Some biomodified creatures have perpetrated a massacre in the Ariadna Exclusion Zone, and the investigation into their origin points to a laboratory on the Nomad station Splendor of Xanadu, orbiting the planet Dawn. While all signs point to an operation by the technoterrorist organization Equinox, the Nomad Nation doesn’t want any bad press, so it has denied Ariadnan authorities all access and will try to erase the evidence, relying on the skills of the expert hacker Jazz. However, Ariadna is not inclined to leave the matter alone and a stealth boarding team led by Cadin “FirstStrike” Donn has been deployed to raid the Nomad orbital. The mission for both sides is to secure all of the investigation data and identify any enemy operatives to use as evidence of their rival’s illegal activities. As two old friends, Jazz and “FirstStrike” Donn, both veterans of the Defiance, now find themselves on opposite sides, will they put their allegiance to their respective nations above a friendship forged in blood?
THE MOST SPLENDOROUS LUXURIANCE
Originally conceived to be placed in the Yu Jing system, it wasn’t the best option for Ariadna’s technologically and socially underdeveloped society. Any orbital base or delegation of Corregidor, strongly utilitarian and survivalist in nature, would have been more appropriate and a better match for the Ariadnan mindset and spirit. However, it was the only station available at the time contact with this lost colony was reestablished, and it was vital for the Nomad Nation to have a physical delegation in the system before their competition took over this new market represented by a newly discovered star system and a new nation to trade with. The result of this urgency was that Ariadnans have come to regard Nomads as a group of freaks as decadent as they are unpredictable, a perception that has influenced their political and commercial relations ever since. And the fact is that this orbital’s opulent interior décor explains why they are regarded this way.
If the original Xanadu was Kublai Khan’s summer palace, the orbital built by Bakunin’s engineers and designers was not lagging behind. Thus, its chambers reproduce the magnificence of an Oriental palace, always with a pinch of fantasy added by the art directors of the Bakunian holofilm studios. Splendor of Xanadu was meant to be a celebration of Bakunin’s creativity and success in the fields of design and entertainment in the great datasphere called Maya. Hence the prevailing architectural grandeur of this orbital that overwhelms and fascinates its visitors. The true purpose of the ornamentation of this base is to exhibit Bakunin’s magnificence. Therefore, it’s irrelevant whether, in the pursuit of this end, there is a lack of rigor or any stylistic or historical inconsistency, since there is no fear of being pretentious; quite the contrary, that pretentiousness is intended to highlight the importance of Bakunin and thus the Nomad Nation. This station’s unrestrained Orientalism is a pastiche impregnated with the quirky and bizarre style of VaudeVille’s designers, a setting where the taste for whimsical, extravagant, and outlandish elements and the search for visual amazement and wonder reign supreme. Everything in it is an overstatement characterized by excess, and this could guarantee every visitor’s admiration for Bakunin, had the orbital been located in the Yu Jing system or in any other point of the Human Sphere. Unfortunately, such exuberance is excessive for the Ariadnans; it overwhelms their senses and they find it vulgar because of its wastefulness. It’s peculiar that, because of its excessiveness, the orbital Splendor of Xanadu is disliked by urbanites with a refined taste as much as by rougher Ariadnan colonists. For everyone else, this station is a true feast for the senses and a most unforgettable experience.
Excerpt from “Bakunin: The Spirit of Provocation” by Johur Ali al Sefi, for Haas, Al Boushra’s travel channel, only on Maya.
LAB-TECHS
In an era of scientific and technological wonders and breakthroughs, lab-techs are the vanguard in the trenches of progress. Due to their role as assistants to chief investigators in research projects, they are privy to all the techniques and procedures conducted in each study, which they know down to the smallest detail. And this knowledge makes them extremely valuable both to their employers and to rival organizations. Irrespective of whether these lab-techs work for an academic institution or for a private company, in the cutthroat business of technology and science, any innovation represents either a chance for profit or a tough competition to beat, no matter who made the breakthrough. Therefore, hiring one of these technicians may be the best way to gather valuable knowledge about your rival’s competitive advantage, something every company desires. Of course, there are non-disclosure agreements, but they hardly make a difference anyway—this is what corporations hire law firms for.
This is all assuming the technician is recruited in a “legal” and transparent way because less conscientious corporations may opt for a forcible exfiltration and the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. Indeed, in the Human Sphere, working on cutting-edge technology can be a most hazardous profession, and this is without even mentioning the terrifying consequences of a radical science experiment going wrong in the Black Labs of Praxis…
JAZMÍN “JAZZ” CATICOVAS, TACTICAL HACKER
Anyone will tell you that were they to choose a person to go with to a deserted island, no one would pick Jazz Caticovas. She would spend the whole day listening to music and in a bad mood for not being able to access the datasphere or play her sax. The fact is that, even if Jazz knew what a deserted island was—since, being a Nomad from Corregidor, she has spent her whole life inside crowded ships—she would probably agree with this opinion. However, if you are inside an orbital under a security lockdown while some bad guys are asking for your head, then Jazz is your girl. But if she hears you call her “your girl,” she will most probably shoot you—and it will not be in the foot.
Jazmín “Jazz” Caticovas is a Corregidoran hacker, which means that, as opposed to the Nomad hackers from Bakunin, with their radical solutions, or those from Tunguska, with their trademark genius, she is a foot soldier of cybercombat who has learned it all the hard way. And Jazz has a special talent for always choosing the most difficult way. Born and raised in the Picachito module in Lazareto, she comes from a family of musicians who instilled in her a passion for jazz, but of course, given her origins, Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz. She would learn to play the saxophone when she was only five years old, and this would secure her a good career for life. But that would be the easy way, and she likes it difficult. So, to her parents’ chagrin, she would soon become more interested in classical jazz than in the predominant Latin jazz sound from Lazareto, which frustrated her incipient musical career. The problem is the Picachito module, a sector with one of the highest murder rates in Lazareto, is under the brutal control of the maras, and they only respect musicians and priests. For Barrio 6, the violent mara dominating Picachito, everyone else, especially girls, are just targets. Jazz could not become a priest, and she would never be the kind of musician everyone wanted her to be, and this made her a candidate to be brought to a casa loca, a “mad house,” a housing pod used by the maras to rape, torture, or kill their victims. With no professional prospects in sight and with her life in danger, Jazz would finally join the Corregidor Jurisdictional Command, where she discovered her other great passion in life: coding.
For Jazz, writing code is like writing and interpreting music, especially jazz jam sessions: starting with a couple of beats and ending with a full concert. This is a very flowery description of her job, but the only thing that interests the officers of the Nomad Military Force’s High Command is that this young woman is one of the few hackers capable of breaking through VoodooTech firewalls without losing her life or her sanity in the process. Jazz was deployed on Paradiso with a spec-ops team, always accompanied by her Remote Billie—named after her idol, the great Billie Holiday— and she adapted quickly to life on the front, which for her is much less stressful than an ordinary day in the Picachito module. There, mission upon mission and success upon success, Jazz built a great reputation within the Paradiso Coordinated Command, both as a tactical hacker expert in deep penetration hacking and as bad company to be with on a deserted island. She does not care much about this reputation if she can interpret her favorite music, either with her sax or with her hacking device.
CADIN “FIRSTSTRIKE” DONN, POINTMAN OF THE 9TH GRENADIERS REGIMENT
There is nothing that Cadin Donn fears more than not living his life to the fullest. Any Wulver born in Caledonia will tell you that life sucks, and that’s why they always sign up for jobs that offer a short life expectancy (not that their society offers them many other job opportunities). Cadin didn’t get any, that much is clear. His story is almost like that of any other Wulver’s coming from northern Caledonia, with the famous trinity of career options available for these people. If you don’t like getting into trouble, you can become a clan laborer, muscle for the hardest work on the farms, in the mines, or in the factories. This is the most stable, exhausting, and boring option. If you like money, you can become a thug for the local mafia, or for a clan, which very often is exactly the same thing. This option is violent, profitable, and it comes with the “perks” of ending up in jail or dead in an alley. And if you aspire to go far from home and see the world, you may join the Caledonian army. This option is tough, respectable, and it comes with a very high chance of not reaching old age. Certainly, for Cadin, there was no doubt: he wanted to go as far away as possible to enjoy and make the most out of what life had to offer.
The thing is that Cadin Donn wasn’t made for tranquility. It’s as if he has a void inside of him, a void that can only be filled with adrenaline and bloodshed. The 9th Wulver Grenadier Regiment offered him all the adrenaline and bloodshed he yearned for, and he responded enthusiastically, becoming the deadliest pointman in the whole regiment, earning his nickname “FirstStrike” for always being at the forefront where the action was happening. During his service in the Ariadna Exclusion Zone, Cadin stood out for his expert use of melee weapons and for his brutal efficiency in combat. One of his commanding officers even referred to him as “the most bloodthirsty beast on the Northern Border,” a reputation he earned squarely on the battle front. Cadin volunteered for any dangerous mission, and he was the first one to engage the enemy, an engagement always hostile and most violent, as he specialized in fighting face to face and in the most brutal manner, exploiting the advantage his portentous physique provides him. For these reasons, the Stavka offered him a place in the AEC, the Ariadna Expeditionary Corps, deployed on Paradiso. Cadin signed the transfer even before the recruiting officer had finished talking, and he patted him on the back so hard that he was almost put in the brig for assaulting an officer.
As a result, Cadin would end up farther from his hometown than he could have ever imagined. The AEC’s service for O-12 is a great opportunity for Cadin to explore the Sphere and discover new extreme sports with which to keep in shape and continue enjoying some danger during his rest periods. But for a man like him, always thirsting for self-improvement, once you have set foot on another planet, once you have battled and killed under a double sun, there is no going back home; it’s unthinkable. There is nothing tying him to Dawn anymore. It’s a planet he has outgrown. For this adrenaline junkie, the whole Sphere is now his new hunting ground, and he will travel it at the service of the AEC, under O-12 command, always at the forefront, with his blades drawn and ready to let himself be taken over by his bloodlust to take the highest possible number of prey and feel truly alive.
4 Miniatures with one mission: Two heroes -Jasmine “Jazz” Caticovas and Cadin “Firststrike” Donn-, Billie the Jazz bot, and a neutral Lab-Tech figure to use in sceneries and missions.
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