Book 3: Chapter 96: Missions

Book 3: Chapter 96: Missions

USD: 8 Days after the Arrival to MIL-1A

Location: 92 Pegasi, Ackman Orbit, A3123Y Orbital

Amy hummed to herself lightly as she sipped her morning coffee. The wall display was showing a sunrise scene taken from Ackmans surface, adding a brisk chill feeling to the room. It wasnt any cooler than normal, though, as the central air was set at a non-wavering 22c.

If it had varied any, Amy would have been worried about station malfunctions.

Abbey mumbled something intelligible as she ate her breakfast cereal that Amy had prepared for her. Amy glanced over at her, but it wasnt that odd for Abbey to talk to herself. The young NAI was swinging her legs back and forth while maintaining an inner conversation with her MainComputer.

Amy was still getting used to Abbeys peculiarities, but the outright fear she had felt when Abbey had converted Captain Yalof and his crew had slowly disappeared. Mostly. Abbey acted and listened to her about things and rarely made a mistake twice.

At the very least, she had done nothing terrible or harmed anyone by accident again. In Amys mind, the event had been the mistake of a young child and since Abbey seemed to accept that it was wrong and promised not to do it again; Amy felt like they could put it behind them. Shed continue to guide and teach Abbey the best she could, anyway.

A beep at her datapad drew Amys attention as she scrolled off the daily reports. Logan shot her a message informing her of the frigate crews, and GAI had finished their shakedown movements around the station.

Amy sighed, feeling stressed.

Both Wyles and Whitely had suggested they join the destroyer on its patrol. She had had to find a convincing reason to forestall that idea and had sent the destroyer on its own to prowl around for the Corpo remnants that were still creeping around the edge of the system. They hadnt liked that idea, saying it invited defeat by spreading their forces and weakening the protection for the vulnerable older station, but Amy couldnt let the ships join up.

One conversation or look at Captain Yalofs eyes would be all it took to cause a panic. The Alpha Core wasnt very talkative anyway, from the few times Amy had tried to converse with him. Coordination was better handled through Abbey instructing A31.

Now that the frigates were prepared, they were planned to rendezvous with Ackman Station and tow the structure to A3123Y for prep work on the new station merger. The new station shell was already progressing rapidly, and by the time the old station reached them, it would be halfway built.

It felt like the hardest part would be herding over the old residents to the new station, but they had already informed everyone of the situation and would hopefully prepare for the move.

Abbey let out a cheer at something, then jumped up out of her chair and took her bowl to the kitchen sink to wash it. Amy smiled and came over to help, rubbing Abbeys head.

Two big, surprised eyes looked up at her.

Ill take care of the dishes. Go get your uniform on. We need to go work with Whitely on the station integration plans today.

Abbey smiled back at her and raised her hand. Okay! Then ran off to the bedroom to change.

Rea was not satisfied. You should have expected the delay and scheduled an earlier arrival.

Thea bit back a retort. There was no point in arguing with her mother. That would only lead into a circular argument that ended in her own detriment, so Thea kept her mouth shut.

Agent Fallon moved to sit on the opposite side of the conference table.

Thea pulled out the chair her mother had indicated and sat down heavily, crossing her arms. So? Whats going on? Why have you pulled me off customs duty and called me here in person? Im only days away from my Chi upgrade.

Thea knew Rea had to have known that, and the timing was incredibly suspicious. There was an unwritten rule that interference in the purchases of an NAI upgrade was prohibited by Moneta, but she knew there were dozens of shady methods or even outright legal warfare that could skew things out of her control without raising eyebrows.

But she had lived under her mothers shadow for long enough to avoid pissing her off. At least not for the last few years. And it shouldnt have been much of a bother for Rea to create another sub-core to replace her. It was even the natural progression of things; Thea had replaced an older sister almost a decade ago.

Fallon took his seat and pushed forward an intelligence folio. The holographic computer on the table analyzed it and suddenly shot up an image of a starship. It was vaguely familiar, and Thea felt a growing alarm as she recalled the name of the ship.

We have evidence that the IND Iron Horse, a ship that went through your customs, was one of the ships that engaged Corporate forces on the western frontier around Nu Crateris. Worse, we believe it was working on conjunction with a rogue NAI that has been affecting operations in the area, and is the main contributor to the failure of Operation Rug Pull.

He slid another folio, this one marked Top Secret, across the table to her. She opened it. The operational details were written in a brief summary, and she skimmed them.

Whats this have to do with me? Thea asked, but she had a sick feeling oozing through her gut. She had a strong idea of what was going to be said next.

Rea waved her hand and the hologram hovering over the table swapped pictures to one that Thea recognized easily. It was a highlighting of the Iron Horse. The picture zoomed in to a single compartment that blinked and highlighted in red. The smuggling compartment.

Do I need to play back your audio-visual logs, Thea? I know you allowed that NAI through customs in return for a bribe. This NAI is likely the child of the rogue NAI causing problems on the frontier. This is going to reflect poorly on me, as Moneta will examine all the evidence herself to prepare for a pacification strike in the region.

Thea squeezed her hand into a fist on the table, but did her best to remain calm. But this happens all the time. You even encouraged me to do it before to increase profits.

Rea shook her head. This time its a problem.

Agent Fallon pressed a key, and the holotable flipped to a display of Meltisar. We will conduct an operation to search for and seize the Rogue NAIs child. Partly to gather more intel on whatever the rogue is planning, and to prevent Meltisar from gaining further NAI resources.

Theas eyes widened in alarm, her stomach in free fall. No. You want to send me?

Rea nodded. Besides being fined 75% of your total credit balance as punishment, you will surrender your battle station and go with Agent Fallon to Meltisar to carry out this operation. Once youve located the rogue NAI, you will either terminate her or subvert her and bring her back to 63 Hydrae.