BAM.



I felt the jolt of blood rushing to my head in the familiar after-effect of a quantum jump, and quickly shook it off. Kareah Security Outpost had long since been abandoned, but there was still no time to catch your bearings, as... "unscrupulous folk" were usually known to linger there, often after the same thing we were-- avoiding the law.



I was flying my new Constellation Andromeda, a good hefty ship I recently acquired in a shrewd business negotiation. Onboard with me was a... we'll call him a "friend," for lack of a better term, a man who goes by Nikolai. We met through mutual interests in a backwater system and I've taken to swinging with him when I'm in the mood for his more... exotic taste in spacecraft. He's certainly got deeper pockets than me, that's for sure. Claims to have been in the UEEN at one point; why he's not anymore is anyone's guess, but tonight's trip gave me a pretty good idea.



Immediately after the jump, I…