“It appears I am not the last one.” He noted the two empty seats next to each other, one of which would be his. On his way to his appointed seat, noting that he would be separated from Rogues a great deal he expected it was no coincidence. In no particular order, he would study everyone who has arrived before him.
Zoner 'Testament' looked destitute and horrible on first impression. He would expect those frontiersmen to send someone more presentable. In other circumstances he might have offered him money to get a clean uniform at least. On second thought, he expected it either to be a symbol, either of desperation and destitution as the Erie campaign fared poorly. Another idea is that he represented the humble working man to score some political points in his presentation. Still given how he was ravenously devouring food presented, his mind was settled on the first guess.
Caliban. Perhaps being more machine than human which brought his mind to unchecked debauchery of Technocracy which he found deeply disgusting. Despite his presence, Golanski kept his cool and would not show any sign of discomfort either because he felt confident and commanding the situation or perhaps being that good of an actor. Having had time to prepare mentally and given enough rest, he was quite capable of compartmentalising his emotions.
Senator. Couldn’t read much of him beyond analysing everyone present and hiding everything behind an obvious mask. He wondered if he and Caliban would cause any issues. Personally, he knew better than to start altercations and not because of his current health, time would tell what kind of quality thus spook of Eight would show.
Warlord Hemlocke. He wouldn’t find him intimidating personally - He saw such displays as nothing but pointless vanity - but nonetheless respected him as someone capable of extreme violence as a matter of fact. Even though he would still internally question why he had to come in a bloodstained outfit but much like Zoner’s own appearance he kept this to himself. Second Rogue was an unknown quality. Clark was young, Admiral supposed not too dissimilar to himself starting his career with The Order initially. He had not made up any opinion about him yet.
Drake. The Admiral only heard about him, never met in person. He seemed like usual and borderline stereotypical for a Lane Hacker. Hedonist with taste for cardamine, alcohol and other luxuries, as well as a professional who kept his chosen lifestyle going with his particular set of skills. He recalled at the back of his mind that Drake functioned as the muscle of the operation.
Adjutant Hester much like Clarke was another one he knew absolutely nothing about. Nonetheless she was with Xenos Alliance and it was good enough for him. Men and women who follow ideology seemed to be behaving in more predictable patterns which eased his mind, whereas more credit oriented mantras would often see affinities shift as fluidly as credit transfers.
It was everyone for the time being. Even when the topic would undoubtedly touch upon Erie, a subject far removed from The Order’s prime interests, he would use the opportunity to gain as much information for The Order as well be the first person to know concerning motives and future actions of everyone present. He bypassed all other drinks, beelining straight to red wine which he poured to appropriate glass. This bottle and him would become good friends by the end of the day. Glad to be finally seated, it seems most folks around here preferred the gin. He’d have settled for vodka or rum but considering food was at stake, red wine suited his taste the most right now. Before talk of Sudbury anomaly began, he swapped his provided utensils around. Fork in right hand and knife in the left which at least may indicate he will at least use them for eating later. Right now, his full attention was grabbed by projection of this alien site. He had been briefed about it, from the first Order reconnaissance in-system since the incident.
“Kepler was long scheduled to be hit by a dark matter storm. Mister Drake’s predecessors were forced underground for merely getting the timing wrong. You are very much correct about Texas however. Corporates have little interest in safety.” He’d correct Hemlocke, though this man’s words weren’t entirely unwarranted. “Personally I believe it is the Daam K’Vosh facility. Nomads had no hand in its activation, nor were they actively monitoring the site prior. They’re caught metaphorically pants down as much as Liberty is, scrambling upon each other to just reach the site.”
He had some time to consult and process the information he was already in possession of, able to make some insight. “Those shields are typically powered by separate power units. Considering it's partially buried within the planet’s crust, those will be located deep underground assuming they’re accessible from our side at all. Further assuming LSF even gains orbital supremacy, they will need to maintain it for months if not years with no interruption just to excavate it. I am not even mentioning accessing the facility itself.”
“Intuition tells me Ontario will remain a battlefield for many years to come and this is in the very best case scenario that generously assumes Sudbury doesn’t have any further surprises in stock for us.”
After a few short blips between Fontana's dock command and a ship that, by all means, appeared to not be there, someone had been cleared for dock, a cloaked ship of some kind. For just a nigh-imperceptible moment the streaming setup would stutter as it spun up to a newly encrypted channel.
A short girl with bleach blonde hair tied up in twintails, wearing a baggy studded jacket two sizes too big over a chairjock's bodysuit strolled up the hallway, her eyes a grayish blue and her skin pale bordering on a level bordering on unhealthy. She looked young, especially compared to the crop of guests that had gathered, though it was not so clear that was her natural look, the optics refocusing behind her eyes and neural-net ports at the nape of her neck revealing her as having at least some degree of augmentation.
She barged into the room with nonchalant confidence, her head barely visible past the pile of synth-snacks precariously stacked atop her arms.
"Ayo, wassup homies! Chloe is officially in the house!" - she'd call out, dumping her munchies onto the nearest aide - "My eyes and ears have been here, just the rest of me took a little longer. Y'know how many places I had to go to to get spicy paprika chips? Shit's in-saaaane..."
She would grab a bag and pop it open before hopping on over to her assigned seat, giving all the others a smile and a wave.
Hemlocke's comments were not too far from the truth, yet they weren't quite right either or were simply doomsday theories that could only snowball this entire meeting into an avalanche of war declarations over who's more righteous or deserving of safeguarding the Planet's treasure.
"Pragmatic as always, aren't you?" he began the conversation with a slight jest in light of the grim topic at hand before continuing with what he originally intended to say. "The immediate concern would be to find a workaround for that energy dome. A deadzone, a small hole in the tapestry - anything. Oh, right. And you've got two or three hostile parties that may or may not want to take over the thing. All of which are better equipped and unveiling what's hiding on Sudbury than most of you. Technocrats, LSF, The Wild. "
"The technocrats as we already know have ties with Vagrants, making them a pretty annoying thorn in the side for that reason. The LSF has high end equipment and might benefit from taxpayer funding to be a constant threat. And the Nomads thralls... I've taken a look at what they've been doing lately. I've only got bad news there."
Caliban took in a deep breath before exhaling. Concern crept up in his words like a subtle gush of wind between the cracks of a brick wall. Just after Golanski finished saying his thoughts on the matter he added he continued.
"Omega-58 might be linked to the Sudbury site. Chances are we might expect the Nomads here sooner than any other party."
"Test the sharpness of your sword against another. And when that is not enough, unsheathe your cunning as the hidden dagger that ends the fight."
With the gleeful innocuous entrance of the young Hacker, Tomas helps himself to the spicy paprika chips, executing a swift opening of the bag before chewing the chips in slow-motion as to minimise the crunch.
It hadn't even been a few minutes and already those that believed they knew better were ignoring obvious connections. Hemlocke's crimson gaze shifted to Golanski as he "corrected" the rogue, giving him an unamused expression to read over.
"Your opinion is founded in common misconception. While you were off in the Omicrons playing host to little warlord's first turf war with the Core, we've been here suffering the ramifications of Liberty's hubris."
"The Storm that wiped Alberta off the map, was drawn into position by Ageira's super gate project. That same storm, continued on course, swallowing Kepler as well, drawn into position yet again by another hyperspatial disturbance being the Triad Anomaly due northwest of Ames."
The rogue's scarred right arm lifted from his lap to briefly motion towards the holo-projection, pausing briefly in speech.
"If that is in fact a precursor facility, the dilemma remains the same, I won't claim to know how exactly the dark matter storm works, yet it is clear that sites of hyperspatial significance, particularly unstable ones, such as this one, draw its attention. The storms that claimed Alberta and Kepler, are also surprisingly similar to the ones that claimed Munich, and Omega-58, both places with yet another similarity of extreme hyperspatial interference. As Caliban mentioned, potentially linked. Regardless of theory, the result is the same."
"The crux of the issue remains, Liberty has proven to tamper with these sites, and cause catastrophic events at every single opportunity, and by ignoring this incursion, we allow them to continue mucking about causing cataclysm after cataclysm either by direct tampering or wide reaching consequence. Perhaps the Order cares little for Earhart, but if you care for humanity as you claim you do, or at the very least your supposed allies among the Xenos. Then you understand the threat this poses to your support system, and mission statement."
"It's just the LSF sniffing around now but you can bet your butts the moment that gate's all fixed up they'll start fortifying and get Ageira in there to start dicking around, and like Grumpy pointed out, they don't have the best track record."
Chloe pauses to monch on a chip, gesturing towards Golanski with it before she does so
"And if that gate gets fixed and they start rolling in Navy fleets I'll betcha they can get that 'orbital supremacy' much faster than years my guy. We really gotta do something 'bout it. 'Cause I don't want the Onest in my backyard. Or anywhere near Daam K’Vosh artifacts, like, holy shit, can you imagine?"
Chloe's late arrival warranted a brief nod of recognition from Clark, the young hacker's more "carefree" attitude being something he seemed to have the tolerance to stomach. The main detail, however, that caught Clark's attention was Caliban's mention of Omega 58, prompting a raised eyebrow, but he did not yet break his silence. Instead, in silence, his glance switched between his compatriot and Admiral Golanski, and Chloe's addition brought out a sly smirk, and now, finally, the second Rogue would speak.
And breaking his silence, the voice that came may surprise some of the others, far smoother and softer than one might have expected based on his appearance. There was a measured and precise control to each and every one of his words undercut by a calm confidence.
"Regardless of a connection or not, the stakes of this current situation are likely to prove the highest in the history of every group present.
He raised his right hand to the Order delegates present momentarily before retracting it.
"Excluding, of course, our guests from the Omicrons."
"But Chloe has a point. This situation is not Erie; this is not a situation where a heavy deployment of troops and assets will carry mixed or uncomfortable feelings. And if Liberty deems whatever lies on Sudbury to be worth it, they will carve a path to it through brute force, and with Liberty and Ageira's track records in question, brute force will also be used to excavate that site if needs be."
"Access, however, may be difficult perhaps, but it would be foolish for any of us here to accommodate that risk regardless."
A pause came, his gaze shifting around the room as he let his words sink in for a moment before continuing.
"Therefore, cutting the throat of Liberty's advance must be a priority for all of us with a stake here in California, Ontario or Colorado."
Damien frowned thoughtfully before speaking up in response to Hemlocke first.
"Speculation at best. The storm which eventually swept through Alberta and later Kepler was detected and calculated to arrive long before the emergence of this "triad" anomaly in Kepler. It's worth noting that the anomaly only came into being after the storm had settled in place and loomed over Kepler in its entirety. While I appreciate your insight, I feel the need to supply this correction to the timeline so that we aren't drawing wild inferences. Our wings confirmed this soon after the storm arrived in-system and proved to abate just enough to permit ships to traverse the system without immediately succumbing to high levels of radiation."
Having said all this the gears in his brain shifted towards problem-solving, something he was good at, rather than all this hypothesis about dark matter and ancient aliens. "I agree that we need to slit Liberty's neck in Ontario to stop this operation, or more likely buy us enough time to be ready for direct confrontation on some scale. I believe our best way to do this would be to destroy the Robert Peary. DSE's Bustard-class construction ship keeping the gate stable enough for the LSF and BHG to use. Knock that out and the supply line grinds to a halt from lack of maintenance." He tapped the remote again and it projected an image of the vessel in question, seeming akin to some kind of possum with multiple repair ships fastened to its belly. Structural weaknesses to the ship design were highlighted with lines and labels in the projected image, along with short descriptions on what the point of weakness held and what disabling it would represent in terms of end-result.
"Now I obviously don't expect the Militants to contribute forces to that course of action. But I believe yourselves and the Hackers are in a unique position to flank the Robert Peary while we continue to hold the line over Sudbury." This was all phrased like a suggestion and indirect question of whether a joint force of Rogues and Hackers had the capability to accomplish the task. At his best estimates, this would demoralize DSE sufficiently that the company may refuse to send more significant assets to the system until an effort to fully clear it was underway, which would mean years if not decades. Worst case scenario, they would simply send another ship. But that was months if not a year or two more of bureaucracy and potential renegotiation for hazard pay.
Regardless, the Hackers and Rogues were both gestured to, suggesting they could speak on the issue.
Drake sat back and listened to the conversation, fancy words were thrown around throughout the meeting room. Rather amusing to hear such words from a Liberty Rogue who usually resides in less civilized manners. "Well, it looks like I've ended up in a room full of Xenoartifact experts. Talking about attack vectors, the Ontario Debris Sea, or rather the ice field that covers the east side of the system will be plenty of cover for us. I am skeptical that the mere destruction of the DSE construction vessel will keep the LSF or rather the BHG from entering the system, especially the BHG. I had my fair share of experience with these guys and we all know how some individuals of them act if the price is right.
Drake took a sip from his glass before continuing his dialogue.It appears there is a lot of money on the table for DSE, it's rather obvious that the Government will back DSE in any case behind closed doors. Considering the worth of Ontario for the Lane Hackers I cannot allow for a Liberty Navy battlegroup to become a reality. Do you mind if I smoke?As he reached into one of his inner pockets to get out his case of cigarettes.
The Lane Hacker Assassins
"Killing the corporate weenies, so our kids can live in a free and just galaxy."