Post by Solace on Jul 2, 2010 4:38:53 GMT -5
Amity - orbiting Planet Prasidion:
With a flash of light, the Amity arrived at the designated jump point above the arid planet known as Prasidion. The ships computer disengaged the cyro pod, allowing Amity's' pilot to slowly drift back into the realms of consciousness. With a loud yawn, Solace opened his eyes before slowly extracting himself from the comfortable and ergonomically designed cyro pod that he called his own. As a Mentsiquar, even one in exile, he still had access to some of the best technology his homeworld had to offer. Of course, Solace had made many small changes to the base design of his ship, improving its jump times and responsiveness drastically.
Although he had never been one of the lower class workers, even as a noble he knew more than his fair share about the art of ship design. Shutting the lid to the cyro pod, he stumbled his way to the cockpit where the user interface immediately activated, sensing his presence. Solace smiled briefly, letting his practiced eyes scan over the displays before he switched his attention to his CPU. Unlike Zercan ships where the CPU was a simple two dimensional display, in his ship it was a life sized 3D form of a tiny blonde haired girl with bright purple eyes. "Good morning Ami," he said tiredly to the girl that sat idly next to him, "How long was I in Cyro sleep this time?"
Ami smiled at him, her expression slightly petulant. Although she would never say so, Solace was sure that she was happy he was awake again. It would get pretty lonely operating the ship for long stretches of time with nobody at all to talk to. Solace was one of the few ship pilots in the galaxy that actually supported AI rights. He had designed the program for Ami himself, naming her after the ship. Despite her occasional bad moods, he couldn't have wished for a better companion. "You were asleep for a little under two weeks this time Solace," she stated, sounding somewhat proud of herself, "Thats a whole three day improvement over our last time."
Solace simply nodded. It was good that they were improving times, it meant that his latest adjustments to the jump drive had been successful. Letting his eyes flick back to the system read out, he watched cautiously as a pair of Prasidion attack ships darted towards his recently arrived trader. Solace was not overly worried. He had been trading with the Prasidions for nearly a year now and they knew that if they hurt him or his ship, they would lose out on the valuable cargo he brought. It was a pretty shady business admittedly, but they paid well and that was all that really mattered to him. Picking up his intercom device, Solace switched it to the correct frequency. "This is trading ship Amity," Solace stated calmly, it didn't do to show fear with the Prasidions, "I have a shipment of food and request permission to dock for unloading."
This was always the part that was the most dangerous of this particular operation. If the Prasidions didn't acknowledge him, he would most likely find his ship blown into a million pieces before he could even bat an eye. Silence echoed over the comm link for several seconds before a reply came through. "Understood Amity," the Prasidion pilot stated, his voice dripping with what could only be greed, "proceed to landing dock number eight."
Solace let out a small sigh of relief. Trading with the Prasidion race was a very risky business, no matter how well it paid. Slowly easing the ship into a measured descent, Solace lost himself in the pleasure of pilotting the ship. He had been here a number of times over the last few years and had the coordinates for dock eight stored in the ships memory. The Amity entered the atmosphere, escorted by the two Prasidion attack ships and slowly eased down past the cloud level and onto the landing platform. The Prasidion planet was admittedly sterile, but he respected the technology that was evident in the vast city that stretched out before him.
Prasi was the capital of the Prasidion race and considered by most to be the home of the most evil race in the galaxy. Solace thought it best not to judge. They had the money and resources to pay him well for his trade missions and that was all that mattered to him. So long as the warlike nature and strange eating habits of the Prasidions didn't get in the way of business it didn't matter. He pulled his ship to a stop on the large landing platform, dodging the small planet bound transports that littered the skies. One of the transports pulled to a stop on the landing platform as well, a group of important looking Prasidion getting out and making their way towards the ship.
Easing his way out of the cockpit, Solace headed towards the entry hatch, pulling on a breathing mask as he went. He didn't entirely trust the atmosphere of Prasidion, even though Ami claimed that it was perfectly breathable. Stepping out onto the wide expanse of the landing dock, he headed towards the Prasidion congregation that had come to meet him. Once he reached them, he bowed awkwardly in the Prasidion style before straightening once again and waiting to be addressed. The Prasidion race was particular about etiquette and as an outsider he was below even the lowest Prasidion in rank. The leader of the group nodded in acknowledgement, clearly appeased by his deference.
"Welcome to Prasidion Solace," the alien said, their voice scratchy and most likely unused to speaking his language, "I assume that you have brought us what we requested?"
Solace grimaced slightly but nodded in affirmation. The Prasidion's had until recently been content with his shipments of animals from the backwater planet Earth. However, the last time he had visited they had asked for something a little bit harder to obtain. They had wanted humans. Solace had initially been horrified at the concept, but finally he had been swayed by the money that they offered and had brought them what they asked. It had been disturbingly easy. He had simply offered a number of the humans on Earth a chance to 'go to a new world' and they had come willingly. Like sheep to the slaughter.
The Prasidion's eyes widened in hunger, several of them looking towards the door to the cargo hold with apparent greed. The head Prasidion smiled widely at Solace. "I'm glad that you managed to attain what we asked for. Rest assured, you will recieve your money and a guarantee of safe passage home. First though, we would like to be able to inspect the merchandise."
Solace had hoped they wouldn't say that. He wouldn't be able to look the poor humans in the eye, knowing what he had brought them to. His face going blank, he nodded mutely before speaking into a small microphone and asking Ami to release the cargo hold. "I'm sure you will be perfectly happy with the quality of the merchandise," Solace assured them, although his voice sounded dead, "I was unsure if you preferred your meat alive or dead, so I kept it alive for the time being." In reality, Solace had been to disturbed by the idea of killing the people himself. He would let the aliens deal with that.
With that, the hold opened and a group of excited looking humans came rushing out, looking to Solace first and then at the small group of aliens. Most of them wore expressions of wonder, still dressed in the clothes that they had worn when he captured them. All in all, there was maybe fifty people, a mixture of all ages, genders and ethnic groups. Solace averted his eyes. A small group of Prasidion guards quickly bound the humans and their expressions of wonder changed to shock and finally fear. The head Prasidion looked at Solace, apparently pleased. "You were right, they are perfectly adequate."
He then motioned to two of his companions, who went back to the transport and brought a heavy chest full of a variety of different coloured gemstones with them. They deposited the chest in the cargo hold, before heading back out to help supervise the removal of the humans from the landing platform. "Your payment is in the ship Solace," the head Prasidion said happily, "We look forward to doing business with you again soon."
Bowing, Solace headed back to the entry hatch and climbed his way into the cockpit, before collapsing into his seat with a drained look on his face. He let his eyes rest briefly on Ami. "Remind me again why I do this Ami," he asked, his voice sounding flat.
Ami looked at him with a certain amount of pity before responding. "Because it pays better than just about anything else," she responded briskly, though she seemed almost as disturbed as he did. "Let's get out of here Solace."
The small copper haired boy nodded briefly before powering up the engine on his ship and putting it back into space. With a flick of a switch, he engaged the jump drive.
[NB: If you want to join this, please PM me and we can discuss how to fit you into the story
How did you guys like my little piece of... fiction?]
With a flash of light, the Amity arrived at the designated jump point above the arid planet known as Prasidion. The ships computer disengaged the cyro pod, allowing Amity's' pilot to slowly drift back into the realms of consciousness. With a loud yawn, Solace opened his eyes before slowly extracting himself from the comfortable and ergonomically designed cyro pod that he called his own. As a Mentsiquar, even one in exile, he still had access to some of the best technology his homeworld had to offer. Of course, Solace had made many small changes to the base design of his ship, improving its jump times and responsiveness drastically.
Although he had never been one of the lower class workers, even as a noble he knew more than his fair share about the art of ship design. Shutting the lid to the cyro pod, he stumbled his way to the cockpit where the user interface immediately activated, sensing his presence. Solace smiled briefly, letting his practiced eyes scan over the displays before he switched his attention to his CPU. Unlike Zercan ships where the CPU was a simple two dimensional display, in his ship it was a life sized 3D form of a tiny blonde haired girl with bright purple eyes. "Good morning Ami," he said tiredly to the girl that sat idly next to him, "How long was I in Cyro sleep this time?"
Ami smiled at him, her expression slightly petulant. Although she would never say so, Solace was sure that she was happy he was awake again. It would get pretty lonely operating the ship for long stretches of time with nobody at all to talk to. Solace was one of the few ship pilots in the galaxy that actually supported AI rights. He had designed the program for Ami himself, naming her after the ship. Despite her occasional bad moods, he couldn't have wished for a better companion. "You were asleep for a little under two weeks this time Solace," she stated, sounding somewhat proud of herself, "Thats a whole three day improvement over our last time."
Solace simply nodded. It was good that they were improving times, it meant that his latest adjustments to the jump drive had been successful. Letting his eyes flick back to the system read out, he watched cautiously as a pair of Prasidion attack ships darted towards his recently arrived trader. Solace was not overly worried. He had been trading with the Prasidions for nearly a year now and they knew that if they hurt him or his ship, they would lose out on the valuable cargo he brought. It was a pretty shady business admittedly, but they paid well and that was all that really mattered to him. Picking up his intercom device, Solace switched it to the correct frequency. "This is trading ship Amity," Solace stated calmly, it didn't do to show fear with the Prasidions, "I have a shipment of food and request permission to dock for unloading."
This was always the part that was the most dangerous of this particular operation. If the Prasidions didn't acknowledge him, he would most likely find his ship blown into a million pieces before he could even bat an eye. Silence echoed over the comm link for several seconds before a reply came through. "Understood Amity," the Prasidion pilot stated, his voice dripping with what could only be greed, "proceed to landing dock number eight."
Solace let out a small sigh of relief. Trading with the Prasidion race was a very risky business, no matter how well it paid. Slowly easing the ship into a measured descent, Solace lost himself in the pleasure of pilotting the ship. He had been here a number of times over the last few years and had the coordinates for dock eight stored in the ships memory. The Amity entered the atmosphere, escorted by the two Prasidion attack ships and slowly eased down past the cloud level and onto the landing platform. The Prasidion planet was admittedly sterile, but he respected the technology that was evident in the vast city that stretched out before him.
Prasi was the capital of the Prasidion race and considered by most to be the home of the most evil race in the galaxy. Solace thought it best not to judge. They had the money and resources to pay him well for his trade missions and that was all that mattered to him. So long as the warlike nature and strange eating habits of the Prasidions didn't get in the way of business it didn't matter. He pulled his ship to a stop on the large landing platform, dodging the small planet bound transports that littered the skies. One of the transports pulled to a stop on the landing platform as well, a group of important looking Prasidion getting out and making their way towards the ship.
Easing his way out of the cockpit, Solace headed towards the entry hatch, pulling on a breathing mask as he went. He didn't entirely trust the atmosphere of Prasidion, even though Ami claimed that it was perfectly breathable. Stepping out onto the wide expanse of the landing dock, he headed towards the Prasidion congregation that had come to meet him. Once he reached them, he bowed awkwardly in the Prasidion style before straightening once again and waiting to be addressed. The Prasidion race was particular about etiquette and as an outsider he was below even the lowest Prasidion in rank. The leader of the group nodded in acknowledgement, clearly appeased by his deference.
"Welcome to Prasidion Solace," the alien said, their voice scratchy and most likely unused to speaking his language, "I assume that you have brought us what we requested?"
Solace grimaced slightly but nodded in affirmation. The Prasidion's had until recently been content with his shipments of animals from the backwater planet Earth. However, the last time he had visited they had asked for something a little bit harder to obtain. They had wanted humans. Solace had initially been horrified at the concept, but finally he had been swayed by the money that they offered and had brought them what they asked. It had been disturbingly easy. He had simply offered a number of the humans on Earth a chance to 'go to a new world' and they had come willingly. Like sheep to the slaughter.
The Prasidion's eyes widened in hunger, several of them looking towards the door to the cargo hold with apparent greed. The head Prasidion smiled widely at Solace. "I'm glad that you managed to attain what we asked for. Rest assured, you will recieve your money and a guarantee of safe passage home. First though, we would like to be able to inspect the merchandise."
Solace had hoped they wouldn't say that. He wouldn't be able to look the poor humans in the eye, knowing what he had brought them to. His face going blank, he nodded mutely before speaking into a small microphone and asking Ami to release the cargo hold. "I'm sure you will be perfectly happy with the quality of the merchandise," Solace assured them, although his voice sounded dead, "I was unsure if you preferred your meat alive or dead, so I kept it alive for the time being." In reality, Solace had been to disturbed by the idea of killing the people himself. He would let the aliens deal with that.
With that, the hold opened and a group of excited looking humans came rushing out, looking to Solace first and then at the small group of aliens. Most of them wore expressions of wonder, still dressed in the clothes that they had worn when he captured them. All in all, there was maybe fifty people, a mixture of all ages, genders and ethnic groups. Solace averted his eyes. A small group of Prasidion guards quickly bound the humans and their expressions of wonder changed to shock and finally fear. The head Prasidion looked at Solace, apparently pleased. "You were right, they are perfectly adequate."
He then motioned to two of his companions, who went back to the transport and brought a heavy chest full of a variety of different coloured gemstones with them. They deposited the chest in the cargo hold, before heading back out to help supervise the removal of the humans from the landing platform. "Your payment is in the ship Solace," the head Prasidion said happily, "We look forward to doing business with you again soon."
Bowing, Solace headed back to the entry hatch and climbed his way into the cockpit, before collapsing into his seat with a drained look on his face. He let his eyes rest briefly on Ami. "Remind me again why I do this Ami," he asked, his voice sounding flat.
Ami looked at him with a certain amount of pity before responding. "Because it pays better than just about anything else," she responded briskly, though she seemed almost as disturbed as he did. "Let's get out of here Solace."
The small copper haired boy nodded briefly before powering up the engine on his ship and putting it back into space. With a flick of a switch, he engaged the jump drive.
[NB: If you want to join this, please PM me and we can discuss how to fit you into the story
How did you guys like my little piece of... fiction?]