Mayden Station Promenade, Mayden Station, Northwest Fringe

Stepping off from Mayden was usually easy, yet Dell can’t help but keep an eye over his shoulder right now.

They’re back on the dock level, 13-19. While the station has no sun to create a difference between day and night, 0300 hours is still late for most. As such, the level is mostly empty, besides the wandering drunk or the handful of worker drones going about their automated tasks. Times like these make Dell even more nervous than when the station is crowded. The two of them stick out more when the station is this empty. Add a augged out Net-Head and they're an 'interesting' bunch.

And Dell knows that the last thing they need to be right now is interesting.

Once the trio had left the apartment, passing by the Emerald Snakes, who huddled around a few stolen bottles of something hard-hitting, Dell couldn't help but notice how unnerved Domitia seemed. Something was stuck in her craw, but with how the Bellator was, she wasn't exactly forthcoming, especially with a new face around. Dell looks over to Murci as she tags along a few steps behind the bounty hunters, eyes glinting from side to side, unfocused. Dell recognizes she’s barely paying any attention, probably flipping through the Net, checking for any updates that might help them.

'Or,' Dell thinks, his hand brushing against his PDW holstered on his back, 'Something else...'

Dell wants to be a more trusting person. Friendly? Dell tried to be, at the very least. He always made sure to be, at the very least, polite. Polite enough that people would leave him alone. 'Hell,' He thinks, 'I could be downright funny if I try.'

Yet something about how Murci eyes the two of them bothers Dell, especially how Murci observes Domitia. Dell noitices, although he isn't sure if his partner has picked up on it. After all, she’s used to people gawking at her. Yet Murci is always careful to ensure her gazes were subtle and infrequent. Dell doesn’t think it was an attraction. Some freaks were into Domitia, but Murci’s gaze is different: colder, more impersonal. Dell doesn’t know why, but Murci seems to be sizing her up. It could be her trying to get a scan on her augments, yet Dell knew that most were organic, with the only metal on her being neural ports for her armor systems to sync with her nervous system.

Yet there's another possibility; she's trying to look up Domitia on the net. Murci has read him like a book, and while it annoys Dell a bit, he gets it. Murci is a Net-Head, and most Net-Heads become info addicts. They love to know new things, and the more obscure the knowledge, the better. Yet Domitia is a black hole: untouchable, unreadable, and deadly to approach. Dell has a good idea for why, and while he knows it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, he doubts Murci will relent.

"We should probably do some shopping before we kick off," Murci suggests, "Janus isn't a short jump from what I'm reading."

"Well, you do you," Dell says with a smirk, "I make sure we get our groceries delivered. Besides, we'll be fine with food. I don't need much, and Domitia only eats that nutrient-paste Toak's love."

Murci nearly stumbles over upon hearing that, "What?"

"I can't taste anything besides sweet things," Domitia admits, "And Dell eats about as much as a cat."

"Hey!" Dell says, "A small dog, let's be accurate."

Murci stumbles a bit before shaking her head, "Nope. Not while I'm aboard. I'll meet y'all at the ship. Going to pack us some real food."

"Pfft, alright then," Dell gave her a mocking wave, "Good luck finding real, 'ganic food--"

"You shouldn't go alone." Domitia cuts Dell off. "You already know how dangerous the station can be."

"I can handle myself, big and tall," Murci says as she puts a hand on her hip.

"You needed us to brush some snakes off a porch for ya," Dell comments.

"I can avoid trouble. Not exactly great at getting rid of the trouble," She motions to the bounty hunters, "That’s what you meatheads are for."

Domitia snorts, "Fine."

Dell looks over at Domitia, "Fine?"

Domitia gives Dell a glance, he knows it well, the 'stop talking' glance. "We'll meet you at the Providence. We're leaving at 1200. Don't be late."

"Yes sir!" Murci says with a mocking salute before peeling off.

Dell looks over to Domitia, confused, "Letting her out of your sight that easily?"

"She had plenty of opportunity to lose us," Domitia reasons, "After we got the info she could've easily lost us on the lift or in a crowd."

"She still could be planning to," Dell counters, "End of the day she still has us by the balls."

"She needs us more than we need her at this point." Domitia argues.

Dell bites his tongue, deciding it’s probably best to make it back to the ship, "Bunk's calling me, let's mosey."

Domitia hums and carries on, Dell in tow. The eerie nature of a near empty dock gives Dell's trigger finger an itch. The feeling that he's going to meet some more 'old friends' that are looking to collect a bounty on him weighs on him a bit. Meixer was unexpected, but a necessary reminder of how life on the frontier can turn upside down so quickly. Especially on any of the world's housing fledging colonies, where most of the residents got sent there due to debts and crimes rather than seeking a fresh start.

"Real shame what happened with Meixer." Dell finally says.

Domitia pauses before the entrance to the Providence, "Yeah. It is."

"Was it clean?" Dell asks.

"No." Domitia admits.

Dell sighs, "Well. Life ain't clean. Can't expect death to be either."

Domitia opens the door to the Providence, the airlock hissing as it opens. Once inside, Dell's eyelids feel even heavier as he parts ways with Domitia towards his bunk. They exchange a wordless goodnight as Dell slips into his room. He takes a moment to kick off his boots and slip off his socks. He jumps over to his sink, landing shakily on the stool. He brushes his teeth and hops onto his hammock.

Despite his tiredness he doesn't sleep as well as he hopes. He fitfully tosses and turns, trying to discover some new spot on his hammock that will whisk him away to the land of dreams. His mind is fixated on the job, about the hacker and the split of the reward. Six or so million and change is still a lot of money, hell of a lot of money. Yet that'll have to be split with Dom (who deserved it) and Murci (who doesn’t). A dark thought comes over the grumlian as he sleeps.

"Accidents do happen..." He mumbles before falling asleep.

Dell awakes to the sound of clattering and the smell of something cooking. He rolls from his hammock, grabs his PDW, and straps his boots on before going out of his room. As quickly as he rose, he makes it down the hall and into the ship's kitchen. There he finds a strange sight - someone actually using it. Murci is in the kitchen working over a few pans, a pile of groceries on the counter opposite of her. Domitia watches over the operation, seemingly interested in whatever the hacker is cooking up.

"Morning Elo 1000," Murci says while working a pan on the induction stove, "Smell anything good?"

"Morning..." Dell holsters his PDW, "Well now that you mention it, yeah, smells alright."

"Nothing too special, scrambled eggs and veggies. Plate up if you want, the first batch is done."

Dell eyes the eggs, peppers and mushrooms stacked up on a plate. The fluffy yellow eggs do smell pretty alright, and he does enjoy red peppers. Mushrooms he can live without, but overall it does look like a good offering. He hops onto the kitchen bar and snatches a plate, leaping over to a nearby chair and begins to chow down. After confirming it isn't poison Dell actually finds the meal to be quite enjoyable; the eggs are perfectly cooked, the peppers add that spice and the mushrooms actually act as a flavor sponge, absorbing all the goodness. Still, despite the good meal, Dell eyes Murci warily; after all, she has ten million reasons to screw him and Domitia over.

"So, any good?" Murci asks Dell.

He shrugs, "It's alright." He admits, not wanting to give her full credit quite yet.

"Stoic as ever, huh?" Murci looks at Domitia, "Thought that was your thing?"

"Not much of a talker." Domitia states plainly.

"I see that, your file is... Empty." Murci looks back to the skillet, cooking her portion, "Between that, and your height, I think it's pretty easy to piece together you're a Bellator then."

Domtiia shrugs, "You'll see my armor soon enough."

Murci looks over her shoulder for a moment, eyes narrowing, "Curious. I didn't think they were still making Bellators."

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"They aren't." Domitia says in a stern, threatening tone.

Dell knew that tone. It was Domitia's way of communicating that she didn't want to talk about whatever you were asking her about. Dell knew that anything after that would just be a brick wall. While Dell was happy enough to let sleeping dogs lie, Murci didn't seem to be as content.

"So then let me ask you," Murci looks over at Domitia, "Which side were you on when it all went down on Tettria?"

Domitia looks Murci over with a heavy lidded stare, "The side that won. That's all you'll get."

Murci shrugs, "Fine. Be a mystery; just know that nothing stays hidden forever."

Domitia stands, "Thanks for the food. I need to get to work on my armor."

Dell waits for Domitia to leave the kitchen before looking Murci over, "Shouldn't ask her anything."

"Why's that?" Murci asks as she pours her skillet of hot food onto a plate for her to eat.

"Cause Dom isn't open." Dell finishes his plate, hops over to the sink to rinse it off, and gets it cleaned up, "Listen, we've been doing this for the better part of a decade. She doesn't talk about her past, and I don't ask."

"Aren't you a little curious?" Murci asks, "If she was on the Coalition side, what is she doing here? Why ain't she still in the Peacekeepers?"

Dell sighs as he begins to dry off the plate, "When I was a Made-Man, there was always the policy that you trust those who got your back." He looked Murci over, "Dom has had my back for years. She could've dumped me at any point. Yet kept me around and saved my life more than I'd like to admit. I don't give a flying fuck what she did or didn't do when she was a toy soldier. I trust her 'cause what she's done for me, here and now."

"What about me?" Murci places the skillet in the sink to clean, "Trust me yet, flyboy?"

Dell smiles, "We'll see."

-----

With little fanfare, the Providence begins its flight.

Undocking from Mayden station and reentering the void, Dell is left with a sense of freedom that comes from piloting a ship in the void. The grumlian welcomes the eerie light of Mayden's star, as it gives him a sense of freedom. Free from the depressing and acrid-smelling halls of the space station, and back in the limitless frontier of space. He allows these thoughts to swim through his mind before refocusing on the task at hand, there was money to be made, after all.

The flight computer had already designated the Jump Point for the Providence to make - nearly on the other side of the system. It would be a helluva flight, but once they made it out of Mayden Station's Zone and were in open space, the Providence could stretch her legs and book it. For now the Grumlian had to keep it at a slow and steady speed, or risk the wrath of Mayden Control.

Passively, he cycled through his sensors, keeping an eye out for any passers-by that he might need to avoid. There were the usual suspects you'd find in the void - bulky cargo vessels, sleek but vintage passenger craft, and the occasional corpo craft. Something did catch his eye on the thermal, which caused him some concern. Briefly he got thermal exhaust from a freighter-sized vessel moving parallel with the Providence on the aft side of the ship. Yet when he checked to see if it had an ID Beacon on, he didn't see any signature there, but before he could flip back to thermal detection the signature was gone.

"Hmm..." Dell lets out a sigh, "That can't be good."

He switched to the aft cam and switched on rad-vision. Honing the scope, he focused on ion waves, searching for the radioactive signature some high-end ion engines gave off. While not deadly, ion waves were emitted well after an engine turned off, giving off a faint glow and leaving a trail that one can see. Focusing his scope towards where the signature had been he could see the faintest trail of a starship.

"Thought you could outsmart me huh?" Dell whispers, "Well, let's see how brave you are." He turns on the internal comm, "To all our esteemed guests, and Murci, I'd advise you to brace. Seems like we're popular enough to earn a stalker, I'm going to shake them."

Already calculating how much the fee for speeding is going to be, Dell goes ahead and wakes the Providence's engine fully and guns it. There is a groan of metal as the ship's artificial gravity adjusts to a sudden change in speed as Dell cuts off from his normal flight path and heads straight towards the jump point.

Dell is mindful of other craft, and makes sure to keep a wide berth from the other nearby vessels. He can already hear the chime of Mayden Control attempting to hail him, but he just ignores them. Keeping an eye on the scope he already set up to watch the stalker he detects the brief flair of ion engines boosting something forward, while he cannot get a good look at it, there is definitely something now chasing after the Providence.

"Dell," Domitia's voice catch the pilot off guard, "Wanna explain why you're breaking the law."

"It's traffic law Dom," Dell says nonchalantly, "Barely counts as law."

"Still, we have enough heat on us," Domitia looks over Dell's shoulder at the scope, "That our stalker?"

"Clever bastard." Dell remarks, "See that, those little puffs of rad? They're skipping, using good ol' inertia to keep up with us."

"How long till we can jump?" Domitia asks.

"Well now, a few more minutes." Dell says before a warning chime goes off.

"Warning. Approaching objects." The ship chimes.

Dell looks over to his radar scope and curses, "Security."

Domitia groans, pointing over to the beeping comm-array, "Just answer the damn hail. I'll get the checkbook."

Dell grumbles, pressing the answer button, "Control, I read, this is Providence."

"Providence," A clearly vexed security officer answers, "This is--" There is a pause.

Dell becomes concerned when he watches the two blips of the security ships holding their vector, keeping pace with the Providence. The pause goes longer than Dell expects. Usually, they are more than excited to do stops like this. It's no secret that Mayden void officers get a cut of the ticket if they make a catch. Finally, the officer comes back on the comm.

"Providence this is Mayden Security, you're free to go. Have a nice flight."

"Alright..." The grumlian replies, unsure how to react, "Have a nice day..." He then closes the link.

Dell feels a bit of a chill go down his spine. He could overlook the whole business in the interrogation room; he never looked a ship in the exhaust. But Mayden Control letting a speeding and off-flight path ship go? That gave Dell a pause; even as he reset the thrusters to max, he now felt like something was deciding his fate for him, and it wasn't a god he ever prayed to.

"Alright," Dell begun to set the ship up to make the jump into Liminal Space. "Passengers, please brace yourselves for void to Liminal Jump."

He activates the Liminal Shutters, easing on the Liminal Jump Engine. He enters through the coordinates to his destination, Janus Station, and lets the computer do the rest. He watches the shutters of the cockpit begin to go down as reality begins to fold in on itself.

---------------

The star Janus was a beautiful thing to behold.

A deep blue in glow, it bathes the whole of the system in its warm radiance turning everything into one shade away from the star's light. In previous years, high end passenger liners would sail past this star, giving their guests a look at the gorgeous, flaming blue sphere and how its light played with the clouds of debris from the nearby mining colony. Yet as the Providence enters the Janus system, the mood is nowhere near tranquil.

Dell can already see dozens of ships on the scope, and dozen more wrecks intermixed with them. Most of them appear to be merc ships - retrofitted haulers and freighters, similar to the Providence. Others are clearly military grade gun-ships and troop vessels. Clearly a scrap had just gone down. The grumlian decides he doesn't have enough caffeine to deal with this and goes to get a fresh cup.

Moments after entering the system, even before Dell could refill his drink, a hail reaches the Providence:

"Providence. This is the Scarlet Night, of the lawfully made Black Stars Mercenary Company. Be advised, you are entering hostile space. Provide identification and purpose of entering the system or be fired upon."

Dell blinked at this, "Well shit, we might be a bit late..." He then opens the comm-link, "Scarlet Night, this is the Providence. Sending IDs now. Bounty Hunters, on the hunt. Be advised, we intend to enter the Janus Mining Colony."

There is a pause as Scarlet Night reviews the IDs from the Providence. Dell weighs whether or not he has enough time to get a refill before a transmission comes back.

"Providence this is Scarlet Night, we have Janus completely locked down." The man's voice is deathly serious, "Recent pirate attack has ripped through the whole system. We have them boxed in at the mining colony. We can't let you in, it'd threaten our operational security."

"What's going on?"

Dell nearly jumps out of his seat, Domitia sudden presence in the cockpit catching him off guard, "Scared the hell out of me." He collects himself and answers, "Mercs locked down the system. Pirates attacked. Looks like the intel was right."

"Not letting us through?" Domitia asks.

"Right on the money." Dell says.

"Providence do you read over?" Scarlet Night asks again over the comm.

"Having a team meeting right now, Scarlet, give us a sec," Dell says over the com before turning back to Domitia, "Listen. These guys might not let us through. We might have to get creative."

"I've been monitoring local system chatter," Murci chimes in, causing Dell to jump a little again, "Seems like our guess was right. Several mentions of the Necromancer have been made on the local net."

"Well I guess everyone is up here," Dell grumbles, "What's our play here?"

Domitia thinks it over for a moment, "We have gene-data from the Board on Flynt. Issue is he is hiding on that station, now being attacked by pirates. Docking won't be something we can do."

Dell nods, "Drop you off then?"

"Iron Steed is fully functional." Domitia says confidently.

Dell then reopens the comm-link, "Scarlet Night, this is the Providence. If we are all on the up and up, official badge holders from the Bounty Board do not have to give a rats ass about Merc Operational Security. But I'll throw you a bone. I'll drop my partner off at the station and I'll keep my distance from the colony. Once she gets our guy we will get out. Simple as."

"Providence, can you provide information on your target?" Scarlet Night asks.

Silence falls over the cockpit of the Providence as the trio collectively try and figure out if they want to tell them. Dell doesn't want to say anything, he knows that Flynt's price is pretty big, even a mercenary company as by the book as Black Stars might try and take the bounty from them. Yet Dell knows that unless they give them something they're gonna tell them to fuck off.

Domitia breaks the silence as she leans over Dell and activates the comm, "Scarlet Night, this is Providence, we are after Pirate King Jericho Flynt."

There is a long pause on the other end before Scarlet Night asks, "Say again, Providence?"

"We're after Flynt. We know he's there. That's why the pirates are there. They want to ice him." Domitia says confidently.

“Coalition got Flynt.” Scarlet Night replies, “That’s pretty well know.”

“We know that the Necromancer is on that station. He got his start under Flynt. Attacking a mining colony head on isn’t what pirates do and you know that,” Domitia reasons, “Only reason one of Flynt’s old subordinates would make such a brash move is if his boss is there.”

Dell feels his stomach drop as the line goes quiet. Too quiet. In hindsight the line might've been silent for maybe a minute at most, yet it stretched on for what felt like an hour as Dell sat there. His eyes drifted to the scope, keeping an eye on the myriad of craft that had formed a half circle around Providence. Soon, they began to break away, opening a way forward for Providence.

"Providence this is Scarlet Night. We ran it up the chain and we will let you through." Scarlet Night explains, "Be advised, the station is swarming with androids and there are a handful of enemy craft still operational. It'll be a tough way in and out. We will not assist as we have strict orders to wait for reinforcements."

"Acknowledged Scarlet Night, we'll be fine." Domitia replies.

"Understood and, uh," The person on Scarlet Night's pauses before saying, "Good luck."