Of Quiet Nights Long Past
Devoid region — Kisana constellation
Lisudeh system — Planet IV — Moon 4
Theology Council Tribunal station — Dr Canius’s office
5 September YC 127
“What?” I said, feeling the blood rushing to my face.
I was incredulous. I was frustrated. I was angry. That son of a bitch lied to me!
I moved menacingly towards the Doctor with my fists clenched. I was closer than ever to resorting to direct physical violence. Probably, the Doctor saw that in my face, as he tried to raise his hands in a placating gesture. Then he realised that he still held the statuette in one hand and that it looked like he was threatening to hit me with it. Canius hastily placed the statuette on the desk and babbled.
“Er… Um… Look, I did not mean to deceive you. I didn’t say that I knew where Dagan was, I just said that I knew where you could find him. I haven’t seen Dagan for ages but I’ll bet two to one that after his sojourn at Taphos’s he returned to his old ways. There is a nearby monastery where he used to live. I am sure you’ll find him there. I’ll give you the coordinates.”
I looked at the Doctor coldly, “Two to one, you say? I don’t like the odds. Let me offer you a better deal. You’ll arrange my visit to that monastery as a mission and pay me Z500,000 regardless of the outcome.”
Canius gasped, “Half a million kredits? Who do you think I am — a High Deacon? I am just a Level 1 agent and that sum is way above my authorisation limit!”
The fact that he rejected my proposal because the sum was too large told me that he was willing to bargain.
“What is you limit?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you, this information is confidential. But I can easily organise a mission with, say, Z50,000 reward.”
I snorted, “That’s not nearly enough. I’ve just retrieved a priceless artifact for you in exchange for an empty promise. Make it Z450,000.”
“It’s not really priceless,” mumbled the Doctor unconvincingly, “it’s just old. I am prepared to raise the ‘mission fee’ to Z100,000 and not a kredit more.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Dunno, ‘a pre-Codex liminality encoded in matter which witnessed the birth of Empire space lanes’ sounds pretty expensive to me. One of a kind, I understand. Okay, I’ll take Z400,000. It’s really a low price to pay for a breach of trust.”
The Doctor sounded desperate, “I’ve told you — I don’t have authority to pay that kind of money. I’ll give you Z200,000, that’s all I can do for you.”
I rubbed my chin, pretending to consider his offer, and said, “Actually, the price of the statuette is immaterial. What’s important is that you used the corporate funds to obtain an object for your personal research. There is a word for it,” I wrinkled my brow. “Misappropriation? Embezzlement? Fraud? To be honest, legalese is not my forte but I am sure that the corp’s lawyers will find an appropriate term for it. So now you can choose what will happen in 15 minutes’ time – either you will hear the corp security banging on your door, or you will wave me good-bye as I undock to embark on a dangerous mission to visit the monastery which will cost the Tribunal a mere Z375,000. This is my last offer.”
Doctor Canius went pale and wrung his hands, “You can’t do this to me!”
I grinned evilly, “I can. And I will.”
“Alright, alright. I can match your price but only with a time bonus.”
I shrugged, “As long as it’s a standard timeframe, 5-6 hours, I don’t mind.”
Canius tapped the conditions on his datapad and handed it to me. I checked the numbers and saw that the time bonus was Z171,000, making the total fee Z4,000 short of the agreed price. I gave the agent a reproachful look but signed the contract nonetheless.
Devoid region — Kisana constellation
Lisudeh system — Mission location
What Doctor Canius called “a monastery” turned out to be a veritable space station. It was surrounded by a gas cloud which meant that it was uninhabited.
I cursed, “Damn, Dagan is not here. This place was abandoned ages ago.”
“Could there still be Dagan’s personal effects which might indicate his current whereabouts?” asked Aura.
“Even if there are any,” I grunted, “it will take weeks to scour this ruin. I’ll need to hire a search party.”
“Like this one?” Aura smiled pointing at the Overview.
The window showed the strangest fleet I’ve ever seen. It consisted of frigates from all four empires — Rifter, Condor, Tristan, Inquisitor — which did not fit into any fleet doctrine.
“Who are those guys?” I asked, frowning.
“Scavs,” said Aura. “They fly whatever they can make fly.”
“And you reckon they’ll agree to search the monastery for me?”
“Oh, for sure,” Aura said. “They probably already did.”
I squinted my eyes, “How do you know so much about scavengers?”
“Oh, haven’t you watched that holo-show called ‘Zora-Zazora and the Scavs’? In every episode, Zora…” Aura started enthusiastically.
I groaned, “Okay, okay, I’ve got the idea.”
Aura, looking slightly offended, muttered, “It’s a cool show.”
“I’m sure it is. Let’s just ask these people if they can be of any help.”
I opened the local channel and said, “Good day, gentlemen. I believe I have an interesting business proposition for you.”
An unshaven individual with a cybernetic eye implant appeared on the screen.
“Interesting, you say? Spill it, guv.”
I explained what I was looking for and asked if they had found anything like it.
“Nah, we haven’t started on this piece of space junk yet,” said the guy whom I took for the scavs leader. “But we can look out for any possessions of that… what’s his name?”
“Dagan,” I said.
“Yeah, Dagan. It will cost you though. We’ll sell you his stuff for, say, 10,000 ISK.”
“Deal,” I said hastily.
The price was laughable and I hurried to agree to it before he changed his mind.
“Alright, guv. Come back in a week’s time.”
I sighed and mumbled, “There goes my time bonus”.
But it couldn’t be helped — it was a really large structure which would take time to explore. I gave the scavs my contact number and returned to Theology Council Tribunal station.
11 September YC 127
Six days later, I got a call from the scavengers and hurried to the abandoned monastery in my destroyer. The same guy I talked to before contacted me in local.
“Morning, guv. I’ve got good news and bad news for you,” he said.
“Hit me with the bad one first,” I said, wincing.
“Okay, the bad news is that someone has already been through this wreck and took all the valuable stuff. All that was left for us is pretty much scrap metal.”
“Can’t see any good news in scrap metal.”
“Oh, but there is. One of the metal pieces turned out to be a safe. My guys spent almost a week trying to open it and finally succeeded. In the end, it was not worth the effort — there was just a handful of credits, nothing too valuable. But, I reckon, you, guv, can actually make it worth our while. Look what else was there.”
The scavenger produced a folded piece of paper and showed me the bottom half which had Dagan’s signature. The text was mostly obscured by his hand but what I could see was not written in a language I knew.
“Is that all you found?” I asked.
“I’ve told you, guv, everything else is bare metal.”
“All right, a deal is a deal. I’ll pay you 10,000 ISK for it.”
The scav smiled slyly, “When I said you could make it worth our while, I didn’t mean the puny 10 thousand. We spent a lot of time trying to get this paper and didn’t get anything on top of it. If this ruin was intact, it would be a different story — the document would be just one thing among many which we could sell. Now, it appears it’s the only thing we can sell, and as such, its price has to be much higher. Considering what we could get in six days, I am ready to sell it to you for 10 million kredits.”
I shook my head angrily, “That’s not what we agreed on. You said you would sell all Dagan’s stuff to me for 10,000 ISK. You can’t break your promise now.”
The scavenger nodded solemnly, “You know what? I agree. Selling this document to you for 10 million would be dishonest.” Then he winked and folded the paper, “On the other hand, if I sell it to someone else for that sum, it will be good business.”
I had had enough of his games.
“You will sell this document to me for 10 grand, or…” I said, and targeted his ship.
The scav scoffed, “Really, guv? You might be flying a dessy but there are seven of us. Don’t start what you can’t finish.”
I fired.
If they were capsuleers in properly fitted frigates, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But their combat skills were rudimentary and their ships were bolted together from whatever materials they managed to scrape up. In the end, I spent less than Z10K in Spike ammo to destroy the whole flotilla. Then, I approached the scavs leader’s wreck and extracted the document from his cold, dead hands.