Alexaossed the six bent and twisted pieces of junk that had been ons into the smelter. After almost having two ers actally stumble upon him making one of the restricted ons, he determihat anything he could learn from keeping them around did not outweigh the risks of getting caught with them.

  A few people did gnce his way, but it was only passing i at him, rather than what he was melting down. After about twenty mihe mae spat out six different tainers. Each would be its own 99.999% elementally pure material in nano-particle form. He really wished he knew how the smelter did it. All he could point to at this moment was future magid hope one day he would have the funds necessary to buy the schematid dive into the fual cept of the device.

  But that day was not today. He retrieved his credit chip from the smelter and grabbed the tainers. Two were far heavier thahers, but it was no surprise sidering basic steel had goo the majority of the makeup of the disassembled ons. At least the material hadn’t goo waste, now he could reuse this material in his printers. The smelter process wasn’t lossless though. It did have to melt the material in order to separate it. Anything that didn’t melt was simply burned away, turned into carbon, or came out as sg.

  Overall it was still a very effit process. However, he was sure it used an absurd amount of energy to do it.

  ***

  At the edge of Gliese 667, three ships fshed ience. A on occurrence as ships exited FTL. But unlike any other ship seen in this distant piece of human-trolled space, the first ship was all smooth lines without any hint of sensor or array peaking past the gleaming white exterior. Painted in bold red letters on both sides of the ship was the word ‘O..’ the a for Orbital Motion Navigational Innovations. The premier engine manufacturer for all of human space.

  The sleek white ship was not aloher. The two other ships apanying it were anything but sleek. They were posed of hard lines, protruding sensors, and arrays. Not an iota of thought had goo making them look soft and approachable. These were warships. Each of these imposing vessels sported fauss turrets that protruded from the top and bottom of the deadly-looking craft. Despite the menace exuded by the gunships, they were just escort vessels for the white ship, but nothing short of an STO cruiser could stand up to the firepower of the corporate-owned Wraith Mk3 gunships.

  After receiving the all-clear, the three ships fired up their main engines and hurtled toward their destination. A small insignifit station in the ass end of nowhere, Petrov Station.

  As the trio of ships burned hard through the system, they made no effort to hide their presehey didn’t o. They were the big fish around here. And every other ship that picked them up on sensors quickly got the hell out of their way.

  Eventually, someo the station picked them up and hailed them. The Captain of the white ship sent the ed respohe person oher end grumbled but quickly gave them priority dog instrus.

  ***

  Ivan aervously outside the VIP hangar. It was in times like this he cursed his mixed heritage. It seemed he got the worst attributes of both his parents and none of the upsides.

  In all his years aboard Petrov station, he had never greeted a single soul from the VIP hangar. It was reserved for visiting heads of state per STO rules on station ma so it had sat empty and unused since he could remember. He wao spit on the floor at the Sol Treaty anization's asinine rules but he couldn’t afford to dirty his suit or the corridor. As if anyone like that would ever visit this dump.

  And while the ship dog wasn’t teically in this category, it wasn’t someohey could say no to. The two gunboats that apahe corporate yacht were more than enough to send everyone aboard the station to an early grave. He doubted anyone from the STO would even bat an eye if they did that.

  So like a good little issar, he waited for his guests to arrive. Unlike most docks, the VIP dock had dual-yered armored doors. So there was no peeking io see the ship. Although he had gotten aernal camera feed of it. Not that the outdated cameras did the sleek craft justice. If he had to guess, that single ship was worth more thaire station and everything aboard it. And the two gunboats bined probably weren’t far behind in value.

  He felt the slight vibration in the deck when the craft finally touched down.

  Ivan did his best to slow his breathing as he pulled out a rag and wiped the sweat from his hands and brow. This would likely be the most important moment of his life, and he couldn’t afford to screw it up.

  As soon as he heard the first ks of the log bolts from the first door, he stuffed the rag in his pocket and stood straight, f a smile on his face.

  A voied out of a nearby speaker, almost making him leap off the deck. “Stand bad pce your hands in the air! You will be searched before we proceed.”

  He did as requested and sooer door opewo men immediately flicked ons up towards him and if Ivan had been still before, he was a statue now. Not just out of fear for the ons, but what they could do if they missed him. These were not the simple riot trol pulse rifles, these were slug throwers.

  Ivan didn’t know much about ons, for all he khese could be handheld Gauss rifles. A third armed and armored man approached and patted him down befhly spinning him around and doing the same for his backside. He was oo gentle about it either.

  He swallowed his pride as the man yelled, “Clear!”

  As the guards lowered their guns, Ivan slowly lowered his hands. He finally got a good look at the armored forms. He had first mistaken what they were wearing for skin suits, but these were not the thin fabrideryer worn under a depression suit. They were form-fit with ied ptes of some unknown material around the chest, hips, and thighs.

  “I apologize for my men’s rough handling. They be a bit overzealous when it es to proteg OMNI assets such as myself.” The voice came from a young, well-dressed man.

  If Ivan thought the suits of the guards were impressive, this man’s practically looked like normal clothes. And if it wasn’t for the full helmet, he wouldn’t have given it a sed gnce.

  “It’s fine,” Ivan responded, managing not to stammer. “No harm no foul,” he added, extending his hand. “I am Ivan Wang, isar of Retions aboard Petrov Station. And I will be your attendant while you are here.

  “Charmed, Ivan,” the man responded in a silky tone as he grabbed Ivan’s hand with only a thumb and pointer and shook it gently for only a moment. “You refer to me as Mr. Pembrooke or Theodore,” he said with a wink and a smile.

  Ivan smiled back, trying his best to hide the awkwardness of the greeting. “Your request to dock did not inform us of the reason for your visit. May I know yenda so I help assist you?”

  “That you may, Ivan. As you may have already guessed, I work for OMNI. Specifically, I work for the Legal NI.”

  It was hard to keep the smile on his face as it felt like a rock dropped into his stomach. “The Omni’s legal cil. Um… What brings you all the way out here?” It couldn’t be anything good, that was for sure.

  That smile, that oh-so-fake smile never left Theodore’s perfectly sculpted face. “I’m gd you asked. You see, we got a report that someone on this station may be stealing our intellectual property rights.” He leaned in spiratorially and spoke softly. “And OMNI takes thhts very seriously.”

  “…Um…” Ivan was at a loss as to what to do . Mr. Pembrooke seemed to know this and saved him.

  “I just o speak with the station manager ahis all straightened up. Then we will be out of your hair.”

  “…Oh. Um, we don’t have a station manager.” For a brief moment, Ivan thought he saw the man’s smile shift slightly. But it could have just been his imagination.

  “Really? Then who mahe station?”

  “That would be the Captain’s cil.”

  “…I see. This station is pre-STO then?”

  Ivan nodded.

  “Very well, take me to see them.”

  “That… that may take a few days te. The Captains are rarely aboard the station at the same time.”

  While the well-dressed man’s demeanor didn’t ge, Ivan suddenly felt like he was a bug being stared at by a higher lifeform. He swallowed thickly.

  “Very well, I have time, Ivan. I will remain aboard my ship until they arrive. Please e see one of my guards when the Captains are ready to meet. Do let them know that this is an important matter. And if they could hurry, that would mitigate aenuating issues that might arise if this issue isn’t settled expediently.”

  Before Ivan could ask what the ma by that, he turned and strode bato his hangar. The guard that searched him took up a position outside the first door, while the others remained by the sed.

  Ivan tried to smile at the guard at the door, but the man just returned a bnk stony gaze as his eyes watched him like a predator.

  Without waiting to be told, Ivan hurried out of there to report to the other issars and gather the Captains. He really hoped the Captains arrived promptly. If not, he wasn’t sure Mr. Pembrooke’s thin veil of civility would hold.

  The elevator whisked him over to the trol ter in the tral shaft. It was always a bit of a jarring experience for Ivan as it exited the artificial gravity of the rings, only to reehe core’s artificial gravity shortly after. The issue was that the fields of gravity were not alighe same. Sihe core was built long before artificial gravity had been discovered, they couldn’t simply retrofit it like it had been in the rings. Too many systems io work around. So they simply pced the grav ptes oerior walls and called it good.

  It worked, sort of, as long as you didn’t mind feeling like getting tugged at stantly. As the gravity dropped away, he reoriented himself y degrees so his head was fag the far side door.

  Moments ter the gravity tugged at him, but before he could float upwards very far, the elevator had passed ihe field. He grunted as he dropped to the door fag the rings. This is why he hated ing to the core. He had never quite gotten the hang of or timing of moving about in zero-g. How his aors ever got anything done in space before the advent of artificial gravity was beyond him.

  When the elevator came to a stop, the door, which was now the ceiling clicked open. He sighed. This was the other part he hated. Ivan walked over to the rungs that were situated along both walls and ceiling and climbed out of the elevator.

  More than a few teis, manning the terminals that trolled all aspects of station life, g him as he climbed out but none so much as offered to help.

  “Bastards,” he muttered under his breath. He was going to submit another proposal to modify that bsted elevator so he wasn’t forced to climb out every time he o e here.

  After wiping the visible sweat from his brow, he slowly made his way over to the unicatioer. Running through the weird gravity in the core was a good way to trip, or more embarrassingly, lose your lunch.

  A bright-eyed younger woman looked up from her station and smiled politely at him. “issar Wang, how may I help you today?”

  “Our VIP guest is here on a corporate witch hunt. He has requested to speak with the Captains.” Ivan wasn’t stupid. He khe only reason a monolithipany like Omni would send one of their ckeys out here was to make a point. He felt sorry for whoever it was that got on their bad side, but he wasn’t about to step in shit for someone else.

  The unication woman frowned slightly. “They aren’t going to like having their runs cut short.”

  “Tell them to pin to the Omni representative then.” Unlike Mr. Pembrooke, who came from the core worlds, Ivan wasn’t afraid of the Captains who were the desdants of the inal families who first built Petrov station.

  They got to gavant around the system earning money and doing whatever they pleased while the issars kept the station running. The least they could do was their damn job on a while.