Chapter 16

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September 18, 2172

To say the past five days flew by at the speed of light would be an understatement. The knowledge Stuckey had access to made us extremely popular amongst both the HAN and the local police force. We were the first team to get someone close to the Helms family gang; even if he wasn't an actual member.

With Markus working closely on all of Donny Helms' freighting operations, we were able to get our hands on shipping manifests and the locations of warehouses containing contraband. Stuckey would tell us where to find the information and Amber and I would break in and make a copy of it. In exchange for the warehouse information, Lieutenant Holloway equipped us with some advanced gear, including access to a satellite to scout locations, night vision goggles, and a door hacker.

Blackwood took copies of the shipping manifests and began intercepting cargo freighters. Despite finding and stopping some weapon smuggling, there weren't any traces of the Ultima in anything we checked. We were back to square one in that regard. In a video conference with Blackwood, he said that he would begin working the other gangs with the rest of the team, but wanted us to stay with our current assignment. I had no problem with that because it gave Amber and I more time to be alone.

With Stuckey moved to a new apartment in Markus' complex, Amber and I were left alone most of the time. We took the opportunity to start taking things a little more seriously. Despite the hectic week, we had selected a night on which we could go to a fancy restaurant and have a serious date. Dressed up in the best we could find, but still terribly underdressed for the restaurant, we were led to our table by the Serpentus server.

"This is really fancy," Amber said, taking in the dimly lit, posh room. "Can we afford it?"

I chuckled, straightening out the napkin and placing it on my lap. "I had made a few smart bets during Stuckey's fights. You never know when you will need a little personal money."

"Well played," she said, picking up the menu. "I assume I am in for the best of the best tonight?"

"Anything less would be an insult," I replied playfully.

I opened up the menu and looked over the limited choices. I couldn't help but stare, confused, at one dish. Described as "playfully creamy", it was a chicken breast covered in a banana liquor crème sauce served over rice. I just about closed the menu and walked out right then but we said we would try a serious date so I moved past that choice and looked for something more in the barbeque rib category.

A human waiter swung by the table and took our drink order. We ordered water while we debated whether we should get wine. "You know the second we start drinking, Stuckey is going to need us," Amber said.

"Most likely," I replied. "Alright, no drinks tonight."

When the waiter returned with our water, we ordered the simplest food we could find on the menu and set about trying to figure out proper dinner conversation. We had known each other since the beginning of summer and our usual conversation aren't best suit for fancy, let alone public, areas.

"Oh, I got it," Amber said suddenly. "We've never talked about our childhoods."

I smiled. "There we go. I knew we would be able to do this."

"Did you want to go first?" Amber asked.


"I believe polite protocol dictates that ladies should always go first," I replied.

"Very well," Amber started, shifting in her seat to get comfortable. "As you know, I grew up on Earth in a country called the United States of America."

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