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| DOA?:Stellacide; To end all wars | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 15 2008, 11:11 AM (13,269 Views) | |
| Silvermourn | Mar 22 2009, 03:25 PM Post #381 |
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The Redneck, the Cynic, the Nerd, and the Hopeless Romantic
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Watching from the background Random realized they were recruiting the damn fiend who had tried to kill his business partner. The entire group was crazy, he was certain it had been Lya's idea in the first place, she was forever recruiting someone into something. He had been the first one that he knew of, but now that he thought about it he probably wasn't. She seemed to have lived a rather long life, and she could have been recruiting and using people for longer than anyone else could remember, possibly even longer than she could remember. It seemed that perhaps his men weren't going to have to kill anyone after all, but if the ship continued it's suicidal approach they could all be dead before long anyway. Waving his captain towards him he motioned to the bunch of fools conversing away from them and then smiled. " Seems like you mercs aren't going to get to kill anyone today after all. It's a shame this job could make you soft before long." He just watched as the man waved the men down without a reply. It seemed that business required less friendly attitudes when your business was killing people. |
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"I mourn that which may have been but will never be." "Stupidity is a wound that bleeds forever; Intelligence is a blade that stays forever sharp" "An armed man will kill and unarmed man with monotonous regularity" "Nothing adds a little class to a sniper course like a babe in a Ghillie suit." "You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it." "Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, 'cause it's going to be empty." | |
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| Attila | Mar 24 2009, 02:11 AM Post #382 |
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Transylvanian Mad Scientist
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"I see." Emerson nodded after the admiral had finished his briefing, "I'll get to it, then and keep you updated. Emerson, out." Shortly after the final words, the screens went blank. Heaving a sigh, Emerson stood up from his chair to stretch his limbs. After a while in the Control Seat, one's body began feeling numb and useless. It was one of the dangers of such a means of controlling a ship. Emerson was convinced the thing was addictive when used in excess. Nemesis made her appearance in a small sizzle in front of him. "That Reed fellow doesn't look too friendly, Sir. I took the liberty of reading his neural patterns while you were discussing tactical plans, and he doesn't seem to like you." Emerson arched an eyebrow. "Since when do you keep spying on me? It's not nice to eavesdrop, especially read neural patterns without one's consent, you know. And since when can you read neural patterns via transmissions?" "It's not technically 'spying', since I'm your ship, and you're my Captain, I need to know if something troubling you, or keeping you from performing as best you can. I am merely keeping a log about your experiences, for reference and such... Pretty much like a diary." Emerson stepped forward, looking at the screen displaying the ship's schematics and hull integrity, after which his gaze slowly turned to the screens showing a small, blue dot, surrounded by what seemed to be a swarm of metal javelins. Nemesis stepped beside him, and looked at the screen herself. "And as for reading neural patterns via telecoms, one of my subsystems has been calibrated for such tasks, but this only functions on Imperial ships branded with a microchip that parses this data and sends it alongside the transmission, on an encrypted channel. The technology, and mere fact and existence of the chip being classified, of course." "There's an old saying, that curiosity killed the cat. Although I'm not quite sure what a cat is." "It probably was one of the animals that lived on Earth. Anyway, I'll make the necessary preparations, notify me should you need anything." Emerson slowly nodded. "Of course. Dismissed." Nemesis snapped a short salute, and shortly thereafter disappeared. Meanwhile, men in the hangars were busy unpacking and assembling the array of six satellites from the pre-made modules that the ship was carrying. The satellites were then lifted, one at a time by a ramp up to the docking bays. As the ship slowly closed the distance, it made its way to the rest of the fleet, stationed near Mars and Earth's moon. Emerson had plotted a course to hold orbit over the moon, staying on the far side at all times. Its relatively flat surface would be a good place to land beacons that could signal the fleet and add to the comms array he wanted to establish, while the massive moon and its rocky composition could shield the destroyer from prying eyes of scanners. By the time the Apollyon had reached the moon, steadily holding orbit at a few thousand feet above, all six satellites were merrily trailing beside it. Then, the satellites formed a line, with a few hundred clicks in between, as they proceeded toward the blue planet. "The satellites are on their way, Sir. Due to Earth's moon, we won't be having radio contact with them for about half an hour. Meanwhile, I'll launch three beacons on the lunar surface along the equator." Nemesis' voice sounded from the walls. "Good. I'll be in my quarters." Emerson nodded, then turned to leave the command post. As he headed toward his quarters, he began wondering what became of the band of pirates, outlaws and mercenaries he had encountered back on the planet where he bought and installed the Creation Reactor. Right now, that reactor was his most guarded secret. The door of his room opened with a feint hiss, as he was greeted by the formal, yet still cozy chamber. He took off his boots, and laid his jacket and hat on a hanger at the entrance. As his feet brushed against the shag rug on the floor, his gaze trailed across the few framed pictures he had in his room. The first one showed a humanoid ape, picking up a stone. The second was more ape-men, now looking even more human and less hair, throwing spears with stone tips into a gigantic furred animal with tusks. And on the third, a man with a strange hat and fine draped loincloth, standing beside a pyramid shaped stone structure of immense scale. The pictures went on and on... The final picture displayed a man in imperial uniform, looking up at a sky strewn with starships. Emerson let himself fall into his bed, the soft material letting him sink slightly, before gently raising him back up. He then thought back at how that strange alien looked like.. what was it? "Lya..." He whispered her name softly as he looked up at the walls, tiled with large rectangles that glowed with a soft, orange light. Edited by Attila, Mar 24 2009, 02:11 AM.
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| Dark Jack | Mar 24 2009, 02:55 AM Post #383 |
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The Phantom Poster
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"Well, isn't that just great," Melai groaned, finally returning the IR-rifle to his back, "So although we all came rushing in here to save you, we'll probably get blown to bits anyways. Just beautiful..." He shook his head in regret of the situation. "I'm guessing that we can't just leave the ship and destroy it with our weapons before it self-destructs? Because otherwise I suggest we get moving and fix whatever is broken on this thing, and I certainly agree that I'd prefer it to be before we're blown to Hell!" --- "Very well," Reed nodded as Captain Emerson faded out, "As I said, we will interact through our radios on a secure channel, so keep the line of communication open. Dismissed." One by one, the captains nodded in agreement, confirmed their orders and left, their holograms fading out and vanishing, and within a minute, Admiral Reed was once again alone in the command center of his glorious vessel, where he simply leant back in his seat, watching the reports on the little monitors mounted around him, being instantly updated on all the preparations in progress. "Athena?" he called out, and the VI instantly appeared next to him to await his orders, "Athena, did you get a proper scan of the Apollyon? Did you check what exactly is so special about Emerson's ship that the Asteroth doesn't have?" "I tried, sir," Athena told him, "But apparently Emerson is more cautious than expected. My censors were blocked by something, probably the VI of the Apollyon. She is considerably more advanced than I am... I could not penetrate her blocking-systems." "I see," Reed muttered, evidently disappointed, "So you learned nothing?" "Too little to make sense, sir," Athena assured him, "I only caught mention of a few random words in the VI database. To summerize: Affection... Hunter... Walker... Creatio-" "Enough, that's useless," Reed hissed at Athena, waving her off, and the VI obediently ceased talking and disappeared, resuming her duties as the ship's computer. Reed sighed... apparently, he had underestimated both Emerson, the Apollyon and that blasted VI Emerson had on his ship, which apparently was experimental as well, and judging by that it was advanced enough to hide the details about the Apollyon from Athena, Reed thought that it had to almost have reached AI (Artificial Intelligence) status. Of course, he could not tell anyone about that until he was entirely sure whether she was or was not. Ever since the first encounter with the Segai, any production of computers or robots with AI had been outlawed. But if the Apollyon really had an AI... then Reed could get Emerson executed for it! And then Emperor had no choice but to assign Asteroth as the new Prime Vessel. "Keep trying to scan the Apollyon, and concentrate on trying to identify the VI of the ship," Reed told Athena, and a confirmation of the command instantly appeared on one of his monitors. |
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| Oracle | Mar 24 2009, 02:30 PM Post #384 |
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Head of Diplomatic Affairs
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"Well, isn't that just great, so although we all came rushing in here to save you, we'll probably get blown to bits anyways. Just beautiful...I'm guessing that we can't just leave the ship and destroy it with our weapons before it self-destructs? Because otherwise I suggest we get moving and fix whatever is broken on this thing, and I certainly agree that I'd prefer it to be before we're blown to Hell!" "I'm sorry Melai. I seem to be more trouble than I am worth. I'll be right back. I need to check the damage. "And don't worry, we aren't going to die...not today anyway." She had begun to walk away when she felt a compelling urge, and followed it. She turned back to Melai, and throwing her arms around him she squeezed. Then whispered low for him alone to hear. "Thank you Melai. You're the best." The next instant her bare feet were padding toward the cargo bay. When she saw the shambles of wiring she knew it was iffy at best to repair it in time. It looked like Derth pretty much took everything she had in the storage locker as well. There was no way for her to get it rewired, and all the parts returned in time to stop the countdown, or it would be a very close call. There was a time when it wouldn't have mattered to her, she would have risked it all. But she couldn't allow the people who stood behind her to be in danger. With a look of determination on her face she pulled out her temporal pistol, and headed back to the others. "There isn't time to fix it, Melai. I hope you don't mind Talon and myself coming along with you?" Turning on her heel, she headed to the control room. The silly moisture was in her eyes again. She touched it's surface one last time, initiating the cloak and shield of the ship, then whispered to the control panel..."I'm sorry Ship." After adjusting the pistol to it's narrowest setting, she sliced through the control panel severing Ship's link to the vessel. Countdown to self destr... Until she returned and repaired the damage, she was truly cut off from home. The merchant ships would come, and the profits would roll, but she was stranded with Melai and the others. For a while she just stood there staring lifelessly as the blue sparks died out from Ship's gaping wound. |
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I Role Play because the people in my head tell me to. TUESDAY AFTERNOON It is God who can transform the lowest into the highest, who humbles the proud, and causes that which is in darkness to become light.~Horace ![]() | |
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| Silvermourn | Mar 25 2009, 12:07 PM Post #385 |
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The Redneck, the Cynic, the Nerd, and the Hopeless Romantic
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Standing and watching the events beside his captain who was even then still trying to usher him off the ship, Talon suddenly realized that all of the light had faded away from the box Lya had attacked moments ago. The box had something to do with her ship, and he realized that the lights he had been seeing were not from the ship after all. The glow that had faded left in it's wake a pounding headache that had him massaging his temples and trying to keep his feet. Whatever it had been before she killed it he was certain he had been about to do the same, he still wasn't sure what was happening with his brain but he realized that those colors on his vision were a warning sign of his seizures. It seemed that it had also shut down the count down, so they wouldn't be blowing themselves to hell in a few minutes after all. His guard captain had not however seemed to notice that yet so he took the time to point it out to him. Finally able to regain his footing as he did so and not be forced from the room by his overpowering guard. However it also seemed that Lya had just cut the throat of her own ship, and was now stranded with the lot of idiots they had joined up with. Of course that meant he was also stranded with this lot of idiots, and he would actually be carrying out the length of this mission in moderately close quarters with them. The very idea sent a shiver down his spine and made him wonder why he hadn't tried to bring more than seven men off that damned planet with him. |
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"I mourn that which may have been but will never be." "Stupidity is a wound that bleeds forever; Intelligence is a blade that stays forever sharp" "An armed man will kill and unarmed man with monotonous regularity" "Nothing adds a little class to a sniper course like a babe in a Ghillie suit." "You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it." "Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, 'cause it's going to be empty." | |
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| Latanya | Mar 25 2009, 03:05 PM Post #386 |
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lawful good intelligent asshole
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Theyr looked at the thief who had introduced himself as Derth with distrust, but didn’t do anything to stop her protégés who she’d love to kill as soon as possible herself from accommodating him. She knew that nothing she could say would stop them from their seemingly suicidal decision. It was the second time that Melai allowed a thief to join them, after all. And considering that he had put up with her, Zet’kil and Lya’s subordinates as well, she somehow started to think of him as an asylum for freaks and evidentially dangerous creatures. Just like a boy who couldn’t stop saving some dismissed pets from certain death. Theyr had always despised people with this somehow heroic attitude. When the thief suddenly pulled out a knife she looked up, the vicious hope that he had changed his mind and eventually would still try to kill Lya, even if she was not so sure if thrusting would harm someone of Lya’s kind. Of course he didn’t. Lya was loved. Theyr turned around with a frustrated spit and looked around in the ship, sure that Melai, Lya and this Talon-guy would sort out anything there remained to sort. How much she hated them, she still knew that at least two of them could get a ship to do anything they wanted. She didn’t know much about human – or extraterrestrial – ships, but at least until now she had not noticed any of the restrictions or disagreeableness any insectoid travelling in a crosser had to face. Her old hatred arose anew, and a quiet harangue in her mother tongue passed her lips, followed by a morose “Can we leave this hulk now or do we have to hold a minute’s silence?” |
Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
Ed Byrne. | |
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| Oracle | Mar 25 2009, 11:57 PM Post #387 |
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Head of Diplomatic Affairs
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Lya could barely hear the low rumble of voices from the center-room, it was an almost silent mockery of the pain that was surging through her. None of them could possibly know what she was suffering at the moment, except possibly Melai. But she had a feeling he wouldn't fall apart as she was on the verge of doing. Her hand reached out to touch the now dead console, she could feel nothing, sense nothing. Ship was truly dead. She wasn't even sure if his memory would be intact if and when she ever got him restored. For a brief span of time she allowed the fear, pain and complete separation from her people run its course. Her body seemed to flow through a process, her chest tightened, and before she knew what was happening she was sobbing uncontrolably. Then that nasty bugs voice vibrated across the air, “Can we leave this hulk now or do we have to hold a minute’s silence?” Lya wiped the tears from her face before returning to the others. The time for feeling sad was apparently over. She did not want that bug or Melai to know she was feeling inadequate. Pretending to smile for their benefit, she put on a carefree front. "Well, disaster averted, last call for any of the weapons. We might need some of the hand held projectiles, Melai." She couldn't look him in the eye for fear he would read how damaged she was at the moment. What if he saw her as weak and decided he didn't want her on the quest? What if Retzaan, told him to leave her behind? She walked back to the cargo area and grabbed a blaster for herself, and loaded all the caps she had into a bag. It might come in handy to have a weapon that didn't kill. There was one shield belt left, but she doubted Melai would agree to wear it but she took it anyway. She also grabbed the power cells for her temporal pistol. Then opening the exotic liquor cabinet. "There isn't a finer supply of alcohol anywhere in the quadrant help yourself to anything except the purple stuff on the bottom shelf. I think it might be poisonous to Terran humans." She made her way to Derth and pulled him to the side. "I don't know what we are going to face so I am going to leave the Planet Buster with you. It is not usable as a unit without ships activation of it. But, it can be disassembled if needed, and the individual bombs be put to good use. I will have to ask you to return the rest of the equipment you took. It is of no value to you at the moment. If I don't survive this quest, you have the coordinates of my ship. You can retrieve the items, and anything else of value at that time. If you want those schematics for an entire ship," she grinned, "see to it that I don't die. Is this agreeable?" |
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I Role Play because the people in my head tell me to. TUESDAY AFTERNOON It is God who can transform the lowest into the highest, who humbles the proud, and causes that which is in darkness to become light.~Horace ![]() | |
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| Fortis | Mar 26 2009, 01:12 PM Post #388 |
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Derth again felt the surge of instincts as she again she adopted the form of one of his kind. They had reached an agreement, and Derth didn’t believe she meant him harm when she approached, and simply waited as she touched one hand to his face. It was like a door opening, and his mind felt alien emotions. He felt the pleasure of making a successful trade, the ache of being unable to return, and the simple honesty of a sealed bargain. There was no duplicity or deception in the emotions. Derth stared into Lya’s eyes, and realized with surprise that it was her emotions that he was feeling. He wondered if she could feel his as well, his solemnity of handing over his Grerrthiv blade, his respect for his opponent, now ally, his slight disappointment at being unable to take the ship itself, but his acceptance of the outcome of this hunt. Derth nodded, acknowledging Lya’s opening of her emotions, and the truthfulness of her words, and fell into his own thoughts as she turned to one of the others. The ship computer’s statement crashed suddenly into his thoughts. Calm as ever, it announced its inability to halt the countdown. Derth snarled a vicious curse at that infernal computer, who’s annoying stubbornness just reached deadly levels. However, before he could do anything further, Lya rushed off elsewhere. Derth heard the sound of a weapon being fired, and the next announcement by the computer was cut off mid sentence. No doubt it was quite a sacrifice to Lya, but Derth had been wanting to do that since he first heard its electronic voice. It was a while before she returned. Derth was still poor at reading human emotions, let alone that of the mist being, but it seemed to her she was more cheerful than he thought. Perhaps the computer was as irritating to her as it was to him. “They are not of no value, I do have some skill in rebuilding. I could adapt the components to my ship given enough time. But I will return them if you wish, it would take too long to make use of them now. Open up one of the port cargo bays,” Derth said. He turned and left the gathering, striding back to the airlock to his own ship. “Computer,” Derth announced, stepping into the patched, Spartan corridor of his own ship, “Stand down weapons and armor. Put internal defenses onto passive monitoring.” He strode through the corridors to the cargo bay of his ship. The planet buster was still there, as well as the crates of stolen cargo, still netted. Derth went into a control room, pressed a few buttons, and sealed the control room from the cargo bay. The doors to the cargo bay locked down, the atmosphere was removed from the cargo bay, and a wall of the bay slid open to open space. Working the controls, Derth guided one of the pods in his cargo bay to latch onto the net full of crates, and to carry them back to the Profiteer |
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| Shienvien | Mar 26 2009, 02:16 PM Post #389 |
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I want, I can, I do
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Not quite understanding what Lya was planning when she walked up to the thing which was without a doubt her ship's control panel, and making a move that equaled rising eyebrows on humans she watched as she took out her weapon and... Fired. Her own ship. Now, how could she severe the only transport to her home, maybe except Zet'kil's own small vessel. Really, a quite... harsh? Move to do, and they still had had some time, even when it was only ten minutes or so. "Well-h I could have tried to downpower your ship first, before you took such an... knei'klh'et'the... Did such kind of thing." She finished, not finding quite the right word in a language that despite of her being able to speak it was still alien to her. When Lya mentioned weapons she was confused for a second before she realized that the Telkran was probably talking about leaving towards Earth. And even just leaving Lya's ship behind, if she got the part of what she said right. Odd, considering the value what the ship had to the being. She wouldn't have left hers so easily. At least she would have called a new ship before doing so, not wanting to severe herself from the Union- and the possibility to return to Xeian community whenever she wanted. "There isn't a finer supply of alcohol anywhere in the quadrant, help yourself to anything except the purple stuff on the bottom shelf. I think it might be poisonous to Terran humans." Glancing at the things that might or might not be dangerous to her well-being, she carefully took one bottle, opening it and finding the same thing she had used to check on the other strange drink earlier, having searched it out from somewhere amongst the numerous things she was carrying with her. Well, she won't drink it anyway, but a little investigation would do no harm, she guessed. That wasn't about to change the liquid itself, after all. |
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A thought can create a world, but only a word written down can ensure its existence. -When I am physically capable of doing something it doesn't mean I can do it. When I can, it doesn't mean that I should. When I should, it doesn't mean that I must. When I must, it doesn't mean that I will. -I might not always know where I currently am, but I am never lost. I know in which direction my destination lies. -There is no faith in knowing. I prefer to know, as only in this way can I be certain in my decisions. -The more people you ask a question the higher the chance that at least one of them is right. -Make me walk on walls, don't force me to dance according to others' will. -I agree that life can be depressing at times. I just choose to ignore it. -I don't figure over possibilities. I want, I can, I do. | |
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| Dark Jack | Apr 1 2009, 01:23 PM Post #390 |
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The Phantom Poster
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There was no doubt that Melai at least partially suspected what Lya was going to do when she once again went on telling him how little she was worth, and at the same time assuring him that they were all going to make it out of this mess alive. He figured that she was either lying through her teeth, giving them false hope just before her ship blew them all to bits along with itself, or Lya was going to stop the ship another way. And if there was one thing Melai knew about malfunctioning computers, it was that the best way to stop them was to smash them up good. That was exactly why Melai preferred to have human pilots in the Rey, rather than leaving it in the hands of some program that could go awfully wrong, like the computer was on this ship now. What would he do if the Rey was suddenly self-destructing? First he would blow the computer to bits to stop the countdown, and if that did not work, he would do as a real captain should and go down with his ship. He suspected that Lya would do the same. The next moment, however, just as Lya turned around to head out to check the damages, the Telkran suddenly turned around and threw herself at Melai - hugging him! Melai did not even sense that time passed by, nor what was going on around him. He did not hear the computer stop halfway through its sentence, he did not see Lya's sorrow or hear the others' reactions. He just stood perfectly still, staring into the empty air, repeating the words "What the fuck?!" in his head over and over again. Through his entire adult life (and the majority of his teenage-years, too) he had been a womanizer, he had slept with women on all different colonies, planets and space-stations. But never, not even once, had someone just spontaniously hugged him. To say that he was stunned would be to direly underestimate his surprise and state of shock. It was only when the smell of some kind of alcohol reached his nose that he recovered from his trance-like state, shaking his head as if to make his thoughts fall back into place. "Uh," was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Not exactly a statement that spoke volumes of the intellect that had once made him a top-candidate to receive the Empire's educational support, but it was the only thing his dazed mind could think of. He was not even sure if it qualified as a word. Shaking his head again, he tried to speak once more. "Well, perhaps we should get moving, if everything here is dealt with?" he carefully suggested, shooting a curious look at the purple bottle in Lya's cabinet, "We still have that mission on Earth to deal with, after all, and... well, I guess this ship isn't going anywhere." |
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