Ravens of Eternity

456 Tentative Eden

The all-black Einherjar cruiser set itself down on a wide, grassy flatland that served as a makeshift landing pad surrounded by wide slate walkways. The ship’s extensive side ramps slid out and lowered to the ground even as its belt armor opened up and slid to the side. Once all was set, its bulkhead doors slid open beneath and revealed the throngs of people waiting inside.

Among the first to head out were members of the CRCD, though they were less in a ‘work’ mode and more in a ‘sightseeing’ mode. Or at least something that sat somewhere in between. They went out and scouted the immediate area for a few minutes.

Once they were satisfied, they beckoned the thousands of people still inside the ship’s hold. Those people shrugged off any trepidation they had, stepped out in small groups, went down the ramps, and headed towards the lakeside township that the Corvus Republic had started many cycles prior.

Their boots clicked and clacked all over the smooth slate walkways which ran up and down the landing area to the township. And, of course, all around and between the thousands of habs that were scattered around the lake itself.

It gave everyone some space without being too far from each other.

More than half of the habs had already been inhabited, and this group was simply the next batch to come in. Most only lugged around their personal kits and belongings, usually the families and close friend groups. Clothes, devices, medicines, and so on – the usual.

Though there were certainly plenty who brought more, such as specialized tools and equipment or armor and weapons.

Such as a group of four well-armed mercenaries who were trying to find their place at the end of the galaxy. Though they weren’t exactly out to look for that when they joined the Corvus Republic some years ago.

At the head of the pack was a thin, young-looking guy who was seemingly in awe at everything he saw all around him. He was wearing his usual mercenary kit – a flexible light armor under a black longcoat.

.....

And peeking from beneath his coat were a couple of pistols strapped to his waist.

Right behind him were a couple of middle-aged darkskinned twins. Though both were somewhat androgynous, one leaned more male while the other leaned more female. Both wore similar flexible light armor, though each had a poncho or a shawl draped over them.

They too were armed, though she only had a light pistol while he wielded knives.

Behind them was a slightly older woman whose seasoned steps seemed almost rhythmic. Her outfit was similar to the rest of her team’s, except her light armor was completely hidden by her uniform-like tunic. The only place it was even visible was from the open tunic flap on her chest.

Her right arm was completely cybernetic from the bicep down. Though it certainly didn’t detract from the heavy pistol that hung from her hip.

All were lugging around huge packs of their equipment on their backs, from what appeared to be compact servers and personal databanks and various specialized drone compartments. Despite how awkward and bulky it all looked, none seemed particularly bothered or hindered in the slightest.

That said, their faces were filled with an odd mixture of both trepidation and determination. Not at the same time, but more like they shifted between the two emotions in slow, sweeping waves. Almost as though they lived in a wild swing between the two states.

To be fair however, most out here were likely feeling the same thing. A sense of dread followed by a sense of hope and then back again. That tension seemed to pulse in the air, only to dissipate a little a short while after.

Not that any of them could be blamed for feeling that way. They were suffering through the dark end of the galaxy, after all.

Whatever hope existed was whatever they brought with them.

The woman glanced over to the side where a couple was putting away some of their items into containers in their a-frame hab. And out back, their youngest child gesticulated in the air as he operated a drone through his DI.

Both he and the drone were working to plow the soft patch of land behind their hab, and gently upturned the rich, dark soil.

The kid wiped his brow as he looked up, then quickly smiled and waved at the group passing by. The woman smiled and waved back with small movements from her wrist. All the rest were a bit more boisterous and lively with their greetings back.

They kept on walking past a few more habs before they finally came to the shell of one. The hab’s framework was in place, and only part of the angled roofing was in place. It didn’t have the front or rear facade, or anything inside.

It was pretty much just a blank slate.

“336B,” said the young guy. “This is us, I’m pretty sure.”

“Why’s it look… I dunno, incomplete? Unfinished?” asked the masculine twin. “Shouldn’t it be more like the other habs?”

“Didn’t read the official missive, did you?” said the woman. A well-worn sigh came along right after.

“I don’t do the details,” he replied. “That’s sis’ job.”

His twin shrugged as the woman rolled her eyes a bit.

“Right. How could I forget?” she said with boatloads of sarcasm.

She then walked up the slate pathway up to the a-frame’s front and activated a drone nestled in a waist-high pillar just off to the side. A simple tap of her finger was more than enough to bring it out of hibernation with a soft tone.

It hovered out of its form-fitting cavity over to the rest of the group and scanned them.

“Residents verified,” emitted the drone. “Welcome to your new habitation unit, Magpie Investigation Company. As you have just arrived, we can begin final customizations to fit the space to your exact needs.”

“Ohhhhh,” said the masculine twin. “How’s that work?”

“Simply interface with me through your DI – my controls should be in the Personal Areas inside of your Spaces Directory. You can use those to apply which modules to install, and I will get to work printing and fabricating as instructed.”

“Wait, hold on. Does that mean we can choose whatever rooms we want to fill the frame? Like, I mean, they could all be kitchens or bedrooms or holocomm projectors or gardens or whatever?”

“Certainly, if that’s what all of you decide. Of course, the recommendation is to have at least places to eat and sleep.”

The masculine twin scoffed playfully.

“Nah, none of us need to do any of that,” he said. “All we really need is a really great place to work, flex our skills, do our thing.”

“Whatever you deem is best,” the drone replied cheerfully. “Before we go through that, however, would you all like a brief overview and tour of the framework itself?”

All four members of the company looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders before the woman turned back and said, “Sure.”

“Wonderful!”

The drone quickly led the four into the empty a-frame and wove up, down, and all around its main sections. As it did so, it gave them as much technical information about the hab itself.

“...and as you can see, the base foundation is a mechanical mix of ultradense fiber composite and hypersteel subfixtures to resist high seismic activity…”

“...the framework’s fiber composite materials have been laced with titanium alloy superstructures for tensile strength…”

“...external roof plating will be made of photovoltaic receptors for energy collection, which are linked to protected battery arrays nestled under the foundation itself…”

“...patched into the entire township’s energy grid and shared, so any excess power goes out to any habs that are lacking…”

“...green thumb nanites have been spread in the soil for optimized vegetation growth, regardless of the seed’s origin planet…”

Although most of the team easily absorbed whatever information the drone was relaying to them during their tour, the masculine twin was having none of it. It was already too much information for him to process properly, and his boredom grew exponentially as the moments slipped by.

“Okay okay okay, that’s all great and all,” he finally said, somewhat exasperated. “Can we please get started with the layout building thing? I’m itching to get my pack down and get settled in, yannowwhatimean?”

The drone halted its overview, then turned back towards the group.

“Of course,” it said. “You can access this information at any time, and I can walk anyone through at their leisure. You may begin your customizations whenever you wish.”

“Great!” said the masculine twin. “Guess I’ll get started then.”

He cracked his knuckles as he lined up the customization controls in his DI. But before he could get anything done, his own twin sister slapped the back of his head.

“No, you don’t,” she said. “You didn’t prep, and you didn’t even get a good overview of the hab itself. You don’t get to customize it for the rest of us.”

“Could you maybe not hit so hard?!” he protested.

He even winced slightly as he rubbed the pain from the back of his head.

“Stop pretending that hurt,” his sister said. “And if you don’t wanna get smacked upside your head, then you’d best stop acting like a damn fool.”

The other two in the group chuckled softly as the twins had it out with each other. As they usually did.

“It’s fine,” said the woman. “He can customize one section to his heart’s content. And he can even go first if he wants. The rest of us can work around it, I guess.”

The masculine twin pumped his fist and exclaimed, “Awright! Let’s make us a common workspace first!”

He quickly hopped over to the front of the a-frame and began to circle the space at its entrance.

“What kinda designs you got, uh, droney drone?” he asked.

“I have hundreds of permutations available for each module,” the drone replied. “If you would like to see examples, I have a dozen or so to show.”

The drone then projected a holographic image of various kinds of workspaces in the front area of the hab. One had two pairs of desks and chairs in the center, with terminals on each of them. Another preset had standing terminals at the walls, with the center space holographic.

There were so many workspace varieties based on different flows, to the point where all four of them were overawed at what they were seeing. Suddenly, all wanted their own private workspaces at seeing all the different kinds.

“Could we turn the garden into something else?” asked the young guy. “Like an outdoor training ground or something like that maybe?”

“Certainly,” the drone replied. “However, it is recommended that they remain as a means of generating food.”

“If we needed to eat, maybe.”

“We might not need to eat, but most everyone else does,” the woman said quickly. “I think it should stay as a garden. Anything we grow, we can straight up give to someone else. I’m sure there’s plenty who could use the food.”

“Oh, great, more work,” complained the masculine twin.

“Well, what exactly are we gonna do?” his sister refuted. “Godeater just about took away everyone’s actual livelihoods. Not like there’s people to hunt down out there any longer. Or you got a line on some thugs that need straightening out or something?”

The woman chuckled at the twins yet again.

“Your sister’s right,” she said. “Our best skills might not be in high demand these days, but we’ve still got other skills we could use to help people out. We’re still a team after all, a damned good one. May as well use what we know to make things right again. At least, a little bit.”

The masculine twin and the young guy sighed in humble defeat.

“Alright, fine,” said the masculine twin. “Anyway, I think I know what I want for the front space so let’s get to building it already!”