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Who: Shiro and you
Broadcast: Yes
Action: If you want, he's on the Blameless
When: Saturday evening

[Text closed to Keith - Friday night]

We've arrived to the new system. How are you feeling?

[He doesn't know about the planet bringing back the sensations of the dreams yet, but he worries.]

-----

[Video - Saturday evening]

[When the feed starts, an armor wearing Shiro is sitting down and taking off his helmet as the light blue lights of his suit go off.]

This is Shiro, co-captain of S.S. Blameless.

[His face is serious, and his tone of voice means business.]

Last month, certain members of the fleet had visions about the planet we were visiting and the incident that happened after. But there are certain dreams that didn't find their match there, and it seems this new system has brought those sensations back. So early today, I went down with a teammate that had those dreams to investigate. [He frowns a bit, obviously not pleased with the result.] There are some small towns, inhabited by the orange-skinned people we usually encounter. They're heavily armed, too, because of a group called the Vieziri. They're dangerous, deadly hunters that have made the locals live in constant fear.

[His hold on his helmet tightens - it's frustrating, not having his lion, being limited in what he can help with. But he continues, the natural leader in him shining through.]

I know we can't stay in our ships forever. So if you go down there, please, don't do it alone. The bigger the group, the better. Bring a weapon with you, if you aren't the powered or magical kind. The locals are willing to sell theirs, too. Keep your communicators safe and close at all times, check the GPS function that our fellow fleet members were offering some time ago. Captains, it would be wise of you to know where your crew is at all times.

[He pauses. There isn't much more he can say other than be careful. So how to end such a feed?]

If a situation like Lyuku's must happen again, I can only hope we're better prepared this time. [ #famouslastwords ]

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_{[ Because he trusts Shiro as a fellow captain to give it to him straight when he asks questions like this. ]}

What dreams are you talking about?

_{[ He was asleep when they happened, and no one exactly filled him in on them, but then everyone had been dealing with a planet just exploding, so they probably weren't foremost on the mind. ]}

Nightmares. Visions, they turned out to be. [He didn't get one, but the tone of his voice and the sympathy in his eyes says he knows how bad nightmares can get.] Before we arrived to the last system, certain members of the fleet had these nightmares - there were a number of them, repeating among some people - and they were all about tragedy and disaster for planet. Then we arrived to Lyuku - it was a singing planet. When it exploded, we had managed to evacuate most of it thanks to the visions that warned us.

Another singing planet?

_{[ He frowned, rubbing the side of his neck as he digested that. ]}

And prophetic dreams?

_{[ His frown deepened. ]}

God, if it's not one thing it's another in this Fleet...

[Shiro nods, not to answer the questions and to agree with that last statement, his frown matching Kirk's.]

You're right. It looks like it's going to be two rough months in a row. I hope it isn't very hard on everyone. Is your crew okay?

As well as they can be. But I think it's that way for everyone. Though none of them told me about the dreams, so I think I might go asking around again.

What about yours?

[Nodnod!] From what I understand, the planet is bringing back the bad sensations from those dreams. If someone from your crew had them, they may need some support right now.

[Speaking from experience - Keith isn't exactly okay at the moment.]

We're well. I just came back, I'll speak to everyone soon. As I was telling Sokka, captains should think about skipping stocking up the kitchens this time.

Hmm, I'll look into it. Thanks for the heads up. I'm still playing catch up it seems..

_{[ He sounded slightly frustrated that no one on his crew had told him
about this, but that wasn't something he needed to bother Shiro with.
]}

Probably a good idea. Better tasteless ration bars than hallucinating for weeks.

No problem. Now more than ever, we need to stick together.

[Shiro would understand the frustration. Lack of communication can get very annoying when it comes to a crew or a team.]

Better tasteless ration bars than being hunted, Jim.

You know, I wish that was less a part of my average day so I would be properly terrified of that prospect.

_{[ It still scares him, but mostly it just makes him angry. Hunting
other sentient beings... his stomach curdled at the thought. ]}

...your average day of being hunted?

[EXPLANATIONS NOW, MISTER. Shiro looks truly worried and a bit disturbed.]

I seem to attract things with teeth, as it were. Inevitably on some planet we come to I get chased by something with a lot of teeth and a prey drive. Or if not that I somehow make some group angry and they chase me.

My career as an explorer and diplomat is not all successes.

[Sorry, Jim, he can't help it, Shiro chuckles. It sounds pretty bad, but it's also quite bizarre.]

But you keep going, and that's what's most important for an explorer. You don't let bad luck decide for you.

Bad luck, good luck. Doesn't really matter which way it goes, everywhere I go, shit happens. Just a part of being captain of the Enterprise.

_{[ He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. ]}

I'm sure you've had similar adventures, surely?

You're right, I have. I guess I haven't thought of it as just part of being an astroexplorer - I was trained as such, but now I'm a Paladin fighting a war. [He offers a little smile and a shrug of his own.] But we've had our encounters with things with teeth too, that I can assure you.

Sounds like you have the harder job, honestly. I've had to go up against people wanting to do some pretty terrible things before. It's exhausting, and those aren't even prolonged encounters.

_{[ Mentally. Physically. All of it was exhausting and he hated it.
]}

Always something with more teeth. It was like the universe saw what it had created before and said "just needs more teeth" and repeated ad nauseam.

Exhausted doesn't start to describe it. But someone has to protect the universe, right?

[It's his duty, it's what is right. It's what gives his life meaning again.

A chuckle.] And they get bigger every time, too.

Yeah, I suppose someone does. For some reason it ends up being myself a lot, but that's not such a bad thing, I suppose. I have a rather high success rate, after all.

_{[ It would be considered bragging if it weren't true. Since, you know,
his universe still exists and all. There's been some losses, but ultimately
he does manage. ]}

They do. I have come to accept that my end will probably be at the hand of one, based on the general direction of my life so far.

Was that part of your training too? The fighting? Or you only wanted to explore?

[He's curious to know how similar their situations are, he must admit. The rest? He doesn't comment on. It's a touchy subject for him and with the cannibals coming, the mood is dark enough.]

Everyone is trained to defend themselves. Star Fleet believes in peace and negotiation, but we aren't naive enough to think that all cultures are like that, or that all worlds are safe. It's a logical thing, to teach your people how to stay alive when they're exploring the unknown. Actual ship to ship combat is a bit more specialized, and not everyone learns that. We do defend our borders and our people when threatened.

_{[ He was quite good at it, if he did say so himself, though he did
keep to not killing if he could help it. Disabling a ship was more than
enough for him, and he was never proud of the moments when he had to
destroy another ship entirely, even when said ship was threatening lives.
He will just refrain from mentioning the fact their ships can literally
annihilate a planet's surface if they deem the threat severe enough. ]}

It truly is the logical thing. [No judgment, he understands.] Which is why it's absolutely unreasonable for Atroma for making us depend on the security augment to defend our ships.

In terms of making the ships themselves stronger? Yes. We can make sure everyone under us has basic self defense. It’s not much but if it’s what we can do right now...

_{[ He made a motion with his hand as if to silently say - then so be
it. He would pick his battles, and leave some for other days. ]}

[A sigh.] Remind your crew of that if anyone decides to visit this planet, alright?

Believe me, I can sense the bad news on my end too, and I didn't have any weird dreams.

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