[b]Redana![/b]

"Oh! You want to fight for Bella's hand in marriage!" said Beautiful, snapping her fingers in understanding. "She must be a very special girl indeed!"

She then shoots you in the forehead, in the exact point where she landed her kick. Then as you charge it's directly into a second kick, aimed [i]again [/i]at that exact spot. She's too slight to fully check the charge, though, and the momentum sends her reeling back a couple of steps before she recovers her poise.

"Well, even if I don't remember her," said Beautiful, "There is no way I'm not going to fight for the girl who might possibly be mine. Hypothetical love demands no less!"

There's a bit of a catch in that voice, Redana. Pain, perhaps? There's no doubt a lot of frustration that comes with being told that you are possibly in a relationship that you can't remember the importance of. A lot of frustration that Beautiful has evidently decided to vent onto you. There's still that dangerous, brilliant playfulness as she widens her stance, ready to catch, redirect, and throw. But you're not the only one with a headfull of complicated emotions that are best expressed with fisticuffs.

[b]Alexa![/b]

You're just finishing your routine when - Ares' spit! There's a Kaeri warrior standing over you. [i]Fuck [/i]they're quiet!

"Lady Regicide," she said, voice clipped. As you recover from the shock you see the Oath of Surrender pinned to her breast armour - a long, winding scroll where she pledges her surrender and obedience in the sight of Zeus. It's a chain more binding than adamantine, and the remnants of the Kaeri who did not fight to death all signed them and wear them constantly. It is not an oath of slavery - theirs was a honourable military surrender, and the conditions are closer to that of a guest. Still, it was considered for the best if they were kept on the other ship to the Lanterns.

The title they use for you could do with some work though.

"I am Evocati Khaesh," she said. "Five of my soldiers are missing, under subcommander Meuven Ra. We cannot find any sign of them. Did you order them executed?"

The Kaeri's eyes are cold. She's ready to resume hostilities over this. But you've served with Kaeri before and you can see beyond the frosty belligerence - she's [i]terrified[/i]. The Kaeri are creatures of pride, and to admit weakness, ignorance and helplessness in the same breath is not something they do if they feel like they have any alternative. 

[b]Dolce![/b]

"Yeah, uh," said Ramses awkwardly. "Listen, mate. We're professionals. We're on this ship because we get paid. By the Magi. What we want is the time, surgery and components to make our ideal bodies manifest."

She coughed. "Though if you wanted to help us out you could lean on the magi to give us better terms in the next round of enterprise agreement negotiations. The union negotiates a new one with them every year and the discussions get heated. These go on for the months - tell you what, uh, first lady Vasilia, ma'am, why don't you come along and sit in on one? There's a meeting happening now."

[i]A flash cut to the union negotiations with the Magi. A Hermetic shrieks discordant blaring rhythms to drown out the voices of hard nosed negotiators, brandishing esoteric weapons in all directions. It blasts a hole in a wall and retreats into the ventilation shafts, laying down a carpet of covering fire. It is pursued by a cautious but determined team carrying arc welders to cut it out of the hidden burrow it retreats into.[/i]

"Maybe it'll give you an idea of what we're working with here," said Ramses.

[b]Bella![/b]

As you walk there is an eerie stillness in the corridors of the [i]Plousios[/i]' lower decks. The crabs are still there, still in their tens of thousands, but now they are still. They sit, claws raised up to the sky, unblinking eyes staring blankly forwards. The eerie industry of the Tides is halted as every node in its network takes a moment at long last to breathe deeply and actually pay attention to the world around it.

The breath rises and falls in a calming rhythm, waves crashing against the shore. It wasn't until the noise stopped that you realized how frenzied it had been.