Fate was not something Sebastien Coen believed in.
He sat there in his office on Corinth Research Station, overlooking his research project. It involved making the Jinkusu more powerful whilst keeping a similar size and maneuverability. The answer to this question however, was escaping him. He would not find it today.
An emergency message beacon lit up his screen. It was from Sparta.
The Faceless, the secretive anonymous group that controlled The Omicroners had summoned him. It was an uncommon thing to be summoned, especially when most business for the day had ended. Most summons had a lot of warning and were very formal. Something about it did not sit right with him.
He had sworn an oath however, to answer any summons that The Faceless may issue. Whilst he may have sworn an oath, The Faceless were the only part of The Omicroners he did not understand. They issued orders above the normal leadership command and never justified themselves. They were an incalculable entity, and that meant he could not calculate what would happen. It meant no planning, just improvising, and it put him at a disadvantage.
He sent a secure radio transmission. It was the usual one he sent to the usual people, when he went somewhere dangerous and he needed insurance. "If I do not contact you in one hour, get me out."
He never expected to send it inside Omicron 74 though.
Half an hour had passed. A receipt for the communication had come through. He had changed into his formal robes and was about to board a shuttle for Sparta Station. To him, this felt completely different than any other event so far. It felt like a fate he couldn't escape no matter what he did, and he would not flee from it's claws.
The shuttle landed without much disturbance. The trip to Sparta was short, and considering how deep in the minefield both stations were, it made the need for extra security redundant.
Coen strode through the halls of the heavily fortified station in silence after leaving the docking bay. He saw no-one else on his journey through the station, except when he got to the hall where he would be received. Tsumugi Kotobuki was there, waiting for his arrival. She would announce him into the hall.
The doors opened and Kotobuki spoke firmly to the darkened hall. The Faceless had gathered; anonymous members of The Omicroners that for the most part did not know each other's identities but would pass judgement on everyone. Kotobuki left the room, leaving all eyes on Coen.
"Sebastien Coen of the leadership council, you have been summoned here by us, The Faceless." The voice was disguised and it echoed from speakers around the hall.
"Your summons is secret. There will be no record of this to be found. No-one will speak of it again once you leave this room." The voice continued.
"Pray tell, why was I summoned here in secret then? Why will there be no meticulous record of my council?" Coen spoke to the darkened room, scanning the masked faces.
"Exile." The decision of The Faceless drained the blood from Coen's face.
"I've done nothing wrong." The voice that escaped Coen's mouth was barely above a whisper.
"Our decision is final. You will leave Omicron 74 and never return, until our word has no power any more and we can do nothing to stop you." The voice seemed almost frantic, but the disguising of the sound made it hard to tell.
"So be it." Coen turned and strode out of the hall, realising no argument he could make would change their mind. The silence of Sparta Station allowed his footsteps to echo all the way throughout, as he moved effortlessly to the docking bay. There waited Tsumugi Kotobuki.
"Your clearance has been revoked for access to the stations. No ships will respond to any command from you as the communication frequencies have been changed. You will be listed as missing, and potentially infected by the nomads, and if seen you will be liquidated to protect humanity. All assets you have earned through The Omicroners have been seized, including your trade vessel, your yacht, the Destroyer presented to you as a gift, as well as the Jinkusu under your command. Your accounts of Sirian credits have been donated to various charities. Kotobuki said it all without batting an eyelid and Coen took it all in.
"Thankfully, that juggernaut will never be taken from me. The crew is loyal to me, moreso than The Omicroners." Coen said it simply, like a statement of obvious fact.
"I know this. But you'll need a way to get there." Kotobuki had handed him an access card with startup codes to an Eagle in the docking bay. Taking the shuttle back to Corinth could give Coen access to his Sabre, but it took more time and effort, and there wasn't a guarantee that his ship hadn't been tampered with.
The hour was late when a lone Eagle left Sparta Station headed for Omicron Kappa. The guard patrols took no notice of it as it disappeared through the jumphole. It displayed the right IFF and scanning it showed no anomalies. In such silence and insignificance passed Sebastien Coen, into memory alone.
Kotobuki went back into the chamber where The Faceless were.
"Sebastien Coen has fled using the Eagle provided. It is likely that he will land on the Jinkusu under his control, the Ananke, and then disappear from our sight." Her report was concise.
Another person entered the darkened hall. Her face was covered, but she was not part of The Faceless. Her name was Mio Akiyama, and she was a relatively new edition to The Omicroners.
Kotobuki spoke to the group before here. "We will be sending this girl aboard the Ananke to keep us informed."
The girl and Kotobuki left The Faceless alone in their chamber.
"Did we do the right thing?" One member of the group questioned all others in the room.
"Time will tell. For now, we need him to keep some distance from us." The voice that echoed through the speakers before, spoke.
"The Akiyama girl knows the truth. She will tell Coen, if the time should ever come..." The last voice to speak at the gathering trailed off. The meeting was over. In a few hours, The Omicroners would awaken to find one of their leaders missing without a trace.
Shielded from detection, in the ice fields of Omicron Kappa, a Jinkusu opened it's doors for a lone Eagle.
Sebastien Coen walked upon the bridge and sat in the captain's chair. He sat there knowing that The Faceless would have him assassinated if he went back, and that his story would never be told. That after a few months, all he had done would be forgotten and he would have no presence in Sirius.
"I'm guessing our battlegroup will not respond to our hails?" Coen asked slowly, already knowing the answer.
"It's only been a few hours. News of the infection has not spread yet." His reasoning was solid. The Faceless would only put idea through The Omicroners in a few days time, otherwise it would be suspicious. For now, he remained missing only - as well as a head with a target on it.
"Move the Ananke to Omicron Delta, but keep us out of sight. Use whatever transports we have in our bay. We will need to take on more arms and service parts. Everything that is unessential for combat, combat-related research or keeping us alive goes." Coen had the outline of a plan for going rogue and surviving, but it wasn't fully fleshed out. He would need to adapt on the fly.
A lot of thoughts swirled in Coen's head, but the main one was that of maintaining the Jinkusu. Food from the biodomes could easily sustain the crew, and water could be recycled and purified, but keeping the combat capability of the vessel over several months, as well as keeping the fighters and transports in flyable shape would prove to be the challenge. Sending the same transports to the same station would lead to giving away the Ananke's position and leading to destruction.
For now though, he desperately needed supplies - and friends.
Over the next few hours the Ananke would gather all the supplies it could from Freeport 11 to become as self-sufficient as it could possibly hope to be. The juggernaut would fly far into and past the asteroid fields and cloud nebulas to a place only visited once before by humans and now forgotten. Lonegate would shelter Ananke when she needed it most.
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