Snippet #1388070

The Atremis slipped through space, her sleek, organic shape glinting the blue rays of the aging star Sercu. The blue giant flared a spat its liquid flame at the circling planets. The blue glow turning the olive of the frigate's hull darker. She drifted above the swirling blue eddies of a ancient gas giant, a embryonic star itself. Her finned shape slicing though the shifting clouds of nebula dust that filled the solar system. Sercu made its home in the midst of the horse-head nebula, formed from a condensation of flammable gases. Now as it approached the late periods of its life it has begun to expand, gaining a blue hue and loosing the density that dragged much of the nebula clouds into its ravenous maw. It was a pitiful death, the star would continue to grow to a cooler red shine before whipped apart by the vicious nebula winds, letting the core expand and return its material into the gaseous structure from which it was formed. For most races of the galaxy, this process did not concern them. The system formed around the star had little valuable resources and harvesting operations would soon have utilised them all. One of these mining operations had leeched itself to a moon of Sercu's only planet, Trascerm. One of its moons, Trathis, was large enough and distant enough to be stable and metallic structures of a mining operation covered its surface like mold. Small mining craft sourced from the station to another satellite. This moon was cracked, honeycombed and contained build ups of volatile gases. A dangerous globe without the heavy gravity of its host attempting to rip it apart. Yet the profits keep the pitiful miners chipping away at the valuable deposits of minerals worked through it.

Trathis was the Atremis's destination and the vessel glided forward, casting a shadow over the mining vehicles travelling to and fro. It was unusual that an independent ship would come out of its way to visit the backwards system in the middle of the horse head nebula, even with the spectacular view of the light flitting through the giant orange gases. Usually there were only large charted freighters bringing in workers and resources and returning with the raw mined metals. Several of the miners swept off their path to circle the Tysai vessel. The frigate silently ignored them, gliding slowly and gracefully into dock with the ugly metallic towers that jutted from the complex. It slid still and locked to the slowly rotating moon.

Soon after the frigate settled into its dock its lone passenger disembarked. A thin figure pushed himself lightly down the small passage way, the low gravity allowing almost completely free flight. The dock was just as unattractive on the inside as the outside. Except the patchwork of mismatched decking plates lacked the offsetting beautiful solarscape. It took Kane several minutes to travel down the length of the shaft. Touching down lightly in a larger loading area, what little gravity the moon exerted holding him to the metal plating. The cargo bay was empty of living beings scattered with detritus and abandoned machines waiting for the next freighter to arrive. Silence prevailed as the sound of Kane's landing echoed around. With a small push the man thrust his way towards the exit hatch on one side of the room. Pulling the sealed door open he pushed his slim body through into another corridor. Unlike the emptiness of the loading bay the corridor thronged with people, most of them alien although there were some human faces here and there. Kane sighed, locating one man in the boiling cauldron of life was going to be difficult and even more so considering that people probably wouldn't take well to questions. However, he had come to find Grant Lyson and set off towards the interior of the structure, grasping rungs anchored on the wall to propel himself along into a larger room, once again filled with a multitude coming and going. Kane found a hold on the wall and grasped onto it. Eyes flickering through the crowd, trying to find a human who didn't look particularly moody or in too much of a hurry. He got lucky, spotting a aging man slowly making his way around the exterior of the room. Kane intercepted him asking politely
"Excuse me sir, do you know a man called Grant Lyson." The old-timer paused, looking oddly at Kane for a moment, coming to the conclusion that the man wasn't a resident. He nodded, responding, slightly hoarse.
"Yes, I do son. The best darn worker on this here station." His voice hosted a slight taint of an accent that would've been classed as southern american if Kane had any concept of american accents. Dropping into a whisper he continued "Not that any other these aliens would pay any care. The bastards all hate our guts." He returned to the topic, dropping his confidential tone "Grant should be on break at the moment, try the mess." He indicated one of the entrances "Through there, they have signs."
"Thank you" Kane replied, pushing away from the wall and driving towards the aperture.

It took him a little while to find and follow the poorly constructed and placed signs but eventually Kane found the mess. As he moved into the room he shot his legs out quickly, feeling the stomach wrenching shift from natural to artificial gravity. It had surprised him, although he chastised himself. It would've been sensible to assume that they would localised gravity projectors where food was involved. The food hall lived up to its name enough without loose, floating food. Gunk covered table tops, floor, walls and the ceiling and a horrid smell permeated the room. Kane fought down the urge to retch and began to walk amongst the tables once again looking for a human he could ask for directions. He happened across a couple with a small child and asked them if they knew a Grant Lyson. The father grunted, pointing to a large, heavy set man sitting on his own. The wife looked at Kane with narrowed, piercing eyes inviting him to leave. He thanked them and turned away as the baby offered a small gargle. He made his away the intervening tables and approached the man. "Excuse me." He began "Are you Grant Lyson? My name is Kane Ryasi, may I have a word?"