Disorderly Distribution }{ [Onas & Athena Crew]

[Onas Knox]

This part 2 of a story-line, feel free to head over to Part 1
and start from the beginning;

"Agendas and Arrangments"
watchasisoar.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=oldthreads&thread=1620&page=1

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Onas barged into his apartment in full swing, it was late into the evening, almost night, but he was more than wide awake. Duke went insane, woken from his sleep by the noise, and began his puppy barks and greetings, running at Onas' feet. Onas didn't mind the lil guy, but he also didn't have time for him either and nudged him right out of his path without slowing down.

"Hang on Duke," he shouted and stepped over him, "Move 傻瓜_[fathead]!"

He dropped his clothes a piece at a time on his way to his closet, and started dawning his pre-planned set. A wardrobe of Grey slacks, Captains stripes on the legs, along with the obvious grey matching jacket over a black shirt. Black shoes, with black socks. He grabbed his id box off the top of his shoe rack, and then took out the two that he needed.

From there Onas opened a small lead box with ornate inscriptions buried beneath others. All the boxes were important. Some containing weapons, some contained rare components, some simple contained cash. But this one was chloroform. He also unhooked a black backpack from a hook on his closet wall, and started storing things. After carefully packing the chloroform, he also packed a small tool folder, and several small vials of liquids he had liberated from un-needing hands.

Next he went to his private cortex encyclopedia, and began the last portion of his research leftover from before his meeting, the security systems of the Distribution center 'Mazuar'. They ran on Genus Security Solutions, which was just fine with Onas. He knew the loopholes and snags. It's what the company was running years ago, but he wanted to double check that they hadn't overhauled their security. Now that' that little bit was out of the way, he set his grey jacket to the side, and picked out a hat resembling the standard upper class office style. Then he sat in front of a blue sheet on his wall, and set up his blue-screen background as a formal office. Once the computer auto-rendered his surroundings, he placed his wave and waited patiently for the other side to pic up.

"Thank you for calling the Mazuar Official Bulletin Line, If you know your party's extension, you may type it at any time. Please listen carefully as our menu options have recently changed. If you would like to view your manifest, Please say or push '1,' if you would like to..." Onas type 9411 into his prompt Que. and waited.
"I'm sorry, that extension is not recognized by our Core, please retype your extension now." The automated voice suggested, calm as a hindu cow. Onas again plugged in 9411.
"I'm sorr..." It repeated in its monotone voice. Onas again, typed 9411, this time, the computer said, "Please wait, while I connect you to an operator to assist you further."

Onas waited.

"Good Evening and thank you for calling Mazuar Distribution Authority, My name is Colton Exum, employee number 884130. How may I assist you today?" Colton speedily said in a flat voice, with clear, but dispositioned english. He was a bored looking kid maybe a few years younger than Onas.

"How's it doing Boss, I need my departure time for platform 219. Also the dispatch officer who will handle my export case. And also, if you don't mind, I've lost my bleeding Sec. Class form, could you send me a new program printout?"

Young Colton was as efficient as he was careless. He didn't bother asking any questions or even to see id tags. Which Onas was completely prepared for. And as it was, Onas was a little, only a little mind you, disappointed that he had gone too all that trouble for nothing.
"Your ship number please?"

"9547," (short pause)"4751," (short pause) "3769," (short pause) "3482, ship ident; Courtuaos." Onas quoted from the bowels of his memory. He had handpicked the ship that morning from an open manifesto on their cortex page.

"Oook. and your due out at oh four hundred central planet time, seventeen oh six *SVT. Your dispatch officer is a Mr. Walters, his office is eight oh four. And I have sent out a copy of your 33 form. Go ahead and sign that for me, and I'll get your Sec Class packet on the way."

Onas complied and pushed his luck a bit further, "Sending back... Hey, one more thing if you don't mind, since you're here, can you access my Nav charts...."

Colton looked up at him for the first time in their conversation. Now as a captain, one thing you wouldn't lose would be your charts, and it was a stretch to ask for basically everything he would need to take off, from one guy. He looked irritated at the idea, not necessarily suspicious, "You lost your book, huh?"

"No," Onas denied it flatly, "The security transition locked me out, going from core to rim to core to rim plays hell on my passport squibs."

Colton sighed heavily, clearly not sold, but who cares, he assumed the wrong thing anyway. "Uh huh. Hang on, I'll load it in the packet." He typed furiously and tagged his touchscreen many times, and at last, he got his stylus and signed off on the charts.

"Will that be all today Mr. Toreen?" It was a first name, and there were two ways to pronounce it, this guy was choosing the feminine variation.

"It's Toren, and no thank you, that will be all." Onas said looking over the documents on his touchpad as they came through.

"Thank you for calling, have a good evening." Colton said and
immediately ended the wave, Onas smiled as he got up, continuing to flip through the computerized "paperwork" and enjoying how easy that had been. Even if young mister Exum had bothered to double check his precautions, he still would have coughed up the goods, this was just easier.



Onas lit up a cigarette and packed away his pad, then he check the time and prepared to leave. He put the office cap away and then rushed to his bathroom and quickly styled his hair, using a blow-drier to hurry it along. He had a few professional looking styles he could pull off, and this one was a sweeping back kind of style. It was a strikingly different facial look, and it threw folk off when they tried to describe you later.

That accomplished, He went ahead and grabbed his mobil card maker, to create id's 'on the go' for his new partner in crime and her apparent crew. It wasn't going to be any easier to have too many extra bodies, but it would exactly complicate things either. His cigarette had expired, so he put it out in the nearest ashtray, and lit another.

Onas had his change of clothes, and his rations for a few days. He also got Duke a few toys, and some canine protein stubs and the lil fella's travel kennel. And at last he set it all by the door. Just before he left, he quickly strolled around his apartment, picking up his discarded clothes, turning off lights, and dumping out the water bowl. Then satisfying his mandatory cleanliness, He cut off the lights, and left his apartment locked behind him.

It had been a Busy hour for him indeed, but he was looking "fresh and clean", as his mother would say. He walked to the Dow-Dow-Idin Bridge with a wide stride, and thumped his dying cigarette butt into the river. He checked his messages, and then lit up another coffin nail. He never planned to live past fifty anyway, why worry about it now? Some folk strolled by and they exchanged pleasantries in passing. He leaned back against the permacreate 'railing' and breathed out a stream of smoke. Duke whine a bit from in his lil kennel, and Onas nudged it with his foot, instructing him to "pipe down" in chinese. He had made pretty good time, all loose ends tied off in under 42 minutes.

Sometimes, he amazed even himself.






_{*Notation; SVT means Standard Verse Time, A verse-wide timetable recognized by the Alliance}

[Paige Demore]

Priya had bid farewell to Onas outside the sushi bar, at least temporarily. She made a quick path back to the Athena. Making sure to avoid any delays in the roads, ignoring anyone who tried to speak to her. They probably just wanted to sell her things anyway. As she entered the ship Priya called out on the intercom requesting the crew's presence. She layed out the highlights and asked if anyone would be interested in venturing about with her, Jeff and Roxie had spoken up. Liliana only raised a brow and left the room, perhaps she was annoyed that Priya had left without her earlier. Not that she cared very much if the woman was upset; she was doing her job, recruiting. The Onas Knox deal was just a space-bump they had to fly over.

The officer gave Roxie and Jeff twenty minutes to gather what they felt they'd need, weapons were always a good choice she'd pointed out. The three met back up at the exit ramp, Priya hadn't changed her clothing, only grabbed a few more clips for her pistols and another pair of push daggers. She did grab a pack of rations in case her stomach started to give her attitude; she hadn't eaten anything at the sushi bar like she'd planned. Onas got down to business rather quick, which she liked.

So they set out; Priya, Jeff, and Roxie, towards the Dow-Dow-Idin bridge, she had timed it well, there was twelve minutes to get there. Approaching the bridge Priya noted Onas' location, as she got closer she noticed he cleaned up nicely. Standing before the man she raised a questioning brow in the direction of what looked to be a kennel. "Glad to see you didn't stand me up mister Knox. Two of my crew; Jeff and Roxie. Is that a decoy you've got there?" She decided to introduce them to him, still she wasn't sure if she should tell him her name. Perhaps just her middle name then, so at least he could call her something other than 'Hey you'. "You can call me Gisselle."

[Onas Knox]

"Gisselle? Okay. Miss Gisselle, Jeff, Roxie," With each name, Onas nodded to each of his cohorts, then added, "And I am Mr. Knox. And of course this is Duke," here he tapped the kennel with his foot, "he sort of provides me with a little extra help here and there." Onas had to grin at that one, the little guys fur had almost completely grown back. He checked his crono and decided they had pushed this as far as he wanted too. The Captain was on time, but lets face it. He'd be gone already if Rishi had been more exact with all this. Now he had a taxed schedule and a crowd to play too. Despite it, he was polite... repeat customers an all. "Let's get to it."

Onas didn't really know how to address any of them, names or not, he simply didn't know them. As it was he led Gisselle off the bridge and down the street towards a small vehicle registered to the late Baxter. It wasn't the sportiest thing, but it was an enclosed vehicle, and that would keep his clothes clean. He motioned the group to get in and then began explaining what he was planing in skim details. The ride wasn't that long, and they wouldn't be much help anyway.

"When we get to the gates, just keep quiet. Here, pass this around, and remember your names." At this he handed Gisselle the ID photographer and let her pass it back. It was a simple machine that only had three buttons, and one of them was green. Surely she could figure it out. "They won't ask questions if you act like you belong. So as soon as we are in, Jeff," Here Onas eyed this Jeff fellow from the mirror that stretched the length of the windshield, "you are to take the first right, and then go through the yellow gate, then just follow the arrows to the loading zone. Platform 219, and pull into the marker for management. Then sit there, don't get out, don't talk to anyone, don't crack the window. When its time to get you, I'll let you know."

Now it was decision time, what to do about Gisselle, she wouldn't exactly 'blend in' with the outfit, and he didn't really care to have her right behind him anyway. Least ways, not with the arsenal he now knew she was carrying. The road ahead was beginning to widen and he merged right. She wanted to protect her investment. Onas could get that, but at some point, you gotta cut the umbilical...

"Miss Gisselle, excuse me, Captain Gisselle, you stay with them, and be ready to move. But when its time, walk into the freighter, don't get in a hurry. If anybody's staring, then I assure you, it wont be from suspicion." Onas concluded his instructions with this and gave a quick... very quick... glance at what he meant.

They were now passing the entrance to the Mazuar Distribution Docks, Onas didn't really care if they noticed or not, he really just didn't have time to explain every detail. Plus, you don't really tell the customer about this part of the job anyway. He moved the vehicle into the side parking lot of a large hotel, and then shut down the motor.

"Allllllll right. Before we get there, there is one little task to be done." Onas reached into his bag and removed the dark mahogany box, and started to get out...

[Paige Demore]

Priya raised a brow at the introduction of a dog, glancing in it's direction. Onas led them off of the bridge then, they made their way to a parked vehicle. She was a little hesitant, but got inside anyway; listening intently as Knox began speaking about the plan.

The woman grinned when he handed her the ID machine, it was a simple version, but it did the job. Completing this task she passed it down the line to Roxie, who'd pass it to Jeff. He finally addressed her, took him long enough. She was growing impatient, perhaps because she was stuck in the vehicle at close quarters with people.

"That would be the reason I take care to dress this way mister Knox, it tends to cause a distraction here and there. People pay less attention as to what's going to strike them until it's too late." She smiled at Onas in a playful manner at his comment on the staring. Though she did quite like her choice of wardrobe, it did serve that very purpose she spoke of. Made alot of her targets easy prey.

She watched as they passed into the docks, reading the sign. Then he parked the vehicle and reached for something that made Priya raise a questioning brow. She put a hand to her hip just in case she needed a pistol.

[Onas Knox]

Right now Onas was probably getting some odd looks from the three he left in the vehicle, but who cared. Honestly. Going up to the front desk in the main entrance, Onas asked for a Mrs. Toreen on her room phone. He watched as the man dialed it out and then picked it up at the other console. Joleen answered looking a bit in a hurry, apparently, she was about to leave. Talk about cutting things close. She did just as he wanted and only flipped over the call, she didn't actually stop and face the viewer. Onas quickly shut it off, making a show of being embarrassed.

"I think she was expecting her husband," Onas said to the clerk, "lemme go get him."

The man dismissed it with only vague intrigue and that was fine as it was one less person who could identify him. He walked out and around to the luggage area, then shot straight to the elevators. He tagged the button three or four times every few seconds, and waited with extreme impatience. Every second counted here. If she thought to call the desk back, then she might see this coming, or the clerk might. All it would take was Mrs. Joleen to say that her husband wasn't on this world, and the clerk would probably call the authorities.

The elevator hit the ground floor and Onas let it open, and the folks in walk out, before her stepped in. Here, he jammed his foot in the door, and yanked a time or two on the power plate. Then, that failing, he reached to his ankle sheath, got out his butterfly and spun it open. Using it as leverage, he pried the plate off, and then yanked the emergency shutoff lines out. After that, he hit the stairs. Three floors only takes seconds to scale, don't let the movies fool ya. And Onas took them four steps at the time despite his short stature. He hit the top floor, and then hit both the elevators to this floor. While he waited, he began the duty of tracking down the room.

While he was on the right hall, he found the maids cart, and pocketed two doorstops. Old-school as hell, made of rubber and everything. Then he decided he went the wrong way, as all the doors here were odd numbers, and his room was an even. It was four doors down from the elevator itself, so he place his box beside the door and opened it, then he returned and waited on the elevators a tad longer.

Both doors arrived with folk in them and he declined a ride from either. As the two lifts began their treck down, Onas opened the doors again, using his knife as leverage and then jammed them shut with the two stoppers he had acquired. Now he had his hand in all the ways down. Onas leaned out, one shaft at a time, and clipped the floor stopper housing free with his butterfly, and then kicked it all the way open, where it couldn't shut. This would allow him more time. After that was handled, he kicked the stoppers into the shafts, and turned to the door of his prey.

He almost had the coded card in his hand when her door buzzed green anyway, and opened. Toreen was leaving for her ship, meaning preflight had about two hours then he was 性交. HE walked up behind her while spinning his blade closed, and she turned to face him, suddenly getting a good look at nothing. Onas didn't want to do this, but she hadn't gave him much choice, and you cant very well steal a ship laden with cargo, whilst reserving morality now can you? He got her eyes with his hand and punched her thigh above her kneecap, she folded about as quickly as she started screaming. Onas hoisted her with his free hand and in one motion, spun her away from him. Her screaming only lasted a second. Onas' box was still open by the door, and he made quick use of the chloroform rag in it, muffling her noise and her coherent thought.

A human body, even one as light as hers, is no simple task to tote about, when it goes limp. Dead weight is tremendously harder to hang onto then something with a handle. Onas ended up getting her under her arms, and dragging her into her room. He wasn't heartless, once he'd shut the door, he got her up on the bed, and then anointed her hard with a fresh dose of chloroform. She would be out for hours. Maybe twelve, maybe more.

"You'll excuse me missy, I need to borrow something from ya's..." He said to her limp form, and he gave a brim touch to his hat that wasn't there.

Onas started for her suitcases to find the codes and logs he needed. He reached out to pick up the luggage and then saw it... This sweet woman, she left everything he needed in a briefcase so he could find it quickly. Onas opened it to confirm it, and even found a credit pouch as well. Nothing so easy as cash money. He went ahead and took the briefcase with him. It, like her name, was a unisex case, and he could walk with it just as well as with his.

That accomplished, he headed back down to the land car, by way of stairs of course, and then got in.

[Jeff Weston]

Jeff never liked talking while he was on the clock so to speak. So when the introductions and the subsiquent cab ride not a single sound emerged from his lips. Weston kept his gold colored sun shades on while the drive continued. The shades gave him clear vision to see and remember signs and peoples faces. On arrival he listened to them talk eyeing each in turn. He had handled a forger before but not one so.... cheap. Shrugging he made himself a copy just for giggles. Jeffery Weston was by all means a ghost a spector on the Aliance's radar. Besides a place like this usually had black light scanners and that would be enough to get him anywhere he needed for a time.

Taking the cab to the final meeting station he waited in udder silence. Nearing the mid-way point he started to finger the metal bars hidden within his thigh pockets. Time and waiting for untested friends Jeff did not care for, and still he trusted his new captain. That much for him should have been enough, yet for him there were times when other peoples misfortunes came to bare upon him. He was hopping this time was not going to be one of them.

[Paige Demore]

Priya sat in the vehicle with Roxie and Jeff while Onas ran off.
She was not amused, he'd said nothing before leaving. She stayed silent while they waited, the dog whimpered a few times but that was about all. Onas finally came back a time later, with a suitcase in hand. Priya glared in his direction, not caring if he noticed. "So are we just going to be staying in this vehicle while you do everything? If that's the case Mister Knox you could have said so and saved me the trouble of dragging my crew here." Her voice was stern with a hint of annoyance.

Priya recalled the instruction he'd given them earlier, even that had been not much in the way of usefulness. They were just supposed to sit in a spot until it was time to board the ship they were going to be borrowing. Priya had no intention of actually keeping it, she had a brand new ship of her own. She'd just leave it wherever they dropped it off and eventually the owners would get it back. There was a part of her that wanted to drop this charade and arrest Onas, she was getting more annoyed and less curious with the situation.

[Onas Knox]

"I told you before I got out, you do have jobs, and they are important. But planting your faces all over New Dunsmuir is a first rate way too get yourselfs the electr..." Onas started saying as they got back on the short stretch. He stopped when he finally turned his head and made eye contact with the captain. She didn't look bored or restless, she really looked angry.

This is why you don't break the rules, right here, in the flesh. Angry customers who watched too much t.v. with shootouts and chase scenes. Onas had been in the business for over a decade. There were never chases. You either got ambushed and arrested. Then bailed out and a false identity down the tube. Or you got busted at the start, and still... you just get bailed out and a false identity goes down the tube. But folks always want to know the secret sauce. Onas knew what Sid knew. It wasn't some elaborate scheme. It was making an opening (which he just did) and having the balls to step in. (Which he was doing)

Mostly, if he were honest, mostly it was the money keeping this going. He would have walked long before now, but this buyer brought cashy money to the meeting. Too him. Not to Rishi, but to Onas without even knowing him. So he broke his rules, let them come along.

But then, honestly, a lil bit of it, was just to see what she'd do next... This must be his buying price. An adventure indeed.

So things would get more interesting, if they could. Onas took a moment and his last breath out was a touch harsher than he might have audibly sounded if he hadn't just ran up, then back down a building in the last five minutes. He pulled up to a light, letting it turn to halting position. This gave him a slight pause, he used it by turning to the captain, and addressing her concern.

"Your right, I was trying to shield your faces (that was a lie) , but what the hell? You come with me captain, Jeff, You take Roxie and do like I said before. Only when you get there, go ahead and start the prep on the ship. When someone tries to stop you, tell 'em to speak to the dispatch officer, and when that fails. And it will fail. Then make sure they are inside before you do..... whatever it is you plan to do to them. After that, Prep only the externals, don't go to the cockpit until we get there, and don't stop the loaders. The more cargo they pile in, the more money we make when we offload it. Discounts an all." He winked at Roxie and continued, "Just don't let any of them stare to long at your I.D.'s. They don't have the holo's like mine, so if there lookin, it'd be a giveaway. Primarily, I want you to make sure we have enough fuel to make a two world hop, the proper markers, and enough rations." This Jeff fella didn't talk much, and for it, he was rather hard to read. If the captain wore her thoughts on her sleeve, then Jeff was suited up in armor. Roxie on the other hand, looked as though she had been encouraged to stay quiet... Maybe, hard to read anyones face when you just met 'em.

But the captain, she was easier, or getting there. Since they met two hours ago, she became less and less polite and more and more impatient. A true captain, whoever her partner was, must either be a real 母狗, or else the most easy going type you could meet. He reserved judgement. She did seem to calm a tad when he sat through the light's signal to let him by, back to stop again.

"So," here he turned back to the captain, "they will handle the pre-trip, and the actual flight. We will handle the dispatch, and the preflight. Now." Onas took a look at his crono, and then continued, lighting up a cigarette, and cracking his window a bit. "Now, the whole point of the dispatch is the ship itself. We could just steal some second rate, and fix it up new, but this is an independent contractor. That said, her ship will be refitted, and up to inspection. Alliance is tougher on independents than on company captains. You understand." This had to be the biggest innuendo Onas had' had the huevos to call at the moment, but he was sure she'd heard him loud and clear.

"We go in, and rant and rave about being late on our shipment, you'd help me plenty if you just be my betroved," Onas took the liberty of handing her another earring to hang off her left ear*, "and you can be 非常令人不快地弄翻 about missing some family event if we continued stalling, or in any way getting stuck here longer than one hour from now. The idea here is to get the D'O to change our departure time, so we don't get reported for at least twelve hours. And if I play my cards right, we could make a little extra off the top. Think you can handle the pantomime Mam?"

_{*The second ring for her ear amounts to a wedding ring, or specifically, the engagement ring. The "wedding ring" would be what was in her ear. She would either take her right ring out to imply her left set was solely a wedding set, or she can leave it in, implying that it had two, or that she simply didn't care.}

[Paige Demore]

Priya had raised a brow as Onas began to speak, to her sitting and waiting was not 'important' as he made it sound. If he thought they were useless he was wrong, very wrong. It amused her when he turned to face her and stopped mid-sentence, though she didn't show any humor in her face. It was a few moments before he spoke again, as the words left his mouth she knew he was full of it. She ignored that though, he changed the plan, that's what she was hoping for. Priya had advised her crew that the less they made idle chit-chat with mister Knox the better, she didn't want the slip of anyone's tongue to let on what she was really up to or who she really was.

She let him continue, reserving any words for afterward. He made mention of the Alliance, part of her wondered if that was deliberate towards her, perhaps he had caught on? All the more fun. Priya's face stayed as stone though, she didn't react at all to his speech. She took the earring Onas handed her, promptly changing her earrings around. Her eyes moving to her two crew, "Jeff, I expect you to complete the task as you like, so long as no one loses their life in the process. Unless of course it's unavoidable, then just make it quick."

Priya faced Onas again, her face turned softer. Her voice changed when she spoke again, rougher, less sophisticated now; "I can sure handle that my dearest, we'll let that man know that we need to be gettin' goin as soon as possible. Ain't no way I'm missin my sister's gorram wedding, Suzy would just love ta take my spot as her maid of honor." She smiled, Priya could pretend with the best of them, companion training had helped, she batted her eyelashes for an extra effect.

[Onas Knox]

Onas laughed a bit at that, "Might wanna work on that again." It was only in fun, he had said it with smile anyway. She 'was' very interesting. Always changing, always adapting to the moment. A true liquidist.

Onas got the ground car going again and rode on through the gates at the entrance of Mazuar. He eased as gently as a chauffeur through a few corners, finally bringing the car to a stop before a long walkway, maybe sixty feet up a small incline.

Onas turned and gave Jeff a small nod, and simply added one last instruction, "Don't forget my dog." With that, he and Gisselle walked tot he dispatch office. He made sure she stayed with him, and before the got to the window, he spoke low.

"Be flustered, but don't Que. in unless I give you the signal. Let's feel him out, and make for sure we need to push him. I don't have to tell you that some folk don't like to be pushed." Here they got to the window of the main office, and he clamped his mouth shut, until they passed it. As soon as he passed it, he began speaking again, a little quicker.

"Also, at some point, I will check my watch, If I do it a second time, I want you to get upset, tell me to do whatever I want, and storm out. Do this exactly. All ready?" This last question was rhetorical as he opened the door and held out his hand as one would for their partner. His whole mood changed, his posture, his stature, everything much taller and straighter. He smiled as naturally as if it was an everyday practiced face. Because it was.

They walked in together, the place was what you'd think. Small, utilitarian, walls painted that 粪 yellow, you know the one, too pale. There were motivational posters everywhere, and most had some added fun drawn on. There was also a coffee pot on a small table, and Onas helped himself to a cup, it wasn't real of course, but it tasted ok. He waited until the fellow at the desk got off the wave and called him over.

The time difference from the planet to the core standard was almost twelve hours, Onas noted it was about nine o'clock in the morning on the svt, though it was about 8 at night here on New Dunsmuir. They weren't scheduled to leave for about eight more hours. The captain would have shown up in a few more hours anyway, but this was more efficient for Onas' purposes. "How's it goin," Onas said and plopped his paperless paperwork down in a huff, "aside from late."

The dispatch officer looked a little confused, only the slightest bit. More of an aggravated, kind of, what are you talking about look. He finally got the screens linked and pulsed through them, checking sec forms, and charts, and then finally, registrations. At last he got down to the root of the problem and sighed. "Ah huh, Courtuase, I got you leaving at 0400 hours, central planet... Looks like your spose to be gone a bit sooner. Well..." He huffed, and looked at Onas. "I'm sorry you're here early?" This wasn't a common problem, but typically speaking, it wasn't the dispatchers either.

"Early? You can see right there we are late." Onas said, pointing at the docs.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Walters asked in true 'who gives a 粪' fashion.

Onas met his attitude with some of his own, he acted somewhat surprised, though expectant, "Fix it."

"Fix what? Your still being loaded, just come back in two or so more hours and well get you cleared." Walters said with more authority than he honestly had.

At this, Onas' Sincerity was near perfect, "STILL BEING LOADED?" he bellowed, then he slammed his hand on the counter and cursed in chinese. He looked out the window for a moment and then back to the officer. "Why am I not on preflight? This is the third time this year." This was actually true for the Courtuase, though this was Onas'... tenth time? pulling this trick.

"Says here your Security Forms are dated, probably just your private links not matching. It isn't Mazuar's fault. You should be on your way in less than six hours, calm down." Walters was indignant, as well as aggravated. But there, own his Mazuar comment, he gave an opening. A twinge of pleading almost, he was holding back, covering something.

"My sec forms? Thats the third time I'm late, and the third time I've heard the sec form excuse, this sounds more like a paperwork error than an interstellar problem to me." They were both 'passing the buck.' Which was good for Onas.

Walters looked at his screen and mumbled, Onas had him dead to rights, and he knew it. Forced to do his job at a time when he could have been taking it easy, he got into his files and happily announced with a tone, "I didn't write you in, First shift did." He continued typing and tagging his touchscreen, and then swiveled the screen around for Onas and Gisselle to see. "You see, it's how the cortex reads."

"All right, what do I got to do to get in the sky, now?" Onas looked at him hard. He checked his watch the first time.

"We can finish loading you on primary, and you can jump now if you like. But if you want to quit running into this problem, you ot' to stay and get your forms processed." Walters said while turning his screen back to him, and doing more tapping.

"I don't have that kind of time, I got a deadline to meet and were killing time now. How long would I have to wait? 上帝该死的, every time I come here, it's the same thing with you people. And then I'm left holding the bag. Then I gotta run half burn for two hours, you know how much that costs me?"

Money had been mentioned. Now Walters took a real interest, he shifted his mood to a new standard of 'oh 粪' and then continued, "You aren't on our docket, so that would be on your insurance." He sat forward and continued, "You need to stay here until our office opens in the morning, Six am, central planet."

That was in about 10 hours, Onas played his marital unbliss card, and checked his watch a second time...

[Jeff Weston]

Lost in thought he wondered why people talked so much when on missions. The team he was on last never uttered a word until they completed the mission and just landed. Then nothing in the verse would be able to stop them yammering like a bunch of old ladies. So when the car came to a stop Jeff quickly righted himself in the role provided. Taking over control of the car Jeff followed the set directions. Yet when he arrived at the provided check point instead of a backwater officer the was a Aliance officer in full gear. Coming to a stop in the parking area the officer came over. Banging on the driver's window Jeff tried to comply with the directions but this officer was not the standard officer. Weston took a quick side glance at the uniform of the officer and noted a pair of silver angel wings flanking a long sword. He was an angel and still a guardian, which ment that Jeff had no choice but to talk, otherwise one of them was going to die.

Talking for angels on mission was a court-marshelable offence, Jeff played as if he was on an aliance mission. He rolled down the window and stuck his hand out the window. The officer asked him what his business was but all Jeff did was look at the back of his hand and made a gesture all angels knew as 'quiet running'. The officer got wide eyed and black lite his hand for confirmation. As the light graced his hand the same angel symble could be seen tattooed in black light solution. The officer clammed up and signed leaving or picking up, so Jeff signed leaving. They both nodded to each other and Jeff was left once again alone with the exception of the dog, which whimpered as he was closing the window. Catching the other angel member speaking into his coms Jeff read his lips and noted that he was calling for rushed loadings for any ship leaving with in the next six hours. Jeff was not fully sure if was a good thing or not but time would tell.

[Paige Demore]

Priya took Onas' hand as they exited the vehicle, she noticed how he changed, he was good. They both had the talent that let them adapt to whatever they needed. Too bad he was going to have to be arrested, she could use a guy like him on her crew. The small building they walked into was plain, too plain, she didn't like it. She watched Onas grab a cup of coffee for himself, it had no interest to her. Priya stood by and let Onas do his thing, her face showed annoyance and impatience. She kept shifting her stance, letting out a few sighs. Then she got her sign from Onas that it was her turn.

Priya moved closer to Onas giving his shoulder a slight push, she had a very annoyed look on her face, "You better not make me miss my sister's wedding," She poked him in the chest for an extra flavor, "We've already missed all of her pre-wedding plans!" Her voice was unsteady and full of emotion, she let out an exasperated sound as she raised her hands as if she didn't know what to do with her husband. As she headed towards the door she still spoke, "Why do I put up with this!" Priya continued to mumble, the words becoming less concrete, but she kept the anger in them. Once she was far enough away where she was sure the man inside couldn't hear, she stopped, leaning against an unattended vehicle and waited for Onas. She wondered how Jeff and Roxie were doing on their side.

[Onas Knox]

He couldn't help but grin as she walked out the door, even Mr. Walters had to be watching her leave. Hated to see her go though. Alliance, setup, or good ol fashion job... it was worth it to be around a proper crew. And a proper body, hell, Onas had to turn his head just to clean his face up.

Back to business.

He turned back to the dispatch officer who was sold on his company record not being scathed by a payout, or insurance claim. He knew in his mind, that he had a few cards to play so Mr Toren would leave without trying for a claim. Onas shook his head low key, and wiped his hand down his goatee. Then he let a second or two more go by just for show and began with, "This is how I see it boss, I got two months left on this contract. I am already late for my departure, I can't stay, and like I said, I have to run full burn for four hundred nautical, just to make up the delay. If I hit atmo at over 140 megajules, then I have to have a third inspection this year. And on an Alliance planet, it's an automatic claim."

"I know what you're asking for, but your independent contract voids you from our insurance." Walters said with all the savvy of 32,000 a year. He already knew that Onas, or Mr. Toren wouldn't stay, but how much would it take for him to sweeten the pot?

"If I don't make up the money here, I'll drop this contract in two months, plenty of work out there, where shift leads communicate, and I am not late off the pad... You think Mauzer would rather lose the claim, or a freighter?" It was the same thing with any job, not just the illegal ones. You just had to play the game. Squeeze till you got the juice. Walters either played a thought, or honestly needed a second to decide what to do. If this were someone like Loflin or Julius or even Baxter, it would have been an act, but this wasn't a full time bad guy. Just a guy doin his job.

"I can't give you a claim, it's not good business. Tell you what I can do though," Walters prepped a bone while Onas prepared for an avalanche of bull-粪, "I can load you down a bit heavier. That might make up the payments to your premium, and your wife gets to the wedding on time. You might not be winning, but you aren't losing."

"How long to load the extra freight?"

"Shouldn't take more than another twenty or so." Walters finished, and swiveled the screen where onas could see it. He kept a straight face and agreed to the extra freight. In four more minutes, he was walking to Gisselle smiling. As he got towards her, he motioned her to walk with him, and they turned down the docks, in the smoking sections. She inquired about his good mood as they paced towards their platform, and he explained it as such;

"It's the freight he gave us, it's a fuel source called kerosine, ever heard of it?" he paused talking to look at her, and take a puff of his cigarette, she was grinning a bit, and it was a nicer face than any he had seen yet. Could it be that she was actually enjoying herself for a change? He continued, "It's an old, old fuel that burns with a black suet, clogs up the atmo processors, so the Alliance don't use it. In fact, it's almost illegal. I was surprised to see they would even ship it. But thats the point, it may be hard to unload for Mazuer, on a core world with a receipt, but on a rim world, its liquid gold. Stuff sells anywhere, burns hot, on dry or wet, every time." He paused again to take another drag and laughed, then he looked away from her to the other side, wind coming through the walkway they were on was cool and the air had it's chilly bite, autumn was upon them. He blew out his lungful of fine smoke, and laughed again, "He was trying to screw us. Serves him right."

They got to the ship in good time. Jeff, Roxie and Duke were worth every penny, whatever Gisselle paid them. Jeff an Roxie had the fuel lines disconnected and the running lights on, and Duke was asleep. Onas hoofed it up the metal stairs passing Jeff along the way, giving him the data-pad with the docking orders on it, and a big grin, "Take care of the handlers for us, and then get the rear sealed up. We should be good in fifteen or so." Jeff knew what he was doing, Onas had to trust Gisselle on that. And... he decided that he would. The captain stayed with him to the bridge, where he began stripping the plates off the ISS drives, and peeling back the startup boards. He kicked off his shoes quickly and then tossed his jacket and shirt over the pilots chair, wearing only his pants, and a black tank top. His tools were in place thanks to either Roxie or Jeff, and snagging his leather toolkit, he was ready to make his money.

Onas Unrolled his tools, and began disconnecting nearly the entire board in only a few seconds, the he asked Gisselle to toss him a brown and green motherboard from his bag, which he began to spot back into place. This done, He entered the new startup codes, and replaced two drive switches. Here, he turned to Gisselle and told her she was up, Roxie could begin her preflight however she wanted, and Gisselle would have to call out their departure. Other than that, it was only a matter of manually removing the timeset brakes of the real Mrs Toreen, and they would be off. Onas hauled it back to the landing gear, and hollered for Jeff, time to test this crew.

[Jeff Weston]

The wait was over as they got the green light from the ground crew to board and start the pre-flight work done. Contraban fuel, furs, crop seeds, and other under the board food stuffs, Jeff read each lable manifest on a quick run through the hold.

Getting the lines and morings clear Jeff was counting down the time till they were to meet up. Then speaking of them Westson watched as the captian and the con waltz back toward the ship. Onas passed by dropping the paper work in his hands. The docking orders looked in order. Out of sheer habit Jeff read the orders from first letter to the final signature and the scan code numbers along with the bar coding.

Jeff had heard Onas but he only took and trusted the order of the captian, yet her orders were to follow this fellow for now. Jeff walked out to the dock hands confirmed the paper work and turned to the ship leaving this world and the trouble that was coming. Moving over to the cargo controls Jeff activated the outside doors and the internal hatches. He watched as they shut and sealed with a thud and hiss. Opening the coms to the flight deck Weston spoke.

Were clear and sealed, let's leave this dirt clod.

[Paige Demore]

Priya followed Onas through the ship and up into the bridge where he began to work. She watched as he took parts off the station, disconnected things, connecting new things..it was all very lost on the Captain. Getting the go-ahead from him she motioned to Roxie to get herself started in the pilot's chair. She walked over to the com system to reply to Jeff, "Sounds good Jeff, we'll be up and out soon."

She let some time go by for Roxie to finish her pre-flight before picking up the com again, this time to contact the proper ground crew to call for their departure. "This is the Courtuaos, number 9547-4751-3769-3482, all set for departure." She listened, waiting for a reply.

"Courtuaos, we have you all set; got you loaded up just in time. You're clear for your departure. Safe trip."

Priya smiled at the reply, Onas was good at his job. She wondered how long it would take for this bucket to even be reported stolen. Not that it mattered, even if they got caught she was an officer, she had plenty of strings to pull. She sat down in one of the chairs and propped her feet up awaiting take-off.

"Didn't even get to use my toys, I was looking forward to that part of it all. Figured I'd at least get to have punched someone." She stated as a matter of observation on how smooth things had gone; glancing at Onas.