SPACE STATIONS > The Cancer

Sympathy for a Devil [M] (Cheesi!)

(1/30) > >>

Lion:
“You fucking piece of shit! Fit!” he growled, as he fitted the tracker into the navigation system just beside the flight seat. Upkeep on a cruiser like the Vegas, was a challenging task for anyone that wasn't up for the task. Thade was good with his hands, and he had to be especially when traveling solo.

Sister was handy here and there, but heaven forbid the fucker break a nail and threaten to break the rest of them on Thade's face if he made him do anymore work. Thankfully Sister wasn't around, and whatever he was doing was probably hot, fast, and sweaty. Sometimes a guy just needed something to get off on.

He was covered in grease already, and smeared some more on his hands as he got the circular casing to finally fit into the hardware in the panels and grates that served as the flooring on the Vegas. The ship itself was well-kept, and although it wasn't always clean, it has powerful engines, guns, and plenty of cargo space both hidden and otherwise. It was his first vessel, an with any luck it'd be his only vessel.

Thade wiped the grease from his hands as he activated the panels on it, remembering what he'd been told. Sure he could have had someone at Galley La do it for him, but why on the sun would he deprive himself of the joy of doing it himself?  Really, he always did it better if he could do it himself. Not to mention, whatever bloated price they would charge for labor alone!

He wasn't going to take that chance.

Thade stood, dusting his hands off and grabbed his overcoat, shrugging it over his form and securing Desi and Lucy in their holsters. You never could be too careful on the Cancer.  Drinks with Sister were just about in order and he wasn't going to be late. Only assholes were late to meetings. Drinks with Sister were always fun, and as he left his ship, securing the airlocks, he glanced behind it to check the sign. Dock 12-A.  A part of him wanted to set up a pulse mine in front of the entry way. Gods knew he couldn't trust any form of “security” to keep an eye on it.  But it never hurt to take extra precautions.

So he paid an urchin to keep an eye out for him, a kid that nobody would really suspect, And soon he was on his way.

Thade enjoyed himself the next few hours, and watched as Sister pile-drove a hard ass into the ground, and then proceeded to step on his nuts with his stiletto boot. “Nobody calls me fag, honey. I'm just too fabulous for you to handle.  Call me when you grow your nuts back. On second thought, don't,” Sister laughed, and Thade sauntered after him. “As ever it's a pleasure, Thade, baby. Don't be a stranger now.”  Sister kissed his cheek and was on his way.

He was good now. He had a few drinks in him and he could sleep the rest of it off on the ship.  If it was there.  Thade had to blink again and stared with a sobering scowl at the blank spot where the Vegas had been stationed. Whatever alcohol had been swimming in his head seemed to fade away, and he glared, furious.  He locked the ship! He locked it!  This was the same dock too, 12-A!

And the kid was nowhere to be found!

“FUUUUUUUUCK!” he cried, and looked to the comm system on his wrist, embedded into the chrome plate of his left arm. “The tracker!  Right!  The, the.....tracker...”  Except it was turned on, and somehow wasn't showing up as active on the navigation screen. “Oh you've got to be kidding me. I did not just install a piece of shit...  Please!  Don't tell me that's just what happened!?”

Thade was off, running full tilt back to Galley La, fuming. His eyes flashed when he was angry, and he had a hard time containing his patience by the time he made it back to Galley La proper. Of course he tried to wind down, and each deep breath was getting harder and harder to contain. Brow was furrowed, and he immediately asked to see someone about their ship production line.

“Just wondering if all your equipment is fault, or just the units you sell individually,” he muttered as he stood in the office. “Was it because I didn't want you to install it?”

The woman in front of him smiled fakely. It wasn't that Thade expected her to feel sorry for him, or even to be remotely understanding, but it was clear to him she did this on a daily basis. She had a shiteating grin that frankly was infuriating, but Thade knew better than to make a scene in the middle of a place with it's own private security.

“Please come this way, Mr. Olyphant. An upper-representative will be along to help you shortly. In the meantime, please feel free to brows our building facilities. Thank you for visiting Galley La,” she said with an upbeat tone and led Thade out into the main hangar. There were ships, ships, and more ships!  Even if he was a disgruntled customer, he was steadily impressed by their facility, the massive hangar leaving little to be desired.

“Wow,” he breathed.  Maybe if he ever found the Vegas again he'd bring it here for a serious tune-up.

Cheesigator:
Reva's irritated sigh was loud, echoing in the hallway along with the heavy clicking of her high heels. Various hologram screens floated along with her, projected from a few hidden points in her golden skeletal arms.

"Well it's not my fault that the customer couldn't tell the difference between laser cannons, I'm not giving him a fucking refund because he wanted a bigger one and didn't bother doing any research past what the names sounded like."

"Okay so what do you want me to tell him then?" Despite Reva being the shortest person at Galley La, the office assistant still struggled to keep up with her, a glass tablet in her hands as she tried to jot down notes as Reva spewed them off while heading to the main hangar.

"Tell him if he wants an upgrade he's gotta pay for it in full, I'm not offering discounts based on fucking stupidity." Reva spat the last word as the door in front of them opened on its own and they stepped out into the brightly lit main hangar.

At the moment, it housed four private vessels ranging in size from personal cruisers, a racing ship, and a large blimp-like ship designed to hold a crew of twenty, with accommodations for up to forty passengers comfortably. It was roughly 120 feet long and weighed around 700 tons. Its dim silver finish gleamed in the bright lights; dozens of workers varying in age, gender and species scurried on the cement of the garage floor, hauling small trucks full of sheets of metal, electronics and other parts.

Reva walked onto the floor like she owned it, and in all sense of the phrase she pretty much did. All the workers, who for the most part looked like rough seasoned creatures that had been in far too many fights for a little gal like her to tangle with, and yet they all nodded to her with respect--even went so far as to take steps back or move out of her way to give her some space. Nobody liked getting in Reva's way when she was on the job, because she was there to do just that: her job. Anyone who hindered her in doing so knew to expect a beating, sometimes not just in a metaphorical sense.

Behind her on a large motorized cart bed was a rather large cannon, somewhere around 10 feet long and wider around than any of the workers were tall.

She stopped in front of the large commercial airship, motioning with her hands and several workers immediately jumped into action as the cart stopped. The cannon was untethered as a framework of cables was lowered from the ceiling on a suspended grid, hooks going into various places built into the weapon's outer shell as its several tons was hoisted into the air to be installed.

"Hey, watch it Alistair, I've only spent the last six months building that from scratch, if you get a single mark on it you'll owe me a thousand credits." She growled, and one of the workers quickly fired out a reply like they were responding to a military drill sergeant. Reva rolled her eyes and shifted her weight onto one leg, placing her hand on her hip as she stood there and watched as it was lifted into the air--and as she looked up with it, another movement caught her eye just in time for her to notice something was wrong.

The secretary that had brought Thade into Galley La proper trotted over to her and her assistant, nodding to both of them, though Reva wasn't looking at her.

"Miss Reva, as you're head of ship security I've unfortunately got another one for you, another stolen ship that is--"

There was a loud metallic snap followed by a series of twangs and cracks and suddenly the airship lurched, its front end wavering dangerously before there was a loud bang and the whole thing, hoisted some 100 feet in the air, started to fall. There were a few shocked screams and yells from the workers as it came down almost like it was moving in slow motion. Reva let out a frustrated snort and threw both of her hands up, a visual aid to help her direct her focus when she had to pour this much into it--after all, that thing wasn't no fucking pear she was doing tricks with to impress someone.

It came to a shuttering halt after only falling halfway, and Reva let out an audible growl as the assistant standing next to her let out a whimper, posed with her tablet held out in front of her like she somehow thought that would save her from a gigantic airship smashing her like a bug. The ship slowly started moving back up in the air by an unseen force, but it was a force of energy that everyone in that hangar could tangibly feel, a kind of vibration in the air that almost had a bit of a crackle to it like static electricity. The half-demon cyborg grit her teeth as she lifted the entire ship back into place; workers were already scrambling on ladders and walkways with new cords as they started resecuring it back into place.

"Main tether wasn't hooked into the right port, Reva!" One of them called down, his voice quiet despite his yelling, in the vast space that was silent save for the murmurs of everyone as they got back to work.

Reva waited a few more seconds before the others up there called down and affirmed that it was secure, and then she relaxed, the energy that had been pulsating in the room disappearing in a flash as she let her arms slump to her sides, shaking her head as she took in a breath--everyone went quiet.

"FIND THAT SORRY MOTHERFUCKER WHO DID IT AND BRING THEM TO ME SO I CAN GIVE THEM A THOROUGH FUCKING ASS BEATING BEFORE I BOOT THEIR ASS OUT OF MY GODDAMN HANGAR DOOR."

It really was surprising how much such a little thing like her could roar. It was something that she knew how to do likely only from practice--because it still made everyone in the garage flinch, the two gals next to her covering their ears until she was done, wincing as they heard her voice still echoing in the room. There was a furious look burning in her eyes that did more than suggest she was livid--she was the embodiment of angered boss right now, and quickly the other workers started to scramble to figure out who did it. Reva wouldn't rest until someone's head was on her desk, though she wouldn't just punish any fool--it had to be the person responsible. And when there was a project worth so many millions of credits as that ship, nobody was gonna fuck around. She expected to have an ass to flog in her office by late evening, and it went without saying. It was a mutual understanding between everyone who worked there.

Reva finally turned to look at the secretary, arching a single brow, her only indication for the woman to speak, to which she quickly stammered, "Mr--Mr. Olyphant's ship was stolen. He's waiting by the entrance to the hangar." She said with a quick motion over to where said customer was standing.

Reva took one look at him and rolled her eyes, looking away as she took in a deep breath and let it out in a measured puff of air. "Right, fine. Fine. Get those notes out by five tonight if you can, Adestria. Thank you." Her assistant nodded and scampered off while Reva followed the secretary over to where Thade stood.

She was already 110% done with people today, because it seemed like it was just dumbass after fucking dumbass who kept coming to spite her and it was just one of those days. And she had a feeling this guy was probably gonna be a similar story.

"Thade Olyphant, nice to meet you, I'm Reva, head designer and weapons engineer. I'm told you got your ship stolen today," She took the note handed to her by the secretary and took a glance at it, raising her eyebrows before she let her hand fall to her side, her other going to rest on her hip as she gave him a look like 'are you fucking kidding me?'

"Did you read the instruction manual? Because if you didn't we're not legally liable for any damages to your ship, including it being stolen, because you didn't hold up your end of the agreement on the contract papers which you signed at," She looked at the note again before looking at him, "11:32 this morning."

God someone just... Shoot her. No, better idea. She looked at the secretary.

"I'll handle him from here, thank you Tenai. I'd absolutely love it if you could find me some coffee and vodka and have it ready for me when we come back to the office in about ten minutes."

Tenai, the secretary, gaped at her for a second or two before pursing her lips and nodding--this wasn't the first time Reva had requested such a concoction mind you, she was just shocked Reva did it in front of a customer. She threw a glance at Thade to see his reaction before excusing herself and hurrying away.

Lion:
In all his fascination with the vessels that were being built here at the Galley La facility, Thade wondered what kind of money it took to run an operation like this. No doubt a lot of it, and people to run it too. Thade made good enough money shipping and selling and gunrunning, but it was nothing on the scale of this.  If anything it made him quite ambitious. For a time, he wondered if the owner had any trouble with finding people they could trust.

A brief thought when he turned his attention to someone screaming out at the top of their lungs. Amidst the noise of the hangar, the sound of powertools and plasma cutters aside, there was a tone of authority here, and it caught his attention. Thade crossed his arms over his chest, watching a tiny thing moving out onto the floor, with metal arms, and a golden outfit.

The owner?  Hmm, maybe not. There was definite authority from her, but the way she shouted things about pointed more toward some kind of supervisory position. And boy did her people listen. No fuss, no gripes.  A word was given and there they went, scattering to accommodate. That order and discipline was definitely something to be admired, and he found himself grinning.

No, he scolded himself. You're here to make a valid complaint.  Focus.  Thade stepped forward, hoping to meet this woman head on.  He really didn't need all those introductions.  Until there was a loud snap and he looked up, and saw that teetering airship about to crush everything underneath it.  Only it didn't.  Instead it was held up, by none other than the the boss lady herself, with a force unseen.  Holy shit.

Thade had been in Aedolis enough times to recognize telekinesis. And hers was fucking strong. Damn...  Was he spacing out?  Was there someone talking to him?  Right, his ship.

Thade kept his poker face on, demeanor professional and his shoulders back. He was here on business, and letting emotion get the better of him was never a good idea. She clearly wasn't in any mood to be fucked with, and he wasn't in the mood for fucking.  He took her hand and shook it firmly, hands folding in front of him afterward.  He looked her up and down, measuring that fire she had carefully leveled out to anyone that failed to convey responsibility for the broken tether.

"Miss Reva. I did read the instructions," -Most of it anyway.  The parts on how to fit it onto the ship. "And I have to say I'm very disappointed in your product. I activated the tracker. Or thought I did. I'm quite good about repairing anything that might be broken, but I didn't think your company shelled out that kind of garbage. Don't you have some kind of quality control in this place?  It looks fantastic, so why did you sell me such a faulty piece of equipment?"

Thade frowned, brow furrowed and he kept his gaze level with her eyes.  But his voice rang out to Tenai as she scurried away, "Better make that coffee and vodka double, if you please."

Cheesigator:
There was something about Thade that made Reva's mind instantly think 'dirtbag' as he stood there and shook her hand. He had a firm grip, hers was one of iron. Almost literally.

As he voiced his complains and she stared him down, watching the look in his eyes as he spoke, she decided he likely wasn't telling the whole truth, because this definitely wasn't the first time she'd herad this argument. They always sounded similar, always that it was Galley La's product that was faulty, not the idiot who couldn't be bothered to turn on all the features because he couldn't read a fucking manual. Of course. Customer was always right, and that kind of shit.

It was only a little obvious in the look in her eyes as he kept talking that the more he said the more she wanted to punch him in the face, and she was only about an inch away from doing so--but that didn't bode well for customer relations. So she did a good job of keeping it bottled up, setting her jaw as she gave him a frosty smile.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that you feel that way about our product. Let me run some diagnostics on your ship real quick, and let's see if we can't figure out where it's at, hm?" Hint hint, she wasn't buying the bullshit he was trying to sell her. She wasn't stupid.

She took a look at the note again which had some more information jotted on it--namely, the tracker ID number. She held up her forearm, pressed a few keys on the underside of her palm and a new screen came up which she started entering in information on. It quickly zoomed out to show a map of the neighboring planetary systems, and she enlarged it so it was big enough for him to see without taking a step towards her, gods damn him if he tried. A red marker showed up on the screen, and it was quite far away from their location, marked in green, on Cancer.

"Well it appears to me that your tracker is working absolutely fine." She said, an edge to her voice of 'I fucking told you so'. "Looks like it's been missing a while Mr. Olyphant because from what I glimpsed of your ship earlier it'd take a while to get it from the port and coax it all the way to fucking Edanith."

She turned to stare at him. "And unfortunately it looks like you didn't enable one of the options recommended on page ten of the manual which would have allowed me to teleport it back here to the shop, and unfortunately for you," She used a hand gesture in front of the hologram screen and the map shrunk down to have another window, which had been small and playing in the corner before, almost unnoticeable, fullsize in its place. It was a recorded video taken from the tracker while it was installed.

"It certainly appears to me that you didn't do as much reading as you let on." His voice saying “You fucking piece of shit! Fit!” could be heard faintly to go along with it.

She gave him a frosty smile as she lowered her arm and all the hologram windows around her disappeared as she put her hands on her hips and got real with him for a second.

"Legally I don't have to do anything. You didn't hold up your end of the contract, it's in the fine print. However, because I'm such a nice woman, I will offer to help you track it down. What's left of it, anyways. We can take one of my personal cruisers to Edanith to reach it, and from there I can get it transported back here safely." She could almost guarantee he'd have to do business with them once they got back though to get it back together in one piece again, hell. No ship was stolen off of Cancer to be kept intact as-is. Unlucky bastard--or perhaps just stupid.

Lion:
Suddenly, and very embarrassingly, Thade was reminded of every customer that bothered to complain to him over anything they thought they could one-up him over. “The shipment came later than expected, I’m only paying half,” “These are more guns than I asked for, “ “You said they’d only be this much in your messages!” all suddenly came flooding to mind and Thade couldn’t have been more embarrassed. Except he was, and blood burned his face as a continued unpleasant reminder.

It was his utmost discipline to never deal with pretense, never make the customer think you have more cards than you do, and never let them pull one over on you. Even if it meant losing a potential contact. He himself knew better than to try and hustle the hustler.  And here he was, making a fool of himself doing it. Whether it was Reva’s words, or the very fact that he just went against everything he’d taught himself, he rubbed his face deep into his hands and sighed.

“You know what, you’re right.  You’re absolutely right, and I’m…really fucking sorry,” he said.  “I’m just pissed more at myself than anything, and trying to take it out unfairly on you for my own mistake was…completely uncalled for.”  Thade looked at her eyes again, feeling that burning annoyance behind them, and he couldn’t blame her.  He still was waiting for that assistant to show up with that coffee and vodka.

Thade just watched her and crossed his arms over his chest, watching her pull a holo map up from her arm.  Well, fuck if his ship didn’t make it all the way to Edanith in just a few hours.  Suping up those engines paid off.  Just not for him.

“I think you pretty much laid out my options for me.  As well as my balls,” he sighed. “Which, believe me, I’m always thankful for. I guess, I could always storm out of here, and take my business elsewhere, but I’m not some asshole that comes cawing for a solution only to walk away from it. And I’m not about to lose my ship, again.”

He nodded to her. “If you’re willing to go that extra mile for me, Miss Reva, I’ll go the extra mile for you.  Let’s get started.”

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page