The Repo Men Cometh

I'm not known for being a gambler.  Risk taker, yes.  When the reward is sufficient to justify the risk, I'll take a chance.  It comes with the territory.  But not so much of a gambler for gambling's sake.  Sometimes though, I'll make a small bet.  Something for the fun of it, where the amusement value is far greater, win or lose, than the resource value of the bet.

Like making a bet with Cory that x0x0's hired guns would be able to recover the Cruiser, where the General was fairly sure it would actually be an Alliance unit that recovered the ship.  She wasn't willing to specify that it would be one of her units that did it, because that would be cheating.  Just that it would be the Alliance, and not a Mercenary unit, that took the cruiser back from Cerberus.

The stakes?  Our next face to face would be over a nice brunch, loser picks up the tab.

Sure, a nice brunch could cost a month's wages for a dirt farmer on the Rim.  But we weren't dirt farmers.

I'd honestly thought the unit x0x0 hired to recover the cruiser on Blue Sun's behalf would be up to the task.  My personal feelings on Cerberus Security aside, there were units out there bigger and better equipped and available for hire.  Not to mention specialists on just that sort of operation.  It just took the financial resources to do it, which was not something Blue Sun lacked.

Exactly why that operation fell through I was still sussing out.  Something about an emergency reassignment that was important enough to invoke the "something came up" clause in their contract with Blue Sun.  The reason was there, should I bother to look for it.  Regardless.  They backed out, which left the Alliance in the position of sending in their own teams to accomplish the exact same mission.

The results were inevitable either way.  Whether the hired guns did it.  Whether the Alliance did it with a small team.  Whether the Alliance used an entire assault company.  Whether the Alliance stood off and destroyed the ship with heavy weapons from another Cruiser.  The results would be the same.  Cerberus would give up the ship.  The only variable would be the number of casualties and how much was spent on the operation.

Now, personally, I would have sent an infiltration team over to jack the controls, lock out the Mercs, and then just let the Alliance come get their boat.  Whether I went myself or not was open to debate.  I'd done similar operations in the past.  In fact, I'd done more clandestine boardings than I cared to remember, but I didn't really have a stake in this.  This was strictly Alliance business.  Sort of.

I did have to hand it to the team they sent though.  I'd been prepared long in advance for this, regardless of who actually executed it.  Jacked feeds and small recon drones in place to observe the action.  The operation was surprisingly well executed, though I was surprised at how Cerberus treated the one Alliance trooper they managed to capture.

Hint: Mercenary units that openly threaten to torture, kill, or maim, captives, can find their hard earned reputations seriously tarnished.

Hint:  Mercenary units that actually carry out threats to torture, kill, or maim, captives, can find they have been blacklisted and subsequent contracts are very, very, hard to acquire.

Such was what it was.  I'd filed a recommendation before that the Alliance seriously consider refusing to tender any further contracts with Cerberus.  Now, after getting confirmation they'd abused one of the captives, I took it to the next step.

Sure, people could ignore the blacklisting.  Cerberus might even try and appeal it to the Guild.  But it was filed now through official channels.  They would almost certainly still find work, but their actions had consequences and they'd be dealing with the fallout from these actions for some time to come.

Maybe Uncle Sobi should have gone up and tried to talk them out.

Would probably have been much less expensive for all involved.

Action, reaction
The consequences should hurt
Lesson learned too late

Unexpected returns and other curiosities of reality

If I said I wasn't surprised to see Gallagher back in action on Dragon's Egg, I would be lieing.  I'd had a feed going to see what he was up to, but hadn't payed much attention it.  There was just too much and Nora hadn't flagged anything specific.  But he was back.  For better or worse.  Hopefully for the better, actually.

Gallagher and I had had our differences on Hale's Moon when he was Sheriff and I was Mayor.  Not unusual to have some friction in that sort of working relationship, but, ultimately, he'd done a decent job of it. At least the citizens liked him and were willing to be peacable under his watch, which was really all I'd been after.

Considering that we were about to lose the "protection" afforded by the hired mercenaries, Gallagher's return was actually well timed.  Whether he'd be willing to do it or not, and whether I could convince the rest of what passed for the Town Council to go for it, having him back as Sheriff might not be such a bad idea.  Whether or not I resumed the role of Mayor or not didn't matter.  In fact, it might even be better if I wasn't back in that role.

While there was something to be said for being Mayor, there were also a lot of other issues.  On Hale's Moon, I'd been defacto Governor, since the main settlement had been the only real concentration of people on the entire rock.  At least until the survivors from Destiny set up their little settlement.  But on Hale's, the folk owned their colony.  When Weyland Yutani abandoned the colony, the colonists tool position of the assets.  On Dragon's Egg, things weren't quite so cut and dried.  As time went on, we came to realize that Blue Sun wasn't just a major investor in the new colony, but had had a great deal to do with the original "alternative, long duration, terraforming" process.

Though never acknowledged as the original intent, Dragon's Egg had become largely a company world beholden to Blue Sun.  That might have panned out differently if KHI hadn't decided to relocate their facilities elsewhere, but it was what it was and there wasn't much I could do now to change it.

I didn't want to be the Mayor of a Company Town.  At least when it wasn't my company.

But that did still leave the issue of defense and the Law.  I'd be OK with someone else taking the reins as Mayor.  Things got too uncomfortable, I had my plot well away from anything important.  Far enough out to be left alone.  Barring that, I could go back into the black.  I'd be OK either way.  So someone else could get shot at instead of me, and maybe Gallagher would pick up his tin star again.

That just left defense, and we had a solution to that.  The Militia on Hale's Moon had been quite effective in its day.  Was a thorn in the side of Loyalist Alliance, and more then a match for most Reaver boats that made the mistake of landing.  We still had enough folk from the old colony around that we'd have a core to build around.  That was something I could handle myself.  Gallagher wanted to help, I'd be right happy to let him, and I didn't foresee any issue with the Town Council.

Blue Sun might object, but chances were x0x0 would be right with the idea too.  Especially seeing how she'd helped supply the Militia back on Hale's.

It'd be something to set in motion.  At least once the issue with the cruiser was settled.

Funny thing about that though, was getting a wave from my Uncle Sobi, offering to try and negotiate a peaceable settlement.  Doubted they'd listen, but doubted he'd listen if I told him it's likely be a bad idea.  Wasn't sure if he was serious though, seeing how things were last time he had words with any of them.

Constantly in flux
Situation always changing
Life as it should be

We knew it was coming

There are times I wish I couldn't so readily predict the outcome of certain chains of events.  Like the chain which started before we evacuated Hale's Moon and ended with a Mercenary unit turning on their employer and holing up on a borrowed Alliance Light Cruiser.  Or whatever they had re-designated the IAV Sun Tzu II when they handed it over to the Mercs.

I'd always been mildly amused by the choice of ship, considering the IAV Sun Tzu, the ship Brigadier General Silvermane called home, filled a similar role, though was larger, newer, and still a Ship of the Line.  Fleet was large enough that I could actually see how they somehow recycled ship names before bringing the previous barer of the name out of service, but it still struck me as amusing that two ships of such similar designation and role would wind up in the same sector.

The fact that the mercenaries didn't intend to give the ship back led, inexorably, to an effort to reclaim the ship from them by other means.  Where a Diplomat like Lionheart would negotiate for it, or a Military Officer like Silvermane would offer terms to surrender the ship in the face of overwhelming firepower, and someone like myself would use more subtle means, we were dealing with a Blue Sun sponsored contract and, thus, a Blue Sun sponsored recovery operation.

Now, that didn't rule out any of the previous options.  Blue Sun was a business, and business interests usually went for the most expedient, least expensive, solution to any given situation.  Negotiations, military action, or infiltration were all on the table.  So, for that matter, was bribery.  It might be cheaper to just bribe them off the ship than to pay for the expertise to remove them by other means. But there was also some Face involved here, which meant there were other factors at play besides what method would have the best cost / benefit ratio.

Chatter had that "alternative" method being a rival Mercenary organization.

Not that that wasn't something I'd known about for a while.  Or something the former paid guardians of Dragon's Egg wouldn't also be expecting.  Even without my Intel resources, they would have to suspect Blue Sun to come after them in force, once they got past the "Ask nice and hope they accept" stage.  In truth, I hadn't quite expected them to bomb the colony in passing.    Though I probably should have.

Fortunately, I guess, I had already left town to visit Genni at their remote farm when the bombing happened. Which meant I was far from the action when it hit.  But I was left wondering why they'd done it.  Were they trying to frighten the colonists so they would beg Blue Sun to back off and let the Mercs keep the ship?  Were they being vindictive?  Or had someone just gotten a little too tense at the launch controls?

Hard to say and, truth be known, I didn't feel the need to infiltrate the ST2 to find out why.  It would come out, eventually, or it wouldn't.  The why wouldn't really change anything.  They'd bombed civilian targets, done a fair bit of property damage, and left two people missing.

The first, one of the local miners, was of measurable concern.  I'd have to find out if had any family so the town council could respond appropriately.  The other was Lily's boy; K2.

That would have much greater consequences.  Lily herself would be frantic, and the boy's erstwhile "father" was highly placed in the Myrmidon Order.  That translated to the Mercs bringing down a whole world of hurt, the likes of which they were likely ill prepared for.  Even if Blue Sun wasn't going to ante up for a first rate Merc unit, it was pretty much guaranteed the Myrmidons would be moving against Cerberus.

I just had to wonder how many observation drones I could get into place to watch the show.

Whether planned or not
Unintended consequence
Time to pay the price

The one wherein I actually listen to someone and stay out of the middle of things

I have never been known for being "obedient."  There is a reason that "and obey" was omitted from my wedding vows both times I got hitched.  Yes, when I was in the service I would obey the orders of my superior officers, but that was a matter of military discipline and personal honor.  It didn't mean, though, that I did so without question.  I am still alive because there were times I interpreted an order, rather than obey it blindly and to the letter.

Simon knew all that, of course.  He'd seen my record.  What of it was accessible, which, for him, was most of it.  When it came to taking or giving orders, or relative ranks meant little.  Nor did our roles as Husband and Wife.  He didn't order me.  I didn't order him.  At least outside very special circumstances.  Circumstances which usually involved items not normally employed outside one's bedroom or some very exclusive clubs.  We would ask.  Strongly suggest.  Sometimes entice, or even cajole, but we didn't order.

The thing was, we hadn't needed to order.  We'd grown to trust one another long before we'd been married.  Initially as professionals, at least from my perspective, then as friends, and finally as a couple.  When Simon came to join me at the secluded little spot I'd found on the far side of Dragon's Egg from the main settlement, he'd come, in part, to suggest, entice, and cajole.

Simon had been spending a lot of time dealing with some of the side action involving Al Raquis, Blue Sun, x0x0, the Ardra AI, and some of my friends over in the Justice unit.  Why?  I could probe and find out, but had consciously chosen not to.  It all tied back to Lily and the data manipulation I'd been doing to make her feeds look legitimate.  For all that effort, it appeared I was doing a more than adequate job as whoever was actively after her was accepting the feeds as legitimate.  Somehow, this also tied back to the Ass Clowns from Cerberus reducing the Alliance's interest in Dragon's Egg, though with Blue Sun's political clout, I wasn't sure why they were necessary.  Though he did confirm the suspected method Blue Sun, through the supposedly "dead" x0x0, would be using to reacquire the IAV Sun Tzu II on the Alliance's behalf.

None of this was actually news to me.  Even if I couldn't personally parse even a tiny fraction of the information we collected, Nora, my long suffering Expert System, did an exceptionally good job of sifting out the items I was actively concerned about.  What, exactly, Simon was so concerned about I couldn't actually tell though.  There was some event that hadn't come fully clear, beyond "it is a Bad Thing^tm," that had him spooked.  To the point of practically begging me to help conduct a "drill" to get people down into the shelter so they wouldn't witness whatever Bad Thing^tm was going to be happening.

I would find out what had him spooked, of course.  It was what I did.  But I would also help get the colonists into the safety of the underground shelters.  Geni Foxtrot would help, as would a few of the other Town Elders.  Many of the original colonists remembered the days back on Hale's Moon and would still respect a request that came from their former Duly Elected Mayor and de facto Colonial Governor.

The question of "why" would be answered in good time.

Time for action nears
Consequences of what though?
Time will make things clear

Part of the job

Logistics Section, interoffice encrypted communication.

Classified: YES

Level: S-

Destination: 3-1-L Logistics.

Begin encrypted communications:

[Start Standard Header Block]

[Security Classification: SCI Theta +]

[Special Compartment ID: N/A]

[Outer Algorithm Category: K1]

[Inner Algorithm Category: LV]

[Primary Encryption Key: eb040dec329f6461fb8cbdac4b75cba1]

[Signatory Encryption Key: 2f6aa1d4c96cb9378156eaa2ffdfe97c]

[End Standard Header Block]

Fr: Colonel S. Kawanishi - Retired 

To:  General M. Thirboldt - Logistics Command, Rim Sectors

CC: General C. Silvermane - AUP Marines

CC: LiOff B. Lionheart- Department of State, Colonial Development Section

General Thirboldt,

While I have filed this report through standard channels, I have also, due to the time sensitive nature of the situation, chosen to forward this to you directly.  I believe the information and recommendations herein are directly relevant to the operation and reputation of your Regional Logistics command.  General Silvermane and Liaison Officer Lionheart can attest to the veracity and relevance of my reporting.

Shortly after the opening of Dragon's Egg to new settlement, the Department of State and Blue Sun, as the colony's sponsor, enlisted Cerberus Security to provide local security and defense to the new colony.  While many of the colonists were survivors of the Hale's Moon terraforming disaster, it was considered appropriate to engage a PMC to provide security in lieu of the colonists forming a local militia.

After some disputes regarding payment, contract obligations, and conduct, Cerberus Security reneged on their contract.  This, in of itself, would normally just entail arbitration and a footnote in their file.  However, Cerberus Security subsequently turned on the colony, going so far as to attempt a blockade of the main settlement. [[See reports: SPO-55391-A and SPO-55426-C for further detail]] 

While General Silvermane has offered to dispatch a Company strength unit from the 1st Marine Raiders to protect the colonists, Blue Sun, as the colony sponsor, with the support of DoS-CDS, will be dealing with the issue directly in their own way.  

It is my official recommendation, both as an UAP Officer and a member of the colony's local advisory board, to formally remove Cerberus Security's certification as an Authorized PMC for all future Alliance Military Assistance and Local Security contracts.

It is one thing for a PMC to dispute their contract.  It is another matter entirely for them to turn on the civilian population they were hired to protect.  Whether the organization faces criminal charges for their actions will be up to Justice.  I am more concerned with the prospect of them being in a position to so poorly represent the Alliance in the future.

Thank you for your consideration,

Colonel S. Kawanishi

[MACHash: e097e1136dc79bc1149e32a8a6bde5ef]

[EOL]