She taught you well, and somehow, even now, she wasn't expecting you to attack her. The distraction works like a charm. You drive the foot to her knee which makes a snapping noise like a large bundle of rubber bands breaking at onces, at the same t…
"I have thought! MONTHS of thought! YEARS!" She yells, at you Allevard.
She jerks the pistol away from your hand as she yells, Xuan, and shifts to aim past you, she looks at you her eyes big and desperate, shifting her weight from one foot to the…
"ID?.... Oh!" She takes a moment to dig out her datapad and taps some buttons. "The second day of the layover, Middle Watch. About 0300. And the ID..." She pauses, blinking. "This... this is a mistake. The ID is yours, Sai."
It takes you moments to piece it together but you have just the right data for the job. You've earned a data point on the ship Seeing how it all fits together now, why is it terrifying and what's the biggest weakness of this arrangement?
Jek,
Nerve wracking, no doubt, to let the missiles get close enough for clean hits, but you judge it right and one after another they explode before the stealth device makes the ship invisible to sensors.
Everyone,
Alchea flips the 1MC comm. Eve…
"No signs of atmo, Sai. I do have a magnetic carrier and some power plant fluctuations." A series of readouts are transferred to your station. It's excellent work, but then you have a fine sensor suite. Even so, most sensor operators would have t…
Some kind of tinny alarm goes off.
"They've launched EMP phase missiles, Captain! Three marks approaching. Five minutes to impact!. Hostile vessel has increased acceleration to 6 gees."
Phase missiles. More alien tech. They have a phasing engin…
Allevard,
Rei watches you strap her in, obviously not in ideal garb for such. She nods in a dignified manner when you speak, but there is a spark of humor in her eyes... and she seems not unaware of you tying her down.
Just as you speak with Bai,…
"Yes Sai. Visual coming through now. I will route you through to Alchea. She can help you with everything we have on sensors. As you've demonstrated your superior engineering skills, I hope you won't mind my asking you to monitor our shields. An exp…
“But, Sai, you’re bleeding. We have to get you to the medic!" She turns but is caught by the announcement.
The Captain’s voice comes over the loudspeaker.
this is your captain speaking. We are currently being pursued by Commander Taru of the C…
Xuan,
She looks around at Nobu, then back to you.
“No!. We must use an escape pod. I have a transmitter. The ship will pick us up even if it is forced to destroy this ship!” She starts tugging you that direction, keeping her voice low.
The Fi…
Bai,
You make your way to the bridge as the voice picks up in response
[Taru]
“Intelligence: notification of low security cruise between Mayara Prime and Agliesse2b and means to redirect Mayaran military patrols. Vessel contains advanced techn…
Rei nods in agreement and follows after you. The other bridge crew scramble to reconfigure. How does the bridge change in these conditions, Captain? How high a burn are you thinking of?
Bai, you emerge onto the bridge in this scramble.
Jek, you…
My heart pounds as I run along the corridor to the Infirmary, pulling my jacket on, the haze of sleep burning away. Kit, my senior student, a mountain of a young man, runs ahead of me.
"I knew I should not have left." I mutter, swiping my hair from…
Moments later you re-enter main engineering. There's a small cheer for you from the engineering crew.
Terci looks up to see you, a megawatt smile at first
"I have a precise implant time on the device given its growth rate, Sai and I have an iso…
[Taru]
"Acknowledged" Taru's voice seems to hiss. "Objective: Capture of Duchess Soyinka Rei and her vassals. Failing that, termination of same. All force authorized. Originated by Council High Commander Paput on intelligence from Lord Kaluga and u…
Bai,
"Yes Mistress. It should be noted that with heightened security, the likelihood of our transmission being detected will be unusually high."
After a few seconds a cold voice comes into your receiver.
[Taru]
"Dokkaebi"
Xuan,
Rieva turns to look, watching both your aunt disappear and Nobu walk to the other side of the room to look out at the stars. She takes your hand and leads you further away from him and speaks low.
"This ship is being intercepted even now by…
Allevard,
The shuttles seem to be ready to go. The device no longer has control of any system, it appears Jek was as good as his word.
"Yes, Sai. Do you think we can hold them off long enough?"
The duchess interrupts.
"This is Taru, Captain…
Robynne
You're lithe even for a spacer, right? So a good fit just isn't in the cards here certainly. Stanton steps back when a couple of her guys are changing some components and looks over at you.
"How you doing over there, Mix? You're looking…
I stumble up to my feet and join the song. Singing together... our hearts joining just like our voices. It's my favorite expression of family... and now 'tis subtly different without Zeus' rough voice. But I can still hear her. I can still hear them…
Bai,
"Indeed." he replies, turning away, his face a mask.
The yellow lights stop flashing. There is a smooth announcement concerning the restoration of life support and a request that passengers remain in their cabins until the Captain announces…
Allevard,
Rajani nods her agreement and turns around to observe the other bridge stations but she still speaks.
"I withdraw my professional objections to Mr. Bezier" She says quietly. "I may not like the man, but he is very comptent. Peshkov is…
You've got a minor debility, Robynne, mainly pain and the damage it will do to the skin, a little nausea.
"Shit! Grab xir and get xir to the emergency shower, Bez, I'll get our air back online!"
She points to the emergency shower folded up on …
Allevard,
You emerge onto the bridge, Rei… Her Grace the Duchess following close behind you.
“Captain on the bridge!” Qing calls out. Everyone looks and you can see eyes widen a little bit at seeing the Duchess up here.
Rajani herself has rejo…
Xuan,
"Why?"
Rieva looks at you a moment with those eyes you know so well, steps in suddenly, taking hold of the sides of your head, your already bruising cheek protests as she kisses you hard.
Jek you trip the microexplosives after Robynne set the freeze spike. There is a series of of quick pops, an exceedingly awful smell, and, as you expected the mass drops into the tray with wet splattering plop, freezing solid once it hits the spike.
…
"Nee?" I breathe.
I see her, watch her take Zeus... take her essence. Sure I've seen visions of Nee, but I thought they were just that... visions. Not... not her exactly. I hear Dog sniff, she's tearing up, like I am, and I squeeze her hand agai…