Hardball

(I.C. Post, 3Psn)

The screen on Ranis' desk flickered in his office in Riavayed, signaling yet another evemail to be read. The station was cramped. The Hedion University station's hallways are busy with students rushing through the corridors, eager to pass their gravemetric training, in-pod simulation, and their in flight assessments. Ranis' desk is a mess. System charts and analysis, freight manifests, meeting notes, training assessments, production queues, and battle reports from the conflict going on in providence littered the already small workspace. He moved everything aside and activated his display screen. It was debriefing from a pilot in the Navy department.

Ranis glanced over the briefing. Its long and detailed, covering an incident involving the loss of a New Eden Trade Union vessel. Reading the more detailed portions of the report, he discovered that the operation involved alliance members with in close range of the reporting pilot. A hostile had taken down one of his ships in plain view of the fleet. According to reports, the fleet reacted in a passive manner, taking no action against the aggressor. Although cordial, the debriefing had an undertone of frustration.

Troubled by this transgression, Ranis began to make the arrangements with alliance leadership to discuss the issue.

Resting his head in his palm, he sighed in anticipation of the lengthy proceedings about to happen. Already dealing with rising tensions between New Eden Trade Union leadership and Apocalypse Now administration, Ranis knew this was going to be a bumpy road. The meeting that had taken place in Riavayed had already caused problems with his corporation, as things didnt go as they had hoped.

Ranis took a deep breath and opened his NeoComm and opened a channel with the current Corporate Team Lead of Personnel.

"John, get in contact with this pilot," he said as he transmitted a datacluster of information, "we need to get everything he knows about the incident if we are going to make a strong case."

"Got it," John replied.

"Things could get bumpy here soon. Have a report ready for the meeting tomorrow."

"Sure thing," John said. "Is everything okay?"

"No," Ranis replied "but it will be."

Ranis noticed his NeoComm flicker again, this time, a transmission from an alliance leadership official popped up on his screen.

"I'll get back to you John," said Ranis as he closed the current channel.

Not expecting to deal with things so soon, Ranis took another deep breath. "Good evening, I was just about to contact you..."