Bartenders, Jobs & Gossip

[Loriath]

This is a repost from my Commanders logs on INARA

Part 1
Discovered the local station bar here doesn't have any waitresses. Its an automated bar with vending machines. How Federation like. Distil everything down to credits per hour. Not even a bartender. Figures.

I ordered some bourbon. It was the cheap synthetic stuff served around the galaxy. I keep a few bottles of the real stuff on-board for times of need, and this was not one of them. I sat at the fake wood bar drinking fake bourbon in a station over 140 ly's from where I was born, hoping to get a handle on how the Feds do things.

I was on my third drink when I finally heard some real pilots talking. The ones earlier were to young to be doing anything more than a couple of tonnes of cheap stuff or data haulage. Hey, we all started out doing that, but I need a little more meat on the bones for me to sink my teeth into a job. They were mentioning that a local system about 5-6 ly away were posing an issue for the local traders. Seems some of the local groups there have taken up killing traders, not just pirating. That is bad business. As the the two other pilots mentioned that the local authorities here had had enough of this and were looking for someone with some combat experience to deal with it. They were traders, and they were in no position to take on a contract like this. However, I was. I made note of the name they were mentioning that had the job for later use.

I was about to leave when I noticed a local merchant come in. This was not normally the place the merchants hang out, they have their own bars, so they were looking to hire. I made sure to leave my flight jacket on so my insignias could be seen for just this type of occasion. I played it cool and kept an eye on the merchant from the corner of my eye. He ordered a whiskey and sat down. He was nervous and was looking around like he was expecting someone specific. I decided to give it a while longer before I walked by him. Good thing too.

A green walked in. He was so new that his boots still shined. The laces were pristine, as was his hair. He had the arrogance of Pilot that thinks he is the greatest in the system. He ordered a drink and walked over to the merchant. I was too far away to hear what was being said, but I can figure it out from wheat I saw. The kid bragged how good he was, the merchant was relieved to know he was dealing with a good pilot (almost laughed at the look of relief on his face) and then the kid asked for the details on the job, looked it over, and named his price. The merchant took a few seconds to pick his jaw up off the floor, and the kid tried not to step on his tongue while he waited for the answer. Recovering then, the merchant shook his head. No, he could not afford that. The kid laughed, downed his drink, and told the merchant good luck finding anyone to do his job. He walked out and the merchant sat there looking deflated.

That was my cue. Well, it was after I finished my drink, but before the merchant gave up and left. I was to be his only hope. I rose slowly from my seat, and made sure I was heard and seen. I started to walk by the merchant towards the door. That's when I heard what I needed. "Excuse me Commander".

I stopped and played the good pilot as the merchant asked the usual, was I for hire, did I have enough space for 5-6 tonnes, single hop, all legal. I replied I was for hire, I had the space, and was able to do a sort hop. He asked if I would give him a price. I held out my hand and he handed me a tablet with the details of the job. 6 Tonnes of Medical supplies. All looked legit till I saw the endpoint. LFT 140/Ford Orbital. The same place that the other pilots were mentioning had the Pirate issue. And Ford Orbital was over 22Kls out from the beacon. I asked if there was return cargo, and he shook his head.

Pirate Territory, 22,000 ls from the main star, to an outpost with no return load. I worked some numbers in my head and quoted him a decent, not to over priced rate. His eyes went big. I then told him that it was in a High Piracy zone and would incur a 20% extra fee if I was stopped, and of course all damages. He looked down at his tablet and did some calculations himself. He looked at me and then around the room. There was no one else there. He nodded and we shook hands. I told him to have his cargo at my landing bay in 2 hours. I walked out smiling. I can only imagine what hotshot was going to charge him.

I stopped at a local data terminal and keyed in the name I overheard at the bar. Samual Rickens. Head of the Local Security Authorities Trader Safety program. Trader safety Program. That gave me a good laugh. The terminal told me how to get to his office. It was on the way to my landing pad, so this worked out nicely.

The office was typically nondescript. Samual was a Bureaucrat and probably did not even have a Pilots Federation Ticket. He did have a secretary, and he was almost as green as the hotshot pilot earlier at the bar. I explained that I was here about the Pirate problem. He handed me a form to fill out. I looked at it. "Anlave Security Authority Pirate Incident Report". I handed it back. He looked confused. I told him I was there to take care of the problem. He looked more confused, so I told him to tell his boss. It took him a minute or two to explain to Officer Rickens why I was there. He then came back to ask me to step into Rickens office.

We exchange pleasantries while Rickens did the standard background check. He asked me what I thought I could do. I told him that I was willing to deal with some pirates in exchange for some credits, and that we both had little time. I then asked how many, and how much. Straight and to the point. He worked away on his terminal for a few minutes and then handed me a tablet. 3 names. 3 ID's. And a price. And a fair one at that. More than fair in fact. I asked about time limits. He said 48 hours. Damages? They would cover it. Ammo? Fuel? Covered. It looked good. Too Good. Whats the catch? He sat back and smiled at me. "They fly Vultures"

[Loriath]

Part 2

Vultures.

Love them, Hate them. I just sold one so I am quite familiar with their capability. One of the most maneuverable ships in known space. Not an easy ship to counter, even if it is being piloted by a mediocre pilot. Worse yet if they are in a Wing of 2 or more, I don't care how skillful you are, you are probably going to lose. And there were 3 of them out there.

Officer Rickens sat waiting after dropping that bombshell on me. He was feeling a little smug, but I weighed the odds. I can high wake and they can't mass lock my Python. If I can get them one on one, then I have a much better chance. I also have flown them and know how what they can do. I thumbed the tablet accepting the mission and his wry grin faded. I told him to get the credits ready. He wished me luck, but he also said he didn't expect to see me again.

I headed to the landing bay to find the merchants cargo was already aboard. I cleared off with the load master on the cargo and entered the ship via the cargo door. I checked to make sure it was all secure and headed to the flight deck. Stopping at my storage locker, I unlocked it and reach inside a box deep in the back. I pulled out a bottle of Bourbon. Real Bourbon. I put it in a sling and hung it up to make it accessible to me on the flight deck. It was there as a celebration, or a swan song.

I started my pre-launch and requested a full dossier on the three pilots. I also asked KICS to do a full diagnostic and make sure that the Frame Shift Interdictor was tuned to specs. If I had to use it, I wanted it to work without issues. I looked over the information on the three pilots. It included the last known Pilot Federation ranking, and also the number of targets they are supposedly responsible for. Twelve traders in the last month. 6 more smaller ships that ranged from merchants to explorers to Security forces. Their ratings were Master, Master and Dangerous. Not going to be easy at all.

KICS reported all diagnostics complete and that the ship was ready. The FSI was well within spec and tuned within 1.2 % of factory settings. Good. I was hoping that I didn't need it, but if that was the only way to snag them, then I wanted to be ready. Ammo check showed I was fully loadded. 4200 rounds on the Multis, 100 on the nose Cannon. I was ready. I requested launch clearance and asked KICS to pull all know telemetry from all know encounters with the three targets via the local security office. I lifted off and made my way out of the station. With the new speed limit enforcement, I had lots of time to go over the data while I cleared station mass lock.

Going over the details of the encounters I found a silver lining. The 3 pilots in question never have been seen all together. And there was only one instance where they were in a wing of two. In that instance, they forced the trader to dump Palladium to fill their holds before they destroyed him. That was a T9 Heavy. My Python might make them think I was enough of a target to get them to join up, but I doubt it. Things were looking better.

I spun up the FSD and made the jump to LFT 140. With Ford station so far out I was going to have to make the Pirate hunt my priority. I hit the main star and did a fast scan. No ships. I set course for the nav beacon and I checked comms channel in SC. It was quiet. I dropped out of SC at the beacon to find a few ships. The comms channel lit up and I was scanned by 4 ships immediately. I called out to stand down, that I was trading and asked for a sit-rep. There was a T7, a couple of local security Vipers, and an Asp.

They told me that the current location was clean, but there was report of a T6 that was missing. Just then an Adder dropped out and everyone went crazy. KICS reported all ships had deployed hardpoints. I called over comms to stand down and transmitted my Authorization Code for the Job. Even the local authorities settled down with that and I called out to the Adder pilot. He told me he was jumped in SC by a Vulture about 2k ls out from the beacon. He lost the Interdiction and was damaged. The Vulture demander cargo and he played for time saying his cargo controls were damaged. That bought him enough time to try to target out for a high wake but his Nav computer was damaged. He could only target local system. He started to drop cargo slowly and as the Vulture moved to scoop, he spooled up for the beacon. He made the SC Jump, ran for a few seconds at max thrust then stopped and dropped out. Powering down all his systems except life support and thrusters he ran in a random direction for 15 minutes before he powered up sensors. He saw nothing so he risked another SC jump to the beacon hoping for help.

At this point the Asp pilot started to freak out a little, so I called for everyone to switch to a secure channel in case they had dropped further out and were silent running and monitoring comms. Once we were all on a secure channel, I told the Asp pilot to take the Adder with him. He initially refused saying that the Adder could not make a system jump with a busted nav, but I reminded him that the Adder could Nav Lock to his Computer and that they could both make the jump safely. He finally agreed since the other Authority ships seemed to move towards him still with hardpoints deployed. I then requested all telemetry from the Adder and told the authority ships to stay on alert, but move a bit further from the Beacon after we were clear.

I went over the telemetry. Single Vulture. He put quite a few shots into the Adder. Looks like twin pulses. The Adder did not have the forethought to scan the Vulture, I don't blame him, but I still had no idea what the full loadout was. The Adder and Asp linked up. I told them to head to Suri Park in Anlave and report the situation to the Authorities there. They moved into position and the surge started.

Just before they jumped another ship dropped in. It was a Vulture and it waisted no time Heading for the Adder and Asp. I went FA off, spun and Boosted. I needed to put my ship between them so they could get out. The other ships also converged on the Vulture. I don't think he realized what he jumped into. I called out to the others to let me take lead and started with the pulse lasers as My KWS scanned. That KWS needs to be faster I thought. He was hitting me hard, but I was running 2 boosters and 4 pips in. When it completed, Kicks Reported. Chaff, and Heatsinks. No Boosters. I switched groups and brought the Multis online.

I made the attack call and the Vipers started to Strafe. To my surprise, the T7 started dumping missile after missile at the Vulture. His shields dropped and I switched groups again. Both Multis kept firing as the Cannon came online, tracked and locked. I called out for drives. Target Drives. I needed this ships computer intact. The vipers were only strafing and running. Keeping out of his sights, but he was fixated on me. The T7 had moved off. He was out of the fight and out of ammo. I watched the Drives on the Vulture fall. They were at 8% when I called cease fire. One final Cannon round and his drives were gone. I commanded him to stand down. and he was having none of it. So I targeted his life support, switched to the large Pulses and took it out. He powered down. I told him he had till his oxygen ran out to transmit his telemetry and power down. I had all my guns on his power plant and it was already at 41%. I was less than 200m from him and he knew it was over. he transmitted the data. I had what I needed. Then KICS called out Surge detected. I called Fire at Will and under the barrage of everything I had and two vipers, it took 4 seconds before he exploded.

One down. 2 to go. The vipers were in a bit of trouble. They had not come out of it unscathed, and the T7 was asking to get out as it was out of missiles and could offer no more help. I told them all to get out and report to authorities in Anlave what had happened. They slaved together and Jumped out.

I went over the data that the Pirate sent to me. It was quite complete. I had loadouts, tactics, and kill lists. I also had the location of their base. It was in another system, and I was not authorized there, but I did have their timetable. And according to the schedule, the other two were moving in opposite directions. And one was close. All three had similar loadouts, and I still had lots of ammo, and no damage. It was time for me to go hunting.

[Loriath]

Part 3

I had the advantage.

I knew where and when. So far I was lucky. The first target handed himself to me with a big bow on him. He dropped into a Beacon in his zest for a kill and was outgunned and outnumbered. Hell, a T7 deserved more credit for taking him down than 2 System Authority Vipers. Thats luck.

I powered up all the weapons, and took stock. I still had a lot of Ammo, was unscathed, and full power. And I knew where my prey was going to be. I locked in the asteroid belt and Jumped to Super Cruise. It was only about 250 ls away, and if the schedule was accurate, I had about 45 minutes till the first ship arrived. I took the risked and scanned out in SC. Nothing No ships at all. Not even a wake in the area. Looking at my fuel I decided to skip scooping for later. Being lighter was an advantage I wanted and scooping would negate that. I dropped into normal space near the asteroid belt with most of my systems off so I would create as small a signal as possible. I was alone. of that I was sure. I moved to the coordinates and moved off a ways. close enough to scan, far enough to not be seen in a low power state.

The first Vulture had been Master rated. That meant there was one more Master, and one Dangerous. If things were perfect, that first ship would have been the Dangerous one. But I was not going to say it was bad luck. I deployed my hardpoints and powered down the weapons. It would save me a few seconds if I had to go hot. And I waited.

The appointed time came. And went. And I still waited. 5minutes. Then 10. And 15. Something was up. I was starting to think my luck was up. Just as I was about to call for a powerup, the scanner popped. A lone Vulture Passive scans showed locally wanted and the name matched the other Master pilot. He was within 3km of me but had not seen me. He had no reason to active scan the area. Best of all, he had his back to me. I told KICS that I wanted full power and weapons hot on my mark. KICS confirmed and waited. Then the pirate did something I didn't expect. He started to power down. First his weapons, then FSD, then his defenses. Last was his shields. This was going WAY to well. He was taking a break. The schedule showed that they stayed in the rendezvous area for 1 hour, then moved on. Was he taking a nap?

I waited a few minutes as I started to get the feeling something was wrong. But it stayed the same. 10 minutes passed and not even so much as a twitch from the Vulture. I decided that my luck was not going to hold much longer. I revised my orders. Only bring the KWS and pulses online with defenses and full power to shields and weapons on my mark. KICS confirmed. I called mark.

Power came up fast and the KWS started its cycle. I throttled up and targeted drives only. The KWS finished as the Vulture came alive. I opened fire as it throttled up and popped chaff, his shields still down. I called guns and the Multis rained on the unshielded hull from behind. He was not trying to maneuver, he was running for his life. The cannon locked and I squeezed off a solid slug and watched it hit and the Vulture shuddered. Drives where out. I opened comms and told him to stand down. He popped chaff again and the FSD started to spool. Have it your way. I unloaded everything I had switching full power to weapons and targeted his power plant. KICS reported that his FSD would fire in 8 seconds. I watched the power plant dropping. It would be close. 5. He might make it. I was only 700M away. 3 seconds. I held full fire and called out to KICS.

BOOST!

1 second.

My Python hit the shieldless stopped Vulture at full boost thrust. The vector was straight and the weapons were still firing. My shields screamed and I started to get reds on the systems board, alarms sounded. Then there was a blinding flash.

Silence. Was I dead? Or knocked out? Or worse, did the ejector fire? Adrift in a Remlok was not on my list today. Slowly my vision cleared. I was still strapped into the pilots seat. I started to see red flashes. And then my hearing came back to the sound of screaming alarms. KICS had disabled the weapons as my hands were wrapped tight with both buttons down. My arms ached as the throttle was slammed forward and the stick was held straight. KICS also cut the engines.

As I got my bearings, I let go of the stick. Kill the alarms I choked out and the sounds were gone. I cleared my throat. Status. KICS voice told me what I had guessed. The impact threw me hard forward and I blacked out. The collision was enough to destroy the Vulture. The shields had barely held and they were enough to keep the ship safe. The nose cannon took damage and was locked forward. There was a breach in the hull on the right side and it cause the cargo hold to lose atmosphere. All other weapons were online and there was no damage to the defense systems. The advanced discovery scanner was offline. The KWS was damaged and range was inhibited to 2km. All and all, I got off easy. My luck held. I was still Alive.

Ford station was 21kls away but had a repair depot. And there was still one more Vulture out there. I kicked myself for not loading an Automatic Field Repair Unit. Before I even asked, KICS told me there was nothing on the scanners, and that the cargo was secure. Looks like I had no choice but to head to Ford Station. I locked the destination into the Nav system and told KICS to move slowly out of the debris field. She took control and moved us out. I unstrapped and went back to the crew area. I took a few minutes and grabbed the bottle of Bourbon and poured myself a drink. I took a deep breath, washed my face and returned to the Flight Deck. We were clear of the wreckage and I strapped in. Lets do this. Okay KICS. Super Cruise to Ford Station.

Entering SC, the scanners were clear, but I was only able to scan out half the distance to Ford. I kept the speed to 75% and watched the scanners. Minutes passed and nothing came up. I glanced at the Intel. schedule and if I was right, I would not make it to Ford till I was seen. I watched the timer. 4 minutes to Ford, 2 minutes to intercept. I told KICS to run a diagnostic. The report was the same. Weapons, Shields and Defenses were all ok. The damage should not hinder movement, but I would not be sure until I got into it.

1 minute. Still nothing on the scanners. If the other Pirate was late. Maybe this one would be as well. One can hope. Within a few seconds the blip appeared. He was in front of me. I locked the target. He was coming at me. So, the choice was try to inderdict him, or let him interdict me. I powered up the FSDI. The status panel went red. I toggled it. Still red. Dammit. The choice had been made. At least if I submitted, I would take no damage.

I throttled back to 50% to gain time. I set power to Weapons and Engines. I needed to submit, boost and get range before I can turn and get my weapons to bear on him. And it was right there in my face. Deadly. His rank was incorrect in my info, and in the intel from the other pilot. My luck was not holding. I called for battle and KICS setup the weapons group to KWS and pulses. I decided to override her. Pulses and Multis I called. She switched groups. I may lose out on not a full KWS scan, but it was better to cash less Bounties than to be dead because I hesitated. I adjust course to make him pass me on the port side. He flew past, and as expected, he turned. I killed power to the KWS and to the FSDI. I needed the heat down as low as possible. Then the world turned Blue.

Interdiction! I throttled down and submitted. Luck held and there was no failures. I dropped to normal space and slammed the throttle forward. I locked targeton him at the same time I boosted. FA Off, and I pitched up. As I got him in my sights, I reversed thrust and boosted again. Power to Systems and Weapons. He was out of range, but just barely. I hit forward thrust, boost, and FA On at the same time. I was slammed back into my seat but every weapon was on one trigger. I didn't pull it. I Slammed it down as I held on for dear life. The python Belched Thermic and Kinetic weapons fire straight into the Vulture as his Bursts hit my shields. Bursts! Dammit. He had upgraded. All bets were off. I switched power to Shields and engines and boosted past him. Again out of range. I had to keep the hit and runs up. There was no way I was going to keep up with the Vulture if I danced. It was going to be a game of attrition, hit and run.

I spun and repeated my run, but I tossed in some lateral thrusters to throw him a little. I chaffed. No Effect. As I side stepped, I expected him to chaff as well. He didn't. He was running fixed, and had no chaff. KICS! Scan him. She did as I asked. 2 Heatsinks, 2 Boosters. 1 SCB. Shit. My Luck had run out.

I set my sights on his Power Plant. The second his Shields were down, I wanted him dead as soon as possible. I told KICS to call out my Shields and his shields on each pass as well as ammo count. I also pulled the cannon out of the Firegroup. I need to save it. So, two large pulses on each bird, but I had Multis. We both had 2 boosters, but he had a Shield Cell Bank.

One each pass it became obvious I was hitting him harder, but I needed him to bleed the sheild cells before I could get the advantage. And I had to keep my shields up. At this point I was sure he was ignoring pips to engines and had everything in weapons and shields. I didn't have that luxury. A full engine cap gave me two boosts. I would start my attack with a boost, all power to shields and weapons. I was not hitting him as hard with the pulses, but the multis evened made up for it. as I passed I would boost, switch power to engines and shields, then flip around and come back. We were jousting.

I was trying hard to not use the same thruster angles on each pass. Sometimes going under him, other times on top. Port and starboard. His shields we almost down. But then he popped a bank and I would have to start all over again. We went back and forth for what seemed an eternity. Then it happened. KICS called out: Shields 2%. The next pass they were going down. And there was nothing I could do except let him escape or take it. I took it.

My Shields dropped. His pulses tore into my hull and it hurt. KICS reported crew quarters breached. Seal it I yelled as I made it past him and boosted off. Shield boosters off. They slow the shield recharge. His shields were at 65%. I decided to change tactics. Instead of Flipping and coming straight at him, I moved out of range and started to circle. Let him think he hurt me a lot more. It worked. he boosted and chased. he smelled blood. I went FA off and yawed rather than pitched. It was slower, but it gave me time to put some distance between us, and more importantly, time to recharge.

When I was inline with him, he boosted again. Now he would switch power and lose the engine power to get weapons and shields. Cannon online. I fired one shot and boosted at him. I fired everything else. The cannon round would do not much, but I was hoping for it to look like a desperation move. It worked. He used lateral thrust to try and circle me, but I switched power and boosted. I needed a bit more time.his shields were now at 38%. So close. I boosted hard and gained more time. I yawed again. Again he came at me aggressively again. Again I popped the cannon. Again he ate everything I had given him. But he got a little more cautious as we passed. Thats when I realized, he had not targeted my power plant. for whatever reason, his target was my cargo hatch. I have no idea if that was on purpose, or if he accidentally switched it and didn't notice. 21% shields, and mine was about to come back online. I took an extra boost and slowed my yaw this time keeping him at just over 3km range. He continued to fire. I waited. 2 rings back.

I boosted towards him, switched power and put a cannon past his nose as I held the other guns open. Let him think I was losing it. My cargo hatch was gone. by default it would go back to general hull. Good. I was counting on that. Again I faked the damaged turn, as another ring came back. One shield booster back online. Again, I faked the yaw to the other side. This pass his shields were coming down if I had to scrub my paint on them. He started to fire and the shields danced in front of my cockpit. I held the trigger down and held my course. Right at him this time. I was spitting fire and brimstone and coming at him at full thrust. He flinched, and ducked under me. "Shields Offline" KICS reported. I threw everything into turning the ship around, FA off and Pitch. I got the angle on him before he got it on me and again went straight at him. This time the cannon was pumping rounds as fast as it could. I had 22 shots left in the big gun. Again he ducked under and as soon as he started to dip I went FA Off to get myself turned. I was not running out this time.

He did not expect this, and I managed to again get the angle on him. But the angle was perfect. I was facing his topside. I held the triggers down and thrusted up to keep on him. Power Plant dropped quickly. He was Jinking to try to get me off, but I was just far enough out that he was not losing me unless I screwed up and got too close. The cannon counter dropped as did my Multi counter. My shields were holding. 10%, with 3 cannon rounds left. 200 Multi rounds per gun. I kept the trigger down. 1 cannon shot went way wide. The second found the power plant. The third barely hit. But the Multis and the Pulses where still firing. 3% and the multis spun down, out of ammo, but red hot. Only Pulses left. I was out of his weapons arc, so all the power went to weapons and engines. 2% and he tried to roll to get his power plant out of the line of fire. 1% I was trying to keep up with a roll of my own. The Python can roll faster.

The explosion lit up the cockpit as KICS called out "Taking Heat Damage" I still had the trigger down and was firing pulses into the cloud of debris. Weapons offline she said. as she took over. I realized I was not holding my breath but was breathing like I was running up the stairs. I slowly relaxed my grip and allowed myself to go limp. It was over. Status report I asked?

The ship was still together. Kics was not sure about the cargo, and we would not know till we docked. Several hull breaches, a siezed Multi-cannon, and 2 thrusters were offline. FSD was available, and we had full life support. I asked KICS to set course for Ford Station. We entered SC and the scanners were clear. When we dropped out I found the ship was really sluggish. it was really banged up. I got docking clearance, but let KICS bring it in. I was spent. The cargo was offloaded without incident, and was in tact. The cargo staff didn't even say a word about the ship damage. It was like they were use to it. It was time to head back to Anlave to cash in the bonds. Thankfully that trip was uneventful.

Epilogue

Again I had to have KICS bring the ship in. Max thruster speed was only 50m/s so it was slow going. A crowd had gathered at the pad as word had been sent that a wounded Python was coming in. The nose gear was bent so when we touched down, the nose was almost on the ground. I had to use the cargo door. As I stepped out, the maintenance manager was already assessing the damage. Officer Rickens was there as well. He shook my hand and smiled. "I guess I was wrong. Good to see you." I handed him the tablet with the details and he didnt even look at it. He just authorized payment. I looked back at the ship. It was a mess.

I lifted my other arm and took a large mouthful of the Bourbon I had put aside. It didn't even burn a little. Rickens walked with me. I made it as far as the stairs to the Bay tower. And there I sat drinking my Bourbon and looking at my ship. I was ignoring everything around me. I was not hurt, just drained. Emotionally and Mentally. Not sure how long it was, but the maintenance manger came over with his damage assessment. I didn't even look at it. I pointed to Officer Samual Rickens. "He's paying. Give it to him. And I want a new paintjob too."

He handed the tablet to Rickens as I watched his face as he read the total. He was turning a little green. I laughed. He looked at me as I sat there laughing. I pointed to him with my bottle. "Good to see you too Samual." He took the bottle from my hand and took a big drink. Then he looked at me and started to laugh.

Damn Feds. No Bartenders, no Waitresses, but at least they have a sense of humour.

[Loriath]

Damn Double Post. Sorry