Ozzy: "Good evening, galactic sentients! Tonight we dedicate our program to a matter whose scoop we gave in this very studio. It is on the one hand the discovery of an abandoned shipment of possibly the purest and oldest materials in the galaxy by the leader of Zero Gravity freelancers Kirlan Krane. And on the other hand, the challenge launched to the entire galaxy by Zeta Blix, Director of Operations of THE XXX MINERS, to prove that there aren't other materials older than those found by Krane. To do so, we have again the presence of Mr. Krane and Mrs. Blix. Welcome to both of you back to the Vaz studio! Media!"
The camera opens up and brings the interview guests into the picture, as applause rings out in the studio. Kirlan, dressed in a flight suit, waves, and smiles at both the presenter and the audience. Zeta wears her white miner's jacket and pit trousers and she is noticeably friendly.
Ozzy: "Thank you both for coming back to our studios on Ord Cantrell! It's been about four months since we had you as guests and talked about those amazing materials that Mr. Krane sold to THE XXX MINERS. As Mrs. Blix told us, those materials were subjected to a detailed study to determine their characteristics and origin. What more do we know about these very ancient materials since our first interview, Mrs. Blix?"
Zeta: "Thank you Ozzy for inviting me to your show. First of all I am really overwhelmed by the number of participants to our quest and I like to take the opportunity to say thank you to the pioneers out there, who submitted their samples to our laboratory. The most surprising outcome is the triplet of Meleenium. Three pieces of ultramafic Meleenium ore from different ends of the galaxy were turned in for inspection. We showed by isotope analyses that all three pieces were once a single large lump right from the same Meleenium vein."
"What else did we learn from the ancient raw materials? Well, given the distribution of old piles we can exclude a three dimensional expansion of the galaxy. We have strong empirical evidence that we live in a flat galaxy and we can declassify galaxy's sphericity and any pseudoscientific conspiracy theories along these lines, which are espoused by certain societies and individuals."
Ozzy: "That's incredible, Mrs. Blix. I like your groundtruthing approach."
"And how about you, Mr. Krane? How has changed your life the generous payment for that hidden treasure? Now you can afford a luxury life..."
Kirlan: "Hello Ozzy! Well, yes. I could have retired from the cockpits and lived the good life for a while... but I'm a corellian and wanderlust runs through my veins. So I decided to invest that reward in investing and transforming our small group of Zero Gravity freelancers into a solid and reliable commercial company that keeps our customers happy and our pilots well fed. So, in addition to helping THE XXX MINERS with the management of this challenge, I've also been busy organizing the entire Zero Gravity structure and hiring the right sentients."
Ozzy: "I see someone hasn't been slacking off during these months hehehe... And tell us, Mr. Krane: how did this call to challenge the age of the materials you found go?"
Kirlan: "We have found that there were several dusty warehouses throughout the galaxy and thanks to this quest they are now clean and tidy hehehe... Now seriously, during these past months numerous sentients have been interested about this competition, and some of them have donated their oldest possessions to participate in this challenge. The laboratories have been working flat out, and have finally determined the exact date of origin of each sample of materials in their possession..."
Ozzy: "Don't leave us in suspense, Mr. Krane! Who has the oldest materials in the galaxy?"
Kirlan: "Actually, all the ancient materials donated in this quest are now in the possession of THE XXX MINERS and will be on public display soon. We have just provided Vaz! Media a detailed report of all these materials for publication. But I reveal to you that the oldest sample in existence for now is a pile of Rockivory from the lost shipment I found, so I'm afraid THE XXX MINERS has won this challenge. However, other very old samples of Meelenium, Rockivory, Duracrete and Laboi have been donated and listed as very valuable by the research labs."
Ozzy: "Wow, congratulations to you and THE XXX MINERS for winning this competition. I'm sure it will have delighted the scientists and I'm sure all the donors will have been rewarded."
"In fact, we are joined here today by those who have rescued from their reserves the samples that have come closest to the winning rockivory sample. These are Igor Quorrom and Zerrak Versio. Let's hear it for them!"
Two sentients enter the studio under the warm welcome of the audience. One of them is a delef with fur dark as midnight and a gnarly set of chompers. The other one has so many cybernetic implants that it is difficult to recognize his original race, including a bionic third eye on his forehead.
Ozzy: "Make yourselves comfortable, Mr. Quorrom and Mr. Versio. It's a pleasure to have you in our studio. Tell us, how did you manage to submit those ancient mineral samples that have brought you here today?"
Zerrak: "Thank you for having us, Ozzy. It is a pleasure to have participated in the search for ancient materials, as this challenge has been a before and after. The story is that Igor, Ondoron Bondoon, Asgeirr Growlington and I had worked together in the past. We had a shared warehouse with old material left over from a construction project in a distant. We got permissions for Ondoron to travel to that location, and he found that these materials were old enough to be presented to this challenge. So he loaded them onto his ship to present them at Lamuir, although he didn't have a very good time on route as he had to cross the tense conflict zone of Petabys to avoid the controls of the Galactic Empire."
Ozzy: "Certainly a stroke of luck to have that old warehouse, and an adventure for your friend to be able to submit the donations on time. But it was worth the effort. So I ask you: what do you plan to do with the reward?"
Igor: "After working together in the past, each of us had taken a different paths. But because of this competition we met again and shared experiences. And from this reunion came the idea that we are currently pursuing: to dedicate ourselves to making the galaxy a better place by rescuing sentients oppressed by their governments and recruiting them into our initiative, under the name of Chimaera Fleet. Undoubtedly, the reward for the old materials and the mining vessels obtained will help us to give work to these rescued sentients and make our organization more sustainable. So we have to thank THE XXX MINERS for their initiative in launching this competition."
Ozzy: "That's right, Mr. Quorrom. We certainly have to yield the floor to end this interview to Mrs. Blix."
Zeta "Thank you for the acknowledgements, Ozzy and Igor. THE XXX MINERS has been committed from the beginning to the preservation of these valuable samples and research into the origin of the galaxy. But I can't help but remember that we are here thanks to Kirlan and his space travels that have uncovered this wonder of the past. If anyone should have the last word it's him."
Kirlan "Thank you very much, Zeta. I am very grateful to your generosity and goodwill in this quest too. I can assure you that the reward received has been well spent, and thanks to it Zero Gravity has established its base of operations next to the Derra system. From there our growing team of pilots is providing services of buying and selling materials, ships and other goods at affordable prices to those who ask for them, as well as transportation and other additional services.”
Ozzy: "That would be nice, Mr. Krane. If Zero Gravity team has a good story, we at Vaz! Media loves to tell it!"
"Enough for today, viewers! We just saw the end of this interesting quest for the origin of our galaxy with its protagonists. Let's hope that soon they will bring us new and original stories: in Vaz! Media we will tell them to you. See you next time!"
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