Storyline Name: Silver Discordia
Creator(s): JupiterThunderCrash
Forum: Silver Millennium
Advanced or Relaxed: Relaxed
Plot Summary: Before the great Silver Millennium Era came into being, Queen Serenity was just Serenity,a refugee from far away who carried a shining silver power within her. She settled on the Moon and established a home for herself, but the Solar System around her was less than welcoming to her idea of a unified group. At first, she was completely ignored. The inner planets were in political and social disarray with each other, barely managing to keep from an all out war.

Mercury is strict and organized to the last letter, focused on it's own booming technology behind solid metal doors underneath their planet's icy exterior. Venus is a fallen paradise, a crime ridden, war torn desert with the occasional oasis for the rich and powerful to shelter in. Mars is a closed off, disciplined planet ruled by military lords and advised by their spiritual monks and priestesses. And Jupiter is a raging empire bent on constant expansion through intimidation and force. Earth is still too primitive to even realize that life existed beyond its own atmosphere. The Outer planets are considered almost mythical, so far out and silent that they don't seem to exist.

But beyond the interplanetary tensions, there is communication and trade. The average citizens go about their business as well as they can, oblivious to the changes that are about to occur. The Solar System has been and will always be in a chaotic state. Until now... 

In this RP, the only playable characters are Otaku. The senshi of the planets do exist, but they are of an earlier generation and do not work together. Your character, from either Mercury, Mars, Venus, or Jupiter, has left their home for personal reasons, and now roams between planets, a drifter in space. Maybe they're a criminal, a loner, a trader, a tool for hire, or just curious, but the are no longer living their old life and have struck out for a new one.

The RP begins when everyone meets up on a coincidence, and decides to travel together as a loose group. As they jump from adventure to adventure, they start to bond, and will eventually end their journey on the Moon, where they will use their unique point of view to help Serenity create the foundations of the Silver Millennium.

Details on any necessary information: This RP will only have 4 playable characters, because it will be very character interaction based. The only other slot that might open up is Queen Serenity towards the end.

And since you will need some Silver Millennium age info to make your character, I will provide descriptions for life on each inhabited planet. If you have questions about naming and clothing or your character's background, you can ask here in the OOC thread.

Planet info:

Restrictions: Only Otaku characters are to be played, with the exception of Queen Serenity at the end.


OOC Thread: Here

Member to Character List:

Freyja Asynja--> Sailor Neptune
Chares Katsaros--> JupiterThunderCrash

Xihe of Huo Re Temple --> Sailor Mercury
Celeste Deveraux--> Light

The trip from Venus to Mercury had been uneventful, and it had only taken Chares about 40 hours, a 2 day trip with an “overnight” break in the middle, to cover the distance in time to make his deliver.

Being on schedule for interplanetary travel was important, something he had learned when he was late by 6 hours and ended up having to chase Mars around the sun for a full day to land on it.

Who knew planets could move that quickly?

As with any other shipping job, Chares slowed his cargo vessel and allowed it to be trapped in Mercury’s orbit, hovering just outside the atmosphere to wait for clearance. The computer monitor before him blinked to life with an affirmative message displayed in Jovian. He was pretty sure they gave him this ship in particular because he was the only one they had hired who could understand it at all…

“Finally…” Chares flipped on autopilot and allowed the ship to start its descent to the frozen surface on its own, and stood up from his cockpit chair to stretch. Even with the heat turned on, he was already starting to feel Mercury’s chill creep in as the ship’s metal hull was battered by icy winds. The first time he had come here, Chares didn’t believe that the temperature was going to be that bad. He’d laughed when he’d seen the clunky face mask and thick coat and gloves stored away for him in his locker. They had to be exaggerating, right?

They weren’t. He’d almost gotten hypothermia his first visit, much to the Mercurian doctors’ amusement.

This time he wasn’t taking any chances though. Chares strapped on his black and green mask, covering his nose and mouth with a breathing filter that warmed air as it passed through. His eyes were protected behind build in snow goggles, preventing blindness in an intense storm or heavy winds. Next came the thick boots with gripped soles, and then his hooded coat and gloves. Byt he time he returned to his seat, his ship was hovering in front of a massive set of metal doors marked with text he couldn’t read. The largest symbol on it was the only recognizable one, and it was the sign of Mercury.

After another five minutes of waiting to get his ship scanned, the doors shuddered and pulled open, sliding into the rock wall it was built into. Inside was the Interplanetary docking hangar, a huge, high ceilinged cave covered in metal platforms and catwalks. Ice covered ships of different sizes, colors, and models were locked in place, loading and unloading cargo and people as the dock workers moved around to keep order.

Chares pulled in and waited for someone to direct him to an empty spot, and was met with a formal sounding radio transmission in a language he could barely grasp. He rolled his eyes and turned on his microphone. Why did they always just assume he was fluent in Mercurian?

“Could you repeat those instructions?” he asked. There was a pause, and then the voice came again, this time in the common language of the Solar System.

“Please turn left at the first corner and park at the end of Dock 1. A transport inspection officer will meet with you shortly.”

“Yeah, thanks…” Chares passed a huge cruising vessel on the way to his designated area, capable of holding thousands of tourists, though he had no idea why someone would come to a frozen wasteland on vacation…

As soon as his ship was magnetically attached to the dock itself, he killed the engine and unlocked the cargo hatch. The back of his almost rectangular vehicle unsealed and extended a platform to use for unloading. He pocketed his keys and opened the door hatch, mentally preparing himself to speak with whatever stuck up officer he’d been assigned to today.

The man waiting for him at a computer terminal was almost a foot shorter than himself, with dark blue hair in a business-like army cut, and even darker blue eyes. Chares frowned at him from behind his mask and stepped onto the dock. The trade officer’s eyes widened for a second as he realized his race, and then he was back to being a blank slate. They always stared at him like that, like he was a mythical creature or something.

“This is the shipment of neon from Venus, correct?” he asked, looking back down as his terminal. Chares nodded, relieved that he hadn’t tried to engage him in Mercurian again.

“1,000 sealed tubes to be delivered to Virgo,” he answered, before handing him an electronic clipboard. The officer signed off on it, and then turned to call a team of grunt workers over. They started unloading his ship with rolling carts as the officer supervised, and Chares went back into his truck to wait until they had finished. He didn’t bother locking the side doors that led to his living quarters, and they were wide open as he dug around the front compartment of his dashboard for something to eat.

The mini disk hidden in her pocket felt heavy, even though its weight was almost nonexistent. Frey felt hyperaware of its existence on her person as if it was burning bright, like a beacon of guilt calling out to the authorities. Every government official she passed seemed to look at her suspiciously, and she kept expecting someone to stop her and demand that she give up her stolen data.

She could not wait to get off this planet.

Despite the late hour, the port was bustling with activity as usual. Then again, in a planet where most of its civilization hid under the surface, it was almost impossible to tell time without having a watch permanently attached to you.

Frey walked along the port, spying all the ships currently docked there and assessing her options. A touring ship seemed like a nice choice; a lot of people there, easier to blend in. But there would be next to no natives on board—she’d stick out like a sore thumb among those eerily beautiful Martians or the gorgeous glowing Venusians. She wanted to answer as few questions as possible, and the more people around, the more questions would be asked.

Next she saw a Venusian ship and decided to steer clear of it. She didn’t like Venusians in particular; it was likely that this ship would belong to some stuck up rich person without a heart who would immediately kick her out if discovered, or worse, a pirate ship.

She moved further down the line and saw a lone ship docked at the very end of Dock 1. It was an older Jovian model and not very big, most likely one for cargo. She paused, watching and waiting as its driver conversed with an officer, then watched the workers unload the ship. She considered waiting for them to finish before slipping inside, but Mercurian workers were very precise—they would immediately inform the driver that the task was done, and then the door would be closed and the ship would take off. She would not have an opportunity to climb aboard.

Then she saw another door on the side of the ship that was wide open, this one with no traffic at all. Frey grinned. That ship was practically inviting her in. Moving soundlessly behind piles of crates dotting the hangar area, she maneuvered to the side of the ship, grateful that her petite figure made her difficult to spot. None of the workers saw her, being too busy with their task, still. She stood in front of the side door, about to enter, but then something made her pause.

She turned and looked toward her home—her planet—one last time. At the ever-present shades of blue and white on its surroundings and its people, and the comforting sounds of electronic beeps and computer noises working constantly with one hundred percent efficiency. The quiet hush of the air, filled only with steady sounds of movement and low conversations, everyone functioning almost like perfectly configured machines. Despite everything, she really would miss this place.

But she was also looking forward to the new adventures that awaited.

With one last goodbye to her father, Frey climbed aboard the ship, and slipped silently into the living quarters, searching for a place to hide.

The dockworkers rolled the last set of neon tubes off the ship about half an hour later, and Chares shut his back hatch and sat down to wait as they switched to doing ship maintenance. As soon as he was refueled and cleared, he could head back to Mars. Absentmindedly, he saw that his side door was still open, and he locked it with a switch. He was just letting the cold air in otherwise...

After another hour of sitting and waiting and getting weird stares from passing workers, he was finally allowed to leave.

"I'm taking a break after this..." he said to himself, following the traffic flow out of the port. Another set of metal doors opened to let him pass, and he was soon breaking Mercury's gravitational pull once again. As soon as he was in unclaimed space, he set the ship to auto pilot and walked over to the middle part of he ship to get out of his heavy clothing. The plan was to rest at one of the artificial midway station for a night, and then get to Mars the next day.

Chares unstrapped his mask and threw it onto a table, and then unzipped his coat to put it away again. He moved to the nearby closet and slid the door open, only to see a small, white and blue haired girl crouched under his hanging shirts. He made a surprised sound and said a choice curse word in his native language as he took a few steps back. Did he accidentally pick up a dock worker? Or maybe she was some kind of theif.

"Alright, what do you think you're doing in my ship?" he questioned, trying to look intimidating on purpose for once in his life. Where did he keep his weapon again? "If you're trying to steal something, there's nothing valuable here..."

God, this was taking forever.

Frey had curled up inside the closet in the living quarters, waiting for the ship to take off. She listened to the sounds of unloading continue for half an hour, and then when it finally ceased and she heard the doors slam, she thought they would leave. But still the ship sat there. And sat. And sat some more.

One hour felt like forever when she didn’t have anything to do except sit there in the darkness. Before she left, she had ditched her phone so that the government couldn’t track her, which took away her only source of entertainment.

After what felt like years later, getting more and more convinced that she could feel herself growing old, the ship moved beneath her. She sighed in relief, and waited until she could feel them leaving the port and into space. She was just thinking of getting out and stretching her legs when the door of the closet was opened.

She yelped in surprise along with the person who had opened it.

Damn, he was huge. She didn’t often see Jovians before, and rarely in person. He looked like he could crush her with one fist.

She hoped he wouldn’t do that.

She recognized his swear word, having learned all the other planet’s languages—it was a mandatory part of the Mercurian curriculum—and when he spoke again, fortunately she could understand those, too.

“I’m not a thief!” she said quickly in Jovian, though her accent was obvious. She slowly stood up and raised her empty hands to show that she hadn’t taken anything or brought a weapon. “I just needed a ride, I swear. I’ll get out wherever you dock next. I just needed to get off Mercury, that’s all.”

The less she told him about her reasons, the better. She tried to gauge how far they were already; it should be a bit more of a hassle to go back and dump her now rather than get to Venus or something.

God, she hoped he wasn’t going to Venus, though.

Chares studied her carefully, not interrupting her as she spoke. He hadn't expected her to be able to speak his own language that well, and judging by how fast she surrendered, she probably didn't have a darker motive. She didn't have that hardened criminal look he'd seen in other swindlers he'd encountered, and if she did try to turn on him, he was fairly sure he could overpower her as she was weaponless. And he wasn't heartless enough to dump her back home against her will.

He relaxed his stance, but kept his eyes on her, switching over to the common language. As amusing as it was to hear her speak Jovian, there was no point in it.

"...I don't know why you didn't just buy a ticket for a regular ship like a normal person, but fine. One false step and I'm kicking you out on the nearest asteroid, you understand?" He should probably be angrier that he was being used as a free ride, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything drastic. Chares turned around to go to the kitchen area, scratching the back of his head.

"If you're going to stay with me until Mars, you might as well get out of my closet now and sit somewhere. I'm surprised you're still breathing after over an hour in that death trap..." He couldn't remember the last time it had been cleaned out...

There was a table sticking out of one of the walls, and two bolted down chairs to use.

“Heh… I was a bit short on money I guess,” she said sheepishly with an innocent look. If need be, she could pretend to be whatever she had to be. As long as she didn’t end up behind bars… or worse. She had heard about how people who had committed high treason were just never heard of again. The government never spoke of them again and their locations were never disclosed. Nobody knew for sure, but for a planet of geniuses, it didn’t take much to put two and two together.

She stepped out of the closet gratefully when he told her she could. She had mixed feelings about going to Mars; on one hand, it wasn’t as chaotic as Venus, on the other, it sometimes reminded her a bit of home.

But there were always worse places to be.

“Thanks, really. I won’t make trouble for you.” She sat down on one of the chairs. “Nice ship, by the way. Your own?”

She didn’t get to explore much earlier, but now that she was free to look around, it wasn’t a terrible place to live. Although she wondered if that bed wasn’t cramped for him.

"Nice ship?" He chuckled. "Are you trying to get on my good side?" He asked. "This thing is older than me, I think. And it belongs to the trade company." Chares opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. "I'd have bought a bigger one..." 

The ship's proportions always annoyed him, always being a little too small for comfort. He couldn't count the number of times he'd stubbed his toes or bumped into a wall or door frame somewhere. It had clearly been updated to fit  a smaller person a while ago before it was assigned to him.

Chares grabbed a pan and turned on the stove top, cracking about half the eggs in it at once. Five minutes later, he scraped most of them onto a plate to take over to the table, and started eating. He could have made something more elaborate, but he didn't have the patience at the moment.

“Maybe,” Frey admitted with a grin. So he must not be very well-off then, from the sound of things. Well, at least that explained how he easily sympathized with her plight. She was definitely going to fulfill her promise of not making trouble for him.

She watched him as he started to cook, amazed at how much he planned to eat. Somehow she figured he wasn’t intending to feed her, considering she already got to ride on his ship for free. Still, the smell of eggs wafted towards her as he started eating in front of her unapologetically. Damn, here she thought he didn’t have a cold heart.

Frey just stared at him as he ate, her stomach growling loudly in the most opportune moment.

She wondered how long he could pretend she wasn’t there.

Chares could feel her eyes on him without even looking up to check. Probably judging him already... Well, he was used to that kind of thing, so he wasn't about to let himself feel bad now. He wasn't obligated to give her anything, right?

He heard a high pitched growling sound and tried not to wince. This had to count for emotional manipulation. He heard it again, and gave a low sigh, putting his fork down. What would his parents say if they saw him doing this? How selfish had he gotten over the last year? 

Chares stood up abruptly and went to get the pan. He could definitely eat all 6 eggs he made, but he could spare two, right? He wasn't a complete glutton. A plate was placed in front of Freyja without much ceremony, and he scraped the last of the food onto it before sitting down again.

"I'm only feeding you so you don't bother me about it later," Chares said, looking away from her. "Don't read anything into it, stowaway."

Frey suppressed a smile as he finally got up and got her a plate, before dumping the rest of the eggs. “Of course! Thank you very much, I do appreciate it. Especially since it’s probably going to take like two days to get to Mars. I could survive with just water, of course, but it won’t be very pleasant.” She picked up a fork and quickly popped a spoonful into her mouth before he changed his mind. “These are nice. You’re not bad at cooking.”

She was going to add that she in fact had a name, but then wondered if it was probably best if he didn’t know, in case the Mercurian government ever came across him and asked about her. She could use an alias, maybe? But they’d probably have a picture of her anyway, so there was likely to be no point.

Would they search for her in other planets? How much did they want this cloning technology?

Thinking about the weight of the information she had stolen made her stomach churn, and she momentarily forgot her hunger.

“So… may I ask your name?” she finally said, deciding if they were going to spend 48 hours together, she’d rather not have to call him ‘hey’. “I would call you ‘driver’, but that’s probably not very polite. Plus I want to know who to thank later. Maybe I’ll send you a card or something.”

Chares grunted at her thanks, surprised that he even got one. Well at least she was somewhat polite even after bumming a ride off him. She sure rambled on for someone who was broke and homeless though. Or was she just trying to act happy?

"It doesn't take much skill to fry something in a pan..." he said, shrugging. He went silent after that, until she asked for his name. He had to smile slightly at the thought of getting a card, despite his bad mood. 

"It's Chares." He waited until she was done before taking her plate and his, and placing them in a washing compartment. He wouldn't have to steer the ship until they were closer to the rest station, so he had some time to kill. He had planned on taking a nap, but he wasn't comfortable doing that with a stranger in the same room. Having anyone else in the ship with him was odd and made him self conscious...

Hmm. So he was humble, too. That was nice, she supposed. The people on Mercury were the very definition of humble bragging—they didn’t brag outright, but it was obvious that they looked down on everyone from other planets, viewing them as inferior. In the rare times when she’d heard one of them become involved in a relationship with a non-Mercurian, everyone else pretty much shunned them. So it was refreshing not to talk to someone who acted like they knew everything and was the best in everything.

“Chares,” she tried out his name on her tongue, the unusual word feeling foreign. “You can call me Frey,” she said. It was what she preferred to be called anyway—Freyja always sounded so… pretentious, though her father definitely had noble intentions when bestowing that name upon her.

She jumped up when he cleaned her plate before she could help. “Is there anything I can do? I don’t mind helping out. Or if you need anything fixing or whatever.”

She might as well do something helpful while she was getting a free ride.

He paused for a second when she said his name, and then went back to doing the dishes without turning around. Chares hadn't realized how long it had been since someone had called him that. This would take some getting used to...

And her name was Frey. He was used to foreign names now, though he had fumbled with them when he had first left Jupiter. Her's was a little shorter and simpler than other Mercurian ones he had heard of.

Chares glanced back at her as he finished cleaning, one eyebrow raised. "You want to help?" Well, if she could make all the doorways just a foot higher, that would be great. Less sarcastically, he thought about the ship's computer system. 

According to his boss, it had been stuck in the Jovian language option for a long while, making it useless for anyone but Chares to pilot. And since there weren't that many transport ships around, Chares was stuck with the one that was too small for him. But if the ship were fixed, someone else could take it...

"Can you... read Jovian text?" he asked, drying his hands. "The computer system in here is broken somehow, and I can't switch it to Common." Mercurians were good with technology like this, so it was possible that she could repair it and he could finally stop using this annoying ship.

He didn’t seem convinced that she could help, but Frey just nodded enthusiastically.

“Well, we learn all the other languages in school, so yeah,” she shrugged. “That sounds simple enough. I will give it a try,” she said brightly, happy to feel useful.

“Let’s see…” she bounded over to the control panel of the ship, scanning the screen filled with foreign alphabets. It took a bit of fiddling before she could find the settings that brought up the language options since it wasn’t in the first places she’d look. This was definitely not a very effective set up—it would never pass the Mercurian standards.

When she finally pulled up the options, she tried to make the switch, but nothing happened when she pressed the button. She frowned, but felt excited at the same time. She loved puzzles and solving problems.

Weaving her way deeper into the controls, she accessed the admin settings and all its permissions, before finally finding the problem.

“Aha! Someone with admin power for some reason put an override that prevented the language from being changed… not sure why. Maybe they were really attached to Jovian. But…” she typed in a few commands, did a minor hacking to gain administrative privileges to undo the override, and returned to the language option screen.

“Voilá!” she said with a flourish as she selected the Common language option. This time the button pinged and shone to show that her choice was acknowledged, and a second later the entire screen changed to display the Common language. “There you go,” she grinned.

After finishing the dishes, Chares walked over to watch Frey at the control panel, wondering how "simple" this would actually be. Everyone else who had tried gave up years ago, but she seemed eager to have a look at it.

After what was only minutes, his eyes widened as the screen suddenly changed. She had somehow broken past the admin permission and fixed the settings. The language switched easily, and he could help but grin as well. 

"This stubborn ship was broken for 6 years, and you fixed it in less than an hour..." he said, amazed. His supervisor would definitely be pleased to find out about this. "Thank you!" Without thinking, he pulled her into a hug, actually picking her up off the ground a as he squeezed her. A couple of seconds after, he realized what he had done, and carefully put her down on the floor again, very embarrassed.

"I mean, I'm in your debt..." Chares cleared his throat and blushed, looking away again.

Frey blinked, not expecting his amazement. Six years? Damn, Jupiter could really use some of Mercury’s knowledge. Too bad they never traded that…

Suddenly, she found herself in his arms, in the completely unexpected situation of being hugged. Mercurians… don’t hug. It rarely happened, though her father did whenever he could, but it had been a while since he was gone, so… it had been a while since she’d been hugged. And certainly her first time being hugged by a virtual stranger.

It was nice, for sure, but also a shock, especially considering how Chares’ strength and size resulted in her being picked up off the ground.

When he finally seemed to realize what he’d done and put her down, he looked embarrassed, and Frey had no idea what to say either. She stood there awkwardly, self-consciously.

“Er… it’s nothing, really. Besides, you gave me a free ride… we can consider it my payment,” she said sheepishly.

Her brain was still rather stuck in what just happened. Seeing his quiet demeanor and huge size, she would have never pegged him for a hugger.

Chares kept his eyes on anything except Frey. "I'm going to go...check on the ship's course...." he said, breaking the stifling silence. He turned around and walked towards the front of the ship. "You can use the bed over there if you want to..." He wouldn't particularly mind sleeping on the floor, as it was more comfortable for him anyway, and the bed was closer to her size. 

Before she could refuse the offer, the doors slid open, and he stepped into the cockpit area, leaving Frey in the living corners alone. 

As soon as the doors closed, Chares sat down in one of the pilot chairs and made an exasperated groaning sound. What was wrong with him, grabbing her like that? He could have hurt her or scared her, and now it was going to feel weird the entire way to Mars... At least being in here would give him some time to scrape his composure back together. He looked at the computer's map, seeing that they were scheduled to reach a way point in Venus's territory in a few more hours. 

They could stop at the space station for the night and continue in the morning. It would also give them time out of the space ship, something he always looked forward to. Maybe he could just hole up in here until nightfall...

Frey watched as he disappeared into the cockpit, glancing at the bed and scratching her head. She was a bit tired, but… there was only one bed. Was it really okay?

Before she could ask, Chares had stepped inside and disappeared, and she was left on her own. She stood there for a few moments, then moved toward the cockpit. She paused in front of the door. She wanted to talk to him some more, but after that hug, she still had no idea if things could be not-awkward. Would she just make things worse?

She turned around, hesitated, went back again, but every time she was about to enter her courage deserted her. Finally she settled on the bed like he suggested, glancing out the small window at the infinite space outside. It had always amazed her how vast the outer space was. How many planets were out there, just waiting to be discovered?

She didn’t mean to sleep, not wanting to hog the bed in case he decided he wanted it later, but she must have been more tired than she thought, because a couple minutes later she dozed off with her head on her arms, half slumped on the windowsill.

Hours passed in relative quiet, with Chares up front and Freyja in the ship's middle. But as his digital clock informed him that it was past evening time, he spotted the rest stop.

It was a man made station built into a captured asteroid, funded by Venus to facilitate trader activity. The structure was mostly metal, with landing platforms and a few large buildings that housed ship garages, stores, and temporary room and board for the people that intended to stay a full night. Shipping companies like his own paid in advance to have clearance to use it, so he never had to worry about affording a place to sleep or eat if he was near one. 

The only downside was that it was so in the middle of nowhere that the usual laws weren't enforced very well. Fights broke out between travelers, along with thievery and occasional ship sabotage. Chares didn't even like to walk around it when the lights were off for simulated night time. 

But since he had a passenger now, it was best to just land and hope they didn't run into any trouble. He'd jut keep a slightly closer eye on Frey while they were here.

He pushed through the artificial atmosphere, and landed on one of the runways, finding the area designated for his shipping company to park. Chares stood and went to check on Frey, reentering the living area. 

"Hey, we're going to stay here for the"- He stopped when he saw her sleeping against the windowsill on his bed. So she took him up on his offer after all...sort of. "How did you even manage that..?" She could at least sleep on the bed properly...  Resisting the urge to fix her position, he walked over and knelt next to her.

"Get up, we're at the rest stop," he said, shaking Frey's shoulder. He was careful to be more gentle this time.

“Hmpfh…?” Frey woke up sluggishly from her nap, images of the blueprint dancing in front of her eyes. She startled, but when she saw Chares’ face, she remembered that she hadn’t been caught… yet. The events of a few hours prior slammed back into her memories and she instinctively put one hand into her pocket to check that the disk was still there.

When she felt its comforting shape, she allowed herself to feel momentary relief. For now, everything was alright.

Had they noticed her theft yet back home, she wondered? And would they ever search beyond the planet?

She shook these thoughts away and slowly climbed down from the bed, looking outside to check out where they were. She’d never actually been out of the planet much, so these rest stops were foreign territories for her. So far it did not seem too different from Mercury’s pretty straightforward design when it came to buildings, except that everything looked much simpler.

“I’ll just… follow your lead then. Unless… do you want me to get off here? Because I’d totally understand if you do.”

She had no idea how she was going to get anywhere else, but she could figure it out. After all, she had hitchhiked once already. She could do it again.

For a moment, panic flickered in Chares' eyes. She was offering to leave here of all places? Did she have a death wish or something? 

"Wait, don't get off now! I-I mean..." He cleared his throat and tried to control his tone. "This isn't a very nice place to be alone if you aren't used to it. There are some...less than trustworthy people around here." Thugs, smugglers, possible pirates... He didn't even want to think about what could happen to this naive Mercurian girl if he let her walk away by herself. She'd look like an easy target. "I was just going to stop here before going to Mars tomorrow morning. I can drop you off there instead," Chares offered. "But...I won't force you to stay if you don't want to."

Frey was surprised when Chares immediately forbade her to leave. And here she thought he couldn’t wait to be rid of his illegal passenger. Slowly, as she heard his explanation, she felt the urge to smile, but suppressed it. She felt warm inside knowing that this stranger—this big guy from Jupiter she just met—had apparently cared so much about her well-being, even after she took advantage of him.

Was everyone on Jupiter this kind?

No one in Mercury would have shown such compassion. They were very… logical people, which tended to make them cold. Her father had been the first and only person she knew who had ever shown her warmth.

And now Chares was the second.

“I would really appreciate being able to get all the way to Mars,” she admitted. “It’s not that I don’t want to stay… I just didn’t want to impose on you any more than I already have. But if you don’t mind, I’d be really grateful.”

Chares relaxed, untensing his shoulders when Frey didn't fight him about staying together. This place really was dangerous to the unaware person. And even if they were practically strangers, he could not ignore his conscience and let her wander off with no warning.

"I think I can deal with a cramped ship for another day," he said. "But for now, I need to pick up a few supplies before we leave tomorrow. I wasn't sure you'd be safe alone in the ship, even if I locked it behind me, so....do you mind coming along?" Chares asked. That wasn't a weird thing to say, right? At least he thought it made sense.
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On the other end of the station, an emptier section of garages was open, with only a few people to stand guard. The three hired Venusian soldiers, dressed in their standard orange and blue armor and capes marked with the Queen of Venus' crest, were incredibly bored. Two were playing a game in the dirt with their short swords, and the third was half asleep in a chair. They weren't even paying attention to the currently empty sky, let alone the garages they were supposed to be protecting.

“Not at all, I would love to stretch my legs too,” she said, standing up. It was nice of him to worry about her well-being even after the way she’d taken advantage of him. It was probably just as well he was a nice guy. Frey hadn’t exactly thought it through when she boarded this ship—he could have easily hurt her if he was a different sort of guy, and she didn’t realize until now just how dangerous that had been and how lucky she was. It made her appreciate Chares all the more.

“Lead the way then,” she said a bit shyly.

He gave Freyja a tentative smile, happy that she seemed to trust him. It was a rare event for anyone to really trust each other these days. 

"Wait here for a moment, I'm going to grab a few things..." He moved to the closet and pulled out two cloaks. After fastening the first one around himself, he bent under one of the counters and slid out the only weapon on the ship: A sword.

Calling it anything more than that would be pushing it, as it was really just a large piece of scrap metal Chares had paid a smith to sharpen and shape into something usable. It had a crude leather grip and a rough, thick edge, but it was the right size for him, and he attached the handmade sheathe he had patched together to his belt. 

Chares knew full well that it would fall apart if a real weapon went against it, but from a distance it looked intimidating, and that was all he needed. Besides, he had no idea how to wield a sword anyway.

"Here, put this on," he said, handing her a smaller cloak. It had a hood that could completely cover her head, effectively disguising the most recognizable part of her appearance.

He lead her outside the ship, and after making sure to lock it, they stepped out the garage and into the colder evening. The station was darker and quiet, but only a few people were wandering around, so Chares took it as a good sign.

"The store's across that way," he said, indicating the smaller, box shaped building across the runway.

Frey waited patiently as Chares gathered some things, curious about his plans. When he first drew out the ‘sword’, she felt alarmed, but upon closer inspection she realized it was hardly more than a makeshift one. It looked as if it wasn’t even sharp enough to hurt anyone. “Nice weapon,” she commented drily.

As he handed her a cloak, she put it on gratefully, actually glad for the disguise just in case, even if she was already far away from Mercury. It was still better safe than sorry. As a planet with that many smart people, Mercury had managed to do most things people thought impossible. She shouldn’t eliminate any possibility of being found anywhere in the universe.

Although she wondered why Chares went to all this effort. Was he expecting trouble, too? She belatedly realized that she knew nothing about him. What if he was actually a criminal on the side or something?

Then she thought again about all the things she did know about him—like the crappy ship for one—and decided that was unlikely. He must have other reasons for wanting to be discreet.

She nodded as he pointed out the store to her and waited until he moved, planning to stick close to him.

“Is it usually dangerous around these places?” she asked in a low voice, her curiosity finally winning over.

"Trade posts like these are crime magnets, especially since Venus can barely afford to supervise it," Chares said as they walked across the street. "There are soldiers stationed here, but not nearly enough to cover the area. And Mars and Jupiter are tense right now with their border dispute. I don't feel like becoming some angry Martian's target, so I try not to stand out."

Not like that was easy to do with his stature, but the cloak helped to make it less obvious. And if they were still determined to cross him, Chares was willing play the aggressive Jovian stereotype and hope no one called his bluff. It wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten harassed for his planetary origin. He even stayed away from other Jovians to avoid anyone reporting his description to the army. It was one thing to run away, but if the military decided to come after him in full force, he'd no doubt be dragged back. A soldier would not be intimidated by him at all.

The store they entered was small and sparse, with a wooden counter and simple metal shelves for products. the only light source was a set of LED lights in the ceiling, but even they were flickering from a loose wire. It was mostly basic food items, rough clothing, and cheap weapons. The older woman behind the counter was blonde, but had red eyes and tanner skin. She looked up from cleaning a coin to look at them, and then grunted and broke eye contact, deeming them harmless.

Frey had never really thought much about life beyond Mercury. A lot of people in her planet was like that; unconcerned with the other planets because they found them inferior. She tried to keep up to date on news occasionally, but having never traveled outside of Mercury herself, she felt like she knew very little about the world out here. In a way, this was her very first adventure across the universe, and she suddenly felt a tad bit excited about it, even if from what Chares said the world seemed bleak outside.

She remained quiet and inconspicuous after that, which was easy because she was small. She made sure to avoid eye contact with everyone and just kept her eyes on the ground following Chares’ footsteps. They entered a modest store with a woman behind the counter. Frey could not guess what race she was on first glance, but probably Venus. She decided to let Chares do the talking since this was his business.

„Jesus Christ, what is this?!”
Distinctly annoyed Amara stood in the center of her stockroom, the brows knitted and the eyes rolled, the smell of empty instant-noodle-packets evenly spread in the rather small room at the back of the ship. Disgusting.
 
How many times was that now – this month? That all her supplies were entirely consumed? That food, drinks, cigarettes – just everything was gone? She snorted.
 
„Next time this broad can steal her supplies on her own,” she muttered as she slammed the door behind her, the arms crossed and her attitude rather indifferent about the subsequent bang. “As if I was the supermarket for everyone…This is what you get for sharing with others…”
The warmth accumulated in her face, her ears turned red and she gradually noticed how her pulse rate quickened with every second. What had she done to deserve this?
 
„Okay, relax,” she placated herself as her hands swept heavy-heartedly over her face and she eventually sat back on the chair of her cockpit. “Everything will be alright, everything will be great. We just head for the next ship and that is about it.”

The brace voice could be heard all over the ship – from the cockpit to the stockroom, from the left to the right wing. What others considered a sin was daily routine for the young girl; instead of worrying about the consequences, Amara rather wondered what kind of ship was the best to attack.
„A trader would be good,” she thought inwardly, well aware of the hazards and yields that would come with the next attack. “Then I could also pull through for the next three months.”
 
To her disappointment, however, there was no trader on the radar to find – in fact, there was not even a single ship to detect on the machines. Far and wide – around the whole asteroid belt – she was the only ship on the way. On the left: Nothing. On the right: Nothing. She was alone. Completely alone.

“Oh crap!” Her voice sounded again, louder than before but still assertive. “Where should I get my supplies now?”
Her eyes turned to the windshield of the ship, her body gracefully lolled over the buttons and radars, as she eventually began to watch out for a space station or the like. But there was nothing. Nil. Nada.
„Aylin,” she then called the navigation device that quickly replied with a friendly ‘Yes?’. “Where is the next space station?”
 
„The next space station is located in…“ A clutch of numbers and letters that revealed the coordinates of the next station followed from the robotic voice, the face of the young girl getting longer and longer.
“This is at the other end of the solar system!” She sighed as she realized the seriousness of the situation, grasping that there was, even though it was a huge distance, no other possibility left. “Fair enough. Fine with me. At least I can refuel then.”
 
Less than thrilled Amara entered the coordinates into the autopilot and allowed herself to be led, the arms, once more, crossed and her torso settled back.
“I hope it’s worth it.”

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