Scarcity of Stars • Chapter 01

"*Medea Station. In orbit just a few thousand kilometres from Ceres.

Welcome to the birthplace of the future. A city amongst the stars. A shining jewel in the great dark. This is one of humanity's greatest feats of engineering. A monument to our pride and tenacity. Our will to live even in the cold, harsh, unforgiving emptiness of space.

Thousands of ships pass through here every single day. Goods, supplies, food and water for billions of people. All flow through these gates. This is the beating heart of the system. The stepping point between the inner planets and the outer. The modern day Rome of humanity's solar empire.

And whoever holds Rome, holds the world.*"
 ― The Storyteller

## A Prelude to War

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### **The Stacks, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

In a box somewhere deep in the Stacks, Angelo Frendo-Alvarez comes awake to the sound of the morning shift alarm, his head still aching after a night of heavy drinking. While he pulls himself out of bed, the automated systems of his very messy apartment come to life, and a radio on the nearby table comes alive with a feed from Belter anarchist Ziggy Z, talking about Belter revolution and the ongoing fight for independence.

When the feed ends and switches to a NiCola commercial, Angelo aggressively turns off the radio, and begins to get dressed. He notes a message on his phone from Guapo, telling him he has a job for him and to drop by the Coyote later. Not one to waste time, Angelo throws on some dirty clothes and heads for the bar.

Just a few blocks over, across the street from the infamous Moto Cielo, Diego Garcia is returning home from a night shift of salvaging in the Narrows. With the heightened security and increased MSPD patrols in the wake of the Waterside Riots, his haul for the night is minimal, and all he wants is to get a shower and some sleep.

His plans are dashed when the Belter kid that runs messages for the Valentinos in his block, Chicharito drops by give him some intel on a possible gig, making himself at home on Diego's couch.

"*So I hear Guapo last night... im say about a job with the Sinner Saints, keya? Apparently some chicas go missing in riot, and they want them back. Pay well too! And you know what better? They think scavenger did it, snatch them up, so mi pensa they go to scavenger lair, and scavenger lair mean gut shit for you to salvage and give Chicharito 50%.*"
 ― Chicharito

After haggling the cut down to 35%, Diego manages to grab a quick shower and some food after Chicharito runs off, and then packs up his things to head towards El Coyote Cojo to speak with Guapo.

### **Downtown, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

At around the same time as all this, in a luxurious 2-bedroom conapt on the 7th floor of a quaint little corporate block at the heart of Westbrook, Downtown, the gentle crescendo of company-ordained, royalty-free music stirs to life, calmly waking the sole occupant, William Avalanche.

With the persistent guidance of the apartment's digital assistant, Cortex, the conapt comes to life and Billy walks over to eat his company-approved breakfast, which no longer involves coffee due to budget cuts. Disgruntled, Billy works his way through the prepak meal of flavoured, textured goop, while Cortex goes over his agenda.

"*I have prepared, Prepak Meal Option: 5, and today's recommended beverage: Kale and Soy smoothie. A healthy breakfast means a healthy life!*"
 ― Cortex

Aside from the various meetings on his calendar and a number of unread emails, Billy also has a priority video message from Alexandra Verbinski, which Cortex automatically plays. The message instructs Billy to cancel all his meetings in favour of pursuing a different lead related to a woman called Rebecca Myers, who it appeared was being very hurriedly looked for by Militech, for unknown reasons.

With less than half an hour to get ready, Billy scrambles to get dressed in his usual military chic, and also puts in a personal call to the assistant of Eran Malour to reschedule the meeting they had planned for later that day. Eran Malour, founder of Malorian Arms and one of the more influential independent figures in the OPA, was extremely difficult to get a meeting with, and rescheduling likely meant waiting several more months, but Billy had no choice in the matter.

A short while later, his driver Carlton Davies arrives, and Billy heads down to meet him in his personal parking space. The car, branded with a massive Axiom Dynamics logo, slides off into traffic, heading towards the upper levels, but not before making a detour to a coffee place for some soycaf.

### **The Stacks, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

Back in the Stacks, in another small, half-empty box apartment, Juno Strazniš is just completing a run on the open NET, scouring in secret through the MSPD surveillance network for information on the new patrol routes in the wake of the riots. The valuable information would get the local Valentinos gangers who ran the protection racket in his block off his back for a while.

It only takes a few minutes to get the information he needs, and he quickly retreats through the backdoor he had purchased from a backstreet dealer just last week. Jacking out, and quickly exiting the ice bath he lies in while scouring the open NET to prevent his brain from catching fire if he got into trouble, he dries off and heads to his neatly-organised living room. While browsing the JibJob app for some more freelance work, he receives a text message from another netrunner associate of his, who goes by the name of Neurocide.

"*Hey dipshit, you up? Got something good for you. Saints are looking for a runner. Open gig. On-site. Could be dangerous, but big $$$.*"
 ― Neurocide

Eager for some real cash, Juno quickly gets the details of the job, and sets about doing some digital recon of the meeting site, Roxxie's Bar, before packing up his things and taking off towards the place, not wanting to be late.

### **The Narrows, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

About 50 or so metres up in the Narrows, Camilla Nielsen deftly crosses the street through the shift change rush hour, heading towards the clinic where she makes a living and opening it up for the day. She's barely settled in to have a NiCola and some breakfast when her phone buzzes. On the line is Zara Frakes, fixer for the Red Chrome Anarchs and a frequent associate. She asks Camilla to head over to Club Atlantis as quick as she could to patch up her brother, Nolan Frakes, for the third time that week.

Not having any appointments that morning anyway, Camilla grabs her things and heads down a few blocks to the Atlantis, headquarters of the Red Chrome Anarchs. It's not a very subtle venue, plastered in neon lights and with music playing loud enough to be heard two blocks away. Camilla visits the place often, since the Anarchs had a frequent tendency to get into fights. She makes her way quickly up to the VIP section, where she finds Zara and Nolan in their usual booth, the latter nursing a broken nose and probably broken ribs.

Camilla sets about doing her thing patching Nolan up, while Zara brings her some breakfast and then mentions a gig she might be interested in with the Sinner Saints, who were looking for a medtech since all the Valentinos ones were busy following the riots. Not looking to turn down paid work, Camilla gets the details, finishes her work on Nolan, and leaves the Atlantis to head to Roxxie's Bar after saying goodbye to Zara, who thanks her for her work.

"*Oh, and Cam? My other job offer still stands, ke? We like having you around here.*"
 ― Zara Frakes

Not too far off, at a garage on the edge of the station branded with the colours of Snake Nation, Benedict Hammington wakes in his communal living space to the sound of the triumphant chorus of God Save the Queen, despite having never been within 500 million kilometres of the United Kingdom, and being born centuries after the nation ceased to exist.

The now aging gentleman, having overslept, heads down to his family's garage and auto shop to see what's left for breakfast. After a nice cuppa, some kibble, and a chat with his mother, Lexi, he goes to have a talk with his uncle, Myles, who heads their crew, about a request their crew had received for a driver.

"*Call came in this morning. Some ganger blokes in the Stacks need a driver, that's you. Crew of 6, including yourself. Usual clan pay, usual cut. You up for it?*"
 ― Myles Baxter

Getting dressed in his usual retro finery, Benedict packs everything into his beloved car, and guns it for the Stacks, driving as fast as he could weaving his way through the narrow streets and highways.

### **El Coyote Cojo, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

In the meantime, Angelo heads to El Coyote Cojo to talk with Guapo. The bar is the place he feels most at home in on Medea Station, with its timeless style and decades worth of graffiti, grime, stale booze, and tacky lighting that adorn the place. He makes his way to the bar, behind which is the man he's here for, Jose Maria Miguélez, bartender of the Coyote, fixer for the Valentinos, and as close as Angelo has to an older brother.

"*Eyey chicito, you look like you could use a drink. The usual?*"
 ― Guapo

After some back and forth, Angelo asks about the job offer with the Saints. While Guapo fetches the details, the news report on the vid screen above the bar catches Angelo's eye. The feed shows the UN Secretary General's speech to the general assembly in the wake of the Waterside Riots, and draws some disgruntled shouts from the variety of Belters in the bar.

"*Pinche inners with their pinche speeches and their pinche policía. You know they came in here yesterday, told us to close because it was getting too loud? Pendejos almost started another riot.*"
 ― Guapo

Around this time, Diego walks into the establishment, having hurried his way here after his chat with Chicharito. He draws several ugly glances from the grizzled booster gangers that are the main patrons of this place, his Martian physique standing out like a sore thumb.

At the bar, he introduces himself as Brick, and talks to Lumberjack and Guapo about the supposed gig that was being offered. Guapo tells them to head to Roxxie's Bar for a meeting with the Sinner Saints, where they'd get all the details. The duo stop by their respective apartments to pick up some weapons for the job, and then head to Roxxie's together.

### **Roxxie's Bar, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

One by one, the six individuals gather at Roxxie's Bar, where they are taken by a bouncer to a private room. Here, they introduce themselves to each other, and Billy, who is last to arrive, reveals that there may be more to this than just a simple rescue op. They wait in the room for a good 15 minutes, before finally a giant of a man steps in, a burly, muscled Earther in a tank top, adorned with a tapestry of tattoos depicting various Celtic mythological figures. He walks up to the table, slaps down a stack of documents, and lights a cigar.

"*Alright then. Let's get started.*"
 ― James MacMorran

In gruff and succinct terms, MacMorran gives them a debrief of the situation, and an overview of their target, a scav hideout in the Jungle where they believe three Sinner Saints dolls that were kidnapped during the Waterside Riots are being kept. They want them back alive, or failing that, want their doll chips to be retrieved. He pulls up a building layout and offers some additional information to help with the assault, including pointing out a security room off to the side that could give them NET access to the hideout, but leaves the rest of the details to them to figure out.

"*You want my advice? Shoot first. Scavvers don't fuck around. You're just meat to them. So ice 'em before they get the chance to ice you.*"
 ― James MacMorran

Once details of pay and drop-off have been ironed out, MacMorran leaves them to it. The crew discusses the best way to go about things, and Billy also keys them in on his real objective, the recovery of Rebecca Myers. He informs them that things might be more complicated than expected due to the mysterious, missing woman. With that in mind and their plans set, they set out in Hammerlock's car, driving at full pelt towards their destination, and stopping only to pick up some gear for Sawbones.

### **The Jungle, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

The residential megablocks and narrow streets of the Jungle are a miserable and dirty place, rife with crime and squalor. Laying low, they drive to District 17, where they park some distance down the street from their target building, Block D3. While several of the crew scout the perimeter for signs of trouble, Billy disguises himself as a beggar and enters the building alone, making his way up to the 20th floor to see if he could subtly discover any extra information that would avoid turning their assault into a bloodbath.

He finds a way to potentially flank the hideout by removing a haphazard barricade that was blocking the secondary corridor, but notes that doing so would make a lot of noise. He also notes that many of the doors in the dimly lit corridor leading towards the hideout were seemingly locked and disabled, which gave more information about the actual size of the hideout.

After a while, in two separate groups, the rest take elevators up to the 20th floor to join Billy, and in hushed tones plan out the last few details of their attack, aiming to quickly hit the security office before assaulting the main hideout. Brick leads the preliminary attack, with Lumberjack silently shooting out a camera that barred their entrance, drawing out one of the scavs inside the security room, whose neck is promptly snapped by a waiting Brick.

In short, bloody order, they barge into the office and dispatch the other ganger inside, but fail to do so quietly, kicking things off in the main hideout. A violent exchange ensues, during which Brick and Lumberjack lead a frontal assault through the main door, while Money, Sawbones, and Hammerlock swing around the back to flank. Trojan, through the security office, breaks into the hideout's NET architecture, running afoul of some Black ICE, but managing to breach the system, copy out all the data he could find, and disabling all the security and defences.

By the time the gunfire dies down, the hideout is a mess of bullet holes and bloody corpses, but all six of the crew remain standing despite some significant injuries. Only one scavver remains, their ripperdoc, who holds a gun to the head of one of the dolls they were sent to retrieve, threatening to blow her brains out if they got any closer.

"*You rush through the plastic separator to find a grotesque sight. Two operating tables stand in front of the far wall, drenched in and surrounded by splatters of dried and not so dried blood. Lying on one of the beds is a naked woman: unconscious, head shaved in a crude buzzcut, eyes rolled over in her head, and one arm flayed completely open to the shoulder, parts of it already missing and laid out in little bloody puddles in a metallic tray table nearby. An entire cybernetic hand, fingers curled painfully, sits amongst the little bits and pieces.*"
 ― The Storyteller

Through some measure of diplomacy, Money calms things down, and inquires about the fate of Rebecca Myers. The ripperdoc refuses to tell him her location until he's let free, and the two come to an agreement for Money to serve as a temporary hostage until the scav leaves the hideout. At the door, the ripperdoc pushes Money back into the room and tells him "the corpo bitch" was dead, before making a break for it down the corridor. He doesn't make it far, shot by Lumberjack and Trojan, before Money can stop them.

While Trojan and Money search the ripperdoc's corpse, the rest find a cold room off the side of the hideout, where they find the other two unconscious dolls, and the brutalised corpse of Rebecca Myers, or what's left of her. While they discuss what to do, Money is informed by his driver that some Loca Griegas gangers had arrived at the building, likely drawn by the commotion. Realising time was short, the crew hastens to scavenge what they can, taking the unconscious dolls with them, and leaving the body of Rebecca Myers behind, but taking her ID chip and a storage chip that had been left in her chipware.

Carrying the unconscious bodies of the three dolls they had rescued, Lumberjack, Sawbones, and Hammerlock head out of the megabuilding first, taking the main car and blasting past the Loca Griegas, leading them on a merry chase through the streets and getting away with ease. Using the getaway as a distraction, the other three sneak out of the structure and drive away without drawing any attention, using Money's driver.

On the drive back, Trojan takes the time to look through the documents he had copied from the scavs' systems, finding one particular email chain that seemed to be discussing Rebecca Myers and her untimely fate. The correspondence, with an anonymous recipient on the other end, discussed the possibility of ransoming Myers, but the deal fell through quickly due to the scav lieutenant's quick temper, and ended with the woman's death and dismemberment. Trojan shares this with Money, who also attempts to open and read the contents of the storage chip they had recovered from Rebecca's corpse, finding it to be encrypted. After making a report of his findings to Alexandra Verbinski, he enlists Trojan's future help with decrypting the contents, offering him payment for a job well done, which Trojan accepts.

### **Roxxie's Bar, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

Once the crew gets back to Roxxie's and drops off the girls they had rescued, they are promptly paid, and make use of the bar's infirmary to treat the injuries that had procured during the job. Afterwards, they celebrate with a few drinks at the bar, with Lumberjack indulging to the point of near unconsciousness. His ensuing conversation with Money, in which the latter encourages him to not wallow in his vices but make something of himself instead, seems to have little effect on the mercenary, who winds up needing a lift home from Hammerlock. By the end of the shift, the crew scatters to their respective apartments, the gig finished and a job well done.

### **Downtown, Medea Station** *(03/07/2344)*

Still contemplating the ramifications of his findings, William and his driver are stopped at the security checkpoint into the lower levels, finding it to have been taken over by Militech guards in place of the police. They are ordered out of the car, and William quickly hides the chip on his person before doing so. Here, he is confronted by a burly individual in military fatigues, who introduces himself as Wade Roland.

"*Well, well, well. If it ain't Axiom's new pet. I've heard a lot about ya, Slasher. Wade Roland. Big fan of your work.*"
 ― Wade Roland

Bluntly, the muscled earther asks William where he'd been, interrogating him over his trip to the upper levels. Acting deftly under pressure, William makes up a story of half-truths and outright lies, managing to be convincing enough to outwit Roland over his real objectives. The Militech man continues to press him on the subject of Rebecca Myers, about whom William feigns ignorance, and invites Roland to instead discuss the matter in a more polite environment, such as his office. Though not thoroughly convinced, Roland lets the matter drop for the time being, and allows William to pass the checkpoint unscathed.

"*You ever want to work for a real company? Come by HQ, I'll see ya treated right. Be seein' y'all.*"
 ― Wade Roland

### **Downtime**

In the wake of their brush-in with the scavs, the crew go their separate ways to rest and recover from their various injuries. Over the course of the next nine days, they have more or less fully recovered, and spend some of their newly acquired funds on new gear, equipment, and clothing.

Brick, thanks to some upgraded cyberware, recovers quickly, and spends the rest of his downtime scrapping the gear he'd taken off the scavs and using it to upgrade his own equipment. Though he looks for some small jobs to pick up, he has no luck and instead ends up idling in his apartment tinkering with his collection of scrap.

Hammerlock, though it takes him some time to get back on his feet, spends his recovery period in his family's garage, cleaning and repairing his beloved car: Sticky Lizzie. The process slows down his recovery somewhat, but by the end of it his vehicle is back to scratch with new panelling and a cleaned out interior.

Sawbones, who got hit the hardest by the scavs job, needs a few days of hard recovery before she can get back on her feet. Eventually, she reopens her clinic and spends the rest of her downtime there doing her usual 9 to 5. She also invests some money into fabricating a few doses of SpeedHeal, for next time.

Lumberjack, true to style, spends his days drinking and whoring, waiting for another job to come in, which it eventually does. Towards the end of the nine days, word comes in of 6th Street hitting La Catrina Funeral Home, a Valentinos stronghold. In retaliation, Padre has ordered a large-scale swathe of hits on 6th Street arms deals, drug deals, hideouts, and so on. Guapo enlists Lumberjack for the effort, and tells him to get together a team to hit a 6th Street arms deal in the Stacks on the 15th of July, the erstwhile day of reckoning.

Money sends out a few messages to old contacts: his father, Ashley Tannery, and Darren Sunders. He has a meet with Sunders a few days later at the war memorial, where the grizzled old cop warns him about Militech's almost complete control over the station, and that word on the grapevine suggested something big was about to go down. Money asks his old colleague to keep an ear out, and let him know when he heard anything big, to which Darren agrees, but notes that he probably wouldn't be hanging around for long, given circumstances.

"*Militech's got the station by the balls, and Kang Tao aren't too far behind neither. It's a god damn powder keg. I've been thinking about retiring.*"
 ― Darren Sunders

Meanwhile, following the trail of the now deceased Rebecca Myers and the storage chip recovered from her corpse, Money and Trojan attempt to decrypt the contents, discovering that they were protected by some serious, high-grade, encryption. It takes Trojan a full week to make headway, during which time Money has moved his entire hardware setup to his own conapt, to hopefully avoid any confrontations with Militech or anyone else that might be interested.

Once they do manage to crack the contents of the chip, they find inside a single file: a list of names. Amongst those names are a number of recognisable politicians, including Anders Rhyne (the mayor of Medea Station), Tony Federó (another politician and a figure from Billy's past), and a number of corporate individuals that Money recognises. At the end of the list, branded in the footer, they find the reason for the chip's exceedingly high-quality encryption, and the owner of the information on the chip: Exoscience.

In the aftermath, while Money decides what best to do with the information they recovered, Trojan remains in Money's apartment and catches a Kang Tao observation drone at one point watching through the window, to his concern. Money eventually sends all the information gathered to Verbinski and Arthur Abernathy along with a proposition to hire Trojan with the company properly. He discovers that Abernathy had just landed in Medea when he calls him live just after receiving the message, asking to meet Trojan one-on-one.

### **The Stacks, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

With the crew having agreed to help Lumberjack with his 6th Street hit, they gather early in the 3rd shift on the 15th, while everywhere Valentinos prepare to attack various 6th Street positions. With Money serving as overwatch, the rest enter the megabuilding at the address they were given, heading up to the parking garage on the 4th floor.

As expected, they find the arms deal in full swing, and overhear some 6th Street having a heated discussion with their buyers, which they eventually see to be a trio of Belters dressed in exotic, neo-asian, formal black clothing, and more particularly have the front of their skulls replaced with black and gold kintsugi-styled chrome.

The crew sneaks into the parking garage after Trojan hacks into the camera feed, trying to get the drop on the 6th Street gangers and minimise bloodshed on their part. A bloody firefight ensues, with Lumberjack bringing down several 6th Street goons single-handedly and filming himself decapitating their sergeant. During the fighting, Sawbones is killed by one of the three mysterious buyers, after shooting at one of them, and Hammerlock is shot by a 6th Street cowboy with a shotgun. The others are unable to save them but manage to kill or drive off the rest of 6th Street, and one of the buyers' bodyguards while the rest escape.

In the aftermath, while Money and his driver are headed up to the parking garage to collect the others for exfil, they receive a sudden news alert notice. Just moments before, Militech Industrial Park had been hit by a bomb attack, which Militech publicly blamed on Kang Tao, effectively declaring war and kicking off the long-threatened corporate conflict.

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