The Hubble shot towards their next destination, the nebulous planet Seavis, with superluminal speed. Meanwhile its crew used the time to get more used to each other. Patience and Sevastian hit off quite well and spent most of their time in the fitness room. Happy was either accompanying them or chilled on the bridge together with Alena. Even though the two women were different as day and night, they somehow became friends pretty quick.
Timothy, Keran and Landom mostly stayed on their own. However, every now and then they met for a drink or to exchange pointers about different topics. Keran helped Landom massively with his feedback after the mission on Trov S and the Seka Security officer actually managed to gain some trust and recognition of the Vlasov siblings, binding together the little squad.
Every two days they would exercise a different scenario on the ship, where the rest of the crew had to play a role. Wounded, raider, hostage,... Landom had many ideas and not only did the training help to toughen up the security squad, it was also a nice diversion from the long days of travel for everyone else.
Robin’s days were filled to the brim with all the stuff he had to do: Learning how to fly the ship from Niu, training his fighting capabilities with Patience and Sevastian, answering endless questions about alien relic sites from Timothy and planning and preparing their visit to Seavis with Keran. Time to train his mutation was hard to find and the days rushed by.
A few hours before their arrival at Seavis, Robin found most of the crew gathered in the gym once more. On one of the screens the news was just coming to an end and his friends were in the middle of a hot discussion.
“I tell you, that has nothing to do with enemy alien races. They would never waste their time like that!” Timothy was explaining with a desperate face.
“How would you know? So far, no one understands what the attacker’s goal could be.” Landom argued.
“Guys, I tell you, it’s a bored hacker that just wants to mess with the UAS and make people like you lose their mind!” Happy laughed.
“Robin.” Alena nodded when she saw him enter.
“Did I miss something?” He asked as he had no idea what this was all about.
“Haven’t you heard of the dude who leads half of the UAS’ data-security teams on a merry chase?” Sevastian asked and Robin could only shake his head.
“Since a few months there have been anomalies on seemingly random and mostly unimportant UAS-servers.”
“Anomalies?” Robin tilted his head, “What kind of anomalies?”
“It looks like someone dumps huge, like enormous, amounts of cryptic data on these servers. It doesn’t have many negative consequences as the servers only slow down a bit and have no relevant services running, but it pisses off the UAS more and more each time they fail to catch the hacker.” Timothy explained.
“I told you, it’s not cryptic, it’s trash! Just a ruse to make everyone chase after it!” Niu laughed.
“Could also very well be a test of the security of our infrastructure. To find loopholes for real attacks…” Landom added.
Niu shrugged and continued, “Every time the UAS comes close to single out the server and disconnect it from the rest of the net, the hacker moves the data somewhere else. Then it takes a few days before they find a new lead and the whole thing starts anew.”
Somehow Robin got a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, which confused him a bit, but he didn’t linger too long on this and shook his head.
“Well, we will know sooner or later what his goal is. Let’s hope it’s really just some idiot with a bright brain and too much time. Would suck if the UAS network is so easy to breach for anyone.” He said and remembered why he came here.
“You should begin your preparations. We are closing in on Seavis and should reach it in less than 4 hours. This won’t be an exercise like the training on Trov S but our first real deployment. While we are not entering enemy territory or anything, the region isn’t exactly what you would call ‘lawful’. I don’t wanna have any mishaps today.”
“Aye aye captain!” Happy laughed while everyone picked up their stuff and left for their cabins.
Quickly Robin was the only one left in the gym. A smile could be seen on his face.
“They are getting along well. We are slowly becoming something like a family. This is how I always imagined it to be…” He whispered into the empty room, “Now only a proper adventure is needed. Let’s hope Seavis is worth the long trip!”
Slowly he made his way to the bridge. It was time to once more go over everything he knew about the small settlement they were about to visit.
***
Soon the planet came closer and was visible to the naked eye.
* The planet is a mix of green (2/3) and blue (1/3) (100%)
‘Green… green like the endless forest that spans over most of the surface, except for where the cities or one of the big oceans are. How long have I dreamed of seeing a real forest? …and now it will be in fucking grayscale’ Robin sighed and suppressed the rising anger, ‘It’s okay, I’ll find a solution to get back my color vision and this is only the first green planet of who knows how many.’
“Niu, status?” He asked and concentrated back on the topic at hand.
“-12 to atmo”
‘12 minutes before we enter the atmosphere…’ He took one deep breath and looked over to Keran.
“Hail Planetary Flight Control, I want us to go down as close to Dreamer’s Hope as possible. No pad or hangar needed. We will come to the capital’s spaceport for refueling and restocking after we are done here.
Dreamer’s Hope was the name of a small rustic coastal town, nothing more than a big settlement with few permanent inhabitants. Most of the people were adventurers, prospectors and smugglers. While Seavis was colonized by the UAS, it didn’t get much attention on a political or economical level. Therefore Seavis was what is commonly described as a ‘backwater planet’.
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This settlement however was built at the border of the most interesting place you could find on the planet and maybe even the whole Mereus Cluster. Beyond the coast lay a vast ocean that stretched to the horizon. Thick clouds hid its surface not only from spying eyes of ships and satellites, they were also electromagnetically charged in a way that could block most of the scans the UAS could perform.
Hundreds of little floating islands drifted across the ocean in this hidden region. They followed different currents and the wind often pushed them from one stream into another, making their movement paths chaotic and not predictable.
These wondrous phenomena made this place a gathering point for anyone who was trying to find hidden treasures, chasing after old legends or searching for unknown alien relic sites. Robin and the rest of the Hubble’s crew were about to join this mixed bag of visitors from all over the cluster.
However, they didn’t come here in hope of a lucky find, they came with a map to an unknown alien relic site and if Timothy’s research was to be believed, it should be unknown not only to them but even to the UAS which hadn’t documented any discoveries for this region.
***
“I’ll bring us down there, okay?” Niu asked and pointed at a clearing in the forest only a few hundred meters away from Dreamer’s Hope. Landom, standing next to Robin’s seat, checked the location and nodded.
Robin was happy that his chief of security was managing that, as he himself was distracted by the beauty of the landscape below them. To one side an endless forest stretched out as far as he could see. The tall trees created a dense fluffy blanket over the hilly lowlands and he didn’t even need ROMAS to be sure that he was looking down on a green sea.
To the other side was a wide ocean, not as rowdy as the one on Gaunus, but still with rolling waves that crashed onto a wide beach. The sky above was covered with dark clouds that flickered every now and then and flashed with small lightning bolts.
On the water itself, Robin could spot small islands, nothing more than little plots of land riding above the waves.
Between the ocean and the forest Dreamer’s Hope was resting, small buildings made of stone and wood, no industrial complexes and no crowded highways. Just some simple roads with few vehicles speeding along.
When the Hubble began its landing and dropped below the treetops, Robin felt like he entered a new world once more. All around them stood massive trunks, thick bushes and flowers grew wildly all around... he even saw birds flying between the leaves.
“Landing complete, initiating checkup!” Niu tore him out of his thoughts.
“Uhm... yeah. Sorry, I was distracted for a moment.” He awkwardly said, but saw the others looking at him with bright smiles.
“Welcome to the wonders of the universe, and this is just the beginning!” Keran laughed.
“Thanks. Okay, Landom, I think everyone in the settlement already knows about our arrival, ships like the Hubble shouldn’t be the norm out here. So, no reason to hide our background. Everyone shall wear the suits but I think we should leave the helmets here. No reason to look like a badass fast response unit in the middle of an operation.” Robin said and looked at the security team leader.
“I agree. I’ll leave Alena and Patience here, together with Niu. The rest of us should go and explore the city. You wanted to stay the night in an inn, right? I suggest that Sevastian and I go back to the Hubble later to take over for the others. That way we always have someone aboard to protect the ship.”
“Sounds good!” Robin agreed and quickly informed the others over the ship’s comm.
15 minutes later, he left the Hubble together with Landom, Sevastian and Keran. Timothy also stayed behind because ‘he was close to something’ and would only come tomorrow when they began to explore the Mystic Sea.
After a short walk along a little path through the forest, they reached the settlement. Many people were already casually walking around, totally by happenstance and not at all because they were curious about the new arrivals and wanted to catch a glimpse of them.
“Well, I knew we would attract attention, but right now I’m feeling like an animal in the zoo…” Sevastian grumbled.
“That will cease quickly, no worries.” Keran said and walked towards a man with a backpack that looked like he wanted to go camping.
“Hi there, Keran is the name. How is it going?”
“Uhm... good?” The man scratched his head, obviously feeling uncomfortable to be singled out like that.
“Is there a place to stay for the night you could recommend?” Keran asked.
“Ha, the forest, buddy, the forest! It’s great to sleep under the protection of the treetops and listen to all the wild animals in the middle of the night.” The camper laughed and looked at the rest of the crew once more - four dudes in black armored suits, two armed with energy weapons.
“Well, maybe you would do better in the inn. The Lost Island is the place to go; good food and many people to share stories with. Down that road, two blocks, left side.”
“Thanks and come by later, maybe we can have a beer together!” Keran thanked the man and walked back to his friends.
“You’ve definitely done that before…” Robin chuckled.
“One should learn how to get along with these people quickly. They are the best sources of news and rumors in remote locations.”
“You are probably right, thanks anyways. Let’s go and take a look at that inn.” Robin said and took the lead.
A few minutes later they entered a crooked and curvy, wooden building. On a sign was written Lost Island with a logo that resembled a foggy sea.
It was loud inside, many people were sitting at tables in the slightly cramped room and laughed and chatted merrily with each other. Luckily, their entrance didn’t make everyone shut up and stare at the new guests, like it happens in movies all the time.
While the others looked for a free place, Robin went to the innkeeper and asked for three rooms.
“Sure, 75 cr per room. How long do you wanna stay?” The old man behind the counter asked.
“Three nights for the beginning, maybe we will stay a bit longer.”
“Looking for treasures?” The man laughed, “You will need more than three days for that!”
“Is that so? How long do the others normally need to find what they are looking for?” Robin grinned.
“Touché, most of them chase after dreams, myths and legends for their whole life.”
“Well, unfortunately we cannot stay that long.”
“Yeah, no shit. But believe me, after hearing the stories of those who really do find something, you will come to think about it.” The innkeeper said and shrugged after he saw Robin's skeptical gaze.
“Three rooms, three nights. Here you go, have fun!”
After he paid, Robin went over to the table where the rest of his group was already waiting. They had ordered a beer, some local specialty, and were observing the rest of the guests. Robin really liked the relaxed atmosphere here. Like the rest of the little town it was completely different from the big cities. Almost everything was made of wood and stone, a fireplace provided warm light and the people all looked like adventures, with practical clothes, backpacks and stuff. The whole business-feeling you always found everywhere in Seka was absent.
However, Robin knew this backwater place was also a beehive for smugglers and outlaws. A quick Echo-Pulse highlighted that not only the building was much more than ‘just wood and stone’, but most of the people in the room had weapons hidden on their body. One figure in particular caught his eye after his energy scan, since Robin saw him carrying a weapon that was not one of the standard models, but definitely of alien origin. To add onto that, the guy actually was clad in a dark gray coat and hid most of his face under a deep hood.
‘Yeah, why don’t you just hold a signboard up with I’m totally not a shady dude!...’ He chuckled as he saw the figure retreating into another room at the back.