Quiff Boy wrote: ↑21 Oct 2020, 12:48But "Casablanca In Space" could be a thing
The year is 2067. President-for-life Baron Trump's Space Force has invaded the Mintaka system with the intention of creating a 10,000-year intergalactic reich. Those looking to escape often make their way to Alnitak to try to get exit permits, on account of Alnitak's easily-corrupted officials and its reputation for being a hive of scum and villainy where anything and everything is available - for a price.
"Bogey" MacTavish, an amoral, hard-drinking, cross-dressing space pirate, reputed to be more crooked than the hindleg of an Arcturian megadonkey, runs Rick's, a bar-cum-knocking shop-cum-casino-cum-2nd hand bookshop specialising in niche art pamphlets. Named for the original owner from whom Bogey won the joint in a game of Soggy Biscuits, Rick's is known throughout the system as a place where, if you can't get it there, then you can't get it anywhere. MacTavish has been on the Space Force's radar for some time, following allegations that he assisted in the escape of several notorious Custard Cream smugglers. So far he has managed to stay out of the clutches of the Space Force by paying off members of the local constabulary, but the net is closing, and closing fast.
"Fast Louie" Beauchamps heads the local fuzz. As wide as he is tall, Louie's tastes in women mirror his tastes in spacecraft - he likes 'em hot and stolen. There isn't an illicit game of roulette, poker, blackjack or Cripple Mr Onion in the system that he doesn't have at least one of his short fat fingers in, and his interests in the flesh trade have allowed him to pursue a lifestyle far more lavish than the salary of a provincial copper would allow. He's a frequent visitor to Rick's, either on his own time or less frequently when leading one of the "raids" against the establishment mandated by the Space Force. Since Louie has a 20% stake in the place, and its closure would put a significant crimp in lifestyle, he tips Bogey off in good time so that the most his constables ever find is an illicit bottle of Bucky.
"Easy Ilse" Lundkvist, a woman Bogey once carried a torch for. Legs for days, a bust you could rest a pint on, and the kind of smouldering voice that would put the fire brigades of a dozen galaxies on high alert, Ilse and Bogey were an item years ago, and what an item: together they boosted star-freighters, hijacked diplomatic shuttles, and raided banks from Betelgeuse to Sirius. But Ilse left him high and dry after a job on Ptarris, left him holding the bag to take the rap - Bogey escaped the law by the skin of his few remaining teeth, and he's made it known that if he ever runs into Ilse again he'll make her pay for her betrayal.
"Keys" Samuels, bouncer at Rick's and Bogey's personal heavy. Once a world-class concert pianist, Keys has been on the run since dropping a Bechstein on one of the finalists in the Rachmaninoff International for a laugh, quipping that "I guess he'll play a little flat from now on". He's been Bogey's right hand since the Ilse days - wheelman, leg-breaker, frightener. His weapon of choice is a cast-iron flute - more than one debtor, card-sharp, and squealer have heard Bogey say "Play it again, Sam" as Keys doles out punishment. Only Samuels knows the truth about Bogey and Ilse - that Bogey can't get the dame off his mind, that the flame he carries for her has never been extinguished - and he'll never tell.
As the grip of the Space Force closes around Mintaka, so the flow of refugees into Alnitak increases. Time is running out, and exit visas change hands for increasing sums - they say that life is cheap on Alnitak, and so it is. But death is expensive, and there are some who would stop at nothing to obtain the documents to allow them to escape Trump's clutches. Among the pitiable stream of would-be-escapees making their way to Rick's - bearded FUCT clerics, publishers whose premises were torched for "selling books with long words in", Covfefe bootleggers - comes a blonde that would make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.
Ilse.
And with her, perhaps Mintaka's last chance at fighting back against the Space Force.
But unless she can get travel permits for them both, the future for Alnitak and the rest of the system looks bleak indeed.
