As the race finished up, amidst the cheering crowd, there was a notable amount of people booing. Unfortunately, there was simply no way around this. Haraken had caused too much of a commotion this time. He might have won, but in exchange, he'd terrorized half the district.

Hoping to salvage the situation, Ronin headed for the speaker podium. Earlier, he'd separated the Omni-Bolt into two models: the ones with infused frames, and the ones without. After Haraken’s display though...? He was going to need a third option, a silent one.

Climbing up on the overhang where the announcer stood, Ronin linked up his implant to the audio system, then took over the role as speaker:

[Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Speed Demon!]

The speakers amplified his voice across the venue and the rowdy crowd stilled. Some people even began clapping.

Good, he thought. At least they don't seem too negative about the race.

He continued: [As many of you might have noticed, Speed Demon was driving a bit of a different ship today.]

“A bloody loud one, yes!” A heckler from the audience shouted.

[A loud one indeed.] Ronin agreed. [But also, a bloody fast one. You guys all saw the speed of that thing. What do you think a ship like that would normally cost? 200 000 credits? Maybe you’re lucky and get a used ship with those specifications for 150 000, but what do you think the Omni-Bolt Extreme costs?]

He paused, allowing for the anticipation to build… Then… he erupted!

[NO! WE AT MAXIMUS SOLUTIONS BELIEVE THAT THE CUSTOMER COMES FIRST! 90 000 credits and you can drive the same ship as Speed Demon. And if you don’t want to make yourself known, say, if you're faint of heart, a little bit cowardly maybe. Just say you want the quiet version when you place an order on our site. Our company will happily send you that version for the same price as the brave edition.]

Now that got some reactions. Ronin could hear some people whistling whereas others widened their eyes in surprise. They’d taken the bait, now it was time to reel them in. With a shark-like grin, he spread his arms wide, then gestured towards the crowd:

[If you’re short on credits, however, we have the standard edition Omni-Bolt available for half the price. That’s 45 000 credits for one of the fastest ships around. It can’t reach the speeds that the premium editions can, but it’s not far away…] Next, Ronin lowered his voice, sounding like a man revealing a deep secret. [We’d also like to add that every ship is specifically built to be easily modified. You could add whatever you want onto it, and with that, I mean whatever... It's so easy to do, even a baby could do it.]

A promotional video of Haraken's premium edition Omni-Bolt began playing across some of the massive holoscreens. The video went through anything from acceleration graphs, to turn velocity data, fully showcasing the ship's strengths.

Ronin stayed upon the overhang, and after the video finished, he took questions from the audience. Some asked about ship modifications, others, about the performance of the standard edition. Most however, wanted to know about the silent version of the Omni-Bolt. The one that didn’t exist.

Having come up with the idea during the race, Ronin struggled a bit to come up with satisfying answers... Hopefully, nobody caught on to what he was doing.

After his time was up, the questioning ended, and he descended from the podium.

“So…a silent edition?” Simons asked, having walked over a few minutes earlier.

“Ugh,” Ronin grunted back. “Something had to be done.”

Simons furrowed his brows. “Well, I guess things will get pretty busy in the next few days. To make the Omni-Bolt silent, we're going to have to make a lot of changes... Though, that being said, it might be better to just stop selling the noisy version all together.”

“Yeah,” Ronin agreed.

Just then, they both heard a ping. A message? Ronin wondered, accessing his implant.

As he opened up the message, he saw that it had come from the company website.

Could it be?

As he began reading, he saw what it was. An order for the standard model of the Omni-Bolt. Ronin had just sold his first ship — just like that. Subtracting the 10000 credits the raw materials would cost, that left 35 000 credits in net profit for less than a day’s work!

Ronin and Simons just stared at each other. With how ill-prepared they’d been for this product launch, neither expected someone to order a ship that early. Seemingly, the low price and the ship's modular design had paid off more than expected.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

PING!

There was another order. The standard model again. PING! Another. It didn’t stop. More and more orders began coming in.

Ronin’s face stretched itself into a foolish smile, and as he looked over at Simons, he saw the same smile on him. How many at their age had done something like this before? It couldn't have been many! With this, he was not only one step closer to becoming a successful designer. He was also one step closer to leaving Ironglades.

“I don’t think working overtime is going to be enough anymore,” said Simons, so excited he was shaking at this point.

“Mhm,” Ronin replied, his entire body rocking back and forth as he nodded. “We’re going to have to hire a lot more people now… You know, we might even need more factories!”

image [https://i.imgur.com/EBoScIM.png]

Some distance away from the racing venue, a small body jostled. The small movement triggered a signal to be sent from the machine monitoring the boy. Shortly after, a nurse came running into the room. She immediately began inspecting the medical equipment. All its readings showed the same thing. The child was waking up!

As she was about to inform the man who’d paid for this treatment, however, she was interrupted.

A holoscreen appeared before her, informing her that the usage of her implant had been forcibly restricted. This shouldn’t be possible. Implants were extremely personal and were not only supposed to be un-hackable... they were supposed to be entirely under the control of their owners. For them to be influenced like this...

Suddenly, right at the center of her vision, a new message appeared:

[Do not move. Someone will arrive shortly to explain the situation.]

Along with the message, there was a symbol of two lasguns crossing barrels. She recognized that symbol... “T-the planetary guard?” She stammered.

image [https://i.imgur.com/EBoScIM.png]

Whilst Ronin and Simons were celebrating their launch of the Omni-Bolt, Ronin suddenly received another message. To his surprise, it wasn’t a new order this time. As he brought the message up with his implant, his heart jumped.

The hospital?

As he started reading, the exhilaration he was already feeling from the product launch, rose even higher.

“Scrabby’s awake,” he muttered aloud. He couldn’t believe it. Just when he thought the day couldn’t get any better—

“What was that? Scrabby?” Simons broke in, leaning over.

“I need to go,” Ronin said, turning around to leave. There was no way he’d let the kid spend his first day awake alone. Not after what had happened.

As Ronin began walking however, a hand firmly gripped his shoulder. “Not without me!” Said Simons. “This is a great day, and we’re celebrating, be it here or— Ow, hang on!”

Simons began sliding across the ground as Ronin walked, not affected by the man’s grip at all. Having to release his hold before his arm gave out, Simons started walking briskly to keep pace.

“This is a personal matter,” Ronin said with implication.

“Scrabby’s that child we met at the Happy Pearl restaurant, right? I know.”

Ronin thought about it for a moment, before eventually giving in: “Alright, if you want to follow, you can — but keep what you see to yourself.”

The two walked up to a parked shuttle, entered it, then headed for the hospital.

“...”

As the two arrived before the hospital, something seemed off to Ronin. He'd been here before and this place was usually packed with people. Now though? There was barely anyone around, and the people he did see... looked frightened. As they entered the building, things turned even weirder. The closer the two got to Scrabby, the less people they saw. And those they did see, quickly scurried away the moment they saw them.

A short 5 minutes of walking later, they reached the final corridor. There was not a single soul left now. Everyone was gone. It was almost as if this entire section of the hospital had been abandoned.

“Is this really normal?” Asked Simons, his voice echoing across the hall.

Ronin slowly shook his head, his eyes turning vigilant. “No…It is most definitely not.”

They walked up to the door leading to Scrabby's room, and Ronin, now cautious, opened the door carefully. First, he spotted Scrabby. The kid was awake, and there were bandages all over his body. Ronin breathed out a sigh of relief. It seemed the nurse had done a good job taking care of the boy.

Next, he saw a man standing upright besides Scrabby. Dressed in a decorated black and yellow uniform, the man held a stiff posture as he talked silently with the child. The man had a thick gray beard, sharp eyebrows and a powerful physique. And as he turned towards them, the man showed a morose expression.

“So, you’ve actually decided to come, Ronin,” he growled. “I would have thought the father and mother would have been enough for you, but it seems you want the child as well.”

Ronin had a feeling he’d missed something. That black and yellow uniform was what the planetary guard wore. Why would someone like that come for a slum-rat like Scrabby? The answer was, he wouldn't. He was here for Ronin.

“Who are you, really?” Ronin demanded.

“I am the one who's been cleaning up your mess. Tens of thousands of people have died because of the ruddles you released upon this city. Someone like you shouldn’t have the right to know, but in consideration of the one you’ve brought along—” The man gave a respectful nod towards Simons. “It’s an honor to be graced by one of the 10 great families.”

“Just answer the question,” Simons said.

The older man sighed. “I’m Sima Hui of the planetary guard… and I’m here to inform you, Ronin Maximus, you’ve been summoned for a tribunal.”

Ronin’s implant notified him of an incoming message. And as he pulled it up, and began reading, the gravity of his situation became clear: Citizen of Tar, Ronin Maximus, you have hereby been summoned for a tribunal to answer for your crimes against the people of Concordia. On the document, there were signatures from the planetary guard Marshal, the Mayor, the Minister of Education, heck, even the Prime Minister had signed it.

Just then, Scrabby spoke up with tears in his eyes: “Ronin… Is it true? Did you really kill my father?”