Entry #582313, added on 04-29-08 @ 10:02 pm EDT
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The man arrived at the table, waiting silently for Jrin to allow him to take the seat opposite him. Jrin took a pull from his mug, looking the man over again, before nodding to the chair. To his credit, the man moved very smoothly and naturally. Jrin preferred to think that he worked for an exclusive clientele, men and women who didn't move with the stage fright a person down on their luck might display. Whatever the man was here for, it was a need but not desperation, which usually meant the pay would be good.
"You're a pilot," he said.
Jrin shrugged. "I can fly, sure."
"You know what I mean. Name's Ryder, and I need you to do a favor for me."
The Wind wasn't the sort of place where a man used his real name. No matter. If the man wanted to call himself Ryder, then Ryder he was. He also noted that Ryder hadn't used his name yet, either, which he supposed he could respect. Lack of discretion could get you killed around here, no matter how close the Imperial Palace and civilization were.
"I don't do favors, and especially for people I don't know."
Ryder indulged in a small grin. "Job is such a callous word for what men like me are seeking, and for what men like you can do. I know about your record, and if you do this favor for me, I can reciprocate with a pretty good favor of my own."
Unlikely. "Twenty mil," he said, throwing a number out there to drive the man away.
Ryder feigned a look of wounded surprise. "For twenty mil, I'd do it myself. Ten mil, and I can have your service record altered. Ten and a general discharge is worth more than what I'm asking you to do, in my opinion."
Jrin was no stranger to work that paid handsomely, and he knew that pilots were in short supply at any price. He hadn't pulled a single job in the last six cycles that had paid more than four. And besides all of that, the offer about wiping his Imperial Fleet service record might be worth that much alone. There was nothing illegal about a dishonorable discharge, but altering that to a general discharge would make future work easier, and would make him a great deal more attractive to future employers. But ten mil by itself ensured he wouldn't need to work again.
"I'm listening."
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