Living in the Fray

Chapter 24

'Right now we're all together, I need to have a chat with you all.'

Krieger addressed her crew as they sat round the table in the ships galley about to tuck in to the evening meal of beef and crispy chicken fajitas, with home made sauces, dips and guacamole. The crew just sat staring at her for the longest while as she took her time and assembled a massive chicken fajita, not without forgetting to blather on a tonne of salsa and garlic mayonnaise. Krieger started eating before she realised everyone was still watching her, waiting for her to talk with baited breath. She had spoken to Ronson just after Muller had called her and he told her that she had to tell the others whether she wanted to or not. Zack however was somewhere on the ship making a long distance phone call to his current squeeze so he could get the cliff notes whenever he decided to show up.

'Oh, sorry.' Krieger mumbled through a mouthful of fajita. She quickly chewed and swallowed.

'We're in a bit of a predicament at the moment.' Krieger continued. 'The Galaxy Police wanted to hire Ronson and I to put our names down to be on Ethan Müller's security squad so we could y'know, covertly assassinate the mother fucker. Meanwhile I just received a call before we left, from Müller himself.'

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing. Bits of salad were falling out of fajitas and mouths were agape.

'What did he want?' Justin finally spoke up after the brief silence.

'To hire us as his personal security whilst he goes off world.' Krieger said.

'And what did you tell him?' The normally quiet Devin spoke up for a change and managed to get that question in the before anyone else did.

'I said I'd think about it.'

Everybody sighed and slumped back down in to their chairs. As if on cue, Zack walked in and sat down in an empty chair before he started shovelling food on to a plate. Everybody else stopped again and glared at the Aegis pilot as he was chatting away about something thinking everybody was listening. Which they weren't. Zack carried on talking before looking at his crew mates.

'What?' He asked. 'Have I got shit on my face?' He frantically rubbed a hand around his skin thinking something was there.

'The Galaxy Police have asked Cas and Chris to assassinate Ethan Müller.' Jess barked at Zack. He shook his head in disbelief.

'And Ethan Müller just rang Cas and said he wants to hire her and Chris to be his personal off-world guards.' Faye added.

'So, what's the problem?' Zack asked. 'Not some stupid moral dilemma?'

Zack glanced around before he started talking again.

'Seriously, tell the Police you'll take the job but don't tell them Müller has asked you to be his huscle. And obviously don't tell him the Police called you in to work for them. Boom, two pay checks.'

He did just say what everyone was thinking. The only problem was the fact that these were two powerful organisations that were involved, the Outer World Liberation Front and the Galaxy Police. If either found out about a bit of swindling then Krieger, Ronson and most likely the rest of the crew would quite literally be fucked.

'I mean, you could tell the Galaxy Police he's contacted you for his job. At least you could cover your back that way.' Zack continued.

'True, we just don't want the Galaxy Police trying to shaft us though. Which they would y'know?' Ronson added. Everyone nodded in agreement then decided they should probably start eating again.

'The main thing is, it's just me and Chris they want, both the rozzers and Müller. And to be honest I'd only want us doing this job anyway I don't want you guys ended up in a shitty situation like, at all.' Krieger said. This was her being considerate. 'Yeah the money would totally make it worthwhile but I really don't wanna jeopardise you lot. I'd maybe want you all on standby though in case anything goes well, tits up.'

The crew looked at each other. There had been quite a few silences as everybody took a moment to digest everything they had been told.

'We'll help.' The twins Jess and Fay said in unison. 'Not like we have anything else better to do.' Faye continued. Tony who had been busy feeding his face most of the time decided to speak.

'I think it isn't the best idea, but if you decide to go for it... I'll help how I can.'

'I will too.' Said Devin.

'Same here.' Michael piped up.

'I don't like it either, but what the hell. Müller's a dick. Count me in if you're gonna go shank that mother fucker I'll back you up.' Justin; usually the voice of reason threw in his two cents. Everyone who had pledged their commitment to the cause turned to face Zack who was now on to his second fajita and had salsa dribbling down his chin.

'Oh, me? Yeah whatever. I'll be holding down the fort back on New Edo seeing as your arseholes forget to fucking take me anywhere.'

That was true. On the odd occasion Zack would barely turn up for the crews jobs away from New Edo, mainly because he had been out the night before, was rough as hell the day after and never woke up in time for departure. But most of time Krieger and the rest of the crew just forgot he even existed and left anyway without him. It rarely happened, but sometimes they would hang fire and go and peel Zack out of his bed whenever they had jobs that required them to use their Aegis mech suits; all because piloting them was about the only thing Zack was actually quite good at. But they hadn't had any jobs in quite a while that required the use of the Aegis mech suits. If he wanted to play receptionist for a bit back in the Osiris office then that was fine by everyone else. At least they didn't have to deal with Zack's gargantuan ego, arrogance and absolutely abysmal level of cleanliness.

'Dude, you'll get paid regardless of if you stay on New Edo or if you come with us.' Ronson stated to Zack.

'Fine by me.'

'Right well you all know now. I suggest we finish our meal that Michael has lovingly prepared for us, get a few drinks in then finish this stupid job off so we can go home and party. We can discuss this shit in depth some other time. Deal?' Said Krieger.

'Deal.' The crew all replied.