All Those Pretty Stars [Concluded]
All Those Pretty Stars
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Introduction
The soothing silence was interrupted by mechanical sounds of hundreds of sleeping pods opening themselves. Twelve people slowly stirred to wakefulness in a groggy state, for the cycle was not supposed to end for another day. Disoriented, they each emerged from their respective pod with a throbbing headache. The dim lighting barely illuminating the sterile metallic floor and walls of the ship, they took notice of each other before turning their gaze upon the scores of pods neatly arranged in rows all around them. No one else was rising and yet Stellar Transport XJY-0745295 had been nearly filled to capacity in passengers and crew. Men and women, old and young, they all lay in their opened cocoons, some seemingly peaceful, but others with a twisted visage. Very quickly, the haze of sleepiness was gone, replaced by questions: What had happened? What was going on? What if I'm next!?
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A man, in his late forties, made his way toward the front of the ship, he was quickly joined by another man in his thirties. At the end of a row of sleeping pods, they found the captain of the ship slumped on a control console. Blood was pooling at his feet, besides which laid a loaded pulser. The older man picked up the weapon, while the younger one turned over the body.
“He died moments ago, multiple stab wounds.”
The older man nodded and pointed at the nearest sleeping pod. “I think he saved our lives, judging from the condition of the crew and most of the passengers.”
They both saw that the glass of the pod had been shattered by pulser fire. Evidently, the captain had tried to get out, but from the blood trail leading to the pod, he had been attacked while still inside.
“We should go tell the others.” The older man said. “What's your name?”
“Alejo de Lula.” The younger man replied.
“I'm Reilly Banks.”
They shook hands
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At the aft of the ship a young woman and two older men were huddled around a computer console.
“Bring up the ship status.” A hearty looking man with white hair said. “I'm Andrei Kerensky, by the way.”
“Eve Saint-Claire.” The woman muttered as her nimble fingers danced upon the interface screen.
There was a silence and both of them looked at the third man.
“Oh...” He shrugged. “Diedrich White, plea-”
“This doesn't look good.” Eve cut him off as her screen was filled with a schematic of the ship, many of the sections appearing in an angry shade of red.
“Engines, Navigation... even the Medbay is out. At least life support is still in working order.” Andrei appraised the readings.
“And look at this...” She brought up another screen.
“We're heading straight...” The old man started.
“...straight at a star.” Diedrich replied breathlessly, almost in disbelief.
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In the main hold, the rest of the survivors where milling about. A couple was seated on the edge of a sleeping pod, holding each other tightly and whispering to each other.
Nearby, a boy was sobbing next to the pods of what were probably his deceased parents. A woman in her mid thirties kneeled next to him and tentatively embraced him. The boy grasped her tightly.
“Its alright now, everything will be alright.” She tried to say soothingly. “What's your name?”
“Ed-edward” The boy choked.
“Well, I'm Christy, Edward. Christy... Hart.” She struggled with the last word. “Come with me, lets go meet the others.”
A few pods away, a young woman with dark skin stared at the dead occupants of two sleeping pods, speechless, as if she was still processing the reality of it all.
Finally, a man and a woman were wandering through the row of sleeping pods. The man, in his early thirties, stopped in front of each deceased person and muttured a few words, before moving on. The woman, in her late twenties, simply walked , stunned and apparently trying to take her mind off what was going on.
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Minutes later, everyone was assembled in the main hold.
“We've got bad news.” Reilly Banks announced, with Alejo de Lula standing next to him.
“So do we.” Andrei Kerensky replied in an even voice, flanked by Eve Saint-Claire and Diedrich White.
“Well then, go ahead.”
“In a few words, unless we repair the engines and the navigation systems, which have been damaged by micro meteorites, then in five hours we will be inside the corona of a star and quite dead.” Kerensky told them bluntly.
There was a moment of silent panic between many of the survivors, but Reilly raised his hand to call attention on himself.
“I'm afraid to add that beyond this dire news, there is a killer among us. He or she killed all other passengers and the crew, our survival was probably not planned. We need to repair this ship, but we need to be careful.”
“Who exactly put you in charge?” The Asian man asked, still holding his wife.
“Well, I do have the captain's pulser.” Reilly brandished the weapon for all to see. “Don't worry though, I don't plan on using it without good reason.”
“So how do we find this killer?” Christy Hart asked.
There was a deep silence.
“We could do a vote?” The woman who was wandering through the pods earlier spoke up.
Some were about to protest, but Christy Hart cut them off.
“She's right. Judgment by our peers, its the only way.”
Reilly Banks nodded grudgingly and one by one the others accepted.
“But...” Christy continued, unexpectedly. “This boy, Edward...” She held him near her. “...Will be left out of these proceedings. Surely he can't be the killer.”
“That's fine by me.” The man who had spoken to everyone of the deceased said.
Others soon agreed.
“So be it.” Reilly Banks declared. “There will be a judgment decided by each of us, save for the boy who shall not be voted and will not vote. Furthermore, we will have to decide if we are to kill the person we condemn or simply trap them in a sleeping pod.” He finished grimly.
Rules:
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Tips:
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Other:
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The Cast/Signup (12/12):
jillyfaeArpeggiateTHIS as Alejo de Lula
Methosautolycus as Amy Glenn
Captain Blackadder as Andrei Kerensky
spL1tp3r50naL1ty as Christy Hart
Renata as Deidrich White
Askthepizzaguy as Edward
Secura as Eve Saint-Claire
Romanic as Jake Harris
Psychonaut as Jin Sung
Niklas as Reilly Banks
Winston Hughes as Susann Becker
Beefy187 as Zareen Sung
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Alive: (12/12)
Alejo de Lula (jillyfae, Replaced by ArpeggiateTHIS)
Amy Glenn (Methos, Replaced by autolycus)
Andrei Kerensky (Captain Blackadder)
Christy Hart (Spl1tp3r50naL1ty)
Diedrich White (Renata)
Edward (Askthepizzaguy)
Eve Saint-Claire (Secura)
Jake Harris (Romanic)
Jin Sung (Psychonaut)
Reilly Banks (Niklas)
Susann Becker (Winston Hughes)
Zareen Sung (Beefy187)
In Sleeping Pod: (0/12)
Dead: (0/12)
Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro
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