20.11.2022 - Lirsautton V
She liked to be at home. The house was located on the upper part of a narrow hill and from the terrace one had a fabulous view over the landscape. Sitting here in the morning for breakfast was a relaxing event that she would like to have every day, but her job required her to be in the capital most of the time.
“When does he arrive?”, she asked.
“Should be in an hour.”, her husband said. She smiled at him. Yarren Matsuyama. Three years older. Her husband for thirteen years now. There had been some troubling times at the beginning, but that was a thing of the past. A former Department Head at Navy Logistics, he had gone into early retirement a year ago and now manages the family estate.
Belonging to the Saan Go caste, his family were landowners and minor shareholders in the regional food industry. He would not have had to work if he wanted to. But he did, which was fortunate, for otherwise she would not have met him. For a moment she thought about the old times a decade ago and all the tribulations they had gone through. Their visitor, that they expected today, was a remnant of that time. She wondered, whether those times were about to repeat themselves.
“Come in. Take a seat. Make yourself comfortabe.”, Yarren said to his friend an hour later.
“Good to see you, Derek.”, Aiko said and gave their guest a hug. “It was a too long time, since…”
“Yes.”, Derek Tohl`Shar said. “Thank you. It was a difficult time.”
The Thukker took seat. He had not been here often, despite Yarren having been a Mentor for his son. A strange fate, that a young Minmatar boy had a Jin-Mei as Mentor, but he had never to regret it. His son had grown up to be a good young man. Until…that accident. That changed everything.
The first hour went by with smalltalk about all the things that had happend recently. Eventually Yarren came up with a new topic.
“I have to admit, that I was surprised, that you would come here. It sounded, as if you have something on your mind. Besides…that…”
“Yes.”, Derek said. “Where to begin? Maybe you have heard about the conflict between the Seykal Clan and the Angel Cartel.”
“The Gang War.”, Aiko said. “A different Department was working on that, but as far as I know, they did not deem it important. A classical territory dispute between the Angels and the no less shady Krullefor Organization.”
“At first we thought the same. But we were approached a bit more than a year ago by the Seykal Clan, that there had been more to it than just that. Allegedly, and I just repeat what has been told to us, the Cartel was running large Operations in the Skarkon System. Someone inside the Krullefor allegedly has been about to find out something, but was killed in early 122 on Muttokon II. Before one was able to verify any suspicions, Skarkon fell to the Trigs. For the next twelve months, Krullefor did not only fight against the Cartel for their own interests, but to also gain some information about their Skarkon Operations.”
“Interesting.”, Yarren meant with a raised eyebrow.
“Agreed.”, Aiko said. “But, to be frank, why are you telling us about it?”
“Rumors, mostly. According to them, your Department led an Anti-Piracy Operation in April. And shortly later you got transferred to another Department. We are not sure about what exactly you are doing, but allegedly it has something to do with the Raiders.”
Aiko and Yarren exchanged glances. They knew Derek for quite some time and it was rather uncommon that he came out of the woods like this.
“I still don`t see, what this has to do with me.”, Aiko insisted.
“What if I told you, that eventually something was found. Something, that indicates a cooperation between Raiders and Angels. Right within the Empires.”
“Then I would say to you, that I would have to see what it is to determine its worth. Look. All I hear at the moment are vague insinuations about two known Criminal Gangs doing Criminal Stuff. Don`t get me wrong, but that is pretty thin. So thin, that the Republican Intelligence did not do anything about it, when you went to them, right?”
“Correct. And I do not blame them. See, I don`t expect you to tell me the purpose of your work. Yet. All I am asking for is, that you take a look at it, whether it is something valuable for you or not. But if so, then we are expecting, that you share your findings with us.”
Aiko looked at him. She did not know, what to make of this. It sounded like a random story. The FIO gets to hear random stories a lot on a daily basis, originating from concerned citizens. Almost all of them have no credibility. This here may be the same. But he seemed to be convinced, that he had something. And he was not a random nobody. Plus she did not risk anything.
“We will take a look at it.”