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

[experiencepoints]

It will. I already have a few plans. But no matter what I have to do to do it, I'm going to find them.

[She's had a few talks with other people about how murder is bad, so she's going to not elaborate on what she's going to do once she does find them.]

Then again, someone else with bizarre powers might show up one day that can expose the Atroma right away, so who knows how it will happen?

[onlyanapple]

Yeah, sure, good luck with that.

[Between Heaven and Hell and Paradisa, Crowley's faith in these sorts being brought to task for what they've done is pretty much nonexistent. ]

I sincerely doubt they'd bring someone like that in without nulling their powers, first. If they won't let me full reign with mine, they're not going to do it with someone like that.

[experiencepoints]

[She shrugs.]

Nothing's perfect. People make mistakes. Sometimes, a fight is just waiting for the enemy to make a mistake, and then punishing them for it.

[onlyanapple]

We might be waiting a while. Unless those other people can give us some tips, of course. Those ones that helped us out last time.

[He wants to call them 'The First Gens', but that's a Paradisan phrase that would be lost on all but two other people here. But that's absolutely what he's calling them in his head. ]

[experiencepoints]

It's possible. It seems like I was right that they're a fleet that escaped the Atroma somehow... Probably through a nebula's interference or something.

[She isn't a Paradisa person, but she'd get it.]

[onlyanapple]

That would explain why they decided to push us into one that one time. I mean, it would have been easier to take without them shooting at us, but still-

[experiencepoints]

That's what I thought.

[She nods, happy he picked up on her train of logic.]

I can't answer about the shooting, but it makes sense now if they were trying to help us without tipping their hands to the Atroma. They were trying to give us a chance to escape, too... Or at least that's my guess.

[onlyanapple]

Problem is, if that's how they escaped- it could be that Atroma have patched up that little weakness in their system. It'd explain why all it did for us was cut our power and cut us from them for a small time. They still regained control.

[experiencepoints]

Probably. But now we know it's not flawless, and one way it's been beaten before. And the weakness isn't fully fixed.

[onlyanapple]

True. Got to give you points for tenacity, at least.

[experiencepoints]

That's a very positive way to put 'spite and revenge'.

[onlyanapple]

See, and here I was being nice about it. I shan't bother in the future.

[He's smirking, though. ]

[experiencepoints]

Funny, I had pegged you for the type who liked spite and vengeance.

[onlyanapple]

Depends on the situation really. Spite is more fun than vengeance in my books, if I'm going to be honest about it.

[experiencepoints]

Why not get both?

[onlyanapple]

Vengeance can lead to some right messes, especially when you put spite into the mix.

[experiencepoints]

... We're already in one of those.

[onlyanapple]

I'm sure we could be in a worse mess than this.

...

I mean there's no space zombies and there isn't a creepy mystical portal to Hell opening up anywhere so.

[experiencepoints]

[She considers for a moment.]

... How are we defining 'space zombies', exactly?

[That's probably a bad question to have to ask.]

[onlyanapple]

Zombies. From space.

[But the fact she has to ask isn't comforting. ]

They were called Necromorphs, the ones we dealt with.