Eva, Miko, and Amal sat in a rented hangar and stared at the broken down old corvette parked in it. Its design was clearly outdated, and almost from another era. It was probably loved long ago, but was now clearly forgotten and neglected and probably even cursed.
The thing was practically falling apart just sitting there. Its landing gear looked frail and could hardly hold the ship’s own weight. Paint was peeling all over its surface, which did little to hide the dents and scrapes all around.
It was even missing entire sections of armor - how it wasn’t completely stripped down was a total mystery.
And the design itself… not particularly the most attractive thing. It was a bit like a long oval, but slightly boxy around the edges. Although the front smoothed down nicely, the rear was bulky and looked a little
To get a better idea of how big this ship is, imagine a typical cargo van. Now picture ten of them parallel parked along the street. And if you park thirty-two of them right beside each other in a lot, that's how wide it is. And if you stack up nine of them, that's how tall it would be.
Amal slid her environmental suit’s helmet shut with a solid CLACK. Air vented out of little ports from the side with a loud FSSSH. Inside, its HUD lit up on the heavily tinted glass in front of her face. — Oxygen: 96%, stable Filter Degradation: 1% Antimicrobial Shield: Active — Amal sighed deeply as resolve set deep in her bones. After a moment of reflection, she curled an open hand into a fist. “Okay, here I go,” she said. “Wish me luck.” “Ganbare,” said Miko. Amal fired up the plas
The Spirit of Amelia blasted out of the hangar tube and out into space with ridiculous velocity. Eva’s face was etched with a wide grin as she felt gravity press her into her seat. The g-forces ebbed when the ship reached terminal velocity, and lifted completely once they left Helios’ vast gravitational pull.Eva pulled the throttle down to the minimum, idled the thrusters, and set the ship drifting lazily through space.Then she received a notification in her DI that wiped her smile right off.“Can you believe they ticketed me for speeding just now?” she said. “They sent it straight to my DI. I even got fined 10k for it - which they automatically took!”Amal giggled.“Maybe you
The Spirit of Amelia slowly descended down towards the ground and touched down on a flat patch of grass incredibly softly. Her landing gears’ legs creaked a little under her weight, but ultimately held firm.There were a few muffled CLICKS accompanied by a long HISS as the ship depressurized deep inside. Vents all around the ship expelled some of its stale air.It quickly normalized its inner atmosphere and let the crisp Venusian air slip deep inside. Every compartment and every passageway drew in the sharp scent of fresh plants, the ripe scent of human sweat, and the pungent stench of animal dung.The side door slid open into a ramp and came down towards the ground with smooth precision. Up top were the three Ravens, who laughed and chatted as they walked down the ramp and out towards a vast and busy fa
Everyone who worked at the Laertidus Farm gathered behind the house to eat lunch together, just as Sol reached its apex in the sky. Not just the farmhands, engineers, and wranglers, but anyone from the outside who just so happened to be at the farm. Goods delivery pilots, prospective clients, random solicitors, or if they had simply stopped by to say hello. All were welcome to eat.The Laertidus were always generous with their bounty, even when things were hard. And despite all of the suffering they had just gone through, they still kept their doors open to everyone.Interestingly, people were much cheerier during lunchtime. Their dour faces while working had all but disappeared - or at least had greatly receded. If there was a time to forget, this seemed to be it, even if it only lasted an hour or so per cycle.It
The huge combine harvester that was under repairs had been partially disassembled, and some of its pieces were strewn about all around it. Some were put up on shelves where they were catalogued. Others were disassembled further and cleaned thoroughly.A temporary canopy had been erected above the whole thing, to keep it somewhat sheltered from the sun and weather.Its fabric roof flapped lightly in the wind.All around the harvester itself were a number of farmhands and mechanics, all of whom were busy making adjustments, repairing, and cleaning the giant machine. A few climbed up on the monstrosity itself, and worked on its many parts while suspended in the air via hovering harnesses.Among them was Miko, who hovered around the harvester via one of her
Mack pushed his throttle all the way forward with his left hand, while his right hand squeezed the trigger on his joystick. In response, his sleek A-ranked Federation fighter shot streams of laser fire forward. Many of them slammed into his opponent - a Blue Rift Pirate - and melted layers of its armor to slag.Another burst of his guns blew through the structure underneath, and vaporized the pilot inside. The pirate fighter spun recklessly for a couple moments before it exploded into a million glowing pieces.“You’re gettin’ better, kid,” said Jackson Stone.The old man’s character appeared in Mack’s comms display. It was just like Jackson himself, but half as young and easily twice as virile.But it wasn’t just his
The dark, smoky room was filled with shadows in every corner. The only light inside came from the active terminal on a large obsidian desk. Its screen was currently occupied by a shadowy silhouette of a man, though he was scrambled and highly obscured regardless.And when the scrambled man spoke, his voice was also deeply masked and digitally altered.“So Anatol,” said the scrambled man, “how’s the family doing lately? I heard your children have been pretty busy these past few weeks, making their mark on the Federation. I keep seeing and hearing mention of them all over the ‘Casts.”Seated in front of the terminal was an old man in his 60s, his face obscured by the shadows all around the room.He smiled proudly at the mention of
The courtroom was abuzz with activity as everyone settled into their seats. At the far end of the room atop the judge’s bench sat a pale elderly man in long flowing robes. He looked wise and stern and a little bit long in the tooth.Behind him was the seal of the Federal Judiciary - a scale with a sword and shield in each of its weight pans. Both were perfectly balanced with each other.As the judge adjusted his notes and activated his terminal, so too did the court clerk just beneath and in front of his bench. The clerk began tapping away on her terminal even before proceedings officially began.On one side of the room, to the left of the judge and facing inwards was the jury box, where 12 Helios citizens settled themselves into their seats. They seemed a relatively eclectic group, and consisted of a variety