Ok... Maybe She Has Two Things
15 Aug 2021User319792
I gulped and looked over at Coral, who was staring at me with saucer plates on her face. I'd just gotten back to Lembava after some good times and we were getting back to work, going over the the current state of Sirius' control systems and the boundaries of its sphere of influence when it happened. The Pilot's Federation's galaxy map gives us a color coded-mappings that sketch out the rough outlines of the spheres of influence of the major political figures in the galaxy. I looked away from Coral to catch my breath.
"uh," I paused, thinking long and hard, "Did we just see that?"
Coral continued staring at me, with saucer plates on her face.
"Put those down. This is serious"
Coral put the plates down and looked at me with her mouth open in that big dumb smile she gets when she has a stupid idea.
"I told you there's something going on with Li Yong-Rui. Someone mentioned they like to put out interference patterns with their tech every once in a while in coded language to push their political plans out to their elements."
I looked back at Coral, wondering if she realized what it is she was saying. I squinted.
"Coral..."
"Yeeeeeeessss?"
Her voice lilted upwards and I was immediately irritated.
"Are you just saying that or is that something you know?"
She barked her answer with a fierceness I hadn't expected.
"I SAID SOMEONE MENTIONED IT!"
I blinked at her and rocked my head in a tiny circle and we both looked back at our galaxy map.
"What are you doing with saucers on your desk, Coral?"
"I was eating. Like I said, someone mentioned Sirius has tech that goes beyond what's being made commercially available, and probably even beyond what they're making available to the Pilots Federation. GALNET just published the article about them being in a position to potentially make a run at the Alliance to squeeze them out of the sole position of apolitical superpower. You're in Lembava, Cadence."
I nodded my head. The thought was disturbing, on all counts. Things are going fine out here, but for the proximity to Wolf 1241, the missions are paying relatively well, there are some lucrative trading runs in the area, and it wouldn't be a bad spot to just load up on guns and cash, maybe even invest in a fleet carrier, but seeing it left me unnerved.
"What do you think, Coral?"
Coral looked at me and I could hear the saucers rattle onto the floor as she cleared her desk, pulling out a notepad and calculator. She read through some notes and punched in some numbers before looking directly at me.
"Did you know 58,008 looks like the word "BOOBS" when you turn a calculator upside down?"
I stared at her and I could feel my fingers wrapping around her throat.
"... about Sirius, Coral."
She looked upward, annoyed, before continuing,
"How much good are you doing in Lembava, right now, Cadence? The factions over there are staunchly loyal to the Federation, which is probably an issue for President Yong-Rui, but that's not really any of our concern. In terms of action, there are places like Gertrud and Betel that are a lot closer to any real activity that might give us some information on what President Yong-Rui's real intentions are, including..." she squirmed in her seat and looked over her shoulder, "galactic domination, or whatever. Like I said, you're in the heart of his corporate empire... not exactly the best place to be if you're not a member of the Sirius inner sanctum's "Favored Pilots Club" or something. He's a bonafide genius, Cadence, and he's got the guns to enforce what he sees fit. I know people like that, Cadence. Remember?"
How could I forget? Her genius is a constant source of entertainment
"Have you at least gotten any information beyond what we already talked to dad about?"
I looked away from the galaxy map toward her. I squinted.
"Well... I did come across a place in Seleru Bao..."
Coral squinted, wincing slightly, and I knew I had her. I remembered the man in the black suit bring up Sirius to her suspicious looks during training.
"Refined Biological Analysis. I passed through it while running some piloting exercises and noticed there were children looking at me through the windows. Have you heard anything about it?"
She had a far-off look in her eyes and was looking away from her holo sensor. Her breathing was slow and measured. We were silent for a long time.
"It's where they sent my dad after I blew some kid's hands up."
My eyes attached themselves to her face.
"I was called into the prior's office after having been promoted to a new set of training requirements like they usually do to the kids that would cull the dumb ones and apparently the kid's biological parents were some rich nobodies acquainted with someone in one of the consultant firms President Yong-Rui deals with."
I gulped for the second time. The man in the black suit mentioned something about her being an orphan when she and I first met. I couldn't tell if she'd just told me that they killed her dad or turned him into a science project for rich people.
"They thanked me for my good work and then handed me a recording of my dad smiling at me and telling me how proud he was of me. They had a strict policy of silence about what went on in the school and best I could tell they just told my dad I'd been promoted. Anyway, the recording went on about something like my dad receiving word that he'd be transferred from his position to one over at RBA."
She looked at me, with a look of plaintive mindlessness. I squinted at her. I was more than a little confused. She winced at the memory of being rewarded for blowing some kid's hands up and her dad getting a new job.