[i]
Bojo respawned on his uplink and was walking back to base, sad and defeated, preparing for another suicidal attempt to push out of the redline. The pubstompers were simply too fat.

As he reached the base, he heard a bang.

Frowning, he rounded the corner. He saw a merc with a smoking scrambler pistol in his hand, a hole in his helmet.

"What in the name of the Jovians happened here..."

Bojo took a closer look.

"Damn, he had his proto scrambler pistol equip too."

She agreed to come with me.

I was shocked. She actually agreed to come on a date with me.

I was pacing nervously. I checked the time.

Any time now, I thought. Any time now.

And here, of all places! I almost laughed with glee when she said yes. I was no rich kid, but all my soul and effort I had poured into getting her here, with me.

I locked around. The spot was by no means glamourous or exciting, but the ground was perfect, flat and warm... my imagination wandered... I saw her, beautiful, sprawled out on the ground... me approaching her, caressing her, entering her... I shuddered.

No. I must not let her see my desperation. It is unbecoming.

So I took a deep breath and kept pacing. To and fro, to and fro, so excited.

Suddenly, my phone rang. I picked up immediately.

"Honey? Sweetie?"

There was a pause.

Then-

"RDV request denied: Deployment location inaccessible."

I fell to my knees. My dropship had rejected me.

-

Bob respawned on his uplink and was walking back to base, sad and defeated, preparing for another suicidal attempt to push out of the redline. The pubstompers were simply too fat.

As he reached the base, he heard a bang.

Frowning, he rounded the corner. He saw a merc with a smoking scrambler pistol in his hand, a hole in his helmet.

"What in the name of the Jovians happened here..."

Bob took a closer look.

"Damn, he had his protogear on too."