The Den, Oyster Creek [XA- or Allies only]

[|nfrared]

Somewhere in Liberty...

The Den was a dark, dark part of the station that had been converted to living space from storage tanks, much like most of the storage capacity of the Oyster Creek installation. I hadn't allowed for that, Jimmy thought as he sipped his Ale again. Things had snowballed in a big way. A deal here to get use of a large transport ship had turned into a huge converting mission, with all but one of the crew defecting to the Alliance cause. The man had been an LPI "Skymarshal", and had been dealt with appropriately. Now I had family members of the crew here as well, on the run from the law because I had dragged them all in. But they were safer here than in their homes on Houston.

They were free from the control. Out here there were no police, just a basic understanding of the need to cooperate to survive and a chance to make a difference. That can bond a person to a cause like nothing else can. So I had given them direction, created jobs, now we could process ore with light mining machinery. Purify helium with nanofilters and gas compressors. Many of the political refugees that had come here, most with at least some background in mining or hard labor, quickly helped him to organise our people into mining gangs, maintenance and repair crews, and construction teams.

Now another of his latest projects was nearing completion as well. The former US-Opportunity now sat amid the debri, disabled as repair ships worked to attach the replacement engines. The Duct Tape gang. Jimmy had never heard of them until now. They had been escorting one of the few Serpentis Transports - Jimmy knew of only 4 capable of transporting more than a couple of thousand units - which is why this "Serpentis Maximus" project was so important. He watched from the viewing portal as a small fire broke out, a static charge igniting something, then relaxed as one of the repair ships moved to contain the damage. The other repair vessel continued its work installing the upgraded scanning array - a trophy of battle taken from the wreckage of one of Jimmy's former victims - of the train, allowing it to detect danger at an increased range - a necessary modification given that the damage to the shields was beyond their ability to fix and the deterioration and subsequent removal of the entire weapon array. That meant excess power could be diverting to detecting danger before it got too close.

Jimmy was agitated now, thinking about some of the visitors he could expect here. All he had done thus far - creating this hideout-turned-production-facility had been done for simple humanitarian reasons, his compassion for human life. The Liberty Government couldn't exist without their suffering. If it stopped, they stopped. He had already given the Serpentis encryption full clearance, as well as a select few transport ships to ferry supplies from nearby Xeno stations and gather materials for ongoing expansion. It would be up to the top X.A. heads to decide who we could deal with.

He sipped the ale again, a chill running down him. He had well overstepped the amount of responsibility one of his rank would normally have. There were more than 800 on the installation at this moment, half of them crew, the rest workers, refugees or those seeking to avoid overcrowding. They would be here when they could, he knew the planning of the Death Valley extraction project had occupied most of their time As he waved for another bottle to be brought to him, he relaxed a little, placing his plaz-pistol on the table and putting his feet up.

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Shard - The Faceless One