- Location: Hyperion Base, Hyperion, Solomon System -
There was an old Human joke about the Collective.
The Vanguard is going to a restaurant. The Star Guardian drives them there. They sit at a booth and try to figure out what to get. The Advisor and the Practitioner are bickering about the specials while the Consular is on the verge of yelling trying to get his opinion heard, and the Lifekeeper is desperately trying to get everyone to order something healthy. The Tactician is vetoing everyone’s choices because they’re too expensive. The Peacekeeper is trying to calm everyone down while Sentinel leaps over the table and begins trying other people’s food.
And all the while the Combatant is just sitting there with a headache, desperately waiting for everyone to make a decision.
Yeah, not a very good joke, but it rang true enough as Adrian massaged his temples, wanting to get back to Briggs so they could share a beer or two. He might as well leave now and come back because Crasina wasn’t making a decision anytime soon.
“We can’t afford to open the Bridges, Consul Bakos, not yet,” the Grand Strategist said with an air of finality. “No matter how much trade has been halted.”
“The Citizenry is needy, Grand Strategist. The Concordians are suffering too - much more than we are. Have we seen any evidence of a Colossus presence here?” replied Bakos.
“There have been some unconfirmed rumours of agents slipping through,” vel Astranos put in.
Bakos turned to the Kraian, quizzical. “From where?”
“Hard to say. I’m going to be dispatching some of our local Sentinels soon to confirm or deny these rumours.”
Bariye piped up. “All said, a counteroffensive is in order. I suspect keeping the Bridges closed may be exactly what the Colossus wants.”
Crasina nodded. “Those are my thoughts, as well. We should’ve seen another strike at one of the Bridge stations by now if they wanted a full-scale invasion.”
“What about Jurole?” Bakos pondered aloud.
They all turned to look at him. There was a pregnant pause.
Vel Astranos was the first to pose the counter-question. “What about it?”
Bakos continued his thought. “What if we opened the Jurole Bridge? It would certainly go towards sating the appetites of both the Collective in Solomon and the Concordians.”
Crasina did not agree. “Out of the question for now. We have confirmed enemy boots on the ground at Jurole. Unless Warmaster Oswell is willing to risk a liberation…”
Now was their turn to all look at him. Adrian shook off the sleep that had been creeping up on him.
“Well, Warmaster?” Bariye’s soothing, warm voice made him want to sleep again. “Are you up to the challenge?”
Adrian straightened in his seat and clasped his fingers. “Always ready to do what needs to be done. Though my Special Missions Division aboard the
Kodiak is looking a little light. I’ll have to grab a few more operators before I head out.”
Farris nodded. “I have a few extra Sentinels to account for. I’ll transfer them to you once I’ve followed up on these rumours.”
“I will assist you as well. I will bring the
Prizati to Jurole with you and provide Commander Briggs with reinforcement,” Bariye put in.
Adrian bowed slightly, saluting with his fist over his heart. “Much appreciated, Monitor, Guardian Vigilant. I’ll need the help if we’re to retake Jurole.”
“So," Bakos began, "it’s settled then?”
They all looked around at each other. Crasina nodded.
“I see no issues here, as long as you’re all up to the task. I hope you’re satisfied with this, Consul. We are adjourned for now.”
The leaders of the Vanguard began getting up and leaving the Command & Control Centre, one by one, though Crasina remained. She had work to do here.
Adrian shuffled through the halls of Hyperion base, lazily making his way to his quarters whilst sifting through mission reports and operator files, pondering just what the Colossus was doing in Jurole right now.
And whether or not they were already in Solomon.
- Location: Shipping Lane near Tyche, Tychean Space, Solomon System -
“Ah, shit.”
Ben Cragley was stuck.
Again.The
Margaret hadn’t been faring too well recently. She was long overdue for a full refitting at Tyche’s shipyards.
Ben checked his consoles. Power was still at full, and all systems were nominal, save for the engines, which had shut down when an anomaly was detected. The Jazekii reset the engine systems from the engineering console, waiting for a status update upon reboot.
He wished he had his crewmates back. This would be a lot easier if Jatley was around. Currently vacationing outside Solomon, he hoped they were okay and hadn’t been steamrolled by the Colossus.
The console blinked a message, announcing that the reboot had completed. Checking engine status once again, the anomaly was still present.
Letting out a grunt of exasperation, Ben got up and started to make his way aft, toward the engineering centre. Finding the nearest console, he once again checked engine status, and again found that an anomaly had been detected. Sighing, Ben started a full system scan and sat back, waiting for it to finish.
It’d been awhile since he’d last left Solomon to deliver goods to some far-flung Concord planet. He’d barely made it back
into Solomon, his ship barely limping towards Tyche for repairs after the Colossus has smashed her up good. He was lucky enough to have smashed them up a bit, too.
Fifteen minutes later, the system scan had finished with a faint
ping. Sitting forward, Ben scanned over the console’s report. From what he could make out, some of the internal wiring inside the engine’s main bus was shot, sending a feedback loop of errors and preventing the engines from firing out of safety.
Oh, what a day it was. Or night. He was in space.
Unfortunately, this was something his drones would be unable to fix. Pinching the bridge of his nose and screwing his eyes shut, Ben lamented the outdated systems of his ship. He ought to get some internal repair bots the next time he visited the robotics market in Agathos. Or maybe just go for that full refit the
Margaret so desperately needed.
Stalking back up to the bridge, Ben activated the distress beacon, sat back in his command chair, clasping his hands together on his chest, and waited.
- Location: Bounty Office, Agathos, Tyche, Solomon System -
Horseradish and cornmeal, she decided, slamming back another shot of H’gar as the aliens around her cheered.
That’s
what it tastes like. Horseradish and cornmeal. The crowd around her booed and dispersed when she waved off another shot, but she’d already had six, and she wanted to keep at least a few wits about her. Sabina motioned to the bartender and ordered a whiskey sour, intending to nurse it slowly enough so that she might pick on whatever wannabe wandered up to the bar. Amateur hunters were pretty commonplace by the bar area of the Bounty Office, as it served a familiar locale for those intending to whet their appetite with both some liquid courage and possibly their first bounty.
It also turned off others who came in expecting a
real office and found a bunch of rowdy aliens singing and yelling and drinking at a ramshackle bar. You had to know someone or at least order a drink with one of the pros to get going. Some knew as much, others didn’t. The latter didn’t last very long.
Her drink arrived and she took a cautious sip, savouring the smokiness of the particular whiskey the bartender enjoyed using. Life was fairly good here, for those who wished to forget about the hunt for a while. But Sabina had work to do, and patiently waited for the next amateur to wander up to the seats next to her.
- Location: Passchendaele’s Residence, Pysaita Tower, Ipsum, Hyperion, Solomon System -
Thomas sat alone by the fireplace in his house, gazing out the floor-to-ceiling window, watching other beings mill about the seventy-eighth floor’s concourse, some returning to their own houses, the giant pillar in the centre of the building obscuring the setting sun and allowing him to gaze out the giant windows of the seventy-eighth floor at the wondrous colors of the evening.
Despite all this beauty, Thomas was bored, sitting here on Hyperion. He wanted to be up above, in space, aboard the
Peregrine, gazing at the stars as they warped and blueshifted in front of his vessel. He wanted to gaze at faraway planets, be in the midst of danger, and just [i[explore[/i].
With the Bridges closed, there was nowhere to go but inward and around. Maybe to Dökkálfar, maybe to Karkinos, maybe, maybe, maybe.
No, he wanted to be out there, on the frontier.
What is the furthest system from Solomon? he asked himself.
Hammurabi and Icel, the neuranet answered.
Hammurabi or Icel… each five Bridges from Solomon. Hammurabi was right near the border of Conclave space. Perhaps there was something interesting out there, just waiting to be discovered.
Thus, Thomas began planning and plotting. As soon as he was able. He was headed straight for Hammurabi. A grand voyage. He just needed a complement of guests.
Well, an invitation may be in order, then. - Location: Ipsum Gardens, Ipsum, Hyperion, Solomon System -
Yaliti wandered the gardens, sketching whatever happened to cross his mind, hoping that a Jazekii or a Kraian didn’t step on him while he laboured on his pad.
A tree here, a bush there, a gaggle of Kyrema… all coming together as Yaliti’s stylus danced across the screen, shades of colour appearing and fading into the white and black streaks of his artwork.
Once, someone of his talent would have painted glorious watercolours of virtuous Viveni soldiers and heroes, standing amidst the carnage and bloodied bodies of their enemies.
Such was the Viveni way once. It wasn’t too long ago that the great Collective had been absent from Viveni affairs and thus the warring continued ceaselessly. Now, there could be ones of his species that were not soldiers - but great chefs, artists, or explorers.
Explorers… the little Viveni wondered what weird worlds might be waiting out beyond the splendour of the Collective’s now contained capital. He wondered who or what might just be waiting in the Trema System, at the mysterious and unstable three-way border between galactic powers.
Perhaps one day, he would paint the oddities of Styx…
Yaliti lapsed into thought, distracted by his imagination.
- Location: Ipsum Planetarium, Ipsum, Hyperion, Solomon System -
The planets were always pretty to look at.
Directly, Sev mused, not quite in the Planetarium. Looking at the real thing was always better.
Wafting from security camera to terminal to terminal, and back to camera, Sev fleetingly perused his home, on the lookout for anything of interest to occupy his ever-calculating mind.
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