[K-B08] Season Unending

[VK-318]

Location: B08 Greater Direstan

Tags: Land Vehicle, Civil Building

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Although the Kawashita Group, and, to a lesser extent, M.A.N.T.I.S., has a strong presence on Greater Direstan, much of the colonization effort here has not been overtly affiliated with one megacorp or another. The Golden Rocket is an excellent example of this. Built a only a few short years ago, this establishment offers drinks, music, and relaxed dining, offering fresh-backed New York Style pizza - a delicacy among spacefarers, since the ingredients are too bulky to carry aboard warships, even ones such as the Variga, during extended cruises.

Silvia and I were here for dinner. It was the last evening of our three weeks' leave, a special thank-you gift from branch executive Ender for the letter-perfect execution of our part in Operation Star-Lord. The details of what it entailed were above the pay grade of a crew of freelancers such as ourselves, but we must have pleased somebody back in the fleet, because leave time can be hard to find for special forces.

It had been quite some time since Silvia and I had had a chance to sit down together for dinner. With the crew of the Variga being so small, we often had to cover different watches. That routine can take a toll on relationships, and I was glad of a chance to enjoy my beautiful wife's company and have a good time.

Perhaps I was enjoying myself too much. I never heard the door open, and before I knew what was happening, I heard the low throb of a stun ray, and Silvia fell forward onto the table.

My combat-trained reflexes kicked in, and I just avoided the second shot. There were four of them - two men, and two things that appeared to be robots.

Even when on vacation, I am always armed. I rolled out of the booth and whipped out my concealed pistol. My first shot caught the younger man in the thigh, and he went down with a high-pitched cry.

The two robots went down with a shot each, and I turned my attention to the remaining man. To my horror, he had dropped his own weapon and hauled Silvia out of the seat. He was on his way out the door, dragging her behind him.

I struggled past the robots and the moaning form of the young man and burst out the door - just in time to see my dearest's unconscious form stuffed unceremoniously into the front of one of a pair of brightly-colored speeders, followed a moment later by the mustachioed man. The engines were already running, and before I could stumble down the steps and catch hold of the speeder, it was gone.

I fired after it, but in vain. My small pistol had no accuracy at range, and the speeder was gone in seconds.

I touched the communicator at my belt. "Variga, two and a speeder to pick up at these coordinates. This is a code red."

"As of this moment, we are at war."

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My biggest minifig-scale build yet - also my biggest and most detailed interior yet. I planned on building a flower garden between the foundation and the pavement, but I ran out of time and energy.

The speeders are my first minifig-scale vehicle in years. I build the micro version (kinda blurry, will have to get a decent picture of it up tomorrow), and then decided I would need minifig-scale version or two. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, considering that's not exactly my area of expertise.

There have been so many great versions of Viktor Kramer's face over time - I'm really enjoying being able to tinker with his expressions now.

"Season Unending" is a reference to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

[Col. Brik]

Great build, great story. Great use of the special part for the week!

[Andromedas Gates]

The judges awarded you 4 points.

[rodiziorobs]

NPU on both the flick-fires and the brick separator! The pizza parlor is good, too, and the story is intriguing. Looking forward to more!

[VK-318]

NPU on both the flick-fires and the brick separator! The pizza parlor is good, too, and the story is intriguing. Looking forward to more!

Thanks! I'm especially proud of how well I got the brick separators to work out.