002.
A hazard light flicks on, warning of upcoming obstructions and as he looks at the readings, it looks so much like an asteroid field that a deep sinking feeling hits his stomach. The relief as the energy spheres of a Helios farm come into view feels as though the oxygen floods back into the cockpit.
There isn't a functioning Helios Farm in his home system, and seeing the little spheres, some of which still have energy pulsing through them, makes him sit back in wonder at the Old World.
It is a world he'll never see. One that ended long before he was born; before even his mother was born. The remnants of it build the foundations of everything he knows, and the sheer breadth of it can be easy to forget. His entire life had been stretched to one little moon, less than that, even. Now, all of space is open before him, everything the Old World had created and destroyed.
Some of the spheres are cracked and broken. How many years had they sat here, waiting for maintenance that would never come?
003.
The Orion Moth which hails him via his comms is such a classic little ship, he recognizes it immediately. What takes longer for him to notice is that it is being run by Corsairs.
The Corsair Syndicate was famous even among the Sisters of the Seventh Sun, a scapegoat for all the bandits and smugglers in the galaxy. He had never encountered them during his short stints between Melisara and the neutral Space Station from which his Mother had originated, but he knew their colors, and the Orion Moth was painted with the Cog and Skull which made up their emblem.
From what he hears, however, The Corsairs usually don't give you the courtesy of giving you a warning before shooting. He doesn't imagine they would give the friendly "Howdy" that greeted him along with the image on his comm screen.
He knows better than to underestimate the bright purple spacebuns and the matching lip-stick smile, but the greeting makes him think that at least the conversation is starting hostile. That's a good starting point.
"Welcome to the hottest party in Eden, traveler." She says, sitting on a velvet couch, the strobe lights and neons behind her illuminating only the shadow of forms dancing behind her, the noise suppressors keeping the music that must be blaring a bay. "And, you can be a part of it for the modest price of 90 serum."
He thinks of the logistics of operating something like this, the refit the Orion Moth must have had to accomodate this. There must have been some big money behind it.
"Thanks for the invite, friend." He replies eventually, smiling back in a way that hopefully seems dis-arming, hopefully says 'I'm not ISF.'
The Intersolar Federation had a firm grip over his home system, probably accounting for the lack of Corsair's he'd encountered there, but he'd seen enough of their type of law that he'd never been a fan. The levies and taxes they'd put over the trade between Melisara and the Space Station had choked nearly all of the Sister's supplies in an attempt to force the Nuns' hands into joining. He doesn't know that he would prefer the lawless-ness of the Corsairs, but he knew that he wasn't a friend of the Feddies.
"Unfortunately, I'm new to the system and don't have the credits to spare." He adds.
The woman gave a small nod in response, glances down, before her attention returns to him. Valentine can't help but wonder what sort of scanners the Moth has been fitted with, how much information she has on him.
"Understandable, of course." She replies, the smile still there on her face. She holds up a finger. "One moment, please."
The audio get's muted, she gestures to somone off screen. A figure with a comms blocker- their face a mass of black and white pixels- comes into screens, listens for a moment to what she has to say. They nod and leave. Val's stomach is in his throat, his eyes flicker to the incoming threat screen- just in case.
The audio unmutes, the smile returns:
"Well, if you ever do get the funds, you know where we are." She says, and he reads it for what it is: A dismissal. "We have the best candy in the Galaxy."
The comms link closes.
