"And the result will be all-out corporate war." "War changes everything." "Now it's all about new alliances." "Tabor calchek." "He gets the jobs, we do the jobs." "Oh, portia." "With the blink drive, you just disappear from one place, and reappear somewhere else." "Let my scientists study it." "The android thinks the ishida scientist tampered with it." "Sarah?" "It's me, five." "What's the situation, corporal?" "A ship just dropped out of ftl." "It's the reinforcements." "Satellites sensors confirm it's a ferrous corp." "Ship." "Code blue." "Get a lock on their position." "Tracking, sir." "Prep the missiles, ready the perimeter guns." "Perimeter guns are ready." "Awaiting your command." "Open a surface to ship communication." "Yes, sir." "Go ahead, sir." "commanding officer of the cepheus-5." "Security detachment." "This is a traugott colony." "Your presence here is in violation of interstellar law." "Retreat beyond the territorial zone, or face the consequences." "They're powering up weapons." "Defensive protocols." "Prepare for aerial assault." "They've just launched a nuke." "Another ship just dropped out of ftl." "And it's opened fire." "On the ferrous corp." "Ship?" "On the nuke." "Nuke intercepted and destroyed!" "The ships are exchanging fire." "The ferrous corp." "Ship is jumping to ftl." "It's gone." "Open up a comm line to the other vessel." "Cepheus-5, this is the raza." "You're welcome." "We received word that ferrous corp." "Had started launching strikes on rival assets in the outer colonies." "Figured it was just a matter of time before they set their sights on us." "Well, fortunately for you, we were in the area when they did." "And to what do we owe your timely intervention, raza?" "We're actually here to pick up a friend." "A friend?" "Tabor calchek." "He was with a group who recently found refuge here." "Yes, we took in a large group of displaced citizens a couple weeks ago." "Great." "We're sending a shuttle down to pick him up." "I'm afraid that won't be possible, raza." "Why not?" "pending the arrival of corporate military reinforcements." "While I appreciate your desire to keep the peace," "I hope you can appreciate my desire to rescue a friend." "Your friend's safety will be ensured until the lockdown is lifted." "When I said we were sending down a shuttle," "I wasn't asking for permission." "This colony houses a traugott munitions factory." "If he's telling the truth, and he's got an in, it's worth checking out." "If he's telling the truth." "Guy's a thieving, scheming opportunist." "Yeah, yeah." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Can we just skip to the part where you come outta hiding and get the jump on us?" "There." "That's better." "What d'you want?" "We're here to pick up a friend." "You with traugott?" "No, we're not." "You're telling us security just let you fly right in?" "We didn't give 'em a choice." "Hey, we just saved all your asses by taking out that nuke before it could level this entire colony." "Wait!" "Stop, hang on." "It's okay." "They're with me." "Portia?" "Thanks for coming to pick me up." "You are not tabor." "No, not yet." "Oh, right, the amnesia thing." "Tabor told me." "Adrian maro, tabor's former assistant." "Former?" "You mean tabor's yep, gone." "Soon as the war started." "Cashed in his savings, and just took off." "Left me a goodbye message, his place..." "Yeah." "That transmission you got wasn't from him." "Obviously, I sent it." "But I figured I'd explain once you got here." "Okay, start explaining." "so I'm taking over his operation." "I was his apprentice." "Now I'm your new handler." "So we came all the way out here for you?" "Well, you did save all these lives, so there's that." "Friends of yours?" "Friends?" "You telling me you don't recognize who they are?" "They are the baddest of bads, the deadliest of dead-shots, this galaxy's most notorious, most dangerous..." "Yeah." "...most despicable..." "Whoa." "Okay." "We're the crew of the raza." "The raza?" "Why didn't you say so?" "Come on, let's get you a drink." "Impressive." "When do you graduate from the academy?" "Next year." "Come back to me when you've completed your training then." "There may be a place for you among my royal guard." "Yes, heika, I would be honored." "Teku, have you come to do a little sparring?" "Swordplay is the one thing i cannot teach you, heika." "Where is han-shireikan?" "Off world." "She's meeting with general caius." "Respectfully, misaki's role is not to act as mediator between you and your generals." "Her duty is here at the court, protecting her emperor." "Her emperor is perfectly capable of protecting himself." "Besides, her temporary absence is better, for the both of us." "You know, you surprise me." "I thought you'd be pleased." "I mean, it's obvious there's no love lost between you two." "Misaki and I hold very different opinions on many issues, but if there's one thing we can agree on, it's our desire to support your rule." "Teku, ever the diplomat." "I heard about the loss of our research facility and the blink drive." "Your former friends have hurt us." "Badly." "Yes." "And I'm in the process of planning my response." "Yeah, transporter ship ended up getting redirected to this planet." "I barely got out with a few of tabor's personal items and the clothes on my back." "Is it my imagination, or are we being followed?" "No, it's not your imagination." "It's your damn eyes." "Introductions are in order." "This is my bodyguard, solara shockley." "What?" "Bodyguard?" "What's a little twerp like you need a bodyguard for?" "Little twerps in this line of work need them most of all." "Okay, here's the deal:" "These workers are fed up with their terrible working conditions." "Traugott has all but abandoned this facility so I've convinced the workers to take advantage of the situation, and proclaim their independence." "Well, so they can cast off the yolk of oppression, and finally taste freedom." "No." "What's in it for you?" "Oh, a-a ten percent commission on future profits as their union representative?" "You know, you do make a pretty good table." "Well..." "This has been a traugott operation going on 30 years." "Put up with a lot over that time." "Low pay, unsafe working conditions..." "But we've been making a lot of noise lately, and the traugott guards don't like it." "They're getting nervous." "Tried to arrest zem here for anti-corporate activities." "We wouldn't let 'em." "They're holed up in a Garrison about four clicks from here." "We have the bodies, but they have more guns, and that's the problem." "Wouldn't be if you don't attack them." "They're a danger to zem." "To all of us, so long as they're here." "Better safe than sorry, I say." "There's nothing safe about picking a fight with a superior enemy." "Well, that's where maybe you can assist us." "Help us take out that Garrison with your shuttle." "Why don't we wait and see?" "This is not our fight." "we're not fighting your battle for you." "Why don't we give you two some time?" "I am not signing on for this." "but let's not take anything off the table just yet." "But this is exactly what we've been talking about, helping people in situations like this." "No, this is what you'vebeentalkingabout." "in a territorial dispute that has nothing to do with us." "Fine." "I've been talking, but you seem to be listening." "This is an opportunity to-to help," "And then what?" "Watch it blow up in our faces again?" "We make terrible heroes." "Okay." "If you're looking for a practical angle," "The colonies we help now will be in a position to help us in the future if we should ever need them." "Supplies, information, safe haven." "In this case, munitions." "It's dangerous, yes, but it's the right call, and you know it." "What the hell?" "He's dead." "Oh, my god." "We told them this equipment was unsafe." "We asked them for a safety upgrade, and they refused." "I mean, this whole thing could've been avoided." "Bullshit." "You think that was an accident?" "Someone planted explosives." "Traugott was gunning for zem." "Well, they got him." "Those traugott bastards..." "You don't know for certain that it was them." "Who the hell else would it be?" "They came for zem, and when they realized they couldn't take him alive, they killed him." "You're not thinking this through." "For the past two weeks, that's all we've been doing." "Now it's time for action." "You're not prepared for this fight." "You're outgunned." "You said as much yourself." "Hey..." "Hey!" "I said, "hey."" "If you go through with this, more of you will die." "So what do you expect us to do then?" "Wait for them to hit us again?" "No." "You find a way to end this without bloodshed." "And completely ignore the fact that they killed three of ours?" "What is it you want?" "Revenge or freedom?" "'Cause I can help you get one, but not both." "So what do you suggest we do then?" "You telling us to go over there, trust them not to shoot us on sight, and hope they're willing to talk?" "Not you." "Me." "That's far enough." "I'm unarmed." "Just here to talk." "The crew of the raza, just stopping by to pick up a friend." "We should've blasted you out of the sky when we had the chance." "Look, I'm here to help." "Sure you are." "Whether you wanna admit it or not, you and your security team are screwed." "The workers have turned against you." "You're outnumbered, and you must realize by now that backup isn't coming." "Now there's two ways this can go down." "and fight for a corporation that's abandoned you, or you can let me in to talk, and help reach a settlement." "No fighting, no one dies, you get to go home to your families." "Either way, this colony is declaring independence, and there's nothing you can do to change that." "Check him for weapons." "Raza, this is two." "Are you there?" "Yes, two." "We're gonna be delayed, but not for long, hopefully." "How's it going up there?" "Any closer to fixing the blink drive?" "No, I'm afraid not." "The damage it suffered was extensive." "It may be beyond repair." "I was running a general diagnostic when I discovered something curious." "A portion of the ship's database has been quarantined." "Why?" "I'm not sure, but I am running a decrypt program in an effort to force access." "Do you think it's another virus?" "In fact, it appears to have been intentionally isolated from the ship's more sensitive programs." "So what are you saying?" "Somebody did this on purpose?" "Yes." "Someone with the access codes to our ship's database." "It was one of us." "There was an explosion." "Three workers were killed, including zem." "And they think we did it?" "You tried to arrest him and failed." "That doesn't mean we wanted him dead." "He was their leader." "You wanted him outta the picture." "We're security contingent." "Our job is to protect traugott assets, and that includes those workers." "Now we don't wanna start anything, but if they come at us, you can be damn sure we'll be ready for 'em." "Traugott doesn't care about you or this damn colony." "They couldn't even be bothered to extract you." "This isn't your battle anymore." "the power to make a deal on their behalf?" "We can reinforce any agreement we make." ""We"?" "Me and my ship." "You agree to lay down your arms and walk away, and we'll guarantee you safe passage off this planet to the closest neutral space station." "Well, what about that explosion?" "you think they're just gonna let us walk?" "You let me worry about that." "We can't let this go." "We gotta answer, blood for blood." "You do that, and this'll end badly for everyone." "So what do you suggest we do?" "Forget our dead?" "Toe the company line?" "Claim your independence, but do it without bloodshed." "Show mercy now, so that later, when this war is over, they'll be more likely to seek out a non-violent solution." "And in what reality would a corporation even bother negotiating with a colony?" "In a reality where that colony is backed by two dozen other independent colonies." "and it will go a long way toward convincing others, like the ga or the league of autonomous worlds, that you deserve a fair shake." "All right." "We'll see how your friend does with the traugott guard." "But someone..." "Someone has to pay for this." "And they will, but not with their lives." "'Kay." "Now it's a matter of convincing the rest of my people." "What?" "Where's turrence?" "So you think you'll be able to sell this to the workers?" "Yeah." "I'm sure i can convince them that this is their best option." "Have to say, you surprise me." "Your reputation may precede you, but it's a long way from reality." "You're a good man." "No, I'm a man who has his good days." "Hey, if this all works out, after the war's over, I'd like to buy you a" "Fire!" "Run!" "On me!" "Now!" "Now!" "Move it!" "Retreat!" "Get up!" "Move!" "Let's go!" "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you." "You son of a bitch." "Back off!" "I need you to calm your friend down." "She's usually the one calming me down, so this all new territory." "They murdered our friends." "Did you seriously think we were gonna let that go?" "You've put one of my crew members at risk." "He put himself at risk by going over there and trying to broker a deal with those bastards!" "Okay, everyone, put your weapons down." "Now!" "You show up outta nowhere..." "Start telling us what to do?" "You have no idea what we've been through!" "Risking our asses for a corporate bottom line?" "What do you know about it, huh?" "Okay, turrence, just cool off." "Yeah, no, you're right." "We don't know what you've been through, but we do know about dealing with the likes of traugott." "We were finding you an out, a way to get your freedom maybe without having to deal with reprisals." "You should've listened to us." "Now we have to clean up your mess." "Are you out of your mind?" "You think I set you up?" "You're saying your people just happened to be waiting out there?" "Those weren't my people." "A good man is dead, because he trusted you." "I had nothing do with it!" "Say it again." "Say it again!" "Tell me how you had nothing to do with it." "Convince me." "Because if you don't," "I'm gonna put a bullet in your head and end you!" "Why go through all the trouble?" "and leveled this place with a couple of well-placed missiles." "that would've been a best-case scenario for those workers." "and the big bad crew of the raza add to their rep." "I wasn't playing you." "I didn't know." "Well, I feel sorry for you, then." "Because now we're going to respond And you're going to help us." "Maybe you should try talking to them first." "Six is the talker." "If he hasn't convinced them by now, nothing we say is gonna change anything." "we've been backed into a corner." "We need to force the issue." "Uh, so who's going to make that particular house call?" "Me and three." "I wanna help." "And you will, by staying here and keeping an eye on things." "Make sure nobody does anything stupid." "Warn us if they try." "I'll stay here and back up the kid." ""The kid"?" "Y-younger person." "I'm coming with you." "As much as i appreciate the offer" "If you plan on taking that Garrison, you're gonna need the extra body." "You're just gonna get in the way." "I'm former special forces, black ops, sdc." "Stellar defense corp." "Really?" "Yeah, really." "Wow..." "It was on my résumé." "You did read my résumé, right?" "Skimmed it." "Come on, it was super long." "I wanna help you save your friend." "Plus, I have to show this guy up, so..." "Where the hell are all the guards?" "I don't like this." "You guys take this hallway." "No resistance." "Nothing this end." "You guys in position?" "Yeah." "Count of three." "One, two, three!" "Wait!" "Hey, there you are." "Yeah, I was asked to keep an eye on things." "This spot gives me the best view." "So what's your story?" "Wh-what do you mean?" "You're, what, 16?" "You're hanging with the most infamous mercenaries in the galaxy?" "How'd you manage that?" "I stowed away on their ship." "Okay, but when they found you, why'd they keep you?" "Why didn't they just..." "Space me?" "Mm-hmm." "I don't know." "But I'm one of them now." "I'm not so sure that's a good thing." "From what I hear, they're not exactly..." "Not exactly what?" "According to tabor, they're great earners, but kind of volatile." "Yeah." "How long has tabor been their handler?" "Awhile." "He repped the original crew." "Yeah." "Boone, ryo, shrike, and Jasper." "Wait, shrike and Jasper?" "I... can't be sure, but I think portia happened to them." "What was that?" "Two, are you there?" "Three, this is five." "Can you hear me?" "Let's go, let's go." "On your knees." "Look!" "Shit!" "Round 'em up!" "All of 'em." "Let's go!" "Two, three, are you there?" "Over?" "Let's go!" "Get 'em on their knees." "It's happening." "They're taking over the facility." "Not to worry." "We're on our way." "Copy." "Freeze!" "Do you have a gun?" "No, I don't have a gun." "I didn't think I needed one, because I have a bodyguard." "Five, are you there?" "Yeah, I'm here." "What's going on?" "We heard an explosion?" "We're all fine." "We're almost at your position." "Be careful." "The traugott guards just took the facility." "Adrian and I are up on a second level walkway." "We can see everything that's going on from here." "Okay, I need details." "Exactly what's going on?" "Who's where?" "Okay, listen up." "Traugott is back in charge, so things are gonna be different around here." "You are effectively prisoners." "Until the arrival of reinforcements, you'll eat when we tell you." "Sleep when we tell you." "You will do what we tell you!" "What if they don't come?" "What if your reinforcements don't come?" "Then you'll have lots of time to get used to things." "We've confiscated your weapons." "We need to know if you're hiding any more." "We also wanna know who's responsible for the attack on our Garrison." "of whoever set the explosives that killed you are not in a position to make offers!" "I want names." "Someone is gonna be punished." "Might as well be the guilty parties." "Names!" "No one's being punished." "No one else is dying today." "Put your weapons down." "It's over." "Get down on your knees with the rest of 'em." "No." "What was that?" "!" "He said "no."" "Drop your weapons." "And then what?" "!" "I meant what I said." "Please don't make me a liar." "Do it." "Do it." "Are you serious?" "Down on your knees." "Hands behind your heads." "Now." "Made any decisions?" "Yeah." "We're gonna send 'em off with the next supply ship, arrange for the authorities to pick them up at the closest station." "Hand the investigation over to the ga." "You sure you wanna do that?" "Someone has to be responsible for setting off that blast." "I know those guards may be denying any involvement now, but" "I don't think they did it." "What the hell are you saying?" "It was one of my people?" "Uh, it was someone who wanted to trigger this conflict, and they succeeded." "Listen up, I've got news for you." "You don't need to worry about traugott corp." "Anymore." "We received your message, and we're here to help." "They call me the general." "Welcome to the revolution." "What the hell are you doing here?" "Hello, griff." "It's been awhile." "Don't listen to this man." "He's a liar and a mass murderer." "He's responsible for the deaths of 10,000 innocent civilians on the hyadum-12 space station." "Well, I'm not the only one responsible for that particular attack." "But I don't deny it, because those civilians weren't so innocent." "that supports inequality and favors corporate rights over the rights of the workers." "And yes..." "I've shed blood, and I have no regrets." "Because I fight for the weak." "The defenseless." "The downtrodden." "I fight for the oppressed." "And I will fight for you." "You don't belong here." "I was invited." "By who?" "By me." "He helped other colonies gain their independence, and he'll do the same for us." "You people stood up to the corp." "System." "That takes guts." "But you're gonna need a lot more than that if you're gonna survive what's coming." "You're gonna need organization, leadership." "That's something that i can give you." "Don't accept his offer." "Turn him away." "How can you ask that of me?" "My people need help." "Who can we rely on when you leave?" "Come on." "It's time to go." "Your ability to fashion virtual constructs is impressive." "It's wasted on this rather simplistic design, though." "Wouldn't you agree?" "I can sense your presence is something far beyond a simple program." "You're complex." "I'm hoping we can talk." "I can leave, but you know I'll be back." "Now that we know you're here, we will find you eventually." "I know you." "Yes, you do." "Hello, android." "Are you there?" "Can you hear me?" "Please." "Dalla?" "You have to come back." "What's going on?" "The general." "He's rounded up prisoners, and he's g i don't know." "Wait six!" "Wait!" "Six!" "This is the price to be paid for trying to take away our freedom." "Well, well, speak of the devil." "He and his people are outsiders." "They work as hired guns for the corporations." "They seem to think they can come here and tell you what's best for you." "Now you show them that you're with us now." "Cowards!" "You may not agree with my ways, but you have to admit that I am the best chance these people have for survival." "So don't go starting so" "Drop 'em." "You heard him." "Now!" "So what now?" "Now you go back to the ship and leave." "You mean we go back to our ship, don't you?" "We're not leaving you behind." "Don't think of it as leaving me behind, then." "Think of it as leaving me to move forward." "You're serious?" "These people need direction, leadership." "And I've been talking about wanting to do something that'll make difference, and... here's my chance." "There are other ways to help." "You're right." "The raza can make a difference, you know, be-become a symbol of hope for these people and others like them." "Let 'em know that they have a powerful ally backing them." "But you don't need me for that." "They need me more." "If they'll have me, that is." "We'd be honored." "It's settled, then." "If you're sure about this." "Yeah." "All right." "We'll be checking in on you." "You better." "Guess I'm the last man standin'." "Do some good." "Yeah." "I'm gonna miss you..." "I'll miss you, too." "But you know where to find me." "You stay strong, watch over them." "I will." "Okay, where to?" "What do you mean?" "Where are we dropping you off?" "Actually, we were kinda hoping maybe we could stay with you guys for a while." "You wanna stay here on our ship?" "I-it's not like we wouldn't pull our weight solara's pretty handy." "And obviously, you know what I bring to the table." "Who knows what happened to tabor?" "We may never see him again." "But in the meantime, I'm running his clients." "I have all of his contacts." "And many of his annoying habits." "We can't just dump them." "Sure we can." "You don't know what it's like out there with this war going on." "It's not safe." "Trust me, it's not safe here either." "It would just be for a little while, until we can get back on our feet." "No." "Fine, you can stay for now..." "Oh." "But he's your responsibility." "Keep him out of trouble." "Five?" "Hey." "Do you have a moment?" "Uh, I don't feel like talking right now." "It's not about six." "It's about someone else." "Are you saying Sarah's alive?" "Uh, yes and no." "When her stasis pod died," "I was able to rescue her digital consciousness." "Whenever you go into a deep sleep, your consciousness gets digitally uploaded into a database designed to keep the mind actively stimulated, and avoid mental atrophy over long hauls." "It gets downloaded back as part of the revival process." "So instead of downloading this digital consciousness back into her dying body, you transferred it to the ship's database?" "Not at first." "I didn't know how." "I kept it on a separate storage device." "And it wasn't until recently that I was able to figure out a way to actually upload it into the computer." "Well, why didn't you tell us any of this sooner?" "Because I didn't know it was gonna work." "And I didn't wanna get anyone's hopes up." "So you're saying Sarah is alive as a computer program?" "Well, it's a lot more complicated than that." "She's a sentient consciousness confined to our ship's database, but she has created her own virtual reality within it." "You can neurally connect to her world, visit her if you like." "I know she wants to see you." "I'm sorry." "You are this galaxy's most fearsome and formidable..." "Mercenaries, bounty hunters, professional soldiers, assassins, the very best at what you do." "Your mission is two-fold." "Take back what's mine, and take out the crew of the raza."