Commanders Log 04-02-3034 - Garay Terminal by Night
15 Feb 2021Matteus_Prime
*Its been 2 days of rest and relaxing at the Garay Terminal in Deciat and after a few prosperous bounties and a fat load of exploration, Commander Matteus Prime of the Mamba class Thanatos, arrives back to his newly bodykitted Mamba.*"Its Thursday Friggin night!!!!! Raise the main sail, fasten the stays and swing the helm to midships! Now. . . Bring me that horizon!"
"Kommandant, warum sprechen Sie wie ein Freibeuter aus dem 16. Jahrhundert?" replied the new ships A.I. Gerhardt, in a language not entirely understood by myself.
"Fraggit! - How the frag can the ship go in for body work and then come out speaking another fragging language?!?!?!?!?"
I flick the switch on the Psycho Caff 9000 machine and move to the comms panel. The sequence is entered with furious enthusiasm and a holo-screen materializes. An image comes into view of a looming shadow in a dark room. "This is Killah-wrench - how did you get this Number?" The shadowed figure replies in an unnatural, guttural tone that could easily draw fear from a lesser intelligence.
"Frag yourself Maurice, drop the act! Seen better imaging progs in snapchat. You are going to give me some resolution to this error of yours." I could feel the sheen of agitation washing over me.
"Kommandant Sie scheinen aufgeregt zu sein, kann ich Ihnen einen Kamillentee machen?" offered the ships A.I in impeccable timing.
"No I don’t want any fraggin chamomile tea Gerhardt."
"I don’t have any idea what you're talking about" said the receiver on the other end of the comms.
"Maurice I swear to you and this entire system that I'll. . ."
"Ok fine." said a weak and trembling voice as the image waivered and them dissipated, revealing a pasty man in his mid 40's. His eyes looked tired, or perhaps that was chems and his slight frame is draped in rags covered in lubricants and various splattering's of volatile fluid.
"But listen Prime, don’t get mad, we had an issue with your previous AI. One of my greasers slipped while working on the panel work and we got some D5 chloric acid on you’re A.I chip. Were already on retrieval processes but these systems are complex and its gonna take a week or two."
"So you want me to hang around here? In Deciat?" I asked, now starting to really feel twitchy, "With a fragging ship that speaks only German. Do you know what kind of monsters lurk around this place Maurice?!?!? You better sweeten this deal asap bastich!"
"No problem Prime. We go way back. I'm sorry about this. Here's a few credits to make your stay over as comfortable as possible." Out the side of my vision I catch a 10mill credit transfer into my account, "Why not go out and enjoy the sites? As long as you're not carrying you should be fine out there." The call terminated and I was alone again.
"unregelmäßige Zahlung festgestellt. Captain, warum sollte Ihnen jemand 10 Millionen Credits geben, um etwas abzudecken, das in diesem System nur 1 785 090,90 wert ist?
Gibt es noch andere nicht deklarierte Gegenstände in unserem Laderaum?" said Gerhardt in an enquiring tone.
Something about the credits we just received. I took another absent minded sip of Psycho Caff 9000. Letting the nanobots feed the precious substance straight to my cortex and activate another 3 percent of my brain. It all slotted into place. Or out of it. Gerhardt is asking about the difference in value here. 10 mill for a ships A.I? Something doesn’t add up. Maurice has never felt the need for the disguise before. Why now? And why is there so much fragging activity in Deciat right now? I decide that there's a good chance that whoever funded the creds is probably interested in this ship or myself. And that they would probably want to keep an eye on their investment. I have no idea of knowing what extra bits and pieces may have been added to Gerhardt while I was away but I'm taking no chances.
"Don't make friends with them creds Gerhardt. Those are going to be part of a magic trick where I will turn them into booze, chems and braindances. Lock up wont you hun? Ill be back. This commander needs some new threads."
With that I step into the mooring jetty and make my way into the throngs of people milling around countless duty free shops and eateries. I need to get lost in the crowd. Brush up on my German and figure out what the hells is going on.
*scene fades out with Commander Prime disappearing, nondescript, into the crowd. Camera zooms out to show the Garay Terminal before fade out.*
O7