FRAWD Investigators: DORF Star | Scene 5

Lilly and Imogen are stepping onto the busy street outside of Grom LLC when Lilly’s phone rings. “Hey, Durian! What’s up?”

Eyebrows raised, Imogen gives Lilly a playful elbowing and then leans in a bit, trying to listen in on her partner’s conversation with the friendly mercenary they met on their trip to Redstone III.

“Hey, how you doing? I was thinking you might be back on Korhal. I just wanted to give you an update…”

“Yeah?”

“I started my own mercenary company.”

“Yeah?!”

“I, you know, left Grom LLC, or… uh, I left on my own accord. But yeah! We are the—well, really it’s just me right now… I am the ‘Endurians’.”

Lilly’s grin bleeds into her voice a bit. “The Endurian.”

“I know that sometimes you work with mercenary companies…. If you need some help, I can definitely be there to help,” Durian stumbles through his pitch a bit, still ironing out the rough edges. “I don’t have transportation, but, uh, I can go along with. And I’m just a single guy, no overhead, so it’s just 50 credits an hour, duty-time.”

Imogen elbows Lilly again and says in a stage-whisper, “He said he’s a single guy!”

Durian hears something from the other end of the line, but he is not sure what, so he quickly qualifies what might sound too pricey. “But it’s capped at 300 credits a day, so if you need me all day long…”

“Sure thing, Durian!” Lilly replies with a smile.

“So, uh, do you happen to have any jobs that you need me for?”

“We might have a job for you.”

“Cool. Just let me know where to be, what armaments to have, and I will be happy to assist.”

“Yeah,” Lilly replies. “Let me just talk to Imogen about what our needs are.” She agrees to get back in touch with him when she is ready to discuss details. The phone is not the right place for feeling out his discretion.

Durian inflates himself up a bit. “If my schedule fills up, I’ll profusely apologize, but I’ll try to make room for you two. Shouldn’t be a problem.” 

Lilly tells him she understands and thanks him for calling. Once off the line, she turns to Imogen. “So, if we need some help with this DORF job… did you hear all that?”

“I mean, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop…” Imogen replies, “but, aye.”

“Yeah, so, do you remember Durian?”

Imogen looks at Lilly a moment, shocked. “Aye.” Of course she remembers Durian. If it were not for his intervention, she and Lilly would still be on Redstone III. “I wonder if it was his argument with that pilot that caused his split from Grom…” 

“Ah.”

“He wasn’t happy about her abandoning us.”

“It was kind of a crap thing for her to do,” Lilly notes.

“I’m surprised he wasn’t calling to offer you a job to join his band,” Imogen tells her. It certainly seems that Lilly has the skills for that kind of career.

“He’s probably not ready to hire yet,” Lilly points out.

“Well, depending on what we see when we get out to DORF, it might be good to have another strong arm involved.” 

“I trust Durian,” Lilly asserts.

Imogen is more worried about the credits than she is about his trustworthiness, especially since Malorn is not paying them in funds for the heist. Lilly observes that the actual job might not take too long, so they would only be dealing with Durian’s hourly rate. Imogen counters that they still need to buy all those parts Rory needs. That reminds Lilly that she thought Li June might also want some things from Korhal. 

With that in mind, Imogen calls the former magistrate and tells her that they have a new zerg sample they can deliver in a couple weeks when they are back on Mar Sara. She offers to pick up any technology or supplies Li might need from Korhal. When Li hears that they are on the Dominion capital world right now, she gives Imogen some instructions for phone settings to adjust for security purposes. Lilly helps Imogen sort that out, and then Li feels more comfortable continuing the conversation. Imogen describes the blobolisk that Egon was studying, and Li deems it interesting enough to wire them payment upfront for it. She also sends extra money for some items she wants, along with a delivery fee. 

With all that taken care of, hiring Durian is back on the table. But first, they need to find out what they are dealing with at the Dominion Optics Research Facility.