Tuesday November 13, 2001
Book 2: The Teraport Wars — Quest for Second Sight
Note: In the interest of generating sympathy for our good captain, we should point out that Tagon is pretty cash-poor right now. He just bought his company back from Schlock, and he doesn’t have the money to run a campaign’s worth of paychecks, let alone replace the overpriced, over-rated armor that got sent through the proverbial chipper during their last gig. Without the constant funding from venture capitalists hungering for a revolutionary new star drive*, Tagon’s Toughs must now operate under more of a ‘hand-to-mouth’ business model than it used to. Which is to say, they’ll use their hands to punch you in the mouth if there’s the promise of money somewhere in the exchange.

*Footnote to note: Speaking of ‘revolutionary new star drives,’ the teraport has lived up to that bit of marketing lingo rather unexpectedly by driving revolutions to a new level of violence in star systems all over the galaxy.

Transcript

Tagon: We can't just pack up and make personal trips, no matter the urgency. You need to understand that this is a business.
Tagon: There are wars breaking out all over, Sergeant. I've got hundreds of offers from people willing to pay us good money, just for facing up to some danger with a little bit of extreme violence.
Tagon: Let me generate more capital, and I'll buy you some new eyes.
Schlock: I'll beat the best offer you've got by 10%, and for a job with less than half the danger.
Tagon: Oh. That'll work, too.