Forgotten in the void

[Adrian Malprave]

There are very few places in the universe, where a Lane Hacker can hide from his own. In Kusari the Lane Hackers have developed strong bonds with all the underground societies - being allied with The Golden Chrysanthemums, maintaining a friendship with the Blood Dragons, and somehow at the same time maintaining a low-profile business relationship with the Hogosha pivoted around the artifact trade. With eyes and ears everywhere a Lane Hacker on the run would be instantly captured and returned to the Inner Circle in just some routine favor exchange. In Bretonia one could not be safe either, not only due to the strong presence of Mollies traditionally allied with the Hackers but also because of the Bretonian Intelligence Service willingness to trade information and small favors with Liberty criminals. Rheinland might have been an option if it wasn't for the fact that almost every shady group there, including Red Hessians, Marinenachrichtendienst, and even Unioners were occasionally doing business with the Hackers. Taus and Omicrons, controlled by the Outcasts and infiltrated by the Order were obviously out of the question. Obviously, one could try to hide within numerous Zoner societies on the edges of the known world, but there was still another possibility...

- Apparemment Paris est belle cette période de l'année...

This is what Adrian said to himself almost five years ago when he decided to flee to Gallia after a deadly showdown within the Lane Hacker leadership. Goro Yoshida, with Moriarty's tacit permission, finally decided to make a move and get rid of his rival Nicole Hunter and her coterie. A years-long game for power within the Professorship found its bloody end with Nicole Hunter In her digitalized form being destroyed. Overnight a number of prominent Lane Hackers were killed, captured, or intimidated. None of these prospects were acceptable for Adrian, who as a well-known Nicole's protege could not expect leniency from the new regime.

He had hidden his fighter in the depths of the Tau-23 asteroid field and through his contacts within the Guild joined the crew of one of the hundreds of freighters exporting mined resources to Gallia. As years passed Adrian became less paranoid about his safety and took more and more shipment assignments to the Tau region. Finally, he decided to check out his hidden treasure.

- Multi-layer voice authentication: Goats wearing red sweaters like to shower in the morning.

After successful authentication subsystems in his old Vindicator started to wake up in a passive mode. Malprave started to routinely scroll down messages that accumulated over five years when he suddenly stopped. One of the relatively fresh transmissions was a coded message received on the secure channel reserved for his coterie within the Inner Circle. The message originated from the Alberta vector.

- Oh my, oh my...

This was a game-changer. Adrian Malprave has just gained a valuable commodity that he could use to bargain with the Inner Circle and one way or another get his previous life back. He activated engines and headed towards the Java Station where he located a known information broker loosely affiliated with the Hackers, Nicholas Bower.

- Tell Scorpius he needs to meet AM.

He told the broker before departing to the Barrier Gate Station, knowing very well that now the Lane Hackers will immediately send someone after him. The only question which remained was whether it will be someone willing to parley or an assassin sent to close an unfinished business.

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The Lane Hackers
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