Smuggle Bug

Who: Peter & Kevn
Where: Peter's Cabin, Shuttle Bay 4, Starbug 3
When: 45 Minutes after Meeting Kevn
After his meeting aboard the Starbug 3, Peter had received a message
from Captain Jed over the Ship's Intercom. Apparently, he had "hog
tied" a "sweet lil' Miss" and would be "hang fired" as he was having
a "hog killin' time" and didn't want any "gringos" spoiling it.
Peter and Kevn had absolutely no idea what he was blathering about
so decided to spend some time preparing the bug and themselves for
the various dangers they would probably encounter in New France.
Peter had gone back to his cabin to grab a shower and sober himself
up a bit more. He'd dressed in black trousers and polo neck sweater
and matching boots and pocketed vest jacket. He finished it all off
with a black baseball cap. He then made his way up to the Armoury,
where he requisitioned some Assault Rifles, Handguns and Body
Armour. With his equipment, he made his way back down to Shuttle Bay
and aboard Starbug 3. He placed the weapons on the Scanner Table in
the Mid-Section and made his way up to the cockpit. Kevn was sat at
the Navigation Console, feet up on the Desk reading a comic, "Tales
of the Surprisingly Bizarre".
Kevn looked at Peter as he came in, than at the equipment he'd
placed on the Scanner table.
"Been Shopping eh?" asked Kevn
"Yeah, got us some `Insurance'" was Peter's answer
Peter sat down at the Pilot's Console, he checked the readouts.
22:21 by the Ship's clock.
"Hey Kevn, you want a coffee or something?" he asked
"Yes please, Milk, no sugar" said The laid-back Engineer, not
looking up from his comic.
Peter left the Bug and made his way across to the Pilot's Green
Room. He ordered two coffee's from the machine, watching it quickly
fill the two Styrofoam cup's he'd placed beneath fill with the brown
liquid. He picked up a handful of sugar and milk packets and made
his way back aboard Starbug 4, precariously balancing the hot cups
and sachets in his hands. He placed the coffee cup and mini milk
cartons next to Kevn on the desk.
"Thanks" mumbled Kevn, not looking up from his comic. It was a new
one called "Anthology of Possible Intrigue". The guys who made them
were really scraping the bottom of the barrel with names like that.
"So, how come the Captain got you involved with this little venture
of his?" asked Peter, trying to strike up a conversation.
Kevn looked up from his comic and gave a smile. "Well, you see,
before I joined the Corps I worked as a Smuggler for one of the big
time Mafia bosses. £$1000 a week for transporting illegal immigrants
from Earth to Mars. How about you?"
Peter sighed "Well, the Captain's kind of press ganged me into
working for him. You see, you know those Welsh Terrorists who
destroyed the New France Oil Pipe earlier today?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"Well, He'd sent me out to stop them. I managed to blow up the ones
heading for New Italy and New Ireland, but I wasn't able to stop the
one heading for New France. And since the French instigated
their `Scapegoat Initiative' they want to pass the blame for having
no proper defence on the oil pipe over to the pilot who failed to
stop them."
"Wow. That's pretty bad" said Kevn.
"I know. If I don't work for the Captain, he'll hand me over to
them. Or more likely, kill me, hand my corpse over to the French,
take the reward money and then kill them."
"That's enough to spoil anyone's day" mumbled Kevn, and returned to
his comic.
Peter checked the readout, it was 22:30, they had better make a
move. He finished his coffee and placed the empty cup on the panel
beside.
"Time we were getting down there, The LeSleasay Vineyard, Midnight,
15 miles outside of New France." Peter informed Kevn, who moved over
to the Co-Pilot's Chair and strapped himself in.
Peter fastend his own safety belt, Ignited the retro rockets and
moved Starbug out of Blue Dwarf and plotted a course towards New
France.
"ETA for Arrival, 20 minutes" he informed Kevn, who was also
checking over the Navigation Systems in the capacity of Co-Pilot.
And with that, Starbug 4 headed towards the blue planet in the
distance, the two ersatz smugglers aboard her not being quite sure
of what they would find.
<Tag Kevn or Onion>