Corpo Age

Chapter 233: Partners and Adversaries

Strand, leader of the group reportedly composed of the kidnapped individuals’ family members, took a look at the terminal to confirm Thorne’s signature before turning to me.

I sighed and grabbed the terminal as I knew there was no way I was going to let Thorne proceed alone. It was my fault for not predicting his outburst. I wasn’t mad though, as I wasn’t opposed to working with these people if it meant we would gain both clues and allies. I just preferred to have a little more time to ascertain our partners.

“Good, you’ve both officially accepted my contract, so I’ll hold up my end of the bargain. After all, we’ll be working together while the contract holds.”

The contract stated we were hired for security, a blanket term that covered a wide range of possibilities. While we could back out after giving two months’ notice, we were contracted with the typical nondisclosure agreements that lasted even after our deal was over. Other than that, there wasn’t any clause that made us do anything in particular, so they only wanted us to stay quiet.

Mercenaries were often involved with numerous clandestine operations, so these terms were fairly standard. People in the trade knew not to divulge anything either, otherwise, no one would dare use their services without killing them off after.

“Yeah, yeah. Enough about that,” Thorne dismissively said. “I get it. Just give us all the intel you have about these kidnappings.”

“Calm down there, partner,” I called out. “Sorry about that. He’s not the most patient person around.”

“I—see,” Strand muttered. “Well, I won’t keep you in suspense then. We only narrowed it down to two possible companies that had captured our families as test subjects. They are the Aurora Corporation that hired you two for your previous gig and a more powerful company by the name of Ferrumus Corporation.”

“What?!” Thorne shouted out.

“Is something the problem?

“Oh, it’s just we’ve done a gig for that company as well,” I chimed in. “Caught Echo here a little off-guard.”

“Well, you two work currently work for us. I’ll send you the files we have on them. Feel free to speak up if you spot any discrepancies.”

“You know we aren’t able to share anything we learned from our jobs. Even if we could, I doubt big corporations would’ve been careless enough to leak anything important to mercenaries like us.”

“Just in case. We can never be too careful against these enemies of ours.”

Having said her piece, Strand walked out of the room to presumably check in on her subordinates while we perused the data she sent us.

It contained the intel on the two corporations she mentioned, one of them being Ferrumus, who we were well acquainted with. The reports were basically footage of their various agents managed to record themselves. They tracked down the entire production chain of these companies, tracing the sources for each material used.

For obvious reasons, they didn’t manage to find out any details about what was inside these manufacturing bases themselves, but just inspecting what went in and out gave them a pretty good idea.

There were unexplained biological wastes regularly coming out from both companies along with various chemical byproducts like sedatives despite neither company engaging in the medical field. The quantity and consistency of this waste eliminated any possibility of these two companies just treating the wounds their security personnel suffered.

Before long, Thorne opened up an internal call with me.

“Rollo, we need to send this back to our intel department ASAP, so they can investigate further. Our relationship with Ferrumus should make this task a little easier.”

“Calm down there, buddy. These people we just met only suspect them right now. They don’t have any concrete evidence. We can’t treat this the same way we did with Aurora. Ferrumus is both our ally and a bona fide A-Class corporation.”

“I thought all the expansion we’ve been doing is so that we can handle these A-Class corporations. If required, I’m ready to take them on!”

“That’s great and all, but we probably can’t even launch a frontal assault on Aurora in our current state. We don’t have any starships to bring our troops to them! Just stick to our current plan, and investigate the Aurora offices thoroughly first. We’ll move from there.”

“Fine,” Thorne begrudgingly answered.

I gave him some time to calm down before I walked out of the traffic control room to find our new employers. I found them standing around in the middle section of the stairs. They instantly noticed me from the lights leaking from the room and waved me over.

“You two finished going over the info already?” Strand asked with a smile.

“Yes. So what do you want us to do now?”

“It’s a rescue mission. I’m sure you two have experience in that. Help us dig for more information about the location of where our people could be held. Then we can go rescue them together. We won’t forget to pay you according to the rates on the contract, of course.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Hmm, our rates aren’t cheap. Seems like you guys are well funded, with our pay and the ships you own. How did you people even do it, anyway? I thought you were all regular people before any of this happened.”

I saw every member of their group look over at their boss, so I pressed her for answers with my gaze as well.

“Most people in our group were regular folks working dead-end jobs, with few connections to the corporate world. It’s who the corporations like to target, but that’s not always the case. I was a low-level office worker when they captured my mom. With that as motivation, I used every means possible to siphon off the funds from my old company for the cause.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that. I mean, you’re alive after making yourself enemy number one of your old company. How is that even possible?”

“It turns out working for them means you learn about them too. That includes their friends and enemies. Every corporation is just like a shark. They can smell the blood from afar. I just needed to make them bleed, and I’d naturally gain conspirators.”

I shook my head at the fantastical tale. I had to reconsider who I had been dealing with. This woman managed to turn a company’s enemy or allies against them. Her old workplace must’ve been destroyed or on the brink of it if she managed to get away scot-free.

It was something I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t witnessed their equipment and training firsthand. It was a feat I didn’t dare claim I could replicate without the help of my system.

“So since you’re caught up to date now, do you have any suggestions?”

I felt all their gazes turn to me, so I went through the words I wanted to say, trying to make them come off in a less confrontational manner.

“You guys have come quite far as normal civilians. I’m impressed. But you don’t even know which company has your people and you’re already trying to threaten them to reveal their secrets by kidnapping their employees. All I can say is that you’re not being realistic. There’s no way any corporation would bend to your will just because you’ve captured a few replaceable grunts.”

“We’ve tried targeting higher-value members,” Collins interjected. “Their security is just too tight. That goes for their bases too. It’s why we’ve only targeted Aurora Corporation so far. We don’t dare mess with an A-Class corporation yet.”

I almost wanted to blurt out that they should do it the discreet way if facing off openly wasn’t an option, but I knew that wasn’t something just anyone could do. Stealth-related technologies were in the domain exclusive to corporations. The constant cat-and-mouse game between stealth and detection devices required a colossal and constant stream of resources.

“Continuing as it is isn’t a solution. We need to find a way to discreetly access their records instead of openly threatening them. I’ve been to the branch office of Aurora Corporation in Soluna. We took the opportunity of being invited inside to do a little snooping, but they don’t keep many records in there.”

“It’s not that we don’t understand,” Strand said. “We have several spies in their midst, but they have never found anything so far.”

Spies? That should make it a lot easier for us to sneak in, but then how will I explain our infiltration ability? She’s a former corpo, so she must know a few things.

After some thinking, I decided to just keep up with our original intentions of generating positive publicity for my company. I doubted they had much patience for any roundabout games, and the lives of their families were on the line. From my experience with Nova Tech, I knew every second counted when it came to human experimentation.

It also wasn’t a bad idea to try to recruit this capable group.

“We can try reaching out to a contact that has the capability to infiltrate their headquarters on Mars, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to bear the costs.”

“Who are they, and what will it cost us?” Strand asked as her expression turned serious.

“Hmm, you might not like what you hear, so calm down and listen to me until the end.”

Strand nodded and gave her men a meaningful look.

“They’re called Halls Corporation—”

Instantly, I could feel the tension rising at the mention of a corporation, but I continued.

“—and they’re a company that’s been rising up rapidly in recently. They happen to be experts in infiltration. Before you say no because they’re a corporation as well, just know that they’re known to be different. They’re—like the idealists who want what’s best for everyone. If you can get them to agree to investigate Aurora Corporation’s headquarters for you, it should be doable.”

“I doubt we could offer a price that could get a corporation to practically go to war against Aurora. I don’t like working with idealists either. They’re just spoiled brats who think they can save the world just because they were lucky enough to be born into power and think they can make a splash.”

“Well, the practicality of things is the only concern we should be having right now, right? Every second your family stays in the clutches of their captors is another second they’re exposed to danger. There’s no time to be picky.”

She breathed out deeply before exchanging glances with the surrounding people.

“If you mentioned this company to us, then it must mean you believe it’s possible we could enlist their help. Tell me what we need.”

“It’s not credits, I can tell you that much. This Halls Corporation is an up-and-coming company, expanding rapidly. Since you were capable enough to train up a bunch of civilians into a space force capable of opposing big corporations, they’d probably want you to join them.”

“Us? Join a corporation? Ha! Even if I’m able to swallow down my pride and agree, I doubt my people would be able to do it too.”

“Relax. I said they’re a company that’s different from the norm. They treat their employees well. It wouldn’t be that bad. Just try to negotiate with them first. They’re reasonable people, so you can decline after learning more directly from them.”

My words earned me a glare from the strong woman before me. It appeared I tried to push a little too hard.

“Must I remind you that you have signed a contract with us? You better not be carrying out some other gig that involves being an ambassador for this corporation.”

“No, I don’t have a contract with anyone else right now. I’ve said my piece. You don’t have to decide right away. Give it some thought. I’ll start contacting the other party to see if we can set up a meeting with you.”

“Fine—Collins will go with you. He’ll be able to reach us.”

We didn’t break eye contact for a full minute before I heard the door behind me open. Thorne had come out. Seeing this, I nodded to Strand and her group and began returning to the ship.

It was time we got back and relayed the information to my company. Then, we would set off for Mars regardless of whether Strand had made a decision yet. We could use the time to survey the area and continue with my recruitment campaign.