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[sigma_supernova]

Ian Recker, starfighter supreme and recent savior of Earth, walks into the Nexus through an airlock door. He is obviously plagued by dark thoughts. His eyes are glued to the floor, and he barely notices the Nexus sign before he almost runs into it. Once he does, however, it's a whole other ball game. He  glances around wildly, shocked to find

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[rurounitriv]

*She's not looking directly at him, apparently focusing on something going on over in that direction, but she's answering the question.* There once was a Greek king named King Pyrrhus, who fought against the Romans in a place called Asculum and destroyed one of their armies - the Romans lost 6000, the Greeks only 3500. But among those Greek losses were the best of the Greek army, most of their officers, and those who were lost could not be replaced so easily as the Romans could reinforce their own armies... plus, many of those lost were not only Pyrrhus' subordinates, but his friends.

Afterwards, some idiot congratulated Pyrrhus on his victory. Do you know what he said? "May the gods save me from another such victory."

*She looks at him directly for the first time.* Sometimes a victory can cost as much as a defeat, or feel like it does. It's not wrong to feel the pain of their loss, only to wallow in it. Take the time to honor them for what they meant to you, for the sacrifices that they made. Then move on and make the most of the gift they have given you.

[sigma_supernova]

Recker nods once in recognition. "A Pyrrhic victory. That's exactly what this was." Recker, never a shy individual, stares back into her eyes. "You're right. It won't mean anything for them to have died if the Earth doesn't recover, or the Krill attack again."

[rurounitriv]

Exactly. Live while you have the chance, protect what you and they fought for, and you'll honor them in the doing.

[sigma_supernova]

"Thanks. I'd better keep my chin up. This war isn't over yet. Lieutenant Ian Recker." Ian offers her his hand for a handshake.

[rurounitriv]

Triv Athenasia. Priestess of Athena, among other things. Has anyone explained this place to you yet?

[sigma_supernova]

"I've heard some things. Apparently I'm from the future, but I'm pretty sure it's all relative to whose talking. Nice to meet you, Triv. I'm Lieutenant Ian Recker of the Allied Earth Federation."

[rurounitriv]

From a future. If there's one thing this place teaches you, it's that the future is far from set in stone. And so is the past.

Well, just to make sure that you got the important parts: just because you think you know someone, it doesn't mean that you do, because sometimes their past is very different than the one you shared - for that matter, your past may be their future, or vice versa. This is the place where all possible worlds and times - and quite a few you'd swear are impossible - meet, and you can find yourself meeting your 10 year old mother one day and King Arthur the next. Don't eat or drink anything that doesn't come from someone you don't know and trust. And there's something call the Anti-Violence Field that will usually protect you from anyone's attacks and some accidents as long as you don't attack first, but I wouldn't advise betting your life on it working because sometimes it will develop a glitch at the worst possible moment.

[sigma_supernova]

"I'm starting to get the feeling that it's just better not to ask questions." Recker quickly amends that. "Except the one you're supposed to."

"So there could theoretically be more than one of my Earths? Does that mean there could be more than one me in here? Ok, the bit about the violence field is good to know. I'll start bringing my sidearm."

[rurounitriv]

Asking questions can be fun, as can answering them. But this place is not for the rigid-minded or those without a sense of humor. If you're willing to take anything that happens with a grain of salt, then you should be fine.

Oh, there's tons of Earths. I'm about 90% sure that the one you come from isn't the same as the one that I come from, for example. And I know people who have literally dozens of altenates running around here, sometimes simultaneously. Yell for "Edward Elric", for example, and you'll be swamped with blonds with height issues and volatile tempers.

Don't push for a fight and you should be fine - the field works perfectly 99% of the time, and people here are sufficiently used to it that they usually don't push to violence anyway. Especially as the backlash can be painful when the field does work. But when you start something - or express a willingness to retaliate - then the field always goes down.

[sigma_supernova]

"I can see how it would be. It's kind of exciting, now that I'm used to it."

"Huh. That's pretty odd. You'd think with an infinite-or-close-enough-to-it number of universes you'd get all sorts of alien planets." Recker smiles when he hears of the Edward Ehlrichs. That might be worth testing. "I may just take you up on that."

"That's fine. The only fighting I'll be doing is dogfighting, and I won't lose at that!"

[rurounitriv]

It's kind of weird, yes. I think that there may be a certain amount of drift among universes, and certain places connect more easily at certain times to this place. It seems like when there's multiples, they'll come in waves, and then most or all of them will drift off again.

If you do, leave me out of it - there's at least one that I'm on pretty good terms with and I'd like to keep it that way.