Another routine day in the Starmourn Sector was abruptly interrupted by a sector-wide announcement on an emergency broadcast frequency transmitted jarringly across the mindsim network.

(EMERGENCY): Alert, alert. Tranquility Deepness is under assault. Iron Corsairs spotted in system. We're under attack! Hostiles are everywhere!

(EMERGENCY): All available friendlies to the Laskarid system. Repeat - this is an emergency distress broadcast. All friendlies to the defense of Tranquility Deepness. And bring your flakking guns! All friendlies to the defense of--

The sickening buzz of the wideband distress frequency then grated to an abrupt stop, replaced by the normal, subliminal, listening hum that is always present in the inner ears of every mindsim user.

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After this alarming intrusion, defenders flocked to the Laskarid system, only to find a battle in full swing between the defenders of an odd-looking space station and the deadly, sleek pirates known as the Iron Corsairs. Swift on the heels of the volunteer defenders was a host of news broadcasts and content produced by amateur holographers that followed the epic space battle.

The skirmish raged for hours, with the Iron Corsairs beaten back only with the help of those who came to the station's aid. Once they'd retreated through Laskarid's voidgate, the shields preventing ships from docking flickered off, and people began to venture into the strange, sinuous confines of Tranquility Deepness.

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There, they were greeted by an Amaian woman who introduced herself as Bek. She explained that the Corsairs had been trying to take over the Deepness for some time, and that this was their most ferocious attack yet. Thanking those who came to the aid of the station, she invited many of them to join the ranks of the bounty hunters, hoping to replenish their forces after the devastating attack by the Corsairs. She went on to explain that the bounty hunters based out of the station were an organization of loosely affiliated sorts dedicated to solving problems of a personal nature for anyone with the coin to pay for that sort of thing.

While station repair and maintenance from the recent destruction went on around her, she answered questions about the benefits of becoming a bounty hunter, and the drawbacks, as well.

She also warned the curious that the station had certain areas sealed off for everyone's own good, and that poking around or opening sealed doors would likely come with consequences for the overly curious.

After that proscription, which several people promptly ignored, she returned to her office behind the the Doldrums cantina, leaving the defenders free to explore the ancient station and its dangerous secrets to their heart's content.