The liberated Helio Mists balmed Gavan's parched throat and he relaxed a smidgeon more than before.
"This is some good stuff you have here yoda."
The little man grunted in agreement. He never drank himself, the cybernetic implants had removed his sense of small and taste. Well, to put it correctly it had changed the way that smell and taste was used. Technically yoda could taste the difference between more than 200 different explosives and smell the fear hormones in his prey.
Gavan had dressed in a clean flight suit, had a shave and was looking his old self. Maybe a bit leaner, a bit more haggard looking; a bit more dangerous. The dog was lying at his masters feet, the ears moving and pointing towards the different sounds in yoda's room, its eyes fixed on the aquarium that yoda was attending to. Or maybe the dog could smell the large piece of prime beef that yoda fed to the Piranha in the tank. The slab of real meat was quickly gobbled up and yoda turned around and faced Gavan.
"So a complete embargo of UIT, slash their pilot inside their own protected territory and neuter the worthless rent-a-cops. Push the free traders out of grey and UIT?"
"Yep, that's the idea."
"Do you have any idea how much disruption you would cause in UIT space, how many people would be affected, how much Grey would suffer? And that is not even mentioning the trade to Serco and Itani space, which would shut down as well. I mean, we would piss everyone off seriously."
Gavan took another swallow and nodded.
"Sure, what the hell. It's not like we have anything else to do. Besides, your granny would be bursting with pride."
Gavan put the glass down.
"That is not what this is about yoda. This is about getting to those that exploit the little man, the ones that thrive off the misery of everyday hardship. The ones that carelessly would kill of a planetary population and demolish the planet for nothing more than filling their own pockets."
"Bravo, I like it. I should have taped it for posterity. A bit of that dude Che something in it."
Gavan half rose in anger, he would not be mocked like that. The dog sensing the sudden hostility as well lifted its head and stared at yoda.
"Don't get your panties in a knot there. You know that doesn't work on me. I was plying the trade lanes pirating when your granny herself, bless her sweet memory, was in diapers. So you just stay in that seat and calm yourself down. Jeez, what the hell is wrong with you kids today?"
Yoda stared at Gavan until he sat down again, his expression full of impotent rage and ignominy.
"Damn yoda, they tried to kill my girl to get to me!"
"Is she safe?" Gav nodded. "Do you know who did it?"
"No, but I am looking into it. I know who is responsible though, and that is who I am trying to hit back now."
"Right, okay. I expect we'll rise a decent profit from this anyway so I can't see why not. But we do it for as long as CLM pleases, and for our own sake. Any time we feel that it is no longer in our interest, we pull out. That is the deal."
Gavan rose and walked over to yoda extending his hand.
"Deal. I knew I could count on you."
"Right."
###
The strike plan was a simple one and as such it had probably the best chances of succeeding. The assembled KAOS force entered Latos O-12 inbound for Sedina, four heavy fighters, three light fighters and two pursuit ships. Ahriman himself was flying in the front, his blue and yellow EC-107 leading the lights. It would be an in-snatch-and-out mission, their specialty. The guild was actually busy, it had already been asked to undertake another mission. They had one agent that was deep undercover in Divinia on a most secret mission for their former employer, but him aside they were all ready. Well, once this business had been taken care of.
###
NP leant back and folded his hands behind his head. This was it, the last barrier before the unknown assailant. He had crossed so many boundaries, broken so many laws and regulations, misused so many accounts that there was no way he could stop now. Something held him back, a sense of.....loneliness was probably the right feeling. Who would he share his triumph with? Who could he tell of all these different things he had done to get to the man that was responsible for all this? He needed to share this with someone he trusted completely. He punched a number, not really expecting an answer. A drowsy voice on the other side answered.
###
John was sitting in his room, feet on his table, slowly swirling a White Russian in his glass, looking at old holos. Mostly pictures from when Waldoze still lived in the double bachelor's room, one or two of pretty girls and some that he really should have had removed a long time ago. Low blues music was playing, fitting with the mood. A low rasp was at the door, picking up to a real knock when John didn't answer right away. He got up, looked down at himself and decided that only wearing a pair of almost closed jeans was good enough and opened. Fortunately it wasn't girl scouts on the other side or he would have been fined immensely, not to mention haunted forever. Instead a large man with bushy eyebrows, deep set eyes and a large moustache that would look good on a walrus filled the corridor.
"What up Dozer?"
"Need a place."
"You got the bad bed."
"Okay, got beer?"
"Yeah, and pizza from yesterday in the fridge."
Dozer walked in and tossed his clothes on the floor among John's, grabbed a beer from the fridge along with a piece of cold pizza, crashed on the sofa and took one of the game controllers for the screen. John crashed next to him and took the other controller. And that is how Dozer moved in with John again after being dumped badly by Melody. Somewhere a trio of girls were crying and discussing what a pig he was, but Dozer was actually rather pleased to be with his buddy again.
