Jack Pine
Well-Known Member
From the black of space crept a Ge-L4-1a Sessou-Class Medium Freighter on its final approach to enter the orbit of planet 188604, a sleek and modern silver that reflected like a shooting star the light of the burning sun.
The vessel sailed silently as it made its gentle course adjustments. A silent grace that would be disrupted as the silhouette of a Broadsword ascended over the horizon, static filling the radio, ">static <...pare to be fired on," being the only words to come through.
In an instant eight massive plumes of thick, sensor disrupting smoke erupted in the path of the ship, blinding them to the pair of YV1 Interceptors approaching fast and hard. Cutting through the smoke they passed above the large freighter dispensing a huge barrage of small EMP rockets across the ships dorsal, disrupting the shields enough to get hits through to the hull. Lights flickered within the huge ship but no real damage occurred beyond tripped breakers in the engine room. A warning shot.
"We say again," the Broadsword called again, "this is FSS Stellar Flare calling unidentified freighter. You are in an unauthorized orbit. Respond immediately and identify."
The Freighter captain's eyes widened as the humble craft was suddenly confronted with the silhouette of a Broadsword coming towards them. "By the Empress, what..? he looked wildly around to the faces of the other IIS-jumpsuited bridge crew. A wide-eyed comms operator looked up to the captain as she turned from her monitor. "They're frontier service, or claim to be so, sir."
"Shit, let's see what they want. Quarter speed, open a channel." the bearded captain gave a snappy order, yet with a concerned undertone. She tapped a few keys before nodding to the senior officer.
"This is the IIS Industrious, we read you Stellar Flare . We are unarmed and reducing speed. We are a civilian craft and we are non-combatants that have not displayed aggression. Cease fire immediately." the grizzled captain spoke as confidently as he could.
One of the younger junior officers took off from his seat and crouched beside the Captain's chair. Sliding a panel to one side, he pulled out a small black box and set it to one side. Using the flanged key that hung around his neck, the younger man opened the box. At the very top was a credit chip and a pistol, both of which he brushed aside, hefting a thick red manual titled "IIS Emergency Procedures".
The response was immediate, "IIS Industrious you are on a collision course with drone FsRHS12," a young man claimed, "evade to heading one one zero immediately! Shields !" The order was to turn hard to starboard
The radar signalsman shook his head decisively. Either they couldn't see the drone or this was some sort of ploy. While they'd been given a callsign there was no way to verify it easily.
The captain nodded swiftly to the helmsman who diverted course. "Cut engines, follow procedure." he instructed simply, eyes trailing to the crouched officer as he leafed through the manual. "Anti-piracy.." the bookworm muttered under his breath, reaching the page. "Secure craft from boarding, request assistance from enclosed contact number. Fire long-wave beacon if necessary." he read aloud, the lights flickering overhead.
He snapped open a sealed envelope and passed it to the comms officer, which she stared at as she keyed in the emergency line. The slow freighter began to grind to a halt, dead in space.
From seemingly nowhere the drone in question peaked over the horizon traveling much too fast for the freighter to evade. "It's too late. Raptors, take it down!" the cruiser's radio operator called on an open channel.
"Copy that, Stellar Flare, Attacking drone," they responded as they approached on an interception course.
"TARGET LOCKED. G-TAM ENGAGED," the flight leader's computer confirmed. Streaks of red and blue bent heavily as the two interceptors converged on the drone with laser fire. In turn the drone became a shower of supersonic debris, peppering the freighter's shields.
The explosion blossomed outside the freighter before the freighter could detect the weapons, only a few hundred meters away. The comms officer held the communicator to her ear just as the light show flashed up so close. "Howard Station Emergen-" was all that came through the device before it was interrupted by the captain.
"Brace! BRACE!" he shouted, gripping the nearest console as the chunks of molten metal smashed into the already weakened shields of the ship like buckshot. Warnings flashed up as several chunks slipped through, crumpling into the hull and causing the crew to buckle against their restraints.
Warning lights flashes up, several compartments were breached, the contents being blown out into space with decompression. The first officer groaned as he shook his head, the older captain still recovering. "Did we lose anyone?" he shouted through the moans that filled the bridge.
"Industrious, what is your status?" the radio operator asked urgently, "medical services have been dispatched, do you require tugs?"
The man with the manual glanced over the pages with trauma-bleary eyes. "N-.. Y- That's not the right line." he mumbled over to the comms girl, her blonde hair as if it had been dragged through a fence backwards.
The first officer seemed to be less affected than the others, unclipping his belt and stepping up as the elderly captain took a moment. "Howard Station must have intercepted our comms, that's meant to go through to our security. Tell them what's happening. Don't fire the beacon."
The Industrious' damage control crews hustled around the ship as the comms operator explained the situation best she could, though not to the people they expected.
The radio operator would continue hailing though the decision had been made to tow the ship into port. Within minutes a flat white Starbryte shuttle approached, red holographic flashes pulsing along their silhouette. Following just behind a pair of C5c drones approached.
"Industrious, this is captain Fiona of Stellar Flare. Emergency services have arrived. We are to escort you to Howard Station for repairs, please lower your shields and receive medical personnel," a woman of age responded.
The first officer paused as the grey-maned captain gathered his senses and stood, patting him on the shoulders. Before responding to the hail, he pressed the intercom, "Chief, make sure the thermite is primed on the goods." Nodding to his first officer, he said simply "Key."
The first officer's eyebrow raised, as he went to his own neck and pulled off a red-coloured, simple key and stepped to the main console. The captain then paced to the woman at comms, passing to the other side of the first officer as she took his transmission. "Industrious to Flare, copy. We will lower our shields." he spoke gruffly, then in a more playful tone "Think we might need your help with some paperwork, captain Fiona, heh."
The cruiser's captain would only try not to laugh. She would be spending the next two hours pushing paper labeled Industrious followed by an inquiry on the drone, which was actually two drones coupled together.
"You want to talk about paperwork, captain? That was two drones, four dozen rockets, smokescreen shells and a collision. I'm going to be working late enough as it is," she responded, "our shuttle is arriving off your starboard side bow airlock."
The shields blinked out with the push of a button as the Station shuttles drew close. "Receiving them now, captain." he nodded to nearest officer, who set to work. "I'll bring some pens." he chuckled lightly.
The starbryte made gentle contact with the airlock as it powered down. In a moment the three occupants would disembark onto the larger vessel. The first two of them wore very simple, yet modern spacesuits with bags of medical instruments while the third wore Impulse powered armor and carried a large, rifle-ish looking device with a large stock, obviously built to lock onto the armor, and a barrel of a seemingly massive caliber. He would look like a tank killer had his armor and cannon thing not been painted neon yellow with black stripes, similar to a bulldozer.
Contrary to intimidating appearances the device was in fact a graviton projector, a tractor beam with a variety of uses in demolition, construction, retrieval, and if used unsafely harming people. The tool was becoming a common sight around the shipyard.
"Is anyone hurt?" the first medic called, to be met by a rather frazzled-looking technician who directed them to those who had been hurt more than shaken. Luckily nobody had been blown out of the hull breaches.
Outside the two C5c drones would attach to the sides of the forward engine pylons in a way that would improve the turn radius of the ship. Navigation to the station would take an hour as the vessel limped along.
With the Sessou, her escort of tugs and the Broadsword quickly coming up on Howard Station in the distance. The captain and executive officer stood alone on the bridge, the medics and escort handling the crew further down the ship and the rest readying for departure. "Jeez, Mike. Section 6 are going to be on all sorts of alarms when we're late." the first officer muttered, his captain looking to him. "Get on the comms to tell them as soon as we dock, I'll deal with all this."
Huge clamps contacted the hull from top and bottom, each one securing to the hull with graviton projectors, as the vessel came to a stop within a massive hangar bay. With the thrusters powering down a force field sealed the opening of the chamber and atmosphere was pumped in. While there was no gravitational field the loading ramps and airlock rings each had a sort of gravitic pull from the floor panels noticeable up to only about half a meter, which left a good part of an average sized human completely weightless from the torso up.
The atmosphere remained thin at full pressure, a precaution taken for limiting damage caused by decompression, and the cold was harsh, dry 10°C.
A loading ramp extended to meet the ships cargo bay as more medical and construction personnel began marching out to escort the crew to the interior facilities.
The IIS crew in their signature multi-coloured jumpsuits began filing out of the damaged ships, following the lead of those who waved them towards the warmer parts of the ship. "Christ it's cold, Mack." the captain muttered to his first officer as they stepped off, "Go find a long-range communicator and get everyone up to speed."
"You got it Mike." the XO nodded in return, taking off at a jogging pace as the captain awaited for whoever looked official to approach him. "Chief, you're still inside, right? I want that cargo watched." he buzzed down local comms, to a gruff grunt of acknowledgement.
Entering through the force field came a black ACV-1 Alligator transport/gunship which came to land on a smaller landing pad near to the rear of the massive hangar. The ramp lowered to drop off a tired looking woman, near her late 50s, wearing a rugged dark blue spacesuit with a camouflaged pattern, armed only with a holstered pistol and large datapad. Her eyes covered by sports styled shades, it would be difficult at best to know the array of data she viewed through her high tech eyewhere.
The IIS captain raised a grey-tinged eyebrow curiously as the decked-out woman roughly his age landed so close nearby. Must be the FSCorp contact - at least it wasn't some wide-eyed young John Doe with no idea what he was doing. Mike straightened his cap, making sure his ash-grey jumpsuit was as professional as he could smooth it out to be.
He stepped a few paces over to her, shrugging off the cold - he'd been in worse in his time. "I'm the captain of the Industrious, I take it you're in charge around here?" he spoke loudly, his voice carrying to her as she made her way over.
A U-1 takes off from Section 6 in haste making it's way towards Howard station on a hard burn as Jack rushes to figure out what the hell happened.
"Only on Stellar Wind, I captain Katerina Fiona," she introduced, "let's head inside. I need your statement."
"Ah, excellent." the older man nodded, following beside Katerina through several doors and airlocks, reaching a rather small office room with a simple desk and a few chairs. It looked brand new, as if there was meant to be someone moving in the next couple days.
An hour later the two captains had finished recording their statements and had been informed of Jack Pine's intention to visit. With coffee provided captain Fiona had taken a more relaxed attitude with captain Mike Dimitrov, opening up how she was in fact a local to 188 and had started her career as captain of an algea skimmer.
The grey-jumpsuited captain Dimitrov listened quietly yet intently, smiling as he sipped the coffee offered to him. He shared that he was born on Yamatai and moved back to Nepleslia with his family because of his daughter's work, there he took a job on the IIS Avalon and never looked back for the past 3 years. "They're doing some interesting things from what I hear down at Sec-6 but I'm too old to get into this fancy shmancy tech." he chuckled, crading his cup in two hands, "Not that an old hauler like me would be able to check out our cargo."
Jack pulled the U-1 into the hangar he was directed to landing the craft diagonally to disembark with Neera in tow into a comfortably atmosphered hangar. He wore the undersuite of a revenant, it's helmet, cargo pants, and boots. Neera however was decked out in a complete suite of Revenant as she had been pulled out of a tof a training session with the emergency, following her father with a datapad and stylist. Jack quickly moved to the area where the crew was listed as being, asking "What happened and where is your captain?" as he entered.
It was the comms girl, who seemed to have recovered from the ordeal and seemed as if nothing had happened. "It's a long story.." she replied in a muttered tone, taking a second to look Jack up and down, apparently not recognising him. "Last I saw of Dimitrov was him going down that corridor with a bunch of station officials."
"Thank you, I am the S6 represenative. I'm sure this Dimitrov can explain while you all recover." Jack nodded before heading down the corridor that he had been directed to.
"Hold on!" she called, realising who he represented and that he wasn't just another executive working the Industrious's repair crews. "First Officer!" the young woman hollered, waving frantically to Mack who seemed engrossed in his communicator before she shouted.
With a return wave, his mood seemed to brighten and the fairly strong looking man jogged towards Jack. "You guys Section 6?"
"Director Pine, what has happened here?" Jack asked behind his polarized visor.
The XO seemed a little shocked, pacing alonside the new arrival as they made their way to the captain. "Director Jack Pine..? Well, sir.. We were en route with your restricted tech as ordered. We were almost there and we suddenly were fired upon by the FSCorp craft, uhm." It seemed like he was uncertain if he was phrasing it right.
"The Stellar Wind. Our sensors didn't detect anything but we were apparently on a collision with two of their drones. We altered course and were almost stopped, then they blew up the drones. We got some damage because they'd EMP'd our shields."
"We called our emergency line but it got intercepted by the station before we got connected. Then we got towed here.. Uhm.." he seemed a little uncomfortable. "But it didn't happen like it sounds, sir."
"So this was staged?" Jack asked in a low voice as they moved away from the others.
"...uhm..." the First Officer's brow furrowed as Jack led him off from the others. He seemed to be considering the possibility. "Well, I'm just a hauler, sir. It was strange they shot at us before they shot the drones.. And the drones never came up on the sensors, like they were hiding."
His brow furrowed even moreso, the worrying possibility making a little more sense as he thought about it. "I really don't know, sir - I don't know why they'd do something like that. Their response to the even was almost inhumanly fast so I've got to commened them for it."
"That is what makes this not seem right, this space has never had these problems before so local patrols and rescue should have been laxed. Plus they could have remote disabled the drones, and the fact they weren't seen unitl too late when your ship have better sensor arrays doesn't add up. I will endeavour for this to not happen again, but your crew should be prepared in the future. If need be S6 will provide escort." Jack said rubbing at the chin of his helmet as he said this thinking.
"I'll take you at your word, sir." the XO didn't see any reason not to trust the Director of Section 6, what he knew as a humble hauler was that IIS and Section 6 had big plans. Talk of the company, in fact. "I'll inform Management once the captain returns and send the blackbox data to HQ in the meantime." With that, Mack doffed his cap and returned back the way he came to rejoin the crew of the Industrious.
The chatter down the hall was enough to capture the attention of the two captains. More than ready to return to her ship captain Fiona was tired of waiting for someone to come and let them leave. "That must be the guy for our reports," she claimed as she left her chair to meet the representative, knowing full well that she was supposed to remain in the room for an FSCorp executive.
Mike Dimitrov stayed seated, sipping his coffee curiously as Fiona stepped out of the office. His eyes wandered and he glanced over the various documents she had brought in, casually picking one up and reading it over to amuse himself as she did her thing.
"Are you the guy that's supposed to let us go," she asked from down the hall, her steady voice clearly heard despite the distance.
"No I'm Director Pine of Section 6, and I would like some answers on what exactly went wrong. You seem to be with FSC, so an associates of Candon maybe?" Jack asked after announcing his identity as he approached with Neera still in tow.
"Who the hell is Candon?" she exclaimed, "is this some kind of legal tricks? You know we can't talk about the accident until our representatives are here."
Captain Dimitrov tossed the paper back to the desk from a short distance, the sheet fluttering to a stop about where he had picked it up. Slurping a bit at his mug, the grey-maned man stood with a little groan, balling a fist at his back, still sore from the collision. "Hey, uh, what's going on..?"
Jack stepped into the room and removed his helm, placing it on the table, "As I said Jack Pine, Director of Section 6. My associates here have been involved in an accident, and as they are here under S6 sponsorship, it is my responsibility to make sure they and their cargo are unharmed and in good condition. I would ask that any grievances be brought to us and that we will handle repair and recovery, as well as care for any wounded. This matter is our's to clean up now. Any questions, miss?" he said his eyes glowing as he looked the woman older, the lighting in the room causing his crimson eyes, white hair, scar, and tattoo to stand out.
Captain Fiona Cocked an eyebrow, "you have never been in a collision before, have you?" The question would require no answer. "Look, you'll need to take that up with management. I just run the ship," she said back peddling towards the room she was told to wait in.
The IIS employee just looked pretty out of his depth. While he was a ship's captain he wasn't a member of management or whatever captain Fiona was and he certainly wasn't a Director of something. He stayed pretty silent for the conversation so far, just nodding to acknowledge Jack. "Director Pine, we weren't expecting your presence. I'm Captain Dimitrov, Section 6 is always welcome in our affairs."
"Nice to meet you as well, I'm sorry this happened. Your people will have escorts to protect them from now on. Our friends should be cared for, and I blame my negligence in this." Jack said switching off his HUD removing the glow to his Irises.
"Hey, tell the management that," Fiona shouted from the hallway, "save me the inquiry!"
"Captain Fiona, apologies about this but I'm sure we can sit down and talk this over." Mike spoke diplomatically despite his station. "Director, I'm very glad to hear you'll do that for the sake of humble haulers like us, I'll be sure to let HQ know once this is over."
"Have they given you an estimation on when your ship will be operable again? Or even when you'll be able to leave?" Jack asked trying to decide on a course of action.
"Uh.. No, sir. We just got ferried off to medical. Far as I know only our Chief Engineer is still aboard keeping anyone from getting frisky with the cargo. My XO is probably securing the ship's bridge too.. I guess..." Mike replied, feeling fully out of his depth and rubbing the back of his neck. None of this was exactly in that big red manual he wished he'd taken from the officer with the safe key, which now he thought about it would have been locked and hidden the safe before docking.
The heavy padding of Mr. Donovan echoed down the corridor as the combat android approached, his tie waving back and forth as he jogged. Slowin his pace, he waved in greeting. "Jack, I heard you made it to the station and couldn't believe it. if you're interested in that factory I offered we can talk later, I have a collision incident to deal with right now."
"Yes mister Donovan, but I actually have to be here as S6 has them under our sponsorship, so any fees or clean up will be taken care of by us. I'm mainly here to make sure they are alright and that the cargo is intact. It would look bad for such an accident that could have killed many, could happen under our lack of diligence. Therefore all IIS fleets and ships visiting will be so under protective escort of S6's fleet and all docking and other related fees payed by us." Jack stated.
Dimitrov seemed to listen quietly, knowing he should probably do something to assure all this was in IIS' interests. "I'll see if I can get my CEO or someone on the line.." he piped up a little, "Is there a long-range communicator anywhere I could use?"
"Yes, we could even run the line to your freighter so that we can make the call from your ship," Mr. Donovan answered, "but if we can, Mr. Suites also wanted to be present for this dilemma. Perhaps we can wait for his arrival to discuss the situation and then call?"
The IIS captain looked to Jack, letting him make the call this time. He obviously had IIS' continued cooperation in mind and he seemed to know what he was doing.
"That is fine with me, procedure must be followed." Jack simply state as he restarted his HUD to look through documents while they waited, his irises glowing crimson once more.
A half hour later Candon would arrive, same gray cargo pants and blue FSCorp branded shirt as ever, "I'm told I missed a shootout? I thought I was supposed to be present for those." the sarcasm would probably not be taken well, yet after being pulled away from his previous activity he was not pleased to be dealing with this matter. "Why was I needed?"
Mr. Donovan took a step back. Had he been mistaken? "Sir, you specifically told me that this is one of those situations that you wanted to be involved in. There was shooting, damage, and chaos," mr. Donovan explained, "does this not warrant your attention given these parameters?"
Candon nodded side to side, "yeah, I guess. What happened?"
"That sensor drone you wanted launched into deep space collided with the IIS Industrious, a freighter from Iemochi," Mr. Donovan explained, "it looks like our Broadsword attacked with EMP trying to halt them but they were unable to stop the engines. Apparently they were unable to reach them while hailing."
"So?" Candon shrugged, "fix the ship and send them off, then launch another. Did I really need to say this?... Hi Jack."
Dimitrov rammed his hands in the pockets of his jumpsuit, at this point he'd managed to use the time to begin a hologram chat to IIS HQ. On the table in the center of the now rather cramped office was the form of Aerinoi Genhich, a rather severe looking Elysian woman in a pristene suit and skirt. She had introduced herself as the CEO of Iemochi Applied Technology, the subsidiary the ship was under.
Jack stayed quiet for the moment his glowing pupils taking in the the new arrivals as he pulled what data, even if only a little he had, on each respective person. The moment the hologram activated, he recognized the Elysian woman project as the CEO he had spoke to before. Jack gave a nod to her in respect, but remained silent.
Taking note of the holographic Elysian he shook his head, "is that wannabe empire causing problems again?"
Aerinoi's eyes grew stormy, yet she didn't rise to the challenge. "IIS span most of the civilisations and worlds in the known universe, Mister Candon. Yamatai, Nepleslia, Union, Asteria so on. Elysia is one of the many. We don't discriminate." The woman's blue wings twitched in annoyance yet she spoke in a surprisingly calm tone.
"I'd like the blackbox data from your ship that was involved to be sent to us for inspection on our end, if you'd be so kind. Seems to be some conflictions regarding communications and such. Nothing that can't be ironed out by having a listen to both sides."
"I am trying to make sure everything is sorted out appropriately, and I will endeavor to make sure you receive what data I can gather on this incident as well. Section 6 regrets this even happened, and will endeavor to take preventive measures in the future Miss Genhich." Jack said shifting his glowing gaze to Candon for a moment as he spoke.
Candon thought for a moment, with as carefully orchestrated as this plan had been he was fully aware that the blackbox would reveal nothing different then the story he wished to convey. But, of course, proving innocence didn't matter in this case as reaching a CEO was the goal. The woman must have felt powerful, just, and unyielding... it was time to get to work.
"You know, I am an advocate for keeping sensitive information off the air. You'd know why if you knew my other line of work," Candon stated calmly, "if you'd like to see it yourself I'd be happy to arrange high-speed transit for you."
"You'll forgive my insistence on this since the odds of this collision could only have been arranged," Mr. Donovan interjected, "I have three possible explanations that would indicate that either party did this maliciously, the fact that Mr Pine responded so quickly leads to a far darker third possibility. In either case, neither corporation would want the other to handle these recording devices for fear they will tamper with the hardware. Thus we are at an impass. Either we planned to fail the launch of our drone, IIS intentionally blocked our path, or this is being manipulated by Section 6, who I may add is the only party present wearing combat equipment in a business meeting."
The Elysian bristled, an incredulous smirk slipping onto her lips. "Mr. Donovan, I agree, the odds are incredibly slim. However, unlike the launching of your drone, our flight plan was logged with the appropriate authorites from its departure on Elysia until it reached the site of the incident. Freedom of information means you can simply request for the data and you will realise we logged this trip well in advance. In fact, I believe you should have checked the area would be clear with such planned routes before launching."
She crossed her arms lightly, "Unlike FSCorp, IIS has to answer to governmential authorities and rest assured we make sure bases are covered for things like this. As for blackbox tampering, I'm sure if you would allow Director Pine here to accompany you to your craft he can oversee the process. Our blackbox will be in line with the impartical governmential correspendence you can request, if it isn't we will be sued by those governments for fraud, which I'm sure you'll agree would not be worth staging an accident for."
"While normally tampering with a blackbox would be costly you must realize that this planet has no way of enforcing such a law, and further it is FSCorp that has been providing space traffic control as an extension of managing traffic around our station to help keep lanes clear. In short our facilities were already in place," Mr. Donovan explained, "perhaps you to informed Section 6 of your intended course, but we have no record of this. Furthermore Director Pine has made it clear just moments ago that he is not a neutral party, thus while you might trust him I do not. As the president of FSCorp I do not consent to S6 being involved in this investigation on the grounds that they are more in favor of your innocence than ours."
Candon, who'd been quiet for a few valued seconds spoke up once more. "There is a different way to handle this," he offered with a neutral expression, "with no truely neutral parties and no law to enforce.. anything, along with the fact that no one died, we could just drop it. I mean, why waste time on this? Jack, you want your foreign equipment? Captain, you want to leave? Admin Lady, you want to keep costs down? Let's settle. We'll fix your ship, register it, and decontaminate the insides. You guys, just check in when you come and go and we'll keep you sailing in the clear... good?"
"I'm afraid the contents of that ship are highly classified and for you to decontaminate the ship we would have to leave them unattended. I'd rather not burn several hundred thousands worth of prototype Section 6 frigate parts to prevent them being analysed if possible." The Elysian spoke cooly, knowing for sure there was something sinister afoot as Donovan brushed over her perfect solution. "I'm sure Director Pine can tow the Industrious away with his Broadsword without further interraction. We can write this up as an unfortunate accident and go about our business." She looked to Jack expectantly.
"If you leave with the ship," Donovan paused, running more scenarios before continuing, "how will anyone know you actually received decontamination? If we end up with a plague the people on this planet will have no chance of recovery. Most of the locals have never left own planet, their immune systems are still undeveloped. No I cannot let S6 take that ship planetside."
She blinked a few times, trying to process what the other CEO was saying. "Mister Donovan, are the people on the planet any different to the people on this very station?"
"We do employ locals on our station," Donovan admitted, but explained further, "we also have very strict decontamination procedures and sanitation policies on our station. Immunizations are also available to us, but we cannot immunize the entire population, we're understaffed as it is."
"I'm quite surprised, given I've been told by Captain Dimitriv that his first officer and crew are currenly being shown around the station without decontamination, they were shown straight into medical from what I've heard. Rest assured either way that we comply to the disease control standards of Yamatai and Nepleslia, which I believe are considerably more sweeping than any FSCorp could economically impose."
"I'm also in the know that there is no unified fleet for USO and that it's possible for traffikers to slip through to the planet any number of ways from countless plague-riddled systems. It seems quite strange you're implying the transfer of visitors is highly regulated."
"Well, if you're going to be like that maybe we should just be like a bunch of savage pirates and keep the ship," Candon offered, offended that she would be so venomous, "or maybe we should take your counsel and be more proactive. Use our ships as a blockade or just bomb them when they land. Either way, the point is that we're here trying to build the planet up and you, my pompous friend, are simply trying to profit without investment. Is an enemy in orbit really what you want in this relationship?"
As the business people argued captain Fiona tossed a tightly folded paper plane to captain Dimitrov.
Her face had a concerned look as she mouthed the words 'I don't like this' behind her to keep It private between herself and Mike.
An aging man with a cane stopped abruptly at the entrance of the open office and tried turning away, only to be waved in by Mr. Donovan. Passing his datapad to the android he caned away as quickly as he could.
"Well mister Donovan, you seem to be trying to play many angles, and your right I don't dress for business. I'm a soldier, not a politician, or a corporate man. But, I do not endeavor to hide what I am. You seem to like keeping your character vague at best. S6 can tow the ship, yes, and we can run our own more thorough decon aboard my fleet with methods that won't harm the cargo. We are both here for the same goal Candon, so let's not impede the other in their progress. A better world must be built through unity and wise actions. You seem to be aiming for more chaotic solutions, and I don't trust you because of this. And on the side note, I don't do what I do for profit. Why do so when I can give and in return receive allies and aid that 188604 needs if it is to grow and expand." Jack who had been quite listening with a now ever deepening distrust for Candon said, all the while having composing and sending a message to Uso as he spoke, sending it with his last phrase.
Dimitrov shot Fiona a nervous look as the room seemed to grow hotter, catching her soaring origami between two fingers. He mouthed back to her, covering one side of his face with his palm 'I don't want to be blown up!' Then, after a second, grinning 'Again!' His fingers deftly redoubled her folds and he cast it back to her with a flick of the wrist.
CEO Aeronoi kept quiet as Director Pine spoke on behalf of both their parties, her gaze slipping between him and the FSCorp reps. The ball had left her court, from many civilis
ations to one and she totally trusted that Jack knew what he was talking about. At his last sentence, she nodded in assent, uncrossing her slender arms and being passed a tablet from off-screen.
Shaking his head, Candon just couldn't accept that. "How can you say you have the same goal? How can you say you want unity? You are outsourcing labor the people of 188 deserve- no, NEED," Candon's voice low and unsteady. Pissed was an understatement, he was torn, "you are betraying your people and whoring them to a corporate empire that could care less about us. You think you know them? You think they're trustworthy? Mark my words, when things get tough they will leave you without a second thought. Trust me or don't, I don't care. I was here before either of you and I will remain." Candon left the office for the best of everyone...
"I do not hide what I am, mister Pine. Perhaps you think of me as just a robot. I am. That is no reason to think I am dishonest, and certainly not an excuse to insult me," Mr. Donovan not untouched by the comment either. "Missus Iemochi, I presume? We will not hold you accountable for the collision and shall begin repairs. Our shipwright has informed me that the vessel will be ready for voyage in 19 hours. Your crew will be given accommodations AFTER clearing our decontamination checkpoint free of charge.. We expect your vessel to leave the planet immediately after and not return. Good day madam." Turning on his heel the formal android followed after Candon, mostly to ensure he didn't do anything rash.
Captain Fiona would catch the aerodynamic paper and pat the fellow captain's shoulder. "I thought you should know we weren't trying to shoot you down, we were trying to shut down your engine and get you to turn away from the drone's flight path.. wanna get a drink? I think I owe you one."
Jack's wrist control would bleep, followed closely by Uso's voice.
"Whatup Jack?"
"Well there seems to be a dispute involving S6, FSC, and IIS. IIS sent us a freight with a load of very important cargo, and it seems FSC has decided to be a problem. Candon wants to ban our new friends. I will not stand for his interference, and would like to request your official approval of S6's jurisdiction over the matter, and sponsorship for IIS assets. We need this Uso, and FSC isn't playing by the rules." Jack spoke back to her as he rubbed his right temple with growing irritation.
"Is Saintly around right now? like, within earshot?" Uso asked.
"Just left, like a squirrly bastard does after getting caught in his own lies. I don't like him Uso, and he's becoming a problem." Jack answered picking up his helmet.
"Ok children, chill out, I'll take care of this. Next time just remember to grease the right hands before doing shit like this."
---
Elsewhere for a moment.
*BLEEP*
Uso put in a call to Candon, "SAINTLY! WHATS UP!"
Candon's hand retrieved the communicator from his inner jacket pocket and was tempted to shut it off, answering only out of respect for his colleague. "It's just another day in paradise, Uso," he answered, "I take it the traitor called. What's he been up to?"
"Oh you know... traitor... stuff.... so by 'what's up' of course I mean, 'What's this gonna cost me?' "
"The best things are free, my friend," Candon stated as he inspected the notifications on his communicator, the words 'TRACE COMPLETE' saying it all, "your so called bodyguards are opening the door for an economic attack, next he'll want control of the skies. I'd ask for that right first."
He entered a room labeled 'archives', no larger than a cubicle with a single computer terminal.
"Ok. Cool. Lets pretend I'm a super-spy for a second and I already know what's up. I get that you want exlustive whatnot and you're first in line for whatever deals come up thanks to the work you've put in so far. I also can't have you picking on the kids while they are still trying to figure out how to do this stuff. So what's it gonna cost me to grease those palms of yours?" Uso asked.
"Just the skies. I need control of space traffic administration," he stated as he typed into the analog keypad and pressed enter, "I'll use it responsibly, you know that. Neither Jack nor Iemochi think I'm relevant out here. We can't have that. Besides, I'll make a system that works nicely."
A thin, clear plastic case was deposited, sealed tight with a digital display displaying a date and time from three days prior shining through the top left corner. It was a simple, single use device that could only be adjusted from within.
"Literally the whole fucking sky? It'd be a different fucking thing if you were actually doing something with it. I mean, dood, you got a seat at the table now stop asking for more seats and... uh... bring food.... You know what? Ignore the metaphor there. Vier, S6, Ragna, ect, all have their own intrests with the sky. How 'bout I turn over the sky around Osman city to you so you can kick S6 out to the boonies and I can stop getting calls from Jack about how the other kids aren't playing nice with him?" Uso asked.
"The problem is I'm not in Osman city," he explained, "it's not the airspace I'm asking for, just orbit. If this line is secure I'll explain."
IF SECURE(no recording, just her and Candon):
"I'm not doing this for myself, This whole IIS deal is going to open a flood of business possibilities for outside interests. Their gain Is my direct loss, they'll clean me out. You I'm hurting as it is, there's blood in the water.
"I can use this to get back in the game. I'll put up a defensive screen of drones and sensors, this project alone will employ thousands. We'll have real skylanes, and the ability to register every ship USOS or whatever you want it to be so we actually know when we're being Invaded. Tariffs, Uso, the USO can have additional funding. Decontamination in space will keep us free of plagues on the ground and I already have the space to locate these facilities.
"I can't stay relevant if I'm not supported and Jack is going to have the connections to phase me out if he keeps IIS around, and you know they're not going to content themselves to simply doing business with S6. I can't budge."
"This sounds like a boatload of your dumb problems. If you can't beat someone like IIS when they have no ins with dear leader here then you've got no chance against them if we all just go all out and start shooting. You sound overextended and fucked with no product you can bring to market... and seriously what do those guys even have? I don't even know! You've got actual products.
Throwing up walls to try and protect your trade ain't going to do shit when the market is as small as 188604.
I mean, it might be different if you actually had this system up and running and were using it already but I can't just be giving shit away on a wink and a promise. Get your fucking shit together SAINTly."
Uso paused for a moment, while Canon began sorting through pictures on his communicator.
"Look, sounds like you need to drive up sales? How about we approach the garts about including FSC products on their fighters? I know a guy who can put in a good word. Also isn't B7R buying like... fucking everything from you? Shit, I know we kinda cratered their economy but their people are like... real people with jobs and such. You might be able to recruit them as higher level workers. Shit, I could just buy a few million dollars worth of butter from you right now and call it a day if you've got it." Uso ranted.
Pictures of a massive lot of C5 drones in storage and a massive mission control center came through on her communicator.
"I can have it running in two days. It's only a bigger version of what we have at the station," he claimed, "otherwise I'll have to keep accidentally crashing ships to keep their cost up. If you don't want me to organize the orbit then do it yourself, deploy something. They're going to rape us, I swear. We're defenseless and that bitch running IIS knows it!"
"We've got bigger fish to deal with than IIS and seriously how are you gonna say I'm the one that's fucking defenseless? I can still kill everyone on the planet if I want and THAT keeps anyone from coming in here and giving me a deal I don't fucking like.
You made a play, good for you for having the spine to pull this shit and be glad I'm the kinda girl that can play nice. Now take the fucking pay out and move on. You got to wave your dick infront of IIS's face and you let them know who's who. You get a payout, I go back and tell them to play nice, they stay out of your way and get to keep their shit. Stop treating this like some zero sum game and don't pretend like you've got that kinda leverage on me. You wanna see how fast I can go from 0 to threatening everyone with death?"
Candon muted the microphone on the communicator. Osman City was the best he could do? He supposed that the situation was sloppy. Now that he had the location of a CEO a new angle could be explored to cause disruption. It was for the best.
"Okay, I'll take- dammit," he unmuted the communicator, "I'll work with Osman City. Do me a favor, let me be the one to show my hand. I'd hate them to find out my little scheme from you."
"Good, now we can all get rich instead of trying to kill off one another. I'll let the kids know they can take their stuff back to their clubhouse. Next time come at me directly instead of this spy stuff.... END COMMUNIUCATION *BZT*"
Uso shut off the communiucator and dialed up Jack once again
----
Back where we were a few minutes ago
Back's wrist thing would beep again.
"OK JACK! Play nice with the other kids. I cut a deal and you're free to go just make sure to loop the FSC in on your goings on. We're all supposed to be ont he same team."
"I will with our dealings with IIS, but the lab is off limits. Other than that, just let me know how I can make it up to you later. And what's up with you calling that vampire saintly?" Jack asked his irritation eased by a few degrees.
---
Heading back towards the office room with the sealed file in hand Candon had a slight swagger to his step. He really did want to have this pleasure. After all, what was the point in getting away with the crime if no one could appreciate how cleaver you were? As he followed the hall he met back up with Mr. Donovan.
"It's time to lay or cards on the table, Mr. Donovan," he greeted the android.
"I do not understand, sir," Donovan asked, "what cards? Are we seriously playing a card game with them or did you do something?.. I have a right to know Candon, is this some kind of game?!"
"Oh, Donovan," the spy expressed, "life is a game."
---
Tapping the the door frame Candon entered, "on second thought, let's take a look at those black boxes." I'm tickled to think of what treasures they contain." His entire demeanor was different, like a bipolar victim he was completely different. Distinctly not serious as if he were having fun, obviously holding something back.
Candon's demeanour was obtuse and irregular to the IIS CEO, having handled incidents of a similar nature many times in her career in the shipping industry before being selected for IIS. She could recall at least a few similar experiences she'd had, yet Candon seemed to have this opaque and uncomfortable front as if he was choosing every word after seconds of thought.
After painstakingly comparing the data from both the fight recorders, comm logs, and flight plans it was becoming obvious that this incident hadn't been a coordinated attack, nor a result of negligence. The devices had obviously not been tampered with as even the FSC recorder had been provided by Origin Industries.
All the while the Elysian's wings were tingling with the unavoidable feeling that something was afoot. The arguments and claims he had made prior were ultimate and overarching as if he saw himself as some grand admiral. This sudden flip-flop of barely restrained hatred even to someone he'd never met to 'let's have some tea and a sit down' screamed facade.
Captain Fiona's claim was verified as her orders to strike the starboard engines was audible on the recorder, the smokescreen timed perfectly to detonate as cover for the vessels, even the multiple attempts to hail the freighter that went unanswered.
The Elysian scrunched up her nose as she looked over the events prior to the crash, some irregular movements caught her eye but it could be explained any number of ways. Something was wrong but now wasn't the time. She'd pull some strings later.
Eventually there was simply nothing left to check.
"So, what now soldier? What do you think?" Candon asked Jack, baiting the water, "would you like to see the security footage from my trip to an archive computer again?"
"No, I've seen enough. All that matters now is that this is resolved. I need to have my people make preparation for the cargo." Jack said sending a message as he held back his irritation.
"I'm still confused why you launched the drone on the trajectory you did without checking filed flight plans but I'm sure we can chalk that up to someone not paying attention, hmm?" she looked up from the sheets before her and the transcript from Fiona.
"You know, I'm glad you brought that up," Candon claimed as he picked up the thin case once more, presenting the date on the glowing display built inside the case. Dated 3 days prior, the seamless plastic case had no way to be open without a cutting instrument of some sort.
"ladies and gentlemen, this is the power of paper archived documents using a one-time-use, vacuum sealed plastic encasement. The glowing display here that shows the date is stamped by a machine I purchased from a notary in Yamatai, and actually the entire system was made by her. The devices we have in service cannot be opened without wiping out the programming of the computer."
Candon opened a small knife and dragged the tip down the center of the case. The plastic split apart, almost shrinking as the vacuum was breached. It was clear that case could never be used again. The plastic became brittle as he now pulled it apart with his hands. The aluminum folder slid free of the plastic. Shaking out the papers clamped tightly by the folded aluminum folder he presented the document to Jack.
"I'm not sure how good your astrogation skills are but this is a copy of the flight plan we had on file for the launch," Candon presented neutrally, even naturally, "it was being launched to expand our sensory network. Launch occurred on time and was scheduled to last only 2 minutes."
"Very flashy." she conceded, "I'm still curious how this flight plan for your drone is three days old yet we at IIS planned this flight at least a month prior. I'm sure you can contact the Nepleslian authorities to verify, which I believe you probably should have before making this plan?" the Elysian's eyes flttered over the packaging, taking a note of it for later.
"She raises a good question, as there was too much time inbetween for there to not be some form of notification." Jack added thinking about that detail.
"Well, it is as you say, IIS conforms to government regulations. You respect them. It Is also as you Insinuate, we do not recognize the authority of foreign governments on this planet. Out here there is only respect and cooperation between independent groups. You people could have contacted us at any time for this information but you didn't, because you do not see us as any more than an obstacle. You didn't respect us and as a result there are now four gaping holes in your freighter," Candon returned, "as you are all probably aware by now I will come clean. This was indeed my doing. I wanted to see if your corporation respected our home and the community we have. You and apparently do not, or and at least didn't until now."
"As of today my corporation has been given authority to protect the airspace and orbit over Osman City. Now that makes us responsible for keeping that area safe from falling debris and disease. Your ship must be repaired and have the repairs inspected before you proceed planetside anywhere the City. Fortunately we already started the prep work which leaves about eighteen-ish hours to go. Your ship must be decontaminated, by whichever means you choose."
"Captain, accommodations are ready for you and your crew. All expenses will be paid for everyone, please enjoy the station's amenities," Mr. Donovan informed as he raised his hand toward the open door.
The Elysian wasn't as surprised as Candon probably expected, after all it was hard keeping a stranglehold on the economy of a whole world and bones must be broken for monopolisation. She guessed at least, everywhere IIS went they never demanded they only helped, which was why there were prevalent and endorsed by the governments of so many worlds.
"I'm glad you have finally dispensed with the cloak and dagger, Mister Candon. It's your own decision if you decide to not check half the traffic moving through your space for collisions, I guess people other than yourself travelling through your space must just roll the dice. Strange way to look after your people as you claim to do."
"We have only ever been amicable and we expected to be contacted by yourself about any issues you had rather than this petty underhandedness. If you saw us, why not contact us first, before all this?" She gestured broadly to the paperwork scattered across the table.
"I'm glad your 25,000 strong company has decided to show it's colours. We'll be sure to have our 30 million employees send apology notes. Remember, you started this. Not us."
Finally, as a last word: "Captain Dimitrov, see the cargo is given to Section 6 for deco at their discretion and it not fall into FSCorp hands. If they mess up the freighter we can replace it - just make sure your crew get out safe when you're free to go, we'll see your insurance is paid out."
With that, she nodded to Director Pine respectfully and blinked out of existence, leaving Captain Dimitrov looking in confusion to Jack for instructions.
"Well now that is out of the way, I think I need to oversee our friends. S6 has a lot of work to do and little time for impedement." Jack said walking towards the door past Candon and Donovan.
"Jack," Candon called for his attention, "you know what I'll do if they even think about getting even."
"Let me make it clear. I don't like the idea of an empire getting a foot hold anymore than you. But our people need this. If we are to build a better world, we need to branch out and expand our horizons. Uso once told me that survival was all about building connections. That's what I'm doing. And as far as you belief that I'm selling out work, that is not what is happening. IIS brings us parts we order, our people install them in our ships with IIS personnel instruction. IIS only builds ships for S6. We are their door, and how much say they have here is how much we give them. If they become a problem, then I will deal with it personally. Now let me do my job." Jack said his irritation apparent even behind his helmet's visor.
"Alright, so you're building connections, admirable, but what are they building here that we can't? What are they doing that is so special that the station facilities Donovan offered you cannot provide?" Canon asked softly, "do you really think they cannot bludgeon their way through the door with money? Manpower? Politics? They outclass us in every respect... I did this to get a feel for how they treat this planet, they don't care. And now they have our most advanced technology, tech you refuse to share. With an enemy force watching us that we know wants our planet I would like to think we would try bolstering the infrastructure we have now and send them the excess. Not the other way around."
"That's laughable coming from you. Like Yamatai isn't watching already with a foot in the door named Candon? I don't share that tech with you because I don't trust you. You question my loyalties, but where do your's truly lie Candon? And do not compare me to some corruptable politician. I have seen where corrupt governments lead first hand and what it does to those who stand against it without aid. Five years of military service, for what?! To only slaughter those who were labeled as annoyances with the spoon fed bullshit of fighting for government and planet. No, I will not watch that happen again, as innocent people pay for the greed of those who rule, to watch good men die horribly with the belief that what they are doing is just. No Mr. Candon, I will not let this come to pass. I am fully willing to help FSC, but I need to know I won't be doing so expecting a knife in the back." Jack snapped at Candon as he had just about had enough.
Candon shook his head. "Leave it to Uso to make things interesting," Candon mumbled, then informed, "you have no idea. She told you my affiliation to Yamatai and now you think you know the whole story?.. I am the reason the Star Army ignored Uso. I met with her when the SAoY was considering ending this operation and reported that she wasn't a threat, not worth dealing . I then borrowed a hundred thirty million of a friend's money to put this station out here, which leaves me holding the bill if this falls apart. You question my motives? Who else does that, Jack? Who forms a grand scheme to spy on a nobody on a planet the biggest empires don't care about that leaves them permanently in debt?
"I honestly don't know, but hiding among shadows and playing schemes doesn't paint you in a very flattering light either. That empire however has an important company supplying it parts for ships. A company that now does the same for us. A wise man once said never neglect what your opponent has to offer. This gives us an edge against, or even just levels the playing field for if another empire comes knocking looking to take what they want. We have the SkyGuard, but a lot of them are just kids, can they really stand against that kind of force. Then we have Ragnarok. We sell our security out to a private army. A private army is only as loyal as the paychecks keep rolling. It doesn't sit well with me. Vier is about the only person on this planet outside my own people and family that I trust, or fully know can do what needs to be done. I know I can't replace them, but at least I can build something up just in case one fails. Or I can help build them up, but they gotta work with me as well. This isn't a one way street, we need to give and take mutually. FSC can have my support, my tech, and my trust, but you have to give me a reason to trust you Candon. You also need to trust me. I have a family, a home, and a purpose. I respect Uso, she gave me much, but she doesn't really care. So it's our job to care, to actually work to improve." Jack said.
"Jack... I don't know what to say," Candon shrugged, "a wise man also said 'nothing is free'. You have never offered any support to this station. Rather you've hired foreigners to do what we could. Seriously, all they do is what you told them in the plans, or parameters, or whatever you're giving them. Empires hire them because them make a good deal. You never even gave us a chance."
Candon straightened the chairs in the office, contemplating how to reach his colleague's heart. Nothing came to him. It had been a long time since he'd felt hurt by another person, burned even. There was no response further that he could muster. There was no further need to try.
The sky over Osman City was his to use as a tool to lock them out, but S6 and IIS, and yet he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on them. To force them to move would help no one. Time would have to tell who was right. Candon could only hope the worst didn't happen.
The vessel sailed silently as it made its gentle course adjustments. A silent grace that would be disrupted as the silhouette of a Broadsword ascended over the horizon, static filling the radio, ">static <...pare to be fired on," being the only words to come through.
In an instant eight massive plumes of thick, sensor disrupting smoke erupted in the path of the ship, blinding them to the pair of YV1 Interceptors approaching fast and hard. Cutting through the smoke they passed above the large freighter dispensing a huge barrage of small EMP rockets across the ships dorsal, disrupting the shields enough to get hits through to the hull. Lights flickered within the huge ship but no real damage occurred beyond tripped breakers in the engine room. A warning shot.
"We say again," the Broadsword called again, "this is FSS Stellar Flare calling unidentified freighter. You are in an unauthorized orbit. Respond immediately and identify."
The Freighter captain's eyes widened as the humble craft was suddenly confronted with the silhouette of a Broadsword coming towards them. "By the Empress, what..? he looked wildly around to the faces of the other IIS-jumpsuited bridge crew. A wide-eyed comms operator looked up to the captain as she turned from her monitor. "They're frontier service, or claim to be so, sir."
"Shit, let's see what they want. Quarter speed, open a channel." the bearded captain gave a snappy order, yet with a concerned undertone. She tapped a few keys before nodding to the senior officer.
"This is the IIS Industrious, we read you Stellar Flare . We are unarmed and reducing speed. We are a civilian craft and we are non-combatants that have not displayed aggression. Cease fire immediately." the grizzled captain spoke as confidently as he could.
One of the younger junior officers took off from his seat and crouched beside the Captain's chair. Sliding a panel to one side, he pulled out a small black box and set it to one side. Using the flanged key that hung around his neck, the younger man opened the box. At the very top was a credit chip and a pistol, both of which he brushed aside, hefting a thick red manual titled "IIS Emergency Procedures".
The response was immediate, "IIS Industrious you are on a collision course with drone FsRHS12," a young man claimed, "evade to heading one one zero immediately! Shields !" The order was to turn hard to starboard
The radar signalsman shook his head decisively. Either they couldn't see the drone or this was some sort of ploy. While they'd been given a callsign there was no way to verify it easily.
The captain nodded swiftly to the helmsman who diverted course. "Cut engines, follow procedure." he instructed simply, eyes trailing to the crouched officer as he leafed through the manual. "Anti-piracy.." the bookworm muttered under his breath, reaching the page. "Secure craft from boarding, request assistance from enclosed contact number. Fire long-wave beacon if necessary." he read aloud, the lights flickering overhead.
He snapped open a sealed envelope and passed it to the comms officer, which she stared at as she keyed in the emergency line. The slow freighter began to grind to a halt, dead in space.
From seemingly nowhere the drone in question peaked over the horizon traveling much too fast for the freighter to evade. "It's too late. Raptors, take it down!" the cruiser's radio operator called on an open channel.
"Copy that, Stellar Flare, Attacking drone," they responded as they approached on an interception course.
"TARGET LOCKED. G-TAM ENGAGED," the flight leader's computer confirmed. Streaks of red and blue bent heavily as the two interceptors converged on the drone with laser fire. In turn the drone became a shower of supersonic debris, peppering the freighter's shields.
The explosion blossomed outside the freighter before the freighter could detect the weapons, only a few hundred meters away. The comms officer held the communicator to her ear just as the light show flashed up so close. "Howard Station Emergen-" was all that came through the device before it was interrupted by the captain.
"Brace! BRACE!" he shouted, gripping the nearest console as the chunks of molten metal smashed into the already weakened shields of the ship like buckshot. Warnings flashed up as several chunks slipped through, crumpling into the hull and causing the crew to buckle against their restraints.
Warning lights flashes up, several compartments were breached, the contents being blown out into space with decompression. The first officer groaned as he shook his head, the older captain still recovering. "Did we lose anyone?" he shouted through the moans that filled the bridge.
"Industrious, what is your status?" the radio operator asked urgently, "medical services have been dispatched, do you require tugs?"
The man with the manual glanced over the pages with trauma-bleary eyes. "N-.. Y- That's not the right line." he mumbled over to the comms girl, her blonde hair as if it had been dragged through a fence backwards.
The first officer seemed to be less affected than the others, unclipping his belt and stepping up as the elderly captain took a moment. "Howard Station must have intercepted our comms, that's meant to go through to our security. Tell them what's happening. Don't fire the beacon."
The Industrious' damage control crews hustled around the ship as the comms operator explained the situation best she could, though not to the people they expected.
The radio operator would continue hailing though the decision had been made to tow the ship into port. Within minutes a flat white Starbryte shuttle approached, red holographic flashes pulsing along their silhouette. Following just behind a pair of C5c drones approached.
"Industrious, this is captain Fiona of Stellar Flare. Emergency services have arrived. We are to escort you to Howard Station for repairs, please lower your shields and receive medical personnel," a woman of age responded.
The first officer paused as the grey-maned captain gathered his senses and stood, patting him on the shoulders. Before responding to the hail, he pressed the intercom, "Chief, make sure the thermite is primed on the goods." Nodding to his first officer, he said simply "Key."
The first officer's eyebrow raised, as he went to his own neck and pulled off a red-coloured, simple key and stepped to the main console. The captain then paced to the woman at comms, passing to the other side of the first officer as she took his transmission. "Industrious to Flare, copy. We will lower our shields." he spoke gruffly, then in a more playful tone "Think we might need your help with some paperwork, captain Fiona, heh."
The cruiser's captain would only try not to laugh. She would be spending the next two hours pushing paper labeled Industrious followed by an inquiry on the drone, which was actually two drones coupled together.
"You want to talk about paperwork, captain? That was two drones, four dozen rockets, smokescreen shells and a collision. I'm going to be working late enough as it is," she responded, "our shuttle is arriving off your starboard side bow airlock."
The shields blinked out with the push of a button as the Station shuttles drew close. "Receiving them now, captain." he nodded to nearest officer, who set to work. "I'll bring some pens." he chuckled lightly.
The starbryte made gentle contact with the airlock as it powered down. In a moment the three occupants would disembark onto the larger vessel. The first two of them wore very simple, yet modern spacesuits with bags of medical instruments while the third wore Impulse powered armor and carried a large, rifle-ish looking device with a large stock, obviously built to lock onto the armor, and a barrel of a seemingly massive caliber. He would look like a tank killer had his armor and cannon thing not been painted neon yellow with black stripes, similar to a bulldozer.
Contrary to intimidating appearances the device was in fact a graviton projector, a tractor beam with a variety of uses in demolition, construction, retrieval, and if used unsafely harming people. The tool was becoming a common sight around the shipyard.
"Is anyone hurt?" the first medic called, to be met by a rather frazzled-looking technician who directed them to those who had been hurt more than shaken. Luckily nobody had been blown out of the hull breaches.
Outside the two C5c drones would attach to the sides of the forward engine pylons in a way that would improve the turn radius of the ship. Navigation to the station would take an hour as the vessel limped along.
With the Sessou, her escort of tugs and the Broadsword quickly coming up on Howard Station in the distance. The captain and executive officer stood alone on the bridge, the medics and escort handling the crew further down the ship and the rest readying for departure. "Jeez, Mike. Section 6 are going to be on all sorts of alarms when we're late." the first officer muttered, his captain looking to him. "Get on the comms to tell them as soon as we dock, I'll deal with all this."
Huge clamps contacted the hull from top and bottom, each one securing to the hull with graviton projectors, as the vessel came to a stop within a massive hangar bay. With the thrusters powering down a force field sealed the opening of the chamber and atmosphere was pumped in. While there was no gravitational field the loading ramps and airlock rings each had a sort of gravitic pull from the floor panels noticeable up to only about half a meter, which left a good part of an average sized human completely weightless from the torso up.
The atmosphere remained thin at full pressure, a precaution taken for limiting damage caused by decompression, and the cold was harsh, dry 10°C.
A loading ramp extended to meet the ships cargo bay as more medical and construction personnel began marching out to escort the crew to the interior facilities.
The IIS crew in their signature multi-coloured jumpsuits began filing out of the damaged ships, following the lead of those who waved them towards the warmer parts of the ship. "Christ it's cold, Mack." the captain muttered to his first officer as they stepped off, "Go find a long-range communicator and get everyone up to speed."
"You got it Mike." the XO nodded in return, taking off at a jogging pace as the captain awaited for whoever looked official to approach him. "Chief, you're still inside, right? I want that cargo watched." he buzzed down local comms, to a gruff grunt of acknowledgement.
Entering through the force field came a black ACV-1 Alligator transport/gunship which came to land on a smaller landing pad near to the rear of the massive hangar. The ramp lowered to drop off a tired looking woman, near her late 50s, wearing a rugged dark blue spacesuit with a camouflaged pattern, armed only with a holstered pistol and large datapad. Her eyes covered by sports styled shades, it would be difficult at best to know the array of data she viewed through her high tech eyewhere.
The IIS captain raised a grey-tinged eyebrow curiously as the decked-out woman roughly his age landed so close nearby. Must be the FSCorp contact - at least it wasn't some wide-eyed young John Doe with no idea what he was doing. Mike straightened his cap, making sure his ash-grey jumpsuit was as professional as he could smooth it out to be.
He stepped a few paces over to her, shrugging off the cold - he'd been in worse in his time. "I'm the captain of the Industrious, I take it you're in charge around here?" he spoke loudly, his voice carrying to her as she made her way over.
A U-1 takes off from Section 6 in haste making it's way towards Howard station on a hard burn as Jack rushes to figure out what the hell happened.
"Only on Stellar Wind, I captain Katerina Fiona," she introduced, "let's head inside. I need your statement."
"Ah, excellent." the older man nodded, following beside Katerina through several doors and airlocks, reaching a rather small office room with a simple desk and a few chairs. It looked brand new, as if there was meant to be someone moving in the next couple days.
An hour later the two captains had finished recording their statements and had been informed of Jack Pine's intention to visit. With coffee provided captain Fiona had taken a more relaxed attitude with captain Mike Dimitrov, opening up how she was in fact a local to 188 and had started her career as captain of an algea skimmer.
The grey-jumpsuited captain Dimitrov listened quietly yet intently, smiling as he sipped the coffee offered to him. He shared that he was born on Yamatai and moved back to Nepleslia with his family because of his daughter's work, there he took a job on the IIS Avalon and never looked back for the past 3 years. "They're doing some interesting things from what I hear down at Sec-6 but I'm too old to get into this fancy shmancy tech." he chuckled, crading his cup in two hands, "Not that an old hauler like me would be able to check out our cargo."
Jack pulled the U-1 into the hangar he was directed to landing the craft diagonally to disembark with Neera in tow into a comfortably atmosphered hangar. He wore the undersuite of a revenant, it's helmet, cargo pants, and boots. Neera however was decked out in a complete suite of Revenant as she had been pulled out of a tof a training session with the emergency, following her father with a datapad and stylist. Jack quickly moved to the area where the crew was listed as being, asking "What happened and where is your captain?" as he entered.
It was the comms girl, who seemed to have recovered from the ordeal and seemed as if nothing had happened. "It's a long story.." she replied in a muttered tone, taking a second to look Jack up and down, apparently not recognising him. "Last I saw of Dimitrov was him going down that corridor with a bunch of station officials."
"Thank you, I am the S6 represenative. I'm sure this Dimitrov can explain while you all recover." Jack nodded before heading down the corridor that he had been directed to.
"Hold on!" she called, realising who he represented and that he wasn't just another executive working the Industrious's repair crews. "First Officer!" the young woman hollered, waving frantically to Mack who seemed engrossed in his communicator before she shouted.
With a return wave, his mood seemed to brighten and the fairly strong looking man jogged towards Jack. "You guys Section 6?"
"Director Pine, what has happened here?" Jack asked behind his polarized visor.
The XO seemed a little shocked, pacing alonside the new arrival as they made their way to the captain. "Director Jack Pine..? Well, sir.. We were en route with your restricted tech as ordered. We were almost there and we suddenly were fired upon by the FSCorp craft, uhm." It seemed like he was uncertain if he was phrasing it right.
"The Stellar Wind. Our sensors didn't detect anything but we were apparently on a collision with two of their drones. We altered course and were almost stopped, then they blew up the drones. We got some damage because they'd EMP'd our shields."
"We called our emergency line but it got intercepted by the station before we got connected. Then we got towed here.. Uhm.." he seemed a little uncomfortable. "But it didn't happen like it sounds, sir."
"So this was staged?" Jack asked in a low voice as they moved away from the others.
"...uhm..." the First Officer's brow furrowed as Jack led him off from the others. He seemed to be considering the possibility. "Well, I'm just a hauler, sir. It was strange they shot at us before they shot the drones.. And the drones never came up on the sensors, like they were hiding."
His brow furrowed even moreso, the worrying possibility making a little more sense as he thought about it. "I really don't know, sir - I don't know why they'd do something like that. Their response to the even was almost inhumanly fast so I've got to commened them for it."
"That is what makes this not seem right, this space has never had these problems before so local patrols and rescue should have been laxed. Plus they could have remote disabled the drones, and the fact they weren't seen unitl too late when your ship have better sensor arrays doesn't add up. I will endeavour for this to not happen again, but your crew should be prepared in the future. If need be S6 will provide escort." Jack said rubbing at the chin of his helmet as he said this thinking.
"I'll take you at your word, sir." the XO didn't see any reason not to trust the Director of Section 6, what he knew as a humble hauler was that IIS and Section 6 had big plans. Talk of the company, in fact. "I'll inform Management once the captain returns and send the blackbox data to HQ in the meantime." With that, Mack doffed his cap and returned back the way he came to rejoin the crew of the Industrious.
The chatter down the hall was enough to capture the attention of the two captains. More than ready to return to her ship captain Fiona was tired of waiting for someone to come and let them leave. "That must be the guy for our reports," she claimed as she left her chair to meet the representative, knowing full well that she was supposed to remain in the room for an FSCorp executive.
Mike Dimitrov stayed seated, sipping his coffee curiously as Fiona stepped out of the office. His eyes wandered and he glanced over the various documents she had brought in, casually picking one up and reading it over to amuse himself as she did her thing.
"Are you the guy that's supposed to let us go," she asked from down the hall, her steady voice clearly heard despite the distance.
"No I'm Director Pine of Section 6, and I would like some answers on what exactly went wrong. You seem to be with FSC, so an associates of Candon maybe?" Jack asked after announcing his identity as he approached with Neera still in tow.
"Who the hell is Candon?" she exclaimed, "is this some kind of legal tricks? You know we can't talk about the accident until our representatives are here."
Captain Dimitrov tossed the paper back to the desk from a short distance, the sheet fluttering to a stop about where he had picked it up. Slurping a bit at his mug, the grey-maned man stood with a little groan, balling a fist at his back, still sore from the collision. "Hey, uh, what's going on..?"
Jack stepped into the room and removed his helm, placing it on the table, "As I said Jack Pine, Director of Section 6. My associates here have been involved in an accident, and as they are here under S6 sponsorship, it is my responsibility to make sure they and their cargo are unharmed and in good condition. I would ask that any grievances be brought to us and that we will handle repair and recovery, as well as care for any wounded. This matter is our's to clean up now. Any questions, miss?" he said his eyes glowing as he looked the woman older, the lighting in the room causing his crimson eyes, white hair, scar, and tattoo to stand out.
Captain Fiona Cocked an eyebrow, "you have never been in a collision before, have you?" The question would require no answer. "Look, you'll need to take that up with management. I just run the ship," she said back peddling towards the room she was told to wait in.
The IIS employee just looked pretty out of his depth. While he was a ship's captain he wasn't a member of management or whatever captain Fiona was and he certainly wasn't a Director of something. He stayed pretty silent for the conversation so far, just nodding to acknowledge Jack. "Director Pine, we weren't expecting your presence. I'm Captain Dimitrov, Section 6 is always welcome in our affairs."
"Nice to meet you as well, I'm sorry this happened. Your people will have escorts to protect them from now on. Our friends should be cared for, and I blame my negligence in this." Jack said switching off his HUD removing the glow to his Irises.
"Hey, tell the management that," Fiona shouted from the hallway, "save me the inquiry!"
"Captain Fiona, apologies about this but I'm sure we can sit down and talk this over." Mike spoke diplomatically despite his station. "Director, I'm very glad to hear you'll do that for the sake of humble haulers like us, I'll be sure to let HQ know once this is over."
"Have they given you an estimation on when your ship will be operable again? Or even when you'll be able to leave?" Jack asked trying to decide on a course of action.
"Uh.. No, sir. We just got ferried off to medical. Far as I know only our Chief Engineer is still aboard keeping anyone from getting frisky with the cargo. My XO is probably securing the ship's bridge too.. I guess..." Mike replied, feeling fully out of his depth and rubbing the back of his neck. None of this was exactly in that big red manual he wished he'd taken from the officer with the safe key, which now he thought about it would have been locked and hidden the safe before docking.
The heavy padding of Mr. Donovan echoed down the corridor as the combat android approached, his tie waving back and forth as he jogged. Slowin his pace, he waved in greeting. "Jack, I heard you made it to the station and couldn't believe it. if you're interested in that factory I offered we can talk later, I have a collision incident to deal with right now."
"Yes mister Donovan, but I actually have to be here as S6 has them under our sponsorship, so any fees or clean up will be taken care of by us. I'm mainly here to make sure they are alright and that the cargo is intact. It would look bad for such an accident that could have killed many, could happen under our lack of diligence. Therefore all IIS fleets and ships visiting will be so under protective escort of S6's fleet and all docking and other related fees payed by us." Jack stated.
Dimitrov seemed to listen quietly, knowing he should probably do something to assure all this was in IIS' interests. "I'll see if I can get my CEO or someone on the line.." he piped up a little, "Is there a long-range communicator anywhere I could use?"
"Yes, we could even run the line to your freighter so that we can make the call from your ship," Mr. Donovan answered, "but if we can, Mr. Suites also wanted to be present for this dilemma. Perhaps we can wait for his arrival to discuss the situation and then call?"
The IIS captain looked to Jack, letting him make the call this time. He obviously had IIS' continued cooperation in mind and he seemed to know what he was doing.
"That is fine with me, procedure must be followed." Jack simply state as he restarted his HUD to look through documents while they waited, his irises glowing crimson once more.
A half hour later Candon would arrive, same gray cargo pants and blue FSCorp branded shirt as ever, "I'm told I missed a shootout? I thought I was supposed to be present for those." the sarcasm would probably not be taken well, yet after being pulled away from his previous activity he was not pleased to be dealing with this matter. "Why was I needed?"
Mr. Donovan took a step back. Had he been mistaken? "Sir, you specifically told me that this is one of those situations that you wanted to be involved in. There was shooting, damage, and chaos," mr. Donovan explained, "does this not warrant your attention given these parameters?"
Candon nodded side to side, "yeah, I guess. What happened?"
"That sensor drone you wanted launched into deep space collided with the IIS Industrious, a freighter from Iemochi," Mr. Donovan explained, "it looks like our Broadsword attacked with EMP trying to halt them but they were unable to stop the engines. Apparently they were unable to reach them while hailing."
"So?" Candon shrugged, "fix the ship and send them off, then launch another. Did I really need to say this?... Hi Jack."
Dimitrov rammed his hands in the pockets of his jumpsuit, at this point he'd managed to use the time to begin a hologram chat to IIS HQ. On the table in the center of the now rather cramped office was the form of Aerinoi Genhich, a rather severe looking Elysian woman in a pristene suit and skirt. She had introduced herself as the CEO of Iemochi Applied Technology, the subsidiary the ship was under.
Jack stayed quiet for the moment his glowing pupils taking in the the new arrivals as he pulled what data, even if only a little he had, on each respective person. The moment the hologram activated, he recognized the Elysian woman project as the CEO he had spoke to before. Jack gave a nod to her in respect, but remained silent.
Taking note of the holographic Elysian he shook his head, "is that wannabe empire causing problems again?"
Aerinoi's eyes grew stormy, yet she didn't rise to the challenge. "IIS span most of the civilisations and worlds in the known universe, Mister Candon. Yamatai, Nepleslia, Union, Asteria so on. Elysia is one of the many. We don't discriminate." The woman's blue wings twitched in annoyance yet she spoke in a surprisingly calm tone.
"I'd like the blackbox data from your ship that was involved to be sent to us for inspection on our end, if you'd be so kind. Seems to be some conflictions regarding communications and such. Nothing that can't be ironed out by having a listen to both sides."
"I am trying to make sure everything is sorted out appropriately, and I will endeavor to make sure you receive what data I can gather on this incident as well. Section 6 regrets this even happened, and will endeavor to take preventive measures in the future Miss Genhich." Jack said shifting his glowing gaze to Candon for a moment as he spoke.
Candon thought for a moment, with as carefully orchestrated as this plan had been he was fully aware that the blackbox would reveal nothing different then the story he wished to convey. But, of course, proving innocence didn't matter in this case as reaching a CEO was the goal. The woman must have felt powerful, just, and unyielding... it was time to get to work.
"You know, I am an advocate for keeping sensitive information off the air. You'd know why if you knew my other line of work," Candon stated calmly, "if you'd like to see it yourself I'd be happy to arrange high-speed transit for you."
"You'll forgive my insistence on this since the odds of this collision could only have been arranged," Mr. Donovan interjected, "I have three possible explanations that would indicate that either party did this maliciously, the fact that Mr Pine responded so quickly leads to a far darker third possibility. In either case, neither corporation would want the other to handle these recording devices for fear they will tamper with the hardware. Thus we are at an impass. Either we planned to fail the launch of our drone, IIS intentionally blocked our path, or this is being manipulated by Section 6, who I may add is the only party present wearing combat equipment in a business meeting."
The Elysian bristled, an incredulous smirk slipping onto her lips. "Mr. Donovan, I agree, the odds are incredibly slim. However, unlike the launching of your drone, our flight plan was logged with the appropriate authorites from its departure on Elysia until it reached the site of the incident. Freedom of information means you can simply request for the data and you will realise we logged this trip well in advance. In fact, I believe you should have checked the area would be clear with such planned routes before launching."
She crossed her arms lightly, "Unlike FSCorp, IIS has to answer to governmential authorities and rest assured we make sure bases are covered for things like this. As for blackbox tampering, I'm sure if you would allow Director Pine here to accompany you to your craft he can oversee the process. Our blackbox will be in line with the impartical governmential correspendence you can request, if it isn't we will be sued by those governments for fraud, which I'm sure you'll agree would not be worth staging an accident for."
"While normally tampering with a blackbox would be costly you must realize that this planet has no way of enforcing such a law, and further it is FSCorp that has been providing space traffic control as an extension of managing traffic around our station to help keep lanes clear. In short our facilities were already in place," Mr. Donovan explained, "perhaps you to informed Section 6 of your intended course, but we have no record of this. Furthermore Director Pine has made it clear just moments ago that he is not a neutral party, thus while you might trust him I do not. As the president of FSCorp I do not consent to S6 being involved in this investigation on the grounds that they are more in favor of your innocence than ours."
Candon, who'd been quiet for a few valued seconds spoke up once more. "There is a different way to handle this," he offered with a neutral expression, "with no truely neutral parties and no law to enforce.. anything, along with the fact that no one died, we could just drop it. I mean, why waste time on this? Jack, you want your foreign equipment? Captain, you want to leave? Admin Lady, you want to keep costs down? Let's settle. We'll fix your ship, register it, and decontaminate the insides. You guys, just check in when you come and go and we'll keep you sailing in the clear... good?"
"I'm afraid the contents of that ship are highly classified and for you to decontaminate the ship we would have to leave them unattended. I'd rather not burn several hundred thousands worth of prototype Section 6 frigate parts to prevent them being analysed if possible." The Elysian spoke cooly, knowing for sure there was something sinister afoot as Donovan brushed over her perfect solution. "I'm sure Director Pine can tow the Industrious away with his Broadsword without further interraction. We can write this up as an unfortunate accident and go about our business." She looked to Jack expectantly.
"If you leave with the ship," Donovan paused, running more scenarios before continuing, "how will anyone know you actually received decontamination? If we end up with a plague the people on this planet will have no chance of recovery. Most of the locals have never left own planet, their immune systems are still undeveloped. No I cannot let S6 take that ship planetside."
She blinked a few times, trying to process what the other CEO was saying. "Mister Donovan, are the people on the planet any different to the people on this very station?"
"We do employ locals on our station," Donovan admitted, but explained further, "we also have very strict decontamination procedures and sanitation policies on our station. Immunizations are also available to us, but we cannot immunize the entire population, we're understaffed as it is."
"I'm quite surprised, given I've been told by Captain Dimitriv that his first officer and crew are currenly being shown around the station without decontamination, they were shown straight into medical from what I've heard. Rest assured either way that we comply to the disease control standards of Yamatai and Nepleslia, which I believe are considerably more sweeping than any FSCorp could economically impose."
"I'm also in the know that there is no unified fleet for USO and that it's possible for traffikers to slip through to the planet any number of ways from countless plague-riddled systems. It seems quite strange you're implying the transfer of visitors is highly regulated."
"Well, if you're going to be like that maybe we should just be like a bunch of savage pirates and keep the ship," Candon offered, offended that she would be so venomous, "or maybe we should take your counsel and be more proactive. Use our ships as a blockade or just bomb them when they land. Either way, the point is that we're here trying to build the planet up and you, my pompous friend, are simply trying to profit without investment. Is an enemy in orbit really what you want in this relationship?"
As the business people argued captain Fiona tossed a tightly folded paper plane to captain Dimitrov.
Her face had a concerned look as she mouthed the words 'I don't like this' behind her to keep It private between herself and Mike.
An aging man with a cane stopped abruptly at the entrance of the open office and tried turning away, only to be waved in by Mr. Donovan. Passing his datapad to the android he caned away as quickly as he could.
"Well mister Donovan, you seem to be trying to play many angles, and your right I don't dress for business. I'm a soldier, not a politician, or a corporate man. But, I do not endeavor to hide what I am. You seem to like keeping your character vague at best. S6 can tow the ship, yes, and we can run our own more thorough decon aboard my fleet with methods that won't harm the cargo. We are both here for the same goal Candon, so let's not impede the other in their progress. A better world must be built through unity and wise actions. You seem to be aiming for more chaotic solutions, and I don't trust you because of this. And on the side note, I don't do what I do for profit. Why do so when I can give and in return receive allies and aid that 188604 needs if it is to grow and expand." Jack who had been quite listening with a now ever deepening distrust for Candon said, all the while having composing and sending a message to Uso as he spoke, sending it with his last phrase.
Dimitrov shot Fiona a nervous look as the room seemed to grow hotter, catching her soaring origami between two fingers. He mouthed back to her, covering one side of his face with his palm 'I don't want to be blown up!' Then, after a second, grinning 'Again!' His fingers deftly redoubled her folds and he cast it back to her with a flick of the wrist.
CEO Aeronoi kept quiet as Director Pine spoke on behalf of both their parties, her gaze slipping between him and the FSCorp reps. The ball had left her court, from many civilis
ations to one and she totally trusted that Jack knew what he was talking about. At his last sentence, she nodded in assent, uncrossing her slender arms and being passed a tablet from off-screen.
Shaking his head, Candon just couldn't accept that. "How can you say you have the same goal? How can you say you want unity? You are outsourcing labor the people of 188 deserve- no, NEED," Candon's voice low and unsteady. Pissed was an understatement, he was torn, "you are betraying your people and whoring them to a corporate empire that could care less about us. You think you know them? You think they're trustworthy? Mark my words, when things get tough they will leave you without a second thought. Trust me or don't, I don't care. I was here before either of you and I will remain." Candon left the office for the best of everyone...
"I do not hide what I am, mister Pine. Perhaps you think of me as just a robot. I am. That is no reason to think I am dishonest, and certainly not an excuse to insult me," Mr. Donovan not untouched by the comment either. "Missus Iemochi, I presume? We will not hold you accountable for the collision and shall begin repairs. Our shipwright has informed me that the vessel will be ready for voyage in 19 hours. Your crew will be given accommodations AFTER clearing our decontamination checkpoint free of charge.. We expect your vessel to leave the planet immediately after and not return. Good day madam." Turning on his heel the formal android followed after Candon, mostly to ensure he didn't do anything rash.
Captain Fiona would catch the aerodynamic paper and pat the fellow captain's shoulder. "I thought you should know we weren't trying to shoot you down, we were trying to shut down your engine and get you to turn away from the drone's flight path.. wanna get a drink? I think I owe you one."
Jack's wrist control would bleep, followed closely by Uso's voice.
"Whatup Jack?"
"Well there seems to be a dispute involving S6, FSC, and IIS. IIS sent us a freight with a load of very important cargo, and it seems FSC has decided to be a problem. Candon wants to ban our new friends. I will not stand for his interference, and would like to request your official approval of S6's jurisdiction over the matter, and sponsorship for IIS assets. We need this Uso, and FSC isn't playing by the rules." Jack spoke back to her as he rubbed his right temple with growing irritation.
"Is Saintly around right now? like, within earshot?" Uso asked.
"Just left, like a squirrly bastard does after getting caught in his own lies. I don't like him Uso, and he's becoming a problem." Jack answered picking up his helmet.
"Ok children, chill out, I'll take care of this. Next time just remember to grease the right hands before doing shit like this."
---
Elsewhere for a moment.
*BLEEP*
Uso put in a call to Candon, "SAINTLY! WHATS UP!"
Candon's hand retrieved the communicator from his inner jacket pocket and was tempted to shut it off, answering only out of respect for his colleague. "It's just another day in paradise, Uso," he answered, "I take it the traitor called. What's he been up to?"
"Oh you know... traitor... stuff.... so by 'what's up' of course I mean, 'What's this gonna cost me?' "
"The best things are free, my friend," Candon stated as he inspected the notifications on his communicator, the words 'TRACE COMPLETE' saying it all, "your so called bodyguards are opening the door for an economic attack, next he'll want control of the skies. I'd ask for that right first."
He entered a room labeled 'archives', no larger than a cubicle with a single computer terminal.
"Ok. Cool. Lets pretend I'm a super-spy for a second and I already know what's up. I get that you want exlustive whatnot and you're first in line for whatever deals come up thanks to the work you've put in so far. I also can't have you picking on the kids while they are still trying to figure out how to do this stuff. So what's it gonna cost me to grease those palms of yours?" Uso asked.
"Just the skies. I need control of space traffic administration," he stated as he typed into the analog keypad and pressed enter, "I'll use it responsibly, you know that. Neither Jack nor Iemochi think I'm relevant out here. We can't have that. Besides, I'll make a system that works nicely."
A thin, clear plastic case was deposited, sealed tight with a digital display displaying a date and time from three days prior shining through the top left corner. It was a simple, single use device that could only be adjusted from within.
"Literally the whole fucking sky? It'd be a different fucking thing if you were actually doing something with it. I mean, dood, you got a seat at the table now stop asking for more seats and... uh... bring food.... You know what? Ignore the metaphor there. Vier, S6, Ragna, ect, all have their own intrests with the sky. How 'bout I turn over the sky around Osman city to you so you can kick S6 out to the boonies and I can stop getting calls from Jack about how the other kids aren't playing nice with him?" Uso asked.
"The problem is I'm not in Osman city," he explained, "it's not the airspace I'm asking for, just orbit. If this line is secure I'll explain."
IF SECURE(no recording, just her and Candon):
"I'm not doing this for myself, This whole IIS deal is going to open a flood of business possibilities for outside interests. Their gain Is my direct loss, they'll clean me out. You I'm hurting as it is, there's blood in the water.
"I can use this to get back in the game. I'll put up a defensive screen of drones and sensors, this project alone will employ thousands. We'll have real skylanes, and the ability to register every ship USOS or whatever you want it to be so we actually know when we're being Invaded. Tariffs, Uso, the USO can have additional funding. Decontamination in space will keep us free of plagues on the ground and I already have the space to locate these facilities.
"I can't stay relevant if I'm not supported and Jack is going to have the connections to phase me out if he keeps IIS around, and you know they're not going to content themselves to simply doing business with S6. I can't budge."
"This sounds like a boatload of your dumb problems. If you can't beat someone like IIS when they have no ins with dear leader here then you've got no chance against them if we all just go all out and start shooting. You sound overextended and fucked with no product you can bring to market... and seriously what do those guys even have? I don't even know! You've got actual products.
Throwing up walls to try and protect your trade ain't going to do shit when the market is as small as 188604.
I mean, it might be different if you actually had this system up and running and were using it already but I can't just be giving shit away on a wink and a promise. Get your fucking shit together SAINTly."
Uso paused for a moment, while Canon began sorting through pictures on his communicator.
"Look, sounds like you need to drive up sales? How about we approach the garts about including FSC products on their fighters? I know a guy who can put in a good word. Also isn't B7R buying like... fucking everything from you? Shit, I know we kinda cratered their economy but their people are like... real people with jobs and such. You might be able to recruit them as higher level workers. Shit, I could just buy a few million dollars worth of butter from you right now and call it a day if you've got it." Uso ranted.
Pictures of a massive lot of C5 drones in storage and a massive mission control center came through on her communicator.
"I can have it running in two days. It's only a bigger version of what we have at the station," he claimed, "otherwise I'll have to keep accidentally crashing ships to keep their cost up. If you don't want me to organize the orbit then do it yourself, deploy something. They're going to rape us, I swear. We're defenseless and that bitch running IIS knows it!"
"We've got bigger fish to deal with than IIS and seriously how are you gonna say I'm the one that's fucking defenseless? I can still kill everyone on the planet if I want and THAT keeps anyone from coming in here and giving me a deal I don't fucking like.
You made a play, good for you for having the spine to pull this shit and be glad I'm the kinda girl that can play nice. Now take the fucking pay out and move on. You got to wave your dick infront of IIS's face and you let them know who's who. You get a payout, I go back and tell them to play nice, they stay out of your way and get to keep their shit. Stop treating this like some zero sum game and don't pretend like you've got that kinda leverage on me. You wanna see how fast I can go from 0 to threatening everyone with death?"
Candon muted the microphone on the communicator. Osman City was the best he could do? He supposed that the situation was sloppy. Now that he had the location of a CEO a new angle could be explored to cause disruption. It was for the best.
"Okay, I'll take- dammit," he unmuted the communicator, "I'll work with Osman City. Do me a favor, let me be the one to show my hand. I'd hate them to find out my little scheme from you."
"Good, now we can all get rich instead of trying to kill off one another. I'll let the kids know they can take their stuff back to their clubhouse. Next time come at me directly instead of this spy stuff.... END COMMUNIUCATION *BZT*"
Uso shut off the communiucator and dialed up Jack once again
----
Back where we were a few minutes ago
Back's wrist thing would beep again.
"OK JACK! Play nice with the other kids. I cut a deal and you're free to go just make sure to loop the FSC in on your goings on. We're all supposed to be ont he same team."
"I will with our dealings with IIS, but the lab is off limits. Other than that, just let me know how I can make it up to you later. And what's up with you calling that vampire saintly?" Jack asked his irritation eased by a few degrees.
---
Heading back towards the office room with the sealed file in hand Candon had a slight swagger to his step. He really did want to have this pleasure. After all, what was the point in getting away with the crime if no one could appreciate how cleaver you were? As he followed the hall he met back up with Mr. Donovan.
"It's time to lay or cards on the table, Mr. Donovan," he greeted the android.
"I do not understand, sir," Donovan asked, "what cards? Are we seriously playing a card game with them or did you do something?.. I have a right to know Candon, is this some kind of game?!"
"Oh, Donovan," the spy expressed, "life is a game."
---
Tapping the the door frame Candon entered, "on second thought, let's take a look at those black boxes." I'm tickled to think of what treasures they contain." His entire demeanor was different, like a bipolar victim he was completely different. Distinctly not serious as if he were having fun, obviously holding something back.
Candon's demeanour was obtuse and irregular to the IIS CEO, having handled incidents of a similar nature many times in her career in the shipping industry before being selected for IIS. She could recall at least a few similar experiences she'd had, yet Candon seemed to have this opaque and uncomfortable front as if he was choosing every word after seconds of thought.
After painstakingly comparing the data from both the fight recorders, comm logs, and flight plans it was becoming obvious that this incident hadn't been a coordinated attack, nor a result of negligence. The devices had obviously not been tampered with as even the FSC recorder had been provided by Origin Industries.
All the while the Elysian's wings were tingling with the unavoidable feeling that something was afoot. The arguments and claims he had made prior were ultimate and overarching as if he saw himself as some grand admiral. This sudden flip-flop of barely restrained hatred even to someone he'd never met to 'let's have some tea and a sit down' screamed facade.
Captain Fiona's claim was verified as her orders to strike the starboard engines was audible on the recorder, the smokescreen timed perfectly to detonate as cover for the vessels, even the multiple attempts to hail the freighter that went unanswered.
The Elysian scrunched up her nose as she looked over the events prior to the crash, some irregular movements caught her eye but it could be explained any number of ways. Something was wrong but now wasn't the time. She'd pull some strings later.
Eventually there was simply nothing left to check.
"So, what now soldier? What do you think?" Candon asked Jack, baiting the water, "would you like to see the security footage from my trip to an archive computer again?"
"No, I've seen enough. All that matters now is that this is resolved. I need to have my people make preparation for the cargo." Jack said sending a message as he held back his irritation.
"I'm still confused why you launched the drone on the trajectory you did without checking filed flight plans but I'm sure we can chalk that up to someone not paying attention, hmm?" she looked up from the sheets before her and the transcript from Fiona.
"You know, I'm glad you brought that up," Candon claimed as he picked up the thin case once more, presenting the date on the glowing display built inside the case. Dated 3 days prior, the seamless plastic case had no way to be open without a cutting instrument of some sort.
"ladies and gentlemen, this is the power of paper archived documents using a one-time-use, vacuum sealed plastic encasement. The glowing display here that shows the date is stamped by a machine I purchased from a notary in Yamatai, and actually the entire system was made by her. The devices we have in service cannot be opened without wiping out the programming of the computer."
Candon opened a small knife and dragged the tip down the center of the case. The plastic split apart, almost shrinking as the vacuum was breached. It was clear that case could never be used again. The plastic became brittle as he now pulled it apart with his hands. The aluminum folder slid free of the plastic. Shaking out the papers clamped tightly by the folded aluminum folder he presented the document to Jack.
"I'm not sure how good your astrogation skills are but this is a copy of the flight plan we had on file for the launch," Candon presented neutrally, even naturally, "it was being launched to expand our sensory network. Launch occurred on time and was scheduled to last only 2 minutes."
"Very flashy." she conceded, "I'm still curious how this flight plan for your drone is three days old yet we at IIS planned this flight at least a month prior. I'm sure you can contact the Nepleslian authorities to verify, which I believe you probably should have before making this plan?" the Elysian's eyes flttered over the packaging, taking a note of it for later.
"She raises a good question, as there was too much time inbetween for there to not be some form of notification." Jack added thinking about that detail.
"Well, it is as you say, IIS conforms to government regulations. You respect them. It Is also as you Insinuate, we do not recognize the authority of foreign governments on this planet. Out here there is only respect and cooperation between independent groups. You people could have contacted us at any time for this information but you didn't, because you do not see us as any more than an obstacle. You didn't respect us and as a result there are now four gaping holes in your freighter," Candon returned, "as you are all probably aware by now I will come clean. This was indeed my doing. I wanted to see if your corporation respected our home and the community we have. You and apparently do not, or and at least didn't until now."
"As of today my corporation has been given authority to protect the airspace and orbit over Osman City. Now that makes us responsible for keeping that area safe from falling debris and disease. Your ship must be repaired and have the repairs inspected before you proceed planetside anywhere the City. Fortunately we already started the prep work which leaves about eighteen-ish hours to go. Your ship must be decontaminated, by whichever means you choose."
"Captain, accommodations are ready for you and your crew. All expenses will be paid for everyone, please enjoy the station's amenities," Mr. Donovan informed as he raised his hand toward the open door.
The Elysian wasn't as surprised as Candon probably expected, after all it was hard keeping a stranglehold on the economy of a whole world and bones must be broken for monopolisation. She guessed at least, everywhere IIS went they never demanded they only helped, which was why there were prevalent and endorsed by the governments of so many worlds.
"I'm glad you have finally dispensed with the cloak and dagger, Mister Candon. It's your own decision if you decide to not check half the traffic moving through your space for collisions, I guess people other than yourself travelling through your space must just roll the dice. Strange way to look after your people as you claim to do."
"We have only ever been amicable and we expected to be contacted by yourself about any issues you had rather than this petty underhandedness. If you saw us, why not contact us first, before all this?" She gestured broadly to the paperwork scattered across the table.
"I'm glad your 25,000 strong company has decided to show it's colours. We'll be sure to have our 30 million employees send apology notes. Remember, you started this. Not us."
Finally, as a last word: "Captain Dimitrov, see the cargo is given to Section 6 for deco at their discretion and it not fall into FSCorp hands. If they mess up the freighter we can replace it - just make sure your crew get out safe when you're free to go, we'll see your insurance is paid out."
With that, she nodded to Director Pine respectfully and blinked out of existence, leaving Captain Dimitrov looking in confusion to Jack for instructions.
"Well now that is out of the way, I think I need to oversee our friends. S6 has a lot of work to do and little time for impedement." Jack said walking towards the door past Candon and Donovan.
"Jack," Candon called for his attention, "you know what I'll do if they even think about getting even."
"Let me make it clear. I don't like the idea of an empire getting a foot hold anymore than you. But our people need this. If we are to build a better world, we need to branch out and expand our horizons. Uso once told me that survival was all about building connections. That's what I'm doing. And as far as you belief that I'm selling out work, that is not what is happening. IIS brings us parts we order, our people install them in our ships with IIS personnel instruction. IIS only builds ships for S6. We are their door, and how much say they have here is how much we give them. If they become a problem, then I will deal with it personally. Now let me do my job." Jack said his irritation apparent even behind his helmet's visor.
"Alright, so you're building connections, admirable, but what are they building here that we can't? What are they doing that is so special that the station facilities Donovan offered you cannot provide?" Canon asked softly, "do you really think they cannot bludgeon their way through the door with money? Manpower? Politics? They outclass us in every respect... I did this to get a feel for how they treat this planet, they don't care. And now they have our most advanced technology, tech you refuse to share. With an enemy force watching us that we know wants our planet I would like to think we would try bolstering the infrastructure we have now and send them the excess. Not the other way around."
"That's laughable coming from you. Like Yamatai isn't watching already with a foot in the door named Candon? I don't share that tech with you because I don't trust you. You question my loyalties, but where do your's truly lie Candon? And do not compare me to some corruptable politician. I have seen where corrupt governments lead first hand and what it does to those who stand against it without aid. Five years of military service, for what?! To only slaughter those who were labeled as annoyances with the spoon fed bullshit of fighting for government and planet. No, I will not watch that happen again, as innocent people pay for the greed of those who rule, to watch good men die horribly with the belief that what they are doing is just. No Mr. Candon, I will not let this come to pass. I am fully willing to help FSC, but I need to know I won't be doing so expecting a knife in the back." Jack snapped at Candon as he had just about had enough.
Candon shook his head. "Leave it to Uso to make things interesting," Candon mumbled, then informed, "you have no idea. She told you my affiliation to Yamatai and now you think you know the whole story?.. I am the reason the Star Army ignored Uso. I met with her when the SAoY was considering ending this operation and reported that she wasn't a threat, not worth dealing . I then borrowed a hundred thirty million of a friend's money to put this station out here, which leaves me holding the bill if this falls apart. You question my motives? Who else does that, Jack? Who forms a grand scheme to spy on a nobody on a planet the biggest empires don't care about that leaves them permanently in debt?
"I honestly don't know, but hiding among shadows and playing schemes doesn't paint you in a very flattering light either. That empire however has an important company supplying it parts for ships. A company that now does the same for us. A wise man once said never neglect what your opponent has to offer. This gives us an edge against, or even just levels the playing field for if another empire comes knocking looking to take what they want. We have the SkyGuard, but a lot of them are just kids, can they really stand against that kind of force. Then we have Ragnarok. We sell our security out to a private army. A private army is only as loyal as the paychecks keep rolling. It doesn't sit well with me. Vier is about the only person on this planet outside my own people and family that I trust, or fully know can do what needs to be done. I know I can't replace them, but at least I can build something up just in case one fails. Or I can help build them up, but they gotta work with me as well. This isn't a one way street, we need to give and take mutually. FSC can have my support, my tech, and my trust, but you have to give me a reason to trust you Candon. You also need to trust me. I have a family, a home, and a purpose. I respect Uso, she gave me much, but she doesn't really care. So it's our job to care, to actually work to improve." Jack said.
"Jack... I don't know what to say," Candon shrugged, "a wise man also said 'nothing is free'. You have never offered any support to this station. Rather you've hired foreigners to do what we could. Seriously, all they do is what you told them in the plans, or parameters, or whatever you're giving them. Empires hire them because them make a good deal. You never even gave us a chance."
Candon straightened the chairs in the office, contemplating how to reach his colleague's heart. Nothing came to him. It had been a long time since he'd felt hurt by another person, burned even. There was no response further that he could muster. There was no further need to try.
The sky over Osman City was his to use as a tool to lock them out, but S6 and IIS, and yet he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on them. To force them to move would help no one. Time would have to tell who was right. Candon could only hope the worst didn't happen.
