Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
18 December YC 126
It was five o’clock in the morning when I was woken up by a call from Purkkoken Honuken. Since I started working with him on security missions I whitelisted his number, and he could call me any time.
“Where is the fire?” I asked him, yawning.
“Vlad, I need you to deliver something very urgently,” replied Purkkoken, sounding desperate.
When I heard that, I considered blacklisting him. Scowling, I grumbled, “You know I don’t do distribution contracts, or is it again one of your brilliant ideas which will land me in the middle of an angry mob of pirates?”
“No, no, it’s a real transportation contract, and it’s not for me. A friend of mine from State and Region Bank reached out for help. He needs someone to do a delivery in the next hour, but none of his contractors is available. I wouldn’t call you but there is literally a person’s life on the line.”
“But I don’t have a hauler,” I pointed out.
“You don’t need one. The cargo is not big, it should fit into your Cormorant.”
I gave Purkkoken a heavy look, “Okay, I expect that at least the pay will be good for such an urgent ‘life-and-death’ mission.”
Purkkoken winced, “The payment isn’t that high, but this mission isn’t about money. Trust me, if you complete it successfully, it will do more to your reputation than all the missions you ran for me.”
That was intriguing. I grudgingly acceded, and a minute later I was running toward the docks.
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Nourvukaiken system – Planet VI
Moon 2 – State and Region Bank Depository Station
When I arrived to the pickup location, Ueda Uesharas, a distribution agent for State and Region Bank, was already waiting for me in the dock.
“Thank you so much for getting here at such a short notice, Mr Korff,” Ueda greeted me effusively, “the cargo is ready. You need to move it to Caldari Constructions Warehouse station at Ekura 7-14.”
“Nice to meet you too, Mr Uesharas,” I replied politely, “Do you care to explain what this is all about?”
“I will, I will, Mr Korff,” cried the agent, “but not now. We can’t waste a minute. I will give you full details when you return, but please deliver this cargo as soon as possible.”
It didn’t smell right – the urgency, the lack of detail, the promise of reputation boost for a trivial haul. Given the contract was official, I didn’t expect to be involved in something illegal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was waylaid on my way. On the other hand, I had seven guns…
I nodded, “Alright, Mr Uesharas, let’s get cracking.”
After boarding the capsule, first thing I did I asked Aura to check the cargo while I was undocking.
“There are 10 crates of something called Quantrium Wiring, 30 cubic metres each,” reported Aura.
I initiated a warp to Tsuguwa gate, and asked, “Expensive?”
“Don’t know. It’s not traded in Lonetrek.”
“What about the contracts?”
While Aura was checking the contracts, we arrived to the gate and jumped to Tsuguwa system.
Aura shook her head, “Nope, not in the contracts either.”
I initiated a warp to Ekura gate and mused, “Not traded, not in the contracts, but someone badly needs it delivered in double quick time. Any idea what it is used for?”
“All I could find on GalNet was that it is extremely rare, hard to mine, and Kaalakiota is a monopolist. And yes, it is expensive.”
I chewed my lip, “So we are hauling very expensive metal mined by Kaalakiota, on behalf of the S&R Bank to an unknown recipient. This sounds too much cloak-and-dagger to me. Even if we get safely to the destination, I wouldn’t rule out a possibility of a later attempt to get rid of us because we know too much.”
Aura snorted, “A fat lot of good that will do them. You are capsuleer! If anyone shoots you, you’ll just wake up in a new clone with a full memory of this transaction.”
I sighed, “I haven’t told you, Aura, but there were precedents. For all I know, I may be on my last clone right now.”
With those thoughts I jumped to Ekura. I was apprehensive on my way to Caldari Constructions Warehouse, even checked D-scan a few times, but Ekura was as quiet as a high-security system could be. When I docked at the station, I didn’t leave the pod and used an automated stevedore system to unload the cargo, all the while visually monitoring the process. Then I asked Aura to analyse video feeds from all our CCTV cameras from the moment we docked, and to check for any suspicious activity. Only when I confirmed that there were no stowaways or unexpected objects in the ship, I undocked and returned to the Bank Depository in Nourvukaiken. I was really keen to find out what mess did Purkkoken get me into this time.
When I walked into Uesharas’s office he was talking to someone on his commlink. He gestured at a chair, and continued his conversation.
“Yes, Mr Tovilainen. Yes, she is back in the hotel. Our security personnel has already made contact with her. Yes, we are organising transportation back to hi-sec. Not at all, Mr Tovilainen, just doing my job. Thank you, Mr Tovilainen, same to you.”
The agent hung up and slumped in his chair. Then he remembered that he had a visitor, sat up and his face once again acquired a fixed expression of polite attention.
“Excuse me, Mr Korff, for my lack of decorum – it was a long night,” he said apologetically.
Uesharas looked like he was through the wringer, and I decided to change my approach to the upcoming conversation. Instead of asking a series of sharp questions, I smiled warmly and said, “Not to worry, Mr Uesharas. You can call me Vlad.”
The agent relaxed and, accepting my offer to be on a first-name basis, replied simply, “Ueda.”
“Nice to meet you, Ueda. So, how about going to a nearby cafe where you can tell me all I am allowed to know about this mission?”
Ueda shook his head, “I am afraid I can’t go into any details outside this office, the matter is too delicate. But let me order a delivery.”
He entered an order on his terminal and turned to me, “What would you like to know?”
I shrugged, “You have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know what I don’t know. Just start from the beginning and I’ll ask questions to fill the gaps.”
The agent thought for a moment, looked at his watch and started talking, “About 15 hours ago, a prominent Caldari industrialist, CEO of a large scrap metal corporation, received a call from his chief of security who told him that his daughter was kidnapped.”
“Let me guess,” interrupted I, “that corporation is called Tovilainen Salvage Dynamics.”
Ueda smiled wryly, “Of course, you overheard my conversation when you entered the room, so there’s no point in hiding this from you. Yes, it was Hikaru Tovilainen, CEO of TSD. His daughter was on holidays with her classmates. She told her parents that they would go shopping to The Perimeter but, as it turned out, they headed to Tama, a low-sec system famous for its ‘vibrant night life’. The girl’s classmates said that they were leaving a night club when an unregistered vehicle stopped next to them, then masked men jumped out of it, grabbed the girl, threw her into the car and sped away. Mr Tovilainen hoped it was some kind of prank, but his worst fears realised when he was contacted by a notorious band of slavers. They sent his daughter’s DNA sequence to prove that they had her, and demanded a ransom.”
I nodded sympathetically, “I can only imagine the shock experienced by Mr Tovilainen. One thing I don’t understand though is how your bank got involved in this incident.”
“There were a few factors that made our participation desirable. Firstly, TSD is one of our largest customers, and we are happy to go an extra mile to strengthen the relationship. Secondly, our office is next door to Tama, and we are able to deploy our security personnel there very quickly. Finally, this station hosts a depository used by our clients to keep their valuables. When people think about bank depositories, they typically imagine small drawers which contain gems and securities. But when you deal with large corporations, you have to scale the operations accordingly. As it happened, TSD stored their entire stockpile of quantrium in our depository, and that was exactly what the kidnappers requested as a ransom. On top of that, we also have our distribution service, represented here by yours truly, which could be used to move the goods, and which would have failed miserably if not for your help.”
I nodded, “I see. Yes, it makes sense. By the way, that quantrium, what is it used for? And what does it cost?”
“Quantrium has a very niche application – it is used exclusively in the wiring of electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment of the Caldari Navy’s Rook-class combat reconnaissance ships. As to the cost, sorry, it’s confidential. The metal is not traded on open market, and its price is set by the direct agreement between TSD and Caldari Navy.”
I frowned, “Then I don’t understand why the slavers demanded quantrium as ransom. They can’t sell it on the market, and I don’t expect Caldari Navy to deal with criminals. What possible profit can they extract from it?”
Ueda smiled enigmatically and leaned toward me, “And where do you think Guristas get quantrium for their ECM equipment?”
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
As I was returning home from my first ever distribution mission, Neocom showed a notification of the standings change. I opened the window and whistled in surprise, “Look, Aura, we’ve got standings increase from Caldari State!”
Purkkoken was right – none of the missions he assigned to me ever resulted in my improved standing with the State.
Aura nodded appreciatively, “That Tovilainen guy carries some real clout in exalted circles,” and then chuckled, “you are going up in the world, Vlad.”
“Mmm… not in the world, just in the State. If you look, for example, at my standings with Guristas, they actually went down although I can’t imagine why. If anything, they should be happy that I facilitated the transaction which will replenish their stock of quantrium.”
“Oh, haters will hate,” said Aura airily, “As you can see from the last mission, these days you can’t even deliver a parcel without offending someone.”