Eric Fuoco ignored the nasty look that the grizzled bartender shot at him when he rested his heels on the table. The fine leather boots were polished to perfection and gleamed in the sickly, yellow light as his stormcloud-gray eyes swept over the unsavory crowd. As usual, the beer tasted more like stale water, but in spite of the lousy quality, this particular pub was the best place on this particular rock to find a billet on an outbound ship. Usually, at least. Today, it seemed, the crowd was thinner than the beer. He tossed a few credit slips contemptuously onto the table beside the barely-emptied mug and shook his head, muttering in frustration as he made his way back out into the street.<br/><br/>It was several blocks away when he saw a small group of people gathered around a notice board, arguing animatedly among themselves. He wandered over to them, brushing his dark hair back from his forehead with one hand as he stepped through the wind that blew down the center of the narrow, high-walled valley of the street. He tuned out the bickering strangers as he read, over their shoulders, the notice that they were bickering about, and then smiled to himself. Perhaps something interesting would come about, after all.  His long arm shot out between the men and tore the notice down, ignoring their squawks of protest and outrage. He crumpled the paper in one hand and tossed it back over his shoulder to bounce and roll in the wind until it ended up in the gutter sludge, as he made his way toward the specified location, glad that it was a much nicer pub than the one he'd just left.<br/><br/>Much nicer, indeed, Eric reflected as he pushed open the heavy door with the gilded handles. Not where one usually expected to find the sort of trash he usually worked for, but anything was better than being stuck planetside for too long. He could see the group of waiting hopefuls standing some paces away from one of the small tables, watching impatiently as an attractive, if bored-looking young woman sat speaking with a spindly, tow-headed kid. He shook his head and walked to the bar with a grin, and pointed to a bottle on the top shelf, without a word. When the barman turned to get it, he leaned over the counter and reached behind it, and his fingers quickly found what they were looking for. He pressed the silent alarm button, then straightened quickly and dropped the sizable bunch of credit slips into the man's hand. "Thanks." He said, then waited. As expected, the sound of the security force sirens approached a few minutes later, and the throng that had been waiting to speak to the girl thinned out and disappeared as his less than reputable competition made their way to the nearest rear exits.<br/><br/>He strode across the room to the table and set down the bottle before claiming the now vacant seat across from her. Flashing his most winning smile, he reached across the table for her hand and lowered his head to kiss it. "It's nice to meet such a lovely lady," he said, raising his head and meeting her gaze without reservation. "My name is Eric Fuoco, and I'm going to be your boss' new apprentice."