PROLOGUE: ROOTS
3/28/3302
Faraday Keep
17 Draconis System
The only shot we had of this working was if they were willing to talk...
the Adelard began its descent 50 yards out of the attack zone. out across my canopy I could see them circling like aimless dragonflies, whirring and pointing their lights about a bunker affixed to an empty rock. I flipped a terminal open.
"Entry denied, Commander. This is not a service station." a voice murmured through the feed of my helmet.
OPEN CHANNEL AS [FKEEPCOMM]
OPEN CHANNEL (D-01,D-06)
FOR COMMAND EXPRESS IN TERMINAL
my Asp continued its descent. they could hear my breathing through the feed, and the shuffling of the belt release as I made my way out of the cockpit.
"Commander, this is a Federal installation. entry is denied."
as I powered my SRV, I finally acknowledged.
"I know."
As my SRV lowered, I saw the Guardians rouse from their boredom and zip toward the red border on my screen. My wheels crunched at the beige rock as I made my way closer. I waved a hand to access another panel.
G-03 FORM LEAD
INTRUDER ALERT
FORM CANNON COMPL ARMED: TRUE
TARGET
-INTRUDER01: SRV-SCARAB
-CMDR01: ALEX HARROW
-WARRANT01: NONE
-TARGET01: FORM 100%
"SIR TURN BACK IMMEDIATELY OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE." a voice shouted through my feed. He sounded just like a man who had been woken up from a month in cryo.
"I would like to give you something." I said, as I entered my new command.
QUE [WELCOME.CMD]
As I crossed my SRV into the sea of red surrounding the installation, my terminal into the Guardians leapt to life.
FORM INTRUDER EXECUTE
G-01: AUTO
G-02: AUTO
G-03: AUTO
G-04: AUTO
G-05: AUTO
G-06: AUTO
The message repeated itself across my terminal, flooding page after page with renewed commands to add me to the collection of craters surrounding Faraday Keep. I felt a bit unsettled, knowing every intercepted command was an order to make me a puddle of bio-waste. The cursing and anger transmitted from the feed in my helmet didn't help much either. Then was as good a time as any...
EXECUTE [WELCOME.CMD]
The exterior lights of the compound shut off. The electric chatter of the SRV sensors hushed to a whisper, inviting in the sound of the void of space. The Guardians stopped the whirring of their auto-cannons. Slowly, their formation broke, reforming to my SRV as I rolled toward the entrance of the bunker. The feed was still on, and they were still cursing and shouting Federal threats. I cut their bellowing like a knife when I spoke again.
"I suggest you put on some Remlocks..."
I entered the last command, then headed out to the back of the SRV, where I kept the package.
POWER RESET/DIAGNOSTIC: TRUE
EXECUTE: 3 MIN
DISPLAY: FARADAY KEEP [MONITOR: ALL]
Two men leapt out armed within two minutes and thirty seconds. They kept a bead on me as they exited. I felt a peace about the days ahead when I saw they hadn't already shot me. It would have been suicide, what with the Guardians being my insurance policy, but the difference between a Federal agent who believes in his cause and a Federal agent who doesn't is vast.
Their grip was iron on their pistols. The bunker behind them led out an audible hiss as the blast doors slammed shut and the lights surrounding the bunker turned red. They lowered their weapons as they watched me standing there, silent and patient in my heavy robes and masked face. I waved my hand and motioned for a Guardian to bring the case toward the two men.
"As I was saying. I would like to give you something. In exchange, I would like you to give me something. In five minutes, this station will come back online, recording and uploading its sensor logs to a Federation watchpost every 24 hours as it always does. Until then, it is happily transmitting to the Federation that nothing is happening, these Guardians are flying merrily, and I was just a random passerby. Until that time, there is a window of opportunity to take what I want."
"And what makes you think you can get whatever that is from us?" The older looking one responded.
"Because Pallo, I have something you want more. Open it."
Pallo's body tensed as he heard his own name. He turned to the case, almost scared to open it. Finally, he knelt down and pressed the glowing blue button on its surface. The box hissed open, and Pallo and Jefrei began looking through its contents. They pulled out a simlink, the first they had seen in months. As they continued, they found chocolate, animal grown chicken meat in stasis, biogel, and credit sticks worth 10 times their Federal "pay" per cycle. Jefrei gazed at the items, each worth their weight in gold in this classified rock. Pallo looked at the trinkets, mad at the lowly bribe. I sensed him about to speak, and cut him off.
"There are three more things. look at the bottom."
Pallo pulled out flat metal case with his name etched to front, as did Jefrei. The top opened, folding backward to reveal a holovid of a woman and her little girl, opening the door of a new house. Pallo's body became stiff as he watched the woman dart her eyes across the house, looking as if it were a dream. the little girl began to dart in and out of frame, running through the doorways the holovid didn't record. Jefrei viewed his holovid, watching a young man step off the platform of a black Anaconda to a planet with a blue sky, his eyes getting used to the light.
Both men straightened up and stared at me, stone silent.
"I arranged to have them taken out of the... housing... the Federation put them in. They are safe and sound, and have been given property and a large stipend, enough to start a life as they choose on a high tech Independent world. Which brings me to my last gift..."
I held out my right hand. In my palm, a red metal orb rested. I had figured out the Fed configuration just as much as Pallo had. The only piece capable of establishing a secure line away from Federal ears was in the palm of my hands. Pallo knew what it was. He had probably thought about this very part for all of the years they kept him on this rock as penance for going AWOL. Every day, wondering how his wife and child fared on an Outpost he wasn't allowed to know about. Pallo probably mentioned the orb to Jefrei, stuck on this rock as a labyrinthian deal to spare his onion smuggling brother time on a prison planet.
"You've got a year left. A year able to talk to them, or another year left talking to each other. You let me in, I give you this. You call home when you want to, and no one will know. You give me what I want, I give you what you want."
***
The door hissed open at the wave of my hand. Pallo ran to a comm panel in the bunker, and installed his prize to verify his wife's safety (only fair, really).I made my way to a dusty old computer. This was the first terminal in this system. It was here some recruit was flung into the far reaches of the galaxy, forced to begin something wonderful and terrible. It was here the users began, and it is here the Order will begin its step into the the light. - Alex Harrow
3/28/3302
Faraday Keep
17 Draconis System
The only shot we had of this working was if they were willing to talk...
the Adelard began its descent 50 yards out of the attack zone. out across my canopy I could see them circling like aimless dragonflies, whirring and pointing their lights about a bunker affixed to an empty rock. I flipped a terminal open.
"Entry denied, Commander. This is not a service station." a voice murmured through the feed of my helmet.
OPEN CHANNEL AS [FKEEPCOMM]
OPEN CHANNEL (D-01,D-06)
FOR COMMAND EXPRESS IN TERMINAL
my Asp continued its descent. they could hear my breathing through the feed, and the shuffling of the belt release as I made my way out of the cockpit.
"Commander, this is a Federal installation. entry is denied."
as I powered my SRV, I finally acknowledged.
"I know."
As my SRV lowered, I saw the Guardians rouse from their boredom and zip toward the red border on my screen. My wheels crunched at the beige rock as I made my way closer. I waved a hand to access another panel.
G-03 FORM LEAD
INTRUDER ALERT
FORM CANNON COMPL ARMED: TRUE
TARGET
-INTRUDER01: SRV-SCARAB
-CMDR01: ALEX HARROW
-WARRANT01: NONE
-TARGET01: FORM 100%
"SIR TURN BACK IMMEDIATELY OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE." a voice shouted through my feed. He sounded just like a man who had been woken up from a month in cryo.
"I would like to give you something." I said, as I entered my new command.
QUE [WELCOME.CMD]
As I crossed my SRV into the sea of red surrounding the installation, my terminal into the Guardians leapt to life.
FORM INTRUDER EXECUTE
G-01: AUTO
G-02: AUTO
G-03: AUTO
G-04: AUTO
G-05: AUTO
G-06: AUTO
The message repeated itself across my terminal, flooding page after page with renewed commands to add me to the collection of craters surrounding Faraday Keep. I felt a bit unsettled, knowing every intercepted command was an order to make me a puddle of bio-waste. The cursing and anger transmitted from the feed in my helmet didn't help much either. Then was as good a time as any...
EXECUTE [WELCOME.CMD]
The exterior lights of the compound shut off. The electric chatter of the SRV sensors hushed to a whisper, inviting in the sound of the void of space. The Guardians stopped the whirring of their auto-cannons. Slowly, their formation broke, reforming to my SRV as I rolled toward the entrance of the bunker. The feed was still on, and they were still cursing and shouting Federal threats. I cut their bellowing like a knife when I spoke again.
"I suggest you put on some Remlocks..."
I entered the last command, then headed out to the back of the SRV, where I kept the package.
POWER RESET/DIAGNOSTIC: TRUE
EXECUTE: 3 MIN
DISPLAY: FARADAY KEEP [MONITOR: ALL]
Two men leapt out armed within two minutes and thirty seconds. They kept a bead on me as they exited. I felt a peace about the days ahead when I saw they hadn't already shot me. It would have been suicide, what with the Guardians being my insurance policy, but the difference between a Federal agent who believes in his cause and a Federal agent who doesn't is vast.
Their grip was iron on their pistols. The bunker behind them led out an audible hiss as the blast doors slammed shut and the lights surrounding the bunker turned red. They lowered their weapons as they watched me standing there, silent and patient in my heavy robes and masked face. I waved my hand and motioned for a Guardian to bring the case toward the two men.
"As I was saying. I would like to give you something. In exchange, I would like you to give me something. In five minutes, this station will come back online, recording and uploading its sensor logs to a Federation watchpost every 24 hours as it always does. Until then, it is happily transmitting to the Federation that nothing is happening, these Guardians are flying merrily, and I was just a random passerby. Until that time, there is a window of opportunity to take what I want."
"And what makes you think you can get whatever that is from us?" The older looking one responded.
"Because Pallo, I have something you want more. Open it."
Pallo's body tensed as he heard his own name. He turned to the case, almost scared to open it. Finally, he knelt down and pressed the glowing blue button on its surface. The box hissed open, and Pallo and Jefrei began looking through its contents. They pulled out a simlink, the first they had seen in months. As they continued, they found chocolate, animal grown chicken meat in stasis, biogel, and credit sticks worth 10 times their Federal "pay" per cycle. Jefrei gazed at the items, each worth their weight in gold in this classified rock. Pallo looked at the trinkets, mad at the lowly bribe. I sensed him about to speak, and cut him off.
"There are three more things. look at the bottom."
Pallo pulled out flat metal case with his name etched to front, as did Jefrei. The top opened, folding backward to reveal a holovid of a woman and her little girl, opening the door of a new house. Pallo's body became stiff as he watched the woman dart her eyes across the house, looking as if it were a dream. the little girl began to dart in and out of frame, running through the doorways the holovid didn't record. Jefrei viewed his holovid, watching a young man step off the platform of a black Anaconda to a planet with a blue sky, his eyes getting used to the light.
Both men straightened up and stared at me, stone silent.
"I arranged to have them taken out of the... housing... the Federation put them in. They are safe and sound, and have been given property and a large stipend, enough to start a life as they choose on a high tech Independent world. Which brings me to my last gift..."
I held out my right hand. In my palm, a red metal orb rested. I had figured out the Fed configuration just as much as Pallo had. The only piece capable of establishing a secure line away from Federal ears was in the palm of my hands. Pallo knew what it was. He had probably thought about this very part for all of the years they kept him on this rock as penance for going AWOL. Every day, wondering how his wife and child fared on an Outpost he wasn't allowed to know about. Pallo probably mentioned the orb to Jefrei, stuck on this rock as a labyrinthian deal to spare his onion smuggling brother time on a prison planet.
"You've got a year left. A year able to talk to them, or another year left talking to each other. You let me in, I give you this. You call home when you want to, and no one will know. You give me what I want, I give you what you want."
***
The door hissed open at the wave of my hand. Pallo ran to a comm panel in the bunker, and installed his prize to verify his wife's safety (only fair, really).I made my way to a dusty old computer. This was the first terminal in this system. It was here some recruit was flung into the far reaches of the galaxy, forced to begin something wonderful and terrible. It was here the users began, and it is here the Order will begin its step into the the light. - Alex Harrow
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