Episode 190

"Stop screwing around, you moron! What the hell are you thinking!?"

A roar blasted through the communicator. Taro winced, frantically tapping his BISHOP interface.

[SOUND TUNING FUNCTION ACTIVATED]

He gave his ringing head a sharp shake as the volume leveled out. "Hey, hey, don't get your panties in a twist, Dingo. Things have been... complicated on this end."

Taro let out a friendly, "Aha-ha!" laugh, even though he knew it wouldn’t do a damn thing to soothe the man.

"Complicated, my ass, you prick! There is nothing in this dumpster fire of a galaxy I hate more than the Imperial Military. What is this? Harassment? If you’re looking for a fight, I’ll take you on anytime, anywhere!"

"No, no, that’s not it at all. Based on that charming tone, I take it Dean-san reached out to you?"

"Yeah, he did! That bastard who stood by and did nothing while we were getting shot at! Dammit, the deal was that you guys would keep the Empire on a leash. Why the hell did you pull a stunt like this?"

Man, Dean-san works fast, Taro thought. "Why? Because if I asked you nicely, you’d never give up the info. You’d just dodge the question and leave me hanging."

"Of course I would! I don't owe you a damn thing!"

"Look, I wanted to consult with you about something, but... why are you so keyed up? Did Dean-san do something to piss you off? I don't know the guy well, but this doesn't seem like your usual brand of crazy."

The Dingo Taro knew was certainly short-tempered, but he was usually able to flip a switch and make cold, calculated decisions when the situation demanded it. Hurling abuse was standard procedure, but the current Dingo felt... agitated. Persistently so.

"…No," Dingo growled. "He just requested that I hand over data on a few crap-tier corporations to you."

"Well, there you go. So why are you so prickly?"

"Shut up! More importantly, you better send some info my way that’s actually worth something. This isn't a fair trade if it’s all one-way traffic."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. A fair exchange. Let’s see..."

Taro thought for a moment and tossed over a few nuggets of information he deemed safe to leak. Most of it concerned the goings-on around the EAP. Dingo seemed to know the broad strokes, but his reaction suggested a few of the finer details were news to him.

"I’d heard reports about their military expansion, but this... this is way beyond what I expected," Dingo muttered.

His voice had done a complete 180, dropping into a low, focused calm. He fell silent for a long stretch before finally speaking again.

"Taro. Have you looked into the other side yet?"

"The other side? No, that’s why I’m asking you for the hookup."

"Not that. I’m talking about the various contractors currently playing footsie with the EAP military. There’s no way Takasaki was the only one they cut loose. As for the info on my end... fine. I’ll send everything I’ve got. If necessary, I’ll even dismantle them with my own hands."

"Dismantle them? Wow, you’re being way too cooperative. It’s actually making me a little nauseous. You know something, don't you?"

"…I’ve got a hunch, but nothing concrete. Just listen to me: investigate every single contractor supplying the EAP Military. Dig until you hit bedrock. Ignore everything else. This is top priority."

"Wait, wait... what? Is it really that bad?"

"Who knows? I won’t know for sure until we start digging."

Dingo was being annoyingly vague. Taro felt a bead of cold sweat roll down his neck. Something big was moving in the dark—he could feel it. Dingo wasn't just annoyed; he was genuinely on guard.

"…Got it. You want me to pass whatever I find over to you?"

"It’s your call, but I’d prefer it if you did. I’ll start prepping things on this end."

"Right. Let’s do that. Catch you later."

Taro cut the connection and crossed his arms, staring into space.

Dismantle them? Those four companies are huge players... Is the situation really that dire? Dammit, this is going to keep me up at night.

Muttering to himself, Taro scrambled to open an Emergency Line to the rest of the Rising Sun leadership. He quickly briefed them on the conversation and issued orders to divert every available resource toward digging up dirt on the EAP Military.

On the bridge of a warship that was a masterpiece of cold, functional military beauty, a woman sat listening to her Adjutant’s report. She was dressed in a spacesuit that was a functional disaster—excessively revealing and designed solely to flaunt her femininity. To some, it was vulgar; to her, it was a throne.

"—And that is the current status. They seem to be performing quite well, Miss Etta."

The Adjutant offered a smirk. Etta merely snorted, giving a bored, "I see."

"The results are slightly higher than the baseline, but we expect even better efficacy after the next round of refinements. Of course, the waste disposal rate is expected to climb proportionally."

"I don't care. We can always grab more... Let’s bump production another ten percent by next month. You can handle that, right?"

"Sir! Understood. However, due to that particular problem, further production increases might hit a wall."

"Mmm, how annoying. The Drug Restriction Act, was it? Is there no alternative source?"

"Not yet. We’re rushing supplies through a different Route, but it’s not yielding much. We’ll likely need to scout a new Refining Factory and a fresh Smuggling Route."

"We can’t exactly use junk from other sectors... Coleman dying when he did was a real kick in the teeth."

Thinking of Coleman’s death, Etta sighed at the sheer economic tragedy of it. She didn't give a damn about Coleman the person, but Coleman the brain—the man who was supposed to generate mountains of credits—was a different story.

"I don't care if we run in the red for a while. Use predatory pricing, use whatever you have to, but I want a market for Coleman-style Drugs established in every other sector immediately."

Etta ground her teeth as she thought about her supply lines in the Enzio Region Space.

The Drug Restriction Act recently passed by the RS Alliance was already starting to choke her supply chain. It wouldn't bankrupt her company, but it threatened to derail one of her most ambitious projects. That project required a specific type of Endorphin Booster—a proprietary Coleman design that, unfortunately, was only produced in the Alpha Region Space where the man had operated.

"Understood. I’ll put the pressure on. Also, Miss Yotta just intercepted a transmission between the heads of White Dingo and the Rising Sun."

"Oh? And what did our friends have to say?"

"Unfortunately, the contents are unknown. The transmission used heavy Cipher Processing. It’s likely they’re using a very sophisticated Cipher Machine; analysis is proving difficult."

"Really? Our Intelligence Department is getting lazy... Hehe, I wonder if Yotta would cry if I told her that."

Etta smirked, picturing Yotta’s face contorted in frustrated rage. If the fantasy was this good, the reality would be divine.

"Miss Etta, we are currently very dependent on supplies from White Dingo. If that relationship sours, we’re in trouble."

"Are you suggesting the Rising Sun realized what we’re doing and is whispering in Dingo’s ear? Impossible. I doubt they’ve even noticed us."

"That may be true, but..."

"Hehe. Besides, there’s no way White Dingo would ever ban drugs. It’s a sanctuary for the worst outlaws in the galaxy. Even if they banned them on paper, someone would be cooking them in the basement five minutes later. That’s just the nature of the beast."

"If you say so. But the RS did it..."

"You worry too much. The only reason the RS pulled it off was a perfect storm of timing—admittedly, the worst possible timing for us. But Dingo’s company is neck-deep in the trade himself. Who’s stupid enough to set fire to their own bank account?"

Etta leaned back, a thin, predatory smile playing on her lips.

"Besides, the man is driven purely by profit. I 'read' him during our last deal; there’s no mistake. I’ve heard dogs are very easy to train if you have the right treats. It’ll be fine."

She waved a hand, dismissing the topic before she burst out laughing.

"Regardless, we have enough stock to squeeze the Alpha Region Space dry for now. Just make sure the work gets done."

She stood up and sauntered toward the exit, her body swaying with the practiced grace of a runway model. She could feel the Adjutant’s lecherous gaze burning into her back, and the sensation gave her a delicious, shivering thrill.

It wasn't that she cared about the Adjutant. She just really, really loved herself.