CHARP! Czar Cross - December Wednesday 1st @ 12 Noon to 3pm Central

ARE YOU ATTENDING?


  • Total voters
    3

Diana

LOOK HOW CALM SHE IS
Original poster
ADMINISTRATOR
MYTHICAL MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Not accepting invites at this time
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
10AM - 10PM Daily
Writing Levels
  1. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
Genres
Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy, Thriller, Space Exploration, Slice of Life
czarcross.jpg

CZAR CROSS
DECEMBER 1ST WEDNESDAY @ 12PM NOON TO 3PM CENTRAL TIME​

Ten years ago a great woman by the name of Polaria Ambrose united the seven systems and became the Czarina of the Delmok Empire. Under her rule, what was once a wild and dangerous place, has become peaceful and flourishes with prosperity. To celebrate this accomplishment, she and a variety of very important, very rich guests were invited onto a space cruise ship for a grand celebration of her rule! It was supposed to be the event of the year, but a band of space pirates showed up to take the ship hostage and in the chaos, the entire ship and everyone on board died.

Except, it didn't happen.

Everyone on the ship woke up feeling groggy and confused, to find that they were no longer orbiting the resort plant and were now adrift somewhere in space. The space pirates never revealed themselves and the explosion never happened. Aside from a few cases of food poisoning, everyone on board is safe and alive. The yacht, however, cannot seem to get in contact with anyone nor calculate where in space they are!

What will these lost guests do now?

*** This is a reboot! That means a fresh start for the setting! :D



EVENT INFO


WHO: Everyone is invited! Character Bios/Pics are not required, but totally encouraged! Post 'em if you got 'em.

WHAT: You are playing a guest or staff aboard this space cruise. Some really crazy shit might've happened, but you can only vaguely remember things, so maybe it didn't? All you know now is that you're lost in space with a very unpleasant mixture of people!

WHERE: Join us in the CZAR CROSS chat room. You'll find the link to our chats in the CHAT tab when it's time to play.

HOW: This is a ACTION ROLEPLAY WITH IMPROVISATIONAL GAME MASTERING. That means the object of this roleplay is to interact with other characters, and from those interactions I will create a plot and story around you. There will be action moments, where your characters will be in danger and they will need to find a way out of it. With this ChaRP "lol random" behaviors are discouraged -- what your character says and does will have in game consequences, so choose wisely!

My roleplays are always NEWBIE FRIENDLY so even if you are terrible at roleplay or have never participated in a ChaRP before, this will be easy for you to get involved in. :D Ask questions, let me know when you need help. I often give tips and direction out of character in the main chat room when people need a little direction.



EASY CHARP TIPS!


Try to show up a good 10 to 15 minutes before the ChaRP is to begin. That way you can read up on any important info, and it makes it easier for your GM to know how to start off the ChaRP when there's a head count.

Don't worry if another player is doing something similar to your idea. DO IT ANYWAY! Similarities and things in common happen in real life too. Everyone also plays differently, so two characters who are both "sweet and shy" will still end up being totally unique people. Two assassins could create a fun and interesting conflict!

Talking to other players about their character before the roleplay is a GREAT way to create connections and background for your own!

Post SHORT AND FAST. Charps are very quick pace and contain a LOT of players. Players can't wait 20 minutes for you to write a wall of text, and if there's too much text they won't be able to read it fast enough and will MISS details. If it takes you longer than two minutes to type your post, you are taking too long and might get lost in the action. This is an exercise in quick and concise writing!

Make sure your character name is mentioned in every post, close to the start of it if possible. This is especially helpful when there's many players, so we know who is playing what character.

Like in Real Life, a character may not be able to acknowledge or notice your character immediately because they are engaged in doing something else. (For example a new character walking in to the room, but the other characters arguing about muffins and do not see them.) Don't get discouraged if you go can't get someone to interact with you right away. Just keep posting and doing actions with your character, or even approach others who also seem to be idle and it WILL happen.

Do not take events in the roleplay personally or assume that bad reactions are because they think you/your character sucks. Everyone is playing a character and reacting to things as their character would!
 
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Reactions: Zarko Straadi
Querant
1636747039197.pngThe Archaeons:
In a Cosmos where spacetime anomalies, relativistic time paradoxes, quantum entanglement, and other sorts of High Strangeness are possible, somebody has to clean up the resulting metaphysical messes and keep things running more or less smoothly...or so it is said. Though their existence is generally rejected by the scientific community and those of a hardcore skeptical bent, others believe that this sort of reality-maintenance is performed by the Archaeons.

Sometimes called Time-Guardians, or Harbingers (due to the fact that most claimed sightings occur shortly before or during the early stages of bizarre Fortean events or major cataclysms), Archaeons seem to have an ambiguous nature, as if Schrodinger's Cat is peeking out of the box, but refusing to resolve firmly into one state or the other.
The appearance of an Archaeon has a shifting, dreamlike quality, and usually incorporates some element's drawn from the perceiver's own consciousness (expectations, emotional state) and subconscious states. As a result, no two descriptions of an Archaeon encounter are exactly the same.
[Roleplayer Tip: You can add some elements to Querant's descriptions in your responses to reflect how Querant is seen through your character's eyes] Images taken by camera or holo-imager show a blurry smear of light with enigmatic hints of insectlike appendages, tentacles, or other seeming body parts. These images are convincing enough for believers, but skeptics can dismiss them with a "Bah! That could be anything!"

Archaeons interact with the physical world by means of telekinesis, or by conjuring and manipulating arcane sigils of wispy white light, which seems to adjust the probability of events or even "rewrite" elements of reality. Manipulations performed in this manner are believed to be subtle, working with the flows of probability, time, and conscious perception rather than attempting to bluntly shape reality to an Archaeon's whim.

Archaeons communicate with other beings by speaking as a "voice in their mind," and sometimes by shifting their own appearance (to that being) in the manner of a dream or vision or living Rorschach blot made of light.

They exhibit dubious tangibility, sometimes initiating or allowing physical contact or leaving ambiguous physical traces of their presence, but at other times doing things that don't comport with material existence, like passing through walls, appearing, disappearing, or manifesting body parts not connected to the rest of them (or perhaps connected through a higher dimension).

Timeline Repair:
The Archaeons' work of timeline repair and cosmic maintenance is not as simple as eliminating all instances of time-manipulation (such as errant time-travelers and overconfident supervillains), the paranormal, and events of Fortean weirdness in order to maintain the appearance of a prosaic materialist universe. To the contrary, it seems that the Cosmos needs to be at least a little strange, while maintaining an order that generally behaves in accordance with the equations of physics. Sometimes the inexplicable just needs to be steered subtly in the right direction.

Querant:
While conventional understandings of linear time do not quite apply to Archaeons, this is Querant's "first" mission, from their point of view. Their personality is as ambiguous as the rest of their nature, able to shift from lofty and mysterious to childlike wonder to impish mischief in an instant.
 
1638318955655.pngUli and Ahirant

Uli
was born into poverty among the teeming masses of New Shenzhen, a vast megastructure that specializes in mining, heavy industry, and salvage. At the age of six, her parents farmed her out to be a cleaning girl for a salvager/mechanic shop. When the proprietor caught her taking apart an old carbon scrubber, he said, "Aight. Take it apart all ya want. Clean the parts, then put 'em back together. Then we see if it works. It better."

Somewhat to his surprise, it did, and Uli's job gradually transitioned to an apprenticeship. She had an insatiable curiosity, and a talent for making things work. She devoured the shop's repair manuals, parts catalogs, and any other scraps of learning she could get her hands on.

When she was 10, the Delmok Empire incorporated New Shenzhen into the Seven Systems and began cracking down on the dodgy enterprises of its seedy underbelly, consolidating all business under the control of pro-Imperial megacorporations.

Uli joined the resistance as a low-level smuggler and spy, learning how to fight, hack, shoot, and evade pursuit. However, the resistance was disorganized and divided, no match for the New Shenzhen megacorps and the Czarina's elite Koshak special forces troops.

In truth, Uli had no love for the New Shenzhen criminal underworld. It was just the only way she had to make a living. What she really wanted was to get a ship and escape out into the Black, where she could be free. Her efforts to save up enough money for even the most dubious "fixer-upper" ship fell far short. With options for escape quickly being closed down, she made a desperate move: stowing away aboard a fast-looking ship while its crew was busy making arrangements (and paying bribes) for a quick, off-the-books departure.

1638321206456.pngAhirant is a member of an ancient warrior race called the Mic!tek'ari. One of the first races in the Galaxy to expand into space, the Mic!tek'ari adopted a policy of exterminating every intelligent species they encountered, lest they reach technological parity and return the favor.

Long ago, a coalition of alien races including humans managed to halt the Mic!tek'ari expansion at great cost. Contained and no longer assured of military supremacy, the Mic!tek'ari ideology crumbled. In their paranoia, factions within the Hegemony turned against each other in a civil war that shattered their civilization. Rather than facing genocidal reprisals from alien forces, they brought it upon themselves. The Mic!tek'ari race scattered, becoming renowned as soldiers of fortune, mercenaries, and enforcers.

Ahirant was just such an enforcer aboard the Dead Man's Hand, a fast, well-armed freighter. Though the extreme paranoid xenophobia of the Mic!tek'ari is ancient history, Ahirant was still a cutthroat in a crew of cutthroats. They launched from New Shenzhen, only to be betrayed by a mutiny led by the second-in-command with a plan to turn the ship and crew in to the authorities in exchange for amnesty. The resulting gun battle left the ship badly damaged and adrift in space, and Ahirant the only survivor.

Ahirant was the muscle, not the mech. It took only a couple attempts at fixing some of the damaged systems for him to realize that he was doomed. The comm panel had been hit with a blaster shot, and besides, any ship close enough to come to his aid would almost certainly be a Delmok warship or New Shenzhen corporate cutter. Then, to his astonishment, one of the system status indicators went from red to green. Then another, and another.

As he searched the ship, he caught a blur of motion here, an abandoned repair operation there. But whoever it was, they weren't a member of his crew, whose bodies had all been accounted for and shoved out the airlock. Finally, his search was answered with a voice: "Look mate, it'll be a lot easier t' patch up this crate o' yours if y'aint chasin' me around. If ya can agree that ya don't wanna choke t' death on yer own CO2 any more than I do, or get caught by the Demoks an' the Corps, how 'bout we make a deal?"

With no other options available, Ahirant agreed. The mystery person turned out to be a 15-year-old human girl with a quick mind and a mischievous streak a light-year wide. To his befuddlement, Uli found him to be adorable (!) and offered him something he'd never experienced before: open affection, as to a beloved gruff uncle.

She got the Dead Man's Hand running, and together they figured out, with more than a little trial and error, how to fly it. Uli had quick reflexes and a love for crazy maneuvers and high speed, and Ahirant was a deadly shot with the ship's guns. Together they slipped through the cracks of Seven Systems society, engaging in various capers, heists, and smuggling runs. They might not have any friends out in the Black, but they've got each other, and one hell of a fast ship. Catch 'em if you can.

The Caper:

Ahirant's contacts in the underworld started hearing rumors of a plan to attack the Czarina's cruise ship during her big speech and hold up the passengers for valuables and ransom. Uli used her hacking skills to verify that the plot was indeed to take place. She and Ahirant came up with a scheme of their own: get on board the ship under the cover of selling certain...recreational pharmaceuticals to the posh crowd. Then, while the pirates were holding the attention of the Czarina and her guards, they would go after the cruise ship's real treasure: a haul of expensive items, cash, bonds, and other loot being held in the vessel's safety deposit vault.

After a quick grab and getaway, they'd be able to clear their debts, fund some upgrades to the Dead Man's Hand, and redistribute the rest to some of the Seven Systems' least fortunate.
 
Last edited:
This charp starts todaaaaay at Noon! :D
 
  • Load more messages?

  • Diana:
    WELCOME TO THE CZAR CROSS CHARP!


    Today at 10:23 AM



  • Diana:
    You are on a SPACE CRUISE that is celebrating the unification of the Delmok Empire and your glorious Czarina! Oddly, everyone woke up a little groggy today, but there doesn't seem to be any problems whatsoever. Time to party!


    Today at 10:26 AM


  • Diana:
    TYPE FAST, TYPE BRIEF! This is a real time roleplay, so you don't want to be too slow or too wordy. Try to keep posts to 10 sentences or less so nobody misses out on action or details!


    Today at 10:27 AM


  • Diana:
    HOT TIP: Write your character name in every post. That way we know what character you're playing - especially if you're playing multiples! You can also use bbcode color to help your posts stand out.


    Today at 10:27 AM


  • Diana:
    Game Master and Narration posts appear in this bright bold yellow. Pay attention to those because they are guiding you to what to do next in the story.


    Today at 10:27 AM


  • Diana:
    My roleplays are always NEWBIE FRIENDLY! If you get confused or have any questions I'm in the main chat room to help!


    Today at 10:28 AM


  • Diana:
    (◉,◉) (◉◇◉) (⊙,◉) (⊙◇◉)


    Today at 10:28 AM

  • Diana:
    The stars look beautiful today surrounding the space cruise ship. Most people are up on deck socializing and partaking in the free buffet and listening to the beautiful (whale-like) songs of the live band. It seems everyone had a strange sleep last night, but all is well today! May the festivities continue!


    Today at 10:48 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Mm, free food, and nobody cared if she belonged or not? This was an excellent party. Nobody even cared that she arrived late! Then again, this big boat wasn't in her part of the galaxy before. That didn't matter, though. Cass grabbed a handful of finger snacks and ate them straight from her hand, uncaring for things like cleanliness.


    Today at 10:59 AM

  • Diana:
    Glurpglop and his beautiful new Princess Wife are enjoying feeding each other nibblets and otherwise being super gross with public displays of affection. Their honeymoon momentarily detoured so the Princess could attend this wonderful celebration of the Czarina's achievements. Incidentally so are a few of his friends from the wedding party, but hopefully there will be no trouble this evening.


    Today at 11:01 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass watched them for a while, then decided against starting a chant to make them kiss. She filled her other hand with more nibbles and then moved a few steps away from her source so other people could enjoy as well, even if she'd taken so greedily. She wasn't a complete bitch, after all—she was just really fucking hungry.


    Today at 11:06 AM

  • Diana:
    One of Glurpglop's friends being Buck Bonaru, who thankfully was actually dressed for this occasion. He had on his usual brown leather captain's pants paired with a smart looking vest and over the top cravat. It looked very much what a poor space cowboy thought rich people dressed like. Buck was busy drinking from a champagne flute and keeping an eye out for bored looking hot royals.


    Today at 11:11 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Uli shook her head to clear it. The ball was gonna drop just about any time now, so no time to be all punchy and disoriented. She felt like she hadn't gotten any sleep...but that wasn't true, was it? She couldn't remember having any bad dreams, much less being kept awake by them. Everyone else seemed to be diving into the party with full gusto, maybe even getting a bit more inebriated than usual for this time of (local ship) night? Hang on! Where's Jalaxia Prime?! The resort planet they were supposed to be orbiting was nowhere to be seen! It was not as if the world could be "below" the ship's keel, since the ship could roll to any desired orientation, and obviously would, to provide the guests (and the Czarina herself) with the splendid view the planet offered. And now that she was paying attention, the stars didn't look right either. Moving to the edge of the crowd, she spoke sotto voce into her wristcomm. "Ahi, I think we've got a problem."


    Today at 11:13 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Ah, one of her own kind—a poor spacer. Her own outfit was just her usual garb, but it looked pretty nice to her. She walked over to him with a grin. "You look bored... ooh, hold on, someone else is bored, too." She wandered away from Bonaru and toward Uli. "Hey there."


    Today at 11:14 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Uh, hiya," Uli said, surrepitiously muting her wristcomm. She hadn't expected somebody to just approach her out of the blue, rather than dismissing her as a 'kid.' At 15, it seemed that her Children's Invisibility (the ability to vanish from adults' attention by being quiet and unobtrusive) might be wearing out a bit.


    Today at 11:18 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    "Aren't you cute!" Cass grinned. "You hungry?" She knew she was getting in Uli's way and being obnoxious, but she had to cause some trouble!


    Today at 11:19 AM

  • Diana:
    Buck was about to respond that he was indeed bored cause his married friend was getting more alien poontang than he was at the moment, but this lady(?)person had already wandered off to chat up some kid. He shuddered a bit. Kids! Blech! Short little sticky nightmares! He grabbed himself another flute of champagne.


    Today at 11:20 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Thanks! Yer not too bad yerself there, mate. Dashing scars!" Uli replied, seeing Cass' mischievous smirk and returning one of her own.


    Today at 11:23 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Hey, you haven't seen Jalaxia Prime anywhere, have ya?" Uli said. Ahirant was probably wondering rather audibly in his gravely voice just what the 'problem' was, but she couldn't talk to him directly under the circumstances.


    Today at 11:26 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    "Shit, that is pretty far from here," Cass mused. "Not even this part of the galaxy..." She paused. Wait, was she giving away that she wasn't exactly invited? Ah well. She would outlive any attempts at punishment.


    Today at 11:27 AM

  • Diana:
    A few toots of a ceremonial horn alerted the crowd that it was time for the Czarina's speech. Perhaps one or two had an odd sensation of Deja Vu, but not enough to be alarmed by. The Czarina Polaria Ambrose made an impressive figure with ceremonial garb and a presence that commanded respect. "Thank you everyone for coming to this most momentous affair. For ten years our new unified empire has held strong..." she began.


    Today at 11:27 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass glanced over, but then absently did a blah-blah-blah hand as she looked again to Uli. "Why do you ask?"


    Today at 11:30 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "'Cause...we're kinda supposed to be in orbit of it right now," Uli said. Could the pirates have displaced the whole ship?! And wouldn't the Koshaks be bustling Her Imperial Majesty off to her escape shuttle?


    Today at 11:30 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass frowned. "Well... You are most definitely in the wrong place. This is out by the edge, delcal quadrant. You are very, very far out, and your security is very very light. I was not invited at all." She poured a few munches into her mouth.


    Today at 11:34 AM

  • Diana:
    That tidbit of information did actually get Buck's attention. He peered at the stars and shuffled over to the rails to peer down where there was supposed to be a planet. "Well, fuck. This can't be good." In Buck's experience, when you wake up and the ship isn't where it's supposed to be, you could usually blame space pirates, government spies, or time anomalies. And ALL of those were a huge headache and tended to get him shot at. He pressed a comlink on his wrist. "Uh, hey mates anybody nearby? Do one o' y'all got my guns? I'mma need my guns here in a minute."


    Today at 11:37 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass was really, really surprised that her and her crew weren't being shot at already, now that she outright admitted it, but who cared? "Staring a panic will not help, Mister Boredman," she said as she ate another several munchies.


    Today at 11:40 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Yeah?" Uli replied. Could she be one of the pirates? Eyepatch an' all? "Well, 't'aint my security, it's hers," she said, nodding toward the Czarina. "Can't say I was invited either," she said, then raised her eyebrows when one of the guys with the big honeymoon party started blabbing about his guns. "So, no mechanical parrot?"


    Today at 11:42 AM

  • Diana:
    Other than Glurpglop getting the message, none of Buck's illustrious crew seemed to be responding to his communicae. Glurpglop whispered something to his beautiful Princess Wife, and both ceased their liberal displays of affections to look a little more seriously (and watchfully) around. There really didn't seem to be ANY signs of danger or anything wrong! The Czarina's speech continued without a single incident, raising a round of applause from the spectators.


    Today at 11:43 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Querant flickered ambiguously near one of the strings of decorative lights. Strange wispy sigils wafted into and out of being, offering early analysis of their temporal redirect.


    Today at 11:44 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass cackled quietly. "No, I am not that generic. I have a cat back on my ship, though."


    Today at 11:46 AM

  • Diana:
    "Listen, Snackmart" insisted Buck. "I'm just sayin' if we ain't where we're supposed to be, then somethin' ain't right and that always gets somebody killed. And my ass ain't about to be under fire just because of some subspace anomaly attached itself to the hull or because some rat-faced pirate douchebag decided this was a good ship to rob. Aight, if nobody else has noticed somethin's up, we gotta investigate."


    Today at 11:46 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass looked back at Buck. "I am only saying do not cause a panic around all of these... ah... delicate types, yes? They get in the way when shooting happens."


    Today at 11:49 AM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "They also panic when shooting happens," Uli added.


    Today at 11:54 AM

  • Diana:
    "Do I look like the kind of guy that causes a panic to delicate types?" he asked with the widest shit-eating grin anyone could ever muster. Apparently Buck couldn't say it with a straight face either. He did get back to being serious real quick. "Aight, I'm going to check up on the captain's deck and see if I can't figure out why we're out in the middle of nowhere. You two see if you can find any unsavory types... you don't end up lost in space without somebody pullin' some strings. Buck also signalled to Glurpglop and his wife to keep an eye out for trouble.


    Today at 11:58 AM

  • The Mood is Write:
    "Aside from me and mine, of course," she mused, amused as she began to wander through the crowd, sniffing of all things to find anyone that didn't smell like they belonged.


    Today at 12:00 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Hang on there, mate," Uli said. "You some kinda rozzer?" If he was, he was really good at hiding his cop-vibe. "If there's trouble, it'll be on the Bridge, seein' as nobody's soundin' alarms or tellin' Her Highness over there t' stop with the bafflegab an' get t' her escape shuttle."


    Today at 12:01 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    The pirate (if she was a pirate) wandered off, so it seemed the ball was about to drop soon.


    Today at 12:04 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    "No, I am a mercenary. Saw the fancy boat and asked to board and was just... let in. Found a party when I expected trade, and here I am." She grinned wider.


    Today at 12:04 PM

  • Diana:
    "WAT," Buck's indignant exclamation was so loud it was comical. It even drew a few curious glances in his direction. He gave that kid a little point and a scowl as if he were promising to later get her for such a grievous insult to his morals. A cop. Him. IMAGINE. Buck did make his way towards the bridge, though. Fuckin' kids.


    Today at 12:04 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    It was comical enough to net a chuckle and a cocky 'Bring it, bruh' smirk from Uli. Maybe he was a private dick then. She watched him go. "Merc, huh? Hope somebody actually pays you 'nuff t' warrant gettin' shot at fer th' salary."


    Today at 12:11 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    "If they do not, I shoot them," she answered, honest as anything, "Then I take their stuff."


    Today at 12:13 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Querant drifted from shaft of light to shadow, not always crossing the space in between, following the male mammalian to observe the results of his investigation.


    Today at 12:14 PM

  • Diana:
    Thankfully there wasn't a guest on board that seemed suspicious. Although, there were one or two that could've been had they not been totally smashed by now. The Czarina's speech was long over and it seemed the party was going to go through without a hitch. ...except something skuttled under one of the buffet tables. Too quick to be able to tell what it was, but it definitely caught the eye of Uli and Cass.


    Today at 12:18 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Uli laughed. "Guess that's one way t' resolve a labor dispute," she said. Uli decided she liked this person, though she knew better than to trust her as far as she could throw her. "Did you see that?"


    Today at 12:18 PM

  • Diana:
    Meanwhile Buck found his way to the bridge. There it was confirmed the Captain and pilot crew were just as baffled about their location in space. They weren't in a recognized galaxy AT ALL and all communications with the Transportation Mainframe of their home galaxy wasn't working. The current theory is that they somehow slipped through a Wormhole, and the question now was how do they find it to get back? Buck just kind of shrugged, but something peculiar was flickering on one of the control panel screens. "...hey, you did pest control on this ship before everyone got on it, right?"


    Today at 12:21 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass was surprisingly fast, and she caught the thing in her bare hand, though lost her snacks in the process.


    Today at 12:23 PM

  • Diana:
    Strange, the creature wriggling in Cass' hands looked like a Gatorbat. A tiny little lizardish creature with a long toothy snoot, four legs, and leathery wings. Except it wasn't in the mossy greens or ruddy browns the species usually came in. It was a glorious swirl of cosmic blues and purples with an iridescent sheen. It's eyes even glowed like stars, which definitely was NOT normal for a typical Gatorbat. Of course, before any other examinations could be made it let out a tiny little "SCREEEEE" and snapped it's impossible strong jaws onto one of Cass' fingers.


    Today at 12:30 PM


  • Zarko Straadi:
    The sigils they were seeing, not to mention the reactions of the ship-driving creatures indicated that, while the temporal distortion within the local inertial reference frame had been straightened out within tolerances, there was now an extreme spatial displacement, which might prove difficult to re-Write.


    Today at 12:30 PM

  • Diana:
    Not moments later a ship-shaking "SCRAAAAAAW" out in the depths of space had people stumbling on their feet.


    Today at 12:31 PM

  • Diana:
    A the mighty sound dozens of the shiny Gatorbats scrambled out from their hiding places under tables and inside of vents. God damned things were now flying and running everywhere! The whole ship was infested! Temporal time readings were going wild! People started screaming and running, chaos erupted in every direction!


    Today at 12:33 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass blinked at it, unimpressed by the bite strength, then sighed as the ship shook and chaos erupted. "Damn crazy things," she muttered, then pulled a rod from her side and flicked it, turning the rod into a full-length cryo-halberd. "I guess it is violence."


    Today at 12:34 PM

  • Diana:
    Buck, still on the bridge, slapped his hand against his forehead in exasperation as the crew tried to mobilize teams to handle this new problem. "Great. Just great. Can't be havin' just the average run o the mill gatorbats, oh no. We gotta be out here invested with some sort of bullshit cosmic gatorbats and OH FUUU-" KABLOOM.


    Today at 12:35 PM

  • Diana:
    The tiny ones of the ship must've been a clutch of babies because now a massive beast, twice as large as the space yacht was trying to ram into the ship at the sound of it's crying babies. The whole thing radiated time-space distortion -- and seemed to have a signature much like a wormhole!


    Today at 12:37 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass scowled. She looked around, then began stuffing babies into bags by whacking them, freezing them, or just grabbing them. Into the sacks thy went, and then she looked to Uli. "Do you know where the jettison-holes are?" she demanded.


    Today at 12:38 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Uliiiiiiiiiiii!" Ahirant grumbled. He was below decks, waiting for her to signal when the pirates made their move, at which point the Koshaks guarding the ship's Vault could be expected to rush to their Czarina's aid. But it seemed the girl had found a friend at the worst possible time. But at least she'd left her mic on so he could hear her side of things. Not in orbit--the fuck? That's when rainbow-colored gatorbats started coming out of the woodwork. Ahirant drew all four of his guns, but the creatures seemed more interested in escape than attack. The ship shuddered from the impact of something massive.


    Today at 12:42 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "No idea mate!" Uli said. But then her mechanical intuitions started snapping puzzle pieces together. "Ship this big won't have an ord'nary jettison system, it'd leave too much space junk. It'll have a 'cycler for the organics, an' a compactor for th' rest. Not somethin' we can put rainbow gatorbehbehs through."


    Today at 12:46 PM

  • Diana:
    KABOOOOOM! The ramming from the Cosmic Mother was creating a lot of damage to the ship's frame and interior. As well as the chaos from people fleeing (or trying to shoot) the skittering babies all over the ship. A fire breaks out on one of the levels. Repair crews scramble to try and keep the mess under control. No one knows what to do about the big Mother outside - this was just a cruise ship! It's not equipped for combat and they were an entire galaxy away from support! If they didn't figure out something soon the entire ship was going to get rammed to pieces!


    Today at 12:49 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    "Shit... I am calling my boat! Get people to sack the babies and put them on my ship! I will be back for payment once this thing is dealt with!"


    Today at 12:50 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Airlock maybe, but they've got shields up. Gluon-gluon lattice would just knock 'em back at us," Uli said, just before she was knocked off her feet by the impact. She nimbly rolled to a crouch. "Yeah...or maybe if we could get 'em all up 'ere on the Lido Deck, we could get th' crew t' lower th' main shields long enough for 'em to 'scape?"


    Today at 12:53 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Uli decided there was no choice but to abandon her attempts and subterfuge. She dialed the volume back up on her wristcomm. "Ahi, we got big trouble up here, giant cosmic gatorbatmama's bashin' the ship, an' there's sommat looks like a wormhole, not sure if it'd take us back home or someplace else."


    Today at 12:58 PM

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass raised her voice, surprisingly loud. "Put all the gatorbats into bags! I will get them out of here and lure away the big one!"


    Today at 12:59 PM

  • Diana:
    Word of mouth was spreading fast and it seemed like getting baby cosmic gatorbats into sacks and pillowcases and trash bags was actually working without consequences! Unlike their giant mother who was ransacking the ship, these babies couldn't do much else besides bite really hard and buzz aggressive noises. Gatorbats were getting tossed into sacks everywhere! There had to be hundreds of them!


    Today at 1:03 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Czarina's tentacled taint!" Ahirant snapped. Their whole meticulously-planned caper, down the shitter all of a sudden, thanks to clown-gatorbats from nowhere?! "On my way," he said. "Bag the motherfuckers an' take 'em t' her ship."


    Today at 1:03 PM

  • Diana:
    Meanwhile, Buck Bonaru was on the bridge and while everyone else was in a frenzy panic about keeping the ship in one piece, he was coordinating with Glurpglop and his wife. "Hey mate, I got a feeling these little bastards are the reason we're lost out here in the bumblefucks of space! Before we go ejecting the shits, we gotta figure out how to activate their damn space bullshit or we gonna be stuck out here until our great great great great great grandkids are picked up!"


    58 minutes ago

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass and her crew began to load up the gatorbat babies into her ship—a relatively small thing, but surely big enough for the job if they didn't mind it being a bit crowded. "Doing good! Doing good!" she urged.


    54 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    This whole distortion was far too vast for Querant to re-Write, and presently (for a certain value of "presently") they weren't certain this wasn't the Preferred Outcome. They could sense the skein of time and history shifting. Instead of the civil war followed by civilization-collapse throughout the Seven Systems that would have resulted from the pirates destroying the Empire's Pride, the butterfly effects of its mysterious disappearance were/would (given what had become/would become the most likely shape of wave-function decoherence) become a great, romanticized mystery. Instead of trying to steer the river, Querant began Writing some of the baby gatorbats outside the ship's shields near their mother.


    53 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Uli drew her concealed stunner. About the size of a pen, it was the biggest weapon she'd felt confident about being able to hide from the security scans she'd been subjected to in order to go on the Lido Deck during the Czarina's speech. Upending a trash can and unceremoniously spilling its contents, she retrieved its bag and started stuffing it with stunned gatorbehbehs as she followed Cass to her ship. A tentacled form came around a corner, bristling with guns. "Ahi!" she said happily, taking a moment to bend over and kiss him on top of his bald head.


    50 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    As it so happens, Princess Ssrzurpia, Glurpglop's amazing bride was not only a beast of a warrior but an award winning Physicist with a doctorate and many degrees in the sciences. On her palm computer she was frantically trying to work out the calculations on how such a large clutch of babies could have impacted the time-space travel of their ship, and what it might take get them home before their giant mother killed everyone on the ship!


    46 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Nice!" Uli said, noting the model of Cass' ship as she helped stuff it with gatorbats. "We could run some interference, try an' keep Gatormama from gulping you down 'till you can jettison her brood."


    45 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Cross the event horizon of the wormhole on a tangential course accelerating to .99931c relative to the singularity in order to return. Within local inertial reference time, release the creatures prior. The words spoke in Buck's mind.


    40 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    "WHO the FUCK-" Buck yelled, spinning around to see who had spoken to him, despite the fact the voice seemed like it had come right out of the depths of his own head. No one on the bridge seemed to know what the fuck he was talking about though... and thankfully Buck had enough wisdom to know when The Universe was trying to help him out. "Get out my way!" He shouted, shoving some poor helmsman away (and then consequently having to punch the guy out cold because no self respecting staffer would let some random at the controls and Buck didn't have time to explain.) He adjusted the yacht's course and prayed that his jinglejangle was going to get to see another day. "Y'ALL GOT THEM SHITS UNDER CONTROL YET?!"


    36 minutes ago

  • The Mood is Write:
    "Appreciated!" Cass said. "Any help is welcome!" With that, she threw the last bag of gatorbats in and gave Uli a salute before she got into her small ship, leaving her crew on the yacht because there wasn't room for them. She also threw her cat onto the yacht so it wouldn't eat any of the gatorbats, and then she took off, zipping past the mama to get her attention.


    34 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    SCRAAAAAAW. What an amazing noise to be able to echo through space. The Cosmic Mother knew exactly where her babies were, in fact having them ALL on Cass' tiny little ship was causing her systems all kinds of kinks and complications. Something about this species really fucked up technology! But the Mother followed just as Cass hoped - and it was opening it's giant maw as if it was going to swallow up the whole ship with her babies inside!


    30 minutes ago

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass set the ship to autopilot and began to jettison the babies as fast as she could, leaving a trail of floating bags of squeaking babies behind her ship as she hoped against hope that the damned things wouldn't get her eaten.


    29 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Right, you lot, come on," Uli said to Cass' crew. "Just in case this tub don't make it," Ahirant let out a low rumble, like boulders grinding together. Did he trust Cass' crew enough to let them aboard the Dead Man's Hand? Hells no. But...Uli wanted to save them. So he snagged the small furry beast with a tentacle, the scratches of its claws making no impression on his hard, leathery skin. Once they were aboard, Uli jumped in the pilot's seat. "Hang on t' somethin!" she said, then fired the engines and launched out into space. Swooping around the gigantic gatordragon, she fired the forward guns on low power a few times at the gigantic beast, hoping to distract rather than hurt.


    27 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    With a few more sigils of Writing, the few baby gatorbats that had been missed by the rushed and desperate gathering efforts were spatially displaced to locations close to their mother. The shits have been flushed! the voice said in Buck's mind with a vibe that might have been a giggle. You may circle the drain at will. Then the strange flickers disappeared, reappearing under the cockpit lights of Cass' ship. Cross the event horizon of the wormhole on a tangential course accelerating to .99931c relative to the singularity in order to return, the voice thought in her head.


    21 minutes ago

  • The Mood is Write:
    Cass was a bit of a stranger to voices in her head, but... hell, may as well! She flicked some switches, pulled a lever, then zipped her little ship towards the destination.


    18 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    Likewise Buck was making sure the space yacht went into the direction it needed to. As the Cosmic Mother and her babies were reunited and beautiful display of light opened up at the coordinates -- the wormhole! Both ships shot through the tunnel through time and space, censors and arrays going wild as they traveled through. ...but something was wrong! Their ships were shaking apart at the seams! They- they aren't going to make through to the other side are they...!


    15 minutes ago

  • The Mood is Write:
    Shit! Cass began to reverse, unwilling to lose her ship or worse just for a convenient way back to wherever the space yacht came from!


    14 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Moments later, the same voice spoke to Uli. The hell? she thought. But it wasn't exactly weirder than everything else that was happening today. Without any better plan available, she followed the offered course. As the ship shook and shuddered, and warning lights started going off on her console, she wrestled with the controls. "Come on...hold together baby!" Then she started to see strange sigils appear, forming into complex groupings, some of which didn't seem quite like they'd fit in only three dimensions of space and one of time. "Whoa..." she said, spotting the flickering form in the center of the odd display as Querant struggled to Write the ships a way to survive the shear forces of spacetime.


    11 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    Buck watched the controls along with the rest of the bridge crew. They tried everything they could to ease the pressure on the ship but the Cosmic Mother had done too much damage already... All he could think in those last moments was 'Fuck... I can't believe the last thing I stuck my dick in was an Algoifan Turd Sweeper.'


    10 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Despite her best efforts at steering the craft with one hand and rapidly tapping controls to adjust the ship's internal gravity to counteract the tidal forces of spacetime more and more red lights came up on the status panel as the ship groaned in what sounded too much like a moan of death. "Ahi...if this is my last roundup...I'm glad I got t' have it with you," she said, taking one of his tentacles in her hand.


    7 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    Glurpglop gave his beautiful Princess one hell of a last lizardy kiss. It might have even been a little too sexy.


    6 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    KABOOOOM, BOOM< BOOOOOM. The space yacht exploded within the wormhole, shockwaves spilling out until it took Cass' ship and Uli's ship out with it. Again, the crew and civilians were obliterated through a storm of fire.


    6 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    ...moments later the passengers of the yacht awoke groggy and confused. What just happened? A little drunk and bewildered and NO memory at all of what had just come to pass, people peered around. Down below was a beautiful planet view. The 10 year celebration of the Czarina was about to be underway. All seemed perfectly fine. For now.


    6 minutes ago

  • Diana:
    THE END...?
 
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