Hunt was alone. he sat quietly staring at a wall of monitors on the deck of an Oasis liner. The interior smelt of mold and rust. "Definitely not good for the lungs." he said to himself. The monitors lined the walls, streaming news vids, data from hacked network ports and cameras from the local TLAGSNET. His ship drifted slowly through California space, invisible due to the cloaking device he had recovered off a downed ship in Colorado from several years ago. His ship.
He sat back in his chair, sighing audibly at the amount of irrelevant data that streamed across the many screens. He stood and walked over to a desk that contained only one datapad. It was his journal. He hadn't touched it since he left the Legion. He picked it up, hitting the record button on the side. He cleared his throat and begun to talk quietly.
"Things have changed. I've cleared my head, and I'm no longer thinking like an idiot would.. It's been a while since I've done an entry, so I'm going to do a recap.
It started almost five years ago. My time in the Navy was short, but great. I worked closely with the First fleet under Admiral Malrone. Back then we were cracking down on smugglers and Outcasts. The amount of transport pilots that would rather lose their lives than obey the law was astounding. Of course, there were a few who surrendered. Slavery was running wild, and we had tracked one transport in to the badlands. It was making a bee line for Buffalo, but I managed to disrupt it several clicks out. It refused to surrender it's cargo and opened fire. It wasn't even a challenge. At the last minute, it dropped it's cargo and surrendered. I gave it a fine and sent it on it's way. I was too generous, considering not thirty minutes later I caught the same ship smuggling cardamine in to Liberty again. Needless to say, it didn't get out so easily.
After a year of successfully halting the cardamine trade, I was assigned to a Monument class Dreadnought in Colorado identified as Forward Unto Dawn. Great ship, fantastic crew. Loved it. They threw me on communications control. It wasn't a luxurious position, but it was mine. I met Elijah Phillips, the helmsman of the Dawn at the time, and Roger Dauterive, the chief engineer. We became friends pretty quick. The Dawn was outfitted with State-of-the-art equipment, armor and weapons. It performed excellently, and I enjoyed every mission we were sent on.. At least ninety-nine percent of the missions. We were called in to deal with two Outcast warships at the New York side of the jumpgate in Colorado. We left our post just as Xenos had showed up. Malrone and the fighters engaged them while we, and by that I mean the Dawn, and the Battlecruiser Whitefin, moved in to take out the Outcasts.
On the other side of the gate, two Ranseurs had set up shop. Captain Ian engaged them head on due to their lack of armor. The Whitefin provided long range support. We downed them quickly, but the Captain was critically wounded in the fight and shipped off to medical. The first officer was on shore leave, which left me in a position of command. I took it. Immediately after the fight, Admiral Malrone contacted us for assistance in Colorado. We didn't have time to resupply at Fort Bush. People were in trouble. Xenos had overwhelmed the fighter wing we had with us, and we needed to provide support. The Dawn and Whitefin jumped to Colorado, to find nothing there. We proceeded towards the lane, when a Legion Arbiter had appeared. The Xenos, too. Admiral Malrone and another pilot identified as "Guardian" were being hammered by the Xenos. They turned their attention to the Whitefin, leaving us alone with an Arbiter. "All power to the shields and Cerberus cannons. Take that monster down." I shouted. The Dawn was outmatched. She had scars from her recent fight with two Outcasts, and didn't have the supplies to go toe-to-toe with an Arbiter. We took a critical hit in Engineering. I ordered a full evacuation as the ships stabilizers began to fail. Eli made it to a pod with most of the crew, as did I. Roger was no where to be seen. Before we could send out a message to anyone left on board, the ship exploded.
That was when my time in the Navy had ended. I left. Something broke in me then. I felt betrayed. I joined the very same side that ended my career. I joined the Legion.
It wasn't bad at first. Seeing it as the only way to avenge my friends on board the Dawn, I took my frustration out on the people I once vowed to serve. It gradually became a losing fight. The Rogues were a serious problem to our lack of resources, allies, and overall will to fight. The Legion was constantly in an uphill battle, only the hill is a ninety degree angle. I took my leave shortly after earning the rank of Lieutenant during the battle of Humboldt. I stayed a while in Coronado, then left for Kusari to wait it out. Eventually, three years had passed. I was out of the loop for so long, I needed to see what was up. I got a name, I used it. I became Archangel, a mercenary. Bought a Sabre, too. Went to Liberty to see what I could find out. Of course, nothing had changed. I eventually came across a few members flying Legion colors. I identified myself, but they didn't recognize me at all. It appears as though I was wiped out of their records.
I ended up following around a member of the Neo Terran Front. It had been a while since I saw one of them. He confronted me in Kansas. I told him who I was, and he was a little surprised. We talked for a short bit, and that's when I found out that Gallia had taken over Leeds. We parted ways. I began to dig around through some old contacts when I found Eli loitering around Newark. He agreed to keep my identity on the down-low. He gave me a quick run-down on the situation in Liberty. Afterwards, I left. I needed to do some digging on all the things I missed. I started meeting people and making connections. I met Raymond Elwood, a Core recruit in Manchester. He had been assigned to some task force. He became my insider in the Core. I stayed out in Theta for several months, gathering information. I ended up winning this old Liner in a drinking game. I see why it was up for grabs...
I left for Liberty, because I found out that the Dawn was in tact. I wanted it back. It was a valuable resource that could prove useful later. I also found out Roger was alive, and that he was with the Rogues. Only he was calling himself Butch Flowers. Something happened to him. I tried to get what I could of the crew back together to bust the Dawn out of Alaska. Eli signed up without question. I had to track Butch down. A pirate named Jerry wanted in, but it would be too dangerous bringing him along. Roger or.. Butch... Whatever.. was hesitant, and contacted Admiral Baker for help. Butch told me Baker wanted him to turn himself in for safety reasons. He agreed, and spent six months on Sugarland until he escaped two weeks ago. That left me and Eli alone. We went for it. It was a mistake, and false information. The Dawn was never recovered from the Silverton fields, and Elijah was killed. I escaped in to the deep Omicrons. Stayed in Minor for two months hiding in the wreckage around Toledo.
I left for Liberty again, and began hiring myself out to earn some money. I was hired as a negotiator, I was handed paperwork to sign, I was hired to send transmissions, direct convoys. It was good to be out of the fight for a while. I enjoyed it. I wound up at Ames for a bit, making connections in Kusari. Met an old Dragon pilot who called himself Speaker. Crazy old man. Spoke in riddles mostly. After I launched, there were two Liberty Navy ships, and two Zoners ships sitting around. I noticed a Dreadnought sitting far away from the station. Liberty make, but flying Rogue colors. I immediately recalled one of my reconnaissance missions involving a Dread the Rogues had captured. It was disabled, but they got it working. Nasty. I went over there to see what was up. They hired me to do some scouting. I got tech information on all the ships around the Freeport. I returned to find three more Rogues alongside the Unnatural Disaster.
I told them what I knew, and they hired me for the fight. A short battle. The Zoners even fought the Rogues. One Fearless was downed, one of the new Carrier models, an Archer cruiser, and a Colony ship ran and docked. I took my money and headed back in to central space. Ran in to an Outcast Destroyer on the lanes. Rogues don't like foreign warships on their turf, so to get on their good side, I sent them a heads up. They caught him in Kepler and destroyed him. I did some work for the Core branch Ray was working for. Ray had changed. He wouldn't talk over voice comms, just sent me messages through the Neural net. He usually passed on the assignment. He stopped sending me messages after I was told to do some paperwork for a base assault. Thankfully, I was paid in advance. I wanted to see what was up, so I took off for the Omicrons through Bretonia in my Sabre.
Note, that I'm never buying a Sabre off the Hogosha again. Damn thing broke down in Manchester. I was picked up by a loud Corsair named Tuco. He ran a smuggling ring it seemed. Looks like he was organizing it in to something bigger. We talked for a while, and he offered to have his friends fix my ship up on Crete. I accepted. When we got there, Tuco and I played cards in the bar while the others in his merry band of pirates swapped my fried engine out. I was in hostile space, surrounded by hostile people. I kept my gun drawn under the table just in case. I was right to do so. Tuco jumped up and accused me of cheating four games in. He reached for his gun, so I put him down. I got ready for a fight to the landing pad, but no one seemed to care. Turns out, their groups laws declared that if I killed the leader, I became the leader.
this gave me access to resources I could use, though it put me in a dangerous position. I changed their tradition of "kill the leader, be the leader" to a council of three. I had no idea it would be that easy. Then again, I had no information on the Corsairs. I introduced myself the The Brotherhood Elders, where they informed me of some laws I wasn't aware of. To avoid putting myself in an awkward position and offending an entire nation, I stepped down and handed control over to my idiotic first mate. The elders declared me a friend of the Empire, which gave me free access to Gamma. I accepted and offered to send them any information that might be relevant to them. I left for Theta, picked up some supplies and returned to Baltimore to check on my Liner.
It was there. Rusty, gross, and falling apart. I paid the DSE mechanics to fix it up while I go look for something. I headed for Colorado. I wanted to find something unique for my ship. I found the remains of the Dawn. I salvaged the inscription, cloaking device, and samples of the ships advanced hull panels. Gave them to the mechanics to put on the Liner. They replicated the hull, re-did the inscription and replaced some of the lower decks with the cloaking device and fuel storage. They never got rid of the smell. It was ready. The Forward Unto Dawn Mark two. Liner edition. I grabbed some hardware from the Lane hackers while they finished polishing my new mobile base. Turned several decks in to a mobile listening post, command center and research ship. Loaded it up with fuel, docked the Endurance on it, and left.
Now I'm here. With a plan and some interesting information that could prove useful if I could verify it.
It's time to start reaching out."
Log end
Hunt put the datapad down and returned to his chair. He begun digging through his database to locate some contacts that could have some information he might need.
Hunt was lounging around on the Dawn, his datapad in hand. He had recently finished up some drawings of a ship. The ship appeared to be a Dreadnought, but was incredibly massive, beyond anything he had ever seen in his travels. He slid the papers under a stack of notes that he had piled on the right hand side of his desk. He hit "record" on the datapad, and began to speak in a low tone.
Journal entry eighty-five
Eight-twenty-one A.S.
July eighth.
"Been five days since my last entry. I've been waiting here for Enfield to get my message. The Bounty Hunter AI has been pretty helpful in managing the data streams I'm getting. Gives me a lot of free time to think. I've been thinking a lot about the others. Speaker mentioned some word of Jerry being in Kusari space. I'll be sure to send someone to look in to it. No word of Butch or Wayne, they've seemed to have dropped off the radar. Now it's my turn to play the waiting game. I'm stuck here until Enfield show's up or until I get word he's dead or worse. Then I'll have to go for my second choice in finding a scientist. That wont be easy, either. He's wrapped up somewhere, and I have yet to locate where. Last time he was spotted, was by Sting-Ray, no less. Out in Delta. I even saw him in Corsair space during my time with the Violet Suns. He seemed to be doing some business involving artifacts.
Either way, it'll work out. It almost always does."
Log end.
He pressed the stop button on the datapad, and set it back down on the desk. The screens filled the room with a vibrant, multi-colored glow as Sting-Ray, the Artificial Intelligence, scanned through thousands of data packets in a matter of seconds. Hunt put his feet up on the desk, grabbing a white writing tool and a blue piece of paper. He started to draw a ship.
Hunt stood in his room, alone. He was looking in the mirror. He had recently shaved. He grabbed his chin and looked to see if he missed any spots. Satisfied, he picked up his datapad.
Journal Entry Eighty-six.
Eight-twenty-one A.S.
July twelfth.
"I've recently begun designing a weapon for a ship. A big weapon. Similar to the "Archer" Forward cannon used by the Liberty cruiser class vessels. Only.. a LOT bigger. Spec'd it capable of destroying lightly armored warships with a single shot, but the amount of energy it would require... Nothing in Sirius can power it that humanity can offer. I've also not received word from Geoff in a while. Sting Ray hijacked the ship to go find Lagsalot. Left me in Poole with my Sabre. Caught up to him, and he told me John Silverstone agreed to help.. Huh. Sent him his assignment. Came up with a theory on a certain Nomadic artifact that might power the cannon. Here's hoping he does it. I've already sent him some funds for the trip.
Next up, I need to confirm my intel on Liberty, so, it's time to call on an old friend."
Log end.
He set the datapad down on the sink in the bathroom, hitting the "end" button as he did so.
Hunt was sitting at desk surrounded by balls of ripped up paper. Across the desk, even more paper. On that paper, there were what seemed to be blueprints of some kind. Most of them had been scratched out or crumpled up, but he focused on a blank one. To the left of him sat the schematics for a Forward cannon, designed to be mounted on a very large ship. Hunt held a pencil in his left hand, hovering it over the page. He sighed, dropping the pencil and reaching over to the right for his datapad.
Journal entry Eighty-seven.
Eight-twenty-one A.S.
July thirteenth.
"I have spent the last day on the CIC while Sting Ray runs through communications logs nearby. We've been drifting in Kepler, waiting for.. Anything at this point. I've gotten word from Enfield, but nothing exciting. He hasn't located a single person on that list. That's fine, we've got time. I however, made contact with Rachel Baker and Helene Dupuis of the First fleet, Liberty Navy. I told them our plan after I cleared up my info. She's interested, but it blew Helene's mind. I guess it would be difficult working with, or even being on the same ship as me. I once worked for, then shot at them. I tried to steal a Warship from them. I've had a rough and confusing history, and now, I'm able to give myself something to focus on. While we spoke, a Bureau agent appeared and set a direct course for us. I engaged the stealth drive and opened up my docking bays. We made it out of there just as it got within disruption range. It looked around for us, then left. I'm surprise to find the Bureau taking a notice in me... Unusual. I'll have to look in to it.
I've been working on a project that I call "Dawnbreaker I". It's a forward cannon of immense capabilities, but it requires so much power, that it could very well suck Newark dry for three days and not even spark. It focuses Electro-Magnetic energy combined with an array of Sonic pulse transmitters and some rather large Particle cannons to fire a single, super-heated projectile forward at high velocity. It's rather devastating. In theory, it could punch a hole clean through a Liberty Dreadnought, front to back, and still have enough momentum to hit a second target. Problem is, no power core available on the market that I'm aware of is capable of firing it, nor do I have a ship large enough to even mount it on. So, now comes the first part of my theory: Nomadic technology charts show small devices identified as "Power cells" scattered across Sirius. If I can get my hands on an active one, I could measure the power levels it emits and the required power levels to fire the Dawnbreaker. With that information, I'll know how many I need. Then, we can find them.
Part two of my theory is a little difficult. Finding a ship that can mount this massive weapon. That isn't even possible. I had given up on that idea when I designed the damned thing. So, my second plan is to "design" a ship that can equip it, and accommodate the power core. Of course, such a ship will be massive, and I'll have to make adjustments to the power core to accommodate for engines, core and non-essential systems, a stealth drive and operational docking bays. This will take time, but it's going to be a very useful resource to have when it all falls apart in Liberty. I'll need someone to build it, of course, someone to finance it, someone to move the resources it needs for all phases of construction... And I'll have to actually figure out a design for it, rather than sitting here talking about it. Seriously, I'm not sure why I'm documenting anything anymore.
Nevertheless, The Dawnbreaker will fire one day, and the ship that fires it will be colossal in scale. It'll put the Zoner Colony ship to shame."
Log end.
Hunt set his datapad down on his desk. He turned his chair around and stood, walking out of the small room, allowing the door to close behind him. He stood in the empty hallway, as the dim lights flickered from lack of maintenance. A small chime was heard on a PA system.
Sting Ray: Mister Hunt, we have a proximity alert. Ships are approaching this sector, should I disengage the stealth drive?"
Hunt: "No. Do you have a visual or any information on the ships?"
Sting Ray: " Ships appear to be Kusarian made. They're ID'd as Police. Two other ships are with them, Rogues. An unusual combination."
Hunt began walking down the dim hallway towards the Casino-turned-command center. He put his hands behind his back, and watched his feet as he moved ever so slowly.
Hunt: "Keep the drive active and drift us away from Blackport, the station is obviously abandoned anyways. Set course for the Omicrons. We've got people to see out there. "
Sting Ray: " Very well, sir. Are we going to Omicron Delta again? "
Hunt: " No. Theta. I'm going to contact some old friends of mine. See what aid, if they even believe us, they might offer for this endeavor of ours. Hopefully, we might even find something else out there. "
Hunt sat in a fold-out chair, his legs crossed as he stared at what once was an office on his Liner. The room was warped, and several sections of the wall were missing. Behind him, a Singularity cannon was wired up to several portable power generators and monitors. He let out a sigh, picking up the datapad next to his chair.
Journal entry Eighty-eight.
Eight-twenty-one A.S.
July seventeenth.
"A new development on my project. It's gone. Silverstone delivered an in tact Singularity cannon, and Sting Ray decided it'd be a good thing to perform a live-fire test on board the ship. The office is gone. Everything in it, too. Even a few sections of hull panels.. Despite that, I have a new project now. I'm going to begin testing larger scale versions of the Singularity cannon, and figure out how I might adapt it, or create something that is adapted to fire a bigger cannon. This technology is incredible. It generates a projectile that on contact opens a miniature black hole for two point two seconds. When it closes, it explodes outwards like an old Bunker-buster. Running some numbers though, there is no way we can adapt it for use on any of the ships available to us with it's current size. I'll have to find a way to replicate it at a larger scale to replace the loss of the Dawnbreaker.
We've moved the operation to Cambridge. Enfield has kindly opened his parents home to us, and Flowers has already made himself comfortable... It's terrifying. If he gets out of hand, I chain him up in the bathroom for a few hours until he calms down. It tends to work out nicely. I've taken over the living room. Set up my equipment there. I moved the broker systems there, the Sirius map, several sections of the research lab. I went and purchased some Ship Hull Panels for live-fire tests, so Sting Ray doesn't blow a hole in the side of the building. Rest assured, he won't be doing any Live-fire tests for a while.
I'm still offloading equipment and waiting for a message from Teerin. I suppose I should make it look nice here if they're coming to speak to me... Actually... I'll meet them in orbit. It's been some time since I took my fighter out. I had it out today, but only for a while. I met with the Order Agent Zeal and I talked about. Got what information I could and moved on. Ran in to Jayse Maxwell, one of the people Geoff was sent to find. Told him he was needed. Met someone else, too. Helena Divine. Interesting woman. She'd make a good interrogator. Now that we've rounded up all but one, it's time to start rolling the ball. I want to make sure we're ready for Kovic..."
Log end.
Hunt set the datapad down. He looked over at his office again and stood up. He stepped out of the hallway on to the loading deck. He looked outside at the Enfield residence, and walked off the ramp leading inside the Dawn towards the front door.
Hunt was reclined on the couch in the living room of Geoff Enfields house. Surrounding him were various monitors and datapads. A lot of equipment was spread across the room, wires ran along the floor, and on the coffee table, a small device with a projector built in to it showed a 3D display of a small holographic man. It represented the Artificial intelligence, Sting Ray. In front of Sting Ray, various streams of data flew past a screen as he watched and documented anything important. Hunt sat up, stretching his back. He picked up his log datapad and began to record
Journal Entry Eighty-Nine
Eight-twenty-one A.S
July twenty-second
"It's been quite a busy few days lately. Helena worked recovery for some equipment in Drake, and received a nice payment of twenty-two million credits. With the stuff she recovered, I've been able to push my project a little further, especially now that 'Zeal' had sent us some advice whilst Enfield is out of action. The adapted technology we've got is mountable and usable by fighters. I plan to run field tests with Maxwell and Flowers on a later date. For now, I'll just work on the Singularity Cannon.
Earlier today I spoke with Teerin, not in person like I planned, but things have sped up a little bit. Especially after the two gunboats showed up outside Curacao and tried to punch a hole in the Dawn. Were it not armor plated, I'd likely be dead. I explained the plan, and how I had Baker followed. We're going to organize another meeting in a few weeks, to discuss our goals and theirs. Mutual cooperation benefits both sides. It wouldn't be smart for him to turn this down. I however, felt like I was lying to him. "Professionals" is a rather broad term. Flowers isn't a professional... Anything. He even bought the "Best interest of my homeland" part. Complete lie. So now, I wait for Enfield to step back up to the plate, whilst people look for Kovic around Liberty. I can't believe no one has found him yet.. I'll have to get John on it. How hard is it to find a Seventy-seven year old man screaming his head off at every little thing he sees?"
Log end.
Hunt placed the datapad down next to the Projector. He say back again and closed his eyes, drifting off in to some needed sleep.
Hunt sat in his Sabre, "Endurance". He sighed, putting his hands behind his head as he leaned back in to the chair. Outside the ship, Shasta Orbital Skyhook sat close. Traffic seemed quiet due to recent hostilities. Hunt's fighter had also changed. A strange organic residue surrounded his Countermeasure, his engines had changed, his lighting, and his weapons. He sat up, stretching his arms out. He reached down below his chair and grabbed his datapad.
Journal entry Ninety.
Eight-Twenty-one A.S.
August Fourth.
"I recently arrived in Baffin, though not before Geoff and I had a short adventure. See, thing is, we were already here, but I decided we should check out Kansas. Before that, we were out in Delta. Geoff introduced me to some of his Bureau friends... A little bit of an uncomfortable encounter after I had one tailing me a few weeks ago. I thought he was going to turn me over to them. Never took my finger off the trigger the entire time. We met up with them in Consensus space.. Terrible, terrible idea. I was responsible for staging assaults in to Kappa a few months ago. Thankfully, they didn't recognize me. An attack wing of bombers isn't a very warm welcome. We moved to the Freeport in Delta and talked for a while. I got a room, spent the night, and moved on in the morning once that drugged out moron sent me some information about The Order and a Ship in Baffin. That's all he sent me. "The order and a ship in Baffin". How reliable.
I could've gone ahead like I normally do, but I decided to talk to the occupants of Baffin first. It seems, they've got a ship with a device that Golanski set his power tripping mind to. From what I understand, this ship possesses an artifact of great power.. That caught my attention. With the difficulties we've had locating a single power cell, and my reluctance to contact the Lane Hackers on Silverstone's behalf, I want to find out about this thing. Of course, I can't put the Hacker idea on hold.. I suppose while I'm in the area, I'll send them a message. I'll have to re-direct the others to Baffin, too. From what Skarsi told me, they're expecting a full assault. That doesn't seem like the Order's style, but nonetheless, this ship is too valuable of an opportunity to pass up. So anyways, back to the Kansas story.
Enfield and I got to Baffin pretty quickly, discussing possibilities. Eventually, the conversation got stale, so I did some mapping. I decided we should check out the old gate in Kansas hidden in the Turtle Creek Nebula. We ended up getting there, stopping at the Old Junction wreck for a bit, then delving in to the cloud. We found the gate pretty quick, but lost it when I went to identify a shipwreck close by. We flew around trying to find the gate, but it seems as though it moved. Eventually, we sat still. The Human eye can register shapes, movement, and light, a lot better when sitting still. Enfield spotted it close by. It was pretty badly beaten up. It seemed to have been moved for some unknown reason. A lot of damage was present on the left side of the gate. After a short rest, we went through.
Where we ended up was even more confusing. It was similar to the deep Omicrons, but it was heavily irradiated, and... Well... Empty. Nothing. No heat signatures, stations, even the planets weren't named. We moved in to an asteroid field when I spotted a large... Thing. Definitely a thing. I wasn't sure what it was, but there were heat signatures inside of it. It was alive, but dead. Dormant. It seems to have been built in to. Before I could react, something latched on to my fighter and started playing hell with my systems. We took off and got out of there. Ended up in Pennsylvania near a Xenos station. Thankfully, my old Legion docking codes worked. I docked quickly, as Enfield returned to Baffin.
The Mechanics were pretty stumped. They pried the thing off of my ship with heavy machinery, but it pretty much destroyed all my systems. I had to get Endurance fixed. New Engines, new Life support, new weapons systems, New lights, new Oxygen filter, new everything. What's worse is it left this goo all over my Countermeasure. Nothing seems to want to get that stuff off, but it isn't doing anything. Scans show it as inert. After my stop at Milford, I went back to Baffin and waited for the Zoners to contact me. They did. Now, we're sticking around here until all this Order business blows over.. I'll have to outfit a Waran.
Sting-Ray is still missing. I should remind Enfield not to upload 'Zeal' in to a drone. She might take off."
Log end.
Hunt set the Datapad aside as docking codes were sent to his ship. He fired up his engines, did a small loop, and begun docking procedures with Shasta.
Hunt was walking down the hallway of his Liner. Several wires ran along the wall towards a doorway to his left. The wires turned inside the room, which was filled with monitors and a strange organic-like weapon enclosed behind a shield. Several wires were attached to the weapon, of Nomad origin, as the various computers monitored and scanned it for anything interesting. Opposite of the gun, sat two circular devices, both glowing and emitting a dim purple glow from behind their protective shielding. They were power cells. Hunt stopped and watched the monitors, his datapad in hand, and began to record another log entry.
"The deal I made with the Lane Hackers, thanks to John, went smoothly. I turned over half of our adapted weaponry, two-hundred million credits, in exchange for The Power Cell. I've kept it on the Liner and haven't begun monitoring yet, due to a strange reaction the Singularity cannon had when the Cell was brought in to the same room. It attempted to charge and fire a projectile, but failed. The shielding wouldn't of held, and I would've been killed if it succeeded. Were it so easy.. Anyways, We're moving the operation from Cambridge to Kansas, to reclaim a place that was long forgotten and lost in history.
The project's estimated cost is around... Two billion credits. Sourcing those funds won't take long. I've already purchased a repair ship from a Deep Space mechanic on Pittsburgh, loaded it up with some basic materials to get started on external repairs for Junction Base. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't totally demolished when the Neo-Terran Front last touched it. It's Fusion reactor is exposed, leaking, and has a really, really big hole straight through it and the station's hull panels. We'll likely need to source a new one from the Junkers, or repair it ourselves. A lot of the storage tanks for the reserve MOX generators are damaged excluding two, though only one is accessible due to pipeline damage. Pumping fuel through it will just cause it to leak out in to space, which means we've got one tank to work with. That's a daily fuel shipment. Oxygen tanks are out of the question as well as the additional storage tanks, both have damaged pipelines and cracked tanks. We'll need masks.
The docking bays... Well.. They're not there anymore. We'll need to get new ones or build new ones. Likely build. I can hopefully pay the Congress to take care of that. We might even be able to source some laborers from the Congress to aid in the station's repairs. Funnily enough, they had already built a modular installation in Kansas. It's quite far, but they let us dock. They uh.. Actually had a second power cell just laying around. Paid them eighteen million credits for it. A second power cell. That might come in handy, actually. Back to the station... External repairs will take some time, so we'll need to rely on the used ships I've been purchasing to keep Junction supplied. Daily shipment of MOX and Oxygen reserves until the docking bays are built and shielded.
This'll be costly, but we can claim it as our own section of Kansas. Independent space. Due to my relations with local organizations and houses, maintaining neutrality will be difficult. Since the Legion is dissolved and likely forgot who I am, I wont need to worry about them. As far as I know, the Front is gone. The Belisarius might still be around. The Vagrant Raiders are gone, too. That leaves local pirates like the Rogues and Lane Hackers, the Crimson Cross, Liberty and anyone else around. Picking sides wont do, so I'll need to find a balance point... Something to bargain with. I've already spoken to a few members of the Cross, Teerin and Baker know who I am, Moka is indisposed, so I'll be talking with the underboss of the PLR and the Warlord of the Liberty Rogues. The Hackers, well, I've already done business with them, and have no reason to contact them anytime soon. As long as they respect my disposition and know I'm not working for any Corporation, I'm sure it'll all work out.
So for now, I've got research to do and a station to rebuild, should anyone come for me again... Well... Quod si tam facilis..."
Log end.
Hunt lowered his datapad and sat in a chair, turning it to face the monitors as they recorded the data from the Singularity cannons power fluctuation. The power cells sat silently, untouched behind protective barriers. Hunt lowered his head to the desk and closed his eyes, drifting off in to a quiet sleep.
"It's almost been a month since my last entry. Things are quiet. I've been doing a lot of day trading to gather some funds for the reconstruction of Junction, but it's been going slow. We've moved in to position behind Turtle Creek, to stay off the scanners of anyone out exploring. I've not gotten word from anyone, so I assume nothing interesting is going on. Quite a nice change of pace, actually. Silence, peace. Not turning around to constantly find someone pointing a gun at me or shooting at me. It's relaxing.
It'll be a few more days, even weeks, before things start to get going again. I need some rest from it all. A break. I'll have to put Enfield in charge of matters while I'm off the radar. He'll need to fulfill the contract with the Bureau out in the Omicrons. I also have to get in touch with The Navy again. I'm sure I've been gone long enough for them to forget our agreement. Once the station is reconstructed and safe for a conference, we can talk there about the plans. Still no sign of Sting Ray, and now Kovic has run off to Baffin with Flowers. Not sure why, don't really care at this point. They can handle themselves well enough to avoid getting caught in the middle of an invasion or something ridiculous that might occur while they're out on their own. There's also.. Well... High tensions between the pirate groups in Liberty. I noticed Red is out terrorizing people again. Not just people, but apparently someone put him to work taking care of the Outcasts in and around Liberty. He downed two of them in Cortez some time ago. Let's hope he forgot who put him away in the first place."
Log end.
He sat back again, placing his feet up on his desk as the liner drifted through Kansas silently.
![[Image: rherh3.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/Kj3ZvKXp/rherh3.png)