More Than You Have
Joshua wandered down to Bradley's first class room. He was looking to hopefully, talk a little to him about his past. He arrived at the door and knocked politely. "Hi. It's Joshua. Have a few minutes to talk? If not, no big deal."
Bradley opens the door with the air of a host welcoming guests. He smiles, and gestures to the large bed. "Have a seat, I thought you might come by. You seemed… curious." He smiles broadly and knowingly. The bed is unmade, there is a large datasheet (about 24"x18") with a map of some city on it lying on the floor. A cup of coffee is resting on an old t-shirt.
"Curious, and wanting to apologize a little." Joshua walked and sat down on the bed, glancing down at the datasheet after he did. Interesting. "I did want to say I was sorry. I jumped to some conclusions earlier a little too quickly and that wasn't right. We all have stuff hidden in our past. But that doesn't mean we have to be completely defined by it."
Sims again, doesn't break eye contact and has that almost perverse look in his eyes. "Is there something about your past, maybe something you did before you came here, that you need to get off your chest?"
"My past is what ended up causing me to comment on your past." Joshua leaned over the datasheet, thinking perhaps to change the path of the conversation a little. "But tell me, what's the map all about?"
Sims moves close next to Joshua, his arms lightly touching his as he points out the map. "I like to scope out a city before I walk in it. This, as you can see is Kore" You know Kore as the Capital of Persephone, home of the Eavesdown docks and more. "My.. our package is in this light industrial district." He points vaguely circling a third of the map. "It's in self storage. Should be a cake walk to retrieve it." He hesitates a bit. "The difficult part will be getting rid of it."
"Illegal or just in need of a very specific buyer?" He had read Sims right earlier, it seems. Their passenger had a crush of some sort on him. This was not a situation that was well covered in the borrower's training. He didn't want to lead Sims on. He was a one-person man and that person was Rina. But he also didn't want to end up hurting Sims or pissing him off by rejecting him out of hand. Fine line to walk.
Sims lets out a small laugh of relief. "Neither really. Just valuable and portable. A dangerous combination. Finding an interested party should not be difficult, ensuring we walk away safely paid, that may be more difficult." He leans back and tussles his dreads a bit to get them out of face. "I'm sure you've dealt with more dangerous situations. I guess I might need help figuring out who is the best buyer. You know.. getting a good read on them. That's not really my thing."
Joshua nodded. They had, perhaps, dealt with more dangerous situations, but every situation was unique. "Well, if you're looking to cut us in on some portion of it, then we could probably help you retrieve it and find a buyer. Getting a read on people is what Kiera and I do on board. Well, among other things."
He paused for a second and then made sure to look Bradley in the eye as he said what needed to be said. "But I have to be straight with you. Rina and I are a thing. And that's something I take pretty seriously. Nothing against you personally."
He let the statement hang in the air for a minute before giving Bradley an out if he wanted to take it. "But of course, I might be reading that all wrong. I'm good with business negotiations but matters of the heart can leave me kind of out of sorts occasionally. So if I misread you, I'll apologize now."
He seems unperturbed by your rejection. He smiles again, with no abatement. "I can't say I'm not attracted. But, if you say ALL your needs are taken care of by the little devil, well who am I to argue? Although, maybe she'd be interested in something more? She seems to keep things bottled up. I'll be gone in a few days, no messy complications." He rolls up the datasheet and lounges back his partially unbuttoned shirt opening slightly to reveal his chest. "I'm not threat to whatever it is you have here." He puts his hands behind his head and leans back against the wall.
"Somehow, I doubt Rina will be up for that, although I could certainly ask her." Rina's issues with men were certainly improved, but Joshua was pretty sure that adding multiple partners was not in her gameplan. Then an evil little thought crossed his mind and a small smirk popped up before he could suppress it. "Both Kiera and the captain are currently available, but I can't speak to their tastes." No matter how tempted he was to do so anyway.
"But I will talk to the captain about helping you out with your package retrieval if you still want our help when we hit Persephone."
"About that… Joshua. I don't know if your Captain is going to be thrilled about the package. I know she used to be a Browncoat.. right, back in the war? She seemed pretty .. uh invested.. in that last cargo. Now I am perfectly happy dealing with Browncoats. I mean they could even have first dibs."
"What exactly are we talking here?" Joshua's first thought was weapons, but what kind weapons were both valuable and portable? NewTech? "I know you've got some past with the Alliance. Is this package related to that?"
"Well. They'd be interested as well. But like I said, I am willing to sell to the other side first. It's information. Important information. Information both sides will want."
Joshua should've known. It always came down to information. "Yeah, I think the Captain would prefer if you dealt with the Browncoats first. I'm sure we can find a buyer from that side that can give you the kind of credits you're thinking about. Assuming it is as valuable as you say it is. Does anyone else know its there?" He grimaced. "I mean, are we likely to have to worry about people looking for you?"
"I doubt it. It is more about advertising the goods. They find out what I have, then I need to be careful."
"Captain's going to want to know...what exactly are we talking about here?" Even if Nika didn't want to know, Joshua did. If for no other reason than for planning and thinking about who they might need to shop the info to.
"I don't know whose information it is honestly. But, it can identify those on the different sides. It's hard to explain. I'll need to show you." Hi eyes betray a little uncertainty, but he seems to recover quickly. "I don't really want to undergo some kind of a inquisition with the Captain." He looks business-like "If she wants to make an offer. As I said, she have first chance."
Joshua nodded. "Fair enough. Can you give me what kind of number you're thinking about so I can start helping the captain arrange the finances?" Joshua was already pretty certain it was going to be way more than they had available, which meant coordinating something by Cortex wave. If they even knew who to talk to.
"Joshua, more than you have brother. But, maybe you've got some contacts. Let's say anything less than 200 is not going to happen. But, some of that is yours, and more than the handful'a platinum you wanted for the trip." He smiles confidently.
Joshua nodded. "I figured as much. But knowing that lets me know who we have to talk to that can gather that kind of cash." He stood up and moved towards the door. "And speaking of that," he said with a half smile, "I should probably get the ball rolling on that."
Bradley had gotten lucky ending up with them, Joshua thought. Anyone else, and he might end up with a bullet hole in his head after the information had been retrieved. He was hoping that it wouldn't end up there anyway. But he knew that war was afoot. Hell, some people had never stopped fighting it, he would guess.. And people did strange things when a war was on.
Joshua senses a faint thought of relief from Bradley as he turns and leaves the room. It wasn't exceptional, but for that fact, that he sensed almost nothing else from the man he just spoke with.
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