"Mr. Sage, it's good to see you again," said the woman as we landed on Skymoot, the couple coming down the ramp just behind me, some of STAR's androids following with their luggage. The smiled at the sight of her, the woman running up and hugging her.
"Katya, it's been too long," she said, and the man walked up and shook her hand, before all three turned to me.
"So, Katya's your name?" I said, motioning for the droids to begin loading the luggage into the car behind the woman.
"Indeed, sorry about the black ops stuff, but names can sometimes be dangerous things. Still, now that they're here, I would like to introduce you to…" she trailed off as the droids finished their job, and then came up beside me.
"Professor Lynn Anderson and her husband Henry. The first being the premier mind in planetary sciences, known for putting forward many theories on how terraforming could be made more efficient and faster, something not well liked by the various corporations that do terraforming for the masses. The second a former Naval Intelligence officer, responsible for more than his fair share of stories, including several leaked documents that implicated Syndicate CEOs in some worlds financial troubles," said the AI, giving the same report he'd given me when he'd gotten a good scan of the couple.
"You've figured out our game then, I take it?" she asked me after a moment, and I nodded.
"STAR looked up their faces on the net. While Professor Lynn's features are obscured well by the makeup she's using, Mr. Anderson's aren't well hidden just because he's wearing a very gaudy shirt and some sunglasses, especially since he had to take those off to sleep. Mind, that does beg the question of why?" I admit, and the gentleman actually looks a bit abashed at having been so easily found out.
"Ah, yes, why defect to the Free Worlds? It's because they plan on making a dream of mine come true, Admiral Sage," answered Lynn.
"I want to make worlds that humans can thrive on, not just survive. I want real Paradise worlds to extend to more than just the rich and powerful. Those same people, however, don't like that idea. It's too expensive, too time consuming, and some even admit, they simply don't want the masses to have too easy lives, as it would let them multiply to easily," she explained, and I nodded at that. New Boston was a core world in all but name, but only partially terraformed, to the point where it was livable, if not comfortable. That did indeed reduce the population by simply ensuring there weren't enough resources to go around.
"The Free Worlds see things differently then, I take it?" I asked, and Katya nodded.
"Indeed. We see the benefit to humanity to having more worlds that are perfect for us, rather than just good enough. We even think that giving government control of that sort of thing, rather than a megacorps that do so now, will help build stronger infrastructure than we've got now. Maybe we can even get worlds that are truly self sufficient, rather than the web of commerce that's needed now," she explained.
"I see. Follow up question then. Why did the Navy stop us? That was a lot of effort to search my ship, and they had to know the Andersons were on board. Why not grab them?" I asked, and Katya actually laughed, a rather pleasant sound.
"That would be because they can't officially act against Professor Lynn. She's got too much of a public profile to act against without being obvious. Her husband, well, if they tried to make him vanish, would be noticed almost immediately by all the wrong people. One's too known in public circles, one in private. Add in the fact that your fleet would probably take a good deal more firepower to destroy than they would like, and you become the perfect person to bring them to us," she laid out, and again, I nodded, it made sense. It made me feel a bit used, but it did show trust to explain this to me now.
"What were they searching for then? If they weren't going to just grab Lynn and Henry?" I said, asking the obvious followup.
"My equipment. It includes some data and materials that are considered to be highly improper for a civilian to own. Not illegal, just worrisome. Ms. Katya already had those out of my lab by the time we came to you," answer Lynn.
"Exactly. The ship carrying them was supposed to arrive before your more obvious fleet, which was going to be the distraction. However, given how quickly you arrived, it won't be here for a few days," added Katya herself.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take these two to their new home here on Skymoot, where we can set up what we can of Mrs. Anderson's lab before the equipment arrives," as Katya spoke, the Andersons both climbed into the waiting car. Just before she followed them, however, Katya turned back to me.
"You impressed me, a lot, with your work here. I know a professional when I see one, and I have another transport job that needs doing. If you're willing to help us some more, I'll be at the spaceport bar after helping the Andersons settle in," she said, tossing a high value credit chit towards me, before the car started off. Watching it fade, I played with the card in my hand, before telling STAR to return to the ship, while I made my way towards the port itself.