After a few minutes of dreaded silence, Rockwell drew back from his outward gaze, and his smirk returned. He wheeled about to face the group, and walked over to the console, pressing down on the key with his palm. "You there Elder? I have a few questions to ask... What exactly is your 'Trial'? Are we to prove our Chivalry and Honor? I think it's fair to know what exactly we are to be tested on."
A few moments later, the reply came in, the voice slightly hoarse.
"Very Well Then. You shall be tested upon your Character, your Deeds, and your Valor. I shall test each one of your company individually, and then decide who shall be Knighted, in order to carry on the Legacy of my Order. May I ask, who is it I am speaking with, your voice echoes through me like a wind, and I cannot decipher why."
Rockwell sighed, and let out a chuckle from the recess of his throat, as his smirk broadened into a smile, despite his serious tone and attitude. "I see. I thought as much, I guess I just couldn't believe it. Answer me this, my fellow, Where is it that you hail from? Cambridge? Did you happen to have a Wife there..?"
"Why... Yes. I did. I see the Light has been shone to you, my son. I regret having to wait this long to reunite with you again."
Rockwell tried to hold back his laughter, as well as the couple tears forming in his eyes.
"I understand... It just wasn't in the stars was it..? This changes some things." He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes, "I think we have a bit to discuss. It's been... a while. Tomorrow then. I'll be waiting."
Rocky casually let go of the button, and leaned against the nearest wall, letting his built-up laughter out. "My God. It seems Destiny is pulling me by the leash these days."
"The pen is mightier than the sword." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton. "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword never encountered automatic weapons." -General Douglas MacArthur
Izzy sat back in her fighter, humming a tune to fight the growing boredom. She was offically stuck out hre, no backup, not way to call for help. Sora had stopped by, but the other AIs were busy either helping the Orion or the kids. Izzy shook her head. The blasted comm array was...no, dangit! It wasnt older that Orion, but Orion was busy in the Omicrons, dealing with a Storta battlegroup heading for Gamma. Izzy sighed and kicked up her feet to wait. Might as well, since the three were busy doing god knows what.
"Too bad just landing would probably get me killed."
"Yeah."
Sora hovered in mid-air, twiriling his Keyblades.
"Well, if Orion was here, hacking it would be EASY. Or easier...oh well. Lets just wait. I'd perfer to go home with half a ship then half an escape pod."
Aleski simply stood there, at some distance from the old console but not too far from his "mates". Showing a slightly puzzled face, the Ensign raised his right index finger at shoulder height and let out the burning question he wanted to ask for so long.
"So... how do we know this is even... real?"
As soon as these words came out of his mouth, he started thinking about the vision he had seen just a few minutes ago. "The timing is just so strange... such a strong vision and now this? I'm probably just... tired. There can't be a connection... das ist total wahnsinn. Simply a strange sequence of events. Pull yourself together." His attempt at rationalization reassured him temporarily yet somehow, the young pilot felt very tense.
"Besides, we've come here for a reason, a rather specific one. Do we really have the time for this?"
Sipher, with a renewed spirit and bounce in his step, walked away from the wall with a wide smirk. He was literally oozing excitement, and he was not going to let this offer go by.
"That's a good point Deneth, and one I brought up earlier. If this whole Knighthood thing turns out to be indeed a fraud, then we'd have wasted valuable, and possibly crucial, time. I certainly know how urgent this Operation is for Goodie... Even if he won't admit it." He chuckled as he walked over and patted Goodmen on the shoulder. "I wouldn't want my 'Crusade' from the past hold us up however. If need be... I'm prepared to meet you guys in the Sigma's after this is settled."
"We came out here to find Ashley." Rocky's face suddenly turned serious, his tone as solid and somber as in his darkest moments. He glared into Goodie's eyes as he finished his sentence, "And that's what we intend to do, Right?"
The moment didn't last however, and within a second he was back to his cheery attitude. "I'm going to see if I can find a kitchen or something. I'm pretty Damn Hungry." And with that he walked out of the room, in search of scrumptious sustenance.
"The pen is mightier than the sword." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton. "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword never encountered automatic weapons." -General Douglas MacArthur
Izzy edged her fighter toward the planet. Slowly she decended until the platform came into sight. Finally, she landed the Raven's Talon behind some crap left around, then threw some junk all over it to mask the shape. She quielty ran over to the nearest door and keyed it open.
The alarm went off, echoing throught the platform.
"THere goes the element of surprise...frak."
Izzy climbed in, shucked her suit off, and zipped up her jumpsuit. She unholstered her twin particle magnums and walked slowly.
"Indeed we did come out here to find Ashley." Austin said nodding, in a secondary movement he flicked off the communications terminal. "I don't think we need to listen to that old man right now lads. We have somethings to finish doing around this place before we can actually start our search, and I'd like to be back in the cockpit and out in the fight for once." He finished, glancing over to see Rockwell leaving the room.
"Theres still some more things to discover here, so I guess I'll start looking around randomly as well. Shout whenever the food is done. If theres enough for three." Austin chuckled a bit and headed towards the room Aleski was originally in. He peered over towards the disturbed equipment that Aleski had moved around, and knocked over. A smile appeared on his lips as he remembered back to when he found that abandoned bunker on Leeds. Which, by now was no doubt being used by Military forces as an outpost.
This place is a damn mess, but half of this equipment looks like it can still be used. He thought as he made his way through the clutter over to a desk with some papers on it. "Interesting." He mumbled, staring at a dusty piece of paper. There was a type of flower in the upper left corner, stamped on the paper and in bold letters, Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom By Yuyu Matsuda.
He raised an eyebrow and gently placed his hand on the paper, dusting it off gently to see the smaller font of words. "Really interesting. Wonder what other nonsense we can find here." He muttered looking away from the poem. Beginning to wonder why this platform was abandoned to begin with."Guess that's a mystery for later." He said underneath his breath, turning back towards the poem.
After an Hour or so of tinkering with the dust-ridden remnants of the kitchen, Rocky had finally managed to scrape together a rudimentary meal. Thankfully, the chilled environment and enduring Rheinland machinery had preserved what was left of the stores, otherwise, things might not have gone so well. He called together the gang and served up the dishes of assorted meats and steamed vegetables. Rockwell saw this as a great opportunity to try and get some progress rolling, and didn't wish to let it pass by.
He managed to speak between bites, thankful to have Anything in his stomach. "So Tell me Goodie, what exactly is our plan of action now... I'm not exactly content with just sitting here doing nothing, especially with such time-sensitive 'adventures' in front of us." He smirked, passing a glare towards Goodie for a brief moment, before returning to his food. "After all, I'm sure you'd like to get reunited with Ashley ASAP, and I have a bit of an urgency myself, so, How about we draft up an itinerary?"
"The pen is mightier than the sword." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton. "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword never encountered automatic weapons." -General Douglas MacArthur
While Rockwell and Goodmen were discussing about the current situation, Aleski sat silent, staring emptily at the plate in front of him, poking and moving the food around. The vision he had seen earlier was replaying in his mind, with stunning detail and accuracy. With every loop, the young Ensign would attempt to break down and analyze elements that may have had significant meaning, but the effort at rationalization ended up in futility.
"your task is before you... gather them, and heed the call"... Task... what task? That I'm supposed to gather "something", but what? Also, what call? Maybe someone who means a lot to me is in distress..."
Deneth felt like asking the other two about the vision he had seen. He briefly stopped jerking the food around in his plate, but still staring at it intently. It seemed as if he was gathering the strength to accomplish something.
"No... This is absurd. I was simply tired. When we get to our main task, my focus will be back. Damned imagination."
Izzy leaned against the wall patiently as the men moved food around thier plates. She sighed ver quietly, then felt the pains of hunger. She quickly took out a protein bar and devoured it.
She tucked the wrapper away.
Unfortunately, she bumped one of her knives, sending it out and into the kitchem, where it bounced and embedded itself into the wall behind Goodman.
"Crap...this already is looking great...Ellie is never going to let me forget this."
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