Look - up in the sky...!

[thespaceopera]

Suddenly, the SS Pathstone and the SS Golden begin to move on their own... slowly, calmly, they drift to two different points, a certain distance apart, away from the other ships of the fleet. Then, just as slowly, they turn to face each other.

And that is all the warning there is before the engines engage -- full speed ahead.

Like a pair of rockets, the ships torpedo toward each other, perfectly lined up for a head-on collision, and there is nothing to stop them. No matter what buttons the crews press, no matter how much they might panic, nothing is going to stop the inevitable. Any other ships watching will not have time to attempt any sort of interception.

CRASH!!

As if to shield spectators' eyes from the horrors of ships colliding in space, there's a blinding light upon impact -- and once it gradually fades, the results can be clearly seen by all: There is no wreckage. Nothing is broken. But where there were once two ships... now there's only one.

One ship that is... very clearly made up of parts from the SS Pathstone and the SS Golden, but somehow seems well put together, at least!

-----------

On the bridge, the crews of the SS Golden and the SS Pathstone arrive, along with the usual pop! of Atroma confetti and ridiculous jingle music upon a successful shuffle. Sitting in the captain's chair is a round cake, just large enough for everyone to have one slice. There's a single candle, and the following message scribbled on top in yellow icing:

"Congratulations - SS Goldstone!
Happy Fusion!"




... What, did you think you were going to die? Sorry about that.

Comments

[noprophecies]

[crouched down with her arms thrown over her head, Tempest peeks out when firey, explodey death doesn't happen and stares.

. . . and after a moment stands up quickly like she wasn't just scared out of her mind, nope, no sir]

What the hell?

[experiencepoints]

[... oh it's you]

I take it that means you don't know what just happened either.

[noprophecies]

[o hai]

I haven't a damn clue, no. You don't know either?

[experiencepoints]

I... was kind of assuming it was either you guys or those raiders.

Now I'm pretty sure it was the Atroma adding another reason to kill them to the list.

[She's in full battle gear, her burning staff in hand, but she at least has the decency to let the fire fade out.]

[noprophecies]

Of course they are adding another reason, as if the list is not long enough.

[uh oh, there's the start of the scowl]

Bastards.

[experiencepoints]

At least it was only a scare this time.

You okay?

[noprophecies]

I think a few dozen years have been shaved off of my life thanks to the scare, but otherwise I am fine. Are you?

[experiencepoints]

Same here. I'm at full HP, but damn if I didn't just have a heart attack.

[noprophecies]

Trust the Atroma to do whatever it is they do in the most dramatic and annoying way possible.

[she's gonna kill them so much when she gets a chance]

[experiencepoints]

I don't know why we ever expect otherwise.

[noprophecies]

[she mutters an Elvish curse under her breath and huffs] Bastards.

. . . there is cake. [her tiny captain has it]

[spacebro]

Are you okay? [Not that he saw anything that would indicate she was terrified of course.]

[noprophecies]

[that's right, you saw absolutely nothing]

I'm fine. What happened?

[spacebro]

[He'll make a note of that.]

Either we didn't die or death is nothing like I imagined.

[noprophecies]

. . . this is not death, I can assure you.

[she's died enough to know what it's like]

[spacebro]

Are you about to tell me that you're dead too? [Because Nightingale just did that. He has got to stop bringing death up.]

[noprophecies]

No? [now she just looks confused] I'm very much alive.

[spacebro]

Okay, good. [He wasn't ready for that.] Do you know why we flew right into another ship?

[noprophecies]

Why would I know? I was minding my own business when all this nonsense started.

[spacebro]

I thought if I was the one who asked I wouldn't have to try to answer it at least.

[noprophecies]

I doubt anyone was stupid enough to pilot the ships into one another, and there is a . . . cake . . .

[so there is. Why is there cake]

[robitussin]

...Do we have any idea what the fuck just happened?

[Likewise, Opal seems like she's calming down, but. That was terrifying.]

[noprophecies]

[girl, why are you on my ship]

I haven't a clue. One moment we were about to crash and then -

[robitussin]

[girl why are you on MY ship]

Well. Bright side, we aren't all dead?

[noprophecies]

[excuse I asked first!!]

Somehow . . . it really did look like we were about to.