Necklaces and shotguns

[Ishabel]

There was a certain satisfaction in running her business the way she does. Plain facts, emotionless dealings were much simpler. To take advantage of weaknesses was even better, when a customer wanted to pull a trick on her.

That hillbilly that she sent to reclaim...  It was not her problem if the poor soul thought that the wrangle would help with his dual wielding abilities. He assumed and did not bother asking. Had he asked, she would have told him.

He called her a wench -- no, a f*cking wench --, Isha quietly lifted her shotgun waist high and fired in his head. Then, she took her comlink and left the guy a message:
"You wanted a wrangle, I gave you one. You assumed it would help instead of asking, your mistake. Next time, ask instead of calling others names for the mistakes you do. Do not bother contacting me in the future. Have a nice day, sir"

Isha adjusted the shoulder strap of her suit, combed a strand of hair behind her ear and calmly walked to the grid, smiling with satisfaction.

At least, she asked half payment in advance.

[Ishabel]

She watched the Clan Rememberance Day ceremony she had recorded on the holovid.  She stayed away from this kind of gatherings; too often would they turn into a riot, the mob heading for some irrelevant goal or the other. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in the middle of it.

Sipping a warm, comforting cup of tea, she was resting on the large poofy chair, watching the holovid she had recorded. One by one, the speakers addressed a surprisingly behaved and supportive crowd. Isha could focus on the message, a nice change for this kind of public events. Cherelle's familiar silhouette appeared on the screen. Isha kept watching, taking occasional sips from her warm cup. As Cherelle's last words echoed, the camera made a 180 turn to show the crowd, focusing on an Omni who was disrupting the gathering.  The camera followed the unwanted guest as he was passing through the crowd, bragging with the immunity of the suppression gaz.

"Always the same th -- wait!  Computer, rewind three seconds and pause!"

The recording paused, then rolled back three seconds earlier.

The image displayed the close-up image of the Omni disrupter.  Right behind him was standing a blue haired man, wearing a tank top, tattoos on his arms and carrying two large axes.

"Oh my...  I guess I should make sure I have some decent tea with me."

Isha smiled warmly.  Roland was possibly as much a tea lover as she was.

[Ishabel]

The comlink was blinking, in silent mode.  Isha turned her head lazily to the side, sighed, paused the holovid and took the call.

"Speak."

"Yes, it's me."

"I can make myself available, what can I do for you?"

"...Ah.  This, as you can suspect, may prove a little more challenging than simply manipulating an account.  I do not have entries in the Omni-Trans system.  Even if I did, I am not familiar with the protocol for assigning flights patterns."

"I know, this is very inconvenient.  Hacking into their systems will be of no use if we have no idea of what to do once we are in."

"I am sorry, but I think there might be something that you could use."

"If this works, you could probably invoke diplomatic immunity."

"...Ah, yes.  I suppose you are right.  This is indeed very inconvenient...  I will give this some thinking and if I come up with something, be assured I will call you."

"Very well.  Goodbye, Cherelle, and say hello to Kotras and the kids for me."


Isha closed the channel and resumed the holovid.  After the end credits, she turned the holo off and started thinking about the questions raised by Cherelle.

To avoid annoying formalities, or to get formalities taken care of without the ship being searched would prove a problem.  Of course, they could use hidden caches within the ship.  As for communications, a scrambler would certainly be extremely useful.  Getting flights patterns would be much easier if they could clear their flights.

...Is it illegal to fly a ship, let alone to own it?  It should not be.  Isha could not think of anything legal that would prevent Cherelle from travelling from Rubi-Ka and back.

After all, if Yalms are sold to clanners, and if clanners can take the shuttles in ICC, there was no reason why they could not --

Isha stopped.

"ICC...  We could fly to ICC, and depart from there.  Cherelle would then clear the flight pattern with ICC, not with Omni-Trans..." she whispered to herself.

This could work.

She quickly grabbed her com unit.

[Ishabel]

Once again, the city rent was covered. Sales from the shop were good enough to provide a good part of it, and the rest could be provided with other sources of income. Isha self-terminated so that her body and soul could be summoned at the Tree of Life, in Penumbra...

Penumbra. She had heard many stories about its intense cold, but with the protection glasses, she did not feel the unpleasant bite of its freeze, at least not yet. What the glasses could not shield, though, was the almost blinding shimmer of the snow. It was white, so white that it was almost disorienting. The ground was treacherous, at best, and she needed to watch her step.

Kotras and Isha had run to the White Citadel, looking for creatures that Isha had been assigned to investigate. The first passage ended up rather painfully, as she was running for her life after drawing the wrong kind of attention from the local fauna... She still managed to spot the first creature in the list that she had been assigned by the Redeemed Devoted Cama Gil-Lux, but was quickly sent back to the Tree of Life, shuddering and shaking from the post-death sickness.

"Sorry kiddo, it's the quickest way... Reclaim, run, reclaim... Lather, rinse, repeat." Kotts was looking at Isha with both sympathy and amusement.

Isha answered with a simple sigh, her face gradually regaining colors as the sickness was receding. Kotts proceeded to rebuff her and restore her health and her nanopool. Isha finally stood up, her legs agreeing to hold her up at last. She nodded gratefully to Kotts.

"When I become indecently rich, do you know what I will do?" Isha turned to him, picking up her shotgun.

"Nuh huh, what?" Kotts looked at her.

"I will sponsor panels around every reclaim pad on Rubi-Ka and around all the Trees of Life in all the gardens and sanctuary. This way, people will not be exposed to everybody's view while they struggle with reclaim sickness..."

Isha reloaded her shotgun and walked to the Ravine statue, leaving Kotts behind to shake his head slowly with a little chuckle.

[Ishabel]

Isha was not a compulsive buyer. She carefully studied the market anytime she needed to shop for supplies and moved when she thought she had the best deal.

Not this time.

She had ran all morning, all over Rubi-Ka, looking for cold stones. Some were horribly expensive, but she managed to avoid buying the most expensive ones. She had waited a few years now, and she was getting impatient.

In her impatience, she bought the wrong part, a costly mistake of about 50 millions, for which she would only recover 300 000 credits and loose change. After casting aside her momentary anger, she resumed with the Yalmaha terminal.

It took some doing, but at last, she was contemplating her brand new Stiletto... with a thought for Krishnitt.

"Such a shame that I cannot fly it."

But she owned it, and that was enough for the moment.