CHAPTER 1: Aram's Ravine

With a burn of the thrusters, the Riyad exits the docking bay into the Big Black. The view swiftly changes from flashing lights and armanite plating to the inky darkness of outer space.

Almost immediately your viewports are dominated by the presence of Kua. No matter your vantage point on the ship, it's difficult not to catch sight of the jungle planet. It hangs below you as an impossibly large orb of blue and green. Its surface is an unending blanket of viridescence partially obscured by drifting cloud cover and broken by the occasional ocean or mountain range. Staring closely enough, you can even just barely glimpse the Zenithian Hegemony's "Monolith" - the only artificial structure on Kua that can be seen from space. From your position at about 220 miles/350 km above, however, the alien mega-structure referred to as the Monolith looks like nothing more than a small brown dot. On either side of you, various other spacecraft are in the process of leaving or approaching the Ring section of Coriolis. Class I and II vessels are entering through hangar doors, while larger freighters and commercial ships are berthing with the Ring externally.

Up ahead, you observe the approach of the so-called "Net," which first appears as white pinpricks of light in the distance. Coriolis Station does an ever-constant geosynchronous dance with Kua, orbiting the jungle planet at a speed of 7,000 mph/11,265 kph, and the Net follows Coriolis in its rotation like a shadow. This latticework of kilometers-long spindly metal beams is the old skeleton of the ancient arkship once known as the Zenith - the vast vessel that ferried the people now called the Zenithians to the Third Horizon. Although the Zenith was gutted and cannibalized to build what eventually became Coriolis Station, the "ribs" of the arkship have remained to serve as a distinctive outer perimeter. Over the decades, portions of the Net have broken down, been rebuilt, and even been expanded. At the intersection of the heavy beams are habitable hubs that act as docks, loading ports, and service stations. The entire construct seems dangerously fragile; a wild, unpredictable mess of millions of tons of metal girders, spacecraft, and explosive fuel.

As Coriolis recedes and grows smaller behind you, the Net inversely approaches and grows larger. You begin to see the dozens of ships that are currently berthed at the Net: everything from tiny transport shuttles and banged up free trader vessels to large mining barges and pilgrimage liners. There's even a massive Class V freighter bearing the logo of the Consortium; it rests against the beams while its precious cargo is being distributed to smaller ships that zip around like worker bees. Being that Coriolis is a hub of business and travel for the Third Horizon, the Net helps to alleviate some of the traffic and logistical pressure; ships can come here to load or unload cargo, make repairs, and resupply instead of going to Coriolis itself. Not only that, but the Net has earned a well-deserved reputation for being a meeting place to conduct illegal business or activities. Trailing a hundred kilometers behind Coriolis, the Net is a "Wild West" of sorts where the space station's Judicators and Coriolis Guard have little presence.

Once the Riyad passes by the Net, you see nothing but the blackness of open space and the light of distant stars that glitter like pearls in the night. The closest of those stars, the incandescent yellow dwarf that serves as the sun for the Kua System, burns brightly millions and millions of kilometers ahead of you. Far behind the ship, Coriolis can still be seen silhouetted against the verdant surface of Kua. Once you put a healthy amount of range between the ship and Kua's gravity well, the Riyad fully engages its gravity projectors and enters cruising speed for the journey to Jina.

Zahra

You begin reading through the information that Khadija provided, as well as any information that the Riyad has about Jina. You also receive a data packet from Farouk; apparently one of his contacts consolidated a bunch of information about Aram's Ravine.

As you read everything, it seems clear that Shulan Moro is probably the one whose palms are easiest to grease. Several free trader captains have joked about bribing the man to get out of paying excise taxes. The two Consortium merchants, Lhorac and the Salt Widow, however, seem like they could be problematic. Power hungry small-time oligarchs with henchmen are probably best avoided. Likewise, Hommar, the miners rep, sounds very single-minded and self-righteous based on what you read about him.

Still, most of the information you read about these individuals is very general, and its far from thorough. Nothing is terribly revealing, but it gives you some idea of what you are walking into.

Khadija's father's contact is a man named Salim Nasser - the settlement's resident doctor. He is the one who reported the existence of the artifact to Aldair Jubal, and whom Aldair paid to stay quiet about it.

About halfway into the trip, Riya’s voice interrupts your reading. "Captain, making my usual mid-day report. All systems still at optimal. The Bulletin’s Astrostradium reports no corsair activity on our route, and there is a micro-meteor shower alert for the vicinity, but the alert is only yellow so not too concerned." Riya seems to have concluded, but then chimes in, "Oh, and we’re being followed..."