Old Frontiers: The Severan Contingency

Chapter 2: Fire

The neon sign of Ketal's Hashery flickered at random. The dive was both high tech and simultaneously run down and forgotten. Though the Crown District was moderately wealthy, consisting of workers that had moved up from the lower tiers Fertilization and Recyclotron they weren't all that different. The restaurant was in an alcove away from a view of the immense hive-city that stretch almost a hundred kilometers out as if hollowed out by giants.

There was always a significant gathering of Obsolus and humans in the nearby streets as one of the local transport docks was nearby. This was one of the first places anyone saw when they ventured into Port City, which made the Hashery a particularly well-known dive for scavengers, local forces, merchants, and security personnel.

Rather walked up the slight rise as he recounted their previous visit here, which had left him injured and captured, while Grathe had nearly been executed by his own clan. The firefight here had all but been forgotten by the residents, but Rather had hired security for each of them, giving them a rather impressive retinue that followed them everywhere. None of them were going to find themselves captured this evening.

He fumbled with a cold metallic lump in his uniform pocket until he saw the gathering around the restaurant and then forgot about it.

The crowd near the restaurant approached them and then promptly backed off when Prinz came up with his security officers. Once again, Rather was in the spotlight. He'd brought back a station shard that had live Xenos within. Though the Antechaim were currently undergoing quarantine procedures and talking extensively with the Silquint, they were, nonetheless, talk of the city and perhaps the mega-station as a whole.

"First the big score and now a bunch of Xenos? What's next Situous?" someone from the crowd shouted out to him.

He stopped for a moment, turning. "Maybe a warship like that Maenar on Caluhlyr discovered? That's what I'd like to acquire next."

Chuckles and laughter, but they might actually believe him. After all, he must appear unstoppable to most, considering what he seemingly regularly brought back.

"Hero of the day?" Quinton asked.

"Might talk about us for longer once those Antechaim integrate into the station." He didn't know that plan and would be taking a ride to Middle in order to give his briefing to the Silquint leadership directly.

"Xenos walking around Port city—gonna be different that's for sure."

Especially, Rather thought, since he had heard from Phineas that the Antechaim had a recharging station that could fill all of those spent power cores they found everywhere. If that was the truth then scavenging would become a whole lot less dangerous and potentially less valuable if he could no longer bring in a stack of cores that sold for a fortune.

They walked into the restaurant and were immediately recognized by the waiter, a particularly wide Ghirp that probably ate more than his provided-for rations on a regular basis. He nodded politely and motioned to their table in one of the second-floor overlook VIP sections. Rather had his favorite space on the bottom floor, but prestige offered something tangible than just crowds at restaurants, apparently.

He wrinkled his nose at the flagrant smell of the Fratfa milk, sweet and curdled, but not because he despised the taste. Rather he had met the Fratfa Obsolus themselves. A species of Obsolus that regularly mated and produced the milk that other species consumed. For whatever reason, he couldn't accept drinking the mammary excretions of another species, especially one so amorously active as the Fratfa.

Rather ordered a bottle of Kelvan Ale. Nobody knew where the recipe had come from or even what a Kelvan was, but the stuff was sufficiently alcoholic, while simultaneously remaining cheap enough even for the poorest scavenger. If there was one thing they could all make with proficiency on the mega-station it would be alcohol.