(Former Slave Market, Madrigal Base, Madrigal System)
Eventually, the poor hacker gathered her wits enough to dress herself, and went off to report for her new assignment. I wasn’t entirely wasting my time while I waited, as I needed to keep up with my paperwork, anyway. Being a starship captain, CEO, and Admiral all at once involves a lot of paperwork, even if you have capable assistants to shoulder most of the load.
Shortly after she left, a short Felisan female walked in, her fur a mottled array of white, tan, and brown patches, though her hands were white. I watched with interest as she sniffed at the room as she entered. The only visible sign of a reaction to whatever she scented was the way her tail drooped slightly. If I hadn’t met Kiki and been talking with the Felisan all this time in game, I would have missed the significance of that.
Deciding to get down to it, I said, “I am Mirikon Mollen, the owner of the Black Star Company, and, now, this station and all those who were on it. Your name is Konia Whitehand, correct?”
The Felisan sighed as she looked at me, and said, “That is the name I was assigned for my mission, yes. You’re the Nomad who introduced the new weapons and tactics that allowed the Empress to win the Terran Civil War, and your actions led to the rise of piracy in this sector. Yes, I am aware of who you are and what you do. Up until my superior turned traitor.”
I nodded. That was all in the basic files I’d gotten, but I wanted to know the full story. “Ah yes, the file my people got on you mentioned something about that. Tell me about your supervisor, and how he betrayed you. What agency did you work for?”
‘Konia’ sighed, and said, “I am… was Alliance Intelligence. With piracy on the rise, and the Kul’tirans losing local mercenary contracts due to being humiliated by you, things have been getting more and more dangerous in this sector. My mission was to infiltrate the pirate organizations on this side of the border, and see if there was some way to turn them against each other, to hopefully get them to kill themselves off and leave merchants alone. But my supervisor betrayed me to that snake Gilwarin. Turns out he was getting kickbacks this whole time, for helping to get the Kul’tirans knocked off some of those contracts!”
“I see. Then I guess it would no doubt please you to learn that Gilwarin is dead, having served his purpose as a means to get my forces onto this station. The pirate clans of this sector have been all but wiped out. At the very least, piracy will be going down back to ‘normal’ levels on this side of the border soon enough.”
The Felisan nodded, and said, “Then if you could arrange for my transfer back to Alliance Intelligence, I would be able to bring my old supervisor to justice.”
“And that is where we start to have problems. You worked for an intelligence group. Tell me, if an agent was captured by pirates, liberated from the pirates by another party, and then just returned to your group, would you trust what they say? Of course not. You’d debrief them, sure, but anything they said would be searched through for counter-intelligence, and you’d put the agent through extensive psychological and other screening to check for conditioning. Especially when the group that returned them is an interstellar group like Black Star, with access to all sorts of things from various places.”
Konia looked like she wanted to argue, but didn’t seem like she could come up with a good argument against what I’d said at the moment. “So even if you went back to your people, you would not be believed, especially if your supervisor was even the slightest bit competent in preparing for your ‘disappearance’ and planted a false trail about you ‘going rogue’. Without evidence that wasn’t tainted by coming from the group you were just released by, you would be seen as compromised, and you’d be very lucky if you weren’t buried somewhere nice and quiet while your supervisor continued his career, though perhaps under a bit more scrutiny.”
Slowly, Konia nodded her head. “Yes, that is probably what would happen, but I have to try. I won’t let him get away with what he did to me, and I won’t leave him in a position where he can do it to other agents, either. He has to pay for what he’s done!”
I smiled at the Felisan. She had some rage, but she didn’t let it rule her. That was good. Rage was helpful, but it could be destructive if it wasn’t properly honed. “Well, in that case, it probably doesn’t surprise you that I know quite a few people who know other people who know how to deal with problems. Call them ‘fixers’, ‘troubleshooters’, or ‘assassins’, but they are able to make problems disappear. And, if you gave me the information you have on your superior, I’d be willing to get in touch with them, and arrange for them to make sure he is no longer an issue for anyone, ever again.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The Felisan’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me, her ears moving slightly backward as she regarded me with some caution. “And what, exactly, would you want for all of this? I can smell at least two women’s… excitement in this room. You aren’t intending to add me to the harem you are reported to keep, are you?”
I laughed, and said, “Well, there seem to be some misconceptions that came up when a man was sitting here telling female slaves who had been given companion training that he was their new owner. I actually lost twenty credits when you didn’t do as they did and try to at least ‘show off the goods’. Once you heard I was your new Master.”
Seeing the smirk on the Felisan’s face, I continued, “But no, I’m not going to add you to my harem. The reports about that are true, by the way, though they require a lot of attention. At any rate, I am more interested in your abilities as a spy. My forces are becoming more expansive, which requires me to become more mobile instead of staying at a base near Dimiya, or visiting Nuevo Edo. I have people who gather information for me, of course, but that is mostly involving hacking computers or other electronic means of intelligence acquisition. They don’t have the personal touch needed to get turn and manage contacts.”
Konia blinked once, twice, three times, her mouth hanging slightly open. “You want me to come work for you… as a spy? Against who? I was primarily working as a government agent, not corporate espionage.”
I nodded. “As I said, Black Star is expanding. We’re already located in two polities, and we’re likely going to be entering into more areas as time goes by. But a large portion of our personnel and materiel and logistics base is centered in the Confederacy. This means that if things in the Confederacy ever suddenly turned sour for us, that we would be substantially weakened. The best way to keep that from happening is to have the information and analysis we need ahead of time, so we can plan and move forces around, or thwart whatever changes were being talked about. And to do that…”
“You need spies.”
“Exactly. Oh, I’m not saying that it won’t be a challenge. It absolutely will be, especially since both Confederate Intelligence and Naval Intelligence are both aware of my capabilities (at least those I’ve shown them), and they will be watching any new ‘hires’ that get posted to Dimiya, suspecting some of them may be doing just what you will be. You may even have some trying to flip you, and make you a spy against me. But you would be in the field, and you’d be leading your department. Compared to endless psych evals and having people work over you with mental psy to ensure you remain loyal if you went back to the Alliance.”
The Felisan nodded slowly. “And you would actually let me choose? Why not order me to do it and be done? You can do that, since I have this collar on my neck.”
“Of course, I could do that, but unless I used Stepford protocols on you, it would not ensure obedience. A spy that is actively angry with you and working against you from inside your organization is even more dangerous than one from outside, especially if they control what information you hear, and how it is presented. And if I turned the Stepford part on, well, you should know how it makes those under its effects slightly dumb. They simply aren’t able to act as… organically when they’ve been turned into drones with programmed responses. And that simply isn’t tenable in a spy. So I need you willing to work for me. Otherwise, I need to find something else to do with you, whether it is selling you back to the alliance, or finding another part of my organization to put you in.”
Konia nodded slowly, and said, “And if I work for you willingly, you’ll take out my old supervisor? What guarantees do I have that you won’t simply dispose of me like he did?”
I leaned back in my chair, and said, “Because if you come and work for me, you’ll be a Black Star. And whether they are slaves or free, Black Star always looks out for its own. I won’t lie to you. People have died in my service in the past, and more will probably die for me in the future. But I don’t waste their lives or throw them into the fire without support unless the situation is truly desperate. And when that happens, they will know it going in. Because that is what they deserve.”
“And what kind of cover would you be providing for me? What support personnel do you have lined up? Logistics will also be a concern. And technical support?”
“I take it that is a yes, and you’ll be my spy on Dimiya?”
The Felisan took a breath, and then nodded. “Yes, damn it. I’ll be your spy on Dimiya. Now, what about my support?”
“I have already secured the services of a hacker that shows great promise. She will be serving under your direction. As I am not entirely familiar with what is needed for running a spy ring, once the two of you are together I’ll put you in contact with my associate Raven, who will work with you to pull together the basics of what is needed for this to work. And if you will give me the information on your supervisor, then I will have the contract for him in place before you leave for Dimiya.”
The Felisan nodded her head. “Very well. Understand that, like most agents, he goes by a variety of names. However, he is more skilled with information management than physical disguises, which is why he works primarily in an office, rather than in the field. I’m sending you my implant recordings of him, including full sensory mapping. His name is…”
(In-Game Private Chat Line, Smoker’s Den)
M.Mollen: And his name is Edgar Snyder, though he has at least a dozen aliases. However, the intelligence does include full-sensory mapped scans of the target, from a variety of angles, and a list of their favored places for meets, which should allow you to work from there.
Requiesce-in-Pace: I must say that, after how we first met in game, I had not expected to have you contacting me for a job. I have talked with the Smoker’s Club, and they agree that a business relationship between us is agreeable. Your target is rather low profile. Is this a ‘trust-building’ job, or something personal?
M.Mollen: The new asset had scores to settle, and helping zero those accounts makes the asset a reliable worker without the use of Stepford protocols, which are not useful for any skilled position. However, should this happen as agreed, then should any further troubles arise, then you would be the first troubleshooter I look to.
Requiesce-in-Pace: This is acceptable to us. We will take the job. Given the information about the target, and the remoteness of the region, the contract for this job will be 750,000 credits, flat, or 200,000 credits with a line for expenses necessary for reaching and eliminating the target.
M.Mollen: 750,000 is acceptable, provided that the target’s reputation is publicly outed as an Alliance Intelligence agent, and his reputation is destroyed.
Requiesce-in-Pace: Vicious, even for you.
M.Mollen: Traitors don’t deserve memorials.
Requiesce-in-Pace: Very well, we will take the contract.
M.Mollen: The money will be in the appropriate account in 24 hours.