This chapter is purely introductions. No role-playing yet, that's on the next chapter!

Chapter Text

Kretari Station - Marinius Myriad II

In this backwater mining colony located in an asteroid field orbiting a very lonely Blue Dwarf star, our journey begins.

Lucas, a 21 year old Human - currently drunk, wandered down the neon lit streets kicking rocks of eroded pavement. His life up until this point was promising: he got good grades in school, trained for space exploration in college, and joined the USCM with a promising record. However that all fell apart when he was assigned to this station as a dock security guard.

As the eventless weeks went on and boredom ensued, Lucas took to partying and clubbing to relieve his stress, sometimes even during work hours.

Before even getting his first paycheck Lucas was fired. And without the money to buy a ship and go home, or go anywhere , he’s been stuck on this rock since.

Today has been almost the same as every day before: Lucas left his tiny apartment and made his way over to the scrap yards where he borrowed valuable looking junk and materials to sell to the recyclers for far less than if they dealt with the scrappers personally, making just enough to hit the nightclub and get wasted.

The main difference from this routine is that he was caught making his escape from the scrap yard and his secret entrance has likely been sealed. The amount he made off the scraps was barely enough for a few drinks.

He also got kicked out of the club for rowdy behavior, he’s surprisingly a lot more docile when hammered than when buzzed.

As Lucas bumbled down the street, he took notice of a unique craft fly over to the docks. A hunk-of-junk pod of a ship. Lucas’ expression shifted from gloom to glee as hope crossed his mind. If the owner was planning to sell that scrapmetal, he might just have enough saved up to take it and finally get out of this dump!

As Lucas attempted to move forward he bumped into something, “Oh! Excuse me!” he heard a squeaky voice. Before him was what looked like a little robot, upon further inspection it was actually an exo suit with a very fluffy creature inside. It ran off down an alleyway.

Getting his mind back on track he took off towards the dock.

The pod ship landed in bay 2, a hatch between the engines opened and a tall figure stepped out. Asrie, an 18 year old Pegalci Peacekeeper - currently hunting a bounty.

The spaceport was a rusted poorly maintained mess of a facility, the air tasted of frayed copper wires and smelled like burning oil.

As he approached customs the bored-out-of-their-minds guards took immediate interest in the rare individual, making sure to greet him thoroughly.

And by greet , I mean unnecessarily force him through the entirety of the USCM security screening process.

After 20 minutes of searches and questions he was finally let through. He made his way out of the docks, the first thing he noticed was a red-haired nervous looking human who then darted away almost in a panic. The individual had an agenda they chose to abandon upon sighting him.

Asrie made his way through the colony attempting to track down the criminal he was after. It didn’t take him long to find the ‘bad end of town’ where his search likely became timed, if the criminal became aware of his presence they would likely get away.

Everything appeared to have large amounts of wear and tear, even the natural rock looked like it was in bad shape. Everyone who walked the streets looked shady, none of them paid any direct mind to the peacekeeper. Asrie pulled his hood up and flipped the safety off on his pistol.

He entered a shifty looking bar and scanned the crowd as he ordered a meal, everyone looked like they were itching for a fight, some of them even were!

The bar smelled of sewage, Asrie was certain the stench was coming off of the patrons. Half the lights were broken, and his chair creaked heavily as though it was on the verge of breaking. The food tasted decent enough, if not for the heavy amount of grease.

Looking down the isle to the very back of the room, he spotted the target. A human male; gray balding hair, burned face, and an eye patch over his left eye.

Making sure he’d gone unnoticed, Asrie slowly drew his pistol and fired. But he failed to notice that one of the fights had spilled into the isle, directly in his line of fire!

Everyone’s attention turned to Asrie as one of the patrons dropped dead. Seeing guns being drawn, including a few behind the bar, Asrie dashed for the door gunshots blazing behind him.

On his way back to the dock, Asrie took notice that that thugs that were on his tail had been replaced with guards. His already quick pace quickened as he attempted to flee the colony.

Completely wrapped up in his failure, Asrie realized he couldn’t fly his ship with his mind in such a state of self resentment. Bursting through the security gate he noticed a familiar human attempting to pry his ship’s door open. A solution to his problem crossed his mind.

“Are you trying to steal my ship!?” Asrie shouted at the red haired man, “What? N-No!” Lucas lied unconvincingly, “Good! Get in!” Asrie ordered as the door opened.

Stunned by what was occurring Lucas was grabbed by Asrie and flung into the ship as bullets began to pellet its hull.

“Do you know how to pilot a spaceship?” Asrie asked the scared human, “U-uh, Yes? -I mean, yes I do! I’ve wanted to all my life!” “Good enough…” Asrie hoisted Lucas off the floor and flung him up to the pilot’s seat. “Wait, where’s the controls?” “It’s a neural interface, just sit down and the rest will be taken care of for you.”

Lucas sat down, a strange feeling filled his skull. His mind went numb as the interface linked with his system, turning on his pain inhibitors and flooding his brain with information. He was completely unaware of his own violent spasming.

Asrie quickly noticed that Lucas had hazed over, “S.A.I.L. Disable the neural interface pain inhibitors!” A sudden jolt rushed through Lucas’ body as his senses returned to full strength, along with an incredible migraine far stronger than any hangover he’d ever endured.

“Okay, now what?” Lucas’ question was already answered as the ship began to move. As they left the dock they were immediately bombarded by the defence batteries. Luckily they managed to escape with little known damage.

Lucas got up out of the chair, and immediately fell back into it as head felt like it was about to explode. He noticed his shirt covered in blood that was dripping profusely from his nose.

“You might want to take it easy, you’re not supposed to take the pain inhibitors off on a first-time boot up.”

As Lucas’ mind began to clear, he realized he doesn’t even know the individual he’s with, “Hey, we didn’t get to properly introduce ourselves. I’m Lucas, what’s your name?” “I’m Asrie” he replied.

The awkward silence that had developed was broken by a noise coming from one of the bulkheads. Leaning closer to the wall Asrie noticed a panel vibrate as something pushed against it.

Drawing his pistol, he knocked the panel loose, Lucas recognizing what fell out as the robot he ran into earlier, a little Avali girl. “Hello!” she spoke, “I’m Eili!”