Kevin Mallory is captain of the Spire's supply transport, and accomplished Junker. After hauling several loads of essential goods to the station, he decided to take a break. Weirdly enough, no one besides him had arrived yet. This pub was supposed to be the most active place on the station. Then, the automated bartender spoke through its mouth-speaker. [There seems to be a fight in the back room. For your personal safety, I would advis-]"Nah, none of my concern. Get me a Liberty Ale, and make it quick."
Kevin stood at the front bar, waiting while loud noises came from the back room, confirming the robot's statement. The bartender came back with a glass of ale, telling Kevin the same statement he had heard so many times before: [That will be 50 credits, sir.] He gave the credits to the bartender, who quickly deposited them into the safe behind it.
After finishing his drink, Kevin walked out into the Spire's halls, heading for his bunk. Then, a crowd came out of the back room, carrying two clearly injured patrons. The Spire's medic was called, and everyone else went back to their business in the pub.
It had been almost six years since the bar had been active. Frostbyte turned on the lights to the bar. They flickered once and died. The bartender droid that had been manning the bar collapsed in on itself as it laid in the corner.
"Well, that's a problem." she said musing to herself. As she did, a light fell from the bulkhead and shattered on the floor, echoing throughout the bar. She winced at the sound. "Well, seems we have some work to do." she said intending it to be to herself. However, a dark skinned man with many tattoos and piercings waltzed up behind her with his hands in his pockets.
"Dayum! You're tellin' me chief." he said with a wink. Frostbyte crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Miss me?" he said leaning in.
Frostbyte scoffed and pushed his face away with her hand. "Fuck off, Erebos. You smell like...like...days old cheese--what the hell have you been doing?"
He strode into the dark room, hands still in his pockets, a mocking grin etched across his face. "Oh, you know, little bit o' this, little bit o' that..." He stopped his stride and looked back, his grin still plastered across his face. "Sure you wanna know, chief?"
"No, I don't." she said with a smirk. She looked around the bar tapping her finger to her lips in deep thought. She snapped her fingers when an idea came to mind. "Actually, you know a lot about degenerate behavior, right?" she asked.
Erebos wheeled around to face her, a sarcastic look of hurt on his face. "What, me?" he said placing his hand to his chest before his expression morphed to a menacing grin. "Go on."
"Why don't you head up the restoration efforts?"
He sagged his shoulders and dramatically facepalmed looking to the ceiling. He growned.
"More work? Come on 'byte. I'm always up for working when it makes me money but this is just a waste!"
Frostbyte smiled a knowing smile. "Think of all the people we could fleece while in here, take for a ride, or con our of their life savings? All the meetings we could have free from worrying about eavesdropping competing syndicates."
She could see the wheels turning in Erebos's head as he computed what she said, he looked to her with a stupid grin.
"You know, I know you think you're gaslighting me...but you're right. Alright, I'll work on getting it back up to par again, ain't gonna be cheap boss. The only thing got going for this place right now is it has oxygen pressure and I wouldn't even hazard drinking the booze behind the counter."
"...but you're going to, right?" she snickered.
"Abso-damn-lutely." he said grinning.
Frostbyte rolled her eyes turning around and walking out of the bar waving as she went.
"Don't die, I doubt I'd be able to find another miserable lout like you to hold down the fort and do my busy work."
"Screw you, 'byte!" he said hollering after her as she left. Echoing lilting laughter followed her exit.
He wiped his brow as he surveyed his work. The bar had taken some time to be restored and it had needed a lot of work. Luckily for him, they had plenty of resources in Premium Scrap, Scrap, and Manifolds available on the station.
Customers passing through the Spire had already begun entering the bar, looking around, and getting drinks from Archibald Thomas, a retired bartender from Beaumont Base from across the way. Turns out the old man was bored at the base and wanted to come out of retirement. Erebos suspected he was a friend of Frostbyte's father or one of her uncles. Erebos approached the bar and nodded to the old man who made him a drink and set it down in front of him. He swiped his chit and sat down at the bar nursing his drink as he surveyed his work.
"Not bad for someone who don't know nothing about half the things I worked on in here." he chuckled to himself. "Hopefully nothing will explode."
Leo entered the bar and sat down at the seat closest to the entrance.
"Mr. Knightfall." said the bartender. "Good to see you."
"You too. Whiskey. Neat please." Leo replied mumbling.
"Sounds like it was a day."
"Ugh. Don't remind me Antony."
The bartender sat the drink down in front of the elder Knightfall. Leo drank the contents in their entirety and grimaced a bit after doing so. He tapped the bar with the bottom edge of the glass indicating he needed another.
"Where the hell is Lorelai?" he murmured under his breath.
"Will your sister be joining us anytime soon?" the bartender asked pouring a drink.
"Dunno. Been trying to find her for a few days. Seems she dropped off the map. She mentioned something about finding a new route into the Omegas."
"Are you not worried?" The bartender sat the drink down in front of Leo as he turned to check the glasses being washed.
"Sure, I mean. She's my little sister. Even though I just found out about her a few years ago, I still feel like I need to protect her." Leo answered, taking a sip of the new drink. "Though I'd be remiss if I didn't say that she can take care of herself. After all, she lead a group of smugglers when she was only sixteen years old."
"I've heard the stories." the bartender said glancing behind him. "How goes operations?"
Leo mumbled something unintelligible behind the glass as he took another sip.
"That good?"
"It's a pain in the ass. I'm a Junker first, leader second. I second guess everything I do."
"Have confidence, Mr. Knightfall. Everything falls into place as it will. You simply must have the wherewithal to follow through on your decisions."
Leo grunted, downing the remaining contents of the glass and sliding it forward to the bartender.
"Thanks for the advice, Antony."
"You are ever welcome, Mr. Knightfall."
Leo sauntered out of the bar with his hands in his pockets. "Following through, eh?" he said to himself. He nodded and unclipped the communicator from his belt. "Erebos, I'm heading into the Omegas to look for 'byte. Hold down the fort until I get back...and for fuck sake, don't make any major decisions until we get back."
He heard a chuckle from the other end and a "You got it boss mang." before he hung up the communicator.
Leo headed for his ship parked in the bay. He only hoped he was wrong about his little sister and that she just got sidetracked...if so, the worse he would get is some playful ribbing, if not, then he was going to bring the entire sector down on those who harmed her.
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