"Just a trader." reported the young man. Jan Orvue. Her facial recognition software identified him and brought up his staff profile in front of her vision. "We searched her ship thoroughly. There's nothing suspicious at all."
"Attacked by hundreds of XINE, you say?" Marietta la Verne tapped her fingers on her throne of wires and titanium, her consciousness divided as she watched the 52 different monitors, dials and sensors from the machines directly wired to her central nervous system. If any one of them reported an error in the internal workings of the base, she could fix the problem with a thought, a single movement.
"That's what she claims, ma'am."
"XINE don't attack in those kind of numbers." she said, "And they don't attack merchant ships."
"Even if she's lying ma'am - and merchants always lie - she has made no attempt at hostility and we have no reason to suspect malicious intent."
"I hear you found one of our reporters on her ship."
"Chisato Madison, ma'am."
"How is she now?"
"She's recovering in the medical bay. She's taken quite a psychological shock. Last time I went to visit, she was interrogating the nurses, so I guess she's making a fast recovery."
"Its always good to have new staff on board." she said, "Provide our merchant with the supplies she needs, but I want a full report on the alleged XINE attack and an explanation of exactly how one of our reporters ended up on her ship."
"Yes, ma'am." he saluted. Suddenly, she was distracted by an alarm sounding. It was from the automated defense systems - the station was under attack!
She opened up a display window to the base perimeter. Clusters of hundreds of figures were converging upon them, emitting pulses of energy. Zooming in, she could vaguely make out winged shapes.
"Battle stations. Put the whole base on red alert." she ordered calmly. With a mental command, she activated each of the defense systems in turn. Orbital lasers, antimatter cannons, pulse bombs and giant railguns began firing, a steady stream of energy that poured out into the sky like a deadly screensaver, already taking down the few XINE that were already closing in to attack. The shields flared up, a rose penumbra. The battle had begun.
In any normal space station, the civilians would have retreated into the most well-protected areas by now. This, however, was Battle Fortress Chronicle. Half of the station staff were now in the broadcasting studio, filming the whole thing, while the others took ships out into the front lines to take report live. Marietta watched her fearless crew with pride. She wished she could be out there herself. One of her hands twitched, reaching involuntarily for the laser pistol she wore at her belt. Every byte of her programming sang to the tune of the war drums. However, her place was in the command centre, maintaining the systems and giving orders to the machines. A few bolts of energy struck the shields as a XINE flew too close. A reporter, a young woman with green hair - Genevieve Adolkristina - shot at it with a plasma rifle, injuring its wing and forcing it to retreat. Jan cheered. Marietta, although her emotion chip was not very advanced or responsive, was also pleased with the direction of the battle. The first charge from the antimatter cannon had ripped through the XINE's frontal assault, evaporating fifty of them instantly. It was now being hastily recharged. The XINE were now in disordered groups of 10 or so, easy for the lasers and pulse bombs to pick off. The way they flew around in blind panic made Marietta guess that their leader had gone down and they were unable to operate without a strong command. They obviously hadn't expected such a tiny satellite to be so heavily guarded. It was designed to withstand an attack from the Earth Federation military; Marietta had no illusions that the people of Earth would respect their protected status as reporters if they ever dug up some real dirt about their government.
"Unidentified object approaching!" came a report from the defense systems. Marietta looked at the map and saw a single bright red pulse of light among the dark purple XINE. It didn't appear to be either attacking or assisting the aliens; its flight path was jerky and erratic, clearly out of control. That's not an ordinary energy signature, she realised. As soon as she energy scanned it, the meters went berserk, the numbers so off the scale that the system was actually overloading.
"Send a ship out there to intercept it NOW!" she ordered, "And take extreme caution!"
Five seconds after the message was relayed, two of the ships on the front line changed course and headed towards the bright red glow. They circled it from a distance for a while. Then one ship opened a communications channel back to the command centre. Marietta accepted.
"It's a person!" came the confused cry.
"A what?"
"Person, ma'am."
"Bring it here at once."
She ordered Jan out of the room with instructions to check up on Chisato again. Then she waited. After another five minutes, the door chimed. She pressed a button to open it.
He looked about to collapse from exhaustion. He was bleeding from his left nostril. Two members of staff helped him stand up. His gaze snapped to hers, a look of unrelenting sadness like the lonely longing of space itself.
"This is a hostile takeover." he gasped.
"Indeed." she said, motioning to her staff, "Leave this man with me. I have the situation under control."
They deposited him on a seat opposite hers and almost fled from the control room. She continued staring at him, blinking infrequently, her expression as emotionless as always.
"Where's the brand new power limiter I gave you?" she demanded.
"Tria..." he whispered, coughing up blood. She sighed.
"You lost it again, didn't you? If only you'd tell me where it is you go and what it is you do."
"Why, Tria?" he gave her a feverish look.
"But you'll forget as soon as I put your limiter back, won't you?" she gave him another long-suffering sigh, then grabbed him by one hand and bodily dragged him to the engineering deck.
-----------------------
Chisato woke up.
She was in the medical room, lying on the bed. The room was clean, white and sterile with machines that beeped, a bedside table with a glass of water and a single chair. Lola was curled up on the chair, purring in her sleep. Chisato leaned over to stroke her and winced. Her head felt like she had been hit on the head with a hammer. The low hum of the space station's propulsion systems sounded like a roar. She groaned, reached for the glass of water and drank it.
"Welcome back, Chisato. I'm glade you're feeling better."
The reporter looked up. Jan Orvue had let himself into the room. He stood in the doorway and gave her a look of concern.
"I would like to give you a tour of the station. Are you well enough to walk?"
"I'll be fine." she stood up. The noise woke Lola up. The kitten mewed, hissed and attacked Jan's ankles. "Although I'm not convinced that I'm not just hallucinating or dreaming the whole thing up."
"If you are dreaming, kindly do not wake up. I do not wish to be erased from existence."
Jan offered her an arm. She took it and let him lead her out of the medical room and down a corridor. Old Nede Chronicle front pages were framed on the walls and the theme tune of their news channel - 'Kamikaze' played over the sound system, giving a pleasant nostalgic effect.
"The living quarters, rest rooms and dining room are on this level. The gravity's higher down here because of our orbit. Its more like that of a planet, so its more therapeutic." he explained, pointing to a door in front of them, "That's the computer room. Most of our staff are slightly obsessed with an online game called Eternal Sphere. Personally, I think its a load of overpriced twaddle."
"On the higher floors, we house the heavier machines, the engine and the generators. The lower gravity makes the parts easier to lift when we need to repair something. On the middle ring are Marietta's control room... and this..."
With a dramatic flourish, he walked up to the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor up. This floor was bustling with activity - people yelling and running, some pushing trolleys filled with heavy equipment, some trying to pile it in their arms, machines beeping, lights flashing, doors opening and slamming shut, televisions blaring out their noise. Excited by the commotion, Lola darted off in a random direction. Chisato sighed.
"One day that stupid cat'll accidentally fall out of an airlock or something." she told him, "What IS this place? It looks like our old office."
"It's the broadcasting studio! I knew you'd like it!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her through a random door. She gasped. It was like one of her wildest dreams. Rows of computers everywhere, hooked up to an intergalactic teleconference suite, a high-powered telescope and a ridiculously fast broadband connection. Screens piled high to the ceiling broadcasted television and radio channels from all over the galaxy. Today there was obviously a Bunny racing grand national, as this was the only thing on television. The green-haired young woman was yelling at the top of her voice at someone in an Earth Federation uniform on one screen.
"Hey, CHISATO!"
Several workers ran up to her and greeted her with hugs before bombarding her with questions in traditional Chronicle style. She managed to squirm out of their grasp.
"We all thought you died on Nede!" said the green-haired girl.
"Died? Me? Hah! I was THERE, Genevieve! Fienal Tower! I was recording the final battle between Claude Kenni and Indalecio Gabriel!"
Jan laughed.
"You haven't lost your touch, Chisato. We need someone as crazy... er, I mean, as spirited as you on the team!"
"Nice to see you've been keeping the place in order for me." she said with a mischievous grin, "I still can't believe any of this, though. I can't believe we all survived..."
"Nothing can stop the truth." said Jan, "And now we're playing an important role in intergalactic diplomacy again. You won't believe the things we've managed to achieve already..."
Chisato sighed, "And all I've managed to do is spend five years stranded on an underdeveloped planet."
"Developing." Genevieve corrected her automatically.
Suddenly, Jan screamed and almost jumped five feet in the air. Before he could run out of the room and down the corridor, a plasma rifle was held to the back of his head.
"Where are we going in such a hurry, Mr. Orvue?" said an emotionless voice. Chisato looked at the small figure standing in the doorway. It was the android who she had talked with over the communication channel back on the Revorse.
"N... nowhere! I wasn't avoiding work! I was... er...:
"He was showing me around." provided Chisato.
"Thank you for seeing to Mrs. Madison." said Marietta, "Welcome aboard the Battle Fortress Chronicle, Mrs. Madison. I am Director Marietta la Verne."
Chisato shook her hand. It felt cold and synthetic, like a doll. The reporter was once again amazed at the quality of her AI and the realism of her physical appearance. She had never heard of a Director la Verne before. The management of the Chronicle had obviously changed hands since she last worked for them. Knowing her colleagues, they probably mutinied and overthrew the last Director for not properly distributing the information about the space station.
"You were declared dead." admitted Marietta, "So we didn't keep you on the staff roll. If you wish to renew your contract with us, you will be required to sign our updated contract. We are an intergalactic organisation now, Mrs. Madison. We have to take things more seriously."
Chisato nodded. It seemed like a dream come true... to be with her old friends again... to get her old job back... Her only concern was that Claude and her friends on Expel would miss her, but surely, with all this fabulous technology, it would be possible for her to contact Expel on her days off.
"I will fetch a copy of the contract from my office." said Marietta, "Mr. Orvue, please assist Mrs. Adolkristin with our diplomatic efforts. Mrs. Madison, I suggest you wait in the dining room. I believe you will find a friend of yours waiting there."
