Play Testers Wanted

Finally!! I am so sorry this beast took so long to come into being. I hope you enjoy this and I will do my best to speed things along. Take care of yourselves, be safe, and feel free to vote and comment.

A Pirate's Life for Me:

"Inertial dampeners are failing!" Screeched Mr. Gimmick. "Down to fifteen percent Captain!"

"Expand tactical display!" I ordered. "There has got to be something we can put between us and those two battle cruisers!" I barked out and Traci doubled the range of her scans.

"A Kree battleship just jumped into the system!" Sentinel cried out. "Orders?"

"There is a gas giant within 'blink' range. Traci! Calculate insertion coordinates." I pondered out options as the two cruisers fired another volley from their railguns.

"We are fucked if those hit!" Sentinel stated as she targeted the small lethal rounds.

"Jump coordinates available," Traci announced. "Blink in three... two... one!"

Instead of entering hyperspace where our damaged inertial dampeners might fail and scatter us across time/space we performed a short hop instead. The Ghostdancer teleported into the gravity well of the gas giant. She was angled for atmospheric insertion and we dove at best possible speed. My crew cheered our narrow escape, but we were hardly off the hook. The battleship alone carried twenty plus fighters, easily enough to finish us off in atmosphere.

"Take us as deep as our shields can take, bring the second sphere online. I will repair the inertial dampeners. Call me if they come in after us." I raced to engineering to get to work. Those with repair skills worked on the shields and other necessary systems. The ship was silent only broken by the occasional curse or sound of a tool being utilized. We drifted in the upper atmosphere of the planet.

"What was that?" Grit the Shadowspawn cried out. "Some kind of wide band burst transmission."

"Talk to me Mr. Grit," I said over the ship's internal communication.

"Analyzing multiple transmissions from outside the ship. Weird. Each source is layered but I am getting multiple messages with each transmission. It will take time to decipher each layer. This is some seriously sophisticated technology."

"It is not technology, there is something alive out there transmitting, but not to us I think." Ynariel stated. "Scanning for life."

"Activating external sensors," Grit announced, and the ship was full of what sounded to me like whale song. Their voices overlapped in an otherworldly orchestra. The question was whether they even knew we existed.

"Calibrate shield harmonics to match their voices." I ordered. "Let's get their attention."

"We have penetration!" Sentinel called out.

"Don't toy with me, how many?" I rushed my repairs.

"A full dozen fighters." She replied. "Wait, they are holding formation. I think we just dropped off their radar."

"Keep those shields modulated!" I ordered as I finished my repairs.

"Those aliens are moving closer," Grit informed me. "We have their attention." The ship lurched. "They are pushing us. Should I fire maneuvering thrusters?"

"No, as long as they don't take us too deep... quit laughing you assholes!" I chided them as I closed the housing for the inertial dampeners. "Dampeners are back online!" I stated as I headed for the bridge. "Open the cockpit iris."

"We can only open the left side. The right portion is still compromised." Gimmick informed us. The left armored plating slid away revealing the lurid alien atmosphere. The clouds tended towards the reddish orange portion of the spectrum. Swirling among the dominant foggy atmosphere were large fast-moving grey-white horizontal tornadic manifestations. Were these the life forms helping us?

"I have isolated the source of the transmissions," Grit announced as targeting reticules pointed out faint, nigh on invisible, outlines hovering at a distant but following us. The tornadic formations were either a weather phenomenon or created by the natives. While I pondered all this the natives maneuvered the Dancer deeper into the atmosphere while the auto repair features worked on the damaged hull and things the crew could not handle or reach. The more time she had to heal the better off we were.

"Whoa! Picking up massive amounts of metal, alloys, polyalloys, and a host of other mineral byproducts Captain." Gimmick exclaimed.

"Keep scanning but narrow beam only, we do not want to give away our position to those fighters, not yet anyway." I directed. Gimmick was as happy as a pig in shit. It took longer but far safer than being foolhardy and assuming they would not be looking for signs of active technology. Gimmick projected an ever-growing map of the ships just hovering here between safety and crush level of this formidable planet. Those that did not respect the forces of nature perished by them.

"It is a graveyard of ships, some of these things are thousands of years old!" Gimmick pointed out the rarest and most interesting of vessels. "Holy shit, an Old Empire Titan Class Pyramid Ship!" He exclaimed and continued. "These fuckers are legend! Tell me, please, tell me we are going to at least board her!"

"Once we get permission from the natives, this is their world. We will respect that." I ordered and turned to Traci to see if she could find a way to communicate with them.

"Bio analysis complete, the natives are hydrogen-based lifeforms. I know straight off the known charts of potential elements. Silicon is a far more likely candidate than hydrogen. Score one for a scientific reward. Opening six tight beam channels. Hope and pray I can work this out. Sit tight, this could take a while." Traci announced as her power consumption spiked and we waited as we watched the difference between the natives speaking and Traci trying to keep up. It was clear that these aliens multitasked on a level that belied their apparent simple nature. I watched the exchange and she was struggling. Traci's core was red lining and I ordered her to halt. "I failed Captain." She said as she self-diagnosed to see if any of her components were damaged from the strain.

"Let me try," I stated. "Maybe an organic mind can touch them where you cannot."

My crew knew better than to argue. I retreated to my meditation chamber and only Ynariel followed. She sat near the entrance while I prepared my mind to touch one of the aliens. I hesitated and then plunged into the psychic maelstrom surrounding the ship. They latched onto my mental gesture and I was instantly overwhelmed. A single voice called out to the others to withdraw before my mind was burnt out. I was surprised that my sanity remained intact. I suspected by my brief exposure what I was dealing with, but only further communication would prove me right or wrong.

'I am designated Ghostfire.' I sent.

'We are the...' what followed was the keening sound I associated with a storm squall. '...squall, yes Squall will do. Your exoskeleton is damaged how may we assist?'

'The other vessels have been here a long time. May we explore the large pyramidical shaped ship?' I asked and as I suspected they believed I was the voice of the Ghostdancer. They knew no better and so they created a graveyard for what they believed were strange alien creatures. I explained that the function of the ships allowed us to visit other worlds. The cacophony of so many voices forced me to completely retreat.

'Ghostfire, you have revealed to us a great truth. As a reward we give you leave to harvest as you will from the vessels here. We will shroud your presence from the rude interlopers. Yes, as you may have guessed, we are many and yet we are one.' The contact was ended, and I meditated until my healing factor repaired the damage long term communication had cost me in health and stamina.

"Gestalt," I blurted out as I opened my eyes. "Many parts making up a stronger unified entity."

"That would explain the multiple levels of communication." Ynariel replied as she handed me a concoction of her own devising. "This will help restore you after your ordeal. The Farseers of my people developed this for use after difficult psychic duels and combat."

I drank the restorative and gave orders to slowly approach the Old Empire ship. While we had permission, we did not know if any automated defenses survived. There were so few artifacts that could be attributed to them. They dominated what we called the Scutum-Centaurus arm of the galaxy a hundred thousand years ago. Lucky for us that was the opposite side and left us unmolested. Their downfall was as mysterious as the utter lack of artifacts. The xenohistorians theorized that an older and more powerful race encountered them and wiped them out. I put money on the damn Celestials. They fit the bill all too well.

"Take us in Mr. Grit," I said as Ynariel helped me stagger to the bridge. I was still sipping her concoction as the shadowspawn and Traci calculated the best course. "Give us a flyby and make sure she doesn't swat us out of the sky. If she powers up get us the fuck out of here."

"Absolutely, course plotted and laid in." Grit stated.

"Initiate and take your sweet time." I ordered. The Dancer automatically adjusted her wing configuration for the heavier atmosphere. We sunk deeper and Traci tweaked the shield harmonics and layered them to maintain structural capacity. She was not a warship. She was designed for hit and run tactics. Her hull and shields reflected that. The ships below us were all capital ships or larger. The biggest of the lot was our goal. She dwarfed the others by a factor of three or more. "Anything?" I asked.

"She is already powered up. We did not trigger anything." Grit informed us. "Abort?"

"No, but if she starts to spike," I declared. My crew was too disciplined to ask unnecessary questions.

"She is opening up," Grit growled. "No spikes in power. Must be a proximity sensor."

The docking bay doors were big enough to accommodate multiple warships with ease. The Dancer was completely dwarfed by them. We slid in and it silently closed behind us. How the hell do cyclopean doors close so quietly after being here for god knew how long? Their level of engineering was off the scale. If they wanted to impress other races they succeeded. The docking bay was empty of other craft. That was a disappointment. The speed at which the bay pressurized was equally profound. The atmosphere was not only safe but damn near sterile. The NPC's stayed on ship while the other players joined me to explore. The ramp lowered and we stepped out onto the floor of the docking bay. The first thing that caught my eye were the deep fluted vertical lines cut into the stone walls. They ran up nice and parallel and then suddenly they began running along at odd angles. Some of the lines appeared to dive under others, some seemed to hop over, they wove in and out like a veins or arteries. In the end they performed their job which was to draw the observer's attention to the ceiling.

"What a sight!" Gimmick exclaimed. "Is it a map... it is... it is a star map!"

"The whole of their empire in all its glory." Sentinel added.

"It is so nice to be out of that damn gun turret," Void announced. "I think my ass fell asleep."

"I bet Ghost would be thrilled to massage it back to life," Gimmick chuckled. I looked over at Void and she blew me a kiss. To be honest, I forgot she was even on the ship. She is so damn quiet normally. "There are steps way over there." He said pointing. Even as he spoke a glowing symbol appeared on the deck. It was a complex spell circle that involved the manipulation of space but besides that I could not decipher it without a great deal of time and effort.

"Teleport, I think." I stated. "Let us hold hands and enter it at the same time. It looks big enough for all of us." I suggested and they laughed. "Come on you pervs."

Despite holding hands, I ended up alone inside what appeared to be a huge collection of harvested and ensconced purple stones. I did not touch but leaned close to examine the nearest crystal. The exterior looked little worked and mostly in its natural state, yet there were a series of silver wires inside the stone forming a metal web or circuit board. I had been sent here for a reason. So, I stuck out my left index finger and touched one of the flat portions of the crystal. The silver wires lit up like the filament of a lightbulb. A holographic image appeared above the stone. I cried out when I recognized the squirrel-like Kreffa I had seen on the world where Ariel and Elsa had parted ways.

"I greet you," he spoke bowing with complicated hand gestures. "I am Entitled Master Shi-Shon-Jirune, how can I be of assistance?"

"What are you the Master of?" I asked and the diminutive figure hopped from above the crystal and landed next to me now his full height I assumed he possessed in life. The image sharpened and lost its transparency. He looked real, hell, he even breathed! I touched the hologram and he was solid. "Sorry."

"No offense taken. I take it you have not encountered solid state imagery before." Jirune responded.

"Nothing this sophisticated." I admitted. He led me to a second crystal.

"He can be of help." The Kreffa declared. I touched the second crystal and a goatish thing appeared above its crystal. Like Jirune it greeted me with honorific titles and gestures. The second being belonged to the long extinct Ryfe'I'El. Despite his bestial appearance he was quite eloquent. I chastised myself for judging him upon looks alone. The three of us wandered among thousands of crystals in just this room alone. Ryfe as I thought of him, his name was simply unpronounceable because of my biology, found out how much I understood of holograms and then explained how to improve my knowledge of the craft.

Once I learned what I was able from Ryfe I turned my attention to Jirune. He described himself as a Master of the Esoteric Arts. His people blended the sciences, psionics, and the mystic arts as a single subject they referred to as Marat. The Kreffa viewed them as equals and sought students capable and intelligent enough to embrace them. His knowledge of metallurgy was profound, and he hinted at ways of adding certain rare elements to armor that would allow and focus mystical energies to great effect. For a price I could unlock the equivalent of a mystical railgun. My first thought was how it differed or could improve Force burst. He described the device in general terms, and I hesitated. I was not going to drop serious coin on something he would not define with in game numbers.

"I will have to take a pass." I declared. I still had a ship to maintain. Supplies were not going to pay for themselves. The holograms vanished and a doorway appeared. The message was clear it was time to meet whoever or whatever survived in this place. Beyond the doorway was clearly a throne room for the likes of titans or gods. The sheer dimensions of the chamber and the throne dwarfed us in the same way the docking bay made the Ghostdancer insignificant. The walls were polished dark stone with the occasional glowing red-gold stripes that pulsed like a heartbeat and reminded me of veins of magma. The stripe's lengths were irregular and broke up the monotony of the umbral construction.

The others appeared next to me, arriving out of thin air in a display of mystical power. We walked towards the throne which, to give the chamber a sense of scale, was half a mile high. The ceiling must be two miles or better in height. The interior of this ship was impossible. I began to think that each chamber inside this ship was in fact its own pocket dimension. That would explain the need of mystic portals to transverse its interior.

"This is what an ant feels like," Void whispered but the vast space carried her words everywhere.

"Galactus?" Gimmick offered.

"If so, we are f... done." I decided cursing would be a bad idea. "Where were you taken?" I asked them in general. "I got a crystal library."

"Me too," Gimmick exclaimed.

"I got a tutorial on the nature of matter and energy." Void shared. "I bumped up my intangibility."

"Dojo, but nothing I needed so I took a pass." Sentinel declared winking at me her golden lips curling in a smile.

The sense of presence manifested before she physically appeared. A shaft of light shone from the ceiling and out of it the tall slender feminine figure. The light faded as we approached each other. The woman's skin gleamed with the same flawless mirror bright skin like the Silver Surfer, but she was not human. She was far too beautiful for a mortal. As she walked, she was in flux, her limbs as well as her figure and features changed with each step. I remarked to myself that she was still cooking and finding it difficult to settle on just one shape. By the time she did settle she stood twelve feet in height, had long elegant limbs, a profoundly erotic figure, and the face of an elfin goddess.

"I am Amalgam," she greeted us imperiously. Her stance was ramrod straight, and impossibly still once she stood before us. I did introductions leaving myself for last. "Names are unnecessary here," Amalgam intoned in a sweet yet unrelenting tone. She was the mistress of this place and everything screamed a need to be in charge. "Captain Ghost the Musician, Gimmick the Historian, Void the Artist, and of course Sentinel the Athlete. I know you all." I did not react to the title of musician, but the others visibly flinched at their titles. Had the A.I. delved into real world hobbies or occupations? "Be at ease."

"You are the living embodiment of the ship's archive?" I asked and this time it was the avatar's turn to react unexpectedly. "It is in the name you chose, Amalgam, or fusion of all that information. It is a fine name." I added to put her at ease. It did not work. She was clearly angry. "Why did you let my ship land?"

"I thought a smart boy like you would figure that out." She replied and the psychic cold she gave off was clear for all to behold. "You are here to entertain me. For each enemy that you vanquish I will reward you in either knowledge, power, or material wealth." She turned to face the throne. She walked away from us. We were dismissed for now. With each step she grew larger and larger. By the time she reached the throne her height and proportions allowed her to sit upon that vast seat with languid abandon. Instead of sitting in the throne she was seated diagonally with one leg thrown lewdly over one arm of the seat. "Any volunteers?" I stepped up without hesitating.

I was teleported to a ring between the throne and the other PC's. Amalgam fixed me with her gaze. Her eyes glowed with an emerald light. She smiled and declared I would face a foe from my past. A mystical circle pulsing with verdant light manifested, and a slim dark-haired beauty appeared. I knew her instantly. I recognized her jet-black hair, pale complexion, blood red lips, and hungry eyes that glowed scarlet in the fading light.

"Hey Snow," I greeted her my voice cracking.

"What is this?!" She hissed. Her angry whisper carried over the vast open space. "You have forsaken my gift!" She growled her voice lower, fangs extended, and her nails grown to lethal potential.

"It was taken from me," I informed her fearing that if she infected me, I would lose Ghost to a technicality in the game. 'Left, priority one load out.'

'Yes, boss!' The artifact activated my best armor and placed Deathkiss in my left hand.

"Enough talk, entertain me," Amalgam ordered.

Snow was a nightmarish blur. I threw up a defensive sphere to try give me the time to track her movements. It was useless! She took me from the side. She shattered the forcefield as if it did not exist. I felt her fangs on my throat and her venom coursing through my veins. Deathkiss sunk deep but only kept from me from perishing. It had no effect on the vampiric venom racing towards my hearts. Sword and vampire were equally matched. She drank my life blood and the sword gobbled up her life stuff. The problem with the equation was that the sword took more than half the energy for itself. My vision swam as I wrenched the sword free of Snow's abdomen and spun to decapitate her. I missed. I heard her laughter as my knees struck the hard-stone floor.