Timohir: So you are aware of everything that came before - the Mattervore, why we had to leave, the Arks - I will not bother explaining those.
We emerged in orbit of this world. It was a perfect colony. An Earthlike world, a jewel floating in the oasis. And of course, as you know, it was too good to be true. One of the defense stations in orbit fired on us, and we found out as it carved a hole in our Ark. Disabled our engines, hit the cryo bays... killed many people.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."Timohir: By the time we were able to restore engine power, we had hit atmosphere. We couldn't exactly go back up without being shot again, so we opted to descend and perform a quick surface scan.
We were able to identify two excellent sites for colonization; one near arable farmland and resource deposits, and the other near what appeared to be an abandoned city, good for scavenging. The Ark was, of course, suffering - re-entry had damaged it even more than the laser strike had. We were able to eject half of everything we had - cargo, prefabs, vehicles - before the Ark came down.
What happened for that I was not quite able to see. I made a mistake. Stepped too close to an airlock and got sucked out. I am only alive because a sharp VTOL pilot was able to stop my fall.
I broke my leg. But it healed.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."Timohir: The Ark proceeded to go on. Unfortunately, it could no longer hold itself aloft after the last of our supplies were jettisoned, so from what my husband told me after our sister colony got radio contact set up, the Ark was piloted into the ground in a controlled crash-landing near the city.
That colony, a long way from here, quickly came under attack. The planetary defense network has a groundbound component, as well. They were forced to defend themselves. They eventually named themselves Some Assembly Required. After they heard about us being named No Refunds, they figured they should go with the flow.
I feel for them. Defensive firefights are apparently common. The defense network doesn't seem to consider them very high priority, so it doesn't send anything big their way, but...
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."Timohir: Yes.
And... that brings me to what I am going to ask you to do.
-Timohir sighs and takes a few moments-
Timohir: The last time No Refunds and Some Assembly Required have talked was two weeks ago. I sent a scout party up several days back, and they have not yet come back or responded. I am worried. Very worried.
So if you are going to be making the foolhardy attempt to destroy the defense network located here, could you check on our sister colony? It is in roughly the same direction.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."Timohir: Besides, if you need extra motivation, I know Centerpoint pays their recon teams very well if they get into fights. And if we get back in contact I will certainly vouch for you.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."-Timohir pulls out a pen and writes it down-
-On actual paper-
-He then hands it to Lovisia-
Timohir: If you open our skies to spaceships and allow us to live without the spectre of mechanized death over our heads, you will have earned a friend for life.
edited 13th Aug '17 9:57:32 PM by SpartyMcFly
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."Lovisia: ~takes the paper and reads it for a while, clearly having a little trouble~
"...yes. This is accepting conditions."
~she then puts the paper down, demonstratively raises her index finger, moves it to her mouth, and... bites it~
~ewwwww~
"For this have my promise for fulfilling task you gave."
~she puts her bleeding finger on the paper, leaving a bloody print~
edited 13th Aug '17 10:04:40 PM by LeChuck4
Timohir: Very well.
I will ensure that you have a radio that you can contact me with at all times in the event you have any questions you need to ask while you are on your journey.
Is there anything else you need? Other questions you would like to ask?
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."

Lovisia: "...go on..."