studiobondurri Chapter 233: Partners and Adversaries
Chapter 233: Partners and Adversaries
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!”
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.