Insane Cafe 4: The Insane Frontier

[Serris]

Mr. Bigmouth nodded. "Nothing a computer virus wouldn't solve." He then chuckled. "I'll bet they're probably they're probably still cleaning up junk email and infomercials on their security monitors."

----------------------

And sure enough, that was exactly what happened in the satellite security office on Bespl. The supervisor was currently grilling all the staff on shift about why the security monitors were showing everything from advertisements for wares of dubious quality to escort services to "make bolts quick" schemes and everything in between.

"All right, who was the moron who used their work computer for 'personal' use!?" the supervisor thundered.

The gathered guards were all silent.

"Nobody?" The supervisor scowled. "Well, how do you explain this!?" He pointed to a monitor that was linked to the camera at the space port. Normally it would show the comings and goings of the spacecraft to Bespl but it was currently showing an ad for a Meridian City escort service with a scantily clad woman front and center.
 

[Nick22]

good thinking ' Utsa chuckled ' they'll lose at least a days worth of surveillance footage having to delete all of that. that will buy us time. " she brought oup a screen of the place where they were landing. " ' ewe settle in for an hour ior so, then its off to merdian city and reunion with the rest of your group. unfortunately, we dont have everyone, but this is still a big win"
-
 Dulcy, Dragon, Ember and Samia were asleep. gabuna, Dixie Warfang and agumina were playing cards in the back. Skylands was echecking her  skylands university schedulefor updates, as well as checking in with cyn.
_
Wendy. Flurrie and dixie kong got up sand followed the boys out of the pizza place ' remember boys, dixie and i have to report back in a couple days so please TRY to behave yourselves. Junior , i know you're a lost cause there, but I at least have to ask." wendy said." we'll start with the weapons emperium, something with more heft than that magic brush."
-
 Stripetail took notes as Usso talked, gesturing periodically to refill Usso's lemonade glass. " How many died in the sacking of the city?' Stripetail asked, looking at Ussos face which had all the wariness of a war vet quietly retelling of his experiences. " the Zanscares were founded by one Maria Armonia, correct? and the war that you saw the beginning of lasted 4 years and ended with the complete destruction of the Zanscares, is that also correct?"

[brekclub85]

After playing their video games some more, Oliver and Ollie went to where the note slipped under their door instructed them to go to for the offer.

"Hmmm..." Oliver noticed, looking at the room number, "Haven't we been in this room before?" The question was answered for him when the door opened and they saw someone familiar inside.

[Serris]

Amaria, Gracie, Rufus, Alexander, Gracie, Stacy and Aaron were among the prisoners rescued from Bespl. Their wings had been disguised to look like those of the Dramosians...like the rest of their bodies. They looked around the massive improvised starship in wonder seeing as they had likely never seen such a grand vessel like this back on their planet of Terraria.

It was then that Ms. Swimmer announced that they were approaching their landing spot on one of Polaris's many, many moons. Granted, it was a remote, out of the way moon with the only amenity being a tatty starship refueling area.

-----------------------

(Bespl)

The supervisor of the shipyard-turned-arena sighed. He had the unenviable task of alerting Vox that several thousand prisoners had escaped thanks to the unprofessional behavior of his crew. This was going to seriously -- and negatively -- affect his bottom line as the commissions from the use of his shipyard as an arena were a pretty good portion of his profits.

And now with the prisoner escape, he was probably never going to see those commissions again. Sighing, he opened a line to Chong and Vox.

[Nick22]

Chong glowered as he got the report ' Prisoners escaped? How many?' His eyes widened then became slits. "Several THOUSAND? because your louts didnt do your jobs? Do you have any idea Mr Cruc, how long it will take to replace that many gladiators? Months, at the minimum. And we dont HAVE months, because the wizards fight is coming up in less than a week and we need everyone of those prisoners to serve as bait! So lets me make this completely and utterly clear. Every one of your guards who loused this up is going into the arena, whether they get weapons or not will depend on our stockpile. You and your senior staff will go out and FIND those escaped prisoners and bring them back into their cells. EVERY last one of them.  You have until the wizard arrives for his challenge, 6 days, to do so. Otherwise Mr Cruc, losing a pile of bolts will be the very least of your concerns. You'd be better off driving your ship into a black hole, or turning yourself into the authorities. You'll get oh, 400 years in Zordoom, and thats if the courts are lenient. this is a many quadrillion bolt fiasco MR Cruc " Chong said his voice seething with barely contained rage. " You have cost MR Vox and I lots and lots of money, and all because due diligence wasnt followed. get going Mr Cruc, and thank whatever being you worship that I'm giving you a chance to correct this fiasco. I have every right to toss you into the arena with your hapless guards. Go. Chong out.'

Chong flipped off the communicator and turned to Vox witr an exasperated look." why is it always some moron who screws this up? How  hard is it to get competent help? ' chong slammed his fist on the table ' we'll need to run security scans on footage, see if they had any inside or outside help.  check to see if any suspicious activity was going on, like media trying to get into unauthorized areas that sort of thing. we have 2375 media groups covering us, we'll have to see what each of them were doing at the time of the escape.  Chong said ' what further security measures Vox can you impose? we can't exactly let the media find out about this escape after all .."

[Serris]

"The only thing left is count and tag ships that are coming and ensure the same amount of ships leave as arrive. If that doesn't work, we may have to ban live coverage and audiences all together. And I'd really rather not do that as the live audiences make quite a lot of bolts thanks to the auctions, merchandise and concessions" Vox looked at some of the  footage. He called up his security and analysis team to comb through all the footage recorded at Bespl since the start of the fights and reference them with the number of ships and the registry.

He then turned to Chong. "I'm having my team go through all the footage and records of the fight with a fine-tooth comb. Unfortunately, with the sheer amount of media and ships coming and going, it'll be quite a while."

----------------------

(Bespl)

Mr. Cruc wiped some sweat from his forehead. He adjusted his goggles and hardhat. The man turned to the gathered security and work crew. "Well men," he said. "Chong's pissed and unless we get him his prisoners back we're going to be in deep s---."

"All of us," he stated. "Get armed and ready. We'll take one of the salvage craft to go looking for them."

The gathered men inside scattered to undertake their mission. Mr. Cruc let out a nervous breath as he followed.

Whilst only the security personnel carried actual weapons and armor, the exoskeletons worn by the workers made excellent improvised armor and the tools they used ranging from plasma pole cutters to laser cutters and heavy rivet guns made excellent weapons.

[Nick22]

then thats all we can do ' Chong sighed as he got up from his seat. ' we'll need to tally up how many escaped, come up with a cover story. say, er, an explosion happened  while the area was undergoing maintenance.  no recovery of bodies  was possible, as the gladiators were completely incinerated.' Chong said.

_
 Kovu managed to knock his opponent off of the landing  into the lake of liquid nitrogen below. Death for the unfortunate gladiator was immediate. ' Kovu raised his claws in victory, but before he could  step over to talk to dallas for the interview the lights in the arena dimmed out. a few seconds later they returned and Kovu stood face to face with Mertavius, who was standing on the edge of the platform  ' " Prince Kovu of the Pridelands, isnt it?" the green squirrel said in a tone that  made Kovu take a step back. "Y-yes" Kovu said " What do you want?" 'I want many things Kovu. Mortals to prostrate themselves before me. servants to do  as I  command. The seers head on a pike. ' Mertavius eyes glinted with malevolence>' We both know of course that the only reason you are standing here, is that Omniderate ring you are wearing.  Without it, you wouldnt last 5 seconds. " Kovu clenched his teeth. ' He focused and created a sword out of the magic of his ring. ' mertavius burst out laughing. " Really, your highness? surely your teammates  have told you of the last time they tried to fight me?" Mertavius strode  forward his black staff giving off heat. " and they actually had powers. what do you have? Strength? Intelligence? Charm? those might work on a foolish , silly lioness, but not me. ' Kovu swung his sword at mertavius, but  found his thrust effortlessly parried aside. " you've been getting by in these fights by the skin of your teeth. What hope do you have against me? None, of course, that was a rhetorical question. ' lightning shot from Meravius claws and struck Kovu. Kovu screamed in agony, dropping his sword to the ground,  and the magic flowed through him. Only his armor was  keeping the magic from killing him within seconds. " I could do this until even that armor couldnt protect you anymore. but.. I do have need of you. " mertavius said breaking off the spell and Kovu spasmed in agony. mertavius gestured and Kovu was dragged off the ground to where his toes barely scraped the griound. 'My advice Kovu? start praying.. To me, that I might deign to show you some mercy. " Mertavius snarled. ' and i'd start .. now ' mertavius gestured and vanished, with Kovu en tow. "

[Gungrave]

> SOMEWHERE IN SPACE . . .

// STAND-BY FOR STARDES RELAY . . .
AUTH: XXX-X <APPROVED!>
>RELAYING NOW . . .

"Lady V. STARDES has a message for you. Shall I relay it?"

"Huh?" Valentine was lost in her thoughts again. She had a habit of doing that and it only become more frequent as of late. To be fair, there wasn't much to do during space travel, especially when she was the only person on the ship. Her colleagues were out on other contracts, and they had their own ships, of course. Having 3 mercs in one craft was asking for trouble. She'd learned that the hard way from her days in the Federation Navy.

"Yes. Relay message then scrub the exfil data. You know the drill, Sebastian."

"Yes, my lady", the AI replied. The message was sent straight to Valentine's built-in VISR which she quickly read through and sighed.

"I should've figured. It's another clean-up operation."

"Pirates, madam?"

"No. Just some escaped prisoners or something, I--wait a minute. It says here they're paying extra for any wizards captured. They go for a fair bit of coin. These bonuses are too good to pass up!"

"Forgive me, madam, but you don't have a lot of experience fighting magic-users. Save for the Gundalian Invasion decades ago."

Valentine bit her lip. Her AI companion was right. The Gundalians had hired her company because they couldn't handle the magi invasion. Nor could Star Force or the Coalition Space Defense Force. Perhaps Grunder Industries could have used their mighty R&D capabilities, but hiring a corporation to fight wars was beyond the means of even the richest empires. Better to throw peanuts at one of the many mercenaries and private military contractors and let them figure out. What Valentine in particular figured out was . . . if she wasn't one of the technologically gifted, the magi would've fried her. Luckily, she discovered that technology has its advantages against magic, despite how easy the latter seems to be to learn and use. Hopefully, such advantages would come in handy here.

She shook her head and the worries away with it, hopefully. "Sebastian, set a course. Get us there as quickly as possible."

"Er, right away madam. Looks like STARDES designated Bespl as a good lead. Setting course for Bespl now." The AI had hoped his tone didn't betray his lack of faith in his creator, but she was a very keen woman. He could tell by the quick glance she stole at one of the ship's wall cameras that she knew of his doubts. She'd have to prepare better this time if she planned to keep herself in once piece dealing with magic-users.

[Nick22]

(Marka)
 the spacestation on marka was not anything really to take note of.  But for po and his friends, it was a welcome sight,  a sign they were almost home safe. It was merely a chance to stretch their wings and get testimony from the prisoners.
' Po was  going to give each of the Five  crushing hugs upon their reunion. starting, naturally with Tigeress. '
_ goombella was folowing Wendy And flurrie , with goombete by her side. goombaria was tagging along as well. the 3 goombas were enjoying sone of the piza, webdy and dixie kong had bought, they were chatering way happily as they tagged along.

[Serris]

The hours upon hours of footage were finally reviewed and the data crunched. A fat stack of papers was handed to Vox from one of his men. The executive sighed and looked at the first page.

They had lost over 10,000 gladiators -- including the Terrarians who were the "star" attraction. He rubbed his forehead. "Chong, it's worse than I thought. We have lost over 10,000 of our competitors. Thankfully, we can keep the crowd satisfied with death row inmate battles. On the positive side, we have a potential leads: Four ships were taken from the arenas and rebuilt as trophies and flown off Bespl. One of them appears to be a rebuilt Dramosian vessel."


He then took a sip of his expensive wine -- imported all the way from Cruithne Crest III, the home of the Cruithne Farms. "My men are preparing a press release as you suggested."
 

[Nick22]

then wqe'll have to contact the dramosian government' Chong said. ' its possible  they might know who was piloting the vessel, after all its said only Dramosians can fly them. try and patch though to Dragon peer suminox, if hes available.' 10, 000 escaped prisoners , all because a couple guards messed around with mixing personal time with company time. " chong slapped his forehead. ' if those prisoners make it back to civilization, we're going to have the police forces of about 100 galaxies on us. We';ll be going to Zordoom for the rest of our lives.'
-
Dixie and Gabuna took notes from a pair of the terarians who has escaped. ' magical beings are always interesting ' Dixie said. ' Pity I dont have natural powers myself."
-

[LoyfeCycleProtector]

Usso finished his story with Stripetail by telling of the war's end. How his friend Odello was dead, and how he had to live in the area with his killer, Katejina, and pretend that nothing had ever happened. Her mind had broke after the war: she couldn't remember anything, and was blind. Usso, Shakti, and even Mrs. Marbet took pity on her, although Mrs. Marbet had to be convinced of it given how many of her Shrike team Katejina had killed. He was beginning to talk about going back to the farm at Kasaralia when he turned to Stripetail and asked: "Do you have nightmares? About the people you've killed? The people you've lost?" Normally such a question would have been far too blunt for Usso to dare ask, but his reflections had him in a certain mood. He looked years older having recalled what he could recall.

-----

Junior and Diddy walked alongside Wendy and Flurrie. Diddy walked closer to Junior and away from the two girls, less familiar with them than the koopa was. He knew Wendy, of course, but Junior and she always talked on a different wavelength-- that kind that could only be borne out between people who had lived most of their lives together. It was that feeling of being a third wheel that caused him to suggest: "Hey! Why don't we all go play some ball?" He didn't know what type of ball, but any would do.

[Serris]

Vox somehow paled. "Zordoom's the least of our worries. News gets out and we're going to be the target of revenge killings and bounty hunters. We won't live long enough to go to Zordoom." He then straightened his tie and immediately got to work transmitting a message to Dragon Peer Suminox.

"My Lord," he said into the phone. "We had a rebuilt Dramosian vessel taken as a trophy and flown off planet from Bespl along with several thousand prisoners. Do you have any information on who might be piloting the vessel?"

-------------------------

Mr. Cruc's salvage team had followed up quite extensively on many of the leads. As they knew it was a Dramosian vessel, they did so under the pretenses of recovering a stolen ship.

Unfortunately, as rare as Dramosian ships were, they were still quite common in such a busy and well populated area as the Polaris Galaxy.

"Well men," Mr. Cruc said to the gathered workers inside the salvage ship. "We've narrowed it down to about a hundred or so planets.

"You s---ing us!?" a woman in an armored suit exclaimed. He rivet gun clattered against her armor as she stood up in shock.

"Nope. Each of those planets has a large amount of Dramosian visitors. It's likely they'll try to blend in. We have no choice; we will start looking immediately."

He then opened a transmission to the pilot. "Pilot, set course to Hoolefar.

[Nick22]

' The image of Suminox appeared in the holophone he was a large wide dragon whose mouth was constantly fluctuating between wicked smile and sinister leer. " unfortunately no. relic hunting is a past time of my species, there are literally thousands of dragons scouring the cosmos , cobbling together flying relics from our past wherever we find them.   so long as they are  clearly dramosian  in origin, under our laws,  its fair game to salvage. which also includes any treasures or stuff on board. what you were planning to do with those prisoners, Vox. well thats your affair. Cant imagine the salvager was too happy when he found the vessel was.. er occupied. But under our laws the prisoners become spoils. " Suminox said. ' Bespl, you said? well, theres seems to be several trophies taken from that planet over the last 3 months. I'll look and see if any of them match the description you gave me. No guarantees though  Sorry Vox for your loss.  i do have a bnumber of condemned prisoners from Athos 5 awaiting execution, i could send to you.. lets see here, yes there are 334 prisoners awaiting execution. I'll have them sent to fight it out in the arena. 34 of them , or 10% will be pardoned. so the surviving 34 will be paroled back to Dramos. Dragon fights always breing in the crowds and well the crowds are ion play too.. ' Suminocx chuckled. ' they should be arriving late tomorrowm if my schedule is correct."

[Nick22]

Nightmares? No. when you've dealt in war as long as i have, you dont have nightmares. Killing your foes is part of the business, as is losing friends. they both linger in my memory however, along with the countless  other worlds civilizations and planets that i have visited that no longer exist, save in  my memory. " stripetail said, giving Usso a steady gaze. ' the world as it was.. ' a brief smile played on Stripetail's face ' come to my home sometime young Usso, and you will see an archive that will dwarf anything you have ever seen. Writings and relics from a billion billion worlds, salvaged from exploding planets and dying civilizations, more than a few were given to me for safekeeping, as the mages knew their end was near. "  Stripetail said his voice betraying a hint of wistfulness. ' " so always keep a persoective, Usso. Always."
_
 Baseball sounds like a good idea to me"  Wendy said . " if this place as something like that. Lets go find out what sports they have here.' Wendy said " boys versus girls?"  flurrie made that an uneven number of course , perhaps she could be the umpire?

[Serris]

"Thank you, My Lord," Vox said. "Please keep us updated. As for your contribution, we well send you some of the profits from that match."

--------------------

(Hoolefar)

It was strange to see such a well-worn vessel on Hoolefar. The Bespl Shipyards starship that Mr. Cruc and his crew had landed on the planet was positively ugly compared to the sleek and well-polished vessels of the wealthy that landed and took off on the hotel. That and his crew clad in armored exoskeletons or stained mechanic's jumpsuits stood out against the tourists wearing the latest in expensive designer clothing and jewelry.

"Well, uh, we don't get many of your clientele here," the front desk manager said to Mr. Cruc.

"Well, I'm actually not here for pleasure," Mr. Cruc said, straightening out his jumpsuit. "I'm here to recover a stolen Dramosian ship. The crew had opted to not pay for the services rendered and ran off with it."

"Well, I supposed I could let you look around the shipyards and the security footage."

Mr. Cruc nodded. "Thank you very much."

[Gungrave]

> SEVEN DEADLY SINS TAVERN
PLANET: RESTIZ - FEDERATION SPACE . . .

"It says, 'Just got a contract. Headed to Bespl. Don't wait up.' What contract is she on this time?" Lars sighed and motioned for the bartender to pour him another glass of whiskey. "She has a habit of doing this, Flannery. Ever since we went into merc work."

"Well you know how it is, kid," Flannery replied smiling. "She's Navy. Former Navy, but it's hard to take the wanderer out of the spacers."

"You'd know, Flannery. Right?"

"I'm not taking her side just because I'm ex-Navy, you know. Still--weren't you a Marine? You've probably seen just as many worlds as she did. What did you do during your time in anyway?"

Lars shot him a look and rolled his eyes. "Ah, you know--saw the sights, banged a few alien chicks. Come on, Flan--shit's classified. You know that."

The bartender only put both his hands up in response. That left the third member Lars' group, Rana. They'd dropped her off at the Heaven's Pillar for some R&R--on her own dime, of course. They wouldn't be approving any more group funds for her . . . "staycations" she called them. How they were staycations when she didn't stay on the ship was a mystery, but Lars didn't question it. "Women," he muttered, shaking his head. "Well Flan, it was nice shooting the shit but I'm gonna go ahead and get jets up."

"Oh", he replied, raising an eyebrow. "Where to now?"

Lars raised his shoulders slightly. "No idea. Gonna find something to do. Some planet always needs a small-time bounty to claim or some mop-up operation to take care of." A few paper credits were put underneath the shot glass Lars had been drinking from. He'd always preferred the "look and feel" of paper currency, though he always had plenty of credits in his databank. He said it made him feel like he was on Terra during the "earthbound era"--before space travel had been fully realised. Though he was never alive during this time, he couldn't help feeling a certain nostalgic longing for it. One of the things that made him weirdly endearing, he eventually decided.

"You know, Flannery, that offer still stands. If you ever get tired of this shit--"

"I know. I know. Trust me, I'm still declining." He laughed heartily then continued. "Ain't no way you could get me into space again, especially not with a blaster in my hands. But hey--if you ever get tired of pulling triggers . . . you know I could use a strongarm around here for when things get a bit rowdy."

Lars smiled as he waved behind him and exited the tavern. "Fat chance, you old fart," he said over his shoulder, before stepping out into the cold, Restizian night and heading toward the spaceport.

[LoyfeCycleProtector]

Usso's lips tightened. As awful as the nightmares were-- and they WERE awful-- not having them sounded worse. He didn't want that: the nightmares were a representation of his fear, guilt, his better nature. He didn't want to not feel the guilt of killing people in combat. But, he suspected, the longer he was in this line of business, the closer that day might come. "I-I'm not a killer," he whispered to himself, hoping Stripetail didn't hear. "Not anymore..." Then he cleared his spoke and said louder. "Thanks, Stripetail. I-I appreciate your help here. I really do." He wanted to end things before his mind wandered to anyplace darker than it was now.

---

"I can't promise Junior won't cry if we lose," Diddy teased as he razzled the prince's hair. Junior responded with a face that was half a snarl and half a cheeky smitten beam. "Hah! As if we'd ever lose," Junior said, turning to Wendy and giving her a more normal smile. "Although for baseball we're gonna need more than two people. Got any ideas on roping in some players?"

[Nick22]

i know a few people flurrie said 'goombella , goombette and goombaria ' she said pulling up images of the 3 female goombas. "Then  theres   Koopie  Koo  from Petalsburg. She has a good  pitching  arm. or so Koops has told me. . I'll give them a call and see of they want to play' Flurrie said reaching inside a puff of her form, and pulling out a lavish phone. "  koops will be on  the boys team. ' she said to junior. " wendy mused at her brothers question. ' i'll see if iggy or Roy  or larry are available. Morton and lemmy are doing work for Dad and ludwig is composing an opera.. again. ' Wendy said. " Funky and Swanky might be available ' Dixie k said musing .
_
Stripetail could tell that the retelling of Usso's experiences had sapped the youth;s energy and he stood up from his chair. ' i think we'll leave ot there for the time being Usso. reliving past experiences is never easy. nightmares are a way of your mind dealing with its traumas. the fears, the emotions, the pain, the regret, all of its churned up inside your head. i have regrets of course, one does not live life without them. and when you live as long as i have, you learn to live with them without becoming prisoner to them.  That part, young man, you are still going through, still learning'  he motioned to the  door . ' lets go get something to eat , shall we?  My treat.' the wizard said warmly. .

[brekclub85]

Kiara had an idea of what she and Sima could do. "Would you want to go sightseeing?" she offered the sumo lioness. "There are plenty of places for us to see. The Hall of Heroes would be cool," she suggested. "And we can get snacks along the way, my treat to you."

...........

"Sneed?" Oliver asked, surprised to see who was inside where they were instructed to go. "You were the one who called us?"