Dagger-2 had been sitting near the front of the establishment when he saw the man named Mr. Serrano enter the bar and slide into stall 18. He quietly sipped his coffee as he listened intently for him to place his order. Dagger-2 was wearing simple street clothes that reflected the environment Daisy's Burgers existed in. Baggy jeans and a ruffled plaid jacket which was more a long sleeve shirt with a hood than an actual jacket. His undershirt was black and plain. Though he looked like any other man who lived within the vicinity of the diner, he carried himself like a python curled for a strike. Not nervous or tense, just aware.

Verifying that this was indeed his contact, Dagger-2 calmly rose with his mug containing the stale coffee and slid into the booth across without a word.

"Mr. Serrano I presume. You may address me as Dagger-2. I'm the agent that was tasked to retrieve the intel you possess as well as any proof you have corroborating what you have reported already in the communication post you sent."

He took another sip of his coffee, more a habit than enjoyment. The coffee tasted like it had been made hours ago when the diner first opened. It was vile, but caffeine was caffeine at the end of the day and dealing with another clueless civilian that possessed dead end intel already made him feel exhausted. Just the thought of having to run down whatever nonsense this man believed made him irritable.

However, any reports of a compromised or infected individual always sent up red flags at command. What was more, this particular individual knew of the possibility of infection. Though those in the edgeworlds typically knew of this possibility due to the nature of the Nomads in that area of space, it was still fairly uncommon knowledge.

Both of these reasons was why he was ordered to meet with him and ascertain what he knew in person and if necessary, silence him permanently.

"First and foremost, give me a background on yourself. I need to know the individual furnishing this intel before I can truly dig into whatever it is that you think you have."

Dagger-2 leaned back, looking at his contact over the lip of his mug.

Much of what he said tracked. Mr.Serrano was indeed a P.I. from the Omicrons, the background check on him had gone that far at least. Though...the man was suspicious. He was pushing this data hard and Dagger-2 caught the "scent" of panic in his eyes. It was barely contained, but it was there. Dagger-2 maintained his composure so as to not give anything away. He reviewed the data again.

He was right about the flight logs and inconsistencies. Some things didn't add up, but things never added up in the Omicrons. Various houses tested advanced tech out there and with the Core redirecting a lot of their focus from Kappa and Zeta over the past few months, it wouldn't surprise him if some of this data was related to some kind of experiment they were running in Delta. Even if this man was compromised, all of the intel provided to him by Serrano was inconclusive that he was on any trajectory to Liberty. Where was the data related to New Berlin that he had indicated in his communication? Dagger-2 considered sending this intelligence to the Order in the Edgeworlds. While technically a "hostile" intelligence agency, the LSF and Order had worked together in the past despite their growing differences--and this was right up their alley.

Then there was Serrano himself. Not many, even now, knew about infection or compromised assets, even in that region of space. True, he was a Private Investigator so he might have heard rumors about it, but concrete "infection" knowledge? Something rang untrue about him but Dagger-2 couldn't place it...and it was bothering him.

"Mr.Serrano," Dagger-2 said gently sliding the pad back towards him. "no doubt you believe that you have something here yet much of what you've showed me can be dismissed as poor record keeping. The Zoners in Omicron Delta have spotty records at best, even if they're better than their siblings at the other Freeports. Additionally--and surely you know this operating in the Edgeworlds yourself--not all pilots in that region keep to their scheduled flight plans due to various encounters. Finally, all you've showed me is data from the Edgeworlds, which I don't need to tell you is well outside of my jurisdiction. In your communication you mentioned New Berlin and Liberty, all I see here is information from Omicron Delta with no evidence he is making a trek to anything with in my purview.

"Why did you not take this to the Order instead? Why come to us specifically? Where is this data that indicates he is on a trajectory to enter Liberty? Your intelligence has holes in it, Mr.Serrano." Dagger-2 leaned back in his seat and narrowed his eyes.

Theta-9's mandate was clear: Obtain technology by any means necessary and reverse engineer to regain and maintain Liberty's technological superiority over the other houses. The image on the screen showed exactly that. However, Dagger-2 remained calm; this could still be false information.

"You claim that this, "Heiko Riegel" is in Liberty. Yet I have seen no proof of this in your intelligence. Do you have proof he is in Liberty? Additionally, where is he heading? No doubt one of the smuggling hubs." He added the last part more as a red herring incase Serrano tried to find the man on his own after their meeting. It would help if he was busy running around hunting at shadows.

Dagger-2 didn't say outloud what he already knew. Vespucci, Ontario, Galileo, and Kepler all had a history of things lurking in the darkness of space. Vespucci was where the Wyoming was last sighted according to various sources. This individual, if real, could be attempting to supply their allies with this relic. Ontario was another option, if they were attempting to bring the relic to Sudbury, though Dagger-2 figured that the Xeno Alliance would intercept him long before he reached the planet. Galileo? Doubtful, Wild and Nomad activity had noticeably declined since the events in Ontario. Kepler was always an option--no telling what existed in the depths of the Dark Matter storm.

His gut feeling was Vespucci if the man existed and was in Liberty. That was the last place a known hostile element yet existed. T9's teams had yet to ascertain any whereabouts of the rogue Battlecruiser but considering the damage reported done to the ship, there was no way it was able to make any large scale movements during that time.

Despite the cagy nature of the man, he had the intel from Serrano. Though Dagger-2 was still skeptical of the contents of said intelligence, he did have a job to do. This was more credible than most of the bullshit that came across their desks. Perhaps there was something here.

Time to wrap this up.

"As for this artifact in the photograph, this isn't proof he was carrying anything other than something bright within that crate. There is no evidence that this is anything more than a bauble he picked up from the Edgeworlds for a young child." Dagger-2 made a show of sighing in exasperation. If this was credible intel, he had to ensure that Serrano believed it was a dead end so that he would drop it and return to whence he came. "Though in the name of National Security, we will take this intel under consideration." He pulled out a sleek and small comm. pad of his own and tapped a few things, sending an NDA across to Serrano. His face became deathly serious as he looked at the man seated across from him. "You will sign this Non-Disclosure Agreement. Violating this is not advised if you value continuing to suck down Oxygen. Additionally, you will provide all materials, storage devices, and copies containing this intelligence. You will not keep any of it on your person. Again, I advise you not test us on this. Our reach is far and our patience is thin. Failure to adhere to any of the tenants of this, or refusal to sign this document, might keep you from seeing your daughter again. Am I clear?"

Dagger-2 waited for his response.

The threat didn't land. Dagger-2 subtly narrowed his eyes at the man seated across from him. He'd given him all the data and signed the NDA quickly. He looked over Seranno one more time, reviewing all of the information he had been given and that he had gleaned. Sighing, he turned and rose from his seat without another word.

He approached the entrance to the diner and knocked three times on the old woodwork as he departed. As he did so, all of the patrons and employees in the restaurant moved with precision towards stall 18. All of those inside had been replaced before the meeting had even begun. He tapped his ear piece:

"Echo-7, you get all that?"

"Confirmed Dagger-2. Moving from Chadwick to Hudson. ETA, 20 minutes."

He tapped his ear piece once to acknowledge the response.

He stood outside for a moment, enjoying the cold brisk air and then put his hands in his jacket pockets and shuffled away--just another Liberty civilian out on the town for a bite to eat.

Two Days Later

Agent Black landed Dagger-1 at Blacksite-7, better known by internal LSF agents as Chesapeake Research Facility deep with in the Alaska minefield. He stepped off with the intelligence he received from Serrano who was now a permanent resident at Fairbanks. He moved with practiced movement through the various hallways until he arrived at the office of Agent Winter, former agent-in-charge of the now defunct Section-41. She'd been in a particularly bad mood since it was restructured into Division Theta-9 at the behest of the President.

"What." she snapped when she saw him at the door.

"The intel from Serrano."

She reached out to snatch it out of his hand.

"Is that the PI prick we picked up at Manhattan? The one staying over yonder?" she jerked her thumb in the general direction of the prison.

"The very one. Seems pretty well detailed. A shame we had to disappear him. He might've made a pretty good agent had he not made a wrong turn in Albuquerque." he chuckled at his own joke.

"Your jokes are stupid, shut up." she reviewed the documentation. "You're right though, this is quite detailed. Any evidence of the man in question? Intel says he was last seen at Pittsburgh."

"We tasked Agent Vard to investigate. He's doing pre-flight checks in Dagger-7 to get there at best speed."

Winter looked at the various intel.

"Go with him, take Dagger-3."

She looked up but Black remained in place.

"Look, I realize I'm not the agent-in-charge anymore, but we need someone to back up Vard and an interceptor ain't gonna do shit to anything if this guy tries to rabbit. Just go with him, make sure this is by the book, clear?"

"Clear." he said reaching out for the intel. She snatched it back away from his hand.

"This is mine now, it needs internal review. Get moving, Agent."

He sighed and turned to walk back to the bay to retrieve Dagger-1. He needed to route to Erie in Pennsylvania to pick up Dagger-3.

"Bitch." he said under his breath as he departed the offices.