Toxicity (FT-Closed)

[Idoa]

“Oh its beautiful.” came one of the murmured voices of a female of the occupants in the shuttle. The unknown guest was referring to the large station the shuttle was headed for, Sojourn Station.
A large station in the Beta System, the Sojourn Station was a large vacation getaway for the citizens of the United Systems of Usidia. It had been painstakingly created by multiple conglomerates as a way to give their executives and workers a chance to relax, financial trouble saw the station sold off to multiple investment groups until Triad Unlimited acquired it and made the station open to everyone from anywhere in the galaxy that knew about the station and could pay their relatively cheap prices.

Sojourn Station is not only an engineering feat, it is a marvel of science and thinking. Multiple biomes can be found throughout the separated levels of the station so that any visitor can truly enjoy their stay without worrying about local customs and laws. From snowy peaks ideal for skiing, to tropical getaways (minus the creatures and diseases that can kill a person in minutes) to beautiful lush island paradises and everything in between that a person could desire to visit without worrying about the little things that ruin vacations. After being opened to everyone, Sojourn station has grown and thrived, offering five star amenities for three star prices.

The defense of the station was high priority as well, at least the exterior, multiple private military contractor Lexington and Concorde gunboats patrolled the area around the station in case pirates or anyone else foolish enough to try and attack Sojourn thinking it would be a lucrative target. Inside the security is more hands off however, after an initial scan to ensure a guest hasn’t brought any explosives or firearms (both of which are forbidden), after that the security was mostly invisible, camera drones hovered around unseen, and security personnel was entirely undercover until a major event happened, if such a situation became such that uncover guards couldn’t handle it an Incident Response Squad would deploy and handle the situation from there.

All in all the Sojourn Station was designed to be the ultimate vacation for everyone.

The exterior of the station was artistically designed as well, the long tube was colored an elegant ivory, along with a multitude of classical architecture flairs that broke up the monotony of what normally would have been a lackluster exterior

As the shuttle neared the station it began to decelerate before turning sideways, a long tube extended from the station and linked up with the shuttle, after a few moments the doors on the shuttle slid open to reveal a walkway that the passengers of the shuttle walked slowly down towards the station, most of the shuttles occupants were there for a nice relaxing stay to help wash away the worries of life, others were there for more...sinister intentions.

[Kostemetsia]

Marina stepped aside from the airlock and took a moment to breathe in the air.

She'd read the briefing material, but it didn't do Sojourn Station justice. From a military perspective, this station would have been called an outside-context entity: outside of the experience, the existential context, of her or just about anybody else. She'd heard reports that the Navy had run into some pretty exotic stuff – but it had been exotic in the sense of 'quartz obelisks of unknown origin'. It had been interesting, and it had made her feel that eerie little tension in the back of her neck that she got when something played with her brain, but this gave her prom night nerves.

Her luggage rolled up beside her. With only two duffel bags full of clothing, she hoped she'd come prepared enough for all the environments. The team back at Cultural simply couldn't fund her staying here very long, so her exploration had to be all the more diverse for that. Privately, she thought that even if she spent every waking hour sprinting to the most interesting places she could find, it would take years of analysis to even figure out the basics of this station.

She stopped herself fidgeting with her wallet, and with an effort she put it back in her pocket. Cultural had given her documents which were mostly truthful, aside from claiming that she worked as an executive assistant at SinclairTyler. She didn't feel right having any lies on her ID, but as a cultural observer, having a card that would tell the people she was observing that she was observing would have defeated the whole point. At least that was how administration felt. At least they hadn't asked her to carry a gun.

Squaring her shoulders, and hoping she looked sufficiently wide-eyed, she looked around for someone to tell her where she could go.

[The Fedral Union]

(Taggy for post!)

[BLACKGRUE]

(Tag)

[Blackgrue Toxin cult]

Slowly approaching Sojourn Station slowly moving into position was an unarmed YY-300 class liquid transport freighter. Once a common sight in the Blackgrue Civilian Navy, these old dilapidated freighters moved with a slow lumbering pace, not having powerful engines to change velocity quickly. The captain coughed slightly as his lungs, green and rotting from exposure to highly toxic chemicals, struggled to get the oxygen that his brain in some attempt at normality required. This particular captain didn't care much about the cough, the mutations that came with it were signs of the glorious toxic nirvana that awaits him. This captain called himself Brother Void.

Void strained up to look at the various Cathode-ray tube monitors above his chair with all three of his eyes for information on the local security fleet and coughed again, coughing up some brown-tinted blood. If he wished to undergo the metamorphosis into a priest of plagues he had to succeed on this mission... if not his body will be unable to take the strain of living any longer. The ship has been stripped of all weapons and other hostile looking devices, primarily appearing to be completely civilian in nature, though her cargo holds were filled to the brim with compounds that individually would be harmless... together however will show this station the glory and love of Toxins. Void waved his hand to a woman at the helm, coughed twice and croaked "Tell them, as we planned."

The woman was barely affected by the toxins, some would consider her lucky but being raised on Red-dome among the cult (and barely leaving before her homeworld was cleansed by Blackgrue Viraemia shock-troops) has given her a bit of an inferiority complex and a need to prove herself.. She was Sister Ebony, matching her coal-black skin. "Aye sir." She said professionally and hailed the station's traffic control system. "This is Freighter Brown Dwarf, Socialist Technocratic Union of Blackgrue civilian fleet. Requesting permission to dock to give our crew some much-needed R-and-R." Her voice didn't have any hint of unsincerity, she was an infiltrator. If not for some lesions on her right side and a somewhat painful third kidney which would show on a medical scanner her humanity was untainted by the toxins the whole cult lived in.

Brother Void meanwhile simply bathed in the weak radiation coming from the glowing green monitors above his chair, waiting for a reply and to give his next order.

[Neo ORB]

It had been over twelve years since the start of the grand selection of the Nare, ten thousand young women traveled through the stars, some had met their destiny's had found love and settled down with no intention of ever returning to their long distant homeworld. Others had been sent into battle or experimented on after being found by other civilizations and empires who saw only the unique military power of the Novarrc's and have since long passed away while others had survived and been broken into killing machines.
But this is not their story, no this was the story of Ta'lace a young Novaarcian woman at the age of 62 (Appearance wise: 18) who had crashed landed onto a unknown planet, entered fealty with one of the high political figures and had been rewarded for years of service with a strange thing called vacation.
This is the adventure of Ta'lace aboard Sojourn Station and what had ensue those fateful days during her first vacation abroad.



The shuttle windows showed the planet side where Ta'lace a Novaarc was sitting. Now Novaarcs weren't human, but they did resemble them in basic shape. Ta'Lace in fact stood at 5'3", was Caucasian, and sported light green iris's, However the resemblance ended there as Novvarcs one of the first species classification of "The Nare" had two large wings growing from their backs. these wings which had been folded tightly along her back and sides where a light green and blue and her hair had also adorned this characteristic as well. Her hair however was kept in a bun tied at the base of her skull with a small hair rod holding it together. She wore a small black suit which held another suit of skin tight clothing resembling bandages beneath.

As for accessory's, her right ear had been pierced and a small earring phone had been placed which look like jewariy, a small fashionable black collar was on her neck which was a microphone and translator since the Novaarcian language didn't use words but sounds and music like a songbird and orchestra combined which for the first few years of her fealty had made communication difficult until she had eventually learned and transcribed her language into something that could custom made to translate for her and finally on her right arm was a bar coded tattoo which had been placed onto her showing that she was a "special classification" of her adopted race, it also contained her travel documents, medical info, bank numbers, anything and everything she could possibly need which was quite handy in not a little retro.

Now as the shuttle started to decelerate, turn and dock onto the station a small voice charmed overhead.
"Shuttle 259-AZD-42 Express, flown by Triad Unlimited.ltd, is now docking to the station, please remain seated until the line is connected, thank you for flying with Triad Unlimited, please enjoy your stay at Sojourn Station."

within moments a clerk made various motions and spoke telling passenger that it was safe to disembark, As Ta'lace undid her belt and got up a small hand grabbed at her wing and pulled, her face contorted momentarily before slowly turning towards a mother and her children who looked at Ta'lace with expecting eyes. The mother saw this and apologized profusely, but Ta'lace simple waved it off and smiled before gentility removing the child's hand from her wing before pulling out a few feathers of her feathers and handing them to the mother to keep for herself and her children. The mother was surprised and frozen in place as her children tried to reach to grab the feathers from her hand, as Ta'lace simply reached into the overhead compartment grabbed her small bag, as she walked away she could hear children giggling in delight as the mother spoke a thank you before hurrying to grab her family's things, and getting them off the shuttle.

As Ta'lace floated through the connecting tunnel she lightly rubbed her wing where she had pulled the feathers out, the area was lightly swelling, and a few droplets of blood soaked into her other feathers, but he simply refolded her wing and entered the airlock where artificial gravity lightly pulled her down to the floor, in front of her was a woman, she had two duffel bags and looked confused to what to do as her eyes were wide open, although in the same situation Ta'lace lightly smiled and then tapped the lady on the shoulder and spoke forgetting to turn on her translator, however the notes and musical sound she spoke were friendly and warm in tone.
"Hey there, stop looking so worried, I don't know where your headed, but this place is a paradise right? have some fun and relax ".
and then as quickly as she had spoke and smiled, Ta'lace walked forward and left the woman behind her to go look for the arrivals of the station to check in for her arrival.

[The Fedral Union]

Enroute


The Eight hundred and fifty meter long ship , with its slender and angled form drove its iconic looking form through the infinite vicissitudes that made up hyperspace. The normally drab gray plated hull; was engulfed in an angelic aura of sorts ; a cornucopia of colors cascaded over the ship; the holo-vid windows that had been so conviviality fed by the extremal sensors displayed this intricate dance that seemed to fade in to hyper space behind the large ship as is traveled alone through the vast and infinite dimension so many Terran and by extension GESO ships had trekked through before. Liliana Urion; stood in the observation desk, to the right of her a large black metallic conference table lined with chains and AI interfaces amongst other technologies.

Urion was proud that she had attained the notoriety within star command to be offered the command of the fleets newest and most advanced ship. The TAS Republic. Some in the senate questioned why one of the most powerful ships in the galaxy and the flag ship of the Terran fleet baring the dual responsibility of representing GESO and the Terran Alliance had been dispatched to such a distant place in the galaxy. Many had dismissed their concerns with the remittance of paranoia and suspicion that members of some hostile region of the galaxy where a much more significant threat than they really were.


Urion; didn't care much for the proverbial political football back home, out here at lest she was in theory free to do as she wished along as they conformed to star command and international guidelines. She was a short furred ; lithe yet tall female with long black hair and blue eyes . She cupped a mug of Tyrian (Tyre-ian) coffee in her fuzzy palms. Then moved it slowly up to her supple lips and gave it a satisfying yet cautious sip followed by a content, sigh the fabricator had made the the drink to her liking. Urion though often got board with all the perfections in the foods and many of ideals that were subtly hidden as an undertone in Terran society. The Angelic hum and pulsing high pitched streams of energy could barely be heard resonating through the sleek and slender corridor of the ship nor was any movement felt from any direction.


=Captain Urion, I hope I'm not disturbing you too much ehrm?=

Urion glanced at that voice, it was republic himself; taking the form of a humanoid male in a black uniform with a gold trim that mirrored Urion's uniform. The only Difference was that the AI had a silver star with a chevron over it while Urion had a silver star with a set of four chevrons running down each of her epaulette's and pointing at her own star.

=Not at all republic; I was just enjoying … well Eternity..=

The AI nodded he smirked a bit; being in his hard light photoform he could interact with most any normal matter and seemed as real was Urion. Sagittarius didn't dance around the point; certain orders had come down from the chair. They were so recent however he doubted the captain had a chance to review them.

=Weather this domain of space is infinite or not, I wouldn't even know even my superluminal processing has its limits. At any rate captain; I've relayed recent orders to your personal holo consoles. I just thought I'd come by to make sure you got the message,, Amongst other things.=

Urion wasn't surprised; after all the flag ship of the Terran fleet its pride outfitted for a multitude not limited to diplomacy, combat and exploration wouldn't have just been pulled from more active zones for little reason, Yet why this far out; it had taken four days at their speed and would have been much longer had they not studied the random anomaly or two on the way. It seemed to be devoid of any significance power.. So after a second or two of questioning herself she bit the bullet so to speak and asked the ship bluntly just as a three dimensional datalink vid complete with text popped up on the center of the table


=”Interesting; but nothing special. We've been sent this far off the beaten path just look for some missing cargo.. / then with surprise , realized as the vid played and the text scrolled passed/

Well; this makes it all sorts of interesting, but I really wish they wouldn't send us on these paper work run. How the hell did they even get data about this sector, let alone narrow it down to a handful of systems..=


The AI genuinely shrugged; he may have had some of the most powerful computer components in the universe but wasn't omnipotent. The holo vid changed to a sector view, a blue path and a silhouette of their slender ship denoted their relative speed toward the outside of a backwater system marked out.

=The OSS has ts ways, Other than some passive scans I've not taken any active sensor readings. And our hyper spatial course has been rendered erratic.. at least to any FTL hunters out there by spatial shuttles.=

Hyperspace was an interesting place, so many things could be done there; so many tricks could be pulled. It was where the fundamental forces of the universe and other theorized universe came from. It was a chaotic soup of planackscale fluctuations and random sparks of energy or expansions of mini-verses. The Terran's had so many knowledge and technology but even they had their limits of understanding. Would they ever understand the complexities of infinity? They still struggled with the meaning of life for galaxies sake, hyperspace just made that question much more complex.


=So we're flying on spatial echos and old light lag techniques to tell if we're walking in to a trap or not.. Well this is getting better already; as soon as you can engage the cloaking and those amplitude randomized modulated sensors we've got .. Do.. So. In the mean time I've got to get to the CIC, lets hope we're not going to get in to the middle of wreck.

Republic nodded; why biologicals had to tell him what he intended to do twice was beyond him; but being passed the point of singularity in that infinite and vast mind of his. He took an odd comfort in finding that non AI's couldn't understand the multitude and nearly infinite types of processes occurring in his core.

TAS Republic SSCX1 CIC

Captain Urion nodded to her first officer, the half furred Terran captain flashed a quick smile to that Sohjinian (anthromorphic orca) that had taken a seat next to the command chair. She folded her hands upon her lap, and calmly looked forth again out in to hyperspace, Her first officer’s name was simple Veau; the rest of his name would have taken several hours to pronounced so for obvious reasons it was shortened.

=“We're about to try to track some cargo down; or at leas Thar’s what GRF and Star command say; Commander Veau; looks like our boring cruise just turned in to a dull search. Urion glanced to the AI who nodded. Various officers placed their their hands upon groves that were placed around their consoles, Veau and Urion did this as well, letting their hands settle in to them. They closed their eyes letting an alien yet warm presence enter various limited spaces within their minds. Republic vast and powerful network was now slowly intertwining with the minds of her command crew. In their minds they saw flashes of data, pages upon page; indescribable images of space and hyperspace to the smallest component level of the universe around them itsef. The rush passed quickly and then they began to converse in a limited group mind,.

=Cloaking engaged, AMP and Field mod informers online; signal randomization egged.. We're a few moments out ; I'm going to jump us over the highest energy source in that system. The star. ./ He was cut off as Veau posed a question, but before the Sohjianian could speak Republic said./

I know your people worry so much, but its just a stellar phenom on; besides our hull and SIF would be more than enough to handle the strain.. =

Veau quieted down; normally a Terran ship under no cloak would be less careful due to the fact that its shielding was more than adequate to the task of sitting over a multimillion kelvin burning ball of fusion. But cloaking devices as they are and Dimensional Cores as they were; had a significant issue the power draw. The cloak was making an inherent change the mass of the ship this ,combined with the Hindenburg system that phase shifted the state of the ship and quite literally the reality of space itself; meant that not only the complex shields of the ships would be off line but that also weapon systems would be hampered and neigh useless. This was to fool even the most advanced sensors and made use of extensive the meta-material coated plating atop the neutronic armor to superimpose mundane reading of standard spatial activity.

All this technology wasn't cheap of course; nothing on this scale was. And indeed this prototype and thus first ship of its class had taken a decade to build; and twice as long to design. The UTA would not be happy loosing her; and Urion was going to do everything in her power to keep the ship in on piece. The Terran's were known for a few things but one of the most famous abilites they tended to exhibit was resourcefulness in the form of a neigh on Macgyverism.


=Sensors to full, keep the frequenters erratic and bounce our hyper spatial and sub atomic structural scans off of any magnetospheres..=


Republic glared for a moment then sighed.

=You love doing this the hard way don't you..=

Urion quipped back and shifted in her chair.

=Better safe than sorry, cone we get some parliamentary data; I think its safe to open a micro wormhole to get more up close and personal readings.. If they don't get wise then we have intel..=

Republic was mute; data of all kinds they could possibly in funneled in to the systems powerful AI system, and flashed once ore inside the head of the officers as; images and complex variables.

The ship burst out out of hyperspace not in the usual violent way but in a way that simulated a solar flair; stars were natural weak points for rosen bridges and white holes to form and be designed. What was spat out of that odd portal that flared out in fraction of a second was.. Seemingly nothing. The Republic had long shimmered out of existance the flames and flares of that star they were now over lapping at them; to no avail as they "didn't exist"

The Terran’s weren’t a warlike people; they detested fighting considering abhorrent and bellow most evolved races; they much would rather co-operate but this did not mean they were toothless. Oh far from it their past was filled with predatory and advanced societies. They did not , nor wanted to fight for “land” for “space”.. If they fought it would be a fight of ideals or of defense ; but many underestimate the zeal, the courage and the utter conviction they; humans or not would resort too if pushed. Yet Unlike most minor powers; the Terrans would unless it was good of all life in the universe resort to a policy of extermination.. Few made it on that list and the “Ta'nar” were one. Yet one thing came out of the puppetry and mechanization of those “gods”. They created the very force that could bring them to their knees and end a threat to all life. A force that helped form an organization of more than 32 powers working for peace and unity, standing as centurion's to the galaxy looking over its saftey.

Yes, they failed riding the tigers back but spawned ideas that relied upon he inventiveness and faith of every spirit sapient kind to overcome and reject any so called false gods.

[Kostemetsia]

Someone tapped Marina on the shoulder, and she jumped, jolted out of her reverie.

She turned to face someone beguiling. A girl. White, short, green eyes. Green and blue hair in a bun. Black suit. Wings. Wings. That was new. They looked organic. She'd never seen a human with real wings before. Human? Instinctively, she sent a signal to the active sensor array in her pendant to perform an initial scan.

The initial results were unfamiliar, but she didn't need the active sensor array to tell her that, as the young woman opened her mouth and … sang. She didn't perform, but to Marina it sounded like birdsong, except prettier. She unconsciously reached up to touch her own throat. She didn't even think her own vocal apparatus could make sounds like that.

The artificial sensing algorithms concluded the woman was either an alien, or a human so heavily modified as to be biologically unrecognisable. Marina automatically approved the creation of a new species file, feeling a frisson of excitement. This was a coup! To run into someone so markedly different, so soon after her arrival! And, come to think of it … the first such person she'd ever actually met. She'd read the files, of course, hungrily devoured every xenology and xenobiology article which had come across the divisional PST array – but beauty was in motion.

Speaking of – as the songbird walked away, Marina broke from her reverie. Not only was she thoroughly interesting, she seemed to be moving with purpose, and if she was headed for arrivals, it was a purpose Marina shared. With her luggage rolling along after her, Marina hurried after the winged woman. “Wait a moment, please … !”

[Idoa]

Shuttle

Jeff Warren sat at his post bored, his job was one of repetitiveness and apathy. Things hadn’t been like this for Jeff once. Once upon a time he had dreams and aspirations, like so many others though reality set in for Jeff, his dreams became unreachable, his aspirations unattainable. At first he had felt fortunate to land a job on Sojourn Station. Being able to work aboard a station that catered to multiple paradises seemed like just maybe a dream might come true, it was crushed soundly however. He was restricted access to the paradises, the areas being outside his “scope of operations” he had been told. Jeff couldn’t even get a discount to enjoy any of the areas he wished to visit. Oh he could charge it to his employee account but it would take him years to pay it off, especially on the mediocre pay he was given. He had just paid off his most recent employee purchase, the newest uniform choice for Triad Unlimited personnel that were the first contact for guests. His uniform consisted of a pair of white slacks that were wrinkle free and displayed a sharp crease running up the leg that would make a military uniform jealous, above that was a light pink polo shirt that was almost a size too small for Jeff’s doughy body. To top everything else off Jeff was forced to wear an ascot tir around his neck, Jeff felt embarrassed having to wear the ensemble but, regulations were regulations and Jeff couldn’t afford to be a trouble maker. Jeff glanced at the clock to see what time it was. All shift long he registered guests into his computer right before they received a full body scan that inspected them for anything meant to be harmful to other guests. After he registered them and they were scanned, Jeff walked to the other end to hand the guest their newly made ID badge that was to accompany them during their stay. The ID badge was used to give guests access to the amenities they had paid for along with allowing guests to upgrade if they could afford to. Their movements and purchases were also tracked as well so that Triad could better target its advertising towards individuals during their stay to optimize the amount they spent on Triad goods and services.

Lunch break was near as Jeff was forced to check in a few more people. First up for him was what at first glance appeared to be human, the wings however caused Jeff to do a double take and scan the woman up and down. She seemed fairly attractive and like most human males, several lewd thoughts raced through Jeff’s mind in an instant. Shaking the thought off Jeff displayed his practiced smile as this new guest walked up another woman with a pair of rolling luggage bags walked up behind her to speak to the avian-esque woman. Not wanting the line to become clogged and forcing Jeff to have to stay longer or possibly even have to work through his break Jeff ‘politely’ interrupted the woman trying to talk to the bird-girl.

“Greetings to Sojourn Station ladies, my name is Jeff and I’ll be your arrival agent for the beginning of your entry into your own personal paradise. Now, will you to ladies be sharing a room or will there be separate rooms for the duration of your stay?” Jeff asked as he mistakenly assumed the two woman were vacationing with each other.


Brown Dwarf
Erica Connely leaned back in her chair and watched the carfoship slowly approach on her monitor, with a thought through her neuro-helmet several scanners began inspecting the ship.

“One moment Brown Dwarf, please hold and wait for clearance.” Erica ordered as the equipment did its job.

It wasn’t uncommon for cargo ships to want to dock with Sojourn station, especially ones that had made very profitable runs. So no worry was given as the freighter approached the station, its large bulk under the watchful eyes of two Lexington gunboats in case some pirate thought he might be a clever person. A quick scan showed no shipboard weapons that were hidden and the two Lexington’s resumed their previous patrol routes around the station.

“Brown Dwarf you are cleared for docking at Port 213G.” said Erica over the radio as she awaited the next ship to arrive.”

Port 213G connected to the lower portion of Sojourn Station, its area geared more towards sailors whose definition of paradise was different than the tourists on the middle and upper levels of the space station. The lower levels were geared towards good cheap drink, and companions to keep a sailor warm in a bed not on a ship, for a price.

As Brown Dwarf docked Corporal Steven Beckett, along with two other peace officers stood at the end of their entry door as they awaited the crew to disembark so that the rules and codes of Sojourn Station could be fully explained to them, as well as the consequences with not abiding by those rules.

[The Fedral Union]

Some time..

The Republic had been observing the rhythm of he system from its hidden position ; this didn't seem like much more than a way station. Urion looked at the text of orders again, listening to it through that group mind. The Terran's were well within their right to be suspicious but as they looked on through the instruments and sensors trying to gain every bit of microscopic data about the system. A-lot of that suspicion about this whole thing being a trap faded. Urion however knew that if were a ship her size to suddenly decloak and display itself to the station and the other ships in the area; that it would very well cause an incident. That was indeed something she and stellar command wanted to avoid. Everyone mulled over their options Urion looked over toward Veau and they both looked toward the AI.

=I think there is a way around causing an incident, I think you know what I'm thinking?=


Republic chuckled she leaned against one of the sleek holoconsoles to the left of her; the beeps and ambient noises of officers hurriedly working at their stations echoing through the large CIC. He knew, Veau knew and the other officers knew for it was a thought Urion had shared quite publicly through the link.

=To start a message might help; we'd have to move slowly but nonetheless I doubt they would open fire on us; if they knew we showed we weren't a threa-=

Republic was cut off, a pale skin male, with green eyes; brown hair and a smooth complexion chimed in. His name was Nolan Hughes; he crossed his arms over his chest and said that casual and smooth voice of his traveling through the group mind.


=”That would blow any cover I may have; unless its well timed; as you know the Office Of Strategic Services is trying to track down some positionally hazardous goods that tend to be distributed through random stations.


I know what your thinking; its a hell of a long shot for anything like that to be here. But the last known position where we could trace the ship and person carrying these.. Materials was last sighted in this sector..=


Urion leaned over the three dimensional holographic map displaying the local area of space.

=These people don't look like they're bothering a cakruin fly; why would they get involved in-

Again Hughes interrupted Urion in that casual manner; he didn't mean to be rude after all his eyes trialled around the CIC toward the AI and the captain quite calmly.

=For all we know they're not involved at all, this may be just a reset stop. It makes sense; we've got ships from all over the area and possibly beyond traveling through here. So I've got an idea to get myself in there; but..=


His mind became lost in thought for a moment, typical of the Terran's quick thinking coupled with his many years of OSS training he quickly continued his thought a smile across that pale face of his.

=I suggest the Republic decloaks, after sending a friendly message. The stars radiation and engine wake from the ship would shield my shuttle craft from any peering eyes. Of course the ship I'll be flying wont look anything like we'd build but that's the point.

From that point point on, I'll use the ships engines to slingshot around the other side of the star, make for the lack of a better term a U turn to simulate my ship coming in separately and from a completely different area. OSS installed a wake disruptor on the ship so it'd be hard for them to track where I'm coming from especially if I'm flying from out of the sun making a way point a local moon..=

Republic was as always skeptical of the entire idea; in theory it could work but there so many variables to indeed consider about this whole thing. Him and the command staff were still perplexed as to why they needed to be present for this stunt. Republic didn't hold his tongue for long and said in a half inquisitive tone.


=Lets for example assume they'd fall for this, whats to stop them from putting for lack of a term two and two together? And getting; curious about our presence. Would that not damage any sort of trust we'd gain?”=


Hughes had thought about that, and the drummed a finger upon his smooth chin, eyes glaceing at the AI than a Urion. He smiled those supple lips of his curling up in to a grin.

=I've got contingencies; I think our best bet is to be public, and hope they take the entrance of the Gold runner at face value. Its got a decent cargo hold.. But another contingency would a distress call. I jump the ship in feign engine and navigational trouble lower my shields so that not only is my ship hit; but I can initiate a program to have a cascading failure.

This thing was hauled out of a junk yard for a mission like this; I don't think it will be hard to get through..=


Urion mulled over quite a few thoughts over, she folded her furred hands on the desk and let her face eyes wander over the over the strategic map.. It was risky; sure they could easily handle themselves but that wasn't their goal. She finally realized why they were here now, the Republic had some quite advanced abilities at its disposal; so essentially they were there as ferry. She nor the rest of the crew felt comfortable but orders were orders.

=Well, I guess we have no choice. I assume you have an emergency transmitter?=


Hughes nodded; Agent Hughes was a man with a long and varied history; from the seediest dens of crime, to the highest risk of espionage against foreign powers. His time with OSS had brought him to many places; and had justifiably required him to do many things. Some of those not entirely tasteful.

=Don't worry captain, I'm not an armature.=

He said with a suave note in his voice; eyes trailing toward the transpad to the shuttle bay.


=Well, lets get this over with; decloak Republic but do not raise our defense fields or activate weapons.=


Agent.. Agent.

Hughes made his way up the ramp of the shoddy, rundown ship emplaced toward the cargo door; within the vast rows of advanced Terran shuttles. What a stark contrast from the ship around him and the small craft around him. He was used to it though; it was part of the job, OSS wasn't for weak nor a man or woman with a soft soul. With a loud whirr and mechanical strain the door opened; the noise was followed by a clank and thump against the clean deck plating upon the ships shuttle bay. This was the glorious Golden runner; so luxurious indeed... It was falling apart, and at some points held together with literal carbon writing and meta tape. Agent Hughes said to himself as he walked in ducking his head to keep himself from him from “seeing stars” due to a nasty bump.

He took a seat, most Terrans weren't used to the archaic designs such as this; but there was a huge market for things like this. Weather they were for hobbiest, tinkers or criminals; one could never know. The X shaped belt snapped automatically over his chest; he was semi muscular and donned something that made him look as a pleasure seeker or a “businessmen man”.


-So, ready to get on with your latest escapades?-

the AI in his mind chimed in, Hughes grinned ; yet another secret of himself had surfaced from intricate mind .


-How continent; you've decided to show up. When I've been doing most of the thinking...-

He was slightly sarcastic he knew very well their combined efforts in thought were for the most part why he was a rather good OSS agent, He placed his hands on the primitive control panels of the ship..

-Are we linked to the Republic? And before you ask yes.. I've made sure to pack our gadgets..-

The AI named E812, intertwined with Hughes mind and they had been irrecoverably linked. This posed risks of course, and it gave them an almost essential symbiosis that could be deadly if severed.

-This is the Golden; we're ready on our end. T Minus 002... 001.5... All systems go, program ready.-


Through a secure channel using QE and a hidden laser link the voice of Republic came through in to his mind.

=This is the Republic, we're ready when you are; sensor grids at full power and our distortion pulse is ready. Don't give up the ship Agent Hughes.=

-Humph, as if I would.- He mutter to-himself and E812.

-Well Nolan, we ready to get our arse in gear?”-

Agent Hughes nodded; he motioned hand and said via mind-link.

.=T-0.5.. Engaging..=

The old dilapidated hip lifted from the deck its thrusters roaring to life echoing through the bay, drones scattered around and hovered around maintain their own routines. The Golden Runner was now aloft, The shuttle bay doors open.


Republic CIC


=Lets get this done..=

Republic said, Urian and Veaos nodded, the tension within the CIC and on the ship rose; the large eight hundred and fifty meter ship slowly quivered and shimmered in to existence from the fabric of space time and one of the infinite domains of hyper space. Anyone in the system would notice the ship appearing, due to an energy spike and various odd radioactive emissions. The Republic was bathed in the light of the star; in all its splendor and angled form it was now visible the Terran flag and subsequent bold white lettering on either side of its form read “TAS REPUBLIC SSCX-01”; was lit in a grandiose fashion by the sun it had been so close too.


“Do not be alarmed; this is the Terran Alliance ship Republic, representing the United Terran Alliance and the galactic economic and security administration. We come here on a mission of peace and exploration. This is a distant system indeed; and the discovery of this station by our sensors was a slight relief to us.


Our crew would like permission to dock, and perhaps if our initial meeting goes well you can grant us some shore leave?, we're quite a ways from home. And we would be honored to learn more about you and speak to you.”


At that same time, the sensorgrids pallets activated subtly enough to create a seemingly natural magnetic disturbance or a solar flare near the ship, the Golden Runner itself took the disturbance to bolt from the Terran ship, its form using the gravity of the sun and wake of the advanced phase engines of the Republic to lunge itself out in to space slowing enough to allow its form now approaching a sizable stellar body to slingshot once more in to the system with an emission of tachyons that would feign a faster than light drive jump. With the interference of the wake; the ships own phase randomization , the solar magnetosphere and moons dark-side or field it would seem as if a completely new ship had just jumped in. In complete contrast to the Republic baring no resemblance even remotely with technology or construction technique.


Entry?

- Greetings Sojourn Station; I am James Monroe; I've heard about this place from a few friends. I'm sorry I suddenly barged in I've been having problems with my drive systems and nav systems. This things falling apart. I'd like to request clearance to dock if you would allow it. I would of course submit to inspections.. It looks like we've got company who the hell are they?-

He referenced the republic calmly and cooly, Terran's were naturally immune to psionic probing or any sort as far as they knew plus 812 had her own ricks up her sleeve. He spoke to 812 in his mind while he awaited the reply from the local authorities.

-Well, lets see what we can find out hrm? I hope they don't frag us, initiate program epsilon three beta stage one.-


The ships lights began to cut and power flickered, a bit of rusting and thread loose bulkhead blew apart from one of the ships engine pods; plasma began to vent and flare out; the ship “rocked”.


-Mother of the universe, I really need help here; if you can hear me or respond please again I request a place to set down I don't know how much more this ship can take; shes been through a lot...-


If all went well, they wouldn't put things together after all scrambled FTL origins, magnetic interference; a random trajectory of entry coupled with a ship that was “falling apart” couldn't be farther from the Republics condition.

The Republic in all its majesty began to slowly at first move from its hidden position near the star; space warped behind it as its phase drives caused a cress in space itself a wave that pushed the large ship apart.

[Neo ORB]

Ta'lace only had to walk a few meters but she was instantly interested in the stations lighting system, marveling at its architecture for a moment, a small smile formed however she knew she wasn't going to be able to enjoy the moment forever as a young man in snow like slacks, what looked like a pink short sleeve shirt, and ascot necktie moved towards them.

The man had looked at Ta'lace like the was just another day at the office, he seemed tired and had looked prior at a likely a clock which from Ta'laces angle couldn't been seen, as Ta'lace moved forward to the counter where the man was located. The man looked at her, then looked back at the computer screen before a moment later returning his gaze back on her in something akin to shock and awe, that only lasted a split moment however which he then issued a few codes to his computer and likely rescanned her.
Ta'lace smiled lightly, the man was young and for a split moment looked to be lost in daydreams as he looked at Ta'lace before regrouping his composed look. It was at that moment that the woman from earlier spoke out "Wait a moment, please … !" Ta'lace was about to turn around when the young man spoke.

“Greetings to Sojourn Station ladies, my name is Jeff and I’ll be your arrival agent for the beginning of your entry into your own personal paradise. Now, will you to ladies be sharing a room or will there be separate rooms for the duration of your stay?” Jeff asked as he mistakenly assumed the two woman were vacationing with each other.

Ta'lace having studied hard for the first few years of her fealty had picked up most spoken languages in the region, so when the man had asked if they where sharing a room Ta'lace understandably blushed for a moment and looked away from slight embarrassment before regaining her own lightly faltered stance after realizing what he had meant.

Quickly she place her hand lightly in front of her and waved in a negative but friendly posture after sneaking a quick glance at the woman behind her and speaking.
"Oh no no... I don't know her I just arrived myself... but I am alone on this trip... so maybe your suggestion of sharing a room wouldn't be... oh crap..." Ta'lace the stopped speaking for a moment she looked frozen as if she had walked into a mans bath house, before hurriedly placing her hand on her collar and tapping it several times before swiping lastly across her neck.
Ta'lace looked utterly embarrassed and then spoke again as she lightly rubbed her head and smiled, her composure having been completely torn off from her own mistake, but she now looked far more natural like this place was her home.

As she spoke the voice that had once been music and song turned into a human voice just as pretty, but still far more inferior then her natural voice, but at least this way she could properly communicate.
"Sorry about that, I always forget to turn this thing back on, it automatically goes offline when I don't speak for a set period of time, I'm not sharing a room with her... but I am alone on this vacation so maybe sharing one wouldn't be so bad actually now that I think of it." Ta'lace went silent for a moment and quickly looked at the woman again, doing her own little sort of double take since she really hadn't looked at her features before, what caught her eye was the pretty pendent, but quickly tearing herself away she then resumed speaking.

"That premier suite the boss booked for me... would likely be a little... much to be alone in... mind booking her for it as well? I have more then enough to accommodate any extra charges and difference, I don't really buy much, so I have twelve years of finance administrative pay I can use, plus the play money that the boss gave me... something about really enjoying myself on this thing called a vacation...? " spoke Ta'lace as she held out her arm pulling the sleeve of her suit back to reveal her bar code, an expression showing a playful side as she thought of her Boss back planet side in meetings working away, if he was doing any work at all. And then she remembered something, something that should have been spoken first and utterly foremost.

"Oh, The rooms under the name Ellwood Archibald Gregory, my name however is Ta'lace Sha'shara, its a pleasure to meet you. " spoke Talace giving a small bow while placing her arm below her breast like an olden day butler which had recently started making an odd come back in style for the wealthy and important something that her boss had asked her to make part of her duties which had now just become a small habit when introducing herself.

[Kostemetsia]

Marina blinked. Apparently they'd walked into arrivals without her even noticing. She dug out her ID. Comprehensive and completely uninformative, containing her real name and biometrics, certified by a company only vestigially connected to the Agency by a data trail long enough to strangle a man, lost in a maze of subsidiaries and controlling interests. If they wanted to know where she'd been, they'd have more luck scanning the soles of her shoes.

Pink shirt boy was certainly striking. In the sense of eye-catching and being on the verge of industrial action. He looked professional, but she had the feeling it was difficult. Stepping forward, she was about to hand him her ID when she realised his attention was on the winged woman – Songbird, Marina thought. She couldn't blame him.

The birdsong took her by surprise once again. It didn't sound as coherent this time – possibly sentence fragments. It was still beautiful. Maybe part of its beauty was the aloneness of it, sticking out from the conventional languages being spoken all around – Marina couldn't imagine what a whole world of winged people talking in birdsong would be like. Then again, for people who could fly, it wouldn't be that difficult to be alone, if you wanted – simply spread your wings and let the thermals take you. What a world that must be.

She watched Songbird carefully, and watched the woman's gaze flick to her pendant. All too aware of the active sensor array she probably wasn't meant to have, she found herself covering it after Songbird looked away – and pulled her hand away, scolding herself for her own stupidity. If there was any way to draw attention to something, that was it.

The suggestion of adding her to the premier suite came up and, feeling swept up, Marina attempted to interject with politenesses, to the effect of, “No, you mustn't,” but not very strongly. The Agency had allocated her enough money to put herself up quite comfortably, but this opportunity was simply unmissable. And Songbird even seemed like an interesting person! What a coup! Of course, she couldn't be absolutely sure of it at this early juncture. She might be letting herself be beguiled – there was that word again. Even if the stay was a wash, though, at least she'd have learnt something. As the name Ta'lace Sha'shara came up, she mouthed it silently, running it across her tongue several times, trying to duplicate the pronunciation exactly as she'd heard it. That, for example – that was something she'd learnt.

A gap arrived, and she stepped up, pressing her slim, synth-leather-bound ID shard on the beleaguered arrivals officer. “My name is Marina Martinez-Everett,” she said authoritatively to nobody in particular, and there was a quiet ping from the ID shard as it confirmed her credentials. “I'd be happy to stay with Miss Sha'shara if,” and here was an inquiring look at Ta'lace, “she's sure she'd be happy to have me.”

[New Madigral]

New Madigral, Guria System

"What the bloody hell?"

Warp Gate operator Neo Sanchez was stunned. The Warp Gate was going haywire, generating random coordinates, right when a large Combat Fleet was going through. "1st Combat Fleet, break off, NOW!!" shouted Neo.

He was too late. The fleet was sucked into the gate, heading only God knew where.

Unknown space

The Fleet came out of mass warp into unknown space

"Where are we?" asked Admiral Leon Nazer, officer in chrage of the fleet

"Sir, we've been stranded."

"Damnit, begin transmitting a message to nearby star systems. See if anyone can help us... If there is anyone."

"Yes Sir. Transmitting message..."

Code: Select all

MAYDAY MAYDAY, this is the New Madigral Interstellar Colonies 1st Combat Fleet. We are requesting assistance.


[Blackgrue Toxin cult]

For some time the Brown Dwarf had been doing system checks and attaching the various umbilicals from station to ship, receiving fresh air and fresh water from the station itself. This connection was locked into place, and in fact small nanorobots worked to fuse them in place at least at this end subtly. These industrial nanobots were marketed within Blackgrue as civilian grade repair toolkits, but they worked fine fusing materials together as long as you don't need it done in a hurry. Brother Void's three eyes darted between the various cameras before he coughed up more brown-red fluid. "Sister Shard, do you have access to their computer?" He asks weezing to fill his lungs with the oxygen they so crave... if he isn't made a priest soon, his body may simply give up the ghost.

"I'm working on it." The girl without hair said, her cybernetic eye whirred. She continued typing away on the clunky device next to her station. 6 brain-jars buzzed away inside it. She hadn't expected to be matching wits with an AI and that fact meant additional precautions needed to be made. Luckily, stations like this prioritize security on their exterior weapons and communications systems to that fleet outside. "We'll have control of target systems in 10, it shouldn't be noticed for 20." She said as the virus disguised as a ship's manifest slid in.

The captain nodded slowly and stood. His corpulent body wiggling slightly. "Everyone, assemble your weapons and meet me by the primary airlock. In 10 minutes we give them the news... and after that, we spread the Word to these Heathens." There is a flurry of activity aboard as each of the hundred cultists aboard assembled their issued "Beater" assault rifles and "Beetle Ballista" SMGs. In their dissassembled state, any security sweep from outside the ship would have only been able to notice trace amounts of gunpowder as both weapons contained no electronic or energy components. Within 5 minutes the entire crew are assembled by the airlock, The captain nodded, and stood aside with Sisters Ebony and Shard. Crates were pressed forward containing 15 bound berzerkers. Their bonds set to quick-release as soon as the crates open. The captain held the microphone and waited for Sister Shard's signal that they were patched into the station's intercom.

[Idoa]

OOC thread

Ta'lace & Marina

Jeff blinked before his face turned bright red as he realized he had flubbed. He had likely cost Triad one room in fees, he needed to come up with a quick way to cover his ass.

“Ahh, I have both your reservations here, if you ladies would like to combine your rooms I could upgrade you both to an Imperial Suite, it is one of our most luxurious rooms available, there are two bedrooms available withing the suite along with your own personal spa and an on site staff to accommodate your every want or need.” said Jeff, he hoped the women would take and he could mark it down as both having upgraded their rooms because of him. The extra upgrades would be a plus mark on Jeff’s record, something that pleased him.

UTA & New Madrigal

Admiral Jones sat up in his command seat as several warning alarms sounded off as the mystery ship arrived and began relaying a along with message of about being there on an exploration mission. Shorty after the mystery ship arrived a fleet of warships appeared as well.

“All hands to general quarters at once, signal all Republic ships within signal strength to respond immediately and to send a DEFCON 3 alert to all other ships and to be at the ready for combat.” ordered Jones.

The one and a half kilometer battleship turned towards the first ship to arrive, the Montana class ship was one of the most powerful in the Usidian arsenal, little had been spared in her design and construction. As she approached the mystery ship her main gaser beam turrets swung towards the ship while multiple missile locks trained themselves onto the ship and a response was shot back.

“Terran Alliance ship, this is Admiral Jones of the UNS Missoula you are ordered to stand down at once or you will be fired upon, it is recommended you send a representative over right away to explain what the hell you’re doing just popping into a system with no prior notice in a warship. I hope for your sake that the fleet that just arrived isn’t associated with you as well.”

**********************

Multiple Sacramento class cruisers along with an assortment of destroyers and frigates headed towards the newly arrived fleet. Weapon systems powered up as the Usidian ships were uncertain if the distress call was one of sincerity or if it was some trick that was a forerunner to a surprise invasion.

“Madrigal Combat Fleet, you are to stand down at once and hold position, please fully state your intentions at once or you will be fired upon.” came the message from the Usidian fleet converging on the new arrivals.

*******************

“Welcome to Sojourn Station Mister Monroe, please dock your shuttle at Port 446E and an arrival agent will attend to your needs at once, they will be able to supply you with information detailing what is available and the cost associated with your desires, thank you for choosing Sojourn Station Mister Monroe, we hope you enjoy your visit with us.” said a pleasant sounding woman’s voice was relayed back to the approaching shuttle, the message a canned one for every unknown guest that flew their own personal shuttle to the Sojourn Station.

Brown Dwarf
Erica leaned forwards as her computer screen blinked a little and her computer froze up.

“What in the hell?” said Erica in confusion as she leaned forward towards her screen and bgean pressing several buttons at what seemed to be the same time. As her fingers danced across the screen a few warning lights blinked across her command panel indicating there was a poison gas appearing in the lower level vent system.

Confused Erica radioed the security team greeting the new arrivals

“Hey Steve, there’s something buggy going on with that ship that just docked, I’m not sure what’s going on but their manifest just messed up my system.” said Erica


The young Corporal furrowed his brow and his hand slipped down towards the pistol hanging on his side, brushing it as an act of comfort more than an act of aggression.

“I’ll find out what’s going on, just give me a minute.” said Steven as he waited for the freighter doors to open.

[Neo ORB]

As the woman stepped up from behind her, Ta'lace slightly moved out of the way so that a gap would intrude between them. Ta'lace watched the woman stopped to her side and pull out a shard and handed it off to Jeff, when she spoke Ta'lace due to her work history remembered her name, but such a thing was only proper in any society when names were given. However in fact Ta'lace was horrid with names even to this day eleven years after fealty to her Boss, Gergory she still somehow managed to call him Gorgary when in private, so silently in the back of her mind she tried to keep the name active to the point where if anyone noticed it would maybe look like she was in slight pain from sudden headache. But such a scene only lasted a moment as Ta'lace focused on the woman's voice realizing she was being looked at inquisitively by her as she spoke.

"she's sure she'd be happy to have me.", Talace blinked for a moment lost in her own sort of shock, however before she could speak knowing well beforehand that she would fumble her words and make a slight fool of her self as she always did the sudden situations when attention was cast directly on her. Her eyes quickly longed for escape for the sudden directed attention when she caught sight of something.

Ta'lace looked at Jeff as he went bright red and instantly, she could tell he was silently going around in circles in thought and aftermath from his earlier fumble on the direction of their relationship. Her heart skipped a beat suddenly which was odd since she knew it was impossible for that to happen when there genetics had been born out of the Airdren there parent species which had two hearts. However as she focused on Jeff, she found him somewhat somewhat cute, like a puppy still hyperactive, playful and making mistakes.
and then he spoke which brought Ta'lace out of her own little world, something that had been needed if anyone was watching since it would look like she had been in pure euphoria.

“Ahh, I have both your reservations here, if you ladies would like to combine your rooms I could upgrade you both to an Imperial Suite, it is one of our most luxurious rooms available, there are two bedrooms available withing the suite along with your own personal spa and an on site staff to accommodate your every want or need.”

Ta'lace knew what he was trying to do, since he had fumbled by assuming on their relationship, he was tiring to cover the company loss's if they had ended up sharing a room by upgrading, which was understandable since she worked in finance and knew how the bigwigs would react to any loss of potential capital... so there was only one choice which was to help cover for his mistake.
She let loose a knowing smile in Jeff's direction. A smile so unknowingly cruel that would make a person shiver in utter fear if they had known the true extent of what she as a Nare could do.
But in this case from the outside looking in, it was just a completely innocent smile as if she her cuteness alone had the entire station by its weakness. So she did what any young Nare who found a target, a mark... a piece of delicious prey would do.

Slowly and intentionally... her right hand went behind her and plucked two feather from her wings this however was not just any feathers, it was feathers with a small amount of her blood on it. The same area from which she had plucked form before only minutes prior. She wrenched in slight pain as she pulled them loose and fluidly, nimbly and silently flipped the detached feathers around in her fingers with the ends pointed towards her and brought it smoothly from behind her back and placed one of them onto Jeff's right ear while nestling it gentility into location.
Since the feathers were freshly pulled they were razor sharp as she intentionally nicked the skin slightly above the ear watching with her keen vision as a small micro droplet of her blood from the plucked end infused with the micro made wound healing it as if it had never been there, but with that simple action as she release the first feather from her first fingers, her first target had been infected with the Nare genetic code.

Slowly it would change them into one of the Nare, but it would take years with such a miniscule amount of blood, but they would be connected to her for all there lives which in this case would soon be extended by a thousand years, she silently looked forward to when their wings would sprout from their backs, the blazing pain and screams they would gasp, the words they would lose as they were replaced by song.
Followed by her re-teaching him how to speak, how to fly within the sky, adjusting them to there society if they choose to stay, but she knew if they didn't, she would likely go with them on whatever journey awaited them... and after all that, there would be peace and harmony with nature itself... forever as long as they lived.
After she removed her hand from the side of his face she lightly turned, that innocent smile faced towards Marina and she repeated the same action slightly differently, using both her hands placing the feather upon Marina's right ear, making that micro nick and infecting her silently as she had just done with Jeff while adjusting the feather and entwining it within Marinas hair stylishly so that it would still rest upon her ear but still look fashionable with a braid going through it.

And then she spoke as she removed her hands, her innocence coming forth as if in leaps and bounds as if responding to what Jeff's had spoken as she turned once more to face him, her eyes looking at him and yet at security camera behind him knowing full well that his higher up's would be watching and listening... and she knew what she was about to offer happily with seemingly no strings attached would make the higher ups above him call immediately to tell him his new orders, after all if there was one rule in this world, it was that money talks.

"A present... for both of you and I'll happily take that offer... to upgrade to the Imperial Suite... to be with Marina... But on one condition... I want you Jeff, to be the one who accommodates us as our onsite staff... and I'll pay three times the price as well as tip for him if he joins, it's not a bad offer is it not, Triad? after all you do want to make my vacation, no...

And then smoothly she wrapped her arm around Marina, pulled her close and smiled blissfully and brilliantly like the sun towards the camera.
Towards the higher ups that she knew would be watching, be listening closely if someone in the communication teams who had been watching had not already patched and where trying to patch the or a higher up to the sound and video feed already.

Our vacation's perfect... Yes?."

[Kostemetsia]

Marina instinctively reached up, not quite quick enough to block Ta'lace, and winced as the feather nicked her skin. Before she could do anything, though, it was done. She reached up instinctively to take it, then smiled, shrugged, and let her hand fall. Nonhuman culture. Symbolically, too, the idea was rather enchanting. Perhaps Kovacs could steal it for one of his perennially unfinished novels when she got back home, which, hopefully, would not be for a while.

The Imperial Suite sounded good, she had to admit. It wasn't strictly professional, but there was nothing wrong with lazing around and being pampered as long as she got out and explored the biomes and their many cultures. And, she had to admit guiltily, as long as she wasn't paying. The Firm was looking after her expenses, but there were limits – Xenology had received a reasonable bump in funding after the event, but the field xenology corps was, as yet, unproven. There would be no caviar here on their account.

She suddenly found Ta'lace's small arm comfortably looped around her, and almost flinched away, but found it within herself not to. At 5'8'', she towered over the songbird, but felt curiously overshadowed. Something about Ta'lace seemed bigger than her body. It could quite easily be her showmanship, or, Marina couldn't help noticing, a rather strong talent for manipulation.

She ducked her head, her dark brown hair falling over one eye, and gave the poor receptionist an apologetic look. Out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but notice that Ta'lace's words were now directed less at Jeff and more at the security camera – and probably whoever was managing station security. Personally, she thought that if she were management, she'd take the offer. Such lavish, even (she hesitated to think) wasteful expenditure of cash didn't come along often.

To be fair, she also thought that if she were station management, she wouldn't see that as being the only offer in play.

[The Fedral Union]

And So things become complicated

=As predicted we've been asked to identify ourselves and hold position; the good news is it seems that they're not trigger happy.=

Republic idly said, Urion sunk back in to her chair with a sigh; so far things had been going well. And these people who ever they were were not averse to a meeting, looking quickly up at the AI as her mind was filled speed of thought images of live space from long range and short range sensors she said.

=Project yourself to their flag ship, I think they'll understand why we're here once-


Beep – Beep beep-

The Sensor warning reviver began to chrip and bleep, the ship went to condition two automaticly and the lights upon the various holo-consoles and wall emplacements began to shine amber . Urion quickly reacted and began sifting through the vast data streams to find out what had triggered this. Several ships seemed to have come through some sort of rift, It didn't take long for the communique of the seemingly annoyed owners of the system to point fingers at them.

=Republic hail the patrol on secure communication bands, charge weapon capacitors bring us-about to face those ships.=

Urion mulled over various things the digits of her left hand drummed against the armrests of the command chair, Republic looked at her with a hint of concern. There wasn't much time to rectify the situation and they knew it; Republic acted post haste transmitting photo-avatar of herself through the comm buffers of system patrols lead ship.

Meanwhile as if it was turning on a pinhead the powerful phase drives of the Republic came to life space warping and bulging in the direction they face maneuvering the slender angled form of the ship to face the oncoming disturbances. Republic appeared in a professional but nonchalant manner; he didn't want to alarm the people they were here to greet.

-

Don't be alarmed; I am the ship AI of the TAS Republic, I've been instructed to reconcile our situation; its a pleasure to meet you although the circumstances of witch do not seem ideal. We apologize for suddenly intruding upon your system; we had nor have any intention of aggressive action against your people or the innocent people on that station.

We've been sent here to track down something that’s been taken from us; while normally such a thing wouldn't be a problem the speed and amount of star systems our intelligence community had traced the device to logically means that who or what ever took this device has access to a wide verity of resources.

We were in a sense informed by intelligence networks in this sector as sporadic as they are; that a freighter under suspect of carrying this technology would be passing through here; we didn't wish to inform you of the situation and risk … For lack of a better term; tipping our suspects off. The nature of this technology involves a special kind of fabrication component that can be used to modify a fabricator to produce elements that are generally only used in the construction of weapons; such as high yield micro gravatic warheads. -


Republic glanced away for a moment as if looking through the bulkheads around them; he was looking in to the ethereal sea of information that yielded a plethora about everything around him and his ship, he saw those storms and became.. Uneasy. He turned back to the admiral and said candidly

-We've both got another problem on our hands, those ships; I must assure you that neither I nor the government of the Terran Alliance has any interest in taking this system and if we did we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

And ships on both sides of the fence would be arming for war. -


Surface Tension

Klaxons rang out, light indicating a condition of general quarters were obvious through out the ship, drones; and personnel quickly made their way to their stations. They were indeed well drilled and it didn't take long for all stations to report ready; of course the AI could and would handle most of the load the Terran's were always vigilant to support the ship and offer other insights. Despite the infinitely vast mind of the AI; it was no god.

The ships heavy ball emitters hummed to life, nanomotors slid the doors to the tri barreled displacer lances open, the newest features “array” style emitter systems along various points including the two detachable pods of the strike cruiser crackled to life, and now once smooth ship had transformed in floating fortress that was at the ready. The Terrans never wanted to use force and they still hopped they could avoid its use by diplomatic means but under that facade even they knew; they had to fight some times. And with the ship at the ready; those countless missile tubes of it loaded and ready to sprout forth deadly rains of brimstone and hellish fire like the mythological beast of cerberus. It waited sending out a simple signal.


=This is the Terran Allaince Ship Republic to unknown vessles, what is your current status? Are you underattack and require asssitance; we implore you to communaite your intentions to the local authorites we do not wish to see any unfortunate incidents happen =

Republic had already tunned and turned the extraoridanrly powerful sensor siuets towars the ships and the portal cutting through the disturbanceces in space time with ease, information flodded in to her mind and the mind of the officers at the CIC table; what would they find?


Nolan

Hughes was relieved; the ruse seemed to have worked he closed his eyes piloting his seemingly crippled craft to the appropriate docking port, it was still venting some plasma but he had managed to “self seal: one of the tanks the particulate matter of plasma from the fusion drive slowly moved eh ship toward the dock. The mission had begun.


-Nolan; it seems there’s something going in a sense tits up out side..-

812 filled Hughes mind with a reiteration of the latest information he had already gathered; his alias James Monroe wasn't spectacular, in-fact the cover was made for him to avoid any kind of suspicions on the part of the locals, he was just a vacationer and traveler passing through while his ship underwent repairs. The program he initiated had cause quite a bit of “damage” and he had brought nothing out of the ordinary for anyone in the wilds of space to carry on board.

As the old ship docked and the safety belts retracted Hughes stood from his chair; he knew he would have to go through security procedures; this much was obvious ; he glanced at a semi broken mirror on the ship the handsome smooth features of his face prevalent; weather out of habit or too comfort himself he ran a static comb over his well kept hair smiling at the resulting sturdiness of it.

-We can be focused on whats gone south outside; If we need to get out of this place I'm sure we'll find a way. Right now we have a missions to preform..-

Hughes stepped toward the ships doorway; it opened with that same mechanical whirr that it made on the republic; many of the gadgets and devices he had on him as an OSS agent weren't meant to be obvious and in fact the bits and pieces of them were so disjointed and unrelated it was unlikely they could be spotted. Even so; he was meant to use the utmost discretion and was this equipped for that. It wasn't that he didn't have a trick or two up his sleeve but his wits would be the most important here.

Hughes stood at the door way; subjecting to an inspections he might receive; he was partially cybernetic 812 saw to that, but other than that he seemed like a normal run of the mill Terran; he did how ever poses enhanced sensory inputs thanks to his modifications; acoustic; spectral, and environmental awareness. He possessed a few Lasinjectors that he simply explained away as.

-I'm on various medications to maintain my parts; I'm not from around here universe forbid I catch a bad case of alien flu eh?-

Hughes was nonchalant about it all presenting his holographic identi-card; he asked as the check in proceeded.

-Say, is there a place I can rent out for a few days while this rust bucket is being checked out. I could use a rest and I'm pretty sure with what this ole girl has been through your engineers will have their hands full-

He smiled politely; hoping to lead to the appropriate place for accommodation the back of his mind was always churning with ideas and he glanced around the docking area taking note of anything- any detail that would be of use just in case. Hughes wasn't obvious about close inspections and played it off with his iconic inner city voice.

-Nice place ya got here; better than that ship I've been on for months. I wouldn't give three confederate dollars to bet I'd have survived much longer on this thing with out some patchwork. -

812 chuckled in Hughes mind; humans were so odd with their expressions, and at times it confounded her. She kept quiet mostly processing bits of information taken in by Agent Hughes enhanced sensory inputs.

-Couldn't they've given you a better name than James Monroe, Nolan?- Unit 812 casually asked Hughes replied in the confines of his mind.

-Its not that bad; it could be worse you know? I hope we get moving these guys could be crawling all around the station by now.-

And so they waited..

[New Madigral]

"Ah, excuse me Admiral. It appears my fleet is lost. We made an uncontrolled FTL jump into this area of space. If you could please send us a map, we will be on our way out." replied Admiral Revor

While this was happening, a Republic Marine onboard, Lammar Swanson, talked with the Admiral. "Sir, I would like to leave."

"Why is that?" asked Revor

"Because I need a change for once. Besides, you and I both know I'm being dischraged when we get back. Might as well leave."

Revor sighed. "Oh well, I guess I can't stop you Lammar. In the name of the Republic, I grant you leave. Have a safe, peaceful, life."

Lammar nodded. "Thank you sir."

Revor got back on the comm. "excuse me, but one of my men will be departing with us here. Please treat him fairly and such."

[Idoa]

With no word from Blackgrue and several players wishing to continue I will take over the toxin cult for now

Ta'lace & Marina

Jeff looked at the woman uncomfortably as she placed the her feathers in his ear. Even though he had such lude and crude thoughts about her earlier, being confronted by actual contact with her made him extremely nervous. He flinched slightly as she gently placed the feather on his ear.

Long ago when Jeff first started he had several anxiety attacks whenever non-humans came aboard the station. The thought of exotic diseases and parasites from across caused him to lose several hours of sleep each night. After encountering a minotaur from Grekma and having another breakdown his supervisor finally informed him he had little to fear from the dangerous germs and mutagens of the galaxy. Being in close contact with other species did bring with it the dangers of coming in contact with an illness, that while fairly benign to the species that orginally carried it, could be a deathly illness to a human. From his first day on the station when he had been given a physical examination by one of the station’s multitude of doctors, Jeff had been injected with cutting edge medical nanites that protected him at a cellular level from the illnesses of alien species. As soon as the ‘infection’ entered into his bloodstream the nanites immediately attacked this foreign invader with all the zeal of a crusader of Kathorium.

Oblivious to the war inside his body Jeff began to sweat at being offered a chance to spend some time with the two lovely ladies. At the same time dread filled Jeff as he realized he was terribly awkward around most females, now was sure to be no different.

As he was about to refuse the offer from Ta'lace, Jeff’s ear bud buzzed in his ear, a second later Jeff’s body slumped a little as he realized he had no choice whether or not he wanted to go as his supervisor had just contacted him and informed him he would be joining Ta'lace and Marina for their stay.

“Very well ladies, if you’ll follow me I will take you to your suite at once.” Jeff said as he quickly turned, and began to walk slightly awkwardly down the hallway into the station.

Mr.Monroe

Janine liked her job, others in her line of work had it allowed it to grind them down and then turn them into mindless drones that barely were able to carry out their day’s tasks. Janine loved to meet various races and cultures from across the galaxy and was always willing to offer a smile and a helpful hand to new arrivals to the station.

The next man to approach her showed up as a partial conversion borg on her scanners, a small cloud of RFID tags was misted over the man to keep a slightly closer eye on him.

“Welcome to Sojourn Station Mr.Monroe, if you’ll look on the screen in front of you you’ll see there are several options for to select from in regards to pricing as well as what luxury level you desire, I am pleased to inform you that you do appear to be eligible for our current special which is an Executive Suite on discount right now for a three night stay at the low price of one thousand credits sir, is this something you would be interested in?” Janine asked in her typical cheerful voice.

Lammar

In an effort to get your character aboard the station I’m going to metagame him a touch to get him there quicker

Lammar was processed in the nearest Sacramento-class cruiser as he departed from his fleet. Several uncomfortable and closer than really necessary inspections later, Lammar was discharged aboard Sojourn Station, as he entered he would see a partial conversion cyborg looking over menu options with a bubbly blonde woman trying to help him.



Lower Levels

Steve felt it first before it truly began affecting the others, his throat began to feel scratchy and his vision blurred. Realization hit him a second too late. The doors to the freighter opened and the initial assault was launched. Huge grotesque misshapen figures came bursting through the doors at blinding speeds. Steve dropped to his back and tried to crab walk on his hands and feet away from the threat. Gunshots rang out as one peace officer managed to draw his weapon before his picked up and smashed against a wall with a sickening bone crunching thud. The other peace officer didn’t even get a chance to draw his weapon as his head was fully engulfed on one of the big brutes hands. Lifted of the ground he has violently slammed into the floorplate until nothing but a large red smear was left.

With a terrifying roar the berserkers led the charge into Sojourn Station’s lower levels. Brother Dolchem exited the freighter along with two others, each member of the cult equipped with a breather mask to protect from the toxic gas that flowed more freely into the station, large assault rifles hung from their hands.

As Steve scrambled away he managed to claw his own breather out and fix it to his face. Getting on his hands and knees the young Corporal scurried away as quietly as he could before he was seen. Once he found a safe place he spoke in a whisper into his comm.

“Erica, we’re under a terrorist attack, warn the others.” Tom coughed before blackness faded his vision and Steve slipped into the darkness

[The Fedral Union]

Hughes pondered the offer for a second ; in that instant he conversed with 812; this could go two ways, both had their perks and both had their down sides. A smaller less conspicuous room may lead to as much suspicion as a larger and more luxurious suite would; the conversation was to say the least weighted.

-812; why don't we enjoy ourselves while we're here eh?-

812 replied, her tone mild as it echoed through Hughes head.

-”Now , we shouldn't let your desire for indulgence detract from our mission here-

Hughes replied to 812 quite simply.

-There aren't a good deal of advantages to this job, aside from what ever “thrill” I may get from espionage; besides Its likely our target would be in such a place..Those kind of fabricator blueprints aren't cheap ya know.-


812 conceded, and to think this entire conversation took place with-in Hughes head in the blink of an eye. He proceeded to thank Jannie without hesitation; he didn't even flinch at the mist that surrounded him.

“That wouldn't be too bad; besides after this last trip I can sure as hell afford it neh?”

Hughes had already started his careful planning, he motioned to the ship and amended his rhetorical question with a statement, his tone unchanging from its nonchalant demeanor.

“Most of my luggage is in that wreck, I don't suppose you can have it brought up to my room for me?”

Hughes placed down two credit chits, it was more than enough to cover the cost of the room for a few nights. He nodded, as a grin crept upon his face his smooth cheeks slightly dimpling because of it. In his head Hughes and 812 were conversing like always, going back and forth with their debate on future plans.

- They would've inspected that whole ship anyway; with or without our permission. So I thought it'd look less suspicious to leave that uncontested.-



812 shot back in a snarky tone; she seemed to just be debating things for the sake of debating them.

-I didn't realize government expense accounts where for personal use, Nolan.-

Hughes proverbially shrugged that off ; he calmly waited for the security procedures to be completed so he could whisk himself off to his suite. Hughes didn't really expect to do much for tonight, other than inspect the place and scout for some key locations such as shops and so forth. Yes the thrill of “spy” craft was much less exciting than someone outside of an agency would suspect. Persons in such a position were meant to have a keen eye and sharp ears. After all he wouldn't be much use to the OSS if he went in to every situation with guns blazing. He'd either have washed out of training or been killed in some abortive operation.

Life on the “edge” could be tricky, one wrong move and everything could be over. Things had to be timed correctly, by the same token one had to know when reaction or action in a situation that may be by happenstance was key to operation success or in the case of any agent self preservation. Though operation success and the life of an intelligence agent were most often never always equal. The former outweighed the latter due to spatial political situations and the powers at be.


Such was the life of a man or woman or, drone in the Office of Strategic Services. All the glitz and glamor of popular data-link vids and holo-novels aside; it was an extremely tenuous position. 812 processed a lot of incoming information logically, and left most abstractions up to Hughes own mind. Common sense aside the two where integrated yet incidentally unique entities; 812 could supersede agent Hughes own mind to control his movements and so forth if he was a danger to the mission or had impaired judgment. Those who weren't implanted with an AI unit could never understand this relationship; it was clearly an internal matter, and one had to be of extremely sound mind for such a thing so their physiological health would be a non issue. They had to have constant checks for stress and other factors; at times it felt like marital counseling.


Hughes first job was to query the directory for any interesting “hot spots”. Most-likely places where discretion was the better part of valor. Or at least where he could get “lost” in a crowd. Indeed it seemed this job was less cliche as depicted, and more of a burden. Weather it be a burden for sinister plots or for gallantry was often never clear, the world of intelligence was a murky and twisted one and the only guiding light was the agents own fortitude and focus. What ever choices Hughes may make or 812 may make would be with them for the rest of their long lives. There was always a certain point when an agent was too deep too long, Hughes planned to avoid that situation by retiring before he waded too far to be pulled back in to whatever “normal” life he had.

[Neo ORB]

Ta'lace watched Jeff's reactions with slight interest wondering what he was going to say, it had only been a moment since she had made her deceleration that she wanted Jeff to be their on sight staff. he looked negative, or at least lightly anti-xeno that's what she had felt as she watched his facial expression. The slight tension in his cheeks, his eyes lightly darting back and forth, the slight radiance of perspiration from sudden anxiety.
His mind was likely formulating his wording to reject them. It couldn't have been a bad offer could it have? Silently she had thought he looked a little tired of his station work, the unending days of checking in others while they spent their days vacationing off in the station in front of him while he likely wouldn't be able to enjoy such activity's without some sort of catch?. It simply wasn't fair, he deserved a break of some kind right?.

Its what had made him strangely endearing to her, like a mother watching over her child as it played with other children in the distance as the sun's radiance falls gloriously on those quick radiance filled days. It was the reason why she decided to give him the gift of "The Nare" to slowly change him to release him of his anxiety's and fear's. At the same time she felt like she had some other sort of primal attachment to him, something deeper likely tied to her mission under the migration for extracting DNA samples for her far away home.

Jeff suddenly slumped as if in defeat, his expression filled with nothing but the fragrance and feel of utter doom he likely got new orders.
Silently within the confines of her mind, she raised a victory pose in triumph laughing as credits fell from the sky. In reality she still wore the happy expression as she had already known that her victory in this matter was assured... after all for capitalism, greed was a dish best served in large amounts with extravagance as its sauce. After all who could resist the allure of money... but at the same time however she pitied them... money, currency. Such a thing didn't exist on Alpha-Genisi, there was no need for it as it only could cause problems, and while it did give a certain sense of equality... its reaches could be as vast and heaven and earth. Why should one have to slave away for money in order to live, why not sow and reap the planet of its benefits taking only what you need and giving back just as much.

Maybe for these people such an advanced concept was alien, and indeed after twelve years living abroad from her home after seeing the reaches of capitalism, she could understand just how strange it was when compared to normal galactic standard. As her reveries in those past memory's awakened, she silently relived darker days without even the slightest facial change in fact the only change was a single tear flowing down her cheek as her eyes momentary lost all light within them making her look like a doll with it's strings cut.

She had learned how alien her people were after the first week of her migration, alone on a foreign world starving or the first time and dirty in a unknown world as others had gazed at her in greedy malevolent awe and pity... some had seen dark value within her and tried to take her away to the darkest reaches of their society... to make her slave away for there abominable gains and they had succeeded to taking her to those depths taking her innocence and showing her the difference between her people and them...
It was after she had choked on the meals they had brought to her in that darkness that she had finally snapped and given herself to Lorthous.

Tainted and at then competently broken, She had dealt with them as the teachings demanded in a blind bloodfury within the night. With her powers as a "Nare" she summoned invisible blades she had made them vanish completely in front of their brothers, Hunted them like some wild injured beast as scream's and gunfire blazed in the night as blood soaked every crevice of there hideout...
and then it was when they came to her the blaring of sirens heavy in the background, surrounding her as she played in a pool of her enemy's blood alone underneath the moon light, her wings and flesh slick with crimson from their blood and hers which had flowed from sealed bullet holes that riddled her body.
They, those strange bulky beings had been kind to her unlike her captors as her body was rapidly shot with strange objects that made her drift sleepily into another far kinder darkness, when she awoke it was to a white room alone within a vast chamber filled with similar pods her body healed as if that darkness had never entered her... but she had given herself to Lorthous and that fury would always live as her experience to never completely open herself again or at least that's what she had still thought.

Snapping back to reality she had missed what Jeff spoke as she wandered off with the invitation to follow him deeper into the station, as she looked to Marina, she removed her hand while smiling and then quickly wiped away the single tear staining her features before following Jeff, the sound of Marina quickly following with her bags as as well.
They walked through the passageways and heavy bulkheads, around her her keen ears could pick up the sounds of enjoyment as family's and fellow travelers traveled the station in exotic clothing and forms... there was even a strange group of gelatinous beings in the shape a human but when your body was made of such a strange gel like substance she wondered on what it was and how it communicated.
Silently the sound's then faded then changed as cheerful music echoed, as Triad advertisements played once and a while informing guest's of weather conditions within biomes and what the latest deals were. and then they arrived at an Elevator, it was a massive system with at least a dozen different elevators surrounding them, Jeff hit a panel and within moments one of the doors near them opened.
Slowly as if like a timid squirrel Ta'lace walked into the elevator her eyes falling on the panel with hundreds of buttons, and then slowly backed right back out with the look of pure fear on her face as she tripped on her own heels and fell back into the hallway near the elevator on her arse with a small musical chirp of surprise and a look to go with it.

Slowly Ta'lace stared at her fellow companions, Marina looked like she was about to laugh and Jeff looked away nervously, slowly Ta'lace pouted and she got up before noticing that in her fall her pant legs had ripped right up the side, and her suits back and ripped along the middle near her wings and showed her tightly woven bandage like clothing underneath... her face grew bright red and then quickly grew embarrassed as if she had been seen naked as she quickly clutched at the fabric trying to hid the bandages while hiding her back from there sight... her suit was in one word... ruined, during her fall which meant that the moment they got to their suite, she was going to be sure to drag Marina and Jeff for shopping as her only clothing had just well... been ruined.

As she looked at Marina and Jeff her face was downcast with bright blush as her translator did its job.
"You saw didn't you... you saw my underwear... Delete it... Delete it from your memory this instant!"
Before quickly running into the elevator and trying to hide only to realize that the elevator was a cylinder to which she could only collapse on the floor and lightly sob at her own indirect misfortune as she covered her face with her hands to hid her tears, however what was to come would completely blow away her downcast as Marina and Jeff quickly walked in and the elevator.

Jeff hit one of the top most buttons and then the elevator started to rapidly rise throughout the stations levels. And then the seemingly steel walls of the elevator turned to glass, light blazed through the gaps of Ta'laces fingers and struck her eyes, slowly her hands dropped from her tear streaked face and was in quickly turned from one of misery into one of utter shock as one of the stations Biomes was there in their complete view, its blue white caped waters, white beaches and interior cityscape took her breath away... silently her wings unfurled suddenly taking up a large portion of the elevator as Ta'lace got excited, they lightly flapped and quivered as Ta'alce then kept repeating the same words over and over almost as if in a trance from the way her eyes looked, her some of her older feathers breaking off and floating in the air towards the elevator floor...

"I want to feel the wind... I want to fly... fly... wind, air... water... sand... fly wind... scent... air... sky, sun... nature... Rayleigh scattering... how are you doing the Rayleigh Scattering?... is the surface of the biome polarized to give a atmosphere like setting similar to a viable planet to allow the molecules and radiation reactions from the the systems sun to make the sky appear blue? Oh I Want to Fly Soon!"

And then the scene quickly turned back to steel, and Ta'lace would look dejected... As Ta'lace was lost in her own world, Jeff was answering her question on the stations usage of its framework and on how they had replicated Rayleigh scattering, but not a word of it reached Ta'laces ears, silently the thought she her the two of them sigh at her birdbrain like antics, but as they would move past another biome and Ta'lace would be once again lost to the scene beyond her blocked by the glass in front of her... wonder awe and then disappointment and sadness, this scene played out several times before they got to their Imperial suite which was kind of comedic by the sound of sudden laughter from the two of them... Ta'lace looked at them poutingly... but she could tell they weren't laughing at her, only her pure child like actions... so she could forgive them.

(OOC, I'll leave detail of the Imperial Suite to you Koste)

[Kostemetsia]

The change in Ta'lace's face had been subtle, but Marina had noticed it. The feeling it gave her almost made her step back, but the other woman's surprisingly strong arm kept her where she was, and the expression was at any rate gone as quickly as it came. She wanted to ask, but as friendly as Ta'lace seemed, she was still completely unknown territory, an entity of zero data points except the label Spur-48 “Songbird” INDEX, an automatic photo of her, and a single feather. For all Marina knew, Ta'lace's culture might consider asking about an emotional outburst to be fighting words, and she really didn't need a fight.

She clicked her fingers, and her luggage picked up behind her again as she hurried to keep up in the wake that Jeff and Ta'lace were carving. She took in the gel-people with considerable interest, and wished she'd had time to stop – as she hurried past, she opened her biomatter sniffers to full, the thriving nanite ecosystem of her body collecting as much biological junk from the group's atmosphere as they possibly could, for later analysis. She looked over her shoulder after a safe distance, watching the species newly tagged Spur-49 grow smaller with some regret – at least if they came anywhere near her from now on, she'd probably know. Her attitude to the Triad advertisements was less welcoming, but she dutifully recorded them anyway: all information was important. Even the ~best deals~.

She felt a distinct sense of relief as they arrived at the elevators. The corridors were interesting, but they were the home of business, the necessary goings-on of the station. Her workplace was the bars, the beaches, the places of relaxation – which sounded rather convenient for her, but it was true. Staying in Sojourn Station's corridors – the backstage, the place behind the fourth wall – would teach her enough about interspecies formal protocols to write a few books, but you had to go to their places of repose to know who they were.

Getting there, however, looked to be a journey in itself. She started to realise this about the moment Ta'lace backed out of the elevator, and as she moved, Marina caught sight of her face. It was a picture, and not a happy one. Elevators … ? Who's afraid of elevators … ? This thought, however, was quickly replaced with the sensation of surprise as the poised, confident belle toppled onto her butt.

Marina almost laughed from shock, but tried to rearrange her face into something innocent when she caught Ta'lace's eye. She was quickly preoccupied with other concerns, however, as she noticed the clothing damage Ta'lace had accidentally managed to do to herself. “Oh, hon,” she mouthed, and began to step forward to offer a helping hand, with a mixture of amusement and concern. This passed immediately as she noticed the even more picturesque look which had come onto Ta'lace's face.

“You saw didn't you... you saw my underwear... Delete it... Delete it from your memory this instant!”

“Wish I could, sister,” Marina said, feeling suddenly defensive, and uncomfortable about being so. In truth, she could, but she wasn't going to – if there was anything worse than offending an unContacted alien, it was the bollocking you'd get if you denied the Committee the chance to see what an offended unContacted alien looked like. The FXC reactive software installed in her implants seemed to agree, replaying the last several seconds of footage in ghostly shadows over her vision, pausing at time markers its analytics had identified as potentially important. Invisibly, Marina reviewed it as she followed a rather frantic-looking Ta'lace into the elevator. Catching on the word 'underwear', the system had highlighted the clothing rips.

To Marina's eye, there didn't seem to be anything exceptional about Ta'lace's legs, although that wasn't to say that they weren't perfectly nice. There was something, however, through the rip in her suit – bandages of some sort? Intrigued, Marina momentarily squinted, trying to figure them out. Ta'lace hadn't looked injured; a binder, maybe? But manifestly ineffective, in any respect …

All this had flowed through her head faster than words, and it flowed away to be replaced by entirely unacademic concern as Ta'lace drifted to the floor, sobbing. Instinctively, Marina knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder, barely noticing as Jeff hit the topmost button. She noticed soon enough, however, wincing, raising an arm to shield her own eyes as they adjusted, feeling Ta'lace drop her hands.

Marina had seen a lot in the Xenology Corps database, enough that she'd thought she was inured to inanimate wonder – and it was true, she'd always been more of a people person. Reluctantly, though, she had to whistle as the beach simulacrum spread out below her. She hadn't been able to capture the scale of the station in her head before she arrived, and despite her best efforts, she'd only been able to picture it as sort of a larger version of an aging tropical-themed restaurant. This, though … this was something else. This was close enough to real not to matter.

She tuned in just enough to hear Ta'lace murmuring at breakneck speed about the Rayleigh scattering, and suppressed a smile. Looks, money, and apparently brains – most people had to pick two, but not this one. She listened closely to Jeff's response, recording every word – the station owners hadn't seemed too essentially different from her own people, from the little background info she'd been able to acquire, but this simulacrum technology was many, many years ahead of anything Baseline. Hundreds of years, easily. Maybe thousands.

Out of everything around her, though, the only thing she could tell was genuine was the look on Ta'lace's face, like a two-frame animation: smile, frown, smile, frown, smile, frown … Marina started to giggle madly. She couldn't help it. She'd never seen someone so open. What a wonderful person to be stuck with.

She was immediately distracted, however, by their arrival at the Imperial Suite.

From the elevator doors, she could see … more doors. But not like the elevator doors – the doors that lay ahead were manual, and huge, five or six metres tall. Beside them there stood a doorman, uniformed and mute. Marina shot him a look, apprehensive as she found herself the first to step out of the elevator. He returned the look with that elephantine graveness and amusement which seemed to be the province of upper-class Help everywhere, and moved to the centre of the doors, which stood unlatched. From there, he proceeded to push them open with only a slight apparent exertion.

Slowly, Marina walked into the Suite, and found herself hypnotised. The first thing she noticed was the marble. So much marble. The floors were marble as far as the eye could see, and the eye could see a long damn way. Spotless glass walls looked out and down to a beachscape that instantly reminded Marina of her grandparents' vacation photos – the Mediterranean in the height of summer. Even within the Suite, though … her house was smaller than this, by a noticeable margin. Two doors led off the main room, both open – and leading to huge beds (again, she'd had smaller … well, bedrooms, actually) with sheets that looked like they had a thread count in the quintuple digits, and discreet little doors that probably led to en suites.

A professional kitchen awaited through another open door, gleaming utensils and marble counters making her wish she were a little more cordon bleu. Fascinated, she poked her head out of one of the external doors and discovered a jacuzzi that looked like it could comfortably fit a dozen. Turning to speak to her companions, she found herself looking through another door into a bathroom with a sprawling walk-in shower, with the same fixtures as all the other water-bearing devices in the suite – fixtures that looked suspiciously like genuine platinum.

“Christ,” was all she could manage, loud enough for Ta'lace and Jeff to hear. “This is the life.”

[Idoa]

Lower Levels

Erica looked over her security feeds as panic creeped up in her throat. People began to tear at their eyes and throats as the poisonous gas leaked through the entirety of the lower levels. Some managed to get respirators on only to be suddenly attacked by the terrorists coming out of the ship that had spread out. However the folk that frequented the lower levels were a hardy folk, the rough and tumble life of being a interstellar merchant sailor toughening them up to a degree and pockets of resistance began to form here and there. Others rushed for the escape pod bays and left the horrendous death scenes behind them.

Erica’s fingers flew across her station’s touchpad as she called up her AI to assist her in activating the station’s alarm system. Moments later the alarm klaxon and red strobe lights sounded off and flashed throughout Sojourn Station as Erica locked access and ventilation between the lower levels and the upper areas.


Ta'lace, Mr.Monroe, & Marina

Jeff’s head snapped towards the alarm as it sounded off inside the suite. Apprehension took ahold of the man. IN the few years he had been working on Sojourn Station he had never seen nor heard the evacuation warning sound off.

“Excuse me ladies but we need to evacuate now.” Jeff said in a nervous voice as he maintain some semblance of authority. stepped behind both ladies and placed his hands on the small of their backs a lightly pushed them into the hallway where he nearly ran into another hostess that he worked with at the entry port named Janine who seemed to be leading a partial conversion cyborg to his room.

“Do you have any idea whats happening?” asked Jeff as soon as he saw a familiar face.

Janine shook her head with a serious look on her face.

“I have no idea, but we should head towards to escape pods as orderly as possible.” said Janine making sure she said the last part loudly so other guests could hear her.


Toxin Cult

The priest watched the security feeds excitedly, each death from the toxin sending an excited shiver through his body.

“Sir, there are escape pods already launching from the station.” announced the younger woman.

“Well stop them then.” roared the old priest before a coughing fit descended upon him. He knew he didn’t have much time, he needed as many deaths here as possible is he was to transcend to priesthood.

The younger cult member punched the keyboard as she hacked the station’s computer system and uploaded more viruses into the already overwhelmed AI that was struggling to combat the infection that was quickly spreading throughout its system.