Leon Lu sat at her desk at the Central Trade Hub, the largest Station in the Sol System. Her office was located closer to the third dock near the Entertainment districts. She often visited there with her family, whom she ran her business with. It was always sprawling with vendors, recreational available every waking moment. Though, it was to be expected; The CTH was run purely by the economy onboard. Any owner or CEO was eligible to vote directly as a member of the Trading Coalition, this included Leon's mother. Their business? Spy-craft.
Though, half of their business was more black market than official, the CTH let them operate with a bit of leeway from UC law, the Lu family being a generous benefactor.
Leon's mother, Sarah, burst through the metal auto-door. The sudden sound shot through the silence; Leon jumped at the sound.
"Leo!" Her mother shouted. She quickly wiped her desk down, sliding any miscellaneous office-ware into the desk drawer in front of her. Leon snapped to attention, but still quickly glanced around the small rectangular office, making sure all was neat and tidy. Her mother spoke in a harsh accent reminiscent of the Chinese Soviet states. Of course, that all disappeared at the turn of the year, though that republic at large was wiped away by the Russians. Her accent was a relic, passed on from yet another past generation, one who survived the genocides on the old world.
"Yes Ma'am?" Leon hastily responded, seemingly to reel back distraction, or perhaps boredom.
"You heard of Forge Earth Alliance yet? UC coverage is everywhere!" Sarah threw down a large stack of papers in front of her daughter.
"Oh! Yeah, they're..." She paused until she fully found her composure, barely looking at the front page of the pile. United Colonies officially documents, thought it appeared only grayscale photocopies. Some of the information was blacked out, however, large red print at the end indicated the information would be made public as soon as the 'project' was made public as well. "They're..." The red text piqued her interest, in truth she hadn't heard much of them until now, but she wouldn't want to seem clueless in front of her mother. "UC licensed?"
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"Big project is coming up. Trade Coalition asked for us directly. Wants us to look into Forge before they get a representative."
Leon scanned a few more pages. "Says here most management is stationed on the Old World. Why would need a Coalition seat?"
"That's what they want to find out." Sarah ran her finger down the pages, eventually landing on page 73 and pulling it out. She waved it in front of Leon. "They're asking for funding, too, even though they've also registered a private funding."
"What does that mean?" Leon asked, as her mother dashed behind her, rummaging through a myriad of blue drawers on the back wall.
"It means, we start there."
"Ma'am..." Leon's voice sounded concerned. "Don't tell me-"
"I didn't raise you to be a whiner! You will pack soon, and quickly, preferably." She continued shuffling through different drawers, until she landed on one near the bottom and pried it open further. She rustled through a bit, as Leon turned to her mother frantically throwing out papers from the back. She pulled out 3 small booklets, and placed them on the table. "Recent passport?" She asked.
"Ugh, yes. Ma'am please I don't-"
Sarah interrupted again. "You need the field experience."
"I want to be a writer, Ma'am, I'm not good at..." She waved her hands towards the papers. "Field work!"
Sarah walked to door, but stopped before it opened. She turned around to Leon, just as it shot it open. In the same way, she shot a look of care; Those were the rare ones. At the very least, it made Leon more comfortable with the idea to see the elusive 'genuine emotion'.
"That's why I'm going, too." She slowly began to back up. "I've already gotten us hired, thank the stars you updated that fake passport." She stopped in the doorway, leaning on the edge. She turned her head back for a moment, the colorfully lit landing bay brought it several eccentric and absurdly shaped vessels. She scanned the docks for a moment, and turned back. "Our ship isn't here yet, but within three hours, we'll be leaving."
"No interview?" Leon laughed to herself a bit. "That's a bit sketchy."
"Uh-huh." Sarah nodded her head, giving her daughter a last smile as she turned out the archway, the auto-door slamming down shortly.
Leon looked over the first few pages again. Contained was basic information about this new company, apparently heading some sort of environmental project. They would be setting up a colony in the old world, that dead planet known as Earth. The UC, the governing body for the whole system, seemed to go to extensive lengths to properly document this. It might be the most important project in human history.
So why had no one ever heard of Forge Earth Alliance before?