RolePlayGateway™

When I saw Captain Dhantrel in his quarters, I told him my family and I were leaving the station. I thought he would be upset, but he seemed to take it in stride.

"If that's what you want," he said.

"I have to move on," I said. "This isn't the kind of life I want for my mate and my daughters. Besides, there are... beings here I don't trust, and I have a feeling something is going to happen soon. We don't want to be here when it does." My arm was around Rhalhea, and two of our three daughters were standing beside her. Jhalhemha, in my pouch, was awake, and nursing.

"I'll have to find someone else to be liaison," the Captain said. "There are quite a few new visitors to the station..." His voice trailed off.

___________________________

About an hour later we boarded the ship that would carry us back to Alharhan. In the back of my mind I wished the ship would go back to the planet where I was born, Tereskadhar, but I realized that was not its scheduled route.

"Do you miss the station?" Rhalhea asked.

"Not at all," I replied, "not at all."

(You know what, Evil Arthur is going to be called Arthur now.)

Arthur was dressed in his captains clothing. Arthur walked down the isle of the ship. Kind of like a space bus. He grabbed the antique bus bell's rope and pulled it. "Ding, ding.", he laughed, making sure that his captain hat hid his face from the fox. "This is your Captain, in person. You're on the E-X-P-R-E double S express to Alharhan." he shouted so the whole station could here it. He went off to the cockpit of the ship and set the course for Tereskadhar. He made sure he had the nukes loaded..

Arthur saw the cloaked ship on his custom radar. It's a simple process, it shows what's space and what's solid. A solid ship behind him. Arthur pulled up a video link to the small ship.

"Attention numskulls, any attempts to harm this ship and I will activate the nukes. On board. I have innocent civilians here and they don't know about the nukes and just to prove I'm not bluffing..", Arthur laughed and pressed a button, sending a nuke to the nearest planet below the ship, so the passengers wouldn't be alerted. "You have around ten minutes to intercept that nuke. Good luck."

He cut the video link, not letting the ship get a word in. Strictly business.

Arthur sighed and took off his captain's hat, revealing that half of his face was badly burned. He turned on the nuclear detonation timer and jammed the cargo door.

The whole ship would implode on itself. He stood up and started shutting down the ship's navigation equipment and took a grenade out of his pocket. He tore the pin out of it while pressing eject and dropped the grenade into the cockpit. He ejected into hyperspace, off to another galaxy in an escape pod.

While flying away, he saw the cockpit explode and the ship repairing itself, sealing off the air. Three minutes for them to figure it out. Goodbye, little fox.

(I've moved over to this thread.)

(I'm sorry, Trasthree, but the Phaselhar Temhar (Pah' se lahr Te' mahr) is a giant spaceship, not a spacebus. Think USS Enterprise in Star Trek, only bigger. Travelers stay in quarters that range from economical to luxurious. And the ship contains sophisticated computer equipment, and it would be impossible to just blow it up.)


The quarters we were given were the same ones we had about ten years ago when Rhalhea and I, and Jhorhea, who was in the chambers at the time, and over a hundred Tereskadian cubs traveled from Tereskadhar to Alharhan to escape the clutches of a tyrant who was set on killing all Tereskadians because of a damn book.

When we entered the wormhole I had no regrets about leaving the station. All right, maybe just a little. But my mate and my cubs were with me now, and that was what mattered.

You need a drink, Kykherhenha sent.

She was right, of course. When I drank from her, I tried to empty my mind of all unwanted thoughts, but it wasn't easy.

The door chimed. Rhalhea said she would check who it was. With a touch of a button beside the door we received an image of who was standing behind it. I stopped sucking on Kykherhenha's teats, and looked at the image. It was someone I had not seen before.

"Who are you?" I said into the intercom.

"Ferel dhar Vestrhan," the Alharhanian on the other side of the door said. "I work for the Treskebhar Criminal Investigation Division... Special Investigation Unit." He held a badge up to the door, but he needed have done it. I could tell immediately that he was telling the truth.

"So what do you want?" I asked.

"Can I come in?"

I opened the door. Standing before me was a tall, slender Alharhanian who looked to be a distance away from middle age, but who had passed his youth a while ago. He looked at Rhalhea, and the cubs, who were trying to hide behind their mother.

"I have a job for you," he said.

"What kind of job?"

"That I am not at liberty to discuss at this time," he said, sounding rather official now. "But I would like to talk to you in private."

"I don't know if I can help you," I said. "My youngest daughter is in here." I pointed to my abdomen. "I don't want to get into anything dangerous."

"All right," he said, "but we could use your help. Why? You're a Tereskadian... you have traveled rather extensively... you know the world of Alharhanians and Tereskadians... you can tell when someone is lying as easily as I tie my shoe laces... what else? Oh... it involves your species..."

He had my interest piqued. "Tell you what, Sen Vestrhan, let me and my family enjoy the trip back to Alharhan, and when we get there, I will see you... in your office? At TCID?"

"Suits me just fine," he said. He raised his hand and for a moment I thought he wanted to shake my paw, but he knew Tereskadians never do that.

(At this point I am going to leave this thread. If others wish to continue it, they are certainly welcome to do so. Space Station Orion has been visited by some interesting characters, and is looking forward to greeting some more.)

(Then.. You weren't on that space bus that I was on?)

(Nope. My family and I are traveling on this huge spaceship. I don't know anything about a spacebus, but if you're on that one, you are headed somewhere else, and not Alharhan, which is where the spaceship my family and I are on are heading. Even going through the wormhole, and ending up near the Orovhian system (Orovha is the name of our sun) it will take several weeks to reach Alharhan. When it gets to Alharhan the ship will assume orbit around the planet, and shuttles will fly up to the ship to pick up the passengers. The shuttles will then land at Treskebhar Spaceport)

(Hmmm, I'm seriously thinking of accepting that job...)

Jessi pondered over the events that had transpired recently, focusing them and recording them in the holon. With a swift gait she moved towards the Zumilla, as she did so she passed the Trantor contingent, they seemed as she had remembered. The Trantor were a haughty, yet, good people, though misguided by their own sense of importance in the universe.

Aboard the trade ship, Jessi made her way to the bridge and placed a gauntlet upon the shoulder of the captain, her voice a subtle rasp, "We are leaving captain, this place has become stale. Perhaps we shall return on our trip back from the deeps of space."

The Hoop'kah captain lowered his head then nodded, "Yes Aeryn, I understand." Even though he did not, he felt it was not the place to question her about her assessment. Quickly tapping in some commands on the arm board he glanced at the pilot and said, "We are prepared to leave this station pilot, lead us from here."

The wide-eyed pilot looked at the captain then the eerie miasma amber-eyed being next to him, with a gulp she nodded and turned back to her board. "Station Orion, this is the Hoop-Kah merchant ship Zumilla. We are departing on outbound vector 2-4. Repeat 2-4"

After a confirmation of the vector and a clear signal to detach, the ship slowly floated away from the docking birth. As the maneuver engines kicked in, the pilot moved the ship out away from station and into free space. Twisting the ship around so the bow faced the warp, the pilot stated on the on board systems, "Prepare for warp jump."

A minute later the merchant ship accelerated and it the wormhole and towards a place that the Liaison had given the captain earlier in their discussions. Jessi glanced back just before the ship hit the wormhole, there was something unusual about that station, perhaps they would come back, but time would tell. For now they had other places in the multiverse to go, other worlds to visit.

All of this was recorded and framed in the holon so the dreaming queen could understand.

(I'm moveing too just not sure where... and this post is to clear up any problems)

Ami looked at the ship in front of them and laughed, "This looks like such a beater..." she said to her partner who just sighed.

"Well we're not gonna find out much else from here... let's get moveing ami" the other girl remarked "who knows if any of the others are moveing right now.... I cant sense them... and everyone else... is...dead..."

Ami smiled sadly and looked at the other girl "iris you can't dwell on the past... they're gone..." she then led iris into the ship and fliped on the console "Station Orion this is....um... privately owned ship um... hold on" she sighed again as the person on the other end laughed "iris what should we name this thing?" she asked

iris looked at her "how about bog... cause it smells like one!" she remarked and held her nose and ami facepalmed saying "only one I could find... Station Orion this is the privatly owned ship highwind we will be departing on vector 2-4 repeat 2-4" she then detached the ship when they got the all clear and flew the ship into the worm hole thinking as she did 'what awaits us now...'

Two young females... six friends.... one multiverse... who knew where their journey would take them next...

It had been quite some time since my family and I had visited the space station. I really had no idea why I wanted to go back there; I guess all I really wanted to do was visit an old friend who had spent thirty years on the station and who was due to retire at the end of the month. A top-notch doctor, as he called himself. I'll always remember how he used to shake his head and say, "Thekherham, if all I had to do was treat Tereskadians I'd be out of business." And I told him that sure, we don't get sick, but we do get injured, and I'm sure that our cubs can get their share of scrapes and bruises.

So there we were, my mate, my cubs and I, standing in the middle of a lobby after being checked through rather quickly. Names, planet of origin, reason for docking at the station... The Alharhanian in charge of this task saw only two cubs, but I said there were three. He looked at my abdominal region, then at Rhalhea's. "I have her," she said.

The first familiar face I saw was Captain Dhantrel. He looked at each of us, came closer and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry I had to lie to you, Thekherham, but I couldn't very well tell you that we're going to have a surprise party for Lhomhar Fenholhar. You'd have told that security officer, and then..." He shrugged. He was right, though. Tereskadians always tell the truth, and if I had known the real reason why we were here, I would have told him, and then word might have spread, and Sen Fenholhar might have found out... Visit an old friend... Well, in a sense that was true.

"How long are you staying?" he asked.

My whiskers twitched. "Not that long..." I looked at Rhalhea. "I can't say."

"Captain Dhantrel to Deck 8," a disembodied voice announced. "Captain Dhantrel to Deck 8... urgent."

"That's the medical division," he said. "I wonder what's going on."

Captain Dhantrel walked quickly to the nearest elevator, and I followed. I glanced back at Rhalhea and the cubs, who remained where they were.

This isn't your concern,Rhalhea sent via our whistling dragons.

I told her I was curious to see what the emergency was. I sent her a message that she and the cubs should wait for me in the third deck lounge, and I would be back as soon as possible.

The elevator seemed to take only a moment to reach the eighth deck. As soon as the Captain and Kykherhenha and I emerged from the elevator, a grey-haired, balding Alharhanian was waiting for us. "You've never seen anything like this, Captain," he said. "It's one of the crew... an engineer named Teplin..." He led the way down the white hallway to a large room that served as the Space Station's hospital. The Alharhanian walked to one of the beds, the only occupied by another Alharhanian, this one young, in his twenties, or maybe even younger.

I approached the bed, and was horrified to see Teplin covered in bluish-gray splotches. They covered his face and neck and arms and who knew what else under those thin white covers.

"Do you know what that is?" Captain Dhantrel asked.'

"I have no idea. I've just begun to examine him. Hopefully it's not contagious."

"Hopefully?" Dhantrel fumed. "I want this area quarantied right now."