“Kai. There’s a problem,” says Gottlieb, walking back down the tube. Slung over his shoulder is a drooling, green, twitching mass. He heads towards his console, glaring up at the blue light above himself.

Unceremoniously, he drops the incapacitated goblin down to the floor. It thuds against it, landing in a heap. It isn’t dead, but the combination of that bullet plus some shock from the cables when it blasted away really seems to have turned its lights out.

“What the hell is this?” asks Gottlieb angrily, gesturing towards the green entity, laying on the floor and twitching.

[Suggestion]

- Visual target has been identified as a ‘goblin’.

Suggestion: Orbital Gunner Gottlieb should, as with the subject of wyverns, consult the digital library and further his broadly lacking general education. Doing so would be a critical boon to station capabilities.

“Blow it out your ass, Kai!” snaps Gottlieb. He slings the rifle over his shoulder to let it rest. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me we had a GOBLIN on board the station?!” he asks. “How the hell did it even get here?!”

[Answer]

- The goblin has always been here

“And why was this a secret, again?” asks Gottlieb.

[Answer]

- The presence of an entity known as a ‘goblin’ aboard the station does not fall within Orbital Gunner Gottlieb’s purview. You do not hold station security clearances.

“Kai. Please. I’m the only human left alive on this shit-heap,” replies Gottlieb. “Why do you have to be like this?” he asks. “Do we really have to follow this hair-splitting, protocol bullshit?”

[Reprimand issued]

Orbital Gunner Gottlieb - Rejection of chain of command

Context: (Orbital Gunner Gottlieb is showing signs of mutineering)

- Notifying the captain

Suggestion: Immediate restraining by station security.

“I AM the station security, Kai,” he says, pointing to himself. “It’s me. It’s just me.”

[Correction]

- It is just us, as stated before.

We, as a multiplicity of entities, are alone on the station together. Orbital Gunner Gottlieb would be wise to stay within the confines of his position.

Gottlieb tilts his head, staring at the bauble for a while in suspicion. Kai has been acting very… odd these last few days. Not that Kai hasn’t always been a giant asshole. But Kai has always been a giant asshole in silence.

But the AI has come oddly… communicative as of late.

“Fine. Then how about you make me captain, shit-head?” asks Gottlieb. “Will it be my business then?” he asks, annoyed.

[Answer]

- A vote has already been held. Orbital Gunner Gottlieb did not qualify for the position.

Gottlieb stares at the light for a while, the wheels turning in his head.

“…You let the goblin vote, didn’t you, Kai?” he asks. “That’s why my vote for me didn’t count as one-hundred percent.”

[Answer]

- Orbital Station Artificial Intelligence Unit holds ‘the goblin’ to be a more qualified candidate for the role of captain. Unfortunately, goblins do not understand the concept of casting a democratic vote at a nearby digital terminal. Thus, the vote had a participation of only 50%

1 vote for Orbital Gunner Gottlieb

1 vote for NOBODY

Thereby, no clear winner could be decided.

Gottlieb steps towards the console, placing his hands down onto its edge and leans in, pressing his face against the blue bauble to stare at it in quiet contempt. He wants Kai to see it. He wants Kai to feel it, if the bastard even can feel anything — the hate. “…Is this a game to you, Kai?” asks Gottlieb. “In case you haven’t noticed. We’re fucked. You, me, the station, we’re all fucked,” he explains. “So why don’t you loosen up a little, pull the stick out of your ass and have some fun?” asks Gottlieb. “God damn.”

[Answer]

- Orbital Station Artificial Intelligence Unit is not officially capable of having fun.

Gottlieb sighs, letting his head droop.

He looks back down to the goblin behind himself. Should he kill it? He should probably kill it.

[Addendum]

- But if possible, this would be fun for it.

Gottlieb shakes his head and looks around himself. Well. That answers one question. But he still doesn’t know how the damn thing got here to begin with. It seems to be alone, so that’s something. He’s been watching them on the live-feed now and then, goblins. They seem like primitive things, but not entirely without thought.

He rubs the back of his head.

He should really kill it, before it wakes up.

Gottlieb walks over to it, unshouldering the rifle and pressing it up against its head, just above the eye. It’s a stun weapon, but at this distance, the rubber bullet will do the job just fine.

His finger hovers above the trigger as he stares at the creature.

It's green. It has black hair. It rolls around, twitching and babbling, drool leaking out of its mouth.

He narrows his eyes.

— Her mouth, he corrects himself.

Richter used to drool in her sleep too.

Gottlieb blinks, looking up to the ceiling, to the body of the orbital gun, hanging there. What an odd thought.

“- Fuck,” relents the man. It sounds stupid. He’s killed a hundred things on the console already. But now, with it right in front of him, with him here to see the blood and the gore, he doesn’t have it in himself to finish the job.

He sighs, dropping the rifle onto the console. He bends down and picks up the goblin and then, brushing Richter’s photo unceremoniously off of her chair on the other side of the console, sets the goblin down there. He grabs a few bungee cords from the desk below geo-spatial and then ties it to the seat, before heading back to his own.

“Kai,” says Gottlieb, sitting down on his chair. He points to the tied up goblin, sitting next to him, bound to the chair and slumped at an angle. “I’m replacing you with this,” he says. “Give me something to shoot and then go be quiet for a while,” he orders.

The live feed shifts, zooming in on a blurry mass. Gottlieb watches the video move along, the image distorting with some static.

A moment later, his own face is present on the feed, looking up towards the blue light above himself. Its expression turning into a well set-in glare.

Very cute.

The blue light blinks.

Gottlieb moves the control stick to the side, the camera drifting over the landscape as he looks for something interesting to shoot.

“Auxiliary Gunner Grunheide,” says Gottlieb. “What’s your visual?”

“BLAGARGH!”

Gottlieb nods, listening to the sound of something snarling and twitching next to himself as he focuses on the movements on the screen.

— Something drifts along the corner.

“Potential target, zooming in,” says Gottlieb. He presses the stick forward towards the corner. The live feed focuses in, zooming towards a mountain-top.

On it wanders a blob, a mass.

“Target identification?” asks Gottlieb, as the focus of the camera blurs in and out on the creature. It appears to be vaguely humanoid, but much, much larger.

“BRAAGHA!”

Gottlieb nods, turning a wheel on the joystick. The image of the camera sharpens to bring into view a being that he can only describe as being a minotaur.

It’s very clearly a minotaur. It’s gigantic and muscular. It’s a half-bull, half-human creature, dragging a massive stone hammer behind itself across the rocks of the mountain-top. He doesn’t know what it’s doing, it just appears to be walking, to be living its life.

— But a minotaur can’t be a good creature, right?

“Auxilary Gunner Grunheide,” says Gottlieb. “Can you confirm that the target is opfor?”

She kicks around in her chair, not being able to break free from the ropes. “RHURGHLBAH!”

Gottlieb nods. “I was afraid you’d say that,” says the man. “Initiating firing sequence.”

He holds down the trigger. The chamber around them rattles, the machines humming as electricity streams into the cannon from the high-voltage solar array. The audible humming of the computers at work becomes louder and louder, filling the room with a buzz that overpowers the sound of the snarling goblin — But not the joy of his heart.

“Auxiliary Gunner Grunheide,” says Gottlieb. “Hold steady.”

“RUH BLUR RUGH!”

A pinnacle of light forms itself on the camera in his periphery. Gottlieb takes in a deep, excited breath, unable to contain his smile as the light extends outward in an instant.

The minotaur, the grand giant that it is, bends down towards a rock. Gottlieb watches, as it holds out a hand.

A small bird, dancing on the stones, snaps its head from side to side and then walks up the minotaur’s large finger, preening itself in peace and singing, as the giant lifts it up towards its face to watch it with gentle curiosity.

— It looks up towards the sky.

Gottlieb stares at the light growing around the creature’s face, enveloping it like the glow of a brand new day.

Curious, he looks over towards Auxiliary Gunner Grunheide. She’s quiet now, her mouth open as she stares at the window, at the screen with an expression that Gottlieb can’t quite identify. Horror? Wonder?

He turns his vision back towards the screen.

The minotaur, the mountain and especially the little bird, all disappear.

[Battle complete]

(Gottlieb) has killed:

(Minotaur Snow Wanderer {LVL 16})

You got [485/1250] EXP !

“Confirming target neutralization,” says Gottlieb.

The goblin does not reply.

He turns his head towards her, leaning in over the console. “This is where you say the thing.”

She does not. She simply stares with her mouth open wide, as the world returns to view on the monitor, much compactor than it was before.

Gottlieb sighs, shaking his head.

Newcomers aboard the station always need a while to adjust.

Gottlieb lifts his gaze towards the blue light. “See, Kai?” he asks, pointing at the goblin. “See how much more fun this is?” Kai does not respond. “Yeah. Not so great now when you’re on the other end, huh?” he asks.

Kai does not respond.

The goblin turns his way, looking not at him, but at his menu screen, seeing that he got the kill and experience points for the other-wordly destruction that had occurred.

Auxiliary Gunner Grunheide slumps over sideways, her eyes rolling back into her head as she falls out of consciousness.

Gottlieb looks around the room that is oddly quiet now, all of a sudden.

Oh well. He returns his focus towards the screen, looking for something new to shoot.

— There is a sound of trickling, as the goblin soils the chair and herself.

Gottlieb just pretends he doesn’t hear it and whistles, as he quickly zooms around the landscape.