"Humanoid lifeform approaching from the west. Look sharp.” Ignasius long range scanning capabilities meant that nothing could get near them without his attention.
The two hunkered down in the intersection of two alleyways and waited for the contact to approach. After a few moments, a woman dressed in a yellow radiation cloak sauntered out and removed a breathing mask. She had silver grey hair and laugh lines around her smiling face.
“Sorry for all the cloak and dagger stuff boys, just wanted to chat.”
Gondo recognized her immediately. It was Moriah Cafferty, a famous Caster and former A.E.C. executive. She had left years back after some inter-company turmoil and hadn’t been seen since.
“Ouroboros eh?” Gondo drawled. “So, the A.E.C. has stooped to hiring terrorists for their recruitment. I’ve told you all before, I’m not interested.”
Moriah chuckled. “No, no Gondo. You should know as well as any that my time with the A.E.C. is long past. And this isn’t a recruitment, just a friendly conversation. We thought a recognizable face might take some of the pressure off.”
She took a few steps forward and a low whirring noise began emitting from Ignasius. He was warming something up.
She held up her hands. “Call off your hound Gondo, I’m unarmed.” Even without a weapon a person with her psychic capabilities could wipe out a city block. Gondo hardened his shield. “We actually sent one of our best operatives to make contact with you, but lost track of him.”
Gondo recalled the furious chase through the city a few days back and its messy end. “He must have run into a problem. I’m a hard man to find, which means you must have gotten my contact from Calcio. Was he working with you?”
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“He was, in fact he was onto something big when he last reported in. Something that could make a difference, Gondo. I know you like chasing asteroids and getting paid. We’re quite aware of your crew’s activities.”
She paced calmly around the alleyway. “There’s a war going on, whether you like it or not. Between people like you and I, and the doomsday clock we all call the Astral Engineering Core. I’m not asking you to enlist, but we’ve heard that you’ve stumbled on some tech that might turn the tide for us. We have more resources than you might think. Help us and you can have your own station, get off this planet. It would mean an end to your days as a rock jockey.”
“You don’t understand me at all. I’m not interested in your money.” Obviously the Ouroboros had intel on Gondo and his crew. Luckily, their front as an independent Casting operation seemed to be holding.
“Maybe you have more in common with the A.E.C. than I thought.” She replied. “They aren’t satisfied with unlimited assets, or even system-wide political dominance. They want true power Gondo. And they think it’s waiting for them at the edge of space.”
Maybe Lowell was right. The A.E.C. had their eye on more than just wealth and governmental clout.
“If you share your research with us, we can make real change. Shut down the corporation that’s seized our entire solar system. Help the toiling masses working 20-hour days so that those bloated trillionaires floating in their sky lofts can piss over the edge on all the rest of us. Free up resources to terraform planets that aren’t under corporate rule. Humanity deserves better than this Gondo. And you know it.”
The gap between the average citizen and the hyper affluent grew exponentially larger each second. Gondo was no stranger to that fact.
“What is it that you think I can do for you?” He replied.
A sense of relief came over Moriah. “If what we’ve been hearing is true you and your crew are onto something big. Something that might help us infiltrate their command grid. I can get us close, but we need a miracle to bypass their security...”
An alert shot across Gondo’s holo visor. “We’ve got company Gondo.” Ignasius said as his frame tilted towards the sky. Its silver metallic sheen turned to black and his light turned dark red. Combat mode.