Max heads back up to the mess from the cargo bay-turned-Delta-barracks to find Davis and Ngawai coaxing some reddish wafers and brown spread from the autochef.
Ngawai eyes Kilgore warily.
---
Luis reaches the bridge and sees that Swims has slowed the Morningstar enough so that passing through to the Aikoro system should be much easier than their breakneck shot into Jang-xur space.
"In most systems it is customary to broadcast your vessel and your current speed relative to the portal before entering an active portal," Swims-the-Black signs. "Busier systems may have a controller station at the Gateway regulating traffic. It can be expensive and time-consuming to miss a portal and turn around - or worse - because one was going too fast and did not count on another ship coming in."
"The Aikoro Gate should be close to the planet. Aikoro is on the outer edge of any useful planetary bodies in its system and has little traffic. The controls are yours, pilot."
Davis motions for Max to join them. "I don't believe the two of you have met. Ngawai, this is Dr. Max Kilgore, he's the science consultant on this mission. Dr. Kilgore, this is Ngawai Lea Holoni."
Luis reaches the bridge and sees that Swims has slowed the Morningstar enough so that passing through to the Aikoro system should be much easier than their breakneck shot into Jang-xur space.
"In most systems it is customary to broadcast your vessel and your current speed relative to the portal before entering an active portal," Swims-the-Black signs. "Busier systems may have a controller station at the Gateway regulating traffic. It can be expensive and time-consuming to miss a portal and turn around - or worse - because one was going too fast and did not count on another ship coming in."
"The Aikoro Gate should be close to the planet. Aikoro is on the outer edge of any useful planetary bodies in its system and has little traffic. The controls are yours, pilot."
Luis nods, and takes the seat as Swims vacates it. He the few knobs to change the positions of some of the controls (not unlike the mirrors, seat, and steering wheel positions on a car), then opens a comm channel. "This is the frieghter Morningstar inbound from...," he reads the velocity data right off the glowing holodisplay, "Request Gate clearence."
OOC: If I misinterpreted and there is no Air-Traffic-Control-style people to give the clearence, just scratch the last part.
The message comes back through the active but in-use Gate. *Copy Morningstar, portal free in thirteen seconds, repeat one-three seconds.*
Luis' velocity is nowhere near dangerous levels, and he coasts the Morningstar through the portal a second or two after the ring flashes. The Aikoro Gate is apparently in high orbit above that planet - the Morningstar exits away from the green-blue world amidst a handful of other vessels. The Gateway here is ensconced in a space station; spindly armatures hold freighters fast while point defense turrets track the space traffic.
The CIC, previously bare save for the Gate and Jang-xur, lights up with a flood of new contacts and downloaded telemetry from the traffic control station. Aikoro is the fifth planet of six from its K-class yellow/orange star, and the only one with any significant traffic. Three spaceports dot its surface, each marked on Luis' displays with a glyph and possible reentry vectors for each.
"If we are to land closest to Gran's Hope this is where we should land," Swims-the-Black offers. He focuses a section of the holographics on the port. Unlike Botane, it looks much less urban, a simple domed structure surrounded by dozens of landing pads. Gran's Hope itself lies 60 clicks to the north, a blotch of gray and green-mottled silver on the edge of a large bay.
"Dr. Kilgore," Ngawai nods. "Sorry if I shot at you earlier," she adds with a grin.
Max ignores the cheap shot, looking at Davis.
"I see you have a new pet to domesticate. Let's hope she turns out like Arketta and not the other ones. That was a mess to clean up." says Max, taking his seat on the bridge.
Max takes his seat on the bridge and upon going through the Gate, his screens light up with activity.
"Captain, what kind of Turai activity can we expect in this sector?" asks the Action Scientist to Swims-the-Black, not wanting to be quite as unprepared as on Jang-xur.
Swims-the-Black nods at Max, still fairly impressed that these Homeworlders respect his kind enough to learn his language and speak it even when they know he understands Imperial. "I would expect Turai at the landing zone, definitely at that space station, and in any governmental buildings. More than that, I cannot say. Aikoro is a fairly small colony but it is popular. I would expect more drones than Turai or Kansatai. However, I did not expect to see ANY Turai on Jang-xur and we know how that ended."
Davis waits until Max leaves the room before speaking again. "I apologize for Dr. Kilgore, he's something of an asshole as well." He bites down into one of the crackers and goo combos, and despite the colors being off, it tastes like a slightly saltier version of crackers and fake cheese spread. He gets a glass of water and leans against the counter. "So, any other questions before we land? We're not in as formal a situation as before, so don't worry about the rules."
"Don't make me turn this car around, kids," Hugh throws in with a tired expression. "Save the pissing contest for when we're home and have a few decent lagers for ammunition."
"OJ? Shit yeah, I'll take some of that too, if they've got it," Semo pipes up with a grin, then turns back to Arketta.
"Farming wouldn't be so bad, I suppose, if it were your own farm. A slow quiet life is the way my people live back on the islands we are originally from. There, most of the people live by fishing, hunting and growing small crops to provide for themselves and their neighbors. There are times when I'm sorry that my parents left that to come to the hard life they have. I know it's opened the door to a better life for me, but they're paying for that in blood, sweat and tears every day."
Ngawai shrugs. "Small colony. Good vacation spot if you like flora, carbon polymer processing for those that don't. Does some business with hydro export, but not as much as Kharpara. It's not exactly a hotbed of civil unrest."
---
Arketta seems to understand Semo's tale. "Parents will suffer inside environment suits for half their life, will eat slop that makes the autochef here look like ketchup (you remember Arketta has an inflated opinion of ketchup), all to tame new worlds for their children."
---
With the poker game done and everyone exhausted, the idle chat tapers off to be replaced by the soft sounds of slumber. The next cycle sees a fairly palatable breakfast made with the fruit and meat bought on Jang-xur. It's a refreshing change from the autochef.
Max, Davis, and Ngawai set about gathering more intel. First things first, however; Davis runs a comprehensive scan on the Morningstar's interior to make sure they're not broadcasting anything they shouldn't be. The ship appears to be clean.
The Morningstar itself has much more powerful receivers, and is already configured for Aikoro's local beacon. The colony was recently settled about 60 years ago. 2/3rds of the planet's land mass is above sea level and is heavily vegetated, with jungles and rain forests near the equator giving way to wooded areas and savannahs. Its orbit is very stable, leading to much less variance between summer and winter than Earth.
Gran's Hope is Aikoro's first and largest colony, with a massive fountain marking the landing site of its founders. With a naturally human-breathable atmosphere, the planet is a hotspot for those who want the dubious adventure of colony life but without the majority of the hardships. It's also become quite the tourist attraction in recent years. Major exports consist of basic fuels, polymers, and water. It's one of the few worlds where the Imperium can manufacture certain plastics without time-consuming molecular forging.
With basic intel out of the way, the team turns their attention to more pressing matters. Does the Imperium know they're here? Was there any fallout from the trouble at Jang-xur? Is the Morningstar a marked ship?
What Max discovers (with Ngawai filling in some blanks) is that they basically brought the news of Jang-xur's maiming with them. Distress signals and cortex updates and all manner of transmissions would take years or even centuries to get to their intended recipients if not for the Gateways. So when the exodus from the shadowport hit the Gate, the assorted distress calls and whatnot came through with the ships. Eventually the information filters its way back to the ROBS on Napai, where it's audited by the Keepers. If it's useful and relevant information, it's added to the Repository and sent back through the Gate network, eventually updating every world in the Imperium with an active Gateway. That's how news of the price on their heads made it to Jang-xur in the first place - Botane broadcast the terrorist attack to Napai, and the Imperial City added the information to the Cortex updates.
Does Aikoro's local cortex list them as wanted? It sure as shit does. Are they looking for the Morningstar? No.
Ngawai lays out how Kansatai and local Turai factor into the team's chances of survival. They should be fine as long as they don't give law enforcement a reason to "scan" them. The Turai or Kansatai in question sends a recording of the suspected offender to the cortex, where's it's matched up with any criminal record or outstanding offenses. If a match comes back, the cops get down to business. Most Kansatai don't want the trouble of randomly stumbling across a multiple murderer. That's what drones are for. The ubiquitous spherical surveillance drones that chased you back on Botane are the real threat. Their primary job is to conduct random scans of people in their patrol zone.
The second threat would be the bounty hunters. Any hunter with a license like Ngawai has the authority to take their quarry off-world without any special dispensation from the local government. And at the bounties the Imperium is offering, if their presence on Aikoro becomes known they may even have random citizens taking potshots at them.
Davis listens to all the information from Max and Ngawai, and thinks about what to do for a few minutes. There's no way to dodge every drone on the planet, so they have to think we're supposed to be there. But the bounty hunters would still be a problem, something Ngawai would know about, because she is one... And that's when the light bulb comes on, and he smiles.
Davis stands up. "Ngawai, could you come with me for a second? I have a private question for you about what we're going to do next."
Once they get out of earshot, Davis turns to Ngawai. "We have a problem, as you know. Getting past the security on-world is going to be very difficult, but I have a plan that will probably get us through. However, we're going to need your help to do it. You're a bounty hunter, so the Imperials won't ask questions when you march us past the security checkpoint."
He pauses for a second. "So, I guess what I'm asking you is whether or not you're going to help us. If you don't want to, we'll just let you out once we land, but I think you can tell that we're in something of a tight spot, and we could really use your help here. We need more local expertise, and you know things that we couldn't possibly learn in the time we've been here. Also, personally, I like the way you get things done, and we could use some more unconventional thinkers around here." Another pause. "So, are you in or are you out?"
"You know I can't tell you that until you commit to going with us. All I can say for now is that we're meeting someone and it's vital that we do this." He looks her straight in the eyes. "You know what we're going up against, what we're trying to do and what we're fighting for. Also, you're not stupid, you know the instant you get picked up on the scanners helping us, your life as you know it will be over. What I'm asking you to do will more than likely end with you killed, as it will for all of us. But it's a chance to get back to what you've been putting off ever since you signed up to work for Malenko, a chance to fight for the good guys again. So, I ask you again, are you in?"
"You make it sound so appealing," she smirks. "Fine, I'm in. You need to get set up like I've captured you, right? The lot of you? No weapons, nothing that'd tip off a scanner. Unpowered stingers might fool a scanner but they won't fool a search, so keep your pieces in satchels or lumpy baggage or something. Next, we'll need an excuse as to why I'm able to keep ten people under control. Can that scientist guy rig up some metal collars? We'll say they're decapitators slaved to my vitals - it's good protection against any other hunters looking to pop me and take my quarry. Once it's known I'm toting some primary offenders around, we'll dodge the Imperial hammer but we'll be in danger from my own kind."
Davis smiles at her remark. "Well, we've got a few advantages right now. Our weapons we brought with us don't use electricity and won't set off the scanners. Disguising them is another issue, but at least we'll be packing heat. Also, we've got something for the control and other hunters issues. Swims-the-Black, the captain, used to be a Jade Caretaker in a previous life, and I'm pretty sure that'll earn us some respect, and if it comes down to it, he can probably take care of himself. I'll ask him if he's still got any weapons or armor left over from back then. As for the collars, I'm sure Max and One-Ton can whip up something. Anything else you think we'll need?"
Admiral Duck Sauce
