Meeting Sharon Valerii
03 Aug 2021Prochaska
In June 3307, Zoe happened to meet Sharon Valerii in a bar. They talked for some time, and Sharon mentioned something about Guardian technology and that she had been hunted by AEGIS because of that technology. Zoe's interest was piqued, and as she questioned Sharon further, Sharon made some comments that indicated that she had not been talking about a piece of technology that she possessed, but rather that this technology was a part of herself. Before unexpectedly standing up abruptly and ending the conversation, Sharon mentioned her niece, Kendra Shaw, who would know more about these things.Zoe realized that Sharon was of concern to her employer, and immediately became concerned herself about whether there was any danger from this Guardian technology. However, she did not report it to her command for the time being; she wanted to gather more information herself first. She also wanted to retain decision-making authority in the case for the moment. Her next task was to find Kendra.
It took her a while to locate Kendra, but she immediately accepted the invitation for a meeting. Kendra used to be a soldier of the Federation, a member of a special unit. She was discharged from the service after criticizing unethical orders, and then joined the Utopian Watch, where her mission was to track down and destroy AIs. She had also worked for AEGIS in the past, and had recently made public an AEGIS report on Sharon, originally to highlight the danger posed by AEGIS; however, she had also made public Sharon's Guardian technology, potentially making her a target of interested parties. Zoe found Kendra sympathetic, and professionally she immediately saw her as a worthwhile partner to work with; their field of work was much the same. Kendra saw Sharon as a grave danger, and had already tried to kill her in an ambush, but Sharon had survived. She was still convinced that eliminating Sharon was necessary. Zoe winced inwardly at the thought of participating in the preparation of a targeted killing. She realized, however, that Kendra could be right in her assessment. Kendra had been on the target list of Sharon's friends since the attack on Sharon, and it was only a matter of time before a confrontation occurred. Zoe wasn't a fighter, so she wasn't much help in an open fight, but she wanted to see if she could dissuade some of Sharon's friends from their plans for revenge against Kendra. When asked who Zoe could talk to about it, Kendra gave her two names: Declan O'Connor and Hans von Volldampf. Declan was currently on his way to Jaques Station somewhere, so fell out, so Zoe set up a meeting with Hans.
Zoe's plan for the meeting with Hans: overall goal: to locate Sharon or lure her out of hiding. Unlikely to succeed, since Hans does not trust her and there is no time to build his trust. But there's also no time for lengthy prep work now.
Address the danger to Sharon: Ram Tah's report is public, who else but AEGIS will threaten Sharon now? Make the threat clear to him.
Can he say what damage someone can do if Sharon falls into the hands of a shady organization?
Can he tell what danger Sharon poses directly?
What is his goal? How does he plan to achieve it?
At the meeting, Hans was suspicious, but still revealed some things. He did not know the whereabouts of Sharon, and considered the possibility that Sharon is a danger. And he thought that Sharon is in danger and needs protection. Zoe thought that Hans seemed to be honest, and she believed what he said. As Hans got even more suspicious from her questioning, she decided to rather end the meeting, she thought he might be useful at a later date, and too much suspicion might ruin a future opportunity.
Zoe wanted to get a foothold in Sharon's group to find out more about her and her nature. For this it was necessary not to arouse too much suspicion. At the same time, she saw Kendra as an ally whom she wanted to protect from the revenge of the others. At the same time, she wanted to find a solution to the problem Sharon posed that would avoid killing her. She informed Kendra about Hans opinions.
Kendra then thanked Zoe for the information, and the assurance of her assistance. On the evening of the 9.7., Zoe was present when Hans, Jintosh, Gravlex, Lexi (Dlljs) and Kendra met up on Anderson Orbital in Irula. Zoe was determined to help Kendra, or at the very least keep her alive, without blowing her own cover for now. She did not want the friends of Sharon to consider her a threat to Sharon, as that might preclude her from any useful information on her whereabouts in the future. Kendra was an ally and she had additional background information, so she had to survive the evening, despite Sharon's friends having a grudge on her after the attempted murder.
The meeting ended with accusations against Kendra, whose arguments about the dangers posed by Sharon were not heard by the others. During the conversation, Zoe noticed that the front against Kendra was very united. When continuing the conversation no longer made any sense to her, Kendra ran to her ship, and left the station in the direction of Valentino's Sythetics Workshop on the surface of planet Irula 1. Zoe lagged behind, and had problems identifying Kendras ship among all the ships in front of her. She locked onto Kendras Federal Gunship, and quickly got a message from a confused Kendra, asking her if she had switched her allegiance to the other side. Zoe reassured her that she was just afraid to loose her out of her sight.
Kendra landed on the surfaced some distance away from the Workshop and headed there in an SRV. Most of the others also touched down, while Hans chased Kendra with his Krait Mk II. After touching down, Zoe switched to her SRV and tried to catch up to the group. She saw shots being fired and plasma repeater fire flashing in the distance. Zoe drove towards a ridge when she heard Hans commenting, that the chase was over, and Jintosh defending herself, that it happened unintentionally. When she had reached the crest, she saw all vehicles stopped, and the smoking wreckage of Kendras SRV in the distance. Anger flared up in her. “I don't believe that”, she muttered, half to herself. Over the radio, the others discussed the cause of the explosion, and when Jintosh pleaded that her hull had still looked intact, Zoe said: “Oh, splendid work, cupcake”, bitter irony in her voice. She climbed off the SRV and examined the wreckage on foot with commander Gravlex. They found the cockpit to be empty. The a message was received from Kendra, who was still in her ship, and the vehicle had been piloted by a drone. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief, even Hans expressed some delight. Jin was even more confused. She admonished Kendra for playing tricks on her and making her think she shot her. “Well, you shot at her, that is also not funny”, Zoe commented back dryly. Then everyone got back into his ship, and the hunt continued back in orbit. The group catched up to Kendras ship again, who fled back to the surface. This time, the hunt for her SRV ended after a short time. Everyone left their vehicles and a fire fight erupted. Gravlex and Jin were at the front, and shot at Kendra, who kept them at a distance. Zoe waited some distance away. Joining the firefight on Kendras side would betray her intentions to the others. Pulling out a gun, Kendra might think she was about to betray her and start shooting at Zoe. So she could only wait indecisively. During a pause in the fire, she stepped forward between the opponents and tried to get them to put their weapons away. Kendra asked if the others would not try to kill her; all agreed. Everyone put away their weapons except for Jin. Zoe stood in front of Jin and blocked her line of fire. "If you're already saying you won't kill Kendra, what are you holding a gun for?" Zoe asked her, annoyed. Kendra was led to one of the landed ships, where she tried to flee. This time the shooting lasted only shortly, with the other commanders encircling Kendra. Jintosh sat behind Kendra and pointed her gun up at her. At this time Zoe was so pissed at Jin, that she took out her gun, targeting Jin, to safeguard Kendra. Zoe still offered the other ones to fly Kendra on their ship into captivity, but the suggestion was ignored. As Kendra was being escorted to departure, Hans had another mishap and a hand grenade came loose. He had to throw the grenade away quickly in the emergency, and it detonated not far from Kendra and her escort. Alarmed, Zoe startled up, and angrily asked who had been responsible. Hans apologized for his mishap; Zoe still couldn't help a sarcastic comment about drinking too much beer in the field.
Kendra was transported to Gender and locked up there.