Dee simply sat in her bar stool, observing the entirely redirected conversation to it's conclusion. It was part of her job after all. She had originally been ordered to mostly observe Kallenger. Of course, considering the amount of freedom she was given by her Agent status and the amount of insanity that seemed to follow the woman, Dee had thought it best to simply introduce herself to her new target and to get her side of things. That had been the plan anyways. As normal plans never go right on the first try and her approach had been thrown off by the appearance of....a dimensional lord and his...Julian? Dee's expression quickly changed to a blank slate, unwilling to give up any possible information to the new intruders.
It didn't matter. Dee simply continued to observe, recording and sending her live feed to her own ship the Asimov. Up until the point when Kallenger pressed her badge into Dee's chest and spoke words that Agents just simply were not suppose to say. The woman's face quickly bore a confused expression as a single word slipped out while she grabbed the split badge "Nani?" So strange was the occurrence that Dee changed to her default language for a brief moment.
Seeing Kallenger and her companion take off, and then the one named Julian taking off after them, Dee quickly does as well while sending a message to the Asimov to prepare for immediate departure. Even as she did all of this, she agreed that things would be interesting now. No agent had ever just quit and walked away. It would certainly be a good case study to find out exactly how bad the old conditioning model would react if nothing else.
It didn't matter. Dee simply continued to observe, recording and sending her live feed to her own ship the Asimov. Up until the point when Kallenger pressed her badge into Dee's chest and spoke words that Agents just simply were not suppose to say. The woman's face quickly bore a confused expression as a single word slipped out while she grabbed the split badge "Nani?" So strange was the occurrence that Dee changed to her default language for a brief moment.
Seeing Kallenger and her companion take off, and then the one named Julian taking off after them, Dee quickly does as well while sending a message to the Asimov to prepare for immediate departure. Even as she did all of this, she agreed that things would be interesting now. No agent had ever just quit and walked away. It would certainly be a good case study to find out exactly how bad the old conditioning model would react if nothing else.
Farming Village
Rin's eyeborows raised in disbelief. Ty couldn't be serious. He was the absolute worst choice in initiating diplomatic relations in first contact or whatever situation that involved elegant formalities and negotiations and small talk. He should know this already.
That plank must have hit harder than I thought he wailed inwardly, doing his best to compose his face into the stone cold poker face he was so well known for in the military. He turned to the girl, paused for a second, and thought oh what the hell- drawing his knife and holding it in a casual way, tip pointed down. Just in case she released another arrow.
"Nice shot," he said. "But I think you should point that somewhere else. We're not here to cause trouble."
He hoped she wasn't offended by the monotone delivery of his voice, or the way he more or less looked unaffected by the weapon honed in on them. She didn't seem like she was, but perhaps fear was the drive behind her decent aim. In that case, he would just have to be fast to catch the arrow- and faster to diffuse the situation, if it became too chaotic.
Hag's Swamp
"We will do what we can to repay you, however," Reqti said evenly. Now that Sands seemed to be taking the more companiable role in the exchange, he settled more unto the trunk he was leaning against and resumed taking watch.
Rai then shifted again, breath hitching slightly, and he brushed the pale forehead, eyes entirely focused on the Nyran, until ze were still again.
Motukka Monshuuk - Docks
"But if ye’folken wanna’ lift, I s’pose ye’can hop aboard... It y’aren’t too busy killin’ eachother, that is. I’d rathah ye’get it done with before comin’ aboahd, y’fine...Oh, name’s Ed Perry by the by.”
Vaxur was still eyeing the... person who was still holding Dal's shoulder. He normally wasn't so hostile, he could admit to himself, but there was too much going on and seriously, who just walked up behind a stranger in the middle of a tense moment and touched them with a skeletal hand without any warning whatsoever?
Rude. And creepy. Talk about no sense of boundaries. Or nonexistent situation-reading skills.
Wyr was busy looming over her charge. She had seen the gleam of interest in Tahil's eyes, and she really didn't want the situation to escalate. If Tahil spoke, she was getting a swift karate chop to the neck to shut her up.
"Commander?" Vaxur clicked, and she turned her head ever so slightly to Vaxur's direction.
"Remain steady. Don't be trigger happy. If he moves aggressively I will strike as you dodge" she clicked back, and she saw his shoulders relax a little. She smiled inwardly. It was nice of Vaxur and Rin to learn her way of speaking, and while Rin was passable, he just didn't have the vocal capacity for all the subtler aspects of the language. Vaxur had a wider range - and then some lower notes that made him quite interesting to listen to, even if most of it was nonsense.
She held Tahil's arm in a firmer grip and ignored her glare, two eyes on the strange man with Dal, and the other two on - Ed Perry? - on the ship.
Not that her double watch was apparent.
Rin's eyeborows raised in disbelief. Ty couldn't be serious. He was the absolute worst choice in initiating diplomatic relations in first contact or whatever situation that involved elegant formalities and negotiations and small talk. He should know this already.
That plank must have hit harder than I thought he wailed inwardly, doing his best to compose his face into the stone cold poker face he was so well known for in the military. He turned to the girl, paused for a second, and thought oh what the hell- drawing his knife and holding it in a casual way, tip pointed down. Just in case she released another arrow.
"Nice shot," he said. "But I think you should point that somewhere else. We're not here to cause trouble."
He hoped she wasn't offended by the monotone delivery of his voice, or the way he more or less looked unaffected by the weapon honed in on them. She didn't seem like she was, but perhaps fear was the drive behind her decent aim. In that case, he would just have to be fast to catch the arrow- and faster to diffuse the situation, if it became too chaotic.
Hag's Swamp
"We will do what we can to repay you, however," Reqti said evenly. Now that Sands seemed to be taking the more companiable role in the exchange, he settled more unto the trunk he was leaning against and resumed taking watch.
Rai then shifted again, breath hitching slightly, and he brushed the pale forehead, eyes entirely focused on the Nyran, until ze were still again.
Motukka Monshuuk - Docks
"But if ye’folken wanna’ lift, I s’pose ye’can hop aboard... It y’aren’t too busy killin’ eachother, that is. I’d rathah ye’get it done with before comin’ aboahd, y’fine...Oh, name’s Ed Perry by the by.”
Vaxur was still eyeing the... person who was still holding Dal's shoulder. He normally wasn't so hostile, he could admit to himself, but there was too much going on and seriously, who just walked up behind a stranger in the middle of a tense moment and touched them with a skeletal hand without any warning whatsoever?
Rude. And creepy. Talk about no sense of boundaries. Or nonexistent situation-reading skills.
Wyr was busy looming over her charge. She had seen the gleam of interest in Tahil's eyes, and she really didn't want the situation to escalate. If Tahil spoke, she was getting a swift karate chop to the neck to shut her up.
"Commander?" Vaxur clicked, and she turned her head ever so slightly to Vaxur's direction.
"Remain steady. Don't be trigger happy. If he moves aggressively I will strike as you dodge" she clicked back, and she saw his shoulders relax a little. She smiled inwardly. It was nice of Vaxur and Rin to learn her way of speaking, and while Rin was passable, he just didn't have the vocal capacity for all the subtler aspects of the language. Vaxur had a wider range - and then some lower notes that made him quite interesting to listen to, even if most of it was nonsense.
She held Tahil's arm in a firmer grip and ignored her glare, two eyes on the strange man with Dal, and the other two on - Ed Perry? - on the ship.
Not that her double watch was apparent.
Tora Station
Christofer waited, eyes kept on Kampfer and his buddy - or, well, Supposedly you could call Julian a 'baby' if the inted was to have him be 'babysitted', sat, that stuff. Makes sense, close enough. Right right. The canid was not very fond of this situation, and he'd easily be standing on his toes, almost figuratively, being so alert that the moment Kallenger finally moved his fingers twitched and made a motion of closing. He had started to feel even tenser as the moments went by, turquoise eyes from which the blue light reflected having their gaze firmly locked on the thread that was right there before him.
So the moment Roy took and shook her head, making a crack to that tension, Christofer couldn't help but to blink himself, and then rapidly twice over blinked right after. It was not expected. It was not what He expected. Did Anyone expect the words they'd come to hear? To be honest, the first word spoken almost passed right through him right as the crack in the tension dropped on the floor and fled, leaving for the rest to try and hold its shape but ultimately the surprise took over him and the canid couldn't help but loosen his stance a little in wonder at the second denial. It was so simple, yet it had so much weight behind it.
He had gotten carried away.
The words "I'm done" sure did echo in his head after they were spoken, but more in a way in which your had repeats what it had just heard in order to understand, but so silently you didn't actually hear any of the echo, words already lost somewhere on the abyss that was the past.
He couldn't even get himself to ask "What...?" to hear the words just so he could be more sure on what she had said. Going silent so soon, the words were strong enough to loosen his form as the canid now stood much more relaxed, if only due to the perplexing feeling that had just taken over. Done? I mean, one can suppose and assume that he'd understand, having the same feeling of not wanting for things to keep happening like they had for the past little while, but... Something told him it was more than that.
It was a short moment, but it felt much longer than that, and it'd take even longer to fully take it in. Nevermind how tense and ready to leap he had been just a moment prior, Christofer was rather easily moved. Confused, perhaps a little lost. Nothing new for him and his character that had been found out so far it'd seem, but still.
He wasn't quite sure where to place his ears, to be alert or not. What was happening. The strangeness of a soft touch, one he thought he hadn't felt in eons for some reason. It was a completely alien feel now, and even if he could recall a similar touch happening before, in the moment it felt like it was the first one, and it only served for the strangeness to bring out a mild flinch from him, but he wouldn't move any further. A vague sound, not a full word or even half a word softly leaving him, the canid not finding the capacity to form anything sensible in the moment. He just stood there, partly frozen in the moment and making a jerk to stand more straight arms lifting as an automatic reaction as his body acted upon seeing Royanna's arms lift towards his neck. It was an instinct to try and protect himself in his confusion, but movement stopped half way, hands near his neck but staying on air, not touching his neck nor her hands. He just stood and blinked as the badge half was removed.
He wanted to speak so bad. Oh how he wanted to word out all sorts of questions. With the confusion his head was empty. When slowly coming to a realization of the moment his eyes still paid attention to not leave him completely lost. Truth be told, he'd have been very vulnerable in that moment, but such a steep curve in the atmosphere and turn of events would take a moment to progress for the majority of people present. But even as he wanted to ask, getting a hold of it all and realizing little by little, his senses were there right along the situation and he wouldn't speak a word in that moment.
There was this... feeling in him that this was not the time to question. He had experienced it before. It was natural, even if the situation in his head was anything but for one reason or another. But he wouldn't oppose it, wouldn't question it. Not now. Now was not the time.
She was quitting.
And he was dumbfounded but getting a hold of the situation.
And so, his body still in some strange mystery in-between state of different clashing emotions, his eyes widened upon his hand being taken, his position had changed as the canid had taken a move towards the bar, as if instinctively following in Royanna's steps just that little bit to never be too far out of reach even as he gave her the space to move more than freely. Feeling the touch of their hand, the emotions transferring through it, he'd get a slightly better hold of the situation than those left outside of it. With only the slightest of thoughts put into it and the situation at hand, he took a firm hold of the hand holding his. A confident one to support her. He had a feeling in him that she might need it.
Eyes looking where hers did, only briefly glancing at Dee when Royanna spoke her quick final words, his head and shoulders moving much more loosely and without a hint of stiffness. Yes, he had many Many questions, but in this situation he was feeling that the weight of the situation was not on him specifically, even if his empathy was taking some of it from Royanna, he couldn't help doing that.
Moving right along, it seemed that this was the time for the pair to leave. Walking backwards was not an issue - usually at least, the still somewhat tail gave him some awkwardness as he had to carefully push it to the side when it brushed against his legs, but he wouldn't stumble or waver. Reaching the end of the narrow corridor ad turning, his ears shifted to face behind them, reacting to the movement and words spoken after them. They wouldn't be allowed to leave just like that, just the two of them...
"Roy..." Finally speaking, the canid spoke with a soft and gentle tone to avoid any chances of accidentally spooking the woman or taking her by surprise. "How fast can you run?" Simple and to the point, he directed a slight turn of his head and a kind but trusting familiar turquoise eye to judge from her reactions what her answer was. "We could lose them." Not even 'try lose them' just straight out confident 'lose them'.
He was 'built for speed'. Knowing that him suggesting a distraction for any chaser was going to be nulled by the likely fact that most were after Royanna and couldn't give half a sent about him, so it was not worth it to even suggest buying them time. He didn't know anything about security on the station, for all he knew they Could stop at least Julian from following them, he had never Entered so how the being had gotten in on the first place would logically raise at least an eyebrow if not two. But he didn't know anything about security, or the possible scientific improvements and what not. But he could live in the hope of things going their way and helping them. Dee however could very easily pass the security he felt, and he was fine with that as long as Roy was too.
It was an adrenaline rush regardless.
His biggest question: what now - would have to wait.
Christofer waited, eyes kept on Kampfer and his buddy - or, well, Supposedly you could call Julian a 'baby' if the inted was to have him be 'babysitted', sat, that stuff. Makes sense, close enough. Right right. The canid was not very fond of this situation, and he'd easily be standing on his toes, almost figuratively, being so alert that the moment Kallenger finally moved his fingers twitched and made a motion of closing. He had started to feel even tenser as the moments went by, turquoise eyes from which the blue light reflected having their gaze firmly locked on the thread that was right there before him.
So the moment Roy took and shook her head, making a crack to that tension, Christofer couldn't help but to blink himself, and then rapidly twice over blinked right after. It was not expected. It was not what He expected. Did Anyone expect the words they'd come to hear? To be honest, the first word spoken almost passed right through him right as the crack in the tension dropped on the floor and fled, leaving for the rest to try and hold its shape but ultimately the surprise took over him and the canid couldn't help but loosen his stance a little in wonder at the second denial. It was so simple, yet it had so much weight behind it.
He had gotten carried away.
The words "I'm done" sure did echo in his head after they were spoken, but more in a way in which your had repeats what it had just heard in order to understand, but so silently you didn't actually hear any of the echo, words already lost somewhere on the abyss that was the past.
He couldn't even get himself to ask "What...?" to hear the words just so he could be more sure on what she had said. Going silent so soon, the words were strong enough to loosen his form as the canid now stood much more relaxed, if only due to the perplexing feeling that had just taken over. Done? I mean, one can suppose and assume that he'd understand, having the same feeling of not wanting for things to keep happening like they had for the past little while, but... Something told him it was more than that.
It was a short moment, but it felt much longer than that, and it'd take even longer to fully take it in. Nevermind how tense and ready to leap he had been just a moment prior, Christofer was rather easily moved. Confused, perhaps a little lost. Nothing new for him and his character that had been found out so far it'd seem, but still.
He wasn't quite sure where to place his ears, to be alert or not. What was happening. The strangeness of a soft touch, one he thought he hadn't felt in eons for some reason. It was a completely alien feel now, and even if he could recall a similar touch happening before, in the moment it felt like it was the first one, and it only served for the strangeness to bring out a mild flinch from him, but he wouldn't move any further. A vague sound, not a full word or even half a word softly leaving him, the canid not finding the capacity to form anything sensible in the moment. He just stood there, partly frozen in the moment and making a jerk to stand more straight arms lifting as an automatic reaction as his body acted upon seeing Royanna's arms lift towards his neck. It was an instinct to try and protect himself in his confusion, but movement stopped half way, hands near his neck but staying on air, not touching his neck nor her hands. He just stood and blinked as the badge half was removed.
He wanted to speak so bad. Oh how he wanted to word out all sorts of questions. With the confusion his head was empty. When slowly coming to a realization of the moment his eyes still paid attention to not leave him completely lost. Truth be told, he'd have been very vulnerable in that moment, but such a steep curve in the atmosphere and turn of events would take a moment to progress for the majority of people present. But even as he wanted to ask, getting a hold of it all and realizing little by little, his senses were there right along the situation and he wouldn't speak a word in that moment.
There was this... feeling in him that this was not the time to question. He had experienced it before. It was natural, even if the situation in his head was anything but for one reason or another. But he wouldn't oppose it, wouldn't question it. Not now. Now was not the time.
She was quitting.
And he was dumbfounded but getting a hold of the situation.
And so, his body still in some strange mystery in-between state of different clashing emotions, his eyes widened upon his hand being taken, his position had changed as the canid had taken a move towards the bar, as if instinctively following in Royanna's steps just that little bit to never be too far out of reach even as he gave her the space to move more than freely. Feeling the touch of their hand, the emotions transferring through it, he'd get a slightly better hold of the situation than those left outside of it. With only the slightest of thoughts put into it and the situation at hand, he took a firm hold of the hand holding his. A confident one to support her. He had a feeling in him that she might need it.
Eyes looking where hers did, only briefly glancing at Dee when Royanna spoke her quick final words, his head and shoulders moving much more loosely and without a hint of stiffness. Yes, he had many Many questions, but in this situation he was feeling that the weight of the situation was not on him specifically, even if his empathy was taking some of it from Royanna, he couldn't help doing that.
Moving right along, it seemed that this was the time for the pair to leave. Walking backwards was not an issue - usually at least, the still somewhat tail gave him some awkwardness as he had to carefully push it to the side when it brushed against his legs, but he wouldn't stumble or waver. Reaching the end of the narrow corridor ad turning, his ears shifted to face behind them, reacting to the movement and words spoken after them. They wouldn't be allowed to leave just like that, just the two of them...
"Roy..." Finally speaking, the canid spoke with a soft and gentle tone to avoid any chances of accidentally spooking the woman or taking her by surprise. "How fast can you run?" Simple and to the point, he directed a slight turn of his head and a kind but trusting familiar turquoise eye to judge from her reactions what her answer was. "We could lose them." Not even 'try lose them' just straight out confident 'lose them'.
He was 'built for speed'. Knowing that him suggesting a distraction for any chaser was going to be nulled by the likely fact that most were after Royanna and couldn't give half a sent about him, so it was not worth it to even suggest buying them time. He didn't know anything about security on the station, for all he knew they Could stop at least Julian from following them, he had never Entered so how the being had gotten in on the first place would logically raise at least an eyebrow if not two. But he didn't know anything about security, or the possible scientific improvements and what not. But he could live in the hope of things going their way and helping them. Dee however could very easily pass the security he felt, and he was fine with that as long as Roy was too.
It was an adrenaline rush regardless.
His biggest question: what now - would have to wait.
LoneWorld
Castle Motukka
As Kilwen talked and theorized about the strange state of affairs present across LoneWorld, old Attie seemed to react as if they were both recounting different retellings of the same ancient story. She nodded along with him - not everything he said seemed to ring bells, but she did seem thoughtful about all of it. Too, the old lady did not hesitate to interject when appropriate.
”Well Midway’s Patron Lord is you, of course.” She said with a bright smile, which shifted to a look of thoughtful consideration as she continued. ”And in Steam City, well, either they just made one up, or he doesn’t exist yet. You know how finicky time can be~” With that, she gave a little chuckle and wave of the hand, as if casually implying that time was ’finicky’ was not either utter madness or world-shattering calamity. ”I forget his name, I think his name begins with a K. Well nevermind.”
”Ah, Ivan the Divider...” She said when Ivan’s name was mentioned, with a hint of reverence that suggested his title of ‘Divider’ was not a negative one. At least there were some names that had not been bastardized.
Then it was time to go, as something within the once sturdy castle began to creak and groan. Shouldering her leather satchel, the former-monarch accepted the huge offered hand with her own tiny withered one and proceeded to shuffle alongside the Lord with startling speed, not appearing to exert herself in the slightest, and in no rush.
”Oh, don’t you worry about that.” She said, waving away his apologies. ”Like I said, it was going to happen anyway and we were about due.”
Attie waited patiently beside Kilwen in the courtyard, and watched with brows raised in wonder as, following a booming Shout, a black, metal dragon appeared before her very eyes. Accepting this at face value she let Kilwen help her up onto the creature’s back, clearly delighted by the prospect of riding it.
She was not disappointed, as the beast charged, then leaped into the air and made short work of gravity. A fantastic beam of electric blue shot into the sky, piercing the clouds and disappearing beyond them. Then the city - in all its tragic vastness - was stretched out beneath them, and old Attie was giggling like a schoolgirl. Clearly it was the most fun she’d had in a very long time.
”Well, I’d assume you want to find your friends!” She replied, raising her voice to be heard over the winds. ”Oh, and it’s Kevin. The Patron Lord of Steam City - Lord Kevin of Amelioration.”
Farming Village
What had he done!!
Ty’s heart sank like a rock and the bitter claw of instantaneous regret gripped at his gut.
Why? Why had he thought it would be a good idea to hand the delicate situation over to Rin! Ty knew him well enough, even though they had been in companionship for only a few days. He knew that this was not the Nyran’s forte, knew that he was just awful with any form of social interaction - and for some reason, he’d thought it a good idea to put the antisocial little weirdo in charge of a situation like this?
It was these lapses in judgement, these all too common slips from his carefully constructed and maintained facade of ‘cool and in control’ that had always held him back in
the Hi’tzen Special Forces. Oh, he had gotten up the ranks, somehow. He had achieved the status of captain of an elite special forces team and even been assigned to one of several vital missions that had cropped up during the Kampferian invasion and subsequent fall of Earth City - but it had never really been him in charge. He had fooled the brass into thinking him worthy of promotions by being charming and clever and pretty - he had convinced his team that he wasn’t entirely inept - but it had always been Sané who was really in charge. Not him.
And with each passing day since he and Reltakov had left them, Ty was learning more and more about how heavily he had depended on the older, wiser Hd’zra Sané. Counted on his wisdom and guidance to lead his team to victory and, more importantly, safety. It was Hd’zra who should have been here, helping keep RIn and this bow-wielding teenager from killing each other, not him-!
Ty watched in silent horror and ever multiplying dread as Rin did all the wrong things in a perfect sequence of calculated blunders. He watched as the girl, still creeping gradually closer with her bow trained on Rin, tensed up in response to the Nyran’s icy mask, and deadly monotone. He watched as Rin unsheathed his dagger, prompting the girl to halt suddenly, eyes widening, focusing, drawing back the bowstring just a fraction more.
In his adrenaline-induced focus, Ty was able to see the perspiration beading on the girl’s forehead. The way her eyes glistened in the easy sun. The halted way she was breathing. As if it hadn’t been obvious from the start, this kid was positively terrified - and her fear was much more focused on Rin than himself. She had ceased darting her aim back and forth between them, centering it solely on the Nyran.
Ty froze up. Before him, he saw things going from bad to worse, and had to force himself not to dwell on the fact that every screw-up Rin ad made was solely because of his stupid, impulsive decision to put him in charge. And what would happen if Ty stepped in now? Would he only escalate things further? Tip the balance in just the wrong way? He didn’t doubt that Rin stood a very solid chance of dodging or deflecting an arrow, but what if he didn’t?
He was still frozen, frantically deliberating as the girl spoke up again. The fear in her voice was now more prominent still, tone cracking just slightly.
”Y-Ye’lie, stahlandah!” She yelped, panic clearly tinging her voice even as she struggled valiantly to stay brave. ”Ye’Mahk’d, aye! Mahks like th’Wolf Gal und'ye eyes! M-Mahk’a th’Ancients!”
Motukka Docks
It took everything Dal had not to let out a furious yelp at the positively skin-crawling sensation two gold coins being dropped down her shirt like some kind of whorish tavern wench. Though admittedly, the icy grip of literal death on her shoulders had the woman mostly immobile. Besides the fact that it was a disturbingly vice-like grip, there was the simple matter that of all the wild things she had seen since joining up with Cathorine, the living dead were not among them. Frankly it was downright frightening. It didn’t help at all knowing that she was unarmed except for a rusty, now blood-speckled hatchet that presently dangled in a loose grip at her side. No soldier - especially a veteran - liked to be scared stiff - but everyone had weaknesses, and apparently Dallen Armston’s weakness was zombies.
Despite this, she was gearing up to hook a foot around the dead man’s ankle and trip him when he released her from his grip. As such, instead of the cool self-defense trick she was preparing to pull, Dal proceeded with an undignified stumble several feet down the dock, frantically swatting at her chest as if the coins were insects and she wanted them gone as quickly as possible. After a moment, the coins dropped out of the bottom of her ice-blue crew tee and rolled to an unceremonious disposal in the depths of the sea. Just as well.
Having regained most of her composure then, she was taking a step toward the dead man (Who was offering gifts to her comrades in a fashion she would have found positively hilarious under different circumstances) when fate conspired yet again to interrupt her before she had a chance to actually do anything. This time however, it was via a much less subtle means.
From behind them, somewhere within the depths of the crumbling city, a great, beastly roar echoed - and was almost immediately followed by a great, dazzling beam of electric blue light that shot into the sky, blasting through the smoke and clouds like a spear through water and, curiously, seeming to dissipate suddenly at an arbitrary point in the sky, like hitting an invisible wall. Though that particular detail was of no interest to Dal.
From behind, there was a low whistle from the boatman as he stood just as impassively as before, hands in pockets, looking up at where the clouds were still parted and breached, slowly beginning to spill back into their usual cumulous.
Awkwardly, at the exact same time as Dal was saying ”The @#$% was that?” The boatman said "Well that was shuah’ somethin’.” In the same mildly impressed tone with which h had addressed all the other insanity today.
And the fun wasn’t over - because the little group had barey the time to react before a black, winged shape flung itself into the distant sky - too far and fast moving to make out clearly, but it looked like it had wings. On a whim, Edd said "S’at a dragon?” As if commenting on a sighting of an interesting rare car. Then he blinked. "Yup. World’s endin’.” Running a hand through the tuft of silvery hair atop his head, the old fella frowned thoughtfully and, for the first time, really seemed to consider the maddeningly alien group before him, appreciating the true nature of how much trouble he had just offered to take aboard his boat.
Too, it was only then that he actually noticed the other, slightly lighter-skinned but still olive-colored human-looking girl that the ‘bug demon’ starlander was gripping by the arm.
At once, the man’s easy, impassive air fell off like an old cloak. His face a mask of befuddled concern, he stepped forward, then stooped over the bow to get a better look at Tahil. He looked her in the eyes - her gold eyes - for what seemed to be a very long time, all but oblivious to everything else around him. Unreadable as he was, something about the Qetan had definitely caught Perry’s attention, for better or worse. Something about her eyes, or her face - for that was the only thing he focused on, past a cursory glance over the rest of her.
Then, as suddenly as this break of character had come on, it ceased. Ed stood back up straight, put his hands in his pockets and blew out a puff of air from his cheeks, momentarily bristling the mustache. Then was right back to mostly impassive and just a little thoughtful. He shrugged, just a little, then stepped back from the bow and returned to just watching the strange group act out their curious confrontation as if nothing at all had happened - though now he seemed to be just a little more invested in figuring out just what was going on here.
Why magic beams were shooting up from within the city. Why dragons were soaring among the clouds. Why the dead were rising up from their graves. Why starlanders were falling from the sky. He thought they must be connected, but could not conceive of how - unless it really was simply the end of the world, and these chaotic things were a byproduct of the apocalypse. He could accept that. He didn’t like it, but if it really was the end times there was nothing he could do about it, except get home and see his granddaughter one more time. That, he decided, would be his next move regardless.
Or maybe all of these things were isolated incidents? One beam, one dragon, one undead, one group of starlanders?
But there was one question that bothered him most of all. One question that burned within him so fiercely that he wasn’t even sure how it actually made him feel. A question that had too many facets to even hope to answer properly…
He would just have to wait and see.
Or maybe not get involved at all.
Here it was, the apparent end of the world, and Edward Perry was feeling indecisive.
Castle Motukka
As Kilwen talked and theorized about the strange state of affairs present across LoneWorld, old Attie seemed to react as if they were both recounting different retellings of the same ancient story. She nodded along with him - not everything he said seemed to ring bells, but she did seem thoughtful about all of it. Too, the old lady did not hesitate to interject when appropriate.
”Well Midway’s Patron Lord is you, of course.” She said with a bright smile, which shifted to a look of thoughtful consideration as she continued. ”And in Steam City, well, either they just made one up, or he doesn’t exist yet. You know how finicky time can be~” With that, she gave a little chuckle and wave of the hand, as if casually implying that time was ’finicky’ was not either utter madness or world-shattering calamity. ”I forget his name, I think his name begins with a K. Well nevermind.”
”Ah, Ivan the Divider...” She said when Ivan’s name was mentioned, with a hint of reverence that suggested his title of ‘Divider’ was not a negative one. At least there were some names that had not been bastardized.
Then it was time to go, as something within the once sturdy castle began to creak and groan. Shouldering her leather satchel, the former-monarch accepted the huge offered hand with her own tiny withered one and proceeded to shuffle alongside the Lord with startling speed, not appearing to exert herself in the slightest, and in no rush.
”Oh, don’t you worry about that.” She said, waving away his apologies. ”Like I said, it was going to happen anyway and we were about due.”
Attie waited patiently beside Kilwen in the courtyard, and watched with brows raised in wonder as, following a booming Shout, a black, metal dragon appeared before her very eyes. Accepting this at face value she let Kilwen help her up onto the creature’s back, clearly delighted by the prospect of riding it.
She was not disappointed, as the beast charged, then leaped into the air and made short work of gravity. A fantastic beam of electric blue shot into the sky, piercing the clouds and disappearing beyond them. Then the city - in all its tragic vastness - was stretched out beneath them, and old Attie was giggling like a schoolgirl. Clearly it was the most fun she’d had in a very long time.
”Well, I’d assume you want to find your friends!” She replied, raising her voice to be heard over the winds. ”Oh, and it’s Kevin. The Patron Lord of Steam City - Lord Kevin of Amelioration.”
Farming Village
What had he done!!
Ty’s heart sank like a rock and the bitter claw of instantaneous regret gripped at his gut.
Why? Why had he thought it would be a good idea to hand the delicate situation over to Rin! Ty knew him well enough, even though they had been in companionship for only a few days. He knew that this was not the Nyran’s forte, knew that he was just awful with any form of social interaction - and for some reason, he’d thought it a good idea to put the antisocial little weirdo in charge of a situation like this?
It was these lapses in judgement, these all too common slips from his carefully constructed and maintained facade of ‘cool and in control’ that had always held him back in
the Hi’tzen Special Forces. Oh, he had gotten up the ranks, somehow. He had achieved the status of captain of an elite special forces team and even been assigned to one of several vital missions that had cropped up during the Kampferian invasion and subsequent fall of Earth City - but it had never really been him in charge. He had fooled the brass into thinking him worthy of promotions by being charming and clever and pretty - he had convinced his team that he wasn’t entirely inept - but it had always been Sané who was really in charge. Not him.
And with each passing day since he and Reltakov had left them, Ty was learning more and more about how heavily he had depended on the older, wiser Hd’zra Sané. Counted on his wisdom and guidance to lead his team to victory and, more importantly, safety. It was Hd’zra who should have been here, helping keep RIn and this bow-wielding teenager from killing each other, not him-!
Ty watched in silent horror and ever multiplying dread as Rin did all the wrong things in a perfect sequence of calculated blunders. He watched as the girl, still creeping gradually closer with her bow trained on Rin, tensed up in response to the Nyran’s icy mask, and deadly monotone. He watched as Rin unsheathed his dagger, prompting the girl to halt suddenly, eyes widening, focusing, drawing back the bowstring just a fraction more.
In his adrenaline-induced focus, Ty was able to see the perspiration beading on the girl’s forehead. The way her eyes glistened in the easy sun. The halted way she was breathing. As if it hadn’t been obvious from the start, this kid was positively terrified - and her fear was much more focused on Rin than himself. She had ceased darting her aim back and forth between them, centering it solely on the Nyran.
Ty froze up. Before him, he saw things going from bad to worse, and had to force himself not to dwell on the fact that every screw-up Rin ad made was solely because of his stupid, impulsive decision to put him in charge. And what would happen if Ty stepped in now? Would he only escalate things further? Tip the balance in just the wrong way? He didn’t doubt that Rin stood a very solid chance of dodging or deflecting an arrow, but what if he didn’t?
He was still frozen, frantically deliberating as the girl spoke up again. The fear in her voice was now more prominent still, tone cracking just slightly.
”Y-Ye’lie, stahlandah!” She yelped, panic clearly tinging her voice even as she struggled valiantly to stay brave. ”Ye’Mahk’d, aye! Mahks like th’Wolf Gal und'ye eyes! M-Mahk’a th’Ancients!”
Motukka Docks
It took everything Dal had not to let out a furious yelp at the positively skin-crawling sensation two gold coins being dropped down her shirt like some kind of whorish tavern wench. Though admittedly, the icy grip of literal death on her shoulders had the woman mostly immobile. Besides the fact that it was a disturbingly vice-like grip, there was the simple matter that of all the wild things she had seen since joining up with Cathorine, the living dead were not among them. Frankly it was downright frightening. It didn’t help at all knowing that she was unarmed except for a rusty, now blood-speckled hatchet that presently dangled in a loose grip at her side. No soldier - especially a veteran - liked to be scared stiff - but everyone had weaknesses, and apparently Dallen Armston’s weakness was zombies.
Despite this, she was gearing up to hook a foot around the dead man’s ankle and trip him when he released her from his grip. As such, instead of the cool self-defense trick she was preparing to pull, Dal proceeded with an undignified stumble several feet down the dock, frantically swatting at her chest as if the coins were insects and she wanted them gone as quickly as possible. After a moment, the coins dropped out of the bottom of her ice-blue crew tee and rolled to an unceremonious disposal in the depths of the sea. Just as well.
Having regained most of her composure then, she was taking a step toward the dead man (Who was offering gifts to her comrades in a fashion she would have found positively hilarious under different circumstances) when fate conspired yet again to interrupt her before she had a chance to actually do anything. This time however, it was via a much less subtle means.
From behind them, somewhere within the depths of the crumbling city, a great, beastly roar echoed - and was almost immediately followed by a great, dazzling beam of electric blue light that shot into the sky, blasting through the smoke and clouds like a spear through water and, curiously, seeming to dissipate suddenly at an arbitrary point in the sky, like hitting an invisible wall. Though that particular detail was of no interest to Dal.
From behind, there was a low whistle from the boatman as he stood just as impassively as before, hands in pockets, looking up at where the clouds were still parted and breached, slowly beginning to spill back into their usual cumulous.
Awkwardly, at the exact same time as Dal was saying ”The @#$% was that?” The boatman said "Well that was shuah’ somethin’.” In the same mildly impressed tone with which h had addressed all the other insanity today.
And the fun wasn’t over - because the little group had barey the time to react before a black, winged shape flung itself into the distant sky - too far and fast moving to make out clearly, but it looked like it had wings. On a whim, Edd said "S’at a dragon?” As if commenting on a sighting of an interesting rare car. Then he blinked. "Yup. World’s endin’.” Running a hand through the tuft of silvery hair atop his head, the old fella frowned thoughtfully and, for the first time, really seemed to consider the maddeningly alien group before him, appreciating the true nature of how much trouble he had just offered to take aboard his boat.
Too, it was only then that he actually noticed the other, slightly lighter-skinned but still olive-colored human-looking girl that the ‘bug demon’ starlander was gripping by the arm.
At once, the man’s easy, impassive air fell off like an old cloak. His face a mask of befuddled concern, he stepped forward, then stooped over the bow to get a better look at Tahil. He looked her in the eyes - her gold eyes - for what seemed to be a very long time, all but oblivious to everything else around him. Unreadable as he was, something about the Qetan had definitely caught Perry’s attention, for better or worse. Something about her eyes, or her face - for that was the only thing he focused on, past a cursory glance over the rest of her.
Then, as suddenly as this break of character had come on, it ceased. Ed stood back up straight, put his hands in his pockets and blew out a puff of air from his cheeks, momentarily bristling the mustache. Then was right back to mostly impassive and just a little thoughtful. He shrugged, just a little, then stepped back from the bow and returned to just watching the strange group act out their curious confrontation as if nothing at all had happened - though now he seemed to be just a little more invested in figuring out just what was going on here.
Why magic beams were shooting up from within the city. Why dragons were soaring among the clouds. Why the dead were rising up from their graves. Why starlanders were falling from the sky. He thought they must be connected, but could not conceive of how - unless it really was simply the end of the world, and these chaotic things were a byproduct of the apocalypse. He could accept that. He didn’t like it, but if it really was the end times there was nothing he could do about it, except get home and see his granddaughter one more time. That, he decided, would be his next move regardless.
Or maybe all of these things were isolated incidents? One beam, one dragon, one undead, one group of starlanders?
But there was one question that bothered him most of all. One question that burned within him so fiercely that he wasn’t even sure how it actually made him feel. A question that had too many facets to even hope to answer properly…
He would just have to wait and see.
Or maybe not get involved at all.
Here it was, the apparent end of the world, and Edward Perry was feeling indecisive.
Lone World: Motukka
Kilwen listened to Attie's reply. He was surprised to hear about he was a patron lord of a city called Midway. If that is the case, then that city is a potential ally and a great place to set up shop so they can get there bearings and see if they could get off this planet or at worse, help solve this planet's problems with the apparently crusading horde. Midway was gonna have to be called home for the moment for both him and his friends. Kilwen couldn't help but smile hearing Ivan's name said in a positive light once...by the end of Lord Ivan's life, his name took up a more negative aspect as the man who would split families and lovers apart when he was killed by a vengeful lover who's love passed away by Ivan's hand. He like the others after him were only doing his job, but his death was what started the curse, but Kilwen knew that Ivan suffered more genetic issues such as the issue of his family line being just continuously inbred and crossbred with different species which didn't help his mental capacity down his life time.
Kilwen glanced over his shoulder as he heard about the patron siant of Steam City. Kevin of Amelioration was a name that Kilwen has never heard of before. I nthe old days would have choked it up as some fake, but the Elder Council has been gone for so long and Kilwen is only one man so it is possible for other Lords to appear without him or the others knowing. It could possibly be Caru since he is the lord of Love and compassion that Kilwen doubted so since Caru isn't thought of someone to better improve something besides feeling. He would have to investigate it later. "Indeed" he replies to searching for his friends. He looks over off the side and spots the nearby sea and its docks. He turned Veddurzeymah towards the docks to get a closer look and so he spotted the familiar silhouette of Wyr. Its not hard to spot a giant green preying mantis in the middle of an ocean of blue.
"Well we don't have to long for very long" he says as he smiles. The dragon spoke up "Zeymah, my sensors have indicted a few more tech readings coming from a swampy area and a nearby farming village" these tech readings are a simple scan of technology much higher than on the Loneworld. Of course these readings are coming from the crew, but sadly are unable to pick up Jackson unless he had a piece of technology on him or by him relatively. Kilwen knew what he needed to do, he had a plan. However what threw him off a bit was the dragon's next line. "I also detect another small reading way up North and a much larger reading towards the West" Kilwen assumed the reading from the West was Steam City, but the North was confusing since he doubted anyone landed that far north, even for Jackson too. He maybe one tough man, but he doubted he landed there and was now in the path of the Crusaders or in there hands. Another possibility was that someone is hiding within the Crusading ranks, another investigation to do.
But first, Kilwen brought dragon low, zooming past his friends the ship below as the dragon gave another mighty roar. For Fredrick his eyes looked up as he heard the loud roar for the first time as well as the blue beam in the sky. He continued to stare up seeing the black mass known as a possible dragon flying towards them! Without hesitation, the undead Hessian jumps at Vaxur to tackle him to the ground as he yells "GET DOWN!" as the dragon zoomed passed there little group and roared loudly once more. Fredrick got up quickly and looked at the boatman thinking they were under attack and assumed command "Everyone get to the ship! Now! CAPTAIN GET THE SHIP READY TO SAIL AND POSSIBLY READY FOR AN ATTACK!" he barked orders as he goes to help Vaxur up if he didn't get up already. He would then try to get Vaxur, Wyr and Tahil to run towards the ship, especially as the dragon lands on the only path of the dock back towards land, causing the dock shake and crack a little thanks to the dragon's weight and size. Fredrick would go down and help Dal and get her to the ship. He would put his gloved hand out for her as he yells "Come on! I don't know what this beast is gonna do! I doubt if you stumbling isn't gonna help! Now get your black ass on that ship now!" he orders her.
Helped or not, Fredrick would turn his attention to the metal beast before him, not spotting Attie or Kilwen at the moment, he drew his rifle and pointed it at the beast. As for Kilwen he looks over at Attie and says "Stay on the dragon for a minute" as he gets up and runs along the dragon's neck and top of his head in which he launches himself into the air and comes barreling down upon Fredrick causing him to miss his mark as his rifle went off. Without exchanging words and only seeing that Fredrick wore the colors of Lord Ova's undead Imperial type army, both men drew swords and quickly clashed with each other. "Get away from my friends!" Kilwen yelled at the dead man Fredrick laughed saying "Friends? I'm trying to protect them from you! No one just simply rides a dragon with a good cause!" Kilwen looked at him puzzled which he jumped back giving both men some space. Fredrick pulled his pistol out and pointed at the Lord and while Kilwen yelled "Who is your master!?" in which Fredrick replied "I have no master! I am my own man!" hearing that, Kilwen relaxed, as he sheathed his blade "Then we are on the same side then". Fredrick continued to eyeball him, while Kilwen knew that Fredrick was not bound to Lord Ova or he would have said her name out of pride, he knew how they undead who are summoned worked or at least had an idea. He grumbled as he too relax as he continue to stare into Kilwen's eyes, sheathing his gun and sword as both men walked up to each other and firmly shook each others hands. Both men looking into each others eyes seeing the understanding behind their eyeballs. Once the handshake of mutual understanding was over, Fredrick step aside and walked over to his friends and smiled gleefully saying "Did you all think you would never see me again?" saying it in such a teasing way.
Kilwen listened to Attie's reply. He was surprised to hear about he was a patron lord of a city called Midway. If that is the case, then that city is a potential ally and a great place to set up shop so they can get there bearings and see if they could get off this planet or at worse, help solve this planet's problems with the apparently crusading horde. Midway was gonna have to be called home for the moment for both him and his friends. Kilwen couldn't help but smile hearing Ivan's name said in a positive light once...by the end of Lord Ivan's life, his name took up a more negative aspect as the man who would split families and lovers apart when he was killed by a vengeful lover who's love passed away by Ivan's hand. He like the others after him were only doing his job, but his death was what started the curse, but Kilwen knew that Ivan suffered more genetic issues such as the issue of his family line being just continuously inbred and crossbred with different species which didn't help his mental capacity down his life time.
Kilwen glanced over his shoulder as he heard about the patron siant of Steam City. Kevin of Amelioration was a name that Kilwen has never heard of before. I nthe old days would have choked it up as some fake, but the Elder Council has been gone for so long and Kilwen is only one man so it is possible for other Lords to appear without him or the others knowing. It could possibly be Caru since he is the lord of Love and compassion that Kilwen doubted so since Caru isn't thought of someone to better improve something besides feeling. He would have to investigate it later. "Indeed" he replies to searching for his friends. He looks over off the side and spots the nearby sea and its docks. He turned Veddurzeymah towards the docks to get a closer look and so he spotted the familiar silhouette of Wyr. Its not hard to spot a giant green preying mantis in the middle of an ocean of blue.
"Well we don't have to long for very long" he says as he smiles. The dragon spoke up "Zeymah, my sensors have indicted a few more tech readings coming from a swampy area and a nearby farming village" these tech readings are a simple scan of technology much higher than on the Loneworld. Of course these readings are coming from the crew, but sadly are unable to pick up Jackson unless he had a piece of technology on him or by him relatively. Kilwen knew what he needed to do, he had a plan. However what threw him off a bit was the dragon's next line. "I also detect another small reading way up North and a much larger reading towards the West" Kilwen assumed the reading from the West was Steam City, but the North was confusing since he doubted anyone landed that far north, even for Jackson too. He maybe one tough man, but he doubted he landed there and was now in the path of the Crusaders or in there hands. Another possibility was that someone is hiding within the Crusading ranks, another investigation to do.
But first, Kilwen brought dragon low, zooming past his friends the ship below as the dragon gave another mighty roar. For Fredrick his eyes looked up as he heard the loud roar for the first time as well as the blue beam in the sky. He continued to stare up seeing the black mass known as a possible dragon flying towards them! Without hesitation, the undead Hessian jumps at Vaxur to tackle him to the ground as he yells "GET DOWN!" as the dragon zoomed passed there little group and roared loudly once more. Fredrick got up quickly and looked at the boatman thinking they were under attack and assumed command "Everyone get to the ship! Now! CAPTAIN GET THE SHIP READY TO SAIL AND POSSIBLY READY FOR AN ATTACK!" he barked orders as he goes to help Vaxur up if he didn't get up already. He would then try to get Vaxur, Wyr and Tahil to run towards the ship, especially as the dragon lands on the only path of the dock back towards land, causing the dock shake and crack a little thanks to the dragon's weight and size. Fredrick would go down and help Dal and get her to the ship. He would put his gloved hand out for her as he yells "Come on! I don't know what this beast is gonna do! I doubt if you stumbling isn't gonna help! Now get your black ass on that ship now!" he orders her.
Helped or not, Fredrick would turn his attention to the metal beast before him, not spotting Attie or Kilwen at the moment, he drew his rifle and pointed it at the beast. As for Kilwen he looks over at Attie and says "Stay on the dragon for a minute" as he gets up and runs along the dragon's neck and top of his head in which he launches himself into the air and comes barreling down upon Fredrick causing him to miss his mark as his rifle went off. Without exchanging words and only seeing that Fredrick wore the colors of Lord Ova's undead Imperial type army, both men drew swords and quickly clashed with each other. "Get away from my friends!" Kilwen yelled at the dead man Fredrick laughed saying "Friends? I'm trying to protect them from you! No one just simply rides a dragon with a good cause!" Kilwen looked at him puzzled which he jumped back giving both men some space. Fredrick pulled his pistol out and pointed at the Lord and while Kilwen yelled "Who is your master!?" in which Fredrick replied "I have no master! I am my own man!" hearing that, Kilwen relaxed, as he sheathed his blade "Then we are on the same side then". Fredrick continued to eyeball him, while Kilwen knew that Fredrick was not bound to Lord Ova or he would have said her name out of pride, he knew how they undead who are summoned worked or at least had an idea. He grumbled as he too relax as he continue to stare into Kilwen's eyes, sheathing his gun and sword as both men walked up to each other and firmly shook each others hands. Both men looking into each others eyes seeing the understanding behind their eyeballs. Once the handshake of mutual understanding was over, Fredrick step aside and walked over to his friends and smiled gleefully saying "Did you all think you would never see me again?" saying it in such a teasing way.
~ New Vegas ~
A prickling sensation seemed to be creeping up into his very pale skin as he watched the horned woman pinning down someone against the bar top. In the back of his mind he felt something bad was going to happen, and visibly shudders. What was he getting himself into now that seemed to disagree with things? Piercing yellow eyes turn from the woman and look over to a nearby commotion. The man she had been tugging over to the bar seemed to have pulled himself free and was throwing a punch towards a woman before long.
"Maybe I should have stayed onboard the Corigoni.." He muttered to himself. Though he wasn't one for getting into someone else's business, he wasn't entirely sure what to do at this point. He wished to help the woman with lavender eyes find this missing person. But at the same time, he'd like to diffuse the fight involving a brute of a man and a woman. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on. There was still this nagging feeling that something was really off about this place and this only increased the unease he felt. Despite the lack of sleep, he felt wide awake all of a sudden.
"Uh.." He uttered faintly under his breath, but the blaring of alarms went off and hard. It was near deafening for him as black gloves hands immediately went up to cover his ears. "You've gotta be kidding me!" He grumbled a little bit under gritted teeth. After a moment he could clearly hear yelling over that of the alarms. Getting knocked off his feet quite literally as people rushed past him in their frenzied attempt to get to the exit for whatever reason the alarm was going off for. In the chaos, he could only shield himself a little bit to stop from being trampled to death. After the crowd was gone he got unsteadily to his feet and grabbed the bar top to steady himself. Dazed momentarily he felt a phantom pain in his head and cringed. Getting the impression something hard and possibly sharp was going to hit him and soon.
Looking around he noted that the woman the brute of a man had punched in the face was gone. Whoever she was must have gone out the exit with a majority of the crowd that was originally in here. Blinking, he looked to the man then over to the horned woman whom was demanding answers for a missing person. Blinking, it takes him a fair few seconds to realize the man she had pinned down was...twelve feet off the ground on the topmost liquor shelf? Dhari has the sudden sensation that things are only just getting started. There was a look in this man's eyes that was unnerving to say the least. Something was definitely off here...
As he spoke to the woman with horns on her head, Dhari realized that he was just as angry about this possible missing person. But as he spoke, the words didn't quite make sense to him. What did he mean by 'mortal'? Was he not such? Blinking, Dhari looked from him to the woman and back in silent observation. Then upon seeing the bottles from the shelves beginning to move and hurl themselves towards the woman, Dhari had not time to think before he simply reacted. Standing in front of the bottles, taking the brunt of them as a few of them manage to shattered over his, ironically, hard head. Grunting each time a bottle hits him hard while others shatter on impact. His black piloting gear soon becoming drenched in alcohol. In between the bottles he tries his luck at reasoning with this man. "Aaah! Wouldn't it better to talk instead?! Awful waste on good drinks don't you think?" He grunts as yet another bottle smashes against him smartly in the head. Dhari intended to diffuse the situation as best he could. "Um...aren't you both looking for someone maybe? Perhaps if we go find this person rather then fighting?" In between the bottles being thrown, he peeked up at the man with his piercing yellow eyes.
Meanwhile on the Corigoni the second in command, Codi had noticed the flooding of people frantically evacuating from the casino. A concerned look crossing the usually stoic features of the reptilian. He studies the crowd that leaves then checks his device for a moment to see if there were any messages from his captain. Upon seeing none, he decided to give his captain about ten minutes to report something. If not, then he planned on sending in an inquiry. And if that went unanswered...then he'd go into the casino to look for his captain. But for now, he would wait patiently.
Long World: Farming Village
”Y-Ye’lie, stahlandah!” She yelped, panic clearly tinging her voice even as she struggled valiantly to stay brave. ”Ye’Mahk’d, aye! Mahks like th’Wolf Gal und'ye eyes! M-Mahk’a th’Ancients!”
The supple brown leather of a gloved hand slid down the rough sanded wood of the open door jam closer to the girl and a muted but musical voice sounded from within. That voice was distinctly female and only just reached Rin and Ty's ears. "Is dare a problem lassy?"
Out of the dim shadow of the door stepped a figure completely cloaked, hooded, and cowled in a color of green that perfectly matched spring leaves. This new person's voice, how her garb hung on narrow shoulders, and swayed across wider hips exemplified the feminine figure. She was very short, the same height as Rin infact. From within her cloak poked the telltale bulges of weaponry, unconcealed but not visible outright. The meaningful hilt of a short blade and a lump that could only be the profile of a dagger hung upon her hips.
She did not make any unmistakably aggressive movements but there was something slightly off about her. Her clothing made it difficult to pinpoint exactly what this was. The mid-spring breeze blew the sweet scent of wild flowers through the village. Eyes, shadowed under a hood and framed in rays of sunlight from behind and above glanced at the knife now in Rin's hand. She, this new person took a number of steps to stand between the girl and them but to the left so an arrow would not find purchase and sprout from her spine.
”Y-Ye’lie, stahlandah!” She yelped, panic clearly tinging her voice even as she struggled valiantly to stay brave. ”Ye’Mahk’d, aye! Mahks like th’Wolf Gal und'ye eyes! M-Mahk’a th’Ancients!”
The supple brown leather of a gloved hand slid down the rough sanded wood of the open door jam closer to the girl and a muted but musical voice sounded from within. That voice was distinctly female and only just reached Rin and Ty's ears. "Is dare a problem lassy?"
Out of the dim shadow of the door stepped a figure completely cloaked, hooded, and cowled in a color of green that perfectly matched spring leaves. This new person's voice, how her garb hung on narrow shoulders, and swayed across wider hips exemplified the feminine figure. She was very short, the same height as Rin infact. From within her cloak poked the telltale bulges of weaponry, unconcealed but not visible outright. The meaningful hilt of a short blade and a lump that could only be the profile of a dagger hung upon her hips.
She did not make any unmistakably aggressive movements but there was something slightly off about her. Her clothing made it difficult to pinpoint exactly what this was. The mid-spring breeze blew the sweet scent of wild flowers through the village. Eyes, shadowed under a hood and framed in rays of sunlight from behind and above glanced at the knife now in Rin's hand. She, this new person took a number of steps to stand between the girl and them but to the left so an arrow would not find purchase and sprout from her spine.
Motukka Docks
Vaxur and Wyr stared.
For one long minute, the two soldiers actually put their respective weapons down and just... looked at the stranger in disbelief. Why was the stranger offering bribes, especially right after dropping coins on Dal in such a disrespectful manner? Were these gag gifts, too?
Before Vaxur could shoot the guy and get everything over with, a large creature appeared from the sky - and before he could properly analyze that, he was suddenly tacked by the bony stranger.
"Dude, get the hell off me" he wheezed, and forcibly rolled to the side into a crouch, gun ready and locked onto the flying creature in the sky.
"I'll give cover fire if it advances, sir," he told Commander Wyr, and she looked at him for a long time before nodding, dragging a digruntled Tahil with her.
He would not run.
He was a sharpshooter. And he was a pretty good distance from the-
And then he was being dragged to the ship.
"What the f-" he growled, and of course, of course, it was the annoying skeleton man who caught him at a time where he was his most focused - his most vulnerable - and was unable to properly resist. "What the-"
"You can shoot if need be here," Commander Wyr soothed, and though he grumbled all the while, he snapped up his rifle again, looked through the scop-
"Hey, isn't that-" and then the Commander blinked, leaned forward.
"The lord Kilwen," she said.
They watched the brief fight, though they couldn't make out their exchange - until they didn't need to, because they shook hands and were on the way to the boat.
Farming Village
"Y-Ye’lie, stahlandah!” she said, and whoops this was why he was never in diplomatic missions.
"Ye’Mahk’d, aye! Mahks like th’Wolf Gal und'ye eyes! M-Mahk’a th’Ancients!”
Rin frowned. Marked? He brought up a hand to trace the koh under his left cheek - one of the only visible places he was 'marked' - and at her mention of a Wolf Girl with similar enough markings to associate him with her.
But what really interested him was her mention of Ancients.
There had been rumors, Vaxur had told him, of the Kiinris being an older race than was believed - that once, many, many years ago, they had been as technologically advanced as the Intergalactic Nations - but a catastrophe had happened upon them, and they never fully recovered. But it was all speculation.
But... was it really? He'd seen and experienced things that were supposed to be impossible. Why couldn't this?
He did realize that since they were in another universe this could just be the Kiinris of this universe. But... who said the two were so vastly different?
But the most telling reason why he felt that thinking about all this was important... was because of the dull throb emanating from the back of his neck.
He bit back the groan of pain that was begging to be let out and stomped on the urge to press it. Now was not the time for a personal crisis.
Yes, it was most definitely not, because...
"Is dare a problem lassy?"
Yet another woman had joined - armed as well - and this was. Getting a bit out of hand. He had to salvage this at least a little bit.
"We're just looking for our friends. We don't want any trouble," Rin said, quite honestly.
But the knife stayed in his hand. Just in case.
Vaxur and Wyr stared.
For one long minute, the two soldiers actually put their respective weapons down and just... looked at the stranger in disbelief. Why was the stranger offering bribes, especially right after dropping coins on Dal in such a disrespectful manner? Were these gag gifts, too?
Before Vaxur could shoot the guy and get everything over with, a large creature appeared from the sky - and before he could properly analyze that, he was suddenly tacked by the bony stranger.
"Dude, get the hell off me" he wheezed, and forcibly rolled to the side into a crouch, gun ready and locked onto the flying creature in the sky.
"I'll give cover fire if it advances, sir," he told Commander Wyr, and she looked at him for a long time before nodding, dragging a digruntled Tahil with her.
He would not run.
He was a sharpshooter. And he was a pretty good distance from the-
And then he was being dragged to the ship.
"What the f-" he growled, and of course, of course, it was the annoying skeleton man who caught him at a time where he was his most focused - his most vulnerable - and was unable to properly resist. "What the-"
"You can shoot if need be here," Commander Wyr soothed, and though he grumbled all the while, he snapped up his rifle again, looked through the scop-
"Hey, isn't that-" and then the Commander blinked, leaned forward.
"The lord Kilwen," she said.
They watched the brief fight, though they couldn't make out their exchange - until they didn't need to, because they shook hands and were on the way to the boat.
Farming Village
"Y-Ye’lie, stahlandah!” she said, and whoops this was why he was never in diplomatic missions.
"Ye’Mahk’d, aye! Mahks like th’Wolf Gal und'ye eyes! M-Mahk’a th’Ancients!”
Rin frowned. Marked? He brought up a hand to trace the koh under his left cheek - one of the only visible places he was 'marked' - and at her mention of a Wolf Girl with similar enough markings to associate him with her.
But what really interested him was her mention of Ancients.
There had been rumors, Vaxur had told him, of the Kiinris being an older race than was believed - that once, many, many years ago, they had been as technologically advanced as the Intergalactic Nations - but a catastrophe had happened upon them, and they never fully recovered. But it was all speculation.
But... was it really? He'd seen and experienced things that were supposed to be impossible. Why couldn't this?
He did realize that since they were in another universe this could just be the Kiinris of this universe. But... who said the two were so vastly different?
But the most telling reason why he felt that thinking about all this was important... was because of the dull throb emanating from the back of his neck.
He bit back the groan of pain that was begging to be let out and stomped on the urge to press it. Now was not the time for a personal crisis.
Yes, it was most definitely not, because...
"Is dare a problem lassy?"
Yet another woman had joined - armed as well - and this was. Getting a bit out of hand. He had to salvage this at least a little bit.
"We're just looking for our friends. We don't want any trouble," Rin said, quite honestly.
But the knife stayed in his hand. Just in case.
Lone World- Swamp
”Well, don’t just stand there, come join us!”
An invitation to join a group of strangers was normally an interaction the unusual man would decline, but the good-hearted attitude and sincerity of these strangers was welcoming. He sauntered over and collapsed onto the cushioning ground next to Reqti with his legs crossed. The fire that was blazing seemed to make him uncomfortable, so a decent amount of distance was kept between it and him.
It was definitely an unusual group which was only more obvious up close. They looked fairly human, but judging with eyes alone wasn't always gonna come to the right assumption. Being a forest spirit, he would know. Studying Rai, Reqti, and Sands, something about them was foreign. Clothes, of course, might be a clue, but even if they had been wearing normal outfits, some strange aura made them seem other worldly. It wasn't something he could explain, but he would get feelings about things that would turn out right. Aura reading wasn't strong or powerful compared to some of the things people have been said to have accomplished. It was useful though.
Pulling the poncho tighter around him, he shook slowly. "I don't need anything. I get most of what I need on my own. Well, sorta..... " the shifter explained vaguely. It would sound pathetic if he said some about how lonely he could get in the woods. Pity was the last thing he wanted. "I don't need much anyway. Ya'll were heading in the direction of Hag's shore. You can just follow if you really want. It's a bit hard to see. I can come along just to ensure you don't stray off course and I suppose if any animals attack, I could help fend them off as well."
If they actually were sailors, then heading to Hag's shore would make sense. They had boats available there. Many sailors and captains go there to hitch a ride down the coast line to Midway where they have better options as well. Those from the north find it easier than passing through the swamp or forest. It was also faster.
Still a bit of his mind was nagging him to know more. "I-I know-" he blurted before he even could change his mind. There was a small fluster of bashfulness before finishing. ".... I know you aren't sailors.... So what are you? Criminals? A band of thieves? Magicians? Was that thing from the sky something you called down from a god or something? If you're alright with sharing, I promise I won't freak or anything." He pressed his fingertips together in a bit of impatience. If he was right, this might be exciting or terrifying news. If he was wrong, he could always leave to avoid the embarrassment.
After this was answered, he would probably be too tired to talk about much else. It was late, and walking took a lot of energy. They would be walking a lot tomorrow. He would curl up in his spot next to Reqti and Sands. The others would thank him, not literally, for his subtle encouragement to sleep. When talking quieted down, his dark eyes would close shut to drift to sleep. In the morning, the limbs were stretched from person to person almost with his face nearly pressed against Sands.
Gormaand - Tullh
On a boring farm planet in a dull rancher’s town, a warm summer breeze wafted over the expansive plains and their grazing cattle, through the rustling crops that stood row-en-row for as far as the eye could see, through the streets of the outskirts of town where the little starships sat, where ranch houses lined the streets. It meandered pleasantly beneath a blue sky dotted with cotton clouds, over squat buildings and through sparse roads, past the sign for the [i}Wanderer’s Rest Bar and Inn[/i], down an alleyway, and across the bald-shaven head of Gaelan Yascra, whose icy, hateful person seemed to take all the warmth away. Figuratively, at least.
He watched on with a glare and a snarl, shifting in place, resisting the urge to do - what, exactly, he wasn’t sure. But something.
He just glared venomous daggers at the woman and her snake-man. And beside him, the impassive Val watched with sober impassivity, silently communicating via BrainPal™ with the Captain and his wife, even recording the interaction as it happened. It was taking everyone some time to get used to Val, not that she really noticed. Oh, she was minorly disappointed that the chief mechanic had been weird toward her ever since her change, but more out of a sense of someone else’s loss than her own.
But even with her own dubious origins aside, she was still stange. While all of the Captain’s Cabinet were implanted with the most advanced BrainPal™ models for full integration with Aelyn-Paeryc and Alexia, Val was constantly in silent communication with the two of them. It was well known that Aelyn and Alex were usually looking through each other’s eyes simultaneously, it was unnerving to have a third set of eyes veritably attached to their already seemingly omniscient - and possibly quite mad - good Captain.
Nobody spoke. Nobody commented. And then, as if merely taking a Sunday stroll, the Ghost Captain and his incongruous wife stepped around the corner from the sidewalk.
Alex, the relatively small, freckled young woman with the tuft of brown hair leading to a butt-length braid, dressed in simple jeans and grey hoodie - and the Ghost Captain himself - tall, pale, with long, unkempt black hair, black slacks, deep crimson button-down, long, brown duster. Vicious scars that reached up around the left side of his face and - most horribly - inky black eyes that leered out from behind the hair, broken only by pricks of white that almost seemed to glow like lonesome stars.
Both had hands in their pockets, and both were perfectly unaffected by the warm breeze, their long hair not rustled by it in the slightest. They seemed quite casual, despite looking totally mismatched and one of them being a black-eyed demon from the depths of the Uncanny Valley.
The pair stopped just behind the other two, both of whom had stepped aside slightly at their approach. They considered the strangers before them, who were now apparently taking someone who had just been starting to feel almost like crew.
There were no formalities. He narrowed his inhuman eyes just slightly, and when Aelyn spoke it was with a voice that was lighter pitch, more youthful sounding than it seemed it should have been, but with a careful lack of inflection.
”I know what you think of us.” He said, not sounding accusatory or, anything for that matter. Anything except calm, and perfectly collected. ”I won’t offer our support in your battle for that reason only, despite it serving our purposes.” Aelyn knew what the Lords thought of him. That had become blatantly obvious through every interaction he’d had with them - Caru was an exception only because it was hard to believe he was a Lord at all. He knew the contempt with which they looked down on him. He knew that to them, he and his city-sized starship were little more than a handful of ants. Among the mundane, he was all but a God - with virtually infinite resources, veritable omniscience, and ghostlike incorporeality.
But among Lords? They saw him as nothing. They wouldn’t want his help in whatever plans they had if only because they found him to be so useless.
That was fine.
He was going to prove them wrong.
It was only a matter of time.
”When your opinion changes.” He prompted, and Val - on cue - flicked an old-fashioned business card at the busty woman. It was black, baring the golden logo of the Stella Viventium and a series of contact codes. Not that he thought they actually needed them - these godlets would probably just teleport into his office bathroom or something once they realized what he was in possession of…
Once, that was, he was actually in possession of it.
Watching the card either be casually caught or flutter to her feet, Aelyn, Alex and Val all spun on their heels at the exact same time, which was profoundly eerie. Gaelan was a little behind, but he did the same - if maybe a little miffed at having been excluded.
But before actually stepping away, Aelyn turned to look back at the woman. ”Or, if you’d like to repay us for the safe return of your Caru rather than blasting him in the head...” He did not look to the diminutive, pink haired Lord as he said this, nor did he expect any of them to believe he was capable of such a murder, what with not knowing what his and his wife’s guns were capable of - ”Feel free to pass along anything you know about the Devil’s Heart.”
And, having contemptuously spoken his piece, he again turned and the four of them walked back toward the street, where a reddish-haired man with glasses was curiously peeking out from around the corner. Aelyn would stop and listen without turning should the Lord have anything to say, but he doubted it would be of any use.
That didn’t matter. He didn’t need the Lords’ help to find what he was looking for. He would find it. Just like he would find Earth and Sol. Just like he would bring his little brother back from the dead. Even if it took him to the ends of the universe.
By the end of the day, word had gotten out. Treasure hunters in Tullh!
This was mostly thanks to a certain portly, goggles-wearing old man blurting out several things that might have led to such a conclusion. Something about a valuable artifact and the daring adventure to be undertaken if it was to be acquired.
As night fell over Tullh, as the less adventurous retired for the evening, and darkness spread over the vast fields and pastures, there was a light out in the lonely plains. It was a rather large work light, illuminating what appeared to be an archaeological dig.
Several of the more curious folks had already gone out into the open pastures to see what all the fuss was. What they found was a standard yellow excavator operated by a portly old man with goggles as he dug a big hole. Probably it was somebody’s property, but nobody had made an issue of that as of yet.
They would also see a very sciency looking man - lab coat, unnecessary spectacles and everything - doing sciency looking things on several pieces of sciency looking machines.There was a pale, snake-like man with a permanent scowl and a stoic woman with a neat bob haircut and flowy blue blouse just milling about with no apparent purpose. And there was a couple - a tall man with long, black hair and a long, brown duster and a smallish woman incongruously dressed in a grey hoodie and jeans, with a braid that reached almost to her butt - and those two were just standing next to each other, unmoving watching as the hole grew wider and deeper as the night moved on...
Tora Station
Royanna had never held someone’s hand before.
Oh, maybe for a moment or two over the past few days, though it was more like frantic wrist grabbing than anything remotely meaningful. Perhaps when she was a child. But if so, such a memory was long buried beneath the two decades of constant training and study that had enabled her to become one of the most skilled Special Agents in the Program. Skilled indeed, yet here she was, giving up on her dreams in humiliation and failure.
She tried not to think about it. About anything but the mission - except that it wasn’t a ’mission’ any longer. Because she wasn’t an Agent anymore.
Certainly in her adult life, Roy had never held someone’s hand. And now, lingering behind all the more pressing issues that were tearing her mind apart, there was the feeling of doing something wrong. Something dirty.
Shameful.
But she wasn’t about to let go. She wasn’t sure she could even if she tried, given her grip was bordering on painful for both of them. Her cold, clammy palm held a vice-grip, and seemed to shake, or twitch, ever so subtly. It felt perverse, like those dreams of walking around naked in public places. But then, everything about this seemed like a dream - or, rather, a nightmare - and that simple, stupid little detail might have been the only thing binding her to reality.
She was starting now to not look so calm. Perspiration had broken out on her forehead. She was blinking far too much at irregular intervals. Her eyes were a fraction too wide, and far too intense. Emerald lasers. Her breathing was carefully controlled. Too carefully.
The pair walked at a rapid pace, but not too fast so as to attract attention. There was nothing wrong with going somewhere in a hurry, as long as they weren’t being chased. It didn’t occur to her that they probably looked like an interspecies couple.
If they listened carefully - him with sensitive canid ears, her with perception hned in a forge of years, they could hear footsteps behind them.
Looking over at her, Christofer would see the ghost of her imperious smirk - that nasty, condescending, expression which for her was the closest thing to a genuine smile she could manage - pulling at the corner of her lip. Actually it was more like a tiny, silent snarl.
”We won’t have to.” The words were labored and choked out, her voice husky and raspy in a way that suggested she could really use a glass of water. She was clearly not in a good place - something was going on that had her in a state approaching barely contained - what, panic? But contained nonetheless.
It took them less than a minute to come upon what she had been hoping to find - what she had been certain they would find. She nodded subtly in the direction of one of the armed security guards standing in a little alcove in the hall, between two shops.
He was a big guy, dressed in a black uniform that was lightly armored, wearing a thin black helmet, all inscribed with the diamond shaped GE symbol and with the words Tora Security printed along the front of his vest. He was armed with some kind of handgun strapped to his hip, along with some kind of stun baton, and a submachine gun of some kind hung from a strap over his shoulder. He was a human, with dark brown skin and a square jaw - he nodded politely as the ‘couple’ approached.
”Evening Sir.” He said cordially, looking at Roy - who bristled,her grip on Christofer’s hand tightening fractionally. The fact that there were more pressing issues would keep her from blowing up on him for it - but that was something that always got to her, no matter the situation. It always lingered there, like salt to ever failure’s wound.
In fact, far from snapping at him or showing any form of hostility at all, when Royanna spoke to the man it was with a subdued, almost meek tone made all the less potent for her dry throat and subsequent husky voice.
”Officer, there’s an urchin back there pickpocketing. I don’t think he has any ID.” It had taken a lot out of her to string that many words together in her current state, and still there was an edge to them that hinted at the inner turmoil she was facing - whatever it was. Maybe she was just going insane? She’d have some explaining to do, once they were back on the Diplomat.
Right away, the officer’s brows raised, his interest piqued. But before he could ask any follow up questions, Roy had continued hastily on her way, tugging Christofer along by the hand.
Imperials were big on identification. Non-Imperial visitors to Imperial stations and planets were systematically identified upon admission, assuming they came through the usual, legitimate means. That ID was then attached to them by simply being entered into the Imperial databases, where their photo and information could be called up by one of the sophisticated scanners located where appropriate - including in the helmets of all station security.
The guard mumbled something into his helmet about checking out the problem, then set off in the direction that the ‘couple’ had just come from. It didn’t take him long, either - the person in question was quite obvious. A human boy with dark skin and black hair, running along clinging to some kind of...small kitchen appliance?
With the practiced ease of security and law enforcement, the officer stepped into the kid’s path, effectively blocking his route - and grabbing him by the arm if he had to. Already a second officer, identically outfitted, was coming into view around the corner.
”Woah, easy kiddo.” The officer said, in that patronizing, buddy-buddy way that was positively infuriating to anyone who had actual @#$% to do. ”What’s the big hurry?”
Roy continued on, walking fast - but not too fast - and breathing weird and just generally not doing so hot. At least she was not so out of her wits as to get lost in the station though, and before long they were stepping through the archway that led to the huge, open hangar with the high, shelved walls and shimmering, translucent window of blue that separated them and their atmosphere from the stars and their expanse.
When the bulky, but majestic pearlescent white shape of the Diplomat came into view, Roy might have breathed a little sigh of relief - or maybe that was just her irregular breathing. Without releasing Christofer’s hand, she raised her wrist just enough tu fumble with the on-screen controls, and shortly with a hiss of hydraulics, the doorway to Royanna’s de-facto home opened up, and she stepped hastily through. Absently smacking the ‘close’ button that was cleverly disguised as just an indent in the elegant wood paneling, Roy went off down the hall toward the control room.
Sick and tired as she was of leaving places in such a hurry, nevertheless Roy wanted very badly to be...somewhere else. Where exactly was of no importance yet. Just away.
Only once she had dragged him through the door to the control room did Roy release his hand, leaving it slick with cold sweat for the trouble. She actually stumbled, tripping over her own feet as she flopped ungracefully into the pilots chair, manipulating the controls with the mindless efficiency of long practice and not even seeming to notice that she had just barely avoided a clumsy fall onto her face.
Fingers flew, and she didn’t even seem to look at what she was doing, paying more attention to the monitors and readouts than anything as the engines within the ship’s rear end hummed to life, the gentle whirring gradually raising in pitch as the antigrav lifted them off the surface of the hangar, turning them slowly until the gigantic energy window - and the myriad other ships outside, floating like surrealist fish - came into view.
At least having something to focus on seemed marginally helpful. Not that she looked any better, but at least she had something to concentrate her nervous energy into. Carefully, Roy eased the ship up, toward the window, and through it with little effort. They were in space again, and as she navigated through the other ships that hung and drifted among them, the huge, white mass of Tora Station appeared in the monitors showing the ship’s rear.
Once they were clear of obstacles, the former Agent threw caution to the wind and thrust forward the lever that would initiate her chosen acceleration plan. There was only the vaguest sensation of movement as the higher pitched sound of the thrusters kicked off and the low, thrumming hum of the stardrives became a steady, soft background sound. Before them, the stars seemed to shift in some slight, indescribable fashion. There was a pleasant sounding ting! from one of the screens, and on another a reassuring green text box with the words Autopilot Engaged rendered in not so large, but still friendly letters.
Only then, when the only sound was the stardrives and the gentle humming of discreet air recyclers, did Roy relax.
Or, rather, she sagged, letting out a shaky, exhausted puff she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. The control panels agreeably pulled away, folding up into their inactive state until she needed manual operation later and insuring there could be no accidental button presses that would confuse the autopilot.
Then, as the old Diplomat soared through space to an unknown destination, Roy just sat. Slumped, deflated and generally worse for wear, she let her hands sit in her lap and just stared blankly at them. After some moments, she absently hooke a finger at the collar of her shirt and tugged it, and the already loose black tie, looser. Then, again, she stared at her clammy hands with a blank, yet somehow intense expression. She was still blinking too much. She was much paler than usual, with a sickly, ashy hue. She rubbed at her eyes, which were glistening. She sniffled just once, though it did not look like she was about to burst into tears. Instead, it simply looked like there was something inside that was ruthlessly eating her away, and she wasn’t sure whether to be terrified of it or just stare in dead disconnection and let it have its way.
What had she done.
What had she done…
Roy’s shoulders shuddered, just once.
Ten minutes after the Diplomat had streaked off to places unknown, another Imperial ship - the Albatross - approached Tora Station at a leisurely pace, docking at one of the tethers and sending out a small, dedicated shuttle to transfer its one important passenger.
While hardly larger than the Diplomat, the Albatross was in comparison, an absolute monster. Loaded with the best Imperial technology in every aspect from navigation, detection and stealth to its vast and frankly terrifying array of lethal weapons, it was the sort of vessel that only the most well-trained, highly respected individuals could possibly hope to pilot.
If the Asimov stuck around long enough, it would see the vessel clear as day.
And though it was impossible to ascertain a ‘Special Agent’ status from anything other than witnessing the physical badge, it seemed highly unlikely that so vicious a vessel could come with anyone but.
LoneWorld
Motukka Docks
Old Ed’s indecision did not last long. Just as he was standing up from examining the golden eyed girl his gaze flitted past them, the old guy’s eyes widened and brows raised, and he might have gone just a shade or two paler. Abruptly the situation magnified from squabbling strangers (Very strange strangers) to a life-or-death situation, as the great roar of a mighty beast echoed across the sea, and its hulking ebon form came screaming down from the smoky sky. It soared low over them, with a blast of hot air in ts wake - and as he watched it double back, Ed decided that he’d better do something before things got out of control.
That wasn’t to say there was no fear in him. Actually, seeing that thing and knowing that it was not his friend was definitely among the top ten most frightening experiences he could recall. But he did have the assurance of knowing that he was not entirely powerless.
And besides - it had been a while since he’d seen any action.
Taking several distracted steps back from the bow of the boat, Edward Perry kicked the lever to release the gangplank to allow the folks to board, and simultaneously swung his arm in a wide horizontal arc. Standing up straight, and shouting at the top of his lungs not unlike a firing instructor;
"Galesbaaane!! Poaht-side ahtilleryyy!”
As the dragon came down at the end of the dock, cracking and warping what remained of it a great, looming shadow appeared just beneath the surface of the water, like some massive whale about to rise from the briny deep, stretching out from the little boat’s bow and stern. As the little boat backed away and tuned to starboard, the shadow turned with it - and raised.
The four passengers had barely stumbled aboard when the pier was ripped out from where it had been beneath them. Ahead, the dead man was forced to make a heroic leap as it fell away at his back. To all sides, a wall of white water blasted up as the disturbed ocean crashed against it, thoroughly soaking everyone right to the bone. (Except him. He knew where to stand.)
Rising like a cyclopean beast from the black depths the long, ash-black thing crested the surface to peer out from beneath the sea.
No behemoth, but still the size and length of a three-masted barquentine, the long, cigar shaped mass of black metal sat perpendicular to where the pier had been, with the length of pier that had been ripped away still balanced atop the broad hull, which leered several yards over the settling water. The ‘boat’ stood sturdily in the center, only the reasonably disguised tip of a massive iron iceberg. Billowing smoke from the two stacks, three hatchways about the curved upper edge of the hull dropped and slammed into place with a sound like hammers on anvils, and from their shadowy depths slid the barrels of three mortar cannons, all raised safely above the water - and took aim, just as the tall, bone-armored figure leaped from the creature’s back and began to battle the dead man.
Seeing this, Dallen’s eyes widened and she practically dove at the old boatman, grabbing his shoulder as he held his hand in the air to give the order to fire. Though he had hesitated a moment, even before this.
Blinking, Ed narrowed his eyes to try and get a better look, but the distance was not helping.
"Is that...Kylvein of Acumen…?” Ed asked incredulously and lowering his hand slowly, at the exact time Dal yelped ”Holdupholdup that’s our friend!”
And then, far more suddenly than it had started, it was over. Everything just stopped. Kylvein of Acumen and the dead man were shaking hands. The Galesbane bobbed ever so gently in the waters that had calmed with what seemed an unnatural speed. Distractedly, in a voice just slightly louder than talking volume, Ed called "Benny, ninety C. Down six foot.” And immediately the lengthy vessel began to slowly and smoothly rotate clockwise, lowering gradually back into the water (A less obtrusive clanging could be heard as the mortar hatches closed) until the bow of the long hull met very nearly with where the pier now ended, and bobbed about level with it. A narrow, but serviceable staircase was built into the side of the stocky 'tower' which was topped by the 'boat'.
He did not see the old woman hopping nimbly off the dragon’s back and making her way toward them.
"Well.” Ed said, shoving his hands into his pockets and frowning thoughtfully. "That was all very anticlimactic. Hm.”
Farming Village
The girl jumped at the woman’s appearance, almost releasing the arrow because of it. She barely suppressed a yelp. From somewhere nearby there was a tiny, all but inaudible psst sound that was clearly not the most important thing that was going on.
”Problem? y’aye a problem, -” She snapped rather testily, and nodded toward Rin to point out the obvious. But she was interrupted - by yet another person? How convoluted was this going to get?
”Pssst! Ellie!...Ellieee!” It was mostly a stage-whisper now, with only the shallow pretense of actually being quiet.
Abruptly, the girl who was apparently named ‘Ellie’ whirled around to the nearest window, still without wavering her aim. ”What!” She snapped at whoever was apparently hiding on the other side.
”Ellie he’s a Bluemahk!”
Ellie blinked, then glanced searchingly back at Rin, then back again to the window. ”But...they ain’t blue.”
”Don’t need t’be, se’true!” Said someone else, apparently hiding just inside one of the windows on the other side of the road. ”Cold cullahs, y’fine! Not hot!”
Ellie looked about to protest, but was interrupted by a third voice, coming vaguely from the direction of some stacked crates between houses.
”Y’ai! Bluemahk’d rathah die ovah help a Redmahk! F’anythin’ ‘yon fella’ come t’help us! Bluemahk’s th’good guys se’true!”
”Aye! Se’true se’true! Bluemahk knight so’is!” Came the joyful cry of someone hiding on a second story. ”Buemahk come t’kill th’Wolf Gal, se’true an’ praise Kevin!” Cried someone reverently from within a high-piled hay cart. It was followed by a chorus of variations on the same sentiment from all over the place. “Kill th’Wolf Gal!” “Bluemahk brings high!” “Aye, Bluemahk knight! “Se’true se’true! ”Kevin!” parroted someone very far away.
Apparently the whole damned town had just been hiding.
And now, apparently, the whole lot of them thought that Rin was here to kill the Wolf Girl.
Utterly at a loss, Ty hadn’t had the chance to interrupt - he’d started half a dozen sentences, each one barely making two syllables before being cut off by one shouting peasant or another, before the cacophony of fanfare made any hope of coherent communication a stark impossibility. Instead, as the girl was distracted by the shouting, he very slowly, subtly, sidled closer to Rin. Stepping closer to the girl would have been suicide, but nearer to the Nyran at least there was some chance of communicating effectively. Leaning in sideways toward him and looking straight ahead, he uttered an earnest ”I am so sorry.”
”Hey, why ye’pickin’ a fight Fool! If he be heah t’help! Ye’thickhead!” Squawked someone who was presumably inside an empty barrel some yards away. Turning several shades of red, Ellie whirled again. ”I’s th’only one what got backbone enough t-” She stopped, suddenly remembering the presence of the newcomer that had been in town for the past few days. The woman who was just casually standing there, hard as a rock and stoic as a snake. Making her look like the scared kid she was, rather than the town’s only hero.
”A hero rolls int’a town, come t’get us outta’ trouble an’ Ellie heah aims a bow at’em! This is why th’town got probl-Ow what was that for!?”
“Don’t be a @#$%, she tries her best!”
”Bu- but he never said-...” She tried weakly, and it went entirely unheeded.
”Why ye’wanna’ bring trouble down on us Ellie! Always se’trouble!” Someone accused from some attic or loft, in a way that sounded ‘not mad, just disappointed’. ”Ye’wann make’m mad an’have ‘im fry us all with his magic, do’ye!” Someone added, possibly from a tool shed.
”That’s why I-” She vaguely shot a look between her notched bow and the person it was aimed at.
”Ye’nevah shoulda’ stood up to ‘em y’stupid! It’ll be yoah’ fult f’he burns up the town yessah’-Ow would you stop I’m just sayin’-”
Y’done good Ellie se’true.” Said someone else from the nearby building in a placating tone that was clearly trying much too hard to sound inoffensive, and only becoming patronizing. ”Now let it be y’fine?”
That was enough.
”Aye. ’Fine.” She muttered dejectedly. Blinking, Ellie set her jaw and unnotched her arrow, tossing it onto the ground in the same, practiced motion used to sling the bow over her shoulders. Without meeting anybody’s eye, head sunk and and glowing a hot red practically down to her shoulders, boots scuffed on the packed dirt until reaching the corner of a building, where she hastily ducked behind and made herself scarce - wondering at the way somehow she had become the bad guy in all this.
And, of course, in the inevitably awkward silence that followed as mob mentality shifted, nobody came out of hiding, Nobody wanted to be the first one to stick their head out. It was strange how their confidence in their assessment of the situation seemed to become quiet when nobody was aiming an arrow at the one in question. The woman who had been spending several days in their company would probably stick up for them, and nobody doubted that she could at least handle herself…
At least, that was the general consensus. It didn't make it true.
Nobody had even heard Rin speak, too busy making assumptions and running wild with them.
Ty was still trying to wrap his mind around everything. The townsfolk apparently, in less than a heartbeat, had convinced themselves that Rin was some kind of hero-knight here to fix their problems? What would happen if he and Rin insisted otherwise? Would they turn on them? Probably not violently, but certainly they’d not get any help for themselves. And then there was the other woman, who was clearly nothing at all like the rest of those fickle townsfolk. A wildcard. He looked to her for a moment - a searching look, though what he was searching for he had no idea.
This one, he decided, really did need to be Rin’s choice. Fill the role they had assigned to him, or deny it? He glanced apologetically to the Nyran - and was getting the very strong feeling that all of the silent people still in hiding were waiting for him to do or say...something.”
Hag’s Swamp
For some minutes, Sands would chat with the strange person-shapeshifter-whatever. What’s Hag’s Shore like? Are there a lot of dangerous animals here? What about bandits or highwaymen? When the subject abruptly changed, it actually startled him.
Sands blinked, and looked to Reqti. Everything that had happened before, back on the Koolest, seemed very far away now. It did not meah he was any more trusting or fond of the Qetan, but like it or not they were all in this together.
And he was, admittedly, having a hard time figuring out just what sort of relationship dynamic there was between Reqti and Rai - not that he really cared, but he had been under the impression that the two were enemies. Or, at least, partial enemies? It didn’t matter. What did was finding their friends...Alive, or dead. And they wouldn’t be able to continue that quest if the pale one sitting before them decided to toss them off the cliff for being aliens, unlikely as it was.
Sands blinked again, then gave a shrug, looking back to their new companion with a wry, lopsided grin. He hoped that since this fellow was clearly more than human, he would not share the violent xenophobia often inherent in primitive Man.
”Well, we are sailors, in a sense.” He began, dragging out the first word, scratching at his cropped blonde hair. ”Except rather than sailing on the ocean, we sail the spaces between worlds. Up there.” He pointed first at the ocean at their backs, its gentle waves crashing soothingly up against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff fr below - then he pointed upwards, to the star-speckled sky. ”We were shipwrecked. Those things that fell from the sky last night are pieces of our boat.”
He gave the stranger a moment to process this - length depending on just how well he did or didn’t take it, then added somberly ”That’s why we need to find the other four pieces. Our friends and crew were on them. We figure if we survived, then maybe they did too.”
Halfway through the night - give or take - Sands awoke, sitting up and silently gettint Reqti’s attention, suggesting via gestures that they should swap who was keeping watch. Sands was not generally an overly suspicious person, but he didn’t know if the stranger might be some kind of thief intent on luring them into a false confidence. It wasn’t a strong enough suspicion to taint his opinion of the guy - but he had to be sure. And besides - he didn’t trust those swampy woods.
Morning came without incident. In the chill dawn air, birds chirped - and something croaked - from the swamp, and gulls wailed on a distant beach. Above and out to sea, the rising sun painted basil green clouds with rays of grapefruit light and lit up the water in a resplendent hues of ruby, sapphire and emerald. It was, Sands decided, by far the prettiest sunrise he had ever seen. Not that he was exactly a connoisseur.
Forest
(Nope. Still nothing goddammit).
The Ark of Chyll
If anyone asks? Nobody has any clue at all who fired the first shot. But between you an’ me?
Nah. Not tellin’.
But you shoulda’ seen it! One second we were in a standoff more tense than an epileptic on cocaine. It was great. There were dogs, a dragon, a lizard-man, a pillbug an’ a buncha’ boring ol’ humans like yours truly. The next? Chaos. I’ve never had so much fun in my life. Absolutely magical.
Okay three, two, one-
Madness. The spacious bar was a perfect place to brawl, and everyone wanted in on the action. Chairs flew. Tables were flipped. Barstools flew. Shots rang. An animal roared. Somebody screeched a venusilian battle cry in four languages. There was a dragon. An uproar of voices and languages. A pair of space-midgets were scampering around kneecapping people. A lanky telepath was beaming slightly lewd images into peoples’ heads. Someone was arguing politics. A flock of birds flapped overhead. A frog-man skittered about the high vaulted ceiling, eating them and possibly defecating on one excessively unlucky individual below. A war was declared between the nations of gynko and chuck. A seven-foot cyborg was decapitating people with a laser-claymore until being taken down by a sentient colony of scorpoloyds. Somebody turned into a snake. Wilhelm screamed. A chitinous horseicon tore the leg off a humanoid weasel and beat him to death with it. An anthropomorphic garden hose strangled one of several rainbow-skinned vampires while the others battled somebody who looked conspicuously like Hulk Hogan except for the three-foot stalk eyes and gaping angler jaw. Somebody was throwing angry lampreys at people. From outside, the blasting scream of an air horn was suddenly followed by an influx of hillbillies, rednecks, and strung-out junkies wearing S W Y F T caps - and it was obvious they were looking for anyone who’d been involved in beating up their pals.
And, obviously, the bartender stood behind the bar, drying the glass.
Detective Clégg ducked as a ropey fist swung at his face, then unmercifully put a bullet into the fist-owner’s gut before leaping aside just in time to avoid being pinned by something that was falling down like a felled tree. Someone grabbed him from behind - he struggled wildly, kicking someone else in a very sensitive area, before just wrestling an arm free of the grip and again, blasting the bastard into the next life.
Seeing one of the S W Y F T guys sneaking up behind a preoccupied Talis, he took aim and caught him in the general area of his spine.
The old detective battled his way toward the back of the building, dodging, ducking and generally exerting himself much more than he usually preferred to if he could avoid it, being sure to snag a small bottle of good brandy that nobody would miss when he found it on the floor stashing it in his coat before sleighing left and delivering a completely ineffective neck-chop to an angry robot, and either fleeing or being saved the trouble by someone else. In fact, it was likely that everyone from the group would end up saving someone else’s behind at least once. Though that was not to suggest their loyalties were any kind of bond - and there was a limit for ho much Clégg, for his part, was willing to do. In this case, that meant not going through the trouble of gathering everyone up for an escape.
When he had successfully brawled, battled, ducked, dodged, flailed, stumbled, tripped, fumbled and, in one exceptionally lucky case, elegantly scrabbled out from beneath the crushing proboscis of something large and with a proboscis - and at last found himself at the far end of the old, remodeled starship that was the Ark of Chyll Bar and Lounge and also strip club and new-age hyperbrothel if you went to the right places but we don’t talk about that Clégg scrambled up onto...something and used two fingers to let out one long, squealing whistle that did nothing at all to even lessen the bar-wide brawl, but could be heard from end to end. To be sure, he broadly waved his hat back and forth for a few seconds, stopping when somebody grabbed his ankle and he had to wrestle them to the ground and curb-stomp them before proceeding through the door to the kitchen - which was on fire, a little bit - and together with whoever wanted to come along moved hastily through and out the service door in the back.
But their adventure was far from over - bursting through the service door they found themselves in the huge truck lot that wrapped around the converted starship - and, barreling toward them at a speed that transcended recklessness into the realm of negligent war crime. Dodging out of its path, the truck rammed up against the Ark of Chyll, crumpling up like a demented accordion against the super-hardened, space-travel steel wall with barely a dent. Whirling, Clégg searched frantically for the ship landing pads and found them lying on the outskirts of the lot - which was unfortunately swarming with S W Y F T trucks, all of whom had been informed that their entire purpose was now to crush the Detective and his pals at all costs, because why not?
Screeching tires, roaring engines, crashing metal, soaring asphalt, and a group of people desperately making their way toward where the starships were parked by not letting themselves get crushed like a bug on a bumper.
Once they had traversed the twenty foot gap between lot and pad that dipped down just enough to make the angry trucks unable to cross - or, rather, however many of them were left at all - Clégg stumbled to a to an ungraceful stop, panting like a dog and bending over on his knees to catch his breath. He was fifty five years old, dangit. And in damned good shape for his age - but that was...excessive.
Turning, popping his hat off to wipe his brow on a sleeve and redepositing it, Clégg took an inventory of just who had followed him. It was entirely possible that they’d gained people, as well as lost them. He didn’t really care - all that mattered was getting out of here as fast as they could before the situation somehow devolved further, impossible as it seemed.
If Wick and Alice had made it, then the gang would obviously be fleeing in that - but if the pair was nowhere to be found, there was no time to waste. Screw it. They’d steal a ship, and he would use the individual skills of whoever was there in order to pick one, break in, start it up and take off.
See you, Space Detective…
On a boring farm planet in a dull rancher’s town, a warm summer breeze wafted over the expansive plains and their grazing cattle, through the rustling crops that stood row-en-row for as far as the eye could see, through the streets of the outskirts of town where the little starships sat, where ranch houses lined the streets. It meandered pleasantly beneath a blue sky dotted with cotton clouds, over squat buildings and through sparse roads, past the sign for the [i}Wanderer’s Rest Bar and Inn[/i], down an alleyway, and across the bald-shaven head of Gaelan Yascra, whose icy, hateful person seemed to take all the warmth away. Figuratively, at least.
He watched on with a glare and a snarl, shifting in place, resisting the urge to do - what, exactly, he wasn’t sure. But something.
He just glared venomous daggers at the woman and her snake-man. And beside him, the impassive Val watched with sober impassivity, silently communicating via BrainPal™ with the Captain and his wife, even recording the interaction as it happened. It was taking everyone some time to get used to Val, not that she really noticed. Oh, she was minorly disappointed that the chief mechanic had been weird toward her ever since her change, but more out of a sense of someone else’s loss than her own.
But even with her own dubious origins aside, she was still stange. While all of the Captain’s Cabinet were implanted with the most advanced BrainPal™ models for full integration with Aelyn-Paeryc and Alexia, Val was constantly in silent communication with the two of them. It was well known that Aelyn and Alex were usually looking through each other’s eyes simultaneously, it was unnerving to have a third set of eyes veritably attached to their already seemingly omniscient - and possibly quite mad - good Captain.
Nobody spoke. Nobody commented. And then, as if merely taking a Sunday stroll, the Ghost Captain and his incongruous wife stepped around the corner from the sidewalk.
Alex, the relatively small, freckled young woman with the tuft of brown hair leading to a butt-length braid, dressed in simple jeans and grey hoodie - and the Ghost Captain himself - tall, pale, with long, unkempt black hair, black slacks, deep crimson button-down, long, brown duster. Vicious scars that reached up around the left side of his face and - most horribly - inky black eyes that leered out from behind the hair, broken only by pricks of white that almost seemed to glow like lonesome stars.
Both had hands in their pockets, and both were perfectly unaffected by the warm breeze, their long hair not rustled by it in the slightest. They seemed quite casual, despite looking totally mismatched and one of them being a black-eyed demon from the depths of the Uncanny Valley.
The pair stopped just behind the other two, both of whom had stepped aside slightly at their approach. They considered the strangers before them, who were now apparently taking someone who had just been starting to feel almost like crew.
There were no formalities. He narrowed his inhuman eyes just slightly, and when Aelyn spoke it was with a voice that was lighter pitch, more youthful sounding than it seemed it should have been, but with a careful lack of inflection.
”I know what you think of us.” He said, not sounding accusatory or, anything for that matter. Anything except calm, and perfectly collected. ”I won’t offer our support in your battle for that reason only, despite it serving our purposes.” Aelyn knew what the Lords thought of him. That had become blatantly obvious through every interaction he’d had with them - Caru was an exception only because it was hard to believe he was a Lord at all. He knew the contempt with which they looked down on him. He knew that to them, he and his city-sized starship were little more than a handful of ants. Among the mundane, he was all but a God - with virtually infinite resources, veritable omniscience, and ghostlike incorporeality.
But among Lords? They saw him as nothing. They wouldn’t want his help in whatever plans they had if only because they found him to be so useless.
That was fine.
He was going to prove them wrong.
It was only a matter of time.
”When your opinion changes.” He prompted, and Val - on cue - flicked an old-fashioned business card at the busty woman. It was black, baring the golden logo of the Stella Viventium and a series of contact codes. Not that he thought they actually needed them - these godlets would probably just teleport into his office bathroom or something once they realized what he was in possession of…
Once, that was, he was actually in possession of it.
Watching the card either be casually caught or flutter to her feet, Aelyn, Alex and Val all spun on their heels at the exact same time, which was profoundly eerie. Gaelan was a little behind, but he did the same - if maybe a little miffed at having been excluded.
But before actually stepping away, Aelyn turned to look back at the woman. ”Or, if you’d like to repay us for the safe return of your Caru rather than blasting him in the head...” He did not look to the diminutive, pink haired Lord as he said this, nor did he expect any of them to believe he was capable of such a murder, what with not knowing what his and his wife’s guns were capable of - ”Feel free to pass along anything you know about the Devil’s Heart.”
And, having contemptuously spoken his piece, he again turned and the four of them walked back toward the street, where a reddish-haired man with glasses was curiously peeking out from around the corner. Aelyn would stop and listen without turning should the Lord have anything to say, but he doubted it would be of any use.
That didn’t matter. He didn’t need the Lords’ help to find what he was looking for. He would find it. Just like he would find Earth and Sol. Just like he would bring his little brother back from the dead. Even if it took him to the ends of the universe.
By the end of the day, word had gotten out. Treasure hunters in Tullh!
This was mostly thanks to a certain portly, goggles-wearing old man blurting out several things that might have led to such a conclusion. Something about a valuable artifact and the daring adventure to be undertaken if it was to be acquired.
As night fell over Tullh, as the less adventurous retired for the evening, and darkness spread over the vast fields and pastures, there was a light out in the lonely plains. It was a rather large work light, illuminating what appeared to be an archaeological dig.
Several of the more curious folks had already gone out into the open pastures to see what all the fuss was. What they found was a standard yellow excavator operated by a portly old man with goggles as he dug a big hole. Probably it was somebody’s property, but nobody had made an issue of that as of yet.
They would also see a very sciency looking man - lab coat, unnecessary spectacles and everything - doing sciency looking things on several pieces of sciency looking machines.There was a pale, snake-like man with a permanent scowl and a stoic woman with a neat bob haircut and flowy blue blouse just milling about with no apparent purpose. And there was a couple - a tall man with long, black hair and a long, brown duster and a smallish woman incongruously dressed in a grey hoodie and jeans, with a braid that reached almost to her butt - and those two were just standing next to each other, unmoving watching as the hole grew wider and deeper as the night moved on...
Tora Station
Royanna had never held someone’s hand before.
Oh, maybe for a moment or two over the past few days, though it was more like frantic wrist grabbing than anything remotely meaningful. Perhaps when she was a child. But if so, such a memory was long buried beneath the two decades of constant training and study that had enabled her to become one of the most skilled Special Agents in the Program. Skilled indeed, yet here she was, giving up on her dreams in humiliation and failure.
She tried not to think about it. About anything but the mission - except that it wasn’t a ’mission’ any longer. Because she wasn’t an Agent anymore.
Certainly in her adult life, Roy had never held someone’s hand. And now, lingering behind all the more pressing issues that were tearing her mind apart, there was the feeling of doing something wrong. Something dirty.
Shameful.
But she wasn’t about to let go. She wasn’t sure she could even if she tried, given her grip was bordering on painful for both of them. Her cold, clammy palm held a vice-grip, and seemed to shake, or twitch, ever so subtly. It felt perverse, like those dreams of walking around naked in public places. But then, everything about this seemed like a dream - or, rather, a nightmare - and that simple, stupid little detail might have been the only thing binding her to reality.
She was starting now to not look so calm. Perspiration had broken out on her forehead. She was blinking far too much at irregular intervals. Her eyes were a fraction too wide, and far too intense. Emerald lasers. Her breathing was carefully controlled. Too carefully.
The pair walked at a rapid pace, but not too fast so as to attract attention. There was nothing wrong with going somewhere in a hurry, as long as they weren’t being chased. It didn’t occur to her that they probably looked like an interspecies couple.
If they listened carefully - him with sensitive canid ears, her with perception hned in a forge of years, they could hear footsteps behind them.
Looking over at her, Christofer would see the ghost of her imperious smirk - that nasty, condescending, expression which for her was the closest thing to a genuine smile she could manage - pulling at the corner of her lip. Actually it was more like a tiny, silent snarl.
”We won’t have to.” The words were labored and choked out, her voice husky and raspy in a way that suggested she could really use a glass of water. She was clearly not in a good place - something was going on that had her in a state approaching barely contained - what, panic? But contained nonetheless.
It took them less than a minute to come upon what she had been hoping to find - what she had been certain they would find. She nodded subtly in the direction of one of the armed security guards standing in a little alcove in the hall, between two shops.
He was a big guy, dressed in a black uniform that was lightly armored, wearing a thin black helmet, all inscribed with the diamond shaped GE symbol and with the words Tora Security printed along the front of his vest. He was armed with some kind of handgun strapped to his hip, along with some kind of stun baton, and a submachine gun of some kind hung from a strap over his shoulder. He was a human, with dark brown skin and a square jaw - he nodded politely as the ‘couple’ approached.
”Evening Sir.” He said cordially, looking at Roy - who bristled,her grip on Christofer’s hand tightening fractionally. The fact that there were more pressing issues would keep her from blowing up on him for it - but that was something that always got to her, no matter the situation. It always lingered there, like salt to ever failure’s wound.
In fact, far from snapping at him or showing any form of hostility at all, when Royanna spoke to the man it was with a subdued, almost meek tone made all the less potent for her dry throat and subsequent husky voice.
”Officer, there’s an urchin back there pickpocketing. I don’t think he has any ID.” It had taken a lot out of her to string that many words together in her current state, and still there was an edge to them that hinted at the inner turmoil she was facing - whatever it was. Maybe she was just going insane? She’d have some explaining to do, once they were back on the Diplomat.
Right away, the officer’s brows raised, his interest piqued. But before he could ask any follow up questions, Roy had continued hastily on her way, tugging Christofer along by the hand.
Imperials were big on identification. Non-Imperial visitors to Imperial stations and planets were systematically identified upon admission, assuming they came through the usual, legitimate means. That ID was then attached to them by simply being entered into the Imperial databases, where their photo and information could be called up by one of the sophisticated scanners located where appropriate - including in the helmets of all station security.
The guard mumbled something into his helmet about checking out the problem, then set off in the direction that the ‘couple’ had just come from. It didn’t take him long, either - the person in question was quite obvious. A human boy with dark skin and black hair, running along clinging to some kind of...small kitchen appliance?
With the practiced ease of security and law enforcement, the officer stepped into the kid’s path, effectively blocking his route - and grabbing him by the arm if he had to. Already a second officer, identically outfitted, was coming into view around the corner.
”Woah, easy kiddo.” The officer said, in that patronizing, buddy-buddy way that was positively infuriating to anyone who had actual @#$% to do. ”What’s the big hurry?”
Roy continued on, walking fast - but not too fast - and breathing weird and just generally not doing so hot. At least she was not so out of her wits as to get lost in the station though, and before long they were stepping through the archway that led to the huge, open hangar with the high, shelved walls and shimmering, translucent window of blue that separated them and their atmosphere from the stars and their expanse.
When the bulky, but majestic pearlescent white shape of the Diplomat came into view, Roy might have breathed a little sigh of relief - or maybe that was just her irregular breathing. Without releasing Christofer’s hand, she raised her wrist just enough tu fumble with the on-screen controls, and shortly with a hiss of hydraulics, the doorway to Royanna’s de-facto home opened up, and she stepped hastily through. Absently smacking the ‘close’ button that was cleverly disguised as just an indent in the elegant wood paneling, Roy went off down the hall toward the control room.
Sick and tired as she was of leaving places in such a hurry, nevertheless Roy wanted very badly to be...somewhere else. Where exactly was of no importance yet. Just away.
Only once she had dragged him through the door to the control room did Roy release his hand, leaving it slick with cold sweat for the trouble. She actually stumbled, tripping over her own feet as she flopped ungracefully into the pilots chair, manipulating the controls with the mindless efficiency of long practice and not even seeming to notice that she had just barely avoided a clumsy fall onto her face.
Fingers flew, and she didn’t even seem to look at what she was doing, paying more attention to the monitors and readouts than anything as the engines within the ship’s rear end hummed to life, the gentle whirring gradually raising in pitch as the antigrav lifted them off the surface of the hangar, turning them slowly until the gigantic energy window - and the myriad other ships outside, floating like surrealist fish - came into view.
At least having something to focus on seemed marginally helpful. Not that she looked any better, but at least she had something to concentrate her nervous energy into. Carefully, Roy eased the ship up, toward the window, and through it with little effort. They were in space again, and as she navigated through the other ships that hung and drifted among them, the huge, white mass of Tora Station appeared in the monitors showing the ship’s rear.
Once they were clear of obstacles, the former Agent threw caution to the wind and thrust forward the lever that would initiate her chosen acceleration plan. There was only the vaguest sensation of movement as the higher pitched sound of the thrusters kicked off and the low, thrumming hum of the stardrives became a steady, soft background sound. Before them, the stars seemed to shift in some slight, indescribable fashion. There was a pleasant sounding ting! from one of the screens, and on another a reassuring green text box with the words Autopilot Engaged rendered in not so large, but still friendly letters.
Only then, when the only sound was the stardrives and the gentle humming of discreet air recyclers, did Roy relax.
Or, rather, she sagged, letting out a shaky, exhausted puff she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. The control panels agreeably pulled away, folding up into their inactive state until she needed manual operation later and insuring there could be no accidental button presses that would confuse the autopilot.
Then, as the old Diplomat soared through space to an unknown destination, Roy just sat. Slumped, deflated and generally worse for wear, she let her hands sit in her lap and just stared blankly at them. After some moments, she absently hooke a finger at the collar of her shirt and tugged it, and the already loose black tie, looser. Then, again, she stared at her clammy hands with a blank, yet somehow intense expression. She was still blinking too much. She was much paler than usual, with a sickly, ashy hue. She rubbed at her eyes, which were glistening. She sniffled just once, though it did not look like she was about to burst into tears. Instead, it simply looked like there was something inside that was ruthlessly eating her away, and she wasn’t sure whether to be terrified of it or just stare in dead disconnection and let it have its way.
What had she done.
What had she done…
Roy’s shoulders shuddered, just once.
Ten minutes after the Diplomat had streaked off to places unknown, another Imperial ship - the Albatross - approached Tora Station at a leisurely pace, docking at one of the tethers and sending out a small, dedicated shuttle to transfer its one important passenger.
While hardly larger than the Diplomat, the Albatross was in comparison, an absolute monster. Loaded with the best Imperial technology in every aspect from navigation, detection and stealth to its vast and frankly terrifying array of lethal weapons, it was the sort of vessel that only the most well-trained, highly respected individuals could possibly hope to pilot.
If the Asimov stuck around long enough, it would see the vessel clear as day.
And though it was impossible to ascertain a ‘Special Agent’ status from anything other than witnessing the physical badge, it seemed highly unlikely that so vicious a vessel could come with anyone but.
LoneWorld
Motukka Docks
Old Ed’s indecision did not last long. Just as he was standing up from examining the golden eyed girl his gaze flitted past them, the old guy’s eyes widened and brows raised, and he might have gone just a shade or two paler. Abruptly the situation magnified from squabbling strangers (Very strange strangers) to a life-or-death situation, as the great roar of a mighty beast echoed across the sea, and its hulking ebon form came screaming down from the smoky sky. It soared low over them, with a blast of hot air in ts wake - and as he watched it double back, Ed decided that he’d better do something before things got out of control.
That wasn’t to say there was no fear in him. Actually, seeing that thing and knowing that it was not his friend was definitely among the top ten most frightening experiences he could recall. But he did have the assurance of knowing that he was not entirely powerless.
And besides - it had been a while since he’d seen any action.
Taking several distracted steps back from the bow of the boat, Edward Perry kicked the lever to release the gangplank to allow the folks to board, and simultaneously swung his arm in a wide horizontal arc. Standing up straight, and shouting at the top of his lungs not unlike a firing instructor;
"Galesbaaane!! Poaht-side ahtilleryyy!”
As the dragon came down at the end of the dock, cracking and warping what remained of it a great, looming shadow appeared just beneath the surface of the water, like some massive whale about to rise from the briny deep, stretching out from the little boat’s bow and stern. As the little boat backed away and tuned to starboard, the shadow turned with it - and raised.
The four passengers had barely stumbled aboard when the pier was ripped out from where it had been beneath them. Ahead, the dead man was forced to make a heroic leap as it fell away at his back. To all sides, a wall of white water blasted up as the disturbed ocean crashed against it, thoroughly soaking everyone right to the bone. (Except him. He knew where to stand.)
Rising like a cyclopean beast from the black depths the long, ash-black thing crested the surface to peer out from beneath the sea.
No behemoth, but still the size and length of a three-masted barquentine, the long, cigar shaped mass of black metal sat perpendicular to where the pier had been, with the length of pier that had been ripped away still balanced atop the broad hull, which leered several yards over the settling water. The ‘boat’ stood sturdily in the center, only the reasonably disguised tip of a massive iron iceberg. Billowing smoke from the two stacks, three hatchways about the curved upper edge of the hull dropped and slammed into place with a sound like hammers on anvils, and from their shadowy depths slid the barrels of three mortar cannons, all raised safely above the water - and took aim, just as the tall, bone-armored figure leaped from the creature’s back and began to battle the dead man.
Seeing this, Dallen’s eyes widened and she practically dove at the old boatman, grabbing his shoulder as he held his hand in the air to give the order to fire. Though he had hesitated a moment, even before this.
Blinking, Ed narrowed his eyes to try and get a better look, but the distance was not helping.
"Is that...Kylvein of Acumen…?” Ed asked incredulously and lowering his hand slowly, at the exact time Dal yelped ”Holdupholdup that’s our friend!”
And then, far more suddenly than it had started, it was over. Everything just stopped. Kylvein of Acumen and the dead man were shaking hands. The Galesbane bobbed ever so gently in the waters that had calmed with what seemed an unnatural speed. Distractedly, in a voice just slightly louder than talking volume, Ed called "Benny, ninety C. Down six foot.” And immediately the lengthy vessel began to slowly and smoothly rotate clockwise, lowering gradually back into the water (A less obtrusive clanging could be heard as the mortar hatches closed) until the bow of the long hull met very nearly with where the pier now ended, and bobbed about level with it. A narrow, but serviceable staircase was built into the side of the stocky 'tower' which was topped by the 'boat'.
He did not see the old woman hopping nimbly off the dragon’s back and making her way toward them.
"Well.” Ed said, shoving his hands into his pockets and frowning thoughtfully. "That was all very anticlimactic. Hm.”
Farming Village
The girl jumped at the woman’s appearance, almost releasing the arrow because of it. She barely suppressed a yelp. From somewhere nearby there was a tiny, all but inaudible psst sound that was clearly not the most important thing that was going on.
”Problem? y’aye a problem, -” She snapped rather testily, and nodded toward Rin to point out the obvious. But she was interrupted - by yet another person? How convoluted was this going to get?
”Pssst! Ellie!...Ellieee!” It was mostly a stage-whisper now, with only the shallow pretense of actually being quiet.
Abruptly, the girl who was apparently named ‘Ellie’ whirled around to the nearest window, still without wavering her aim. ”What!” She snapped at whoever was apparently hiding on the other side.
”Ellie he’s a Bluemahk!”
Ellie blinked, then glanced searchingly back at Rin, then back again to the window. ”But...they ain’t blue.”
”Don’t need t’be, se’true!” Said someone else, apparently hiding just inside one of the windows on the other side of the road. ”Cold cullahs, y’fine! Not hot!”
Ellie looked about to protest, but was interrupted by a third voice, coming vaguely from the direction of some stacked crates between houses.
”Y’ai! Bluemahk’d rathah die ovah help a Redmahk! F’anythin’ ‘yon fella’ come t’help us! Bluemahk’s th’good guys se’true!”
”Aye! Se’true se’true! Bluemahk knight so’is!” Came the joyful cry of someone hiding on a second story. ”Buemahk come t’kill th’Wolf Gal, se’true an’ praise Kevin!” Cried someone reverently from within a high-piled hay cart. It was followed by a chorus of variations on the same sentiment from all over the place. “Kill th’Wolf Gal!” “Bluemahk brings high!” “Aye, Bluemahk knight! “Se’true se’true! ”Kevin!” parroted someone very far away.
Apparently the whole damned town had just been hiding.
And now, apparently, the whole lot of them thought that Rin was here to kill the Wolf Girl.
Utterly at a loss, Ty hadn’t had the chance to interrupt - he’d started half a dozen sentences, each one barely making two syllables before being cut off by one shouting peasant or another, before the cacophony of fanfare made any hope of coherent communication a stark impossibility. Instead, as the girl was distracted by the shouting, he very slowly, subtly, sidled closer to Rin. Stepping closer to the girl would have been suicide, but nearer to the Nyran at least there was some chance of communicating effectively. Leaning in sideways toward him and looking straight ahead, he uttered an earnest ”I am so sorry.”
”Hey, why ye’pickin’ a fight Fool! If he be heah t’help! Ye’thickhead!” Squawked someone who was presumably inside an empty barrel some yards away. Turning several shades of red, Ellie whirled again. ”I’s th’only one what got backbone enough t-” She stopped, suddenly remembering the presence of the newcomer that had been in town for the past few days. The woman who was just casually standing there, hard as a rock and stoic as a snake. Making her look like the scared kid she was, rather than the town’s only hero.
”A hero rolls int’a town, come t’get us outta’ trouble an’ Ellie heah aims a bow at’em! This is why th’town got probl-Ow what was that for!?”
“Don’t be a @#$%, she tries her best!”
”Bu- but he never said-...” She tried weakly, and it went entirely unheeded.
”Why ye’wanna’ bring trouble down on us Ellie! Always se’trouble!” Someone accused from some attic or loft, in a way that sounded ‘not mad, just disappointed’. ”Ye’wann make’m mad an’have ‘im fry us all with his magic, do’ye!” Someone added, possibly from a tool shed.
”That’s why I-” She vaguely shot a look between her notched bow and the person it was aimed at.
”Ye’nevah shoulda’ stood up to ‘em y’stupid! It’ll be yoah’ fult f’he burns up the town yessah’-Ow would you stop I’m just sayin’-”
Y’done good Ellie se’true.” Said someone else from the nearby building in a placating tone that was clearly trying much too hard to sound inoffensive, and only becoming patronizing. ”Now let it be y’fine?”
That was enough.
”Aye. ’Fine.” She muttered dejectedly. Blinking, Ellie set her jaw and unnotched her arrow, tossing it onto the ground in the same, practiced motion used to sling the bow over her shoulders. Without meeting anybody’s eye, head sunk and and glowing a hot red practically down to her shoulders, boots scuffed on the packed dirt until reaching the corner of a building, where she hastily ducked behind and made herself scarce - wondering at the way somehow she had become the bad guy in all this.
And, of course, in the inevitably awkward silence that followed as mob mentality shifted, nobody came out of hiding, Nobody wanted to be the first one to stick their head out. It was strange how their confidence in their assessment of the situation seemed to become quiet when nobody was aiming an arrow at the one in question. The woman who had been spending several days in their company would probably stick up for them, and nobody doubted that she could at least handle herself…
At least, that was the general consensus. It didn't make it true.
Nobody had even heard Rin speak, too busy making assumptions and running wild with them.
Ty was still trying to wrap his mind around everything. The townsfolk apparently, in less than a heartbeat, had convinced themselves that Rin was some kind of hero-knight here to fix their problems? What would happen if he and Rin insisted otherwise? Would they turn on them? Probably not violently, but certainly they’d not get any help for themselves. And then there was the other woman, who was clearly nothing at all like the rest of those fickle townsfolk. A wildcard. He looked to her for a moment - a searching look, though what he was searching for he had no idea.
This one, he decided, really did need to be Rin’s choice. Fill the role they had assigned to him, or deny it? He glanced apologetically to the Nyran - and was getting the very strong feeling that all of the silent people still in hiding were waiting for him to do or say...something.”
Hag’s Swamp
For some minutes, Sands would chat with the strange person-shapeshifter-whatever. What’s Hag’s Shore like? Are there a lot of dangerous animals here? What about bandits or highwaymen? When the subject abruptly changed, it actually startled him.
Sands blinked, and looked to Reqti. Everything that had happened before, back on the Koolest, seemed very far away now. It did not meah he was any more trusting or fond of the Qetan, but like it or not they were all in this together.
And he was, admittedly, having a hard time figuring out just what sort of relationship dynamic there was between Reqti and Rai - not that he really cared, but he had been under the impression that the two were enemies. Or, at least, partial enemies? It didn’t matter. What did was finding their friends...Alive, or dead. And they wouldn’t be able to continue that quest if the pale one sitting before them decided to toss them off the cliff for being aliens, unlikely as it was.
Sands blinked again, then gave a shrug, looking back to their new companion with a wry, lopsided grin. He hoped that since this fellow was clearly more than human, he would not share the violent xenophobia often inherent in primitive Man.
”Well, we are sailors, in a sense.” He began, dragging out the first word, scratching at his cropped blonde hair. ”Except rather than sailing on the ocean, we sail the spaces between worlds. Up there.” He pointed first at the ocean at their backs, its gentle waves crashing soothingly up against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff fr below - then he pointed upwards, to the star-speckled sky. ”We were shipwrecked. Those things that fell from the sky last night are pieces of our boat.”
He gave the stranger a moment to process this - length depending on just how well he did or didn’t take it, then added somberly ”That’s why we need to find the other four pieces. Our friends and crew were on them. We figure if we survived, then maybe they did too.”
Halfway through the night - give or take - Sands awoke, sitting up and silently gettint Reqti’s attention, suggesting via gestures that they should swap who was keeping watch. Sands was not generally an overly suspicious person, but he didn’t know if the stranger might be some kind of thief intent on luring them into a false confidence. It wasn’t a strong enough suspicion to taint his opinion of the guy - but he had to be sure. And besides - he didn’t trust those swampy woods.
Morning came without incident. In the chill dawn air, birds chirped - and something croaked - from the swamp, and gulls wailed on a distant beach. Above and out to sea, the rising sun painted basil green clouds with rays of grapefruit light and lit up the water in a resplendent hues of ruby, sapphire and emerald. It was, Sands decided, by far the prettiest sunrise he had ever seen. Not that he was exactly a connoisseur.
Forest
(Nope. Still nothing goddammit).
The Ark of Chyll
If anyone asks? Nobody has any clue at all who fired the first shot. But between you an’ me?
Nah. Not tellin’.
But you shoulda’ seen it! One second we were in a standoff more tense than an epileptic on cocaine. It was great. There were dogs, a dragon, a lizard-man, a pillbug an’ a buncha’ boring ol’ humans like yours truly. The next? Chaos. I’ve never had so much fun in my life. Absolutely magical.
Okay three, two, one-
Madness. The spacious bar was a perfect place to brawl, and everyone wanted in on the action. Chairs flew. Tables were flipped. Barstools flew. Shots rang. An animal roared. Somebody screeched a venusilian battle cry in four languages. There was a dragon. An uproar of voices and languages. A pair of space-midgets were scampering around kneecapping people. A lanky telepath was beaming slightly lewd images into peoples’ heads. Someone was arguing politics. A flock of birds flapped overhead. A frog-man skittered about the high vaulted ceiling, eating them and possibly defecating on one excessively unlucky individual below. A war was declared between the nations of gynko and chuck. A seven-foot cyborg was decapitating people with a laser-claymore until being taken down by a sentient colony of scorpoloyds. Somebody turned into a snake. Wilhelm screamed. A chitinous horseicon tore the leg off a humanoid weasel and beat him to death with it. An anthropomorphic garden hose strangled one of several rainbow-skinned vampires while the others battled somebody who looked conspicuously like Hulk Hogan except for the three-foot stalk eyes and gaping angler jaw. Somebody was throwing angry lampreys at people. From outside, the blasting scream of an air horn was suddenly followed by an influx of hillbillies, rednecks, and strung-out junkies wearing S W Y F T caps - and it was obvious they were looking for anyone who’d been involved in beating up their pals.
And, obviously, the bartender stood behind the bar, drying the glass.
Detective Clégg ducked as a ropey fist swung at his face, then unmercifully put a bullet into the fist-owner’s gut before leaping aside just in time to avoid being pinned by something that was falling down like a felled tree. Someone grabbed him from behind - he struggled wildly, kicking someone else in a very sensitive area, before just wrestling an arm free of the grip and again, blasting the bastard into the next life.
Seeing one of the S W Y F T guys sneaking up behind a preoccupied Talis, he took aim and caught him in the general area of his spine.
The old detective battled his way toward the back of the building, dodging, ducking and generally exerting himself much more than he usually preferred to if he could avoid it, being sure to snag a small bottle of good brandy that nobody would miss when he found it on the floor stashing it in his coat before sleighing left and delivering a completely ineffective neck-chop to an angry robot, and either fleeing or being saved the trouble by someone else. In fact, it was likely that everyone from the group would end up saving someone else’s behind at least once. Though that was not to suggest their loyalties were any kind of bond - and there was a limit for ho much Clégg, for his part, was willing to do. In this case, that meant not going through the trouble of gathering everyone up for an escape.
When he had successfully brawled, battled, ducked, dodged, flailed, stumbled, tripped, fumbled and, in one exceptionally lucky case, elegantly scrabbled out from beneath the crushing proboscis of something large and with a proboscis - and at last found himself at the far end of the old, remodeled starship that was the Ark of Chyll Bar and Lounge and also strip club and new-age hyperbrothel if you went to the right places but we don’t talk about that Clégg scrambled up onto...something and used two fingers to let out one long, squealing whistle that did nothing at all to even lessen the bar-wide brawl, but could be heard from end to end. To be sure, he broadly waved his hat back and forth for a few seconds, stopping when somebody grabbed his ankle and he had to wrestle them to the ground and curb-stomp them before proceeding through the door to the kitchen - which was on fire, a little bit - and together with whoever wanted to come along moved hastily through and out the service door in the back.
But their adventure was far from over - bursting through the service door they found themselves in the huge truck lot that wrapped around the converted starship - and, barreling toward them at a speed that transcended recklessness into the realm of negligent war crime. Dodging out of its path, the truck rammed up against the Ark of Chyll, crumpling up like a demented accordion against the super-hardened, space-travel steel wall with barely a dent. Whirling, Clégg searched frantically for the ship landing pads and found them lying on the outskirts of the lot - which was unfortunately swarming with S W Y F T trucks, all of whom had been informed that their entire purpose was now to crush the Detective and his pals at all costs, because why not?
Screeching tires, roaring engines, crashing metal, soaring asphalt, and a group of people desperately making their way toward where the starships were parked by not letting themselves get crushed like a bug on a bumper.
Once they had traversed the twenty foot gap between lot and pad that dipped down just enough to make the angry trucks unable to cross - or, rather, however many of them were left at all - Clégg stumbled to a to an ungraceful stop, panting like a dog and bending over on his knees to catch his breath. He was fifty five years old, dangit. And in damned good shape for his age - but that was...excessive.
Turning, popping his hat off to wipe his brow on a sleeve and redepositing it, Clégg took an inventory of just who had followed him. It was entirely possible that they’d gained people, as well as lost them. He didn’t really care - all that mattered was getting out of here as fast as they could before the situation somehow devolved further, impossible as it seemed.
If Wick and Alice had made it, then the gang would obviously be fleeing in that - but if the pair was nowhere to be found, there was no time to waste. Screw it. They’d steal a ship, and he would use the individual skills of whoever was there in order to pick one, break in, start it up and take off.
See you, Space Detective…
LoneWorld: Motukka Docks
As Kilwen walked side by side with Fredrick, he approached the Boatman and Dallen. He smiles at them and says "Sorry for the fright, I rather have flown over the burning city then run through it" as he smiles at them. "Its pronounced Kilwen, but you are still right though" he says to the boatman as he glances at Dallen and smiles at her too. As for Fredrick, he walks passed them towards the boat to get on. "Anyway, I'm guessing you are the Captain of the fine vessel you have?" he says as he puts his hand out to shake as he looks over at the ship behind them.
As the boatman would greet himself no doubt, he would nod his head in respect and say "Its a pleasure to meet you Captain Ed. I am hoping you can do me a big favor for me. Could you take my friends here to the city of Midway? I need to go out and find the others. I can repay you with whatever you need once I get to Midway, or sign anything you want. If you do this you would be doing me a big favor" he looks at Ed with respect and proper. Depending on his answer, Kilwen will acknowledge him. However his attention went to Grandma Attie. He turns to look at her and says "Miss Attie, would you be good going on this boat? I need to find the rest of my friends and my dragon there is only going to be here temporally. Plus, I bet Midway is a safe place for now to be" as he looks at the Captain and says "This is Grandma Attie, she is also a friend of mine" purposely leaving out her monarchical status. He looks at Dal and says "Can I speak with you in private?"
As Kilwen walked side by side with Fredrick, he approached the Boatman and Dallen. He smiles at them and says "Sorry for the fright, I rather have flown over the burning city then run through it" as he smiles at them. "Its pronounced Kilwen, but you are still right though" he says to the boatman as he glances at Dallen and smiles at her too. As for Fredrick, he walks passed them towards the boat to get on. "Anyway, I'm guessing you are the Captain of the fine vessel you have?" he says as he puts his hand out to shake as he looks over at the ship behind them.
As the boatman would greet himself no doubt, he would nod his head in respect and say "Its a pleasure to meet you Captain Ed. I am hoping you can do me a big favor for me. Could you take my friends here to the city of Midway? I need to go out and find the others. I can repay you with whatever you need once I get to Midway, or sign anything you want. If you do this you would be doing me a big favor" he looks at Ed with respect and proper. Depending on his answer, Kilwen will acknowledge him. However his attention went to Grandma Attie. He turns to look at her and says "Miss Attie, would you be good going on this boat? I need to find the rest of my friends and my dragon there is only going to be here temporally. Plus, I bet Midway is a safe place for now to be" as he looks at the Captain and says "This is Grandma Attie, she is also a friend of mine" purposely leaving out her monarchical status. He looks at Dal and says "Can I speak with you in private?"
Gormaand-Tullh
Caru stood by Catherine as she eyed balled the incoming Captain and his wife coming in...and the android that followed quietly, seeming to observe the couple with high interest as she held a pad of some kind and put in information. Her hair is silver and shoulder length as she wore a black tight suit with a zipper on the front and the suit as a bunch of circuits and dials. What may throw people off is the large arm cannon on her right arm. However she was typing something behind the captain.
Catherine's attention went back to the captains passive aggressiveness and mentioning the Devil's Heart. "To be honest, my handsome man, that I don't know who you are, so I don't see why all the hostility is. I'm not asking for your support, but I do thank you in caring for Caru. As for the Devil Heart, I think the Android who has stuck her hand into your stomach can answer it" and indeed the android that followed has stuck her hand into the Captain and was wiggling her hand inside him since, the Captain wasn't really physical. No doubt everyone would be paying attention to the andriod and with that Catherine turned around and says "Come on, Caru, we have a lot of work to do" Caru smiles at her and waves at the Stella group and says "Thank you all! I hope to see you guys again!" as he runs by Catherine and her snake friend as they walk away to get to work.
As for the android, she took her hand out and looks at her hand in curiosity. "Do you not excrete ectoplasm?" she asks curiously as she kept looking at her hand unafraid of the Captain and his group. "The Devil's Heart a mythical technomagical artifact that was created by the Iridiites during their long, slow demise. It is generally believed not to exist and is said to "Bridge the gap between worlds". I suspect it is an older form of Realm portals that are heavily used by Kampfer and Ova to bring in supplies and troops from there own realms" she explains as she looks at the Captain with an unamused face. "My name is Zeta, an Android with an advanced AI. It is a pleasure to meet you. May I request in joining your group? I wish to gather data on you and possibly your mate to study" as she glances at his wife. "In return for knowledge, I shall allow you access to all info that I know, some info is classified, however 99% of my data storage is open to you. I have extensive knowledge on various Dimensional Lords and other similar info as well as scientific knowledge" she explains and greets herself. "With the data I get, I can probably cure your ghostly state, depending in what I have access too" she adds as she looks at both of them. "All I require is me to be allowed to follow you" she adds as she kept her cold gaze at both of them.
Caru stood by Catherine as she eyed balled the incoming Captain and his wife coming in...and the android that followed quietly, seeming to observe the couple with high interest as she held a pad of some kind and put in information. Her hair is silver and shoulder length as she wore a black tight suit with a zipper on the front and the suit as a bunch of circuits and dials. What may throw people off is the large arm cannon on her right arm. However she was typing something behind the captain.
Catherine's attention went back to the captains passive aggressiveness and mentioning the Devil's Heart. "To be honest, my handsome man, that I don't know who you are, so I don't see why all the hostility is. I'm not asking for your support, but I do thank you in caring for Caru. As for the Devil Heart, I think the Android who has stuck her hand into your stomach can answer it" and indeed the android that followed has stuck her hand into the Captain and was wiggling her hand inside him since, the Captain wasn't really physical. No doubt everyone would be paying attention to the andriod and with that Catherine turned around and says "Come on, Caru, we have a lot of work to do" Caru smiles at her and waves at the Stella group and says "Thank you all! I hope to see you guys again!" as he runs by Catherine and her snake friend as they walk away to get to work.
As for the android, she took her hand out and looks at her hand in curiosity. "Do you not excrete ectoplasm?" she asks curiously as she kept looking at her hand unafraid of the Captain and his group. "The Devil's Heart a mythical technomagical artifact that was created by the Iridiites during their long, slow demise. It is generally believed not to exist and is said to "Bridge the gap between worlds". I suspect it is an older form of Realm portals that are heavily used by Kampfer and Ova to bring in supplies and troops from there own realms" she explains as she looks at the Captain with an unamused face. "My name is Zeta, an Android with an advanced AI. It is a pleasure to meet you. May I request in joining your group? I wish to gather data on you and possibly your mate to study" as she glances at his wife. "In return for knowledge, I shall allow you access to all info that I know, some info is classified, however 99% of my data storage is open to you. I have extensive knowledge on various Dimensional Lords and other similar info as well as scientific knowledge" she explains and greets herself. "With the data I get, I can probably cure your ghostly state, depending in what I have access too" she adds as she looks at both of them. "All I require is me to be allowed to follow you" she adds as she kept her cold gaze at both of them.
(Woooo debut post!)
Gormaand - Tullh
"One Wrong Turn . . ." the android mumbled to herself. She had stuck herself on some boring, farming planet in the middle of nowhere. Though, it fitted her style, small and quiet, she feels as if she can find better. She remembered the last bus leaves soon so she violently searched for her wallet, in hopes she would be able to get out of here. She had just sighed and walked into a local bar. She had a function that let her get drunk, so she made sure not to drink too much. Talk about some treasure hunters came about. She left afterwards, going to search for a hotel.
After a while she realized she also had to pay for a hotel. She had decided to wait until day to do anything, since it was a small town where there might be some suspicious people. Soon she found herself bored and decided to practice summoning. She took off her hoodie and was left in just a long sleeve shirt. She summoned Joseph (Her gun) and Unsummoned. She had a small panel which was only unlocked by her where she can check battery, health, etc. so she decided to check on her stats. She decided to look into something that had been long ignored. her panel had a small watermark. "BrainPal Industries? Maybe I should look into this. . . Have I . . . Seen this before?" She decided to go through her memory and found something. A locked file she can't access. She was taken extremely off guard by this. She decided she was gonna go and look around to find if anything in town was made by this coorporation.
Gormaand - Tullh
"One Wrong Turn . . ." the android mumbled to herself. She had stuck herself on some boring, farming planet in the middle of nowhere. Though, it fitted her style, small and quiet, she feels as if she can find better. She remembered the last bus leaves soon so she violently searched for her wallet, in hopes she would be able to get out of here. She had just sighed and walked into a local bar. She had a function that let her get drunk, so she made sure not to drink too much. Talk about some treasure hunters came about. She left afterwards, going to search for a hotel.
After a while she realized she also had to pay for a hotel. She had decided to wait until day to do anything, since it was a small town where there might be some suspicious people. Soon she found herself bored and decided to practice summoning. She took off her hoodie and was left in just a long sleeve shirt. She summoned Joseph (Her gun) and Unsummoned. She had a small panel which was only unlocked by her where she can check battery, health, etc. so she decided to check on her stats. She decided to look into something that had been long ignored. her panel had a small watermark. "BrainPal Industries? Maybe I should look into this. . . Have I . . . Seen this before?" She decided to go through her memory and found something. A locked file she can't access. She was taken extremely off guard by this. She decided she was gonna go and look around to find if anything in town was made by this coorporation.
LoneWorld: Farming Village
The woman's soft spoken query had been more to dissuade Rin from continuing his forward movement. She had placed herself between Ellie and the two men to shield the girl. She didn't seem to even react when the girl snapped at her. Saraid had been among these people for three days. This insignificant speck of dirt and water had been her prison for three of these people's years.
She knew this scene for she had lived it first hand. 'This is a cruel fate, forcing me to look into an old mirror.' She tilted her head slightly to the left and took a half-step backwards with her right foot. This caused her body to twist slightly away from Rin and his companion. She could see behind him, the smoke from his fractured and broken vessel hung like a great column on the horizon. It shifted on dusk's breeze and obscured the brightest stars that had only just started to appear. The great fields of corn cascaded, a sea of high green stalks.
The town's people had their dialog as Saraid stood as still as stone. They threw sense to the wind and stretched their imagination further and further into the realm of fantasy. In truth she had come to the town to deal with the Wolf Girl herself but she was no hero. She expected to get paid and had stated as much. In that three days among the people she had been a courteous, unassuming, and soft spoken guest. She had not displayed any real exceptional feat of strength or ability beyond the common people. It had been her bearing, her comportment that had given them the impression that she could handle herself in combat. Thus her requests for a contract had been denied up to that point.
Saraid didn't comment on what the villagers were chattering about. Her head tilted slightly in the other direction and her shadowed eyes narrowed. Her clothing made it difficult to get a real feeling for her features under all that fabric. 'What will you do?'
”Aye. ’Fine.” Muttered Ellie, dejectedly. The arrow hit the dirt behind Saraid. She could hear the bow going over the girl's shoulder, and her boots scuffing the ground as she ducked behind a building. Her eyes darted right and found Ty's. Seconds passed and then she straightened her posture and spoke with a soft voice. "Yisser ship is wrecked, yeah?" She brought her four fingered hands to her hips and rested them there. "Oi doubt yer 'ill be gettin' any 'elp from dees people so long as yer 'av dat knife oyt." She looked them both up and down. "Yer don't seem ter badly banged up. Wud oi be wrong on dat account?" She nodded in motion behind them and in the general direction of the rising smoke. "Are dare others dat nade sum 'elp?" Her accent and speech patterns were very different than the villagers or the girl that had just left.
The woman's soft spoken query had been more to dissuade Rin from continuing his forward movement. She had placed herself between Ellie and the two men to shield the girl. She didn't seem to even react when the girl snapped at her. Saraid had been among these people for three days. This insignificant speck of dirt and water had been her prison for three of these people's years.
She knew this scene for she had lived it first hand. 'This is a cruel fate, forcing me to look into an old mirror.' She tilted her head slightly to the left and took a half-step backwards with her right foot. This caused her body to twist slightly away from Rin and his companion. She could see behind him, the smoke from his fractured and broken vessel hung like a great column on the horizon. It shifted on dusk's breeze and obscured the brightest stars that had only just started to appear. The great fields of corn cascaded, a sea of high green stalks.
The town's people had their dialog as Saraid stood as still as stone. They threw sense to the wind and stretched their imagination further and further into the realm of fantasy. In truth she had come to the town to deal with the Wolf Girl herself but she was no hero. She expected to get paid and had stated as much. In that three days among the people she had been a courteous, unassuming, and soft spoken guest. She had not displayed any real exceptional feat of strength or ability beyond the common people. It had been her bearing, her comportment that had given them the impression that she could handle herself in combat. Thus her requests for a contract had been denied up to that point.
Saraid didn't comment on what the villagers were chattering about. Her head tilted slightly in the other direction and her shadowed eyes narrowed. Her clothing made it difficult to get a real feeling for her features under all that fabric. 'What will you do?'
”Aye. ’Fine.” Muttered Ellie, dejectedly. The arrow hit the dirt behind Saraid. She could hear the bow going over the girl's shoulder, and her boots scuffing the ground as she ducked behind a building. Her eyes darted right and found Ty's. Seconds passed and then she straightened her posture and spoke with a soft voice. "Yisser ship is wrecked, yeah?" She brought her four fingered hands to her hips and rested them there. "Oi doubt yer 'ill be gettin' any 'elp from dees people so long as yer 'av dat knife oyt." She looked them both up and down. "Yer don't seem ter badly banged up. Wud oi be wrong on dat account?" She nodded in motion behind them and in the general direction of the rising smoke. "Are dare others dat nade sum 'elp?" Her accent and speech patterns were very different than the villagers or the girl that had just left.
Gormaand - Tullh
Hardly seconds after discovering the locked file in her memory and endeavoring to learn more about the name of some corporation she had never heard of, the Android named Rain suddenly found her vision overlaid with blue text. It scrolled upwards at an irregular rate, and there would be simply nothing she could do to make it stop - short of shutting herself down completely. If she could even do that.
[Initializing HUD...]
[HUD Enabled!]
[Unzipping Installation Protocols]
[20%]
[36%]
[50%]
[70%]
[92%]
[100%]
[Installing…]
[BrainPal™ Startup protocols complete!]
[Enabling Neural Pathways…]
[Initializing PalNet Connectivity…]
[PalNet Pinged Successfully!]
[Linking to Other Components…]
[Link Complete!]
[Reticulating Spleen…]
[Setting Up External Blocks…]
[Unauthorized Activity Successfully Quarantined!]
[Scanning for Unauthorized FIles…]
[3 Files Quarantined!]
[BrainPal™ Installation Completed Successfully!]
Congratulations on the purchase and activation of your new BrainPal™ Personal Internal Communications System! You are now ready to effortlessly navigate the aethernet and keep in touch with all of your social circle via PalNet™ - your most secure social media experience guaranteed!
To start using your BranPal™ PICS, simply think of a command and BrainPal™’s sophisticated Consciousness Processing System™ will take it from there! For more assistance, simply think of a question and BrainPal™ will answer it - or, for a comprehensive tutorial, just think “Tutorial”.
Thank you for choosing BrainPal™ for all your communication needs.
Apparently she was now equipped with some kind of mind-computer? Something that had been installed into her brain without her consent? It gave the impression that even if she had been organic it would have ‘installed’ exactly the same way - and given the nature of things that were installed without permission, it was probably going to be hard to get rid of.
There was no doubting that this new development was related to that mysterious restricted file. The next time she looked at it, Rain would still find it inaccessible - but this time there was handy - and annoying - text in the corner of her eye.
Access is denied. User is unauthorized to access file. Please contact an administrator or BrainPal™ representative for further assistance.
.....
...
.....
...
.....
As a member of our esteemed Platinum Club, you are entitled to exclusive perks including Preferred Customer, Service Priority, and Administrative Assistance. Would you like BrainPal™ to locate an Administrator to assist you?
[YES] [NO]
Naturally, it did not actually matter which option she chose.
Success! A BrainPal™ System Administrator has been located 1.04 miles from your location, Would you like BrainPal™ Navigation to guide you to their location?
Hardly seconds after discovering the locked file in her memory and endeavoring to learn more about the name of some corporation she had never heard of, the Android named Rain suddenly found her vision overlaid with blue text. It scrolled upwards at an irregular rate, and there would be simply nothing she could do to make it stop - short of shutting herself down completely. If she could even do that.
[Initializing HUD...]
[HUD Enabled!]
[Unzipping Installation Protocols]
[20%]
[36%]
[50%]
[70%]
[92%]
[100%]
[Installing…]
[BrainPal™ Startup protocols complete!]
[Enabling Neural Pathways…]
[Initializing PalNet Connectivity…]
[PalNet Pinged Successfully!]
[Linking to Other Components…]
[Link Complete!]
[Reticulating Spleen…]
[Setting Up External Blocks…]
[Unauthorized Activity Successfully Quarantined!]
[Scanning for Unauthorized FIles…]
[3 Files Quarantined!]
[BrainPal™ Installation Completed Successfully!]
BrainPal™
Your Only Real Friend…Is In Your Head.
Your Only Real Friend…Is In Your Head.
Congratulations on the purchase and activation of your new BrainPal™ Personal Internal Communications System! You are now ready to effortlessly navigate the aethernet and keep in touch with all of your social circle via PalNet™ - your most secure social media experience guaranteed!
To start using your BranPal™ PICS, simply think of a command and BrainPal™’s sophisticated Consciousness Processing System™ will take it from there! For more assistance, simply think of a question and BrainPal™ will answer it - or, for a comprehensive tutorial, just think “Tutorial”.
Thank you for choosing BrainPal™ for all your communication needs.
Apparently she was now equipped with some kind of mind-computer? Something that had been installed into her brain without her consent? It gave the impression that even if she had been organic it would have ‘installed’ exactly the same way - and given the nature of things that were installed without permission, it was probably going to be hard to get rid of.
There was no doubting that this new development was related to that mysterious restricted file. The next time she looked at it, Rain would still find it inaccessible - but this time there was handy - and annoying - text in the corner of her eye.
[RESTRICTED]
Access is denied. User is unauthorized to access file. Please contact an administrator or BrainPal™ representative for further assistance.
.....
...
.....
...
.....
As a member of our esteemed Platinum Club, you are entitled to exclusive perks including Preferred Customer, Service Priority, and Administrative Assistance. Would you like BrainPal™ to locate an Administrator to assist you?
[YES] [NO]
Naturally, it did not actually matter which option she chose.
Success! A BrainPal™ System Administrator has been located 1.04 miles from your location, Would you like BrainPal™ Navigation to guide you to their location?
[YES] [NO]
Gormaand - Tullh
The options confronted her, she was confused what was going on. She thought she might want to know whats up with the strange file. If that wasn't enough, how to get this annoying HUD out of the way. She chose the obvious option and was prompted with directions of where to go. She headed there, walking at a normal pace. She was quite tired from the night, and in shock due to the whole sequence that had just occurred. She was confused why she chose this option. She hated talking of her past and promised to herself not to try to explore what happened, she was just sort of drawn in by this mystery
According to this "BrainPal" thing the nearest administrator was only a mile or so away. Was she lucky or were they everywhere? She didn't care. Her mind was wandering off. Why hasn't this happened before? How come she's never seen this locked file? What the hell is a BrainPal? "Damn, this thing. It's in the way. Can i turn it off?" she quietly mumbled to herself. She looked at the directions and found she was nearing the administrator. She considered drawing her weapons, but she assumed it wouldn't be that bad of an encounter, if anything bad were to even happen.
[YES] [NO]
The options confronted her, she was confused what was going on. She thought she might want to know whats up with the strange file. If that wasn't enough, how to get this annoying HUD out of the way. She chose the obvious option and was prompted with directions of where to go. She headed there, walking at a normal pace. She was quite tired from the night, and in shock due to the whole sequence that had just occurred. She was confused why she chose this option. She hated talking of her past and promised to herself not to try to explore what happened, she was just sort of drawn in by this mystery
According to this "BrainPal" thing the nearest administrator was only a mile or so away. Was she lucky or were they everywhere? She didn't care. Her mind was wandering off. Why hasn't this happened before? How come she's never seen this locked file? What the hell is a BrainPal? "Damn, this thing. It's in the way. Can i turn it off?" she quietly mumbled to herself. She looked at the directions and found she was nearing the administrator. She considered drawing her weapons, but she assumed it wouldn't be that bad of an encounter, if anything bad were to even happen.
Unfortunately for Dee, the Asimov had been docked farther into the station due to the ships status as unfinished and therefore it's need for a proper dockyard. So suddenly had Dee received her new rapid deployment orders, that the Asimov had left her dock with work parties aboard still outfitting the ship. Even now Dee knew the men toiled away getting the ship fully outfitted and had been since the ship deployed.
Finally reaching the dock, Dee quickly notes that the work parties had finished installing the main guns during their time on station as she boards the ship. Arriving on the bridge in time to see the arrival of the Albatross, Dee looks to Visha questioningly "Did we receive any messages about receiving support? I know that we didn't have the main guns installed when we left and reported as much....but that shouldn't have warranted sending that beast. Also what happened to the Diplomat?"
Visha shook her head in response. "None what so ever Ma'am. It must be here on another mission though with it arriving so soon after Kallenger is a little odd. Then again that woman's a trouble magnet Ma'am." Offering up a datapad, Visha continues her report "As for the Diplomat? It took off shortly after we received your prep order and rapidly exited the area. We cant predict where it will arrive like this time. We'll have to follow it's wake." Skimming the datapad, Dee decides to wait and see just what the Albatross was doing here at Tora.
Finally reaching the dock, Dee quickly notes that the work parties had finished installing the main guns during their time on station as she boards the ship. Arriving on the bridge in time to see the arrival of the Albatross, Dee looks to Visha questioningly "Did we receive any messages about receiving support? I know that we didn't have the main guns installed when we left and reported as much....but that shouldn't have warranted sending that beast. Also what happened to the Diplomat?"
Visha shook her head in response. "None what so ever Ma'am. It must be here on another mission though with it arriving so soon after Kallenger is a little odd. Then again that woman's a trouble magnet Ma'am." Offering up a datapad, Visha continues her report "As for the Diplomat? It took off shortly after we received your prep order and rapidly exited the area. We cant predict where it will arrive like this time. We'll have to follow it's wake." Skimming the datapad, Dee decides to wait and see just what the Albatross was doing here at Tora.
New Vegas
"I'VE BEEN ESCAPING YOUR CLUTCHES FOR YEARS, $%&@ THE NATURAL CYCLE." "WHY DO YOU "IMMORTALS" ALWAYS LEAVE WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH?" yelled Arnaldo before running towards Nirix, his hearing picking up the slight whooshes of glass flying by and towards Nirix. Pulling his pistol, Arnaldo began to fire at the bottles that were still shelves, in hopes of depleting the angered Lord's ammo. After emptying a clip into as many bottles and glasses as he could, Arnaldo began to yell at Nirix, "HE MAY BE IMMORTAL BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN HE CAN'T KNOCKED OUT". Stopping for a brief second, clutching his knees, Arnaldo tried thinking of a way to 1. Get out Nirix out of that situation, 2. Get Ketin, and 3. Get out of there.
Most of the options that went through Arnaldo's head were either violent or coward-like, until Arnaldo saw the pale figure walk towards Nirix and Hayden, speaking of working out an agreement. Arnaldo had been so preoccupied by his amped up fight or flight instinct he forgot that he could in fact, talk things out instead of fighting an immortal being in their own realm where they literally control everything. "Actually Nirix, lets not attempt the knocking out thing, also Hayden, loving what you're doing, I mean glass covered floors look really nice, very in style" yelled Arnaldo, holstering his still smoking gun. I mean he only really shot bottles and ran a bit, nothing big, minus the punching of a one Lord Ova, but whatever.
"I'VE BEEN ESCAPING YOUR CLUTCHES FOR YEARS, $%&@ THE NATURAL CYCLE." "WHY DO YOU "IMMORTALS" ALWAYS LEAVE WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH?" yelled Arnaldo before running towards Nirix, his hearing picking up the slight whooshes of glass flying by and towards Nirix. Pulling his pistol, Arnaldo began to fire at the bottles that were still shelves, in hopes of depleting the angered Lord's ammo. After emptying a clip into as many bottles and glasses as he could, Arnaldo began to yell at Nirix, "HE MAY BE IMMORTAL BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN HE CAN'T KNOCKED OUT". Stopping for a brief second, clutching his knees, Arnaldo tried thinking of a way to 1. Get out Nirix out of that situation, 2. Get Ketin, and 3. Get out of there.
Most of the options that went through Arnaldo's head were either violent or coward-like, until Arnaldo saw the pale figure walk towards Nirix and Hayden, speaking of working out an agreement. Arnaldo had been so preoccupied by his amped up fight or flight instinct he forgot that he could in fact, talk things out instead of fighting an immortal being in their own realm where they literally control everything. "Actually Nirix, lets not attempt the knocking out thing, also Hayden, loving what you're doing, I mean glass covered floors look really nice, very in style" yelled Arnaldo, holstering his still smoking gun. I mean he only really shot bottles and ran a bit, nothing big, minus the punching of a one Lord Ova, but whatever.
LoneWorld: Forest
It took a bit, but Jet's mind finally calmed. He was almost in a blind fury after getting struck in the calf, it was as if Jet had been a caged animal on this whole journey, waking up in a foreign land, attacking anything that comes near him, like an animal. It took the loss of a good friend, the capture of others, and the disorientation of his landing for him to finally remember why he had always won against the toughest creatures of his home world, his intellect. He may have been using a bit of strategy in this fight, but making a suicidal break for it was something that only a person on the edge would do, and Jet was not about to throw away his life, he needed to get back to the main group, and figure out just what in the hell is going on.
As the huntress Akota lunged at his legs, Jet put his trust in her earlier words. He held up his hands and closed his eyes, hoping the message would get to her. She spoke of him lying, as if she were the most trustworthy person in the nearest system, and Jet hoped she was. Jet relaxed his muscles, releasing his pent up breath, and tried to steady his autonomic nervous system, trying to come off as least threatening as he can. Finally, he said,
"Sorry"
It took a bit, but Jet's mind finally calmed. He was almost in a blind fury after getting struck in the calf, it was as if Jet had been a caged animal on this whole journey, waking up in a foreign land, attacking anything that comes near him, like an animal. It took the loss of a good friend, the capture of others, and the disorientation of his landing for him to finally remember why he had always won against the toughest creatures of his home world, his intellect. He may have been using a bit of strategy in this fight, but making a suicidal break for it was something that only a person on the edge would do, and Jet was not about to throw away his life, he needed to get back to the main group, and figure out just what in the hell is going on.
As the huntress Akota lunged at his legs, Jet put his trust in her earlier words. He held up his hands and closed his eyes, hoping the message would get to her. She spoke of him lying, as if she were the most trustworthy person in the nearest system, and Jet hoped she was. Jet relaxed his muscles, releasing his pent up breath, and tried to steady his autonomic nervous system, trying to come off as least threatening as he can. Finally, he said,
"Sorry"
Ultima Proten
"Yea yea gotcha Muta!" yelled Ringo, panting as he ran, "How much *huff* did they say it was, I wanted to *huff* keep some of the cash so we could get like a mini bar or *huff* something!" Pushing past all sorts of alien life forms, Ringo clutched the 500,000 Standard and attempted to slow down next to Muta. He reached the dealer and slid the card on the device that Ringo believed to be the equivalent of a register. "Names Rin...Ringold Rodriguez, of Kortoba 5" Ringo spurted out, clutching his knees and repeatedly looking back at the door.
"Muta, you good? Whats the *huffs* deats on the ship, partner? Is it that beaut over *huff* there?" pointing at the crescent shaped Ultima Proten, its sleek body slowly mesmerizing him, attracting all of his attention, making him forget about the incoming mobsters, his span of attentiveness on par with that of a newly born Stargling. Unbeknownst to him, he began to drool a bit, before snapping back to reality with the sound of a hot plasma bolt slamming into a nearby wall. "Stop right there you two bit piece of pond scum licking sorry excuse for a criminally underpowered fugitive" yelled the "boss" of the little mobster strike team. Before the full receipt for the ship had finished printing, Ringo grabbed it gave Mutacogi the "which ship" look.
"Yea yea gotcha Muta!" yelled Ringo, panting as he ran, "How much *huff* did they say it was, I wanted to *huff* keep some of the cash so we could get like a mini bar or *huff* something!" Pushing past all sorts of alien life forms, Ringo clutched the 500,000 Standard and attempted to slow down next to Muta. He reached the dealer and slid the card on the device that Ringo believed to be the equivalent of a register. "Names Rin...Ringold Rodriguez, of Kortoba 5" Ringo spurted out, clutching his knees and repeatedly looking back at the door.
"Muta, you good? Whats the *huffs* deats on the ship, partner? Is it that beaut over *huff* there?" pointing at the crescent shaped Ultima Proten, its sleek body slowly mesmerizing him, attracting all of his attention, making him forget about the incoming mobsters, his span of attentiveness on par with that of a newly born Stargling. Unbeknownst to him, he began to drool a bit, before snapping back to reality with the sound of a hot plasma bolt slamming into a nearby wall. "Stop right there you two bit piece of pond scum licking sorry excuse for a criminally underpowered fugitive" yelled the "boss" of the little mobster strike team. Before the full receipt for the ship had finished printing, Ringo grabbed it gave Mutacogi the "which ship" look.
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