Legends of Avantris - Stardust Rhapsody: Anthem | Ep. 21 | Learning to Fly: Part 2

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

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Welcome to Legends of Adventress. I'm Mace Caffrey, and you're listening to Star Dustus Rhapsody Anthem. You've been traveling several days since you've begun training. You've spent the last couple as you've made your way to Caledora. You've spent your last couple preparing for what is to come. Not just this world you're about to land on, but for what comes after that. The dawn, maybe demonic forces, at the very least, the final piece of the scarlet eye.

With the course set, you find yourself arriving very shortly. The Rhapsody sailing through those ether waves, you see Caledora as it begins to pull into view as the ship approaches the atmosphere. Sorry, I'm cheating. Oh, let's do it faster. I know. I'm letting you down, everybody.

No, I'm just kidding. Andy told me. I did. I promise. The Rhapsody enters the atmosphere of Caledora and descends to the gleaming metropolis of Opaline City. Gilded skyscrapers rise to the clouds in rounded geometric shapes with gleaming metal accented by deep jewel tones. The adornment of winged figures are everywhere, a hallmark of solar, Federation settlements, the space port awaits, flanked by enormous statues of two elven-looking

angels, each with four wings rising from their back. You pull into this large spaceport as you land and you dock the Rhapsody. Ret, you're able to do all the normal kind of call and receive call signs to be able to come in. Classity. Rhapsody call sign. Triggers all good. And you pull into this kind of like beautiful docking station with these, that same opalescence, almost like gleam to the hall as you drop into port. And I presumably I've been here before, right? I would imagine.

You know what's his name? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Would I have ever met this individual's sake? That's a good question. I feel like absolutely. Probably.

Absolutely. Yeah, you know Sig. You know old Sig Bronco. Very least an acquaintance. Yeah, you're not a friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure he would have fixed... He's a friend of a friend. Yeah, anything that, like, I wouldn't...

I could probably fix anything that the sparrow would need. Yeah, absolutely. And you definitely would have had the sparrow before we met. But I think that you at least know of him and have probably met him before. Yeah. And you're familiar with Solar Federation worlds, too. Yeah. So...

Right. Right. We're, uh... In Solar Federation. territory. So my usual imperial contacts can't really help us here, but these worlds tend to be a lot freer than

those under the thumb of the empire. I can't pike a look and just shake my head. All right. But what I mean to say is don't get any fucking ideas. All right? They still have police here. You still can't fucking go crazy.

Don't drop anybody down the elevator shafts in and out. Take it to the shipyard. It's not far. We can fucking walk from here, I think. I mean, these buildings look like they have some nice fucking elevator shats. Yeah, they do. Wow. They stretch up to the skies. Every time you look up as you enter out, you're almost under this canopy of these gorgeous extending wings as these kind of like kind of not the color, but the shape of art deco buildings almost.

as they reach above you and tower up, you do think that they probably have very beautiful elevator shafts. Wow. I love a beautiful shaft. Me too, Picks. Me too. Let's get going.

Things waiting for us. I'm like taking an awe of like these beautiful, like just victorious, glorious statues of winged, representations of victory and achievement, and just seeing this. And I'm just like in utter awe of where, you know, it's so much different than where I came from,

even like kind of the glitzy, sleaziness of opulence that I've experienced since leaving Macquaro and the various cyberpunk dystopias that I've lived. Like this is a level of grandeur that I think is a different kind. It's almost not opulence as much as it is achievement, you know, like, like daring to see how high you can fly by building to these heights, you know?

It's the it's the unstoppable will of man of humanity in the stars. Basically I sure hope this Art Deco doesn't awaken something. As Is Eilentaking the grandeur and follow Rhett and Pike because they obviously know where they're going. I think that there's a little bit of trepidation but I think that the conversation with Pike about the whole space thing and kind of getting that off of her chest, at least to somebody, about this fear of space and the why is allowing her, getting that out there is allowing her to be a little bit more go with the flow. And I feel a little at ease because, you know,

I've taken Solar Federation contracts plenty and sort of fought for the Solar Federation. But like, knowing that the empire has all the bureaucracy and, like, you need contacts in the Empire. to get shit done, but because the solaration is so bureaucracy-free that, like, I don't have this reliance the same way. But, you know, and sort of, I guess, yeah, I'll lead everybody out of the spaceport, and Pike and I will be at the lead, and we'll start walking to wherever his shipyard is. Sig Broncos. Good old Sigbranco. And you make your way. You know exactly where you're heading.

Rhett, you've been here before. You follow a familiar footpath through Opaline City down these streets with the gorgeous achievement of the Solar Federation rising up on all sides all around you. As you walk through the streets of Opelene City, you notice a small crowd gathered on a street corner ahead of you. Standing on a raised platform is a carcosen in religious vestments, adorned with

crab claws and strange sigils his cuddlyfish-like face topped with a spiral shell around the head is twisted in a blistering and ominous expression as he cries of coming doom, a warning

to which the crowd listens enraptured. The abyss of void lurks outside our reality but it does not do so with an action. It is growing. It's slid. The Zephyr forwood, even now as the insidious wormholes open across the galaxy,

and the poison children of the maw spilled forth, seeking conquest with their repugnant serpents. The deep are hungry, the deep are inevitable. The twelve of Agathos are impotent in vain and cannot save you. There is only one hope for salvation in the face of annihilation, overdue. Carcosa, the one true God. He was here before the galaxy's creation. He will be here long after it is destroyed. Only through Carcosa can we survive body and soul

and exist how it was before the garish creation that has twisted and corrupted which he's the passing year. Carcosa is the past. And Carcosa is the future. In the flat circle of time, his sleeping city rises in Agathos, and his arrival shall be celebrated with rapture and joy. Brace of Carcosa, the sicker heel, the hungrier fed, and the downtrodden are lifted up. Change is good. Change is inevitable.

change is the only way? Keep your heads down. Yeah, keep it moving. Yeah. It's fucking... No, he doesn't need the attention. Don't listen to wacko's like that. I just think that's true.

No, and the worst thing you can do is look him in the eye. Oh, oops. Yep, just keep your head down. This crazy guy talking about. Who knows? It could mean anything. It's just one of those fucking doomsday cults.

I don't know. The things are they set down, and... I mean, if this cup-coast thing can heal the sick and feed the hungry thing. No, no. And change is good, right? He's just praying on people's fears. That's how they get you. Once they get their hooks in you, you can't escape.

Rapture and celebration and everyone's heavy, why would you want to escape that? Well, he's also talking about, you know, being consumed in the fucking void. Oh. That's a bit? It's a bad thing. Okay. And there's always nut jobs on this. He's probably on something.

You know, he probably just, you know, saw something, and it was just some good-ass shit he had earlier. Yeah, you heard how he was talking. Nobody fucking talks like that normally. Dude's off his rocker. Yeah, I mean, I'm not as fucking relentless, and I know there's only 12 gods of Agathos. There's not fucking 13.

I've never heard of this fucking Carcoson. As you push through the crowd toward the shipyard, The street prophet seems to notice you, that. Oh, boy. He steps off his pedestal and approaches you. His carapist exoskeleton contrasting with the soft cephalopod tentacles that hang over his vestments. He grabs your metal arm.

I wrote, he crabs your metal arm. He grabs it. He could go either way. He crabs your metal arm with hard fingers. and stares at you with colorful eyes. You! I know you have seen the horrors of war in the galaxy. It is in your eyes.

It is grafted to your body with the corruption of the machine. The war took your arm. It took your eyes. What else has it taken from you? Your hope, your morality, your will to survive. Carcosa can restore all of it. you can have an eye, an arm that is whole and flesh

not this abomination of matter. Well, excuse you, I'll rip my arm back. Do you want me to kick this guy's ass, right? What the fuck are you doing? Give your hands of yourself, weirdo. The moment I see this guy grab, Rhett, I don't say or do anything but take my right hand out of my pocket. I'll have you know my cyborg parts work plenty fine. Oh, bastardization of the flesh. Work plenty fine.

They simply replace what once was you. Now you are lesser, but you can be whole again. That's mean. Things like that. Mean, I simply offer you a path. What, you want to grow me a fucking cram claw? Not exactly a cramp claw. And maybe lomster.

Oh, no! An arm that is yours. You could be whole, you could be made of flesh, not this. You, you repair, your machine parts fail. It is not you, you've had to replace yourself. How much more will you give? How much more will they take to you are no longer you? But you are some robot.

None of what was once you remains. The Church of Garkosa can give you back yourself. We feed the hungry, we shelter the aimless. We can restore what once was your glorious form. Once more to full body. It's got some good points and some bad ones. No, there are no good points. Look, I fucking hope the void shows up, and I wish I could see your fucking face when it does.

No, no! It's see the void. It spills forth. It spews. It's horrid voidness everywhere. nose of Agathos are limp or powerless to stop it. But Carcosa, Carcosa can show us the way. Carcosa in his sleeping ballads. Oh, the dreamer awakens.

Okay, Crepezoid, back the fuck off. We're gonna go on our fucking way. I look around, are there like, you said there's a crowd? There's a crowd. There's a crowd that was really like, are there like zealots now that are like looking at us? Like, do I feel, like, Like if I grab it just look for my nearest elevator shaft,

would I like start to draw the ire of the crowd? Cause like I, I'm trying to do like the rapid calculations of how much I can kick this guy. Roll on the inside check. Go on the side check. Do I get a sense that Coe's thinking this? That Coe's what? That Coe's thinking like thinking through.

Then I'm, I'm getting pissed. I mean, you've been. Coe and I were both negative. She's just the only one who might act on it. Yeah. I want to go to fun. Insight? Oh, I'm proficient.

15. Oh, 15, I think you would, you are in tune enough with your crew that you would know, I think the second this guy grabbed you, that the mood changed or like, like, you could feel the, you can feel the shift in like Pike moved, co-tensed, uh, even, even the, whatever Ziggy was watching in his goggles, like his goggles shipped it up and now he's, he's locked in. You know, he's not phone. I was just going. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. This guy doesn't know how bad he just fucked up. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And even Pixel, like afraid of the call of the void, still does not like how this approach is breaking down. So I think you would feel very much the situation around you. Co. With a 15, it's hard to put a label quite to zealotry.

But as this guy was shouting about Carcosa change, you, sorry, on the top of the insight, Roll a religion check for me. 19, I think. 19, yes. With a 19, the Church of Carcosa is widespread throughout the galaxy. You know that they're actually known for doing a large body of good works for people. Like you shouting, sheltering the aimless, feeding the hungry.

The people that are surrounding him were very much enraptured by the words that he were saying. you think that if you were to find an elevator shaft in attempt to throw this guy down it, the mob would very much turn away. Okay. I would say, let's get the fuck out of here. It's just some weird New Age cult picks. They're trying to say that there's fucking 13 gods of Agathos. There's only 12.

I was never fucking religious. Even I know that shit, okay? It's okay. Okay, weirdo, back the fuck up. He's fine with his machine parts. It's not worth it, co. Let's just move on. You all right, big guy?

Yeah, I'm fine. All right, come on. Enjoy your day and be fucked. It'll just walk away. When your parts fail are you, as the gods of Agathos surely will. Don't forget Carcosa calls. Change is coming. But you also have a pamphlet.

No, pigs, come on. I push her, I put her out of. Get the fuck out of here. Oh, you have a moment to talk about. No cults, no cults, we have a lot. And you move away. Breaking off away from the crowd, the tension had turned, not quite palpable,

but Rhett, you're discerning the party, it tenses as that moment broke out. And even as you begin to approach this doomsayer of sorts, the crowd that had their eyes turned to you to see how it unfolded. But now, breaking away and carrying a bomb, about your business, he returns, shouting, you hear the calls of the void opens, the worms, roam free, the deep end is coming, turn to Carcosa, embrace change, fade to the backyard.

Fade to the background. I'll type into my grid boy as we get far enough away that I feel comfortable just sort of doing this. I'll use sending to send. Suddenly a pop-up will appear in the the cultist's vision. He'll see the dancing crab video. They're all on the beach, stupid, crab brave. And it'll say, get fucked and flashing lights at the bottom,

and I'll just sort of smile. Oh, someone who went, Oh, get fucked. I've been foiled. Oh, I've been ruined. I thought this was called gross and self-speaking to me. We hear those screams as we continue. Are you okay?

No, I'm fine. I'm fine. Look. You know what he said about you is in truth, though? No, I know. Look, I mean, I don't know why they fucking think all that's an improvement. They think that mutating body parts is somehow an improvement. I don't think it's any fucking different than what I have.

No, and if anything happened to that arm or that I, you could always fix it. That's right. With my own fucking intellect. intellect, inability, and talent, damn it. Because you have freedom and you don't need nobody. That's right. And that guy's freedom has got a lot of

angry, just duped fucking rubs that he's starting to whip up here. You know, even if he has a point about the void and the coccyne and making sure everybody eats and stuff, he's not right about you. Well, I don't know if he understands what the void fucking is. I sure don't.

because anyway let's go you continue to make your way you finally arrive at the shipyard seeing a number of dry docks mechanic shops and other businesses with shared runways and

hangars spread throughout ret guides you to one hanger with an attached workshop with a large sign that bears the symbol of a sleek starship that devotes the look of the seaplane It has these wings that extend out over the edges, almost like a biplane with what look like engines that hang beneath it. The gilded decoration, the letters S slash B separated in plain text prominently positioned over the large hangar door.

It reads Sigbranco Starships. All right, this is the place. And I'll walk in to the shipyard and I'll just sort of keep my eye out for Stig if I can see him. Or if there's like an office, I would look for the office. You see actually as you as you walk into this this hanger, you see kind of off to the side what you dare hope maybe what you've come for, but you see it covered in currently with like sheets thrown over. A section of maybe work that was recently completed. You look around for signs of SIG.

And you see in here, the hanging roof is not super crazy gargantuan, but it is tall. And there are these pull these levers, almost like crane arms, kind of move around as they look to shift. Heavy metal components as they have to kind of like work things in and build these ships. You hear the... and drilling, ratcheting of bolts. And it's as you look up. That's the final one. And it's as you look up that you see this similar style,

almost like opulescent ship that's clearly being worked on, suspended in air, components being attached to it. You see this clauderon hanging off the side of it, bolting on a section of wing. The almost blonde fur sharply shooting out around his back, this blue bandana tied around his head, keeping it pushed up, almost giving this kind of like spiked texture. As he notices you come in, you see those similar goggles pulled down as the kind of like the spark-reducing, almost like welding goggles as it goes to attach it. He, he He definitely moves around the side of this ship that he's working on, almost in midair.

He does a slight kind of leap to the section of a crane that's suspending it, and he kind of with one hand on one leg to the side. He slides down the metal as he comes down the crane and moves to walk over to. You see him covered kind of head to toe almost in these dark blue coveralls with white sleeves coming out on either side. Red, is that you? Zieg Bronco, how the hell are you? I'm doing better now. You're here to pick up that order?

Sure I am. Is that them? Oh, you know it. I've never made such a custom order before, but you know, the price made it worth it and heck if it wasn't a fun challenge. And the specs all made sense? You're able to make sense of them? Made sense, not at all, but did I do them? You're absolutely right. Everything you asked for is in each and every one of these dagoned chips. That's why I reached out to you.

Really? Everything we asked for? Well, everything I asked for. Okay. I took your feedback into account. So it's got all the API documents. And the shard bus for the hypergrid and the cold mirror drive and the passive spectrum sniffer? What the heck is he talking about?

Smash cut to rep with just a stack of documents like this, feeding him into a shred. Look, Zika, you can install all of that on your own time, all right. Sig's more of a craftsman. It's nice to meet you. I'm Sigi. Oh, well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Sig. They're very similar names. No, we don't. Co.

It's nice to meet you. I got to say, I had a lot of fun working on yours. I think you're gonna like what we did. Really? I think so. Well, heck, I hope so. You know, I was a little, I was, I mean, everyone here knows. I was feeling a little anxious about it,

but I mean, you seem like a guy that makes me say, hell yeah. I feel like we could have a beer, that would be pretty awesome. Oh, man. So I'm feeling better. This is Picks. Pixel. Hi, pocket chimkin, and I'm all greasy.

Oh, Pigs, I can't get any more greasy. Come on in here. Nice to meet you. Well, it's great to meet you. I think you're also going to last. like what we did with your ship up there. I can't wait to see. I ain't never flown a ship before.

Yeah, well, I don't know y'all very well. Or a simulator either. What was the last part? I ain't never flown a flight simulator either. Oh. Because it broke when Co was in it. Well, that shit's all made up and terrible anyway. I mean, nothing matters till you actually take to the stars.

Simulators don't, that's right. That's right. That's such a dagon thing. Now, I don't think that's totally fair. What I'm trying to find is anybody. Everybody who actually excels in a simulator is terrible once you put them in the seat of a starship, and you put them out amongst the stars. They fall pieces.

That sucks, Ziggy. It's basically the same thing. It's basically the same thing. It's got all the G-forces and the buffers and it might as well be in space. Red, this one's good at simulators, huh? Oh, yeah. Okay. Thousands of hours, allegedly.

Good luck to you. Well, good luck to him. We do have some business to discuss. Okay, lay it on me. Privately, if you could. Well, Rhett, come on over to the office. Oh, do you have, like, probably like a, like a fridge full of, like, really mediocre but awesome beer? You see that white fridge over there with the kind of the metal bar?

It has the badass Bronco blazing on it? I do. The handle actually jams. You gotta give it a hard kick on the front. It'll kick open. top to bottom, the most mediocre beer you've ever had. Does it have a magnet of a takeout joint that went out of business a decade ago? Well, you got eyes, don't you?

Oh, baby. Come on, let's get some beer, guys. I run over and I kick it in, and it's probably ice cold. Oh, yeah, ice cold. It's absolutely perfect. You're living the high life. It's the champagne of beer. Well, you know.

I give SIG a nod, say, Good to see you again, SIG. And you, bye. And I'll follow off with them to go grab a cold beer. Yep. Enjoy yourselves on me, help yourself. Brett, come on into the office. All right.

And you follow him back into, just like a glass panel, you know, like the door has almost these like classic shades pulled over it. Three, about three kind of panel windows as you walk in. It's not a big space. As you go in, almost similarly to your setup, you can kind of find like papers strown about. Somebody that likes to work in texture. A, like a desk that has a very, very sparse chair on the other side.

Almost just four legs and a seat. Nothing fancy, two chairs. He moves over to the desk. What's going on, Rhett? what do we have to work out? Well, first, I want to say thank you for doing this job so quick. And a second, I just got a level with you that in terms of cash flow, I was hoping to be able to pay in full today for the pickup, like we discussed.

Well, that sounds good to me so far. I mean, you don't have to thank me. The cash will do, Red. Well, here's the thing. I don't have the cash right now. And it's a long story, all right? But we've had a... We're on the tail of this big bounty, all right? We're going to be flush in a couple weeks. I'm just hoping you can maybe take an I owe you

and you know I'm good for it for the second half of the payment on their three ships. Red, I'd love to help you out, man. But I'm not running the charity here. I mean, I got bills to pay. I got mouths to feed. I mean, I trust you as much I'd love to take an IOU. I'll use don't pay the bills.

It doesn't keep the hanger over my head. Now, you paid a rush fee. I did some of my best work on those three ships out there. I'm looking forward to it. And, Sig, look, I have no doubt that they're going to be. Three of the finest starfighters the galaxy's ever seen, it's just... Look, I have an extra ship in the hangar right now. It's gaudy and it's fucking gold and brilliant.

And the guy that- The guy that fucking owns it, he doesn't need it anymore, all right? Look, I'm happy to take you back and show it to you. It's a personal vessel, but I feel like that's gotta be worth something. Maybe take that as a down payment on the down payment. Come on over here, all right. Stand with me at the window, okay? Just for one second.

Come on. All right. Let's look on out for a second, okay? Yeah. You see this? The hangar, the garage, your friends over there drinking out of the fridge. I've seen mediocre beer. You know, they're living the highlight.

You see that sign over there with the badass Bronco? Yeah. You see what it says under that? Is that S-B? Yeah, exactly right. If slash B, the slash is relevant. that's right. Oh, Sig slash Bronco? SIG slash Bronco starships.

You see that? I put a lot of work into that sign. It's like hanging off a little bit. It's like missing one of the... Now, if you could, point at the fucking sign that says Sig Broncos badass pawn shop, okay? Point at it. Oh, no.

I mean, that's a fair point. Look, I didn't mean anything by it. You're right. You're right. And I suppose I know... Oh, course. I'm just on. underlining my point. I don't own the title to that Starship, so to speak, so I don't know how legal it would have been anyway. Look, Red, I want to help you, man. The favor was clearing my schedule to get this done up front for you. You told me you needed them. I got it taken care of, man. Sure, there's a rush fee, but I pushed everyone to the side on account of you and I have that

history. Now, I'm going to have to move them, man. I'm going to have to move them if you can't clear the notes. Damn it. No, you're right. And I fucking got carried away with those specs. I really tried to make it as personal as I could, just to...

You know, it's their first ship, and I just wanted it to feel special, you know? Oh, believe me, I know how much you care, and I put a lot of love in every single one of those, all right? We're going to unveil them. There's going to be a moment.

You're going to say, holy shit, that's cool as hell. I just knew how much a custom job costs. Oh damn it. All right. Okay, how about this? Why don't we unveil it? I'll take a quick trip to the bank and I'll get some money and I'll be right back. How does that sound? We won't leave without it. I just want you to get them all excited and maybe while I head to the bank they can, you know, jump in the cockpit and check it out and you'll have your money and we'll be on our way. All right. You know what I'm going to hold softie. Let's give them a look. Okay, we'll walk out

there, we'll do the big unveiling. They could see what you did for him, all right? Because I appreciate a guy who cares about a beautiful piece of artsmanship. Okay, let's go, uh, let's go, uh, let's go unveil something. And then you come back, we square the notes. I'll get them to your ship for you. I mean, unless you want to wait until it's paid for.

I mean, eh, I don't want you to have to necessarily do the big reveal and then turns out I can't get the money. Red, after all this time, I trust you, man, okay? I know you're going to come through because Rhett is the guy who comes through, all right? And I've got to tell you, after all this work, all those long hours, hoisting and hefting, well, gosh darned, I want to see the look on their faces. All right, now that I think about it, it's a lot of pressure, okay?

All right, let's head on back out there. Jesus. Oh, no. All I'm saying is beating all 12 optional Mecca bosses based on the gods of Agathos requires a strong level of dexterity reaction, time, and tactical squadron action. Are you still talking to me? Yup.

You gotta say yup, Bix. Oh, so I was reading about carcocens. Yep. Your microphone. I was reading about carcocin's. Yup. Reading about, how do you get that? They handed it to me.

I got four of them, you want one? Oh, no, okay, I can't. We're not gonna get it. We're gonna talk about this. All right, everybody. You enjoying the refreshments? His nectar of the gods. Don't I know it?

Thank you. Come on down, everyone. We got something special to show you. Now, you may have heard from Rhett, but a little while ago, he put in a custom order for the three of you. Pike, I know you got yours. for the three of you for a little something special.

And boy, oh, do we have something special to show you. Here we go. And he walks up and he grabs the covering. And it's draped over those three, that section of three ships that looked like it was over where it was finished. And he yanks hard. And the tapestry rips up and swayes through the air as it goes out and falls as you lay eyes upon for the first time your personal ships.

Whoa. Which one's mine? As he throws off the sheet, he reveals three docked starships. The first is rounded and chunky with three prominent prongs at the bow of the starship with a neon green cockpit. matching the glowing green lines that run along the black hull. The second is made from a chromatic metal that shimmeres with iridescent patterns, with the cockpit beam sphere with a star-patterned viewport, four pixie-like wings of energized glass running up and down from the central pod.

The third is three pieces in one starship, painted a vibrant blue with orange lightning strikes. The cockpit seems to be fashioned in the image of a horned, face, fanged tiger, with two separate engine pods hovering beside it tethered by crackling electricity. Which one's more? Not obvious? I'm not a huge fan of saber-toothed cats, but I guess it's fine. Now, do you stay the fuck away from that?

Picks! What? No, that one's yours right there, the one in the middle. Yeah, it's sort of like your magic. It's so pretty, I love it. like pixie things that happen, you know? Oh, you got to jump up in there. We can open the pit for you.

Yeah, absolutely. It looks beautiful on the outside, but where it really comes to life is on the inside of the cockpit. All right? Give it a test. I'm going to rush up in. And as you open it up, you see a layout for you that is not,

you've been in the, or maybe it didn't go in the simulator. But you've seen the simulator. You know kind of like that traditional control, mechanism you'd expect to see in a Starfighter. Maybe you've leaned over, you've seen the sparrow, you've seen stuff of that style. But this, this is like a music board layout. There's actually auxiliary plug-in for you to connect your key jar.

This makes immediate sense to you as you sit down. You feel like you're on stage. You feel at home in the cockpit. station. Oh, my gosh. Right a minute he did it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm an artisan, but I was just painting this guy's specs over here.

So you gotta thank him. Does I'm just like, I'm dancing on the pad? Well, they'll mention it. No, don't mention it. I mean, you know, hopefully they suit your tastes based on what I know you like. And I think that, you know, we made a good compromise. unfortunately no water slides, but you know, the controls should function, they should be safe. Plenty of weaponry and, you know, hopefully easy enough for beginners.

Thanks, Red. I got to check this out. I'm going to run up to the side of my ship and I'm going to grab onto the ladder in order to get into the cockpit. I'll pull myself into the cockpit. Jeez. You get into the cockpit and this has a multi-screen layout in front of you. Every bit of information sectioned in the perfect spot, but with complete customization where you can, you can arrange and set up as you'd like. Instead of those classic Starfighter controls,

you have exactly what you've come to expect when filing a ship. You have what feels like a game control alongside a completely functional triple keyboard layout, allowing you to access different screens at different moments with full swivel ability. You are extremely comfortable. I start immediately making adjustments. Oh, this is perfect. This is so perfect.

Thank you. I'm going to have to replace the operating system. This is amazing. I can't wait until he checks out the operating system, man. I mean, that's top of the line. Oh, I know it's only the best for all seen. I'm just losing my mind. I'll plug my goggles into a port and you'll immediately start seeing data of the hypergrid back and forth and all the axes of direction start to flow and the screens just go wild as I start to personalize.

No, you don't own it yet. That concept doesn't even occur to you. You plug in and start to customize the shift immediately to your preference. It's mine now. I'm taking it. It looks like we got one more, huh? I'll like me taking it in, and I'll just kind of look down and I'll say, do you send him pictures of my bike as reference images?

Well, I figured, you know, that was your aesthetic, so yeah, you know, I got to send reference. I'm going to just lean down and, like, give the biggest bear hug to Red. It's a fucking heavy dude, and I'll try to pick him up and realize that I can. Jesus, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, I get this. Oh, thank you, Rhett. And I just start sprinting.

You're welcome. I will leap into the cockpit, and I want to see basically what the vibe is. As I, like, you know, there's completely non-functional ears on this thing and horn and non-functional fangs, and it all just looks cool and it's flogical. And that's exactly what I'm living for.

You leap into the cockpit. And there is so much non-functional stuff around here with the bangs, the aesthetic. The seat is just so. So badass as you sit down. In complete contrast to the simulator, you are at ease, you are comfortable, and your controls, completely different from a Starfighter, the mechanisms of this built to operate exactly as a motorcycle board.

You have clutch, throttle, and brake. This, you feel at home in this Starfighter. You feel comfortable. You feel badass. That was really fucking heavy metal of you, Red. As I just take it in and I am, I'm almost speechless as I just kind of run my hand and I feel like the electricity

and like the new bike smell and the new bike kind of humph for it. There's almost that jump of like electricity before your palm hits it and you kind of crackle for a minute just as you touch and then you run your hand down. I bet you roar real good. This is for a spin. Red, you're a genius.

You're a... Thank you. I try. You'll definitely get married. This is the most bad-ass fucking thing I've ever seen. You just wait till you get them all out amongst the stars. I mean, those puppies are gonna bark. I'm not saying anything.

I'm already playing a video game. I can't believe we could afford this. Especially after we gamble the way all of our... Well... What was it? I mean, guys, this must have been really expensive. Everybody comes down. No, it was a custom job.

Rushby. Really expensive. I'm glad you all like it. But why don't we step out of the starships for now? Do we have to? Well, they're not ours yet. So I just wanted y'all to see them and maybe start to get used to them. We've already fun.

It'll be fine. We're going to walk away with these. It's just, uh... Ziggy, are you... Pay attention. I'm coming. I'm coming. I'll leap out.

My eyes are like really wide just looking at the thing. Is everything gonna be all right? Well, here, team eating. Okay. What's going on? You might give them this a second? Oh, sure thing, Red. You guys talk amongst yourselves.

I'll be right over there. Let me know you want me back. God. Red. What a... Thank you so much. That ship's so cool. It's amazing.

I'm gonna be so happy. No one's ever given me anything like that before. Well, I'm real glad you like it. Finally, someone that we meet who isn't a complete jack. as can create works of art like a sculptor. He's a great fucking guy. Leave it to the Solar Federation.

You really put a lot of heart in each one of our ships. You know, I just wanted y'all to be comfortable, and I wanted y'all to get excited about, you know, your first ship. I mean, when I first met Pike, he wouldn't shut the fuck up about the sparrow, and I wanted y'all to feel that same level of admiration for your own starfighters. I'm going to have to think of a name. Yeah, me too. Oh, my God. Take time on that.

No need to decide right now, but here's the thing. Sig's such a great upstanding fellow. Judy, oh no, that's just a regular name. The annihilator. As you start, you hear the loud thump of his boot hitting the fridge as the door swings open. He grabs a cold one, cracks the top off, and sits down in a small metal swivel chair. Oh, he's way far away, but he's in the same right everywhere. Like all upstanding fellows, he doesn't take IOUs.

And he won't pawn wrecks his ship. So, uh, I need to go get alone. Yeah. Oh, that's easy. Can I come in? I've got some synth coin I want to check out. If you want to, I mean, if you can maybe get directions, I wouldn't mind, you know, some, you know, if you want to join me. Yeah, I haven't gotten a chance to check my accounts for a while.

I've got some harmonies I want to check on. Why don't I stick back with the two of them? We can work on the ships and get them acquainted and talk about some more flight lines. and stuff. I could also do some sex for money if we're really low. Five-pix, no! What? Why don't do that anymore?

Look, look, that's you fucking good. That's the point. We don't do that. Okay. I just want to play it up because, you know, the banking system of the galaxy is run by the Nexus Consortium. We know that a subsidiary is Comera Bionetics. And so I'm hoping that, you know, we haven't been tied to any of that.

I know that they've publicly distanced themselves from fucking Sight Omicron or whatever the hell it was called. Has anyone fed shit mouse shit jaws today? I fit him this morning. Red, whatever you do, just be careful. Smash cut. Look, don't, you know, don't draw unnecessary attention to us.

I'm 99.99% sure it'll be totally fine. Just on the off chance that Zieg and I don't make it back in like, let's say, two hours. hours were probably dead. So just maybe, I don't know, figure it out for yourselves. Two hours. All right.

Just be careful. My pop always said that you can never trust a bank. That they're all sharks and cutthroats. Well, that's not what my parents said. Look, you know, the financial system, you know, people need loans to buy homes and to buy starships. You know, they do a lot of good. They, you know, enable folks to buy stuff that, you know, maybe they normally couldn't.

So I'm just going to make the case and hopefully, you know, I'll get them whatever documentation they need for the business. And, you know, hopefully we can get approved quick and we'll be on our way. That's what they're there for. You just say a few things. You write a few things. Stamp, stamp, stamp, done, done. All right, Ziggy. Get us directions.

Let's go. I get us direction. You get directions. Um, you do are easily able to get. I'm going to save a few notes on the wait and save. We wait 325 additional minutes. Don't worry, Rhett, while you are out at the bank, while you are out at the bank, uh, on the house, I'll make his ladder an escalator.

Oh boy. That's brutal. I appreciate that, Singh. Well, just to each their own, you know. We're going to scramble the starships. It's going to take like five minutes for you to get like up. Fee. Fee!

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And all backers who pledge in the first 72 hours for any physical item will receive a free set of synth, sunset, sharp edge, dice. Time is running out, so make sure you back Neon Odyssey today at neonrpg.com. That's neonrpg.com. You're easily able to get through actions. You head out and you walk through Opelaine City. You know that the Solar Federation is this kind of collection of independent systems, planets, worlds that don't want to be ruled by that kind of overarching society or authority, right? Not society, but authority.

That's why it's outside of the empire space. And here, all this grandeur, all this achievement is possible, allowing people to do what they have the capacity to do. It's why artisans like Sig can accomplish the work that they do without oversight, without restriction. You arrive eventually at a large building that looks out of place in contrast for the typical solar federation architecture of the city. This bank is clearly of the Nexus Consortium. With its pyramidal shape and triangular adornments, the bright neon lights glinting garishly off the bottom. bronze, gold, and chrome of the surrounding structures. You step inside and see a sleek and hyper-modern

lobby filled with lush greenery and a fountain that evokes a waterfall, despite the utter lack of nature in this building. The clerk at the desk takes your name and you sit in the waiting room until a Lika loan officer calls you into her office. Her pantsuit is as sleek and narrow as her canine features that evoke the traits of an Afghan hound. The long-haired of which is pulled up into a tight bun, she looks over your application skeptically. Her desk has a plaque that reads the name Roxanne Radico.

Does everything check out? Well, let me see. I'm reviewing. I'm reviewing. And your current total acature in notes is... Well, like I said, the cash flow is a little tight right now. I think we're under five figures at this point. Uh... Under five figures?

Well, you had to have that fucking cute. I didn't know we're under five figures! Well, yeah, I told you money's tight. That's tight. I know, it's real tight. I mean, but... But fine and solid. No, it's very fine.

And as you can see, you know, my tax returns for the last three years should show that I'm running a... profitable, even if minorly so, a bounty hunting operation. And, you know, as an upstart entrepreneur alone could really help take my business to the next level. And I'm seeing here for consistent income weekly, you've left this section blank. I see no relevant income redouts from the last statements from the last three months or so. Well, it's contract work, as I'm sure you're aware. Sometimes contract work is a feast or famine. And the reason why cash flow has been so light is we're going to have been to a famine.

But it's because we're making so many investments. And we're sure to reap all of those rewards. We just need a few more weeks. And this loan is really just a stopgap to get us to that point. So you could even think of this as a line of credit. We don't need it that long, and I just need to cover a large equipment purchase that I made. And that equipment will be able to sort of enable a level of profit that we haven't seen in the past. Uh-huh, uh-huh, I'm just adding Spends Money before intaking?

No, he's investing into equipment to secure the payout that's coming. It's a big one. It's a big one. That's right. It's a safe investment, too. It's not into those, you know, DigiBucks that fucking Ziggy invests him. We'll get to that.

Also invests in DigiBuck? No, no, no, no, not him. And how much was the cube that you bought him? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 9,000 notes. 9,000 notes on cube. It was, it was a data, it was an encryption protocol. I needed, I needed to spend a few cycles.

Oh, no. Uh, mm-hmm. And how often do you spend those extra cycles? It's been some time. Linda, what was your name again? On the desk. Roxanne. Oh, I mean, Roxanne, Roxanne.

Yes. So I was just so taking it back. It's Roxanne? Yes, yes. I see that now. Very infrequently. It was an essential purchase to make sure that our crew was protected. And, you know, Digicoins, they go up and they go down if you're vigilant.

Sir, and I couldn't help but notice as you were leaning forward on your display there. It looks like a purchase of 5,000 Digibones. Is that true? Oh, no. Oh, no. I immediately lock my screen. Oh, is that in the paperwork? Oh, look, look. I'm not saying that I've been perfect in terms of running this business, all right? But I hate to do an emotional appeal. But we really need this money, all right?

And I can't really explain, but it's a matter of life and death. You know, being a bounty hunter, it's dangerous work. And if I don't get my crew the ships they need, then we could all be in danger. Well, you know what we love here is people who can't explain why. they need large sums of money. So unfortunately, I'm going to have to stamp this application as extreme risk

and decline your loan. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, there's got to be some other kind of way. I mean, how can we make it less risky? Is there any way? Do you have anything in the way of collateral? In terms of like assets?

Yes, yeah. Anything that can offer up a value close to the notes you seek so that if you default on your loan, I'm not saying you will, you both seem like, you seem like upstanding gentleman. We'll say you that.

Uh-huh. If you default, we would claim something of equal or more value. Well, I mean, the only thing I can legally put up for collateral is my ship, the Rhapsody. No.

It's the only way, Ziggi. That's the whole getting caboodle. You can't put that up for collateral. I mean, the ether bars won't cover it. Look, she's a great ship. She's a large transport. You docked the spaceport in here? Yes, docked the spaceport.

Former Grimco vessel, an old ether harvester. Call us on a Rhapsody? That's right. The Rhapsody. harvester. Yeah, an old ether harvester that I've souped up and added my own modifications over the last 20 years. And I assure

you it's worth at least five to ten times more than than what the value might say on your jelly green book. Red, Red, can we have a minute? We can't, we can't do that? Just for the ships that

you had made? I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, really, really appreciate it, but, but that's, that's, that's, it's like your home. Yeah, but collateral just, it only matters if we failed. As long as we don't fail, then everything's gonna be fine. I'm very confident, but I can't let you do this. Well, what, what else are we gonna do, Ziggy? You're forgetting. I'm a wooed. I understand. Are you, look.

I haven't wanted to do it because I haven't wanted to really surface up too much. But why don't I try using the name? You can just use your family's money? We've got family accounts. They probably wouldn't even notice. They'd be like, oh, extravagant gala. All right. We're doing this once, all right?

I don't want to have to pull this card. I get that you're family rich. But we're not going to put the ship. We're not going to put the ship. Roxanne. Roxanne. I would like to suggest an alternative means of funding this loan. Okay.

I am going to give you my information here. My name is Ziggy Woog. You will be able to find this name on this account here, I believe. Just pull what you need out there to secure things, and then we'll be on our way. Wooge, you said? Oh, yes. You may have heard of us. That brings up nothing.

All right. Just a moment. I lean real close. I lean real close to a accent. For the first time, can you try... And I whisper my first name into Roxanne's here. They said it's felt with a O there. Yeah.

Well, Ziggy. Yeah. Sorry, it says that this has... been declined there's a note here barring you any access or authority of any family funds and trusts you are completely blacklisted your assets have been frozen you've been disowned by your family in fact you've been cut off oh my god he's gonna cut him he's cutting up your card you just got my legs

There is they fucked up a character from another campaign. I just look at Wrette. I feel like this is private information that I shouldn't know anything about. Let's go with the plan. It's an old grimco ship. It's an ether harvester. I've done modifications last 20 years. It's worth five and ten times what it says on your jelly green book.

If you would like to put up the Rhapsody as collateral, we can make that work. We can authorize your loan. And if you devolt, we will claim the Rhapsody. Look, Ziggy, it's gonna be okay, all right? This is fine. It's our only option. Where do I sign? Uh, you will have to sign right here and here.

Initial here. We're gonna need a photo of your license here. Sign here. And initial here. Can you take a picture of this? And right here, and then also here, and then here will need your name backwards. Okay, yeah.

And just right there. Just right there as well. And this carries on for about 40 minutes. Yeah, I go through and I'm signing all the paperwork. You were forced to enter in also the all of the identifying information of the Rhapsody itself. So that the ship itself is completely locatable to the bank in the event that you default. They will come claim it. All right.

And the funds will be wired immediately? Yes, that's correct. The funds will be wired immediately. You should see them in your account shortly. Your minutes. All right. Well, I appreciate your business. It is our pleasure.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and you, I think, don't come back. Well, my funds will be available on my next card, presumably. Oh, yes, they will. On your next card. All right. I won't. Thank you. You're welcome.

Come on, Ziggy. Let's get out of here. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks again, Rhett. Of course. It's going to be fine. You walk past that greenery.

Head hung just a little bit low, Ziggi. As you walk out of this strange, colorful amalgamy, of shapes, that pyramid-style roof, reaching to a point at the very top as you exit through the front door, back out into those opalescent streets of this city as you make your way back to Sigbroncos.

You okay? Can you believe it? I got rejected on funds. They cut me off completely. Isn't that amazing? No, there, there. No, look. Zing, no, it's gonna be okay. Oh, no.

I like, I pull a big snotty, uh, a crying arm across one side. They, they, they, they cut me off, Rhett. No, I, I, it seems that way. It's gonna be okay though, like, here's the thing, Ziggy. You're, you're talented, you're a great fucking bounty hunter. You don't need their money, right? Right. I didn't think so, but it's not like the money.

It's like, I, I, they, they, they, they, they, they, they mean it's like they left me. Like, like, they left me too. Like, I, I know I, I left and, and, and we haven't spoken really, but like, they, they, they, they don't care. They don't care that I don't have access anymore. It's done. It's all, it's all, it's all, it's all out of it. You understand? No, I, I, I understand.

Oh. Look, when was the last time you talked to them? I mean, do they understand? Maybe you could call them or make your case? I said them a message like we talked about right after you picked me up off of Pileon, and I, you know, I said I was okay. I was really vague, but like I, before then, it'd been a long time. I really, you know, I left just because I wasn't,

Redd, I didn't really belong in their world, you know? It's politics and it's ambition. You know, I can't follow after my parents' footsteps the way that my brother and sister do. I'm just not made that way. I made a whole world because I didn't want to live in that. That was when you found me, my whole rig. I'm at silica and everything was all right for a while, but I paid for all of that using these funds.

Oh, all those chairs in your secret lab were... You used your parents' money. Yeah, I mean, I had to move it around a little bit, and I didn't... Yeah, I had some of it, but anyway, it was a lot. It was a lot of money. Well, I mean, look, I hate to say good riddance about your family, but... I mean, no, that feels disrespectful. Here's what I want to say.

Look, don't feel bad like you couldn't live up to their expectations. That's their fucking problem. Right? I mean, who are they to say what you should be? And what's so great about your brother and your sister anyway? Oh, they're extremely successful. My sister, she's on track to being a senator herself, and she's going to marry some big shot, and they're going to go and probably change the whole galaxy, honestly.

And my dad, my bigger brother, he's like a really powerful cleric. He would be able to tell you anything you need to know about the harmony. He's way up there in the church. He basically moves his hand like this, and the entire followers of the Sarian Empire will go in that direction. It's not... I'm... They see me as a loser, right?

I'm... I'm... I just joke around and I play video games all day. And they're probably right. You know? What do I do? I'm not changing arts and minds. I'm not changing the world.

Well, I mean, you do joke around and play video games all day, but that doesn't make you a loser. I mean, you think any of them have come face to face with a fucking demon and live to fucking tell about it? You think either of them have the kill count you do? Think about the kill count, Zig. You killed a lot of bad people. Not that I necessarily endorse you keeping track. I have a number in a notepad document. Redd, it's not...

You don't know what it was like growing up and being forced into the spotlight and being pushed into a... to be a person that you don't want to be. You don't know what it's like to be told that you're not doing it right and that you can't do it. And you don't know what it's like to agree and not want to do that thing and have to walk away from it. This is just reminds me of all that stuff I tried to get away from. You know? It sucks.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I understand. You were It wasn't right for you though Just because your last name's Woog It doesn't mean you need to follow in their fucking footsteps I mean does any party you want to go back No but There's a part of me that will always want to have

My parents care And my and have my big brother back And to have my little sister to play with again I'm cut off and you think that as long as they think you're a loser that they won't talk to you they won't love you

this when when when when that that lady in there whose name I forget said that my funds weren't available anymore it was like yeah yeah they're not gonna

I'm terrified. Come back. Their whole track for me, the excuses they've been making about where I am all this time? I'm sure that's done now. Well, we can be an optimist about this, right? Like, I don't think you're a loser. And look, maybe once we take down the Don and we wipe out the whole fucking syndicate, maybe you put together a little packet or presentation, and you can send it to them and just we can highlight a,

all the cool fucking things you've done. And just how successful you've been in this line of work. And I don't know if they're going to see it that way, but I would fucking challenge anyone to say you aren't successful or that you're a fucking loser. Thanks. That means a lot.

I pull my goggles off for probably one of the first times you've seen me like this. My tiny little eyes with fucking red red imprint of circles around the actual sockets like this. Tears.

tears, uh, welled up, uh, just so I can, uh, wipe, wipe my face, I mean, this is so fucking sad. Thank you. I'm like, put my arm around you. You know, kind of give you like, uh, a, you know, like, you have, you have, we got, we got to, we got to, think about how much fun you're going to have zipping around in the stars and that starship.

Think about that. You think your fucking brother's sister could do that? You think they put as many hours and then flats them, did you get? as you have. No way. All right. I am a little cheered up. Look, that's a serious.

We're, we're, we're, the ship is on the line. We, we, we, the bank could take it if we, if we fail, or we lose our lives. I want you to know I'm going to be right behind you and the rest of the crew, okay? All right, Ziggy. I know you will. And I can't wait to see you out there. So let's go back. We'll get old sick paid and we can take them for a spin.

We can take him for a spin, maybe. I'll look at directions. I'm gonna pay for the wait and save. Didn't we tell pipe two hours? I'll feel like we're right up on two hours. Yeah, if two hours goes over, Pike goes a little ton of weight. Like, it's, you know, that would be bad. We wait for our-

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. We wait for our fiber Uber and, yeah, yeah. You get back to Cigrancos. You walk towards the you walk back up to the hangar bay. You see that biplane-esque starship with the S-slash or B, and you walk in. You see your friends hanging around, looking at the ships, talking about them, being excited, enjoying a drink. You hear Sig over there kind of explaining some of the bells and whistles to them. and kind of walking everybody through it.

Oh, yeah. And yours has actual magical amplifiers, so as you play music, it'll blast it out of the ship. Oh, my. God, this is so cool. Your microphone. Yeah, I still said that though. It's so cool.

I wasn't sure how I was gonna do it when we started, but then boom, it just hit me. Of course, amps on the outside. Does this little horn, does it honk? Do you want it to? It doesn't already? Do you want it to? Yeah.

Yeah, it all. Yeah, pop-pun. These two, the happy duo. How to go? We're good. We have what we need. Yep. Okay.

All right. Yes. I'll put in my wallet and I'll take up my next card. And there's like a horrible Tyrell Corporation pyramid on it. Run this. Oh, you got it all squared away, huh? Well, yeah. And now I just tap right there.

No. Oh, it's a tab. Yeah, there you are. Your chip work? Oh, it's that, wait, hold on. Oh, I've got to insert. Oh, yeah, well, sorry. Oh, I know.

I hate this stuff. Thanks for waiting. No problem. I knew you'd be good for it, Rhett. You always come through them. These chip readers, I take for that. Well, we'll let it sit. I mean, I know.

I believe you. I'll get beers for everybody. I'm an expert now at flight. I didn't do any simulation. I didn't play any fucking video games. Why don't they make star? Starships come like a motorcycle. It's so much easy to understand. Okay, I kick open the fridge. I grab a bunch of beers. I might tossing them around. It's another chowl lake. This is even better than a shower beer. I liked it. Hell yeah. There's nothing quite like popping a cold one when you're looking at a brand new beauty freshly off the line. A couple of crispy boys, huh? I guess I could have.

have one to yeah there we go right it feels really good after all the stuff we've been through lately what's that hope feels pretty nice yeah glad you feel that way pixel it's been a couple days where there hasn't been a lot of it but this the fear is smaller it ain't gone it's a little bit smaller huh yeah if you could conquer your fear of flying well that remains to be seen but I'm often missing Let's not think about it. This not talk about it too much. Then anyone can do anything.

Cheers. And if you guys could somehow get the money for these ships, we can do anything. To hope. Oh, he's new to this, cut him some slacks. Oh, man, it's okay. I built that automated ladder into this thing.

I'll actually clip onto the rest so he can't fall off. It'll get him straight into the city. Man, it's so amazing that, you know, I always heard terrible things about just how awful the Nexus consortium and their banking and financial practices are, but it's great that they gave a small business alone just for hearing what we're trying to achieve. You know, maybe I was wrong about those corpo fucks. You weren't.

Maybe I was wrong about them. Yeah, maybe I was wrong about him. Oh, wait, what was that? No, we'll talk about it later. Oh, okay. So is this pamphlet about all these church people feeding the hungry when the banks are going to do it? We have to have a long talk about the banks. I've got all kinds of notes all over it.

I've been annotating the pamphlet. Oh, no. Drollings and like, oh, cool. I wish they were a bigger. Picks. Yeah. They don't celebrate December wean. What?

They hate Semberween. Fuck this. I can't do that shit. What the fuck's wrong with those guys? Bip. Oh, the chip's done. Hold on. I hold the cart back in my wallet.

Yeah. Well, that looks like we're square, SIG? Yes we are, Rhett. Pleasure doing business with you. And I gotta say, I've worked on a lot of stuff for a long time. And these are some of the best things I've done. If I do say so myself, but I really hope y'all enjoy them. It's beautiful work. Hopefully y'all enjoy them too. But we should probably get going. Lots to do. Hots to do. Head on back to your ship. I'll have them all hoisted over there. We'll get them packaged up for you. I thought we were going to fly him back and we can't fly him back. He's definitely not funny.

No, no, no. Oh, what, they installed an elevator. Mr. Bronco, of an absolute pleasure. Go, great meeting you. I'll shake his hands. Until next time, see. Bye. What was that?

Do you hug? I mean, I'm greasyy and oily, but. Yeah, me too. And I'm going to run over. Thank you so much for the sound system and the makeup station and the daily heart-shaped cushion and that star shape cushion and then the glitter holder

and all of the drinks is amazing. Oh, well, thank you. I mean, if you want to thank anybody, thank your pal Red. I mean, he really set it all up for you. So I just execute it. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. Well, you all fare well out there and let me know how they fly.

I'm happy to make any adjustments or attunements to them as needed once you get them out there. Of course, of course. Of course. Of course. You got to keep the roof over the check, you know. You got to compensate a skilled artist, and that's for sure. Well, you know. All right, I'm sure we'll see you soon.

I'll give you a call eventually. Take care, Rhapsody crew. Good night. Bye. See ya. I'll turn and we'll walk back to the Rhapsody, and I would have made some modifications to the hangar to basically put some sort of grab mooring into it

so that it's not just, they're not just all on the ground, but that they can sort of get as much. any individual start-ups we can. Kind of like multi-level, you know what I mean? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, and you would have done that. You provided all the schematics to these ships. I've been preparing for a while for weeks.

You knew that this was coming. You've been preparing for weeks. And so you have been in the hangar. You've been making these modifications to the Rhapsody. In that same section where the Sparrow sits next to the ether barge, you have constructed this almost like honeycomb style section of the hangar that will grab secure additional ships to the side allowing you to carry far more than you

currently do you make your way out of Opaline City the same way you came in you know you knew the way there you know the way back SIG true to his word and the time you get back to the Rhapsody the ships are already there waiting for you a man like himself recognizes the kind of work that you put in to set all this up He knew could kind of tell, discern from the way you had built things out, a sense of where you'd like them. And they are slotted into the ship for you currently. Of course, to your own discretion to align or change however you were.

But they are beautifully placed in their section in the hangar. You see each one now, the ether barge, the sparrow, co's ship, Ziggy's ship, and the exiled ship. The kill-held death meme. So what? The kill hell death name. I think that's what I'm going to call my shit. No, you're not calling it. Why not?

It's so cool. No, no, that's a little aggressive. You don't you think? And you'll definitely get made fun of. Annihilator. The Devastator. The Lord. We could workshop it.

I'll kind of put a hand on my bike as I look at it and I'll say. I think this is just extension of the same thing. No need to be jealous, girl. You're one and the same. I guess you gotta have to learn how to fucking fly this thing. All right. We ready? I've reinstalled the operating system.

I'm ready to go. Silica's head shows up in one of the front displays. Where did you learn how to fly? And you all take a moment to kind of really acquire these personal ships. I mean, take a look at kind of how customized they are to who you are. as a person. This isn't something that just kind of someone who passively knew you could have possibly put together. This took someone who has a deep understanding of who you are, what matters to you, to commission ships that really shown up in such a way. And you really take

a minute to kind of drink that all in. Before you start to kind of head back to the main section of the Rhapsody back towards the future, it's around then as you're making your way through the hall and you're passing the barracks, that you hear a, try to let him out. Yeah, go let him. I'll fine. I'll go over and I'll do a, hold on, no, wrong card. The door kicks open and a disheveled Rex appears.

Definitely the time on the ship is taking its toll on his, his classically-efficient. manicured look. His hair's a little out of sorts. He's not been able to reapply the makeup. His trademark heart rests over an eye, has faded away. Hey, guys, welcome back. First of all, second of all, I have something you're going to want to see. And he produces a fourth communicator. What? I got a message. You're going to absolutely want to hear. You had like 37 phones in your ass, didn't you? You may be wondering where I stored this. I'm not.

Stop right there and just get to the message. You are not wondering where I stored this? Not even a little bit. Okay, well, it was a cool story. I should have asked for the fourth. Damn it. No, it's not your fault. Don't beat yourself up about it, okay?

I understand seeing me again like this. You're the loss for words. This is the adultery line. I don't post on this. This is just where... ladies call me when they want to hook up. Oh, Jesus. No, no, man, no. This is purely telecoms, okay?

Calls come in, Booty goes out. That's me. I'm booty. Yeah. I go out. You know, like deliveries. You really are a scum fuck, you know? Whoa! What do you mean? Get to the point. His phone's named Rexley Madison.

Oh, no. The, uh, the, the back of it says you catch more flies with honey, but you catch more honeies when you fly. I hope you just came up with that. Listen, it's from Anatra. I'll play it for you. But you gotta let me out of here. Okay?

I, I, let's go to the lounge or something. Let's have a drink. Let's unwind for a second. I've been cooped up in here, okay? It's like a terrible prison. Because it is a terrible prison. You stop whining if we let you out. Redmond should live.

Get the fuck out of here. Let's go. Come on. of the wires. Sick of hearing. All right. What do you guys been up to? We went down to get our ships.

Oh, cool. You got new ships. Did you get mine tuned up, bro? No. No, you just was fine. I don't know. Like something, I mean, did everybody get cool stuff? Why wouldn't we get you anything?

I'm part of the crew, you know? No, you were not. You're a prisoner. That's why you didn't know, you just said prison. Back then, I mean, well, yeah, but now that I'm out, It's less like prison. It's more like I'm a part of the game. You're still our prisoner.

You're just a prisoner on the ship. It's on the ship, though. I'm seeing a little wiggle room there, right? It's not too late for us to throw you back in there. Okay, fine. Fine, Pike. God, you kill one demon and suddenly it goes to your head. Oh, yeah.

Oh, fuck. Man, I almost forgot about that. Remember when I killed the demon? How crazy was that, right? It was a lucky shot. I mean, down in that basement? That was the luckiest shot. bounced like 47 times.

Lucky shot. That was all skills. Surely you've seen the bounty hunter episodes. Why do you still have that sock in your pants? This is all wrecks, man. There's like the end part of the sock hanging out of his. I got a lot of socks. I got a lot of socks.

There's not one of them in my pants, darling. No, I think there might be two, actually. Listen, you let me know if you want to come in and investigate, okay? But I'm telling you, this is all natural. This is all natural. Oh, that's just a second. Anyway, we're in the lounge.

Champagne? I mean, you guys listen to messages without champagne? We don't have any champagne. We're broke. What do you have? Depression? Yes, actually. We've got water.

We've got whatever. We're out of energy drinks. We're out of beer. We've got protein supplement and powdered juice. We're out of whiskey. I've got an old version of Pladere and Beat magazine. with all of my favorite pop stars. Oh, I think we still have that half a bottle

of my Cili rum or whatever you call. Oh, it's pretty good. Let's just get started. You don't have this ramen packet. I couldn't, okay. It's fucking vile. So anyway, a notcher hit me up, adultery line. She wanted some.

Yeah, yeah. Not a surprise. Rex is selling some good materials, okay? That's just how it is. Yep. Anyway, she was, reached out, I'll play the message for you. He produces the kind of calm.

He puts it down on the table and the lounge. It connects to a little hollow vid that pushes out this image. I want you to roll a group perception check. Oh. I fail. I also fail. I'm not rolling very well. I rolled a natural one.

10. Six. 14. Six. Six. I got a 25. 25. Pike.

You'll be the only one to notice. When the video comes live, you see this image of a Nautra. Usually, you've only really seen her once before, but on the arm of the Don, a very well-kept woman. Here, she's a little, she's clearly disheveled. She's done a degree of work to hide it, but you can. You can see on one side of her face a larger grouping of what looks like makeup. Also on another side, mascara running. And you can tell immediately by the body language that she looks terrified.

Darling, please. You have to come get me. It's Nido. He's gone crazy. He's paranoid. He keeps talking about someone coming to back. He's stab him and overthrow him. He's running the syndicate more brutally than ever before.

He's killed his own men. His guards. He whispers about them being disloyal. I asked him to leave, Rex. I don't need to be here. I'm scared. He forbid it. You have to come get me.

We can start that life we talked about. Please, Rex. You're my only hope. And frantically, the message cuts off. Oh. So anyway, that was the message. I thought maybe you guys would be interested in it. Not okay, we gotta go help her.

Well, no, I'm less concerned about helping her and using this as an opportunity to get to the Don. You gotta call her back. Has the Don always been slapping her around? Clapping her around? I don't know the Don's been physical with her. Pull the message back up. You didn't notice the extra.

makeup. Oh, it does look like she's having a tough time. So it's not always been this bad? I don't know. I mean, she's never, she's never called me disheveled looking for company, just horny, you know, ready for action. She might be right. The Don's panicking. He's losing it. That's our end. That's our end. If there's some sort of fucking security shit that she can shut down, you can take her fucking far away. We'll go in and we'll fucking kill this piece of shit. We'll take him alive, whatever we have to do. Let's try to keep them alive if we can. But I'm not against killing this son of a bitch. Well, I know where they are and I know how to get in undetected. We'd obviously go there often to have sex. Well, tell us. Then we can

go and when we can... Tell us. I mean, she did great work with her hips. No, no, no, no, no! Ziggy, you're a bit of a freak. This is a serious situation. Those are unrelated things. I'm asking how we get there and how we get in and and bypass their security and what have you. Well, there are ways to approach under the outside of the detection of the radar. We can get in.

It's cloaked. If you approach the manor, the mansion from behind, there's this like overlook that comes over a lake. It's beautiful. It approaches a garden. If we come from that way, it's outside of their detection. But we absolutely cannot come in the Rhapsody. I mean, this thing will get picked up light years away. I mean, we'll have to move in like a stealthy crew.

And I'll tell you, Anantra does seem scared. I'm going to have to take my own ship. Do I get the impression at all that she might be lying from the message? That she might be lying? Roll an inside check. Roll an inside check, I'd say at advantage just because you were so perceptive in that moment. I love that. Not great, unfortunately.

Let me check my skills again. It's not terrible. It's a 14. Not awful. I'd say with a mix of the insight and the initial perception, you were easily able to glean kind of like her body language as she was relaying this message. she seemed genuinely very scared. Okay. And beyond like the source of the fear,

you didn't necessarily get any take on whether or not she was lying. Okay. It seemed very much. It was so palpably afraid of being there that she wants to get out. Then I say no more and I share no concerns about it potentially being a trap.

Are you sure there's no way to the Rhapsody in? I know she's big. So there may be no other way, But... Isn't this why we have our own ships now? Yeah, but I was... I was hoping that... For your first real-time fly, and it wouldn't be this high stakes.

Well, listen, I think we can all jump in my ship... And head over there. I mean, I know the landing pad. I think, you know... I mean, I'll send a message back to her. No. But I think I can get her out that way. I mean, she's only gonna come if she trusts it. Right if she walks out into a bunch of unknown ships,

out there? No way! You want access codes? You want her cooperation? We're going to need to take my ship over there and she's likely going to want to talk to just me. What if there's trouble? And we need our ships? And we're not by the Rhapsody and all we have is your fucking ship? It sounds like suicide. Trouble? You mean like a giant demon? Because last out checked. one in the Rhapsody crew column because of yours truly Rex Maxim. Man, lady luck is always on my side, okay? We'll head on over there. We'll pick up a natura.

We'll get the codes. Beep, boop, beep. This guy'll do his thing. I know he knows how to crack a door. You guys can go in, do whatever you want with the Don. I'll take a natra. We'll be safe over outside of the way, not getting in the way of anything. You guys go in, bag him, I'm clear.

All the blackmail's off me, right? We talked about that. No more blackmail. That stuff sucks. That's over with. And then you get to bag to Don, huge payday. I'm out of debt with the scarlet eye. Everybody wins.

I want this as bad as you. Is there somewhere further away? We can dock our ships. They're hidden. And then we'll stay on foot. And then we'll signal you somehow. You come down. You land, and, you know, she won't have any fucking clue we're there.

Yeah, I mean, there's a special landing pad. It's far enough away, I think. We might be able to get more ships there, but you may even have to land further away from that. I mean, I'll have to meet her, I think. Well, I don't know. I mean, I can send the message back. We'll see, but I think probably she can get out there. All right.

How do we feel about that? I think it's a only fucking chance. Yeah, I'm in. Yeah, we gotta save her. We can't just leave her out there to deal with all of that on her own. And we gotta kill the Dawn, so. Or capture him. Yeah, yeah, but probably kill him now after what he's done.

Well, no, we'll still try to capture him alive. And then kill him. Well, that's not for us to decide. That's for whatever fucking authorities want to, you know, try and maybe kill him. I mean, I could, uh, Rex, could you check the first? in case there's a champagne in there, you never know. Oh yeah, well, sure.

I mean, I'd love a cold glass. I, you know, check the back check way in there. You're growing on me, you. He walks over to the fridge. As soon as he's out of your shot, I will turn to the group. And if we don't trust Rex to do the whole intro or whatever I could do it. I know it sounds crazy, but one of the things I decoded

from that data pack allows me to slice my jeans. I can change the way I look. the way I look, my very appearance. I haven't tried it yet, but it could be, you know, a deception. That way we don't have to let Rex run the show. I could do it. What do you mean by spicy genes? I literally, I would use the hypergrid

in order to morph my DNA into a version of Rex. Ew. Yeah, it sounds birth. DNA? Yeah. Is that like cloning and stuff? I don't think it's exactly like cloning, because there won't be a duplicate of me.

It'll literally be me. I'll, I'll, uh, uh, Cronenberg into, uh, into a Rex shape. But would you have his personality and everything else? No, no, I would still be me. Oh, then that's a horrible idea. She'd see through that in an instant. You think so? I could pretend to be able to like Rex. Does anyone want any champagne? I sure do enjoy sexual intercourse. Actually, you know, it's not so bad. I thought it would be worse, honestly.

I'm just throwing it out there while we have as many minutes as we need. Yeah, you're still looking. I mean, we need to fly all the way to... What is it? Saladonia? I'm not talking about right now. I mean, I could try it. But I...

You know, I'm just trying to think out loud how we could best infiltrate this facility. I think it's too risky. If the Don for a second thinks you're wrecks, that's even far more danger than if you're a fucking Ziggy. You understand? That's fair point. All right, we'll let him rest.

him. That's fair. You know what? I'm backing off. I'm backing off. That's right. Rex is on borrowed time. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that he doesn't get the yelled. But you don't want to be him. Yeah, you don't want to take the fall for him and you weren't even the one fucking his wife. Well, if I was in real danger that I could morph back into myself. Yeah. Wait, please no, don't true. Because that wouldn't alarm anyone. Oh, no, I know. All right. I'll change the plan. All right. Do you feel good about that? plan? I think we're in agreement. And Rex, if you can just get her to just do whatever she can for the sensors, for cameras, give us the access code, and then your fucking end of the bargain is

done. Yep. Shut it all down, clear the way, and we'll take care of the rest. Sorry, Rex, get back here. Oh, yeah, hey, hey, everybody. No champagne in there. Yeah, I know. We discussed it. We think we're ready to go. Yeah, well, code just said, say that thing. you just said you win with if you can just get her to shut down the sensors anything she can with the cameras get us an access code so we can just bypass any security you your part of the bargain's done you fucking go off and do whatever you have to do fly off into the fucking sunset we'll handle the fucking rest I'll do it I'll do it for friendship for teamwork and if you don't lock me in that room anymore okay

I gotta be able to walk around. I gotta be able to move. Peacock needs a strut. Okay, I need to stretch my legs. I can't be cooped up in there. Five pillows? Yeah? Hank, you keep an eye on him. You tail him everywhere he goes and bring him the fucking fourth pillow or fifth pillow, however many pillows he needs. Hank, it's six, okay? Six pillows. Just don't give him access to his ship. Don't let the hangers open for any reason. I don't think he's gonna run. anywhere. Oh, yeah. Hangers are off limits until we say so. But he can get in and out of his room.

He's not going to do anything. Right, Rick, you're not going to do anything. I'm not going to do anything. Don't fuck with the pirates. Listen. Don't fuck with the pirates. Okay. And if you leave the Rhapsie, the Don's going to find you anyway. No. All know you don't want that. Listen, I just want to be able to move around, like I said, I'm just as

invested in you guys getting to the Don, shutting this whole thing down as you are. Okay, I want to be out from under the thumb of the scarlet eye. I just want to walk around a little. I don't want to be cooped up in that room. That's it. You can trust Rex Maxim. I'm putting things in my backpack to take back to my room because I don't trust Rex Maxim. Real Space Cowboy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, everybody. I'll set a course. We have a plan. Keep it on, me. I will go to the bridge and I will set a course to whatever coordinates Rex gave me or if I know where it's the Lodonia is. But presumably I actually give you like basically give you an ability to kind of like coordinates and also like flight trajectory. The actual flight plan.

How to approach Celadonia so that you fall like where to stop with the Rhapsody where you would have to all kind of take off how you would approach from what side where you'd have to land. He gives you all that information. You're able to key it into the nav system. and the Rhapsody makes its way. You all settle in for the evening? Yeah, I'm exhausted. Yeah. It's been a long day.

It's been a, you know, a trying day. I'm also pretty buzzed on beer, so I'm just like, yeah, I'm feeling... I'm feeling ready to fucking pass the fuck out. You all settle in for the night. Sleep takes you relatively quickly. It has been a long day. the excitement of the ships, getting your own personal ships and the care and craftsmanship that went into them. Oh my gosh, can you imagine what it's going to be like?

You've been on the Rhapsody, but to step into your own personal thing and set out amongst the stars in a way that feels comfortable to you. So excited. A long day, even some of the stresses of having to put the Rhapsody on the line. some of what's to come fades for just a moment as you all settle in for a peaceful night's sleep except you pike you fall asleep but it's not long before you begin to dream and you dream piercing eyes beautiful tussles of hair that fall about perfect shoulder a smell that hangs in your head and in your heart that you've never gotten rid of. You dream of Ophelia and you awake to a jolt.

I'll just take a look around my room and try to gauge it like roughly what time it is. You take a look around the room. You get the sense that it's like pretty late into the evening. you think that nobody would be up at this point, if not extremely that point of the evening that's close to the witching hour, even before you could call it early morning. This is the dead of night.

This is not the first time this has happened, and I don't sleep much, but there's only one person that sleeps less than I do. And I would try to go see if I could find Rhett, if he would be where he normally might be in the common area or wherever he's working, and I would just kind of head towards the common area and just see if I can find him like I normally would

on any other night. And you make your way. You make your way out of the room, trying to shake away that image, that view. Now happening to you after having that, after seeing her after all this time, happening to you more and more, you make your way down that hallway, heading at first to the common room, hoping to find RET.

And you, you, you, you, You hear a sound coming from there. You hear almost the familiar crackle of the TV, the vid screen on, like somebody watching something. You're hopeful for a moment thinking that Rett's in there and you'll have somebody to talk to, just about what's going on. Someone you can lean on. And it's not until you get to the actual threshold. of the lounge that you realize who it is.

And at first, you see the TV screen and you see an image of, you see past actually the tussled hair, and you see an image on the screen of Rex chasing bounties, running down the street, blaster at his side, tackling, catching people, very heroic. heroic watching and you realize that Rex is sitting on the couch in the lounge with a box of open a box of Ziggy's items that he did not take to his room

watching rerun tapes of some of his greatest hits as you walk up towards the couch he doesn't even seem to notice you coming in you see Hank on the couch next one just passed out sleeping He's actually kind of just rubbing a hand over him as he's sitting there hunched forward watching the TV. That little betrayer. What are you doing? He doesn't look up as he's fixed on the screen. Hey, can't sleep?

No. You? No. I just thought I'd watch some of the greatest hits. hits you know some of my grand escapades take a look at the screen I'll look back at him and I'll say yeah why well because bike I used to be somebody you know wasn't always this wasn't always the the flashy rhinestones wasn't always the craziness the glitz the glam it wasn't

under the thumb of the dawn, you know, I used to have something for myself. I know I put on this show, I know I am confident charismatic and you probably look at me and just get this sense that everything's gonna be okay, you know, like Rex is there. But it's... What a fuck.

But it's hard, Pike, I mean, Things aren't as great as they seem, you know? I mean, look, look at what I used to be my life, you know? I will throw myself onto the couch next to him, but I'll kick my feet up onto the coffee table and lean back almost to like a juxtaposition to his, like, leaning forward. Yeah.

And I'll say, you know what? I can honestly say without a shred of irony that, no, I wouldn't. ever wish to be you. I don't blame you, Pike. I don't blame you. I mean, guy like you,

you probably can't empathize, but you don't know what it's like. I got all these different things, all these different personalities. You turn one on when you go into the next. And it's almost like you put yourself in the little boxes, you know? And you start to tuck them away, and you bring out the one that's relevant

and you take to the stage and you do your thing, you fall in love, you do everything right, but you do that so many times and you go to reach for that box that's you and you forget where you put it, you know? But you're probably just you. Unashamed, always the same, huh?

You don't know me, Rex, and I don't expect you to, but he leans back kicks his feet up on the table almost like kind of like mirroring your movement as you sit down I think you'd be

surprised I'll reach into my pocket and I'll pull out the pack of cigarettes and I'll just you know I almost can't blame her for loving you first uh here we go

look do we really want to go down this path Oh, come on, Pike, don't you? You know what it's like to be around her? I mean, yeah. Yabo's for days. And ass, she had to jump to put jeans on. But really, it's...

Really, it's the eyes. You know, she had eyes like starlight. It really is something about those eyes. Rex, back when I was younger, I wasn't afraid of anything. Not the slightest fear of death. I was ready to die at any time. But then I met Ophelia. She made me want to go on living.

For the first time, I was afraid of death. There was a feeling I'd never had before. I begged her to run away with me. begged her. She didn't. And it was my fault that they wiped her memories. And now that she's gone again, well... Well, I'm sorry, Pike. I know what it feels like when she's with you and I know what it feels like when she leaves. Listen, I don't know how seriously you're taking all of this. I've been trying to tell you that you're on borrowed time. But I'm going to do everything I can. We're going to do everything that we can to get you out of this. We mean that. It's not

Too late. I don't know, Pike. I wonder if it is too late for me. I know I always say Lady Luck is always on my side, but look at where I am. Look at what's happened. A million of notes in debt to the scarlet eye, and even if that wasn't the number, they were never going to let me go. Once they found out what I could do for them, I wonder if it really ended for me a long time ago. Well, you got one thing going for you.

I always say I'd rather be lucky than good. Yeah. Well, maybe that's something to hold on to, huh? Whatever happens tomorrow, just know that we're not going to leave you twisting in the wind. Well, I appreciate that. And just know that I'm going to really do my best to get you guys in there. I want you to be successful. I, uh, I want the Don to go down for what he's done to me.

I want to be free. But I want you guys to succeed too. And seen as how you confided in me, Pike, I'm gonna let you know something. But you can't ever tell Pixel. I did use a body double on Sex Maxim. Okay, good night. But it was only on account if I was too well-endowed. I'm leaving. I'm leaving.

And I begin to get up and start to walk away. But the next episode is... It's gone. Somewhere Pixel feels like a tingle in the back of her throat. Right about something. And I will just think about this bizarre interaction and start to make my way back to my room knowing that there's nowhere in hell I'm going back to sleep.

Not the moment you sought. but maybe strangely the moment you needed. Or maybe not. It's really hard to tell. It's really unclear. Who's to say, folks? Who's to say, folks? Who's to say?

Oh, God. And you don't know. You leave Rex is still in the lounge. You have no idea if or when he breaks off and goes to better. Really what happens next for him. But you make it back to your room. and you fall asleep. And you all wake up for the next day.

Ready to enact your plan. Rex has sent his response message to Anatra. She has confirmed that she will meet him on the landing pad, but she will only meet him if he is alone. So you will come. However, you will have to keep your distance. She won't be able to see you. She will come out, she will meet him, she will give the access codes.

The plan that you laid out looks as though it will be completely successful. And so you've been charting a course to Celedonia. You've been making your way. You now know that now is the time you've been plotting that approach vector. Now is the time where you will have to pass command of the shift. ship to Hank and you all have to head to the hangar bay, dock of sorts out in space in the depths of the Rhapsody, and take your personal ships towards Celadonia. All right, Hank. Just keep her here, but if we need you, we'll let you know, all right? You got things under control. He brings a little paw

to his to his head. And he takes over. There's like a switching. in your systems of like, you see your kind of animated face and goes over to Hank. And Hank is circled as the primary controller of the Rhapsody. As the Rhapsody is now under the control of Hank. And you may move to the Hanger Bay and- All right, crew, to the hangar.

Let's roll out. You too. I was asleep in my ship the entire time. I'm already in there. All right. It's just outer space. That's right. It's just outer space.

Just remember what we talked about. You're going to be all right. I promise. I trust you, Mike. I trust you. Let's go. All right. And Star Fox run down the hallway.

Yep. Oh, absolutely. Everybody, Star Fox runs down the hallway to the, to the hangar bay. As you move towards your, as you run towards your personal ships, you burst in the hangar bay,

and there they are meeting you. You all run up to hop in. The ladders you shoot up, however you jump in in whatever cool manner, except Ziggy who just... I'm already in there. I'm sorry, you were asleep in your ship. When I see everyone wake up,

or wake me up, I startle and pull out a body spray and spray it cloyingly inside of the dome of my ship. You pull out sword body spray and just cake yourself. Better than a shower, some have said. There's some being you. It says it on the bottle. Better than a shower. Good morning, Sue.

True shower replacement. Every time you do that, it kills me. Would you like? Nope. The normal morning routine. How much ram's on the ship? 204. Oh, God.

Oh, man. Oh, Garsh is right. So you all jump into your ship, Zygi already in there. All of them were to life in that, in their own unique howl of power, as the harmonic thrum of energy comes on in Pixel's ship. The roar of lightning crackles as those motor engine. Sounds like it wears to life. The...

...of... ...of Ziggy's ship. as it comes online with its full access to the grid, of course the Sparrow and the Ether Barge respond instantly to your touch. All right, Pye's taking the lead. I'll take the rear. Y'all ready?

Yeah. Yeah. I'll hit some controls. Pike, clear for takeoff. And you'll see the grab holding of the sparrow sort of lessened and laying up as the Sparrow kind of enters. I hear you loud and clear, big guy. moves to the center of the hangar. The hangar bay rips open as Pike takes position

to jettison out into space. The Sparrow shoots off into space. Second up. Pixel, clear for takeoff. I'm clear, I just got to... Perfect. The ground. As your ship moves into the center of the hangar bay.

Boom, sooo. In almost this arcing like, beautiful fairy-like technicolor stream shoots out as you kind of have this like jagged shape. Yeah, yeah, exactly. This beautiful trail erupts from your ship as you take out in space. Thir-ch-ch-chum, chung.

Ziggy, you're clear for takeoff. As your ship erupts out of the hangar of the Rhapsody, you burst into open space for the first time, not in a flight simulator, but in your own system. system. The grav containment ends on your ship, Co.

Choo, choo. Co? Clear for takeoff. It's just outer space. It's just a bike. This is my bike. This is the Thunderfang. Come on, baby, let's ride. As the Thunderfang erupts out of the

hangar, lightning crackles or roar can be heard throughout the cosmos. As you erupt into space. This is Captain Red Indigo, flat plans are logged, clear for takeoff. Take us the rear and also wrecks. One after the other, each ship, each ship. Oh, it also wrecks. No, no, no, go ahead. I've left yet. Cleaver degoff.

Yeah, as the heart-shaped bathtub is flashing. The head in the back is, it's flashing as you talk over the comments. The love boat takes to the skies. An absolute nightmare. One after each other, each ship hums as the engines roar to life and the starships blast off into space. As you soar through the stars, you arrive to a triangular six-ship formation, your neon vapor trails behind you as you rocket towards Ceylonia. The six of you enter the atmosphere of Ceylonia and soar over remote landscapes of lakes, temperate woodlands, until you arrive at the coordinates that Rex set for you. You land miles away from Don Nito-Contralto's vacation home, far away from any distant settlement and away from prying eyes.

Rex's ship hovers for a moment as you touch down and then heads west, ready for the signal. to arrive at the rendezvous point with a not-trov. All right. You should be safe enough here, but... It felt good. Good flying out there, everybody. I'm proud of you. Let's remember. What do you always see, Pike?

Got flying being easy? That's right. Say it again. Flying is easy. Flying under pressure is hard. That's right. But you've completed the first step. So well done.

Well done. She flies like a dream. This is amazing. Well, hopefully they should blare up if there's any issues, but I think they'll be okay here. We got some land, some fucking ground to cover. Let's go. Time for hike. There's a karaoke machine in here. Oh, but one. That's it.

Yeah, I guess if there's a clear enough way, a path where we know where we're going, we'll start hoofing it on. You have a plotted course. You know, basically. exactly where you're meant to be going and you're intended to lag just a little behind so that Rex can get there in his ship first, meet Anatra without the sense that others are there. You landed just a couple miles out so it takes you probably about 45 minutes to an hour across these kind of like grasslands. You're in this beautiful area with these landscapes that roll out these rolling green hills kind of in all in all directions as you you make your way and eventually after that time you start to to see the Rex's ship in the distance you approach

where the gardens are of this mansion you're coming at it from behind wow these beautiful greenery from the back of this giant home that doesn't feel as much of a home as it does, almost a hotel. It is gargantuan. As you look over the ridge, you see the beautiful, sprawling

mats built into the cliffs overlooking this lake. It has a perfect view of the landscape around. The gardens overgrown just as Rex had assured. You got a tax. A bug like flew in my head. Like flew in my nose.

They're there. They're the curse of the plant flies. That's what you get for ripping apart frost. I don't know. Yeah. Well, I cut them. But.

And also, just to rewind, Zicki didn't say it flies like a dream. He said, it's built like an Xbox, but it flies like a dream cat. That's fantastic. That's fantastic. You hear a quick ping over the comms. Rhett? Are you all in position?

Do you feel in position? Are we like, do we see the land? Yeah, like we're kind of creeping out. Yeah, you're moving up, but you get the mansion's kind of coming into view. You see a ship just off to the side, the lake beneath you. You've moved into the spot where you think, okay, we hold here. We'll see a Natura. We'll give them a minute. We'll get the, we'll get the all clear. We'll get the codes. We'll be good to go. We're in position. We got eyes on the landing pad. I don't see her yet, but you're clear to make your move. I'll hail her. She should be out shortly.

Be ready to move. I don't know what's going to happen once things kick off. A sick rich fuck would live like this. The golden pleasure ship runs along the water. It lights off. The very expensive engine running surprisingly quiet. It rises up the cliff and lands on the overlook. The landing platform touches down on a subtle door at the back of the mansion slides open.

A feminine figure wrapped in a luxurious shawl emerges, punching a code in the door behind her. Anatra-Contra-Contralto clutches a large designer suitcases she makes her way to Rex's ship and makes her way up into the ship as you see the back of it, the bay dropped down and open. The radio crackles to your arm once again, Rex. Oh, that's right. Package secure. All right, well done.

We owe you one. The access code is 2865. I also did what I could to shut down the sensors and cameras. I don't think he... Oh, I don't feel... Anatra, baby, are you all right? Why is your chest glowing? Is that new?

Wait a second. Suddenly the radio cuts out for a second, and in an instant, the golden starship explodes from the inside out. In a horrid, cacophonous eruption, half of the ship's hull from the stern up is splintered, sending shrapnel in all directions. The rest of the bent and twisted wreckage careens violently off the cliff, plummeting into the lake below with a loud splash. All that remains is a roost. ruined burning garden and the stench of burnt flesh.

And that's where we'll end the session. Oh no. Well, shit. Well, thanks, Mace, for running the session, I guess. Yeah, thanks. She had a bomb in her? Oh, my God. Wait, so Rex is dead.

Yeah. Presumably, that would probably be hard to survive, having been that close to, you know, a bomb.