Technicians and Transit | SDR-RUW RP (0 BBT)

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Defense Post Guidance → Dry Zone Picket
Anchorfield Prefecture → Atlia Prefecture
Firm SDR Control
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

Technical Sergeant Izumi Lanzelet exits the Nexus High Speed Transit System in the Atlia Prefecture. Docket in hand, she walks out onto the platform as others board.

“This is Picket Station, Atlia Federated Protectorate. Please exit to your left, enter to your right. The doors are closing in 30 seconds. The next stop on the line is Atlia Central Spire Station.”

‘Jeez, I didn’t know Picket Station was so cramped.’ Izumi takes her wristcomp and looks for the Nexus Access Point. Finding it, she slips through the crowded station, exiting into one of the many access points, the one she chose leading to Dry Zone Picket Station

Atlia System
Dry Zone Station
Firm SDR Control
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet || Ensign | Hana Astarral

Izumi enters the Picket Station scanning her Security Keys, before walking to the Brig, meeting a now exasperated Ensign Hana.

“Excuse me ma’am, is this the Brig?”

“…Yeah. Who are you here to see?”

“I got this docket of info… Ernmont…?”

“Paperwork in order?”

“If it’s all in the docket, yeah.”

“Alright, Cell One. Good luck.”

Izumi enters the cell, before asking

“…Hi, just to confirm, you’re Ermont-san?”

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Ermont was sitting on his bed but stood up when Izumi came in. He was towering over her, at slightly three meters above three meters. His brearhing tubes were covered by a respirator, allowing him to breathe in a low-oxygen environment but also preventing him from releasing pheromones, which were toxic to most species.

He grabbed his personal computer, in a form of a metal bracelet, from his desk and put it on. After activating the translator, he spoke.

“Yes, I am Ermont. Is it time for me to show you some tech?”

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Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

“Um, not really. It’s your transfer day, Ermont-san. You’re departing for Defense Post Guidance, the place I work at. You’ve read your docket, right? I’m Technical Sergeant Izumi Lanzelet, just call me Izumi-san, or if you’re in a pinch Lanie. You’ve got your new security profile, and as far as anybody else is aware, you are Petty Officer Third Class Ermont, heading to Defense Post Guidance for your Non Commissioned School of Ethics. We’ll eat in the Nexus. You can take your mask off there.”

Izumi smiles

“Now, come on, let’s go. The HST System operates on a thirty minute schedule, and we’ll have to catch the inbound traffic. By the way, you’ll have to get your measurements taken later for your new formals, for events. You’ll get issued your Battle Dress Uniform at Guidance. If you’ve got concerns or questions, you can ask them on the train.”

Nexus Access Point → Picket Station
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

The Nexus Access Point swirls within its containment room, sometimes flickering out glistening data.

“This is a Nexus Access Point. Scan your security key and walk forward into the dimension of data. After you, Ermont-san.”

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Ermont scanned his security key and looked at the portal suspiciously. As far as he knew, FTL was achieved by getting the ship to behave like a quantum particle. That allowed it to travel at FTL speeds. Some scientists argued that sime kind of a different dimension or layer of reality was involved, but there was no solid proof of it. This Nexus thing seemed a bit suspicious. He just hoped it wasn’t a xeno trick of some kind. But, after a couple second delay, he slowly entered the portal.

Once he and Izumi came through, he turned to the Sereniani.

“Izumi-san, may I ask you a question?”

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Picket Station
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

“Sure, but let’s keep walking, follow me. What’s on your mind?”

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“Back in the Imperium, actually still the Commissariat back then, I once worked as an engineer at a prison facility. If they ever got their hands on an enemy scientist, they would have made them deconstruct tech at gunpoint and then throw them in a cramped cell or just kill them. But you just talked with me and gave me a military position. Why are you being so… Nice about it?” He wanted to add something about how xenos were supposed to hate the Envari and try to deny them their rightful place, but he knew better then to speak of the Ideology here. He wasn’t a particularly zelous type anyways.

He always heard politicians and admirals scream as to how xenos and traitors deserve no quarter, and that they would murder them all if they could. For a while he believed it, especially with the Great War being as brutal as it was. After that when they ran people were suspicious but generally thought of them as pirates and generally just looked the other way for enough cash and guns pointed their way. And now he wasn’t treated as a prisoner, more like a troublesome intern. Appereantly xenos aren’t that bad as everybody believed them to be.

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Picket Station
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

“So, a couple reasons, Ermont-san. You hold expertise that we may not know about, and if you’re dead… It’s not very useful. Plus, you’re cooperating, that’s nice.”

“This is Picket Station. Outbound traffic is arriving in 5 minutes. Inbound traffic is arriving in 10. Please clear the causeway at this time.”

“So, yeah. We’ll board the inbound traffic. There’s food on the train. You can take your mask off, the Nexus filters everything. Anything else before we hop on?”

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“No, there isn’t anything. I better keep my respirator on, it prevents me from releasing pheromones. With a high enough concentration they could poison the entire train. It doesn’t make eating harder anyways.”

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Picket Station
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet || RW Kelsie

“I think you misunderstand, there isn’t air in the Nexus, according to science. It fluctuates to the person… So in theory, and I’m willing to test this, the pheromones won’t be an issue here. So for science, obviously, we gotta try it later.”

“Picket Station. This is Picket Station. Outbound Traffic incoming, stand by.”

“Wait, Kelsie-hakase? What are you doing here?”

A semi transparent Serniani turns around to Izumi

“Oh, hey Lanie! Passing through. Who’s the tallsie?”

“This is Ermont-san. Chaperoning them to Guidance.”

“Defense Post Guidance is a very nice place. I graduated a couple thousand years ago. Never kept track of time.”

Kelsie smiles before looking at Ermont

“Ermont-koa. Not from here, are you? Long way from home?”

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“Yes, you could say so. It’s quite a long story. But in short, I unintentionally found myself on the wrong side of a skirmish in Atlia. I could tell you the whole story when we meet again Kelsie-san. I’m pretty sure we have to get going unless we want to miss the train.” He smiles akwardly and looks to Izumi, waiting for her to do the first move.

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Picket Station
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet || RW Kelsie

“Perhaps, one day. See you around Ermont-san.”

“Inbound traffic incoming. This is Picket Station, Atlia Federated Protectorate. Please exit to your left, enter to your right. The door are closing in thirty seconds. The next stop on the line is Multipurpose Port Lance.”

“That’s us, get on.”

“That’s Kelsie. She’s a Rift Walker. That’s not mentioned on your docket, they’re really rare. They’re sorta… Pathfinders? Eccentric, full of themselves. Kelsie’s lived for thousands of years, helped map the Nexus Lines, the areas that provide the fastest transport throughout Serniani space. Supposedly, they are bound to the Nexus for eternity. I don’t really care about it, not my line of work.”

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“We never had anything similar back home. At first I thought she was some kind of an AI. The whole hologram appearence and dimension of data can be misleading.”

Ermont follows Kelsie and boards the train. Once there, he pulls out the respirator’s cables from his breathing tubes. The air seeemed normal, allowing him to breathe normally. It even had the taste of pheromone compounds, which were removed from respirator air mixtures.

“Well, lets now see if you don’t suffocate.”

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The Nexus Lines → Multipurpose Port Lance
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

15 minutes pass. Izumi is sitting in the train, quietly eating away at some Oxygen Soup. She looks up to Ermont before mentioning

“Y’know, considering how I haven’t suffocated yet, I think my hypothesis is correct.”

Izumi pauses.

“I suppose we should wait though, right? While we’re waiting for that, you should probably eat something, get used to the food.”

*->Indicates travel to that place

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Ermont ordered a sandwich, as it was the closest to some of the things he could eat back home. Instead of biting off small pieces as others did, he just put it whole in his mouth. Then, it slightly expanded, a bit like a baloon and a quite sizzling could be heard from the inside.

“It’s a bit bland, but eatable. But I guess everything is bland compared to Envari cuisine. Most of the things we eat are poisonous or undigestable for other species.”

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The Nexus Lines → Multipurpose Port Lance
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

“Everything here is on the verge of being inedible, but our taste in food is extremely sensitive, and too much spice can just kill us.”

“The next stop will be Multipurpose Port Lance, forty minutes out.”

“We’ll have to line transfer there, it’ll be the only transfer of the route. Keep somewhat close, this is probably the most crowded station in the Nebula Counter-Spinwards.”

“While we wait for that, would you like a story or two? We definitively have the time, and maybe it could acquaint you with Serniani culture a bit more? More than what a dossier could give you.”

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“Don’t worry about losing me, it won’t be easy for me to blend in. And a story or two can’t hurt. I would tell you one too, if it didn’t result in me being arrested. The Imperium wasn’t very tolerant of pro-xeno ones.”

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The Nexus Lines → Multipurpose Port Lance
Technical Sergeant | Izumi Lanzelet

“You won’t have to worry about going to prison over those kind of stories. I actually have an Edhel Husband. We have a daughter too. You honestly shouldn’t be too worried, we take in refugees all the time.”

“Almost everybody has some form of affiliation to the DDF. Whether they’re in the System Defense Force, mainline military, or simply a reservist. It’s tradition, as is most things that aren’t science based. My mom, Asahi served. I’ve served, my daughter will serve. They grow old so fast, 23, Reservist in the Littoral Patrol Corps. 2 more years until she goes full time.”

Izumi smiles thinking about her daughter

“But you’re not here to learn about me and my history. So, we’ll go to where we’re currently heading. Guidance. Me and my friends on my second day had gotten yelled at by the Base Commander, Commander Hana. Nobody’s ever known her last name. I doubt it’s even in the records. She got royally pissed that our unit was late to inspections. Guidance is a labyrinth if you don’t know where you’re going. She put us on exterior Damage Control for two weeks.”

“There was a time where a bunch of stuck up Warrants came through. Pilot Warrants, specifically. They have one job, flying. But they came through for a specialist meeting, basically they bring the people who want to be pilots into a room with pilots to introduce them to their gear, what they do, and confirm if they still want to be pilots. But when I tell you these were the bitchiest ladies I’ve seen, I’m not joking. The sense of pure entitlement, you could smell it.”

“They had to eat with us in the Cafeteria, and were pretty pissed that they were ‘eating with the low ranks.’ Mind you, the Officer mess hall isn’t much better, I’ve snuck through to peak at it, but it’s nearly the exact same thing. My unit and I had to witness them heckling one of the younger gals in a hazing ritual. Needless to say, there was a riot in the Enlisted Cafeteria. MPs were called, and some of the engineer majors took it up on themselves, took the lady being harassed, and walked out. The pilots were politely told by Hana to get lost and she’d be reporting them for their activities. They stormed out, our SEWC let them fly. Three or four minutes later, we saw their Sycthe’s loitering in orbital pattern. Apparently, those Engineering Students plugged the Reaction Control System Thrusters on their Sycthes, and unplugged the Reaction Wheels. Basically, they couldn’t turn, and had to get picked up by one of our Spacegoing tugs. Nobody got punished, and we don’t get Specialist tours from pilots anymore, hell we stop training pilot cadets since then.”

“Honestly, I shouldn’t have thrown that first punch, but I suppose live life with no regrets. You have anything to share?”

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“Well, so this happened about three years ago, in the finishing days of the Second Hyperwar. Almost all remaining Envari forces were performing a heroic last stand in my home system, Enver. The battleship I was serving on, the same one captured in Atlia, was in that battle too. It was going well, at least from our perspective. Then that dreadnought showed up, the same one that was present in Atlia. Our Section, that remained with only minor losses, lost half of its ships in the span of two hours. Me and the other engineers were doing our best to keep the battleship functional, sometimes even performing repairs by hand in case the automated systems weren’t fast enough. Once we poured water straight from the hydraulics on a machine with a critically damaged cooling system. Not my proudest achievement, but we were desperate. After these two hours, the Commodore ordered a retreat. We jumped to a supposedly Envari-controlled sector, but we found no one there. And you know the rest from the interrogations. Later we learned the xenos won the battle and created this ‘Republic’. I doubt it lasts longer than ten years.”

“Your time in services was clearly more pleasant than mine. But as they said at training facilities, ‘If you want to have fun, than go back to being a civilian’.”

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