#comdis

[ The training session had been short but intense- nothing over the top, they didn’t want to wear themselves out before the mission, but a little warm-up went a long way to making sure they were even more ready.

The facility they were assigned to protect was located at the edge of a large, blue-gold nebula which apparently didn’t have a name; Grey had to admit it was clever of the Arkans to pit a base so close to as disrupting a phenomena as a nebula, and it became clear to him that the coordinates Deire had provided were likely known to Arkans only- this warp point was an Arkan-only route. Even here, so far out of Arkan space, he could feel their cold, calculating presence....

The ship was guided to dock via tractor beam with the facility, a gigantic tapering cylindrical space station covered in various panels designed to collect energy from the nearby nebula; docking had been easy, since his ship had been registered by Deire ahead of time as viable for the station to accept without an immediate gunning-down. His ship wouldn’t have been able to take the firepower those advanced turrets packed...

Within a short time, the airlock door connecting the ship and space station opened after depressurization, and there Grey and Red were, Grey looking oddly serious even with the mask on as he took his first steps into the facility; it was a clinical white hallway extending before them to an atrium of sorts, a wide area with a few exits leading away to the rest of the facility, holographic writing in the Arkan language on the walls serving a purpose he couldn’t understand. It was a little more advanced than he was used to seeing for even an Arkan facility, perhaps showcasing how important this place was to them- it had clearly been built using the latest in their technology and design philosphy. ]

[ Once he’d reached the helm, the Greyface sat in the pilot seat and started to plot in a course to the coordinates Deire had provided- they were actually a long way away so the trip would take about two hours. Plenty of time to prepare.

The ‘helm’ as Grey called it, or more often known as the bridge, was an assortment of blinking lights, knobs, dials and buttons all spread out over one panel with a window looking outside. Grey hadn’t the slightest idea of what a lot of the buttons did, only the ones that suited him- that is to say, those which handled navigation, weaponry and communications. All of which were mostly within easy reach, thankfully. He still tried the other buttons on occasion but all that tended to do was either nothing (nothing noticeable, anyway) or cause something bad to happen. He was fairly certain a lot of the buttons were just redundant functions waiting to be assigned to something new.

As it was, the display of the reliable but not altogether quality space vessel he flew about turned as the ship reoriented itself to point towards the coordinates in question; punching in the confirmation code, and the ship lurched forward, the entire thing shaking  a little before entering warp at last. Grey sighed, then laid back in his chair, tapping his fingers against the armrest.

He’d have to tell Red what was going on, of course....he figured his recent partner in crime would at least come up to the bridge to see what the fuss was all about. What mattered was whether or not Grey could be bothered to get up and meet him halfway, or just act like the lazy ass he was and wait for the other bounty hunter to reach the bridge.

Greyface was sat at a small metal table in the recreational area of his ship, fingers interlaced while resting on the table with his arms and staring into the screen of a portable laptop-like device he’d put atop the table earlier; he was an unusual-looking fellow, wearing a greyish-black suit seperated in the middle by a belt; his entire head was obscured by a grey metal mask of some sort with a plain, undetailed face on the front currently set in a straight-faced neutral expression. The eyes of said mask were obscured by a pair of shades, the mouth only a little obscured by a bright red scarf draped over his shoulders; furthermore, a red cap with a blue brim rested securely atop his head. It all came together to form a truly bizarre visual appearence that wasn’t helped by his portliness, and the obscuring features made it hard to properly identifiy exactly who and what he was.

Prominent Chinese commentator urges COVID experts to ‘speak out’

BEIJING, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Prominent Chinese commentator Hu Xijin said on Sunday that as China ponders its COVID-19 policies, epidemic experts need to speak out and China ought to conduct comprehensive research and make any studies transparent to the public. Hu’s unusual call on Chinese social media for candour and transparency earned him 34,000 likes on the popular Twitter-like microblog…