Milo turned onto the street that had the Sun Spot Bar and Grill. He was not a person that particularly enjoyed just drinking and socializing, but figured that speaking with Clyde mike make it worth his while. He enjoyed listening to the stories of the adventurous and amiable Clyde. Milo walked inside of the bar and noticed Kayla at a table by herself.

"Nice to see Clyde on time for change" Milo quipped. Kayla gave a light chuckle on her drink.

"I don't think he'll be too long. I spoke with him on the phone about a half hour ago."

"What did he say?" Milo asked, hoping that he hadn't missed anything really juicy.

"Nothing much. He just said that he had a big favor to ask of us." Milo nodded and asked the server for a tea.

"I suppose if he's here he doesn't need us to bail him out of jail" Milo took his drink from the server, trying his best to think of what it was that was on her mind. She seemed a bit preoccupied.

"You hear from your brother any lately?" Milo asked Kayla.

"Well, the divorce has been finalized and he's back in the service of the Earth sector navy, even after he swore he would never go back." Kayla said shaking her head.

"You worry about him?" Milo asked?

"Of course I do" Kayla said with no hesitation. "It could be only a matter of time before he gets deployed with everything going on in outworld right now."

"Where is he stationed right now?"

"At the spaceport in Dernick. There's actually a pretty nice base there and that might've enticed him to return, but all it will take is one little spark and he'll be leaving there pretty quickly."

Just then, Clyde walked into the door. He was a short and handsome guy with shot, dark brown, hair. He was clearly thinner than the last time that either Milo or Kayla had seen him. Kayla got up and gave him a hug and Milo shook his hand.

Clyde downed his first glass of wine in seconds and asked for another. He seemed exhausted and not the energetic person that Milo remembered. Milo shook hands with him and he and Kayla hugged.

"So what brings you to us?" Milo asked interrupting when there was finally a break in the conversation between him and Kayla.

"Had my hearing, and got banished from outworld, not surprisingly" Clyde said downing a glass of water Kayla offered him. "Got caught in a little smuggling operation."

Kayla shook her head. "You were already on thin ice, why would you get involved with that?"

"Just felt like I needed to start working for myself and not working as an indentured servant" Clyde said.

" You are lucky you aren't being sent to prison" Kayla said, with disgust in the tone of your voice.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I don't think they know how much money I've been able to make or else I probably would be in prison" Clyde replied. "I certainly don't need either of you to lend me money, at least for now." Clyde finished up his glass of wine. "So Kayla told me over the phone you two are leaving on assignment. I assume you're both headed somewhere in outworld, right?" Clyde asked. There was a brief pause.

"Maybe." Kayla said. "You know we can't talk about it."

"I need a ride" Clyde remarked getting right down to the chase and ignoring the equivocation. "I want you to take me with you."

"Clyde, you know we can't do that no matter where we are going! And we can't talk about it with you, let alone in a public place like this!" Kayla said in a lowered voice, though it was not likely anyone in the bar could make out any words beyond their own table.

"Just hear me out for a moment" Clyde replied speaking in a low voice so as not to be overheard. "There's a grey hiding somewhere in outworld known as Cubork. I have something apparently pretty important I'm supposed to deliver to him, but obviously I can't get there because I need a ship."

"What is it that you were given?" Kayla asked with an air of skepticism still in her voice.

"I don't know yet. I'm supposed to meet with some friends to pick it up later."

"From one of your smuggling buddies, I suppose?" Kayla asked scornfully.

"No actually" Clyde said, "from someone more trustworthy and important than the smugglers. Some that I would even call friends. If it wasn't I'd be finding someone I could sell the thing to for a lot of money."

"Who are these friends?" Kayla asked.

"You've got your secrets you need to keep, so do I. You know I wouldn't lie to you, Kayla. I'm sincere when I say I'm calling in a favor for one friend to perform a favor for another friend. I wouldn't ask you to take the risk if I was just going to try and earn money." For a solid 15 seconds or so no one said anything. Milo had to admit Clyde's pleas seemed genuinely heartfelt.

"We're going to get a final briefing from Bohr tomorrow" Milo said. "We will consider what we can do where we're going and how." Kayla shot Milo a disapproving look but did not say anything.

"Thank you" Clyde asked.

Soon after that Kayla and Clyde veered off into conversations about vacation homes in the expansion worlds. Milo was zoned out thinking about Clyde's story. He had left 3 years ago to avoid service in the Union Navy to work in the mining station. He had no reason to doubt Clyde was doing anything but telling the truth, but the entire story seemed odd. How is it he was entrusted with such a supposedly valuable item? After about half an hour of chat, Clyde got up and said his goodbyes.

"Well, what do you think?" Milo asked watching Clyde walking back out the door.

"He really has a knack for getting into more trouble than he bargains for. I kind of feel for him."

"You believe him?"

"I do. He's not going to be able to make up a story like that." Kayla paused for a moment before again opening her mouth to speak. "Don't you think we should tell Bohr about this, Milo?"

"No need to let him get into any more trouble than he already is. And he's right, we do owe him big time. You may not love him anymore, but he's a good man, and he really seems like he's in a bind" Milo answered.

"I care about him" Kayla said sounding annoyed. "But it would be quite a risk to take him with us. We'd not just be risking our jobs we could very well be getting caught up in something much bigger than what our mission is about."

"He could be very helpful for us, Kayla." Milo said changing the subject to the actual mission even though he knew Kayla had a point. "He knows his way around the outworld sector better than us. And you're the one that says we should make every effort to do right by people irrespective of our responsibilities and directive from our superiors." Milo retorted.

Kayla let off a big sigh and finished the last of her drink. "I don't want to discuss this now, I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow, Milo." Kayla payed her tab and left. Milo looked at his wristwatch and noticed that it was getting late. He wasn't feeling tired, though. He sat around day-dreaming for about ten minutes taking everything in before finally getting up and leaving.