Innocence Lost

Natasha's starship, the Xuanxang, was everything a would-be rebel could ask for. With comfortable crew quarters, decent guns and a couple of missile launchers, a kitchen and several holds for legal and illegal cargo, it was her new pride and joy. And it came with an AI made up of nanomachines, too! She smiled as she opened the door, a bottle of hard liquor in her right hand. Turning towards her crew, she said, "All right, time to meet those former Ascendancy Super-soldiers!"

The Human didn't know that the Super-soldiers were just children. She didn't know of the deeper political mysteries that revolved around said children. All that she knew was that she'd attain her revenge soon, and Moonstrike will help her do it.

------

John Green and his band of former child soldiers made for an interesting sight, especially Stella, who violated several common Human taboos by exhibiting her cybernetic parts. As they walked towards the Xuanxang, John remembered the Rau've caretaker telling them about Moonstrike, and how although there was something 'dubious' about them, that they were probably the best chance to get the revenge or closure the group craved. And so John would take it with both hands, and move forwards, to wherever the path led. And as he approached the small frighter, John saw Natasha moving her hand in a 'shoo-ing' motion.

A smirk. Didn't she know they were who her crew had been looking for?

------

Two boys, one with makeup, and two girls, one with cybernetics. What were they doing in a rough place like this part of the Galactic Bazaar? Well, nevertheless, they were not doing a babysitting job here - they had some supersoldiers to wait for!

The children's leader, a young man of about eighteen years old, chose to neglect her shoo-ing motion, and Natasha noticed that he was armed, though not that heavily. But so what? That just meant he was prepared for a fight; so was she. The Captain repeated her shoo-ing motion, then said to John, "Go away; this isn't a day-care service."

In response to that, the young man would only say, "Natasha Zhang, commander of the Heavy Cruiser Agincourt. Dishonorably discharged from Ascendancy of Man service for failing to follow orders correctly and dereliction of Duty."

A smile. "My name is John Green and these are my...fellowship. One or two of your crewmembers can confirm our identities, but basically, we're the supersoldiers you're looking for. May we come in?"

Polite words, but Natasha was not going to lose face that easily. So she asked, "What's the password?"

John's answer was, "Diana's Bow is married to Thoth's Wisdom in chaste union."

A sigh from Natasha as she said, "Come in; let's have dinner."

@Gentlemanvaultboy@OrkytheOrc@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88

"I'm honestly surprised you're so out of the loop." Eldrid said, beginning to raise a cup of piping hot something-or-other to his lips. He stopped halfway, considered what he'd just said, and placed it gently back on the table. "Not to say that's a point against your intelligence.' He quickly corrected. "Far from it. I simply didn't know the Ascendancy kept quite as tight a lid on our true nature. It's really a point in their favor, if anything. As far as information control goes. God knows, I know soldiers love to gossip. And there were a few on our end that were trying to get the information out."

He shook his head sadly, then looked over to the rest of his compatriots seated at the table. "You guys remember Small Paul? The code-breaker? Scrawny kid, prematurely grey, real high pitched voice? I know he was doing it, I kept on hearing rumors he was leaving coded messages disguised as battlefield graffiti. Whatever happened to that guy?"

After John’s summary of the rude lady’s past, Rachel was sure she sensed a ‘kid did his homework’ comment coming from someone. If there was one, it got lost in the background noises of the docking bays even to her augmented ears. Likely due to the excitement over the invitation to dinner.

“Colonists from the outer reaches hated the Ascendancy’s leadership enough as it is. If this surfaced, many would oppose it. Public unrest all over the edges of the empire just wasn’t something they could afford in the middle of a losing war.” Rachel shared her opinion as her mug slid into her waiting palm seemingly on its own, “Many of the aliens I interacted with couldn’t believe it either, even near the end of the war. There was often a bit of confused disbelief when they learned the hard truth.” Taking a long sip of the warm liquid, she turned to their new crew “How much were you told about us, anyway?” Given the crew seemed to be unaware of who they were prior to the actual meeting, who knew what critical details might have slipped the net?

---

Kelan had found himself in an awkward position. Strapped down with both his arms removed and some half-wit rummaging through his gear. When over half your body was mechanical, alcohol tended to go through your system really fast. It seemed he'd become the prey instead of the predator due to his... excessive intoxication. Oops.

"Listen. I'm sure this has all been just one big misunderstandin'. Let me go and I won't hurt you. Promise," he said to the guy. The man, one of a large band of pirates, looked up only to scoff at him. Judging by his especially greasy appearance, he must have been the band's mechanic. He was probably trying to make sense of Kelan's equipment. 'Yeah, good luck with that, pal. We'll be here all year. Hey, I think it's time you took a weight off his shoulders, know what I mean?' He glanced over at the containment arm, where it lay on a table.

"Well, I'm real sorry to hear that," Kelan said to the pirate and then stared at him expectantly. The pirate just raised an eyebrow as the growing awkward silence ticked by. "Oh come on, you're embarrassing me in front of the pirate!" Kelan turned and shouted at his arm.

Finally, with a mechanical whir, the arm sprang to life. The next thing anyone knew, the pirate flew up and smashed into the ceiling before crashing back down to the floor. Then the lever controlling the slab he was strapped to was thrown, releasing him.

"Shucks, I dunno why they saw the need to tie me down. I was perfectly 'armless," he chuckled to himself. He then knelt down, the arm containing Tee crawled over to him and swung into place, the arm reconnecting itself with a series of clicks. "Much better." He then retrieved his other arm and reattached it similarly.

He then looked over his armor. "Well, least they were kind enough not to scratch the paint," he mused before activating it, the plates snapping open so he could step into it. "'Fraid I can't afford to be so kind in return..."

. . .

. . .

"Well then I reckon I must've set off something, because when I walked into the hallway there were at least six of 'em waitin' for me," Kelan regaled the crew. He'd paused to acknowledge the captain as she disembarked to find their "cargo" before continuing. "Now I couldn't tell if they were more surprised that I escaped or that I was in my armor. In hindsight I think they were more surprised by the armor. Can't blame 'em honestly. Now, I won't go into detail there cause it got little messy, but here's where it gets interesting." He grinned. It was time for the climax of his tall tale. In his defense, his stories usually contained a few grains of truth. It was just a question of how many.

"Now remember, I told you I'd been hired to get rid of these pirates, and well, pirates have ships. So after that, before anyone else could find me, I made my way to their ship's hangar. Now they had a big 'ol ship, big enough for me to climb into one of the engine exhausts. Led me right to the main engine compartment. I rigged it so it'd go up in flames the next time they fired her up," he then broke out into laughter. "Now imagine my face when not five seconds later that baby started purrin- . . . the hell?"

And just like that he dropped the story, staring wide-eyed at the people their captain brought back on board with her.

"Why they're practically children," he mumbled to himself in surprise. His jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the girl with mechanical limbs. 'What is it about this ship that attracts people like me. We got me, the ork guy, a bonafide AI robot, and now this girl?'

He made room for the newcomers to find seats and get fed, for now giving them just a nod of the head in greeting. After they were seated, he listened to what they had to say until one of them asked how much they knew.

"Well missy, I figure not nearly enough. Cap'n never told us you were youngins, that's for darn sure. Got me thinkin' there's a whole mess o' things we don't know at this point," he told her. "On that note, why don't we get introductions outta the way. Call me Kelan. I guess you could say I'm the muscle 'round here."

Stella wanted to turn invisible. The urge to do so peaked with every sideways glance that passers-by gave her. She averted her eyes and looked down, slightly ahead of her feet. But now she was looking at her legs... their metal joints peaking out as they turned. She briefly considered looking straight up, but quickly tossed out the thought.

Of course, the looks didn't stop even when the group of ex-soldiers met with the ship crew. Stella couldn't help but wear a slight scowl on her face as she noticed each one passed over her with their eyes. It would be so easily to fade from sight and curl up into a ball for a little bit, but she needed to be present. Or at least, that's what John said. Then the captain moved on to talk of dinner.

"Oh boy. Dinner." Stella muttered to herself. Though the basics were almost perfect, she was still tweaking the less "essential" senses. She also couldn't get over a sinking feeling of futility whenever she ate, but perhaps making food taste better would help that. Either way, she sat down at the end of the table and half-listened to the conversations of the others.

She shot a glance towards the big guy... He said his name was Kelan. "It's Stella-" She paused briefly as she looked over him more closely, noticing his cybernetics and most obviously his arm. "-My name is Stella." She turned her head after giving her introduction, hoping to cut off any potential further questions.

---

He opened his eyes to see the platform that served as his nightstand bathed in a soft blue light that emited from above the central point of his relatively small quarters. It may seem odd, but if one thought you couldn't miss facing the ceiling when you woke up- they were surely mistaken. Because Reisus did. He sat up, putting his hands on his knees as he gathered his thoughts. The crystals sprouting from his back were a burden to his comfort that he'd have to deal with every morning- seemingly for the rest of his life. This was something that went through his head every time he woke up. Because every time he did, so did the pain on his upper back.

He reached over and hauled a rucksack up onto his bed, before fishing a small container from it. He drew a pill from it then popped it into his mouth and swallowed it dry. It seemed no matter how many pillows he propped up to support himself, he'd somehow always wake up with aches were the crystals grew from his skin, as if he'd been weighing against them all night. The feeling quickly wore off with the pills, but even still, it resulted in him being a grumpy morning person.

He stood up, stretching his limbs shortly as he clothed himself. The clothing would look a little weird to anyone who didn't know who's wearing them. The back of each article seemed to be made of a thin, flexible, hard-fiber. But the crystals move right through this material, as if it weren't even there. He finished throwing on a T-shirt and grabbed his Omni-tool from his bed before leaving the room, the door opening with a pressured hiss. He made his way through the ship, stopping by the bathroom to wash his face and groom his hair(very simply, mind you), then heading towards the main cabin to check the status of the new soldiers they had been scheduled to pick up; until he heard their voices.

He decided to casually eavesdrop. Not really trying to hide- but leaning against a wall and listening in while browsing the web on his Omni-tool. He'd never been much of a talker. Especially not in the morning.

Orky waited eagerly by the ship door to see the new super human soldiers. He was mostly excited to meet new people and learn there stories, because he wants to learn as much as he can about the universe. It was then he gathered with the captain when the shuttle door opened and revealed the smaller than expected super soldiers. He witnessed the confrontation between Captain and the leader of the super soldiers. When they had finished the the little bat, Captain had signaled to eat. Orky then cheerily said in a hearty voice, "Yes truly a wonderful a meal is a great way to make new companions into new friends! I will retrieve my Homemade Orc liquor to bond through!" Orky then went to his cabin to retrieve a glass bottle with a green liquid, there was a label on it where it said 'Orky's Liquor.' Orky then returned and plumbed onto a metal chair making a clanking sound from the connecting of his cybernetics. Orky then poured him a glass of the liquor which had a almost toxic green color to it and a noticably horrible smell.

When had poured a full glass, then put the glass bottle aside and took down the glass full of it in one fellow swoop. Orky let out a laugh, "Man that sure does put some hair on your chest, maybe you should have some boy," he points at Elrid. "Wearing make up usually means one does not have hair on one's chest," Orky again lets out another laugh. "I only kid boy I'm sure you have your reasons for the get up." Orky then looks around at the others. "Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Orky and please feel free to have some of my liquor." Orky then puts the bottle of liquor in the middle of the table for anyone to take, while also pouring another glass for himself.

'Whoa. Yikes.' Stella tried not to give a visible reaction to the liquor. She mentally turned her sense of smell down... Way down. She was still getting used to her situation, but she did admit that the ability to regulate certain functions so easily was handy. A perk of your entire body being destroyed. A flash of anger crossed her face as she thought that.

There wasn't any use in thinking about it. Stella let out a small huff as she readjusted her posture to watch her... teammates? It was strange to think of them as such, but there was no better way to look at it. She didn't want to get jolly with them, but she figured learning a little bit would be useful if they were to ever have to fight together.

She briefly regarded the drinking one. 'Orky. Looks like a strong fighter.' She took a few mental notes.

'...Shows no concern about sharing alcohol, or perhaps some kind of poisonous substance with potentially underage parties.'

"Eldrid Cole." Eldrid said with as deep and theatrical a bow as he could manage while sitting now at a table. "Author, dreamweaver, former soldier, journeyman wizard." He reached out and cockily took Orky up on his offer, grabbing the green and fowl smelling bottle and splashing some of the liquid into his tea. He stirred it in with his little spoon and picked it back up. "And always willing to experiment a little bit. Cheers, Orky!" He tipped the mug slightly in the Orky's direction tilted his head back and downed the mug.

That had been a bad idea. Just tasting it was like getting kicked by a mule. His eyes bulged and he made what sounded like a whimper as he started to sweat. He held the liqueur for a couple of seconds that felt like an eternity and then, after two or three attempts, swallowed.

He let out a deep breath and land forward over the table. "That's real strong." He said, his voice strained. He wondered if the moonshine the other guys had never seen fit to share with him was that strong? Ehhh, we wouldn't have drunk it anyway of course. That would have gotten him killed. "What's, uh, what's in that?"

Kelan did not provide much in terms of factual answers. Not that it mattered much, they found them anyway, but surely there must have been more to their instructions than ‘A bunch of unspecified supersoldiers defected from the Ascendancy, meet them at this place X days from now, go’. Tough times ahead if that was the way this group worked. But maybe slaving away for the Office of Intelligence spoiled her. “So it would seem. I’m Rachel." She leaned forward and offered him a hand. Normally she wouldn’t do so as her most invasive spell required physical contact so the gesture might be misinterpreted, but where was the harm since they didn’t seem to know? "Muscle, eh? At first glance, it doesn’t look like much of it is left. At least Stella will find a kindred spirit here.”

Seeing Eldrid's reaction to what she assumed was the liquified essence of hell made her appreciate that Eldrid beat her to Orky's mystery brew. “You should've asked that before you took a swig." she laughed, greatly amused by her comrade's reaction. "Because it looks like a mix of reactor coolant and spent fuel to me, no offense Orky. What did it taste like?"

Orky bursted out in hysterical laughter at Eldrid's reaction. "I like you Elrid, you're a funny guy." Orky takes a couple of sips from his glass showing no sign that the liquid tasted near as horrible as it did. "Well it's made from pure alcohol that I mixed with some fermented onions, garlic, just a tiny bit of ethanol, lime and sugar also just some meat I found from the intestine of an animal. I requested Legion to cook but he's to good for that." Orky then belched very loudly almost rumbling something the table. "Also Elrid forgot to tell ya, since you are a first time drinker you will probably have some stomachs and strange bowel movements."

Orky notices that Kelan calls himself the muscle on the ship then Orky let's out a cockle laugh. "How can you call yourself the muscle when you dont have guns like this." Orky then flexes his non-cybertetic arm which is about the size of a newborn's head. Orky then let's out another laugh. "I only kid Kelan." He then directs his attention to Racheal who asks about the taste of Orky's brew. "Well for me it tastes like home, or close enough to it, I could only barely remember the recipe for the drink." Orky finishes off his glass and pours himself another then leaning back into his chair letting the others talk.

---

"Pal, maybe alcohol poisoning's not the best greeting for our new friends here..." Kelan looked at Eldrid sympathetically. 'Brave kid... or stupid.' It was up in the air for the time being, though he supposed being a former "super-soldier" meant he probably leaned toward the former.

He was honestly more thrown off by Rachel though. As he shook her hand, using his left, she made a comment about his muscles... or lack thereof. How forward of her. "Well now, it's a figure o' speech darlin, but I'm sure you knew that." She'd amused him by just how thoroughly she'd broken the ice there. She may as well have used a wrecking ball. "I just mean to say I'm this ship's front line." Oh sure, Orky still had some actual muscle left to flex, and plenty of it apparently, and Reisus seemed to be a fighter of some sort, but none of them struck him as soldiers. Not like he had been at any rate.

"And 'sides, I still have abs..." He pondered for a moment. "Well, most of 'em anyway."

He glanced again at Stella. She'd said her name and nothing else. Kindred spirit maybe, but he had a feeling she wasn't going to make it easy. He was pretty shocked, honestly. Her cybernetics looked very extensive. Perhaps more so than his. There was no appropriate way for him to find out of course, unless she ever felt like telling.

"Well anyhow, there's actually one more person in the room needs introducing," he told them. He lifted up his arm so everyone could see the large tubes that ran along it. Inside was what looked almost like a viscous liquid or gel... that was moving. "My roommate Tee, here. It's a long story, but we got blown up at the same time and been together ever since. Silly Tayanen took a likin' to me I guess." It was always a awkward affair explaining that he had another living being in his arm, but it would save them from a panic attack if they ever saw him crawling around on his own.

'Why did the polite boy drink the liquid? It seems like an... strange choice.' Tee struggled over his words for a moment before deciding on strange.

'Well I think you said it right there, pal. Probably bein' cordial.'

"He says hi," Kelan spoke aloud again. The look on his face betrayed that was indeed not what had been said. He then looked down at the arm. "Come on now, wave to the kids..." An awkward moment passed before- THWACK! The arm suddenly shot up, smacking Kelan across the face before waving to the newcomers. "Son of a b- Be more careful!" He groaned, clutching his aching jaw. "At least half o' that's still real..."

A crescendo of tension arose in the heart of the machine now known as Legion as it saw the group of youngsters approaching the ship. As the banter between this 'John' and Captain Natasha ensued, Legion's fears were confirmed. It had heard various rumors of the exact nature of the Ascendancy's super soldier program, and something from the mission document had been somewhat telling.Upon hearing the Captain call out for dinner, Legion wordlessly hovered back into the ship, heading for the mess hall. As the crew and guests sat down, Legion went about laying out plates of food, fist for the Captain, then for the guest, and then for the crew.

"You guys remember Small Paul? The code-breaker? Scrawny kid, prematurely grey, real high pitched voice? I know he was doing it, I kept on hearing rumors he was leaving coded messages disguised as battlefield graffiti. Whatever happened to that guy?"

*CLANG*

"Oh, dear. Please pardon me, I seem to have dropped a plate," Legion declared. Fortunately, he hadn't put food on it yet, and the plate was made of metal (no self-respecting spaceship would have porcelain dinnerware). It reached out one of its hidden, extendable arms to pick up the plate, putting it in the washer, and grabbed another to load up with food. Once everyone had been served, Legion hovered around the table, refilling cups, providing seconds if asked, and performing general, waiter-like functions. A careful observer might have noted that Legion seemed to pay particular to the children's needs.

"Well it's made from pure alcohol that I mixed with some fermented onions, garlic, just a tiny bit of ethanol, lime and sugar also just some meat I found from the intestine of an animal. I requested Legion to cook but he's to good for that."

"As the Chief Medical Officer of this ship, I cannot knowingly participate in an activity that jeopardizes the health of the crew," Legion retorted, but playfully. For the most part, Legion let the crew do whatever they wanted, since they all seemed sensible enough to not hurt themselves or each other. Legion rarely chided them for anything, and only ever did so out of jest. Legion tried to let the general atmosphere of dinner help it to settle into a more jovial mood, and take its mind off of what it had heard earlier.

Innocence Lost

John turned to Eldrid as the group entered the ship and said, "Funny you should mention that; Small Paul was the one who hooked us up with these Moonstrike privateers; he seemed to have gotten free by himself." A pause, before he continued, "Some of the graffiti we encountered entering the Galactic Bazaar was more than it seemed." A sigh, "I apologize for not telling you earlier, El, but I needed to know if the bargain was genuine, which it seems to be at present."

They reached the dining quarters, where Natasha, with her own sigh of resignation, readied the lightweight chairs. She then looked at Eldrid; her next words were, "Wait, you're Eldrid Cole?! I loved Starless Space! But wait, they said you were dead!"

John turned to Natasha and asked, "Moonstrike hasn't informed you of what the Ascendancy had to do to gain their victories, haven't they? Well to make a long story short, they experimented on kids - us - with Kaisoken dust, giving us all magic. There was also some blackmail involving our families, as well as abuse and coercion and being thrown into the thick of battle as children." A purse of his lips. "And now, we want revenge."

Turning towards Kelan, and then Reisus, John introduced himself, "By the way, my name is John Green; a Captain in one of the 'Secret Regiments' of the Ascendancy of Man Armed Forces. I'm the leader of this band of former supersoldiers, although a demonstration of our capabilities will have to wait until later; I don't want to risk lighting up the ship."

He didn't try any of Orky's liquor; he'd leave it up to the others to do so because, well, John disliked alcohol. Not out of religious reasons, but because he simply didn't like the taste of intoxicants. Chuckling to himself as Stella stared impassively, John decided to respond to Orky, saying, "Good to meet you; and I am glad that we can be friends." A subtle change of subject to divert attention from the Liquor. "How did Captain Natasha find you?"

The Captain in question interjected, "Prettyboy, leave it to me to tell you; basically, some scientists - Korta, I think, but don't quote me on that - decided to pick up an undeveloped alien from a tribal planet, give him cybernetic parts, and then keep him as a research subject. He escaped, and now he's part of my crew."

Another pause. "Now, another question: Small Paul is a kid?! Damnit, I knew that there were rumors that the Ascendancy was behind the disapperances of 'prodigy children', but I never knew they were true until now. Yet another question: Where does Alexander Kherol fit in to this?"

John instinctively turned away in discomfort. "He was 'saved' by someone high up in the Ascendancy before he can be kidnapped. And now he's a Grand Admiral." He paused. "I used to want to be like him, you know. Heck, I even guarded him for a while; he was... Decent to me, and it hurt to be torn away from him, especially as the next officer was someone I don't want to talk about."

Natasha didn't pry. "Seems like you've got a good case of Stockholm Syndrome, kid. Thankfully, I have a crewmate who's as good a shrink as he is a medic. He's also the one who's cooking for us; the robot."

At finally hearing Rachel, Natasha would say, "Ah, of course, the mission. Well, 'Moonstrike One' says that she'll give us an encrypted transmission after Dinner, so we have plenty of time."

John waved at Legion then as he hovered around the table. He would then say, "Glad to meet you, Mr. Medic!"

@Gentlemanvaultboy@OrkytheOrc@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88

Orky had a very excited when Legion served the food. As much as he loved space and the galaxies n' such. He loved food more, Orky liked Legions cooking but it almost seemed it was lacking something. He thought about it and thought it could be feeling, not that Orky thinks Legion isnt capable of feeling he just doesnt think he cant express is into how he cooks. But it was no matter since Orky at it happily anyway. While Orky was eating The Leader of Super Soldiers had asked how he came to the the ship. Oeky was about to answer him, but Captain had beaten Orky to the punch and explained it for him. With food still in his mouth Orky let out a laugh with a little food being launched out. "How right you are Captain! Yeah I can almost remember when they picked me up." Orky then dropped his cheerful aura and had adopted one of fear and hatred. He had remeber the beast that had put him in his condition. His face put on a cold stare that was as if it was gazing out into the void. He was indirectly looking at Stella at the when he was thinking about it. He was almost snarling and clenched his fists while in thought. His fork was in his cybernetic hand at the time and the fork was being distorted from grip of Orky. It was only when the fork snapped, when he had snapped out of it.

He let go of the now mangaled and broken fork, then took a napkin and batted away the cold sweat he had taken on. "I am sorry, Stella was it? I did not mean to look at you in such a way. I had zoned out from a bad memory from my lowest point." Orky then called Legion over, "Can you get me a new fork please? This one kind of broke." Orky gave an awkward laugh to Legion. Orky tried to return to his cheerful self but he wouldn't be the same till after he had rested.

Stella felt like there was something burning into her side. She gave a very slight turn and realized that Orky's gaze had been focused on her... 'Eh? Did I do something?' Stella briefly thought back over what she had done since Orky came around, but nothing came to mind. His stare seemed unfocused, as though she wasn't even what he was looking at.

Even still, Stella felt very uneasy. She had seen a look like that before. In her case, they were usually fixed directly on her and her hardlight blades. It was the look of someone who was backed against a wall. She weighed the pros and cons of cloaking herself just so she could move out of his view - before the fork he was carrying snapped in his hands.

Stella flinched from the metal crack. But that seemed to have snapped Orky back to a more friendly state, and he apologized after coming back to his senses. Stella let out her breath, which she realized she was holding. "D-Don't worry about it." Stella mumbled to Orky's apology. She averted her gaze from those who had turned to her because of the cracking.

“You should've asked that before you took a swig." she laughed, greatly amused by her comrade's reaction. "Because it looks like a mix of reactor coolant and spent fuel to me, no offense Orky. What did it taste like?"

Eldrid queasily lifted up his head and smiled. Well, he certainly wasn't going to be looking forward to when that stuff came back out now thanks to Orky's warning, but he grinned all the same. "Come now. I finally have a safety net, the privilege of being pleasantly surprised, what's the point of that if I don't exorcise it in leisurely moments like this?" He looked warily back down at the liquor. "Though maybe I should exorcise that atrophied emotion a little less strenuously in the future. It tasted like it was biting my tongue."

As the robot, Legion, came around and placed food in front of all of them and dutifully refilled his now emptied cup with something that wasn't quite as strong Eldrid watched Kelan and his...partner in fascination. Yes, partner was the right word for it. "I didn't think that was possible." he said, taking out his omni-tool and typing out some observations on the strange pair. That had the makings of main character. "Though, then again, the Ascendancy never really bothered us with how to interact with friendly aliens."

She then looked at Eldrid; her next words were, "Wait, you're Eldrid Cole?! I loved Starless Space! But wait, they said you were dead!"

Eldrid laughed scornfully. "Yes, I think they put me down to being lost in a freak mudslide." he said, not looking up from his notes. He finished Khelen and started on Orky. It wasn't every day you met a real, honest to god orc in real life. He spoke casually and dismissively, as though he were critiquing the hackneyed plot of an airport paperback instead of describing his own life. "Not really a lie. I got an invitation to a...it's been years now, god, it was called... can't remember. Some sort of young artists creative retreat sponsored by The Sunshine Foundation. A summer camp deal. A month of s'mores and workshops and mingling with other kids like you while appreciating the splendor of nature. It was supposed to inspire us to incorporate the beauty of the Earth into our work. For about two weeks that's what it was, just long enough for us to get the letters home. Then they swooped in, picked up the lot of us, and collapsed a whole mountain on the campground. As far as symbolism goes it was effectively the burial of our old lives."

Orky's backstory, however, had inspired what was perhaps a more understandable reaction. Eldrid watched him stare at Stella, or through Stella, before he calmed down. "What Stella said, don't worry about it. God knows we've all be there. This is a ship full on kindred spirits, eh Stella?" He said, trying to reinvigorate the festive mood. He picked up his cup and put it to his lips, sipping before staring at the cup in amazement. "I can still taste the liquor. Uncanny."

Meanwhile, under the table, he curled back the two fingers he had pointed directly at Orky from the moment he'd gotten that frightful look on his face.

---

Reisus followed the rest of the group to the dining area, still distracted by his Omni-tool until someone started describing in-detail the conditions of the child soldiers. His face darkened. He didn't want to think about what he'd contributed to that caused the deaths and mistreatment of so many children. It sickened him. He fished a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, drawing the former to his lips as he lit it, before taking in a deep draw of it. It helped rid him of the nausea that accompanied those thoughts.

As per usual, he wouldn't eat with the rest of the group. He'd lean against the wall nearby, deciding to eat later at his own leisure. Fitting enough, Legion usually would set aside food for him to reheat later- since he refused to eat at the table with everyone else.

He took in the conversation as well as he took in the smoke- all the while observing the actions of their new guest. Or allies. Whatever we wished to call them, these few who had joined them wouldn't know it yet, but Reisus owed them his life. He had helped ruin theirs, after all. For all anyone knew, a Kaisoken he had drug to the Ascendancy was flowing through their veins at this very moment.

He'd continue to watch as Orky seemed to have developed an ominous expression. It seemed most of them had troubled pasts. That was the way of the world nowadays. Though most had learned to put on a mask. Not Reisus. He'd always had a mask, since he was a child. The crowd he hung with, you had to conceal your hurt, and if you didn't- they shoved you into the dirt.

He took another long draw from his cigarette, bringing it down to a bud. He looked at it, as if in disappointment, before flicking the bit that was left into the disposal bin nearby. He'd be needing more of those with these kids around.

---

"Well what can I say? You learn to be friendly real fast when your only other option's bleedin' out," he told the boy, Eldrid and then just listened to his story of how the Ascendancy had gotten its hands on him.

When Kelan noticed the look on Orky's face, he was wondering if he should say something, but fortunately he quite literally snapped himself out of it. Eldrid made another good point then. Cybernetics or not, they all had something in common, something that had led them all to this ship.

"Well said. Hell, I reckon there ain't enough forks on this ship to get us through all our issues," Kelan said with a small chuckle. He was more at peace with his past than most, but he still had his baggage.

At that moment, he detected the smell of... smoke. It was faint, mostly being taken care of by the ship's air scrubbers, but it was there nonetheless. Perfect.

"Hey, Reisus! Quit creepin' an get your ass out here 'fore I drag you out!" He figured the kids ought to know everyone that was on the ship. "It won't kill you to show yer face a second!"

Orky grabs a napkin and wipes his mouth after quickly eating his food. He then grabs his plate and hands it to Legion. It's quite obvious Orky is still a bit shaken from recollecting his memories. He then spoke to the group, "Well I'm going to uh go head to my room and get some rest. Come wake me up if anything happens." Orky then heads to his room opening the sliding door. He walks in to his surprising clean room. There are various trinkets from places they have visited so far. There are some weights for when Orky feels the need to work out his one arm. Also he had some posters of famous star clusters and nebula that seem to come alive through holographic projections. 8 yrHe heads start for his bed and flips down on it, Orky has broken a few beds by doing this but the captain made sure to by extra sturdy beds for him. He then proceeds to close his eyes and drift away into sleep.

Thankfully this time he didnt have any nightmares which is a common occurrence for him. But per usual Orky snored loudly enough that one could hear it from the engine room. But he rested till someone came to get him.