ORBs ---sc24

The Wraith Pod

A TECHNOLOGY USED FOR DEFENSE OR PROTECTION

ORBs hield and tracking used when wraiths are nearby



Garridan Heath stopped outside of the building's door and gave himself a good talking-to before doing something he'd never done before. He opened the door of a bar, and walked in. If that wasn't enough he walked to the bartender and asked, very clearly, for, "an alcoholic beverage. Please."

The bartender studied him. "Sorrow or celebration?"

"Sorrow," Garridan admitted ruefully. Sorrow the core if he were to admit it. He did not want to admit it, which was why he was facing his first night of unwanted solitude with his first night of inebriation. "I'm afraid I have been dumped."

The bartender nodded and walked over to a different section of the bar and retrieved a large pitcher. He filled it with beer from a spout on the bar. He handed Garridan the filled pitcher and two glasses. He pointed to a woman sitting alone in back corner booth. "She just got dumped, too. I'll check on you kids in a bit."

Garridan did not want to sit with anyone, yet neither did he want to sit alone. So, he did yet another think he'd never thought he'd do; he went over to a strange lady and said, "hello, I have been dumped and was told you were as well." He held up the pitcher and glasses. “May I join you?”

The woman looked at him, then looked over at the bartender who was watching the entire interaction. He gave her a thumbs up and walked away. She chuckled and said, "Yeah, sure, why not."

An hour later, Garridan and Trivinni were great friends, and he was feeling comfortable enough to tell her, "And you know how I heard about her engagement to someone else? On the vid-cast. He proposed to her this morning and--"

Trivinni sat back in her seat and stared, opened mouth, at him. “Lady f’ing Andromenda?” She said with a shake of her head.

“You know her?”

She snorted, “and her fiancé.” She laughed, without humor, into her beer mug.

“You’re joking right?”

She drank down the rest of her beer and said, "nope."

Garridan rested his forearms on the table and leaned in. "You're telling me, you were dating Lakel Uuturu?"

"Yes."

"But you're a," he pointedly looked at the discreet pin on her Fleet uniform, "Phantom Bomber."

Trivinni smiled. "I am. What does that have to do with it?"

He shrugged. "Doesn't he normally date models and singers and actresses?"

"He used to. Then he dated me. Now he's engaged to your ex. What do you do?"

Garridan blushed. "Uh, I'm an engineer."

"Oh? What do you engineer?"

"I'm in charge of maintenance and enhancements of ORBs."

Trivinni stilled. "You?"

Garridan nodded. He was incredibly proud of the word he did with ORBs and he knew a Phantom Bomber of all people would truly appreciate what he did for a living. "It saved me. When I was a kid. The [wraiths came the ORB saved me. When I graduated university I began working with ORBs almost exclusively. I'm passionate about the technology and the advances. We've got three new protypes in production testing different--" Garridan stopped speaking and laughed. "Sorry. I get carried away."

Trivinni smiled at him. "I can see why she loves you."

His smiled faded. "She's still marrying another man."

Trivinni nodded and then suddenly stood up and held out her hand. "Come on, I want to want show you something."

And, since Garriden had been doing out of character things all night, he followed his new friend to a darkened building and spent the night with her.

Manufacturing

Sorr'aan Empire

Social Impact

Uuta screamed with the others as another of countless earthquakes rolled under their feet. The end would surely be near now. Their temporary hardened lava cave was crumbling a little bit more with the force of each quake and erruption. They huddled together, their chanted prayers to the gods increasing in furver.
Suddenly, Neim broke from the group and raced to the front of the cave. "Stop! Stop!" she ordered with a frantic arm movement. The chanting broke off. Neim eased her head out of the cave checking for encrouching lava flow and... something else...
"There it is!" She pulled back in and held up her tel-com. "our message went through! Ruta Buwer responded. She said the wraiths are coming! Listen! Listen in the distance! The wraiths, the wraiths are coming!"
"Gods preserve us!"
"We can't break our ORBs in here," Jularn said.
"We must brave the lava field," Uuta ordered. "Go, Neim! Go! Go! Go!"
Neim led the charge to the still hot, yet hardening lava field that surrounded their temporary bastion of security.
A droning keening wailing, whoooooooommmm, whhhhooooooooomm, at first soft on the ash thickened air, drew closer.
Uuta, the last to leave the cave watched in awe as the last of her family and friends lit their Orbs. A lava field littered with small blue pods. It was as Uuta was lighting her Orb that the wailing, so high pitched and agonizing that Ruta wanted to die, reached them. Uuta's Orb engaged and she fell into peace.
The Wraiths had arrived.

Access & Availability

Readily available.

Discovery

First designed and used 400 years ago and recently upgraded and enhanced.