Warm Welcome
03 Jul 2023Ryuko Ntsikana
Warm Welcome
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Xochitl lay on her side in bed, her eyes fixed on the charging tablet mounted on the nightstand beside her. It displayed the countdown until her carrier's jump to a system located just under 500 light-years from Colonia. The first two days in the region hadn't gone according to plan, with both the section chiefs and elders expressing their anger over the reception they had received.
Due to the overcrowding in the Colonia system, they were redirected to the Aurora Astrum system. It seemed like a promising start, but it quickly devolved into a frustrating display of human arrogance and entitlement.
She hadn't even had a chance to leave the system before being interdicted by an amateur pirate trying to make a name for themselves. They thought the newcomers would be easy prey, only to discover that this clan of travelers possessed a fierceness they hadn't anticipated. The clan knew how to defend themselves, and their swift retaliation against the attack sent a clear message that they wouldn't be taken lightly.
Xochitl had moved past her initial anger at the situation. The anger she felt had resonated throughout several systems as the clan launched a ferocious offensive, causing another fleet asset to retreat from the area, even though they weren't the intended target.
The whole ordeal left everyone in a sour mood, despite the positive encounters they had on the first day. Xochitl had productive meetings with regional engineers Petra Olmanova, Etienne Dorn, and Marsha Hicks. Each of them offered their expertise in optimizing specific equipment for a material price.
Among them, Etienne Dorn proved to be the most helpful, requesting an offering of twenty-five occupied escape pods with healthy occupants. With the warm reception they had received, and the clan's determined aggression, that number was swiftly fulfilled within the first hour. Etienne expressed his satisfaction with the chosen occupants, making Xochitl raise an empathetic eyebrow at his remarks regarding humanity as a whole.
By the second day, several bounties had to be paid, and a few clan members had been detained for causing chaos in the bar and surrounding areas of the Prisma Renata planetary outpost. The security personnel had suffered injuries in the midst of the mayhem, but the intervention of an elder prevented the situation from escalating further into the living areas.
A meeting was called, gathering all the section chiefs and elders once all the clan members had been accounted for and retrieved back on the carrier. Despite the local havoc, the clan members themselves appeared to be in better shape than the locals they left behind. The heightened emotions and tempers within the carrier necessitated a change of environment before the entire region became the focal point of their actions.
It was unanimously agreed that a necessary pause was required, and the order was given to jump out of the Colonia region, far enough away to shift their attention to other matters.
Xochitl closed her eyes, allowing her cybernetics to put her to sleep. She liked the lucid dreaming effect that jumping through hyperspace produced while in a REM state.