The Experiment

[romer]

"This won't take long." Romer said. Even though he had no idea what they were going to pick up in such a hurry. His usual easy going attitude had already been washed away by Ember's dark mood. She seemed totally focused on ignoring him. And his subtle remarks could elicit no information on the mission at hand.
In fact the two had barely spoken at all until reaching New Tokyo. When out of the first trade lane a group of Kusari fighters pulled alongside.

"...freelancer alpha nine six...I have orders to scan your hold."

"Damn, I knew it!" Ember shouted. Clenching her fists tightly "they're no better than common thieves."

"Calm down." he said, as the trade lane came to life and pulled his train forward. The com channel crackled then went silent. "See, they didn't even get the scan. This ain't my first rodeo, hun."

At that Ember turned towards him, glaring with a fury in her eyes that he had not seen before. For a moment he thought she would strangle him.

"I'm not your hun, OK" she fired back."And I'd appreciate it if you could take this more seriously. We're not out here on one of your little drug running escapades, OK!" Fuming, she crossed her arms and stared straight ahead. Silently cursing herself for losing her cool.

"Ouch, was it something I said?" he smirked. Seeing Ember about to respond, Romer cut her off, "There we go. Planet New Tokyo."

He thought it odd that the usual hustle and bustle around the center of Kusari space was missing. Instead, there was noone. Not one ship. Romer keyed in the landing sequence and sat back a bit. Trying to remain cool and overcome the growing sense of urgency that he felt. Seeing the seat of all Kusari power empty
like this was a bit unnerving. Though he kept that to himself.

"Hurry up and land!" Ember blurted. "I just hope we're no too late."
As the clouds parted to reveal all the glory of the New Tokyo's wealth, Ember pointed towards a dark mountain range north of the city. "There! Head north!" the excitement she felt could no longer be contained. They were close now and she knew it.

As they neared the mountains. Romer thought he saw flashes of gunfire and explosions. He guided the train in a high pass above the fighting, not wanting to become a target, yet curious as to what was going on. Ember knew what they were looking at. Her face tightened into a scowl. "This might get ugly. Just land in that clearing over there, and keep the engines running." she said.

Romer did as instructed and brought the lumbering train to a halt. The sounds of small arms fire punctuated by explosions grew increasingly louder. Looking towards the fray, he saw a band of men running to his ship. As they came nearer he thought that some were, a bit odd looking, he couldn't quite make them out though. But he had a gut feeling that whatever they were, they weren't human.

Romer turned to Ember and grabbed her by the wrist. In a stern voice that took her by surprise he said
"I think you had better tell me exactly what's going on here."

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