Jason slid his credit stick through the buying port of the vending machine, and selected one of the stimulant packs for himself. He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes as he used his free hand to grab the little patches, ripping the box open and pealing the protector off the one he selected and slapping it against the back of his neck. He felt a chill rush go down his spine and blinked his eyes as he was woken up almost immediately, brain ticking away. He didn’t like using stimulant patches but they did keep you going, and he was going to use them to get through today. It was something like three AM station time, and he should’ve been in bed, but Vic and Gerard's questions, combined with what he had seen, made it so he couldn’t. He needed answers, so he was going to go to Wu and get them.
Jason moved out of the stations entertainment zone, heading for the manufacturing and refining center. As with all space saving stations, both areas held habitation units, none of them in wonderful condition. As he walked he reflected on that. He had certainly seen places similar that were better maintained. Perhaps the people in these particular habs simply held no pride anymore? Dreary thoughts on top of dreary thoughts, he thought, as he drew his service pistol. He checked the ammo counter readout on the back and nodded before tucking it away again. It was registered so he would rather have not shot anyone with it, but still, good to have when walking through the slums.
As the noise level increased, the quality of the station around him seemed to decrease. Graffiti became far more rampant, and he could hear the sounds of those down on their luck. Babies crying, the occasionally spout of domestic abuse from either sex, and somewhere, someone was making the noises that indicated they were climbing the ladder to heaven. Jason had grown up in a place like this, and he could live with it. He slipped into one of the many run down hab apartments and took one look at the lift before deciding to take the stairs. He stepped over man and a woman with the wild look of booster addicts in their eyes in a compromising position, and entered the third level hall. He walked down, looking at the doors. Most of the apartments were empty, actually, but he could hear sounds from a few. He stopped before one door and sighed, raising a hand and pounding on it.
“Wu, open up, it’s Jason.” he said. There seemed to be a pregnant pause, before a female voice piped up “Jason Who?”
“Jason Hou. Very funny. Now open up, I need to talk to you.” he said sternly. The girl drove him crazy sometime.
The door slid open and the Gallente man stepped in swiftly, the door shutting behind him. The inside of the apartment wasn’t squalid, but it wasn’t exactly clean either. The floor was littered at the moment with diagrams and charts, and one wall of the tiny apartment (the only wall not occupied by a seldom used bed and an even less used kitchen) was taken up by quite a bit of computer equipment.
A slip of a Jin-Mei gave a laugh like a bells tinkle and wrapped her arms around the Gallente “Oh, hey there sailor! Where have you been?” She was thin, with long dark hair that looked frayed, probably because she’d been up all night and hadn’t yet showered. The jacks in her neck were barely visible because of it, and Jason gave her a swift embrace “Sorry Wu, you know how it is, work and all that.” Jason grinned.
“Bah. You always say that and yet I always have to wake you up and send you back to your ship before you get in trouble. You really should stop by more often, I've been missing you.” She paused and looked up at him. Despite her thinness, her almost underfed body, her eyes sparkled mischievously with both playfulness and intelligence. She raised an eyebrow “Your not just here for a good time are you sailor boy?”
“I’m afraid not, Wu. Maybe after I get some question answered. You know I love you.” He gave her a little grin “Now, seriously, I need some information.”
“Information eh? You know I have to charge you standard rate. Three snuggles.” She gave another silvery laugh and moved over to the data terminal, pressing the power button “So what is it?”
“I need to know about a capsuleer…two capsuleers, really. Here,” he pulled his datapad from his pocket, flicking it on and going to the picture storage. He selected the one of the captain and the Amarrian woman and handed it over. The Jin-Mei looked them over and nodded “I need to know more about them, Wu.”
“Wu-Hou can do” She said, grinning, as she hooked up the datapad and pulled on a pair of special goggles “Help me with my jacks” She said firmly, and Jason moved to comply. Why was it everyone in his life seemed to hook up to something like an appliance?
The screen flashed for a moment, and Wu smiled dreamily as she plunged into the net.
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