While waiting for Samurai or Titan to respond, Thunder watched the latest news report on the holovid on his ship. The newscaster first talked about the latest news about the war on the renegade front, then began a story on a new UE officer in charge of weapons research by the name of Taylor. Realizing that this was what he was waiting for, Thunder adjusted his navigation and engines for atmospheric flight and quickly took off, heading for Taylor's last known location. After about 10 minutes of atmospheric flight, Thunder landed at a spaceport somewhere in North America, and set off to look for Taylor's ship. After asking several UE officers, he was directed to landing bay 4, where he saw a man he recognized as Taylor from the holovid.
"Hey! Taylor!" Thunder called out. Taylor, talking to two UE officers, turned around to see who was talking to him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Thunder, an independent merchant who has something you might be interested in."
"And what is that?"
Thunder opened the leather pouch and let one of the blue crystals inside slide out into his hand, which he held up to Taylor. "Aligned Crystals. The operative component to the Zidagar Phased Beam. A Zidagar man gave me this one to keep it out of Azdgari hands. I understand you're in charge of UE weapons research, right? I want to give this to you. Study it, find out what it's made of, and how to grow more. With any luck you can develop some kind of beam weapon with it. You won't get another offer like this!"
"And what do you want in return?" Taylor asked.
"All I ask in return is your thanks and a single copy of whatever weapon you can derive from this crystal. Oh, and I'm also giving one crystal to your allies the Zachit as well. I'd appreciate it if you'd send a small UE fighter escort with me back to Outpost Zachit, to make sure the second crystal doesn't fall into enemy hands. So, what do you say?"
Thunder waits for Taylor to respond...
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Do not taunt the Happy Fun Ball. If Happy Fun Ball starts to smoke, run away and take cover.
(This message has been edited by Thunder (edited 02-24-2001).)