Pat my raptor and untie the bola, after putting my sword away.
You successfully retrieve your bola. It looks like the Raptor is going to be lying here a while.
Hold on tight and allow the panicking raptor to tire itself out.
It continues its tailspin for several moments before apparent becoming dizzy and running forward drunkenly. This is no less dangerous as its path crashes into multiple low lying branches and a bush, none of which manage to dislodge you. Having regained some of its sense it returns to straight up bucking, leaping many feet into the air despite the load on its back. When that fails it simply runs and runs and runs as fast as it can manage hoping to finally be rid of you. Its running becomes slower and slower until it finally collapses.
Before long the chief arrives with his mount.
"Both of you managed to break a Raptor? The Emperor must be fond of you. I thought we'd get one between the two of you if you where lucky. Staying on one of those things isn't easy."
He remains at a safe distance, not getting too close to your new pets. He opens one of his dino's packs and throws a brightly colored flackgrass collar to each of you. He follows up with a flackgrass rope.
"They'll tolerate the two of you now but they'll still be hostile to anyone else who gets close. We'll keep them on a nice sturdy rope tied to my Dino so they don't get into any trouble while we bring them to the ranch. Those warning colors will keep anyone from getting too close, just to keep curious hands from getting bitten off."
"We shall talk later then. Having been asked to solve this peacefully, I will take sides as a last effort. If or when that happens, I hope we can have productive talks, Trader Rouri."
With his conversation with the Trader done, he moves on to the next matter: some honest talk with the Governor. ++I'll preface this with the obvious disclaimer that in case it happens to be a private matter then you need not mention it, but the reason I have contacted with you a private line is because I want to keep this conversation limited at most to me and my First Officer, Governor-General.++
++Now, since this might interfere in the mediation effort, is anyone from your family involved in the current events?++ Polite but direct. At least Fasilides is far easier to talk to than his fellow Traders.
Whether the Governor gives me a reply or refuses to, wait for the raptor corpse-clone to be readied while taking some Tactica classes at the local academy.
I guess I failed to mention we were going back to the ship, I kind of assumed but I keep forgetting people can't read my mind apparently. Welp. So yeah, bad to the Ark it is.
"What were you calling about this whole time then?"
****
++Aside from myself, I presume? Hmm. My wife and children where present for the hunt, as where our beloved dinos. My children have taken it upon themselves to extend their hunt in search of a suitable replacement trophy. My extended family are not among those at the hunt, my position and that of my colleagues is based on merit rather than blood. As a result none of our ruling class is related to me otherwise.++
****
The trophy is actually a triceratops. Just so I could make a three-point buck joke.
After returning to your ship, you immediately turn around and return to the planet. Without escort this time. The elite academy you're looking into is near the spire at the center layer. While you use a separate landing zone without guards stationed around it, it is otherwise similar to that which you had visited earlier. The fortress itself resembles something of a martial hive, when you're on the ground. Much of the buildings appear to be short but in reality exist mostly under the fortress itself, with a variety of elevators and stairs giving access to the lower tunnels of the fortress. Those buildings that do stand over the others tend to double as guard towers bristling with weaponry. The streets are clean and the population marches about orderly, openly shouldering weapons of all kinds (with the most common being customized lasguns). Most vehicles on the road are covered cargo trucks, though personal vehicles exist alongside them. It is clear that this is a more affluent area by the cathedral like designs of the buildings and the expensive adornments upon them.
The academy itself is certainly no exception. The above ground portion is a large cathedral, with a stronger peach theme than expected of normal Imperial architecture. The door is guarded by two Angelic statues clad in flackgrass decorated with peach trees, with gelt relief punctuating important details. The statues are in turn guarded by heavy stubbers poking out from defensive emplacements above their head, which are in turn guarded by anti-aircraft guns along the vaulted roof.
Once inside you are lead to the Headmaster by a uniformed guard. The school's uniforms look foreign to this planet, something closer to a standard dress uniform rather than the flackgrass padded armor that everyone in the streets seems to wear. A black outfit with golden epaulets, even brass buttons going down to the waist, and a peaked cap decorated with a peach tree. Students run about with bright orange-painted lasguns on their back and book bags by their side.
The Headmaster is a powerfully built woman, perhaps equal to the Governor's guards, in a uniform similar to the students but with a Dominator pistol at her side. She solutes you as you walk into her office.
"I am in the understand that you would like to sit in on some Tactica classes for the following week?"
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Topic: Rogue Trader: Laughing Gold (IC) (Read 42490 times)