Carthrat's journey into space - Round 3! Heaven or Hell!

[Anastasia]

With a final yes, the alien leaves. Once gone, "Think it went good?" Tir asks.

[Carthrat]

"Yeah," replies Carthrat. "There's nothing wrong with the ship or anything. And I'm pretty damn sure I got all the identifying marks.

Nothing to do now but plan ahead," he muses. "You've commanded people before, right?"

[Anastasia]

"I did lead a huge army, nearly a millenium ago," he shoots back, falling into old habits. "I can manage, sure."

[Carthrat]

"Heh. Still got the old touch?" Carthrat questions, smirking. "Overt warfare isn't really what I have in mind, y'know."

[Anastasia]

"I'll be fine," he agrees to that. "Going to try to stir up an army on Heli 3, or just bullshitting?" Tir asks you outright, thoug he can guess the answer already.

[Carthrat]

"Good grief, nothing so simple as that," replies Carthrat, rolling his eyes. "I'm going to run for office."

[Anastasia]

Tir stops cold, blinking. "Okay, Rat. You're not the type to try and get elected for no good reason. What's going on in that head of yours?" Tir inquires outright, having been beaned with a mental curveball. His face su pports this, a bit on the surprised side.

[Carthrat]

"It's simple," replies Carthrat. "Paranoia combined with practicality."

Carthrat pulls up a sheet of paper and sketches out a rough estimate of what he thinks the Heli system looks like. "Assume Slicing Gale is still after me. They'll probably be after you, too; mercenary groups tend to take time off from jobs to go and pulverise people they don't like.

We can solve the immediate problem of the chase simply by moving. Heli 3, in this regard, is as good a place as any. Better, in fact, because of the lack of centralized government on power base. It's harder to find someone when they're in the middle of a warzone full of many people who don't want to be found.

But if Slicing Gale is being paid to take me on, they'll find me, sooner or later.

If I'm in charge of a fucking planet, Tir, what're they gonna do to catch me? Galactic law will enable me to call in the cavalry if they even come within a parsec of my system. They can't touch me unless someone goes to war with me, and, quite frankly, if they do, well, the galaxy will be finding out just how ready it is to deal with some of the secret stuff I know.

Then there's the whole issue of finding Diane, which, I must remind you, is the whole reason I'm out here and not in my cozy apartment. I need to build some kind of gate. It's only in the theoretical stage, too. Tests need to be run. Prototypes need to be designed. I can't really expect to do it alone? Oh, I was arrogant once, but no more.

And if my base ideas are right, it's going to need a heck of a lot of power. Not to mention the structure itself will be pretty damn big.

It might not be the best way to go about it. The best way would be to hightail it to Telekineos, kick some ass, and get a research grant. But that's not something I'm doing, now or ever."

Carthrat stops, glancing up at Tir. "Any questions?"

[Anastasia]

"You think big," he comments when you finish, amused. "Now...I agree with going to Heli 3 for a few years or so until they get bored of being killed.

But ruling the entire planet?" Tir snorts loudly. "You're pretty good at what you do, Rat. But unifying that war zone? Say all you want about being in charge of a planet being useful, but good luck pulling it off."

[Carthrat]

Carthrat smirks. "I've got even more crazy ideas for you to hear, but they can wait.

Still, none of this would be necessary if *someone* didn't want to try pulling up a couple of metres from a star. Wuss."

[Anastasia]

"So you made it a grand scale suicide mission instead of a short little dive into a star," A touch of sarcasm follows his words, though it's not truly fiery venom.

"At least we won't be bored," he follows up.

[Carthrat]

"Well, if you come up with an idea, you're free to share it with me," replies Carthrat, wisely.

[Anastasia]

"Will do," he shoots back. "Anyway, did you want to head on down back to the guild now?" Tir asks lazily, "If not, I'd like to take a nap."

[Carthrat]

Carthrat pauses for a moment.

"Hey, Tir, just how old are you?" he asks, curiously.

[Anastasia]

He stops, turning to you. "About a thousand, give or take a couple of decades," he shrugs. "I've lost count of the exact years, but it's not really important." He sounds rather calm about it, as if saying he was a millenium old was just another order of business.