View source for Comm-Link:Observist Dark - Grim HEX

Greetings, traveler! There are many exciting and different places to explore in the universe, and we here at THE OBSERVIST are honored to act as your guides. However, this is no ordinary guide. This is a guide for the traveler who is looking to visit locales that are a little more off the beaten path, a little more wild and unpredictable. This is OBSERVIST DARK, your trusted chronicler of the systems, planets and stations where safety is not guaranteed.

Today we travel deep into the heart of the Stanton system, where near a moon of [[Crusader]] (Stanton II) drifts a station formerly known as [[Grim HEX|Green Imperial]]. A Housing Exchange (HEX) built by [[Everline Structures Incorporated]] soon after the system’s discovery, it was intended to house the influx of miners coming to work the asteroid belt surrounding [[Yela]] (Stanton 2c). Like other HEXs, it was economically built into a hollowed asteroid using the signature honeycombed, prefabricated housing pods, providing a clean and affordable, if not exactly comfortable, living option to the scores of workers arriving everyday. Unfortunately, when the mining opportunities in the belt began to dry up a few decades later, the station began to take a turn for the worse.

As the jobs in the area went away, the station began declining, and so did the clientele, slowly transforming Green Imperial from a temporary housing unit into a market for contraband, drugs and petty crime. There was no real economic incentive to maintain it, and it was too much of an insurance nightmare to try and clean out the unsavory element that had taken root. So, stating that it had become a liability, the Housing Exchange officially closed the station in 2938, and the few remaining legitimate residents and stores hastily cleared out. Abandoned, the station quickly fell into decay.

That however, is not where the story ends. Squatters, transients and people with nowhere else to go began to take up residence in the abandoned station. A new economy began to emerge as folks brought scavenged and black market items to sell, so it wasn’t long until word spread that there was a place in Stanton away from the watchful eyes of the authorities, where people could go to enjoy themselves or do some more illicit shopping. This influx of visitors has given the station a new life in recent years and along with it has come a new name.

During its years of disuse, many of the signs around Green Imperial became damaged, including a prominent central screen that overlooks that main atrium. The display glitched in such a way that it displayed only some of the letters in the station’s name: GR___ IM______ HEX. Someone must have noticed that the accidental title fit well with the station’s current appearance, and the name stuck. Today, pretty much everyone in the know refers to the outpost as Grim HEX, and even all the rest of the signs have been hacked, scratched and spray painted to match. You’ll want to make sure you use the right name when you’re asking for directions.

And if you’re looking to meet some colorful people with varied and interesting life experiences, go shopping for products that are hard to find anywhere else in Stanton, and watch a dangerous bareknuckle race, then you’re definitely going to want to learn the coordinates for this out-of-the-way stop.

Probably one of the most difficult things about any trip to Grim HEX for most law-abiding people is finding it. Nestled into a nondescript section of Yela’s asteroid ring, the station can be hard to spot until your ship draws close. Don’t worry about finding authorized parking, as it is pretty much a free for all, just grab any spot you can find. The system’s antiquated auto-storage system should take care of the rest. Once you touch down, it’s a good idea to activate your ship’s security protocols. While the local gang who currently controls the area, the Nine Tails, enforces some semblance of a truce among those who frequent Grim HEX, if you dangle yourself out as easy pickings, anything that happens to you is considered fair game. Same goes for personal security. It would not be out of place to carry a firearm while visiting. But all that said, if you keep your wits about you and don’t wander into some of the station’s cordoned off and disused cargo areas alone, you can reasonably expect to have a safe and successful visit. After all, too many of their customers dying is bad for business.

From the landing area, you will go through the airlocks to a large lounge area. And while you may see a few strung out patrons hanging out up here, I would recommend heading straight for the elevators so you can go directly to the lower levels where most of the real action is happening. Once you travel down to the main atrium level, you’ll find rooms for rent, various substances to purchase and imbibe, and a rotating selection of sellers looking to unload their goods. Since it’s hard to say who might be selling what by the time you visit, I am going to stick to highlighting a few of the more long-lasting sellers of interest.