The Great Adventure (Closed--attn Eridani Imperium)

[New Dornalia]

"Well, good! It would have been tricky to come up with more metaphors!"

Agnar laughed. He then stopped, and smiled.

"Anyone ready to attempt a trek back to Bronzehelm? Or shall we attempt to catch breakfast first?"

The Dornies looked over at one another, and Alejandra said, "I think we should break it down and head back to Bronzehelm. Gotta take care of our bounty in those pattern buffer containers, after all, and also take care of anything else we need before we conclude this safari of ours."

Connie nodded in agreement, as did the Sekulovich Sisters. And so, the Dornies would begin to break up the camp, putting the tents and camping supplies back together in surprisingly quick and orderly fashion as they made ready to return to Bronzehelm. The coffee was finished up, and the Sekulovich sisters finished filming around the area.

Sadly, they had not put the wordplay onto film, but Connie got the feeling that was fine and dandy. Some moments like that needed to be given their space.

For her part, Alejandra seemed..surprisingly energized now, and whistled a cheery tune. Connie quipped to that, "How's our writer?"

"Our writer is fine," Alejandra said with a sly grin. "I'd say feeling...pretty good about her story, even. Yeah, it quickly went to an unexpected spot, but..." Alejandra then said, pausing and letting out a hum of cautious optimism which seemed to approve of the way things went, "...this could work."

Connie then patted Alejandra on the shoulder and said, simply, whispering, "Between you and me? I think it could work too." Gesturing to her brain, Connie smirked and said, "The Force is one with me after all, and it's picking up good signals from you and from our guide."

Alejandra then said, with a playful snarking tone, "Glad to see the Force is still doing the thinking for you, Connie." To that, Connie replied, with a smirk, "Hey. What're friends for?"

And so, the party, as if they were on some sitcom, shared a few laughs and began to proceed to Bronzehelm....

[The Eridani Imperium]

"That is indeed the best part of stories." Agnar commented, getting his pack and weapons on.

"The twist and turns, and definitely the unexpected delights."

Agnar tilted his head and smiled, making sure the, ah, flirtatious meaning was across.

Before the peanut gallery could further comment, Agnar quickly busied himself with guide things.

--DootDootDootADootDah--

After hiking through the tall evergreens of the Grahtwood after a while, Agnar shouted out a warning.

"WARG!"

The party had only a few seconds to react before a leathery, wolf-like thing bolted into the clearing, leaping onto Ivana's power armor and sending one of the plates to the ground with a clang.

The warg clawed and snapped at the now-exposed wires. Finding nothing tasty there, it leaped to the ground and assaulted the armor plate, scratching it up and generally producing a cacophony of noise.

The warg tried to drag the plate off into the bush, but Agnar grabbed the thing.

The Kadrian suffered a few nasty scratches, and the others saw a few drops of blue-green blood drop to the ground as Agnar wrestled away the plate.

At last, the creature dropped to the ground and hissed at all of them, then bolted off into the bush.

Agnar gave the plate back to Ivana, and quickly lead them to the Hunter's Way, the main road leading to the west gate of Bronzehelm. Far above them, skyspeeders - the Kadrian equivalent to the flying car - zoomed by.

With relative safety reached, Agnar sat on the side of the road, tending to his wounds.

[New Dornalia]

After hiking through the tall evergreens of the Grahtwood after a while, Agnar shouted out a warning.

"WARG!"

The party had only a few seconds to react before a leathery, wolf-like thing bolted into the clearing, leaping onto Ivana's power armor and sending one of the plates to the ground with a clang.

The warg clawed and snapped at the now-exposed wires. Finding nothing tasty there, it leaped to the ground and assaulted the armor plate, scratching it up and generally producing a cacophony of noise.

The warg tried to drag the plate off into the bush, but Agnar grabbed the thing.

The Kadrian suffered a few nasty scratches, and the others saw a few drops of blue-green blood drop to the ground as Agnar wrestled away the plate.

At last, the creature dropped to the ground and hissed at all of them, then bolted off into the bush.

Agnar gave the plate back to Ivana, and quickly lead them to the Hunter's Way, the main road leading to the west gate of Bronzehelm. Far above them, skyspeeders - the Kadrian equivalent to the flying car - zoomed by.

With relative safety reached, Agnar sat on the side of the road, tending to his wounds.

Ivana was definitely not pleased at this turn of events. The Warg had torn off a piece of her armor and also damaged some internal systems. The HUD onboard the T-51 suit registered the left shoulder/arm region as being blank--indicating serious damage which needed immediate attention. The party soon had to stop where the Kadrian had lead them, and before long, Ivana popped out of the power suit. Out of habit, she removed the fusion core and placed it in a storage container, and looked at the damaged wiring. Sighing, Ivana said, "Not the worst thing that could happen, but it will take time to fix." Pulling out a small utility kit and some spares from the pattern buffer, she began to go to work.

Alejandra said, curious, "How's the armor?"

"it's fine. Scratched, but nothing some buffing and touchup paint can't fix. As for the internals, some servomotors got damaged. I have spares, but as I said, it will take some time as this is an early model T-51 suit. That means it's still using the purely mechanical Power Armor Frame--servos, pistons and all--as opposed to the fancier types you see in Platypus Magazine. Units like the Mitsubishi Carbon series with their fancy artificial muscles and their carbon fiber-synthrilspun take on the T-series frame--and certainly not like that one Orderman who etched magical sigils onto his armor to focus chi energy. And it's certainly behind what the military has for their T-60 series armors, or even the Liberators they give to the Marines. Hell, it's not even upgraded with artificial muscle--it's a base T-51b series suit."

Milena then said, sighing, "Told ya to invest in an artificial nanomuscle upgrade."

"Yeah, yeah. Woulda coulda shoulda. Anyway, I should be grateful. The mounting joints on the plate are also not too damaged. Means I can just reattach the plate easily." Ivana then frowned and said, putting on a pair of polarized safety goggles and some gloves "How a creature like that could tear apart armor like that...." with some degree of worry, as the air soon began to fill with the smell of ozone and the color of sparks and the sound of machinery both sonic and much more mundane. Milena stood guard, looking around for any more creatures.

Connie and Alejandra meanwhile looked over the Kadrian's wounds, and Alejandra asked, "You okay? Where did the creature get you?" Connie then added, "If you need help healing, let me know. I know a few tricks, hey?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

Agnar extended his arm, revealing a few cuts, the longest being three inches long.

"Warg got my arm. Hit a few veins, nothing major."

The Kadrian put his arm on the stone surface of the road, and dug into his pack for bandages. The loose droplets of blood changed from a blue-green color to a chocolate brown as they were exposed to the air.

Agnar rubbed a ointment on the area, before bandaging it up. "Healing ointment. Extremely effective. You can make it from the fluids in a Keldavidri Dragon's stomach, but it's tricky. My arm should be fine in a few hours."

[New Dornalia]

Agnar extended his arm, revealing a few cuts, the longest being three inches long.

"Warg got my arm. Hit a few veins, nothing major."

The Kadrian put his arm on the stone surface of the road, and dug into his pack for bandages. The loose droplets of blood changed from a blue-green color to a chocolate brown as they were exposed to the air.

Agnar rubbed a ointment on the area, before bandaging it up. "Healing ointment. Extremely effective. You can make it from the fluids in a Keldavidri Dragon's stomach, but it's tricky. My arm should be fine in a few hours."

Connie nodded in acknowledgement. Seeing as how the Kadrian had bandaged himself up and applied the ointment, the Orderwoman stepped back a bit and said, "Well, that's good to hear." She noticed the blood changing color and turning brown, and noted that the Kadrian obviously didn't have the same oxygen-based blood types as humans did. Not an impediment--the Force had ways of healing people no matter what their blood type, race, color, or creed was. But Connie was bound of course by very basic medical ethics--patient decides their care. Even potential ones. Hopefully the veins weren't anything vital...

Alejandra for her part breathed a sigh of relief. She then said, raising an eyebrow, "Huh. You mean that the stuff inside a Dragon's stomach is better for more than just setting things on fire?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

"There's about 12 different things you can use the stuff for, but the real trick is making sure the stuff doesn't blow up in your face." Agnar chuckled.

"We use it in grenades, the healers use it in healing ointments. Some of the more crazy people in upkeep have used it in pipe cleaning by pouring it into the pipe, then adding water. It's also a great, hmm... lighter fluid?"

The last two words actually didn't require a translator, but came through with a strong Scandinavian accent.

[New Dornalia]

"There's about 12 different things you can use the stuff for, but the real trick is making sure the stuff doesn't blow up in your face." Agnar chuckled.

"We use it in grenades, the healers use it in healing ointments. Some of the more crazy people in upkeep have used it in pipe cleaning by pouring it into the pipe, then adding water. It's also a great, hmm... lighter fluid?"

The last two words actually didn't require a translator, but came through with a strong Scandinavian accent.

Alejandra raised her eyebrows at the sudden translator failure, saying, "Something happen with the translator? It's like I was hearing basic speech one moment, and the next I hear a suddenly accented 'lighter fluid.'"

For her part, Connie said with her own raised eyebrows, "I thought one wasn't supposed to mix the Dragon's Stomach Fluid with water? I mean, it sounds like a spectacularly bad idea."

"Clever as always, Connie," Alejandra said with more than a little amused sarcasm. Connie said, shrugging, "Well, their loss, I suppose. I mean, I imagine one has to mix it with something to keep it from exploding at any rate, so you can actually use it to fix people and things."

Meanwhile, the Sekulovich sisters could be heard hammering and fixing away in the background, with the occasional Serbian expletive and the odd repartee occurring back and forth. Alejandra turned to the source of the sound and wondered, "Something must be really up with those two to be taking so long. Thought it was an easy fix?"

Sniffing the air, Connie said simply, "I think it's more a matter of the Sekulovich Sisters doing what siblings usually do. Fight. Argue over things. And then go back to being siblings again. The usual sort of thing."

"Out here?" Alejandra asked, skeptical of the need for siblings to indulge in that sort of behavior now, when they were on the roadside. For her part, Connie shrugged and said, "Meh. No one said it was rational."

[The Eridani Imperium]

"Nothing's wrong with the translator: just that there's no word for the equivalent in the Kadrian language." Agnar stated. "We managed to pick up a few words from the few lost ships that ended up in the Imperium."

"As for mixing it with water, our pipes are pretty strong, so it's actually feasible to pour dragon stomach fluid into the pipes to clean them. Pouring water on it just serves to speed up the cleaning and give people surprise showers."

Agnar looked over at the sisters. "On that, an old Kadrian smith used to say: Every dent becomes bigger once you grab the hammer to fix it."

[New Dornalia]

"Nothing's wrong with the translator: just that there's no word for the equivalent in the Kadrian language." Agnar stated. "We managed to pick up a few words from the few lost ships that ended up in the Imperium."

"As for mixing it with water, our pipes are pretty strong, so it's actually feasible to pour dragon stomach fluid into the pipes to clean them. Pouring water on it just serves to speed up the cleaning and give people surprise showers."

Agnar looked over at the sisters. "On that, an old Kadrian smith used to say: Every dent becomes bigger once you grab the hammer to fix it."

Alejandra could only laugh, declaring, "Well, shit. Reminds me of a quote from back home." Pausing, she then searched through her mind to find a good quote--having said that she was reminded of a quote, she was now obliged to follow.

"The night is always darkest before the dawn?" Connie offered. Alejandra shook her head.

"Too many cooks spoil the pot, then?" Again, Connie offered. Again, Alejandra shook her head.

"Okay...." Connie said, really thinking now, "What about...'too many cooks spoil the soup?'" Connie offered that one, perhaps out of desperation. Alejandra seemed sphinxlike, to which Connie sighed.

"Well, give me something here. I've got nothing from ya."

Alejandra gasped and said, "I got it!" She then declared, "'One should never make a mountain out of a molehill.'" Pausing, she then said, "After all, if one is not careful, then their attempts to fix a problem will make the problem worse before it gets better, assuming that's the case."

Connie said, shrugging, "I liked 'the night is always darkest before the dawn' myself, but hey." She then asked, "I'm more inclined to know about these lost ships. Did others try to get into this region before the Albert Schweitzer made it here?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

"Remind me to tell you more proverbs. We make a lot of em." Agnar laughed before considering Connie's question.

"A few, according to the Navy." Agnar paused, thinking. "Navy always found the ships floating in space, at the edge of Ginnungagap. The Outer Nebula always got them. Which reminds me: How did you guys get through the Outer Nebula?"

[New Dornalia]

Connie then said, coughing, "Oh! That. Yes, Milena arranged transport for us aboard a civilian ship, the M/V Blue Star. It was a simple ship, you know, with some passenger space. Now, since the Albert Schweitzer came to visit and back, our people knew that what the Schweitzer did with its Flux Capacitor drive was the key to getting through." Pausing, Connie wondered, "How did he explain it, the Engineer...."

Alejandra said, chiming in, "I think the man said that it was something about overcharging the time travel circuits so they would absorb more chroniton energy and thus force more chroniton energy into the Flux Capacitor using enhanced capacitors and direct injection into the Capacitor itself?" Shrugging, Alejandra added, "I couldn't tell. It was all technobabble to me."

Connie then said, laughing, "Sure. Either way, it was equipped with some sort of....I think it was an upgraded Flux Capacitor drive designed to do that from the get go. Made by the LanserWerks people, the Schweitzer 100 Enhanced Flux Capacitor--now with "Chroniton turbodriving," so the brochure the engineer handed me said. It's not the first time they've made an in-house FTL drive, but frankly when they heard of what the Schweitzer had done, well, I guess they had to get a piece of that action."

"LanserWerks?" Alejandra said raising her eyebrow. "The ship, mech, and weapons customization people? The Mechasport people?"

"Aye the one and the same," Connie added. She continued with, "This ship of ours looked stock otherwise, but I guess the man needed the new FTL to even think about entering. Luckily, LanserWerks sells crate FTL drives at a decent rate. The Engineer loved to talk up the firm, how it made all his favorite stuff, how he had a LanserWerks Eagle...." The way Connie spoke, she had been very bored and very paitent with the Engineer of the ship, whose fanboying of the LanserWerks brand could be seen in the pamphlet she produced detailing their parts catalog--complete with glamour shots of ships and mecha modified by them, along with women and men in poses more suited for fashion magazines than real life. "He even handed me this."

Alejandra then turned and said, after Connie had spoke, "Anyway, long story short, a ship with a superpowered FTL drive capable of making it through the Nebula got us here, dropped us off, and the rest was history."

[The Eridani Imperium]

"Sounds about right. The Outer Nebula's always dilated time for everything in it. And the Inner Nebula's never done that. It's one of the mysteries of the universe."

Agnar leaned back. "If I remember right, it's one of the reasons why we use the drive we do. Instead of trying to go through the Outer Nebula, we just skip it using higher dimensions."

[New Dornalia]

"Sounds about right. The Outer Nebula's always dilated time for everything in it. And the Inner Nebula's never done that. It's one of the mysteries of the universe."

Agnar leaned back. "If I remember right, it's one of the reasons why we use the drive we do. Instead of trying to go through the Outer Nebula, we just skip it using higher dimensions."

"Dimensional space-fold drives, eh?" Connie said simply, "I'm not a hyperdrive expert, but I would say that makes sense. And it is quite efficient, one would find."

As for Alejandra, she could only say, poetically, "Well, hey. Life's full of mysteries--"

Before Alejandra could get her sentence off, she was interrupted by the presence of the Sekulovich Sisters. Ivana was in her newly repaired T-51b suit, with all its quietly whirring and somewhat ponderous glory, and Milena was next to her with a nod.

Alejandra said, surprised by their sudden entrance, could only let out a simple, "How'd it go?"

"Well enough," Ivana said, looking askance at Milena with some annoyance, before turning back to the others. "We managed to get what we could fixed, although I will say the suit works quite nicely again."

"No thanks to her fat fingers," Milena added. That phrase caused Ivana to grumble, saying, "And I thought you were the mature one."

"I'm just saying, I'm not the one who turned down a sonic screwdriver for a lesser instrument." Milena said that with a shrug and a smug look. "Sonic screwdriver would have taken a shorter time and gotten less sparks on my shirt."

"Yeah, well the sparks mean it's working," Ivana said with a sigh. "That sonic screwdriver of yours would've taken too long."

"Says the lady who took five min--"

They were then interrupted by a cough from Connie, who said, "Anyway. The suit is fixed. Anything else?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

"Don't think so. And it should be easy walking from here: we're on the road to the west gate of Bronzehelm."

Agnar gestured for the group to follow him as he started on the path.

As the group approached Bronzehelm, they realized that the city walls surrounding the gates were completely carved out of stone, while the gates themselves were made of a lightweight metal. As the guards opened the gates, the city beyond took the Dornies' breath away.

Bronzehelm sat in a mountain valley, the forested slopes guarding the city's flanks. Only three entrances existed to the city: the west gates (which the group had just entered,) the spaceport, and the harbor to the north.

A ring of parks surrounded the city proper, giving the steel superstructures, stone towers and wooden longhouses a robe of emerald leaves. Stone paths winded into the parks, connecting the wide slate avenues that lead deeper into the city. As the group moved down one of the avenues, they began to see shops along the avenue. Various weights of silver were being called out as Kadrians, Alvaldri, and a few Jotun sold their wares.

A loud sound came from their right, and the Dornies' attention was called to a weapons shop. The owner was demonstrating a Eridani-made shotgun, and managed to break a thick pane of glass. Said owner was now bashing a dummy, with an appreciatively damaging effect.

Singing came from the drinking halls, or hreinalögr which were present at nearly every block. As Agnar explained it, the Kadrian name was derived from the clear Green-Sap, before it was made into ale. So the name literally meant "Clear-Brewer". Of course, the skynalr of Elysia were basically the same thing, but the connotations of the latter's name were much more... carnal.

Above all this, the High Citadel towered. It stood on a hill in the center of the valley, looking much like an old stone Viking keep. However, the turrets of the keep were connected by silver arches, and a communications antenna stood on top of the central hall. This keep was the hall of Rowan Freya Silvershield, Empress of the Eridani.

The party at last stopped for a rest in Arngrim Plaza, as curious Eridani (As the collective citizens of the Imperium were known) peered at them.

[New Dornalia]

As the group approached Bronzehelm, they realized that the city walls surrounding the gates were completely carved out of stone, while the gates themselves were made of a lightweight metal. As the guards opened the gates, the city beyond took the Dornies' breath away.

Bronzehelm sat in a mountain valley, the forested slopes guarding the city's flanks. Only three entrances existed to the city: the west gates (which the group had just entered,) the spaceport, and the harbor to the north.

A ring of parks surrounded the city proper, giving the steel superstructures, stone towers and wooden longhouses a robe of emerald leaves. Stone paths winded into the parks, connecting the wide slate avenues that lead deeper into the city. As the group moved down one of the avenues, they began to see shops along the avenue. Various weights of silver were being called out as Kadrians, Alvaldri, and a few Jotun sold their wares.

A loud sound came from their right, and the Dornies' attention was called to a weapons shop. The owner was demonstrating a Eridani-made shotgun, and managed to break a thick pane of glass. Said owner was now bashing a dummy, with an appreciatively damaging effect.

Singing came from the drinking halls, or hreinalögr which were present at nearly every block. As Agnar explained it, the Kadrian name was derived from the clear Green-Sap, before it was made into ale. So the name literally meant "Clear-Brewer". Of course, the skynalr of Elysia were basically the same thing, but the connotations of the latter's name were much more... carnal.

Above all this, the High Citadel towered. It stood on a hill in the center of the valley, looking much like an old stone Viking keep. However, the turrets of the keep were connected by silver arches, and a communications antenna stood on top of the central hall. This keep was the hall of Rowan Freya Silvershield, Empress of the Eridani.

The party at last stopped for a rest in Arngrim Plaza, as curious Eridani (As the collective citizens of the Imperium were known) peered at them.

The city itself struck the Dornalians as quite interesting, to say the least. Alejandra was reminded of the great cities of Mythrandir, as she had read in books and saw in holonet documentaries of yore. Before their Uruk Uprising, the Myths had cities which somehow skillfully blended the old, rustic aesthetics of the past with more modern touches. She picked up her tablet and snapped a few shots with it, to perhaps better preserve for her audience what she would be describing--and also as somehting for posterity.

However, while the Eridani had evidently done the same, they had chosen to take a different approach which was appropriately their own. For one thing, the streets were paved with slate stones. They supported the T-51b well enough, but Ivana wondered why the locals hadn't used asphalt or even concrete which would produce a better surface. Then again, the flying cars would seem to answer that question. Milena for her part was filming Ivana, who could be seen muttering into the camera every so often. The sights seemed to attract her attention, especially the High Citadel and its massive fusion of Viking asthetics with silver and modern comms. Such a kludge normally would have been rough looking, but somehow, it all made sense.

The shiny nature of the steel and silver all around, intermingled with a healthy greenbelt and massive stone walls, would be more of the standout though. Connie couldn't help but be amused a little. The city was named for bronze--and yet here the locals were, working more with steel and silver, and preserving much in the way of green space. And, like the Myths with which the Dornalians were familiar, the Eridani too defended their city with a great fortress wall. SIlver seemed to be the coin of the realm here--no paper money or credit cards in sight, as far as she could tell. Just cold hard currency.

Of course, amongst the foreign land came a familiar sound. The sound of a shotgun being fired. The Dornalians turned to the shop, and became quite interested in what they saw--a shotgun being fired and then used as a club. An intriguing sight, especially for the Sekulovich sisters, who seemed to be eyeing the weapons shop with a keen curiosity. Of course, as the Dornies decided to pay the weapons shop a visit, the Dornies noticed the people staring, and Alejandra was the first to ask Agnar.

"I take it...you guys don't get too many visitors?"

As she did that, Ivana looked over at the shotguns and asked the shopkeeper, "Excuse me, what can you tell me about these arms?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

Yeah, we don't get many visitors." Agnar confirmed. "Again, mostly due to the Outer Nebula. The Alvaldri and the Jotun originated from inside the Nebula, so they stopped being strangers long ago. Don't worry, we like visitors: it's something new in the Imperium."

--

The owner smiled broadly. "They're ALL Eridani-made of course! Perfect for raiding: one-handed semi-automatic fire for use with a shield, and you can make a dragon angry with one whack!"

The owner was all too eager to demonstrate, as he whacked away at the dummy's head.

[New Dornalia]

Alejandra nodded, glad to see that was the case. However, at the moment, the Dornalians were distracted by a very eager arms salesman.

His type wouldn't have been out of place in the Republic. Excitable salesman? Check. "Wow factor" demo meant to show off the product's durability? Check. Puffery-laced sales pitch boasting of onehanded fire? Check. The others seemed more amused than scared, and Alejandra walked forward to the salesman.

"You say it can be fired onehanded, eh? May I try?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

"Of course!"

The salesman handed Alejandra the shotgun, and the first thing that she noticed was how light the thing was: it appeared to weight the same as a light pistol, despite mangling the dummy's head. The other thing she noticed was how quickly the shotgun reloaded, even when the reloading was done manually.

The salesman pointed out her target, which was a thick pane of glass identical to the one that had been blown apart minutes earlier.

[New Dornalia]

Alejandra was used to shotguns being heavier, more cumbersome arms. Even with the invention of lightweight alloys like Territanium and various other materials, shotguns like the Saigas carried by the Dornalians for boarding and breaching would usually take two hands, or require inertial dampeners to fire one handed. However, the balance and weight of the shotgun seemed to easily fit in one hand without much droop or strain on one's arm.

Alejandra, being someone who was used to firearms, performed a safety check on the shotgun. Before anything else, she could be seen checking the chamber to make sure it was empty, keeping the shotgun pointed at the glass, exercising trigger discipline by keeping her index finger off the trigger and also gesturing for the others to step back a bit and even took out the magazine to be doubly safe--and then proceeded to twirl it a bit in her hand, like one would do with a pistol. It was indeed quite nice, and eventually she stopped and aimed it one handed at the glass, going, in a gruff voice, "Go ahead. Make my day."

Then, she promptly reloaded the shotshells--the action indeed reloaded quite quickly, and was easy to get ahold of. The box magazine slid in and out easily in one motion, without any of the rocking and locking the Saigas usually used. Thus, Alejandra reloaded the shotshells, chambered a shotgun shell, leveled the weapon and then shouted an old Dornalian curse.

"BREAK YOURSELF, FOOL!"

She then fired the shotgun one handed, shattering the glass into many pieces with the force of buckshot aplenty. The recoil was familiar--yet somehow well managed for a firearm of its size and light weight. Then again, the salesman said it had to be fired one handed, to be used with energy shields. Alejandra then pronounced the shotgun, "Nice." Pausing, she then said, "Got one of those dummies? I noticed you were using this gun as a club--it doubles as a melee weapon, I take it?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

"Even better, I learned a few tricks from the Alvaldri!"

The excitable salesman walked up to the dummy, and quite literally tore off its head. As the Dornies watched, the salesman took the head, and shoved it into a chest. He then grabbed a intact head and stuck it on the dummy's body. After a few seconds, he pulled on the head, making sure it was firmly attached.

"There we go. Mr. Olaf Cheese-Brain's cranium is ready for assault!" The salesman chuckled.

[New Dornalia]

"Even better, I learned a few tricks from the Alvaldri!"

The excitable salesman walked up to the dummy, and quite literally tore off its head. As the Dornies watched, the salesman took the head, and shoved it into a chest. He then grabbed a intact head and stuck it on the dummy's body. After a few seconds, he pulled on the head, making sure it was firmly attached.

"There we go. Mr. Olaf Cheese-Brain's cranium is ready for assault!" The salesman chuckled.

"Olaf Cheese-Brain, eh?" Alejandra nodded and held the shotgun in one hand, like before. Then, the Dornalian proceeded to whip the shotgun rapidly across Cheese-brain's skull. First, she swiped the skull from the left, with a shout. Then, again--from the right this time, with another shout. Each time, the shotgun would make a satisfying thud and smack. Then, gripping the shotgun with both hands Alejandra then let out another shout as she smacked the dummy rather forcefully in the head with several buttstrokes and then a series of strikes made as if Alejandra was wielding a baseball bat. The shotgun held, and didn't seem to budge much in the process of being smacked around as it was. The head however....

[The Eridani Imperium]

After that assault, if Olaf had been a human, his skull would had been done for. It was truly smashed into oblivion.

"And that's what a Eridani-made weapon has to say to you, Mr. Cheese-Brain! All of this destructive potential can be yours, for only 3 hectograms of silver! Low prices always guaranteed!"

Agnar, who had been lurking nearby, leaned over to whisper in Alejandra's ear. "Salesman's lying out the wazoo: number one, that's a somewhat high price, and two, he *never* guarantees low prices unless he just gave a high price."

[New Dornalia]

Alejandra nodded at Agnar's advice. If her math was correct, 3 hectograms of silver would equate to 300 grams of silver, which given the going rates was about $1,500 US Dollars. That was quite high, normally the realm of higher tier blasters or gauss weaponry back where she came from.

Looking over the shotgun, Alejandra suddenly adopted a disinterested, somewhat nervous look. If the man wanted to charge a bit more than was customary for a weapon like this, Alejandra would need to answer back in her own way. Namely, by invoking an old trick her father had used when dealing with used shuttle salesmen. Especially those fuckers at the DeLaurentis dealerships on New Star City. No one could find any more tricky salesmen than them, even if they did sell good product.

"Interesting. 3 hectograms of silver....you sure? I mean, is that for just the gun itself or what of the ammo too?"

[The Eridani Imperium]

The salesman looked slightly nervous for a split second before resuming his happy-go-lucky demeanor.

"Of course it does! 2.5 hectograms for the gun, and the other .5 for a box of the ammo!"

Agnar was on his datapad, doing something. He whispered again into Alejandra's ear: "Good catch: I think he was planning to sell you the gun without ammo for the 3 hectograms. Now, see if he'll do 1.5 hectograms for the gun, and the other 1.5 for 3 boxes of ammo. Work him down there slowly."

[New Dornalia]

The salesman looked slightly nervous for a split second before resuming his happy-go-lucky demeanor.

"Of course it does! 2.5 hectograms for the gun, and the other .5 for a box of the ammo!"

Agnar was on his datapad, doing something. He whispered again into Alejandra's ear: "Good catch: I think he was planning to sell you the gun without ammo for the 3 hectograms. Now, see if he'll do 1.5 hectograms for the gun, and the other 1.5 for 3 boxes of ammo. Work him down there slowly."

Alejandra nodded, and continued to look concerned. Shaking her head with a sad look on her face, she said, "I mean...I dunno." Looking at the gun, she said mournfully, "It's a nice piece. Don't get me wrong. But I'm gonna need to keep it fed and one box won't do." Looking at the salesman, she said, "I mean, between us two as fighters and sportspeople and so on--do you ever carry one box of shotshells only?"

She had a smile on her face now, and said, summoning up all manner of amateur theater skills to put on a set of Bambi eyes towards the sales person, "What if I was going to buy multiple boxes of shotshells? Could you work with me on that score?"