How I Got Here: "Calling In Favors"
23 Aug 2022Columbuss
Commander Justin Estok. Stardate 22-AUG-3308."You've been a gangster all your life... now be one for me."
Everyone loves a good knockout. Even if you're not a boxing fan, something about seeing that crucial moment where a punch sneaks through unseen and turns the receiving fighters lights out like a switch that just blows our minds. Boxing fans love a good knockout too, but true fight fans love the buildup. They love the anticipation. A seasoned boxing fan can sense when a knockout is coming. Like watching a land speeder crash in slow motion. Maybe the crash hasn't happened yet, but the video is only forty seconds long so you know it's coming.
Typically, you can see the knockout blow coming when the rounds start becoming one sided. The receiving fighter will be smashed up against the ropes taking shot after shot to the face and torso waiting for the bell to ring so they can hobble back to their corner bloodied and bruised. This is where Crimson Life was now. Sitting in the corner while our cut man plugged our wounds and the trainer screamed in our faces that the fights not over. Most of the time, those fights I described, they end how you expect. However, every now and again, that fighter who's left rib is broken, face purple from burst blood vessels in the cheek and an eye so punched in that it's swollen shut, sometimes that fighter walks back to the center of the ring and does something unexpected.
Twenty two out of one hundred and thirty even ships made it back to Gilleken Terminal from the attack on Al Mina A2. What should have been a major victory for Crimson Life ended with John and I, standing on the flight deck, staring up at the mail slot and hoping we wouldn't have to stop the count at twenty two.
"That's it John," I said. "There's no more coming."
"This isn't it..." he said, wiping burns from exploded circuitry off of his face.
"We've been watching for an hour. There's no more coming."
"This isn't how this ends Justin."
"John..." Walking up behind us came Finn Hardy, clutching at his ribs. It was clear he'd been jolted pretty badly during the fight. He put his other hand on John's shoulder causing John to turn around to face him.
"John, the council are coming down. Gryll is with them. They're requesting to speak with you right away." John nodded as Finn hobbled back toward the medical tent erected in the courtyard next to the flight deck.
"I need you to do me a favor," John said, turning to me. "I need you to go to the surface. Go see a woman named Sue Price at the Gimini Lounge in Ellicot City. I'll put her coordinates on your data pad. She owes me a favor and she may have some ships we can use. I’ll deal with the council."
"Who is she?" I ask.
"Oh just a racketeer. Extortionist. Thief. Murderer. You'll love her. She runs an illegal, black market starship ring. Tell her I sent you and you shouldn't have any problems."
"That's not my life John... not anymore..." I said.
"Look... I wouldn't ask if we didn't absolutely need it. I have plenty of pilots but no ships for them to fly. Sue can help us... You've been a gangster all your life... now be one for me."