Corpo Age

Chapter 211: Cause and Responsibility

I watched on, flabbergasted at the dramatic reversal of roles between the man who had been chased and his pursuers. He had a gun and knife pointed toward his two assailants, and was making demands for them to hand over their valuables.

At this point, my people were still securing the perimeter with the support of local police. I had to give out orders on how they should proceed.

The only thing I knew was that both parties involved in this incident were up to no good.

People just didn’t randomly hunt others down for no reason. That often had black market implications, relating closely to criminal activity. While in this world, that just meant they were doing something opposed to the corporation’s rules, the underworld was still a place stained with blood.

On the other end, the person being chased was suspicious as well. Not only did others have a reason to chase him down, he even seemed mentally unstable. I couldn’t tell if he was angry with his pursuers, really wanted money, or having a panic attack.

“You found something?” Claire’s voice blared.

“Was I being that obvious?”

“Well, yeah. Usually, when you close your eyes, it means you’re contemplating something serious. It’s definitely not workshop stuff though, or you would’ve ignored me entirely.”

“Okay, fine. We did find the cause of all this ruckus. I’m thinking about what to do with them.”

Her words made me blink blankly. I had been too caught up in controlling the situation. She was right in that I didn’t need to set up a narrative, as I had no stake in it. I could simply just throw it over to the police to deal with.

I was tunneled-visioned into thinking up ways to benefit me from this situation. It was one of the bad habits of dealing with corpos day in and day out. Your mind starts thinking along the lines based purely on cost and benefits.

“Capture them all, alive,” I commanded my field personnel over our comms.

Not long after they received their orders, they quickly stormed the warehouse where the action was taking place. The man still had his pursuers at gunpoint and knifepoint. They were visibly arguing, but the situation didn’t seem to be deteriorating.

It allowed my men to infiltrate into their vicinity undetected. In fact, they were undetected all the way up until they were right next to them. It wasn’t surprising considering they were equipped with Shades. Even if they did hear something, they could move fast enough to be on them before they could react.

My security personnel swiftly detonated a small EMP payload right next to them, disabling any cybernetics they had. Then, they followed up by hitting all three of them with a taser to seal the deal. We quickly secured them and called the police over.

The entire thing happened so fast that I could only commend my workers for their efficiency.

I glanced over to Thorne, who understood my gaze, and placed a call back to the Aegis officer we had spoken to earlier. He then connected me to it once it went through.

“Hi there, officer. I just want you to know we have the suspect from the riot. I’m sending you the locations now.”

Before he could muster a response, I cut off the call. It was a technique I’ve witnessed many times from my QG, Fitel. It kept things moving.

With my tip submitted, the Aegis police force worked fast. More officers joined their perimeter while others charged in to secure the warehouse. I needed to wait for them to confirm the identity of the suspect before the roadblock would be lifted, but I couldn’t help but feel something was off.

I sat there and wondered as I watched the arrests being made.

“Wow, is this like the first time a police force has done anything?” Thorne muttered.

“The ones from Lion City do that on a regular basis,” I replied.

“Well, that’s different. Everyone is well off in that city.”

The officers went through the same old procedures of collecting the men’s basic information, including their names and ID. It was when they were taking down their statement that I froze.

I swiftly searched through my memory for the most up-to-date information regarding people who I had interacted in the past. Specifically, the ones who were at Ceres Station. It didn’t take long before I uncovered the fact that the lone unstable man was indeed someone who had been part of the breakout crew who made it back to Aegis with me.

I quickly alerted Polina and sent her the files regarding one of her companions being arrested.

“This…can’t be, is what I would like to say, but I can’t. It’s been too long since I haven’t kept in touch with Perry since we arrived in Aegis. I was too busy looking for ways to return that I barely stayed in contact with anyone.”

With the police actively interrogating the suspect, we quickly pieced together the picture.

The man Polina called Perry was indeed one of the people who was a former Nova Tech test subject. Like Polina, he had a family down on the planet side and couldn’t afford the fare down. The issue was that he couldn’t raise enough money despite trying for months. It was almost impossible to save up money if one didn’t get creative like Polina did.

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Staying in Aegis was expensive. The air you breathed and the water you used were all overpriced. Polina had gotten around it by making use of her company resources, avoiding these extra fees, but it seemed Perry didn’t discover the same methods.

It caused him to get more and more disillusioned with the world, and soon he couldn’t take it anymore. With his family so close yet so far, he turned to crime to pay the bills. He stole and embezzled whatever he could, which caused his workplace, the docks, to be entirely locked down when they finally caught on.

There were two things that most corporations deemed a no-no. One was threatening security, such as the safety of their assets, and the other was impeding business operations. Perry had touched upon both. He stole the public sealant canisters and also prized cargo. It caused a corporation in control of the dock to call in favors and act.

“So, what is going to happen to him?” Polina asked with undisguised worry.

Her question struck a chord with me too, as it ended up being my responsibility as well. I was the one who decided to ship them back to Aegis and then leave them to fend for themselves.

I had only offered Polina to pay for her return trip, and no one else. In hindsight, they should’ve been a lot of takers, at least to someone who really needed it. However, we couldn’t afford to slow down our expansion, so I ignored all of them. I was the one who forced Perry into a corner.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “It’s not our jurisdiction. The Aegis police will have him, and likely the corp behind his employer will decide.”

“Is there any way to save him?”

I glanced out the window at the receding crowd out the window of our taxi. The dockworkers wanted to retreat to let the heat die down, but there were only so many places they could go. They were literally trapped in this area like cattle in a cage.

It’s not going to be easy to help him at all. Not helping is so much easier but…

“I can’t make any promises right now. We’ll have to look into it first.”

“Thank you. I knew I could count on you.”

Polina’s heavy expectations were thrust onto my shoulders. It compelled me to come up with a plan.

It wasn’t long after that the checkpoint allowed us to pass. We left the dockworkers behind us as we drove back to our new branch office.

“What are going to do this time, Rollo?” Thorne suddenly blurted out.

“What?”

“I know that face. You’re up to no good again.”

“Hmm, maybe. I’m not sure yet. I’ll need Lucy and her department to investigate the people in control of that dock.”

“Well, they had enough sway to control the Aegis police department as they please, so I guess I’ll have to buckle up like always.”

“Any F-Class corporations and above can do that, so virtually everyone who made it into space. Aegis PD is still part of the consortium.”

“Good. That means we can cross them out in any conflict we are involved in.”

“As if we didn’t have enough disadvantages to work with,” I complained. “We don’t even have a single car up here. No assets against a corp that had years to establish their foothold. We’ll likely be looking at a more diplomatic approach.”

“I don’t know about that. I’d say our new toys could allow us to overpower these midsize companies. They have nothing on the likes of A-Class Corporations.”

“Hey, don’t get a big head now,” I reminded. “A-Class corporations aren’t even the top dogs. There are still the S-Class companies.”

“I thought you said those S-Classes were all similar. The number of S they have is just an honorary title, so that should make A-Class just below the apex.”

“Just remember, we’re nowhere near the biggest fish in the pond.”

Once we returned to our home base, we all disbanded. It’s been a long day, and we all needed some rest. While I took a bath, I couldn’t help but speculate various scenarios despite having no concrete information to work on yet.

Thorne may be right in that we can handle most midsize companies with ease. A show of force is good too, especially for new players in town.

My theorizing lasted late into the night when I finally received a report from our intel department.

The file was concise, giving me everything I needed to know.

The docks from this evening belong to several corporations, but only one of them was behind the blockade today. It was also the company Perry worked for, called Astro Forge, a C-Class company. Their strength was in the same ballpark as Joey’s Authentic Corp.

Their company specializes in raw material mining and processing. Their lifeblood was to supply various producers on Aegis with materials in the form of ingots.

That didn’t mean the entire dock was dedicated to this job. The other investors in it dedicated their capacity to different purposes. They simply had the highest share in the dock.

The more I looked into it, the more cautious I became. They didn’t seem to be particularly threatening, so I was wary of any traps. There were still hostile parties out there waiting for our guard to be down. I couldn’t recklessly be the aggressor only to give my enemies casus belli.

That was why the first course of action I took the next morning was to reach out to Astro Forge. While a meeting couldn’t be set up with such short notice, a virtual call was no problem.

“Greetings, I am Rollo Halls of the Halls Corporation,” I introduced myself to the older woman on screen.

She had bright white hair at shoulder length. However, her skin appeared taut, like a young woman, but the aura she gave off was that of a seasoned veteran.

“Laura Simmons, Vice Manager of our Aegis branch. How can I help you, Mr. Halls?”

“You see, I heard that a certain rat had come into your possession yesterday. A rat who I happen to encounter, and I hope to again. I was wondering if you could facilitate that?”

“Oh? I thought your goals were more…business. I’m not sure why you would be making this kind of request to us, though. We don’t sell matchmaking services. If you’ve got a missing person request to file, perhaps you can try the police?”

“Ma’am, let’s not go around in circles. I humbly make this request of you. Please, at least give me a proper response.”

The woman named Laura said nothing and simply stared blankly into the screen. A few moments passed and the only movement she had was to close her eyes.

“Mr. Halls,” she opened her eyes and voiced. “I’m afraid our company can’t fulfill this eccentric request of yours. I’m sure as your company is so new, you may be unfamiliar with a lot of the rules around here. I advise you to take the time to educate yourself on them. That is all. I hope you have a good day.”

Without missing a beat, the call was disconnected.

Just like before, we’re being underestimated. As polite as she appeared to be, she was slighting our company. It made my mind race with more radical plans to address the issue.

Thankfully, I managed to cover my bases overnight, justifying the costs of this operation should we proceed with it.

As we had previously said, we’re newcomers up in Aegis. We were strapped for all resources and needed time to grow. All growth required materials, and this Astro Forge happened to have exactly what we needed.

It was time to demonstrate our old tricks once more. Beat an enemy into submission and use them to fuel our rise.