Gypsy
Faye set he laptop on her knees, examining the image on it. It was the Paragon lounge, and the place was packed. It was even the same bartender as the other night. She leaned into the screen, her eyes going to the lower left hand corner. Sitting at the bar, could it be him?
She selected the area, and enlarged it. Her chest tightened as she saw him, he was sipping gin and smoking, it was like watching a ghost. No, not a ghost, this wasn't Spike, it couldn't be, she couldn't let herself believe that for even a minute. This was just a look-alike, nothing more... right?
She shook her head, refusing to allow those thoughts to play themselves out, and tried to calm her erratic pulse. She zoomed in even further, to show just his face. It didn't really matter if he was the real Spike or not, she needed to find him either way. She watched as he reached his red filtered cigarette to his lips.
Faye paused the disk... red filters?
She selected his hand, enlarging the picture yet again. They were thin fingered, deft hands, a magicians hands... and cradled delicately between his index and middle fingers was a red filtered cigarette with three silver bands. Faye recognized the brand, they were Cars, a company based on a farm in Tijuana, very rare... in fact, there was only one shop in New Vegas that sold them.
"Nicki's."

Jet stood over the stove, stirring the unidentifiable contents of a large wok with a wooden spoon. He slowly lifted the mystery mixture to his lips, preparing to sample his latest concoction. He blew the softly on the morsel, cooling it, and inched it toward his waiting taste buds.
And the phone rang.
He shook his head, dropping the spoon back into the wok, and turning the stove off. The sample would just have to wait.
He reached the vid-phone display, and hit the receive button.
"Um... Jet Black?" came the unsure voice of the man on the other line.
"Yeah?" He looked familiar, Jet was sure he'd seen him before, but he just couldn't place him. "What can I help you with?"
"I'm sorry if I interrupted you. My name is john, I met you once before." Jet gave him a blank look.
"... Last spring?" John prompted.
An then it hit him, the neatly trimmed blonde hair, the high cheekbones and sharp facial features, the over all well-groomed, well-dressed appearance... except that the effect was spoiled by his obvious sleeplessness. He was John, as he'd said... Faye's John. Jet broke into a grin.
"Well, hello there, sorry I didn't recognize you,"
"No problem, really..."
"So what do you want?"
"Um... I know this is kind of a long shot, but have you seen Faye in the last few days?"
Jet frowned, unsure of how to respond, finally opting for the truth. "She was here, what, two days ago? She was stopping in to say 'hi' before she went out on this new job. I haven't heard from her since, though. Why? Hasn't she called?"
John bit his lip, "No, you've talked to her since I have... listen, Mr. Black, I know that Faye is prone to this sort of behavior, but I have a really bad feeling about this."
"Then why not call her?" Jet asked.
"Are you kidding me? Faye'd kill me if I interfered in a job, she'd think I was being overprotective." He looked into the larger man's face, "tell me I'm crazy, Mr. Black. Tell me I'm worrying over nothing, that she can take car of herself."
Jet smiled reassuringly, "you are, and she can... I'm sure she's just fine, but you know Faye, always too busy, or having too much fun, to just pick up the phone." He was so calm on the outside, but inside, his mind was racing a mile a minute. When Faye was there, she'd seemed like she had something to ask Jet, but never managed to get around to it. Had she been in trouble, needing his help, but afraid to shatter his calm existence?
"Yeah, I guess... thanks, Mr. Black."
"No problem," Jet reached up to end the call, "Don't worry, if I see her, I'll have her call you."
"Thanks again."
Jet flipped the vid-phone off, then back on again. In a matter of moments, a young girl, about 15 or 16 appeared on the screen; she tossed her flame red hair, hair that had been trimmed to just below her chin. A slight smile curved her lips, and she blinked, as if she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Can it be?" She chirped, clapping her hands together, "a direct call from the Big Man himself! What's up Jet?"
"Ed," Jet smiled to his old shipmate. The young girl before him had changed so much from the child he knew (like the fact that she'd taken to speaking in coherent sentences) "I have to ask you a favor."
"You name it, Jet, what do you need."
"I need you to locate a space craft called the 'Shadow Wolf,'" Jet said.
"The 'Shadow Wolf'... Faye's ship? What's wrong with her?"
"Nothing, I hope, but I want to make sure."
Ed nodded in understanding, and her hands, hidden from Jet's view began working furiously. "This will only take a second," she said.
"Good," Jet muttered, under his breath, and sat back to let Ed work.
"Faye-Faye, Faye-Faye, where are you..." she repeated, in a sing-song voice, at least some things didn't change. "Ah-hah, there you are..." She looked up from her laptop; "traffic control records show that she's in orbit over Earth, and brief check of her recent credit card transactions confirm that she's in New Vegas. Probably gambling," she said, with a snicker.
Jet snorted, feeling a little foolish about his concern, Faye was just up to old tricks again.
"I'll bet she's sitting at a Black Jack table, right now, just..." Ed trailed off, her attention once again focused on the computer screen. "What the...?"
"What, Ed, what is it?"
"It appears that we aren't the only ones interested in what our friend is up to, someone else is accessing this information, by his style, I'd say he's a syndicate hacker... but that's just a guess."
"Just a guess?" Jet echoed.
"Mm-hmm, won't know for sure until I poke around a bit!" She grinned mischievously, and cracked her knuckles.
"Absolutely not, Ed! Don't mess with the syndicate. Not yet any way..." Jet frowned; he didn't like the direction this whole thing was headed. "Just watch him, for now, and tell me everything he does, whatever it is, this thing Faye's gotten herself into, she'll need back up." Jet sighed. His short retirement was over.

Nickki's was a smoke house on the seedy side of town... well, seedier, anyway, Faye remarked to herself as the cab pulled to the curb. She tossed the driver a 50 wulong note, relieved when he gratefully took the money and sped off. The other night's experience made her a little nervous about the cabbies in this town, not to mention the syndicate, and it's tab keeping on her. Faye entered the establishment, armed with a photo of her quarry. She walked up to the counter, and laid the paper on the clear glass top.
"Have you seen this man?" she asked the worker.
He glanced at the picture, and smirked, "what's he to you?"
Faye smiled, "my dear brother, missing all these years. Why I haven't seen him since I was a young girl... he ran off to join the army, you know, and never came back."
The counterman laughed, "If he's your brother, then I'm the pope."
"Fine, your holiness..." Faye said, switching tactics, "he's my ex-fiancé, he jilted me... left me at the alter in a 6,000 Wulong dress, surrounded by 400 guests, not to mention my parents. I've been trying to find him ever since her skipped out on me a year ago, and when I do find him, I'm going to kick the shit out of him!"
The counterman smiled, faintly, "I can kinda see where he's coming form..."
"Watch it, Bub," Faye's eyes narrowed dangerously.
He coughed uncomfortably, "Um, I mean, I think I saw him in here last week, he bought a pack of smokes... Cars I believe... no, I'm sure of it, said he'd gotten used to smoking them while on Tijuana. Also told me he was headed to Venus, next, asked me if I knew where he could find 'em there."
"Venus?" He nodded in response, "Venus is a big planet, nothing more specific?"
"Well, I'll give you the same list of shops I gave him, but after that, you're on your own, I couldn't really tell you anything else."
"Thanks," said Faye, the ghost of a smile playing upon her lips.
She turned and walked away; she was done with the clerk, and this town... for now.

She deftly maneuvered the Shadow Wolf out of its dock, and into open space, her hands moving over the controls in an almost loving fashion. She angled the ship toward the jump gate, and accelerated. She was more than ready to be moving on. Like she'd said, Venus was a big planet, and even if she did have a list of possible destinations, it was still going to take a lot of legwork to track him down.
She jumped as her vid-phone began to beep. The call startled her; no one ever called her here. She looked out the window, and saw a large ship looming above her. She reached over and hit the receive button. It was a strange face that greeted her.
"Ms. Valentine, I presume?" he said, in a tone that reminded Faye of a snake more than anything else.
She resisted the urge to shudder at the sound of her name on his lips. "Yes," she replied coolly.
"Ms Valentine, I understand that you have recently taken on a job from Mr. Kataki, a person that we know well," his smile seemed to feed off the warmth in the room, annihilating precious heat on contact. This time, she could not repress herself, and she had to clench her teeth to keep them from chattering.
"I represent the head of a major organization, and my client has a proposition for you: drop this case, and he'll make it worth your while?"
"And if I don't?"
The stranger shrugged, "I don't believe you realize the impact of the task Kataki has set up for you. It could be very dangerous indeed, there are many people who, like me would rather you leave some questions unanswered."
Her hand crept to the controls, and she armed her weapons "Are you threatening me?"
"Absolutely not, my dear, I'm simply saying that you aren't fully aware of what you are getting into."
"I think I have a pretty good idea what I'm up against," she said, shifting her ship into reverse, and jumping backward in space. She smiled, coolly, "Tell you're boss, I'm not interested in his offer." She fired off two missiles in his direction, then accelerated forward, and around the ship.
She was in a race to get to the jump gate, and winning. The larger ship was less maneuverable, and still trying to turn around. She was almost there, almost home free, and then her heart jumped up into her throat... the jump gate was opening, and Faye suspected that on the other side, she'd find Mr. Anaconda's back-up.
"Holy Hell!"