Very glad you've started your own story, DJ. And since you are unstoppable, I assume that it will be continuing regularly. Most excellent.

I made some alterations to the story since you read it last, so you may want to read it again.

Yay for another story!!  I shall be following eagerly.

It's 'cause we know so much about them, and they're easy to understand.

I am rather impressed by Tark,  and he scares me..

Tark rocks. Can I pet him??

somehow I don't think he'd appreciate being petted very much. Now stroking, on the other hand, might be a different matter altogether.

come on now! come on.. you can do it.. *is talking like she does to her cat* 

KEEP WRITING D.J!  MORE MORE!

 

Hopefull, impatient, encouraging,

~Bree

well i have been led to believe...

I think I need to redo the first part in order to make this work right, so bear with me and read through the beginning again in a bit if you would. I will try to work on it soon.

:)

I have edited the two beginning posts, so in order to be understanding later posts I suggest that you read those two again.

Solar System sized problems ... hmm.  I can't wait to find out what those might be!!

The Nrivhan sat quietly in the docking bay of one of the many Yaglu home planets awaiting further orders. She was due to remain there for quite some time just then, because the Yaglu captain had some friends in high enough places that he could get away with a bit of extra “resting time” between voyages. Everyone on the vessel knew that his so called “resting time” would be more accurately termed “party time”, but no one complained. This was mostly, because they had extra time to fritter away the wages earned during the most recent voyage.

On board the Nrivhan a skeleton crew stayed on duty to keep the ship ready in case an unexpected order came. The skeleton crew changed every four days to allow all of the crew members’ time on the surface of the planet. The crew knew from experience that they didn’t really need to do much to make it look like the vessel was ready to leave at a moment’s notice and there was really no point in doing more, as the captain was never sent away before his “rest period” was over. The result of Frederick's visit to the captain’s quarters the other night had turned out to be a very detailed summary of his duties as the highest ranking officer on board. He listened carefully filing away all of the information in his head for later reference.

Later, on the second day of Frederick's command as leader of the skeleton crew, the first mate completed all of his immediate duties and then tried to get the rest of the crew to actually do their jobs. He was amazed at their complete lack of respect for him. The Captain would hear of this when he got back. Frederick found that no one really took him seriously when the captain wasn’t around to back him up. Even on the one instance when he had threatened some crew members with his saber the most he got in return were some black looks. Some of them at least put on a show of obeying, but as a group the crew still on board lounged around mostly, often instead of working, they played a raucous game involving tiles commonly called hoesu. Frederick von Paughnel tried to be stern, but his resolve weakened very quickly once he saw how little the crew minded him. Though he did continue on with his own duties the best he was able, his admonitions and entreaties came less and less often, until all he did was wander around morosely, checking on different groups of crew members.

He was drawn to a group just beginning a round of hoesu. Hoesu was a game that involved little skill. Mostly it required brute strength, quick reflexes and a whole lot of luck. It started when all the participants were each given 10 weighted tiles, one for each of the fingers on one hand of a Yaglu. Each tile had a symbol on it that represented an object. Each tile also had a hole through the center of it for the fingers of the hand to poke through. On a typical Yaglu a good set of tiles slid down to a little over half way down the fingers. The sets that were most common, being the cheapest, had more variation in the size of the holes. After each player had placed the tiles over his or her fingers, a round of betting commenced. The players bet on being the first being to get the tiles off their fingers and onto the base pile. The betting stage could get rather violent and that was even before the real fun began. The final stage before it got out of control was when a dice was passed around and rolled until two players were deemed to have rolled the lowest number more than anyone else. Those two then commenced a wrestling match, the victor deciding whether to be the starter or the judge. The starter was the one who placed the first tile called the base tile, that all the rest of the players could then play on. It was not simply speed that counted though there were rules, of a sort.

Rule #1. A player may not lay down a tile without that tile corresponding in some way to the tile before it. If this is done then the player must pick it back up and draw another tile.

Rule #2. A player may not intentionally, severely maim any other player during the play of the tiles. If this is done then the player charged with the offense must draw an additional two tiles.

Rule#3. A player may not ever have more than ten tiles in his/her possession at one time. If a player, after drawing his/her obligatory tiles has more than ten in his/her possession, that player is disqualified.

Rule#4. The Judge decides if the played tile corresponds to the preceding tile. That tile then stays and becomes the new base tile.

Rule#5. No player may punch the judge in the face.

Rule #6. No player may break the fingers of the judge.

Rule#7. No player may yank out the hair of the judge.

Rule#8. If and when somebeing breaks any two of the rules #5/7 the judge has full authority to decide what is to be done with the culprit.

A group of about a dozen Yaglu, were busily engaged in the beginning preparations for the next game of hoesu. Frederick had by this time completely given up on trying to convince the crew to attend to their duties and so he decided to sit and watch as he had nothing better to do.

The die roll had come down to the last two contestants and the rest of the crowd stepped back to give them room to spar. The two beings stared at each other as they lowered their respective centers of gravity. The match was definitely in favor of the one known as Tyo as he was quite a bit bulkier than his opponent. The other seemed very unsure and nervous as he readied himself for the coming battle. Some of the more amiable Yaglu started encouraging him on in their deep staccato voices. “Come on Pawn, you can take him.” But even to their own ears, their optimism sounded hollow.

It finally dawned on Frederick what was going on. He hadn’t even meant to get involved he had just tossed the die aside whenever someone had handed it to him. Apparently he had rolled very low rolls each time. He sputtered wildly and started to say something, when Tyo suddenly took a few back handed swipes at him. The first one glance off Frederick’s chin as he danced away by turns pleading and ordering Tyo to stop and leave him be. A few started to laugh at Frederick’s helplessness. Then they started to jeer and mock him concerning the orders he had been trying to give them earlier. Frederick suddenly drew his sword and held it at arms length between him and Tyo. In an instant the crowd grew silent. The tension grew as Frederick continued to simply stay out of Tyo’s reach. The crowd started to grow restless.

“You don’t have a chance!” Some being shouted. Then came the words that Frederick dreaded. “Take him Tyo!” With a snarl Tyo launched himself at Frederick. As he came he knocked the already wavering sword aside. Caught by surprise at the speed with which Tyo covered the distance, Frederick only managed to dodge the first blow. The two that followed were enough to bring him down. His sword skittered away beyond his grasp as he held his abdomen where the last punch had landed. In an instant Tyo was standing over him.

“I give up! I give up!” Frederick frantically crab-walked backwards practically screaming the words.

Tyo’s only answer was to crouch down and jump high into the air. Frederick’s eyes widened in terror.

“No” he whispered hoarsely. He scrambled to his feet as fast as he could, but his legs, following the example of everything and everyone else, refused to do as they were commanded. He had just managed to roll over onto his stomach and start to crawl, before he felt pain explode in his left upper back, where a knee had landed with all of Tyo’s momentum and weight behind it. Frederick felt something crack and bit down on his tongue to keep from crying out. He felt Tyo’s weight leave him jarring his left shoulder socket once more. He wanted to curl up and die right then and there. The crowd start to mock him once more. He hid his head in shame.

What came next changed Frederick's life monumentally and he would remember it for a long time to come. He sensed that Tyo was bending down over him. Then he heard Tyo’s voice.

“You won’t be needing this anymore I think.” Frederick heard the distinct snap of metal being broken and winced as the broken remnants of his sword rained down on his prone form. Tyo snorted in disgust at Frederick’s pitiful whimpering and straightened up.

Suddenly a wet blob of mucus impacted with the base of Frederick's neck. He suddenly felt anger rising up out of the pain.

“I spit on you like the trash you are! No one here will take orders from you anymore.” Then Tyo stood upright with something in his hands.


Anger like he had never known before grew inside of him. He saw through his tears that Tyo had turned his back on him. Then Tyo started to laugh. Frederick had had enough. The first mate knew that what Tyo said was true. If he gave in to Tyo, none of the crew would ever respect him again. His captain would see the crew not following Frederick’s orders and attribute it to Frederick’s sadly lacking leading capabilities. Frederick would not last long as an officer after that. Using the anger to fuel his resolve, he gathered all his reserves and slowly staggered to his feet.

“I’m not done yet Tyo” he said in his high pitched voice. Come here and let’s finish this, if you think you can.

Tyo turned back around from laughing with a few of his buddies. He looked incredulously at Frederick at first, then his features transformed, quickly becoming ugly with rage. He realized that Frederick had spoiled his victory by not staying down. Tyo meant to fix that.

“You want to die?” he asked ominously. “Fine.”

Frederick gulped nervously, but cleared his mind and stayed calm as he prepared himself for the oncoming bullet that was Tyo.

who's freddie? you must be mistaken...
Oh, you mean FREDERICK?

I don't know... I understand how you could see it that way, but I just don't know...

ok... but I'm not sure that I can, in good conscience, put that into the story.

Hey, still waiting for some more stellar story here...

Well, so much for *now*!

Waiting Anemone

:O

I am not entirely happy with what I have written so far... I think I will have to start over and make it flow better. Hopefully more story content and less boring descriptions. :P As it stands I am not able to continue, but I'll see what I can do.

Thank you for your real simulated patience. :P

Yeah, I know. I just need to practice a bit first I think and figure out how to make a more complete scene without having to write out so many details. I've got some ideas, but I'm not ready to continue here. Maybe I'll be back after a bit.

Thanks though! The encouragement is appreciated.

D.J.

Working on it! Really I am!

*claps* Bravo, bravo!