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2 yrs ago
Current Smarty Jones... Just... Consider removing the 'Smarty' part of your name if you're going to try and kick up a side-argument here, there's no reason for that. Otherwise, let's just move on.
2 likes
2 yrs ago
People don't tend to think about rules when in disputes. Instead, just point out that whoever stops arguing first gets to see the other make a fool of themselves if they going after it all stopped.
3 likes
2 yrs ago
The best part about being on the Guild this long is that nowadays, I can sit back and chuckle as the newcomers try to start a fight an instead get all the old hands ganging up on them. Popcorn for me.
5 likes
3 yrs ago
Got my first covid vaccination today. I was terrified, but the staff there were very well trained and things went well.
3 likes
3 yrs ago
Every few minutes playing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, I tear up from the memories. It's not often you get a game that truly pulls at the same heartstrings as your childhood playthrough's once did.
3 likes

Bio

Hi.

Most Recent Posts

A Discord would be good, but I'm fine without one.
Made a character, a Quarian engineer, woop woop. Hope this fits the bill. Also, I love that template!

I'd prefer it to be Casual, but I supposed I'd be alright with Advanced. Happy that it's remaining Casual.

I'm excited. :P
@kurukulla, welcome to the Guild!
Yes, yes, yes! I've been itching for a Mass Effect RP. I've been wanting to play a Quarian for a bit, so I'm definitely interested.
Valencia Coquerdale


Valencia was glad that a couple of others were getting their own shots in at Patrick; Both because he deserved it, and because she didn't want to be the only one, particularly if she alone would get in trouble for it. It seemed to be that quite a few people were switching positions in the running column; Some were pushing forward, some were falling back. Valencia herself kept her pace and kept in the middle. She didn't want to fall behind too much, and felt that if she were to suddenly sprint forward she would falter and slow down quite quickly. It seemed that getting hit by arrows was an extra reason for people slowing down.

Keeping most of her attention on Dex paid off, because an arrow was fired at her - presumably, it was revenge for what she had done against Patrick, for she certainly wasn't at the back of the crowd. She shifted her arm a little, and it struck; as intended, her arm slammed against her side, taking most of the brunt of the hit. She let out a little breath, though continued to run, staying on her feet and clunking along. It'll take more than that, she thought to herself, her eyes fixing on Finn as he ran past. Her cheeks turned a little pink as he gave her a wink, but she was too exhausted to do anything back.

Another lap. Another lap. Another lap. Finally, when the last lap ended, Valencia dropped to her hands and knees, sucking in what air she could. Her knees were trembling a little, but after a few moments she picked herself up off of the ground to line up with the rest of the students, breathing heavy and sweating. She wondered if there was a way for, in future classes, to determine whether or not she needed to wear armour. Perhaps she could take the time to enchant her armour with runes that allowed her to simply step in and out of it, however she feared damaging the integrity of the armour if she failed.

Valencia quietly, with the exception of her breathing as she fought to get it under control, watched the drow woman (which the mannequin revealed was named Maya Jhalavar) get ready to duel. The pale woman couldn't help but admire Maya's form briefly, before quickly blinking and refocusing on the fight that was about to happen and not on Maya specifically. First Dex, now Maya. All the teachers seemed to be alluring in their own ways to Valencia.

The fight was spectacular. Valencia was confident in her own fighting capabilities, however Maya was definitely a lot more skilled in the affair - obviously she had a lot more experience. Slowly, Valencia's lips curled into a smile, one of glee, of awe, as Maya expertly fought the mannequins. One day, she was going to be like that, but not in a school. Out in the field, she was going to be making a name for herself, she was going to work on changing the Coquerdale name to something of excellence, of pride, of good. She was going to show her father that she didn't need him to make herself powerful, and that she was going to grow into a powerful, strong person without him trying to guide her every step. Her eyes tracked the final mannequin's head as it flew in their direction, instinctively ducking a little before Vermont caught it.

Me, I'm ready to start, Valencia mentally replies. She made her way over a dummy that was armed with a sword, standing before it and giving it a respectful bow. She mentally repeated what Vermont had said, that the better she was, the better it would fight. She had fought opponents before that had underestimated her, guards that at first had thought she was a rich stuck-up, and that the training that she had done was akin to that of fantasy fights rather than real ones. They had went easy on her, and she had taken advantage of that. Soon, they had learned that she was only pretending to be a novice, most through getting their butts handed to them, and others through word of mouth. From there on, she hadn't been able to make them underestimate her, but that didn't mean she wasn't a good fighter against opponents who knew her skill level. Drawing Lazarus from it's sheath, Valencia believed a similar approach would work on the mannequin. If it adapted to her level of skill, she could constantly one-up it until she reached her peak.

She held Lazarus with one hand, and the mannequin readied itself to fight. Surprisingly, it struck first. She gave a weak defence, tilting her sword to guard against the mannequin's blow. It pulled back, and struck again, for which it received another weak block from Valencia. On the third strike, Valencia struck hard against the mannequin's sword, parried, and thrust forward. The mannequin adapted a lot quicker than she thought, for it cut at her own sword, pushing it down before it could connect with it's chest. Valencia's reaction was to bring her sword around, letting the end of her blade drift near her opponent's fingers. A connection was almost made, but the mannequin twisted away, creating a step of distance, before pushing straight back in.

It was then that Valencia upped the ante once more, adding proper footwork into the mix. She sprang forward with speed, lunging at the mannequin. It had to step back. It then moved forward, sword raised for and overhead strike. She brought her sword up to bear, but kicked for it's midsection. The first hit had been landed. Now that it knew that she was able to fight properly, the mannequin didn't seem to want to hold back; it went for a sideways cut, which was parried, and then without missing a beat, Valencia went on the counterattack. She went for her own horizontal slash, then vertical, pushing the mannequin onto the defence. It tried to bring it's sword to bear, but she cut from beneath, and it was forced to bring it's sword on the defensive again.

Valencia picked out the change in skill of the mannequin as it happened. It released it's sword with one hand, making a sudden grab for her arm. She stepped back, out of it's range, and brought her sword to bear on it's arm. It pulled it's arm back, and brought it's sword down on the back of her own sword. She pushed back as it pulled back, bringing her sword back into position swiftly, and used that same momentum to twist her sword and go for another strike.

Then, the trick to finish the mannequin, Valencia performed another quick slash of her sword from below. It was parried, of course, but ass their sword connected, she sidestepped into her opponent's space, on it's sword-arm's side. She brought her hands to the mannequin's hands, locking their swords, and swung her leg around, swiftly kicking at the back of the mannequin's knees before it was able to unlock their blades, knocking it's stance out and letting it fall. She slid her blade down and out from the lock, spinning in a flourish to allow the mannequin to drop to the ground, and connecting her blade with it's back at the other side of the spin. With that, she stepped back.

The mannequin rose to it's feet, albeit now with the wood on it's back scarred from her blade. Valencia had won that fight. "Let's go again," she says. She stepped forward to strike, and the second fight began.
Zelrio Corporation


"Captain, a reply has come in," the communications officer says, waving a hand at Olivia, who gave him a single nod of affirmation. Upon playing the message, Olivia found herself curious. This Oligarch Tanaka hadn't addressed himself of an envoy or ambassador of any kind, more-so just one of his teacher's students and an explorer. She wondered if he was just wording it curiously, or if they already had a gateway up for some time, and were now just sending explorers out to ones that opened one by one rather than a diplomatic party. She gave a thumbs up to the communications officer, wishing for another reply to be sent.

"Oligarch Tanaka, I too cannot express how glad I am to see a friendly face come out from the gateway that has remained closed for so long," She says. "As pleasant as it is speaking like this, our diplomatic personnel would much prefer to meet you in person - and are most likely biting their nails that I'm speaking with you for this long. I invite you for a meeting on board one of our stations, and should you accept, will provide escort and navigational data to reach it." She nods to the communication officer, who sends off the message to Tanaka. Immediately, she was signalled by the sensor officer.

"New contact," The sensor officer reported. This time, he seemed a touch more alarmed than he had with the little shuttle. "A large ship just flew in. It looks like a piece of shit with engines, but it's bigger than the shuttle."

"If it isn't shooting at us, then we won't shoot at it," Olivia replies, though she was a little more worried than that. "We'll send the same message was we did before. Open arms and shit." She waved to the communications officer.

"New vessel, this is Captain Olivia Lillith of the Zelrio Corporation, the colony of the planet Oria. We welcome you with open arms to our system. Please respond."
Zelrio Corporation
Mentions: @Tortoise

It was business as usual for the Zelrio Corporation. On the surface of Oria, despite their monumental size, refineries were nearing capacity yet again and pumping out materials like it was nobody's business. Materials were sent to the Tristam Space Elevator, where they processed further, and sent wherever they were needed. On the edges of the ground colony, gunfire could be heard as defenders held off another wave of Vacuarians which tried to scramble up the walls. They wouldn't get through, however that tended to be a different story for the mines that were further away from the main colony. With less defences than the colony itself, every attack ended in deaths on both sides. Thankfully, few of those deaths were actually human in the case of the defenders - with it being so dangerous outside of the colony walls, infantry drones were the brunt of the defenders out in the sticks. Apart from Combat Controller teams, of course.

In space, shuttles buzzed between stations like traffic on a highway. People going about their business, freighters delivering goods to the numerous stations that dotted space above Oria's atmosphere. Giant stations, far larger than any that had been over Earth in the past, held hundreds of thousands of citizens each, their homes and their businesses. Other stations had a variety of uses, such as hydroponics, storage depots, and military stations. Fully built stations weren't the only ones around, for other stations were in various states of construction in an ever-expanding network.

Jonathan Lawrence stood at his office's window, picking out individual stations by eye. The window wasn't real, of course; That was dangerous for anyone who decided to lop off the head of state. His office was buried so deep into Callihan Station that there was no possibility of a real window. Instead, it was a screen embedded into the wall, a pretend view to space and the planet below. Still, even if it wasn't a real view, it was still one that Jonathan could appreciate. He only had the time to stand and gaze because of his position; He had been told by his predecessor that the position of National Director was a difficult one. Whilst Jonathan had previously believed it would be difficult due to the volume of what he had to accomplish, it was a different story; It was the political side that he was not used to. As the National Director, he had to make a lot more public appearances than he was used to, and had to slog through a list of projects to approve or deny. Thankfully, the other directors beneath him had their own duties, and took most of that job away, but every so often something troublesome would pop up.

For example, the gateway that had stood closed for several centuries suddenly sparking to life.

Minutes passed where Jonathan could do nothing but stare out into space, from where he had seen the spark and the light. He couldn't believe that, in his time as National Director, the gateway was going to reopen. It suddenly put a lot more responsibility on his shoulders. Privately, he had hoped that he was going to be long gone before the gateway opened, just so that he didn't have to deal with it. But here it was, and now, he needed to exploit it. To try and get back to Earth, to locate the remaining colonies. Thankfully, some preparations were already in place; Policy written long ago stated that should the gateway reopen, the Public Relations department would be renamed to the Department of Public Diplomacy and assume new, diplomatic duties alongside their old ones. Jonathan privately wondered if Amelia was actually upkeeping that part of the policy - he hadn't exactly cared for training diplomats, as there was no reason for them. Vacuarians didn't talk.

The National Director allowed his attention to drift to his terminal, which was blinking with many, many unread messages. On the other side of a glass wall was his secretary, his only companion within the office, shooting off as many replies as she could. Aiko was young and new to her role, however she was growing into it well after her father had retired. The Solaria family, from which Aiko hailed, had served the Zelrio Corporation since the beginning. They were loyal, and were known to be hard workers. Aiko was likely proud to be selected as the next Secretary of the National Director.

"Aiko, please open communications with..." Jonathan paused. Shutting his eyes for a few moments, he took in a deep breath, before deciding who he wanted to speak with. "With all of them. Put them all on mute, though."

In most meetings, the people usually trickled in slowly, some even tried to dodge out of the meeting for as long as they could. Not this time. Every Director poured into the meeting, filling Jonathan's screen with faces. Everyone was speaking, gesturing, waving their arms in a silent bid to find Jonathan's attention first, only to grow quiet as they realised that they were, in fact, not being heard. Jonathan looked between all of their faces, making sure that he had their attention, before finally speaking.

"As you all know, the Gateway has opened. I'm certain Director Everett wishes to flood us all with information from Wendegarr Station, and tell us how exciting this is, however I will save you all from that. Director Everett, we can speak about that privately, and distribute documents as needed. Then, if the other directors will hear you out, you can spiel to them all you want." That earned smiles from the others. They knew that they, and their valuable time, had been saved. Even Director Everett was smiling sheepishly.

"For now, nothing changes for the vast majority of you. Operations continue as intended, and everything will continue normally. We'll be attempting communications and outreach to any other colonies, as well as Earth. With hope, we can establish friendly relations, and open up trade. I look forward to making interstellar progress. With that being said, I announce to you all that the Public Relations department will be taking on a new name, and additional roles to go with it; the Department of Public Diplomacy. That being said, Amelia Cellica will now assume the position of director of the new department, and her previous position as manager of Public Relations will be occupied by one of her previous employees, alongside diplomatic positions."

"Finally, before I let you go, I will be designating space around the Gateway as a restricted zone. Only ships that have purpose there should be there. That's military, research vessels, and diplomatic ships. If you have a reason why you should be allowed through, send it, and I'll make the determination. Though, there is a possibility I may have that duty delegated to Director Cellica in the future. With that being said, you're all free to leave, bar Director Cellica and Admiral Sutherland. I'll need to talk to both of you." With that, they all began to disconnect. Jonathan knew that he would receive quite a few more emails soon, but he could bear with it. Soon enough, the only three people were himself and the two that he had beckoned to stay.

"My ships are already moving into position. I had predicted that it was going to turn into a no-fly zone. We've doubled patrols in that area. I have a feeling that if our gate has opened, others have, too. The dockyards have started to change some of their production over to military ships, now that there's going to be an actual need for them," Admiral Sutherland says, once he and Director Cellica's mutes were revoked. "I've doubled the amount of marines that we have stationed at Wendegarr Station, too. We're prepared, just in case. One of my frigates have reported that the gateway is receptive to us, so likely if other colonies are getting theirs back up, they'll be able to come to us."

"I've already started picking out diplomatic personnel from my existing personnel. I've started drafting up person specifications for Human Resources, too, and digging out the old training materials. We're going to have to start recruiting more personnel," Director Cellica explains. "So, my current plans..."

Three hours later, the trio were still discussing all sorts of scenarios. At the top of their list was First Contact, and how they were going to present themselves, as they were unsure how other the other colonies would take seeing that a corporation was running an entire colony, government and all. The conversation stopped when Admiral Sutherland suddenly held up his hand. "Directors, we've just had a ship come through the gateway. A shuttle, all by itself. Captain Lillith will be talking to them, as there are no diplomatic personnel there, yet. She'll be attempting to take them to Featherfall Station," the Admiral states. Both of the directors were alarmed; They hadn't expected anyone to arrive so soon!

"Director Cellica, I want yourself and... Two Combat Controllers to meet the shuttle at Featherfall station, should they wish to land. The Combat Controllers are to serve as escorts for the shuttle's occupants whilst they are within our space. In fact, that'll be rule of thumb. Two Combat Controllers per diplomatic party. I want to avoid any incidents," Jonathan says. He was going to have to look into Captain Lillith's career later, she had good intuition to pick Featherfall station, rather than any of the corporate stations, or even coming straight to Callihan Station to see him like he knew some ship captains would have tried to offer. Featherfall was one of the most beautiful stations they had; it was several kilometers of land within a metal dome, like a gigantic, enclosed park. Stark contrast to the hell that was the land on Oria, which had random fires showing their face every so often amongst muddy and often charred land.

----====----


"Captain to the bridge, Captain to the bridge."

Olivia Lillith was on the bridge and in the captain's chair as fast as she could get there. Her eyes skimmed over reports that were flooding in. No shot, she thought to herself. A vessel had already arrived through the gateway. There went her hope to be the first one in three hundred years to travel through one, but she still had a shot at being the first one of the Zelrio Corporation to fly through. "Kilo, give me an analysis of the ship," she asks.

The ship's artificial intelligence, Kilo, responded quickly to her query. "Barely a ship. The vessel meets the specifications of a shuttle, but for all we know, that could be another colony's version of a battleship." Olivia couldn't help but chuckle at the AI's explanation. "In any case, it's a small ship. Probably an envoy, or some sort of explorer or scout, clearly not a threat to us."

"Comm, send a message to Admirality, high priority, that we're going to be making contact with the shuttle. We'll try and get it to Featherfall Station," Olivia says. "And open a communications link to the shuttle. It's time to make first contact." Olivia waited until her communications officer gave her a thumbs-up, and then sent the first message.

"Unknown Vessel, this is Captain Olivia Lillith of the Zelrio Corporation, the colony of the planet Oria. We welcome you with open arms to our system."
@datadogie Because I'm on a roll and am shit at doing actually important things, here's one for you.


Oh my god, that's fantastic! You're absolutely amazing <3
Yeah, they're pretty awesome!
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