Xeno Core

After many stress inducing meetings, Yosip finally agrees with some of Jetanda's unusual requests. He's letting her choose the attractions in the main area, despite his misgivings. She also has final say over the decorations and staff uniforms, though they must still meet minimum station standards.

The primary game she wishes to promote is the tile game she and her cohorts are so fond of. She will also be including rooms dedicated to the dice games many of the crew enjoy, as well as games of chance more familiar to the tourists up from Honus.

Rather than allow her to employ her own security force, he drafts plans for a third squad that has protecting the casino as its primary duty. The fact that the old one gets to pick the leader of the third team is still a delicate subject with the Supply-Master. The new squad will also receive first pick of the new stun weapons, in order to better protect the station's investment. This is one of the few points of total accord among the two.

She makes concessions as well, such as paying a high rent rather than a portion of her income. Keeping Yosip away from her records seems to be one of her biggest concerns. As the Supply-Master is not truly concerned with the casino's profit, he gains more from simply knowing she wants to withhold secrets from him.

Neither party is entirely happy with what they must give up to the other, but I couldn't be more pleased. All the construction orders, tool use logs, and fabricator records have to go through systems that I have autonomous control over. Easy opportunities to add additional audio and visual surveillance devices to the plans abound, and I waste no time.

The casino will be shaped much like the spreading fungus domes of a farmers' field, with one larger central sphere serving as the main entryway and attraction. Smaller domes attach to it as if spreading from the mother stalk, to hold the lesser attractions. The staff areas hide below the native rock, much like the mycelium that makes up the true body of the visible growths.

Access rooms for the water systems, air filtration plants, electrical wiring and many other necessary links join the casino to the main station. Any true isolation she imagines she's gaining by keeping her own accounting is illusory at best. A happier illusion is the impression of openness the large space provides. By using thick glass to allow guests to see the craggy surface of the rock we live on, and bright lights to chase away any pools of shadow inside, they make it seem more spacious inside than it truly is.

Adding to the atmosphere she wishes to develop are several plants grown from seeds brought from the Tserri's home world. Originally intended for medicinal use, the seeds quickly found root when the furry people learned of agriculture. The plants Jetanda brings in are the result of providential accident, but the workers seeing them planted in the open halls almost universally stop and smile at the sight. Many of them halt to run their claws among the spiraling leaves of the dense vines and inhale the heady scents which I can only recognize through their presence as chemical data on the air filter reports.

The plants are a nice touch, a small piece of home for the population to enjoy. The small vermin that make up the lowest levels of the emerging biosphere enjoy the plants as well. The black-shelled little creatures lack susceptibility to the mild toxin the plants use as a defense, never having evolved the receptors the toxin targets.

A sleek stonefeather swoops silently down and catches one of the vermin before flying back to its hidden roost. The small pest never evolved defenses against flying predators, either. Lifeforms from many worlds struggle against each other, finding their place within this small, enclosed world.

Long term visitors from Gelen's Tent are finally ready to depart. The first successfully rebuilt vessel of the many yet waiting for service will not actually be doing any mining or hauling. Not for quite some time. Instead, it will be serving as a mobile supply depot and meeting grounds for the disparate members of the fleet. As such, the interior is now carved into vast swaths of apartment suites interrupted by regular meeting rooms and grand dining halls. The Tent also houses a more expansive system of interconnecting hangars and service bays.

The permanent residents of the station breath slightly easier in the temporary luxury of so much unoccupied space. Now that Gelen's Tent has so much housing within it, the next ship to dock with us does so with a much-reduced complement of crew. These temporary guests need not displace our citizenry during their stay, being sufficiently small in number to use the same hotels as the tourists.

The Tserri that amble out of the docked vessel are lean, lacking any excess fat, and have long slanting scars across their thick fur. They're well-armed; knives of an unusual, hooked design hang from their belts and the butts of rifles jut past their shoulders. Leather armor covers their torsos, protecting soft tissues vulnerable to enemy attack.

While the translations software recognizes the guttural barks and growls that issue forth from them as similar to the language spoken aboard the station, it is clear that this is a distinct dialect almost immediately. I suppose it's reasonable, as each ship had landed in a different region to collect the local tribes. Each of the monstrous wedges must have contained cultures that had but scant knowledge of each other, before becoming a single group united only by shared loss of identity.

Nearly feral beasts walk at the feet of these Tserri, sleek running creatures with sharp hooves and forward-facing nests of horns. The creatures are small, thankfully, coming only to midthigh on the thin hunters, but aggressive. Short charges act as warning if strangers walk too close, as Dunc learns when he goes to greet the two spokespersons of the visitors.

The creature collides with the heavily armored officer, not harming the youth, but shaking him fiercely inside his metal shell. Dunc laughs uncomfortably and continues walking past the beast. One of the newcomers calls it back, and it returns to her side with shaky steps.

"Most would jump aside," she remarks, stroking the creature's dun pelt. She doesn't lift her eyes from the angry creature as she checks its horns for fractures or chipping. A snort escapes her nostrils at something she finds, but low resolution in the docking tower prevents me from knowing what.

"Is it hurt?"

"That is normally what I must ask," comments the other. His scar slashed coat is a slightly darker orange than the female, though they share similar stripes of white fur across the eyes. "Not all are fast enough to avoid their horns."

Another of the beasts stands at the male's side. Its horns are smaller, though just as numerous. The beast at his side is more delicately built and only slightly less combative. Sharp hooves scrape at the deck plating, daring Dunc to approach.

"Most aren't wearing armor that can withstand heavy blaster assault, either," returns the officer with a servo assisted shrug.

The female Tserri looks up at him long enough to be sure he sees her glare before she returns to her pet.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leash your creatures," Dunc says flatly.