FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The young kitty performed a flowery curtsy and said, "Name's Ts'Sai, Mrs. Beatrice. Glad to meet'cya! Doubly glad ya didn't shoot my buddy either!"

"Aahah ha-ha!" Beatrice laughed, standing up and slapping her knee, "Don' worry yer purdy lil' head, missy. Karus 'n I go way back, e'nuff at least his last scheme don' ruin anythin'. 'N trust me, if yer flyin' with him, well, as long as ya stay in the cockpit at least, he'll git ya down safe. This ol' hound's landed things that're more holes 'n ship, ain't that right?"

The wolf sheepishly tugged on his headfur with an uncomfortable grin, hoping that she was not going to expound any more. "Yeah, that's about right..."

"N'aww, don' git all shy _now,_after bein' all ruff-'n-tuff a'fore," she teased, stopping to pinch the wolf's cheek, "As long as ya keep this doggie off the sauce, 'r hypos, 'r any o'er kinda dope, he does a pretty good job. Hell, I remember sometimes ya'd git past an all-out _blockade,_with mah goodies, then yah'd be too hopped-up to handle traffic control!"

Karus gritted his teeth hard, with the one thing he did not want to be spoken of getting brought up. Knowing he had already arranged a clandestine meeting with a dealer just made it worse. Little Gresham decided to chime in, "I can attest to that," adding insult to injury.

Noticing the distress of his pilot, Percival decided to come to his rescue, finally forcing himself on the conversation. "Ahem, well, yes. I am Captain Percival B. Ringwald, of the _Marco Polo_transport. Obviously, you know my pilot...and have already met our co-pilot, Ts'Sai," he said, and Ts'Sai smiled that much harder at being included as a crewmember, "We are here to sell our cargo, refit, and, if possible, to find a...'legitimate' job. That is, if this bounty on our heads allows us to operate legally."

Beatrice straightened up, and turned to face the raccoon addressing her. "Hah, I wouldn' fret too much 'bout no bounty, pal. It's only ten grand a head, hell...Karus was up to sixty-thou cred 'imself at a few points. Any hunter this side'a the Sagittarius Arm know better'n ta take that job."

"Ninety-five thousand," Gresham corrected, although left ignored by everyone.

Beatrice began inspecting the weaponry on the hover-tractor. "Sheet, son. These 'ol weapons could put a few decent-sized potholes inna this station, should some'un git that in 'er heads. 'Ol Chudnov'll be giddy as all get-out to his claws on this. Guessin' that's the plan?"

"Yep," Karus said, thankful for the conversation to shift away from him, "Hit a dry spell for a few weeks, tryin' to find some work. We and the ship gotta eat, so...kinda hit up some salvage to make it for awhile."

"Dang, bud, ya shoulda-" Jaster tried to comment, before Beatrice snapped her fingers again to render him silent.

"What yer 'buddy' wants to tell ya is...we got a lil' robin aboard the station, claimin' to be representin' some business 'n the outer regions. Somethin' with tha Osten-Wallens Syndicate 'n Terran Navy," She informed them, but scowling at Jaster, "Thing is...job looks ta be legit. Paperwork checks 'n all...but-"

"Why would an authorized corporation, conjointly with official Terran Navy, be looking for a contractor in a place like this?" Karus said, finishing Beatrice's rhetorical question for her. "It's got trap written all over it."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," she responded, still glaring at the rabbit for the suggestion. "But...I'm 'fraid it'll be the only 'legit' job ya'll find here. We been pretty booked with e'ery job since word got out 'bout that Vulture 'nought gettin' iced. Ya'll have somethin' ta do with that?"

"Somewhat," Percival answered, doing a poor job of pretending to be modest, "But perhaps we can look into this legal work, it may just be a transaction requiring a light touch, that would be harder to conduct if contracting a larger firm."

"Well, I'll let ya'll figure that out. Personally, I wouldn' trust 'em. Then again...I been playin' the Game far too long..." she said, looking off with a deep sadness in her eyes. She took out a small PDA and typed a bit. A holographic image displayed, with a picture of a middle-aged, stern faced robin, and various information. "Here's the contact details, if ya'll stay int'rested."

Percival took out a smaller but similar device, and downloaded the contact details. "Thank you very much, Beatrice, now, should we also discuss the cost of refueling and refitting the Marco?"

"Hah, well...this one'll be on me," she said, with a soft smile looking at Karus and his new crew. "If ya'll 'r able to keep this hound outta trouble, and offa' the dope...I'm more'n happy ta lend a hand. Besides, lookin' at that thing, ya'll 'r gonna need all the help ya can git."

Both Karus and Percival looked at each other, sharing a moment of frustration, both of their buttons being pushed, but suppressing it in light of a blessing.

"Can't thank ya enough, Beatrice," Karus said, ready to end this reunion and get moving, "We're gonna be headin' right away to sell this to Chudnov, but ah...one tiny thing, if I may ask?"

She raised her eyebrow and gestured for him to continue.

"Well, now that ya know, seein' my new pack 'n all," he said with an open paw towards Percival and Ts'Sai, "You know I'm not lookin' to do anything sneaky-like. Think you might uh...keep my arrival on the down low here?"

"Heh, no worries yeh hound, I won' be goin' around broadcastin' anythin'. That goes fer you dummies too!" She said loudly at her collection of cronies. "'Specially you there. Dumber 'n a box a rocks," she directed at Jaster.

"Last bit 'a advice, sonny," Beatrice said softly, so as to not be heard by her escort, "Once ya git outta this whole Game, stay the hell out, whate'er ya do. Not alla us'll ever git that kinda shot."

She turned away, but half-faced Percival and Ts'Sai to bid farewell over her shoulder, "Hope ya'll enjoy yer lil' visit to my humble abode here. Lil' missy, ya better make Karus take ya to my galley on the upper-decks. They haven't been feedin' ya enough!"

Beatrice walked away, and her cronies followed, with the exception of Jaster.

"Hey bud, I wadn't tryin' to set ya up 'er anythin'," he said, once his boss was out of earshot, "Just figure, y'know, if you _wanted_a job that wasn't shady..."

Karus waved off the apology, saying, "Heh, no worries bud, you were pretty always ready to jump into a job regardless of how it looked. Can't believe we took that gig for that...'Leviathan Arms,' that one time. Damn, that was stupid."

Jaster laughed, "Haha! Yeah, I prolly coulda read the fine print a bit better, prolly woulda recognized all the typos and coordinates that don't exist. Made for a helluva fight, though."

"Yeah, paycheck woulda been nicer, but...Hey, pal, I don't mean to hurry on, but I'm holdin' up my whole crew here, and even if Beatrice's been nice as can be, I don't wanna turn this into an extended visit. Prolly should vamoose ASAP."

"Yeah, I know..." Jaster said wistfully, "But, if ya get a shot, meet me up at Bruster's pub. Just...not too much, that is. And no shooting this time."

Karus grunted in annoyance at his...addictive personality being referenced again. "Yes, Jaster, I'm all good now. And I will try to meet ya for a quick one, just...don't talk about that old stuff so much. I'm over it now."

"Oh, well, good! I mean...just lookin' out for ya, Kar. You're a pretty swell wingman, miss havin' ya around. Welp, I'll see y'all later, I guess, have fun 'n such...You two should prolly stick to the main passageways though, just ah...'cuz," he advised Percival and Ts'Sai, "Need anything, ya know my frequency!"

The awkward, floppy-eared pilot gave a small salute, and departed towards his craft to resume his patrols.

"Well now...that was certainly an...interesting 'reunion,' to say the least," Percival commented, finally comfortable without the crowd around them.

"Your friends are kinda scary...not to be mean Karus. Not sure why you used to hang out with 'em though," Ts'Sai observed with her typical innocence.

"You and me both, kiddo," Karus muttered, "This way, to Chudnov's place."

The pilot led the way, with Percival taking the hover-tractor, and Ts'Sai following behind.

"Oh yes, before I forget...I know you were worried about Beatrice, from your last escapade...But, is there anyone else that would be looking for you? I'm just curious as to why you would want her to keep your arrival quiet, if she was the only one you were worried about being...upset," Percival asked, as they crossed from the hangar area into the main passageway for the deck.

"Heh, yeah, there's prolly a hundred people looking for me," Karus answered, still bitter about his prior bones getting dug up, "But...what I'm mostly worried about are young hunters. Anyone with a lick of experience, like Beatrice said, knows that it's not even worth the trouble to come after me for such a small bounty. It'd cost at least twice as much in ordinance to bring me down. Pups though, they might have eyes bigger than their teeth. It _would_be quite a notch on their belt, if they could get me...even if the payout is light. Notoriety alone would get 'em all sorts of work. Now, it would be easy for me to just...'handle' it, but...I would actually like to get through this job without needing to do that. It's easy to feel good about blowing Vultures into star dust...not quite as easy to shoot some misdirected pup who's head got too big..."

Percival was watching his comrade closely, although he had been speaking over his shoulder while leading the way. It was clear to him, based on the occasional, suppressed cracks in the wolf's voice, that he was speaking from experience.