Inbetween Times ...

So, it's not like we fight week in and week out. A lot of stuff goes on inbetween every action. We couldn't afford to keep getting into scraps without resupplying our ammo, (which we have little enough of ...) maintaining our kit (which is old and rusty ...) and resting up (because I'm getting old and rusty too...). There's a lot of resting up goes on.

Bones has been nursing that shoulder wound ... he's fragile but is keeping himself busy by sorting out his auto-rifle, which misfired badly on him in our last fight and cost him the better use of one of his arms. He reckons it'll heal up fine, but I'm not so sure. Anyway he's configured it to fire faster, but it has a hell of a kick. I'll be keeping him back to make best use of that kit.

Loki's been using his new-found status as the gang's lucky charm (Lucky Loki One-Eye) to get himself into trouble with a couple of the local girls. Fair play to him for managing without an eyepatch. I've been meaning to make him one.

Tim's erm ... he's been in and out of conciousness, but he woke up the other day for good. He blinks really slowly and doesn't speak too good. When he gets frustrated he gets really riled up and he's a big guy, so he takes some calming down. Donny's been giving him "The Literature,"  which seems to go some way to easing the poor kids stress. Tiny Tim. I hope he's going to be okay.

Vinny, Donny (he's feeling much better now) anda couple of the Juves went out to collect all the gear we ordered from the trading post. They're the only fit people we've got knocking around at the moment. I got banged up pretty bad in that fall; and the fire put some blisters on my back which keep me awake at night, but other than that I'm pretty lucky to come away with no lasting damage... Or so I keep telling myself. I've been practising with the Atchet. I've been getting a lot of practice with the Atchet. It saved my life the other day...

Hired a couple more people for the crew. Not too many experienced people knocking around, but one guy calling himself Marky Fish seems useful. It's hard handing him a new (-ish) las-gun so soon after I gave Pete one. He seems sensible and has kept out of everyone's way mostly. The other guys are just young 'uns. Keen as spice-radish, the lot of them ... and oh yeah ... one of them's a girl. Tarka. It's just weird having girls in the gang, but she's as hard as any of the lads we've got knocking around so she's in. No quibble. Then there's Bronson. Big lad but young and aggressive. Likely to go looking for trouble at the first opportunity. I have no doubts it'll find him... Lastly, Snake ... a tatty Delaque with hair. He's ... not what I'd hoped we'd attract but we need every able hand, so he's in but I've got my eye on him.

Then there's the bar and other interests. We've got some other holdings now ... The settlement pays us to keep the Delaque off their back, which is easy money as long as they don't show up. There's also a couple of workshops and a new mine that I started (can't get it out of the blood!) which we needed to do, as it turns out that running a gang soaks up credits faster than a mine does. It's good to work with the pick and shovel again. Hard Labour's the one good sevice I can actually offer the Emperor.

Then there's the Guilder Laslow. I hate the bastards but this one seems okay. Okay, as in; corrupt in our favour. We've been using his Guild Seal to legitimise a few projects we've been working on. I won't go into too much detail, as you're all probably law abiding drokkers, with no moral ingenuity. Needless to say, he takes a cut. Hopefully we can make some better deals with someone else ... I'd like to cut him out altogether.

Bullet-Nose sits in the bar, drinking alone ever since he came out of the Doc's at the settlement. The Ratskin's face is a mess. That bullet really tore him up bad. I offered to pay him extra for the job but he just looked at me blankly ... which is drokking unnerving, these days. I gave him the agreed 15 credits. Bee-En, I call him to his face. He doesn''t mind ... I think he kind of likes the name, but he's clearly in a lot of pain. He drinks for free and no-one tells him any different. He's a bit of a hreo to the gang, though I doubt he knows it. No-one talks to him but me and Donny. The Emperor alone knows what they find to talk about but I've heard every crap line from Donny's gob, so I steer well clear of them when they're together. We're getting through a lot of Wildsnake...

Neta's well ... if any of you care. She's taken on Tarka and gives her jobs to do around the bar, which Tarka surprisingly does without question ... They seem to get on, so I leave them to it for the most part. I think it's good that she's got someone to talk to these days. Hasn't really been the same since we left the old mine.

I feel as if i'm the only one that's worried. Everyone else just gets on with things but I pore over accounts and dockets, organise the bar and the collections, allocate people to go and guide people up-hive with their loot and archeotech. I negotiate deals with traders and kick out drunks ... or at least get Donny to do it until my back heals up.

Gah ... I've had enough. you've probably had enough. Sometime soon something's going to happen, I can feel it in my bones.