Planatae

Introduction

The team wasted no time in the harbor, and so Lukas peered longingly at the raucous scenes around him. But the soldiers plowed ahead, forming a path for the others, and there was no opportunity to stop and take in the sights.

Pulling up his feed's navigation function, he was presented with a map of the station, translucent against the view of reality. Onyx, a hollowed-out asteroid, had apparently chosen to forgo the classic style of station-design. Instead of multiple layers, each devoted to a different function, Onyx was a single level, mimicking a traditional planet-bound city. It had been organized to resemble a massive spoke-and-hub, with several large avenues that stretched out in various directions. Between these spokes were tangled, sinew-like streets, and Lukas could tell the map was attempting only an approximation of those spaces.

Although the station was densely packed, there were three clearly defined features on the map: the spaceport, located at the very end of the largest of the spokes, some sort of agricultural space on the other end, and a large building in the center of Onyx, where all the avenues converged.

From the corner of his eye, Lukas spotted a boisterous couple veering close. The soldiers tensed up, dropping back a little to cover the group. But the pair, laughing and stumbling, barely glanced at them as they passed. He watched as the soldiers relaxed, stepping back into position, then shot a glance at his mother, but her expression revealed nothing about the tension in the air. The crowds were dense, and loud, certainly - but people drank and let loose back on Ferrum, too.

Although the colors around him were a little too bright, and the outfits on the garish side, it didn't seem enough to warrant the wary, defensive behavior of the people around him.

Turning to his mother, he said, "this place doesn't seem too bad."

"We're surrounded by soldiers," Erin muttered. "Most people don't have that luxury." 

She was distracted; Lukas could tell by the tone of her voice. Instead of looking back at him, her gaze was pointed ahead, focused on a large building that loomed, high enough to brush against the station's skylights. He didn't need the map to guess at what it was - it was clearly Onyx's central point. He also didn't need to ask where they were going at this point; it was clearly their destination.

With his mother distracted, Lukas quickened his pace to match step with the lab assistants. "What is that place?" He asked Aleksan, pointing at the building.

"No one told you?" He laughed, but it came out shaky. "That's the Purist Embassy. They won't come out to meet us, so-" he shrugged, "It looks like we've got to go to them."

"I can't believe we're actually here," Mila added, her voice a low hiss. "What the damn are we going to get out of this?" Glancing at Lukas, a little guiltily, she added, "I'm sure your mother's found a pretty good contact to meet, of course, but here...?"

Lukas frowned, eyeing the fast-approaching tower. He understood how they felt, to some degree. It didn't exactly look like an embassy. If anything, the building resembled a fortress, solid and as dark as the asteroid surrounding it. Blocky and utilitarian, the flat planes of the structure boasted absolutely zero decorum. Closer now, Lukas could make out a small group of people standing beside the embassy's gates. Beyond that was a heavy-looking set of doors. The figures' solid-black robes and tinted lenses did nothing to ease his impression of the place as generally unpleasant.

"Hello there!" Viktor called out to the Purists, the soldiers pulling back to let him pass. Lukas hung back, besides his mother. He'd never seen a Purist before - was fairly certain that they never ventured out beyond their territory in Independant Space. But the stories about the cult were legendary.