[IC] Trade Station Alpha Reboot

[TheUnknowable]

Christopher Briggs stepped off of the shuttle and into the airlock of Trade Station Alpha. Its name came from the fact that it was the first space station built by humans for trade purposes. My new home. he thought, Too bad it's a piece felgrum.

True, the station was massive, with a volume of almost a cubic kilometer, but with ships docking and undocking almost once a minute, the shear number of people kept most of it from being the pristine jewel of the solar system that the tourist adverts showed. The sunward top of the station, dubbed white sector, had a massive arboretum and flower garden, shopping centers, and all manor of goods and services. The next several layers, dubbed green sector, provided the foundation for the facade of perfection, recycling everything that was used, growing all of the food for the station, and providing most of the goods and services that the thousands of crew demanded. It was also home to the power systems, storing or utilizing the energy produce by the more a square kilometer of high-efficiency solar panels that surrounded the station. The layers below that were the Bazaar, a place where trade happened between the various worlds in the solar system and with other races.

Below that, however, was the gray sector. Gray sector was where the salvage and refining took place. Chunks of asteroids and pieces of space debris would be hauled in and bid on. The winner would rent a smelter, if they didn't have one already, and would melt down the rock, hoping that it was worth what they had paid for it. The refined materials would usually work its way up to the bazaar, where it would be shipped to whoever was willing to pay the best rate for it. The rest would be put into storage, or would be sold to various businesses on the station to be made into any number of over-priced goods that the tourists just had to have. Gray sector was the lowest of the levels, in both the station's artificially created gravity well and in terms of its splendor. It was also where Christopher Briggs arrived, having booked passage on a salvage ship which brought fragments of a pirate ship in from a battle site near Earth. “Hey, you forgot something!” said one of the freighter's crew, then tossed a bag to him.

Don't want to forget that, thought Chris, It's pretty much all I have and I doubt I'll be able to replace it any time soon. “Thanks” he called, but the man was already going back to help unload the salvage. Now, to find Julius and join his crew.

He made his way up to the Bazzaar and started looking for docking bay 324, where his cousin's ship was supposed to be. While counting his way down the bays, he heard shouts coming from a local club. Well, you might as well call it that, as “drug den” didn't quite fit when virtually everything you could want could be legally purchased down here. A clearly intoxicated man came out of “Bacchus' Delight” and immediately started cursing at the passers-by. “Hey you, you spuz-sucking piece of felgrum, why are you looking at me? You wanna fight?”

It took Christopher a few seconds to recognize the man that shouted at him. “Julius?”

“Yeah, that's me, got a problemth with my name do you?”

“It's me!” replied Christopher.

“Yeah, of course you're you. Who else would you be?”

“I'm Christopher.” Julius gave him a strange look, like he didn't understand. “Your cousin?”

“Chris!” he said, when finally realized who he was talking to. “You came! Let me introduce someone to you!” he screamed something in a likely-slurred alien language, and a female Hibros walked out of the bar. Her species was mammalian, something that appeared to be between a cat and a dog, with a long nose, retractable claws, and whiskers. In fact, most carbon based sentient life (non-carbon based lifeforms rarely interacted with humans) fell into one of the classifications of life on earth, sometimes several.

“Nice to meet you,” she said in heavily accented English, “My name is Griszma.” Her body language in a human could be interpreted as a romantic overture, but with an alien, you never knew until you had dealt with them for a while.

“She's my first officer.” He wrapped his arm around her waste, pulling her closer.

“And more." She purred.

“So you two...?” Christopher left the question open, hoping that things didn't just get as weird as he thought they had.

“First rule of being a Spacer little cuz, you're not really one of us until you've bedded an alien.” He patted Christoper on the arm. “Don't worry, I've been with a member of most of the species on this station. If you want, I'll introduce you to a few of my favorites.”

Christopher reflexively took a step back. What's gotten into him? He didn't used to be like this. “No, I think I'll stick with human women for now.”

“Your loss.” Julius turned and walked towards his ship. “Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew.”

[Deserted]

The star-dock was aged, the design only a few decades out of date and visible from the old trend of when people were more daring, willing to take risks, and there was good economics in order to build the thing. Now, it was a screaming sign of pending need for updating. The frequent visitors to the section called it "the retrofit" with an emphasis on "retro." It also looked as if it had not been cleaned save for the occasional sterilization or the floor cleaning robot that visited once a week. Brown stains on the drab walls, the occasional scorch mark, and long scrapes through the sealant and to the metal left ample evidence of a lack of pride in the work area. This was where the ships waited for service or the return of their crews. There was no grand view, no promenade, no viewing deck. Just a static security camera displaying on a visa-screen, and a closed airlock. (For security and safety precautions.)

The station airlock opened with a "woosh," however, the Dwarf hesitated and then groaned open like an old man complaining of having to stand from his comfy chair. Not that the craft was particularly old, but the years had not been kind. Immediately on the other side, the radiation detector sounded shortly as the door closed behind the group. Apparently it was a common bug in the system.

Their ears were met by a clattering and clanking, that was a relief to find that it was only Pip and not another equipment failure. She was carrying far more than she could really hold and dropping things as she made her way along. It was a random assortment so chaotic that you could imagine she had been dumpster diving.

"Look at all this cool stuff I found in the dumpster!" She excitedly explained.

[Metronome]

"This is it, Marcy. This is our new life." Sasha spoke as he looked around the station. They had a map with a big red circle marking their destination. As they drew closer, the station became noticeably dirtier.

"It's...dirty," Marcy said, curling her lip at a half full food container that had been tossed on the ground. She was pretty sure there was something living in it.

"So is earth." Sasha drew a little closer to her as a group approached them, letting them past his broad shoulder without bumping into them. He really didn't want to draw any attention before they left this trash heap. "But here, we'll be free. No more homework, no more books."

"No more whitecoats' dirty looks?" Marcy gave a half hearted chuckle. Sasha smiled and looked up ahead of them. There were several ships parked, waiting to be boarded, but only one matched the description they were given.

"I think that's us up there," He pointed. As they approached, a group of four also made their way to the ship. One was some kind of lady-cat-dog thing, one was a hellish houseplant, one was piss drunk, and the other was boring. Sasha straightened out of his slouch as they approached, shifting the luggage bag hanging on his shoulders a little better. They're weapons would be arriving with the rest of the supplies, and Sasha had never felt more naked. All he had was a small pistol on his hip should things go south.