Scarcity of Stars • Chapter 03

"*When a man has lost everything, he realises what mattered to him most. He sees it clearly for the first time.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

## The Churn

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### **The Marina, Medea Station** *(21/07/2344)*

Bundled hurriedly into unmarked trucks, the crew are taken by Black Sky to a warehouse/office building hidden amongst the piles of containers of the Medea Station docks. Here, they are split up. Brick and Trojan, the inners, are taken separately and searched. Their belongings are taken and they are locked inside a bare cell without a word. Inkblot and Kolibri are kept in a break room of the building, under guard, but otherwise given food and medical care, and allowed to rest.

In the meantime, the unconscious Money is taken to the med bay. When he wakes an hour or so later, he finds his wounds largely tended to, and he is on a medical bed with Kylan Nikil sitting by the bedside. The two talk, reminiscing of when they had first met 10 years prior at Pallas Maximum Security Prison.

"*Things have not changed William. The bootheel is still on our necks, and we have become so used to it that it feels terrifying to throw it off. I do not blame you for finding refuge in the inner's embrace. Their money spends, and we all do what we must. But make no mistake, beratna. They will never forgive what you are.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

William acknowledges that things had not improved, and that he was trying to make a change from the inside, but that it was difficult. Kylan brings up the ongoing war, suggesting there was opportunity, if belters could seize it. He asks William to help him, not because of what he was owed, but because he truly believed a change could be made, to bring their people into the light. William agrees.

"*They do not see belters as a threat, because we are not. So we must become one. Things must change. And If I must be the catalyst of that change, so be it. I would like you to help me, beratna.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

Kylan lets William get some sleep, promising to return afterwards so they could talk details. William drifts off, but not before checking his messages to note a notification from his father, which he ignores for the time being.

Some hours later, after everyone has rested and been given some food, including the inners in their cell, Kylan returns to speak with William about his plans. He reveals a grand plan for taking advantage of the chaos of the Militech-Kang Tao war to claim Medea Station for the belters.

"*There is a ship right now in orbit. The MTI Poseidon. It is a war hound, bristling with teeth, captained by a mad dog. More like it will be here in a week. Militech. Kang Tao. The UN. They say it is to keep the peace, but their peace will mean we starve. No ships, in or out, until their squabble is resolved. Your daughters will starve. They will thirst for a drop of water that will not be given to them, because it is far too precious to waste on belters.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

Kylan and Black Sky intend to storm the MTI Poseidon and take it, to send a clear message of intent. Simultaneously, Black Sky will strike in stations all over the Belt: Vesta, Pallas, Eros, and Hygiea. Kylan wants William to help them make taking the Poseidon easier by taking over its NET, which was presently connected to Medea Station's own, so that the ship's Black ICE could block Kang Tao forces on the station from communicating with the outside.

"*The only way to access that NET is through the mainframe in the admin layers. And only government officials and corporate agents are allowed to access those layers. You have a meeting later today with Wade Roland. I would like you to postpone that meeting. Convince him that after Kang Tao attacked your personal abode, you do not feel safe meeting in Downtown. Instead, you wish to meet him in administration. In 5 days time. Once you are there, all you must do is sneak away from your escorts, and find an airlock. I and an assault team will be waiting outside it. We board the substation, take the mainframe, and break into the Poseidon's NET.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

William agrees to the plan, but tells Kylan he'd have a better time convincing Wade Roland he was sincere with an earther by his side. He offers to take Trojan, who he says can be trusted. Ever sceptical of inners Kylan hesitates to accept, but is eventually convinced. He has Trojan and Brick brought to his office a while later, where he questions the two of them on their loyalties. Both convince him they have no love for the UN, and Brick ends up outright offering to join the cause, hoping to claim revenge for his own set of injustices visited upon him by Earth.

In the meantime, Kolibri is also set free and given back her agent, finding out that Black Sky and the Voodoo Boys had an arrangement between them. She receives a call from Farah Jean, her fixer, who tells her that Black Sky were also looking for skilled runners for something big. She also shares some information about the supposed R.A.B.I.D sighting, telling Kolibri that they now suspected it wasn't a R.A.B.I.D at all, but a cover-up by Exoscience for a true A.I. that they were building in secret. Whatever was on the chip that Money still had on him, as Kolibri finds out from running data recovery on the disk she had stolen from his apartment, it had something to do with whatever Exoscience was truly hiding.

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