LJ Idol, Season 11 - Week 11 pt2
Title: Fomenting Rebellion
Topic: if the creek don't rise
Russo and Jamie are back at their favorite spaceport, taking some R&R and possibly helping a friend of theirs with a quick job. If their last conversation with Alesa is to be believed, they’re sleeping in real beds, taking hot showers, making some repairs to Russo’s ship, and (quick job notwithstanding) trying to keep their heads down.
And Alesa is on a moon just outside the Colony Cluster, fomenting rebellion.
Russo and Jamie made her swear on the ship’s sublight drive that she would stay out of trouble. But the moon is owned crust to core by a corp headquartered elsewhere in the sector, and Alesa has made it her life’s mission to fuck with the giant corps as hard as she can, as often as she can.
When the corp pulls out of this place, it will take everything with it - all the technology, all the infrastructure, all the money. Alesa has seen it before. The moon may or may not be able to apply for admission into the Cluster. The settlements may or may not survive without the corp propping them up. But on the other hand, the folks who live here will be able to do whatever they want, in whatever way works best for them. They’ll be able to set up their own government. They’ll be able to set up their own economy. They’ll be able to run their own businesses and move around as they please. They won’t have to worry about being used and abused and held in thrall by an uncaring corp and its money-focused Board.
It’s a lot of work for one woman, trying to get a rebellion started, but Alesa is developing a galactic network of the similarly-inclined, and she’s not the first person to whisper revolt in these people’s ears. Others came first and laid the groundwork for her. The settlements on this moon - company towns all - are dissatisfied with their treatment by the corp, disenfranchised by corporate governance, and willing to take up arms for the right to determine their own lives.
And she just happens to work with a couple of guys who are known to have smuggled weapons from time to time.
Right now she’s sitting on a wobbly stool in a quiet cafe, hiding from the overbearing sun and making notes on her handheld. She made a couple of contacts in a settlement on the other side of the hills, and she’s been trying to set a time to meet with them.
Her handheld bings quietly, indicating a new message. She shrinks her notes, taps the screen, and brings up a message from Jamie:
8 days russo says you promised
I remember, she taps out. I’ll be there.
Well, unless she can get at least one settlement to grab the means of production and take its future into its own hands.
The handheld bings again, this time with a message from one of her contacts:
Tmr 1630 Sandoval
Noted, Alesa replies.
The settlements are all company towns, meaning the local economies run on company credits. There’s a small black market in off-moon currency, and even though it will cost her an excessively high number of credits, Alesa will be able to find someone to take her over the hills. She has the money to pay them.
Here we go, she thinks, already planning her “Sorry, I won’t be able to meet you on time” message to Russo and Jamie. The next day or two seems soon to get a rebellion up and running, despite all her efforts to that end, but Alesa has learned not to make assumptions.
Topic: if the creek don't rise
Russo and Jamie are back at their favorite spaceport, taking some R&R and possibly helping a friend of theirs with a quick job. If their last conversation with Alesa is to be believed, they’re sleeping in real beds, taking hot showers, making some repairs to Russo’s ship, and (quick job notwithstanding) trying to keep their heads down.
And Alesa is on a moon just outside the Colony Cluster, fomenting rebellion.
Russo and Jamie made her swear on the ship’s sublight drive that she would stay out of trouble. But the moon is owned crust to core by a corp headquartered elsewhere in the sector, and Alesa has made it her life’s mission to fuck with the giant corps as hard as she can, as often as she can.
When the corp pulls out of this place, it will take everything with it - all the technology, all the infrastructure, all the money. Alesa has seen it before. The moon may or may not be able to apply for admission into the Cluster. The settlements may or may not survive without the corp propping them up. But on the other hand, the folks who live here will be able to do whatever they want, in whatever way works best for them. They’ll be able to set up their own government. They’ll be able to set up their own economy. They’ll be able to run their own businesses and move around as they please. They won’t have to worry about being used and abused and held in thrall by an uncaring corp and its money-focused Board.
It’s a lot of work for one woman, trying to get a rebellion started, but Alesa is developing a galactic network of the similarly-inclined, and she’s not the first person to whisper revolt in these people’s ears. Others came first and laid the groundwork for her. The settlements on this moon - company towns all - are dissatisfied with their treatment by the corp, disenfranchised by corporate governance, and willing to take up arms for the right to determine their own lives.
And she just happens to work with a couple of guys who are known to have smuggled weapons from time to time.
Right now she’s sitting on a wobbly stool in a quiet cafe, hiding from the overbearing sun and making notes on her handheld. She made a couple of contacts in a settlement on the other side of the hills, and she’s been trying to set a time to meet with them.
Her handheld bings quietly, indicating a new message. She shrinks her notes, taps the screen, and brings up a message from Jamie:
8 days russo says you promised
I remember, she taps out. I’ll be there.
Well, unless she can get at least one settlement to grab the means of production and take its future into its own hands.
The handheld bings again, this time with a message from one of her contacts:
Tmr 1630 Sandoval
Noted, Alesa replies.
The settlements are all company towns, meaning the local economies run on company credits. There’s a small black market in off-moon currency, and even though it will cost her an excessively high number of credits, Alesa will be able to find someone to take her over the hills. She has the money to pay them.
Here we go, she thinks, already planning her “Sorry, I won’t be able to meet you on time” message to Russo and Jamie. The next day or two seems soon to get a rebellion up and running, despite all her efforts to that end, but Alesa has learned not to make assumptions.