Questionable Cargo - Part 1
04 Oct 2016BaseKillerWolf
“Commander BaseKillerWolf-The Party of Yoru has delivered a sterling recommendation to me on behalf of your accomplishments. After careful analysis of your techniques and deeds, I think it would be beneficial were our paths to cross.
Please procure twenty-five (25) units of Xihe Biomorphic Companions and deliver them to Nemo Cyber Party Base in the Yoru system. Complete this task and I shall provide you with my full engineering support for your starships.
Sincerely,
Zachariah Nemo, Head of Cyber Party Operations
PS: An encrypted data archive has been attached to this message. It contains the required information for your purchase of the Biomorphic Companions. Deliver it to the commodities manager and he/she will release the required commodities for transport.”
-Xihe system, Zhen Dock-
I was sure when Nemo meant ‘biomorphic companions’, he really meant ‘highly illicit contraband’. Well, I’ve moved some shady things through the cargo holds of my ships, so I’m guessing Moyen was going to have to leave the starport in silent running when this was all over.
I strolled up to the commodity management office of Zhen Dock. The man at the front desk seemed more interested in perusing GalNet than monitoring the local commodity stocks. He glanced up at me when I approached, right after he quickly closed the GalNet Celebrities News Feed.
“Commander BaseKillerWolf, here for a pickup of twenty-five Biomorphic Companions for a Zachariah Nemo. He’s provided an authorization archive for his order.” I handed a drive containing the archive to the manager. He inserted it into his terminal and studied the archive’s contents for a few moments.
“Alright Commander, your authorization processed without any hitches. Which bay is your ship located in?”
“Bay 25, the gold-painted Asp Explorer.”
“Excellent. We will begin loading your cargo immediately. You should be ready to depart once you make it down to the hangars, give or take five minutes.” He passed the drive back to me. “Your storage drive contains all of the necessary activation codes for the – ahem – cargo. Please provide it to Mister Nemo upon delivery” The manager had an evasive look about him at this point. Time to see how legal this whole operation is.
“Sir, just to be clear, is this cargo considered illegal in any jurisdiction?”
“No sir. These commodities are legal in any system between Xihe and Yoru. Station security will not fine you for carrying these goods.”
Good. Now all I have to do is make it to Yoru without losing my cargo. This shouldn’t be too hard given Moyen’s jump range. I bid farewell to the manager and started to make my way down to the hangars. He stopped me as I was about to leave his office, “Commander, one last thing: I’d advise you to not open the canisters until you are in the company of Mister Nemo. Especially if you hear any commotion from your cargo bay on the way to Yoru.”
Not shady at all.
-Yoru system, Nemo Cyber Party Base-
I was a tad disappointed when I dropped from my glide above the Cyber Party base. Given the name, I was expecting some kind of planetside nightclub for wild partygoers with loads of credits weighing them down. It turned out to be a political party headquarters, which is the total opposite of a fun time. I requested clearance and touched down at pad seven. As I entered the hangar, Zachariah Nemo met me on the gantry to the base.
“Commander BaseKillerWolf, correct? I trust you made it here in one piece?” He extended his hand in greeting. Everything about Nemo seemed calculated and refined, as if he’d been practicing this greeting for hours. I took him up on his greeting and introduced myself.
“Commander BaseKillerWolf, Deadly Entrepreneur and Ranger, at your service. The ride over wasn’t too eventful, save for an Anaconda that I ripped in half.”
“That is quite surprising, given your Asp Explorer is only fitted with two pulse lasers and has a shield integrity of less than one hundred megajoules” Nemo raised an eyebrow and a smirk at this. “Asp antics aside, I believe you have some cargo for me.”
“Right, twenty five units of biomorphic companions. The commodity manager said something about needing activation keys, they’re enclosed on this drive.”
“Right Commander. Let's get this cargo unloaded.”
-30 minutes later-
Well, if there's anyone who's developed a fully autonomous cargo transport system, it would probably Nemo. We barely had to lift a finger and all of the canisters were where they needed to be. I've been granted workshop access with Zachariah Nemo, so it's off to swap my Asp for a combat ship. Off to Vernadsky I go…