Life in Knowhere isn't easy, I can tell you that much, but life as a smuggler in Knowhere, don't even get me started.
I am a part of the largest smuggling operation in the universe. Seriously, we are an even bigger operation than the Ravagers. Yep, you heard me, even the Ravagers.
Apparently, Boss had called me to his office. Probably to give me another godforsaken mission to go on. Another, 'go get me this Disvi' or 'I need this by next-' type of deal. Well how about you 'get it' yourself, asshole? It's only been a couple of days since I returned from my last mission, give me a break.
So, here I am, walking to the Boss's office, praying to whatever god that might be out here, to just, give me a couple more days of rest, until I actually enter the Boss's office. And what do I see? The Boss, sitting at his desk, with a bottle of Astral cognac at his elbow and tumbler in hand, clearly half-drunk.
Oh, shit.
When the Boss is drinking, we've got a problem. He can handle quite a lot of stress from what I've seen, but he only drinks when it's too much. And when it's money related.
In short, he's going to send me on this crazy mission to 'retrieve' some object worth millions to billions of units, to help pay for whatever kind of crazy shenanigan he got himself into.
"Ah, there you are Disvi," he made a half-hearted flourish with his hand to acknowledge my presence. "Drink?" he pointed to the cognac. I made a gesture with my hand signaling no. He let the hand drop to his lap. I could make out the movement of his tongue in his mouth. Getting a better taste of the cognac, I suppose.
"We have a problem. Money problem," he said finally.
"I guessed," I replied, sarcasm dripping from my words. He appeared not to notice.
"I'm sending you on a mission," He poured more cognac into his glass.
"I guessed that too," Swirling the drink in his hand, he raised his eyebrows at me.
"You're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble with that mouth, you know. Someone might even cut out your tongue," He chuckled at his own lame joke, while I stood there with a poker face. Coming here and being laughed at was not on my agenda. After about two minutes of quiet chuckling, he appeared to have settled down.
"What do you need me to get?" I asked, just wanting to get out of his office. He set his tumbler down, leaned forward, and resting his elbows on his desk with clasped hands, said in a perfectly stable voice,
"The warhammer of Ronan the Accuser," I stood there, brain-dead, before his words actually registered.
"What?" I asked in disbelief.
"The warhammer of Ronan the Accuser," he repeated. I still couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"The what of who?" I asked one more time, just to be sure he hadn't jumbled his words due to the alcohol currently swimming in his brain.
"I'm not repeating myself, Dis," he stated, leaning back in his chair. He picked up his drink again.
"Uh, Boss," I cleared my throat. "You do realize who that is, right?" He focused his gaze on me.
"Yeeeeessss," He did not need to draw out his answers like that.
"And you know what he's known for."
"Yeeeeessss," Again with the drawn out answers.
"Boss, you're sending me to my death," I attempted to reason with him. He smirked.
"If it was someone else, then yes. But not with you. No matter how difficult the mission is, you always come back alive. Always," He took a sip of his drink, peering at me over the glass.
"I don't think you understand. No one. steals. from Ronan," He scoffed.
"Well, Disvi, I do," I shook my head in disbelief at his words. How could he not understand this?
"Boss, you will jeopardize this whole operation if you do this," I pleaded. His eyes turned dark.
"As will you if you don't get going. Now pack your stuff, I want you out of here in an hour," He took another sip of his drink, obviously ignoring me in my disbelief.
"Boss, just hear me out, you-"
"And you have three days,"
"Boss-"
"GO!" His eyes were red now. I knew I needed to get out of there, before he morphed and tore apart his office, and me. But I had to get some reason into him.
"For all our sakes, reconsider this!,"
"I will, when the hammer is in my hands. Get her out of here," Two guards grabbed me by the arms, none too gently, and threw me out into the street. As I was brushing the dirt off my arm, footsteps made their way towards me. I rolled my eyes, and looking up, was face to face, with Luc (pronounced Luke).
"It's not every day you get thrown out of the Boss's office. How bad is it?" He asked, his eyes searching me. I wasn't sure of his ancestry, but I don't think we had full black eyes from where I was from. He was the only friend I had here though. Everyone else either hated me, or feared me. Or both.
"Really bad. Already half-drunk on cognac by the time I got there. But the mission's worse," I reached my arm up, and grabbing it, he pulled me up. He gave me a pat on the back, brushing some more dirt off. We then made our way to the Supplies room. I pulled a couple more empty smugglers orbs off the rack, as well as a portal.
"What are you getting?" He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I checked my suit for tears.
"Try me," he said playfully.
"Ronan the Accuser's warhammer," he looked at me in disbelief.
"No, Dis, seriously, what are you getting?"
"Ronan the Accuser's warhammer," I repeated.
"You're not serious, right?" His playful smirk was turning down now.
"How about you ask that to the Boss?" I turned on my heel and walked out of the room. Luc caught up to me.
"Have you tried to reason with him?" I asked, worry etching his face.
"Yes, and he yelled at me and threw me out of his office!" I replied with a hint of annoyance to my voice as I checked the clock. I wanted to be out of here before the Boss got mad at me. Not like he already was. Sure of the time, I started towards the entrance of Knowhere.
"Let me come with you then," he gently grabbed my shoulder to turn me around. I brushed his hand off, not breaking my stride.
"No, I'm going alone. I don't need you added to the pile of dead bodies at Ronan's feet," Luc huffed behind me.
I kept up my pace until we reached the docking area for the many ships that came here. I turned around to face Luc.
"Take care of yourself while I'm gone, okay?" I gently punched him in the shoulder.
"Only if you come back in one piece," I grimaced.
"I don't know if I can do that," I awkwardly stated.
"Why?" Luc questioned. I was going to have to bring him up to date on the villainous peoples in the universe if I got returned.
"What do you know of Ronan?" Luc shrugged.
"That he's a warlord?"
"Not just. He's also a Kree. Large stature with god-like strength to match. I'll be lucky if I get back alive, hammer or not," I chuckled dryly. "Okay, I've gotta go," I sighed and pulled out my GPS (yes we have those, they're just more sophisticated). We shared a fist bump, and he strolled away.
"Dark...Aster," I typed into my device. It beeped rhythmically as it searched for his ship. Humming, I started pacing when, beep, signaled the end of the search. Now where was his ship?
"MP-319?" I spoke aloud. Why was he there? That planet was deserted. Hey, to each his own. I wasn't a villainous Kree warlord, how could I judge his actions?
"Well, here goes," I muttered as I typed my destination into the portal. Setting it down, it opened into a disc of blue light. I stepped into it, and was pulled into the abyss.
