[Kalen]
Raith sits on the oira, as usually emmrsed in a pile of ISDs. Kuro
has retaken his post at TAC but the COM and SCI stations are still left
vacant. The commander seemed to be happy- he had been running the
Helmsman through rigorous maneuvers whence they arrived at the
rendezvous point. She had done well enough- perfect by the book flying.
Aside the Kalen, the Ra`Sesketh-Lagasu was fairing equally well. Den's
crew seemed to be performing above her expectations.
Tiring of idling Raith orders Rilka to set coarse for Argada and
engage. Kuro activates the shroud and the ship slips into silent
running. Raith leaves the Oria in Raunik's hands and heads below deck.
Along his winding path, Raith finds himself before a crewman's
chamber. Its in the forward section of deck 3, so it is very small.
Raith stops and approaches the chamber- always interested in jostling up the lives of his crew.
Raith> ::sounds the door chime::
Remleq> ::looks up, shaken from his thoughts:: Ie?
Raith> Just me Farein... was wondering how au were getting along
Remleq> ::releases the door hatch:: ok...
After a moderate talk with the chief of security Raith strolls back out
into the hallway. He decides he has done enough probing of the crew for
the time being and returns to his own quarters for needed rest.
*=\/=*
The Commander tossed and turned in his bed. Nightmares and near
hallucinations buzzed in his head. He hadn't been able to get a bit of
sleep all night and it was starting to bother him.
Damn it! he had thought implanting organo-stim injectors into his
spine had been a good counter measure against the possibility of losing
control due to fatigue. he hadn't planned on not being able to consciously shut them off.
Irritated and tired of trying to get tired, Raith leaps out of his
bunk. He glances at his cronomiter.. "Elements! its thi shift..."
Thinking of nothing else better to do he puts on his pants and jacket
and starts wandering about the ship.
Though his brain is so wired he is most definitely not asleep, there is only so much a period of time a mind can run before it shuts down- regardless of chemical stimulant. Raith had just entered this state. His body was still walking, he still reacted to things the occasional officer would say in passing to him, and he was even able to control complex pieces of equipment. To Raith's conscious mind though, things were out for the night.
So with the combination of a telepathic subconscious mind and a body full of active implants the commander walked into the mess hall and sat down at a table of weary soldiers. Remi salutes him from the far end
----White flash and screaming images barrrage through the mind, almost
waking up the consciousness-----
Raith's mouth turns to a slight frown, he can understand the Engineer's feelings of sorrow. "I'm sorry about the still Remi... she made us all proud..."
Remi looks up- a bit surprised as he hasn't reported the equipment's destruction yet. "Ie, she will have kin in the future though!" He raises his glass in salute to his departed love and downs the liquor.
Raith almost sees Remi's thoughts literally- his vision shifts black and then x-rays into the Eredh's head. The viewing field narrows and changes wave length- Raith is fascinated by the bobbing electrodes as the rush too and from in the Remi's brain.
Remi, a bit disturbed by the unusual pulsating in his commander's
eyes, raises an eyebrow and asks if Raith is ok.
"Reds... Blues... greens. Whole F#@&$%g rainbow" Raith replies. To
Remi's bafflement that seemed to make sense to him. Deep down in his mind it felt like his question had been answered sufficiently. Puzzled he pours himself another stout and contemplates its implications as related to space time and quantum theory.
Understanding too many of the equations in Remi's head Raith shifts
on to some one else at the table. He settles on an erie`Arrain, who has
set a small square board on the table and is pulling out several playing pieces from a sack. Raith grins like a shark. "Chess! Where did you find such a game?"
The Officer, the second platoon commander recently assigned to the
Kalen, looks up a bit surprised. "I pulled it off some SF officer's
desk- we had looted their ship and for some reason this board and its
pieces just caught my attention," he shrugs and finishes setting up the
board. "Care to play?"
Raith continues to grin and nod agreement. The two officers move to
sit behind their respective rows, Raith behind the gold colored and the
erie`Arrain behind the silver. Several intense games followed- Raith
winning all of them but barely. His mind kept reading the opponents moves set up counter baiting tactics, but in general Raith had never actually played the game and lacked a solid game strategy aside from total annihilation. Not only was he scanning through the young Rihannsa's mind for tactics but was also skimming idly through his past and childhood. As Raith lacked skill in this, occasional flinching and winces showed that something was starting to bother the other officer.
As Raith tipped over the king's piece for the fourth time in a row
the officer bolted out of his chair bawling. He ran out of the room
babbling about how his father hated him so much and why the Great tooth
relinquishing fairy wasn't really real. Raith's expression blank merely
looked over to Remi and shrugged. "Please return this to the officer
when he regains his senses... for the mean time I am going to see if
Meira knows anything about counseling... that soldier appears to need
some."
Remi nods agreement and goes back to his scientific discussion with
his beer. Raith Leaves, and for some reason feels refreshed as he
returns to his cabin- ready to attempt to sleep anew.
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