The GateWorld Cantina Chronicles

[Commander Jumper]

Rik looked around and saw the light. He took out his Zat. and raised it. he was not taking any chances. "What in the?? WHos there?!" Rik said. the control pad for his F302 was active. he could not understand how.

_________________________


THe Odyssey had moved into the atmosphere. it was going to land near what was left of Area 51. failing that keep above the surface and cruise around searching.

(CJ your up, Or Vampyr)

CJ stood up calmly, walking slowly over to the drone. She moved Rik's zat down and crouched in front of the drone. She smiled slightly. "Don't worry Rik..." CJ stated, looking back at him for a moment. "She told me he would come."

Rik looked puzzled. "WHO!?" whats going on here?"

CJ laughed and turned back to the drone. "It's not here to harm us. If it were it would have done so already. "Hello, this CJ. My friend here is Rik. I was placed here under mysterious circumstances about two days ago... Rik here has been here about a day, his shuttle crashed." She grinned, "And who...are you?"

(Vamp)

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Lara was watching the sensor logs. a blip of life signs in the middle of the ocean. lara double checked it. there was life there but due to radiation, and the fact that this planet was recovering from a bombardment from space meant that sensors where limited.

"We have life signs. but who they are and what they are is unknown."

Lara then saw the Submersible on sensors. a small metallic object, make that two of them had been launched and one was on a land mass. the other was recovering something from the ocean. but what lara had no idea... yet.

___________

"After the day I have had dont tell me to calm down. this world is dead or dying and im stuck on it. one of my friends is most likely dead. and this universe's me is dead. So dont tell me to calm down. My trusting side is slowly being killed off by genacidal AI, and not cases in power. Exactly what caused me to leave earth in first time."

Rik was at the end of his patience with everything in this universe. If he didnt get out of here soon he would end up taking on the empire alone.

[Commander Jumper]

Lara was watching the sensor logs. a blip of life signs in the middle of the ocean. lara double checked it. there was life there but due to radiation, and the fact that this planet was recovering from a bombardment from space meant that sensors where limited.

"We have life signs. but who they are and what they are is unknown."

Lara then saw the Submersible on sensors. a small metallic object, make that two of them had been launched and one was on a land mass. the other was recovering something from the ocean. but what lara had no idea... yet.

___________

"After the day I have had dont tell me to calm down. this world is dead or dying and im stuck on it. one of my friends is most likely dead. and this universe's me is dead. So dont tell me to calm down. My trusting side is slowly being killed off by genacidal AI, and not cases in power. Exactly what caused me to leave earth in first time."

Rik was at the end of his patience with everything in this universe. If he didnt get out of here soon he would end up taking on the empire alone.

CJ stood gracefully and walked over to Rik. Her blue eyes glowed coldly in the fire light. She raised her bandaged hand and slapped Rik clean across the face. When Rik recovered from the initial shock the only course of acttion that came to mind was to grab his face.

"What the hell was that for?" he growled, standing up. The blood from his head rushed far too quickly to his legs and he cllapsed.

CJ looked on in anger. "You humans no nothng." CJ stated in a feral tone. "Do you see this Rik?" CJ asked, unraveling the blood stained fabric around her hand. The fabris slid off and fell to the floor to reveal a deep gash in CJ's hand. "this is my payment. I gave my precious life froce to save your life... to sheild you from radiation. Do not make me regret doing so."

Rik lared at CJ, not comprehending what she was saying.

"I am a former vice Captain in the 13 court guard." CJ stated in a menacing tone. "I have lived 10 of your life times... and fought in thousands of wars. I saw the rise and collapse of the human race at the side of Mappalazarou. I have seen things that would make you run in fear... so when a little unarmed drone wanders in and says a hearty friendly hello....and I say calm down..." CJ growled, "I mean calm the hell down. I saved your life, I believe my trust has been earned."

CJ turned around swiftly and put on another smile before crouching before the drone once more. "Sorry about that. Humans... you know how they can be."

A laugh echoed through the room. "I'm well aware how they can be."

CJ laughed to. "So who are you exactly... and why are you here?"

"My name is Ben." the drone stated, "I'm here to salvage the FTL drive on the shuttle that crashed here earlier. Do you have any information that could help?"

CJ scratched her head. "Not much other than what Rik and she have let on."

Rik rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Who is this she you keep talking about."

CJ pointed behid her with out looking towards the sword propped against the makeshift bed. "From what I know... it crashed... it was being chased by the gauntlett."

(Rik, Vamp, who ever?)

[Vampyr]

The drones noted the sensor sweeps and informed Ben that their general vicinities had been swept with some sort of active sensor suite. That meant they more or less had a clear fix on the two planetside sites, and if their buddy in orbit had hostile intentions... Ben dismissed it though.

Is CJ entirely sane? Ben wondered as she spoke and it wasn't the first thing that had crossed his mind either. Whoever this woman was, (if she was telling the truth- either possibility Ben couldn't jettison at this point) she wasn't precisely baseline human, and possessed a sword that seemed to be more complex than a cursory examination would reveal. Then again, even discounting three-quarters the things he'd heard about this Mappalazarou and this Cantina, that still left a frightening amount of power in the hands of him, and anybody associated with him, if the stories about the company he kept was true. This CJ bore watching indeed.

“Now, I've got a schematic of the crashed ship in its current form, I've marked off what I'm pretty sure if the FTL drive, and points where I should sever its connections to the rest of the ship.” Ben used hand motions to instruct the drone to throw up a hologram of the shuttle, complete with his own annotations. “If you guys can give me any help, any help at all it'd be for the better. I can trust my own instincts here, but I'm not familiar with this particular class of ship.” He sighed, telling them was now or never, “Of course, there's a second option in all this: there's a vessel that recently jumped into orbit. I don't know much about it, other than it's there, it knows the location of the two drones I deployed, and by extension you two.”

((CJ or Rik))

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

The cockpit had gone quiet as its residents each sank into a deep thought. Mapp considered his first flight of the Cantina since he was sealed away from the universe, the Empress pondered over the brief future that was to come and Laplace? Well she was bored of them all already.

'Enough,' she sighed 'I have things to be doing.'

And with that, she skipped away through the exit hatch and disappeared along the hallway.

'I get a bad vibe from that girl,' the Empress broke out of her meditative state 'there's something dark about her...'

'There's something dark about all of us,' Mapp said as he dropped down into the pilot's seat and started flicking some switches randomly 'you know that better than most.'

Something then rattled from outside, something metal, and when it stopped Dray dropped down from the open window and landed perfectly on her feet.

'Not bad for an old lady,' the Empress remarked, feeling a deep resonance suddenly beat inside, something familiar. She hadn't noticed this old wraith really whilst outside, having been too busy redecorating P90's face in red, but then she realised 'wait, you?'

'Me!' Dray yelled as a long suppressed rage swarmed out and she clawed at the Empress, causing three thick slits of blood across her cheek as she slammed back into a series of monitors and collapsed to the ground. Mapp rose back to his feet in the confusion, and Dray caught his glare.

Something broke her heart as she then glanced to the revolver he suddenly had pinned on her.

'How can you stand it, Mapp?' she said and spread her arms in a surrender 'You must know what she is responsible for.'

'There are things that you don't fully understand, Dray. She's one of them.' He told her and lowered the gun 'She didn't mean for any of this.'

'I want answers, and I want them now.' She ordered.

The Empress lay completely unconscious on the floor as Mapp fell back into his seat and the wraith calmly settled into one just across from him.

'Tell me everything.'

He nodded slowly, recognising and respecting her hunger for nothing but the absolute truth of things. This was her, and she had not changed a bit in spirit. He settled the gun on the side, leant forward and started from the beginning, during that last confrontation he had with the last of the Chosen in the buried Citadel of the Time Lords.

---

'She's...from another universe?' Dray shook her head, after almost an hour of listening to him drone on about how it wasn't her fault, how she was really the victim and how she shouldn't be punished for the crimes of her persona. 'S-She tortured me...'

'And that's my fault. The creature she really is can only survive through sucking on the strongest emotions of those around it, and as soon as it fell from its home it passed through the Cantina and passed through me. She became half-Susie and half-Serena-...' he started again.

'She became the Empress!' Dray argued 'She destroyed so many worlds because they wouldn't join her empire and now, after we've finally got some kind of foothold she's joined the winning team. It doesn't take a genius to work out. You're showing sympathy to a tyrant!'

'It's not her fault! It's mine!' He fought back 'Don't you see? All of this is my fault.'

'You're only taking the blame because you know what'll happen to her,' Dray said 'whereas you can just fly away from it all, and maybe take her with you.'

'No.'

'Really?'

'She's going to die.'

Dray paused and considered this, but no remorse came.

'And I'm supposed to feel sorry for her?' she said.

Mapp suddenly felt very cold inside as his eyes widened with a type of disgust he was unfamiliar with. The universe had grown so merciless in his absence.

'You're supposed to accept it!' He hissed 'Justice is served, because she won't be around anymore. She's the one, Dray, she's the only one who can take out the Gauntlett.'

'We don't expect her too. You do realise that the galaxies are counting on you, not her, right? You're the chosen hero. She's the villian that you've been placed to defeat, and now you're siding with her?' she continued to shake her head, remembering clearly what P90 had said 'How does any of this make any sense at all? You've been foretold to bring her and her empire down!'

'She is going to die,' he said again 'why is that not enough?'

'Because I know her more than you, and I know that given the chance she would do it all again. She's not a victim, Mapp, she's evil.' Dray stated with an unwavering resolve 'She chose to murder those who would not ally themselves with her. How can you bear it? Or are you just clinging onto her because she reminds you so much of Susie?'

He didn't have an answer, just a sudden and menacing stare. He knew it was because she was right, but he wouldn't accept it. Ever. He'd been alone for so long, and the Empress had pulled him back into the past with her physical form. He felt calm then as he glanced down to her bruised body beneath the monitors, and remembered the time before the Triangle, before the Chosen had returned...

He would never see her again.

'You're sick,' Dray fired another disgusted glare 'she's a monster.'

'She's all I have.' He turned away 'Call it what you want, but she's mine to deal with and I will deal with her in a way I see as fair and just.'

The wraith folded her arms, following his calmness and dissolving her emotions. But then something crawled into her head...

'Just tell me one thing,' she enquired 'if you were presented with an opportunity to return her to her home universe without that justice you spoke of. Would you?'

His eyes ran over the question, and then over the various switches and levers on the pilot console as he started to fidget.

'...That's what I thought,' she spoke cold and pulled herself to her feet 'you know if you find a way, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop you. She's needs a trial, and then an execution. This universe needs its hope back. You're obviously not it.'

She walked out, just as the Empress was coming to. Mapp didn't see her out, he didn't even watch her go. The Empress crawled and sat in the empty seat beside him, rubbing her face wounds...

'What's her problem?' she asked, hearing a distant hatch slam shut. Mapp didn't answer. There was no answer. Not anymore.

---

The cargo-ramp slammed down against the sand as the sunset mist seeped in. Everything was so lucid at first, and then the old wraith suddenly felt herself walking slower and slower until she had stopped under the shadow of the ship, alone. She breathed in deeply and loudly as a feeling suddenly rushed up her back, and her eyes started to melt.

She rubbed away the immediate tears, and shook away the ones that followed. Her fists clenched as the sun fell beyond the mountains...

Hope was fading again and quickly as the light was swallowed into the shadowy landscape.

How could this happen...?

Her eyes found a rock nestled between her boots, and her mind went as blank as the void. She kicked, and soon enough the rock was plummetting away in the distance.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was our last hope.

The desert was washed away into the shadows.

He better not have lied to me.

For everything to be the same as it was, the Empress must die.

But she found that she herself was now clinging onto something worthless. The idea that time would reverse, that things would go back to the way they were before Susie's resurrection.

It's not going to happen.

Things will never be the same again.

[AtlantisRules!!!]

"But... that wasn't exactly what I meant..." Benson finished.

[lordofseas]

"But... that wasn't exactly what I meant..." Benson finished.

Los blinked. "You're saying I went on a bloody long winded explanation for nothing?" he said, incredulously.

"Um..yes?" Benson said hesitantly.

"Then what do you mean?" Los said.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Spoiler:

The drones noted the sensor sweeps and informed Ben that their general vicinities had been swept with some sort of active sensor suite. That meant they more or less had a clear fix on the two planetside sites, and if their buddy in orbit had hostile intentions... Ben dismissed it though.

Is CJ entirely sane? Ben wondered as she spoke and it wasn't the first thing that had crossed his mind either. Whoever this woman was, (if she was telling the truth- either possibility Ben couldn't jettison at this point) she wasn't precisely baseline human, and possessed a sword that seemed to be more complex than a cursory examination would reveal. Then again, even discounting three-quarters the things he'd heard about this Mappalazarou and this Cantina, that still left a frightening amount of power in the hands of him, and anybody associated with him, if the stories about the company he kept was true. This CJ bore watching indeed.

“Now, I've got a schematic of the crashed ship in its current form, I've marked off what I'm pretty sure if the FTL drive, and points where I should sever its connections to the rest of the ship.” Ben used hand motions to instruct the drone to throw up a hologram of the shuttle, complete with his own annotations. “If you guys can give me any help, any help at all it'd be for the better. I can trust my own instincts here, but I'm not familiar with this particular class of ship.” He sighed, telling them was now or never, “Of course, there's a second option in all this: there's a vessel that recently jumped into orbit. I don't know much about it, other than it's there, it knows the location of the two drones I deployed, and by extension you two.”

((CJ or Rik))

Spoiler:

CJ stood gracefully and walked over to Rik. Her blue eyes glowed coldly in the fire light. She raised her bandaged hand and slapped Rik clean across the face. When Rik recovered from the initial shock the only course of acttion that came to mind was to grab his face.

"What the hell was that for?" he growled, standing up. The blood from his head rushed far too quickly to his legs and he cllapsed.

CJ looked on in anger. "You humans no nothng." CJ stated in a feral tone. "Do you see this Rik?" CJ asked, unraveling the blood stained fabric around her hand. The fabris slid off and fell to the floor to reveal a deep gash in CJ's hand. "this is my payment. I gave my precious life froce to save your life... to sheild you from radiation. Do not make me regret doing so."

Rik lared at CJ, not comprehending what she was saying.

"I am a former vice Captain in the 13 court guard." CJ stated in a menacing tone. "I have lived 10 of your life times... and fought in thousands of wars. I saw the rise and collapse of the human race at the side of Mappalazarou. I have seen things that would make you run in fear... so when a little unarmed drone wanders in and says a hearty friendly hello....and I say calm down..." CJ growled, "I mean calm the hell down. I saved your life, I believe my trust has been earned."

CJ turned around swiftly and put on another smile before crouching before the drone once more. "Sorry about that. Humans... you know how they can be."

A laugh echoed through the room. "I'm well aware how they can be."

CJ laughed to. "So who are you exactly... and why are you here?"

"My name is Ben." the drone stated, "I'm here to salvage the FTL drive on the shuttle that crashed here earlier. Do you have any information that could help?"

CJ scratched her head. "Not much other than what Rik and she have let on."

Rik rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Who is this she you keep talking about."

CJ pointed behid her with out looking towards the sword propped against the makeshift bed. "From what I know... it crashed... it was being chased by the gauntlett."

(Rik, Vamp, who ever?)

A second ship jumped in? scan it. Look at the Hull, Tell me its Name? IF it is who i think it is, then i can make this much easier..." Rik glanced at CJ, "Dont test me. this is not my universe. Things here are not as i know them. for one Earth is my universe is still there. but the time lords were wiped out centuries ago by an unknown power. But i found out what wiped them out. The same empire that is here. but the queen of it isnt this Susanne. Its worse than that."

Rik glanced at the control pad from the F302, the Odyssey was close. The F302 pad was inactive. and the ship would have to be within this Solar system for it to operate.

(Vamp or CJ or Mapp)

[Vampyr]

“I don't know who it answers to or even what it looks like.” Ben relayed through the drone. “Scopes are shot, so are the majority of the sensors. All I've got at my disposal is the mass sensor, which only tells me something's there. Whatever it is, it's big.” Whoever these people were, they'd yet to make any moves besides scan the surface.

“At the moment, since I'm unwilling to compromise my position I have two options available to me; I can send this drone up and investigate the ship. That option has some problems, such as leaving you two bereft of any orbital communications gear, and if our new friend proves hostile, this drone could get shot down, and I can't risk launching anything else, not without giving away my position. Option two is using this drone as a relay, the connection between the drone and the ship I'm aboard is a tight-beam laser, so they shouldn't be able to detect that. What I can do is widecast from the drone, and communicate with the vessel in orbit that way.” Ben paused, taking in a much-needed breath. “That way has the distinct advantage that they already know your location, and doesn't involve the potential to lose any shiny hardware.

((Here you go Rik or CJ))

[susanne]

Spoiler:

The cockpit had gone quiet as its residents each sank into a deep thought. Mapp considered his first flight of the Cantina since he was sealed away from the universe, the Empress pondered over the brief future that was to come and Laplace? Well she was bored of them all already.

'Enough,' she sighed 'I have things to be doing.'

And with that, she skipped away through the exit hatch and disappeared along the hallway.

'I get a bad vibe from that girl,' the Empress broke out of her meditative state 'there's something dark about her...'

'There's something dark about all of us,' Mapp said as he dropped down into the pilot's seat and started flicking some switches randomly 'you know that better than most.'

Something then rattled from outside, something metal, and when it stopped Dray dropped down from the open window and landed perfectly on her feet.

'Not bad for an old lady,' the Empress remarked, feeling a deep resonance suddenly beat inside, something familiar. She hadn't noticed this old wraith really whilst outside, having been too busy redecorating P90's face in red, but then she realised 'wait, you?'

'Me!' Dray yelled as a long suppressed rage swarmed out and she clawed at the Empress, causing three thick slits of blood across her cheek as she slammed back into a series of monitors and collapsed to the ground. Mapp rose back to his feet in the confusion, and Dray caught his glare.

Something broke her heart as she then glanced to the revolver he suddenly had pinned on her.

'How can you stand it, Mapp?' she said and spread her arms in a surrender 'You must know what she is responsible for.'

'There are things that you don't fully understand, Dray. She's one of them.' He told her and lowered the gun 'She didn't mean for any of this.'

'I want answers, and I want them now.' She ordered.

The Empress lay completely unconscious on the floor as Mapp fell back into his seat and the wraith calmly settled into one just across from him.

'Tell me everything.'

He nodded slowly, recognising and respecting her hunger for nothing but the absolute truth of things. This was her, and she had not changed a bit in spirit. He settled the gun on the side, leant forward and started from the beginning, during that last confrontation he had with the last of the Chosen in the buried Citadel of the Time Lords.

---

'She's...from another universe?' Dray shook her head, after almost an hour of listening to him drone on about how it wasn't her fault, how she was really the victim and how she shouldn't be punished for the crimes of her persona. 'S-She tortured me...'

'And that's my fault. The creature she really is can only survive through sucking on the strongest emotions of those around it, and as soon as it fell from its home it passed through the Cantina and passed through me. She became half-Susie and half-Serena-...' he started again.

'She became the Empress!' Dray argued 'She destroyed so many worlds because they wouldn't join her empire and now, after we've finally got some kind of foothold she's joined the winning team. It doesn't take a genius to work out. You're showing sympathy to a tyrant!'

'It's not her fault! It's mine!' He fought back 'Don't you see? All of this is my fault.'

'You're only taking the blame because you know what'll happen to her,' Dray said 'whereas you can just fly away from it all, and maybe take her with you.'

'No.'

'Really?'

'She's going to die.'

Dray paused and considered this, but no remorse came.

'And I'm supposed to feel sorry for her?' she said.

Mapp suddenly felt very cold inside as his eyes widened with a type of disgust he was unfamiliar with. The universe had grown so merciless in his absence.

'You're supposed to accept it!' He hissed 'Justice is served, because she won't be around anymore. She's the one, Dray, she's the only one who can take out the Gauntlett.'

'We don't expect her too. You do realise that the galaxies are counting on you, not her, right? You're the chosen hero. She's the villian that you've been placed to defeat, and now you're siding with her?' she continued to shake her head, remembering clearly what P90 had said 'How does any of this make any sense at all? You've been foretold to bring her and her empire down!'

'She is going to die,' he said again 'why is that not enough?'

'Because I know her more than you, and I know that given the chance she would do it all again. She's not a victim, Mapp, she's evil.' Dray stated with an unwavering resolve 'She chose to murder those who would not ally themselves with her. How can you bear it? Or are you just clinging onto her because she reminds you so much of Susie?'

He didn't have an answer, just a sudden and menacing stare. He knew it was because she was right, but he wouldn't accept it. Ever. He'd been alone for so long, and the Empress had pulled him back into the past with her physical form. He felt calm then as he glanced down to her bruised body beneath the monitors, and remembered the time before the Triangle, before the Chosen had returned...

He would never see her again.

'You're sick,' Dray fired another disgusted glare 'she's a monster.'

'She's all I have.' He turned away 'Call it what you want, but she's mine to deal with and I will deal with her in a way I see as fair and just.'

The wraith folded her arms, following his calmness and dissolving her emotions. But then something crawled into her head...

'Just tell me one thing,' she enquired 'if you were presented with an opportunity to return her to her home universe without that justice you spoke of. Would you?'

His eyes ran over the question, and then over the various switches and levers on the pilot console as he started to fidget.

'...That's what I thought,' she spoke cold and pulled herself to her feet 'you know if you find a way, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop you. She's needs a trial, and then an execution. This universe needs its hope back. You're obviously not it.'

She walked out, just as the Empress was coming to. Mapp didn't see her out, he didn't even watch her go. The Empress crawled and sat in the empty seat beside him, rubbing her face wounds...

'What's her problem?' she asked, hearing a distant hatch slam shut. Mapp didn't answer. There was no answer. Not anymore.

---

The cargo-ramp slammed down against the sand as the sunset mist seeped in. Everything was so lucid at first, and then the old wraith suddenly felt herself walking slower and slower until she had stopped under the shadow of the ship, alone. She breathed in deeply and loudly as a feeling suddenly rushed up her back, and her eyes started to melt.

She rubbed away the immediate tears, and shook away the ones that followed. Her fists clenched as the sun fell beyond the mountains...

Hope was fading again and quickly as the light was swallowed into the shadowy landscape.

How could this happen...?

Her eyes found a rock nestled between her boots, and her mind went as blank as the void. She kicked, and soon enough the rock was plummetting away in the distance.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was our last hope.

The desert was washed away into the shadows.

He better not have lied to me.

For everything to be the same as it was, the Empress must die.

But she found that she herself was now clinging onto something worthless. The idea that time would reverse, that things would go back to the way they were before Susie's resurrection.

It's not going to happen.

Things will never be the same again.

The Empress sat, carefully staring at the world outside the cockpit. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Mapp was deep in thought, he was troubled. Whatever Draygon had said to him had profoundly effected his thoughts.

Empress: "Want to tell a dying girl whats on your mind?"

She still continued to stare out of the window but saw him look up at her.

Mapp: "No...no everythings-"
Empress: "Dont lie to me. How could you lie to me?"

Her tone never changed but it carried the hint of an edge with it. The kind of edge that said while she couldnt make things worse....she could make them difficult for him.

Mapp: "Your....not getting much sympathy."
Empress: "Never really expected it."

There seemed to be no responce from Mapp, and after a while she continued.

Empress: "I did some bad things....i did some terrible things, and then.....i did unforgiveable things."
Mapp: "Stop it...."
Empress: "I commited Genocide Mapp. I burned planets and tortured people. I didnt expect people to line the streets, weeping over my death."
Mapp: ".....stop.....please...."
Empress: ".......im putting my mistakes right Mapp. And so are you. Its a perfect ending."
Mapp: "No....its not....."
Empress: "Its as perfect as anyone can expect. If people think my corpse should be strung up and burned then by all means.....if they can actually find one...."
ATCCU

((i love being bad ))

[Draygon]

[snip]
---

The cargo-ramp slammed down against the sand as the sunset mist seeped in. Everything was so lucid at first, and then the old wraith suddenly felt herself walking slower and slower until she had stopped under the shadow of the ship, alone. She breathed in deeply and loudly as a feeling suddenly rushed up her back, and her eyes started to melt.

She rubbed away the immediate tears, and shook away the ones that followed. Her fists clenched as the sun fell beyond the mountains...

Hope was fading again and quickly as the light was swallowed into the shadowy landscape.

How could this happen...?

Her eyes found a rock nestled between her boots, and her mind went as blank as the void. She kicked, and soon enough the rock was plummetting away in the distance.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was our last hope.

The desert was washed away into the shadows.

He better not have lied to me.

For everything to be the same as it was, the Empress must die.

But she found that she herself was now clinging onto something worthless. The idea that time would reverse, that things would go back to the way they were before Susie's resurrection.

It's not going to happen.

Things will never be the same again.

Dray stood there as the darkness engulfed the planet, allowing the hopelessness wash over her. What was the point? All her hopes had been centered on Mapp, the entire rebellion had followed her belief that Mapp would stop the Empress. But now... she was crumbling.

Eventually, she was able to move away from the dark shadows of the Cantina. She didn't want to be near that ship or it's captain and the woman he so desired. If he did find a way to save her, there would be no place in the universe he would be able to hide. But for now, there was someone she needed to find. The darkness was no hindrance to her. Eyes glowing in the gloom, Dray walked towards the dome. She had a suspicion where he would be.

After all, timelords craved power like everything else.

As she entered the room with the Eye of Harmony, she saw P-90 standing there.

"Now you understand what I meant? Mapp is not the hope we need."

"I was wrong, blinded. I wish I'd seen it sooner though." Dray hung her head. "I wish I'd seen it sooner."

P-90 offered a wry grin. "That's what comes of putting your hope on him Dray. You always were too trusting for your own good. Look where it's got you. Are all wraith so gullible?" He was goading her into fighting back at this slur on her species. She didn't have the resolve to anymore.

"The universe is sifting P90," she said quietly. "I might not be able to sense much, but I can tell you that much. At first I thought it was Mapp returning and everything was going to be right again... how naive."

"So then, what are you planning to do now?" The wraith looked at him, and he could see the fear haunting her eyes.

"I don't know. I don't know anymore... everything relied on him and now there's nothing!"

Knees giving way beneath her, Dray slumped to the ground, despair and defeat etched into every line of her form. P90 looked at her emotionless. Mappalazarou was a loose cannon, even if he did manage to stop the Gauntlett with some mad-cap scheme, there was no way P90 could totally rely on Cantina's captain. He had already picked out Dray's conversation with Mapp from her mind while she was sitting there loosing all hope. There would need to be something else in place to finish the job if and when Mapp's plan failed.

Time would tell which it would be though. It always did.

(P-90, Greg, Mapp. One of you lot.)

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Rik was thoughtful. "i have a feeling i know what ship it is... and it ain hostile. unless u attack it. then it will no doubt defend itself. i belive that new ship is mine. The Odyssey."

Rik looked at the drone. then to CJ. then asked what he had been wondering for a while. "WHy are we on earth of all places? there must be a reason for it."

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

There it was, the Time Wall, a jump through that and they'd be able to head for her homeworld. And help for Myn. But nothing was ever that easy. Winged and Tey teraded words through the flight to the place. And Tey now had the choice to herself, go through the time wall to her homeworld to help Myn, or follow Winged path of thought. 'It never is easy.' She thought, giving the order after a full minute of thinking. The ship jumped to hyperspace for earth.....

.... And dropped out into a solar storm of some kind. Without any control Teyilia was shoved by Winged into a lifepod. "I'll see you on the ground, find Mapp if you can." Was at that was said. Then the world went dark.

(time jump to catch up to all posts to this point)

Tey awoke, those words going through her mind. There was no way she'd find Mapp in that dark dank place. even if she did, would he trust her? Or think her an enemy like Amann did? She heard something beeping and felt herself, findfing what appeared to be a comlink going off, maybe more of a homing beacon, all she had to do was find away out of the cave, she was lost, couldn't feel anything, much less see anything in the darkness.

(Mapp, see now in your VMS before responding)

Her claws gripped the wall, kept her steady as her eyes sharpened. The shadows meant nothing, her senses were so perfectly tuned that way. It was so black yet she could see everything. Most considered her species to be a powerful and fascinating one, but then most weren't aware that they actually existed at all. Creatures of the dark, hidden in the places where other beings cannot see nor venture. They were almost mythical, the cat-gods of pure secrecy.

And here she was all alone on the other side of the universe. Lost so far from home, on a world of barren fields and broken civilisation. Such a rarity could not be ignored by the elements of the Earth. Sensing something vague and telepathic up ahead, she ran her claws along the wall for balance and pushed through the invisible expanse of shadows, deeper into the cavern.

This cave was way under the outside sea level, she had figured out that much, but she did wonder why the ocean had not surged in and flooded it already. She had awoken with her fur still soaked, having been carried down here through a long submerged tunnel and been washed up against a rocky island in the darkness. What are the chances...? She thought, considering that something had brought her here for a reason. Probably the same reason she had been seperated by Rik and Rich.

This was Earth...The original homeworld of humanity, one of the first worlds to fall before the might of the Empress and the Triangle. The governments of this primitive planet were dignified, too dignified even, and that's exactly what tipped their decision. They were offered a place amongst the higher worlds of the Empire to be bathed in the glory of everlasting peace under the Empress and the strength of the Chosen, but it was never meant to be.

The Empress was merciless, and enraged by their defiance. With little more than a distasteful glance, her new flasgship quickly moved into position and started firing on the major continents, before working her way down to the remaining cities. It was an onslaught that continued on for roughly four days, as it was only then she became certain that the land could no longer support life, and ultimately returned to New Gallifrey. Earth was left eternally ruined, an example to others the price of defiance.

Tey suddenly stopped pondering and came to a stop, something gnawing at everyone of her feline senses, something shining and powerful, something ancient. Up ahead stood a gap in the rock wall, and she pulled herself towards it with an instinctive eagerness. She leaned forward but fixed her claws on the outer wall, ready to pull back in case anything tried to pull her in....But as her head bent in, her eyes found themselves unable to comprehend what they were looking at.

A wide and ruined antichamber of rubble, of wrecked desks and dusty chairs waited beyond, but in the dead centre stood something she considered to be nothing less than truly incredible. It was a fully bloomed shenmue tree. But there's no light! Her mind worked frantically to disprove this impossibility, no cracks in the walls, no sunlight...T-This can't be real.

But it was, completely. The tree stood, a testament not just to the humans who had constructed this chamber centuries ago but more to the mother Earth which had birthed them so many millennia before. Life had returned to the world on its own, nature had adapted against the toxic atmosphere just like it had on Midna, and nature was ready to take its home back from the radiation and the poison.

She finally stepped into the chamber, shifting away several old books on the floor as she slowly approached the tree, her heart beating like a song. Its leaves shone a luring purple, its branches thick and brown with energy. The Empress was wrong, another thought fell through, Earth was always going to heal.

After a long while she managed to avert her eyes and glance around. It was an old cellar, beneath what could most readily be described as the ruins of an old Japanese library...That was when she looked up, feeling her senses begin to tingle again.

Voices...

There were voices coming from high above, from a chamber either above this one or beyond, but someone nearby was definitely talking to someone, somewhere in the library.

Rik!

Hope was returning to the frail universe as she heaved herself up onto a low branch, and started to climb.

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

The Empress sat, carefully staring at the world outside the cockpit. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Mapp was deep in thought, he was troubled. Whatever Draygon had said to him had profoundly effected his thoughts.

Empress: "Want to tell a dying girl whats on your mind?"

She still continued to stare out of the window but saw him look up at her.

Mapp: "No...no everythings-"
Empress: "Dont lie to me. How could you lie to me?"

Her tone never changed but it carried the hint of an edge with it. The kind of edge that said while she couldnt make things worse....she could make them difficult for him.

Mapp: "Your....not getting much sympathy."
Empress: "Never really expected it."

There seemed to be no responce from Mapp, and after a while she continued.

Empress: "I did some bad things....i did some terrible things, and then.....i did unforgiveable things."
Mapp: "Stop it...."
Empress: "I commited Genocide Mapp. I burned planets and tortured people. I didnt expect people to line the streets, weeping over my death."
Mapp: ".....stop.....please...."
Empress: ".......im putting my mistakes right Mapp. And so are you. Its a perfect ending."
Mapp: "No....its not....."
Empress: "Its as perfect as anyone can expect. If people think my corpse should be strung up and burned then by all means.....if they can actually find one...."
ATCCU

((i love being bad ))

'Enough of this already!' He said, slamming his fist into the console. He glared at her and she glared right back. That was when they realised that they weren't mad at each other. Nothing had gone exactly to plan since Susie had died, and they had to deal with that. The way she dealt with things was by pressuring those in power to use it, whereas his mind was a little more obscure.

He slid between the seats and walked over to the hatchway Dray had left open for him.

'Mapp?' The Empress barked, obviously influenced by the anger he felt at what the wraith had said to him 'Where are you going?'

'I need a drink...'

---

The bar was as empty as it had always been when he walked in and sat himself on a stool in front of it. He grabbed the half-finished bottle of whiskey and started to pour it into the empty glass when something, a distant voice, called in his ear.

What will you do?

He paused and looked up.

In here.

He stared at the mirror behind the drink shelf. It was just his reflection.

'You're in my head,' he realised and continued pouring the contents of the bottle 'You're her parents, right?'

We're her family.

'How come you wouldn't talk to me before?'

We weren't sure of your character, but she trusts you enough for us to approach you directly.

'I know how you can,' he said as it spun the the lid back on his whiskey 'the universe is still broke because of Susie's sacrifice, you guys can call out between both universes. I get that.'

He took a sip and waited for a moment.

'So what do you want?'

She's not being entirely truthful with you. She believes that she must die.

'She's going to.'

Indeed, and she takes the beast with her too.

'Glad to see that we're all on the same page.'

But there's more. Death as a concept was only something we were introduced to through your universe, whereas in ours there is simply no requirement for it.

'Lucky you...' He took another sip, this one bigger.

The creature, the hybrid being, the one like you...She wishes to do her harm.

'Yeah, just Dray and the rest of the galaxies. But don't worry, I'll get her to the Gauntlett so that she can get out before they can get her.'

That may simply not be enough.

'What?' He said, and suddenly remembered what Dray had emphasised on. They took his memory, replayed it in his head for him, made him learn.

'Just tell me one thing,' she enquired 'if you were presented with an opportunity to return her to her home universe without that justice you spoke of. Would you?'

...And Mapp learned well.

'There's a way, isn't there?' He slid the empty glass away again 'A way for her to survive this.'

You'll know when the time comes. She knows already, but you mustn't let her realise or she will never return to us. She's adopted too many of your qualities we believe, but once she returns to us we will do our best to seal up the gaps between your universe and ours, to prevent this from ever happening again.

'Only when she returns to you? But wait, I don't understand. If she's so valuable to you why did you send her to me, and then send us back here?'

It was her choice....and we respect that. Your emotions have given her a role to play, and a responsbility to carry out. She must see this through to the end, and once the beast of your universe die the Empress will too...But her true self will spiral out of the explosion, be drawn towards what you know as the Macrophilian Junction, into the eye and ultimately back home...

'So once the Empress's body is destroyed, the abstract being she really is will rise out and use the Macrophilian Junction to return to your collective? And then you'll help heal the patches of our universe...' He laid it all out, almost hopeful 'So that's where I have to lead the Gauntlett. That's where all of this ends.'

Only you can save her...If the others find out-

'-Dray said she'd do everything in her power to stop me,' he explained 'she doesn't understand. She's been too corrupted by things. I guess the only reason I haven't is because I was locked away from all of the turmoil. I guess I owe you guys for getting me out of there.'

So will you help return our lost child to us? We are troubled by mention of 'trial' and 'execution' from the hybrid being. It would be a punishment undeserved...

There was a moment where he turned back to the bottle and the golden content rippling inside, and then back over to his own reflection. His body was younger now, but he still saw that old imprisoned man staring back at him through his eyes. Things had changed so much since he went to the Void, everything was darker and so different. The Empress, she had her responsibility....but what about his? Without him, she would never have existed to begin with, and none of this would have come to pass.

But the galaxies needed someone to blame, and then an execution to prove what they blindly considered to be 'justice'. None of them would know the truth of the other universe, of how an angel had fallen through time and space, and became trapped within the body of a tyrant...

He knew his responsibility now, even with everything that was happening and that was going to happen, and the others could never know.

'I'll do it,' he said.

[susanne]

'Enough of this already!' He said, slamming his fist into the console. He glared at her and she glared right back. That was when they realised that they weren't mad at each other. Nothing had gone exactly to plan since Susie had died, and they had to deal with that. The way she dealt with things was by pressuring those in power to use it, whereas his mind was a little more obscure.

He slid between the seats and walked over to the hatchway Dray had left open for him.

'Mapp?' The Empress barked, obviously influenced by the anger he felt at what the wraith had said to him 'Where are you going?'

'I need a drink...'

---

The bar was as empty as it had always been when he walked in and sat himself on a stool in front of it. He grabbed the half-finished bottle of whiskey and started to pour it into the empty glass when something, a distant voice, called in his ear.

What will you do?

He paused and looked up.

In here.

He stared at the mirror behind the drink shelf. It was just his reflection.

'You're in my head,' he realised and continued pouring the contents of the bottle 'You're her parents, right?'

We're her family.

'How come you wouldn't talk to me before?'

We weren't sure of your character, but she trusts you enough for us to approach you directly.

'I know how you can,' he said as it spun the the lid back on his whiskey 'the universe is still broke because of Susie's sacrifice, you guys can call out between both universes. I get that.'

He took a sip and waited for a moment.

'So what do you want?'

She's not being entirely truthful with you. She believes that she must die.

'She's going to.'

Indeed, and she takes the beast with her too.

'Glad to see that we're all on the same page.'

But there's more. Death as a concept was only something we were introduced to through your universe, whereas in ours there is simply no requirement for it.

'Lucky you...' He took another sip, this one bigger.

The creature, the hybrid being, the one like you...She wishes to do her harm.

'Yeah, just Dray and the rest of the galaxies. But don't worry, I'll get her to the Gauntlett so that she can get out before they can get her.'

That may simply not be enough.

'What?' He said, and suddenly remembered what Dray had emphasised on. They took his memory, replayed it in his head for him, made him learn.

'Just tell me one thing,' she enquired 'if you were presented with an opportunity to return her to her home universe without that justice you spoke of. Would you?'

...And Mapp learned well.

'There's a way, isn't there?' He slid the empty glass away again 'A way for her to survive this.'

You'll know when the time comes. She knows already, but you mustn't let her realise or she will never return to us. She's adopted too many of your qualities we believe, but once she returns to us we will do our best to seal up the gaps between your universe and ours, to prevent this from ever happening again.

'Only when she returns to you? But wait, I don't understand. If she's so valuable to you why did you send her to me, and then send us back here?'

It was her choice....and we respect that. Your emotions have given her a role to play, and a responsbility to carry out. She must see this through to the end, and once the beast of your universe die the Empress will too...But her true self will spiral out of the explosion, be drawn towards what you know as the Macrophilian Junction, into the eye and ultimately back home...

'So once the Empress's body is destroyed, the abstract being she really is will rise out and use the Macrophilian Junction to return to your collective? And then you'll help heal the patches of our universe...' He laid it all out, almost hopeful 'So that's where I have to lead the Gauntlett. That's where all of this ends.'

Only you can save her...If the others find out-

'-Dray said she'd do everything in her power to stop me,' he explained 'she doesn't understand. She's been too corrupted by things. I guess the only reason I haven't is because I was locked away from all of the turmoil. I guess I owe you guys for getting me out of there.'

So will you help return our lost child to us? We are troubled by mention of 'trial' and 'execution' from the hybrid being. It would be a punishment undeserved...

There was a moment where he turned back to the bottle and the golden content rippling inside, and then back over to his own reflection. His body was younger now, but he still saw that old imprisoned man staring back at him through his eyes. Things had changed so much since he went to the Void, everything was darker and so different. The Empress, she had her responsibility....but what about his? Without him, she would never have existed to begin with, and none of this would have come to pass.

But the galaxies needed someone to blame, and then an execution to prove what they blindly considered to be 'justice'. None of them would know the truth of the other universe, of how an angel had fallen through time and space, and became trapped within the body of a tyrant...

He knew his responsibility now, even with everything that was happening and that was going to happen, and the others could never know.

'I'll do it,' he said.

The Empress sat in the cockpit, still staring at the barren landscape, something seemed to be occupying her mind, she simply stared out, her eyes unfocused. Suddenly she stood up, looking around the small space like a cage.

Empress: "Aw to hell with this."

She needed space, she needed air....

Slamming out of the cockpit and into the comfortably spaced corridor she breathed deeply. How these corridors were haunted....the memories choking her every lungful of air. The TARDIS had woken, and it was pouring memories into her head.

How Cowpants always wanted her liquor with milk, how funny P-90 looked wearing one of those stupid paper hats from the crackers, how CJ could be the smallest person in the room but be the loudest voice.....

She stumbled, gripping the walls for support, but even here there was no relief. Pain rippled in her head as memories whizzed by her inner vision too fast to see much but colours and shapes...

Empress: "Stop it! STOP IT! i know i upset the captain...i know..."

The memories calmed down and she began to stumble away from the cockpit and the bar, towards crew quarters, she felt tired, inexplicably tired....

ATCCU