"Looks like I should get back to work." Varn got up from his chair and left for the armory. After a minute he was in the armory. "Reporting for duty, captain" He said as he did a salute.
"Both, and more.", Dwan said, very interested in knowing about the past of the Sanghvi.
Pippin kicked a malfunctioning console and it booted up. He sighed and started walking to the bridge.
[pretty sure he called Pippin to the armory :v:]
Lion waved. "At ease Varn, no need to salute." He motioned for Varn to follow him over to the equipment table currently occupied by two weapons.
One was a pistol, the other a [url=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DC7ljsOH678/maxresdefault.jpg]stubby rifle[/url] with blue lights dotting its exterior.
A small line of stylized text was visible at the top of the receiver reading [i]"With her beauty she will bring hope and light, thus removing all darkness."[/i]
"I want you give me your thoughts regarding this weapon." Said Lion as he picked it up. After clicking a button the weapon came to life.
"This is the LWA Val; a highly experimental weapons design which I believe is the first of its kind. Using several hundred microscopic lenses, the Val will release burst of energy from its fusion core. This energy will then be transformed into beams of superheated, well, energy. The beams themselves have a beautiful color reminiscent of a sun, however they will vaporize everything within its range."
Lion carefully handed over the weapon to Varn. "Give it a try on the range."
[QUOTE=kilerabv;48645664][pretty sure he called Pippin to the armory :v:][/QUOTE]
(Sorry, I missed that)
Pippin stopped halfway to the bridge and headed for the armory. He walked into the room.
"It's a fairly long tale to explain in your soft-carbon's natural vocal speech but nevertheless I'll will tell you all of the available information of my race to you, Barkeeper Ascedor as most of it remains unknown to the general public." Viper said as it lean inwards a bit more on the counter.
"First off, all the known stars and systems within the eastern fringes of the galaxy where under the control of the Sanghvi Mattle, the Sanghvi race in question begun their life as a unfiled crystallize organism that evolved from the Patagonia asteroid belt, this prime organism spent it's time exploring and charting their surroundings within the desolate space around them. eventually this prime organism begun to spit itself apart into several greater organisms, both due to the organism being unable to withstand itself as it grew larger and to allow the species to spread within other asteroids to observe more the dangerous and remote sections of the belt. While several of these greater organisms were lost to the harsh and unforgiving nature of the void, these early Sanghvi had amassed enough vital materials to from the first exterior forms. While these first forms were slow and quite fragile, unable to contain an full greater organism, it gave us a far greater amount of agility than we ever had before."
Viper told Dawn as it walked over to the large observation screen, the wall was that of transparent hard alloy and allowed the bar's occupants to view their upcoming destination or an close view of outer space.
"It wasn't until later, around when the first of humanity's precursors began clawing out their way of their core world's ocean, that were able to perfect these early shells and explore outside of the belt. The organism traveling within these shells were simple minded, little more than a simple insect, bindly following their masters and flying into suns and dark space without a second thought. These drones spent their entire lives searching the system. Most met their ends rather quickly but we're recovered by others, their shells were recycled into components for other shells and their organisms or cores as what you terrans call them, are given back to their greater core that spawned them into existence in the first place, gaining their knowledge and experiences." Viper said before it pointed its upper talon towards the center of it's body.
"However, within the creation of thousands of these drones, there is rarely one that is, as what you sofl-carbon's call "'Sentient" and "self aware". These Sentients were of much greater intellect than a drone but were unable to unite itself with an greater organism and wasn't nearly on the same level of intellect of an greater organism. These Sentients were, while feared, were considered by the greater organism's as their best chance of exploration and were used to lead their drones to find vital resources such as H2o and later, in search of other intelligent life forms when means of interplanetary propulsion was available." Viper saw as watched an distant star beginning to form.
"Our coordination and level of cohesion was unmatched as the Sanghvi began to find and communicate with other intelligent life, most considered our race as a threat, we were completely and utterly alien to them. Their defined sense of morality meant nothing to the Sanghvi, only as a flaw, a restriction if you will. It was that led the Sanghvi's eventual war with them, it was proven they were of no match to the Sanghvi, that was the only sense of morality to the Sanghvi, order with the ability to enforce it and abide by it. The Sanghvi had taken most of their worlds, lowering them to that of vessels and were locked to their core worlds with their fleets absorbed into the Protectorate's with their races forced to serve without an military presence within the space beside that of an orbital grid if they so wanted." Viper said as it looked over its shoulder back towards Dawn.
"That was when the mantle was established and despite what you would think, the vessels weren't too upset with their new status quo. In fact, most were glad. The Sanghvi mantle was fully dedicated to their protection, fully remaining uninvolved with them on their own worlds. The Sanghvi had engaged in no hostile actions with their enemies after incapacitating their star fleets, never deploying themselves onto their worlds. Most carbon races that remained outside of the mantle had designated the Sanghvi as an "Grand enemy to galactic stability". Viper said before turning back to face the observation port.
'This term was used frequently by both UGC and when they were independent, the Kanad Collective who came to view it as a major enemy empire that destroyed entire planets and enslaved countless races, rising multiple ships and marines to serve in the back then, newly established black fleet. This all had finally reached it's breaking point when the Kanad Collective launched an preemptive strike against an Protectorate battleforce moving in range to of an world that the Collective had claimed for colonial expansion, even though the planet in question was completely devoid of any useful resources to their people and was unable to even support the basics of life for an Kanad. It was that begun the Kanad-Sanghvi war." Viper said as an nearly custer of faraway stars begins to fickler.
"The war went in favor of the Sanghvi for solar years, each battle was ended in Protectorate victory but while the Sanghvi went though with an battleplan of shock and awe, the Kanad used the strategy of attrition and lighting attacks against the vessels, weakening their resolve along with their Sate Security launching an massive terror campaign against the vessels core worlds, the vessels begun to revolt and turn their backs on the Mantle, this lead to the major shortage of necessary minerals needed for the creation of organisms. Combined this with the Collective managing to plush through Protectorate and destroying the Sanghvi's prime organism, the original percussor to the Sanghvi race as a whole was gone in the flash of a eye." The stars fade into darkness as Viper turns from the observation port and faces Dwan.
"This caused the Protectorate to engage an full scale invasion of the core worlds of the Collective, unleashing their drones onto into Kanad population worlds, the drones slaughtered billions of innocents, this horrific act caused many Sanghvi colonies to abandoned the Protectorate and incited an civil war within the Mantle as the Protectorate had broken what their own laws of engagement and was considered completely an amoral act. it wasn't shortly after that the Mantle begin to dissolve, this was when the UGC finally step in to stop the Protectorate as it presence posed too great a threat to the vessels and separatist colonies." Viper says as it walks away from the port and towards the door way.
"Despite both the UGC and Collective along with separatist colonies, the Protectorate continued it's war. The war lasted for two more solar years before the Protectorate surrendered and were disbanded shortly afterwards, only due to the fact that the Sanghvi race had driven itself into near extinction. With the war finally over, the UGC tired to established a united Sanghvi-UGC ran government along with the surviving vessel to keep order within the eastern fringes. Only to constantly be under attack from rapid piracy, droughts for both the vessel and Sanghvi and is under scrutiny from the nearby Collective that argued the fringes should be given to their rightfully owners, the Kanads of course." Viper said as it reaches the doorway, turning it's head over shoulder to look at Dwan.
"Now with the reports and state of the UGC, it won't be long before the we seen the sector engulfed in the fires of war.." Viper as it begins to stare towards floor in front of it, the door opens to the waywall.
"Ah, commander Eastlindht requires my presence, until we met again Barkeeper Ascedor.." Viper says as it walks towards the armory.
"Give me a few minutes." Varn took Val to the shooting range. Same as the Boombox before it what followed could only be described as a massacre of poor defenseless targets and dummies of various shapes and sizes. Some were even behind cover. "Val, after Sasha I think I'd never find love again." He thought as he walked back to Lion.
"The gun is great. But for me to give you my final thoughts, I'll have to field test it."
As Viper set foot it's talon on the floor in armory's doorway, the sounds of volley fire from a rather strange sounding firearm that it's Implant was unable to detect and figure out the particular type of weapon from weapon's firing sound.
The Sanghvi begun walking over towards it, finding Varn emptying magazine after magazine into helpless dummies, nothing but ash and dust was left after the weapon's beam had met its target.
Must of been one Lion's new project's, Viper thought as it slowly walked closer towards Varn.
"Enjoying your new toy, Enforcer Merner?" The Sanghvi's implant voice said in an rather lighter than usual tone.
"Please Viper, don't call me by my double surname. Just call me Dwan.", Dwan said, as he listened to Viper talk about its knowledge of the history of the Sanghvi. Dwan was engaged the entire time Viper was speaking, as learning about new species is something Dwan enjoyed.
"That was fascinating.", Dwan said, as Viper concluded. "The potential of war in that sector sounds very high from how you speak of it. Let's hope for something better to happen.", he said. "Ah, commander Eastlindht requires my presence. Until we met again, barkeeper Ascedor.", Viper said, as it left the bar. "See you later.", Dwan said, as he wondered if Viper was going to continue referring to him by his mother's surname.
Lion nodded as Pippin arrived. "Good, you're here." He picked up the pistol alongside its elegant black holster. The gun itself was a bit squareish with very few curves. It was colored in a grey shader and had ironsights with two neon blue lights on it.
"Meet the LWA Personal Defense Gun Mk. 1 or PDG for short. Using a compact high-capacity powercell, it can spit out at least 250 laser projectiles per minute. It features semi-auto and full-auto firemodes. Sturdy design is completely shockproof, fireproof etc.
Can only be fire by you."
He flipped the gunnin his hand so that the grip was pointed at Pippin. "Try it."
Lion then turned to Varn and chuckled. "Get in line, she's already taken. As for the gun itself; I hope it'll be effective enough to scare the crap out of those gearheads." He said as he packed down the weapon.
Noticing Vipers arrival, Lion turned his attention to the Sanghvi. "Please Viper, I'm not a commander anymore. It's in the past and we are not. I want you to go to the bridge and monitor our situation and all activity from there; I've recently installed a holographic display table with various functions for maps, schematics, video feed etc."
Pippin took the weapon and started getting a feel for it. "It's nice that I won't have to worry about ricochet, as long as I don't have to shoot anyone with glasses that is."
"Roger, Sir. I deeply apologize then, Captain. Vocal comultaction is still something I'm unable to perfectly communicate with yet. Nevertheless, I'll send a message over Archius's Security frequency when I reach the bridge." Viper said as it walked towards the bridge, the new holo table linked to the Sanghvi's implant within moments. Viper was able to see everything the Archius could see, every sensor, scanner and optic was at connected to the Sanghvi's input.
"Sir, I'm at the bridge. Nothing seems to be happening at the moment, I'll report any findings as it cames Captain." Viper said over the security channel to Lion.
Iska had listened to Vipers story and drawn some parellels to khergian history. When Viper had left she turned to Dwan. "strange that rock people loose to kanad." she pondered as she drank the remainder of her beer. "When Kanads try to take Rigel, we use plasma throwers to shoot ships out of orbit" she explained while making a series of gesture and sounds ending it with a chuckle that then turned into a saddened expression. "Then came bloodcurse. Clans fight each other and Rigel is populated by miners and defilers!" she spat between her teeth. She began walking out of the bar when she turned to Dwan, "Good luck" she said, now with a slight smile. She headed to the armory.
Iska entered the locker room and headed to her locker to put on her combat gear. When she closed her locker she looked to the one that was next to hers, Y. Sidikan - Engineering. She let out a sigh and took out her combat knife. She sliced a line over the name plate and left, going to the hangar to see that all the repairs had been finished.
"You too.", Dwan said, nodding in response to Iska, before she left the bar. Dwan cleaned up the bottles and glasses, putting them away. Dwan sighed.
"When I get the chance, I'll need to talk to Lion in private. Tell him about the morale of the lower crew members, as well as talk about.... that event.", Dwan thought to himself, as he took a seat and sat down, lying back as he relaxed for a moment.
Seeing as everyone had received their orders and weapons, Lion went for the bar and sat down. He slid over some credits. "Some syntholeum please, I need to loosen up my inner workings."
He brought out the silvery pistol he had crafted in honor to Jeremy, the LWA Spacehawk, which he then placed at the desk. "Thoughts?"
Dwan was surprised to see Lion enter the bar. It is as if he read his mind or something. Dwan nodded and brought him some syntholeum. As he took the credits, he looked over at the gun. "That's a very elegant gun, I can't lie...", Dwan said, as his tone lowered down. Using a button underneath the counter, Dwan closed the door to the bar silently, as well as turning off the audio of the camera in the bar.
"Lion... we need to talk.", Dwan said bluntly.
Lion took a sip from the glass. "I'm listening."
"Two things.", Dwan told him. "First, the morale of both the basic personnel and the food personnel seems to have lowered. The deaths have made folks worried. Pyrovik in particular seems to think that we might send him into combat at any moment. You know how he is in regards of combat. François is also a factor in this. While everyone seems to be loyal to a degree, he doesn't seem to care at all. Everyone was yelling at him because of his lack of care. There was plenty of bad blood.", Dwan told him about the meeting. "As you're the captain now, you should probably do something about this.", he said, waiting for a response before continuing to the second thing.
Lion nodded slowly as he put back the pistol in its holster. "I'll figure something out."
He looked at Dwan. "What's the second thing?"
Dwan paused for a moment before he spoke. "You remember when you asked me if I ever had anyone else that I was real close with?", he asked Lion in a slightly somber tone.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZyW-_y1d9w[/media]
The Archius drifted off into the deep end of space as they migrated to the signaled coordinates. Each member knew this would be the last adventure they would set off. Each knew the peak of the moment was imminent. No matter what happened they would still reign together. In the end, family was important. Fighting the ones you protect was important, not just them but everyone.
The Archius finally entered out of the warp. Ready for whatever hell-situation they would bump into next. They saw a large glimpse of Termina Central, presumably awaiting for their arrival.
Pippin holstered his pistol and slung his carbine over his back. His armour still looked new, except for the names of Jeremy Spacehawk and John Riker, etched into his the left bracer.
Viper stood still within the Archius's bridge as the vessel slowly drifted through the depths of dark space in wait of their Captain's order, every system and crewmember was ready for anything as they waited, ready to jump to half way across the galaxy if they Captain ordered.
However, an sense of dread began to slowly creep into Viper's mind as it watched the occasional crewmembers would turn to take a quick look at he Sanghvi before resuming their duties, some quietly discussing their doubts of their commanding officer behind the Sanghvi's back due to it's last episode within the bridge.
Viper struggled to keep itself focused on its duties, to help take it's mind off this drama, Viper started skipping through private UGC information frequencies to learn of the galactic situation, picking up a live Intergalactica broadcast to run in the background of it's implant as Viper resets some minor sensors.
[quote=Intergalactica]"-As we stand united by our collective breath of the most purest of oxygen, so do we stand together through the universal blood we all bleed in our eternal struggle for our race's continued survival among the stars." An sinister voice said before ending it's feed to the news station.
"Thank you, High Zealot Kalpyr. For any of you just tuning in, then you had just catched the tail end of Zealot Kalpyr's statement towards the recent critics of Divinity Creed's new and by far, largest effort to protect the isolated human colonies." The human news caster said before shuffling several holo papers in his hand as he turn to look over to his fellow newscaster, an well dressed Kercan.
"Foolish but for once, a well intentioned movement for the extremists. However, like all of their missions, the end result would be best described as foolhardy. As the rather puny organization now faces the staggering death toll as an fortunate consequence for the fairly native motion of saving every "Pure" Human within the galaxy." The Kercan said in their signature deep, raspy tone but was quite calm and reserve for one.
"Yeah, for better but indefinitely worse is the Divinity Creed's recent explosion in new recruits as either disgruntled UGC deserters or eger men and women looking to protect their home as the UGC continues to lose ground each passing day." The human caster said worriedly towards the camera.
"Hmm, that brings us to next topic. Former Sol system military colonel, Main shareholder of the sellswo- Pardon, the private military firm, GRIZZ and vocal criticizer of the UGC's ability to both protect and oversee the galactic state. Roderick Gaus, has declared his run for the next newly empty seat within the planetary senate of the Sol System's united government. His popularity has more than tripled within the last month and is only projected to rise as the election season draws near. Maybe the red blooded will prove himself as the warmonger that his opponents say he is as the Sol's population gowns more and more weary after the all human battlefleet of the 78th met it's untimely demise when it was serving in UGC hands." The Kercan caster told the camera before trying to grab an nearby glass of Khergian coffee, shattering it into pieces as his fellow newscaster took over for him.
"Yeah, all this talk of mercs reminds me of the recent rebranding of Phoenix Corps PSOC as the Argos PSOC following its newly constructed Company Headquarters on Doris within the Alexander System, this has raised many asking as the once thought dead PMC that's rise to prominence in the early 30s had begun an golden age of prosperity within the chaotic and troubled sector. And the first one to fall in the late 50s, signifying and as some say, sealing the sector fate to anarchy and famine. Barely keeping itself together and it's production of starships up to level to avoid direct oversight from the UGC at the time. Now we are getting rumors of an Argos-HarkArk alliance of all things!" The human caster said with a cheerfully voice towards camera as Kercan stood, trying to hold in his anger and pain as "coffee" begun to burning through his thick suit.[/quote]
Viper closed the bondcast, it began to looked through multiple channels for mentions of the Phoenix Corps or "Argos" as they call themselves now, finding nothing within the vast array of communications before the sensors flashed to warn the Sanghvi that there destination was insight.
"Captain Eastlindht, the target is viewable range. I repeat, Termina Central is in range." Viper said over comms before looking over each and every system and crewmember within the Archius's inventory, mentally readying itself for this final mission abroad the Archius IX and her crew.
Hazard lights lit the console of the Belladonna, signaling large amounts of field distortion- the result of many ships entering and exiting warp at once. "We're here; I'm cutting the drive," Neasha announced as she reached for the toggle. "Hold onto something, we're coming in hot." She depressed the switch, causing a shudder as the warp drive disengaged. The craft's artificial gravity system attempted to disguise the sudden deceleration, but to the crew, it felt similar to the body roll of a braking city bus. Gataska tumbled out of her seat.
"[Oh, sorry Gat,]" Virin mumbled as he helped her up. No one had translated Neasha's warning for her.
Outside the window was a glittering field of distant objects aside from the old troop transport they had followed, which was just close enough to be identified. The Belladonna was too small and too far away to be identified by the transport, which lurched ahead with purpose. Yanim and Rask each realized what they were looking at and grew weary. "That's a fleet, isn't it?" Yanim said under her breath.
"Has anyone been watching the news..?" Rask asked, nervously. Virin translated to Gataska, although it was no use. No one had checked on the headlines aside from Yanim, who had only been watching for updates on the Hanza incident. Every pulled out their device and choice and frantically called up whatever information they could gather. Meanwhile, Neasha killed the engines completely to hide the ship's heat signature, allowing the Belladonna to glide forward on inertia alone.
Quickly, they located news of the rampant infighting among the major mercenary groups, with many reports coming in that the Union was in the process of being dissolved. Still, they couldn't be sure where the Boome Marines were headed. "Get the star chart," Yanim barked. "We need to know where the hell we are."
It was no use. This was only a rallying point, there were no landmarks nearby which could be used to identify the battle zone. If they were to know anything about the Boomes' final destination, they would have to tap into their encrypted communications, and it didn't take an engineer to know that brazenly trying to hack them would alert the mercenaries immediately. They would need something much more cunning.
"This is too dangerous," Neasha said, shaking her head. "This ship might be able to outrun kanad border patrol, but we can't just waltz blindly into a merc warzone. I say we turn around while we're still far away and make a run for it. We're so small they probably won't be able to lock onto us from this distance."
"Do you realize, if there's a mercenary fleet battle about to unfold, how much we'd be able to salvage from the wreckage?" Yanim demanded. "There's no telling what I could do for this ship with the remains of an entire fleet at my disposal. We have to figure out a way to do this." There was silence for a few seconds as everyone considered the options. Suddenly, what Neasha had said sunk in. The Belladonna was so small and so far away that it was nearly invisible. The Archius was once brought to absolute submission under the threat of an "invisible" ship.
"Rask," Yanim spoke with a devilish grin. "What was the name of that ship you came in on? The stealth ship..?"
Very quickly, the group caught onto Yanim's gambit. The Belladonna couldn't possibly hack or extort encrypted information, but the Perikal could do so easily. As long as they were careful, the Boomes would have know way of knowing the difference.
---
Karzin was standing at the helm of the transport ship when a strange radio wave was detected by the comm array. The frequencies were all wrong, it seemed to be coming in from a... kanad ship? Before he could even consider the implications, a lock-on alarm sounded on the bridge. "Son of a bitch!" he spat, trying his damnedest to figure out how he was followed. All signs indicated the SS was present, but where? The radar screens were empty. He suddenly recalled reading about the Black Fleet's strike crafts, and a chill shook him. He was too far away from the fleet; if he were to run or raise alarm, such a ship could destroy his transport and disappear into the void before anyone could arrive to stop them.
He steadied himself and answered the call. Rask, speaking from the other side, informed him that the SS was certain that the Boome Fleet posed a threat to the peace of nearby kanad space. "You have one option," Rask growled. "forward your secure communications through an open port on kanad data frequency, and do not inform anyone of our presence. We will listen passively, and carefully, until we are certain of your commander's intentions. Should your actions be deemed lawful you will be released without consequence. Do I make myself clear?"
---
The Belladonna crew soon learned the truth as they listened to the radio chatter. HarkArk had called for their support. Termina Central was somewhere close, only minutes away via warp. There would soon be action against the Crimson Son. Yanim smiled at the prospect of revenge.
[QUOTE=Damian0358;48655215]Dwan paused for a moment before he spoke. "You remember when you asked me if I ever had anyone else that I was real close with?", he asked Lion in a slightly somber tone.[/QUOTE]
Lion nodded. "What about it?"
"The reason why I didn't want to talk about him before was.... personal. But it has been eating me from the inside. I need someone to talk to about this, and you're the only one I can talk to about him. Won't you hear my story?", Dwan asked, now looking slightly somber too.
Lion put down the glass. "I'm all ears."
"It all started a couple of years ago. I can't exactly remember the date. I was going through this 'odd job' phase at the time, trying to get more experience by working at supermarkets and restaurants, as well as, well, odd jobs. My first bartending job was during that time.
I eventually stumbled upon a universe that looked like it was stuck in an analog of late 90s human society, culturally at least. I decided to find a job as a clerk, thinking that pencil pushing would be a nice addition to my list of skills. I got an interview and the lack of documentation and prior work experience in that universe almost costed me the job, but then I revealed my bartending abilities. The higher-ups liked the drinks I could make and hired me as a clerk as a means of saving money, as bartenders were expensive to hire in that world. I was known as 'Dvajn Karlsson' in that world.
I was assigned to a group of more-experienced pencil pushers. The group leader, so to say, was a man named Diamonds 'Dey' Cornell. The group knew the truth behind my employment, but they saw how interested I was in working as a clerk. They helped me familiarize myself with the system and figure out how to get around my lack of clerkiness. I especially got close to Dey, as we started hanging out a lot more outside of work. We usually just drank coffee and discussed about life and current events. Before you ask, Diamonds got his name after his mother decided to name her kids after gems. The entire group agreed it was a silly name, which is why we called him Dey. He liked his coffee Turkish with milk.
Dey was quite an understanding man. Things didn't really surprise him and he always believed in the good of people. Fuck with anyone he cares about and you'll get fucked right back, though. I thought to myself; could I reveal my secret to him? My past experiences of telling people my secret were.... disappointing. 3 months after I started the job, I decided to go through with it. During one of our hangouts, I revealed my secret. He knew I was hiding something, but my magic caused him to be a little shocked. He understood why I didn't want the others to know, and his thoughts of me didn't change because of my secret. For once, someone looked at me not for my powers, but for me. That meant a lot to me. For a while afterwards, I was pretty insistent in showing him my powers, but he always politely refused. I realized the negative impact from my past experiences with people knowing my secret was causing me to do this, so I stopped. I just ended up mellowing out. The folks there were really nice. It felt like I was part of a family.
A year after I joined the job, the group decided to host Dey's birthday party at the office...", Dwan said, as he slowly paused. He snapped himself out of the pause.
"Anyway... I arrived at the party just in time, traffic almost caused me to be late for it. The party was sub-average looking at best, but no one cared. We were all there, even Dey's family and friends outside of work, which included his girlfriend, Jen. We were all happy for him. We had Swedish cheesecake as his birthday cake, his favorite, and the speakers were playing 'Wish You Were Here'. It was great. An hour or three passes and the party was slowly calming down. It was almost time for us to go home. But then....
An explosion happened. Suddenly, multiple explosions happened throughout the entire working block of the city. We didn't know what was happening. Dey tried his best to calm us down, but as he did, we all watched a helicopter slam into the building, causing the ceiling to slowly collapse. I rushed to Dey, wanting to help him and his girlfriend, but I got knocked out cold by a piece of concrete to the noggin....", Dwan said, as he paused once more. His eyes looked distressed and sad. He sighed before continuing.
"I don't know how long I was out for... but I did eventually wake up in the rubble. I heard lots of things as I got up. The movement of debris. People yelling if there were any survivors. People walking on the debris. The corrupted sounds of a stereo, playing 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'... but the most distressing sound was a weak cry for help from under the rubble. I rushed to the debris and moved it, as I recognized the voice. It was Jen, mostly covered by Dey's unconscious body. She was awake, calling for help. Dey took the brunt of it all to keep her safe. I was shocked to see this. I helped the two up, as her leg was broken. Dragging Dey over one shoulder and helping Jen's girlfriend walk with the other, we got out. We were found and immediately taken to an ambulance and driven to a nearby hospital.
I suffered a large amount of contusions over my body, but I made it out relatively OK. Jen suffered a broken leg and tons of contusions on the lower half of her body, but she would make it out. But Dey.... dear god Dey... most of his body had been damaged, with the biggest issue being the large amount of intracranial injuries he had received. While the two of us were eventually let out of the hospital in the following weeks, Dey wasn't. We stayed at the hospital to watch over him. During our entire time at the hospital, we were watching the TV for updates on the situation.
The whole thing was an orchestrated terrorist strike on the working area of the city. Many extremists blew themselves up at the base of each building, while others stole helicopters and crashed them into a select amount of buildings. 80% of the city's working sector was gone, it was that large. Half a thousand people died... no... five thousand died. It was a tragedy.
Jen and I did our best to help Dey get back basic abilities like talking, and eventually, he spoke again... but only with lyrics from 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'. Many of Dey's 'friends' laughed at him, calling him 'Crazy Diamonds'. Bastards, that's what they were. Jen, a few of Dey's relatives and I were the only ones still calling him Dey. As time passed, Dey's health deteriorated. We hoped and prayed that he would get better, but it just got worse. We spent 4 months with him, watching over him.... but I couldn't take it anymore...", Dwan said, as he was on the verge of crying.
"I broke down. I couldn't handle watching the only person who cared about me despite knowing my secret slowly rot away. I cried on his bed, before running out of the room. I left the hospital and ran into a dark alley way, where I opened a portal and left...", Dwan said, as he himself cried once more. This was the first time Dwan truly cried in front of someone in years. He grabbed his cleaning rag and wiped away the tears, as more tears came.
"I lost control of myself for a while. I ended up getting wanted in 2 universes and 4 planets in separate universes for mass burglary. I still don't remember what I did during that time.", he said, wiping away the tears. "If only I had known, I could've saved him, his family, Jen, our friends, maybe even the building!", he yelled in a fit, blaming himself for what had happened.
Pippin arrived on the bridge and walked over to Shiela. "Try not to crash into any of these fellows, eh?"
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