After she gave her credentials and and made sure they had permission to dock the station, she handed back the headset to Doc. After she passed the airlocks, she turned around to face him. "It was nice yes, and I won't object to doing this again sometime, but first I need to get an important question answered" She signalled two Sisters in uniform to join her.
"I wasn't aware you knew the location of Ainu. You had business with the GC before you met me? If it came to your attention from another source other than the GC, this is a serious security breach and I will want to know your source." She crossed her arms and looked at him with a stern face awaiting his answer.
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Doc nodded at her concern. "I would have the same concern if someone came to Med Force General in Baffin but in a moment, you will see the difference." He then motioned for them to follow him back to his ship where he powered up the nav computers and memory banks. He then pulled up a map of the Kyushu system.
"This map is of Kyushu from 12 years ago," he explained. "Long before Med Force Enterprises, Long before the Temporary Autonomous Zoners which I once led, there was only John Holliday finding his way through Sirius in a Dromedary freighter so I did a lot of exploring."
He then pointed at the Hokkaido jumphole on the map and then the Tau 23 jump hole.
"I found those two exploring clouds."
He then changed the map to Kyushu of present and pointed at the Hokkaido hole. "It has not changed location in those 12 years."
He then went to a map of Hokkaido and made the same point about the Jump hole to Kyushu. "Same case. The jump hole locations have not changed nor has the location of Ainu Depot. It was 9.7 k from the jumphole then as it is now so with all due respect, your secrecy is not totally secret." He made the case with a Hokkaido map of present. "If you value your secrecy, move your base say, East, about 6 to 10 k."
"My hospital and research facility in Baffin is very far from any jumphole and just far enough from any base so that a ship leaving the Pueblo Bonita will not detect it. That is how I like it. We can work in peace that way."
He then turned to the sisters and addressed them all. "When I did find Ainu the first time, I was intercepted by a GC patrol and fired upon. I turned and headed back to Kyushu so your security is not laxed, just your secrecy. We share a common dislike of bounty hunters so I got a better ship and did missions against them. It was not long after that I was seen here with neutrality. I then went back to trading."
He shut down his nav systems and rose to his feet. He stood, his hands in front of him.
"When I found Ainu, part of it was from hearing of a matriarchal group. I like ladies and well, I just wanted to find out. I also found a market back then for luxury consumer goods so I began a trade route here from Manhattan with them. Times have changed as have routes and supply needs so I pass by here on occasion to update files. Ladies, from those who do not know already, your base location's secret is safe with me."
He then stood, his way blocked by three suspicious GC sisters. His Kusarian was limited so he couldn't figure out all they were saying to each other while they blocked him.
She sent the other Sisters away. "It is my job to know things, Doc. Lots of smugglers find their way here. But you aren't the typical smuggler. I only trust you to certain degree, because it is in my nature to be suspicious. For now I will believe your story. If you weren't seen as a friendly face here, you would have been dead before you even reached this location. I am just not amused that you risked my life to prove it. Being shot at by a GC patrol because of an unknown vessel aproaching Ainu wasn't my idea of ending a nice day out.
There is one fatal flaw to your story. Ainu might possibly be detectable at its distance from the hole when you are in open space. But this is a nebula. Scanner range doesn't penetrate that far. You need to be very lucky, or unlucky, depending what you prefer, to find it. So, Are you lucky or unlucky?"
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He smirked at her question. "I am lucky at times. Sometimes I think it is what sometimes makes me successful."
He brought up the old picture of Hokkaido again. "No trade lanes in this pic. It was before they were built so that jump hole was the only way in."
He turned it off again. "And the scanner on this ship is pretty strong so a lot of the areas I go, it penetrates rather well. There are a lot of nebulas it works well in and has saved my skin a few times."
He smiled again, a bit sheepish,not sure of what to say or do next. "I guess I should not keep you from your work and I would rather not be the reason why I hold you up."
Mariko smiled at this. "But Doctor, you aren't holding me up. But you are right, it has been a long day." She made a bow. "I will give you the benefit of the doubt. We will likely cross paths again, but for now... you have to excuse me."
With these words she bowed again and walked towards the doors leading to the inner structure of Ainu Depot.
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He gave her a respectful bow. Who would have thought that something so beautiful could be so deadly he thought to himself. He kept his smile as he watched her walk away.
Then, as he turned, he spoke into his com, "Ignis est usque reactor." Once he finished, his ship's systems came to life as the door to the airlock closed behind him and he entered his ship. Disengaging the mooring clamps, he drifted a ways from Ainu, plotting a course to Kyushu before he engaged his cruise engine. Within a few minutes, he as gone. His time with Mariko forever changed his thoughts of the Chrysanthemums.....even if his daughter was one of them.
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