Warning! Chapters 21-24 were posted back-to-back! Returning readers, make sure to pick up where you left off!
Chapter 24 – Assessment
August, 2168 CE
It was Bruce opening the meeting this time, with Lucy missing from the call.
Two weeks had passed since taking over the Broker Network, and Rylia and Momo had been forced to return to Nevos, as they were more or less public figures who couldn’t be out of sight for long without raising questions. Thankfully, QEC was secure enough that they could hold a remote meeting safely. Thus, Kara and Bruce, the former of which had stayed behind to put the Broker’s ship back in order with several batches of labor and combat mechs they’d brought in, were dialing in from Hagalaz. Meanwhile, Momo and Rylia were connecting from Nevos, and Lucy was busy playing Shadow Broker while Bruce updated them on various matters.
“The Broker Network is stable, with only a few minor hiccups with people who knew enough to be suspicious. The only outstanding issue on the information security front is the resupply frigate, which will be taken care of quietly the next time they arrive for regular resupply. We did find several other alarming matters that we’ll need to take action on fairly swiftly.”
Bruce looked down, presumably at a set of notes. Considering what a steel trap his mind normally was, the fact he was referencing anything was a slightly concerning indication of how overwhelming the information flow had been. Though he had already reassured them that they were getting a handle on it, with a team of R3 and JN-66 droids helping manage the load now that the initial rush was taken care of.
“The biggest issue is whispers of a Batarian slave raid being planned to hit the human colony of Mindoir in a few months. Thankfully, we’ve caught this early enough that we can arrange some subtle assistance. First by using Broker assets we want eliminated anyway to provide reasons for Alliance ships to be closer by. Second, by sending quiet rumors to the locals a few days before the raid so they will be on alert. Third, by having a few elite mercenary assets ‘just happen’ to be passing through when the raid hits. Combined, it should minimize losses while eradicating the slaver group.”
Everyone else nodded. None of them particularly liked the idea of letting there be losses at all, of course. But that slaver group was going to hit someone. Better, if they knew the target, to arrange for that target to be enough of a trap to minimize the damage and eliminate the threat. Rylia was the least comfortable with that sort of decision, lacking the experience that everyone else involved had…but that’s why she’d summoned them in the first place. To cover for her weaknesses or lack of experience in their areas of expertise.
“Aside from that attack, there are a number of smaller operations we can arrange to fail without being obvious. Though the fact that nearly half of them are being quietly sponsored by the Batarian Hegemony means we need to arrange some manner of political move to effect long-term change. We’re still looking through the immense windfall of information we’ve gained to identify how we might do that. A political expert may be an additional slot we need to fill, though even with the Marketplace, finding one that isn’t corrupt may be an issue.”
All three women snorted at the utterly dry tone Bruce delivered that last bit with. Still, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Rylia would have to start poking at the Marketplace to see just who she could find. Though getting someone with military experience so they could start planning the Terminus operation and what it would require might be more critical. That was a discussion for another time, however, as Bruce indicated he was finished with his own overview and would forward everyone a more complete list of current or upcoming problems. Kara was the next one to speak up, having been charged with one other critical task beyond getting the Broker’s ship squared away.
“I have largely positive news regarding Hagalaz itself. Rylia’s thoughts about the mining operations here were accurate. While operations were abandoned, it wasn’t because the mines were played out. It was only due to the comparative difficulty of mining a second-tier garden world, compared to several other opportunities that appeared on more easily accessible worlds.”
Kara made a motion that caused the display to split, shuffling their respective holo projections off to one side and bringing up a window showing…what appeared to be an operational mining facility.
“Perhaps the best news is that the Broker knew about the mining facilities. Wherever the Shadow Broker was operating out of before, this ship is only a few decades old, and a significant chunk of the materials used in its creation were quietly sourced from heavily automated mining operations set up by a past Broker. They were offline when I found them, as they didn’t want even the small number of sentients they needed for operation to be aware Hagalaz was in use.” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Kara flashed a triumphant grin at them as she explained why they were operational now.
“The operations were carefully shuttered so they could be brought back online easily, and it turned out that a JN-66 is entirely capable of handling the bits that needed more intelligence. I took one out of the pool, along with a pair of R3s and a dozen of our RK-1 mechs. That was enough to get this particular site up and running at a basic level, mining several useful metals for ship hulls. There are two more sites that can pull rare earths needed for electronics, too. It’s hardly a comprehensive list of all materials we need, but a lot of what we need in bulk can be pulled out of either the current mines, or others we can reactivate with a bit more effort.”
Rylia was grinning hugely now. This was even better than she’d hoped for! She’d expected to be able to reactivate some of the mines, but hadn’t considered that the Broker might have had the same thought and already done some of the work for them. She spoke up next, once it was clear Kara had said her piece.
“Perfect! Excellent work, both of you. Kara, I want a list of exactly what the mines are capable of pulling out. I’d like to get a base set up on Hagalaz for at least basic manufacturing, as well as command and control, as soon as possible. Eventually, our various expansions into new fields are going to draw too much attention to Nevos, and hiding even our, currently limited, weapons production here will become increasingly risky. Moving most of that off planet is going to become important, sooner rather than later.”
All three of the others nodded at that, though it was Momo who interjected next. She brought up both a point that Rylia had considered and an option that she hadn’t.
“On that subject, Rylia? Sooner or later you’re going to have to move around a lot, in a way that doesn’t attract attention. You’ll have to spend time here, plus time in a more concealed set of labs somewhere. Time on Hagalaz and, mostly likely, a dozen other places besides. All without ‘vanishing’ from the public eye too often. To that end, I think we need to consider leaning into your ‘rich Maiden’ persona and have a custom ship either built or rebuilt for you.”
While Rylia blinked, thrown off kilter by the idea, even as her brain raced with pros and cons, Bruce nodded. With a considering look, he took control of the central display and quickly brought up a number of ships for comparison.
“An Asari frigate, perhaps. There are a number of companies in the Republics that build military-adjacent frigates for richer Matrons and Matriarchs. Not true military vessels, but second-line ships that would be suitable for militias. They use them for exactly the sort of thing Yaoyorozu is implying. A combined mobile base of operations and status symbol. It would be easily sold as an abruptly wealthy Maiden wanting a status symbol, while still being practical enough that it makes sense, given you already have operations in multiple system with the Orbital Salvage facility.”
Rylia winced as prices started to fill in next to the ships. Still, they weren’t that prohibitive, compared to the amount of money she was making between the various businesses at this point. On the lower end were more corvette-sized ships, priced anywhere between twenty to a hundred million. The actual frigates started closer to half a billion and shot up well into the billions.
Still, even with money pouring out to expand various businesses, they had liquid assets totaling nearly three billion credits just sitting idle. Erotic Delights was still struggling to meet demand, and they’d made multi-billion credit deals to license the designs for several different technologies. Just the security field technology used in the Tentacle Bondage machine had been licensed out to several manufacturers for close to a billion credits in total, and it had hardly been the only technology they’d done that sort of thing with.
No, even with all the money they were spending, they had the assets to absorb a major purchase like Momo and Bruce were suggesting. The more she considered it, the more it made sense, too. If they ordered the ship custom, it wouldn’t seem even slightly odd to the yard building it for her to want a significant R & D lab/workshop aboard, given what she was famous for. So long as they were careful who they staffed the ship with, they could run most of their research out of the ship, allowing her to keep working as they moved around the galaxy.
So long as they didn’t spend long periods of time out of sight, they could duck over to Hagalaz for weapons testing and such, and no one would think much of it. Meanwhile, Momo could move around and make deals as well, and she and Kara could probably use the Salvage Yard facilities to upgrade the ship on the sly. With careful choices of who operated the ship, no one would realize it was much more heavily armed and protected than it seemed. Which, combined with the idea that a moving target was harder to hit, would also add a layer of protection for Rylia in the long-term. You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
Heck, it would even give Rylia and Kara an excuse to study a larger ship in production. Bribe the manufacturer a bit to let them get involved in the design work and it would double as learning the practical lessons they needed in larger-scale ship design. Yes, the more she thought it over, the more useful boxes this seemed to tick.
“Alright. I can certainly see the value. This isn’t a high-priority task just yet, but Bruce, please start a check on the various manufacturers to find one we can work with, you know the sorts of things to prioritize far better than I.”
Bruce nodded, clearly already creating a mental checklist.
“Meanwhile. Kara, you and I will get together on the subject and figure out what we need built into such a ship. Including how we can get away with adding some blank space that we can sneak upgrades into. Momo? Staffing an entire frigate with just Summons isn’t practical. So see if you can track down some of the people we’ll need and start vetting them, with Bruce running final background checks. A mixed-raced crew would be best, but we’ll be expected to use predominantly Asari.”
Kara and Momo nodded at their own pieces of the puzzle, and Rylia leaned back.
“Alright. Table that for now, as it’s relatively low priority. For the moment, let’s get back to actionable details now that we have access to the Broker network. Bruce, I assume you’ve pulled the data on failing companies with dubious debts I asked for? Lets see if we can find a few to target for acquisition. Both for manufacturing capacity and to poach some of their talent.”
The meeting would go on for several hours, but none of them complained. They got a lot done over that time, after all. Even if it was still only a fraction of what they could use the Broker network for, now that they had it. They had to start somewhere on making use of it…
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A/N 1: Yep, I figured the Broker would know about the planned raid on Mindoir. I haven't actually decided yet if Shepard will be there. As I went with a Spacer background, she doesn't NEED to be, but I can also see an easy way to make it work. To be decided later, really.
A/N 2: The geek in me is now itching to design elements of a ship for Rylia. Despite being low priority, the early stages of them working toward that will probably appear quickly because I won't be able to help myself...
A/N 3: So you can always just be patient ;-).