Face to Face: A conversation between Byblos and Joe Manning

[Byblos 0]

(written by Byblos and Joe Manning)

 

 

Byblos having made certain he had lost his the individual known as Samus, decided he HAD to talk to the Boss. The last conversation with him bothered him and since the Boss knew Samus better than he did, he activated the Comm outside Joe Manning's quarters.

 

"Boss, Byblos. I need to speak with you right now, regarding out guest." Byblos' voice betrayed urgency on the COMM..

 

"Just a second," Joe answered.

 

The door to the Captain's quarters slid open. Joe had been sitting at his desk reading over some old letters he'd kept in his personal strongbox since coming to Bull's Head. The letters were once again stashed away, and Joe waved Byblos inside.

 

"Boss, that guy Samus. I think he just tried to buy me off."

 

"Did he now?" Joe did his best to sound surprised, though his face showed no such reaction. "Your use of the word 'tried' intrigues me, Byblos. I'm assuming you politely let him down? Or are you thinking about his offer?"

 

"What he suggested he would do is, somehow get the bounty off of my head on Tranquility." Byblos shaked his head. "That just is impossible. He can't be that close with Savoy and, she's not the type to let go of a a guy that planned..but did not do the killing of a bunch of Guardians. And, Of course he purchases clothes for me before this all happens." Byblos looked at the deck then his employer.”

 

"You have far more leverage on me than this guy Boss. I am not stupid as I look. Hence I thought you should know what he tried. As for what the heck he sees in me. I have no clue. I just said let me think about it"

 

"Hmm," Joe stared at the wall behind his desk for a moment, then looked back up at Byblos. "Sounds like Samus to know about the bounty and to offer you a way out of it. And while I can guarantee you that he and Savoy are not close at all, I wouldn't put it past him to go right over Savoy's head and take it up with higher authorities in the Guardians. Samus collects favors in very high places."

 

Joe turned his chair toward Byblos. "You Nausicaans do your business a certain way. Very keen on strong authority. The one running things -- the Boss as you would say -- is not unlike a tyrant; he has to be to stay in charge. The ones following either obey without question or rebel and find someone stronger to follow. That ain't the way I do things, though. While I expect my crew to trust my decisions enough to follow my orders when I give them, I also give my crew plenty of leeway and I never stand in the way if one of them wants to pursue other opportunities.

 

"Truth is, Byblos, I ain't got any leverage on you that I see any reason to use right now. If you ever crossed me or my crew, tried to hurt one of us, tried to sell us out, I'd turn you over to the Guardians right quick. But I get the feeling you wouldn't do that without a damned good reason, any sooner than I'd turn you in without good reason.

 

"You want to go work for Samus, be my guest. His crew is certainly stronger than mine. He'd pay you more. He might even be able to get the Guardians off your back or at least protect you from them. And he'd be no more of a tyrant than me. He might just be a better employer for a Nausicaan. Only caveat is that he'd expect you to get your hands dirty. You'd be doin' the same type of work that his pet thug Duke does for him, the work he likes to pretend his syndicate never stoops to. It's up to you to decide whether that's the kind of work you want, or whether there's more to your reluctance to leave this crew than knowin' that I have leverage on you."

 

Byblos paused nodded then shaked his head and nodded again. "Boss, uh I mean Joe if I came across as you being a tyrant, My apologies. I just, well we haven't really gotten down to address each other. To be honest Joe, I don't trust Mr. Samus. The man plays himself like an extravagant wealthy man, then Pher, Chris and I go see his ‘Tailor’ and his associates disposing of bodies. Samus clearly gets his products from raiding starships. Maybe that Pet`aQ Redding is bringing the stuff in. How do I know? I did the same thing before I came to Bulls Head, albeit I was just a mop boy under my father's command. We boarded and butchered crews and took what we want or needed."

 

"I'm done with that. I mean if you're going to jyke with me, you will pay the price. Diklyt made that mistake. Samus however, is relevant to our current job our pay. Two Years ago I made a foolish attempt to kill my boss, who clearly I underestimated.” Byblos trailed off..

 

"You, are an interesting employer. You let people wander aboard your ship alone with you by yourself, you let your employees do a lot of planning for you. You pilot a ship into battle that, My Father would have in a drydock. You are taking on a job at the moment that I would not, since this crew is not in sync. You hired me. You take big risks uh Joe.

 

"I owe you one other piece of information not about Samus, but myself."

 

The Nausicaan turned around took his jacket off then his longsleeve undershirt, revealing his back and the impact crater on his lower back.

 

"It was a point blank shot. I am pretty certain as a result of the heat, I have some fused vertebrae. Or something. It has never been looked at." Byblos began to put his clothes back on.

 

"You have the right to know when you hire damaged goods. I was too desperate to leave Tranquility to mention it when you signed me on. I have worked around the damage, strengthening my upper body and legs, but it does need attention."

 

"I probably could get this fixed working for Samus, but. " Byblos tidied himself, turning to face Joe. " I prefer working to work with you. You are no backstabber. And if you need me to take the head of Duke Redding. It would be my extreme pleasure. Now I think I have taken enough of your time Boss, I'll leave now....”

 

The Nausicaan departed Joe’s Quarters, hearing some conversation further down the hull.