Arrival
06 Feb 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Arrival
Ryuko Ntsikana
Robardin Rock, Carcosa system, Colonia Region
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Robardin Rock, in the Carcosa system, was as near to a toilet as you could get — minus the foot straps to hold you down in zero gravity. A listless asteroid base out in the hinter regions of the Inner Scutum-Centaurus arm of the Milky Way universe. A pitiful place where long-range explorers, families, and settlers, seeking to colonize the frontier, adventurers, and idealistic wanderers, found their way to. Of course, there was the ever-present sticky film of humankind, dripping and oozing from the crevasses. That was this place. A boil on the hind end of a semi-sentient race that passed its time falling upon its own.
My mouth twisted into a smirk at the old Earth saying of a pot calling the kettle black. Not too far back I was part of that sticky film. Taking cargo from fat-rich traders was a lucrative lifestyle. Unlike others in the trade, I prided myself on not destroying the ship I targeted, or taking the crew and passengers as a prize, to be sold off to the highest bidder. It sounded hypocritical, a pirate with standards.
I never attacked a relief ship moving large cargo to those survivors of an alien attack. That is where my path changed. Claiming the bounties of those who did, turned out to be more lucrative, and, on occasion, they would have cargo of their own that I could claim and sell. That was where the trouble started.
All was good as an ex-pirate turned independent bounty hunter, until the war with the aliens heated up. Every two-bit system tyrant and a few of the major powers were pressing hard, looking to Shanghai anyone they could to go out on the front lines and die for humanity. In between were the zealous fanatics, acting as if it was a holy calling, even though humans like them had started the war, due to their greed.
My internalizing was interrupted by the outpost’s automated maintenance arm moving past my cockpit window. There was a substantial bounty on my head and I wasn’t here on a pleasure cruise. Grabbing my jacket from the back of my pilot’s seat, I decided it was time to see what I came here for.