[IC] Lost in Dreams [Elijah]

[ericthered]

"Wow thats a close parralell. What do you do for work? I'm guessing it isn't parachronics. and bull. You're using their terminology, and taking part in their military operation."

[Talosian]

"I'm an aerospace engineer. And I'm not working for Centrum, dumb*ss. I'm stranded in a dinosaur and super-spider infested jungle, and I showed up naked. My options were to stick with them or go back to wandering commando. And by the way, I'm the one that suggested gassing you guys, so I'm pretty sure I'm the reason you aren't bleeding out," Elijah snaps in a hushed tone of voice.

[ericthered]

"Are you aware of who those guys are? they're every authoritarian government you've ever heard of with a heavy dose of bureaucracy. If they think you're a world jumper, you're never going home."

[Talosian]

Elijah's stomach drops into his boots, and chill runs through his body. A moment later his heart leaps into his throat, then begins pounding madly. "They... They told it a little bit differently," he whispers. He shakes his head, then quietly says, "I'm going to need you to explain everything to me." He glances around, keeping an eye on the rest of the group.

[ericthered]

The discussion of the prisoners fate seems to be settling on dropping them off on a world deep in centrum territory, in exchange for not attempting escape or leaving clues about their capture. The world is called SteamEngine-3.

Ivan and Sean have collected the weapons and gear of the other secundans, and Sean is approaching Elijah. Ryan says "What was that stuff you used?"

[Talosian]

"Something called Bar-gas, now hush," Elijah whispers to Ryan. Elijah will stand, offer water to anyone he hasn't made it to yet, and then check in with Ivan (unless Sean interrupts him).

[ericthered]

"That was a decent plan Elijah." Ivan admits. "And we didn't have to kill anyone today. I'd call it a success. How was your first battle? do you feel alright?"


The commander and Harold wind down the negotiations. She remarks bitterly that they were looking for poachers, not Centrum agents.

[Talosian]

"Not great. Why are you at war with Secundus, anyway? I understand that you think that they're unstable, but isn't that a better reason to avoid them than to fight them?"

[ericthered]

"They invaded us. We've had a long-standing policy of improving the lives of those within our sphere of influence. We've ended an apocalypse, uplifted a couple worlds, stopped world-wide wars, and raised the standard of living on many of them. We hope to eventually create a multi-world utopia, a centrum that didn't go through the final war that killed most of us.

They oppose these actions at every corner. They foster a climate of volatile political wrangling, ideal conditions for war. They focus not on the results of their actions, but on rare political ideologies, which, while often good, often embraces racism, short-sighted thinking, economic collapse, and civil war. They keep a number of worlds in a primitive state because the believe that diversity breeds strength rather than war. They don't just do this to their own worlds, they often do this by killing our agents who have been there for a long time. They claim our government is arbitrary and callous, yet they are the ones encourage the world wars based on their own history. They have yet to accept a world other than their own as an equal."

[Talosian]

Elijah frowns a little, then asks, "Have you? Accepted another world as equal, that is. You said that you think diversity is dangerous, so what do you do if a world is too different?"