[Horizon's Key] Job 01: Shakedown (Chapter 1)

Kassi, being foreign to Nepleslian culture as well, had an idea what kind of shock was about to happen to them, but she reserved all expectations, for she knew only what she had learned from the Freespacer's had learned from transmissions.

She acquired a lock on the docking area and started to align the ship with it. The ship handled surprisingly well in the task of docking, seeing as it was a large and bulky freighter. Kassi brought it in slower and slower as they neared the dock. She searched all of the sensors and found nothing abnormal. Rotating the Key slightly, Kassi brought it into perfect alignment with the dock. The final approach was nothing less than perfect; Kassi seemed to have really gotten used to the ship and any quirks it had.

With a small hiss and thump, the Horizon's Key docked successfully and the airlock was ready to disgorge its passengers and cargo.

Nicholai rolled out of his bed and made his way to the bridge. Well that was a nice nap. the ID-SOL said as he thudded through the corridors in his heavy boots.

Elliot said:

"Morning Gem. Time for culture shock, eh?"

Click to expand...

Nicholai arrived on the bridge a little after Elliot did and came in just in time to hear him speak. "Shocking." Nicholai said with a chuckle. "Sounds like we're good to go." Nicholai said as the ship rumbled when she connected to the station.

Aboard the KSS Imhotep, preparations were being made to have another crew of Nepleslians join them. A small security team was assembled though, just to be on the safe side, and with them came the Administrator of the station, Night Watches Over.

The tall male was dressed a little more modernly than when he had joined the crew of the Imhotep some monthes earlier, his hair pulled back in the braid, though only down to the back of his shoulders now. His black suit was finely pressed, and though they fit him awkwardly, he was attempting to wear specially created boots on his feet, with insoles that cradled the digitigrade paws of the Kohanians.

As was a custom, he also made sure that some of the finest Kohanian delicacies were laid out on a long table on one side of the hallway leading from the bay, and on the other side, bottles of Kohanian wine for their guests. If the Key's crew enjoyed the items, they would be able to find more in the restaurants, shops, and stores throughout the common area of the station.

Once all was in place, Night and his guards stood at the end of the hallway and would just wait, watching the doors slowly slide open to allow crews from both vessels to come and go.

"Well, I guess someone's going to need to play ambassador. Gem, requesting permission to cross to the Kohanian's ship." Eliot said, already heading towards the door and (eventually) the airlock.

Gem just smiled and nodded to Eliot as he arrived on the bridge, then to Nicholai when the ID-SOL joined them shortly after. True, these people had not spent time enough with Gem to get a full grasp on her tendencies and behaviour, but even so she was a bit silent for an occasion such as this. But the reason was simple;

The captain of the Horizon's Key had just developed an acute case of the jitters. Their foreman had been raised on a starship, worked as a courier in Nepleslia's gang territories, and made her own fair share of business deals both legal and otherwise. But she always had someone behind her. A parent, a boss, a superintendant who had done all the hard work and dealing for her. but she could look past that, feigning business deals here couldn't be much different from the small time business connections she had built back on Nepleslia. Gangs had their own sub cultures, but the Kohanians had their cultures too, she just had to learn it.

So that was the part of what was making Gem nervous. This was the first contact for her...with a species that had kept them completely off the map for anyone off their planet. She and her crew might be the first and only Nepleslians some of these people had ever met, or would ever meet. But Gem forced those thoughts to the side and tapped some controls and double checked their directional orientation to the station's gravity. Then she got up.

"Le's do this right. Nicholai, Eliot, follow me. Kassie, if ev'rythin's finish'd an' check'd w' th' dockin', I'd like y' t' go too." she headed toward the door at the back of th bridge, (This one opened directly to the Deck Two catwalk), and headed toward the stairs. Arriving at the Upper Hold, she propelled herself across to the bay, checked her "up", then opened the airlock hatch and stepped inside. Before letting the airlock cycle through, she waited for the others to join her.

Sometimes having airlocks ONLY on the ceiling was a real pain. And it definitely made for some undignified entries and exits.

Eliot was there a few seconds after Gem opened the hatch.

"Well, thank god for Zero-G. I'm no mutant, I can't climb walls like a superhero." He said sarcastically, heading towards the umbilical connecting the Key and the Osiris.

Nicholai followed Gem and Elliot through the ship to the Airlock. Shouldn't o' had that last bruger. the ID-SOL thought as his stomach churned uncomfortably when he pushed off into the weightless room. Once safely inside the airlock he steadied himself against the wall, ready for gravity to return.

Kassi followed behind after the rest, looking around as she exited the ship. She was quite excited about meeting these Kohanians, or whatever they called themselves. She wondered about what kind of culture she would find herself immersed in; weather it would be anything like she had ever seen before.

Smiling slightly at Eliot's remark (the guy seemed to be full of them, she noted, or he had stocked up at the Pisces), Gem started the airlock cycle. The door to the Key closed, and there was a hiss as the pressure in the airlock equalized with that of the Imhotep. Then the door on the side of the Kohanian space station opened, revealing the welcoming party.

To be honest, Gem had not been entirely sure what to expect. Of course, she had done her research before deciding to head over to this place, but somehow seeing the Kohanians in person made things different than seeing them in a picture, even if that picture was a three-dimensional hologram. She tried to remember what Cap would do when meeting a colony representative for the first time, but quickly decided that the two situations were hardly comparable. All the same, it was the only thing she had to go off of...she stepped forward and smiled at the group, focusing on the elderly-looking jackal at the center. He fairly radiated respectability, so she took a chance and guessed that he was the one in charge.

" 'ello. I'm Command'r Gem Tabier, of the Horizon's Key," she began, giving the canid a polite smile. "This's m' crew, Pilot Kassiopea Zero Zero, Chief o' Security Nicolai Vandherson, an' Cargo Master Eliot Steele." She indicated each of them as she introduced them, then waited for the wolf to introduce himself. Her smile was friendly, but carefully closed-lipped. One thing she remembered from past experience was that you should never show your teeth to a dog.

Even if he was standing on two legs.

Eliot drifted in zero-gee for what little time he could ("Well, I take that back, maybe I really am a superhero!") before falling to the floor of the umbilical ("Well, maybe not"). A bit embarassed, he made his way up the umbilical into the Imhotep. When he was introduced to the Kohanian by Gem, he made a straight-faced nod and adjusted the lapels of his bomber jacket nervously.

"So... This place seems interesting so far. I wonder what kind of food they have." This was Eliot's pathetic attempt at breaking the ice.

Keeping his wrists clasped behind his back, Night Watches Over slowly bent forward in a bow.

"It is a pleasure to make all of your aquaintances. I welcome you to the Imhotep, our little home away from home. You will find all of the usual comforts of home aboard our station. With just the slightest hints of our more primal culture. Some of the restaurants will be in your style, some in ours. I welcome you to try as much, or as little as you would like." This was mostly directed to the crew of the Key, but then the male focused in on Gem.

"Commander, while your crew enjoys the fullest extent of our hospitality, I wonder if you would allow me a few moments of your time to offer you a quest...a favor if you will?" He motioned to the security team assembled behind him and they split, showing the true welcoming commitee behind them. There were four females, a buxom tigress, a thin agile looking lioness, and two powerful looking mares. These were joined by a single male, a tall fox who's muscle was easily seen beneath a white button front shirt and khaki shorts that allowed his black leg markings to show unhindered. The ladies were all dressed in dresses, the tigress having the most difficult time keeping her assets decent within it, showing off quite a bit of clevage.

"I believe these fine ladies and gentleman will do a wonderful job of keeping you entertained until such a time as you wish to depart. These are my best staff members" the Station Administrator motioned to the tigress, one of the mares with all black pelt but a diamond of white between her eyes, the lioness, the fox, and finally the other mare, a chestnut brown in color. "Autumn's Blizzard, Flaming Sky, Early Ice Melt, Spring Stampede, and finally but definitely not least, Mud." The assembled group all bowed or showed some form of respect to being introduced, and then waited for the inevitable questions and statements about their race, and station, from the Key's crew.

Night on the other hand offered his arm to Gem, so that he may lead them to a more private area of the station, and a restaurant that specialized in Tikbalang cooking. Thick slices of meat and vegetables would be prepared on a fire heated plate of solid steel, seasoned with different liquid mixtures of spices and wines, and was served on a bed of rice or noodles.


"Commander." Night softly would say as he awaited her decision on whether to come, or stay with her crew.

Eliot instead took the initiative to make cultural inquiries on himself by approaching the chestnut mare, "Mud" as Night Watches Over had referred to him. He was entirely fearless despite the fact that this was (A) an entirely new species to him, and (B) an entirely new species to him that could easily disembowel and/or kill him. When he approached, he also made a small bow of respect before making his inquiry.

"So," he said directly, "All of you are named after different aspects of nature? Like seasons, elements, et cetera et cetera et cetera?"

Nicholai smiled when mentioned and listened intently when being spoken to, but for the most part remained quiet. When given the oportunity to introduce himself Nicholai decided to take a more...conservative approach than that of Elliot. Nicholai of course found it amazingly humorous at how elegently named the females were, but that Mud was so...plainly named and it took all of the self control the ID-SOL had not to chuckle a little bit when they were introduced.

The ID-SOL looked down at Kassiopea and whispered her a question: "Hey! What do we do now? I'm not too good at this 'meet a new race' thing." Nicholai tried to quietly ask this, but being discreet in any situation wasn't something that ID-SOLs were good at.

"Is it customary to ask favors of people you've just met?" Gem asked, her expression one of dry amusement. Either this was some sort of test, or these people were incredibly naive. She stayed where she stood, waiting for a response before following the elder jackal away. This was caution, a reluctance to leave her crew without knowing more about what was being asked of them.

Night slowly inhaled a breath at Gem's question, immediately letting his arm fall to his side.

"If that is the way that you feel about it, then I have sorely misjudged the Nepleslians, and the practices they have towards finding allies. You're words hurt me deeply, Commander. I thought that by extending our hospitality, you would be willing to repay that kindness. I see that I have been mistaken, and apologize from the bottom of my heart. You are welcome to remain onboard our station, but I will have security keep an eye on you. It would seem that since you are unwilling to trust us, you yourselves have something to hide as well. As administrator, I have my people to look out for, so I will ask that you do not leave the station, or go to the planet's surface, without first clearing it with me, and my security staff."

Turning on his heel, he would sigh and call something out in a lilting musical language, only to be answered in that same language from each of the staff members gathered. They remained, and Night walked away towards his private chambers, flanked on each side by large Tikbalang guards weilding a massive pike in one hand, and a full length sheild in the other.

--------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~----------------------

Mud slowly looked down to Eliot once Night Watches Over had left. She had picked up a little Nepleslian, but was not profficient with it. "Ya. We name after nature, and what parent sense when little one is born into world. Custom for all, even after meeting Sky people who give us house in Nighttime."

She smiled, as if proud of how well she explained her people's naming customs, and then remained quiet, looking to her companions and speaking in a much more gutteral and primal language, getting the other girls to laugh, and the male fox to smirk and flick his bushy tail in amusement.

'Sky people? Give us home in night time? Okay, I'm confused now; but my guess is she's probably talking about the Imhotep.'

"Thank you, err, Mud. Your help clarified quite a bit about your naming tendencies." Eliot said simply, doing his best not to offend anyone by acting confused about the slightly cryptic message delivered by the mare.

Nicholai had been half listening to the conversation between Gem and Night Watches Over, when it suddenly went sour. "Oi." The ID-SOL took a step called commandingly toward Night Watches over, "You might'a meant nuthin' but kindness by all this, and we appr'ciate it, but it's a bit overwhelming. She didn't mean to offend you." Nicholai gestured toward Gem as he spoke, "We don't really know nuthing about you so we went with who we knew sumething about, ourselves. It ain't fair to do that, but life ain't easy for people who grow up on Nepleslia Prime, and trust is rare and hard to earn." Nicholai's eyes didn't leave Night Watches Over while he spoke.

"I ain't saying it's a good excuse, but if we're going to talk about culture then ya need to know ours too. You ain't misjudged Nepleslians, there ain't nobody half as loyal anywhere" As Nicholai spoke he came up with an analogy in his head, "We're like goldfish right now," He spoke, "We just switched tanks, we're disoriented an' the water's warmer than it used to be, give us a bit to get used to the water and find our bearings."

Nicholai shut his mouth once he was done speaking, leaving the rest for either Gem or Night to decide. Heh, I hope they have goldfish. Nicholai thought quietly.

As the ID-SOL spoke, Night held up a paw to his guards, stopping to listen, but not turning back around. He was still within earshot, especially for one with as large of ears as the administrator had. When he had finished, Night's ears flicked twice, and he turned.

"You ask that I allow you time to acclimate yourself to us. That is a fair request. I know little more than what I have found in the computer databases about Nepleslia Prime, and from what I see it is not a nice place to live. But what I find amusing, is your telling me that it is difficult to gain your trust. Allow me to ask you a question, and do answer honestly."

The jackal turned and began to meander slowly back towards the group.

"Growing up on Nepleslia, were you given weapons to defend yourself against threats who sought to destroy you? Let me show you how growing up on our world is..."

He weaved his paws through the air, and as he seperated them, a volumetric display appeared between them. On the display was a slideshow of Mokoi shadow beasts rising up out of nowhere and slaughtering people as they walked alone at night, or images of the massacre that happened on Fenyar, or when Yui came and rained down fire on Shadow's Temple.

"You tell me that trust is difficult to earn for your people, try thinking of how my people must feel. We are not even allowed to defend ourselves properly. When we try, we are set up to be nothing more than someone's plaything. We get no respect, and our way of life is constantly being looked down upon. I have allowed a certain amount of grace to be shown to you, please do not expect to instantly be found in my good graces with a few well spoken words."

Behind him, the two large guards tightened the grips on their weapons and shields as their lips curled into snarls. They were, as was their choice, not educated much in the Nepleslian language, but they could sense the vibe being passed between the Key's crew, and their administrator.

"I needed your help, as the supplies that are usually brought up to restock our stores have been coming up with smaller and smaller cargos, if they arrive at all. You are the first ship to stop near our planet, so I assumed you had been told of the situation, and had come to help. That has been my mistake it would seem, and so long as you are not like the Star Destroyers, and have only come to plunder our planet and destroy our way of life, you will be allowed the freedom to walk amongst us on the station. My previous statement stands, however, and if you wish to go planetside, I must insist you let either myself, or my security staff know. Those who remain down there are fragile, uneducated in the ways of the stars. If you just went down with your ship, that would have a great impact, possibly for the very worst, and you would put yourselves all in danger. That is why I must insist on this."

Night again turned on his heel and began to walk away, speaking over his shoulder.

"If you need anything, my associates will be your guides to all the best places aboard the Imhotep. If you wish to speak with me, one of them will surely get your message to me. Good day."

"... Nice guy." Eliot said, restraining his right hand from instinctively flying to the grip of the Liberator in his jacket. "Guess they're not very fond of the Yammies either. Well, there's some common ground between me and an entire race already. We both dislike Yamatai."

Then, Eliot smelled food.

"Second similarity: We both like good food." With that, he turned back towards Mud and inquired, "Where is the food and drink? I'm famished."

When Night Watches Over showed Yui shooting down onto the temple the Nepleslian's face turned sour. "Damn Yamataians and their gunboat diplomacy." He muttered. Night Watches Over was right of course, they both had equal reasons to distrust each other. However, unlike themselves...the Kohanians had managed to displace that distrust and greet them in a friendly fashion. Nicholai fell silent as he considered this as well as the various things that had just been displayed. Shit...I think I just made it worse. The ID-SOL stood there silently, determined not to say more.