Revolutionary

[Blodo]

Bautzen station, Dresden
19th December, 810 AS

It might've seemed that the sluggish traffic was due to the fact that Christmas was up in five days. Even most of the pirates locked themselves in in whatever rocks they could find. Kruger security however had to be in tip-top shape all the time, as their bosses demanded.

A single Kruger fighter emerged from the trade lane in space around the station. Flying slowly towards it, it started it's hail of the station.
- "This is Kruger security four dash fifty two to Bautzen, requesting to dock."
A slightly garbled but distinguishable voice was heard. The pilot of the fighter heard it hundreds of times each day as convoys made it's way in and out of the station. The comm system they have been using was an aging piece of junk, but nobody in the higher ups cared as long as it worked well enough. Sometimes they would lose a pilot or two from the comms due to a jammed system, but mostly the pilots would turn up after a few hours. If they didn't, well.. there was a solid margin for "acceptable losses" in the company.
- "This is Bautzen docking control. Permission granted..." - said the voice. After a short pause it continued.
- "Hey Meisnerr, you better watch out in the hangar."
- "Yeah? Why is that?"
- "Bossman told me to tell him when you come back."
- "Oh..."

The fighter had now begun automated docking procedures. As it approached the bay, the inner doors were auto secured and the middle bay was depressurised. The fighter slowly approached the docking bay on correction engines. Slowly, but steadily it made it's way inside, and the outer doors closed after him. The bay was then pressurised again, and the inner clamps were released, allowing the inner bay doors to be opened. A magnetic docking crane would immediately fetch the fighter, before the artificial gravity of the station could bring the ship crashing down.
This is the part that the pilots docking inside of the station used to call "the gamble". Power outages were fairly frequent, and a lot of the capacitors were unusable. Thus the power from the docking bay equipment had to be automatically diverted to life support. It was deemed a lesser evil to be required to straighten out a few metal plates on an Eagle as an alternative to having the entire station spaced.
The magnetic clamp however managed to deliver the ship in one piece to it's landing area. As his ship gradually descended to it's designated spot, Meisnerr could see someone quickly walking towards it and a few other people running behind him as if trying to catch him. The ship reached the landing clamps, and the fighter cockpit was released. The first thing the pilot would see when coming down is the COO of security, Heinz Mueller. The first words he would say after docking would be..

- "Mueller, I can explain!"
- "Come here you little -"
The other people behind him grabbed him by his shoulders as if almost to keep him from running up and punching Meisnerr in the face. One of the men behind him went inbetween the two and started talking to the COO.
- "Captain, calm down!"
Mueller stopped fighting his colleagues grip for a second.
- "Ok, ok, I am calm..."
It took one more second of looking at Meisnerr's surprised face, almost as if he didn't know what was up, to start him again.
- "Let me at him!" - he pointed a finger at Meisnerr and started shouting - "It's gonna be my butt on the line, Meisnerr! Mine, not yours! The chief executive is going to call *me*!"

The man separating the two was slightly annoyed. He turned to Meisnerr and made a gesture towards a personnel hallway.
- "Join me in my office."
The man then grabbed him by his shoulder and almost dragged him half way through the hangar bay. The others had stopped restraining the security chief at that point, who walked off in the other direction, stomping his boots on the concrete floor.

The two men walked into an office area, down the hall and into a single door that had a sign on it. "Georg Paulsen, shipping director"
They walked in, and Paulsen immediately took his seat behind the desk while Meisnerr sat down on the chair opposite. He immediately loosened up and unbuttoned his pilot's jacket.
- "Thanks for this, Georg... You seen that look on his face? *That* was nasty."
Paulsen poured himself a glass of water.
- "I am almost inclined to do the same thing really. You should be glad I know how to restrain myself." - he said while drinking from the glass. Meisnerr tried to talk, but Paulsen lifted up his hand and gestured for him to stop.
- "Kaspar, this isn't Munich anymore and you know that. You might've been with us for the last five years, but don't think the company won't kick you out as soon as they find themselves losing profits because of you."
- "Yes Georg, I know that. It was a screw up and it won't happen again."
Paulsen's eyes widened.
- "You call that a screw up? You just vapourised two shipments worth of diamonds. It's far from a 'screw up' this time."
Meisnerr's facial expression changed to a display of almost mild amusement. As much as it was horrible, he almost found the situation to be comical in a strange sort of way. He then proceeded to explain the situation in a tone of voice so quick that it made it look like a comedy.
- "It's not my fault the damn bandits went and tracked my missile all the way to the train. Give me a break here, Georg! This could happen to anyone."
Paulsen sighed.
- "You're lucky that Mueller can't do anything about you, son." - he looked down on some random papers on his desk - "Pressure from high up still helping you it seems.."
- "Hey, don't look at me like that." - Meisnerr said while sitting up straight. - "You know my family doesn't have any influence here anymore. What can I do, these corporate penpushers simply deem me important for their errands."
Paulsen took a long gaze at him, took off his glasses and started cleaning them with a handkerchief.
- "That luck of yours is gonna run out one day, Meisnerr. I hope you realise that before it's too late."
Kaspar simply stood up and asked.
- "Is that all?"
- "Yes, that is all."
As Meisnerr turned to the door, Paulsen calmly said.
- "Oh and by the way, you're grounded for a week. It will be deduced from your paycheck."
Meisnerr simply walked out. He knew better than to argue. A week of his paycheck wouldn't be worth even a fraction of that shipment, and he would rather have that than have the company place the blame on him and punish him with another eternal debt. Knowing that what he basically has at the moment is an unpaid week of vacation, the next thing he knew he was off to the station bar to get a double shot of synth Jaegermeister.