Turning to the Dark Side
10 Aug 2020maehara_uk
The darkened cockpit of a Python, with only the orange glow of the holodisplays lighting the gloom. A few thousand kilometres away, a signal source - today's target, using the callsign HysteriaDefLeppard, was exchanging data with the Feds on the activities of the local anarchists. Obviously enough, they didn't like this, and had issued a kill order on Hysteria's head.As a high-ranking officer in the Federal Navy reserve, maehara would usually be dropping in on the side of the Feds. Today, though, she was working for said anarchists, the Society. Kind of.
maehara had a strange relationship with anarchists in general. She knew from experience that systems where anarchists held sway were not pleasant places to live for the normal people, who couldn't pay for protection or afford to get out of the way. A lot of people were attracted to the nebulous promise of 'freedom' that a general lack of law could give, but in practice it always turned into a bloodbath. Take away the societal constraints that the law puts on people, and enough people will take advantage of it to make life hell for the rest. But the Society had something the Company wanted, so for now they had to play the role of supportive ally, until the relevant assets had changed hands.
She also couldn't deny that the missions that an anarchist faction gave out touched her darker side. Consequences were for other people to deal with, and sometimes it was fun to just watch the world - or a tiny portion of it - burn. So here she was, ready to ruin Hysteria's day. She'd looked up his callsign the night before: Def Leppard was apparently a late-20th-century rock band from Earth, Hysteria one of their most popular collections of songs. maehara had lined one of them up, as a little surprise for her target. She hoped he'd appreciate the effort, however briefly.
She turned her attention back to the radio.
"I didn't give you any of this. As far as they're concerned, I'm already on the other side of the sector..."
"Don't worry, we'll look after you.... Okay, transmission complete. We've got it."
That was her cue. She nudged the throttle open, to close the remaining distance to the signal source, and dropped in. As she did, hardpoints deployed - and some very loud music dragged from the past swamped the local comms band.
Oh, here it comes, here comes the night
Here it comes, hell in the night
Lock target. Open fire. Watch dispassionately as the Fed targets turned from friendly green to fiery red, trying to honour their promise to look after their source.
We're fightin' for the gods of war but what the hell we fightin' for?
We're fightin' with the gods of war but I'm a rebel
Harsh music, accompanying balletic flight as the Python spun around its target. Wrapping Hysteria's ship in coils of thruster trails, ready to tighten and snuff it out. Words matching the thoughts of her target, she knew - trying to put things right and end his fighting by passing on what he knew to the Feds. Good choice in the larger picture, bad choice for him.
And I ain't gonna fight no more. No way.
Pop. Hysteria's ship blew apart. The song delved into a mid-tune guitar solo, and as her target returned to the stardust from which he came, there was the brief ::fwip:: of a jump to supercruise, leaving only the angry & frustrated voices of the Feds in the local comms band.
While retuning to the Society's base of operations, maehara reviewed the mission while the song continued to play. The ideal outcome, as best she could tell - she'd waited long enough before dropping in to ensure that her Fed compatriots had enough information to limit the damage the Society could do to others; and she'd done her job. Everyone would be happy... right?
There ain't gonna be heroes
There ain't gonna be anything