{"data":{"id":12824,"title":"Tales of Kid Crimson: Issue #7","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/serialized-fiction\/12824-Tales-Of-Kid-Crimson-Issue-7","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/12824","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/12824","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"Tales of Kid Crimson","images":[{"id":113,"name":"MysterySerial_FI_3Crop.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/zcrgqkm79nm2fr\/source\/MysterySerial_FI_3Crop.jpg","alt":"","size":1246218,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2013-07-19T05:28:35+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/113","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/113\/similar"}],"images_count":1,"translations":{"en_EN":"Senator Hannigan was Caro. The second I made the connection, everything started making perfect sense: Senate vessels aren\u2019t subject to Customs scrutiny, his position allowed him to monitor and compromise Advocacy investigations, the bastard was even on the Subcommittee for Development & Expansion, which gave him full access to all those untouched worlds, just crawling with untouched property.\n\nThe more laps the notion took around my mind, the more obvious it became. The solution started to become crystal clear too.\n\nThe K&W LR-620 Precision Railgun could put a round through 36mm of titanium at three thousand meters. It\u2019s expensive but if you want a guaranteed kill, it\u2019s worth the stretch.\n\nUp in Dovkin\u2019s penthouse, the rifle looked like one of the over-priced works of art on the wall. The clean design. The impeccable placement of every feature. It was beautiful. Who knows, it might even achieve sainthood once it blasted the skull of the worst trafficker in the UEE.\n\nDovkin brought me a drink. I took it and sipped. He broke out the nice stuff. He expected a sale.\n\nA tiny man with a gnarled face, Dovkin smoothed his suit jacket as he leaned against the wall and watched me. Raj hooked us up a couple years back. Although we had several transactions between us, we weren\u2019t friends by any stretch. Dovkin didn\u2019t deal in friends. He was a fixer, he dealt in acquaintances.\n\n\u201cReg is clean. Won\u2019t come up on any systems, guaranteed.\u201d\n\n\u201cSave me the pitch, Dovkin.\u201d I lifted the rifle up, powered up the sights, and tested its weight. It felt good, balanced. \u201cI know you deal clean merch.\u201d\n\n\u201cRemember that when I tell you the price.\u201d His mouth contorted into a wretched smile.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s worth it.\u201d Dovkin\u2019s eyes glittered.\n\n\u201cMust be someone big. I\u2019d almost like to know.\u201d Dovkin chuckled. I tracked a taxi moving in the distance.\n\n\u201cNo, you wouldn\u2019t.\u201d\n* * * * *\nI had the tool. Now I needed to focus on the man, see how he breathed. Punching out a UEE Senator was not something to be approached lightly. While it\u2019s easy to drop anyone (moral\/ethical dilemmas aside), getting away with it is the real puzzle.\n\nTerra\u2019s Citizen Day festivities lasted the entire weekend and Senator Hannigan was the guest of honor. I scanned the local NewsOrgs and found them to be more than helpful in providing a rough schedule of the Senator\u2019s appearances.\n\nFrom here on out, I had to be a ghost. Laser-burn knew I was still out there. He might run with the notion that Fake-me dropped Hannigan\u2019s real identity but I know Caro\u2019s reputation, he\u2019s beyond slippery and it\u2019s highly unlikely that he would be anywhere near Fake-me. The glimpse of Laser-burn and Hannigan on the NewsFeed was pure dumb accident. He couldn\u2019t have known that I\u2019d seen that. Even so, I\u2019d bet my ship that Laser-burn is the cautious type so I could look forward to beefed up security details, counter-snipers, and maybe even random wave-sweeps of the crowds for weapons.\n\nOn the screen, the NewsFeed showed clips of Hannigan at the opening of some new Vivarium. Flashes captured his every move. He smiled his way through the crowd like a man unburdened by conscience, who believed that the multitudes of wretched sins wouldn\u2019t ever come back to touch him. My head started swimming\u2026\n* * * * *\nI was running. Blood, sweat, and that damn red dirt kept getting in my eyes. We had to keep moving, at least until dark. Back in the pens, I heard the guards complain about their terrible optics. So at night, we would be harder to track. We\u2019d have a chance.\n\nSo we ran. I could feel her hand in mine. Even through the rough red clay caked on both of us; I could still feel her skin. I held it tight.\n\nThen it was gone.\n* * * * *\n\u201cHey!\u201d\n\nI was back. The rail-thin, Stim-smoking shop-owner stood over me. I checked the screen. Twenty minutes had passed this time. The News moved from Hannigan, covering some local idiot celebrity nonsense.\n\n\u201cThe hell\u2019s the matter with you, buddy?\u201d He muttered and spewed a stream of smoke.\n\n\u201cPlenty.\u201d I tapped my card on the beat-up sensor to pay for my tea and vacated.\n\nBack on the street, I put my head back onto the task at hand. There were two events that felt promising.\n\nHannigan was set to give commencement speech at TU in eight hours. Between the students and their families, thousands were expected to attend so there would surely be vulnerabilities. Downside, it was going to be held in an auditorium. Getting in would be tough, getting out of the inevitable lockdown once the shot popped off would be harder.\n\nTomorrow, he was scheduled to attend the Governor\u2019s Ball for the closing festivities. Security for that would be damn near impenetrable but it\u2019s on an open-air platform just off the bay and there are a lot of tall buildings around. That was going to be Plan B. While I could generally place a shot where I wanted, between the distance and cross-winds, this would require masterful aim.\n\nI hit the University first and watched for an hour or two, seeing where the advance teams checked, where the Sniffers looked for explosives. No sign of Laser-burn or any other familiar faces from last night\u2019s dance at the landing yard.\n\nA group of students hovered by a side-door, chain-smoking Stims. It took me about twenty minutes to be their new best friend. They were the stage techs, more than a little disgruntled about being booted for the Senator\u2019s personal lighting team. Another fifteen minutes of listening and I had a plan.\n* * * * *\nTwo hours to go. The LR-620 lay across my bed. I put the final pieces of my costume together. I watched the NewsFeed for anything that could upset my plans. I did my best to keep focused. I threw in potential obstacles and worked out contingencies. It was a puzzle I was more than happy to engage.\n\nMaybe I was too focused.\n\nI heard the beep before the door exploded. The force bounced me off the window. The world swirled away from sight and sound. By the time the smoke and my vision cleared, there was a gun in my face with the Advocacy Agent on the other side.\n\n\u201cGot you.\u201d\n\n. . . to be continued","de_DE":"Senator Hannigan war Caro. In der Sekunde, in der ich die Verbindung herstellte, machte alles Sinn: Senatsschiffe unterliegen nicht der Zollkontrolle, seine Position erlaubte es ihm, Advocacy-Untersuchungen zu \u00fcberwachen und zu kompromittieren, der Bastard war sogar im Unterausschuss f\u00fcr Entwicklung und Expansion, der ihm vollen Zugang zu all diesen unber\u00fchrten Welten gew\u00e4hrte, die nur vor unber\u00fchrtem Eigentum wimmelten.\n\nJe mehr Runden die Vorstellung um meinen Verstand herumging, desto offensichtlicher wurde sie. Auch die L\u00f6sung wurde immer klarer.\n\nDie K&W LR-620 Pr\u00e4zisions-Schienenpistole konnte eine Runde durch 36 mm Titan auf dreitausend Meter bringen. Es ist teuer, aber wenn Sie eine garantierte T\u00f6tung wollen, ist es die M\u00fche wert.\n\nOben in Dovkins Penthouse sah das Gewehr aus wie eines der \u00fcberteuerten Kunstwerke an der Wand. Das klare Design. Die einwandfreie Platzierung jedes Features. Es war wundersch\u00f6n. Wer wei\u00df, vielleicht erreicht sie sogar die Heiligsprechung, sobald sie den Sch\u00e4del des schlimmsten Schleppers in der UEE zerst\u00f6rt hat.\n\nDovkin hat mir einen Drink gebracht. Ich nahm es und trank. Er hat das nette Zeug rausgeholt. Er erwartete einen Verkauf.\n\nEin winziger Mann mit einem knorrigen Gesicht, Dovkin gl\u00e4ttete seine Anzugjacke, als er sich an die Wand lehnte und mich beobachtete. Raj hat uns vor ein paar Jahren mitgenommen. Obwohl wir mehrere Transaktionen zwischen uns hatten, waren wir bei weitem keine Freunde. Dovkin handelte nicht mit Freunden. Er war ein Fixer, er handelte mit Bekannten.\n\n\"Reg ist sauber. Wird auf keinem System auftauchen, garantiert.\"\n\n\"Spar mir den Pitch, Dovkin.\" Ich hob das Gewehr an, schaltete die Visiere ein und testete sein Gewicht. Es f\u00fchlte sich gut an, ausgeglichen. \"Ich wei\u00df, dass du mit sauberer Ware dealst.\"\n\n\"Denk daran, wenn ich dir den Preis sage.\" Sein Mund verzerrte sich zu einem erb\u00e4rmlichen L\u00e4cheln.\n\n\"Es lohnt sich.\" Dovkins Augen glitzerten.\n\n\"Muss jemand Gro\u00dfes sein. Ich w\u00fcrde es fast gerne wissen.\" Dovkin kicherte. Ich verfolgte ein Taxi, das sich in der Ferne bewegte.\n\n\"Nein, w\u00fcrdest du nicht.\"\n* * * * *\nIch hatte das Werkzeug. Jetzt musste ich mich auf den Mann konzentrieren und sehen, wie er atmete. Das Aussto\u00dfen eines UEE-Senators war nicht etwas, das leicht angegangen werden sollte. W\u00e4hrend es leicht ist, jeden fallen zu lassen (moralische und ethische Dilemmata beiseite), ist es das eigentliche R\u00e4tsel, damit durchzukommen.\n\nDie Feierlichkeiten zum B\u00fcrgertag von Terra dauerten das ganze Wochenende \u00fcber und Senator Hannigan war der Ehrengast. Ich scannte die lokalen NewsOrgs und fand sie mehr als hilfreich, um einen groben Zeitplan f\u00fcr die Auftritte des Senators zu erstellen.\n\nVon nun an musste ich ein Geist sein. Laser-Burn wusste, dass ich immer noch da drau\u00dfen war. Er k\u00f6nnte mit der Vorstellung laufen, dass Fake-me Hannigans wahre Identit\u00e4t fallen gelassen hat, aber ich kenne Caros Ruf, er ist jenseits von Glitschig und es ist h\u00f6chst unwahrscheinlich, dass er irgendwo in der N\u00e4he von Fake-me sein w\u00fcrde. Der Blick auf Laser-Burn und Hannigan im NewsFeed war ein reiner dummer Unfall. Er konnte nicht wissen, dass ich das gesehen hatte. Dennoch w\u00fcrde ich mein Schiff wetten, dass Laser-Burn der vorsichtige Typ ist, so dass ich mich darauf freuen k\u00f6nnte, Sicherheitsdetails, Gegenscharfsch\u00fctzen und vielleicht sogar zuf\u00e4llige Wellen-Sweeps der Menge nach Waffen zu verst\u00e4rken.\n\nAuf dem Bildschirm zeigte der NewsFeed Clips von Hannigan bei der Er\u00f6ffnung eines neuen Vivariums. Blitze fingen jeden seiner Bewegungen ein. Er l\u00e4chelte sich durch die Menge wie ein Mann, der vom Gewissen entlastet wurde und glaubte, dass die Menge der erb\u00e4rmlichen S\u00fcnden niemals zur\u00fcckkommen w\u00fcrde, um ihn zu ber\u00fchren. Mein Kopf fing an zu schwimmen.....\n* * * * *\nIch war auf der Flucht. Blut, Schwei\u00df und dieser verdammte rote Dreck kamen mir immer wieder in die Augen. Wir mussten weitermachen, zumindest bis es dunkel wurde. Zur\u00fcck in den St\u00e4llen h\u00f6rte ich, wie sich die Wachen \u00fcber ihre schreckliche Optik beschwerten. Nachts w\u00e4ren wir also schwerer zu verfolgen. Wir h\u00e4tten eine Chance.\n\nAlso rannten wir weg. Ich konnte ihre Hand in meiner sp\u00fcren. Sogar durch den rauen roten Ton, der sich auf uns beiden angesammelt hatte, konnte ich ihre Haut noch sp\u00fcren. Ich hielt es fest.\n\nDann war es weg.\n* * * * *\n\" Hey!\"\n\nIch war wieder da. Der hauchd\u00fcnne, stimarauchende Ladenbesitzer stand \u00fcber mir. Ich habe den Bildschirm \u00fcberpr\u00fcft. Zwanzig Minuten waren diesmal vergangen. Die Nachrichten zogen von Hannigan weg und berichteten \u00fcber einen lokalen idiotischen Prominenten-Unsinn.\n\n\"Was zum Teufel ist los mit dir, Kumpel?\" Er murmelte und spuckte einen Strom von Rauch.\n\n\" Vieles.\" Ich klopfte meine Karte auf den Sensor, um meinen Tee zu bezahlen, und ging.\n\nZur\u00fcck auf der Stra\u00dfe setzte ich meinen Kopf wieder auf die anstehende Aufgabe. Es gab zwei Ereignisse, die sich vielversprechend anf\u00fchlten.\n\nHannigan sollte in acht Stunden eine Er\u00f6ffnungsrede an der TU halten. Zwischen den Sch\u00fclern und ihren Familien wurden Tausende erwartet, die teilnehmen w\u00fcrden, so dass es sicherlich Schwachstellen geben w\u00fcrde. Unten sollte es in einem Auditorium stattfinden. Reinzukommen w\u00e4re schwierig, aus der unvermeidlichen Sperre herauszukommen, sobald der Schuss gefallen ist, w\u00e4re schwieriger.\n\nMorgen sollte er am Ball des Gouverneurs f\u00fcr die Abschlussfeierlichkeiten teilnehmen. Die Sicherheit daf\u00fcr w\u00e4re verdammt undurchdringlich, aber es ist auf einer Open-Air-Plattform direkt vor der Bucht und es gibt viele hohe Geb\u00e4ude. Das sollte Plan B sein. Obwohl ich im Allgemeinen einen Schuss zwischen Distanz und Seitenwind platzieren konnte, erforderte dies ein meisterhaftes Ziel.\n\nIch traf zuerst die Universit\u00e4t und beobachtete ein oder zwei Stunden lang, wo die Vorausteams nachsahen, wo die Schn\u00fcffler nach Sprengstoff suchten. Keine Spur von Laser-Burn oder anderen bekannten Gesichtern vom gestrigen Tanz auf dem Landeplatz.\n\nEine Gruppe von Sch\u00fclern, die von einer Seitent\u00fcr umgeben sind, die in der Kette rauchende Stims. Es dauerte etwa zwanzig Minuten, bis ich ihr neuer bester Freund wurde. Sie waren die B\u00fchnentechniker, mehr als ein wenig ver\u00e4rgert dar\u00fcber, f\u00fcr das pers\u00f6nliche Beleuchtungsteam des Senators gebootet zu werden. Noch f\u00fcnfzehn Minuten Zuh\u00f6ren und ich hatte einen Plan.\n* * * * *\nNoch zwei Stunden. Die LR-620 lag \u00fcber meinem Bett. Ich habe die letzten Teile meines Kost\u00fcms zusammengesetzt. Ich habe mir den NewsFeed nach allem angesehen, was meine Pl\u00e4ne st\u00f6ren k\u00f6nnte. Ich tat mein Bestes, um mich zu konzentrieren. Ich warf potenzielle Hindernisse ein und arbeitete Eventualit\u00e4ten aus. Es war ein R\u00e4tsel, das ich mehr als gerne gel\u00f6st habe.\n\nVielleicht war ich zu konzentriert.\n\nIch h\u00f6rte den Piepton, bevor die T\u00fcr explodierte. Die Kraft hat mich vom Fenster gesto\u00dfen. Die Welt wirbelte weg von Anblick und Klang. Als sich der Rauch und meine Sicht aufl\u00f6ste, stand mir eine Waffe im Gesicht, zusammen mit dem Advocacy-Agenten auf der anderen Seite.\n\n\" Ich habe dich.\"\n\n\n\n\n. ... wird fortgesetzt","zh_CN":"Senator Hannigan was Caro. The second I made the connection, everything started making perfect sense: Senate vessels aren\u2019t subject to Customs scrutiny, his position allowed him to monitor and compromise Advocacy investigations, the bastard was even on the Subcommittee for Development & Expansion, which gave him full access to all those untouched worlds, just crawling with untouched property.\n\nThe more laps the notion took around my mind, the more obvious it became. The solution started to become crystal clear too.\n\nThe K&W LR-620 Precision Railgun could put a round through 36mm of titanium at three thousand meters. It\u2019s expensive but if you want a guaranteed kill, it\u2019s worth the stretch.\n\nUp in Dovkin\u2019s penthouse, the rifle looked like one of the over-priced works of art on the wall. The clean design. The impeccable placement of every feature. It was beautiful. Who knows, it might even achieve sainthood once it blasted the skull of the worst trafficker in the UEE.\n\nDovkin brought me a drink. I took it and sipped. He broke out the nice stuff. He expected a sale.\n\nA tiny man with a gnarled face, Dovkin smoothed his suit jacket as he leaned against the wall and watched me. Raj hooked us up a couple years back. Although we had several transactions between us, we weren\u2019t friends by any stretch. Dovkin didn\u2019t deal in friends. He was a fixer, he dealt in acquaintances.\n\n\u201cReg is clean. Won\u2019t come up on any systems, guaranteed.\u201d\n\n\u201cSave me the pitch, Dovkin.\u201d I lifted the rifle up, powered up the sights, and tested its weight. It felt good, balanced. \u201cI know you deal clean merch.\u201d\n\n\u201cRemember that when I tell you the price.\u201d His mouth contorted into a wretched smile.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s worth it.\u201d Dovkin\u2019s eyes glittered.\n\n\u201cMust be someone big. I\u2019d almost like to know.\u201d Dovkin chuckled. I tracked a taxi moving in the distance.\n\n\u201cNo, you wouldn\u2019t.\u201d\n* * * * *\nI had the tool. Now I needed to focus on the man, see how he breathed. Punching out a UEE Senator was not something to be approached lightly. While it\u2019s easy to drop anyone (moral\/ethical dilemmas aside), getting away with it is the real puzzle.\n\nTerra\u2019s Citizen Day festivities lasted the entire weekend and Senator Hannigan was the guest of honor. I scanned the local NewsOrgs and found them to be more than helpful in providing a rough schedule of the Senator\u2019s appearances.\n\nFrom here on out, I had to be a ghost. Laser-burn knew I was still out there. He might run with the notion that Fake-me dropped Hannigan\u2019s real identity but I know Caro\u2019s reputation, he\u2019s beyond slippery and it\u2019s highly unlikely that he would be anywhere near Fake-me. The glimpse of Laser-burn and Hannigan on the NewsFeed was pure dumb accident. He couldn\u2019t have known that I\u2019d seen that. Even so, I\u2019d bet my ship that Laser-burn is the cautious type so I could look forward to beefed up security details, counter-snipers, and maybe even random wave-sweeps of the crowds for weapons.\n\nOn the screen, the NewsFeed showed clips of Hannigan at the opening of some new Vivarium. Flashes captured his every move. He smiled his way through the crowd like a man unburdened by conscience, who believed that the multitudes of wretched sins wouldn\u2019t ever come back to touch him. My head started swimming\u2026\n* * * * *\nI was running. Blood, sweat, and that damn red dirt kept getting in my eyes. We had to keep moving, at least until dark. Back in the pens, I heard the guards complain about their terrible optics. So at night, we would be harder to track. We\u2019d have a chance.\n\nSo we ran. I could feel her hand in mine. Even through the rough red clay caked on both of us; I could still feel her skin. I held it tight.\n\nThen it was gone.\n* * * * *\n\u201cHey!\u201d\n\nI was back. The rail-thin, Stim-smoking shop-owner stood over me. I checked the screen. Twenty minutes had passed this time. The News moved from Hannigan, covering some local idiot celebrity nonsense.\n\n\u201cThe hell\u2019s the matter with you, buddy?\u201d He muttered and spewed a stream of smoke.\n\n\u201cPlenty.\u201d I tapped my card on the beat-up sensor to pay for my tea and vacated.\n\nBack on the street, I put my head back onto the task at hand. There were two events that felt promising.\n\nHannigan was set to give commencement speech at TU in eight hours. Between the students and their families, thousands were expected to attend so there would surely be vulnerabilities. Downside, it was going to be held in an auditorium. Getting in would be tough, getting out of the inevitable lockdown once the shot popped off would be harder.\n\nTomorrow, he was scheduled to attend the Governor\u2019s Ball for the closing festivities. Security for that would be damn near impenetrable but it\u2019s on an open-air platform just off the bay and there are a lot of tall buildings around. That was going to be Plan B. While I could generally place a shot where I wanted, between the distance and cross-winds, this would require masterful aim.\n\nI hit the University first and watched for an hour or two, seeing where the advance teams checked, where the Sniffers looked for explosives. No sign of Laser-burn or any other familiar faces from last night\u2019s dance at the landing yard.\n\nA group of students hovered by a side-door, chain-smoking Stims. It took me about twenty minutes to be their new best friend. They were the stage techs, more than a little disgruntled about being booted for the Senator\u2019s personal lighting team. Another fifteen minutes of listening and I had a plan.\n* * * * *\nTwo hours to go. The LR-620 lay across my bed. I put the final pieces of my costume together. I watched the NewsFeed for anything that could upset my plans. I did my best to keep focused. I threw in potential obstacles and worked out contingencies. It was a puzzle I was more than happy to engage.\n\nMaybe I was too focused.\n\nI heard the beep before the door exploded. The force bounced me off the window. The world swirled away from sight and sound. By the time the smoke and my vision cleared, there was a gun in my face with the Advocacy Agent on the other side.\n\n\u201cGot you.\u201d\n\n. . . to be continued"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":41,"created_at":"2012-12-03T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"13 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-04-30 04:29:30","valid_relations":["images","links","translations"],"prev_id":12823,"next_id":12825}}