Post by Samantha Greystone on Dec 19, 2020 9:36:07 GMT -5
First Name:
Samantha (Sam)
Last Name:
Greystone (Alias: Baker (this what's on her fake ID)
Age:
16 (Fake ID age: 18)
Height:
5'2"
Weight:
105 lbs
Appearance:
Brunette, long hair, usually worn up. Hazel eyes. Petite. She has an air about her when she walks that gives the impression of not being someone to mess with despite her size and age. She seems very comfortable on a ship while also giving an air of street smarts. She usually can be seen in jeans, boots, regular shirts or t-shirts, nothing overly girly. She has a black leather jacket which is her pride and joy.
Persuasion:
Neutral
Military Service:
None
General Skills:
She is very at ease on a ship; having been raised on one. She knows a little bit about the various areas of engineering, security, supply, and so on. Enough to maybe help, a little, not anywhere near as much as someone who is an expert in that field. (Nothing much about piloting because she was more interested in other things.) Guns ( She can pick it up and shoot it and has a greater than 50% chance of it going in the right direction. Living on a ship gave her little chance to practice using guns. They are not her first line of defense.)
Talents:
She is an excellent cook and baker and can make, almost, anything taste good. Intelligent. Computers (hacking, programming, information systems, hardware, software. Anything dealing with computers she probably knows it or can pick it up incredibly fast.) Musically talented. She can sing and play guitar but it’s been years since she’s had access to a guitar. Hand to hand combat. She was taught hand to hand combat by her parents but it morphed, over the years, to more of a street fighting technique as her survival depended on it. Her style isn’t clean but it gets the job done.
Flaws:
She is intelligent but stopped school at 13 so her academic progress is limited. She has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once she gets her hands on a computer she can spend hours on it. (Which is both a flaw and an asset). She can be stubborn about some things.
Personality Traits:
She is mature for her age, intelligent, determined, street smart. Has trust issues but it can be earned. If someone manages to earn her trust she is fiercely loyal to them.. Unlike some teens; fully admits when she doesn’t know something. Is willing to learn new things. She loves computers but no one meeting her would ever guess that. She can come across as quiet but there is a toughness about her. She tends to observe before reacting unless the situation warrants. She hasn’t had anything close to a normal adolescence so things, like her sexuality, she hasn’t had time to explore.
History: Born aboard the ship the Dara Relta (Gaelic for Second Star) in May, 2502; to Josephine and Douglas Greystone who were owners and Co-Captains of the ship. Sam also had a brother, Timothy, who was three years older than her. Her family was very close. Her brother had normal sibling arguments but never anything major and Sam always knew she could depend on Tim for anything.
Sam’s schooling was done via virtual/home schooling. She would spend part of her day in school and part of the day either learning about jobs on the ship or music lessons (voice and guitar) which were also virtual. Her parents noticed her natural abilities with computers from an early age and fostered that by allowing her to take virtual computer classes. Later on her ability with cooking would be noticed and her father would give her lessons on cooking in the galley. When she got old enough, age 8, hand to hand combat lessons were added to her schedule. At 12, when they were groundside, her mother taught her how to shoot a gun. Nothing fancy just a pistol; if she ever needed it but they were never groundside for long enough for Sam to practice that very much.
Sam always did well with her studies and was quick to pick up things but the other thing was she was never afraid to make mistakes and had a determination to get it right so she would practice or study until that happened, if needed.
The crew she was raised with were tight; they became like a second family and while Sam knows that not all ships are like that she always feels like those kinds of ships make the best crew. The crew was willing to work with her and her brother in showing them the different parts of the ship. Her brother wanted to be a pilot so he spent a good majority of his time in the cockpit with the pilot.
When Sam was 12, only a few weeks from turning 13, her parents made the decision to stop in Paquin. There had been a slight dry spell of cargo shipments and passengers but they had gotten a job transporting some cargo from Paquin. The ship landed and they managed to not only get cargo but a passenger by the name of Chen Hui, or that’s what he called himself. Nothing was thought of much of it as they picked up passengers when they could.
Chen seemed to be friendly and seemed to fit in with everyone fine. While Sam saw no reason to distrust him; she had taken to hacking into information on everyone they brought about the ship. She was good at it and, while not as distrustful as she would become later, there was always the feeling that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Chen Hui was nowhere on the Cortex. While there were plenty of Chen Hui’s there were none that matched him. Record after record she searched as she went deeper into the darker parts of the cortex. Nothing. Not only was it a fake name but it was incredibly well covered.
For several weeks that is what Sam did, researched Chen Hui, all while trying to not let it show that something was wrong. She could have gone to her parents sooner and maybe she should have but she had no actual proof that he wasn’t just someone running. Maybe, that was all there was to it.
The ship had landed in Persephone and Sam had no intention of leaving the ship but her mother asked her to go to a store and get a few items. Sam got on her boots and headed out. She meant to be gone only a few minutes but the stores with the electronics, leather jackets, and boots caught her attention. By the time she looked at the clock 2 hours had gone by.
When she got back to the ship, Sam discovered the entire crew, along with her parents, had been murdered. Chen Hui was nowhere to be found. She searched the entire ship and discovered her brother, Tim, had also disappeared. The only thing left was a note which read 你是下一个. (Translates to: You’re next)
Sam managed to grab the crew's cred sticks; a backpack in which she shoved her Databook and a few articles of clothing and headed out. There was no destination in mind except getting the hell out of there. She could have called the authorities but she knew enough to assume that Chen Hui would find her and she didn’t have a good reason for the hacking.
She managed to find passage aboard a ship which took her to Ariel. While on the ship she came across articles related to the deaths aboard her former ship. So, what happened on the Dara Relta (Second Star in Gaelic) is known. The whereabouts of her and her brother are unknown though the authorities would love to question them. The passenger Chen Hui, not even mentioned. All Sam can assume is somehow he was wiped from their data banks. The killing is still considered unsolved.
While on that ship she decided she needed a fake ID; she changes her ID every few months which makes it harder to track. She grew her hair out, it used to be short, to make her harder to spot and she died it red but the dye has long since worn off and she’s back to be a brunette.
From there she lived on the streets for a while and managed to get a name as a hacker, in the underworld. In the hacking world she goes by Xiao Niao (little bird).
Sam has spent the past 3 years either on ships or on the streets. She sometimes is a passenger, sometimes she’s been hired as a cook, and once before was caught as a stowaway. If she’s hired as a hacker; it’s under her hacker name and done through sources. She tries to be very careful about those jobs; nothing can be traced back to her as far as she knows.
One of the ships she was hired to work on was the Rongyao (Glory). She had been back in Ariel for a while and needed to get out of there, so she didn’t bother checking on the Captain before she climbed aboard. Turned out the Captain was the slaver, Mao Ching, infamous for being ruthless. Sam decided to do something about it and she hacked into the ships system before they docked at Highgate to alert the authorities. She jumped ship and hung out in the shadows just waiting for the Captain to be arrested. The police came but left without him in custody. Sam wasn’t stupid and realized that Ching must have bribed the police or had contacts with power; maybe both. She watched as some of the guns on the ship set out; probably looking for her.
Sam, for her part, disappeared into the shadows and wasn’t found. She lived there for a while on the streets before getting passage aboard another ship. It took 2 ships and about 5 months but eventually she hit ground in Beylix and decided to get off of that ship to find another. She was on Beylix for about a week when she was attacked by about 6 men, knocked unconscious and put into a crate.
Extra information;
Sam is still investigating Chei Hui and still has found very little information on him. He’s still after her and she assumes that. She doesn’t know why he just didn’t stay and finish the job.
Chei Hui and Mao Ching are still after her but she could easily have other people after her. She has hacked into government databases before and assumes she wasn’t caught. She hacked into the Tong database and saved Max from Tan Ving: a Tong enforcer. Both the Tong and the government knows there was a breach, but she assumes they haven’t been able to trace it back to her.
Her Fake ID is really good; it would take a lot of searching into areas of the darker parts of the cortex to figure out it was a fake. However, someone with the right skills and knowledge of hacking could, possibly, figure it out.
Anyone who is part of the hacking world has probably heard of Xiao Niao. She has gained a reputation as being a good hacker. Even people, though, that have hired her have no idea that she is the same person. She is really good at covering her tracks.
Contacts:
Timothy Greystone: (Older brother). (Not really a contact as he’s missing but putting him here for reference). 3 years older than her. They were extremely close and she is determined to find out what happened to him. He was 16 when he vanished. He looked a lot like their Dad; he was about 5’10”, short brunette hair, hazel eyes. Sam and Tim look enough alike that it’s easy to tell they are related.
In her travels and time on the streets she has met a variety of people but not had to deal with all of them for anything that might be useful.
Max Williams: From Ariel (probably not his real name but that’s what she knows him as). A con-artist. She first had a run in with him; then they ended up working together. She isn’t a con-artist but he needed her particular skills (hacking) and through that a tentative “friendship” was formed. She doesn’t trust him but if necessary she can call on him; it’s a mutual thing. She did save his life at one point so he owes her.
She knows Darren Hung, a gun for hire on Persephone, he travels around but is usually hired out by the Tong when they need an extra hire. She owes him as he saved her life once. She doesn’t trust him, either.
Kevin Morrison: A bartender in Ariel; he is one of those people that always tries to help people, whether they want it or not. He was one of the first people she met on Ariel and helped her find food and some clothes but she didn’t trust him enough to let him help her more so she vanished into the shadows and they lost contact.
RP Sample:
“What do you mean? We agreed on 20 not 10.” Sam shook her head.
“You only got half the information I was looking for.” Max narrowed his gaze at her.
“You are so full of Da Bien Hui.” Her tone would have made even the biggest man grimace but Max just looked at her.
The light from the open sign shined down on their table, where their coffee cups sat empty. It had taken until the last drop had been drunk before Max had told her. She was being paid only half of what they had agreed upon.
The waitress in the starch white apron, blue uniform and the name tag that read “Dorris” came over and refilled their cups before either could protest or say anything else. “You two ready to eat?”
Sam was more interested in getting paid than food but spoke up anyway. “Sure.” Motioning to the man, with the blonde hair and blue eyes, across the table from her. “He’s paying. I’ll have the stack of pancakes, sausage and hash browns with cheese.
Max glared at her but only said. “Fine. I’ll have the western omelet, toast and hash browns.”
Dorris left with their orders and Sam put two sugars in her coffee, stirred and sipped it. Her long dark hair, put up into a tight ponytail, her black leather jacket hung off the back of her chair. Her hazel eyes scanned the room, as people went in and out of the busy diner, before she fixed them back on him.
“Half? Right. You said find out what I could. I found out what I could. There wasn’t anything else.”
Max was a con-artist, she knew it from the first time she ever met him, she knew it even more the longer she worked with him. She knew he couldn’t be trusted but he was trying his con on her and she wasn’t having it.
“Nothing?” He responded.
“Why would I hold out?” He was really getting on her nerves but she took a breath and managed not to just get up and smack him.
“More money?”
“I’m not you.” An arrow shot directly at him; she didn’t care. “That was all the information I got. “That’s what you got. You owe me 20.”
“Fine.” He took out his databook and made it happen.
It didn’t take her long to check on her own databook. “Hey, that’s not 20. ‘Where’s the rest?”
“I deducted the cost of breakfast.”
Sam rolled her eyes, took a sip of her coffee before the food arrived and she started eating. It was good and she was hungrier than she realized. The two friends, business acquaintances, whatever one would call them, didn’t say much as they ate.
It wasn’t until breakfast had been eaten that Max spoke up again. “ Are you sticking around?”
Sam knew he already probably knew the answer to that. “No. Think I’ll just find the next ship out of here.”
“To?” He sat back waiting for her answer.
“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out when I get there.”
Never in one place for too long, never. It had become what she lived by. Too long and it could get her killed. Things Max didn’t know about her could fill a book and she never explained why she was constantly on the move and he never asked.
“Ariel’s a big place. You could settle down for a while. You know, take a break.” From the running he didn't say; he didn’t have to, she knew what he meant.
She had gotten the coffee cup half way to her mouth when he spoke and with those words put it back down. He didn’t know why she was running. She had never told him. Along with other things she had never told him including her real age, name, history or almost anything about her.
“And be stuck here with your annoying ass? No thanks.” Giving him a small grin as she spoke. “I like not being tied down to one place. It makes life...interesting.”
“I’m sure.” He sounded unconvinced but left it at that.
Her eyes glanced around the room once more; always on the lookout. When she saw 2 men walk in. Tall, muscular men that screamed out bodyguards as they flanked the door.. Then in walked Tan Ving. He wasn’t the head of the local Tong; he was one of the enforcers. He was also the person she had just been paid to get dirt on.
“Tzao Gao” She remarked under her breath.
“You covered, right.”
“Of course.” She always covered her tracks but then what was Tan Ving doing there?
Ving headed directly for their table. He nodded towards Sam and spoke directly at Max. “Well, Mr. Orland or should I say Williams. If you will step outside, for a moment.”
Sam closed her eyes for a second. Max, he was here for Max. Orland? Really?
Max got up and headed outside. Sam had to think quickly. A glance outside the diner made it obvious that the 2 bodyguards had turned into 4 and they were starting to work over her friend. She knew how to fight but was clearly outnumbered.
A quick thought and she powered her data book, it took only about a minute or 2 to find the security system to the diner and the fire alarm hooked up to it. Hacking it took no time at all. The buzzing of the alarm was probably being heard the next street over and suddenly the sprinklers went off. Perfect, she thought as Tan and his men took off and she went outside to find Max.
He was on the ground but looked like she had gotten to him before they had done any real damage.
“You OK? “ She asked.
“Yeah.” He got up, dusted himself off and looked behind him and the people exiting the diner, the place being drenched in sprinklers and then turned back to her raised his brows. “Your doing?’
She nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
He easily agreed and they went back to his apartment. They both got cleaned up, changed, and had a single shot of whiskey each.
They were sitting on his couch when he said. “So, when are you leaving?”
“Didn’t we have this conversation?”
“I just meant if you stay here tonight you can have the bed and I’ll take the couch. It might be best if you tried to get out tomorrow.”
Looking at the clock that hung on the wall; it read 3:00 PM in big numbers. He was right, it was easier to get a ship out in the morning.
A sigh left her. “Fine.”
The night was spent with food, movies and card games. In the morning, she awoke early, got dressed, grabbed her pack and headed out the door. She easily found passage out of Ariel and was well on the ship and away from port before opening up her data book, once again.
.
When Max checked he would find two things: a message thanking him for last night, the 5 protein bars and 3 bags of protein chips she had taken from his pantry and his account short 12 credits the amount he had taken from her pay for breakfast.
Translation:
Da Bien Hu: Shit talk
Tzao Gao: Oh, crap
Do you accept the rules of this site? yes
Samantha (Sam)
Last Name:
Greystone (Alias: Baker (this what's on her fake ID)
Age:
16 (Fake ID age: 18)
Height:
5'2"
Weight:
105 lbs
Appearance:
Brunette, long hair, usually worn up. Hazel eyes. Petite. She has an air about her when she walks that gives the impression of not being someone to mess with despite her size and age. She seems very comfortable on a ship while also giving an air of street smarts. She usually can be seen in jeans, boots, regular shirts or t-shirts, nothing overly girly. She has a black leather jacket which is her pride and joy.
Persuasion:
Neutral
Military Service:
None
General Skills:
She is very at ease on a ship; having been raised on one. She knows a little bit about the various areas of engineering, security, supply, and so on. Enough to maybe help, a little, not anywhere near as much as someone who is an expert in that field. (Nothing much about piloting because she was more interested in other things.) Guns ( She can pick it up and shoot it and has a greater than 50% chance of it going in the right direction. Living on a ship gave her little chance to practice using guns. They are not her first line of defense.)
Talents:
She is an excellent cook and baker and can make, almost, anything taste good. Intelligent. Computers (hacking, programming, information systems, hardware, software. Anything dealing with computers she probably knows it or can pick it up incredibly fast.) Musically talented. She can sing and play guitar but it’s been years since she’s had access to a guitar. Hand to hand combat. She was taught hand to hand combat by her parents but it morphed, over the years, to more of a street fighting technique as her survival depended on it. Her style isn’t clean but it gets the job done.
Flaws:
She is intelligent but stopped school at 13 so her academic progress is limited. She has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once she gets her hands on a computer she can spend hours on it. (Which is both a flaw and an asset). She can be stubborn about some things.
Personality Traits:
She is mature for her age, intelligent, determined, street smart. Has trust issues but it can be earned. If someone manages to earn her trust she is fiercely loyal to them.. Unlike some teens; fully admits when she doesn’t know something. Is willing to learn new things. She loves computers but no one meeting her would ever guess that. She can come across as quiet but there is a toughness about her. She tends to observe before reacting unless the situation warrants. She hasn’t had anything close to a normal adolescence so things, like her sexuality, she hasn’t had time to explore.
History: Born aboard the ship the Dara Relta (Gaelic for Second Star) in May, 2502; to Josephine and Douglas Greystone who were owners and Co-Captains of the ship. Sam also had a brother, Timothy, who was three years older than her. Her family was very close. Her brother had normal sibling arguments but never anything major and Sam always knew she could depend on Tim for anything.
Sam’s schooling was done via virtual/home schooling. She would spend part of her day in school and part of the day either learning about jobs on the ship or music lessons (voice and guitar) which were also virtual. Her parents noticed her natural abilities with computers from an early age and fostered that by allowing her to take virtual computer classes. Later on her ability with cooking would be noticed and her father would give her lessons on cooking in the galley. When she got old enough, age 8, hand to hand combat lessons were added to her schedule. At 12, when they were groundside, her mother taught her how to shoot a gun. Nothing fancy just a pistol; if she ever needed it but they were never groundside for long enough for Sam to practice that very much.
Sam always did well with her studies and was quick to pick up things but the other thing was she was never afraid to make mistakes and had a determination to get it right so she would practice or study until that happened, if needed.
The crew she was raised with were tight; they became like a second family and while Sam knows that not all ships are like that she always feels like those kinds of ships make the best crew. The crew was willing to work with her and her brother in showing them the different parts of the ship. Her brother wanted to be a pilot so he spent a good majority of his time in the cockpit with the pilot.
When Sam was 12, only a few weeks from turning 13, her parents made the decision to stop in Paquin. There had been a slight dry spell of cargo shipments and passengers but they had gotten a job transporting some cargo from Paquin. The ship landed and they managed to not only get cargo but a passenger by the name of Chen Hui, or that’s what he called himself. Nothing was thought of much of it as they picked up passengers when they could.
Chen seemed to be friendly and seemed to fit in with everyone fine. While Sam saw no reason to distrust him; she had taken to hacking into information on everyone they brought about the ship. She was good at it and, while not as distrustful as she would become later, there was always the feeling that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Chen Hui was nowhere on the Cortex. While there were plenty of Chen Hui’s there were none that matched him. Record after record she searched as she went deeper into the darker parts of the cortex. Nothing. Not only was it a fake name but it was incredibly well covered.
For several weeks that is what Sam did, researched Chen Hui, all while trying to not let it show that something was wrong. She could have gone to her parents sooner and maybe she should have but she had no actual proof that he wasn’t just someone running. Maybe, that was all there was to it.
The ship had landed in Persephone and Sam had no intention of leaving the ship but her mother asked her to go to a store and get a few items. Sam got on her boots and headed out. She meant to be gone only a few minutes but the stores with the electronics, leather jackets, and boots caught her attention. By the time she looked at the clock 2 hours had gone by.
When she got back to the ship, Sam discovered the entire crew, along with her parents, had been murdered. Chen Hui was nowhere to be found. She searched the entire ship and discovered her brother, Tim, had also disappeared. The only thing left was a note which read 你是下一个. (Translates to: You’re next)
Sam managed to grab the crew's cred sticks; a backpack in which she shoved her Databook and a few articles of clothing and headed out. There was no destination in mind except getting the hell out of there. She could have called the authorities but she knew enough to assume that Chen Hui would find her and she didn’t have a good reason for the hacking.
She managed to find passage aboard a ship which took her to Ariel. While on the ship she came across articles related to the deaths aboard her former ship. So, what happened on the Dara Relta (Second Star in Gaelic) is known. The whereabouts of her and her brother are unknown though the authorities would love to question them. The passenger Chen Hui, not even mentioned. All Sam can assume is somehow he was wiped from their data banks. The killing is still considered unsolved.
While on that ship she decided she needed a fake ID; she changes her ID every few months which makes it harder to track. She grew her hair out, it used to be short, to make her harder to spot and she died it red but the dye has long since worn off and she’s back to be a brunette.
From there she lived on the streets for a while and managed to get a name as a hacker, in the underworld. In the hacking world she goes by Xiao Niao (little bird).
Sam has spent the past 3 years either on ships or on the streets. She sometimes is a passenger, sometimes she’s been hired as a cook, and once before was caught as a stowaway. If she’s hired as a hacker; it’s under her hacker name and done through sources. She tries to be very careful about those jobs; nothing can be traced back to her as far as she knows.
One of the ships she was hired to work on was the Rongyao (Glory). She had been back in Ariel for a while and needed to get out of there, so she didn’t bother checking on the Captain before she climbed aboard. Turned out the Captain was the slaver, Mao Ching, infamous for being ruthless. Sam decided to do something about it and she hacked into the ships system before they docked at Highgate to alert the authorities. She jumped ship and hung out in the shadows just waiting for the Captain to be arrested. The police came but left without him in custody. Sam wasn’t stupid and realized that Ching must have bribed the police or had contacts with power; maybe both. She watched as some of the guns on the ship set out; probably looking for her.
Sam, for her part, disappeared into the shadows and wasn’t found. She lived there for a while on the streets before getting passage aboard another ship. It took 2 ships and about 5 months but eventually she hit ground in Beylix and decided to get off of that ship to find another. She was on Beylix for about a week when she was attacked by about 6 men, knocked unconscious and put into a crate.
Extra information;
Sam is still investigating Chei Hui and still has found very little information on him. He’s still after her and she assumes that. She doesn’t know why he just didn’t stay and finish the job.
Chei Hui and Mao Ching are still after her but she could easily have other people after her. She has hacked into government databases before and assumes she wasn’t caught. She hacked into the Tong database and saved Max from Tan Ving: a Tong enforcer. Both the Tong and the government knows there was a breach, but she assumes they haven’t been able to trace it back to her.
Her Fake ID is really good; it would take a lot of searching into areas of the darker parts of the cortex to figure out it was a fake. However, someone with the right skills and knowledge of hacking could, possibly, figure it out.
Anyone who is part of the hacking world has probably heard of Xiao Niao. She has gained a reputation as being a good hacker. Even people, though, that have hired her have no idea that she is the same person. She is really good at covering her tracks.
Contacts:
Timothy Greystone: (Older brother). (Not really a contact as he’s missing but putting him here for reference). 3 years older than her. They were extremely close and she is determined to find out what happened to him. He was 16 when he vanished. He looked a lot like their Dad; he was about 5’10”, short brunette hair, hazel eyes. Sam and Tim look enough alike that it’s easy to tell they are related.
In her travels and time on the streets she has met a variety of people but not had to deal with all of them for anything that might be useful.
Max Williams: From Ariel (probably not his real name but that’s what she knows him as). A con-artist. She first had a run in with him; then they ended up working together. She isn’t a con-artist but he needed her particular skills (hacking) and through that a tentative “friendship” was formed. She doesn’t trust him but if necessary she can call on him; it’s a mutual thing. She did save his life at one point so he owes her.
She knows Darren Hung, a gun for hire on Persephone, he travels around but is usually hired out by the Tong when they need an extra hire. She owes him as he saved her life once. She doesn’t trust him, either.
Kevin Morrison: A bartender in Ariel; he is one of those people that always tries to help people, whether they want it or not. He was one of the first people she met on Ariel and helped her find food and some clothes but she didn’t trust him enough to let him help her more so she vanished into the shadows and they lost contact.
RP Sample:
“What do you mean? We agreed on 20 not 10.” Sam shook her head.
“You only got half the information I was looking for.” Max narrowed his gaze at her.
“You are so full of Da Bien Hui.” Her tone would have made even the biggest man grimace but Max just looked at her.
The light from the open sign shined down on their table, where their coffee cups sat empty. It had taken until the last drop had been drunk before Max had told her. She was being paid only half of what they had agreed upon.
The waitress in the starch white apron, blue uniform and the name tag that read “Dorris” came over and refilled their cups before either could protest or say anything else. “You two ready to eat?”
Sam was more interested in getting paid than food but spoke up anyway. “Sure.” Motioning to the man, with the blonde hair and blue eyes, across the table from her. “He’s paying. I’ll have the stack of pancakes, sausage and hash browns with cheese.
Max glared at her but only said. “Fine. I’ll have the western omelet, toast and hash browns.”
Dorris left with their orders and Sam put two sugars in her coffee, stirred and sipped it. Her long dark hair, put up into a tight ponytail, her black leather jacket hung off the back of her chair. Her hazel eyes scanned the room, as people went in and out of the busy diner, before she fixed them back on him.
“Half? Right. You said find out what I could. I found out what I could. There wasn’t anything else.”
Max was a con-artist, she knew it from the first time she ever met him, she knew it even more the longer she worked with him. She knew he couldn’t be trusted but he was trying his con on her and she wasn’t having it.
“Nothing?” He responded.
“Why would I hold out?” He was really getting on her nerves but she took a breath and managed not to just get up and smack him.
“More money?”
“I’m not you.” An arrow shot directly at him; she didn’t care. “That was all the information I got. “That’s what you got. You owe me 20.”
“Fine.” He took out his databook and made it happen.
It didn’t take her long to check on her own databook. “Hey, that’s not 20. ‘Where’s the rest?”
“I deducted the cost of breakfast.”
Sam rolled her eyes, took a sip of her coffee before the food arrived and she started eating. It was good and she was hungrier than she realized. The two friends, business acquaintances, whatever one would call them, didn’t say much as they ate.
It wasn’t until breakfast had been eaten that Max spoke up again. “ Are you sticking around?”
Sam knew he already probably knew the answer to that. “No. Think I’ll just find the next ship out of here.”
“To?” He sat back waiting for her answer.
“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out when I get there.”
Never in one place for too long, never. It had become what she lived by. Too long and it could get her killed. Things Max didn’t know about her could fill a book and she never explained why she was constantly on the move and he never asked.
“Ariel’s a big place. You could settle down for a while. You know, take a break.” From the running he didn't say; he didn’t have to, she knew what he meant.
She had gotten the coffee cup half way to her mouth when he spoke and with those words put it back down. He didn’t know why she was running. She had never told him. Along with other things she had never told him including her real age, name, history or almost anything about her.
“And be stuck here with your annoying ass? No thanks.” Giving him a small grin as she spoke. “I like not being tied down to one place. It makes life...interesting.”
“I’m sure.” He sounded unconvinced but left it at that.
Her eyes glanced around the room once more; always on the lookout. When she saw 2 men walk in. Tall, muscular men that screamed out bodyguards as they flanked the door.. Then in walked Tan Ving. He wasn’t the head of the local Tong; he was one of the enforcers. He was also the person she had just been paid to get dirt on.
“Tzao Gao” She remarked under her breath.
“You covered, right.”
“Of course.” She always covered her tracks but then what was Tan Ving doing there?
Ving headed directly for their table. He nodded towards Sam and spoke directly at Max. “Well, Mr. Orland or should I say Williams. If you will step outside, for a moment.”
Sam closed her eyes for a second. Max, he was here for Max. Orland? Really?
Max got up and headed outside. Sam had to think quickly. A glance outside the diner made it obvious that the 2 bodyguards had turned into 4 and they were starting to work over her friend. She knew how to fight but was clearly outnumbered.
A quick thought and she powered her data book, it took only about a minute or 2 to find the security system to the diner and the fire alarm hooked up to it. Hacking it took no time at all. The buzzing of the alarm was probably being heard the next street over and suddenly the sprinklers went off. Perfect, she thought as Tan and his men took off and she went outside to find Max.
He was on the ground but looked like she had gotten to him before they had done any real damage.
“You OK? “ She asked.
“Yeah.” He got up, dusted himself off and looked behind him and the people exiting the diner, the place being drenched in sprinklers and then turned back to her raised his brows. “Your doing?’
She nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
He easily agreed and they went back to his apartment. They both got cleaned up, changed, and had a single shot of whiskey each.
They were sitting on his couch when he said. “So, when are you leaving?”
“Didn’t we have this conversation?”
“I just meant if you stay here tonight you can have the bed and I’ll take the couch. It might be best if you tried to get out tomorrow.”
Looking at the clock that hung on the wall; it read 3:00 PM in big numbers. He was right, it was easier to get a ship out in the morning.
A sigh left her. “Fine.”
The night was spent with food, movies and card games. In the morning, she awoke early, got dressed, grabbed her pack and headed out the door. She easily found passage out of Ariel and was well on the ship and away from port before opening up her data book, once again.
.
When Max checked he would find two things: a message thanking him for last night, the 5 protein bars and 3 bags of protein chips she had taken from his pantry and his account short 12 credits the amount he had taken from her pay for breakfast.
Translation:
Da Bien Hu: Shit talk
Tzao Gao: Oh, crap
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