Only a fool...
28 Dec 2017Mack Winston
Webb Port, 34 PegasiGutamaya Imperial Cutter, "Alan Mathison Turing"
I watched Cal though the ship's external cameras, as he furtively peeked into the docking bay hangar then scuttled across the pad towards the ship. I'd have to talk to him about that. It was just the way to get noticed as being where you shouldn't.
Tanmark Tranquil Tea - that may settle him down - I thought, as I started the tea maker, and rifled through the draws looking for the left over packet of Panem Gold. I reflected it might settle me down after sitting in Kyndi's dense haze of the common variety for the last half hour. With the tea, it might hopefully get rid of the sour taste of the foul substance that passed as "beer" in that drinking establishment, too.
"So, what'd you find?" I asked, not turning around, as I heard Cal enter the ship's living quarters.
I heard a sigh. "On Kyndi? Not much. You met her, what do you think?"
"She gave me an exploration contract, well, exploration of sorts. Scanning shipwrecks for data, all pretty local, a nice proving run for the new ship at least. She seemed pleased with the data dump, at least I think she was - I couldn't really tell"
"Grieving relative looking for answers?"
"Nope. She came across as confident, self assured, and with a big dollop of zero-fucks-are-given attitude. Definitely didn't seem to be a grieving relative. I didn't ask what she wanted the data for"
I took the two mugs from the tea machine.
"Figured you'd want this," I said, handing him one. "Anyway, what about the general situation in Webb Port?"
Cal sighed again. "You're not gonna like this".
I wondered why. His sigh didn't seem a prelude to news of a threat.
"Oh?"
"Jebediah Gold saw you coming, I'm afraid. He's been stringing you along for the last twelve months"
"What do you mean?"
"No one here gives a damn about you. There is no threat. After that incident with the Deathwreaker last year, it was used as nothing more than a smoke screen for those waiting in the wings to grab power. Jace Hamm's little posse was effectively destroyed, it's gone. No one's looking for you here"
"Oh..." I said, a little deflated.
It was a relief of course. It was nice to know that there wasn't a band of murderous pirates after me for gibbing one of their guys, but at the same time it felt...anticlimactic.
"And the Federation?"
"Massive corruption investigation from Fed Central back home in Sol, a bunch of prosecutions and sackings, and the Movement for 34 Pegasi Party ended up being forced out as the controlling party. The 34 Pegasi group took charge and is by any measure just as corrupt as the old Federation-backed Movement was. The information's all on the ship's server, you can look at it all at your leisure"
As the news sank in, part of me felt relieved, and the rest of me furious. Taking revenge on Jeb Gold would be difficult - my 'business relationship' with him wasn't exactly EIC sanctioned so it wasn't as if I could engineer a certain loss of business. Perhaps it would be just better to wait - it was only a matter of time before the Company wanted a controlling interest in Autahenetsi, and the Company would get its way. The Company always got its way. After that, once we were in Autahenetsi, we could see about making Jeb Gold regret his very unfortunate choices.
Patience is a virtue and all that.
In the meantime...with no actual threat from the Pegasi sector...
"I think this Kyndi might turn out to be quite a useful contact in this part of the galaxy," I mused.
"How so?"
"She didn't give much away, but I still get the feeling that this is her stamping ground, and she...well...knows people. From the dense haze of onionhead, I also suspect that a box or two of Panem Gold could get us a long way. I think, or I hope, I made a decent first impression at least"
Related entries
The Momma Bird Gets The Worm (Kyndi's journal)
To Reach Out And Touch (The events leading up to Jace Hamm's unfortunate end)
Thanks to Kyndi for the exploration contract :-)