GM Stargin |
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Far away from the 9 in every sense of the word, Cueta turns to watch the approach of the super weapon on a view screen designed for dead eyes. It's truly an ugly thing, every micrometron of it designed for the sole purpose of destruction at a stellar level.
On the console lies Sevoroth's key. There is a slow blink of what looks like a commphone battery indicator at the lowest bar on the side. It starts to flash urgently as if Sevoroth's consciousness is somehow aware of what is approaching and what it means for his millennia old quest to avoid Pharasma's grasp.
There's a very faint and desperate whisper that Cueta's mystical senses are able to pick up, but... there is very low charge on the key after all, and it is very very easy to shut out.
Within her the flutter of her passenger starts to slow and it feels like something gently settles onto her shoulder both from the inside and the outside.
It radiates only warmth and love for, after all, what Desna prizes more than anything else is the freedom to choose one's fate and Cueta's choice was her own.
Cueta sees a console indicate both escape pods from the bridge had successfully exited the ship. Their fates would be their own as well.
As the collision starts and the shuddering of the bridge escalates, Cueta glances at the alarms and readings from the doomed megaship. They tell her pilot training one thing clearly.
This time, death would be fast. She probably wouldn't be able to tell wh...
Prospero-4 |
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"Where to, next?" Prospero-4 asks, feeling surprisingly empty inside. He isn't sure if this is because of Cueta's passing, or the sudden lack of purpose.
For the first time in while there's no need to chase cultists or corpse fleet. And there is no real home to return to, either. The Sunrise Maiden is probably the closest thing to home he has.
What next - that's a very good question, indeed.
Cueta Guiding Star |
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Cueta watches her friends leave, a brief bout of sadness welling inside her, but quickly pushes it aside. Watching the approaching doomsday weapon with interest - gods, it was ugly, both physically and spiritually, Cueta places her hand on the lich's key next to her. The key had suddenly began flashing, as if panicked, and Cueta reaches out to it with her mindlink, sending one brief thought into the key.
See? I told you I would get you, you fooker.
Pulling her hand from the key, Cueta turns back to watching the impending collision, sighing as her passenger washes over her, a feeling of complete warmth and love. Her friends would be safe, she would no longer be stuck in time, the universe would still exist...
The bridge shudders and shakes, and reaching up, Cueta undoes her safety harness, floating for a moment, a wild smile on her face as alarms rebound around the bridge. Just as she started all those months ago, untethered in space, frozen in a moment. This time, she thought, death would be fast. I probably won't eve--
Astrianna Sparacello |
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Astrianna is watching through the window of the escape pod as it speeds away from the ensuing collusion.
She records the slowly retreating shapes, contemplating to have this particular portion be a serious, silent piece, scored by the simple nothingness but the background of space for 4 minutes, or if she should ust smash cut right to the two ships colliding with their theme song still playing. If she was going to frame Cueta as being the heroic sacrifice, the tone change would be appropraite, but the latter would be random and funny, if tone deaf.
Her eyes widen slightly as the two ships begin to collide, and her helmet is nearly pressed against the glass when the Stellar Degenerator's bow crumples. "Wow. WOW! Now that's an explosion!"
Something about the waves of magical particles washing over her briefly scrabmles her optic feed and makes her extremities tingle, but everything else seemed okay. "Okay... Yeah, maybe Cueta isn't coming back from that one. Do you think she'll be in line at the Boneyard next to Servoux? That would be really awkward, though I'd kill for a recording."
Two days of complaining about catheders and liquid R2E rations pass for the crew. When the dropship lands on the control moon, Astrianna is the first one out.
"REAL, BREATHABLE AIR!" She shouts while bounding down the exit ramp before it had fully deployed, throwing up her hands and jumping from the end like a diving board.
She rips off her helmet, exposing a mass of greasy, black, balled up hair within. The half-elf takes a deep breath and almost immediately feels like retching when the pile of corpses nearby hits her like a quantum missile.
Recovering while Ossteth gives her speel, Astranna waves a hand. "Neat, neat... Yeah, one of our ancient friends died too. Real heroic stuff, took out the whole stellar degenerator. But we will live on! Wait, why am I talking to you, you're like a thumbstick subroutine at most." She then proceeds to take some selfies with the holographic Osteth regardless, before ordering Vek to haul the AI's conciousness into the Sunrise Maiden.
"Where to? WHERE TO?!" The vlogger nearly shouts at Prospero. "We're going home! Absalom Station! The Starfinder Society! We're big damned heroes! We saved the galaxy from the tryanny of the Corpse Fleet! We're bringing back a kishalee AI modeled after one of their greatest minds! We solved a millenia old interstellar mystery! And I recorded ALL OF IT TO BE RELEASED IN WEEKLY INSTALLMENTS ON YOUR PREFERRED STREAMING PLATFORM! DIRECTED, PROMOTED, MARKETED, BUDGETED, EDITED, PROGRAMMED, SCORED, STAFFED, POLARIZED, LITIGATED, PRONATED, EXTRUDED, AND FACTORY RESET BY MYSELF! IT'S EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED AND DESERVED!" Now she really was shouting, though at no one in particular.
She takes her helmet between her two hands and throws it on the ground, making it bounce. "SO WHY AM I SO DAMN SAD?! HUH?!" With a swift kick, her helmet flies several feet to ricocet off a tree and she proceeds to stomp around, gesturing. "IS IT CUETA?! IS IT BECAUSE IT'S ALL OVER?! IS IT BECAUSE WE HAD TO CLIMB OVER A MOUNTAIN OF SENTIENT BODIES AND ENDURE EVERY HARDSHIP POSSIBLE TO GET HERE?! IS IT BECAUSE THE DEVOURER CULT HAS A POINT AND THIS IS ALL MEANINGLESS?!
Breathing heavily, the diseveled captan looks back and forth between Prospero and Leila. "Well!" At least she had stopped shouting. "You're the smart ones! You tell me!" Her head swivels to Vek. "Could you get my helmet?" She points off into the woods. "It's over there."
Leila Bluetistle |
Leila sighs and grabs Astris hand. "Yes. I think it's Cueta. I miss her too ... But let's go home and rest - I don't think she'd want us to be sad. I'm going to make some popcorn and we can watch some cheesy trid in her memory!"
Vek Starsoul |
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Vek hands Astrianna her helmet. “The point of it all is what you make it,” he offers calmly, his own helmet removed to reveal a head without any greasy hair. “And you’ve made it possible for countless other individuals to make those choices for themselves as well. You might not always agree with their choices…” He pauses, remembering the sight of a lone figure on a command deck full of cybernetic zombies.
Astrianna Sparacello |
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"Oh, good." She seems to reflax as Leila takes her hand. "And here I was starting to think I was being crushed by the realization I will never do something as incredible as this in the rest of my life, making every moment past this one a journey in glory's shadow."
"But if it's just grief I can deal with that!" She happily takes her helmet from Vek and starts to walk towards the Sunrise Maiden. "Gotta save my tears for the press conference though. I've only got so many, you know."
Leila Bluetistle |
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Well maybe that too... But no sense in talking about that before they've dealt with the first thing! Leila shrugged and wrapped her new duster/mantle around her and headed towards their home, The Sunrise Maiden and pumpkin.