Futuristic Glory To The Empire!

[Meme Machine]

Eva shook in panic, her mind racing. Blowing that thing up would be like losing her mother all over again.

“Look! I know you don’t trust me. It makes sense not to! Whoever this guy was, you clearly had feelings for and he betrayed you, which is not okay. But please, let me get my bag. Just one thing from it, that’s all. A necklace. It was my mother’s. You can blow everything else, just let me get that necklace.”

Eva had a tear prick her eye, her panic escalating as she saw Yuki’s hand closer to the button. She looked back to Fritz, silently asking for help, before back to Yuki with a pleading look.

“Please”

 

[Ginko The Mushishi]

Cid Highwind
​

"Hmm...Not so sure my boy, the only thing I can rightly deduce from the papers is that this thing holds power. What power? I'm entirely unsure of..I could use an electric current, perhaps that my jolt it a bit. If not, then we just move onto the next thing, then cross it off if that one doesn't work either! Ah the beauties of trial and error." Cid chuckled, grabbing a generator from the back of his workshop and setting it on the table, with one foot on a pedal he began to slowly push up and down, to a nice slow rythm. Soon he would pick up the pace, until a small beam of electricity began to emit around the center of a small pin attatched to the generator. Carefully, Cid picked it up.
"If you don't mind, try prying it open once more with the screwdriver!"

Zenos Highwind
​

"I suppose that's the way the world is. Though, as my father used to say. Sometimes you have to take many steps backwards before you find the right results to move forward. Perhaps you just aren't looking at the situation the right way, and because of that you're simply following a pattern of trial and error. It wouldn't be a surprise, if you aren't getting the results you want. You need to change it up a little."
Zenos rested his head on his hand, huffing some in boredom.
"If that's the case, maybe I might be able to do something that excites me in the long-run. Things do tend to get boring here..Ah, yes your question. On that note, no I am not in a relationship. I haven't had the time to find one...Although I will have to either create an heir or choose a successor to my genius, one day at least. My turn I suppose, have you ever been close with your family? Or always a length apart from one another. I would assume that being in power might make some family break apart."
Skylord Nexus

 

[Skylord Nexus]

When Eva spoke about her Mother's necklace there did seem to be a little flicker of guilt behind Yuki's tear-filled eyes as her hand began to shake more. Her legs then gave way as she slid to the ground, the detonator falling from her hand and rolling away, leaving Eva's bag intact.

Fitz then made his way over to the red-haired girl and embraced her in a big hug, whispering into her ear, much in the same way a parent would their child "It's alright, everything's going to be ok, It's fine to let it all out." The brown-haired teen just stayed there, not releasing Yuki from his hold, he did, however, look up to Eva and gave her a small smile, motioning for her to get her stuff.

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Ciel nodded and grabbed the screwdriver, lodging it in one of the separations of the cube. It was apparent he wasn't particularly strong and he seemed to strain himself when pulling back on the tool, a small grunt coming out before the cube gave way and retracted back to its other form. When this happened Ciel fell back onto the floor, before quickly getting up and looking at the unfolded cube again incredulously, as if expecting it to swiftly snap shut again "You know, it'll really suck if this is just some kind of dastardly, demented device used to deprive people of their hands." The young boy did seem to smile a bit though, maybe from excitement, maybe from the excellent use of alliteration, who knows? Me, I know... It was the alliteration.

Ciel then carefully picked up the device and moved it closer to the generator before quickly running behind Cid to see what would happen. The energy did seem to be conducted by the orb as small arcs of energy shot to it from the pin, causing it to glow with a light blue hue. Steam then shot out from the recesses of the machinery and gears began to turn and the same triangles of sharp metal jutted out again. At first, it would seem as though the device was doing the same thing as before, but then something different happened, the pieces of metal snapped down to the sides of the machine as more triangles of metal turned out from them forming a casing that covers all the clockwork. One corner of the device then jotted out and extended to another corner forming a slanted plate made of triangles with symbols on them, each one glowing a similar blue hue to the orb.

Side note: Sorry for the terrible description of what's happening, but trust me, it looks really cool in my head XD)
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Lucius gave Zenos a half-smile at his kind words, grateful for them but also not entirely believing them "I hope you're right Zenos, I really hope your right, though give me some credit, I'm the smartest man alive, I have tried switching it up, but it's hard to change anything meaningful when most of the nobility is against you and you don't get a vote in anything because your Fathers still house patriarch."

The prince did get happier though when they moved onto the subject of the royal-machinists' love-life, giving him a pat on the shoulder "Word of advice, get out there and find someone. Unlike me, you don't have all the time in the world, find someone to share it with sooner rather than later otherwise you'll regret it... Oh, and definitely find a successor outside of your family, if it's your child you'll be more likely to go soft on them and allow them to get bad habits. Plus kids suck, and you'd probably be a really irresponsible dad. No offence." In spite of the fact that Lucius had never been known to have a relationship with anyone, nor any children, the way he spoke would be strange, as if he'd had gone through it all himself.

Lucius gave a heavy sigh and looked out of the window as the levels sped past "We were better when mother was alive. Father has always been the same, but Mother always had a way of getting him to tone down a bit, she was kind and understanding. Dargo wasn't a complete and utter psychopath with the temperament of an exploding volcano. Alexis was always sunshine and rainbows, for me, she was the brightest light in this dark empire." The prince then paused for a minute and the elevator stopped and their vehicle began moving again, before bitterly chuckling to himself "But that was a long, long time ago."

He then sat up, clapping his hands together, his rollercoaster of emotions bringing him back onto a high "Seeing as how we're almost at our destination, my question is: Do you have any questions or worries about this before we go in? Because once we're in there, there's no coming out until we're done."

 

[Meme Machine]

Eva had already bolted to the bag, ripping it open and tearing through the stuff until she found it. A small silver chain, with a lightly glowing star like pendent.

“Oh thank the moons...”

Evangeline breathes out, clasping the necklace onto her neck, before moving to Yuki.

“Thank you so much.”

Eva slid to the ground with them, gently smiling and holding the necklace in her hand.

 

[isabela.rocha]

When the woman left her room with a grumble, she realized she had migraines. "Somoene-- fetch be a flute of champaigne, yes? Pink, if you please." sitting down at her chaise, she removed the silk nightown she wore, waiting for the servants to come for her garb and drink. Soon, a drone tray arrived with the asked flute, the drink bubbly, pale, and pink. A second one brought her gown, and she dressed herself in the fine silk, addorned with floating stars that followed her like small satelites. Clearing her throat, she waited for a small insect like camera approach, that recorded her face.

"Well, good morning crew of Moon III. Isn't that a lovely morning? The rings are in place, the universe is held together by the will of gravity itself! And isn't it lovely, good people, to be grounded? Thank you universe for making me one with everything!"

With a snap of her fingers, the transmission was over. Maybe, after medidating so long, she lost track of time. She hadn't yet realized it had been years since she broadcasted herself.

Unaware of the ruckus she ought to be causing, she looked for her perfume, and puffed herself, leaving her appartments at the Moon III.

 

[Skylord Nexus]

When Eva slid onto the ground she would feel Fritz's' large arm wrap around her and pull her into the hug, creating a Yuki sandwich. From her position as sandwich filling the red-head began laughing "You know, I thought killing that ass would make everything better, but it seems I have a lot of issues I need to work through. Oh and we should probably look for that detonator, I don't know where I dropped it."

Fritz released everyone from their sandwich-y prison (I don't know at this point, I just really like the metaphor XD) then stood up and began to search for the detonator, only to step on it within seconds, a loud click ringing out "Well that's not go-" that was then a small BANG and Eva's bag exploded, covering the room, and its occupants, in the paint contained within.

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Her Ladyship wouldn't get far before being interrupted by a servant, who swiftly bowed to her "My Lady, the ships' scanners had detected something you might want to see." The servant then pulled out a small hologram projector which showed a detailed map of the solar system.

The map zoomed in towards a point at the edge of the system where, for a second, there was a small ripple in space "It appeared about an hour ago and hasn't come back since. Usually, we'd report it to a ship commander and have it investigated, but we thought you might want to see this ma'am because since it's appeared we've been reading strange gravimetric readings."

 

[Meme Machine]

Eve blinked serval times, covered in her rainbow colored paints that ranged mostly in earth tones. Her face contorted in some odd shape, before she scoffed, and started laughing uncontrollably.

“W-well... *snort* at least it was non toxic!”

She started laughing so hard she snorted, tears of laughter in her eyes.

 

[isabela.rocha]

The woman nodded along, and didn't stop walking, forcing the servant to follow her along. "Very well." she glanced at the point on the map, and narrowed her eyes.

Long steps led her throughout the ship, as if she hadn't been meditating for a couple of years. Her crew, at that rate, had been expected to learn that more often than not Selene would spend years asleep, making sure everything was balanced and gravitating properly. And nothing changed despite her long slumber. Finding herself at the main bridge, she walked from side to side. "Project the map on the screen." she ordered, narrowing her eyes again to see the ripple. "Zoom." she continued.

Lady Selene drank further on her flute of champaigne, until it was over. Before she even had to ask, another one, a man-servant rather than a robotic one came with her cigarette, already lit. "Thank you." she said inhaling sharply before puffing a ring of smoke. "Move Moon III to the zone." she said, taking a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she moved her hands like a maestro, making sure that during the trip, the ship wouldn't hit any fragment.

 

[Skylord Nexus]

Fritz and Yuki also burst into laughter, both holding onto each other to stop themselves falling "See? Eva's definitely a colourful person." Yuki snorted at the joke "Says the guy covered in paint!" Fritz looked at her, laughing even more "Says the person ALSO covered in paint."

After they had calmed down, Fritz opened the door and pointed at another door at the other end of the room "There's a shower in there you can use to wash the paint off of you. Though watch out for Yuki, she has a tendency to spy on people while they shower." The redhead immediately went as red as her hair and reached for a spanner, chucking it at Fritz who dodged out the way "That was one time by accident!"

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When they arrived at their destination, the crew of Moon III wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary, just empty space. After a few minutes, however, a small shockwave would hit the ship, not strong enough to cause damage, but enough to offset the inertia dampeners. One of the bridge crew began quickly typing at his station, bring up a simulation of the area of space "My Lady, using the data from that shockwave just now, we've been able to create a simulation of what's happening, though it makes no sense." The simulation showed the waves emanating from a centre point, before spreading out and reflecting off of what seemed to be empty space. This seemed to form a diamond-like shape before large waves were emitted from the tips of the shape.

 

[Meme Machine]

Eva stares giggling at the two. There was deffinitly history there. No doubt.

“Well, as long as she doesn’t steal my towel, I don’t really care. Being the heir to my house, I usually had people bathe me.”

Eva shivered, slightly grossed out by the memory.

“Even if it was my nurse maids, it was really weird. I immediately put a stop to it when I turned ten.”

 

[isabela.rocha]

She felt the disturbance on her rings before they could finish the simulation. When the simulation appeared on the top of the screen, she screamed, enraged. The sound of her voice echoed inside the heads of the crew, and it was likely that their vision would be affected by what seemed a white filter, squary like an old television. On their heads, too, would echo a strange song, aswell that annoying intermission.

"Who?!" her voice echoed in all their heads. Lifting her hand, she brought a camera towards her face. "Line me up with the heads of security. The millitary families." Said then, turning her black gaze towards the nearest crewmember. "Right now." she added, into their that man's head.

She did not care if they could not aswer. With one order, she could have any television on the Nexus show her face.

"Who was it?! Who has dares pass my rings?!"

 

[Skylord Nexus]

Both Yuki and Fritz both shuddered along with her "Yikes! That is just creepy on SO many levels! I'd hate for that to be done with me. The only other person who's touched this sweet body is currently six-feet under, and at the time I was intimate with him. Imagine I random person washing you though, it's just... blah!" A sly grin then snuck onto Yuki's face "Though I bet Fritz knows what it's like."

The male Immediately went red and chucked the spanner he had previously dodged back at the redhead, who proceeded to catch it "Good to hell you perverted woman!"

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Out of the numerous people the good Ladt Selene contacted, very few gave a response, generally sending a quick but polite apology basically stating that had more important things to do, and from the ones who did answer her call, none knew what was happening. It likely didn't help that she had lost much respect and notoriety after the moons had collapsed, most people forgot she was there, and those who did remember mostly saw her as a crazy lady who lived in an asteroid belt and heard voices, as well as some more 'unsavoury' rumours.

Another gravitational shockwave was then given off, stronger than last time, strong enough to warrant a computer to warn the crew of a possible threat, and strong enough to pull in a passing comet and fire it off like it had been hit with a bat. Something else peculiar also happened though, for a second, just a split second, the space around the anomaly rippled like water.

 

[Meme Machine]

Eva laughed at the two, before running off to the showers to clean up. The paint was drying in her hair. As she looked in the mirror, she relized they probably didn’t know she had white hair, as she had dyed it red earlier. Oh well. Most people like suprised.

Maybe not Yuki.... but....

 

[Ginko The Mushishi]

Cid Highwind
​

"I'm sure that would be quite a handful" Cid laughed at his pun in response to Ciel's assumption on the device. Though, Cid's theory did seem to provide some rather amazing results! "Good god...What an amazing device this is.." Cid watched, marveled by the device's reaction to the electricty that flowed through it. "Careful Ciel, lest we get too adventerous!" He pulled back the energy source, placing the needle away as well. Examining the clockwork some more to see if it was fully operational by now, or if it would return to its former dead-like form...

Zenos Highwind
​

"Smartest man doesn't mean everything good sir, sometimes you have to be more than just that. To get the results you seek." Zenos smirked, nodding his head softly at the end of Lucius' statement about his family. Although the advice Lucius gave about making a family..Didn't interest Zenos much. "If I ever have a child, they better be walking by the time they leave the womb." He laughed, though grew quiet at Lucius speaking about his family once more. "I was an only child, so I do not understand much of what you might feel. But I assume it is difficult for you to look at those times."
When Lucius returned to his cheerful self, Zenos grinned. "Questions or worries? Lucius do you take me for a coward and a buffoon? I am most eager to arrive at our destination. I care little about anything else other than to see with mine own eyes the marvelous technology that is held within. If I must be stuck with you inside a tiny, clausterphobic cave or fight off large radioactive lizards then so be it." He chuckled deviously, dreaming about the wonderous findings that would be sealed inside...
Skylord Nexus

 

[RedactedReject]

LadyOfStars

Space Zone Near Nexaria
En Route to Imperial Airspace
Constellation 14
YSS-1000 :"Eagle 5"
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
​

Count Winestone watched as the empty void of the star's florescence light up, watching as station lights veered by him. His hands kept at the control deck, looking out through the glass of the cockpit. He'd narrow his eyes a bit as he looks down at his PDA, seeing the route he was taking to Nexaria. Something had happened to one of the nobles in the Empire, and he wanted to go see what the entire commotion was about. He lost himself in the white noise of the void beyond the cockpit, listening to only the sound of the thrusts on his star ship and the silence of the void. He was to meet with a certain individual named Aurus Soleil, another imperial. This would be the first time he'd return to the palace in over a year. He'd ponder among his own thoughts as he cruised through the black, dark emptiness.

​

 

[Meme Machine]

When Eva got out of shower, she realized she had only her paint covered clothes. She shrugged, and put them back on, ignoring the paint smell, and ruffled her white hair. She waltzed out of the room, scanning for Yuri and Fritz. She would need to go home soon, she just hoped nothing else went wrong today.

 

[Skylord Nexus]

Fritz and Yuki were in the next room over using the sink to wash the paint of off there faces, though it seemed their progress had been slow. Surprisingly, Yuki was the first one the wave at the young noble, a bright smile on her face "Hey! You're looking good. You seem to have had an easier time getting that paint off then we have."

Fritz was trying to use a towel to rub the paint from his face when he looked up and saw Eva "Wow. I have no idea you had white hair, that's such a cool colour to have." The teen then looked at himself in a nearby mirror and laughed "Well I guess we do too, not a bad look, though I prefer my hair brown."

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When the power source was pulled away, the glow of the orb and symbols diminished a little bit, but there seemed to be no adverse effect to the lack of energy, apparently, the device was quite power efficient which may have explained why it lasted for so long.

Ciel sighed and shook his head at Cid's terrible pun before peering closer at the device "But how are we supposed to work out what it does if we don't be adventurous?" The young boy then stared at the symbols as the glowed their blue hue illuminating his face slightly as another look of realisation crossed his face. Running over to his brother's notes, Ciel quickly flicked through them before lifting up a sheet triumphantly, this particular one seemed to be written on a take-out menu. The paper seemed to be some form of translation, attributing a symbol on the device to a letter of English (I have no fancy sci-fi name for it XD), as well as some that were attributed to punctuation.

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Lucius shrugged dismissively at Zenos' attempt at kindness "Nah, not really. If there's something being immortal teaches you, it's that there's no point holding onto the past, overwise you'll be holding on for a long ass time. Thanks all the same though." Though the princes had to admit, in an empire of cowards and morons, the royal mechanist was a welcome change of pace "You know, it's almost scary how much you resemble a younger me, I was more handsome and smarter, but you're getting there." Lucius laughed and patted Zenos on the shoulder, though there was defiantly some underlying narcissism in his comment.

A while later, the vehicle drew to a halt and the driver side window descended, a royal guard on the other side "I don't know who you are, but you have no permission to - OH! Y-y-your majesty! It's an honour, what brings you here." Lucius chuckled "Oh you know, as Lord Minister of Science, it's my job to get these vaults opened, though unfortunately, I can't have you guys see." At first, the guard didn't seem to process all of what the princes had said as he saluted "Of course your majesty, I apologise for questioning you. Wait. What did you mean by we can't s-" Before he could finish, Lucius had fired a purple bolt of energy out from a black and gold blaster, causing the guard to collapse.

Lucius then pushed a button on the car's console and it began driving into a closed-off section of the city. Once they arrived, Lucius quickly hopped out the vehicle, looking back at Zenos "The lab entrance is just down there, you'll know it when you see it. I'll join you in five minutes or so." The princes then pulled out a second identical blasted and sauntered off down a nearby corridor. The path Lucius pointed too was definitely lead to something regulaian, the sound and site of ornate golden clockwork, inlaid with power crystals, would be enough for most people, but if more proof was needed, there was even an old clockwork worker drone left relatively intact against a wall.

 

[Meme Machine]

Eva laughed.
“Have you been using soap? If so, that’s the problem. The soap just seals it. I used that type of paint when I figured out what they were washing my drawings off with.”

She looked to Fritz, a small smile on her face.

“Yeah, white. It’s kind of a blaring color, so I have to cover it up a lot...” her smile faded a bit as she remembered her father yelling at her for covering her hair up. “It’s rare, and could make us money!” That was not a fun day.

 

[Skylord Nexus]

The two rebels turned and looked at each other for a minute before Fritz thrust a bottle of body wash into Yuki's hand "Well I tried telling her, but Yuki can be very impulsive at times." The red-head looked down at the bottle in her hand and then back to Fritz "Oh really?" She then emptied some of the wash onto her hand and slapped it over the young mans' eyes, causing him to immediately grab at his face and yell out in pain "Ahh! God! My eyes! What the hell was that for?!" Yuki just smiled smugly at her friend and shrugged "Dunno, guess I was just being impulsive."

Yuki did notice Eva's smile fade and stuck an arm around her shoulder "You ok? You look a little down, not as down as Fritz, but still down." She then motioned to the brown-haired male who was still rolling on the floor in agony "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to but make sure to cheer up, or we'll have to shave your head to get the money to buy you a present."

 

[Meme Machine]

Eva snickered at Yuki’s jab at Fritz. She smiled back to the girl, and shook her head.
“Nah, nothing but a past memory. So, now that you just sabotaged your own teammate, I’m assuming that there are more rebels on the planet? I’ve seen them.”

 

[Skylord Nexus]

Yuki gave Eva a sad look, but it was quickly replaced when another cry of pain from Fritz, who was now trying to wash the soap out of his eyes, with a snicker "Well yeah, there are others, but none were in contact with, the various rebel factions don't really get on. There's us, the Vigil, named after are HQ and flagship, we mostly deal with aiding the people where we can. Then there are the reapers, they entirely consist of mutants from lower levels, I believe you Nexarians generously named them 'scum'. They all go around wearing breathing masks and hazard suits containing toxic gas, apparently, it's the only way they can breathe after living below. They are mostly responsible for acts of terrorism, if rebels blew something up or murder a load of people, it was probably them to blame, most of them hate any Nexarian, that being said, it may also be the Empire lying to gain support. Then there's the Lost Legion, they mostly ex-military, they try to solve everything with force, they have a big army but normal standards, but compared to the Empire it's like a drop of water in the ocean. Vigil doesn't operate here in the capital anymore, so that leaves the other two. There are also more minor factions, but they don't tend to last long."