Planatae

Pursuit

The Andromeda popped into existence a few thousand light-years away from Purica Space. It had emerged at the edge of Rete territory, a section of the border that rubbed shoulders with Independant Space, rather than the war front.

This particular neighborhood of Rete consisted of a handful of colonies, all annexed relatively recently. Most of these planets were founded by the Rete a century or two ago; one or two were existing independents that petitioned the Rete for citizenship. They were breadbasket worlds, and offered their agricultural product as incentive.

One of these worlds was a relatively recent endeavor by a Rete corporation. Rather than for cultural or logistical reasons, Aquatime Corp. aimed for economic success.

About two decades ago, it garnered the licensing rights to a huge swath of property on one of the Rete border colonies, Alto II. It was a small planet, with a small population. Due to this, the residing Planetae was rudimentary, undergoing only the first stage of its sentient existence.

Initially, the Rete had colonized the planet in order to establish a massive fishery operation. It was named after a long extinct colony - according to historical records, Alto had been a previous fishing colony that had been ravaged in some long-ago conflict.

Alto II - the Planetae - did not have the self-awareness yet to be selective with its gifts, nor was it autonomous enough to do much more than physical augmentation. It acted on instinct, providing its hosts with an advantage in the watery world to ensure they would stay - and continue to grow their numbers.

Thus, every member of that first generation of those born on the new colony were bestowed with a Body-Type Factor: the ability to also breathe underwater.

Aquatime had no interest in fishing, however. The company wanted to take advantage of the mild oceans and temperate climate of the world and build a 'quiet, off-the-beaten-path' style resort for the Rete upper class.

Tucked away in the middle of nowhere, the place was distant enough to feel exciting and exotic to tourists, but also well-established enough to offer all the comforts of home in Rete's Core systems.

Ricardia sighed as she wiped her feed vision clean of the records she was reading and returned her gaze to the view beyond the ship. Despite sending her answer to Erin over the feed, she still had no desire to interact with anyone for the time being.

Wandering the ship, Ricardia discovered a lavish lounge that had been built along the flank of the Andromeda. The place was built for a crowd, but Ricardia was the only person there to appreciate the expansive view from the windows. She'd imagined that the place would have been packed if the ship hadn't been seized for the time being by Erin and her conspirators.

She'd tucked herself into a deep-seated couch and lost herself in the feed, scouring it for information about the Andromeda's upcoming - and final - stop on their 'research expedition.'

To any outsider following the trip, it looked as though Alto II had been chosen as a celebration stop, a way for the team to congratulate themselves after hard weeks of work and research throughout the galaxy.

But it was impossible to know what their real purpose for being there was. Of course, it was possible they were there for just a refuel and a moment of rest before going... elsewhere, but Ricardia's paranoia had reached new heights since stepping onto the ship. It felt as though there were always more and more questions, and not nearly enough answers.

Ricardia almost accessed long-range communication to reach out to Sana before stopping herself. She'd been ordered by the others to kill any communication with Onyx, lest they be tracked down.