Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Update 35 and Page 18

Alrighty, so this was done.  A bit more on the filler side, but the first day on Roshire has ended, leaving us in quite the predicament.   Given what has happened and what is happening; I think this would be a good time to reflect on the first year of Amatory star.  We've had our ups and downs, but I've enjoyed the hell out of this; I wish I had more readers and more people to talk about this with.  Still, you guys are a great audience and I love writing for you all.

Page 18


All of the world around the former Swabbie was quiet, as he snorted and snored in his drug-induced slumber that the good doctor had inflicted upon him.  Every few seconds he would toss slightly before finally, his eyes shot open and he sat up startled, patting himself over and thankful that nothing had happened to him.  Relief hit him and it was all he could do to keep himself from shouting in the joy of the moment as he started to remember what happened hours ago.  Not like there was anything I could have done about it, still better be more careful from now on.  Finishing that thought and tossing away anything else that had to do with Mr. Happy, as he decided to call him from now on, he pulled himself up with a grunt. 

Dizziness was the first thing that came to him, the blood struggling to get back to his head after the swift raise from his back for hours, then an uncomfortable tension in his spine.  Easy enough to ignore as he stretched, but that was when the biggest problem hit him.  Blood was soaking the floor and his boots, pouring out from the doctor’s head.  It was the first time that Nathan noticed that the puddle and that it had nearly spread over to him.  Thankful that it had only just now gotten to his boots, he stomped through the sticky red substance, tearing the doctor’s undershirt off of his body before moving back to the door.  “Thanks Doctor Happy, glad you could fix me up, seems that you do miraculous work.  Too bad you got a little too big for your breeches.”  Waving at his corpse, he proceeded to clean off the bottom of his boots with the scrap of cloth that he now had.  Grinning, he balled it up tossing it directly onto the doctor’s face.  “Well, I hope you rot in hell you sick bastard.  Send my regards to anyone who might recognize me down there.”

Twisting back to the door and forcing it open, he stopped turning back around and gripping the gun that he had nearly forgotten on his way out.  Holding the pistol once again, Nathan found a great deal of comfort in the simple action and even just having it on his person.  Running his hand down the six inch barrel, he found it was coated with the blood of its most recent kill.  Tinged red, the black material was even further accented by the three yellow LED’s that had been coated as well.  Each one showing how many more rounds could be fired before it was completely empty.  Each light corresponded to ten rounds with another two smaller lights at iron sights to indicate the first two shots.  “Sixty rounds huh….well, I suppose that will have to do for now, but it would be wise to grab some more ammo and possibly a better weapon before I leave.”  Stating this calmly, Nathan’s hand ran back over to the guns handle, clicking the safety back in place and found himself again thankful that Alexander had left the silencer feature on this gun on. 

Stepping out of the room, he turned his head towards both ends of the hallway staring up at the sign over head that read doctor’s office.  Leaving it, he closed the door shutting it tightly and descended down the opposite direction of the front desk.  What he really needed was a bathroom, relief not only for his bladder, but also to take care of the blood that now caked his hands.  Pocketing them and the gun to avoid detection, he walked a little faster turning his head back and forth around the twisting halls and ended up walking past three that ran parallel before finally finding a sign that read bathroom.  Grateful that it didn’t take too long, he rushed down the corridor entering the hall that indicated it.  Eventually the door to the porcelain thrones emerged and without a second to spare, he turned around to the soap dispensers and the sinks.  No way in hell was he going to hold himself with bloody hands, he had no idea what kind of illness the doctor could have possessed.  Hell the only reason he didn’t bother to wipe off the gun with the shirt was the sheer volume of blood that was already soaked into it. 

Getting a small mound of the light blue soap on his skin, he could feel the nano-bots that they had started putting into the stuff around five hundred years ago.  It tickled a little as he began rubbing his hands together and felt them eating the dirt, grime and anything that wasn’t labeled ‘normal’ on his skin away.  Lathering the soap up, it eventually created a white foam around his entire hands before he waited ten seconds for the soap to set.  Once that had passed, he knew that the nano-bots were likely inactive and could be washed off safely now.  Pushing his hands beneath the warm water and rinsing the suds away, relief washed over him as he pulled his hands away, checking his facial features as he dried off his hands.  A toilet flushed next to him and his heart stopped beating. 

“Ahh….that’ll teach me to eat the cafeteria’s creamed corn.  Good lord, I must have at least ten chocolate babies!”  A vulgar looking alien stated as he walked out of the stall, humanoid but with disgusting looking face composed of numerous chins, four eyes and a mouth with no lips; it was all Nathan could do not to vomit just from looking at him.  His yellow and black teeth looked like they hadn’t seen the board side of a tooth brush in at least two years and from the smell of his breath, it wasn’t a bad assumption.  Small trails of drool were running off the sides of the creature’s mouth; seeing all of this in the mirror and its bald head with a puss spore just waiting to pop on the top of it, it was throwing Nathan over the edge.  It was coming up behind him, he wasn’t even listening to what it was saying anymore as it raised one gnarled hand with broken, dirty and putrid finger nails coming towards him.  Fuck that bullshit.

Nathan spun around, not giving a damn about his cover in that moment as his fist came around in heavy right hook directly into the alien’s jaw.  A satisfying crunch took place as teeth went flying across the floor, the malnourished bone holding it together snapped; the alien, whom obviously wasn’t expecting the blow or any type of physical punishment, looked surprised for an instant.  It didn’t get enough time to react before Nathan’s left shot forward in a jab between his eyes.  That was all it took, the alien’s head shot back, eyes rolling into his head before he ended up bashing his skull into the tiled walls.  Unconsciousness was immediate, but all Nathan cared about in the moment was cleaning his now drool and slime covered hands again.  Proceeding through the ritual of allowing nano-bots to clean up his hands, he turned back to the body, deciding to take the time to piss before doing anything with it.

A.       Deposit the body into one of the stalls. 

B.       Leave the body right where it is, it is after all a disgusting thing.

C.       Push the body into one of the air ducts.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Update 34, Things are changing and repost of Page 17

Alright guys, delays this week were due to a lot of things just happening in my life.   Considering there might be the possibility of a girlfriend in the near future, the fact that it snowed in the deep south of the U.S. and some a few parties that occurred.  Well, I've had a full ass week, so you'll have to forgive this one.  Anyway, as part of the update, I have introduced the money system along with read outs of every characters current mood, contentment and desires for the ship.  

As a note, Mood reflects how characters are reacting to the actions Nathan is currently taking or has taken.   Contentment is what the crew currently thinks of Nathan 1 being the lowest score possible and 5 being the highest possible.   These can fluctuate wildly so don't take them to heart unless they become consistent, which can in turn mean that a character is getting ready to leave the crew, often with disastrous results.   Lastly, wants are short term goals that will increase contentment and lead to a permanent bonus towards mood and contentment.   The higher contentment reaches, the better crew members will perform and the more income that can be brought in.  Further still, characters can breach over or under the 1/5 threshold if ignored or cherished enough.  Doing so will lead to special events revolving around said characters which in turn can have a significant boost in morale, income or possibly receiving special items.   Keep an eye on these and try to keep everyone as high as possible.

Update 17


Nathan had almost lost patience with the ‘good’ doctor’s little rant, it was a pointless and rather nonsensical bid to save his life.  Annoyance was quick to rise in the male at this point, having nearly been beaten to death, his tolerance for morons was incredibly low.  If the doctor was Garrus, he had little doubt that he would have simply punched him and if it had been anyone else that didn’t have his current level of usefulness,  he would have shot them in the back of the head.  Right now though, the good doctor had access to a medical cabinet and was the only person around who was probably chicken shit enough to give him what he wanted.  Shaking his head slowly and lowering the gun down to his side, he pointed over to the medical supplies with his free hand.  “Go and get them, by the way just as a tip for you.  Next time someone has you at gunpoint, don’t start begging for your life, just quietly do whatever you say.  Begging for your life is a good way to send your antagonist into a power high and have them pull the trigger on you anyway.”


“Uh….oh….ok….”  The doctor managed to stammer out confused as he shuffled away and began looking through the supplies; Nathan couldn’t really see what he was doing, but noticed he was taking his time individually writing down the names and uses of each medication he pulled down on small sticky notes before putting them into a pouch that Nathan could hook to his belt.  Overall, the process quick and efficient with the doctor looking cool and collected as he began to analyze everything that he was doing.  During this time, Nathan could feel his arm healing up nicely, the serum that had been injected into him working its magic; however, it hurt like hell to feel his arm reknitting itself together now that his dose of pain medication was wearing off with the adrenaline levels in his body dropping. 


“Hey Doc, how much longer this going to take?”  The captain asked, wanting to get out of this mess as soon as possible, yet the doctor was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t seem to be listening to him.  A few beads of sweat even began to roll down his neck, causing Nathan to stop bothering him and sit down pulling out one of the magazines on the table beside him.  As he thumbed through the pages of some home improvement magazine, he could feel the chill of the air in the room and just pondered what was up with this place.  The planet was frozen meaning most bacteria wouldn’t be able to exist making it pointless to keep the area this cold; the only possible infections or contagions that could occur would have to be from what humans brought with them, unless there was something else going on here that Nathan didn’t know about. 


Not paying the list bit of attention to the doctor at this point, aside from the occasional glance to see how he was progressing, the former Swabbie merely sat, reading through a particularly interesting article about a famous restaurant on Roshire.  Licking his lips at the thought of a thick cut steak, cooked to a perfect medium rare and marinated in its own juices for a few hours; pushing the thought away, he realized that all of the excitement from earlier had most likely worked off most of the food he had ingested earlier.  “Shit…I should have tried to go to the mess hall first, I’m starving.”  Nathan managed to say out loud slapping the magazine down on the table before the doctor pointed to the drawer to the right of him.


“If you’re that hungry there are a few candy bars stashed in there.  I keep them for when I’m feeling a little hungry, but don’t feel like going down to get a full meal.  Help yourself to one or two of them.”  Without another word, Nathan flung the drawer open grabbing a brightly colored wrapper that still contained a decently sized stick of chocolate with a hard cookie in the center.  Eating the stick like some ravenous animal, Nathan savored each moment, chewing slowly once his mouth was full.  It had been at least two years since the last time he had enjoyed a stick of candy, so now such treats were like the nectar of the God to him.  Chomping through the first one and swallowing, he immediately repeated with the second one at which point the doctor had turned around, holding out the bag with medical supplies in it towards Nathan.


“Ahh…thank you, kind sir.”  The Captain replied graciously for what had happened, grabbing the bag on the other side of the handle to the doctors.  Looking over the black piece of fabric with its multiple pouches and the what not, he found it to be a rather adequate device that would be well-suited for the best of adventurers.  Nodding to the Doctor, he suddenly heard a click, before something stung his hand.  Dropping the bag immediately, leaving it to hang in the doctor’s hand, Nathan looked at his palm, realizing that there was a small dot of blood in the center.  Something had just been injected into his blood stream, as he looked up, he saw that the doctor was grinning malevolently down at him drumming his fingers slowly over the counter as he stared down at him.


Each motion seemed to make the doctor that more demonic as he stared down, eyes shooting daggers at Nathan before he began to speak.  “Oh dear, seems someone forgot one of most basic things about killers, never turn your back on a man with a degree in anesthesiology.  You’re such an idi…..”  The Captain didn’t allow the man to finish before his body reacted reflexively to the situation of losing consciousness.  His fingers gripped around the base of the gun and brought it up firing two quick shots into the Doctor’s body before he could even finish his statement.  Each shell casing drilled into the man’s chest and the next through his throat before Nathan’s eyes blurred and finally the world went dark. 


Collapsing backwards, his head hit the chair he had been sitting in, causing it to topple over and land on its side.  Breathing now steady and his body now completely shut off as a result of the drugs in his system, the Captain would find himself at the mercy of whoever happened across him next. 


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Update 33 and repost of 16



Yeah a day later than I said, but I lost some motivation.


Plaster white walls and the brightness of halogen lights were the only things that Nathan could recall.  Head still spinning from the vicious assault that Alexander had left on him, the concussions now weaved their way to the Captain’s occipital lobe.  Bursts of white kept erupting in his vision as the back of his head grew hot, sticky and bright red; Nathan knew he had started to bleed, knew that the locker door had likely torn his back of his head to ribbons.  Unable to properly focus, he was rallying almost solely on his sense of touch to keep him balanced.  Reaching back to touch the back of his head, he pulled back when at the mere passing of his hand burned him.  Hissing before withdrawing the appendage, Nathan stared at his own hand.  Finding it now completely covered in blood, a low groan left his mouth as he started to stumble over, only to catch himself against the wall.  Both of his shoulders were slung low, his head unable to hold itself up anymore as the world gave a violent lurch around him.  “Doctor……need….a doctor.”  He huffed, before placing his hand against the plaster wall, then began to creep forward keeping his shoulder pressed against the wall.

Even as he walked along, his mind kept going back to Alexander.  Their appearances were too similar for his taste, they could have been twins and something about it just seemed off; maybe it was just a coincidence.  Maybe he was just one of those people, he had heard about others who had dopplegangers, but usually they could be easily told apart.  Alexander on the other hand, shared every defining feature that he had, right down to his beard.  In fact, the only difference between them was the color of their eyes, Nathan’s were a caramel colored brown, where as Alexander’s were the color of a denim.  As he watched, he could hear a voice, it sounded like Alexander’s.  “Yeah…that is definitely his voice…”  Nathan murmured under his breath, the taste of his saliva and blood intermingled together left his mouth parched, only hinting at the flavors of the soup from earlier.  All that was left behind was the coppery taste of the rust filling his mouth now.  Another bolt of pain laced up Nathan’s side, stumbling, he tried to push through it but ended up falling to his side on the floor. 

Laying there, the world seemed so bright, the colors fading away into one cohesive glare that nearly blinded him.  Everything seemed to just drop out and even the puddle of blood that he was laying it just started to vanish; his eyes wandering upward at the sound of footsteps coming his way.  Each heavy click was a reminder of how desperate his situation was; trying to push himself up, his arms quivered weakly in their struggle to pull forward even a few inches.  That same irritating click of boots got louder and louder, until finally he could see them just barely beside of him.  His eyes immediately dilated when he realized he was staring Alexander in his face once again; the Irish version of himself now crotched down in front of him.  Trying to focus in on him, the colors danced around in his eyes, he could see bruises on the male’s face, but he seemed pretty well off for the damage they had just rout onto each other.  “How….did you?”

“Oh boyo, you really dun know much about me now do ya?  I dun exactly go down easy, I’m a bit knackered that you managed to clean my clock like’n ya did.  Still, seems that I left ya in much worse shape.”  Alexander’s hands had folded themselves between his knees, his heels just skirting the edge of the blood puddle that seemed to be disappearing through the cracks in the floor.  It was all Nathan could do just to stare at the male’s hands for a few moments, barely able to bring himself to lift his head up to look at the site supervisor.  “A pity, I could’a used another hand around here, someone who knew how ta throw a decent punch.   A real pity laddie, a right pity indeed, if I had, had my way.  I would have put you right to work getting rid of our vorshilder problem.  That bastard mutt has mauled at least three of our workers and we can often see’um lurking over the ridge.”  Alexander stopped for a moment, fidgeting with his coat pocket and pulling out a cigarette.  As soon as the stick of nicotine, tar and other chemicals had been inserted into his lips, he lit it. 

Immediately, the scent of cigarette smoke hit the Captain’s nose, memories of Garrus and his addiction to them hit him hard.  Realizing that Garrus had probably burned through his last pack of cigarettes by now, he reached up extending his hand towards Alexander, trying to point to the packaging before his head collided against the supervisor’s knee.  “Ya want a cig boyo?  You didn’t strike me as the smoking type, would have thought you’d be more of the type to just hit the sauce and nothin’ but.”  A hearty laugh left the male’s lips as he stared downward at Nathan, his denim colored eyes looking almost affectionately down at his look-a-like. 

“My friend…..my friend is…..addicted….he….”  Nathan continued to stammer out the lines as he grew cold, his body losing heat rapidly from the blood lose so close to his head and the head trauma.  Shivering, he bit his tongue, focusing on that pain before speaking the rest.  “He needs a few smokes….please if I could bum a few….”  Shaking against Alexander’s body, he looked up and was surprised when he suddenly saw it wasn’t Alexander, but Garrus’s bright red head and icy blue eyes staring down at him.  His pilot’s usual cold demeanor was gone as he brought his hand down to his shoulder, slowly aiding him to his feet.  A feeling of weightlessness had taken over, an instant disconnect from the world around him came flowing through his veins.  Prodding along, the cloud walk continued, with Garrus’s arm wrapped around his shoulder, the pilot carrying most of his weight as they trudged along.

“You’re always so busy thinking about everyone else, that you can’t see how badly you end up hurting yourself.  You’ve always been tearing yourself down and sowing yourself back together just to help everything and everyone.  Nathan, you’re going to end up killing yourself one day, but damn it if you weren’t the finest bastard that is has been my honor to serve with.  Everyone back on the Thespian thought you were nothing more than a janitor, just someone to be traded off and lost out in space, but I knew better.  There was always…something about you, maybe it was how friendly you were, maybe it was your willingness to work, maybe it is how you always just want to make the best decision to help everyone.  I don’t know what it is, but I knew from the moment I saw you…you were going to be someone special.”  Garrus’s words cycled in his head, causing him to spin around and wonder what could prompt the pilot to speak this way.  Usually he was so arrogant and self-serving, but this was a kinder, gentler side that he had seen before.  When one of the aliens aboard the Thespian lost a family member, Nathan could remember Garrus stayed up with him in a vigil, observing the alien’s own religious actions in order to see their passing.

“Gar….rus….”  Nathan tried to speak, but found the edges of eyesight growing black, consciousness was slipping from him and soon he could do nothing but listen.  The words were muffled now, all of them spreading out and surrounding him, only to dissipate through the air vents around the station.  A wet spot in the floor kicked him back awake slightly, Garrus’s bright red pony-tail swaying gently against the back of his neck; the brush of each hair follicle taking him back in time.  Back to a time when he used to sit quietly back on the farm, where life was simple.  At every pass and brush, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the border collie that he had raised since it was a puppy.  It reminded him of how whenever something was wrong, the shaggy creature would always sit beside him and lay its head on his shoulder.  Blinking slowly, he went under for a brief moment, but the feeling of movement never faded from his mind.  Each step was another stomp into the abyss around him, plummeting down into a depth that he had never known before.

When he snapped back awake, he felt like he had just witnessed something he shouldn’t have, like he had stared into the very heart of evil and simply shrugged it off.  Unable to speak, he suddenly heard Garrus’s voice talking to him again, the words slipping from his mouth with no distinction.  His lips would move, but sound didn’t hit him, when they finally did, the movements didn’t seem to match what he was saying, but that was lost to him at the moment.  “Nathan….stay with me….you’re the only person that cares anymore.  You’re that pillar that we all need right now, you know what to say, you know what to do.  Don’t leave us out here to die, we’re counting on you.  I will never understand the reasoning behind you helping the Vorshilder, but I could never understand a lot of things you did.  Captain…stay with me, stay alive, just keep breathing no matter what you do.  We’re your sheep, don’t let us stray, don’t let us die out here in the cold and alone.  Continue to be our rock…please.”  Garrus’s words hit his very core as the thoughts and lack of rationality to his reasons began to hit him.  Why was he doing this in the first place?  Why was he risking his life down here?

A throb continued to dance across the entirety of his skull, thinking causing him the greatest pain Nathan had ever known.  Body twitching independently of any command that he had given, the captain stared straight ahead, another step and then another as his thoughts ran together in his head.  “What exactly does this animal mean to me and why the hell should I care about this damn planet?  Why am I risking my life for something that only two days ago tried to kill me?  Lily, Tesla and Garrus are all waiting for me out there, they are depending on me, so how could I have been so stupid as to abandon those who are now the most important people in my life?  Earth is over seventy-nine hundred light years away, my parents have no idea what is going on and I can’t go back to them; Garrus….Lily and Tesla are my new family.  Without them, I literally have nothing and without me….they have little hope of maintaining enough group cohesion to stay alive.  So if I die here…if I fail, then I’m not only killing myself, I’m killing my entire family as well!”  Nathan almost shouted the last bit out, but instead as his mouth opened, he toppled over coughing as he forgot to monitor the blood flowing into his mouth from his gums.  Having gagged on his own precious fluids, he vomited it back up, falling to his knees before the remains of the soup and bits of his blood mixed together on the floor in front of him. 

“This…is a worthless endeavor, something I should have never taken on.  I’m going to get myself killed for some stupid animal.”  Garrus’s hand wrapped around his collar, helping him back up, the red-head’s face looking calm and collected for once.  Almost to the point of saintly before he patted Nathan’s cheeks lightly, the feeling stung in a bitter-sweet manner.  As the gesture was so affectionate, that he could barely focus on the pain that had darted into his mouth.

“That is just who you are isn’t it?  You can’t help but to help the underdog or someone in need.  It doesn’t matter what it is, or whoever is at risk.  You want to help them, you want to be the hero….you’re almost like a child in that sense, but…isn’t that something to be proud of?  Nathan, you’ve got an innocence about you, you’ve got a clear over-bearing sense of what is right and what is wrong.  Sure, you do bad things sometimes, sure you give into irrational desires, but when the chips are down and it really counts…you do the right thing.”  Nathan could only stare at Garrus for a moment, feeling the red-head continue to carry him down the hallway, before taking a right at another sign that said: ‘Doctor’s Office.’   Their trek seemed to almost be at an end; however, Nathan wasn’t sure that he was really going anywhere at this point, logic wasn’t being used right now, but he could see Garrus’s face plain as the day before him.   “Nathan, you want to do good and make a difference.  You’ve always had your eye on making a mark and you’ve done that.  People don’t forget you when you encounter them, these mining crews they’ll never forget you.  Fulkner and the rest of the crew on the Thespian….they’ll never forget you either.  You’re the one that got away from their murderous rampage and you got us to safety.  Nathan, stop doubting yourself, just go with your instincts.  Something told you to help the Vorshilder right?  Well, then follow that instinct.”

Nathan wanted to argue; however, he found himself unable to.  Garrus seemed to know exactly what he was talking about, as they stopped at one of the doors; he watched his companion fish into his pants pocket pulling out a key before opening the door and leading him over to a chair.  As the Captain found himself being turned around, he collapsed into the chair, his eyes glazing over as he sat there staring up at Garrus.  Blinking, he found the lights seemed to have dimmed and upon looking up, he was greeted by the sight of incandescent light bulbs.  The low orange glow coming from the ceiling was…a comfort, the nostalgia of the obsolete piece of technology caused him to smile, at least till the pain of his injures reminded him why he was here in the first place.  His mostly white world was coming into focus gradually, the plush feeling of the lime-green pads beneath him lulling him into a sleep.  Small orbs in the arm rests continually awakened him though as his sensory awareness kept growing with touch.  His boots felt so heavy, that at one point he attempted to remove them, only to grow dizzy upon seeing the spiral pattern in the pure white tiles.  Coming back up, all he could observe were the wooden boards that made up the room, though they were likely nothing more than wall coverings.  It still, felt comfortable, welcoming in stark contrast to the rest of the building. 

Sitting still, he could examine a few boxes with flickering lights and switches that were obviously hooked up to the medical machines through-out the ten by seven meter room.  Some of the machines were warming up, the buzz of them making his temples throb, but he knew it as the sound of healing about to happen.  That was when he smelt something else, the scent of freshly brewed coffee and cream.  It was harsh at first, but then the coolness of the cream caused him to forget about it, his mouth involuntarily watered; it was a luxury that he had forgotten about.  A good cup of coffee was just a common comfort that Nathan had taken for granted till his crash landing on this accursed planet.   What other things had Nathan been neglecting because of the expected nature of them?   The immediate answer to that was people and companionship, blinking a few times, Garrus’s image had disappeared and standing in front of the coffee maker was Lily.  As the blonde girl whom he had considered his little sister until recently stirred her coffee as the machines continued their start up sequence, Nathan couldn’t help but bite his lip.

“You know I don’t blame you for never seeing me as anything but a sister.  I was the Captain’s daughter, every guy on the ship was after me and you probably never thought you had a chance.  In your mind, I only saw you as a friendly face, someone I could run to when the problems of the world seemed to crash down on me and I didn’t want to bother my father.  If anything, you probably thought I had pegged you into the friend zone almost immediately, you were the just the janitor after all.”  The shy girl was standing there with her cup of coffee in hand, staring down into the murky brown liquid as if it would tell her all of life’s secrets.    As both of her hands wrapped around the cup, her fingers touched together, inadvertently making a heart at the center before she sipped the steaming liquid.  Nathan could only watch as the white-clad female leaned backwards against the counter-top of the storage areas.  Her low heels making a light click as she continued to speak to him.

“But you know, I always had my eye on you.  You were diligent and strong, you weren’t half-bad looking and you had enough decency not just demand sex from me.  Most of the time I wondered if you didn’t like women or just weren’t worried about others, but you know I never gave up hope on you.  Nathan, you’re doing the right thing here.  That poor animal has lost everything, its planet has been obliterated by these people and now they want to tear the last thing that it claim to away from it; even if it is just a ‘stupid animal’ doesn’t it deserve better than just to be left out in the cold to die?   Nathan, it deserves the same love you showed me, it deserves that compassion.  It doesn’t matter how much profit there is to gain here, it doesn’t make the annihilation of an entire planet right.  I’m sure if you had been alive five hundred years ago, you would have started a riot to avoid the formation of Roshire.  So don’t give up, do everything that you have to, just don’t give up because that isn’t like you.”  Nathan looked up for a moment, then tilted his head away slightly, the whirlwind of emotions having struck him like a particularly vicious haymaker.

“What about the people who work here that had nothing to do with it?  The people who are here just to provide for their families, to make an honest living to do something aside from sit in the streets and die?  Do they deserve to find themselves suddenly out of a job, do they deserve to be punished because of the companies mistakes?  Did Alexander deserve to be beaten and shoved into a locker because he happened to be in the way?  These people…they are good people, they immediately took care of me…what makes it right to suddenly steal everything from them?”  Nathan didn’t move his mouth, but those words poured out of him, came flying through his very being and poured out with every bit of emotion that he had to offer.  He knew that if he finished this task, then the mine would be destroyed and with that destruction….people would probably die, others would be out of a job and that could mean they would go hungry or never find employment again.  At this point, Lily sat down the cup of coffee, allowing Nathan to see the logo on the side of it that read: “Twenty to Six, Astral League Trefig champions.”   Blue and orange coloration ran along the side of it with the shape of some monstrous animal’s head holding down a stallion like creatures body down.  When the cup clicked, Nathan’s entire world shook, sucking in on itself before it seemed to beat outward and returned to normal.

When everything had fixed itself, Lily was standing beside him, gingerly pulling his head down and beginning to wipe away the blood from his head with a moist cotton swab.  Nathan wanted to scream, he could feel the burn of alcohol hitting his wounds, but he knew that would do no good.  They needed to be disinfected and cleaned out before he could heal properly; gritting his teeth together and clinching his mouth together, he bore the pain, only to have Lily start talking again.  “Nathan, there has to be sacrifices sometimes, there can be no gain without first giving something up first.  Sometimes it is time, sometime it is resources, but nothing can come from nothing.  These people, they are doing their jobs and they have no idea what atrocity they are committing.  Don’t let them know, just make it look like the mine broke down on accident, faulty wiring or something.  You’re smart, Captain, you’ll figure something out, so stop worrying so much about it.  You’ve got a kindness in you and you’ll do the right thing, I’m sure of it.  So just promise me that you’ll go with your instincts and go on to do whatever is necessary or needed; this isn’t about punishing the workers, this is about sending a message to the corporation.  Port Lagrid needs to pay for their greed and their despotism, they’ve purposefully ruined a planet, drilled out its core and are not causing a galatic calamity.  What do you think will happen if this planet breaks apart?  Roshire is large enough on its own to make up for its galatic pull, but think about what the sudden change in gravity will do to the surrounding stars.”

“I suppose.”  Nathan murmured, leaning down as he had to close his eyes; reality still seemed to be shaking in front of him and what little thought he could pump out was being clouded.  Right now, all he could fathom was the sweep of the cotton swab against the back of his head, every pass causing him to hiss, yet it was for the best.  Keeping his breathing slow and steady, the captain did nothing but allowed himself to be cared for.  Honestly, at this point he was wondering how often he was going to have to spend in a hospital or being taken care of by others because he got hurt somehow.  Finding himself  drifting along into nothing, he finally collapsed.  All of the pain, blood loss and stress just became too much for him and with little ceremony, the male simply slumped into his seat.  Something wet touched his cheek, it was coarse and moist, slowly moving over the surface before Nathan’s eyes opened slowly.  The doctor’s office had completely vanished, in its place sat a pristine world of green grass lands and blue skies.  In the distance, Nathan could make out long rows of wheat growing near corn stalks; something he hadn’t seen since he was twenty. 

Pushing up slowly, the scent of sweet grass beneath him baffled him, just as the feeling of dew on his hands did.  Where exactly was he and how did he get here?  Had he died?  Nathan slowly twisted around, noting the yellow of dandelions blowing back and forth in the slight breeze; the hill top around him giving him a perfect view of everything around him.  Rubbing the back of his head, he found a slight bump and then what looked to be an apple next to him.  “Have I just been dreaming all this time?”  The captain asked himself casually, turning the apple over in his hands before biting into it.  Sweet, succulent flesh tore away from the fruit, breaking apart in his mouth before he chewed and couldn’t recall the last time he had tasted anything like it.  Laughing heartily, Nathan couldn’t believe that everything had just been a dream caused by a conk on his head from an apple, but…if that was the case, why was he still dressed in a Port Langrid uniform?  Dropping the apple as he noticed this, he began to pat himself down, it was far too warm around him for the uniform he was in, but there was no discomfort there.  Realizing that what he was doing right now was actually the dream, Nathan brought his hands up to his face.

“So….all of this is just in my head.  I thought…just maybe I could go back for a minute.  That I could forget all my pains and go back home, just be a farmer’s son.”  Crouching down after saying this, he watched as the Border Collie that he had raised appeared in front of his eyes.  The dog had been dead for at least two years now, having passed away and been buried by the Captain’s own hand.  Now it was staring up at him, expectantly, wagging its tail in sheer happiness at the sight of its master.  The Captain figured that he had woken him up moments ago by licking his face, so the best he could do right now was to give it one final good-bye; however, why was he thinking about the Border Collie right now?  Weren’t there more important things to worry about?

“Maybe, maybe not.  I think that dog might be an explanation as to why you’re doing everything you’re doing Nathan.”  It was a familiar voice, husky and intelligent sounding.  That all too knowledgeable stance and the strength behind it, it could only be Tesla; stunned as he felt the female’s hand run down the length of his spine before wrapping around his shoulder, he wouldn’t say anything as he held the bright blue tennis ball that he used to throw to the Border Collie repeatedly.  It was her favorite toy, staring at the ball in his hand for a moment, he cocked back and threw it down the dirt path between the corn and wheat before watching the dog dart after it.  Its body full of youth and vigor, tail held high and her brown and white spotted coat waving as she ran.  Turning his head back to Tesla, he stared into her pure black eyes.  Even in this dreamland, she was one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen in his life.  It was almost enough to distract him from his thoughts on why he was there and what was going on; however, almost only coats in horse shoes and hand grenades. 

“So…you think that my reasoning for helping that beast out in the snow has something to do with Clover?”    While it seemed crazy, he supposed that the Vorshilder could be somehow reminding him of his old dog.  They shared some of the same basic traits, but there was no way that, that monster was making him subconsciously think about his old pet.  Watching the dog run in front of him, he watched it grab the ball in the middle of a bounce, then start running back towards him.  Every plodding step that pounded through the dirt made him watch in slow motion; the innocent and loving face of his dog began to widen, the area around him growing cold and changing from the corn and wheat fields into the infinite expanse of snow once again.  Clover was gone and now, the monster that had mauled him earlier was standing in front of him.  Snow started to drift down as Tesla moved forward, beginning to slowly stroke the creature’s muzzle.  Heeding what she was doing it, it walked up slowly and allowed Nathan to examine it closely.  It was true, the creatures face aside from the six eyes, was remarkably close to his former pet’s.  Gradually, Nathan moved in, slowly wrapping his arms around the Vorshilder’s neck and casually running his  hands back and forth through its fur.  It had been a long time since he had held an animal like this and even longer since he had enjoyed the sensation.  Feeling his face buried into the soft, white fuzz, he relished in it, finally pulling back only for the orange light of doctor’s office to be around him again.

Tesla’s voice was still coming to him, but everything seemed to be focusing in quickly.  As this happened, her voice trailed off rapidly, growing fainter and fainter.  “Just remember Nathan, we’re all counting on you, so do what you have to.  We’ll all be waiting and accept whatever decisions you’ve made along the way.  You’ll succeed, so don’t worry about it.”  Her laugh rang through his head for a moment before he began to pull himself up from whatever table he was laying on; when he put two and two together, he realized that whoever had carried him down to the doctor’s office must have laid him there.  All the pain in his body was gone; however, his arm was still broke, yet he was thinking so clearly for having just gotten over a concussion. 

“Ugh…what happened and where am I?”  He questioned quickly, realizing that he had dropped the accent that Alexander spoke with, but he doubted the doctor would think much of it after he had just woken up from a semi-comatose state.  Rubbing his face calmly and covering up his eyes before wiping them off.  Everything seemed so clear at the moment, that was until a dull buzz seemed to be taking place in his broken arm.  Turning his head towards it, he saw a syringe pumping a milky white substance into his arm; gritting his teeth as he felt something pop, Nathan’s eyes shot up to the face of the man that was injecting him.  It looked fairly concerned and focused on the task at hand, short shaggy locks of black hair hanging over a frail face and elongated nose.  Whomever this guy was, he looked like he could stand to chow down on a sandwich or two.  His white lab coat and badge swayed off his emaciated frame, while a pair of work khakis clang desperately to his weak legs.  “What are you doing?”  Asking this curiously, but remembering to use some of Alexander’s accent, he got his reply through a few nervous bursts.

“Well, you see….you were injured, I don’t know why, but….you had some concussions and well your arm was broken.  So….I was just fixing it…the formula in this syringe is designed to rapidly heal bone structures by increasing the calcium inside of the bones and accelerating the healing process by increasing cell reproduction.  Your arm, so long as you hold it still, should be knit back together within three minutes; just don’t move it all or else you could end up with a very awkward looking appendage.”  Laughing weakly at the last bit, he began to walk back to the coffee machine, picking up a spare mug and hanging it to Nathan before looking back up at him curiously.  “So…umm…..Supervisor, would you mind telling me how this happened, your skull was about split open, your arm was broken and when I found you, you were muttering to yourself and bleeding all over the place.  Why didn’t anyone try to bring you into me?  You’re lucky you didn’t bleed out on the floor.”

All of those questions hadn’t been anything that Nathan had thought about as he was trying to get in; he realized that he looked suspicious now without having one of the other workers there to vouch or help him out.  Trying to think as quickly as possible, he took a long drink of the coffee; which had been given to him black, his least favorite way of having it.  Drinking it anyway, figuring that was the way Alexander liked it, he put on an Irish accent, or the best impersonation of one he could muster and spoke.  “Well, boyo…we were outside, minding our own; when suddenly that bastard vorshilder came by again.  Normally we wouldn’t think much about it; however, it seemed dead set on us.  It watched for about twenty minutes before one of the guards fired on it.  At that point, it charged us and I was in its direct path.”  The scientist only nodded with every word; however, he looked into the Captain’s eyes quizzically before gasping and drawing back in an almost pained manner. 

“You’re not Alexander!  His eyes are blue not brown!  Who the hell are you and what have you done with our supervisor!”  Shocked and dismayed, the doctor darted backwards, ending up across the room and about to hit a panic button before Nathan set the coffee cup down and pulled out the pistol he had stolen from Alexander.  Firing once caused the doctor to freeze as the sound of a silenced weapon went off, all that echoed was the whizzing noise of the tiny piece of metal launching across the room.  Having been propelled at nearly the speed of sound, it hit the wall breaking through the wooden tiles before denting the steel beneath it.  Leveling the gun directly towards the doctor’s back, the Captain could only stare at the coward, keeping the sights leveled with the middle of his skull. 

“I would suggest you stop what you’re doing.  If you step any closer to that alarm, I’ll have to kill you.”  Stating this with as little emotion as possible, Nathan watched as the doctor complied, slowly raising up his hands in defeat and taking a step back away from the alarm.  Looking at him carefully, the Captain realized he didn’t have much of a choice with this guy.  He’d have to knock him out or kill him, the same situation that he had encountered with Alexander; however, the only thing in the room to bind him with was the medical table.  A highly noticeable area and it wasn’t like the restraints would hold anyone down for long, yet the doctor looked fairly weak, it was doubtful he could free himself.  Still it was a chance, while a bullet to the back of the head….well that would end the problem immediately, unless someone walked in.  The only other option was to knock him out and leave him unbound, which was even riskier than knocking him out and leaving him bound.  Looking around the room, he realized that the medical supplies were extremely worth-while and he was sure that Lily would want some.  Granted without a means to understand everything, Nathan didn’t exactly know what to grab.

“Sir…I can see you’re interested in the medical supplies.  Look, I don’t want any trouble, I just want to live.  Look whatever your problem with this place is, I don’t care.  Please don’t shot me, I’ll help you get some medical supplies out of here, I’ll even give you my clearance card to get to the back areas and the break room.  Please, I only joined Port Langrid because I needed the money, please oh God don’t kill me.”

A.       Don’t trust his words, put a bullet through the back of his head to end his whining.

B.     Don’t trust his words, knock him out and bind him to the table.

C.     Don’t trust his words, knock him out and leave him unbound in one of the chairs.

D.     Trust him and let him go after he helps you get the medical supplies.

E.      Allow him to help you get medical supplies, then knock him out anyway, binding him to the                                                                                                                                                                              table.

F.       Allow him to help you get medical supplies, then knock him out and leave him unbound.

G.       Allow him to help you get medical supplies, then kill him.  
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