War. War never changes.
27 Oct 2020Elderrook
I'll say one thing about war; it certainly is profitable. I'd arrived in Mainani only a few days ago, intent on doing my annual service for the Imperial Inquisition. It was one of a small cluster of ugly little systems way out on the fringe of Imperial space.Not that I was beholden to them. It was my own sense of obligation that brought me here for a week every year. Service to the Empire was a part of every Imperial citizen's upbringing, and I was no different. Despite the troubled history I've had with the Inquisitors, I always ended up coming back here.
Hell, it was practically a vacation. A week of courier jobs delivering data packets, reports, and printed documents was usually the fare. This time it was different. My second day in the region and suddenly the job boards were full of 'Sensitive Data Delivery' jobs. Something ugly was brewing.
A group calling itself the Brothers of Mainani had gone too far during one of their patriotic displays and had been branded as pirates. The local businesses, with the support of the Inquisition, had decided that they'd had enough and were preparing to finally do something about them. And there I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So much for my vacation.
Things got interesting right away. It seemed like every time I flew out, someone was trying to interdict my ship. It was fortunate that I'd chosen to fly out in the Mk III Cobra, the 'Firm Right Hand'. She was agile and quick and built for evading interdiction.
The next day it just got worse. I spent the next few days doing Strategic Data Hacks and running Wartime Surface Target Scan Operations. Only the occasional Economic Data Acquisition would come along to break things up. The Firm Right Hand was equipped with a planetary vehicle hangar. I spent a lot of time driving the Scarab from one place to the next.
The week finally came to an end and I was ready to head back home. That's when the Inquisitors came calling. They wanted me to undertake an important mission for the Empire. It never occurred to me to say no. I left Mies Van Der Rohe's Claim on my way to an unmarked facility on one of the two moons circling Mainani 4.
I engaged silent running, and set the Cobra Mk III down less than a kilometer from the perimeter. The scarab made short work of the turrets and drones defending the place. Huddled safely inside their habs, the occupants decided not to stop me as I hacked into their network and downloaded the incriminating files. The Inquisitors were going to love this.
It turns out that one of the companies had infiltrated the Brothers of Mainani and these demagogues had actually been responsible for the criminal acts. Ngalinn Jet Natural Incorporated had wanted to villainize them, but turned out to be the villains themselves.
My week had come to an end. As I made my way home in the spartan little ship, I couldn't help but wonder what next year would bring. At least I'd have a year to recuperate from my vacation.