Twentysecond Light

[curseu_reflexes]

1.

[The ruined section of Gucun still hasn't quite been cleaned out yet.  At least not of all the scrapped and totaled Combat Frames and Prominence Armors.  And Julia herself went to take a look, to see for herself the Herrera Futuristics products that had been used on Cheng and everyone else.  She's not exactly happy about that, but then again when

Comments

1

[betterthnaliens]

Hey...

[And there's Christine right behind her. She can tell that Julia isn't too happy about this.]

...it'll be alright, Julia. I know you can make his dream come true.

[curseu_reflexes]

It's... not my place to see that dream happen. I gave up that position when I chose to stay on the Chalice.

[Closing her eyes, she lets out a sigh and leans back. A hand moves to go around Christine's waist.]

Not that I regret it in the slightest. But Miss Herrera and the DSSD and all those people who are actually funding programs to get space probes and long-distance machines with humans ready... they're the real heroes here. All my job requires is to protect the world and them along with it.

[betterthnaliens]

[And Christine allows Julia to do so, pulling herself closer to her and wrap an arm around her shoulder.]

Oh, don't say that! By being on the Chalice, you are making it happen. Like you said, you're protecting them. You're giving them the chance to let that man's dreams come true.

[curseu_reflexes]

You're right, of course...

[She turns her face so it's resting on Christine's body. This isn't quite the setting for a tender bit of affection but this is still okay.]

Even if I'm just one person in a group of a lot of amazing people, I'm helping. And if I can get into space... I'll be able to confirm or refute something important that's been on my mind too.

1

[screws_rules]

Maybe you should just take a little from both columns if you can't decide.

I hope you have a plan then. No dream can be achieved by stumbling around blindly. I'll be the first to tell you that.

[curseu_reflexes]

I know where my role in this dream is. I chose it myself, after all.

It's protecting that dream from Thaumata and anyone else who might endanger Herrera Futuristics and the DSSD. After all, I'm not a scientist; I'm a soldier.

[screws_rules]

(Seymour nods a little and closes his eyes in thought.)

Protecting a dream...That is still quite a feat. Dreams can be more fragile than anything on Earth. Even a slight touch can shatter it apart.

[curseu_reflexes]

It's the opposite.

A dream? An idea? It's one of the hardiest things in existence. Tougher than Gundanium or Super Alloy Z. The fact Bertrand Herrera's death didn't die along with him is proof of that.

It may be easy to delay or encumber it... but dreams are a lot tougher than you might think.

1

[chozo_girl]

Of course. [Gah, where did Samus come from? She's atop a small rock nearby, looking over the surroundings as if she'd been there for a while already] Your dream is stronger than that.

[She steps down and approaches] Do not feel guilty. The guilt should goes not to the weapon but to the hand that wields it.

[curseu_reflexes]

[Julia jumps a little bit when she suddenly discovers that Samus is nearby. Accursed tactical genius in action.]

I... I know that. I don't blame myself for this... the rebels probably would've used more of Gucun's own machines if Herrera Futuristics had never started selling stuff here.

I just still feel bad that they ended up wasted on something like this.

[chozo_girl]

Indeed. When someone hates as much as these men did, anything will do to attack their targets. Had they not had Prominence Armors, they would have used mobile armors, power armors, or sticks if necessary.

[curseu_reflexes]

Yeah.

I suppose a part of me's happy that even after seven years, Gucun still had use for Red Shifts.

But if anyone else in Gucun tries to use them to hurt Cheng... I'll stop them myself. Herrera Futuristics has had enough rockiness and they don't need any more bad publicity of that sort.

[withboxofscraps]

Whoof. What happened here?

[Tony was there, dressed in a sharp suit with, admittedly a bulletproof vest under it. He had seen the damage from his ship and had come out to check it out.

Leaning down, he picked up a piece of ruined weaponry with Herrera Futuristics emblazoned on it. He was about to comment when he noticed something and picked it up too.]

... firefight I take it?

[curseu_reflexes]

Ah- Mr. Stark.

And... yeah. A bunch of people took Miss Kwan hostage because they didn't like Cheng being in charge of Gucun. Some of them used leftover Red Shifts that HF had sold to Gucun before the time-bomb craziness.

[withboxofscraps]

Oh.

[Tony knew that sometimes there was an ugly side to arms dealing, especially being a high profile arms manufacturer as well. Looking at the HF symbol on the piece of metal he carried, he sighed and tossed it to the side.]

Doesn't feel right, when weapons are used like this. I should know. It's why I left Neo-America for a while.

[curseu_reflexes]

And thanks for that. I was there when Richard launched his coup... and the fact that he's kept weaseling out of it just makes it seem like he can shake off all the karma that ought to be coming his way.

2

[mecha_eihwaz]

Does this relate to your home, Reilev? And what almost happened to it last time...

[curseu_reflexes]

It has everything to do with that, yes. Thaumata made a scaled-down version of an Irgelion weapon... and I'm worried if they might've set up some kind of salvage operation where all the old Irgelion war machines were scuttled.

And if they could make a scaled-down version of the cannon, it's possible they even gett the real one...

[mecha_eihwaz]

How powerful is that cannon? It couldn't be an undefeated weapon if humans managed to beat it in a battle, right...?

[curseu_reflexes]

Powerful and precise. The plan was going to be to use it to deliver pinpoint destruction to governing bodies and production facilities on Earth. Essentially deprive humanity of any kind of leadership and force them to turn to the Irgelions for survival.

And it really wasn't so much destroyed as it was just neutralized and then junked afterwards.