Loki Valmir was onboard Loki’s Pride, his OSI Whale transport, taking goods to Freeport 11 in Omicron Delta when he decided it would be a good time to contact the Siren’s Bell. Not only did he have some information to report to them regarding the Order but he was also eager to learn more about the group.
He had originally met the group onboard the Siren’s Bell only a few weeks before when a Nomad had led his ship to it. Loki had not been in the Habit of following Nomads of course but since his recent interactions with nomads leading up to the meeting had been quite friendly he decided to take the risk. The people he met on the Siren’s Bell were what appeared to be Nomad sympathisers and it seemed like the Nomads had wanted Loki to join.
Being raised a Zoner, he had never expected to join a cause… let alone one so crazy as working with the Nomads but a combination of recent events had been enough to make him say yes. First of all, his general dislike for the Order’s zealotry had been made worse when the TAZ had been forced to jump the Persephone to allow the Order to inspect the ship for nomad artifacts. Not only had the Persephone been lost in the jump but Loki had helped fuel it so he had taken it more personally than most. On top of that, he had met several Nomads recently that had been quite friendly to him and not the bloodthirsty killing machines the Order made them out to be. This had made Loki realize that if the Order was out of the way there was room for the possibility for humans and Nomads to coexist. He had agreed to help the group spy on the Order and sow further anger in the Zoner community towards the Order when possible.
He was not sure if he had made a good decision but it felt like the right one so he continued to go along with it.
***
Once he had docked on Freeport 11 he sent out a message to the Siren’s Bell that he had some information they might want and he was willing to meet them again at the same location of the original meeting. He unloaded his cargo and then got in the Osprey he had left docked on Freeport 11 to the coordinates that the Nomad had taken him when he first saw the Siren’s Bell and waited. No turning back now, he thought to himself.
The ship was quietly floating there, not seeming to have any response. Unmanned as usual most likely. There was no complete crew, leaving the thing on autonomous mode while the occupants inside were doing other things. The scanners seem to automatically detect the vessel, as it gets close, the docking bays flash green for mooring. It seems that despite the reaction of his last visit, he was added to the docking list anyways.
The internals of the ship was quiet. Only a few rooms lit up, noises of some people inside talking quietly, doing their own thing.
What he did next was up to him. It was strangely.. Welcoming.
As the Osprey moored with the eerily still ship, Loki lifted off a loose panel on the side of the cockpit and grabbed the heavily encrypted data drive he had stashed there. It contained the information he collected that he thought the group onboard the Siren’s Bell might be interested in as well as a journal he had started to write about all that was happening. He slipped it into his pocket as he climbed out of his cockpit and into the Siren’s Bell.
Like always he had been wearing slightly faded jeans and a plain black t-shirt. He had never been one to dress up and was always glad OSI hadn’t made him wear a uniform. It only took a few steps further into the ship for Loki to notice the strange sense of calm that he was feeling despite the fact that he knew he should be more nervous.
Not sure where to go he called out to the first person he saw on the ship, “Hey, I am Loki Valmir… I talked to Aelita Stone and Jessica Snow last time I was here, I got some information for them.”
The person turns and gives him an odd look. Someone he didn't meet just yet. She slowly crosses her arms. "That's an unfamiliar face. I swear, if Izumi is dropping new people in without telling me, i'm going to get slightly ticked."
Letting out a breath. Nodding her head. "Hey there. My name is Tara Snow. You met my sister? Well, if that's true and you were on the auto-dock list, I guess it's good enough for me. Information you say..?"
Motioning for him to follow her, she starts walking through the ship, stopping at a little living room type area. Sitting on the couch, leaning back with a tired sigh. "Make yourself comfortable, watching other people be tense is a pain in the rear. Seriously. There's nothing to be scared of. Unless you make the little one cry, then you'll have hell to pay."
Leaning forward, looking at him expectantly. "Actually, tell me a little about yourself as well. I suppose you'd already have done this for my sister, but well.. I'm not her sadly."
Loki followed Tara into the strangely cozy living area and graciously accepted her offer to make himself comfortable as almost fell back into a seat across from her. He had not realized how tired he was, one of the cargo pod doors on the Loki’s Pride had glitched out and he had to pry it open manually in order to finish unloading his cargo at Freeport 11. It was no easy task and in the end it had taken him and three deckhands to finally get it open.
He was shocked at how different Tara’s personality was from Jessica and he jokingly commented to her, “Your sister must annoy you quite a bit if you hate seeing people tense… she was pretty… intense when I met her earlier.”
Right after making the joke he wondering if it had been the best idea, he had been told that he sometimes need to think before saying. Either way he decided to continue on to answering her question, “Honestly, other than all this craziness that has happened to me recently I would have said I was and extraordinarily ordinary guy. I am a transport captain for Omicron Supply Industries, I grew up a Zoner, and I can have a big mouth sometimes. Not much else to tell, well until I started having regular conversations with Nomads and then coming here.”
Raising a brow. "Nah. We get along extremely well. Jessica is more of a.. realist than I am I suppose. I don't get that way until you make me mad. All depends on what kind of mood we're in, we aren't exactly the most professional bunch i'm sure you have noticed by now.
Although I do have to be a little.. wary. You seem to be taking the concept so lightly. You stepping inside this vessel is practically a crime against humanity. At least the beginning of it. There's no going back, and believe me. It'll be made sure that you can't go back no matter what. In fact, it might already be too late for you.
Your.. 'big mouth' will get you killed. And us right along with you if you decide to adhere to what we do around here. Getting our trust is not the most.. easy thing. I ask the same thing almost to every person who comes in here with the same purpose as you do. What do you want from us. You've been shown a path. What do you want to do with it."
She was.. stretching things a little bit. However this seems to be on purpose. Eying the man very carefully.
“Now I am starting to see the family resemblance,” he said, allowing himself a quick smirk before forcing himself to put on a much more serious face.
“I guess I will tell you what I told your sister. I guess I will start with what I hope to accomplish by working with you all, a decision I am sure most people would consider betraying humanity. Well it all boils down to the fact that I feel like working with you is the best way to prevent all out war between humanity and nomads in the long term. There is no chance of any sort of coexistence between the two as long as the Order tells anyone who listens that the nomads are nothing but evil monsters which I have learned recently isn’t true. I haul goods through the Omicrons often so I can try and keep tabs on Order movements and let you know of anything out of the ordinary. On top of that I can try to work towards further increasing the recent tensions between the Order and one of there biggest suppliers, the Zoners.”
He took a quick breath before continuing, “Also, I will be the first to admit I am not soldier or a spy but I am willing to do whatever I can to help, and while I act carefree sometimes I am not an idiot.”
She frowns. Looking at him for a few seconds, shaking her head slightly. "I think you're taking this a little too lightly. It's a lifelong dedication. Betrayal of the human race, with the full wish for their downfall quite honestly. The stupid people brandishing weapons, killing everyone including themselves in the process.. Your 'help' will kill thousands easily. Two species cannot co-exist. Humans have been the sole species to live on their own scale. All of the animals were below them. They will 'never' allow another species to be above them. Nomads happen to fit under the category, and the Order is doing everything they can to announce the evil, and destroy them.
You have to be prepared for more than just 'help'. Although at this point honestly, it's probably too late for you to back out anyways."
“Yes you sure do like the ‘probably too late’ threat don’t you, “ he said with as much confidence as he could muster.
“You sister told me all this before and while you may not believe that there can be peace between our two species I do and I believe that working with you is the best way to achieve it. I am willing to do whatever you ask of me even if I don’t always agree… I might voice my opinion about actions I don’t think are the best course but I will still carry them out regardless. Not sure what else I can tell you on the matter. Hell what harm would it be to see if I am a usefull asset, if I am not you can carry out those threats of yours.”
She looks at him for a few seconds. Slowly shaking her head. "Fine."
Standing up, she begins walking off deeper into the ship. "Follow me."
A short but curt reply.
She begins walking through the vessel. Slowly stopping in front of a closed door, entering inside quickly she takes a stance up at one of the walls. Inside, was a Kusarian woman, standing in the center of the room. It seems she was doing something with two strange looking figures in her hand, but her attention was obviously on the newcomer this time.
"Oh? Tara? Did you bring me another?" Smirking slightly, slowly beginning to approach him. With almost no sense of restraint, she reaches over and presses the back of her hand against his face gently. "Not too bad i'd say. Surprising almost. Well, well. So you've made up your mind, hmm?"