Landing wrote:Team Alpha,
My mate and I have landed on planet 8276-VDKY. It seems to be mostly jungle here - but it's quiet and peaceful and I quite like it. Food is plentiful, especially with the rations we brought on the ship. Our studies will continue
-- Marie Trip
Day III wrote: 8276-VDKY seems to house some...very interesting creatures. Marie and I saw a spider as large as your paw the other day - spinning a glowing web. It could hold a sentient conversation with us and is no threat - except to the bugs. I encountered a large plant that spoke - it tried to get me close enough to eat. A carnivorous plant. Who would've thought. There are also some strange birds that are actually pretty delicious. They are stocky and white with slender orange legs and blunt black talons. They have blue eyes and soft feathers - good for decorating our nests. No further investigations have been made.
--- Vlad Shot
Day X wrote:Team Alpha,
Sorry for the long absence! Me and Vlad spent it building a small hut. Planet 8276-VDKY - you know what, I can't keep calling it that. Me and Vlad have taken to calling it Vadeky. Vadeky has offered us wonderful hospitality - most of the creatures here are kind or willing to stay out of you business. Most predators only mess with you if they are starving or you mess with them. Anyways, me and Vlad have a hospitality request. May we gain one?
Thank you!-- Marie Trip
On 8276-VDKY Hospitality Request wrote:D e a r M a r i e A n d V l a d ,
R equesting y our p lanet 8276-VDKY h ospitality r equest, T eam A lpha and B eta h ave decided t hat h ospitality
w ill be g ranted. Y ou two w ill b e g ranted o ne y ear on p lanet 8276-VDKY. A nother h ospitality r equest m ust be m ade
afterwards as l ong a s w eekly r eports on t he p lanet a re provided.
B est w ishes - - T eam Alpha, B eta, G amma, and D elta HQ
Day XX wrote:Team Alpha,
This week has gone by without much contact with anything. Void report.
-- Marie Trip
Week XXX Check In wrote:D e a r M a r i e A nd V lad
Team A lpha w ould l ike to c heck i n w ith you t wo f or W eek XXX - no r eport h as a rrived y et. If no r esponse is
r ecieved, T eams A lpha a nd Gamma w ill each send a s hip f or plante 8276-VDKY
C oncerened - - T eam HQ
Week XXXX Check In wrote:D e a r Ma r i e A n d V l ad
Team A lpha w ould l ike to c heck i n w ith you t wo f or W eek XXXX - no r eport h as arrived y et. If n o r esponse i s
recieved, T eams A lpha a nd Gamma w ill b e f orced to a dmit d efeat, a nd t hat y ou are d ead. S hips f ound nothing.
R esigned - - Team HQ
Death Report wrote:D ear Marie and Vlad
Teams A lpha, Beta, G amma, a nd D elta are f orced to admit d efeat, and t hat you a re d ead if there is n o r esponse to this note.
- - Team HQ
E D I T: N o r esponse r ecieved. Death reported t o f amily and l ogged into computers.
Anne shuffled through the ancient manuscripts, making sure her sharp claws didn't pierce the aged paper. She looked over her shoulder at
Stardust, face wrinkled in disgust. 'zo you just assumed my parents were
dead?"
Stardust, who was sitting in the air, held up his fore-paws innocently. "Don't blame me. I wasn't alive then."
Anne sighed and caressed the pictures of her parents faces that had come with the death report. "Say, what happened to them?" asked Stardust, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice. Anne tensed, but she knew she had to answer this question eventually.
"Well, I was born on Planet 8276-VDKY, but we called it Planet Vadeky. We had a pet spider - or really, a friend I guess. Her name was Spree, and she was like a second mother to me and a constant source of information. I remember, when I was just hatched, my parents were worried. They had received no letters from Teams Alpha, Beta, Gamma, or Delta, and they assumed their updates weren't interesting enough."
Anne let out a rye laugh. "Turns out the teams never received the updates."
Stardust gave an embarrassed smile. Anne continued.
"I was about 1 when they sent out a letter asking to go back to Team HQ - they wanted me to grow up somewhere other than a remote planet. But - lucky me - Team HQ never responded or sent a ship. That's when my parents got worried. My mom - her name was Marie Trip, as I'm sure you know - went out looking for the ship, worrying the Alpha Team got the wrong coordinates. A week passed and she didn't return. Then we got worried. My dad and I went looking for her and found her dead. She looked peaceful - eyes closed and a smile on her face - and we knew she wasn't killed by an animal - she must have been poisoned unknowingly. I was to young to understand what had happened until then."
Anne pushed back the stinging behind her eyes. She couldn't show weakness in front of anybody - Jem had taught her to hide it years ago.
"After the task was said and done, my father put his paws on my shoulders and whispered 'You're no longer Anne Shot, your Anne Tripshot - after your mother and I.' And then - as if nothing had happened - we set out to find some form of life, hopefully a boa. I lost my father the day I met Her. He fell into a river when I slipped - he laid down his life for me."
Anne could feel her voice softening now, the tears were barely supressed.
You'll see her again. You'll see him again. You must wait. Jem's words rang in Anne's ears again and the two-tailed boa pushed herself up.
"I was crying by the riverside when a boa - or a boa so strange it looked like a creature - came up to me. She had no eyes, instead a huge flytrap for a head - she spoke without opening her mouth, straight into my head - leaves and berries and branches decorated her and, despite what you may think, she was beautiful. She wrapped her viny tail around me and whispered 'You'll see her again. You'll see him again. You must wait, but your time will come and I will deliver you safely.' I didn't know what that meant at the time - but now I do. I will die someday, see them in the Otherverse, and Jem, the boa I told you about - was a god - and she would see to it that I found them. Why did she choose to train me? I dunno. Yes I am onto a new topic. It was about 3 days after my father died, and Jem started training me to be brave, smart, witty, evasive, control my feelings, etc. It was on a day like that that the ship landed. Jem was training me in fighting and a loud crash nearby caught our attention. Caution forgotten I ran towards the noise, and Jem followed. We found a ship and 3 boas in protective gear disembarking. They saw us - freaked out - and called Team HQ. They asked who we were, and Jem answered simply 'Someone who does not wish to enter the Space Realm' and vanished. I told them my story, which made them freak out more - Marie Trip and Vlad Shot had been
alive? And had a child? I remember laughing, clear as day, and they took me back onto the ship, to Team HQ, away from Vadeky and death and Jem. I was sad about the last part."
Anne paused for breath and she could see Stardust's wide eyes. "And here you are." He murmured. "But there's more, isn't there?"
Anne flicked a tail in confirmation. "I was raised by Malorie Vri until young adulthood then I stole a ship and traveled the galaxy. I could tell you every detail, but that would take days - all in all, I had my tail mutated into two of them, had a bucketload of gems stlen from me, stole them back, set fire to my ship which was being tracked, stole a new ship, and eventually got caught by you. So now here we are."
Anne sat back on her haunches, the manuscripts in front of here, forearms crossed. "Happy?"
Stardust just sat there with a calm expression on his face. "Hardly."