The MX-39 Starglider is an EVA Scooter designed for transiting between asteroid colonies in the short (Sub 100km) range. It comes with two side-mounted ion engines, with six RCS thrusters to combine with an inbuilt reaction wheel for additional maneuvering for tighter maneuvers. The Starglider is one of the cheapest EVA tools on the market, making it the ideal choice for the Tempest Securities Corporation in their struggle for penny pinching. So when twelve of them go missing, it’s chalked up as a petty theft.
// 45km from Monsoon Mooring Site
// November 23rd, 2109
// 0430 Local Time (Keres/Thantos Free Space Time)
The group of twelve glided towards the mooring site, it’s jagged frame of steel alloy casting a shadow over the nearby asteroids like a specter of death; hundreds of ships laid in her moorings, each another tool that Tempest or another opportunist nation could use to subjugate their portion of a rapidly destabilizing Pyxis.
Even in the distance, the shapes of ships pulling in and pulling away are unmistakable, most of them freighters. Distantly, The Great Migration had just begun, and you could see the sub faster-than-light stream exiting the colonies of Choas and Tarturus, most of them heading to Asphodel where the Grand Marshal’s call for loyalists had been answered. The others, headed for free ports and free stations in the inner system. The light show was beautiful, if not a little frightening. How quickly the status quo could change as a single incident brought the whole system crashing down. Larger, larger the station became, engulfed in it’s shadow the teams became. It was almost time.
// 100 Meters from Monsoon Mooring Site
// 0523 Local Time
The first gliders reached the station. Each team weaved and avoided cameras to reach their access points. The plan, which involved seizing the Command Center, Security Station, Docking Control Center, and Reactor Bay in rapid secession hinged on each boarding party finding an access point. If no access point was found, they’d have to blow a hole near their objective. And it would’ve gone smoothly, if it wasn’t for an unscheduled EVA repair team.
“Control? There’s a bunch of guys out here on Stargliders. They’re-”
The sound of air hissing into the cold void is heard before the microphone is silenced by the dead of space.
“Shit, they’re onto us! Grab your breaching tools, it’s gonna be hot in there. Reactor first, then command center, take hostages if you can! For the Confederacy!”