Log #228 – Advocate of the first settlers

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My efforts to make the scandal known to the first settlers were difficult and almost fatal.


Brubacker, Friedrich Winters and I were standing around the chess table in the lounge of my ‘White Rabbit’. The artifacts I had found were still lying on it. Excitedly, I talked about what Alaska and I had learned about the first settlers of Stanton. About the ruined settlements, the violent expulsion of the first settlers by the UEE and the resulting unlawful sale of Stanton’s planets to the megacorporations. I wanted Brubacker to publish the story via his editorial office. A heated debate broke out. Bru accused me of being a deluded activist who was spinning his world to suit his agenda. He, on the other hand, was a neutral journalist.

“I can’t just accuse the UEE of being violent against settlers and the sale of the planets being illegal because of a few stones. We need more evidence to publish anything,” Brubacker said indignantly.

“Guys, you can’t see the wood for the trees,” I shouted loudly. “This is not an isolated incident. The Empire’s attack on my people on the planet Ashana, the violent action against the settlers of Stanton, the Flysaa incident. There’s a method to it. And we’re not talking about the Knife Regime anymore. This is the glorified UEE. It’s not as flawless as it’s claimed to be.”

“The UEE is necessary,” Brubacker countered. “It needs a regulatory framework, otherwise there will be anarchy.”

The People’s Alliance in the Nyx System also have law and order. And without the UEE,” I countered.

A tense silence settled over us like a fog. Only the ventilation hummed in the background. Finally, Friedrich broke the silence.

“Do you still remember Yao Kirov, the founder of the Hurston bikers? He wanted to organize a memorial ride and vigil for the original settlers and was then arrested by Hurston Security on flimsy grounds… perhaps because they didn’t want the issue to be made public again.”

“Very you. Fits the picture,” I called out.

Silence fell again. Brubacker’s forehead was wrinkled with thought. He looked silently into his Mobi glass and checked something. Finally, he said thoughtfully.

“Okay, all well and good. But we still need solid evidence. It has to be halfway watertight before we make such serious accusations. Why don’t we fly to one of these old settlements?”

“We can do that. But be warned. Nine Tails use the old settlements as hideouts. They won’t welcome us with open arms.”

Despite my warning, we decided to seek out a settlement and flew to the Crusader moon of Daymar. After landing, Brubacker stood somewhat perplexed in my cargo hold.

“Do you have a spacesuit for me? I’ve only got these clothes here.”

I replied, somewhat annoyed. “Super prepared as always, Mr. Reporter.”

I dug out a spacesuit and a helmet from the box of things I had found somewhere. Brubacker looked at me with anything but enthusiasm, but then changed. Suddenly he groaned.

“Zero, something’s wrong here.”

Then he fell over unconscious. As he fell, he threw up in his helmet and on his suit. Somewhat disgusted by the mess, Friedrich and I lifted him onto the rover’s med-bed. When Brubacker was awake again, he seemed a little embarrassed. I just thought my piece about the hack. Brubacker took another suit and helmet from my box. The Kitty Katzen helmet of all things. There was no other one left. Brubacker looked hilarious. The stupid comments followed on his heels.

Finally, we drove the Medivac Rover to a hill near the settlement, which was down in the valley. We lay on our stomachs in the sand and watched from above as Nine Tails patrolled between the old ruined walls. It wasn’t long before Brubacker let out another pitiful moan. And again he fainted. We laboriously dragged his limp body through the soft sand. When we finally had him in the Rover, Friedrich said.

“The rover’s capabilities are too limited. We’ll take him to the infirmary of the 890.”

Dragging a cloud of sand behind us, we thundered back to the landing pad in the rover as fast as we could. The cargo elevator took us and the rover into the safe belly of the ‘Nordlicht Eins’, the large Origin 890 Jump luxury yacht owned by Friedrich Winters. Here Brubacker could be treated properly.

It was already dark when Brubacker was finally treated in the infirmary and fitted with a brand new spacesuit. We set off again with the rover to the settlement.

“There you can see what you pull off dead bodies. I’d throw it all away,” Brubacker snapped at me.

Unimpressed by the comment, I said. “We’ll drive straight to the settlement. Then we can save ourselves the long walk down the sandy slope. The Nine Tails probably already know we’re nearby anyway.”
“At least they’ll see the light from the headlights. But let’s still try to sneak up on them without using force of arms,” Friedrich warned.

I stopped the rover just outside the settlement. We crept quietly through the sand under the cover of some rocks. Our footprints were immediately blown away by a strong wind. After a short walk, we each sat behind a different rock ten meters from the first walls. A Nine Tail stood right between us and a tower. The others were a good 100 meters away near some containers. The settlement was only dimly lit by a few spotlights. The darkness played into our hands. When the Nine Tail looked in the other direction, I left my cover, slipped quietly through the night and overpowered him silently.
For a moment I stood over the unconscious body, breathing heavily, when suddenly Friedrich was standing next to me.

“Having a little chat?”

As eerily quiet as Friedrich appeared next to me, he disappeared again into the darkness. There was more to the old guy than just the CEO of Nordlicht Aviation.

I was still looking in the direction in which Friedrich had disappeared when suddenly shots whipped through the night. A bullet hit me in the arm and threw me backwards. Crouched and almost on all fours, I saved myself behind a rock in the hail of bullets.

Staggering wildly, Brubacker stumbled towards me and took cover behind the same rock. I looked at him, somewhat panicked, while I tended to my wound with the medgun. Just as I was about to tend to Brubacker’s wounds, his spacesuit was riddled with bullets. He collapsed and lay motionless in the sand. That’s when I heard Friedrich on the radio.

“They’ve got me pinned down. I can’t help you in this hail of bullets.”

My panic suddenly turned to anger. A burning hatred pierced my chest. Hatred for those who had gunned down my friends. My logical mind switched off and gave way to an animal instinct for survival. As if remote-controlled, I ran to the rover, climbed into the driver’s seat and raced straight towards the Nine Tails in a blind rage. I simply thundered over the first one. Then I activated the turret and fired a furious volley of red laser bolts at the second one.

Friedrich’s voice brought me out of my stupor.

“There’s another one 50 meters behind the rock where Bru is lying. Do you see his helmet lamp?”

I saw it. A small white dot in the darkness. The red flashes from the Bulldog repeater on the rover reached the white dot. Then the light went out.

In the meantime, Friedrich had treated Brubacker. He was back on his feet. Together we wandered through the dilapidated settlement and looked at everything in the light of the rising gas giant Crusader. On one wall, I found the faded sign with the three circles arranged in a triangle. Just like in the ruined settlement near Lorville and in the scrap metal settlements on the planet Hurston.

“The reinforced concrete walls seem to be really old. The metal scaffolding was probably added later,” Friedrich analyzed.

Brubacker babbled quietly to himself.

“Maybe there really is something to it. But we need to find more evidence. And even if we did, what difference would it make? The UEE would hardly say ‘mea culpa’ and cancel the sale of the planets.”

“That’s not my point either,” I said thoughtfully. “My only concern is that such incidents are not swept under the carpet, but that the public finds out about them. Then everyone can form their own opinion and draw their own conclusions.”

“Let’s go back,” replied Brubacker. “I need to let it all sink in first. And besides, I still feel like shit. I’d like to go to the nearest hospital.”

After dropping Brubacker off at Seraphim Station, I flew on to the planet Microtech. I wanted to check up on the sign with the circles.

Brubacker’s perspective: https://sternenwanderer.org/jahr-2954#S22