There seemed to be funny little stars and flashing lights dancing before the pilot's eyes as he stared at the tavern ceiling while laying on his back. It was only after he blinked his eyes a couple of times did they go away. He swallowed and coughed a couple of times. There was a sweet yet spicy taste on his tongue and he could still feel the heat of the beverage he drank warming his throat and stomach. He had known that something like this would happen as soon as he took a drink, but it only knocked him on his ass because of how distracted he was with posting his recruitment notice on the local network frequencies. There was chatter coming from the bar, a couple of humans glancing over at the Captain as he remained laying on the floor for a little longer. There's words were whispered and hushed though so it wasn't clear what they were saying, but it would most likely have been along the lines of how 'he couldn't take their drink'. Ruce didn't care what they said. He could handle his drinks... usually. The more Earthen drinks anyway. These alien 'drinks' could have come from anywhere.

The Captain shuddered at the thought and was about to start hauling himself back up to his feet when a shadow was cast over him. Someone was leaning over him and looking down and the scruffy pilot didn't need to see their face to know who it was from the tone of their voice.
[color=007236]"Oh this is all I fuckin' need..."[/color]
Benner rolled onto his right hand side and flopped over onto his stomach, where he frowned heavily at the young man's next set of words, where upon Ruce pushed himself up onto his feet and stuck a pointing finger in Sky's face.
[color=007236]"Har har, Sky's got his sense of humour out today! Oh we're all in fuckin' trouble now!"[/color]
The young brown-haired pilot took his brown leather jacket off and slung it over the stool he was sitting on, revealing the tight fitting long sleeved black shirt he wore. Rolling up his sleeves, you'd see from the pilot's arms that he had some muscle on him. Not a body-building beefcake by any means, for his arms were slender but toned. After dusting himself off, mainly the backs of his legs and butt, Ruce frowned back at Sky and returned the same pointed finger back into his face, almost growling as he spoke.
[color=007236]"Yer don't 'ave to brag to me about 'ow much yer like bein' on bottom. I've seen those videos y'know, an' I know Alexia is the man in yer relationship."[/color]
A buzz from the bartop caught the pilot's attention and he glanced over his shoulder to see his datapad had received a message, but he turned back to the man before him for the time being, placing his hands on his hips and looking Sky up and down carefully.

[color=007236]"Huh, yer grown taller. Anyway, wha' brings a no good, backwater, menopause sell-sword like yer to Moni Vortau? Isn't this place too clean an' posh for yer? Oh wait, yer 'eard I was stoppin' buy an' yer came to see yer ol' buddy? Aww, tha's sweet. Alexia would be so proud to 'ear her baby boy is finally startin' to interact with people, [i]without[/i] cuttin' 'em in half for once."[/color]
Ruce chuckled heartily and slapped Sky hard on his upper right arm, as was his usual way of greeting the mercenary. Turning about and sitting on top his jacket, the pilot picked up his datapad and glanced at the message he received, oddly enough from Tes. He grinned at her words and tossed the datapad back onto the bar top, picking up his glass and this time, taking a more careful sip of the deep red liquor, feeling it heat him up nicely as it slid down. Ruce inhaled through clenched teeth, making a hissing sound as he felt the effect of the beverage wash over him before fading away. Turning to Sky, the Captain brought his hand up and offered the mercenary a taste.
[color=007236]"Try this yer lethargic, pessimistic bastard. It'll put some hair on yer chest. Maybe on yer eyeballs too!"[/color]
The scruffy pilot swizzled his stool back around so he were facing the bar again and he dragged his datapad closer to him. Logging into the city's local merchandise network, Ruce browsed some of the shops in the local area, mostly ship outfitting and and equipment stalls. The sooner he got the order of some new armoured hull plates out the way, the sooner he could get back to his drink and his surprise guest.

[color=007236]"Hey Sky, 'ow long yer been workin' in the mercenary business now?"[/color]
The Captain asked genuinely as he glanced over a ship outfitting store, mostly selling munitions and other weapon modules. There wasn't anything too particularly fancy; mostly autocannons, missile launches and mining lasers and even then these weren't high end. Grade 2 at best, maybe 3 if you were really lucky.
[color=007236][i]There are some forward facin' weapon mounts on the Valkyrie... I wonder if whatever is housed their is as broken as the rear railgun? After the run in with the Expanse earlier... I got this gut feelin' tha' the Valkyrie is gonna need some workin', reliable firepower...[/i][/color]
Putting that thought on hold, Benner decided it'll be better to get the hull patched up first, then he could think more about getting some weapons. As he continued to browse the shops on his handheld datapad, the Captain glanced back over to Sky and frowned at him, turning his head his way a moment later.
[color=007236]"Yer up to date with all the bigger corporations, right? Wha's the true reason behind the Zantu Expanse brinin' the Hundu Zephyr all the way out 'ere? I highly doubt they're 'ere just to recruit new employees."[/color]