Another bit of story
Agh. Balance Balance. Maico needs to make good points, not be a receiver for Jet's own theories.
And this is becoming very bottom heavy. Any suggestions for more 'Maico Meets' up top? Cathy and CGI might be possible, but Maico has no reason to suspect Sabers use CGI tech, so no reason to look them up.
And because I doubt I'd get a chance to mention this in story,
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Quote:-----
Maico’s eyes burned. She warred against the instinct to screw them shut against the light. First one eye, then the next. Tears welled up. She blinked hard to clear them, he vision blurring for a moment.
The Stellvian doctor stepped back, glancing at some notes projected directly onto his retina by a computer headset.
“Well,” he began in that official tone that preceded all diagnoses, from the mundane to the terminal, “There’s no sign of serious traumatic brain injury. You were lucky, Miss Tange,” he concluded. “You have a concussion. You’ll need rest for a few days, and I’d like you to remain with me on the Rinna Kazamatsuri for observation.”
Maico eyed the concrete flooring beneath her feet.
“It’s alright,” the Doctor assured her, “I’ve cleared it with Captain Safety. Some private quarters have been prepared. You can be our guest. ”
“It’s not that,” said Maico. “It’s....”
The Doctor sighed, his expression darkly sardonic. “Your story’s here on Frigga, so you intend to stay behind. Is that it?””
“Yes,” Maico nodded.
“I could use my position as chief medical officer to order you aboard, but seen as you are not StellviaCorp personel, enforcing it wouldn’t be worth the effort.”
“Thanks,” she smiled, “For everything,”
“It was my duty. But it isn’t my duty to keep you from getting yourself from getting hurt again. Still, try rest for a few days, and if you notice anything serious, see a real doctor quick, alright?”
“I will.” Maico pushed herself off the bed to her feet, catching herself as a wave of dizziness washed over her. The whole asteroid was spinning, with her as the axle.
“See,” said the Doctor, tapping a light-scribe on the edge of his touch-tablet,”You’ll be getting dizzy spells for a few days, and probably feel a little headachy for a week. If symptoms persist for longer than that, call a doctor,”
“Yes, Yes,” she said, a little weakly.
The Doc’s eyes rolled back into his skull, “And they really need to get a proper doctor out here, I’m amazed their medic even recognised a concussion,”
He harrumphed, packing away his instruments into a genuine leather split-handle doctor’s bag Maico thought was absolutely wonderful. She placed a finger to her lip,
“Three of them have GJ training, “
“Yes, but anyone who’s idea of treatment is usually to just stick an injector of green stuff into the neck and hope it makes the dying stop, hardly qualifies for the term ‘medic’,” answered the Doctor with a sardonic snort. “We’re departing in three hours. The offer’s good until then. Goodbye Miss Tange,”
“Goodbye,” she said, “And thank you,” she restated.
The Doctor left with a surly harrumph, pulling the door shut behind him. Maico took a deep breath, and allowed herself to feel alone in the Friggan apartment. Big, cold, lifeless. She managed to log on to the local network with a borrowed laptop.
“Ryan. I’m safe. The Knight Sabers rescued me,”
She winced, immediately regretting telling the truth. While waiting for the response to come back, she treated herself to a genuine hot shower, and gentle soft towels. The hope was it would clear the jelly still slopping around between her ears.
It seemed to help a little.
“For real? Traceroute puts you on Frigga. MAC address is wrong so either you’re someone trying to cover their tracks, or they’ve gotten to you,”
“Ryan, stop being so paranoid. Some mercenarys were hired to attack a shuttle leaving Frigga, they just happened to pick the one I was on. The Knight Sabers rescued us,”
“Tell me you got some good footage of them in action. Pleaaaassse,”
“Sorry. They erased my headset. Or something. I can’t really remember. I still have a concussion. One of the mercenaries hit me over the head with a fire extinguisher.”
“Damn. I was worried you know. I thought they were moving against you because you were investigating them, so I called the Patrol. How can you be sure that this still isn’t a game of some sort? Set up the attack, then stage the rescue. Especially since we know that the Friggan’s themselves are the Sabers.”
Maico took far longer to mull over her response.
“I know. The situation has gotten complex. I need you to keep everything quiet. I have to play this close to my chest. So please, sit on this until I tell you otherwise
“Maico. There’re two ways to silence someone. Kill them, or put them in your debt. They couldn’t kill you, so they’re manipulating you. They only rescued you to use it as leverage. Don’t fall into their trap,”
“I think. I’ve arranged to speak with them in person. This is complicated and touchy. There’s a lot going on, and I lose everything if you go too soon. And don’t tell me that they’ll harm me, I’m certain they won’t. “
She waited a moment.
“And it might’ve been me who wiped my headset.”
“Alright. I’ll hold on to what we know. All we have is proof of Sylia Stingray anyway. Everything else went poof when your headset did, right? The rest is just informed conjecture at this point. And why would you do something like that?”
“I can’t remember for certain,”
She closed the lid and redressed herself. Feeling as refreshed as it was possible for her to be, she made her way through gaunt corridors to the control room, hopping to find Jet or one of the Sabers. She found only exocomps on the way up.
Zooming. Pausing. Staring. Following. Hiding. Creepy. Little. Robots. Hayao Miyazaki could have a field day with them.
The lift carriage was doing nauseating loops as she braced herself against the railings. Rock walls rumbled by, beating on the inside of her skull. The thought did occur that maybe she would have been better off taking up the Doctor’s offer.
The upper levels were just as empty. Dead. Tomb-like. The little bit of life that had been there was now boarding the spacecraft in the main bay. They left behind them only the faint scents of cooked meals, perfumes and sweat already beginning to get swallowed by the dry industrial air.
She knew she was on the right track when she found that flaking children’s mural. The doorway to the control room was ajar, and invitation to enter if there was any. A piercing shriek from the hinge made her wince, driving an ice-pick through her head. Maico shook it off as best she could.
“.... need to make sure that this gets to Mr. Scott. Classified Gamma-2. And thanks again for your understanding,”
Jet - armoured Jet - was handing a small data card to Miyuri.
Miyuri carefully placed it in her uniform pocket. “It was the least I could do, and. it’s been a...” she took a deep, tired breath, “...learning experience.”
“The full evaluation will be sent by tomorrow. But it should be pretty positive,”
“I still think I could’ve done better,”
“The important thing is, you did what you had to to save the Station, and everyone on it,”
Miyuri smiled wanly, “Well. Captain Safety wants to depart as soon as possible. She wont appreciate being held up and...” she turned to the doorway. Her eyebrows rose as she spotted Maico, “Oh....Maico, I thought you were coming with us?”
“I have business here on Frigga with Jet,” Maico told her, not quite sure how much she knew.
“oh...” Miyuri glanced between the pair.
“Yeah,” said Jet, “I’ll have to handle a few things up here first before we take care of that. ”
“But of course,”
“Well, goodbye Maico, Jet,” said Miyuri, before leaving through the door. It refused to latch properly, swinging open again. It’d obviously been damaged by something pulling hard on the handle, buckling the frame.
Jet switched a few systems over, switches and nobs thunking and latching over as she worked. It was oddly fascinating to see such old-style hardware in use, and made perfect sense when Jet’s hands were considered.
“When can we start?” Maico ventured.
“When I’m done here,” Jet answered, a little tersely. “The Rinna’s going to be departing soon, and I’ve got to set this to run unsupervised for a while,”
“But of course,”
“I was really planning on showing you the truth, rather than just telling. Just give me ten or fifteen minutes and I’ll be done here.” She had that same slightly distracted look in her eyes, that suggested she was paying attention to far more than was in that room.
Maico watched annunciator lights flicker in patterns only Jet could undestand. She leant back against a wall, fighting against another wave of dizziness.
“You alright?” enquired Jet.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” Maico answered. She cringed at the weakness in her own voice. She didn’t realise she was rubbing at the side of her head.
“Sure?”
“Yeah,”
“Alright.” Jet didn’t sound too convinced. The cyber kept working. “This isn’t really the best time for this. We’re going to be clearing up after the Stellvians for a while here, and in two days we’re taking a trip to Venus to hold some job interviews.”
“Job interviews?”
Jet grinned from ear to ear, “Well, Survival Shot’s an expanding business. We need pilots for our choppers, and some actual staff.” Jet ran one of those big metal hands through her hair, exhaling a deep breath, “Five of us aren’t enough to run this place anymore. Three days after that, we’re out to Atalante to do the same thing,” Jet paused as she adjusted something on the monitor in front of her. “Anyway, it’ll be a while before we’re ready to sit down and talk, then a few hours after that I’ve got my own students.”
“I can wait,” She didn’t think she could. “I might need a paper and notepad from somewhere though, my headset was destroyed,”
Jet didn’t look at her. “Anika told me you did it,”
“I think I did,” Maico answered in a shrinking voice, “But I don’t know why,”
“Anika told me it was right after he figured out you were after the Knight Sabers, and that you had information on them,” said Jet, “She also told me he offered to cut you lose if you told them what you knew,”
Maico felt her throat clench tight. Her stomach began to turn
“I didn’t!” she yelled.
“I know,” Jet answered with a startled smile. Soft, harmless and earnest. “And I never properly thanked you for that either,”
Maico felt her cheeks begin to go warm, “It’s my duty to protect my sources,”
Jet punched a few buttons. They thunked, and the comput chattered and chirped in a manner that suggested and mechanical gears going at their work beneath. Displays cycled through vector graphics and line representations of the station. Sectors lit up, a list of serial numbers
“Well, I think that means you understand why we have to keep our secret,”
From Jet’s tone, Maico felt like she was being welcomed into some strange mystery, solely because Jet believed she wasn’t about to talk about it.
“Telling a mercenary in secret, is different to telling the public.” said Maico, keeping her voice as firm as she could manage.
Jet stopped. “I don’t think so. The same information will still filter down to the same villains who will still use it in the same way. The only difference is, we might know they’re coming.”
Maico grimaced as her headache returned.
“The public have a right to know,” she paused for a second, letting it subside, “I know that sounds naive but you’re operating a mercenary group acting as judge, jury and executioner, with zero oversight of your actions, motives and intentions and I believe they have a right to know who and why and how.” She hadn’t intended to sound that forceful, but the momentum she’d built up wouldn’t be denied “Even SHIELD agents or OF-8 Troubleshooters or Section 9 report to somebody who can call them to account. Who do the Sabers report to? Who calls them to account?”
Jet gave her a fatalistic smirk “If we cross the line, all of the above. Enough people among the SMoF’s know who we are,”
“Who?” Maico pressed. “Noah Scott, Benjamin Rhodes....”
“Enough,” said Jet, putting the wall up. “More than enough,”
The comm’s panel hissed an interuption. “Frigga Control, this is Rinna Kazamatsuri. We are sealed up and ready for departure sequence,”
Jet breezed over to answer, punching a blinking red button beside a screen, “This is control. Commencing bay depressurisation,”
It took three keystrokes to begin. A pressure gauge appeared onscreen, slowly ticking down. Maico’s head began to swim, her thoughts dissolving away. Something else came to mind.
“The Rinna Kazamatsuri would’ve seen you on sensors as you left with the....” she screwed her eyes shut, what was that ship’s name again. Darkness comes the Knight, she remembered. “Dark Knight.... they would’ve had to stay behind. So, you would’ve blown your secret by rescuing us anyway. Why did you?”
Jet seemed almost offended by the question.
“Because the secret isn’t worth a life.” the cyber said. Had she told me that before, Maico wondered. It sounded familiar. “Normally we would’ve used the Dragon Wagon 2 and the choppers, but the truth is, we were already in the air chasing,”
“Uh.... why?” Recollection struck like a fire extinguisher. She felt herself wince as another throbbing wave passed over, “Was this the plan I heard talked about?”
“Yes,” nodded Jet. She re-opened the comm-line. “Rinna Kazamatsuri, Control. Bay depressurised. Opening outer gate. Docking latches and tie downs at your command.”
“Control Rinna Kazamatsuri. We are free and clear. Awaiting final clearance.”
“Standby,” Jet glanced at another panel.
“We planned to chase down the shuttle and pick you and Anika up. I knew you knew who we were as soon as you told me how you found Sylia out. Since I couldn’t convince you to keep it quiet, we planned to do the reveal on our own terms instead.”
“Oh?”
Jet held up her hand. Comm-line suspense time, “Rinna Kazamatsuri, Frigga control. Cleared for departure. Safe home,”
“Rinna Kazamatsuri departing. Thanks for the hospitality Frigga,”
The channel cut, and Jet gave a soft, satisfied smile. One big problem dealt with.
“The plan,” Jet continued, “Was to fly with you aboard to the L5’s, then dock with Genaros, Central or Stellvia and take our helmets off in public and explain everything right then and there, rather than wait for the news to get out. Some gobshites hired by the UBA bollicked it up,”
A light went on above Maico’s head. “So you are at war with them?”
“Frigga is, yeah,” Jet confirmed. “Mason didn’t appreciate Ford breaking his nose. The short form is that he’s running a protection racket. Zwilniks attack your home, you fight them off, the UBA appears to offer protection and membership of the cooperative for a fee. You pay up, apparently the attacks stop. You don’t... the attacks get worse until the mercenaries win, or you eventually pay. Long form is, a little more complicated,”
“So why not go to Great Justice?” That is why a pan-factional organisation like Great Justice exists.
“It’s complicated,” Jet scratched at the back of her head. “Most members of the UBA don’t realise it’s a racket, Mason’s been hiding his connections well, so if GJ starts going after Mason, it looks to them like Fen forces are attacking them, and they circle the wagons. Even if the truth comes out, it’ll be dismissed as propeganda, unless it comes from someone set aside from GJ itself,”
Maico joined the obvious dots, feeling just a little thrill as the connection formed. “So that’’s why the Sabers have been fighting them,”
“Not fighting. And the Sabers didn’t start because of them. But yeah,” Jet nodded. “that’s essentially it. We’ve been gathering evidence trying to link Mason and some of the higher-ups in the group conclusively. The attack on the shuttle might just have put us over the top,”
“So, you can prove that a faction leader is working with Zwilniks to extort money from settlements and mines?”
Her story sense was tingling. This got bigger, and bigger.
“Only if you can keep our identities quiet,” Jet made her counter offer with all the subtly of a core drill being used to crack a nut.
Looks like Ryan was right about her. She probably would’ve pulled the same stunt, regardless. Either go with the Saber story, or go with the UBA story.... and the possibility of many others to follow.
“Tough call,” she breathed.
“Frigga Control, Rinna Kazamatsuri. We’ve cleared outer marker. Switching to interplanetary frequencies,”
“Acknowledged, Rinna Kazamatsuri,” Jet responded.
Maico closed her eyes, warring with another wave of dizziness. It was starting to get just a little nauseating. She recalled her mother’s voice. You think the whole world revolves around you, don’t you Maico? It sure felt like it was.
Jet worked at a few other switches, setting the gates to close and readying the repressurisation sequence.
“You sure you’re feeling alright?” she asked.
“I’m OK,” Maico assured her, holding both her hands up.
“Alright,” Jet said, obviously unconvinced. “Well, if you’d like to rest, my puppet’s down in the Powerhouse. I’ll meet you down in the main landing bay, since it’s on the other side of that.”
Jet’s tone made it sound like a suggestion, but Maico had the feeling it was anything but.
“What sort of rest?” Maico cautiously asked, one eyebrow raising.
“The number two reason why I decided to change my gender identification,” the cyber smirked at her. “And, the others will be down there soon enough to relax.”
What could that be?
Maico wasn’t sure what she was more curious about.
-----
Agh. Balance Balance. Maico needs to make good points, not be a receiver for Jet's own theories.
And this is becoming very bottom heavy. Any suggestions for more 'Maico Meets' up top? Cathy and CGI might be possible, but Maico has no reason to suspect Sabers use CGI tech, so no reason to look them up.
And because I doubt I'd get a chance to mention this in story,
Quote:From: jet.jaguar.@friggarock.fen________________________________
To: plugins@lists.stingray.fen
subj: Another Friggan release.
And yet more Friggan puns.
Attached to this message are the software and design information required to add a VOOMER system to a standard Stingray Pattern hardsuit. It won’t be in the official stream, since the technique used to generate the ANN images is something of a silver-haired day and can’t really be replicated. The images themselves are binary blobs compatible with any SANITY4-compliant ANN system. Copy, upload, fire away.
VOOMER is a replacement for the standardised expert system normally found at the core of a hardsuit, and replaces this system with an ANN Core, a core imprint and the necessary control and induction software. VOOMER equipped hardsuits are capable of achieving a performance boost of up to 20% compared with the base package model over a standard course, with no further modifications.
There are four ANN images available. Hardsuit Sylia, Hardsuit Priss, Hardsuit Linna, and Hardsuit Nene, named for personality traits and styles of the original 4 Knight Sabers. For best results, choose the image that most closely resembles your own personality, or your own usage patterns. Please don’t email me asking for more, or for ones of specific people or characters, since I can’t really make them. They’re a lucky break of the wave and then some. Picking the wrong image may lead to an overall reduction in performance.
Hardware requirements are a standard Stingray hardsuit with Gen 3+ processor, OS 4.5, fitted with an ANN plugin to expansion slot 3.
Provided totally in the hopes that someone might find it useful, without any warranty of merchantability or all that. Basically, if you use it and it breaks or and you crash, you’re responsible for it. It hasn't been tested with each and every OS plugin available, so use it at your own risk.
-Jet.
-------
It never got fast enough for me
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?