[b]Redana and Alexa![/b]

The flow of crabs has trickled to a halt, and what crustaceans have survived this mighty confrontation against the galaxy's greatest warriors retreat fearlessly, clacking their claws in endless defiance. 

Your trip here was not purposeless, though. Here in the unexplored lower depths of the ship you have discovered a strange treasure indeed - immense concealed compartments stacked floor to ceiling with orange-green glowing golden bars. They're hot to the touch - intensely radioactive, enough to kill a more fragile creature in hours - but they're the right shape to fit into a number of strange and empty compartments you have seen throughout the ship. Some kind of alien fuel, for some hidden esoteric power of the ship? Even as mere curiosities they are valuable, but will need further research.

Forge a bond with each other as well. You understand each other better than you did.

[b]Vasilia![/b]

Aphrodite raised his mug of coffee in a brief salute at Vasilia in acknowledgement of her lack of glaring.

Still, over the course of this conversation you have made a personal connection to the Hermetician. In coming days he is - well, he is still snappy, but he corrects more than he condemns. You've learned more about his ways and patterns, how he possesses a fixation on unmaking, salvage, and recycling valuables that perhaps rivals Dolce's focus on cooking. He seeks to apply this logic to all things: if something is worth more disassembled, then he will disassemble it and find joy in the doing. Forge a bond with Iskarot.


[b]Bella![/b]

You take your eyes off the snake for just a moment. Your head bows and you look down at the ground in perfect accord with the will of Nero. An act of ritual, an act of vulnerability, an act of dedication to the new codes of war. 

And so your eyes are averted during the ensuing act of divine violence.

When you look up there is Hera, Queen of Olympus, flanked by two great golden heifers, flicking a few drops of envenomed blood off her parasol. Athena has knelt, and within moments everyone else upon the battlefield has as well. 

She is nothing like her wife. Zeus is violet and dark blue, darkness so intense that to go any darker it has to explode into the purest and most brilliant light. Hera is of silver and rose gold interlaid in chain links that wrap her arms in gleaming sleeves. Zeus is solitary, a creature of the mountain and the sky, as beyond peer as physics, clad only in a simple dress without jewelry. Hera comes with the riches of Olympus, followed by servants bearing plates of ambrosia, fanned by peacock feathers, feet surrounded by purring cats, hand resting upon the head of a brown doe. Zeus is so mighty that she needs no displays of power, for her every act is a display of power. Hera is so mighty that she needs no displays of power, and yet she puts the effort in anyway.

She walks across the corridor towards you - fierce, angry, heartbroken, but still observant of the codes, still protective of your subordinates, still respectful of the gods. For a moment her divine hand comes down and tousles your hair, running around your ear, adjusting the Imperial Tiara into place. She glances around the hall, ensuring there is no mistake in her intent.

And then she is gone, the vision is past, the pirate queen is dead upon the floor and few the sounds of battle that had made their way through even the Anemoi's oppressive architectural silence fade into nothing. Hera has given you victory, Bella. She recognized you and blessed you in front of witnesses, establishing your power over the Anemoi as absolute.

And now a hundred eyes look to you, awaiting command.

[b]Everyone![/b]

Time passes. The [i]Plousios[/i] approaches the planet Ridenki, home of "Species AVX-44" - colloquially, the Alced. It is time to take the auguries.

In the candle-light of the ship's Pantheon, the fire burns far brightest around the Statue of Hera. She is the patron goddess of this planet, and it is her will that the Hermetics defy in their harvest. And yet, defy her they do, for the empty altar of Hermes practically blazes with power and footsteps form around its base. The presence of the Messenger is equally strong to the Queen's and you don't need to be a Hermetic to read the signs of his passage here. The third altar to ignite is that of Artemis - those sigils burn cold and subtle and indifferent, providing fair warning of the Huntress' presence and no more.

Hermes, Hera, and Artemis. Tell us which of these gods you seek the favour of, tell us of your history with them. Then tell us of what you hope to find upon this planet.