BOLSTERING BASTION, Part 2
01 Sep 2021RedivivusCrowd
It took Colt's eyes a few moments to adapt to the dim lighting, dominating the centre of the room was a circular table with seven seats around it. The table itself was made of a wood that Colt didn't recognise and on the center of it was a small holoprojector unit that was currently inactive. Of the seven seats at the table, three of them were occupied.Colt hadn't known what to expect when she finally came face to face with the Fleet Marshalls. Colt had operated as a Legionnaire for four years at this point and while she had fought and killed for this organisation for some time now, this was her first time meeting the puppet masters behind SAP CORP, the men hiding behind the veneer of an outer rim mining corporation.
The Sap Core Legion.
They look so... normal. There were three men seated around the table. All of them were wearing suits typical of any mid level corporate executive of the company. Their features were somewhat obscured to Colt at this point, she guessed that all of them were in their mid forties it but was hard to be sure of many people's age when you factored in the possibility of progenitor cells.
I've probably walked past any or all of them dozens of times on this station and not noticed them for more than a moment. Colt felt a shiver at that thought.
Two of them currently had their backs to the entryway, the one who was seated on the other side of the table and facing them looked up at them, his tanned skin and close cropped black hair were the only features Colt could make out in this lighting. "Thank you for coming on such short notice Gustavo, please take a seat." His tone was professional and cordial as he returned his attention to the data slate on the table in front of him.
Colt looked to Tran for guidance who subtly tilted his head at a section of wall to their right, Colt gave a small nod and made her way there before standing feet apart, hands clasped behind her back. Time to do my best wall impersonation. Tran seated himself to the right of the two men sitting together, placing himself between Colt and the Fleet Marshalls.
One of the other Fleet Marshalls, spoke up now that Tran was seated, "I take it we can begin now?" The figure who had greeted them nodded his head but otherwise remained silent. "Excellent, we have a lot to cover." The officer who was speaking now had an energetic tone. Now that Colt was closer she could get a better look at him, he had tidy brown hair combed over into a smooth wave to his right and he was pale skinned in comparison to the other two, Probably spends all his time either on a ship or a station. His accent sounds like someone from Marralteki but there's a little hint of Imperial in there. "As I'm sure you're aware Gustavo, SAP CORP has experienced astronomical growth in the last few years, it has exceeded any of our projections."
He then proceeded to gesture to Tran with an open hand, a friendly smile on his face, "A large part of that is thanks to your efforts and contributions Gustavo, for which we are grateful." Tran adjusted his tie as he responded, giving an equally cordial response, "I'm just lucky to be part of a great team, your words humble me." The other man smiled and nodded in response, his eyes never leaving Tran's, "Yes... quite..." He then consulted his dataslate and looked up at Tran again, the smile was still present but there was a bit of a frown on his forehead now. "That being said Gustavo there are some matters which prompt a certain amount of concern among the leadership Gustavo, I was hoping you could provide some insight."
The projector at the center of the table came to life and in the the air above the table a three dimensional star map appeared, Colt could tell from the names of the systems that they were looking at depiction of systems under the influence of SAP CORP. And by extension the Sap Core Legion. Colt kept these thoughts to herself as the officer addressing Tran used an interface to manipulate the display. "Just pulling a system out of thin air, let's look at... Muracing."
The star map zoomed in on Muracing and switched to system view, Colt had been to the system a few times while accompanying Tran to tech expos, product demonstrations, etc. If it's not about Muracing in particular what is this about? "Muracing, High tech economy, the hub of our R&D into Xeno technologies and how to repurpose them for our needs." As the man was speaking his eyes, green and sharp as a knife, drifted over to Colt for a moment and she could've sworn the ghost of a smile appeared on his face for a moment as he spoke, in her mind the message was clear.
"I don't care that you're here and I don't care that you're hearing all of this."
The officer continued, zooming the display into one of the outposts in the system, "Babbage Horizons, tell me about this station Gustavo." Colt had the feeling these men weren't the type to ask questions they didn't already know the answer to. He just wants to hear Tran say it. Tran looked at the display before looking back at the officer, "It's a civilian outpost that houses basic station services and a small commodity market."
The Fleet Marshall nodded his head, "I see, could you share the shipping manifests of all the commercial traffic coming through the station?" Colt could see Tran grinding his teeth very lightly as he responded, "I'm unable to do so." The led the other man to furrow his eyebrows in a show of confusion, "Please explain Gustavo." Colt by this point had chosen a spot on the wall and was staring at it to avoid any further eye contact with anyone in the room, she was still able to see Tran withdraw a handkerchief from within his suit and dab at his forehead.
"I am not able to do so because we do not own or operate the station, thus unfortunately I do not have access..."
Tran was interrupted by the Fleet Marshall's hand slamming down on the table with enough force to shake the coffee sitting in front of both of the others officers and a resounding crack to echoe throughout the room. The man's face had an intense look as his eyes bored into Tran's. Just as quickly his friendly demeanour returned and he adopted a smile as he pointed a finger at Tran, "That is EXACTLY right Gustavo! You always have a way of ..."
"Enough, just get to the point." The man who had initially welcomed Tran into the room had now set his dataslate aside and was now giving the other officer a level look. This prompted him to clear his throat and continue, "As you wish." The star map then zoomed out of Muracing and showed the region as a whole again, several systems were now highlighted with a brighter green hue than the rest.
"These are all systems where we do not have full control of all of the stations and/or dockable ports, these are blind spots..." His eyes narrowed as he studied the map "... these are problems. That's why you've been brought here today." He then slid his dataslate across the table to Tran, as it slid Colt allowed her eyes to dart to it for a half second before they returned to staring at the wall. She was only able to make out the title at the top of the display.
Operation: Bolstering Bastion
*To be continued*