The Officer in Charge stared at a blank hologram screen for several long moments before internally shaking themselves into action and pulling up the file they had on Drick once more. How was it possible that this low level operator, this failed at their life choices nothing, had managed to evade a highly trained team. It had to be luck, it just had to be luck and a large number of friends.
Drick was known to Volstron, they had had dealings with that particular organic in the past. At that time, close to a century before, Drick had been an officer of the Judiciary, Corporate Investigations Department and had used the name Kend.
Kend had proven themselves a liability to everybody, but especially to those superiors who wanted fewer issues in the judiciary. Kend was problematical in regards to the operation of a system. The process was simple. There were always rough edges between corporate growth, need and utilisation of resources; political capital, public face of an individual and public relations of a political party; legal status and the rights of organics and other intelligences. Sure there were laws, protocols and practices but that was the rub, so to speak. The interaction between disparate needs often led to friction. Usually the application of credits, and the occasional item of leverage appropriately applied, help to smooth such friction.
Then there were intelligences like Kend. Organics who bucked against such manipulation of the system and were grit in the smooth operation of the machine. Sabot in the looms. Kend had arrested high level executives of the Han Phillips group one of Volstron’s clients.
Han Phillips were a major supplier of chemical enhancements and biomechanical augmentation for organics and robotic organisms. Some minor issues in the augmentation of deep belt miners and the supply chain of undesirable practices had occurred. It happened. People needed to be able to survive certain conditions and environments, and the length of time for recovery from procedures to augment such survival could be drastically reduced with the right medication. Everyone was happy. Who cared if the recovery rates were slightly lowered or if the rejection more likely. You took that chance. The organics signed the waivers and the company did all the operations out of system jurisdiction. As for robotic organisms who cared what happened to them, they were machines.
But, then there was Kend. Meticulously applying the letter of the law and getting a connected executive on transportation charges and worse getting a confession and a whole list of links. They discovered that the chemicals that made the medication and parts of the machinery were shipped via the planet and assembled within its jurisdiction. Therefore intent to supply a practice that was illicit. Arrestable, convictable and would Kend take the appropriate kick back. No.
Somewhere it had gotten messy and other judicials had become involved, there was some terminal issues and the matter cost far more in reputation and credits than anyone wanted. It led inevitably to the sacrificing of mid-level staff to the courts. It seemed that Kend had resigned, or been diplomatically thrown through the door, clearing the obstacle as far as judiciary were concerned. Kend. The grit in the cogs. They seemed to be unable to resist stinking their flesh where nobody wanted.
The Officer had to admit that Kend looked good for an organic with more than a century of wear. Likely they had a refresh at some point. They must have been able to afford a new body somehow, maybe something to do with a judicial medical cover. Maybe it was payment in lieu of keeping their mouths shut. The file did not detail so there was likely some hidden reason.
Prior to the Judiciary Kend had some government service but the details on that were minimal. The file listed them as being in service to an internal organisation, connected to the Accord Military for an unspecified period on unspecified duties. The Officer guessed that it was likely to have been diplomatic service and maybe protection duties. That might account for their high ability in combat training and the lack of details. Special Service always kept the files to themselves of who worked for them and what they did.
The Officer was unsure how Kend had survived the assault at the Shuttle Port. The team should have been able to handle one organic with ease. Kend/Drick must have had help. The Officer had yet to interview the team members who had survived the incident as they were under close guard by Judiciary.
The Officer disliked that they had been taken off that matter. They were the one who had used their own strong contact. The Officer was sure they would have been able to have the organics who had survived and were now detained released to a legal team able to close matters down quickly. The superior above had decided differently and had passed the matter to another team, either the internal contact at the judiciary or someone in the hospital. Either way it was out of the Officer’s hands and they would have to rebuild trust with their contacts alone.
The organic, Drick, formerly Kend, they were becoming a major niggle, an itch that the Officer was finding it increasingly difficult to scratch. They came to a sudden decision. Time to pay a heavy price and deal with Drick, or Kend, once and for all.
