OOG: This thread is for in-character conversations that are aside from the main gameplay.

Brent asks Joxe; "What brought on this war after all?  We've lost any knowledge of what was going on."

Three days into jump, late in the morning, Brent finds Joxe inspecting the low berth she had recently used. It appeared that half of the mechanism was arranged on the cargo bay floor.

Brent asks Joxe; "What brought on this war after all?  We've lost any knowledge of what was going on."

Joxe stands and stretches. "I think I need something to snack on while I consider that. Buy a girl a drink, spacer?" She grins at him.

Brent admires Joxe's form as she stands, sitting leaning back with a look of open admiration on his face as he traces her form.  "Sure," he rises and looks her over again.  "Let's go get that drink."  He takes her hand and leads her to the galley which is deserted as it's well into the mid-watch.  "Have a seat," he pulls out a chair for her and then goes over to the vending unit and programs two beers.  They're not the best but are cold and strong with a high alcohol content.

Handing Joxe a beer Brent sits down next to her, his hand resting possessively on her knee.  "When we get to a live place with a bar and restaurant I'll wine and dine you properly."

Joxe grins and allows him to escort her to the galley. She accepts the beer with a nod, and covers his hand with hers as Brent settles in next to her. She takes a pull on her beer, and then sets the glass on her leg. She takes a breath, and begins to speak.

"We ran the main coreward from Montezuma, and then turned more trailward from Egg to Possin. It was a good run, and it made us a fair bit of credits, especially at this end of the line. The systems out here are, were, smaller and off the jump route, so they appreciated any ship that would stop in on anything like a regular basis."

"Now, at the coreward end, the systems were bigger, with Gorky having the only naval base on the main. Well, the trailward branch also had the base at Keipes, too. We didn't get out that way, since there was trouble with the systems around the base."

Brent drinks his beer and then pushes over a bowl of pretzels to Joxe.  "So with the war and destruction do you think any of those smaller systems are still inhabited?  On Egg we barely maintained our technology.  Had we lost it we would have all been dead long ago.  Even here I don't see signs of people."

"The more heavily populated systems are trail-coreward of us. Most of the worlds would have needed advanced tech just to survive, although some planets were able to support people without life support equipment, like Khesanadu."

"The thing is, most planets just had a starport of some kind, and maybe a town or city around it. They would move out from more populated planets, just so they didn't have to be crowded into big cities. Local manufacturing was spotty, with only a few places having actual shipyards. We did a lot of business carrying parts and supplies to keep the Imperial tech running."

Brent shook his head.  "We're going to find a lot of graveyard worlds.  250 years is a long time to shoestring life support tech when you lack a real population and industrial base." He sighed.  "So what started this war?  None of us still remember."

"I think we still have some news feeds in the computer. I haven't checked, but they should still be there. From what I remember, when the Emperor and his whole family was assassinated, the Imperium broke into factions headed by the dukes and grand dukes. Of course, they each wanted to assume the Imperial throne, and then things went to hell."

"We heard about huge battles and planets being wiped, and then it started happening here." She shook her head and sighed. "Brent, they just all went *mad*. Somebody, I don't know who, rolled into Promise and Exeter, and just wiped them out. They did the same thing to Gorky, and took out the fleet base there. Over six billion people, just gone."

She drained half her beer glass in one pull. "Then, ships from another fleet arrived. These were all Imperial battle units, so I have no idea which duke they belonged to, but they just tore into the others. We ran like hell, and hid when we had to. The last time I saw my home, everyone was pulling out in anything that was jump capable."

Brent shook his head, disgusted and awed at the same time by the destruction.  "And so bad that after 250 years things still have not recovered, at least not around here.  They must have done so much destruction that everything fell apart."  He took her hand; "I'm sorry that you lost so much."

Joxe gripped his hand. "My homeworld, Posnan, is one jump ahead. Without Imperial tech, no one could have survived. Maybe we will find something when we get to Khesanadu."

Brent squeezed her hand in sympathy.  "I'm sorry Joxe.  I can just imagine what might have happened in Egg.  Do you even want to jump into Posnan?"

"We need to refuel there." She sits quietly for a moment. "Yeah, I'd like to go back." Joxe looks at Brent. "I need to go for my family."

Brent is silent as well.  He maintains his grip on her hand. "We'll do whatever you need Joxe."

"Thank you." Joxe gently shakes his hand. "You've all been better than I could have hoped for, considering that this ship would have made you heroes at home if you'd turned it, and me, over to your government."

"And you," she smiles and meets his gaze. "Give me a little time; let me visit my home and bury my dead, and then we will see what happens." She blinks and dabs at her eyes with her free hand.

Brent shook his head. "Well, we couldn't have done that.  It wouldn't have been right.  And..." he shrugged a bit. "We'd been fingered as mutineers by our previous captain once she bugged out."  Brent gave her an awkward hug, more in sympathy than anything else.  "It's a big adjustment, just let it all work itself out.  We'll enjoy learning about the new worlds with you."

"Thank you." She gently disengages her hand and stands up. "I need to go rest for a while. We will talk more." She smiles at him as her eyes brim with tears. "But later." With that, she turns and goes into her stateroom, closing the door behind her.

Brent lingers for a moment but respects her quiet.