This is cryptopunk. It's like steampunk or dieselpunk. It depicts a different kind of life. This one is scifi based. You have the freedom loving people of Nagan VII and the bureaucratic Kartouri who seek to rule them.
Up until now Tanic, the ships captain of the Karouri Peace Enforcers, has attacked the people of Nagan VII at least twice, he was hit with an illegal quantum slider and sent to a different dimension and had to work his way back over the course of more than a year. He went back with more ships seeking vengence against Nagan VII and particularly Admiral Santana, but got all blowed up. Santana is about to meet with him after a week of the Kartouri being on Nagan VII.
Chapter 2- Episode 2.
"One week! One fuckin' week. Do you have any idea how much trouble these idiots have caused in one week?"
Sammo, Muxxy, Swelk and Mystique were holding back smiles. They knew this shit would happen when Santana told them she was going to bring the Kartouri down to the planet. Bring a bunch of Kart statist idiots to 'Nage' and you're gonna have trouble.
"For fuck's sake. Seriously, 1500 people are causing so much trouble. We're fuckin' helping them. They came here. They attacked us. We didn't even fire, and these dickheads don't know how to act. You know what one of them said to me? 'There wasn't a law against killing the cow on the property so what's the big deal."
Muxxy and Swelk started laughing. Even Santana crossed a smile.
Rho was a prominent writer and a good friend and walked over to Santana and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be ok, she said calmly, they'll learn, and when they do go home, they'll take it back with them."
Santana's rage subsided a bit. Yes it was frustrating to deal with all these new people on her planet. When she's not explaining to another Kart newb how to use a tech tab she's getting constant requests for the simplist tasks. How do you upload a picture? I didn't save the planet four times just to sit around and teach you to click the camera icon... Oh well, maybe Rho was right. They'll learn. She took a deep breath, and then Tanic and the delegation from Kartouri arrived.
The room got awkward quickly. Tanic and his crew had been there to kill them all a few days back. Things like that are hard to forget. Tanic's kid lost an eye and now had a freaky little baby cyborg eye in there instead. That served as a daily reminder why he should come back a year from now and kill everyone.
Tanic started "Admiral Santana, crew, thank you for meeting with us. The situation on this planet is quite desparate. Since our capture there has been zero central contact, there's been zero central efforts, I haven't even heard from any specific leader. Surely, we can negotiate an immediate return of our property."
"Tanic" Santana started, "It doens't work that way here. I know it sounds pretty unfamiliar but we don't have a central authority. The people in this room are your best bet, but we're just people."
Tanic was frustrated. "Surely there is someone we can talk to. I heard of a Mayor Aggie. What about him? There are people called Witnesses. You have to be able to setup a meeting with them. The conditions are horrible here. Where are all the services? Where do your taxes go to? I don't even understand how your people have roads!!!"
Santana was receiving all this frustrating energy. She was about to rip'em one, but Sammo chimed in instead. "Look mate, it don't work like that 'ere. Ain't no taxes, 'aven't had'em in my life. We each do our own thing and ain't nobody takes what's mine without me agreeing."
Tanic was yelling "This place is out of control!!! We've had over 18 Kartouri, many of them officers, shot with your stun rifles. Who do we take that to? Where is our recourse? How do we get justice for that? You can't simply shoot an officer of the Kartouri!!!"
Santana couldn't let it go "Well, what stupid shit were you officers doing huh Tanic? Were they wandering around with a fucking knife trying to "talk" to kids? I'd shoot them too. Nagan doesn't have any laws, but that doesn't mean we don't have principles. Do no harm but take no shit is about the only rule around here that everyone agrees to. My guess is that if I dig into each one of those, which I'm doing, I'm going to find some arrogant piece of shit Kartouri doing something stupid! How could you come to our planet to kill us when you know so little about us?"
Tanic was flustered! "I'm not going to hear any more of this. If you respected our laws it wouldn't be an issue. You're the terrorist that shot sliders. How dare you lecture me? I'll be writing a post about this Santana, and I'll be sure to tag many of your so called Megaloth friends in it. We'll see what they have to say about it! In the meantime please make sure you arrange for more food for us. You'd cause much harm if you let us all starve."
Tanic turned in a hurumph to leave, but Santana's wall tech flashed up. Incoming message stream from Beardo, Subject Tanic's baby :) Santana said "open" and the stream opened. Tanic stopped to hear the news.
"Hey Santana, I have to run in a second, but I'm at the hospital and I just met with Vanessa and baby Tanic. I can't do anything about them being Kartouri, but the good news is that the burns are healed and mom's back to normal, and the last round of the eye is finished. Looks a little cyborgian blue, but it was nicely done, most people won't ever know. I gotta get back to it, love to Rho, peace."
Tanic's frustration melted after hearing his girlfriend and baby were ok. Margaret probably won't be too happy about it, but he was. He took a deep breath. "Can we see them now?" Santana's anger melted, she smiled warmly and said "Yeah, let's do that. I'll grab my coat."
As they were taking the deep tubes in silence across from one another she realized that for the first time in the week he'd been on Nag that Tanic had said please and asked a question instead of making a demand. Maybe he can change, and if he can maybe the other Karts can too. "Hey, I'm sorry I yelled." Santana told him. He just nodded. "Me too." He said quietly.
Chapter 2. First Flag (@aggroed/nagan-vii-a-cryptopunk-scifi-series-chapter-2-episode-1-first-flag)
Tanic woke up and immediately regretted it. His head was splitting. He put his hands to his face and felt some bandages and pain. Seems like he was out on a 3 week straight binger. Then the swelling and the pulsing in his head. It hurt. A lot. Then he realized he had no idea where he was. As he looked around it appeared to be a living room, and he was on a fold out couch turned into a bed. The house was relatively small and as he looked outside he could see some farmland.
He sat up in bed. He immediately regretted it. His head felt like a smashed watermelon. He took a pause to let his brain recalibrate. There was a techtab on the table with a note from Santana.
Hey, I hope you're ok, sorry your ships got all blowed up, we're working on fixing them minus the weapons. It's gonna be a bit. No one really wants to support the people that just attacked us, but I'll get you home. In the meantime you can login to libertynet.gov where I've made you the account Kart.Tanic. It has some script in it too so if you go to town or something you can get what you need. I don't have any men's clothing since my husband died and I got rid of all his stuff so you're stuck in the uniform for now unless you want a muumuu. I'm heading into town. I'll be back with dinner. Please don't do anything dumb if you wake up before I get back.
PS after I created you account I left a very brief post as your introduction <3 Santana.
He flicked it aside. Fuck her, I'm gonna strangle her with my bare hands.
He stood up and felt woozy, but fought through it. He walked into the kitchen and found a knife and a piece of bread and an apple. He ate the apple, put the bread in his pocket and walked outside with the knife in his hand.
Santana lived on a small homestead over an hour outside of Nagnarok. It was a nice plantation that help a variety of animals and vegetables, rain water collection, and even LENR power. He could use the tech tab to communicate, but he was sure it was all being watched. So, he headed down the road looking for someone. As it turns out he found a group of kids walking his way.
"Hey, Hey you kids. Come here!"
The kids saw a half crazed man with a bandage on his head weilding a knife asking for the kids to come over. They did what sensible kids would do and they ran. Tanic took two steps to follow them, and immediately regretted it. He put his hand on his head and sat down from the pain. A minute or two later he got up and started walking down the road again. This time a farmer with a few kids got out of an air cruiser (a hover car) and approached him weapon raised. "I think you were talking to my boys in a most unfriendly way sir? You ok?"
Tanic saw the gun and knew he had a chance to get a weapon. So, he put the knife behind is back and walked slowly toward the man saying "Look friend, I'm sorry about your boys, I was just having a little fun."
The farmer said "Sir, I know you have the knife, please stop. Put it down and let's talk about how to get you well son."
Tanic ignored him and pressed on "Look sir, I'm just looking for a way into town, I seem to have had a little trouble and now I just need to contact some of my friends and settle all of this." He took another step and was now pretty close to the farmer so he lunged with the knife, he immediately regretted it. Before he got anywhere he felt 10k joules shooting through him. He hit the ground writhing in agony, and passed out.
He woke up some time later with the tech tab on his chest with a note from Santana.
I'm in the garden. Seriously, please don't do anything stupid. Just log into the tech tab and try not to do anything violent today. I'll have some food and water for you soon.
He opened up the techtab. Logged in as Kart.Tanic on libertynet.gov. Santana's first post for him read-
Hi, I'm Tanic. I just attacked your planet. I'm from the Kartouri. I'm going to be staying with Santana for a while as my ship is being fixed. I'll talk to you soon.
Most of the replies were just automatic spambots and welcome bots for a variety of groups. One or two people said hi. A few had some insults for having attacked him. What really bothered him though was that one vote came in red and appeared to be a flag.
From FarmerMike
This dude's a dick. Not only tried to bomb our planet but also threatened my kids with a knife. What a tool. Next time don't come at a man with a loaded rifle. Next time I'll use shots and not volts. Enjoy your first flag asshole.
Here's where it all started- @aggroed/fiction-friday-4-fictional-settings-and-4-epic-introductions