Chapter 1: One

'I'm sorry Ms. Krieger but we've been full up since you left over a week ago and that is the only space we have available.'

The controller grimaced slightly at the angry face of a woman whose eyes he could feel tearing through him right through the vid-com. It was the captain of the Osiris who was yet again; making mountains out of molehills. The Osiris; an ex-EMA battle cruiser was hovering just over the docking bay waiting to be issued a spot as its usual bay was already occupied.

'Hey...' The woman paused as she looked at her screen in the corner where she spied the controllers name tag, 'Benjamin. I pay good money to land my ship in one of the bays near refuelling.'

'Bays have reverted to a first come first served basis this week due to the embargoes on Tekana and Moralia Ms. Krieger.' The controller sighed as he whittled off the same paragraph of speech he had committed to memory after two whole days of saying nothing else. 'Many ships returned soon after they were issued or they never even left. Bay fifteen is open to you.'

'Who's in bay three my bay, right now?'

'Ms. Krieger I can't...' The controller trailed off as he watched the woman disappear off screen, obviously stomping her heavy boots over to a window to look outside; mumbling and shouting as she went.

'Da Costa. Frank Fucking Da Costa and his shit bucket of a ship are in the bay that I'M FUCKING PAYING FOR!'

Benjamin readied himself for a possible verbal thrashing and began his rebuttal using section four of the New Edo Ministry of Transport Controller Handbook. 'Ms. Krieger. New Edo transport law states that in time of need ships requiring docking...'

'Fine fine whatever, I don't care I'm bored now. Just inform me when Da Costa moves I'll take bay fifteen. Fucker took my space on purp...'

The screen cut out and left the now exhausted controller looking back at himself in the glossy sheen of the dated holo-glass. He spun in his chair as he rubbed his eyes in slight frustration before solemnly gazing at the new guy who was shadowing him this week as part of his training.

'And that was Captain Krieger.'

'The difficult one I've heard about Sir?'

Benjamin took in a halfhearted breath as he began his explanation of the woman known as Captain Krieger to his new understudy Owen. 'This was her on a good day. Memorise the law handbook; it's about the only thing that works on her.' He pressed a few buttons on the panel in front of him bringing up video feed of the dock. The behemoth of a ship known as the Osiris in its dirty black and chrome glory hovered down to the far end of the dock, finally coming to rest in bay fifteen.

'So that's an EMA battlecruiser,' Said the new guy as he edged closer to the screen. 'And it's captained by Ms. Krieger?'

'That's the Osiris, she owns it.'

The new guy let out a low whistle in amazement. 'I bet it wasn't cheap. Ex-military ships are hard to come by. Who the hell is this woman?'

The controller sighed again. 'Ex-military herself. She's a fucking idiot, a dangerous one. Her whole crew aren't entirely all there either. Anybody would have to be mad to work for her, I actually quite surprised you don't know who she is, she's in the Con Chase every year.'

The pair continued to watch the live feed of bay fifteen. Several people poured out of the ships side door; long shadows cast along the dock from the slowly setting sun; some with guns in holsters glinting in the light and katanas hanging from belts. They continued to watch the group as they were saying their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

'Listen kid.' Benjamin started. He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as the "kid" he was talking to was barely even five years younger than him, but he put this down to his encounter with Krieger who could wear anybody down and make them feel old and tired within seconds. 'I know you've only been on New Edo for a few days, but if you're gonna be living here for a while then you better get wise to the place pretty quick.'

Owen looked at his senior colleague in slight confusion. This kid is totally wet behind the ears. Benjamin thought.

'New Edo is where all the reprobates ended up along with the mafia, yakuza and dodgy businesses. The ATC Corp are here in an official capacity because every planet requires it. But since this planet went to shit fairly quickly after colonisation, the Galaxy Police gave up and most left.'

Benjamin ended up giving the newbie the condensed history of New Edo, it was the least he could do considering he'd be doing his training here for the next year. The relatively small, earth-like planet had the most awkward pilots, captains and ships to contend with so the Air Traffic Control Corp sent their Junior Controllers to New Edo for their training with the reason being that if they could handle the people and flight situations here, then they could handle anything the rest of the galaxy could throw at them.

'Keep to the outskirts on the North side of Little Denenchofu if you don't want any trouble, it's actually quite respectable there. The rest of the place is a shithole and most of the people are just dicks.'

The new guy looked downtrodden, like he had just been stood up on a date in a fancy restaurant. He was based on this planet for the next year now, if he could last that long. Benjamin continued to tell him stories of the "colourful" locals who consisted of slightly crooked cops, yakuza, women of ill repute, gangster drag-queens and mentally deranged mercenaries all with the same common goal of staying alive and making money. New Edo was a planet run by a half-assed police force in conjunction with its resident mafias. A planet rife with crime; corrupt as hell and its inhabitants liked it that way.

New Edo however was boring and bland during the daytime. Its epicentre known only as the Port ran like any other seaside shipping town, where people would go about their daily business but in a slightly more dangerous and grotty setting. Even during the daytime, the resident gangs were still conducting their crimes and shady deals but most regular folk were busy working or shopping and hoping they weren't randomly robbed by some pickpocket. But nighttime was when the Port came to life in all of its rough, dingy, neon signed glory. The planet was originally colonised by many Japanese heavy industry companies and while the factories remained along with a dominant Japanese and Asian population; crime still seemed to take over quickly. The Port in itself was a bizarre kind of criminal community of all races and nationalities who all got along to some extent if anything just to keep the peace and not have an all-out war every five minutes.

One place that stayed neutral and never took sides was Hideki's Bar. While anyone was welcome there, it did seem to prove more popular with the crews of all the cargo companies. It was like any other traditional Western style bar with dark furniture, several holo-glass televisions showing various sports and music channels from across the galaxy mounted in random spots from the ceiling and an old school jukebox in the corner that had a catalogue of nearly every single earth song in existence. When the bar was busy it wasn't unheard of for chairs to get broken or the windows to be smashed. It was usually the regulars doing the damage in a drunken stupor but nearly everyone paid for repairs. Hideki's was a sanctuary for many people; a place for them to unwind after a long day of work, in an atmosphere that suited them and while everyone was on edge in case anybody walked in looking for trouble; the rest of the bars patrons had their backs with guns and katanas at the ready. And no regular would let Hideki or his younger brother Sho suffer because of some idiot who didn't know any better waltzing in trying to shoot the place up. Hideki's Bar had its own army and it was the people who drank there.

'So what are you guys gonna do now, what with the embargo?'

Hideki Junior was a reasonably tall Japanese-American man somewhere in his late thirties who ran the bar; left to him by his late father Hideki Senior. Whilst the bar was officially his, he ran it alongside his brother Sho who was possibly the best ramen chef in the universe according to the crew of the Osiris; two of which were currently propping up the bar enjoying a pint of San Miguel as Hideki hadn't had his delivery of Asahi yet. Captain Cassandra Krieger and her Vice-Captain Chris Ronson had called in for a drink or seven and a spot of dinner after returning from their last job.

Ronson let out a tiny sideways belch after chugging down some of his pint and quickly wiped his lips with the back of his hand before letting out his Northern English drawl.

'Dunno, probably a few days R and R and sorting the ship out. Tony and Devin have some repairs, Justin is restocking, the twins have gone back to their parents for a visit, the idiot apparently has a date.' Ronson rolled his eyes.

Hideki made an apparent grimace as soon as the resident idiot of the Osiris crew was mentioned. Nobody knew why the crew put up with the boisterous over-inflated ego of the infamous Zach Steele but Krieger's reasoning was consistent. He's a decent Aegis pilot and an even better verbal punching bag.

'Meanwhile I'm doing fuck all and this silly cow has to find our next job, it's not like there's embargo's anywhere else...' Ronson continued before setting about his pint again, sneaking in a cheeky glance at his Captain beside him who barely acknowledged what he had said.

'Well I was planning on spending our downtime in here getting shitfaced but if you wanna work...'

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'I like that plan better, but a job wouldn't go amiss though.'

Hideki had already poured his best customers another pint noticing that they were nearly done with the ones he had poured barely five minutes ago.

'As much as I enjoy your stories of the jobs you've taken, I also enjoy you coming in here drinking my bar dry. Practically pay my staff and for my luxurious spa holidays to Galleria.'

'Ooh speaking of staff,' Krieger spoke up. 'Anybody asked about my notice while we've been off-planet?'

'Who was that guy that came in the other day?' A voice called out from nearby.

Sho had snuck out of the kitchen behind the bar and casually placed two steaming bowls of pork ramen in front of Krieger and Ronson. The pair looked up and quickly thanked him before tucking in. Even though he was quite a bit younger than Hideki, Sho practically dwarfed him in height and sheer size. Anybody who didn't know him would think he worked for the Yakuza as he did look incredibly intimidating but he had a heart of gold and was a wizard in the kitchen. That however didn't mean Sho wasn't handy in a fight.

'Mikey? Oh yeah I give him your details Krieger. He's been after a new job for a while now. Asked me about you guys when I was replacing the notice Frank ripped off the board.'

Krieger's face turned sour at the mention of Frank. What a twat. She pushed him out of her mind and continued eating her ramen, trying to catch up with Ronson who had already nearly inhaled all of his.

Hideki produced a battered pack of cigarettes out of his apron pocket and casually lit one as Krieger was attempting to finish off her ramen; drinking the rest of the broth straight from the bowl. The barman offered Ronson and Krieger a smoke which they graciously accepted.

'He's a good kid Mikey. Not been on New Edo long just a few months or so. He's been working as a cook at some greasy spoon café type place in town.'

'We need a cook!' Krieger exclaimed with a cigarette half clamped in-between her lips. 'Erm, more of a jack-of-all-trades really but if he's a cook that's awesome.'

'He is ex-EMA too if I remember correctly, to what extent I'm not sure.'

'Cas we need this kid.' Ronson stated. 'I'm not living on Pot Noodles forever.'

'Hey gobshite, Pot Noodles have kept us from going hungry most of the time we've been in space.'

'Yeah but that doesn't mean we have to survive on them for the REST of the time we have in space.'

Hideki and Sho simultaneously began pouring fresh pints for the bickering duo which to them beat even attempting to understand what they were arguing about. The pair were both from different parts of the North of England and when they got going; it was practically impossible to understand what they were saying.

The double doors of Hideki's Bar had swung open, the squeak of the hinges alerting everybody that someone had just walked in. A few quiet customers hiding away in a corner had glanced at the doors with a hand casually resting on their chosen weapon, just in case it was somebody who was after them.

'Um don't look now Cas but...' Sho said as he grabbed the empty ramen bowls and placed them under the counter, lingering just a touch too long as if he was trying to hide.

Captain Krieger had one hand on her glass and the other hand on her gun as she felt a large presence hovering behind her. She glanced down to her left shoulder where there was a hand resting on it; fingers adorned with large silver rings and bizarre tattoos. She recognised that hand anywhere. Ronson was practically salivating at who the hand belonged to. He wasn't complaining though, he'd always said that if Frank was gay then he'd climb him like a tree.

Frank Da Costa was a tall, sandy haired, ripped and stupidly handsome something-American fellow, most likely Italian-American. He always had some ridiculously gorgeous supermodel-esq woman hanging off his arm when he was off duty; frequenting the classier venues that the more prolific areas of New Edo had to offer. Everybody else who had eyes could blatantly see that Da Costa had a bit of a thing for Krieger in the way he carried on teasing and mocking her, like a six year old boy would to a girl he fancied at school. Though Lord only knew why as Krieger was a woman at the complete opposite end of the scale of who Frank was usually seen with. She was a short, angry, foul-mouthed woman with pasty skin and black hair which complimented her predominantly basic, boring black wardrobe and even darker than black sense of humour.

'Da Costa, I swear to fucking god I will shoot you one of these days. What do you want?' Krieger snarled. Everybody else grinned slightly, wondering how far the Krieger/Da Costa shit-show would go. Hideki was shaking his head trying not to laugh as he poured Frank a pint.

'Woah now! Hostile much!' Da Costa exclaimed, holding his hands up. 'Just visiting my favorite bar for a well-earned refreshing drink and some delightful company.' He flicked Krieger's cheek to which she swiftly batted him away with a scowl on her face.

'Well the crew and I are having a few days off before our next job, yeah it's a pretty important one got a huge paycheck due on completion.' Da Costa bragged. He downed most of his pint as he stood next to Krieger, successfully winding her up with his presence alone.

'That job better be sooner than later 'cause I want that ship of yours outta my fucking bay.'

'In due time my sweet.' Frank said as he chugged down the rest of his beer, slamming the glass on the bar. 'Catch you losers later, I got a date tonight.'

'Bye. Hope you get hit by a bus.' Krieger shouted after him.

'Love you too Cas.'

With that, Frank Da Costa had left the bar after barely ten minutes. Krieger was always adamant he randomly came in whenever she was in there just to purposely wind her up. After a few moments of silence, Hideki piped up after glancing behind Krieger at the huge cork notice board beside the door.

'He's ripped your notice off the board again.'

'I'm gonna set him on fire one day, I swear to God.'

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