Before they enter the Deathgeon… “This is a bad idea.” Eli McGraw sends a code message to Buffy for Strykker. His right hand gets cramped.
Buffy McGraw-Strykker (cause she was the type to hypenate) got the coded message that night when she arrived home from her day job. With a brother who was Field Marshal in the EEF, and their family name on the product, Buffy took her job as quality control at the receiving station for Strykker Jerky Company very, very seriously. She was an adventurer in her own right, and had settled into the Quality Assurance position with reluctance.
After an extra long day, discovering a Kasanthian terrorist had tried sneaking out of Baronade in a shipment of extra spicy Shashlee Jerky. Now the entire shipment had been impounded by the EEF, and Buffy was short twenty crates of extra spicy jerky. And Buffy knew S’anda at the Cantina was going to kick her ass if they didn’t deliver that jerky. S’anda had seen a triple in booze sales since she started offering the jerky for free to the patrons like the way bars back on Earth had offered peanuts.
Sitting down and preparing to read the message from Eli, Buffy felt a lot of conflicting emotions. She missed her husband dearly, but his acceptance of the Glacial Wastes expedition contract with the Banking Guild had kept him away for months.
She remembered how angry she had gotten. Buffy smiled angrily, knowing she had lied to Eli saying she had sold his huge stereo system and collection of ancient Earth records, CDs and flash drives. Millions of songs, history, but Buffy was no fool. She had instead transferred them over to a private vacation apartment down in Neo Vargas. She had a place out in the Dens, and with the added music it had become her crash pad when not at work. Eli wouldn’t know about it until he came back, but until then, she was hoping he was seething over it.
But this month was a work month, so she was in Dusk. As she settled down and uncoded the message she began to write it down and then reread it. "Things are escalating up here. Sea Kings, Dragons vs Quall and Clone Army of OTO/Lurtor are just the tip spear. Requesting “independent help” though non-official channels. i.e. Heavy armed fortune hunter and settlers. - Love Eli P.S. Details on what has happen the next 30 pages.”
Buffy smiled thinking he was messing with her. Then she turned over the message and noticed a change in the code used. Her smile turned to a snarl as she realized there was 30 pages of coded message there on the back of that one page. Eli must have really cramped his hand to write all these coded sections on the back. But Buffy knew it was going to take all night to get the basics translated so she could at least transmit the message.
She lifted up her VLAD agency comm crystal before she began and said, “Transfer me to Anise please.”
The girl from iponema played on as the hold music, but finally ended on a high note. Buffy could hear Anise’s voice.
“Agent McGraw-Strykker, this is a not unexpected call. Considering the Kasanthian terrorist you discovered sneaking away in the crate, I have been calculating when you would be calling in,” said Anise.
“Interesting, yes, but not why I’m calling,” said Buffy, “I suspect the EEF Interrogators will make the Kasanthian talk with a few healing artifacts quicker than I can. I’m calling because I got a call from my hubby out in the Glacial Wastes. Apparantly he has an issue with a clone army, and I know VLAD agency clone protocol is to call in any cloner tech.
It is a full blown Olgog clone factory out in the Glacial Wastes.”
“Thank you for reporting this Agent McGraw-Strykker,” said Anise, “I will send in some VLAD agents to contain the situation.”
“I think Eli needs immediate help,” said Buffy, “He wouldn’t risk me selling off more of his shit, if he didn’t really need the help.”
“Are you okay Agent McGraw-Strykker?” asked Anise.
“I am okay,” said Buffy, a few held back tears, “Can I be transferred over there? I would like to be part of the team that helps him…”
“I’m sorry, Buffy, we cannot put you at risk in that way. In addition, the Glacial Wastes has been declared part of the Penal Colony Zone. Unfortunately the entire zone is where the worst and most dangerous agents in the agency have been transferred as the first prisoners of the new penal colony of Jemison Post.”
“But…but I saw a Guild report on the place, they mentioned my hubby and a town called McGraw Harbor,” said Buffy confused, “There was nothing about a penal colony.”
“McGraw Harbor is a free harbor, with your husband and the Guilders as the only law,” replied Anise, “They are technically on the border between free and penal.”
“Oh no…” whispered Buffy, “I think Eli may have gotten in deeper than he expected again.”
“Please repeat that?” asked Anise, “It was too quiet to transmit.”
“Nothing Anise,” replied Buffy, “Tell me when you rescue my husband. It will relieve some stress. Anything I need to know about that Kasanthian?”
“No…” said Anise, “Except you may want to look for more of them coming in future shipments.”
“I will,” said Buffy, “Agent McGraw-Strykker signing off.”
Buffy put away the VLAD agency commcrystal and looked at Eli’s prized Gun Collection. They weren’t the day to day guns which Eli relied upon, they were the museum pieces he had collected over the years. Some purchased with funds stolen from Lurlock, and some traded for on his adventures. She began grabbing hold outs first, then a shotgun and a foldable carbine. She grabbed a heavy armored winter coat, and winter pants. Then she slung the shotgun to her back, and added an extra scabbard for a long rifle.
She opened a small box and lifted up a nanite disassembly watch with multiple studs, a gift from a former suitor who didn’t work out. Placing the watch on her shoulders, she began disassembling boxes and boxes of ammo. Only when she had enough to fuel a civil war, she seemed ready to leave.
Walking out under the red Dusk sky, Buffy McGraw-Strykker approached a tarp covered form out on the ferrous sand. Pulling away the tarp with a flourish, Buffy spun it into a tight square and stored it away in a compartment on the side of the revealed vehicle. It was an old model Sforza gunpod. But it didn’t have a cockpit, instead having a plasteel canopy that only covered the first quarter of the vehicle. The rest was open air with seats for two. The gunpod had obviously been maintained for many years by hand, and not many of the parts were originals.
Buffy McGraw-Strykker didn’t care if the VLAD agency activated her or not. She wasn’t going to let some Quall or a Clone army take out her husband. She leapt into the pilot’s seat, and warmed up the engines. The vehicle leapt a full meter into the air and began slowly moving up and down a few centimeters every few seconds. It kept the same general height as the hover emitters tried to maximize weight displacement over the uneven terrain.
Buffy waited and watched the gauges, checking everything twice. She pulled out a diary and made some notes on one page, then turned to a blank page at the back of the book. In code she wrote:
“Dear Husband Eli,
I am sure its been cold out there, as cold as my bed here. I am frustrated by your lack of regular communications so I will be taking a long boat out to visit you. Don’t bother writing, you haven’t so far, except when you needed help. And the boat won’t be able to receive mail.
I’ve informed the Agency, but not my brother. He is very busy up in space, and I hate feeling like I am bothering him. If the agency needs him they will call upon him. I suspect your request for mercs and settlers will be met soon enough.
I was still annoyed so I decided to sell your entire gun collection to fund my shoe and gunpod parts collections. It was so nice taking all those strapping young lads to the gun ranges to test out your unused pieces. Sold them all for a nice price, and I cannot wait to walk the Strip in Neo Vargas.
Oh don’t feel too bad. I was faithful, didn’t let any of those big men put their hands on any of the goods other than the guns. But you only loved them half as much as me right?
Greatest of Loves,
Buffy McGraw”