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Deciding to go to the club Bar suggests you head there with the girl hopping along with you, she occasionally takes hold of Mute's arm and pulling him this way and that as she points out things she find interesting - which as far as you can sort out are pretty much random. Most do involve either bright shiny colors or glittering signs including some starships flying overhead in the far distance as they either dock or take off from the station.
As you arrive at the club you see a dingy staircase leading down to an open doorway. Beyond, the club is hardly illuminated at all, the other patrons appearing only as shadows. On the small stage in the corner, a kasatha melodeum player accompanies herself on a double-skinned drum, wailing a heartfelt lament for better days.
After blinking a few times Shrani-too enters along side you and once her eyes have adjusted to the darkness inside she pulls Mute by the arm to the area in front of the small stage and starts to dance and twirl around - mostly in tune with the music.
After a few minutes of dancing she returns to where most of you are standing and beams
"This is like totally fun! Can I get my drink now? Can I can I can I? Pllllleeeeease?" before she bounces back onto the "dance floor"
As one of you get's her the one alcohol drink that she was promised and hands it over to her she takes a sip and her eyes light up before she starts to twirl around and spinning in wider and wider circles until she bounces into some brown haired human male with a nose that has obviously been broken a few times in the past and the build that suggest some of he ancestors might have had a little too intimate encounters with an ogre or 2 carrying a large drink in both of hands. As Shrani-too bumps into his it causes both of his drink to spill down the front of her shirt.
Shrani-too doesn't seem to have noticed what happend as she continue her circle but the expression on the human's face suggest he isn't happy about what just happend
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Upon arriving at the club, Sev scans the environment and the entities within it. His positronic processors begin analyzing the information received from his optic sensors. Nevertheless, the android remains quiet while his charge begins to dance.
However, when he notices the exchange with the perturbed human, Sev focuses his attention on the human patron.
Human Threat Potential: 73.7%. Analysis: Target appears to be developing adverse emotional response to displacement of beverage. Response potentially exacerbated by inebriation.
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"Oi,"exclaims Mute as he rushes to his lady's aid, "You big lummox. Royalty dances before you and you'd be mindful to watch your step before her secret service mistakes your intentions."
He proceeds to turn back to Shrani, interjecting himself between them and starts trying to 'dance' with her, hoping his ruse detours the human.
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The big man, still dripping with his own drinks turns to face Mute and places a hand which is about the size of Mute's head on his shoulder
"Hey you! You owe me! That was genuine Torellian Gut-Buster that was, that's expensive..not to mention I have to pay to get my clothes cleaned now! You owe me a lot of money, you pay up now..."
The next part he says with a wide wicked grin
"..or you pay in blood"
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Bar realizes that things are going to slightly out of hand, so he attempts to diffuse the situation by trying to get the man to pay attention to him.
"Dear Sir, I am certain that we can come to some kind of agreement. The lady did not mean any insult. Here let me buy you that drink, and we can see about getting you free tickets to a Rusty SRO show."
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"Hey you! You owe me! That was genuine Torellian Gut-Buster that was, that's expensive..not to mention I have to pay to get my clothes cleaned now! You owe me a lot of money, you pay up now..."
The next part he says with a wide wicked grin
"..or you pay in blood"
At the human's prompt, Sev draws his knife in a mechanical fashion. "Very well." the android states flatly. "How much would you like me to remove?"
With the tip of his blade pointed at the man, the android slowly and precisely moves the knife from the man's wrist, along his arm, across his chest, and then to the neck. As he does so, he vocalizes his analysis, "The radial artery is most readily accessible, followed by the brachial artery. However, blood pressure within the cardiovascular system and, therefore, the flow rate of the blood increases in conjunction with proximity to the heart muscle. The carotid artery also makes for an efficient point of extraction."
"Severing an artery would allow blood to flow unimpeded at an initial rate of approximately 3 litres per minute." he continues. "However, the flow rate could be reduced significantly by an involuntary contraction of the arterial wall as well as the inevitable organ failure brought about the onset of oligaemic shock."
"In total, I estimate that I could extract a total of 5.5 litres consisting of plasma, cells, and coagulants within 2.3 standard minutes." Sev concludes matter-of-factly. "Would that amount be sufficient to--as you say--'pay in blood'?"
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For once, Kadef finds himself out of his depth in a social situation. The girl is nothing like he'd expected from an ambassador's daughter; her attitude would not be suffered among kasathan parents. Too make things worse she attaches herself to Reticent. Perhaps the halfling was right about stuffy rather than serene.
He's grateful when Bar takes the lead. Surely such an experienced musician will know a good safe bar or club....
Kadef fetches the required drink, gesturing for the bartender to water it down. He delivers it to their charge, and watches her swirl away. The others seem to be handling this well. I'll watch from the bar. He returns to the bar to watch over the room.
Thus he is completely out of position when Shrani-too bumps into the man. He's still moving toward them when Mute, Bar, and Sev each try to ameliorate the man's anger. Their body language isn't hard to read. He slips a hand inside his robes for his pulse caster. Four more steps and maybe he can intervene.
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Kadef's sense motive confirms what others in the party have already concluded; Don't leave Shrani-too alone and she can be very impulsive.
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The big human blinks his eyes a few times and you can almost visibly see some gears turn in his head as he tries to wrap his mind around the words Sev-'s just spoke. Before he starts to back away as he notices Kadef slipping his hand inside his robes and his eyes dart back and forth between Sev-, Mute (who's still well within hand reach) and Kadef
The human then let's go of Mute's shoulder, puts both of his hands in the air and slowly back away
"Is all good...no trouble here"
before he turns around and makes a break for the exit.
Shrani-too spends another hour or so dancing but the time pretty uneventful as she bounces around on the dance floor and everyone who she ends up communicating with seems harmless enough so you let it pass.
Almost exhausted and sweating but with a big smile on her face she returns to where most of you are watching her and says:
"This is such a fun place, I totally love it here, but one of my new friends"
She points at a Ysoki standing a little bit of listing to the music with some other people
"told me about a place where you can go and see all sort of performances" she pulls out here datapad and pulls up a website that she shows to you
"I want to go see that now, I mean I'd almost would literally die if I can't go to it right now. I mean you just saw me dance right? I think like a ton load of people deserve to watch me perform. This place is nice, but it's not _great_ I deserve to be seen dancing in a like totally great place. You guys can make that happen right?"
The website is of Hamisfore Theatorium, one of Absalom Station’s premiere venues for performers of all sorts.
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Giggles emanate from Mute as he and Shranni continue dance. He shakes his shoulder free of the human and glances up at him with a wink. The whole display is more out of relief than arrogance as he could of had his little hands full dealing with this oaf.
He is pretty much exhausted by the time Shranni stops dancing. He can't remember the last time he did such activity, let alone did it without making a fool of himself.
Mute scowls at the ysoki as she mentions him but ultimately agrees with the change of venue, "Why, I think that's a fantastic idea, my sweet. I can't imagine doing anything else."
I'm sure he gets cut off by her yanking on his arm to drag him behind her.
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Bar thinks about it. "I might...though if I have met them, it was likely at a party, and I might have had a few many solarian sunsets...or was it the black hole rum?...never mind. Let me see if I can dredge anything out of my brain...if not then I guess we can go in just tossing BS around to see if anything happens?"
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Bar knows that (and looking up the holopage site that Shrani-too just showed you helps) Jebodah Hamisfore is the current owner of the theater and is always looking for "the next big thing" and is constantly on the lookout for new art forms. The further away from the Pact Worlds the better.
(If you look up more information about it you see that;)
Known throughout the Pact Worlds, the Theatorium can reconfigure itself to hold numerous different styles of performances. Seats and stands seamlessly adjust into hidden compartments that reveal all manner of different furnishings for use by performers of all varieties.
(So it's reasonable that if you could get a meeting with the owner that it's possible for Shrani-too to at least try out for an performance of what ever she wants to try - in this case dancing).
There's even a number listed you can contact in case you have "new talent".
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Shranni stops to to question Kadef on the barathu dance giving Mute a chance to breath. He leans back and whispers D'Vost, "Oi Clicky, tell the young lady another joke. I need a...er...um moment of reprieve."
Mute lets out a deep sigh and runs his hands through his hair to shrug off any sign of exasperation. He steps back towards the others "WWwhhheeewww! Thanks for the save back there."
Hearing Bar state his plans to retrieve his guitar, "Make it quick, mate. Gonna need help keeping an eye on her and stabber-bot 5000 over here." Making a stabbing guesture towords Sev.
He narrows his eyes, rubbing his hands together turning back towards Shranni as she begins to look for him and mutters, "Desna, be with me. Back in the fray I go!"
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As you let Shrani-too know that you'll take her to the Theatorium she almost bounces up and down from excitement and after settling your bar tab you make your way there - with a slight detour as Bar picks up his axe. You arrive at what can only described as an "alternative hipster" building. The doors are closed, but not locked as sometimes a pinkhaired punker or a group of aliens dressed in ballet outfits enter or leave the building.
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When shirren is asked to tell a joke he begins to think opening and closing his mandibles
"Sure, shorty <click>".
D'vost turns towards Shrani and asks
"Do you know how to drown a hipster? <click> No? In a mainstream.<click>"
He begins his shirren laughter making a while spectrum of clicky sounds.
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After D'Vost is asked to tell another joke and having done so Shrani-too is at the very least distracted from Mute's absence for a bit as you can see her visibly think about the joke and trying to figure out why it would be funny before she punches D'vost on the upper arm and says
"You're weird!" and hopping back to Mute as he returns.
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Shrani-too looks at you expectantly with wide gleaming eyes filled with excitement as you stand in front of the building
"You can get me in for a performance can't you? It's been like totally my literally life long dream to perform here ever since I found out this place existed!"
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Ticcus strums his axe a little as the walk to the Theatorium.
Listening to D'vost's joke, Ticcus actually chuckles a little. "Okay D'vost, that one was actually pretty good. Thinking of becoming a comedian on your off time?"
"Doing a performance in public stresses me out. <click>"
Says Shirren, and smiles after hearing the compliment.
Hearing what the Shrani said he responds
"You are not that bad as well <click>"
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"I said I might have met him...probably while mostly intoxicated. You know...those kind of parties? I guess I can try to get him to think he met me, you know, a little subterfuge?"
With that, Ticcus will go in to find said owner.
At the door he will flash the bodyguards (if there are any) with a smile and ask to see Jebodah. He would even drop his name and that he is a guitarist from the SRO's wanting to talk to him about a new idea for a gig.
"Jebodah! How great to meet you when we both are at our full faculties. I swear that when I met you last I might have been--and maybe you too--having a little to much fun at the party with the drinks they served. So let me reintroduce myself. I am Ticcus, the lead guitarist and backup singer of the Rusty SRO's. While I am certain that my crass shredding is not up to your wonderful Theatorium's prestige, I do know a talent when I see it. You see, I was brought in by the Starfinder Society to help keep an eye on a wonderful young lady by the name of Shranni. She is the daughter of a diplomat from Talosin-3. And I can tell you she is a wonderful dancer. Maybe we can come to some kind of agreement to get her on one of your stages, I could even help with some backup guitar--though nothing like what I normally play. Maybe something more towards SMC's style?
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Having no trouble getting Jebodah Hamisfore to meet up with you after hearing that not only the lead guitarist of the SRO's is here but also the daughter of a diplomat from Talosin-3,a place far from the Pactworlds - which should in theory provide a new experience at least - is willing to perform here and given high praise from such a diverse group as yourself you are quickly led further inside to discuss more details.
“Welcome, right this way,” the spry gnome ushers the group through a set of doors and into a large round theatre with plush seats. On the stage, a troupe of masked actors look up in surprise as guests enter during their rehearsal. “Not now, you lot,” Jebodah cries to the actors, waving his hands dismissively.
“Out! Out! I have something NEW here!”
As the actors file out the stage door, Jebodah moves to a large booth containing a series of levers and dials. He waves into the booth and begins to pull levers and flip switches. With a whir of machinery the entire room begins to reconfigure itself. The seats retract into slots in the floor, and the stage folds up and slides into the wall. A series of stadium-like bleachers extrudes from the corners, slowly building up seating for several hundred people. The floor seems to grow a carpet of thick padding as the room finishes its rearrangement into an arena-like space.
“Now,” he continues, addressing the Sharni-too. “Just what sort of art did you wish to demonstrate? I think I heard some mention of infectious energy dancing? I assure you, if you impress me, I can launch your career in show business!”
Sharni-too seems a bit nervous but answers
"I will perform a traditional dance of my people"
Jebodah is ecstatic at the offer of such a presentation and summons a group of avid “test fans” who he employs specifically to gauge the effect of new presentations. The gnome also requests that you join the assembled crowd as he believes a few allies within the crowd can always improve a presentation’s reception.
Sharni-too seems very nervous about having to get on stage by herself. And as she starts her dance she falters and stumbles a bit at first. The crown does not seem impressed by her performance at all, but it's just started and things can chance at any second.
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Ticcus smiles at Sharni-too and nod to her as she starts to go out on stage. He walks behind her, in his panther mask and configured clothing to appear to be a bare chested human male in the mask. His leather jacket has the Rusty SRO's logo on the back.
Carrying his axe, he takes a position near the back of the stage, and has his axe configure to the closest amp and pair with it so it can broadcast his music.
Thinking on what kind of music that he can use--and not get hit by royalties and legal issues, he pulls some old rock and roll out of the back of his mind, and starts to strum.
Ticcus strums lightly behind her, trying to keep the rhythm easy to dance to, and taking cues from Sharni-too if he needs to speed up or slow down the pace....
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Sev observes the movement of the party's charge, noting that her moves appear, at times, out of sync with the regular tempo of the accompanying musical composition. The android attempts to adjust the lighting in the theater to automatically create a brilliant flash or other optical distraction during the performance to draw attention away from the asynchronous movements.
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Wide-eyed and half drooling, Mute shakes his heads to quickly get his bearings. Seeing Shrani falter a bit, he quickly decides what to do.
Evaporating into the shadows, he then reappears on the stage behind her. As she finishes a twirl, he catches her hand to catch her eye with a large smile and wink.
He begins to dance in tandem with her, as her shadow and subtle guide. His movements only add to hers giving some flips and spins in the background to give her that extra pizzazz.
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Shirren ignores everything that happens on the stage and sits with the test audience. He pulls out his self-made grenade and begins to tinker with it. If you focus enough you can spot that he has a similar face as when he communicates telepathically, however you can't hear anything from him. You begin to wonder who is he talking to...
"Dear friends and colleagues, We are really glad that you had time to join us in this spectacle. On the stage, you can see Sharni-too, daughter of the ambassador of Talosin-3. Her good day is our priority and we would not stop bashing a few heads if it is needed. So from now on treat my advice as a way to get safe home today...."
After a minute of dance.
"And now we clap, as this was impressive. Clap a bit louder boys or I will do it for you, but your hands would never be the same..."
"YOU BLONDI! Don't even try to sneak out from here! To redeem yourself you should stand up and yell how much you like the show or I will stuff this grenade where you never had one..."
From time to time Shirren puts his grenade down and join people clapping.
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As Ticcus get's on the stage and let's out a riff You can see Sharni-too pick up the pace and become a bit more confidant in her steps and as she twirls she flashes Ticcus a big smile before continuing her twirl and continuing her dance.
Quite a lot of audience members have either their jaws drop, their eyes bulge or just let out general woops of approval.
Sev manages to use the present computers to to adjust the lighting in the theater to automatically create a brilliant flash or other optical distraction during the performance to draw attention away from the asynchronous movements. He some how ends up complementing the dance moves instead of drawing attention away from it.
Mute joins Sharni-too and manages to seamlessly blend into the performance and manages to complement the performance magnificently without drawing all attention to himself.
D'vost "inspires" the audience into appreciating the performance more, which causes some of them to clap ..but most of those are also eyeing his use of a grenade..indoor...in close proximity and stop paying attention to the performance at all and although they clap when D'vost ..encourages them to do so it's completely out of rhythm or with any feeling behind it
Kadef can take 2 actions at once, everyone can go again.
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Ticcus gets into a rhythm and slowly bobs his head up and down, his black hair flowing behind the 'mask' moving wildly.
Keeping an eye on the lady, making certain that he keeps pace with her, he riffs out a few more variances on similar guitar songs. He is also looking for when she feels she is done, so that he can make the music end seamlessly.
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Kadef seats himself along the edge of the test fans. From behind his veil, he keeps up a complimentary stream of commentary veiled flattery of Shrani's performance mixed with subtle cunning compliments toward the fans' taste and perception to twist them in her favor.
Kadef changes tack, instead of trying to turn the crowd, he tries to play up Shrani's performance. He invents cultural meaning for all her moves, even the mis-steps. He tries to craft her dance into something of sociological significance.
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Analyzing the performance area, Sev ascertains that the performance could benefit from modification to the venue's visual avenues and acoustics. Finding the booth that Jebodah used earlier, Sev pulls levers and flip switches that activate whirring machinery that reconfigures the room so to manifest modifications in line with Sev's analysis.
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Never stop a good thing; Ticcus continues his musical complaining of Sharni-too's performance. Multiple audience members are either rhythmically tapping their feet, clapping along or just straight out raising an arm above their heads and jumping around to the sound of the beat.
Kadef seats himself along the edge of the test fans. From behind his veil, he keeps up a complimentary stream of commentary veiled flattery of Shrani's performance mixed with subtle cunning compliments toward the fans' taste and perception to twist them in her favor.
But his comments can't be heard clearly enough above the sound of Ticcu's guitar
Kadef changes tack, instead of trying to turn the crowd, he tries to play up Shrani's performance. He invents cultural meaning for all her moves, even the mis-steps. He tries to craft her dance into something of sociological significance. But as he tries to influence the people around them they either jump around too much to focus on what he's saying, are too distracted by the performance or can't seem to understand what he's talking about
Sev pulls levers and flip switches that activate whirring machinery that reconfigures the room so to manifest modifications in line with Sev's analysis.
Somehow this causes the music of the guitar to bounce of the surroundings in such a way that it amplifies each movement Shrani-too makes. The crowd goes wild.
Mute's mind empties as the proximity to Shrani begins to make him giddy again. He doubles down and focuses on mirroring her steps. And even though some (or even most) of the steps are unknown and unusual the little Halfling has no trouble keeping up and playing a slightly shorter shadow to Shrani-too's performance.
You can feel the performance reaching it's peak and anticipate it won't last much longer
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Shirren looks around at the audience and thinks that his colleagues did enough to impress them even without his suggestions. He began thinking about how exactly he can help in the show. So he wonders: dancing, that can't be that hard.
He hides his grenade and sets his rifle to the side. Later he steps aside from the chairs and begins running towards the stage.
Then ... again vision happens
D'vost runs next to the horde of other shirrens covered with blood. They just left a tunnel from under a building and are running full spead towards a small group of people. He jumps over a table and sees how the first shirrens get to helpless and scared humans ...
When running D'vost shakes his head to get that vision out of his head. He really needs to see some professional, but there will be time for that later.
D'vost jumps on the stage and runs towards the Shrani and Mute. He glances at young and slim Shrani thinking: If I toss Mute his chubby parts could ease the landing even if he will not land well.
So he grabs the halfling and tosses him in the air forcing to make a flip or crash on the stage.
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Sev scans the dignitary's unusual, at times erratic moves.
Analysis: Target's pattern of gyrations appears to provoke physiological response in other life-forms that have congregated within proximity to her.
The android's head cocks to one side, as if in thought, as the scans continue.
Conclusion: Replication of the pattern by this unit would allow it to provoke similar responses in other life-forms, such responses could then be catalogued and analyzed for further study and threat assessment of such life-forms.
The android then approaches Shrani-too, attempting to synchronize his movements with hers and then analyze the response from those gathered at the performance.
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Mute is a little thrown off my his shirren team mate's need throw him but does what he can to stick the landing anyway.
Seeing the stage get a little crowded, he steps closer to the edge of the stage facing the crowd. "Are you not entertained?" He calls out to the audience, fulfilling his hype man routine, "Sharni-Too is here and she demands the love from all you miserable pukes. So get your arses and related body parts up to make some noise!!!"
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Shirren looks at the crowded stage and decides to make some room. Hearing the guitar riffs played by Bar he gets himself be taken under the stage where he yells:
"MOSH PIT!" And he begins to jump around and do Headbanging. He seems to not mind being the only one doing it.
His crazy jumping makes him tired very quickly so D'vost takes a sit to catch a breath.
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As D'vost, Sev- join the dance and Ticcus moves his feat to the rythme as well as he keeps up playing his music the audience seems to think this is audience participation and all start to join in rushing the stage to get there hyped on by Mute leaving D'vost widely milling around as he get's of the stage. Kadef is unsure if they are doing what he asked them to do or if it's a complete coincidence.
Shrani-too beams at the center of it all and seems to be having the time of her life.
After everything calms down a bit Jebodah shows up and shakes her hand congratulating her and they exchange contact information to set up possible follow up performances.
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After celebrating a bit longer and shaking a lot of hands (and tentacles and other extremities) you bid your leave and make it back outside
Shrani-too looks blissfully happy and stands still for a minute just looking up at the sky enjoying her moment as a light passes by quickly overhead.
Distracted by the shiny light Shrani-too grabs Mute's arm and points upwards.
"That's like a totally real starship isn't it? Like the one that got me here, but I was inside a like totally locked cabin and couldn't look outside, can we like for real take a tour around the station in a starship with like windows and take a look to see how it looks for like real to approach the station?, could we pleeeeeeease?"
She stares at Mute with big pleading eyes
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service that’s endured numerous hardships over the past several
years. And has converted several freight vessels into automated charters in order to earn additional credits using older starships.
You also remember that there have been numerous complaints about strange malfunctions aboard these starships.
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"That's like a totally real starship isn't it? Like the one that got me here, but I was inside a like totally locked cabin and couldn't look outside, can we like for real take a tour around the station in a starship with like windows and take a look to see how it looks for like real to approach the station?, could we pleeeeeeease?"
"It is, within its totality, a starship." Sev responds flatly. "It is, indeed, possible to participate in a tour aboard a starship and, from the vantage of a viewing portal aboard such a vessel, view the exterior of Absalom Station. That, we could do."
The android then cocks his head in response to the pleading stare, before asking, "Why do you inquire? Is that an activity that you wish to engage in?"