The Unstoppable Truth

[Laowai]

Onboard LPI Huntsville.......


"How many guards on the Merrick?" Matthew Flax asked as they huddled in the mess hall, "does anyone know for certain"? The men were huddled around a long bench, leaning in and speaking quietly, in hushed tones. Each of them had been on board the Gunboat for stints of remedial incarceration, and each had had more than ample opportunity to gather more than enough information on the ship.
Adam was certain it was only four, one of the other men agreed; "A regular navy boat only has eight or ten crew; that things been stripped down, it cant be more then four, at most five."
"Definite information will come in from the outside", Adam interjected, "their figure will be inflated but if we plan for that then we will have no problem, the ship will not have more than they inform us."
Huntsville was a haven for Xeno recruitment; inmates would often go straight to the cause upon their release. And while it was rumoured there were Xeno operatives among the prison population, it was rare that prisoners made their break from the station itself.

This was going to be new.

"You were associated with the Xenos before you were brought on board", Adam said to Flax," Do you not know if there are operatives in the prison itself? It would make it easier to liaise directly, at least until the radio is more reliable". But Flax did not know. That kind of information was not shared out for obvious reasons, and while they were sure there must be operatives onboard for the moment, they were operating alone. So the plan was kept small, only a few close allies among Greerson's inner circles had a clue, and only the most senior knew their plans for the Merrick. The first step was knowing which guards were pliable, and which weren't.


That was not as difficult as it sounded; on one particular day, Adam got himself assigned to cleaning the landing area, the access point for Huntsville and not at all coincidentally where the Merrick was moored most of the time. On that particular day he was assigned loading duties; one of several prisoners loading moored freighters with the goods made by the inmates on the prison. There were usually two guards on each ships hold, a practice that was initiated as a measure of curbing corruption.
It didn't; guards often worked together, partnering up and splitting what they could get from the prisoners, or more often than not, people from outside the prison wanting to get things in.
The malleability of the LPI guards was crucial to the plan.

Adam watched and listened as the two guards nearest him slouched by the hatchway, guarding a ship was an easy job, you only had to make sure the prisoners that got on came off again. It was however a mindless task, allowing the officers a lot of time to reflect and to talk. These two guards were the same as every guard that was given such a mindless job, bored and restless, a combination that was infinitely flammable should the right spark be added. These particular guards though, had a slight but crucial difference to the other guards in the Huntsville docks: They had guard duty on the Merrick on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

"She wants the kitchen done, but cant make up her mind about how its supposed to go, I build one damned thing and she changes it."

"I hear you man, I went through the same thing last year, cost me 6 months pay just to get the building done, that was before I had to buy anything for it."

"You would think wearing the badge would cover that, but im only shaving 15% off what any guy on the street would pay."

Eavesdropping as he loaded goods on board the freighter, Adam noted each guard carefully, these were definitely the men they wanted.

"You know Rheinland wholesalers get 50% off their buy price right"?

One of the guards looked up, irritation plainly written on his chiseled features, "Who the hell asked you Greerson, shut the hell...." But the other guard slapped him on the shoulder, interrupting him. "Wait a minute Nate, hey... Greerson, you said 50%? How the hell do you know that? those discounts are never more than 30%!"

Still loading the boxes stacked by the ship Adam smiled, "I wasn't always locked up in here you know I was a dealer for a liberty trade firm, I dealt with Rheinlanders everyday."
The guard who had queried him looked perplexed, "50%?" he said to his colleague, "Thats off the cost of what this crap costs to buy, crap thats made here, sheesh, how much must they mark that up?"

"A lot", Adam added quickly, "don't ever go shopping in Rheinland, but you see why they always have credits to spend when they come through."

He could see the first guard mentally calculating the cost of his kitchen were he able to obtain a similarly discounted price, Adam could tell by his expression that the number crunching was hurting; from the actual process, or the result of it he did not know. But the pain on the guards face was exactly the expression he had hoped for.

"You can get it cheaper you know?" He said, dropping the statement like a stone into a millpond, waiting for the ripples to have their effect.

Both of the guards turned to him in the same moment: "How?" they said, almost in unison.
Adam smiled, only now pausing slightly from his loading duties. "Well, you don't think the warden pays full price? Or those guards up in manufacturing that are always taking vacations with Spa and Cruise?"
Now firmly holding their attention Adam continued - "those guys shop the smart way, they get the limbo stock."

"What the hells Limbo stock Greerson? What new bull**** is coming out of your mouth"? the first and definitely more oafish of the two guards snapped. Violence written across his face which Adam knew was never too far from a bored LPI guards mind.
Adam tread carefully, wanting the men to rope themselves into this so it seemed like their idea, he was concerned though that he had overestimated their intelligence and that he might have to spell it out
"Well, you see all that stock that comes back from dealers, for whatever reason? We load half as much off as we load on down here, you guys have noticed that right?"

He could see the wheels in the officers minds turning; he could almost hear the mice within, squeaking for cheese.
"Yeah" the second guard mused, "Yeah thats right, we send that down to ordering on the lower levels right, they resell it on from there."

Adam smiled and shook his head; thats right boys he thought, connect the dots...

The second guard creased his brow, "wait a minute, how much to we actually load here from ordering"?
"Er I dont know, I never read the manife...." He slapped his hand against his blaster, "Greerson, do something useful with that mouth of yours for once, whats on that manifest y'all got there, wheres it from"?
Grabbing the manifest quickly and pretending to be intimidated Adam answered "Er manufacturing" he said, adding; "they all come from manufacturing".

The guards were genuinely perplexed now; "Well, just a minute" the first one said, "I don't think Ive ever seen a manifest from ordering on here, never heard a driver saying hes had to take something to the same place twice neither!"

Adam smiled to himself, the display of intellectual Olympics happening before him was truly inspiring, he wondered if he should just cease the duplicity and ask the men if they could fly the Merrick out, they might agree.

Seeing the interest he had sparked he dropped his final nugget. "The stuff that comes in on a Friday afternoon isn't added back to stock until Monday morning, I heard the warden can be found down there after shift finish on Fridays, but I also heard that the manufacturing guys go down there on Saturday nights. Anything going out the door then would never be noticed, must be foolproof as everyone thats in the know is doing it."

The two guards looked at each other the same plan crossing both their minds at the same time. The oafish one turned on him suddenly, "Yeah well get back to it Greerson, not like you scumbags can help us out."
Adam lifted another crate onto the ship, the guards turning away and moving off conspiratorially. As they did so, Adam overheard a few words; "Saturday nights, it would be easy, no ones on the Merrick, prisoners in lock down."

Poetry Adam thought, pure poetry, they would go on a Saturday night.

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