EVE Fiction

Hi all!

The story is now completed. If you like, you can read/download it on scribd:



Fly safe and have fun!

Ryek

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Prelude


15 years ago ...

The sunfire which had slowed the explorer ship in the last years, down from fifty percent of lights speed, faded out. The ship activated the warp drive and set course to the eighth planet of the unknown solar system, to a gas giant.
The environment for humans was activated. Light went on. The life support systems ran up. Gravity generators started. The ship did a complete check. All green. It activated the jump-clone facility and sent the 'ready' signal to CONCORD headquarters. In some hours men and women would arrive to take this system for the human race. One more step to conquer this galaxy.
This was the standard plan. The explorer ships provided the bridge for the material transporters. They brought the parts of the jump gates, to connect the system to the transport infrastructure of New Eden.
But here it was not so. The jump gate was built, but it remained closed. Selected scientists came, to search for an explanation for the things they found here. The tension between the factions and CONCORD rose, and the system was blocked for colonization. Due to political reasons the system fell into oblivion, to avoid escalation. Only automated exploration took place in the surrounding systems. The expansion in this sector came to a halt, without the world knowing of that.
There was a balance of power, and an agreement, that everything which was found in this system should remain there.
But this is history now ...

***

When Nama entered the room, she felt the hate like an icen dagger in her breast. She straightened up and moved on.
'I will show no weakness,' she thought by herself.
'It had been my decision to save their lives, although against their will.'
Well, more or less. She had been sent as a negotiator to 'solve the problem'. Their had been an 'incident', as there are ever 'incidents' between the Amarr and the Minmatar people, especially in solar systems for which it is not clear to whom they belong. Some ships had been lost, some people had died, and finally the sides had agreed to make a last effort, before it became really bloody.

'Nama, you had been accused having betrayed the Amarrian Empire.'

At first it ran as planned. Her meeting with the Minmatar negotiator became a disaster for them. After changing some sentences she had made him feel that guilty for breaking peace, that he broke into tears and got down to his knees. He had no chance. He would have offered her the whole sector, if she had asked for it.

'You had been accused having worked for our former slaves.'

After the Minmatar delegation had interrupted the negotiations, the CONCORD representative had talked to her.
'I'm really fascinated,' he had said. 'Are you a member of the royal family?'

Nama grinned in mind. No, she wasn't. But it was said, that she was, in direct line, a descendant of one of the prophets. Some of the power seemed to have been passed on to her, over seven thousand years. She was proud for that. But now, her pride seemed to have been the reason for her fall.

'You had been accused handing over Amarrian Property to the Minmatar infidels.'

She winced.
Yes, she had. The CONCORD agent had told her what her own people 'forgot' to tell her. The system was the last one which kept the balance in this sector. On both sides capital fleets were ready for war, and both sides were sure that they would win.

The chairman and his assessors rose up.
'Formally, we have to judge that your action was in favor for both parties.'

The CONCORD agent had managed that they talked to the Amarrian delegation leader under six eyes. As before, it was not hard to change his mind. And as the arguments were fact based, he got the approval to sign a balanced treaty.

'Formally, we have to judge that you did not give preference to one side.'

A new person had assumed the Minmatar representation.

'Formally, we have to state that you are not guilty.'

The Minmatar told Nama that his predecessor had been sentenced to death for betrayal. He had demanded to talk directly to the Amarrian leader, and he demanded that she had to leave the place immediately, unless she didn't want to be the reason for war.

'I have killed him with my words, he had no chance,' she thought, as the chairman continued his speech.

'Personally, I want to express my contempt for what you have done. It has been ungodly and a shame for everyone who feels himself being an Amarr. Have you really thought it was up to you to decide when to accept peace and when to make war?'
His voice rose.
'Have you? Really? Thought that your youth and your power gives you the right to rule the Amarrian Empire?'

'Have I?' she thought, and shuddered. The answer was 'yes', but she kept her mouth shut. They would have killed her instantly. And what came now was like killing.

'Nama. I have the great satisfaction to tell you the following: You are expelled from the Imperial Academy, forever. And be assured, that no other Amarrian school with a minimum of self-respect will take into consideration to matriculate you.'

She put her hand to her mouth.

'Furthermore, it is a personnel honour for me to inform you that your family had applied for removing your surname from your data. We have gladly accepted. From their view you are now deceased. And you are bound to avoid any contact, for lifetime. We are done with you, Nama.'

Deep inside her a dying child started crying helplessly. She turned around and left the life she knew. A 'Mr. Smith' of CONCORD was waiting for her.

'THIS IS MURDER!'
The young Gallantean women had shot up out of the chair, and for a moment it seemed as if she would jump over the desk, which separated her from the clerk of the med-center. Her face was red, and the tattoos she wore on the left side of her face looked like rifts. She clenched the desk, very tight, and the muscles stood out clearly on her arms. The clerk winced back, his hand near the alarm button. She calmed down with ease, and went with her right hand over her short brown hair, before she wiped the tears from her eyes.
The clerk, mid-aged man with a worn suit and slight belly approach, looked dry at her. He was aware of sentencing the patient to death with his decision. A Vitoc addict. And a cyberpunk-daughter, who was not willing to face the truth! What did she think? That he was godlike?.
Tedeya tried for a last time.
'You are supporting a political crime. The Amarr want to finish a running lawsuit by making the applicant die. By withdrawal of the drug which she had obtained without her consent!'
'I don't see anything of this in my documents. Don't take it personally, but I can do nothing here. If the interim court order for the stasis of your mother is not prolonged, we have to switch off.'
'Is this your final word?'
'Yes. I'm sorry.'
Tedeya stood up and looked her opposite straight in the eyes.
'Me too.'
She nodded towards the clerk. He stopped the recording, stood up and escorted her to the door. Which he closed silently behind her.
A view to the monitor showed him the whole worthlessness of the patient:
Yolane Gerad. No active partner contracts. An Artist. Mobile installations for spaceships. He could not imagine that there was a need for this things, but she had lived well from it. And not only she. Two kids. The younger son from a Minmatar. He shuddered. How could an educated Gallentean woman fall so deep? But obviously it went deeper, otherwise she would not lie here, in a stasis container. Nevertheless, the son took a reasonable education. Space Pilot, pod candidate. He was independent of his mother. And the daughter, Tedeya? Child of a Gallentean liaison, father left the family when the daughter was six, and had been killed as criminal in a clone transfer facility. Tedeya is conspicuous. Crimes against the implant laws. Profession unknown. Residence unknown. Security rating close to zero, from the wrong side. Not the most valuable member of the society.
Yolane had been admitted to the hospital two weeks ago. Vitoc withdrawal, final stage. Usually they had waited until it was over, but here it was different. Her last partner, a Gallentean space/pod pilot, had intervened and achieved keeping her in stasis. He shook his head. What for? The only people who could procure Vitoc legally were the Amarrians. Not the best friends of the Gerads, s it seemed. In that case stasis is not more than an expensive method to delay the inevitable, at the costs of the taxpayers.
In one point Tedeya had surprised him. She had not broken down, had not begged for mercy. Despite of the emotionality of the situation she had argued clearly and fact based, even though in vain.
He sighed deeply and called the administration system for the termination form.

Tedeya anchored the stasis container in the cargo bay. Then she ran as fast as she could go up to the cockpit.
'Our Status?'
'Two minutes to escape velocity.'
'Damn, this is close!'
'What have you expected? That the planetary flight control lets us go, after all. Let me sum up: Mayhem -'
'Yeah, right!'
'Burglary, criminal damage, violation of all applicable safety regulations, theft of government property -'
Two interceptors approached the ship. Romar launched two ECM drones.
'Resistance against state authority. Have I forgotten anything? Murder?'
'No. No murder. By now.'
There was no humor in Tedeyas voice.
One of the interceptors had managed to destroy the attacking drone and now was jamming the warp drive of the fugitives. Romar altered the course of the ship and brought it close to the follower. Then he released the ECM shockwave generator. After the lock had been broken, he overloaded the afterburner, and the pursuers fell back. He aligned the ship towards an asteroid field and stopped the afterburner, before it grilled the passengers. Then he activated the warp drive.

'So! Here we are!'
They had come out at a point in the middle of nowhere in the solar system, a 'safe spot'. Romar had activated the cloaking device and maneuvered away from the warp end point. As long as no material came closer than two kilometers, they were safe.

Physics ran queer to their wishes. Inside the cloaking field no heat could be dissipated., and the ship had too much of it, due to the overload of the engines. The temperature inside became uncomfortable, and was increasing.
'I have bad news,' Romar said.
'In some minutes it will become hot enough that the machines will do an emergency shutdown. I can bridge it, but then we will explode.'
Tedeya sighed.
'Not our day today, it seems. Without cloaking they will have tracked down our position in minutes. Have you prepared the ship, if Derek comes too late?'
Romar laughed joyless.
'There isn't much to prepare. The only thing that will happen is that the explosion might become somewhat bigger. Well, after all, one thing we did together as family. I wished Yolane was awake. I believe she would have a good idea.'
'Yep, she always had followed her way.'
Tedeya grinned as she remembered a former project of her mother.
'If the authorities knew that she has the construction plans of most ships in her head, she would be have been sentenced to a penal colony long ago. Do you remember the Minmatar customer, who wanted to have his battleship, a Maelstrom, tattooed? One to one to his facial tattoos? When he saw the bill, he had much room for maneuvering, and nearly was shot by CONCORD for aggressive acts.'
Romar laughed.
'Well, yeah, that was cool. And the best was that he paid a bonus when he found out that his ships systems had increased performance when he ran the installation in standby. The Minmatar authorities were not amused, but they couldn't prove her for espionage. Nobody knows, by today, how she managed to interface a human brain implant directly to the ship.
The heat warning put some more red symbols to the technical overview.
'Yes. Something like that we need now. Something which transfers the heat somewhere. Ted, what shall we do now?'
The communicator activated.
'Derek here. Where are you?'
'Tedeya talking. We are on a barbeque with us as menu. Come fast and you will get us well done.'
'What?'
'Our ship is crap. We rely on your timing. Align to the coordinates and wait for the >move< order.'
'Can't we do it the normal way?'
'No. We will be scanned down a minute after we have decloaked.'
Tedeya activated the remote control for the Comet, and she and Romar made their way to the cargo bay. There Romar opened the stasis container.
Yolanes body lost the icy stiffness, as the suspended biological processes continued. But there wasnt a big difference. She stayed unconscious and breathed shallow. Her face had a strong greenish teint.
'Final state of Vitoc intoxication.' Romar objectively determined. He hit his fist against the container.
'That dammed Amarrians!'
Tedeya held him back.
'We have no time for that now. In two hours she will be dead. I hope that Derek had not lied about the Vitoc. For him.'
They moved her out of the container and carried her to a marked place some meters away. Tedeya decloaked the ship and spoke into the communicator.
'Move. Now!'
'On my way.'
She confirmed the escape program. The cargo hold scanners captured the three humans, and the hangar-bots build a provisional hull around them, the 'can'. This hull would not last for long in space, and gave no shelter against cosmic radiation. The ship dropped the can, and then accelerated with maximum overload engines. A comet-like firetail became small at high speed, and it was not clear if it was due to the propulsion or if the ship was already burning..
'Spam in space,' Tedeya commented cynically, as she followed the ship via the external camera.
Dereks Helios approached the can like a ghost emerging from fog. The tractor beam dragged the can to the cargo hold airlock. The container nestled to the ships hull, so that the three could use the lock. The can disappeared in the propulsion jet of the ship, and the ship became invisible. Seconds later several interceptors appeared and attacked the Navy Comet, which immediately exploded in a spectacular fireball.
'Don't believe they think to have killed you,' Derek's voice was to be heard.
'They will have scanned the ship before they fired.'
'Yes Derek, encourage us, that's what we need now,' was Tedeyas comment.

After a while Tedeya sat at the other side of the room and activated her pad.
'Call me when she awakes. I have to check something.'
'Something I better shouldn't know of?'
'Oh, shut up!" Tedeya fizzed up.
'If you want to know, the clerk of the med center was so friendly to provide Yolanes files to me. And I'm going through them now.'
'I thought they are encrypted?'
'Yes, they are.'
She showed the ID card to Romar.
'Fortunately they save money wherever they can. No fingerprints necessary. Only the card and the code.'
'You have the code?'
'No, but a life image of his account data. And as he had not logged out on my second visit, I have what I need. I only have to put the card into the reader.'
'That’s a criminal act!'
'Yes. Better you don't disturb me now.'
Romar stayed silent, and Tedeya went through the data.
'I do not understand that!'
Romar looked over her shoulder.
'The clerk had the termination form on the screen. He only had to insert the data and press the return button to end Yolanes stasis. But the work-flow shows that this had not been a valid option!'
'Can you explain in simple words, Ted?'
She took a deep breath.
'Normally, this is a simple administrative act. The resources are canceled, the patient dies. That's it.'
Romar gnashed his teeth.
'So far I understand.'
'But here somebody took care that this act would have had not happened! And the clerk didn't know it. Otherwise he had not opened the form. Somebody wanted that Yolane stayed alive. But who? And why?'
'Maybe I can answer the 'why' question,' a faint voice said behind them.
Yolane coughed and vainly tried to sit up.
They turned around and came to the bed. Tedeya helped Yolane, and Romar brought something to drink.
'Thank you. Now I'm feeling better. Nice to see you again before its over.'
Romar looked horrified to Yolane.
'Why over?'
'Because the Vitoc of the infusion will not last forever. And I hoped not to drag you into this.'
Tedeya twinkled towards Yolane.
'It seems that Derek had dragged us in. He has been very convincing. The kidnapping was his idea. I don't know why, but he seems to hang to you.'
Yolane leaned back, but smiled.
'Derek is being blackmailed. Because of me. Without me he would not be in the focus, as I had taken the information with me. But now it has become complicated. Very complicated.'
She looked at her children.
'I have to talk with Derek. Alone.'
Tedeya started to argue, but Yolane waved her hand weakly.
'I talk to Derek as soon as I feel better. Then we talk. And I hope that we find a way to come out alive.'
'By now we are a step ahead of CONCORD,' Romar remarked.
'They do not trouble me. Sorry Romar, but it is not that easy. Here somebody is drawing the strings we do not know of, and who knows nearly all about us. And they do not care for lives.'
Tedeya grabbed Romar softly at his shoulder.
'Come. I need somebody to support my investigations.'
She turned towards Yolane.
'But one last question I have, for now.'
'Yes?'
'Your file shows that it would not have not been possible to terminate you by stopping the stasis.'
'That makes me very happy!'
'Oh, sarcasm? Then explain this: The requirement not to terminate you came from the Imperial Academy, from a scientist, professor named Sebard Veen. Since when do the Amarrians love you?'
Yolane sagged into the pillow.
'I don't understand that! The Amarrians want to have me dead since I started the law suit!'
'Correct. What makes you now that worthy for them?'
Yolane thought about.
'I believe that are not 'the Amarrians'. It is this single person. And maybe he is a member of the puppeteers who are blackmailing us.'
'Makes sense,' Tedeya agreed.
'Kids, let me talk to Derek first!'
Tedeya looked at her, concerned.
'Can you manage it today?'
'If you don't stop me, yes. Give me some hours rest, then it will work.'
'Okok, we are gone.'
She gave Yolane a peck, and left the room, together with Romar.
In the corridor Romar stopped.
'What's up?'
'That I ask you. I nearly couldn't say anything, as mother woke up. And still I feel like crying. But you seem not to be touched by this.'
Tedeya halted a moment.
'Do you think? As I had not reacted as emotional as you expected?'
'Yes.'
She gave him a cold look.
'If you haven't realized by now, we are fighting for our lives. And there are things that disturb then. Pain, pity. Feelings that hinder you to focus on the important.'
'And you can switch them off like that?'
He snapped his fingers.
'Not me. But my implants. They are blocking the according biological functions. From that point of view I'm now in a zombie-mode, close to a pod pilot.
Romar winced back.
'But it does not delete memory. Don't ask me how I will feel when I disengage the imps. And now let us look for a place where we can go through the stuff I ripped off the med-center. Maybe we find more interesting names, or places.'
Romar nodded.
'Yes. Sorry that I asked. But I would like to kill somebody now.'
Tedeya smiled.
'Let's see what we can arrange.'

The com-signal roused Derek from his thoughts.
'Yes?'
'Derek, we have an agreement. Do you intend to break it?'
'Of course!'
'What -'
'If I could. Can we get down to business?'
'Yes. Is she alive?'
'Just, according to your friendly care. She is very weak, but will recover, as it looks.'
'When do we get the info where the artifact is?'
Derek hesitated.
'I talk to her as soon as she feels better.'
'That's not enough!'
'That's your problem!' Derek snapped.
'You overestimate your options.'
The voice at the other end sounded tediously controlled.
'No. I don't think so. I'm sure we can't run away from you. And I'm sure that the information about the artifact will get lost if we die. At least for ten thousand years. Do you have that much time?'
Silence. Then:
'What do you want?'
'Some time. Two weeks. More Vitoc. A guaranty.'
'What guaranty?'
'That we stay alive.'
'How shall this work?'
'Think about it. I will do the same.'
'More time and more Vitoc is not an option. Your stock lasts one week. That's your time. More is not needed, before Yolane will 'move'.'
'Ok, I feared that you say this. Where are we to go?'
'We will pick you up.'
'Forget it!'
'Derek, the kidnapping has awoken CONCORD. Do you really believe you can fool them?'
'No. But I'm sure you can.'
'You play a dangerous game.'
'Hey, what can I loose, besides my life? Start thinking about mounting a clone transfer unit into my ship.'
'Why that?'
'If Yolane tells me where the artifact is, we will pick it up. And it will not leave the ship until Yolane has been transferred into her new body.'
'Derek, your ship is too small for that equipment.'
'Maybe. Then we have to have a bigger structure. A space station? Think about a procedure that I can accept.'
'We have to improvise. And its expensive.'
'Youre welcome. I'm sure you can manage it. I ask again: Where to?'
Derek waited. After some minutes the answer came.
'If you got hold of the artifact, come to Pamah. You have one week, not a day longer. We will prepare the safe transfer of Yolane. It will be done concurrently. We will inform you how it works, in due time. And Derek, our patience is exhausted. If three are more complications, the only thing we then will be interested in your slow death.'
'Agreed.'
'Other demands? Money?'
Derek grinned dull.
'No. I will be happy if we don't meet again afterwards. How can I contact you?'
'Take care that we can contact you any time.'
Well, it was worth a try.
'Aye.'

'Do you have a clue what goes on here?'
Tedeya looked up from the display.
'No. Until now I thought we kidnap our mother and flee to an unfrequented area, until all had calmed down. But this seems not to be the case.'
She showed to the display.
'Look. Here are the data I got. As I said: It had not been possible to terminate mother that way.'
'Why?'
'Because that workflow had been blocked! At disposition of an Amarr!'
Romar looked clueless to Tedeya.
'I don't understand.'
'Yolane told us that she is being blackmailed. The blackmailers made sure that she would not die before, well, before what?'
'Before we picked her up? Possibly? Anyhow, they had manipulated the administration.'
Tedeyas fist hit the desk with a force that Romar thought for a moment that the metal plate would give way.
'Damned! You are right! Derek had organized the whole thing to save Yolane, but it seems that it was not his own idea. But why?'
'Could you find out who gave the instruction to the med center?'
'Yes, there is a name. Sebard Veen, Imperial Academy. Amarr. Specialist for bio-cybernetics and cloning. A known and highly decorated person. I will find out more, when I have the time. He is a genius in his area. But why is he interested in Yolane?'
'Yolane is resistant against all Vitoc antidotes.'
'Sure. But he simply could have examined Yolane. She would have been grateful. Why carrying her away that way?'
The com reported.
'Tedeya, Romar, this is Derek. Please come to Yolane, we have to talk how we will proceed.'
They stood up, and Tedeya pocketed her pad.
'Now it gets interesting, brother.'

Ryek sat in the Station Bar in the Lower Decks and looked to the arriving and departing spaceships. Without realizing, he absorbed his third 'Microwarpdrive Extra' with big sips, and ordered a fourth one by show of hands. The barkeeper lift his eyebrows, surprised. To his experience most of his guests were not 'cap stable' after the second, and 'podded' after the third. Obviously this special guest had special implants or had disconnected his mind from his body. He executed the order and winced inwardly, as Ryek emptied half of the glass at one sip.
'Had probs?' he asked with professional participation.
A blaster, which had not been there a blink ago, laid on the counter and pointed in the direction of the barkeeper.
'I kill you all,' Ryek whispered. 'Any.'
His voice was flat and clear, which was unexpected for a drunken person.
''Right now? Or can we talk about beforehand?'
The keeper was proud of his people knowledge, it had saved his life several times. If Ryek really had intended to 'kill all' it had been happened already, taken into account the speed he drew his weapon. Therefore one could, with the right portion of insolence, dare to be curious.
Ryek relaxed a bit and sipped at his glass.
'Not bad, that stuff. One more.'
The keeper vomited internally, but had no choice than to execute the order. Maybe his guest would die before he started shooting. He put the new drink on the desk and looked at Ryek challenging.
'O-k. I'm working in the security department of a corp. Well, security doesn't meet it exactly. Normally. We are cultivating individuall -' he swallowed ' lility. Therefore we are not there if there is war there.'
He grinned.
'Money for nothing and the chicks for free.'
The keeper grinned back. This sounded very relaxed. Why then was his guest going to die by alcohol?
'Nevertheless, I have to earn my ISKies. Fortunately we have a lot of customers. You know, transports, mining, bounty hunting for the agencies, the whole pod-pilot-program. Plus some research and production.'
The keeper nodded, and Ryek emptied his glass and grabbed the other one.
'Yesterday I came back from a longer tour. And wanted to get my money. I log into my terminal, start the program and select the 'close mission' menu. That means: I wanted to do that. But it didn't work'
He sipped.
'Have you stopped putting alcohol in my drinks? However, as I said: It didn't work. Therefore I got a pop up window which informed me that from now on all the balancing will be administered by a new, efficient, and automated process. Please log into the new system. Name, department, employee number, blahblahblah. I needed half an hour to get the data out of other systems, and I'm the lucky one. Colleagues with lesser rights will need days for that, I'm sure.'
He grabbed the glass, but he just missed it. Surprised he looked towards his hand, then he looked the keeper directly into his eyes. He blinked. And then the blaster had disappeared.
'Still works.'
Ryek nodded satisfied and grabbed the glass.
'Where was I? Ah, log-in. Yes, I managed it, finally.'
'And then you put in the data and got your money?'
Ryek gnashed his teeth.
'Nearrrrly. Almosssstly. After inserting all the data, manually of course, I pressed the 'send' button. After five minutes I got the info, that my request will be processed.'
He laid his right hand on the desk and tightened his fingers to make a fist. In the ships metal of the desk the scratches were to be seen clearly, and fine metal shavings laid beside his fist.
Some documents were embedded in this info:
- retrospective requirement for the ammo used
- damage report for the loss of two drones
- request for confirmation for the authorities, that I had killed the pirates rightfully and with consent
- maintenance request for my ship, account of my bounty
And last, but not least: TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT!'
His head hit the desk. The glass made a little jump.
The barkeeper looked pitiful at Ryek, and thought 'Why the hell I'm not dead by now?'
'The whole staff triplicated, then to be manually transferred into the IT system. We apologize that our shared service center will need two weeks to handle this, due to workload.'
He smiled queer.
'No panic. I will pay cash.'
The barkeeper became pale.
'No! Please, not! We have switched to electronic charging, if I take real money I need one hour to book it!'
He took the now empty glass and started cleaning it, erratically.
'The drinks are free. Exceptionally. I'm in caritative mood today.'
In mind he said goodbye to a day's salary. Missing payments luckily are deducted automatically, without paperwork.
Ryek looked surprised.
'Really? Then thanks a lot. As you say: shared suffering is half suffering.'
His face brightened up.
'Good to know that I'm not the only looser in this universe. I tell you what I'm doing now. I take one of our freighters, and I will fill it up with our most expensive stuff. And then I head to 0.0. In every local channel I will tell my sad story, and ask for not to shoot down me, as then my corp would sell this automated process to the corp which shot me, at a bargain price. A doomsday device is nothing against that! And I will come back when I have been in every 0.0 system. And then I will do a travel expense report. HAH!'
He stood up, grinned and made his way to the exit. His walk showed no sign that he normally hadn't been able to go five steps.
The barkeeper looked after him and asked by himself where he could get a blaster ..

'Why me? And how?'
'Because you can. And because nobody besides me knows that you can. And because I have you in my control. You know the half-life period of illegal clones.'
Ryek clenched his fists.
'But I'm not a one-man army.'
'Your target is a small group. No soldiers. A pod-pilot and his beloved. And her two children. I don't expect that you have to kill anybody, but the target justifies any means necessary. When the target moves, I will know it. You will intercept them. And find out where the artifact is. And bring it to me.'
'One against four? Are you sure that there will be no resistance?'
'I'm sure they will be surprised by your speed.'
'And if not?'
'Then you have a problem.'
'Very well.'
The vehicle stopped at the DED office.
'I have good news. You get somebody as support.'
'I work alone.'
'Get to know each other. And decide then. But I'm sure you will be surprised.'
Mr. Smith smiled mysteriously.
'I'm curious with what you think to surprise my after all. By the way: Why don't you do that by yourself? You say you are CONCORD.'
'I am monitored. Like I monitored you. I assume.'
'You are as paranoid as me,' Ryek said.
'Of course. Otherwise I would work elsewhere.'

There was a knock at the door.
'Come in.'
The door opened, and the Nama entered. She made an angry impression that was supported by the blaster, which she directed towards Mr. Smith.
'You should have told me!'
'What?'
'You should have told me that he is more than just upgraded.'
'And why?'
'Yes, why didn't you tell her?' asked Ryek who had entered behind Nama.
'Tell it to her. I know it.'
Mr. Smith looked at Nama coldly.
'Because one of the fastest methods to learn is from unpleasant experiences. If you survive. It seems to me you've learned, Nama.'
'Yes. Ouch.'
She handed Ryek the blaster. Her anger disappeared, but the tension remained. Ryek gave a brief summary.
'It was just. And if she had mastered her feelings, then you would have a problem now, Mr. Smith. On the other side: She will be able to do what is necessary. And she will not repeat the same mistake'
'Has anyone hurt?'
'Only my pride,' said Nama.
'And?'
'And nothing, Mr. Smith. Ryek is unharmed. Can we now get down to business?'
Mr. Smith hesitated a moment.
'All right. You both know that CONCORD is looking for a stolen artifact. It is an object which looks like a red crystal, about thumbnail size. The structure is not of natural origin, and previous studies provided no indication of what and how this object was made. '
He showed both an image on the screen.
'Looks pretty unspectacular,' said Ryek.
'A red glass bead, you could also wear as a ring and why is your display looking so strange at me?'
He clutched at his head.
'Have you installed any filth here?'
'I also wanted to just ask,' seconded Nama.
She shook her head as if to dislodge a memory. Mr. Smith turned the picture off.
'I forgot. When you make a picture or a scan of this object, you get a faint echo of what it is. What you can neither measure nor grip, with our means. I can not say how it happens. It is similar to the brain scan for the capsule pilots. If one wears the thing for a while, it saves a kind of image of the person. But not like the scanner. I can not even say whether the shots that we have made are still connected to the crystal. '
'Mr. Smith, whatever you take on, either you take a little less of it or give us somewhat.'
Ryek was irritated. Mr. Smith also.
'We're not in religious education here,' he snapped.
'It may well be that in God's universe, it He exists, everything is interconnected. But I am sure that the tools of God have no substance. Therefore CONCORD also assumed that this thing was not built by God. But a possible manufacturing process would come close to what we would describe as 'created'. With technology alone this can not be constructed. At least with none that we know. '
Nama was curious.
'That means, for example, if I take the thing and think of a friend, and then give it to him, it would be for him as if I were in his neighborhood?'
'Yes.'
'And theoretically I could put into this everything what I am, and with a suitable mechanism unload it somewhere else? And there were no complications? Like a clone transfer?'
'A good guess.'
'Nama, what did you study you say?' asked Ryek.
'Sociology, diplomacy and cloning technology.'
'Oh great. When I come along since then that means that it is anybody could be transferred to a clone? Even if he did not have the training, or would be handicapped in other ways?'
'Yes,' admitted Mr. Smith.
'But duplicates of real living are not possible?' persisted Ryek.
'The awareness is permanently stored. It is, however, as in our technique, soulless. If you believe in an immortal soul. The creation of live duplicates is not possible.'
Nama said dreamily: 'What know how you could get from there!'
'Unfortunately not,' said Mr. Smith.
'The storaged data can not be mixed and are bound to the person. How many individuals you could save in this device: Unknown. There might only read access be possible, and for people with very special abilities maybe more.'
Mr. Smith looked at Nama. Nama recoiled.
'What?'
'What is accessible with our tools, this is the first layer. The person who had or had used it last. The layers underneath are not tangible. Maybe they are achievable for you, Nama. It's your job to find out. '
Nama saw Mr. Smith in horror.
'Nama, the artifact is from a system in which a planet has been obliterated by a weapon, as far as we know it, with only one shot. As if someone had killed the life on that planet with a giant celestial fire. Does anyone of you know the old Bible from the earth? Sodom and Gomorrah? '
'Heard of it. Should have been be quite unfunny to have been the losers.'
'Exactly. We assume that the artifact and the weapon are in a relationship. Because this thing seems to be somehow related with everything . We have evidence that the weapon still exists. And we have no idea what the people who built it have thought about it. At least the last question we hope to answer with the artifact. '
Ryek cleared his throat.
'Altruism in your honor. But I can imagine that there are also strong economic interests on this issue in the Empire . And people who will do anything to get this matter.'
'You say it. As I mentioned, we know with some certainty who has the artifact. They looks like amateurs. They do not seem to know what they have there, but it has already found a buyer. Who we now could not identify clearly. '
'Quite a lot of 'maybes' for my taste. Can it be that Nama and me are sent on a suicide mission?'
'Yes. Desperate situations call for desperate measures.'
'And of course no support from CONCORD.'
'No support by CONCORD, except through me. And I'm working alone, on behalf of CONCORD. CONCORD will look away if you have to use force, that means being late if you're fast enough. Hi-Sec areas included.'
'Interesting. How do you get this going?'
'With my influence here. With ISK elsewhere. With a lot of ISK. And a good lie. That's all I'll say about it.'

A great read mate.

The advantage of the captains quarter is they have a balcony, which extends into the ship's clearance zone. This allows easy monitoring of work, and a transport platform is ready to bring passengers to the selected ship. Nama Ryek stood next to the balcony. And held her breath.
'Wow! Yes. I like that. Your company must have good relations.'
'It works, yes.'
Below them was one of the glories of Amarrian shipbuilding. The arrow-shaped form was unmistakable, and it was the last thing many saw in a space fight against Amarr. A flat, black and silver arrow, three hundred and fifty meters long, equipped with a lot of things that could make life difficult for an opponent. It was not the direct firepower, rather than the ability to weaken an opponent so far that he could not make any serious resistance. The Curse is the top product in the field of Amarrian armed reconnaissance ships, and the Amarr are very reluctant to distribute these products to others, which is reflected in the prohibitive price for such ships and their modules. And you had to be a very well-trained pilot to really start something with this ship.
'With that part you could hustle half of my former female student colleagues. Once allowed to fly this monster! Alone with the captain on the bridge!'
'And while we're on the subject ...'
'Hey, that was a joke!'
'I'm not joking on that. Can you fly that thing?'
'Phew! I thought -'
'Could you please answer my question.'
Ryek grinned shamelessly.
'Really! You Caldari always think of one thing!'
'I'm waiting.'
'I can move the ship. A couple of things I have learned already at CONCORD. However, I can hardly control any arms or modules as effectively as you can.'
'Good enough. Hopefully. We will have to program something. You coming?'
He activated the transport platform. Nama hesitated.
'What?'
'I'm not sure how far I can trust you, and what your intentions towards me are.'
'You want to know what I want, or do to know what I'm doing?'
'Both?'
Ryek sighed deeply.
'As we are partners just as Mr. Smith said, I'll do whatever is necessary to fulfill this mission. Everything. And I really think you do not know yet, what will be necessary to win. Start thinking about that. '
'You have not answered my question completely.'
'If I had a daughter, I wished she would be like you. And I would have killed her rather than taking her on this mission. What I will do: when we're done with work today, I'll lock you in a cabin. And then go to shower very cold. '
She laughed.
'Sounds reasonable to. So let's go.'
She linked arms with Ryek.
'If I had just had shut up,' he muttered.

***

'We have the information. To Pamah they want to go?'
'Pamah? But there's nothing!'
'I was amazed. Looks like a trap. Our opponents seem to be very sure that they will get all there.'
'We must stop them!'
'This is going to happen.'
'We need them alive. If possible.'
'I do what I can, but I can not do magic!'
'We will stop them in Pashanai. At the jumpgate to Pamah.'
'Yes. That should work. What do the Amarr say?'
'It will not improve relations. But at the moment they accept it. Definitely not more than one jump gate.'
'Not very cooperative, from my perspective. Perhaps there is more behind. Prepare the official arrest.'
'What about your trap?'
'Has been settled. I'm making my way to Pashanai. And there I will chair the interrogation.'