The Cargo Bay

The cargo bay is the Verdigris's mouth — Class II volume, not generous, honest enough for bounty kit and the occasional gray crate that never made the manifest Ivan files. Mag-clamps and cargo net hold stacks of olive-drab containers against burn; overhead crane on rails for loads too heavy for shoulders (Talyra still carries more than the crane some days).

The ramp lowers to dirt, dock, or station collar — yellow loader tug in the corner, scuffed, reliable, smells like ozone. Hazard stripes on the deck are faded; drain grates carry oily wash from whatever the last crew tracked in. Through an open ramp you see rim mountains or berth fog; through a sealed one you hear dock bells and fixers lying about weight class.

Half the manifest is honest. The other half is between you and the deity you don't pray to. CGC scans at gates care about mass class — the garden dome already pushed Verdigris to the top of Class II.

Central lane to a lowered rear ramp — bright misty exterior, mountains or berth haze. Stacked metal crates both sides, cargo netting, riveted hull ribs. Overhead crane hook on rails. Yellow industrial loader foreground right. Oily grated floor, faded yellow hazard stripes. Orange hangar lamps vs cold daylight through ramp.

₡0/week when idle. Active ops: loader cell charge ₡40, ramp hydraulic service ₡120/month amortized, impound ₡2,000 if you park illegal on a job gone wrong.

Ivan — manifest (official), tie-downs, loader; pilot first. Talyra — heavy lift, crate inspection, nurse kit staged on the ramp wall. Elias — engineer pre-flight on loader hydraulics; sigil labels on crates confuse dock bots.