Incoming Press Report, Zero Light Years Away (Jahellios System Comm Network, FEG Controlled).
Suspected Union Privateers spotted in the Jahellios System. Local vessels and convoys are instructed to broadcast identification codes at all times and to remain in compliance with the directives of the Jahellios System Fleet. Remain calm and vigilant.
- Rubenfolt Post
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+++ Jonathan Jones +++
New Krakow Station
“Well, if that isn’t a weird one,” I remarked as we left her office. “Twelve thousand SCs just to, erm, deliver a message?”
“Well, I guess couriers are expensive nowadays,” Juliett muttered as we continued on forward.
Two of the guards that were posted outside looked at the two of us weirdly again, but I carried on. “Maybe there’s a catch to it or something,” I said, trying to rationalize her intentions.
“Yeah, she did just say that they would be giving us further details on the mission,” Juliett said before she shoved me with her shoulder while smiling smugly. “Say, aren’t you getting pumped for this? This sounds like some sort of an adventure mission, or something!”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, you’re the last type to think about this type of event so childishly. I think that woman’s just testing us, or something. It’s weird. It’s strange. Or she’s checking where our loyalties lie.”
“So you think this is potentially dangerous?”
“She’s the administrator of this station. Technically, that means she’s the biggest big shot of this colony. Okay, maybe the Colonial Governor is, but still…I bet she just found our identities weird.”
“Didn’t Harold tell us that he and his friends already operated here once before?” Juliett asked. “Surely, Ms. Kalista already has an idea of who he is, and in extension, she shouldn’t find it weird that he’s coming in with two newcomers.”
“I suppose, I mean, authorities over the Sector already have bigger fish to fry with all these pirates, criminal syndicates, privateers, and spies running rings around them, but still, they do keep watch at the smaller fishes from time to time. Plus, while they aren’t able to fully verify it, your ship is still pretty weirdly advanced and sophisticated from the outside.”
“I already told you, I’m keeping a close watch on all of our ships,” Juliett said. “No one’s touching it. If they do, my combat drones will take care of it. Plus, they already accepted the identification of my ship. From now on, it’s an Orion-Class…well, officially at least.”
I sighed, still finding this mission distasteful. Perhaps it would really be just a courier thing, we go into New Krakow, and we find the contact that Ms. Kalista said at that location, we pass on her file, then we piss off with twelve thousand SCs on our account. Enough to fund another long-range expedition should we need it.
“She practically forced us at gunpoint though,” I said, still frowning. “Just listening to the way she framed the mission and why we should do it tells me enough.”
“I know,” Juliett said, now finally breaking her cheerful demeanor. “But then again, maybe she’s genuine, and her friend really just needs help. I mean, she did say that all of her other contacts were busy for higher profile tasks, and she can’t just go down there herself, and all the other ones were too ‘risky’.”
“Well, why aren’t we risky to her then? We’re an unknown factor. We literally only arrived at this station today.”
“Well, maybe she likes gambling.” Juliett stopped and turned to me. “Plus…Jonathan, those civilians already testified of what we did. Which means Ms. Kalista probably already knew what we did. Perhaps, she sees us as good people she could probably trust.”
“That’s ridiculous. Okay, maybe you and Harold, maybe. But me? Pfft, I’m literally the definition of a shady and untrustable person.”
“Really?” She smiled. “Because to me, I think you’re just being harsh to yourself.” She turned her back from me, and I think she was smiling even more. “I think, this place is so awful, that for Ms. Kalista, finding potentially honorable people who would help is a rare resource. Shouldn’t you be happy that she’s trying you out?”
“Still, I don’t see how this would—”
“Plus, she already told us, that if we do this well, she’d give us a lot of lucrative contracts if we prove ourselves,” Juliett smirked. “Don’t tell me the prospects of SCs don’t entice you? I mean, just think about it, the personal bounties, the expedition missions, she already outlined it, and I think that would greatly help me and you establish ourselves. Don’t you think? Plus, again…Jonathan, SCs.”
The way she said that slowly almost killed me as I internally drooled. You can’t just appeal to my internal greed! No, I must stay reasonable. There were still risks for this potential business “partner”. Ms. Kalista was an FEG official. Anything could happen. I mean, weren’t they all a part of a literal military dictatorship? For all I know, she could be funneling information to the Federal Investigation Agency and before I know it, some death squad is lining my arse up.
Yeah, at this point, I’m just being intentionally brain-dead. That was borderline conspiracy theory. She already showed us that she was a part of the Orion Coalition, the pro-democracy movement of the FEG that was gaining ground in the High Council. And I was still doubting her. At this point, I was probably just finding every damned excuse to be untrusting of people.
“Again, Jonathan, SCs.”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Yeah shut up, what are you trying to do, hypnotize me?
“Well, I can tell that you’re a greedy guy, so maybe that’ll work.” She laughed. “It’s quite funny how you’re both greedy and frugal though. A hoarder perhaps?”
“I just maximize resource acquisition and allocation, thank you very much.” I countered, and she merely laughed at my…alright, perhaps pathetic reason to justify my contradictory and self-destructive tendencies. But whatever, at this point, I refused to even care, as I focused my mind on this mission.
At the end of the day, if I don’t want to piss off an FEG official, I’d have to do this. I sighed internally inside. At least the Jukebox was now getting her new repairs and refits. After that battle, I realized that those coilguns wouldn’t really become a viable weapon in any long-term battle. Which meant I needed something, a general-purpose energy weapon, for both anti-shield and anti-armor purposes. Unlike ballistics, energy weaponry required, well, energy, which could be produced endlessly by the Jukebox’s reactor during combat…if the energy demand it would place on it doesn’t break it.
I suppose the Reaper-Class is supposed to be a high-tech scout anyway. While the ship I stole was old, beat up, and had a lumbering rusty hull, it didn’t change the fact that the Reaper-Class was designed by the Federation as a fast picket with powerful sensors and good stealth capabilities, because it was supposed to operate as an independent scout.
And in accordance with that, it was supposed to be armed fully with energy weaponry. Unfortunately, the Jukebox I found was already stripped of it, except for the two original Licht PD Lasers it had (I even had to procure the next two later on). But I struck luck today, as we found a dealer with limited storage of two Halcyon Photon Blasters, essentially a heavy energy “cannon” that fired photon bolts in a semi-automatic manner at the enemy.
Unfortunately, it would be very hard on the reactor, so I had to downgrade the Jukebox’s shield generators and improve the main components of the Jukebox, which meant that the Jukebox would be stuck in the docks for the next three weeks at maximum!
And I had to splurge away fifteen thousand SCs for all of it, which meant…I was once again, and in extension, Juliett effectively broke. For these reasons, twelve thousand SCs for a short planetside mission seemed appealing (alongside the possibility of having Ms. Kalista as a lucrative long-term contact). Plus, again, better not to piss off an FEG official. It would be better to get into her good side.
I’ll just bite again…
“On another note,” Juliett said. “What about Harold? Is he not coming?”
“He said he’ll follow us planetside later,” I replied. “He’s still dealing with Captain Roll and Captain McHover. The two of them seem deadset on retiring in New Krakow after what happened, and Harold’s trying to help them out.”
“Oh…do they have money for that?”
“Well, apparently, both of them already accumulated quite the money in their accounts after nearly a decade of security work. They should be able to retire quite comfortably…well, not exactly comfortably after what happened, but you get the point.”
Juliett smiled. “I’ll just wish the best for them. They didn’t deserve what happened to them, and maybe they won’t find justice for it properly, but I guess a silent life in some quiet world would help them better than searching for blind revenge.”
“Yeah…I guess…” In principle, I would agree with her. For all of us, it grated our nerves that none of us would be able to put that Lord Preussen into the jaws of justice. But, reality already slammed us hard long ago. The Sector wasn’t kind. There won’t be justice, only revenge. And if you wanted revenge…
You better be prepared for the costs.
And Lord Preussen wasn’t a joke. We barely escaped alive. If it weren’t for the Der Vaug’s valiant last stand, we would be chased by his war fleet straight to Jahellios. For now, though, I would imagine that Lord Preussen probably had enough chasing us after losing us. That fleet was massive, way too massive to be maintained easily. I would bet good money that the fight he had with us was extremely unprofitable and would cut into his margins.
I really hoped that would be enough to convince him to just piss off for the rest of our lives. Or at least until we meet again out of sheer luck. The Sector was massive, after all, with humanity spread out across far-flung star systems. He’d be a gigantic child if he would be so petty to chase us for daring to escape and wasting money in the process.
The same money he’d need to use to maintain that pirate fleet of his.
So no, I wasn’t particularly worried for now. And much like Juliett, I hoped that the civilians and Harold’s two friends would live a quiet life wherever they chose after all that. That would be for the best. As for us—me, Juliett, Harold, and the Rearguard’s crew, the dynamics would be different.
Especially since Juliett spilled the beans of what she truly is to Harold and his crew. Suffice it to say, they all threw their allegiance to her rather quickly after hearing her speech about the “Void Code” and her mission to save the Sector. I suppose after what she did, she seemed almost like a goddess who could bend reality to her will. The particularly religious weirdoes of Harold’s crew probably already made a religion out of her or something.
The Maiden’s Holy Lance, as some of them called it. Maybe they were just trolling her, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that crap was unironic. Spacefarers weren’t exactly the most stable crop of humanity in terms of mental stability. Months of long-term isolation in the void tended to do that. I would know, I’m one of those.
“Why are you laughing?” Juliett asked, a bit irritated. I didn’t realize I was once again laughing at that.
“It’s just…The Maiden’s Holy Lance, oh…dear. That guy’s words are forever imprinted on my mind.” I laughed, and she turned redder and redder. I felt her punch my shoulder, but I continued laughing because it wasn’t even painful, though I did hold it in a fake hurt manner. “What? You’re still bothered by it?”
“Of course I am! You humans and your silly monkey brains. And can you please stop mentioning it? It’s a Particle Lance, again, Particle Lance.”
“Yeah, yeah…the Maiden’s Holy Lance.”
I felt another punch on my shoulder, as we continued on toward the transport bays, still laughing at the absurdity of the situation we found ourselves in.
But I guess…perhaps…it would be better to just go along with it at this point.
+++
Booting up Orion Spacefarer Identity Interface…
Name: Jonathan Jones
Credits: 8,800 Sector Credits (-15,000 last chapter—repair, refits, and resupply).
Active Missions:
“Shadow of Two Houses”
- Aid [Louise Florentine de la Fleur].
Rewards: 12,000 SCs.