[Experimental] The Gatekeepers - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Notes :

Things went from bad to worse. But at least I got (some) treatments, even if my day is just a diet of pills. Seven just in the morning when I wake up. Plus two eyedrops. And an inhaler. Just to function.

Hopefully I'll be able to reduce that as issues get removed. We shall see.

Anyway, enough moping about. Started writing again a bit, for TFW and MFR both. Hopefully will have new chapters soon.

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Chapter 2

Planet of Pavonis Prime

Starport Station Hortus Stella

Nice boat. Commed Amita as she looked at the ship docked with the station. While direct comunication via implants was generally considered rude in the Federation, it was a hell of a lot more discreet than speaking aloud. Although there were some limits, as most humans suffered blinding headaches if they used it too much, especially if they weren't trained for it. It did enable you to have private conversations even in the middle of a public space however. Or, in this case, near their clients' people.

It's a ninety megaton freighter a kilometer long, and your first reaction is 'nice boat' ? Answered Valmira.

Well, I did use to control far larger ships.

Yes, and look where that's gotten you.

Amita's face went blank, before sighing.

Point taken. So, where is that investigator ?

Coming right through the door.

Valmira used their shared tactical network to ping the hatch in question, and Amita looked as a young woman stepped through the door. She looked…not at all like what the AI had expected. Amita had seen a hologram of her, obviously, but she'd expected her to be in the same strict business attire. Not in a casual outfit that almost looked like that of a standard spacer's.

The person accompanying her however was anything but. Spotless suit, hair so perfectly combed it looked almost unreal, his appearance screamed 'corporate representative'. The assistant trailing behind him like a lost puppy didn't help. With the rise of personal assistant programs and drones, there was really no point to these kind of people except as status symbols.

And there was something about the investigator's movements…she moved with a grace and economy of movements that was borderline inhuman. It was unusual enough that Amita's analysis program had already tagged her as an anomaly.

"Greetings representative Olgier." Said Valmira as the group approached them. "And you too, investigator Lovelace."

"Greetings to you too colonel Ramirez." The corporate representative, whose bio had already been updated with his name in Amita's database, turned towards the AI's android. "I assume this is your security specialist ?"

"Correct. This is Amita. She's an enhanced human level AI with over two decades of security and combat experience. She's also one of my best."

"Ah, good. Pleased to meet you miss Amita !"

"Likewise representative Olgier." She nodded at the investigator. "Investigator Lovelace."

The young woman smiled, and Amita passively noted that she was too perfect. Little to no skin imperfections, same for her teeth. That, plus the way she moved…genetic alterations, had to be. Possibly enhanced intellect too, although that was always a coin toss. The Lovelace were really playing with fire here. Genetic engineering hadn't been quite outlawed in the Federation, but…well, Terra had spent almost a hundred years locked in an interstellar war before there had been FTL travel because of genetic supremacists. Restricted didn't quite cover how thoroughly reglemented the field was.

Incidentally, the purge after the Federation's victory was the basis for all of its laws of war. There were atrocities and then there was 'glass every single rocky planet in an entire solar system'. It had been over a century and that place was still the poorest and least industrialized core world.

"Oh please, call me Sandra. We're going to be together a while, so I think it is best if we drop the formalities." She extended her hand and Amita shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you ! Especially as, you know, you're here to keep me alive."

"I will do my very best. As long as you follow my instructions."

Sandra winced, and Amita could read Valmira well enough to see that she would have done the same had she not had such good control. The corporate representative however…seemed more relieved than anything. Clearly he'd been fearing that Amita wouldn't be up to the challenge. Or at least wouldn't be willing to go against her client's wishes. Well, 'client'. Technically VIP, but as an investigator of the corp, she was also technically the client.

"I'll…do my best."

"Good." Amita switched her gaze to the representative. "I assume the appropriate authorities have been warned of our arrival ? To prevent any issues ?"

"Ah, that is a bit…complicated. See, we would rather play our cards close to our chest. Hence, we will only issue warning once your ship arrives in-system."

Amita's eyebrows rose. Once they arrived in system ? Even civilian ships pulled several gees of acceleration nowadays, thanks to grav-drives and inertial compensators. The gates might be out around where Neptune was in humanity's home system, but that would still only give ten hours of warning to the colony, tops.

"You do realize that this might create friction with the local company units, especially when it comes to handing over codes for integration with their security systems ?"

"I do. Which is why part of the reason I am here is to give you this." He made a quick flicking gesture, a cultural relic from the day when implants where activated by moving your body, and sent a series of files over to her on a secure channel. "This contains investigator level override codes and protocols for our company, as well as any systems integrated with ours. You are trusted to use them at your discretion."

Amita whistled mentally. That would basically allow her to take over any GSP system she came across. Well, she could monitor them, any facility supervisor or other high level personel could countermand any orders or command she gave, but…

Well, she was an AI. The corporates that had authorized this had to know what she could do with this. They must really want that investigator of theirs back alive in one peace.

"Thank you. This will make my job much easier."

"We aim to have this endeavor succeed, miss Amita. Now, I do believe that your equipment has already been loaded, and the ship will depart shortly. Unless there are any last minute concerns, I believe you should be on your way."

Amita nodded.

"No concerns on our end." She'd managed to pack a surprising amount of firepower in her cargo allotment, all things considered, and although she hadn't been able to quite sneak in an anti-tank weapon, what she had was good enough. Main problem had been intel gathering however. This was going to be as much a monitoring job as a combat one. Someone was clearly after GSP's investigators, and figuring out who before they started shooting was going to be an issue. "I assume you don't have any either, Sandra ?"

"Nope ! All good."

"Very well then !" The representative clapped his hands. "Good luck, and may the stars be with you !"

*****

"All hands, all hands, brace for gate jump !"

Amita perked up as she heard the PA announcement. Technically she was already connected into the freighter's systems and could have listened in on the conversation with traffic control if she'd wanted to, but even as an AI she could only spare so much concentration and attention. Plus, she had a tendency to get depressed if she got a look at the sensor readings of the ship when near a gate. In the Fringe, every single gate was slowly orbited by the debris clouds of the ships and fortresses the Federation had smashed to conquer the system. And it reminded her too much of how her own ship had gotten destroyed and most of her friends killed in that same damned war. Besides, she wasn't worried about someone attacking the ship or anything. The Fringe wasn't exactly the most secure of places, but this was a ninety megaton freighter. Every patrol ship was going to be watching it like a hawk, and push comes to shove it had enough 'point defence lasers' to shoot most small pirate ships out of the proverbial sky if necessary.

She waited, and then-

Something happened. The sensation wasn't quite describable, but it clearly was there. For a split second every sensor she had just went batshit crazy and her electronic brain threw up a bunch of errors. Thankfully that was it for her, a bunch of error messages and a few confused programs. Unless she was seriously mistaken some of the passengers onboard would be throwing up for the next few minutes.

But not her ward. Her initial hunch had been right, the investigator was definitely genetically modified. She didn't even blink during gate jumps, and most of her physical performances were right on the edge of the 'normal' human spectrum.

She had also barely talked to the young woman. Oh, they exchanged small talk, but Sandra had spent her days locked up in her cabin reviewing files. Had to hand it to her, she appeared to be processing a level of data some AIs would have found challenging. Alright, not quite, AIs could technically process data instantly, but it wasn't the same as truly integrating it. Amita had her databanks, and she could access them instantly, but they weren't integrated with her psyche and thus she didn't 'know' the information in them, she had to pull it up.

On the rare occasions the investigator had gone around the ship, Amita had followed her. She wasn't willing to take any risks, even aboard a 'safe' freighter. Her android was parked in front of the woman's door day and night, and she had several drones patrolling all nearby corridors to create a perimeter. Plus, she had three security bots on call. They weren't discreet, or fast -they were basically trash cans on legs-, but they packed one hell of a wallop, at least compared to what the drones could do.

As for her ambassador android…well, she had gotten the best out of the armory. Covert armor, like the ones the Federation Secret Service used, albeit an older version, which made it look like she was in a standard space suit/jump suit combo, but could eat most kind of small arms fire and even sustain some serious hurt if necessary. That was on top of her android's already formidable integrated armor. She'd also packed a couple of weapons. Energy, mostly, they were more compact and the more powerful kinetic guns were simply too hard to hide. Plus, they ran out of ammo quickly.

She quickly checked through the security cameras that Sandra was still in her room. She was, still going through the data, unphased by the jump. Amita had actually reviewed some of it herself. If only to have some idea of what the hell she was up against.

The first investigator had his neck broken. Presumably from a fall, but it looked too clean. Originally the police had put it down to an accident, that he must have fallen into one of the storm channels, but after the second one had died they'd quickly scrapped that hypothesis. They'd gone over everything they had a lot more carefully, and found out that he looked like he'd been stunned and roughed up a bit before being killed. So kidnapped, interrogated and disposed of.

The second had been clearer. If only because you couldn't really miss the fact that he'd been torn apart under a hail of energy weapon fire. Which was interesting in its own right. Energy weapons, man portable ones at least, were…not a novelty, but clearly new in the Federation. Terra didn't really have the capacitor or cooling capacity to make them workable weapons until the Federation had been linked in with the galactic gate system and able to steal and reverse engineer others' capacitor tech. So laser weapons were only a few decades old in the Federation, and the ones used had been some pretty good ones. Which indicated that they might not have been Federation at all.

That would explain a lot as well. The security detail had clearly been engaged in a firefight, although the site where it had taken place wasn't found, and they had some pretty decent gear. Corporate security gear, of course, which wasn't stellar, but gauss rifles were nothing to sneeze at either. And they'd still lost. Which implied either a lot of attackers or some really badass weaponry. Unfortunately they'd suffered so much damage it was hard to tell really. There were definitely some lower power guns in there, but for the bigger areas of damage it was hard to say whether it was a single big gun or a lot of fire from smaller ones. Not when the bodies were this degraded anyway.

Amita sighed, and began sorting through her files and plans one more time. She needed to keep that investigator alive, and that was going to mean being thorough. Or lucky. And she hated banking on luck.