#voidcraft

[feelinprettyblue02]

building a multilayer maze for voidcraft. the first 2 layers are 18x18 chunks, and the 3rd layer is predicted to be 23x23 chunks. i’m not gonna have a fun time building it on the server

[historicrad39a]

3. Frontier Rescue Rangers

Previous

Unnamed system - 135ly from Earth

Frontier Rescue Rangers Carrier Zuikaku after action report: July 13th 2538

It had been a month since the Human-Tathrax alliance had been attacked by an unknown alien civilization (henceforth known as the “Theta Aliens”). Whilst there was an initial panic about possible follow up attacks, it wasn’t until yesterday that we had any further contact. A small exploration vessel surveying systems just outside of Alliance space had been ambushed and captured by the Theta Aliens. Due to the proximity to frontier space, and the fact that this was a rescue mission, the Frontier Rescue Rangers were dispatched.

Two months ago, had you told me I would make history by being the first half-human half-Tathrax to command of one of the admiralty’s newest and largest carriers, with two brand new Kongō-class Fast Battleships (specifically modified for Frontier Defense fleet use) in tow as the head of a squadron with more firepower than the entire Frontier Defense Fleet up until that point - especially for a rescue mission of all things - I would have called you crazy. In fact, once the FDS Frontier’s captain, Zack, told me he was planning to request the admiralty’s newest toys, I called him an idiot. He had asked me if, assuming he succeeded, I would want to command one of the new ships - and if so, which type. I told him, somewhat jokingly, that I wanted to be in command of a massive voidcraft carrier. Come two weeks later and the Shōkaku-class carrier Zuikaku has been delivered to us direct from Akatsuki Shipyards, with myself named as her captain.

Unlike most people in the Frontier Defense fleet, I was here willingly. My parents were explorers, and when I was a young girl I frequently accompanied them on their journeys. On one such journey, we were in the AR Scorpii system preparing to return home when one of the relativistic beams from the system’s White Dwarf just barely skimmed by our ship. The hyperdrive went haywire and within a matter of seconds we ended up at the outer edge of the MilkyWay - having just travelled some 26,300ly in under 20 seconds. Hyperspace has a maximum speed limit of ~1 light year per second, most ships can only manage a light year per ten seconds at most. Yet somehow we managed to move at some 1,000 light years per second.

We were stranded for around a week in a near functionless ship slowly starving to death before we heard the distinct roar of a large vessel approaching in hyperspace. The Rescue Rangers had successfully requisitioned the Casablanca-class carrier ship Gambier Bay and made the week-long trip out here non-stop. Needless to say I was greatly inspired by their bravery and decided I would become a Rescue Ranger when I grew up.

By the time I was of eligible age to join the Rescue Rangers, things had rapidly deteriorated. When I was a child, the hyperdrive was just barely 50 years old. But by the time I had joined it was nearing 70 years old. Consequently, random failures, mis-jumps, and fuel exhaustion due to unpredictable fuel usage were all but things of the past. The Rescue Rangers weren’t nearly as crucial anymore, and as a result in my 2nd year the Rescue Rangers were disbanded as an independent branch and the remnants were folded into the Frontier Defense Fleet. Along with our independence, almost all of our ships were taken - including the carrier Gambier Bay I so desperately wanted to serve on.

Eight years later and the Frontier Rescue Rangers did little more than refuel stranded ships that had misjudged their remaining fuel. That is, until a month ago, when the Frontier Rescue Rangers were suddenly given 30 modified Fletcher class destroyers along with the promises of several capital ships and a massive budget increase. In addition to our normal duties, we were to combat the alien threat and rescue any individuals captured by them.

My first mission in command of the FDCV Zuikaku was to lead a task force of 18 vessels to rescue some captured explorers. As it would turn out, this was overkill. In addition to the Zuikaku we had the FDBB Hiei and Haruna - two modified Kongō-class battle cruisers which had been re-designated as Fast Battleships - and fifteen Ted Fujita-class Destroyers (modified Fletcher-class). While the main armament on the Kongōs and the torpedo launchers on the Ted Fujitas were of Alliance design, the 23cm double-barreled turrets were created using borrowed technology from the Theta Aliens.

The aliens, on the other hand, had a mere five cruisers guarding the transport vessel holding the captured explorers. The 40cm guns on the Hiei and Haruna and the Samuel B. Robert’s four 720mm torpedos practically atomized the cruisers. The Hiei’s 76cm “crew incapacitation” rounds also proved to be complete overkill. Of the three rounds fired at the transport, one hit the engines, one atomized the fuel tanker behind the transport, and the third round penetrated into the reactor room before detonating. We had included extra oxidizer in the bursting charge in case the ship’s atmosphere limited the spread of fires.

This turned out not to be the case, as the third shell set almost the entire ship’s insides on fire - killing 60% of the crew instantly. Frankly, we got lucky. Via neural implants on one of the explorers we knew they were locked inside a holding cell of sorts, but it’s very likely that had the “crew incapacitation” round been any more powerful there may have been no explorers left to rescue. Needless to say I’m prohibiting the use of these rounds until they can be fixed.

The boarding action was also very successful - there was not a single Alliance casualty during the firefight. One of the commandos transferred from the Anti-piracy force was quite amused at the 600 year old M2 Browning machine guns the Frontier Defense Force had been issued, and apparently thought it would be hilarious to bring it as his primary weapon. As it turns out, despite being 600 years old at this point, the M2 Browning was extremely effective - so much so that we have received no fewer than twenty requests to make the M2 Browning part of the standard loadout.

In terms of our primary objective, we were a bit too successful. Our orders were “to rescue as many of the five captured individuals as possible from the Theta Aliens.” When all was said and done, we had achieved a 1700% success rate - having rescued 85 of the 5 individuals captured. In addition to this, we had made first contact with three additional alien species aside from those comprising the Alliance. As it had turned out, the explorers we were sent to rescue had made friends - and upon being rescued, they demanded that we take on all 80 of the other individuals onboard the vessel. Leave it to the humans to make friends wherever they go…

Naturally, I was opposed to this request - we had nowhere near the resources necessary to care for 80 additional people, let alone 80 individuals from a variety of species we knew nothing about. It wasn’t until the explorers’ captain, Hanako, threatened to refuse rescue that I finally relented. Such is the stubbornness of humans. This is the same species that, upon seeing my Mother’s (recent) ancestors in person for the first time - a species known for being an apex predator - said “Awww, they look like kitties!” Before attempting to pet their heads, followed by sulking when my mother’s ancestors refused to allow it. I suppose it’s the human blood that flows through my veins that makes it hard to be too mad at them.

In any case, one individual was of particular interest to us due to Hanako’s claims that she had communicated with them. Naturally, we were skeptical. We had barely made any progress on decoding the Theta Aliens’ language after a month, it seemed impossible that a human could communicate with a completely different alien species after less than a day. Imagine our surprise when the alien spoke (admittedly limited, and broken) English.

I quickly discovered the secret behind their supernatural ability to learn languages, it was quite literally “supernatural” in nature. They are capable of communicating telepathically, and on rare occasions they can communicate with individuals from different species. This ability is extremely limited however, as there are many complications associated with communicating with an individual who does not share a language, and most individuals are not compatible. We had the individual attempt to communicate with everyone on the Zuikaku, and of the Human and Tathrax crew, only Hanako could hear them.

Despite this limitation, this individual would likely be very useful. According to Hanako, the individual served as a diplomat for some time, and knew many languages as a result. In addition to this, they knew a lot about the Theta Aliens (who they referred to as something like K’Lagreth). This would no doubt be extremely useful, both for information gathering, and for deciphering the Theta Aliens’ language. Given how none of the 1,500 some crew on the Zuikaku were compatible with the individual’s ability, it’s nothing short of a miracle that any of the five captured explorers were compatible.

Before returning to the Frontier to refuel and rearm, we decided to ask the individual for their name, as referring to them as “the/that alien,” or “the/that individual” was quite tiresome. Unfortunately, neither human nor tathrax vocal chords could actually pronounce their name, and I’m not certain that letters exist in any alliance language that could accurately transcribe it. In addition, their name was long, very long. Assuming that any of us could even pronounce it, most would struggle to remember. However, humans will do as humans will do, and upon hearing a part of their name that sounded vaguely like “Gregg,” the humans immediately took to calling them by that name. I suppose referring to them as “Gregg” is easier than referring to them in the 3rd person all the time…

After (slowly) providing basic accommodations for the numerous species onboard, we prepared to depart on the return journey to the Frontier. Due to the limited bandwidth for FTL communications, our transmission to the Frontier was extremely limited (speeds capped out at around 12 bits per second). This meant that most of the details regarding our new guests could not be included. I’m sure that Zack will be happy to hear that he’ll need to fill his precious space station with a wide variety of flammable gases, toxic gases, and strong oxidizers in order to provide for our unexpected rescuees.

Moving forward, the admiralty will need to make a decision on how to proceed from here. Clearly, the Alliance aren’t the only ones threatened by the Theta aliens. If Gregg��s reports are to be believed, the Theta Aliens have subjected no fewer than ten different civilizations, possibly more. They also noted that the exact location of the Theta Aliens’ homeworld is unknown to most, if not all outsiders. Originally our goal was to protect Alliance interests from the Alien threat, and negotiate a ceasefire as soon as possible. However, I now feel this is unlikely to work. The Mylr’s (Gregg’s species) were supposedly able to fend off the Theta Aliens for some time, but eventually, they too fell.

I feel a military campaign is necessary. There is much we could learn from these captured civilizations, and depriving the Theta Aliens of their resources, both living and non-living, would make it very unlikely that they could continue to attack us. In addition, it would ultimately be beneficial for us to free those countless individuals who are suffering at the hands of the Theta Aliens… Y’know, from a objective standpoint of course. Definitely nothing as ambiguous or illogical as feeling moral obligation to help them just because they’re in need. Nothing like that at all.

In any case, the sooner we can get the individuals we rescued back to their homeworlds, the better. While it’s true they were no longer in what could only be described as slavery, they hadn’t exactly returned to a normal life either. It would be best for them to return to their homeworlds. But as those homeworlds were supposedly under occupation, it would be hard to just bring them back and expect things to turn out fine.

I’ll chat with Zack about this once we return. I’m unwilling to just abandon the individuals we rescued today, and I’m sure Zack will feel the same (once he’s done complaining about having to fill the Frontier with a variety of dangerous gases). I don’t care how long or what it takes, but I swear on my ancestors that we will wage total war against the Theta Aliens - and we will free those unduly oppressed by them. Even if the admiralty refuses my plan, I will not allow the Theta Aliens to exploit any civilization any longer. The Theta Aliens’ empire’s collapse begins today.

Log end

Hey y’all. So as it turns out I’m physically incapable of sticking to schedules, so here’s this entry a day or so early. The next entry will probably be from Gregg’s perspective and may end up being a bit shorter (although I’ve thought this about literally every chapter so far) as it won’t be as focused on the larger plot. It will be a little more in the spirit of “humans are fucking weird” as it deals with Gregg adapting to the *ahem* oddities of living with humans.

Depending on how long it is, the next chapter/intermission may come out as early as next week. Like I said, apparently I’m incapable of sticking to a schedule. In the meantime, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. See y’all in anywhere from a few days to two weeks!

~Rad

[jggmgms]

Tearing people out of their voidcraft and flinging them into hardvac is a lot more fun than I thought it would be

There's not usually anything to stop them so you can laugh at the flailing for longer

[bleaksqueak]

Okay! I said I'd do a quick little tut for the chromatic aberration effect to the anon who asked, so here you go. Above is the raw panel, so from here, you'll be duplicating the canvas/panel by choosing "Copy Canvas" from the wrench button. Once copied, paste it into your folder and select the layer options to turn on Clipping Mask to your base panel. If doing the whole canvas, you can just paste as-is

I prefer to duplicate it once in preparation and then again each time I make a change, that way the effect can be toggled on /off or have its opacity lowered to mix with a previous effect if needed. From there, select the magic wand/effects and adjustments menu and click on Add Noise. Important: Pretend I took a screenshot of the drop-down menu, because rats must keep up appearances.

I prefer clouds with maximum octaves and low-no turbulence at a fine scale... however, play with the options and find one you like (or don't use it at all! I like the grain for a mild texture and for harmonizing the art's elements, especially on quick panels or rougher drawings.) I'm going at about 5% here. Just enough to give the desired effect, but not too much.

Once it's to your liking, duplicate your canvas/layer and select your new layer to work off of. On the magic wand menu again, select Chromatic Aberration.

We're working with the displace method, so select that instead of Perspective.

In procreate, the tool works by shifting your cursor in the direction you prefer at the distance you want. I never travel far, and I often use the warm/cold to play off of a reverse of my light source colors. I do that just to create a softened edge and a subtle color pop. Just like with the added noise, I keep the effect on a more subtle side often. Blurring at around 5 - 12 % will give your lines a soft glow and get rid of any (say, hideous pencil lines that you use as inks because you hate inking. Not that I do that. Not me.) Transparency can be bumped up or left alone, does what it says on the tin and strengthens the effect or subdues it.

Now, you might find some important detail is now too hazy? Too blurry? Too CHROMBERRATED? If so, gently erase what you want to be crisp. For Maia here, I just erased the front hair curls and her eyelashes.

Keep it or erase it, it's up to you. Play around and see what you like. Now, once all is said and done, and you like the effect, adding a few specular pops of light on a new layer can aid with bringing back in some focal points. Eye color, rim lighting, or just a couple of little metallic flecks. I use the light pen tool for this when feeling lazy, but you can use any brush you like, either on a raw Normal layer or on any of the light adjugement style layers. I chose a pale green to compliment the warm, red hues and balance the bluish shadow in her hair. Just a tiny little speck on her glasses, lips and on the rim light of her nose just to keep the anchor points of her face clear. Don't over do it (unless you want to, in that case, by all means, the light is yours to command.)

And that's the final. Hidden in the darkest shadows of voidcraft, I applied a textured brush to my canvas on Overlay because I do that for every comic page. Except for those that I forget, may their tears one day dry.

I hope that helps! The effect is subtle on this panel, but the desired effect to soften and marry the art, thus fooling the viewer's eye into thinking I super meticulously rendered this with careful prim and polish, is achieved! Hooray!

[asklordcaptaincastronova]

She gingerly sits in the chair. A techpriest begins attaching plugs to the port on the nape of her neck and her face tries to remain impassive as the machine spirits connects to her.

She does wince, barely. It's not the same as connecting to a voidcraft or aeronutica. Or even a gunnery station. Carefully, she tries to maintain an air of detached calm, perhaps even boredom.

This chair was not designed to slouch in.

She pulls a console over. Then another. Not looking at them directly, information cascades over her eyes, and she tries to catch up.

Firmware? Why did every machine spirit complain about unupdated firmware? Well, the Grouper's armor was firm enough.

Anastasia fidgeted in her chair. The Grouper was by no means ready to get underway. But it was time to leave the proverbial creche.

Now to expunge the ice in her gut and focus on the thrills of... sitting in spacedock.

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

It’s a titan-class voidcraft that is utilised in-atmosphere as both a troop carrier and an anti-titan/superheavy weapon. It can deploy, from upper atmosphere (it has anti-gravity systems to control descent and hover ability in atmosphere) in order to cruise above enemy forces/structures and shoot the everloving shit out of them.

[parchmentleaves]

Lady Essiala Ariathia ban Vor'cle

No game this week, so a brief entry about Lady Essiala instead. Who is the lady behind this journal? Linked above or copy-pasted below.

Lady Essiala Ariathia Sorjiik den Morgenstern ban Vor’cle is the Navigator Primaris of the void-ship Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis, a role she has held for just over a standard decade. She is a bookish and reserved woman who prefers the solitude of her library to the hubbub of human interactions, and uses her noble bearing as a mask to conceal her terrors and inner loneliness.

Child of Vor’cle

Essiala is a scion of House Vor’cle, an ancient and vaunted House of the Navis Nobilite that eschews sector and planetary politics in favour of broad-ranging interests and connections throughout the Imperium of Man, including at the very heights of power. Vor’cle Navigators guide ships of nobility, adepta of the mighty Adeptus Terra, Rogue Traders, and even the dreaded Inquisition. The House maintains its own fleet of void-clippers – fast courier voidcraft that crisscross Sectors, Segmenta and even the Imperium itself bearing information too dense, complex or secure to risk astropathic communication, as well as individuals wishing swift and unobtrusive transport across the stars.

She was born on one of these void-clippers, the lean and ancient Morgenstern, and is a child of an esteemed and stable gene-lineage that has been free of genomic instability for over a millenium. Children of the Sorjiik lineage tend to a greater height, leanness of build and paleness of skin than even most void-born, with many also possessing entirely black eyes well-suited to finding even the fainest of lights in the darkness of the void. Essiala shows all these traits and, like many children of her line, prefers her quarters set to lower local gravity and dimmer lumination than ship standard.

House Vor’cle is less hidebound than many great magisterial Houses of the Navis Nobilite who might rely on their breeding and connections to secure contracts of navigation. The Vor’cle instead educate their scions and inculcate a deep curiosity about the universe into them. They in turn record everything that they encounter on their long-ranging travels across and beyond the Imperium and send their reports back to the House archives, where they may be used to further the obectives of the House and its allies. This cavalier disregard for the virtue of ignorance has led to multiple long term feuds between the House and factions of the Ecclesiarchy.

Dark Apprenticeship

Decades of scholarship and apprenticeship taught Essiala well the lessons of her House. She served as a Navigatrix Tertius and learned the practicalities of navigation aboard multiple ships with distinction and no issue save for a short-lived daliance with a bright-eyed void-mistress that ended when Essiala ascended to the rank of Navigatrix Secundus and was assigned to the void-ship Revenance.

Her years aboard the Revenance took her into the Halo Stars beyond the frontiers of the Imperium. She saw strange aetheric phenomena and curious alien ruins, decimated remnants of fallen civilisations far older than that of Man, and steered the ship through terrible warp storms to find safe refuge in the light of the Astronomicon once more. An incident occured on one voyage where she had the honour of steering the ship while the Navigator Primaris was recovering from injuries following a skirmish with Orkish pirates. The ship’s Gellar field, likely suffering some minor damage in the prior engagement, fluctuated during a turbulent ana-surge within the Immaterium and something attempted to coalesce through the cracks into the Navis spire.

A shapeless darkness with a voice of ash and burning violet eyes appeared on before Essiala and begged for her to open disable the safeties on the Aciens Horrens, the heavily warded portal through which the Navigator views the Immaterium, and allow it inside. It offered power, knowledge, all the sweet temptations fit to lure her into obeying its pleas. She refused and, in a moment of righteous anger, tried to turn the power of her Third Eye on the blasphemous thing. The entity simply laughed in amusement and departed, leaving her with words.

“Such fire you have. And such fires you will see Beyond. Three and three and all will burn as bright as you. May they consume you by delightful degrees.”

Essiala found herself marked and shaken by this dreadful encounter. All food tastes of ash in her mouth and her dreams echo with the three-eyed entities mocking laughter. In response she threw herself into studying all she could find about such blasphemous foes, so that she might face and destroy the entity if she encountered it once more. And to this day she takes great care to maintain a personal shrine to the Emperor in her quarters, praying to Him on Earth and all His Saints each morning after a night of fitful, restless sleep.

Navigator of the Gloriosa Lux

The incident on the Revenance earned Essiala her elevation to the rank of full Navigatrix, after sufficient psychoexamination and deep testing to ensure that the entity had left no taint upon her soul. She was assigned to fulfil House Vor’cle’s contract of navigation with the Void-ghast Dynasty, an ancient rogue trader family now fallen from the heights of their past glories, and she assumed the duties of Navigator Primaris aboard the Void-ghast’s only true void-ship, the Sword-class frigate Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis.

Lady Essiala worked well with the Gloriosa Lux and her Lord-Captain Eleazar Void-ghast, steering the vessel on nearly a dozen expeditions into into the wild space of the Koronus Expanse and bringing her home safely each time. Each voyage brought new wonders and new terrors, and always the subtlest hints of some meaning behind the words and the sinister laughter haunting her nightmares.

Lord Eleazar’s sudden and unexpected death upended everything. Gloriosa Lux was forced to return to anchorage, spending nearly a year in limbo waiting for the heir to the Dynasty, the Writ of Trade, and the Lord-Captaincy to be found. Essiala spent the time reading, writing notes for future memoirs, and attempting to make sense of her dreams. She could feel a pattern forming, though it was still too diffuse and subtle to fully grasp.

Finally, after interminable politics and delays of transit, Lazarus Void-ghast was declared Lord of the Dynasty and the Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis has set sail once more into the Koronus Expanse…

[avkamfher]

I am very excited for the voidcraft series. Came for the T'au staying for the mecha eldar

[sublightgames]

Stardust lore returns! ✨ From voidcraft to magrails and fusion power plants, erudium is the basis of incredible technologies. Learn all about the foundations of power engineering in The Bary in our new primer article! https://stardust.sublightgames.com/erudium/

[feelinprettyblue02]

so mentally ill over siegfried my good friend siegfried. they had 2 panic attacks in the span of 12 hours. appearance-wise, they are so aether-coded but stick solidly in neutral. they view themself as just a weapon and nothing more while everyone around them is like “jesus christ get this kid to THERAPY”. anyways siegfried <3

[elusivecurrent]

(((TW: References to knifeplay)))

(Song of voidcraft - A witches liminal spiritual agnostic prayer)

Surge in-vitro en vitae

Invictus

Natura en natura

Natura en naturae

Sigma sign sine sigma-t

Leave

No future fidelic fetal form flowers here

Unmask you cowards!

Quiver and shiver as the witches quarter, hung and howl

Spike of fear the chant

Oh we hunt the hunter, we haunt the sallow sows seeking supper in seraphic truffles

Veritas! O beatific Veritas

Tear tear seek the seer

Tease seeking farther reach

Sundering searing sun sing sine in sin, O my Veritas!

Reach for me!

Hold tight this torn heart!

Grip in resolve, steel fast my steel sun sing sign in sine seen brilliant efflorescent effacing overwhelming overcoming come finally down

Render your mighty weight unto me O vice veiling violent sun sign sang O song

Seared my flesh

Brand my heart

O,Veritas

I am

Yours

Trace the blade my flesh

Chiseled in this flesh

I sculpt myself as you sculpt so lovingly

Lanquidity in exile

Banishment in a Bound seal

I give my pact to you

O Veritas

My true lover

I forever embrace the Brilliant liminal of your heart

And you reveal in revelry

Revolution, Revelation, Revealing

The concealing of cowards

Turned away from this,

Ineffable, abstract, precipice

Catch me as I fall!

From your grand shoulders

Sway in song slowly

Sedentarily seemingly

But you're always there

O Veritas

My heart's eye turns only towards you, my lover

Veritas

[tropinui]

DR4 - Usurper

"Graveyard of heroes." The sleek platinum figure spoke, an agent of a precursor empire, blue biolights shining along its form like a cold star in the darkness of the cleaved ship, ignoring the Fallen Sirkans being dragged off by the Mortem subroutines. He stood at the open breach, a gigantic hole in the ship that nearly splits the voidcraft in half... "Confidence without assured data is a very organic trait, chemicals in their cerebral area influencing them to make actions off of bravado. The belief that we are anything like our stationary, gate guardian easternlings was... unwise." The second Janissary, the Assassin, Usurper, the counter of coup. If there was one thing that made the allied forces sweat blood when it appeared to take out military leaders and political heads, it was him.

[softcryz]

Creator of Voidcraft by the way . If you even care

Still love how the joke that Creativity created Iterator Minecraft became canon to like. The people I talk to . And now it basically is. Like yeah that's just something he did

[asklordcaptaincastronova]

✍ + friction

The lighter skidded to a halt, sparks flying everywhere with a horrific screeching sound. The autocannon continued to shoot at the crashing voidcraft.

Yet the wretched thing still blew it's hatches releasing armored forms returning lasfire.

[feelinprettyblue02]

:3 (< deranged)

[wayward40k]

Zahariel spread her hands as she gestured around them. “I need to return home, but I lack knowledge of how to pilot one of these voidcraft. I would much appreciate your assistance in acquiring transportation to a location I am capable of navigating to. While I am also lacking in your currency, there are other ways in which I might pay, though material compensation would require waiting until our arrival.”

The Harper was pleasantly polite about her request, diplomatically laying out precisely what she needed. She left the payment purposefully vague, curious as to what his reply would be, or what he might ask for in return.

Knowing that Zahariel could know all of his secrets without breaking a sweat made his skin crawl. There were many things he'd gone to great lenghts to hide from people. Being completely exposed would be devastating. He would do whatever was necessary to keep that from happening. Even violence.

However, he knew she was more powerful than him. And he wondered if getting in a fight would be worth it. Even more when she hadn't done anything to hurt him.

He took a deep breath to release the tension he'd been holding inside.

"What do you need? I am all ears."