'Aah, there we have our sleeping beauty' Keram said. A satisfied smile spread on his thin lips. He looked older than he was due to his expressive aquiline features, as Amarr men often do, but when he got that smile and sparkle in his eyes - the one he always got when he successfully did something illegal or amoral - the deviant spirit of reckless youth showed itself.
'One day you'll have to tell me how you got access to the CONCORD capsuleer registry' Cedrien commented with barely concealed surprise. He sat down beside Keram at the console and activated another holographic terminal, joining it to the same fluid-router link.
'Sylera Aulithe, reported missing in a contested border system between Amarr and Minmatar space, in Devoid region ... hmmm' Cedrien drew his eyebrows together. 'She has no ties to any Minmatar corporate or tribal authority'
'Quite the opposite' Keram threw a datasheet he had pulled up over to Cedrien's display with a quick gesture 'She has been a volunteer in the 24th Imperial Crusade.'
The elevator door of operations-control opened and Alira stepped in. She crossed over to the raised command platform in the centre of the octagonal hall. The cold efficiency of Caldari design had long turned into a drab greyness due to lack of maintenance and cleaning out here in this frontier environment. It's functional austerity was further degraded by a clutter of toolboxes, non-standard equipment and all kinds of personal touches added by the users of the station.
Alira bent over to lean her arms on the backrest of Cedrien's chair and looked over his shoulder. 'I have arranged bunks for them in one of our secured cargo hangars. They have enough medical supplies, and my crew are busy helping them with anything they need.'
Cedrien looked up at her over his shoulder, about to say something.
'There's no-way they are getting out of there ... effectively we have them imprisoned' Alira reassured him before he could voice his concerns.
Cedrien smiled and nodded at the display. 'Look what Keram found. The whole background on that comatose capsuleer' he pointed at the holographic layers of information.
Alira's eyes jumped from one piece to the other. She twisted her androgynous features into a worried expression and ran slender fingers through her short red hair. 'It gets stranger. I had two of my tech staff inspect the pod of that transport. They assure me that the specs on that system could not possibly have caused a disabling neural feedback'
Keram grinned wolfishly. 'You're saying this Minnie trash actually works according to safety specs?'
'Looks like' Alira replied coldly and straightened. She looked down at Keram through narrowed eyelids. 'Apparently an Amarr capsuleer entrusted herself to it.'
'Ha! I doubt it was voluntary' Keram scoffed and shook his mane of wavy auburn hair in disbelief.
Cedrien slighly cocked his head and quirked an eyebrow. Alira liked when he did that. Not only was it usually an indication that he got one of his uncanny moments of insight, but it also made him look cute in that particular Gallente way. She suppressed a smile and the familiar pang she often got when she found herself feeling attracted to Cedrien. One day she would just have to come out to him. 'If only I had the attitude of a Brutor woman.' She was about to sigh when Cedrien interrupted her musing.
'What if you are right, and she didn't volunteer?' he ventured
Keram suddenly made a serious face. An expression that seemed to age him by ten years. 'Fedocrap!' he exclaimed 'That was a joke! No way you could make a capsuleer pilot a ship against her will!'
'Well ...' Cedrien continued with a concentrated frown. 'The Sansha managed to turn capsuleers, right?' He got up from his chair and turned to Alira. 'Instruct your technicians to look for anything that might be Sansha technology' he straightened his Gallente uniform jacket and smoothed his almost black hair back with his hand. Yet another one of those mannerisms Alira liked to watch. It gave him a certain air of authority. She could actually imagine him on the bridge of a Federation Navy ship, issuing commands as he used to before his political views made him lose favour in the ranks and he was forced to leave.
'I'll oversee the search personally, Cedrien' Alira announced and turned to leave.
Keram reclined in his chair and drowsily looked at the holographic display, running his eyes over the information again. 'You can't seriously expect her to find anything like that, right? I mean Sansha equipment on a Republic Fleet transport?! You're stretching it a bit there Cedrien.'
Cedrien took a few steps and looked out the slightly grimy viewport of the command center.
The cold light of the white dwarf star outside cast harsh shadows on his thoughtful face.
'Am I Keram? You were a capsuleer pirate, you should know that people will try anything to achieve a goal.'
Keram yawned and reclined even deeper. 'I just think you are wasting your time with this. But well, you're actually wasting Alira's time, so I don't really care. I am also officially off duty in ten minutes'
Cedrien smirked with annoyance. Keram was a good fighter, and he was loyal to the corp, but the Amarrian's attitude disturbed him sometimes. It did not fit with his military mindset deeply ingrained by two decades of service. Also he resented Keram's constant remarks against Alira. He shook his head slightly 'Who ever thought of having an Amarr renegade and a Minmatar vagabond in the same team?'
***
The crew assigned to shelter the wounded and survivors of the Liberty Sun had left them to their own devices. Halis knew that they felt safe. The fact was not lost on him that their hosts had chosen a cargo hangar with only one exit, nothing really useful or valuable in it, and no way for them to leave. He slipped from his bunk and signaled to Dirgren who nodded and followed him behind a stack of freight containers. Halis pulled out a remote control console from his satchel and sank down on his haunches, resting the device on his thighs.
'Are you sure everything is disabled' he asked the young technician while he started up his controller.
The immature looking woman nodded and made a few hand-signals of non-verbal Minmatar battle language. Halis smiled inwardly. Dirgren Brigiduttin had been specifically selected for her inability to speak and the genetic nervous-system aberration which rendered her immune to any attempts at neural mapping. That, and her absolute loyalty, made her the perfect person for a classified assignment like this. As it turned out, she was right. Halis looked at the simple non-holographic readout. The nanites they had injected earlier into the pod's command-and-control system were doing their destructive work. Only a few minutes, and there would not be a molecule of evidence left.
'Make sure you store our results safely, once they have no reference it will just be inconclusive flight recorder data' he added. Dirgren nodded again. Halis shut down his controller device and got up, flashing a quirky smile. 'Ok let's be poor marooned transport ship crew and go to sleep'
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