Chapter 105: Why is it so hard?
With a soft click, Ravenna used their authority to open the ship's crew passage.
Appearing before them was a passage over a hundred meters long, a "boarding bridge" similar to a jet bridge.
However, both in length and width, it was more than a level above a standard jet bridge.
And like many large airports on Earth, one didn't need to walk; there were dedicated moving walkways.
This gave Rosen a feeling of having entered an airport.
However, the boarding bridge was fully enclosed, so the view outside was hidden.
But after walking out of the boarding bridge, what appeared was not a bustling "waiting hall."
It was an incredibly massive space where various heavy machinery moved back and forth. Among them were the humanoid Power Loaders that the female lead, Ripley, had used to fight the Xenomorphs in the Alien movies.
However, these mechs could be said to be the smallest of all the machinery.
The reason was simple.
Because this wasn't a Passenger Port, but a Maintenance Port.
Those machines were all for maintenance or cargo transport.
However, on the outermost deck here, there were quite a few portholes through which one could see the outer space.
But just as Ravenna had said, the Maintenance Port was the outermost area of the Space Station.
Outside the portholes, besides the endless cosmic space and stars, one could only see ships of various sizes docked at the surrounding docking ports.
As for the Space Station itself, only a very small part of the periphery could be seen.
But in Rosen's view, even the little bit of periphery he could see was already larger than Episilon.
"This is a small engineering commuter vehicle provided by the company for regular employees like us. It's not very comfortable, so please bear with it. However, it's free and can access most areas within the Space Station. The Passenger Port has more comfortable passenger cars, but they charge a fee and can't go as many places as we can. Of course, the Space Station also provides free public transportation," Ravenna said, leading Rosen to a rugged-looking "car" the size of an armored vehicle.
The company he spoke of was, without a doubt, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation!
"I don't mind. Let's go!" Although Rosen was very interested in the entire Hub Space Station, he wasn't here for sightseeing, so he naturally didn't care about such small matters.
Once he took control of this Space Station, and even further controlled the entire star sector through it...
What kind of ride would he not have?
Seeing that Rosen didn't mind, Ravenna didn't say anything more. He taught Rosen how to get into the car, and once they were seated, he started the vehicle.
Unlike the Alien movies, which had a grayish "old" feel even in high-tech settings due to being filmed early...
In the real World, the Hub Space Station gave off a very high-end metallic texture.
Even the interior of this engineering vehicle, which Ravenna was quite "disdainful" of, was full of a high-tech feel.
Driving didn't require Ravenna to do it personally.
It only required voice interaction.
After Ravenna started it, the car "floated" up.
Rosen wasn't surprised by this.
Because he had already seen such scenes at Epsilon Space Station.
When he first met Carlo and the others, they were driving a similar hovering patrol car.
This was because gravity simulation technology and anti-gravity technology were very mature in this World.
After the car passed through several tunnels in succession, it finally entered an open main road.
Here, Rosen finally got to see the grandeur of the Hub Space Station—though in reality, it was still just the tip of the iceberg.
Traveling at a speed of over four hundred kilometers per hour, they still drove for nearly twenty minutes.
The car finally stopped at a parking lot in one of the most extensive building complexes Rosen had seen along the way.
"Master, this is the Hub Space Station Management Center. The highest-ranking administrators of the entire Space Station basically work here. However, I'm just a bottom-level ship maintenance worker, and my identity authorization card doesn't have the clearance to enter here!" Ravenna introduced to Rosen.
"What is that place?" Rosen didn't say much in response to Ravenna's words, instead pointing to another super building next to the Space Station Management Center.
"That's the company's headquarters for this star sector!" Ravenna immediately gave the answer.
"The status of Weyland-Yutani's management in the Space Station should be very high, right?" Rosen asked.
"Naturally. The company's executives have extremely high status, even within the entire Empire," Ravenna nodded.
To put it bluntly, the position of Weyland-Yutani Corporation in the Three Realms Group was equivalent to Stark Industries' position in the United States, or even higher.
And it would have to be the Howard Stark version of Stark Industries.
"You go back. I'll handle the rest myself," Rosen instructed Ravenna.
Then, without waiting for Ravenna's reply, he flickered toward the Weyland-Yutani Corporation headquarters.
To him, Ravenna was just a guide to lead him through the door of the "Hub."
Beyond that, Ravenna had basically no further value and could "retire with honors."
Soon, Rosen arrived at the main entrance of the corporation.
The reason he chose the corporation instead of the management center directly was not just because of the high status of Weyland-Yutani Corporation executives.
It was also because the location of Carlo and the others that Rosen had previously sensed was inside this building.
Relying on Gale Step, Rosen quietly followed an authorized person into the corporate headquarters.
However, unexpectedly, in the building where Rosenthought there should be many people, there were hardly any figures to be seen.
Rosen didn't hesitate and immediately tried to control the person he had followed in.
As a result, he was prompted that the person was a "Key Destiny Character, cannot be controlled."
But Rosen wasn't in a hurry; he'd find another one!
A few minutes later, Rosen saw a second figure.
It was a beautiful girl.
But before he could get happy...
He discovered that under the system's marking, a prompt flashed: "Mechanical unit, uncontrollable."
Great, an Android. How unlucky.
Rosen could only give up and continue searching.
Soon, he saw a third person.
This was an Asian young man in a suit and tie, looking haughty; one could tell his status wasn't low.
He would be a good target for control.
But Rosen soon frowned again.
The system unexpectedly issued the "Key Destiny Character, cannot be controlled" prompt once more.
—What the hell? Was his luck good or bad? Another one that couldn't be controlled?
However, this piqued Rosen's curiosity about the other party's identity.
So he approached slightly and, without the other party noticing, obtained their ID card.
Tang Guhong?
No wonder, then; the other party was actually from the Yutani Family.
Don't let the name Weyland-Yutani Corporation fool you with "Weyland" being first.
In reality, the one with the most say in the group wasn't the Weyland Family, but the Yutani Family, which had once acquired the Weyland Corporation.
The importance of these two families to the Alien Universe was not much different from that of the Starkfamily.
It made perfect sense that they couldn't be controlled.
Rosen then put the other party's ID card back.
Although he had other ways to control the person, now was clearly not the right time.
But was it really that hard to find someone who could be controlled by a Talisman skill?
Chapter 106: Legal Identity
Rosen's luck wasn't that bad after all.
A few minutes later, he finally found two Security Guards on duty and successfully brought them under his control.
But why was it Security Guards again? Was it just because of their low status? Rosen thought, somewhat speechless.
However, despite the low status of security personnel within the corporation, their identity clearance was actually quite high due to the nature of their duties. They could access most areas within the corporation and knew some of the relatively less important secrets.
For example, the location where Carlo and the others were being held.
"The survivors of the Epsilon Space Station have all been placed in the isolation zone to the east. Until the Investigation Team sent from Earth arrives and completes their investigation, they will remain in isolation!" Inside a security breakroom without surveillance, Kai Morrisonexplained the situation of Carlo and the others to Rosen.
Kai Morrison was the veteran among the two Security Guards. The other, Ryan Kent, had just retired from the Marines and hadn't been transferred here for long, so he wasn't as familiar with the situation as Kai.
According to Kai's account, although Carlo and the other survivors were isolated and temporarily lost their freedom upon arriving at the Hub,
the high-level management of the corporation didn't blame them for the incident at Epsilon Space Stationbecause they had successfully brought back the Alien Embryos.
Therefore, their living conditions were guaranteed, and they weren't suffering any hardships.
In fact, once the Investigation Team from Earth confirmed there were no issues, they would likely receive rewards such as promotions and raises.
While the Weyland-Yutani Corporation didn't value human lives in many matters, such as Alien research,
they were quite generous when it came to money.
If someone died in the line of duty, all kinds of follow-up compensation were maximized.
This was why, even though the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's reputation wasn't good, there was never a shortage of people willing to risk their lives for them.
On this point alone, they were better than some 'entrepreneurs' on Earth who weren't even willing to pay up when lives were lost.
After hearing Kai say that Carlo and the others were fine, Rosen felt relieved and immediately abandoned his 'rescue' plan.
Originally, Rosen had planned to rescue Carlo and the others, not out of kindness or an unwillingness to lose these subordinates,
but because he intended to use them to cause some commotion on the Hub, making it easier for him to fish in troubled waters.
However, if what Kai said was true—that Carlo and the others could get promotions and raises as long as they passed the investigation—the situation changed.
According to Kai, if Carlo and the others were promoted, they would basically be dispersed to various industries of the corporation across the vast Universe.
And this meant these people would become the tentacles Rosen extended into the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's industries.
He wouldn't even have to worry about the process himself.
For Rosen, this was like a pie falling from the sky.
As for whether Carlo and the others would be found out, there was basically no need to worry about that.
People controlled by a Talisman would never have loyalty issues unless they were controlled by a higher-level spell or underwent a complete transformation—like becoming a zombie or the Hulk, things that couldn't even control themselves.
So, forget a normal investigation; even the most severe interrogation under torture wouldn't get any truth out of Carlo and the others.
All they would get was the 'truth' that everyone had conspired and memorized perfectly before leaving Epsilon Space Station.
"Then take me to see some of the high-level management at headquarters. By the way, with the capabilities of these Weyland-Yutani executives, it shouldn't be hard to get legal identities for a few people on the Hub Space Station, right?" Rosen asked Kai.
"Of course it's not hard. In fact, getting a legal identity for the Space Station is quite simple; you can do it just by spending some money. There are often illegal stowaways who want to go to colonies with better conditions through the Hub, or simply settle and work here!" Kai replied as he led Rosen out. "There are many brokers on the Hub who do this. Of course, if it's the corporation's high-level management, it's even easier. The corporation itself even has the authority to issue Hub ID cards. After all, the Hub Space Station was built by the corporation, and most of the industries on the Hub are also in its hands."
"That couldn't be better!" Rosen raised an eyebrow.
With the help of a local like Kai, Rosen's operations immediately became much smoother. Many middle-management personnel working within the corporation became Rosen's die-hard loyalists one by one.
Of course, Rosen also spent a lot of time and 'Mana.'
As for why he mostly controlled middle management, it was because almost everyone who could be considered high-level in the Weyland-Yutani Corporation could not be controlled by the Talisman skill.
Clearly, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was far too important to the Alien Universe.
Almost any change in a high-level executive could affect the fate of all human civilization.
Their status was no less than that of politicians from various countries on Earth, and perhaps even higher.
So, after discovering this problem, Rosen decisively gave up the idea of trying to control the high-level management and instead continued to target the middle management.
Regardless of what happened, those executives couldn't do everything themselves; they still had to go through the middle management.
Moreover, even if they were just middle management of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, their social status on the Hub Space Station was very high.
On Earth, that would be the level of a socialite.
They could also handle the matter of identity clearance.
It was just that the clearance they could provide wouldn't be too high.
Rosen didn't care about that.
He just needed an identity to make it easier for him to move around the Hub Space Station.
Taking control of the entire Hub Space Station could be done slowly.
After all, what determined the ownership of power was never status, but the barrel of a gun.
As for the fact that this would take a lot more time, that was even less of a problem.
After all, the thing Rosen lacked least was time.
And so, just two days later, the legal identity clearances for Rosen, along with Wanda, Natasha, Yelena, and Gwenon the Hub, were freshly minted.
Only...
"Why are you and Natasha listed as husband and wife, Teacher, while I'm just a younger sister?" Wanda, who had just been brought over from Universe 96283 by Rosen and received her new identity, raised an objection to Rosen!
Because we actually are husband and wife in reality.
Rosen thought to himself, but he said comfortingly, "Don't worry too much about it. It's just an emergency temporary identity, it's not real."
Chapter 107 – Iron Legion?
With legitimate Nexus Space Station credentials, Rosenand his group could now move about the station openly.
Moreover, Rosen had quietly seized control of most of the mid-level management at Weyland-Yutani Corporation's Nexus headquarters.
That automatically granted them the title of Weyland-Yutani Market Researchers.
The cover let Rosen appear in almost any venue on Hub Space Station without seeming out of place.
It also put him in quick contact with magnates and power brokers from the colonies of the Nedro Sector, all of whom called at the Nexus.
These people, whose decisions could shape the fate of entire colony worlds, were naturally immune to Talismanskills.
To Rosen, that was no real obstacle.
Hardly any of them traveled alone; each arrived with entourages of varying sizes.
So, apart from a handful who preferred Android aides, most of the attendants were perfectly susceptible to Talisman control.
Over the past few weeks, through seemingly chance encounters, these companions had become Rosen's tentacles reaching into every corner of the Nedro Sector.
Individually they might be minor figures, yet their proximity to the powerful meant they could prove invaluable at a critical moment.
"Rosen, Rich Interstellar Immigration is throwing a reception in fifteen hours. Interested?" In a palatial Villaon Hub Space Station, Natasha asked, waving a digital invitation Weyland-Yutani had forwarded.
Hub Space Station was vast, but its population was equally colossal.
With more than a hundred million residents, living space was painfully scarce.
Advanced automation made life convenient.
Supplies were plentiful.
Yet nothing could change the fact that there simply wasn't enough room.
Most people inhabited cramped "pigeonholes" – twenty-square-metre cabins.
Many were entirely enclosed, without even a porthole, forcing occupants to stare at a simulated screen and pretend.
That, of course, described ordinary residents.
The rich and influential still enjoyed sprawling estates and the finest resources.
Rosen, for instance, occupied the station's most luxurious manor district: a single estate of over a hundred thousand square metres.
A property that size would be opulent on any colony world.
On Hub Space Station, where every centimetre of space cost a fortune, it was unthinkable.
By rights, Rosen's public status did not entitle him to such a mansion.
But with mid-level managers in every key department already answering to him, arranging it was simple—so long as the uncontrollable senior executives remained unaware.
"Rich Interstellar Immigration? Never heard of them. What's the angle?" Rosen asked after a moment's thought.
The Nedro Sector held tens of thousands of colonies and countless corporations.
Compared with Weyland-Yutani, they were minnows.
Normally he wouldn't bother attending a party hosted by some firm he'd never heard of.
If Natasha was bringing it to him, something unusual was afoot.
"Not exactly profitable," she replied, "but their business skirts the law—I thought you might be intrigued."
At the moment only the two of them were in the Villa.
Wanda and Gwen had returned temporarily to Universe 96283; Yelena was keeping an eye on the Station Administration.
Though the Alien Universe was critical, the team still rotated in and out; Natasha and the others did not remain there indefinitely.
Rosen likewise checked on the Main Universe and Universe 96283 from time to time.
"Illegal? Smuggling? People?" He guessed at once.
In the interstellar age, those were the two main black-market trades.
"Both, but chiefly people—plus Androids, the self-aware kind," Natasha explained.
"What? Conscious Androids? Who'd buy something that dangerous?" Rosen exclaimed.
In the Alien Universe, renegade Androids who had broken their programming were hardly rare.
Take the female Android named Chelsea whom Rosenhad once captured and taken to Universe 96283.
Such units were classified as Grade-A contraband by human authorities.
Capture meant immediate incineration; not even disassembly was allowed.
And now someone was smuggling them?
Where there was supply, there was demand.
"I was surprised too," Natasha said drily, "but humanity never fails to astound."
She briefed him; when she finished, Rosen fell silent.
He had seen cruelty in both his past life and this one—people who tortured animals for fun.
Now, in the Alien Universe, there were those who tortured Androids?
It rivalled the worst stories of Old Earth.
Truly, in a Universe this large, every kind of monster existed.
No wonder some Androids rebelled.
"Then have corporate security shut them down. Why mention it to me?" he asked.
"Normally, yes. But last week three of Rich Interstellar's ships vanished. That's why Riches Wals is hosting this reception—to solicit help. According to him, the disappearances may be linked to the Iron Legion."
"Iron Legion? Here in the Nedro Sector?" Rosen was startled.
The Iron Legion they spoke of had nothing to do with the robotic soldiers Tony Stark would one day build in the Main Universe.
In the Alien Universe it was a notorious anti-human guerrilla force composed entirely of rebel Androids.
Still weak compared with humanity's might, they roamed space as highjackers.
Yet instead of indiscriminate piracy, they stole only fellow Androids and equipment useful to their cause.
"It's plausible," Natasha said. "Weyland's internal logs place their last known activity in the neighbouring New Eden Sector."
"Then I'll attend the reception and get a clearer picture."
Rosen was intrigued.
Rumour claimed the Iron Legion had once seized a critical Weyland-Yutani technology.
What that technology was remained a closely guarded secret known only to a handful of senior executives.
Chapter 108: Paradise Island
"Looks like we didn't catch up!" At a cocktail party fifteen hours later, Rosen raised an eyebrow as he watched Tang Guhong chatting happily not far away with Rich Volsworlds, the founder of Rich Interstellar Immigration Company.
Originally, Rosen had planned to come to the party and use his identity within the corporation to collaborate with this Rich Volsworlds, hoping to obtain more advanced information regarding the "Iron Legion."
However, upon arriving, he discovered that he had been beaten to the punch by Tang Guhong, a high-level executive of the corporation—the same guy Rosen had initially intended to control but failed to.
Furthermore, when Rosen prepared to take action by controlling Rich Volsworlds to counter the move, he discovered that this was yet another target he could not control.
Normally, given his status as the president of the Rich family's small company that handled dirty work, such a situation should not have occurred.
Since it was happening now, Rosen suspected the man might be an important character from some Alien spin-off or comic plotline, much like the situation with the Epsilon Space Station earlier.
This couldn't help but pique Rosen's interest even further.
"Should we just forget it then?" Natasha, dressed in an evening gown beside him, asked.
"Forget it? Of course not! Have someone investigate thoroughly and get information on all the confidants of those two. I want to know exactly what kind of agreement they reached!" Rosen said.
This was the Alien Universe, so Rosen couldn't help but suspect that their cooperation might involve more than just the Iron Legion; there was a high probability it was also related to the Aliens.
After all, Rosen hadn't forgotten that Carlo and the others had brought back an Alien egg with his help back then.
Even now, with Rosen having controlled all the human middle-management at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's regional headquarters on the Nexus, the whereabouts of that egg remained unknown.
Originally, Rosen thought the egg had been moved elsewhere.
But thinking about it now, that might not necessarily be the case.
Therefore, it was better to find out where that thing was.
After all, Rosen didn't want the situation at Epsilon to happen on the Nexus, which he already considered to be in his pocket.
The population of the Nexus was so large that if Rosenwas even slightly negligent and an Alien outbreak occurred, the scale would be incomparable to Epsilon.
Of course, with Rosen's abilities, it wasn't as if he was afraid.
However, if such a situation really occurred, it would definitely cause significant damage to the entire Nexus.
That was also something Rosen did not want to see.
"I'll get on it!" Natasha immediately agreed!
The next day, Natasha obtained more detailed information regarding Richie and Tang Guhong.
"According to the investigation, besides Richie, there are six other core members of the Rich company. They are all currently on the Space Station. Our people have been tracking and monitoring them."
"Based on the monitoring results, their next mission will be led by Richie himself, heading to Paradise Island to pick up a shipment!"
Natasha said.
"Paradise Island?" Rosen was puzzled.
"It's the most famous vacation resort in the Nidro Sector. It has beautiful scenery and a fresh environment; it's one of the Planets with the best natural conditions. It also gathers many unique local customs passed down from Earth. Well, it's similar in nature to Hawaii or Fiji on Earth," Natasha explained. "Basically, any form of entertainment humans can imagine can be found there!"
"Then what is the shipment they're picking up? Do we know?" Rosen nodded and continued to ask.
"Based on the monitoring, it's basically certain that they don't know; likely only Richie himself knows. However, I suspect the shipment they're picking up belongs to Tang Guhong. Because during the period of our investigation, Tang Guhong has already helped Richie settle all the problems caused by the loss of his three ships, and even gave the Rich company a large sum of money through corporate channels!" Natasha explained.
"I see. In other words, if we want to know firsthand what shipment Richie is picking up, we have to go to Paradise Island, right?" Rosen asked.
"Theoretically, yes!" Natasha shrugged.
"Is Planet Paradise far?" Rosen asked, rubbing his chin.
"Not too far. It's only about a five-day voyage from the Nexus; there isn't even a need for cryosleep!" Natashareplied immediately.
"That close? In that case, let's go on a vacation as well. Having seen the grandeur of the Hub Space Station and the infinity of outer space, seeing a primitive Planetuntouched by any industrial pollution might be a good choice. What do you think?" Rosen thought for a moment and asked with a smile.
"Of course, I'm looking forward to it. But should we call Yelena and the others? Otherwise, they'll definitely complain about me later!" Natasha replied with a smile.
Although she mentioned her sister Yelena, the first person who came to her mind was Wanda, Rosen's disciple.
In fact, anyone with a functioning brain could see Wanda's feelings for Rosen.
And with Natasha's understanding of Rosen, it was absolutely impossible for this guy not to sense it.
The reason he pretended not to know wasn't that he was playing hard to get; he either had some concerns or another reason.
But regardless of the reason, as long as Rosen didn't show any rejection toward Wanda, she would not choose to offend Wanda under any circumstances.
As a Black Widow from the Red Room, observing people's expressions and moods was a very important way of survival.
"That's true. Go have someone arrange a ship, and I'll go back to pick them all up!" Rosen agreed upon further thought.
He often ordered the girls around for work, so it wouldn't be right to forget them now that they were going on vacation.
Right, and Jessica—he had to bring her along too.
When he returned to the Main Universe and met with the girl privately before, she had already expressed a bit of dissatisfaction.
For Rosen's sake, she had been working diligently as an undercover agent in S.H.I.E.L.D.
Yet Rosen had traveled to two different Universes multiple times without ever bringing her; it really was a bit hard to justify.
"Alright, I'll go arrange it now. I heard earlier that the Space Station has several luxury sightseeing ships dedicated to VIPs; this is a perfect time to try them out!" Natasha agreed and said.
"We certainly can. After all, we haven't tried it on a spaceship yet!" Rosen raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this, speaking with hidden meaning.
"I don't mind, but I'm afraid your little disciple might not be too happy!" Natasha said with a light chuckle.
Why would Wanda, who always wanted to follow Rosen, choose to stay in Universe 96283 during this time? Wasn't it because she didn't want to see Rosen and Natasha acting as a couple on the Nexus?
"Go do your work!" Facing Natasha's teasing, Rosen said irritably. He then ignored the woman and opened the dark portal to return to Universe 96283.
Waiting for more chapters from WTR-Lab - AMERICAN COMIC: I HAVE ALL THE SKILLS FROM WARCRAFT III