Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Salem smiled, "Well, your pride is admirable, at least, but it might end up being less than helpful." He sighed and looked around the bar. Zorish certainly was insistent. Since he had no real idea of how to deal with Corliss, was there anything he could do to help Zorish? Probably not. Maybe this imperial would have better luck than he had. If nothing else, he could watch to see how things progressed between them. In fact, since Corliss should recognize Tamora...

"There's a Yeerk here named Corliss. He's the only one I can think who'd know how to contact Myitt. He's not really the cooperative type, from what I've seen." He looked over as a masked newcomer entered the bar and took a seat at one of the booths, then continued, "And he's less than happy with me at the moment, so if it's all the same to you, I might avoid actually introducing you. If you want, though, I can find him and point him out. He was just out front a few minutes ago. Oh," he said with a smirk, as if he'd suddenly thought of something, "he knows a version of... your host, at least. Maybe you as well. You might want to keep that in mind when talking to him."

He pulled his persona scanner from his pocket, pointed it at the masked newcomer, and clicked it, causing it to trill. He looked back at Zorish, and, after only a second's hesitation, clicked it at him as well before sticking it back in his pocket.

[General Squall Leonhart]

As the humanoid was about to take a drink he noticed the bartender taking a notepad out of his pocket and began writing on it. Curious, the humanoid waited until the bartender tore off the page and handed it to him. 'Cash or Tab?' it read in his language. He replied quietly, in Gallard "Start a tab and I will pay it before I leave." The bartender turned around and headed back behind the bar.

He was again about to take a drink when he noticed one of the beings pointing something at him. He tensed slightly, but when the being pointed it at another of the beings he realized it was just a scanner. He inhaled the scent of his drink and moved his mask aside to drink. The mix of the sub-zero temperature liquid and the almost scalding hot temperature of the foam soothed him deeply. The Reln Blizzard was a drink that had existed on the planet called Fringe for millennia and to find it off-world was a very rare oddity because the primary ingredient was glacial ice from the Fringes' polar regions. When a 200 proof alcohol was added it reacted to the ice to form the almost scalding hot foam and the perfect Reln Blizzard.

He set his glass down, but decided to keep his mask off. One look at his skin and it was apparent he was not human. His skin was a dark blue that had an almost wet look to it with spots that seemed to change colors at random intervals. He took another drink savoring the flavor and his thoughts drifted to a time when relaxation like this was a joke. He shook his head slightly to clear away the memories, the past should remain dead.

[AmberKatira]

This is mess, Ewa though with disgust.  It was like the plot designer was a five-year-old who tore an Animorphs play apart and then fixed it by splicing in all that was bad science fiction and scribbling magical creatures over it  in crayon.  Yeerks, alternate-universe characters, minotaurs sitting in the corner--it'd be a miracle if ANYONE knew what was going on here.

She turned her head to see Van approaching.  He hadn't mentioned anything about Yeerks in the place he was from and had mostly ignored the conversation with Zorish.  But was that because he was unsurprised, or just too distracted to bother asking questions?  "Van, are there Yeerks where you're from?"

Her attention was pulled back to the bar when Salem took something out of his pocket and clicked it at Zorish and a new person who had just entered the bar.  "What was that for?"

[pyrebird]

"...Yeerks?" Van blinked, and let the word roll off his tongue again, "Yeerks."

Ah, right. I think the Ambassador mentioned them earlier.

He sighed, and sat down beside her, "Well, believe it or nooot... No. I haven't heard of the Yeerks. What are the Yeerks?"

Van guessed that they were an unpopular race, considering how Ogreon spoke of them, and the word 'imperial' allowed him to correctly bet that they were conquerors. No big surprise, since most unpopular races were indeed imperialists. Even if the conquest failed, any race that tried to take over another tended to lose favor with the host culture. It was precisely how his own people ended up becoming galactic... butt-monkeys.

Adam had mentioned Yeerks as well, but he seemed much less aggressive about their existence. How odd, Van thought.

"I know that the first attempt to treat my leg was with Yeerk medicine," Van added, "but, it didn't go over so well. You remember that."

[Terenia]

Zorish eyes the persona scanner warily until it disappears beneath the folds of Salem's clothes. He does not comment on it, though, as it seems to have neither him or his host any harm.

"I would appreciate it if you could point this Corliss fellow out to me," Zorish says. "When you say he knows a version of my host...this would be the version that supposedly died, correct?" He shakes his head, "You'll have to forgive me, human, but I find it incredibly difficult to believe that there are multiple versions of myself, or my host, wandering around various universes, just to eventually land on the same rock. It sounds like some sort of twisted story invented to frighten grubs."


Efaen's initial instinct is to refuse anything that might help Terenia; it was incredibly gratifying to see the child reduced to a limbless, senseless slug. She is about to say as much, but hesitates. If Terenia regains her natural form she will be harmless. Just another human footsoldier in this war.

<<And it would render her incapable of morphing as well?>> Efaen asks Ossanlin. <<An ability that would not be granted again?>>

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin nods a bit.  <<I believe that the morphing technology would remain inert...there is no way that I know of to overcome that.  In essence, I believe that she would be a nothlit in her original body.>>

[RAFrukh]

|
Ogreon had decided to stay silent. He tried to understand everyone there by listening to their conversations. It was part if his job as an Ambassador. But now, he could not.

"The Yeerks are a parasitic race of slugs. They squirm into your ears and flatten out over your brain, thereby taking control of you. Only those with exceptionally strong will can break into temporary control periods."

All this time Ogreon was shaking slightly from fear, although it was barely visible. He continued, "Almost 12 years ago((In his universe)) they came for Earth after infiltrating the Hork-Bajir and Taxxon worlds. The war wasn't very long, but it did require a lot of sacrifice, including the several  hundred people they had captured before the Animorphs brought the news to the one who would eventually become the Overseer of the Alliance. We won within a few months, but sTill...some were killed in the final battle...only the Clangst were there to assist in the destruction of the Blade-Ship. The Clangst were not really affected, bt I was 32 when the war came. Almost 12 years later, I still remember..."

Ogreon stopped talking and closed his eyes. Some of the scenes from the war played out in his mind as he had spoken, so now he tried to push them all away.

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Salem smirked at Ewa and patted the pocket he'd put his persona scanner back into, "just taking some images for later. Y'know, for posterity. I... don't think I caught your name. I'm Salem," he said, sticking his hand out for her to shake.

He laughed as he listened to Zorish's skepticism. He was beginning to forget that this place was far from normal, even by his standards.

He shook his head, "Yeah, it's not exactly something you hear every day. This place is pretty unique in that way. It does seem that everyone here has some sort of connection to the Yeerk-Andalite war," he said, with a pointed look at Ogreon, then Ewa and Van, "but some of us are originally from places with no Yeerks." He smiled, "You don't have to believe it, but if you keep it in mind, it might help you out here."

"As for the... other you having died, I hadn't heard anything about that until you asked, actually. It's not surprising, in this place. Mortality rates tend to be... pretty high in this bar. If you're going to insist on being open about your imperial allegiance, at least make it a point to be careful." He sighed and pulled out his communicator, "Let me see if I can find Corliss for you."

"Hey, Al," he said into the communicator, "did you see which way Corliss went?"

Outside the bar, Al had begun to move back towards Salem's ship, slowly, enjoying the walk. He spoke, though there was no apparent communicator, "You're not thinking about talking to him again already, are you?"

"Of course not," Salem said, smirking. "I've got a friend here who's looking to use his communicator."

"Oh!" Al replied excitedly, immediately catching the implication. "Okay, cool. Um..." he looked around, "looks like he's actually headed for the bar. You should see him any second."

"Thanks," Salem said, and put his communicator away, and looked at Zorish with a shrug and a smile, to make sure he'd overheard.

[Terenia]

Efaen nods stiffly, considering the implications behind what Ossanlin is proposing. <<I would...agree to assist with this procedure, so long as she would never regain the ability to morph. Terenia clearly has abused the technology in the past. Besides that, she is not Andalite and has no right to it.>>

<<So long as there is no risk of harm to myself,>> she adds quickly.


"I will keep that in mind," Zorish says, "I tend not to thrust myself into precarious situations without properly protecting myself. Or my host, for that matter. Voluntaries are difficult to come by, and I am not fond of breaking in new bodies, as it were."

Zorish cuts off when Salem makes the call to Al, raising Tamora's eyebrows when he hears that Corliss is on his way into the bar. "That will work out well, then," he says softly, eager to get down to business. He did not come here to mingle. "If you do not mind me asking, human, why is this Corliss displeased with you?" He takes a casual sip of Scotch, keeping Tamora's face carefully blank as he waits for Salem's response.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

<<No more than disomfort I should think.  The procedure, I presume, would be most easily accomplished with you physically touching Terenia's body whilst in her human morph.  I would think that tactile contact would be enough.>>

Ossanlin glances at the mechanized Andalite and then back at Claxter.  He starts to speak regarding this Gremytt but then examines the clearing again.  <Warriors, where is the aristh Serid?  Was he injured during the fight?>

[Chad32]

<I'm afraid I haven't been keeping track of Serid, sir. Though I have heard of your intentions of letting the Human join our ranks. We will look for him.>

You remember Serid, don't you? He asked Theta. The one you spoke to outside the Mirage earlier.

There was a chance he had gone into the bar, and Claxter didn't feel like going outside. <I will look outside. Gremyyt, you look inside.> He used normal thoughtspeech to include the others in his idea.

[AmberKatira]

"I'm Ewa," she replied to Salem as she accepted his hand.  It suddenly occurred to her that not many here had offered that human gesture.  Well, perhaps if most people here are Yeerks they don't bother with human niceties.... not that everyone here even looks human.

What Ogreon said lined up with what she could remember of Yeerks in general.  It did not seem this would be a very good place for a human if the population here was mostly Yeerk.  Yet she hadn't been attacked.... but the Sub-Visser had just said that voluntary hosts were scarce.  Maybe it all came down to this place being outside the power of the Yeerk empire--anyone who came here would have to have a host already.  Which begged the question: why stray from their homes?

"Do you know, are most people here trying to hide from the Yeerk empire?"

[Myitt]

Corliss steps into the bar, peering through the dim interior and waiting impatiently for Mike's eyes to adjust after spending so much time outside.

He spots Terenia's Imperial look-alike chatting and drinking with Salem, and his mouth curls into an irritated sneer.  He keeps his Dracon drawn and at his side.

<<Be careful, mate,>> Mike warns.  <<Maybe, somehow, Tamora ain't dead after all.  This place has produced weirder things than a double from the dead.>>

<<I can't imagine who else this would be, seeing as Efaen is standing outside,>> Corliss murmurs as he approaches them.

"Well," he says, looking Zorish up and down.  "I must say it's rather a surprise, seeing you here."

[Terenia]

Zorish looks up in surprise as his conversation with Salem is interrupted abruptly by a complete stranger. Tamora's eyebrows shoot skyward at his tone and body language.

<<Who is he?>> Tamora screeches internally, put off by Corliss' demeanor.

<<I do not know,>> Zorish muses. <<But apparently he knows who I am. Or at least who you are.>> Zorish forces his surprised expression to smooth out into a more congenial one. He reaches behind him, setting his tumbler of Scotch down on the bar and wiping his hands off on the front of his uniform.

"Is it?" he asks mildly, giving Corliss what he hopes is a winning smile. "I am afraid I am somewhat less surprised to see you, seeing as I haven't the faintest idea who you are."


Efaen takes a deep breath through her nose slits, exhaling slowly as she mulls over the implications. <<I will assist you,>> she says at last, sounding slightly smug. <<I believe that this...process...ma y be beneficial to all of us. It would certainly allow me to feel safer within the confines of the rebellion, should I return with them.>>

She glances back towards the bar with her stalk eyes. <<I believe I saw the aristh Serid enter the bar some time ago. I do not know if he is still within it or not.>>

[KitsuneMarie]

Illim follows Corliss in but doesn't go so far as to wander up to the Imperial with him. Rather, he splits off right after entering the doorway. "Maybe just a little snack, huh?" he murmurs to Derrel, his host's hunger starting to agitate him.

He makes his way to the far end of the bar where the bartender meets him, notepad out. "How about a burger?" Illim says, squinting at the shelves behind the silent man. He sets down $5. "Whatever size that'll get for me."

Wordlessly, the bartender turns away, and Illim returns his attention to Corliss, his hand resting casually on the Dracon in his holster.


Serid emerges from the back hallway, his dark, curly hair disheveled from his nap. Spotting Illim instantly, his eyes narrow, but he does not approach his former Yeerk.