When we got to The Rocket-Wrench I was stumped again. How can a shitty station like this have so much diversity? Everything about this place looked all messed up. And while the bar wasn’t in much better condition it looked like it was straight out of some steampunk enthusiasts wet dream. Cogs and Wrenches were everywhere. Even the tables and seats were made of them. If I had to guess where to find an engineer or tinkerer or a crazy inventor, I had found the place.
We made our way to a table that already held three people. Two were Quirt, which meant I had no idea what they looked like because they were covered from head to toe in a vac suit. Like me. Thinking of it, I actually had no idea what I looked like either. I mean so far that hadn’t even popped into my mind even though I had seen many Quirts on station. But I guess it was different when you were expecting to build a relationship with people. I was used to looking people in the eyes when I talked to them. But now two slightly purple tinted faceplates turned my way. The voices I heard when they introduced themselves seemed modulated and their names were Mrk and Krn.
Yeah, I admit it. Right there I rolled my eyes. And I was happy that I also had a tinted face plate showing to them. Mrk Youngaaarring and Krn Youngaaarring. Mark and Karen Young. There we go. Much better. I mean I had no problems pronouncing their first names but thinking of them as Mark and Karen made me instantly more comfortable with them.
The other person was another Fell. He looked like ‘Gimli gone scifi’ including the braided beard and long hair. How that worked in a vac suit I had no idea but then again, that wasn’t my problem to deal with. He was introduced as Brelic.
As Ralgau made introductions another person joined us. He or she, I couldn’t tell, was an insectoid. Somewhere between ant and praying mantis with four legs and two arms, covered in a shiny black carapace that looked like chitin. It’s face… stop… don’t think of people as it. Their face was slightly triangular with slit-like eyes and no chin but mandibles. Yeah, I would not know how to read any expression in that face. Plus that individual made me shiver when their eyes stared at me. They were just so different. Everyone else I had met so far had at least appeared humanoid.
His voice was somehow raspy and smooth at the same time and it made my teeth hurt when he introduced himself as Ygglog.
Ralgau and I took a seat at the table and Ygglog just bent his legs a little to be at the same height as us.
“Sooo…,” I started. “As Ralgau said, my name is Solo, Malcolm Solo. And I am planning to start an asteroid claim co-op. I surveyed the rock I want to set up on and it has an 11% Endritte concentration.
I looked at two nodding faceplates, a smiling dwarf… uhm… Fell and the expressionless face of an insect. Great.
“I am a huge fan of putting out all information directly. With that being said, neither Ralgau nor me have any experience running a mining claim and we plan on figuring it out as we go along. We have some ideas but the lack of real experience will not make things easier.”
Mark’s modulated voice cut in. “Both Krn and me have experience on asteroid claims. We can definitely advise and make sure that the co-op gets set up and working quickly and correctly.”
Ygglog tilted his head to the side and then addressed me: “Will you be the leader?”
I hesitated for a moment. I had read up a little on the different races as a matter of figuring out my place in this universe. From what I understood of the Drak, hierarchy was important to them.
“While I will not make decisions alone, in the end my word is what we go with. However, as I said, my experience is lacking and I will welcome input to make the best decisions possible. I want this claim to work. I assume we are all interested in making money. So this is going to be my second highest priority. Along with making sure that the claim will be safe.
“Sadly we already attracted more attention than I would have liked and I was approached by an organisation calling themselves the Red Moon who encouraged me to work with them. Meaning paying them so they leave us alone.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath from Ralgau. “What did you say to that.”
“That I will keep them in mind. I didn’t feel like rejecting them when they cornered me but to be honest, I don’t plan on paying them either.”
“Good thing you don’t. These leeches will just suck us dry and we end up working full time for ‘em. I have no interest in that,” Brelic chimed in while the Youngs faceplates turned to each other and I had a feeling that they were discussing this new development among themselves.
“The strong will always try to take from the weak.” Ygglog added his ‘helpful’ commentary to the discussion.
I looked at him. “I know. So the thing we have to make sure of is that we are not weak. Which means that apart from the setup for the claim, we also need to plan a setup for security.”
Ygglog wiggled his head in a way that could mean agreement. Or not. I had no clue. However Ralgau and Brelic nodded to my statement.
“Mister Solo,” Krn’s voice chimed in. “We are not fighters and we do not look for confrontation. We desire to work on a claim and establish a small industrial base. We are both intermediate asteroid miners and my husband has skills in industry and production while I have skills in trade and business.”
I nodded to that. “Believe me, I do not want any conflict with anybody. I want to make money and do it well. So I would be more than happy to take your advice on any of the things you are skilled in. I have some experience in dealing with these types of people and as far as I know Ralgau also has some skills around making sure we keep everybody safe.”
I turned my head to Brelic and Ygglog. “What about you?
“I have no skills in asteroid mining. I have skills in combat. We will be strong.” the insectoid replied to my question.
“Yep. I do have intermediate mining skills and like most of my family I also have some skills in defensive systems.”
“Defensive systems?” I asked.
“Comes with the territory.” Brelic shrugged. “I am from a family of asteroid miners. I grew up on a claim. When you are out there sitting on a rock there are always some people that think they can take advantage of you. So you make sure that you are in a position to not be taken advantage of.”
“Oh, that’s good to know. I need to pick your brain later.”
From there our discussion turned to the logistics of setting up the operation. We discussed the setup, the needed supplies, the direction we wanted this claim to go. And while I was totally sucked into the planning and setup of the business, I had the ship inside the asteroid in my mind.
In the end all of us agreed to give the operation a go. I offered to use Rustbucket to ferry people and equipment back and forth but was quickly convinced otherwise. It would take way too long to transfer people and material out there. Plus some of the equipment would be too big. It was easier and quicker to use a transport service from the station. It would be more expensive too. The one good thing was that everybody was responsible for their own equipment and I only needed to take care of myself and Ralgau.
We agreed that we would spend another 24 standard hours on station to take care of arranging everything and then would get going.
After that I took some time and talked to Brelic about what security systems he had experience with and what his suggestions were. During that discussion we also got some food and then Ralgau and I took our leave. He headed back to his cube. I went back to Rustbucket via the concourse of the station where I stopped at a personal security store and after some shopping, discussion with the Grelic merchant and a test firing I bought a mid size compressed air flechette pistol, two extra tanks and twenty magazines of ten flechettes each plus a holster. I also got the manufacturer’s maintenance guide. After strapping it to my side and throwing the extra magazines into a backpack I was 1850 ICU poorer but I felt a lot better.
