The Silver Tongued Devil

This ongoing tale will bounce between screenplay and narrative format.

(Nameless host walks out)
Host: Some of you may know about Cantana Focks, the son and rightful heir of a deceased business Mogul and second in command of The Republic Alliance, a notorious smuggler organization led by the mysterious Revan. However not many people know the lengths in which he goes to keep is identity anonymous. Money and power attracts friends and people you think are friends of course and a surprisingly small numbered of people know who he really is when compared to total number of people in the Sirius and Altair sectors

But, with Focks Industries announcement to change GNS, Cantana, who claims inheritance to Rigel Focks fortune must seek out who Aileen Focks is before a new heir is born. We take you to Planet Denver, joining Cantana on his search for the relationship between Aileen and himself

(Planet Denver - Greeley Sector 43.22,7.22)

Cantana: C'mon man you just got to release my ship!
Customs Official: Sorry boss, I already told you. Anything bigger than an armored transport must go through a mandatory secondary screening as well as a safety inspection
Cantana: Don't you know WHO I AM?!
Officer: *blank stare*
Cantana: Seriously?! I go through here a hundred times a week! I must get to Planet Los Angeles. It's....a family emergency...
Officer: *blank state*
Cantana: *deep sigh* how long is it gonna take?
Officer: a Ship your size? *looks at Celetis Dreadnaught* about 4-6 days
Cantana: Listen, there's a service that Kusari offers. Expedited screening. I don't suppose I can't *pulls out credit chit* pay for such a service here?
Customs Officer: *quizzical look* there is a service...and there isn't one.
Cantana: Oh, it's a pricey, "commercial only" thing eh? I could probably get one. How much are they *pulls out data pad and inserts the chit into the data pad* 10,000 credits right?
Officer: I...uh...errr...
Cantana: Wow, more? The price of quality service these days huh? 30,000?
Officer: I don't know...uuummm
Cantana: Look dude. I don't have a week while you government types wait for a team to search my ship top to bottom. You don't have the patience to put up with my ass while I watch you do it. Im making both our lives easier. Im sure your wife deserves a vacation, right? Happy wife, happy life, right?
Official: you got a point...
Cantana: So, do you offer expedited services? *offers 40,000 credit chit*
Official *looking around, smoothly accepts bribe* Sir, your ship will be processed. We know VIPs have places to be so Liberty offers speedy 12 hour inspection of vital areas. This includes the Bridge, the Engines, the infirmary, the galley, your communication systems and a flash scan of your hold. Welcome to Liberty, erm...*looks at ID* Jack Rigel
Cantana/Jack Rigel: Thank you sir, can you direct me to the public records office?
Officer: Yes sir. Shall I hail you a cab?
Cantana/Jack: no that wontt be necessary. I'll just take the location.

As Cantana got into his personal speeder from the Hanger of his flagship and rode off I to the chilly Denver air, he began to wonder if who else could his father have slept with. Rigel Focks had his fun in his younger days, but even after Cantana's mother died Rigel was not as sexually active since Focks Industries became a big name.

Soon, Cantana's came up on the hall of records. He wanted SOMETHING. A high school photo or marriage records of his father And potentially the mother of the woman who claims is the owner of Focks Industries. He didn't want to confront Aileen and have it be a total disaster. Cantana's chuckled at the thought of aileen not believing him and bullets start flying. He stopped chuckling when he realized that it's important he bring evidence of birth right or he could end up dead. He looked at the time; 10 hours until he can leave Liberty

No

(Setting - Liberty Public Records Office, Planet Denver)

Concierge: Im sorry, Mr. Rigel, that's all we have. Rigel Focks only had one son and nobody knows who he is or what he looks like. He was presumed to have died while incarcerated in a Coalition prison. I heard it was a stabbing
Jack Rigel/Cantana Focks: I see. Do you have any information on Aileen Focks
Concierge: *getting hostile* Why would you need to know about her?
Cantana: Well, ya see it's like this: im doing an essay for my journalism class at Liberty University on Planet Los Angeles. We're supposed to interview a profile individual and since Focks Industries... Helped me straighten my life a little, I figured I could help them.
Concierge: Help them how?
Cantana: Why publicity of course!
Concierge:... Unfortunately even if I had anything, it wouldn't be more than permit applications or FI lawyers attendance at congressional meetings. Now Sir, if there's nothing else, I bid you a good day

Cantana was left standing at the the desk staring blankly at the concierge who now was hard at work on her workstation. Or that's the illusion she gave. Cantana knew she was ignoring him. He thanked her under his breath as he looked at his watch. Still five and a half hours until his ship was cleared to leave. As Cantana began to leave the office, the concierge called to him.

Concierge: If you're looking for an interview with the one of the most powerful people in Sirius, you'll have to do something pretty worthy to get her attention.
Cantana: ...Thanks for the tip...

Cantana climbed back into his speeder and dashed back to the spaceport. There was a good bar two levels from where the Reaper was undergoing customs he had heard of while scanning Steel Hearts restricted comms channel. Cantana wasn't one for bars, much less drinking but he had time to kill.

(Planet Denver, Greeley Spaceport bar)

Cantana sat at the bar counter drinking a very watered down stein of Liberty Ale. He always wondered why Denver alcohol was watered down. The closest explanation he could think of is that Planet Denver inhabitant got too rowdy after a sports event or more likely, some politician got paid to pass such a law. there was less than 20 minutes until he had to be at the Dockmaster's office to sign off on the final paperwork so that the Reaper can "lawfully operate" in Liberty space. For the last hour, He had been thinking of ways he could get his sister's attention directly. His first thought was to blow up a regional Focks Industries outpost, but seeing as how that requires a lot of time and planning as well as other intricate details necessary to successfully pull off such a move, he decided that resorting to terrorist tactics was a plan best put on the list of "bad ideas."

Before leaving the dockmasters' office, Cantana noticed a flyer on the corkboard next to the door. It was a brightly colored poster with the indistinguishable Focks Industries logo at the top and the announcement for their annual space race, being held this year in the Omega-3 system. Cantana was about to ask the dockmaster if he could take the flyer but the dockmaster was already yelling on the phone, presumably at someone who had screwed up somewhere down in the warehouse. So the Silver Tongued Devil casually pulled the flyer down from the bulletin board and proceeded out the door.

Back on-board the Reaper, Cantana sat in the captains chair looking at the flyer he "borrowed" from the dockmaster. The course starts in orbit outside Planet Spraque and goes for three laps around the ice fields. He pondered if it was three laps around each of the 5 ice fields or a circuit around all of them. But what caught his eye wasn't the 1st place prize of $50 Million credits but a lunch outing with Aileen at a location of the winner's choice.

That was it! He could enter the race, win and get his meet with his sister and figure out how she ended up sitting in his father's chair. Cantana saw that the race wasn't for another two standard weeks AND he had to find someone to sponsor him in the race. He told his nav officer to set a course for Dublin. Dublin has one of most respected and well known space racing clubs in Sirius based from Battleship Hood. He knew that the former president of the club, Dexter Hovis still hung around the old decommissioned Bretonian warship to make fun of the new pilots looking to make a name of themselves. He was still there as far as he knew. Cantana needed a sponsor for the race and he figured he can pull a few strings with Dexter so he can have the Sirius Racing Club of Bretonia as his sponsor the race

"T minus 32 Hours until we reach the Dublin Jump gate, Sir, including customs processing at Southampton Shipyards." the navigation officer belayed from his console.
"Excellent" replied Cantana, "Notify me when we hit the shipyards, I'll be in my quarters." As he turned the corner, Cantana activated a secret panel on the wall which opened up a door to a private lift that took him directly to the captains quarters. The lift hummed as it took off to the stern of the ship. Cantana sat down and pulled out his data pad. He opened the neural net browser and began to look at ships he could potentially use in the race....

(Space - Dublin Jump Gate Queue 3, New London)

A faint ping came from Cantana's short message system notifying him that the Reaper has now entered the queue for the Dublin System and his presence was requested on the bridge. He acknowledged the ping and began to get his bearings as watered down alcohol has always had some adverse effects on him. The subsequent hangovers and irritability from drinking is the reason why Cantana sticks to Space Grass over booze, but he bored the other day on Planet Denver and it was happy hour

Cantana entered the bridge and sat down in the captains chair. The Reaper was 2nd in line for Queue 3 which reserved for VIPs, Military Warships and "Those with privileged access" as the scrolling ticker indicated. Queue 1 was for general space traffic and Queue 2 was reserved for Commercial Freight. In front of him was a Bretonian Gunboat with fighter escort, also idling, waiting for a Kishiro super transport convoy to finish their jump gate sequence. Cantana always wondered how Interspace Commerce decides priority. One would think that Queue 3 would get Priority over one or two but Cantana didn't get paid to determine this kind of stuff. Hell, The Silver Tongued Devil doesn't get paid at all and he chuckled at this thought

Finally, the Bretonia Military convoy began their jump sequence. A jump gate powering up always mesmerized Cantana. He never could get over the subtle beauty of and now accepted science of being able to send an oversized multi-million dollar hunk of metal hundreds of light years away in the blink of an eye. Cantana pondered at the public controversy when jump gate tech began appearing and the myriad of arguments for and against the use of jump gates.

Finally, it was the Reaper's turn to jump. "Hey Chuck?" Chuck Blaisley was the ship's engineer and was on his back under a console on the port side of the bridge and called back "Yes, Cap?"
"Why haven't we been able to mount jump gate technology onto ships so we don't have to deal with traffic when jumping between systems?" he asked
Cantana could hear Chuck roll his eyes from the other side of the bridge "We've already been over this, sir. They can't condense the equipment that opens up two points in space-time AND have the ship make the entire journey without losing power and being stuck thousands of light years from human contact. Do I have to explain the science so you don't ask again and again?" Cantana shuddered at the thought of Chuck going full nerd again. "No...no you don't" Cantana replied.

2 minutes later, The Reaper completed it's jump sequence and the Republic Alliance dreadnought had finally reached Dublin. The silhouette cast by Battleship Essex was daunting but did not worry Cantana. He instructed the comms officer to send IFF information to the Essex using the F4k3 protocol and then called to his navigator to set a course for Battleship Hood. It'd been a few years since he last saw Hovis and from what i heard, he made a decent living coaching the official Bretonian space race team but usually spent that insulting and degrading college kids trying to make sure they can keep their tuition by performing well in space races or making fun of tourists who travel to Dublin just so they can have the luxury of saying "I flew a Space Racer." Dexter hadn't responded to his earlier pings while the Reaper was going through customs in New London but Cantana hadn't thought anything of it. He thought he was just getting drunk at the bar or talking crap to new racers and left his datapad in his room or something.

That was 6 hours ago. Dublin was quiet. Dublin was a quiet system to begin with but something about today felt different. The Reaper halted just outside the asteroid field surrounding the Hood and the race track and Cantana boarded a shuttle to dock with Battleship hood. While he waited for the airlock on his shuttle to normalize with Battleship Hood's atmosphere Cantana tried pinging Hovis again to no success. He had less than two weeks to be ready for the Focks Industries race and was starting to get irritated. As the airlock door opened with a hiss, Cantana looked up from his datapad to find 4 men dressed in black military uniforms at the door ready with guns pointing at the Silver Tongued Devil. The fifth person was a woman, also in military garb standing just behind the soldiers with a stoic expression on her face

"You're not Hovis..." mentioned Cantana
"No...but you're Cantana Focks, and i've been looking for you..." the mysterious woman smirked as the soldiers took Cantana into custody

Work in progress/ongoing story.

Actually its until I get a new laptop and recover my FLIDs from my old laptop. Then I can resolve this story and reopen the Galaxy News Service studio

(Interview Room - Battleship Hood - Dublin)

"2 hours" Cantana thought to himself. He was trying to gauge how long he had been sitting alone in the small, 8 by 10 room somewhere in the belly of the old Bretonian warship. Cantana had just been arrested by an unknown group of people and while he didn't show it, he was just a little terrified. The soldiers confiscated his datapad and sidearm and Cantana was beginning to go through withdrawl from the lack of connection to Neural net. It wasn't like a cardamine withdrawl he had witnessed a friend or two go through some time ago, but simply a feeling as if you lost the keys to your ship and youre stuck in a bad part of Los Angeles after dark. That uneasiness and slight fear that your life is going to end rather abruptly. Hopefully this was all just a simple misunderstanding.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door the room opened and the woman who had "greeted" him at the airlock entered and sat down.
"Cantana Focks: Born AS 799 on Planet Denver, Mother was Kelly Focks and your father was Rigel Focks, Correct?" she asked him as she stared down at an old fashioned manilla folder with a stack of paper at least 4 inches high.
"Who are you?" Cantana demanded.
"Commander Jun'ko Zane, Order First Fleet out of Sol."
"Hey, I heard of you. Saved the galaxy on one or two occasions, right? How's Trent?" Commander Zane looked up from the folder and right into Cantanas eyes. It felt as if she was looking into his very soul and he could tell she was deciding to respond to him or shoot him. Zane continued to question Cantana. "Mother died in AS 810 from a bacterial lung infection. Father died AS 817 from stress related injuries. You declined to take his mantle as CEO of Focks Industries and transferred executive duties to FI Board Chairman Lionel Pulanski and disappeared shortly after that with your last known location as Planet Cambridge. You're hard to find Mr. Focks."
"And it would have stayed that way if it weren't for you. How did you find me?" asked Cantana.
"I'll be asking the questions, Mr Focks." Zane asserted coldly, "Now after you disappeared, where did you go?"
"Why do you wanna kn-" *CRACK* and Commander Zane threw a solid right hook into his face knocking him off the chair and onto the floor. Cantana stuck two fingers in mouth and saw blood. He looked back at the Commander a little dumbstruck "I told you I would be asking the questions, Mr Focks." Zane chided.
"I'll ask again Mr Focks. Where did you go after you left Cambridge?"
"Tell me what you want with me if you want me to cooperate. I don't mind helping the people that saved the galaxy but i do mind being punched and that usually doesn't get anybody anywhere. You have a nice follow-through if i might add, Commander." Cantana would later brag about how he made a stone cold high ranking Order officer blush.

Commander Zane went on to explain that Focks Industries is being covertly investigated for illegal artifact research and wanted to know if Cantana knew anything about it. Cantana Declined and justified that he rarely involves himself with anything that Focks industries does. The only thing he did know was that He's never heard of Aileen Focks and he's pretty determined to find out who she is. Zane was listening attentively but Cantana picked up that she didn't believe him.

"Commander Zane, I'm pretty sure you know where this is going as much as I do."
Zane folded her arms and leaned back in her chair "You do, do you?"
"Yeah. You see, Since I don't know who Aileen is, This is a concern for me because My company could be in the hands of a criminal. Granted, there are some criminal things that we do but it always keep things on the legal side of the law. A multi-house, multi-trillion credit company can't have it's name tarnished. Bad for business, ya see? Now I do have admin access for pretty much anything they have their hands in but you don't get something for nothing. You get me a meeting with Aileen and I'll get you whatever you want on FI's Artifact research."
Jun'ko looked at him "Why can't you just walk in the front door and tell them who you are?"
"It doesn't work like that."
"Why not?"
"It just doesn't. Even if it did, it won't work. If you have enough money you can become a total ghost."
"Well it so happens The Order has ghost hunting technology." Zane responded.
"...Right. Do we have a deal?"
"I don't know Mr. Focks..."
"Whats not to know? You get what you want and I get what I want."
"That not all we want..." added Commander Zane as she looked back down at the folder.
"And whats that?"

"We want Revan..."

(Interview Room - Battleship Hood - Dublin System)

Cantana was taken by surprise by Jun'ko Zane's request. He wondered what the Order would want with his boss?

"Have you ever heard of The Force, Mr. Focks?" Zane inquired
"No what is it? Some heavily armed subsidiary of The Order?"
"It's a Living energy field that connects all life in the galaxy." She answered, "It's possible to access and once it is, it gives that person impossible powers like Jumping over 30 feet in the air, moving objects up to 100 times their size and even mind control."

It hit Cantana like a sack of bricks. Thats what her voodoo magic was. His first real experience with "The Force" was a time Revan and Cantana were in a bar in Liberty and some pilot started to annoy Revan. She was trying to be polite but the pilot was very inebriated. Eventually she had had enough and Cantana had witnessed her pick the pilot up off the ground and choke him without even making contact. All she did was stick her arm out and make a 'c' with her hand and the guy lifted off the ground 3 feet. Cantana was awed like every other bar-goer that night, but quickly realized the situation was about to escalate very quickly and reminded that our presence has to remain low key and She and Cantana left the bar. Cantana learned never to get on Revan's bad side after that incident.

Further thinking about it as Commander Zane rambled on It would make sense that she had this power. She was a very good pilot and has pulled off maneuvers that would make the even the best fighter pilots blush. He's seen her walk into restricted areas just by waving her hand and demanding the guard let us though. He kept daydreaming about all the weird voodoo stuff Revan has done since he's met her Zane brought him back to reality

"So, will you help us find her?"
"Uuuuhhh....cant." He said
"Why not?" asked Zane
"Because I don't know where she is. If your "ghost hunting tools" had difficulties finding me, then you better get your money back because she might as well be on another plane of existence. She's not in Sirius or Altair. Thats all i know."
"Where could she be?"
"Couldn't tell you. All I know about her prior to meeting her was that she just kind of showed up on Planet Manhattan. I did my research quite extensively and even used a few illegal methods to get information on her. All I know is she walked out of prison, disappeared and showed up with a clean record. Why or how? I've given up trying to figure that out."
"So what do you do when she's missing?" Jun'ko inquired
"Lead the Republic Alliance in her absence. She does this all the time." he stated
"What, disappear?"
"Yeah. It''s kind of annoying actually."
"There's no way to get a hold of her?"
"Yyyyyeeeaaaaahhhh....noooo" As Cantana shook his head
"Yeah no? what does that mean?
"Youre asking too many questions, Commander Zane. If you want my cooperation, you need to help me first" Cantana Asserted

Commander Zane let out a long, heavy, stressed out sigh of discontent but agreed to have one of The Order's front companies to sponsor Cantana in Focks Industries Race, now less than a week and a half away. Cantana also listed some other things such as a ship for the race, monthly stipend for his mission, no mission handler and no surveillence. Zane agreed to this and let Cantana return to his ship.

Back onboard the Reaper, Cantana was visually shaken by the ordeal. He ordered the bridge to set a course for Omicron Gamma and made haste for his cabin.

"What am i gonna do?" Cantana groaned as he heard the dreadnoughts massive and modified engines revved to life...

(Captains Cabin - The Reaper - Omega 41, near Leon Base)

Cantana placed his datapad on the nightstand next to his bed. He just got done messaging his old cellmate Ajay who was released from the Coalition prison they both resided a few weeks ago. Ajay was incarcerated for impersonating a Coalition navy officer, Stealing a Lagg from a military base and sneaking back into Sirius through the Lower unknown system into Omicron Gamma where a then small-time mercenary named Lord Rayden managed to disable the stolen ship and transferred Ajay back to the pursuing Coalition carrier group. Cantana became good friends with the the borderline alcoholic while in prison and became his sole contact in Altair. He pinged Ajay because the ship Cantana was going to use for the space race was in Vorkuta, a J-40 Quicksilver, was only sold on Gorkij Station and Cantana *had* to contact Revan using the lightbeam communcation relay that was installed on the StarForge. Therefore Cantana had no time to make the excruciatingly long and dangerous trip into Altair. So he asked Ajay to pick the ship up for him, outfit and modify the J-40 and ship it to him.

The Advanced Lightbeam Communication Relay, or ALCR, used light to transmit data, voice and video to a recipient even if they were traveling in jump space or a ships communications were down or destroyed. Revan made it very clear that the ALCR is only to be used in an emergency, for example a foreign (as in anybody except Corsairs, RA and their allies) group invade Omicron Gamma. But Cantana decided that a highly secret, private organization such as The Order searching for Revan was a worthy emergency. He began to move to the Bridge as they were coming up on the Omicron Gamma Jump Hole

The Reaper creeped along the asteroid fields that was once a planet. As he arrived on the bridge, he saw the mysterious beauty which the neutron star of Omega-41 glare back at him. Cantana always had questions about the galaxy. Some could be answered such as the Dallas Incident or why we came to Sirius from Sol. Others, such as the neutron star of Omega 41, the dimensional rift and alien hypergates have yet to be properly explained and that has always fascinated Cantana. But there was no time to observe the beauty in the tragedy of a planet exploding. They entered the Omicron Gamma system and headed towards the StarForge. There was a message waiting for Cantana from Planet Crete. It was from Admiral Onasi, Commander of the Corsairs 3rd Fleet which was commissioned specifically for the Republic Alliance.

The message was Onasi greeting Cantana and welcoming him back to Omicron Gamma and that he wished to speak with Cantana as soon as possible. Cantana decided to continue to the StarForge, which was considered restricted space and off-limits to unauthorized personnel, including Corsairs. He'd respond the Admiral later he thought to himself.

The Starforge. A large space station capable of producing power by harnessing energy from the Red dwarf in the system and converting it to H-Fuel, providing a mostly infinite supply of fuel for the RA Fleet. Cantana crossed through the docking tube into the station and proceeded to the communications deck 4 levels above him. Officers greeted him and shook his hand, iterating how long it's been since he's been on the station. Support Personnel saluted the Silver Tongued Devil when he walked by towards the comms deck. When he got there, Cantana asked where teh ALCR was and was directed to a small room to the side of the main communications hub. The Main communications hub was a massive 3D, holographic information board where every ship in the Edgeworld Systems was displayed with pertinent information such as ship type, IFF tags and even who owns the ship. Cantana walked past the main CIC and into the Advanced Lightbeam Communication Relay room. A canvas tarp was drappedover the ALCR console. Someone must have put this over it Cantana thought, which didn't made sense to him. Cantana was the only other person authorized to use the relay, let alone be in this room. He shrugged and whipped the canvas off the console and powered it on

Once the console was powered on, He entered the sequence and activated the Lightbeam Relay. Within 2 minutes, Cantana was speaking to Revan on the end.

"This better be good, Focks" She warned
"Well, it is. The Order found me." Cantana said apologetically
"Oh...I thought you said that was impossible!" Revan exclaimed. He could tell she was pissed.
"I thought so too, but apparently, they have ghost hunting tools."
"Well what do you want? I told you not to bother me unless it was an emergency." She was getting increasingly frustrated
"It is!" Focks whined "The Order is looking for you, not me. They wanted me to bring you to them in exchange for a fixed space race so i can figure out if Alieen Focks is really related to me."
There was an awkward silence after Cantana finished explaining his actions. Revan broke the silence with a statement that shouldn't have scared Cantana, but did

"Lets see what they want. I'm prepping the Leviathan for travel. Do not leave Omicron Gamma. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Revan"

(StarForge Observation Deck - Omicron Gamma)

For Some reason, Cantana felt this whole thing was turning into a disaster. There was a little less than a week until the space race and he had not heard confirmation of his entry into the race. Commander Zane had assured this as well as a fixed race, even though he wasn't exactly sure what this meant. On top of that, He hadn't received his J-40 Quicksilver. Ajay assured he'd have it ready with all the modifications before race but Cantana still needed to practice the route Focks Industries has picked for this years race: An intense 3 lap race that circumferences all the ice fields in Omega 3 with a dangerous section that nears the "not-so-secret" GMG Facility and it's powerful Ion Cannon.

Revan sent Cantana a ping with an estimated time of his arrival to Omicron Gamma. It said 3 days and the race was in four so Cantana sent a message back to Ajay to make sure his J-40 was delivered to Freeport 1. He responded saying the ship will be in docking bay 3 with storage fees paid until well after the race has concluded. At the end of the message, Ajay provided codes to unlock the ship to keep thieves away. Cantana always liked how Ajay stayed on top of things and even asked Ajay if he wanted to join the Republic Alliance once upon a time. Ajay refused because he valued his independence to operate as a freelancer but was more than willing to help out when able.

Cantana took a shuttle from the StarForge down to Planet Crete to meet with Admiral Carth Onasi. When he got planet side, a man roughly five foot 9 with a rugged goatee a scar on his left cheek and as many bags under his eyes as the amount of battles he's probably been in greeted him on the launch pad. Cantana hasn't formally met Onasi but has communicated with him for Revan, passing on various information such as leads on places to sell high value goods, the location of a given prisoner that the Corsairs needed retrieving and sometimes wait times at various jump gate locations; mostly just stuff Revan might understand the context more than he would. Cantana extended his hand for a handshake, Admiral Onasi received him likewise and the two climbed into another shuttle was standing by. It was quiet for the first few moments of the ride. Carth broke the silence spoke to Cantana as if he were a long-time friend and caught Cantana slightly off guard

"So, it's been a while since you been home, eh Focks?" Carth asked, "Mind telling what youre doing here?"
"Uuuhhh...Republic Alliance business. Why do you need to know anyway? We're not under your authority." Replied Cantana who got a little nervous and could tell conversation was about to go south.
"Well it's my business because it was my understanding that the two of you thought you were too good to station yourselves in my lovely system. You show up here unannounced after how long?" Admiral Onasi no longer sounded friendly
"It's only been a couple of months, Sir."
"Thats not the point! The point is I thought i saw a Rheinland dreadnought enter Omicron Gamma without sending any message or warning. Not even IFF tags, do you know how nerve wracking that is!?" Onasi spat. It seems, Cantana thought to himself, that he could not get away with not being yelled at today.
"I can Imagine, Admiral."
"So, what is it youre doing here?"

Cantana explained that there is an internal emergency that needed to be handled by Revan herself and she was on her way to Omicron Gamma as they spoke. Onasi became wide-eyed and signaled the shuttle pilot to return to the Cantana's shuttle. There was silence for the rest of the ride

Back on the Starforge, Cantana proceeded to his room which overlooked the red dwarf sun. His room was custom made with the help of a well known architect he hired named Thanrui. His work was appreciated when Cantana gave him enough money to retire for the next 5 years but since he was known to be a humble man, Thanrui declined payment. The glass display that gave an unforgettable view could be dimmed or blacked out as necessary. The vaulted 16 foot ceiling would give enough space to fool an outsider into thinking there was no way that much space would be available on the StarForge. There was an elevator which gave direct access to the room from the launch bay as well as a plethora of displays that was tuned to various news outlets, traffic data, Starforge output statistics and even an outside Live feed of the Reaper. He bypassed all of this and went straight to his bed and fell down

Just as Cantana fell asleep, he received a ping from Ajay notifying him that his J-40 Quicksilver was successfully delivered to Freeport 1. Cantana wasn't sure what to do. Stay and wait for Revan as instructed or travel to Omega 3 and prepare for the space race?

(Flight Deck - [Restricted space] - Omicron Gamma)

A ping had woken Cantana up from his nap. He stretched as he grabbed his datapad and read the ping. It said that the Leviathan had entered Omicron Gamma, and was about an hour away from the Starforge so Cantana got ready. He arrived on the flight deck to find what seemed like every person on the station was there scrambling to get the station ready for Revans arrival. Cantana remembered that he hadn't told anyone about her return and now it made sense as to why the station was a madhouse. Everyone was busy cleaning, organizing and he could even tell one or two people who were walking around looking like they're busy. Cantana called to a foreman and told him to make sure everyone is staying busy and not just looking busy. The foreman saluted and left. Cantana shook his head as his datapad pinged again. This time it was Revan. He acknowledged the ping and began walking toward the airlock door. 10 minutes until Revan arrived

The mood was tense. Cantana was certain a large majority of the station's personnel haven't actually met Revan and they arrived on the Starforge after it's full completion. Cantana himself felt nervous. With his father's company in the hands of a stranger and The Order hunting Revan, he had every reason to be nervous. The lights on the airlock door starting flashing. The Silver Tongued Devil straightened up and stood in front of the airlock. The door opened and there she was, Standing with her hand behind her back with a stoic expression on her face. Though Revan was short, her presence was surely felt throughout the whole space station.

"Hello Revan" Greeted Cantana. Revan didn't respond, she walked through the threshold and looked around at the flight deck.
"There's been some upgrades since i was last here." She spoke as if she was annoyed but Cantana thought that's just how she was.
"Yeah. I hired a couple of freelancers to finish the design and construction. I think they did a good job. What about you?"

Again there was no response from her. Cantana began to usher Revan to the command deck and she followed. He didn't know why, but felt more uneasy now that she arrived on the Starforge. After a short elevator ride from the flight deck, they arrived on the Command Deck. Due to the Starforge's construction and location, the command deck was actually below the flight deck towards the bottom of the station. The view gave an unprecedented view of Omicron Gamma. Cantana noticed a change on Revan's face as she stepped onto the glass floor that allowed the command center make visual contact with any incoming ships.

"Scared of heights, Revan?" Cantana joked as she shot him a dirty look that was physically felt by Cantana "Don't worry, boss. It's not gonna break. In fact it's pretty impervious. Nothing short of concentrated fire from an armada of capital ships is gonna break this glass and even then it's a longshot." Cantana was pretty sure that didn't rest her fears.
"Where can we talk?" She asked
"Conference room right over here"

They walked into the conference room, an 10'x12' room with a table and a large monitor on the wall that was shut off. The two of them sat down and look at each other. Revan broke the silence

"So what does The Order want with me?"
"They didn't exactly tell me..." Cantana replied
"What did they talk to you about?
Cantana was unsure if he should tell her everything.
"You should tell me everything" she said as she waved her hand.

Suddenly, Cantana spoke as if something forced him to start speaking against his will. He went into great detail of his encounter with Jun'ko Zane. He explained why The Order is interested in Focks Industries as well as his understanding of The Force. Cantana was a little frantic because he had no control of what he was saying and felt very guilty, he wasn't sure why.

Cantana finished up "So...yeah....thats whats up..."
"Okay." Said Revan plainly, as if it were no big deal.
"Okay?! Thats all you can say?" Cantana exclaimed.
"Yup. They want to learn the ways of The Force."
"So are you gonna teach them?"
"Nope," And a smile appeared on her face "you can't just tell someone how to use The Force. It's not simple and it takes decades of training. Like...from a young age is when the best time to start learning."
Cantana relaxed a little, "Okay...so what are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna tell them they're making a mistake." She said as if this was her plan all along.
"How? They seem well informed of your abilities. You leave a pretty big trail when you force someone to do your bidding" As Cantana said with a frown.
"Go ahead and get them thinking I'm going to cooperate. Then I'm going to kill Jun'ko Zane" Revan stated calmy
Cantana's mouth dropped open 'What?!"
"I Said 'I'm going to kill Jun'ko Zane'. There's a problem with that?"
Cantana was speechless. He was thinking Revan lost her damn mind. This isn't the first time Revan has had a crazy idea. Every time Revan had a crazy idea, Cantana barely manages to escape with his life. Cantana stood up and headed towards the door "I Need to get to Omega 3. I have less than 2 days to get there for the race and check in was yesterday." Cantana made his way back to the Flight Deck. He made his way to an Armored Transport that was being prepped for his departure. He strapped in as the door on the transport closed and he was on his way to Omega 3 for the Focks Industries Annual Space Race and hopefully, to a meeting with Aileen Focks

It was at the moment when Cantana realized that he had everything he ever wanted. In that same moment, He saw it all come crashing down

Cantana indeed meet the individual known as Aileen Focks. However it was not his sister. In fact, It was his Mother! His biological mother that is. The women whom Cantana thought was his mom was actually the mistress of the late Rigel Focks. Officially, Diane Focks-McRay was killed in a drunk flying accident. Both ships collided above Planet Los Angeles and actually shut down space traffic for 6 hours while crews cleaned up radioactive debris. Conspiracy Theorists say Aileen killed Diane by hacking her ship and flying it straight into a contracted Freighter. But those people are usually dismissed

After a heartfelt Mother-Son reunion (After reeling through the initial shock) Aileen convinced Cantana to come back to Focks Industries and be groomed to take over the company.

That is until Aliens from beyond known space attacked. The first wave wiped out a lot of people all across the edgeworlds. Terraforming stations on Planet Harris were destroyed. Pirates in the Omicron Systems were the first to be annihilated, Including Corsairs and Outcasts. While the Secret base of the Republic Alliance was not destroyed, It was abandoned and retaken by squatters, refugees and spacers affected by the short...but very bloody alien Invasion. Aileen Focks was killed in a surprise attack on a weapons shipment bound for the front lines during this invasion.

Cantana Focks, His fortune now just a fraction of what it was, must stretch his resources to reacquire his riches. First off...he's gotta ditch these cops that are after him...

It was two weeks since the aliens left the edgeword systems. Thanks to valiant efforts of the Rheinland Military and The Order, The aliens were repelled back into the reaches of unknown space. Roughly 100 Million people were killed by the time the war was turned in favor of humans. They reached the Stuttgart system before their mothership was destroyed as a result of a concentrated effort of Rheinland Military, Corsairs and a few Dark Phoenix mercenaries. After that battle, within 1 month the aliens were gone. 80% of the edge world systems were destroyed and major house governments were at first reluctant to provide aid, but was eventually responded with help after protests on major planets erupted.

Cantana Focks had a rough time since the passing of his mother. After a brief stint at the Liberty Center for Rehabilhitation for a cardamine habit he formed, He decided to attempt to take up the mantle which his father and mother placed for him years ago. Since Aileen's death, Cantana cleaned up Focks Industries reputation. At least...thats what Cantana wants the public to believe. Cantana turned huge profits in both FI and RA by turning Focks Industries into the biggest front company Sirius has ever seen; enough to further complete The Starforge, now operating at 200% capacity. Both groups have clean and dirty money running in its system.

We Join Cantana as he is being pursued by Bretonian law enforcement. He and a squadron of Corsair gun-for-hire's ambushed a Cryer shipment bound for colonies in the Crossfire Systems

"This was supposed to be a blue milk run!" Cried Jose, the XO of the Corsair squadron.
"This is a blue milk run," Replied Cantana over the comms "only 4 more waypoints until the jump hole."
"I don't think i'm gonna ma-" and a flare a light flashed behind Cantana as a wingman was shot down by a Bretonian deputy
"Silver Devil 2-3 is down!" cried a pilot on the radio. "Theres only 4 of us lef-" and his voice was cut short as his ship exploded
"Just You, Me and the Transport now." Sighed Cantana.
"Someone must have talked," Commented Jose, "they were waiting for us."
"Lets get away then we can figure it out. Look we're at the jump hole and there's reinforcements waiting for us."

The group flew through the asteroid field toward the Omega 5 Jumphole and Another wing of corsairs materialized out of the nebula and engaged the police. The second squadron managed to repel the cops and chase them through the nebula.

Upon jumping into Omega-5, Cantana was faced with a whole new set of problems. Instead of being greeted by a Corsair escort fleet, Cantana, Jose and the hijacked Cryer transport, they came face to face with several Order ships, none smaller than a destroyer and the biggest ship of the fleet of 10 was a carrier. A voice came in over the general comms channel

"Cantana Focks, You are hereby placed under Order Custody. Power your engines down and prepare to be boarded." The voice said. Fine day to fly the Redeemer, Cantana thought to himself.
"Roger that, uuuhhh. My squadron needs to RTB for repa-" Before Cantana could finish the sentence he registered two torpedo's on his radar headed straight for his wingman and his loot. Both were destroyed before he could command evasive maneuvers. I think i know who talked he thought aloud. Cantana decided to surrender and was soon docked on the Order Carrier and being transported at gunpoint to a conference room just off the main hanger deck. The Silver Tongued Devil knew exactly who he was going to meet. As he was shoved into the conference room and yelling a nasty insult to the guard, Cantana turns and find Jun'ko Zane sitting on the opposite side of the table. She was looking right into his eyes. Focks showed no emotion but was certainly not surprised by this encounter.

"Mr. Focks. We meet once again."
"Ya know, You could call instead of getting me almost killed by police if you wanted to chat. Seems like a waste of resources for little old me."
"Mr Focks, You can assume it was us who leaked your robbery to law enforcement."
"Kinda figured when you showed up to the party." Cantana scoffed. He was genuinely upset. The Cryer supplies he had stolen were bound for refugee camps on Planet Crete and further distributed to Planet Malta. "What do you want with me this time?"
"As always Mr. Focks," Zane smirked "Its us who needs you."
"Always....What is it this time?" He inquired.
Zane slid a folder in front of Focks "Wouldn't you like to know?

"You want me to do WHAT?" Exclaimed Cantana
"We want you to create a Galaxy-wide discussion over the ineffectiveness of current law enforcement practices." Recited Jun'ko Zane, Commander with Section 0 of The Order. Section 0 is a famous legend within the many circles of conspiracy theorists for being the ones behind many of the various terrorist attack committed by any and all factions. These attacks generally cause discussions at local government levels that provide pathways for changes in laws on the galactic level. One such policy are these so called "stop and scan" searches that are now attributed to pesky, minor inconveniences and current accepted as a "best practice" for law enforcement. Conspiracy theorists state that Section 0, for being apart of The Order, are responsible for roughly 20% of of All terrorist attacks committed in the last 5 years. These theories are mocked and ridiculed by society and therefore "can't be true. There is no secret Order section that commits acts of terror and that's crazy." Cantana was finding out that this was one of those times conspiracy theorists turned out to be right.

"I'm reading through the proposal and," Cantana picked up the folder on the conference table. As he was picking up the folder, He wondered how he got to this point in life. Right now, He was in Order custody hopefully still in the Omega-5 System. "This is what looks like piracy looks like on paper! This had to been have written by at least a team of 5 Lawyers, 4 Third-party consultants and by the looks of Section 2, Article 7 Paragraph c, a fricken psychopath!"
Zane stared at him blankly "..Actually we had help with that from an inmate at the Vierlande Prison psych ward.."
Cantana's Jaw dropped. "I don't know, man. Won't this muck things up with My company?"
"Well..."Zane appeared in deep thought, but looks can be deceiving "We thought it was a good idea to use Focks Industries as a front for the Republic Alliance;" she paused "And the Corsairs." as Commander Zane pulled a datapad from seemingly nowhere and handed it to Cantana.

Cantana couldn't believe it. He's smart enough to know not to leave a trail that connects RA, FI and Corsairs for it could end in death. If The Silver Tongued Devil managed to survive the courts, The Corsairs wouldn't allow him to continue business. It was suicide. What Cantana was holding was a bank statement that summarized huge amounts of money from Focks Industries accounts were being transferred into the accounts of known terrorist front companies. It was very fabricated and Focks knew this. But it would fool everyone else and it would be the end of him. He set down the datapad on the table and looked coldy right into Jun'ko Zanes' eyes.

"Take out that part and you've got a deal."
"What part?" Zane asked.
"Section 2 Article 7 Paragraph C." Cantana was in full business-man mode. He was beyond "aggressive salesman" and into the territory of "extreme political intimidation." "I'm pretty crazy, but i'm not a monster. Take it out. I'm a fool to do your dirty work."
"Oh yeah?" Commander Zane sat up in her chair and leaned forward. In their previous encounter, Commander Zane had given Cantana a look that chilled him to the very core. This time, due to the circumstances, the adrenaline had allowed him to maintain his composure through her icy stare, which she was now giving him. "Seemed pretty foolish to me that you took the job that screamed trap. You couldn't tell an ambush was coming even if there was a sign that said 'ambush ahead!" Cantana lost it. He started busted up laughing so hard it began to hurt. Cantana Focks chortled, cackled and giggled for what seemed like 5 minutes and both Jun'ko Zane and the Guard in the conference just stared with puzzled faces at the Silver Tongued Devil.

He then Immediately regaining his composure, Focks leaned back and crossed his arms and casually said "so do we got a deal?"
Commander Zane glanced over at the guard, then back at Cantana. "Okay Mr. Focks, you win" She conceded as she took out her datapad and began to type on it. "You can go."
"So...you'll take it out?" Mr. Focks asked.
"Already done!" She chimed. "Just sign this and you'll be legally allowed commit acts of space piracy. Keep in mind, Local authorities are unaware of this little....project."
"Project huh. Lemme see that thing." Zane shouted as Cantana yoinked the datapad from her hands. He glanced over it and asked if all he had to do was sign it. Zane confirmed this. After glancing through the entirety of the document on the datapad, Cantana Signed it. He and the Republic Alliance were now officially Space Pirates.

"Well How about that. I'm a pirate..." As he got up to leave the conference room, Commander Zane had one last question.
"Hows Revan gonna take this? Won't she be like....mad?"
"How should i know? She disappeared and i cannot contact her. It's been months!" He answer
"Any idea where she could have gone?"
Cantana turned to her before he left the conference for the shuttle back to the Reaper.
"She said once that great power lied beyond this galaxy. Something about a planet called Korriban. I researched all known systems and even discovered one or two of them no one knows about in Kusari. No such planet exists. She's gone, Commander." And he departed back to his flagship.

For years, Cantana wondered what being a pirate would be like. Now that he legally is a pirate, His imagination was going crazy. He boarded the Reaper and upon reaching the Bridge, he ordered his nav officer to set a course for Rheinland. He knew exactly what his first act of piracy was going to be...

It has been a couple weeks since The Order forced Cantana Focks and the Republic Alliance to perform acts of piracy in Sirius systems. Cantana feels that life is more dangerous since he became a space pirate. Not just because local law enforcement wanted him dead but the economic and political ramifications against Focks Industries should Sirius governments act on it. True to their word, The Order managed to keep the lawyers and investigators at bay. It was clear that the only organization who had more power than Focks Industries was The Order, specifically Section 0.

Focks was relaxing in the Officers lounge on the Reaper, facing a viewport that was overlooking the Red Dwarf of Omicron Gamma. He was perusing over the days' headlines on the Galaxy News Service looking for any mention of his piracy. Surprisingly, after all the near terrorist-like activities RA had been performing, there was little mention of his escapades. The closest thing there was to an article referring to the Silver Tongued Devil was half a sentence mentioning the "shakedown from local criminals" of a Bretonian Parliament member's son. That whole article was about how personal security for public figures was not receiving enough public funding, but that didn't interest him at all. Then it hit him; What if he directed FI's internal security to "volunteer" to protect key Parliament members. Then manufacture a crisis that leaves said Parliament member in a vulnerable situation. The end result being a new elected representative that is more willing to bend to the will of Section 0. It was pretty sinister by Cantana's standards, but it seems like something Section 0 would approve of, let alone do themselves. The Silver Tongued Devil chuckled at this notion.

Cantana sent an encrypted message directly to Commander Jun'ko Zane of The Order outlining his plan. Just as he sent that, he received an encrypted message from an unknown sender. The message simply stated: "I want to help your cause. Meet me at Freeport 9 as soon as possible." The message was certainly a little cryptic and wreaked of ambush. But since he was waiting for a response from Jun'ko anyway and the Starforge suffered a reactor leak after a micro-meteor punctured the hull. the area for 15 kilometers became a radioactive wasteland and a cleanup crew from Sovetskaya was still 3 weeks away. He decided to radio the bridge to make course for Freeport 9 and meet this mysterious pirate-wannabe

Later, he was sitting at the bar of Freeport 9. Admittedly, Cantana was a little annoyed that he found himself there. The patrons of the bar paid no mind to him as they were all so disconnected from living at the edge of space for generations. A gentleman sat down at the stool next to him and ordered a Liberty Ale.

"All we have is Sidewinder Split, friend." Replied the bartender
"Fine." as the stranger scoffed at the idea of "low-quality" Edgeworld alcohol.
Cantana turned to the guy "Something wrong with booze out here, friend?"
"No. I just don't come out here very often. First time actually."
"So thats your Cayman out there, then?" Cantana assumed "Pretty well armed for these parts. Almost too well to be your first time.."
"Yeah...well..." the stranger hesitated
"Who are you, friend?" as Cantana pulled a gun from his jacket, low-key style "Lets go" and Cantana threw some credits on the counter to pay for the drinks.

The two left the bar and began going down the hallway toward the park. The park itself was beautiful. Situated in Freeport 9's largest glass biodome, the parks were recently renovated to mimic the greatest parks and public places on ancient Planet Earth. From New York City's Central Park, to London's Trafalgar Square, the Freeport 9 Historical Park sector generated slight tourism revenue for the local Zoners. Cantana and the stranger sat down on a bench overlooking a small lake with people in foot powered paddle-boats skating across the surface. Cantana casually started talking to the stranger

"Start talking, dude" Focks demanded
"M-m-my name is Tribbs. I'm a f-freelancer.." He replied. "I s-s-specialize in gun running"
"So you sent me that message? Calm down, man, i'm not gonna kill you. Look, this thing aint even loaded.." and Cantana pointed the gun at a passing duck. To Tribbs surprise, the duck did not turn into a mess of blood and feathers. A passerby merely just gave Cantana a dirty look. Being at the edge of space had it's perks. Certain crimes you could get away with. Murder happens to be one of them but not honoring an agreement may result in the loss of life. Open Carry in the Edge worlds was commonplace. "Guns huh?"
"Yeah." Tribbs confirmed "I happen to have an extra shipment of Nomad weapons. Last guy who wanted him tried to pull a fast one and now..well..won't be pulling much really heh heh." Cantana chuckled with him
"Okay, 'Tribbs' Tell you what. Deliver those guns to Planet Crete. Here are is one time access transponder. Good for 24 hours. You make good and we can talk about more work for you. Maybe even get you a spot in the Republic Alliance." Enticed Cantana. The look in Tribbs eyes displayed hope from a man who hadn't made a dollar in a while.

Tribbs made good and his delivery and offered to have a steady supply of nomad weapons brought to Crete for RA and Corsair use. A deal was struck and Tribbs was granted unrestricted access in Omicron Gamma. Focks was well within his right to be suspicious of Tribbs so he ordered Corsair Intelligence to investigate Tribbs and had Focks Industries monitor Tribbs and his activites.

Days later, Cantana received an encrypted ping from Commander Zane. The message had two parts. The first was granting RA to "protect" Parliament members. The second part made The Silver Tongued Devil's heart drop faster than R136a1 (the biggest known star) into a black hole.

"Tribbs is a cop"

Cantana wasn't sure how to handle this. He's got an undercover detective from The Steel Hearts working as a freelance gun runner right under his nose. He was trying to convince himself that killing cops wasn't the answer, but still found himself shooting Tribbs in the head. Even if he "fired" Tribbs, He becomes a liability and Focks would be forced to take him out anyway even if he doesn't get his hands dirty. The Silver Tongued Devil was thinking about corruption and suddenly had an epiphany: If he could convince Tribbs to turn against his superiors and report to me directly on their activites, Patrols, Supply shipments, Home addresses for TSH Command personnel would be ideal intelligence to further Republic Alliance nonnegotiable motives.

It would be fitting after all, he thought. The most powerful organization in the entire galaxy somehow pulled a fast one on Focks Industries which forced The Silver Tongued Devil into this situation in the first place. The Steel Hearts was an independent organization and ultimately exempt from sovereign law enforcement practices. A sort of "diplomatic immunity" status. Focks Industries has been a recognized corporation for decades while Focks won't admit it, FI has gotten away with 99% of all white collar and multiple criminal investigations dropped. The Order are the only ones who legitimately threaten Cantana Focks and Focks Industries 'Diplomatic Immunity' status. Cantana considered if it was possible even independent law enforcement agencies could manipulated by a shadowy government intelligence agency as well based on the blackmail against Focks Industries.

In his opinion, TSH is the least effective police force to "protect" Sirius. The Pilots themselves are top quality and Cantana knows Admiral Martind Forlon very well. They're relationship goes back as far as the days of old agency's such as BloodGuard, Dragon Corps, Crossfire Police Department and the Sirius Mercenaries Guild. However he felt they are apathetic to the crime running rampant across Sirius between the pirate gangs and the smuggling rings. Cantana and Forlon agreed on the issue of the excessive crime however differ in opinon about "what's being done about it." Cantana had the intention of shaping Tribbs opinion about law enforcement. Who's better to talk about law enforcement reform than a law enforcement officer such as Tribbs. Those were goals to fulfilled later but for now, Cantana had to focus on turning Tribbs.

The Silver Tongued Devil was currently sitting on the bridge of his Celestis Dreadnought Reaper. Sitting in high orbit above Planet Crete, Cantana stood up as he grabbed his datapad and opened a vidchat with Tribbs. Tribbs picked up and was sitting in his ship. Cantana could make out the details of trade lane travel in the background and made short small talk with the Mole before he got to the Point

"Tribbs, i need to speak with you about some business proposals. Can you swing by Crete?" Focks asked.
Tribbs hesitated for a moment then replied "Yeah, no problem. I'm in Cambridge now." Cantana acknowledged and asked his bridge officer if there were any Corsairs on patrol in Cambridge. The bridge officer soon responded there were 4 patrols currently in Cambridge throughout the system. Each a wing of 4 medium fighters. The nearest wing to Tribbs location could easily intercept the undercover cop and hopefully last long enough for reinforcements to come in and have Tribbs surrender. Focks immediately dispatched 2 wings of Corsairs 3rd Fleet elite squadrons to the Cambridge jump hole in Omega-5. Cantana didn't feel he was underestimating Tribbs ability as a pilot but heavily armed fighters was always a good force multiplier. He was more worried about the patrols enroute in Cambridge.

The bridge officer declared the first squadron had engaged Tribbs and the second and third squadron were less than 5 minutes out. Soon, Cantana received a vidchat request from Agent Tribbs, and Focks accepted:

"HEY! Call off your dogs, I'm coming!" Tribbs shouted as gunfire blasted in the background.
Calmly, Cantana replied "I will as soon as you power down your weapons and cut your engines."
"I sa** i wa* -y way" Tribbs communications was about to be lost and he ordered the Corsairs to stand down. The patrol reported Tribbs ship was powered down completely but is suffering from a coolant leak.
"You owe me a ship, Focks!"
"And YOU need to be a little more honest with me about who you work for," Cantana sneered at Tribbs. "At this point, if we continue this conversation, the least of your problems is your coolant leak. You are to be Escorted back to Planet Crete by these gentleman pirates keeping your ship powered down completely. Do you understand?" Cantana asked firmly.
Tribbs again hesitated, "Yeah" he replied and cut the vidchat.

The Bridge officer asked Cantana what his plan was and he loosely replied with his plans of turning Tribbs into a double agent. "You think it'll work?" Cantana asked?
"I'm not sure sir. Speaking freely, I don't think it helped by opening fire on him instead of seeing if he'd actually show up."
"He needs to know he screwed up..." Cantana Defended, "...anyway ready my shuttle down to the surface. I have a job interview..." And left the bridge towards the hanger.