Chapter 34

Stuggart star system, inner system.

Stuggart Prime, capital city of Central, Old Joe's bar.

"Uh. It's busier than usual." Commented Elteria as they stepped through the second set of doors, and into the main bar area proper. Although it looked more like a giant restaurant really, with tables scattered around the room, and a large collection of private booths inlaid into the walls, a fair amount of either blocked and blurred by privacy fields, to prevent prying eyes and ears from gaining an inkling of what was going on inside.

Sarah looked around, and shook her head.

"No, there's the same number of people. I think. It's more that they're a bit more...agitated."

Which was a colossal understatement if there ever was one. Old Joe's was a bar, so it was always....lively, but right now it was clear that several groups were almost ready to start killing each other, and it wasn't because of the liquor.

Of course, none of them were making any moves, as Joe's security guards discreetly patrolled the bar...and clear circles in the ceiling indicated where automated turrets would come down to obliterate whoever dared to try to draw a weapon or attack someone else.

Elteria looked around the room once more, and nodded.

"You're right. Well, I guess tensions do carry over here if nothing else."

"And it's a good indicator that things truly are going to hell."

Elteria nodded wordlessly as they made their way through the patrons -although thankfully due to the invitations being relatively sparse there was nothing like the dense crowds that infested a lot of bars in the capital city's center-, and they finally arrived at the bar, where they promptly sat down on adjacent stools.

A hologram immediately popped up in front of them. A young man, who would have probably looked stunning if Sarah or Elteria swung that way, smiled at them.

"Ah, Sarah and Elteria! It's good to see you again! What can I get you? The boss will be here in a minute, he's a bit tied up right now."

"Hello Victor. A whiskey for me, the usual, Vista special reserve. And I suppose a Nerator tequila for Elteria?" Sarah looked at her AI, who nodded. "Yeah, and some ice cubes."

"Some people would consider putting ice cubes in such fine drinks a capital offense captain." Joked the AI, before blinking. "And the boss is free. He's got your order, don't worry. See you later!"

"See you later!" Sarah and Elteria chorused.

They waited for a few seconds, before a voice, which would have been eerily reminescent of Hector's if it hadn't sounded so old, interrupted their thoughts.

"Ah. Sarah Ciel-étoilé and Elteria. It has been quite some time since last I saw you."

Sarah looked to the side as Old Joe made his way behind the bar towards them, and firmly suppressed her instinctive reaction to fall off from her stool screaming.

Old Joe was a rarity: a true alien, not some kind of horribly modified human. Well, 'true', his species originated from Terran biology, as the Terran Empire had exterminated any form of truly alien life in the Known Universe long before its catastrophic collapse, but he was a member of one of the rare truly non human species in the Known Universe.

The problem was that his species, the Yan'darir, also nicknamed 'the Blorg' by virtually everyone but xenobiologists, had a physical appearance seemingly pulled straight out of humanity's worst nightmares. He looked like nothing more than a diseased sphere of plant matter, with a swarm of vine tentacles surrounding it, serving as hands and feet at the same time. The Blorgs were also even rarer to see than most aliens, at least in the Verge, as they had been absorbed into the Empire of Mara, and thus the Infinite Systems Federation, hundreds of millenia ago.

"Hello Joe. It had indeed been a while. It's good to see you." Politely answered Sarah as she got her instinctual panic under control, and smiled. "I see time has treated you well."

The small box held on what passed for a necklace on Old Joe's body activated once again, translating it's users thoughts directly into human words his....'mouth' would have never been able to reproduce otherwise.

"Blorg. It seems time always does right be me, doesn't it?"

Sarah chuckled, and nodded. The reason why the Blorgs were called that way was because Blorg was their specie's version of 'yes', as well as the 'hmms' of assents humans used. Since Blorgs tended to be very polite, they tended to say that. A lot.

"Well, I suppose that a considerable understatement if nothing else." Said Sarah, quickly stealing a glance at the reason why no one in Thaumor would ever dare to mess with Old Joe, before going back to their host.

"Blorg! And it's alright captain, I can hardly dedicate all of my attention to you as well, I won't blame you if you look at them." The translators dutifully chuckled as Old Joe's central...core thing jiggled, emitting a strangely musical chime that was his specie's equivalent. "Besides, it does wonder for my ego."

Sarah smiled, and looked up. Behind the bar, encased in heavily reinforced display frames, was a trio of decorations.

The first one was quite simple, and represented the image of two ships clashing together, with a star underneath them. Overall, nothing exceptional, a lot of military decorations used that design.

Of course, that was for the simple reason that it was the medal that had inspired them all.

Because the two ships depicted were a Taian Eternal-class battleship, and an Infinite Systems Federation Truesword-class battleship.

That medal was the Taian campaign distinguished campain medal, awarded to those who had served with distinction in the Infinite-Taian war....a hundred thousand years ago.

The next medal was even simpler, a circle of flames overlaid by crossed swords, and a single, 4 points star.

It was the medal awarded upon a fully qualified Shock Commando of the Empire of Mara, and designated it's wearer as one of the most lethal beings in the Known Universe, period.

The last one...the last one depicted a silver ship, that looked oddly like a giant spear, surrounded by a sea smaller ships, represented as but tiny specks.

That medal could only be worn by someone who had served as part of the Empire's 7th fleet. It was a medal some Imperial officers would kill to get, as the Imperial 7th fleet was...beyond legendary. The only assignment that even rivaled it in prestige was the freaking Imperial Guard. The people whose duty it was to protect Mara, the Empire's homeworld, and the Imperial family, essentially a mix between a home fleet and a presidential personal protection detail.

These three combined meant that anyone that messed with Old Joe was basically dead, they just didn't know it yet. Even the odd Federation warship passing through Thaumor usually made a pit stop at Stuggart for their captain to come and pay their respects.

"Right. Well, pleasantries aside, we came here on business." Said Sarah as she looked back down at her host, and had to fight back another wave of irrational fear as the Blorg picked up bottles and glasses and began using his myriad of appendages to make their drinks with a speed and smoothness some human bartenders would have sold their souls for. "We need some information."

"Well, despite everyone taking advantage of my bar to negotiate in peace, I am first and foremost an information broker captain. What do you wish to know?"

Sarah pressed the holographic button that triggered the privacy field around them, making sure no one could see them well enough to read their lips, or be able to overhear their conversation, and gestured at Elteria, who put the briefcase down, and opened it slightly, allowing the Blorg to see inside.

"We wish to know the origin of this divinium. Especially whether it came from the Protectorate Core...or somewhere else."

Old Joe froze. He didn't slow down, he straight up stopped as he gazed at the briefcase's contents. He then slowly began moving again, but something felt...different. Like he wasn't making the drinks with pure, deeply ingrained reflexes, but with actual thought. Seconds later he slid them their drinks, and Sarah grabbed her glass more by reflex than anything.

"You now have my undivided attention captain."

Sarah gulped. Given that, as far as she understood, Old Joe was so heavily augmented he had more processing power than Elteria, that was a terrifying sentence to hear.

"We found this divinium in a stealthed container, left behind by who we suspect were intergalactic smugglers working for whoever has set the entire Fringe alight." It hurt to just...disclose that information, but Old Joe was about as trustworthy as you could get for information brokers, and if such information was imparted to him for a job, you could be virtually sure he would not sell it to anyone. Besides, if they wanted results, he needed to know where to dig. "It was in the Arion star system to be precise. We suspect this was the smugglers' payment."

Old Joe nodded slightly, which was a disconcertingly recognizable gesture on something that technically didn't have a head to speak of.

"Blorg, that would be my assessment as well, based on what you've told me." The Blorg extended a vine, and grabbed one of the ingots. "How many Divinium types were there?"

"6 in total. Divinium-6, 9, 18, 31, 51 and 56."

"I see...That will help narrow it down considerably."

"It's not necessarily all of the types that deposit contained." Warned Sarah.

"Yes, but even those 6 are an odd combination. Very well. May I keep the briefcase? Not as payment, but I will need to have my people run some scans and analysis on it's contents."

"Of course."

"Good. Now, concerning my payment..." Sarah held back a wince. This was going to hurt, she could feel it... "For a job of this magnitude, a hundred megacredits, straight up, should do it."

Sarah took a sip from her glass to steady herself, and nearly choked on it as it's taste brought back a wave of nostalgia. Vista was her homeworld after all. Well...'world'. It was technically a giant spaceborne construct, but still.

"That's...a lot."

"It's my price."

Sarah sighed.

"Agreed." She gestured at Elteria again, whose gaze unfocused, before sharpening again, and nodding at Sarah.

"It's done." The AI turned towards the information broker. "Can you confirm that payment has been received?"

"Indeed it has. Thank you for your business miladies." Old Joe grabbed the briefcase, and nodded once more. "Now if that will be all?"

They nodded in unison, and Old Joe gave them his specie's equivalent of a smile, which was more or less splitting open part of his central core, which sent shivers of primal horror down Sarah's spine.

"Excellent then! Have a good evening and enjoy yourselves. I'll contact you as soon as I have something to report. You have given me much to do....and even more to worry about."

Sarah and Elteria nodded, and the Blorg disappeared through a backdoor after stepping out of the privacy field. They looked at each other for a few seconds, before Sarah almost jumped as she heard a knock. The captain nearly whirled onto her seat, only to see Victor's hologram knocking on the privacy bubble. Well, technically it was impossible, because he wasn't a physical construct, but Sarah found the absurdity that they'd added a specific sound for this eventuality hilarious.

She hit the button lowering the privacy field, and nodded at the AI's hologram.

"Yes Victor?"

"Since the boss went out in a hurry, I was wondering if you'd like something to eat."

Sarah looked at Elteria, who nodded, and sighed.

"Yes, that probably would be for the best." If nothing else, Old Joe's was one of the rare places in Thaumor where you could eat authentic Federation cuisine, and even their more 'local' dishes blew those of the most famous restaurants in Thaumor out of the water by a long shot. "Can you get us the card?"

"Of course!" A holographic screen popped up in front of them, with a list of different meals longer than a dozen restaurants' combined. "Just call for me when you've made your selection!"

"Of course!"

The hologram bowed, and disappeared. Sarah looked to the side at Elteria, and sighed.

"Well, nothing to do but wait I guess."

"Yep. But hey, at least I won't have to carry that damned briefcase back, that thing was heavy."

"You're inside of an android, you could bench press power armor!"

"Well....Yes, but it's still a pain in the ass."

Sarah chuckled, and shook her head. This might turn out to be a pleasant evening after all.