Frial Realfen was laid up at the Banned Regions branch of the Universal Infirmary for about two years RET, and when he was released, the Regions were filled with more people than he remembered. The campus of the UI Branch was teeming with Druintes in formal looking suits and Bromeris in battle gear who seemed to be guarding the place. Frial knew that it all had nothing to do with the destruction he’d caused at the shipport because IP Security had jurisdiction at the port and he didn’t recognize their insignia on anyone.
He left his room in a wheelchair after being discharged by the Ointite nurse that had put him back together and he took an elevator to the first floor. He didn’t have much, just the clothes they’d given him because the ones he arrived in were in tatters, and he went to the first floor restaurant for visitors to figure out his next move.
He wheeled up to the bar and ordered a smoothie while he watched the news transmissions on the large screen behind the bar. Frial recognized the woman being interviewed by a popular interviewer from the planet Vwrawl who had a regular show that went into depth about the major stories of the day. The woman being interviewed was Representative Pen Nuren of the Interstellar Panel.
“…Our actions are only controversial among those who don’t realize the real dangers of the universe. The laws we make at the IP are designed to protect the dignity of every sapient being of the universe. If those laws are not enforced, what is the point? Representative Eakran broke the law, plain and simple. He transported beings from a member culture without proper authorization, and that authorization prevents pandemics. He endangered many lives and yes, he is being made an example. He is the first of many. The IP will work to protect as many beings of this universe as we can and we will punish anyone who threatens civility and…”
Frial scoffed at the news. The IP couldn’t enforce anything, he thought.
And just when he was about to order another drink, someone sat next to him.
Yiel Dharle is a smuggler. He is not well known by anyone outside of his family and a few friends he had made since he started his secret career mining the rocks of the Banned Regions and transporting it clandestinely to his homeworld of Hafjeran. Yiel enjoys being a mysterious figure and he especially enjoys his time in the Regions because he doesn’t have to live up to the vaulted Dharle name that has literally lorded over the Dharleans stronghold on Hafjeran for more than a millennia RET, back to roughly the sixth millennia of the Hafjeris settlement on Hafjeran. Yiel has been forced to view himself in the context of his family for his entire life. His lineage is very well documented, as are all important families on Hafjeran. There are detailed scholarly works that were produced contemporaneously with their subjects, and this exists for every member of his paternal family line; these works comprise the family library. The library was huge by the time Yiel was born and it contained portraits of every member of the Dharle family whose lives were documented in the works contained therein. Part of his education was study of his family and he knew many of them like they were real people, and he’d always been made to feel that he had to work to become as impressive as them to earn his spot among them in the annals of Dharle history.
The lives of prominent, living members of the Dharle family are very complex. Many of them lead respectable public lives as ambassadors for the family’s arms business, while concealing a secret life of managing the largest and most successful smuggling operation in the universe. The Dharle family is effectively an arms cartel and they learn as a part of their standard education how to effectively live two lives that allowed for the continuation of the family business by demonstrating respectability to the greater culture while also doing things outside the law in order to secure materials that produced rare products.
Yiel likes his family. He and his brother Yiee were very close before his death and they had traveled to many places in the universe together before he was killed while their fleet of pirate ships were scavenging near the Regions. They didn’t always need to steal anything, the Dharle family is very wealthy by Hafjeran standards and this wealth translated easily to other locations. They became pirates to fund long stays in the Regions and they usually took anything of value from any ship that did not belong to the Dharle family.
He likes his family, but he loves the freedom that he finds in the Regions and he had spent as much time there as he could since he accepted the responsibilities of the smuggling operation.
“I’ll have what he’s having,” Frial heard as someone sat next to him at the bar. He looked casually toward the voice and nodded his head at the Hafjeris man with dark feathers in expensive looking armour that made Frial wonder if he were part of any of the security forces in the area, though he would have been the first Hafjeris that Frial saw.
“Are you on the mend as well?” Frial asked him
The man looked at him and introduced himself as Yiel.
“I am celebrating. And seeing as this is the UI, I doubt they have anything better to celebrate with.”
Frial chuckled. “What’s the occasion?”
Yiel looked at him and smiled.
“I found someone that can give me information about a most extraordinary woman.”
“Ohh, searching for love?”
Yiel shrugged.
“You never know.”
When the bartender sat smoothies before both of them, they both lifted their drinks for a toast.
“To the honored dead, to the family of feathers red!” Frial said.
Yiel looked at him curiously.
“I didn’t know the Realfen’s had a toast. Good that Whadgaf left you alive to keep the traditions alive.”
Frial frowned at the man.
“It’s nice to finally meet you Agent Red. Come with me. Don’t make a scene. I don’t want to have to put you back in this place for another couple of years.”
Frial didn’t fully understand what was happening, but he knew it wasn’t good. He wasn’t up for a fight and he wondered if he could beat the man if he was in better shape; Yiel is very solidly built and taller than the average Hafjeris. He knew the man wasn’t related to Whadgaf and he wondered why this was happening. Rather than fight, Frial followed Yiel out of the UI and he left the wheelchair near the front entrance.
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