[right][sub][i](In-game announcement of [@Timemaster]'s departure)[/i][/sub][/right]
[right][sub][i][Starring: Oligarch Andrei][/i][/sub][/right]

Andrei, the Oligarch in charge of the Gateway Listening Post, is a little less drunk than he was earlier. Back when all those weird robot men came on board. Even with modern medicine, there's no sure-fire way to sober up, but years of alcoholism have either empowered his kidney or brought his brain down to a state of eternal inebriation. Either way, the drunkenness doesn't last long.

So it was with mostly-sober eyes that he looks at a read-out of current Gateway activity, and notices something strange. One of the destinations has vanished. He's already forgetting what it was labeled, but it was certainly there a moment ago, and certainly isn't anymore. He doesn't think it's anyone the ECU has met yet. Still, there's something undeniably sad about it.

Did their Gateway shut down? Was it destroyed? Whatever it was, they are cut off from all the other Colonies, after only just learning they're still alive...

Andrei lifts his whiskey, and quotes an Old Earth saying he's fond of. "Here's to ya, lads." Maybe, one day, they'll be able to come back.

[center][b]~~~~~~~~[/b][/center]

[right][sub][i](Addressing: [@Sigma], and kind of [@Irredeemable])[/i][/sub][/right]
[right][sub][i][Starring: Oligarch Andrei][/i][/sub][/right]

A little alarm goes off at the Oligarch Andrei's station, right as he's downing that shot of whiskey. Another ship is approaching, with no ECU-valid tag. That only means one thing.

"Invite the aliens aboard," he speaks into the intercom for the few folks in charge of airlocks and boarding. Poor guys are probably so overworked. Nobody anticipated all this. "And tell them I'll be there to meet them soon."

And he is. (After having taken a wide, wide path around the suite where Dr. Bodi is still discussing things with the Zetans.) This time, rather than being a shambling drunk, Andrei's pitch hair is slicked back, his collar shirt is open a little bit, and his smile is only slightly crooked. Back when he was a Student, his old friends called him "Dis-Count Dracula" for dressing that way, but his younger self thought they were only jealous.

Actually, come to think of it, his current self thinks that too.

"Are the, uh, guests arriving?" he asks the nameless engineer to his right. With no dedicated diplomatic staff, all sorts of people are stepping in to fill the gap, from workers to scientists to fellow Oligarchs. Maybe he's getting soft, but Andrei almost wants to call it... inspiring.