Episode 619: Maskirovka, Part Two
Part 1, 3, 4, Special Features
War. Shady recruitment practices. Conspiracy theories both real and imagined. Joshua can see that rabbit hole yawning under his fiancée's feet. He throws her a distraction.
Joshua: We've got a wedding to plan.
Omar: (perking up) What's that? A wedding? Whose?
Rina silently points to herself and then to Joshua, and Omar's expression goes … speculative.
Omar: Ahh. Well, well.
Rina: There's always room at the table.
Omar: It's not good to date where you work.
Rina: (wry) We've gone past dating.
Arden: Aughh. I think I'm going back to the ship now.
Kiera: It's been nice but it's time to go.
A spate of ribbing ensues.
Nika: And if she doesn't, she ain't ever datin'.
Omar: Well from what I've heard it's not—
Nika: It's not the worst that could ever happen to her.
Rina: Can you come?
Omar: Where is this?
Joshua: Angel. Lucifer's Landing. Did we ever set the date?
Rina: We … well, you seemed to have a better date in mind than I did.
The crew and Omar blink. Geez. Inviting people when you don't have the date yet? That's just ass-backwards.
Rina: Well, it's still in the planning stage.
Omar: If you can give me a few weeks, I can try. It'll take a bit to get to Kalidasa.
Rina: I'd love to have you.
Omar: We may need to leave here anyway. It's been hot. It depends on what the timing is.
Joshua: Yay. Wedding refuge.
More ribbing. When it dies down, Rina thanks Omar and we all leave. On the walk back, we discuss our cargo prospects. Joshua asks Kiera if she might know anybody who could help us.
Kiera: That depends on the quality of the person you would like me to dig up.
Joshua: Anybody that can get us to Sihnon.
When we get back to the ship, Kiera starts digging. A check of her contacts reveals that they are laying low. It's not really a good time to be seen doing anything suspicious, they tell her. There's a lot of eyes. Is there anything, she asks? Anything at all, work? Something that will stay in-system? No. Sorry. And so on an so forth. That's what she's getting from the middle-ground contacts. Her bottom-level contacts couldn't help her in the first place. Some of her contacts don't even bother to reply. Something's going on that's got the mid-level underworld hunkering down. It's unlikely Kiera will be able to scare something up for us.
Nika: Beggars can't be choosers.
Joshua: And in this case, we have a destination in mind.
It's not like we can just jump into Lagniappe and fly to Sihnon. It's four days away on pulse and our shuttle can't go that far—she's a short-range vessel. And even if she could, she'd have to run the blockade around Sihnon. Lagniappe is agile and fast, but unlike Equinox, she's unarmored. Should she run into the ordnance the Alliance Navy can throw at us, she's toast … and so are we. If we went there in Equinox, we'd be bigger and easier to spot on the scopes, but we've got armored plating and better still, we've got Nika Earhart as our pilot. Blockade running is what she excelled at during the war.
Still, there must be other alternatives.
What about booking passage on a flagged ship to Sihnon? Surely they are letting flagged vessels with legitimate ticket holders through to land. This idea doesn't really fly with the crew either. Where would we keep Equinox in the meantime? How much would it cost to park our vessel in storage while we fly off? What if we need to leave Sihnon and there isn't another scheduled flight out? Too accustomed to having access to our own transportation, we are very reluctant to let someone else do the driving. The paying option is shelved almost the same minute it's brought up.
Rina: How likely are we to book passage on a ship that's not our own? Hmm. Lemme think … Like … never.
Nika: Are you using sarcasm on me? Really?
Rina: I'm trying out a few new things, yeah.
Nika: I know you developed tits. I don’t know when that happened.
Joshua: Whoaaaah!
Rina glances down at her shirt. It's snugger than her usual baggy coveralls but it's nothing tight. So? As at Omar's, there's a round of good-natured teasing. Joshua sobers and asks:
Joshua: This is asking for trouble, but how insistent are you about meeting your parents? Telling your parents that you're alive and introducing them?
Nika: Hey, I thought you were the one who insisted on that.
Joshua: I was. And I told her to do it. But on the other hand—
Kiera: You are such a girl.
More laughter, only this time directed at Joshua.
Joshua: Welcome to Joshua. It's taken you that long to figure this out? Wow.
Kiera: I already knew that. It's like, "I want you and I'm strong! … (flutters lashes) … Unless you want me not to be."
Joshua: (laughing) Welcome to Joshua, for pete's sake.
Kiera: I'm finding a Blue Sun cola. Even if it stares at me the whole time.
Kiera rises and flounces off for the galley. Joshua turns to Rina as the rest of the crew hoots in amusement.
Joshua: If you want to go, she's either going to have to run the blockade. Or we're gonna have to book passage.
Rina: I grokked that, already.
Nika: Is there anybody else we know that we can call?
You mean besides Badger? Omar, we've already seen. Kiera's contacts won't stick their necks out. The only other people on Persephone we know are the Party Gras passengers from earlier last year and quite frankly, we can't expect them to bend the rules for us twice. And since they're Marshals, they're law-enforcement, adding another layer of Don't Go There.
Do we know anyone on Sihnon? It takes a minute but we realize that, amazingly enough, we don't, because we've never been there. Not when we had Summer's Gift, nor with Equinox. Rina points out that we've been to Londinium—twice!—and we were even actually able to get close enough to the Prime Minister to inadvertently assassinate him … but we've never been to Sihnon.
We pull out the charts and stare at the Verse. The planets and their positions refuse to change. Persephone is over here and Sihnon is over there. Four days away. We spend a moment on the fantasy of running a blockade over Sihnon in our shuttle once we fly there, but we know that as crazy and likely full of thrilling heroics it might be, it doesn't hold odds Nika's willing to risk.
We reexamine booking passage but booking passage on a commercial passenger ship without ID is problematic. Joshua and Rina could probably forge papers for everyone, but that requires equipment we don't have.
Is there a way to get an invitation from Rina's parents to come visit? Is a plain invitation sufficient to get us on the ground? Not exactly. You'd need political pull and while Rina's parents are full members of the Artists Guild, the political pull they possess is small, confined to the relatively restricted spheres of their profession. So, no, no pull in the way we need.
Rina: I could send a short wave.
Nika: You think that sending a wave won't send your parents into a total frantic tizzy of some kind? The first thing I would do if you waved me and told me you were alive after that many years would be to call the Feds and say Omigod, omigod, I'm getting ready to be blackmailed.
Rina: (quietly) I've thought of that already.
Arden: (to Nika) Why?
Nika: Cuz if I was a normal Core citizen, that would be where my brain went.
Arden: Blackmail, though?
Rina: They think I'm dead.
Arden: I got that.
Kiera: They're her parents. They think like her. Where do you think the paranoia came from?
Beglan: (slyly) Imagine that. A whole family of Rinas.
Joshua: Oh my God, now that you say that I think we have to cancel this trip. I can barely handle the one.
Yet more teasing from the crew. Really, the situation's looking a bit Mexican standoff-y and we all need to crack a joke. The hilarity doesn't last, however, and we swing back to the problem.
Joshua: Are we out of options? We don't have any options?
Nika: This is up to you two. If you want to go, we'll find a way to make it happen.
Joshua: I want to go. I'm just … saying we're out of options.
Nika: We're not out of options.
Arden: It's not going to be easy, but we're willing to go.
Joshua: I'm great. I'm just saying I'm not seeing any options, easy or hard, at this point. Other than running the blockade.
Kiera: You invite them to meet you there. You know, invite them to the wedding.
Beglan: Having the ship there would be good if you're hoping to bring them to the wedding.
Kiera: Or you could just invite them off. They could leave, right?
Beglan: Or if we had to make a quick escape. Which has happened more than once.
Joshua: What are you saying Beggar? We never make a quick escape. We make a long involved elaborate escape. Like something involving ropes and abseiling.
Beglan: Just thought it might happen. You never know.
Oh please, don't get Joshua started on abseiling. Arden changes the subject and says to the Irishman:
Arden: I want to know what you know about the point source.
Beglan: Can we decide about Sihnon first?
Joshua: Yes. We'll decide about Sihnon first. The suspense I know is killing you.
We go over our options again and grudgingly admit we're going to have to pay Badger a visit. Lately, he's been our main business contact at Eavesdown Docks. Today isn't going to see that change. And why are we reluctant to see Badger…
Nika: Didn't Badger screw us last time?
Joshua: No. This was the last time and he didn't screw us. At least, not that I'm aware.
Nika: Okay. The time before that?
Joshua: I don't think he really screwed us all that much. Not that hard.
Beglan: He just put nefarious people on board. But you guys made friends with them.
Kiera: But that's okay. That guy gave me 100 more credits than I thought he would.
Nika: Do your stuff. Go see Badger and see if you can get him to get some cargo to Sihnon.
At the Captain's hint, Kiera changes into something to show off her body and struts off Equinox in something slinky. Joshua and Rina go with her. They take that small package he'd sent aboard with the larger cargo lot of cleaning supplies. When they get to Badger's, they find the path through his compound is more labyrinthine, as if he's added more containers to the maze. He's also packed it with people who seem to have some sort of nasty skin disease. It looks like a leper colony, repulsive enough to keep casual passersby passing right on by, thanks.
Kiera: I am so glad I dressed up for this.
They dive in and come out the other end in Badger's den. The man in question is still his unctuous ferrety self. He smiles at our approach and pours his Cockney accent all over us.
Badger: Well, if it isn't one of my favorite … partners.
Joshua: Compliments of flying.
Badger: I'm pleased to see you've got my cargo to me.
Joshua: And we're pleased to deliver it.
Joshua hands it right over.
Badger: No fusses?
Kiera: No, not a bit. Just a little bit of disease. It's fine.
Badger: You managed to avoid inspection. I appreciate that.
Joshua: It was a bit roundabout but, yeah, it worked out well that way.
Kiera: (chuckles) I did not think about that. The next time we'll just buy some anthrax.
Joshua: No.
Badger: So you've come to me.
Joshua: And so we have.
Badger: And what is it I can do for you?
Here we go.
Joshua: Well, we were hoping you might have a way to get to Sihnon.
Badger: It's restricted.
Joshua: Yes. We've gone through this. It ain't gonna be easy but you're the man with the power, the man with the contacts, the man with the—.
Kiera: The voodoo.
Joshua: Yeah. You do the thing that you do so well.
Badger looks at his underlings, making sure they can see their boss getting the upper hand on these business partners of his.
Badger: So … you'd like to get to Sihnon. Now what do you want to do in Sihnon?
Joshua: Ah—
Kiera: I need my college transcript.
Joshua: Seriously?
Kiera: Yeah. To prove to you guys that I flunked out here. I'm not kidding.
Joshua's taken aback by her aplomb. He'd thought she was joking when she mentioned it earlier. Rina finally speaks up to cover for her fiancé.
Rina: To visit family.
Joshua: Yes, actually. The little Missus and I are gonna get married.
Badger: Well, there ain't nothin'—(lightbulb!)—Really? So you knocked her up? She's gonna start poppin' out little ones?
Kiera's eyes go wide with suppressed laughter and she steps back to watch this little comedy show. Best damned entertainment she's had all month. Rina maintains a pleasant expression—she was willing to risk a prison sentence and the firing squad to see her family again, damned if the sordid speculations of a crime boss are going to bother her. Joshua tells the man the truth.
Joshua: Not yet.
Badger: (disappointed) Oh. Traditional, huh?
Joshua: Yeah. Conservative that way.
Badger: (to Rina) Well, you got a glow.
Yeah right. If it's possible to glow purple. She's still got some bruising from her fight with Nika. Badger leans back in his chair and smiles. Like a shark, mind, but smiles.
Badger: Don't let anyone ever say I'm not a sucker for a romantic story.
Joshua: I will beat anyone who says otherwise.
Badger: As it so happens … I do have a small cargo going to Sihnon. Get you right through the restricted zone, it's that important. And I will let you carry that cargo for the mere price of 1000 credits.
Kiera coughs. Well, chokes disguised as a cough. So we're paying him to haul cargo for him? Isn't that backwards? In a bit of tit for tat, Joshua steps back and watches Kiera now, knowing this is rocking her world and not in a good way. Kiera recovers and smiles at Badger.
Kiera: I thought I loved you but the romance is over. Bye.
She blows him a kiss, turns around, and starts walking out, making sure he gets a good look at her slinkily-clad derriere. You could'a had this, Badger me boy. Too bad … ya cheap piker.
Joshua: My financial advisor seems to feel that that would be a bad decision. Now for my end, that seems to be a great deal. (calls out) Kiera. Kiera … I was just telling Badger that you seem to feel this is a bad deal.
Kiera: (returning) He said the word 'pay', not 'be paid'.
Joshua: You're right. (to Badger) I had assumed that you said you were going to pay us a1000 credits to deliver this important cargo.
Badger: Oh, now, it's barely a ton. But here's the thing … Travel between the planets is getting' awfully difficult these days. And since you've got such an important labor of love to take care of ... (smiles)
Joshua: That's true.
Kiera: (oozing onto Badger's desk) How about instead of I pay you an thousand credits, we blow the gas money to deliver your cargo?
Badger: Oh, what? It's three, four days from here? For a fast ship such as yours?
Kiera: (pained) But we pay you a thousand credits to take it?
Badger: But you know what? If you don't want to …I could find someone else. I have a free ticket, no inspections, right into Sihnon airspace. Carte blanche to travel in. Even in the restricted flight zones.
Kiera: (smiling daggers) But for a thousand we could all get passage.
Badger: That might be true. Do you have legitimate business to take care of in Sihnon? I'm sure the Alliance would be happy to toss us the information and get you onboard a transport there. Usually when people come to me that's not the situation they're in. You see, Miss …?
Kiera: Sullivan. You don't even remember me from last time, do you?
Badger: Miss Sullivan. There's a few things about business you ought to learn. I got a rule: When people are in a position to give and a position to take, I happen to be in both.
Kiera: Ah! And I get to be … (Taken. Yeah) … Normally I get dinner first.
Badger: I can see it on your faces. You want the job.
Kiera: No, actually I don't want to meet her parents for a thousand credits. (shakes his hand) Again, lovely seeing you and goodbye.
She hops off his desk and heads for the door.
Joshua: Once again, my financial advisor has voiced her disapproval with the arrangement. Also, the other problem is that even if we wanted to pay a thousand credits, I don't think we actually have the credits to do it. You paid us basically that—(points to the box we just delivered)—and in order to avoid inspection our ship had to be decontaminated of anthrax.
Anthrax? Badger eyes his box.
Joshua: So … you can see where half our money—.
Badger: Now, you decontaminated you, too, right?
Rina: Actually … (coughs!)
Joshua: We're fine—(coughs!)
Kiera: Oh, I'm sorry. I sat on your desk. (coughs!)
Joshua: My point is, even if we wanted to pay you the thousand credits—and to be honest, looking at the docks… (gestures: so-so)
Badger: Well, never let it be said that I'm inconsiderate in the face of true love. So I'll tell you what I'll do. Nine hundred.
Kiera: Nine hundred?!
Badger: It's ten percent off! (points to his lackeys) Gennel'men. Have you ever seen me give a ten percent discount?
No sirs, all around.
Joshua: It's generous, I admit, but looking at the docks ….
Badger: Consider it a wedding present.
Joshua: But looking at the docks … it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of ship headed that way. There's not a whole lot of ships, period.
Badger: I'm already losing money on this myself!
Joshua: Why are you shipping it, just out of curiosity? You don’t look like the smart kind of financial individual that would ship something that would cost them money.
Badger: Some things … are not just about the money.
Kiera: What? He's not losing money. We're paying him 900 to ship it for him.
Badger: I'm a respected member of the community here. Part of being a respected member of the community is reaching out to certain members the greater, who've sworn to secrecy.
Joshua Reads Badger to find out just what that cargo is. Badger is remarkably good—or lucky—at being unreadable. Joshua does get the impression that whatever's in the cargo, it's puerile. Or rather, Badger thinks it is. There's a certain flavor of kink and dirty coming off the man's thoughts on that cargo.
Ah. So now who's in a position to give and who's in a position to take?
Joshua: Look, I can tell. Not only are you generous, you're looking to get this off your hands. Nobody wants this cargo just sitting around and there's nobody on the docks to take it for you.
Badger: Which is true, and I may have to use legitimate cargo.
Joshua: And that would be—
Badger: Contrary to the usual. However, I'm not going to be bullied by some tramp freighter. You come to my place—
Joshua: That's a fair point. We could split the difference, basically, and have it be a flat "we'll transport it for you at no cost to you and no cost to us for getting it in there." That seems to work both ways for us—we get what we want and you get it off your hands.
Badger: 800.
800? Oh, please. Kiera snorts and tosses her head. She leans against one of the crates in his office, stretching her dress tighter across some mighty fine curves.
Badger: Tell you what. I'll make a few phone calls. If I can't find another carrier for it, I'll call you back and we'll talk about 750.
Kiera: How 'bout we talk about 500? What kinda nitwit would pay you to carry something for you?
Badger: I'm lookin' at him, I think. You tell me what kind of nitwit would do it. But if you can find another way to Sihnon… For less. You talkin' your transport, you're not gettin' in on those numbers.
Kiera shoots Rina an angry look.
Kiera: Your family had better have a damn good dinner waitin' for us.
Joshua: 500.
Badger: I believe I said 800.
Rina: I heard seven-fift—
Kiera: I dunno. I heard five.
Badger: That's after you leave and I check to see if there's a better job offer.
Kiera huffs and her eyes go narrow and nasty. At this point, Joshua's tempted to take the offer just to see the look on Kiera's face. Her reactions to his recent jobs, like the one where we delivered the goods, only to be roped into doing another job for payment later—well they were pretty amusing. This one? Where we're paying up front to do the job?
Joshua: 800 seems fair.
Badger: (all smiles) Have a drink on me.
He pulls a bottle out of the box we delivered and starts pouring. Oh, but Kiera's fit to be tied! She takes her glass and pours it over Joshua's head.
Badger: Hey, that's good stuff! Hard to get these days. In fact, you carried that from Red Sun.
Kiera: (steely) I shoulda drank.
Joshua: (unfazed) Well, there you go.
Kiera: Wait, let me go tell Nika that we're paying to carry a cargo to Sihnon. Good day sir.
And she stalks out. She doesn't linger outside but goes right back to Equinox as fast as her long legs can carry her. Inside, Badger gets that cargo ready. He orders his men to bring it out so Joshua and Rina can carry it out when they leave. A crate appears, about a meter on a side. Hmm. A mite biggish for a little lady and a medium man to carry …
Badger: Spend a dollar, rent a handcart?
Joshua: Sure.
Badger: You gotta be careful with it. (off their looks) It ain't explosive. It's a … how shall we say? It's for medicinal use by the Temple. If you know what I mean.
Hmm. Bound for Sihnon. Destined for a Temple. Medicinal use. Going there by way of Badger. Kinda smutty. Rina and Joshua get the hint: it's Companion-grade Viagra. Joshua forks over the dollar. Rina takes possession of the handcart and they load the box right up and push it on out of there.
Joshua: Thank you much. It's been a pleasure.
Badger: No, the pleasure's been all mine.
When they're safe outside, they scan the street for Kiera and finding no sign of her, they turn for their ship and push for home. Rina leans in toward Joshua and takes a sniff, wrinkles her nose.
Rina: You know … What is that stuff? (sniffs again) I drank it, but I don't know what it is.
Joshua: It's … No, no, don't ask, whatever it is. Don't ask what it was.
Kiera's waiting for them when they get back, fingering the safety of her gun. Flipping the safety off … flipping it on … off … on … And her expression? Joshua drinks it in with relish—ah, yes, this is his payment for the job, right there. And damn, if it doesn't feel good to get some payback for the other deals he'd brokered that she hated and gave him shit on. Arden and Nika are waiting on the ramp with her and from what Kiera says next, we can tell she hasn't told the Captain the good news yet. Kiera's eyes light up when Joshua comes aboard and she says to Nika, through her teeth:
Kiera: (sweetly) Guess what? We have a ticket to Sihnon.
Joshua: Wait, wait, wait. You have to say: So …. We have a ticket to Sihnon.
Kiera: (terse) We. Have. A. Ticket.
And she stalks off. Joshua watches her go, still secretly pleased. Nika gives her XO the Look as Rina wordlessly pushes that handcart past them into the cargo hold, thanks.
Joshua: So …
Nika: What the hell'd you do with Kiera?
Joshua: She didn't like the deal I made. Whereas the deal really was not a deal.
Rina: (over her shoulder) We got a 20% discount.
Joshua: That's one way of looking at it, yes.
Nika: What's the other way of looking at it?
Joshua: That we're paying 800 to get to Sihnon.
Nika: What?
Joshua: We're paying 800 to have Badger basically get into Sihnon.
Arden: You know, I really need to invest myself with some negotiation skills, I think.
Joshua: No, in this case I did it mostly just to piss Kiera off.
Rina: Actually, I was thinking, speaking of investing …. (walking up, points to cargo) … Can we get stock in that stuff?
Nika: So you're …. what?
Joshua: Oh, yeah. We're transporting the good stuff to the Companion's Temple on Sihnon.
Nika: (facepalm!) … Jesus God …
Arden: So she was a little … perturbed?
Joshua: Oh, no. She was a lot perturbed.
Nika: I wish you didn't look so pleased with yourself.
Joshua: But I am. I'm sorry.
Arden would like to look inside the crate but it's sealed and Joshua remonstrates: Don't mess with the good stuff. Arden asks how he might score some of the good stuff. Joshua says that once we get to Sihnon, the Companions would probably give him some …. if he paid them enough.
Speaking of which …
Arden: So how much do we get, when we get there, for the package?
Joshua: Nothing.
Arden: Nothing?! Really?!
Didn't Joshua cover this already?
Arden: No, you paid Badger the commission so I figured there was a sizeable return on the delivery.
Joshua: No, no. Basically, we're paying to get a short route in to Sihnon. This package is our short route into Sihnon.
Rina: This package is our ticket past everything.
Arden: Do you understand, Nika?
Nika: Yep.
Arden: Okay. Not happy then.
Nope.
Rina: Look at it this way, now we don't have to book passage on another ship and be told we can't bring on stuff we'd rather bring ourselves.
Joshua: Plus, I'll have memories that will warm me on cold winter nights.
Cuz the look on Kiera's face when he sealed the deal? That ain't ever gettin' old. And it's a good thing too. Thanks to the embargo, the prices for everything's doubled. Fuel, for one. Food, for another, and that's for the not-so-good stuff. The better stuff costs even more. Nika murmurs to Joshua in passing as he hustles about the business of keeping us fueled and fed.
Nika: I'm getting unhappier and unhappier. Just so you know …
It's a four day trip to Sihnon from Persephone and we've only a crimeboss's word that our special cargo will waive us past the restrictions and fly us right in. With Badger's final warning to keep good care of the package echoing in his head, Joshua gets Equinox stocked up and ready to leave. We stash the cargo, complete with its special seals for the Companion's Guild unmolested in the hidey. On the 25th we lift off and set our course deeper into the Core.
Part 1, 3, 4, Special Features
Go back to: Murder on the Equinox Express | Go Foward to Hammerfall
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