The Realm of Infinite Stars

Illiander laughed to himself as Luna nearly took a tumble. "Aww come on I don't weigh much more than you ya know." He sighed with content as he wrapped his around around his sister securing his position on her back in the form of a hug. Immediately he began to focus on the puzzle before him The Zaradin. Normally A Zaradin wouldn't venture off on their own, at least not the lower castes of Zaradin society, Drone and warrior. The Droens would be too busy working, and the warriors defending, or ferociously attacking their neighbours. "He's a noble." Illiander mumbled quietly to Luna. "Which means he's a telepath." Illiander knew as much about the Zaradin as much as the holo-vid told him about them. He knew that the Zaradin species was prone to give birth to telepaths, it was uncommon but when it did happen that Zaradin became a noble. "He's probably a Baron. The Zaradin's run a sort of Feudalistic Hive." he muttered leaning his head on his sister's shoulder.

Luna's knuckles rapped on Illiander's skull. "Are you not paying attention? I asked you, why is he here? Since he's a noble, why would he be on Altair, talking to the administrator of the mining operation? Honestly, Illi. Don't you think about these things?"

Illiander flinched as knuckle met skull with a resounding tap he frowned, finally removing that smile. "I'm working on it I'm working on it. " He sighed trying to concentrate on solving the puzzle again, only coming out of concentration briefly to respond to the second half of Luna's quip. " I am thinking about these things sis! Okay let's see." He began to go over possibilities in his head, mentally crossing off some of the less likely possibilities, like going for a stroll. The Zaradin after all weren't the most friendly race in the galaxy, and on that note Humans weren't either. He was coming up with blanks, until he began watching the administrators mouth "c..can't?" Illiander was slowly piecing together the conversation. Suddenly Illiander jolted upwards " He's trying to secure a mineral deal!" Illiander looked down at Luna. " But the Administrator is telling him he can't, not since all the minerals are going to Lord Reigo's military build up. It all makes sense. The metal here is really good quality that's why there are like ...thousands of mining operations, but Zaradax, their home world has poor mineral quality, a lot of metal yea but it's really crap for ship armour. I think that Baron or whatever is trying to secure more power for himself, he aquires better metal which fuels their militaristic ways giving him greater favour with the queen, meaning he gets more power." Letting out a satisfied sigh he plopped his head on Luna's shoulder. With that, Illiander let out a satisfied sigh.

Luna crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, that does make sense. Politics and power..." a mischievous grin stretched her face as a rapid succession of thoughts gave way to form one brilliant idea. "Hey, lil bro...If the big bad ant is here, he must have taken his ship. What do you say we go find it...and give it a spin?" she asked slyly. Besides, the Zaradin wasn't using it...at the moment.

Illiander's eyes widened in realization, so overwhelmed was he that he accidentally lost his holdings and fell of Luna's back. Scrambling upright he clasped onto Luna in a death gripping hug. "Luna you're a genius! Let's go now, like right now! oh my god Luna we;ll be able to live our dreams finally. I can't believe this is happening, I wonder what kind of ship it is, it's probably a small frigate, oh all the customization we might be able to do on a frigate. What should we do first when we get it? leave the sector? pirate Lord Regio's mineral lines?" Looking up at Luna His eyes were like warm playful oceans. He smiled widely gripping her into another hug. Clearly he was excited.

"Calm down Illi! What is the ant hears you?!" Luna snapped. She was excited too, but first things first: find the ship. "Alright, we gotta find the ship first. We find it, all the other cool stuff will come. Now, what hangar do diplomats and other visitors use when visiting Altair?" Luna asked and tried to pry her ecstatic brother off of her.

Illiander's mouth snapped shut instantly. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down he quietly stepped away from Luna letting her go from his overly excited brotherly affection. "Diplomats and visitors, this guys probably only here as a visitor, you know trying to get an underhanded deal or something, so probably one of the docking stations nearby. probably ...... ....... ...... He paused tilting his head back and forth as if he was juggling the possibilities in his head. " The closest spaceport to here is in Rusty Hills City. Full of scum and villainy. Perfect undercover location." Rusty Hills City, often shorten to Rusty Hills, was a relatively small settlement near the mines. Most of the miners actually lived there spending their hard earned cash on girls and booze. Illiander always found it strange that his family didn't live there, they were isolated out here in the Gnarled woods. Illiander looked up at Luna. "Before we go we need to be prepared, as excited as I am to finally have an opportunity I don't want end up killed by some scum before I get that chance. So let's go home and grab some stuff, maybe a laser." Illiander let out a long drawn out sigh, it was hard holding back all the powerful emotions swirling inside him right now, but he knew one wrong move and all his dreams would be for naught

Luna took her brother's hand and swiftly led him back to their hovel. "I know you're excited and I am too, but we have only one shot at this so let's do it right. Okay?" She glanced back at him and smiled. "Then we can explore the infinite stars together."
It took only a few minutes to reach their house, and Luna carefully eased open the door to the tool shed. She had peeked in through the window and saw that their father was asleep on the couch with a bottle of alcohol in his grasp. A good sign. He wouldnt miss them, or a few missing laser cutters. "Alright, you go in and pack our bags: maybe some spare clothes and cash, and some food too. Be careful and dont wake up dad!" she whispered, shooing Illiander. "I'll get what we need here."

Illiander glared at Luna as if to say. " Why are you giving me the risky job?" He shook his head and an irritated sigh followed as he quietly tip toed his way into his won house. which sadly enough, wasn't a new experience for him. After all Dad was a mean drunk. Moving quickly to the room he shared with Luna he quietly removed a cloth bag with pull string to carry all the goods they'd need. Quietly he began packing the 2 spare outfits he owned, own had no sleeves, he had torn them off after one got torn. and the other had a hole in it. turning around he realized he needed to pack his sister some clothes too or he'd never hear the end of it, but it was so..... creepy to have to go through his sisters underwear. Illiander looked at his sister's small box for a dresser quietly, then with a defeated sigh opened it up and began to pack her clothes, including Luna's panties.

Luna went through the various rusted and obsolete tools in the shed, wincing everytime a tool fell from its peg on the wall and crashed to the floor, when she suddenly realized what she made her brother do. She paused, and her eyes widened in horror. "...I just gave him permission to go through my underwear..." Luna waved the thought away. She still had work to do, and she can yell and Illiander later. "I hope he packs my awesome pants." she grumbled as she pulled out a much used laser cutter from under a pile of junk.

Illiander threw the cloth sack over his shoulder and tried to erase the image of stripes in his mind, he had stuffed everything from the box into the bag, which admittedly wasn't much. slipping out of his room and quietly closing the door cursing as the the hinges squealed in disgust at being moved. Quietly panicking that the sound was going to make his dad he decided to keep it half way open as he made his way to the kitchen and began to rifle through the dry foods and any thing with a long shelf life. Illiander then went to the living room, and stopped in front of his dad. His sister told him to get some money, the only place in the house where that was. Was in his dad's right pocket. Leaving the cloth sack b the door in case he needed a hasty escape he began to silently creep towards his sleeping father.

Luna managed to find three working laser cutters that still had a decent battery life. There was two cutters that leaked plasma and one that was intact but with a dead battery, so Luna brought that with her as well. She stuffed the equipment into a sack she emptied out earlier and went around the house to the front door to rendezvous with Illiander. She saw the bag Illiander had packed sitting by the door frame so she picked it up and slung it over her shoulder. Now where was her brother?

Illiander took a deep breath, he had made it all the way up to him, he was now directly next to his father. Crouching down to be as stealthy as possible he slowly outstretched his arm dipping his fingers into the pocket. His father's pocket was pressed tightly against him making this a risky game of pickpocketing, one false move and he'd surely be done for. Fishing his hand into the pocket he nabbed the corner of a wad of cash and slowly began to reel it out. Slowly, he could feel it moving. Slowly, it was starting to come out. Slowly, he could see it now. Illiander smirked triumphantly as he pulled the money free form his dad's pocket. That would be short lived, he only had a hold of the corner. A poor hold at that as the cash slipped form his pinched fingers and fell the the floor with a resounding thud. Illiander's eyes widened as he reached for the money. His heart raced, his father began to stir. Grabbing the money Illiander made a quick dash outside.

Luna met Illiander a ways outside, close to a clump of stunted trees. Upon seeing her brother's panicked face, she knew he got the money and that their father wouldnt be asleep for long. Wordlessly, Luna handed Illiander the bag with clothes and signaled him to run to Rusty Hills and to be quiet.

Illiander caught the cloth bag and slung it over his shoulder, quickly falling behind Luna. Even if they didn't talk speak they understood one another, they were almost like twins that way. That meant that Luna would be able to understand that Illiander was silently telling her how much she owed him.

Very soon, Illiander and Luna had reached the mines again, and the Zaradin Baron was know where in sight. "You dont think the big ant went back to his ship so soon, do you?" Luna asked between pants. She led the way past the mines and towards the city. Still a ways away, she could already see the dark skyline of this hive of villainy. She was scared of going into the city, true, but she had what could pass as weapons in case she or her brother would be attacked.

Illiander cocked his head. " Nah I don't think he would, I mean he came a long way from wherever he probably won't give up that easy, maybe he's checked into a hotel or something." He continued walking behind his big sister in file. " Unless of course he's sleeping in his ship, that would be a problem. " he mumbled to himself. Afterwards they entered the silence of the long journey by foot to Rusty Hills. along the way Illiander piped up again. "Stripes." was all he said. He made sure to be a fair distance behind his sister of course.

"Hmm? Did you say something, Illi?" Luna said over her shoulder. Now that they were within the city, Luna made sure to keep Illiander close by. She wasnt bound to let something bad happen to the both of them if she could help it. "Let's see, wheres the shuttle port?" she muttered, looking here and there for some sign as to where they were going.

Illiander looked up at Luna, chuckling nervously he waved his arms dismissivly. "ehhehe oh nothing Luna." Feeling like he certainly dodged a bullet with that he he quickened his pace to catch up with, then match Luna's. " I think the spaceport's over in the market district, you know ambush travellers with local goods and all?"Illiander shrugged. "Maybe it's a good idea?" He confident he was right, the trick was acting like you weren't sure.

"Hmm..." Luna glanced at Illiander. Was he trying to be impressive again? She walked through the streets of Rusty Hills, paying the crowds of sneering and jeering drunks no mind and taking note of every bandana-clad gang member being idle under the street lights. They soon got to the market district and were immediately greeted by the smell of sweat and produce. They weaved through the crowd, trying to get to the spaceport and the ships docked inside.

Illiander's first encounter with the market district wasn't pleasant. "Aww man! This place reeks." He pinched the bridge of his nose and waved his hand rapidly trying to dissipate the oder. Illiander scowled as he saw the thuggish looking men and the dishonest looking merchants. "Man oh man." He mumbled as he dodged a band of tough looking men. "Ain't this a perfect little slice of paradise." His voice dripped venomously of sarcasm.

"Shut up, brother! Stop looking like a country bumpkin and man up! These thugs could snap you up like scraps of food to the dogs. Now hurry up!" Luna hissed, pulling her brother behind her through the marketplace and into the spaceport. When they sneaked through the entrance and into the main hangar, at least a dozen huge and seemingly brand new spaceships of all shapes and sizes were parked before her eyes. It took a lot of effort to tear her eyes away from the nearest sleek cruiser to focus on the task at hand. "Illiander, which one is a Zardian craft?"

Illiander gaped at Luna's outcry. He couldn't believe she just snapped at him like that. Crossing his arms he felt his mood dramatically worsen. "Which one's the Zaradin ship you ask?" A slight hint of bitterness in his voice. One irritated sigh and a quick scan of the docks later "That one." Illiander outstretched his arm, pointing to a small frigate. It was a reddish brown hue in colour and painted with the Symbol of their race. A Zaradin head. Illiander cocked his head at the symbol, supposing it was like how the skull was a symbol for humans. The ship was bathed in the red light of the setting sun, illumination the ship in a sparking red hue. The effect only enhanced Illiander's spiking excitement, there he was standing in front of a ship intent on taking it for his own. His life long dream about to be realized. Determination shone in his eyes like a storm over the vast oceans.

Luna noted the familiar excited twinkle in her brother's eyes. "Alright, we're really close. We need to focus on getting in there and not getting caught. Plenty of time to giggle in glee once were safely aboard and off of this planet." she whispered gently to Illiander, being the voice of reason again. She quickly scanned the area for any patrolling guards. So far she saw none but was still wary all the same. Luna crept towards the red craft as silent as a mouse. "Okay...how do we get inside this thing?"

Quick to snap back into reality Illiander began to search the ship for an entrance port of some kind. " I don't know exactly how to get in, but we need to find a control panel or something to lower the loading dock. Then we work the rest out as we go." Confident in his 'fool=proof' plan Illiander continued his search running his hand along the under belly of the ship.