Jacob popped back into his apartment while keeping a screen active showing the ongoing scene in the hangar, just so he could express himself more thoroughly. Once he was done swearing up a storm, he sighed and returned to the drone.
The combat drones were quickly herding the terrified people into a group. A few tried to sneak away in the chaos, but the moment they slipped out one of the side doors, they found other combat drones waiting for them.
“Return to the group,” he ordered, popping over to one of the drones in question as the family of four stopped to consider their chances of making it past.
Hearing him speak directly from that drone seemed to make up their minds, and the parents herded the two terrified children back toward the larger group, while glaring at the drone.
Someone who was far more blood thirsty than Jacob might have opened the hangar door and let the problem sort itself out, and while tempting, that wasn’t the kind of person Jacob was. If the ship had been filled with armed men trying to storm the station, then it would have been an easy choice and a valid tactic that he would have used in a heartbeat, but these people were all unarmed and terrified, not to mention the young kids and babies, who were bawling their eyes out.
Honestly, he should have just let the Astryx cruiser deal with the unknown vessel when the AI first reported its arrival, but screw those guys. The Astryx warship had harassed every single merchant that showed up. They were so aggressive that one of the merchants had already decided to end their contract, despite the profit they were making by trading for the very lucrative power cores. None of those interactions had gone as far as shots being fired, which is why Jacob personally stepped in for this one. Jacob knew their actions were revenge for charging the Astryx military forces triple the going rate for station services, but he wasn’t going to let them keep bullying customers.
Two could play at that game. If they wanted to be petty, he could be even pettier in return. Maybe it was time to increase their service costs to four times the going rate. With the station now sporting actual energy cannons, even if they were undersized, it wasn’t nearly as vulnerable anymore.
There were still large swaths of the station unprotected by shields, but the installation of the shield generators was ongoing. It had continued unabated while he was busy on Earth. That was in no small part thanks to Barry’s improvements. Not only were the new drones much better at working inside the space suits, but their programming had also been improved. Technically, Barry had completely rewritten the code from scratch, throwing out not only Jacob’s impromptu additions but the entirety of the maintenance drone codebase, calling it garbage.
Jacob knew his code was slapdash at best, but hearing the rest of the Concord code being called garbage took the sting out of having his code lumped in the same pile. Barry’s code wasn’t very robust, but what it did, it did very efficiently. The man was constantly adding to the program he was building, further broadening the unmanned drones’ abilities. The current program was a far cry from what the drones were capable of before, but each day they regained a bit more ability. Honestly, it might be for the best to have drones built for specific tasks instead of making a generalist drone like the maintenance ones, which could do a lot of different tasks, but excel at nothing.
Jacob realized he was getting off track. He knew why; he didn’t want to deal with the steaming pile that just landed on his doorstep. He sighed and turned his attention back to the refugees.
What a fucking mess.
Soon enough, all of the people in the hangar were sorted. A smaller group, consisting of the soldiers he managed to identify from the attack that killed Melody, was led away to join their leader or leaders in the holding cells. There were not nearly enough holding cells for even a quarter of the people milling about, so that wasn’t an option for the rest.
Two of the combat drones hurried up the ramp to search the ship, while he considered his options. What they found was both harrowing and disgusting. The cargo hold of the large vessel had been turned into a densely packed shanty town, but most of the impromptu buildings had been destroyed. Considering the sensor readings the drones were showing him, that wasn’t the only thing that was nearly torn apart.
Even without the eiraxins scuttling the ship’s systems, the vessel never would have survived another trip into FTL. Jacob was surprised the vessel had held together long enough to reach the station, considering its condition. It was far worse off than the transport had been when the AI suggested it be taken out of service until repairs were completed. The ship’s structure didn’t just have micro-fracturing; it had visible breaks. One beam was so bad that there was a six-millimeter gap between it and the section to which it was once connected.
No amount of duct tape or weld was going to fix that.
Aside from the vessel, the people were banged up as well. Jacob didn’t miss the few individuals cradling their arms or limping around, wincing in pain. Those were the lucky ones. He found a dozen sheet-covered bodies inside the cargo hold, and not all of those were adults.
The drones continued their search of the vessel while Jacob popped back into his apartment to settle himself.
“Fucking lunatics,” he said quietly.
“Who?” Katherine asked around a mouthful of dill pickle chips.
Instead of being surprised that the woman was in his apartment eating, he shook his head in disgust. “You couldn’t pick a better flavor?”
She turned the bag around to look at it. “What? I like dill pickle flavor. And stop trying to change the subject.”
Jacob sighed. “More eiraxins have arrived. A lot of them. Men, women, children, and even babies. The bastards scuttled their ship, so we are stuck dealing with them until we find a way to remove them.”
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“Oh, that sucks,” she replied, before digging into the bag again.
“That’s all you have to say? You’re not going to suggest I space them all?”
She looked affronted by that. “I’m not a monster. Just because I blame the aliens for all of my troubles doesn’t mean I would space kids.”
“Sorry,” Jacob said as he rubbed his face. “Just got a lot going on back on the ship. Would you be willing to assist with these people?” he asked tentatively.
To help sell their plight, he pulled up a video window showing her the ones that were the worst off, or the kids, who looked terrified.
Katherine tried to look away, but Jacob locked the image in her field of view.
“Stop that,” she said, swatting at the window to no avail. “I know what you’re trying to do. How are you even making it do that? I can see the damn thing with my eyes closed.”
Jacob gave her the most innocent look he could. “I’m not sure what you mean. I think your conscience is trying to tell you something.”
She tried glaring him down, but her focus kept drifting to an image of a young girl crying and wiping at her eyes. He could see the moment when her cold exterior finally broke.
“Fine,” she huffed, “but I’m not babysitting any of them. I’ll get them settled, and that’s that.”
“That’s all I ask for,” he replied quickly before she could change her mind. Then he sent the AI some updates to make her job easier before he left. “I’ve given you access to produce basic amenities for them, as well as food, water, and medical supplies. Thank you for doing this.”
She stopped him, like literally. He slammed into an impromptu firewall as he tried to exit the apartment.
Jacob could break the digital barrier or bypass it easily enough, but it got her message across. He turned back to face Katherine. “Did you need something?”
“You’re not the only one learning new tricks,” she said, tapping her foot and crossing her arms. “The window?”
“Oh, right,” he replied sheepishly, and the video window vanished. “Is that all?”
“No. What will you be doing while I deal with this mess?”
“My first stop is the Bounty Association to see if they can help.”
***
“Captain Jacob, how can I assist you today?” the attendant asked.
Jacob was about to ask how the woman knew it was him, but he recalled that Barry had personalized the drones for each person. At least the new ones he built for station use.
Jacob’s drone now had a face, if you could call it that. It was mostly just lines indicating where the eyes, nose, and mouth would be. A minimalist style, but it actually did make the drones feel less inhuman. His torso was also dyed a pale red color, which made Barry chuckle every time he saw it. The man wouldn’t explain the joke, however, and it irked Jacob that it felt significant enough he should know what it was referencing, yet it was missing from his memories. Without having access to Earth’s internet to look up the reference, and Barry refusing to tell him, he was stuck hanging in the wind until he got back to Earth to search up what it meant. Maybe he would ask Bob about it when the man was feeling better. If it were some obscure science fiction reference, his friend would probably know.
Apparently, Barry had gotten the idea of making the drones more unique during his talks with Xing’che, when she kept having to ask if it was him.
Jacob still didn’t like the fact that they were giving the woman special treatment, but he couldn’t disagree with Barry’s argument that it would be much easier to get information out of her if they were nice. The fact that it was working kind of made the man’s point. It also made Jacob the bad guy, but he was fine playing the bad cop so long as they found out what they needed.
Unfortunately, Barry had to ask questions that wouldn’t tip the woman off that they were questioning her, which is why they never uncovered her plans with the eiraxin refugees. She probably never would have betrayed her people, no matter what method they used to question her, but that didn’t mean Barry’s method wasn’t producing results. The man was adamant that what he was learning was even more important, so Jacob grudgingly left him to it.
His focus returned to the attendant. “I don’t know if you’ve heard already, but we just had a large group arrive.”
“I heard about a scuffle with the military vessels patrolling near the station,” she replied, “but not the specifics.”
Jacob nodded. “Yeah, turns out it’s a large group of eiraxin refugees. I was hoping the Bounty Association could help me with returning them to their home.”
Going by the woman’s troubled face, the answer wasn’t going to be one he liked.
“We do have a standing order to arrest all eiraxin dissidents…”
“But,” Jacob added.
“But, since their planet was brought back under control, the powers that be have issued a five-year moratorium on bounties for any eiraxins. They didn’t want to further inflame their populace after rounding up the ringleaders pushing for violence. The hope was that those eiraxins who had left illegally would feel inclined to return on their own without fear of any reprisals.”
“So I’m out of luck?” Jacob deflated.
“I’m afraid the only way I could issue a bounty for them is if they broke Astryx law.” She hesitated to add something, but Jacob added it for her.
“And you’re not sure if those laws even apply out here, are you?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I would have to run any bounties by the central office before I could issue them out here. The only ones I’m even allowed to post are ones from Astryx territories.”
“Thanks anyway,” Jacob said with a sigh.
“Sorry, I couldn’t be of more help,” she shouted after him as he walked off.
“How is it you look so dour without even a face?” Sha’la asked as he exited the Bounty Association office.
He told his business partner what was up, and she listened intently.
“Is there really a problem?” she asked after having gotten the full story.
“Of course, it’s a problem,” he said in exasperation. “That woman is manipulating this whole situation.”
“I won’t deny that,” Sha’la said, “but so what?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” Jacob asked. “I thought all of the Astryx hated the former members of the Concord Imperium.”
Sha’la shrugged. “Maybe in the past, but most people don’t even think about it anymore. The only people who seem to care are those in power, and if you ask me, the eiraxins have suffered for long enough. Yeah, their great ancestors fucked up royally, but how long do they have to suffer for the mistakes of their past? The t’uk were forgiven, so why can’t the eiraxins be?”
“You tell me,” Jacob said with a sigh.
“Politics,” Sha’la replied with a shrug. “I’ll stick with making money. Speaking of,” she smiled broadly. “I heard you just got a bunch of desperate people looking for work.”
Jacob groaned at the woman. “Fine, feel free to hire as many of the eiraxins as you want, but no exploiting them. And be prepared for trouble.”
“I’m hurt, truly,” she said with a smirk. “Now, don’t worry so much, you’ll wrinkle that pretty polycarbonate face of yours.”
That got a laugh out of Jacob, and he shooed the damn woman off.
She was right, his goal had been to increase the number of people on the station, and the eiraxins, while showing up unannounced and uninvited, had sort of done that exact thing for him. Having aliens with such a human appearance would also ease the transition when his own human passengers arrived.
That didn’t mean he was going to release Xing’che or the other eiraxin prisoners anytime soon, however. They would get the gruel treatment until Barry took over and showed “compassion”. Hopefully, the self-obsessed man would figure out this puzzle he was going on about. The way he talked about it made it sound extremely important.