[Notes: First off, sorry to Megel if I raped the storyline here. I just really didn't want to read your entire literary epic to get the few details I needed, so I assumed a little bit. Second off, I'll probably update this but I don't think it's all that good myself. I just wanted to write at least something to explain to myself about how the Southern Islands fit into the Empires storyline.] Jacob Alteron was a traitor, through and through. By all laws, he should have been executed, one way or another, for his crimes. And yet, he had gone twenty years without so much as a visit by the local police. That alone was proof enough to him that he wasn't alone in his treachery. You see, Mr. Alteron, in addition to being a traitor, was a prominent 34-year old Brenodi buisinessman hailing from Bren, and publically a supporter of the Empire and the war of subjugation in old Jekotia. The accounting firm he worked for, Ronan Ltd., often did buisiness in the South Islands. Many a corporation or wealthy individual stored their funds on the Islands in order to escape the considerable taxes that the Empire imposed on its wartime economy, and Ronan Ltd. was making a tidy sum by moving cash and valuables to and from their accounts on the Islands. Of course, it was also a well-known rumor (read: fact) that in addition to being a remarkable first world country untouched by war, the Southern Islands sold tremendous amounts of all varieties of weapons to both the Northern Faction and the Brenodi Empire. It was rumored that under-the-table arms dealing had produced nearly everything for the Faction, from their strangely dependable 9mm pistol, to the hordes of NF machine-stamped assault rifles that practically littered Jekotia, to their near-perfect cloning of the Empire's unique RPG-mortar combo given to their bloodthirsty grenadiers. Yet despite the Empire's best efforts at blockading the Jekotian coastline and airspace, and plenty of loyalty checks and "nighttime visits" to Brenodi visitors to the Islands, they had barely stemmed the tide of weaponry that almost magically made its way into the hands of Jekotian rebels. This was what had caused Jacob to believe that he had rather unseen friends in high places. More than a few corporations had suffered "losses of personnel" on the Islands. Anyone, from hurried buisinessmen to vacationing fathers, could be found in an office building or on a beach on the pristine Islands one morning, dead. A more commonplace occurance was that those accused would simply disappear, in the middle of the night. And strangely enough, in some of the murder cases there was a standard-issue Brenodi Army assault rifle round embedded cleanly in the middle of the victims' foreheads. The official claim from the Imperial government was that the Islands, while being neutral, were not bound by Brenodi law and thus the Empire could not protect its citizens when they travelled abroad. Jacob knew the truth was that those Brenodi citizens who went either missing or dead were likely caught in the act of buying weapons for the Northern Faction. Like them, he was a Dealer. He discreetly purchased weapons from the factories pumping out NFARs and 9mms and RPGs and just as discreetly arranged for them to be delivered right to the Jekotians' doorsteps. He also recieved some rather generous 'private contributions' to his personal fund which he took as being from Jekotian sympathizers, so he never had to pay too much out of his own pocket. Some of the Dealers were actual Northern Faction agents, but he was not. He didn't want Bren soldiers dead; in fact, quite the opposite. He had seen many a good friend of his enlist and travel overseas in recent years. He was just a man who hated his Empire, and the fact that they were doing what he saw as genocide in Jekotia. Perhaps of his position in the banking world, one that was becoming increasingly important in the Empire's economy, he had not even been contacted for recruitment. He referred to his treasonous undertaking as his 'hobby' when in the prescence of other Dealers. Like the other Dealers who worked on the Islands, he only knew one person connected to the Faction, and that was his Seller. That way, if he or his Seller were discovered, the other could only betray one member of the resistance. Jacob figured that the mysterious leadership of the Faction worked like that, and was why his benefactors who had been keeping him away from the prying eyes of the Imperial police were unknown to him. Now, on a civilian airliner bound for the Southern capital of Aran, Jacob Alteron pondered his upcoming tasks. First on the list was the average brokering with between a client living on the Islands and a Brenodi buisinessman in Glycen, both of which were anxious about what Ronan Ltd. would do about their considerable shares in the Glycen oil companies, which were now rising and falling with the daily news reports of the battles there. Once their concerns were smoothed over with the standard buisiness doubletalk and bullshitting, Jacob would get on to his next task of contacting his Seller. He had been hearing of major pushes by the Empire in several directions, and the buisiness trip was the perfect excuse to give some relief to the Jekotians, who were surely cut off from their usual sources of supplies. He ignored a movie-screen advertisement for the latest civilian adaptation of the Brenodi Army Jeep and its claims about its 'superior 3-phase engine' and 'remarkable offroad handling'. He had rode in a Jeep once before; it was the most stomach-churning experience of his life. After checking his Island bank account one last time, and going over the Ronan corporate memo that had summoned him to the Islands once more, the pilot announced from the cabin that they were going to be landing shortly. Just another day at the office, Jacob only half chuckled to himself. He knew all too well what this 'day at the office' could mean if he was found out.
Superior 3-phase engine my ass, it probably eats more power than it can actually handle on long-term trips.
Well, you'd figure that if it has a 3-phase it's meant for speed instead of distance or handling anyways.
Solokiller didnt mean handle as in handling picard. handle as in what it can deal with. i.e. the shielding couldnt handle the radiation.
