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[first_of_steel]

That Mindy girl's alien burgers had turned out pretty good last night, and Roger will remember them in future, but right now his mind was on something else she told him about. She'd mentioned the Sensoriums could simulate just about any environment he could think of, and since he'd found a map to their location on his omnicomm this morning, he figured he'd put that to the test. He'd seen virtual reality training pods before, although as an MP he never really rated using one, so he wasn't sure what to expect.

... the desert north of the Lost Hills bunker where they'd been taking the younger Initiates for training, apparently. An absolutely perfect replica thereof, even down to the scorpions the size of Corvegas.

Huh.

Well, no sense wasting a perfectly good blighted hellscape. They'd pulled him here to fight a war, hadn't they? Might as well start practicing for it.

He pulls his helmet over his head, flips the neck latches shut, and reaches over his shoulder for the supersledge he carries. He'll break out the laserguns later. Right now, for all that he's taken his situation pretty well so far, he really, really wants to hit something.

Comments

[governorkang]

...those were some big scorpions.

Kang eyed them warily, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword, and looked for the imagineer of this particular landscape. He'd started carrying a better weapon than his dagger with him at all times after SHODAN, not wanting to be caught off-guard again; he'd been lucky he'd already been close to his home. Most of his injuries had already healed; the edges of the hole in his wing membrane hadn't quite gotten there yet, though.

Ah, there. They looked new, and he debated leaving, not wanting to interrupt someone clearly venting their frustrations.

[first_of_steel]

Roger's been through the bigger ones already, and now he's whaling on a scorpion that's probably about the size of a high school freshman. The kinetic enhancement devices built into the supersledge's business end are great for that kind of thing. A powerful enough swing turns the hammer's momentum into pure nightmare for what's left of the arachnid; the scorpion's parts go flying, and Roger is left standing over the splattered mess, panting a little.

He eventually realizes he's got company, and raises one hand in slightly embarrassed greeting.

[governorkang]

Waving back, Kang smiled wryly, "Trust me, I understand. I take it you're one of the new people?" He wasn't fazed at all by bits of dead scorpion everywhere.

[first_of_steel]

"Just made it out of the slime pods the other day," Roger answers, nodding. "Interesting place you've got here, sir."

He's pretty sure he saw this fellow in the Omnicom under 'important people you should really know about', so it's best to be polite.

[governorkang]

"The sir isn't really necessary," Kang shrugged, walking closer and kicking at a piece of smashed carapace lightly. "Just call me Kang. And you would be?"

[first_of_steel]

"Force of habit," says Roger. "My name's Roger Maxson. I was a military man back home- it leaves a mark."

[governorkang]

"Really? I was the commander of an engineering regiment for over thirty years," Kang smiled, holding out his hand in greeting.

[first_of_steel]

"MP until twenty years ago," says Roger, reaching out to shake the offered hand. "Commander-in-chief since. The Ohm aren't the first time the end of the world came to town, let's put it like that."

He'll reach up to pop the catches and get his helmet off shortly. Easier to talk without the filters in the way.

[governorkang]

Kang laughed, "That seems to be a pretty common thing with this crew. I'm no stranger to it myself."

[first_of_steel]

"My sympathies," says Roger, and means it. "What happened on your world, if I can ask?"

Yeah, so he's talking to a big reptilian alien with wings. He's okay with that. At least Kang doesn't look like a human gone wrong. He just looks strange. And he's perfectly civilized to talk to, so Roger can handle that.

[governorkang]

"A god broke free of his prison and tried to return the world to nothingness. The other gods and us mortals managed to stop it, but it meant their departure, and the subsequent arrival of huge dragons that took nearly everything over." That was the short version, at least, and only what had happened by his point in the timeline. He knew the Overlords would be dead and the gods would return about forty years down the road thanks to Dalamar and Crucible. "Yours?"

[first_of_steel]

"... well, damn," says Roger, blinking. "Next to that, a plain old planet-wide nuclear war wiping out human civilization doesn't ring quite so many bells any more. Actual gods?"

[governorkang]

Kang nodded, "Yes, actual gods. I wouldn't consider nuclear war plain, either."

[first_of_steel]

"Bad choice of words on my part." Roger shakes his head. "You get the idea, anyway."

[governorkang]

"You're taking the existence of actual gods a bit better than some on this ship do," Kang commented, a little surprised.

[first_of_steel]

"If they really are actual gods, they either haven't got a reason to interact with my world, or they did and they gave it the finger a long time ago," Roger says. "Either way, I'm willing to admit that they exist. So did the planet Jupiter, but it's not as if it made much difference in my life while my world existed."

[governorkang]

Kang smiled, "Sensible. If they did leave your world, be glad for it; gods cause nothing but trouble." He paused. "What about magic? I've had at least one person not believe me even after I cast a spell right in front of him. Though, I suppose with some of the technology on this ship, the particular spell could have been explained that way."

[first_of_steel]

"I can't say I've ever seen anything at home that gave me the impression that magic genuinely existed," Roger says. "On the other hand, I know for a fact that there were experimental programs directed at producing and controlling, or at least proving the use of, psychic powers. If psykers were possible enough for the War Department to sink money into..." He shrugs. "I don't know if there's a difference between psychic abilities and magic, but they both seem like they're in the same general arena to me. And if psykers actually ever existed back home, then there's no reason to expect 'em not to exist here."

[governorkang]

"It depends on the world, I've noticed." Kang eyed a scorpion that was wandering a little too close for his liking, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword.

[first_of_steel]

"Just a moment," said Roger, who'd noticed the motion and what prompted it. He pulled his helmet back on and reached over his shoulder for the squarish rifle he carried. "I don't have to smash everything today."