Hortan docked the battered Atlas he had purchased in Latos. The CLM markings had been painted over with some yellow spray paint, but the crew had still been wary about whoever jumped out. When the young man exited they sighed a breath of relief. He walked down to Moda's shop; he needed to tell him that the EAPRS had malfunctioned. The doors with the skunk in black and white were slightly ajar and fast paced music with lots of distortion, drums and a female vocalist who growled her way through the tune, poured out of the room like an intoxicating and welcoming balm for the ears. Okay, it was bloody loud speed metal, and Hortan liked it lots. Inside Moda was standing in front of a full size mirror playing air guitar and shaking his head up and down in tune with the drums. Hortan grinned and started nodding his own head in tune with the music until it stopped. Moda turned and grinned in response.
"Good ole Arch Enemy. Can't beat em. How did you like your new mod?"
"I am not sure if I have tried it. But I came to tell you that the EAPRS failed on me."
Moda had walked over to get a set of Dark Ladies and turned with one in each hand. He handed one to Hortan and sat in a chair motioning Hortan to do the same.
"Don't tell me you needed it."
"Well, I did. Ran into some of the KAOS dudes in Sedina and one of them blew my Ole Sloth Moth XXIV to high hell. I am now officially flying number XXV. But as I said, the EAPRS failed."
"Nope, it didn't. It was taken out prior to launch."
Moda drank deep of the bottle while Hortan looked to the floor and then up at Moda confused.
"But the EAPRS button was showing a clear green."
"Well, it was used for something else. Listen mate, you remember we talked about reworking your zero-g still?"
Hortan nodded and sipped from the bottle.
"Well, Zath and I succeeded, and decided to mount it on your ship. Unfortunately the inter-engine zero-G still went where the EAPRS was located, and so we had to remove it. I wrote you a note explaining all this, didn't you read it?"
Hortan blushed; well he had seen it but disregarded it in his hurry to launch. He shook his head.
"No, I didn't. Inexcusable I know."
"Pah, don't hate yourself, plenty of others to do that. We needed to test it and figured that you always go mining in Helios under guard, so you didn't need the EAPRS. Never mind, the still starts working when you turn the engines on and drips around three litres per hour. Naturally it is only a demonstration model, the real one will make ten times as much. And you can have an EAPRS as well since it will be integrated in the engines."
Hortan nodded slowly.
"Well, I probably won't need the EAPRS anyway. That was my last time to Sedina for a long long time."
Moda sensed the sadness in his voice, but felt that it wasn't the right time or place to fret him for it. They drank in silence until they were finished.
"Well Hort, make sure you tell me how it runs, okay? And I'll keep you informed when we have the full still online with the EAPRS. You take care now buddy."
Hortan nodded and left, leaving the door ajar once more letting the dark heavy music be a warning that Moda was working inside.
###
The holo screen was full with a picture of the rotating image outside Dau Senate, with a newsman in front of the picture about as natural looking as a thousand pound turd on a dinner table. His perfect face, teeth and skin colour was enhanced by the latest in fashion clothes from Verasi and his voice was modulated to give the viewer the impression that this was a trustworthy person. Naturally it didn't work on some people, like Surbius for instance. Still he watched for this special occasion.
"You are watching Daily Senate News on Channel five with Dork Rufus. Today's headlines are:
Senator Remor pleas not guilty to charges of embezzlement and corruption.
The continuing attacks of SYN and CLM inside UIT space forces merchants to invent new tactics.
And finally, this year's Ms Dau has been found."
"The UIT Senate was earlier today contacted by the UIT internal tax department with a request to cancel the inherent immunity of Senator Remor, and after showing the evidence were granted permission to prosecute a case of embezzlement of funds set aside for refugees, and corruption. Rumours have it that the Senator was involved in worse crimes. Senator Remor has as of three hours ago and immediately after loosing his immunity, resigned his position as UIT Senator and left for Odia where he has been offered a high position in Corvus. He continues to claim that he was innocent and that he was framed, but refuses to release video from the security cameras inside of his apartment or any other evidence that supports his claim. If found guilty, the Senator faces up to 40 years of prison and exile after the sentence is served."
"The attacks from the pirate guild CLM and the terrorists from SYN has scared so many traders that many traders now choose not to fly alone. A trader we spoke to earlier today say that the only way to get valuable cargo across UIT space is to travel in large convoys with all the extra costs this entails. The Vipers have proven to be too few to contain the pirates and terrorists in grey space. This reporter wonders when UIT is going to deal with this menace once and for all."
"And on a more cheerful note, Ms Dau was crowned today in Dau Senate. But first, a note from our sponsors."
A group of indecently clad young women and men on a beach were having fun with a case of Nyrius Dew placed in the middle of them.
Surbius switched the holo off. He had seen what he wanted. The other charges that would be brought against the Senator were enough to put him behind bars forever, but the chances of getting him convicted were not big. And TGFT along with PA would have to give up some of their agent's covers. Not worth it really. The case that the UIT tax department was running was however a dead given. The amounts he had swindled over the years were tremendous and he had even kept a log on his system of every transaction. Which was what NP had supplied him and the tax department with. Vengeance is a dish best served cold.
