EliteCommander

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

"No!" Taylor firmly interjected, not only verbally, but physically. It moved itself in front of William, blocking the way to the door. "Before, when I was...Human, I was a doctor. And you...are my patient. I gave up my chance of retribution to Lorne. I gave up on burning, destroying their labs once I was out of my cage for you. You were unconscious, you were helpless, so I chose you. To protect you. I dragged you out here myself, protected you, treated you, and I didn't do all that just to let you go out and kill yourself."

Taylor's stance was firm and authoritative in a way it never could have accomplished as a Human. In a way, it was cathartic to finally feel that weight of authority over a patient who was acting against their own self-interest. "You will come to the clinic, you will rest, and you will heal. Once you are well...then you stop being my responsibility."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - The Resurgence Briefing Room

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Provided that this was the path along which Falul chose to bring the Aegis, Eri did find Caldwell's approach somewhat encouraging. Perhaps if each universe had their own fleets at their disposal, then they would be able to get away with loose coordination as allies. However, with the limited ships they had available, they would have to be able to work together as a single battle group, which would require a more cohesive command structure.

"I do not decide for Falul, but I expect he shall agree with you, Shipmaster Caldwell. We will require strong leadership in battle, but this should not be decided without his presence. There is plenty more work to be done before this collection of ships can serve acceptably as a proper fleet, regardless. I will request that my Shipmaster allow your scientists to make their efforts to improve the speed of our slipspace travel. Under the supervision of our own artisan-engineer, and the scientist."

As far as Eri was concerned, Elizabeth had given the best answer she could have under the circumstances. Not herself, nor any among Falul's crew would have agreed to serve any being claiming to speak for, or be, a god. Eri was still far from trusting her, but she could, for the moment, accept at least some of what she was claiming as being true. Her assertions about Anubis did match what they had already learned. So, if she was accepting Elizabeth's word as true, then their goal, from a military standpoint, seemed like it should be fairly obvious. "But once our fleet is ready, we still need a firm approach to our goal. These ideas you are suggesting, gathering machines, weapons, wealth, they may become necessary, but I am confused as to why you are focusing so strongly on them. If you are all so keen on taking Elizabeth's word as truth, then you know that Anubis cannot be destroyed by conventional means. We need to decide on the primary goal of our campaign before we start discussing the secondary goals to accomplish it. We cannot kill him ourselves...but we do not have to." She said, turning her attention squarely to Elizabeth. "You said that Anubis has focused much of his power on preventing the "others" like you from crossing over to destroy him. So, these others must be able to kill him. We do not need to overwhelm Anubis ourselves; we just need to weaken his power, or otherwise prevent him from stopping the others like Elizabeth from crossing over and fighting their own battle."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

I am rather curious to see the Unbroken Hope's input on the situation. The UNSC does have a bit of a history with foes in blind servitude to false gods. A few members of the Second Chance crew are already giving Eri some Covenant vibes.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - The Resurgence Briefing Room

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Erthos' reply to Eri elicited a long silence from her. She still listened as others spoke, but he had actually given her compelling points to consider. It still seemed like they were making quite a few guesses, and nothing yet had diminished her anger towards Elizabeth, but despite her hesitation, not Eri nor those she represented were beyond reason. And in this, Eri could not deny the reason behind his words.

"I acknowledge the wisdom of your counsel, Erthos." Eri eventually replied in a far calmer voice. Though, she did give something of a more hostile glare towards a few particular members of the Second Chance's delegation. "But I will be clear, we decide our own fate. The Sangheili shall never again bow to false gods. We would not be so foolish."

Eri brought up her datapad, looking back at some of the references she had been looking over earlier. "However, if we wish to do anything beyond simple scouting, then none of the plans you want to form will work until we can have a single, cohesive battle group. This planet you wish to raid, Kamino, is it? It is located far outside the galactic plane, within a satellite galaxy. The Immaculate Aegis would not be able to reach it in any reasonable time, and the same is true for many potential targets in this galaxy. And while our vessel is certainly a force to be reckoned with in battle, can the same be said of every vessel represented here? Specifically of your defenses. If the Unbroken Hope was taken here from before the end of the war, then it is unshielded and may be destroyed in its entirety by a single volley. Should my Shipmaster agree to help, then our priority should be to eliminate the most glaring weaknesses of our fleet."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For most of those present, their first reactions were naturally surprise or concern for Meesei, though Hal-Neesa's narrowed eyed told of her skepticism. "You claim to have gone to Artaeum for this? I'm not sure what-"

Meesei quickly, and rather boldly, cut Hal-Neesa off mid-sentence. "Yes, I found a way to bypass Artaeum's defenses and decided to visit. Zyausak recommended seeking you, specifically, to help."

Even Hal-Neesa's normally hardened exterior was uncharacteristically, visibly shocked by Meesei's sudden retort. For once, she had no insults or snide remarks, and instead showed just a hint of genuine worry.

Meesei did not waste another moment before continuing. "And unfortunately, no, they did not have any answers. My case is, from their experience, entirely unique. They were confident they could help and offered to allow me to join their order, but they felt it might take hundreds of years to find a solution. I...considered keeping this to myself, but this was not a secret I could hide from you all in good conscious. And, I would like your help. If I am only to have a few days before this invasion, then I do want to at least be able to say I gave it my best effort to solve this problem."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Ah, seems we posted in the exact same minute, @DisturbedSpec.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - The Resurgence Briefing Room

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"We shall return with nothing if we are killed fighting your battles. And we do not need a better ship to stomp out the final embers of the Covenant." Eri remarked back with a brief growl. "I do not make this decision for the Immaculate Aegis, but I believe I know my shipmaster well enough to know he will require proof of this. I will concede that the...conclusions you make are logical. If he gains power in this universe through the worship of its people, then there would be no guarantee that he would stop."

Eri leaned in onto the table, not breaking eye contact with Elizabeth. "But all of it relies on believing your word. How would I prove to my shipmaster that Anubis is the manner of being that you describe, and that he can gain power as you say? There are ten thousand warriors on the Immaculate Aegis, and you will find no equal to them in skill and ferocity, but based on what should my shipmaster give their lives to your cause? Faith? You may ask the warriors of the Unbroken Hope, the Sangheili have slaughtered billions based on nothing but faith...and we shall never do so again."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - The Resurgence Briefing Room

---

Among the discussion around the table, there was plenty for Eri to consider. She had to open up her datapad to find reference to the planet Kamino, which immediately raised some obvious problems. Kamino was an extragalactic planet, located far beyond the galactic plane within a satellite galaxy called the Rishi Maze. There was no way the Aegis would be able to reach it within any reasonable time without upgrades to its faster-than-light capabilities. Beyond that, Eggman was adding on more reasons for Eri to want to break a few of his bones, but all of those concerns were pushed aside for the moment when another being made its presence known.

Eri's first reaction was to shoot up to her feet, ready for a fight. She stayed her hand from her blade if only because of the reaction of the Daedalus' delegation, though it soon became apparent that she was no one they personally knew either. He was not even Human, as she appeared, but was...something else.

While Eggman's arrogance and general attitude might have irritated Eri, he did not come close to causing the seething anger that this Elizibeth's explanation of events inspired. She was claiming responsibility for stealing them away from their home, and was now demanding their aid to destroy her enemy. Though, towards a being that so obviously outmatched her, Eri did still have enough reason and wisdom within her to temper her display of that anger...by Sangheili standards.

"Why should we help you?" Eri remarked, staring daggers directly at Elizabeth. "'Intended targets' or no, you brought us into a fight that is not ours and are demanding we give our lives for you. You have deprived Sanghelios and its colonies of one of its strongest defenses; how many of my people will die because we are not there to protect them? You speak as if you are better than Anubis, but if that is true, then how do you plan to atone for these sins you have inflicted onto us?"

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

I do have something to post that ties in to the Aegis' FTL capability, but I think I will hold off a bit until you have a chance to post, @mattmanganon. I feel Eggman would probably be one to reply to all that reasonably quickly.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - The Resurgence Briefing Room

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McKay's explanation did make some degree of sense to Eri, though it hardly improved her mood. If he was correct, then these "Ancients" had stolen them from their universe and deprived Sanghelios of one of its strongest defenders, all to force them to fight a battle they did not want nor care for. Of course, it still all sounded like guesswork, but Eri was not stubborn enough to outright deny the possibility. Whether the crew of the Aegis liked it or not, they were probably going to have to put more trust in the scientists of the other universes than Eri would have preferred. Despite all her efforts these past few days, she had found no other alternatives that they could pursue.

If the situation itself was not enough, one delegate in particular irritated her enough to send her into a low growl. His arrogance made a San'Shyuum seem humble, and his irrelevant rambling felt like it was just wasting their time. She did give the courtesy of at least listening to his words, though that did not much help matters as far as her mood was concerned. She might not have had any semblance of scientific or technical knowledge, but she was still perfectly capable of listening, understanding, and forming her own conclusions based on the information presented to her. Others were ignoring him and considering the notion of working against Anubis, but Eri was not beyond snapping at the arrogant "scientist".

"You, fat man." Eri began, snarling at Eggman. "Did you listen to the Human...McKay, anywhere in your blustering? These...emeralds you speak of, nothing of their description exists in my universe. Galaxy-spanning civilizations rose without them, and did not need them. If they existed in their universe..." She motioned to the Daedalus' delegates. "...then they would have mentioned them. If they were needed to cross to another universe, then these "Ancients" of his universe would have required them. So, we will likely need to solve this without them. If any of your "expertise" does not rely on these power emeralds, then speak. Otherwise, stop irritating me."