01

[defiant_rage]

[For few moments, loud infuriated screaming can be heard. It is clearly an alien language. Its owner carries on for a good while before he realizes that his surroundings do not look like those of his race, but rather human… albeit in a style even more primitive than what he has come to expect. Once he realizes this, he starts talking in English.

Comments

[ttlyisabard]

You have shown up at a mighty fine time. The crew seem to be holed up in their part of the ship, and they aren't answering their communicators. Like the Major said, this isn't your world.

But since you have not been given the speech ...

You are on the Elegante, a ship upon a vast ocean. They are taking us to a place called the "Golden Shore". They have not told us why we are here, or what the "Golden Shore" is.

You have stumbled in here at a bad time ... I find it odd that the captain is still bringing in new passengers ... it must be fully automated. Either way, we are largely powerless here, and it would be best for you to not be fighting with other passengers, no matter what issues your people might have with any races that are familiar to you here ...

But, since you are a warrior, maybe you can make a place here. We're currently besieged by someone, who has been kidnapping passengers, torturing, and murdering them. The ship can bring us back to life, but it is reportedly limited. Either way, we are going to need warriors to help track them down and bring them to justice. I suggest you sharpen a table leg or something ...

[Yeah, Kate wasn't one to withhold much information. Probably why the Major and her weren't the closest.]

And, if it means anything, I am sorry. For all it is worth, the ship is generally comfortable, when we aren't under attack.

[defiant_rage]

[The Arbiter pauses at the sound of this voice--its softer tone reminds him of another human female that he had recently captured back at the Apex site. He was about to torture her and murder her when her usefulness to the Great Journey had expired... he wondered if this female would be so gentle had she known that about him.]

Powerless? Powerless? You think of me as powerless-- do you even know who I am? I need not my blades to cut a foe down-- I have slaughtered thousands with my bare hands alone! This offense would be far greater had you not acknowledged me as the warrior I, indeed, am.

I will hunt these "kidnappers" not for your justice, but for my own pleasure.

[ttlyisabard]

There is a dampener here. My magic is weakened, others who show tremendous physical strength have their power weakened as well. Oh, and if you do anything he doesn't like, the captain can teleport you into the brig and punish you to his heart's content.

I don't know who or what you are, but many have tried to fight the captain and the crew. They have all the cards here ... well, most of them I think.

[Kate's gentle side had been quite tested. She could already tell this 'man' over the comm wasn't going to be a reasonable sort for at least some time, so the best she could do would be to point him in the right direction and not try to overly aggravate him.]

[defiant_rage]

Maybe this is why my active camouflage and energy shielding have been deactivated, and my plasma swords nowhere to be found. Still, it would not be wise to think me entirely helpless without them.

The captain, from what I've come to understand, is human. No human has bested me before-- I have been charged with the extermination of his race. He will fall, if not by my hand, then by the Prophets'. Even as I speak they unearth a fleet that will crack the galaxy in half.

My fate is decided by the Forerunners, not by this... "captain".

[ttlyisabard]

I do not think you're helpless, but whatever you have will not be enough against the captain. Others have tried and failed before you. I do not mean to question your abilities, you must be formidable to have your bravado, but impossible odds are still impossible odds. Could you kill a sun barehanded?

The captain is ... more like a god here. And your prophets and forerunners ... they matter nothing here. You are not in your plane of existence. This is not just another world, it is another place all together.

And it would be best for you to stave your racism here. Us humans far out number you, no matter how strong you are.

[She wondered if he was physically stronger than the Major. Either way, hearing him seethe with furry was amusing; was this sadism she was developing?]

[defiant_rage]

[The voice is suddenly a low, dangerous growl that rumbles deep from the alien's throat.]

Blasphemy! You dare speak of false Gods to me? I hang infidels by their entrails, but I will spare you that seeing as you have never encountered one of my race before.

And you humans may outnumber me, but your race is weak and undisciplined. A mere stepping stone along the path of the Great Journey. It is no wonder the Forerunner left you behind.

[ttlyisabard]

Well thank you for that courtousy. But I can make fire appear from my body without a bit of technology, and have seen even greater power from us weak undisciplined humans. Unless you're a dragon of some sort, I suspect enough fire would put you in your place.

Your god has no power here. Ask any of the priests on board, they cannot hear their voices anymore.

You are lucky Kage isn't out and about right now ...

[She snickered, thinking it would be fun to see Kage teach this alien a lesson.]

[defiant_rage]

[The Arbiter blinks. Is this fleshling... threatening him?]

Fire? I have seen to it that planets burn entirely. Oceans boil and disappear, cities and sand and civilizations alike melt and burn to sizzling glass. Can your fire do that?

As for this "Kage"; I will deal with him when his time comes. As of now, I have been informed that the captain of this vessel lurks beneath decks like a coward. My focus is on him. When I find a way to him, his head will please the Prophets greatly.

[ttlyisabard]

Perhaps, if I worked on it more.

[She snickered; this was oddly fun.]

And good luck with that. Better men have tried ...

[defiant_rage]

The flaw in your reasoning is that I am no man. As for "better" men... virtue has no place in war. It is a miserable pile of scruples that keep many from achieving their goals. Even the rest of my kind fails to understand that.

[ttlyisabard]

Are you made of meat and bone? I mean "man" in a generic sense; should I have said "person" or "creature" instead?

And I didn't say virtuous or honorable, the one I speak of wasn't either ...

[defiant_rage]

"Creature" would have been best in this sense, if you must label something. You humans have a strange fixation on naming things.

Your kind dubbed my race "Elites". It is the only name I've heard them give something that fits.

[ttlyisabard]

Yes, well, names help.

Mine's Katherine by the way ...

[If you at all care, you racist bastard.]

[defiant_rage]

True, I suppose names do, indeed, help.

[In his race, only things that deserve names actually get named. Still, he supposes it's good that he can call the inhabitants of these boats by something, and not Human 1, Human 2... that would just be hard to keep track of.]

[ttlyisabard]

See. Now, both figuratively and literally, we're on the same boat. If you'd like this ride to be comfortable, I wouldn't go making enemies of everyone.

[Good manners, he didn't offer his own name. What a gentle ... thing.]

[defiant_rage]

[What is that--is that a chuckle escaping those grisly, toothed mandibles?]

I suppose we are indeed "on the same boat".

I still desire to sink this one. I cannot fulfill my rightful cause if I am trapped here.