Hayden was actually pretty happy with the state of the
universe. She’d spent the morning at a
spa getting her skin exfoliated and a deep tissue massage. Now she was in the middle of an upscale bar
enjoying a steak and a local beer she had never heard of. It was nice to eat real food for a
change. This planet was pretty close to
paradise. Warm breezes, tropical
climates, and attractive natives made this the nicest place she had taken a
vacation so far.
She had seen a group of teenage girls go zooming past the
front of the bar a few minutes earlier.
This time she saw a man move quickly past the front door of the bar and
the girls were close behind him. She had
watched this interplay a few times before the door swung open and the man
entered the bar. The security let him
through but did a solid job of tossing out the girls that weren’t old enough to
get into the bar. His eyes lit up when
he saw her and he quickly sat down at the table with her.
“Please play along,”
He smiled and leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek. The world seemed to stand still in that moment
and she couldn’t believe he had done that.
She stared into his pleading, glittering green eyes and smiled back at
him.
“What took you so long?”
She managed to choke through. The
teen girls saw the barest part of their friendly exchange and Hayden saw a mix
of expressions ranging from envy, lust, rage, and a couple of pure unadulterated
hatred directed at her. Security saw the
potential for an issue and just ejected the entire pack of girls.
“Thank you most sincerely.”
He leaned back into the chair an Hayden took a moment to look him over. He was barely dressed, with a simple vest
covering his upper body, a pair of loose fitting shorts and a pair of flip
flops. That wasn’t what caught her
attention, now that she had the chance.
He was tall, with fair skin and long straight red hair that ran down
past his shoulders. The thing that
caught her off guard the most were the tattoos.
They were traditional Japanese style art, with the coils of
a black scaled snake wrapped around his chiseled abs. The serpent’s tail and head ran down his
legs, with the tip of the tail resting between his big toe and the toe right
next to it on one foot. The serpent’s
head rested in a similar position on the other foot.
His chest and shoulders were covered with a water scene that
filled his back and up over his shoulders with crashing waves. Running down his arms to his wrists were
streams and gentle waters. She could
pick out koi running up one arm and down the other. The thing that struck her the most was that
the water had been inked black instead of a traditional blue. Her breath caught in her throat as she took
him in.
“Has my serpent caught your attention?” He smiled softly at
her.
“What? No, I wasn’t
staring at your serpent.” She tilted her
eyes back up to his face and blushed for a moment.
“I don’t mind.” He
attracted the waitress and ordered himself some kind of a beer she had never
heard of.
“So, what was that about?”
Hayden asked him quietly.
“You do one little trick and these girls from Tharkad think
it’s open season to get grabby hands.”
“What trick?”
“Promise not to get grabby hands?” He flashed his pearly
white teeth.
“Not necessarily…” where the hell did that come from.
“Fair enough.” He pulled
his arm tight in against his chest and
pointed with the other hand. “See the fish?” he pointed out each of them in turn. She nodded along. “Now watch the fish dance…” He flexed his bicep and the muscle fiber
under his skin made the fish change position.
Rapidly flexing the muscle made the fish move faster and it looked like
they were dancing.
“That’s a hell of a trick, mr…”
“Oh my manners have escaped me. Koruku Macallister.” He extended his hand..
“Hayden Lin Shields.”
She took his hand and shook it softly.
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“It is nice to meet you as well. Thank you for helping me with that little
issue.”
“Oh…you have brought a refreshing change to a long month or
so.”
“That sounds very interesting, tell me about it?”
“It’s been a rough month.”
“Why?”
“I am a mercenary.”
She finally said slowly.
“Oh, that’s a dangerous lifestyle.”
“It has been trying.”
“Have you encountered the Clans?”
“A few times. We came
here to rest and regroup.”
“So your unit is here with you?”
“Look…I had some more plans for the rest of my day.”
“My apologies, I so rarely meet someone as interesting as a
mercenary. You just told me how long the
last month has been and here I am trying to force you to talk about it. Please accept my apology.”
“It’s nothing, I just came here to get away for a while.”
“Would you like some company? I have no requirements of me, today.”
Hayden frowned for a moment and thought back over everything
that had happened. “Okay, yeah. That might be nice.”
He retrieved his wallet from the inside of his vest and set
a 100 C-bill note on the table. “It’s
the least I can do for you saving me from that pack of wolves.”
“All right, I’ll let you buy lunch if you let me buy dinner.” What
the hell am I doing?
“I am always fascinated by the path the universe takes
us. It is a date.”
He held the door for her and they exited out onto the
street. They wandered around the city
for nearly a half an hour before she spoke again. It had been so nice just to walk and relax in
the crowd.
“So what do you do, Mr. Macallister?”
“Koruku, please. Mr.
Macallister was my father.” He smiled
again.
“So what do you, Koruku.”
“I am a teacher, by trade.”
“What do you teach?”
“Philosophy, meditation, martial arts.”
“Buddhist?”
“Good Guess, I could never get past the idea of not having
sex.” She snorted. “I am a Daoist.”
“Ah, that makes sense.
For a half a moment, I thought you were a criminal.”
“Well with the ink on my arms I can see where you might
think that. Some sort of a bad ass yakuza
gangster?”
“Kind of. That’s what
my mother taught me about them.”
“Originally they also served to mark out nobles and members
of various religious sects.”
“Is yours a marker of a religious sect?”
“No, the Orochi was a gift when I became an adept in my
order. The Black Ocean was a going away
present when I left my last teaching position.”
“Where were you a teacher?”
“I taught philosophy at the Pagoda for Luthien Officers and Kenjutsu
at the Sun Zhang Mechwarror Academy.”
“Are you a mechwarrior?”
“No, I find they make my heart race when I am around
them. They are a little too complex for
me.”
“I would not have guessed that.”
“We are allowed to be complicated creatures, Miss Shields.”
“Please call me Hayden.”
“Very well Hayden.”
He smiled at her again. “We have
walked past this store three times now, is there something inside you wish to
purchase?” They had circled a clothing
store several times and she was nervous about going inside. She hadn’t bought
clothes for herself in a few years, and she was self-conscious about it.
“I need to buy some new clothes.”
“Then we should go in, yes?”
“I haven’t actually bought clothes for myself in too long.”
“You have uniforms and such for most of your life, yes?”
“Yeah…but I don’t have nice clothes for other things.”
“Then you should get some?”
“I should.”
“We are still standing here then because?”
“I don’t know…this feels odd.”
“Well, we can stand out here and feel odd, or we can accept
the
Way of things and go inside.”
“The Way of things, huh?”
“Indeed.”
“Come on, let’s do some shopping.” They stepped into the shop and Hayden felt a
little out of place. The clothing was a
little higher quality than she was used to and she thought real hard about
turning around and leaving. Koruku was
right behind her though and he waved over one of the clerks.
“What can we help you with today?” The young woman smiled at the pair of them.
“My friend needs to freshen up her wardrobe. Could you help
her out?” Koruku answered the
woman.
“I am not sure this is the style of clothing I am looking
for.” Hayden scowled at Koruku.
“Well why don’t you look around and see if there is anything
you want to try on and I will be more than happy to help you out.” The young woman gave the two of them some
space.
“I don’t know. This
place seems pricy.”
“it is not bad. The
quality seems nice, it’s not quickly manufactured clothing made to be worn for
a season and then discarded. The fabric
feels nice.” He was running his fingers
along the hem of a skirt.
“Was this a mistake?”
“Did you feel a need to come here and look around?”
“Yeah…I wanted to see what this place was like. We never shopped at a place like this when I was
a child. We didn’t have the money to spend
on frivolities.”
“I see now. I
remember the first time I was given leave to pick the color of my robe.”
“What?”
“I grew up in a monastery, for the most part. Long, hard
hours spent in study and contemplation followed by long hard hours studying the
martial arts. I was sixteen when the
eldest of the monks took me aside and told me I would be ready soon, and they
wanted to know what color I wanted my robe to be.”
“What color did you end up picking?”
“After two weeks of anxiety and a full blown panic attack, I
went with simple black. In the years
since, I have grown more accustomed to the role I play and the expectations of
it, but that first moment of freedom shook me to my core.”
“Well, I guess I could look around.”
“We have all the time in the world.”
Hayden spent the next three hours trying on different
clothing in a half dozen different styles.
Koruku sat patiently for her during the entire experience, and even with
his limited background in clothing offered the best suggestions he could come
up with. Hayden finally declared she was
done and Koruku was kind enough to help her carry her purchases up to the counter. She felt her heart begin to race as the clerk
rang everything up. Hayden stared at the
total.
“Wait, that’s not right.
It should be more than that.” The
clerk frowned and redid the math again and the total came up the same.
“Wait, I think I know what’s wrong. You aren’t aware of the discount.”
“What discount?”
“The Adept gets a 20% discount on everything he purchases
and we have a longstanding tradition of extending that courtesy to his friends.”
Hayden’s eyebrow raised at him. He offered an easy smile. “I may have neglected to mention that I have
a second job that brings me into a lot of mercantile concerns.”
“What’s your other job?”
“Ivory trader, though I am not the brains of that
outfit. My companion, Takeda, handles
the actual number crunching and deal making.”
“You have a habit of not volunteering information.”
“It is a byproduct of my training. I am sorry if it offends you.”
“No…it’s all right. Next
time you are going to have unexpectedly useful information, tell me ahead of
time. I don’t like being surprised.”
“I will endeavor to do so.”
Hayden handed her currency over to the clerk, catching her
off guard. Evidently she hadn’t expected
her to pay cash. Five minutes later they
were each carrying two very large bags of clothing out of the store. “I need to drop this off at my ship.”
“If you do not mind I would accompany you, so as not to overburden
you with the packages.”
“That’s fine, but you can’t come aboard the ship.”
“Very well, “ He smiled at her.
“Where would you like me to take you for dinner?” She asked him as they walked.
“Are you partial to the cuisine of Rasalhague?”
“Excuse me?”
“There is a wonderful little Rasalhagian community that set
up their own neighborhood here a few years ago.
There is a wonderful little restaurant that makes these little potato dumplings.”
“I grew up on Radstadt.”
“Have you been to the Red House?”
“My mother took me and my sister there when we were young.”
“I visited once when I was passing through. There is a small Daoist community in the
capital, my hosts were kind enough to introduce me to the local cuisine and I have
been having a secret affair with it ever since.”
“It does remind me of home.”
She smiled.
They were standing in front of the Dropship’s ramp, and
Hayden took the other two bags off of his hands. “I will be right back.”
“Take all the time you need.” He nodded and slipped the parasol out of the bag
over his shoulder. “With my complexion,
the sun is an unkind companion.” He
opened the parasol and let it shade him from the sun.
“Fair enough.” She
smiled and took her bags inside. It was
a quick trip to her quarters and a hasty unpacking of the bags. She would launder everything later. She applied
a fresh dose of deodorant and
put on the nicest jacket in her old closet. She came around the corner and Julian was
waiting for her.
Meanwhile
Mason and Carter were making their way back to the
dropship. Carter had wanted to go to the
aquarium, and Mason had wanted to visit a gambling den in the same area. They had spent the day together as a
result. The Aquarium had been amazing,
and Carter was planning on going back again tomorrow with more free time and a
fresh camera. Mason had plans to visit a
race track for the day, maybe Hayden would be willing to go for a visit…
“Carter, what’s that?”
“Mostly naked lady standing in front of our dopship, I think.”
“I think that’s a guy…”
“So?’
“So why is he standing in front of our dropship? Check out that ink…that’s a Yakuza.”
“What, no way.”
“I heard stories about them back home. Nice and polite guys, but cross them and they
will kill you.”
“So why is there a Yakuza guy standing in front of our
dropship?” The two of them moved closer
to the ramp.
Inside
“What do you need Julian?”
“Why is there a strange man standing outside our ship?”
“Because I thought you would lose your mind if he was
actually
aboard our ship?”
“Who is he?”
“Koruku Macallister.
He’s a philosophy teacher.”
“Why is he here?”
“Because he helped me do some shopping and we are going on a
date tonight.”
“I am not sure that is a wise idea.”
“As much as I appreciate your opinion on things, my social
life is not one of them. Have a nice
night, Julian.” She quickly tried to
make her back outside.
Outside
“Can I help you, friend?” Carter asked as he and Mason made their
approach.
“No, I am waiting for a friend.”
“By our dropship?”
“You must be friends of Hayden, then.” He still had his face hidden under the shade
of the parasol.
“She is kind of our boss.”
Carter nodded.
“Then you are also mercenaries, yes?”
“Yeah, we’re mercs.”
Mason finally added.
“What an exciting life you must lead.”
“So, what are you waiting for Hayden for?” Carter asked him.
“We have a date tonight.”
“A Date?” Mason
asked.
“Yes, a social interaction between two people. Usually involves dinner or some other social
activity.”
“I know what a date is.”
“Then I do not understand your confusion about why your boss
would be going on one with me.”
“It’s been a long month, and we are a little frayed around
the edges.” Carter said with a soft
smile.
“I understand, you have been very busy. A Mercenary lives a life fraught with danger
and excitement.”
“I’m Carter Blaine, this is Mason Kadir.”
“I am Koruku Macallister.”
“And what exactly do you do, Mr. Macallister?”
“Teacher by choice.”
“And what do you teach?”
“What are you two doing?”
Hayden’s voice called down the ramp at them.
“Greeting your new friend.”
Mason said firmly.
“Quit pestering him.”
Her voice was firm, and she was moderately annoyed that these two were getting
involved with her personal life just like Julian was trying to. Like two younger brothers who’d been caught
somewhere they shouldn’t have been, the two of them backed off.
“There was no pestering, just an exchange of information.” Koruku smiled up at her.
“Mmhmm. You two stay
out of trouble. If you need me, don’t
need me until tomorrow.”
“Have fun, Hayden.”
Carter nodded at his friend.
Mason nodded at Koruku and the two of them went up into the ship.
“Shall we?” She
slipped her arm through his. He patted
her arm softly and nodded.
“Let’s.”
Dinner
The little restaurant was everything that Koruku had
promised and more. An older woman
greeted them at the door and started barking at Koruku in heavily accented Japanese. He started replying in a conciliatory tone
and eventually she produced a robe for him to wear while he was in the
building. Hayden couldn’t keep up with
the exchange.
“She doesn’t like my tattoos. They offend her sensibilities.” He explained quickly. The old woman sat them
down at a quiet table and handed them menus before bringing out a basket of
rolls and a pitcher of mead.
“What’s good here?”
“Everything, but I am partial to the culture and the
cuisine. The Chanterelle mushrooms
paired with the steak are exceptional, as is the Isterband. My personal preference has always been the yellow
pea soup and meatlballs.”
“That sounds really good.”
“Elga is a kind hostess, and her husband Olaf cooks the
meals.
Three of their children work in
the restaurant here while one of them, an older lad named Bjorn has signed on
with the Kungsarme.”
“They sound like good people. My mom would like a place like this.”
“Oh?”
“She had a very wild youth, served as a mechwarrior, went to
Solaris for awhile, did all kinds of things.
Eventually, however, she had to come home. She met my father, and then my sister and I came
along. Once we were here mom went super
traditionalist.”
“So, she was a warrior as well?”
“Yep, three generations deep at least. My grandmother served in the DCMS.”
“That could not have been a pleasant experience. The Soldiery is not well known for its love
of women or the natives of Rasalhague.”
“She did her duty, and that was enough for her.”
Elga came by and checked on them. She smiled as she took their orders and
pestered Koruku with more questions. “What’s
she asking you?”
“She’s asking me if I have finally had the good sense to
find a good Rasalhagian woman to show me the wonders of love.”
“Oh, what did you tell her?”
This was one of the moments that she really wished she’d spent more time
studying both Swedenese and Japanese in school.
There were times she couldn’t keep up, especially with some of the
thicker accents and more obscure dialects of Japanese.
“The Way is mysterious and full of possibilities.” Elga left their table and gave the two of
them some peace and quiet.
“Why do you wear so little clothing?” She asked after a sip of the mead.
“Have you ever been to Luthien?” She shook her head no, and he nodded. “Luthien is an ugly, cold world. With the training I had, body fat and I were
not close companions and I despised the cold.
I always had to wear twice as many layers as my fellows and they liked
to remind me that I was not suited well to cold weather. I promised myself that if I ever made it off
world to some place warm I would wear as little as I could. I love the feel of the sun on my skin.”
Elga returned and Hayden thanked her in Swedenese and that
prompted a whirlwind of conversation.
The old woman was pleased that she still spoke the language, and asked
her a million different questions. Hayden had to admit, it was nice to speak
her own language again with people who really understood it. She watched Koruku’s eyes try to follow the
conversation, but she guessed he was not so familiar with Swedenese. Finally Elga brought them the food and it was
a massive assortment of things in addition to what they ordered. Candies, treats, extra bits and sauces for
them to share.
“Oh, I haven’t eaten this much in years.” She said, trying to figure out where to
start.
“This is a wonderful home away from home for me.”
“But you are from the Combine.”
“I think my heart, and certainly my stomach would rather
claim kinship with Rasalhague.” He took
a spoonful of his soup and just savored it.
The meal was wonderful once Hayden had figured out where to start. The two of them finished a pitcher of mead
and toasted to their ancestors, which was something she hadn’t done in too
long. She paid the bill and left a very
generous tip for Elga. She smiled and
thanked the two of them for coming in.
“Now what would you like to do?” Koruku said quietly. He was a little tipsy from the mead.
“It’s so nice here, I want to sleep under the stars tonight.”
“If you want, we can go back to my place, I think you may
find something of interest there.”
“Are you trying to get in my pants?”
“Do you want me in your pants?”
“I haven’t decided yet, but I am certainly not too drunk to
consider the possibility.”
He slid his arm up under hers and helped her walk. “I think my place is closer than your
dropship.”
“All right…”
“Come on…let’s get you someplace you can lie down.”
“Why are you so pretty?”
“I work hard to take care of myself. Why are you so pretty?”
“You think I am pretty?”
“Of course I do.” He
helped her the rest of the way to the small condo off the beaten path. The door opened easily and he slipped his
flip fops off of his feet. He knelt down
and unlaced her boots for her and they tumbled over each other when her balance
faltered. They laughed together as she
stood up.
“You have a hammock?”
“I thought you might like that.” He opened the glass doors and helped her step
out into an indoor courtyard that had no roof.
Tropical breezes swirled the aroma of a dozen different plants through
her nostrils and she took a moment and just appreciated the joy of being around
nature again. She wandered around the
garden for a moment wiggling her toes in the soil.
“This is a beautiful garden.” She turned to smile at him. He’d removed the vest and his shorts and was
wearing a very simple silk undergarment covering himself. “Uh…what are you doing?”
“As I said, when I can, I where as little as possible. Does
this offend you? I can put the shorts back on.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
She sat down on the hammock and slowly laid back in it. “It’s just complicated.”
“May I lay with you?”
“It is your hammock after all.”
“I appreciate your willingness to share.” He smiled and slid gently into the hammock
next to her. There was enough space for
the two of them to share without touching each other. She just laid back in the hammock and stared
up at the stars. He laid next to her,
quietly doing the same.
“How do you feel right now, Koruku?”
“At peace with the universe.”
“Honestly?”
“Yes. I have had a more
pleasant day than I deserve, made a new friend and am relaxing under the stars
in the most peaceful place I can imagine.
What’s not to be at peace about?”
“My life is so screwed up right now…”
“If you want to talk about it, I will listen.”
“Most of it I can’t talk about.”
“Can’t or shouldn’t?”
“Probably both. I
just want to tune it all out, and relax for a little while.”
“I understand that better than most.”
“What would you do if you were me?” She asked him quietly.
“I always have a hard time when people ask me that
question. I typically try to see what
the universe wants me to do, and I go from there.”
“What if you can’t tell what the universe wants?”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know, but this is pleasant.” She leaned over and kissed him firmly. Her arms wrapped around his chest and she
fell asleep in that moment. He wrapped
his arm gently around her and drifted off to sleep with her in his arms.
“I agree, this is most pleasant indeed.”
Meanwhile
“You two, what do you know about the guy Hayden is dating?” Julian asked Carter and Mason.
“He’s a teacher I think?”
Carter answered him.
Mason shook his head and said “He said he was a teacher, I think
he’s Yakuza.”
“He does have an impressive amount of ink.”
‘why, Julian?”
“Something about him bothers me. Something doesn’t feel right. I don’t trust him.”
“Guys, it’s one date on one planet that we’re probably never
ever coming back to.” Carter shook his
head.
“Look, I don’t want her to get hurt if this guy turns out to
be way shadier than we thought he was.”
“You sure this is just about that?” Carter asked him.
“What else would it be about?”
“Hayden is a big girl and go out and have fun with whoever
she wants. I don’t see why you guys are
making such an issue about this.”
“What are you talking about?
She’s like family to me, and I don’t trust this shady gangster around
her.”
“My concern is more practical. This could be an attempt to compromise her by
the Combine.”
“And it doesn’t seem completely nuts that your first guess
of the new man that Hayden met is a spy for the Draconis Combine? That doesn’t sound a little nuts to you?”
“It’s only paranoia if there isn’t someone actually trying
to get you.”
“So, what are we all doing here?” Sebastian asked.
“Trying to figure out what’s up with Hayden’s date.”
“Skinny redhead, covered in Combine ink?”
“Yeah, where did you see him?”
“Here, outside the ship earlier when I came back to grab my
wallet.”
“What do you think?”
“Oh no, I am not getting drawn into this. Hayden’s my boss, and if she needs to scratch
an itch that none of us seem to be able to manage, that is entirely her prerogative.”
“I’m with Sebastian on this one. I don’t think Koruku is a problem like you
guys are making him out to be.” Carter
said firmly.
“All right, then, I guess we’ll have to keep an eye on him.” Mason said quietly. Julian nodded in agreement.
“I have an idea.”
Julian said quietly.
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