@DominoPoolBloodletter pulled out a glass and half filed it with whiskey and asked "want a sin or some blood?" After giving her a drink to her satisfaction, he motioned for the human to come over. @Eviledd1984 "This is the underworld, kid." he said, "the various pantheons used to fight over it, and no one was happy with having to battle for territory, so Lucifer came up with the idea of everyone sharing it based on the number of souls they had, and most of them agreed. What should have happened when you arrived at the gate was that they would ask you what religion you followed, and you would be handed off to a representative of that religion. Then that representative would figure out where you were supposed to go based on their rules. A couple of times a day someone slips through, though. After all, they have a lot of souls to process."
He looked at the woman with a scythe. "You're a Reaper, right? Could you help me explain this, since the front gate dropped the ball and this is kind of Reaper territory?" The gate had a pamphlet they were supposed to give him in his native language, but there was a good chance he didn't get one. Bloodletter only had them in a few ancient languages from before he bought the bar, so unless the kid wanted to read the Old English pamphlet or knew another such language, Bloodletter couldn't help him there.
@Eviledd1984Bloodletter nodded. "You were supposed to stay at the gate, but I guess getting your brains splattered across the asphalt is a bit confusing." He went over to the bar, grabbed an Earth drink called "Budweiser" and brought it back to the human. "Here. Just sit down and have a beer. I'll contact someone to come get you so that you can go to your choice of afterlife."
He walked back towards the bar to call the front gate and get an agent over here to pick him up and pay for the beer. @DominoPoolSomeone new was sitting at the bar, though, asking about him. "Yeah, I'm Bloodletter. Can I help you with something? Need a drink? Looking for a job?"
The next morning Hiro and Sugara arrived at the docks with their belongings. Hiro had one bag with included a few technical devices and just enough clothing for the journey. Sugara had three large suitcases filled with an entire wardrobe of clothes. It was quite lucky that Hiro was below the mass limit on his bags, then, as he had to bring one of Sugara's large cases aboard as his own, even though their was something frilly poking out of it.
The teacher, Professor McDonald, was already aboard, and helped them load their baggage into the cargo hold. "I'll pilot us up to the ship once everyone is here." he told them as they sat down in the front row and buckled in with a five-point harness.
@Malygris Bloodletter poured the man a Styxwater and Masocism, with murder victim's blood, something that seemed quite appropriate given his faction. "Let me know if you want anything else." he said, seeing a human soul walk in. Quite unusual. As the Gladiator had said earlier, very few humans are allowed to run free.
@Eviledd1984 "Hello," he greeted the human, hoping the assortment of demons in the bar didn't frighten him too bad. After all, if you had a heart attack down here you couldn't die from it. You had to endure until it went away. "You look a bit lost. Are you just now dead? How did you get by the gates?"
@Sirkaithethird Kale got the text but didn't bother checking it yet. After all, it wasn't every day you got to meet a @slayerofkings self-aware droid, and said just that.
"Wow, I wasn't aware we recruited a self-aware droid. Did Captain white recruit you?"
Jenna spoke up. "Actually, about two hours ago a ships crashed about 12 KM from the city. We didn't detect any lifesigns, though, so I was going to take a team out after breakfast. I'm guessing he's from it." She turned and faced the droid. "We don't have a military, or a need for a bounty hunter but we have had a problem with Kath hounds attacking outlying farms. We could also use an extra hand when we go out to salvage the ship, someone to watch for Kath hounds while we remove anything worth taking. I assume you have sensors that are better than our eyes. If it's your ship, I guess that entitles you to a portion of the salvage too."
@Burning KittyKale walked up the lowered ramp and to the bridge. It was the same model as the Prairie Dawn so he already knew the layout. "Hello," he said. "I take it you're Harma.." He then realized that the woman laying there snoring was stark naked. "Uh, excuse me." he said, turning his head to the side and using his hand to block his peripheral vision. "I didn't realize you weren't dressed yet."
The High-general left the shuttle and stepped onto the surface of Odin. The sky was dimly lit, like twilight, but the dock had artificial lighting to make up for it.
"Greetings" said a man in uniform, "I am Admiral Rix, Commander-in-chief of the Trappist United Defence Force." He held out him hand.
"I'm High-general Li-Zhu of the Imperial Third Fleet. Though I guess now it would just be the Imperial Fleet, as no other High-generals survived Nebula's assault on the Solar system."
"Then, if I remember Imperial tradition, you are the Emperor as well."
HG Li-zhu shook his head. "I refuse to claim the title until my people are no longer refugees."
"In that case, high General, please follow me to the conference room so that we can discuss the situation here."
An hour later they had reached a compromise that both sides could agree with. The Imperial military would withdraw to interstellar space, at least one Light-year away, leaving no more than fifty frigates for security, and the civilians would be allowed to remain behind, mining and solar harvesting as much as they wished as long as they complied with Trappist system law.
"One more thing before you go, General. I assume you would like to reclaim the Solar System from Nebula if you can."
"That is one of my goals," HG Li-zhu replied, "my science ships inform me that they could re-terraform earth if I can reclaim it within 30 days or so. I'm not sure if that's possible."
"It that case, I believe you need to talk to a friend of mine." Admiral Rix motioned for them to follow him and lead the HG to a communications room with an alien-looking box in the center, rigged to data, power, and coolant lines. "I assume you've heard of the Za'ta?"
"Yes," replied the HG, "They are an alien race from beyond Old Imperial space. They were roughly on par with the Empire technologically, until the fall. Now they are likely ahead of us."
The Admiral nodded. "Well, when one of their colonies was attacked by The Swarm, their name for Nebula, they left their borders in search of allies. One of their ships came here and, although we couldn't spare any ships to join their fight, they left this behind in case we needed to exchange intel about The Swarm." He motioned towards the device. "One of their scientists cracked quantum entangled communication about fifty years ago. This device is an improvement on his design, and will let us contact them, if you wish to join their task force."
The High General was left speechless by the realization of what the technology before him was, but soon regained his composure. "One of our scientists had a theory on how to do it about twenty years ago, but we couldn't spare the resources for his research. If they have a working QE device, this could revolutionize interstellar communications." He looked at the Admiral. "By all means, call them. If they can help us retake the Solar System, we would love to join their task force."
A black sphere appeared in the Trappist-1 star system, growing from a few centimeters to ten kilometers in width in a matter of seconds. Out this sphere ships began to emerge, mostly civilian ships, but with a few military frigates mixed in should they encounter hostiles in this system.
On the six inhabited worlds, not including the penal colony and Kuiper belt which had only basic security ships, local vessels scrambled to launch. By the time they lifted off, though, the massive hulk of the dreadnought Nero, over six kilometers in width came trough, the void sphere shrinking behind it as it exited.
"Wormhole collapsed" said man on Nero's bridges, reading a screen before him.
"Very well, Sergent." a man in a high General's uniform said, standing at ease in the center of the room, surrounded by a vast holographic display. Though as the last high general alive he automatically inherited the title of Emperor, he didn't feel comfortably using it so soon after the devastation of Earth by Nebula. "Status of the hyperdrive?"
"Online and fully operational," replied the Sergent, "though exotic matter reserves are at 7%. It will take about 23 hours to fully regenerate our reserves so that we can open another wormhole large enough to move the fleet."
"Very well, then. Hail the nearest planetary authority and inform them of our refugee status."
A console beeped and the airman on duty on communications spoke up. "They've already sent us a message, sir. Direct Tachyon Beam transmission." The airman pushed a few buttons and a male voice came over the bridge's speakers.
"Unknown flagship vessel, this is Odin Space Command. The Empire is not welcome here. We warned you never to send another military vessel into this system when we won our independence. Leave immediately or we will be forced to defend ourselves against your invasion."
Multiple blips appeared on the bridge's tactical displays as ships used their tachyon drives to travel at several C to rendezvous near Odin, the fourth planet in system and the nearest one to the Imperial fleet.
"Mostly frigates, sir." a different Sergent said. "A few capital ships. Most of the transponder codes are in our database as old independence fleet vessels, though they've been refitted, some with singularity torpedoes." Singularity torpedoes were knew technology 170 years ago when this system had succeeded. Apparently they'd continued the research. "No match for the military fleet, but if they decide to attack civilians, they could kill a lot of people before we stopped them."
"Understood, now, please follow my order. Inform Odin Space Command that we are just refugees looking for a place to resupply and rest."
I've never actually GMed a nation RP before, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to speak up.
Since the collapse of the Terran Empire two centuries ago the galaxy has been at war. Dozens of alien races saw the collapse of the only order they had known in recent centuries. Some were technologically advanced, but some barely had functional FTL technology, having been uplifted by the Terrans or other races. Though once allied together as subjects of the Terrans, they began to form independent governments which all fought over territory, seeking to become the next ruler of the known galaxy.
From the unexplored sectors, beyond the edge of the Terran Empire's old borders, a new threat has appeared. Known simply as Nebula, these beings swarm systems, devouring them for raw materials. They do not care who lives in the system, and have made no attempts at communication with those they destroy.
The various nations must band together to present a united front against Nebula, before it grows too large to be stopped.
I'll be playing what's left of the Terran Imperial Fleet, around ten thousand ships, mostly civilians. We'll be using extremely advanced tech, but will have no homeworld, as Nebula attacked the Solar system, the last remnant of the Empire. There will, however, be other human colonies out there if you wish to play as a human.
Solar harvesters x1530 Mining ships x2700 Freighters x3390 Passenger ships x 1270
kabechi
RushiChan
Veilsight
erikh