[02.08.2021 18:52:43] Ridge: V: I can't believe that happened.
[02.08.2021 18:52:58] Vigil-3|S8: I mean, I want to say I told you so.
[02.08.2021 18:53:03] Ridge: V: I knew something was off the moment that Warform started shining.
[02.08.2021 18:54:01] Ridge: V: Any clue where they might be?
[02.08.2021 18:54:01] Vigil-3|S8: And now these damn drones, too.
[02.08.2021 18:54:18] Vigil-3|S8: Damn if I knew.
[02.08.2021 18:54:36] Vigil-3|S8: This little tin bucket doesn't have the Nightfall's sensors. She could probably triangulate a destination.
[02.08.2021 18:54:40] Ridge: V: Can't even trace the breach. Radiation is messing up all readings.
[02.08.2021 18:54:57] Vigil-3|S8: We can just assume that the Lusankya is gone for good.
[02.08.2021 18:55:07] Vigil-3|S8: Or, if she returns, the crew won't be the same anymore.
[02.08.2021 18:55:17] Ridge: V: Maybe let the Order know about this, you know.
[02.08.2021 18:55:32] Ridge: V: I would do that, but...I think it would be faster if you did.
[02.08.2021 18:56:03] Vigil-3|S8: I'll report to my CO and she'll do with the intel as she sees fit.
[02.08.2021 18:56:21] Ridge: V: Cool!
[02.08.2021 18:56:22] Vigil-3|S8: Damn Coalitioners. Why didn't they listen?
[02.08.2021 18:56:35] Ridge: V: I dunno'. Coalitioners do Coalition stuff.
[02.08.2021 18:56:44] Vigil-3|S8: Who stares down a fucking Ish'tar that's starting to glow?
[02.08.2021 18:56:51] Vigil-3|S8: Didn't they read the energy spikes?
[02.08.2021 18:57:19] Ridge: V: I mean...both of us kind of stared as well.
[02.08.2021 18:57:29] Ridge: V: We weren't glowing, though.
[02.08.2021 18:57:38] Vigil-3|S8: Well, at least we kept our distance. As advised.
[02.08.2021 18:57:48] Ridge: V: I suppose.
[02.08.2021 18:58:11] Ridge: V: Personally? I kept my distance mostly because I didn't want the thing to sniff my cargo.
[02.08.2021 18:58:39] Vigil-3|S8: What /is/ that stuff anyway?
[02.08.2021 18:59:01] Ridge: V: Trinkets from the Dyson Sphere...he-he...
[02.08.2021 18:59:03] Ridge: V: Surprise!
[02.08.2021 18:59:11] Vigil-3|S8: What nows from the what now?
[02.08.2021 18:59:49] Ridge: V: Kind of. Way back I was in a search 'n' rescue team.
[02.08.2021 19:00:14] Ridge: V: So...I followed a few clues from the now deceased researchers, and...well. Found this stuff.
[02.08.2021 19:00:20] Ridge: V: Shame I couldn't grab more.
[02.08.2021 19:00:40] Vigil-3|S8: And you found that stuff /where/?
[02.08.2021 19:00:51] Ridge: V: I told you. The Dyson Sphere.
[02.08.2021 19:00:59] Vigil-3|S8: The Dyson sphere. Right.
[02.08.2021 19:01:02] Vigil-3|S8: That one.
[02.08.2021 19:01:12] Ridge: V: You...know about it, right?
[02.08.2021 19:01:30] Vigil-3|S8: Yes, of course. Which is why I think that's a load of malarkey.
[02.08.2021 19:01:57] Ridge: V: Believe what you want. I don't want to get cocky about it.
[02.08.2021 19:02:11] Vigil-3|S8: You don't just go there and scrape some souvenirs off the outside.
[02.08.2021 19:02:27] Ridge: V: Off the outside? Pardon?
[02.08.2021 19:02:56] Vigil-3|S8: What you're gonna tell me you were /inside/ next?
[02.08.2021 19:03:06] Ridge: V: ...duh.
[02.08.2021 19:03:27] Vigil-3|S8: Alright, I wanna have some of whatever you were smoking.
[02.08.2021 19:03:41] Ridge: V: That's the only way you can get this stuff. Or, well. It's not accessible no more.
[02.08.2021 19:04:18] Vigil-3|S8: No one's been inside the Dyson sphere in a long time.
[02.08.2021 19:04:29] Ridge: V: I come from that "long time".
[02.08.2021 19:04:43] Ridge: V: Which dates about a year or two ago, actually.
[02.08.2021 19:04:51] Vigil-3|S8: Good one.
[02.08.2021 19:05:08] Ridge: V: Dozens of us went in, surprisingly. Few got out with the loot though. Even fewer got to keep it in one piece.
[02.08.2021 19:05:18] Vigil-3|S8: That place has been sealed shut tight since the Nomad War.
[02.08.2021 19:05:35] Vigil-3|S8: If there was a way inside, we'd have found it.
[02.08.2021 19:05:53] Ridge: V: A pathway had opened a few years back through several systems. Uncharted ones. The final destination? The Dyson Sphere.
[02.08.2021 19:06:11] Vigil-3|S8: A pathway? You mean jumphole anomalies?
[02.08.2021 19:06:15] Ridge: V: It collapsed shortly after we got there.
[02.08.2021 19:06:17] Ridge: V: And yes.
[02.08.2021 19:06:35] Vigil-3|S8: That's... close to impossible.
[02.08.2021 19:06:57] Ridge: V: Not entirely impossible, though.
[02.08.2021 19:07:10] Ridge: V: How do you think I got this material?
[02.08.2021 19:07:15] Vigil-3|S8: I mean, the sphere's huge but on a cosmic scale...
[02.08.2021 19:07:26] Vigil-3|S8: The odds of an anomaly forming inside are infinitesimal.
[02.08.2021 19:07:34] Ridge: V: And yet, it did happen.
[02.08.2021 19:08:01] Vigil-3|S8: Fine, let's just say I believe your tale for a moment.
[02.08.2021 19:08:16] Vigil-3|S8: Mind parting with a unit of that stuff?
[02.08.2021 19:08:34] Ridge: V: Not sure what to say about that, chief...
[02.08.2021 19:08:46] Ridge: V: I nearly died a few...dozen times. The amount of nomads in there...sheesh.
[02.08.2021 19:08:51] Vigil-3|S8: I'm sure you can imagine that the Order would be /very/ interested in having a look at it.
[02.08.2021 19:09:29] Ridge: V: I'm sure you can imagine I'm very low on cash right now, and throwing away my life's work for charity is not on my list.
[02.08.2021 19:09:49] Vigil-3|S8: Not even for the betterment of humanity?
[02.08.2021 19:10:14] Ridge: V: Ten of us went in, three got out. All Light Fighters. I don't know the whereabouts of the others.
[02.08.2021 19:10:29] Ridge: V: But...since I'm the only one having these things in a long, long time. I can assume the worst.
[02.08.2021 19:10:56] Vigil-3|S8: Alright, fine. How much would you want for a unit?
[02.08.2021 19:11:34] Ridge: V: Considering these are probably the only units you'll ever see...
[02.08.2021 19:11:43] Ridge: V: Probably a lot.
[02.08.2021 19:12:02] Vigil-3|S8: That's assuming they really are what you say they are.
[02.08.2021 19:12:23] Ridge: V: I'm a Researcher. I don't bullshit my discoveries.
[02.08.2021 19:12:53] Vigil-3|S8: If only that actually applied to researchers.
[02.08.2021 19:13:33] Vigil-3|S8: Now, name a price and I'll see whether it's in the budget.
[02.08.2021 19:13:47] Ridge: V: How about this. I give you one, singular piece to check it out. How much? That would be 30 Milion Credits.
[02.08.2021 19:14:13] Ridge: V: If it ain't what I say it is, I can take it back, and give you the dosh back. For short? Refunds available.
[02.08.2021 19:14:53] Vigil-3|S8: Alright, alright. Give me a minute to confer with my CO.
[02.08.2021 19:15:45] Ridge: V: Sure. No rush. Only the radiation creeping around us, that's all.
[02.08.2021 19:15:53] Ridge: V: Emphasis on "around us."
[02.08.2021 19:16:24] Vigil-3|S8: Speaking of radiation, I can't get a clear line to the Nightfall. I'll have to send this request with my report.
[02.08.2021 19:16:45] Vigil-3|S8: Tell you what. You make sure you hang on to that stuff and my CO will contact you about it over the neural net.
[02.08.2021 19:16:48] Vigil-3|S8: How about it?
[02.08.2021 19:16:54] Ridge: V: Sure.
[02.08.2021 19:17:21] Ridge: V: Names Vincent Abrams. Or Vinny. Up to you.
[02.08.2021 19:17:45] Vigil-3|S8: Vincent Abrams, got it. I'd give you mine but you know how it is. Secrecy and all that.
[02.08.2021 19:17:58] Ridge: V: Yeah I know. I worked with your type before.
[02.08.2021 19:18:07] Ridge: V: Almost scored a date with some Order Lieutenant...
[02.08.2021 19:18:14] Ridge: V: Heh.
[02.08.2021 19:18:15] Vigil-3|S8: My tip: Don't.
[02.08.2021 19:18:27] Ridge: V: I said almost.
[02.08.2021 19:18:30] Vigil-3|S8: It ain't easy dating one of ours.
[02.08.2021 19:18:51] Ridge: V: Challenge accepted.
[02.08.2021 19:19:05] Vigil-3|S8: No, I was actually being serious.
[02.08.2021 19:19:11] Ridge: V: So was I.
[02.08.2021 19:19:19] Vigil-3|S8: Odds are, you won't hear from her for months on end. And then she turns out to be dead.
[02.08.2021 19:19:23] Vigil-3|S8: Or worse.
[02.08.2021 19:19:37] Ridge: V: That might happen on both ends.
[02.08.2021 19:19:55] Vigil-3|S8: Well, then I guess it's all fair, huh?
[02.08.2021 19:20:04] Ridge: V: I do make trips towards the Omicrons at times. Though I do that rather rarely.
[02.08.2021 19:20:17] Ridge: V: Nomads tend to swarm me the second I enter the Omicrons.
[02.08.2021 19:20:22] Vigil-3|S8: Yeah, I'd recommend against doing that. Especially in a dinky little ship like yours.
[02.08.2021 19:20:44] Ridge: V: This ship took on about thirty nomads at the same time. With BEAM FUCKING WEAPONS.
[02.08.2021 19:21:04] Ridge: V: Nomads with LASERS. I'm lucky to have it.
[02.08.2021 19:21:18] Vigil-3|S8: I mean, I still kinda sorta thinking you're bullshitting me about that.
[02.08.2021 19:22:00] Ridge: V: And what do I have to earn from bullshitting you?
[02.08.2021 19:22:22] Ridge: V: Chances are if I lie, you'll do some voodoo shit and track me down, rip my legs and arms and leave me to drift in a pod.
[02.08.2021 19:22:43] Vigil-3|S8: Jesus. What sorta Order types have you been hanging out with?
[02.08.2021 19:22:51] Ridge: V: Lots.
[02.08.2021 19:23:15] Vigil-3|S8: Well, /we/, at least, don't do that kinda stuff.
[02.08.2021 19:23:33] Ridge: V: Fair enough.
[02.08.2021 19:23:57] Vigil-3|S8: Now, if the Core caught wind of your story and got interested in your "goods", that's another story.
[02.08.2021 19:23:59] Vigil-3|S8: They might just do that.
[02.08.2021 19:24:10] Ridge: V: Fortunately, they don't.
[02.08.2021 19:24:13] Vigil-3|S8: Or, god forbid, the Auxesians.
[02.08.2021 19:24:50] Ridge: V: Space techies? No thanks.
[02.08.2021 19:25:04] Vigil-3|S8: That's the spirit.
[02.08.2021 19:25:31] Vigil-3|S8: Alright, I'd better get back to base and forward this report. You should hear from my CO in a couple days at the latest.
[02.08.2021 19:25:42] Ridge: V: Fair enough. See you around.
[02.08.2021 19:25:53] Vigil-3|S8: And next time you see a Nomad form like that?
[02.08.2021 19:25:54] Ridge: V: I'll head out before the radiation does me a haircut.
[02.08.2021 19:25:57] Vigil-3|S8: Hightail the fuck outta there.
[02.08.2021 19:26:06] Ridge: V: Will do. Ciao.

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Pub: 10 Sep 2021 09:16 UTC
Views: 130