New york weather 10 day

Hey my names Mike, I’m an alcoholic. I’m about to have an intervention with my family here shortly. I’m 25, I’ve been drinking absurd amounts of whiskey for the past 5-6 years and last night I experienced the first of the “famous” withdrawals.
I was 2 days clean last night, and I was hallucinating, and I believe I had a seizure. I wasn’t fully asleep, but I had a very vivid “dream” about a child hood nightmare that wouldn’t allow me to move once I woke up. I have a steady tremor in my left hand, and it doesn’t stop when I’m drinking. I dry heave uncontrollably when thinking about my next drink. Which ironically leads me to my next drink? Perhaps a withdraw? I’m not entirely sure. I started up again tonight, I tried to catch back up to the 1 liter I’ve been drinking a night, and I did. However, I threw up bile for about 10 minutes about 4 hours ago. I’ve gone only 2 days without the whiskey. Now I’m throwing up bile? I’m having seizures, or seizure like activity? Yeah I’ll fucking pass! My brother and my mother are fed up, and we’re to have an intervention so to speak soon. After last night, I’m scared half to death. I drank today, (well yesterday now), so that I wouldn’t have to go to sleep, scared I’d die in it. I am ready, I haven’t ever felt ready to quit. I’m looking for non judgmental advice perhaps? Should I go and seek medical care or should I taper off? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Congratulations to all who have made it through the dark side, I wish to join you soon!

A tween girl has a problem with growing up. She is attempting to avoid losing her childhood imagination as she can only see her biological mother Franny there. She was traumatized when she witnessed her Franny die in a car crash outside their home at the age of four. Her adopted parents Greg & Lisa got her a year later.
The problem with her imagination is that it’s giving her nightmares, holding her back from learning & is so strong they come to life for the people she’s closest with.
Five years pass & her parents are worried she will never be able to live a normal life. She has had many short-term friends, is lovable & very attractive. The problem is as soon as they hear her talk about things of her imagination they ditched her. People started to bully her which started effecting new characters of her imagination that would taunt & chase her.
That’s when a new guy at school came along. He was nicer than the other people at her school because he was raised in a “good” home, homeschooled most of his life & understands what it’s like to be bullied. Not only that but he has the key to open something she couldn’t open on her own.
On the first day of school at lunch he didn’t know where to sit but then he saw this one girl sitting alone & thought maybe she was new as well. He proceeded to walk towards her when a sports bro says, "Trust me bro, if you want any reputation in our school you won't go and sit by that." The new guy Leo replied, "Perfect."
The girl had given up on making new friends. She was in the middle of talking with Franny when suddenly a stranger sat right beside her. Franny said, “I like this one.” The new guy said, “Hi, I’m Leo. What’s your name?” She replied, “Nice to meet you Leo. My name is She.” They ate in silence for a minute or two before he asked, "Who where you just talking to?" She replied, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He replied, "Try me." She said, "I was talking to my mom but I am the only one that can see her for some reason." The guy said "Oh you mean that lovely lady with the red scarf & white clothes that left when I got here?" She, shocked with joy & confusion ran to the restroom to cry.
During the next few months they became best friends & learned everything about each other. Then one day She was walking out from school & saw around the corner that the sports bros were beating up Leo. She ran to him screaming. The sports bros scattered. Leo said crying, “Don't worry I'll just say I fell down the stairs, I'm okay."
After that day She’s imagination kept filling with bad characters chasing & taunting Franny & her. At that point Leo could see all of her imagination coming to life. Leo did all he could to encourage her & make the bad characters go away but they were too strong for She. She hadn't slept in two days & at that point Leo was tired of see her suffer so he made a plan. He suggested to She that they slept together in attempts to have the same dream. This way he could go into her imagination & he could help win back her mind.
So they slept together…noggin to noggin. Then both of them woke up in her mind behind Franny. It was the scene of the car crash where Franny had died. She hadn’t allowed herself to see this entirely since it had happened. She saw it with Leo from the backseat & watched as Franny died.
Flashing out from that scene there was a war going on between all the imaginary things that kept her happy in life & all the things that chased & taunted her. Leo started attacking the evil things & at first seemed to be winning until more came. Leo, She & Franny (back again) realized they had to do something else. Franny told Leo, “If you open that portal over there all of this will be sucked away but it will save her from insanity.”
She crying said, “No! I knew I shouldn't have trusted him! I knew he would take you away from me!” Franny put her hand on her daughters shoulder & said, "You've kept this up for long enough, I need you to let us go now. Don't worry, we will see each other again soon." She crying said, “Mom no! Leo! I can’t, don’t...” Leo proceeded to open the portal taking everything good & bad away. They then woke up happy sad crying & hugging because they knew they had just brought her overactive imagination to an end.
The last scene in my dream was them running and having fun in a meadow somewhere & pictures of them getting married as I'm guessing it was some rascal flatts country song playing.

Oof the anniversary event is rough this year. Anyone have tips for getting to level 10 fast? I've been following the quest line for about 2 days and I'm only level 4.

Several weeks ago my car stopped working and I started riding the Link Light Rail from Tukwila to Bothell. While riding, sketchy people would approach me to ask for money (some are homeless, and others are drug addicts trying to intimate/harass ppl into giving them money). The first time I was not familiar with their grift and actually given a few dollars to a couple of them. I noticed this one guy in particular who would ask ppl for money with the same repeated speech, claiming he needs money for food and he have not eaten in 3 days. I would see him like clock work everyday, asking one person after another with the same speech. From my observations, he would get about $10-$15 from unsuspecting riders in my 1 hour ride. At this point, it's obvious the "I have not eaten in 3 days" speech is a lie, or perhaps it's true if he had used all the money towards drugs/other things.
The enforcement ticket checkers would turn a blind eye and never ask to check his ticket. One time I saw him following a petite female out the train asking for money while she was trying to get away (she seemed scared and was wearing a expensive purse). I was worried, and in hindsight, wished I had gotten off the train to tell him to leave her alone.
My question to the reddit community: Do you think the Link Light Rail system should prevent ppl like the guy mentioned above from panhandling on the light rail? If not, then whose responsibility is it to keep this useful transit system safe and free of harassment?
Follow up question: If the Link Light Rail have stricter enforcements on paying, would that resolve the issue with sketchy people asking for money? Assuming the panhandlers never would want to pay for their ride. What I meant by stricter, is when they catch a 3 time repeat offender within a 1 month period, they actually bring that person to the police.
Sorry for making this long post, I just really hope there's a solution to this problem because I will probably be using public transit for at least a couple more months before buying another car. Wiser and more knowledgeable community members of Seattle-- what are your thoughts?

I bartend at a nice place. I rarely deal with super drunk or belligerent people. Working at different bars and restaurants for 18 years, I’ve dealt with all types of bullshit from people. Today was a new one. The first two people that sat at my bar earlier were two women who were kinda annoying but harmless. I made their drinks, they got their food and wanted to close their tab.
When I handed the check to woman A, she asked me for a pen to sign the check without realizing she never gave me her card to run. Woman B handed me her card and I ran it. The woman A started throwing a fit. She kept saying “no! Don’t do that!” Too late. My rule is whoever hands me a card first pays. Otherwise it’s between them.
Woman A then yells “I hate you, FUCK YOU” to me. Lol. I calmly told her that she’s being inappropriate and she doesn’t get to speak to me that way. She then said it again to her friend while apologizing to me. I told her there are other guests here and again we don’t use that kind of language toward people here.
She didn’t seem drunk when she came in but her one drink must have pushed her over the edge. Several other nice guests got a good laugh with me after they left.
I hope she had fun with her day drunk time and is super embarrassed tomorrow. Harmless at least.

Updated to iOS 16.3.1 earlier and noticed the yellow microphone over the clock when I was not using anything that allowed/required access to microphone. The clock and microphone symbol alternated and it stayed a constant yellow. Was there for a few minutes and seemed to have resolved itself from seemingly no effort on my part.
Also- this may be completely unrelated (I’m new here and anything tech related isn’t my forte- and call me paranoid) but two days ago my AirTag started beeping on two separate occasions 12 min apart like it was being pinged (clearly not prompted by me).
Is there a way to figure out what is going on with either issue?!

FRYER NEW IN BOX- 78$ Besides normal white light, it also produces red, green and blue light for night vision protection, investigation, signaling and directing traffic. ⬤ Max 1750-lumen output with the white LED, and max 15-day runtime with the moonlight mode. ⬤ A side switch to select a colored light on demand, and a tail switch to operate the white light tactically. ⬤ Proximity sensor to dim the output automatically when it detects an obstruction ahead. ⬤ Customized 5000mAh 21700 battery, rechargeable via an MCC3 charging cable
Olight Seeker 2 Flashlight with Rechargeable Battery Black NO BOX - lightly used in perfect condition 75$ OBO
Olight S2R Baton II Ti Honor Titanium -75$ new Beam Distance (ft) 443 Beam Distance (m) 135 Max. Performance (lumens) 1,150 Charge type MCC 1A Magnetic USB Charging Cable Compatible Batteries Customized 3,200mAh 3.6V 18650 Battery Light Intensity (candela) 4,600 Light Source Luminus SST-40 CW LED Mode Operation Side Switch Form/Size Factor Medium size (Permanent Marker)
JAVELOT MINI NEW 80$
• Powerful for Its Size: Compact and lightweight while delivering a max output of 1000 lumens and a max throw of 600 meters powered by a single 2040mAh 18500 rechargeable lithium battery. • Uniform Hot Spot: Olight's first EDC flashlight with a round light source, providing a softer and more balanced beam. • Simple User Interface: Dual-stage tactical tail switch to access high/low output momentarily or constantly. • Magnetic Charging: Compatible with MCC1A/MCC3, the cable magnetically snaps onto the tail cap and shows red when charging or green when it's fully charged. • Two-in-one Tail Cap: Magnetic charging and thumb operation.
LEATHERMAN, Wave Plus Multitool with Premium Replaceable Wire Cutters, Spring-Action Scissors and Nylon Sheath, Stainless Steel new in box 90$.
5.11 2-BANGER PACK LIKE NEW 50$ Quick-prep Design Dimensions: 7" x 9.5" x 3" Material: 500 D Nylon w/ 1050 D Reinforcement Waterproof Backing Self-healing YKK Zippers DuraFlex Hardware Laser-cut MOLLE External Loop
https://imgur.com/a/dsQOqfO

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I’m at five months of my first nursing job and I want to quit. I chose nursing as my second career, but this floor has killed my passion for it. When I got hired, I was under the impression that this was your standard cardiovascular floor. However, I’ve been getting fresh hearts POD1, pressors discontinued that morning, transferred to us from ICU few hours later. We have temporary pacemakers on the floor and patients post-op who are still pacemaker dependent. Almost every patient on the floor is on tele. The two or three senior nurses who have stayed say they treat our floor like a step down but without step down ratios.
I’m aware there’s such thing as new grad anxiety, but while I’ve handled every emergency so far I’m so tired of having to do so every shift, especially when ratios are 1:5, 1:6. Even moreso when we literally have to run to other units because we don’t have defib pads, simple face masks for oxygen therapy, etc.
We only got an AED on our floor a few months ago and don’t even have a crash cart; for every other code situation, we had to run to different units to grab supplies.
Our unit is so underresourced it’s ridiculous. We have 2 PSWs on days and 1 PSW on nights for a 24 bed unit. We have high patient turnover and often we discharge half our unit and then admit or receive cath lab patients or ICU transfers.
I’m so frustrated from working here because I genuinely loved cardiac nursing and was even working towards a certificate for it. However, I can feel myself getting depressed and anxious, and I hadn’t felt that way in a long time. I’m even more upset because our cardiac program is supposed to be top 10 worldwide in a major city.
Management has not been supportive. I’ve had two patients where I had to initiate BSAs and each time they said “how could you have handled this better?”
It just doesn’t feel safe, and I don’t know if I’m over exaggerating or if this is just what nursing is supposed to be now? I’ve tried to stay optimistic but it’s 3 AM on my day off and I can’t sleep over this. Why doesn’t our floor have a damn crash cart?
I’m going to try and stick it out to six months, but it’s so upsetting coming into work. I’ve learned a lot but the stress of not knowing something simple as whether or not I’ll have defib pads available is too much!

Prices are negotiable but do not include shipping unless noted. Minimum purchase is $10. Add $4 for individual games. Discounted shipping on bundles. I will pay the shipping on all GAME purchases over $50. Let me know if something doesn't seem right. I will offer better deals and priority to those looking to bundle.
ONLY ACCEPTING PayPal F&F for payment or come trade with me on GameSwap!
Willing to meet in the Sacramento area.
​
Playstation

Playstation 2	Final Fantasy X Brady Games Strategy Guide	Very worn. Has tear in front cover. No poster.
Playstation 2	Final Fantasy X -2 Brady Games Strategy Guide	Moderately worn. Has smaller tear in back cover. Includes Poster.	Both Guides for $25
Playstation 2	Dual Shock 2	Silver - Works - Normal Wear	$27
Playstation 2	Dual Shock 2	Translucent Blue - Works - Normal Wear	$29
Playstation 2	24 The Game	BL/CIB	$8
Playstation 2	Guitar Hero II	BL/CIB	$5
Playstation 2	Guitar Hero Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80's	BL/CIB	$7
Playstation 2	Wheel of Fortune	BL/CIB	$5
			Take all 4 PS2 games for $19 Shipped
Playstation 4	Final Fantasy XV Deluxe Steelbook Edition book w/Slipcover	BL/CIB	$18
Playstation 4	Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8	BL/CIB - Spine damage/tear	$10
Playstation 4	Middle Earth Shadow of War	BL/CIB	$5
Playstation 4	Nascar Heat 3	BL/Boxed	$6
Playstation 4	Overwatch Origins	BL/Boxed	$8
Playstation 4	Persona 5	BL/Boxed	$9
Playstation 4	Resident Evil Village Deluxe Edition	BL/Boxed	$25
PSP	PSP 1001 - Loose. PSP ONLY	Body and screen are pretty scratched up, includes a rubber grip cover and I can include a white replacement shell... Charge port can be touchy sometimes so it also includes a replacement port. No charger.	$50 - Pending
PSP	Tekken 6	BL/CIB	$40
PSVITA	Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus	Loose	$22
PSVITA	Wipeout 2048	Loose	$18
			Take both Vita games for $35 shipped

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XBOX

Xbox	Blowout	BL/CIB	$6
Xbox	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	BL/CIB	$10
Xbox	Indiana Jones and The Emperors Tomb	BL/CIB	$12
Xbox	Pac Man World 2	PH/CIB	$8
Xbox	Return To Castle Wolfenstein Tides of War	PH/CIB	$5
			Take all OG Xbox games for $30 shipped
Xbox 360	4GB - 360 Slim Console	Includes OEM power supply and controller. I can probably include an HDMI cable if needed.	$65 - I will include one free game below under $10 and I will toss in a couple free mystery sports games (CIB)
Xbox 360	250GB - 360 Slim Console	Includes OEM power supply, controller and Kinect. I can probably include an HDMI cable if needed.	$85 - I will include one free game below under $10 and I will toss in a couple free mystery sports games (CIB)
Xbox 360	Dead to Rights Retribution	BL/CIB	$12
Xbox 360	Dead Space 3	PH/CIB	$5
Xbox 360	Fable 2 Limited Edition	BL/Boxed - No special features disc - Includes manual	$10
Xbox 360	Fable 3	BL/CIB	$6
Xbox 360	Forza 4	BL/CIB	$6
Xbox 360	Grand Theft Auto 5	BL/Boxed w/map	$6
Xbox 360	Halo 3 Limited Edition Steel book w/sleeve (minor damage)	BL/Includes manual, but no book..	$15
Xbox 360	Hitman HD Trilogy - Premium Edition	BL/CIB - With slipcoveartbook. Moderate wear.	$20
Xbox 360	Mortal Kombat	BL/Boxed	$8
Xbox 360	NBA Live 2010	BL/CIB	$6
Xbox 360	NBA 2K18	BL/CIB	$16
Xbox 360	The Orange Box	BL/CIB	$18
Xbox 360	Portal 2	BL/Boxed	$5
Xbox 360	Test Drive Unlimited	BL/CIB	$10
			Take all 360 games for $99 Shipped
Xbox One	Ark Survival Evolved	Boxed	$10
Xbox One	Battlefield 4 Steelbook Edition	Boxed	$12
Xbox One	Dark Souls 3	Boxed	$9
Xbox One	Dishonored Definitive Edition	Boxed	$8
Xbox One	Madden 22	Boxed	$5
Xbox One	Prototype BioHazard Bundle	Boxed	$35
Xbox One	Rare Replay	Boxed	$9
Xbox One	Skylanders Trap Team	Boxed	$32
Xbox One	UFC 3	Boxed	$6
Xbox One	Watch Dogs 2	Boxed	$5
Xbox One	Wolfenstein The New Order	Boxed	$7

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Nintendo

NES	Bart vs The Space Mutants	Manual Only	$8
NES	Gradius	Manual Only	$11
NES	Mega Man 1 (Not pictured)	Manual Only	$65
NES	Mission Impossible	Manual Only	$5
NES	NES Advantage controller	Manual Only	$5
NES	Zodas Revenge	Manual Only	$12
NES	Castlevania II Simons Quest	Loose	$14
NES	Kung Fu	Loose	$12
NES	Ninja Gaiden II	Loose	$11
NES	Skate or Die	Loose - Worn/snagged top label	$4
NES	Wizards and Warriors III	Loose - Worn/torn top label	$24
NES	Game Genie	Loose	$15
SNES	Buster Busts Loose $8	Manual Only	$8
SNES	Hey Punk! Are You Tuff E Nuff? $10	Manual Only	$10
SNES	Lawnmower Man $5	Manual Only	$5
SNES	Mega Man X $17	Manual Only	$17
SNES	World Heroes $9	Manual Only	$9
N64	Standard N64 Console	Includes OEM expansion pack.	$80
Wii	Mario Party 8	BL - Boxed	$28
Wii	Metroid Other M	BL - Sealed	$22
Wii	Red Steel	BL - Boxed	$5
Wii	Trauma Center Second Opinion	BL - CIB	$9
Wii U	Super Mario 3D World	BL - CIB	$14
NDS	Red Super Mario Bros 25th Anniversary Edition DSi XL	Loose - With charger. Does have some minor wear and teascuffs on corners	$80 - Pending
NDS	Spiderman Shattered Dimensions	Loose	$10
NDS	Spyro The Eternal Night	Super Smash Bros 3DS	$10
3DS	Super Smash Bros 3DS	Super Smash Bros 3DS	$10
Switch	Red and Blue V2 Switch Console	Includes everything but the box. Decent condition with a few blemishes. Everything works.	$210 shipped - Will also throw in some third party Joycon controller grips..
Gameboy	Ren and Stimpy Veediots	Manual Only	$5

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MISCELLANEOUS

• X-Men Cartoon Maker - PC - CIB - Very good condition - $8
• Naruto Best Hit Collection CD w/Slipcover - $12
• Lots of Magic the Gathering, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, DBZ cards/ Funko Pops, Bakugan. Pokémon cards can be seen here and here. MTG here and here.

Ever wonder why nobody plays objective? Or wonder why the game doesn’t feel the way it used to back in the day?
You have the campy camo challenges to thank for that.
Nobody moves in this game because the game doesn’t give you a reason to move.
Longshots? Yeah I’m gonna camp as far away from people as possible to increase my chances of getting one.
Mount kills? Yeah I’m literally not even allowed to move in order to get these kills.
Crouch kills? Why crouch and move slowly and get myself killed easily when I could just crouch in a corner and wait.
Prone kills? Yeah let me just lay down in the same spot for the whole game.
Shoot enemies from behind? Yeah I’ll just sit here in this corner and wait for someone to run by.
The simplicity of the new camo system made it TOO easy to get, so now EVERYONE is attempting to get them.
They need to revamp the entire challenge system with camos. Give us objective challenges to promote actually playing the objective. 20 kills while in the hard point. Earn 20 defend or offense medals. 10 double kills while defending, stuff like that. I think that would solve every issue with players complaining about nobody playing the objective. They need to give players an actual reason to go for the objective.

Hi all,
I’m after what a reasonable expectation for a take home salary would be for a Vic firefighter?
I’ve had a look over the EBA etc but does that include penalties etc?
I’m in my early 30s, reasonably fit and at that point in my current career where I’ve started to become a little stayed and bored and I’m itching to try something new.
I’m well aware it’s extremely competitive to get in but if any current members have an insights about what it’s like on a day today I’d been super appreciative.

Age - 26
Sex - F
Height - 5’10
Weight - 165
Race - White
Duration of complaint - 3 days
Location - dull pain in lower right stomach and back
Any existing relevant medical issues IBS & Migraines
Current medications Nurtec
Include a photo if relevant
I have unprotected sex w my husband. Had a full period 15 days ago but experiencing dizziness and nausea and now this intermittent dull pain. I also had a tiny amount of yellow discharge. I do not drink or smoke or do drugs. I workout 5-6 days a week. Ovarian cysts are common in my family but I’ve never had one and my period is very regular. Not sure if this warrants a trip to ER but I’m getting more and more worried. Pain is not increasing.

I was convicted of a DWI in New York in October 2022. It required a 6 month license revocation but the court did not require me to take the NY Impaired Driving Program. However, I am licensed in MA (where I am also suspended due to this. It was my first offense.) I am nearing the end of my 6 months and after I pay some more money, my driving privileges should be reinstated in NY. In MA, it looks like I will be at the 6 month mark and will be eligible for a “General Hardship” license rather than just a “Work/Education Hardship” license. The MA RMV website does not describe the difference or requirements between the two. Can anyone shed some light on that? Also - even though the offense occurred in NY, I believe I will still have to enroll & complete a class (probably the one here in MA.) is this true? I am just confused as I had a public defender in New York who could not really tell me anything. Thanks so much for any help! It’s been stressful trying to navigate both states and their requirements.

No sooner had Najia sat down at a dingy canteen on the scrap facility than her datapad received a call from Yorilos. She hadn't even gotten her coffee yet, and thought that was supremely unfair. "Anyone wanna bet he natters on without stopping to let me interrupt?"
There were no takers, and she propped the datapad up, connecting the call. Yorilos's face appeared, in the cockpit of the ship she had 'liberated' for him. "Excellent!" he exclaimed without preamble. "Now, Protectyon is exorbitantly expensive, but I suppose we will not need an entire unit to conduct your research. It might be our best course of action to approach the CEO of Northriver Company directly. We might be able to buy a small sample from him... If we can find him, that is. It is well known that he occasionally likes to flaunt his enormous wealth. A fellow trader just spotted him taking his most prized possession out for a pleasure cruise. I have sent you the coordinates of his last known location. Start from there."
He terminated the call, and Najia sat back, blinking. "Did he even stop to breathe?" Marta snorted. "That guy apparently sucks wind with his asshole, since he sure as hell didn't take any in through his mouth!"
Najia snorted, laughing and covering her face with her palm. Ace looked at Marta in disbelief for a few moments, as she worked out the idiom, then let out a high-pitched, almost strangled trill, hanging her head. "Y'all know I'm right," Marta hammered the point in. "He is longwinded, yes. And also, unfortunately, an idiot," Ace declared. "Well... Yes, but why in specific, this time?"
"I hope for his sake he is fantastic in the bunk and willing to pursue a career in prostitution, because he is clearly a homeworld-raised true believer in nonsense," Ace spat. "He actually believes 'the invisible hand of the free market' will result in equitable distribution of goods and wealth?!" She let out a shrill trill. "In Avarice and Windfall no less!" Marta snorted. "Yeah... He'd better be planning to be a boy-toy." She rolled her eyes. "Does he really think that the CEO of a monopoly is just going to sell us a tiny sample of what's making him filthy rich so we can take it away, analyze it, synthesize it, and start competing with him?" "Apparently he does," Najia said with an exasperated sigh. "That's kind of... Frightening, actually. Though chasing this fellow down might be something we'll have to do eventually, but for now... We might as well just buy a load."
"Protectyon is not ordinary cargo," Ace pointed out. "I do not know the specifics, but I do know that it requires special cargo-handling equipment. The Rakers know this. They guard the nature of this equipment with some skill. Between that, and that the only market for the stuff is here in Windfall, it is not a substance of any value to a pirate... Presumably, small containers for transporting small quantities are available to those in the know, of course." "Of course... But in this case, I think the best move is to make use of my checking account," Najia said. The waitress arrived with coffee in a cheap metal mug, which Najia took gratefully, as did the rest of her party. They were sitting at a table next to Robin and the party of crew she had brought with them. Najia took a drink of the coffee, and grimaced immediately. "Don't like it, spacer," the waitress asked with a smirk as she handed out the others' drinks. "Took me by surprise. Tidebreak serves it sweet enough to curl eyebrows." No sooner had she said that, than the waitress sat a bottle on the table with a heavy, dense thunk. Najia poured it in, and nodded; it was some kind of yellowish syrup or synthetic honey. "Thank you," she said. "Sure, whatever. Your ship brought a load of food here - and not even like, the stuff the fuckin' Viggs 'let us' have, at extortionate rates. So, there's that, spacer." The waitress turned and hurried away. Ace snorted. "Not very grateful, was she?" She had, apparently, missed where part of the plan had been to have Takio's personal Baku deliver a load of food, which she supposed had transpired while she was asleep.
"These people are... Prickly. I can understand that," Najia said. "Anyway, I'm just going to take the simple route on this one: buy one of the condensate ships, load it with the stuff at market value, and have it fly it to the headquarters... For 'upgrades' of course." She grinned.
Ace trilled softly at that. "Upgrades indeed." She fiddled with the datapad in her hand as Najia and the others started to do likewise, and after a few moments, found what seemed to be a saved-game in progress. It looked like a sketch of a space station, but it struck her as being a puzzle game, and probably an 'indie' one at that, given the godawful user-interface. She quickly worked it out of course, because a pirate's mind is slippery by necessity and a Teladi's mind is primed to calculate a dozen variables at once, and then she could dig into the meat of it. It looked like a space station, but it was one built on an impossible scale; an absolute megalith of a station, an absurd and ridiculous monolith seemingly built to construct the most basic and common of Commonwealth construction materials, but in absolutely absurd quantities. There was a rider on it, too; and that seemed to be the objective of the game, or at least of the current level; adding a mixed population of Terran, Argon, and Teladi workers, and the requisite inputs to feed them all, enough to run the entire station and then some.
The datapad in her hand chirr-uped, and Ace saved and closed the progress she had made in the game, finding that a new report had been filed by the professor they had hired for, frankly, enough money to probably have employed the entire Empyrean Curs. She skimmed the summary - short, consise and to the point - and trilled softly. "Interesting development," she noted. "Your starship professor is making yet more inroads." She looked up at the human magnate. "Apparently he found a project starfighter that someone had been preparing in one of your hangars."
Najia chuckled. "A project starfighter?" She took the datapad. "Paramerion...? Hmph. Looks like someone stripped down a Kallis for speed and narrowness, judging by these stats." "Could be fun," Marta pointed out. "For someone who likes to fly, that is," she added, grinning at Najia and Ace.
Najia chuckled, and then shook her head. "Might even be just the thing for chasing down this Northriver fellow, if we assume he's going to make himself difficult to catch up to. According to the Professor, it's currently a one-off, but they should be able to extrapolate the plans and build more, if desired. Seems that it actually was based on some early, unproduced Kallis prototypes." "I'll have it sent out to the Avarice Necessities supplier," Najia added. "Meanwhile..."
A high-importance alert hit her datapad. She frowned as she read the report; one - then two - then three - of her freighters in Windfall were reporting being harassed by the Vigor syndicate. That was new. She scowled at that, snarling.
"Trouble," Ace asked. Under the table, she curled her tail around Najia's calf, and Najia rubbed her eyes. "Trouble," Ace repeated; no longer an interrogative, but a statement. "The Vigor syndicate have apparently decided to start harassing ships carrying food," she noted, wrathfully. "That you have gone so long without them doing so is the anomaly," Ace pointed out. "They are not shy about that they use force to enforce their monopoly on food in Windfall and Vigor," she added. "And was this not the fight you intended to wage anyway?"
"Yes," Najia hissed angrily. "But the timing is wrong." She rubbed her eyeballs, seething. Her ships were reporting that the Vigor syndicate were being very aggressive; not quite at the point of shooting openly at them - which would go poorly for everyone concerned frankly - but they were harassing them openly, shaking them down for bribes or even demanding they drop cargo, as well as conducting "police" inspections for "contraband" - meaning food and water. "Then what do you plan to do?"
Najia grit her teeth, closing her eyes. She focused on the feeling of Ace's tail squeezing her calf, and seethed, but calmed herself. "Comply... For now. Set up some goodwill by selling them energy cells again." "Again? They're probably angry you cut them off in the first place," Ace noted, and Najia snorted. "Probably." Najia let out an annoyed hiss of breath. "Well, we'll deal with it." She drummed her fingers in annoyance on the bare metal, cafeteria-style table. "The time is not yet. Not yet... Yet." She cracked her knuckles, one-by-one. "First, we need to chase down this Protectyon stuff." She started fiddling on her datapad. "I'll just place the order and have it sent to the HQ. If Boso Ta can't work with that, well... I guess we'll try it Yorilos' way and chase down this Northriver."
"It might be worthwhile to approach him now in any event," Ace suggested. "The Northriver company are, as you might imagine... Well-connected, with the Vigor Syndicate." Najia pursed her lips and frowned, but nodded. She looked around the dingy cafeteria, and sighed, nodding, but sighed again, heavily. "You can't fix everything, Ninja Taco; and what you can fix, you mostly can't fix in a day," Marta said, softly. "Let's just... Let's try Ace's idea."
Najia nodded, with a heavy sigh. She covered her head with her hands for a few moments, and let out a huff. She needed a bit of breathing room, time to think, time to plan. She looked around, and drummed her fingers on the table. "Let's finish our business here, and head for the Necessities station," she said. "We'll give the Raleigh I bought time to make it to the HQ, and the Paramerion time to get here... Then we'll use it, as it's apparently speed incarnate, to chase down Northriver and see what he can tell us about Protectyon, or the Syndicate, or both." She looked around; there were no particular objections raised. Ace snorted softly at her. "I and 'Chipmunk' are laying low; it matters little to me where we do so or what other activities we engage in whilst doing. Besides, I wonder what this station looks like."
Najia grinned at her.
Scant hours later, Ace was in the co-pilot's seat of the Baku as it arrowed in to land, alongside the Radiant Afterglow that had been shadowing them the whole time. The station was a mammoth; Ace had been expecting some kind of small way-station. It had absolutely gargantuan solar arrays pointing at the nearby star; the number of docks and piers was, frankly, grossly excessive, to the point that Ace reckoned it could easily hold the entire ship population of Avarice. There were massive personnel accommodations, and all the things she had seen that made Takio's constructions so awe-inspiring. "The number of docks and piers you have here is mind-boggling," Ace commented as the ship landed on one of the Terran-style disk docks. "It defies description. I cannot imagine why."
Najia smiled weakly at her, leaning out to look out through the expansive flight-deck window. "Quite simply? I wanted there to never, ever, ever be any question about whether or not a ship in need of safe-habor from the Tide could find it here. And yes, we're buying the Protectyon stuff - at quite ridiculous prices - to keep the place safe." She pointed at a massive, triple-pronged module along the station's 'spine.' "The Breakers built that, and the storage for it. They're effectively a 'black box' to us since part of the deal there was that we didn't poke around inside, but the thing keeps working, and we've isolated them from outside comms to ensure that stays the case."
Ace snorted. "I'm surprised you agreed to refrain from reverse-engineering them." "Well, we did. Of course, we lied," Najia said, with a grin. "I don't believe in letting other people keep technological secrets from me. But we're not, you know, cutting our way in or anything... Sometimes, you have to move slow. Besides, nobody would bat an eyelash at me commissioning another Raleigh and stocking it with some Protectyon, right?" "Right," Ace said, chuckling. She glanced up at the station. It was massive. She glanced down at the time-table; the Paramerion would arrive in approximately sixteen hours. "This place is huge. I might have to look around."
Najia smiled at her. "Feel free. You want to come with me to chase down this Northriver character? I think I'm going to give this prototype a test run myself." Ace trilled. "That sounds fun. Sure."
The Avarice Necessities Supplier station was a mammoth. Ace had explored it thoroughly; it had all the amenities one might expect of a space station, which was surprising in Avarice space. Unsurprising to her now, was that the prices were absolutely rock-bottom. Not quite giving the stuff away at cost, but close enough. It was, Ace mused, a good way to make inroads with the Rakers, though she suspected that Takio was doing so out of beneficience as much as anything else. She seemed positively furious that the Syndicate were exerting control over food and water; absolutely furious.
That, Ace realized, was something that set her apart. To her way of thinking, it was only to be expected that the party which had the power to establish a monopoly on such basic necessities should do so, to further increase their power and wealth, exploiting that position to enrich themselves. Takio clearly did not see it that way. It was an affront to her; and she was clearly plotting the Syndicate's downfall over it. Ace mused these musings both before and after she took a nap, in a surprisingly-affordable lodging room she took on the station. The amenities were in fact made in the same style and materials as those Najia had established for herself back on her headquarters station. The shower, in particular, was an absolute luxury to Ace's mind; there was no time- or pressure-limiter, no charge for the water use, and, as with the showers on her ships, featured a slick slatted floor instead of an obvious drain and a bench. All available at such a rate that anyone who landed here could afford to stay without difficulty. Neither were there any other tiers of accommodation available; there were no 'suites' above and beyond what she slept in, nor were there the expected squalorus hostel dormitories she had sometimes been able to avail herself of in her youth - at prices that sometimes exceeded that of the individual suite she enjoyed. The only other forms of room available were doubles and quads for pairings or parties sleeping together, and 'accessibility' rooms for persons with mobility or other issues.
Ace had found this so surprising, in fact, she had chatted up the clerk at the lodging module. Apparently, Takio Enterprises had taken some simple shortcuts in their design process, by not doing the design work themselves; they had simply followed Segaris traveler-accommodation regulations and made use of a common Segaris habitat module design. The prices were set low because the station was, ultimately, self-sufficient save for the reliance on Protectyon, and it was largely viewed as a public service.
The difference between this station and the one they had left hardly any time at all before was striking. The Terran construction techniques Takio used were incredible, of course; but it also spoke to their intents that they were effectively leaving money in the pockets of persons who would pay higher prices for what they were offering and gladly. Of course, she mused, it wasn't entirely utopic. It couldn't be. she had found a tavern and lurked, and certainly she had caught the (metaphorical) scent of black-market trade. The number of employees at the station was enormous, surely there would be those who could be bribed. There was certain, she knew, to be a thriving underbelly in illicit goods or services; though it seemed that there was an effort to minimize this, by the simple expedient of making the most commonly-smuggled goods and most commonly-criminalized services legal, mostly in the Teladi style; Ace saw vending machines which dispensed packets of Space Weed and found a local-net exchange board which purported to connect medically-checked and cleared prostitutes with clients; tangential to that was a heap of information about prostitution - both practical and, she saw with a little digging, historical and philosophical - as well as resources for those looking to get into that trade, beginning with reporting to medical for an examination. There was also a stark warning that pimping, or abusing a prostitute in any way, carried a summary sentence of execution. Ace's eyes shot up at that. She ran a few searches to see what cut Takio Enterprises was taking for this, but couldn't find any over and above presumably the rental price of the lodging rooms involved.
It almost seemed clinical, but, she mused, on the balance, if this environment had been available to her when she was trying to figure out what to do to avert hunger, it certainly would have seemed a far more attractive option. Her primary reason for shying away from prostitution as a career, had been the fear of winding up the property of a pimp. Ace ruminated on this, whilst staring out the window of a tavern, at the star, through the solar panel array, when she got the message that the Paramerion had arrived.
The craft itself looked very much like many of the Terran ships Ace had seen in recent weeks, sitting in the pretty purple trim that Takio had ships meant for herself painted in. It was even sitting in a bay next to a Tsurugi superheavy fighter, which made her take a double-take; clearly they had wasted no time in producing the starfighters!
Ace looked between the two. The Paramerion was short dorsal-to-ventral, as most Terran small craft were, but this one took it to an extreme. It was elongated and somewhat narrow, though it could have, she thought, been narrower still without the side-mounted wings that served no purpose she could discern immediately, save to be wings. "They're for atmospheric flight," Najia explained. "Most Terran S- and M- craft are at least capable of it; most Argon, too, for that matter. Most Teladi... Even the Drill, which the Baku is based on; and of course the Baku itself. Though, admittedly, the flying shoe does rely a lot more on thrusters," Najia said; she was standing by the ramp into the Paramerion, watching Ace's gaze.
Ace trilled softly and nodded, joining Najia in the cockpit. It was roomy enough; the cockpit design seemed to be wholly-copied from the Kallis. That made sense, as they were apparently related designs. She looked around, and tapped on the holographic auxiliary console at the rear of the cockpit, to the side. "Shall I navigate for you?" "Unless you'd rather fly," Najia said, smiling at her. Ace took a moment to think on that, and shook her head. "I'll fly the way back, if all goes smoothly. It's your ship, you should take it. Where is Marta? Is she not coming?"
"She's already in the back. There's what the original designers of these classes euphemistically refer to as a 'bunk-slash-engineering-access' behind us, in front of the power plant. It's so tight I don't think anyone could even masturbate in there, but you can sleep in there... If you're desperate. Personally, I'd just roll out a sleeping mat in the dockpit," Najia said; this got a louder trill from Ace, as Najia took the chair. "Right, I've already done the preflight... Let's see what she can do."
Northriver was, allegedly, in the same sector - Avarice I - and finding him was a minor challenge. Ace operated sensors whilst Najia piloted; the ship seemed to have very desirable piloting characteristics; agile and responsive without being touchy or prone to over-maneuvering. Swift, but not prone to sliding. She looked forward to her own turn at the stick, as they narrowed in on the alleged location of Brantlee Northriver.
Finding him was little challenge - then Ace swore softly. "Is that..." She had another ship on the fighter's sensors, and brought up its details. Sitting a hundred klicks from Astrid, apparently the ship of Northriver, was J.P. Morgan's Knife. Ace hissed softly. "Does he... Really..."
"Does he really expect this guy to give us a sample to reverse engineer?" Najia groaned. "Fine, fuck it. If we don't ask, he will, and Yorilos is about as good at negotiating as someone who goes to a flea market, sees a pair of sun-shades at a stall, talks the proprietor down two credits and walks away feeling like they're John Pierpont Morgan." Ace trilled softly at that. "Is that whom his vessel is named after? Who was this person?" Najia snorted. "We'd have to interrupt the history lesson to run for cover from the Tide," she said with a grin, looking over her shoulder. "Suffice to say he was a human industrialist from a very long time ago, who managed to amass one of the smaller fortunes of his era, but who wielded power and control of money to substantially more effect than the actual wealth he personally had. He formed banks, you see; once, he helped to fend off an impending bank run that would have caused a financial collapse, by assembling a large number of a nation's most powerful bankers in his mansion, and locked them in his library, telling them that they would not be leaving until they had worked out a scheme to avert the crisis."
Ace trilled, watching as the little fighter closed on what she was reading as some kind of yacht. "That sounds like something you might do," she pointed out. Najia snorted, looked back at Ace, and chuckled. "I think I should take that as a compliment. J.P. Morgan was an asshole, like pretty much all of the wealthy and powerful persons of his time and era... Or, any era, to be honest. I... Never expected to find myself wielding clout and power like Morgan's, let alone enough that I probably eclipse him. It's... Kind of overwhelming, to be honest." "And yet, you persevere," Ace retorted. "By any measure, you could take what you've amassed now, retire to a sector of your choosing, build a monumental space station of your own design, and live a life of indolence until the money ran out. A Teladi could take your wealth and live out the rest of her life, even. Yet, you are building warships and lodgings fit for well-off individuals and affordable to the hardscrabble. By Teladi reckoning, Najia, you are insane."
Najia blinked at that, half-snorting. She had cut the travel drive and was approaching the lazily drifting yacht, and took the moment to turn her chair halfway, looking to her side at Ace. "Do you think I'm... Literally mad?" Ace peered at her, and shook her head. "No, I do not. Many Teladi might assume it to be so," she said, with an ambivalent sway of her hips and a shrug. "... I believe that you are acting to a set of principles and convictions that are, however, utterly alien to most Teladi understanding. You seem as if you intend to seize Windfall and Avarice outright. Yet even if you did, you would not squeeze the Rakers on food prices the way the Syndicate does. I do not understand where you are coming from," Ace said, swaying her hips again. "But... I feel I can trust you. And from there, confidence. Heads-up," she added, cautioning Najia. "We are close enough you had best comm them, lest they think you're about to attack."
Swiveling rapidly back to face forward, Najia did just that, signaling the yacht she was approaching of her intent to communicate. Moments later, she recieved a reply. "Yes, what is it you want?" Brantlee Northriver had a grating, abrasive, and smug voice; he was also dressed, she thought, ridiculously, wearing what looked like a desaturated blue jacket trimmed with excessively gaudy, and gaudily excessive amounts of gold, with some kind of absurd half-hood thing cupping the back of his head. It was some long-ago futurist's vision of what a far-flung spacefuture clergyman's robe might look like crossed with a business suit. Najia knew that her own sense of fashion was questionable, but even she immediately recognized the outfit as disgustingly ugly, and radiating both wealth and contempt. Her impression was realized as he continued, "I sure hope you have a good reason for approaching me. I am quite busy, you see?"
Najia mastered the urge to ask if he was busy receiving fellatio from someone under the console he was sitting at, because she could see absolutely no other possible activity he was invested in; she also mastered the urge to just shoot the smug off his face. She instead smiled at him, schooling herself into 'businesswoman' persona even though he made her skin crawl on an imager; and, of course, she would have to try to talk a sample out of it, because she knew that Yorilos was listening in and would certainly swoop in and somehow make things stupider if she didn't. "Mr. Northriver, you may not have had time yet to notice my minor operations; Takio Enterprises is expanding into Avarice. The name of Northriver and its Protectyon is on every set of lips within three jumps as a potent defensive measure against the Tide. I wished to obtain -"
"What, just a sample?" Northriver leaned forward, towards his camera, smirking - no, smugging - at her, adopting the 'Thinker' pose, briefly. "Such a small quantity won't get you far, if you want to protect yourself from the Tide. Can't afford more, eh?" For a moment, Najia toyed with the notion of making an offer to buy Northriver outright, just to wipe the smug off his face, but he continued to smug audibly at her. "Oh, well, since you seem to be new around here, I'll allow it. Once." Brantlee turned to look out his cockpit window at Avarice, which illuminated him brightly. Looking away and up was probably his 'best side;' it was the only posture in which she had yet seen him that looked anything other than 'contemptable.' "To get you hooked. Am I not charitable?" He immediately resumed his contemptuousness, then turned back to face her and made it all the more stark. "I will even cut you a special deal, how about that?" His expression clearly communicated his contempt and belief that he was superior. "Merely twelve and a half thousand credits for the sample you so dearly desire; my first, last, and only offer."
Najia wanted to say something scathing in return, she really did. Or simply to lock her cannons on his admittedly-very-sexy yacht and take the sample at cannon-point. Or to flip him the finger. Instead, she schooled herself to merely raise her eyebrow skeptically; forcing herself to maintain 'The Businesswoman,' who was too refined to rise to the bait. But she also had neither time nor patience to haggle over what was, frankly, a trivial sum to her bank account. Hell, she knew for a fact that Ace could buy the sample and wouldn't lose much sleep over it, just from what Ace had made in the last several days with her. "It seems your proposal can only be agreed to," she said, bringing up the financial transfer function on her console and sending the sum required.
Smugly, Brantlee grinned at her. "Here you go. I hope you leave as a satisfied customer!" Ace quickly tapped a message that appeared on her console. 'He's jettisoned an XS cargo pod.' The Teladi deftly located it for her on sensors, targeting it for her, as Northriver continued, "Oh, and by the way - don't for one second think that you can use this sample to engineer a competing product. It won't work. Northriver products are just too ingenious!" Northriver positively crowed it at her, and once again Najia had to master the urge to lock weapons upon him, but she did, at that moment, privately vow that, by means fair or foul, she was going to gain possession of his yacht if only to spite him. "Run along now," he added, smirking. "I have much more important matters to attend to," he clarified, sanctimoniously smiling, ending the comm channel and turning the yacht away, entering Travel drive.
"Let me bring that pod aboard," Ace muttered, manipulating the tractor controls, and comming the multipurpose space in the back. "Marta, if you would kindly suit up -" "Way ahead of you, Ace," Marta answered her, popping up on-screen already wearing a light pressure suit, in the airlock. "Get it over here and I'll grab it, make sure it doesn't jostle or anything. Mass?" "Considerable, but not more than a large human such as yourself can handle. Volitility is not known, but it cannot hurt to be over-cautious."
Najia smiled to herself as she heard Ace, unprompted, begin collaboration with Marta. A part of her cynical and intellectual side tried to argue that Ace was a pirate, and probably always would be a pirate at heart, but she was quite simply too fond of the reptilian spacer to listen to that part of her anymore; her oldest friend and her newest could be coming together. Then another comm popped up, and she resisted the urge to groan aloud. She let The Businesswoman fade; frankly, Yorilos didn't rate it, and they were (sort of) collaborators on this anyway. To her surprise (and pleasure), when he commed her, he immediately voiced her own opinion, "I wonder if being obnoxious is his deliberate business strategy?" Najia laughed, heartily, slumping back in her command chair and grinning brightly, shrugging. "I don't think so. I think it just comes naturally to the git."
Yorilos looked momentarily nonplussed, presumably by her vernacular, then said, "No matter. It will make it all the more enjoyable when we pull the rug from under the Northriver Company." "We are in absolute agreement about that," Najia said. "I want to wipe the smug grin off his face." She glanced down; her airlock indicator had closed, and she flicked up a view of the inside. Marta was carefully securing a container roughly the size and volume of a ubiquitous 205-liter shipping drum, though it wasn't one. "I've just taken the sample aboard." "You want to take it back to the headquarters yourself? Go ahead," Yorilos said. He cut the channel, and Najia blinked at the suddenness.
"... Well, that was... Abrupt," Najia said, looking back to Ace. "It was. I cannot believe that you paid twelve and a half thousand for the sample." Najia shrugged. "I mean... It's highway robbery, considering that a commercial volume costs just about twice that and is twenty cubic meters in volume whereas that sample is maybe two. On the other hand, you heard him; he wasn't in the mood to negotiate. What should I have done? Shot at him?" "Yes." Ace trilled, then huffed, shaking her head. "No. As cathartic as it would be, your plans are too long-term to have simply taken it from the wretch by force." She shook her head. "I suppose you had little choice," she conceded, "if you are to continue Yorilos' scheme."
"I'm kind of eager to set Boso Ta loose on this stuff myself," Najia said. The revolving door to the back cycled, and Marta walked in, looking flushed with exertion. "Thanks, Marta," she said. "You can thank me by you securing the damn thing in the 'hold,' Marta said, snarkily.
Najia nodded, and swiveled her chair all the way. "Sure. Thank you. Ace, you're up on stick," she said, standing up. "Let's just fly this thing straight home; I bet we can make it before dinnertime with us flying," she said, smiling at Ace. Ace trilled softly. "That sounds like a challenge. Accepted." She slid past Marta and Najia, slaloming between them, and took the stick, keying in a course for the Takio Enterprises headquarters. "We should recall the other ships, yes?" "Yes; good thinking, Ace. Thank you. I'll handle it from the back, after I've secured this barrel."
Ace and Najia made great time returning to the headquarters; they flew close to recklessly, causing Marta to comment that she was glad she was flying with them, for if they got themselves killed flying that way, she wouldn't have to hear about it. They arrived at the headquarters to little fanfare, and Marta peeled off as soon as they arrived, pleading the need to go and look into something she had arranged previously. "Well, shall we talk to Boso Ta?" Ace asked, looking up at Najia. They had gone to Avarice in an overnight journey by-the-numbers, stayed for less than a day, and were now back where they had started. "And hope that this back-and-forth bears some fruit?"
"I would very much like that," Najia agreed. The container had already been sent to the lab, and she squared her shoulders up, heading for the lift with purpose.
The door to the laboratory opened, and Najia's jaw dropped. "How," she said, flatly, quietly, as Ace all-but plowed into her backside. Ace slid around her side, looking into the lab, and let out a chuff of disbelief.
Yorilos was standing beside Boso Ta's tank.
Ace resisted the urge to hiss in surprise, and reached up, patting Najia's back. "I do not know," she confessed. "Perhaps he made use of an anomaly and was quite lucky. Or perhaps he has modified his hauler in ways unimaginable and is an outright daredevil pilot." Najia shook her head, and squared up, entering the lab. The elderly professor was nowhere to be seen, but it was late at night; he was likely in bed. So she went to the interloper, approaching Yorilos. "Yorilos, hi... What are you doing here?" She wasn't even going to ask how. That was his secret and his alone.
"Ah, yes. I really hope we can find a way to make the Protectyon more affordable for everyone in Avarice," he explained, as he peered around the laboratory. That, she thought, didn't exactly explain her question; presumably he intended for her to infer the answer. Somehow. Najia shook her head and smiled, nodding to him. "Alright." She climbed up the stairs, after a glance back at Ace, who had become fascinated by the new addition of a lot of bonsai trees in the laboratory's little greenery display, and greeted Boso Ta with a wave, to which the Boron responded with one of his own. "Hello there! Ah, excellent, the Protectyon sample has been delivered, and we may begin. Thank you kindly!" Boso Ta seemed to examine a computer tablet held in his... Tentacles? Flippers? Manipulators. He made a few deft strokes. "I have added the Protectyon Research to our agenda, and listed the required secondary materials. Feel free to initiate the research at any time convenient to yourself!"
With that abrupt declaration, Boso Ta swam upwards through the hatch in the laboratory tank, presumably to his personal lodging suites. Najia blinked, rocking back on her heels and looked back at Ace, who looked at her with the cocked hips that Najia had intuited was a definite shrug. "You'd think I didn't own the place," Najia muttered to herself, "the way almost everyone just... Is so... Curt with me." "You could put them in their place the way a pirate lord would," Ace suggested. "Or, if having a beating administered is too vulgar for your preferences, do what a capitalist might do and threaten them with penury."
Najia snorted. "Yeah... I think I'd rather just live with being curtly spoken to than be an asshole." "So be it. Your ways do allow for others to become... Familiar with you," Ace said, giving a vibrato trill. "For better, and for worse." She smiled at Najia, and Najia smiled back. Ace was toying with a small bonsai tree, and watched as Najia checked her datapad, then clucked her tongue.
"A lot of things we don't have on-hand," Najia muttered, "mainly because what Boso Ta wants - for this research project, and others - are Commonwealth-base, and we're not. That's not a huge problem, I'll just ask Tsukiko to set up a PO for a useful quantity of said commodities. For now -" The tank was suddenly filled again with Boso Ta. "Assistant, you simply must do something about this irksome vessel!"
A moment of silent passed. Najia pushed down the urge to be catty or snarky at Boso Ta, or outright hostile. She took a deep breath. "A... Vessel? Is irking you?" "Yes yes! Somehow, it is managing to distort the station's sensors, preventing me from witnessing a solar event in the Great Reef Nebula. I suggest you take care of this annoyance before it manages to disrupt even more observations!"
Najia took in a breath to respond, but Boso Ta had already vanished again, with such rapidity that even Yorilos seemed to be watching him dumbstruck. Yorilos also made a cocked-hip gesture, and then walked out. Najia watched him go, and snorted. "If he has even half a brain, he's going to ask Boso Ta what resources he's asking for and then try to get ahead of the purchase orders," Najia noted. "I would." "As would I," Ace agreed. "Would you like me to take care of this... 'Irksome Vessel' for you?"
"Bored?" Najia asked, grinning at Ace. "I wouldn't say that I was bored," Ace said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. Najia squeezed back. "But it seems that Boso Ta will not likely let the matter drop."
"Alright. Let's take care of it." Najia rolled her shoulders. "I can do this admin stuff from a ship as easily as my apartment study." She headed for the lift, neglecting to let go of Ace's hand; Ace likewise kept the hold, accompanying her. They almost ran into Marta coming out of it. She had a big grin on her face, and Najia pursed her lips. "Okay, what have you done," she asked.
"Oh, not much, just had a warship commissioned to keep close-to-hand in case we get in trouble and need some biggish guns fast. She's done, come take a look." Najia looked down at Ace, who trilled loudly at her. "Either you pay her too well, or you trust her entirely, if she has such authority in your name." "Jealous," Marta asked, smirking. "Yes," Ace admitted frankly. "Shall we?"
Najia sighed and laughed. "Fiiiine."
The bridge of T.E.S. Koshirae was the common standard Terran capital module, and very shortly, Najia, Marta and Ace were standing in it, shaking hands with the woman standing at the captain's post, who was wearing a stylish jacket in a decidedly non-Terran style, tights, and comfortable looking sneakers. "I'm sorry," Najia said, with a smile. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."
"Kevlin, ma'am; Selaia Kevlin. I'm a shipyard specialist." Her accent was distinctly neither anything Solar that Najia recognized, nor Segaris. "I'm surprised you're even aboard yet; we're only about to put her through space trials."
Najia snorted. "Not even the shakedown cruise, huh? You're not from anywhere I've been, are you?" "No ma'am." Selaia looked Asian, with her hair up in a tight bun. "I'm from Argon Prime. I found myself in Grand Exchange as crew on a freighter, saw the amenities on offer on your headquarters station, and jumped ship for a job here."
Najia nodded. "I see..." She grinned. "Are you spying on me?" "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, ma'am," Selaia responded back, in the age-old joke. Najia laughed in turn.
"Right. Well, stand down for a while," she said. "I appear to have been talked into taking her out personally." "Ma'am!" Selaia stepped aside. "The, err, owner has the bridge!" she called out, fumbling through something approximating military protocol, as Najia stepped up, looking over the console. Najia grinned. "Alright. Nifty little ship. Ace, take the helm," she said. "Take us out."