The Mechanisms
‘The Aurora Strikes’
[Spoken: JONNY D'VILLE]
In reality, of course, Jack was merely a boy gone to war too young. Unable to cope with the realities, he turned to drink. He rarely took shelter during bombardments because he was too drunk to stand. And it was his captain that slew the behemoth, while Jack hid like a coward. But heroes have been made out of less, and in the end, he died well. And it was in this manner that the civil war raged on for thirty years. 

The space pirate crew of the Aurora, known as the Mechanisms, had been watching all this time, fascinated. For when you're immortal, a good war is a very pleasant distraction, indeed. But it was at this point they discovered something... interesting. The Rose Reds were the most effective of the soldiers created from Rose's genetic material, but they were not the first. Rumours spoke of an early prototype, known as the Briar Rose, that had malfunctioned and slain everyone on the desert moon of Briar, where she was being grown. But she was not dead. As the Mechanisms discovered, instead, she slept, at the heart of the defence grid that surrounded New Constantinople. The grid was composed of Thorn-class gun emplacements and was virtually impenetrable. And in its centre, the Briar Rose slumbered, plugged into the system, her anger, her rage, her hatred and her fear, fueling the machines, and focusing their gun turrets. And this bothered Nastya, engineer of the Aurora, so she went to the closest thing the ship had to a captain. Myself - Jonny d'Ville. 

[NASTYA]
"Jonny, we're not going to argue about this."

[JONNY]
"I don't understand it, Nastya. We've been watching billions die for the last three decades, and we've been having a great time!"

[NASTYA]
[overlapping]
"Yes, I know, I know."

[JONNY]
"And now you want to go white knight over a science project with a broken snooze button? I don't buy it."

[NASTYA]
"W-well, you see, Jonny, that is because I have not been telling you the whole story! It is, uh, not actually me who is complaining, it is, uh, Aurora. Our starship."

[JONNY]
"Fuck the ship!"

[NASTYA]
"I do."
[JONNY]
"Ew!"

[NASTYA]
"Anyway, Jonny, I am merely informing you out of courtesy, uh, you see, I've already told Brian to land the coordinates..."

[JONNY]
[overlapping]
"Brian!? That insubordinate piece of brass!"

[NASTYA]
[overlapping]
"Yes, yes, I know, and we are on our way."

[JONNY]
"Well. I suppose that there's no real danger..."

[NASTYA]
[overlapping]
"No there isn't..."

[JONNY]
"For the ship or us..."

[NASTYA]
[overlapping]
"No..."
[JONNY]
"And it has been a while since we've had any really... good violence."

[NASTYA]
"It has indeed."

[JONNY]
"Alright. Let's go."