Since mankind first became sentient, those with enough time on their hands to wax philosophically have pondered their existance. For some people, living life to it's fullest, experiencing everything they can in their blink-of-an-eye lifetime is the end-all, their purpose. For others, it's to fulfill God's (or The Gods') purpose for placing them on Earth. And for more people than both parties would like to admit, their purpose is perpetually undefined, and they find themselves wondering why they're here, and where they're going.
From the looks on Blair, Peters, and Marshal's faces, I could see that the revelation that they were, in fact, created for a video game was more than just a shock. It was an outrage.
"You mean to tell me that I'm just some second-string supporting character?" Peters growled. Before I could respond to that, Marshall commented.
"What am I? Comic relief? I get dicked around and always find myself in the Colonel's shadow for laughs?"
I held back a smirk at Marshall, resisting the urge to say something about 'hitting the nail on the head' and instead closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"While I can understand that this information is a bit like having the rug pulled out from underneath you, remember, you all are here, right now, which is proof enough of your existance."
"That doesn't, however, disprove the worry that we were created sometime in your past to entertain the masses. I think I speak for all three of us when I say our suffering isn't acted." Colonel Blair said, quietly.
"True. And, had you been following the storyline specifically, I think Peters was supposed to have been grounded after the incident in the Locanda system. But she's here now, so you aren't staying strictly to the storyline. Not to mention, my arrival is beginning to turn things on its head."
"Err..." Flint said, ever so eloquently, as I mentioned her incident.
"In any case, we're all here, breathing and talking and.. well, doing what living people do, so it's not like you're fake or anything."
"...Right." Marshall said, staring down at the floor with his arms crossed.
"Well... what do you intend to do now?" Blair asked, finally.
"I don't really know. I think I have to do something here before we can leave, but I have no clue what that is. Were I a little earlier, I would have done what I could to save Locanda... or Stop Thrakhath's assault on Earth.. but I'm not, so I dunno what, exactly, I need to do."
"Well, they're at war, Kyle. Maybe you have to stop the war?" Nabiki said, from the table. While she wasn't particularly mad at me (as far as I could tell), she was still obviously somewhat upset at being yanked from her home universe, and I couldn't truly blame her. There were a few things back home that I missed, as well.
"Well... I guess, then, we'll just have to solve that problem." I said, suddenly grinning. Makoto took a step back as she realized exactly how evil my grin was.
"What do you have in mind?" She asked, frowning.
"I'm thinking the Emperor needs a shower."
"Do what?" Nabiki asked. The others looked just as confused, and I nodded to myself.
"A nice, fresh, spring-water shower." I mumbled, just loud enough to be heard. Nabiki and Makoto paled slightly, and I nodded at them, before turning to my guests.
"Lady and Gentlemen, if you'd please follow me, I'd like to introduce you to a... ahh.. 'pet-project' of mine."
Walking through the doors of the Science area, I paused, realizing that there had been a change since my last visit. As opposed to the shelves of cartons I'd assumed held the Jusenkyo water, a 3 story wall was now visible, extendending down a level and up a level. On the wall were hundreds of clear plastic tanks of what I assumed to be Jusenkyo Water, each tank large enough to hold a full grown man somewhat comfortably.
"Bacta tanks?" I heard Blair ask behind me. Glancing around, I spotted Lieutenant Commander Cantrell leaning over a computer, obviously engrossed in his work. Moving over to him, I tapped him on the shoulder, hoping to get his attention.
"In a moment! You know how important this test is!" he said, brushing off his shoulder as if I'd dirtied it. Frowning, I leaned a litle closer to him and quietly growled "How important?"
"My Lord!" Cantrell shouted, straightening up at once. I nodded softly, then glanced at the wall of tubes with a raised eyebrow.
"I wasn't quite expecting you to gather this much water..." I said. The tanks were back-lit with a royal blue light that made the bubbles slowly rising in all the tanks stand out even more so. The overall effect was quite nice, and almost certainly set up that way for aesthetic reasons.
"Your permission was open ended, my Lord. And with something so obviouly versatile as this spring water, I wanted to ensure I had enough for the forseeable future."
Nodding, I glanced around, and shrugged, before motioning to Blair and the others.
"These are my guests, from the TCS Victory. Care to show them around your lab? I'm a bit curious myself as to what changes you've implimented here."
"Certainly, Lord Kyle."
The tour showed off the tubes, and a previosuly-unnoticed back wall lined with containers of filtered sediment from the jusenkyo waters.
"So the tubes are full of filtered water?" Nabiki asked, glancing over at the tanks.
"Yes. They were originally filtered because the hoses and piping would unexpectedly burst, spraying a few of my assistants. However, even with the impurities removed, we still suffered inexplicable leaks and bursts, and have since installed a force field to protect the staff from unwanted curses."
"Seems the water doesn't like being bottled up." Makoto muttered.
"As unscientific as that sounds, we have reluctantly come to that conclusion, as well." Cantrell said, glancing at the tanks with a small frown. A small cough from behind me made me turn, and I saw Blair staring intently at me.
"Please tell me this," he said, glancing at the tanks, "Isn't your answer to the war. Water?"
"Well, you know how cats hate taking a bath, Colonel. Maybe he intends to irk them into making a mistake," Maniac offered with a smirk. Leaning closer, I whispered a quick request to Commander Cantral, and thten turned to my guests with a predatory grin.
"Much as I'd like to explain it to you, I think the best explanation, as usual, is a demonstration. These waters are from a set of springs located somewhere in the Bayankala Mountain range of China, and they have a rather unique property," I said, walking over towards a clear area near the back of the labs. Cantral handed me a small vial, and I spun, smiling at my three guests briefly, before settling my gaze on Maniac.
"Behold the powers of the Nyanichuuan!" I said, throwing the water in the vial at Maniac. He flinched, but didn't seem all that concerned about getting a little water on him. He did, however, start when he felt himself changing.
"MANIAC!" Blair said, as he noticed something was amiss almost immediately. Flint had taken a step back, her eyes wide with shock, and one hand covering her mouth. Grinning smugly at the now female Maniac, I chuckled.
"Spring of Drowned Girl. There's some tragic story and some time frame and.. well.. as you can see, it has some rather interesting powers, wouldn't you agree?"
"I'm... I'm a..." Maniac passed out, and I sighed, rolling my eyes before telling Cantrell to get some hot water.
"Hot water!? How did.. you... What's hot water going to do for him? How are we supposed to explain this to Confed?" Blair asked, staring down at Maniac wide-eyed.
"Relax, it's temporary. One hot soak and he'll be good as new. Had I used the permanent stuff, he'd change every time he got wet, but now, it's just a one-time deal."
"Temporary... is this what you were talking about? With curses?" Flint asked. I nodded, and Nabiki spoke up, grinning.
"Not only can we choose between the two, Kyle, or really, Cantrell here, has found a way to place both the permanent and the temporary curses into beam weapons. With the teleportation system on the Jupiter, he basically has two delivery methods."
"Wait, you intend to turn the Emperor into a girl?" Blair asked, shock on his face. Behind the shock, however, I could see a growing sense of mirth, and even some relief. The relief was to be expected. This method resulted in few, if any deaths, and that was an outcome Blair had wanted in Wing Commander, and likely wanted here, as well.
"Maybe. Thrakhath, too. But I don't just have girl water. There's boy, as well as hundreds of different animals. Including cat. I just wish we'd found a way to get Herbs Locking Ladle for a couple quick liters of permanent cursed-form splashes."
"Locking Ladle? Herb? All this..." Blair sighed, and Flint looked up at us, a small smile on her face. "I think, Lord Kyle, that what the Colonel is trying to say, is that he believes your claim that you are, indeed, from another universe. I know I do."
"Keen. And just call me Kyle. Your guests, not Imperials. Anyway... lets head back to the bridge. We'll have to coordinate this venture with your Confederacy, I would think, and I'd like to see where we are on our hyperspace jump."
Makoto and Nabiki stayed behind, while Blair, Flint, and a dazed, male Maniac followed me back to the bridge. On the way, Blair and I conversed while Flint and Maniac had a quiet conversation behind us.
"How do you intend to get to Kilrah? As fast as this ship is, and armed, I doubt you'd have much time before you found yourself swamped." Blair asked.
"I'll need a strike force.. Since the closest jump point is at the far outskirts of their system, we'd have to take the new one Palladin's special ops team found."
"How'd you know he..." Blair started, then his expression darkened, "oh, right, a game." I nodded, glancing at the wall. Worse than knowing that, I knew that Blair's Girlfriend had been on that special-ops team, and was now dead at prince Thrackhath's claws. Looking at Blair's frown, I decided to change the subject before he thought to inquire about Angel.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Anyway, yeah, I think a large force jumping into the Kilrah System would draw some of their ships away from the planet. I can also deploy a couple world devastators to help me keep zealous fighters distant."
"World... those things that can make.. whatevers?"
"Yeah. I think I'll make a wing of TIE-Defenders. They're powerful, can fire missiles, and I don't have any at the moment, so either I run a wing of TIE-Fighters through them, or suck up Kilrathi Fighters and convert them."
"And how do you intened to tackle their planetary fleet? And all the ships in their shipyards?"
"Somehow. If Confed can give me that backup, they should be thinned out by the diversion."
"And if they don't thin out? A suicide run isn't all that great an Idea... and loosing a ship of this magnatude and firepower is a bit of a waste."
"Isn't it though? I'll see what I can do. We can always teleport Jusenkyo water into the bridge of the cat capital ships." I smiled.
Blair shuddered, "that stuff is potent, I'll give it that much."
I laughed, "at least they won't be dead."
I glanced around before talking a little quieter, "Want to know a secret?" I asked. Blair quirked an eyebrow, and I spoke quietly.
"Tolwyn is working on a Terran Dreadnaught that is, basically, a planet-bursting laser. Not as powerful as a Death Star's laser, since it only works on Tectonically unstable planets, but enough to rock Kilrah to pieces."
Blair paled at this, then scowled. "Tolwyn's running a project like that?" he asked.
"Yeah. Palladin's working on a bomb that does the same thing, but the scientist he needs to complete the bomb is on a Kilrathi prison planet."
"That's.. well, I suppose if the War is looking as bad as it is, and after Locanda, then..." Blair sighed.
"Yeah. I know what you're thinking. Civies have nothing to do with this." Blair just nodded, and I paused in front of the door to the bridge.
"Lend me your support and I promise I'll help end this war with as little excess bloodshed as possible."
Blair nodded, and held out his hand, then said quietly, "I won't betray Confed, but I will support a course of action that sees as few lives lost as possible. Too many people have died already."
Shaking his hand, I nodded once, then entered the bridge, organizing my thoughts and preparing for the rough road ahead.
From the looks on Blair, Peters, and Marshal's faces, I could see that the revelation that they were, in fact, created for a video game was more than just a shock. It was an outrage.
"You mean to tell me that I'm just some second-string supporting character?" Peters growled. Before I could respond to that, Marshall commented.
"What am I? Comic relief? I get dicked around and always find myself in the Colonel's shadow for laughs?"
I held back a smirk at Marshall, resisting the urge to say something about 'hitting the nail on the head' and instead closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"While I can understand that this information is a bit like having the rug pulled out from underneath you, remember, you all are here, right now, which is proof enough of your existance."
"That doesn't, however, disprove the worry that we were created sometime in your past to entertain the masses. I think I speak for all three of us when I say our suffering isn't acted." Colonel Blair said, quietly.
"True. And, had you been following the storyline specifically, I think Peters was supposed to have been grounded after the incident in the Locanda system. But she's here now, so you aren't staying strictly to the storyline. Not to mention, my arrival is beginning to turn things on its head."
"Err..." Flint said, ever so eloquently, as I mentioned her incident.
"In any case, we're all here, breathing and talking and.. well, doing what living people do, so it's not like you're fake or anything."
"...Right." Marshall said, staring down at the floor with his arms crossed.
"Well... what do you intend to do now?" Blair asked, finally.
"I don't really know. I think I have to do something here before we can leave, but I have no clue what that is. Were I a little earlier, I would have done what I could to save Locanda... or Stop Thrakhath's assault on Earth.. but I'm not, so I dunno what, exactly, I need to do."
"Well, they're at war, Kyle. Maybe you have to stop the war?" Nabiki said, from the table. While she wasn't particularly mad at me (as far as I could tell), she was still obviously somewhat upset at being yanked from her home universe, and I couldn't truly blame her. There were a few things back home that I missed, as well.
"Well... I guess, then, we'll just have to solve that problem." I said, suddenly grinning. Makoto took a step back as she realized exactly how evil my grin was.
"What do you have in mind?" She asked, frowning.
"I'm thinking the Emperor needs a shower."
"Do what?" Nabiki asked. The others looked just as confused, and I nodded to myself.
"A nice, fresh, spring-water shower." I mumbled, just loud enough to be heard. Nabiki and Makoto paled slightly, and I nodded at them, before turning to my guests.
"Lady and Gentlemen, if you'd please follow me, I'd like to introduce you to a... ahh.. 'pet-project' of mine."
Walking through the doors of the Science area, I paused, realizing that there had been a change since my last visit. As opposed to the shelves of cartons I'd assumed held the Jusenkyo water, a 3 story wall was now visible, extendending down a level and up a level. On the wall were hundreds of clear plastic tanks of what I assumed to be Jusenkyo Water, each tank large enough to hold a full grown man somewhat comfortably.
"Bacta tanks?" I heard Blair ask behind me. Glancing around, I spotted Lieutenant Commander Cantrell leaning over a computer, obviously engrossed in his work. Moving over to him, I tapped him on the shoulder, hoping to get his attention.
"In a moment! You know how important this test is!" he said, brushing off his shoulder as if I'd dirtied it. Frowning, I leaned a litle closer to him and quietly growled "How important?"
"My Lord!" Cantrell shouted, straightening up at once. I nodded softly, then glanced at the wall of tubes with a raised eyebrow.
"I wasn't quite expecting you to gather this much water..." I said. The tanks were back-lit with a royal blue light that made the bubbles slowly rising in all the tanks stand out even more so. The overall effect was quite nice, and almost certainly set up that way for aesthetic reasons.
"Your permission was open ended, my Lord. And with something so obviouly versatile as this spring water, I wanted to ensure I had enough for the forseeable future."
Nodding, I glanced around, and shrugged, before motioning to Blair and the others.
"These are my guests, from the TCS Victory. Care to show them around your lab? I'm a bit curious myself as to what changes you've implimented here."
"Certainly, Lord Kyle."
The tour showed off the tubes, and a previosuly-unnoticed back wall lined with containers of filtered sediment from the jusenkyo waters.
"So the tubes are full of filtered water?" Nabiki asked, glancing over at the tanks.
"Yes. They were originally filtered because the hoses and piping would unexpectedly burst, spraying a few of my assistants. However, even with the impurities removed, we still suffered inexplicable leaks and bursts, and have since installed a force field to protect the staff from unwanted curses."
"Seems the water doesn't like being bottled up." Makoto muttered.
"As unscientific as that sounds, we have reluctantly come to that conclusion, as well." Cantrell said, glancing at the tanks with a small frown. A small cough from behind me made me turn, and I saw Blair staring intently at me.
"Please tell me this," he said, glancing at the tanks, "Isn't your answer to the war. Water?"
"Well, you know how cats hate taking a bath, Colonel. Maybe he intends to irk them into making a mistake," Maniac offered with a smirk. Leaning closer, I whispered a quick request to Commander Cantral, and thten turned to my guests with a predatory grin.
"Much as I'd like to explain it to you, I think the best explanation, as usual, is a demonstration. These waters are from a set of springs located somewhere in the Bayankala Mountain range of China, and they have a rather unique property," I said, walking over towards a clear area near the back of the labs. Cantral handed me a small vial, and I spun, smiling at my three guests briefly, before settling my gaze on Maniac.
"Behold the powers of the Nyanichuuan!" I said, throwing the water in the vial at Maniac. He flinched, but didn't seem all that concerned about getting a little water on him. He did, however, start when he felt himself changing.
"MANIAC!" Blair said, as he noticed something was amiss almost immediately. Flint had taken a step back, her eyes wide with shock, and one hand covering her mouth. Grinning smugly at the now female Maniac, I chuckled.
"Spring of Drowned Girl. There's some tragic story and some time frame and.. well.. as you can see, it has some rather interesting powers, wouldn't you agree?"
"I'm... I'm a..." Maniac passed out, and I sighed, rolling my eyes before telling Cantrell to get some hot water.
"Hot water!? How did.. you... What's hot water going to do for him? How are we supposed to explain this to Confed?" Blair asked, staring down at Maniac wide-eyed.
"Relax, it's temporary. One hot soak and he'll be good as new. Had I used the permanent stuff, he'd change every time he got wet, but now, it's just a one-time deal."
"Temporary... is this what you were talking about? With curses?" Flint asked. I nodded, and Nabiki spoke up, grinning.
"Not only can we choose between the two, Kyle, or really, Cantrell here, has found a way to place both the permanent and the temporary curses into beam weapons. With the teleportation system on the Jupiter, he basically has two delivery methods."
"Wait, you intend to turn the Emperor into a girl?" Blair asked, shock on his face. Behind the shock, however, I could see a growing sense of mirth, and even some relief. The relief was to be expected. This method resulted in few, if any deaths, and that was an outcome Blair had wanted in Wing Commander, and likely wanted here, as well.
"Maybe. Thrakhath, too. But I don't just have girl water. There's boy, as well as hundreds of different animals. Including cat. I just wish we'd found a way to get Herbs Locking Ladle for a couple quick liters of permanent cursed-form splashes."
"Locking Ladle? Herb? All this..." Blair sighed, and Flint looked up at us, a small smile on her face. "I think, Lord Kyle, that what the Colonel is trying to say, is that he believes your claim that you are, indeed, from another universe. I know I do."
"Keen. And just call me Kyle. Your guests, not Imperials. Anyway... lets head back to the bridge. We'll have to coordinate this venture with your Confederacy, I would think, and I'd like to see where we are on our hyperspace jump."
Makoto and Nabiki stayed behind, while Blair, Flint, and a dazed, male Maniac followed me back to the bridge. On the way, Blair and I conversed while Flint and Maniac had a quiet conversation behind us.
"How do you intend to get to Kilrah? As fast as this ship is, and armed, I doubt you'd have much time before you found yourself swamped." Blair asked.
"I'll need a strike force.. Since the closest jump point is at the far outskirts of their system, we'd have to take the new one Palladin's special ops team found."
"How'd you know he..." Blair started, then his expression darkened, "oh, right, a game." I nodded, glancing at the wall. Worse than knowing that, I knew that Blair's Girlfriend had been on that special-ops team, and was now dead at prince Thrackhath's claws. Looking at Blair's frown, I decided to change the subject before he thought to inquire about Angel.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Anyway, yeah, I think a large force jumping into the Kilrah System would draw some of their ships away from the planet. I can also deploy a couple world devastators to help me keep zealous fighters distant."
"World... those things that can make.. whatevers?"
"Yeah. I think I'll make a wing of TIE-Defenders. They're powerful, can fire missiles, and I don't have any at the moment, so either I run a wing of TIE-Fighters through them, or suck up Kilrathi Fighters and convert them."
"And how do you intened to tackle their planetary fleet? And all the ships in their shipyards?"
"Somehow. If Confed can give me that backup, they should be thinned out by the diversion."
"And if they don't thin out? A suicide run isn't all that great an Idea... and loosing a ship of this magnatude and firepower is a bit of a waste."
"Isn't it though? I'll see what I can do. We can always teleport Jusenkyo water into the bridge of the cat capital ships." I smiled.
Blair shuddered, "that stuff is potent, I'll give it that much."
I laughed, "at least they won't be dead."
I glanced around before talking a little quieter, "Want to know a secret?" I asked. Blair quirked an eyebrow, and I spoke quietly.
"Tolwyn is working on a Terran Dreadnaught that is, basically, a planet-bursting laser. Not as powerful as a Death Star's laser, since it only works on Tectonically unstable planets, but enough to rock Kilrah to pieces."
Blair paled at this, then scowled. "Tolwyn's running a project like that?" he asked.
"Yeah. Palladin's working on a bomb that does the same thing, but the scientist he needs to complete the bomb is on a Kilrathi prison planet."
"That's.. well, I suppose if the War is looking as bad as it is, and after Locanda, then..." Blair sighed.
"Yeah. I know what you're thinking. Civies have nothing to do with this." Blair just nodded, and I paused in front of the door to the bridge.
"Lend me your support and I promise I'll help end this war with as little excess bloodshed as possible."
Blair nodded, and held out his hand, then said quietly, "I won't betray Confed, but I will support a course of action that sees as few lives lost as possible. Too many people have died already."
Shaking his hand, I nodded once, then entered the bridge, organizing my thoughts and preparing for the rough road ahead.