He was happy to see me
13 Mar 2021User319792
I was shocked to see the man in the black suit in Gresley when I'd returned after running the rescue and salvage missions at Hahn. With everything going on, it was hours into the back and forth from the rescue ship to Hahn and back before I'd gotten the news that some guy calling himself Theta Seven was claiming responsibility for what I then found out was coordinated attacks all across governed space. The whole thing seemed far too convenient, to be honest. I've still got this nagging feeling that something is happening with those useless Thargoids that's being brushed under the rug.
I've been looking into the GALNET archives to see if there was any more information I could find about these NMLA folks beyond what I'd already known about and there isn't much there: They're tracing their intellectual lineage to the founder of the Duvall clan, which is sorta strange to me in light of their demand for the heads of all the Duvalls, including the Empress; They assassinated the Empress' father; They've been bombing basically everywhere; They were hiding amongst the Marlinist refugees that the Federation had been sheltering from Imperial authorities; The Marlinist themselves are distancing themselves from the extremist bend of Theta Seven and his followers... but I've still got this... thing that's bugging me about them and the rest of the Marlinists.
I still don't see how the Empress could have possibly been open to meeting with them. Meanwhile, that rube she was gonna marry was saying that, even if the Federation was sheltering the Marlinists, Hudson's been blaming the Imperial authorities for the terrorist attacks, and the weaponry used was made in Federation space, its "ridiculous" that the Federation could have been responsible for a Theta Seven.
There's something about it that's got my alarm bells ringing.
I think he could see that in my face as I walked into the control tower after reading through the GALNET briefings and trying to figure out what's happening. He asked me if something was wrong and all I could do was look at him like he was an idiot. He started laughing before he waved his arms around and said, "besides everything"
In the year and a half that I studied under him before getting my Pilot's Federation License, I found that he laughed at things that were both not funny and probably inappropriate, if not downright horrifying. I could never get the hang of his sense of humor. One of the other men in suits said something once that I thought was hilarious and the only thing he did was look at the guy and say, "That was funny," without so much as a smile. I studied his face before asking him if he'd heard from my dad.
"He's fine. He's scared stiff, like most everyone else, but he's ok."
It had been some months since I'd seen him and he was with another pilot that I'd recognized from a long time back as one of his trainees, who's ended up who knows where the suits put her. I stood there staring at him, exhausted both emotionally and physically from the rescue and salvage missions.
He smiled again and said, "You've been noticed."
He pointed to a piece of paper I hadn't noticed he'd been holding and across the top it said "Notice: Cadence Nain, callsign Half-Lock"
I looked at him again and he laughed again while pointing at the word "Notice."
I stood there staring at him again and he said that the Federal Auxiliary had taken notice of my efforts, both immediate and continued, at rescuing those stranded from Hahn and salvaging any information and belongings that were still salvageable. He then led me into another room in the control tower and there was an official from the Auxiliary that provided me with operational briefing after operational briefing before finally sending us out. He said he'd be riding along with me on these missions, in a smaller passenger cabin, while conducting some operations and business for the suits. I told him there were more people at Hahn that needed saving.
"They'll still be there when we finish these up," he said.
I stood there, looking at him in both exhaustion and bewildered curiosity. He started laughing.
With that, we got into Ovid.