Starbourne, page 11
As the two men walked through the door, the first thing Jaeden noticed was the familiar smell. Years of spilled beers and alcohol, among other liquids no doubt, had stained the floors and left a permanent odor that lingered in the building. It was a mix of stale air and alcohol, like what you would expect a liquor cellar to smell like.
They moved through the backroom until they stepped out into the pub. There was a bar in the center of the room surrounded by stools, with a pillar of displayed drinks behind the counter. All shapes and sizes of bottles lined the shelves from top to bottom. Liquors from all over the solar system were represented, although nearly half were empty of their contents.
A flickering neon sign that read “Bar” hung crooked over the counter precariously. The bar counter itself was littered with empty bottles and cups.
Booths and tables were scattered around the room. The tables were covered in random bits of food and bottles. The seats all had torn leather coverings. The ceiling was a collection of iron beams and steel pipes. Some of the pipes were old and rusty, and in some spots dripped a suspicious unidentified liquid.
A steam vent in the far side of the room filled the room with a translucent fog that stank of something stale. Seasonal holiday multicolored lights were draped from corner to corner, with some of the bulbs burnt out and some flashing.
“Shaz. You could have at least cleaned this place up when you bought it.” Jaeden exclaimed as he looked over the familiar scene.
“There’s a market for every type of customer, my friend,” Hoss said proudly, looking over his empire. “Someone has to cater to the disreputable. That’s us.”
A young woman stood behind the bar, using a rag to dry a mug she was holding. She looked to be in her late twenties, but something about the look in her eye gave her a mature demeanor. She had shoulder-length red hair and chestnut brown eyes. The bartender wore a brown leather necklace with a brass buckle and a low-cut red shirt.
The bartender was currently engaged with a few patrons who were sitting on the bar stools in front of her. She looked up as Jaeden and Hoss walked by and gave Jaeden a knowing smile as their eyes met. He smiled back at her before looking away timidly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see she went back to conversing with her guests.
Hoss led Jaeden to a private booth in the back of the bar that had its private terminal computer on the tabletop.
“Step into my office,” Hoss said, collapsing into the seat.
“You don’t use the office in the back?” Jaeden asked, sliding into the seat across from his friend.
“Most of the time. But this is the office I prefer!”
“I see Nellie stayed on,” Jaeden said. He brushed some crumbs off the table.
“Course she did! She’s actually my business partner. We bought the place together.”
“Really?” Jaeden said, looking back at the red-haired bartender.
“Seventy-thirty split, my way. Well… Sixty-forty,” Hoss said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Probably more like fifty-five-forty-five at this point.”
“Any plans for this place?” Jaeden asked, sweeping his eyes across the pub.
“Well, I was thinking of buying a droid, actually,” Hoss announced.
Jaeden furrowed his brow and looked back at his friend. “A droid? For a bar? What for?”
“As a bouncer!” Hoss exclaimed. “Plus, wouldn’t it be sick to have a droid running around here? Doin’ all sorts of droid shaz.”
“Aren’t they really expensive?” Jaeden asked.
“Eh, it depends,” Hoss said before looking down at his wrist jockey and checking his messages quickly. “T’s on her way. I told her you were back, and she flipped out.”
“Flipped out? Doesn’t sound like Teagen.”
“Well, nearly flipped out. I could have sworn I heard some emotion in her voice. You know T.” Hoss then began moving his arms and neck rigidly, imitating robotic movements.
Jaeden laughed at the performance and gestured for Hoss to stop. As they sat together, he thought about the last time he saw Teagen. She had always been cold and despondent, but not for lack of trying. Unlike Hoss, Teagen understood Jaeden’s reasoning for leaving, because it was “logical”.
Teagen MacKay was a street Technologist; someone who acquired their cybernetic enhancements under the table and off the board. Where corporate Technologists got their top-tier upgrades in sterile labs, their street counterparts typically got second-hand parts and had them illegally installed.
Teagen grew up poor and idolized the hero Technologist stories she heard growing up. One way or another, she was finding a way to be just like them. The downside of becoming a street Technologist is that sometimes the hardware and software aren’t entirely compatible. Splicing these parts together sometimes meant that you lost pieces of yourself in the process. The closer Teagen got to her dream, the further she got from her real self.
“Nellie, my dear! Bust out three of our good mugs; we have an honored guest with us today!” Hoss called out from the booth.
“We don’t have any good mugs,” Nellie called back. “The best I can get you is something without a hole in it.”
“Perfect! And bring us a bottle of Black Rabbit!”
“We’re out.”
“Fine then, Crowned Bolt.”
“Out.”
“Weissenhoff?”
“Nope.”
“Whatever, Nellie, just bring me a bottle of liquor. I don’t care.”
Nellie combed through the wall of liquor bottles, carefully surveying the stock. She selected a bottle from the shelf, and with her free hand, used her fingers to pick up three cups from the countertop. The bartender approached the booth, put the cups in the middle of the table, and displayed the chosen bottle of liquor. Hoss clapped his hands excitedly and rubbed them together. With a nod, Nellie put the bottle on the table and placed her hands on her hips.
“Perfect, thanks, Nellie,” Hoss said, not realizing that the bartender had stayed to talk.
“Did you buy the stuff off the list I gave you?”
“Er, I’ve started the negotiation process.”
“Alex, we can’t run a bar on tap water and good intentions,” Nellie said as she rolled her neck and dropped her shoulders.
Uncomfortable, Hoss shifted his weight in his seat and lowered his voice. “I get it, I do. I’ll get the stuff tomorrow morning before the weekend rush.”
“Much before the weekend rush. Like ‘ass-crack-of-dawn’ before the weekend rush.”
Hoss’ face twisted with anguish. “Oh come on, I’ll get—”
“I have to process all that shaz, Alex; I need time to get it all settled before we open the doors. And I’d like to be able to take a breath in between, so don’t screw me on this. I don’t want to be running around trying to put everything away as people are walking through the door.”
“Okay, okay! You’re right. You’re right. You are right,” Hoss said, his attention now on pouring the bottle of liquor into all three of the cups on the table. “Bright and early, you got it.”
“Promise?” Nellie said before crossing her arms across her chest and raising her eyebrow.
“Cross my heart, and hope somebody else dies. I will get you all the liquids you need to make us both filthy rich.”
“Good,” Nellie said, a shrewd smile forming on her face. The bartender then faced Jaeden and touched his shoulder gently. “It’s good to see you again, Jae.”
“You too, Nel,” Jaeden said with a nod. Nellie then turned and walked back to the bar to attend to the other patrons.
“Nel!” Hoss called out as she walked away. “I’ll even help put the stuff away!”
“No thanks, that I can do myself,” the bartender said without looking back to the booth. “The last time you ‘helped’, half the bottles never made it to the shelf.”
Hoss looked over to Jaeden with a smile. “What kind of business operator would I be if I wasn’t familiar with my wares?”
“A profitable one, I imagine,” Jaeden said before taking a drink from his cup.
“So riddle me this, my guy,” Hoss started, settling back into the booth, “What happened up there?”
“It’s like I said, some new efficiency dirk came in and screwed everything up for me.” Jaeden explained, “He gave me some crazy target and I botched it.”
“Come on, did you really get dusted, or did you just miss me?” Hoss said, a sneer forming in the corner of his mouth. “It’s alright, you can admit that you just wanted to come back.”
Jaeden idly thumbed an outline around his bottom lip, thinking about his response. The truth was, if he had a choice, Jaeden would not have come back here. He had tried so desperately to escape New Parora. And yet despite his best efforts, here he was.
“You caught me,” Jaeden said, avoiding eye contact with Hoss. “I just can’t stay away.”
“That’s what I told you in the first place. You shoulda’ just listened to me. Would have saved yourself a year of wasting time.” Hoss said, taking a deep swig from his cup.
Jaeden shrugged as memories of their last conversation replayed in his mind. Hoss had tried to dissuade Jaeden from taking the job, saying it was a mistake. Hoss told Jaeden he’d never last at a corporate job because he wasn’t ‘one of them’.
The discussion had broken out into a heated argument, with both men saying some pretty harsh things to one another. When Jaeden stormed out, he vowed to himself to never return. In the end, Hoss had been right all along.
“Hey man, tell me this,” Hoss started, leaning over the table. “You ever see a skeeter up there?”
“Not me, but I heard of a few guys running into some, but I never had any on my ships,” Jaeden said, picturing the winged monstrosities. He had never seen one in person, but the images he had seen were terrifying.
It was said that Skeeters were originally insects from Old Earth. Jaeden had heard rumors that when the tiny insects were carried into space aboard shuttles, cosmic radiation caused them to evolve. Hundreds of years’ worth of accelerated evolution had turned these seemingly insignificant creatures into one of the most dangerous species in the Solar System.
A far cry from their Earthen ancestors, the modern-day Skeeters could grow up to as much as six feet from sucker to legs. Using their lance-like mouths, they pierce their victims and suck their blood until there’s nothing left but a dried husk.
“Mega yikes, my guy,” Hoss said, taking a drink from his glass. “Could you imagine coming face to face with one of those suckers?”
“I heard they can like, detect your breathing. It’s crazy.” Jaeden said, running his finger along the rim of his cup.
“Like they hear you?”
“No, they can feel your breathing, like a sixth sense or some shaz like that,” Jaeden explained.
Taking another drink from his cup, Jaeden cringed as the bitter taste of the liquor sunk into his tastebuds. He blew out of his mouth slowly and focused on the burning warmth deep inside his chest. Jaeden found himself thinking about the last time he had a drink this strong. It had to have been when he was last here, with Hoss.
“I gotta’ say though,” Hoss continued, catching Jaeden’s attention, “I’ve always wanted to see one in person. Like, I’m so fascinated by those things.”
Rubbing a hand over his face, Jaeden simply shook his head. “Yeah well, not me.”
The front door to the bar opened, and a young woman with purple hair strolled in. She walked through the bar with purpose and at a steady pace until she reached Jaeden and Hoss’ table. Jaeden smiled as he watched Teagen MacKay approach them.
Teagen appeared the same as when Jaeden had last seen her. She didn’t look a day over thirty, with shoulder-length purple hair pulled back from her face and tied behind her head. She had multiple cybernetic enhancements across her face, and her eyes almost seemed a dim silver. She had a lean angular face, with high cheekbones and a sharp nose.
She wore a retrofitted lightweight combat suit with armored shoulders and a modified breastplate. Around her waist, she had a belt with a combat knife on one side, and a holstered pistol on the other.
Teagen radiated confidence and power, as anyone with Technologist abilities would. She nodded at the two in the booth and slid into the seat beside Hoss.
“Hey, Jaeden.”
“How’re ya’ now, Teagen? Looks like you got some new tech?”
“That’s right, Jaeden. I’ve made some significant upgrades.”
“Some sweet new ‘hances’, right, T?” Hoss added eagerly.
“I’ve told you before, Alex, the term ‘enhancement’ doesn’t apply to the work I’ve done,” Teagen said as Hoss twisted in his seat disapprovingly. “I upgraded my CPU from a Gen Six to a Gen Eight. The difference in computing power in that upgrade alone is substantial. I also acquired a new six-hundred-watt LPX and carbon RTF coupler. Additionally, I—”
“Hey, yeah, that’s super cool, T, but we don’t get what you mean by all this stuff,” Hoss interrupted. “It’s like saying you ‘duplexed the giganax in the hyperwave to the fifth degree’.”
Teagen sighed softly and glared at Hoss. “None of those words mean anything, Alex.”
“That’s what I’m saying! None of the words you’re using mean anything to us!”
“It’s cool, Hoss. I kinda get what she’s saying,” Jaeden jumped in.
“Look, I’m just saying that normal people don’t go around talking like that. You get me, T?”
Teagen looked down at the table for a moment and nodded to herself. “I understand.” Her lip then twitched slightly, and she looked up to Hoss, adding, “But you wouldn’t understand even the basic explanation, Alex. Because you are an idiot.”
Both Jaeden and Hoss laughed at the jibe, and for just a brief moment, Teagen’s lips curled into a smile. The three settled into the booth comfortably, and each took one of the cups filled with alcohol. Hoss cleared his throat and gestured for both of his friends to give him their full attention for what he was about to say.
“I’m making a toast!” Hoss said. “With my good friend Jaeden coming back to us, this is a time to celebrate! To old friends and new opportunities!”
The three friends raised their glasses to cheers each other before each taking a sip. Hoss settled back down in his seat and spread out, making himself comfortable. There was a bit of awkward silence at the table, as they sat with their cups in hand. Teagen turned to face Jaeden, and he turned to smile back at her.
“Alex told me you were let go from Fairfex Industries,” Teagen said, sipping from her cup. “That’s disappointing. I had high hopes for you there.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jaeden responded, rubbing a single finger across his cheek. “I tried my best at least. Just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
“That’s right!” Hoss exclaimed. “It wasn’t meant to be. You tried it, gave it your all, and it didn’t pan out.” He downed his cup and refilled the empty glass. “But with every closed door, a new door is made.”
“Another door opens,” Teagen corrected.
“Opens, gets made, broken into, who cares,” Hoss said excitedly. “Hades, smash a hole through the wall if you have to. That’s what I say.” He settled back down in his seat and ran his finger around the rim of his cup. “There’s no fortune to find, but for those who take it.”
“Where are we going to get a fortune from?” Jaeden said dryly, before taking a sip from his cup. “I got no money, no connections, no education, no discernable skills.”
“And you’re ugly,” Hoss said with a smirk. “But lucky for you; you got us. And the three of us together have a little bit of money. A little bit of connections. No education, like none book learnings.” Hoss leaned forward in his seat. “But we have tremendous skills. You just forgot about them.”
Jaeden twisted in his seat and laughed sarcastically under his breath. “Not this again, man. We can’t—”
“We can!” Hoss exclaimed eagerly.
“Hoss, we’re too small fry. What are you thinking? We can’t—”
“Yes, we can!” Hoss exclaimed again, this time slamming his fist on the table. Suddenly aware he was in public, Hoss looked around the room suspiciously, then composed himself.
“Listen, look, we have an opportunity.” He then looked at Teagen and gestured. “T, you tell him.”
“Jaeden, I understand your hesitation,” Teagen started. “However, Alex and I have made great strides in furthering our enterprises together over the last several months. Several fortuitous events have transpired, and a rather lucrative—”
“Oh shaz, T, you’re killing me.” Hoss interrupted. “Never mind, let me tell him. We’ve been working with a bondsman; Cyrus Komarov. He’s been giving us some good work, and we’ve been making some good credits.”
Jaeden shook his head and pressed his lips together while looking down at his cup. “So you’re hired killers now.”
“No,” Teagen responded. “We don’t kill anyone.”
“Not if we don’t have to,” Hoss said, leaning back in his seat and resting his arms along the back.
Teagen shot Hoss a disapproving look. “We primarily deal with snatch-and-grab jobs. Nobody gets hurt as long as everything goes according to plan.”
“Alright, well, good for you guys. But what’s this have to do with me?” Jaeden asked.
“We’ve got credits rolling in doing this, but if we upped our team, we could handle some bigger jobs,” Hoss started. “Bigger jobs; bigger credit payout.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, bringing his hands in front of his face. “Right now, Teagen rolls as the muscle, and I’m the getaway. You would—”
“You’ve been letting Teagen go into these deals solo?” Jaeden snapped.
“Relax, man, T can handle herself. You should see—”
“Come on, Hoss, that’s shaz. It’s bad enough you’re getting into this garbage but sending Teagen in your place is low.”
Hoss aggressively slammed his fist on the table again. “Screw you, man! Don’t you think I hate that?” He looked away from Jaeden with shame in his eyes. “Why do you think we need a third?”
