The Steersman had seen the Merc at the Crater Supply on numerous occasions, every one a stand off. It had almost become a routine. He would walk in, the Merc would have some smart 'tough guy' line at the ready, "Don't try anything" seemed to be his favourite. Steersman would just take it, occasionally staring at him just long enough to make the Merc uncomfortable... a flinch or an obtuse comment about Moira's 'experiments'.

The day he found that schematic for a Nuka Grenade made up for it all. As he walked through the door the Merc predictably mumbled a veiled threat. The Steersman, as usual, said nothing. Walking to the workbench he took an old tin can fron his pack, placed it on the wooden surface and stared at it's asthetic, occassionally moving it as though it was an object'd'art. The Merc looked bemused. "Gonna make a Fat-Man with that?" he quiped with his usual smirk.

The Steersman took an old rusty blade from the tool box on the bench and removed what was left of the lid. To an onlooker, it would be as if watching a sculpter at work. The lid was extracted with a surgeon's patience and precision. The lid was then hammered flat and placed to one side. Reaching into his pack a second time, Steersman took out a glowing bottle of Quantum. For the first time the Merc looked interested. "Is that what I think it is?". The Steersman slamed the bottleneck against edge of the table, causing the Merc to flinch. The bottlecap was retrieved and placed in the Steersman's back pocket. Lifting the can and tilting it, he poured in the Quantum with a finess that would make the finest barman, even Moriarty, blush. Not a drop was spilt.

Carefully arranging the vice, The Steersman placed a small bottle of turpentine at an angle above the glowing liquid. Finally he turned to the Merc. "When I open this, it`s going to fill that can by one drop every second, if you move, you're dead, if you speak you're dead, if you breath too heavily, you're dead." The Merc opened his mouth in protest but the Steersman had already unscrewed the top and simply put his finger to his lips and said "Shhhhh".

As the Steersman left the Crater, he slammed the door a little too loudly for the Merc's liking and a small wet patch began to enlarge on the Merc's pants.

Outside, he carefully took a small note and placed it on the door. "Did he agree?" said Moira excitedly. "Sure" said the Steersman, "It was very good of you to do that for him Moira, you know he'd never have asked himself". Smiling he headed for his balcony to enjoy a beer as the sun was rising.

Smiling too, Moira re-read the note she had given the Steersman the previous night...

"Closed in honour of the Crater Supply`s guardian angel, sorry for the inconvenience but everyone deserves a day off on their Birthday".

Not bad could use more work but what can I say you don't see me writing fan-fic. 7.5/10

Thanks a lot! I'll take a 7.5 anyday.

Very interesting, 8/10 :thumbsup:

Thank you Adam, I actually just made a Nuka grenade in the game and the Merc said a typical comment, but it set my imagination off. Glad you liked it.

hmm...not bad.

8/10! Not bad, for a first attempt! Got any more?

Well, I have a couple of ideas, I want to keep my stories short and punchy. The next one is called "The penny drops" which is a conversation between the Steersman and Tenpenny, I kind of like it so far, Im also working on "Steersman and the lucky merchant" which, again is mostly dialogue. Not many people have commented on this one, but Im so glad that they liked it.

I usually lose interest in the longer fin-fics, but this felt just long enough for me
Looking forward to your future ones.

Thanks Mullac, much appreciated.