I've Never Seen A More Vibrant Red
22 Sep 2021User319792
The log contains brief references to events that have taken place in RP channels and an article written by Alicia Mellor for the Prismatic Imperium's The Daily Chat dated September 21, 3307
I'd been waiting in Medupe for a holofac request from the man in the black suit and Coral. When it finally came in, Coral was staring toward something above the holo sensor, mumbling curse words. The man in the black suit was eyeballing something to the left of his holo-sensors and he instructed me to meet them at Coral's slot in the hangar bay. I wasn't sure of what to make of it, but headed toward the numbers.
On my way there, I saw the man in the black suit standing nose to nose with another guy in a flight suit. He waved me off after seeing me out of the corner of his eyes and he took a step back. The pilot shoved a finger into his chest, all bile and brimstone. I got to Keystone and Coral didn't lift an eye as I entered the captain's quarters. She had what looked like a control module in her hands and she looked at me when I called out to her. Her mouth was shut tight and her eyes looked focused. I felt like she was chastising me for announcing my presence and I looked away, holding in a laugh. She looked back at her screen without saying a word and I peered around to see what she was looking at.
There were wires coming from the back of what I can only imagine a holofac screen might look like if it was made of plastics. The wires ran toward what looked like a plastic box. On the screen were rudimentary holographic models of women killing each other. I looked back at Coral and the corner of her upper-lip was curled. Her eyes were focused on the action on the screen and I called out to her, again to her look of irritation.
"WHAT!?"
My head jerked back and my lip curled. I raised my left eyebrow and crossed my arms as she redirected her attention back to her screen. I stood there for what seemed like a minute, before rolling my eyes and turning away.
"I figured you'd still be in Evangelis. Aren't The Empress' people still after you?"
She responded without looking away from the screen. Her tone was calmer but marked with occasional grunts of emphasis when the action on the screen got interesting.
"Probably," I looked down and scrunched up my chin, "Aisling's people are always after me for one reason or another. You do realize just being with Dad makes us aliens to everyone else, right?"
I tilted my head to the side and pursed my lips. She was right, but I didn't particularly like that she was talking about The Empress so nonchalantly. I didn't want to bring it up with the man in the black suit on his way over and risk the whole of this meeting being him telling us to stop doing things, considering I haven't seen Coral since our meeting in Trapezium. She looked over at me and raised her eyebrows, widening her eyes before looking back to the screen. I mumbled an agreement as the man in the black suit walked in, laughing to himself.
"What was that about, out there?"
He looked at me, still smiling, and Coral looked over at the both of us.
"Were you involved with all that racket out there? They're usually loud here in Cubeo with all the propaganda channels blaring throughout the stations, but it's been super loud out there for the past couple of days."
The man in the black suit laughed and waved off Coral's question. Her eyes went straight back to the screen and he turned his attention to me.
"Just some pilot stuff. No big deal. I guess he was upset about my flying so he tailed me from Chelomey Orbital and gave me 'a talking to'. He threatened to turn me over to the authorities for reckless flying, so I walked with him to the Apex desk and gave the attendant my payment authorization before leaving him at the desk, still fuming. Happens all the time."
Coral laughed, her eyes still locked on the screen, and the man in the black suit looked over at her.
"What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you were heading toward Sirius space."
Without looking away from her screen, she let out a grunt before turning to the both of us.
"You told me to meet you here, Dad, you liar. What's going on with Chelomey?"
I looked over at the man in the black suit and his smile turned into a grimace, his teeth grinding out a mouse-like creak. It'd been a few days since we'd last spoke and I'd wondered about how things were going to pan out after the suit in Chelomey got the need-to-know. We'd been in and out of Chelomey for months since, and with us being completely indistinguishable from one another- which is still ridiculous to me- there have got to be thousands of pilots and station support staff running around without knowing who either of us are with any accuracy.
The man in the black suit looked lost in his thoughts, his jaw still clenched, and looked over at me with fire in his eyes. I looked away, my chest pumping down a laugh.
"He seems to be fine with the arrangement."
Coral looked away, the corners of her mouth curling upward. The room was silent for a while, and I thought to break it with as banal a question as I could muster.
"So, can I leave now?"
Coral coughed down a laugh and the man in the black suit lolled his eyes upward, before turning toward Coral to ask about her trip over.
"It was fine. No problems with Aisling's people on the way over and in. I haven't made any plans as of yet, but I'm considering refitting Keystone for deep-space exploration. There's really not much to report, dad."
The man in the black suit turned toward me, his eyes heavy-lidded and his mouth curled. He snarled out the words and I turned away, holding down a laugh, not bothering to meet his eyes as I answered.
"Not much to report on my end. My credits took a hit, but beyond that I'm fine. The trading has been rough and my trade ticker hasn't been as reliable as it has in the past. There are some combat pilots trying to get into my flight suit, but that's nothing new, and there's nothing anyone can really do about combat pilots other than avoid them or shoot them down. So, it's nothing I'm gonna concern myself with."
Coral and the man in the black suit looked at one another, locking eyes for more than a little while.
"Something you two want to speak to me about?"
They broke their gazes and turned to me, shaking their heads.
"Did either of you happen to find your way over to this whole Salvation situation? Word is he's been offering a Guardian weapon in exchange for supplies."
I looked over at Coral and she kept her mouth shut, shaking her head.
"I'd heard it was some variation of the Imperial Hammer. You think he might be associated with The Emperor, in some way?"
Dad raised his eyebrow.
"I doubt it. The Empire is invested in Aegis as is everyone else. It seems a lot more likely that he's either gotten his hands on a Hammer and reverse-engineered it to work with Guardian technology or he's an engineer himself and modified one on his own railgun blueprints."
"That would make a lot of sense, considering he's repeatedly requested engineering materials."
I looked at Coral, wondering if she'd considered the possibility that an engineer with the ability to push his message into the Pilot's Federation communications systems might just as easily be capable of slipping a self-destruct sequence into any one pilot's ships.
"Yes, I've thought of that, Cadence."
We met eyes for a moment and I felt like she could read my thoughts. It was the oddest sensation. It felt like we were the same person.