Project Prometheus Ch. 46 - Teaser (Patreon)

“Building things up to be better defended?” Inari asked, knowing this was the probable plan!

“Damn straight! It’s like you said, we’re sitting on a shit ton of viable resources that the Confeds want! If the Confeds want them, then so will other groups and organizations! I’m thinking we get to work on this and set things up to do all of it ourselves! If anyone comes knocking, thinking to take it from us, they’ll be in for a rude awakening!” Daved said, almost chuckling over the line.

“And what about those who wish to come and do legitimate business?” Inari questioned.

“Then we will do business with these people! If they come to trade and pay for what we have, then we’ll certainly be up for that! But anyone who thinks to try to steal from us won’t be walking away so easily!” the sheriff said.

“I like this plan!! Maybe it will help get us back on our feet, back before this place was called Prodosia!” Captain Johnson replied with as much enthusiasm.

“Oh, hell yeah!” Rykker agreed, which was also met with enthusiasm from the others on the line.

“Excellent idea! But first, I think we need to get about a particularly important part of business,” Inari told them.

“Which is?”

“Search and rescue of those still out there. I know you guys are going to say let them rot out in space, but hear me out,” Inari replied amid some angry comments. Daved called for all of them to be quiet and they held their tongues.

“Two minutes. Go,” Daved said, not liking Inari’s idea, but gave her a chance to explain herself.

“It’s simple. We look for and find any survivors and bring them back planetside. If they can be saved, then we save them. If they can’t, then we leave them. Why we save them is simple. Money. We bring as many of these bastards down and keep them confined, then get ahold of the Confeds. We tell them that we have their soldiers and officers and are willing to hand them back, for a sizable fee,” she started.

“They stay confined and in windowless cells, so they don’t know what we’re doing and can’t report jack shit back to their superiors. The more officers we find, the higher a chance will be that their families or Confed command will pay to get them back. Especially high ranking ones!” Inari finished.

“While I don’t like the idea of saving Confed scum, the woman has a point. Spirits know we could definitely use the money!” Johnson said.

“Are you suggesting that we also give them Sargol too?” came one exasperated voice.

“Oh, hell no! That guy and all the infiltrators on Prodosia are staying here! Fuckheads like that need to be punished properly! What I’m talking about is sparing the soldiers and crewpeople of the fleet,” Inari clarified. There were some sighs of relief and grunts of agreement, as the rest of the defense force was glad that she was being reasonable.

“OK then. I think you’ve just made your case there, Inari,” Daved said, seeing the logic and merits of her idea.

“Oh, and there’s one more thing I want to add,” Inari stated, as she was ready to play her final card.

“Which is… what?” Daved queried.

“Zuzie was a Confed, until she saw all the shit that her people were doing to yours. I’m not saying that everyone will be like her, but… you never know,” Inari finished. Hearing this left some of the men on the line to hum and huff, as they saw the point that Inari was making.

“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves just yet,” Daved interjected. “How about we bring these people down to Prodosia and then we see if anyone is like the Doc?”

“Fair enough! If anyone had a zero G suit or two that works, you might want to get your kids suited up! There’s a lot of wreckage out there and plenty of closed off compartments with heat signatures! We can’t ransom dead bodies, folks!” Inari stated, which kickstarted the rescue effort.