THE OXFELD ACCOUNT
by Judas
II
APHEND
VII – Moon 7 – Carthum Conglomerate Foundry Kador – Amarr Empire
His
quarters were remarkable small if they were supposed to home a captain, he
thought. Indeed. The room was laid out on two levels, separated by two or three
small steps. The great eye catchers were of course the three large screens
repeatedly displaying unimaginative advertisement and battle reports from far,
far away. In front of the display screens a low coffee table with accompanying
couch. He turned around and found a set of cupboards, and a bunk one would not
dare sleep in for all the ISK in New Eden.
Next
to the uncomfortable looking bunk, in the corner, was a mirror. He walked up to
it, paused, and sighed. In front of him stood a reversed image of one very
weary ore miner. A short, stocky, middle-aged ore miner with a bewildered set
of black hair full of dirt. Leather jacket, leather boots, and yes, leather
pants, which were extremely uncomfortable. Marcus Oxfeld gazed his own
reflection in the eyes and sighed once more. His Caldarian face was a mess, not
to speak of the hair! Ignoring those scars, (for those were hard to hide) his
face was covered in space dust.
Having
a drink he walked over to the sofa, keeping his eyes on the monitors displaying
the latest price index of the Covetor-class Mining Barge. He was so fascinated
by the rising stock prices.
Generally,
Marcus Oxfeld’s days passed by quietly without much action to speak of, he was
an honest and hard worker. Although it commonly should be for an ore pilot, he
never kept a journal or log on his space travels. The life on the Gleaner, his Venture-class Mining
Frigate, was not much to make a note of. He never particularly enjoyed this
line of work either but it was an honest living, of sorts. Marcus was currently
on contract for the Carthum Conglomerate Foundry corporation, part of the Amarr
Empire in a solar system named Aphend. To be frank, he didn’t care much for the
Amarrians and their fanatic weirdo religions.
Oxfeld did what he could to keep his head afloat, knowing, or rather,
hoping he would one day earn enough to leave his mining career behind him. But
the awful truth is that he didn’t know of any other life other than that of a
miner. But there was one other thing. His name. He didn’t quite like it at all.
No adventurer or privateer was named Oxfeld. Pathetic.
APHEND
IV – Asteroid belt 1
Bit
by bit the mining lasers scorched through the rocks, yielding the precious
minerals ever so slightly. Veldspar was probably the most common rock you could
find in New Eden but a profitable piece of stone nonetheless for it housed the
ever-required Tritanium, which was the undeniable cornerstone of the world as
he knew it. ‘Trit is love, trit is life’, he cheered to himself from inside the
Gleaner.
Upon
inspection the Venture’s ore bay was filling up nicely just when a familiar
Procurer-class Mining Barge warped in next to him and a Commlink went up.
‘Marc,
my man! How’s it going today? How is that Veld coming along, sucking up good,
eh? Ha ha!’
‘Good
day to you too, Xander. All’s well, as long as you stay away from my rocks, why
don’t you take that Pyroxeres over there that nobody wants anyway,’ Oxfeld
replied with a smile.
Xander
Geolof was of Gallente origin and had met Marcus a good few months ago in a
system close by and had decided to keep an eye out for each other ever since.
Marcus and Xander got along well, not only because of their equal way of making
a living, but also because of their mutual interests in activities outside a
mining ship. And that was drinking. A lot of drinking. Booze, spirits, liquor,
the hard stuff, by Jove he drank it all, as long as there was a trace of
alcohol in it. And for better or worse, so did Xander Geolof.
APHEND
VII – Moon 7 – Carthum Conglomerate Foundry
Marcus
unloaded his ore bay of the Venture and had it piled, ready for shipment to his
contractor. He had been drilling for a couple of hours already and decided now
was a good time for a sip of something intoxicating. Some moments later, he
indeed found himself heavily intoxicated laying on his sofa in a most unnatural
manner. Just then the captain’s quarter’s door opened and Xander Geolof walked
in. A most unusual event for some, but certainly not for these miners. The
Procurer pilot was a tall lad, much taller than Marcus. Or perhaps Marcus was
just rather short indeed, but in any case the two didn’t look like the other at
all; Xander Geolof was a large, blonde short-haired man with a merry face. A
peculiar feature of his was that both his ears and nose would turn fire-like
red after consuming only the tiniest amount of beverage. A remarkable quality.
Right now his face was glowing.
Hours
passed whilst the two drunks discussed a wide variety of pointless topics as
well as just generally dismissing the entire Amarr Empire all together. At this moment a most unexpected Commlink
opened and projected on the quarter’s main screen. The portrait of a security
agent appeared and replayed an obvious pre-recorded message.
SLAS
RAUNARD
‘Good day, Marcus Oxfeld. My name is
Slas Raunard, head security of Carthum Conglomerate Foundry, and I require your
assistance ...’
Marcus
was completely perplexed by the sudden appearance. This made him instantly
sober, he had never had a security agent contact him before, for he was just a
simple miner. ‘I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong guy, pal.’
‘A few days ago our security team intercepted
an encoded package from the criminal organization the Blood Raiders. So far we
have managed to decipher several pieces of information and traced a major
complex within the neighbouring system Dresi ...’
‘Do
they make this stuff up as they go along, or what?’ Xander wondered out loud.
‘Will
you shut up, I’m trying to listen to this,’ replied Marcus.
‘We need you to head over to system of
Dresi and follow the coordinates. Find the Blood Raider complex and intercept
any information you can get. Any details we get could prevent a future attack.
The hidden complex will likely be well guarded by hostile warships. Be prepared
and take a wingman with you if you must. This mission is of utmost importance
to the Carthum Conglomerate Foundry, and would not go unnoticed in the world.
I’m sending you the full details through your NeoCom.
Help us, Marcus Oxfeld, you’re our
only hope.’
‘You’ve
got to be kidding me. Your only hope? By Jove, what am I supposed to do with
this then,’ Marcus reflected. First of all he had no idea where all this was
coming from, and secondly he couldn’t remember the last time he sat in a combat
vessel before. ‘Blood Raiders, eh, aren’t those the nasty ones?’
AMARR
VIII (Oris) – Emperor Family Academy
The
Amarr Empire’s main trading hub was eponymously called Amarr too. A colossal
place. Or palace, even. Although he was somewhat reticent at first when he
arrived he reminded himself he was here for a reason. The Gleaner certainly was a fine Venture but for this next task he would
need something better than Mining Lasers. Actual firepower! Marcus Oxfeld had
extremely little experience flying any combat ship, but coming from a
traditional Caldari line he was schooled in the use of missiles, but again only
with slight experience. Another issue was ISK. Or rather the lack of it. He
could keep his Venture maintained but a whole new combat ship could be a costly
investment. In fact, the main reason he accepted the agent’s contract was the
promise of a good amount of hard cash. Browsing through the market
availabilities his eye fell on a Caldari Kestrel-class War Frigate, equipped
with a full rack of missile launchers. This would do just fine, he convinced
himself. Indeed, so did the docking master trying to sell the ship to him;
Marcus didn’t need much persuasion when a reseller spoke to him.
‘Excellent
damage projection, this one,’ he got told, ‘These launchers make short work of
all them you-know-what. In fact, tell
you something, I’ll put a proper Afterburner on it for you, no worries. Have
you thought about completing it with some ballistic units? Could improve your
missiles a great lot further, don’t you know. If you like maybe I can find a
cheap shield boost for ya.’
Quite.
A shield booster. Marcus hadn’t even thought about it. He didn’t realize until
now the potential danger he would be walking into. For ages he flew under the
protecting wings of CONCORD, but not this time. He did indeed question the
agent why they couldn’t just send CONCORD in there and do the job for them, but
the only answer he would get, which he found rather improbable, was that it
just “doesn’t work like that”. Doesn’t work like that, he mumbled to himself,
then how does it work?
‘Eh,
yeah, a shield booster, that’d be good, wouldn’t it. And you can throw me a
discount on that?
A
couple of hours later Marcus Oxfeld was the proud owner of a new Kestrel-class
Frigate, equipped with, missile launchers, afterburners, missile control
systems, even a shield boost. The latter he hoped he wouldn’t had to be using
at all. He figured the ship would need a name. And a celebration! He
symbolically opened a bottle of champagne for his own consumption and baptized
his new prize the “Adventure”. For he
was to have one indeed.
DRESI
– Outside the Royal Amarr Institute station
Marcus
and Xander agreed they would meet up outside the Royal Amarr Station with a
combat ship and to then draw up a plan of action. A Gallente Thorax-class
Attack Cruiser appeared within directional scan range.
‘A
Thorax? You’re joking! Where did you get that from?’
‘I
sold the Procurer, look, it’s even got Neutron Blast...’ Geolof cheered with
great enthusiasm but got interrupted immediately.
‘You
what?!’ Marcus cried out, ‘Sold the Procurer? What the blazes were you
thinking!’
'Well,
I didn't think I'd need it any longer,’ he replied, somewhat surprised by
Marcus’s reaction. ‘What, is that a Kestrel you've got there? Ok, so what’s the
plan then, rush in all guns blazing?’
Opposite
to Marcus, Xander had surprisingly enough slightly more combat experience, but
only just. His father forced him to enlist to the Gallente Navy where he flew
as a poorly skilled Interceptor pilot. After the death of his father he quickly
resigned to pursue other career paths. Due to his drinking behaviour he never
quite made it passed the Procurer Barge. He figured this just might be a good
opportunity to lead him to another way of life.
‘Well,
I’ve been reading over the mission details again that I got from Slas Raunard.
The complex is probably split up into multiple zones, we’d need to go through
them all and see what we can find. It’s now or never, I guess.’
Marcus
was convinced. Now or never, he repeated to himself. The two brave-hearts
initiated their warpdrives and jump off towards the unknown.
DRESI
– Deadspace
There
it was, right in front of them. They beheld an ancient acceleration gate with
great excitement. Neither knew what they were to expect. They activated the
gate and their warpdrives kicked in again. Marcus was pumped, full of
excitement Full of fear.
‘Hey,
you got insurance on that....’ Marcus
couldn’t finish his sentence. Their ships had exited the warptunnel and landed
at the Blood Raider complex. ‘Would you look at that...’ he stammered in awe.
He had never seen anything like this in his life.
Before
them in a near distance laid the ruins of some sort of small outpost. It was
barely visible as it was surrounded by a cloud of red dust. Blood red, he
thought, most fitting. The Adventure
carefully approached the Amarrian structure, followed by the Thorax behind him.
They noticed that close to the outpost another acceleration gate was anchored.
The ruined outpost didn’t look very lively, as most ruined structures are, so
they figured their best bet was to follow through the next acceleration gate.
Indeed, they were told that the complex would consist out of multiple areas.
‘Doubt we can salvage anything out of this,’ Geolof hinted towards the outpost.
But
then, more than half a dozen warships appeared before them! Frigates, even
Destroyer-class Blood Raiders came rushing and crushing towards the two
pioneers.
‘I’m
getting locked up,’ a nervous voice said coming from the Thorax.
‘Blast
‘em, blast ‘em!’ Marcus echoed back whilst he readied his missile launchers.
Laser fire crossed space left and right and the Thorax responded with volley
after volley from his blaster cannons.
‘Low
on shields, this armor repper better work, no wait, they switched fire, I
think.’ Indeed, the Kestrel was now the focus point of the Raiders’ attention.
Marcus had his closest target locked and fired a salvo off his missile battery.
Boom! ‘One down, five to go’, he encouraged himself. His afterburner gave him a
good thrust as he zipped passed the Destroyers. Two down! Xander too did an
astonishing job hitting their foes but they didn’t want to linger any longer
than they had to.
‘Let’s
leg it, the gate is almost there!’ the two told each other. But the Adventure was not in agreement; it was
stasis webified and drastically slowed down by the Blood Raiders. The Blood
lasers blistered through the poor Frigate’s defenses.
‘Kick
it!’ Xander shouted at Marcus, referring to his shield booster, ‘Now, now!’ A
blue hue appeared around the Kestrel’s hull and boosted up his shield defense,
again and again. No time to linger indeed, and he fired another volley of
missiles into space, and again. Along the zapping of repeating blaster fire the
Blood Raiders were bleeding well, till their raiding was no more and all that
was left were the red coloured dust clouds.
‘Good
shot, my good sir!’ Oxfeld commented on his partner in a jokingly posh manner.
‘Why
indeed, thank you, sir! And you, well done!’ Xander putting up a mighty chic
tone. ‘Wondrous!’ they laughed.
Marcus
Oxfeld felt good. His fears got replaced by pure adrenaline and was more than
ready to continue the mission, plus he was really looking forward to a good
bottle of brandy afterwards. The two took a last look at the ruins and confirmed
their scanners picked up nothing of interest and moved towards the acceleration
gate. “Intercept any information you can get”, Marcus reflected the agent’s
words, but he wasn’t entirely sure what sort of information he should be
looking for. Data logs? Cargo? He hoped he would find something so very obvious
he couldn’t be mistaken.
‘Alright,
let’s go then, I’m activating the next acceleration gate again.’ Marcus
followed the Cruiser into a deeper pocket of the so-called deadspace. What he
found at the end of the warptunnel almost gave him a heart attack. Dozens upon
dozens of Blood Raider warships popped up on his scanners, all of them pointing
their blooded noses at the two.
‘Maybe
not, eh,’ cried Xander.
‘No,
no, we can do this! See that cluster of Frigates to your right, just forty
clicks out, take them out. I’m going to fly right through the main blob, that
will get their attention no doubt! We’ll pick them off one by one, let’s focus
our weapons!’ He didn’t know what had come over him, but Marcus felt more
confident than he had ever been in his life. It felt like a turning point and
he wouldn’t let it pass uninvolved. Geolof acknowledged his mate’s order and
started burning starboard. Meanwhile the Kestrel’s afterburner began thrusting
again and headed straight ahead towards a group of Blood Raider Cruisers.
Marcus
was too busy dodging laser fire he didn’t noticed a peculiar looking Amarr
Bestower-class Industrial vessel anchored to a minor outpost the Blood Raiders
were guarding. It would only be until after the fight that he realized this
Bestower was carrying a mother lode of illegal drug, mostly combat boosters.
Among the debris of the smoking Industrial wreck they would find a detailed
trade log belonging to the Blood Raiders. Exactly what their mission agent was
looking for. This achievement definitely deserved a bottle of brandy, no, two!
APHEND
VII – Moon 7 – Carthum Conglomerate Foundry
SLAS
RAUNARD
‘Excellent work, Marcus Oxfeld. We,
and indeed the Amarr Empire is grateful to your services. I am sending you your
reward in credits along with this message.’
Marcus
Oxfeld counted his ISK, every million of it. He had never been as rich as he
was now! Mister Raunard the security agent was pleased, and had rewarded them
well, but for now his job was done. He had retreated back to the old trusty
Gleaner and continued his quiet routine of drilling for Veldspar, but he
couldn’t deny the thrill he got from combatting the Blood Raiders. In the
following evenings Oxfeld and Geolof would sit together accompanied with a
crate of port wine. Gallentean port, the proper stuff, grown and processed in
Caille. The two, especially Marcus reviewed their actions with great
enthusiasm.
‘Who
would have thought it,’ he said to the former Procurer pilot, ‘Us taking on the
Blood Raiders! By ourselves! What a feat, eh, Xander!’ He was very proud of
himself. ‘Oh I wish I could do it all over again, and again all over! Pass me
that bottle will you. Not that one to your left. Thanks.’
‘This
one? Here you go. So why don’t we?’ asked Geolof daftly and handed over the
port.
‘What
do you mean? The Raiders? They are gone. It was a hypothetical statement,’ he
answered, but then remembered the fact Xander had sold his Mining Barge and the
only vessel he had of note was his new Thorax. At least Marcus still had his
Venture but he knew his good partner would not want to go back to mining. The
last few days, ever since their combat encounter Geolof had hardly undocked. He
would spend his time walking in the station, which turned out very uneventful
time after time, whilst Marcus kept harvesting Tritanium for his contractor.
The nights they would spend together mostly drunk.
‘Well,
have you at least asked Raunard if he had any more work for us?’
‘No,
I haven’t,’ confessed Marcus. He had his reasons. During his drunken hours at
night he did not care for any more action, as long as he had enough ISK to
import more spirits. During his sober hours he was mining, and if he were to be
honest, he was a little scared to do it again, despite him bragging about it
towards Xander. Truth is he was proud of his feat, his achievement, and he did
enjoy the thrill, but somehow he thought it was mere luck that kept him alive,
and he wouldn’t risk his skin for it twice. ‘No – no, I haven’t contacted Slas
Raunard again. You think I should?’
‘Well,
we did pretty well, didn’t we? There’s good money on it, be fair, Marcus, loads
better than mining, Jove curse it. Dammit, do we have another bottle of
brandy?’
The
next few days were quite unremarkable. Xander Geolof said he had some business
to attend to closer to home within the borders of the Gallente Federation,
which left Marcus alone for a couple of days. Things weren’t the same though.
He thought about the conversation he had with Xander and kept thinking of his
mission agent. One fine morning it happened again. He had just drank the most
disgusting coffee he had ever had, (a typical Amarrian “quality”), and was
about to undock the Gleaner Venture when Slas Raunard made contact for a second
time.
‘Got
another job for me?’ asked Marcus Oxfeld curiously.
SLAS
RAUNARD
‘Why, yes, Marcus Oxfeld, something
has just came up. One of our facilities right here in Aphend got sabotaged by a
squad of infiltrators belonging to the Sansha’s Nation. We would like you to go
in and stop this menace. Be wary, they are both armed and dangerous. I’m
sending you the details to your NeoCom. By the way, I took the liberty to
upgrade your Kestrel-class Frigate. Make good use of it.’
Marcus
did not had to think long. He knew Xander was not here to aid him but it did
not stop him – an offer like this could not passed along. He had been too held
back to contact Slas himself but if the agent came to him then it surely meant
business. Slas Raunard needed his help, right now, right here, in Aphend! He
threw the appalling Amarrian coffee away and jumped in the Adventure.
When
he undocked he had realized the Adventure
was indeed fitted quite differently. The agent had made room for a Target
Painter module and the Afterburner was replaced by a Micro Warp Drive! ‘By Jove,
man, this guy is made of money!’ Marcus cried out. He simply couldn’t believe
it.
APHEND
– Deadspace
As
the Adventure exited its warpdrive
Marcus observed a field of wrecked ships in front of him. Tens of them, all of
which belonged to the Sansha’s Nation. Someone has already been here, he
thought to himself. Just ahead laid another acceleration gate. He activated it
and went through. On the other side he found a badly damaged station as if an
attack had just happened. Most likely the work of the mentioned saboteurs!
There had been no other ships on the grid when he arrived but when he
approached the outpost a Destroyer undocked from it. A Sansha’s Nation
Destroyer! Both parties didn't hesitate a moment and proceeded to lock each
other up. But before Marcus could activate his shield defenses a beam laser
scorched the Adventure’s wings. ‘Oh
boy, not good!’ as he readied his launchers. ‘Don’t panic, Marcus!’ he cried to
himself. He fired a volley of missiles at the enemy Destroyer but hardly
breached its defenses whilst more laser fire hit him. His shield booster had a
real proper time catching up with the incoming fire and it looked as if it
wasn’t going to hold. ‘Wait, wait! Don’t panic, DON’T PANIC!’ Just then he
remembered his newly acquired Target Painter which would literally “light” the
Destroyer up. The Target Painter would work as a guidance system for his
missiles, drastically increasing its chances for a hit. And indeed the missile
went home! The Destroyer was losing its shield rapidly now! Another salvo, and
another! But the fight was not over yet. Marcus’ Kestrel was getting in
dangerous low shield when the Sansha pirate took another course of action; he
legged it! It turned about and started burning away from the Adventure with increasing velocity. But
Marcus would have none of it! He activated the Micro Warp Drive and chased him
down with great fury. He aimed the Target Painter a final time and launched
another volley of his missile launchers. The Nation’s Destroyer was now nothing
more than a burning scrapheap of metal fragments.
He
reviewed his Kestrel; missile launchers emptied, no shields, armor breached
half-way. ‘Phew – good thing I didn’t panic...’ A Commlink went up.
SLAS
RAUNARD
‘Well done, Marcus Oxfeld. I just got
word the demolishers are dealt with. Loot their cargos; it appears a very
specific document was taken from the outpost. We need it returned immediately.
Do not return it to me. Bring it to my colleagues in Bordan V – Noble Appliance
Factory. I will contact you again once I have received clearance from them.’
The
Sansha’s Nation Destroyer wreck had indeed a sealed cargo container in it, and very
lucky it wasn’t destroyed or even damaged. But Oxfeld did face a problem,
though. The Bordan system had a low security rating. A system housed by harmful
people that would have no greater pleasure than to destroy any by-passer coming
through that pipe. Damn pirates. And not to speak of his badly damaged Kestrel
Frigate. Marcus knew that Raunard would not give him a dime of ISK before
successfully completing his objectives, and if he was send to Bordan then that
is what he would have to do. He just didn’t like it one bit. But first he had
to get his priorities straight: he needed a cold beer.
APHEND
VII – Moon 7 – Carthum Conglomerate Foundry
He
was more than pleased to see Xander Geolof returning to his base station when
he saw the Thorax docked up at the hangar bays. The two quickly met up and
Marcus was anxious to tell him what was going on. He also noticed how Geolof’s
ears and nose were glowing again.
‘For
real? You went in all alone? You’re crazy!’ Xander danced around, nearly
spilling his cognac in excitement.
‘I
know, I know! But I need your help. Or cash. Or both, actually. I see you still
got the Thorax, marvellous! First I need to get the Adventure patched up and then I need to find this system called
Bordan. Do you know this place?’
‘Yeah,
cakewalk,’ and Xander poured himself another glass.
‘Cakewalk?
It’s low security space! How exactly do you consider that a cakewalk?’ Marcus
knew he shouldn’t really be drinking all that much right now, but he couldn’t
help himself within the company of his friend.
‘Well,
you know, it’s not like its null-sec,
I mean, come on. Besides, I’ve seen low-sec before during my time in the
service.’
‘Right...
And how long have you been in the Navy again?’
‘That’s
classified.’
The
two were on their way to become uncontrollable drunk but it did not bother them
one bit. Marcus had become slightly more conciliatory towards the Amarr Empire
(especially after the security agent handed them over a bag of money for their
work), so they would now had to target their drunken malice towards something
else. The Sansha’s Nation would be suitable, they figured.
‘They’re
as bad, if not worse than the Blood Raiders, aren’t they. That Destroyer was
proper- tough! Bloody Sansha, and their bloody lasers.’
‘You
know,’ Xander went on, ‘I’ve heard the Sansha would invade a planet and kidnap
everyone, then brainwash them to turn into slaves. True Slaves, they call
them!’
‘Woah
– no way!’ Marcus yelled in a voice that was not entirely his own anymore after
so many drinks.
‘A
story like that has got to be true!’
The
next morning they would start their short journey towards Bordan, a mere six or
so jumps from Aphend. The Kestrel and Thorax pilots both denied the fact they
were still somewhat intoxicated from the night before but didn’t want to come
out like a total wimp. Oxfeld made sure the sealed package was in his cargo
hold, nicely labelled with the destination station. They approached the first
stargate and moved through, system after system, till they reached the Zimmem
system, one jump out of Bordan.
ZIMMEM
– The last high-sec on the Bordan-stargate
‘We’ll
be alright in there, you said? It’s safe, right?’ asked Marcus.
‘Safe?
Yeah, it’s... I mean, it’s pretty safe. It’s like picking red at roulette.
Safest bet in the house.’ Marcus sighed. ‘That will have to do, I guess... Here
goes!’
BORDAN
– Low security space
The
Bordan V station was easy enough to find. The station belonged to the Noble
Appliances Factory, an Amarr corporation that specializes in customized
jewellery for the Amarr overlords. Interesting? Not at all; the only thing on
Marcus’ mind was the fact there were fifteen astronomical units between him and
that vault – just out of scan range.
‘Got
anything on your directional scanner?’ ask Marcus to his Gallente wingman
anyway.
‘Nada,
let’s make a run or it.’ Geolof replied, and activated his warpdrive without
actually waiting for a response from Marcus. In response the Adventure’s warpdrive got set into
motion too. The station got closer and closer till it finally appeared in front
of them. With their minds rushed they quickly docked up and dropped off the
cargo for their agent Slas Raunard, confirmed the deed and a moment later
Marcus saw his wallet balance skyrocket.
‘We’re
loaded!’ he shouted at Xander in delight whilst looking at his unbelievable
amount of ISK, and Xander, whose first response in return was to look for a
bottle of liquor he might have kept in his Cruiser, for celebrations. Xander
Geolof would often keep a few with him, just in case. However, they decided it
would be best to make their way to Aphend first, after all they were still in
low security space. Xander wasn’t impressed though.
‘You
see, all this low-sec stuff, it's a cakewalk! Told you! Nothing to worry about,
at all,’ and climbed in his Thorax again to depart from the station.
‘You
know,’ said Marcus, ‘maybe it’s about time we team up with Raunard.’
‘I
hope this corp has a wine cellar,’ Geolof nodded.
Marcus
agreed, ‘Ain’t that right. Now let’s get out of here.....’
