Lily, Reavers, Warbots, and a murder?

Whoever said life on the Rim was less complicated than life in the core has obviously never lived out here. Or, perhaps, it's just that Hale's Moon attracts layers of complication that people just don't expect for a little mining colony in the middle of gorram nowhere.

I thought I'd more or less seen the height of complication in a single day, but once again this little slice of heaven sent more twists and turns to complicate the lives of the people that call it home.

The morning started out mostly normal. At least until Lily came in and confessed to killing Doc Gallagher, then insisting she was guilty and we'd have to do what was lawful and lock her up. Lily claimed she'd let him burn up for killing her Daddy. Never mind we didn't have a body, or even any sign Gallagher was even dead and not just out of the world again. Lily was insistent she'd killed him and expected us to do what was right.

Being Mayor, I had a bit of flexibility so decided on house arrest while I set General, with Jackal helping, off to see if they could find enough evidence to actually pursue a case. I didn't want to prosecute her. Hell, I didn't believe she'd actually killed him, let alone done it in a way that justified a murder case. But she was insisting, and the townsfolk would expect me to at least look like I was following the law, so I had to do something. At least if the Alliance tried to stick their noses into it we'd be able to show we'd done a proper investigation.

What I hadn't expected was how fast word got around, and how many people gave me grief for putting her under house arrest. Even Nack flew over from Blackburne asking I release her to his custody so he could take her home. Said it wasn't acceptable having her locked up. To me, what wasn't acceptable was being told how to run the colony I'd been duly elected to run. In my gut, I knew he was just trying to look out for her same as me. Also know he probably had no clue that my 'house arrest' meant she was supposed to stay home in her own place, and I wasn't even insisting she lock the door.

Wasn't my fault little sister put herself in the gorram jail cell. Wasn't my idea.

Half the day continued in that vein. Folks giving me grief over Lily while I tried to make it at least look like I had a proper investigation going. By late afternoon, I was pretty cranky. Which, of course, was when things got worse.

We got the alert of a Reaver boat incoming on the navtrak. Much as I hated to admit it, the upgraded kit the Alliance donated gave us the sensitivity to identify the over-cooked reactor in the Reaver boat. Early warning meant I could get word out broadwave to the local worlds, so we'd have some reinforcements inbound by the time the Reavers hit dirt.

I got talked out of engaging myself, again, which is probably better for the town anyway. Gave me a chance to track the security feeds and try and help coordinate the defenses. What I don't think anyone expected was one of those gorram warbots blazing into town in the middle of the Reaver attack.

Warbots. On Hale's. Lovely.

Compared to the Reavers, the thing really was a nightmare. Given the situation and my hunch on just why the Alliance had been interested in this rock for so long, I shifted focus from trying to track the Reavers to trying to get as much footage as I could of the war machine. Unfortunately, the thing moved to fast to get a good bead on, and Wave Equation's sensors weren't well suited to this kind of work from the ground. All we were able to tell for sure was there'd been two of them. Someone took out the first, while the second escaped back into the Mines.

With confirmation of one of those things on the loose on Hale's, the best I could hope for was they were remnants from a previous drop. The thought of a Mother Bot buried somewhere down in the mining tunnels just wasn't something I wanted to contemplate. But given how the Replicants had acted before, and some of what I'd heard about their recent activity, I was worried that maybe that nightmare scenario was just what we were facing.

Once the dust settled, all I could do was check up on the wounded and try and bring a little calm back to the folks who'd elected me their leader.

Shiny. Just shiny.