[i]"No," She said evenly, ignoring his attempt to dismiss or rile her, "I just don't think you realize the severity of the situation you have so blithely put us in."[/i]

[b]"I know damn well what I'm doing and Val knew as well. We're skint Vee and if you want to keep this ship in the air you need money. We aren't making jack shit doing small smuggling jobs so I got us a job with good fucking pay."[/b] he replied. They were still being pursued, maybe not right now, but someone would hunt down that cargo as long as they had it it was only a matter of time before someone began chasing them again. 

Then she punched him in the throat. He coughed, he coughed a whole fucking bunch trying to catch his breath, swearing between hacking up his lungs. 
[b]"Fucking hell Vee."[/b] he swore in a ragged voice. 

He managed to get back onto his feet, his hand rubbing his still very sore throat though he'd finally stopped coughing. 
[b]"You want to blame someone for this mess? Look at your twin, he's the one who made this deal go south. If he'd kept his mouth shut like I warned him those dealers wouldn't have been so trigger happy and we wouldn't be knee deep in shit right now. THis was supposed to be an easy transaction."[/b] Noah replied hoarsely, he'd need to put some ice on his throat to ease the throbbing. 

Loire finally caught up with Vee, he'd stopped in the med bay to run a quick toc-screen on Valko to ensure he hadn't been poisoned by the nth at any point, luckily the results were clear, nth was so strong, it was an easy drug to find in the system, not so easy to get rid of once you got hooked though. 
[b]"You want to check yourself Viva, because you're messing with the wrong guy. Get us out to Paradiso asap, we'll make the drop off there."[/b] Noah threatened, taking his leave and skulking out to the hall. 

Loire looked to Viva and then to the door where Noah had made his exit. At least they were going to off load the cargo soon ... Paradiso wasn't the nicest of places, but Loire wondered if he could leave when they got there. 
[b]"Your brothers clean."[/b] he said softly, worried that he'd be next to face Viva's fists.
[b]"The nth I mean ... I ran a quick toc-screen to be sure ... he's not been contaminated."[/b]
He looked around nervously, the monitors and screens bleeping here and there, displaying statuses of different components of the ship. Loire didn't know much at all, he never really got an opportunity to hang around in a cockpit, although he'd travelled across space, he'd been a passenger on commercial cruiser type vessels, not a small carrier with an intimately sized crew. 

[b]"I should go stay in the med bay."[/b] he said, clearing his throat softly and leaving to return to the med bay, the one place he was sure he'd be fine, out of the way and out of trouble. 

Noah was in the hell just outside the med bay, looking through the small window at Valko. 
[b]"You can go in you know ..."[/b] Loire said, opening the door to let Noah in. Noah stepped in silently. 
[b]"You know you're stuck here right? Knowing all that you know. I assume Viva was stupid enough to bring you with her to the cargo hold. I warned her to keep out of it."[/b] Noah said, his voice still hoarse. 
[b]"She packs quite the punch I see. I'll get you something for the pain."[/b] Loire said calmly, routing around for a pain-med shot. 
[b]"You're dodging the question doctor."[/b] Noah replied.
[b]"I was hoping you'd drop me off at Paradiso, with your sordid cargo."[/b] Loire gave Noah a shot of pain relief to help his voice. 
[b]"So you can run straight to the feds? Not a chance."[/b] 
[b]"What if I told you I wouldn't turn you in, if you just let me walk, we'd both go our separate ways."[/b]
[b]"You think I'm dumb enough to trust you doctor? After kidnapping you? I'm sure there'd be a hefty reward for turning us in, I got a lot to lose and you got a lot to gain."[/b]
Loire sighed, he'd run from his own demons for a long time, as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't entirely squeaky clean either,although he certainly hadn't done nth dealings. 
[b]"What if I told you that I done some things on Noveria that I shouldn't have and that I was trying to escape? If I warn the feds, they'll investigate my involvement, I'm implicated in all this just as much as you are even though I haven't touched the cargo."[/b]
Noah looked at Loire, properly, deeply, prying into his eyes with an investigating gaze. 
[b]"You trying to tell me you aren't some squeaky clean Citadel-trained doctor? You're running some shady organ farming ring or something?"[/b] Noah pried. 
[b]"I'm not about to tell you all my business, I'm just telling you this. I'm tied up in this as much as you are. Let me go at Paradiso and we can both walk away unscathed."[/b]
Noah smirked, it surprised him... hell it frightened Loire a little. What was he thinking.
[b]"I was beginning to doubt my suspicions about you doctor."[/b] Noah said eerily calm.
[b]"What suspicions?"[/b] Loire asked.
[b]"You're not just surprisingly calm in the face of danger, you're [i]attracted[/i] to it"[/b]

Loire's lips formed a thin line and he looked away. He wasn't prepared for Noah to try and suss him out, psychoanalyse him. 
[b]"I think you're in over your head Noah, just dump your cargo and let me go."[/b]
[b]"What if I made it worth your while? You know how much nth is worth, I could give you a cut."[/b] Noah bartered. 


--cliffhanger!!!--