Ave, Caesar. Roma die uno non aedificata est

[All Worlds]

Magellan system

Jack Gibson finally finds himself following up on the rather vague invitation provided by the persistent Corsair. Given current state of relations, he's not expecting much out of this encounter but his gut is telling him to do so anyways. Some opportunities present themselves in the strangest ways...

The station appears in the state of transition - lots of activity and efforts going into organizing the docks, the storage areas, and what appears, from a distance, to be an engineering team fine-tuning and potentially repositioning the multiple weapons platforms encountered outside while docking.

He walks into the base tavern and approaches the bar for a drink, to keep fairly inconspicuous while assessing the scene.

"What's yer poison today?" The bartender bellows as he approaches.

"Whiskey, neat."

The drink is promptly delivered and credits transferred in payment.

"What brings you to these parts? From what I've heard this station still needs to complete current renovation tasks before we were expecting many arrivals..."

"I was invited. Audentes fortuna iuvat."

The man's eyes go wide in recognition. Without a word, he disappears to a backroom behind the bar as Jack finishes his drink.

[MickeyHAHA]

The state indeed was in a very rapid state of transition, furniture being moved around, faults in the structure being reinforced, the works.

The pitiful, dingy bar of the old station was dimly lit, and deserted save for the bartender that seemed to have one chromosomes too many, and the stranger that had just arrived.

As the dolt charged for the backroom, a muffled gunshot and a thud painfully echoed through the room, as a balding man with a severe expression stepped forward and met Jack with his gaze.

"Cardamine addict, another pawn of the Outcasts. No doubt you've already seen plenty of those around your House's elite and downtrodden."

He wiped the silencer on his handgun with a cloth and appraised Jack in more detail, while allowing Jack to do the same.

This man had a certain aura of presence around himself, he was well groomed, dressed impeccably in the finest of suits, with an almost antiquated trench coat draped around his shoulders.

The gun he wielded seemed to be something custom, rather than one of the more common sidearms around Sirius.

[All Worlds]

Jack released his instinctive grip on his small sidearm holstered and hidden at his back, once it was determined the man who just served his drink was going to be the only body on the floor.

"Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance," Jack calmly stated, then finished his drink. "I'm going to assume you are more knowledgeable than that poor soul as to why I'm here."

After reaching over the bar to secure the still open whiskey bottle, he pours himself a second drink with precision.

"That is, aside from the fine ambience of this establishment! I've seen my share of pubs across Sirius, but my extreme makeover advice doesn't come cheap, or at gunpoint."

[MickeyHAHA]

"Do we truly know why we are where we are in the universe ?"

Posing this question, the man begins to drag the corpse of the addict toward the garbage chute, leaving a trail of blood that is quickly cleaned by an array of small automated drones of familiar make, yet distinct appearance.

As the body is dumped into the chute, landing and being incinerated, and then the dust shot out into space, he turns to face Jack.

"Roma die uno aedificata est. Regardless, I suggest you begin your search in the backroom, you will find a virtual reality game there. Give it a spin."

[All Worlds]

Jack carefully proceeds towards this dark room behind the bar, all the while keeping a watchful eye on his new found 'associate'.

Peering inside, there is a series of holo-tainment bands on a table in the middle of the crowded storage room.

"I'm afraid I'm at a loss. I didn't come here for games, and especially not this type. I prefer to keep the brain sharp and intact, not manipulated mush by machine."

Jack ponders his options - surely there is a way to make this work without compromising himself and any intelligence operations potentially by allowing such a device access to his thoughts.

"There's an output on these devices, is there not? Use a projector - I'll view and respond... but there's no way I'm entering the dream world... not here, not ever!"

[MickeyHAHA]

The hitman cocks his gun, aiming it squarely at Jack as he sighs with frustration.

"Can't risk it. Most secure way of doing this kind of thing is through an interface like that."

If hate could harm, his steely eyes could glare holes through men.

"Now I want you to consider it this way, if the intent was to do anything nefarious with that, wouldn't it be easier to just kidnap one of your lower level employees first ?"

The assassin continued to keep his weapon trained on Jack, using his free hand to straighten his tie.

[All Worlds]

"This appears like we will have to reschedule this meeting for another time, when whomever needs to reach me can actually do so in a way I am comfortable pursuing. "

No response from the man, other than that of more frustration. Time to de-escalate this situation a little, Jack figures internally.

"Please relax that trigger, you obviously didn't bring me here to kill me, but it appears whatever plan you had that involves these devices isn't for me. We need an alternative."

"If security is a concern, I can tell you that this device still uses the same channels that a vid com would, so we aren't gaining anything by using the 'direct brain connect' method. What's to say that anyone intercepting the signal won't just use their own Holo-tainment band to decode the transmission?"

"You are obviously someone who has knowledge of whom I'm going to meet, why not just relay me a message or coordinates and we'll do this face-to-face, the most secure way possible."

[MickeyHAHA]

"No we will not I suppose I will have to take harsher measures"

The man aimed his gun firing in Jack's direction, hitting a stalker that had been standing in the dark , waiting for Jack's arrival and spying on the conversation.

"Been handing out severance packages all day here. Regardless, you passed the test. I am Caesar, and I have been trying to reach your group."

His implacable stare was stoic, his body language somewhat relaxed, as if at ease in these kinds of tense situations.

"I suggest we both move off station however, the janitors are about to arrive, and they'll be using chemical solutions for all this uncleanliness."

[All Worlds]

With the now obvious evidence that his presence on the station has been noticed by undesirable parties, Jack has no choice but to agree with suggestion of this new associate, Caesar. The man appears very in tune with the comings and goings in the port, if the sudden termination of the unwelcome party was any indication. His insistence on departure would unlikely have been made unless the threat were serious enough.

"I can't say I'm completely surprised at this reveal. All signs seem to indicate that you are not a man who takes orders, but issues them."

"Very well. In this case I'll concur you have a point on the safety of the area; I'll prep for immediate departure and meet your ship outside, say about 5k off the docking ports, towards Cordova?"

Jack quickly downs the last of his drink, gathers himself together, and heads for the docking bay without awaiting a reply.

At the docking bays, he surveys the scene and does a quick security walkaround of his Stinger VHF, to dismiss any potential tampering with craft. All seems in order, his precautions in place have not been violated, no panels opened. The onboard computer reflects that in logs showing he had the last system access on landing.

The engine starts up and all boxes are checked on pre-flight. The Renzu Corporation ship has rarely given him issues for the long period of time he has been using it - it is not expected to start now.

With clearance from staff, he proceeds out and enters the darkness, heading towards the suggested rendezvous area.

[MickeyHAHA]

Caesar approached an empty space in the docking bay, speaking to the communicator on his hand in order to radio someone.

"Meeting is going as planned. Open the door."

The snubcraft made itself visible, opening the door to let the Rex aboard.

He'd speak once more into his communicator, this time tapping into proximity transmissions and tapping into Jack's communications.

"Follow us to the following coordinates, we will proceed to the Invicta."

As soon as the two depart, a series of black ships ominously board the station in full view of Jack and Caesar.


On the other side of Sirius, a dreadnaught is charging it's jump drives according to a scheduled departure, it's crew seemingly routine to this kind of operation.



The two snubcrafts approached an isolated area of space, far from any prying eyes, and just as they came to a halt, the Sol Invictus, the Roman flagship materialized in front of them.



"Magnificent isn't she ? Commander you may now open the docking bays, I'll relieve you of command."

"Copy that, great to have you back, sir."

"We have a guest of great importance here, let's give him a full tour."