Here's the next section in Flux's journey, it's a direct continuation of his first chapter in this series, if you haven't read his first section here's a link to A Trip Off-world.
@killerwot/a-trip-off-world
I don't think you would really need to read it to follow this story, but for the sake of clarity, it might be worth having a look.
I edit each story with links after I finish the next one, so each of them link up, in the order they were written. Soon they will all be connecting, at the moment though the characters and worlds are just being established.
Flux had been walking for what could have been anywhere from two hours to two days, he couldn't be sure. He was lost in thought, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop thinking of the Rotchi he killed. He felt guilty, not so much for the Rotchi, he was a low-life thief after all. At least Flux tried to excuse himself by thinking as much. The guilt more so came from the thought of his Father. Flux had tried his hardest not to think about it, the reason he left Beskin in the first place. No matter how much he closed his mind to the thought the image would creep back in. Degradation, the bane of his people since the dawn of time.
"You've gone quiet again." Sanga said, through slurred speech. "Sorry, just finding it hard to shake off a thought." Sanga turned and gave Flux a playful punch to the arm. One that hurt, more than Sanga intended, Flux assumed. "Don't cry over the Rotchi, you had no choice in that matter." "Don't worry I'm not. Just working through some stuff. I'll be fine."
Flux turned back to look at the city, it had slipped far off into the distance, he hadn't even noticed they were so far out in the open. The lights left a colourful hue over the sky above from this distance he could see the lights of ships landing and leaving. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before. He never thought about cities as being living things before, this one though, certainly had a life of its own. Soon they reached the walls of a secluded manor house. "Here it is, Embers place. It's something else." Sanga was right about that. It had the feel of something he had seen on a holo-vid when he was younger. The rich ones always lived in places like this. "Amazing." That was all Flux could say. From this distance, the house loomed over them from the large hill inside the walls. Lights were surrounding it which he felt was a way of letting everyone in the surrounding area know who lived here.
"Open the gates. I've got a new recruit with me." Sanga said into the intercom. "Who's this?" The voice over the intercom responded. "Sanga. I joined up yesterday." "I'm so sorry about that Sanga," the voice said sarcastically "It's hard to keep up with every new recruit that joins." The gates began to slide open, churning as they did.
They both made it up to the manor within five minutes. Outside the door, two guards were wearing simular looking combat armour, black leather, with mismatched steal pieces over the leather. They seemed to be standing watch, one leaned against the wall as the other sat on a pile of brickwork that seemed to have come off the main building. They both stopped talking as Flux and Sanga approached, but didn't make a move to stop them from entering. Once inside Flux couldn't help but notice the manor was on the dilapidated side, with a good clean and some maintenance though it could be a very comfortable home. "I'll see if I can introduce you to Ember." Sanga said confidentially as he lead Flux through the hall, straight ahead was a large staircase. The overhanging balcony was alive with other Gunners. The place was quiet, other than the odd bit of chatter. To the left of the staircase, they carried on, through an open double door archway. With the noisiest bunch in the house, beyond it.
Flux didn't really have time to look around once entering, he saw the room was full of people, either sitting or standing around the edges of the room in small groups. He stood as Sanga approached a small group sitting down at a large table. A Juzundian woman, with dark purple skin and a slightly bigger than average frame, natives of Jex, the first one he had seen since being here, which felt odd to him now that he had thought about it. As well as a few humans, one of which was wearing some of the best battle armour he had ever seen, she had a matching helmet for the suit laying on the table beside her. Other than them he spotted a Gnosian and some other Triskens dotted throughout the room, although the other Triskens didn't look as old and as beaten up as Sanga did.
While Sanga waited for a chance to speak, Flux couldn't help but notice some of the others in the room staring at him. It didn't help him feel very welcome. While lost in thought he hadn't realised he was being waved over. Once he did though he made an effort not to rush, thinking it would be better to stay casual. "He seems a bit shy." The Juzundian said with a smile. "Shy. He's not shy." "Doesn't talk much. You got a name?" The Juzundian asked. Flux opened his mouth. "His names Flux, he's new here." Sanga cut in, while Flux stood with his mouth slightly open. "I asked him, not you. Go get yourself another drink." With that Sanga walked off slowly.
"Come in closer, take a seat." Flux followed her command, sitting in the chair that seemed to be the centre of everyone at the table. "So, Flux. You want to join up." Flux had the realization that this was Ember. He couldn't sit silently and he didn't know what to say about joining up. "You're Ember?" "Yes. You're Flux." Flux had to cringe at himself for a moment, why'd he even ask that. "Sorry. Yeah, I want to join up. I'm not the best shot in the world, but, I think I can make myself useful to you." Ember nodded. "Well, it'd be nice to have someone useful around here. I seem to be attracting nothing but big talkers and big drinkers. Both of which are entertaining, not very useful though. How'd you hear about me and my operation?"
"I met Sanga there, on my journey to the planet, we exchanged contacts and within my first few hours here I got skimmed, lost every last Token I had. Got in touch with him and he said he could sort me out with a job. Here I am." Flux raised his hands slightly to punctuate the end of his sentence. Ember began to laugh after he finished. "Welcome to Jex." She continued along with the others around the table, all except the one in the heavy battle armour. "I got work for you, I can tell you'll fit in around here. You have two choices. You can stay up and celebrate the start of a very successful business, or you can be shown to your quarters and get some rest." Flux nodded as Ember spoke and thought for a moment when she finished. "It's been a long day, I think it would be best to get some rest." "Good answer, it's refreshing to have more people with a bit of a sense. Saz, show him to his room." With that, the heavily armoured woman put her helmet on and stood up. "Come on."
Flux followed close behind her. He wasn't sure what to say to her, she didn't seem like the sort of person to start conversations. "Any advice?" That was all he could think to ask. "Keep your head down, know when to party with her and know when not to. You'll get on fine." Saz's helmet gave her speech a slight echo as she spoke. "Thanks." Flux replied. Unsure of what else to say.
They reached a door, she opened it and stood outside. "Here's one of the Gunners quarters. This one isn't occupied yet, so you'll have a choice of beds. Tomorrow I'll run you through some weapons drills and see if you know how to use that thing, after that we'll see if we can fit you with some armour. If you're lucky when all that's done maybe there'll be some work for you to do." Saz turned and walked away as she finished, leaving Flux alone in the hall. This place wasn't really what he imagined it would be. But, he couldn't decide whether it was better or worse.
He got himself settled in, the bed was uncomfortable, but after the day he'd been through, it wasn't long before he went to sleep.
End
It's nice to be back writing for Flux, I've been having some fun writing his story. Hope you enjoyed it!
Here's a link to part 2 if you want to continue reading.
@killerwot/getting-settled-part-2
