Shadow Puppets :: Part 2

When I returned to [Saka-san], he asked me to fly to one of our Imperial Armaments factories, to a contact there, who would give me a file on the local Naval commander, who was not impressing [Saka-san] with his handling of the situation, something with which, confidentially, I agreed. I claim no especial military expertise, but my recent experiences have taught me how nimble these drones can be in combat, yet for all I could see the current commander was relying, for containing them, on battleships, whose armaments are meant to fight their own kind, not to handle the equivalent of frigate sized attack craft.


I reached the factory, and spoke with the contact whom [Saka-san] had named to me, an officer of the House of Records. [H]e made available to me a sealed packet of papers, which I returned to [Saka-san]. The thanks he gave me, for a job well done, were quite enough reward, but I [obediently] accepted the small bonus he offered.


Then he asked for for assistance, of a more martial form. The local commander being an incompetent, [Saka-san] wished to arrangee for our High Command to rotate in a more capable man; hiowever, he explained that his candidate was currently on assignment fighting mercenary freebooters, believed to be in pirate pay. If I could take out the freebooters, then my master's canddiate would be free to fight the drone menace. Querulous as to my capacity for this mission, but dutiful as to my responsibilities, I consented to do what I could.


The mercenaries proved to be in the same system, so reaching their location was but a warp. There were three of them, beside a control tower, hanging in the void like vultures. I selected one and [ordered] my ship into a close orbit. He, and his colleagues, died, and for good measure I also disposed of the control tower since it appeared to be linked to the mercenaries. This probably makes for me even more foes, but my honor is secure.