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GM 95923.87 billions of miles from anything 2 hours after Moon Moth woke up A gamma dragon can grow to the length of an astronomical unit. While made of molten minerals, they are encased in a thick crust of high-density rock and metal that is effectively impervious to most weapons fire. Unfortunately, the one currently outside the Lor science ship To Live Is To Labor was twice the size of a normal dragon. It stretched on and on, seemingly forever from the perspective of the tiny Lanturnian, the bright glare of the ship's lights creating fantastical shadows in the dust around its rocky corpse. It being dead was the good news. He couldn't see them, but Moon-Moth knew a small fleet of refugee-Asshui was stationed at a polite remove from the Lor and their technical officers. They'd come to find the reason the dragon was dead. The reason was a male of the Asshui who had come to this system five dreamful sleeps before Moon-Moth had received the distress call on CoVic Station. The Wanderers of Asshui hadn't come into known space without their own heroes. Moon-Moth had even met some of them, mostly great scholars or poets, people who recorded and studied the lore of the Wanderers and kept the past alive. Draz-Fel had been different. The mysterious enemy the refugees of the Diaspora were fleeing hadn't frightened him, nothing had. While without any powers he'd had a cunning mind and iron will, with the wisdom to know his own weaknesses. The clans who followed Draz had never faced a foe they couldn't at least outwit, and to the hero the gamma dragon wandering into the territory the Asshui claimed had seemed like a spectacular, grand challenge to be faced and not a titanic predator that bathed in stars and needed to be avoided at all costs. But now the monster was dead. It wasn't cold yet, the volcanism of its interior would take a thousand years to die down. But it would never again lash its tail and crack a planet into chunks, never breathe fire vast as a solar flare and hot enough to evaporate a fleet. And thanks to that volcanism finding Draz-Fel with the ship's sensors was nearly impossible. The ground crew of the To Live and some of Draz's closest friends and Asshui medical experts were headed down to find the dragonslayer on foot. "What are you thinking about?" The second in command of the ship, a a tripod with a hard black chitin and small red eyes named Commander Skral, had paused beside him. Their grounding suit was already on, various tools affixed at magnetic points on the uniform. Some were tied on, too. Just in case.

OOC thread for this thread. Moon-Moth ponders what's dead and gone on the corpse of a dragon.

Sstetsson Temporary Camp, Tethron V Tethron System, Sharahazad Sector Tethron V was the biggest colonized planet in its system, and while not their homeworld, the local Geq’s most important planet. A bustling hub of activity, many cities were spread out around the entire planet. And even if some of them were true metropolises, there still was a lot of nature. Thethron V was a nice planet by most standards. Lush, plants and animals wherever one looked. Waterfalls and lagoons, mountain ranges either covered in all sorts of trees, or piercing above the clouds. The further the distance from the centers of population, the more one saw. And yet, when approaching Sstetsson Camp, it was a dark contrast to the beauty of the planet itself. Spaceships of all sizes, from fighters to large cargo ships, all inside the valley. The smaller ones on the outside, to form a perimeter, the larger ones inside, where they served as shelter. Some had set up tents, each of them full of people. Sstetsson Camp had been created shortly after the first news of refugees arriving in Sharahazad Sector had arrived in Tethron. A large group of Asshui settled down on the planet, as a temporary measure. It had only been a few ships at the beginning. But more arrived, and it seemed like it wouldn’t stop. That had been only a few days ago. And already, the conditions inside the camp were dire. The surrounding cities were not equipped to handle the amount of people, and even if the Asshui did their best to help, it was clear that something had to be done. To that end, various diplomatic representatives from all across the galaxy had been invited by Sstetsson, the leader of the original group, and current head of the camp. Amongst the invited were Councillor Ditra Fifty-Five, sent as the first Nameless to ever make contact with the new species, and as one of the Council’s many representatives. Dol-Druth had also been sent. Sharahazad Sector had never been an object of interest before, and with it suddenly becoming the focal point of large parts of the galaxy, it was more important than ever to have somebody right at the scene. And somebody to gather as much information as possible. The Praetorians had also received the news, and had followed it with much attention. While some were currently busy at other ends of the galaxy, the impeding Sharahazad Crisis, as it had been dubbed, became a big priority. As the person with the most proficiency, Sitara had been sent to attend the diplomatic meeting, mainly to observe.

Hangar Bay C, Tethron Commerical Hub Tethron System, Sharahazad Sector The story of the “Sharahazad Crisis” had spread over the galaxy like a wildfire. A massive group of people, all arriving in the sector of otherwise little importance. Looking to buy and sell all sorts of goods. Many people saw that they could profit from the situation. Some saw the fact they could help people at the same time as a good thing, some didn’t care much for anything beyond money. Ak’kar had gotten the news too. And according to some rumours, many of the refugees were interested in buying all sorts of scrap. So he loaded up his ship, and travelled. It had been quite the journey, but upon arriving at Tethron, which served as the entire sector’s main cargo hub, these rumours were confirmed. Before he even arrived at the station itself, he’d already received multiple offers for what he’d been carrying. The Oog’ol, a species who had fled, seemed particularly interested, but some others, some of them merchants themselves, also offered great prices. The Leviathan landed, and as the crew got everything unloaded, Ak’kar was approached by a group of about 50 people. Some of them were Oog’ol, but the majority of them were what Ak’kar could now recognize as Asshui, another of the fleeing species. One spoke for them all, and his Galstandard was lacking. “Large ship. Will pay for bringing us out of system. Different place to stay. Us, and others after. Have money or goods to offer. “

The Gooble, Ordon-Class Freighter Somewhere in Space, travelling towards the Sharahazad Sector The news of “the Sharahazard Crisis” had spread far. So far, in fact, that even on Earth, attentive people could hear about it. Of course, travelling across a large part of known space was no easy task, especially for inhabitants of a planet without any real galactic presence of its own. Still, people with the right connections had ways of getting into space, and from there finding a pilot who was flying towards the Sharahazad sector was as easy as it ever would be. Seemingly every other person had a reason to make the journey. Amongst them was Hugol, a small-scale merchant who had stopped at the largest commercial hub close to Sol. He’d picked up quite a few people who were travelling towards the Sharahazad sector, their reasons as different as their looks. Some of them clearly more experienced than others, some not even able to speak Galstandard. He wondered what they were seeking, but it had already been enough trouble to negotiate the journey, he didn’t feel like asking. Some of them were terrans. Amongst them, Doctor Deoxy, who had heard that some of the refugees offered to trade scientific data, or even let people get data directly from their body, as an exchange for all sorts of goods. Travelling to the same place, but for an entirely different reason, was Professor Peculiar. The news of large-scale refugee movements happening at a different corner of the galaxy had reached him too, and he had a good reason to get a first-hand impression of what was happening.