The scent of roses permeated the recycled air of the residential quarters of Dau K-10 and not the cheap synthetic version from the chemical foundries of Nyrius. This was the real smell of fresh Eo high quality prime cut roses. The scent emanated from the thousands of flowers that were placed outside of one small apartment with the nametag "M. Lockhill". A single person was standing in the middle of the roses easily recognised by the bushy eyebrows, huge moustache, hulking body and immaculate dark green uniform; Waldoze. He nodded to Buzz who were sitting out of sight from the door and pressed the door button. At the same time Buzz hit the enter button on his portable discotheque and played the tune he had found with the help of Hortan's massive collection of old Earth music. Old crackling music with a male singer that almost drowned in static noise but still audible.
"I have and ear for music, And I have an eye for a maid..”
The tune went on and Waldoze gave the thumbs up to Buzz before concentrating on the door in front of him. Nothing happened, the tune went on through the first part and was almost through the chorus when a door further down opened and a young girl peered out. Waldoze had seen her before on the commercial plaza standing next to Melody. He flinched but managed to nod to her and she smiled cautiously back. She turned and waved to someone inside. The chorus ended and the second verse started making Waldoze extremely nervous.
"A pretty girl is like a melody, That haunts you day and night..."
This had to work now or fail miserably. The door opened to the last half of the verse:
"You can't escape she's in your memory, By morning night and noon..."
Melody peered out; her make-up slightly messed up but dressed in a pretty white summer dress. She looked at Waldoze with loads of resentment but that faded a bit when he struck to his knees at the end of the song, singing along in his very deep voice.
"She will leave you and then come back again, A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune."
The hardness in her eyes faded slowly and when she peered down the corridor to her by now two friends that looked out of their door with giant smiles on their faces, it almost disappeared. When they noticed her looking they made shooing motions with their hands and nodded eagerly. She looked back at Waldoze who were looking up at her.
"Melody, gorgeous, I am miserable without you. I know I was a fool, but can't you just forgive me?"
She was almost swayed and this is where Waldoze pulled the coup de grace. From his belt pouch he pulled a small black box up and presented it to her, opening it slowly. Inside was a gold necklace with a single diamond shaped like a rose. She smiled and threw herself around his neck.
"Oh Honeybunny I have missed you too."
The two girlfriends looked at each other and hugged too. Melody grabbed Waldoze by the hand and tore him inside; that was the last they saw of him that day.
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After helping his friend get the many crates of Roses, Fluffy steered his Moth towards the wormhole at Azek. He had a mission to deliver fifty crates of medical supplies to Remley Orbital that he would do free of charge for the guild. The medical supplies were essential and needed to be delivered within a very strict time limit. He decided to chance it and jumped across Azek directly to the wormhole nexus to Latos. He breathed out slowly, that had been a chance, but he cut about a minute off his time. He entered the wormhole to Latos and was hailed immediately.
Mephostopholes: Pay me 50.000 credits to pass this wormhole or eat hard vacuum. Thank you, Come again.
Fluffy ignored the hail and boosted at full power towards the 3k mark while keeping an eye on the radar. Mephostopholes kept on closing and Fluffy decided that he wouldn't make it on a straight run. He turned the overdrive off and flipped his ship around so it faced the incoming Corvus Vulturius that was boosting as fast as it could towards him. When the smaller ship was about 400 metres away it fired the neutron guns that were mounted one on each wing. The neutrons tore a pattern of destruction across the moth's front but drained the powercell on the Vulture. The shooting diminished to single shots, and that was the time Fluffy triggered the twin CHAOS swarm of homing missiles towards the light fighter and cringed when he saw the sixteen explosions envelop the ship. Knowing that it would not kill or even deter the pirate, Fluffy triggered another flight and then another watching the complete inferno that covered the ship in flames and debris before turning the Vulture into a hulk. Without flipping back Fluffy hit the 3k mark and pushed the jump button, leaving the pirate to the rescue services. The exit point was supposed to be just outside Remley Orbital but the Ion storm that was covering the roid field halfway there, wrestled his ship out of the express route and directly into the soup of ions that also had the unfortunate side effect that his systems only reached 500 metres. He checked his ammunition level and cursed, only two flights of sixteen missiles. Fluffy wished for an empty sector and punched the ID list up. No such luck, Orne guardians, TyCorps Assaults and one surprise, Azumi. He turned his ship towards the safe exit point and boosted for it. Two bleeps appeared on his screen, a set of assault bots. He turned and fired a ripple of missiles into the first one, exploding it. The second bot stayed outside of effective missile range and was soon joined by a new assault bot. Knowing that he could not kill two bots with one ripple of missiles and that he would not be able to outrun them, he decided that his cargo was more important than his pride. He opened a link to the piratess.
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Note: The song is stolen from: A Pretty Girl Is like a Melody by Irving Berlin
