Chapter 3: 3

Michael had managed to leave his friend Alex a message asking to meet up at a noodle bar not far from where Alex worked. He sat himself at one of the small tables outside adorned with a cheap parasol that rattled slightly whenever any vehicle drove past. At least it kept the mid-day sun off him which was getting a bit fierce this time of year. Michael sat and sipped at a bottle of beer as he decided to research the Osiris and its crew a bit more on his holo-watch terminal. He found a few reputable news articles and videos of Captain Krieger and Vice-Captain Ronson during the trial several years back when Doctor Bishop was brought up on grounds of illegal human experimentation and the Earth Military Alliance were also sued for gross misconduct of their soldiers. Videos and photos of the trial showed Krieger looking incredibly uncomfortable in a suit and Ronson desperately attempting to look like a designer fashion house model.

"Earth Military Alliance and twisted scientist embroiled in illegal human experimentation lawsuit. Captain Cassandra Krieger (27) and Lieutenant Chris Ronson (27) now formerly of the EMA pictured entering court on the first day of this landmark trial."

According to the articles, Krieger, Ronson and one or two others got the less shitty end of the stick as most of their surviving comrades who had also gone through the same experiments were in incredibly worse shape; many of the surviving few requiring wheelchairs or civilian grade prosthetics to even move as most had rejected the experimental military grade augments that were forced upon them. The articles detailed what had gone on, from Bishop installing many untested, highly experimental cybernetics to administering loads of volatile and dangerous nanomachine and drug treatments. Some of the Doctors assistants on the long voyage had well and truly blown the whistle on him stating that when his guinea pigs had come to from their cryosleep, they were lied to being told that they had run in to "complications" or "accidents" along the way and the necessary procedures had been done to ensure their lives. Doctor Bishop had somehow managed to get hold of some alien technologies that were being redeveloped back on earth for use in humans but he wanted to put his own spin on it as he apparently wasn't selected for the main development team.

So the good Doctor thought being one of the lead researchers on board the research vessel taking a bunch of scientists and military personnel to the new galaxy was a good chance to put his so-called genius to use and try his ideas out on some military grunts nobody would care about. His assistants however labelled him a tyrant and helped gather evidence against him along with testifying at the relatively short trial. That however didn't mean his assistants got off lightly as they were after all doing what the madman said, under threat of course.

Michael had read that pretty much all of the victims were made sterile, some were suffering PTSD because of the ordeal but all of them had suffered physically in some way. While the others had limbs amputated, Krieger and Ronson who had bonded surprisingly well with the experimental nanomachines and cybernetics had frequent malfunctions and were prone to fits and seizures. He saw images of their full body scans in online medical journals that were referenced in the articles; Krieger and Ronson were practically metal and carbon fibre on the inside, barely flesh and bone at all; the nanomachines had been programmed to alter them on a near genetic level from their skin, to muscle, right through to the marrow. According to the following medical studies it granted them better reflexes, increased speed and strength, some resistances and faster almost instant healing; when the nanomachines worked though. Images in the medical journals showed some of the cons that happened with Krieger and Ronson's nanomachines when they fritzed out; Ronson during some testing had near completely seized up like he had advanced arthritis and was seen hunched over in a wheelchair. Krieger however at one point had lost all of her fingernails and toenails and her hair had started falling out before the nanomachines had somehow managed to right themselves. But now as part of the compensation they received, the EMA had to provide frequent updates for the nanomachines that had been used on them to stop them from going haywire.

Michael's further snooping brought up even more articles on Krieger who for the past five years had taken part in New Edo's yearly manhunt event, the Convict Chase known only as the Chase to the locals. Once a year some notorious criminals on death row were booted out on to New Edo and were chased by whatever bounty hunters or mercenaries signed up to do the chasing. A huge cash prize was awarded to the person who killed the convict or convicts first, getting a bonus if that one person managed to eradicate all the targets. According to the news piece Michael was reading, Krieger had actually won the tournament three times and was tied in wins with Frank Da Costa. The whole thing to Michael seemed horribly brutal and mainly aimed toward the bloodthirsty but the funny thing was; the tournament brought New Edo a lot of revenue it didn't have. Cameras and drones would be put up all over the planet as the entire event was televised to its inhabitants and across the galaxy like some morbid reality TV show with really enthusiastic hosts and commentators. Lots of folk from the galaxy would come to New Edo just to watch and place huge amounts of money on who would win, locals would support whoever their chosen merc was that year and sell t-shirts, mugs and various other nik-naks to the incoming tourists for stupid money.

Advertisements popped up on Michael's holowatch informing him that if he used the code displayed he could get ten percent off his entrance fee to the Convict Chase and the closing date for entries was in five days' time, with the chase itself being held a little over two weeks from now. He played a video showing the winning kills from the past ten years. Frank Da Costa had won last year killing a total of two of the four cons that were let loose to try and defend themselves against the incoming hoard of psychopathic mercenaries that were coming for them. Every year however some of the contestants were killed by the cons or each other, the official website had a memorial list of everyone who had died during the event; some winning once only to be killed the year later.

'You watching clips of the Chase dude?'

It was Alex who had finally turned up. Michael had just about finished his beer. Alex signalled over to one of the waitresses that they wanted to order. The young girl wandered over taking the boys orders on her holowatch of two large bowls of pork ramen and two beers. Alex paid saying it was his treat to Michael on getting a new job.

'I've just been researching the guys I'll be working with. They seem kinda...' He trailed off in an attempt to find the right words.

'Crazy? Boring? Pedestrian? Mental?' Alex asked. Michael just shook his head.

'Intriguing.'

'Odd word choice for that crew. How so?'

Michael sat back in his chair and relaxed his shoulders.

'Well my new boss enters the Chase every year.'

'Cassandra Krieger.'

Alex blinked a few times and reclined back in to his chair, casually taking a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and lighting one before offering one to his friend who shook his head to say no.

'Oh my God dude I can't believe you're working with those guys, I mean I had an idea but I didn't know it was them exactly till I saw the ship. Krieger and her crew are sort of like celebrities round here.'

'Y'know man, I probably coulda done with you telling me earlier about these people.' Michael asked Alex.

'Like I said, I had an idea. Listen bro you've not been on New Edo all that long you'll figure out who everyone is in this fucked up community. Well, everyone who matters at least.'

The waitress had wandered back over carrying a large tray holding two bowls of pork ramen and beers for the pair. They said a quick thank you to the waitress then swiftly tucked in to their food.

'So what else can you tell me about these guys then? I haven't met any of them personally.' Alex asked just as he brought some noodles to his mouth with the cheap disposable chopsticks he had just opened.

'Not much really, I haven't met all of them yet.' Michael replied. 'I briefly spoke to one guy in the cargo hold named Tony and I did have a medical with their Doctor Justin. They even have a pretty cool AI on the ship called Zeke.'

'An AI... called Zeke?' Alex spoke through a mouthful of half chewed noodles. 'Like a creepy HAL AI?'

'No actually. He sounded a lot more advanced than any other AI I've come across. He sounded like he has a personality. From what Krieger told me he's practically a member of the crew.'

Alex shuddered. He himself had previous experience with AI's and not all of them were good. They kind of freaked him out.

'Hmm so long as he doesn't go all SKYNET that's all I'd be worried about.' Alex shrugged his shoulders and continued eating his ramen.

'Well I had a medical and got the all clear along with a neural-mod update. Justin told me I need to take better care of myself though.'

'You should be able to properly now instead of working yourself to the bone for that jerk that owned that diner you worked at.'

'Oh, Krieger actually paid my rent arrears.' Michael mumbled just as he took a bite of the pork he fished out of his bowl. Alex nearly choked.

'Are you for real? She just paid it for you?' He exclaimed.

'Yeah, they told me they needed me badly so Krieger paid what I owed on last months rent then raised the weekly pay they were offering up to six hundred creds a week after reading my resume.'

'What were they offering originally?'

'Two hundred and seventy five just to cook. But if I help the others out and on some jobs they'll pay me a ton more.'

'I noticed you have a gun now too.' Alex commented as he pointed his chopsticks in the direction of Michael's right hip where it was obvious that he now had a gun secure in a new holster.

'Yep. Kitted me out with a new Glock. Hey did you know that shipping company employees get a fifteen percent discount on their rent?'

'I didn't. Is that for real?'

'Apparently. They're getting on to my landlord he has to reduce my rent now by law because I'll be spending time off planet.'

'Jesus Christ man can you get me a job with them?' Alex laughed. Michael chuckled along with him.

Eventually the friends had finished their bowls of ramen and beers and bid their farewells to each other as Alex had to get back to work. Michael not knowing what to do decided to go home. His apartment wasn't that far from the docks, maybe a ten or fifteen minute walk but he decided to take his time and really look at the neighbourhood he was walking through. Most of the shops on the main street through the port were open; grocers, small convenience stores, tobacco shops, off-licences, tech stores and the occasional clothes shop or thrift store. Michael decided to stop by one of the grocers and buy himself some fruit as a treat, nothing spectacular just a few apples and a small bunch of bananas. He cradled the brown paper bag his fruit was in as he strolled along the main street, taking in the atmosphere of his surroundings. He soon got to the part of the port where all the clubs and bars were; Hideki's being one of the bars in question. He wondered if he should pop in now and thank the brothers for pointing him in the direction of the Osiris and his new job. He decided he would thank them after as Krieger had indeed demanded that everybody meet up there later to celebrate Michael joining the crew. The rest of the street would be open later and would come to life with music blaring out and drunken people all over the place.

Michael's apartment was in a small condo unit three floors up, just far enough up from the street where he didn't get much noise when it was busy but not high up enough to get a decent view or that much light. It was a small apartment with only one bedroom but it had a decent sized open plan kitchen, dining and living room area. His bathroom was only small too but at least he had some good storage across the apartment. He did have a small balcony he could use. Michael did try growing some vegetables in planters out on the balcony but it was way too shady so they never got enough sun to grow properly. He had however managed to grow some herbs in one of the planters which he tried to use whenever he had time to cook properly.

The young man decided to tidy up and maybe even make himself some kind of dinner before he went out to meet his new crewmates in Hideki's later. Michael retrieved his cheap little vacuum cleaner from its cupboard along with a few cleaning supplies he had in there. It didn't take him long to hoover the floors and go round with a cloth and some lavender scented furniture polish but he felt a lot better after cleaning. He even opened a few windows just to let a bit of breeze flow through.

Twiddling round with a few knobs on his slightly dated holo-console that controlled most of his apartment, Michael decided to put on Galaxy Radio Network for a bit and listen to some music as he explored what he had in his kitchen cupboards. Not very much on further inspection; he had a half a bag of dried pasta, some condiments, an empty box of cereal that he had put back in to the cupboard for some reason and a few cans, some of which were missing their labels. His fridge wasn't in a better state either containing a small half empty pint milk carton, two eggs in the side door he couldn't remember when he got, a small block of cheese that was still within date and half a onion he wrapped up in cling film as he had used the other half a few days before for something. Knowing he had some canned chopped tomatoes and some garlic puree somewhere in his cupboard, Michael grabbed the half onion and the cheese from the fridge. Gathering some pans and a blender along with a can that was missing its label which he knew was full of chopped tomatoes as the cans were always dented, he began making a simple tomato sauce to go with his pasta. He left everything to simmer as he continued his mass clean up, deciding to take some laundry down to the communal laundry room that served his floor of the condo. Hopefully this time when he went to collect his clean clothes nobody had stolen them.

A while later, Michael had eaten, showered and changed in to some decent clothes to go out in.

"Seven at Hideki's mate, everybody's gonna be there so don't be late!" Krieger had told him earlier. He glanced at his holowatch; the time read ten minutes to seven. He grabbed his leather jacket off the hook behind the front door and quickly left. He decided to take the stairs down instead of the condo lift which was janky and barely worked most of the time and flew down in almost record speed; shooting out the main doors of the condo and off in the direction of Hideki's. He double timed his walking speed and made it there with just a few minutes to spare, thinking that Krieger could have been serious about him not being late. Michael shook his head. He still hadn't entirely figured Krieger out if she was joking or not. He had to admit he was having a hard time getting a read on her.

Michael made his way through the double doors of Hideki's. Everybody inside stopped what they were doing for a moment to turn and look at Michael stood in the doorway. The distinct sounds of guns and swords clacking, snap closures and Velcro popping on holsters as some readied their hands on their pistols rang out through the brief respite in noise. Deciding he wasn't a threat, everybody went back to normal. Michael spotted Krieger and Ronson sat at a large table in the middle of the floor surrounded by other people, only recognising Justin and Tony who he had briefly met earlier. The table was already littered with pitchers of beer, pint glasses, packs of smokes and umpteen ashtrays. Michael was trying to think about out how long everyone had been there already but he figured they were all pretty heavy and quick drinkers. They may have not been there all that long.

'Aw hey Mikey!' Krieger shouted over the bar racket as she stood up from her seat and beckoned him over, casually grabbing what appeared to be a clean pint glass from the table which she then proceeded to fill from one of the still full pitchers. She sloshed the amber liquid in to the glass and thrust it in front of Michael as he made his way over.

'Guys this is our newbie, Michael Nakamura. He's joining the Osiris as our on-board chef and jack-of-all-trades.'

The people round the table all waved and nodded at him with a "Hi" or "Hey Michael" thrown in.

'You've already met Justin and Tony. Tony's our head mechanic along with Devin Talwar here.' Krieger said as she made her way round the table and placed her hands on Devin's shoulders. He was a fairly young looking Indian man, with relatively floppy black hair, slender frame and quite a soft smile as he raised his glass at Michael.

'My two girls here are Jess and Faye Chang, they're my pilots and back up Aegis operators.'

Michael looked at the two girls sat down now with Krieger stood behind them grinning away at the look on Michael's face. They were identical twins. Michael looked for any kind of difference between them hoping that something would stand out enough to know which one was which. Right now all he could tell them apart by was their hair parting; Jess had hers on the left and Faye had hers on the right. It didn't help that they were wearing the same clothes either.

'Nice to meet you Michael.' The twins creepily said in unison. He managed to smile as he replied.

'Nice you meet you two, er too.'

Krieger made her way round to the last person sat at the table who was engrossed in his holowatch. She smacked him round the back of the head to get his attention, gaining a slight "ow" from him.

'And this ignorant prick here is Barr...'

'Zach Steele! My name is Zach Steele mate nice to meet you.'

The man jumped up out of his chair and barged his way over to Michael with his hand outstretched ready to shake. Michael gave his hand a firm shake.

'Yeah sure, likewise.'

Michael noticed that Zach was glaring at Krieger as he went back to his chair and she was casually rolling her eyes at him; with his slicked back hair and his shiny teeth and overall air of arrogance.

'Whatever, anyway. C'mon everyone up.' Krieger beckoned as she shook her free hand around and tried not to slosh the beer around in her other hand. Everybody casually stood up with their glasses at the ready. 'A toast to Michael, our new crew mate. Welcome to the family mate.'

'TO MICHAEL!'

Whatever was left in everybody's glasses was instantly downed and as if by magic, Sho had already wandered over with a tray with another four full beer pitchers perched on it. It didn't last long; the pitchers were quickly taken back and refilled, several times that night.

Somewhere in amongst all the drinking Michael had managed to speak to his new crew mates. The twins were pretty interesting. They moved out to the new galaxy with their parents. Their father was the head and owner of C and C Real Estate along with his wife, the twins mother. They already had a decent amount of wealth back on earth but decided to make a go of it in the new galaxy. Sure enough the company had a massive financial boom making them one of the prime real estate companies going which the twins were expected to take over once established in the new galaxy. The twins however weren't keen on the idea of being expected to run the company on their own without their parents whilst also being coerced in to getting married and starting families as well. Jess and Faye decided to take their lives in to their own hands and not do what was expected of them. They made their own careers by training to be commercial pilots for freight ships and made their own way up the ladder, a choice that wasn't well received by Mother and Father Chang but they supported them nevertheless after some festering over the matter.

Devin was another from a well-to-do family back in India. He had followed in his father's footsteps and became a mechanical engineer eventually joining the family business but it wasn't what he wanted. Devin never had his hand in actually making, building or repairing anything he designed which was always what he wanted to do. On earth after his day job he would go to his friends' garage and help out turning cars or repairing motorbikes. He wanted to get hands on with machinery old and new and see how everything worked in real life. The chance of a lifetime came up when humans were being shipped out to the new galaxy, a chance that he jumped at even though he would be leaving his family behind. They gave him their blessing knowing that they couldn't keep him at home under their watchful eyes forever. He worked well with Tony Giordano, an actual trained vehicle mechanic and agricultural engineer of the past twenty years. Tony's story was pretty simple. He fancied a change for himself and his wife and daughter so they shipped out. He mentioned to Michael that before they were struggling to make ends meet but out in the new galaxy they were actually better off; his daughter Antonia was doing better in her new school and his wife Maria actually had some time to herself even whilst working. Being better off away from Earth for some poorer families didn't happen for a lot of them but it worked out in some cases.

Michael however barely spoke to the guy named Zach who was busy attempting to chat up any woman who approached the bar. He's been given a huge eye-roll from said women who would order their drinks and quickly head back to their table. Michael knew there was more to this guy besides his apparent ego especially from the way he shot over to him when Krieger was introducing them, perhaps he would get the low down on this guy at some point.

Everybody else had carried on drinking and smoking late in to the evening. Tony had bowed out pretty early, eager to get home to his wife and daughter. More beer appeared. More of the crew left. More beer was brought over. Michael had trouble focusing on the time on his holowatch. Eventually only he, Krieger, Ronson and Justin were left at the table after what seemed to be the sixteenth pitcher of beer. Zach was nowhere in sight. Krieger shrugged her shoulders when she was asked where he had run off to. "Probably chasing some woman." She replied, before suggesting they all leave.

The remaining crew had said their goodbyes to Hideki and Sho after being somewhat courteous by taking all their empties back to the bar. Then began the drunken walk home. Justin branched off from the group wishing everyone a goodnight. Eventually after walking past many other drunks out on the street and prostitutes trying to beckon them inside the bordellos they neared Michael's condo.

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'You coming to Bab's place with us? We're gonna get a nightcap or four.' Ronson asked the young man as Krieger stood outside a fast food shop chatting to some dodgy looking guy covered in tattoos who was letting her take chips out of the wrapper he had in his hand.

'Nah I'm gonna call it a night. Technically I start my new job in the morning don't wanna be too rough.'

Ronson chuckled. 'Well get used to the hard drinking and partying my friend it's gonna happen often. Stresses of the job an' all.' He continued to grin. 'Ten thirty a.m. yeah?'

'See you then.' Michael nodded. He waved slightly at Krieger when she looked over in their direction. She raised her hand back at him knowing he was leaving them to go home.

Michael made his way up to his apartment, trying to keep his balance in the elevator on the way up. He thought he wasn't that drunk but the walk in the balmy night air must have spurred it on. He clumsily banged and clambered around his kitchen in a booze induced stupor as he grasped a clean pint glass on the sink drainer board and filled it to the brim with water. He downed the clear liquid then swiftly filled it again, downing the second glass as quick as the first. A quick rummage around in one of the kitchen drawers produced a half empty pack of painkillers. Knowing if he didn't drink plenty of water and take some analgesics before he went to bed he would most likely wake up late with a hangover the size of Jupiter. He popped a few pills out of the pack and gulped them down with a third glass of water. Bed. He thought. Now. He didn't even bother with any bathroom business and headed straight to him room, shoving his pint glass down on his bedside table then climbing on to his bed not even bothering to get under the covers.

No sooner had Michael glanced at his holowatch seeing what time he was going to sleep had the alarm started going off informing him it was nine in the morning and he had to get his arse out of bed and get ready. He coughed as he tried to get the rank taste of excessive drinking out of his mouth. It always bothered him how after a night of drinking, his mouth could be so dry but also feel slimy at the same time. He coughed again as he up righted himself and downed the water that he had left on the bedside table. Surprised he didn't feel as rough as he thought he would; Michael set about getting ready. Turning on the Galaxy Radio Network for some music whilst he got ready was first on his list followed by a quick shower, a bit of breakfast and packing a small case to take on board the Osiris for their job they had been offered this week. All washed down with several bottles of Powerade.

It was a nice morning on New Edo. The sun was out and everybody was going about their daily business as per usual. And as per usual most of the locals were nursing hangovers, the sheer amount of people sat outside cafes having late breakfasts and enough coffee to drown in whilst groaning and rubbing their tired dark eyes showed last night must have been a good night. The dock was fairly busy as many of the ships were departing, returning or were being loaded or unloaded. Michael briskly walked down the dock and over to the bay where the Osiris was stationed. Tony and Ronson were stood near the cargo bay holding holo-boards.

'Morning guys.' Michael greeted his crewmates as he casually strolled over. Tony looked fine but Ronson looked tired and had severe bags under his eyes.

'Morning Mikey.' The pair answered; Ronson in a more monotonous tone as he glared slightly at the young man.

'Dude you drank loads last night and you look as fresh as a fucking daisy.' Ronson grumbled.

'Three pints of water and a handful of painkillers before sleep. Works a charm.'

'I should do that every time I got out drinking, especially with Cas she drinks like she wants to kill herself.'

'Yeah I did notice you lot can put it away. You went to Bab's bar after didn't you?'

'Yeah it's on our way home, normally we call in just to see how everyone is but they all love Cas in there so they ply us with free drinks.'

Bab's Bar. New Edo's premiere drag establishment where the whole staff consists of Drag Queens. Surprisingly busy and popular considering New Edo was a tough planet with people you'd expect to be pretty fearful and horrible toward the LGBT community. The proprietor known only as Babs; real name Brian Hodgeson was a larger than life queen who ran a tight but fun ship.

'Yeah some rowdy posh twats from off planet came to New Edo for a messy stag-do a few years back and ended up in Bab's place. One made Krieger spill her drink down her favourite dress then they all started slagging the staff off giving it all "ew fucking homos, dirty AIDS freaks" then Cas lost her shit. They came in for a fight and she gave them one, absolutely rinsed them all and booted them out. She's been the bars fave ever since. Plus she gets them good deals on cheap booze.'

'Fair enough' Michael shrugged. 'I like the place it's fun there.'

'Yeah well it's about the only place round here where I can find some fun if you know what I mean.' Ronson raised his eyebrows.

'Still not found a boyfriend then?' Tony piped up as he scanned his holo-board.

'Alas I am still manless.' Ronson sighed. 'Doesn't stop me from trying though.'

'Speaking of manless. Look who's finally here.' Tony pointed over to the road beside the dock. A beaten up looking taxi screeched to a halt and the back door swung open. Krieger fell out backside first on to her back with her legs in the air, whilst holding a take-out coffee cup in one hand and a half smoked cigarette in the other. She rolled about a bit on the pavement and slowly got herself upright; nudging the door shut as she wobbled down the pier trying to clutch a black fleece blanket round herself, covering her head and whatever monstrosities were going on under there. A pair of oversized sunglasses hid the multitude of sins that were obviously going on around her face.

'The nanomachines aren't helping the hangover.' Ronson stated to the others as Krieger shuffled over, mumbling as she wandered up the cargo ramp in to the ship. He shook his head before he started talking again. 'Got your first task this morning Mikey. Here there's some creds on this card here, as the ships cook you're responsible for making sure we're stocked up with food and stuff so head down to the market. We need enough food for about two days for this trip but we should be back Monday at the latest.'

'Sure thing. Anything I don't need to get?'

'Get in touch with Zeke over the neualmod. He can tell you dietary requirements of everyone and give you an idea of how much to get and what we don't need. You've used neuralmod communication before have you?' Ronson asked.

'Briefly when I was still in the EMA. Took some getting used to but I dunno it's kinda like riding a bike.'

'Brilliant. Here take one of the grav lifts with you, you can ride it to the market at least it's quicker than walking.' Ronson pointed to a flatbed grav-lift just near the cargo door. They were pretty easy to use, kind of like a cross between a forklift and a pallet truck that could carry up to a tonne in weight like this one particular model. You could also ride them around, the gravity unit lifting it up about twenty inches off the ground so it was really just a large propelled hoverboard. They were essential when carrying loads of heavy boxes and crates. Ronson took Michael's small case off him and offered to take it to his quarters.

Michael set about his task, grabbing the grav lift and jumping on it. The controls were pretty simple, just a basic joystick that you could use to manoeuvre it around or lower it or raise it higher. It took him a few swing rounds to get up to street level from the dock but he was soon on his way to the market. On the way he gave his neural mod communicator a go and called Zeke.

'Good Morning Michael. I assume you had a good night last night with the others?' Zeke's smooth voice sounded out in his head. It was kind of odd hearing a voice directly in your head that no-one else could hear but it just took a bit of getting used to, especially when he hadn't used this feature in quite a while. Most of the time you could call someone through your holowatch like a regular phone call. At least with the neural mod coms you had the option of replying just by talking out loud or if you were proficient you could just talk in your head and it would work just the same. Michael decided to talk out loud.

'Yeah it was good thanks. Not feeling too bad today.'

'Excellent. How can I help you today?'

'Can you tell me about the food situation on board? Like what everyone can and can't eat, how much we'd maybe need that sort of thing?' Michael asked the A.I.

'Cas and Chris have a strict no seafood on board policy. It has a tendency to smell whether it's cooked or not and when you're on an airtight ship in space it's hard to escape.'

'Noted. Anything else?'

'Justin has a pretty strict diet due to his gym training so he has a high protein diet, plenty fruits and vegetables very little carbohydrates but he does have one cheat day every week. The others will eat anything. Literally anything. The crew are also allergy free.'

Michael continued to chat to Zeke as he made his way round the local shops. His first stop was at a fairly large supermarket to buy some tinned and dried goods then on to the nearby butchers and greengrocers for meat, fruit and vegetables. Zeke advised him on what to buy for appropriate portion sizes and so there would be leftovers. He was glad he brought the grav lift; knowing that the pantry on board the Osiris was sparse he decided to at least buy some stuff to fill it that would keep for a while with no worry. He loaded the grav lift with heavy bags of potatoes, carrots, apples and various other fruit and veg. He had all the meat he bought and other things that needed chilling in a cool box and loaded up crates of soft drinks, alcohol and cartons of milk neatly on the lift. Whilst Michael had filled most of the lift, he left enough room on it for him to stand near the controls so he could ride back to the Osiris without walking alongside it. He steadily made his way through the port, waving at the occasional person who recognised him from the diner who must have known he had left the place. It was easy enough to get everything on board the ship. He took his time in putting away everything properly so he knew where it all was when he needed it.

'Everyone,' Zeke's voice sounded out over the ships intercom. 'You are all requested to come to the recreation room for your briefing.'

Michael quickly finished up and made his way up to the upper level. The rest of crew began filing in and stood around the snooker table where Krieger was sat down at the top, still wrapped in her blanket with her sunglasses still on, a smoke in her hand and a fresh mug of coffee in front of her. Ronson pressed a few buttons on his holowatch which brought up screens hovering above the table.

'Okay guys so this drunken buffoon managed to get us a job over the weekend on Pacifica. Typical security detail for a swanky party held by Byron Conner for his daughters twenty first birthday at the hotel he owns, The Grosvenor.'

'He's the guy whos had several attacks on his properties and a few assassination attempts am I right?' Jess spoke up. 'It's been on the news the last few weeks.'

'Correct.' Ronson replied. 'Turns out he just recently fired most of his security staff bar a select few bodyguards who mind him, his wife and his daughter and he kept a few other staff. Conner's business is being attacked by the Outer World Liberation Front they've said they've done all the bombings and such because Conner's company has been mining the shit out of several planets, wrecking their eco systems, using people practically as slaves, endangering the local flora and fauna yadda yadda. The OWLF managed to infiltrate his staff in order to take him down from the inside and now he's paranoid as fuck.'

'I spoke to Conner yesterday. He's paying us a small fortune just to be undercover security for his spoilt daughters party.' Krieger finally spoke sounding a little raspy and delicate. 'He got us in because as a merc group we'll do it just for the money and not because we're aligned with anyone, even though he is a massive cunt.' She finished, slurping her coffee. 'The party had to go ahead regardless; in the meantime he's trying to put his security team back together without any OWLF sleepers. He wanted it to look like he's still under control, hence our hefty pay check but he's worried something might happen at this party.'

'So he just sacked everyone on his security payroll even if they were OWLF sleepers or not?' Tony asked Krieger.

'Yep. Like I said, massive cunt.'

Michael looked at the holoscreen, all the information about the job was there; all the particulars about the Grosvenor hotel, the names of all the guests who would be there and in their hundreds. He did recognise a few of the names on the list.

'He's got some pretty important people attending this party.' Michael stated. 'Trade advisors, members of parliament, big business owners.'

'Yeah how good would it look if the OWLF suicide bombed the place and took out a few of those guys along with actual civilians?' Krieger smirked. 'Anyway, everything will be ready for us when we get there so if anyone needs a suit or dress or whatever we can get it on account. We're getting paid to mingle, drink, eat a fuck tonne of fancy buffet food and maybe prevent a possible shoot out but knowing our luck it will happen.' Krieger said as she finally stood up, finishing her mug of coffee. 'Get ready to leave guys, Faye got us a departure slot for half an hour from now but we'll start making tracks in around twenty minutes to fuel up.'

'It should take us around six hours flight time through the Nova 3 gate then the Nova 5 gate, landing around twenty two hundred hours Pacifica time.' Faye added. She had done the navigation plan for this trip and Jess was going to pilot the Osiris whilst Krieger shrugged off her hangover.

'You heard the lady guys, half an hour. Get everything locked down and do final pre-flight checks then we move out.' Ronson finished the briefing. Everybody dispersed to tend to their matters while Ronson pulled Michael aside. 'Your area is obviously the galley and dining room. You just have to make sure everything is locked down and secure for take-off and landing okay?'

'No problem. I put everything away earlier so I'll go double check everything is good.'

'Brill. Come up to the bridge when you're done then we'll be on our way.'

It didn't take Michael long to check everything in the galley. Most of the fittings were built in but there was a spare chest freezer in the pantry that required grav-mags in order for it to stay bolted to the floor. The cupboards and doors were all locked and secure as were the pantry cabinets. Everything was good to go.

'Zeke is everything good in here bud?' Michael said out loud.

'Everything is well Michael. Please proceed to the bridge when you're ready. We leave shortly.'

Michael casually made his way to the bridge. Tony and Devin weren't there yet but the others were. Faye and Jess were way up at the front, busy pressing buttons and fiddling with switches. Justin was making a call to his wife before they departed and Krieger and Ronson were busy messing around with their consoles. There was a spare seat and console on the lower deck of the bridge where Michael decided to sit, with what appeared to be Tony and Devin's consoles slightly behind. Everybody had little figures, picture frames and trinkets adorning their console desks, Michael thought that maybe he should get a few things he liked for his console.

'Cas we have an incoming call fro... oh you answered it already.' Zeke's voice sounded out of the speakers. Krieger had already slammed a finger down on the green answer button on her console before Zeke even had a chance to finish his sentence.

'Frank why the fuck are you on my vid-link?!' Krieger screamed at the holoscreen that popped up on her console emblazoned with Frank Da Costa's grinning visage.

'Oh hi there Cas. Just thought I'd call and wish you a good flight, especially as I heard you had a big night out last night, y'know might be feeling a bit precious today.'

'Again Frank, why the fuck are you on my vid-link?' Krieger was now rubbing the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

'Like I said, just wanted to check in and wish you a good flight. We're heading out before you so I...'

Krieger hammered on the end call button and cut Frank short. Of course he heard she was rough as tits today and of course he knew they were heading out on a job so of course Frank was calling just to wind her up. Not a day went by when Da Costa wasn't somehow getting up in her grill for some reason. Ronson was laughing his head off.

'He fancies the shit out of you Cas it's so fucking obvious.' Ronson cackled. Krieger just shook her head and sighed deeply.

'I don't care, the man's a total arse. Womanizing egotistical prick.'

'Sorry it took us so long guys we had so switch out some grav-mags in the cargo hold.' Devin announced as he and Tony walked through the bridge to take their seats.

'It's okay, we got a few minutes before we head to fuelling it looks like the Vittoria is taking its time filling up.' Jess replied, she spun back round in her seat to face her console.

Krieger rolled her eyes so far back in her head that if it was possible, she could have seen her brain. She just wanted to take off already so she could go to sleep for a bit.

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