This is part of Faranesque's World Building Challenge from r/WorldBuilding. Check out my hub post for details.
Preface: Most of my posts from this point on will likely focus on the crew of the Rōnni and the refugees with them, now I've done some of the cosmic establishment from Day 1.
In today's installment, Izzur beholds the station in Pacam's Reach and the various ships around it as they approach.
V EMBLEM
From the observation deck, they could see the station as the Rōnni approached. Izzur had thought the freighters which had come to Balvene's Moon were large, and when compared to the Rōnni, they certainly were. But Reach Point Prime was larger still-- an immense series of spoked and spiked torii, with several smaller colonial stations arrayed around it. Various other Ships were coming and going, from ore-freighters like the ones he'd seen, to opulent passenger cruisers, to smaller courier-shuttles, to some of the station's own cutters and interceptors.
Each of the Ships sported its banner, too. Some had unique ones, like the Rōnni did, indicative of their undeclared allegiances. Of these, Izzur noted a few had Maldasi insignia, the interlocked hook-and-dagger very prevalent, but the designs surrounding them were different. One Ship had rune-sigils, another had a Star and ring, a third with a simple swatch of brilliant white. The rest of their hulls sported markings, not unlike the inkwork on their People.
Izzur noted Drazen Scarhide swim into view in the reflection on the window, and kept himself from flinching as the Maldasi came right up behind him, teeth showing. "Other Maldasi tribes," the knife-fighter declared. He gestured at them. "Strifesong. Rovefar. Whiteshard." Drazen chuckled. "Must get others, go find a fight, yes-yes."
Izzur squinted slightly and turned his head to look at him. "Do Maldasi always fight?"
Drazen's smile melted away. "To be Maldasi is to be at war. Always." His lips pulled back as he showed his teeth again. "But Maldasi understand: time and place for fighting. So we go to find it."
The ex-miner nodded slowly, and looked out the windows again as Reach Point Prime grew larger. Several of the Ships docked with the station became more clear. To one side, a triple-hulled barge sported purple and gold livery, with the sword-and-sun sigil of the Yallen Ceptostate. Above them, at another dock, a freighter with the tricolored, multi-rayed starburst of the Serissian Cluster. On the other side of the Rōnni, a broad courier shuttle sported the orange and blue trim of the Sawshin.
Izzur looked toward Drazen, who seemed to understand his unspoken question. "Sawshin and 'Riss fight, but not in the Reach," the Maldasi sneered, as if disapproving of such a concept. "Neutral space, yes-no? Any fight, do in Point Prime pits." Drazen took a little breath, his eyes seeming distant. "Scarhide will go there today."
Izzur let this pass as he considered a few more Ships they passed. A few of the smaller ones-- the station's cutters and interceptors-- sported a standard of a stylized open palm cradling a cluster of star-shapes, the insignia of Pacam's Reach. As the
Rōnni approached the dock itself, Izzur looked up to see a couple of bulkier, modular ships bearing the black and silver standard of the erstwhile Grand Republic of Whardon, three interlocked chevrons below a trio of starbursts.
His eyes fell upon a smaller craft, though still of comparable size to the Rōnni, whose hull bore a tangled nest of lines, a sword thrust through a stylized crown, inside a ring of stars, all colored in black and outlined in red. Izzur stared at it for several long moments, until a dull ache in his jaw made itself known. A phantom of the Overseer's last bout of discipline? But no, Izzur realized, it was because he was grinding his teeth together.
Drazen seemed to recognize this, and breathed out a quiet little, "Ahh-h-h..." The Maldasi nodded slowly. "Demathi." He scratched his jaw thoughtfully. "Izzur wants fight with Demathi, yes-no?" The beads in his braids clanked against one another as he shook his head. "Cannot fight Demathi in the Reach. Not if your people are to be safe."
"It's not Balvene, anyway," Izzur grunted. "So what would be the point?"
The Maldasi laughed. "Not so stupid as you look," he cackled, slapping him on the back.
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