Logs from the Sevantya / #006 - "Blackmail"
09 Sep 2022Tosh Vraugen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEVANTYA / X8F-55N -------------------------------
-------------- COMMAND BRIDGE TERMINAL - 08/09/3308 - 22:40 ---------------
Login: Tosh Vraugen
Password: ****************
Authorization Code: Bravo-5-Kilo-7
----- ACCESS GRANTED -----
Welcome commander, you have 2 unread message.
- From: Chief-Scientist Amina Holland / Received: 08/09/3308 14:33 / Subject: "Test Subjects"
- From: Chief-Engineer Esteban Pucket / Received: 07/09/3308 16:02 /Subject: "The new torpedoes have arrived"
CARRIER STATUS: Nominal
LOCATION: Lemastshi - Orbiting planet 7
>/ INITIATE_LOG_RECORDING
Log Title: "Blackmail"
P r o c e s s i n g . . .
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Access Granted / Log recording enabled . . .
Alright.. I guess I'm getting fond of recording these, but this time I have something serious in my hands... where to begin... Dr. Holland expedition went well, we spent about 2 days at the site collecting the relics and then we returned to the Sevantya, no deadly infections this time, thankfully... everything was normal, we were operating for ARRC in Leesti, regular jobs, nothing out of the ordinary... but then 3 days ago a courier delivered an Encrypted Memory Chip to Klara at the bar, said it was for me... Klara is a stubborn one and she tried to get the name of who sent the courier, but he said he had no idea, he just picked the job from the mission board in Baird Gateway in the Arque system. From the camera recording the guy seemed like he just graduated from the Pilots Federation Academy, he was still flying a Sidewinder too, so I have no doubt he really didn't know anything, but thing is, someone posted the job there and they needed someone unsuspicious to deliver the message, I'm not gonna lie, I was reluctant in opening that chip, but my curiosity spoke louder, I plugged the thing in a safe terminal, and inside there was this message:
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------------ Encrypted Memory Ship "Xx029DzF" / Status: Decrypted - Read Only ------------
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"Greetings commander Tosh Vraugen, I hope this message gets to you as quickly as possible. Recently you have interfered in a very important operation that was being conducted by our organisation in the Reorte system, more specifically at the Kewell's Club hotel, as you are probably aware, we were very interested in the data that you were hired to retrieve, hence why we also hired our own team for the same task, we also knew that there could be military resistance at the site, but a single man versus 29 well trained and well armed mercenaries? That surely left us impressed. When we reviewed the footage recovered from the suits of the dead mercenaries, we were astonished by your prowess in battle and so we decided that you are exactly the type of man we are looking for: someone skilled enough and able to follow orders without asking questions. You were a hard man to find Mr. Vraugen, however we have eyes and ears in many important databases across human space, so it was just a matter of time to figure out who that mysterious gunslinger that ruined our operation truly was. You sir, are one of the most wanted criminals in Federal space, being the responsible for multiple political assassinations, robbery, smuggling, theft of a Federal Fleet Carrier and acts of terrorism against the Federation and its citizens, most remarkably the bombing of the Bawa's Nest tourism settlement in the Kremainn system in May of 3307, where 43 innocent civilians, 12 brave Federal soldiers and Governor Alan Darue, his wife, and his two daughters were killed during a political rally. You and your men may believe you are "freedom fighters" or "rebels" but we all know why you do this Mr. Vraugen, and that left us wondering: Do the Alliance, and the sub factions you are now working with, know of your bloody past? Would they allow a criminal and terrorist among their ranks? Or has the Alliance fallen so low that they just need all the help they can get, be it from recently graduated Pilots Federation commanders or lowlifes and criminals such as yourself? Perhaps we shall have that answer soon, but in the meantime, we have a job opportunity that may interest you and you will also be able to repair the damage you caused to our organisation while also avoididing that such sensitive information about you and your crew goes straight to the Alliance. Proceed alone and unarmed to Amnuel's Progress, in the Gamma Mensae system, talk to the bartender at the concourse and order the "Cryo Special", shortly after, someone will meet you. You have 4 days to decide, choose well Mr. Vraugen."
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There I was, cornered like a rat, I have vowed to myself and my crew that we would do things different, that we would fight for something real, and the Alliance gave us that opportunity, but whoever were these guys, they had the means to end it all for us, the deadline for me to accept this "job" was almost over, but I decided to take it, even if it could just be a trap and I would end up with a plasma slug in the back of my head, my men deserved this... they shouldn't be held responsible for what me and the others did in the past, and if I die in this meeting, then perhaps it is for the best, someone else will lead the Sevantya and it's crew and hopefully to a better path. I packed my things and hopped into my Cobra Mk3, the Marauder, the only thing I left was a message to our Chief-Engineer Esteban Pucket, the old man was the heart and brains of the Sevantya, if that massive piece of metal was up and running at 100% it was because of him, so if I didn't return in a couple of days, the Sevantya was now his and he could do whatever he sees fit with such a magnificent ship.
The trip to Gamma Mensae was quick, only 5 jumps from Lemastshi, and Amnuel's Progress was on a planet a couple thousands of Ls from the main star, the few minutes I spent on supercruise were intense, I was looking at the scanners every 10 seconds or so, scanning every new ship that would appear in range, trying to identify possible threats or just a hint of who the hell were those guys that were blackmailing me. And then there we were, Amnuel's Progress, a massive planetary port sitting on this beautiful ringed planet. As I made the descent towards the port, I was greeted by the flight control and a landing pad was arranged for me, at this time I was kinda expecting to have already been blown to pieces but it seemed like these people really wanted to talk.
The Marauder has landed, the pad was sealed, it was time to go to the concourse and visit this bar, luckily these Turbolifts can take you all across the port in no time, in just a few seconds I was at the concourse. The concourses of planetary ports are way bigger than those you find at stations, there are lots of shops and people from all over human space doing business, having drinks, chatting and etc, these ports are massive after all, thousands of peoples work and live here and from what I heard, in much better conditions then at your regular space station. So there was the bar and this slick bartender, I ordered the "Cryo Special" as per instruction, he gave me a nod and told me to wait... about 15 minutes later a well dressed man told me to follow him into the turbolifts, we would go to a private suite in one of the port skyscrapers. Once again, the trip was short, but the view... it was beautiful, the sun was rising and slowly lighting the planet's ring, but sadly I couldn't enjoy that view for much longer, the turbolift stopped almost at the top floor of the biggest of the port's skyscrapers, a very fancy entrance to a suite was in front of us, and to my surprise two imperial guards at the front door, you can recognize the bastards anywhere, the white armor with red details and that helmet are truly unmistakable. The well dressed man took the lead and spoke briefly with the imperial guards, soon after they started searching me for weapons, recorders and other stuff that could be "harmful" to this meeting, they found nothing and I was cleared to enter, however, I had sneaked a tiny audio recorder into my jacket, I wouldn't be able to record images of who I was speaking to, but I would surely as hell would have their voices, and with the right expert I would be able to track down whoever I talked to in that room. The well dressed man then led me inside the suite, it was massive, whoever lived here surely was stinking rich and had a great taste for art and decoration, the man then offered me some Lavian Brandy and told me the "mistress" would be with me soon. Not even a minute later, this beautiful, elegant woman, perhaps in her mid 40s showed up smoking a Kamitra Cigar and about 10 other imperial guards walked into the room... she looked like every other rich person you meet out there, but that ring with the Empire emblem gave her away, what would some empire noble or politician want with me? Here is the recording of our talk:
Tosh: Kamitra Cigars eh? Good taste.
Imperial Woman: Do you smoke?
Tosh: Nah, not anymore.
Imperial Woman: You only live once, here, have one.
Tosh: If you say so, madam...
Imperial Woman: So you are Tosh Vraugen... the man that ruined my operation.
Tosh: Yep, that's me, and you are?
Imperial Woman: For now my name is irrelevant... so... tell me Mr. Vraugen, what made you choose to come here? This could well be a trap to have you killed.
Tosh: You don't seem like the type of person that puts on a show before killing someone, If you wanted me dead I would probably be as soon as I entered the system, so lets cut the chit-chat and go straight to business.
Imperial Woman: Clever. Your whole scene at Kewell's Club was very impressive, do you know who you were working for?
Tosh: I knew he was some corpo hotshot, David something.
Imperial Woman: David Brisco, CEO of a prominent genetic research corporation that operates in Alliance space.
Tosh: Damn, CEO? The guy sounded like a moron.
Imperial Woman: (chuckles) And he is, he became CEO due to the fact that his father is about to die... his Progenitor Cells treatment is starting to be ineffective, and his brother died misteriously due to an heart attack a few months ago, so there was only little David left to take over the family business.
Tosh: Listen... I...
Imperial Woman: What did he tell you about the data? That he forgot it at his suite terminal after some party or something like that?
Tosh: Yeah, minus the party part.
Imperial Woman: The data wasn't even his, it belonged to one of his former top-scientists, which is also dead now, Dr. Icarus Montes. Our friend David Brisco was never at that hotel.
Tosh: Like I was about to explain, I don't really question my clients about the jobs they are offering, the man needed someone to retrieve the data from a terminal, and that is what I did.
Imperial Woman: Of course, and that is something that we value greatly, hence why we decided to have this talk and offer you an opportunity and not just kill you... you see, some of my associates wanted you dead for all the damage you caused, but in the end we decided you could be a valuable asset to our organization.
Tosh: Offering me an opportunity? It didn't sound like I had much of a choice.
Imperial Woman: Oh but you did have a choice Mr. Vraugen. Luckily for us, you picked the right one.
Tosh: Right... so about this job, fill me in.
Imperial Woman: So, back to Dr. Icarus Montes, he discovered that Brisco's company with the support of some big names in the Alliance were about to do something with his research, he wanted to defect to the Empire, in exchange for the data of his research, which was the data that you retrieved, however he never made it, the last transmission we had from him he was at Kewell's Club, begging for an extraction, saying that Brisco had hired assassins to take him out and that he stored the data on the public terminal of his suite in case he died, I tried to explain to him that we would have a team ready to extract him in about about a day, but we were too late, we heard nothing else from Montes and the hotel announced a week long lockdown to do some maintenance, but the thing is, the hotel staff found Montes dead and to avoid any complications with the local authorities they decided to shut the hotel down for a week and clean the mess up.
Tosh: And this is where I came in...
Imperial Woman: Exactly, we deployed our hired mercs that were originally meant to extract Dr. Montes but now all they had to do was to grab the data and bail, we also knew that Brisco would probably try something similar but we weren't expecting he would hire a single, extremely professional merc, and well... we know how things turned out. We lost a couple million credits, a reliable mercenary crew, and Brisco got his hands on the data... I hope you have been generously compensated for such a job.
Tosh: Shit happens I suppose... and yeah the pay was good.
Imperial Woman: So now this is what is going to happen, one of my guards will drive you to a storage container we have here in Amnuel's Progress industrial district, once there our crew will help you load some canisters into your ship, and from here you will head to the Gateway system and deliver these canisters at Oyekan Nutrition Base, no stops, no alternate routes, no comms during the travel... as we speak my crew is already plotting a route and rigging your Cobra Mk3 with explosives, don't do as we say and we blow you up, is that clear?
Tosh: You motherfuc... fine!
Imperial Woman: Captain, please drive this gentlemen to Container S-2.
Imperial Captain: Yes my lady.
Tosh: And once the delivery is made, are we done?
Imperial Woman: Yes, for now... good luck Mr. Vraugen.
After this lovely chat about working for morons, conspiracies and people rigging my ship with explosives, me and the captain drove to the industrial district to find this Container S-2, the drive was long and quiet, the captain surely wasn't of the talking type, there were also no one at the roads at this time, everyone was sleeping, except for us and some random patrol vehicles that seemed to ignore us, they were probably bribed by this Imperial woman too, after a couple of minutes we reached the container.
Once we got there, I was expecting a regular canister container, but the thing was huge, clearly there was something wrong here, me and the captain left the Scorpion and went to the container door, the captain typed in some code in the pad and the massive steel doors started opening, as the doors opened you could see gas coming out and a fog as cold as death involved us. They managed to build an entire laboratory inside this cargo container, there were 4 scientists inside, all of them wearing hazmat suits, one of them came to talk to us, an old fella with a funny accent, he didn't mention his name, but there was this holotag written "Dr. Ziegler" on his hazmat suit.
Dr. Ziegler: Ah yes, the transporter.
Imperial Captain: Are the pods ready?
Dr. Ziegler: Ay, we can begin unplugging them now.
Tosh: Hold on, what exactly I will be transporting?
Dr. Ziegler: 10 cryo-pods son, I suppose you have enough space in your ship?
Tosh: H-h-hold on, cryo pods? I will be transporting frozen people?
Dr. Ziegler: Technically yes, is there a problem?
Tosh: I suppose not, but those things need to be delivered fast am I right?
Dr. Ziegler: Indeed, you only have about an hour to make the delivery before the Life Support in the Cryo Pods run out of power, so be quick my son.
Imperial Captain: Alright, begin the unplug sequence, we will load them on his ship.
Dr. Ziegler: Very good, yes, very good, danke schön transporter!
Imperial Captain: Hurry up boys, we don't have much time. And you merc, you better do your job right or you and your ship goes boom.
Tosh: I would worry about getting these cryo-pods into the ship asap, I don't wanna deliver some spoiled bodies to whoever our contact is in Gateway.
Imperial Captain: Good, payment will be approved once we have confirmation of the delivery, they will be delivered as legal goods to your carrier, so the Bank of Zaonce won't get suspicious with this transfer in case things go wrong.
Tosh: Fair enough.
In less than 10 minutes the cryo-pods were loaded into the Marauder, once the imperial guards left, I tried to inspect them through the tiny windows in the front of the pods, there were frozen people, 5 man and 5 woman, all of them young, perhaps in their 20s, some looked even younger, I wondered what these eggheads are doing with them but my time was running out, according to the panels in the cryo-pods I had 47 minutes to deliver them, and so the travel started, the imps really messed up with the ship nav panel, a route was already plotted, there were credentials in case of authority scans and so on, they were prepared for any trouble that could show along the way, and they needed me, an "unsuspicious pilot", to deliver these cryo pods. As the sun kept rising above Amnuel's Progress, the engines of the Marauder roared and I left to complete this mission, but I couldn't stop thinking that I had just become a tool for this Imperial woman and whatever organisation she represented, or even worse, was I playing a double agent for the Alliance and the Empire? For now getting these poor frozen sob's delivered and not getting blown in the process is the priority, but I'm not gonna lie, I dont like this "deal" one bit, but "A job is a job, and once you take it, you either finish it or die trying.", bloody Frederick's phrases will haunt me til the end of my days, hopefully it won't be soon. (sigh) Tosh Vraugen, signing out.
>/ END_LOG
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