05-11-2016, 04:18 AM
Sabrina's Magnet Bike briefly soared through the air as a result of the Nexus Gate having had somewhat of a ramp leading up to the actual rift, but the antigrav modules quickly caught it and ensured that she landed smoothly. What a way to make an entrance... pity that there was nobody nearby to take notice. She drove a few meters away from the gate, just in case that someone else decided to use it with an oversized Monster Truck or whatever, and found a good spot to shut the bike's engines down and let it land. Only then did she remove her helmet, shake her head to get her long, black hair disentangled, and took in more than her immediate surroundings.
The distant sounds of the sea, the annoying "Caw! Ca-caw!" of the seagulls flying above her head, the burning sun on her cheeks and the sounds of a busy harbor somewhere... over that way? The gate wasn't located inside the city, it looked like, but there was a stone path leading to it. That must be the imperial outpost. What had the soldier called it again? Costa del Sol, right. Sabrina put her helmet on the Magnet Bike's seat and shielded her eyes from the bright sun to take a look. Yes, what little she could see showed bustling activity, people going back and forth with various items in their hands or with transport vehicles of sorts. The presence of soldiers was... minor. She could see them among the crowd, moving in small groups, but the security was nowhere near what she had expected. The physical proximity to the Nexus was too significant to validate that they would feel distanced from the hostilities that the troopers guarding the gate were keeping out, so... what was it? People just wanting to forget? Yeah, that sounded like it.
Well, regardless. She hadn't come here to take in the sights. First thing she needed was gonna be a map... a map of this region, or at least something to point her in the right direction. She knew how to read military-grade maps of seas and oceans, that was the least issue. Where to get one, was the important part. She had no form of commendation that could get her to a naval officier, no way of proving her trust. So... what about taverns and bars? They were always a good spot to listen to some gossip and hear the tales of old sea dogs - tales to be taken with a grain of salt, but which could prove useful nontheless. She got herself back on the Magnet Bike and drove to the city, finding a safe spot to leave it - which is to say, out in the open where everyone could see a potential thief trying to force the high-tech lock - before mingling in with the crowd, following its flow for a while and occasionally switching or taking turns to manoeuver herself towards the seaside and from there to that one place which every city had, the necessary evil... the blind spot in the all-seeing eye of the Empire. The district where petty criminals, dubious peddlers, thugs-for-hire, part-time pirates and other... enterpreneurs, dealing in the gray - or indeed, the dark red - areas of the law - met up to conduct their business. This was their little safe haven. After all, crime always existed, there was no way to fully remove it from a society. If the Empire crushed this outpost, it would just reappear elsewhere, or worse, spread and hide among the crowd, where it would be even harder to weed out a specific individual if something serious happened and the Stormtroopers had to interfere.
Sabrina had dealt with the underworld for longer than she cared to admit. Acting all mysterious and secretive and snickering evily would just draw the wrong kinds of attention and get her further away from her goals. She had to be smart about this. One hand in her pocket inconspicuously turned some of her Omnilium into coins like the ones she could see the people pay with at the stalls - no need for everyone to know who she was and what she could do - and she stepped into a place whose name was not legible anymore after the salty wind and burning sun had weathered the sign down. Inside, people were playing cardgames and gambling with dice, drinking cheap beer from oversized mugs and smoking in such quantities that the entire area they were seated in was covered in smog. Best get out of the place before she got a knife between her ribs... she stepped towards the counter and drew one coin from her pocket, letting it flip between her fingers to catch some light and draw some barman's attention.
"Wha can I get you?" a generously curved woman asked from behind the counter, leaning on it and chewing what Sabrina imagined, and hoped, to be chewing tobacco.
"You wouldn't happen to serve information here?" Sabrina asked.
"Information? We're a bar, not a newspaper, doll."
She let the coin drop on the counter, causing an audible clink. "That's just fine. Newspapers don't provide what I'm looking for anyway."
The woman eyeballed the coin but then suspiciously sized Sabrina up. "And what would that be?"
"A map. Y'know, of the seas. Uncharted parts."
"Uncharted? You do realize that uncharted means there ain't no maps of it?"
"There are, I'm sure."
The barkeeper looked through the room with a frown. "... what area?"
"The Cinnibar archipelago."
"Oh. You're out to do some... tourism?"
"You could say that."
"Hmm... I may just have what you want, but... I'm not sure. My memory isn't the best, you know."
"Oh, I'm sure it can be freshened up." Sabrina added a second coin to the first, but when the barkeeper reached out she clicked her tongue and covered them with her hand. "I don't do welfare. I want something for that."
"That's not how it works", the barkeeper said with a glare. "Either you pay up or the deal's off."
"Well, that's too bad. I'm not gonna pay up 'til I know what I'm paying for." She pulled her hand back along over the counter, pulling the coins along and collecting them when they fell off the wooden surface, then turned around to leave.
"Hey! Wait!" The woman yelled, afraid of losing out on the income. Sabrina held back a grin, knowing that she had won. Sure enough, the woman glared at her but then sighed. "I want half up-front, you might try to- okay! OKAY! I'll tell you what you need!"
Sabrina was halfway towards the door when the woman called her back for the second time. "I'm listening."
"There ain't no maps of the area that civvies can get their hands on. But I happen to have a few pieces that an officier left me as payment. He had a huge debt though, I can't afford to give them away that cheap."
"Show me. I'll decide what they're worth."
The woman wandered into the back room and soon came back with a lengthy leather tube with rolled-up parchments inside. She tugged them out, went through them and showed it to Sabrina, hiding most of it behind the counter though. She didn't want any other imperial Navy members to know about this. "Forty, and not one cent less." The maps were in good shape and accurate... just what she needed. It was time to haggle.
"Forty? Did that officier empty a dozen barrels of your finest or something? And this thing's barely legible, and it's paper. Had it at least been in digital format... I'll give you eight at most."
"You're crazy! These are top-quality and way more dependable than electronics that break at the slightest hint of humidity! Thirty, because I like you."
"Twelve, and I'm being generous. The moment that this thing catches one saltwater drop it'll become useless."
"My husband will think I'm mad, but twenty-five! That's my last offer!"
"Twenty, and that's MY last word."
"Twenty-three."
"Twenty-two."
"Deal!" She slammed her hand on the counter and pushed the maps back into the tube. Then with one hand she pushed them over the counter whilst Sabrina counted 22 coins and passed them to the woman as well.
"Thank you." She checked that the tube had not been sneakily replaced or emptied, then nodded and stepped back from the counter.
"Don't want anything before you go?" She asked after putting the coins away. "A little rum, on the house? Just for you, a valuable business partner?"
"No thanks. Booze gives me heartburn." Sabrina replied with a laugh and left the bar, mingling back into the crowd. If the rum wasn't spiked it was going to be a blade to the throat as soon as she got a little drunk, but there was no doubt that the woman wanted the maps back. Who knows how often she had sold them already... it might be a good idea to make a copy of these plans just in case. They were a lucrative item, no doubt would many people not hesitate to cut a throat for them. For now, she returned to her Magnet Bike and headed towards the civilian ports, back on the "light" side of the city.
The distant sounds of the sea, the annoying "Caw! Ca-caw!" of the seagulls flying above her head, the burning sun on her cheeks and the sounds of a busy harbor somewhere... over that way? The gate wasn't located inside the city, it looked like, but there was a stone path leading to it. That must be the imperial outpost. What had the soldier called it again? Costa del Sol, right. Sabrina put her helmet on the Magnet Bike's seat and shielded her eyes from the bright sun to take a look. Yes, what little she could see showed bustling activity, people going back and forth with various items in their hands or with transport vehicles of sorts. The presence of soldiers was... minor. She could see them among the crowd, moving in small groups, but the security was nowhere near what she had expected. The physical proximity to the Nexus was too significant to validate that they would feel distanced from the hostilities that the troopers guarding the gate were keeping out, so... what was it? People just wanting to forget? Yeah, that sounded like it.
Well, regardless. She hadn't come here to take in the sights. First thing she needed was gonna be a map... a map of this region, or at least something to point her in the right direction. She knew how to read military-grade maps of seas and oceans, that was the least issue. Where to get one, was the important part. She had no form of commendation that could get her to a naval officier, no way of proving her trust. So... what about taverns and bars? They were always a good spot to listen to some gossip and hear the tales of old sea dogs - tales to be taken with a grain of salt, but which could prove useful nontheless. She got herself back on the Magnet Bike and drove to the city, finding a safe spot to leave it - which is to say, out in the open where everyone could see a potential thief trying to force the high-tech lock - before mingling in with the crowd, following its flow for a while and occasionally switching or taking turns to manoeuver herself towards the seaside and from there to that one place which every city had, the necessary evil... the blind spot in the all-seeing eye of the Empire. The district where petty criminals, dubious peddlers, thugs-for-hire, part-time pirates and other... enterpreneurs, dealing in the gray - or indeed, the dark red - areas of the law - met up to conduct their business. This was their little safe haven. After all, crime always existed, there was no way to fully remove it from a society. If the Empire crushed this outpost, it would just reappear elsewhere, or worse, spread and hide among the crowd, where it would be even harder to weed out a specific individual if something serious happened and the Stormtroopers had to interfere.
Sabrina had dealt with the underworld for longer than she cared to admit. Acting all mysterious and secretive and snickering evily would just draw the wrong kinds of attention and get her further away from her goals. She had to be smart about this. One hand in her pocket inconspicuously turned some of her Omnilium into coins like the ones she could see the people pay with at the stalls - no need for everyone to know who she was and what she could do - and she stepped into a place whose name was not legible anymore after the salty wind and burning sun had weathered the sign down. Inside, people were playing cardgames and gambling with dice, drinking cheap beer from oversized mugs and smoking in such quantities that the entire area they were seated in was covered in smog. Best get out of the place before she got a knife between her ribs... she stepped towards the counter and drew one coin from her pocket, letting it flip between her fingers to catch some light and draw some barman's attention.
"Wha can I get you?" a generously curved woman asked from behind the counter, leaning on it and chewing what Sabrina imagined, and hoped, to be chewing tobacco.
"You wouldn't happen to serve information here?" Sabrina asked.
"Information? We're a bar, not a newspaper, doll."
She let the coin drop on the counter, causing an audible clink. "That's just fine. Newspapers don't provide what I'm looking for anyway."
The woman eyeballed the coin but then suspiciously sized Sabrina up. "And what would that be?"
"A map. Y'know, of the seas. Uncharted parts."
"Uncharted? You do realize that uncharted means there ain't no maps of it?"
"There are, I'm sure."
The barkeeper looked through the room with a frown. "... what area?"
"The Cinnibar archipelago."
"Oh. You're out to do some... tourism?"
"You could say that."
"Hmm... I may just have what you want, but... I'm not sure. My memory isn't the best, you know."
"Oh, I'm sure it can be freshened up." Sabrina added a second coin to the first, but when the barkeeper reached out she clicked her tongue and covered them with her hand. "I don't do welfare. I want something for that."
"That's not how it works", the barkeeper said with a glare. "Either you pay up or the deal's off."
"Well, that's too bad. I'm not gonna pay up 'til I know what I'm paying for." She pulled her hand back along over the counter, pulling the coins along and collecting them when they fell off the wooden surface, then turned around to leave.
"Hey! Wait!" The woman yelled, afraid of losing out on the income. Sabrina held back a grin, knowing that she had won. Sure enough, the woman glared at her but then sighed. "I want half up-front, you might try to- okay! OKAY! I'll tell you what you need!"
Sabrina was halfway towards the door when the woman called her back for the second time. "I'm listening."
"There ain't no maps of the area that civvies can get their hands on. But I happen to have a few pieces that an officier left me as payment. He had a huge debt though, I can't afford to give them away that cheap."
"Show me. I'll decide what they're worth."
The woman wandered into the back room and soon came back with a lengthy leather tube with rolled-up parchments inside. She tugged them out, went through them and showed it to Sabrina, hiding most of it behind the counter though. She didn't want any other imperial Navy members to know about this. "Forty, and not one cent less." The maps were in good shape and accurate... just what she needed. It was time to haggle.
"Forty? Did that officier empty a dozen barrels of your finest or something? And this thing's barely legible, and it's paper. Had it at least been in digital format... I'll give you eight at most."
"You're crazy! These are top-quality and way more dependable than electronics that break at the slightest hint of humidity! Thirty, because I like you."
"Twelve, and I'm being generous. The moment that this thing catches one saltwater drop it'll become useless."
"My husband will think I'm mad, but twenty-five! That's my last offer!"
"Twenty, and that's MY last word."
"Twenty-three."
"Twenty-two."
"Deal!" She slammed her hand on the counter and pushed the maps back into the tube. Then with one hand she pushed them over the counter whilst Sabrina counted 22 coins and passed them to the woman as well.
"Thank you." She checked that the tube had not been sneakily replaced or emptied, then nodded and stepped back from the counter.
"Don't want anything before you go?" She asked after putting the coins away. "A little rum, on the house? Just for you, a valuable business partner?"
"No thanks. Booze gives me heartburn." Sabrina replied with a laugh and left the bar, mingling back into the crowd. If the rum wasn't spiked it was going to be a blade to the throat as soon as she got a little drunk, but there was no doubt that the woman wanted the maps back. Who knows how often she had sold them already... it might be a good idea to make a copy of these plans just in case. They were a lucrative item, no doubt would many people not hesitate to cut a throat for them. For now, she returned to her Magnet Bike and headed towards the civilian ports, back on the "light" side of the city.
"(Note to self: insert quote & picture once I find stuff)"
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