Neon Dahlia

All things considered, the reactions he ended up getting were rather tame. Leo had at lest one gun pointed at him, but otherwise everyone else seemed to be rather... resigned to the event that were happening. The mercenary couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about this; he knew perfectly well he had brought severe danger upon this ship and its inhabitants, and apparently they all knew it well too. Chaining the stowaway to a wall somewhere or even turning him back in to the Triad wasn't going to make their situation any better, so the best could end up doing was going along with it. Leo breathed out another tired sigh through his nose.

After Rick implied to put the guns away, Leo took both of his pistols in a field grip and methodically unscrewed each of the suppressors. In response to the leader's cynical comments regarding him and the Triad, Leo sighed yet again in exasperation. "I was confident, thank you. I've been wrangling with the Dragon Head's entire entourage of troops for the past four hours straight. If I'm really not at all fortunate for making it this far, then I would've just shot myself and been done with it," The mercenary ranted with equal cynicism, finally getting to the point where he holstered his weaponry.

"Should've lobbied for ten mil..." He muttered in mild frustration, but stopped himself before saying any more. Looking back, Leo noticed Rick was extending a hand to shake. After a moment's hesitation longer, he took a hold and shook slowly. After Rick finished his explanation of where his temporary bunk was, and then his personal commentary, Leo gave the man a wry, sort of confused look.

"...You're giving me a lot of polity here," Leonard commented. "I'm certain anyone else with the patience to have me would just shove me back in my hiding place. I'd say 'thank you', but I feel like you'd tell me to save it." Leo made a slight shrug of indifference, then went to rub at the bridge of his nose with deep breaths, as if trying to control himself. "Sorry. I'm still teetering on an edge here. It's hard to keep a straight face in all of... this," he motioned to the mess around the cargo area.

When Rick told him to take a hold of the Triad corpse below, Leo tried to lift the whole body himself. With the strength-boosting augments, he might've been able to do it, but he spent a but of time fumbling with how he was going to carry it; by that time, he saw that Rick was intending to help anyways. Nodding at the leader's question of 'ready', Leo lifted the corpse by its legs in tandem with Rick's lift of the head, and they both set about inching to the airlock door. Of all the things Leo had ended up doing in his life, he could now ruefully check off 'disposing of dead bodies'.
 
Ciel looked down at herself and noticed the mess she was covered in. It wasn't long ago before she had landed on Mars did she honestly took a shower, now she needed another one. It wasn't hard to figure their new bunk mate went through a lot just to get this far. Especially after hearing his small rant, but people needed to make a living. Taking risky to insane jobs was a way to make a living in this era. Though Ciel wouldn't do something like that, it sounded like suicide for anyone to steal from the dragon clan.

Once she was given the task of cleaning duty it seemed alright with her. Considering this isn't the first time she had clean up blood. Though the smell brought back some ugly memories the only way to describe it was certain small towns on Venus. Since it was still repairing itself from the barrage that Mars had dealt there were small towns that was nothing but heaps of metal. By noon all you could really smell was the festering concoction of metal and rust that wished to linger well into the night. The blood needed to be cleaned up soon or else that thick noxious fume cloud will fill the cargo bay. The men took each body near the door and stacked them well so they could all be sucked out at once. Ciel left and went to the small hallway closet and took out all that she needed. Being the daughter of a doctor taught her a lot and how to be cautious around blood. She took out a pair of disposable gloves, absorbent towelettes, a trash bag and disinfectant.

With the bodies gone Ciel was able to see how much she actually had to clean. She pulled on the gloves since there was quite a bit and there wasn't any time to waste. Using the towelettes she went ahead and started wiping down the surfaces and floors throwing away the small rags into the bag. They were disposable so that made the job easier. The small towels were only used to get most of it up before sweeping and disinfecting. Ciel removed her gloves like a doctor and threw them away in the bag and tied it into a tight knot. She took the broom and swept up the whole cargo bay, sure she really didn't have to but it was her nature to be meticulous. Being in a ship that wasn't thoroughly cleaned of it's blood was a bit crazy considering how many pathogens live in the blood. Now she was on her last step and that was the disinfecting. With a bucket filled with hot water and some cleaning liquid Ciel mopped the cargo bay and wiped down it's walls. "Finally finished..." She said to herself as she placed everything back where it belonged.

Ciel made her way back to her room. She needed a quick shower and to change out of these clothes. If she didn't wash them now then she'll have to bag them to burn later. After all who knows what those men were carrying around. Thats when she hated her mother's teachings when she was growing up. You tend to wonder what the hell needed to be cleaned, especially after people died.
 
Rick's smile did little to comfort Laurel, though she nodded absentmindedly as she quickly filed out of the cargo bay and back into the cockpit. The computers were still humming along peacefully as she pulled up shipping routes to Europe. There were three that seemed to be their best choice, depending on their stowaway's ultimate goal. Prague, Valencia, and Copenhagen were the most direct routes from their present locale.


Laurel was wary of Valencia though, having spent some time there before. Despite its size, the city didn't have too many foreign cargo ships coming in at one time. The Castillo family of Valencia was well connected, and ran a shipping company in addition to several branches of the local government. Typically their green and white ships were the only ones seen moored in shipping harbors. The Harlequin would attract attention regardless, but it would stand out far too much in a sea of uniform vessels.


Copenhagen was the least populous, but with enough activity to blend in. Shipping vessels were frequent visitors, but the city's activities were largely based around the universities and artist colonies that had arose after the wars. While blending in was possible, it would be a bit more difficult than in Prague.


While Prague might, at first glance, seem like the best choice, its centrality gave Laurel pause. Although Copenhagen was only about an hour north of Prague, it was more isolated. If the stowaway knew exactly where he needed to be, and when he needed to be there, Prague would be easier to navigate. But the more time they spent there, the more dangerous it would be. Prague was known for having a seedy underbelly. While Laurel had never experienced it herself, it was obvious that the triad would have some ties in the region.


Laurel picked up the receiver to Rick's transmitter. "Alright, so we've got two good routes," she said tracing the routes with her eyes. "Copenhagen or Prague. Copenhagen's safer, but more remote. Prague has more resources, but more crime. They're only about an hour apart. Where does our uninvited guest need to go?"
 
The men barely exchanged grunts as they moved to put all the bodies by the airlock. Though Leonard's strength augments gave him an edge, the fatigue of the day's events still wore heavy on him, and he still found himself struggling to keep lifting. The combined efforts of Rick, Leo and Ciel worked to bring the cargo area to a more stainless condition quick enough, barring the scattered and broken cargo itself. As the bodies heaped in the airlock, Leo mentioned to the lady who was cleaning that she ought to do a once-over of the airlock itself afterwards; she did so as part of her whole sweep of the bay.

As they were closing the doors and preparing to blow out the Triad corpses, Rick's transmitter rang with a message. Apparently the pilot had two best routes mapped out, and wanted to know which would end up better for the unexpected passenger. Leo weighed the options given:

Ultimately, his goal would be to get to Kaliningrad, where his supposed meetup point would be. Copenhagen was definitely far closer and perhaps a bit more direct, as well as providing a greater cover given its security routing. Its status, however, would turn eyes to them; inevitably, the Triad would look towards the greater museum-based cites first for some indication on where that oh-so valuable scripture would turn up.

Prague wasn't much better from the get-go. The underworld presence in that area was more apparent than it seemed, and someone or other there would have some ties with the Triad, if not be the Triad themselves. Plus, it was farther away, and the limited routing to Kaliningrad from the ground left Leo with too much in-between time to be spared, in which the Dragon Head could easily track him down.

There was quite possibly a better way, however, if they could get directly to Budapest. Though the client of the deal had insisted to remain anonymous for safety reasons, a fair amount of informational probing revealed to Leo a link with CIPA. As their first and now primary foreign office was in Budapest, Leo saw the possibility of being able to directly return the ancient manuscript to them. If not, then travel from Budapest would not be difficult in and of itself, with the issue being the greater length of the trip to Kaliningrad.

Meanwhile, Budapest itself remained one of the primary trade and transport hubs of the European Union, and as such this ship would find itself in a sea of contacts. Surely, too, Rick could find his own definite technical excuse to be there as well. A main issue, of course, was the fact that routing primarily relied on the main spaceway, so their presence would be off coming from an extended shipping route. Surely it was not impossible, but it could be a giveaway to a trained eye.

A risk he would have to take, he supposed.

"Chart the route to Prague," Leo began, following up with, "And see if you can't do a redirection to Budapest in the midriff. Play it right, and we can shake off any active pursuit. If you're really worried about the technical stuff, I'd be glad to 'help' with that." He patted the PDA hooked to his belt for emphasis.
 
Rick wiped the sweat from his brow, carrying the bodies had been harder work than it might have been had he been able to breathe easier but the bruises on his neck had started to swell which made him feel like he had a noose around his neck as he and their new passenger moved the men between the outer and inner doors. When the work was done he looked at the three dead men briefly before he hit the release for the inner door and waited while it slid shut and locked magnetically in place. Hitting the large red outer bulkhead release with his palm he heard the heavy door slide open. Waiting for a few moments he hit the button again to close the door, after which he opened the inner door once more; the bodies were now gone, only bloodstains marking where they had laid.


After the work was complete Rick glanced around the cargo bay, considering the chaos that had occurred not long before it didn't look so bad; a bit dishevelled but Rick had seen cargo holds that were permanently in poorer order than this one. Taking a seat on a crate that had survived the destruction he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. The box had been crushed in his fight with the triad and when he tapped a cigarette out he saw that it was crooked but it was not enough to deter him. He flicked open his lighter and lit up before taking a deep draw, he normally confined his smoking to his own quarters when they were travelling out of respect for Laurel but he was sure she would forgive him this once. Almost being killed had a habit of making him want to light up.


Laurel's voice came through the transmitter at his belt, the question was more directed at the other man than it was to him so Rick looked at him and raised his eyebrows to prompt an answer before holding down the trigger mechanism on his transmitter to allow Laurel to hear the man's reply. He mulled the request over in his mind, Budapest's space port was always busy and they would be one of many freelance vessels in the port, it would certainly be easy to hide in plain sight in the port. The only thing that concerned Rick was redirecting from Prague to Budapest, they would have to either find themselves on the main spaceway, which was something Rick wanted to avoid, or else they would have to cross unregulated space which was out of the question, if the debris clouds didn't get you then the pirates and other outlaws that made the lawless parts of the Sol System their home would.


"Do as he says, we'll follow one of the shipping routes as close to Earth as possible then switch onto the spaceway and just hope the Triads don't expect us to do something so foolish." Rick said before releasing the trigger on the transmitter. Looking at the PDA at the man's belt Rick considered for a moment, "If you know anything about shipping codes you can try and skew the identity codes on this ship at least for the duration of our journey on the spaceway. I don't doubt that your friends got an ID on this ship before we burned them out. Make up something mundane for us to be carrying and it might just make them hesitate long enough to give us time to get out of dodge before they come down on us." He said and the motioned along to the crew quarters, "Hook up to the terminal in your room."


Turning he made his way to the metal steps and went up into the cockpit; he took his usual place in the co-pilot's seat. He looked out of the blast proof glass into the darkness beyond that was punctured by distant stars and the small circles of light that marked the planets that made up the Sol System. He glanced over at Laurel, "Are you okay?" He asked. "I think we'll have earned a break in Nuevo Chile after we dump our new friend in Budapest." He added leaning back in his chair and sighing heavily.
 
Prague to Budapest? It was doable, but risky. The distance wasn't far at all, only a couple of hours if they planned properly. But she was concerned about that particular leg of their journey. They would have to gamble being spotted along the main thoroughfare, given the unsafe conditions of other channels. In Laurel's opinion, it would be safer to pass through during normal business hours. If the triad was looking for them, they would be less likely to suspect something so rash. There was also the matter of camouflage. If they were patrolling the skies, it would be less noticeable if The Harlequin came in with a bunch of other shipping vessels.

Laurel chewed on her lower lip pensively, the perfect imitation of a habit she had inherited from her mother. She missed her just then, despite having always been closer to her father. She missed all of her family, even her stuck-up older sister. A profound sense of wanderlust had plagued her since early adolescence, never quite ebbing in its intensity. Going back to see her family was usually more of an obligation than not, though she knew she should be grateful to have a family to come home to. Perhaps Rick wouldn't mind a short detour to Mercury once the dust from this misadventure had settled.

She punched in the necessary data, taking a quick glance at the cockpit's equipment. Everything seemed to be in good working order, despite the altercation that had ensued earlier. That was no small blessing—having to stop for repairs was out of the question. It might prove easier once they had gotten rid of the stowaway, but even that was uncertain. If these people were really as dangerous as they seemed (and Laurel had no doubt that they were) how far would they pursue those aboard The Harlequin? She sighed softly, her fingers and mind itching to find some small way of occupying her time other than thinking about an uncertain future.

The sound of Rick's footsteps on the metal stairs outside snapped her from her morbid reverie just long enough to see the man lowering himself into his seat. "Are you ok?" he had asked her. It was a simple question, but one she didn't entirely know how to respond to. When she didn't reply, he continued with "I think we'll have earned a break in Nuevo Chile after we dump our new friend in Budapest." She nodded absentmindedly in response, sitting in brooding silence for a bit. Laurel slowly revved the engine before asking aloud, "Does it ever get any easier?" It was a question that seemed to startle both her and her companion.

Despite her rather isolated upbringing, Laurel was not naïve. She understood, at least intellectually, what Rick's line of work entailed. But it was one thing to know what he was doing outside of the ship, and quite another to have it brought so violently and abruptly into her own home. Of course, she didn't fault Rick for what he had done. Clearly, force was necessary to protect all of them. Her question hung in the air, suspended by an awkward silence as she continued shakily. "The dead bodies. I mean…killing people? Not that…not that I think you did anything wrong. I mean…you basically saved my life. But…" she trailed off, biting her lip again. One of the most unsettling aspects of this whole ordeal was seeing his reaction, or lack thereof. This was someone she both liked and admired highly, and the fact that he was so calm about it was off-putting. It wasn't something she could even begin to understand, and that fact made her frustrated and strangely lonely. Machines were easier, with their superficial problems and their "if a, then b" logic. But, warm and friendly as Laurel was, she didn't know how to fix these things. She couldn't erase wars or revive the dead, much as she desperately wanted to do so. And an inability to fix things wasn't something she was accustomed to. It made her feel awkward and adolescent. "I'm sorry," she finished, not really knowing what she was apologizing for. The stowaway? The dead bodies in the cargo hold? The fact that he felt obligated to comfort her? But even as she said it, she knew that it wouldn't fix anything.
 
The question was so abrupt that Rick sat quietly for quite some time, does killing get any easier? Rick leaned back in his chair and looked out at the stars, he contemplated how so few words could have so much behind them. Rick thought back to all the people he had killed, during the war and after; he couldn't remember them all, just a few here and there. The fact he had forgotten so many made him feel a pang of guilt, he knew he had become jaded and cynical but before he contemplated Laurel's question he hadn't really faced the truth of it; he was just another hired killer and he was no better than so many of the others.

"When I lost my family," Rick started, "All I ever wanted was to kill the people responsible, I wanted revenge." He pulled back his sleeve and looked at code tattooed on his right forearm; it had been tattooed on him when he had been put into the Martian work camp as a child. "Over time, when I relocated to Venus and started rebuilding my life, it started to subside and I was able to move on and grieve for my family. I just wanted to be left alone and live my life, but I saw that life burn." Rick didn't know why he was saying all of this; he never spoke about his past to anyone, mainly because he didn't want to remember it.

"My grief turned to anger and hatred again, during the war I killed and it was easy, because in my heart I felt that I was killing the men who had taken my family and my home and…" Rick paused, the memory of a young woman, her red hair as wild as she was flitted through his mind, he couldn't bring himself to speak about her though. "After the war, I wasn't a soldier anymore and I had no taste for fighting, I wanted to help people. I became a private detective so that I could stop other people from being victims like I had been. Then I killed again, it was some low-life who had kidnapped a young girl to sell her as a prostitute. The girl's parents had hired me to find her and get her back and the idiot pulled a gun on me. Killing him was easy too, he deserved to die right? He had kidnapped some kid to pimp her out to other scum like himself just so he could feed whatever habit he had."

"About a year later I was working out of a basement office in a backwoods town called Ket on Mercury, I had taken on a job just like any other. Some old man came to me and said one of his workers had stolen from him, he wanted the man and his property back. I went after him, eventually tracked him down hiding in a rundown drinking den in a dust bowl mining town. When I told him how things were he shot at me and I killed him, I recovered the old man's property, a gold necklace that had been in his family for generations according to him, and I took his worker's body back to him too. All done and dusted like any other day, until I ran into one of the man's friends who told me that he had taken the necklace to sell it to feed his family because the old man had cut their wages once again and he couldn't put food on the table. Even after hearing that I didn't think much of it, the man still tried to kill me and he was still a thief so he got what was coming to him. A few days later his widow came to my office with the man's three children, she asked me why I had killed her husband and asked me what she should do now that nobody was earning money to feed her and her children."

Rick laughed with no hint of humour, "What the hell do you say to that? Look into the eyes of three children whose father you've taken from them forever and say 'Well you see your father stole to feed you so I shot him'? I couldn't say a damn thing; I tried to give her the money I had been paid by the old man but she slapped me and told me she didn't want my blood money." Rick sighed and looked at Laurel, "It was suddenly not so easy to kill, I had been living without knowing or acknowledging the consequences of my actions. During the war it had always been so black and white, this was totally different. I told myself I would give up the gun after that and I would find some other profession. I worked a few odd jobs, worked in a space dock and various factories but I couldn't lie to myself for long, I lost job after job. You see, it occurred to me that it wasn't the consequences of killing that man that had hurt me so much, it was the realisation that I was a killer. I had spent my childhood in a death camp with people dropping like flies around me and I came of age in the crucible of war. I had nothing else, I would never be a dockhand or a factory worker, those lives were just a distraction."

"I never wanted to be a hired thug, I tried to only pick up bounties on killers or rapists or other people who I deemed to deserve death should it come to that. But who am I to choose who deserves to live and who deserves to die? I had to face reality, I was just like them I was a killer not some hero who could protect the weak and punish the wicked. Death and killing are a part of the world, I mean just look at us now. We're running from a gang of psychopaths, if we're caught they'll torture us to death. If they attack us I'll kill as many as I am able because that's what I am. You asked me if it gets easier, it was never truly hard for me so I don't know the answer to that. It hurts me even now to admit it, but that's the way it is." Rick ran a hand through his hair and looked at the console in front of him; he couldn't bring himself to look at Laurel. "It's me who's sorry; I'm not the man I act like when I'm on this ship. I was trying to be a normal man again but when I'm out on a job I'm just another killer out to make a bit of money in this world. I'm sorry that you had to see it on this ship, I wouldn't have wanted you to find out like that if I had a choice. But I suppose I should have let you know the truth of who you were traveling with all along." Rick fell silent, he felt as if he had talked more in the last few minutes than in the last few years, he didn't feel any better for having told her all of it but he hadn't been able to stop once he started.

"I'm sorry Laurel…" He said feebly before falling back into silence and looking at the glow of the console in front of him.
 
Ciel had vanished down the corridor to her room. Only the sound of a door releasing pressure to open and close signaled where she was. In her room she sat on the room and took out a rag to wipe off her knife. Before she even decided to leave her room for a quick shower the intercom sounded. Laurel needed directions on which course to take. It was either Copenhagen or Prague. Either way it was a hard decision. While Copenhagen was remote they would stick out like a sore thumb but the triads would have quite the commute to get there. With the city being isolated it would give them time but only borrowed time. Prague didn't fare any better. Though the ship would stick out too much they crew would. Considering the fact that the town was an epicenter of criminal activity in the region, they would have to move fast.

Hopefully this guy knew what he was doing. He was able to get away from the triad and only had a small ship follow them out instead of the entire gang itself, thankfully the odds were in their favor. Ciel just wished he didn't have to stow away on a ship she needed. The red head took a deep sigh and gathered an extra change of clothes. It was best to shower and nap for a while since this was going to be a long journey.

With a bag in hand she made her way to the bathroom and overheard the plan. 'Take the route to Prague and switch over to Budapest. Where ever this guy is headed has to be nearby. The sooner he can finish his task the easier it will be on everyone.' She thought. Ciel hopped into the shower, not really taking her time, but she never really did. Since she was a child Ciel never cared about the girly things in life. It didn't appeal to her, not even now. She didn't wear makeup, never had jewelry or saw a reason to possess material things. In this age it was all about survival now that the wars had passed.

Once the hot shower passed Ciel slipped into new clothes and quietly went back to her room. With silence being her only companion old memories replayed in her head. What replayed the most was her brother telling her not to get mixed up with the triads. Of course back then she blew it off and said 'sure I won't get involved.' And never once had to deal with them, yet here she was. "It'll be over soon enough… Just gotta play these cards right." She whispered to herself. After placing the dirty clothes back into her bag Ciel crawled onto her bunk and laid back. A moment of rest was well needed after what the crew went through. Only if it was just a moment.
 
Leo merely nodded at Rick's interpretations of what he could do to help this craft go unnoticed. The reality would likely be different in some number of ways, but for now that wasn't his primary concern. The mercenary had just gotten painfully tired, as all of the days stressful events whip-lashed back to him as if paying a long due debt. He desperately needed at the very least some form of sleep, otherwise he was going to literally collapse from exhaustion. ATP injectors could only do so much to a natural body.

Without any further words, Leo followed the captain's instructions to his room, the one down the hall and to the left. The room in question was revealed to be a basic housing cabin, which still happened to be a significant step up from what many other spacecraft offered. Even something that he would consider economy-class was far more comfortable than a crappy sleeping bag on that one cheap-ass vessel. Or, by extension, having to sleep in that damned cramped crawlspace. As it happened, this place was literally everything he needed right now.

Leaving his equipment on the bedside table and strewing his coat across the floor, Leo flopped down on the bed with little hesitation. Still awfully firm for a space-mattress. He wasn't about to go complaining, though, as Leo had learned to long abandon any hopes of luxury while on missions like this. You'd be lucky to even sleep at any point before turning in your bounty.

He had plenty of time to think and rest before he would seriously have to do something on his part to guard the Harlequin. He was going to take advantage of it as well as he could before then. First, a power nap. Then, seeing how much info Leo had, or could pull, regarding the Dragon Head and his most trusted agents.
 
Laurel listed patiently as Rick spoke, nodding just enough to emphasize that she was paying attention. As soon as he finished, she smiled sadly and stood up to adjust the routing on the screen above her. She sat back down, the silence between them still pregnant. Finding the words was difficult. "You ever been to Paxton? It's this little shithole town on Mercury. I was born and raised there. There were five of us kids, and it never seemed like there was enough food on the table. When I was young, I always thought that that life was rough." She shook her head. "Now I just feel like an entitled little brat."

She paused again, turning to face him. "I'm not, as you may have figured out by now, the best with words. But to grow up the way you did, to have your family taken away from you the way you did…it's fucked up. I know you don't want my pity and I hope you don't think I'm patronizing you when I say that."

Laurel sighed before she continued, "But how were you supposed to know differently? Kids pick up everything they see, starting from a very young age. And if you were brought up where life didn't have much importance, everything…all of this makes sense."

"I know you probably don't want me psychoanalyzing you either," she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "But it sounds like killing was, is, reflexive for you. It's a bit like the child who takes up the bottle, despite having alcoholic father. They see the problems it causes, but it's what they know. This, this life, it's what you know."

"But," she continued, leaning forward to look him in the eyes. "The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. And," she gently placed her hand on top of his in what she hoped was more comforting than awkward. As someone who was unaccustomed to physical gestures, it startled her even a bit. But she felt that this was what needed to be said. "I firmly believe that you are, at your core, a good man. If you weren't you wouldn't have struggled with this as much as you have, and you wouldn't feel the need to apologize to me about your past."
 
Rick looked down at her hand as she placed it on his, her words had eased him. He had gotten himself wired up and anxious by spilling his guts like that. It had been like a burst pipe, once he had started it was difficult to stop the flow of words. Part of him wondered if she was right, was he a good man? Was anyone good in a world like this? Rick didn't have the answers to those questions, but if he could at least be good in one person's eyes then maybe that's all it would take. He looked Laurel in the eye, "Thank you." He said, he didn't feel that much else needed to be said after that.

For some time he sat looking out the observation window in front of him, at the tapestry of stars and distant planets all glowing in the sea of blackness. He stifled a yawn and looked over at Laurel, "I'm going to get some rest, try and do the same when you get a minute, adrenaline really takes it out of you." He said before standing and making his way out of the cockpit and down the stairs in the cargo bay until he reached the corridor containing the crew quarters. Opening his door he stepped inside before closing it over behind him. He unfastened the clip of his shoulder holster and hung it on a hook next to his coat. Kicking off his leather boots he undressed before lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.

Dreams and memories prevented Rick from having a restful sleep as it often did, but he felt better for having rested for a while. Sitting up he rubbed his face with both hands to bring himself around a bit, he pulled a small screen from the niche in the wall that held it out of the way when it wasn't needed. It took a few moments for it to warm up and display their current course, Rick saw that they had come quite a distance since he had lain down. They would be reaching the location that they would be changing course and joining the main spaceway to Earth soon. Standing Rick went to the small sink that was located in the corner of his room, he splashed his face with cold water before quickly dressing and slinging on his holster, he opened his door and walked through to the cargo bay.

Looking around, he was impressed that the mess the triads had made was almost undetectable except for the remnants of some of the broken boxes and crates. Turning, he made his way up the metal stairs and into the cockpit. Taking his usual seat he smiled at Laurel, he started looking at the screens in front of him. He could see the spaceway and the traffic that was currently going in both directions from Earth and its surrounding space stations. He opened the traffic logs and waited for them to load so he could check the IDs of the ships currently on the spaceway as well as register their own. Picking up the transmitter mouthpiece on the console he flicked the switch that corresponded to the cabin that he had assigned to Leo.

"We're just about to go onto the spaceway, did you manage to tweak the ship ID?" Rick asked through the handset, which would pipe through the small communication console in the other man's room. "We'll be registering a journey to Prague so make sure it's something believable that we'll be taking there." Prague was an industrial city and would mostly be importing raw materials from Mars or one of the mines on Titan.

Looking at the list of ships that had loaded up on his console he searched through them for obvious names of triad ships. He came across three possibilities, "Shen Yang", "Yin Qui" and "The Tianlong" they were all registered as small cargo vessels with generic goods on board. It was common for triad ships, and other criminal vessels, to register as small, short range haulers when they had to use main travel routes. Turning to Laurel he tapped his screen. "Be ready, we might have some company on the next leg of our journey." He said before looking back at the screen.
 
In the midst of an involved moment with his PDA, the room's console rang out. "We're just about to go onto the spaceway, did you manage to tweak the ship ID?" Leo blinked his eyes a bit, moaning slightly but audibly. His power nap left him only marginally rested and no real better for wear, with all of the beforehand adrenaline use taking a serious toll on his metabolism. Never before had Leo quite felt so absolutely exhausted, but at the ultimate least, he held some gratitude for the fact that at least he had the opportunity to try and work off the cash here. No reason at all to be slacking on the important parts, though, much to his inner chagrin.

"Yeah, it's done," Leo responded almost lazily, any guise of being rested immediately falling apart. It wasn't anything spectacular - nor should it be, lest it cause even more suspicion - the ID code of the Harlequin itself was just grafted with the designation of a Martian mining facility, and the ship report regarded a shipment of faulty metalworks and material excess to be recycled and returned with additional supplies. The act had to simple enough to be not entirely inaccurate, to the point where an ad-lib would be easy in the event that someone decided to investigate further.

Leo spoke up again to explain this; "We've got a shipment of some faulty and excess metalworks from a post-re-stripping of a mining station. It's to be recycled and returned again with additional like supplies." A pause, in which Leo rubbed his eyes to disdain attempts at nodding off. "Our route change will be due to a presumed miscalculation in our course... which is in and of itself a mistake," the mercenary continued, then moving to tack on, "But really, if anyone asks, just hit the throttle."

Satisfied that such an explanation would be enough, Leo turned back to his PDA to readdress his initial matter: the distinct possible IDs of Triad craft. Small ships, ideal for greater dodging ability and better for mounting with almost any other ship for boarding. What it lacked was substance; a very serious blow could cripple the ship, if the blow itself was well placed and the Triad was not careful. Of course, the issue with that right now was how the Harlequin was trying to keep a low profile, and that, well, it wasn't much better off than those small tuggers were. So really, the best advantage this group could afford to get was a head-start.
 
Curled up in a little ball Ciel was peacefully asleep. Soft curls covered her face as the room stayed silent. The atmosphere around her was in a way a form of bliss; if you take away the idea of being hunted down by triads then there was some bliss in her sleep. Ciel knew all too well it's a concoction of disaster waiting to happen if she be became too comfortable. She did her best to keep her defenses up by keeping a weapon close by. Now that they had a new passenger there wasn't much of a way for her to know he wouldn't try anything. Ciel also sleep light enough to hear things around her so nothing would really scare her, but heavy enough to rest.

By habit her ears would move to focus in on different sounds, subconsciously deciding if the sound was good or bad. It didn't matter where she was resting her head Ciel's body treated it like second nature. It was a bit muffled, but she could hear the pressure lock of a door release open and shut itself close. It did little to wake her considering there was absolute silence afterwards and it wasn't her room to worry about.

After some time Ciel woke up, a bit groggy but at least she had some rest. It was better than nothing especially coming back from a non-stop run with jobs she picked up. She got up and stretched herself a little; being crammed into a room the entire flight wasn't ideal. Ciel tends to miss the last bits of the countryside she once lived on back on Earth. Venus wasn't all that bad, but she had never been there before the attack that was launched there. She only knew what the aftermath looked like. Though it was slowly rebuilding it didn't look as bad as before.

Ciel thought it was best to leave her room and just stretch her legs a bit. The pressure lock took it's time to release for the door to slide open. She gave a quiet sigh and pushed her red locks out of her face for now. It was good to walk around, never was easy for her to stay still for long. Always had been the type to keep going even if her body was asking for a break. Thankfully she figured out how to balance it but mistakes happen.
 
Laurel and Rick sat in an oddly comfortable silence after she had said her piece.
She found herself taking stock of that moment—it's stillness and serenity. A small, morbid part of her couldn't help but wonder if this was the calm before the storm. Would this be the last moment of just "being"? There was the possibility that they wouldn't make it to the end of the year, to say nothing about the end of the week.

She looked up at Rick as he stood up, managing a nod and a small absentminded smile at his words. He was right; she really should get some sleep. However, she found herself still too agitated to properly rest. The ship's sudden silence gave her some comfort. Laurel had always valued her alone time. Despite a warm, and almost effervescent nature, she was a highly private person. Rick seemed to understand this, and she hoped that the two new additions to their crew would as well.

Laurel spent a few more minutes fiddling with components of the cockpit that didn't really need the attention before she rose slowly from her chair. She made the way to her room with slow, almost shuffling footsteps. The corridor was quiet and Laurel was careful not to make much noise as she opened the door to her own room.

It was quiet, and she felt an immediate sense of tranquility wash over her. Her room was off limits to everyone unless they were explicitly invited in. It was one of the only things that she was particularly stringent about.

Like the other rooms of the ship, the décor was Spartan. She had spent some time decorating and renovating it though, including ripping out the old bunks in favor of the space for a rather cozy queen-sized bed. Though she could never be accused of being high maintenance, Laurel was realistic about the importance of comfort. Keeping a ship like The Harlequin going was a difficult job, and the last thing anyone needed was to deal with an overtired mechanic.

It wasn't until she changed into her pajamas that she realized how cold she was. But the stress was getting to her, and she threw an oversized blue hoodie over her equally unremarkable white tank top and black shorts. Sleep came surprisingly quickly, though she found herself struggling against it. Her dreams were vague and fragmented, though generally unexceptional. She woke up after a few hours, feeling surprisingly well rested for only a few moments before the anxiety set in.

Laurel made her way to the cockpit, checking everything several times. Their journey was going smoothly, and they had traveled a sizable distance in the time since she had slept. She programmed in their changeover. Only a few hours more until they reached Prague. From there, Budapest would be easy enough. The sound of footsteps echoed on the stairs outside, though Laurel did not look up from her current task of checking the pressure levels throughout the craft. It was only when she saw Rick's form in the corner of her eye that she turned towards him, returning his smile.

She glanced over at his screens, before resuming her own diagnostics. Everything seemed to be in working order, though she was concerned about the backup thruster, given the amount of acceleration they had been using lately. She made a mental note to check on it as soon as possible.

Next to her, she heard Rick speaking into his handset and she heard the other man's unclear response to his questions. He turned to her and she paused to scrutinize the screen. Three possible triad vessels were in the area. This did not bode well, though Laurel thought it was possible that they were unaware of The Harlequin's final destination. She nodded though in response to his statement, and then replied with "We're about half an hour out of Prague."
 
Faulty and excess metalworks, Rick repeated their imaginary cargo in his head a few times to commit it to easy memory just in case he needed to lie their way through a customs official or other authority figure. It was unlikely that they would be flagged down in this sea of unremarkable vessels, they were just another cargo ship, but it paid to be careful. Glancing back down at the ship logs he kept an eye on the three ships he had noted earlier as being possible triad vessels. If their destinations happened to change to Budapest then they would know that they were following them or if they left their designated flight path with no warning they would be flagged as an unauthorised vessel and have a customs ship on them in no time.

Looking out of the observation window the pure blue of Earth reflected in his eyes, the planet was almost entirely submerged in ocean, a few small specks of land could be seen still visible as well as the dark spots of huge cities, some of which would tower into the clouds. Glancing at Laurel as she announced their proximity to Prague he looked back down at the terminal in front of him and brought up the Earth Customs Network, pulling a small keyboard from below the screen and began typing a course redirection with the reason and authorisation code that Leo had coded into their ship computer. He held his breath for a few moments while the redirection request was transmitted to the Customs Officers, it seemed like an eternity before an acknowledgment and new authorisation code were transmitted to them to allow them to access the port at Budapest. Rick breathed a sigh of relief, he picked up the handset of the transmitter again, this time transmitting to the whole ship. "They bought the code, we're on our way to Budapest." He said before hanging the handset on the hook again.

Looking back at the three possible triad ships he kept an eye on their destinations, all remained the same as they had been when he first checked. Rick smiled to himself slightly, he had been certain the triads would have been lying in wait for them when they reached Earth, maybe they would be able to get the triads off their back with no further incident. Switching back to the ship list he looked over them all, all seemed to be normal. Just as he was about to turn away one of the ship names on the list flashed red, looking back down at the screen his stomach dropped. A ship named "The Hayreddin" had been marked as unauthorised, bringing up the ship report he saw that the vessel had switched course and their new route would take them right into The Harlequin's path. Cursing loudly to himself he slammed his fist on the console in front of him. "They're onto us." He said with frustration and anger in his voice. "Laurel gun it, we have to make port before they cut us off."

Standing he picked up the transmitter again, "We've run into trouble, boarding is a real possibility, prepare yourself." He said, keeping it simple as they didn't have much time. "Laurel, don't you stop for anything, we need to make port. The Customs Officers should slow them." He turned and ran out of the cockpit and down the metal stairs, taking them three at a time. He ran into his cabin and pulled on his bulletproof vest and picked up his shotgun from the base of his bunk, he loaded it with slugs and pocketed a few explosive shells. He would use them as a last resort, they would likely kill him if he fired them while still inside the ship but it may come down to it. Running back out into the cargo bay he walked to the base of the metal stairs and shouted up to the cockpit, "Are we going to outrun them Laurel?" He cocked the shotgun putting one of the slugs into the chamber and glancing towards the blast doors.
 
Sitting near and observation window the scarlet mercenary could see the wondrous blue marble she once called home. It had changed a lot according to what it use to look like a few centuries ago. To Ciel, it was beautiful just the way it was. From the rich hues of the blue ocean to the land forms that was still visible. It had made the girl smile briefly for a minute only because the quiet memories had crept by, but right now wasn't time for that. In the silence of situation it was easy to lose focus and for it to be sent somewhere else. With that realization Ciel placed her focus back on the task at hand. Getting to Budapest safely, or at least with minor cuts and scrapes.

Rick's voice came onto the transmitter and alerted everyone that the Customs Office took the face ID code and allowed them to change routes. Though it was good news it never meant they were out of the woods yet. Things seemed to be going well. They were on their way to Budapest where, hopefully, everything can be taken care off. Somewhere deep within her she knew that it can change in a matter of minutes. Sure enough it did.

Rick's voice came back onto the transmitter with a sound of urgency. The warning was short and sweet but it was all Ciel needed to know that they could possibly have a problem. She ran back to her chambers to get herself ready. Anyone could possibly be getting through those doors and double checked to be sure her guns were loaded. She strapped on her knife, placed her guns into their holsters and picked up a few extra clips of ammo. The red head left her room and went to the cargo bay since it was mostly where they'll be coming from.

Ciel got into position, hiding behind one of the boxes awaiting for something she was hoping wouldn't happen. They didn't know how many would be running through and definitely didn't know if there was another ship on standby. This made everything all the more difficult but there wasn't anything she could but grit her teeth and bare it for now.
 
Yup. Definitely Triad craft.

With an ounce of depredation at hand, Leo strapped on his combat gear tirelessly. He bothered with far less to conceal things, this time aiming for an outfitting that granted easy access to weapons and ammo. The mercenary now blatantly had his pistols armed on display at his hips, with his few spare magazines on a harness over his body armor. The duster still went on, because Leo really had nowhere else to put it and because he had a secret desire that the thing just made him look cooler, like some space cowboy. Although he had initially admonished that as some childish dream, Leo had to admit at this point that it couldn't have been too far off from the truth at this point.

It was about that moment that Leonard had a spark of... defiance, he had to guess, in his mind. He was just plain sick of doing what he did: tireless work for always varying prices, always keeping in mind that there was an exact way it had to be done, having to plan ahead for days and weeks at a time, forced to choosing the most stealthy and tactful route to get something or someone. Maybe, ultimately, he just wanted to walk in, shoot a bastard in the head and be done with it, for once.

Not to say he wanted it to be easy, but Leo was so restrained within the rules, bending but not quite breaking, that there was more than one time that it was actually several different kinds of painful for him. Maybe it was because it made him a target, that if he didn't want to be cheated of anything resembling a full price then he would do the job exactly as he was told. That if Leo so much as risked going out of line even for the sake of his own skin, he wouldn't be able to support himself for much longer. God knows any government wasn't going to step in for his ass, now or anytime soon.

Fuck that. The Triads wanted to fight, Leo was going to fight right back. If someone else got hurt, it wasn't because Leo was drawing attention, it was because that greedy bastard Dragon Head Chen Ong wanted a thousands-year-old paper detailing an immortality process that wasn't, under any form of logic, going to work. Leo would be well in the grave with his money before that insane man got so much as a glimpse of that.

"Hey," The mercenary suddenly announced over the radio, overcome with a shot of inspiration. If these were boarding-reliant vessels, then the Harlequin's means of escaping that first Triad vessel might not be amiss. "If you're fine with the semantic risk, I can make boarding a non-issue. It'll involve those thrusters, and a bit of fancy course-correction on your end," Leo said, going on to explain the simple but involved plan of using those hyper-strength thrusters to fend off potential boarding threats from the Triad vessels, potentially giving the Harlequin some subtle bursts of speed in the meanwhile.
 
Laurel gazed up frantically as Rick raced out of the cockpit. The triad ship was coming up quickly on their port side. "Shit," she exhaled through her teeth, checking several monitors for the ship's specs. The stowaway's voice crackled over the transmitter. She mulled over his words. Heat was the main concern; an overheating engine or thruster could mean a massive explosion at worst, and stalling out at best.

The backup thruster was still a problem, though and one that Laurel wasn't willing to entirely risk their lives on. The thruster in question was starboard, so there was always the distinct possibility that most of the plan would work, with a few minor adjustments. It would be effective, but it wouldn't be pretty.

She heard Rick's voice echo suddenly from below the cockpit's stairs, asking if they were going to outrun it. "Oh, we'll outrun it," she said through gritted teeth. "But you're not gonna like it." She picked up her transmitter and spoke into it.

"Hi folks, this is your pilot speaking. At this point, the crew is advising you to hold the fuck on. And if you're the type of person who gets motion sickness, please take this time to locate your nearest waste receptacle."

And with that Laurel cranked the thrusters on starboard. The Harlequin stuttered momentarily, tense with uneven momentum. Then, she did something to both compensate for the thrusters and hopefully outrun the triad ship. The Harlequin pitched and rolled on its side. With the momentum from both thrusters, Laurel guided it into a quick succession of barrel rolls, spinning rapidly away from the triad ship. She was again struck by how glad she was that she had secured both herself and all of the heavy or fragile cargo on the ship.

Her maneuvering had gained them a fair amount of distance, and as soon as The Harlequin stopped rolling, Laurel gunned it. The triad ship was a speck in the distance, and the earth and Budapest with it, were approaching fast in front of her.

She could feel herself slowly begin to relax, though she could tell from the ship's protests that this pace was beginning to wear on it. It wasn't anything a little routine maintenance couldn't fix, but repairs took time—time that they didn't have.

Feeling relatively confident that they had outrun the triads for the time being, Laurel put the ship on autopilot and headed down the steps to check on the others.
 
Rick cocked his head slightly at Laurel's reply, he wondered what she had planned that he wasn't going to like. He didn't have long to wait before she announced over the comm system to hold on, Rick wasn't going to question her now. Bracing his shotgun against his body he hooked his arm around the railing and braced himself, he had no idea what to expect. The sound of the thrusters became louder and he felt the ship shudder slightly, before he had a chance to think what was going on his feet were lifted from the ground as the various boxes in the cargo bay shifted and the ship seemed to spin around him.

Rick spun over the railing and barely managed land on his feet on the other side, there was a sinking feeling in his stomach as the ship's artificial gravity tried desperately to compensate for the quick movements as well as the interference from Earth's atmosphere. When the ship finally came to a rest he felt the tug of the ship as the speed increased. Taking a moment to compose himself and let his stomach settle Rick exhaled the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. Glancing up the stairs as Laurel appeared from the cockpit he raised his eyebrow, "That was some move, I'd like to hear the story of where you learned to fly like that someday." He said climbing the steps and entering the cockpit.

Leaning his shotgun against the console he sat in his seat and looked at the console in front of him, the triad ship was quite a distance behind and they were gaining distance consistently. He also noted a number of blips converging on the ship, Customs Officers likely attempting to slow the triad ship down in order to question the crew. Rick breathed a sigh of relief, they would at least slow the triads down for the time being. Looking out of the observation window he saw the blue sea below and Budapest towering ahead of them. They would reach the city within a few minutes as Rick judged it. Opening the city network he checked the various docks around the city, he cycled through them until he found one of the cheaper ones in the list. Cheap docks didn't usually bother hiring lots of harbour masters or security so they may be able to dock and get to Leo's contact before the Customs Officers caught up with them.

Rick stood again and went to the door of the cockpit, "Laurel, I've got us a dock. Bring us in quick, we'll be disembarking and getting into the city and we'll deal with the Customs Officers after we get the triads off of our back." He activated his radio, "Leo, we're going to be making a beeline to your contact before anyone catches up to us. I want rid of this thing and the triads as soon as we can so meet me at the blast door." He turned and picked up his shotgun again. Heading back to the door he looked back at Laurel. "Shout out when we're docked, Leo and I will be running out first in case the triads or any kind of law is waiting for us. I'll let you decide whether you want to follow us out or stay here with the ship."

He ran down the stairs and made his way to his room and pulled on his trench coat, he would use it to conceal his shotgun if he didn't need to use it when he left the ship. Making his way back to the blast door he leaned against the frame and took in deep breaths to prepare for their run. Rick could only hope that the triads hadn't managed to beat them here and that no Customs Officers were waiting for them either.
 
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