Cath

The Skytower Rebellion

“You know, i remember when i first met the captain of the Combat Wombat.”Cesar gravelled, adjusting the course a fraction. “Of course, it wasn’t called that back then. Back then it was the Hebride or something, to match the sister ship.” He swung an arm around, motioning to the Hercules in general. Cesar had decided on a whim that he didn’t want to go back below deck to command the ship, so had brought the bridge up to the topside. He and his technicians held a variety of holo-pads which projected a mass of dark blue interface into the morning air. Using their whole bodies, they could control the ship up there just as well as down below.

The vast desert before them was growing choppier. Huge sand dunes towered in front and to either side. They passed the carcass of a similar size Sand ship which might have long ago had useful parts, but it had been picked clean. The sand had been churned up all around it, showing telltale signs of Sand skimmer skirmishers. Pieces of metal embedded in the sand alongside charred bodies. Cesar manipulated the ship with a sensitivity which rivalled the greatest lovers, weaving it towards the blinking red light which indicated the distressed sister ship.

“I was introduced to her at a bar in Edessa - she was a good drinker! - i remember her saying she wanted to buy the ship from our then contractor, make it her own you know? She was a woman with vision.” He laughed like an old steam engine, puffing out the consonants with unnecessary power. “We bought our ships at around the same time. I remember proposing our own prospecting company, but she didn’t want to. Said she worked better alone and that was it. She left.” Cesar’s face was grave and motionless. “Three klicks and counting.” the ensign said, breaking the silence before it could solidify. Huxley, who was eating porridge out of an aluminium canteen cup in a deckchair behind him, stood up before the Captain could turn around. “I’ll get the crew ready.” He rattled down the stairs, eyes half-blinded in the semi-dark. A tannoy announcement preceded him. “All crew, to battle stations. We are now on amber alert; possible combat situation. All security are to tool up and head to your assigned sector.” “You heard the man, let’s go go go!” Huxley called, clapping his hands together as people appeared out of a few cabins.

He made his way to the Heracles’ main armory and found his security team were already there, hefting guns and melee weapons from the racks with practiced ease and strapping body armour to their tattooed, scarred bodies. They were tough, many had already bled while protecting the ship and its crew. In actuality, Huxley was the only permanent soldier aboard, the rest having been recruited from a private security agency. They were free to go at anytime but loyalty was sewn into the fibre of their being - and the pay was good. Huxley made a bee-line for his number two, Thatcher. A huge Dutchman with a dirty blond ponytail and beard, his seven foot tall presence dominated the armory. He often boasted over a few pints in the mess that he could trace his ancestry back to the First fleet that colonized Outremer.

“Thatcher! We gotta move.” Huxley shouted over the metallic din; he maneouvered past his men till he was at the man mountain’s side. “What’s the situation?” Thatcher asked, the scar on the side of his head wiggled when he talked. “Don’t know yet, the Combat Wombat has sent out a distress signal. I need you up top and everyone else is on battle stations.” Thatcher nodded, attaching his huge warhammer to the mag-holster on his back. Huxley turned so he was facing his team. Most were fully tooled up and waited expectantly for his orders. “Get to your stations and await instructions, make sure you are signed in to the ship’s battle net so we can talk. You know the drill, get moving!” Huxley called, before motioning that his lieutenant follow him. He waited patiently for everyone to file out of the armory before grabbing an assault rifle from the racks and leaving the way he came.

The Skytower Rebellion

Aw thank you :) I know right! I love Cesar :(
Wow, another great post; very interesting. That wasn't my original plan but I have a feeling we can make something work. I'll get started right away

The Skytower Rebellion

Your character is accepted Skull. I look forward to seeing her in action!

The Skytower Rebellion

(Continued from the OP)

The blast doors reopened as Cesar and Huxley approached. The bridge was contained right at the very heart of the ship, and had reinforced walls and doors so that boarders or other Sand ships couldn’t destroy it easily. It was also situated at a crossroads, with a corridor straight ahead and one to either side. At the end of the long hall dead ahead were a set of stairs made from the same metal decking as the floor. Shafts of bright sunlight illuminated them from above, they lead up onto the top deck. “Megara tells me you haven’t been sleeping well.” Cesar boomed as they began walking toward it. Most of the doors they passed were closed and some had not been used for years. “Yeah well, she’s right.” Huxley yawned. “Wanna tell me about it cousin?” Huxley had often wondered why and indeed where Cesar had acquired an accent so distinctive. It was all rolled Rs and quick, harsh sounds. He had toyed with the possibility that Cesar just put on the accent to seem more travelled. When quizzed about it he would always throw up some unreliable nonsense about ‘staying a spell on Earth’.

They clanked up the steps to the ship's top deck and for a moment Huxley couldn’t see anything at all for the blinding sunlight. The gunmetal grey top deck was originally flat but had been repaired so many times it had the appearance of a patchwork quilt, with bumpy sections threatening to trip anyone moving in a hurry. Self-cooled cargo crates overflowing from the hold were scattered about and geriatric auto-turrets patrolled the gunwale on powered rails and swivelling axes. For now they were the only people up top. The coils of old rope and unwashed blue deckchairs that the crew used to relax in were empty; the only other signs of life were the circling ragwitch birds that followed every Sandship around. They flew high in the sky, cawing loudly and diving down to show off their red plumage as they snapped up smaller mammals or insects.

Huxley and Cesar walked to the gunwale and leaned over, drinking in the claustrophobic morning air. Big white letters stencilled onto the side of the Sandship showed its name: Heracles. Sloping armour contrasted with jutting buttresses that held auxiliary jet propellers. The ship’s hull pinched into a snout at the bow to give more protection. Looking down at the sand, Huxley knew the Heracles powerful hovercraft propellers kept it suspended a meter in the air on a cushion of compacted air. Tiny shrubs clung desperately to rocks which big lizards bathed on. Competing with the sound of engines and ragwitch cawing was the incessant rustling of millions of crickets. Billions of creatures called the desert home, but most of them were just too difficult to see. The desert stretched out for miles all around, towering dunes obscured clear view and seemed to shift like a giant towel in the wringer; the sun reflecting off the sands and the pockmarks on the Heracles’ hull made Huxley look away.

“I’m dying, cousin.” Cesar said, dusting flecks of sand from his shirt and beard. Huxley looked round. “It was analysed last night, my heart implant is rejecting.” Huxley gulped back any words, looking down at his bare feet. Brown and calloused. Finally he asked “How long?” “Between one and three months. Less if i don’t take it easy.” Huxley looked at Cesar. The tall and indomitable man he had been introduced to last year had definitely diminished. His broad shoulders were sinewy and slouched, his barrel chest had become paunchy and unhealthy. He had greying hair now and his eyes had lost the twinkle they once had. The rugged privateering adventurer had given way to wizened old man. “Can’t we fix it?” Huxley asked, following Cesar as he moved to a pair of deckchairs and sat heavily down.

“Not now, not after leaving this cut-price pacemaker in there all this time.” The Captain boomed with a grin, patting his chest. “How has it taken this long to show up?” Huxley asked, a tinge of red coming to his face. “Who knows cousin, but that is not what i wanted to talk to you about. I know you’ve only been aboard for a year and the crew don’t respect you yet, but i want you to succeed me as Captain of this ship.”Cesar said, taking a pair of dark sunglasses out of a shirt pocket and popping them on. Huxley wished he had some sunglasses. “Now, i know what you’re thinking: Cesar, how will i make the crew like and respect me enough to vote me in as Captain. Well i’ve been thinking and the answer seems clear.” Cesar waited for Huxley to ask, but it didn’t come; the young man was deep in thought. “We’ll embark on the biggest quest of our fair vessels lifetime!” Cesar finished, beaming at the brilliant idea. This woke Huxley from his stupor. “What did you have in mind?” “I don’t know quite yet, but something will come. I can feel it.”

Minutes past in silence, Huxley was seconds from making to go and grab breakfast when Cesar’s holopad chirruped noisily. Pinching the screen, it flew into the air and solidified into an array of information and pictures. “It’s a distress signal, from our friends on the Wombat.” Cesar said, standing up suddenly to take a better look at it. Huxley stood too. A red ping on a 3D map of the nearby desert, showed the location. The Wombat was technically the Heracles’ sister ship, being built to exactly the same specifications, in the same batch and by the same corporation. Huxley remembered heading over there for a party in his first week when both ships were docked at the same town. The crew had been kind and shared wine with them all night. Cesar was looking at him. “We are low on ammunition and medical supplies, and we don’t have any idea what is causing them distress.” After a moment Huxley realized the Captain was asking him. “I say we go in and scout the situation. They need our help and it isn’t too far off our original course.” He said, gesturing to the map which had developed contours and suggested routes. Cesar broke into a wide grin full of tombstone teeth. “Now you’re starting to think like a Captain!”

The Skytower Rebellion

Fantastic post Skull! I love it when things click together. Great work ^^
I've posted for James Huxley continuing on from the first post and edited the dream with something exciting for later.

The Skytower Rebellion

Skull said
okay. I have some free time on my hands for the next couple days. I'm going to try and dish out as many posts as I can. XDMy Gideon Hyde character is pretty much frozen into place with Sauron gone. I may bring him out of hiding further down the line, but I'll likely promote one of my NPCs (most likely Mya Froch) as a replacement.

Yay! I'll be with you all the way. I'll be introducing the Red Cross later on, with some tweaking so it's not such a cult of personality, Gideon may have a chance to shine. Alternatively you could alter his history slightly so he's sided with a particularly brutal band of pirates or something of the kind.

The Skytower Rebellion

Haha, sorry hun! Rahtu characters aren't the priority just yet. When this little section is done then i'll get to work on it i promise!!!
It's also partly because i haven't been able to find a decent replacement picture to show what they look like; it's difficult when they're seven foot tall scaly armour plated crosses between the Predators and the Elites. Zed if you want to ask me some specific questions related to your CS Rahtu then i'd be happy to furnish you with the answer.

The PRC special; chatterbox

I remember studying China in college (business studies).
Last i heard it had begun to dawn on them that what they were doing was not sustainable; now they're trying to build up some kind of service industry to replace the fit-to-burst manufacturing base.

The Skytower Rebellion

By the way i endorse multiple characters totally! That way if one gets frozen into a corner or you lack inspiration for them you can shelf them until later and still work on other things.

The Wedding War

Basic Information - WORK IN PROGRESS

Thalie

Name: Thalie Laurent
Age: 20
Sex: female
Birthplace: Oussard
Profession: Farmer/Archer
Caste: Serf

Physical Description



Characters Story

Equipment – Combat
Weaponry:
Primary - a supple yew wood shortbow
Secondary - a simple dagger
Armour: none

Auxiliary:

Abilities – Physical
Passive Ability – Name: Quick runner
Passive Ability – Name: Agile jumper who can free run and climb
Passive Ability - Good stamina
Activated Ability – Name:
Activated Ability – Name:
Activated Ability – Name:

Abilities – Magical
Passive Ability – Name:
Passive Ability – Name:
Passive Ability – Name:
Activated Ability – Name:
Activated Ability – Name:
Activated Ability – Name: