View source for Comm-Link:Tales of Kid Crimson - Issue 7

Senator [[Hannigan]] was Caro. The second I made the connection, everything started making perfect sense: [[Senate]] vessels aren’t subject to [[Customs]] scrutiny, his position allowed him to monitor and compromise [[UEE Advocacy|Advocacy]] investigations, the bastard was even on the [[Subcommittee on Expansion and Development|Subcommittee for Development & Expansion]], which gave him full access to all those untouched worlds, just crawling with untouched property.

The more laps the notion took around my mind, the more obvious it became. The solution started to become crystal clear too.

The [[Klaus & Werner|'''K&W''']] [[LR-620 Precision Railgun]] could put a round through 36mm of titanium at three thousand meters. It’s expensive but if you want a guaranteed kill, it’s worth the stretch.

Up in Dovkin’s 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 [[United Empire of Earth|UEE]].

Dovkin brought me a drink. I took it and sipped. He broke out the nice stuff. He expected a sale.

A 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’t friends by any stretch. Dovkin didn’t deal in friends. He was a fixer, he dealt in acquaintances.

“Reg is clean. Won’t come up on any systems, guaranteed.”

“Save me the pitch, Dovkin.” I lifted the rifle up, powered up the sights, and tested its weight. It felt good, balanced. “I know you deal clean merch.”

“Remember that when I tell you the price.” His mouth contorted into a wretched smile.

“It’s worth it.” Dovkin’s eyes glittered.

“Must be someone big. I’d almost like to know.” Dovkin chuckled. I tracked a taxi moving in the distance.

“No, you wouldn’t.”

<nowiki>* * * * *</nowiki>

I 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’s easy to drop anyone (moral/ethical dilemmas aside), getting away with it is the real puzzle.

'''[[Terra system|Terra’s]]''' [[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’s appearances.

From 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’s real identity but I know Caro’s reputation, he’s beyond slippery and it’s 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’t have known that I’d seen that. Even so, I’d 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.

On 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’t ever come back to touch him. My head started swimming…