Zeo Genesis Travelogues - Episode 12
Greetings, star-nomads! You can call me Trev. (You can also call me Trevallion Franklin-Ridgeway III, but I’d rather you didn’t.) I’ve left behind my shallow executive existence to explore the Hundred Suns, to re-connect with insignificant voiders just like you. These are my travels. You’re welcome.
“I hoped never to see a cell’s interior again, but here we are. Three days now and my only company is Custody-Sergeant Vigeland and the news commentary from the holovision she’s watching. The forcefield keeping me in sadly won’t keep noise out, hence my whispering, and she won’t even turn the projection so it's viewable. It’s how I know the siege of the Tengu’s Table spacescraper has also lasted three days.”
“The lady I dined with? Crime boss. The Tengu syndicate? Crime family. My alleged status? Crime...inal. I ran to this police station to report her murder, but they’ve got it into their skulls I’m a high-level Tengu, having broken bread with her.”
“Hang about, Vigeland is getting animated. Excuse this unscheduled break.”
“So, it transpires Vigeland’s girlfriend is the HV reporter now broadcasting. Why’s that important? Firstly, Vigeland is understandably proud of her partner, Mas, being on HV and is thus letting me watch. And B), Mas is embedded with a GCPP Anti-Zeo squad. There could be up to seven thousand folks trapped in Tengu’s Table, but negotiations with the Hachiman have broken down and the GCPPAZ are preparing to storm.”
“I’ll narrate what’s happening. Mas is following an armored truck moving up with a Stormer and infantry. The truck has a Jinrai Shock Cannon turret, but it seems woefully inadequate for the Amaroq inside. The AZ squad are hesitant to escalate, but it seems a bit late for that.”
“They’ve gotten too close for the Hachiman...Hachimen? Amaroq’s come out blasting, accompanied by a blaze of gangsters’ RIP and beamer fire, some of them using scramboots to attack from above…”
“Truck’s reversing fast—argh, Mas’s gone under. Hopefully she’s—nope, that’s her head. And that’s its insides.”
“Poor Vigeland’s lost it. Total breakdown.”
“I’m so sorry Sergeant Vigeland. Can I do anything? She’ll be remembered forever this way!”
“No, she didn’t react well to that.”
“Camera drone’s recovered. Tracking Amaroq and company down the boulevard, straight through the cordon, into the crowded pedestrian zone. They’re not thrilled about developments either. It does look rather like the next street over from here. Possibly….plausibly. And poor Vigeland, just inconsolable.”
“Sergeant, I hate to interrupt your grief, but it looks like they’re right outside and charging our way. We need to get out of here. That’s right, if you could please lower the forcefield, we’ll stick together in the stampede.”
“We’ll definitely stick together.”
“Stay slippy, star-nomads…”
