Ships of Valor 1: Persona Non Grata Read Free

a small shack next door to the recruiting desk back when Luna City was a couple imperial centuries old. The recruiters would put the new guys up for the night there before shipping them off to basic at Peary Basecamp near the northern pole of Luna. A few years deeper into its history, one of the bartenders got smart though and started offering extra services. Little things at first, like long-term storage lockers, and basic kit issues. He used that idea to expand the footprint, building up to the dome, and down further than anyone knew.
    Then a guy named Clemmons came up with an inventive idea. He made us shareholders. We all own a piece. We all benefit. When a Legionnaire gets out of basic, they're shipped back to Luna city for a little R&R before heading off to their unit. Of course, we all end up at White Caps, with half a years’ back pay in our pockets, and itching to go crazy. Clemmons started selling stock in the bar. A single share would cover room and board anytime a Legionnaire was in Luna City and that happened a lot back in those days. The share didn't pay for booze, but it made sure Legionnaires had a place to stay for the night, and people to guard their backs. It also paid the locker fee for the Vault. Somewhere to store the stuff from before joining or collecting along the way. White Caps had been around over a hundred years at this point. She wasn't going anywhere, and after the first batch of guys signed up, the rest followed in droves.
    They used the share money to cover operating expenses, expand as needed, and turn the place into a home. The old pensioners are taken care of, and the new guys see they never truly leave the Legion. Make it out of the Legion alive, and there was a place to live forever.
    But I digress. I had been walking from the Luna City Administration Center towards White Caps for almost an hour when she finally came into view. Most of LC is under the large central dome, and there are a few smaller underground caves linked via tunnels and access ports. The thing about domes is they have defined limits. The sky is essentially a large white painted ceiling, and there is no real horizon because so many buildings butt into the inner wall. White Caps was one of those buildings. Originally, she started several hundred meters away from the closest wall, but over time expanded to the point where she touched the dome itself. She took up about five percent of the wall in total. In essence, she was a monster. I could see her, and I was still several clicks away. A landmark of the city.
    When I finally got to the entrance and palmed my way through the secondary door, I took the lift to the Legion section. The main door is for tourists and recruits. It's their last chance to bow out before joining, but most can't. Not after seeing the shrine this place is. Old banners, trophies, and photos of our fallen brethren. White Caps has more memorabilia than Legion HQ by several orders of magnitude, and that's not including the personal items in the Vault. Every so often, we get word of a Fallen, and a bequeathment and find some new item for the collection. We have an active custodian who tries to keep things in rotation, both above and below decks, but the last word I heard she and her team only has a small fraction even categorized.
    The Legion section is built more like a hotel than anything. Once on the main level, head towards a reception area, towards housing, recreation, or dining. Since it had been several years since I had last been in LC, I headed to the reception. Checking in is never a problem, flash idents, and a clerk issues a room key. For pensioners, we can let them know they'll be staying permanently, and arrangements for a permanent room are made as soon as one opens up. Although I'm technically a pensioner, I wasn't planning on being on Luna very long so I checked in with an indef key, which is basically a weekly key that can be renewed. If the key isn’t extended, at the end of the week