Even though I was in a hurry to get to Tasha I took a few
minutes to enjoy the feel of my new clone. I stood in the shower soaking in
the hot water trying to feel each drop as it slid down my body. I was lucky to
have survived the rocket blast in the hanger. It had been a long time
since I was hurt that bad. Normally I do my fighting in a pod and I’m
dead before I even know I’m hurt. As the water pounded my back, a
wave of anxiety washed over me as I thought about dying on that station and
leaving Tasha to Geklov.
After I was finished showering I wanted nothing more than to
run straight to the hanger, grab a fast warping ship, and take the quickest
route to Aikantoh. But there were a
couple of things I needed to do first. Geklov wasn’t going to smile and
say, “Thanks for saving my ass. You and Tasha can leave now. Oh and here
are a few million ISK to help Tasha get back on her feet .” I went to my room and grabbed a few things I
might need later then went to my office.
My office was in the same general disarray as it was when I
left. There weren't many of us left now days, but we had a saying, “Once a
Hellcat, always a Hellcat”. I had what I called an open door policy.
Anyone that ever held the title of Hellcat could come and go as needed. I was always willing to use what resources I
had left when one of the girls was in need. The only thing that had changed in
my office since I left was a note stuck to my communications monitor. Written was a barely legible note from Vicky
explaining she had used my secure communications system, but not to worry
because the deal was pretty legal.
Vicky was one of many who had come through the corporation
only to move on to grander schemes. I
really liked her, which was a rare thing anymore. She was a sharp pilot
and always seemed to be at the right place at the right time. That of course
had nothing to do with skill. She was the luckiest person I ever met.
Some of my instructors in pilot training use to say it is
always better to be lucky than good. I wasn't so sure about that. I
figured my luck would run out right when I needed it the most, but I worry like
that. Vicky was a more relaxed easy going person. Me, I work hard at what I do
and Vicky makes a career of pushing her luck and winning every time.
The first order of business was to get some money
together. I was a little low on cash as I invested most of my ISK in the
alliance. What was left was invested in a little cooperation located in high
security space. High Security space or High Sec is where a lot of large scale
alliances make the lion’s share of their money. It’s safer there because it’s
where the “universal police” known as CONCORD provide the most protection.
Each of the four races went together and created the CONCORD
organization. It is surprising they cooperated on the massive scale required to
establish such an extensive police organization, since they hate each other so
much. In the interest in making money,
and let’s face it all scum bag politicians want to make money, they agreed on a
multiracial organization to police the large expanses of High Sec.
If you take the time to get to know the right people, such
as those who are greedy and a little looser in their moral foundation then
there is the potential to make a lot of money in High Sec. Usually that included screwing over any
number of corporations in any number of ways. Unfortunately for Tasha, a good
chunk of my money was tied up in one of these little black operations.
I needed leverage with Geklov. Like most shit bag business men, that leverage
would probably come down to money. I
didn't have time to call in my resources that were invested in High Sec, so I
started calling everyone I knew that could potentially loan me some ISK.
I’m sure you’re thinking it's unlikely that a pirate would
trust another pirate with their money. You
would be wrong. In general we are lying,
cheating, killing, bastards. But we do form pretty close relationships under
the right circumstances. There are several of my pirate friends that I would be
more than willing to lose a ship for, and even a couple I would die for.
Most of my contacts are not that close, but we all like to
make money. If there is a chance for
profit there are plenty of people that will loan you the ISK. I didn't have a
good way to sell the idea that there was profit to be made by helping Tasha,
but I could offer the money back with interest. For my closer associates that
would be enough.
I contacted my closest friends first. Of the ones I could
get a hold of, I managed to accumulate about five hundred million ISK. That
with my own recourse left me slightly over one billion. After my previous
meeting with Geklov I doubted it would be enough. I knew he was going to make
this hurt no matter what I showed up with, but it would be enough to start. If
needed, I can be pretty pushy when it comes to negotiations. By pushy I mean
scary. All I had to do was make a deal to get Tasha free and I could make
him suffer later.
The next problem I needed to deal with was figuring out how
Omir managed to get two Titans on the field. Okay, I didn't need to deal with
that problem, but it was driving me crazy. There was no way a Blood Raider,
even one as famous as Omir could get his hands on a Titan. It’s not only a
matter of the billions upon billions of ISK needed to build one, but also the
facilities and resources that are needed to produce a super capital ship.
During the fight I managed to get a good scan of the two
Titans transponder readings. Each ship has a unique code that identifies the
owner and ship type. It’s continually
broadcast throughout the system you are in, and picked up by receivers on the
warp gates. It’s a way for CONCORD to keep an eye on all of the pilots out
there. They collect the data for various reasons including commerce, statistics,
and to be a general pain in the ass. The two massive ships transponder readings
had been scrambled, of course.
Scrambling a transponder code is not as easy as you think.
Sure you can do it, but it’s a waste of money to pay a hacker to hide your
transponder readings. Even pirates don't really do it much. The data that
CONCORD gets is usually delayed by hours. Also, CONCORD doesn't give a shit
about what we are doing anyway. They long since quit caring about law
enforcement preferring to concentrate on their goal of becoming the wealthiest
and most powerful organization in the universe. They probably already are.
It was likely that whoever paid to have those transponders
scrambled was pretty important somewhere. It was probably someone who did not
want anyone making the connection between them and the Blood Raiders. Maybe
someone who was in the middle of some great political or corporate takeover
plan and wasn’t ready to show their hand.
The more important question is why do I care? I guess there
is something about a fleet of people trying to kill me and my friends that
pisses me off. You could say that I am a bit vindictive. Whatever the reason, I
knew I wasn’t going to be able to let it go. So I punched one last number into
the communication system and waited for a response.
After about five minutes Karver's fat face appeared on the
video screen. He looked more pissed than the last time I talked to him. The
last time was after one of my corp mates had blown up his very expensive
hauling ship. Then for fun, she popped his pod too without giving him a chance
to pay a ransom. The clone she killed had several billion ISK worth of implants
in its fat little skull.
At the time Karver was under the impression that he was safe
in our system. He had paid us for
protection in the areas under our control.
He should’ve kept track of the agreement better because his protection
ran out two days prior. As soon as his
pass expired I changed his status back to neutral making him fair game for
anyone in the alliance. It’s not my
fault that he doesn't keep track of his books as well as I keep track of mine.
I mean, piracy is a business just like any other.
He stared at me and I stared back. Sweat poured down his
face but I doubted it was an indication of any emotional response. Fat just likes to sweat, and he was huge. I’m
positive someone had to stuff him into his pod and ram the canopy down around
his flabby ass.
His size really wasn't much of an issue though. Karver rarely left his pod. He spent most of
his time in space, as he suffered from a phobia that revolved around the fear
of being killed. Pod pilots have clones that are waiting for them on stations
when their pods get destroyed. Quite a
few scientists have worked on ways to make clones viable outside of a pod, but
so far none have been successful. The need for an immediate brain scan at
the exact time of death makes it an almost impossible dream. It’s easy to do
with a pod because all of the equipment is right next to your skull and the
computers know the instant the hull is breached to start the scan.
Since I was the one needing a favor I put on my biggest smile
and started the conversation.
“Hey Karver, how are things?”
“I thought I told you to fuck off,” his pleased smile made
me want to go find him and give him another loss. I could take care of that
later though and it wouldn’t hurt me to be nice for now.
“Well, that is one of the things you told me.” I kept
smiling and waited for him to calm down. I guess some people don't forget
a fifteen billion ISK loss.
“I need a favor and you are one of the few people I know
that might have the contacts that can help.” I threw it out there to see if he
would take the bait.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Why would I do shit for you?”
“I have two transponder signals that I need unscrambled. I
want to know who the ships really belong to.”
He pursed his lips as he thought about it for a second.
“What kind of ships?”
“Two Leviathans.”
He started laughing and it was the highest pitched girly
laugh I have ever heard come out of a man. I jumped a little in surprise, but
he didn't notice.
“Oh my God, that is funny. Tell you what, just because I am
pretty sure that anyone who would feel the need to scramble the transponder
signal on two leviathans will find you and cut your head off I will do it for
free.”
He leaned back and grinned ear to ear. I knew he was right.
Anyone who had the resources to field two titans and went to the trouble to
hide who they were was not going to be happy that I knew. But there was a part
of me that needed to know. There was a chance that knowledge like that
could come in handy. Of course, that was assuming that Karver didn't stab me in
the back. Yeah, right.
Karver assured me he would let me know as soon as he figured
out who the owner of the ships was. I ended the convo and grabbed a few data
drives with documentation of my current available assets. I also threw a couple of extra knives in my
flight suit and two extra blaster charges for my gun. I wanted to be ready
because there was a good chance I would end up fighting my way
out of the Biohazard Containment Facility in Aikantoh.
