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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sammael99" data-source="post: 638473" data-attributes="member: 1157">Prelude (Part 3) - In EnglishA siren blared.“To all passengers. We are approaching Spacestation Cumulus. Please prepare yourselves for landing, I repeat, please prepare yourselves for landing.”- About bloody time !- What you’re saying, girl ?- Nothing. Speaking to myself. Does that bother you ?- No, no…- Good !Lilwenn had left Shaprut nearly two weeks before. Forced by her lack of finances to take a 3rd class ticket, there had not been a day when she hadn’t regretted the decision. Promiscuity, unpleasant smells and boredom made her irritable, like most of her fellow passengers. She had killed a little time by flushing a few bums at various card games, but they didn’t have much cash anyway. It hadn’t kept her busy very long. Furthermore, she’d had to refuse their ‘further solicitations’ and make them understand that she could use her knife even better than she could play cards...“Well, arrived at last !” Lilwenn wondered if she shouldn’t have headed for BII straight after Stigmata. Going back to Shaprut had been a bad and unproductive move. She’d left more depressed than she had arrived. Maybe in BII she would have found a more thrilling job to keep her busy while waiting for her squad mates...After a few minutes of waiting, the ship rocked a little due to the landing manoeuvres. The third class passengers stood up and prepared to leave their cabins. Lilwenn was dying with impatience. She felt as dirty as a Vuldrok barbarian and more claustrophobic than if she had spent a month in solitary confinement. Third class cabins didn’t even have windows to look out on the star-filled expanse of space. She wanted to get out, drink a cool beverage, find a decent room with a bath to scrub herself in and sleep in a real bed ! She hoped the prices weren’t too high on Cumulus, or she’d have to find some way to fill her pockets. “Well”, she mused, thinking about some of the poor sods she’s scammed in the past, “a girl’s gotta do what she needs to get by...”A low rumble resonated throughout the hull of the star liner. They had landed at last ! In a few minutes, she’d be in Cumulus, and about time too ! A siren blared :“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cumulus. Passengers are invited to get ready for check-out. Please do not forget to fill the admission papers. For those in need, writing assistance will be provided at the check-out points. 1st class passengers are invited to move towards the exit ramps.”“What ?!” Lilwenn blurted, annoyed…An hour later, the 3rd class passengers still hadn’t moved an inch. Most were seated on folding chairs or bunks, waiting for something to happen. The siren blared again. Everybody stood up.“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cumulus. Passengers are invited to get prepared for check-out. Please do not forget to fill the admission papers. Writing assistance will be provided at check-out points. 2nd class passengers are invited to move towards the exit ramps.”Everybody stood back down in a low murmur of annoyance. “For the Pancreator’s sake !” Lilwenn shouted ! She was getting more and more agitated and couldn’t stand to wait any longer. She was starting to think something was wrong. It wasn’t the first time she travelled on a star liner, and it had never taken this long to get off the ship...Two hours later, the long-awaited siren blared again :«Third class passengers are requested to move towards the exits ramps.»“Whatever happened to ‘Welcome to Cumulus’ ?”, grumbled Lilwenn, on edge... She was getting really impatient so she pushed and smiled her way up the queue to gain a few precious minutes. The exit to the landing dock was overflowing with people. A half-hour later, she spotted the doors at last, and suddenly understood the reason for this unimaginable delay.A group of men and women wearing heavy black hooded cloaks were systematically searching all the exiting passengers ! The information spread like wildfire in the crowd : “Inquisitors !”. Some people went pale while others started eying at their neighbours suspiciously. Lilwenn edged to the side of the large exit ramp and discreetly entered a side-corridor. There she opened her backpack and reshuffled some stuff in there. Then she checked that her knife was well hidden inside her boot and slid a small silver object under one of her bracelets. Five minutes later, she took a place back in the queue, as if nothing had happened.A few moments later, she exited through one of the airlocks. The hall in which the ship was docked was huge and there were five or six different exits for third class passengers. In front of each of these, 3 or 4 inquisitors were posted. Further away, she could see more black clad silhouettes. “Something heavy’s going down...”, she thought.Two inquisitors, a man and a woman, stepped in front of her.“Hi, Brothers !”, she said in a cheerful tone.Without a word, the man took her bag while the woman started searching her.- Mind you don’t fondle me too much, Sister, said Lilwenn when the female inquisitors hands started checking her legs.The woman, embarrassed, didn’t thoroughly check the inside of the boots, which was Lilwenn’s idea from the start. The young Scraver decided to push her advantage :- Meanwhile, the other one is sniffing my panties..., she said loudly.Indeed, the male inquisitor had some of Lilwenn’s very personal belongings in his hands. She had put them on top of the bag so that they would be unavoidable. The man blushed and shoved the clothes back inside. He handed the backpack to Lilwenn without meeting her eyes.“Thank you, have a good day !”, she concluded without letting her tension show. Once out of the space dock, she breathed real deep a couple of times to regain her composure. She wasn’t hiding anything ‘heavy’ in her bag, nothing really illegal, but with the Inquisition, that would still have meant several days of hassle and favours to pull amongst her Scraver family to get herself off the hook. It was better this way...Once she’d reached the upper levels of the station, she found herself under the dome, in the city proper. The view was impressive : those skyscrapers against the star-filled backdrop was an unusual sight to say the least. However, she didn’t feel like the station was maintained too well. The area in which she had arrived was dirty, the paint on some of the low buildings was chipped off. To her left, she spotted a high gate that cordoned off a street where the buildings looked derelict and on the verge of crumbling. She decided to find a nicer district for her food and lodging.She was walking along a merchant street when she passed in front of a bar called the “Ur Portal”. “Strange name”, she thought. At that moment, a familiar looking man emerged from the establishment with a heavy bag on his shoulders. She ran to him :“Faz, Hey, Faz !”Lamar Faz turned around.“Lilwenn !”, he shouted, hugging the young woman. “What on Urth are you doing here ?”</blockquote>

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