"We can't get rid of it all, EJ will f&+$in' have our fur an' skin!"
"It wouldn't even be EJ, the hobgoblins would probably take one look at the empty truck, figure we're collaborators, torture us for information, then shoot us," Xevras rumbles morosely.
"Hells, they might even have some magical methods of doin' it. Can we just toss a few an' say we were hijacked by y'all? We aren't awful, jus' tryin' to get a damn job done."
The rebel 'copter pushes hard to catch back up to the truck and even overtake it, but somehow Ace finds just a little more speed to coax out of the engine. The truck roars furiously over the road and onto the bridge. Somehow, Ace manages to thread the very narrow section of bridge remaining intact, keeping the fans over solid road, mostly, and avoids dropping into the gaping hole in the bridge.
The squox' shot goes far and wide, but considering that Ace was working on keeping the truck from plunging into a ravine, that might be expected. Nik's shot is closer to the mark, but the electrical pulse slams into the wireframe cockpit rather than hitting meat.
Vog, sensing that maybe his last ditch plea may have an effect, holds his fire. "Just tell us we can have the guns, damnit! Then we can take out the invaders in the other truck! We can have a team get your ship, it isn't too late to help us!"
Skip takes a wild shot at the perusing ship, while Robyte tries to help Ace stabilising the ship during their mad dash
"Have you got some way to get a ship past the multiple orbiting warships? A guarantee that we wouldn't get blasted out of space as soon as we tried to leave? This plan seems to have more desperation than chance of success."
"If you would have agreed earlier, we could have ensured you got away clean! Now, quit stalling! Stop the truck and we will stop the attack and let you live. You can join the resistance and do some good!" The dwarf replies.
Somewhere up the mountain is a pair of explosive detonations. The remaining enercopter pursuing the second hovertruck can be seen swerving in the air, apparantely avoiding improvised flak from the hobgoblins aboard the other truck. A plume of thick smoke trails the flying machine which is slowly losing ground from the damage it sustained. The truck's radio crackles again and the hobgoblin trooper driving it reports, ++Tossed a few well-cooked grenades, seems to have bought us time! That tunnel is coming fast, less than half a mile, maybe closer.++
"Hey, I can do that too! Watch 'n learn buckos!" Ace gekkers as he shifts his rifle to a position not intended for firing, instead placing both hands on the wheel.
Xevras sighs. "If you don't stop this attack, *you* are going to be the dead ones. Comms says we'll be getting in AA missile range soon. As bad as I feel for all of you, I'm not going to go dying for you."
He doesn't yet move to attack, staying defensive.
Ace pulls out some hidden high gear as the remaining 'copter fights against mountain winds. He quickly leaves the pursuers behind.
Crashing into the road is the other truck, merging from the narrow side trail it took. ++Tunnel should be just-++ The hobgoblin trooper's sentence is cut short. After a half second he swears loudly in goblin. Ace and the others in the cab watch as the truck tries to take a sharp curve but careens forward and spins about after striking a tree. The open mic from the truck captures both hobgoblins screaming as the hovertruck falls off the cliff and plunges down the mountain, then the communication ends entirely.
Ace, warned of the sharp curve, makes the turn easily and the truck is plunged into temporary darkness upon entering the tunnel. Eyes adjust to the dim lighting quickly, and with the help of sparse lights, Ace can pilot the rest of the tunnel without incident.
Xevras watches the dwarf tuck and roll off the back of the truck right at the curve. Before he loses sight of the attacker entirely, he can see purple smoke rising from the point the truck went down. Clearly he is using the smoke to signal the remaining resistance enercopters to rally at the crash site. Perhaps they will recover some intact rifles and grenades after all.
It only takes a few minutes of driving to reach the Gideron armory, just after the tunnel exit. Soldiers guide the truck to a nearby garage and a hobgoblin lieutenant approaches asking what happened to the other truck.
Ace is meanwhile cackling and geckering. "Hahaha.... oh I haven't felt that alive in ! I can help ya get yer soldiers back if need be, if you can manage to protect me so I don't need ta use weapons," Ace says as he shifts between forms and chitters some more, "I can manage it even faster than what ya just saw!"
Despite the morality of what everyone just witnessed, Ace is practically glowing with enthusiasm as the chase ends. However, granted, as time goes on it wears off and he looks relatively... normal -- at least as normal as a short Vulkarisu can be.
The officer nods. "So only half the cargo, then?" clearly his priority is with the weapons. He grunts and continues, "Half the shipment, half the payment. Now, as to the men? The insurgents are already on the scene, they're vicious brutes and will kill them. Hopefully, they died in the crash and won't suffer. Do not mourn, they are war heroes. There is no greater honor."
He orders an entire platoon of his troops to escort the crew back to their ship. "You did decent work. Quartermaster is transmitting the funds now. The Authority thanks you for your efforts."
A few hours later and the crew is able to break orbit. Half pay. Again. EJ is not going to be happy with the situation. There is nothing left to do but return to Absalom Station and face the music. Maybe, just maybe, Tarika will have another run already pending. Maybe, just maybe, that job will be enough to balance out the last few week's troubles.
|
Hey. The cargo was lost by *your* men! Why do we have to pay the price!
Wisely, however, Nik-a-Nik keeps his mouth shut.
Once back on the ship, he lets out a weary sigh.
"This is why military contracts are not always a good thing - when deals go wrong, they *always* have the bigger pile of weapons..."
Once on the ship, Ace scampers about at whatever moments he can in his squox form... luckily it can talk.
"Now that the dopamine and adrenaline have worn off... f!~$. I'm with ya, Nik-a-nik. Not ta mention screwin' over the rebels kinda hits my conscience like a damn starship crashin' inta Castrovel."
"Glad we at least did tha right thing the first time. Bleh. The chase was the best time I had in yeeeeaaars though, haha."
Xevras makes a sound halfway between a groan and a growl as he gets back on the ship.
"I can't say I'm sad about that other truck crashing, even if it means we're not getting paid what we need." He huffs moodily, flexing a hand as if debating which bulkhead he could punch without hurting himself... or the ship. "I told you my parents are both ex-Skyfire Legion, right? They'd be disappointed in me, knowing I'd been helping people like those hobgoblins."
The big dragonkin growls again. "If we ever make it big, we're getting a ship with a dozen powerful guns and if anybody asks us to do something like this again we're pointing the guns at them."
"Agreed. And we're fixing the size of the steering equipment! But... ho gods the Vulkarisu would chew me out for helping industrious hobgoblins. Sure, Daikitsu's also a god of commerce but... just actual occupation and genocide? They do not like that. Especially the killing."
"Can't help everyone at the same time, even if you want to. Hard thing to admit for us" Robyte mumbles. This situation was fighting hard against his natural instincts
After three days in the Drift, BD514 and her crew arrive at Absalom Station. Immediately after returning to normal space, the ship's comm lights up with a text message from Tarika. "I owe y'all a meal, send me a wave when you get in and I will meet you at Noodles Between!"
A few hours later and you're sitting at a table with Tarika in the fast-casual noodle joint that's a favorite of locals aboard the station. "Well? How'd it go? We square with the bosses?"
You note that Xevras spends an awful lot of time during the Drift trip working out, as best he can with the equipment on the ship (Not to mention the lack of headroom...).
He scowls at Tarika's message, and he's scowling again when he walks into Noodles Between. As an answer to her question, Xevras growls, "Depends. What's the chance the Company's legal team can get them to admit that if they were driving the truck with half the shipment and they drove it over a cliff that it's their fault and we should still get paid?"
"Yeah, only made it with half the shipment. Hopefully we can get some normal shipments soon." Ace scowls, now in his slightly-larger form.
Tarika's whiskers droop. She sighs and sets her chopsticks down on her bowl of noodles. "I ain't no lawyer, but I'd say it would depend on how much it would cost to litigate that. But again, I can't dispense legal advice."
She picks up some dried pepper flakes and applies them liberally to her meal. "But hey, it does sound like malfeasance, right? I'll go over the logs and write up a real spiffy report. Try not to worry." she takes a bite and nods approving with her added spice levels.
"They're keeping Shan on that ocean planet after all, Xev. They denied her transfer, said her skills were still needed on that project. I might be able to lean on some contacts using that as leverage."
A server comes by to refill drinks and as soon as they depart she slurps a noodle and then says, "Well, for what it's worth, that Lord Sinjin character seemed to be impressed with the Voxha job. When he reached out to me I assumed things had gone well. He says he'd like to talk to y'all 'bout a new business opportunity. He's stayin' at King Curney's Kasbah out on the Armada. Feelin' up to a little face-to-face?"
Ace wheezes a bit, but remains quiet.
Xevras makes a sound somewhat like gravel rolling downhill in his chest. "Anyone impressed with the Voxha job is the sort to be very wary of. Did he give any hint what kind of business opportunity he's talking about?"
"Not so much. His exact words were, 'They handled a tricky and risky situation with skill.'" she shrugs. "It was an active war zone, and it sounds like the loss of cargo was out of your control entirely. I reckon maybe he thought what we want the company to think? That the goods were delivered and Gideron is solely responsible for the missing portion. Or, hell, he's a drow, right? Maybe he wanted half the shipment lost? An insurance thing? Maybe he was double-dealing and sold half to the resistance?" She finishes her bowl and leans back, brown eyes twinkling, "Maybe both?"
"Would a Drow sell half of his shipment for free?"
She shrugs, "Who knows? Scenes and schemers. Just like the company. Anyway, I can't dig up a lot of information about the guy. Most that I know is that he ain't welcome on Apostae's surface and he's a male drow with money and power. That's a rarity."
"On one hand, he's drow. On the other, there is a precisely zero percent chance he's with the houses. Hm."
"If we were made of money the company would've sold us off ages ago... the skitter laughs "But if money should come our way for this, I'm keen to do it. Always strapped for credits is rather irksome. And Skip here can cost a pretty penny if he... Glitches"
"It is probably best to hear him out," Xevras agrees reluctantly. "Chances are it's not a good idea to insult him by refusing his invitation."
Hafipaer joins the group finally, pulling up a seat.. "Sorry to be late. I swear that synthetic meat never sits right." Catching up on the conversation, he listens intently. "Am I the only one who finds it strange that out of the company, the hobgoblins, and our drow contact, the most trustworthy is the drow? We need the credits, so I feel we need to hear what Sinjin has to say."
Taking a sip from a glass of some drink at the table. "I just wish we had more flexibility to say no, or to change our terms if things happen. I guess that's how the company "retains" their personnel. I'm not saying we should have handle it differently, I just wish we had the freedom to make the choice."
Tarika whips out her comm and rings Lord Sinjin's office, letting them know that the crew would be accepting the drow's invitation. She pays the bill, tipping well, and promises to write an amazing report that makes the characters look like loyal employees who fell upon the misfortune of war, aided by the incompetence of the Gideron Authority who placed them in the line of fire.
Later that evening and BD514 is docked at a particularly jumbled section of the Armada. The semi-permanent station seems more sprawling than usual, and that makes the crew's attempt to navigate the twisted hallways all the more difficult. Eventually, and after only asking around twice, they find King Curney's Kasbah. Standing outside is Deminda, their point of contact. She is a beautiful drow woman, wearing a supple suit of armor so black it seems to soak up the light around it. She carries no gun, only a large knife can be seen strapped to her thigh.
Inside King Curney’s Kasbah, you’re instantly bombarded by sights, smells, and tastes. A live band playing an assortment of strange instruments from across the galaxy jams with a chilled rhythmic thrum. The air is full of smoke from a variety of illicit substances and the layered murmur of clandestine deals. Members of many unusual species from Near Space and the Vast fill the establishment—a squid-like ijtikri crawls atop the bar to order a drink, and across the room a leafy ghoran and peaceful fur-covered neskinti pass a dose of hyperleaf back and forth. In a darkened corner, a masked embri negotiates with a strike team of vesk commandos. Deminda maintains a steady pace, moving across the large chamber to a bulkhead door guarded by a pair of female drow. The door opens as she approaches.
Beyond lies a sumptuously appointed chamber with a central rectangular table, at the head of which sits a handsome drow who rises as Deminda enters. “Ah,” he says with a smile. A half dozen armed female drow are positioned around the edges of the room, avoiding direct eye contact. The man steps out from behind the table and extends a hand. “I, of course, am Lord Sinjin. Please, have a seat.”
"I suppose I should be upset about Voxha. I am, some. It would have been preferable to make a profit. But the stars have aligned in your favor. I need a crew for a very special job, and you may have just the skills I need. I mean, you made those single-minded hobgoblins happy. I think getting any new weapons is a good time to them. Besides, I have to imagine your superiors are writing up your discharge papers as we speak."
He stretches in his chair and pours a glass of water before continuing. "You’re all Evgeniya-Jaimisson employees, but how much do you really know about the Company, hm? Well, I’ve spent enough credits to learn quite a bit about it, and I’ve discovered that they’ve made a breakthrough in hybrid nullspace technology. Null-space chambers aren’t new, but no one’s been able to figure out how to make them bigger than a few feet across. Your friends at EJ Corp, however, led by a woman named Eline Reisora, have cracked the code. They’ve discovered how to make a null-space chamber large enough that it makes a space bigger on the inside than it is on the outside—large enough to double the size of a starship’s cargo hold.”
"Imagine if every emergency vessel carrying supplies to victims of the Swarm could carry twice the medicinals, if every starship bringing settlers to a distant uninhabited world could carry twice the spare parts and supplies, or if a place like this station could give everyone holed up in Downside twice as much room! I know the galaxy seems like a pretty big place, but I assure you, when you’re paying for air, food, and water, it’s really much smaller than you think. If the Pact Worlds had access to this technology, it would suddenly become twice as big. That’s more elbow room for everyone. Who doesn’t want that?” With a press of a remote, Sinjin summons up a holographic representation of a transport starship, its image slowly rotating over the table. “The answer to that question, of course, is your employer. EJ Corp wants to keep this technology for itself and use it to crush the competition. They’ve built a prototype starship for it, called the Oliphaunt. It’s housed on the Horse Eye Orbital Plate, near Aballon.” Sinjin thumbs his remote again, and the image of the starship is replaced by a three-dimensional holographic model of a large starship construction facility in space. “No outsiders are allowed on the orbital plate, with one exception: many corporations have starship construction projects there, and shareholders for those corporations are allowed to dock and move around freely. “You aren’t shareholders in EJ Corp. At least, not yet. But you do all have stock options as part of your severance pay bonus structure. If you were to leave the Company— before you’re all fired—you could redeem those options for a not-inconsiderable amount of EJ Corp stock. You could then walk onto the Horse Eye Orbital Plate and steal the Oliphaunt for me. And then, my friends, I could make you all rich beyond your wildest dreams... and you could do whatever you want for the rest of your lives.”
Xevras notes the 'discreet' security in the room as he enters. Not to mention how much Lord Sinjin knows about their last job. As he listens to the drow's proposal, Xevras can't help but wonder if maybe Sinjin had set up their last job to come out the way it did... all told, he was getting a bit of an "offer you can't refuse" feel from this whole thing.
Not that he was going to say anything like that. Normally, he wouldn't consider stealing, especially not on such a large scale. Something like this seemed like a way to get a target painted on your back.
But on the other claw, screw EJ.
"Sounds good, but there's no way EJ's not going to be hunting for us if we pull it off," he says after these thoughts go through his mind. "How do we keep them from being on our backs the rest of our lives in this plan?"
The drow nods. "The woman heading the project is named Eline Reisor. She's an executive vice president with EJ. And a devout follower of the Prophecies of Kalistrade. Her people have been pushed pretty hard lately by her. That makes them vent and grumble and generally talkative. Some of the reports she is filing with the company makes her subordinates suspect the true nature of the project is being kept secret from the board. My working hypothesisis that that's because she wants to use the technology for the Kalistocrat's Golden Barges."
The drow leans back in his chair with his fingers locked behind his head. "I've been able to confirm those rumors through some of my business contacts. This means it would be in her best interest to keep the whole thing low-key. If her bosses discovered what she was working on, and that she obfuscated the project..." he shrugs and returns to a less casual position in his chair. "I'm sticking my neck out here too, you realize?" He chuckles, "And if things go horribly awry, I like to use the "goblin contingency." Goblins make excellent patsies and are usually clever enough to escape trouble anyway."
"I'm in, no questions asked. Anything to stick it to EJ," Ace sighs. "Wait, that name sounds somewhat familiar... but one of those credit-worshipping whackos? It's one thing to covet success but, they take that to a whole new level."
"That's them. I believe they live under the credo that, 'He who dies with the most toys, wins.'"
The skitter looked from one to the other. all this was going over his head, and usually that wasnt too hard. but one thing was sure "Im willing to help the people over some credit grabbing corpo"
"Hmmmm," Xevras rumbles deep in his chest.
The more Sinjin talked about how much money he was throwing at this, the more suspicious Xevras was about whether or not he *had* arranged for their recent rash of bad luck. Of course if he had, the idea of refusing this deal only looked worse.
"Any other details that would be useful for us to pull this off? From the prep work you've done, I'm guessing you've got a map of the station?"
Lord Sinjin sucks his teeth, "no, sorry, no map. However, I know that once inside the facility as shareholders, tours are freely available. That would help you scout the location. You might need to hack the system once inside to narrow it down, and maybe get the other details you're hoping for."
"The only other thing I can recommend is to find the perfect timing to make your move. The last thing you want is to catch Reisora's attention while you're in the act."
He stands up and pushes his chair in then leans on it as he signals the end of the meeting. "Deminda will authorize an up-front payment and coordinate delivery of the vessel."
TO: EJ Corp personnel serving aboard
Company Transport BD514
FROM: EJ Corp Sapient Resources Department
SUBJECT: Possible Contract Breach and
Termination
Dear Employees,
Your recent activity on Vohxa has triggered an objective, AI-led investigation into potential violations of your employee contracts. This investigation may result in your termination. EJ Corp is under no
obligation to share the results of this
investigation with you.
In addition, Company Transport BD514 has failed to meet expected profit goals. EJ Corp is conducting an internal review to determine the viability of this revenue stream going forward. In the event your company transport is reassigned, your contracts will be voided, effective immediately.
Thank you for your time.