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Happiness.

Happiness is one of the most important and mysterious emotions known to mankind.
Throughout history, it has always been desired for good reasons. For example, to facilitate the grey lives of pityful souls, so they can bear daily routine with less difficulity. Ironically, a few of them lost the objective on their desperate search for happiness, and therefore have never found it. And then, others simply pretend a lifetime long to have achieved happiness by showing off material wealth, just to cram at least something into the empty hole of their existence.

But some...some folks really made it. In fact, it is so easy: Regardless in whose life, the common things are those which provide this comfy, warm feeling without much effort. It might be a refreshing walk with your dog, the comfy warm bed at the end of your hard working day, or looking at your child's drawing on the fridge door. You simply have to appreciate the neat, little things the universe presents you!

In our particular case, the little thing providing happiness to Hans' and Ana's life at this very moment is a tiny plastic card...charged with five million Sirian credits, with best regards from the Schliemann Academy on New Berlin.

Hard to believe some smartarses say money doesn't bring happiness!

Standing there with an idiotic, happy grin which reaches from one ear to the other,
Hans and Ana are still stunned by holding a real fortune in his hands...and also by the fact that they really made it against all odds to this very moment of victory. Even alive! The first positive aspect during the last couple of days.
Even right now, Hans hasn't yet enterily processed this insanly unlikely chance of turning the initial catastrophy into such a legendary happy-end. Therefore, he decides to keep that stiff idiotic smile up for another couple of minutes, and relive those mad days once more.




In hindsight, the happenings of the last weeks sound crazy. Like, really crazy. Like a cheap story written by a try-hard author which will be sold for one credit in a dark
corner of a spaceport. But hell, our universe is known for such odd moves.

For instance, a good example for such a move is the cooperation of two rather bizarre characters like Hans von Goeben and Ana Chavez. What started as an exchange of stereotypical insults during their first meeting, resulted in fate merging together this hot-tempered Corsair clan gal and the quaint freelancing scientist with the heavy Rheinlandish accent (Oh, and of course Walter von Gaia, my pardon.), and forming -something- like a friendship overtime...or at least bilateral tolerance. For such an exotic outcome, an equally exotic reason must exist. And it does:

As in many other cases before, it was Goeben's curiosity for the unknown which started all of this. And his childish naivity. Well, mostly his naivity.
Hans was hiding on Freeport XI from another mob of creditors: A handful of GMG fat-cats he was hired by a few weeks ago. He was supposed to drop a new sattelite from his yacht into a freshly claimed gas cloud for these people...wasn't his fault its circuits melted due to the aggressive radiation there, but his clients still think differently about this incident.

Time passed on the station and it had already started to get boring, until one day, a furiously cursing Corsair at the bar drew Hans' attention towards her. The Hispanic was complaining about the price for rum onboard the station, despite its close location to Corsair territory. Like Hans had already experienced, the bartender was a fair man...as usual, he let luck resolve this conflict of interests:
The bartender had the luck to have a plasma shotgun and guards, the Corsair not. And so, the loser withdrawed, still swearing, and sat down on a bench next to this fine establishment in order to sulk.

Now, as it is written in the 'Sirian Guide for Interstellar Travellers', approaching an angry Corsair may not be the best idea, especially as a foreigner, but while our favourite scientist was watching this scene, an idea grew in his mind to kill two birds with one stone: Paying his debts very quickly...and making some good extra cash. The chance he had been waiting for since his arrival here!

If Hans has ever learned something from his journies, it is this: Buy someone a drink and he will be your new friend. Same should also count for a Corsair and their unexplainable affinity towards rum...as long as the bottle of rum lasts.
A word and a blow! Goeben took the chance and, after offering a bottle of rum, asked this woman, Arcelia by name, if the Corsairs also did business with Freelancers like him. As a Xenologist, he would be very interested in pouring into artifacts, and all of Sirius knows that Omicron Gamma was a true El Dorado for alien objects!

And also, the right place to buy that stuff for a snip. The Rheinlander knew how the quality control to label prices was conducted on Crete (hit rock to see if there is something shiny under it or not), so he was hoping to hit the jackpot and buy there a couple of "rocks" cheaply and sell these very precious "rocks" to some collectors in House Space for a fortune. Also, this way, no active artifacts would come across the border. He even will do society a favour this way. With his expertice, he can be sure nothing will go wrong. Nothing at all...

Bearing this genius plan in mind, he shook hands with his eagerly accepting business partner to seal the contract:
A crate of rum and 500 Sirian Credits down payment for a safe escort to Crete and planetfall to Arcelia's clan hideout, the Chavez Refugium. There, he surely would find a lot of chances to invest his money in artifacts...and in the Chavez clan.

Now, long story short:
After an eventless escort from Delta to Tripolis Shipyard, Omicron Gamma, Hans' yacht, the Westphalia, was moored to the space station, and both of them were waiting for a certain representative of the Chavez family named Junivera to show up. After she had arrived, a short introduction of her being Goeben's new babysitter on Crete followed, and they boarded an old, rusty shuttle to make their way down to the hideout.

The ride through the atmosphere was as pleasent and silent as the flight through space, with the exception of hundreds fast-firing energy projectiles hammering against the shuttle's shield. But that is normal around there, Junivera assured. Hans already suspected he was about to enter a warzone...and it was a correct assumption. The never ending rivalry between the Corsair families...

Then, finally, the Chavez Refugium appeared on the horizon...a hollow mountain in the midst of an endless desert.




From here onwards, things happened rather normally and fast for Hans' standards. They arrived, then his babysitter, now revealing herself to be a Corsair specialist for artifacts, clearly stated that Hans will from now on work as an assistant of hers and the Chavez until he taught his complete knowledge to her. This way, the clan can identify the valuable pieces of rocks, therefore earn even more money for the family's armoury. Otherwise... he would get thrown out. The fact that the hideout's exit was on a 1000 foot high mountain in the middle of nowhere, made the choice pretty easy. They aren't as dumb as Hans assumed, those pirates.

Two weeks later. The Corsairs' methods were indeed as ancient as the artifacts they were dealing with. So, Hans set up his own, modern laboratory equipment in this cave. The new lab rat had everything else but a boring time. Showing his new Hispanic colleague the whole day how to work professionally, they started to talk about other stuff than Xenology and got to know each other better and better.
What? Don't judge them! What else would you do in a mountain sorrounded by a desert and without neural net access, than forced social interaction? Horrible, I know.
Slowly but constantly, it became more and more obvious to Hans that this woman was something else than the ordinary Corsair from next door. She was way more sophisticated and cultured, even though still...hot-tempered and smug...not that he would have no high self-esteem, too. This turned working with her complicated, but funny. Eventually, he cought himself even smiling and joking around her, the same way as she was doing. Was it habituation by now? Or did they really symphatize with each other?

Hans and Junivera did not have many other people around them during their research and free time...if there was any free time besides sleep: The, in the other Corsairs' eyes, nerdy research couple who enjoy the luxury of an air conditioned laboratory is not worth a conversation. This circumstance caused some rumours and also jealousy among the people in the hideout.

It had been twenty days now. In the canteen, Juni and Hans dared to agree on going to the local club instead of hanging out in the lab until late night as usual. Unfortunatly...this was a bad idea. It seems like Corsairs do not like the sight of their maidens accompanied by anyone else but a Corsair muscle man. Especially when this Corsair female revealed herself to the foreigner as a leading clan member the same night!
Her real name is Ana Chavez. She only uses "Junivera" as a cover...for whatever reason. This is something Goeben has not understood until this day.

After this night which contained incidents including a lot of alcohol, wild dancing, Hans singing, Ana insulting a man two heads taller than herself and running away from the security, Goeben was woken up by bangs against his room door. Ana, without further explanations, commanded him to pack some clothes into a suitcase and leave everything behind. Now.
How predictable. Something went horribly wrong thanks to yesterday's actions. But it was worth it. Probably.

Before Goeben was able to ask Ana what exactly was going on, they were already flying in a shuttle through the narrow gap of the hideout's closing hangar doors, dodging AA fire.
Obviously, their quality time was something...close to herecy...and made some people angry.

Hans' yacht was easy to take over. Even before Tripoli was warned, the shuttle flew into the opened space hangar of the Westphalia, and minutes later, the ship emitted an EMP which interrupted the mooring fixture's magnetic locks.
So far, so good. Two folks, one a now wanted Corsair clan member and the other a scientist without his laboratory equipment worth grands than hair on his head and still no cash, on the run from an army of pirates and their fleet.

Little did they knew back there that this is just the beginning of a journey full of astronomical adventures, galactic globetrotting, orbital odyssees and cheap hotels which would lead them...

Walking through the icy-cold wind of New Berlin, leaving the University Tower behind, Ana Catalina Estrella Chavez could not remember feeling that content in a  long time. If anybody had ever told her that she would once leave the top-floor office with a paycheck in her hand over several million Sirian Credits, she would have shaken her head in disbelief. But it was true. Looking over her shoulder as they were boarding the elevator to the New Berlin Space Port IV-A, she realized how far she had come.

It all had started with some chance encounter that had put Arcelia - her older sister - into contact with Hans von Goeben, a freelance scientist and expert on artifacts. Arcelia had told her that he likely was a smuggler more than everything else and that she should squeeze him for knowledge and take advantage of what he knows.

Things had turned out differently. Hans did not even recognize her as a scientist and she could not disagree any more after she had been working with him for a while. He had every right to call her a better rockcutter, perhaps at least one with a vision and a mind open enough to get somewhere outside in the larger universe - away from Crete and its clan conflicts.

She can't help but look at Hans and smirk when she compares these plans with what they have now. Not everything was great. Crete was locked for them now as their actions triggered a clan struggle between the Chavez and the Litaya clans on Crete, and obliterated a laboratory to cover their tracks. Regrettable. But at the moment the destruction was nothing more than negligible collateral damage. A sacrifice to freedom and a new start, new opportunities and challenges.

Meeting Hans has opened a new world to her, and living in this world was so much more exciting than her former life. His laboratory on his ship was more powerful and better stocked than the Chavez clan's main lab and not a day passed in which she would not learn something from Hans. His instruments and technical equipment were fascinating, the options this equipment opened still seemed limitless for her. She spent hours analysing samples that suddenly were so much more than just the rocks that were cut and sold on the black markets. And slowly she understood why Hans had been in shock when he first saw her 'scientific' work procedures. Artifacts were a world of their own.


Her past on Crete, marked by clan conflicts, famine, loss of members and a struggle for survival seemed far away right now. They had  plenty of  food here and the money in their pockets to have another good meal tomorrow. Or even tonight another one. She was not used to this, not yet at least.

There were great plans to break down even more of the barriers and perhaps... perhaps... she would return to Crete later to change things to the better. Perhaps. But first, she would go with Hans, completely explore the known universe, see foreign, far-away places, meet people and learn more about everything. And perhaps... perhaps... who can know what the future brings?

She looks to Hans again, smiling, and taking the arm Hans offered her: "Let's start this adventure." she says when they made their way out of the crowded elevator. She remembers how bad this experience was for the first time. Now, in a good mood, and knowing they did it, it was not that bad any more. "I'm really looking forward to it." she says when they board the ship and cue into the long row of undocking ships.

It's the beginning of the adventure.

Similiar to the snarl-up down on the surface of New Berlin, the planet's orbit is also filled with uncountable vessels, reaching from the smallest one-person-shuttle to the Kanzler's greatest battleships.

Through this vivid traffic density, a strange vessel makes its way to the more calm outer orbit.
A lot of pilots and captains observe it gaining more and more speed. Their curiosity probably arises from the picturesque dragon statues and small towers on the hull, which is topped by the purple-blue-white illumination. Constantly blinking. A bizarre Kusarian yacht...

Inside, two clueless faces stare outside the front window of the command bridge, towards the stars.

Ana and Hans have not spoken a word since they entered the space elevator and boarded the yacht.
At least for Hans, the initial excitement gave way to doubt. Of course, he is still reliefed and happy about the outcome, but...what to do next?
He is busy with manouvering right now, yet absent-minded; thinking about their situation.

They got funds now...exactly like they planned before coming to New Berlin.

Hans' domestic connection to the boss of the Schliemann Institute, who is his aunt Laura von Goeben, helped them overcoming the financial fiasco. In return for the risky five-million-investment in an (seemingly complicated) expedition of two, she demanded high-end premium artifacts! Afterall, the Schliemann Institute is a renowned organisation, providing expertice in Xeno-archeology...and exhibitions of the very same thing.


Since they were running low on worthy exhibits for an important event, it is now Ana's and Hans' task to find neat things within the next weeks for the institute. Something to impress the audience with...and get more investors for Schliemann!
A well-payed and advertised job, which was only granted to them since Hans was begging for it...at least that is what Laura said.

What auntie does not know about, is the more or less sinister plan Ana came up with when Hans mentioned his family relation and this very job as an option to escape the monitary problem after their rushed escape:

Instead of spending the invested money for an expedition with dozens of specialists, co-workers, material, supplies, wages and whatnot...why not using the five million credits for themselve?

"Just think about it, Hans...", she said,"..there are plenty of fine artifacts back on Crete...the ones we have already analysed and primed for selling them to fat cats. Exactly what your aunt is looking for!
We just have to wait until the coast is clear to go back on Crete, grab the stuff and your equipment, and make it back to New Berlin! We will not have to spend a single credit on a stupid expedition! Auntie will have her artifacts, you got your valuable equipment back, and we both got five. friggin. million. credits. to blow! Everybody will profit from this deal!"

Indeed, best deal in Hans' life so far! And it worked out! Just...

Goeben activates the auto-pilot and leans back. A deep sigh escapes his mouth.
The revision did not help to answer him the important question of 'what next'.

He bites his lip and turns his gaze to Ana. "So...", he states quietly,"...we made it. Sirius lies ahead of us...and also much time until we can go back to grab the artifacts."