Kiregard System, Province Of Heildan-Rosch
"STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY!"
"BRING DOWN THE CORPORATOCRACY!"
"CONGLOMERATE=CORRUPTION!"
The signs were angry, and so were the chants. The sound of two thousand people screaming and shouting filled the frigid winter air, a cacophony that drowned out even the loud hum of the police drones overhead. The crowd had almost completely filled Jason Teller Plaza, the enormous open square that sat in the centre of Port Teller, and had set up makeshift camps of sorts all around the area. Fire burned in barrels, tents and shelters dotted the plaza, and on a stage at the far end of the plaza a young man gave a passionate speech about the evils of capitalism.
Jason Teller Plaza had long been a centre of activism on Keystone. Public use laws let anyone who wanted to get permits to stage protests or demonstrations, and activist groups frequently took advantage of this. Protests about everything from environmental issues to social issues took place around the plaza's central fountain, and it wasn't uncommon to see multiple protest groups verbally (and sometimes physically) duking it out. Recently though, the focus of the protests had all been focused; a single enemy of seemingly every group had appeared, and this rally was the culmination of months and months of online campaigning and planning. It had already been going on for nearly four days, with no sign of stopping. The protestors had braved the driving wind and pouring rain to protest what they saw as a rally to stop evil.
Standing in the midst of the rally was a man dressed in as nondescript an outfit as could be. A black trench coat, dark pants, and dress shoes. His face was partially concealed by the coat's high collar and a black hat. He wasn't chanting or shouting like the others in the crowd though; he was merely observing. Watching.
"Jackal, this is Watcher. Are you in position?"
The voice came through his head-set, a calm female voice. Jackal cast his eyes around the surrounding rooftops, including the roof of the very building that had incited this protest in the first place; the towering black monolith that was the Columbia Conglomerate's regional HQ. Just a year ago, Keystone had been the centre of employment for the entire province. Tens of thousands of people worked in the planet's massive factories, pumping out an endless stream of goods. Then the Columbia Conglomerate had arrived, and everything had changed. In the name of efficiency, they had automated the factories, putting those tens of thousands out of work. Unemployment and poverty were now the rule of the planet rather than the exception.
The people who's livelihoods had been wounded or even destroyed by the automation were fighting back against their corporate oppressors. They had initially tried more peaceful means; first by filing complaints with the Department Of Labour And Employment and when that didn't work, by appealing to every government agency even vaguely related to the oversight of corporate activities. But the Columbia Conglomerate had its fingers in all the pies, and there was hardly a politician alive who could go against the wishes of the Conglomerate and even stand a chance of being re-elected. Perhaps the protestors knew that they were fighting an uphill battle, and perhaps that was why they seemed so desperate.
But amongst the throngs of desperate people , Jackal saw nobody that obviously looked like they were monitoring him, but he knew that he was being watched.
"This is Jackal. I'm in the midst of the rally. What's the situation?" Jackal spoke quietly into the collar of his jacket, where a hidden microphone was located.
"Is everything in position? There can be no mistakes" The voice ignored his question, which Jackal had grown used to.
"Yes. Everything is ready"
A few brief moments of silence, and then the voice came back "Good. You may proceed at your discretion. I am severing the com-link."
And just like that, the voice was gone, and Jackal was alone. He sighed deeply, focusing his gaze towards the front of the crowd. There, a line of riot-gear clad Port Teller Police Department officers stood, their shields at the ready in case anything got out of hand. The protest had been, for the most part, peaceful. A few troublemakers had tried to stir the pot, but with the drones overhead, they had quickly been identified and removed from the area.
Even so, it was clear that the Conglomerate didn't trust the protestors or the PTPD. Across the street, behind a huge fence, were soldiers of the Columbia Conglomerate Corporate Security Force, known commonly as the CSF. Unlike the PTPD, the CSF soldiers were armed for war. Full semi-power armour and riot control drones stood by, just waiting for the shit to hit the fan.
Of course, though they didn't know it, that was exactly what was about to happen.
Step One was to distract the ever vigilant police drones. Jackal reached down into his pocket, his hand grasping around a small electronic control fob. He took a deep breath and pressed the button. Immediately, the sound of automatic gunfire roar out from random spots off to one side of the crowd. The response was immediate; the drones whipped around to get eyes on the area, and the crowd started to scatter as people panicked. The PTPD officers, seeing this, started advancing towards the crowd, some of them trying to push their way towards the gunfire. Of course, there truly was none. Cleverly placed decoy bombs that perfectly imitated the sounds and sights of a gunfight were responsible for the racket. The ruse would be discovered the moment anyone laid eyes on the devices, and that meant that Jackal had to move fast.
Step Two was the one he was most looking forwards to. In his other hand, in his other pocket, he held a cylindrical device, about the size of a can of soda. Its cold metallic shell felt good in his hands, and he savoured the feeling as he blended in with the panicking crowd and pushed his way closer to the front. The police were pushing into the crowd, so Jackal knew that he only had a few moments to act. A quick tap on his palm summoned up the HUD display built into his opitcal implants. He began to cast his eyes around; first he looked towards the stage and blinked twice, a red crosshairs appearing over the target. He quickly locked onto several cars around the perimeter of the protest, as well as one or two police officers who had made their way deep into the protest.
By this point, the drones had evidently figured out there was no actual threat, and were now sweeping over the entire protest, their biometric scanners casting blue flashes across the panicking crowd as they identified and logged every person they could. But by the time the drones made their way to where Jackal had been, he was gone, having dropped the metal cylinder on the ground behind him. He himself had made his way over towards the edge of the plaza, where a set of stairs descended down to the Teller Plaza Metro Station. On his ocular HUD, the countdown was nearly done. Ten seconds. Jackal stepped down into the metro entry, calmly strolling past cowering protestors who had taken refuge in the stairway. By the time the police had reached the decoy machines, Jackal was long gone into the depths of the metro.
The weapon he had dropped was a CCA-665 Advanced Cluster Munition; an illegal weapon that was explicitly banned from usage or production for being 'unusually cruel and destructive', and Jackal smiled as he watched the timer reach zero.
Above him, all hell broke loose.
The main grenade exploded in an enormous cloud of aerosolised fuel that spread across most of the plaza. A millisecond later, the grenade simultaneously ejected six target-seeking munitions and detonated on its own. The initial explosion engulfed the plaza in a ten-thousand degree blast, vaporising everything it ints path. Just a few moments later the submunitions exploded with their own tiny versions of the main blast, further obliterating anything that had managed to survive the initial explosion.
In the aftermath, there was total chaos. The entire plaza was scorched to a crisp, as were the corpses of hundreds of protestors and police. Smoke poured into the sky from burning cars and buildings that had been ignited by the shear temperature of the blasts, and the sound of sirens wailed across the city. Emergency services arrived quickly, but there was little to be done; nobody in the blast radius had survived, and those were had been on the outskirts were burned to the point of near-death. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and the dazed and confused survivors who had been far enough way to avoid serious injury simply wandered the carnage, begging for help, clutching their wounds.
Aboard a metro train speeding eastwards towards the Keystone Central Spaceport, Jackal watched the breaking news on his PHS with a smile. There was a buzz, and the lady came back over his earpiece.
"We just saw the breaking news. I take it your mission was a success?"
Jackal nodded, "Affirmative."
"Can you confirm the death of the target?"
Sadly, Jackal couldn't. Even if he had stayed at the plaza, he knew that any bodies would be scorched beyond recognition, and he didn't exactly have time to run DNA tests. But given that the man he had been after was right near the stage just before Jackal had left, it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to assume that he had been caught in the blast. So he felt fairly confident as he replied, "No physical confirmation. The entire plaza was destroyed, and the target was confirmed right near the epicentre. High probability of kill"
Silence for a few moments.
"Understood. Target will be considered eliminated unless we discover otherwise. Return to Baseplate"
Jackal merely nodded and leaned back. The ride to Keystone Central Spaceport was a long one via the metro, so he had plenty of time to rest up. And in his mind, he deserved it. After all, it had been a very busy afternoon.
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Haven Towers, City Of Crescent Bay
Planet Excelsum Aquas, Varia-System
Province Of Hyperia
"For our top story today we turn to the planet of Keystone, where the capital city of Port a Teller is still in chaos following what authorities are calling a 'major terrorist attack'. Details of the attack are still sketchy, but what we do know paints a very ugly picture. According to witness, a gunfire broke out in the middle of a mass anti-corporate protest, followed only seconds later by a series of enormous explosions. Emergency personnel were on-site within minutes, but due to the ferocity of the blasts, only a handful of survivors have been recovered. The official death toll is unknown, but an anonymous source within the Port Teller Police Department told us that the unofficial count currently stands at nearly six hundred people, including twenty police officers. The number of wounded is much higher, at nearly one thousand and rising. The source also told us that the death toll may actually be much higher, but that many of bodies were likely completely incinerated in the blasts."
The anchorwoman paused briefly as the camera angle on her altered, before continuing with the report.
"So far there has been mostly silence from federal officials. Commander Tobias Wells of the FSS told reporters that the government was acutely aware of the situation, and that a press-conference would be help within a day. Exarch of Heildan-Rosch, Hadreon Galida, spoke from the provincial capital of Elpis, declaring a week long period of mourning. He also vowed that he would bring up the issue of domestic terrorism with the National Defence Council and his fellow Exarchs at next month's Provincial Defense Summit. The Chancellor's Office posted a message to its official Overnet site stating that Chancellor Johansson would address the nation sometime in the next week."
The holographic display paused, the image of the anchorwoman suspended in mid-air above the glistening titanium and glass conference table. There was silence in the near-darkness of the room, as the single physically present person and the holographic avatar that sat across the table stared each other down. Physically present was Samantha LaRose, Chief Executive of Corporate Oversight Zone Alpha, one of the Columbia Conglomerate's two province-sized territorial holdings within the UCR. As such, she was one of the so-called Quadumvirate; the four most powerful people in the Columbia Conglomerate, alongside her counterpart in COZ Omega, the Chairman Of The Board, and the President and CEO of the entire company.
Being in this position, Samantha very rarely had anyone challenge her authority or actions. In fact, the only people who could actually challenge her were the other three members of the Quadumvirate, and of those three, Samantha only really had regular contact with the her Omega counterpart. Today however was vastly different. For the holographic avatar sitting across from her was the Vice-Chairman Of The Board, Thomas Kepling.
Samantha and Thomas had never seen eye-to-eye. Samantha was young, un-orthodox in her approach to corporate governance, and considered to be a bit of a wild child. Thomas on the other hand was a member of the old guard, with heavily conservative views on just about everything. Add to the fact that Samantha had frequently campaigned the rest of the board to set an age limit on its members, and it all added up to a rather toxic relationship.
Never before was this more clear than now, as the scowling fomr of the Vice-Chairman sat in vivid real-life quality holographic ugliness. Samantha merely folded her hands and politely stared back.
Finally, the silence was broken by Thomas.
"What in the Divine's name were you thinking"
Thomas spoke with the odd inflection of those born in the capital, stretching out strange syllables and noticeably clipping his words short.
"I'm not sure what you mean. You asked me to do a job, and I did it. What more is there to say?" Samantha spoke in about as non-chalant a voice as possible, someone that noticeably made Thomas tense up as he responded.
"You were instructed to eliminate a single target. One. Not six hundred innocent civilians. And especially not police officers. We wanted this done discreetly. In what universe is detonating a cluster munitions in the midst of a rally discreet?!" His voice rose throughout the entire admonishment, but Samantha remained unfazed.
"You didn't say it was to be discreet. All you said was that it should be done in a way that doesn't implicate the Conglomerate. And unless my ears have decieved me, everyone believes this is a terrorist attack. I would call that a successful completetion of the assignment" She shrugged and leaned back, casting her gaze off towards the darkly polarised windows that made up three of the room's four walls.
This was obviously not the answer that Thomas wanted, because he seemed to get even angrier, "Damn it Samantha, we wanted a single person dead. How hard would it have been to just get a sniper or something. Was there really any need for this...this...." He struggled to find the right words, "This shitshow?!"
Rather than respond, Samantha activated her PHS, projecting a list of names up into the air.
"Vice-Chairman, tell me if these sound familiar." She cleared her throat and started reading, "Anslo Harman. Max Tillsdale. Ryan Stepalano. Sabrina Consogenti. Ericka Fulsana."
As the names were read, Thomas's anger seemed to give way to confusion. He cocked his head slightly, answering slowly, "Those are all the upper members of the FFCM. Anslo is the man we wanted removed. What's the point of giving me a list of names we already know?"
"Because," Samantha said slyly, raising her gaze to meet Thomas's, "This is also a list the dead from the rally."
At first Thomas didn't seem to react, he merely stared at Samantha with a neutral look. Slowly though, his gaze fell to the table, before he cautiously looked back up.
"Our intelligence said that only Anslo was to be at the rally. The entire FFCM leadership would never gather in one place unless Anslo....told...them...." It slowly dawned on Thomas what had occurred. He locked his eyes to Samantha, "Did you.....did you make them think that Anslo had called them all together? Is that what's behind all this?"
Samantha could only smile politely, and lean back, "Does it really matter? Maybe Anslo called them together, and maybe there was some.....assistance in the matter. Either way, the FFCM has been beheaded. I accomplished the goal and then some. So really, you should be thanking me, Vice-Chairman."
The Vice-Chairman's seething angered visibly returned and he seemingly had to take a few moments to calm himself before speaking, "That is completely besides the point. And this isn't just about excessive use of force. This is also about your habit of hiring unsavoury individuals to perform...."
"To perform what, Vice-Chairman?" Samantha cut in, levelling a steely gaze on her (technical) superior, "Equally unsavoury tasks? What we're doing is no less illegal and illicit than what the people I hire are involved in. If the Board is concerned that I am hiring criminals in the course of performing my duties, then perhaps they should stop instructing me to perform criminals acts"
There was silence in the room for a few moments as Thomas seemingly processed what Samantha had said. After a short while he spoke, slowly, and cautiously, as if afraid that he might set off a reaction from Samantha, "We are simply concerned that you may be involving the Conglomerate with groups that are on the radar of the FSS or the IIO. I have no delusions that what we ask you to do is illegal, but the Conglomerate can suppress and deal with any government investigatons. The groups you hire may not be able to do so."
"I assure you, me and my people are more than capable of dealing with any potential issues with regards to paper trails. I've been doing this for a while as you know, and not once has anything been traced back to us. So as far as I'm concerned, your concerns are unfounded." Samantha was growing tired of arguing with Thomas, so she stood, visibly sighing, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm on vacation, and quite frankly you're making it rather difficult to relax. If you have any further issues, feel free to send them to my assistant. Good afternoon, Vice-Chairman"
Samantha clenched her fist and the holograms shut off, terminating the connection. The windows de-polarised, letting the brilliant light from the Varia System's three suns stream into the room. Samantha strode over to one of the wall of windows and gazed out across the surface of Excelsum Aquas. As its name would imply, Ex-Aquas (as it was commonly called) was covered entirely in a shallow tropical sea known as Ultima Oceanus.
The sole exception to this was the small archipelago system that the city of Crescent Bay was constructed on, though the city had long since outgrown the tiny islands. In fact, the vast majority of Crescent Bay was built on enormous floating platforms, Samantha's own home of Haven Towers included. Technically part of the Haven Entertainment And Commerical Complex, the huge construct sat a few miles out from downtown Crescent Bay, connected to the core by a six-lane highway and tram system. The twin towers of the complex were both ultra high-end apartments, while the base was composed of a shopping and retail area, plus a wide array of nightclubs, bars, and restaurants.
For her part, Samantha had purchased the premier penthouse on the complex long before the construction was even finished. This had allowed her to customise the penthouse to her liking, and though most of her time was spent on the job in COZ Alpha, knowing that she had a tropical paradise to retreat to was a calming kernel of thought in her mind. The penthouse was enormous, taking up four stories of the West Tower, and featured a splendid multi-level roof deck, complete with infinity pools, kitchen, and even twin landing pads for shuttles and such. It was to this rooftop lounge that Samantha now retired to, taking a short elevator ride up from the conference room.
From the roof, Samantha could look out over the vast and empty Ultima Oceanus, or turning to the north, the glittering and lively downtown of Crescent Bay. Far below in the water was a flotilla of boats, almost all of them luxury yachts and pleasure cruisers. A few large ferries shuttled people back and forth between the Ex-Aquas Space Elevator and Crescent Bay, which was truly the only major settlement on the planet. This was a necesary service since Crescent Bay didn't have any facilities to accolade ships beyond shuttle size, forcing anything larger than that to dock at the Ex-Aquas Orbital Station, where passengers could take the space elevator down to the surface.
Taking in the view, Samantha sat down in one of the deck's many lounge chairs, idly flipping through news reports on her PHS. As excepted, many of them were about the Port Teller incident. To be honest, Samantha was feeling somewhat remorseful at what she had caused, however indirectly. Her orders to the "contractors" had been to eliminate as many of the upper echelon members of the FFCM as possible, with little to no direction on how exactly to go about it. It was, in her experience, far more efficient and far safer to leave specifics and details up to the hired guns; that way if they got caught, it would be nearly impossible to prove any Conglomerate involvement.
A gentle beeping shook Samantha from her thoughts. Her PHS flashed the "incoming message" icon, and a quick tap brought up the face of her chief assistant, Tyler White.
"Miss LaRose?"
Samantha nodded, sitting upright so the PHS would have a clearer view of her face, "Yes, yes, what is it? You do remember that I'm on vacation, right?"
Tyler nodded apologetically, " Apologies miss, but I thought you might want to know....well, remember that.....'thing' you told me to keep a look out for?"
"Of course. Why? Have you found it?" Samantha was now sitting fully upright, "Come out, out with it"
"I may have found someone who has. Sultan called in a few minutes ago. Said he had a package he would be willing to trade for some big bucks"
Samantha grimaced and swore under her breath; Sultan was a notorious black-market dealer, and there was never a price too high that he wouldn't try and get away with charging. Nonetheless, if he truly did have what she had been looking for....
"Taylor, put out a message on the Overnet. Same one as last time. Vague, but enticing. And contact the Malleo. Tell SC Harper to go to Volera and hold position there. I don't want our people getting involved, but this is too important to leave entirely up to mercs"
Taylor nodded as Samantha spoke, seemingly taking notes as he listened, "Will do. I'll contact you when Harper has confirmed his orders, and if there's any response to the ad". The feed went dead, and Samantha leaned back once again, staring up into space. She had been waiting a long time for this opportunity to come along, and now that it was finally here, she could hardly believe it.
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Across the entirety of known space, on every possible media outlet and Overnet (or foreign equivalent), a message was posted:
To All Interested Parties:
The Columbia Conglomerate is currently seeking to employ an individual or group to retrieve a highly valuable cargo shipment that was misappropriated in the course of its journey. Due to the sensitive nature of the cargo, all persons involved must be trained in combat and be ready for potentially dangerous situations. Payment will be negotiated in person, and will be paid in full upon completion of the assignment.
Please respond to this message if interested. Meeting coordinates will be sent in return.
