Pegasus Run 3305 - Day 49
15 Nov 2019Flemish Jack
10:06:54 11-15-05Arrived at The Junkyard (how creative) a little before Gates’ contact’s shift started. So we settled back with some adult beverages and cheese stuffed jalapeno pepper analogs and waited. After a couple of hours we had healthy buzzes on, our target arrived. Silvia Padilla seemed fairly unassuming from a distance, but up close, the pleasant friendly looking face held emotionless dead eyes. The eyes were hard. The eyes of a killer. Guess that makes sense, considering. I had no intention in finding out if it was murder related or genetic anomaly. Man, she gave me the creeps.
We ordered another round and as we were alone at the bar got down to brass tacks. We asked her, albeit quietly, if she’d heard anything that might be helpful to us – after we very briefly explained in semi-coded terms what we were looking for. After transferring funds into her account she told us about an old homesteader that comes in to TolaGarf’s in a banged up legacy Type 6 about every 6 months to sell vitamins and minerals and restock food, water, etc. That in and of itself is not interesting as stations like these see their fair share of asocial frontier types. What was interesting is that he wears a several generations old Sirius Mining flight suit, not the more recent Remlok designs that most are sporting these days. She’s attempted to make small talk on the subject of his old school flight suit in the past and he refuses to talk about it, other than to say it reminds him of those that didn’t make it. From what, he won’t say. Yay! Another potentially unrelated piece of circumstantial information that Ms. Todd adds to the narrative.
Unfortunately for us (I guess) he was just in station a little over a month ago and isn’t expected for at least 4 more months. We’re sure as hell not waiting around. Silvia thinks the guy lives (if you can call it that) not too far out of the way towards our next destination, Waypoint #6. What’s a few thousand light years between friends? Again, I signed up for this to make the long trip more interesting, so what the hell. Plot a course for Waypoint #6 and randomly search for some nutter that may or may not have useful information? He could be anywhere on this side of the galaxy. Fun.
Plotting course for Eos Flee NH-V d2-12, but first to Jacques to sell the Krait and install that still. Again the rum ain’t going to make itself.
Colonia is about to be in the rear view.
19:36:22 11-15-05
Back in Jacques station. Sold the Krait and all the modifications back to the dealership. The used buyback price was significantly below original purchase. I knew it was going to happen, but the reality was painful. That said, a few scuffs on the paint and less than 600ly on the odometer shouldn’t have cost me that much. At least not in my singular opinion.
Got the Jacques Quinentian Still fitted in the cargo hold, a trip to Giles Station to restock the coffee reserves and the bar we’re ready to depart Colonia for parts unknown. As a last effort to comingle passively with humanity we grabbed dinner in station prior to final departure. Out this far from Sol the meat is synthetic, but it still tastes good and the texture is only subtly different from the real thing. After comfort food and a few fingers of decent whisky Ms. Todd would not accept the supposition that we had graduated to friends (which frankly was a little off putting), but she has agreed to “allow” me to refer to her as Chief, short for her former Marine Corps rank of Chief Warrant Officer, or “The Chief” as I, in her words, mustered out of active Navy as a “light commander” she was the only enlisted person on the crew. My brevet reserve rank of Rear Admiral she refused to recognize due to the ease with which that reserve rank is passed around the bubble. I accept all of it, except the “light commander” bit as it’s pronounced Lieutenant Commander. Whatever, we’ll get that worked out properly down the road.
After a week in Colonia and surrounding systems, we’re only slightly closer to understanding what happened to her brother, but if you apply suspension of disbelief we’re still closer. We’re plotting our course to Oob Freau EL-Y e4717 to dig around systems surrounding the Kuranos Nebula on the way to WP #6. Seems like a better idea than heading directly to the waypoint as originally planned. The thought being that this old survivalist coot may be near there and if he’s not at least we’ll see something cool on our way out of the region. I'll be glad to reduce the star density in the viewport. Just ain't right.
I’ll let you know if we find anything.
See you in the black.
Flemish Jack - OUT