Co-authored by: Ray of Meep (GM), Acewing13, TheCountryWarrior
23XX A.D, 48 hours after the court decision of Page v. Ambrose
Silbern System, Stahl Belt, Nikolaus Otto dwarf-planetary system, Daheim One
"Lancers, please report to the bridge." Eberhard's voice came through the comms. He then looked over to his wife, who was lazily curled up in the zero-g looking at her data pad, her untied hair fanned out. "I assume you have somthing in mind for them?"
"A few things." Ulrike lifted her head and looked at her husband.
Juan heard the summons, and woud make himself present. He entered the room in his normal clothes, and saluted casually. "Reporting."
Bee came in shortly afterwards, looking around the room as she floated in. "Reporting as requested. Is Joan here?"
"Negative." Eberhard replied. "Due to everything that went on recently Joan needed a big break with her children, given that, you know, they're now fully independent from their father. Thus, we gave her security detail and let her go wherever she wanted to in the system. She's basically on a long leave of absence."
"She's alright, she's taking a while off right now, and then she'll be back on the ship. Not to work, just because it's home." Juan explained with a warm smile. He turned to look at his superiors, a tilt of the head revealing confusion. "So, why were we called in bosses?"
"Take a look at the headlines." Ulrike pulled up a news article on one of the monitors. "Debut of Mercenary Team in Child Custody Case." The title read in plain black text. Under it documented the court battle step by step, before describing the Grau Lancers itself. Specifically, the article notes the group's participation in the hostage rescue mission on Magnuski Station and describes it as an "illegal arms buster, seems to be a loose cannon division of the police force itself." Finally, the article speculates why members of the team are on the station working as beat cops.
"We've gone public, whether we like it or not. It's a double edged sword." Ulrike explained. "On one hand, obviously we don't want to draw attention to ourselves for our own safety. On the other hand, public pressure is going to mount on the politicians keeping us on a leash." She nodded to Juan and Beatrix. "Despite the setbacks, we've done good work, and the public has recognized that."
"I don't care about if the public knows or not, as long as the good deeds get done." Juan sighed, arms crossing dissaprovingly. "In fact, public knowing about us not only puts us on a leash held by the least trustworthy people, politicians, but then slaps us on the radar of the least predictable mob in history, people. What if they had printed the slip up with the..." Juan looked uncomfortable, looking at the wall," execution vid? Then we'd be being crucified right now. It's barely a double edged sword, it's standing in the freezing cold and praying that the most fickle goblin in history is feeling pleased enough that day to let us in, and him still having the ability to throw us out."
"The goblin analogy isn't something we'd use..." Eberhard replied with some unease, "But point taken."
"Regardless, the higher up's don't want you as beat cops anymore, which means you're fired." Ulrike added. "But they don't want a rogue mercenary group running around in GDW space either, so they're giving us time to find a patron internationally. In the meantime, they're keeping us on for one last mission."
Eberhard put up an image of a spacestation that planted itself on a small asteroid. "Fabron Station. Home to some of the most advanced manufacturing tech in the Silbern system, a popular tourist destination for all the scientifically curious, ... and a hotspot for illegal weapons manufacturing, something we didn't know until recently, thanks to your work..." He then smiled proudly. "And my initiative. Ow!" The last comment earned him a punch to the shoulder by his wife.
"Glad something productive came out of that," Beatrix said, chuckling at the punch. "So, once more into the breach?"
Juan stared at the images and sighed, rolling his eyes. "So the police said 'hey you're fired now do a job for us.' Just fantastic. Are we getting paid for this at least? And in that case, if we are, how big is this station?"
"You certainly will be paid." Ulrike reassured Juan. "As for into the breach, not exactly this time. This time it'll strictly be a reconaissance mission. We're just there to scope out if the operation actually exists, and to what extent."
Eberhard pulled up some statistics. "The station houses ten thousand people. Most are actual manufacturing workers. The rest are either tourists or students and professors in the college there."
"Don't forget a smattering of criminals," Bee added. "As long as we've still got the firepower to fight our way out if necessary, sounds like a plan."
The Graus looked at each other. "We'd like to think of it as a vacation. Look at what the Silbern system has to offer at its finest. Of course, until we start delving into what Fabron station is hiding behind the curtains."
Beatrix rolled her eyes. "I said if necessary. Going almost naked in the last op was a giant pain in the ass."
Ulrike raised an eyebrow, and couldn't but smirk. "You mean literally, right! Ow!" She gave a death glare at her husband who had a fist raised. "Vengeance." He hissed with a smile. "Ahem. Anyways," Eberhard went back to address Beatrix. "We'll try not to put you in more exposed conditions anymore. I don't agree with Ulrike that it builds character or whatnot. We're going to do everything properly and not artifically raise the difficulty of the mission."
"Says the guy who went rogue." Ulrike jabbed back.
Juan was glad they'd be paid, though the "vacation" point was wishful thinking. "Yeah, our jobs are hard enough on mission, we don't need more complications. At least we looked nice in the suits, as much as that sucked."
"Hopefully this mission won't warrant anything beyond jumpsuits, maybe a collared shirt underneath if you want to be fancy." Eberhard gave a worried chuckle. "Who am I kidding. Be prepared for the worst."
23XX A.D, 48 hours after the court decision of Page v. Ambrose
Silbern System, Stahl Belt, Nikolaus Otto dwarf-planetary system, Daheim One
"Lancers, please report to the bridge." Eberhard's voice came through the comms. He then looked over to his wife, who was lazily curled up in the zero-g looking at her data pad, her untied hair fanned out. "I assume you have somthing in mind for them?"
"A few things." Ulrike lifted her head and looked at her husband.
Juan heard the summons, and woud make himself present. He entered the room in his normal clothes, and saluted casually. "Reporting."
Bee came in shortly afterwards, looking around the room as she floated in. "Reporting as requested. Is Joan here?"
"Negative." Eberhard replied. "Due to everything that went on recently Joan needed a big break with her children, given that, you know, they're now fully independent from their father. Thus, we gave her security detail and let her go wherever she wanted to in the system. She's basically on a long leave of absence."
"She's alright, she's taking a while off right now, and then she'll be back on the ship. Not to work, just because it's home." Juan explained with a warm smile. He turned to look at his superiors, a tilt of the head revealing confusion. "So, why were we called in bosses?"
"Take a look at the headlines." Ulrike pulled up a news article on one of the monitors. "Debut of Mercenary Team in Child Custody Case." The title read in plain black text. Under it documented the court battle step by step, before describing the Grau Lancers itself. Specifically, the article notes the group's participation in the hostage rescue mission on Magnuski Station and describes it as an "illegal arms buster, seems to be a loose cannon division of the police force itself." Finally, the article speculates why members of the team are on the station working as beat cops.
"We've gone public, whether we like it or not. It's a double edged sword." Ulrike explained. "On one hand, obviously we don't want to draw attention to ourselves for our own safety. On the other hand, public pressure is going to mount on the politicians keeping us on a leash." She nodded to Juan and Beatrix. "Despite the setbacks, we've done good work, and the public has recognized that."
"I don't care about if the public knows or not, as long as the good deeds get done." Juan sighed, arms crossing dissaprovingly. "In fact, public knowing about us not only puts us on a leash held by the least trustworthy people, politicians, but then slaps us on the radar of the least predictable mob in history, people. What if they had printed the slip up with the..." Juan looked uncomfortable, looking at the wall," execution vid? Then we'd be being crucified right now. It's barely a double edged sword, it's standing in the freezing cold and praying that the most fickle goblin in history is feeling pleased enough that day to let us in, and him still having the ability to throw us out."
"The goblin analogy isn't something we'd use..." Eberhard replied with some unease, "But point taken."
"Regardless, the higher up's don't want you as beat cops anymore, which means you're fired." Ulrike added. "But they don't want a rogue mercenary group running around in GDW space either, so they're giving us time to find a patron internationally. In the meantime, they're keeping us on for one last mission."
Eberhard put up an image of a spacestation that planted itself on a small asteroid. "Fabron Station. Home to some of the most advanced manufacturing tech in the Silbern system, a popular tourist destination for all the scientifically curious, ... and a hotspot for illegal weapons manufacturing, something we didn't know until recently, thanks to your work..." He then smiled proudly. "And my initiative. Ow!" The last comment earned him a punch to the shoulder by his wife.
"Glad something productive came out of that," Beatrix said, chuckling at the punch. "So, once more into the breach?"
Juan stared at the images and sighed, rolling his eyes. "So the police said 'hey you're fired now do a job for us.' Just fantastic. Are we getting paid for this at least? And in that case, if we are, how big is this station?"
"You certainly will be paid." Ulrike reassured Juan. "As for into the breach, not exactly this time. This time it'll strictly be a reconaissance mission. We're just there to scope out if the operation actually exists, and to what extent."
Eberhard pulled up some statistics. "The station houses ten thousand people. Most are actual manufacturing workers. The rest are either tourists or students and professors in the college there."
"Don't forget a smattering of criminals," Bee added. "As long as we've still got the firepower to fight our way out if necessary, sounds like a plan."
The Graus looked at each other. "We'd like to think of it as a vacation. Look at what the Silbern system has to offer at its finest. Of course, until we start delving into what Fabron station is hiding behind the curtains."
Beatrix rolled her eyes. "I said if necessary. Going almost naked in the last op was a giant pain in the ass."
Ulrike raised an eyebrow, and couldn't but smirk. "You mean literally, right! Ow!" She gave a death glare at her husband who had a fist raised. "Vengeance." He hissed with a smile. "Ahem. Anyways," Eberhard went back to address Beatrix. "We'll try not to put you in more exposed conditions anymore. I don't agree with Ulrike that it builds character or whatnot. We're going to do everything properly and not artifically raise the difficulty of the mission."
"Says the guy who went rogue." Ulrike jabbed back.
Juan was glad they'd be paid, though the "vacation" point was wishful thinking. "Yeah, our jobs are hard enough on mission, we don't need more complications. At least we looked nice in the suits, as much as that sucked."
"Hopefully this mission won't warrant anything beyond jumpsuits, maybe a collared shirt underneath if you want to be fancy." Eberhard gave a worried chuckle. "Who am I kidding. Be prepared for the worst."