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Alpha-2 is a nice place... maybe

Edited: Spelling/grammar/phrasing/continuity fixes

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Rico paced the narrow alleyway nervously, tapping his fingers against his pant leg. He looked up into the sky, if it could be called that. It was more of a gigantic panorama of scaffolding, through which a gas giant could be seen so close that it filled the sky. He watched as repair personal floated around the scaffolding repairing ships that were docked among them. Rico tried to distract himself from his current predicament by marveling at what an engineering feat Alpha-2 was. A massive oxygen field in space without gravity that allowed repair crews full versatility without needing either eliminate gravity on a planet or have crews wear space suits. After the repair station was set up, the Village was put in, a few houses for permanent residence, a hotel, curio shop, quite a lot of public space for patrons and a restaurant. All of this was situated below the repair area, and only had gravity for six meters up. If someone threw their keys high enough, they could be lost forever. Rico watched the repair crews patch up an Atriean battlecruiser, the rumor was it was almost torn apart by a plasma storm. Alpha-2 was owned and managed by Gedio, an Atriean civilian who didn’t care who docked at his station, as long as they weren’t on the run or broke. Rico himself was neither, but his intentions weren’t exactly pure, which was why he was there, in that alley, in the first place. Rico ran his hand through his raven black hair as he checked his S-Com. He was late. Rico was a tall man, born in space to a family of smugglers. He had no facial hair save some stubble he forgot to shave that morning. Other than that he looked like your average guy, which is what made his job so easy. One expects people like him to have handlebar mustaches and wear black clothes. A sound behind him made him spin so fast he almost threw his S-Com into the wall of the restaurant who’s alley he was using as his meeting place. “Rico, you showed up. I expected you to cut and run.”
Rico barely managed to keep his nerves under control. “Cain, we both know what would happen to me if I did.”
Cain stood at the other end of the alley, alone, though he probably had goons lurking around every corner. He was a Human as well, with curly brown hair, squinty eyes and a strange way of setting his jaw that constantly put a smirk on his face. He stepped forward casually. “So, the fact that you are here tells me you have a ship, somehow.”
Rico laughed nervously. “Heh… well, no. You see-”
Cain punched Rico in the stomach without warning. Rico crumpled to the tiled ground. “Ooof…”
Cain pulled him up with incredible strength, something Rico expected he paid a ridiculous sum of money for, be it cybernetic or some drug. “Rico, when I hired you, you said you could have a ship transport my goods without a trace by yesterday.”
He threw him to the ground, Rico hitting his elbow hard. “I could get rid of you and hire someone competent, but you’re the only person who can get me what I want on this godforsaken metal patchwork.”
Cain crouched beside Rico. “Look, this might be hard to believe, but I work for someone. I was instructed to escort their cargo to them in secret. If I can’t do that, they’ll get very angry with me, then I’ll be very angry at you. You wouldn’t survive the experience.”
Cain stood and strolled to the mouth of the alley. “Two days, if you can’t find me a transport by then… well, I don’t have to tell you what will happen.”
By the time Rico was able to crawl to his feet, there was no trace of Cain. Rico sighed, it looked he had his work cut out for him. He stumbled to the curio shop, aptly named Curio’s, from which he ran his operation. As he walked through the door, a frantic looking otter ran up to him. “Rico! I-I need something…”
Rico walked past her and behind the counter. “What is it this time?”
She pulled at her claws, her face twitching slightly every few seconds. “Y-you know what it is…”
Rico pulled a device from under the counter, a small platform with a clear glass surface. He grabbed what appeared to be an antique toy block from the shelf and placed it on the platform, then pressed a button. The block dissolved, then lost all colour until it became a white powder, which Rico poured into a small pouch and handed to the Atriean woman. The woman sniffed the contents of the pouch, sneezed, then handed Rico a wad of cash, which he pocketed. “Y-you ever try this stuff? C-clears the sinuses right up…”
Rico wagged his finger. “I only deal it, never try it.”
The woman nodded to him then darted out of the shop. Although his shop had been under investigation before, they never came up with enough evidence to press charges. Rico turned around and poked his head through a doorway behind the counter and yelled up a flight of stairs. “Eh! Lenny! Get down here, and bring the arrivals manifest!”
There was a bang from upstairs, and Pink Lenny, a weasel, ran down the stairs holding a data pad. He was tall with pure white fur, he had a lean and hungry look, and terrible posture. Although Rico knew how to speak Atriean, Pink Lenny was brought up by Humans and didn’t speak any. He tossed the manifest to Rico. “’Ere, Rick. Cain didn’t …er… beat ya up to bad did he?”
Rico and Lenny had been partners in crime for a while now, and both of them knew that they could worm their way out of this one. Rico shook his head as he scrolled the arrivals list. “Nah, but he will if we don’t find someone willing to transport illegal cargo. Let’s see… Horizon, no… Stargazer, no… Goliath, heh, I’m pretty sure her captain wants to kill me… The Frontier, Hmm, never heard of her before.”
He brought up the ship specs and crew manifest. Pink Lenny screwed up his nose. “Ew, it’s one of them old dime a dozen freighters …Er… H model, right?”
Rico chuckled. “There are a million places to hide shit in these things… Wait, Zach!?”
Lenny gave him a dumb look. “Who’s Zach?”
“Zach Wilde! We, ah… well, we knew each other.”
Lenny clapped his paws together. “Great! …Er… Manipulate the shit out of him and save our skins.”
Rico tossed the pad on the table. “That’s what we do.”

Leena piloted The Frontier into the oxygen bubble and between the intricate metal beams and tunnels to the spot Prax had reserved. But Prax did only that. Leph would have to come up with the money for a custom refit himself. He sat in the captain’s chair, silently fuming to himself; Leph was rarely in a bad mood, and when he was it wasn’t pleasant for his crew. Leena eased off the thrusters and they slowed to a stop. Two station personal jumped from beams on opposite sides of The Frontier, carrying two magnetic cables. They attached them to the hull and they went taught, holding The Frontier in place. Serleah switched on the external camera and watched at the cables were attached. “We’ve docked.” She said.
Leph didn’t answer, he was too busy thinking of ways to make money and wring Prax’s neck at the same time. Leph knew it wasn’t his fault they crashed on that planet, but he wanted somewhere to direct his anger. Serleah watched as one of the clamps pulled a section of hull plating clean off. The attendant was lucky enough to be able to jet away in time. The other clamp automatically disengaged to avoid pulling The Frontier into the scaffolding. The com beeped, Leph answered. “Hey, are you here for repairs? Cause you need em bad.”
“Yes, we are.”
The voice on the other side chuckled. “Heh, by the sound of your voice I’d say it was a rough trip. I’m Gedio, owner of this place. We can get you all patched up and ready to go for a reasonable price.”
Leph found he wanted to glare at Gedio, but he couldn’t so he glared at the coffee machine instead. “That’s the problem, see, we don’t have any fu- any money.”
Gedio was quiet for a minute. “… Well, I’d kick you right out of here under normal circumstances, but that would be a death sentence, Ha ha!”
Leph gritted his teeth as Gedio Laughed at his own joke. “I can’t give you a line of credit, but if you have anyone over there who’s a tech wiz I could repair your ship in exchange for their help.”
Leph rubbed his eyes. “We don’t only need repairs, we also need a safety retrofit, by the orders of the Atriean government.”
“Well… For and old derelict like that-”
“HEY! Don’t insult my ship.”
Leph could hear Gedio shrugging. “Sorry. Anyway, a retrofit will cost you a pretty penny, to use a Human expression. I can repair you ship, but if you don’t have the money by the time we’re done, its good bye for you and no retrofit.”
Leph switched off the com without saying goodbye. He toggled the ship intercom.”Feldoh, I’ve got a job for you.”
Zach tried to hide his indigent look. “What? You’re sending Feldoh? But I’m the chief engineer!”
“Feldoh has seniority.”
Feldoh strolled in, wearing Zach’s Hawaiian shirt. “What’s up, Leph?”
Zach crossed his arms. “He wants you to do some tech wiz stuff on Alpha-2 instead of his chief engineer!”
Leph growled. “The only reason you’re the chief engineer is because you were the only one available! Not because you have merit!”
Zach opened his mouth, but when he realized what Leph said, he was speechless. “Leph, take a break.” Serleah said from her chair.
Leph stormed out of the room and to his cabin. Zach left too. “Feldoh, you better do that thing, we need the repairs.” he said as he passed.
Feldoh had no idea what was going on. He held up his paws. “Serleah, help me out here.”
“Oh, since we don’t have any money we’re getting repairs in exchange for you helping the station owner with something.”
He shrugged and walked out. “I’ll get right on it.”
Leena wrung her paws together. “I’ve never seen Leph like that… he was… Wrathful.”
Serleah locked down her station and got up, patting Leena on the back. “Leph gets very frustrated with things he can’t control much. You should have seen him when he thought you were going to be killed by those cultists. Don’t worry, he’ll run himself down soon enough.”
Leena nodded. “I hope you’re right.”

Zach poked his head into the converted cargo bay and looked around. People were shuffling out to stretch their legs in the Village. He shrugged and followed them. The rear loading ramp was open, and a station attendant was helping people down a rope which was attached to the ground below. As colonists stepped off the ramp and suddenly became weightless they flailed around comically before being secured to the rope and sent on their way. The loading bay was filled with laughter and a general good air, but Zach wasn’t sharing in the fun. He watched stone faced as Yar clung helplessly to Teliko as he screamed and she laughed uncontrollably. The attendant attached them both to the rope and pushed them down, much to the amusement of the gathered crowd. When it came to Zach’s turn, he attached himself and floated down effortlessly. As his feet broke the gravity barrier, the clamp securing him to the rope grabbed the lifeline, slowing his decent. He landed on his feet gently, and detached himself. He strolled along the sidewalks, watching tiny go-cart like vehicles taking people around the park. “Am I just your average engineer?” He muttered to himself.
Leph was right. He was practically right out of school, green and convenient. Though Zach didn’t know much about Feldoh’s past, he knew he had to at least be thirty years old, and Serleah had let slip he was once in a position of power on a ship before he was forced to become a pirate. Zach kicked a rock across the street. He briefly wondered why there would be a rock on a space station, but he dismissed the thought. Maybe Feldoh would be a better chief? Zach was brought out of his brooding by a long gasp from his left. He looked over, and spotted Teliko and Yar beside a fountain. Teliko was bouncing up and down. “That is sooooo cool!”
Zach walked over to see what the fuss was about. The fountain sprayed a jet of water into a glass dome which was held in place by thin pillars. It was high enough to break the gravity barrier, so the water splashed around in interesting ways until it dropped back into the gravity zone and into the fountain. It was a creative way of making use of the environment to create a unique piece of art. He was appreciating the fountain when Teliko tugged on his arm. “Hey Zach~ Let me borrow you S-Com!”
“Uh… what? Don’t you have your own?”
Teliko laughed. “I left it on the ship! Come on! I gotta call Leena and tell her to get down here!”
Zach shrugged and handed it over. She called The Frontier, and Leena answered. “Leena~! It’s so nice down here! Grab Leph and let’s make it a double date!”
Teliko covered mic piece as Leena answered, whispering to Zach. “Hey~ I don’t have a date! Be my date!”
“No.”
“Okay! Yar, you’re my date~”
She uncovered the mic. “Aww, come on Leena! Make him come!”
Zach and Yar both snickered, and Teliko shot them looks. “Okay~ We’ll wait.”
She hung up and tossed the S-Com back to Zach. “Here ya go grumpy.”
Zach caught his S-Com and walked off, not wanting to face Leph again, as much as he hated to admit it. Alpha-2 was a rather bright place, the system it was in had two suns, and the place was constantly bathed in sunlight, hence why everything was so white, and why Zach had to wear sunglasses. He looked around, seeing none of the Atrieans wearing them. That was one thing all Atriean species had in common, a retina that could block UV rays and any damage or pain sunlight might cause. He was lost in thought about Atriean evolution when a shout from behind him cause him to jump. “Zach!”
He froze. That voice… It couldn’t be. “Rico?”
Zach spun around to see none other than Rico standing there with a huge grin on his face. “Rico!”
Zach ran over and gave him a firm hug. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
Rico laughed as he patted Zach on the back. “Hey, it’s a small universe.”
Zach realized he was hugging another man in public and quickly let go. “So, uh… I haven’t seen you since collage, what’s up?”
Rico shrugged. “Oh, you know, this and that. Just happened to drift to this place and I set up shop.”
“When you say shop… you don’t mean you actually opened an antique store?”
“That I did. Come on, we have some catching up to do…”

Feldoh floated through the air, holding on to the gas-jetpack of Gedio as he gave him a tour of Alpha-2. Gedio was a raccoon, he was stout and always in a good mood, but he held a no nonsense attitude and almost never took no for an answer. He pointed to a cluster of scaffolding extended out towards the gas giant. “And that there is the launch bay for our Gasmining operation, we installed it last year, and it’s turning a tidy profit.”
Feldoh gulped. “This is all very interesting, but can we get somewhere there’s gravity?”
Gedio laughed a deep belly laugh. “Ha Ha HA! Not fount your zero-G legs yet, eh? Alright, I’ll show you where the problem is!”
Gedio accelerated towards a building that was suspended in the metal framework. Gedio twisted himself midair and landed on a platform, Feldoh tumbling off his back. “Oof!”
Gedio laughed again as he pulled Feldoh up. “Ha Ha HA! Come on, let’s get down to business!”
He led Feldoh inside the control room. Feldoh had to take a minute to look around, the place was stunning, walls lined with servers, screens and camera feeds everywhere, not to mention devices for almost any task one might have to perform on a station like this. “Hey, Gedio, this place is amazing!”
“Heh, glad you like it, unfortunately, with all this impressive stuff, things are bound to go wrong.”
Feldoh looked at a nearby screen, a list of all currently docked ships. He skimmed the list, The Frontier was there, and… Sky Links. Gedio watched as Feldoh just stood there staring at the name of Teri’s ship. “Um… the problem is over here…”
Feldoh shook his head, making a mental note to keep an eye out for Teri. He wasn’t ready to talk to her again. Gedio lead him to a computer station with a very frustrated looking IT tech slamming his hand on the keyboard. “Dammit! That one got sent to the protein re-sequencer! Earl! Shut down re-sequencer eight!”
Earl flipped a switch on a panel across the room. Gedio laughed. “Ha Ha HA! Don’t worry Chad, we have help! Alright Feldoh, I’ll let Chad explain the problem.”
Chad glanced up at Gedio. “What? I thought you were going to explain it!”
Chad was skinny, pale and wore huge glasses, but his chin was chiseled from stone. “Now’s not the time to get embarrassed! Explain the problem!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Gedio walked off to take care of some administrative business. Chad sighed and pointed to the screen. “Alright… we have a problem with… the bathrooms… they keep sending the… Defecation to weird places. We tracked it down to a computer problem, but now I’m not so sure.”
Feldoh laughed. “Your computer sent shit to the protein re-sequencer?! Ha!”
Chad placed his head in his hands. “Yes! Now, can you help? It’s only a matter of time before it goes to a fountain or something.”
Feldoh knew a lot about computers, not as much as machines, but he was very proficient. After looking over the control software and finding no problems, Chad’s bewilderment became clear. “How can there be a problem? The software works fine!”
Chad shrugged. “It’s very strange.”
“Wait…”
Feldoh opened the folder containing all the files used to run the software. In the folder labeled “Transfer”, Feldoh found a huge amount of .dll files. “What’s all this? Shouldn't there be normal files here?”
Chad thought for a moment. “It looks like the software delegates the transfer protocols to an outside source…”
Feldoh snapped his fingers. “Yes! That outside source must be what is malfunctioning!”
“But… I didn’t know there was a second system running the plumbing, no one told me!”
Feldoh swatted him on the back. “Don’t feel bad, whoever designed this thing deserves to be slapped.”
Chad chuckled as Feldoh tried to find out where the second system was. After some tampering with one of the .dlls he was led to a location where the second system had to be. “There! … In the middle of a public park?”
“Yeah, that would be the main pipe everything … passes through. There must be a second computer there. Come on!”
Feldoh and Chad walked hastily through the park, Feldoh constantly glancing behind his back and scouring the park. Chad glanced at him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost and you’re expecting it to jump out and spook you!”
Feldoh didn’t answer. He was exactly right. Chad practically tripped over the hatch labeled “Access pipe.” He righted himself. “Ahem. This is it!”
He pulled the hatch up, his staff badge beeping, signaling the automatic lock was disengaged. Feldoh jumped into the shallow hole, a large pipe ran by, and a single laptop sat on a table, wired from every port to the wall. “What is this mess!?”
Chad watched as Feldoh opened the laptop. It was dead. Feldoh shook his head. “Who installed this?”
“I don’t know. It must have been installed before I came here…”
Feldoh searched around, and saw the power cable lying on the ground. He sighed, replaced the cable, and booted the computer. He stood, his eyes peeking over the hatch. He glimpsed a single brilliant blue eye and dove for the floor. “Uh… Fel-”
“SHH!”
He stayed on the floor, and eventually he saw Teri’s back as she passed the hatch, her tail swirling casually. Chad glanced at her, then back at Feldoh. He smiled a couple minutes later. “Is that your ex?”
Feldoh leaned on the edge of the hole, watching Teri round a corner. “Not exactly.”

Zach and Rico laughed uncontrollably as they stumbled into Curio’s. Rico slammed his hand on the table. “He did WHAT?! HA HA!”
Zach wiped tears from his eyes. “He He, I can’t say it again!”
They eventually settled down and Zach could look around the shop. “Wow, you’ve got a ton of crap in here.”
Rico punched him in the arm. “Hey! Some of this stuff cost me a fortune! Look at this…”
He picked up a long stick that had a short metal rod sticking out of the end. “This is the most famous rifle in history.”
Zach’s jaw dropped. “That… is a rifle?”
Rico pulled back a lever and the gun made a loud “ping!” sound. “Yep. Over four hundred years old! Cost me a fortune!”
“Wow…”
Rico put the gun down and lead Zach around the room, pointing out interesting things and telling anecdotes about how he came by them. Zach picked up an antique toy block and tossed it in the air. “A very interesting collection. Heh, I can’t imagine stuff like this sells very well.”
Rico caught the block midair and placed it back on the shelf. “People from all over dock here, many of them are suckers.”
Zach took another look around the room. “You never left an explanation as to why you suddenly left. I missed you, man.”
Rico walked behind the counter and sat down. “I had to leave because I hated that school. Don’t even know why I was there in the first place. Nothing personal, but I saw an opportunity to leave and I took it.”
Just then Lenny walked into the shop. “Hey Rico- Hey, you mu- …Er… hello.”
Rico jumped up. “Ah! Lenny! Just in time to meet my friend Zach. Zach, this is Pink Lenny. Don’t call him Pink.”
They shook hands. “Hello, Lenny. Strange name for an Atriean.” Zach said, switching to Atriean.
Lenny tried his best to keep a polite air around him. “…Er… I was brought up by Humans, I don’t speak Atriean.”
“Oh, my bad.”
Rico glanced out the door, then pulled both of them upstairs. “Zach, I just remembered, I have a little problem I could use your help with.”
He led them into an upstairs kitchen, and sat at a table. “I have some things I need transported, just a little cargo.”
Zach sat down. “Really? We won’t do it for free.”
Rico inwardly cursed, but outwardly smiled. “Name your price.”
“We need to pay for a safety refit. Pay it off, and I’m sure my captain will agree to transport your dusty relics.”
Lenny’s eyes screamed “NO!” at Rico, but Rico smiled. “That’s a lot of money, but since you’re my friend and you’re doing me a favor, alright.”
They shook on it. “Cool! I’ll show you our ship, if you want.”
Rico stood. “Sounds good.”