Unity Station

First topic message reminder :

Just outside of Imperium space, a small but well equiped research station.

Unity is a joint venture between multiple worlds, hence the name. Xenobiology, anthropology and astronomy are some of the things researched here.
There's a small school, a few shops, one or two tiny restaurants and a coffee shop but generally speaking, the majority of the inhabitants are either researchers or family of researchers.

The chief of medicine is an insectoid woman named Yessalia.
Chief of security is a man named Tias.

Ethan stood, watching Esk's movements carefully, half expecting Esk to fall. "Probably they are. I don't think it's possible to be normal if you're from a cave dwelling society of communists," he said. "Of course you could always teleport in to visit, but why would anyone want to?"

~~
Asher considered that. "If he isn't busy, I should. I should also talk to Starr at some point, I didn't really talk to her earlier." He looked awkward. "I don't want to just run off and leave you though."

Esk made a face. "I'm not sure we're welcome anyway." He shrugged and reached out to catch his balance against the bench. "Besides, i've had enough caves for a fucking lifetime."

---

Kay frowned a little then nodded. [We can meet up later. I should spend some time with Danika.] He was trying to be diplomatic. Yes, he wanted Asher to himself, he wanted to spend all this time with him, he really didn't want to have to say goodbye again. but at the same time he didn't really feel like he could demand Asher's exclusive time. Eugh. And he sort of DID want to see Danika. Wherever the heck she'd wandered off to.

Matt and Lana had found their way into the maintanance section of the station.

ahead of them was a door with "restricted, authorised access only" emblazoned on it.

Lana looked at her father. "Want to see something neat?" She asked.

Matt grinned back. "Sure."

With a nod the little girl approached the door, closed her eyes and stepped right through it as though it wasn't even there.

Matt's eyes widened.
"Lana?" He tapped on the door, nope, it was definintely solid.

The door slid open with a soft whoosh and Lana stood on the other side, grinning broadly, blue eyes sparkling.
"Come on, through here."

"how the hell did you do that?" Matt asked.

"shhhhh" Lana gestured he keep his voice down and shrugged. "I dunno, just can."

Matt tried not to laugh. "That's awesome. I mean, like.. crazy useful. Can you walk through anything? What does it feel like? Do Asher and Nova know?" So many questions.

Lana giggled. "I dunno. I can get through most things around here... " Ahh like father like daughter huh? She shook her head. "Don't tell Uncle Asher and Auntie Nova."

"so.. they don't know then?"

"I didn't tell them." Lana led the way around a corner and spread her hands wide. Before them was a power core that glowed brightly, pulsating softly in its containment field.

"woah.." Matt stared.

"This is what powers most of the station." Lana told him. "there's another one on the other side. Isn't it pretty?"

"Why's it so deserted?" Matt asked.

Lana shrugged. "Most of this stuff is automated I guess. Engineering mostly handles things like the thrusters that keep the station steady and all that. They only come up here if there's a problem."

There was a cough behind them and Matt turned. A terran man in a security uniform was pointing a taser at them.

Matt raised both hands in surrender.

Lana smiled at the man coyly. She didn't appear at all intimidated. "Hi Chief..." She sounded guilty.

"Alana Ackermann, why am I not surprised? I don't know how you got through that security door but you have to stop doing this." The man replied, he looked to Matt. "I assumed you would know better Webster."

Matt tried to keep a straight face, lowering his hands slowly as the man put his taser away. "Uh.. i'm not Web..."

The man stared at him.
"Mattias?"

Matt nodded.

"So the rumour's true, you're back from the dead huh?"

"Hey we weren't dead! We were just like.. lost." Matt protested.

"Either way, you shouldn't be back here. Come on." The security chief indicated they follow.

Lana glared up at the camera neither of them had noticed earlier. "Stupid cameras..." She complained.

"You set off an alarm when you opened this door." The chief told her curtly. "Alana, you have to stop doing this. You could get hurt."

Lana made a face. "I was just showing dad around."

"And neither of you can read common?" The chief closed the security door behind them, it clicked locked with a thunk.

Now it was Matt's turn to look coy. "Sorry officer... Wont' happen again."

"I would hope not."

"Come on Tias, nobody got hurt." Lana protested.

"That's Chief Jessop to you Miss Ackermann." The chief reminded her.

"Wait.. Tias?" Matt questioned.

The chief sighed. "Yes. My name is Matthias but that got shortened to Tias by a few people and it stuck."

"Why not Matt?" Matt asked.

"You'd have to ask them." Tias shook his head. "though in a way i'm glad. You have no idea how humiliating it is to learn of your namesake's brushes with the law across the universe."

Matt blinked. It took him a moment to realise the man meant him. "Hey i'm not THAT bad!" He protested.

"Have you SEEN your record?" Tias countered.

Matt looked sheepish. "uh.. no?"

"well there you go then. " Tias sighed again. "Come on, the office is this way."

"Oh come on chief, you aren't gonna write us up!" Lana protested.

"of course I am. I would inform your caregivers but I am going to have to assume that parental responsibility has defaulted to you now has it not?" He fixed matt with a steely look.

Matt shifted uncomfortably. "uh.. I uh... I suppose?"

Tias nodded curtly and ushered them into the security office.

What followed was a somewhat half hearted lecture from the chief to Lana mostly while Lana helped herself to the sweets on the chief's desk and probably wasn't actually listening.

That done he turned back to Matt, his expression softening. "Disappointed as I may be by your life choices, it's good to see you alive and well."

Matt looked confused. "so... wait.. what?"

Tias chuckled. "You're surprised? Don't be. Your parents were dear friends, we all miss them greatly. And i'd very much like to know where you've been for the past decade."

"Well uh.. that's kinda... a long story."

"I expect it is. I clock off in two hours, why don't we get a drink and you can regale me with your story." Tias suggested, glancing back at Lana. "Watch this one, and take care of her. And both of you, stay out of trouble will you?"

Lana made a face.

Matt chuckled "Well we'll try."

"yeah.." Lana agreed half heartedly.

"we'll talk later." Tias told them. "Welcome home Matt."

Matt smiled awkwardly. "uh.. yeah.. thanks.." huh, home, well, he supposed in a way this WAS. Or had been, once a long time ago.
What a wierd thought.

He and Lana returned to the ship, Lana complaining that nobody ever got hurt and she never broke anything so she couldn't understand what the big fuss was about.
Matt couldn't really argue with that.

"What other caves have you been in, that make you so sick of them?" Ethan asked. "I guess even one cave would be more than I want, but you sound like you have actual experience with them." He headed over to stand nearer to Esk, just in case the bench wasn't enough to keep him from falling. Ethan really didn't want Esk getting hurt on his watch.

~~
Asher smiled a little. "That's a good idea. I'm sure Danika would like to spend more time with you." He was secretly kind of relieved at this plan. He still loved Kay, but at the same time, Asher still had a lot of thoughts to untangle about him, which made everything more awkward.

Esk growled low, realising he'd shared something there. Damnit. He sighed, annoyed with himself. "I spent eighteen months in on the penal colony on Eisam. It's fucking freezing, it's dark and the mining drills broke a lot. After eighteen months digging in caves, you never want to see another one." he explained flatly, shooting Ethan a glare that suggested further probing on this was likely a poor idea.

--

Kay nodded awkwardly, trying to hide his disappointment. He was sort of hoping Asher would say no and suggest they continued their reconnecting. [I'll see you later then.]

Ethan took a step back. Kay and Esk might not look that similar, but you sure could see the family resemblance when they glared, and that was enough to make him a little uncomfortable. He decided it was best not to ask how Esk had gotten himself sent to a penal colony. "Sounds shitty," he said instead.

~~
"See you later," Asher said, pretending not to notice Kay's disappointment, "I'm glad you're back."
Then he headed off, trying not to feel like a horrible person for making things so hard on Kay.

Kay nodded, trying to keep his expression neutral. he forced a weak smile and went to figure out where Danika might be. Which was... not actually that easy.

So he texted her.

[Danika, are you free?]

---

Esk shrugged. "Could be worse." He mumbled non comittally as he walked.

"True enough," Ethan said. He kept an eye on Esk as they walked. "Then again, things can always get worse." He shrugged.

~~
Asher headed off to Vestia's ramp, to find out whether James was free. Vestia told him James was busy, so he went in search of Starr instead.

Danika looked to her tablet when it indicated a message then looked back to Jerral before replying. [I think Jerral's seen all he wants to, yes.]

~~~
Starr was still at the station library, looking at information from the last ten years, especially concerning borders and re-creating her empire.

Esk snorted bitterly. "And it usually does."

---

Jarral looked to Danika curiously.

---

Kay replied [Would you like to meet up?] Maybe she was busy.

Asher asked around, and before long got a tip that Starr might be at the library. He headed over there, and since the library was probably pretty small, probably found her pretty quickly. "Hey, are you busy at the moment?" he asked her, voice lowered. They were in a library, so he wanted to be polite. And to not be shushed by a bad tempered librarian.

~~
"That's also true," Ethan said. He shook his head. "Life can be a load of shit sometimes, no doubt about that."

"Kay wants to meet up" Danika replied to Jerral's look at her.

~~~
Starr looked to Asher when he spoke to her. "Hi, nothing that can't wait a while longer." She said with a smile. "What's up?"

Asher smiled softly. "I thought I should come find you, since I didn't end up talking to you earlier. Also I'm not sure if you've gotten to visit your shuttle yet. I've done my best to take good care of her for you."

Starr smiled softly and nodded, logging off the computer she was on. "That's right, I haven't been to my shuttle since arriving." She replied softly.

"Want to go see your shuttle now?" Asher asked. "We can talk there too, it's a better place to talk than a library." And of course, her being the queen of the Star Dragons, he knew she had an awful lot of secrets that shouldn't be overheard by strangers.

Jarral tilted his head, connecting that in his head. Kay, His father's foster brother, Danika's adopted father... right?
Complicated.
He nodded slowly. "do you wish to see him?"

---

Esk shrugged. "yeah pretty much."

Ethan didn't have much to add to that, so he stayed quiet for a while as they walked. Besides, if he said something that pissed off Esk, he might trip and fall. Or punch Ethan in the face, which might also cause him to trip and fall come to think of it.
Best to focus on getting Esk home safely.

Esk lapsed into silence, focusing on not stumbling and falling on his face. He just wanted to get back to the ship and go back to avoiding everyone. Bah.

Ethan stayed near Esk, and hopefully they would reach Vestia without too much trouble.
(To Vestia?)

Starr nodded and stood. "Sure, that'll be good to see it again." She said a bit teasingly. She knew he had taken care of it for the time he had it.

~~~
Danika thought about it, torn between seeing Kay and staying with Jerral before she nodded. "He is my dad, I do want to see him again, but I also want you to stay around so we can get to know eachother again." She said honestly.

Asher smiled at Starr. "All right, let's go." He'd lead her toward where the shuttle was docked, which was pretty far from where Vestia was docked, and likely parked in a pressurized shuttle bay for safety. It didn't exactly get flown often these days, after all.

Starr walked with Asher to her shuttle. She smiled when she saw the old ship, going to open the door so they could go in together. "I did miss this shuttle. What did you want to talk about?" She asked after they were inside.

"I just wanted to catch up a little. For me, it's been a long time since we've really had the chance to talk," Asher told her. He glanced around the shuttle to make sure it was all tidy, he'd cleaned it in preparation for Starr's return, but he was still a little paranoid that he might have missed something. "How have you been adjusting to the new decade?" he asked.

Jarral looked away. He didn't really get it but still. "Is there a reason you need only to associate with one individual at a time?" He questioned, applying logic to the situation as he didn't really understand much else. "My father desires that I get to know my family." He grimaced slightly. "I cannot begin to fathom why."

Starr smiled and ran her hand over one of the panels. She had missed this shuttle the last few months...years. "Oh, ok, that's good" She said and took a seat, looking to him again. "We haven't had much time without drama on Vestia, but we have been trying to adjust to this time."

~~~
"You want to spend time with Kay? I kind of thought you didn't want to." Danika said then shrugged and smiled "I wouldn't mind you coming with me."

"It seems like the chaos never lets up on Vestia," Asher agreed, smiling sadly. He found a seat as well. "it's a lot to adjust to, but so far you guys seem to be doing a splendid job." He shook his head, "I must admit, sometimes it worries me to think of bringing the children to Vestia, when she seems to be such a magnet for trouble."

"I have no desire to spend time with my.. uncle." Jarral told Danika matter-of-factly "However it would seem the alternative is to wander this place alone and I am not certain I like the way some of the inhabitants are looking at me."
Certainly Jarral attracted attention. It wasn't just the way his pale skin almost glowed under flourescent lights, or how unhealthy and utterly alien he was, the constantly moving and shifting shadows that cloaked him were creepy enough.
He was fairly accustomed to attracting attention, enough to know it rarely ended well for him.