"So, you want to know how it all started? You want to know how we came to what we have now? Well, I guess I could tell you that. After all, it can harm no one right now. Besides, I wouldn't mind telling that story. Right, I'll begin with the basics'¦"
Boulogne is a large asteroid base expanded from the outside by numerous artificial components. It is mainly maintained by the Gallic Brigands and their affiliates, but a number of other groups own and operate certain parts of the station. Despite (or possibly due) to its desolate location (Somme Asteroid Field), Boulogne is considered to be one of the safest places to live for Gallic unlawfuls. The base is heavily defended against any outside intervention, and nearby areas are rarely visited by Police or Navy ships.
An apparent drawback is a lack of jump holes in the vicinity of the base. However, the inhabitants of Boulogne are hardly ever bored by lack of activity: the power struggles between minor criminal groups and families never stops, traders go to and from the station with some of the most exotic goods that the black market of Gallia can offer, and night life on the station never stops. In a way, Boulogne is home for eternal night, with Nox in no lesser demand than water or air.
"This is where this story takes us now. As for the later events... well, you'll see."
- C'est Boulogne docking control to le Faucon Millennaire, your request to dock will be granted once your turn in the queue comes.
- Acknowledged.
Once the communications were shut down, Marcel Fraisse, the co-pilot of the ship, cursed and added: "We've been waiting for 5 minutes already!" Claude Bertrand, the chief pilot, sighed and responded: "What else do you expect? We're trying to dock with one of the busiest Brigand stations. And you know as good as I do that the reward will be worth the waiting. And I mean both money and power, as well as something else."
Marcel sighed. "Can you at least tell me the plan? So far I just know that the boss sent Paul to Boulogne in advance for some reason. Other than that, nothing. What are we up to?" To that Claude just said: "You get paid for doing your part, Marcel. And that's it. The boss will tell us the details once we get to the destination. You know, if the boss promises something, the promise will be kept. Now just shut your mouth and get ready to dock." Marcel didn't say anything to that. Claude wasn't the man to mess with, which he had proved multiple times.
Le Faucon Millennaire, a BFR19 'Courier' Freighter was floating around Boulogne for 8 minutes before it could finally dock. Claude could see Marcel's unasked question and broke the silence: "Your brother, Paul, told us where the boss wanted us to come." Claude obviously realized that he was more harsh to Marcel than he should have been, since Marcel had all the reasons to be curious. Yet Marcel also realized that Claude had all reasons to be nervous. After all, the ship they were flying didn't belong to them.
Le Faucon finally landed, and the pilots got out of the cockpits. The landing pad wasn't the best, at least Paul definitely knew that Boulogne had much better facilitues, which were closer to the station's hubs of activity. "Why would Paul want us to use that pad? - Marcel thought. ' The local brigands could find a better place for us, especially if they knew who actually rented the landing pads. The Conclave representatives of other bases are rare guests. Perhaps 'rented' is the key word."
The landing pads were indeed rented by the boss, and that spoke of something. But Boulogne was always overcrowded, so finding and renting a landing pad, not to speak about a few of them, was a very hard thing to do, and twice more expensive. And the fact that the boss could afford that raised some questions. However, as Marcel came up with that conclusion, his thoughts were interrupted.
Paul Fraisse and a couple of people came to Le Faucon. "Marcel, good to see you. And who's that guy with y'¦ Wait-wait, Claude Bertrand from Marne?!" Paul was definitely surprised. Claude Bertrand was quite a known figure among the Brigands of the Border Worlds, he even led a successful group at some point. However, many of his pilots died a couple of years ago, when Legion Des Damnes, a rogue unit of the Royal Navy under Enzo Du Sable's command, assaulted Montbard Base in vain attempt of taking over the station. After that Bertrand's trace was lost.
"You're back? Why? What are you going'¦" The questions were cut short by Claude: "I don't have time for this, Fraisse. Lead the way." After that Paul just gestured the workers who had come with him to offload Le Faucon, then pointed to the door on the other side of the landing bay. "Over there, messieurs." Claude just walked silently, with Marcel and Paul following him. "Is the boss going to come too?" - Paul asked silently, directing the question to Marcel. "No idea, ' was the response. ' The boss came with us, but I think that Claude will do the talking."
Once the men reached the door, Paul took his datapad and gave it to Claude. "Here are the instructions how to find the place you seek. I've sent copies to those who need to know already. And now I must go attend to the offloading." Claude just nodded, took the datapad and left the landing pad. Marcel followed. Paul headed back for Le Faucon.
Once all the necessary cargo was taken from the freighter, Paul paid the workers and went into the freighter to talk to the boss.
Claude and Marcel were walking through the endless corridors and halls of Boulogne. One could definitely call that place a maze, dimly lit with the neon boards. Although with time the asteroid was almost completely surrounded by artificial constructions, the inner part of it was still an asteroid, a rock with a network of passages and hollow areas, where those passages crossed and meandered between the buildings. In fact, the cental part of Boulogne was a small city in the asteroid.
However, no matter how bright the neon signs were and no matter how loud the music in the clubs was, one could see that the life here wasn't that bright. While walking through the halls and passages one could run across someone being mugged or "taught a lesson". The station itself was overpopulated, so there were plenty of homeless people hanging around the crowded areas looking for some credits. Some of them became desperate and were hiding in the darker passages of the base, waiting for a brigand or a visitor who was foolish enough to explore Boulogne on his own.
The system of Nox distribution was also well-arranged here. Many of those who got addicted sold their belongings at some point or gave them up for a new dose. Thus Boulogne got even more beggars and criminals, and the dealers and their bosses gained more riches. That's how the life was on Boulogne.
Marcel could only wonder at Claude, who made his way through those passages easily, consulting the PDA only on rare occasions. The brigands made their way through multiple corridors and halls, open "streets" and yet unexplored and unreclaimed caves. Finally, they got to the lower levels of the "city", where only the dregs of society, the despised among the despised, would settle, and where 'normal people' (ordinary brigands and the guests of the station) would rarely wander.
Finally, they found what they were looking for: a magnetically sealed door in one of the darkest corners of the cave, where lights weren't installed yet. Claude came forward and used his ID card. "For now this place will remain our hideout. If you or anyone else tries to squeal, I'll make sure you won't be able to do it in the future." Marcel just nodded. Just like any other brigand, he realized how important a hideout was for the success of operations.
"Or we'll move up in the world and in Boulogne", said Marcel, hinting that he'd prefer to meet the others in some relatively luxurious club in the upper city. Claude said nothing, and the brigands entered. However, neither of them had expected to see what they actually saw.
Two brigands entered the dimly lit, relatively large hall. The first thing that got their attention was the smell. Claude and Marcel felt as if they were at some junkyard. The distinctive smell was coupled with the scent of canalization. "Definitely not the best place for the meeting," - Marcel said. Claude remained silent, he had seen worse places.
The only ray of light was coming from the directed lamp on the newly-installed ceiling. That left only the centre of the room lit. But even without turning on the flashlight Marcel realized that the hall was empty. Only now did he realize what it was: a large idle trash compactor, most probably not working now. "Operating such things requires large amounts of energy, and why bother when you can just dump it on the nearby planetoid?" ' that's how a brigand would comment the fact that such a large mechanism wasn't working.
Why the station builders would construct it was another riddle. But it wasn't Marcel's concern right now. Neither Paul, nor the boss, nor the others were here. "Well, noone said that being a brigand is glamorous," ' said Claude and turned on the flashlight. He soon found out what he was looking for: another door in the far end of the room, hidden in the shadows of the hall. Then the men proceeded to it and went in.
The two brigands found themselves in the maintenance section of the trash compactor. There were a lot of mechanisms, but even Marcel, as unskilled in mechanics as he is, could see that the system didn't work. So, the trash compactor was just another hall now. While he was thinking about the reasons for picking this place as the meeting spot, Claude found out that there was another door in the maintenance area. On opening it he saw that the path has led him to yet unoutfitted cave. The only signs of human presence were the door itself, some wires and several lamps installed along the narrow passage, which led to another, this time natural hall, with multiple other caves around it.
What completely surprised Marcel and didn't surprise Claude at all was the fact that the cargo from Le Faucon was already there. More importantly, several people were already there. Marcel and Paul could only make out the silhouettes of several people who were standing around the table, which had an integrated 3D-map module. "So, good idea. Using an old damaged trash compactor which has it's own maintenance elevator. You surely bought it from some group which has lost its influence. You also found a landing pad that was close enough to the maintenance elevator, right? Removing the junk and adding some more ventilation modules, installing the ceiling'¦ Quite a nice plan."
All the people turned to Claude, yet there was only one female silhouette that didn't move at all. The woman stood there, with her hands put on the table, looking at the 3D-map. Then the woman's voice was heard: "And here are the people we've been expecting, messieurs and mademoiselles. Claude Bertrand himself." Then she added: "I have to apologise for that unnecessary tour of yours. But at least you know what Boulogne is. Right, with all people gathered, I believe we can begin." Claude and Marcel proceeded to the table, where they met Paul and some other people they didn't know.
"Messieurs et mademoiselles, we've gathered here to discuss something important'¦"
Chapter 4: From Rags To Potential Riches, or How It All Started
"Messieurs et mademoiselles, we've gathered here to discuss something important. You may call me La Gauloise, that'd suffice. Now, straight to the point: you are all aware that a certain brigand group, Legion des Damnes, have acquired significant power lately, or in the last two years, to be exact. I have some reasons to believe that they aren't going to stop at that. Their growing and spreading influence may result in some negative consequences for all the brigands, both in Gallic Core Worlds and in the Border Worlds. They already have influence on several bases in the Border Worlds, and we all know what that means."
Some people started whispering, and those whispers echoed all over the hall. After the talks stopped, Gauloise continued.
"Oui, that means that at some point the Brigand Conclaves may stop gathering, one doesn't need to be a visionary to predict that. And without the Conclave the Legion will simply claim the power for themselves, which I, and most probably you, don't want." At that moment Claude interfered: "I didn't become a brigand just to live under another king with a different name." La Gauloise nodded: "That is why I invited all of you here. Something must be done about that, and Claude Bertrand has agreed to help me in fixing the state of affairs. Claude, tell them the plan, s'il vous plait."
"Bien, here's the plan, - Claude started. - Attempting to gather the Conclave right now won't work. Firstly, we are not influential enough to do that, it must be done by the representative of Boulogne or some other large base. Secondly, even if the representatives agreed, we wouldn't succeed. The Legion already wields enough power to threaten certain brigand bases. After all, the Legion may field a battleship to "intimidate" base representatives, and their main hideout is on Marne, so we wouldn't be able to strike back properly without getting into trouble with the Council."
"That is why we should prepare, - La Gauloise took the the floor. ' We must fulfil two tasks. First of all, we need to gain influence here, on Boulogne. That would allow us to initiate the Conclave meeting at some point. Secondly, we should decrease the Legion's power as much as possible, so that when we summon the Conclave, we'll have the necessary influence. Luckily, Claude and I know how we can achieve both goals at once. I will provide the funds and try to improve our image here, on Boulogne, while Claude will concentrate on our operations."
"Right, back to business, - Claude continued. ' We'll need to get our presence noticed, by both the Police and the Brigands. We'll need to undermine certain efforts of the Legion. We'll need to show the Legion that we're to be reckoned with. La Gauloise will try to establish connections with various influential people to make sure that we succeed. And I'll be dealing with daily operations mostly."
"I guess that's all, - La Gauloise finished. - We'll use this place as a hideout. The trash compactor will serve as a cover, I'm planning to make it of some use for us. Several landing pads have been bought out with the money I brought with me, you can use the maintenance elevator to get close to them. It may also serve as our escape route under'¦ certain circumstances. So, I guess I start working on our hideout as soon as this meeting ends. Claude will get to operation planning. So, any questions?"