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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dougal DeKree" data-source="post: 2614343" data-attributes="member: 1353">05 – ShipwreckedThe surface of the third planet in the Kale System was lit by the small blue star in the centre of this star system, accenting every contrast due to the hard light it emitted. The air was a breathable mix of nitrogen, oxygen, and other gases. The radiation level was just slightly above standard, but not dangerous.Kale 3 also had water. That was the original reason, why the Rapid Claw had come here – to refuel it’s supplies of air and water. Usually the ships recycling systems would have spared it such a stop, but only military equipment was maintained in prime condition. So the systems were working at only 30% efficiency and the captain had arranged with it.Aside from that the short shore leaves were good for his troops morale, since there usually was some animal life on the planets he chose for scooping air and water from. This allowed him to pursue his hobby – hunting.Actually the captain of the Rapid Claw had gained his command by using the skills he had learned during his countless forays in the wilderness. He had developed a level of patience rarely found in the ranks of the Falar. Two years ago, after he had endured a low position for the same time span, they had landed on some border planet where he had talked the prior captain to go hunting with him. Lacking the equipment, M’rrol borrowed him one of his skinning knives. The contact poison was taking effect more than a day later and reduced the former captains reflexes. M’rrol had seized the chance and challenged him, before anyone else could notice anything. When they came back to their empires base, an autopsy failed to indicate the toxin, that had already dissolved days before.Thenceforward the new captain had been watchful bordering on the paranoid. And he never took of his gloves.---“Send a distress call!”“I am sorry, Captain, but our emergency power is insufficient to do so.”M’rrol growled angry at his recent bad luck.Naturally he had responded poorly to Prrrl’mur’s challenge and wasn’t surprised by the insubordination his security officer showed during this case of emergency.“Can you track our shuttle at least? I want to know the exact location where they land.”The small Falaris pilot smelled afraid. “But Sir, we will not survive the crash! All escape capsule were removed in exchange for torpedoes…”“Silence!” thundered the large Falar. He was disgusted by the obvious display of cowardice. “We are aboard an imperial warship. Certainly hitting the surface will not destroy it completely. We will fill the bridge with the hard foam we have for such a case – that should help us survive the impact. Then we will recapture the shuttle and call for a rescue team. Assemble all experienced soldiers on the bridge, armed and armored. I don’t care for the rest.”“Yes, Sir!”---The shuttles landing had been unspectacular. After leaving the shuttle they could see craggy terrain, covered with grasses and brushwood. Slowly the humans took their helmets off and began removing their bulky suits, without making any fast movements. Finally they stood there, three males and a female. Three had a short haircut, like usually met in the military, while one male had a ponytail.Also they were smelling like they had been in those suits for more than a day. Chraron was wrinkling her snout involuntarily. Poor humans, she thought, with such a smell, hunting must be really hard. “I told you to disarm them!” Prrrl’mur bawled out. He strode towards Chraron shaking with rage. “Why can’t you dogs follow simple orders?”“Considering the emergency…” the Tulgar woman started, but the Falar cut her short.“I do not want you to think.” He picked up a stick from the ground, and snidely proceeded “I want you to obey! Fetch!” and threw the stick into some brushes.Instinctively her hand fell to her swords hilt. If only she wasn’t…she wasn’t! She was free to teach that moron a thing or two! Chraron still hadn’t accustomed to her new freedom. But he still was her superior in rank, so she needed a reason to draw her monoblade against him. And a simple insult was no reason. So she did what she had to do – carry out the order.---The Terrans watched the scene.“Looks like they have a heated argument! I just hope that the wolf wins!” Martha commented.“Listen up! Our feminist speaks!” Rico replied as he stepped away from her.“Please, stop it. And I prefer to call her “knight”. What do we do?” Boris interrupted the two.“How about cleaning ourselves? We smell horrible!” Franks answer came from behind a brush next to them.“Sure, step right into some ditch so that an unknown kind of animal can bite in our behinds…”This comment from Rico was rewarded with a shrill yell by Frank.“Wait, is that some giant tick on your cheek?” Martha continued the age-old tradition of playing games with the teams’ greenhorn. “Ok, that’s enough, you two. Frank, calm down. No, there is no tick. I repeat my question, what should we do now?” Boris interfered. Both Martha and Rico sulked like school kids, but had to admit that they had no time for that. Even though Frank was the perfect victim.“I say let’s be curious. And curiosity kills the cat. So let’s kill that cat.” Rico still was too playful in Boris opinion.“Martha?”“You’re the boss, so it’s you decision.”“What do you mean kill one of the aliens? You can’t be serious? When their rescue ships arrive and you have killed one of them, we will all die!”“Frank, this is a military decision, so stop talking. We will ask you if we need your opinion.”“But you asked, what we should do?” Frank persisted.“Yes, I asked the members of my team. You are a guest. We need to act quickly, maybe someone survived the crash of the big ship and we can’t afford to fight them with someone at our back.”“Why do you think they will attack?” Frank didn’t hold out.“If I were the captain of a ship and someone damaged it so that I crash on some planet after seeing them fly off in my own shuttle and I survive – believe me I would do anything to pay them back!” Boris tone made clear he would not discuss this topic any further.Martha eyed the display of her ammunition. “My flamer is still half full and the machine gun still has some bursts in it. I say we shoot the cat, because I don’t like it and see what happens.”“Yeah, it certainly looks too dangerous to kill it unarmed!” Rico replied.Boris had made up his mind. “Still we better go near first, so we do not miss our initial attacks. Looks like our path is set. Rico and I flank him to prevent him from fleeing. When I nod, we attack.”“You will get us all killed” Frank whispered, sat down, head between his knees and started into a crying fit. ---As Chraron was looking for the stick her thoughts were racing. How could she challenge the Falar without violating the knighthoods protocol by disobeying the ranking order.The solution presented itself as soon as she turned around to bring back the stick.Her human fosterlings were approaching Prrrl’mur, carrying their arms casually. Too casually for her liking. They were up to something. Certainly the Falar would have noticed it, too, and had come to the same conclusions. She was sure that he was faster than those monkeys, which would mean death for at least one of them.But after protecting the artefact, protecting them was her next priority, higher even than following military ranks. So she had to intervene. Chraron quickened her pace and arrived at Prrrl’mur’s right side before the humans were too near.As she presented the stick, the Falar refused it with a short flick of his ears. His eyes were fixed at the trio that had been delayed by the Oort technician who was swearing and gesticulating wildly.“They will attack. Stupid monkeys!” Prrrl’mur said with low voice while he shifted his weight and lowered his hand towards his hazzok.“I will not tolerate any harm to be done to them.” Chraron informed him.“I don’t need your help, dog, I can take them on my own.” Obviously he hadn’t paid any attention to the exact meaning of her words. Not her problem, she had been almost too fair to warn him in advance.So the Tulgar, too, layed her hand on her swords hilt and took her favourite stance for drawing it as fast as possible. She had to wait for the cat to move first, after all and being too slow would result in one human being killed.---Finally the three humans took positions around Prrrl’mur and, much to everyones surprise, addressed him in the basic imperial tongue. Or rather the translator, the Oort had filled with every accessible information and modified to learn their variation of the human dialects had given them, did. The translation given was awkward but getting better over time.“Cat, me Boris, who you?” the box snivelled as Boris nodded towards his opponent and Martha pulled up her gun.As soon as her shoulder started to move, the Falar already had his hazzok halfway out of the scabbard. He aimed for her right shoulder, with the intent of severing the arm and torturing her later when he was done with the other traitors. Suddenly, just as Marthas barrel had started to rise, his vision tilted to the side and became red. The last he could see was the ground falling towards him. Then there was nothing.---Martha could not believe her eyes. That cat was fast – far too fast for her. As soon as she realized this, the situation was over. Her guns barrel had barely moved 5 cm when the Tulgaran blade was in it’s sheath again.Martha’s jaw dropped. Rico stared. Boris was awestruck.He was experienced in knife combat and had done Kendo for several times, but never had he seen anyone moving or striking as fast as that cat. And the knight had been faster still. She must be a master of  both Iaitsu and swordplay. In the blink of an eye she had drawn the blade, used the motion to cut through the massive lionman starting from his lower ribs up through his left shoulder (effectively cutting him in two) and resheathed it. *He dropped his rifle and bowed deeply towards Chraron. “We owe you our lives, please spare us.”Out of his translator he could hear metallic laughter.“Of course I will spare you. I am Chraron of Honorrock, of the Tulgar race and I will protect you.”-----*: This was some tremendous rolling of Chrarons player. I asked for quick-draw to see who was faster, after she had a better initiative than the cat and readied for it to strike. She rolled open-ended here (something like 190+). Then, when it came to the attack, she rolled open-ended again, attacking with a total of over 150. When asked to roll for the criticals, well, you expect it, the E critical was over 90. With a series of rolls that perfect I could do nothing but applaud (although i would have liked to use Prrrl'Mur as the first example fight showing that melee can be dangerous, too. Well, on the other hand, that goal was achieved... <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> )</blockquote>

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