Danger’s Dock

It was stupid. It was so stupid. It was the kind of stupid Valentina actively avoided.

Sometimes stupid was the only reasonable choice.

Valentina had already swung through a number of systems staying ahead of Grumpy and Icy, who were on her tail as soon as she made the faster-than-light jump. She didn’t even know exactly where she was, but she finally found what she was looking for: An Arbeiter ship. This was enemy territory (at least at the moment), but she had to sneak aboard in search of answers.

This particular Arbiter ship was a Titan. Practically a floating colony, so there was no way for them to know every single face aboard. Even better, unlike the Garrison, the Arbiters didn’t bother with uniforms as long as everyone followed a general sort of dress code. Valentina’s orange exo-suit blended in nicely with all the other mechanics, pilots, and service people who kept the huge ship running smoothly.

There was a special sort of attitude that was needed when sneaking into somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be, an artistry that Valentina expertly appreciated and always used to her advantage.

The first rule was to act like you belong.

Valentina casually landed the Asterias in one of the smaller hangers, off to the side but still primed for a quick getaway.

“Got a delivery,” she said when one of the hanger’s overseers swung by to find out what she wanted. Valentina affected a bored expression and jerked her thumb back towards her ship while proffering her credentials as a certified delivery ship with her other hand. The overseer looked them over skeptically. “Dame Sophie Anja. She’s meeting me in the Upper. I know where I’m going.”

Lies, every word, but there was a loud crash from across the hanger. The overseer thrust her tablet back at her and whirled on his heel. That was damned lucky, and Valentina hated to rely on luck.

“If you get lost, check the consoles,” he called over his shoulder. “Don’t wander. Security does regular sweeps.”

With that, he was gone and Valentina offered a half-hearted wave. The tablet went back on her belt and she headed for the nearest console. She had a very expensive little slicer, bought for the rare occasion that she needed to get into a ship’s memory banks in a hurry. It wasn’t subtle, but she was only a few steps from the Asterias, and the hanger doors were too big to close fast. She could be gone in a flash if necessary.

As soon as she plugged the slicer into the console, it lit up and went to work. She had already programmed it to look for anything on Sigis Station, her name, and references to Prince Gabriel. To cover the slicer, she pulled up a map of the ship, and scrolled through it casually. Before long, the slicer flashed and the files popped up on the screen. Valentina quickly copied them to a data chip, but froze when a document caught her eye.

It was about the Miasma.

Valentina skimmed over it while the other files copied. For a minute, she was confused about why it had gotten caught in her slicer’s information net. Then when she saw her own name, what she discovered chilled her blood and paled her face.

The Miasma. The Arbiters were looking for the source of the Miasma. They thought it was a weapon, and worse, they thought she knew where that weapon could be found.

As soon as she was done copying the files, Valentina headed back for the Asterias. It took all her strength to walk slowly, and even to wave at the overseer who had checked on her before. Anything to keep a low profile. Anything for them to ignore her just long enough for her to get out of the system and figure out what her next move would be.

Part 1 — Kepler’s Remnant

Part 2 — Sovereign Protectorate

Part 3 — Lightspire

Part 4 — Shepherd’s Void

Part 5 — Celestious Nox

Part 6 — The Crucible

Part 7 — Edge of the Miasma

Part 8 — The Pale

Part 9 — In Too Deep

Part 10 — The Quick Slip

You may have noticed that a light snow has begun to fall in your Town Star towns… Welcome to Town Star Winter!

Here you’ll find all the charm and coziness of a real winter wonderland, with none of the snow shoveling, freezing nights, power outages or in-law related nightmares. We aim to please.

Lolli and her Candy Canes

We hope you’ve all been enjoying Lolli, the newest addition to the diverse cast of Town Star characters, and her cute little Candy Shop. It’s no accident that Candy Canes are the very first craft available for that building, and you’ll probably see a Candy Cane related meta adjustment very soon, just in time for the holidays!

Here’s a tasty little teaser for you… If Lolli produces Candy Canes in her shop around Christmas, what kind of new delicious delicacies do you think she’ll craft later on through the year?

There are indeed plans for new candy crafts to hit the scene in 2022! After all, candy is all about variety. We weren’t expecting to get through the whole year with a Candy Shop that crafts only Candy Canes. What would the children think?

Community Art Project Coming Soon

Look for more details later this week on a Town Star Winter Community Art Project.

With the recent success of the creative community activities leading up to yesterday’s Mirandus VOX drop, we’ve decided to put out a community call for Town Star Winter art. This should be a fun excuse to make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and sit down with some paper and your favorite art medium (colored pencils, markers, crayons, pencil, etc.). That’s right people. Memes won’t cut it this time!

’Tis the Season

In this season of generosity and introspection, the Town Star team would like to remind you all how grateful we are for your love and support. Gala Games is gaining worldwide traction all the time and receiving greater attention every single day.

Without the unceasing devotion of our community, especially players of our flagship game, Town Star, we would not have enjoyed this level of prosperity and success. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

We hope you are feeling truly empowered by the paradigm shift we are creating together with own-your-experience and play-to-earn gaming. Our holiday wish is that your sense of childlike play has been renewed and rejuvenated, and we can hardly wait to see what wonders 2022 will bring.

In Too Deep

Although the cleaned-up transmission had more to say, it only created more questions for Valentina, who generally liked answers more than questions. After listening one more time, she grumbled up to get a cup of caf from her small galley.

It wasn’t getting better the more Valentina listened to it, that was for damn sure. She didn’t even know why she had it on repeat, but her curiosity kept getting the better of her.

“The relics are in here somewhere. Finding them could change the face of the galaxy,” a male voice crackled through the static. He sounded older, perhaps middle-aged. Had an educated accent. Maybe a noble… someone high up in the Arbiters or the Garrison. Education was expensive these days. “The historic records maintain that Sigis Station was the key to the Monarchy’s military power. The weapon must be there somewhere. If we can find it…the… will pay through the nose. Prince Gabriel will know our names… huge reward.”

Treasure hunters? Perhaps. Faction Spies? Probably. The mention of the prince told Valentina that they were aligned with one of the Factions, but she couldn’t tell which one. It was a shame. If she could just figure out what they were after and how to initiate contact, maybe she could spin this into a tidy little commission. She did know that sector of space better than anyone.

Suddenly her comm crackled, just as it did on Sigis Station. Valentina turned the recording off and leaned forward increase the gain on her comm. She shouldn’t be picking up random transmissions. Maybe that last comm router she picked up was too sensitive. She knew better than to patch with non-standard parts, but sometimes it was unavoidable.

“Do you see it?”

Valentina sat upright and stared out the viewport. The Asterias was moored up under an abandoned mining rig near one of the older claims, well hidden and protected from most forms of detection by the rig’s thick defensive plating. She could see out, but she was fairly confident that no one could see in.

Goosebumps crept all over Valentina’s flesh as she tried to stay calm. She knew that voice. It was the same voice from her transmission.

“Our informant said they saw her head off this way,” another voice crackled in reply. This voice was a cold, female one. Two ships, then. Maybe more. Not the best odds. “She overheard our transmission in Sigis Station, and we know she was down in the ruined control sector. There’s no telling what she found.”

“Why else would she run to Felix?” the man asked. Valentina cursed under her breath. Of course they thought she found something. Their informant must have heard the transmission she played for Felix and assumed everyone was there for the same purpose. If they were looking for a weapon, like the first transmission said… no. That was more trouble than Valentina wanted. “She found something to sell. If you hadn’t been such an idiot…”

“Watch your mouth. Do you see the ship?”

“No. It’s like she disappeared. What now?”

Valentina breathed a little easier, knowing that she was not yet spotted. The Asterias was good at hiding.

“Keep looking. There’s no Dust echo so no FTL jump. She’s got to be around here somewhere.”

They fell silent and Valentina watched, holding her breath even though there was no way they could have heard her. She double-checked her own comm to make sure it wasn’t transmitting, and slowly powered up the Asterias.

There was no point in sticking around here. She used her attitudinal thrusters to slowly back out of her hidey hole, keeping the rig between her and her pursuers. The moment she spun up FTL they’d be on her and there was no way she’d be able to make the jump undetected. She needed another option.

Part 1 — Kepler’s Remnant

Part 2 — Sovereign Protectorate

Part 3 — Lightspire

Part 4 — Shepherd’s Void

Part 5 — Celestious Nox

Part 6 — The Crucible

Part 7 — Edge of the Miasma

Part 8— The Pale

The Quick Slip

There was no doubt now. They were after her, but Valentina Barbaro wasn’t about to make it easy on them. Plenty of people had tried to track her down over the years. Bad deals or good ones. Competitors and pirates. She was still alive because none of them had ever managed to catch her.

This time would be no different if she had anything to say about it. A dozen small bursts from her thrusters (not enough to set off a short range scanner) and she was able to fall in almost directly behind her pursuers and shadow their ship, just out of sight. “Know your enemy’s blind spots,” one of Valentina’s favorite mentors had always said.

It was hard work and difficult flying, but the two burly, well-armed battleships we’re expecting her brand of sneakiness. Better still, they were still running that same open frequency that got her into this mess. Really, it was just careless to go around broadcasting your personal business all over space, but Valentina knew better than to curse her enemies for making such an obvious mistake in her advantage.

“Come on, guys. You’ve been quiet for a whole hour,” she said to herself as she wove through the many asteroids of the region. It was the perfect place to determine who was after her this time, and maybe get a shot at losing them. “Get back to bickering.”

The woman, who she was calling Icy, and Grumpy, the man she heard first, seemed to hate each other with a passion. At least they weren’t happy to be working together. Valentina was starting to enjoy their frequent dust ups on comms, punctuated with hoary insults and the occasional open threat.

“We’ve got to find this wretched smuggler,” Grumpy said, right on cue. “The Zeiger is trying to buy that pretentious fool, Felix, but he’s proving annoyingly righteous, apparently. He refuses to tell us what Barbaro is after.”

Score one for Valentina! “Zeiger” was an Arbeiter Functionary title. That answers one big question, and kudos to Felix for not giving her up. Valentina raised him up a few pegs in her mind. She honestly hadn’t expected him to stick to his guns, but then again, she represented a substantial payout for him. Felix was a decent man, but like everyone, he had a price. With the kind of riches the Arbeiters had at their disposal, they would offer him enough money. He would eventually turn, and Valentina wouldn’t hold it against him.

She was going to have to make herself much, much harder to find before that happened.

“I’m about ready to be done with the bickering couple,” Valentina said to herself and thought about her options. Getting creative as a grin made its way across her face, she slowed the Asterias to a crawl to let Icy and Grumpy put distance between them before punching out of the system.

Part 1 — Kepler’s Remnant

Part 2 — Sovereign Protectorate

Part 3 — Lightspire

Part 4 — Shepherd’s Void

Part 5 — Celestious Nox

Part 6 — The Crucible

Part 7 — Edge of the Miasma

Part 8 — The Pale

Part 9 — In Too Deep