Introduction
Not only would I have killed those bastards…and I realize this statement is thick with nuance and more than a little irony…
…but I would’ve put a slug through Kimball station while I was at it.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
23 February, WY603 – Helena
Current Contract: They’re Trying To Make Slaves of Us
Dirk explains his evolving sense of morality and justice to Calliope, finally informing her that he’d voted for the orbital strike. Calliope ends the conversation stating that she wasn’t given a vote. Dirk spends the rest of the evening launching the media campaign regarding the assault.
While Cara and Swan work to repair the damaged emplacements around the town, the rest of the crew attempt to defuse the situation. Attempts to get in contact with Gregor Dimov at AEX Kimball go unanswered. They decide to pay a visit to Carrie-Anne Dominguez, still under house-arrest in town. She reiterates how completely baffled she is at AEX’s behavior, as well as Dimov’s, who she describes as a talented bureaucrat and not much more. She was fully expecting to be reassigned after the town was emancipated.
At one point, Dominguez makes the leap and asks whether AEX’s passion is due to Wei and Cordova’s work. “What did they find?” she asks repeatedly. The crew demurs, helping her jump to the conclusion that they were seeking and perhaps found a valuable ore deposit.
With Dominguez’s help they call up to the manager of orbital traffic control at AEX Kimball and are told that, by all appearances, Dimov had committed suicide in his office that morning. The role of interim planetary director falls to the city manager of Curtis Landing (and Dominguez’s supervisor) Elizabeth Farley. They make contact with Farley, who is furious at the corporate personnel who assaulted the town and is actively telling everyone to stand down until they receive word from Anderson.
With some time on their hands, the crew hops on the shuttle and heads to Curtis Landing to meet with the crew of ITC Marginally Better Than Prison, but they are denied docking on approach, having been declared persona non grata at any and all AEX facilities. They return to Northwinds and attempt to call the captain of the vessel instead.
They make contact with Sal Bennett, captain of ITC Marginally Better Than Prison. He’s initially suspicious, but Aiden eventually convinces him that they’re legitimately interested in finding Piney Newton’s killer. He tells them the ship was investigated pretty thoroughly by the Bureau on Storey, led by an Agent Frank Hargraves. A detailed forensic examination did demonstrate that there had definitely been a stowaway on board consuming air, but very few other leads.
Aiden pushes their desire to come aboard and take a look for themselves, and convince the captain to allow a rendezvous by shuttle while the ship is burning out of the well on March 1st. As long as they “bring a bottle of good bourbon” to mourn the loss of the freighter crewman.