Introduction
No seriously, I was as surprised as you are. Not a shot fired. Perfect score. No one died. Big payday.
I’ve often wished we could go back to those days. Before.-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
10 December, WY602 - 1 January WY603 – Roberts, Whistler
Declined Jobs: Wrongly Exiled - TIME SENSITIVE
Pending Jobs: Regain Control of Our Colony, They’re Trying To Make Slaves of Us
After a bit of a break in Roberts, the crew examines their available options. They decide to reject the prison break job from Samuel Zane, and feel the missive concerning Aiden’s former lab assistant requires significantly more research. This leaves the two mercenary jobs from Helena - one to retake the town of Anderson Northwinds for Anderson Exploration, and the other to help the citizens of the town emancipate themselves from the corporation.
The crew decides to take on passengers and cargo and travel to Whistler to get access to more intel in real-time. Once docked at Eriksson Station a week later, their research turns up the following:
- Anderson Northwinds has filed a formal request for emancipation with the Council. This is a fairly typical procedure for older colonies that received heavy corporate sponsorship.
- These requests have never, in the history of the colonies, been denied, only sent back for negotiation for more favorable terms. AEX has consistently and repeatedly denied the request without comment.
- Northwinds us sitting on top of a very lucrative mine of high-density Tritium that could increase the performance of Korolev drives substantially. This mine has led to the town’s prosperity and there’s very little reason for AEX to deny a reasonable deal to share in the town’s profits in perpetuity. (The alternative is a protracted and very expensive strike or worse, forced resettlement.)
- AEX has had two very skilled geologist/explorers from the Scout Service on the payroll for the last two years: Izzy Cordova and Wei Zhang (who Aiden knows from the Solace incident). It’s very strange for two talents like that to be posted in a town that old for so long, especially Cordova, who is moderately famous in exploration circles. AEX is obviously looking for something in the vicinity of Northwinds and has yet to find it.
- The crew visits the colonial offices responsible for the emancipation request and procure the history. Northwinds has been making repeated requests for nearly a year, each one offering up more and more of a stake in the town’s profits (the last offer was 1% in perpetuity), AEX continues to decline without comment. A local judge has put a mediation hold on further requests, which would significantly slow down any further legal proceedings. The crew assumes the judge’s actions are due to AEX’s lobbying.
- After some research, Dirk believes that both contracts are perfectly legal, assuming IBI doesn’t commit any proscribed war crimes. Siding with Northwinds could cause some legal troubles were they to ultimately lose their bid for emancipation, but the crew should be safe behind regulations that protect mercenaries for hire.
The crew decides they will head to Helena and assess the situation before committing to any side of the conflict. However, in case they choose to side with Northwinds, Din and Daniel explore opportunities to arm the colonists. Daniel secures enough small arms for five hundred people, and Din successfully makes contact with Reinhardt, who is happy to offer the crew less-than-legally-obtained arms. They obtain AP ammunition, heavy combat rifles, and rifle grenades for the ship’s locker, and for the colony they acquire:
- Grenades and other miscellaneous anti-personnel explosives
- A dozen TAC launchers that can be installed on the colony’s ground and aerial vehicles
- Eight emplacements of anti-infantry/anti-air weapons
Since they’re local, Jack invites the crew to a fancy dinner down the elevator in Skyward.
- When asked about the Helena deal, Jack admits to being very curious about why AEX is forcing the issue. Were the colonists to lose this conflict, their lives would essentially be over: they would be either be indentured slaves or forcibly relocated. He agreed with the crew that AEX is looking for something they feel is worth far more than the perpetual profits of the colony.
- Jack relayed that Halsey is alive and well, but understandably worried about what the Sons of the Reach plans with their stolen fleet. She’s also concerned about further corruption within the Council and WDF. He notes that construction on WDF Damocles has been accelerated to bring the dreadnought into service.
- Cara asks Jack directly about San Orestes. “Why a destroyer? What’s your ultimate plan for it?” Jack takes several moments to reply, and finally admits he’s not totally sure. It started out as just realizing Mick’s dream. Lately though, he feels that “there’s a darkness coming” and he’s saddened that he won’t be able to outlive the peace he created at Grove. In the end though, he talks about how proud he is of the crew, and firmly believes that they will “do the right thing, and make lots of money in the process”.
The evening ends with a toast: “Here’s to doing the right thing, and making money.”
