Kaela didn't quite trust Pembrooke, the man reminded her of some of the corporate stooges she had been forced to work with over the years. That being said, she still walked forward and inspected the armor on display. There were handy plaques below the armor stands listing their models, not that it was needed. It was clear that the design improved as they wrapped around the room.

Despite all her contacts and clout, she had never managed to get her hands on an augmentation suit. She could have purchased one illegally, but getting caught with a set of powered armor without the requisite STO licenses to go along with it would have ruined her reputation at best. At worst, she would have been locked up.

So being the good law-abiding citizen she was, she passed over those sorts of auctions when they showed up on the black market. Even if a single suit would have made her job ten times easier.

Due to her job, she had a vast knowledge related to publicly available armor as well as some of the civilian models of augmentation suits you could purchase, assuming you had the license.

The slowly rotating armor in front of her was labeled 'Prototype 1'. It reminded her of some of the more expensive civilian models. There was even a tiny bit of rust on the armor plating attached to the suit. The battery pack rotated into view, looking big and bulky. Quite a bit bulkier than the models she remembered, but for a first prototype, it was an admirable attempt.

Kaela moved on to the next, but it wasn't much different, except for the battery pack shrinking to match what she would expect from a civilian design.

The third suit in the series showed significant improvement over the previous designs. The material looked sturdier, the armor was of a better quality, and the augmentation servos were much more streamlined. She had seen STO Marines in augment gear when she was younger. The armor reminded her of those suits. A bit outdated, but a step above what was normally available for civilian use.

The fourth and fifth looked like current-generation military-grade suits, but she didn't recognize the armor material. Then she arrived at the sixth-generation suit.

The matte black material and reduced bulkiness of the servos gave the suit a sinister look. She had never seen anything like it, but she had heard stories of corporate spec ops wearing gear more advanced than the STO fielded, so she assumed the armor was similar based on its place in the display. To report errors, please visit the original post on M|VLEMPYR.

The seventh suit sported the same appearance, but the power pack was larger. It made sense if the suit used extra energy to operate, but she paused in front of the eighth and final suit. At first glance, she had mistaken it for a rather bulky armored vac-suit.

Some of the sinister look was gone in the final design, but the armor was still mostly black. Kaela could see the augmentation servos, but most were covered by slightly bulbous armor plates, neatly hiding the delicate mechanisms from view. The extra armor would make disabling such a suit much harder without taking out the occupant. Not that she thought that would be easy either.

Kaela ran her hand across the suit, feeling the tight fabric weave. Unlike the stiff fabric of an armored vac-suit, the material almost felt malleable to the touch. It allowed her to feel the armor plates over the chest and other critical areas, even though they were buried underneath the weave.

When the back of the armor rotated into view, she quirked her head at the oddly rounded bump protruding from the battery pack.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing to the protrusion.

***

Theo never stopped smiling as he watched the experienced woman inspect each set of armor. Alex had done a bit of theatrical exaggeration on the sets. While the old ones were mostly true to their original model, some of them were faked. Alex had said he didn't want to give away just how quickly he had advanced, so he had created four in-between models to display. The last model also wasn't the newest iteration.

It shared some features from the new suits, but the real suit's armor covering the servos was a lot smaller, almost blending in with the suit material. The real suits also had more armor plating than what was on display. The stuff buried beneath the flexible material was simply the underlayer. The last exaggeration had to do with the bulbous mass sticking out of the suit that Miss. Voss was studying intently.

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When the woman turned to him with an inquisitive expression, he knew the lure had worked even before she asked her question.

"I would be happy to discuss that with you if you would sign on with BSE."

Kaela narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not stupid, Theo. I know a carrot when I see one. What I don't see is the stick. What sort of job do you need me for?"

"The stick would be responsibility, Kaela. How would you like to command a capital ship?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "You're joking, right? I'm a captain, but I run a small team of bounty hunters, not a crew large enough to operate anything more than a corvette. And I noticed you didn't seem to have any ships of that size in the system."

"True enough," he said, motioning for her to follow him back out of the storage room. "But you are a skilled and competent captain. BSE needs more people like that."

"My skills lie in small-scale ground operations, not space combat. I've never even fired a ship-based weapon."

"That's a skill that can be taught," he replied. She wasn't saying no, so that was a good sign.

"What's in it for me?" she finally asked after a bit of silent contemplation.

"Other than being in command of your own capital ship?" Theo asked with a smirk.

"Yes, other than that."

"Well, the pay is good, as are the benefits. You would also be stationed on Eden's End, giving you more time to try and rekindle your romance with the Admiral."

The woman glared at him. "Who told you I was here to do that?"

"You just did, by not denying it," he chuckled.

Theo could hear the woman curse. "Fine, what if I am here to do that? Wouldn't there be some sort of conflict of interest with having Vitor be my commanding officer?"

"Obviously, there would be, but the Union doesn't have any rules against fraternization. In fact, I think there are quite a few Jarls whose family members or loved ones command or serve aboard other ships in their fleets. It seems to work out for them, but if either you or Admiral Krieger made it an issue, we would have to address it. Until that happens, we don't have the luxury of being picky."

"You sure do know how to make a woman feel welcomed," Kaela muttered.

Theo shrugged. "I'm just being honest. You would be an asset to the BSE team, but you are obviously not an ideal candidate."

"I need more details. What sort of ship would I be commanding? Will I be able to bring my people with me? Will we get access to those augment suits?"

Theo smiled and answered her questions in the order she asked them. "You'll probably start out in a frigate. Yes, so long as they wish to sign on with BSE and we don't find any surprises in their background checks. And yes. Mr. Kane doesn't skimp on the protection he provides for his people, unlike some corporations."

"I want to see the full con-" Before she could even finish, Theo handed her a tablet with the contract on it.

She accepted it with reluctance. "You are entirely too slick, Mr. Pembrooke," she said, reverting to a more formal name.

He chuckled. "That's why Mr. Kane hired me. Take a few days to look it over and talk with your people. Feel free to use the comm network to contact your lawyers as well if needed." They stopped outside the tram terminal. "I believe this is where we part ways, Miss. Voss. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions. My contact card is available on any terminal." Theo nodded once to the woman and left her standing at the terminal as he boarded the tram.

She wasn't onboard yet, but the idea was firmly planted, and sometimes that was all that was needed.

***

Kaela stood there, frowning in annoyance as she watched the train depart. She didn't like the feeling of getting played. That was her wheelhouse. Still… Pembrooke would have to be someone skilled at handling people if the elusive Alexander Kane had put him in charge.

She had done her research on BSE and its owner after Vitor showed up on the news, putting Harlow down like a rabid dog. She was glad the pirate was dead and gone, but she couldn't understand how BSE had gotten mixed up in a battle with such a dangerous individual.

Pembrooke was right, she was out here to check up on Vitor and hopefully reconnect with him, but that wasn't the whole truth. She had started hearing rumors about Eden's End and Kane and came out here to make sure Vitor hadn't gotten himself into more trouble than he could handle and to ensure something more sinister wasn't going on. Who knew what an alien such as Kane could do?

Her mind went back to the suits on display. The room had shown decades of evolution in design, but BSE had only existed for a handful of years, and there was no way BSE had been producing anything before that, or the corporations back in the STO would have learned about it and scooped Kane up. Something wasn't adding up. If she decided to take Pembrooke's offer, it would be to keep a close eye on Kane to ensure he wasn't a risk to the people she cared about or humanity as a whole. So far, everything with BSE looked above board, but she knew how easily that could be faked. The corporations back in STO space did it every day; certainly, an advanced alien intelligence could do it as well.