigu. That's my final price if you want the scope.

"Alright fine I'll take it, but seriously I'm already buying half your exotic ammo can I at least get a discount on the scope?"

After a bit more haggling Galvin managed to bring the price of the scope down to a bit more reasonable price and smiled as he walked out. "I wonder if I could catch Claudia on the way back." he thought as he walked towards Kasern's dock.

[Covenant]

Covenant's bald head was covered by a broad-lipped coolie hat, his lank shoulders swept over with an old wool blanket. He moved with a slight limp, staying to the shadows as he approached the old Corsair ship.

He'd let her go, all those months back, knowing that she would eventually return, that the transmitter he had planted under her skin, deep in the well of one of those many wounds, would one day call him back to her. Kasern made sense, of course, and he might have suspected the moment he realized who The Esclavizar was waiting on.

In fact, oh so many things had begun to make sense, the dots connecting like the maps of constellations. Wainwright's delivery. The timing of the jailbreak across town coinciding with his attempted theft.

The question was, had she found it? Had she followed her own pathway to the object that had brought her so much misery? And where was it now? The only thing he knew for certain was that it wasn't in the hands of the Alliance. The intended recipient had never seen it. Flynn, Jing, Million... none of them seemed to know the answer.

"Ah, Princess Janes," Covenant whispered to the tent-flaps that waved flag-like around him as he paused in the shadow of a clothing vendor, "Time to tell me what you know."

How much of Kasern's crew remained onboard, and how many were away was an answer he didn't have. He knew Janes and two children were inside. And that could easily work to his advantage.

Head ducked low, Covenant limped to the open cargo bay door, keeping his face hidden in the shadows of his hat. Raising his usual deep whisper an octave, giving him the querelous tones of age, he called out, "Looking for a room and passage off-world! Anybody home?"

[Bit]

The stranger found Bit on the floor, wrapped in a blanket with an empty mug in her lap. She sighed and shifted her feet, curling her toes so they stuck out the raggedy edges of the blanket into a patch of sunshine, and offered him a tired smile. Not regular tired, but the crazy, jittery kind of tired where everything is too sharp around the edges. Maybe after a nap it'd be better, she figured, and yawned. "Hello," she said, mostly to her hand. Her voice was soft and small, nowhere and everywhere at once, and she smiled. Twisted up, careful of her side, and extended a hand. "Bit. I'm Bit. Don't think I'm who you're looking for, though. Nobody official, mind, you'd want somebody else for that," she shrugged, one shoulder inching up in pursuit of her ear. "But I can at least say hello. Good to see a friendly face," she said, and smiled. "It can get pretty lonely when everybody's out on a town."

[Claudia James]

Somewhere near Eavesdown Docks

"What you got?" Claudia asked a few minutes later, standing in an alley a few blocks back from the Docks and not too far from her vacated apartment, the hood of the borrowed jacket drawn up over her head as she spoke to the dealer in the shadow of burnt out burger joint. Her eyes flashed back and forth from one end of the alley to the other, more nervous than she had about being here with Ink than she remembered ever being.

Ink had earned his name due to the number of tattoos that covered every inch of visible skin on his body. Even his eyelids and his lips had been tattooed and there were rumours that not even the more private parts of his anatomy had escaped the touch of the needle. "Gorram, you look like go-se, sweetheart," he said, keeping his hands in his pockets, his eyes scanning her up and down, though there was no sympathy at all in his expression. "Reckon you need a good pick-me-up, hey?"

"Reckon I need some Edge and drops, everything you got," she said, cutting him off before he could continue with his usual spiel, not wanting to bullshit with him today. Her eyes flicked back toward the south end of the alley, the sound of an engine pulling at her attention, but nothing passed on the street beyond and she turned back to Ink who had raised a pair of tattooed brows.

"Since when do you do drops, CJ? And what's with the buying in bulk?" he asked, apparently so surprised at her request that he broke every rule there existed between dealer and user. He recovered admirably quickly, though, and motioned with his head toward the interior of the burnt out fast food place with a wide grin on his face. "But hey, it's your coin. Long as you can pay up, I got the goods."

A few minutes later, relieved of all her cash in exchange for a good stash hidden away in the duffel's secret pocket, Claudia ducked out of the alley, her steps quickly carrying her back toward the Docks proper, hood still pulled over her head, though it was starting to get too warm for that. There were too many people here she knew, too many folks who could recognise her and start asking questions. Claudia didn't want to answer questions now. Didn't want to have to explain where she had been and why she wasn't staying. If she did, she might never get back on board Kasern...