Quote
Originally posted by gazza_2001:
**"good to see you mammajamma" Gazza says as Mamma steps onto the bridge.
"You mentioned something about haqcking into the acid trash's computer system , well Shade and me have figured out how"
"YES!!! we got the data" Shade exclaims "You can shut down the beam now , Ensign"
"mamma I want you to use this data to find out whats going on behind all this , clear?" Asks Gazza
"Ill get right on it" Mamma replies
**
At Gazza's terminal, Mamajama sorts through the data - megabytes of sleazy deals, corruption in high places and low, selling of slaves, drugs, and services to humans and aliens.
Finally she is ready for a report to Gazza. She asks UE Admiral and Shade to sit in on the briefing.
" I found three main trends in the data," she says. "One - the "Boss" was what you'd expect - a thug administrator looking for profit. They captured people off ships, kept or sold them as slaves, prostituted and tortured them for fun and profit. He tolerated the work of the Hand of Joy and the partnership of the HOJ and the Proximan Aliens, but really wasn't a partner in the Pyromania operation. He never signed off on the really big deals."
"Second, the Hand of Joy was motivated more by feeding off pain and anguish than by profit. She was one of the main torturers of prisoners - many entries in the data following a prisoner end in "sent to HOJ", and the prisoner was never heard from again. Even though megacredits passed through her hands, she doesn't seem to have been particularly interested in money. She bought no luxuries for herself - people's pain was her luxury. She was a monster, and I'm glad we destroyed her. Still," a fleeting expression of regret crosses Mamajama's waiflike face," We were kids together long ago - products of the same military program. I wish there had been some way....Never mind."
"Third, and this is the part that will interest you, Admiral, the Hand had friends in high places..governments and businesspeople in the independent worlds, and even in UE. These folks helped move Pyromania, or ignored it's passing under their jurisdiction, and got a cut in exchange. Stellar Corps had quite the list of VIPS who used to work with them before the Hand cut in. That's why SC wanted the Hand caught. They may pay the $7 million blood money for the Hand just to avoid publicity."
"The people in UE government, Admiral...I'm going to give you their names, and I have no idea what you can do with them. This is confidential stuff, and heads will roll if it gets out. Again, they may pay the $10 million for the Hand's death just to avoid embarrassment. Perhaps you can use your influence as a UE Admiral to kind of....move that along."
"Then there's the aliens. No human knew what motivated them, but they were sure paying for Pyromania. They got a cut of the profits, yes...but they paid out much more than they got back. I'm speculating that the Proximans knew how much Pyro degrades people, and wanted that corruption to spread as far as possible. It's a lot easier to subdue a world that's weakened from within."
Her words hang for a moment in the briefing room, as the four gaze out the windows at the continuing battle with the Proximans. Only a few of their smaller ships remain in the battle.
Suddenly the hulk on their screens that is the Acid Trash incandesces into a brilliance that hangs on their eyeballs after everyone involuntarily shuts their eyes. At the same moment, a shock wave rolls the ship fore and aft, decreasing in magnitude slowly. Gazza yells, "Give me stabilizing thrusters!" As the stabilizers kick in, Gazza's "Devil's Kiss" ship calms down. Then a strange hail of small objects begins to patter on the hull...bits of the Acid Trash, bits of better-not-to-know. When the haze and dust of the explosion clear, there are no Proximan Alien ships left. Only the trails of a few hyperspacing out as fast as they can are left.
"Let's pick up Cap'n, Grundy, and anyone else space surfing and get the hell out of here," says Shade.
"Make it so," says Gazza. "It's time to go home."
On the comlinks: Everyone hearing this: "If you are in distress, call for help. We will rendezvous back at the Freeport bar!"
------------------
Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein
