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**Sombs** · 01-09-2018, 02:25 AM,

December 18th, 824 - Omicron Kappa

A topic that made him sigh, knowing he would need to explain it a bit more than just giving a short response to that. The movement of the Wraith surprised him as well, and Ezrael took his time to take a look at the battlefield. Leaning forward, he took a deep breath. "I love Maren, despite all her flaws. And I do think she loves me, despite my inability to give up on my promiscuity. We learned to accept each others flaws, and I think the occassional distance between us is helping sometimes. Although I must admit there are times when I think it is too much distance." Looking at his side of the battlefield, he put his head lopsided. There was obviously much going on in his head, hinted by an awkward pause he made before talking again. "Believe it or not, I actually try to avoid combat and dangers at all cost. Sadly, here and there I need to take a leap of faith. My ship and my crew, the drones we use, we are on a constant search for treasures similar to the Bustard we found. Money doesn't grow on trees, and even with me being a billionaire, I keep an eye on my bilances. The Apahanta ate up more than three billion credits so far, and maintenance, crew and upgrades will continuously eat more money. I made enough investments to cover that. I am, for example, silent investor in two growing companies that by now generate a few millions per month. I'm always looking for more ways to make more money until the situation allows me to sell the Apahanta again. Simply because that is what I try for a long time now."

Leaning back again, he looked to the side for a moment, realizing a robot already had brought the drinks he ordered. James had his milk - real, fresh milk - and Ezrael a bottle and a glass of fruity, sweet red wine. Taking the glass, he lead it up to his lips, taking a sip while looking at James. It didn't surprise him that he was a nice conversation partner, and certainly he had something trustworthy about him. Yet he wondered how much he could tell him, as he was connected to the PRIME. Putting the glass away again, Ezrael picked up one holographic snub and moved it to the Donau. "I don't seek out the danger. It's a mere coincidence, really. All I try is to maintain crew and ship while meeting new people, keeping friendships and contacts alive and somehow prevent my relationship from breaking apart. So far it works. Any of the situations where I almost died was more of an investition than some unthoughtful action. I showed my solidarity with the Zoners by defending Port Carthage, as I sort of owed it to them. The Zoners were the group that took care of the Apahanta. All thanks to Finn McCool. A lucky coincidence of the Port Carthage defense was that the Core and I started to get neutral with each other again. One enemy less, it seems. The two other times were of similar nature. The accident on the Apahanta was a failed test which ended up in removing a flaw in the Apahanta's upgraded cloaking system. Something that will allow us to get to any point in space without getting noticed. And the Bustard we found allowed us another nice upgrade for the Apahanta." He smirked at James, pointing at his Donau. "Your cruiser will be destroyed with my next turn."

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PKPower · (This post was last modified: 01-10-2018, 10:57 PM by PKPower.)

James' eyes widened a little at Ezraels bold claim. Throughout the game he had been very focused to keep as many backdoors open as possible and maybe have the game last a little longer in the process. He enjoyed both the game and Ezrael's company and maybe this little get-together had the potential to help James to a few more relevant informations.

"Ya know, economy is nice and all, but in my oppinion there is nothing greater than creating something. Why even start getting involved with currency, when ya can provide everything for yourself? When the Canaan Project was initiated we had pretty much nothing, apart from the few ships and supplies of our expedition. The PRIME AI just barely learned how to accomodate humans long-term. Myself and a few other scientists that were part of the initial expedition had a long discussion about how to survive in our current state. We agreed that we would need Money for some rare occasions, but that we would sustain ourselves completely in any other way. All larger ships have plantations to grow food for nutrition. All our ships' engines are based on an AI design that does not require fuel that is stored in the ship and if we need any other commodity we go on expeditions to acquire them. Ya could say, we are some sort of Zoner-purists. I could go into more details of how - for example the logistics of living like that are organized, but I don't want this to get too one-sided. "

James smiled, before turning his attention back towards the hologram above.

"As much as I would like to exchange my Donau for yer Pleco, I think I'll hang on to it for just a little bit longer. Pawn D5. Pawn takes Pawn."

**Sombs** · 01-09-2018, 11:02 PM,

December 18th, 824 - Omicron Kappa

The move was instantly followed by a grimace of Ezrael. "I didn't see the Wraith. Damn," he sounded with a smirk. "I guess it is in your favor that chess doesn't follow the actual physics and tactics of space combat. Imagine that would be like that. All the snubs would swarm the cruisers first, then the gunboats, then the battleships. And then they would fight what is left. Pleco takes Wraith, D5."

Leaning back again, he looked up above them, where the Pleco was actually fighting the Wraith, downing it with a Razor. "You know, to a certain degree we do that as well. Since we only have around twenty people on this ship, and around fourhoundred Kishiro Service Robots, we opened up some crew quarters to extend the hydroponics. We have our own plants here, most from Curacao, some from Canaria, and we have our very own apple tree on this ship. They had to cut holes from the vehicle bay down to the hydroponics and merge one room with the rooms above it on the other decks, but in the end, we got a nice little garden here on the ship, with one mature apple tree. It's lovely, and it does good to the crew."

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PKPower · (This post was last modified: 01-10-2018, 10:56 PM by PKPower.)

James nodded in something that might have been approval.

"Pretty nice, but you're comparing a garden to a greenhouse. One is built to keep the morale of your crew high through growing food that provides vitamins and look good, the other one is optimized to have the highest possible output and reproduction. It's also split into modules that we can move around the ship freely. But enough about that. What I'm curious about is where ya will go from here. I mean ya have made some powerful friends all over the Omicrons and discovered things across the omicrons that writers of adventure novels could only dream about. And as mentioned by ya earlier money hasn't been an issue to begin with. Bishop D5. Donau takes Pleco."

James looked back up to watch Ezrael's expression while the Donau cruiser blew up the Pleco with two light mortars and to await his answer to James question.

**Sombs** · 01-10-2018, 01:02 AM,

December 18th, 824 - Omicron Kappa

Massaging his upper lip's cupid's bow with two fingers, Ezrael looked at the battlefield. "Oh damn, I mixed up the King and the Queen when I made the last move." It was followed by an embarassed sigh before Ezrael leaned forward again. "I should have taken a look at the figures first. You probably have an easier time keeping an overview over all objects on the field."

An audible breath after a short moment of thinking. "So much for my gunboats. Pawn to F6." And with that, a Marlin moved away from the line of defense, approaching the Rheinland fleet. His upper front teeth were slightly grinding the lower lip for a moment, knowing James' next move was the removal of the second Pleco. He had no other option. "I really don't know where to go from here. People often expect me to have a masterplan, but Sirius turns out to be a place of so many variables, all I can do is flow with the streams and hope the losses can be made up with some wins. After all, this is a string leading through my entire life. I have lost very often. Especially in the last two years. The losses significantly decreased the options I had to choose from. Enemies have been made. I will try to maintain neutrality towards everything. Defending myself from the enemies I have. More important to me is the ability to bail out. The Apahanta allows me to do so, to a certain degree. Planets aren't safe, stations aren't safe. The Apahanta is, thanks to all things I have done to ensure it."

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PKPower · (This post was last modified: 01-10-2018, 10:55 PM by PKPower.)

James tapped the side of his head before taking a sip of his milk.

"I don't know, I usually think about the Omicrons like an enviroment I don't enjoy being in because of all its dangers, but it's all I know really. How is it for someone like ya, who grew up outside the Omicrons? When ye're talking about selling the Apahanta eventually will this be the end of yer adventures in the Omicrons, or did ya lay yer eyes on another vessel? "

He looked back at the board and leaned back in his seat, contemplating his next move.

"Knight A3."

**Sombs** · 01-10-2018, 08:46 AM,

December 18th, 824 - Omicron Kappa

Surprised about James not taking the Pleco, Ezrael stared at the board to try and figure out what could have been more important than taking away one of the most dangerous figures in the game. "I used to have good experiences with my good old Corvo. Sadly the Hoffnungsschimmer was stolen. A good ship, lived many years on it on Curacao. It had all kinds of OSC upgrades, nice interior, mobile. Pretty good party ship, really." And then Maren came and turned it into a nomad vessel, he thought. He hated it. His home destroyed by the girl he loved, and her damn incubus. "Buying a new one is obviously no problem. The timing is all that matters. Right now, I'm in the possession of one of the most survivable ships of Sirius. I could turn it into a home ship for me, my friends and my crew, to make use of the biggest investition of my life, and nobody could harm me anymore. We could just disappear. Knight B4."

The Pleco moved out of the Donau's range and Ezrael grabbed his glass of wine again, looking at the movement while taking a sip. Placing it back, his usual smirk returned, directed at the chessboard. "I used to think house space is more safe than the Edge Worlds, James, but even with OSC having a certain diplomacy with Gallia, they are in Cortez now. With a god damn battlegroup. From Magellan. Gallia is in Bretonia, in the Taus, in the upper parts of Kusari, in the independent worlds and for a few months now, even in Liberty. Not even Cortez is really safe. And when you don't have to deal with the frogs, it's pirates and terrorists. I love Curacao, but I doubt the forces that claimed to protect the Cortez system, can show Gallia the way out. Bretonia is about to lose, Liberty started to lose ground in California since Magellan fell, the Hellfire Legion doesn't seem to be interested in using their assets against Gallia and Crayter is only so much of a serious faction when it comes to combat strength. Rogues and Lane Hackers wouldn't lay a finger on a gallic warship, probably. I really only can hope Gallia doesn't waste resources on a bombardement."

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PKPower · 01-10-2018, 08:17 PM,

As the game grew more and more tense, James casually started biting the nail of his index finger.

"Yeah, I heard about what's going on in house space with Gallia. Not to be insensitive, but I'm just curious about how the situation will develop. Neither me, nor any of my people are particularely attached to house space. Overcrowded areas like that are home to loads of strange behavioral patterns that have been considered mental illnesses just a few decades ago. In return things that were ok to say and alright to do a few decades ago are now fowned upon and even outlawed. This could just be just the natural progression of the general society. I like to interpret at least part of that development as this society heading straight towards it's doom."

James resumed biting his finger nail.

"So where do I go from here... Bishop E4."

**Sombs** · 01-10-2018, 08:53 PM,

December 18th, 824 - Omicron Kappa

"Society is dooming itself for thousands of years now," Ezrael commented, having heard this kind of intellectual naysaying quite often, especially from hermits. "Yet you are not wrong. There was an unhealthy amount of planetary bombardements, wars and civil wars in the last twenty years without any indication of it stopping. One would think things would at some point, but with current technologies allowing pilots to survive space battles even when their ships get destroyed, just to return to battle after a quick check in the medical, there is no cooldown. No common sense, no regret, no de-escalation. Best example is the Order, really. They lost quite a number of ships during their attacks on Port Carthage, but apparently the station was so important to take out that they can just afford it. The Apahanta required weeks to have the repairs finished." For a moment, he smirked awkwardly, before making a move. "Pawn to F5."

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PKPower · 01-10-2018, 10:54 PM,

Despite James biting his fingernail for the past couple of rounds it didn't seem to get any shorter.

"I mean sure, humanity survived up until now and continues to do so, but what I'm wondering when it will hit the next wall and require drastic changes to survive. I mean neural cybernetic enhancements could help people to see everything from the same objective perspective. Of course people will either - like ya - refuse the cybernetics because they don't see the need or because they fear for their individuality. After all that is what makes humans human, right? ;Seeing the world in your own subjective way, based on yer past experiences. But what if those past experiences make ya judge a situation differently - might even put your experiences above general ethics and make a decision that is just objectively wrong?"

James turned his attention away from the board and looked directly at Ezrael.

"I've got a thought experiment for ya: What if all leading forces in Sirius decided that, because of all of their past experiences, human sacrifices are acceptable again? Of course this would not be a sudden change, but rather a topic that was worked towards for some time. The general population would be desensitized towards it and would not need to be convinced much to just accept it. There would be a small group of people who think differently, but since they are the minority nobody would listen to them. I know that this whole situation is highly unlikely, but stay with me. Would the fact that this is seemingly the natural progression of society just make it ok?"

He slowly leaned back in his chair and took another sip from his milk.

"I certainly think that there are some core values that need to be protected and that there are some societal patterns that are just objectively wrong."

James lowered his gaze and once more focused on the game of chess.

"Looks like it's time for my Donau to go. Pawn D4."

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