Alphas and
Executives
Chapter 1:
Jason Timber
As I walked
through one of the seedier parts of the Redmond Barrens I heard the sounds of
the night coming at me from every direction, the whispered mutterings from 2nd
floor windows, the crashing of glass, the muffled sounds of gunshots in the
distance. All of these normal noises here in the Barrens, but I also heard a
noise that was closer. It was the sound of a mugging, and it was coming from
the alley which I was just about to walk past. Now the sounds of a mugging were
also very normal anywhere in Redmond, but what this mugger didn’t know is that
when I am out on a walk with Lady, I take the opportunity to spread a little
compassion in the neighborhood. They obviously didn’t know that, or the fact
that the alley they chose for the mugging was right next to my building.
Signaling for Lady to wait, I moved to the mouth of the alley and briskly
walked around the corner. What I saw was pretty much exactly what I expected.
Two orks had a human man pushed up against the wall. One of them was holding
him there as the other was, none to gently, rifling his pockets. Neither ork
had a visible weapon but these days that didn’t really mean much I didn’t have
one visible either. It only took the orks a moment to notice my appearance in
the alley, and that meant that they knew what they were doing. The one doing
the rifling stopped and took a step toward me, trusting his buddy to keep their
mark where he was, “Oi, daisy eater, buzz off”. Now normally I don’t take
offense when someone throws out a meaningless insult. Obviously he didn’t have
the upbringing to know to respect his betters, but as I continued to walk down
the alley toward them I took offense this time. Not only were they mugging
someone on “my watch” as it were, they were going to insult me while they did
it. “Oi, I said buzz off”, growled the ork as I stopped about 20 steps from
him. Well about 20 steps for me, probably only about 10 for him. I smiled as I
stared him down, and in his eyes I saw nothing but confidence. That would be
his own undoing. Smiling himself he flicked his wrist, and a 12 inch snap blade
swung out and with a soft snick locked itself into position. “Have it your way
ears, I guess we hit the jackpot here Roc, we caught this one” he said gesturing
over his shoulder at their mark, “and then this one jumps in the boat”. As he
took his first step toward me, that is when I whistled, and Lady came around
the corner and loped forward to stand at my side. Now Lady is not the biggest
wolf, but she is larger than a large dog, and she has a mouthful of teeth that
any predator would be proud of, and when she stopped at my side it definitely
gave the ork a moment of pause. It was that moment that I chose to speak. “My
friend, obviously you are new here. No crime happens when I am on the streets,
especially not near my place” I stopped to give the ork a moment to understand
what was going on. It obviously isn’t every night he had someone stand up to
him and his chummer, so I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Now, if
you would kindly give that man there back his possessions we can all go along
on our way”. In that moment a lot of things happened. The ork who had
confronted me turned to the second ork to see what he thought of what I had
said. The second ork, Roc I believe I heard his name was, reached inside his
jacket in the blink of an eye and his hand emerged with a very nasty looking
gun. Ironically the thing that surprised me the most was the mark finding his
voice and trying to help me, “GUN” he yelled as the ork leveled it in my
direction. I didn’t live in the Barrens for this long without knowing how this
interaction might have ended, and I was already prepared when the mugger went
for his piece. With a thought, my right hand was splayed in front of me, and
the ork with the gun, even as it came level with my head, slumped to the
ground. The mark now, no longer being held up was free to run, but his body was
frozen and the look on his face filled with fear as he looked at me. The other
ork, looking back at me to see what I had done and for a brief moment was
equally scared, as when he looked at me he saw my features had seemed to take
on the characteristics of a wolf, but he was only scared for the brief moment
before my second stunbolt caught him unaware. He too dropped to the ground.
Letting go of the magical energy that I had called forth, and letting it leave
me, my features resumed their normal appearance. I walked calmly toward the
mark who still had not run away. I started picking up the items that the ork
had attempted to take from the man. I was started to hand them back to him when
he came back to his senses, “Please don’t hurt me” he said. I sighed, it was
very sad that after rescuing him, and attempting to return his items that he
was still afraid of me attempting to harm him. “You must not be from around
here chummer. I will not hurt you.” I said as I again offered him his commlink.
“If you are not from here I don’t recommend that you come back. This part of
town is not for everyone at this time of night”. With that said I turned to
leave the alley and continue home. It was as I turned that I heard the click of
a hammer being drawn back, “stupid elf, you should learn not to involve
yourself, it will get you killed”. I knew that I was iced. With my back to him
and no line-of-sight, there was nothing I could do to stop him. By the time I
would be able to turn and defend myself I would most likely have a minimum of 3
bullets lodged in my chest, and my leather jacket was not going to do much to
save me. Luckily, I was not alone in this alley. Either because he was so
focused on me as his target, and thus his paycheck, or because she hadn’t acted
when I took down the orks, the mark had completely forgotten about Lady. As
soon as the hammer clicked back, she was in motion, and before he could fire
she was on him like, well like a wolf. I was unable to stop her before she
could finish him, not that I was all that choked up about it. Knowing now that
it had been a setup, I felt no compulsion about ending the lives of the two
orks who were lying unconscious in the alley. I also didn’t have any worry
about any consequences. As I collected their valuables, which included a
certified credstick, and left the alley I grimly smirked to myself, it wasn’t
like the police were gonna come into the Barrens to investigate 3 dead bodies
in an alley, if they were still even in the alley, or even in one piece by
morning. I whistled and Lady loped up beside me as I exited the alley and
walked into my building. It was a rundown piece of crap, but it as home. As I
walked in I banged on the door just off the stairs on the 1st floor.
“Oi, Fred, I got this month’s rent early”. It was always nice when strangers
committed themselves to helping me and my housing situation. A metal port
opened on the wall and I deposited the credstick inside. It was marked for 3
grand, which is technically a little more than my rent runs, but Fred was a
good guy. He kept the tenants fairly safe by paying off the right people at the
right times, and he always buzzed up if the cops were in the building, so I had
no problem giving him a bit extra, especially when someone else was paying.
Besides, this was the only place I could find that didn’t mind Lady. As the
port closed, and I walked up the stairs I pulled my keys out of my pocket. Yes,
real keys, and when I got to the 3rd floor I opened the door to my
doss. It was a real piece of shit. The power never really worked, and there was
almost no matrix access, but it was my little slice of heaven. This was no more apparent then when I stepped in and Luke and Leia materialized to greet me.
Luke and Leia are both wolf spirits, and they guard my den as if it is their
own, which as long as they are bound, it pretty much is theirs as well. I
sometimes feel bad binding spirits to this world, but Luke and Leia don’t
really seem to mind guard duty, especially because I don’t mind how they choose
to deal with intruders. As I shut and locked the door, I turned and waved to
dismiss Luke and Leia to their duties and I laid down on the futon which served
as my bed. Lady jumped up next to me and laid her head on my thigh. I
absentmindedly scratched her ears as I checked my commlink for messages. I
hated this stupid thing, I could never get it to work right, but I needed it,
and even I knew that. After a few attempts, and some strange noises, I finally
got to my messages. That all to friendly female recording came on first, “You
have 2 new messages… 1st unheard message…” My chummer Lake’s voice
came out of the little box, “Oi, I assume that it is a waste of breath to leave
this message, give me a shout back. If I don’t hear from you by the weekend I
will come find you in person, but you know how I hate slumming it in the
Barrens. It’s about biz, so it’s worth you making your little box work and
calling me back. Later” I only had a moment to think about what he said before
the female voice came back, “End of 1st message… 2nd
unheard message…” “Hey Jason, couple of guys came in and were snooping around.
Through the door I heard one of them say your name. Be careful out there
tonight with Lady… oh and remember rent is due Friday”. Ah, Fred was all heart.
Maybe I really should take this thing with me when I take Lady on our walks I
thought. Oh well, all’s well that ends well I guess. I looked at the old analog
alarm clock that was sitting on the side table. It was only 10pm. The night was
barely in its infancy, and on a Saturday night, I knew exactly where Lake would
be for at least the next few hours. Grabbing my keys again, and giving Lady a
pat on the head, I walked out and locked up. On my way down the stairs I
checked the balance I had on my certified credstick. I had enough money for a
cab, but I would have to walk a few blocks till I was far enough out of the
Barrens to flag one down, but at least I wouldn’t have to walk all the way to
the club. Yes I decided, it was going to be a decent night.
