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- Heralds of the True Heir
Anders stared out into the empty depths of space and found his own reflection staring back. The ship’s acrylic glass cockpit warped his features so that his ever-present scowl was transformed into something resembling a demon. Still, he studied his warped features. He studied the wrinkles. He studied the scars. He studied the last few straggling hairs that desperately clung to their naturally brown shade while surrounded by a forest of white. He had grown old. This, of course, was no surprise to him. But, still, it somehow didn’t feel quite real. His body hadn’t failed him yet. It hadn’t yet succumbed to the rigors of time. But how long would he have before it did? How long did he have before he could no longer serve the True Heir?
Long enough, he hoped. Then, he cursed himself for hoping. That despicable sin. Hope was the loser’s trump card and it was a poor one at that. He had never relied on hope before in his life. What use was hope when one was strong enough to enforce their will upon the world? He grimaced. He wasn’t strong enough to enforce his will. Not in any sense that mattered anyways. He was stuck running with his tail between his legs from the very thing that he had sworn to destroy. How ignoble. How regrettable. How embarrassing. To think if the True Heir was alive to see him hiding like a beat dog? Well, he couldn’t stomach the thought.
“Could you brood somewhere else?” Ydra’s telepathic voice resonated in between his ears.
He turned around with a glare on his face and said, “I told you to stay out of my head.”
Ydra sat cross legged in the captain’s chair of the bridge. Her graphite coated body seemed perfectly relaxed. Turquoise-tinted datastreams rushed across the face of her polished black helmet. Around her the ship’s control panels hummed quietly, each of them fully controlled by her mind. She had been able to control the ship from anywhere, but she mentioned that she preferred to be on the bridge. She said it kept everything tidy.
“It’s not like I can just turn this off,” She answered telepathically without physically acknowledging him, “It’s like smelling something really nasty, you can’t just choose not to smell it. Well, I can’t just choose not to pick up on your sour mood.”
Anders grunted and shook his head. Thoughts were meant to be private.
“Besides,” Ydra continued, “What do you have to be so grumpy about? It’s not like we’re in danger.”
“We’re not in danger?” Anders scoffed, “We’re not in danger?”
He walked towards the ship’s command console and began to type furiously. He accessed the medium and within moments he had pulled up several news articles detailing his exploits and the subsequent bounties issued for them. Though a few of them had been claimed by his killer in Dante’s Abyss there was still a sizable payout for anyone that brought in his head. From there he pulled Nightingale’s rap sheet as well as Demetri’s. Then he brought up Dr. Caustic’s bounty and Aquarius’s as well. Between the five of them there was a large enough payout to set someone up for a long time. He enlarged them all and projected them across the acrylic glass cockpit.
“We could be attacked at any moment Ydra,” He explained, “all it takes is some hotshot bounty hunter with more greed than sense, and I can assure you: the universe is teeming with them.”
“You’re talking to an escaped black site experiment, I know just how dangerous the universe can be,” She said, dismissing the projected wanted posters, “But… that’s not why you're upset.”
Anders stormed across the room, jabbing his finger towards her, “I said, stay out of my--”
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
A klaxon alert screeched across the bridge, cutting Anders’s sentence short. He glanced over towards the blinking red light and then back to Ydra. A flash of red rushed across her helmet, cutting through the turquoise data streams.
“Well?” Anders asked.
“It’s a distress signal,” Ydra said.
“From who?”
“The Hub…”
Ydra’s voice trailed off as she accessed several data logs on the space station. Advertisements flashed across the cockpit. Each of them espousing a different kind of luxury or good or service available to those with enough coin to indulge. Then, just as the adverts became overwhelming, a video feed appeared. In it appeared a female captain of some sort, dressed in an obviously high ranking uniform. Behind her sparks flew down from exposed wiring and a distant explosion was heard. Despite the apparent chaos she maintained her composure and spoke.
“This is Captain Sylvia Tilly of the CRVIII, requesting immediate assistance by any combat capable vessel. We are under assault by the unmade. We have managed to fight them to a standstill for the moment, but we have been unable to completely repel them. Several of our gunboats and destroyers have been hijacked and corrupted as have members of our security force. Our defense systems have been knocked offline. We are requesting immediate assistance and will reward those that help handsomely. This is Captain Sylvia….”
The message continued to play on loop and Anders stayed quiet. Even in the depth of space the unmade were unavoidable it seemed. He didn’t hate them. In fact he regarded them with the same sort of indifference that one would regard a grizzly bear. The kind of indifference that persisted until one was face-to-face with the threat. The unmade were mindless beasts, but to think they weren’t dangerous was foolish. Even still, Anders wholeheartedly believed himself to be more dangerous than anything they could create.
The door to the bridge slid open and Demetri walked in. He smirked and looked up towards the looped video and asked, “You two watching a movie or something?”
“As if I’d waste time on such frivolous pursuits,” Anders answered.
“Right,” Demetri answered, “Forgot you were such a stick in the mud.”
Anders ignored the comment and said, “Go rouse Nightingale, we have some bugs to squash.”
Demetri laughed, “My-my, aren’t you a bit cranky today, not even a good morning?”
“Set course for The Hub, Ydra,” Anders said as he turned back towards empty space, “I doubt there will be much good this morning.”
Long enough, he hoped. Then, he cursed himself for hoping. That despicable sin. Hope was the loser’s trump card and it was a poor one at that. He had never relied on hope before in his life. What use was hope when one was strong enough to enforce their will upon the world? He grimaced. He wasn’t strong enough to enforce his will. Not in any sense that mattered anyways. He was stuck running with his tail between his legs from the very thing that he had sworn to destroy. How ignoble. How regrettable. How embarrassing. To think if the True Heir was alive to see him hiding like a beat dog? Well, he couldn’t stomach the thought.
“Could you brood somewhere else?” Ydra’s telepathic voice resonated in between his ears.
He turned around with a glare on his face and said, “I told you to stay out of my head.”
Ydra sat cross legged in the captain’s chair of the bridge. Her graphite coated body seemed perfectly relaxed. Turquoise-tinted datastreams rushed across the face of her polished black helmet. Around her the ship’s control panels hummed quietly, each of them fully controlled by her mind. She had been able to control the ship from anywhere, but she mentioned that she preferred to be on the bridge. She said it kept everything tidy.
“It’s not like I can just turn this off,” She answered telepathically without physically acknowledging him, “It’s like smelling something really nasty, you can’t just choose not to smell it. Well, I can’t just choose not to pick up on your sour mood.”
Anders grunted and shook his head. Thoughts were meant to be private.
“Besides,” Ydra continued, “What do you have to be so grumpy about? It’s not like we’re in danger.”
“We’re not in danger?” Anders scoffed, “We’re not in danger?”
He walked towards the ship’s command console and began to type furiously. He accessed the medium and within moments he had pulled up several news articles detailing his exploits and the subsequent bounties issued for them. Though a few of them had been claimed by his killer in Dante’s Abyss there was still a sizable payout for anyone that brought in his head. From there he pulled Nightingale’s rap sheet as well as Demetri’s. Then he brought up Dr. Caustic’s bounty and Aquarius’s as well. Between the five of them there was a large enough payout to set someone up for a long time. He enlarged them all and projected them across the acrylic glass cockpit.
“We could be attacked at any moment Ydra,” He explained, “all it takes is some hotshot bounty hunter with more greed than sense, and I can assure you: the universe is teeming with them.”
“You’re talking to an escaped black site experiment, I know just how dangerous the universe can be,” She said, dismissing the projected wanted posters, “But… that’s not why you're upset.”
Anders stormed across the room, jabbing his finger towards her, “I said, stay out of my--”
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
A klaxon alert screeched across the bridge, cutting Anders’s sentence short. He glanced over towards the blinking red light and then back to Ydra. A flash of red rushed across her helmet, cutting through the turquoise data streams.
“Well?” Anders asked.
“It’s a distress signal,” Ydra said.
“From who?”
“The Hub…”
Ydra’s voice trailed off as she accessed several data logs on the space station. Advertisements flashed across the cockpit. Each of them espousing a different kind of luxury or good or service available to those with enough coin to indulge. Then, just as the adverts became overwhelming, a video feed appeared. In it appeared a female captain of some sort, dressed in an obviously high ranking uniform. Behind her sparks flew down from exposed wiring and a distant explosion was heard. Despite the apparent chaos she maintained her composure and spoke.
“This is Captain Sylvia Tilly of the CRVIII, requesting immediate assistance by any combat capable vessel. We are under assault by the unmade. We have managed to fight them to a standstill for the moment, but we have been unable to completely repel them. Several of our gunboats and destroyers have been hijacked and corrupted as have members of our security force. Our defense systems have been knocked offline. We are requesting immediate assistance and will reward those that help handsomely. This is Captain Sylvia….”
The message continued to play on loop and Anders stayed quiet. Even in the depth of space the unmade were unavoidable it seemed. He didn’t hate them. In fact he regarded them with the same sort of indifference that one would regard a grizzly bear. The kind of indifference that persisted until one was face-to-face with the threat. The unmade were mindless beasts, but to think they weren’t dangerous was foolish. Even still, Anders wholeheartedly believed himself to be more dangerous than anything they could create.
The door to the bridge slid open and Demetri walked in. He smirked and looked up towards the looped video and asked, “You two watching a movie or something?”
“As if I’d waste time on such frivolous pursuits,” Anders answered.
“Right,” Demetri answered, “Forgot you were such a stick in the mud.”
Anders ignored the comment and said, “Go rouse Nightingale, we have some bugs to squash.”
Demetri laughed, “My-my, aren’t you a bit cranky today, not even a good morning?”
“Set course for The Hub, Ydra,” Anders said as he turned back towards empty space, “I doubt there will be much good this morning.”
Red Alert
Quest Giver: Kaalakiota Corp. Liaison
Quest Length: 5,000 words
Quest Location: CRVIII 'The Hub'
Prerequisites:
A personal starship vehicle base or master skills in machinery, engineering, computers, repair work, etc.
Following the devastating attack from Rose Quartz against The Hub in her initial appearance, the massive space arcology is struggling to carry out repairs and lock down its civilian trade traffic. Half the station is overrun with a variety of Unmade humanoid monstrosities, and the other half is in smoldering disrepair.
Tibus Heth and his brutal, militaristic Number One, Captain Sylvia 'Killy' Tilly need your help in restoring order to CRVIII, either through helping get the automated defenses back online, or, fighting off any of the heavily armed gunboats and destroyers that are being intermittently hijacked and corrupted by Unmade pilots.
Repeatable? No
Rewards: +3 Influence with Kaalakiota Corp.