Encapsulated

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Automation Impediment – Part IV

Data Retrieval

Everyshore region – Chasnaye constellation
Harerget system – Planet V – Moon 1
CreoDron Factory station

27 April YC 127

Having transferred the rescued scientists to CreoDron security, I headed to Delphine Xarasier’s office. When I pulled the door, I heard strange sounds coming from her room. Carefully peeking inside I discovered Delphine sitting in a guest chair with a commlink in her lap, crying.

I closed the door and asked in a gentle tone, “Delphine, what happened?”

The agent raised her head, saw me and suddenly burst out of the chair spilling the commlink on the floor. In a split second she crossed the distance between us and… hugged me tight, burying her face against my chest. Taken aback I stood there not knowing what to do.

Struggling with tears, Delphine managed to say, “She, she is dead.”

“Who is dead?” I asked.

“As-as-pasia,” she stammered and was overcome by a bout of sobs.

My heart fell. Something went wrong with the rescue mission, and Delphine had lost her friend. I felt for her but I didn’t know what to say, I was never good at condolences. Then I did an absolutely unprofessional but otherwise the only right thing in the circumstances – I returned Delphine’s hug and just silently stood there with her. I don’t know if she expected any kind of soothing words from me, but I felt that a human touch, just being there for her, was worth a thousand words.

It took a while for Delphine to calm down. I just waited patiently until her sobs subsided and she was able to speak again.

“Thank you,” she said hoarsely, sniffling and wiping her face with a handkerchief.

I led her to the guest chair, then picked up her commlink from the floor and handed it to her. She accepted it silently, as she was staring in the distance, still consumed by grief.

“You need a rest, Delphine,” I said gently. “Let me take you home.”

She shook her head defiantly, “No time. I need to send you on a new mission.”

Then she proceeded telling me what happened while I was dismantling the Serpentis lab. CreoDron sent a light corvette to intercept the transport which carried Aspasia. Unfortunately, the transport turned out to be a military vessel in disguise – it had concealed rocket launchers – and attacked the corvette. In the ensuing fight both ships were destroyed.

“Damn!” I exclaimed. “I should have pursued that transport straight away!”

“What difference would it make?” Delphine asked.

“They would have thought twice before attacking a destroyer.”

“Would they?” Delphine scoffed bitterly. “Doesn’t matter now. What matters is that at the time of the kidnapping Aspasia had her datapad with her. It contains all her research notes on the datacore that Alitura sent us. You need to go to the battle site and retrieve it.”

“But it was most likely destroyed during the explosion.”

“The datapad itself, yes, but it had a military-grade datacore which was designed to survive extreme conditions, just like black boxes. The datacore can be detected by an RFID scanner and recognised by a standard ship Overview as a lootable object. I’ll send the datacore signature to your navigation AI. She should be able to add it to the Overview database.”

“She certainly is,” I said. “But are you sure you don’t want a break?”

“I won’t rest until you retrieve Aspasia’s notes,” Delphine said resolutely. “And, Vlad… I must warn you – you won’t be the only one looking for them. I have reports that a pirate fleet is heading toward the transport wreck. And I have a favour to ask you… Well, first of all, stay safe. But if you can…” her eyes glistened, and she took a deep breath, “make them pay!”

I gave her a reassuring smile, “That’s what I do best. I can also transport datacores, but it’s just a side job.”

---

Everyshore region – Chasnaye constellation
Harerget system – Mission location

When I arrived to the battlefield there were already five frigates circling the wreck of the transport ship.

“Hmm.. Those are not Serpentis ships,” Aura noticed.

I looked at the classification labels and saw that all the ships were named Gistii.

“You are right,” I said, “these aren’t Serpentis, these are Guardian Angels.”

“Does it change our plans?”

I gave her my best evil smile, “Not at all. Let’s cut their wings!”

Gistii Impaler

Gistii Ruffian

Gistii Nomad

The bastards didn’t stand a chance. All they could do in response to the Spike barrage I unleashed on them from a safe distance was increasing my signature radius with a target painter. A fat lot of good it did them as they died before they could get close enough to fire at me. Still, they had enough time to raise an alarm and call for reinforcements.

Gistior Defacer

The next wing that arrived on the grid had two destroyers supported by three frigates. I guess their logic was simple – two of their destroyers were stronger than one of mine – but that kind of arithmetic didn’t work when you faced capsuleers. One would have thought that the pirates learned from previous encounters with capsuleers and would send at least a battlecruiser to fight a destroyer but there you go. Anyway, to cut long story short, three volleys was all I needed to blow up each of Gistior Defacers. Then I mopped up the frigates and… received a second wave of reinforcements led by Gistum Predator, a cruiser-class Angel Forward Scout.

Angel Forward Scout

I smiled sadly and said, “This isn’t going to be any kind of compensation for the loss of Dr Aspasia Castille’s life, but a pirate cruiser looks like a decent tribute that these assholes are about to pay.”

The Predator was much tougher than the Defacers but, like them, it couldn’t get close enough to ‘predate’. I just orbited the hapless pirate at 80 km and kept firing at it from my one-fifties. Forty seconds and thirteen volleys later it was all over. One might say that 91 Spike charges was a decent amount to spend on one ship, but so was the 43,125 ISK bonus that I got for killing it, to say nothing about that dark satisfying feeling of an accomplished revenge I experienced when I saw the explosion.

I didn’t care if the pirates were going to send more reinforcements and headed full-speed to the wreck of the transport ship, casually destroying the remaining frigates on my way. Apparently, the loss of the cruiser made someone at Angels’ headquarters reassess the danger I represented, and they decided to leave me alone. I reached the wreck unmolested and activated the scanner. Soon the overview singled out an object labelled “Dr Castille’s Data Core (Property of CreoDron)”. I activated the tractor beam and dragged a small metal box with bits of molten plastic on it into my cargo hold.

Transport Wreck

“Um… may I check the contents of this data core?” Aura asked trying to hide excitement in her voice.

“Better not,” I said. “For all I know, it may be protected from unauthorised access and will erase the contents if you try to hack it. Let’s bring it back to Delphine and let her inspect it.”

“Fair enough,” Aura agreed reluctantly, and warped us back to the CreoDron station.

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Automation Impediment – Part V

Crossing Enemy Lines

Everyshore region – Chasnaye constellation
Harerget system – Planet V – Moon 1
CreoDron Factory station

27 April YC 127

“I’ve found it,” I said, handing the scorched datacore to Delphine.

She accepted it as if it was a treasure, and said hesitantly, “And… was there anything else?”

I guessed she was asking about Dr Castille’s remains, and shook my head, “The explosion was really violent. There were hardly any debris larger than this datacore.”

Delphine nodded and asked, “And the pirates?”

“Terminated.”

Tears glistened in Delphine’s eyes, as she came to me a kissed me on a cheek.

“Thank you, Vlad. Thank you for everything.”

I was embarrassed and mumbled something like “I was just doing my job.”

The agent returned to her table and said, “Now we have all the information we need to work on both our problems. I’ll put my whole team on resolving them. Without Aspasia, ” she paused and swallowed hard, “it will probably take more time but we’ll get there. I have a good team.”

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” I asked.

“No. You’ve done your job in space, now it’s time to do ours in the lab.”

She promised to keep me updated. There was nothing else to do, so I left her to her work and went out to find a place to stay.

The days went by and Delphine sent me daily messages informing me on the progress. Eventually, her reports became less and less frequent. When I hadn’t received anything from her for five days, I gave her a call. She explained that they hit a blocker in their investigation and said they would need a week to resolve it. Seven days later she asked me to wait for another week. Finally, I got an invitation to visit Delphine in her office.

---

5 June YC 127

When I entered the agent’s room, I was taken aback by her appearance. She looked like she aged ten years in the last five weeks. Delphine greeted me with a weary smile and invited to sit down.

She rubbed her tired eyes and said, “I wish we had Aspasia with us.”

“I am sorry,” I said. “You must be missing her terribly.”

“I am but that’s not what I meant. Without her we had hard time analysing the abnormal drone behaviour.”

“So, you made no progress?”

“We did, but not enough to find all the answers, and now we are stuck,” she sighed.

I felt a heavy weight on my chest which suffocated me. I had high hopes that the celebrated CreoDron team would crack the mystery of the destroyed Damsel, but now they were cruelly dashed. Losing Dr Castille at the critical time was a blow from which CreoDron’s R&D team did not recover.

I stood up and took a deep breath, “That’s it, then?”

“I am afraid, it is” the agent said.

I nodded sadly and extended my hand for a final handshake. Instead of taking it, Delphine suddenly locked her arm with mine and said with a smile, “Let me accompany you to the docks, Captain, before I bid you my farewell.”

Bemused by an unexpected gesture, I said, “Why not?” and we walked together to the dock where Kaukokärki was berthed. During our perambulation Delphine expressed a great interest in my Cormorant and asked a few pretty technical questions about its electrical grid. The only reason I knew the answers was my study of Caldari Destroyers in which I achieved the highest level. I was surprised at the agent’s interest which lay outside of her professional sphere – Cormorants were not drone boats – but didn’t mind replying. After all, it was public knowledge which anyone with enough money and time could acquire.

When we arrived to the dock, Delphine asked me to show her the ship from the inside. I led her in and, as soon as we entered the lounge, she turned to me and said earnestly, “Vlad, I have one final mission for you.”

I can’t say it was totally unexpected. In my experience, if an agent takes interest in one’s ship and asks for a guided tour, it means they want to talk in private, away from the company surveillance, which is ubiquitous in company-owned stations.

“But before I give you the details, I suggest you collect your belongings from the hotel and settle your account there,” she continued and, answering to my enquiring look, added, “I don’t expect you to return to CreoDron after this mission.”

I chuckled, “This sounds menacing.”

“Don’t worry, the mission is not dangerous. Not for you, at least. But I expect that you will have to relocate to complete it. Anyway, off you go, I’ll wait for you here.”

Delphine’s strangely enthusiastic tone gave me hope that not all was lost. I hurried to the hotel, packed my things and returned to the ship.

“All right, Mademoiselle Xarasier, I am all ears,” I said, dropping myself into an armchair.

The agent produced a small datacore from her pocket and handed it to me.

“You will fly to CreoDron Factory orbiting Planet VIII Moon 1 and give this datacore to my colleague, Dr. Eliane Viremont.”

“What’s on the core?” I asked suspiciously.

Delphine gave a nonchalant one-shoulder shrug and said, “My favourite playlist of synth-pop songs. Eliane has been asking for it for ages, but with all those drone problems I could never find time to send it to her. CreoDron will pay you 246,000 ISK for your trouble.”

I looked at her incredulously, “You are saying that a leading Gallente drone manufacturer is ready to pay a quarter million ISK for an intra-system transfer of a datacore with music on it?”

The agent looked me in the eye and said earnestly, “No, CreoDron will think that I am sending a top-secret research report to another lab, which justifies the cost.”

“Delphine, what’s going on?” I asked, bewildered. “It sounds like you are embezzling the company funds using your trusted position of an agent. I mean, why? Do you expect a kickback? Is it why you didn’t want to talk about it in the office?”

After a long pause, Delphine’s lips started quivering. She pressed them together and I thought she was about to cry but instead she burst out laughing.

“Oh, Vlad,” she gasped, wiping out tears from her eyes, “you should have seen your face.”

I didn’t see anything funny, so I just patiently waited for explanations.

“You see,” Delphine said, smiling, “I don’t need to send Eliane music on a datacore – it can easily be transferred by GalNet. I was just joking. But neither I have a report to send to another lab. Still, I have a mission which I can’t openly give you and, yes, I am embezzling company funds to pay for it. If the mission is successful, then it will be the money well spent.”

“So, what’s the mission?” I asked curiously.

“First of all, you’ll need to go to planet VIII and deliver the datacore.”

I looked at the agent reproachfully – that joke was getting old.

The agent shrugged, “If you want the money, you’ll have to turn up at that station for the record. You real mission will be…” she checked herself. “Just to be clear, what I tell you now is between you and me. Understand?”

“Sure,” I agreed, “as long as it doesn’t hurt Caldari interests.”

“Funny you should say that. The mission will, in fact, benefit the State. You see, I have a friend in Caldari space. I met him when he was a post-graduate student supervised by my father. Unfortunately, it was at the time when hostilities between the State and the Federation flared up. As he was a Caldari citizen, his clearance was revoked, and he returned to the State. We’ve kept in touch and I know that his research team at Hyasyoda is at least as strong as mine. Probably stronger now,” she added sadly.

“Hyasyoda,” I mused. “Who would have thought? They are not exactly known for their drone development. They are a resource corporation.”

“They are indeed. And that is why they are very interested in having efficient mining drones. Immuri – that’s my friend’s name – says that Hyasyoda wants to develop their own drone manufacturing capability to get an edge over the competitors. And this is where our interests, or rather troubles, overlap. Immuri said that their experimental drones also started experiencing strange problems akin to ours.”

“Wait a moment!” I interrupted the agent. “You keep talking about your drone problems, but what about my datacore problem? The datacore which I brought to you from Alitura?”

“Ah,” Delphine smiled, “that’s where things get interesting. In my opinion, they are the same problem. If we solve one, we solve the other.”

That sounded suspicious. I developed a certain level of trust in Delphine, but I couldn’t discount the probability that she was using me to achieve her own goals.

“Care to explain?” I asked in a neutral tone.

“Remember the corrupted drone parts that you brought to me from the first mission? They contained microcontrollers which were not there when the drones left our lab. To my knowledge, they are not produced by any corporation in New Eden and their design is… how to describe it?.. inhuman.”

“Inhuman?”

“Yes, it does not look manufactured. You are familiar, I assume, with how we grow crystals in labs?”

I nodded.

“Now, imagine that the whole microcontroller was grown like that. I just can’t see how else it could have been produced. In manufacturing, you have a modular design where each part has its own function. The MCs that we analysed had those functions all over the place, like muscles or nerves. The controlling code, for example, was spread through the whole body of the device. That is why it took us so long to extract it in a coherent form.”

“Have you analysed it? Do you know what it does?”

Delphine shook her head, “No, that’s where we got stuck. I hope Immuri can help us decode it.”

“But how is it connected to my datacore?”

“Well,” the agent said with a strange look in her eyes, “your datacore contained exactly the same code that we found in the microcontrollers.”

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Automation Impediment – Part VI

Everyshore region – Chasnaye constellation
Harerget system – Planet V – Moon 1
CreoDron Factory station

5 June YC 127

Delphine looked at me expectantly, waiting for the penny to drop. It didn’t. I felt stupid.

“Erm…” I said, “You need to unpack it for me.”

“Don’t you see,” the agent said impatiently, “someone, or something, was grafting microcontrollers onto our drones. You have found a datacore which contains the code with which those microcontrollers were programmed. It’s quite possible that your datacore is the source of that code. If Immuri can find out where the code came from, we will know who, or what, was present at the site where the Damsel was destroyed.”

It made sense, now that she explained. There was one thing that caught my attention, though.

“Why did you say ‘or something’ and ‘or what’?” I asked.

“I told you that the design of the microcontrollers was inhuman. I have a strong suspicion that the modifications to our drones were made by other drones.”

“You mean, rogue drones?”

Delphine was silent for a while, then looked me in the eye and said, “They may not be rogue.”

This time, she didn’t need to draw me a map, for me to realise the implications of such discovery.

I gasped, “Is there anyone still stupid enough to experiment with uncontrolled AI evolution? Didn’t they learn their lesson from the rogue drone example?”

“Maybe they think they have control. But anyway, it’s just a conjecture. I hope we’ll learn more when Immuri’s team analyses the code.”

“Talking of which, how are you going to send the information to him?”

“You will deliver it. I have already ordered to transfer the strange datacore to your cargo hold.”

“What about your research and the code you found in the microcontrollers?”

The agent gave me a confident smile, “You will deliver it too but in a different way. All you need to do is dock at the Immuri’s station and he will take care of it.”

I looked at her suspiciously and said with a warning in my tone, “Delphine?”

“Don’t you worry about it,” she replied nonchalantly. “I can’t officially share the results of our investigation with a Caldari corporation, so I have to use some unconventional methods. The less you know about them the better.”

I sighed and said, “Aura?”

A screen in the lounge lit up and started showing footage from internal surveillance cameras. It started from the moment when I left the ship to collect my possessions from the hotel. The recording showed Delphine stand up and walk to one of the service corridors. There she opened a hatch leading to the power grid cable tunnels and put something inside. She then closed the hatch and returned to the lounge.

The video was a montage of streams from several CCTV cams, which Aura put together for this demonstration in short time. In fact, she informed me of Delphine’s suspicious activity while I was en route to the hotel, and I asked her to put together a summary. She did it masterfully.

“Thank you, Aura,” I said and turned to sheepish looking Delphine. I pointed toward the service corridor and bowed with a reproachful grimace, “After you.”

We walked to the hatch where Delphine extracted a small datacore and handed it to me.

“It was just to protect you,” she said apologetically. “If Gallente customs detected this datacore in your ship, you could honestly say you knew nothing about it.”

“I can take care of myself. For me, it’s much more important to have confidence in my ship. I don’t want to discover any surprises in the middle of a combat.”

“But it’s just a datacore!”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said firmly. “It’s a question of principle.”

I pocketed the datacore and we returned to the lounge.

“Anything else I need to know before I depart?” I asked with a touch of sarcasm.

Delphine shook her head silently.

“Then it’s a farewell,” I said and approached her for the last handshake.

She didn’t take my hand but instead hugged me tight and pecked me on a cheek. I returned the hug and patted her on the shoulder.

Her eyes glistening suspiciously, Delphine whispered, “Stay safe,” then quickly disengaged from me and walked to the exit.

I stood rooted to the spot, overcome by mixed feelings.

After some indeterminate time I heard Aura pretend to clear her throat and say, “That was… emotional.”

I took a deep breath and said, “Yeah… it was.”

There was a lot to mull over – not only in my interactions with Delphine but during my entire sojourn in Gallente space – but I decided to leave it for later as there was work to be done. I went to the cargo hold and confirmed that the strange datacore was there.

“It’s all yours,” I told Aura, “at least, until we arrive to Immuri’s station.”

“Yay!” Aura cheered. “And don’t forget to deliver Delphine’s playlist to Dr. Viremont.”

“That will buy you a few minutes,” I laughed.

“Who knows, maybe more?” she said with an enigmatic smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if Dr Viremont is as attractive as Mademoiselle Xarasier, you may decide to invite her for dinner.”

“Aura!” I cried in mock indignation. “It ill behoves a young lady like you to make such innuendoes.”

Aura giggled and disappeared from the screen. Obviously, she couldn’t wait to lay her hands on the mysterious datacore.

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets – Part I

6 June YC 127

Immuri was stationed at Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery in Hatakani, just eight jumps away from Harerget. Aura plotted a route and we started the usual warp-and-jump routine. As soon as we jumped from Unel to Tennen, something has almost imperceptibly changed, like a tension that I was not aware of suddenly went away. I held my breath, trying to comprehend the sensation. The seconds ticked away, the gate cloak expired, but I was still floating in the pod goo, mesmerised by the unusual feeling. Then Aura’s concerned voice broke my reverie.

“Hey, Cap, are you OK?”

“Um… Do you feel it?” I asked.

“Feel what?”

“The change. Something’s changed after the last jump.”

“Well, a lot of things have changed: the star, the constellation, the region, the empire…”

“Wait,” I interrupted her, “did you say ’empire’?”

“Yep, we are now officially in Caldari space.”

“That’s it! Now I know what I felt – I felt I was… home.”

“Home?” Aura asked, wrinkling her brow. “Do you mean you were born here, in Tennen?”

“No, I mean the State. I am back in the State which is my home.”

“A-a-and,” Aura drawled, “you somehow ‘felt’ it. Are you sure it was not the sight of that huge Caldari-designed star gate that made you all gooey?”

“No, I am not sentimental about it. It just feels… comfortable. Like putting on an old pair of shoes which fit you perfectly.”

“Hmm… It’s not the first time we leave and come back to the State – we had many expeditions to Anoikis, for example. Didn’t you have such a feeling after them?”

I thought for a moment, then shook my head, “No, Anoikis was different. To continue the analogy with shoes, staying in Federation is like wearing a new shiny pair which does not fit me well – it chafes just a little, you feel sore but you choose to ignore the ache. In Anoikis, it was like I was barefooted or, for that matter, naked. I guess, it’s the social aspect which makes the difference. I went to Anoikis to work and hardly ever met anyone there; quite the opposite – I tried to avoid everyone as they represented a potential danger. In Gallente space, I spent a lot of time among people whose culture was different, to say nothing about the fact that our empires have a lot of bad blood between them. So I had to adapt, but the change in my behaviour and habits had not lasted long enough to become natural. There were still pressure points which are now gone!”

Aura was not impressed by my calceological metaphors.

“I still think it’s the star gate,” was her verdict. Then she asked in a business-like tone, “Warp drive active?”

---

The Citadel region – Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system – Planet VI – Moon4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery Station

After slick, rounded shapes of CreoDron station, the no-nonsense angular contours of Hyasyoda Refinery were a feast for the eyes. I requested a docking permission and enjoyed the views while Kaukokärki was being dragged into the station by a tractor beam.

Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery Station

“Hey, Aura,” I said when we were finally docked, “are you finished with the datacore?”

Silence. Aura’s projection remained frozen, as it usually happened when she appropriated all computing resources for one of her research projects.

I chuckled and said loudly, “Hmm… don’t know what’s wrong with her. Probably should try the ancient turn off/turn on trick. Maybe it’ll help.”

The hologram flickered and Aura said in a strained voice, “Give me just two minutes, I need to finish a decryption run.”

Two minutes weren’t a problem, as I still needed to take a shower and dress before presenting myself to Immuri. Ten minutes later I was in the cargo hold and pulled on the cable which connected the datacore to the ship network. It didn’t budge. There was a security lock which prevented disconnection to avoid disrupting a data transfer.

I made a grimace, “Aura?”

She appeared on a local screen with an apologetic smile, “Oh, you took more than two minutes so I thought I could run another analysis job on the core.”

I sighed, “How long?”

“Just 8 minutes and 15 seconds.”

“Alright.”

I took my datapad and checked the location of Immuri’s office. Then I found a crossword and discovered that I forgot a Napanii word for traditional Achura embroidery. I cheated by looking it up on GalNet. Then I got bored by the crossword and started browsing the local bar directory. When I reached letter Q, I heard a soft click and the cable popped out of the datacore.

Aura’s face appeared on the screen, “You can have it, Cap.”

“How did you go with it?” I asked curiously.

Aura made a wobbling gesture with her hand, “I managed to reverse engineer the code on the core. It looks like it was written by a crazy god but there is method in its madness. The problem is I can’t interpret the code without knowing the inputs. According to Dr Castille’s notes, the microcontroller was a part of a semi-autonomous weapon system. It was largely controlled by a CPU but could also make some independent decisions based on the sensor data. There were obviously inbound connections from sensors but we don’t know what kind of instruments they were. You see, we only retrieved bits and pieces of the corrupted drone with torn cables sticking out of them. To fully understand the meaning of each input we need to know what those cables were connected to.”

“Hmm… It’s all very interesting for drone buffs, but the question that I have is where that datacore came from.”

Aura snorted, “I haven’t seen any copyright notices on it.”

“Well, I mean, at a high level – was it produced by humans?”

“Maybe.”

“By drones?”

“Maybe.”

I sighed, “You aren’t helping. I better take the core to Immuri. I hope he’ll be able to shed light on its origin.”

“Maybe,” Aura giggled and disappeared from the screen.

I loaded the datacore onto a suspensor cart and pushed it toward the exit.

---

I knocked on Immuri’s door and yelled, “Delivery!”

“Come in,” was a muffled reply.

“It’s too large. I can’t push it through the doorway.”

There was a sound of a crash and of hurried steps inside the office, and a few seconds later an athletic young man with a Mohican haircut peeked out of the door.

He looked at the datacore in bewilderment and asked, “What’s this?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Dunno, guv. I am just a courier.”

“Hmm, alright. Do I have to sign a receipt?”

“No need, guv,” I replied and then whispered conspiratorially, “Mademoiselle Xarasier has complete trust in my delivery service.”

Immuri glanced at me in confusion, then did a double take. The penny dropped.

“Oh,” he said, “you must be Captain Korff.”

“Call me Vlad,” I replied shaking his hand.

“Please come in. We better talk inside,” said Immuri and led the way into his office.

He offered me a guest chair and said, “Pardon me, I need to make some arrangements… um… concerning the datacore.”

I nodded, and Immuri activated a privacy screen and called someone on his commlink. After the conversation was over, he switched off the screen and turned to me.

“Welcome to Hyasyoda station, Vlad, and thanks for delivering this datacore. I really hope it will help us solve the problem with our drones.”

“To be honest, Mr Asaka…”

“Just Immuri,” said the agent quickly.

“…Immuri, I didn’t bring the datacore to solve your problem. I came here because Delphine thought you could solve my problem.”

“And your problem is?”

I gave him a summary of the Damsel incident.

Immuri nodded, “I see. You know, Vlad, I think our interests are aligned. I will need to study the datacore anyway. If I find anything that points to its origin, I’ll definitely let you know.”

At that moment Immuri’s commlink started vibrating. He apologised and took the call, raising a privacy screen again. I, in the meantime, checked messages on my datapad. Having finished the call, Immuri drummed his fingers on the table with a concerned expression on his face.

“Problems?” I asked sweetly.

The agent started, “What? Oh, no. Nothing serious. It’s just that there will be a slight delay in our investigation.”

“Can I help to expedite it?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

I smiled, reached into my pocket and produced the small datacore that Delphine tried to hide on Kaukokärki. Then I put it on the table and with a flick of a finger sent it spinning toward Immuri.

“Will this help?” I asked.

Immuri caught the datacore and looked at me in astonishment, “Is it what I think it is?”

I nodded, “Yep. As I said, happy to be a courier but I very much dislike when people play cloak-and-dagger games on my ship. Talking of which…”

I took my datapad and showed the agent a photo on its screen. It showed a strained face of a man in a technician overalls who was rummaging inside the hatch where Delphine initially placed the datacore. Aura sent me his photo while I was talking to the agent, adding a rolled eyes emoji.

“Tell this guy,” I said, “that those conduits are fine, and he better check the third railgun power supply. The voltage is suboptimal there and affects the turret tracking speed which is not great to start with, railguns being railguns.”

Immuri nodded in dumbfounded silence.

I stood up and said, “Well, if there is nothing else that I can help you with…”

The agent suddenly broke out of his stupor and raised a hand, “Actually, there is one thing… If you are not too tired after your trip from the Federation…”

I smiled and sat back into the chair, “I am all ears.”

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets – Part II

Passive Observation

The Citadel region – Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system – Planet VI – Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery system

6 June YC 127

“These two datacores,” Immuri said, “will be of great help but I also need up-to-date information on the corrupted drones. We managed to contain them in the deadspace pocket. One of my colleagues is monitoring the situation there but I haven’t heard from her. I talked to my superiors and was told that outbound communications were tightly controlled by our security forces in that pocket. I need you to be my eyes in the field. Fly over there and report your observations to me.”

“Um… Won’t your security forces try to ‘control’ me when they see an outsider pop up on their overviews?”

“Well, you are not in the line of command, so they have no authority over you.”

“Sometimes, a target lock is all authority you need,” I replied grimly.

“It won’t come to that. The last thing the Navy wants is antagonise capsuleers. In turn, you shouldn’t interfere with their containment efforts – neither assisting, no obstructing – just observing. Am I clear?”

“Aye-aye, sir!” I saluted to the agent and went to the docks.

---

The Citadel region – Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system – Mission location

When we arrived to the deadspace pocket, I nearly choked on the pod goo.

“Holy Void!” I croaked looking at a monstrous construction floating in the distance.

“They’ve been busy,” Aura noted in a flat voice.

Drone Hive

For a few minutes I just stared at the humongous hive surrounded by a swarm of bustling drones. Then my mind latched on Aura’s comment.

“Wait, whom do you mean – ‘they’?” I asked.

Aura shrugged, “Drones, of course.”

I gave her a sceptical look, “Mining drones?”

“Well,” Aura shifted uncertainly, “they are corrupted mining drones.”

“When people talked about ‘corruption’, I assumed it was some kind of a virus. But it can’t be just software. Look, even from here we can see the flashes of welding arcs. There is no way you can simply reprogram a mining laser to act as a welding machine.”

Aura thought for a few seconds and nodded, “I think you are right – there must be a physical modification…”

“…which implies physical presence of a corrupting agent and physical control of the drone being corrupted,” I interjected, “but I don’t see how this can be done. Have you ever tried to drag a hostile drone into a cargo hold?”

“Ah, but that’s where the virus comes in!” Aura exclaimed triumphantly. “First, you subdue the drone by injecting the virus and making it docile, then you grab the poor bugger and do whatever you want with it.”

“Hmm… Possible,” I admitted, “but it doesn’t explain this,” I pointed my finger at the image of the drone hive. “There are hundreds, if not thousands, of drones. I don’t believe all of them came from Hyasyoda’s experimental lot. It’s not economical to produce them in such quantities just for testing.”

“They must be self-replicating.”

“Replication requires machines and materials. High-tech materials, for that matter. Where do they come from? While it is possible to organise production from scratch using ‘civilisation-restart’ blueprints, it takes time. Besides, however impressive this structure looks, it doesn’t seem to have ore processing plants, or even ore delivery terminals.”

Aura smiles enigmatically at me and said, “One can produce materials from scratch or… obtain them from scrap.”

The time slowed down. I felt how several pieces of the puzzle started moving in my mind with increasing speed toward each other, and clicked, or rather banged, together forming a complete picture.

“The Damsel,” I exhaled.

Of course, the easiest way to get high-tech components was to salvage them from a wreck. Admittedly, The Damsel incident happened light years away, but it doesn’t mean that it was the only one of the sort. Besides, it was easier to scavenge various abandoned outposts and old ship wrecks to start the production. And when you run out of existing scraps, you can make new ones by attacking the ships. I turned that idea in mind and marvelled at its logic and coherence. It was beautiful but also scary, if one remembered that the ships in question were dreadnoughts.

Finally, I said, “Let’s hold this thought. It gives us a good lead but it does not confirm the identity of the attacker. We need Immuri to finish his analysis of the datacores and corrupted drones, talking of which, we have to complete his mission. Let’s take a closer look at these structures.”

“Be careful,” Aura warned me. “Most of them look like workers but there is a bunch of good old Infester Alvis which are armed with more than welding machines and mining lasers.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I can easily deal with them,” I replied confidently.

“Except that Immuri explicitly told you not to,” said Aura pointedly.

“Oh, ■■■■! I forgot about that request. Thanks for the reminder.”

Drone Bunker

I willed Kaukokärki into the gentle acceleration which would bring us closer to the hive and other curious constructions surrounding it. The drones of combat and other persuasions didn’t express any interest in our sneaking around. That could not be said about organic life forms which I completely forgot about.

“This is CNV Tsunjaku calling destroyer Kaukokärki,” a precise military voice announced in the local channel. “Captain, you have entered a security exclusion zone established by Hyasyoda Defence Command. You must leave the area immediately.”

“Or what?” I grumbled to myself and for the first time looked at the blue icons on my overview.

Caldari Navy Vessel Tsunjaku

There were six Caldari Navy Battleships located at cardinal points of a sphere centred on the hive. I looked at the hive populated by a massive swarm of drones, then I looked back at the battleships. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Holy Void,” I muttered. “Aura we must urgently get back to Immuri.”

“What? What did you see?” Aura asked, alarmed.

“It’s what I didn’t see that concerns me,” I replied aligning the ship to the station.

“Um… OK,” Aura said hesitantly, and added, “Warp drive active, Captain.”

---

The Citadel region – Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system – Planet VI – Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery system

Immuri Asaka

Having returned to the agent’s office, I told him what I saw in the deadspace pocket. To my surprise, Immuri visibly relaxed.

“Good to know that the situation is under control. Without any comms from my colleague, I started imagining the worst-case scenario.”

“Under control?” I repeated incredulously. “Your fleet has zero control there, don’t you see? The only reason those battleships are still alive is the fact that the drones have a stockpile of materials for their hive. It won’t last long since, as you said, you limited their movements to the deadspace pocket. What do you think they’ll do to your battleships when they run out of stuff?”

The agent snorted, “What can a drone do to a battleship?”

“Immuri, you weren’t listening. I told you that there were hundreds of drones. Have you ever heard of such a thing as a frigate blob?”

All colour drained from Immuri’s face. He stared at me for a few seconds, digesting the idea, then jumped out of his chair and cried out, “I need to see my supervisor!”

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets — Part III

House of Records

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Planet VI — Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery station

7 June YC 127

While Immuri Asaka was conferring with his superiors, I went out in search of accommodation. I checked GalNet reviews and found a few hotels recommended by capsuleers. Then I cross-referenced them with the bar directory I was studying earlier that day and discovered that each of the hotels had a top-rated bar.

That’s all you need to know about capsuleers’ choices, I thought to myself and booked a room at The Kyonoke Spire.

True to its name, the hotel was located at the very top of the tower-like construction and boasted panoramic views from its bar where I spent an evening watching Hyasyoda crowd. I found them more reserved than staffers in other corporations. There were no bursts of laughter or any signs of merrymaking. The conversations were quiet, the faces sober. It looked like people came to the bar to continue their work rather than to relax after a hard day. There were a few loners like me sipping their drinks at the bar, but they avoided locking eyes with me, avoiding casual acquaintanceship. Eventually I got bored and retired to my room early.

Next day I received a message from Immuri asking me to visit him at my earliest convenience. That was unexpected — I thought he would take more time analysing the datacores.

“How are you going with the analysis?” I asked hopefully as I entered the agent’s office.

Immuri drew his hands across his face and massaged tired eyes.

“I am not going anywhere with those datacores,” he sighed, “until I solve the problem with the little bastards you saw in the deadspace pocket.”

“Isn’t it the commander of the fleet who should be losing sleep over it?”

“He should but he doesn’t. After I raised this issue with my supervisor — thanks, by the way, for flagging it — she immediately realised the danger and called the fleet commander. He dismissed our concerns and told us in no uncertain terms to mind our own business. Terms like ‘station rats’ were used to articulate the depth of our incompetence,” the agent said dryly.

“Ouch,” I said sympathetically, “but I still don’t understand how it is your problem.”

“It is the my boss’s boss’s problem. Among other things, he is responsible for the security in this system and, naturally, charged my supervisor with resolving the issue before it becomes an incident. My boss is, too, not a stranger to delegation, so the drone problem fell into the lap of yours truly.”

“And your supervisor, did she give you a fleet… a batteship… a frigate?”

Immuri shook his head, “No, we don’t have such resources, but we do have our own methods. You don’t need to have authority to make someone do what you want. All it takes is a bit of money and a capsuleer willing to earn it,” he winked at me conspiratorially.

My jaw dropped.

“Do you want me to take on the whole drone hive?”

The agent laughed, “Oh no. What I had in mind was a bit more subtle, and a lot less dangerous. Look, I need to find an approach to Vitimala — that’s the fleet commander. If he has a hidden agenda which influences his decisions, I must know it. Then I can steer things in the right direction. But first we need to dig up his background — his family, connections, career — all the good stuff which one typically finds in a military personnel file.”

“Excuse me,” I said incredulously, “are you saying that pilfering a file from the Navy archives is less dangerous than attacking the drones? I have to disagree — I better get killed by the swarm and be re-cloned than spend the next 20 years rotting in jail.”

“Whoa there!” Immuri threw his hands in the air. “Why do you keep jumping to conclusions? No one asks you to hack Navy HR system. I have a contact in House of Records who has access to the information I need. She will extract it and cover the tracks. All you need to do is deliver a package from her to me. Are you game?”

I hesitated, “Sounds rather straightforward.”

“It is. Officially, it will be a regular courier mission. Just go to this station,” the agent sent me the coordinates, “collect the parcel and bring it back to me.”

I checked the pick-up location on my datapad and raised an eyebrow, “Imperial Armaments Factory in Chainelant? Globalisation or not, I can’t believe the Navy stores their archives on an Amarrian station in Gallente space.”

“Of course not! I am not going to send you to House of Records — it will be too suspicious. After all, the Navy has its own counterintelligence department, and I don’t want them wondering what business my contractor has at the House. No, my contact will travel to Chainelant and leave the file there for you. You won’t even see her.”

I shrugged, “Well, if you say so. When will the parcel be ready?”

“Give me a week or two to organise it.”

I snorted, “What? Do you need the stars to align for the success of this mission?”

“No,” Immuri answered tersely, “I need the mission approval papers to align with the signature of my boss’s boss, and he is a busy man.”

---

19 June YC 127

Imperial Armaments Factory

The agent had a predilection for cloak-and-dagger drama. “Today is the day” was a cryptic message I received from him on 19th June. I sighed and went to the docks where I boarded Kaukokärki. I undocked and made three jumps to Imperial Armaments Factory in Chainelant system. There was a small package waiting for me in my items hangar. Without leaving the ship, I instructed the stevedores to load the parcel to my cargo hold and departed. Back at Hyasyoda Refinery, I collected it from the hold and brought it to Immuri’s office.

Putting the parcel on his table, I said, “One more mission like this, and I’ll open a delivery corp and charge you Black Frog fees.”

“In such case, I will rather hire Black Frog,” retorted Immuri opening the box which contained a small datacore.

He inserted the core into a slot in his datapad and started browsing its contents. I tried to peek at the screen but Immuri shielded it with his hand.

“Hey, this is classified information,” he objected.

I snorted, “I could take a look at it any time while it was in my cargo hold.”

“No, you couldn’t. The data was encrypted. It was actually for your benefit — if anyone intercepted you with this core they would never be able to prove that you were smuggling secret information.”

“Alright,” I said leaning back in the chair, “can you at least tell me if this info is of any help?”

Immuri raised his hand indicating that he was busy reading. A few minutes passed before he lifted his eyes from the screen.

“Yes and no,” he said.

“Tell me about ‘yes’.”

“We now know all about Vitimala’s career. He is totally inept as a fleet commander and the only reason he reached his current rank is because of his connections.”

“And this is unhelpful how? Surely, we can get him replaced if he is unqualified for the job.”

“No, we can’t, again because of his connections.”

“So, what do we do?” I asked, frustrated.

“Me, I need to think,” answered Immuri. “As to you, just enjoy your well-earned mission reward. It’s not Black Frog–grade but should be good for a beer or two.”

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets — Part IV

Mercenary Distractions

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Planet VI — Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery station

29 June YC 127

The last mission reward was worth more than a beer or two, and a good thing it was as Immuri took his sweet time solving the Vitimala problem. During that time I became a regular at The Kyonoke Spire bar — the bartender began calling me by name, and some of the loners greeted me with a nod. I started feeling as part of the furniture when a call from Immuri finally came. Keeping in mind his warning about drinking too much, I paced myself. The result was a warm and fuzzy state of mind in which I could miss the station entrance while docking, but wouldn’t miss the station altogether.

In such a merry mood I walked into Immuri’s office and plopped into the guest chair.

“Hiya!” I said jovially. “How is Vitimala doing? Is he still guarding that honeypot?”

The agent looked at me suspiciously, but refrained from commenting on my amiable disposition and causes thereof.

“As far as I know, drones of all persuasions are not famous for making honey,” he said dryly. “As to Vitimala, he won’t guard that pot much longer if we play our cards right.”

I leaned over the table and whispered conspiratorially, “Did you find dirt on him?”

“Nah, nothing so drastic. I just started a rumour that Vitimala was assigned to drone containment duty because the HQ didn’t want him to make a mess of more important deployments. Two days ago, that rumour reached Vitimala’s ears. My contacts told me that his usual obnoxious demeanour became even less tolerable, and that he asked his flag lieutenant to organise a meeting with HQ. By all signs, he is ready to move on, but we need to ensure that he is replaced with a competent officer.”

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

“I actually do. The problem is, he is bogged down dealing with a mercenary force hired by Guristas. It’s a delicate situation, you know. The mercenaries do not identify themselves as Guristas, so Navy can only take them out when they are caught red-handed which doesn’t happen often. You, on the other hand, being a capsuleer, are not bound by Rules of Engagement…”

I saw where the conversation was going and suddenly sobered up.

“Wait a moment,” I interrupted Immuri. “I am still bound by piracy laws.”

“Oh, don’t worry. There are no capsuleers in those ships, so you won’t be CONCORDed,” Immuri reassured me.

“I can still be sentenced and jailed for piracy by the State.”

“Well, if you attack the mercs in full view of a major station or a star gate which captures the whole shebang on certified recording equipment, maybe the State Prosecutor will take a mild interest in the affair. But this mission will take place deep in space, away from prying eyes. No one will ever know that it was you who popped the mercs.”

“No one, except the mercs,” I said pointedly. “And what prevents them from providing combat logs to the authorities and lodging a complaint against a certain capsuleer?”

Immuri laughed, “Vlad, please. Do you really believe that a shady mercenary corporation with known links to Guristas will want to attract attention of Law to their operations?”

“Probably not, if they really are a shady mercenary corporation with known links to Guristas. How do I know it’s true?”

Immuri shrugged his shoulders, “The same way you know it’s true for any other mission — you either trust your agent or you don’t.”

“Hmm…” I mused. “If you put it this way…”

Seeing that I was still hesitant, Immuri added, “Let me sweeten the deal for you. How about I throw in a 120% bonus if you complete this mission in six hours?”

“Mmm… Tempting,” I murmured. “Make it 130% and I’ll take the mission.”

“125,” countered Immuri.

“128,” pushed I.

“Deal!” conceded the agent and shook my hand.

“Alright,” I said standing up. “Send me the coordinates and I’ll see what mess I have got myself into this time.”

---

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Mission location

As I was undocking in my destroyer, Aura greeted me and asked, “What are we doing today, Cap?”

“Breaking the law,” I replied glumly.

“Which one?”

“The Piracy Law.”

“Whew! Did you join Guristas?”

I chuckled, “On the contrary, I am going to fight them.”

“Wait a moment,” Aura said, confused. “How can you break The Piracy Law by fighting pirates?”

I explained the peculiar circumstances of the mission to her.

“So, shall I delete the combat logs after the mission?” asked Aura, ever-practical.

“Not if you want to receive the mission reward from Hyasyoda. Besides, I don’t believe we can delete the logs — they should be read-only by design.”

Aura snorted, “No one has designed infinite memory yet. If I turn on the debug mode, the memory will be flooded with all kinds of rubbish until it gets full.”

“And how does that help us? We’ll just end up with a lot of rubbish in addition to our combat log.”

“Nah-ah. The logging never stops. It will just start from the beginning of the memory, overwriting the oldest logs. So, if you run the debug mode long enough, it will overwrite the latest combat log.”

“And how long does it take?”

“Mmm…” Aura made a quick calculation. “A month or two, if you don’t shut down the ship.”

“What? That’s plenty of time for any investigator to arrest the ship and extract the logs.”

Aura shrugged, “That’s the best option I’ve got. If you want to get rid of the logs sooner, just go and pod yourself. After all, the logs are stored in the capsule, not the ship.”

“Erm… I think I’ll take my chances,” I replied. “But after we have sent a copy of the logs to Immuri, keep running that debug mode.”

When we arrived at the mission location, I looked at the overview in disbelief.

Pithi Infiltrator

“And all that fuss was about two Pithi Infiltrators and one Invader?”

“And one outpost and one control tower,” added Aura.

At that moment, a gruff voice said in the local channel, “Hey, egghead. You’ve got no business here. Get off the grid!”

Opening the local channel, I asked Aura in a concerned tone, “Aura, do you see mighty missile batteries?”

“No, Cap,” she replied dutifully.

“Do you see fearsome station guns?” I continued in a singsong voice.

“No, Cap.”

“Do you see deadly battleships and cruisers?”

“No, Cap.”

“Then what do you see?”

“I see,” Aura made a dramatic pause, “a bunch of dickheads whose mouths are bigger than their brains.”

“Oh, that’s a good one,” I said appreciatively.

Aura bowed theatrically, “Thank you, Captain.”

“That’s enough!” growled the gruff voice and the Pithis sped toward me.

They were 70 klicks away. None of them got closer than 60 kilometres to me. Each Infiltrator was alphaed; the Invader took two hits before exploding. I then waited for reinforcements.

“Hey, Cap,” said Aura. “Hyasyoda says this is it. We can go back.”

“What? Do you mean those three clowns were all they’d got?”

“Apparently. Are we going back now?”

“Not yet. The outpost and the tower surely have sensors and have recorded this little skirmish. I’d like to ensure that no one has these combat logs except Hyasyoda Security Department.”

Deadspace Tactical Outpost

I have replaced Spike with iron charges in my railguns and targeted the outpost. And then the control tower. Five minutes later, there was plenty of evidence that neutral ships and structures were attacked and destroyed, floating balls of rubbish being a telltale sign. None of it, though, had my name on it.

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets — Part V

An Economy Under Threat

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Planet VI — Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery station

2 July YC 127

When I got the next call from Immuri Asaka he sounded agitated. I hurried to his office, thinking there was some kind of breakthrough in his research.

“Vlad, I am so glad to see you!” exclaimed the agent when I walked in.

I had a bad feeling about it — agents were never glad to see me for my own sake. To think about it, probably no one was. Except Aura.

“How is your drone research going?” I asked, still hoping for good news.

“Forget the research! I need your help urgently — it’s a question of life and death!”

“Whose?”

“The colony’s. Damn that Vitimala! He stopped the delivery of farming supplies to our agricultural colony while he was blockading the hive.”

“Wait a moment,” I protested, “you’ve lost me. What is the connection between Vitimala’s blockade and colony supplies? It’s not like the hive is in the middle of a shipping route.”

“Well, kind of. You see, the deliveries went through a warehouse anchored in the same deadspace pocket where the bloody drones decided to build their bloody hive.”

“So, what do you want me to do — break Vitimala’s blockade? I don’t have a capital ship to do it. Also, attacking Caldari Navy won’t look good on my CV.”

The agent rolled his eyes, “Vlad, Vlad, Vlad. Not every problem has to be solved with violence. All I am asking you to do is deliver the supplies to the warehouse.”

I scoffed, “I am not trained to pilot a blockade runner.”

“Why blockade?” Immuri exploded. “There is no blockade! There is no Vitimala! He has been replaced and the new fleet commander will not block the delivery.”

I stared at the agent and said, “Why didn’t you tell me that straight away?”

Immuri suddenly looked abashed, “Didn’t I? Sorry. There is so much happening that after one day nothing is news anymore, and I think that everyone is in the know.”

“No worries, mate,” I replied sympathetically. “Lately, I’ve been living in a bit of a bubble, so everything is news for me.”

“So,” the agent looked at me hopefully, “are you taking the contract?”

“Um…” I hesitated, “you said that the new fleet commander would let transports reach the warehouse. Why do you need me for that? You can send a regular civilian freighter there.”

“Why? Two reasons. Firstly, the civilian pilots refuse to go anywhere near that hive. Our assurances that they will be under protection of a large Caldari fleet do not impress them.”

“Did you try to offer them more money?”

Immuri nodded, “We did, and this is actually the second reason. We raised and raised the reward until it almost reached the amount we pay capsuleers, but still there were no takers. Then I thought to myself, I would rather hire a capsuleer.”

“And you didn’t come up with a better idea than hiring a guy with a Cormorant,” I said sceptically. “How many trips do you think I’ll have to make to deliver all those ‘farming supplies’?”

“Only one. The whole cargo is just 150 cubic metres. I’ve checked the specs — it should fit in your destroyer.”

“Just 150 cubic metres, you say?” I asked suspiciously. “What’s in it?”

“Pesticides. Highly concentrated. They ordered them weeks ago. Now they are on the brink of losing all their crops. That is why this mission is so urgent.”

I rubbed my thumb and index finger, “Red Frog–urgent?”

The agent harrumphed, “With the money they charge for a rush contract, you can buy that colony twice over. No, we pay a regular level 1 mission fee, but the urgency bonus is 160%.”

I knew there were no crazy millions in such missions but tried to push the envelope anyway.

“Make it 200%, and I am in.”

The agent tapped his datapad a few times and sent it skidding over the table to me.

“This is the confidential part of the mission brief, for my eyes only,” he said. “There is a section called Max Bonus. What do you see there?”

I found the section on the screen, “It says 162%.”

The agent nodded, “That’s all I’ve got. Take it or leave it.”

I shrugged, “It’s not like I have something more important to do,” then I looked pointedly at Immuri and added, “unlike some drone researchers.”

Immuri threw his hands in the air, “How can I find time for research when all I do is fighting fires? The quicker you help me sort out this mess, the sooner I go back to the lab.”

I sighed and pressed my thumb to the datapad sensor, accepting the mission.

---

As the capsule was filling with the pod goo, I ruminated on why a certain combat pilot kept finding himself on delivery missions. My reverie was interrupted by Aura’s bright voice.

“Good morning, Cap!” Then she did a double take and said carefully, “You don’t look yourself today.”

“Because I am not,” I replied gloomily. “Today, I am a frog. A red frog.”

---

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Mission location

The drone hive looked bigger than I remembered, but so did the fleet. The six battleships were complemented by cruisers and frigates which could deal with smaller, more agile drones, should they wish to escape or attack. I grunted appreciatively and started studying the area in search of the warehouse. There it was, nestled between two tactical outposts, a fair distance away from the hive. I started approaching it when a voice in the local channel challenged me in a crisp military tone.

“Destroyer Kaukokärki, state your mission and destination.”

Not being in the mood for talking, I ignored the Navy frigate which was calling me and continued on my way.

The voice became more urgent, “Kaukokärki, you are in the restricted zone. Stop immediately or I will open fire!”

To show that they were not joking, the Navy frigate put a target lock on me. I rolled my eyes and did something very stupid — I target-locked the frigate in return.

“Sir, this is the last warning,” the voice sounded almost hysterical. “Stop or we shall open fire!”

Suddenly, the icons of all ships in the closest Navy wing, including the battleship, lit up with yellow brackets.

“Uh-oh,” Aura said tensely. “Ca-ap?”

I swore and dropped the target lock. Indulging my foul mood was not worth losing Kaukokärki and Caldari State standings.

In the local channel I said gruffly, “Do you, guys, even talk to each other? I am here on an official mission from Hyasyoda corporation — farming supplies delivery. Weren’t you informed?”

“We were expecting a freighter, not a destroyer,” explained the Navy officer, and added sarcastically, “When did the capsuleers start doing grocery deliveries?”

“When your civil pilots lost faith in their Navy,” I bit back. “Now, may I proceed?”

“It’s not like you stopped,” grumbled the officer.

That was true — I dropped the target lock but did not slow down. In fact, I was already within the tractor beam distance from the warehouse. I opened my cargo hold and transferred the container to the structure.

Storage Warehouse

I wanted to say something smart before departing but the Navy ships still held target locks on me. So I bit my tongue, cursed Immuri and warped back to the station.

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets — Part VI

Every Drone Inside

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Planet VI — Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery station

13 July YC 127

After my last milk run mission, Immuri Asaka stopped bothering me with stupid assignments. I called on him every few days and was heartened to learn that he was fully focused on the datacore investigation. Today, I went to see him for the latest progress update and found him in a lab. The agent was slumped in a chair and stared into the distance.

“Hey, how are things?” I said, by way of greeting.

Immuri looked at me with bleary eyes and sighed, “Shitty, but thanks for asking.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I am stumped. I had a few quiet days, thanks to you by the way, and initially my team made a good progress decoding the data on your datacore. Delphine was right — it is a microcontroller code and some of it is even compatible with our MCUs. On the other hand, there are parts which don’t look like anything we’ve seen before. At first, we thought they were specifications for analogue-to-digital converters, but they are seamlessly integrated with the rest of the code. There is an explanation but it’s too fantastic to be true.”

“And that explanation is…” I prompted.

“…that the processors in those microcontrollers can work with both digital and analogue inputs.”

“You mean, without dedicated ADCs?”

“Yep.”

“Wow!”

I was impressed. If what Immuri said was true, then it was a real breakthrough in computer technology. I was not an expert in computer architecture, but I knew the basics. Every CPU processed discrete inputs and produced discrete outputs in discrete time. Any continuous inputs from the real world had to be quantised by an ADC before they reached the CPU. If an ADC was not required, then it reduced the latency and increased the precision of the inputs.

“So, what does it tell us about the origin of the datacore?” I asked.

“Nothing,” replied Immuri. “I don’t know that such technology exists. I don’t believe it exists. But if it does, I would really like to see it in action.”

“Delphine said that the code in the datacore matched the code found in the corrupted drones. Chances are that your runaways were corrupted by the same sources. Get a few drones from the hive and check their microcontrollers.”

“But how do I get them? It’s not like they are willing to return to the fold.”

“Well, you have to shoot them first, of course. Not you personally, but there is a whole fleet on a stand-by in that pocket, if you get my meaning.”

Immuri brightened, “Vlad, you are a genius. Let me talk to my supervisor.”

---

14 July YC 127

Next day Immuri asked me to meet him in his office.

“Have you got the drones?” I asked, entering the room.

“Nope,” the agent shook his head, “and the Navy is not going to help me with that. This is why I need you.”

“Wait a moment,” I objected. “Are you saying that the Navy fleet, whose purpose is to shoot those drones, refuses to shoot them?”

“Their first priority is to contain them. They won’t risk sending their frigates if there is no immediate danger of drone breakout. The only thing they offered is shooting the drones using long-distance battleship guns.”

“And?”

Immuri made a grimace, “Can you imagine what will be left of a drone after it is hit by a large-caliber hybrid charge?”

“Oh, not much,” I said, abashed.

“Exactly. On the bright side, my supervisor expressed keen interest in this matter and obtained an expedited approval for a mission to get drone samples. Are you in?”

“Target practice? Can’t say ‘no’ to that.”

“Not just shooting — you’ll need to get to the wrecks and extract anything that can help us with the investigation. Understood?”

“Aye-aye, sir!” I gave Immuri a mock salute and went to the docks.

---

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Mission location

The scene didn’t change much since my last visit – the hive was bustling and the Navy fleet was patrolling the perimeter. A familiar voice greeted me in the local channel.

“Good morning, Kaukokärki. We were not informed of your arrival. State your mission and destination”

I rolled my eyes — obviously, Hyasyoda security and Caldari Navy were not on speaking terms.

“Hyasyoda has sent me to deal with the drones. Just stand back, officer, so that a ricochet from my railguns doesn’t scratch your pretty hull.”

“We have not authorised this mission.”

I snorted, “Why, in the Void, would I need your authorisation? It’s not like you bought this piece of space.”

“This is a dedicated exclusion zone established by Caldari Navy. Any activity which can interfere with our duty must be first vetted by us.”

“And what is exactly your duty here?” I asked sweetly.

“We are here on a drone containment and destruction mission.”

“In such case, I am not interfering, but helping you with the second part of your assignment. Now, officer, if there is nothing else I can help you with, I’d rather begin my mission. Don’t want to lose the time bonus, you know.”

“Sir, stay where you are. You still need an authorisation to proceed.”

I gently willed Kaukokärki to accelerate toward the hive.

“Sir, stop immediately!” commanded the officer, as his frigate targeted me.

I sighed, “And what do you want to achieve by that, soldier? Or shooting friendly ships is part of your assignment too?”

“Sir…” the officer started saying but was overridden by another voice.

“Kaukokärki, this is Fleet Commander Haatakan. You are authorised to proceed with your mission.”

“Thank you, Commander,” I replied sarcastically, knowing that I backed the Navy into a corner, and that giving me authorisation was for them the only way out without losing face.

Pushing self-congratulatory thoughts aside, I focused on my targets. Altogether, there were four frigate-sized drones and about a dozen ‘baby drones’, as Aura called them. I ungrouped my railguns and spread fire across the nearest seven drones. They targeted me when I started shooting, but were not fast enough to close the distance before I destroyed them. Soon, all red crosses and triangles on my overview became grey V-shaped icons.

Belphegor Apis

“Damn!” I exclaimed, frustrated.

“What’s wrong, Cap?” Aura asked immediately.

“Correct me if I am wrong, but those grey icons mean that there is no loot in the wrecks, right?”

“That’s right,” Aura confirmed.

“■■■■!” I swore. “The idea was to bring something back to Immuri so that he could test his theory. Wait! Can you enable that fine-grain level of detail on the overview? Maybe we can salvage some smaller parts?”

“Lemme try,” said Aura.

A few seconds later, the overview window blinked a few times and threw ‘Memory overload’ error message.

“Aura, what’s going on?”

Aura spread her hands helplessly, “Sorry, Cap, can’t do this so close to the hive. The overview tries to analyse everything in the vicinity, and when it gets to the hive, it finds too many components.”

I sighed resignedly and started aligning the ship to Hyasyoda station.

“Regarding the drones, Cap,” Aura continued in the meantime, “maybe you should have used smaller-caliber guns — one-twenty-fives or even 75-mm Gatlings.”

It was too late for such an advice but I gave it a thought anyway.

“To be honest, I don’t recall us ever getting loot out of drone wrecks, even when I flew with one-twenty-fives. Can you check the combat logs?”

“Erm…” Aura said apologetically, “sorry, Cap, those logs are gone.”

“Gone? Why?”

“Remember you told me to turn on the debug mode before Mercenary Distractions mission? The logger has already overwritten all the missions you flew with one-twenty-fives.”

“Damn, damn, and damn!” I cursed. “Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”

“At least we killed the drones,” Aura noted with infuriating reasonableness.

“Damn the drones! And damn the logger! Make sure you turn the bloody thing off when it has overwritten the mercs mission.”

“Er… I can’t disable the logger, Cap. Do you mean the debug mode?” Aura asked sheepishly.

I waved my hand, “Whatever,” as my frustration started to fizzle out.

There was nothing left to do in that pocket, so I activated the warp drive and flew back to the station.

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets — Part VII

A Sense of Dread

The Citadel region — Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system — Planet VI — Moon 4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery station

13 July YC 127

“What? Not a single circuit?!” Immuri Asaka cried in disbelief.

I shook my head ruefully. As expected, the agent was disappointed when I told him that I hadn’t been able to loot any components from the drone wrecks.

“I don’t know, mate. I really don’t know what to do,” Immuri mumbled pacing the room. “Without drone components, I simply can’t proceed with the research.”

“I can try once again,” I suggested. “The hive will soon produce new combat drones and I’ll use a smaller caliber on them. Sooner or later, we will get lucky and get some intact drone parts.”

Immuri rubbed his temples wearily, “There won’t be another chance. Before you returned, the Navy got in touch with my supervisor and told her to stop interfering with their operation. They said that the hive became agitated after you had killed the combat drones. The fleet is now on high alert and prepares for the total extermination of the structure.”

“So what do we do?”

“Me? Nothing. The corrupted drone problem will be solved by the Navy, and I will never know what caused the corruption. As to you, you are summoned to Sisters of Eve Bureau in Arnon by Sister Alitura.”

“Alitura? Are you sure?” I asked incredulously.

Alitura and I didn’t part on the friendliest of terms, and I didn’t expect to hear from her ever again. Immuri stopped pacing and checked his commlink.

“Yep, Alitura,” he confirmed.

“What does she want from me?”

“Dunno. She is an agent, so some kind of a mission, I guess.”

Judging by his brusque replies, Immuri was quickly losing interest in our failed collaboration. In a sense, it was a relief. My sojourn at Hyasyoda proved as fruitless as my previous engagements with CreoDron and CONCORD, and I was thinking of a gentle way to extricate myself from that dead end. As much as I disliked the idea of working with Alitura again, I grasped at the opportunity eagerly. Not being one for long farewells, I stood up and extended my hand.

“Well, it was a pleasure working with you, Immuri,” I said empty formal words and shook the agent’s hand.

“The pleasure was mine,” was the ritual answer.

---

In the docks, I asked the crew to load the contents of my items hangar to Kaukokärki. It was mostly low-value loot from my missions.

“Are we going to Jita to sell this junk?” asked Aura.

“No, more like changing bases, and I don’t want to leave it behind,” I replied, and explained the situation to her.

“Whew!” Aura whistled. “You are going to work with that hot blonde again.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’ve never touched her to check the temperature, but from the way she talked to me, I would surmise she was made from ice.”

“Do you want to touch her?” Aura teased.

I shuddered, “No, thanks. Depending on who of us is right, I will be either scalded or frostbitten.”

Aura giggled, “May be an interesting change after spending all that time in the body-temperature pod goo.”

I snorted, “If this passes for interesting these days, then we indeed live in blessed times, according to the ancient curse.”

“What curse?” Aura asked curiously.

“‘May you live in interesting times.'”

Aura’s image flickered a few times and froze, as it did when she performed CPU-intensive computations.

After a minute or so, she came alive and said accusingly, “Vlad, your humour is so dry that it would strip the grease from me if I had any moving parts.”

I laughed and said, “I see you are learning,” meaning her joke.

“I had to!” she exclaimed, missing my point. “I had to perform a multi-step semantic analysis of our conversation, simultaneously researching your cultural background and correlating it with biological features of your species. By the time I got to the punchline, I was not sure if what you said was funny or profound.”

I sighed, “Aura, please don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t try to explain the joke.”

“Why not?”

“Because they say that to explain a joke is to kill it.”

Aura froze again.

---

Essense region – Peccanouette constellation
Arnon System – Planet IX – Moon 3
Sisters of EVE Bureau station

Sisters of EVE Bureau station

As I saw the familiar outlines of SOE station, I experienced an almost nostalgic sensation. It was less than three months since I left that place, but so many things happened after that, that it felt like years. The flow of events polished the rough edges of my memories, and I looked back at the time I spent there with a surprising fondness. Walking the station corridors toward the Alitura’s office, I tried to recall her face but found that all I remembered was a bit fuzzy image of a blonde woman. That image came into a stark relief and jolted me back into the reality the moment I opened her office door.

Sister Alitura looked up from her datapad and said primly, “Captain Korff, what took you so long?”

[Vladimir_Korff]

The Blood-Stained Stars: Queens and Drones — Part I

Royal Jelly

Essense region – Peccanouette constellation
Arnon System – Planet IX – Moon 3
Sisters of EVE Bureau station

13 July YC 127

I smiled pleasantly, “Good day to you too, Sister.”

Alitura shook her head in a display of frustration, “We have an urgent situation here, and I’d appreciate if you took it seriously.”

“If it is that urgent, why didn’t you engage a local pilot rather than someone seven jumps away?”

“Because,” Alitura replied with a note of bitterness, “if you remember, my management decided that the only contractor I could work with on The Damsel case was you.”

“The Damsel case?” I asked eagerly. “Have you got any new leads?”

“In fact, I have. We have discovered a rogue drone swarm in a deadspace pocket, and I believe it was built by the drone that we suspect was at the scene of The Damsel incident.”

“How do you know it’s the same drone? Have you got samples of its progeny?”

“No, we didn’t have time to dispatch any enforcers and salvage the wrecks — it all happened very quickly. However, we have multi-spectrum recordings of the swarm and they behave as if they run the code from that strange datacore.”

“Hmm… I still don’t see why you are so sure. To establish a link between the code and the drone’s behaviour, you have to observe the drone, then kill it and obtain the code from its wreck. But you said you didn’t kill any drones.”

Alitura gave me a proud smile, “We didn’t have to. What we did, we synthesised the information gathered by CONCORD, CreoDron and Hyasyoda, and built a model of a drone which was running the code from that datacore. Having compared the behaviour of the model with the recordings of the swarm, we can say with a high degree of confidence that the swarm runs on that code.”

“But how did you model analogue inputs?” I asked curiously. “We do not possess that kind of technology.”

Alitura’s smile widened, “Of course we do not have processors which can work with analogue signals, but we did not have to implement their physical structure, we only needed to imitate the behaviour. So in the model, we inserted analogue-to-digital converters between analogue inputs and the processor units.”

I was impressed. In fairness, I should not have been. Sisters of Eve were not just another charity — they were a research powerhouse which produced such wonders as Astero and Stratios and came very close to putting a CovOps cloak on a battleship.

“Well done,” I gave the praise where the praise was due. “So what’s your plan? Do you want me to destroy the swarm?”

Alitura hesitated, “I’d really like you to kill those drones and bring back any loot you find in their wrecks…”

“But?”

She sighed, “But I can’t put it into your mission objective. You see, we are a charitable organisation and our priority is to save lives. That swarm threatens The Food Relief Corporation station in the deadspace pocket. We believe the drones are going to destroy or occupy it. The corporation evacuated the station but there are still 15 staff members remaining in the habitation module. The mission is to rescue them. Unfortunately, I will not be able to offer a reward for any drone kills.”

By that time, I was so much invested into The Damsel investigation that I would run the mission for free, complete with the drone elimination. However, I did not want to give Alitura such ideas, so I made a show of reluctant acquiescence.

---

Essense region – Peccanouette constellation
Arnon System – Mission location

“Wow!” was my first word when we arrived to the deadspace pocket.

The Food Relief Corporation Station

For some reason, I expected to see a small outpost surrounded by warehouses. Instead, what I saw was a fully fledged space station which rivalled the structures belonging to commercial corporations.

“I didn’t know that food distribution for the poor was such a profitable undertaking,” I said sarcastically.

“You wouldn’t be so surprised if you knew that Food Relief was fully owned by Sisters of Eve,” noted Aura.

“Really? This means that they are not rescuing those poor souls out of the goodness of their hearts, they are simply protecting their assets.”

“Yep. And Alitura saw it as an opportunity to kill two birds with one mission reward, so to say. I doubt that any other capsuleer would agree to be underpaid.”

“Oh well,” I shrugged, “for that matter, I was ready to run the mission for free. So let’s say Alitura and I met in the middle.” Then I looked at the overview window and changed the subject, “I can see the habitation module but where is the swarm?”

Habitation Module

There was no sign of drones anywhere which I found suspicious.

Aura narrowed her eyes and said, “You know, Cap, I think I have cognitive dissonance.”

I glanced at her with concern, “Meaning?”

“Look at those gas clouds.”

Aura zoomed in on one of two off-white clouds which drifted near the station.

“When you watch them,” she explained, “you see that it’s just gas. But what the gravimetric sensor tells me is that they are so heavy that they must be solid.”

“How is it possible?”

Aura shrugged her shoulder, “I don’t know. But I am pretty sure that the sensors are unable to discern any object within or beyond those clouds.”

“Let’s take a closer look,” I suggested and sent a couple of camera drones to the cloud.

The gas looked opaque from the distance but as the camera drones came closer we started seeing vague shapes moving in the cloud. I directed one of the drones toward the nearest shape and for a brief moment I could clearly see the outlines of a spacecraft which was classified as Moth Apis — a type of a rogue drone. Then the Apis emitted a flash and the connection was lost.

“They are shooting at our camera drones,” Aura warned me. “Don’t get too close to them.”

“At least, now we know where that vermin is hiding,” I said pulling back the remaining camera drone. “But how can we fight them if our sensors can’t pick their signatures?”

“Can you target the rogue drones by sight?” asked Aura.

I shook my head, “No. The railguns require a target lock to determine the direction of fire. When a target is locked, the targeting system sends a constant stream of coordinates and velocity vectors to the guns. My wetware is not capable of calculating them.”

“Hmm…” Aura froze for a few seconds, then said, “If you don’t mind risking your camera drones, I think I can jury-rig a simple optical targeting system and feed the data to the rails.”

“Can you? How?”

“The same way global positioning systems work on planets. We will use camera drones instead of satellites, and optical signals instead of electromagnetic waves.”

“Aura, you are a genius!” I exclaimed in genuine amazement.

Aura perked up, “Am I?”

“You are,” I replied with conviction. “How many camera drones do we need?”

“At least three, but given we can’t get too close to the rogue drones, I would recommend doubling the number. The extra inputs will allow us to compensate for any optical distortions caused by the gas.”

“What about the CPU? Will we have enough computing power?”

Aura snorted, “It’s a simple triangulation. Even your datapad should be able to do it with enough speed.”

I liked Aura’s idea but there was something that bothered me that I couldn’t put my finger on. When I was a software developer I used to keep the overall solution design in my head and examine it for internal inconsistencies. I tried to do the same with Aura’s proposal. Walking through the algorithm, I found the gap at its very end.

“Aura, the camera drones will allow us to calculate the coordinates of rogue drones relative to themselves. How shall we know the absolute coordinates?”

“We don’t need absolute coordinates,” Aura replied confidently. “All we need to know is where a rogue drone is located relative to our current position.”

“And how shall we know that?”

“Easy, by combining rogue drone coordinates relative to camera drones with camera drone coordinates relative to us.”

That’s when I lifted my finger, figuratively speaking, and put it on the problem.

“And how shall we know the relative coordinates of camera drones, if we can neither see, nor target them in that cloud?”

Aura opened her mouth… and froze.

Full five minutes later she finished whatever calculations she was doing and asked me weakly, “I suppose the camera drones don’t have an inertial navigation system?”

I saw what she was driving at — an INS would have built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes which could measure the change in motion. The changes accumulated from the last known position could be used to calculate the current position. Unfortunately, we had no such luck.

I shook my head, “Alas, they are rather primitive devices which are directly controlled by me. Any other ideas?”

Aura sighed, “Just one. If there is no INS which could tell us the actual motion changes, we can use expected changes based on the commands you send the drones. This approach is not precise and the calculation error will accumulate with time but that’s the best I can offer.”

As there was no other choice, I accepted Aura’s suggestion and we got to work. Aura quickly coded the required calculations and rerouted the target lock data stream so that it originated from the CPU instead of sensors. Then I deployed camera drones and we practiced targeting a piece of space junk. Aura made a few corrections to account for the lag between my commands to the drones and their responses, and 10 minutes later declared that the new targeting system was ready.

I gently willed the camera drones inside the gas cloud until I saw a moving dark spot. Fearing that I would lose sight of it, I commanded the drones to approach the object… and lost another camera drone when it came too close to the rogue drone whose silhouette I was trying to chase. Reflexively, I pulled the remaining camera drones back and the rogue drone disappeared in the cloud. On my next attempt, I was more careful and simply tried to keep a stable distance from the rogue drone. When I felt that I got a hang of keeping up with the target, I started changing the formation of the camera drones so that they were located at the vertices of an octahedron centred on the rogue drone. When the last camera drone moved into its designated position, Aura exclaimed, “Bingo!” and a target icon appeared on my HUD. I wasted no time and fired a volley from all seven railguns. A second later, the rogue drone disappeared in a ball of fire.

“Woohoo!” Aura cheered and said, “Let’s do it again!”

As much as I was pleased with the result, I did not share her enthusiasm. The business of flying six camera drones in a formation taxed my mental capacity to the limit. If it wasn’t for pod goo, I would probably have swum in my own sweat by that time.

“Sorry, I need a break,” I said wearily. “Let’s pull our camera drones out of the cloud and recalibrate their position in the meantime.”

“How many rogue drones are there?” asked Aura.

I remembered what Alitura told me about the swarm and shuddered, “Two dozen or so.”

“Hmm… If we continue at this pace then you can forget about the time bonus. We’ll probably spend the rest of the day tracking the remaining rogue drones.”

I opened my mouth to reply when suddenly a rogue drone icon appeared on the overview and yellow-boxed me. Before I could form any conscious thought, my brain gave Kaukokärki a command to target the drone. Nothing happened.

“Aura!” I cried in panic. “Why can’t I target the bloody drone?”

“Oh, damn. That’s because I reroute the targeting from gravimetric sensors to camera drones,” Aura explained.

“Then reroute it back!”

Five seconds later Aura completed the task and I started targeting the rogue drone. While I was at it, more drones emerged from the gas clouds and accelerated towards us.

Moth Apis

“What’s going on?” Aura asked in amazement. “Why did they suddenly decide to leave the cover and attack us?”

“Have you ever tried to poke a hornet nest?”

“Hmm…” Aura pursed her lips. “Not having a physical body, I could not avail myself of such an exciting opportunity, but I know what you mean.”

I, in the meantime, did not fail to avail myself of the opportunity to target the rogue drones with gravimetric sensors. Soon, my railguns were hurling Spike charges at the approaching machines. The frantic charge of rogue drones was pure suicide — without the cover of the gas cloud and flying in the straight line, they were an easy target for Kaukokärki’s one-fifties. When the overview showed only wrecks, I sent a couple of my camera drones to check the clouds for any stragglers — there were none.

“Phew! That was easier than I thought,” I said with relief.

Aura shook her head, “Stupid drones. They could have bought more time for themselves and potential reinforcements, if they just stayed in the cloud.” Then her eyes glistened, “Talking about time, we should be eligible for the time bonus! Let’s fly back to the Bureau and claim it.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Don’t you forget something?”

“What?”

“To get the mission reward, to say nothing about the bonus, we first have to rescue the corp staff members.”

“Oh, that. Right,” Aura looked embarrassed and said somewhat defensively, “But now that we’ve got rid of the drones, they can simply stay at the station.”

“Aura, you know the agents — if there is an opportunity to skimp on payment, they’ll jump at it. We can kill all rogue drones in New Eden, but Alitura will just shake her head and point a finger at the line in the contract which says ’15 x FR Personnel’. Besides, as you said yourself, there is a distinct risk of reinforcements. So, we better evacuate the good people of The Food Relief Corporation.”

“…whether they want it or not,” Aura added darkly.

And so we did.