Dispatch #16: “A Divided Ship”

“Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.” said Elekron as he examined the relic King Aras had used to activate the Simian war defense shield. The Thealuvians and Aras had gathered around a quieter part of the Flight Deck within Destiny’s Fortune to examine the piece given from The High Protectors a little further without drawing too much attention to themselves.

“Ahh-KAY! What are we all lookin’ at over here!?” said Commander Von, a plethora of recruits tilting their heads to see what all the commotion was about.

“So much for being discreet.” muttered King Aras as he attempted to shield some of the relic from the rest of the ship.

“My bad, my bad,” said Commander Von, “but seriously, have we figured out what the key and that doohickey thing the DeadHeads guy gave us are?”

“Not quite, but we’ll know soon. This relic is some kind of ancient magic that neither Ringbolt nor I have ever seen before.” said Aras, not trying to raise his voice too much to attract attention. While he trusted his Thealuvian brothers, he was still a tad bit unsure of the human’s aboard the ship.

“You have nothing to fear, Commander.” said Ringbolt, his calming presence always coming in handy these days. “We Thealuvians have seen many a war in our time. While Nifty’s recruiting of the once thought folklore Legion of Wen is something we didn’t see coming, there are powers such as this all across the galaxy that we can trust in.”

Before the Commander could respond, an announcement interrupted the conversation going on in the Flight Deck.

“Attention Recruits, we are approaching Brazoria. Time to strap in and prepare for landing.” said Flight Engineer Riemer over the ship’s intercom system.

“Duty calls.” said Commander Von as he headed towards the control panel to prepare for another new venture.

- — -

The hangar surrounding Brazoria could be seen from hundreds of miles away, the blinding lights of the casino stretching far and wide into the vast sector of the Arderean galaxy. Despite being at the edge of the Zialta sector, Brazoria was a highly sought after resort/casino getaway, known for its excitement and the occasional black market firefight. As Destiny’s Fortune landed (successfully this time), they were greeted by the DeadHeads leader that had just met and saved them on Simia. The Commanders were the first to be greeted coming down the slipway.

“Welcome to Brazoria, humans of Earth. My name is Tylea, servant and follower of The Metta. My responsibilities and loyalties lie within Brazoria, a refuge for thousands of species across the galaxy. We hope you enjoy your time here, so much so that we will be giving each member of your ship 200 credits each to use inside our casino. We hope that you enjoy your time here in this little sliver of paradise.”

The Commanders both matched Tylea and exchanged slight bows in each other’s direction, the excitement growing inside the both of them. A casino? 200 credits? Sliver of Paradise?! The galaxy hub sounded like an absolute dream.

Commander Sean shook Tylea’s hand awkwardly as a sign of human confirmation as Commander Von rounded up all the recruits to inform them of the good news. It was a brief “holiday” for Destiny’s Fortune.

- — -

As soon as Commander Von was done getting all the recruits out of Destiny’s Fortune and into the Brazorian casino, he noticed that there were still a group of them huddled around King Aras and the Thealuvians. The Commander walked over to enthusiastically approach them, but stopped as soon as he saw how intrinsically deep in thought the group was. They were fully engulfed in this never-before-seen technology.

“Uhh…hate to break up the party here guys, but our casino paradise awaits.” said the Commander with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Link looked up from his concentrated gaze, which threw Aras off, which irritated Elekron enough to the point where he was going to get snippy with Von.

“Commander, it’s in our best interest that we stay here and continue to research the ins and outs of this relic technology. It is absolutely imperative to our journey, and we’d much rather try to figure out how to not give away the galaxy to Nifty than gamble a bunch of money away at a slimy casino. I know you’re trying your best, but this is just a distraction. There are more pressing matters at hand.”

“Very well.” said Commander Von, his tone darker and more serious than usual. ”You all can have fun looking at your key thing while I win a million credits to get us all the food and weapons we’ll ever need.”

King Aras and Ringbolt locked eyes, rolling them in the process of dealing with the foresighted Commander.

“If you don’t mind Commander, we’d like to sideline some of your Astrophysicists, they seem to be up to the challenge in trying to figure things out over here.” said Ringbolt, eager to get back to work with his team.

“If they’re okay with it, I’m okay with it. Fire away.” said Commander Von as he did a 180 and turned back toward the slipway, heading towards the casino. “Hit my two-way if you need anything, you’ll know where to find me.”

With 95% of Destiny’s Fortune off the ship to enjoy a brief moment of vacation, Ringbolt, Aras, and the rest of the S2TM team buckled down, obsessed with cracking the code that was the Seal of Ilsendor. The first relic already in place within the seal reminded the group of hurtful past experiences, but also a building feeling of optimism within the untouched galaxy.