Welcome to San Gasa

Imagine a city perched on a mountain and you might picture something small. Something squat and huddled up. Tough stone building ringed by a massive wall. Carried far away from danger and host only to a few brave souls and the harsh roaring of the heavy winds.

You’d imagine dour, sturdy people. The kind of folk who wouldn’t say a lot and who had precious little reasons to smile. You’d think there would be no colour, few reasons to be happy. Every day a **** struggle for survival.

San Gasa was not like that at all.

It sprawled across the mountain peak and down its sloping sides like a reclining cat. Full of laziness and self-importance. There were no walls, for there was no need. No one but a madman would attack this city. The buildings were colourful, and they enveloped much of the mountain so that the city itself was in a continual rising prominence. Towers were favoured, but so were big constructions of every kind. The city seemed determined to show off. It was colourful and flashy and gaudy; the skies above it bustling with airships and floating advertisements.

It was crowded. A thronging hub of civilization in a wasteland of stone and bare earth.

It was one of those useful little places; in a world of empires and kingdoms, why was one city allowed to govern itself? Because it could offer things. San Gasa was a neutral ground. A trade hub for those things which could not be openly sold. It offered protection, profit and welcome to those who had nowhere else to go.

Pirates, thieves, robbers and honest men rubbed shoulders in those streets. The districts glowed with neon light. It was a place of miracles, of salvation and aye, damnation as well,

“So why are we going there?” Kara regarded the city spread below the Nautiloid with a mixture of trepidation and awe. She’d never seen a place quite like it in all of her life and even the sky was brimming with ships! “Is it because it’s the only place in range?”

“No,” Richard was gazing at the city with an altogether different expression. His face was pulled tight, his mouth twisting into a sour grimace. “We could have gone to a few different towns. San Gasa is the best place to vanish for a while. I have a friend there.”

“A friend? You’re full of surprises, master. But then I suppose a mercenary would have to have friends in a place like this.”

“Sellsword! Sellsword! There’s a difference!”

She crossed her arms and shot him a knowing look. He flushed and changed the subject.

“Besides, we knew each other back before This guy is an old friend.”

“And he’ll be able to help us?”

“I’m sure of it. He’s got more power than you know. More power than he should, even. He was making a big play when I last was here. For all I know, he runs the damn city now.”

“Huh,” Kara turned her eyes back to the city which spread below them. “Your friend really is that important”

“He’s a pain in the ass,” Richard said, though a smile played across his face. “But then, he’d say the same about me.”

“Shocking.”

“Hey, we sorted our stuff out!”

“What happened?”

“I shot him in the gut.”

“That’ll teach him.”

Richard’s laughter filled the yacht.

“We were soldiers,” Richard gasped. “Met in the war. Other people said he was absolutely nuts.”

“Knowing you, Richard, I think they were right. I’m sure everyone you know is absolutely nuts.”

“Oh really? And what does that say about you?”

“I’m a **** girl who lives in a box and can’t wear clothes. The jury made its call on that one a while ago.”

She frowned.

“Speaking of which… how exactly am I going to be moving about down there? Isn’t a naked **** girl with glowing piercings going to attract attention?”

“Not as much as you’d think. That’s one of the reasons I chose this place,” Richard leaned back in his chair, his face spreading into a look not unlike a cat that had caught the proverbial bird. “San Gasa is big on that sort of thing.”

“A lot of slaves down there?”

“A lot,” he said. “All volunteers. The rules of the city allow it. Stipulated by contract, you know. Very civilised.”

He made a face at that last word.

“I can see why you didn’t wanna stick around.”

“Not my place at all,” Richard agreed. “But hiding one **** among thousands should be easy. And that’s before my contact gets into it. By the time we’re done there, our worries will be history.”

“You promise?”

He moved his gaze to Kara’s face. His expression softened, and he raised one hand to trace the curve of her chin. She shivered at the softness of his touch and the look in his eyes.

“I promise.”

They were greeted at the landing pad by an official-looking man trailing a pair of crimson-robed automatons. His objections to their sudden arrival faded away in the face of the bag of coins that Richard still held from his job on the Pentecost.”

And after that, they hit the city itself.