Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
11 September YC 128
I was feeling pretty good after the exploration outing. Whistling a theme song from one of the holo-shows, I walked out of the docks and headed towards The Voidwatcher bar. After I had done something useful, the visit to the bar felt like an earned reward rather than frittering away my life.
As I sauntered along the corridor, my eye caught a familiar face — standing near the wall and typing something furiously on her commlink was no other than Ozanero Voiras, Caldari Navy Level 2 Security Agent, who sent me chasing Dagan 18 months ago. She looked busy, so I thought I would not distract her by greetings. But as I was about to pass her, Ozanero lifted her eyes from the commlink and noticed me. A polite, professional smile appeared on her face.
“Captain Vladimir Korff!” she said, looking pleased. “It’s been a while since I saw you last time. How are you doing?”
“I am well. How are you?”
“Oh, you know, busy as always. By the way, I have found a new coffee blend that you absolutely must try.”
Ozanero was a coffee afficionado and I always enjoyed trying new blends that she collected from all over New Eden.
“I would love to,” I said, “but it’s a bit late for a coffee.”
“Haha, I didn’t mean now. Drop by tomorrow at any time. You know I start early.”
I did know that she started early, sometimes inconveniently so. I also had a suspicion that it was not a purely social invitation — with agents it never was. Nevertheless, I thanked Ozanero and promised to see her in the morning.
Oznero Voiras’s office
12 September YC 128
It was never a good idea to break a deal with an agent, be it a mission or a simple promise. So next day, not too early, around 10 am, I was sitting in Ozanero Voiras’s office making small talk while she was making coffee.
“I am glad that you finally decided to return to active duty,” said Ozanero as she poured coffee into my cup.
“How do you know?” I asked. “Was it my jumpsuit that gave me away?”
Ozanero smiled, “I don’t think I will reveal a secret if I say that, as a security agent, I have access to all undocking logs and I keep an eye on all my contractors. You could have been dressed in a tuxedo but I know that your Buzzard left the station yesterday at 21:30.”
I narrowed my eyes, “Lemme guess — as a security agent, in addition to undocking logs, you also have access to all docking logs, right?”
“Naturally,” the agent replied nonchalantly but her voice was just a half-tone higher than usual.
“And, come to think of it, I’ve never seen you anywhere near the docks. Were you waiting for me there?”
Ozanero looked with a benevolent reproach at me, “Surely, Captain, you know that my work does not leave me much time to greet every capsuleer when they dock at our station.”
“Uh-huh,” I said with a knowing but sympathetic smile. “Desperate?”
The agent managed to keep her cheerful expression for a second or two, then she dropped it and kind of deflated. Instead of a Caldari Navy poster girl, I saw a tired, overworked woman.
She sighed and nodded, “Desperate. Oh, Vlad, you have no idea what the last three months were like for me. Ever since the CEP announced State Corridor military campaign, I lost all my regular contractors. I simply don’t have a budget to compete with the rewards offered to the campaigners by the State. But someone still has to do the BAU — fight pirates, catch spies, cull the rogue drones. Look, I wouldn’t bother you if there was a Gallente spy — they come and go, and the intel is likely to become obsolete before they can take action on it. But what we are facing now is a real emergency — our convoys are being attacked, people are dying as we speak. We must stop it, and I have to find a contractor, whatever it takes.”
I thought about my last three months and squirmed — there was nothing to write home about and, honestly, I could find a better use for all the time I spent in bars, restaurants and theatres.
“Why didn’t you call me earlier?” I asked.
A faint smile appeared on Ozanero’s face, “To be honest, Vlad, I forgot about you. As you didn’t leave the station, you simply slid off my radar. I’ve told you that I kept an eye on my contractors — what it meant was that I was watching their departures and arrivals. You did neither for almost a year.”
I sighed and rubbed my face, “I didn’t. Anyway, let’s talk about your emergency.”
Ozanero brought me my cup of coffee, sat in a chair and tapped her datapad. The holoprojector showed a solar system with 10 planets. Dozens of red dots were scattered across the map; some were clustered near the celestials and some formed lines between them.
“The system is Airkio,” said the agent. “The red dots are all the places where terrorists have attacked civilian vessels. They never do it near the gates or stations, where our sentry guns are deployed. The bandits either intercept the ships in transit or near unguarded celestials.”
I frowned, “How can they intercept ships in transit? One needs to deploy a mobile warp disruptor to pull a ship out of the warp tunnel, and they are banned in the empire space.”
Ozanero looked at me sardonically, “Not every individual or corporation can afford the capacitors that you, capsuleers, use on your ships. Most baseliner ships come with cheap, small caps that can warp the vessel a few AUs at a time. After each warp they just coast until the capacitor recharges, and then warp again. Knowing the ship model, it is quite easy to calculate where it will emerge from the warp tunnel and organise an ambush.”
“Okay, but how did the Navy get involved? I believe there is a Lai Dai Protection Service base in Airkio. Why don’t they take care of the problem?”
“Oh, they are trying but there is only so much they can do. They send patrols along the main trade routes but,” Ozanero waved her hand at the system image, “as you can imagine, they are spread thin. The Lai Dai police force is designed to protect stationary assets like orbital stations and planetary factories; they were never expected to handle a system-wide incursion.”
“So what do you want me to do? Escort a ship? Patrol a space laneway?” I asked.
“No,” the agent smiled, “your services are too expensive for this kind of work.” She zoomed in the system projection and pointed her finger at a lonely yellow dot. “I want you to attack their base.”