Arawak

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

(Not a big post, but is one to help bump the thread and advance a GM plot point a bit since the bigger cross-collab post will take some time and this plot point exists independent of the big space battle about to hit)

Deneb IV - The Pits

Aunalak was once again continuing the usual slaughter.

The precision to which the souls exist the body of those slain is hard to truly put to words. One could imagine they seep through the wounds, others imagine a slow release from the last breath of the slain. Others still, just imagine it like blood draining into the ground... and into the pits. The impaling of the various monsters the dominion throws, it is shameful. The killing is so factory-like that it would have been a better profession just to slaughter animals. Animals, what an old memory that brings Aunalak. But Aunalak knows the time nears. The glorious time that this grind will pay off, with all those dead.

The nature of The Pits however, even made Aunalak almost convulse for what it has sensed happen in them. The pits could not be visualized, but could be felt very easily even from the arena. The pits were uniquely grotesque, the arenas were what they had no shame airing to the stars around Deneb, but the pits. Even the Dominion had shame for the pits. For in the pits, the Dominion had even their own kind tossed in. The smell even for Aunalak was terrible, what it must be for the choking, diseased creatures once known as humans left to wallow around all those corpses with other parasite addled beings? That a species that could take to the stars is able to be so savage almost fascinated Aunalak. If only fellow Craetak learned from them faster, Aunalak thought.

What was more fascinating however, was that Aunalak had those who seemed to be fans of it. They called Aunalak, “Stiffy Stabbs”, yet shouted those words animalistically from the perches which they sat. They loathed Aunalak enough to make it butcher for their entertainment, yet that same butchery was what brought them so close to Aunalak. Aunalak never really had much in the way of fellow Craetak company, but so often those it had imagined resembled others like Aunalak speaking of the lost times before the Dominion crushed so many in their way.

So Aunalak, despite being a slave to the Dominion, still had a sense of privilege in this society. After all, Aunalak had the right to butcher. The frail humans who made this Dominion in those pits did not. Aunalak stands over them, in the arena. While they go mad from all the rotten alien flesh tossed into the pits, they must subsist on for whatever cause brought them so low.

As Aunalak continued to butcher, an announcement could be heard,
“Emperor Octo Smith has sent us a message- That he will return despite the… aliens eating people… and that he is unconcerned about… well… to paraphrase… the possibilities to which we may face when hosting a Slaughterfest. But do not worry, citizens of the Dominion! Our security has been improved significantly since that message, as you are about to see.”

Just then, groups of soldiers in powersuits entered the arena from all sides. All armed with armor that has been tried and tested over the centuries. Such forces being stationed here made it clear that the emperor is near and that they are strangely worried for it.

Aunalak didn’t really think much on that, too absorbed in its own circular laments as the butchering continued.

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Aboard the TDF Capital

“That simpering announcer bitch changed what I sent them. I will be sure they are tossed to the pits, along with those who dared cancel the 415th slaughter fest!” Octo Smith yammered to no one as he watched his video stream in his personal cabin. He than got up from the 20th century style couch he had brought in and pulled himself up in his medical power suit and walked out of the cabin where he had someone, whoever that someone is tell him some non-sense about peacekeeper camp time at the unimportant worlds of Soot, Curtis and Othea.

He just told that someone “Not of my concern, little girl. The people of the Dominion need me at Deneb, they need their emperor at the slaughter fest. We have neglected the slaughterfest too long. They have grown weary. There is a lot of weariness. I just wanted to be sure no funny business was going on, robed weirdos or such that dare drag me away from the slaughterfest any longer! Any suggestion other than going to the slaughterfest is treason.”

That middle-aged woman happened to be his advisor. She calmly assured him, “There is no intention to change routes anymore. We are headed to Deneb IV right now.”

Octo Smith nodded his head and just said, “Good, but just remember if we end up going to some other planet again you will be thrown out the airlock like that traitor you found for me.”

He than left back to his cabin while the advisor was just relieved that Octo Smith was only going to kill her if the ship had to stop anywhere else other than Deneb again.

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

@Kood
Accepted.

Karbana Kinnis depths now are more filled out.

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

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Planet Beau- Starport Gunstran.

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The debate over how to retaliate against the raid proved intense. The lives lost, the senator lost. The peacekeepers that arrived, arrived too late. Vuttiger and his local forces managed to ward them off from doing further damage and so took control of the local garrison.

The Starport had a garrison that was a bit small but had a nice window to where all the docked ships are. The ships that landed were mostly smaller ships, as the larger ships would not be able to handle the gravity of Beau. Those ships stayed in orbit instead. Vuttiger arrived to the bunker to meet with the local Garrison Leader.

Issue was, other branches of Beau's bureaucracy already were in motion...

"The acting senator is here to see you." one of the officers told Vuttiger, who almost felt frustrated at how fast they managed to get an acting senator. This acting senator is a total shrimp, they look more like one of the bureaucrats in the archives than a proper imperial senator. A total pencil pusher. Very unqualified choice, Vuttiger thought with disdain. The other peace keepers however seem to like this guy, for some reason Vuttiger could only contemplate with a scowl.

"Hello, I'm just filling in until the Emperor finds a proper replacement so you know, just hang in there." The acting senator awkwardly told the Sector Commander Vuttiger. The acting senator didn't like this... Vuttiger character much. It proved too hard to know what goes on behind those aviators Vuttiger liked wearing for them.

Vuttiger just shrugged off the senator and asks the local Garrison Captain, "Why is this acting senator at the garrison?"

The confused Garrison Leader just paused a bit before saying, "This acting senator is working with us on the retaliation."

The acting senator than proceeded to explain to Vuttiger, "We have reports from sister worlds that show that this raid was not all that happened. Katrin's forces are known to be occupying Othea, the agrarian planet of Soot and the Curtis system also has a signal of another attack. We are not sure if these are seperate forces or if they are working with Katrin in a grand conspiracy against the Dominion. It is however likely to be the solar crusaders that terrorize northern sectors I knew had been brought up at the senate by proxy. However without more information we cannot determine if this is the case. It seems unlikely they would make it this far to me but you never know with the kind of psychopaths willing to go against the Dominion."

"What a shame, Acting senator. I've heard theories there are aliens working with Katrin on the exonet, would have been nice to see if any were true for once." Vuttiger replied, frustrated to hear how far reaching these attacks have so quickly become.

"I have a name..." the acting senator replied, a bit annoyed with the freakish peacekeeper.

"No one cares, acting senator. You have said everything we needed to hear, the meeting is over." Vuttiger told the acting senator. The acting senator just deflates out of shame after that and left the garrison to deal with administrative matters.

"Sector Captain Vuttiger, with that news aside we have been waiting for your orders to know what to do." the lesser Garrison Leader explains.

Vuttiger starts to grin a bit as he contorted to a rigid stance.

"You want to know the plan, Darrel?" Vuttiger asked again.

The Garrison Captain, a bit shaken by how Vuttiger addressed him by his actual name stutters a bit before replying "Yes... sir."

"Lighten up, Darrel, what I'm about to tell you won't disappoint. I had worked with some of the navigators at the local space port and realized with the fleet at Beau and local ship militias we can impress into the greater war effort in exchange for some tax write offs we have enough to pull off a historic retaliation." Vuttiger told the Garrison Leader.

The Garrison Leader was a bit put off by that and replied, "You mean using..."

"Yes." Vuttiger replied before he elaborated, "We have to use the full extent of our forces, Darrel. What has happened at this place must be repaid with the strongest hand we can, the Emperor will expect nothing less from us."

The Garrison Leader just nodded before he asked, "And what would you expect our forces to do, Commander?"

"We have been contemplating that question with intent. We want to make it so Katrin and her gang of warlords knows what real suffering is. They play space knights, it is cute and all but it is ruinous to any hope of our galactic humanity to have petty warlordism replace organized civilization. We will have to introduce something these myopic cretins something they should have known the whole time- the consequences of treason. We will strike the world of Othea with full force."

The talk of destruction was a bit much for the Garrison leader, who like some others in the sector tried to talk Vuttiger down from this position. He had fear in his eyes doing so but questioned it anyways.

"Do we even have the capacity to? That world is not in the Beau sector, it is outside our jurisdiction. Othea is a major city center and to raze that would be too costly on our end should we retake it." he objected.

Vuttiger paused a bit. The grin on his face vanished before he explained, "The local senator will understand, assuming the ISC hasn't already murdered them like they had Maria Orange. They strike for the heads because they know people like you play by these rules that would be nice in a world where people played by the rules. We do not exist in that world and Othea is compromised as is just by letting themselves fall to those marauders."

The kind of scorched earth warfare Vuttiger proposed unnerved the Garrison leader who objected by telling the Sector Commander, "Commander, as much as it pains me to say these warlords did no such tactics to us so would that not put us beneath them to act out the kind of actions that should be reserved for aliens? I was raised and educated on the belief in the human fraternity and yet here you want to treat other people like ants to burn. Othea has billions of loyal Dominion citizens, we use orbital bombardment on that world and it would risk more warlords cropping up from more defections."

Vuttiger held back his anger just hearing this insolent subordinate. He wanted to shoot the Garrison Leader on the spot. So instead Vuttiger opted to try a different approach. Vuttiger told the Garrison Leader, "It's not enough. The high values of our human fraternity cannot be maintained without proper enforcement against those who would so break with it. It is in human nature to need a display of force to know who is in charge and these warlords have forgotten who was in charge. That is why the ISC are rebelling in the first place. Being nice on the belief it would stop further rebellion has already failed as far as I can tell.

As is these warlords have time and time again shown that they are more powerful than space pirates. It is obvious from anyone with half a brain that what we are fighting are rebels who festered about for too long with their own societies and deviant cultures. They even built their own military while people like that acting senator slept at the wheel. This must be taken seriously, Darrel. Or the whole Dominion will be ashes. Historical precedent shows this. From ancient conflicts like the Great World War of the 20th century to the Unification itself with the final downfall of Italy. It is the most effective option of the narrow slate of options we have. I wish it weren't so, but the history shows otherwise. We will strike Othea primarily but we also will send supporting forces to Soot and Curtis. The local peacekeepers we have sent messages to about these arrivals to the loyal forces of those systems, so they better make it."

Darrel let himself silenced by that, if only because he knew another word would likely get him far harsher penalties than the citations already about to head his way.

Meanwhile outside the ships at the Starport Gunstran begun their ascent.

A large fleet of peacekeepers it was, with ships ranging from fighter carriers loaded with local prisoners promised their freedom to even ships that used tech inherited from the inner dominion guardian fleet. Vuttiger looked out the window of the garrison at the sunny sky filled with the metallic dominion ships and their blocky designs. Many inscribed with the insignia of earth into their hulls. The ships ascended with a thunderous symphony, going further into the sky as additional streaks of light converged with them.

Vuttiger motioned to the garrison leader and said, "They tried to break our dawn. And as you will see, they like so many marauders and warlords before them will falter."

And with that, the retaliation began.

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Sector Vitrium- The Grand Conduit

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Mac Reed, distraught from his time at the senate decided he needed a break. So he chose to try to calm his nerves by going to the Grand Conduit, the jewel of Vitrium. A place of vast splendor and commerce, with vast spires and an atrium draped in Dominion regalia. Due to the crowds, Mac Reed had entered the center with seven body guards in exosuits that kept the rest of the crowd in the place away from him. These exosuits were more 'rustic' by Dominion standards, but they did the job.

The guards pushed the rabble away from Mac Reed as he headed to where he wanted to go- a theater that he was informed would be where he would get the answers to the "assassin problem" that he believed was plaguing him. He just knows that he was told there was someone who believed his rambling at the senate. He didn't trust it but he had little better to do and he wanted to calm his nerves by drinking the only beverage worth drinking anymore- Glistenfloat.

The sour, iridescent alcoholic beverage was on full display at an open bar facing some a theater of sorts. That theater Mac Reed looked at for a bit and found what he saw just plain disgusting. It was a prisoner show. Mac Reed found those nauseating, absolutely nauseating but local interests kept him from being able to outlaw them. And with an Emperor that watchers aliens murder each other on TV screens... good luck.

Just the odious sight of that prisoner without his shirt being forced to dance for the crowd as hideous bug-like machines were latched onto his limbs with trails of flayed skin just was too much. The blood, the screams, the desperation. It was just all too much for Mac, it just was not the imagery he had wanted to see just than and there. Mac Reed averted his eyes even as one of his bodyguards was clearly enjoying the sight, even laughing in amusement with the crowd at the public torture going on.

Mac Reed was quick to head into the local bar to get some Glistenfloat. The service android with its nozzle and prefabricated cups poured the intoxicating rainbow liquor. Mac Reed quickly grabbed the beverage with his spindly arm but hesitated to chug it, unsure if it was spiked of not. One of the exosuit guards looked at the drink and asked Mac, "Is a scan needed?"

Mac Reed meekly nodded and the guard took the drink from his hand and after staring at it for a bit with a soft digital humming noise buzzing about, told the senator "no weird shit is in this drink."

"Thank fuck!" Mac Reed yelled before he ripped the cup from the bodyguard's hand and chugged it, perhaps a bit too fast as he groaned quite load after drinking it. It was at that point Mac Reed ordered a several more Glistenfloats before the server blocked him from ordering past the safe limit. He quickly chugged them all as the bodyguards just stood around there.

One of the bodyguards than mentions to Mac Reed, "Should we go?"

Mac Reed, intoxicated by all the Glistenfloat proceeds to tell the bodyguard, "No need, let's see if they're doing something less fucked up at the theater instead."

"Isn't that where we were supposed to be?" the Bodyguard asked.

Mac Reed at that point jolted up from his seat, the bony body hidden by the fancy senatorial suit rattling as he did so as he shouted "Oh shit! We were here for that contact! We have to get back outside."

The bodyguards looked around, but see the other people in the bar had gotten caught up in a fight where rainbow fluids were getting spewed about. The floor boards, multiple people and tables, even a couple bots just had colorful bile dripping off of them. Mac Reed was quick to get out of the bar after that odious sight.

And than the theater, to Mac's relief had something not public torture. Instead it was a play with some xeno involved. Mac Reed had no clue what kinda xenos but they were clearly xenos. The stage players were reenacting something.

"It is I, baby eater Kibby Muck. I want to grind babies into my stew." A rather unenthusiastic bipedal alien with a shock collar on them said as they dropped prop dolls into some pot that made fake sizzles. The alien than made some weird screech that sounded kinda like laughter but it clearly could not vocate laughter the way humans could, if it even had the concept of laughter.

At that point, a peacekeeper came onto the stage and proceeded to shoot the alien with live ammunition. The alien screeched again as it clearly was not killed by the first volley. It proceeded to its best ability shout expletives about how it was promised the peacekeeper wouldn't use actual bullets on them. The crowd cheered wildly.

At that point, a disclaimer was projected stating that "The xeno that carried out the atrocity you have witnessed have been extinct for centuries. The xeno we had brought here was not the same species-"

Booing was than heard with a very audible 'who gives a shit!' coming from the crowd.

Or something on those lines, for Mac Reed had already tuned much of that out as he felt something touch him. The whole world than suddenly paused and he found himself face to face with an unknown figure.

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In frozen time

This xeno being was had been just casually watching the savagery at play, amused by the sight. Mac Reed couldn't believe this... thing was here the whole time.

"I often do speculate what your society would do if they knew what was going on in the galaxy at large. But why waste the time on that?" the bizarre figure remarked rhetorically with one of its tendrils.

Without warning, Mac Reed found himself just stuck with the figure in a place where his body guards were seemingly frozen still. Everyone around him and the figure also appeared almost statue-like. Tiny bits of sound at times seeped through, but it was all too ambient and stretched out to matter.

"Oh fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Mac Reed repeatedly started to shout in shock as he began to vomit rainbowy fluids and hyper ventilate. He stumbled over himself as the figure reached out to him with... some scaly hand. Mac Reed despite kneeling on the ground flinched at the sight of it.

The distraught and panicked senator just stuttered with vomit in his threat, "wh-at are you..."

Mac Reed looked up at the figure. It had thick legs, like some land animal. Yet it was all mostly featureless, the silvery, shifting suit having no discernible features. The xeno did however look strangely organic, as if there was musculature and something flowing about its dermis.

There was a head that had eyes with a bill-like form and neck that led back to the main body. The body was peculiar, with a conic hump that had wrapped around it snake-like tendrils. The xeno was topped with another set of white, glowing bits that Mac Reed figured were eyes. Mac Reed than noticed the wrists of the tendrils, which he realized to be arms with hand-like mandibles which also had eyes.

Mac Reed just didn't know what to make of the thing.

The figure, with its synthetic but calm voice replied "Your initial shock is natural, most unaware of our existence react in some way at first."

"What the fuck are you?" Mac Reed reiterated, with a dry voice still recovering from the initial panic but unable to muster the strength to run, if that was even an option.

"I am a Dealer. My name as best as our translators can mimic for your language is Jiyus Vusados. You came here at my will and it is in your interest to know the deal I have for you."

Mac Reed, realized than that this 'dealer' thing to be a xeno infiltrator and shouted at it near incoherently "A xeno spy! Kill it!"

Mac Reed than just fell back on his ass.

"That does not work." The figure replied, "This temporal field has made the local time whatever I will it to be. If you were any actual threat you would have been dead hours ago. That much alone should be proof of my intent."

"What the hell would you want with me?" Mac Reed than slurs, just not sure if he's even seeing something real as he almost tries reaching out to touch the figure, of whom felt very real. Than with one of the serpentine arms it had, the Dealer Jiyus pushed him a bit away before responding,

"Not much. All I wanted to tell you is that everything you believe is completely factual and your current protections are not enough to protect you from those threats. To help with that, there is a chip that you need to have. Do with it as you want, its fate is not our concern."

One of its arms twisted itself to Reed and presented a strange cylindrical chip. The wrist eyes discomforted the hell out of Reed as it did so.

"Wait... What's on the chip? What's the catch?" Mac Reed asked it, just confused at this point by the whole situation.

The Dealer replied, "There is no catch. The chip has all the damning information you need to validate to everyone else the truth you know. There is nothing else we expect of you but to have this information. In return you will get the respect you deserve. That is the deal."

Mac Reed didn't trust the xeno one bit, but Reed just nodded along. With a seemingly sudden shift towards happiness, Reed said to the Xeno, "I don't trust this one bit but what do I have to lose?"

The Dealer than just vanished and Mac Reed found the body guards looking with disgust at the vomit on his senatorial suit.

"What the hell was that?" one of the guards wondered.

"Maybe we just missed him soiling himself." the other replied to Mac's annoyance. Little did those guards know how fortunes were about to change for bony, bony Reed...

And with that Mac Reed left The Conduit, with something he believes will change everything. It is the first bit of hope in a long time for Reed.

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At Deneb IV - The Arena itself

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Aunalak was in its usual meditative state. It was the best state to be in, when having to shed so much life from these fellow victims of the Dominion. Yet existence was fragile for it, as it realized from how many little ones it had to skewer. Aunalak had long desensitized itself to all the mindless screams around it, but it knew they grew louder.

Still the flow was what it was, the slight resistance of the enemy carapace, the flesh and bone, the amorphous membranes, all at the end of the cycle but material once animated. Just like itself. At times, it wondered how come it got as efficient at this culling of the physical form. Was it its own upbringing, having only known this existence? Was it the records infecting it with the past knowledge of its own kind? Aunalak couldn't tell and often wishes it had remained oblivious to its own kind's tragic past.

It would have led to less moping about and more massacre for the sake of it. After the amount of times it has repeated the slaughter it has become dull. Once it recalls feeling actual desire with the act, but it has become mundane.

But it knows deep down that the time of stagnation is nearing its end. It just had to persist against the grind and eventually it would be free.

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

Aboard the TDF Capital

Much distress had been coming from the inner sanctums of the Dominion. The wave of unrest that has so thoroughly spread across the dominion has forced the Emperor to have to redirect himself back to doing a bit of actual work.

"I can't believe it! They canceled it! The fucking pussies!" an exasperated emperor shouted upon hearing the news while his smashed his couch with the mechanical arms of the powersuit.

The TV screen in his wooded imperial lounge in large text read, "BREAKING NEWS: The 415th Annual Denebian Slaughterfest has been canceled. The Gladiator by the name of Hi'bli the Elder broke from the arena and eviscerated 46 spectators before the local militias were able to terminate the rogue gladiator. The local organizers express disappointment and say the emperor needs to wait a few weeks before returning out of concern of potential assassination."

The emperor however, proved to be just mad and cannot believe that the one thing good left in this galaxy has now been taken from him. Than one of the advisors entered the room. It is some middle-aged woman dressed in a business suit taken from ancient times and modified with lots of gilded dominion regalia. She saw the emperor’s frustration and said to him, "We know you were excited about the games but one of the gladiators ate a couple spectators and until they get their business under control, we have to do something less life risking."

"Like what?" the emperor barks at her, annoyed at the little girl now talking to her.

"We need to go to the imperial senate." she says to him.

The emperor just shook his head a bit.

"We are far from there, little girl." he replied, not really giving it much a second thought.

The advisor than told him, "We have been en route the whole time, some navigation errors happened."

“What?!” the emperor than shouted, completely exasperated at how this could ever happen.

The advisor quickly than assured the Emperor by telling him, "Don't worry, we will deal with the perpetrator of that sabotage."

The circumstances all vexed the emperor somewhat, but to him it made sense. Aliens are like animals after all, wild monsters that eat people. Even the little rat people, they are like piranhas.

"Uhh… that... makes sense..." he replied. With a bit of indifference, he said to the advisor, "well I guess I need to get some of that mess under control. Why did they have to rebel? Dominion has done so much for them, but they rebel. They are crazy people."

She shrugged her shoulders not sure at all herself. She than mentioned to the Emperor, “We also got you the proper stimulants this time. It will help you speak with the imperial grace we need in these now trying times. We had an issue with the last shipment that ruined the speech and the traitors who did that have been purged."

"Oh good... They made me look bad. Out the airlock?" the emperor asked.

"Yes." She replied elatedly as a small robot brought the stimulants into the cabin and puts the stimulants into his suit.

The emperor after a brief pause, said with relief, "Good."

The stimulant was injected through his decrepit yet gilded, medical power suit through slots in the back. He made a loud 'aaaaahhhhh' noise as it was injected. The emperor motioned to the advisor to leave the room as the substance began to do its work.

The advisor bowed to the emperor before leaving the room.

In the hallways, the Advisor than met up with admiral of the Emperor's closest Dominion Guard. The admiral is an old guy like the emperor, with pale skin and a harsh demeanor. He lacked the advanced age of the emperor however, being a mere 74 years old and would look to humans today like some guy in their early 40s.

"Wow. That worked?" the admiral asked the advisor, with a bit of unease held back only by the stern, rigid posture he habitually took.

"Yes. The emperor bought the story entirely. Despite me being told the gladiator ate people yet on the TV it said it eviscerated people!" she told the admiral. The admiral looked for a bit at his wrinkly arm and then back at the advisor.

The Admiral than told the Advisor, "The technicians and editors we had intercept the signal of the emperor's television thought that wasn't believable. Like lots of things that are impossible to believe like all these nutjobs who think they are entitled to just break away and form their own petty little fiefdoms. The glorious Imperial Executive of the Dominion needed to get off the TV for the good of the Dominion and that is what we made sure of. Your role was the easy part, you know. I had to get enough people to go with this and all you had to do was keep a story straight. You could not even do that. The Emperor may be advanced in age, but he is not stupid. He can't possibly believe that intelligent creatures would well..."

The admiral than just briefly stopped talking, as if something is off in giving xenos any credit at all. Then he proceeded to finish his rant, saying "What kind of intelligent being would eat other intelligent beings anyways? That would be fucked up. Whatever, it worked."

"I'm amazed you don't know the way the emperor thinks much even after all this time." the advisor replied with a bit of a smirk. The admiral paused at this slight from an advisor who has only been advising the emperor for a few years.

The admiral than proceeded to say, "I'd rather not underestimate the emperor of this vast Dominion. Doing that can get you killed. As you should know with how you got that one guy killed who did not need to be killed at all."

The advisor shrugged her shoulders, doing the best she could to avoid saying anything more. Then an announcement was made: "Destination reached. Welcome back to Earth, our great Imperial Executive Octo Smith."

The Emperor proceeded to burst open through the Cabin door, elated. Too elated.

"It's time!" he shouted, almost childishly as the stomping of his power suit shakes the room and he began to depart from the ship and to the senate as a strange, shadowy figure followed him. Faint sounds of whispers can be heard.

Neither the Admiral nor Advisor said much after that, just disturbed by the emperor’s behavior. A sense of dread had begun to seep into their heads as the triumphal regal music began elsewhere.

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Earth: The Senate

The senate was a vast space. As a large, decked room akin to an amphitheater where the senates all sit faced towards the center stage where the emperor and whoever takes the floor faced all the rest. The arrangement of the large, theater-like room had the senators of the inner sectors are seated closer to the Emperor than the many seats of the outer sectors. The room for all its fabric and decor, showed the scars of multiple rounds of remodeling over the centuries including bullet holes from prior inner Terran conflicts, secession crises and acts of terrorism.

There was also the seams from the multiple times the room had to be resized to fit ever expanding amount of space the Dominion has come to occupy. The room currently is a vast thing, with hundreds of senators all in the same place. And many others with proxy avatars or surrogates, especially with all the commotion that had been going on. The senate also was staffed with many armored guards wearing gilded power armor of a sleeker, more modern design than what the emperor had. They stood still in the senate, in an almost statue-like fashion and with hawk like sight on all parts of the senate. Worries of assassins filled the hallways, so they were summoned to maximum capacity.

The Emperor than proceeded to make his entrance and all the senators lower themselves so the Emperor stands high over them. Trumpets that had an electronic tinge to them were played as he triumphantly walked into the senate in his massive and rustic powersuit that shook the floor of the senate itself with each step.

He then proceeded to make it to the center of the room, facing all the senators who watched their Emperor anxiously. Something was a bit different, however. Some of the senators seem to be missing. Others are here using some androids to be telepresent. Others still have someone else representing them instead. Cowards, all of them.

Among the senators, Octo Smith with the heightened perception of the stimulants noticed some mumbling going on.

In particular, two senators in the back with one named Brundy Winters and the other named Mac Reed. Brundy was a gruff guy, but with blood shot eyes and a whitened beard from the terror he had been faced with. He turns to his colleague and begins whispering quite loudly, "There is a cult, Mac. You know it as someone also in that area. Our Peacekeepers were not equipped to handle them. I had seen their cult rituals firsthand once… We cannot let them nearby. Yet here we are, playing these games instead of just letting the Dominion Guard do its thing. Are they even aware? I do not feel Octo is there anymore. He used to actually know what he was doing… now he just is this mumbling mess."

Mac Reed, however, proved even more shell shocked and barely can articulate a response. Mac was just there, shaking, with an absolute paleness about him and his lanky, almost skeletal body. "...The OPAO... I think they are here... they're coming for me... I can feel it in my bones..."

"You're all bones, Mac!” Brundy retorted, before he told Mac, “No one knows what an OPAO is anyways, is that some dish local to your sector? Since if that is what you are worried about at least you do not have those loonies that worship suns trying to invade your sector."

Reed, a bit off kilter tried to explain, "It's what they call themselves... the society that formed under our nose..."

"Ha! You can't manage shit.” Brundy excitedly insulted, “Mac, you are a terrible senator for letting that happen. What sorta senator are you? All bony and stuff, please eat some more. Mac, you're making the Dominion look bad."

Mac Reed, sick of Brundy’s insults outbursted "Brundy! Please shut the hell up! You are the most insufferable fuck I have ever met! People are fucking dropping like flies all over my sector and your stupid ass thinks the solar nutjobs are more dangerous than spies killing your closest friends!"

That outburst was very much heard by the Emperor, who glared at them in anger. Other nearby senators also started glare at them and shouted at them, "Little children, you will be the first to speak!"

A lot of the senators were silent and just rolled with it. The punishment made no sense, but why question it?

The emperor than proceeded to say, "Now with that foolishness dealt with, it is time for my speech.”

The senators became all ears.

The Emperor began, "Some unexpected trouble has been reported from... everywhere... What collective madness has possessed our citizens of the outer colonies, will take centuries to truly know. But I have full confidence in our peacekeeping forces to handle the threat.

Since it has... come to the attention of my closest advisors... in the many worlds they operate, that there is a grand conspiracy against us. See, we have known for a while of the worlds of the lost ones and various... distant beings. All of whom have chosen to stand in the way of a unified human society in favor of petty fiefdoms.

We have moved long past the era of fiefdoms in our grand imperial republic. But there are cabals of warlords in the outer colonies trying to monopolize the power for themselves. And our warp sensors have picked up quite a bit of activity from the area. There is suspicion to believe they are collaborating with some other people; we just do not know what exactly.

We also have once again intercepted signals from alien robots that we believe to be planning their own invasion of the Dominion, but we do not have much to say on such bizarre signals. One of the people I talk to behind closed doors suggested they were working with that wannabe warlord Katrin. It is hard to believe that anyone, even traitors, would work with aliens. But who knows how desperate they are to rip apart the greatest experiment in all human history to drag us back thousands of years? I would not want to imagine something so stupid as that.

But that is why I called you all here, as the reports are mountainous. So mountainous. And so, I expect that Brundy Winters now speak. He may be himself a mountain of a man, but he must speak to us of the situation in his sector."

Brundy Winters than moved to the floor of the Senate and the Emperor moved to his own seat. Of which was in front of all the other Senators who silently started to judge Brundy Winters.

Brundy, on the floor is just suddenly not able to really say much. The judging eyes of all the senators prove too much for him. His composure broke, instead of giving a well-informed speech instead begins to start hollering,

"My sector is about to be invaded by the most dangerous things the Dominion has ever witnessed- raving cultists of human origin that worship stars want to murder us, and the Peacekeepers can't handle that! They are invading, we need the Terran Defense Force to stop these marauders before they kill everyone in my sector!"

The Emperor just nodded a bit, with a bit of irritation at the idea some lowly cult needs the Terran Defense Force.

"Anything else?" The emperor clearly agitated asked.

"...No sir…" Brundy sheepishly replied after all that hollering.

Brundy was motioned to leave and the Emperor stated, "It is now time for the second Senator to speak. Mac Reed, as you have made yourself well known to the Senate you must now speak."

The problem was, Mac Reed was not leaving his seat. So, one of the Dominion Guards had to walk in from their position and pick him up forcefully. The guard dragged him to the center of the amphitheater. Mac Reed was crying and shaking in just utter terror as the strong arms of the powersuit wearing guard constrained him in place. Worse still, he was forcibly made to look at all the senators, some of whom were already laughing at the scene.

"Now that you have cooperated. Please, tell your fellow senators what you have seen." The emperor tells Mac Reed.

Mac Reed was barely able to compose himself as he shook in just sheer terror with tears down his face as he stammered "th- there is people, bad people- they're in this very fucking room! They are here! they are fucking here I see three of them! Shadowy organizations have been stalking me in my sector from the OPAO, my officers said they go a bar where they kidnapped someone and-"

"That's enough." The emperor barked, cutting Mac Reed off. "We don't need your outer sector attention seeking. Get him out of here." Mac Reed than was promptly grabbed by the powersuit guard and walked out of the room.

The Emperor took a breather as the screaming, bony figure shouted names before saying, "Now, we have another senator from that same area. A senator by the name of Alexandra Mars. She may now speak."

Alexandra Mars proceeded to walk to the center of the stage.

"She's one of them!" was faintly heard by Mac Reed before the door shut, silencing him.

Alexandra Mars was a rather… off kilter figure. Seemingly a typical looking human woman, but with uncanny professionalism to her that bothered some of the senators.

Senator Mars began to speak with a professionalism that other less attentive senators saw as a refreshing change of pace after the rancor of the disruption, however robotic her tone of voice and movement.

"My fellow senators, the Dominion was long been the place I have called home. Ever since the Emperor has picked me for the position of senator, I have done the best work I can to bridge the gaps between the inner and outer Dominion and in this trying time I have continued this work. Within the Orosian Union as the locals called themselves, we have done much to integrate the interests of the Dominion with that of the outer protectorates with our admirals and local planetary governors.

We also have cooperated with the various guilds of the local union to make a better, stronger and more united union that can handle the piracy of our sectors. We believe that the coalition we have been building can handle the solar crusaders and make sure the local economy prospers even as we take the fight to those who stand against our dominion."

Not much of the way of cheering is heard as she closed her speech. The Emperor just dismissively told her, "thank you for the words senator, you may now go."

As she left, a weird squeaking sound was heard, like that of some rodent but not much was thought of it.

The emperor, annoyed by the squeaking than moved on to ask the only senator he can stand at all, "Prime Senator, why is it so many are absent at this critical meeting?"

That Prime Senator was a woman by the name Maxine of Deneb. Maxine of Deneb happened to also have lots of financial investments in the Denebian Slaughterfest, something she proudly showed on her vest which with the standard Slaughterfest logo on it.

"Sir, we believe that there are plotters who have kidnapped many of our senators in multiple places! Especially in the sectors of that warlord Katrin. The reports that have come out of the area suggest that she has kidnapped the dignified senators Lewis and Maria Orange. We do know for what purpose or if they are even alive. The disastrous incompetence of the peace-keepers in the area leave us to believe we need to bring in the big guns." she told him, just rattling out everything with an intensity so great she barely paused between breathes.

"I see. Are we sure they are absent?" the emperor asked, having heard a name he had long forgotten.

The Prime Senator looked down at her holographic sheets in dismay while she was something and told the Emperor with less confidence, "You know... I am not sure. They are very messy in that part of the Dominion. Their peacekeepers are known for being the worst peacekeepers in the galaxy as is. Their tech is horribly out of date and no one knows how many forces we have out there because they keep lying on the sheets"

The Emperor, had a deeply vexed and wrinkly face of disappointment that the Prime Senator just looked away from in shame, if not due to whatever she was sniffing on her arm. The Emperor began to than rant at Maxine, losing what composure in his over engineered Powersuit he had, "Look Maxine, you may run the best system outside Earth, but do not insult the peacekeepers! They are perfection, the best of the best outside of the Defense Force itself which as I may stress is only for alien invasion."

Maxine proceeded to stand down, all too wary of pushing the Emperor too much.

The emperor, exasperated "Now, does anyone have actual evidence of alien invasion instead of all this hysteria about sun worshiping idiots and vague warp signatures from supposed alien robots?"

The senate was just silent. The murmurs started up again before the emperor shouted, "Silence! As no one has the courage I call on the senator James Clarke.”

James Clarke was a rather sleek guy, of whom was from one of the south eastern sectors of the Dominion that the ISC had yet to reach. He walked to the center with a grace, broad shoulders and augments that proved far removed from what most senators ever used. The Emperor, with a scowl on his face motioned the man to speak. He proceeded to do just that.

“Fellow Senators, there is mountains of evidence of UFO contact in many sectors from an entity known as the Foundry. This is well known. Now, I am not one to follow ancient conspiracies of lost exploration crews, empires of Romans capable of spaceflight or of the inter-dimensional plant creatures called Mowogi, but it is not a coincidence that Katrin seceded at the same time the Solar cultists have chosen to attack or of the many claims of mysterious agents acting in the northern sector including the subversion of a prison in that area."

Clarke started to than get a bit more intense, preaching "Our own team in advance of this meeting has used the Sector Sight System our colleagues on Parathalia developed to deduce the likelihood of the events that have transpired and simulate what would have to happen for such a wave of uprisings to occur. Our conclusion is there is smoke and even the slightest bit of snooping will find the fire. We have absolute confidence is outside interference going on in multiple sectors of the Dominion of alien origin, if not plain outside interference. And that should be no shock when we already know from from the Kinnis ruins that wormholes are possible!"

Than he just went overboard as he proclaimed with vindication and an arm raised, "There is a conspiracy against the Dominion! We are seeing but the puppets of a greater puppet master that seeks the Dominion's down-"

"You have had enough time to speak, loon!" The emperor loudly interrupted. Senator Clarke almost immediately deflated.

"We don't need this garbage here, get out." The emperor said to him in disgust at that sleek uppity little kid, "Like come on man... Katrin made you know... announcement and... petty warlords to joined in. You do not need aliens... they eat people... robot aliens, they are joke. Kinnis ruins, a joke. Those aliens are just stuff we pave over for our galactic frontier. They are not credible threats. All of you senators need to calm the fuck down.”

And with a motion to leave, James Clarke left without a word just completely ashamed of himself.

The Emperor meanwhile, felt like this shit has been dragging for far too long and despite many other senators not speaking at all.

The Emperor immediately took back the stage from the other Senators and began his closing speech to the best of his ability.

"Despite the arguments made by our diligent and well-respected senators from across the Dominion, we are not going to mobilize the Terran Defense Force or Dominion Guard against these... minor border threats. Come back when we can have hard evidence of the alien... robot... aliens... being actual threats, then we will deploy the Terran Defense Force. Until then, the most that shall be done, is a Dominion-wide lock down of all sectors to make the job of our competent and uh... well-armed Peacekeepers easier…"

The serum than had worn off. With a bit of a sudden jolt Octo Smith proudly announced, "Section 31 of the Terran Constitution, the rebellion protocols I invoke! Any ships without proper Dominion Identification outside their sector will be... assumed bad people if they refuse to be, smiling! ... With their local peacekeepers."

Loud cheers than consume the senate, reverberating across the whole place as if it was a sports game.

The Emperor, taking in the elation finally cried out, "Now we can go to the slaughterfest, that I proclaim to be reopened! Maxine, open the Slaughterfests! When I get to my ship, we are going straight to Deneb with this crisis now averted!"

More loud cheering continued in the moment. The emperor had proven himself once more. The games shall continue.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Deneb, the Slaughterfest

A large, spindly alien creature with cryptic glyphs streaming down their carapace moves its way around a dark room with its large legs and tendrils moving arise the bodies of slaughtered creatures that make it almost thankful for its weak sense of smell. The dark, cement room is a foggy place, but it is one it knows well as its prison. The creature, a Craetak, knows itself as Aunalak.

In its multi-tracked mind, it cannot help but see its own past as real as it sees the present, the traumas of countless battles it had been forced into. Yet it continues to stab at the carcass given to it in diligent frustration, for it is all the humans ever give to it. It knew of its once proud society, but now it just is forced to kill or be killed. It is left in this room, perpetually. In its isolation it had started to manifest itself fellow Craetak of the ancient orders its own mothers once spoke of.

‘Aunalak. Did they ever tell you?’ one of the hallucinatory beings asked it.

‘of what’? It wondered to its council.

‘Of the peaks, of the shining spires. Of the lost contact with the great, soulful Mediators?’

‘Lost cities to a greatness that was murdered, how can it be so in the same plane of existence as the exoflesh abominations who were granted so much power over us? They became our debt collectors, of all beings horrid and great in creation.’

The voices replied, ‘For they are temporal. These humans, they do not know much. It is obvious to us, as the records our friends had shown us… revealed them. The Mediators who the Craetak were once clients. We do not know what happened to the noble society they had, or how the flesh monsters took over and made us die for their amusement. But we have reason to believe them out there.’

Aunalak with skepticism asked, ‘On what basis? They had centuries to do something if they even existed to begin with.’

The voice replied, ‘You will see, for we must persist in fighting for at least this next cycle. You will continue the quest for higher Klautu and our soul will remain pristine no matter the blood on our limbs.

And than Aunalak cries out to it, 'We may be deprived of the pilgrimage, but my struggle is pure!’

As this was being thought, the sounds of human rancor were than heard as one of the flesh abominations told Aunalak, “It is time we let you back into the arena, Stiffy Stabbs.”

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

-ignore-

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

@LustForDecay
Accepted. Mecha-Chemical Materialism here we go!

@Kood
Accepted. I do wonder if Ice Gauls grew beards or just grew a bigger mustache.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

Playing Halo MCC on the PC made me kinda realize just how much certain parts of the game become broken when the aim is mouse based instead of controller based. For instance, Spartan lasers on any map can make vehicle use suicide just because the mouse aim makes it way easier to track targets than with controllers.

It's an observation that makes me avoid game types where that one weapon is involved like the plague.

A GM's job

As someone currently running an RP, I would say making sure to keep a consistent sense of structure and framework to the setting while facilitating an environment that encourages player interactivity.

In the context for a forum NRP, that to me means making sure that anything the GM does is in the name of acting as effectively a prompt generator and as the one who steers the general direction of an RP.

When running an NRP, my tendency is to usually make factions that serve a story arc purpose other players can use as a foil for their own societies. This method can work to pretty great effect by giving some central antagonizing force to handle or otherwise something to reference from.

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

Places on the map?



If you are a Karbana Kinnis connected player, you can claim wormhole nodes.

Shattered Stars - A Space Opera [Open for more players - Someone please join Karbana Kinnis... it's lonely there]

Sector Beau

Sector Beau, or one of the overlapping sectors that the protectorate known as the 'ISC' dwells has within the Administrative World of Beau, the sector's namesake. It is not the same sector of the senator under house arrest, but the confusing sector mapping of outer dominion sectors had led to lots of overlapping volumes never really addressed. That would be why they see jurisdiction for some Wenhausen mess. It is on the world of Beau the gilded palace is found, housing a long line of imperial senators who had in theory local connections with the area but as the demands of Terran conformity expanded, the detachment only increased... One may see this on the paradise world of Beau, where the Imperial Senator Maria Orange lives alongside various beach resorts on other islands.

The palace itself, a peach colored sprawling thing overlooks a tropical vista from which a small dominion transit craft flies towards. It is here that ornate layouts, gilded in brass decorate a chamber at a large palace-like structure. It is a mostly unoccupied place, with various bots mostly keeping things clean while some servants walk around the massive corridors branching out to various rooms filled with bureaucrats. And a bridge that leads to the larger central quarters where the imperial senator is housed.

Within those quarters, once finds a table filled with animated dolls play out some unknown play the imperial senator was watching. She proved rather transfixed on the 'dolls', as they stabbed each other with fake rifles and cry constantly about the tragedy that had befallen their fictional families. She was someone in her 40's, who despite being a senator had robes and attire more akin to a princess than a senator. The senator would however, be suddenly interrupted-

"Senator Orange, have you seen the news stream?" she heard from an all too familiar voice.

"Chief Vuttiger..." She mumbled in derision.

Vuttiger was a spindly man, with a ghoulish grin revealing reflective iron teeth. His eyes obscured by aviators and his head lined by a large olive cap matching an olive uniform riddled in winged peace-keeper insignias and medals to an unholy degree.

"Is this the time...?" She awkwardly replied before scrambling to hit a button on her seat. The dolls all suddenly dropped dead from the power going out. They made faint squeaking noise as they flopped over, lifeless.

"We have an insurrection from the so-called 'ISC', who from our intelligence are known to be whack jobs who want to form fiefdoms at the expense of the galactic project of our Dominion." Vuttiger ranted at the imperial senator.

"Oh how pathetic, monarchy is long dead a way of life!" the Imperial Senator says as her rose colored robes and family heirlooms glimmer from the ambient light.

Before the realization can dawn on her, Vuttiger began to formally tell the imperial senator what his plan is without so much a prompt, "What matters is that we need to put the sector on lock down. This could get out of hand. I'll take care of this local insurrection, it'll be a quick job. One madman speaking like a drunk crying for a fiefdom our peacekeepers can handle. But they shouted loud and that means there may be others out there who try to pour kerosene on this spark. That is why we need to lock this sector down, we don't want this getting out of control."

Maria Orange just looked at the spook, despite the odious aviators and with a bit of frustration replied, "Yeah... that makes sense. Let's go with that."

And before she knew it, Vuttiger is already gone without so much a trace of him and his damned grin.

"Fucking creep..." she said to herself before reactivating the miniature play and writing down a couple notes reading 'put a lock down on the sector, tell the emperor of a rebellion after My soul, Granger finishes.'

The dolls promptly reanimated, humming as they do so before continuing to stab each other and sing various hymns.

Planet Beau, Administrative office H37

In one of the various administrative chambers of the palace, some loud mouthed, bulky guy with a large mustache said in exasperation on seeing the message, "A lock down? Are they serious?"

"Rebels... Damn rebels..." He whispers under his breath as other members in the bureau of travel scramble to change the signals on various travel receptors to 'no entry' for the whole sector.

"How long until it's set up?" Some cadet piped up.

The guy replied to that Cadet, "May take a couple weeks, but once set up anyone who enters without Official Identification will have trespassing charges put on them and otherwise risk summary execution for violating the lock down."

"How the hell will we enforce that?" the cadet wondered.

"It'll tag them automatically and if our peacekeepers in the area see they're tagged, we light them up if they do not cooperate."

With a bit of skepticism, that Cadet stutters out, "But that'd..."

"Don't worry about it, we got the situation under control." The big mustached man assured the Cadet as they proceeded to begin work on signaling adjacent sectors to start the process of a lockdown.

Peacekeeper Base Fred Minor

"Chief Peacekeeper Vuttiger is here..." one of the people at the station announced as a Dominion transit craft landed in the hanger bay. The hatch opened up with a ramp that slid out, a ramp that the spindly Vuttigier walked out from. The other people at the station flash hails of respect towards the guy as the local captain of the base approached Vuttigier, of whom showed relief at the sight of the iron grin.

"Vuttiger, do we mobilize against the traitors? We do not know how big their forces will be but we must act now!"

"We will mobilize a small brigade to apprehend the traitor, should they not comply the lock down will make them comply sooner or later."

"...A lockdown...? At this time? How do we know loyal citizens of the Dominion do not get caught in that?"

"They won't, and if they disobeyed the orders that the lock down clearly sends to unauthorized vessels, than they were not loyal to begin with."

"A bit harsh? I do not mean to question your judgment, it's just that the local trade guilds in the area may-"

"Don't worry about them, there is a method to all this. You do not need to fret yourself with the complexities, they obscure the simple way you put arrogant sector lords in their place- taking their toys away. We also want to make hard for anyone else to hand them their support, to make that price to high to pay. Protectorates and their entitlement need to be reminded what happens when they bite our helpful hands." Vuttiger tells the local commander, of whom just nods in the base as multiple other ships begin to take off.

"We have begun to dispatch Peacekeepers to the problem system, Vuttiger we have this handled. Our brigade of 20 ships should handle the situation just fine. They are quality vessels, armed with the best railguns in the galaxy!"

Vuttiger pauses for a bit before with an almost growl-like hiss asks, "... No mass drivers...?"

"Vuttiger... Why would we need those? Aren't we just arresting a criminal?"

"We do not know the severity of the situation at all, they made a loud signal. Why were they so loud and non-discrete? To rally to someone, call out to someone, to disrupt the cosmic order and bring in vultures. Chaos is what they want and we must reply to chaos with the greatest assertions of order we possibly can."

"That is a bit much for an insurrection this new, Chief?" The captain protests. "We can't afford another bombing incident!"

Grimacing his Iron teeth Vuttiger begrudgingly replied, "Fine. Do what you can with this brigade, but it will be your life and reputation on the line. You mangle this, the problem will be that much harder to handle."

The bulky Captain proceeded to see Vuttiger off. The rather unremarkable captain gets into his vessel and begins the trek to Wenhausen through the local hyperlane with twenty fine vessels armed with railguns, laser interceptors and the standard dominion alloy with nuclear powered thrusters booming away to the distant stars.

The TDF Executive - Otto's Quarters

The long delayed signal reached the emperor himself, already just trying to watch his Denebian Slaughterfest as the capital ship is en route to some other place, even he isn't sure where the hell that ship is going anymore. It's not his problem, until some other kid comes busting into the door and now it is. For that thirty something kid came in with the message the whole galaxy probably is going to hear- that some nutters in the Beau Sector started a rebellion.

The Emperor proved unhappy, the poor messenger was dealt this following rant, "Rebellions, fucking hell. I just wanted peace. Stiffy Stabbs was all I wanted to worry about this year, but now there's a secession after I made that speech. That speech should have put an end to the rabble, they just can't wait can they? We got a galaxy to conquer! A whole galaxy! We can't be playing division right now, we have to make the galaxy ours! Whatever, just be sure Maria Orange handles it since we have bigger problems to attend to that whatever lunatic is doing whatever somewhere in this vast Dominion. We have to have focus, these people are wasting so much time, I hate it. I just... want to have... the... peace. Yeah... peace."

The frustrated emperor just sorta slumps back into his seat and resumes watching Denebian Slaughterfest, just hoping Ms. Orange can handle the trouble there.... and the other guy... whoever he was.