Some Thematic Background Music for this intro
GURPS
A Space Opera
The Imperialist Gov't that now runs Terra has begun to spread it's influence across the Sol system. Boasting the largest fleet known to humanity, few dare oppose the magnificent of the sheer military force. The Terran forces seek to expand humanities reach beyond the system, however access beyond the asteroid belt in Sol alone is strictly off limits to civilian and industrial vessels. ((General Idea for Terran Military Officer Uniform ))
The Gate Mechina, A massive wormhole generator that had recently come into operational ranges, hovers over Luna's orbit as a testaments to human kinds ingenuity. People from all ranges of life register with groups of ships to venture into untouched territory. Many of these end in lost vessels, tragic ends or simply dead systems. Some, however, arrive in worlds of bounty and riches. The Imperial Decree is that all registered Psi personas are granted access.
Mars, the only Gov't body strong enough to cause the Imperial Terra to pause, has most of its military might fending off pirates in the asteroid belt. Its citizens grow weary of the Terran influence on their world through the actions of the Baroness Wendy. A known Telepath and ambassador from Terra to Mars.
An out of date vessel, returning to Luna's surface station from a month salvaging operation in the Asteroid belt finally passes of its cargo to a salvage traders on its way back to mars... The crew, having spare time, stretches it legs and prepares for its next operation...
Luna Colony Hub: Styx
A place that has grown considerably in the last seven years, since the GM went up in orbit. It boasts a myriad of shops, stations, and job markets. It also is home to one of the system's largest civilian colonies that is self-sustaining from the reliance of imported goods. The Moon-folk of Luna are a proud people who stylize themselves with silver dye in their hair either full blown or simple streaks. The population is 3,500,000 and growing. The Moon-folk have a simple rule of thumb: Don't cause problems, we wont ask questions. A rule that is followed thoroughly by Terrans, Martians and Pirates alike.
The ships has landed on an exterior landing pad accessible by mag-lev. it takes 5 minutes from the pad to the center of the hub. From the hub, one can see through the observation glass above, the Gate Mechina and the vessels that move into and out of the gate.
Jack looks out the open loading dock hatch and give a wistful sigh. Another trip done and now the crew will offload and enjoy the fruits of their labour. All of them except him.
Still unsure as to who is hunting him, keeping hidden on the ship seems the best course of action. The others know someone is looking for him, and as yet have not pushed for more information. Probably why he is still with them after so many months.
He waves to the others as they prepare to enter the mag-lev to head into the port proper. He turns and heads back to his cabin.
Maybe later I can get the mats out and spar a little.., he thinks as he absently pokes at the metal encasing his hands.
Aster waved off to the others as he headed for a nearby motel. A premium shower with plenty of hot water and good soap was first on his list of needs.
Garneau stands up from the communications console, smiling. "Merci.", he relays to the comms operator one last time, as he extinguishes his cigarette, and flicks the small vac-ashtray off. "Well, well. I'll need about fifteen minutes to get ready. Don't leave without me!", he says cheerfully on the intercomm, disappearing into his quarters.
Appearing out of the room a few minutes later, Jean's put on his best-looking suit, and has shouldered a small backpack. Leaving the room, he taps the door console to close it, which the door promptly fail to do. He pushes it once more. "Merde...", he mutters, before punching the ancient console, and finally the ancient pneumatics close the door with a sad hiss. Rubbing his aching hand, he makes his way cheerfully towards the airlock. Seeing Jack already there, he smiles at the man, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "You know, monsieur Kluge, us Martians say that it's just as good to drink to remember, as it is to drink to forget. Or just to drink, generally. I'm buying!" He looks at the computer on his wrist, his fingers tapping rapidly. "Now, the tourist's guide says that there's some Venusian eatery not far from the docking site, and that it's not quite expensive... Say we go there to celebrate our vénérable vessel not falling apart on us?"
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As they travel with the mag-lev, Jean's face brightens up, as he looks up towards the Gate Mechina. I wonder whether I'd have been able to work on it. If I wasn't Martian. Or chased by the mafia... He whistles. "It is amazing what humanity can achieve when we all work together, no? What we're looking at is perhaps the greatest invention after fusion." He smiles once again, looking around for people sharing his child-like enthusiasm. "It's the next frontier for mankind! Like the Americas, the Wild West, Mars! It'd be great to go there one day." He chuckles. "As soon as I don't need to spend three hours daily doing calibrations alone on the bucket..."
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He waves back at Aster as the man leaves to find his motel. "I'll send you a ping with where we are! And bring me one of those pillow sweets!", he chuckles. "So, we might have some time for shopping and sightseeing?", he says, pulling out a cigarette from his pack and lighting it up, looking curiously around.
Thrumming in quiet, undulating waves of buzzing, APRIL's Skipbot chassis traces lazy circles over the ship's dock. "ReQUEST acKNOWledged," she reports through the commlink, "DownLOADING lOcal touRISM map."
Sixty microseconds later, there is a chirping from Aster and Jean's wrists, and a green holographic projection at face-height shows a crude three-dimensional map of the spaceport, complete with crew dots.
"Is shoppING AND SIGHTseeING the obJECTIve of this parTICular dePLANing ACtion?" she asks.
Jack smiles at Jean's enthusiasm, but shake his head.
"It's safer for everyone if I keep a low profile and stay on board. Have fun...me and APRIL will watch after the ship. Besides, I want to tinker with that new hover AFV we picked up."
Rix checked again to be sure she had her identity papers, her credit access key, her communicator, and her self-defense sonic stinger and stun wand (out of sight in her oversized bag). She was looking forward to visiting the lunar colony hub, called Styx. After dreaming of traveling in space, her first actual job as ship doctor of a falling apart salvage ship had certainly not been the glamorous adventure she imagined it would be. The ship had few creature comforts and the food was monotonous and bland. Being in space was also rather boring after the novelty wore off. She still marveled at the view of the stars in all directions, but now she longed for some good food, perhaps a tridio and a chance to sample new music.
She looked down at Trixy, her exotic companion that looked like a small saber-tooth tiger, which it essentially was. This was more than a pet, however, as Trixy was smarter than any dog or horse, even if that intelligence only rivaled an average 12-year old. She touched Trixy's furry head and held her hand there, thinking, Ready to go, Trix?
The cat looked up and Rix 'heard' in her head the animal's sweet telepathic communication, Yes-yes. Ready to explore moon-of-Terra.
Just stay close and if we get separated, activate the message program on hour collar. It will let me know where you are and I will come find you, Rix reiterated instructions she had gone over several times in the hours leading up to the planet-leave.
On her way out, she poked her head in Jack's berth. "Anything I can get for you?" Trixy looked in at Jack and rubbed her head against the edge of the entryway.
"Naw, I'm good doc...unless you can find some fresh fruit or vegetables. Could do with a nice salad or even a crisp apple! Wait up, I'm heading to the cargo hold to do some work."
Luna boasted several hotels, motels and apartment suites. The motels that popped up on Aster's map were simply the nearest. Red-Lion (it is now a motel) and The Dutchess. The Red Lion boasts better service and room, but the price is up there. $300 per guest. The Dutchess offered simple sleeping quarters but a communal bathing house...and tavern esk eating lounge at $75 a room per night. For obvsious pricing reasons, the Red Lion always seemed to have space, while the Dutchess often had a waiting list.
Across the conviently placed holo-generator strapped to jean's wrist... FOOD, GENRAL STORES, CLOTHING VENDERS, STARSHIP REPAIR, USED SHIP PARTS, WEAPON VENDERS, GADGETS AND ARMOR!, And even, The Gate Machina Registeration office.... ALl were now Jean's to have. However, he was tapped upon the shoulder.
A security officer of the hub, identified by the silver badge and grays he wore stood patiently. His eyes squinting and watering, likely from the smoke of Jean's rediculas super cigs. However, he doesnt seem dissapointed, rather the officer seems rather pleased to be in Jean's presence.
"Sir, if you please... We'd prefer you use the local tabacco products. Perhaps even subdermal release mods?" He offered, motioning toward the center shopping hub. "The people in this hub tend to frown upon the older methods of tabacco intake."
People look at Rix with her pet in a kind of Awe. Secruity personell often pause but quickly return to their routine duties either becuase a razor tooth cat is above their pay grade to deal with or becuase exotic, genetically modded pets are relatively common. Regardless, no one seems to both the good Doc.
As Rix was out for food, good music and a more lively time... The tourist traps were often right off from the landing pads and shopping centers. And yes... Games such a Tridio are about and in holo form...
Jack entered the Cargo Hold, Section 1. Currently it was pressurized and linked to Section 2, the current resting place of the groups Hover Tank. There, Jack was able to go through his practice rituals in peace.
The general populace is pretty happy. Merchants from Mars, Industrial vessels from Venus and Mercury exchanged goods and services. Vessels from the all over the inner system of Sol could be seen coming and going by simply looking upward through the Hub's specialized, transparent material that formed the dome.
After Jean gets his cabin closed, ready for a night on the town, Nedora is there glaring at him, and being about as intimidating as a puppy. The landing hadn't been the smoothest, and she'd been fighting the lack of performance ever since she'd come aboard, and slowly, but surely, her puppy glare of doom became a more and more common feature when she saw Jean. In contrast to his neatly pressed and tailored suit, Nedora is in an overly large purple hoodie with a highly stylized kitty face in white on the front. The collar of her khaki t-shirt could be seen peeking out from the neck of the hoodie, and a pair of dark-gray cargo pants that were obviously too long and wide for her completed the disheveled outfit. Needless to say, her short hair hadn't see a comb either.
Before the mechanic can say a word, she holds up a tablet with a short message in 8 em letters.
Get better engines!
>:(
Jean turns around, then suddenly jumps as he sees Nedora in front of him. "Merde!", he shouts, then raises his hands in the air apologetically. "Pardon, kid.", he says with a warm smile, trying to avoid her usual reaction when he swore. "You startled me!" Reading the message, he smiles. "I'll do my best. Although... you can come along as well! Be a good opportunity to see some new sights, meet some new people, eat something fresh?" He smiles. "Buy some new clothes too, I suppose?", he adds hopefully, yet somewhat tiredly.
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Jean turns around, surprised by the guard. "Pardon, monsieur.", he says with the smile of someone caught doing something wrong. "Of course, of course!", he says hastily, putting the cigarette in a small device in his pocket. "You know, smoking is a lost art. Having a small time of peace and quiet, doing learned motions while clearing your head... Might recommend some classical Russian literature, makes you understand it better!", he shares. "Sorry, once more.", he says, leaving towards the shopping hub.
He taps his wrist to connect to the crew. "I'm in the shopping hub, anyone want anything?" His gaze is drawn by a sign, Parker's Slightly Used Spaceship's, and raising a curious eyebrow, he walks in. "Hello!", he greets the vendor. "I think I'm just browsing right now, but I'm looking to see what kind of gear you've got. Frankly, the first thing on my radar would be sensors, pardon the pun. We're working with Rolandson-Steyr Sens-B and C." He gives a nervous smile as he mentions the seventy-year old model of the bankrupted company. "Don't suppose there's any museums of comms equipment around that want them? That, and I'll take a look at the engines, too. I promised the pilot."
If Jean is hoping to avoid Nedora's usual reaction, he is sorely disappointed when she reaches up and flicks him on the nose. Her expression lightens up when he promises to do his best, though she looks away nervously when he mentions joining him, and misses the tone of his voice when he mentioned buying new clothes.
"I-- uh..." the young woman squirms a little bit as she thinks, well panics really, and begins to wring her hands. Jean had only seen her like this when that team of inspectors had come to make sure the ship was actually space worthy, though there was always that painful shyness that always seemed to crop up whenever more than two of the crew was around.
As the ship bumps onto the landing pad at Styx moonbase, Terra wonders for the millionth time what she's doing here. Altho, in reality, she has nowhere better to be. At least the crew treats her like an adult, unlike the rest of the general population, who can't see past her size and age to recognize the powerful psionic that she is.
She leaves the ship with Jean, Aster, Rix (and maybe Nedora?). She's wearing what she always wears, her bioplas bodysuit, but tricked-out with Varicloth, so the color of her "shirt" and "pants" changes from day-to-day. A purse holds her comm unit and stun pistol.
"Hey, doc, you mind if I tag along? A tridio sounds good to me..." she says, dropping her guard for a moment and allowing herself to sound a little like the child she still is. She'd grown fond of Trix, mostly because the animal accepted her just as she was.
A small hesitation is all Jean needs, as he gently nudges Nedora on the shoulder, then grins. "Come on! I'll get you an ice cream! You can look at engines for yourself. It'll be fun." He grabs her by the hand, and almost drags her to the airlock.
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At the trader, Jean scratches his beard, deep in thought, as he analyses the gear available.
"Hm. I might be able to do something with this... The reliability is notoriously horrid on those ones, but you can't argue with their raw power...", he says, sighting an old Bar-Sum CL-13, an out-of-date Martian scanner. "Plus, if we cash in for some better power converters and I add a monitoring system, we might even get get it working as good as it should.", he shares his analysis with Nedora, assuming the girl understood enough. "Anyway, I say we get them. We'll pop back tomorrow and pick the things up!", he says to the merchant, then nudges Nedora out. "Let's go get that ice cream. You like pistacchio?", he asks, reflexively pulling out a cigarette, then putting it back as he remembers the rules. Tapping his wrist, he sends a message to the doctor. "Hey doc! Heard you were out for some trids. Me and Nedora are just shopping now, but the guide's saying there's a 'Fast and Furious 87: Spinning Rims in the Rim' in about an hour and a half. Interested?"
Nedora stumbles a few steps before getting her feet back under her. She doesn't look at Jean as she replies, "ice cream sounds nice."
Nedora spends most of her time hiding behind Jean while shopping about. She'd pulled the hood of her hoodie low over her head before the two of them had stepped on to the mag-lev going from the docking bays to the main parts of the city. She had to admit getting out of the ship was nice, but she was also acutely aware of how many people were around.
As they browse the parts and picked-over wrecks, Jean's explanations and analyses go right over her head. It had happened more than a few times since she'd come aboard. Dr. Rix and Jean were smart, very smart, and they knew a lot about a bunch of different things. Nedora, on the other hand, wasn't so smart, and every time one of them went into some explanation of something, Nedora couldn't help but feel that her former handlers were right.
Great, more stuff I'm too stupid to know.
As Jean went on about some sort of power converter, Nedora wilted and shuffled to hide in his shadow more. She hardly paid any attention to what was going on until Jean nudged her.
"Let's get that ice cream. You like pistacchio?"
Nedora perked up a little at that.
"Is there a place that sells Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Carnage?"
Although this communications channels are all abuzz with life some encrypted messages shift through space from one vessel to another. One such message does arrive to the ships communications. A small blinking light pulses slowly on the bridge from one of the consoles (Station 1).
Off the bat, the file is a holo-vid. Its origin is from the Martian moon of Phobos. Thought the exact location is likely within the file. APRIL is aware of this file being received.
After finishing his meditation, Jack works the kinks out with a few katas. Still surprised at his abilities, he works his way through several karate routines. While he has a few kicks, most of his offensive strikes are delivered by fist.
After an hour or so, he takes a break, leaning against the hover tank while he sips cool water from a colourful cup Nedora gave him when he first joined the group.
Jean smiles, shaking his head. "Sure there is. I like the less... flamboyant ones. Though I might treat myself to a Vanilla Mint, the food on the ship's pretty... terrible. Which reminds me, I should pick up some more fine rations. The last attempt at escargot was surprisingly good, though. Don't know why you didn't want to try." He remembers. "Right, the wine."
He whistles a merry tune as they walk in the trading hub, sending a smile towards a lovely lady with silver hair. "So, there should be a patisserie nearby." Suddenly, his wrist pings with a message, regarding the encrypted file. "Huh. APRIL, think you can give me a hand with that?", he asks enthusiastically, the cake store disappearing from his mind for a moment.
For the group currently on the station and about exploring the hub's finery, A tension has begun to fill the atmosphere. People have begun lower their voices. Its almost unnerving. This place is normally a constantly active. It never truly sleeps. Trixy doesn't seem to notice.
Several screens located on walls, holoweb projectors of all sorts, screens attached to towers...show an image of a large vessel approaching the station. Its gray hull accented with crimson red paint works and lighting to match. One of the largest ships in the Military (SM 14).
Whispers grow from tensed confusion to numbing concern.
...
"Hey, doc, you mind if I tag along? A tridio sounds good to me..." she says, dropping her guard for a moment and allowing herself to sound a little like the child she still is. She'd grown fond of Trix, mostly because the animal accepted her just as she was.
"Of course," Rix replied, "Happy for the company."
Rix spoke to her personal assistant app in her glasses. "To do list, edit, add, quote fresh fruit or vegetable salad for Jack end-quote end-edit hide."
In her glasses, a text list appeared showing the added item and then disappeared.
As Rix and Terra began to amble toward the exit port, Jack tagged along. Rix had been keeping an eye on him, unsure what to make of his arriving on the ship as a stowaway and generally hiding from the authorities. As a physician, Rix tried to always separate a person's humanity and her duty to protect life of all people from her estimate of a person's general worth and value to society. She wondered if Jack might be a child molester or a serial killer or if he was wanted for something relatively harmless. The prince and his servants had their own agendas and who knew what might cause someone to be on their BM-list?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a message in her eyeglass earpiece from April, asking about the objectives of their excursion. "Shopping, entertainment, enjoying the feel of real gravity, not the kind that tends to fluctuate and make you ... well--make me toss my samosas. Rix out," she said. She found it very hard to communicate with a machine, particularly one that seems to have a weird sense of humor and other ticks. She wasn't even that comfortable with people who had loaded themselves with cybernetic implants, let alone something that was completely artificial, although it presented interesting philosophical discussion material.
Up ahead she could see Jean and Ned already heading down the passage connecting the spaceport berth with the spaceport community. Jean was certainly charming and very smart, but she had not found herself fantasizing about him (or anyone for that matter). She had not been that interested in romance when on Terra, but in space, with so many other new things to learn and adjust to, the idea of any kind of relationship other than functional and working seemed out of the question.
Ned was something else entirely. Genetic experiment or something. She had more quirks than the entire cast of "Spacing Out and Loving It." She sometimes felt sorry for her, but could not bring herself to attempt much in the way of becoming friends. That one would take time.
She glanced back and then forward to see if Aster was coming or had already left. He was a bit of a mystery too. Pleasant enough. He had so many stories of weird things happening to him that either he was a pathological liar or just very lucky and unlucky at the same time. That alone made her curious, so she sent him a message. "Aster--April can track us. Have her send you direction to where we are and we can enjoy a show or maybe a Multi-user VR adventure."
Rix returned focus to her companion, Terra. "Before we see what's showing, let's take a gawk at the Gate. I hope we eventually get to use it to get to someplace new." Rix liked Terra. She seemed gentle and decent, with some unpleasant things in her past. Plus Trixy liked her.
Trixy was trotting along next to Terra and Rix. She was entranced with so many new sights and smells. But she was good and did not go dashing off to get a closer look at anything. From time to time, she would rub against Rix's ankles and send a thought question at her, asking about whatever had just intrigued her.
Trixy did not notice it, but Rix began to see a change in behavior settling over the crowds of people along the walkway they were on. Some kind of spaceship seemed to be approaching and the image preempted whatever adverts were active on many of the public screens and holo projectors. "Terra, let's see what this is," Rix suggested and began to walk toward the nearest news screen while sending a message to April: "What's with this ship? Rix out."
The ship is the capital vessel of Baron Silus, Commander of the Kinetisist Armada. It's roughly 600 yards long from front to rear. roughly half of that for width. It boasts no fighter hanger despite it size, though it does house several landing craft. Its armaments include Laser Batteries and several launchers that can be refit.
Passive Sensors: Powered by 4 Antimatter Reactors, radiation levels suggest that they are only operating at half capacity. Its exhaustive radiation shows highly focused hydrogen burn.
"heads UP everybodY," April's holographic face and voice again blurts from the party's wrists. "a CAPITAL ship has arRIVED. Baron SILus, of the KinetiCIST arMADa."
"It was because they were snails,' Nedora corrected with a pout on her face and her arms folded across her chest as they continue along. She keeps her eyes peeled for an ice cream parlor, though.
Then the noise of the crowd, the general feeling that everything was swell, vanished. Nedora didn't even notice that Jean had been distracted from getting ice cream, and instead was feeling the mood of the crowd turn nervous. She huddled closer to him, using the closeness to help keep her from panicking.
She pushes the sleeve of her hoodie up revealing the bracer that held a touchscreen printed right into it's tough fabric. Quickly, she patched into the net and began looking for what was causing the anxiety around her.
She found it by looking at one of the largest ships in fleet floating above her in the eternal night sky of vacuum.
"Jean, sh-should we go back," she asks in a small, frightened voice, then getting APRIL's message, adds, "Can we please go back?"
A woman of modest figure with other figures hazy in the background has a bruised a roughed up look about her. A black eye, a cracked lip and several burns about her face and arms. He's holding her sides and wincing from pain, tears in her unclosed eye. Her voice sounds both apologetic and terrified.
"To the Turing... I'm sorry to deliver this at such short notice, but your ship was the only one I could reliab-- *static from damage*
---Silus' forces are on the way to the Luna hub...---*Static from damage*
---He's going to Purge the---everyone should eva---We're sorry!
The message cuts out as if jammed from a near by source. The origin of the message was seemingly from Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.
Due to April's success: access keys for landing permission at a research lab on phobos were found buried in code. According to the co-ordnates, its doesn't exist publically. or if it did, from the image, it may not now.
"Sacre...", Jean mutters, nodding rapidly in approvement. He grabs Nedora's arm and runs towards the mag-lev, shouldering his backpack on the run. "We need to leave, now!", he taps his ear. And I should probably tell APRIL to give us a minute to get to the mag-lev first, rather than everyone else here., he thinks, but ignores his baser instincts. "Everyone, get to a cab or a mag-lev, we're leaving ASAP!", he relays, narrowly dodging a passerby running in the other direction. "If there's someone looking for a passage around the landing pad, let them in, and we'll sort things out later!"
Nedora nearly falls over, but her agility shows as she gets her feet under her and manage to keep pace with Jean despite her legs being a good bit shorter than his.
"Wh--what are we going to do?!"
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Despite the horror of the situation, Jean turns towards Nedora, offering her a smile. "Run, for now.", he says, chuckling. Inside, he does his best to keep calm and logical, and to remain such on the outside.
"Yeah okay, but what about after that? We're in a rustbucket that I can barely fly and we're supposed to outrun warships?"
Slightly later, APRIL's voice appears again—this time without a visible hologram, and wired directly into the HUDs of anyone wearing one.
"a slight TACtical upDATE. I have transLATED the interCEPTed DIStress call. it appears THAT this BARon siLAS may BE interESTed in TERMINATING a sigNIFICant PORtion of this STATION's popuLATION. EvacuATION rhymes with the preVIOUS two WORDS and is ALSO my perSONal recommendATION."
And she flies back into the cargo bay, begins downloading her consciousness into the ship's main computers, shifting into piloting mode and preparing to lift off as soon as the last crew member reaches the ship.
Fortunately, Rix, Terra, and Trixy had not gotten very far before Jean gave the order to return to the ship. Rix sighed, hoping to learn more from the news monitor. She read the messages on her video glasses and heard Jean through the earpiece. She glanced at Terra as she reached down to touch Trixy's fur. "Looks like leave is canceled. Let's get back." Her words also translate into Trixy's mind and the cat's tail stands up as she senses the urgency in Rix.
And, while she waits for the others to return to the ship, APRIL begins coding a quick and dirty virus that—she hopes—should be able to disrupt a number of the Luna base's planetary sensors, indicating a possible earthquake or asteroid of some sort that might trigger an evacuation warning. If a million people fled into space for an hour or two, she reasoned, that would give the Turing plenty of cover to escape, as well as maybe saving a few lives.
Upon hearing the news from APRIL, Jack lowers the ships cargo hatch and heads out into the docking area. He begins to load anything at hand onto the ship...boxes, bags, entire seacans...whatever he can move he brings on board.
Confused by all the incoming messages, but upon hearing the words "terminating" and "evacuation", Terra hurries back to the ship as fast as possible, with Rix and Trix.
Upon hearing April's second tranmission, Rix begins to run. "This makes no sense. Why would ... " She's speaking more to herself than Terra, but the growing sense of panic among the population along the path back to the ship takes all Rix's focus and energy. She takes care not to outrun Terra while calling instructions to Trixy to keep her moving with them. She has taught the animal some simple command words for situations like this when she can't make physical contact to communicate telepathically.
Aster had just about finished his negotiations for a partial day at the Red-Lion when the call came in to return to ship.
Sighing, I'm sorry, an emergency has come up. I need to get back to my ship.
Aster starts hurrying back to the docking bay. I'm returning now, ETA 5.
The lunar colony is home to 3.5 million people.
It has a simple code of conduct: don't cause trouble we don't ask.
It is often at odds with the terran gov'ts due to its staunch policies on 'scanning' people. They don't scan for bio,cyber, or psionic persons.
Further more, its self sustaining and financially independent from terra. Acting as its own gov't in practice.
The trade hub is also the largest supplier of out-of-system goods ranging from animals, crystals, to unique otherworldly 'objects'.
The whispers of the populace range from "Terra's finally making its move..." To "...Why is he here?" and "We should be ready to leave."
The general feeling is still anxiety/nervousness.
The viewing screens have a small disclaimer along the bottom: "Please don't panic, you are safe we're you are at. However we have been asked to lock down the landing pads. No new craft are currently allowed entry, no craft may leave. Please don't panic."
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Rix checks her bag to make sure she has her towel.
Jean arrives at the mag-lev station, then groans as he sees the three minute ETA on the message board. Could've been worse. Not much, but still worse. He stops to take a breather, making sure Nedora hasn't been lost in the crowds. "I'll be able to get us out, but we're looking at the scanners, old bucket like the Turing is going to shine right through... Are there ships leaving?", he asks the crew still on board, finally getting the chance to light up a cigarette. He does so, the acrid smoke filling his lungs. I'd be damned if they see that as a problem. He sees a nervous man standing nearby, offering a piece as well. "Well, so much for Tortuga, no?", he says somberly. You'd be thinking that after Mars, they'd have learned their lesson.
He looks at Nedora, patting the girl lightly on the shoulder. "It's alright, kid. Need to keep a clear head." He chuckles. "On the bright side, I'm not going to drag you in any clothing stores."