I'm The One That Had To Eat The Rebuy
30 Jul 2021User319792
"It cost me nine million credits!!"The man in the black suit squinted at me and laughed.
"What are you doing firing on a passenger ship that's docked on a rescue megaship?"
It was my turn to squint at him.
"It was just sitting there for forever. I had a hundred Marlinists sitting in passenger cabins after rescuing them from Stillman Hub, too, grumbling about 'wanting to get to safety'. Was I just supposed to wait for a Hudson-pledged ship? Everybody knows Hudson is doing everything in his power to keep the Marlinists from settling down near anyone. You can't tell me he wouldn't be above a blockade to prevent the rescue of Marlinists"
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Coral squinting, pursing her lips and turning her head at an angle. I looked over at her and she turned her head to the left, slightly. The man in the black suit lowered his head, wiping the corner of his eye. He shook it from left to right slowly before raising it again to meet my eyes.
"So what happened to the Marlinists, Cadence?"
I looked up and to the right. Then, I looked to the left. Then, I looked to the right, again.
"The one's aboard Cortez when the megaship blew it up or the other few hundreds I saved before they flipped out on me for no reason?"
I could see Coral lower her head and wipe her nose with the tip of her finger. She knocked on the holo sensor on her end and the man in the black suit looked over.
"Both attacks occurred just outside Sirius space, within range of a single jump in anything but the shrimpiest of FSD's. Cadence sent me a comm confirming touchdown as soon as she got over to Lembava and I woke up this morning with the GALNET report waiting for me."
"Are you still at the Proteus site?"
I'd agreed to meet her all the way out there. She seemed a little spooked when she commed me so I tried to ease her nerves by keeping my SRV lights off. I even managed to shut off my HUD. She thinks I'm paranoid.
"Well... no. Nearby. Cadence and I exchanged the information you sent over to me. What's the deal with the NMLA attacks, dad?"
The man in the black suit had been looking down at his desk, raising his eyes when Coral asked the question on both of our minds.
"You do seem to have this weird knack for coming up with stuff for us to do right before the Marlinists attack."
The man in the black suit looked at me and squinted.
"You thought Denton and Torval were behind the last one, Cadence. And you were the one that hatched up your crazy FSD conspiracy that sent Cadence over to Sirius to 'investigate the connection', Coral. I'm just a humble businessman pursuing my interests."
I could see Coral rolling her eyes out of the corner of mine, which themselves rolled with great energy.
"So what now?"
Coral looked annoyed. She sent me over to Sirius to look into the possibility of building relationships in Lembava, with the hopes that it might lead to some answers to some nagging questions she'd had about the code she found in Galileo. Something about Sirius inventing the technology and Li Yong-Rui's CEO position being something of a pet-interest of hers.
"You should go back to Lembava and do what we talked about."
The man in the black suit looked at both of us, one after another.
"Cadence, don't shoot people when they're docked. You just had to be rescued from there yourself after hanging around in Stillman for too long after launching."
"I can afford a replacement"
I lifted my head and looked away. That he'd even...
"Don't shoot people when they're docked."
"She's gonna do it again"
I looked at Coral, who was looking at the man in the black suit like he was saying the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. I squinted before looking back at the man in the black suit.
"I am probably gonna do it again at some point."
"Don't."
"It was just a flech-"
"Don't"
Coral looked away and stared laughing. The man in the black suit looked at her and shook his head.
"Coral, can you get me some information on the attacks?"
"Indeed I can, pops."
I looked at Coral and she looked back at me. Her face was expressionless but her eyes were focused. Her eyebrows lowered at the outer edges. She pursed her lips and swallowed.
"Cadence, please continue with the rescues before continuing as planned."
I gave the man in the black suit a nod and he reached toward the comms to terminate the connection before pausing.
"Don't shoot people while they're docked."