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Post by Zylaa on Sept 13, 2008 13:41:50 GMT -5
Zylaa stared as Hunty approached, a katana-- why did she have a katana? -- in her hand, and at the last second she realized what her captain was about to do, and she bowed her head and closed her eyes to avoid the sight of the calculated, businesslike execution.
The ocean was still heaving. It didn't bother her, she'd sailed through enough storms with worse. Seen a few battles too-- but this was different, wasn't it, such quick, cold justice.
She couldn't understand the kougra's dying gasp, but opened her eyes to see Goosh walk up to the traitor.
"I cannot let you bring any more harm to the captain or the crew. You have lost any of the second chances we have given you," Goosh said, his voice only slightly shaken. He picked up the pendant Cyborg had clung to and gave it to the captain.
That pendant should be destroyed, Zylaa thought. Cyborg had seemed so confident in its powers. Better to smash it, or toss it in the sea. But there were rules. And heiarchies. And consequences.
So she asked, "What should we do with it, captain?" although her voice quavered on the last word and she looked away, out to the slowly calming sea.
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Post by Kat on Sept 13, 2008 21:30:27 GMT -5
"I remember seeing a pendant like that in my research at the Manor," said Kat, her voice as faraway as her gaze. She stared out into the horizon, trying to keep her balance as the waves continued to rise and break, albeit with less ferocity now. "It is a symbol...but what it stands for I cannot recall as of the moment.
"But if you need anyone to destroy the pendant, then I would be more than happy to. Best not to let it fall into the wrong hands."
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Post by Fraze on Sept 14, 2008 0:27:07 GMT -5
Fraze was relieved, this seemed to be going better than he had expected.
"Yes, I can understand that," Ikkin said in response. "Do you know when such an agreement could be finalized?
"Also, I think someone might want to speak to you. He seems pretty desperate."
This addition almost made Fraze giggle. Were the situation less formal, he would have.
Deciding it was best to start with the good news, Fraze said, "It should take no more than a few hours to have a temporary ban of all ship-mounted weapons systems within 100,000 kilometers of the planet." This was true: in his role as ambassador, Fraze could prescribe this as one of the best immediate ways to ease Spacefleet/NTWF relations. With a small pause, he continued. "However, a formal treaty would take anywhere from two weeks to a month to be put through all the right channels and eventually signed, taking into account more in-depth negotiations between Spacefleet, the Mages, and possibly the other guilds as well. I've had enough dealings with bureaucracy to know how much it slows things down."
Glancing toward the closed door, he added, "I heard that as well. I think one of the science officers needs me. Whatever it is, I think it can wait a bit. If it were an emergency, I would have been contacted by communicator."
((Note: for reference, the moon is about 380,000 kilometers away from the Earth. Yes, I looked this up. So, I think that a distance of 100,000 kilometers would be reasonable: far enough for people on the NTWF to feel safe, and also close enough so that armed ships just passing through won't have to take overly burdensome detours around the planet.
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Post by Ikkin on Sept 14, 2008 1:50:30 GMT -5
Ikkin noticed that Fraze seemed relaxed, apparently just as pleased about the smoothness of the negotiations as she was.
His next statement calmed the rest of the worries Ikkin had about the truce between Spacefleet and the NTWF.
"It should take no more than a few hours to have a temporary ban of all ship-mounted weapons systems within 100,000 kilometers of the planet," Fraze said. This seemed to Ikkin to be both incredibly swift and satisfactorily large in scope. Even if it was only temporary, it was certainly a good sign.
Fraze paused before continuing. "However, a formal treaty would take anywhere from two weeks to a month to be put through all the right channels and eventually signed, taking into account more in-depth negotiations between Spacefleet, the Mages, and possibly the other guilds as well. I've had enough dealings with bureaucracy to know how much it slows things down."
Ah, so that was where all the time went, Ikkin thought. A month was a good deal of time for the signing of papers, though Ikkin knew how bureaucracy could be. Besides, the formalization itself wouldn't be quite so important, if the action it formalized had already taken place.
Fraze glanced toward the door before finishing, "I heard that as well. I think one of the science officers needs me. Whatever it is, I think it can wait a bit. If it were an emergency, I would have been contacted by communicator."
Ikkin was reminded of the person who she was asked to bring to Fraze, if possible. She decided to mention this first, before she forgot.
"A science officer?" she asked. "I somehow managed to land in one of the labs when Sev teleported me to this base, and I was asked to take one of the science officers with me if I saw him. Maybe that's who it is?
"As for the treaties, I'm impressed that you have such a system in place to allow you to remove the weapons so quickly. Under such circumstances, a month sounds like a reasonable time frame for the signing of treaties and such. Will you be needing any formalization on our side, for the research proposals and such?"
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Post by Fraze on Sept 14, 2008 2:49:16 GMT -5
"A science officer? I somehow managed to land in one of the labs when Sev teleported me to this base, and I was asked to take one of the science officers with me if I saw him. Maybe that's who it is?"
Fraze's eyebrows elevated half an inch in surprise. He decided it would be best not to ask how or why the phoenix teleported them into the science labs.
"As for the treaties, I'm impressed that you have such a system in place to allow you to remove the weapons so quickly. Under such circumstances, a month sounds like a reasonable time frame for the signing of treaties and such. Will you be needing any formalization on our side, for the research proposals and such?"
"Removing weaponry from the space around the NTWF is just a matter of redirecting the ships already traveling in that space, and then directing all ships to keep their distance from the planet," Fraze explained. "And yes, I think it would be best to draw up research proposals for both sides. For that, I would suggest that some of our science officers speak with the Mages."
Fraze got up and turned in the direction of the door, but didn't start walking anywhere. "I wasn't aware that there was someone who needed to find me. If that's the case, I'm afraid I had better speak to whomever it is. I'm sorry about this."
With that, Fraze crossed the room in several strides and opened the door. A strange sight was in front of him: someone in a science officer's uniform, obviously very nervous, was trying to persuade the guards to let him in. In the meantime, a person Fraze didn't recognize leaned against a wall, looking intently at the science officer. Fraze stepped out, not bothering to shut the door, and took a step toward the science officer.
"What was it you wanted to speak with me about?" Fraze wanted to say "This had better be important," but the phrase managed to sound angry, rude, and cliché all at once, so he decided against it.
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Post by Huntress on Sept 14, 2008 7:32:53 GMT -5
Blood.
Hunty watched as Cyborg fell on the deck. The kunai was still in her hand, red with blood. She turned to look at it.
Funny thing. Only now did she realize that this was, in fact, her first time to kill. Well, not really... she had her crossbow and she had good aim and sometimes she'd been in battles where she had no choice... but that was different. That wasn't personal.
She turned to look down again. Well, he'd really had it coming.
Feh.
Goosh came and gave her the pendant. Hunty wasn't entirely sure how she'd managed not to notice Cyborg keeping the pendant, but apparently she had. She took it and turned to watch the Yurble walk away, then glanced at the rest of the crew. Clearly it'd been a shock for everyone.
Something small and fuzzy hopped away from the body and trotted aside, leaving a small trail of stains. Well, nearly everyone. Meepits have a different approach to moral issues. Bloody Mary, currently less dark blue and more living up to his name, sat down with an indifferent look on his face and began to clean himself.
"What should we do with it, captain?" Hunty looked at the pendant again and scowled.
"Mrm... well, I'd much rather not destroy it. You'll never know when a device that can cheat death could come in handy." She slipped it in the pouch on her belt for the time being. There was a moment of silence.
"Well," Hunty then said, straightening her back, "he ain't getting any deader. Back to work."
((...you know, I never thought I'd get to use that line anywhere xD))
"What now?" Bloody Mary asked, now getting a little closer to purple in color. "High time to go back to sleep and get some decent shuteye until our space cadet gets back? And you gotta do something with that body, mind. Not that I'd care, just pointing out that if you don't, he's gonna be all bones and metallic bits by the evening."
The captain winced. Traitor or not, that would've been a little too iffy. Meepits were never picky about their menu. "Well, whether a traitor, a sailor or a high officer, the fate of the dead is always one and the same at sea. Someone take care of this, will you?"
"Too bad," Bloody Mary said. "And then what?"
Hunty turned to look at the cluster of houses not so far away from where they were anchored. Well, it was actually the opposite of a cluster. Clusters stay together; Tabloid Town spread out in all directions. It was easily the biggest city in the entire NTWF, and also the only place where 24/7 wedding chapels made more daily money than pirates. A city that never slept. A place where everything is possible and, when you had enough money and persistence, you could buy absolutely anything.
She sighed. She'd avoided going to that place so far, because it could swallow you whole, make you forget about the time, and, once you remembered what the time was, make it humanly impossible to find the crew again, but it was without a doubt the best place for finding info, and info was something they really needed as of now.
"We're going to land," she said.
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Post by Rider on Sept 14, 2008 12:47:41 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]((Leaving it open, Goosh, so post that you're elsewhere if you don't come with me.))
Rider was highly grateful for the distraction. The letter was coming out less than perfect. There is no less awkward to say, "Your brother was executed... it's my captain's doing... want the spare change we found in his pockets?"
She was also glad that Shiva wasn't here to get any ideas about the corpse. Ventratta was in her pocket, gagging and vowing never to catch rabies.
"I'll take the west side of the city." Rider knew the west side to be haven to the less than savory types, the sorts who may know about demons, criminal demons in particular. Of course, they may just know about multiple marriages and where best to get them.
Of course, the better part of the city was haven to the less than savory types. The types varied, of course. And Rider had lived among them all, picked up thier habits. She knew the city's pulse.
She had a history in this city. It may not be a good diea to go alone. On the one hand, she was never alone. She had a tiny guardian in her pocket. On the other hand...
"Goosh, would you like to come with?"
The streets of West Tabloid Town always had an overtone of perfume, wrapped like a blanket over the smell of alcohol and neglect. Rider stepped into the Grey Lupe Inn. A lot of familiar faces here. Old Robbin' Robin, who had taught her how to pick pockets and was also not amused by his nickname. Lou Ann, who was notorious for stripping men of thier jewels. One Eyed Pete, whose name was a complete sham; he just wore an eyepatch 'cause it made him look tough.
And two more familiar faces in the back, at seperate tables...
Oh By All The Mercies...
A woman with bright red hair and a tight corset approached Rider.
"Scarlet." Rider bowed. When she raised her head again, she got a slap hard enough to nearly bowl her over.
"I'm not sure I deserved that," she said to Ventratta.
The blonde approached. "Giselle," Rider said with a slighter bow.
"Who was she?"
"What?" *slap*
... "I may have deserved that."[/glow]
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Post by Kat on Sept 14, 2008 17:59:56 GMT -5
((Love the PotC reference. XDDDDD Oh, Rider, what have you done to these poor maidens?))
"Land?" Kat blinked. "But we just - never mind."
She nodded as her staff shrank back into a wand, and she tucked it into her sash again. It still hadn't sunk in - Cyborg dying, and right on the deck of the White Weewoo. A part of her wanted to say a eulogy and pitied the Kougra, but the other part of her slapped the former and told it that he was a traitor and deserved death. Betrayal was the worst sin, at least, according to Dante Alighieri.
"I think I know Midknight, his brother," she told Huntress, trying to shift to a new topic. "If we land, Cap'n, I could take a trip to Dunburrow and find him, bring him the news..."
Her voice trailed off. Was she going to volunteer to be the bringer of bad news? Her insides squirmed, but she quelled it and added, "Yeah. That is, if he deserves to know. Or if he's even around there. I barely see him in the castle these days."
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Post by Speck on Sept 14, 2008 18:46:28 GMT -5
Speck didn't say a word as she strode over to the corpse. Unceremoniously, she started to strip him of anything valuable, putting them into a pile away from the ship's new stain. She did this all as fast as humanly possible; the body was already starting to stink. With one heave, she carried Cyborg's body by the pits to the port railing. With another heave, she dumped him overboard. There was an undignified plop in the water below, and then he was gone.
There was nothing to say, nothing she could say, as she went to fetch a mop and bucket. Once she had finished cleaning up as much as she could, Speck finally spoke.
"Anyone know a decent place in town to get a bath?"
((The clean up is as cold and calculated as the kill, I guess. =/))
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Post by Cyborg on Sept 14, 2008 19:03:37 GMT -5
The squirrels hurried out in time to see Speck toss Cyborg's corpse overboard. " You monsters! We hope you all rot in hell!!! Just you wait until Midkight finds out, for when he does, darkness will fall upon the pirates and Hell will rise to the Earth!" Hazel screeched as sh and the other squirrels all ran and grabbed all of their dead master's stolen items.
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Post by Omni on Sept 14, 2008 20:18:50 GMT -5
"What was it you wanted to speak with me about?"
Brian did his best to stand upright. "Spec Op, I, along with a couple research officers, are working on a classified research project. For safety reasons, we'd like to borrow your suit."
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Post by Fraze on Sept 14, 2008 20:45:17 GMT -5
"Spec Op, I, along with a couple research officers, are working on a classified research project. For safety reasons, we'd like to borrow your suit."
Fraze raised an eyebrow. Though he hadn't had need of it for the negotiations, he still would have liked to keep it.
Nonetheless, if this scientist had been so insistent on getting in, it must have been important.
"I see. I can tell it to accept you as its user temporarily, but you might not be able to communicate with it as well as I can. Mentally, he overrode some of the suit's security systems, that usually ensured that the suit would only accept Fraze. These security systems had varying degrees of severity: usually, the suit simply wouldn't cover a person. However, in extreme cases, it could be programmed to cover a person it deemed an enemy, either suffocating or restraining the person. Fraze didn't like either of these ideas, and so hadn't used them.
The skinsuit slid away from his body like quicksilver defying gravity, sliding down his arm and into his open palm. "Please get it back to me as soon as you can. Keep it in something until you need to use it--a bag, a cup, anything like that. When you need it, put it on your bare skin and make sure that it can move freely to cover your body. It should take care of you without you telling it what to do, but if you do need to communicate with it, it can understand your thoughts."
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Post by Omni on Sept 14, 2008 21:01:11 GMT -5
"Please get it back to me as soon as you can. Keep it in something until you need to use it--a bag, a cup, anything like that. When you need it, put it on your bare skin and make sure that it can move freely to cover your body. It should take care of you without you telling it what to do, but if you do need to communicate with it, it can understand your thoughts."
Brian was about to just take the suit-blob in his bare hand. He paused to think about what he could use to store the suit in. It was a moment before he remembered the replicator.
He excused himself as he entered the conference room. After ordering a glass of water, he brought the glass up to his lips, headed back to the door… and tripped.
What happened? I could swear the floor was clear… Looking back to see what he tripped over, he saw a large bird colored like fire.
"…Is that a phoenix?"
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Post by Kat on Sept 14, 2008 21:05:13 GMT -5
"You monsters! We hope you all rot in hell!!! Just you wait until Midkight finds out, for when he does, darkness will fall upon the pirates and Hell will rise to the Earth!"
"I think I can take him on; I've done it before," Kat couldn't help replying. "In that case...perhaps being the bringer of bad news isn't such a stellar idea after all?"
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Post by Speck on Sept 14, 2008 22:29:54 GMT -5
Before heading below decks in preparation for her shore leave, Speck turned to Kat, "Better let the squirrels take care of it, I think. Either way, Midknight is going to find out what happened: you know how news travels around here. Then, he's going to be in a fit of rage, intent upon revenge for his brother.
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," She finished before heading to her quarters.
While below, she grabbed a crate full of tall bottles. Slices of lemon floated in a light amber liquid inside them. She had been developing a new flavor of rum punch during whatever downtime there was to be had on the ship. Hopefully, a few of the locals would be curious enough to buy some of it.
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