Interruptions
12 Mar 2021Elkyri
Patterson Enterprise, Sirius3307.03.11
The first run into Patterson Enterprise was exciting. First I had to break free from a pirate's attempt to pull us out of SuperCruise then I dropped right into the middle of a firefight raging above the megaship Spirit of Laelaps. I managed to get us clear of that mess but then had to wait for a security scan before I could join in the queue of ships waiting for a pad to open. Between Sirius Corp, the Imperial Navy, and bounty-hunting freelancers they certainly had the place locked down tight. That many cargo haulers running back and forth make a lucrative target but I'm surprised any pirate was willing to take the risk.
I found a decent source of foodstuff just a couple of jumps away in Agastani so managed to turn a tidy profit making quick and easy runs back-and-forth. They were mostly trouble free but a few days into the operation Yalena's hull got dinged up a bit when a pirate was able to grab us soon after dropping into Sirius. Nothing too serious but after dropping the load at Spirit of Laelaps I decided to put into Patterson Enterprise to get her patched up. Patterson is the scene of the big summit meeting so getting through security was a real treat -- they stopped just shy of a body cavity search.
After getting Yalena booked into the maintenance hanger I headed for the concourse to grab lunch at a real sit-down restaurant. I had just made up my mind about which one to enter when I heard my name called.
"Elkyri?"
There it was again. I looked around trying to find the source but didn't see anyone.
"Up here, Elkyri. It's me; Carlos."
I looked up at the balcony overlooking the concourse and spotted him leaning over the rail. I recognized him right away though I hadn't seen him in years. He was a classmate from my days in the political science curriculum. I waved and shouted back, "Well, if it isn't Carlos Tapia! What possibly could have brought you here? I figured you would be town mayor or something by now."
"Have you eaten yet? Come on up and we can talk about it." He motioned to and said a few words to a nearby waiter and in just a moment he appeared at the door to escort me up to join Carlos. I ordered off the menu then again asked Carlos what had brought him to Sirius.
"I'm with the delegation," he said with just a hint of pride showing through.
"Really? That's great! I guess I shouldn't sound surprised; you always excelled at anything you turned to." That explained the preferred seating on the balcony and the attentiveness of the waiter. "So what do you do?"
"I'm an advisor and assistant to Aaron Whyte." A slight smile hinted I was supposed to be impressed.
"Aaron Whyte?" The name was familiar but it took a moment to click. "Wait. Isn't he one of the Marlinist ministers? What are you doing hooked up with them? How did you manage to get on his staff?"
"They recruited me," Carlos said. "I'm sure they were partly after family connections but they sold me on the idea it would be good to have someone on the negotiating team who clearly is not an ideologue."
"Interesting." I paused for a moment while I mulled over who besides the obvious he might have been negotiating with. "Tell me, Carlos, now that the colonies are established, do you think the NMLA is ready to back off on trying to change the empire? Will they set that aside and help to set up a completely new republic? Unless this is just some kind of blood feud against the royal house they could have what they claim to want in the colonies if they're serious about it. That would go a long way towards getting the Feds and Imperials to accept the colonies as a legitimate political entity, which I'm guessing is why you're here."
"I don't know about that, Elkyri. I've decided it's too hard to suss out their true motivation. You ask for reasons and they give you excuses so you don't really know what thinking is behind their actions. I do know this -- they aren't going to be happy with the Cornelius-Lasky Convention."
"Why not? That doesn't concern them at all, does it?"
"That depends on how one wants to interpret 'large-scale threats to civilian populations.' If they see that as an opening for the Empire to label them that way to gain cooperation of the other two superpowers in eliminating them it could have some pretty negative consequences."
He sounded like he had some inside insight to the way the NMLA was interpreting developments at the summit. It also wasn't just intuition. "Have you talked to them directly?" I asked. He had as much as said so but I wanted to hear it in so many words.
He was still considering his reply when our conversation was interrupted by the chime that precedes a station-wide announcement.
Attention! Attention! All delegates are kindly requested to return to the council hall as quickly as possible.
"I wonder what's going on," Carlos said. "We weren't supposed to reconvene for another hour."
The announcement began to repeat itself just as Carlos' tablet chimed with an incoming message.
"Oh my God!" He paled as he read from the tablet.
"What is it?"
"NMLA has blown up a bunch of stations."
"What?" I was incredulous.
He handed the tablet to me as he stood and gathered his things. I read it in disbelief -- nine stations blown in a simultaneous attack, three in each superpower's space. Tell me that wasn't designed to send a message about cooperation. Maybe Carlos was onto something with his thoughts on the Cornelius-Lasky Convention. But that was negotiated only a week ago; could they have coordinated something this big in that short a time? Certainly easier to pull off than it might have been if all the security hadn't been focused in Sirius.
The tablet chimed again with another incoming message.
"The NMLA is already claiming responsibility," I said as I handed the tablet back to him. "They've released a statement."
I saw his jaw clinch as he silently read yet another incoming message. "It was good to see you again, Elkyri. Maybe next time under better circumstances but I need to run."
"Go," I said. "I got the tab. I'll try to get in touch later."
As I watched him leave I wondered if Patterson had any passenger cabins available at the outfitters or if I would have to find someplace else to refit Yalena for evacuation runs. At least this time I would have some experience behind me. "Better keep an eye on Zoe," I told myself. "All that coming and going is how she managed to get aboard last time. You don't want her slipping out into a burning inferno."