Aquilla was astonished when Aiko mentioned Edoni-5. He had heard of this place, and it was definitely not somewhere he would have associated this woman with!

Taking another drink of Gorton Raindance (not a good idea if you had to get up early in the morning) Aquilla began to chat about some of his experiences. He found himself becoming surprisingly off his guard with Aiko, and this disturbed a side of him that was used to being more guarded.

"...and the crew of this salvage vessel, the Aurora B, are real eccentrics, you know?" He smiled, offered her another drink but she politely declined.

"How so?" she asked.

"Oh, they're totally crazy, totally un-organised. The Skipper, Jake, is business oriented but he does odd-ball things when he feels like it, just for the sake of it. And his Navigation Officer, a woman called Meg, is a bit feisty...and likes her drink a little too much, so I recall. During one trip they were transporting some crew from a Starship through the Badlands, had to get to their new base, including the Captain and the ship's Counsellor. She found Meg flat out drunk in the engineroom, the Engineer had wandered off somewhere and the ship had come to a dead stop!"

Aiko grinned. "And you say these are the crew who will be meeting you later on your mission?"

"That's right. But this time they're bringing me other goods." Aquilla looked around the bistro. "But I hope they don't hear about this planet or they may just apply for some shoreleave!"

He smiled at Aiko. "It is late and I have kept you long enough with my ramblings. May I bid you good night." He leaned forward and kissed the surprised Aiko's hand, and turned and left the bistro, hoping he could find his way back to his hotel.