Our story begins shortly after the ending of Apex Lab Raid. Corey, Darnah, Leon, and Jetniss depart from Jason Ferrara's ship. We Create our own Hell The tight corridors are well heated, a luxury our three of our four heroes seldom enjoy. Leon retires to the upper deck as Darnah and Corey join their comrade-- Jetniss, in the cockpit. Corey sits beside Jetniss in the second chair, staring out of the tinted windows. "We're finally heading home, huh?" She asks. "Seems like it." Jetniss responds. "I miss it." Corey continues, prompting a smile from Darnah. "Are you sure you can fly?" Darnah asks. Jetniss doesn't respond this time, he simple cycles through his typical pre-FTL procedures. He cycles between flipping several switches to tapping a few buttons on the panel at the front of the cockpit. Corey and Darnah watch on silently, exchanging worried glances. "Jet... Are you okay?" asks Darnah. "Never better." He quickly responds. "You were acting funny at the lab." Darnah continues. "Yeah, what was up with that? And what happened to your wounds?" Corey went on to ask. "You know, for concerned friends, you sure are throwing a lot on me." Jetniss responds dismissively as he continues with the pre-FTL procedures and checks. Darnah looks at some of the monitors around the cockpit as Jetniss checks, triggers, and studies them. Black screens with specific flares of blue digital light reveal the status of the vessel, and its progress toward a FTL-jump. Corey however, keeps her eyes trained on the pilot. The silence is broken again abruptly, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Darnah asks. The silence returns, and Jetniss pauses in the midst of his preparations. Corey darts a worried glance at the Avian standing behind them before returning her eyes to Jetniss. Her sullen gaze burning into the boy's profile, just before he flicks one last switch. "Strap in." Jetniss commands as he places his hands on the red orb in front of his chair. Darnah sits on a chair fitted to the wall and straps himself in. Their vessel's observatory panel flares with a bright blue-shifted light that stretches toward them as the vessel performs its light speed jump. The Coldest Dish HOPE is lit up as Jet's vessel hovers overhead. A large number of supplies are being shipped down-hill toward the settlement by several workers. Two miners and a quartet of scouts stand guard to fend off any potential Flightless or beast assaults. Sean McAnthony stands alongside Carmine atop a hill surveying the transport. "This is amazing." Carmine notes. "Yeah... Who would've thought they would come back with yield like this." Sean responds. "Food... Technology... Shit what's that?" Carmine points down below. Sean squints at the collaborative effort of eight workers. By a rope, they tow a dilapidated vehicle on a large sled across the snow. It proves to be a particularly popular find as many are distracted by its reveal. Behind these workers Leon can be seen carrying several tools whilst sporting a large grin. "... Christ, how do you compete with that?" Sean asks. "Compete? You're looking at it wrong! This is a victory for Hope!" Carmine answers. "... That's why they trust him with the ship." Sean responds bitterly as he walks off. Carmine watches Sean leave and shakes his head. He then diverts his gaze to Darnah as he beams down from the vessel to a round of applause. Settlers offer the Avian their praise for his aid. Two more beams of light thunder downward revealing the forms of Corey and Jetniss, and the crowd's roar grows. Corey walks Jetniss off and Darnah assists in the movement of the recovered supplies. We Were Never Alone Jin Engle, Stormy Swanson, Billy Sacco, Angel Bowen, Yury Riches, Sean McAnthony, Jetniss Nerai, Darnah, and Jamie Baudry are all in attendance at a large meeting table. Mid-conversation, tension seems quite high. Stormy cries out, "So you think we should just invite them in?!" "That's out of the question." Billy responds. "Of course!" Stormy confirms. Jetniss rolls his eyes, "We can't lock ourselves out." "Like hell we can't." Stormy shouts. "Maybe if we-" Darnah begins. "Shut it! Bird!" Stormy continues shouting. Yury Riches stands, slamming their hands on the table, "Enough! Swanson, sit. Nerai, quiet." The room falls silent and everyone looks to Yury. After several moments of emptiness, sound returns to the room. "Let's clarify-- And Nerai, correct me if I'm wrong." Yury commands, receiving a nod from Jet in return. "We have several sentient life forms out there in the universe with their own technology, their own governments, their own force, their own threat, scattered amongst the stars." Yury's eyes lock onto Jet, who nods. "And each one have access to vastly different but arguably equally dangerous technology?" Yury's gaze returns to Jet, who again nods. "And it is not feasibly possible to hide away from them... Well, indefinitely." Yury scans the room, locking eyes with whoever he can. Sean interjects, "We aren't the only ones in the universe, we knew that, but other intelligent life in the universe changes everything. It's bad enough we have these bird people here on the planet." "Avians." Darnah responds. Sean looks to his feathered associate. Angel finally speaks up breaking her silence, "This isn't about us reuniting with Humanity any longer. Humanity has changed, and our survival has changed. We need to create a force, we need to defend ourselves, and become self-sufficient." Jet looks to Angel as Billy interjects, "We need to focus on building up our home first. We need a new planet, or to terraform this one. That new monkey technology will do the trick." Jet shakes his head, "Apex, firstly, and no it won't, secondly." Billy responds with a pointed tongue, "Of course it will, don't be daft scout." "Don't forget that this scout brought it back. Look, what I brought back isn't some type of super technology from some ancient civilization like the old science fiction films from Earth. We're not going to be able to change this planet." Jetniss declares confidently. Sean adds, "He's right. Even if we could turn the temperature up on this planet, the entire surface is covered in smooth ice. If we melt it, we will be flooding Hope and creating a gigantic ocean that we can not, and will not be able to survive on. It's just not realistic Mr. Sacco." "Poppycock." Billy replies. Darnah covers his face, and Jetniss allows his forehead to drop onto the table. Stormy speaks up, "Angel is right, we need to build an army that can fight when they come gunning for us." "And why would they come gunning for us? That last thing we need is to take the few people we have and train them to do nothing but fight and waste their lives for nothing." Jin speaks up to the crowd. Stormy snaps back, "Why wouldn't they? Everything in this galaxy wants us dead! They destroyed Earth, they haven't left us alone since we landed on this God forsaken snowball, we nee-" "We have the scouts." Sean adds. "They are not enough." Angel responds. "You do realize what you're proposing right?" Yury asks. Jet raises his head and sternly declares-- "Enough! What is with you people and these long-winded ideas? Look, you're going to run us into the ground if you keep this up, we don't need to make any brash decisions right now-- what we need is to make use of what we brought back, and start building something our people can live in and survive this God-damned cold." Darnah nods as the room falls silent. Jet continues, having demanded the attention of the room, "We need a strong structure, a stable structure. Something that can support itself, and that can support all of us. We can't build into the snow and remain at the mercy of the cold, we need our own environment here. Ferrying people off world isn't feasible, waging war on everything isn't feasible, we aren't in any condition to go to war with anything, we need something we can truly call home. Then we can worry about the rest. We'll take the scouts and miners and start setting up perimeters, digging for resources that we can use. The rest of you can organize the effort to build that home we need so desperately." Jetniss and Darnah rise up, exiting the council's chamber. Sean watches along with the rest of the room in silence. Once the door is shut Jin speaks out, "What he said works... Essentially we can build something that protects all of our people, and serves as a head quarter for any army. Then, we can branch out as necessary." Billy speaks up, "Omniculpa Order... The new Sol?" Angel shakes her head, "No... There are other Humans out there, other factions. There's all kinds of Sol's out there." "He's an alien lover... I can taste it... He'll sell us out for them." Stormy says, darting a condescending gaze toward Sean. "No. Jet wouldn't sell us out..." Jin responds. With the meeting concluded, construction on HOPE Spire has begun, and the frequency of Scout missions have increased ten fold.
