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Asellus     Regions are their own worlds, in many ways. Each is different, whether they are the size of a sleepy town, a sprawling city, or easily encompass the scope of a planet. Further, they are separated by a permeable but vast dimensional sea of sorts, a shimmering sky of energies that fly by above, below, and to either side, with safe routes painstakingly mapped via exploration by wondrous vessels known as Region Ships.

    Regardless of their appearance, the key factor that links all Region Ships is that they are some sort of vessel capable of physically travelling through Region Space. Some may be larger or small, sophisticated or humble, much like the Regions themselves. But all can perform a feat that most utterly lack the capacity for.

    With the appearance of Warp Gates, exploration has become a bit easier, but most people still have no concept of their existence and distrust them even if they know. Why bother sticking your head in a glowy space-hole when they have a known, proven form of transportation readily available? Thus, only natural Warp Gates exist for now, and while it's inevitable that someone will start to exploit them eventually, right now there has been no serious effort to regulate or use them.

    Instead, they have vessels like the Cygnus.

    A grand silver Region Ship shaped like a gleaming giant swan transports people, their luggage, and sometimes other cargo, through the beautiful-but-dangerous bounds of Region Space. Multiversal exploration vessels, space ships primarily, rushed in or arrived accidentally when this collection of worlds and dimensions first Unified, and many faced disaster. Some, it is whispered, vanished entirely while transmitting something about a giant mouth.

    Since then, contacting Regions and learning how things work has allowed some Multiversal civilizations to adapt their spaceships or purchase Region Ships off the lot and conduct their own exploration, start establishing their own trade routes, and even to start making aggressive moves.

    Those aboard the Cygnus may have come from other worlds outside of Region Space, for the sake of exploration, rest and relaxation, curiosity or boredom, simply to get from one place to another, or because they have other plans, but the end result is that the Cygnus can accommodate them, their stuff, and their needs, unless their needs are absurd and also ludicrous. Fine dining, luxurious rooms, recreation in the form of dancing, karaoke, an on-board arcade, and more!

    And also, all the interesting fellow passengers one might meet.
Riva Banari To be fair, Riva could get used to hanging out on the Cygnus. The place is pretty swank. Clean lines, nice lounges, good food.

Riva's in said lounge, munching on the local delicacies, to be specific. She's enjoying the amenities, the environment, and the novelty of flying through a spatial distortion. What's not to like?
Leyanne Leyanne is here... well, to be honest, she's here because she feels like crap. It's only been a day or two, at least subjectively for Leyanne, since the apparently-failed rescue of Asellus, and she's kind of in a fugue. She sits on the edge of the Cygnus' deck, watching the regions slide past... paying her fare at each port, but just watching the worlds go past. Occasionally she'll light a cigarette, or move to somewhere else on the ship to get a better view... but she's not got the usual manic energy that those familiar with the megamouse will recognise. Even her antennae are drooping. Not even the suggestion of parasailing across a region border can spark her interest.
Dorian Pavus     Truth be told, Dorian's here just out of curiosity. Mainly for the sake of exploration of worlds outside his own. That's what he does these days, when he's not assisting the Inquisition in murdering bastards who desperately deserve it.

    All things considered, there are definitely worse ways one could explore another world. He's seen a few. But the Cygnus has plenty to do and plenty to eat on board -- and hopefully booze that isn't about the level of cheap dwarven ale. so far it's actually much closer to the kind of thing that his family would expect when choosing transportation. Then again his family tends to leave Multiversal business alone. Thank the Maker.

    Dorian is wearing his more modern-style outfit, the white suit and dragon-headed cane, because a cane is easier to reason out than a mage staff. He's been wandering through the ship, just looking around, trying to get familiar with the ship. And getting lost, because EVERY BLOODY HALLWAY LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME.
Gilgamesh      The King of Heroes pays stupidly well.

     Even in the event that his overwhelming divine charisma does, in fact, just sway people into letting him do what he wants and go where he pleases - which it often does - Gilgamesh is a consistent believer in the economy and in the exchange of goods and services. He presided over humanity's first economy, after all, when clay tablets for magical computers tracked grain and cattle being traded between the nations of the world. Moreover he understands wealth and nobility in a way that ordinary human beings cannot. The notion of royalty is engraved in him as irrevocably as the notion of having two arms and two legs and a head is engraved in the human form, and royalty is about showing your wealth and generosity to the peasantry, rewarding competence, and granting luxurious boons to those who serve you.

     So even if the little mud dolls (his contempt is unrelated to his manners) do, like almost all others, fall under the sway of his aura, he still pays them. He pays them in gold and jewels, showering the staff with a small fortune for the privilege of having served him as if he was Mansa Musa of Mali. He tips people with rubies and emeralds for serving well and drips gold into their hands for accomodating his whims.

     And the King's whims are ludicrous. This is not the ludicrous luxury advertised, to the King of Babylon who ruled a land of unmatched glory. This is modest luxury at best. So as he walks with a crowd of various ship staff, he is giving them orders.

     And advice.

     He points out places where they need more gold. Where jewels would bring a cabin to a new level of decadence. Where sheets could be spun from finer wool with finer hands and finer layers. Where a fine vase would turn a hallway into an art room.

     The King of Heroes is *unsatisfied* with a luxury liner, because it is *not luxurious enough*, so he might as well do his kingly duty and instruct them on how to make it more luxurious.

     He passes into the lounge and immediately takes in the scenery. Then he shakes his head. Even the motion of his headshake is glorious, that aura of raw divinity pouring off of him like a fountain of water in the midst of a desert, superhuman grace making even his humble white robe look as if it was a garment made by the finest craftsmen.

     "You serve this?" Gilgamesh asks, waving his hand at the food. "You offer luxury, and yet again you come up short. You." He snaps his fingers at one of the chefs, "Buy finer meat next time. I will graciously allow you to cook with some of my fineries this day, so rejoice, for I am also granting you the chance to prove your skill to your King."

     A hunk of incredible meat just falls out of the air into Gilgamesh's hands. He sets it down on the counter and stares at the chef, his red eyes intense in a way that mortals simply aren't. The meat is beyond flawless, beyond high-grade, a marbled steak so fine that even *raw* it's mouthwatering.

     "Make something for the passengers with this. I do not care what. And brew your finest beer and bake your finest bread, and we shall see if you measure up to the quality of service your King expects from a place in Multi-Vars that claims to offer /luxury/."
Nova Terra     In one of the more ritzy parts of the ship, a woman sits on a stool at the bar. The silver dress she's wearing is incredibly form-fitting, showing off her curves in great detail. Her blonde her rolls in waves down past her neck, a hand moving to tuck some of it back behind her ear.

    Her other hand is softly tapping the bar beside a drink that's long been forgotten. Despite the glamour of her appearance and the surroundings, the woman doesn't appear to be enjoying herself. If anything she seems a little impatient, occasionally glancing at a small watch on her wrist. She definitely appears to be waiting for something, or someone. Specific too, as she's waved off several people who have aproached her in hopes of some friendly company.
Theurgus     Those wandering through the ship, especially locals, would find a very strange woman standing right up against the glass of one of the main viewing domes. Blue hair hanging straight as a ruler down her back to just above her waist, a large pointed hat, taken from atop her head and hanging by a little string around her neck to dangle betwee her shoulder blades. Bright blue eyes glimmering in reflected light from Region Space beyond the glass.

    Theurgus seems rapt, mentally lost in the shifting hues and patterns, her hands presed against the window before her, like a small child peering into the window of a toy shop or greedily eying sweets in a display case. "By the Source..." she can be heard murmuring to herself, by those who crosss close enough to this strange person.
Asellus     The crew of the Cygnus are very professional, whether they are dressed up in waitress maid outfits or wearing pristine uniforms that would not be out of place aboard the most strict of naval vessels (even if more colorful). They can handle extreme behavior from passengers, and they are honest, hard workers. So while they may attempt initially to decline the extravagant tips from Gilgamesh, eventually they determine it may be easier to just give in and bring it up with the people in charge later. The supernatural aura he radiates certainly helps them convince themselves that it's okay, and maybe they'll be allowed to keep it. That'd be nice. Many of them could probably retire and ride luxury ships as passengers themselves that way.

    Likewise, the head cook accepts the advice and requests and criticism stoically and with affirmations that he'll do as requested. And he'll do it to the very best of his ability in regard to preparing custom meals. That is also a service the Cygnus provides. It would be awful if someone showed up with food allergies and couldn't eat anything.

    The Cygnus flies from one Region to its destination Region, with no stops. The fare is reasonable for the kind of ship it is, such that even the non-rich can ride. Even though there are differences in the kinds of rooms provided, there are none that would be considered sub-standard or merely 'average'. Even the worst is pretty darn good. So whether one is a well-paid Elite or some monk with a staff and a big hat, they'll find themselves mixing with others of very different culture, economic stature, appearances, clothing fashions, and sometimes even species. The majority of the passengers appear to be human, but there's some kind of dog-boy running around with a purple-haired kung-fu lady, investigating things with as much energy as Gilgamesh is going around correcting them.

    Really, an all together unusual bunch of passengers.

    Suddenly, the whole ship jolts as though it had suffered an impact!

    Moments earlier...

    Inside the control area of the Cygnus, the technicians and pilots and the captain and so forth are doing their jobs. Suddenly, the crewman at the Communications console announces, "An unidentified ship's closing in. We will collide if we maintain our course."

    The captain replies, "Slow down 1 comma. Warn the other ship with an emergency pulse!"

    "They're not responding to us! They're maintaining their course!" the Comm Officer replies tensely.

    "This is an emergency! Evacuate all passengers and personnel to the desginated areas." the captain orders. They receive a message from the other ship, ordering them to power down and prepare to be boarded, and a brief attempt to bluff them, but when the pirates open fire, the captain has to abandon that plan and order the ship to slow to minimum speed.

    Back in the present, the Cygnus is moving noticeably slower, and that impact was hard to miss. In moments, pirates of all description, including a large variety of monstrous non-human beings, are boarding the Region Ship from their own, trying to corral passengers into their quarters, and take any valuables they can find, while threatening and attacking anyone who tries to play hero. The crew who so recently received lavish rewards from Gilgamesh are finding themselves divested of such.

    As skeletons and gun-toting maniacs and platapusses(!?) and even weirder things start causing trouble for everyone, it's now up to those with the means to decide whether to just let this all play out, for what is wealth next to one's life after all, or to get involved.
Dorian Pavus     "What the...?" Of course Dorian felt the impact. He's about to go find someone to ask what the hell just happened... when suddenly there are attackers swarming the place! Dorian's been on enough ships to know pirates when he sees them. Particularly when someone tries to get him to give up his cane. "I think not," he hisses, his eyes narrowing. In all seriousness, there are actual magical crystals in that, and he kind of needs it as a focus.

    So, when one threatens to shoot him? Dorian raps his cane on the ground once, sharply, emitting a Word. Darkness gathers in the area beneath the pirate's feet, and a massive black skull with glowing eyes forms, shrieking at the pirate for a moment, before disappearing. The effects might linger, though, an attempt to create fear.
Theurgus     Thunk.

    Theurgus's reverie is disrupted by the jolt, and then having some very large, ugly monsterpeople telling her to hand over her valuables and go back to her quarters.

    This won't do. Won't do at all.

    She turns to face them, even if she is tiny by comparison. "You clearly know not who I am, so allow me to enlighten you." she says, covering her face with one hand, one eye covered while the other peers through open fingers. "I am Theurgus, Mistress of Magick, Diamond Soul of Locus, the Mag Magician." she grins ferally. "Now you know who I am, do you still dare to face me?" she asks them, summoning her staff from her inventory and twirling it before slamming the endcap into the deckplate, kicking up a chromatic aura of 'sparks' from the strike.
Riva Banari Oh crap, it's Gilgamesh! And Leyanne! The latter is looking pretty down. She doesn't pick anyone else out of the welter of mingled people, though, but she does arch an eyebrow at the huge chunk of luxurious meat that falls down. Immediately, she puts down her snack and stares, mouthwatering. Yeah, Riva loves good food and it is a major motivator in her behavior.

However, there is a small problem. The problem is REGION PIRATES. Riva twitches as the ship is fired upon and the never do wells invade. As they approach her to shake her down, she stares at them.

"One hour. You couldn't have waited ONE HOUR." She fumes. "Then I could have had time to eat what would probably be the best meal of my life. DO YOU EVEN SEE THAT HUGE CHUNK OF MEAT?" She points, furious.

The moment they look, Riva plunges a hand into space, pulling out shotgun and blasting the group with a wave of blazing Anima. "NOW GET THE HELL OF THE SHIP!" She yells, indignant.
Nova Terra     The woman at the bar continues to look disinterested in her surroundings as she waits with some impatience. However, after a few more minutes of waiting a small light begins to flash on her watch. 'Finally.' she thinks to herself, silently sliding off the stool and making a quick pace back to her cabin.

    Slipping into the passenger room, she swiftly moves to the sole bag of luggage. Lifting it onto the bed she opens it and starts to empty it of the clothes and other travel items one might expect. Once they are all strewn about the bed and the bag empty, she removes the hidden panel in the bag to reveal a Ghost Hostile Environment Suit beneath it.

    Letting her dress drop to the floor, Nova slides the visor onto her head and down over her eyes. She then taps the earpiece, asking, "Have you confirmed the cargo?" As she waits for a response, she begins to slide into the combat suit.

    The response is quick, "Affirmative. Records of the shipment have been obtained. It's definitely on board the Cygnus."

    Nova seals up her suit as she asks, "Floor plan?"

    "Transmitting to your visor now along with a recommended path."

    Nova finishes tying her hair into a ponytail as she watches the map display on her HUD, "Got it." She moves a finger to the controls on her wrist, eyes lighting up a little as the activation of the reactor on her back begins to surge power through her suit and herself. Nova stretches for a moment as she reiterates the plan, "I'll make my way to the cargo storage, obtain the package and call for an extraction." She smirks, "They won't even know what hit them."

    The ship suddenly shakes.

    Nova glances around in surprise, "What the hell was that?"

    The man on the other end of the secured radio responds, "Picking up communications. The Cygnus is being boarded by pirates."

    "Damn it!" That throws a huge wrench into Nova's plans. She can already feel the chaos on the ship rising as peoples minds start going into panic mode. She's quickly trying to devise an alternative plan when she senses someone outside her room. Someone with ill intentions. Blue light washes over Nova as her cloak activates, hiding her from view.

    The gun-toting maniac forces open the door to the room, sweeping it with his weapon before moving in. He's easily drawn towards the mess of clothes and open bag on the bed, anticipating rewards. That is until an invisible blow to the back of the head sends him sprawling to the ground, unconscious. There's a brief ripple in the air above his fallen form but it quickly vanishes again as Nova cautiously moves out into the corridor, thinking to herself, 'Well, this just got harder.'
Leyanne Leyanne blinks at the jolt and looks around, snarling at the sounds of fire. She sprints to her cabin, slamming the door behind her. She's in there for a good while, before bursting out of her cabin carrying a Vulcan cannon. How she smuggled this on board is anyone's guess, but she's carrying it. And she's looking for pirates. If there was ever an example of 'a face like a smacked arse', the mouse would be wearing it.

When she regroups with Riva, she gives the other adrenaline junkie a nod.

"Always happens at the worst possible time." she grumbles.
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh does not seem to be able to go anywhere without it being troublesome for him personally.

     There's loud noises, an alarm blaring, all that nonsense, and Gilgamesh just sort of lets it flow over him with the sort of distant displeasure that he usually expresses towards modern-day showers that lack enough decadent water functions for his taste. Modern-day showers lack the sort of personal touch that having an attractive man or woman with a bucket grants you. Paying a person to bathe you is the height of luxury, and it gives a person a job. Paying for a machine to bathe you is just one more evil of modernity.

     It's a frown that he's not really taking seriously.

     Skeletons and platypi and all kinds of other things show up. Riva is, understandably, annoyed, more angry than he is - he was testing the man, after all. It was just a chunk of meat. The finest meat most humans could ever conceive of, but just *meat*.

     But theft is something the King absolutely cannot abide.

     Gilgamesh walks forward. He is completely heedless of guns and weapons drawn at him. He moves with perfect, inhuman grace, his robe flowing around him like a cape full of gold, though it's nothing but humble white cloth. He steps past the blazing anima and the shotgun, the robe narrowly whirling past the shells, the fire brushing past glorious golden hair.

     The King cannot abide theft for theft from the people is theft from the King. Theft from the King is punishable by swift, merciless, and brutal death. Therefore, there is only one fate suitable for these people.

     Swift, merciless, and brutal death, in case you are not absolutely certain.

     Gilgamesh doesn't even need to snap his fingers. The air opens up, a ripple above his shoulder. He reaches up and draws, and, in one motion, swings a humongous, ludicrously ornate halberd-axe. It looks Chinese in make. It also looks magical as hell and aimed to cut off as many pirate heads as Gilgamesh can cut off in one swing.

     He's superhuman. He can wield this monster one-handed.

     It's probably a lot of pirate heads.

     "How amusing." Gilgamesh's voice is light and apathetic, distant and uninterested. "You, not even fit to be clay dolls, would grasp at gold and glory for yourselves? It would be admirable, were you not such a pitiable disease. Worry not. Your King has long ministered the cure."

     The glaive flashes again, swinging over his shoulder for the pirates behind him. He snaps his fingers in Riva's direction. "You, I don't remember your name. Follow me. We are going to find the head and remove it from its shoulders. Such is the law of the King. Such is the cure for this ill."

     He isn't being metaphorical.
Asellus     Dorian inflicts a status condition on the pirates who attack him, causing them to be unable to act properly. Their attempts to overcome the supernatural fear result in nothing but shivering in place. "D-darn it!" one of the human pirates says, some guy in a red jumpsuit with a black lock of hair hanging down over one eye. Rather polite as a denunciation for a pirate. "Do something, idiots!"

    A large skeletal creature, like the fossil of some aquatic dinosaur or something, looms up behind Dorian, floating in the air as though it were still swimming in the fluid medium it did in life. It seems the undead do not scare easily. It lunges at the mage with its dagger-toothed jaws!

    A Platoonpus, looking like some bizarre mix of platypus and infantry helmet, quacks in answer to Theurgus. Whether that's an affirmative about knowing her identity, a denial, some apathetic pithy comment, or a quack, is unclear. A flying mech accompanying it, that resembles a biplane or glider or something, flies towards her, trying to slash with a long blade along its undercarriage.

    Riva's shotgun blast is not very effective against the Skele Knights. Undead tend to be resistant to firearms, except for this one mo--OH WAIT IT'S SOME KIND OF MAGIC SHOTGUN. Nevemind, they are on fire. A slime manages to avoid getting hit by being behind a skeleton, and squelches out a spray of some kind of acid bubbles. Thankfully, Gilgamesh and puts a quick stop to any retaliation from the weakened undead by removing their heads, resulting in them vanishing in prismatic displays and releasing some kind of energy into the air.

    The slime is still there, but its on is own now. "...Darn it...." the slime utters when it realizes how boned it is between the two enemies it's facing. Even slime pirates are polite in their curses here, apparently.

    The waitress maids are clustered in fear under the balconies of the dining area, out of sight, but one steps forward, brave enough to cheer the rescuers on. "Kick their butts in Alkaiser's place, you two! You can do it!!"

    Leyanne bursts into the area with her vulcan cannon, ready to provide support fire. Which is good because a big green mech that looks like a power loader with mini-guns for arms comes storming in from the floor above. "Aren't you guys done in here yet?" The terminator mech looks down (or it can be presumed it is looking down, it has no eyes or face, just a kind of cockpit-looking head, even if too small for anyone to actually ride in it), and sees the sorry state of affairs. "I can't leave anything to you losers! Everyone, get in here!"

    A bunch more pirates come in from the side passages. One of them opens up with a vulcan barrage of its own, raining shots down on the dining area and putting holes in all the expensive furniture, flooring, walls, pillars, and even a piano! This elicits more screams of fear from the waitresses.
Asellus     Meanwhile, in one of the passenger cabins...

    The ship rocks violently. A short time later, the sound of screams and gunfire and loud kings can be heard outside in the corridor. A woman in a white flower bonnet turns to her companion, and asks, "Lady Asellus, what should we do?"

    A green-haired, green-eyed woman in an unusual red dress, like princely attire but with a feminine flair to it, looks serious as she says, "We can't let all those people suffer, White Rose. Besides, this is our ride too."

    As Nova deals stealthily with the enemy that intrudes into her room, and moves out into the corridor, a door opens right next to hers, and a pair of somewhat exotic-looking women emerge, peeking up and down the hall before emerging fully and heading directly towards her. They don't look much like pirates. "I think the map said the front of the ship was this way, but we should rescue as many people as we can too." the green-haired one says.

    "I will heal any in need of it, Lady Asellus." the brunette in the floral headgear supplies. "But until we return control of the ship to its crew, we are ultimately at the mercy of these intruders." They don't seem to be aware of Nova, though they do stop to glance into the ghost's cabin and see the recently disabled goon there.
Dorian Pavus     While Dorian appears to have the flesh-and-blood pirates before him handled, that undead thing is going to be a little more work. Adding to that, it's kind of gotten him at a disadvantage, since he's got his attention on the living pirates before him. Sadly, being human, Dorian doesn't have another set of eyes to work with. He's only aware something's in his personal space when it's too late to completely dodge.

    He moves to the right, but the jaws still clamp down on his arm, staining the white fabric around them red with his blood. "Agh!" But if this creature is expecting fear from him over that, it's wrong. DEAD wrong! Yes, that is a bad joke. Dorian hisses something in Tevene, something very much not nice. But he says something else, too. A Word. A spell-Word, to be more precise.

    And in response, a glyph appears on the ground underneath the thing currently trying to take his arm off. And a few heartbeats later, the glyph explodes in fire. It's aimed so it'll mostly miss him, and all he might get are some sparks. But a good bit of the brunt of that explosive spell is aimed at the undead dino-fish.
Gilgamesh      The vulcan shots come pouring out. Gilgamesh mostly walks forward, perfectly and completely assured of his own invulnerability. Every so often he leans to the side, slightly tilts his head, or otherwise steps around the field of leaden murder like a man walking through raindrops. The apathy on his face is almost the intensity of the sun itself. He doesn't seem to *care* that he's being fired upon by mongrels, that he's being attacked by some pirates, that he's wading through a sea of bullets.

     And in fact he doesn't even retaliate.

     He just...walks right through them. He walks right past the pirates, past the bullets, past everything, leaving Leyanne and Riva to clean up behind him.

     He waves over his shoulder at the two of them as the heavy axe disappears into a ripple of light. "I have no interest in wasting my time with such filth. Clean this up. Spare none of them."

     Yeah, he's...he's gonna keep giving orders.

     It's just hardwired into him.

     Gilgamesh is going looking for the pirate leader, after all, he doesn't have time for small fry.

     He stops and points lazily at the two women who are cheering him on. "And have them ready to bathe me when I am finished. It is honestly disgusting what modernity considers *luxury*. Really. You even put bath attendants out of a job."

     And with that done he just carries on.
Riva Banari Gilgamesh forgot her name. Oh well, she's not actually too put out about it. "Sure." She does, however acquiesce to his demand. It makes sense and frankly, she wants to get executing on these guys herself.

Meanwhile, Riva is not regal. Not by a long shot. She's just a painter who's been pressed into dealing with things beyond her understanding and has been having to deal with it for years. So she tries to enjoy life when she can. It can't be crappy ALL the time, right?

Unfortuantely, this means when someone ruins her good times, she gets irrationally angry. The skeletons go boom, but the slime is left. "DARN IT?" She yells. "IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?" She yells at the squishy thing, and switches tactics, shouldering the shotgun to withdraw a massive hammer in the shape of a T with bent sides, forming a kind of anchor-like shape. The acidic bubbles spray on her, sizzling and burning as she reels back from the damage, yelling as her flesh works to repair the horrible sizzling damage. Acid sucks, yo.

"RAAAAGH!" Her enraged response is a forward leap slam to try to splatter the thing with a burning impact of light before proceeding to escort the King, alternating between shotgun blasts and hammer impacts as needed.
Nova Terra     Having moved out into the hallway, Nova is actively avoiding engaging any pirates that happen to move through this part of the ship. She's still trying to come up with a plan that lets her accomplish her mission here. Possibly by using the pirate assault as a diversion.

    However, while Nova plots from the comfort of her invisibility field, one of the nearby cabins opens up. She watches the interesting pair of women exiting, listening to their conversation as they pass by close to her. That one was referred to as 'Lady' by the other, possibly meaning someone of import. They're talking big, but even just on the surface, Nova can sense they believe they're capable of making a difference here. Which means people with skill, power, or both.

    Nova glances down one direction of the hallway, leading towards the cargo storage. She then turns to look the other way, towards the front of the ship where the two women are going. In her head she debates how to procede, until finally she thinks, 'Tch, I guess I can make another attempt on the objective later. This could prove to be more useful.'

    Change of plans. Nova begins to stalk through the corridor after the two women. For the moment she simply observes, waiting for an ideal moment to act depending upon how the situation unfolds.
Theurgus     Well, they don't seem to understand the trouble they're getting themselves into.

    Theurgus shifts her position, dodging to the side around that blade swipe. "Such pitiful resistance. You know I am The Mad Magigican and yet you still face me." The blade grazes across her arm as she moves, revealing red, broken code beneath the outer 'skin'.

    Theurgus twirls her staff, shifting from the intimidating light show to an actual fusillade of multicoloured energy bolts. Ice, Flame, Wind and Lightning flashing out of the marble at the head of the staff, aiming to all the Pirates she can see in a wide area in front of her. "BEGONE!"
Leyanne Leyanne growls quietly as she looks over the pirates in the dining room. She shrugs at Gilgamesh's words. "I don't like that guy, but... these dudes are fucking up the civillians. I'm not inclined to be all that nice to them." she comments to Riva, upending a heavy slate-topped pool table to provide some modicum of cover from that heavy vulcan gun. As soon as she hears a break in the fire she pops up from behind it and returns the favour, waving the gun back and forth over the pirates.

Her gunfire has a very stacatto, pulsed note to it, however - not the continuous ripple expected of a rotary cannon. But that's because not a single civillian or ally is hit; if there is someone who isn't a pirate within the splash-radius, the mouse doesn't fire - sometimes letting off for just two or three rounds while keeping the barrels turning.

With Riva and Gilgamesh providing a nice clear wedge through the pirates, Leyanne begins to follow in their wake, mopping up behind them. Regal, she isn't. But it's remarkably efficient.
Asellus     Dorian sets the skelesaur on fire and it recoils, 'swimming' through the air until it's closer to its still-feared allies. There, it emits a powerful sonic blast, a high-pitched scream that makes the very walls seem to ripple and the world distort as it resonates up the corridor in a cone in front of it. A number of its bones have been charred to ash, and it seems to be in dire straits, but not dire enough that it can't keep fighting, apparently. Though with no support from its team mates, it's not going to last long against the power Dorian wields.

    Hopefully his magic will keep impairing them a little while longer!

    Yuriko and her coworker are aghast at Gilgamesh's scandalous implications! It seems she'll continue swooning over Alkaiser alone after all!

    Gilgamesh walks through all the attacks, whether they be walls of bullets or more deliberate sword strikes, or the bites of monsters, or acid sprays from some kind of... Of... Flying giant shrimp-things!? As such, he makes good time in catching up to the Charm 'Prince' and the Arch-Princess and the lurking space ninja behind them as they are checking all the cabins they pass, reassuring the civilians, and then moving on. There's a pair of ramps/stairwells leading down either side of the entrance to the bridge, to the cargo area, but it's even more heavily guarded than the pirates everywhere else.

    So when they get to that point, the final passenger they come across being a medical robot that lets off alerts about how Asellus has an 'abnormal energy level', encouraging them to be on their way, they come together in the same cooridor right as the young king arrives. And it seems Gilgamesh isn't the only one with a magical aura of charisma, when Asellus turns after pausing to try to sort out this strange sensation tingling at her nerves. Wary green eyes beneath short green hair turn on the new arrival, and White Rose also faces him. The former says warily, "You don't look much like a pirate. Are you one of the passengers?"

    In the background, a dog boy and his own adventuring party, which appears to have grown as he has recruited other passengers, go to bash their heads against the problem of heavily-armed pirates controlling a single choke point, eliciting gunfire. Asellus squints in annoyance. The exact problem she didn't want to trigger. "It's dangerous out here. You should take cover until this is resolved." she says. If it were someone other than Gilgamesh, the suggestion would have the same impact as one of his commands. Not because Asellus wants it to, but because she has the blood of the Charm Lord in her veins, and has inherited some of his power over hearts in return.

    White Rose says, "I am not familiar with these machines, but is there a better way to its controls than through all of that?" Her eyes flick to a gold-dressed figure in a helmet who dashes down a staircase from the next level up, heads to a lower level, letting the reckless dogboy deal with the chaos his own way. Maybe that could be a route to take...
Asellus     Meanwhile, the slime is alternatingly fried with lasers and smashed. It seems to take more damage from the energy attacks, but she keeps getting all these lightbulbs above her when she uses the physical attacks! Smash! Bear Crush! Willow Branch! What do these even MEAN and why is it so AWESOME to keep getting them!? Eventually, she fights her way through the other pirates that arrive in order to join up with Gilgamesh, and his newfound strangers, thanks to Leyanne barraging the enemy with her own heavy firepower. Asellus seems to be realizing she is either accumulating an adventuring party of her own or about to join one as a Guest Character by the look of her.

    This especially true when Leyanne joins them. That mech seems pretty tough, and tries to charge after the group, leaving its comrades to fall to heavy firepower, but Theurgus sweeps the corridor clean with ice, fire, and all kinds of other classic JRPG elements, and the mech finally collapses. "Nooooo! I was only two more jobs away from that sweet new gold grill!" It wails before it breaks apart and disintegrates. Now everyone should be roughly in the same area or soon to becoming such.

    Maybe.

    Asellus looks to White Rose, and then to all the new faces, and says, "We're planning to retake the ship. I'm Asellus. This is White Rose. We think there may be a way onto the bridge that won't alert the pirates and give them the chance to escape. Will you come with us?"

    White Rose curtsies to everyone respectfully in greeting. "If anyone is injured, please let me know. I have the means to mend wounds."
Dorian Pavus     Dorian figures it's trying to escape, and he's about to let it -- because there's probably going to be people in other parts of the ship that need help. Except then he sees the rippling cone of energy heading his way. A spell-Word and he crosses his arms before him, a blue-white glyph flashes on the ground, and blue-white energy washes up his body. There's some bleed-through, and he winces at the jarring of his body through the Barrier.

    "Now, now..." Dorian cautions. "You're quite the disagreeable one, aren't you? It's impolite to stay after your welcome has expired, you know." Referring to, of course, the Skelesaurus's undead status. "Let's fix that, shall we?" He speaks a Word and then spreads his arms out to the sides, as if he's giving up...

    ...But of course he's not. A pale blue glyph appears before him, and several magical energy bolts fire from the center of it. This isn't just going to hit the Skelesaurus, either. If the other pirates haven't fled in horror yet, they just might end up getting slammed.

    This will, hopefully, provide enough of a diversion for Dorian to escape out into the corridor and head for where he hopes the other passengers who can fight have formed up. He's really hoping he's not the only one and that he doesn't have to play the big bloody hero...
Nova Terra     That odd sensation of being watched turns out to be true for Asellus in this case, as after the idea is briefly explained light ripples through the air not far behind her.

    Nova's cloak finishes fading to reveal her again, at which point she smirks, "I'm not the type to turn down getting the jump on the enemy."

    Nova gives the others in the group a nod in greeting, knowing most of them. Though when she spots Leyanne with the large Vulcan, Nova looks a little shocked, "I'm surprised you managed to get on board with that thing!" Nova herself is notably unarmed, lacking her usual rifle and sword. Not that it seems to have bothered her any. Apparently more than capable of engaging without them.
Leyanne Leyanne covers the six of Riva and Gilgamesh as they push up to Asellus' location. She frowns, pushing up her faceplate and squinting at Asellus for several seconds. She blinks in surprise when she introduces herself. Her antennae perk back up. "Asellus? Damn, I- you were dead!" She says, almost accusatorily. "I was part of the rescue... Uh... never mind it really ain't the time. Lead the way."
Riva Banari Riva smashes things that can't be shot and shoots things that can't be smashed. She's simple, direct, and /angry/. This works more or less directly alongside Leyanne who is free to engage in the traditional pasttime of ranged DPS while Riva tanks the crap out of pirates, face-checking every hostile in her way. It's kind of a grindfest, but she's doing all right.

And then they're meeting up with the others who are present and resisting the pirates. "Oh. Hi!" She says, smiling brightly to Asellus in a sudden almost-whiplash shift of expression and emotion. "I'm Riva! Nice to meet you, Asellus! And you too, White Rose!" She says, nodding to the pair. "If you have a plan to deal with them, I'm all ears! And don't worry about me, I heal fast. Focus on the others."

She glances to Leyanne and then to Asellus. "You two know each other, huh? You must have some stories to tell."
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh's apathy is a force of nature unto itself. If he even noticed the fangirls get mad at him, he probably wouldn't care. The humans of such overrun worlds are pointless, weak, and fragile creatures. He can't muster enough interest to tell which clay dolls randomly have the strength to resist him and which don't. He can't even muster enough interest to *fight* properly.

     When Asellus speaks to him directly, he's about to respond, and then she says 'it's dangerous, take cover.'

     There's finally an emotion on his face, and it's irritation.

     "Mongrel, you dare suggest I leave the battlefield before I have slain the lawbreaker?" There's a flash of anger in the King of Uruk's eyes, but it's mild anger, not really hot rage. "That the King depart before the execution is done? How absurd."

     Gilgamesh waves a hand dismissively at the suggestion. "Do what you like. I am the King. I do not skulk and sneak about like one of their ilk. Suggest it again and there will be repercussions. No, I will walk gloriously into their midst and remove the offending head. If you wish to cut off their retreat or somesuch, then do so. I do not care."

     With that, the King is already walking off. No, he doesn't care that the pirates might escape or the ship might blow up. There is a Proper Way the King does things, and when confronting thieves, you do not sneak around. You burn them out like rats.
Theurgus     Theurgus kind of... ignores the others. Instead she heads over to the cowering maid waitresses, doffing her hat and bowing formally. "Please, forgive the mess. Perhaps you could help me ensuring the other passengers are alright." she offers, putting her hat back on and grinning softly. Her blue eyes flash, and she actually looks a little unhinged, but they've seen what she can do. She might not be entirely there in the head, but she's certainly well meaning.
Asellus     Finally, the sturdy enemy is taken down. The mortal foes behind it are likewise eliminated by Dorian's magic smashes them to the ground, unconscious or dead. The monster just dissolves into energy of some kind. And so Dorian winds up joining the group as he comes down the stairs to where gunfire is filling the circular area around the bridge's doors, where pirates are currently doing battle with an eccentric array of adventures. But not as eccentric as the group waiting in the wings. There's a lady with a magic shotgun, a mouse woman with a really big gun, a witch or something who is currently escorting passengers to safety, a green-haired woman, a flower-wearing woman, some kind of Super Ultra King boy, and now some spy lady who has appeared from nowhere.

    Also, the golden king is storming off as well. They may not have visited Blue's cabin, but some blonde guy still found a way to yell at potential allies over trivial matters. >:|

    Asellus narrows her eyes. "Fine. You can take care of yourself, and I won't suggest otherwise. But I don't take orders from you, whoever you are. Come on, White Rose." She pauses when Nova appears out of nowhere, nodding briefly at the offer to come with on the sneaking mission, and lingers a bit longer when Leyanne speaks to her. "...Do I know you?" she asks. Leyanne's mention of her being dead does not bring the trip through the magical incinerator to Asellus's mind, but instead her recent (from her perspective) encounter with Orlouge's carriage, in which she actually did die.

    She shakes her head at Riva when she asks if she knows Leyanne. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize her. But good to meet you, Riva. If that king of bad manners wants to go tackle the barricade with those others, he can do that. Hopefully their combined firepower will keep them all alive."

    White Rose looks interestedly at Nova, trying to sense any magic from her. Did the Ghost just teleport? No, it looked different... Invisibility? She says, "I saw someone else heading below rather than engaging the enemy directly. I believe they may know a way to sneak onto the bridge as well. I look forward to working with you all!"
Asellus     With their groups organized, unless there is any other pressing matter to attend to, they set off. Gilgamesh enters the fray. The dwindling supply of pirates keeping the doors to the bridge locked tightly shut as the adventuring party already there gradually dismantles the barricading forces are likely to fall apart completely once his power is added to the mix.

    And that means the larger group will need to move quickly. Heading below, sans Theurgus who is taking care of the civilians, the sound of a dogboy yelling, "Look, Mei-Ling! A shiny man!" drifts down to the group as they descend to find a super hero fighting a huge wave of skeletons and slimes in front of some kind of emergency access door with a laser sensor across it. His moves are golden and shiny and impressive, making Asellus fear they've just run into one of Gilgamesh's friends, but he notices their presence swiftly.

    "There's an emergency access passage to the bridge behind me! A force field will protect you for a short time outside the ship, but you have to move quickly before you're swept off! Saving the Cygnus is up to you now!" Okay, he isn't a jerk. He is actually entrusting saving the ship to them while he fights off all the monsters. And pirates. And pirate monsters.

    A patrolman in Inter Regional Police Officer attire leads the way. "Come on! We don't have much time!" If they follow the super hero's advice, and the lawman's lead, then it's a mad dash underneath the Cygnus, exposed to terrible winds, the integrity field depleting rapidly as the group moves, but eventually they should pop out on the bridge. If they can run fast enough...!
Leyanne Leyanne chuckles "I... was part of the distraction that broke you out of the bad dude's tower. I thought you were dead after you jumped into the fire." she explains to Asellus. "Name's Leyanne... also known as Tiny."

After  listening to the plan from the shiny man, the mouse sniffs. "So let me get this straight... we're going to be going hull-side, with a safetey field that's going to cut out after an unknown time... while we're going at at speed, presumably supersonic, leading to winds that would flay skin from flesh?" A long pause. "Sounds like my kind of plan. We'll be going along that little catwalk bit that runs underneath the neck of the ship, right?"
Dorian Pavus     Unconscious? Dead? To Dorian it doesn't matter. The important thing is that they're out of his way. And so he'll end up meeting up with the others! On his way he'll toss some Barriers at the defenders -- it won't be a big help, but it should help a little (temporarily gaining what's essentially a second HP bar that damage comes off of first is always useful, innit?). However, that means he's a little drained when he makes it to the group proper. Just a little. Give him a bit, he'll be fine.

    He greets the group of eccentric adventurers with a quick, "Dorian Pavus, Altus mage." White Rose can probably sense Dorian's magic, too... he's kind of a beacon, magically speaking. And he carries himself with a straight back and a held-high head -- a regal pose. Leyanne, though, gets a smile and, "We do meet in the oddest places, don't we? Good to see you again, either way."

    He'll go along with whichever group seems to need him more, since he's pretty sure someone in this group probably knows the area better than he does.
Riva Banari Riva doesn't question the dissonance between Leyanne and Asellus. She just shrugs at it. "Relax, we're all on the same side here, right?"

She looks back to Gilgamesh. "Gilgamesh, we're going to take an alternate route to flank the enemy and support your advance." Yeah, she's kind of spinning it a bit, but she's not lying! "We'll meet you on the bridge."

At that, she parts from Gilgamesh and heads with the others, frowning at the explanation of what they're going to be doing. "Wait, there's WIND out there? I thought it was space and junk." She shrugs. "Well, more you learn! Okay, so move fast, got it."

She doesn't waste time. As soon as they're signalled, Riva bolts across the bridge to rush towards the alternate access entrance to the bridge, desperately trying to keep her footing as she works her way forward.

A moment later, Riva pops out, shotgun in hand, and begins blasting anyone that looks like a pirate and is near anything that looks important, like hostages or ship controls.
Nova Terra     Nova watches as Gilgamesh storms off to storm the bridge. He might have an impressive commanding aura, but his attitude bugs Nova a little, reminding her of some previous leaders who were found lacking. Still, she admits to the others, "A diversion is typically helpful when trying to surprise someone."

    Nova proceeds to follow the others deeper into the ship, heading for the supposed secret route. She's happy to skirt around the edges of the battle between the hero and the skeleton/slime force. There are times when it is necessary to leave others to fight in order to accomplish the objective. Still, Nova gives the hero a nod of respect as they continue to the ship's exterior.

    It's not the first time Nova has been on the exterior of a ship in flight. She steadies herself with her own telekinesis, but even then it's a bit of a push across the open passage. It's not until they reach the end though that Nova reactivates her cloak, the blue light washing over her as she vanishes from sight.

    Exiting into the bridge with the others, Nova is a barely visible ripple in the air as she runs to meet the first pirate. She barrels into him, attempting to grip his arm and use her boosted strength to lift him over her shoulder and slamming down into the deck.

    A quick dash following her first assault has Nova moving right up to another pirate. This one she attempts to grab by the neck and lift up off his feet. It'd probably be a bit of a comical look, the pirate just floating in mid-air, legs flailing as his hands try to pull at the invisible force wrapped around his neck. But soon enough he'd go flying hard into one of the bridge walls, another barely perceptable ripple in the air making Nova a target as she moves towards another pirate.
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh is incapable of hearing the phrase 'I don't take orders from you.' It's probably some kind of mental defect. He waves over his shoulder at Riva, with a 'OK I hear you good for you' sort of attitude to it.

     He wades into the pirates the same way he did the bullets - disinterestedly. It's not until one of them actually cuts his cheek that he stops. His finger reaches up to touch the already-healing wound, tracing it with a mild degree of interest. His eyes flick to the left, to look at the pirate who did it.

     "A hearty congratulations are in order, mongrel. You wounded the King. You truly have risen above the rest of your worthless colleagues in my eyes. I shall reward you justly."

     The pirate doesn't get a chance to speak before he's impaled. Repeatedly. Something like thirty swords just erupt out of thin air and spike the creature into a pincushion. Gilgamesh draws one of the weapons out of the pirate with an idle flourish as the rest disintegrate. The long, curved blade is reminiscent of an Arabian sword. Gilgamesh flicks it lightly, and it bursts into flames.

     Then he just starts *carving*.

     It's not fun to watch. The look on his face is downright gleeful. It is the cruel face of a child breaking toys to see what happens. He decapitates, dismembers, impales, slashes, carves, cuts, butchers, slices, dices, juliennes, and everything in between with the flaming blade. Were it not for the look on his face and the people in the way it would be beautiful to watch, not because Gilgamesh is particularly skillful (indeed he is not; he knows how to use it but is clearly no expert) but because his grace is divine and his every motion is like a dance.

     It's just the kind of dance where a staggering shitton of people are dying by fire and sword.

     By the time he's done, the elegant white robe is coated in blood. So is the King's face. He's up to his ankles in it as he walks, literally stepping on corpses and crushing them like a mean-spirited child stepping on Barbie. And yet that coating of blood is delicious, and it looks upon him like the finest makeups, like it's perfectly natural and beautiful and *meant* to be upon him.

     That is probably really fucking creepy.

     The King strides forward, releasing the blade back into his treasury, and resumes his disinterested march towards the bridge. An entertaining diversion. Not much else.
Asellus     Sure enough, when combined with martial arts skills, a variety of absorbed monster skills, sword arts, and whatever else is backing up Gilgamesh (not that he needs any of that, you understand, but it's there, nonetheless, so at least he doesn't have to stain his weapons with more blood than he chooses to), the hordes of monsters and men who have chosen the life of larceny and offended his kingliness find themselves disposed of violently, with not a lot of complaints from the adventurers already in the process. Sure, the way he seems to ENJOY it is really creepy, but can't argue with results, you know?

    As a result, they are soon able to barge through onto the bridge directly after a short run through a linking corridor with glass walls and ceiling. In their path are a pair of large robot cars or trucks or something. They're like monster trucks, really, just downsized a bit to fit inside of buildings and hallways and ships. However, before they can be repelled (or fail to be rebelled, but trigger a do-or-die plan in the process), the other group finishes their own do-or-die stunt by running underneath the Cygnus.

    Before they set out, Asellus rubs her head sheepishly and says, "Ah... You were there for that, with Josuke and Marisa and Rarity and everyone? It was the only escape route left open. I'll... Talk about it more another time. Nice to meet you too, Dorian."

    Now, however, they run. They run and run, until some of the faster among them exit ahead of the others. The barriers provided them enough of a buffer against the wind as the ship's forcefield depletes for the whole group to get though. Something Asellus will thank Dorian for when this is all done. Riva starts blasting, taking down pirates left and right, and disabling the ones at the controls so they can't do anything dumb like blow everyone up. The IRPO agent does some fancy moves to get up the stairs and hold the pirate leader at gunpoint, a woman with her blonde hair up in a bun. And Nova slips in and starts stealth-take-downing the captain's minions before they can spring to her rescue, leaving the captain herself at a loss of words.

    And that means that the robot monster truck things are too busy with the front-side attackers to turn and help their master without being ordered to, she has no allies to call upon, and even her second-in-command, a platypus man in a pirate hat with hooks for hands soon finds his back exposed to Asellus and White Rose as he drops down from the ceiling, with Leyanne and Dorian bringing up the rear when the enemy turns angrily in response to finding a glowing red sword held to his throat, and a Mystic placing floating glass shields on everyone with her spells, one at a time, just in case.

    If he tries anything, he has Dorian's fearsome runic magic and Leyanne's awesome firepower to shut him down. And with an entire adventuring party, and the mighty Gilgamesh at the head, the boss battle, such as it is, is very, very short.

    "Stand down, Nomad. You're under arrest." Fuse, the Patrolman, says with his blaster set on 'electrocute the hell out of things' pointed right at her face.

    Nomad, seething with anger, unable to even order her minions to do something destructive out of spite and desperation, has no choice. Filled with fury, she musters the harshest curse she can come up with. "Darn it! Where did you all even COME from!?"
Dorian Pavus     Robot monster truck things, eh? Isn't it so unfortunate for them that Dorian happens to also know Storm school magic? Storm school, by the way, is lightning. Which tends to screw machines up right good and proper. While he's not as experienced with it as Necromancy or Inferno school (fire, of course), he's still quite skilled with it. Of course, it could go the complete opposite way and lightning might power them up. If so, Dorian's got plenty of other magic to deal with the problem.

    Either way, with a combined firepower of everyone that decided to get up and fight -- as Nomad points out -- things are thankfully handled pretty quickly. Dorian can't help but comment, once Nomad asks that question, "Fate works in mysterious ways. It seems today was just a bad day to try a heist on this ship." Yes, he's being snarky.
Leyanne Leyanne runs with the others. "Nomad, right? Look, man, you're busted. If you try anything... I'll blast you to mist." A pause. "That is, if he doesn't cut you up into cubes like a shish kebab, he doesn't light you up like Blackpool, she doesn't fuck you up six ways from sunday, he doesn't turn you into charcoal, or she doesn't... hack your brain and make you fuck /yourself/ up first." As she comments, Leyanne points to Gilgamesh, Officer Fuse, Riva, Dorian, and Nova in turn. "You really did pick the wrong ship to try and hijack, didn't you? My advice? Hands where we can see 'em, let local justice take care of you and... our friend here, we might be able to pursuade him to /not/ cube you."
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh, coated head-to-toe in blood and still healing what wounds he took from the pirates who managed to get him during his rampage, doesn't bother to wait. He's paying no attention to the people around him, the allies who have gathered to him. He is the King. It is natural that people follow him. He does not need to watch to know that the martial artist and the swordsmen and the monster skill wielders work with him. They walk in his shadow and lend him support because that is what the people are for. They support the King, the King protects them. Every so often he does, in fact, shoot an attack out of the sky that might have been about to harm one of those followers, a stray sword carving through a fireball or a bullet or something else like it was an accident. Every so often someone about to get sneak attacked gets stabbed in the head from behind. It's almost automatic. He is the King. He does it on rote.

     The large...mechanical things...get a sneer of contempt. Machines. Gilgamesh doesn't care for modern machines. Few of them have proven their worth to him. Even the Box is merely a toy, an amusement. A window into modernity. ...alright, he likes bikes, and cameras, but that's about it so far! And these are neither. These are contemptuous things, large for the sake of being large, to shout to an uncaring world I EXIST. They are almost sad.

     The King simply waves his hand at the trucks and the people following him, and proceeds to fuck off and wait for the trucks to be dispatched.

     When they are, he walks past their corpses, still coated in blood.

     The officer is arresting the pirate captain. Gilgamesh understands arrests. He simply disagrees with them when he's involved.

     "You," Gilgamesh says calmly, "Are a thief."

     "You are a parasite. You are unfit to exist even in a society of pitiful clay dolls, an existence more pitiable than even contemptuous."

     A massive axe falls into his hand. It's white, and shines like the sun. He slings it over his shoulder. "Those who steal from the people steal from the King. Those who steal from the King are put to death. This is a simple rule. There are times for mercy, of course - a man who steals to feed his family may be granted leniency, for he is not a thief, merely a desperate man. But you did not steal food, did you? You did not steal to feed your family. You stole for pleasure. And while I can understand the joy of depriving another of what they care for in the abstract sense, I find it beneath my contempt to see a creature like you live. An illness that must be cured. A poison that can only result from massed society."

     "It is an honor to have the King himself execute you. Really, you should be grateful. You may even be allowed to have a tombstone." The young man waves his hand dismissively. His eyes are looking through the captain like he doesn't even see a human being. That young face barely even registers that this person is a /person/, like they're beneath his notice and beneath his caring...which, well, given what he said...is probably true.

     He's not looking for a reason not to execute this person. It's not a random, hanging threat. He's actively got the axe in hand and he's probably going to behead them with some old fashioned pre-Hammurabi justice.
Nova Terra     As the pirate leader is captured and the threat dealt with, Nova decloaks once more. She moves to lean against a bulkhead while she watches the scene play out. Her original mission and reasoning for boarding is pretty much a bust now. And she's not a member of this world's authorities so has no duty to step in.

    Besides, Nova nods briefly in agreement with some of Gilgamesh's sentiments. Pirate scum like this deserve no mercy.
Leyanne Leyanne steps between Gilgamesh and the pirates. "No." she states, flatly. "Not happening, Gilgamesh. He's in the hands of the law and... that's how shit works out here. Cutting him down now is murder and... hell, we've kinda moved on from death-to-every-transgression thing. If these guys are getting executed, they're doing so after proper due process. We're not that..." She trails off, as the words that come to mind are insulting; it's a rare moment of forethought from the Megamouse. "That kind of justice isn't needed out here anymore. All it does is create more anger and more outlaws. And if you do want to end up in King of the entire Multiverse? Two things, actually, first good luck with that one... second, Merciful, just kings don't end up being kings of a /republic/ if you get my drift."
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh's eyes are like cold stars. He taps the axe against his shoulder with a disdainful motion. "No?"

     "What unbelievable hypocrisy."

     Gilgamesh gestures. "You carry weapons that mass produce death. You carry machines designed for the sole purpose of killing as many people as possible, weapons that only need to exist in a society where human life is meaningless. You used them, tonight. You fired the same type of weapon as these worthless bandits wielded to kill as many of them as possible."

     "And now that the rightful leader is faced with death you *balk*? You decide that *this* life has value when all the others you slaughtered did not? Why? Because it has spoken to you? Because it is in chains, and thus it is exempt from justice? Because it could be rehabilitated and learn the error of its ways?"

     Gilgamesh's face twists into an absolutely scornful stare. "You are a fool. You are a fool and a hypocrite. Your actions speak against your words. You give value to some and discard others without rhyme or reason." Gilgamesh points around Leyanne. "That is not a creature that can be saved. There is no point in saving it anyway. There are too many humans already. What would you do? Feed it? Clothe it? Let it continue to live, and take jobs away from good and honest citizens in the hope that it might one day see the error of thieving for pleasure and profit?"

     Gilgamesh sweeps his hand over his shoulder. "And yet you would not save one of its followers. You *destroyed* them. You butchered them without a second thought."

     "And you dare" - the word is palpable - "give the King advice on what he ought to be? You dare tell me to be merciful to a parasite? To weaken the bite of the law that it might save something that is not worth saving? To imitate lesser, incompetent kings whose weak wills led to this same sort of moral failure?"

     "Mercy is for those who deserve it. Mercy is for repentant lives who can be put into service, for hungry men who steal for their families, for the misguided. This is not a misguided creature. This is a parasite. A bug. An insect that attacked a place of luxury to pillage it for pleasure."

     "I am the King. I am the pillar of morality. I am unwavering in my decisions. There is a time and a place for mercy, and this is not it. Be happy that I deign to even discuss my decision with you, and stand aside, and contemplate your own weak grasp of ethics, mongrel."
Asellus     "I'm Fuse, a patrolman with the IRPO." the officer with the special gun says to interrupt the debate being had right in front of him about killing the woman behind all this. "While I appreciate everything you all have done to save the passengers and crew of this ship and apprehend the pirates, I am not going to allow anyone to execute this prisoner. That is absolutely against the law, and if you try, not only will I stop you, but you'll be labelled a criminal too."

    Asellus is still holding Platyhooks at sword point herself, and can't really get involved in what's going on, or see who is doing what, frustrating at that is. But if the people she temporarily teamed up with are people she should be wary of... She is starting to get trust issues here.

    Fuse holds up his other hand with a radio in it, either having called for back up or ready to do so, or bluffing either of those, and as calmly as he said all the rest, says, "I hope I've made myself clear."