Somewhere in Syndicate
“I swear they are building something huge one of their secret shipyards out in 5-75.”
“Uh-huh. What, another titan?”
“No…well, I don’t think so. Doesn’t look like any titan I’ve ever seen. You should have seen it, looks almost ready for action. Was odd though, I didn’t see any I-RED color scheme or logos finished anywhere on it.”
“A deniable asset?”
“Doubt it…the patrol ships that almost blasted me all had I-RED identifiers on them, but it was strange…they didn’t act like the normal I-RED bozos who patrol this area of Syndicate.”
“Still, I’m sure this intel data can fetch a reasonable price on the Intaki Bank black market. What do you reckon, a couple hundred million ISK?”
“No clue. I’ve already set it up on sale now we just gotta — wait, it’s already sold? Damn…I knew a bunch of people might be interested in some random I-RED intel but I didn’t know they were that interested.”
“Is it another clandestine buyer? Oh, look, guess not - they’ve already sent us a recorded holo message.”
A shadowed figure displays on the screen; the only distinguishable feature is a nanotattoo which glows an eery silver-moonlight color in the vague shape of an eagle with outstretched wings
“Excellent work, gentlemen. Your evasion of I-RED defensive perimeters in order to obtain this data is admirable. Perhaps I can interest you in a job contract? As you can see by the sale price of the data I just purchased, I am more than capable of paying a fair price for your work. Meet me at the attached coordinates in M2-CF1 within the next hour. I await your partnership.”
“A business partnership, eh? Think we should give it a shot?”
“Hmm…we could use some more funds to keep the Cartel off our ass a little while longer. I don’t see why not, what can go wrong?”
((Art credit: Against The Wind by Rokis17 on DeviantArt ))