Chapter 2: 2

Early morning on New Edo seemed alright for all of about ten minutes before all the hustle and bustle started. It was definitely a planet where even though most of its residents worked hard and played even harder; they were nearly all the type to wake up as late as possible, pour a coffee down their necks if just to wash away the taste of the previous night's binge drinking away then drag themselves to work to count down the time to the next binge drinking session.

Michael Nakamura was not one of those people. He worked as many hours as he could get and could barely afford to go out and enjoy himself. Start a new life in the new galaxy! The adverts said on earth attempting to encourage people to ship out with their families. It ended up being a same shit, different planet kind of deal for most people though. He wasn't well off enough to ensure his life in the new galaxy would be easy; but he needed the change.

'This job better be good, I mean I'm behind again on rent and I haven't had a day off in weeks.'

'Is this the one we found on Hideki's notice board? The ad that didn't say who posted it?'

Michael was walking through the south side toward the port with his friend Alex who was on his way to work that morning. The night before, Alex dragged his friend out to Hideki's for a drink after his shift had finished at the rather grim eatery he worked at. Michael wanted nothing more than to go to bed and sleep off a long, hard shift but Alex had other ideas; namely picking up women but Alex barely got a look in when Michael was stood beside him. The ladies tended to flock to him and his somewhat stoic, tall, well built and jet black haired form instead of the loudmouth wiseguy with a hint of a gut and terrible pick-up lines he was with.

'It didn't say what company it was for, but Hideki and Sho told me I'd be better off meeting the guys who run it face to face anyway, they got me the interview.'

'What was the job?'

'Ships Cook.'

'Dude you'll get it no problem.' Alex slapped his friend on the shoulder. 'We're not far now. I can't believe you haven't been this far down the Port yet.'

Michael sighed. It's true. Normally the furthest place he got to was Hideki's and he daren't go any farther in to the Port than that. He was warned by the medical technicians in the New Edo Clinic he woke up in that the deeper you went in to the Port, the more dangerous it got. He could see why as he watched the people in the streets. New Edo was an Armed Planet. Residents of an Armed Planet could apply for licenses to carry and this meant that on their home planet and on other worlds, they were allowed by a Galaxy wide law to open carry weapons to protect themselves. It surprisingly stopped a lot of violence on some planets, almost working like a deterrent as if to say 'If you attack me, I have the means to attack you also.' It didn't stop most of the people on New Edo; whose main weapons were handguns and katanas from shooting others or going a bit stab happy. Nobody really cared much anyway and the police weren't all that bothered either most of the time or they were paid off, that's just how it went. Some didn't even bother getting an open carry license but it meant they'd be arrested on another planet without it. It was actually pretty easy to figure out where somebody came from just by looking at what kind of weapon they carried as they were pretty specific to whatever planet they resided on.

Michael did have a licence to carry, but could never afford a decent weapon so he never bothered. He figured he could carry one of his chef's knives around with him if he really wanted to just in case, but if that just in case ever happened he didn't want a gross contaminated knife at the end of it, or get detained for that fact. Kitchen knives weren't permitted for open carry.

The young men continued to watch the people surrounding the port going about their business. The frequency of weapons had increased as he noticed many were armed with a variety of pistols or swords or even both. He and Alex continued down the street which ran adjacent to the docking area and soon saw the dock where dozens of ships of varying sizes were moored in the sparkling and surprisingly clean and clear water.

'Good luck with this interview dude.' Alex said to his friend as they casually bumped fists with each other. 'Which ship is it anyway?'

'Um, I think it's that one?' Michael pointed at a ship that dwarfed many of the others moored in the harbor, which were cruisers or frigates and relatively small in size. This thing Michael was staring at was a different kettle of fish altogether. 'The Type-Two battle cruiser there. Osiris written up the side.'

Alex let out a low whistle now knowing who the company his friend had an interview with just by seeing the ship. 'Oh, yeah, it's Krieger's crew. Let me know how it goes yeah? I'll be at work but leave me a message or something we can get lunch later?'

Michael nodded, looking slightly unsure at the comment Alex had just made. 'Sure thing man, talk in a bit.'

Alex turned away from his friend and made his way further down the port to work with a slightly quickened pace. He didn't know whether to laugh or not knowing that Michael was about to have a job interview with the Osiris Company, quite possibly the biggest liability on New Edo; he'd find out how it went soon anyway when they met up for lunch later on.

The two friends went their separate ways. Michael made his way along the harbour and on to the main dock. The cargo bay door of the Osiris was open providing a ramp up in to the ship which he tentatively wandered up. It seemed pretty quiet in the cargo hold until he heard clanging coming from a corner.

'Hello?' Michael called out. The clanging happened again until finally somebody appeared from behind a large container.

'Oh hey, you must be Michael right? I'm Tony.' The man introduced himself. He was reasonably tall and well-built with jet black hair and olive skin, trailing a grav-lift behind him laden with large crates.

'Yeah that's me, I'm here to see Captain Krieger.'

'She's been expecting you. Just head up the stairs there and straight on just follow the sound of cackling or shouting or whatever.' Tony said as he pointed to a tall flight of metal stairs.

'Okay, thank you.' She. Female Captain huh?

Michael continued his way further in to the ship and sure enough he soon heard raucous laughter combined with coughing, snorting and yet again more laughter. He did as Tony instructed and followed the sound; getting to a doorway in to what must have been the ships recreational room where a full size pool table dominated the space. He noticed the table was littered with beer cans, cigarette packets and various gadgets. Two people were sat there in amongst the smoke haze cackling away in between some incoherent speech, one playing videos on his holowatch and the other sat cleaning a pair of handguns with a lit cigarette hanging from her mouth. Michael made his way over and announced himself in to the room.

'Um, excuse me? Captain Krieger?'

The woman looked up from the gun parts she had been cleaning and laid them back down, taking the cigarette from her mouth.

'Michael yes? We've been waiting for you.' Said the woman as she stood up and quickly wiped her oily hands down the front of her black clad thighs in an attempt to get rid of some of the grease before she thrust her hand out for Michael to shake. He took her hand and gave it a firm shake. A lot less firm than hers he noticed, it felt like she had a vice grip on his fingers.

'Captain Cassandra Krieger. Nice to meet you. This is Vice Captain Chris Ronson.'

'Hey bud.'

'Nice to meet you Sir.'

Krieger and Ronson gave each other some serious side eye and a slight grin.

'Sit down and please, no formalities here we leave that for when we're on duty. Cas and Chris are fine or use our surnames.' She gestured to him to take a seat.

Michael showed a small smile as he sat down on a spare chair and pulled it up closer to the pool table. He attempted to relax slightly figuring these two weren't exactly the overly formal type.

'We've had a look at your resume you forwarded us and we're pretty impressed with it considering you're quite young.' Ronson spoke up. He tapped his holowatch which lit the air up with its blue-green glow; bringing up Michaels resume for another look. 'Michael Nakamura age twenty-four. Regular earth Army at eighteen, trained as an engineer, four years' service there before joining the EMA, served as a cook for just over a year on board the Helena then left the military to Marduke Heavy Industries. And now you're a cook in a greasy spoon here on New Edo.'

'That's correct.' Michael replied, he knew what was coming next.

'We were looking at the dates here and there's a five month gap between finishing at Marduke and miraculously ending up here. Can we ask what happened?' Krieger spoke up, lighting another cigarette.

'I don't know how to put it but... Well, I should probably be dead.'

Krieger and Ronson turned to each other with the blankest of faces then back to Michael.

'My crew was sent to replace and repair some terraforming equipment on a small planet out in Sector-Six. Pirates attacked our ship and stole everything on board. They... managed to kill most of my workmates.'

'Ah shit man that's rough I'm sorry.' Krieger said with slight concern as she puffed on her smoke.

'It's okay. There were only a few of us who managed to get in to the escape pods. They made it back alright but err, the pod I got in was faulty its guidance system wasn't working. Spent months floating around in cryostasis until a salvage ship came across me. Marduke claimed me KIA.'

Michael looked up to see Krieger staring with her mouth agape and Ronson had turned slightly green, the thought of being stranded in space in cryostasis wasn't a particularly nice one.

'And yeah, I ended up here!' Michael exclaimed, showing a sheepish grin. He wasn't a fan of talking about himself and he sure wasn't a fan of talking about what had happened in his life.

'Wow you got lucky, glad you're still not an ice cube out there then! Or else you wouldn't have found us!' Krieger exclaimed. 'Now let's get down to it. How much you getting paid at your current job if you don't mind my asking?'

'One hundred and seventy five credits a week ma'am.' Michael replied quickly at the abruptness of Krieger's question.

'Less of the ma'am. We were gonna pay two hundred and seventy five credits a week just to cook but... going by your resume if you're willing to put your other skills to use how does six hundred a week sound?'

Michael looked dumbfounded. He wanted to speak but no words would leave his mouth. Six hundred was a huge jump up from two hundred and seventy five; he could pay his monthly rent and a few bills with just one weeks paycheck. Ronson was scanning the young man's resume again, glancing as some of his listed skills and accreditations.

'You're ex-military like most of us on board the Osiris, a class-two Aegis pilot, you have a license to carry and more importantly you can cook.' Ronson listed some things off the resume. 'We need a jack of all trades like you on this ship. That's if you're okay with doing some of the dodgy shit we get hired to do, but then again we won't force you to do a job if you don't want to.'

Michael knew what Ronson was insinuating from hearing just a little bit from Hideki about the Osiris Company's operations. Short of selling their old organs and standing on street corners turning tricks, they'd do pretty much anything for a paycheck. He had thought about the moral implications of working for a company like this but he wasn't really all that bothered by it. Living for a short time on New Edo had taught him that it definitely was a dog eat dog galaxy here and it was difficult to survive if you didn't stand up and take care of number one first. New Edo; so Michael had heard from his friend Alex was apparently the planet in this galaxy with the highest number of contract killers in residence and also had its own murder contest every year that pulled in huge crowds. He wasn't that desperate for money that he'd be going in to that line of work any time soon, plus he didn't exactly know where he would even start in that kind of career. All that considered he figured this was probably a safer line of work. Probably.

Michael didn't really have a choice right now though either way, he needed money to give himself a better life by any means and he was fine with doing some dodgy stuff from time to time. It wasn't like he was going back to Earth any time soon or go back to the military.

'Do you have to work any notice at your current job?' Krieger interjected with a serious sounding voice.

'No, um no I don't. I never got a proper contract.'

'Great, how do you fancy starting tomorrow then?'

'Wait, what?' Michael was still a little surprised. 'Tomorrow?'

'Yes, tomorrow.' Krieger continued, her face never faltering. She was deadly serious. 'Do you have any other issues or commitments to sort out?'

'Um, I kinda need to keep my landlord off my back. I've been struggling to pay my rent this month.'

'Put your finger on here.'

Krieger pushed a mobile data terminal across the pool table toward Michael. He slowly placed his left index finger on the terminals reader and in a split second his bank details were visible on the pop up holo-screen. Reminders for bills and payments that were in need of attention were highlighted in red, the main one listed at the top for two hundred and forty five credits owing on the rent for his apartment. Krieger highlighted the rent payment and swiftly pressed her right index finger on the reader. It took a second or two to process but the holo-screen turned green after the payment had gone through.

'There you go, no worries now eh?' Krieger smiled and casually lit another cigarette. She turned off the mobile terminal and shoved it to the side out of the way.

'Are you sure? I mean you didn't need to do that I can't accept you paying my rent...' Michael exclaimed even though Krieger had done the payment so quickly he probably couldn't have objected. The Captain's face read like she wasn't the type to be argued with so he decided not to push it. Ronson however decided to explain seeing as his Captain was now on her feet wandering in to the bridge.

'Listen kid we need you here, more than you probably think. A few hundred credits is nothing to make sure you're on board. Besides, working with a company of our nature means you get a fifteen percent discount on your rent because we spend plenty of time off planet.'

'I didn't know that was even a thing.'

'Yeah New Edo may be a shithole but there's a few decent laws that actually stuck and that's one of them.' Ronson stated. 'We occasionally get stupid good bonuses too depending on the job and we got good health insurance too, dangerous work an' all that bollocks. Even got our own Doctor on the crew.'

Michael wanted to scream in relief but he managed to keep that in. Instead he sat with his mouth open yet again before he could muster up some words. 'I honestly can't thank you enough. This has taken a huge amount of stress off me.'

'Don't worry about it. Come on, I'll give you the tour and I'll show you your quarters before all that important induction shit.' Ronson said as he stood from his chair.

'I get my own quarters?'

'You get your own quarters. This way.'

Michael rose from his seat and thankfully smiled at Krieger. She simply waved back then went back to cleaning her guns.

The ship itself Michael thought was pretty cool considering it was an older model military ship that had been dumped after it suffered severe damage years ago so Ronson told him. It was bigger inside than it looked on the outside. The staff quarters had been originally fitted to room two people but all of them had been converted to provide more than enough space for one person along with en-suite facilities. The galley and adjoining mess had been refitted with a ginormous dining table and an expensive stainless steel kitchen with all the mod cons, which looked like it was all new and hardly used. The ship also had a fully equipped med-bay, recreational room, armory and an Aegis hold just off the cargo bay. Somewhere between the rec room and kitchen, Michael had asked his new Vice Captain how the Osiris became the Osiris. Ronson told him during their tour of the ship that Krieger had salvaged the damaged vessel and restored it using a huge mass of funds she received after she sued the Earth Military Alliance.

'She sued the EMA?' Michael quizzed.

'Yeah, I did too. We were some of the first people transported out to the new galaxy on board Doctor. Bishop's ship.'

Michael knew he had heard that name somewhere.

'Hang on that's the guy who got jailed for illegal experimentation right? I heard about it but I don't remember all the details.' Michael asked his new Vice Captain.

'That's the guy.' Ronson sighed with a furrowed brow. 'It was a research vessel, both of us spent two years on that ship in cryostasis whilst the scientific team studied the effects of it on the human body and did a bunch of other shit too with plants and god knows what. He fucked around with a bunch of us but Cas and I came out somewhat intact. Heavily augmented but intact.' Ronson slightly winced at his own comment. 'Sort of. Cas then bought this boat.'

Michael carried on following Ronson around the ship as he pointed out various features and where things were. They eventually ended up back in the galley where Ronson proceeded to pour two cups of coffee from a machine on the shiny stainless steel countertop and gestured for Michael to sit down.

'I can't believe this is happening.' He mused, feeling the need to talk as his new Vice Captain handed him a mug full of caffeine.

'Can't believe what's happening?' Ronson asked.

'All this! I mean, just a few hours ago I was a cook in a crappy all-hours diner and now I'm in this job! Where I get paid more than a decent wage, I mean I can finally pay my rent and bills on time and maybe even get some nice things for my apartment. And you guys seem pretty cool too.'

Ronson erupted in to laughter at that last comment. 'Haha! Flattery will get you everywhere kid!' He chuckled. 'This is your second home now Mikey, we're a family here. A crazy, fucked up unit with stupidly dodgy tendencies and weapons but what family doesn't have their flaws?'

Michael chuckled. 'In any case, I'm actually looking forward to my first proper day tomorrow.'

'Good. We're gonna be on the ship for a while longer so if you wanna start bringing some of your stuff on board feel free. It's gonna be a whirlwind so be prepared, we'll see if we can get you introduced to everyone soon and sort you out with our AI Zeke so you can access everything on board. The sooner we get you sorted the sooner we can confirm our next job.'

'Thanks, I might just go get my stuff now then.' Michael quickly downed his coffee as he rose from the table,

'Great! Now if you'll excuse me, I better go find Cas before she blows something up or starts a turf war.'

Michael soon found himself stood in his own room aboard the Osiris. His own room. On a huge ex-military ship where he was hired to cook and maybe shoot a gun around a bit at idiots for just over three times the amount his last weekly wage was; where the Captain also just paid off his rent arrears. Michael had done what Ronson had suggested and had brought some of his stuff on board from his apartment. He didn't have many belongings but he did bring a blanket and some cushions he liked and a few books; one or two fiction novels and a stack of cookery and recipe books about various earthwide cuisines. He did however treat himself to some toiletries, pillows and some new clothes with some money he had stashed away for a rainy day which he could now use as he didn't have his rent to worry about. It didn't take long for him to put everything in its place and he was a little disappointed he didn't have more to make the room seem more like it was his. He figured once he got his first pay check through he'd go buy some frames and prints he could put up on the walls, maybe even some bits and bobs to help make his room seem a bit more personal, more like it was his.

Michael was soon brought out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on his door. Krieger was stood in the doorway now with both her guns; shining, clean and back in the double shoulder holster she wore.

'How's it going kid, all moved in?'

'Yeah it's good. And kinda, I don't actually have much.'

'Don't worry about it.' Krieger smiled. 'You'll be bringing all kinds of shite back from jobs so you'll soon have stuff. You doing anything now?'

'Nope, not that I can think of.' Michael replied.

'Right follow me. Justin's just come on board we can go get your medical done and out the way, maybe get you fitted with a gun or a sword or whatever.'

'Um, sure thing.'

Michael followed Krieger down to the med bay where the ships resident Doctor and self-appointed armorer Justin was pulling on a well-worn white lab coat over his huge, musclebound frame. Justin was an incredibly well built African-American gent somewhere in his early forties who you could tell looked after himself. This was definitely a man who wasn't afraid of making the gym his bitch from time to time. Krieger in all her short and angry glory barged in through the med bay door.

'Justin this is Michael Nakamura he's new and here for a medical, Mikey this is our Doc and gun man Justin Knowles.'

Justin looked slightly confused at first as he glanced at Michael now understanding that Krieger had just hired him and had not told anybody about it yet which was classic her. Granted they had been looking for a new crew member for months now to no avail.

The two men nodded and shook each other's hands briefly before Justin gestured for Michael to take a seat in front of his desk. Justin himself was about to sit down until he looked over to find Krieger making an almighty racket by rummaging through his drawers and cupboards.

'Um what are you doing Cas?' Justin asked her. She rummaged around some more and glanced at him with a cigarette sticking out of her mouth.

'I'm looking for a lighter what the fuck does it look like I'm doing?'

'Getting up my fucking nose. Get the hell out Krieger medicals and shit are supposed to be confidential! And there's no smoking in here! Jesus haven't you got shit to do?!' Justin barked at the woman with an apparent New Yorker drawl, he eventually walked over to her and slammed his drawer and cupboard doors shut.

'Fine fine I'll leave then. Watch him for shoving his fingers up your arsehole Mikey! I'll register you with Zeke in a bit!' She yelled as she walked out.

'Fuck off Krieger!' Justin shouted back at her. All the men could hear was her laughing and cackling down the hallway. Justin swiftly shut the door as soon as she had left.

'That woman is a damn nightmare.' He mumbled and shook his head before taking a seat. 'Like Krieger said before she started being an asshole, I'm the ships Doctor, Justin Knowles. I also take care of the on-board armoury.'

'Nice to meet you.' Michael answered simply, wondering what the hell had just happened. He watched as Justin pressed the on button for his holographic keyboard which simultaneously switched on the holoscreen for his computer. Michael knew what he had to do, he'd had several military medicals in his time and one or two in the EMA, and so he instantly touched his finger on the DNA reader panel on Justin's desk.

'Oh thanks man. I take it you've had these kinds of medicals before?'

You are reading story Living in the Fray at novel35.com

'A few, I was in the West Coast EMA.' Michael replied.

'I was regular army then East Coast EMA. Okay lets have a look here.' Justin trailed off as Michaels details popped up on his holoscreen. 'So they installed you with the basic shit, standard nano machines and a military grade neural mod. Had any problems?'

'None come to mind.'

'Good, we'll check it all anyway. I'm gonna need a blood and urine sample too but we'll do that last. Strip down to your skivvies man we'll do all that aug shit first.'

Michael did has he was told and stripped behind a small privacy screen in the corner of the room, leaving his clothes on a nearby bench. He stepped out and proceeded to lie down on the raised treatment bed where Justin was setting up a few monitoring machines.

'Okay we're gonna plug your neural mod in to the machine and see if you need an update on your augs, which you probably do going by your last record.' Justin said to Michael who was trying to relax on the bed. It wasn't an uncomfortable procedure but it felt a bit weird; like you had a very mild pins and needles like sensation all over your skin but it didn't hurt or ache. Some people actually quite liked it when their mods and nanomachines were getting tuned up.

Michael turned his head to the right slightly as Justin pulled a long data cable from one of the machines he had set up and gently plugged it in to the neural mod port behind Michael's left ear. Neural mods installed in a person had three small lights embedded under the skin; one green one showing that it was on and functional, blue for when it was being updated or serviced and red for when it wasn't working properly or had been turned off. The light on Michael's had turned a pale blue colour.

'Okay, let's just back up the current data for your mods now then I can install the new version. You're well due an update my friend.' Justin smiled as he glanced at his holoscreen. Michael could hear the machine beside him humming slightly. He could feel his skin tingling a bit as the process was happening. A scanner arm had popped out of the side of the gurney bathing Michael's body in an orange light as it made its way up, around and down the metal frame. Cross sections of Michael's body started to appear on a holoscreen which Justin watched closely. Text popped up on the screen highlighting various scars on Michael's skin, internal scarring from some previous operations he had and the positions of his internal augments and implants.

'Just let me know if you feel uncomfortable or weird at any point yeah.' Justin reassured the young man. 'It's gonna take about forty seconds to do this back up then about two or three minutes for the new update to install and restart. Any questions?'

'Not that I can think of.' Michael replied.

'No problem, just chill for a bit while the update happens.'

Michael exhaled, laid his head back and tried to relax as his skin was busy tingling away and getting a bit warm. A few minutes and it would be over, his nanomachines would be optimized and work a lot better than before and hopefully his neural mod would operate more efficiently especially after not having it updated in a while; the perks of now having a job where augment maintenance came with it. It was apparent to him that the crew was looked after especially with its Captain and Vice-Captain being heavily augmented themselves as Ronson had revealed to him earlier. At least now he didn't have to deal with shitty customers, a shitty boss and just shitty work conditions in general. He cracked a smile feeling much better about his current situation.

'You look happy dude.' Justin said to the young man noticing him smiling away.

'Yeah you know what, I actually am happy. First time in a long while.'

Justin laughed slightly. 'I guess your circumstances weren't that great before you came here... and that's saying something. The Osiris kinda has a rep we don't get many people actually applying for jobs.'

'I could see why a reputation would put people off, but to be honest I didn't know much about you guys beforehand.' Michael said understanding what Justin was insinuating. 'I was always working so, I don't really know much about this planet to begin with.'

'And you're not bothered by it? The kind of work we do I mean.'

'Not really. Anybody in any military basically gets paid to shoot and kill people or aid in it in the name of some country or cause. Doing that and other shady stuff for a private company is no different to me. And I get to cook that's the main reason I'm here.'

'I assume cooking is a passion of yours?'

'It is. I would've loved to own my own restaurant or something back on earth but I wasn't in a good position to even look after myself properly never mind start my own business. Hence why I'm out here.'

Justin smiled back at the young man. 'Well you couldn't have come at a better time; we've been after another crew member for a while now especially somebody who can cook.'

'Sounds like you've all been living on anything with "instant" in its name.'

'Pretty much, onboard yes but at least we can have what we want at home. I mean most of us can actually cook but we got loads of other shit to do to keep this damn boat in the air and money coming in.' Justin grumbled. 'Cas really wanted to get someone who could take care of the cooking side and maybe help out with some other stuff, take some pressure off the rest of us.'

'She seems, kinda interesting?' Michael raised his voice slightly as if to ask a question. Justin raised an eyebrow and gave a coy smile.

'Interesting doesn't even cover half of it. She's plain crazy through and through. She takes care of us though in a weird way, even though she's an asshole most of the time.'

'How long have you been on the crew can I ask?'

'Near enough since the beginning, coming on six years now. ' Justin shook his head after realizing it had been that long. 'Myself, Ronson, Tony and Devin were here at the start. Then the twins joined after Cas decided to take on more work then she hired the idiot Steele shortly after when we took on more delivery jobs.'

Michael had a quick count up in his head. 'Wow that's a pretty small crew for a ship this big.' He stated. Justin guffawed at the remark slightly.

'Pfft this ship can practically run itself because of Zeke.' Justin chuckled. Michael just stared at Justin from his position on the gurney.

'Okay you're done, you can unplug.' Justin instructed the young man a few minutes later. He pulled the data cable out of his neuro mod and handed it back to Justin as he sat himself up. Justin busied himself for a minute as he set up a small auto syringe to take some of the young mans blood.

'Cas is probably gonna register you with Zeke when she gets a moment. And knowing her she'll probably drag us all out tonight though so you can be introduced to everyone else properly and get wasted or something.'

Justin casually gestured for Michael to hold out his preferred arm to take a blood sample from and gently pushed a tourniquet up to his left bicep, tightening the strap revealing a vein. Justin set the auto syringe at a slight angle against a protruding vein on Michaels arm and pressed the small button on the end. A quick sharp sting and the syringe punctured his arm and instantly filled with crimson liquid. Justin then pushed the vial in to a small machine on his counter and pressed a few buttons. The machine whirred to life and a few short seconds later, a read-out appeared on the screen.

'Hmm your oxygen level is down slightly but that's pretty normal when you live in the centre of town, the air isn't that great. Your iron level is a bit low, that could also attribute to low oxygen levels too but are you on a restrictive diet or something?' Justin asked.

'Nope. I have to admit my diet isn't great at the moment, haven't been able to afford to buy any decent groceries recently.' Michael said looking slightly ashamed of himself. Normally he wasn't like this and made sure he was feeding himself properly but with working the hours he had been and not having time to fill his own fridge as well as keep a roof over his head; eating properly had taken a back seat.

'Okay so make sure you look after yourself kid, maybe take a supplement in the meantime. Your nanomachines are updated to they should help get your levels correct. Other than that, you got nothing nasty in your blood.' Justin instructed Michael. He rattled around in another one of his cupboards and produced a sample cup, throwing it over to Michael.

'Behind the curtain, quick sample then you can get dressed and we're done.'

Michael did as he was told. He came back out from behind the screen with his sample and presented it to Justin as he was adjusting the buttons on his shirt. Justin ripped a small plastic tab on the sample pot and gave it a quick shake; the test strip colours appeared on the lid. Justin gave it a quick look and was happy with the result.

'All done. You're good to go, nothing seriously wrong. Just keep your diet in check and you'll be fine.'

'Sweet. That's good to hear.' Michael breathed.

'Now follow me, let's get you sorted with a weapon.'

Michael had been led in to a part of the ship that was somewhere in between the main cargo hold and the engine room. The room he was ushered in to was dark and smelt of oil and gunpowder.

'This is the armoury, if you can even call it that.' Justin mumbled as he slammed his hand on a light switch near the door. The lights flickered to life, illuminating many crates and boxes that littered the room along with a small workbench in the middle. One side of the room was lined with a long metal cage that went from ceiling to floor with a door in the middle and a biometrics panel just to the side. Justin touched his hand against the panel allowing the gate to click open, gaining access to the few heavy duty gun cabinets secured behind it. Sure enough there was also yet another biometrics panel on the cabinet which he laid his palm on, the distinctive clank of the bolts releasing the heavy cabinet door, lurching open revealing its bounty. There were a few weird things in there, an odd hand grenade and the occasional pipe bomb but neatly lined up; grip out were around a dozen or so handguns.

'Any handgun you like in particular?' Justin casually asked the newbie. 'We got a few here but if you want something we haven't got then you gotta get that shit yourself.'

Michael had a quick think. He hadn't really had much to do with guns only what he was issued while he was in the military.

'Glocks? I dunno man I've only really used Glocks. And they're pretty foolproof.' Michael said. Justin pulled a few guns out of the cabinet and laid them on a workbench in the corner.

'Nine-mil Glock 17C, Glock 30 in .45ACP and a nine-mil Glock 45.' Justin pointed at each gun in succession.

Michael reached out and picked up the Glock 45. 'Never seen this one before.' He held the gun in his hands, closely inspecting it and checking if it felt right in his hands. 'This one. Yeah I like this one.'

'Wow that was quick.' Justin said. 'Good choice though I use that same gun.'

'It feels nice. I mean I used 17's before, .45ACP is a bit much and I've never even seen this model before.'

'It's decent enough and gets the job done. One of the newer models before humans made it out here actually.'

'Cool. Haven't used a gun in a while so this should be fun.' Michael said as he laid the Glock back down on the work bench.

'You need a sword?'

'I think I'll just stick with the gun for now thanks. Got a belt holster going spare?'

A little while later after setting himself up with a holster and chatting with Justin about the ship and the rest of the crew who he had yet to meet, Krieger had called Michael up to the bridge over the speaker system. He found his way up to the bridge quickly, the layout of the whole ship wasn't that confusing to navigate.

'You called for me?' Michael asked as he walked over to Krieger who was sat cross legged on the floor fiddling about with some cables she was yanking out of a maintenance panel. She turned round to face him with a thin screwdriver clamped between her lips. She quickly removed the screwdriver as she began talking.

'Yeah I'm just about to get Zeke online I figured we could get you registered as soon as y'know get all this shit out the way before we actually have to do some work.'

'A manual registration?' Mikey asked. He knew the process of manually registering with an AI especially on a ship as you pretty much wouldn't be able to connect to the internal network, to your crewmates or to even open certain doors. Previously he had already been registered on various other ships with his work but the companies had done it beforehand basically just registering him as an employee with an ID number.

'Yeah, sorry man I forgot to tell you more I've had a lot on my mind. Trying to get a job offer finalized and the guy I'm dealing with is being a twat.' Krieger stated then pointed to a nearby wall. 'There's some beers in that storage compartment there you wanna grab a couple?'

Michael nodded and soon found a six-pack of Budweiser stashed inside a spaceship equivalent of a glove compartment which had a collection of various other bits and bobs and trinkets in like a few bars of chocolate, a hair brush and a small tin of machine oil. He picked out two beers and set them down beside Krieger who was busy installing new wiring where she had ripped out the old. She glanced down at the two cans and grabbed one, opening it skilfully with one hand.

'One is for you ya tit.' She cackled at Michael. He muttered 'Oh, thanks' thinking they were both for her. Michael cracked it open and took a long gulp of the slightly warm beer. Krieger was fiddling about with her holowatch, pressing some buttons on the screen that radiated out. Within a second or two, a light whirring noise could be heard from behind the panel she had been messing with and some tiny lights began flashing on and off. Krieger slammed the maintenance panel door shut and stood in front of a holoscreen above it, resting her hand on a bio-reader.

'Zeke will be back online in a minute or so. Just do yourself a favour and be nice to him. He's pretty cool.' Krieger said as she smiled warmly to Michael. 'He's got us out of a lot of bad times.'

The holoscreen erupted in to life. A streaming line ran across the middle of the screen horizontally from right to left.

'Zeke, you okay buddy?' Krieger said.

'Good afternoon Cas. I am well. I see you have replaced some cabling.' Zeke's voice sounded out, the line across the holoscreen shook and juddered as the AI spoke.

'Yeah man I replaced some of your old wires that were on their way out, got you some of those fibre ones you like. I've tightened a few screws and connections too.'

'Thank you Cas. It feels much better. Can I ask who that is stood next to you?'

Michael nearly jumped out of his skin when the AI spoke of him. His voice was British and quite smooth, sounding like it belonged to a very well-spoken man with a warm tone. Not creepy like a lot of other AI's he had heard, not in the same vein as HAL either. Thank God.

'Oh this is Michael Nakamura, he's our new crew member.'

'Nice to meet you Michael. Cas, would you like me to register his personal profile to the ship?'

'You do your thing bud.'

Krieger nudged Michael in front of the holoscreen and downed the rest of the beer she had left before she grabbed another from the storage box and proceeded to pour that down her neck in between lighting another smoke.

'Michael, is there a preferred name you would like me to call you?' Zeke asked.

'Um, Mikey is fine I guess.' The young man responded, slightly taken back by the fact that this AI was a lot more advanced than other AI's he had come across, which were somewhat basic. Most ships had AI's mainly just to manage everything like flight paths and the like and to relay simple data. Zeke however seemed to have a sort of personality.

'Okay Mikey, please place your hand on the bio-reader. I shall be accessing your neuro-mod if that is okay?'

'Sure thing Zeke.'

Michael's neuro-mod flashed a few lights as Zeke gained access to it. The process only lasted a few seconds but Michael was now linked to him.

'All done. You can now use most of the bio-readers on this ship barring ones only for the use of Cas and Chris, you also have access to the Osiris network and are now able to contact your fellow crewmates via wireless neuro-link. I am also at your disposal, please call on me if you would like me to do anything or if you need any assistance.' The AI's smooth voice sounded out assuring Michael to his presence.

'Thanks a lot. Can I ask you a quick question though Zeke?'

'That's okay, please ask away.'

'Do you happen to have any recipes on record?' Michael thought he was cheeky asking an incredibly advanced AI if he knew how to throw together a bacon sandwich; but if you don't ask, you don't get.

'I know thousands of recipes for various Earth cuisines along with several alien meals that are edible for humans. I understand you have been brought on board the Osiris as a chef. I can provide you with recipes suitable for everyone on board according to dietary requirements and preferences.'

'That's awesome bud. Thanks.'

'Anytime Mikey, the galley here is... abysmal. It will be nice having someone using it properly for a change.'

'Aw come on mate, you've used the kitchen before!' Krieger exclaimed at Zeke as she wandered back over with her beer and now with a chocolate bar in her other hand.

'Cas, I turned the blender on one morning after you left ingredients in it to make a smoothie during that week you tried eating healthy. I hardly constitute that as using the kitchen.'

'Well I do.'

'Cas. Would you like me to play the Galaxy Radio Network for you? It's time for the Afternoon Oldies Show.'

'Ah shit I forgot what time it was. Is Chris on his way up?'

'I'm already here mate.' Ronson announced as he breezed his way on to the bridge carrying a six pack of beer and an unopened twenty deck of cigarettes. He placed the items down on the main bridge console where Krieger had planted herself in the Captains chair, bringing a leg up over one of the arm rests as she swiftly twisted the cap off one of the beers Ronson had brought.

'C'mon dude grab a seat.' Krieger gestured to Mikey. She tilted the beer bottle in the direction of a large swivel chair at a smaller console to the left of the Captains console. 'The grav-mags are off just wheel it over.'

Ronson was doing just that with a chair on the right side. Mikey followed suit and parked himself beside Krieger. She handed him the open bottle of beer then proceeded to open another for Ronson and one for herself.

'Get ready Zeke I got a feeling we're gonna get lucky today!' The Captain exclaimed.

'Already standing by Cas.' Zeke's smooth voice sounded out over the sound of the radio that had just erupted through the ships PA speakers. The jingle for the Afternoon Oldies Show played out on the hour with the sound of suave but epic sounding male voice.

"Playing all your favourites from Earth's own back catalogue all in real-time, no delays ACROSS THE WHOLE GALAXY... GALAXY RADIO NETWORK!"

Ronson cracked open the pack of smokes and handed them out, Michael took one even though he was only a social smoker most times. It seemed rude not to accept. He smiled as he watched his superiors try and emulate the voice of the epic radio announcer.

"It's three o'clock local time at Galaxy Radio Network headquarters and whatever time it is where you are. It's time... for the Afternoon Oldies Show, with Steve Wilson."

Music instantly shot through the ships speakers as soon as the jingle had finished, the distinctive intro of crash symbols and blaring keyboards of Prince's 1999 ringing out through the ships bridge.

'I got a good feeling for today, great song to start with. I'm gonna win a damn mug!' Krieger cried out as she swigged at her beer. Ronson leaned over to Michael.

'She's been trying to win the GRN's Afternoon Oldies phone in quiz for years now it's like, not funny anymore. Every damn time she's sure she's gonna get through and win the fucking prize mug.' Ronson told Michael as he rolled his eyes. Michael just reclined in his seat and casually drank his beer watching his two new crewmates.

'I thought the prize was a thousand credits and some other junk?' Michael asked his Vice Captain who rolled his eyes again.'

'She just wants the mug.'

You can find story with these keywords: Living in the Fray, Read Living in the Fray, Living in the Fray novel, Living in the Fray book, Living in the Fray story, Living in the Fray full, Living in the Fray Latest Chapter