Alexander spent the rest of the day shuttling his bots down to begin construction. To say his activities sparked interest would be an understatement. Both construction zones generated quite a crowd as his bots quickly set about laying down the building outlines.

He didn't have the same infrastructure as he did back on Eden's End to rely on, so he was forced to hire a foreman and bring in external materials like concrete and structural components for the buildings, but the bots handled the majority of the labor, which none of the other workers seemed to like much. The only reason they didn't complain was because Alexander was paying them three times what they normally made.

The buildings were going up quickly, and the extra cost was covered in his contract with the NAA, as well as guarantees on when materials needed to be available. Having the NAA Councilor and Vice Councilor vouch for him and cut through the red tape certainly sped things up massively, which was good because he didn't have time to babysit the project for long. He would remain in Earth orbit until the buildings were complete and the initial production got off the ground, but with how many bots he had printed to complete construction, that shouldn't take more than a week.

Alexander hoped the inquiry was complete by then as well. Speaking of, he went to wake Yulia and get her ready. Since there was only one shuttle aboard Grace, they were all going to take it down, and Galloway would drop him and his security detail off, then return to pick him up after the meeting ended.

"Time to get ready," he said, shaking the girl lightly.

She groaned and tried to tuck her head under the covers, but Alexander wasn't having it. He pulled the blanket away, getting a whine of complaint from the girl.

"Get showered and dressed, you have a big day today," he said, ignoring her grumbling.

Yulia reluctantly sat up in bed, her dark hair a sleepy mess. It would take quite a bit of brushing to smooth it out. Perhaps it was time for a haircut. He would bring it up during supper to see if she wanted it shorter, so it would be less maintenance.

A little over half an hour later, she joined Alexander in the kitchenette in their quarters. Alexander had taken the time to run to the mess hall to procure some food since the ship wasn't large enough to afford the luxury of an actual kitchen, even in his quarters.

"What am I going to see today?" Yulia asked between bites of food.

"I don't know. I left the specifics up to Sergeant Galloway. Think of it as a surprise."

She groaned at that, making her distaste for such things well known. Alexander chuckled.

Soon enough, they were heading for the briefing room. The only real change in their roles was the fact that Galloway would be in charge while Alexander was busy, instead of Yulia's personal bodyguards.

Once the meeting was over, everyone headed toward the shuttle. Alexander held Galloway back a bit. "I don't know how long the meeting will go on for, but I will contact you ahead of time to let you know."

Galloway nodded, and the pair made their way to the shuttle.

Alexander would just be another passenger today. Grace's second shift pilot was their chauffeur, along with Galloway, who had been trained to fly a shuttle but had very little stick time.

The shuttle ride down was routine, and Alexander was dropped off at the STO Navy Headquarters, which wasn't that far from the UEC building. It was close enough that he could see the UEC building in the distance.

Other than the similar location, everything else was in stark contrast to the UEC. Where the UEC was built with some sense of architecture in mind, the STO buildings were squat and utilitarian in design, only rising ten stories at most.

The large compound also had multiple landing pads for shuttles.

For Alexander, the biggest difference had to be the armed and armored Marines patrolling the interior. He saw more than one Marine in a full augment suit, but most were wearing either light augment gear or battle armor. They had stun sticks, but they also carried CQB rifles.

It wasn't anything Alexander needed to worry about. Even his two guards would be pretty safe from the flechette rifles. The material had been extensively tested before being used for the armor, so even without the field generator, the armor was capable of surviving dozens of impacts in the same spot in the soft areas. The hardened plates on any sensitive areas might as well be impervious to the flechettes, considering how many it would take to break through in those spots.

The faceplates were the weakest part of the armor, but even that was composed of the same transparent material that made up the dome ceiling in Atrium A and old shuttle cockpit windows. This chapter is part of the collection on MV2LEMP2YR.

He planned on removing that weakness in later versions, but he wanted to improve the suit's onboard computing before he offered that option.

Before they reached the building, Alexander ran into someone he did not expect to.

"Mr. Kane," Chairman Rush said with a big smile. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Is it?" Alexander asked. "I suppose I should thank you for putting in a good word for me with the UEC."

The man waved him off. "That's not necessary. I simply told them to treat you with respect. I would have done that for anyone."

Alexander didn't believe that for a moment, but he didn't mention that aloud. "What brings you here?"

"I just finished some discussions with the STO. Nothing all that interesting, just deciding if building a branch here would be worth it. It seems like they would prefer if I placed it on one of the other core worlds," Rush said with an exaggerated sigh. "Politics, am I right?"

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Before Alexander could respond, the man continued. "Since I have you here, perhaps you would be interested in having a Gravitational Solutions satellite office on Eden's End?"

While that would be great for Alexander, he still didn't trust Rush's intentions. The man was wealthy and powerful. He was also one of the few companies Alexander couldn't afford to make enemies of, so he would need to be mindful of how he responded.

"As nice as that sounds," Alexander spoke carefully, "I don't know if Eden's End has the population density to make such an investment viable. Perhaps a better location would be Asgard or one of the other Asgardian worlds?"

"Nonsense," Rush laughed. "If GS cared about population density, we never would have set up shop in Epsilon Indi." The man leaned in and stage-whispered conspiratorially. "To tell you the truth, I would prefer a quieter location. It means less work." He chuckled as he stood back. "You don't have to give me an answer now, I'll get in touch with your people and give them my proposal. I believe Theodore Pembrooke is who I should be reaching out to?"

Alexander nodded, wondering how the man knew Pembrooke was his second in command. Rush smiled and slapped Alexander on the arm happily. "Excellent! I would love to chat longer, but something has come up and I must be going. Perhaps I will speak to you back on Eden's End." With that, the man departed toward a very plain-looking shuttle.

***

When Two reached out, One nearly let his smile slip while speaking with Kane. "What is it, Two? I'm rather busy at the moment."

"We just uncovered information that the Shican have access to an inactive hypergate. We need you to weigh in so we can reach a consensus on whether we should intervene and destroy it before they learn its secrets."

One cursed internally. If the Shican figured out how to reactivate the gate, it would connect to its closest neighbor, which would be one of the gates within human space. The collective couldn't let that happen.

"I agree, the gate must be destroyed. I'll join you as soon as possible, but I'm not near my sphere."

"Hurry," Two said, "we can't afford to wait, so we will bring your ship with us when we transition to the outskirts of the Shican system."

***

Alexander watched the man jog off. It seemed Rush truly was in a hurry. Shaking his avatar at the second odd interaction with the man, Alexander dismissed the encounter from his mind and turned back toward his destination.

"Halt!" A Marine ordered as they entered the administration complex. "No weapons are allowed inside. Your people can either relinquish them at the window over to the left or wait here."

Alexander glanced at the security office and the man waiting inside, but he wasn't about to hand over proprietary weapons to an STO official. He turned to his guards, who were glaring at the Marine and gripping their weapons tightly. He appreciated the gesture, but it was unnecessary. "You two, please wait here."

The two nodded reluctantly and moved off to the corner next to the door, never taking their eyes off the four marines stationed behind the security gate. If shit hit the fan, that bullet proof glass would not stop the rounds from the FE rifles.

Alexander approached the scanner, the Marine looking a bit unsure of how to handle the situation.

After a momentary pause, the man seemed to come to a decision. "…Step into the scanner, it will check you for any concealed weapons."

Alexander smiled and stepped inside the device. Eden's End had the upgraded version of the same scanner, so he already knew it wouldn't be able to pierce the material that made up his exterior.

"Um, please raise your hands out to your sides," the Marine stated.

Alexander did so, his arms hitting the exterior walls of the booth.

Another pause before the Marine muttered under his breath. "This is beyond my pay grade." He flicked the scanner on, and Alexander waited.

The scan took less than a minute to complete, but it took longer for the Marine and his fellows to decide that the results were acceptable.

"Proceed through," the Marine stated, motioning for Alexander to continue on his way. It probably helped that a line of important-looking people had formed during the delay.

Alexander received curious stares as he made his way down the hallway to the meeting room, but it was mild in comparison to what he normally got. His guess was that people had been notified to expect him ahead of time to prevent any sort of misunderstanding.

If that was the case, it boded well for discussions.

He was stopped once again outside a pair of doors that led to the meeting room when a Marine held his hand out in a halting gesture. "Name and purpose for your visit?" the man asked, his tone much more cordial than the Marine at the security entrance.

"Alexander Kane, I was asked to attend."

The second Marine checked his tablet and nodded. "Please head inside, sir."

The meeting was already in motion when Alexander arrived; people turned at his entrance, but the discussion didn't halt.

"–Fletcher's activities are still being investigated. Nobody is quite sure what orders he gave those ships, but they have not reported back in yet."

Alexander found a seat in the back of the room on one of the sturdy wooden benches. It creaked under his weight, but held.

He wondered if the topic was about the stealth ships. He knew from the Fletcher persona's info dump that the man had sent those ships off for year-long missions to keep them out of corporate hands for a bit longer.

"We can table that discussion for later," Admiral Util stated. "Our guest has arrived."

"Agreed," another Admiral spoke.

Alexander didn't recognize the man, but the nametag on his dress uniform said he was Admiral Dufresne.

So that's the guy who demoted Willard. I should thank him.

"Mr. Kane," the original speaker addressed him. "If you would please, take a seat at the table in the front."

The man didn't have a military uniform on or a nametag, and he hadn't stated his name, but it was obvious he was responsible for running the inquiry.

Alexander rose from the sturdy bench and made his way to the less accommodating metal table and chairs toward the front. They looked designed to make the person sitting in them uncomfortable. It reminded him of the time he was questioned aboard Petrov Station. Even if he could fit inside the metal chair, there was no way it would support his weight.

If they thought they could unbalance him or make him uncomfortable, they were sadly mistaken. He pulled one of the chairs out and set it aside, sitting cross-legged on the floor without a care in the world. Unlike his visit to the UEC, he was not wearing clothes for this visit.

If anyone was upset by his choice to sit on the floor, they didn't mention it.

The speaker cleared his throat before continuing. "Mr. Kane, just to bring you up to speed, we have assembled this inquiry to look into the suspicious circumstances behind Vice Admiral Fletcher's untimely death, as well as the deaths of over two hundred STO Navy personnel inside Varlen."

"I understood that from the request to attend. What I don't understand is why I was asked to come in the first place," Alexander replied.

"We are speaking with anyone who had a connection to Fletcher while he was stationed in Varlen," the man responded. "You did have dealings with him, is that correct?"

Alexander doubted that statement very much, but he responded anyway. "I did."

A thin smile reached the speaker's face, but not his eyes. "Could you go into detail on your dealings with Fletcher?"

Alexander leaned toward the microphone. "No."

Not expecting the response, the man stared in surprise for a moment before recovering. "Mr. Kane, you do understand the nature of this inquiry, don't you?"

"I do," Alexander replied. "You are looking for someone to blame for Fletcher's death."

The speaker narrowed his eyes. "I can assure you that is not the case, we are simply here to find out what happened to one of the STO's most talented people."

"And bring them to justice?" Alexander added. "Or is that not the purpose of this inquiry?"

"If we find out his death was not an accident, then yes, obviously," the man replied in annoyance.