Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 266

266 Outside the Law

Planet FT-UE-0192, Unnamed System (Designation: Alpha-Theta-Kappa), Federal Uncharted Expanse

Out in the furthest reaches of Federation space, high above the “unpopulated” planet’s atmosphere, a spot of darkness appeared close to its teleport beacon.

The spot grew slightly, and appeared to warp space around it, as though it pushed against the universe itself.

Then it snapped back and vanished altogether. In its place was the experimental fighter, which simply appeared out of nowhere, like some kind of vaudeville magician’s reveal.

The fighter’s thrusters engaged almost immediately, and began to descend down towards the planet itself.

As Lucifer flew the ship towards their ultimate destination, Eva scanned the planet below. The labeled, but unnamed planet was incredibly lush. It had an ecosystem similar to Earth as she knew it. Or at least, before humans stripped it bare.

The flora was colored in various shades of purple and red, while the seas and oceans were a stark, emerald green.

Eva found the natural beauty of the planet absolutely breathtaking. She had seen a great deal of life during her travels, despite how brief and harried some visits were. And no matter what she saw, she was always utterly amazed.

Every planet she landed on, or at least the Earth-like planets, were always filled with such beautiful life.

.....

Sadly, since they were also perfect for humans, they were often marred by their towns and settlements. Just as this one was. Even though it was one of the furthest places from the Federal Core System, it still had signs of humanity on it.

Dotted sparsely were these military-style outposts, one of which they began to approach.

And although it seemed to have military-style defenses, the actual outpost interior itself seemed more like a random township. Eva was taken aback at the sight – it looked like any other settlement in the colonies.

But she knew that the only people who lived out here were the truly unsavory – pirates and marauders and bandits. The kind that usually attacked the colonists. The kind she often had to fight off.

Eva wondered what kind of anarchy she would have to contend with down there.

Lucifer didn’t head straight to the outpost itself, and instead flew rather low to avoid getting spotted. Not only that, but ze ensured that their power signatures were at the minimum. The last thing they needed was to get spotted as they landed.

Ze picked a hidden clearing in a forest a couple dozen kilometers away from their intended destination, then landed slowly and carefully and with absolutely zero fanfare. Once the ship settled nicely, Lucifer quickly powered everything down, then opened up the armor and the core at the rear.

The two hopped out, and the ship closed up tight behind them.

“This entire planet’s managed by the Great Sun Company,” Lucifer said.

Ze began to walk in the direction of the outpost, and beckoned Eva to follow.

“I’m familiar,” she replied. “Fought off one of their raiding bands in... the Kavati System, I think? Anyway, I recall they were big and dumb and aggressive.”

“There’s more to them than that, I promise.”

The two walked for some time through the expansive forest and saw beautiful reds and purples everywhere. The tree trunks themselves were a deep and dark brown, much more than regular Earth trees. They made their bright red leaves all the more prominent.

The grass under their feet was also rich and dark, more purple than red.

And the loam underneath that was soft and pillowy – the ground honestly felt like heaven on their feet.

Eva felt high being amidst it all, and felt reinvigorated by it. Out of happiness, she reached out towards a bush to shake it, but was immediately startled by the dozen or so critters that peeked out from it.

It appeared she had just jostled their home, and they popped their heads out in excitement.

One of them hopped out of the bush itself, and stood in the ground just in front of Eva. It was a tiny primate, perhaps twice the size of her hand. It had a reddish-brown fur all over it that hung down over its body.

And most devastatingly, it had huge round amber eyes that practically begged for attention. Eva had no choice but to give it a few pats.

She was completely helpless against it.

“What are you doing?” said Lucifer. “We’ve got things to do.”

“Hold on,” Eva protested. “It’s not like the Peacekeepers are gonna suddenly show up out here.”

She proceeded to pull out a MealBar from one of her suit’s pockets, and broke off a piece for the animal.

It took it, sniffed, took a bite, gagged, then tossed it aside.

“Fair enough,” Eva muttered.

But it quickly changed its mind, picked up the food, then munched on it. It didn’t look entirely satisfied, and so turned its huge eyes towards Eva again. As though it pleaded for more.

Then, its friends and family peeked out from their home bush. They gathered up near the first one, and turned their eyes on her as well. It turned into a veritable sea of cuteness.

Eva wanted to pick them all up and cuddle them to death.

“Can you please stop playing with the wildlife?” said Lucifer. “If you really want to, we can come back out at some point. But right now, we gotta deal with hiding you.”

“Alright, alright, fine,” Eva huffed. “Just gimme a second. A few extra won’t kill us.”

She broke apart her MealBar then scattered the small chewy pieces on the ground.

The little critters ate them up. Not exactly with much exuberance, but then again food was food and they weren’t gonna say no to any of it.

“I’ll get you all something nicer next time.”

Eva then got up and followed Lucifer the rest of the way into town.

It only took them less than a couple hours total to get there by foot, even after a few animal petting interruptions along the way.

“Why are we in such a rush, anyway?” asked Eva.

“Just because the Peacekeepers don’t patrol here doesn’t mean they won’t come out,” answered Lucifer. “Especially to recapture any fugitives.”

“Like me?”

“Like you.”

Eva was taken aback.

“Why do they even care that much?” she said. “If I’m all the way out here, why even bother?”

“Because,” ze replied, “it makes ’em look bad. Incompetent. Upholding their image is something they take... too seriously.”

As the two passed through the wide-open, but heavily defended main gates, Eva was hit by waves of various smells. That of food, and sweat, and vice, and a hint of blood. It was the smell of civilization, and was a stark contrast to the scents of the trees and the plants and the grass.

She didn’t dislike it, and some of it was even comforting to her, but the difference between the two was definitely jarring.

More surprisingly, Eva expected this outpost to be completely lawless. She imagined that it would be dirty and dingy, and that its inhabitants were raucous and wild. But instead, it was the opposite.

People were all over the place, each doing their own thing. Some were fixing up the buildings, others hawking their wares on the street. Others still were simply talking to each other and enjoying each others’ company.

It seemed like any other settlement in the colonies.

Except, with more cursing and street fights and public intoxication. Not that any of it was excessive – it was basically nighttime fun, but during the daytime too.

Eva came to the conclusion that fewer social restrictions resulted in more public hedonism. Could be both a good and a bad thing. No-one wanted to watch two drunkards publicly and shamelessly fucking in the streets, in broad daylight, like what Eva was currently seeing.

Despite that, the outpost itself was relatively clean. There was still trash and detritus in the corners and edges, but not much more than was normal, even in “civilized” space. In fact, there were litter drones that patrolled the streets and picked up whatever they found.

The layouts were also similar – it had a town square, market districts, residential areas, maintenance and power, a few clinics. And of course, the various patrol drones and turrets.

Eva was utterly astounded at how similar it was to any given settlement, except that the buildings weren’t default prints. Instead their designs were more hodge-podge. As though they had been taken from various different sources.

Because they were all rather different, the outpost exuded a certain charm that was otherwise missing from Federation settlements.

Lucifer led Eva towards the medical district, and ducked into one of the many clinics available.

The clinic was small, but clean. It was split into two separate, but easily visible sections. The front area was simply the entryway, and a couple of stools. The back was an open area with four reclining seats on pedestals – two on walls opposite.

It reminded Eva of a hair salon.

In two of those seats were a couple of people being attended to by their NeuroTechs. One was getting a cybernetic eye implanted, while the other was being injected with a rather large MedGun.

The third seat was empty, and the NeuroTech assigned to it leapt straight towards Lucifer and Eva. His once sullen face bounded into a smile at the sight of them.

“Hello!” he said enthusiastically. “Welcome to our humble chopshop! What d’ja need fixed?”

Chopshop?

Eva balked and turned her head towards Lucifer.

“What’re we doing here?” she said. “I’m not getting any cybernetics, under any circumstances.”

“Nothing that drastic,” Lucifer responded. “You just need a DI Jailbreak, and to do that, we need to hire you a NeuroTech.”

“Ooh a first-timer!” said the NeuroTech. “Haven’t done a jailbreak in a couple weeks now. How exciting!”

“Why’s jailbreaking matter?” asked Eva. “I’m guessing it protects me somehow.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Lucifer. “Right now, the moment you reconnect to SolNet with your personal account, your data’s gonna get uploaded to Federation databases. Location included. We don’t have to worry about it out here so much-”

“We’ve got FreeNet,” interrupted the NeuroTech. “Federation can’t see you out here.”

“... Right. Anyway, every lawmaker on Helios would have access to your data, and would immediately begin tracking you, no matter where you go. So to fix that, we need his help.”

The NeuroTech nodded happily.

“The procedure’s pretty standard,” he said. “We just reprog your DI, isolate your account, then anonymize your profile. Only takes a few seconds. You can review the code if you want, too.”

“The code works,” said Lucifer. “You can get your friend to double-check it once you reconvene with them.”

Eva nodded in understanding, but before she could agree, the NeuroTech cleared his throat. It looked as though he was preparing a small speech. Eva immediately felt an upsell headed her way.

.....

“Better yet,” he began, “we can install a Toggle in your DI, and give you an identity to use, on top of your anonymized profile. For extra security, of course. The documents are completely falsified, but realistic.”

“And expensive, too, I take it,” Eva said.

“The best things in life are.”

“She’ll take it,” said Lucifer. “Do a three-toggle instead of two. And add the best CodeWall you’ve got. Last thing she needs is to have to deal with black networks.”

“Oh, alright, premie package, then. No problem.”

Eva was stunned as the two talked around her. It bugged her a bit that her body’s modification was being discussed so casually, despite her not being a part of it.

“Uh,” she said, “do I get a say in all this?”

“You can protest later,” Lucifer chided her. “Right now, keeping you hidden is our top priority. And this is necessary for that.”

“I get that, honestly. But it’s not like I’ve got the money to pay for this. I can’t very well take his services without giving something in return.”

The NeuroTech’s eyes immediately brightened.

“Ooh! A favor payment!” he said. “That’s the best currency!”

“No,” Lucifer immediately shot. “I’m paying, in full, in Ducats or Credits. But not favors.”

The NeuroTech immediately looked forlorn at being denied a favor, but still accepted the job. After all, money was money and he wasn’t gonna say no to it.

“Alright, then I’ll make sure to repay you,” said Eva. “At least, once I get my ledger back.”

“No need. It’s part of the fees I contracted anyway. Reequipping you is a budgeted line item after all. So you should consider this paid by your Ravens instead.”

“Wait, budgeted line item? How much did they pay you to get me out, anyway?”

“Half their ledgers.”

Eva’s eyes just about bugged out of her head the moment she heard that. Lucifer practically stole half the Ravens’ wealth, and that got her blood immediately boiling.

“They paid you what?!” she exclaimed. “That... that’s extortion!”

“Extortion? Hardly,” Lucifer scoffed. “They could have negotiated down, but didn’t. They were happy to pay half. You should instead take heart that they care about you enough to pay what I asked.”

Eva was taken aback. What she heard was true – they paid half their savings just to make sure of Lucifer’s success. It warmed her to know they looked out for her, and spared no expense. But it felt sour all the same.

“Still, you could’ve done this with just my half,” she said. “You didn’t have to exploit them.”

“That’s how one gets ahead in life,” Lucifer replied. “Best get used to it.”