Chapter 8.2 - Englene Station

The Celestial Voyager drifted through the shadow of Dianreti VI, the gas giant’s shimmering auroras casting waves of violet across the ship’s bridge. A lattice of storm clouds churned in the planet’s atmosphere below, distant and hypnotic. But Captain Valeria Zaytsev kept her eyes firmly on the massive silhouette ahead.

Englene Station was a marvel and a menace. Spanning over ten thousand cubic kilometers of constructed space, its spires, domes, and segmented wings glinted in the dark like a floating cathedral grafted onto an industrial complex. White starlight, artificial and reverent, illuminated the station’s structure, bathing its outer plating in a serene glow.



But something was off about the place. Valeria could feel it like static in the air. Word of the missing prototype ship—Heaven’s Wing—had spread through the underworld in whispers, the kind that carried opportunity... and danger. Why would a religious megastructure need a ship that cutting-edge? And more importantly, why had it vanished?

"Captain, incoming hails," announced Hank Heron. "We’re being routed through the station’s customs channel."

A soft chime echoed on the bridge, and then the voice of the station controller, warm and personable, filled the comms. "Welcome to Englene Station, Celestial Voyager. This is Station Control. We’ve been looking forward to your arrival. You’re cleared for Docking Bay Twelve. Don’t worry—just a quick inspection on arrival and you can begin the reffiting. We’re all a bit on edge these days, but you should have no trouble as long as you stay clear of restricted areas."

The voice was friendly, but Valeria detected a hint of stress beneath the words, the kind that comes from trying to keep order amidst chaos.

"Appreciate the welcome, Control," she replied. "Sounds like things have been... lively?"

The controller gave a rueful chuckle. "Lively, yes. Let’s just say, things are more complicated than usual. There’s been... unrest among the clergy. And, well, rumors about Heaven’s Wing don’t help. But that’s none of my business, I’m just a Stellar Express employee. We’ll keep your stay as smooth as possible, Captain. If you need anything, just ping us on the channel."Loading StellarNet...
Jobs and missions

"Hmmm. Another treasure hunt? Sure, why not? However, we are going to have to make sure we have acknowledged authority to hunt for it and some kind of immunity from the church and its inquisitors.

As for the second job, no. I will have no part of a witch hunt. Particularly a literal witch hunt."

"What happens if the Pragmatists are right, and there was sabotage? Do you think we can still claim the rewards for the saboteurs if we catch them, even if we don't explicitly take the Fallen Angels job?" Douklan considers this a philosophical question, a sort of "what if?" At the same time, part of him is curious; this concept of being able to pick and choose missions is still somewhat foreign to him.

I think we take it. If there aren't saboteurs then we don't turn anyone in.

---

What are our rolls to sell the Raw Drugs and Viridian Root Extract here?

"I don't care if the saboteurs are real. I will not hunt, nor will I turn over heretics or blasphemers. That is an absolute deal-breaker for me.

"Besides that, dealing with such a ridiculously overbearing religious organization is insane. You are just asking to be pulled in and subverted by them. If you take their money, they then have a claim in you. If we just stick with the first mission, we are working for Stellar Express outside the strictures or direction of the church. If we touch the second in any way, we are then working for the church. I will not do that or be party to it. I will only work for Stellar Express on these missions."

Mercer won't push the issue we'll take the recovery mission and not the other.

---

Mission Loadout

To be clear, Hank is all for the first mission. The employer there is Stellar Express and finding the ship could be all kinds of cool and cause all kinds of shenanigans.

Special magic space ship with Elder technology... The Engineering team is onboard for that.

"Before we kit out for the expedition, let's sign up and get the briefing so we have a better idea of what we'll likely need."

Trade Era 1235, Day 177. 10:00 UTC
Impromptu briefing room, Celestial Voyager, Docking Bay Twelve, Englene Station, Dianreti VI
The soft hum of the ship’s systems created a steady rhythm that felt almost calming as part of the crew of the Celestial Voyager gathered in the small but functional briefing room. Captain Valeria Zaytsev stood by the holo-table, its glowing interface illuminating her sharp, calculating features. Around the holotable, the crew assembled for this mission, each bringing their own brand of expertise—and baggage—into the mission.

Mercer, Douklan, Hank, Corbin and Erin were handpicked for this. Peter resigned from his position this morning, citing personal reasons, and left on a commercial ship for New Jordan.

Valeria cleared her throat and activated the holo-display, bringing up schematics of Englene Station, the religious complex's sprawling wings outlined in blue lines.

"This isn’t a rescue mission," Valeria began, her tone clipped. "It’s asset recovery."

The Heaven’s Wing flickered onto the display—a sleek, graceful vessel rendered in platinum-white, its hull laced with intricate, angelic motifs.

"Stellar Express has hired us to track down this ship and will transfer all the mission rewards for your personal accounts. In the meantime, the rest of the crew will stay here and help me while the Celestial Voyager is refitted for its new mission."

She paused.

"Heaven’s Wing is actually built with top-secret tech, supposedly reverse-engineered from artifacts left by the Elders. It’s loaded with experimental FTL systems and a specialized mounting for a frigate-sized Gravcannon. Losing it isn’t just a financial problem. If it’s stolen, someone could sell that tech to a rival megacorp—or worse, use it."

She gave the crew a knowing glance. Everyone in the room understood what kind of players were drawn to cutting-edge tech—smugglers, mercenaries, corporations, and even rogue factions within the planetary governments.

"Here’s the kicker," Valeria continued, "The station’s leadership is split about what happened. The clergy think this is a sign from their ‘angels.’ Half of them are fasting and lighting incense; the other half are ready to declare martial law. Meanwhile, Stellar Express is pressuring the station to shut down any religious nonsense, recover the ship, and get production running again."

Erin gave a dry laugh, "Great. A holy war and corporate bureaucracy. Together. How lucky are we?"

Valeria smirked, though her eyes remained cold. "It gets worse. There’s a fringe sect—the Revelation Choir—who thinks the Heaven’s Wing disappearing is a message from on high. They believe investigating it would be sacrilege. They’ve been stirring up trouble, and it’s only a matter of time before things explode… Anyway, the last known position of the starship was in…"

At that moment, the ship’s comms crackled to life, with Mariella’s voice breaking through. "Captain? You might want to hear this. Docking Bay Twelve is... in the middle of a riot."

Trade Era 1235, Day 177. 10:18 UTC
Docking Bay Twelve, Englene Station, Dianreti VI
The moment Valeria pressed the comm-link to hear what was happening outside the ship, a chaotic symphony of noise erupted. Screams, the metallic clang of thrown tools, and the chanting of the Revelation Choir filled the ship’s speakers.


Disclaimer: The images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the situation.

"This is Shipyard Control! Code R45! I repeat! Code red-forty-five!" a frantic voice screamed over the docking bay speakers "We have riots at docks ten to fifteen! Industrial workers are clashing with the Revelation Choir—oh gods, they’ve set fire to..."

The transmission cut off in a crackle of static, but the distant sounds of rioting continued to drift through the open channels. Valeria rushed to the viewport to see the docks in full disarray. Sparks rained from severed power conduits, and smoke billowed up from burning crates and machinery. Stellar Express workers in greasy coveralls wielded makeshift weapons, while hundreds of white-robed zealots of the Revelation Choir surged through the docks, chanting fervently about divine reckoning.

Erin winced at the sight. "Looks like the gods are mad and the people are even madder."

"They’re blaming each other for the disappearance of the Heaven's Wing," Valeria muttered under her breath. "This riot was bound to happen. Unfortunately, we had some bad timing."

Hank opines, "I suggest that we immediately offer refuge to any Stellar Express personnel that can reasonably make it to our ship. We should be ready to push off if the 'protesters' get close to the CV. We should also contact Stellar Express and ask if there is anything they need us to do to pull any other of their personnel to relative safety.

"We probably ought to make sure of what lengths we can go to in order to defend ourselves and anyone we are providing shelter to."

He is polite and uses the word 'protesters' instead of 'violent nutjobs'.

Hank, Lethal or non-lethal? What are we doing?
Mercer needs to know how we're dealing with any threats.

"Lift off now! We need to be clear of the violent nutjobs. If we stay, we're going to have to kill someone. Our best bet is to find that ship and hopefully calm this craziness." Corbin heads to engineering to make sure the drive is ready for what's coming.

People can die in the meanwhile. Best to give shelter to some.

In Character results in my next post