The darkest day I
CIC, INS Gift, Wharf 5, Achenbach Station, Sigdio System
3087
The day after the negotiations I left the Gift again with my detail. After the contract had been signed in all its details the miners became surprisingly cooperative and united. They paid the docking fee for one week directly to portmaster Haskell and the crew and I were now allowed full access to the station. They also sat up accounts with a local bank where the remainder of the up front payment would wait for us.
When the airlock to the station opened the bad air hit me again. We walked through the wharf’s corridors until we reached the exit towards the main station where a small guard detail stopped us.
“Commander Hauck?” asked one of the guards. Like the other two he wore a military spacer suite with integrated body armor and was armed with a sub machine gun that hung with a sling from his upper body. The uniforms and coloring between the three of them didn’t match and made them look more like civilians. Only the large crest of Achenbach station identified them as actual guards.
“That would be me.” I answered while my detail and the wharf guards eyed each other. I had no doubt who would win in a fight.
“I am corporal Sterret, the portmaster notified us that you may want to enter the main station. For security reasons I will hand out an ID card for you and every one of your crew members that leaves the wharf. Only with this ID card you will be allowed back into the wharf. “ On a computer station one of the guards prepared the cards and handed them to us and I put my card inside a pocket in my uniform’s jacket.
“Alright Sir. You are good to go. Welcome to Achenbach station.” He said with a short salute.
“Thank you, corporal.” I said and wanted to continue my way when I stopped again. “Ah, corporal. If I’d be interested in history. Where would I go?”
The corporal seemed to be in thought for a moment. “If I remember correctly there is a small library in the main commercial district. Ask someone there. They should be able to point you in the right direction.”
“Thank you for the info, Corporal.”
“No problem.”
A fifteen minute walk took our small group to the main commercial district. The station became more and more densely populated the further we went in. I saw all kinds of people. Men, woman and children. Most of them wore overralls or other kinds of practical clothing. Probably miners on leave, mechanics and other laborers. Even child labor seemed to be a thing. Life out here was hard.
Like the wharf the main station was rather sparsely lighted and dirty. I came past food stalls, scrap shops, bars, restaurants, shops for clothing and shoes, hardware stores and much more. It was a busy bustle. The humans themselves were also of all kind of origins. I saw Europeans, Asians, Africans. Humans that had lived to long in zero gravity. Humans that were malnourished. Humans that were well trained and well fed. And I saw humans that weren’t human anymore. Corps…
The marine to my left saw it first. The reflection on the artificial metal. He already had his gun at the ready when I stopped him from shooting into the crowd. I couldn’t blame him. We all had lost someone in the wars against the Corps. Against these… things. Once upon a time they had been humans. Through a perversion of mechanical and psychical augmentations they had left everything that made them humans behind. Hands, arms, legs, torso, face, inner organs, lung, heart or even the brain. The Corps saw no limits with their augmentations. When does the human stop to exist? When is he killed in the process and a lifeless husk of gears and machinery driven only by instinct is all that is left?
Augmentations weren’t banned in the empire. Why shouldn’t we replace a lost arm after an accident when we had the technology at our disposal? But Corps didn’t use augmentations to replace lost limps. They use it for personal power. To outperform normal humans. The hunger for new and better parts made them sick. A sickness known as the augmentation poisoning. Hunger for new and better parts led to theft, led to murder and soon led to war and destruction. They are sick, they can’t be healed. They will harm others. They must be rooted out! They must be cleansed from the face of the universe!
Yet I had stopped my subordinate from liberating the corpo of his life in misery. We still knew nothing about this world. We didn’t know the situation. Maybe they found a way to heal the augmentation poison? This specimen walked among humans undisturbed. No one took even one notice of it. Even if there was no cure, there were too many civilians here. Drawing this much hatred and attention to us for taking out one corpo wasn’t worth it. At least right now.
We continued our way and soon reached the main branch of the bank that was mentioned to me. The large letters over the entrance spelled ‘Acevedo Credit Inc.’
We entered. The inside was a stark contrast to the rest of the station. It was clean, well furnished. Almost noble. Seems like banks haven’t changed over the years. Still robbing its customer, still building unnecessary glass palaces. The one or other customer was served by clerks behind the counters but over all it was rather quite.
An attentive employee immediately came to us. “Commander Hauck?” He asked.
“Yes?”
“We have been informed that you would be arriving. Mister Acevedo is waiting in his office for you. Please follow me.” He said as he gestured for me to follow him through a door to the side.
“You have been informed that I would come to visit you? Where did you get that information?” I asked while we followed the hallways.
“Oh, we have our eyes and ears all over the station. It helps with finding debtors and enforcing their repayment. You and your ship are the number one topic on the entire station. Someone thought you walking around the station important enough to make a report.” He stopped in front of a door and knocked.
We entered the office and the clerk introduced us. “Mister Acevedo, Commander Hauck for you.”
Kymani Acevedo was a small man of asian origin. His best years were long behind him. He stood up and came around his large desk to greet us.
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“Ah, Commander Hauck. Its nice to finally meet you. Come come, we have much to discuss.” He gestured towards a corner of the room where some couches formed a comfortable lounge.
I firmly sank into the sofa. Sooo fluffy!
“So, Mister Acevedo. I am honestly a bit surprised to meet you. I only wanted to get access to an account. To what do I owe the honor?”
“Haven’t you heard, Commander? You are a local celebrity now. Have become one practically over night. The people are whispering in the streets how you will end the pirate surge. How you will bring change to the systems. New winds. How you are the chosen one to bring salvation.”
“The chosen one? The people are saying that?” I couldn’t help it and laughed at the top of my lungs. “I am just a starship captain hired to do a job. The chosen one… pah, ridiculous.”
“Yes, I thought so too. But they are right about one thing. You, your ship and your crew will bring change to the system. To the better or worse the future will tell… to come back to your question. To what do you owe the honor? Your actions will influence the system. More precisely the economy of Sigdio and Achenbach station. And I have a profound interest into the economy... You see, when the economy is doing well, people, companies and guilds are also doing well. Which means they have money that they can bring to me. Which means I am doing well. You are a person of interest to me. And if you handle the pirates well I’d consider making you an offer.”
“An offer? What would a banker need a warship for?”
“That is not important. For now. The pirates are more vital at the moment… You came to get access to your account, right? I have prepared everything to hand the account over to you. I’d just need your finger and DNA.” He reached over to a side table and grabbed a small device. I put my finger into a small indentation and a microscopic needle breached my skin. I barely felt the sting. The devices display glowed green in response and the banker gave me a sealed envelope. It were the same devices we had back in the empire. Good to see that some things don’t change.
“In there is the access card for the account as well as credentials for online access. When ever you connect to a station with a Acevedo Credit Inc. or affiliate branch you will be able to access your accounts over the network. We save your DNA in case your account is compromised. This way you can identify at every branch without a doubt.” He explained to me.
All of this wasn’t exactly new to me. The empire followed the same procedure. Hackers were a never ending surge despite the death sentence that would await any of them if they get caught.
After the business part was concluded we said our goodbyes. A interesting person this Kymani Acevedo. I’d bet I will see him again some time in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also had some investments in rather illegal operations.
---
With the new access cards in my pocket we left the bank. I took a look at my watch. The appointment had taken longer than I had thought. Missing out on breakfast this morning now took its revenge. I strolled through the district with my guards. After some corners I saw a small eatery that caught my attention. The little flag and the name of the establishment suggested german cuisine. I hadn’t eaten anything from home since the start of the journey. The empire cared little for the cuisine preference of its soldiers. What was put on the plate was eaten.
I directed my guards over to the door and went in. A small bell announced us to the staff. “Ah sorry, we are still closed” came a male voice from the counter, but I saw no one there. I walked further into the room. The furnishing were simple and rustic yet with a lot of wood, which surprised me a lot. Wood was expensive. It only grew on few habitable planets. And then it had to be shipped all the way to its destination. Metal and plastic was way cheaper.
A head emerged from behind the counter. “I am truly sorry but…” the bald man started but interrupted when he saw us “… but maybe I will make an exception. Just this once. Please take a seat.”
“Thank you. I didn’t knew you were still closed.”
“Ah, no problem. I would have opened soon anyway. I will be with you shortly.”
I choose a table far from the door with good view into the room. No reason to make my guards job any harder then I already did.
“Lieutenant Steyer, sit with me.” I said to Emelie.
“Sir, I am here as your guard I can not…”
I interrupted her “Sit, that is an order. The other three marines are more then sufficient.”
She sat across of me at the table, visible uneasy. It took her a moment to realize taking of her helmet would be better for a conversation. She unlocked the helmet from the combat suite and lifted it from her head. Her long blonde hair dropped as she did so. She placed the helmet on the table and took a moment to organize her hair.
“What do you think of all this?” I asked her
“Sir?”
“The station, the people we have met. You were to Achenbach before the expedition too, right?”
“Yes I were, Sir… I am not sure were to start…”
“Start with the station” I suggested.
“Its run down. Obviously. The last time everything had been up to regulations. Clean, properly serviced. Now its all makeshift repairs and extensions. Even the guards seemed makeshift. It all reminds me more of the slums on Sirius and their slum lords instead of a proper civilian station. It seems like there isn’t a real authority here. Sure there is a port authority and a port master and even guards but who do they answer to? Mister Acevedo openly admitted that he had informants on the station. I’d bet corruption is normal around here.”
Oh, she had been on Sirius? Maybe during the blockade? I’d have to ask at some point. “That is also my impression.” I drummed with my fingers on the table in thoughts. I was about to ask my next question but the man – probably the owner – came to our table.
“Sorry for the wait. Here is the menu.” He handed each of us a small stack of plastic sheets. “Do you already know what you want to drink?”
“Just water for me we are on duty.” I said and gestured towards Emilie “Water too. Thank you”
“Water it is.” He seemed a bit disappointed but left the table again without comment.
I opened the menu and went over the offered. Potatoes. Potatoes in all kind of variations. Oven potato. Rosemary potato. Roasted potatoes. Fried potatoes. Potato stew. Potatoes were relatively easy to come by in space. A plant without high demands. It could grew in most conditions and on most soils. I’d bet Achenbach Station had extensive farming operations to keep the people fed. Meat was also on the menu but is was quite expensive. Also it was labeled as lab made. Never had tasted like the real deal to me back then. Couldn’t imagine it would taste any better here with the condition the station was in. On the last pages were listed all kinds of drinks. Mostly beer. Apparently they brew their own beer here. Maybe that was the reason for the disappointed look? Maybe I should visit again.
“Roasted potatoes it is… Tell me. Where do you come from?” I asked her
“Oh, I grew up on Sirius prime. My family was poor, like most of Sirius by that time. I wanted to get off the planet, get a better life. So one day I sneaked away and enlisted without my parents knowing. Just made it out a few months before the blockade was in place. They put me into the army and after basic shipped me off to some federation front world.”
“So you got lucky getting out of there before things turned real ugly? I too saw action in the federation war. What planet were you send to?”
“Pekalion... It was madness. Neither side could gain and hold space superiority. Day in day out orbital bombing. In a way you could say I was lucky. At least I survived unscathed. After Pekalion the remains of my unit got some additional training and we joined the marines.”
“Yeah, Space Command always liked grabbing experienced soldiers from the army to defend their ships. I have never been to Pekalion but from what I heard… glad you made it out.”
“Me too. Long story short. After that I fought my way up the ranks and was finally assigned to the Legion. You know the rest of it.”
The owner chose that moment to come back with our water and took our orders. I went with the roasted potatoes while Emilie choose the oven potato.
Sounded like an ‘interesting’ life. I could have looked in her personal file that should be available in the ships computer by now. We had scanned the ID’s of all rescues after all. But it was more interesting and informative this way and the personal files tend to leave out information some pencil pusher thought unimportant.
“Now you know my origin story. What is yours, Sir?”
“Oh, I grew up in northern Europe, near the coast.”
“Europe? You grew up on terra? I have never been there. What is it like?”
I sometimes forget what kind of a privilege it was to visit terra. And I even grew up there. “Oh, its as beautiful as on these propaganda posters that they have everywhere. Blue water, green grass. Trees swaying in the wind… The empire did good in preventing urban expansion on terra three-hundred years ago. Together with the pollution laws and terraforming Earth had healed. Even wildlife had returned. I could jump into the ocean whenever I wanted…” I wallowed in memories for a moment.
“It sure sounds nice.” Emilie said. “Maybe I can go there some day.”
“With our story? They’d want all of us on terra for debrief.”
Our food came. I had already smelt the potatoes from the kitchen. It was delicious! It had been months since the last none MRE meal. It was roasted just the right amount, perfectly seasoned. We ate in silence, savoring the food. I pity the other guards a bit but hopefully they have had a breakfast.
The owner came back to get the plates. “Everything good?” He asked. “Everything good.” I confirmed. I paid the bill. It wasn’t much, around twenty credits. About to leave the eatery I asked the owner if he happened to know where the library was and sure enough it was just around the corner.
We left and joined the hubbub on the streets once more. And sure enough, only a few minutes later we stood in front of the library mentioned by the wharf corporal.