The Nexus

[Second_Instance]

Greetings all, I'm new to this forum and I'm just looking for a place to put text out there and see if I can get better as a writer. A big part of improving is just doing and exercising those muscles, so I plan on posting as I go ((Even if it's just a few paragraphs at a time) to just keep it all in one place. Cheers!

 

Ceania System - Belt Manufactora XV1152 ‘The Nexus’. 

The Nexus wasn’t much, a small drifting manufactoria orbiting a distant star in a neglected far off portion of the Imperium, but it was home. It was home firstly to the Cult Mechanicus, overlords of flesh and metal, who coordinated the capture of mineral rich asteroids and then brought them to The Nexus. Upon capture the ore would be separated by vast teams of workers to squeeze every last remaining drop of value from their quarry. With those minerals it seemed like the Mechacnicum could do nearly anything, and with the factories onboard in this dark corner of space they did. This however, is not their story. This is the story of those workers who slaved away in the orbital mines, refined that ore and built the mysteries of the Mechanicus. 

 

Were they slaves? Perhaps. After many generations none of these people had chosen to be born here. It’s also doubtful that the residents of the long forgotten hive who were corralled onto heavy transports and dragged across the warp had much say in the matter, but from those original inhabitants that the population of The Nexus learned grew from and learned their trade. From the Orlocks who manage the docks, the Goliaths who control the manufactora and even the Escher who keep the streets flooded with illicit substances these are the real people of The Nexus, and these will be their stories. 

 

[Tarvek Val]

Welcome to the B&C. Now is as good a time as any to work those creative muscles and polish up your writing skills! I like the intro to this piece, and am excited to see where you take this project.

[Second_Instance]

(out of story: Thanks Tarvek! )
 

 

The Nexus - Cargo Bay A-005

 

“Make way, make way!” the Nexod yelled out as he pushed through the crowd, fighting to climb to the top of a nearby cargo container. “We have work, today some of you will even eat!” he called out, looking out at the hungry huddled mass of workers. A few in the front of the crowd chuckled, but many looked concerned. The oncoming shift gathered here at the start of every shift, aiming to make enough credits to end the day with a full belly and a bottle of firewater however work was never a guarantee. Well, not without the right connections. 

 

Nexod controlled who worked around here, and by extension who would eat and who would live. “This shift we have 3 rocks for breaking down and smelting, they need 100 men.’ He gestured to a ganger wearing a snakeskin jacket nearby, “Iron Jokers, you gather the extra men you need to make it happen.” Briat, boss of the Iron Jokers grinned and nodded. The boys would eat well today. He surveyed the people assembled nearby and continued, “Next, we have 2 cargo ships who just docked and need cargo moved. Drill Bit Bondsmen and Iron Zoo, each of you gather 100 crew and take one ship each. “ Koch of the Bondsmen and Pertia of the Iron Zoo nodded their understanding to each other, they would be working near each other today but there wouldn’t be any fighting. Not until the job was done at least. 

 

 

Nexod looked out at the crowd of a thousand assembled workers and announced “That’s it, see you tomorrow!”. The crowd exploded forward as those with friends, acquaintances or even dealers within the chosen gangs fought with each other to find a place on one of the work shifts. 

 

Towards the back Nyche, a skinny dark haired kid of 18 standard years, sighed and thought of his empty stomach.  

 

[Second_Instance]

 

The crowd pushed forward towards the honoured gang leaders, but Nyche tried to push his way to the side. A kid with no name, no gang and little except for the clothes on his back wouldn’t stand much of a chance of being picked up on a day like this. 

“Hey Nyche, over here!” a voice called out from a side passage out of the cargo bay. He pushed his way to the side and stole a look between the members of the crowd. He saw a young woman wearing dirty coveralls waving waving him over, “Ivoru, oh what does she want,” he thought. 

As he got closer she smiled, “Hey Kiddo, what are you doin’ today?”

“Don’t call me kiddo, we’re the same age,” he replied. 

She grinned, “Yeah yeah, listen. I know you ain’t got nothin to do today. I have an idea, but I need a big strong guy like you to watch my back.”

“When you speak like that you are planning on using me, if i’m helping you today we’re going 50/50 on any take today.”

She spun around and started walking towards the exit hatch, over her shoulder she said “60/40, you take it. Come on.”

He sighed, it was going to be one of those days.

[Suspicious Blue Mind]

Interesting. Will wait to see where this goes.

 

Suspicious Blue Mind

[Second_Instance]

Nyche, like many semi forgotten children of The Nexus, had grown up in what many of them called, “the spaces between.” When the high born individuals looked at a layout of the sprawling station the diagrams showed neat lines of cargo bays, equipment service workshops and mineral refineries they couldn’t help but pretend that those neat lines were the truth. Instead he and pretty much everyone he knew came from the spaces between those lines, a mass of expanded wire-ways, service pipes and void spaces that over the generations had been built up into an orbital shantytown. 

Growing up in a place like that you would tend to know more about everyone than you cared to, but Nyche didn’t actually know that much about this girl now leading him down a narrow wire-way. Ivoru was a bit of a mystery, Nyche knew she was from somewhere near the docks instead of down here in the cargo bays but that was about it. Oh yeah, and that she was cute. 

“Where are we rushing to anyway?” Nyche said. “We are moving upwards, are we going to the docks?”

“Too much guessin gets a person killed. “ She rebuked and took a paranoid look around to see if anyone was nearby. 

Nyche felt unsettled at the thought, “What? Killed? What are we doing?”

“We not gangers, so we no running around fighting. Today, we just helpers.” She smiled as they ducked under a exposed cable, “all we gotta do is take a package from the docks back down to the cargo bays, then we eat.”

Nyche felt relieved, “Oh that doesn’t sound too bad.” 

Kid, if it was that simple I wouldn't have brought you along. Ivoru smiled, “Hurry up, we got a timin to meet!”