Epilogue
The official story of what came to be known as the Wanat Disaster, was that a gravity tether had failed, and caused a black hole to be created, which destroyed the USG Castle, colony, and three supply ships, as well as the planet and, eventually, the whole Wanat system. The official death toll was five-thousand and sixty people. It swiftly became the worst mining disaster in modern history. However, not even Earthgov knew the truth of what actually happened, and Weyland-Yutani made sure of that.
XXX
In an elegant office on Titan Station, two men were talking. They wore expensive clothes. In fact, they wore a slightly updated version of the ancient business suit and tie, a distinctive thing that was now seen only among the high-level executives of Weyland-Yutani. Suits made from actual, real silk, farmed on Terraformed worlds, each piece of said suit costing hundreds of thousands of Credits.
"You made sure?" asked the older man, a male of European features with pale blonde hair who looked in his early sixties, his hair slicked back. The younger man nodded as he showed him the holopad.
"Certain. Team Black made absolutely sure. Not a trace," he replied. The older man nodded.
"Good, good," he said as he leaned back in his chair. His gleaming desk was made of actual wood, harvested from a real tree. His eyes flicked to the younger man. "And the fallout?" he asked, and the younger man smiled.
"CEC is scrambling to cover their asses. The public is furious, and the anti-planetcracking lobby is jumping on it." The older man grinned ferally.
"Excellent. It went better than we expected. Though, I'm still not happy Dr. Forrest exceeded his authority," said the senior executive. The younger man nodded.
"Yes. Instead of five eggs, he used twelve." The older man glowered.
"And, because of his stunt, that fuck cost us a Queen," he snarled as he looked at the medical scan of a "Dr. Kyne" from the colony. The younger man frowned and nodded.
"He's already been detained," replied the young man. The older man smiled a venomous smile.
"I want him in the Callisto Project . . . as lead test subject," he said with authority and an icy tone. The younger man nodded.
"Yes, sir. Now, about the remaining eggs?" he asked as the older man stood up and walked in front of a huge, panoramic window that allowed a view of the whole of Titan Station, Saturn fully visible in a glorious view. Ships came and went to and fro, far below.
"I have consulted with the other execs, and we agree that, from now on, unless authorized by unanimous decision by the board and all execs, authorization henceforth will be for one egg only at any given time. Furthermore, only one egg is to be housed in each location." The younger man noted this down.
"Yes, sir. A good decision, most definitely." The senior executive watched as ships docked. He was easily able to pick out the USG Ishimura as it came in to dock.
"It's been a long, hard road, but CEC is teetering. All the pieces are lined up. Now, we just have to wait for the right moment," he said as he walked away from the window, hands clasped behind his back. "Now, the report on the Atmos?" he asked, and the younger man nodded and brought up the report.
"The new reports are good. With the refined design, we think they will be able to do twice the work in a quarter of the time," said the younger man, and the older one grinned.
"Good, good. And a timeline?" he asked as he tapped a button to call an elevator.
"We think within the decade, plus or minus," he replied. The senior exec frowned a tiny bit, before his smile came back.
"Hmm, I would have liked to hear four or five, but that may work for us, if we wait for the right moment," he said as the elevator beeped and they entered, the doors closing and the elevator descending.
"R&D agrees, and also have some most impressive plans to make a design that could be dropped and set up with existing Planetcracker ships." This got the senior exec's attention. He grinned and laughed.
"Marvelous! If we play our cards right, we can make the CEC do all the work and cut their own throats." At this, the younger man grinned slyly.
"Oh, that is a fantastic idea, sir. After something like this, which is already becoming a public relations nightmare, I have little doubt they will scramble to make up for it, and get their noses into some other trouble. And as an added bonus, the incident is already weakening planetcracking at large." The older man nodded.
"Good, very good. And when people see the dangers and folly of planetcracking, and need someone to turn to in a time of need, we'll be there," he said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. The two walked out into steel tunnels, quite unlike the office they had just left. These were the halls of a laboratory. They walked towards a desk, behind which was a huge mural, sixty feet high, depicting Zeus imprisoning the fabled Titans, holding a lightning bolt as he pointed at the shackled wretches. The bold lettering read "Weyland-Yutani Titan Laboratories". A perky brunette at the desk smiled as they approached.
"Hello, Mr. Weyland. They're waiting for you now," she said, and he nodded to her, the two walking past, two guards in all-black RIGS with angry violet lighting and armed with Pulse Rifles stood by the doors which swished open. The two walked though the complex, past scientists using the most state-of-the-art equipment that even Earthgov was not aware of. They stopped in front of a window into a chamber. Inside, past several layers of security and protection, was a single glass cylinder. Inside the cylinder, suspended in the blue glow of stasis, was a single leathery pod. Weyland looked at the pod through the glass, flanked by several armed Commandos, and grinned.
End