Visit Titan, the pride of the Draxus Star System! The premiere vacation spot in the galaxy! Don’t let our planet’s small size fool you; Titan has some of the finest cuisine, greatest natural wonders, and friendliest people in all seven Star Systems. Titan has more than just the largest spaceport ever built; it is the fastest developing planet in history! See Titan’s extraordinary Crystal Desert, or soak up the nightlife at Nephilim One, what Galaxy Press has called “the liveliest city this side of the universe”. Titan has something for everyone!

Excerpt from the Titan Tourism Bureau guide, circa 058 G.C.

Nephilim One // January 14th, 086 G.C.

The Galaxy Runner soared over the vast cityscape of crumbling skyscrapers and decaying architecture. Nephilim One’s skyline, once a beacon of progress, was now reduced to a grim reminder of a bygone time. The starship’s exteriors lights blazed on, cutting through the sky’s twilight veil. The Galaxy Runner exited the city limits, crossing into a rural district with fewer buildings and heavy tree cover.

The blue flames emanating from the Galaxy Runner’s rear-thrusters waned. She decelerated; retrorockets flared up at the front of the ship, causing her to stop mid-air. The starship hovered above a circular landing platform, surrounded by a forested section of land.

An army of hidden flood lights blasted on at ground level, each vivid beam directed at the Galaxy Runner. The platform separated down the middle, creating two sections that folded inwards. A long, vertical tunnel was exposed, leading deep into a dark abyss.

The Galaxy Runner, using a combination of low rear-thruster bursts and front and top retrorockets, began its vertical descent into the mouth of the tunnel. Upon entry, a winding trail of guide lights blinked on, showcasing the tunnel’s metallic interior construction.

Dirge’s jaw tightened, his teeth digging into the cigar firmly wedged between his lips. He wobbled around like a madman, making his long, greasy gray hair appear even more disorderly. Dirge was pushing his late fifties, a beefy, rotund man with skin caked in years of accumulated dirt and starship grease.

Staggering about, he glanced from one end of his enormous steel warehouse to the other. Frantic, he scanned the area for anyone who could be of some use. Congested inside a labyrinth of catwalks, crates, and large machinery was enough to drive a man insane—a threshold Dirge had arrived at long ago. The ongoing racket of the mechanics shouting and cursing while they worked, pooled with the never-ending clanging of metal had made him not only lose his mind, but also a good deal of his hearing. This forced him to wear an outdated hearing-aid. It had become uncommon for anyone to still be using such devices but Dirge was too cheap to spend money on an artificial enhancement.

Money meant the galaxy to Dirge and he had no qualms about figuring out unscrupulous ways on how to obtain more with spending less. Whether those ways are achieved by cheating, lying, or stealing made no difference (and if he managed to accomplish it in the confines of his repair shop, all the better). Dirge lived by the old adage that ‘mechanics had a license to steal’ and he would take any unsuspecting customer for a ride without hesitation.

Dirge marched on, searching for one of his hired supervisors. In total he had over forty men under his employ, if it could be called employment. Most of his workers had been lowlifes from the slums, addicted drug abusers, or amateur thieves on Titan. This served Dirge well, as he never had to pay them, instead offering shelter, cheap grade drugs, and protection from the Galaxy Enforcement (not that Galaxy Enforcement even bothered with Titan anymore).

A faint light on a nearby wall caught Dirge’s eye. That damn sign, he cursed to himself. When is someone gonna fix that slaggin’ thing? The neon ‘Dirge’s Post’ sign was stretched across the far wall, above where several dilapidated starships rested while undergoing repairs. The letters ‘g’ and ‘s’ had long since burned out, making the sign read ‘Dire Post’.

Dismayed, Dirge turned, bumping into Oort Cloud, the latest supervisor he hired. Oort was around his early thirties and a heavy stardust addict, but he had proved to be more reliable than many of the other workers. That was, until he had his withdrawals.

“Oort, what in blazes is goin’ on?” Dirge inquired, yanking the cigar from his mouth. “I was just told we gave ship clearance to someone? Well, this is news to me, an’, bet your bottom credit, I’m runnin’ this show! You got a clue about this mess, Oort? Cause’ I sure didn’t authorize any ships to dock here!”

“But its Orion Darkstarr, boss,” Oort answered matter-of-factly, watching Dirge take a puff of his cigar. “I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

“Darkstarr!” Dirge almost choked on the cigar smoke. “That blasted sonuva—”

The end of Dirge’s sentence was washed out by the engine roar of the Galaxy Runner finishing her descent into the facility. The starship landed on a docking platform; an array of catwalks lowered from the ceiling, surrounding her. A metal staircase lifted out from the platform’s floor, folding upwards toward the entrance panel on the Galaxy Runner’s side.

Dirge tossed his cigar onto the floor and stomped it flat. “That freebootin’ bastard’s got some guts showin’ his face here!”

Legart removed his hands from the controls and flicked a switch to shut down the Galaxy Runner’s engines.

Ace rose from his seat and turned to Orion. “You mind if we hit the town and enjoy ourselves a little?”

“You’ve got fourteen hours and then I want to be off this planet,” Orion replied, his tone unusually sharp. “The sooner we get back into space, the better.”

Rising out of his command chair, Orion advanced towards the exit. “I’ll go talk to Dirge about the repairs; you three inspect the remaining cargo crates. While we’re here, might as well cash in those Petro Diamonds.” Orion left the cockpit.

“Nice! We get the fun job.” Smirking, Ace rubbed his hands together. He could hardly wait to dive into the bounty of Petro Diamonds that awaited them. He already decided on what his share of the plunder would be spent on: ritzy casinos, expensive restaurants, and beautiful women.

“Yeah?” Legart interjected. “Well, how do you know we didn’t lose all the Petro Diamonds when the ship was hit?”

The old man’s comment slammed Ace back from cloud nine to a truthful, albeit harsh, reality. His fantasies spiraled into a darkened abyss. “You old folks are always so negative, you know that?”

Ace had spent the better part of a week hacking into the collected databases of every private freight company in an effort to find the most valuable cargo being transported. When he found that a Petro Diamond shipment was being escorted by Galaxy Enforcement, he figured they had scored the motherload. His original projection was surpassed after discovering that the transport had been under maximum clearance and designated top-secret. To uncover the classified details and the cargo shuttle’s route, Ace had to breach a maze of virtual firewalls, intricate passcodes, and fourteen-levels of digital intrusion-blockades. It was not a walk in the park, even for Ace, who was the ‘greatest hacker in the galaxy’, a self-proclaimed title, of course. Now, losing the Petro Diamonds would have been a nightmare come true and one that Ace would rather not consider.

Ace shook the thought from his mind. A few of the Petro Diamond crates still had to be in the Galaxy Runner’s cargo hanger—they couldn’t have all been sucked out into space! Ace succeeded at convincing himself, at least for the time being. Switching his focus from the disparaging matter at hand to a more enlightening prospect, he stepped over to Nova’s seat. Ace would openly confess to being a bit of a womanizer, but he’d rather just say he ‘had a way with the ladies’. His blunt and straightforward manner would often get him in over his head with trouble, but he was equally skilled at getting out of any dilemma he got in.

“Hey Nova, how’s about after we cash in the spoils, you and me get a drink?” Ace asked, his confidence showing no fault. “Shipmates should get to know each other better, don’t you think?”

Nova gave him a cold, indifferent glance. “Are you asking me out?”

Ace’s assured demeanor crumpled under her icy gaze. “Well, uh, sure I—”

“Sorry, Ace,” Nova cut in, stressing his name with a playfully snide voice. “I only interact with life forms capable of using more than one brain cell.”

Nova stood up from her chair and headed for the exit. She didn’t feel bad about telling Ace off, and feeding him some of the same repartee he so often handed Legart had been strangely satisfying. From the moment she met Ace, it had been apparent that he was arrogant, egotistical, and full of himself, the sort of person who needed to be taken down a peg.

“Cold—but quick,” Ace muttered with a tinge of amusement. “Where have you been all my life?”

“Hiding on a star system far from you,” Nova replied, leaving the cockpit.

“Looks like you’ve been shot down, kid,” Legart chuckled. From him, a laugh sounded more like a forced cough, but it still added insult to Ace’s injury.

Ace rolled his eyes and gave Legart a defiant smile. “Eh, she’ll come around.”

Orion exited the Galaxy Runner, stepping onto a grated catwalk resting beneath the entrance panel. Far below he could see Dirge flailing his arms and pacing back and forth like a crazed lunatic. Some things never change, Orion thought. Dirge was still the same old codger he had always been.

Hydraulics and motorized gears spun, whirled, and gyrated underneath the catwalk. The sectioned panel of walkway lowered Orion away from the Galaxy Runner’s side. Within seconds he reached the floor and strode off the lift.

“Darkstarr!” Dirge barked, his infuriated shout rising above the racket inside the facility. He wobbled over as fast as his globular body would allow. Dirge was no fan of the legendary Pirate Scourge, not by a long shot. Of course, Dirge didn’t really like anyone, but nevertheless, he held a particular bone of contention towards Orion. Space pirates, in general, were a pain to deal with and always tried screwing him when it came to business dealings. They were the only ones quick enough to pull a fast one on him and Dirge wasn’t one to see the shoe on the other foot; if anybody was doing the cheating, it would be him!

Orion cracked a fake smile. “Long time no see, Dirge.”

Out of breath, the irate man stopped inches before the space pirate. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“The Galaxy Runner needs repairs,” Orion answered, motioning towards the starship.

“That piece of junk’s still kickin’? Looks like its ready to be melted down! Well, it don’t matter, cause’ I can’t service your ship, Darkstarr. We’re backlogged, I’m shorthanded, things are rough. Tight scheduling and all that, you know how it is. Looks like you’d better depart,” Dirge advised curtly before storming off. In the back of his mind he was hoping that the pirate would vanish as fast as he had appeared.

Orion followed, keeping pace. “You don’t really expect me to believe that? You’ve never had a problem taking my money before.”

“I was never doing business with a wanted man before,” Dirge shot back.

“Nice to see you’ve developed a conscience,” Orion noted, making no attempt to hide his sarcasm. “I’ve been wanted for a while now, that’s nothing new—and with the kind of scum on this planet, I know you’ve done business with a lot worst.”

“Maybe,” Dirge claimed, “but there’s a bounty on your head, an’ I don’t deal with men who’ve been tagged. The last thing I need are bounty hunters on my ass looking for you. I could deal with Galaxy Enforcement, but I draw the line at bounty hunters. They’re reckless, half of them are outright killers!”

There was only one thing in the galaxy that Dirge feared. Bounty hunters. The very thought of them chilled Dirge’s already cold, callous soul.

“When did they put a bounty on me?” Orion asked, both amused and surprised.

“You mean, you didn’t even know!? They posted it about a half-hour ago, it’s being broadcast nonstop. What did you do to deserve that? Kidnap a chancellor’s daughter?”

“Just a small time hijacking.”

Dirge laughed. “Apparently not as small as you think.”

Orion’s expression hardened. “The Galaxy Runner needs to be patched up, weapons restocked, and the stardrive replaced. Do it in less than nine hours and we’ll be gone. You have my word. On top of the costs, I’ll throw in a few Petro Diamonds.”

Dirge stopped in his tracks, snapping back around. “Petro Diamonds! You ain’t tryin’ to hornswaggle me, are you, Darkstarr?”

“After all these years, would I do that to you?” Orion replied, his fake smile returning.

“All right, all right, you have a deal,” Dirge relented, the promise of Petro Diamonds being too valuable to resist. “Keep in mind, rush repairs cost extra.”

“Deal.”

Dirge broke loose with a bout of laughter. “That’s rich! They stamped a bounty on you just for stealin’ Petro Diamond?”

“Galaxy Enforcement must be getting desperate,” Orion countered.

“Orion!” Legart’s voice rang across the post.

Glancing upwards, toward the Galaxy Runner, Orion could see Legart in the ship’s doorway.

Legart jutted a finger towards the starship’s interior. “Get up here, quick!”