Gateway

Sept. 25 - Gateway

"Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy." - Sun Tzu

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It the skies above Shadow orbit two space stations. Serenity Station is an Alliance facility and houses the customs office for the region. Gateway on the other hand is a neutral station and sees a great deal of traffic both commercial and military.

It was here that I again met Jai Raghilda, owner and operator of Necessity Shipping and trade delegate for the Consolidate Associate Traders of Zenobia. It was easy enough to arrange to be here when she passed through. She had to file her route on any official business.

As I approached she greeted me, "Ma'am"

"Hello Ms. Raghilda."

"Coincidence finding you here," she replied. "We run in the same circles it would seem."

She knew I was looking for her. She must have known. "Did you receive my message?" I asked.

"Yes Ma'am."

"Excellent. Do you have a few minutes to chat?"

"Sure, I don't depart for a little while yet. Fueling and transhipment."

"Very good. Let's take a seat then shall we?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

We settled ourselves in one of the lounge areas on the promenade.

"Pardon me for being in casual clothes," she said. "We don't usually uniform up until we get closer to the Core."

"Of course."

"We really should when we are in Gateway though," she continued.

"The Trade Association has always set it's own protocols around such things," I replied.

"The protocols are Uniform in the Core. But I think this should be considered that border. Just a thought."

"First, let me congratulation you," I began, "You have led a wonderful campaign of expanding the trade network

"I have been fortunate. I think the need was such that it kind of made it happen."

"You are an excellent negotiator it seems," I added.

"The current political climate was conducive to it. Confidentially, I am a better business woman than I am a pilot."

"There is one thing that may be a concern..." I handed her a photograph,"...this is you see a matter of uniforms."

It was a photograph from the old Zenobia Low Orbital Station. I showed Ms. Raghilda and an older man both wearing Dharma Initiative overalls. They were standing on a docking port with Zeno Baxton and another man. Baxton, while being well connection in Zenobian trade circles, is known to have a criminal record and ties to the Independence military.

"Yes, our clothes got dirty, the old man gave us the coveralls....."

"This was taken sometime ago at the old low orbital station."

It took my team days of sifting through security camera feeds to find this image.

"....Desmond Serenity, one of the trustees of Dharma," she added.

"Indeed," I replied. The elusive Mr. Serenity.

"Yes, Ma'am. Coop was showing us the shuttle he had in dockage. The auto pilot was twitchy."

Coop must have been the fourth person in the picture.

"Go on."

"The old man talked on about some things I couldn't follow."

"Such as?"

"Coop didn't seem to like him much. He talked about his old Army Unit."

"What did he say?"

"He used to live in Hale I think, before the war or something."

"And his unit?"

"He was in the army during the war. Members of his old unit were dying off. He should consider smoking and drinking less. He reeked of beer and generic cigarettes. That was the day Sheriff Gallagher was shot. It was in the papers. Probably why I forgot all about him. Two snipers shot Sheriff Gallagher down in his own office."

"And his old unit ..tell me about that."

"I don't know anything about his old unit. Oh, wait, I have a photo." She dug around in her pack for a picture as we continued talking.

"Did they catch the snipers that tried to kill the sheriff?"

"No. Not even close. They found the weapons. Gallagher did anyway. Alliance issue, but outdated."

I frowned, "Hmmm. Last time we talked, Ms Raghilda. You asked if I would be your backup."

"Yes ma'am." She finally found the photo she was looking for and passed it to me.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" I asked.

"No. Things go on."

"Then why did you ask me?"

"I am out of the loop. Its usually 11:59 when I find out anything. You were looking for Zenobian stuff in places I frequent. It means I will probably be there when it goes sideways."

"This picture... of you in the Dharma overalls, would be considered incriminating in some places you see. There is evidence linking Dharma to a bombing of one of our research facilities."

"Dharma is a public charity, their products are in stores."

"A convenient cover."

"Dharma?"

"I will be making a report next week. I need to know if I should be including this picture."

"I don't see why not".

"...and then it will be for others to do as they see fit."

"Is it not more likely that some criminal like InupThoret used Dharma materials in the commission of a crime. I assumed that is why he stole the Dharma delivery truck."

That was a fair point.

"Inup Thoret is a dime store thug," I said, "The Alliance officer that lost him should be on charges."

"Agreed."

"I hope I am given that file in fact."

"Ma'am, you are aware that I have a long history of cooperating with law enforcement."

"You have an untarnished record."

"I had a licence to salvage that derelict ship but when I found out it was not as it seemed, I forewent the profit and handed it over to the authorities."

"You did the right thing Ms Raghilda."

"This is an interesting photograph you have given me....that appears to be the Sheriff..."

"Yes ma'am, a copy of usually sits on Sheriff Gallagher's desk. You may have seen it."

"The office was being cleaned I believe the day I arrived in Hales." I said almost automatically as I play with the image in my fingers.

"Ah. Anyway, its no secret. Everyone knows that Gallagher was a medic during the war. I don't know much about his service other than that."

"You may wish however to dispose of those overalls and disassociate yourself from that charity in anyway."

"Since my association with CATZ, they are my only association of any kind."

"Anyway, that is not why I wanted to meet with you." I planned to switch topics. Keep things off balance. It was a shot in the dark anyway. Instead she took the opening.

"Could I ask you a couple of unrelated questions? Does the Alliance still deny the existence of Reavers?" she asked.

"That is certainly unrelated...why do you ask?"

"You haven't read my record? Ah, okay. I returned home from University. My entire family was wiped out and half eaten.

"By reavers, yes, and yes I have read your file."

"The local garrison told me there was no such thing. What will you tell me?"

"About reavers?"

"Were they idiots or a.....s?"

"Possibly both or kept out of the loop as you put it."

"Does the Alliance still deny reavers exist?"

"Your question has caught me off guard. You should come work for me."

"I am presenting you with an opportunity to build my trust. Get back to me."

Cheeky, full of spirit.

"Let me answer your question with a story. You are aware that I am looking for forged relics of St Zenobius."

"Yes ma'am."

"That is the official version. Often the official version is an attempt at disinformation. I am in fact looking for the authentic remains."

I felt awkward telling her the truth.

"I thought they were in an Alliance Vault or something."

"The authentic remains were hidden away during the war."

"So, they are still there, yes?"

"They have gone missing."

"Oh,I was there when the Bihar was doing some testing, but that was the last I heard. The rest is only what I read in the papers."

"They were lost sometime ago."

"How do you know?"

"You can apply what I have said concerning the official story to what happened to your family."

"Yeah. So now you know what I want. I want the official story on my family's massacre."

"...and I want those relics."

"I have no idea where you can find the relics."

"But you do have a network...."

"How can I help?"

"...and a secretary who also works at Blue Sun."

"Yes, Miss Emma."

"You have offices on the surface Shadow."

"Yes ma'am and dockage here in high orbit. The bulk carrier Behemoth moors in high orbit."

"Well I am not very welcome there as you can imagine."

"The Alliance has an official presence here again, no?"

"I am referring to wandering around on the surface."

"Yeah, people get twitchy... it's why we don't uniform up in the border or rim: uniforms freak the locals."

"I am suggesting then an exchange of information."

"I am happy to help however I can."

"If you hear of anything concerning the relics you tell me. In return I will get you information concerning what happened to your family."

"If you can give me something more specific I can probably find something before the 11th hour."

I thought for a moment.

"You have any local leads or connections to it yet? I can't ask around for the relics."

"There is a navigator by the name of Ardra. She is likely to have some information."

"I can get you something on Ardra."

I almost fell off the sofa."You recognize the name?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"That's twice you have caught me off guard...

"Okay, back to my botched salvage operation. The Persephone was being used as a staging area for organ harvesting from kidnapped victims.

"...you really should consider a career in SIU."

"No ma'am."

I smiled.

She continued, "There is a height requirement."

"Go on," I prompted, "... tell me about how you know about Ardra."

"I got the tip on the Persephone from a salvage broker on Zenobia. I don't understand how they profit from it, but it was a setup somehow for me or someone else. Well, the salvage broker did not care for me dumping the cargo with the authorities even though that was my legal obligation. We quickly figured out if we didn't get to the bottom of this, we would be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. The sheriff was shot the next day."

"The snipers?" I asked.

"Emphasized the point. I started sleeping in high orbit. My cousin Moira is a doctor. She sniffed around Zenobia and found a couple of unregistered organ transplant operations."

"She trained on Zenobia, yes."

"Interned or Residency, I am not sure. Medical school was in Ariel. She was on a Zenobian scholarship, I think. Somehow the Ardra person transports the illegal organs."

I twisted my mouth a bit as I processed the information.

"Moira has the manifests," added Jai.

"She pulled the manifests?"

"Sure."

"Okay ... go on."

"The salvage agent that gave me the job is where Ardra gets her work."

"...and who would that be?"

"Mercedes. ummm something. I can get you the manifests, it should give you what you need."

"Thank you....then what happened?"

"I can't trust the Alliance or local law enforcement to take care of it. So I am investigating myself. Else another tragedy will be just a political expediency."

"...and how do you think that will end?"

"It will end sideways like everything does. Thus, my request for backup."

"Well if you don't call this being in trouble, I'm not sure what is."

"Did you read how Lilybell was kidnapped by reavers?"

"She was raised by reavers," I shrugged. "She was probably just visiting family."

"I am not in trouble as in I am not out of compliance with my legal obligations. It doesn't mean the 'verse is not full of wrongness."

"There is more to being in trouble than trouble with the law."

"When I am being interviewed by law enforcement, what should I think they are asking?"

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about," I tried to be reassuring but it came out rehearsed.

"Law enforcement protects the law and the establishment. If I am lucky, that includes me. But if it is incovenient, I will be discarded. Like my family was."

"Tell me the details about the loss of your family. The file is terse."

"Mom, dad, sisters, uncles, aunts and several cousins. No survivors. Only those of us that were away when it happened."

"Where was the family home?"

"Sweethaven in Aphrodite....orbits Murphy like Shadow does."

I took a breath. "Reavers were the result of an experiment gone wrong...." I explained.

"Yeah."

"This much has been said before..." I acknowledged. Nothing new here, I thought. Move along.

"I don't believe that anymore. There were supposed only 30,000. That was 15 years ago. They either are breeding in the wild or someone is making new ones."

"I will see what I can find out." Not that I would necessarily share it.

"One more thing," Jai insisted.

"Yes?"

She began, "I want this organ legger thing done. I still have nightmares. I am happy to do this. You want my trust, put them down. Down a horrible prison never to be heard from. This is worse than reavers. Reavers are insane, these people made a choice to be evil. I don't want to hear about some deal. I want justice."

I paused. The law and order I believed in. It is a necessary thing to preserve civilization and to control the darker aspects of human nature. And along the way there were trade off to achieve the necessary ends. Justice, I wasn't so sure it was actually possible.

I began, "Justice is a difficult thing to managed..."

Jai exploded, "Not a good answer!"

I was stunned at the emotion in her reaction.

"Have you visited the Persephone? Go there. See it. Then decide if you want to make a 'balance' deal with those bastards."

I begun to walk away. What could I say? I had seen the secrets of the Persephone.

"See that? I want these creeps off my back, you backpedaled already!"

I retreated. "I will be in touch."

She called after me, "I will get you your files."

Her rage was withering. The encounter actually left me shaken inside.

-----

Upon return to my transport, I sent a message to Ms. Raghilda. It read:

"Find Cody Winterwolf.

He is wanted in connection with the murder of Reginald Brigston, an Alliance officer.

Brigston had in his possession a data disc containing information on reaver experiments.

Find Winterwolf. Find the disc and maybe you will find your answers.

Message ends."

The data on that disk might actually help her achieve some sort of closure ... and her search may lead me to Cody Winterwolf.

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[OOC - thank you to Jai Raghilda and Gallagher Aeon for use of their pictures]