Raygun Heights

9

Humanity noted the Encounter Wars as the second interaction with a xeno species, and the first time that Humanity had managed to gain greater recognition in the galaxy at large. The first interaction for Humanity on Terra was with the Reticulans, also sometimes known as 'Cetians' due to their original homeworld located somewhere in Tau'Ceti Sector, and finally their common shorthand name of 'Grey'. A final name about the species was the sect that had escaped the destruction of their homeworld and made their way to the Sol system, specifically settling Mars before making contact with with Humanity, became known as 'Martians' although most stuck with the name Grey regardless of whichever colony ship individual Reticulan's belonged to when they finally settled a world. The exchange between the Greys and Humans was initially manpower for technology. Humanity provided labor and infrastructure as part of their own inter-system colony efforts and the Greys had provided a major surge in technology. The two groups were so closely aligned over the Mars project that both the Martian Reticulans and Humanity formed the Solar Federation that remained to present day. The first interaction was peaceful, the second interaction involved the Saurians over in Algol Sector. The Saurians had no such intention of peaceful co-existence, specifically for the planets within the Demon Star, all they were interested in was conquest.

Markus Vennet, Old Markus, he was one of those veterans of the Encounter Wars. One of those gray haired men with gnarled hands and discolored plasma burns on his chest and arms. His face was heavily lined, both from his past, and where he ended up living: on a desert planet, working as a ganger lieutenant. His hard cerulean eyes regarded Tangiers and Karl coldly, his jaws ground together as he spoke with a low rumble, "You have something to say to me?"

"Well, the payments are in-" Karl began before Vennet cut him off.

"I wasn't talking to you, Jenkins. I mean you," Vennet inched forward in his chair, every movement caused the chair to let out a metallic squeak, "You got something to say about what you did?"

Tangiers held his tongue and remained silent for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Karl saw those fur covered hands shift and fingers flexed. Karl swallowed and looked at Vennet. The old man's eyes stayed on Tangiers.

"They were talking trash about me and mine. They made threats about us, so I decided to strike first," Tangiers said.

"You didn't come to me first," Vennet said, as if he was hurt, "You went out and attacked another member. Had you come to me first, maybe this could have been worked out. Some apologies said, some restitutions. But now they're the ones bleeding."

"If i may point out, only Mohr was bleeding," Karl tried to interject his charm.

"It doesn't matter whose bleeding!" Vennet yelled loud enough that his breath smacked Karl in the face with the acrid scent of spiced cigarettes. The voice carried past the two and could be heard outside the doors if it was not for the soundproofing in the metallic gray walls. Vennet steepled his hands, resting them on his metal desk. The side of his face lit in bright blue by the glow of his terminal. He said, "They want payback, and they have a strong case to get it. So what am I supposed to do?"

Tangiers offered no answer at first. Both her and Vennet sat there, staring at one another. If it came to a fight, Karl gave odds to Tangiers, unless Vennet had a blaster hidden under the desk. Vennet's hands broke apart, the left laid on the desk. The right had vanished underneath, as if Vennet read Karl's mind. Tangiers would still have a shot to get Vennet in the neck with a claw if Vennet had been too slow. The Human would have bled out immediately if the Tigran caught him in a vein.

Karl leaned to Tangiers' side and lifted the case he was carrying, "Look. We've got five-thousand off the Vek account. That's a quarter of what he owes, well, part of its interest, but it's also part principal."