[b]Redana![/b]

The Imperial Plovers are the same machines as yours. The same speed, the same acceleration, the same limits - but they are more. It should just be a matter of math.

But you're testing your limits and they aren't.

You see the mines glitter ahead, ruby tri-points blinking. They're timed to wait for thirty seconds before they arm to give their users time to get to a minimum safe distance. Thirty seconds of safety before the jaws of the trap snap shut. You only need twenty. You scorch between the deadly balls of explosives before they arm, between the clumsy grabs of two minelayer plovers, and on, and on, and on, the mere fact of your escape no reason at all to slow your ascent. 

And then you're besides the Eater of Worlds.

The husks of the Imperial ships before were vast; this is incomprehensible. It fills your view like a planet, plated in bone and rock; mountains and peaks and valleys carved into its stone hide. Prismatic veins of gemstones erupt on the surface, crystal forests of Poseidon's multitude of colours, storming and reacting to the gathering storm. Oceans of sapphire blood-ice hang depressurized like rainstorms in stop motion. Ahead that distant beak could break a continent with a bite. It is so vast it feels like you are hardly moving in relation to it, though you have not cut your speed at all.

[Temporary solution: The debris field is now being mined. This will make future small craft operations in this area hazardous.]

[b]Vasilia and Alexa![/b]

"Uh, yes ma'am," said Ganius to the order, giving a brief salute and leading his squad away. Alexa, as you walk alongside him you can hear him muttering about "[i]Not being an engine dog, she's just the same as the others[/i]". That's going to be a [i]problem[/i] - this is a hoplite, and even the humble ones are proud enough to consider manual labour beneath them. It's what caused him to defect in the first place and you can sense the morale in this unit is very close to zero - and managing the hearts of soldiers is as vital an aspect of war as any.

You've got some time to survey and assess, Vasilia. You see that the [i]Veterosk[/i] is heading directly for the Eater of Worlds. You're completely in its stern, and have to darken the central viewport to shield your eyes from the brightness of its engine aftershock that faces directly towards you. You absolutely have the element of surprise.

What's the plan?


[b]Dolce![/b]

{EXPLAIN} 

The blasting, blaring static-fulled artificial voice of Iskarot from immediately behind you knocks you off your feet.

A monster in robes the colour of hazard stripes towers over you. Its eyes glow a malevolent red and glittering lights fill it like a tiny galaxy. It brandishes a fistful of brightly coloured severed cables, still sparking, limp like a severed limb.

"The status of this warship is DEPLORABLE," shouted the Hermetician, throwing the bundle into your arms. It steps right over your prone body and begins applying maniacal limbs to the console you were looking at. In a much softer, more gentle voice, he intoned "Blessed be the holy engine, for your mighty wings will bear us to the Golden Lord - HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS CORROSION? Has this ship been UNDERWATER? Nothing here is sterile, there are [i]teeth marks[/i] on the multiphase interchange, the balistrades are rusted shut - [b]WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS[/b]?!?!"

He shifts right past you again, not even looking at you, ripping a huge console off the wall and unscrewing multiple burned-out and damp bulbs and tossing them irritably on the floor where they shatter one after another.

[b]Bella![/b]

This place isn't clean.

The smells of the cleaning chemicals, too fine for human senses, are obvious to you, as sharp and unpleasant as orange on ulcers. It's overpoweringly thick, like an open bottle of the stuff has been spilled, but there's no sign of it. As unpleasant as it is, the smell of cleanliness should at least should be comforting - but it's [i]not[/i]. Something is wrong. There's something it's not entirely covering, and the thought of having missed a spot raises a horrible tension.

The wine is the same. It's so full, so rich, it passes beyond your ability to comprehend - but it too doesn't quite [i]cover [/i]something. This is royal wine - the bar servitor gave you [i]royal[/i] wine, not the lower class stuff that would fit a servitor's station. The kind of stuff that sent your eyelashes fluttering when the Empress poured herself a glass from across the room, the kind of stuff that parallels the molten sunlight honey-cheese flavour of divine ambrosia. It's so smooth and crisp even the roughness of your tongue feels smooth and golden, glowing, drifting light saturates your body. It's divine. You almost can't move.

That [i]smell[/i]. It's not dirt. It's something else, something familiar, something...

It's not almost. You [i]actually[/i] can't move.

The bartender leans across the table on her elbows, blinking sideways to reveal her slitted reptilian eyes, incongruous against the soft and squirrelly face.

"Hey, Bella!" said Mynx, waving cheerfully, bubbly smile filling every part of her face. "How are you doing?"

Mynx. The shapeshifter. Princess Redana's body double and your ally and rival in the Imperial Household, you've known her almost as long as you've known the Princess. She's spent so long imitating Princess Redana that she's almost her mirror in personality - bright and courageous and heroic - but there's always a little edge of mischievous darkness and cruelty that comes with knowing how the world [i]actually[/i] is underneath it all. That's the smell you couldn't quite place - she isn't able to perfectly conceal her scent from you without burying it under other things.

And she's sedated you. You can still move, but you're tired and weak, and you're not sure you could stand successfully. Just like Redana - you presume the ropes and the closet are going to be next...

"Hey, don't worry!" said Mynx, and you can't tell if she's being genuine or condescending. You can never tell with her. "I've [i]got[/i] this. Redana is safe with me, you'll see!"

Just like Redana to go off ahead. Just like Mynx to try to steal her from you. Aphrodite, behind your back, gives a satisfied little smile.

[hider=Mynx]
[b]Mynx[/b]
[i]Your worst best friend in the whole wide galaxy![/i]
[b]Shapeshifting Bodyguard:[/b] When someone is successfully Finished, Mynx can reveal that she was secretly that person all along and negate all effects of that Finish.
[b]Toxicrine Temple:[/b] If you eat or drink anything Mynx could conceivably have touched, it's possible she has poisoned you.
[/hider]