CHAPTER 4: FISH'S ROULETTE

BkuD sat impatiently tapping his fingers on the table. His officer aCa sat next to him observing the station room in fervent detail. The two had eerily looking stressed out faces that let anyone who took one look at them, know they had some type of problem that required solving.

Warfish entered the room with Alexssmotor and Cerberus behind her. She sat in the middle and they took a chair aside her. Before she had fully sat down she began to speak.

“So…BkuD. What, seems to be the problem sweetheart” Warfish directly looked at BkuD with a sharp glance leaning that said I mean business as she leaned into the conversation.

“Well….” aCa began to speak as he continued to look around the station walls, then finally connected eye contact with her. “…the issue is regarding territory. CONQUEROR had reached out for help from us and we came to help you guys. Now we expect to be compensated for the hard efforts” aCa paused and looked to BkuD.

“Yes… err.. um well… listen, Warfish, we came to help and the problem is that we don’t have enough planets to scan. We are DROWNING in stations. We have so many people and we don’t have the territory to maintain them. It seems like $IN and FU got a much better territory deal than we did….” BkuD paused…his fingers were ferociously tapping and his left knee was shaking up and down so fast that it was slightly jittering the table they sat at.

“I see.” Warfish said with a coy look on her face. She leaned back in her chair and placed both her hands on the table. “Alexey can you please pour all of us a shot?”

Without speaking, Alexssmotor stood up. His height seemed to intimidate BkuD who looked up in concern then looked back to Warfish and then back to Cerberus who just sat there with a stern look on his face. Alexssmotor poured 6 shots while Warfish continue to speak.

“Listen, there is open territory up in the North. Why don’t you guys take it?”

“Well!! That was the problem Fish, I mean there were so many problems and our men are…well quite frankly they are upset. I mean really upset.” BkuD frantically spoke in rapid tone.

Alexssmotor placed the shots on the table then sat back next to Warfish. She tenderly grabbed his shoulder and slightly squeezed it with her hand as if to silently say thank you while she continued to stare at BkuD directly in his eyes. Warfish divided up the shots, 1 for her and each of her men. 1 for aCa and 2 for BkuD. He immediately gave her a look of confusion and horror.

“Trust me bro, you’re gonna need two”. She smirked then raised the first glass and cheers them, tapped the table and swung back her shot. aCa smoothly followed suit but BkuD seemed completely confused. Warfish stood up and leaned over the table then brought the shot to his face and said, “Drink this sweetheart, its gonna calm you down”.

Reluctantly, he drank the shot, but made an audible sound as the heat of the shot released out his mouth. His nose crinkled and lips pursed. He couldn’t imagine taking another one of…whatever it was that she just made him drink.

“How many wars have you been in?” She asked as he finally stopped mildly coughing.

“Well… I have been in a few. And we have had our days! When we war, its brutal all-out war.” He had become hyper in his speech and overly eccentric.

“Excellent. Then you can just war us for land.” She said in a matter of fact tone. Cerberus stared BkuD down and she could tell it was beginning to intimidate him. Beads of sweat began to drip from his forehead.

“Its hot in here Warfish. And where is Yesman and CONQUEROR and when we talked before we had discussed…”

Abruptly she cut him off, “—They aren’t here. Its why I got you the other shot. You see, now you are dealing with me…and I have unorthodox ways of dealing with these types of ‘problems’” She stood out of her chair and began to move towards a cabinet that required her finger print to open. She placed her thumb and index finger on it and the door released. She pulled out a box and placed it on the table. She clicked the locks on each side and pulled out a gun and placed it on the table. “There was a game our ancestors used to play. A long time ago. I have always been fascinated by it. Do you know why It was so fascinating to me?” She looked at him as she asked her rhetorical question and then looked back at the gun. She proceeded to place 7 bullets on the table and continued, “This, is a Nagant M1895 revolver and we are going to play a little game.”

BkuD and aCa exchanged confused glances as they looked back at her spinning the cylinder. “You want some land? Well I think your men need training. And If you want to take more, you’re going to have to war us for it. Furthermore, I am going to hit your men and they are going to get the training they need to survive in lands like this”. She still held that same coy smile she had since she walked in the room.

BkuD’s breathing was heavy and fast. He exclaimed, “We can merge!!! Fish we can merge! We can bring our teams together. Our men and your men!”

She brought the gun to her head with a devilish smile.

aCa slammed his hand on the table. “Warfish STOP!”

She pulled the trigger. A quick click but nothing released. She burst out laughing which only made aCa and BkuD more uneasy.

“Warfish! What are you doing?! I don’t understand! We are supposed to be reorganizing territory! What is going on!” BkuD cried in a frenzy.

Ignoring his pleas, she stood up and leaned the gun into Cerberus head. Cerberus looked down at the table and he grew a smile on his face.

“Are you ready Cerberus!! You ready? 1….2….” aCa stood up horrified and moved his back to the wall in disbelief of what was happening. BkuD remained in his seat, his eyes like a wide doe eyed dear.

“3!” She clicked the trigger while Cerberus remained seated, unflinching as he stared straight into their eyes. He began to clap when no bullet released.

Alexssmotor looked at Warfish with a compassionate yet objective face and she smiled at him and nodded. “BukD… its your turn!”

He jumped out of his chair causing it fall to the floor.

“YOU FUCKING CUNT!!” BkuD cried out in panic as he clung to aCa.

“Are you taunting us??!!” aCa inquired in a worried tone as he held BkuD.

She pointed the gun at them both and her smile began to fade. She looked at Alexssmotor and rolled her eyes.

“You’re right. They don’t get it. Sit down. Sit down guys.” She sat down and gestured them to do the same with the gun.

They sat confused and she leaned into the table.

“If you guys spent half as much time talking, as you do paying attention to details, you’d notice that all 7 bullets have been on the table the whole time. This is why, your team needs practice. You see, I believe leadership is top down. And I’ve heard…no offense, but I’ve heard… that you guys aren’t exactly… organized. I want you to show me what you got! I am going to coordinate a launch of a series of attacks on your team. It’s up to you - to train them. Teach your men how to last without a quantum shield! Because they don't grow on trees and we need to start ensuring that our players form good habits. I am giving you advance warning - because my goal here is not to hurt you guys….even though it might feel like that…resources here are scarce. Land is scarce and while many might think this NOT the way to prepare people – I whole heartedly disagree. You want to take your second shot now?”. Cerberus nodded his head to her words and Alexssmotor stared straight at them. Cerberus was the more wild of the two. Alexssmotor had a calm composure to him which reminded Warfish when she was pushing too far.

aCa stood up in defiance. “You fucking bitch”.

Alexssmotor’s chest inflated but Warfish quickly grabbed his knee and looked at him. The both nodded their heads as he let out a sigh.

“You want to hit me? Then I suggest your team learns how to do that sweetheart!” Warfish stood up and playfully smiled. Cerberus and Alexssmotor followed her. Alexssmotor stopped and gave them instruction on how to the leave the station.