Meeting

The ship groaned underneath Kallou's feet, a mild symptom of the turbulent area they were sailing through. Honestly, with their current drives, they could have managed without any symptoms. But doing that would be telling any observer that they were using state-of-the-art hyperdrives, ones not even for sale yet. So downtuned performance it was.

As they made it through the tail end of the rough path, they reached the calmer seas, an off-shoot of the Via Solaris that allowed for larger ships yet at the same time didn't lead anywhere significant. So the Hyperbase ahead, station Beaten Path, still made a profit, but it was far from popular. But hey, a living's a living. Not all want to live, and mayhaps die, in a cutthroat area.

When he reached the communication border, he sent his fleet's false credentials to the station, which was returned with its defense systems no longer pointing in his direction. Still ready enough to take him down before he'd have a chance to power up and be a threat, but welcoming enough.

At the base, he took a small escort with him, some pretending to be normal crew, others clearly enforcers. They meandered through the station, buying a few goodies here and there, before sitting down at a 'random' bar. Which, of course, was the agreed-upon meeting point. He already saw some of the crew they were going to team up with, feigning ignorance.

Just after they got their drinks, another group arrived. The staff felt tense, no surprise when your rather quiet establishment suddenly fills up with about sixty armed individuals in such short a timeframe. The tensions decreased a bit when the obvious leader approached with a huge grin. "Valis, my friend! Glad you are finally here, we have been waiting for days!"

Kallou replied with a grin and a raised eyebrow. "We planned to meet tomorrow, remember? Just had a good tailwind on our way here. Alright, sit down, get a drink, let's talk shop." The following conversation came across as just another business deal. Yet both knew the actual stakes of the expedition, that there was a chance this would change everything.