Middle Management (Book two of the Yaatra Hombre series)

Aftermath (2)

Paul Milligan, Maria Maresca, and Marta Selvagem were in an escape pod waiting for a rescue ship that Maria called. The silence was deafening and awkward to say the least. "So, that didn't work out as I hoped." Milligan said humorously trying to break the tension.

The two gave him icy glares. "Understatement." Marta scathingly told him.

"It was a fucking disaster!" Maria yelled at him. "Not only is our boss dead but so four colleague and all the staff I brought for the meeting!"

Milligan raised his hands in the hopes of lowering the temperature. Before Marta and Maria could yell at him more a message came through the pod's intercom. "Mam preparing for extraction." A male sounding voice announced.

"Ready." Maria said through the intercom.

The escape pod was connected to a ship that could only be described as luxurious with a design reminiscent of a Lamborghini. The three safely entered the ship from the pod and were met with more security personnel. The captain was about to greet his boss when his eyes widened in shock. The three escapees turned and were shocked themselves when they saw the Santa Maria collapse into piece evidence of an internal explosion destroying it from the inside. They then saw the enemy ship appearing to head toward them.

"Captain get us out of here." Maria ordered.

"Yes boss!" He complied. "You heard her, get us out of here!"

The crew got the ship moving and getting out of the system before the enemy ship can catch up to him.

Meanwhile on the USS Station of the corporate system, each of the crew members of the Yaatra Hombre were being interviewed by the Systems Police. With Angel, "So you snuck on the ship and hid in a closet?"

"Yes sir.' Angel answered calmly.

"I find it hard to believe that you weren't found." The officer stated plainly.

"So do I." Angel said jokingly.

With Shinji he was having a harder time with his interview. "So you pretended to be a different chef to infiltrate the meeting but were caught because you don't have any tattoo's." the officer laughed.

Shinji banged his head on the table to hide his embarrassment as the officer laughed. "What? Did you find the first employee with a criminal record?" The officer asked between breaths.

With Albina, she stayed silent staring at the officer that tried to interview her. The officer was shaking feeling awkward being intimidated by the 19-year-old. "Are we done her?" She asked.

With Aruna, "I am just glad my husband and crew got out safely."

"Yes, but you followed your cook to a ship that contains some of the most well-connected criminals in the galaxy." The officer said to verify the details.

"Yeah, and if my husband had not brough Shinji back alive, oh." She said cutting herself off by shaking her head.

The officer gave her a perplexed look. "Uh huh."

In a video room, a detective was going over the video and started a facial match program to get the names of the board members as only two members were familiar to the detective. He looked at the program and sighed seeing that it will take a few hours and got up to get a cup of tea.

After a day filled with interviews and paperwork, the police were ready for a final meeting with the Yaatra Hombre crew about their action on the Costa Santa Maria. The captain looked at each of the crew. She sighed before speaking. "Before I begin, I have to say that what you did was irresponsible and stupid and could have gotten you all killed."

Shinji and Angel looked at the captain guiltily, Aruna glaring at her husband, while Albina just stared at the captain blankly. The captain sighed again. "However, do to said stupid actions you helped identify all the members on the board of Middle Management."

Shinji smilled brightly before the captain continued. "Six of them are dead and therefore you will not receive a bounty on them, but two of them survived and you will receive four million credits in identification rewards. Talk with the receptionist at the entrance."

The four hastily made their way out of the captains office and made their way to the reception desk. Angel approached the receptionist. "Excuse me..."

"Captain gave me a message, after the taxes and fees your reward comes to 2 million, 751 thousand, and 456 credits."

"Thank you, mam." Angel said in gratitude.

Angel paid Shinji and Albina their shares before heading back to the ship. The crew made their way to theliving room. Angel took a seat on the couch with Aruna sitting on his lap. Shinji sat on the floor leaning on a wall. Albina layed down on the floor. Angel reached for the remote and turned on the TV looking for something optimistic to watch and decided on In the Heights."

In an unknown location, Maria's ship was in the process of connecting to one of Milligan's ships. Milligan turned toward Maria. "If we see..." He stared.

"We won't!" Maria interjected sternly.

Milligan shrugged his shoulders. "Big galaxy I suppose." He said.

The ships connected and the doors to the hatch to the tunnel. "Well, its been real." He said before going to his own ship.

"Yeah." Maria whispered dismissively before turning towards the captain. "Let's disconnect and get to the safe house, it won't be long until the shit hits the fan."

"Yes mam." The crew said getting the ship moving.

Milligan made it into his ship. He entered and saw the crew at him baffled. "Hey Mil where String and Marlo?" One of the crew asked confused.

"The meeting was attacked by some unknown, group equipped like they were part of a self-defense group." He said sadly. "We need to hold off on mourning we need to leave I have no idea if we are being followed."

The mood is dower, but they all complied with the order. Milligan went to the nearest window looking back at Maria's ship as they left in opposite directions. He took a deep breath then sent out message calling for an emergency meeting.

At the USS headquarters, the commissioner of the USS police force David Gordon was in the office of the director of USS prosecutions Xi Wu Brook sitting behind his desk. They were both watching the Middle Management board meeting that captured by Shini. Brook had a stressed look on his face. He saw a familiar face on the TV. He quickly paused the video. "Fuck!" He swore.

"Someone you know?" Gordon asked.

"Yeah!" Brook confirmed. "This is Mao Shih, she is one of those in the Chinese System that are not publicly wealthy but are in the right circles of influence."

"Well unfortunately for her and her friends this has all been confirmed, we had it tested twice." Gordon told him.

Brook rubbed his face in frustration. He looked at the screen again thinking about his options. "Okay, I need to make a few calls, it's going to be a fucking shit show soon, so make your preparations while I let the president and the prime minister know what's going on."

Gordon nodded before leaving the office to coordinate a task force to investigate the confirmed former board members. Brook pulled out his work phone to call the president for what would be the start of a political earthquake. "Mr. President..."