Z
Zack
Jason Argos had lived life only for a brief time and much to his chagrin it was not one that had been particularly insofar, and in a age where soldiers are grown from vats or programmed on supercomputers his origin wasn't all that strange. Despite this, he still felt that he had divined some notion of how the world around him worked. If you were talented and worked hard, he was sure, the universe would present with the opportunity to make something of yourself. So far, in the past few weeks it had borne true.
Not too long ago, his skills had landed him in a exhibition in order to be bought by Uso Tasuki, Empress of the sectors newest country, and earned him one of the most capable frames yet built. Of course, his duties at the moment were somewhat...lacking during the current preparations for a campaign against a mishhuvurthay fleet. 188-604 wasn't a planet with a lack of things to do however, and he'd put together a plan to rectify that situation...it would just be a little easier if he had some sort of operating budget, something that his current position as a slave made acquiring awkward.
Of course, fate had taken notice of him and decided to intervene again. Some company called the SCSC with a penchant for fronting goods for pirates was promoting their wares with free giveaways for random items. “Free Shit” was a deal far too good for him to ever pass up, or not spread around to the rest of of the organisation. When he he and Captain Nath he had found far more then he could possibly hope for. Food, chain blades, and hundreds of guns worth a considerable sum. Enough to buy the industrial equipment and other resources to make this venture a lot easier, and a hell of a lot more useful for the people he worked for. Of course, their were a few complications. He didn't exactly have any contacts outside of the people here, and for all the lessons his creators had programmed into him, “how to be an arms dealer 101” was a glaring oversight.
At the moment he was in the starport, having finished overseeing a routine maintenance check on the Seraphim, and felt it was probably as good as time as any to inform his ruler about his plans...and maybe ask for a little advice. Emitting a signal for her with his Mindware, Jason asked. “Hey Uso, do you have a few free minutes? Wanted to talk to you about some stuff I was planning to get up too.”
The text response would come back shortly.
The Queen's slave was a converted light freighter which had been turned into the de-facto base of operations for the planet. It had enough carrying capacity to make runs out to spacer ships to sell Ice and Protiens from the planet as well as the command center and some of the crew cabins that sheltered the group from the storms. It wouldn't be a long walk for Jason either, as the freighter was parked on the same long stretch of concrete that the Seraphim was on... just like every other ship on this planet. Even the cargobay ramps were left open, allowing Jason to walk right up into the ship to reach the command center.
Or at least what passed as a command center.
There was a table in the center of the room displaying a volumetric projection of some ships. Uso, along with the four exactly identical duplicates of Vier, were standing around the table pointing and talking about things. The room clearly used to be some kind of storage area, as there were seats against all of the walls, and a single impulse power armor that was half-disassembled and buckled into one of the chairs.
Relieved to read that his request had been granted, Jason almost immediately shot back a message to his boss. “Thanks. I’ll be right there, just have to grab something real quick.” Picking out the Queen's Slave among the array of freighters that made their nest in the planet’s star port wasn’t a particularly hard task, not least because he had made it a point to commit the designations and distinguishing features to his memory banks.
Quickly finding himself in a makeshift command center, a man that was more worldly or more concerned with professionalism might have been a tad concerned that the room two of the most powerful people on the planet seemed to be discussing matters of national import was also being used as a warehouse. Instead of stopping to reflect on this, Jason strode through the door with a broad smile, wearing attire he had previously been gifted from Uso and carry a open crate full of a peculiar pistol design.
“Uso, Vier, good to see you. Hope I'm not interrupting anything too important.” He set the box aside, picking a single Liberator out and twirling it by the trigger guard. “So, who wants to hear about my plan to crush rebels, make some place on this planet a little less ass backwards, give it some basic industrial capacity, make you more money, AND not cost you a single DA?”
"Ok, I am interested," Uso said, giving him a stern look as she stopped what she was doing and walked over to Jason, getting right up in his personal space and looking down on him.
She'd snatch the gun out of his hand, in one swift motion, and then release the slide, tossing it in one direction and the grip in the other, the weapon's barrel and internal springs flying out haphazardly.
"Now what's your plan?"
Jason could almost feel the atmosphere change as she affixed him with a hard expessiong and came over to disassemble the pistol with practiced ease. This wasn't fun loving, eased back Uso he had become accustomed too after she had bought him. It was probably in his best intrest not to fuck this pitch up.
So, Jason did what he always did when back into corner. Act like he had everything figured out.
" Vier, mind if I use this projector for a second?" Without even waiting for a answer he walked over to the display, attempting to hook up to it with his mindware, and bringing up a map. "Let me start from the top. This spot right here? A place the locals call Lahiri. Right along the Southern coast so it has a lot of potential for getting more of the water your making bank off of. Second biggest city after Osman, and it has most of the planet factories, probably because they don't have to deal with the constant storms. Currently it is doing nothing for you other then maybe supplying rebels while the locals kill each other over bits and pieces."
"Since i'm not exactly doing much for you either just sitting here, and everyone else is mostly busy, I figured that I could take my Frame and rectify the situation. If your cool with it, that part one of my plan."
"So your plan to stop everyone from killing one another is to fly over there with your mecha and kill them all first?" Uso asked, not sounding too impressed, "Or do you got some sorta killer act 2?"
As Uso was speaking, the Vier duplicates would quietly dismiss themselves, two heading towards the exit ramp while one went towards the rear of the ship, the remaining Vier moving to the side so that Jason could continue to use the table.
Uso would take her eyes off Jason for a moment to watch them leave, then return her attention to him, "Not that I disapprove of you taking initiative, but swinging a gun around like that does not inspire confidence. Gimme a Plan, What you need from me, and a timeframe you expect to have it accomplished in."
"While I admit that turning this place into a lifeless crater would be prety satisfying, it also is a pretty inefficent waste of resources. Every missile is one you either have to replace or can't be used against the Mishhu, yadda yadda yadda. But if you needed to murder everybody to occupy a place when all you stated with is a invulnerable death machine then Osman City would be a graveyard right now."
It wasn't exactly the most promising start for his pitch, Jason had to conclude. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to pull off flashy trick out of western when he was talking about serious matters. "All I need to do is what you pulled off here, just on a smaller scale. Show up, make it very clear they they can't do anything to hurt me or stop me from kiling them. Show them that no matter where they hide, my sensors can find them, and that I will not go away.
"Go to the biggest groups fighting over a piece of the pie and make it very clear that they can either serve you or die. Nine times out of ten, self preservation and a chance to be a part of the winning side will win out. Suddenly, you have an occupation force for Lahiri the same way you got the brigadiers. Then lock down the factories along with any movement, including trade, coming into the city and suddenly whatever rebellion might rise up is cash starved."
"Probably would take maybe a few weeks before the violence would die down without me needing to be there personally all the time? At most a couple of months. As for what I need from you...Nothing, other then your permission. And if you like the idea, I can go on to part 2, which involves that unloaded gun I was swinging around."
"The point is don't play with guns," Uso said sternly, "I barely trust you not to poop your pants... and I'm letting you pilot a giant robot... so I guess that says more about me than about you..."
Uso sighed audibly,
"We're going to have to pack up and leave for I'ee for a while. I need you and that robot both ready to go when I call for it. Everything else is secondary. If you want to go play around in ... wherever, then fine, go do that, you have my permission. Now, will I regret asking what your part 2 is?"
Quite expectedly, a streak of annoyance flashed across Jason's face at the less then...flattering amount of faith she had in his ability to function in everyday life, much less as the would be conqueror of a entire city. It quickly subsided into a far more subdued version of the grin that he had sported when he had entered the room, the expression gone as quickly as it had appeared. If he was effected by the remarks, the consistency of his tone didn't show it.
"Yes Uso, you can trust me too be ready when we invade. As for part two....starts with this." With a swipe of his finger, more a useless flourish then a necessity for him to operate the device. The map of Lahiri morphed into one a 3d representation of a small, blocky drone. "They aren't exactly Junkers or Swifts, but they're everything I need. Can easily keep them charged indefinitely with the M5s reacts, it's small, can use gravity to move around, has a comprehensive sensor suite and all the tools I need to start building factories planetside. Most importantly though, their cheap."
He glanced over at his boss, hoping his presentation wasn't further ruining her mood.
"One thing I've noticed is that we have a lot \ fabricators, but not much in the way of machine tools. Especially stuff to build more sophisticated like electronics, capacitors, ect. This is the perfect place to set them up planetside, and I can build them...or design them at least, and the drones can built it. How long this will take is obviously going to depend on how much drone power I have to work with, which fluctuates...well, here's the part where you not having to pay for a single thing comes in."
The young man made a sweeping gesture at the disassembled gun parts his boss had strewn about. "Got these for free due to some pirate salvage front cleaning out their inventory, picked them up with Captain Nath not too long ago. They're pretty rare, from what I could tell they had only one production run almost a decade ago for some Nepleslian sector police department. Selling em for about 500 DA a pop on the Internep. All ready got about thirty takers, so I have enough to get about...two dozen of these things. Well get you them, I'm not sure about my legal ability to own things given the whole slave deal we have going on."
Looking at her expectedly he added. "But yeah, you won't need to give me anything for this either, I have it all covered. All though, I guess I could think of one or two things I don't need but would probably help and make good investments if you haven't already been turned off..."
"Most drones can't design, but sure, go ahead, consider this a learning experience. If you need some cash to get started let me know. Outside of that you're welcome to bargain with whomever for what you need. The vek have raw materials, Vier has some toy designs, Arccos has spacer-things like uh... sciencey stuff... grinders I guess?
The point is you're going to need a lot more than fabrication drones. You can get all kinds of software to help with the design work, tooling, and finishing, but if you wanna setup your own factory you're going to need to start putting a team together, getting that tooling setup, and design your layout. This is a lot bigger task than just buying some drones off the internep and setting them to factory." Uso said, sounding less soured on the whole thing. "Do a good job and we'll put your face on a flag or something, let you fly it real high over that city you were looking at. I'd also appreciate it if you took Alex with you on this."
It was hard for him to keep from letting out a sigh of relief as she acquiesced to the request. "Thanks. I...probably could use operating budget, and I'd intend on payin it back as soon as I could, but I know money is kind of tight. I've had drinks with the women running the VDTF down here, so maybe I could speak with her about it. Arccos I can hit up any time, and Vier..."
He glanced over in the direction that the fourth of her bodies had stepped aside, if she was still there. "Love to talk with you about some of this stuff if you have a free moment after this."
"As for bringing Alex in on it, sure, if you think thats he'll be useful. I can think of a few ways to put another frame to work out there. Which reminds me, I did want to talk with you about him and, you know, that job he signed up for with Van Banning."
Vier would give Jason a simple nod, while Uso would rub the bridge of her nose, "Yeah... that side-job.... what'd you want to talk about exactly?"
"Well...listen. I know you don't exactly trust Van Banning, but I'm literally the most incorruptible dude on your payroll for pretty obvious reasons." He started, taking a conciliatory tone given he knew this was a bit of a sore issue. "And I think they'res real benefit in doing it. Get some combat experience, bring home a good chunk of dough of to add to your coffers, and it's not like I'd ever let myself, or him, let it interfere with our job here. I don't suppose you mind me putting in a app, at least so I can keep an eye on Alex, would you? Worst case scenario, I spend a afternoon trouncing whoever does the gatekeeping for her contractors and never take one up because I'm to busy working on Lahiri."
"Damnit Jason." Uso said, looking at him for quite a while as the gears turned in her head. The normally quick responses from Uso getting delayed by a lot of shifting around and a lot of 'not answering right away.'
"I mean... uhg.... fine, ok." She finally said, "You make a good case that it'd be better to have the two of you fucking up together than have one of you fucking up and have the other causing entirely different fuckups in an entirely different way. Take Alex with you and go apply for Van Banning's cheerleader squad."
That wasn't exactly the way he would have summed up his own argument, but considering the way that she had reacted initially he was happy to get her permission at all rather than the chewing out or possible punishment he had expected. It was quite possibly the first time he had ever seen at a loss for words.
For the time being, his expression settled on one of gratitude. "Thank you. I'll make sure not to do anything I'd regret."
He stole a glance at Vier, then back at the NH7. "Am I dismissed?"
"I suppose so, I'll give you a call when I need you." Uso replied.
Not too long ago, his skills had landed him in a exhibition in order to be bought by Uso Tasuki, Empress of the sectors newest country, and earned him one of the most capable frames yet built. Of course, his duties at the moment were somewhat...lacking during the current preparations for a campaign against a mishhuvurthay fleet. 188-604 wasn't a planet with a lack of things to do however, and he'd put together a plan to rectify that situation...it would just be a little easier if he had some sort of operating budget, something that his current position as a slave made acquiring awkward.
Of course, fate had taken notice of him and decided to intervene again. Some company called the SCSC with a penchant for fronting goods for pirates was promoting their wares with free giveaways for random items. “Free Shit” was a deal far too good for him to ever pass up, or not spread around to the rest of of the organisation. When he he and Captain Nath he had found far more then he could possibly hope for. Food, chain blades, and hundreds of guns worth a considerable sum. Enough to buy the industrial equipment and other resources to make this venture a lot easier, and a hell of a lot more useful for the people he worked for. Of course, their were a few complications. He didn't exactly have any contacts outside of the people here, and for all the lessons his creators had programmed into him, “how to be an arms dealer 101” was a glaring oversight.
At the moment he was in the starport, having finished overseeing a routine maintenance check on the Seraphim, and felt it was probably as good as time as any to inform his ruler about his plans...and maybe ask for a little advice. Emitting a signal for her with his Mindware, Jason asked. “Hey Uso, do you have a few free minutes? Wanted to talk to you about some stuff I was planning to get up too.”
The text response would come back shortly.
The Queen's slave was a converted light freighter which had been turned into the de-facto base of operations for the planet. It had enough carrying capacity to make runs out to spacer ships to sell Ice and Protiens from the planet as well as the command center and some of the crew cabins that sheltered the group from the storms. It wouldn't be a long walk for Jason either, as the freighter was parked on the same long stretch of concrete that the Seraphim was on... just like every other ship on this planet. Even the cargobay ramps were left open, allowing Jason to walk right up into the ship to reach the command center.
Or at least what passed as a command center.
There was a table in the center of the room displaying a volumetric projection of some ships. Uso, along with the four exactly identical duplicates of Vier, were standing around the table pointing and talking about things. The room clearly used to be some kind of storage area, as there were seats against all of the walls, and a single impulse power armor that was half-disassembled and buckled into one of the chairs.
Relieved to read that his request had been granted, Jason almost immediately shot back a message to his boss. “Thanks. I’ll be right there, just have to grab something real quick.” Picking out the Queen's Slave among the array of freighters that made their nest in the planet’s star port wasn’t a particularly hard task, not least because he had made it a point to commit the designations and distinguishing features to his memory banks.
Quickly finding himself in a makeshift command center, a man that was more worldly or more concerned with professionalism might have been a tad concerned that the room two of the most powerful people on the planet seemed to be discussing matters of national import was also being used as a warehouse. Instead of stopping to reflect on this, Jason strode through the door with a broad smile, wearing attire he had previously been gifted from Uso and carry a open crate full of a peculiar pistol design.
“Uso, Vier, good to see you. Hope I'm not interrupting anything too important.” He set the box aside, picking a single Liberator out and twirling it by the trigger guard. “So, who wants to hear about my plan to crush rebels, make some place on this planet a little less ass backwards, give it some basic industrial capacity, make you more money, AND not cost you a single DA?”
"Ok, I am interested," Uso said, giving him a stern look as she stopped what she was doing and walked over to Jason, getting right up in his personal space and looking down on him.
She'd snatch the gun out of his hand, in one swift motion, and then release the slide, tossing it in one direction and the grip in the other, the weapon's barrel and internal springs flying out haphazardly.
"Now what's your plan?"
Jason could almost feel the atmosphere change as she affixed him with a hard expessiong and came over to disassemble the pistol with practiced ease. This wasn't fun loving, eased back Uso he had become accustomed too after she had bought him. It was probably in his best intrest not to fuck this pitch up.
So, Jason did what he always did when back into corner. Act like he had everything figured out.
" Vier, mind if I use this projector for a second?" Without even waiting for a answer he walked over to the display, attempting to hook up to it with his mindware, and bringing up a map. "Let me start from the top. This spot right here? A place the locals call Lahiri. Right along the Southern coast so it has a lot of potential for getting more of the water your making bank off of. Second biggest city after Osman, and it has most of the planet factories, probably because they don't have to deal with the constant storms. Currently it is doing nothing for you other then maybe supplying rebels while the locals kill each other over bits and pieces."
"Since i'm not exactly doing much for you either just sitting here, and everyone else is mostly busy, I figured that I could take my Frame and rectify the situation. If your cool with it, that part one of my plan."
"So your plan to stop everyone from killing one another is to fly over there with your mecha and kill them all first?" Uso asked, not sounding too impressed, "Or do you got some sorta killer act 2?"
As Uso was speaking, the Vier duplicates would quietly dismiss themselves, two heading towards the exit ramp while one went towards the rear of the ship, the remaining Vier moving to the side so that Jason could continue to use the table.
Uso would take her eyes off Jason for a moment to watch them leave, then return her attention to him, "Not that I disapprove of you taking initiative, but swinging a gun around like that does not inspire confidence. Gimme a Plan, What you need from me, and a timeframe you expect to have it accomplished in."
"While I admit that turning this place into a lifeless crater would be prety satisfying, it also is a pretty inefficent waste of resources. Every missile is one you either have to replace or can't be used against the Mishhu, yadda yadda yadda. But if you needed to murder everybody to occupy a place when all you stated with is a invulnerable death machine then Osman City would be a graveyard right now."
It wasn't exactly the most promising start for his pitch, Jason had to conclude. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to pull off flashy trick out of western when he was talking about serious matters. "All I need to do is what you pulled off here, just on a smaller scale. Show up, make it very clear they they can't do anything to hurt me or stop me from kiling them. Show them that no matter where they hide, my sensors can find them, and that I will not go away.
"Go to the biggest groups fighting over a piece of the pie and make it very clear that they can either serve you or die. Nine times out of ten, self preservation and a chance to be a part of the winning side will win out. Suddenly, you have an occupation force for Lahiri the same way you got the brigadiers. Then lock down the factories along with any movement, including trade, coming into the city and suddenly whatever rebellion might rise up is cash starved."
"Probably would take maybe a few weeks before the violence would die down without me needing to be there personally all the time? At most a couple of months. As for what I need from you...Nothing, other then your permission. And if you like the idea, I can go on to part 2, which involves that unloaded gun I was swinging around."
"The point is don't play with guns," Uso said sternly, "I barely trust you not to poop your pants... and I'm letting you pilot a giant robot... so I guess that says more about me than about you..."
Uso sighed audibly,
"We're going to have to pack up and leave for I'ee for a while. I need you and that robot both ready to go when I call for it. Everything else is secondary. If you want to go play around in ... wherever, then fine, go do that, you have my permission. Now, will I regret asking what your part 2 is?"
Quite expectedly, a streak of annoyance flashed across Jason's face at the less then...flattering amount of faith she had in his ability to function in everyday life, much less as the would be conqueror of a entire city. It quickly subsided into a far more subdued version of the grin that he had sported when he had entered the room, the expression gone as quickly as it had appeared. If he was effected by the remarks, the consistency of his tone didn't show it.
"Yes Uso, you can trust me too be ready when we invade. As for part two....starts with this." With a swipe of his finger, more a useless flourish then a necessity for him to operate the device. The map of Lahiri morphed into one a 3d representation of a small, blocky drone. "They aren't exactly Junkers or Swifts, but they're everything I need. Can easily keep them charged indefinitely with the M5s reacts, it's small, can use gravity to move around, has a comprehensive sensor suite and all the tools I need to start building factories planetside. Most importantly though, their cheap."
He glanced over at his boss, hoping his presentation wasn't further ruining her mood.
"One thing I've noticed is that we have a lot \ fabricators, but not much in the way of machine tools. Especially stuff to build more sophisticated like electronics, capacitors, ect. This is the perfect place to set them up planetside, and I can build them...or design them at least, and the drones can built it. How long this will take is obviously going to depend on how much drone power I have to work with, which fluctuates...well, here's the part where you not having to pay for a single thing comes in."
The young man made a sweeping gesture at the disassembled gun parts his boss had strewn about. "Got these for free due to some pirate salvage front cleaning out their inventory, picked them up with Captain Nath not too long ago. They're pretty rare, from what I could tell they had only one production run almost a decade ago for some Nepleslian sector police department. Selling em for about 500 DA a pop on the Internep. All ready got about thirty takers, so I have enough to get about...two dozen of these things. Well get you them, I'm not sure about my legal ability to own things given the whole slave deal we have going on."
Looking at her expectedly he added. "But yeah, you won't need to give me anything for this either, I have it all covered. All though, I guess I could think of one or two things I don't need but would probably help and make good investments if you haven't already been turned off..."
"Most drones can't design, but sure, go ahead, consider this a learning experience. If you need some cash to get started let me know. Outside of that you're welcome to bargain with whomever for what you need. The vek have raw materials, Vier has some toy designs, Arccos has spacer-things like uh... sciencey stuff... grinders I guess?
The point is you're going to need a lot more than fabrication drones. You can get all kinds of software to help with the design work, tooling, and finishing, but if you wanna setup your own factory you're going to need to start putting a team together, getting that tooling setup, and design your layout. This is a lot bigger task than just buying some drones off the internep and setting them to factory." Uso said, sounding less soured on the whole thing. "Do a good job and we'll put your face on a flag or something, let you fly it real high over that city you were looking at. I'd also appreciate it if you took Alex with you on this."
It was hard for him to keep from letting out a sigh of relief as she acquiesced to the request. "Thanks. I...probably could use operating budget, and I'd intend on payin it back as soon as I could, but I know money is kind of tight. I've had drinks with the women running the VDTF down here, so maybe I could speak with her about it. Arccos I can hit up any time, and Vier..."
He glanced over in the direction that the fourth of her bodies had stepped aside, if she was still there. "Love to talk with you about some of this stuff if you have a free moment after this."
"As for bringing Alex in on it, sure, if you think thats he'll be useful. I can think of a few ways to put another frame to work out there. Which reminds me, I did want to talk with you about him and, you know, that job he signed up for with Van Banning."
Vier would give Jason a simple nod, while Uso would rub the bridge of her nose, "Yeah... that side-job.... what'd you want to talk about exactly?"
"Well...listen. I know you don't exactly trust Van Banning, but I'm literally the most incorruptible dude on your payroll for pretty obvious reasons." He started, taking a conciliatory tone given he knew this was a bit of a sore issue. "And I think they'res real benefit in doing it. Get some combat experience, bring home a good chunk of dough of to add to your coffers, and it's not like I'd ever let myself, or him, let it interfere with our job here. I don't suppose you mind me putting in a app, at least so I can keep an eye on Alex, would you? Worst case scenario, I spend a afternoon trouncing whoever does the gatekeeping for her contractors and never take one up because I'm to busy working on Lahiri."
"Damnit Jason." Uso said, looking at him for quite a while as the gears turned in her head. The normally quick responses from Uso getting delayed by a lot of shifting around and a lot of 'not answering right away.'
"I mean... uhg.... fine, ok." She finally said, "You make a good case that it'd be better to have the two of you fucking up together than have one of you fucking up and have the other causing entirely different fuckups in an entirely different way. Take Alex with you and go apply for Van Banning's cheerleader squad."
That wasn't exactly the way he would have summed up his own argument, but considering the way that she had reacted initially he was happy to get her permission at all rather than the chewing out or possible punishment he had expected. It was quite possibly the first time he had ever seen at a loss for words.
For the time being, his expression settled on one of gratitude. "Thank you. I'll make sure not to do anything I'd regret."
He stole a glance at Vier, then back at the NH7. "Am I dismissed?"
"I suppose so, I'll give you a call when I need you." Uso replied.