Sand

In spite of living on Hale's Moon, one of the driest inhabited worlds in the 34 Tauri system, I don't really like deserts. Though, technically, Al Raquis is a different sort of Desert than Hale's. Correction. Than Hale's was. Where Hale's Moon was essentially a compressed hunk of gravel and rock, Al Raquis had the characteristics of a terrestrial desert. Dry, arid, and sand. Lots, and lots, of sand.

The world's local government was somewhat fragmented, with various families, guilds, clans, or whatever, vieing for control and claiming sovereignty over different parts of the colony. Like a lot of other member worlds, the Alliance influence was more in name than in deed with most of their interaction taking place through the leaders of different factions.

This was a mixed blessing for me. I'd have almost unlimited operational flexibility, but limited support resources. Not that I especially wanted support resources. I was going to recover AuroraBlue. It wasn't an official Alliance Op.

One slight advantage I had going in was that, legally, I had some precedent. Lily was, officially, AuroraBlue's mother and, legally, I was Lily's mother. Hence AuroraBlue was legally my granddaughter and I would have standing if it came down to it. That was assuming I needed to deal directly with local officials. Ideally, this would be a simple in and out. Find my little girl. Give her a hug. Get in the boat with her and burn for the Black.

Still. I knew it was very unlikely to be so simple.

Which meant my first stop, when I actually talked to anyone, would be with the folks I knew in House Zenobia. They'd not need to know my Alliance connection. They knew me as Hale's Mayor, and Lily's mother. That should be enough to at least make contact and see if they could give me some pointers on the local culture.

But . . . why did it have to be another Gorram desert?