Chapter 1 - Origins

[Corrine_Richelieu]

The Dangar Zone hung in orbit, skimming along the surface of the atmosphere of a dull red planet. Electrical storms obscured some of the surface with gray clouds and flashes of light, hinting at the tumultuous nature of the planet below. The slow orbit left little in the way of gravity as the ship cruised above one of the dark storms, using the shadows to obscure it from eyes on the surface. Inside the cramped ship, in the mess hall a small gathering was in progress. The vessel was in decent shape, or as decent as it could be for a vessel that was in the triple digits for its age, and while many parts of it had been replaced and revamped over the years, many were dated back to its original construction somewhere in the latter 29th century. One of the things in better repair was that galley, but it was not in use at the moment out of respect for the lack of gravity.

"It's a god forsaken little rock," spoke a voice in a heavy Irish accent, its owner seated as best he could be at one of the two mess tables in the room. "Can't be seein' what business anyone in their right mind would want done down there." Specialized pouch in hand, he took a sip of the straw and shook his head, brown hair wild in the zero-G. "This is no way to drink a beer, damn it."

"Lots of people like to do their business on low traffic worlds like this, and people only come to this planet for two things. Shady business or mined ores." The second speaker was a tall woman. Slender with dark hair, a hint of a French accent touched her words. "It is not as if we could afford to miss the payment for this, suspicious as it seems."

(Feel free to play off of this, or I'll continue in a couple of days and add more!)

[Qadir Khan]

You mean I cannot afford to miss the payment for this. Qadir grimaced at the numbers staring remorselessly up at him from the dog-eared, old-fashioned ledger he had in one hand. Prices for replacement parts are only going up. And up. And up.

He shook his head and closed the ledger, using his other hand to massage his temples and smooth his thick sideburns as he put his best smile on his face and said, keeping his thoughts to himself, "Right. I don't care if it's a rock. As long as it's got people on it, that's a place we need to be." Projecting confidence was important, regardless of whether or not he had any of it to project. "We'll just have to grin and bear it."

Another flash of lightning could be seen among the red clouds below. Yes, grin and bear it. Clench those teeth. He thought ruefully of his one-armed Commando in its bay. And clench your arse, too, if this job goes anything like the last one did.

[Corrine_Richelieu]

"It should be easy to grin with 50,000 volts o' lightnin' burning through ya," replied the Irish one. "

"Well, it would not be a boring way to go, at least," the woman said, with a dismissive cluck of her tongue at the end. "Captain Khan, I'm told they'll be able to weld the Commando's arm back on in the next hour, just before we have to go down." She had no discernible expression at the statement, but it was not uncommon that Corrine was a woman who was difficult to read. "Blitzy is a capable technical mind, apparently. I have to admit I feel more comfortable when we have someone who can provide a 200mm cannon to dissuade people who are crossing our paths, too."

"Ey, but I had to do most of the heavy lifting to get that thing back in place and hammered in." The Irishman earned a simple shrug from Corrine.

"Heavy lifting is... valuable, I suppose."

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