“So, the Hive is 14 levels of dedicated shady dealings filled with everything from recreational pharmaceuticals to kidnapping and ransom. All of that run by the Crusher and his Bug family.”
“Yeah, we know that bit…”
The Crusher wasn’t technically a member of any of the Council Megacorps but it exerted so much influence in Angel Down that it was effectively a Corp with all the sovereign rights and obligations anyone could ask for. Those that worked for it got protection, health care, even a pension if they didn’t screw up or get too greedy. That kind of support bought the closest thing loyalty in Angle Down.
Its minions were in everything and its influence could be felt in the other rings if you knew where to look. Angel Down might have been the least opulent of the rings in Angel’s Torus but in a lot of ways it was where the real power lay, regardless of the average credit rating of the residents.
Trevor paid his “rent” to one of The Crusher’s men so he was intimately familiar with the lay of the land. The other bosses hated the situation, of course, since most of them were humans, or near enough, and working with a Bug tended to rankle.
Since the Ordo had managed to win their war with the Bugs years before, the insects were generally polite about it and tended to keep to themselves. Generally.
“It’s thought to be impregnable, all those layers built in the district wall, right next to the diamondoid partitions. It would take so much heat to melt through the wall that the whole ring would go up and decompress into space before you got through the first layer. So we can’t just blast in. However we could walk in like we own the place," said Vance.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out 4 Idents, each ringed with alphanumerics and each containing who knew how many nanoscale security encryptors.
Trevor reached down and gently held one of the cards between his fingers. It was lighter than he expected and warm to the touch, warmer that it should have been for coming out of Vance’s pocket.
“How the fukk did you get Idents to The Hive?”
Vance leaned back from the table, his mouth twisting into that smug grin.
“The less you all know the safer you’ll be, you know that.”
Bradley make a coughing sound, “Oh here we go with your vaunted immunity. I bet you’ve never met a real mindbender. That guy was probably just shining on the idiots...like you!”
“Think whatever you damn well like furball, I’m just saying that if Crusher has hired a psychic you’ll want the guy that can’t be read to hold the best cards.”
“Aren’t Bugs immune to that kind of stuff anyway?” Trevor asked as he put the card back on the tiny table. “I mean they’re aliens right? No offense Brad.”
Bradley let out a low growl before spitting on the floor, “Lord save me from ignorant fukkin hick assclowns too lazy to pay attention to the learning software piped into every forsaken hovel in this rat nest. Nekko-Jin are chimara you fukkwit, my great grandmother was as hairless as both of you morons.”
“Look, let’s get back to this ‘clever plan’ you claim is rattling around in the echo chamber you call a brain,” Trevor said. "Some Idents alone won't be enough to get you know what from you know where."
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