Roddy and Rita sat in the confrence room of the 'Defiant' waiting for the Ambassador of Kusari, Madame DeLuna.
Roddy turned up from looking at the map of Omicron Theta to talk to Rita; "Well, this is ground breaking stuff. You really think this is what the Inquisition wanted us to find?"
Rita answered, as she plotted a point on the holo-graphic map "I have no doubt. Why else have we been combing the Artifact feilds of Theta for the past months. Not to mention the return of the Planet Killer. Lord Solar Grand Admiral Verginix Must know something. If he is willing to Risk his most prized possetion for it.
"Hmmm, First the Planet Killer Re-apears, then the Inquisition messages us we must double our searches. Something is up."
The Navigation officer walked into the room. "Captains! We have entered Orbit around Honshu. The ambassador will be here shortly."
"Thank you, can you tell the Galley to have refreshments prepared." Said Roddy. "I will be back, I must grab another document of the searches."
Rita Replyed "Don't be too long, the Ambassador will be here in any second"
Roddy nodded and walked out towards the Crew compartments. He took a right and then down an elaborate staircase build around a large Griffon statue to the officers area, and then a left into his and Rita's room. He sat down at the main optical computer consol, recently Purchased from Kishiro and quickl;y found the file he was looking for.
The small optical chip poped out of the drive and he picked up and turned to walk out of the room when he spotted the comms officer, standing at the dorr trying to look small. "What do you need? I pretty busy."
"Sir, a Naval Destroyer Arrived at the same time Ambassador DeLuna's did. But this isn't part of the Kusari Navy. Its Lichallen's ship sir."
"The Inquisitor Lord?! He is here in Honshu?!"
"Aye sir, he is coming to the meeting room as we speak. I couldn't refuse his shuttle."
"Damnit2 If I knew he was coming I would have made some real preperations. I must go now!"
Roddy ran up the staircases and dashed quickly into the confrence room. "Lichallen is here!"
"What!?" Said Rita? "He came to our ship? If he left Tekagi's fortess there msut be something REALLY important about this Artifact."
The Door to the meeting room opened, and two troopers with the Inquisition 'I' around their necks came through. A technition was pushing what appeared to be a A metal coffin with hover treads. This Sarcophagus contained the remains of the once Grat Inquisitor Lord, who had suffered a crippling accident while Roddy was being trained by him. Now, he was kept alive in this complex machine.
Roddy drew his Sword and knelt down. Rita followed suit. "It is an honour to be in your preasance my lord."
A computerized voice came from the sarcophagus. "Sit down. We have something important to discuss."
The Comms officer came back. "Captains and Inquisitors. Madame DeLuna here to speak with you.
Invite only. Leaders of Factions, Harlequinn, Malaclypes 666. If you want in, PM me. This is a Continuation of the RP me and Deluna were having in Honshu Today
Fiona entered the Defiant's docking bay, marveling at the Rheinland architecture. She hadn't set foot on a real Rheinland vessel for almost 12 years... it felt good to hear her steps echo around the halls. Beside her, humming some old Terran tune, was the floating robot deSicev. A strange little orb, it was abnormally smart and had a personality that was all it's own. The screen, the only flat part of the orb, had a face on it, complete with a beard. However, it was all mechanized, and looked nothing like a human.
"I have a dream... a song to sing... to help me cope... with anything... If you see the wonder of a fairy tale... you can take the future... even if you fail..." sang the little robot. Fiona kicked him, to receive a slight jolt to her leg. "Pardon me, Madam deLuna!" the robot chided. "But you know my shield is never down. Please excuse the injury!"
"Don't worry about it. Just stop that infernal racket," the Ambassador said, clenching her teeth and rubbing her calf muscle. Placid, the little robot continued to hover near her. The soldier that was guiding the two stopped in front of a blast door. The ornate, yet strong, door was the traditional Rheinland green, and the emblem of the Chancellor was emblazoned across the length. The door opened from the bottom up, sliding upwards, so when it was closed, it was closed. Unless, of course, you wanted to try and cut through 10 inches of hull-grade steel.
The door opened with a rattling hiss. A small plume of the gases used to open the behemoth of a door escaped, condensing in the air. Fiona and deSicev entered the room, to be greeted by two nice-looking people, a man and a woman, some techie, and a metal sarcophagi. A nice looking table was the focal point of the room, and the man gestured for Fiona to sit down. She obliged, and the man and woman followed suit. The technician left the room, and the metal coffin sat in the room, ominously.
"Thank you for meeting with me..." Fiona began. However, she was interrupted by a mechanized voice, booming from some point in the room.
"We know who you are. The Inquisition has been looking into the incident above Gran Canaria for some time now, and you seem to have played a major part of that."
DeSicev spoke up. "The Inquisition? Pah! You people couldn't discover what happened between your own pockets, let alone the happenings of Doctor Artifice. So let me tell you this: thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing.. thanks for all the...OOF!" Fiona poured a glass of water on the robot, resulting in an eruption of steam. The man and woman looked at Fiona quizzically, confused why a cloud of hot water was rising from her side of the table. DeSicev hovered onto the table, where three legs opened up to support him. Fiona was as amazed as the two people. She had never seen deSicev with legs!
"Excuse my.. uh, pet advisor. Thing. He is called deSicev, and he has a rather interesting past. I can't shut him up, and he has this shield that stops me from directly accessing his hard drive."
The mechanical voice resumed it's discourse. Fiona still didn't know where it was coming from. "Roddy and Rita tell me you may know something about the artifact. Is this true?"
Fiona coughed. "Yes. It might be something linked to the theory of zero degrees Kelvin. That theory..."
"States that in the event that someone can lower an atom's temperature down to zero Kelvin, it will collapse the atom, thus destroying matter. But that theory cannot be correct, for zero Kelvin can't be obtained!" the voice said, cutting her off.
The male, Roddy, Fiona presumed, cleared his throat. "My lord, perhaps we should listen to what the granddaughter of Doctor Artificer has to say?"
Rita chipped in. "Yes, my liege, the Inquisition's Artifact Lab isn't making much headway..."
Fiona looked at the two sitting across from her. "Who is this 'lord' you keep talking to? And who is that voice?"
The sarcophagi rumbled forwards, making Fiona jump a little. "I am their lord," it said. The front of the metal coffin opened up, revealing... Fiona gasped, and fainted in horror.
"Do not be Alarmed Fiona, The Inquisitor Lord has suffered greatly in the past and it is only his willpower that keeps him from dying completly." Said Rita, Standing over the re-awakened Ambassador.
Do not be afraid said Lichallen I am on your Side. If it were not for the accident I would still be standing strong and proud amonst you. The Inquisitor was nothing more then skin, blackend by fire, what skin there was. All his organs were stung in seperate areas of the back of the Sarcophagus. Everything was connected by tubes of un-known make and material and surpisingly, they were all still alive and fully fuctional.
"Well!" said Fiona "What is this?"
"I am Inquisitor Lord Lichallen" Said the Being as the Sarcophagus was closed by one of the Inquisitorial Troopers. "I am part of the Secret guild know as the Inquisition. Formed back during the time of the 80 years war by the Current Kusari Emperor and the Order as a joint operation in fighting nomads and hunting down pirates. We became independant since then and maintain a fleet of Kusari and Order ships in the Tohoku system. Tekagi's old base has made a great fotress sicne he left, and that is why no-one is allowed to dock their still."
"This is all very surprising," Said the Ambassador. "How have you kept yourselfs secret for so long?"
"Our members usualy don't make extravagent showings of them selfs. Roddy and Rita here have been members for quite some time, being our eyes and ears in the Sirius sector."
Roddy Chimed in: "Aye, We were the ones who destroyed the Planet Killers orginal Super Generator in Helghan System."
Lichallen Spoke Again: "fortunatly, after the destruction of his most prized possetion, Lord Solar Grand Admiral Verginix put his battleship into Hinding, It was thought to have laid in Puerto Rico for about a year now. But, it has shown up again, here in Honshu."
"And I think we know what he is after." Finished Fiona.
"Indeed," Said Lichallen. "The ZKW device."
Rita Spoke next, "We think, he wants to use this device as a replacment for the Generator we destroyed. With this, his Planet Killer will ebcome more then Just a girant Terraformer, and instead become a real destroyer of worlds.
"Even now, the Planet Killer has guns capable to penetrating Planetary Defence sheilds. It may not beable to destroy very much, but the power is still there, waiting to be unlocked." Said Lichallen.
"The last issue we need to discuss is how he can power the ZKW." This was Fiona. "DeScive here has caulated that the only know power source would be the Galactic Energy Basin. This Is supposedly where the energy goes that black holes absorb. I do not know where it is, or if it is evern here in the Siruis Sector, but it poses a threat."
Rita Looked up from a Map. "For some time now, we have been searching the Artifact Feilds of Omicron Theta. This is where the ZKW decive is supposed to be. How it got tehre is unknown, but it is dangerous and we need it."
"If we took it, wouldn't we be tempted to use it ourselfs?" Said Fiona.
"ITs what i am Afraid of." Said Lichallen. "But no matter the costs, they are better then letting it fall into the Hands of the Helghast."
Roddy stepped forward. "We need to have a expidition set up. We will take as many ships as we can into the Artifact feilds of Theta and set up a perimeter around the excavation sites. SinTehc is also prepared to give us some supplies and ships. We need you, Ambassador DeLuna, to get us KNF ships. Do you think you Can?
Fiona looked at deSicev. The water seemed to have done him some harm. The pixels that made up his face had been the target, but the shield got all the water...
"Statement: Fiona, we cannot trust the Inquisition. They claim secrecy, but their presence can always be found, lurking about. Continued theory: If they are within the Kusari government, then we wouldn't need to give them permission. Perhaps they are lying? Conjecture: If they are, we cannot trust them with the ingenious Jaktarian device, nor the Galactic Energy Basin conduit. The artifact, by any other name. Foreboding Addendum: Fiona, if we give them even the merest hint to the way the artifact functions in conjunction with the ZKW device, we'll unleash a terror worse than even Verginix himself."
Fiona stared at the little device. It hadn't begun to sing, that was a plus. But it would say the subject matter before the sentence... well, it was an improvement.
"DeSicev, how you know about the Inquisition, or the ZKW device, or the Galactic Energy Basin, I'll never know. Or try to find out. But I trust Roddy and Rita. And even if they have a... scarred leader, I do not believe we should treat them as enemies."
She turned to the two Bretonians. "Yes, I can get you clearance for Kusari crafts. But know this; they must be returned at the end of this expedition, or else... well, the wrath of Kusari will be brought onto Tekagi's fortress. I don't envy anyone inside when the entire Kusari fleet opens fire upon it."
And so, it was decided. Fiona couldn't go herself, for there were pressing issues involving the Clan Ghost Wolf were still in high motion. The Epiphany, piloted by the semi-lucid deSicev, would go in her stead. "After all, he knows more about this than I do!" Fiona reasoned with Roddy and Rita.
"Query: What ships did you have in mind, Masters?" deSicev asked in his now-accentless voice. "Clarification: Mistress Fiona has informed me that you two are to be called Masters Roddy and Rita. I am loathe to do so, but she is the mistress. And I cannot question her. Scathing Riposte: If you give me any reason to doubt your loyalty to the mission, I'll jettison myself into the void. Good luck finding me out there."
Roddy and Rita smiled at one another. This would be a fun mission.
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