The captain informs you that you will be entereting hyperspace momentarily for the first of your three jumps that will take you to Capital. * Hilde hums the theme from Battlestar Galactica * Kula fidgets. WHOOSE! You all feel a massive acceleration. (No, Miss Yukari, please stop... no... please... please stop!!!) (ROFL) * Kula grips onto her seat tightly. * Hilde tries to imitate the robot from Star Tours "Light speed to Endor!!" You are all pressed into your seats, and you all understand once again what Captain Kurata had been saying about diapers. "..." Just 3 jumps, right? * Hilde suddenly blushes and looks around Right, with about a two days recharge between them assuming no intervening events. "Ummmm where's the bathroom?" After you decelrate you'll be able to change and freshen up. "And how long will that be?" * Kula shivers. "That was unnerving... I hope the second try isn't so ... I dunno what to call it." Hilde, you hear a voice in your earphone. "You'll be able to get up and unstrap in ten minutes." "Ten minutes... Wonderful" Space travel isn't turning out quite how I pictured it to be... "Yes!" I pictured something more... dramatic, and fast, and with less waiting. And flashing lights. Bursts of light and all that. You know, on those shows where the ship's about to go, then the rockets flare up, then it just sorta goes ZOOM!, and then the ship looks really tiny. And more gravity. * Hilde nods but seems to be thinking about something else * Hilde continues to blush * Kula conitues talking uncharacteristically, trying to think of something else. Anything else. Hilde, is something wrong? You look really red. "It's nothing" Can't have you be sick while you're in the middle of a foreign solar system. I wonder what color the sun'll be over there... Hopefully it will be blue! "I told you its nothing, really" .oO(Oh God! I hope they don't smell it >.<) (Don't worry, no telepaths here...) * Kula cotninues trying to drown out her own thoughts in mindless blathering. "Yeah, a blue star would be really neat!" You know what's really funny about these diapers? They absorb 500x their mass in liquid. That's something to really think about for a while. YES, a blue star would be really, really, really neat! .oO(OhgodohcrapAAAAUGH! Must not think about it! It's all slimy! Ewwww! I'm gonna die if I don't do something!) Blue stars are usally pretty young, right? (This is so turning PG-13) (Yeah, we need to bring that rating back up) * Kula looks uncomfortable, but it also looks like she's starting to succeed in elimintating rational thought and self-awareness! @_@ * Hinako seems totally unbothered by anything. * Hilde seems to have something embarrassing on her mind The voice in the earphone says "Calm down, please. We'll be coming out in a moment. And there's a tube of goria waiting for you when we do." So, who's glad they went to the bathroom before they left? :P * Hilde looks ready to cry "Goria is very soothing. You'll like it." ( What's Goria? ) (A drink. Sort of like space beer.) Oddly enough, Hilde, will all the liquid absorption the diaper still feels quite dry. (Still doesn't save her from the fact that she went #2 in her knickers ^^;) (Mmm, tasty.) "So? What's Goria and does it go well with soda?" Is it like whisky and soda? "You'll find out in a moment. Entering decelration." The acceleration dies down and soon you are back to microgravity. the starps come off and you begin to float free again. * Kula closes her eyes. Her brain hurts. x.x * Hinako pseudo-jumps. "That was fun! Let's do it again!) "Freshers and clean linens to you left." says a voice over the speakers. "follow the directions." * Hilde does so with haste * Kula gets out and does just that! * Hinako is sitting in the room being absurdly over-joyed. * Hilde comes out, refreshed with full HP and MP...but still hungry * Kula comes out, looking much gladder. And it seems her higher brain functions have been msotly restored! "Gee Hinako, you seem absurdly overjoyed? Care to tell us why?" That was fun! The Slythe captain comes in carrying svereal tubes. "Here you are ladies, as promised. The red tubes are protien shakes. The Goria is in the green tubes. You will be the first memebrs of your spieces to sample Goria." * Kula blinks at the tubes curiously. "Interesting...." * Hinako grabs one of each. "Well, nothing to be afraid of." "Charmed. The first one to try should have something monumental to say prepared" We should all do it at the same time, just because. :P That sounds agreeable. "Why not" * Kula picks up the tubes Well, shake or Goria first? * Hilde picks up a shake The shake isn't bad, sort of like orange-mango flavored applesauce. This is nice.. "Mmmmm-mmmmm!" I need this recipe. Now. "You wouldn't know ehere to get the ingedients, I'm afraid." (It must contain SPAM then...) "Imagine the import costs" Well, there's only one way to find out where to get them, isn't there? I guess we try the Goria now.. Well, here we go. "Down the hatch" * Kula tries it! * Hilde tries * Hinako does it at the same time! ( Mmm. Dragon's Breath! ) Your bodies feel pleasantly light and your minds seem refreshed as the slightly sour liquid goes down. "Duuuuuude!" (Mmm, dwarven stout! My mining and smithing are +1 for the next 2 minutes!) "I am like totally feeling the color of fun right now" I need this recipe too. *Slightly spins off to find something to sit on.* Hinkao, you notice somethign odd about the Slythe captain. He's CUTE. And HOT. (R here we come.) Kula and Hilde, you don't notice the Captain so much as his aides, whoi are younger. So captain, how much longer do we have until we are ready for the next jump? (Snerk.) (Can't do R in diapers. ^_~) "Two days. And unless we are intercepted we will have only perfunctory duties during that time. Why do you ask?" (Yep. Unless you want us to toddle towards them going "Gah gah oogah goo!") (This isn't star trek, we don't sleep with other races. >_<;; ) (o/~) (I dunno. You might not :P) (Actually, you're getting used to microgravity by now. You can hold off for strecthes.) (Goria is an aphrodisiac! :P) (it's just hyperspace accelration that causes invluntary, er, reactions.)] I enjoy this.... So, captain, what exactly did make those protein shakes not taste like total crap? "More alien beer, please!" (Not exactly. Goria is a mental relaxer. it just has different effects on different species. It won't create feelings that weren't already there, at least subconsciously.) "Goria is strictly rationed on our ships, I'm afriad. We use it the same way your navies once used, what did you call ti, 'grog"?" "Darn... Got any soda?" "Carbonation and microgravity don't mix. I will get a different beverage, though. It's called plaxix and carries a mild stimulant effect." "Nice name" * Kula nods... How come you have all this information on us, but we've never heard of you before this? "We discoeverd your planet's civilization through its broadcast communcations. Radio, televisison, wireless Internet. That was what convinced us you were worth paying attention to." So we've basically been stalked by you guys for the last 50 or so years? (It's raining outside... so my focus level just dropped by 50%) "And they also showed us your race's bizarre cpombination of 'fascination with the unknown' and "unreasoning xenophobia'. Deciding what to do about Earth took a very long time." "You are willing to kill each other over skin color and philosophical differences. You are very much like what the Slythe used to be, before they were harnessed to the service of the Council. Giving you free reign of the cosmos would have been very dangerous." As usual, looking on the downsides of existance instead of some of the good things. "Well we do have a long an illustrious history of war. They didn't base over three decades of RTSes and FPS off just sci-fi y'know" "Oh, we saw the good things too. That's why we were going to give you a chance. We saw that in theory you were capable of great love and compassion as well as terrible brutaltiy, but we had to see it in practice by putting you in a situation where you would have to choose between pragmatic destrcution and a dangerous act of mercy. You chose well in the end, but it has almost come to naught. I am truly sorry, Hinako, i truly am. There should have ( Cut off at "There should have" ) "there should have been another way. And there will be, I swear. If we can get the case of Earth before the council, i will have the Slythe do everything in their power to make this the last test war." * Kula shivers. It must have a horrible toll on your race as well. "Yes. It'd be safer just to do like that one movie and, y'know, pull a big ship into orbit, open up a conversation with the world's leaders and just sit back and see if they freak" "Indeed. Your race is the very first to have passed the test." So all those others are just... extinct? How long has this been going on? Do any other races participate in these 'test wars'? "Yes. the Slythe have made their presence known on a hundred worlds. All thsoe worlds are dead. For three hundred years we have been the shatteres of worlds and the annihlators of species. I am sick unto death of it." * Kula shivers. "No. the Council wishes the hands of the other races to be kept clean. Only the Slythe bear this burden." So you are like the "untouchable" caste of the galaxy? "Ugh" I wonder if the Council itself ever considers if it'd pass a test of mercy itself... This doesn't seem sane. "Testing for mercy" doesn't sound like a real reason for ordering that kind of thing.. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. "Yeah, mercy is the last thing on most people's minds when they're fighting for their lives" No kidding. * Kula takes another sip. "I don't think this COuncil sounds like it'd call off an attack just because we proved we passed the 'test'." "Like I said. The best way would be to just show up at the planet's doorstep and then watch if they go apeshit or not" I guess... "Wars are like boulders rolling downhill. They're kinda hard to stop halfway" Suddnely you all feel a scream of agony in your minds. (mmm... agony.) * Hilde holds her head * Hinako starts crying. "Noooo~" Grk! * Kula holds her head down and shuts her eyes tightly. How far away have we gotten from Earth? ( Ongoing, or jsut a single moment or so? ) About sixty-five light years. You are approaching the Sirius system. ( ... is that something Hinako is actually saying? ) ( Oh, wait. Nevermind. Hard to tell without the parentheses. ) Too far to get back to Earth in a mecha in time to do anything. Around you, there are little asteroids and comets coming by -- and they are slowly beginning to disintegrate. Araki floats into the room. "Captain! Something terrible is happening! Something beyond imagining! Three planets of the Sirius sytsem are starting to vanish!" * Kula blinks. ANd blinks again. And feels sick. "Uh oh..." I think Kei is responsibile... somehow. Our best bet at this point is to continue on our course and pray that Kei doesn't ruin the rest of this universe. "Riiiiight" * Kula looks down. "I don't suppose any of you know of another universe we can move into once this is over?" "Captain, Capital is gone! They sent out one last transmission and then all contact was lost! Our scans show that the entire Capital system has ceased to exist!" * Hilde mouthes "oh shit" * Kula pales. Oh great. Just great. Who wants to not go to an empty place now? "I'm afraid we must face the fact. the Confederation is at an end." "We are official FUBAR" (This is definitely SNAFU.) (I'm not saying hooah.) * Kula shakes, mutterly slowly. (Kula is a puppy!) And I looked, and behold a pale horse... "Captain, I've started to get reports in. The destruction has stopped. Whatever was going on its over. But the bad news is that everything that was lost -- is gone, foever. None of it is coming back. Capital is dead." Maybe they killed Kei? "We can hope" Wh-what happened, exactly? Matter can't just... vanish like that... "Or...can it?" Well, there has to be some sort of explanation... Maybe we should ask Araki? Araki goes to the Captain. "captain, i think we should return to earth with all possible speed. We know that it is intact. From there we can decide what to do next and assess the full damage." (They do?) * Kula grumbles. "I don't get how any of this psychic stuff works..." Araki does, perhaps she should explain it. "All the way out here only to go all the way back" "Kiku doesn't know it, but I am connected enoguh to her mind to know that she is still alive. And the Adventure is returning to Earth as we speak. We should join them." I concur that is the best course of action. Captain, I suggest you turn this ship around and set course for Earth. "I shall do so at once." ( Heaven's gates are going to be awfully flooded today. Let's hope we arrive AFTER the line's already cleared. o_o ) (Who said we'd be going to heaven?) (_I'm_ going to Heaven. I dunno about the rest of you guys :P) ( We get reincarnated as waffles, I suppose. ) (Well, unless we don't actually die...) (And why must Tic-Tacs be so addictive?) ( Well, given this is a galaxy-wide thing, I think the line's going to be going on for a lot more than "This session". ) (Yes. We should all live to be little old ladies) (And have a 50-year reunion. And I'll still be 16. :P) (Snerk) (o.O) OK, by now you're back to Earth. Well, it's still here. How much of it? Apparently everything not destroyed in the war. How about the moon? (Back to other chan.)