Excision and Egress
28 Jun 2021User319792
The man in the black suit shrugged his shoulders. Coral looked at me before quickly lowering her eyes and pursing her lips. News on GALNET just broke about the Imperial Senate's fact-finding mission to the Marlinist colonies and the opening of formal diplomatic negotiations between the Marlinists and the superpowers. I'd be willing to wager the Imperial diplomat we handed our findings to is receiving a commendation from The Emperor for his hard work in managing the information-collection and intelligence productions efforts required for the successful approach toward peaceful resolution on the matter. "We gave them what we had, Cadence. You got a Pilot's Federation promotion out of it, if its any consolation." Coral squeaked a choked-down laugh and the man in the black suit turned his head away from the sensors, his shoulders swaying up and down. "You're not even making an attempt to work your way up the rankings of Imperial society, Cadence; You're even staying out on the fringes of Aisling's base of power. Coral didn't even bother picking up any Prismatic Shields before revoking her pledge to Aisling. We're not on the inside, Cadence. Our contact stated it plainly and clearly."
I looked over at Coral at the mention of her abandonment. It's so like her.
"The only loyalty in science is to the truth," she used to say to the man in the black suit whenever she'd wreck something or someone that the man in the black suit was working on and with to bring in credits.
"The only truth in science is entropy", the man in the black suit used to mumble to me in Coral's aftermath.
"So what are you gonna do now, Coral?" Coral seemed lost in thought. The man in the black suit looked over at Coral and we both stared at her for a few seconds before she glanced over, eyes wide. She fumbled with her onboard controls.
"Sorry, I'm in deep-space right now. The connection must have gotten mixed up. I bet its related to the source-code issue we brought up. Anyway, what were you asking?"
"What are you gonna do now that you've revoked your pledge to The Empress? You do know I'm personally insulted by the fact that you wouldn't hold the line with me." The man in the black suit looked over at me before lowering his chin to his chest. Coral stared at me for a short while, her look of curiosity oddly diminished.
"Cadence, when did you get it in your head that your girl-crush legitimates any impositions on my free practice?" Her expression remained as still and opaque as when I first spoke the words. I banged my comms projector to be sure the video was still live.
"Coral, are you still there? Your video looks like it's frozen or something." Without changing her expression, Coral slowly lifted her right hand to her chest, extending her index finger toward her mouth. She spoke the words slowly and I watched as they strode from between her lips.
"When did you get it in your head that your girl-crush legitimates any impositions on my free practice?" The man in the black suit looked away from us both. The corners of his lips were tightened ever so slightly, his jaw was clenched, and his eyes were widening, the brows raised ever so slightly. Later in Coral's training, he'd make the same face when Coral would get some idea in her head that would usually result in the loss of credits. I looked away from them both, sidestepping the question entirely.
"So what now? Should I stay here in Caspatsuria? I can head back to Achenar and do some more sniffing around." Coral's gaze remained locked onto me. The man in the black suit found himself amidst his drifting and glanced at Coral before looking back over to me.
"Either seems fine. Make sure you don't berth any of your Federation ships in Imperial space. Whatever's going on is still way above our pay grade, Cadence. Didn't you say something about needing credits for ship upgrades?" The man in the black suit looked at Coral, whose breathing was slow, measured, steady, and precise. I've seen orbits less predictable. He looked away from both of us, again, clenching his jaw. "Coral, you said you're in deep space right?"
Without shifting her gaze she slowly nodded, her eyes tracking me the whole of the way. The man in the black suit shifted in his seat, his jaw clenching again.
"Aisling's people are going to be coming after you, Coral, so you may want to stay out there for a while." Coral nodded again, still tracking me with her eyes. "I suppose if there's anything you'd like to get done at the moment, Cadence, that doesn't involve Imperial missions or any intergalactic relations now would be a good time. The Marlinists are being granted their appeal to the superpowers and I'd prefer you two not involve yourselves any deeper than we've already woven ourselves, at the moment. Let's just let the situation cool off for the time being and get back to ordinary business." The man in the black suit looked at Coral, again, who continued breathing. He looked back at me and we locked eyes. "Don't let your loyalty to Aisling cloud your judgement, Cadence. We're all trying to run a business, here, and our business doesn't discriminate based on region and ideology, right, Cadence?" I looked at the man in the black suit before glancing at Coral, whose eyes had begun tracking the contours of my holofac. I tried to engage her with eye-to-eye contact but she was focused. I finally gave up and looked over at the man in the black suit.
"Of course. I'm not gonna be able to coax Aisling's people into not trying to run Coral down, but I can see what I can do to remind them that NAIN Inc. isn't unfriendly to the Empire, despite some indications otherwise." I looked at Coral. The man in the black suit looked at me and his eyes widened. His lips pursed and the corners arched upwards, tight and sealed shut. Coral remained focused. The man in the black suit began speaking, the words coming out more as random syllables at first.
"... It might be better if you just avoid the conversation altogether, Cadence."