Elite roleplay: Off station

OFF STATION

Your ship, deep space, anything that is not happening inside the Citi Gateway or Ingaba...

General Roleplay Etiquette:

1. Control only the actions of your own character(s). (AKA: God Mode)
This doesn't matter how small the action is, even if it is as simple as scratching their nose or a direct reaction to something else that just happened. This applies to everything from casual conversation to full blown fight scenes. If you'd like someone to do something specific, PM that person, however keep in mind they are completely within their rights to say no. Especially if said action is inappropriate to their character and/or circumstance.

2. Don't brute force your way into another persons RP.
Approaching with a conversation starter is fine, or indeed some other small action. However charging in, guns blazing and disrupting the flow of another person/pair/groups conversation/arc is about as rude as doing so in real life. If something is going on that you'd like to participate in, be subtle about it. Put out a gentle hook for someone to take, but again, be aware that said hook may not be taken. If you fear it was simply unnoticed, PM the person or people it concerns. Or even leave a message in the OOC forums.

3. Good grammar and spelling is preferred.
We're not asking you to be perfect, but please at least demonstrate willingness. no1 iz gna tak u srsly usng txt spk. There's a wide variety of people here, many who speak English as a second, or even third language. There are even some with varying degrees of dyslexia and/or likely other issues that affect spelling/grammar. We accept them all here. However, people who aren't accepted, are those unwilling to accept polite correction. Remember that even a small thing like the placement of a comma, or the wrong use of there/their/they're can completely change the definition of an entire sentence.

4. Accept constructive criticism gracefully and politely.
If someone spots an issue with your writings, they may wish to help you improve that writing. They may do this through PM or even publicly air their thoughts on the OOC forum. If they have taken the time to be polite and explain what is wrong with your writing, the best way to behave is to respond in kind, using the same manner they have approached you with. It means they have taken an active interest in what you have written and wish to see more. Basically, you have a fan!

5. Don't take the actions or opinions of things done IN RP, to be directly relevant to the writers thoughts or opinions.
Basically, if some ones character calls your character a jackass, it doesn't mean the writer thinks you are a jackass. It's a ROLE they are PLAYING. Watch a movie. The argument between the characters isn't an argument between the actors involved. The same applies here.

6. It's not a popularity contest.
Your RP might be bustling with participants. You have 3 people off station in a fire fight, while another 2 are infiltrating the darkest areas of the station, meanwhile a group of 4 others are tracking your movements in an effort to stop you. Good for you, I'm sure it will be a thrilling read! But you know what? Sometimes the absolute BEST work, comes from two RP characters having a simple heart to heart. Both are valid, both are great, but NEITHER is categorically better than the other. Period.


Inara RP Etiquette:

1. Respect the setting and rules of the universe.
Inara is an Elite: Dangerous 3rd Party Tool. The RP Forums are set in the Elite: Dangerous universe. Elite: Dangerous has rules, as any fictional universe does from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars, or Game of Thrones to Star Trek. If you intend to RP within the Elite: Dangerous universe you are bound by the history and rules of that universe. Simply put, this RP forum is bound by the same rules as the game, so if it can't be done in the game, it is not permitted here. This applies to things from a 50Ly Jump Range on a normal, unmodified Sidewinder, to the destruction of entire stations.

2. Respect the characters created by others.
We have a wide variety of characters already here. It's expected that some will be similar, just as it's expected that two characters will be vastly different. Opinions of each persons character will naturally be varied, but all are valid provided they follow the rules of the universe. You are allowed to interact with, or avoid interaction with, any character in the RP forums. But you have no right to belittle others for their creation. You are not an authority figure on writing, nor are you directly affected by another persons imagination. You might not like it, but you MUST respect it.

3. Be caught up on current events before joining in.
You need basic things like character descriptions in order to interact with them. You also need to know what's going on in the surrounding areas. This is simply because the people you are hoping to RP with, might be gearing up to something that you might not want to be part of. Or simply that the most recent post, out of context, could leave a different impression on the goings on than if you gather that context. We don't expect you to read every single post from the beginning of the forums, just enough to get that basic understanding.

4. Either subscribe to, or frequently check, the Roleplay: Q&A and OOC forum.
People may be discussing something relevant to you there, or even discussing you directly. Perhaps someone asked what the general consensus on the existence or non-existence of a certain object. Or we're just chatting about random gibberish. Either way, be aware of it and use it. If you're unsure about something, such as how guns would look and or behave, or even the music selection, use the OOC forum to ask. We don't have all of the answers, but the collective knowledge and logic usually allows us to overcome an issue and come to a decision on what should be allowed. Frontier Developments, and even David Braben himself, don't have the answers to every possible question that can be asked.

5. Large Scale events exploding out of nowhere are a complete no go.
We get it. Everyone wants their character to be noticed and for people to be tripping over themselves to interact with them. In some audiences, an introduction involving you blasting in for landing in a fiery wreckage of a ship, before cart wheeling out and sword fighting 35 Ninjas before whisking off with the local celebrity for a glorious night of passion, is in fact, cool. This is not one of those audiences. It is generally considered better to build your character up slowly over time. Eventually, you might even have a legitimate excuse to fight those Ninjas. Maybe even with other RP participants by your side.

6. Perfect characters are boring.
The point of a character arc, is that it is in fact, an arc shape. One who is morally unquestionable, fully kitted out and an infinite fountain of knowledge, cannot go through an arc. Give your character flaws. Be it a tendency towards befriending the wrong people, or a bad knee that frequently gives out at inopportune moments. It gives readers something to latch onto and empathise with. You can give your character exceptional capabilities at something, but it requires balance. She's a damn good pilot with no equal, but can't drive an SRV for peanuts. It can lead to some very interesting moments between characters, be it heartfelt or comedic.


Other Notes:
It should be noted that there can be exceptions to these points. For example, good grammar when a character is speaking is actually rare. Few people in real life actually speak with perfect eloquence after all. Or previously arranged actions during a fight scene, such as someone stumbling back after a punch. What's key to remember is context.

All in all, remember this is purely for fun. We have some seriously talented writers here, and others whose writing history starts and ends at high school. But many are willing to help out in whatever way they can. All it takes is that you ask nicely.

Also keep in mind that many people who RP here, also have logbook stories related to the character, or characters, they portray. If it looks like there's an "in joke" going on that you're unsure of, it's probably in those.

In fact, some users have even gone to the trouble of creating "alts" to RP with. If you read back far enough, it's usually pretty clear who has and hasn't, and which ones are the "alts". It's therefore not unheard of to see the apparent seizing of control of other characters. If you do spot one, point it out in the OOC section. If intervention is needed, it will be sorted quickly and (hopefully) politely.

Most, if not all RP participants here have Logbook stories pertaining to their character(s). These are for the reading pleasure of anyone who wishes to do so. While it can be useful to read them in order to gain a bit of backstory on a character you wish to interact with, it should not be assumed that your character shares that knowledge. Within the E:D Universe, these Logbooks either don't exist, or are private diaries kept by the characters. Either way, without explicit statements to say otherwise from the writer, your interactions should reflect that your character is in the dark about any information you, the writer/reader, have gained from reading the stories.
Lambast Mercy
07 Dec 2019, 1:28pm
Was it the explosion or Silas’ reaction to Grim’s taunt that had shocked her more? Lamb didn’t know what she was saying, but her mouth was working anyway. Years of being pulled out into the ever-hungry maw of space let Lamb concentrate on other things, but Silas acting like that was incredibly unexpected. He was always calm and in control no matter what had happened to the group, and a lot of bad things had happened. It was no wonder Kia was so taken with the man, Lamb was too but her friend had got there first. He was still growling about Grim, making declarations of vengeance and clogging up the communications.

Lamb listened while she spoke loud, but calmly over the radio. She could hear Kai breathing heavy, and while Lamb’s hands were firing her suits jets to stabilise herself, she caught a glimpse of Kai with her arms wrapped around Silas spinning off together so they were not in immediate danger. Echo’s voice was loud and clear, but full of panic. He was doing as he was told and verbalising every action he was taking interspersed with some choice expletives.

Another good sign. Lamb couldn’t see him, but he was being loud enough. Nothing from Raven, that was not good. Lamb, turning more slowly now scanned around for Raven’s blue lights. After a moment, she found him, the rapid strobing of his lights told her he had a suit breach that couldn’t seal. There should have been an alarm sounding on the coms to let everyone his suit couldn’t seal. He was rotating wildly and flying off in a very odd direction compared to everyone else. What’s more he was heading for the outer dust belt where the roids were smaller, but much faster. He may as well be standing on rifle range if he got to that belt.

Lamb took a guess at an intercept point, adjusted her jets to get the main vents opposite Raven’s path and gave them a full blast. She could worry about stopping later. Lamb was still speaking over the coms like a first school teacher to her class of rowdy children. Her brain wasn’t involved in the words, but they sounded good and soothing. Lamb knew she was heading away from Kai and Silas and she felt deeply guilty for leaving her best friend behind, but Raven was the priority. It must have been about five seconds since she got her senses back. If that was the case and Raven had a breach from the moment of explosion, he had about seven seconds, twelve at best before permeant damage or death.

Lamb was focused and headed like a human torpedo toward Raven. A big fragment of hull came into view drifting towards her. Lamb drew her grapple then the pistol in her other hand and did her best to hold the weapons opposite each other. She took aim and fired both. She didn’t check if she hit or not, she just glanced at the lanyards to see they were still around her wrists and got ready to grab Raven.

She hit his legs hard and pulled him down keeping hold of his back, cocked a right-handed punch and struck him as hard as she could in the sternum. His visor was smashed and sealing foam was venting off into space. A piece of shrapnel was lodged in the helmet stopping the foam from completing the seal. Raven hadn’t evacuated his lungs as Lamb expected, but then who wouldn’t desperately cling to the last gulp of air they were ever going to get. Lambs punch had fixed that. Raven wasn’t clinging to Lamb as a panicking man should but his eyes were still tight shut so he was conscious at least while Lamb put her can of second skin in the breach and sealed Ravens helmet.

Turning Raven around, she checked the readings on the back of his suit. He had enough air and his heart was strong. Lamb wanted to hug him just for a moment, but there was still work to do. Now she had to get the team together and get back to the Arbiter. First things first, calm them all down.

“Echo I’m coming for you next, so it’s time to shut up. Activate your beacon and keep the coms clear”

Lamb didn’t wait for the response.

“Kai, control your man or deactivate his com”

Kai’s voice came back stronger than it had been before.

“Got it. we’re heading towards the planet at a thirty-five de..”

Lamb interrupted her best mate with a stab at getting some venom back into Kai’s actions.

“Oh do be brief Kai. Are you not a pilot? Stop your childish sniveling and pilot your damned suit will you? Do I have to do everything?”

“What the fuck Lamb! Think after an explosion in my face I’m enti… “

The rest of Kai’s tirade went unheeded by Lamb. The grapple she had fired had hit its mark and the reel had just reached its end. Lamb and Raven were jerked hard by the piece of hull Lamb had snagged. It was just luck that Lamb had a hold of Raven’s pack by the mounting handle that she didn’t lose him again. Her arm came right out of the socket and she felt it slip back in. She somehow kept the cry of pain inside as she was pulled back. While Lamb was injecting exposure treatment into Raven's drug port, she noticed his sword floating off towards the dust belt. It was just a sword Lamb told herself as she exchanged Raven's grapple for her’s. He’s probably got loads of them… . but just in case it was a family blade or something.

She quickly connected the new cord to Raven and lined herself up for another burn on her jets. She didn’t have much more fuel to use before the suit would have to use the oxygen tanks to maneuver. Lamb snagged Raven's sword and pumped the jets to slow her down as the grapple line started to tense. The bit of hull may have looked like it was slowly drifting by, but in fact, it was moving fast. Lamb guest it was going at about twenty meters a second, so she braced herself for another jerk.

Lamb was swinging around with Raven in a wide curve; their speed must have been closer to thirty meters a second by now, but at least they were being swung towards the Corvette again. Echo’s green lights came into view behind a cloud of coolant gas. He had regained control of his suit and was gently pushing himself towards the Corvette. Kai’s voice came back without the insults this time.

“Lamb, Silas and are going too fast, the suits can’t slow us down. Everything is going in the same direction as us, there’s nothing to connect an anchor. Can you help?”

No was the correct answer, but that wouldn’t do. She’d just saved a pointy stick, so Kai and Silas were not being left to die.

“Kai, give me your position relative to the Corvette and your speed. We’re all coming for you. I won’t leave you. Echo, look for Raven and I to your five o’clock. We’re coming in hard and we’ll hit you like a truck. Turn to your eleven O’clock and burn that bastard hot, you’ll need to get to at least twenty MPS or we’re all in the shit, but don’t bloody well miss us, coz you only get one pass and we need your fuel”

Everyone was dressed like superheroes, so it was only fair to act like one. That blue and red spider fellow was the man for the job. Lamb changed grapples with Raven again after putting his sword back in its scabbard. Raven still wasn’t awake, typical. One good bang and he was done. Echo was above them coming down fast. Lamb and Raven must have been picking up speed because they were coming at Echo way too fast.

“Faster Echo. Faster”

Begged Lamb over the coms while she shortened the grapple line and released it. That would speed them up even more, but she had to snag echo on this pass. Echo looked back at the two human cannonballs swinging in like a yoyo mid trick.

“OHMYGODFUCKME!”

Shouted Echo as he put everything into a burn. He didn’t feel like he was at about thirty MPS when Raven and Lamb hit him. Lamb fort off the impact to grapple another big piece of hull that would help move them round to Kai and Silas’ heading. Kai was still feeding telemetry to the coms. Lamb shook Echo.

“We’ve got to keep this speed if we’re going to catch them. Take Ravens mag-grapple and hit what I tell you too. You are a better shot then I”

Echo still trying to get his breath back and stop the bells from ringing did as he was told. By snagging and releasing anything heavy or fast enough to grapple, Lamb and Echo managed to swing their way towards Kai and Silas. Lamb was laser-focused thinking four swings ahead. It wasn’t like a rope swing in gravity; it was more like a controlled fall. The three people had just as much of an effect on the thing they grappled as it did on them. Lamb was evening thinking about the grapple retracting. Echo was starting to get the hang of it as they came up on Kai and Sails. It was more a feeling than a science for him, and he was almost enjoying himself. Lamb told him to snag a heavy-looking bit of machinery he couldn’t identify for about two seconds, but that would throw them off the path to Creamy and Kai. He voiced his concerns.

“But th..”

“Just fucking do it or I’ll stab you in the face”

So Lamb did swear, Echo didn’t like it. He snagged the thing for a couple of seconds and released while Lamb fired Raven’s pack to bring them back on track.

“Kai we’re almost there. Fire everything to soften the impact including the your guns”

“Shit I see you Lamb. You’re coming in real fuckin fast”

“I know Kai, we need the speed to bring you in. This is gonna hurt a lot darling”

Ravens voice cut into the silence of everyone preparing for the impact.

“Oh fuck me. What happened?”

Raven was surprised to find himself being spooned by Lambast. There was something sticking the right side of his face to his helmet.

“Ar, good morning Raven, braces yourself. Five. Four”

Kai and Silas secured the guns and opened their arms. Everyone wanted to curl up into a ball, but they absolutely had to catch each other.

“Echo, grapple that machine. NOW” called Lamb.

Everyone but Raven had caught the brief, and had a job to do. Not roll into a ball was one of the orders Lamb gave. Raven had not been awake for that part and crunched up screaming as he hurtled at speed towards Silas and Kaisla. They connected. Not passing out was everyone’s responsibility. Not dropping the grapple line was Echos, Silas was in charge of snagging anyone that got away from the team and Kai was to do what she could to stop the spin. Lamb failed to keep hold of anyone. The impact of Silas’ grapple only hurt a bit compared to the almighty crunch of everyone colliding. Lamb instinctively grabbed the line as Silas pulled her back in.

She wheezed and gasped trying to tell Echo to release the heavy machine. But he had already done so, impressed that Lamb had worked out what would happen on the fly. The team had swung around the thing Lamb had pulled into the path, and its mass had slowed them and brought everyone into a burnable recovery. Echo and Silas held Raven in front of them and linked arms with each other. Kai and Lamb did the same behind the boys as Kai directed. With Kai ordering the flight and plenty of firing of the kinetic guns and sealant cans, everyone made it back to the Arbiter and gladly collapsed, magnetized to the hull.

“Sound off guys” Said Silas as he looked up at the stars.

“Never again” Breathed Raven.

“That was insane!” Exclaimed a still adrenalin high Echo.

“Next time, I’m bringing my bloody suit” Lambast complained.

Sails Looked at Kai who hadn’t said anything. Everyone was spread eagle on the hull, but Kai was on her feet with a big stupid grin on her face, then she started to sing.

“Go go Power Rangerrs. You mighty… “

She ducked as Lamb and Raven chucked stuff at her.
Khelan
10 Dec 2019, 7:16pm
Maul Montresor

After a brief silence, Vega gathered her things and they headed towards the docks to meet with Khelan.



Khelan lies sound asleep on his bed, the various derms attached to his neck and chest doing a very effective job of killing the pain allowing him to sleep.

Outside the Prid the entry to the hanger opens and Vega walks in with Maul a few steps behind her.

"I'll bet he's not even here, he's probably away doing something that he thinks will make him appear mysterious but actually doesn't." She says to Maul as she walks towards The Prid.

"Attention, this vessels security system is active, do not attempt to come any closer." booms the voice of Leo from speakers around the ship.

Vega stops to look at Maul.

"What the fuck is this?" she says

"It's us, open up and stop playing your stupid games." Vega shouts at the Prid taking another step forward.

"Attention, this is your last warning. You are not authorised to approach this vessel." Leo's voice booms out.

"It's US!" shouts Vega "Have you gone computer senile or something Leo? Open up!"

She takes another step forward and one of the exterior point defense turrets swings around and fires a low powered blast at the ground a few feet in front of her.

"Jesus fucking christ!" shouts Vega as she jumps back. "Did you fucking see that? He fucking fired on us!"

Vega turns to face Maul.

"He's gone fucking insane! Do something!" she shouts at him.
EvilCreamsicle
11 Dec 2019, 10:44pm
Lambast Mercy
“Go go Power Rangerrs. You mighty… “

She ducked as Lamb and Raven chucked stuff at her.


Finally back on the Arbiter, the events of the last few minutes were starting to process in Silas' mind.

He had been heading back to the bridge with the rest of the team, but passing the door to his cabin he stopped.

Echo noticed this, and turned to him.
"You alright?" he asked

"Echo... get us out of here please?"

"Yeah... no problem bud." Echo said, a look of concern on his face, but continued to the bridge without another word, figuring Silas just needed a minute to himself.

As he disappeared into his cabin and closed the door, Kaisla made to follow him, but was held back by Lambast's hand on her shoulder.

She looked over her shoulder to Lamb, who just gave her an understanding look and a subtle head shake.

Kaisla looked at the floor and headed to the bridge, her posture having noticeably changed, shedding her usual bubbliness for a dejected pout. Lamb was probably right that he needed some time to decompress.

After shedding his pressure suit, Silas opted for a pair of sweatpants rather than his usual funtional attire, and plopped down into his desk chair. He leaned back, rubbing his eyes, and just sat in silence for a moment, the weight of the information Grim had given him becoming more real every moment now that the danger was over.

His nephew Leith, it seemed, did not survive after his kidnapping by Frost's goons.

Silas hadn't been able to prevent himself from holding out some hope that he had been kept alive, but alas, this was not the movies, and he should have known better. There would be no hostage rescue, there would be no glorious reunion. Leith had been just another peon of the criminal underworld, used and disposed of by a group of ruthless self-serving criminals, and the weight of the real world had never felt so heavy on Silas' heart.

Spotting the bottle of Old Sol on his desk, he reached for it and its accompanying rocks glass. It wasn't a conscious decision... more of a programmed response, taking control of his motor functions while he slowly suffocated in the muffled haze of his inner thoughts.

The bottle spit out more than he had intended as the ship lurched forward, but what's poured is poured. It wasn't going back in the bottle, so it would have to go down the hatch.

Silas took a generous gulp of his drink before setting the glass down. In a kind of autopilot, he turned on his desk's display and began sifting through the data they had downloaded from Frost's people on the rogue Fed ship they'd boarded. Something Grim had said made him believe there may be something about his nephew buried in there.

He started by entering the date of Leith's disappearance. He had memorized it, superimposed over the security footage he had seen so many times.

There were lots of results, after all this was data for their whole operation, but one thing stood out.

***federal_navy_crd_outpost-2927.aud***

Silas selected the file, and it began to play. He realized quickly that it was audio from the night that Leith disappeared.

"COVAS, sync that audio with the Navy CRD outpost surveillance tape!"

***Syncing, One Moment Please***

---------------------
It had been a long day at the Federal Navy Classified Research Division outpost, and the light outside was dwindling.

Sitting at his desk, Leith was trying to stay busy. He was trying to take his mind off of what he was about to do.

Next to him, the last of his coworkers gives up for the evening, gathering his belongings and standing to leave.

"Burning the midnight oil, eh Leith?"

"Oh, yeah man, you know this Purpureum research project has been crazy." He lies.

"OK well, don't work too hard man." the coworker says, making his way toward the door, which opens and then closes behind him with an electrical whirr.

Leith waits long enough to make sure he is really the last one in the office. His heart is pounding so hard he can feel it in his ears.

There was almost nothing he hated more than the fact that it had come to this... that he was forced into becoming a traitor. Almost nothing, however, was not the same as nothing, and a terminal diagnosis will often leave a desperate young man with few options.

He gets up, feeling a little shaky in the legs, and walks slowly over to the reinforced window. It was a heavy, blast-proof compound about 6 inches thick. Fortunately for the claustrophobic, it could be opened from the inside. After normal business hours, it would slide closed automatically after 10 minutes, so the risk to the secure facility was minimal. Besides, even if the window were to stay open, it is on the 16th floor.

Leith unlatches the heavy window and slowly slides it open. He doesn't react as three men in black outfits and masks climb through, setting down their compact climbing gear. 

One man, larger than the others with sweat stains on the brow of his mask, takes a step towards Leith, who can't help but cower a little in this man's imposing shadow.

"Where is it?" he says, in a very quiet but still quite threatening Russian accent.

"Um, yeah its, uh..."

"Where!" he bends so that his giant head is inches from Leith's

"Ri..Right this way sir..." Leith manages to stutter as he walks over to a secured cage door on the other side of the room. The sound of many small fans is emanating through the door.

"Open it!" The Russian demands.

Leith weakly fishes his keycard from his pocket and waves it in front of the door, which folds inward with a metal clang, exposing the racks of servers inside.

Immediately the other two men went into the server room and began pulling blades out of the rack. The Russian removes a large empty framed hiking backpack from his back and sets it on the ground as the others bring the stack of server blades out and begin removing the covers to pull the hard drives out.

The noise of the fans has been reduced to just one battery backup unit, and now various electrical alarms were going off. Leith could hear nothing but the sound of his heart thumping in his ears as the large Russian simply stared at him while his men worked, stuffing the large backpack with hard drives from the server blades.

When they were finished, he picked up the backback and put it on. It was heavy, even for him, but his reaction was subtle.

He walked toward the window, but when Leith began to follow the other men stopped him, grabbing him by each arm.

"Wait!" Leith exclaimed. "You said you would cure me!"

"No." Said The Russian calmly. "We said we would operate on you."

Leith realized his mistake too late as he felt the needle go into his neck, and immediately began to lose consciousness...

---------------------

This answered some questions Silas had been harboring... but it also left him more to unpack.

The audio seemed to imply that Leith needed some sort of 'cure'... had he been diagnosed with something? Cancer? Radiation poisoning?

"Dumb kid..." Silas said to himself, taking another sip of his drink. Silas loved his nephew dearly, and was glad to know that he at least had a reason for helping Frost, but he had been naive enough to trust a criminal syndicate to honor their end of the deal. He had to learn the hard way that nobody ever got rich by writing checks, and that is a mistake you only get to make once.

Silas began to feel a deep rage within himself, at himself, for not instilling some street smarts into the kid, but he decided that was an unhelpful emotion and suppressed it. For now, at least, though he was sure that decision would come back to bite him. He hoped it would arise in a useful context, like mid-combat, rather than directed at his friends at an inappropriate time.

He decided to distract himself by seeing what other information on Leith he might be able to find. There was a ton of research data related to Guardian and Thargoid artifact experiments. Silas scrolled through them, looking for something to pique his interest, before coming to a compressed archive. The file size was enormous.

***l_findlay_neural_imprint***

Silas stared at this file in the list for what seemed like an eternity, thinking about the implications of what this was, and trying not to imagine how horrible and terrifying this process must have been for his poor nephew. Finally, he decided to extract it.

It appeared to be a normal compressed archive on the outside, but rather than extracting the archive it just appeared to do... something. Silas' display flickered, followed by the lights. Silas felt the Arbiter lurch as it dropped out of supercruise.

"Echo... everything ok?" Silas said over the comms.

"Uh, checking. I dunno we just e-dropped." was Echo's reply, just before the power shut down, and the emergency lights came on. It seemed that the ship's systems were rebooting.

The ship went through the rest of what seemed like a normal reboot sequence, as far as Silas could tell from his cabin.

"COVAS, systems check." he said.

Instead of his normal COVAS, he heard another familiar voice.
"I told you, you sunofabitch, I'm not telling you anything! You killed me!"

Not. Possible.

"COVAS, systems check!" he repeated, a little unsure if he was hallucinating.

"Uh... Uncle Silas?" came Leith's voice from the Arbiter's comms.

Silas was dumbfounded. He didn't think he had had that much to drink, but here he was, hearing his late nephew's voice from his ship's comms.

"Is that you, Uncle Silas?" the voice repeated. Silas was definitely not imagining things.

"Leith... where are you!?" he asked, incredulous.

"I'm eh... are you sitting down?" Leith asked

"Y... yeah, what the hell Leith they told me you were dead!"

"Yeah, uh... I am, actually." Leith replied.

"I have additional questions..." was all Silas could manage to spit out.

"They used some crazy Spiritweaver tech to kinda... download me. Of course, they made sure to do it after they'd killed me. To make sure I'd remember, y'know?"

Silas didn't know what to say, so Leith continued.

"Yeah... they tried to use me for their Guardian tech research. I had already given them some stuff, but once I realized what they were going to do to me, I figured if I was going out no matter what I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. So then they connected me to their systems and tried to... I don't really know what. But wait, where am I?"

"Um... you're on my ship, the Arbiter. I think? I guess?" Silas didn't really know for sure.

"OK, that explains the uh... hmm." Leith stopped

"What is it?"

"I think you might've like... installed me over your COVAS. I have control over your systems I think." Leith said.

Silas' cabin door opened, then closed, startling him so that he almost spilled his drink. Almost.

"Yep," Leith confirmed, "That's a new development. I uh, I think I'm your COVAS now."

There wasn't a word for the cocktail of thoughts and feelings swirling inside Silas' head at this point.

After some mixed emotions and some catching up, Silas decided that he was very sad that his nephew was 'dead' in the tradional sense, but very grateful that he was still 'alive' in some other, much stranger way. Leith, for his part, had already done his mourning for himself. While he was 'stored', he was still conscious, at least in his own way, and was just glad to be aware again, and interacting with any friendly face. The fact it was family made him overjoyed, which was a little jarring for Silas considering everything that had just transpired, and the mixed emotions he was trying to process.

"How in the hell am I going to explain this to your mother..."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Uncle. Don't tell her until we go see her... I think it might be easier for her if she can talk to me." Leith suggested.

"Ok," Silas replied. That made as much sense as anything. "but there are some others I can practice on before then."

Silas refilled his Old Sol, rose from his chair, and exited his cabin toward the bridge, shouting ahead to the team.

"Uh... guys? I figured out what happened to the ship!"

Last edit: 11 Dec 2019, 10:58pm
Maul Montresor
13 Dec 2019, 2:42pm
Khelan[quote=Maul Montresor] "He's gone fucking insane! Do something!" she shouts at him.



Maul grabbed Vega by the wrist and pulled her back a few steps.

"Leo!" Maul called out. "What's going on?!"

Leo remained silent.

Vega stomped her foot and gestured towards the ship.

"I told you he didn't like me! He just tried to have his crazy fucking A.I. kill me!"

Maul furrowed his brow shook his head. Maybe Omi could help. He pulled out his slate to shoot her a message.

"Hey Omi,

Me and Vega are standing outside of the Prid. I'm not sure if someone has tampered with Leo or what, but his perimeter defense is active and we can't even approach."

Vega glanced at the screen of Maul's slate.

"Did you tell her that I nearly just died?!"

Maul raised his head and looked at Vega and then back down to the slate.

"Also, Leo shot at Vega and she's flipping out. Is there anything you can do? Maybe try to check on Khelan."

He sent the message and pocketed his slate.

After a short wait, Omi arrived at the hangar with a few members of the Black Dragons. Maul and Vega were sitting on a nearby power box. She began walking towards them as they jumped to their feet to meet her halfway.

"I've asked around and no one has seen Khelan since last night at the warehouse." Omi explained as she walked towards the Prid with a confident stride. "So, he must be on the ship."

Maul and Vega stopped following Omi as she continued on towards the Prid, well past the defense perimeter.

"Attention, this vessels security system is active, do not attempt to come any closer." Leo warned.

Omi kept a stern face and ignored the warning as she continued walking.

"Attention, this is your last warning. You are not authorized to approach this vessel."

Omi continued forward.

The point defense turrets activate and blast in front of Omi causing her to stop and look up at the ship.

"Leo, I want an explanation and I want it now!" She shouted.

Leo remained silent for a moment.

"Full lockdown has been activated by the commander of this vessel. You are not authorized to approach." He finished with a sympathetic, "I'm sorry ma'am."

"Leo, would you be so kind as to warn Khelan that if I am not given access to this ship within the next 2 minutes, we're going to suffer from a code black."

Vega and Maul watched in complete shock from a distance as Omi shouted demands at the monstrous ship.

"What do you think a code black is?" Vega leaned over to ask Maul in a hushed tone.

Maul shrugged.

"No clue, but I think I'm starting to see where Khelan got his affinity for code phrases."

Vega nodded and they went back to watching Omi.

Omi stood silent but firm as she waited for a response from Khelan.
Lambast Mercy
17 Dec 2019, 4:02pm
EvilCreamsicle

Silas refilled his Old Sol, rose from his chair, and exited his cabin toward the bridge, shouting ahead to the team.

"Uh... guys? I figured out what happened to the ship!"



Everyone was in the cockpit talking excitedly to Leith but Lamb just stood back listening. Leith sounded young, too young to have been doing what he was tasked with when the Russian ended him. Well that wasn’t true, not anymore. Here he was talking with the crew like an excited kid. Silas looked really happy, he had an enigmatic smile stuck on his face and he was enjoying everyone’s enthusiasm for the new member of the crew although maybe with a bit of a crease in his brow.

Everything about this situation made Lamb feel detached from her friends because she didn’t feel in the least bit excited. Lamb was horrified. A young man had been murdered and copied like a file on a computer then stored the same way Lamb did with her pictures. It wasn’t Leith it wasn’t even a ghost, or an echo of Leith. It was a simulation at best yet Silas and Kai were treating the computer-synthesized voice like a person. Lamb tried to reason that she did the same with Holly but Holly had never been a person, well not as far as knew.

If Kai had died and Lamb found a copy of her on her computer there was no way Lamb would dishounor her friend by treating a computer like Kai. The cameras on the Arbiter started to feel wrong to Lambast, she felt like she was standing uninvited in someone’s personal chambers. If Lamb didn’t think that the program was Leith why did she feel so uncomfortable? Kai was asking all the important questions.

“So can you modulate the power flow to the lasers so they play the intro to Back in Black?”

“I reckon so, once I find out what the hell Back in Black is. Wait, I’m searching the audio files and work out where the lasers are”

The hardpoints deployed and the beam lasers started pulsing. The* vwamps* sounded nothing like Back in Black. Lamb just watched the lasers burn bright into the void fired independently of any human hand or maybe an intelligence that thought of its self as human. A chill ran down her spine.

“Good try Leith, how do I high five you? In fact do you feel like you got hands? No wait, forget hands. Do you feel like ya got an ass and does it itch?” Asked cyber detective Kaisla.

That was enough for Lambast. She left the bridge and hid in the bathroom until she calmed down. It was the only place she was confident the copy of Leith probably didn’t have good coverage. She stayed in the bathroom waiting until she was confident she had regained her composure. There was a knock at the door followed by Kaisla’s voice.

“Lamb, you ok?”

Outright lying to Kai never worked, but garnishing the truth usually did the trick if Kai wasn’t in the mood to question what she was told.

“I’m just a bit shaken up by the spacewalk hon. Got a bit close to seeing you smashed and splatted by a few thousand tons of roid. I’ll be ok once we’ve landed”

Lambast listened, Kai didn’t answer or leave. That meant Kai had seen through the half-truth right away. It was getting harder to fool Kai of late. Her best mate may act like a woman child, but she was no fool and knew Lamb far too well for Lamb’s liking some times.

“Ah huh. Well in that case, I’ll join you when we get there and I’m right here now. I won’t be far, just call ok?

Lamb checked her knees to see if she was shaking, she felt like she was but she was steady.

“Thank you Kai, you know me yes?”

Kai knew very well and left Lamb be. Pressing her when she was like this just made her moody so Kai walked away. That was the second time she had left someone alone that she cared for in less than an hour. She’d done it herself but from this end, being left alone just seemed like a stupid request when she knew her friends were upset.

The Arbiter landed back on the Imperial capital ship, Lambast did her best to look casual as she tried to get off the Arbiter as quickly as possible. Kai caught her up just as Lamb made it out of the docking bay.

“What’s up hon? You look pale and on you, that’s not a good look”

Kai took Lamb's hands in hers stopping Lamb from hiding her face.

“It’s all a bit much Kai. Fighting off a few troops was fair enough, but that My Little Ponytail chap waiting for us with a trap that we fell for tested my limits”

Kai folded her lips in so her mouth looked like one flat line. Lamb wasn’t telling her everything for some reason and that was annoying, but Kai would get to the bottom of it after Lamb had time to sort it all out in her head.

“I know what ya sayin hon. Butterscotch grew up to be an ass hole with stupid glasses. But hay, between us we sorted it out. We’re the rescue team Lamb. You got us back on track and I got us back to the Arbiter. The guys would be screwed without you and me”

Lamb drifted back to her childhood toys and the cartoons she used to watch with Kai.

“Butterscotch don’t you mean Applejack?

“No no, Applejack was kinda dark but she had a blond mane. Butterscotch was lighter but she had the darkest mane and tale. Didn’t you watch My Little Pony with me? I know you usually got the cereal, but you were always there before the theme ended”

“I did watch it but obviously not as closely as you. I seem to remember you had a really brown pony. What was she called?”

Kai tutted at Lamb like she had just asked a particularly dumb question. Kai used her valley-girl voice that she knew Lambast couldn’t stand listening to.

“That was a Big Brother Pony. He had like, a really blond mane and tail so I like discounted him as our attacker. Anyway, Big Brother Ponies are almost gen two and I’m like, a gen one purest. Come on Lamb, it’s like you don’t know you MLP facts at all! The guy that attacked us is like, a bastardy Butterscotch, trust me on this kay?”

Lamb mirrored Kai’s silly smile and hugged her friend.

“Thanks Kai, you’re a star. I think I’d forget where the ground was if I didn’t have to keep pulling your empty head out of the clouds”

“Backhanded compliments. That’s my Lamb. So, what are you gonna do with the rest of today, you need some company?”

“No hon, I’m going to get a snack to go and do a little shopping. I’ve had my gifts scuppered recently, so I need to find something else. Anything on your wish list Kai?”

Kai held up a fist and unfolded it finger by finger as she counted off her requests.

“I’ll have, sorry, I’d like a Gutamaya seat for the Hand, a box of fancy wigs for disguises, some swanky ball gowns, some company for Gary and a lovely pony”

Lamb rolled her eyes.

“One day you’ll forget to ask me for a lovely pony and that way I’ll know you’ve been replaced by a body snatcher. I think you better spend some time with Silas. A lot has happened for the chap today. He’ll need your unique calming talents honey”

Kai looked hard at Lamb making it clear she knew when Lamb was trying to get rid of her.

“More backhandedness, ya getting back on track darling. Look, if you wanna break the habit of a lifetime and talk to me, just call right?”

As they parted, Lamb indicated she would call if she felt the need and Kai believed her. Plenty of shuttles left the ship all the time, Lamb felt it would be nice to let someone else do the flying for a quick hop to Darnielle's Progress. Lamb had plenty of history there and looked forward to getting some shopping done. She knew better and should be resting or checking on Raven, after all he had been exposed to the void for about ten seconds. A name she hadn’t been called in a while broke her chain of thought.

“Butter”

The deep familiar voice coming from so close to Lamb's ear made her freeze mid-step. She hadn’t heard him for almost six years but she instantly felt the need to salute.

“Over here, let’s get out the way”

Lamb listened to the heavy footsteps retreat towards a quieter corner of the shuttle bay and she followed the commanding voice. The man she was following was almost six-four in his boots and shaped like a wedge on legs. A dark blue helmet topped a heavy travel cloak draped over armoured shoulders making the man appear even bigger. Once the pair were out the way of the comings and goings of the bay crew, the man turned around and offered a gloved hand to Lambast. His stern face was mostly covered by a pilot's visor but his lips in the familiar half frown was a welcome sight to Lamb.

“Good to see you again Mercy, you look well considering”

Lamb stopped her hand halfway towards her head for a salute and took the man’s heavy glove.

“Always good to see you Colonel, do you need me for something sir?”

His head dipped as if he was concentrating on Lamb for the first time.

“Not a Colonel any more Mercy, I’m with II-6 now, special justice division and I’m here because I’m helping you”

Lamb realised she was standing to attention but just couldn’t bring herself to stand at ease without her ex-Colonels permission. Also, she couldn’t interrupt him.

“Few weeks ago I clocked a perp tracking me. We checked him out and found he was a high paid assassin. Given he didn’t seem inclined to make a move, we let it play out in hopes of finding out who was paying and why he was tailing me. After the details of Kavanagh's investigation into your situation made a link to your friends and family being tracked, I apprehended the assassin. The man suicided rather than let me interrogate”

“I’m sorry my..”

Lamb couldn’t see Colonel Deed’s eyes, but she knew she was on the receiving end of a withering look.

“Don’t interrupt Butter, follow protocol. I mobilised the squad and had them check themselves, then your family and friends. Giant had executed his weeks ago and De’Marco was counter tailing her’s, everyone else was clean. Don’t worry about De’Marco, she’s on regular checks and I sent Holmesless to back her up”

“You’ll be pleased to know your mum and dad are safe, so is that Maul guy. Well, he’s safe from your problem. He’s in his own trouble, but good people got his back. I still got Maybe and Bedside monitoring your parents and Giant took Farther Waugh to Robigo to see that Suzi and your company are in the clear”

Deed put his hands behind his back and looked down on Lamb. He’d finished so Lamb was allowed to speak now.

“Thank you sir. You didn’t need to do all that, but I know you and the rest of the squad wouldn’t have it any other way. Thunder Hands forever. I’m sorry I caused you an inconvenience sir”

Deed nodded at Lamb.

“Thunder Hands forever Butter, and drop the sir. I checked out the people your running with, you want to hear it?”

“No sir I don’t. Kaisla liked them and I have had no reason to think low of them. They are good people”

“I agree. Kaisla and Cousland impressed me on Survey, but you were sloppy. Do better. I’m happy you got capable people around you. Ask them if they would like to have their friends and family checked. I was tempted, but I didn’t want to tread on your toes. About Johnston, I’m sorry. I know you had a soft spot for him. If it’s any consolation, Johnston got the man that killed him before he died”

Lamb had to work to keep her face steady after hearing Johnston’s name again. Especially that there was no one to take revenge on. Spilling some blood would have helped Lambast put her feeling over Johnston to rest.

“Thank you Deed, that’s good to know. How do I contact you if the boys would like to take you up on the offer?”

“Leave a message for my ship Crusader MM-AD. Control will see it gets to me. By the way Butter, your friend Vaziri is causing a problem for the Captain. Your celebrity status means you’re on a no visitors list. Vaziri won’t take no for an answer so you better go see him before he starts a war. His personal security killed at least two assassins’ weeks ago by the way so you’re ok to contact him”

“I was just about to go down there now as it happens. I have been thinking it would be rude to be this close to Vincent’s place and not say hello. Will you be on board long Deed?”

The big man was already making motions to leave. Lamb had never found Deed happy with socialising, but she never stopped trying to get him to lighten up.  

“I’m leaving tomorrow and there’s no need for your seasonal tradition”

He paused for a moment and opened his cloak showing his sidearm in an engraved dark leather holster shaped into a lion’s head.

“But I do appreciate the biometric mag-holster. Be safe Butter”

With that Deed stalked away like a predator looking for his next meal. Lamb watched him leave glad to know she was free to send cards and presents to all her friends without getting them killed. The first port of call was a request to contact Captain Ioneer and ask her to tell Vincent that Lamb would be coming to visit shortly. The Captain was very grateful, apparently a fleet from Pleiades Resource Enterprise was just shy of blockading the ship until Lamb presented herself. Dolf had been working hard to calm the situation, and even he was finding it difficult to placate the CEO of PRE. That sounded like Vincent alright.

Lamb popped to the Hand to say hello to Holly and check her bags of gems. Vincent had some strict rules of etiquette from people that knew him well and Lamb was deep in that camp. How many wives did Vincent have now? Lamb checked the Pleiades Resource Enterprise info pages. He had twelve wives, that’s at least five more then Lamb remembered. This was going to be an expensive visit but she knew she’d leave with more than she took. Lamb opened the secret draw within the safe and took out a golden coloured bag of cut stones, the last bag she had of perfect gems and put it with twelve bags of her high-value gems. As an afterthought, Lamb checked her deep freeze. Vincent and his first few wives did like the stodgy stew Lamb cooked up and the basic sponge cakes with jam and butter icing. She put a few of them in a cool box and went to the shuttle bay to meet Vincent’s personal barge.  

Her welcome to Vincent’s extravagant habitat was akin to a state visit and Lamb patiently walked the red carpet feeling like an idiot as scantily clad men and women propped petals at her feet as layers of heralds announce her approach with titles made up from events and an intermit knowledge of her past. Vincent sat at the head of the procession on a palanquin looking like the galaxies richest silk and jewelry clad leech topped with a multi-coloured turban sporting a mounted gem no doubt worth more than everything Lamb owned.  

Vafi Vaziri was a boorish chauvinistic bigoted condescending borderline misogynist and a solid friend to Lambast. Years ago when Vincent as he likes to be called, dressed like a normal person and barely registered in the corporation, had struck up an impressive network for acquiring and possessing Meta-Alloys. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the capital to get it started or the people he could trust not to cut him out of the market. Vincent turned to Lord Creamy Goodness the Third, and he reached out to Lamb despite the fact that they were practically enemies back in the academy.  Between them and the mercenary La Fresh, they financed and fort their way to their first billion together and Vincent’s ascendancy to the Board of Directors.

After the usual proposition of marriage and promises to send Lamb’s dad enough wealth to rival the royal family if she accepted, the visit turned to good friends catching up with each other. Lamb had no chance of doing any shopping. Vincent and his wives, well the ones that liked Lamb anyway wouldn’t hear of it. She was their guest and had to stay. Instead, a horde of servants were sent out to browse the promenade and bizarre with cameras on Lambs' behalf feeding live images back and buying the items Lamb wanted. Pilots were dispatched to find a few things that were no available locally and while she was catching up with Vincent, Lamb found replacements for the gifts that Raven and Silas had unintentionally spoiled.

Lamb had ordered everyone personalised and individually coloured flight suits. Armoured and fully space flight capable, and Silas had done the same only better so the team could raid the corvette. Lamb had also ordered a set of modular Japanese style swords so Raven could construct whatever sort of blade he required in the same way Lamb did, but Rave beat her to the punch on that one too. Lamb sent a message to Kai to let her know she wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. No visit ever went quickly with Vincent and it would take Vincent’s pilots a little while to get back with the last few gifts Lamb wanted.

Lamb talked of her adventures with Kaisla and the lads into the small hours of the morning and dizzy from genuine cognac passed out around three. When she awoke, she was not very surprised to find she was changed into nightclothes Vincent preferred his wives to wear. Far too exotic for Lamb’s taste, but whoever had picked it for her knew how to make the best of Lamb's appearance. Lamb just hoped it wasn’t Vincent himself. Everything Lamb had ordered was wrapped and tagged including the special request for Leith, but Lamb’s Impressive stack of gifts paled next to Vincent and his wives offering to the team and Lamb’s mum and dad. Kai seemed to have more gifts than anyone else. That made Lamb smile to herself as she wondered how Kia would react to the bad poetry and inappropriate choice of presents. Silas would be entreating to observe as Kia opened them too.

On the way back to the capital ship Lamb bit the bullet and called her mum. She was in trouble so it would be best to get it out the way now. The talk was a mixture of beratement and happiness swinging from one to the other without warning and it ended in a demand to come home for Christmas that couldn’t be denied. Lamb promised she would talk to Kai and the boys about it and get back to her before the day was out. After hiding all the gifts in the Hand’s cargo bay Lamb went to find everyone. They were all on-board the Arbiter so Lamb calmed her mind and aimed to treat Leith like Holly only coming from the other direction. A computer-like human. Kai bounced up to Lamb right away.

“Hey hon, what did ya get me all the stuff I asked for”

“No. I got you a big box of sweet FA because I don’t want you filling the Hand with a load of junk. I’ll buy you stuff when the Dracul mark two is complete”

Kai knew better, Lamb loved Christmas and couldn’t help buying people stuff.

“Pfft! Yeah right. Come on, we’ve been waiting for you. We’re wondering what to do now and want your input before we leave. This place is makin us fat”

Kai lifted up her top to show her perfectly flat belly and had pinched a bit of skin as if she had put on loads of weight.

“Oh yes, a genuine blubber ball aren’t you. Good timing all the same because I got an option I’d like to put to everyone”

Kai and Lamb entered the bridge. Echo had his laptop plugged into the console and Silas and Raven were elbow deep in the systems helping Leith get used to navigating his way around the ship as COVAS would. Everyone welcomed Lamb back and Silas slid himself from under the console but didn’t get up.

“Lamb, forgive the position but it’s a job we can’t leave till it’s done. Listen, we’re kinda free agents now Sens gone. Echo and I have an idea, a few leads we can follow up but we wanna know if you’ll be coming with. I know you got a company to run, so you know, we understand if ya wanna get back to that”

Lamb looked to Kai to see if she was leaning one way or the other on the matter.

“I got that lump to look out for Lamb.” Said Kai jerking a thumb back towards Sails “It’s my own fault I know and I’d really like to have your help babe. Besides, your liners practically run themselves right?”

Lamb nodded to Kaisla.

“Indeed they do thanks to a top-class manager. I myself have a matter I was on my way to Citi Gateway to investigate when I got your call Kai. That lead will be dead, but with you chaps, I think we can pick something up if you’re willing”

Lamb couldn’t help feeling a little warm when everyone murmured affirmatives without pause. It was good to know she could ask and they would chip in.

“However, it is Christmas and one’s mind turns to family and festivities. This morning I talked with my mother and she has extended an invitation to all of us, including you Leith, to spend Christmas with them”

Kai gasped and cringed pulling her fists up to her chin.

“You talked to Lisa! I bet she ripped you a new one”

Kai saw the momentary storm gathering on Lamb’s face and changed tactics.

“It’s ok hon, I’ll explain it to her. It’ll be ok”

Lamb just shrugged and got her slate out of her pocket.

“It’s alright Kai, I blamed you for everything. Anyway, mum wants to know if you would like to visit..” Lamb checked her slate “..the house in the snowy mountains. The villa on the beach, its late summer there. Umm, oo Lord Kavanagh’s hunting lodge. Winter in a thick forest sounds good to me. Annnd the Lakehouse midsummer..”

Kai jumped up and snatched the slate from Lamb’s hands.

“Lakehousemidsummer! Are there pictures? Does it have a jetty and rope swings? Oh it’s got a lil veranda right on the lakeside. That’s it, we’re going there. What are the chances of a supernatural machete wheedling nutter showing up?”

Kai pointed the slat at Lamb accusingly.

“If I’m taking the blame for getting your dad in trouble at work, I’m picking the holiday house”

Turning on the boys with the slate of challenge, Kai continued her spurious reasoning.

“As Lamb’s best friend and practically sister, I veto your rights to vote on the house we’re visiting. Umm well, if you guys are ok with seeing Lamb’s folks for the holidays that is?”

Lamb tried to bite her lip, but some things just turned her key.

“It’s Christmas. We celebrate Christmas, not unspecified holidays. However, Farther would like to know if any of you have any special dietary requirements or religious doctrines you should observe that he could prepare for you. I personally would very much like you all to accept the invitation as I would enjoy the company of my new friends for Christmas”

Kaisla and Lamb looked like excited little kids almost holding their breath while they waited for the boys to answer.

Last edit: 17 Dec 2019, 4:36pm
EvilCreamsicle
17 Dec 2019, 7:11pm
Lambast MercyKaisla and Lamb looked like excited little kids almost holding their breath while they waited for the boys to answer.


"Wouldn't miss it, Lady Mercy" Silas said with a smile, leaning back to slide back under the console.

"Besides, I think between Echo's bacon addiction..."

"Guilty" said Echo sheepishly.

"...and Raven's barely contained excitement to see snow for the first time..."

"I'm from a warm planet..." Raven chipped in

"...I don't think I could turn you down even if I wanted to."

Kai's little-kid face erupted into a huge grin. Lambast was trying to prevent hers from doing the same. Silas surmised that perhaps she found it unbecoming to completely devolve into childhood, but forgot all about that when Kai bear-hugged her, lifting her off her feet by her waist shouting "Yaaaaaaay Christmas!"

Lambast had to wedge her way out of Kaisla's enthusiastic embrace.

"Unhand me, heathen!" she said playfully as she tried to hold Kaisla at bay long enough to recapture the breath that had been squeezed out of her.

Silas' could be heard laughing from inside his cave of technology.

"Oh, as for your other question." Echo said, as if he'd almost forgotten.
"I only eat gluten-free vegan kosher never-frozen partially-synthetic meat substitutes."

Silas emerged from the console once more with a raised eyebrow, Raven stifled a snort, Kai and Lamb just looked at him incredulously.

Echo looked stoic and deadly serious.

"Come again?" Lamb asked slowly.

A slight grin began to crack across Echo's face.

"Sensors indicate that you're full of shit, bud." Leith chirped over the speakers

That was it, everyone busted out laughing. A good hearty laugh, the kind that leaves you lightheaded and out of breath. It was a welcome bit of fun after the events of recent days.

"Seriously though," said Echo, finally recovering, "You've fed us enough, Lamb, you ought to know we're about the least picky bunch this side of the Galactic Center. And let's be honest, that's only because there's nothing else to eat over there... you been to Beagle Point?"

Lamb glanced over to the corner briefly before replying.
"Yes... valid point."

Silas, peering out from under the console, followed her gaze to yet another empty jam jar sitting on one of the other consoles. He had lost count of how many jars Raven had consumed at this point, but Lamb's stores had to be getting low on the stuff.

"Well... We'll be finishing up here in a few minutes. Just need to know where we're headed." Silas said to the group. Then he looked directly to Kai.
"Sorry, lady, I gotta vote for someplace with snow. Don't you want to see Raven act like a puppy?"

"Shut up!" Said Raven, tossing a wrench at Silas, which he blocked with his forearm.

"Ouch! Oh, wait I needed this one..." he said, grabbing the wrench and ducking back into his work area.

"Well, whaddya say Kai?" Raven asked

Last edit: 17 Dec 2019, 9:24pm
Lambast Mercy
18 Dec 2019, 3:37pm
EvilCreamsicle

"Well, whaddya say Kai?" Raven asked



Kaisla gawked at Raven, then Lambast and finely at as much as she could see of Sails under the console.

“Look what’s the point of you two if I don’t get a majority vote around here? She grabbed Lamb's wrist. “The Mercy’s are MY family and we ..”

Kai went quiet for a moment prompting Silas to lift his head so he could see her. Kai was making interlocking hand gestures at him.

“Enjoy each other’s company” supplied Silas helpfully.

“Yes, each other’s company, so that means you should be on my side too. I don’t understand this sudden rebellion against team Kai. Come on guys! Lakeside house in the woods with sunbathing and swimming and jumping off the rope swing, it’ll be awesome”

“Umm” issued from the cockpit speakers “Team Kia can’t pull the majority card anymore. You got a sixth opinion now. The Senet could be divided on the issue” Leith left his statement hanging in front of Kai.

“Bu.. ya tha..” Stammered Kai

“Are you about to tell me I don’t get a say because I only exist in cyberspace or because a Krait doesn’t look good in swimming trunks? Let’s hear it Kai” continued Leith in a mock warning tone.

“I was not gonna say any such thing” Complained Kai with her hands on her hips talking to the cockpit in general. “You don’t get a vote coz you’re new, you’ve only been with us for a day. Put ya time in then we’ll talk cyber-boy. As for the rest of you, don’t make me get biblical on your asses”

Raven shrugged.

“Hmm, I gotta say Christmas is snow and candy canes with furry hats and them light things, umm lanterns on sticks. Just like the cards you know? I want to see that”

Raven’s eyes lost focus as he drifted away into his own thoughts. Echo’s eyes were quite the opposite heading away from focused problem solving and into confused.

“Candy canes in furry hats holding lanterns? What fucked up cards do you get for Christmas man?”

Raven, who hadn’t had many Christmas cards to draw snowy scenes from came back to the moment and was about to explain what he meant, when Kai using her best deep voice got all biblical on them.

“Sub-creatures. Gozer the Gozerian, Gozer the Destructor, Volgus Zildrohar, the Traveler has chosen. Argue and perish”

“Ar now come on” said Echo “That’s not biblical and that’s not the quote. Its blah blah blah the Traveler has come. Choose and perish, and we choose snow. Oo and egg nog” Echo nudged Raven. “You ever had egg nog? You can’t have egg nog in the sun, that’s just weird. The one in the woods or mountains I don’t care as long as there’s snow. Sorry Kai”

Kai looked to everyone in turn to get their final answer, including Leith and all of them wanted a winter wonderland. Her last hope was Lambast, she really could veto everyone on the choice of destination.

“Sorry darling I want to build a snowman shaped like My Little Ponytail and then kick its head off. Come on, I know a great place on Darnielle's Progress where we can buy a whole new winter wardrobe”

The idea of going clothes shopping with a rich friend turned Kai’s mild disappointment at not going to the lakeside house completely around, but Kai didn’t feel like letting the boys know she didn’t really care. Lambast poked Kai in the ribs to make her giggle and addressed the lads.

“Gentlemen, I would like to go to Lord Kavanagh’s hunting lodge as I have favored the woods from the first time farther took me to see them, but please feel free to vote for the mountain cabin if you so desire. Mother will need a couple of days to make ready for our arrival no matter where we end up, so please let me know what you decide soon as possible. I do hear the Alliance is having a celebration in Reorte on Davies High if we are eager to leave Captain Ioneer’s hospitality behind. That could be fun”

Sails glanced up at Lambast after she mentioned a second celebration. Lamb looked her usual stoic self, but Silas could detect a hum of excitement under her calm exterior.

“For now we’re off clothes shopping and I suggest you boys do the same”

“Enjoy your consolation prize Kai” said Echo as he waved her goodbye.

“Be gracious in defeat Kaisla” added an unusually bubbly Rave.

Kai spun around and pointed at Raven, Echo and Silas in turn.

“Fuck you, fuck you and fuck you too. Well not you anymore” She said to Sails’ boots “You ain’t getting any of this till next year now. I’m buying a onesie”

Last edit: 19 Dec 2019, 12:01am
EvilCreamsicle
18 Dec 2019, 10:51pm
Lambast Mercy
Kai spun around and pointed at Raven, Echo and Silas in turn.

“Fuck you, fuck you and fuck you too. Well not you anymore” She said to Sails’ boots “You ain’t getting any of this till next year now. I’m buying a onesie”


Kaisla turned on her heel and walked out of the bridge of the Arbiter with the sassiest gait she could muster. Lamb followed, maintaining her stoicism externally but lightheartedly humming an Imperial battle march.

Raven and Echo were looking at Silas as if they were back in school and he'd just been 'hit with a sick burn'.

"Eh, I'm not worried. Onesies have trapdoors." Silas quipped

"On a more serious note. Slightly. I guess. On a mildly serious note, where are we spending Christmas?"

"I'd go mountains, if it were me." suggested Echo

Raven clearly hadn't let go of the perfect little Christmas card photo that was playing inside his head.

"I always pictured the deerses in the snow, with the... wait is is deerses? Deers? Deeri?"

"Deer." Silas offered

"Yeah, a deer, but like, lots of them. Deerses!" Raven was now holding his arms out as if to indicate a large object.

"Plural of deer is still deer, bud." Silas said, shaking his head.

"Whatever... I vote woods." Raven concluded.

Silas paused a moment, straightening up. He was acting as if this tiebreaker would decide the fate of the galaxy.

"Woods." he said finally.

"Yaassss!" whispered Raven loudly, pumping his right arm like he'd just thrown a strike. Echo was grinning, more amused by his friend's excitement than he was broken up to have lost the vote.

"Alright fellas, now that that's settled, let's go get some festive wear!" Silas waved forward as he jokingly marched toward the door to the bridge.

"Pick me up a giant bow for the roof or something, would ya uncle?" Leith shouted after them.
Lambast Mercy
19 Dec 2019, 2:45pm
EvilCreamsicle

"Alright fellas, now that that's settled, let's go get some festive wear!" Silas waved forward as he jokingly marched toward the door to the bridge.

"Pick me up a giant bow for the roof or something, would ya uncle?" Leith shouted after them.



Kai leaned on the storage unit after stuffing the last of her bags inside and reached around to lock it before everything spilled out. With all the clothes *put away* Kai hungrily unboxed all her new shoes and boots. She would be the first to admit she wasn’t a girly girl, but some things were irresistible and new shoes were high on the list of Kaisla’s weaknesses.

Lamb knocked on Kai’s door with an arm full of wrapping paper ribbons, tape and glue sticks.

“Want some help with the wrapping Kai?”

“Yes please Lamb. How you feeling now? That hookah pipe span you right out”

Lamb Looked at the floor a little embarrassed. Not long after the girls had started browsing the bizarre, Silas had messaged Kai to let her know Lord Kavanagh’s hunting lodge was everyone’s destination of choice. Kai popped into a tobacconist get Derek, Lamb’s dad some exotic pipe tobacco. The proprietor obviously fancied Kai and didn’t have to try hard to convince the excited girls to hang around to try some under the counter “tobaccos” that turned them both into giggling idiots.

Kai was really impressed she’d managed to buy a fair helping of the stuff after Lambast had started a fight with the man when he got a bit handsy.

“It was a cracking shopping trip wasn’t it?” said Lamb with a coy smile “Told you it would have everything you wanted”

Kai picked up all her bags of gifts and shuffled Lamb out her room towards the dining room. They spent most the evening getting everything wrapped packed and put away, they even had to skip dinner to get everything thing done. Lamb stacked and secured the last of Kai's gifts in the locked storage hold because she knew Kai was a present shaker and couldn’t resist checking out everyone’s gifts if she had the chance.

“Holly, if you see Kai down here fiddling with the hold, blast her with the fire suppression system until she’s unconscious.. or runs away”

“Right on Lamb. Water jets primed and ready for Kai capping” droned the ever unenthusiastic A.I.

“Time to get out into the big black again old boy. Start system checks please Hol, I’m heading to the bridge right now"  

Kai was already there fiddling with the settings of the shiny new Gutamaya seat. Even the extra seating Lamb had fitted before she left Robigo to meet Kai had been replaced by the engineers with something more Gutamaya.

“I say Kai, would you mind awfully if I did the first system checks and lift off? The Hand has been thoroughly refitted so it feels a bit maiden voyage if you know what I mean”

Kai pulled a face at Lamb as she hopped out of the pilot’s seat and made way for her friend to take the stick.

“Kay. As long as you let me take over on the way back and don’t be too conservative about your little test flight”

Lamb sat, adjusted the seat to her liking and saved the settings while Kai contacted control and requested clearance for a short test flight. Lamb and Holly did a full pre-flight check for the first time in months. Nearing the end of the checks, Lamb asked Holly their usual and completely pointless question.

“Systems analysis Holly, are we good to go?”

“All systems checked” he lied “S.I.G. Captain”

“S.I.G. Holly, let’s go” replied Lambast while Kai shook her head with embarrassment.

Lamb and Holly tested everything doing their best to keep Kai interested, but Lamb could see she was itching to take the stick. Not even boosting to stay alongside the Hand’s own launched missile for a few moments got Kai’s attention. The Hand came to a standstill and Lamb unbuckled her harness. Almost before she had finished standing up, Kai had bolted out of the co-pilot’s seat and slipped in behind Lamb asking Holly to relinquish system commands to Otto.

Lamb was forced into what would definitely be her seat as Kai boosted directly for a narrow gap between the capital ships' drive section and the rest of its main body. Lamb called control to let them know Kai was going to be dangerously buzzing them, and there was nothing anyone could do about it short of shooting the Hand out of the sky.

Once Kai had burnt herself out and quenched her thirst to fly for a while, the Hand landed.

“Wow, that felt great Lamb, sooo good to be flying again. I can tell you the Hand is handling better than ever. It’s gotta be all that armour and hull reinforcements that have been removed. Remember that Lamb, if you get the stick NO RAMMING. The Hand can’t take it now”

Kai took a deep breath.

“That's it huh, I guess we’re good to go now right?”

“Looks that way Kai. We just have to thank our hosts and say goodbye to people then we can leave. I think we’ll spend a couple of days in Reorte for the celebrations if the lads fancy it, and then we’ll be stuffing snowballs down the back of their trousers before you know it”

“Cool! Now let’s go find the guys, I wanna bake a cake with some of this stuff in to see what it does to them”

Last edit: 19 Dec 2019, 3:37pm
Lambast Mercy
20 Dec 2019, 2:49pm
Lamb deftly hooked Kai by the waistband of her trousers as she was off to the galley to grab cake ingredients.

“Not just yet Kai, we can’t be off our heads when we bid fair well to our gracious hosts. That and the boys will probably be wanting to see Ms Kimika and Ms Silca. Well, maybe”

Kai remembered the evening in the forward lounge and imagined Raven and Echo would indeed want to spend a bit of time with that pair. She shrugged in agreement.

“Anyhow,” continued Lambast “I’ll make an appointment with Captain Ioneer if you could find out when Mr Cousland will be available please. In the meantime, I’m going to decorate the Hand”

The Captain was glad Silas Kaisla and Lamb had made time to come and thank her personally. Don Hunfredo also joined them to say goodbye and double-check everyone was happy with the work done on the ships. They finely got away from Dolf after Silas and Kaisla promised to come back to pick up the Animus and Kai’s new Fur-De-Lance once it was finished.

Lambast had plotted a route to Futhark that would take them through a few systems where she could restock the Hand with the fresh produce that was sorely low or just plain missing from her galley. It also took them by a few nice places to spend an evening or two while they waited for the Baron and Baroness to let them know the Lodge was ready, and they had clearance to enter the heart of Princess Aisling Duval’s empire.

“Rout plotted Mr. Cousland and ready to engage?” Asked Lamb from the pilot's seat.

“Yarp. Ready to jump when you are Lamb” came his answer over the coms.

“Very well then, as soon as Kai gives us the go-ahead we’ll be off”

Kaisla sucked a big blob of cake mix off her finger as she put the lid on the mixing bowl and strapped herself in the galley’s jump seat.

“All ready down here Lamb, let’s go ho ho!”
EvilCreamsicle
21 Dec 2019, 9:16pm
The trip to Reorte would normally have been a bit of a slog, but everyone was happy to be spacebound again. None of them, for one reason or the other, were very accustomed to being tied down for long. At least not in that context.

During one stop for fuel and supplies, Kaisla had trotted over to the Arbiter with a large box and a huge grin on her face.

The boys walked into the mess to find Kai unboxing a large cake covered in white frosting. It said 'Merry Holidays', which Silas was positive was solely to grind Lamb's gears, and had what looked like a crude frosting-art of Gary on it.

"Hi boys! I madeja something!" she said, barely able to contain herself.

"Is that real?" Raven was wide eyed as he made a line straight for the table and cut himself a slice. The white frosting was hiding a slightly green-tinted cake beneath, which Raven began to inhale immediately.

"Oh... delibchsious!" he said excitedly with a full mouth.

Silas then stepped in and began slicing and plating cake for everyone else, including Lamb, assuming she'd be over shortly. Only once everyone had a slice did he serve himself.

As he took his first bite, he looked over to see Kaisla, who was holding her plate and staring at him like a little boy waiting for his dad to open his handmade Christmas gift.

"What?" he asked

"OHMYGAWDJUSTEATITALREADY!" she burst out, hopping up and down on the balls of her feet.

Silas chuckled and took a bite. It really was as delicious as it looked.

"This is amazing! What's in it?"

"Oh, you know... cake stuff..."

She was definitely up to something, but since she thought she was hiding it well, Silas decided to let it be for the time being.

After about twenty minutes, Lamb had joined them to see that Kai's enthusiasm had turned to confusion.

"Nothing is happening." she pouted

"Well, how much have you had?" Lamb replied

"This is my third piece."

Lambast took the plate of half eaten cake from her. She fought to hang onto her fork, but relinquished when Lamb's expression changed from her 'thoughtful friend' face to her 'mom' face.

After cake, the decision was made to spend the rest of the evening on station. Silas and the guys decided to try and teach Kai and Lamb Euchre. Raven was sitting with Kaisla trying to coach her. Lambast picked it up pretty quickly, but Kai kept getting frustrated because she couldn't understand why the values of the cards kept changing from hand to hand.

After a while, Silas started to notice that when he'd turn his head, it felt like his eyes didn't follow right away. Like when a screen has a low framerate.

Curious.

He looked down at his hand of cards. The king was staring at him sidelong. How long had he been in that position?
At that moment, he became hyper-aware of the feel of the texture of the cards he was holding, and began rubbing them together.

"SILAS!" Raven shouted at him

"Oh, what?"

"It's your turn dude."

Silas was really swimming inside his head now. Then it hit him.

"Kaisla...?" he asked

"Si...?" she replied in kind

"I know what you put in the cake."

Kai busted out laughing, even harder than normal. She'd had a lot more cake than anyone else, and it showed.
It was contagious. After a few minutes Silas wasn't sure why they'd been laughing to begin with, and the game of cards they were playing was completely forgotten.

"I'm hungry." Raven said.

"You're always hungry." said Echo, throwing a playing card at him like a frisbee.

Lambast looked mildly uncomfortable and lost in her own thoughts.

"You OK Lamb?" Silas asked

"Hmm?" she snapped out of herself and looked at him. Actually, it was more of a stretch or a melt than a snap.

"Want some snacks? I'll get some snacks." Silas offered, however he didn't move. His limbs felt heavy, like they had their own independent tired brains and he had to convince them to do their jobs.

"We could also do that other thing we talked about." Echo offered, a little more freely than was typical for him.

"Shut up dude... come help me with snacks." Silas finally managed to get out of his seat and make his way to the kitchen, through heavy careless footfalls and an even more exaggerated 'vision lag' than he'd been experiencing previously.

Between the two of them they managed to carry most everything that was salty, sweet, crunchy, or meaty into the mess.

Kaisla immediately rose from her seat and, like a zombie searching for brains, pushed her way past the guys to the smorgasbord of unhealthy happiness they had procured. She had devoured an entire bag of crisps by the time Raven stood from his seat.

"This is the definition of happy." she mumbled through a mouthful of snacks as she leaned on the counter.

They spent the rest of the evening having very good, stimulating, and engaging conversation, most of which would be forgotten in the morning. Silas had even gotten out a guitar and written a song that everyone would remember in the morning as having been 'awesome', although nobody would recall what it sounded like. The only other prominent memory of the evening would be of Raven laughing so hard he threw up a little.

In the morning, Silas woke up in quite good spirits. He tucked Kaisla into a coccoon, got up and walked to the washroom. As he was having the 'morning ritual' he had some time to think, and realized that Leith had been silent the entire evening.

Finishing up in the washroom, he went to make himself a coffee. He put an entire pot on, figuring someone else would want some.

"Leith?" he asked into the empty kitchen.

"I'm here..."

"Are you alright? Didn't hear from you much last night." Silas asked

"Yeah it's... I'm... I don't know. Seeing you guys having fun and everything it was like... man I wish I had the words. Just really hit home for me my... situation."

Silas wasn't sure what to say, and so said nothing.

"I'm dead for fuck's sake. I'm DEAD! And yet... I'm also here."

"This is new for me too. You're my only nephew kid, just wish I could hug you." Silas was not expecting to go so abruptly from contentment to fighting tears.

"Yeah. It's, I mean you hear the term 'dead and gone'... I guess I'm not gone. That's something. Just going to take some adjusting." Leith concluded.

"Yeah, for all of us." Silas added.

"I'll be alright... just need some time."

"OK. Love ya kid."

"You too, uncle."

Silas poured himself a mug of coffee from the fresh pot and headed to the mess to find Lamb taking inventory of the snacks and various items that had been consumed, since they were, after all, still at port and could replace them.

"'Mess' is appropriately named this morning, yeah?" Silas asked, announcing himself to her.

"There are less polite terms that would perhaps be more apt." she replied. Turning to Silas, she could tell something was wrong.
"Are you alright?"

"Yeah... eventful morning is all." he said.

He decided to distract himself by getting a start on the cleaning.
Lambast Mercy
22 Dec 2019, 12:18pm
Lamb discreetly watched Sails, he wasn’t his usual fully confident self. She fancied he was avoiding her this morning. Recalling last night was awkward but there was one moment that was troubling Lamb, and could possibly be the reason Sails was keeping his back to her.

“Mr Cousland, last night while you were creating that rather capital song I seem to remember getting very close to you. I mean I remember looking into your eyes, so we were face to face. Silas, did I try to kiss you?”

His head was full and also felt full of cotton wool, but what Lamb just said pushed a lot of that out the way. Now she said it, he did remember being face to face with Lambast and a cool feeling climbed up his spine and over his shoulders while he clambered to recall what happened next.

“Oh crap Lamb, I remember now. I’d just got to the melody down and somehow the neck of the guitar hooked you and pulled you close to me. I turned to apologise and was completely lost in your eyes”

Sails put the Cheesy Bitz pack in the bin bag he was holding and turned an ashen guilt-filled face to Lambast and used a deeper more personal voice.

“I was sure they were not as blue as I remembered. As I traced the lines of your face in my mind, I noticed your hair was shorter and a different style”

Lambast had a look on her face Sails would expect from Kai and she was clutching the necklace she always wore. He was enjoying himself, so he carried on.

“I cupped your face in my hand so I could look at you properly and moved closer”

Lambast wasn’t breathing and she was almost as white as her hair but a red flush was climbing up lambs neck.

“Our eyes met again, and then” Sails paused his breathy deeper voice and continued in a more conversational tone “I realized you weren’t Kai so no wonder your eyes weren’t as blue as they had been and ya hairstyle had changed. You don’t remember the rest because Kai grabbed you by the nose and pulled you off the sofa for eyeing me up and you fell asleep on the floor”

Lambast’s chin flapped for a moment before she responded much to Sails’ satisfaction.

“You bastard! You made me think I’d got off with you right in front of Kai. As if I would do such a thing”

Silas got back to clearing up the mess with a smile on his face. Lamb really did indigent on a professional level.

“Don’t worry Lamb, we just confused each other. Me coz I thought you were Kai, and you because a rouge guitar cord lured you into my personal space”

Lamb felt the blush heating her face and didn’t enjoy being the victim of an early morning joke but she did appreciate the funny side.

“Just for that you can jolly well clean up the rest of this yourself. I’ll deliver the replacement supply later and pick up Kai. Should be a few hours doing that, and then we'll cover the last leg of our journey. .. You cheeky sort” Finished Lamb with an embarrassed smile.



Kai activated the Hands systems and buckled up.

“All systems active ready for launch. Everything alright over there hussy?”

Lamb rolled her eyes. Kai had been milking that all day. It had been funny the first few times, but it seemed Kai just didn’t stop enjoying it.

“S.I.G, I mean station ready Kai, depart when you like. We should arrive at Faereal Prime with a few hours to spare before it gets dark.

Kai turned a beaming face to Lambast letting her know Kai was lining up another insult.

“Oh good, it’ll be nice and romantic. Just right for kissing other people’s boyfriends”



The trip went without a problem until they got a few jumps away from the Futhark system. Being close to the home of Princess Aisling Duval’s, Imperial security was a little twitchy about a pair of independent ships heading for the hart of her Empire.

Kai didn’t really mind the interruptions because it stopped Lambast singing Christmas songs. The closer they were getting, the more excited Lambast was. Lamb decided to impart a little information about the area Lord Kavanagh was responsible for.

“The gravity is a tiny bit lower than most people set a ships artificial for, but not so much it should cause difficulties. The day length is a few hours longer than earth standard, that’s going to make Christmas morning a bit long, but give us more time to enjoy the evening”

Kai had her ear studs on and was only half-listening. She was tempted to turn off the coms to save the boys from an informative Lambast.

“Lord Kavanagh’s family has been responsible for Windum for about two hundred years, that’s the county the Kavanagh’s run, and we’ll be staying in Hayzburor. There’s a lovely town there with a small spaceport and a few estates divide the heavily wooded countryside.

Lamb gave Kai hope that it was over when she paused for breath.

“Now remember, the lodge does not belong to my mum and dad, it’s the Kavanagh’s. Rich people tend to lend each other high paid jobs, fleets and the odd house so be a little extra respectful of the property if you would please”

Lamb finely stopped talking about where they were going after they made the last jump and arrived in system, but much to Kai’s horror Lamb took to singing her favourite Christmas song again.

“I’m flyin home for Christmas. Oh I can’t wait to see those faces” she sang

Kai narrowed her eyes

“Stop it Lamb or I’ll go full bunny boiler on you”

“And its been so long” crooned Lambast “I’ll sing this song, to paaaass the time away. Flyin in my ship, flyin home for Christmas”

With the Hand on course for Faereal Prime, Kai let Holly keep the ship steady and she unbuckled her harness.

“Lamb, you know I love you, but your singing voice hurts my brain. If you don’t stop, I’m gonna kick you in the fudd”

Lamb just smiled at Kai who was climbing up onto her seat just like a cat getting ready to pounce. Lamb fancied her chanced against Kai now the effects of cake night had worn off, so she kept singing.

“So I sing, for you, though you can hear me…”

“I really wish that was true. Last warning Lamb” If Kai had a tail, it would have been twitching.

“But I’ll get through, and feeeel you near me”

Kai rose up on the seat and coiled her legs ready to jump.

“One more line Lamb and I think we’ll both regret it”

“Flyin in my ship flyin hoARRGH!”

True to her word, Kai cleared the space between them in one jump. Lamb caught Kai by the arms and gently jammed her foot in Kai’s gut to stop her from mounting a spirited attack. Fortunately for both of them, a strangers voice interrupted the scuffle.

“H O L dash Seven Five. Good evening, this is Windum traffic control over”

Lamb let go of Kai, and Kai let Lamb live to see another day. She took her seat and responded.

“H O L dash Seven Five. Hand of Lambast escorted by V G Arbiter requesting permission to dock at Windum Spaceport over”

“Rodger H O L dash Seven Five, please follow the flight path we have supplied. You are expected and we welcome you to our town. Please enjoy your stay ladies. Windum traffic control out”

Kai checked the flight corridor and steered onto the course, then she noticed the spellings.

“Lamb, did you get the right planet?”

Lamb stopped fiddling with her panel trying to look helpful. Kai could fly the Hand on her own just using her feet. Lamb often felt like she was just there so Kai had someone to show off for.

“What do you mean? I’m not you. This is the right place, I’ve been here before”

Kai leaned to her right to better read the panel.

“Can’t be the right place. It says Wymondham StarPort serving Happisburgh. You said..”

Lambast interrupted.

“No no this is right. I know it looks funny, but they are pronounced Windum and Hayzburor”

Kai slowly turned her head and gave Lamb an amazing incredulous look. Years of Lamb giving Kailsa a hard time over the way the Federation used the common language finely found a flawless argument.

“Excuse me Miss Proper-Pronunciations-of-the-Language” said Kai in a very good Lamb-esk accent dripping with sarcasm “How the royal fuck dose Why-mund-ham and Happ-is-burgh become Windum and Hayzburor?”

Lamb took the high and might tone that came naturally to her, but she had to agree with Kaisla. Lamb’s father had explained the mutation of the language over time, counterpointed by the immutable written word, and he made it sound all very understandable. The explanation seemed weak as she recounted it to Kai.

Kaisla decided not only was the explanation weak, but it was also wrong.

“If you are tellin me that says Hayzburor, then these are pants, not trousers” said Kai tugging on the leg of her flight suit. “I get water from a faucet, not a tap and the letter Zee does exist. You can stick your Zed up your Wymondbum or as you pronounce it, Happyarse” finished a triumphant Kaisla.

Lamb had to admit that Kai did have a point.

“I have no sound argument in this case, you win hon. Except for Zee, that really doesn’t exist. Philistine. Now come on, let's get customs done and find out where the boys have landed”


The Hand was approaching a huge island that was completely white surrounded by a storm grey sea that matched the smoky sky. A small network of roads started to show up but were quickly hidden by trees as the Hand descended. The forest looked very obviously man-made from above but that didn’t detract from the size of the thing. The Island of Happisburgh was almost completely covered in evergreens with little patches of civilisation cut into its sprawling greenery.

The Spaceport was a few miles outside of Wymondham and not really much smaller than the town itself. Kai felt like she could walk around the whole town in a morning. Kai placed the Hand down better than any auto-pilot could, flicked off the power and near vaulted out of the seat.

“Come on Lamb, let’s go get changed”

Kai scampered out of the cockpit and ran to her room. Lamb was hot on her heels.

“Holly unlock the luggage hold for the ground crew please and drop he internal temperature to nineteen degrees then drop your program from the Hand and get ready to be unplugged. We’re going to see mum and dad old boy”

The A.I. answered in an up-tempo way. Uptempo for Holly anyway.

“Blimey, I better put on me Sunday best ay? Right o Lamb, gimmie a moment and I’ll be ready”

Kai was waiting for Lamb on by the boarding ramp. She was buried in a large red puffy coat and big brown knee-high fur-lined boots. She peered out at Lamb from under a cream bobble hat and matching scarf that left only a slit for her eyes. Lamb was in her usual Imperial colours but she topped off her look with multi-coloured hat and scarf.

“Give me a hand with Holly please Kai. He’s a bit heavy for me on my own”

Lamb opened the secure hatch that contained Holly and his emulator docking station. Lamb leaned down and grabbed the handle of the box that contained Holly. The rack slid out and the momentum unplugged Holly’s black-box from the system that let the old A.I. interface with the Hand. Kai helped Lamb heft Holly onto her shoulder and the girls practically skipped down the boarding ramp.

The ground crew were unloading all the presents from the Hand’s hold. Kai got her first eye full of the things Vincent had sent along with Lambast. Everything he had gifted was wrapped in silk with gold and silver ribbon. The occasional golden box studded with gems also joined the lavish stack of presents.

“Oh my god Lamb, what’s all that? Are you compensating for something or feeling massively guilty?”

“No no Kai, it’s just a friend of mine that lives in Maia. He was grateful for what we did and he’s got so much money, he makes my fortune look like pocket money. Add to that he’s a deeply crass show-off and you get that stack of boasting”

Kai eyed the growing stack or presents.

“Oh well. All the more for us. Right, I’ll leave you here, I’m gonna go find out where the guys are docked”

Kai ran off for the Spaceport barely pausing to share a Merry Christmas with the man that was approaching the girls. The man in a big high-viz coat and ear protectors exchanged a seasons greeting with Lambast.

“Good evening madam, I assume you’re Lady Mercy. Do you need any special assistance?”

“Um, yes please” Lamb slapped the large box she was carrying “This is my A.I. Holly. Please take good care of him and put him with my luggage please. Also, are there any Victorian style Carrol singers performing in town this evening”

The man smiled a big festive grin.

“Yes your ladyship, the Christmas celebrations are in full swing at the Chapelfield shopping centre. You’ll find plenty of stalls selling all sorts of hot festive foods including an amazing hot-chocolate stand that is my wife’s personal favourite and Farther Christmas will be there with his reindeer right up until late Christmas eve”

Perfect thought Lambast. She had to stop her self clapping her hands and jumping for joy.

“Could you tell me how do we get to the Chapelfield centre from here please?”

“Happy to your ladyship. The Maglev from the port will take you to the subway station right outside the court in front of the centre. We’ll have your luggage packed and deliver the Snowcats to the car park there. You’ll need the Snowcats to get out to the Kavanagh estate once you are ready to visit the Baron and Baroness”

Lambast handed the very helpful man Holly.

“That is most helpful, thank you very much. I take it my mother called ahead?”

“Oh yes your ladyship, indeed she did. I dare sat the Baroness is very eager to see you” finished the man with a bored grin.

Lambast shouted goodbye to Holly and chased after Kai. There was no snow in the spaceport and she was itching to throw a snowball at Kai. The sooner they got to town the better.

Last edit: 04 Jan 2020, 2:41pm
EvilCreamsicle
24 Dec 2019, 12:12am
By the time Silas had unbuckled from the pilot's seat of the Arbiter, Raven was already pressed against the canopy in awe of the winter wonderland surrounding them. They hadn't been on an atmospheric planet in quite some time, and Raven had never been on one with snow.

"Go get changed dude, I swear you're a little kid." Silas laughed at him as he passed, headed to his cabin.
Normally Raven would have protested, but he was actually little-kid level excited and just bounced off to his room as well.

Inside his cabin, Silas opened up the top drawer of his dresser and retrieved a wristband, which he carried over to his terminal.

"Hey Leith, think you can figure out how to hitch a ride on this thing?" he said, plugging the wristband into the terminal.

"Yeah, popping over now. And here I was thinking I'd have to spend Christmas on the landing pad."

"Nah, we can't have that, can we?" Silas said, moving to get dressed while the transfer was taking place.

Silas wasn't feeling the whole suit-and-tie thing, but still wanted to look worthy of affluent company and make a good first impression.

He settled on black slacks, leather shoes, and a black turtleneck sweater. He felt out of place in it, but it felt appropriate for the environment. Over that, he wore a charcoal pea coat and an orange-and-white scarf.

"Ready to go Leith?" he asked

"Should be all set. Let's ride!" Leith replied.

Silas pulled up his coat sleeve to attach the wristband and then headed down to the landing pad. He wanted to see Raven's first reaction to the snow.

Echo was already waiting outside. He was wearing olive slacks with boots, a black beanie hat, and a matching olive greatcoat with gold buttons. For someone who was no longer military he sure still seemed to dress the part. It couldn't be seen under the coat, but Silas was positive that under that greatcoat was a tan button-down shirt with a black tie.

Silas and Echo bumped fists and then just turned to wait in silence for Raven.

They didn't have to wait long. Soon, Raven came barreling down the Arbiter's ramp, looking around in awe. He was looking awfully festive in his red slacks and blazer, over a green button down shirt, with a matching green handkerchief, under a maroon wool trenchcoat.

He stopped at the bottom and looked around.
"Holy crap..." he said to himself, before getting hit right in the face with a snowball thrown by Echo.

The pad they had landed in was by the edge of the spaceport, and Raven couldn't help himself. He ran toward maintenance stairs leading from the pad to the ground, but was stopped by Echo grabbing the collar of his coat and holding him back.

"There will be plenty of snow in town, bud. We gotta wait for Kai and Lamb."

"Oh..." Raven said, mildly defeated.
Lambast Mercy
30 Dec 2019, 6:26pm
Everyone met up on the maglev to town. The town was the first stop and the only stop active. It seemed the factories and stations were closed or low staff for the Christmas break. Kai and Raven seemed put out that the train was running underground but fortunately for them, it was a very short trip. Kai had her face pressed up against the doors doing her best not to let Raven jostle her out of pole position. It didn’t work. As soon as the doors opened, Raven shoved Kai out the way and ran for the exit steps with Kai hot on his heels.

By the time everyone else made it to street level, Raven was already losing a snowball fight. He may have got there first, but Kai had experience in the field. The sceptical they were creating was not ill-received, in fact, a few people were stopping to watch. Echo joined in, just to help out Raven was his flimsy excuse. Lamb nudged Sails who was watching the fight with a smile.

“You keep an eye on the children and I’ll go fetch us some snacks.

By the time Lambast got back with a bag of hot food and a tray of hot chocolate, everyone was suffering from frozen hands and wet faces. The Goose with sage and onion stuffing sandwiches, and a side of pigs in blankets were very welcome indeed. Lamb lead everyone to the courtyard in front of the Shopping centre where the Victorian style carol singers were performing in front of a very large Christmas tree. Farther Christmas was sat in his slay complete with eight reindeer and children were lining up top have their picture taken beside him. Kai joined the back of the line.

“Why is he in green? Shouldn’t the guy be wearing red?” asked Echo.

Raven didn’t answer, he was too busy taking pictures of his own. The carol singers looked just like the ones on the cards. The reindeer didn’t look like the ones he was expecting, but they were still completely picture-worthy. Lambast answered the question.

“That’s Farther Christmas, not Santa. Farther Christmas was supplanted by Santa, but just like goose meat, Farther Christmas is traditional to Lord Kavanagh’s ancestral home on earth”

Echo huffed.

“Traditional or not, he should be in red. Green just looks weird”

Raven was lining up a snowball. One of the singers was a short fat guy in a top hat with an impressively deep voice. When he held the long note on the course, all his chins wobbled and his open mouth just begged to be filled with snow. He smoothed off the snowball and drew his arm back low to keep it hidden by the people in front of him. A man's voice by his left ear caused Raven to pause.

“If you lose that snowball sir, I will turn you into the angel atop the tree and then, once everyone has had a good laugh, I’ll arrest you sir”

Raven had been threatened by law enforcement on countless stations and settlements, but this was probably the most polite precursor to police brutality he had received. As it was Christmas, Raven dropped the snowball.

“Thank you sir. Merry Christmas, ho ho ho” said the policeman as he wandered off through the crowd.

After Kai got her picture with an extra jolly Farther Christmas, Lamb took everyone to the car park to pick up the snowcats. There were three of them waiting for the party, one had a trailer stuffed full of presents. Two dock hands were waiting inside the further most cat for Lambast. They got out when they spotted Kai.

“Good evening your ladyship. Everything is packed but we did have to supply a trailer as we just couldn’t fit everything in three Cats. Now, I’ve been told your heading to the Kavanagh Lodge. Would your ladyship require an escort drone to light your way?”

Kai straightened her back and inspected her nails for a moment and then looked down her nose at the dockhand.

“One would indeed appreciate a drone to escort one whatwhatwhat. One would also like to enquire as to the red carpet. Has it been laid along the road for one whatwhatwaht?”

Kai’s impression of Lamb really was spot on.

Lambast grabbed Kai’s thumb folding it in on its self and squeezed using the pain inflicted to guide Kai out of her way.

“Owowowow. Christ sake Lamb! Where did you learn all those nasty little pinches?”

Lambast ignored Kai and addressed the dockhand.

“I am Lady Mercy, she is my good friend Ms Delana and she was just having a little fun. Thank you for your diligence”
Lambast handed over a couple of generous cred-sticks to the men along with the extra food and hot chocolate she had purchased.
“Where is holly?”

“You’re A.I. is in the blue cat, he insisted we put a seatbelt on him. That’s a very interesting COVAS you got there your ladyship. You have about twenty miles to cover in the dark and weather control says we’ll be having light snowfall in about fifteen minutes”

“Thank you young man” Lambast turned to her friends. “Looks like I have the blue one, the red has the trailer so whoever is the best driver should take that one”

Kai instantly turned for the red cat, Sails slipped his hand under her coat and snagged the waistband of her trousers. Her feet slipped on the snow, making her appear to be running on the spot for a few steps before she noticed she wasn’t getting anywhere. She looked back at Sails’ big smile and sagged.

“Has Lamb been training you in Kai control techniques?”

“Heheh no hon, it comes naturally to me after spending so much time with you. Will you let me drive? I’d like to try out the tracks on the cat”

The dockhand Lambast had spoken to put himself between everyone and that cats.

“One more thing before you leave. The wildlife out there associate the cats with winter feed, so they may get a little close to you. They are nothing to worry about as long as you stay in your cats. They are protected, so don’t run them over or anything. If you do hit one, report it immediately. The ecosystem is still very young and needs a lot of help to balance. The wolves may be a problem and circle the cats, but just activate the sonic repellent device fitted to the cats, and they’ll get out your way”

Kai and Sails got in the red cat, leaving Echo and Raven to take the yellow one while Lambast thanked the dock hands once more.

“Echo, what’s a wolf? They're like a big dog thing right?” asked raven as they mounted up.

“S’right Raven, but they don’t have thumbs so we’ll be fine once the doors are closed”

Not far outside of town the countryside stretched out ahead blanketed by snow and bathed in a strange twilight reflecting off the icy glitter. The rolling hills didn’t last long before the forest engulfed them and the road was lost to its dark recesses. A drone accompanied each snowcat and projected a powerful spotlight just ahead of its parent vehicle. Without them, no one would have been able to find the road. It was marked by light posts, but the drifting snow and buried most of them.

The snow came a little early much to Raven's delight. Big heavy flakes fell from the sky filling the widescreens of the cats in moments. Wipers were something that space pilots often forgot existed. Every now and then, the lights reflected off eyes on the edge of the tree line peering at the small column of cats. Both Raven and Kai used the spotlights on the roof to see what was following them. The beams caught wolves on each side of the cats easily keeping pace with the slow tracked Vehicles. The light just seemed to bring them close. Raven was mesmerised by the yellow eyes of a big grey-white wolf keeping pace, slowly getting closer to him. His eyes were locked on the wolf's while he reached for his slate to capture an image so he didn’t notice Echo leaning over to Raven's side.

The wind rushing in and a blast of cold on his face made Raven’s jump and he dropped his slate into the foot-well as he scrabbled for the handle to slammed the door shut. Echo was laughing good and hard.

“What the fuck man? That’s not funny. That thing is almost as big as me. I don’t wanna get eaten” complained Raven.

“Sorry man, I couldn’t resist. I only wish I had my slate ready to capture your face. You’re as white as snow”

The drive took the best part of an hour before the forest retreated from the road and taller lights illuminated the snow. The column passed through a gate that was nothing more than a pair of limestone brick pillars either side of the road supporting a wrought iron sign that read Kavanagh. After another half-mile, a well-lit copper-roofed gazebo came into view just to the left of the driveway. A wide three-story house loomed up behind the gazebo and driveway. It was built from the same large limestone bricks that the gate maker was made from. An east and west wing flanked the main house a floor shorter each with a peaked roof.

The two people in the gazebo mush have been Lamb’s mum and dad. Her father was a tall man with black hair turning white at the sides. He stood with is hands behind his back reviling a tweed suit under his navy-blue greatcoat. His face was lined and friendly wearing a disarming smile. Everything about the man said civility and decency and that made his wife quite a surprise to behold.

Barely tamed auburn curls cascaded over the woman’s shoulders held back by a black and fruit motiffed headband that covered her ears but not the large double strawberry earrings. She came, running would be the polite word for the lope she managed down the steps of the gazebo with her arms raised. Her long gold leather coat swung behind her as she advanced on the cats, a gold medallion matching its swing indecisively trying to flank a thick yellow poker-dot tie. Unlike her daughter, Lamb’s mother was not a thin person. She wasn’t fat either, but there was definitely *extra* Lisa and she knew how to use it. Her white and smiley faces shirt with a tidy black blazer were defiantly designer label and cut very well for the woman. She looked a lot like Lamb would if Lamb ever had any colour in her face other than the cold blue she always wore, and the extra padding softened the edges of that face and just made Lisa better looking.

Kai leapt out of the cat while Sails was trying to park it beside Lamb’s and ran full tilt at Lisa. The squeal released by the two women must have been the sound used by the sonic repellent devices. Sails fancied he could hear distant wolves whimpering in audio pain. Lambast was struggling with Holly’s long Blackbox so Silas helped her get him up on her shoulders. He knew better than trying to take Holly off Lamb. He waited by the cat as Lamb shook hands with her dad and he offered her a cheek to kiss. Echo and Raven joined him, all three of them felt a bit fifth wheel.

“Al’right there Lees” said Holly’s little tinny speaker on his black box “You brought me docking station ‘ave ya honey?”

Keeping Kai, who was clamped to Lisa like a limpet in a one-armed hug, Lisa answered the A.I. and placed her free hand on him.

“HOLLYHollyHolly. How are you my digital dude? My girls treating you well?”

“Oh you know Lamb, but Kai is doin most the flyin now. Not so much ramming goin on thanks to ‘er. ‘Ere Lisa, you puttin on a posh accent for some reason?”

Holly again sounded excited, but you had to know Holly to detect the slight difference. His question had a wonderful effect on Lisa. She shook her head in disbelief and blinked like she was in time with an invisible strobe. Her husband cleared his thought and saved her from having to answer the question.

“Excuse me darling, should we not take care of introductions before we cater to Holly’s needs?”

His voice had an effect much like Dolf. He sounded like he was about to yawn before every word, but the accent was warm and friendly. Coupled with his calm trustworthy face, the thought of disappointing him didn’t even enter one’s head. Kai pushed her way between Lamb’s mum and dad putting an arm around each of them.

“Ok, I’ll take care of that” she said “Lisa, Derek, my I prese.. “

Lisa interrupted Kai with a pointedly fake and impolite, polite cough.

Lambast, still holding her dad's hand took over.

“Gentlemen, may I introduce the Baron and Baroness Derek and Lisa Mercy, first Barons of Ormesby on Cubeo three’s Northern Territories”

The Baron and Baroness bowed and curtsied respectively. Lambast continued her duty of introductions.

“Mother, farther. This is the courageous Sails Cousland with his Nephew Leith, and beside him is the esteemed Echo Ramón and last, but by no means least, the adroit Raven Eugene”

Lisa imagined she was drifting forward when in fact it was more of a stomp with her hand extended, showing the chunky bejewelled rings on each finger, and she whispered to Lambast loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Ar har harr. Wonderful darling. And which one is your beau hmm?”

The orange light coming from the heaters on the gazebo only served to exaggerate just how red Lambast had instantly turned.

Last edit: 30 Dec 2019, 6:48pm
EvilCreamsicle
03 Jan 2020, 5:09pm
“Ar har harr. Wonderful darling. And which one is your beau hmm?”

The orange light coming from the heaters on the gazebo only served to exaggerate just how red Lambast had instantly turned.


Silas, Echo, and Raven exchanged a brief uncomfortable glance, which Silas broke by gently grabbing the extended hand between his fingers and thumb with a polite bow. Not a full-on 90 degree submissive bow as a serf may have done, but more of a respectful eye-level bow, as if they had been meeting at court instead of the snowy woods.

"Wonderful to make your acquaintance, Baroness, and Baron." he said, nodding towards Baron Derek as he addressed him.
"We are most thankful for your hospitality."

Kai let go of the Mercy’s and walked, not bounced as she usually did, beside Sails and took hold of his sleeve.

“She can’t have this one” She said looking up to Sails “and the other two are a bit scared of her.. . Lambasty-ness”

Lisa returned the bow with a small curtsy and regarded Silas a little closer.

“Oh kiki darling, good choice” She gave a very un-ladylike wink to Kai “Firm jawline, good shoulders and nice shoes”

The Baroness floated her hand gracefully towards Raven fluttering her long lashes at him as her smile returned to something that certainly would even start to know what and innuendo was. The Baron stepped forward and touched his wife on the shoulder.

“Sweetheart, why don’t you take the girls in out of the cold? Perhaps you chaps would be kind enough to help me park the cats and unpack the luggage. I excused the staff upon arrival, it is Christmas after all”

"Of course." Silas nodded, prying his sleeve from Kai's grip, squeezing her hand and sending her off with the Baroness with a smile.

"...Although, I think our awestruck friend here should refrain from driving the cats, as this is his first experience with snow." Silas said, gesturing towards Raven.

"...Unless, of course, you think the inevitable laughs would justify the inevitable damage?" he added, deciding to try and get a feel for the Baron's sense of humor.

Raven wanted to protest in usual fashion, but was still getting a feel for Baron Mercy as well.

The baroness put her hands out for Kai, but not Lambast. Lamb got a bit of a dirty look and jerk of the head.

“I’ll get us all hot chocolates and liqueurs prepared shall I? A-ar-ha-ar-hr” said the Baroness as she retreated backwards.

“As this isn’t my house” said the Baron “I think it may be best if Mr Eugene helps with the unpacking. The stable girls did drop by this morning and sculpted some very creative snowman accidents. Perhaps he may enjoy adding to the diorama while we get the vehicles out of the snow. Should there be an emergency, they will be of the utmost importance”

He patted Kai on the head as walked by and silently mouthed “good luck” to Lambast. He turned for the cat Lamb had been driving.

“The stable yard is just beyond the work garage. If you follow me please gentlemen”

The Barron led the line of cats beyond the west wing. Behind the house was a nestle of barns, sheds, and fenced off paddocks. One long barn automatically opened its triple length sliding door to permit the cats. The light came on and illuminated numerous farm vehicles. A few snow bikes were in a section of their own in front of what could best be described as a showroom containing four AV bikes.

The Barron parked the blue cat and got out to guide the others in.

After waiting for Echo to park his cat, Silas followed the Baron's guidance to park his own. At one point he was startled by a loud muffled 'crack'. He assumed the engine must have sparked some excess fuel and didn't worry too much about it.

He hopped out and closed the door.

"Is there anything else you need assistance with, eh... actually sir I'm not aware of the proper way to address a Baron."

Before Baron Mercy could answer, Raven came trotting excitedly into the barn.

"Oh, man, guys, mine is hilarious. Not really sure how snowman accidents will be important in an emergency though..."

Silas puts his face in his palm while Echo stifles a laugh. Even Leith could be heard giggling from Silas' wristband.

The Baron didn’t miss a beat.

“I cannot think of a single emergency situation likely to arise that would not be improved by addition humorous snowmen, and please, call me Derek. Lisa dose like to hear her title vocalised where appropriate. So if you all continue to address my good lady wife as Baroness, you will all raise greatly in her esteem”

Derek lifted the tarp on the trailer.

“Oh, it appears Bam has been to see her extravagant friend in Maia. I would very grateful if you could see your way clear to helping me put everything under the tree. There is quite the bounty of gifts this year”

Derek seemed to remember something.

“I say Mr Cousland, could you have a little look at that tractor next to your cat and see if anything fell off it?”

"Yeah, I thought I heard something too..." Silas said, partially to himself, as he walked back to check the cat. After a thorough scan of the area around and below the machine, he wasn't able to see anything out of order.

Walking back over to Derek, he shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't see anything, but I did hear what sounded like a backfire or something when I was parking it."

"Oh... that was probably me." Raven was snickering.

"Oh bother. What did you do now?" Echo asks, shaking his head.

"Nothing! Everything is fine. My snowman may have been... firework-assisted. But I didn't break anything!"

“Oh! How delightfully ingenious, but please remember that the stable girls may attend the horses tomorrow. Christmas morning means nothing to a girl with the chance to muck out a stables it seems. If you could disarm anything that may cause injury until everyone is aware of the lark, it would be for the best”

Derek found a few trollies to help load up the gifts. Everyone had to stop in the porchway of the back door to change into house shoes, hard-soled slippers. The sitting room had been dressed to resemble a log cabin and a large flagstone fireplace dominated the centre of the expansive room. The sound of burning colas and genuine flame generated heat was very different from the holo-fire on Halloween night. Between a double staircase that flanked the room was a Christmas tree that reached a deal higher than balcony above. With the light of the fire and the slow pulsing multi-coloured decorations on the tree, it gave the impression of being on Lamb’s ship when Holly couldn’t make up his mind what colour alert a big fire would warrant.

After a few trips, everything was put under the tree, or beside it when it came to the gifts Vincent had sent along with Lambast.

“Most considerate of you gentlemen, I thank you. Please, take a seat anywhere you desire, no need to be formal"

Somewhere down the hallway a door opened, everyone could tell because the Baroness could be heard shouting at someone. The door closed again and muffled her voice, then Kai appeared with a huge tray full of thick heavy mugs of Hot Chocolate. Her face said she was happy to have made it out of the kitchen alive.

Silas walked over to Kai to grab a mug from the tray, but really to quietly ask if she was alright. She didn't say anything, just a look that he read as 'poor Lamb' and continued handing out cocoa mugs.

" Hey Kai, how about these?" He asked, sitting on one of a few large cushy floor pillows by the fire, trying to break the ice after the awkward moment.

“Hey far out man” Kai though up a peace sign. “Let’s be like floor hippies dude” She looked over her shoulder at Derek. “Del, where’s the Bourbon in this humble little cottage?"

The Baron chuckled at being called Del and wandered down to the other end of the room shaking his head while Kai dragged one of the surprisingly heavy bean bags over next to Silas. Once everyone was settled, the Baron wheeled an elegant and well-stocked drinks caddy around offering everyone something to add to the hot chocolate.

“Please help yourself to a glass of anything if the fancy takes you, that’s a drinking glass Kiki, not a glass bottle”

Kai put on her best *as if I would* face.

“Well, I am very aware of how Bam got involved with your rather thrilling adventure gentlemen, but how did you chaps come to have my most energetic ward as part of your retinue I wonder?”

Last edit: 06 Jan 2020, 4:00pm

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