Tide was awakened from a paricularly pleasant day-dream by the shrill hiss of pneumatic brakes, as the truck he'd hitched a ride in shuddered to a halt by the side of the road. "We're there", the old driver told him, looking puzzled. Tide leaned forward to get a better view from the truck's large windows. Tall trees stretched away into the distance along both sides of the road, broken only by a narrow dirt track that disappeared into the dense forest close to where the truck was parked.

"You sure this is the place?" asked Tide.

"Well, those co-ords you gave me aren't on the road, they're about a kilometer that way," replied the driver, gesturing in the direction of the muddy track, "Maybe there's something down there?". Tide nodded, swinging the door open and jumping down from the cab, dragging his canvas backpack down after him. He slung the heavy pack over one shoulder, waved his thanks to the driver, and slammed the door shut. He watched the truck rumble away down the road in a cloud of diesel smoke and dust, with a resigned sigh. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been dumped in the middle of nowhere by someone keen to be rid of the 'big ugly bastard', before he could rob and murder them, or sexually assault their dog, or whatever the hell it was people thought he was going to do to them. 

He took one last look around him, hoping to spot something a bit more civilised looking than a tree, but there was nothing. He dug a squashed cigarette packet out of one of his many pockets, and tapped it upside down on the palm of his hand. Empty. Fucking typical. He dropped the empty packet on the ground, hoisted his pack further up onto his shoulder, and set off into the trees. 

The path was deeply rutted with wide tyre tracks, which gave Tide the slight hope that it might actually lead somewhere. It still came as something of a surprise to him though, when the trees opened up into a large clearing around a dilapidated looking building. A rusted sign at the edge of the path proclaimed in faded white lettering that this was indeed 'Frontier 60'. He was just about to cross the muddy ground to the doorway, when the unmistakable roar of rocket engines from above made him hesitate. An alliance shuttle was dropping towards the clearing, white hot spears of flame from its landing thrusters scorching the mud and grass in front of the building as it settled onto the ground.

Tide waited in the treeline, watching with puzzled interest as three figures emerged from the shuttle and disappeared into the building; two heavily armed guards, escorting a woman with her hands cuffed behind her back. Was this going to be a convict delivery mission? It'd be a shame if it was - the prisoner looked a hell of a lot more interesting than most of the women he'd seen so far on this world, though judging by the amount of armour those guards had been wearing, maybe she was one to steer clear of. 

Almost as soon as they'd gone into the building, the guards were back, minus their prisoner. The shuttle was lifting away from the ground before the doors had finished closing, and it quickly disappeared above the trees, leaving Tide alone once more in the clearing. He was just about to start towards the building, when a figure appeared from the trees in front of him. Tide hung back, watching the man cross the clearing to enter the building by the same door the guards had used. He waited a couple more minutes, before following the man into the building. He found himself in a reception area, where a wide-eyed, dazed looking receptionist stared at him from behind her desk. "Medusa?", she stammered.

"Err, yeah. Medusa", replied Tide. The receptionist pulled a thin folder out from under her desk, handed it to him, and silently nodded towards the large cafeteria behind the reception area. He treated her to his best smile, which for some reason didn't seem to calm her down at all, and strode into the cafeteria.

There were four other occupants of the large room, sitting around a table at the far end. He recognised the prisoner from the shuttle as one of them, though she didn't seem to be under guard any more, which only added to Tide's confusion. He weaved his way between the tables and chairs that filled the room, his heavy boots echoing loudly on the tiled floor, until he reached the group. He dropped his pack on the floor by the table and sat down on one of the empty chairs.

"Alright?" he grinned, "Anyone got a smoke?"