Friday, December 12, 2014

A Night in Thera

Fiction Friday. Escape pod here.

So Thera has been discovered. The Sisters have been there for a few years. Mmmmmmmm...... The Sisters of Eve, and I quote the Eveopedia - "a humanitarian organisation based on religion". So thats nun nurses then? Gives you an image doesn't it! However, what image do YOU have, may be not mine. In my dark past I've dated a few nurses plus a girl who went to 'one of those schools'. Nurses are by far my favorite occupation on this planet and add in THAT school background. Well I have a completely different image to what life might be on those stations.....


A Night in Thera

"All crew this is the XO. We are approaching the station and once docked the Captain will stand the ship down. Crew rota Gamma, you have skeleton crew duties I'm afraid. All other rotas, you have 18 hours shore leave. Enjoy."


The speakers cut out and a small cheer went up from the engineering crew. It had been an active day. A new type of wormhole had been discovered leading to what was thought to be new, undiscovered space. However, upon arriving the capsuleers found that the Sisters of Eve had already settled there. The Sisters of Eve was a humanitarian organisation based on religion. They could be found throughout the cluster and all capsuleer's crew knew about them. They would be the ones who would usually rescue you if during the destruction of your ship you were lucky enough to get to an escape pod. How they got there was a mystery but other soon other capsuleers started to arrive in the system. All keen to take commercial advantage of the newly accessible system.

Four huge stations had already been built in this system and the Sisters had apparently been running experiments in this space for a number of years. Questions were immediately raised about the technology that had allowed them to gain access to these systems. The only other organisation that was known to be able to manipulate wormholes was the feared Sansha's Nation. Conspiracy theories had erupted around the crew of how two utterly polar-opposite organisations were the only ones with that technology.

"Cheer up Kibayasu! You get to be one of the first none Sisters on one of these stations!" Marrada said.

Kibayasu gave a half smile. He was a reactor control technician aboard the ship and had only started crewing recently. He was not looking best pleased.

"Yeah, but a Sister's station?" he grumbled to his supervisor. "Its going to be as boring as an Amarrian Cathedral during a service. I was hoping we'd visit Dodixie or Luminaire on my first tour. You know, the fun places. I've never been out of the State and was wanting to explore. Now we're stuck in a distant unknown solar system populated with nun-nurses!"

Marrada laughed.

"Seriously? You expect this place to be dull?"

"You don't?" asked Kibayasu in surprise. "Nun-nurses!"

"Have you ever known a nurse or a someone who went to a faith school? Even better, a nurse who went to a faith school?" she laughed.

"Well not really." he replied.

Marrada didn't reply. She just smiled knowingly and left leaving Kibayasu standing there wondering what she meant by that.

-o0o-

The inside of the station was like a city. In the last few years the Sisters had worked hard to ensure their stations catered for all their staff and their families needs. Kibayasu had already returned to the ship once to drop off the shopping he'd bought. They'd been paid before disembarking and he'd gone a bit mad with his first pay check.

He'd now changed and had arranged to meet his ship-friends in a bar. When he first arrived he was surprised to hear there were bars. His whole nun/nurse view of the Sisters of Eve was slowly changing. He was hoping other capsuleer crews would be there in order to meet some new people, and by people he meant women.

The Flaming Orca was located on deck 10. A leisure deck with multiple recreational establishments. He'd seen holo-theaters showing the latest Gallente blockbuster movies. Sports bars offering Matari ales and the Caldari Mind-Clash premier league on the big screen. Small stadiums advertised Zero-G Hoverball games and upcoming music concerts. Most venues appear to be quiet now which was unsurprising given the late hour. Finally he saw the bar ahead just where the guys had said it would be. A black building roughly in the shape of the huge industrial ship that the bar took its name from. Flames belched from grills along the side. These worried Kibayasu for a moment until he got close enough to see they were in fact harmless holograms.

At the door two large Matari bouncers nodded in greeting as he passed into the entrance room. The heavy beat of Gallente techno music was making the walls vibrate. He pushed through the double doors into the main bar and froze. He had never seen anything like it. Being Caldari he'd never seen the famous Gallente super-clubs whose hedonistic reputation had spread through the cluster. He couldn't believe they could be any better than this. The dancefloor was packed with scantily-clad people gyrating to the thumping music. Dancers on podiums wearing next to nothing swayed in time to the music or spun athletically on chrome poles. He realised that they were actually wearing scraps of clothing that lit up preventing a clear view in the dark room, just a blur of light and a hint of flesh. Several large bars surrounded the massive dance floor with sofas and chill-out areas scatter behind. Compared to the standard establishments he'd frequented in the Caldari State, this was amazing.

Kibayasu spotted his crew-mates at one of the bars and made his way over. A Caldari woman was walking the other way. She smiled at him as they passed. Kibayasu carried on towards the bar but had spun around was now walking backwards keeping an eye on the woman that smiled at him. A hand clasped his shoulder and he spun around.

"Calm down Kib!" Menji laughed shoving a drink into his hand.

"Dammit Menji! I thought you were some hulking boyfriend of that bit of ass!" he thumbed to the Caldari woman. Menji roared with laughter.

"You are late. You have some serious drinking to catch up on!"

-o0o-

Four hours later and Kibayasu was in one of the chillout rooms. He was leaning back in a sofa, a slender Gallente woman called Gryve next to him sipping a cocktail. They had met on the dance floor. She had wasted no time indicating she was interested in him. She was with the Sisters apparently. A trauma nurse on a search and rescue ship who occasionally worked in one of the local medical establishments. The fact she was a nurse uneased him slightly given what Marrada had said earlier.

"So you were one of the first here?" Kibayasu said.

"Yes." the woman replied sipping her drink. "Almost ten thousand of us were the first through. That first year was really rough. We had a converted frieghter as our home whilst the first station was built. Obviously that many of us cramed into a ship like that wasn't ideal. Yeah, that was a tough year. Then we got the station built and things got a bit better."

"Only a bit?"

"Its strange. I don't think I'm breaking protocol to say this was a secret endevor, thats pretty obvious now. Whatever is happening in New Eden at the moment has caused a massive buzz here. Our wormhole control... actually I'm not supposed to talk about that. I'll just say that the technology that allowed us to travel between here and New Eden failed recently. We were cut off for a short while and then suddenly these stable wormholes started appearing linking us back to New Eden without a need for our wormhole technology. Our secret was out, but it meant fresh-blood would soon be arriving as the eggers started to come. Something to rejuvenate what has become a pretty stagnant colony for many of us younger Sisters."

Kibayasu laughed. "You are happy the Capsuleers are here?" he asked surprised. It was no secret that the Sisters of Eve had a complex relationship with the Empyreans. A massive amount of the humanitarian aid the Sisters provided was in clearing up after capsuleers. Rescue missions, aid, emergency medical care, casualty rehabilitation. All normal after a capsuleer had blasted through a pirate colony or their alliances clashed over ownership of solar systems. However, the Sisters also employed the immortal starship captains for their most dangerous missions. It was a "cannot live with, cannot live without" situation.

"Yes and no. You know what we call your Captains? The Angels of Death. However, it also means people like you are here. Its great to have some new blood in the station!"

Kibayasu raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Everyone on this station up to a few days ago was with the Sisters. Everyone knew everyone elses business. It was like a big unhappy family. There was nothing you could do without someone judging you. When the capsuleer ships showed up it breathed some fresh air into the stations."

Kibayasu nodded. He could guess that it was a bit like a larger scale version of the ship he served on. No secrets, everybody knew everybody and their business. At the point he noticed Marrada walk past arm-in-arm with a huge Matari guy with bulging muscles. Kibayasu felt a bit inferior.

"Someone you know?" Gryve asked.

"Technically she's my boss." he replied.

"Don't worry about her. Ofylur looks like a Dominix on steroids but he's the biggest pussycat around." Gryve giggled. "When do you need to be back on the ship?"

"12:00 hours station time" he replied.

Gryve smiled.

-o0o-

The clock on the bedside cabinet showed 03:30 station time. Kibayasu was panting, his wide eyes gazing at the ceiling of the woman's bedroom. His body was covered in a sheen of sweat and the breeze from the ventilation was creating goosebumps on his flesh. He felt Gryve stretch next to him on the bed.

"You OK?" she asked in a very relaxed voice.

"Erm.... yeah."

"You don't sound so sure?"

"Well. Its just.... are all Gallenete women like you or is to your profession?" he asked.

Gryve burst out laughing.

"What?" she finally said. "Don't tell me this was your first time!" still laughing.

"No!" he quickly countered "But I've only been with Caldari ladies before. You, well you're different."

Gryve continued to laugh.

"Probably a combination of that and the job. We nurses are special so I'm told." she laughed.

"That's what my boss told me before we came on shore leave."

Gryve laughed again.

Suddenly the door to the bedroom opened. Kibayasu grabbed the bedsheet and pulled it up in a panic as a woman stood there and looked in. He glanced at Gryve who didn't appeared phased at the appearance of the strange woman and had made no effort to cover herself. The woman appeared to be Caldari and was just leaning casually against the door frame in only her underwear.

"Hi Clel . Busy night?" Gryve asked.

"You wouldn't believe it. Wait till you get on shift later. The clinics are full. Capsuleers are violencing each other like there is no tomorrow out there. I was hoping to get to the Flaming Orca for last orders and may be pick myself up some fresh meat, but another round of injured crew were brought in just before I left. Talking of crew I assume thats one!" she asked nodding to Gryve only half acknowledging his presence.

Kibayasu looked at Gryve questioningly. These two women were talking like he wasn't there.

"Yeah, he's crew. Gryve  this is my colleague and flat-mate Clel. Clel this is Kibayasu, fresh meat in Thera and first time with a Gallente woman!"

Kibayasu went red as the two women roared with laughter. He'd never known women like this. He'd expected those working for the Sisters of Eve to be even closer to Amarrian nuns. These were more like the equivalent of Matari dock-hands!

Clel bit her bottom lip and looked at Kibayasu.

"Hey Gryve. You think I could, you know....."

"Sure. No problem." Gryve replied.

Kibayasu was just about to ask what meant by that. He was getting more than a bit worried. Clel entered the room and climbed onto the bed on all fours and on top of Kibayasu. He looked in shock at Gryve who was now laying on her side, leaning on her palm watching with a smile.

"Just relax, we share everything." she purred.

"But, but, but..... you are nuns! Nurse nuns!" Gryve stammered.

His protests were silenced three and a half seconds later.

-o0o-

Two weeks later the ship entered the wormhole and reappeared back in New Eden. The blue-grey of the Caldari nebula a welcome sight to many of the remaining skeleton crew. Almost twenty percent of the crew had quit in the last ten days. The capsuleer was heading to the station at Jita 4-4 to pick up more crew. His XO had a list of requirements this time to avoid any further staffing problems when they visited Thera. Crew must be married or in a long term relationship. No single, young and most of all attractive, crew members!

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