When your train finally pulls into the Stadium Railway Depot, it is with relief that you stand and stretch out, twisting to crack your back. Your fellow passengers begin to shuffle out onto the station platform, grabbing luggage and personal belongings off of overhead racks and storage beneath seats. Meanwhile, you and your team congregate together, ensuring that nobody gets lost, before stepping off the train as a singular group.
The platform is bustling with activity, as railroad workers and Stadium personnel work to unload cargo, and passengers disembarked, going to meet friends and family who had come to meet them. Your group, of course, has no such welcoming party - Instead, this has been the first half on your longer trip towards your destination, seeing as how rail service has yet to be restored to areas in Mariner City beyond Stadium. You'll stay the night with a friend of Bill's, who he's assured you will be able to house the entire group, and in the morning, set out towards the Spaceport with a supply caravan. With luck, you'll reach there within a day or two.
As you exit the train station, the sun is high in the sky, highlighting the liveliness of the district surrounding you. To your north, Mariner Stadium rises high, an imposing citadel in comparison to the relatively squat buildings surrounding it. Meanwhile, the street could hardly be distinguished from a Pre-Collapse city street, at least according to what depictions of it you've seen on MBC and in the history books. People bustle about their business, militia stand on street corners, and a friendly game of football is being played in a lot off to the side of the street…
It is this prosperity you wish to see expanded to the rest of Mariner City, to the rest of Mars, you think to yourself. These people live joyfully, lacking fear - The fear of starvation. The fear of raiders. The fear of their lives being destroyed. They are free - Not just to work, but to live. You take a mental snapshot of this moment in time, resolving to keep it in your mind. It will remind you of what you are striving for, even as you delve into places where the same promise of prosperity brought by the MPA has wound up destroying stability, instead of guaranteeing it.
When you reach the house of Bill's friend, the sun has begun to set, but the party seems to have only begun. Your team enters off the street, passing through a small arch into a courtyard decorated with all manner of Blue banners. The sound of raucous singing drifts out from within the well-lit and expansive house that seems to have been, at one point, some kind of restaurant pre-Collapse. The crowd of people sitting at various parts of the courtyard, or walking out from inside the building, suggests that perhaps it never stopped being one.
"I'll be right back, folks, I gotta go find my friend - Feel free to mingle in the meantime." After that brief instruction, Bill enters and melds with the crowd as easily as breathing, greeting everyone in sight by name or with a clap on the back that they eagerly reciprocate. This leaves the rest of your group awkwardly glancing at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Sister Galle takes a deep breath, before taking the plunge and diving into the crowd after Bill, introducing herself to the various partying Stadium citizens. Before long, she finds a small group of younger people surrounding her, asking her eager questions about her strange clothes and her tools. Frankly, she seems a bit overwhelmed by the attention.
Janice, surprisingly, doesn't seem perturbed overmuch by the raucous atmosphere, as you might expect from an MCPD officer. She's been roped in with a group of people enthusiastically singing a Blue fight song, belting out the lyrics alongside them.
On the other hand, River seems…awkwardly out of place. She's chosen to linger in one of the less occupied corners of the courtyard, sipping from a beer glass someone passed her.
For as much as you could simply lose yourself in the party and not worry about it, this is a good opportunity to get to know one of your teammates…or at least establish a bit of rapport with them before you all go out on your first mission.
You choose to…
[] Rescue Sister Galle from her legion of overeager questioners.
[] Join Janice in the impromptu karaoke session breaking out inside.
[] Grab a drink and sit by River in the quieter part of the courtyard.
[] Dive into the crowd to find where Bill went, and maybe meet your hosts.
The morning after, your team awakens bright and early - Regardless of any hangovers they may or may not have, Janice and yourself make sure that nobody oversleeps. The party continued long into the night, and there are more then a few patrons you recognize from last night sprawled out asleep on furniture or on the floor, blankets laid over them by the hosts. The caravan you're leaving on is departing soon, though, so you bid your farewells and hurry out.
When you reach the departure point, you breathe a sigh of relief - They're still loading supplies into the trucks. You wave to your contact, the leader of the caravan, and he waves you over. He's a comrade from during the War, and you worked together on the LCTF, though he got reassigned to running supply caravans, while you got your new position.
"Rosalind! It's great to see you again - You're here for transit to the Mariner City Spaceport, out in Watson District?" He asks, holding onto his clipboard.
"It's good to see you as well, Matt - Yep. Me and my comrades over here." You gesture to the small group, who have split up to try and do their best to aid the loaders, drivers, and guards.
"For a friend like you, a few extra spots on the caravan are no problem - Though, of course, you'll have to tell me all about what you've been up to, since the war, and how you got a Conductor position! Oh, do I have some stories to tell you, though…"
The next few hours are spent reminiscing and chatting with him as the caravan sets off…which helps give you some additional context on what's happening in Watson District. The rest of your time traveling is spent in a whirlwind reviewing your notes, ensuring your supplies are in order, and performing various duties to pull your weight around the caravan.
The primary dispute appears to be between the following four factions involved in the reconstruction of the Spaceport.
The
Stadium Garrison in the region is supposed to act as a neutral mediator, purely performing counter-insurgency duties and ensuring that the local government doesn't perform counter-revolutionary activities. Even in that latter capacity, their official duty consists of reporting that to the Martian Popular Authority so an investigation team can be sent out, rather than taking action themselves. This garrison seems to have taken a rather…loose interpretation of their duties. In addition, your comrade informs you that this garrison is primarily made up of Reds, rather than Blues.
The
Watson Council is the name for the local government of the District, formed by Stadium out of the old governmental structures in the area. Though it is intended to be democratic, most of the Council is currently made up of appointed community figures, drawn from prominent families and former political leaders in the region. Elections are scheduled to be held next year, once things have presumably settled down and the provisional government is deemed no longer necessary for the stability of the region.
The
Laborers of the Martian League are the primary labor union in the region, though they don't have a particularly long history in comparison to many unions elsewhere. They were formed under the Martian League, acting as the primary construction workers and laborers who repaired not only the Spaceport, but also helped launch League One. This means that they are, for all intents and purposes, the local experts on the Spaceport, and undoubtedly the most qualified to repair it.
The
Free Labor Association is not an organization that was included in your initial report, but rather, you were informed of by your comrade in the supply caravans. An association of refugees and itinerant workers, they apparently showed up a few weeks ago when news of the work stoppage got around and organized themselves, offering to work instead of the LML in exchange for the basic guarantees given to MPA citizens. While this seems to have been on some level multiple miscommunications about the requirements of MPA citizenship, as there is no need to work to acquire it, as well as a misunderstanding of MPA policy regarding 'scabbing', their arrival turned a simple work stoppage into a tense standoff.
Why did this happen in the first place?
The Watson Council appears to have sparked this off by trying to demand that the Stadium Garrison help them investigate the Laborers for MUC ties, citing their history of working for the Martian League and the sabotage of League One. The Stadium Garrison appears to have tentatively agreed, viewing it as being part of their counter-insurgency duties.
However, the Laborers seem to have taken this as an attempt at undermining their legitimacy, perhaps due to interpersonal conflicts between leaders of the Laborers and the Watson Council. In addition, the Laborers have made allegations of corruption towards both the Watson Council and the Stadium Garrison in the region, which both official reports by those two parties have strenuously denied.
What provoked the interest of your superiors was the discrepancy in the Council and Garrison's reports when it comes to the matter of what you now know to be the Free Labor Association. The Council alleges that the Garrison attempted to hire 'foreign itinerants' to illegally break the strike as scabs. Meanwhile, the Garrison alleges that they did no such thing, and rather that certain members of the Watson Council attempted to illegally evict 'refugee workers' from the district under false pretenses. Both of them made no mention of the FLA in their reports.
Both reports converge here, however, with the understanding that whatever chain of events occurred threatened the Laborers even more, causing them to erect a semi-permanent encampment around the Spaceport, declaring that any attempt to restart work without reaching an agreement would be resisted with force, as well as attacking the legitimacy of the Watson Council as an undemocratic and anti-socialist institution, calling for immediate elections to be held. The Watson Council not so subtly suggests that this is clear puppetry by anti-MPA factions within the Laborers, while the Garrison's report seems to advocate for a more conciliatory solution.
What a mess. However, this does only represent what you've gathered from the official reports from the Garrison and the Watson Council, as well as what information your friend has given to you through rumor and hearsay he's picked up from traveling through the region. This leaves you with a clear set of choices in mind when you arrive in the region.
You'll…
[] Speak to the local Stadium Garrison's commander, get a gauge on their personality, and evaluate the truthfulness of their reports.
[] Head to the headquarters of the Watson Council, a former courthouse, and introduce yourself formally to the local government, getting a feel for who they are and what their interests are.
[] Discretely leave the caravan slightly before your scheduled arrival and move to speak to the Laborers of the Martian League first, getting their side of the story before anyone has the chance to intercept you or otherwise poison the well.
[] Try to find where the Free Labor Association is based and interview their leaders - It seems as if every side of this conflict has a completely different interpretation of them and their actions thus far, after all, so clearing that up might give you some perspective.
QM's Note: Two votes this time, one for your first chance to spend time with your team and another for your opening move in resolving the Spaceport Strike! Voting is open immediately, and I'm of course, happy to answer any questions here or in the discord.
