A bouquet of disdain; A box of risky bets

[Mr.Fabulous]

"Andres... Home." The Tiger Shark, Terminal Velocity, flew high above what looked to be a small Corsair settlement on the steep slope of this enormous active volcano, Mount Andres. Jaden Armand, the pilot of this Tiger Shark, leaned her head to the side to get a good look at the hellish, ash-covered lands beneath her, "... At least it was until I was cast out for my cowardice."

The Andres settlement was a mining town that relied heavily on exporting artifacts for its income and labor. But despite the vast quantities of artifacts and the occasional mineral vein to be found underneath the volcano, living conditions here were quite harsh: Mount Andres constantly spews smoke pillars upwards and lava down its mouth, the smoke blotting out the skies with thick ash and soot, which then fall to the ground like fine, grey snow, while the red-hot lava rivers were an ever-present hazard and nuisance for the residents, keeping the air constantly hot and dry. While it's bad enough having to deal with the build-up of soot that risked solidifying like concrete if it wasn't shoveled out quickly enough, the town relied on supply shipments from other cities to survive, but even these were hard to come by due to the ash clouds presenting navigational hazards like poor visibility and frequent lightning strikes.

Fortunately for Jaden, the skies were clear enough that day for spacecraft to pass safely, and with the help of ground control she got her ship to dock on the nearest public hanger available. It was tricky landing a ship with its cockpit glass being buffeted by falling soot, having to rely on scanner-imagery to see through the soot, but eventually she touches the Terminal Velocity down on the dusty landing pad. As the hanger roof retracts to shield the ship from further falloff, Jaden begins powering down the ship and grabs her rebreather before heading out.

After sliding down the cockpit ladder, she puts the rebreather on and then brushes the dust from her black flight suit. Moments later, service robots arrive to start maintenance procedures on the Tiger Shark, followed by a gravitonic platform to ferry the food rations from the ship's cargo hold. Guessing that the robots can manage on their own, she leaves them to their duties and exits the hanger building.

Much of the town runs underground and is powered by geothermal energy from the volcano itself, the residents only having to come up topside to work in the towers connected to the cave network poking from underground to serve as ground control for visiting and departing ships, maintain the powerful fans that keep the soot from solidifying on the entrances into Andres, and see to it the lava rivers are always diverted from the town's entrance ways.

When Jaden exited the hanger bay, she was surprised by how populated the town's caveways were: she could note down hundreds of people passing her by, many of them in comfortable-enough clothing, while the rocky cave walls were now polished smooth... a far-cry from the dozens of shabby mining denizens walking through rough cave stone she was used to seeing in her childhood days. Looking around, she found herself unfamiliar with the place she was in, but thankfully a nearby public info-terminal pointed her in the right direction.

It was surprisingly-easy to blend into the crowd as Jaden passed through the brown cave halls of Andres since most of the people were usually busy with something, and being a Corsair settlement, it was alright for her to open carry her pistol so long as she behaved. The passageways were large enough to fly a light fighter through, but most of the traffic consisted of people, with the occasional gravitonic platform following behind groups, carrying either heavy luggage or commodities like artifacts or supplies. Another change was how there were many more complexes connected to the tunnels than when she first left. In fact, some of the doors were high above, reachable by wide, robust catwalks connected to the ground by elevators and escalators. Jaden couldn't help but smile, knowing how much Andres had developed since she was last here.

Soon, Jaden arrives at the crossroads she was very familiar with, Felipe-3 Junction. What made this junction very familiar to her was that it used to be a very busy place: being a crossroad that led to various dig sites on one side and several hanger bays on the other, Felipe-3 Junction had become somewhat of a market district. Even now she can still find many services here like restaurants, bars, mining stores and some specialized spacecraft equipment dealers. She could even find her favorite restaurant, Pueblo San Carlos, still running in business.

But more importantly, however, Jaden used to live near here.

After weaving through the crowds of people, a task easier said than done because a small fiesta was going on in the middle of the crossroads at the time, she soon came upon the dusty metal door, and a tear fell down her eye. It felt like an eternity since she left this place, an age since she was exiled by her own people and made an untouchable.

But the door suddenly slides open, flinching Jaden, and the next thing she saw in front of her was a small boy, probably no older than ten years old, "Uh... Hola?"

"EEEK! Mamá, Mamá! There is a strange woman at the dooor!"

"Ack! Hijo, please don't panic, I---"

"Who's there?!" Jaden suddenly looks up to see a woman in her early 30's sporting a fairly-large rifle at her, "Who are you?! What are you doing here, hermana?!"

Jaden immediately raises both hands up, "Por favor, don't shoot, señorita!"

"Why shouldn't I, hermana?" The rifle starts humming, indicating it was fully warmed up and ready to shoot at drop of a hat, "For all I know you could be an assassin, or a kidnapper trying to take my precious hijo away! Now, ON THE GROUND, PITA!"

Jaden quickly falls to the ground as the boy motions back inside. Satisfied her son is safe, she slowly motions to Jaden, but stops a distance away to avoid any sudden ambush, "Now... why are you here, hermana?"

"I u-used to live here, señorita. I j-just wanted to pay a visit."

The woman raises her eyebrows from Jaden's statement, "You... used to live here?"

---

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