The large man who mocked Ashton upon their arrival cleared his throat. "Right, as I was saying, the Alliance is not looking good. Several of my deep state informants have quite the juicy scoop."
He stretched loudly before continuing. "Anyway, it just so happens I've received several jobs for my boys that happen to involve sowing some seeds. Earth is getting a little bit handsy, and wants to increase the colony's dependency."
The pirate pulled out a small hologram projector and casually threw it onto the table. It somehow activated on its own and a celestial body popped up. Kinson immediately recognized the planet, or more accurately, moon.
"The FFA has been divided into a few factions, with one of the largest based on Titan. They've recently commissioned the BPI branch near the University to research the deathdream and find ways to militarize it. Their excuse is that they want to find ways to combat the nightmares, Those have been awfully quiet lately though, so the likelihood of this being true is pretty low," the pirate explained.
"So what's that got to do with us?" a scrawny and heavily scarred woman interrupted.
"Simple," Tarken responded in place Boron, "This coalition is dedicated to chaos and profit. As such, war's our best environment. Right now, the Alliance is held together by sentiment and history, but little else. A little action here or there might make all the difference in the precarious balance. If we get Titan and Europa to declare full independence from Earth, then our work will become much easier. The gains far outweigh the losses, so we must take action! In order to sow dissension, we need to target the various military and influential civilian groups and have them blame Earth."
With the preliminaries out of the way, the group began to quickly outline several dastardly plots and agendas. Kinson tried to pay attention, but ended up zoning out from information overload. What did all of this even mean? He made a mental note to talk to Griffon about it. That guy should know a lot about the military. He snapped back to attention as the pirates began talking about the BPI again.
"Now, according to our records, there are a few extremely important people on this secret team. For starters, the most powerful deathdreamer on record, a girl from Luna, is paired up with another extremely accomplished psionists from Terra. In addition, they actually called in the legendary Andres to lead the team. His abilities are a mystery, but his results are without question. Another few powerful Psionics complete their ranks. The most troublesome thing is their security. While most of their information was actually pretty easy to obtain, the name and power of their security is unknown. According to reason, he should be very experienced, and at least class 5. Oddly enough, there seems to be a regular kid on the team as well, a local attending the University. His background appears completely ordinary, but it could be cleverly disguised. Afterall, why would some random kid be on such a high level secretive team? " Tarken asked with a smile.
"So what's the plan with them?" another pirate asked curiously.
"We'll likely need to kidnap a few of them to give pressure to the relationship between Terra and the outer ring. The team carries some extremely influential and important members of both sides, so the impact wouldn't be small. Furthermore, we can grab that mysterious kid as well," Tarken explained.
Kinson shivered, unsure of what to think. He was just a regular guy, so how did he manage to attract so much aggro? Distracted, he almost missed the next part, but a loud slam attracted his attention.
"That's unacceptable. They are a civilian organization, and even opposed to war in the first place," Captain Ashton raised his fist from the table, rubbing it gently. "I refuse to allow you to take action against the citizens of Titan."
"What's this? We're literally pirates, for cryin out loud! We steal, murder and kidnap all the time!" another pirate broke in.
"Hmm, interesting. You won't allow it? And how exactly do you plan on stopping us?" Tarken asked, a cunning look in his eye. Kinson instinctively shivered.
"I have my means. My forces have grown more than you could have anticipated, Tarken," Ashton said threateningly. "Besides, don't think I haven't noticed your actions against me. You're all running scared of the Sons of Crimson, don't you think?
"Scared of what? A bunch of refugees? Don't make me laugh," Boron said, letting out a condescending chuckle.
The room was silent for a bit, but Kinson felt the tension steadily rise. He shifted uncomfortably, looking around the room. There was only one exit, which happened to be on the far side of the table. If things got hairy, it wouldn't be good for them. His fellow pirates, who he now knew to be under the banner of the Sons of Crimson, fingered their weapons. He looked down, surprised to find he was doing the same. He didn't even know how to use it! Finally, someone broke the silence.
"Heh, relax everyone," Tarken said. "We're all a pretty chaotic bunch, so it's expected that some of us have trash personalities and opinions. It's not like we're going to shoot off in such a place. Our meetings have to have some integrity after all."
The various captains and their followers relaxed their grip on their weapons one by one. Finally, Kinson and his companions did the same, but he felt a little unsure. Out of everyone here, he alone knew how this would eventually end. Forevermore, he had heard deathdreams were relatively short, but he had been here for a while already.
The meeting continued without further interruption, yet it was clear no one had relaxed their guard. Kinson rubbed his forehead, wiping away the sweat. The room has gotten hot and stuffy, a product of the many bodies packed together.
Finally, a break was called. Kinson sighed in relief as they left the room. "Phew, that was pretty intense in the. I thought we were goners," he said as they left.
The other pirates looked at him strangely, but no one refuted him. Kinson quickly realized his mistake. They likely encountered this kind of situation on a daily basis.
One of the others turned to him and snatched his gun from his side. "No wonder you thought we were goners. It's on safety. Hard to shoot back if you can't pull the trigger," he laughed.
"Wait, our guns have safety features?" the gray coated man asked.
"Oh, thanks," Kinson said with a red face. "It's one of those things I seem to have forgotten."
After that, the group moved silently, headed back to the ship. On the way, a thought occurred to him, one that made his heart accelerate.
"Hey, Captain," he called, "I need to use the restroom."