Chaos at Citi Gateway: A Brief Overview [Luke]
19 Jan 2017Luke3107
Luke entered the Inara Galactic Bar after an uneventful journey and arrival to the Citi Gateway Station. A few eyes examined him upon his arrival but beyond that, no one really cared abpout his presence. Wandering up to the bar he ordered a strong drink, which he drank slowly, preferring to savour his beverage rather than inhale it as so many others opted to do.The visit was proving to be a rather boring, uneventful affair so he took it upon himself to perhaps start a conversation with someone. Right on cue, a young man with a scar across one eye entered quitre ruffled and with a burnt sleeve. Clearly he'd had a rough day. So Luke ordered two more drinks and approached him, sliding the drink across to the man. There was, naturally, some suspicion to start off with but the stranger appeared to relax and accept that Luke was just genuinely looking for conversation.
A few moments later they'd exchanged names, Jacob Cartlidge was the mans name and they'd become quite cordial. Even dabbling in a bit of espionage by listening into a conversation between two shady looking patrons in a booth nearby. They'd used a strange marble device controlled via Jacobs datapad and learned that one of the people was in fact none other than Marra Morgan. Pirate Queen of the Pegasi Sector. It hadn't gotten much further than that as another patron had spotted the device and brought it to the attention of Marra. Fortunately for both Luke and Jacob, she had appeared to blame her conversational partner and as a result an argument ensued between the pair.
Sensing trouble, Jacob left the bar at the first opportunity, recovering his bug and leaving Luke to ponder his thoughts on his own again.
Some time passed and Luke hadn't left the bar, but had switched to soft drinks to avoid getting drunk. However, while it had felt like mere hours to him, Jacob had returned after an adventure of his own. This time with a strange woman in tow. Spotting him, Jacob had made a beeline straight to Luke and sat next to him, with the woman alongside. It was only when she was up close that Luke had noticed the seams on her arms and the blank expression that stuck to her face. It turned out that she was both robot, and human at the same time. Mostly cybernetic, but with the vital organs, including the brain of a bona fidé human. Although there was clearly more to it as Ten (the name of the woman) had apparently few, if not no memories. Yet upon request, was able to rattle off Lukes personal details as though linked to a Pilots Federation Database.
Feeling sympathetic towards her, Luke had attempted to help Ten recover her lost humanity by asking somewhat philosophical questions. He got close, possibly, but another patron had interrupted and all was lost. However it wasn't long before Ten began to show other signs of, well, humanity by tapping on her glass. Pressing her on it, Luke learned it was apparently a favourite tune of hers from a previous point in her life.
Unfortunately this set off a chain of events that could only be described as a total clusterf*** of bad luck.
Ten tensed up big time, and practically stormed out the bar. Pushing past Jacob who had stepped away to take a call. Feelig like he'd said something wrong, Luke stepped out in pursuit only to find her leaned up against a wall muttering something about not going back. Where to, was never found out, as Luke began to try calming her down, Jacob and another patron had joined them, but another customer stepped out, an Aisling Duval wannabe lookalike, and she was too focussed on her datapad to notice them and collided with Ten.
Within a split second the pair had collapsed to the ground in a heap, which only served to compound Tens panicked state. As though instinctive or programmed, her hand had split to reveal a hidden blade which she attempted to swing at the attacker. Lukes reflexes had kicked in and he'd pounced on the arm to restrain it. This saved the woman from being stabbed, but only worsened Tens condition and she had instead clamped her other hand around the Aislings throat, choking her and eventually crushing her neck and windpipe.
At this point a strange man had appeared from the bar, shouted in panic, and ran off. Ten came out of her haze and became very distressed at the scene around her. Doing the only thing she could think of to right her wrong, she began trying to resuscitate the woman, meanwhile Luke ran off in pursuit of the fleeing man, just before some security drones turned up.
Encountering a closed fire door, Luke went to turn around but spotted movement through a small window. Instinctively realising there was about to be an activation of the fire suppression system, Luke set abpout trying to free the man. It was mere seconds before he exhausted all other options and overloaded his energy pistol and discharged it into the window. Trusting that the sensors would register the breakage and deactivate process of venting the compartment out into the void.
It worked. The man climbed out through the window, and much to Lukes surprise, wrapped his arms around him muttering somethig about a life debt and then thrusting a katana into his arms before running off in pursuit of 'his Aisling'.
Still bewildered, Luke returned to the bar only to find Jacob and Ten had fled the scene, and the womans body was being carted off. But before he knew it, he was cuffed and carted off to the holding cells of Citi Gateway Station Security.
After what felt like an age, Luke found himself being taken from the holding cell and into interrogation where he was cuffed to the table. Not long after, his interrogator, Amarthanor, entered. Much to Lukes surprise, he had allowed Luke to explain his side rather than force a confession from him. Leaving out names and affiiations, Luke recounted his view and in doing so was hit with a wave of guilt that left him questioning his own moralities. Resigned to being imprisoned, Luke sat silently waiting for the inevitable announcement that they had everything they needed to put him away but apparenty Amar had seen something in his story and the next thing Luke knew, he was being cut loose. The officer had even shown the file saying that Marybelle, the Aisling woman, was going to live, albeit crippled.
Thanking the officer, Luke left quickly before he could change his mind. However the good mood hadn't lasted. In his attempts to be a saviour of a troubled woman, he'd pushed her over the edge and nearly gotten an innocent woman killed.
With that thought, he made his way back to his Asp Explorer, hung the Katana up on the wall, downed a half bottle of Scotch with the intention of passing out in his bunk. Unfortunately the alcohol had other ideas and an hour or so later, the Insert Name Here departed the station with a very inebriated CMDR at the helm.
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Authors Note: This is a short overview of Lukes escapades in Citi Gateway that covers the important aspects of his visit to the RP forums. I would like to have scrolled through each post to copy and paste each part that affected the story. Unfortunately, being on a tablet device, this would prove to be incredibly time consuming. That said, if/when I get a laptop I will endeavour to edit this story to do just that. In the meantime, if you wish to read the details the beginning is via this link. Luke enters InGaBa (Page 45)