{"data":{"id":13900,"title":"The First Run: Episode Seven","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/serialized-fiction\/13900-The-First-Run-Episode-Seven","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/13900","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/13900","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"The First Run","images":[{"id":1571,"name":"SorriLyrax_test2.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/khggyuby7bo7rr\/source\/SorriLyrax_test2.jpg","alt":"","size":1760627,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-04-17T20:30:23+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1571","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1571\/similar"}],"images_count":1,"translations":{"en_EN":"My father was a stereotypical bar owner. Gruff, but lovable. Simple, but fiercely intelligent. He had an eye for squeezing profit, but not so his customers lost on the deal.\n\nOnce, when a rich businessman had gotten lost and ended up at the Golden Horde, my father struck up a conversation with him. I can still see him leaning against the bar, cleaning glasses with a rag, a sparkle in his eye.\n\nEvery time the rich customer, a man from Terra with upgraded eyes glowing with a faint phosphorus, even took a drink from his top-shelf Centaurian vodka, my father filled the rest of the glass with great ceremony, not once adding the drink to the man\u2019s charges.\n\nMy father laughed at the businessman\u2019s jokes, rubbed his chin while the man blathered endlessly about socio-primal derivatives \u2014 a topic I know my father knew nothing about \u2014 and in general ignored every other customer in the Golden Horde.\n\nLater, when I asked my father why he\u2019d doted on that customer and charged him for only a fourth of the drinks, when the bottle of vodka had been worth twenty times a normal bottle, he gave me his patented wait-and-see smile and went back to wiping down the bar.\n\nTwo months later, other similarly dressed businessmen showed up and spent a small fortune. When he was tallying up the receipts for the night, he winked at me, and asked if I learned anything.\n\n\u201cEverybody wants something, even when it looks like they want nothing.\u201d\n\nI was mad at my father for about a week after that. But I was young, and the mechanics of business really hadn\u2019t meant anything to me then \u2014 that everything was a transaction, everything came at a cost.\n\nI thought about this lesson as I modified the drive based on the instructions that Dario sent me. Even if I didn\u2019t go through the jump point, the extra speed was valuable and gave me more options.\n\nThe crux of my decision was this: either the whole business with the files on the MobiGlas had gotten out of hand and Dario was trying to eliminate the source of the problem, or he was actually trying to get them back (and perhaps help me in the process).\n\nI had no delusions that he had any interest in my welfare. Otherwise, he\u2019d never have used me as a mule to sneak the files through Oya Station security.\n\nSitting in the pilot\u2019s chair with my feet propped up on the control panel, sucking on a water pouch and munching on a tasteless food bar, I watched the little blue and brown marble grow larger, while the red dots on the sensor screen blinked closer.\n\nIn the end, I decided to hit the jump point as Dario instructed. However, I was going to make a few changes to his plan. The jump point went to Gurzil. Normal protocol was to enter the jump point at a reasonably low speed to avoid collisions with inbound traffic or nearby control stations.\n\nInstead, I was going to go through at near max speed, with full shields, in case Dario had second thoughts about helping me. I knew my plan was haphazard and without basis in any actual technical ship knowledge, but I hated trusting to fate while doing nothing.\n\nWhen the Night Stalker finally approached the jump point, I\u2019d consumed all the food and water in the emergency kit, had a good night\u2019s rest, and was strapped into the pilot\u2019s chair with my backpack at my feet.\n\nOn the way into the jump point, the computer tried three times to get me to reduce speed, but I overrode it each time. After a frightening journey through Interspace, I blew out the other side of the jump and immediately my shields absorbed heavy hits from a trio of Avengers laying their distortion cannons into me . . . good call on maxing the shields.\n\nI put the Night Stalker through evasive maneuvers, which in this case just meant slamming the controls to one side and the other and hoping for the best. Every alarm on the control panel went off as the contortional physics put more strain on the damaged sections of the ship.\n\nSomehow, Dario\u2019s voice came through my ship speakers: \u201cStand down! Stand down!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat in space are you talking about, I\u2019m getting blasted here!\u201d I shouted back.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve backed off, they\u2019ve backed off!\u201d he replied.\n\nMy pulse was booming through my head, and it took me a moment to find the right panel, but I could see the Avengers were no longer in pursuit. That was a positive, but the Night Stalker had taken additional damage and the maneuvering drive was operating at only fifteen percent. I was mostly drifting now.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m coming to get you, Sorri,\u201d said Dario\u2019s voice, \u201cget your stuff and go to full stop so that I can align for docking with you.\u201d\n\nLooking out the viewscreen, I could see what I assumed was the Fardancer. It looked like a heavily customized Freelancer, or some other model I wasn\u2019t familiar with.\n\nThe two ships docked and I made my way through the airlocks into Dario\u2019s ship. He greeted me in his living quarters, wearing a light gray, open-collared shirt and utility pants. He cocked a smile, and his gray-green eyes sparkled at me.\n\n\u201cSorry, Sorri.\u201d\n\nI noticed movement in a cage next to the table.\n\n\u201cHey, the lynx!\u201d\n\n\u201cYeah.\u201d\n\nI crossed my arms. \u201cI guess you want the MobiGlas.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would help.\u201d\n\nI threw it to him, and he snatched it out of the air. \u201cThanks, that makes things a lot easier. I can take you back home later, but for now I have a business deal to conclude.\u201d\n\nI joined Dario in the cockpit, and though on a technical level it wasn\u2019t much different than Burnett\u2019s, there were little differences everywhere that showcased Dario\u2019s personality. Hanging from strings on the ceiling were little trinkets: a primitive bone carving, an ancient Banu circle coin, a Vanduul hunting dart. The pilot seats had hand-stitched cushions on them rather than hard metal backings.\n\n\u201cSo Juliet,\u201d Dario said to his ship, \u201cwhat\u2019s the status?\u201d\n\nAs he pulled up the scanner reports on the display panel, I imagined the ship\u2019s reply as a raspy woman\u2019s voice. The Silent Sons have positioned themselves in a focus-fire array. They are not patiently waiting, darling.\n\n\u201cThose Avengers, they\u2019re the Silent Sons?\u201d I asked. Dario nodded absentmindedly in reply.\nHe crossed his leg over his knee and tapped on the hand rest. \u201cOpen communication channels with Pushkin, voice only.\u201d\n\nA weasel-faced man with black, greasy hair and bat-like ears appeared on the screen.\n\n\u201cDario, no visual? This is not like you.\u201d\n\nDario winked at me. \u201cI\u2019m not looking my best today, I\u2019d prefer not to subject you to such atrocities. Shall we get down to business? This has taken far too long already.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have the weapon designs now?\u201d asked Pushkin, face pinched with thought.\n\nDario held the MobiGlas up, even though there were no visuals. \u201cRight here.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I am prepared to offer you one-third of the originally discussed price,\u201d replied Pushkin.\n\nDario put both his feet down and sat up. \u201cOne-third? Are you crazy? Complications and delays, yes, but nothing to justify major discounts.\u201d\n\nPushkin leaned back into his chair and put his hands behind his head. \u201cWe could just disable your ship and board you and take the plans. One-third is a good offer.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought we had a deal.\u201d\n\nPushkin showed his teeth. \u201cYou missed the deal. Change in plan has cost the Silent Sons and puts us at risk. Next time do your homework.\u201d\n\nRubbing his temples with his fingertips, Dario closed his eyes and nodded. It looked like he was going to agree to the revised terms, which was fine by me. I just wanted to get to safety. And the faster we gave up the files, the faster we could be leaving.\n\nDario gave me a half-hearted shrug and opened his mouth when a host of proximity alarms went off. Pushkin winked off the viewscreen.\n\nSuddenly, the area around the jump point was filled with ships. Stardevil ships.\n\nAnd the worst part was that the Fardancer was smack in the middle, between the array of Silent Sons and Stardevils.\n\nMy pulse set to racing immediately, but I didn\u2019t really start to panic until Dario began frantically strapping into the pilot\u2019s chair, his normally swept back hair falling into his face while he muttered, \u201cNot good, not good, not good.\u201d\n\nto be continued \u2026","de_DE":"Mein Vater war ein stereotyper Barbesitzer. Schroff, aber liebenswert. Einfach, aber sehr intelligent. Er hatte ein Auge darauf, den Gewinn zu dr\u00fccken, aber nicht so sehr, dass seine Kunden durch den Deal verloren.\n\nEinmal, als sich ein reicher Gesch\u00e4ftsmann verirrt hatte und in der Goldenen Horde landete, begann mein Vater ein Gespr\u00e4ch mit ihm. Ich kann ihn immer noch sehen, wie er sich gegen die Stange lehnt, die Brille mit einem Lappen putzt, ein Funkeln in seinem Auge.\n\nJedes Mal, wenn der reiche Kunde, ein Mann aus Terra mit verbesserten Augen, die mit einem schwachen Phosphor leuchten, sogar einen Drink aus seinem erstklassigen zentaurianischen Wodka trank, f\u00fcllte mein Vater den Rest des Glases mit gro\u00dfer Zeremonie und f\u00fcgte dem Mann nicht einmal das Getr\u00e4nk hinzu.\n\nMein Vater lachte \u00fcber die Witze des Gesch\u00e4ftsmannes, rieb sich das Kinn, w\u00e4hrend der Mann endlos \u00fcber sozio-urs\u00e4chliche Derivate plauderte - ein Thema, von dem mein Vater nichts wusste - und ignorierte im Allgemeinen jeden anderen Kunden in der Goldenen Horde.\n\nSp\u00e4ter, als ich meinen Vater fragte, warum er diesen Kunden angemacht und ihm nur ein Viertel der Getr\u00e4nke berechnet hatte, als die Wodkaflasche zwanzigmal so viel wert war wie eine normale Flasche, schenkte er mir sein patentiertes L\u00e4cheln und ging zur\u00fcck, um die Bar abzuwischen.\n\nZwei Monate sp\u00e4ter tauchten andere \u00e4hnlich gekleidete Gesch\u00e4ftsleute auf und gaben ein kleines Verm\u00f6gen aus. Als er die Quittungen f\u00fcr die Nacht zusammenz\u00e4hlte, zwinkerte er mir zu und fragte, ob ich etwas gelernt h\u00e4tte.\n\n\"Jeder will etwas, auch wenn es so aussieht, als wollten sie nichts.\"\n\nDanach war ich etwa eine Woche lang w\u00fctend auf meinen Vater. Aber ich war jung, und die Mechanik des Gesch\u00e4fts hatte mir damals wirklich nichts bedeutet - dass alles eine Transaktion war, dass alles mit Kosten verbunden war.\n\nIch dachte \u00fcber diese Lektion nach, als ich das Laufwerk basierend auf den Anweisungen, die Dario mir geschickt hatte, modifizierte. Selbst wenn ich nicht durch den Sprungpunkt ging, war die zus\u00e4tzliche Geschwindigkeit wertvoll und gab mir mehr M\u00f6glichkeiten.\n\nDer springende Punkt meiner Entscheidung war folgender: Entweder war das ganze Gesch\u00e4ft mit den Akten auf dem MobiGlas au\u00dfer Kontrolle geraten und Dario versuchte, die Ursache des Problems zu beseitigen, oder er versuchte tats\u00e4chlich, sie zur\u00fcckzubekommen (und mir vielleicht dabei zu helfen).\n\nIch hatte keine Illusionen, dass er ein Interesse an meinem Wohlergehen hatte. Sonst h\u00e4tte er mich nie als Maultier benutzt, um die Dateien durch die Sicherheit der Oya Station zu schleusen.\n\nIm Pilotenstuhl sitzend, mit den F\u00fc\u00dfen auf dem Bedienpult gest\u00fctzt, an einem Wasserbeutel saugend und an einer geschmacklosen Tafel kauend, sah ich den kleinen blauen und braunen Marmor gr\u00f6\u00dfer werden, w\u00e4hrend die roten Punkte auf dem Sensorbildschirm n\u00e4her blinkten.\n\nAm Ende entschied ich mich, den Sprungpunkt zu erreichen, wie Dario es befahl. Allerdings wollte ich ein paar \u00c4nderungen an seinem Plan vornehmen. Der Sprungpunkt ging an Gurzil. Das normale Protokoll bestand darin, den Sprungpunkt mit einer relativ niedrigen Geschwindigkeit zu erreichen, um Kollisionen mit dem eingehenden Verkehr oder nahegelegenen Kontrollstationen zu vermeiden.\n\nStattdessen wollte ich mit fast maximaler Geschwindigkeit durchfahren, mit vollen Schilden, falls Dario Zweifel hatte, mir zu helfen. Ich wusste, dass mein Plan zuf\u00e4llig und ohne Grundlage in irgendeinem tats\u00e4chlichen technischen Schiffswissen war, aber ich hasste es, dem Schicksal zu vertrauen, w\u00e4hrend ich nichts tat.\n\nAls sich der Night Stalker schlie\u00dflich dem Sprungpunkt n\u00e4herte, hatte ich das gesamte Essen und Wasser im Notfallkoffer verbraucht, mich gut ausgeruht und war mit meinem Rucksack zu meinen F\u00fc\u00dfen in den Pilotenstuhl geschnallt.\n\nAuf dem Weg in den Sprungpunkt versuchte der Computer dreimal, mich dazu zu bringen, die Geschwindigkeit zu reduzieren, aber ich \u00fcberrostete sie jedes Mal. Nach einer be\u00e4ngstigenden Reise durch den Zwischenraum blies ich die andere Seite des Sprungs aus und sofort absorbierten meine Schilde schwere Schl\u00e4ge von einem Trio von Avengers, die ihre Verzerrungskanonen in mich legten.... guter Ruf beim Maximieren der Schilde.\n\nIch habe den Night Stalker durch Ausweichman\u00f6ver geschickt, was in diesem Fall nur bedeutete, die Bedienelemente auf die eine und die andere Seite zu schlagen und auf das Beste zu hoffen. Jeder Alarm auf dem Bedienfeld ert\u00f6nte, da die Verzerrungsphysik die besch\u00e4digten Teile des Schiffes st\u00e4rker belastete.\n\nIrgendwie kam Darios Stimme durch meine Schiffslautsprecher: \"Bleibt zur\u00fcck! Bleibt zur\u00fcck!\"\n\n\"Wovon zum Teufel redest du da, ich werde hier verflucht!\" rief ich zur\u00fcck.\n\n\"Sie haben sich zur\u00fcckgezogen, sie haben sich zur\u00fcckgezogen!\" antwortete er.\n\nMein Puls dr\u00f6hnte durch meinen Kopf, und es dauerte einen Moment, bis ich das richtige Panel fand, aber ich konnte sehen, dass die Avengers nicht mehr auf der Jagd waren. Das war positiv, aber der Night Stalker hatte zus\u00e4tzlichen Schaden erlitten und die Man\u00f6verfahrt lief nur zu f\u00fcnfzehn Prozent. Ich bin jetzt meistens getrieben.\n\n\"Ich komme, um dich zu holen, Sorri\", sagte Darios Stimme, \"nimm deine Sachen und gehe zum Punkt, damit ich mich darauf vorbereiten kann, mit dir anzulegen.\"\n\nWenn ich auf den Bildschirm blickte, konnte ich sehen, was ich f\u00fcr den Fardancer hielt. Es sah aus wie ein stark angepasster Freelancer, oder ein anderes Modell, mit dem ich nicht vertraut war.\n\nDie beiden Schiffe dockten an und ich machte mich auf den Weg durch die Luftschleusen zu Darios Schiff. Er begr\u00fc\u00dfte mich in seinem Wohnquartier und trug ein hellgraues, offenes Hemd und eine Universalhose. Er l\u00e4chelte, und seine grau-gr\u00fcnen Augen funkelten auf mich.\n\n\"Tut mir leid, Sorri.\"\n\nIch bemerkte eine Bewegung in einem K\u00e4fig neben dem Tisch.\n\n\"Hey, der Luchs!\"\n\n\" Ja.\"\n\nIch verschr\u00e4nkte meine Arme. \"Ich sch\u00e4tze, du willst das MobiGlas.\"\n\n\"Es w\u00fcrde helfen.\"\n\nIch warf es ihm zu, und er riss es aus der Luft. \"Danke, das macht die Sache viel einfacher. Ich kann dich sp\u00e4ter nach Hause bringen, aber im Moment habe ich einen Gesch\u00e4ftsabschluss vor mir.\"\n\nIch kam zu Dario im Cockpit, und obwohl es auf technischer Ebene nicht viel anders war als bei Burnett, gab es \u00fcberall kleine Unterschiede, die Darios Pers\u00f6nlichkeit zeigten. An der Decke hingen an Schn\u00fcren kleine Schmuckst\u00fccke: eine primitive Knochenschnitzerei, eine alte Banu-Kreism\u00fcnze, ein Vanduul-Jagdpfeil. Die Pilotsitze hatten statt Hartmetallst\u00fctzen handgen\u00e4hte Kissen.\n\n\"Also Juliet\", sagte Dario zu seinem Schiff, \"wie sieht es aus?\"\n\nAls er die Scanner-Berichte auf der Anzeigetafel hochzog, stellte ich mir die Antwort des Schiffes als die Stimme einer rauen Frau vor. Die Stillen S\u00f6hne haben sich in einer Fokusfeueranordnung positioniert. Sie warten nicht geduldig, Liebling.\n\n\"Diese R\u00e4cher, sie sind die stillen S\u00f6hne?\" fragte ich. Dario nickte zerstreut als Antwort.\nEr kreuzte sein Bein \u00fcber sein Knie und klopfte auf die Handauflage. \"\u00d6ffnen Sie die Kommunikationskan\u00e4le mit Puschkin, nur die Stimme.\"\n\nEin Mann mit Wieselgesicht, schwarzen, fettigen Haaren und fledermausartigen Ohren erschien auf der Leinwand.\n\n\"Dario, kein Sichtkontakt? Das sieht dir gar nicht \u00e4hnlich.\"\n\nDario blinzelte mir zu. \"Ich sehe heute nicht gut aus, ich w\u00fcrde es vorziehen, dich nicht solchen Gr\u00e4ueltaten auszusetzen. Sollen wir zum Gesch\u00e4ft kommen? Das hat schon viel zu lange gedauert.\"\n\n\"Hast du jetzt die Waffendesigns?\" fragte Puschkin, mit einem Gesicht voller Gedanken.\n\nDario hielt das MobiGlas hoch, obwohl es keine Bilder gab. \" Genau hier.\"\n\n\"Dann bin ich bereit, Ihnen ein Drittel des urspr\u00fcnglich diskutierten Preises anzubieten\", antwortete Puschkin.\n\nDario legte seine F\u00fc\u00dfe nach unten und setzte sich auf. \"Ein Drittel? Bist du verr\u00fcckt? Komplikationen und Verz\u00f6gerungen, ja, aber nichts, was gr\u00f6\u00dfere Rabatte rechtfertigt.\"\n\nPuschkin lehnte sich in seinen Stuhl zur\u00fcck und legte seine H\u00e4nde hinter den Kopf. \"Wir k\u00f6nnten einfach dein Schiff deaktivieren und an Bord gehen und die Pl\u00e4ne \u00fcbernehmen. Ein Drittel ist ein gutes Angebot.\"\n\n\"Ich dachte, wir h\u00e4tten einen Deal.\"\n\nPuschkin zeigte seine Z\u00e4hne. \"Du hast den Deal verpasst. Eine Plan\u00e4nderung hat die Stillen S\u00f6hne gekostet und uns in Gefahr gebracht. N\u00e4chstes Mal mach deine Hausaufgaben.\"\n\nDario rieb seine Schl\u00e4fen mit den Fingerspitzen, schloss die Augen und nickte. Es sah so aus, als w\u00fcrde er den \u00fcberarbeiteten Bedingungen zustimmen, was f\u00fcr mich in Ordnung war. Ich wollte nur in Sicherheit bringen. Und je schneller wir die Akten aufgaben, desto schneller k\u00f6nnten wir gehen.\n\nDario zuckte halbherzig mit den Achseln und \u00f6ffnete seinen Mund, als eine Vielzahl von Ann\u00e4herungsalarmen losging. Puschkin blinzelte vom Bildschirm.\n\nPl\u00f6tzlich wurde der Bereich um den Sprungpunkt mit Schiffen gef\u00fcllt. Sternenteufelsschiffe.\n\nUnd das Schlimmste daran war, dass der Fardancer in der Mitte, zwischen der Reihe der Stillen S\u00f6hne und Sternenteufel, geschlagen wurde.\n\nMein Puls begann sofort zu laufen, aber ich geriet nicht wirklich in Panik, bis Dario anfing, verzweifelt in den Pilotenstuhl zu schnallen, sein normalerweise zur\u00fcckgekehrtes Haar fiel ihm ins Gesicht, w\u00e4hrend er murmelte: \"Nicht gut, nicht gut, nicht gut, nicht gut\".\n\nwird fortgesetzt.....","zh_CN":"My father was a stereotypical bar owner. Gruff, but lovable. Simple, but fiercely intelligent. He had an eye for squeezing profit, but not so his customers lost on the deal.\n\nOnce, when a rich businessman had gotten lost and ended up at the Golden Horde, my father struck up a conversation with him. I can still see him leaning against the bar, cleaning glasses with a rag, a sparkle in his eye.\n\nEvery time the rich customer, a man from Terra with upgraded eyes glowing with a faint phosphorus, even took a drink from his top-shelf Centaurian vodka, my father filled the rest of the glass with great ceremony, not once adding the drink to the man\u2019s charges.\n\nMy father laughed at the businessman\u2019s jokes, rubbed his chin while the man blathered endlessly about socio-primal derivatives \u2014 a topic I know my father knew nothing about \u2014 and in general ignored every other customer in the Golden Horde.\n\nLater, when I asked my father why he\u2019d doted on that customer and charged him for only a fourth of the drinks, when the bottle of vodka had been worth twenty times a normal bottle, he gave me his patented wait-and-see smile and went back to wiping down the bar.\n\nTwo months later, other similarly dressed businessmen showed up and spent a small fortune. When he was tallying up the receipts for the night, he winked at me, and asked if I learned anything.\n\n\u201cEverybody wants something, even when it looks like they want nothing.\u201d\n\nI was mad at my father for about a week after that. But I was young, and the mechanics of business really hadn\u2019t meant anything to me then \u2014 that everything was a transaction, everything came at a cost.\n\nI thought about this lesson as I modified the drive based on the instructions that Dario sent me. Even if I didn\u2019t go through the jump point, the extra speed was valuable and gave me more options.\n\nThe crux of my decision was this: either the whole business with the files on the MobiGlas had gotten out of hand and Dario was trying to eliminate the source of the problem, or he was actually trying to get them back (and perhaps help me in the process).\n\nI had no delusions that he had any interest in my welfare. Otherwise, he\u2019d never have used me as a mule to sneak the files through Oya Station security.\n\nSitting in the pilot\u2019s chair with my feet propped up on the control panel, sucking on a water pouch and munching on a tasteless food bar, I watched the little blue and brown marble grow larger, while the red dots on the sensor screen blinked closer.\n\nIn the end, I decided to hit the jump point as Dario instructed. However, I was going to make a few changes to his plan. The jump point went to Gurzil. Normal protocol was to enter the jump point at a reasonably low speed to avoid collisions with inbound traffic or nearby control stations.\n\nInstead, I was going to go through at near max speed, with full shields, in case Dario had second thoughts about helping me. I knew my plan was haphazard and without basis in any actual technical ship knowledge, but I hated trusting to fate while doing nothing.\n\nWhen the Night Stalker finally approached the jump point, I\u2019d consumed all the food and water in the emergency kit, had a good night\u2019s rest, and was strapped into the pilot\u2019s chair with my backpack at my feet.\n\nOn the way into the jump point, the computer tried three times to get me to reduce speed, but I overrode it each time. After a frightening journey through Interspace, I blew out the other side of the jump and immediately my shields absorbed heavy hits from a trio of Avengers laying their distortion cannons into me . . . good call on maxing the shields.\n\nI put the Night Stalker through evasive maneuvers, which in this case just meant slamming the controls to one side and the other and hoping for the best. Every alarm on the control panel went off as the contortional physics put more strain on the damaged sections of the ship.\n\nSomehow, Dario\u2019s voice came through my ship speakers: \u201cStand down! Stand down!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat in space are you talking about, I\u2019m getting blasted here!\u201d I shouted back.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve backed off, they\u2019ve backed off!\u201d he replied.\n\nMy pulse was booming through my head, and it took me a moment to find the right panel, but I could see the Avengers were no longer in pursuit. That was a positive, but the Night Stalker had taken additional damage and the maneuvering drive was operating at only fifteen percent. I was mostly drifting now.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m coming to get you, Sorri,\u201d said Dario\u2019s voice, \u201cget your stuff and go to full stop so that I can align for docking with you.\u201d\n\nLooking out the viewscreen, I could see what I assumed was the Fardancer. It looked like a heavily customized Freelancer, or some other model I wasn\u2019t familiar with.\n\nThe two ships docked and I made my way through the airlocks into Dario\u2019s ship. He greeted me in his living quarters, wearing a light gray, open-collared shirt and utility pants. He cocked a smile, and his gray-green eyes sparkled at me.\n\n\u201cSorry, Sorri.\u201d\n\nI noticed movement in a cage next to the table.\n\n\u201cHey, the lynx!\u201d\n\n\u201cYeah.\u201d\n\nI crossed my arms. \u201cI guess you want the MobiGlas.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would help.\u201d\n\nI threw it to him, and he snatched it out of the air. \u201cThanks, that makes things a lot easier. I can take you back home later, but for now I have a business deal to conclude.\u201d\n\nI joined Dario in the cockpit, and though on a technical level it wasn\u2019t much different than Burnett\u2019s, there were little differences everywhere that showcased Dario\u2019s personality. Hanging from strings on the ceiling were little trinkets: a primitive bone carving, an ancient Banu circle coin, a Vanduul hunting dart. The pilot seats had hand-stitched cushions on them rather than hard metal backings.\n\n\u201cSo Juliet,\u201d Dario said to his ship, \u201cwhat\u2019s the status?\u201d\n\nAs he pulled up the scanner reports on the display panel, I imagined the ship\u2019s reply as a raspy woman\u2019s voice. The Silent Sons have positioned themselves in a focus-fire array. They are not patiently waiting, darling.\n\n\u201cThose Avengers, they\u2019re the Silent Sons?\u201d I asked. Dario nodded absentmindedly in reply.\nHe crossed his leg over his knee and tapped on the hand rest. \u201cOpen communication channels with Pushkin, voice only.\u201d\n\nA weasel-faced man with black, greasy hair and bat-like ears appeared on the screen.\n\n\u201cDario, no visual? This is not like you.\u201d\n\nDario winked at me. \u201cI\u2019m not looking my best today, I\u2019d prefer not to subject you to such atrocities. Shall we get down to business? This has taken far too long already.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have the weapon designs now?\u201d asked Pushkin, face pinched with thought.\n\nDario held the MobiGlas up, even though there were no visuals. \u201cRight here.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I am prepared to offer you one-third of the originally discussed price,\u201d replied Pushkin.\n\nDario put both his feet down and sat up. \u201cOne-third? Are you crazy? Complications and delays, yes, but nothing to justify major discounts.\u201d\n\nPushkin leaned back into his chair and put his hands behind his head. \u201cWe could just disable your ship and board you and take the plans. One-third is a good offer.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought we had a deal.\u201d\n\nPushkin showed his teeth. \u201cYou missed the deal. Change in plan has cost the Silent Sons and puts us at risk. Next time do your homework.\u201d\n\nRubbing his temples with his fingertips, Dario closed his eyes and nodded. It looked like he was going to agree to the revised terms, which was fine by me. I just wanted to get to safety. And the faster we gave up the files, the faster we could be leaving.\n\nDario gave me a half-hearted shrug and opened his mouth when a host of proximity alarms went off. Pushkin winked off the viewscreen.\n\nSuddenly, the area around the jump point was filled with ships. Stardevil ships.\n\nAnd the worst part was that the Fardancer was smack in the middle, between the array of Silent Sons and Stardevils.\n\nMy pulse set to racing immediately, but I didn\u2019t really start to panic until Dario began frantically strapping into the pilot\u2019s chair, his normally swept back hair falling into his face while he muttered, \u201cNot good, not good, not good.\u201d\n\nto be continued \u2026"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":65,"created_at":"2014-05-29T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"11 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 08:18:58","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":13899,"next_id":13901}}