Usvedi (Leviathan)

Kika's fancy suit

## Recurring NPCs

Oxana, computer of The Bat'leth

The unnamed spokesperson from the Usvedi rebels

"Usvedi" is the seventh episode of the first season of Leviathan: Distant Stars.

## Summary

The episode starts with the Bat'leth and its crew on their way to the Erzati System. Theea has disembarked between jumps, and the lame Tsarin is following, days behind.

A nervous Hexie tries to delay the day of reckoning for Kika by bringing Xe'anna her weights from the cargo hold a.k.a. the gym. Even though this immediately looks suspicious to her, Xe'anna stays put because she doesn’t want to deal with anybody but Hexie. Still, Xe'anna lets Kika know, *for no reason at all*, that she’ll leave her room in two hours. In the ensuing conversation, Kika gets permission to install *amenities* for the lieutenant there as soon as she is done repairing the ship's weapons.

When the Bat'leths arrives in the Erzati System, only two planets are visible, as they had been told. With Oxana's help, they fine-tune their sensors to look for nothingness that would be too perfectly random and soon find the hidden planet, Usvedi.

The Bat'leth approaches, cautiously hailing the planet, and dives through the thick, polluted to the point of being unbreathable atmosphere, while barely avoiding the network of satellites that provide the planet with its near-perfect cloak of darkness.

Upon landing, they are met by six threatening individuals with advanced weapons that would still be no match for the Bat'leth's turrets. Communication is achieved through an orb brought forth by the locals, and weapons are lowered on all sides.

The greeting committee are part of a group of rebels who are excluded from the amenities of the sprawling city nearby. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the ruling so-called *Hegemon* doesn't share wealth and technology with the whole population of the planet.

Despite their limited understanding of the politics of the planet, Xe'anna and the crew accept to help plan a heist that was going to take place anyway, as the rebels seem happy to share and adapt their own plans to accommodate new, unexpected allies they won't hesitate to kill if they are seen as traitors.

After some discussion, the plan that is hatched involves Kika discreetly infiltrating the targeted shipyard, Xe'anna helping the rebels provide distraction while causing mayhem for their own reasons, and Hexie helping Kika lift the thread engine parts they need for Tsarin from a ship currently being under construction up to the Bat'leth, which shall then go on its merry way.

## Quotes

Hexie, answering Kika's question about Conrad's height and weight:

> *I don’t know that knowing the lieutenant... Kenny Rogers's, what’s his name, I don’t know, it changes all the time, I just don’t know how me knowing his weight will stop any awkward situations in a few hours.*
>
>

## Notes

1. ↑ a.k.a. *Arguing about numbers: the RPG*, a space romp-com, to quote Dan & Lauren+Cheryl, respectively. See the first minutes of the episode.
2. ↑ In game, Theea had left a note suggesting she needed to go to a place named Duranga and was going to return. IRL, we know Sarah is not going to be on the show for another two weeks.
3. ↑ *NftE*: or, of *treekoning*?
4. ↑ The suggestion from chat that she bring a *manatee* instead didn’t come to fruition.
5. ↑ Not at dawn.