Introduction
Charity was safe, and the crew stood to make an incredible profit on the job from Consolidated. But there were some heavy decisions to make. The refineries. The San Martin. The prisoners.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
26 April - 8 June, WY603 – Roberts, Whistler
Dirk’s consciousness plunges back into the view of spacetime. He holds incredibly still, and manages to examine a number of phenomena around the Reach:
- Cartwright and Toussaint, the two identical counter-rotating planets in Whistler, and Trilby, the barely-surveyed planet around a primary of the same name, all project very peculiar gravity wells unlike anything else.
- There appears to be a “wall” around the entirety of the Solace system.
- Dirk practices “moving” his point of view around the Reach, and detects whorls in spacetime at the locations of the Helena and Demeter gates.
- Pulling his consciousness back, he can perceive the individual minds on the ship, including Calliope’s very different one.
Hoping to not do any harm to the ship, Dirk manages to come back to himself and reports to Aiden to be rendered unconscious for the remainder of the dive. During the trip, Aiden wipes out any evidence that the trip to Canto was anything but an impossibly lucky misdive.
The dive concludes in Roberts with no further incident. The crew reports in to Garrett Barnes, who is overjoyed with the results of the job. Calliope processes the massive amount of correspondence and news that’s occurred in the last months into what’s relevant for the crew:
Calliope's Headlines
- You have a message from Mr. Detweiler: Admiral Halsey has seemingly disappeared after being removed from her post. Jack has gone searching for her. If you hear from him please pass along this data packet.
- Anderson Exploration is vigorously appealing the Council’s decision to allow Northwinds’ incorporation. Sources close to the appeal do not expect them to be successful. The newly-formed Northwinds Mineral Cooperative has leveraged the public drama to raise capital from various investors, including Serendipity Systems.
- Media has caught on to the mass exodus of large corporate interests from Foxglove. The local economy is already starting to suffer. Resource shortages are expected to become worse. Public statements from the corporations typically revolve around investing in “less volatile” regions. Zijin is continuing to operate in Foxglove and the Council as a whole has had no comment.
- Trinity Station recently had to execute an orbital-correction burn, the first in over seventy-five years. The station director stated the burn was required to compensate for a number of unexpected gravitic anomalies in their orbit around Yang. Trinity engineers and a team from University of Whistler are investigating.
- After nearly two years of conflict, the provisional government on Grove has collapsed. The local government, headed by former Governor Nicole Wahpetonwan, has taken over the capital at Laurel. In response, the Council has ordered the WDF to blockade the world. When asked if the Council intends to negotiate with the people of Grove, a representative for the Defense Committee responded, “We are all citizens of Whistler. Governor Wahpetonwan’s coup is illegal. We will prosecute it as such.”
- A fringe outlet is reporting claims that the corporate boards of at least four Council companies haven’t changed hands in nearly four hundred years. The reports cite a whistleblower claiming to have knowledge of the cryogenic program involved.
- Prime Wheeler of the Republic of Jericho has made a public statement concerning the continued unrest. Referring to the imminent launch of WDF Damocles: “There are few reasons to build such a weapon. We encourage our bothers and sisters on the Council to reconsider their stubborn doctrine of control before the very survival of humanity is put at risk.”
The crew docks at Roberts Anchorage for a week to unload the rescued spacers, the prisoners, and Charity. They send word to the Bureau that they encountered one of the Navy’s stolen Murphy-class destroyers and will need to be deposed when they arrive in Whistler. Aiden develops a drug that successfully suppresses the areas of Dirk’s brain that seem to be driving his supernatural abilities, allowing him to follow the crew on dives much more safely. They take on passengers and cargo and dive for Whistler for heavy maintenance at the Phoenix Drive Yards at Eriksson Station.
The crew arrives in Whistler and docks for three weeks of maintenance and refit. Dirk files salvage paperwork for the two captured refineries. They meet Agents Gibson and Lee at the local Bureau offices and give them a complete rundown of the Consolidated job. Agent Lee expresses the appreciation of the Bureau and the Navy for recapturing the lost destroyer. He says the refineries will be impounded until the investigation is complete, but the salvage rights seem clear and IBI are now the proud owners of the two massive machines of production.
A number of things happen during the refit:
- There’s no sign of Jack, they assume he’s out of the system.
- Dirk receives a message from Polly. She reinforces how bad things are getting in Foxglove.
- Harvey arranges for long-term care and observation of Tomoe near the IBI offices. Julian stays with her.
- The WDF First Fleet gathers for the maiden voyage of WDF Damocles. The fleet departs to much fanfare and controversy. There are no public statements about their destination.
- Aiden collects his body of research so far in his Harlan Theory of N-Dimensional Biology.
- Aiden contacts Bhavesh Sinai’s wife. She reports that his contract is for three years and they’ve heard nothing from him in many months. His pay from BioGen continues to be deposited.
As the refit completes, a man in a suit shows up at the airlock carrying a briefcase. He introduces himself as Patrick Sims and presents credentials as a diplomatic attache of the Demeter Summit and says he has a message for the crew that must be delivered privately.
The crew gathers in the conference room, and Sims unlocks the case and lets himself out. Opening the case reveals that half the case is sealed, but the other half contains a screen and a simple “play” button. When pressed, the screen flashes “Please Wait…” for several long minutes.
Eventually, Prime Wheeler’s face appears on the screen. He says “Hello”, then pauses. Everyone was expecting a recording, but finally they realize he’s live.
“I’m sorry about the peculiar nature of this message,” he says, “But we need to talk about Solace.”
