It was a warm summer morning in the city of New Hope, the capital of Apocalyptica. It was what its name signified it to be, an island of home amidst an apocalyptic wasteland. None expected that this world, that once saw the bloodiest battles of the Rebellion would become a prosperous new colony. First settlements popped up here when scavenging of old Envari factories and remains of war began. Since then it attracted migrants and refugees, especially those fleeing the oppression brought by the Red and Grey Terror and the chaos of the League Wars. Or they wanted a stake in the very profitable scavenging industry.
At the city outskirts the space port was located. On its outer edge there was a sea of landing pads, hangars and terminals for spaceborne platforms. An endless sea of grey concrete, but very far from dead. It was comstantly in motion, with spaceships in all colors and shapes moving around like flocks of birds and smaller vehicles and people dashing inbetween them like little insects. Closer to the city was located a cluster of short, but very long, buildings. Built in large parts of glass and painted white or blue in other parts and surrounded by greenery they were an unexpected sight among the usual monotony of the Republic’s infrastructure. As Apocalyptica was built from ground up it didn’t have to conform to the monotonous standards set up by the Envari. These buildings housed all the infrastructure a space port needed, ready to handle huge volumes of passengers, cargo and retail venues.
At the end of the arrovals section, where huge swarms of very diverse people congregated, two men waited on a bench. Both were human, but that didn’t mean the looked anything alike. One of them had fair skin and short, but full and messy blond hair. He wa relatively tall and well built. He covered his eyes sunglasses and had a pleasant smile. He wore dark grey cargo pants and loose red t-shirt with a silver plane at the front and Starkiller written in big letters. He sat in a relaxed pose, taking up almost half the bench by himself. Everything about him radiated confidence. The other man was much different. He was shorter and skinnier, had dark skin and long, straight black hair. His eyes were brown and his narrow face was locked in an expression that suggested he was thinking hard about something. He wore weared out jeans, a black t-shirt with a complicated white symbol on the front and an unzipped labcoat. His eyes moved all around, sometimes focusing on random people or objects outside.
“Hey Morgan, you know how long they will be staying here?” The second man asked.
“I don’t know Cassian, probably a week or two.” The first one, whom the second called Morgan, replied. “Why?”
“I was just wondering if they would let me run a few tests on them. Don’t look at me like that!” Cassian said defensively as Morgan thearetically lowered his sunflasses to shoot him a judgemental look. “This might be my only chance to legally get my hands on Confluence tech before the Takeo ban starts taking place.”
“It’s just a proposal, you worry too much.”
“Everybody talks about it like it’s already a done thing. You might have known about it if you didn’t avoid every single important guy like fire.”
“What’s the big deal? Just get it from Salidar, these people will find a way. Or you can just ask them to get you some beforehand. Speaking of, they’re here.” Morgan pointed to three figures that somehow managed to stand out in the already very diverse crowd.
“Finally! It took them long enough.”
“It’s the border guard. You know how they can be.”
“Yeah. They drive me crazy sometimes. Once they held up my shipments from Vandalence for…”
“Most people drive you crazy Cassian. Now stop complaining and lets get them before they do something stupid. We got Games to see later.”