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The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

Iammelon wrote:Princess Chione calmed herself from her little moment of excitement and turned to look up at Solomon, giving a nod, "I do believe I remember you, yes, on Tomboiorn. We briefly met on your way to see Sethus. The other sister by the way was Aleri, my elder sister. Only one I believe you didn't meet was the youngest sister, Kamilah. Too busy playing around the guards in the armory, I would bet. It is a pleasure to see you again however, Prince Solomon. And Richard, I think I remember hearing about that. But I am not one who dabbles too often in the Zantine court. They tend to be a bit too pompous for my liking. More so than you would expect with how much their Empire has shrunk. But I suppose pride has endurance beyond the standard." She then looked back out to the sea, seeming to enjoy it quite a bit, enjoying the ride.

With the ship arriving, Tamour got off at about the same time as the other Iammelonians, with his guards quickly taking up their own positions. They did however move back to let the Bezannian soldiers present themselves, content to remain in the background. Tamour was the primary one who did the inspection, with Chione just acting formally and Ventol not caring too much. Tamour however, as Minister of War, inspected them more closely, before giving a little salute. After the gesture of respect he would move on, as would Ventol and Chione.

Chione smiled to Solomon and nodded, "Goodbye to you as well, Prince Solomon. Safe trop." Chione then looked to the Measctha, with Chione giving her a smile, "Very well then, Miss Saunders. We'll follow your lead. Come along Ventol! And goodbye for now, Minister Tamour!" She gave the Dragon a wave before heading towards the limousine, her Mystic Guardian silently following. Ventol for his part simply gave a curt nod and commenting, "Well, a fancy ride. Should be nice." He too then went along to get in the limo.

Tamour gave Solomon a nod, "Goodbye for then, Princeling. See you then." With that, he looked down to the Humanoid, before looking off in the direction of the train station, "And there's the train. Suppose I did choose this. Saddle up for a trip, troops. Now lead on, valet. Keep good pace if you will lead from the front, if you stop too suddenly you may get stepped on." With that little warning, the Dragon then moved out towards the train station, with his guard detail following.

The measctha smiled as she stepped into the passenger seat of the limousine, the back being reserved for Chione and Ventol. The backseat was very comfortable, with large lounge like chairs instead of a traditional car seat. They were offered the choice between bottled water and a bottled tea, before the limo set off with a small escort of police. Up the cobble streets they rode, driving away from the port and to the heart of Saranshire. The ride was smooth and comfortable cross the city until they came to a large hilly area. Driving up the winding roads and past luxurious apartments, shoppes, and manors they entered a very affluent neighborhood. Passing a large park they came to a tall building and passed through a driveway built into the facade of the building itself. An archway with iron bars went straight through the building from the road, where one might expect a front door to be. After passing through the archway and iron gate, they drove round a small fountain and pulled alongside a wooden door. The doors for the limousine were opened by servants wearing black suits, and as the two Iammelonians stepped onto the gravel driveway they were able to see the courtyard they now stood in. Because of the streets and demand for sidewalks, this house had concealed the car park and front entrance behind the home itself. On all sides of them were mighty tall brick walls except for the archway which lay below a trio of windows and a small balcony. Off the left of the archway was the front door, a tall wooden one with a gold knocker and handle.
Georgina Saunders stood by the door, "welcome to forty-one down park avenue. This stately home will serve as your residence for the duration of your stay. Now, you've met me of course. But these three gentlemen will be servicing you during your stay. The gentleman with the glasses is Sergeant Scott Blossom chief of your security detail provided by the Bezembay Constabulary. The gentleman with the mustache is Charles Heath the keeper of the household. And the last gentleman is Louis Joucourt the cook." The three gentlemen bowed at their necks to the Iammelonians. Mister Heath was quick to start moving towards the car the grab the luggage to move it inside. Sergeant Blossom tipped his helmet and politely excused himself to see to the constables on the street. While Mister Joucourt, who insisted he be called Lewis, asked the two if they'd care for a spot of lunch.

Clines was quick with his pace, being a larger Hurvecht it was easier for him to maintain a good distance ahead of the dragon. They made their way from the port about five minutes to the train station by foot. Being followed and escorted by a large constable force. And indeed upon reaching the grand train station of Bezembay, Clines led the group to a train that was already waiting. It was a typical Bezannian bullet train, but most of the cars had been decoupled save for a few special passenger cars and the large dragonic one. Clines ushered for Tamour to enter and informed him the train would depart in twenty minutes time, while the Watrike were free to board the cars around the dragonic one.

The Nebulean Union of Iammelon

House of vengeance wrote:Gallek helped Sysglow understand the rather alien controls after she got in, showing her which buttons to what and whatnot as he got to digesting all she told him. Her people and the other aliens with her had a shaky history with these 'cyborg' things that are like their Splicers. Things seemed especially tense with this 'Cyboar' group. It reminded him of the old days, malicious groups of augmented civilians going around causing trouble for good folks just trying to get by... The military clans within the former House's were more... Severe with their punishments back then. Getting rid of whole vessels the insurgents take over to cement the idea that trying to strong arm them is a fools task. But even as it got toned down, augmentation was still a thing... He didn't have any because he was too poor to afford anything legit and knew that getting Black Market augments was basically a death sentence.

"Hoomanety? Gallek not know that that is but Splicers not crazy if that's what the Sysglow means. Though... It is not just the Splicers that have augments. Years ago, once religious barriers loosened, anyone could get cybernetics to improve their lot in life. Gallek never made enough to get any, amongst a small group of civvies that not have any. Military limits implantation usage too, prevents making it seem like its acceptable to have excessive implantations." He says as he leans against the rim of the open cockpit as she got used to the controls. "Still have independent groups with military grade implants around, know a guy like that, decent person who is clanless like me. But they have major clans breathing down their neck to make sure they don't go down Insurgent roads. Keep them on straight and narrow... Still get crazies that get too many Black market implants once in awhile but few and far between."

With his explanation done he wonders briefly what he should do for her now. Mithra told him that she was in his care so he'll have to show around. Sysglow could almost see his thought process at work as he looked into the fighters pilot area, the space behind her seat and then to see if any other fighters were available nearby and then he though about the need for that Fighter if a attack were to happen. The space behind the chair was large enough for someone to squeeze behind, someone of Gallek's size could fit comfortably but he considered that she may not want him talking and shifting around behind her. So he leaned over to point at a sequence of 3 switched and the order to flip them before he nods "Lift controls up and push in to move forward. Same in reverse, pull back to slow down and to reverse. Limited though." He says as he hops down and gets into a nearby Schooner that was currently vacant, waiting to follow her out.

Now with Mithra, he started to lead the good Commander out of the hanger and into a corridor that connected to several maintenance routes and bays and then to a platform with a sort of tram system that connected to multiple places on the ship, it looks like the interior was heavily altered though. "We once had a gravity lift system that let us get from floor to floor. But we stopped using those after some accidents occurred while we moving through the Ether ways. It was a messy issue that we had to hastily fix, ground to ship ones are fine thankfully... But those are more controlled." He says as he steps inside the box tram, with a holographic display showing the different sections of the ship they could go to. He the clicks on a section near the top of the ship, since their written language was still new to Ilox and the Confederacy she can only assume that he picked the bridge. "Thank you for agreeing to come along with me. I'm glad we are of the same mind in this delicate situation... I'm not in the habit of hooking up family with strangers I just met."

He sits down on one of the trams larger cushioned seats, it all set up with seats up against the walls with a line of hand rails to hold on in the middle. "But I'm willing to take that risk since you and your people seem trustworthy. Plus if this works, both of our peoples stand to gain alot in this... Unity and a chance to open doors faster. I'm sure you can see what we stand to gain from my aunt and your subordinate 'hitting it off' as you Nebula folk put it."

Back in the hanger, Fraph was left with Maltoi outside of the craft he came in on. Fraph's timid nature was fighting with her active curiosity of these Dragon people and their arrogance before a light smile crossed her face, just visible behind her rebreather as he told her that he found it important to keep in contact. It made her feel nervous already, they haven't even parted ways and she was already worried about whether he will contact her when he has free time or not.

Though watching his nephew and the Commander leave, with just the two of them their now with everyone else minding their own business, she couldn't shake the feeling of this nervous fluttering in her chest. Her hands continuing to fidget before she perked up with his question. Her mind being brought away from their being alone together as she thought on how best to answer his question. "You aren't far off actually. Our Clan, the Graphis Clan, has a long tradition of military service that date back generations. Not just defence forces but combat pilots, mech pilots and frontline forces. You could say it's in our blood to serve the greater good of our fleet. There are people who go into other professions though. I have afew nieces and an aunt of my own that are medical staff and teacher. W-What... What about you?" She says as she to him, not seeming to get over the fact that he was practically eye to eye with her.

Sysglow mentally slapped herself for using that term, it would of course not be one that was understood by Gallek or any other members of this fleet. So she sighed, "Sorry, poor word to use there. I suppose in this instance what it would mean is 'moral'. Maintaining a sense of self and a position in society. All the same, seems your lot are generally okay then. Limiting too much implantation is a good idea. Too many folks running around with too much metal in their bodies is a risky thing. Guess however not all too much can be done about the black market, as that is always an insidious force in the background. Best just hope Apex doesn't try and get in on that. They have cybernetics they like to use, primarily for their cars, but also just to fuel adrenaline highs."

With that aside, Sysglow felt she was generally familiar with the controls now, and then gave Gallek a nod, "Got it. Let's give this thing a little test run, see how it feels." The Ialao then locked down the cockpit once Gallek hopped off, quickly checking everything once more just to be careful. And if all was well, she followed the instructions, lifting the controls up and pushing in, directing the Schooner forward towards the hanger exit, aiming to carefully take off into the ether.

Commander Ilox followed Mithra into the corridor, amused at the gravity lift system not seeming to fully work in the ether at first. All the same, she got in, and then nodded to Mithra, "You're welcome. And we are indeed of the same mind here, this isn't exactly what I would call a normal circumstance." She then went to sit down for herself, giving a sigh, "You're not wrong, and that's one of the main reasons I'm allowing this to happen so suddenly at all. Since believe me, I am also not in the habit of just letting my subordinates flirt with other military personnel that we have just met. And if it was somebody I didn't trust, I would've shut this down. The second main reason I am letting this happen is because I do know Maltoi, so I can trust he won't screw this up. He's a good person. And you're right about all the things there are to gain. As I've mentioned before, a good relationship with your people would be quite handy for my fleet. Simply because we need friends, and we need help if we are to do well. Not exactly skilled in the nomad life after all."

Back with Maltoi and Fraph, the Taurus remained quite jovial. He smiled at having guessed somewhat correctly, giving a nod, "Keeping up a family tradition then! And based on what I've heard, you're upholding that tradition very well! Doing your blood proud, taking on an important leadership role. As for me, well... My family, guess I'll call it the Alnix clan since that's my last name, isn't so prestigious. I'm from an Agriworld, and most of my family members remain on my homeworld. Farmers, a lot of them, with some going into some higher professions like piloting cargo ships or being teachers. My dad is a farmer, although my mom was actually an engineer. I'm sorta an exception in my family, going into the military. It's not very unusual for members of my species to become soldiers, we're pretty good at it, but my family doesn't have a military tradition. Still, I hope to make my family proud! Like I bet you have, Baroness." Maltoi smiled widely. It was a bit weird for him to actually have somebody on his size as well, but he was taking it well, smiling and maintaining eye contact. He then rubbed the back of his head as he thought back to his family, "I'm sure my dad would be impressed with where I am, and my mom would understand that it's a bit difficult to visit right now under the circumstances. Although I think my mom's biggest concern would be the fact I ain't married yet... How about your parents? What are they like?"

House of vengeance

The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

Honour guard wrote:Going back to the settlement doesn't sound like a terrible idea... Filia thinks to herself as she starts to walk over to the sleeping prince. "Yeah I'd say he's been asleep for long enough. He can rest on the way back." She says as she kneels down beside the gelatinous form of the Changeling Prince. Like he was, it was hard to tell if he was even alive before she poked him with a finger charged with Psionic lightning, no more than getting a static shock.

That certainly woke the prince up quick as he yelped and flew up to the ceiling, his strange body morphing and trying to hide itself as a ceiling fan before he looked around. Seeing his was amongst friends plus an extra person he hesitantly turned into his Firstborn form and dusts down his suit. "Was that really necessary Filia?"

Filia was grinning ear to ear with a nod "Completely~"

Harlock just seemed to scowl half heartedly, knowing she wasn't doing it to be mean to him, just to get a reaction out of him because she needed to keep herself stable in this loony situation they were in. So, with a sigh he just shakes it off and looks to Jazmin with a smile before he looks to the new addition. "And who might you be miss? And... Where are we for that matter?" Harlock looked around at his surroundings taking it all in.

-----

"Oh sneaking out won't be a problem, between our abilities it would be pretty easy to cause afew distractions worthy of aiding in our slipping away. But yeah, getting back in would be far tougher without simply brute forcing it." Seph smiles back as he pushes his chair out and stood up with her as she seemingly paid for their meal. "Well of course I brought my formals. I have the opportunity to represent my people out here ontop of getting to experience the rich culture with you." He says as he walks beside her, wondering what her suit looks like as he thinks on what kind of image they want to project in going to meet this Duchess.

Military formals would certainly get across a more militaristic message... 'We're here for business and shouldn't be messed around with'. So maybe something more like a suit and dress would have the Duchess relaxing. Sephus thought to himself, though from where she immediately took him, watching as she orders her formals to be sent to a certain address, he can only feel sorry for a certain Creach Duchess right around now for the panic attack they were going to give her at that dinner party.

Sephus follows her back out onto the street as he just smirks down at her "We're going to give that poor woman a nervous breakdown. As for what we should do now, I'm not sure. Before all this we were just going around looking at stuff, now we're waiting on your arm and your formals... Is there anything in the way of entertainment around here?"

Jazmin watched with much curiosity, especially when the prince transformed himself into a ceiling fan. Which garnered a small chuckle from her. She watched with a large grin and a sneer behind her teeth.
Elise watched with a small amount of curiosity but remained unfazed, "Doctor Elise Stanislavovna. Your friends here saved me from my cell here."
Jazmin chipped in, "yes, she's the doctor responsible for creating the AI you encountered. She was arrested by this planet's government because they were scared her AI was programmed, but the doctor never intended the thing to be anything other than an energy management system. We're currently underground in an abandoned military base." She walked for a nearby door, "I think we'll be leaving now though. We're going to head back to the human settlement and find our way off this planet for good."

-

Liline rubbed her chin and thought for a moment, "entertainment on Tir Creachdair... hm. Well there's always the cinemas, but I don't know that I particularly want to watch a movie at this moment. But as for our dear duchess, I'm certain she'll feel nervous under the collar but these stripes always need a good show of force to put them into place. They're a shrewd and strong people. They value honor above everything... well maybe not money, they valuie that a lot." It was true, Sephus had seen... more banks and financial institutions here than he had in any other place he'd ever been. There were huge firms, banks, branches, and funds on every street it seemed. Most of the tall buildings here bore names like Abercrombie, White, Lindsay, & Lean Financial, Hall-Grant Incorporated, Sceloeia Holdings, and Cameron Investments. These institutions were everywhere in the city and had been seen all over the city by Sephus nearly everywhere they stepped. The Creach really were a people good with money. "The duchess will appreciate our show of rank and authority."

House of vengeance

L empire

Sakiris
It had been several weeks, sense the revelation and negotiations had been concluded. The past several weeks have been a definite blur, first the Lord Knight had kept his word, and had made the other two aliens keep to their word to not interfere with the lands of Eftayla and Harai. They were extremely strange men, the leader of the race identified as the Dynas, The most honorable Musie, stood at eight feet of height and wore upon his chitin and jagged like a skin a robe of brown over what looked like battle armor, they see back from their home, his appearance was also quite horrifying at first resembling an odd insectoid like creature, but when he spoke, he spoke in calm rhymes and metaphors, he acted humble and respectful to Harai and Eftalya the entire time. The other leader was far less...kind. He stood at six feet of height, he was a rat looking individual, with giant fangs stretching and jutting out of his horrific jaw which was wrapped in rotting goz tape. His fur was matted, torn and covered in unknown substances and his eyes were replaced with two massive mechanical steel plates, which were screwed upon its face, and glowed red. He was hunchback, with dozens of mechanical arms and surgical tools sticking out of his hunch. He draped himself with purple robe, trimmed with black and carried a staff, which looked like volts of electricity, mixed with a spiralling DNA helix. This leader, the representative of the Kryss species, was far less kind, and seemed to be annoyed to be there. But also seemed dismissive to the plight of Eftayla and Harai, but also curious, as several times during the meeting, Harai could feel the rat man's gaze fall upon him.

But that had been weeks ago, and the final negotiations had been set, with the territorial sovereignty of Eftayla and Harai respected in the final treaty. Thus began the waiting game, Harai and Eftayla were given special rooms in the Queen's palace and were treated just like royalty, sometimes at night the Queen would take them out to walk across the sandy shores of the palace, and reminisce about her childhood. The freed slaves were each accommodated with housing, unfortunately having to live with for a few weeks with Cypherian families, which often gave mixed results, to say the least. All this occurred, as the armies of the Confederation began preparing for war, on the Dynar the Musie called for best regiments from the three ethno klans. Upon Cypherius the space fleets began preparations of space combat, and began preparing board manuevers, while the Cypherian army began training excercises expecting anything from this alien world. And in the giant industrial mega cathedral forges, near the core of Opushinye, the homeworld of the Kryss, factory workers worked twenty four hour shifts, pumping out gene craft, tanks, bombs and war supplies for the upcoming conflict, chanting their psalms with each crack of the hammer on the forge, with the Patriárchis Epistimón the grand leader of the Kryss declaring this crusade to be a testing ground for the Telikós epistimonikós agónas.

And in the matter of three weeks, the war supplies had been assembled, and now stood in front of Eftayla and Harai, were dozens of ships, some tiny, others larger then the tallest buildings of this mysterious world, and all of them were being loaded. They could see tens of thousands of Cypherians boarding ships draped in jackets of blue and white, they were checking their rifles, as large wheeled vehicles brought supplies aboard. They could see streams of the odd chitin looking people, they marched in unison, each wearing armor that was similar at home, they marched carrying a magnificent banner of a tree which seemed to intermingle with a star, they seemed to look at the Cypherians before boarding, almost suspiciously. Then there were the rat people, the first people to board the ships were cloaked priests, draped in robes of light blue. muttering prayers of enlightenment, of blessings of the God of Science. Soon came streams of soldiers, some looked crazed, carrying guns larger than Eftayla, others wore large black masks which covered her entire face and walked with large crates, and what looked like odd cyclical tubes strapped behind their backs. Next were hundreds upon thousands of machine soldiers, all led by the caste of priest, and behind this was a circus of horrors, as malnourished rat folk, with what looked to be buckets nailed to their heads, with signs painted with the word “sinner.” covering their chess, dragged massive metal crates, the smallest was 25, by 25, the largest was almost 100 by 100, they dragged these metal crates, which roared and shrieked, abominable creatures sitting inside them.

The Kryss passed by the Dynas and Cypherians, giving them a cold, and bleak stare before boarding the ships. It was an...interesting sight to say the least, as they looked upon the gathering armies. Eftayla then felt a gloved hand rest upon her shoulder. It was the Queen, she sighed as she looked upon the gathering war fleet. She be coming along, to make sure a peaceful transition occurred once the land was claimed, the Lord Knight tried to urge her not to, but she still assisted to come, to keep her new vassals company on this long journey. Thus the Lord Knight himself had pledged that he lead the Campaign with two other Seraphs by his side, they would guide the Crusade of Gabriels fist, as it had been so deemed. Suis sighed as she watched upon the assembling armies, her face filled with both excitement and fear. “You know this will be the first time landing upon a different world.” She said with an odd look. “Well, I’ve been into space before and have been to confederation meetings, but those were never upon the surface, usually in the most luxury of stations.” she said as she looked upon Eftalya and Harai and sighed. “Well your world won’t be waiting forever, come on the capital ship is this way.” she said with a smile as she trotted along, her flowery sun dress fluttering in the wind as her sandals clapped against the concrete of the load station, her suitcase trembling behind her, as she excitedly beckoned Eftayla and Harai to follow her, to the largest ship of the bunch.

Sakiris

House of vengeance

Iammelon wrote:Sysglow mentally slapped herself for using that term, it would of course not be one that was understood by Gallek or any other members of this fleet. So she sighed, "Sorry, poor word to use there. I suppose in this instance what it would mean is 'moral'. Maintaining a sense of self and a position in society. All the same, seems your lot are generally okay then. Limiting too much implantation is a good idea. Too many folks running around with too much metal in their bodies is a risky thing. Guess however not all too much can be done about the black market, as that is always an insidious force in the background. Best just hope Apex doesn't try and get in on that. They have cybernetics they like to use, primarily for their cars, but also just to fuel adrenaline highs."

With that aside, Sysglow felt she was generally familiar with the controls now, and then gave Gallek a nod, "Got it. Let's give this thing a little test run, see how it feels." The Ialao then locked down the cockpit once Gallek hopped off, quickly checking everything once more just to be careful. And if all was well, she followed the instructions, lifting the controls up and pushing in, directing the Schooner forward towards the hanger exit, aiming to carefully take off into the ether.

Commander Ilox followed Mithra into the corridor, amused at the gravity lift system not seeming to fully work in the ether at first. All the same, she got in, and then nodded to Mithra, "You're welcome. And we are indeed of the same mind here, this isn't exactly what I would call a normal circumstance." She then went to sit down for herself, giving a sigh, "You're not wrong, and that's one of the main reasons I'm allowing this to happen so suddenly at all. Since believe me, I am also not in the habit of just letting my subordinates flirt with other military personnel that we have just met. And if it was somebody I didn't trust, I would've shut this down. The second main reason I am letting this happen is because I do know Maltoi, so I can trust he won't screw this up. He's a good person. And you're right about all the things there are to gain. As I've mentioned before, a good relationship with your people would be quite handy for my fleet. Simply because we need friends, and we need help if we are to do well. Not exactly skilled in the nomad life after all."

Back with Maltoi and Fraph, the Taurus remained quite jovial. He smiled at having guessed somewhat correctly, giving a nod, "Keeping up a family tradition then! And based on what I've heard, you're upholding that tradition very well! Doing your blood proud, taking on an important leadership role. As for me, well... My family, guess I'll call it the Alnix clan since that's my last name, isn't so prestigious. I'm from an Agriworld, and most of my family members remain on my homeworld. Farmers, a lot of them, with some going into some higher professions like piloting cargo ships or being teachers. My dad is a farmer, although my mom was actually an engineer. I'm sorta an exception in my family, going into the military. It's not very unusual for members of my species to become soldiers, we're pretty good at it, but my family doesn't have a military tradition. Still, I hope to make my family proud! Like I bet you have, Baroness." Maltoi smiled widely. It was a bit weird for him to actually have somebody on his size as well, but he was taking it well, smiling and maintaining eye contact. He then rubbed the back of his head as he thought back to his family, "I'm sure my dad would be impressed with where I am, and my mom would understand that it's a bit difficult to visit right now under the circumstances. Although I think my mom's biggest concern would be the fact I ain't married yet... How about your parents? What are they like?"

As Gallek departed to get into his Schooner, reading systems and starting to take off from the hanger to guide the good Captain around, he had a lot to think about thanks to Sysglow and her wary words of these Apex punks. From the sounds of it this won't be the last he hears of them. Their cybernetics sounded bad too, something as simple as a adrenaline high would tempt too many in the sometimes dismal life that comes with working endlessly to keep century old vessels running on patchwork retrofits and ramshackle jobs of integrating alien tech to compensate for ancient systems. He know that plenty like him will be tempted to take offers of implants like those...

He taps away at the console before him as he steers the Captain out of the moving hanger into the asteroid field haven that they are currently hidden away after the attack from Apex, they move around for a reason. All around them were vessels moving to and fro from operation to operation, schooner teams and cruisers running operations to keep micro-asteroids from piercing the hulls of the more vulnerable ships within the fleets protective perimeter with numerous gun runs and erecting special fields to catch them.

Gallek kept his craft at a steady pace for the moment as he transmitted a signal to all nearby vessels with approval that he was running fighter testing. Not really lying but they might get watched too much if he puts in that an alien was piloting one of their craft. "How is the Sysglow doing back there? Handling the controls alright?"

Mithra was happy with her reassurances that Maltoi was someone she trusted, he still had plenty of cause to be wary of course but with this he can be happy knowing that things can be handled better with both of their acceptance in this rather hairbrained scheme they've haphazardly cooked up between them. "I'm glad, I'm rather protective of my family, you have to be in our clan. All sorts of weirdoes with vendettas and lower clans with dreams of leeching off of us targets any young, impressionable or naïve member of our family they can see. And for as much of a genius my aunt is... She isn't great with dealing with people with ulterior motives. That's why I'm here-" Mithra was being rather open with this information, most likely as a promise and an assurance that whatever way the coins ends up, things for either of them will be handled. Ilox doesn't know this but Mithra's mother was an assassin for the House of Shadows, while Fraph was her intelligence officer. While his father was a mighty Gat Crasher, a demo expert that had an equally fiery personality to match. Mithra got the best of both worlds in that scenario, a cunny mind that can be fuelled by explosive motivation to get things done.

"-To take care of said weirdoes and creeps with ulterior motives of using her. My mother might yell at me for this but I want this to work between our people. It doesn't just help with relations but I'm hoping some of his attitude will rub off on her, aunty Fraph isn't quite so... Bold. She's too cautious, that's how Apex managed to break through our lines in the first place. She kept too much back and then got baited to open up a hole. So I'm hoping he'll help her grow, learn to be more courageous." It certainly sounded like a gamble, but it looked like he was more concerned with helping his aunt grow as a person than simply helping her be a better fleet security chief. Which seemed like a very 'Mithra' thing to do despite the fact they just met.

The tram soon clattered to a slow stop, the doors to the tram opening to let them off as Mithra took that que to stand up. "If this works our two peoples will become closer, it'll be awhile before we can call you allies or even family but right now it will be a much needed thrill that everyone needs. Friendly aliens that are happy to see us? We haven't seen that in generations." Mithra says as he walked off the tram, the large maintenance doors opening up to hallway leading to the bridge with it also leading to a exterior airlock and several crew quarters.

Back in the hanger Fraph was losing feeling in her hands from how red her face was with all these compliments Maltoi was giving her, how could her body possible keep up after so many times her heart has skipped a beat already! Though she got quite engrossed in Maltoi's explanation of his family, his clan. She didn't know what an 'Agriworld' was but to then hear that he came from farmers and even an engineer she was certainly surprised. She knew many like him in her time in the military, lots of agricultural workers joining the fleets military to help their clanless parents. Though then when she was engrossed he embarrassed her so with his pesky compliments again, being able to make her blush this much HAS to be a crime somewhere. She was getting to the point where she was half covering her face with her hands to hide how red her face had gotten under her breather. "Th-Th-Thank you Maltoi! I hope I am doing them proud. A-And I'm sure your clan is more than proud of you." Though now he was talking about something that was nagging at her, she had heard from her Nephew that they were a fleet that got away from a civil war in their home system or some sort. She was wondering if everyone in Ilox's fleet was in a similar situation as Maltoi, unable to get home with the outcome...

Though that sombre thought was distracted by his question. "E-Eh? My parents... Oh my they're retired by now. They live on the head family estate on the Main Liveship. My father was a Splicer specialist and my mother is still technically active as a Xeno-data analyst. My dad saw active military service, so did my mother but she was more part time since she was needed to decrypt the languages of alien species."

Sakiris

L empire wrote:Sakiris
It had been several weeks, sense the revelation and negotiations had been concluded. The past several weeks have been a definite blur, first the Lord Knight had kept his word, and had made the other two aliens keep to their word to not interfere with the lands of Eftayla and Harai. They were extremely strange men, the leader of the race identified as the Dynas, The most honorable Musie, stood at eight feet of height and wore upon his chitin and jagged like a skin a robe of brown over what looked like battle armor, they see back from their home, his appearance was also quite horrifying at first resembling an odd insectoid like creature, but when he spoke, he spoke in calm rhymes and metaphors, he acted humble and respectful to Harai and Eftalya the entire time. The other leader was far less...kind. He stood at six feet of height, he was a rat looking individual, with giant fangs stretching and jutting out of his horrific jaw which was wrapped in rotting goz tape. His fur was matted, torn and covered in unknown substances and his eyes were replaced with two massive mechanical steel plates, which were screwed upon its face, and glowed red. He was hunchback, with dozens of mechanical arms and surgical tools sticking out of his hunch. He draped himself with purple robe, trimmed with black and carried a staff, which looked like volts of electricity, mixed with a spiralling DNA helix. This leader, the representative of the Kryss species, was far less kind, and seemed to be annoyed to be there. But also seemed dismissive to the plight of Eftayla and Harai, but also curious, as several times during the meeting, Harai could feel the rat man's gaze fall upon him.

But that had been weeks ago, and the final negotiations had been set, with the territorial sovereignty of Eftayla and Harai respected in the final treaty. Thus began the waiting game, Harai and Eftayla were given special rooms in the Queen's palace and were treated just like royalty, sometimes at night the Queen would take them out to walk across the sandy shores of the palace, and reminisce about her childhood. The freed slaves were each accommodated with housing, unfortunately having to live with for a few weeks with Cypherian families, which often gave mixed results, to say the least. All this occurred, as the armies of the Confederation began preparing for war, on the Dynar the Musie called for best regiments from the three ethno klans. Upon Cypherius the space fleets began preparations of space combat, and began preparing board manuevers, while the Cypherian army began training excercises expecting anything from this alien world. And in the giant industrial mega cathedral forges, near the core of Opushinye, the homeworld of the Kryss, factory workers worked twenty four hour shifts, pumping out gene craft, tanks, bombs and war supplies for the upcoming conflict, chanting their psalms with each crack of the hammer on the forge, with the Patriárchis Epistimón the grand leader of the Kryss declaring this crusade to be a testing ground for the Telikós epistimonikós agónas.

And in the matter of three weeks, the war supplies had been assembled, and now stood in front of Eftayla and Harai, were dozens of ships, some tiny, others larger then the tallest buildings of this mysterious world, and all of them were being loaded. They could see tens of thousands of Cypherians boarding ships draped in jackets of blue and white, they were checking their rifles, as large wheeled vehicles brought supplies aboard. They could see streams of the odd chitin looking people, they marched in unison, each wearing armor that was similar at home, they marched carrying a magnificent banner of a tree which seemed to intermingle with a star, they seemed to look at the Cypherians before boarding, almost suspiciously. Then there were the rat people, the first people to board the ships were cloaked priests, draped in robes of light blue. muttering prayers of enlightenment, of blessings of the God of Science. Soon came streams of soldiers, some looked crazed, carrying guns larger than Eftayla, others wore large black masks which covered her entire face and walked with large crates, and what looked like odd cyclical tubes strapped behind their backs. Next were hundreds upon thousands of machine soldiers, all led by the caste of priest, and behind this was a circus of horrors, as malnourished rat folk, with what looked to be buckets nailed to their heads, with signs painted with the word “sinner.” covering their chess, dragged massive metal crates, the smallest was 25, by 25, the largest was almost 100 by 100, they dragged these metal crates, which roared and shrieked, abominable creatures sitting inside them.

The Kryss passed by the Dynas and Cypherians, giving them a cold, and bleak stare before boarding the ships. It was an...interesting sight to say the least, as they looked upon the gathering armies. Eftayla then felt a gloved hand rest upon her shoulder. It was the Queen, she sighed as she looked upon the gathering war fleet. She be coming along, to make sure a peaceful transition occurred once the land was claimed, the Lord Knight tried to urge her not to, but she still assisted to come, to keep her new vassals company on this long journey. Thus the Lord Knight himself had pledged that he lead the Campaign with two other Seraphs by his side, they would guide the Crusade of Gabriels fist, as it had been so deemed. Suis sighed as she watched upon the assembling armies, her face filled with both excitement and fear. “You know this will be the first time landing upon a different world.” She said with an odd look. “Well, I’ve been into space before and have been to confederation meetings, but those were never upon the surface, usually in the most luxury of stations.” she said as she looked upon Eftalya and Harai and sighed. “Well your world won’t be waiting forever, come on the capital ship is this way.” she said with a smile as she trotted along, her flowery sun dress fluttering in the wind as her sandals clapped against the concrete of the load station, her suitcase trembling behind her, as she excitedly beckoned Eftayla and Harai to follow her, to the largest ship of the bunch.

Cast By Fire:

Part 36:

The ship, was massive... they all were, even the smallest among them rivaled the largest Eftalya or Harai had ever seen. The army was massive, the vermin men, some reminiscent of the Prawns back home, even they stood tall. The gravity of it all... was too heavy to take in for Eftalya, she'd barely understood a tenth of what was occurring, she was never educated well in military manners, her husband however. He was strapped in his old Dynastar plate armor, worn over thick clothing, hardly covering anything else but his chest. The Breast plate, which was the only piece that remained of his old set, was severely deformed after being fired upon by slaver slug throwers, leaving hideous craters that ground away at the intricate engravings on the surface of the silvery metal. Even with such deformities, Harai would wear nothing else but his tattered breastplate and his old Dynast. He understood well, most of what he had seen for the last three weeks, impressed at the speed with which so many resources and manpower could be mustered at such short notice. On Sakiris, for a great lord to gather his host of a hundred thousand men would take months before he could set off with his full force. Resources and manpower aside, the ships themselves were impressive enough to behold, and he was sure that the guns upon them could wipe cities from the surface of any world.

Eftalya stood with him, wearing a white dress stretching down to her feet, supple cloth flowing with the breath of the wind. Out of place from her dress, she wore a belt leather sword belt, on which Hatarratai, Otun's family Dynast, was encased in its old black Loh-A'lud leather sheath, worn with age and onry for blood. It was the sword of a warrior family, baptized in blood for over 300 years, sitting on the hip of a meek and pale young woman. She fingered the pommel and thought of Otun, her second and closest father figure, who made her promise her return. And so she would, but at what cost? The thought had bothered her for the last three weeks after she'd abandoned her old oaths, throwing away her sacred vows to restore her honor, throwing away one honor for another it seemed. But what's done is done, and now it was certain she'd see her home again, only now with an army at her back.

Part 37:

Otun and Natun were standing on the highest tower on the fortress Kataan'Hallah, observing from above under the starlight of the eternal night sky of Nocte Khur, the long line of lights that stretched for miles, slowing slithering into the large town surrounding the fortress. The distinct sound of marching steps were heard overlapping one another as company after company of Sakirai and slave soldiers stomped over the sands, their weapons clanking against their armors, their pole arms waving back and forth with their movement, banners flapping in the wind.

"You came too late, Otun. Your stunt of saving your people cost me my sanity, languishing at the thought of you being discovered. You came to late!"

Otun scratched his beard and turned his attention to Natun, who kept his gaze on the army marching below.

"I called into service, every lord in my domain. Do you understand how many men that is? 20,000 Sakirai, 30,000 slaves to serve them and to fight needbe, all the beasts of burden, all of them which need to be paid and fed! The sand treaders, the windsails, both of which need to be maintained! Do you understand what your absence has forced me to do?"

Otun did not let go of his gaze upon Natun's face, studying his anger as he watched the army marching across the sands. He sighed, then letting a breath of cold, dry air in through his nose, opening his mouth to speak, "What is done is done. Let us focus on the campaign ahead of us."

"Damn you Otun! Not even a single ounce of regret, nor an apology for your lord..." The old lord grunted

Otun quipped in reply, "I've nothing to regret, and you are not my lord."

"Rather you call that bastard Harai Ibn Harai your lord?"

Otun did not respond

"You and your f*cking loyalty."

Otun quipped again, "It's something you were lacking when you failed to come to our aid, you owe my lord and lady that army marching down below, and you owe them so much more."

Natun turned around and descended the tower in frustration. Otun turned out toward the crenellations of the tower, gazing down at the marching army, taking in the sight of the saviors of his masters. He uttered a small prayer to Sakir they'd return safely, and soon.

L empire

Sakiris wrote:Cast By Fire:

Part 36:

The ship, was massive... they all were, even the smallest among them rivaled the largest Eftalya or Harai had ever seen. The army was massive, the vermin men, some reminiscent of the Prawns back home, even they stood tall. The gravity of it all... was too heavy to take in for Eftalya, she'd barely understood a tenth of what was occurring, she was never educated well in military manners, her husband however. He was strapped in his old Dynastar plate armor, worn over thick clothing, hardly covering anything else but his chest. The Breast plate, which was the only piece that remained of his old set, was severely deformed after being fired upon by slaver slug throwers, leaving hideous craters that ground away at the intricate engravings on the surface of the silvery metal. Even with such deformities, Harai would wear nothing else but his tattered breastplate and his old Dynast. He understood well, most of what he had seen for the last three weeks, impressed at the speed with which so many resources and manpower could be mustered at such short notice. On Sakiris, for a great lord to gather his host of a hundred thousand men would take months before he could set off with his full force. Resources and manpower aside, the ships themselves were impressive enough to behold, and he was sure that the guns upon them could wipe cities from the surface of any world.

Eftalya stood with him, wearing a white dress stretching down to her feet, supple cloth flowing with the breath of the wind. Out of place from her dress, she wore a belt leather sword belt, on which Hatarratai, Otun's family Dynast, was encased in its old black Loh-A'lud leather sheath, worn with age and onry for blood. It was the sword of a warrior family, baptized in blood for over 300 years, sitting on the hip of a meek and pale young woman. She fingered the pommel and thought of Otun, her second and closest father figure, who made her promise her return. And so she would, but at what cost? The thought had bothered her for the last three weeks after she'd abandoned her old oaths, throwing away her sacred vows to restore her honor, throwing away one honor for another it seemed. But what's done is done, and now it was certain she'd see her home again, only now with an army at her back.

Part 37:

Otun and Natun were standing on the highest tower on the fortress Kataan'Hallah, observing from above under the starlight of the eternal night sky of Nocte Khur, the long line of lights that stretched for miles, slowing slithering into the large town surrounding the fortress. The distinct sound of marching steps were heard overlapping one another as company after company of Sakirai and slave soldiers stomped over the sands, their weapons clanking against their armors, their pole arms waving back and forth with their movement, banners flapping in the wind.

"You came too late, Otun. Your stunt of saving your people cost me my sanity, languishing at the thought of you being discovered. You came to late!"

Otun scratched his beard and turned his attention to Natun, who kept his gaze on the army marching below.

"I called into service, every lord in my domain. Do you understand how many men that is? 20,000 Sakirai, 30,000 slaves to serve them and to fight needbe, all the beasts of burden, all of them which need to be paid and fed! The sand treaders, the windsails, both of which need to be maintained! Do you understand what your absence has forced me to do?"

Otun did not let go of his gaze upon Natun's face, studying his anger as he watched the army marching across the sands. He sighed, then letting a breath of cold, dry air in through his nose, opening his mouth to speak, "What is done is done. Let us focus on the campaign ahead of us."

"Damn you Otun! Not even a single ounce of regret, nor an apology for your lord..." The old lord grunted

Otun quipped in reply, "I've nothing to regret, and you are not my lord."

"Rather you call that bastard Harai Ibn Harai your lord?"

Otun did not respond

"You and your f*cking loyalty."

Otun quipped again, "It's something you were lacking when you failed to come to our aid, you owe my lord and lady that army marching down below, and you owe them so much more."

Natun turned around and descended the tower in frustration. Otun turned out toward the crenellations of the tower, gazing down at the marching army, taking in the sight of the saviors of his masters. He uttered a small prayer to Sakir they'd return safely, and soon.

They would board the ship the Queen followed with them as the guards stood by them in defense, the inside was definitely interesting, there were seven floors, four of them seem to be for living purposes that they could tell, and each was made in a different architecture. The first residential floor they stepped into was dark, cavern-like with massive stone gothic angels, who held onto strains of DNA, they stood twelve feet in height each, and lined the walls. The walls were arches, with bizarre paintings in between each arch, depicting rat men battling tall multi armed white humanoid beast. It showed pictures of demons tearing the rat men apart, and lines of workers getting whipped, by a rat man in a long purple robe. They passed by dozens of halls, which intersected with each other, and made the entire floor interlocked. They would pass by several rooms, who had massive, white doors, with painted glass paines, they depicted the art of an angel slowly drilling into a rat man's...skull. Above each door read Operatsionnyy teatr. They could see through the glass windows silhouettes of figures, holding lone and sharp tools, and bringing them down into a writhing, screaming body which seemed to beg for mercy “Mama, gde ty, POZHALUYSTA, KTO-TO PRIVESTI MAT' MAT.” the writhing figure screamed. They could look over and see the Queen starting to grow pale and a little sick, before muttering something under her breath as she strode forward. “Come on the stairway to the second floor is just this way.” she said as she looked back to the room, and did a little sign on her chest, as she muttered a little prayer, and turned into the next hallway, where the staircase was right ahead.
As they approached the staircase, they saw a door swung open, and a purple robed figure stepped out. The guards immediately raised their rifles, in reaction, fear swelling across their faces. The purple robed figure, who half of his face's fur seemed to be completely gone, leaving a naked scabbed up, scarred red tissue. He simply looked at them, bore his jagged, half cracked fangs and shut the door, carrying something in his hands as he made a solemn walk to another room, across the hall. They could only see a few things in the poorly lit hall, but what they could see was a massive statue of an angry looking robed man, who held a vial of some mystery liquid in one, and a helix of DNA in the other, this statue looked over a long, table covered in a simple white cloth, which had a simple red DNA helix, wrapped in electricity volts of blue, surrounded in a gear of rusted red. The Queen didn't feel comfortable being in this floor any longer and quickly bolted up the stairs muttering slightly out loud. “Kryss and there damn science fetish, will be the ruination of us all I swear.” she said, in a mixture of sadness, anger and annoyance.

As they walked up the stairs, they encountered a far more pleasant floor. Similar in layout as the first, but was astetically far different, the walls of the room were a yellow glaze, with swirling pinks and reds, forming galaxies and stars of wonder, which would then swirl to become beautiful blue and golden planets, which swirled then to make more dust, which would repeat the pattern over again. They could notice the roof was tall, but not like the one in the floor below, which was massive to give off an intimidating aura around, which struck awe and fear. This one was massive, but off an aura of wonder, as streaks of green and yellow swirled across the ginormous stone pillars, which eventually reached to the tiled roof, and they interlocked to form little painted trees of yellow and green. As they passed by, rooms whos door’s resembled a fine knitting of paper and silk. They continued pass, open rooms. Which were of a simple yellow, with giant mats in the middle, where the chitin men clashed with wooden swords, obviously training, and they trained brilliantly and elegantly. With quick swipes, dashes and large smacks. They then saw one glow yellow, their sword as well as they chanted some strange words. They then dashed like lighting forward, there opponent being caught off guard and smacked to the ground as the glowing man crashed the wooden sword into his side and put him to the ground. After a few seconds of intense breathing, he reached out his hand and pulled his opponent up, they both bowed, and then got back into fighting stance. The Queen seemed to look at them, and it looked to almost seem to be judgemental, which was quite odd, and as they walked up the stairs they could see that the spiral of colors they viewed earlier, formed an outline of a robed man.

She continued up the stairs, and there they reached the floor, which they recognize the most, as it looked quite similar to the palace, well except the fact that the floor and walls were steel, but architecture wise still quite similar. It looked quite classical, and was a plain smooth white all across. Every five feet they could see, statues of dominant, valiant and proper women in dresses. The Queen looked upon them in awe and smiled at each one. Soldiers were mingling about some in uniform, some weren’t. All though immediately saluted once the queen walked passed, and returned to there small talk, which mostly was about the local sports team, or what they did that weekend. Some reminiscent about there husbands at home, and prayed to Gabriel they didn’t cheat on them, while they were gone, and they all stared at Eftayla and Harai, as they walked by, some of them complimented her on her dress, while others just stared.

Eventually they reached a large red wall, covered in velvet carpet, with a hanged portrait of the Queen there. She sighed, in joy and spoke. “your rooms on the right. I will be right down the hall, if you need anything. I would also say there is a viewing window in your room, don’t worry its blast proof to avoid like pirate attacks. We’ll be space bound in ten minutes, and I might just say, your first time looking down is always amazing.” she said in joy, as she skipped off to her room, with a pep in her step.

Above on the bridge

In the large deck of the ship, the admiral sat in her chair looking over various charts with Lord Knight 1;1. The green and blue flickering lights of the many monitors which crew members worked at lighting up the generally dark space around them. The admiral looked confused as she stared at the complex map, this would be one of the longest both time and distance, journey in Cypherian history, so she had to use every ounce of her knowledge to try to put together the best path, but she couldn’t do it as much as she tried, it was all so confusing, the streams were all wrong it was just so maddening...how did those slavers ever get here, she did not know. While the Admirals brain tried to plot such a long route, the Lord Knight looked at the star map in intrigue, his ethereal eyes wandered across all the stream ways, and passages they could take, a mortal man who's spent years studying ether maps would take weeks to find a quick trip to this mysterious world, but his brain was of no mortal man. His eyes slicked across the map, carefully charting the route and estimating the time.
“Three Days and four hours.” he says blanky and emotionlessly. The admiral looks at him in awe and weakly says. “what?” , he looked down at her and she naturally tighten up in fear. He simply blinked and then looked back up and took a little holopen and began drawing the path out, it was complex, with loops and bizarre turns and angles. But...it all worked out, it was the shortest path there is. “See three days and four hours.” he said as he began walking away back to his chambers. The Admiral blinked and submitted the path to all captains in the fleet and set course for the planet of sakiris. The massive boosters of the ships beginning to take off as they lifted into the sky and out of the atmosphere.

L empire

Triporea

Kppphh, Kaaaa, Kppph, Kaaa, is all that Gregor could hear from his synthetic ears, as his gas mask automatically filtered out the atmosphere and replaced it with a bitter, horrendously tasting, artificial oxygen, which helped him breath on the surface, especially during uranium storms, which he could sense were about to come. The ground beneath him was a familiar gray, with cracks of radioactive black and green rock forming a toxic, cell destroying mindfield across the stone. Kpphhh, Kaaa, Kpph, Kaaa. His mask once agan echoed through the lonely and silent platough, as he felt the energy pack of his Luch istrebleniya, weigh heavily against his back, as he held the muzzle of the raygun up, looking around the desolate land of his home world, waiting, anticipating something to come up to put his simple scientific mission at extreme risk. As another dose of the disgusting false oxygen flowed through his mouth, he took a quick look over to the rest of his team. He looked to his left and there stood Dryzislav taking steady and powerful steps as he stepped around the toxic green rocks. Dryzislav was a tall man, his fur the little that was revealed, poking through their total body suits, was as dark as the cavernous expanse that they were born in. He carried on his back a large rifle, and slung around his chest, were various mutagenic and toxic bullets. A single shot from those could kill a normal man in seconds, either by rapid cancerous mutation, or being infected with radioactive or biogenetic disease. Unfortunately for some megafauna, on there Gabriel forsaken rock that would not be enough to bring one of them down.

To his left stood Jovan, compared to the giant Dryzislav, was a meek erratic creature, who preferred to run all fours, preferring to use the ancient ways of travel, over...walking. Jovan, though as erratic as he was, was still useful, for he was an expert in the use of the extremely dangerous annigilyatsionnaya pushka. A fearsome and highly unstable machine, which spit out a substance known as annigilyatsionnayium, a substance rumored to be able to even disintegrate the soul once it hits the body. Behind them stood their team leader, Father Petrov, an old and fragile man, who seemed to never leave his holy robes. He would always walk solemnly, even in combat, he would be solemn, always muttering prayers, self flagellating with electric whips, which he always kept in his robe pocket, along with various surgical tools for any sudden “Holy Procedure Ceremony.”, the idea of those saws and knives digging into him made him shiver slightly. Upon the fathers cupped hands which were in deep prayer, he wore gauntlets of pure electricitiy, which sizzled and hissed as they jolted and charged, searing his hands. Yet the father kept walking, ignoring the constant searing paint.

Now why were they out here, it was simple, some high ups in the Svyashchennyy otdel astral'nykh blagosloveniy Gavriila, were seeking some more research on the Uranium storms. So it of course fell upon the runts of the Lord Gabriel' Samyy Bozhestvennyy i Svyatoy Orden Rytsarey Nauki. And of course his team, were the runts that were picked. It annoyed him how it seems that his team, was always picked for the most simple task, but he knew complaining about that would get him a visit from the Issledovateli ratsional'nosti, and a bullet through his brain or worse…

Gregor shivered once again at the prospect, and continued to walk, the noise of gas mask, ventitliating the oxygen, all that could fill his ears, and he continued to the tredge through miles, until they reached the border of one of his homeworlds twisted forest. Mutation drenched tree’s, which seemed to stretch infinitely into the skies. They were also home to the Derev'yakotortyan, the tree’s which stretched and wailed.

The Father looked into the sky, and said the first word of the journey. “I can feel the whispers of our Lord Gabriel, this is where the storm shall fall, and this...this most holy of sites, will be where we place our fathers technological blessing, so we can learn more of his powerful guidance.” the father preached, like he was in one of his sermons. Gregor wanted to sigh, but again though of the repercussions and decided against them, he simply looked to Jovan, who jittered his fangs, as his gloved claws jabbed into the dirt, never resting for a second. “Jovan.” Gregor said, his voice deep and mechanical, filtered through both gas mask, and his altered vocal cords. Dryzislav, jittery stood up, his fingers moving energetically as he seemed to look around frantically. “Did you bring the Storm analysis machine?” Gregor spoke, Jovan nodded in a frantic jitter. “I INDEED DID BOSS.” He said, his fangs jagging into each other making an awful scraping noise with each word. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, a cyclical blue tube, with a little green circle sitting ontop. He took and stuck it into the dirt, and there it started to extend upwards, extra pools and sheaves extending from its cylinder base. The father approached it, reaching out his hands to a pad, which had just extended from its base. The father began typing into it, as the thunderous claps of the uranium storm were starting to come in. Dryzislav, put his back to a tree and spoke. “I heard a joke the other day, the Cypherian Queen mets 12 men, 9 months later she gives birth, they do a DNA test, there are thirteen fath-” he was cut off as the analyzer began going off in a frenzy, the father was confused, he looked at the screen, the storm hadn’t rolled in yet, why was the device going into such a frenzy.

Then they saw it, a large fiery red ball of steel, descending down from the heavens above, through the acid filled and toxic atmosphere of their home world, it roared like a skillrax beast, as it shot forward, and descended into the twisted forest of there home world. They all stood in silence and shock, until the father began walking. “Brothers, we have a new task at hand. Whatever that mysterious contraption was, must be filled with new marvels, of our Lords glorious design, we must study it so we can learn more of the divine.” the father preached out loud again, before walking through the woods again, its mile tall, mutated, toxic dripping twisted branches raised into the sky, as the remaining three sighed and began following the father, deep into the twisted forest.

The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

L empire wrote:Triporea

Kppphh, Kaaaa, Kppph, Kaaa, is all that Gregor could hear from his synthetic ears, as his gas mask automatically filtered out the atmosphere and replaced it with a bitter, horrendously tasting, artificial oxygen, which helped him breath on the surface, especially during uranium storms, which he could sense were about to come. The ground beneath him was a familiar gray, with cracks of radioactive black and green rock forming a toxic, cell destroying mindfield across the stone. Kpphhh, Kaaa, Kpph, Kaaa. His mask once agan echoed through the lonely and silent platough, as he felt the energy pack of his Luch istrebleniya, weigh heavily against his back, as he held the muzzle of the raygun up, looking around the desolate land of his home world, waiting, anticipating something to come up to put his simple scientific mission at extreme risk. As another dose of the disgusting false oxygen flowed through his mouth, he took a quick look over to the rest of his team. He looked to his left and there stood Dryzislav taking steady and powerful steps as he stepped around the toxic green rocks. Dryzislav was a tall man, his fur the little that was revealed, poking through their total body suits, was as dark as the cavernous expanse that they were born in. He carried on his back a large rifle, and slung around his chest, were various mutagenic and toxic bullets. A single shot from those could kill a normal man in seconds, either by rapid cancerous mutation, or being infected with radioactive or biogenetic disease. Unfortunately for some megafauna, on there Gabriel forsaken rock that would not be enough to bring one of them down.

To his left stood Jovan, compared to the giant Dryzislav, was a meek erratic creature, who preferred to run all fours, preferring to use the ancient ways of travel, over...walking. Jovan, though as erratic as he was, was still useful, for he was an expert in the use of the extremely dangerous annigilyatsionnaya pushka. A fearsome and highly unstable machine, which spit out a substance known as annigilyatsionnayium, a substance rumored to be able to even disintegrate the soul once it hits the body. Behind them stood their team leader, Father Petrov, an old and fragile man, who seemed to never leave his holy robes. He would always walk solemnly, even in combat, he would be solemn, always muttering prayers, self flagellating with electric whips, which he always kept in his robe pocket, along with various surgical tools for any sudden “Holy Procedure Ceremony.”, the idea of those saws and knives digging into him made him shiver slightly. Upon the fathers cupped hands which were in deep prayer, he wore gauntlets of pure electricitiy, which sizzled and hissed as they jolted and charged, searing his hands. Yet the father kept walking, ignoring the constant searing paint.

Now why were they out here, it was simple, some high ups in the Svyashchennyy otdel astral'nykh blagosloveniy Gavriila, were seeking some more research on the Uranium storms. So it of course fell upon the runts of the Lord Gabriel' Samyy Bozhestvennyy i Svyatoy Orden Rytsarey Nauki. And of course his team, were the runts that were picked. It annoyed him how it seems that his team, was always picked for the most simple task, but he knew complaining about that would get him a visit from the Issledovateli ratsional'nosti, and a bullet through his brain or worse…

Gregor shivered once again at the prospect, and continued to walk, the noise of gas mask, ventitliating the oxygen, all that could fill his ears, and he continued to the tredge through miles, until they reached the border of one of his homeworlds twisted forest. Mutation drenched tree’s, which seemed to stretch infinitely into the skies. They were also home to the Derev'yakotortyan, the tree’s which stretched and wailed.

The Father looked into the sky, and said the first word of the journey. “I can feel the whispers of our Lord Gabriel, this is where the storm shall fall, and this...this most holy of sites, will be where we place our fathers technological blessing, so we can learn more of his powerful guidance.” the father preached, like he was in one of his sermons. Gregor wanted to sigh, but again though of the repercussions and decided against them, he simply looked to Jovan, who jittered his fangs, as his gloved claws jabbed into the dirt, never resting for a second. “Jovan.” Gregor said, his voice deep and mechanical, filtered through both gas mask, and his altered vocal cords. Dryzislav, jittery stood up, his fingers moving energetically as he seemed to look around frantically. “Did you bring the Storm analysis machine?” Gregor spoke, Jovan nodded in a frantic jitter. “I INDEED DID BOSS.” He said, his fangs jagging into each other making an awful scraping noise with each word. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, a cyclical blue tube, with a little green circle sitting ontop. He took and stuck it into the dirt, and there it started to extend upwards, extra pools and sheaves extending from its cylinder base. The father approached it, reaching out his hands to a pad, which had just extended from its base. The father began typing into it, as the thunderous claps of the uranium storm were starting to come in. Dryzislav, put his back to a tree and spoke. “I heard a joke the other day, the Cypherian Queen mets 12 men, 9 months later she gives birth, they do a DNA test, there are thirteen fath-” he was cut off as the analyzer began going off in a frenzy, the father was confused, he looked at the screen, the storm hadn’t rolled in yet, why was the device going into such a frenzy.

Then they saw it, a large fiery red ball of steel, descending down from the heavens above, through the acid filled and toxic atmosphere of their home world, it roared like a skillrax beast, as it shot forward, and descended into the twisted forest of there home world. They all stood in silence and shock, until the father began walking. “Brothers, we have a new task at hand. Whatever that mysterious contraption was, must be filled with new marvels, of our Lords glorious design, we must study it so we can learn more of the divine.” the father preached out loud again, before walking through the woods again, its mile tall, mutated, toxic dripping twisted branches raised into the sky, as the remaining three sighed and began following the father, deep into the twisted forest.

Four months (Imperial Time) before the IES Battenhound departed from the Yurth Harbour on Ethelford, bound for the deep ether to hunt for whales, Doctor Ernest Peckrind sat at a posh cafe overlooking the bustling harbour. Stirring a small cup of tea with a fine spoon, the doctor looked up at the human across from him.
"Well captain, I certainly am honoured you sought me out. It is not very often my services are sought by men of trade."
"You came highly recommended, doctor. My company man knew of you from the war. Said you were the finest surgeon he'd ever known. I'll be needing a man like that for our expedition."
"I did not know whale hunting called for doctors and medical experts. Sounds like there is a significant chance of danger."
"Aye, but we're not hunting whales this time. We were charted by some equiaux bloke to ferry him and supplies to Ricardia."
"Ah, I believe I see the danger now. That's a long and dangerous route to an inhospitable place. And you'd be needing a doctor who's experience in the army to carry his own weight then."
"You hit the nail on the head, doctor." The doctor raised his tea to his lips and sipped it, setting the cup down and smiling.
"Then all we must discuss is my payment."

Four grueling months of rough ethersea had dragged the IES Battenhound from Ethelford along the Royal Wind, past Santo Duraco and the comforts of the balmy Newporte, instead blowing the ship further out to Ricardia. But it was then when disaster finally struck. Beset by a pack of ethersharks which hounded the ship and managed to snag a careless crewman on deck, the ship was blinded by heavy etherwaves. Carrying particles from Némal's quasar, the ship was left blinded when it struck an asteroid field. With hull damage and a damaged engine unit, the ship attempted to limp back to Santo Duraco for repairs before being carried by an etherstorm far off star charts. The Battenhound, a bruised and sick ship was helpless as she strayed far from course. That was of course until she was attacked by pirates, the merciless ruffians ceasing the ship while only a few managed to escape to the lifeboat. Doctor Peckrind, the captain, and a sailor managed to escape the pirate's acquisition of the ship. Their lifeboat fleeing for the nearest section of ether. Though the small lifeboat was equipped for atmospheric entry, that does not mean it could survive such a process unscathed. The ship was rocked violently and the sailor was killed when he was crushed by spare supplies hastily loaded onto the lifeboat in the escape from the Battenhound. The lifeboat rocketed through the atmosphere like a meteor until it contacted with the ground and left a small crater before skidding across the landscape. The captain during such time was caught round the neck by his saftey harness which had come free from one of its fixings during the crash and the captain was strangled by the time the doctor was able to free himself from his own seat.

The humanoid rose from his seat with a mighty pain in his abdomen, bruised ribs most likely. Peckrind took great care when making his way to the pilothouse of the lifeboat. Conducting a small scan of the environment to determine the environment. Dawning an etherwalking suit for protection against the harsh radiation, Ernest Peckrind grabbed a small carbine rifle and slung it opposite his bruised ribs. Staying inside the crashed lifeboat, he sat against a set of supplies and kept the helmet of his etherwalking suit nearby in case he needed to escape the lifeboat urgently.

L empire

Triporea wrote:Four months (Imperial Time) before the IES Battenhound departed from the Yurth Harbour on Ethelford, bound for the deep ether to hunt for whales, Doctor Ernest Peckrind sat at a posh cafe overlooking the bustling harbour. Stirring a small cup of tea with a fine spoon, the doctor looked up at the human across from him.
"Well captain, I certainly am honoured you sought me out. It is not very often my services are sought by men of trade."
"You came highly recommended, doctor. My company man knew of you from the war. Said you were the finest surgeon he'd ever known. I'll be needing a man like that for our expedition."
"I did not know whale hunting called for doctors and medical experts. Sounds like there is a significant chance of danger."
"Aye, but we're not hunting whales this time. We were charted by some equiaux bloke to ferry him and supplies to Ricardia."
"Ah, I believe I see the danger now. That's a long and dangerous route to an inhospitable place. And you'd be needing a doctor who's experience in the army to carry his own weight then."
"You hit the nail on the head, doctor." The doctor raised his tea to his lips and sipped it, setting the cup down and smiling.
"Then all we must discuss is my payment."

Four grueling months of rough ethersea had dragged the IES Battenhound from Ethelford along the Royal Wind, past Santo Duraco and the comforts of the balmy Newporte, instead blowing the ship further out to Ricardia. But it was then when disaster finally struck. Beset by a pack of ethersharks which hounded the ship and managed to snag a careless crewman on deck, the ship was blinded by heavy etherwaves. Carrying particles from Némal's quasar, the ship was left blinded when it struck an asteroid field. With hull damage and a damaged engine unit, the ship attempted to limp back to Santo Duraco for repairs before being carried by an etherstorm far off star charts. The Battenhound, a bruised and sick ship was helpless as she strayed far from course. That was of course until she was attacked by pirates, the merciless ruffians ceasing the ship while only a few managed to escape to the lifeboat. Doctor Peckrind, the captain, and a sailor managed to escape the pirate's acquisition of the ship. Their lifeboat fleeing for the nearest section of ether. Though the small lifeboat was equipped for atmospheric entry, that does not mean it could survive such a process unscathed. The ship was rocked violently and the sailor was killed when he was crushed by spare supplies hastily loaded onto the lifeboat in the escape from the Battenhound. The lifeboat rocketed through the atmosphere like a meteor until it contacted with the ground and left a small crater before skidding across the landscape. The captain during such time was caught round the neck by his saftey harness which had come free from one of its fixings during the crash and the captain was strangled by the time the doctor was able to free himself from his own seat.

The humanoid rose from his seat with a mighty pain in his abdomen, bruised ribs most likely. Peckrind took great care when making his way to the pilothouse of the lifeboat. Conducting a small scan of the environment to determine the environment. Dawning an etherwalking suit for protection against the harsh radiation, Ernest Peckrind grabbed a small carbine rifle and slung it opposite his bruised ribs. Staying inside the crashed lifeboat, he sat against a set of supplies and kept the helmet of his etherwalking suit nearby in case he needed to escape the lifeboat urgently.

Doctor Peckrind, would take the note of his surroundings, and they were...demented, resembling something from a esoteric painting, or a feverish nightmare, then the surface of a habitable planet. Around him twisted trees, birch long peeled off, sat, their twisted brownish branches, wrapping themselves into twisted macobric webs of nightmarish wood, which seemed to stretch miles into the rust colored clouds which covered the haunting dark purple sky, which stretched on for eternity. The tree’s screamed with radiation, gaping holes pouring out mysterious liquids of green and pink, which drenched and melted into the ground, as what looked cancerous fleshy warts grew across half of the tree’s linking up at times into thin pulsating veil of flesh which draped across the forest. It was a visceral image, which showed a world either dying or dead.

Or so he thought, as he then heard the faintest wails through wind. Wails which sounded like a crying infant. Wails which sounded like it came from someone, experiencing only the cruelest forms of torture. These wails echoed and bounced around the forest, screams of absolute anguish and fury which pierced his ears and seemed to only get louder and louder, almost deafening in its pitch. Then the Doctor spotted it, a lone tree in the clearing, it was as pink as fresh flesh and was pulsating violently. He then saw the tree begin to squirm, muscles inside squirming to life, as he saw it started to wist, bounds of fleshy wood?, bounding together, as the “tree’s” horrific face turned towards him. It was a skinny thing, with stretched flesh and holes where eyes should be, its mouth was five feet long, and five feet wide, and let out a single long wail as it looked at the Doctor.

It then moved, jerking suddenly, its roots breaking out from the dead dirt and forming into horrendous twelve toed clawed webbed feet, as the tree ripped itself from the ground, its flesh unravelling and twisting into limbs, as its “branches.” merged into hideous claws, which flopped towards the ground. The creature breathed heavily, the corrosive toxic air filling the beast lungs. It then let out a roar, which shook the tree’s around it, and charged forward, its arm’s stretching out, looking to tear the doctor to pieces as it came dashing forward.

With the Team

Gregor kept his silence, the only noise coming to his ears was once again his breathing, and the muttering prayers of the Father, who guided them. It was always a good idea, to stay quiet on the surface, to not alert the many dangers of the surface, this was especially true in the twisted forest, things both known and unknown lurk in its twisted deafs. From the tree’s that wail and scream, to the horrific flailings walking green pus balls that were the zelenyy shar, and of course the ever present threat of the surface, the Belyye Koshmary. Gregor only shivered at the thought of encountering them. Nightmares piercing the veil of his waking mind, as he pictured the giant four armed beast, roaring up from the ground and enacting his demonic judgement upon his team.

Those visions haunted his every step forward, and he could feel the clashes between himself. Part of himself wanted to tell the priest to shut up, in fear of alerting the beast of the forest, the other was glad for the prayers, knowing that maybe the prayers would bring Gabriels protection upon them and that the demons which sat in the crust and core of the world would not rise.

They then caught the glimpses of smoke, about two hundred feet ahead. Gregor was happy that finally they reach the odd object the father had such interest in. Then came the wail, the deafening, but all to familiar wail, and Gregor sighed to himself. It never could be easy he thought, as he looked up and saw the father dash forward, shouting behind the, “Come brothers, it seems our blessing is under threat!” and Gregor could only sigh run after him, stealth be damned with Dryzislav and Jargon following shortly behind.

When they came to clearing, Gregor was in shock, even paralyzed. Nobody said anything, but he could guess they were all thinking what he was, there standing in a crashed ship. Sat a creature pale in complexion, it resembled the cypherians, but more worryingly, its complexion, its body, its skull. They resembled then, the Belyye Koshmary, he could feel his breath picking up, as he stared. This was broken with a shout by the father. “Focus on the xeno later, handle the wailing tree.” he shouted, as he raised his electro gauntlets and let a ferocious blast of green electricity forth at the fleshy stretching beast, who let out a wail of pain, as it turned its focus to the kryss.

With the Doctor

The beast would continue to charge forward, but was struck. Massive volts of green electricity wrapping around its body, and striking it, causing it to wail in pain and turn its focus to a ghastly sight. Four creatures stood, one was of short stature, frail and jittery, upon his form was a suit which covered most of his body, with a slight opening letting out thick rodent like fur. Upon its rat-like snout, was a gas mask, and upon its back a massive werring battery. Beside him a giant of a being stood, rifle slung around his back, he wore the same gas mask as the other man. A Third man of the same size, carried in his hand a muzzle to some odd tool slung around his back. In front of them all stood a hunched over rat man, draped in robes of purple, the green electricity arcing from a gauntlet on there hands, as they spoke there foreign tongue

Honour guard

Triporea wrote:Jazmin watched with much curiosity, especially when the prince transformed himself into a ceiling fan. Which garnered a small chuckle from her. She watched with a large grin and a sneer behind her teeth.
Elise watched with a small amount of curiosity but remained unfazed, "Doctor Elise Stanislavovna. Your friends here saved me from my cell here."
Jazmin chipped in, "yes, she's the doctor responsible for creating the AI you encountered. She was arrested by this planet's government because they were scared her AI was programmed, but the doctor never intended the thing to be anything other than an energy management system. We're currently underground in an abandoned military base." She walked for a nearby door, "I think we'll be leaving now though. We're going to head back to the human settlement and find our way off this planet for good."

-

Liline rubbed her chin and thought for a moment, "entertainment on Tir Creachdair... hm. Well there's always the cinemas, but I don't know that I particularly want to watch a movie at this moment. But as for our dear duchess, I'm certain she'll feel nervous under the collar but these stripes always need a good show of force to put them into place. They're a shrewd and strong people. They value honor above everything... well maybe not money, they valuie that a lot." It was true, Sephus had seen... more banks and financial institutions here than he had in any other place he'd ever been. There were huge firms, banks, branches, and funds on every street it seemed. Most of the tall buildings here bore names like Abercrombie, White, Lindsay, & Lean Financial, Hall-Grant Incorporated, Sceloeia Holdings, and Cameron Investments. These institutions were everywhere in the city and had been seen all over the city by Sephus nearly everywhere they stepped. The Creach really were a people good with money. "The duchess will appreciate our show of rank and authority."

Harlock looked the the human for a moment, her voice brought a chill that Jazmin confirmed. She definitely created that insane AI, so what kind of person was she to not only get arrested but lose control of her AI. He found it suspicious... "Hold of on us leaving." He says as he looks directly to Elise. "How do we know that she didn't figure out her work was going to get taken from her and made this meltdown happen? For all we know its why they locked her up, to find out how to stop it before it started spreading."

Filia raised an eyebrow to this, she didn't believe it... But they didn't have any timeline of events for this planet. All they know is that a meltdown happened, made mutants, massacred humans and drove them to near extinction. "... Okay clearly you needed more rest. I'm sorry I woke you up now."

"I'm being serious. How do we know that taking her topside will not stop us from getting off this damned rock?" Harlock says as he looks to them both.

-----

The chance to experience the Bez equivalent of Cinema was certainly something he wanted to see, though he'll have to save that for when they both have something to get invested in. Once she gets to them wearing their dress uniforms, he couldn't help but smile as he keeps beside her as they walk the streets. Though hearing the term 'Stripes' was a surprise to him, was that derogatory term for the Creach? Must be. Though at the very least he got to know that they were a people that valued honour, that means he can at least gauge them. Though only as far as what honour truly means to the Creach. "So money still works. I don't get it. Money doesn't mean much to us Firstborn."

He had certainly seen alot of these structures on his tour, seeing all this grand structures devoted to wealth confused him. Especially when they were so frequently seen, he could see three or 4 on nearly every street near enough. Moreso then when Liline was showing him around her home. "I can only hope to impress then, I don't know how far my rank will hold in this country even if I am the Lord Commander."

Taurgha

Iammelon wrote:Masquif was positively boiling with rage as the Ialao appeared to not be taking his words too seriously, at least in his view. His spiritual form was becoming a dark red, clenching his claws and screaming out, "RAAAAAGGGGH! Damnable, worthless, foolish, idiotic, backwards cur! You think this is the time to damn well preach!? This is why Psions win! I have been trying to conclude this problem for years, longer than your meager, pathetic lifespan! Do you seriously think I am here because I want to be? I am only here because of the traitor in that stupid bundle of soul stuff you call 'Zia'! The one who will take over, because your lesser minds cannot sort through memories and emotions like a Psion can! We are eternal and powerful not because we are just stronger, but because we understand and know more than your petty animal brains could ever comprehend. Where you bend and shatter, we stand strong! I only died here because of treason, treason by a being that could actually match me! Not you pathetic creatures!"

Menawhile, Rauus was thinking calmly in the background, now beginning to filter out the Psion's self-absorbed rant. However he did seem to perk up at one thing the Psion said, getting an idea. He nodded to Mayflower, "Yes, I think I can. Zia's problem is what the Psion said, she's in turmoil as the massive amount of souls and memories within her are clashing, fighting for dominance. There is a way we can help however, we can give the souls guidance. I think, with enough effort, I can try to sooth her mind, and start to pick each of the souls out. It'll be an interesting experience to try and summon souls that are absorbed into another being, but this combination is chaotic. With enough effort, I can unbind them, and then they'll all unravel. I just need the Ialao personality within Zia to remain strong and calm, and resist the influence of the Psion within. If they can do that, I believe I can grant all the souls of this world peace." The Anubite Lord came over to Zia's form, placing a hand over her and beginning to channel energy.

Zia, for their part, was clearly quite disturbed. The patting was helping, and so they did not last out. As Rauus began his work, her form even began to start stabilizing, taking on more clearly Ialao traits. However, in a brief flash of anger and an attempted exertion of power, her form suddenly resembled that of a Psion for a brief moment, yelling out, "NO! NO! ALL OF THIS IS MINE!" But, as quickly as it happened, it dissipated, with Zia now taking on a fully Ialao view, and for once having a clearly defined face of a young Ialao female, shaking her head in defiance, "Calm, calm... I will not fade.". The now clearly defined she of Zia was still clearly unconfident, but her new clear face gave a weak smile to Mayflower.

-

The deer was completely enraged at the foolish Psion's assumptions and arrogance, clear proof that she was right and that it would be unwise to further tease the powerful ghost about how right she was. Nevertheless, and while completely terrified by the sudden outburst of the evil Psion within Zia, she kept her calm and remained at the soul-beast's side up to the moment that the Ialao form manifested itself. It seemed clear to her that it would take all her mental strength to achieve stabilizing the creature, but she had to ..if not to survive, then to show the Psion that Iammelonians were smarter and stronger than any foolish eskali invader! She would lower her tone and smile back at the now more stable Ialao-shaped being, patting it continuously "Aha! I knew you were a true-blood Iammelonian deep down, and a fine-looking one too! Though... ..perhaps now you can remember more yes? You're obviously an Ialao ..do you remember Delviatu's message to our people? Like, that life is sacred? That's a beautiful message, yes? And trees, do you remember how nice trees look in Freeforest?" dismissing the angered scarlet Psion she turned to Raaus "Good, we'll try our best ..we have to, I guess. Keep channeling boss ...I'm too scared to even act scared now." She obviously didn't mean to let Raaus, Zia or the Psion know, but at this point May's thoughts and words were one and the same, almost as a defense mechanism due to being trapped in this uneasy situation. Despite all however the Psion's words came back to her mind ...the sheer audacity! She turned at him with a dominant tone in her voice "And you ..you talk too much, shut up and keep focusing on not being blown up, you're obviously not too good at it." probably a really unwise way of talking to a Psion.

Iammelon wrote:Cendri turned his head to the side as Nia began to explain, finding the explanation odd yet fascinating. He could also understand it, "Nia then fights with instinct, yes? Fights with natural knowledge and skill, rather than training. This one can understand that, but does not have that. This one still thinks to fight, but thinks quickly and directly! Little complication. Combine instinct and training, fight as one. Would Nia like the training of the oneness? Fights well without it, may fight even better with it! Much potential." He then continued to write down on the report paper for the prior incident, and finished up. He placed it on a desk to be taken by the other Watrike there, and then looked back to Nia, "Report submitted, fight is documented. Police will handle. Though this one is now curious. If Nia did not do training, then did Nia do any sort of schooling?"

Asmalia listened carefully as Ani explained her feelings about Watrike society, and even Fenfuos locked his eyes on her now. Once she was finished, the room was silent for a bit. Fenfuos was narrowing his eyes at Ani, but Asmalia seemed to just be in thought. Finally, she broke the silence after some time, "Ani is lucky, she is on the verge of treason, but this one has decided that Ani has more explaining to do. Worked with enemy in Cyboar, very bad action. However, this one has seen the product of performed work, and it is well done. Ani will have her use to the Grand Drake, but only under his protective gaze. Deviant bad science is to end. But, this one will get chance to prove self. Interest has been sparked, even at the toppest of tops. Come. Is going time. This one may yet have their audience with the Grand One, if it is decided. Time of permission asking is now. Will decide if this one's words are worth the time of Tyfrondor. If they are, this one will be very lucky." With that, Asmalia stood up and gestured for Ani to do the same, and walked out the door, intent on heading back to her armored carrier that served as their form of transportation.
But as Asmalia led the way, Fenfuos would speak up for the first time. The more silent Watrike spoke calmly, "Ani walks on thinned frost. Deviance fails to excuse treason. Actions of Human, yet speaks of Watrike. This one not fooled. Big picture not suited for small mind. Prove mind large, or fail. This one watches, this one decides, see if new Watrike is better than old. Now go." He gestured for Ani to follow Asmalia to her vehicle now, staying behind so he could follow them both from behind.

-

The white watrike looked oblivious to what these folks meant by schooling, she was far more interested in training and becoming even better at slicing things up; while she did not necessarily enjoy killing people, it felt very satisfying the moment she achieved her perfect moves, almost intoxicating! Nia shook her head negatively, looking a bit clueless "No, this one does not know much about schooling, but if it matters, mother talked of Grand Drake being good and wants all Watrike to be good too, and if more Watrike like Nia then the Grand Drake would be very very happy indeed, because this one's mother said is very good and can never be bad ..uh ..gon ...gen ..genetiously!" she then wagged her tail and focused on Asmalia's suggestion "As for training, YES! This one wants to know more how to beat bad attackers ...can do already but could do with more grace and consciously, this one thinks. Then this one could guard Cendri, not other way around, trained female watrike are more ferocious and scary after all, this one thinks as well." She seemed very happy, as for her last remark it felt more as a playful joke than her actual beliefs.

Ani seemed as if her entire world had come to crumble upon her, it felt as if she had done a foolish deed by admitting everything so truthfully and that Watrike could not understand her points ..not in their current state at least. She complied and calmly followed the two officers, bowing her head. If only Watrike understood her concerns and idealism! They'd certainly consider her a hero of Tyrfrondor, not a blasted traitor!

Iammelon wrote:As Mica spoke to Zirona, the Watrike spy master gave a small nod, "Oh yes, almost done. Just a bit more to pull out of him... Thank you for your time." With that, she retracted her hand, ceasing the flow of psionic energy. But she was not going to spare the guard, as now the knife to his throat was suddenly pressed hard against it, and in a display of strength it simply sliced right through the neck, decapitating the guard. Zirona sheathed her knife and let the body drop, smiling contently. She took the little infostick Mica offered, preparing to make use of it before she noticed the Confederate soldier coming up. Deciding to play along with Mica's charade, Zirona put her hands up and spoke, "There are an awful lot of you Confies here, aren't there? Very troublesome. I'll concede this one." However, as she held her hands up, one of her fingers was slowly spinning a bit, creating a barely noticeable little bit of magical energy.

The Confederate soldier, a younger human, did seem to calm at the Watrike apparently giving up. What he did not notice however was the holster for his sidearm slowly opening. When he did look down, the gun had risen up out of it, pointed straight at his face. He didn't have the time to even yell before his own weapon shot him dead. Zirona put her hands back down, and the gun fell along with the body. She chuckled, "Ah, never ready for that, are they? A shame, but they did betray the Grand Drake, it was their choice to forfeit their lives. Now then, as for the data I got, let's see." She transferred what she had, or at least what she was willing to give, into Mica's infostick. With that done, the Watrike looked down to Mica again, "That is what I got from my rather brief little stay. I am sure there is more, but not smart to stick around too long... Oh, hold on just a moment." She suddenly drew her plasma pistol and shot past Mica three times in quick succession, striking something that was lurking in the shadows. The body fell out into view, and it was an Isituo Drone with green chitin. Zirona got amused at this, "It seems Monrio's bugs are here, fascinating. Perhaps this place is more important than I gave your information credit for, Mica. Although it does emphasize the importance of leaving, those things are quite nasty. And they do enjoy small, easily digestible meals." With that, she turned around and opened the primary facility door, using one of the access codes she had taken from the now-dead guard.

-

Mica, was caught off guard by the shots, phasing out in thoughts as Zirona had just saved her "Zhank you for saving my life ..I guess I shall return zhe favor and explain.." With a swift movement she turned and pointed her IAAR-6.4 rifle at Zirona, staring the Watrike intensely in the eyes, it was uncertain if it was sadness, determination or regret, but it was one look Zirona would probably not forget for a long time. The Boethan had already pressed the button on her uniform beneath her thumb.. ...Zirona would feel all her limbs and muscles freezing, turning numb, forcing her to fall down like a ragdoll; She could not speak, or move, only witness a betrayal "I'm sorry ..really am, but I do zhis for zhe Nebula. Zhe Union cannot afford mistakes anymore.. ..you vere zhe primary objective" said the traitor, almost trembling in her voice. Before leaving she approached the helpless lizard, picked up the infostick and gave a last look at Zirona "I vas to kill you, but I cannot ...good luck"
With her objective accomplished, Mica run out of the building shooting and advancing towards the fence at no apparent target to give the appearance of fighting, she would attempt to rendevouz with the team in the designated location for immediate extraction.

Iammelon wrote:Zenos listened closely to the explanation from the Fergrangal, and he did find it quite interesting. While he was sure that the claim of never being conquered by any Talmyr of the Talmyrox was something he was going to hear a lot, and he was not surprised other Ghashyr were probably quite sick of it, it was still a fascinating claim for them to hold on to. Certainly marked them as more disconnected and valuing of their autonomy than most within the Talmyrox, which in itself was important, but he could also see some similarities to Zantium there, "Interesting, so your family was part of the dissolution of the Taggaren rule! I was not aware of that, but it is interesting, and it does indeed explain your unique autonomy. As for your view on Emperors, similar to a Zantine perspective in fact, being non-divine, although I can't say I've much ever heard the concept of a united empire of a species, except with maybe the Anubites. But that's probably down to me being Human, we don't have the same degree of unity that Ghashyr do." He then listened to Syndana, and he could instantly see why everyone was calling them heretics. Ialao would too, he knew. Before he could comment there however, that was when Myrafiora located him for the dance, and he let himself be dragged away for whatever this odd dance was.

While the Human Emperor had the advantage of still being quite sober on account of avoiding the drinks, he of course had no idea how the dance was done here. He gave a small nod to the idea of banning the dances, as that would save him some headaches in the future. While he had no idea what to do, he tried his best to mirror Myrafiora and take hints from other dancers in how to flap the fake wings. The final bit of the dance was easier for him however, although he was unable to even give out a sigh of relief before the master of ceremonies made his announcement. The Zantine Prince noticed some of the Rangians give that same master of ceremonies death glares, clearly disapproving of their prince (and his bride as well) participating in these firejumps. Zenos however sighed, giving a small nod to Myrafiora, "Got this far, might as well take the full jump. Let's hope I've conserved enough energy for this... Here goes nothing." With that, he grasped Myrafiora's hands tightly and ran forward, putting his strength primarily into carrying her for the jump, even as she was the slightly taller one of the two of them.

Meanwhile, in the background, the female Rangian sighed. But even she had to admit he had quite a bit of determination, and that was something Taurus did appreciate. They liked people who were determined and dedicated to their tasks, it was a quality sought for in the Rangian Vanguard in fact. As such, she wasn't fully sour anymore. With another sigh, she came over to him and nodded, "Very well, just to respect your determination, you may have this dance. Let us hope you can keep up. The name is Lovise, by the way."

-

As the Ghashyr Talmyr and her Zantine Prince made the jump they could feel the mighty heat of the fire beneath them, for a moment it felt as if they floated; Myrafiora gazing in Zenos' eyes in mid-air, she was now certain amidst her drunken state and the flames that this short pink Ghashyr was definitely something more than just a diplomatic asset. As they landed on the other side, the Talmyr shocked everyone by grabbing Zenos' head and kissing him ...a rather non-traditional and unorthodox way for a holy momarch to behave. For a moment the hall gasped, chuckled and muttered all at once, though as she was the Talmyr, no one dared to actually keep their attention pinned on them, while the announcer proved his worth "Let no one say that our great Talmyrox is not led by a mighty dragonhearted soul, in companionship of a dragonstrong groom! Flying above the flames, the couple that will lead us to Light and Greatness shows to us all the way of the dance ..and of life! Let the dance commence!" As the crowd begun dancing and getting quite more vivid, her drunken greatness looked at Zenos once more "Hahaha ..we did it! L-Let's leave this ...stupid gathering, I'm dizzy ..find Baart ..Haarfi ..focking stupid Othosian names ...Haarti, yes"
Some however did not appreciate this show of affection much, especially not a lady dressed in white robes without even a dragonsuit attending at the back, but this was a dragonball and all was permitted!

Seridhor the Astanian minor lord (probably glorified janitor) took Lovise by the hand while making a bow ..and suddenly pulled her closer as the dance commenced, the Taurus while not really feeling much of strong pull would certainly not expect that kind of boldness from a human-looking species "Well your big starry eyes sparkle with passion, lovely Lovise ..I hope your body is as well! let's dance!" he would guide her through the hall, much to the amazement of many a lords and ladies who would cheer at the even more exotic couple ...the big Taurus and her Ghashyr suitor would draw even more attention than the Talmyr herself!

Iammelon wrote:Appa smiled down at Sofya, appreciating the hug from her charge. Now was not the time to hug back however, and she thought for a moment about the question after Sofya looked to her. The Taurus finally then gave her answer, "Yes, I am rather sure Dragons fly, breathe fire, and do magic. Big and scaly, used to run things over here until bad guys killed them. Similar to the ones in Iammelon, but older, and more dead. I think that's it, yes." With that stellar bit of knowledge on behalf of the Princess and her guardian, the Anubite smirked. He leaned in a bit and spoke calmly, "Ah yes, you are quite right. According to the history of this world, the Dragon population here used to rule until they were overthrown by Ghashyr after the Dragons grew decadent and corrupt, and then continued to live on for a while... Until that Evil Order you mentioned perpetrated a mass extermination, leading to their destruction. Now it sounds like you don't know much about that Evil Order, allow me to inform you! They were led by a batch of folks called Taggarens. Is the name familiar to you, Princess of the Lasacris and Galgatyens? They're a rather major part of the Talmyrox's history, you know. Part of your own personal history, in fact, if you are so very proud of fighting us Anubites in the past. Proud of that earlier chapter?" As the Anubite smiled, Appa seemed to realize what he was doing there, and she shoved herself forward to glare straight down at the smaller canid. The historian silenced himself quickly as the giant stared down at him, his smugness fading as he remembered the history of Rangians and how they liked to handle this sort of situation if given permission. His ears drooped at the possibilities, though also because he realized how rude he was being in general, so he stepped back and held up his hands, "Erhm, sorry. That was overstepping my bounds. My apologies, Princess Sofya."

Tarral got a small smirk out of Sarxaxa being forced to admit to her superior size, as of course any good Dragon was proud of being the larger one in the room. Of course, Ezron was still bigger, but he didn't count as he was male. All the same, she gave a nod to Sarxaxa, "Yes yes, of course. Believe me, I understand your attachment to the hoard, it won't be lost. I value mine quite a bit as well. You'll be fine. As for a guide, obviously. Need to show you around a proper Dragon world." With that, she smiled and went over to look at the odd demonstration in the distance. He gave a wave to Ymira, but was unable to greet the youngling properly before the reveal. Tarral was clearly quite surprised to see Myrsa in such a state, given that Sarxaxa and Ymira were not in as bad a position. However, while she did not turn away, Tarral straightened up. Her voice took on a tone of authority, fitting to her noble heritage, "I have no intention of turning away, Myrsa. I hope you do not take me for some sort of irresponsible youngling, I have an oath and duty to uphold." She moved right up to Myrsa to push the wings aside, and look at her face to say the next bit, "I expect that, as a Dragon, you will not mope around! The sooner you come with me back to the ship, the sooner we can have a doctor look at you! Clearly there has been some severe mismanagement, and it is time to rectify the errors here. You're very weak I can see, you must take better care of yourself in coming times. Need proper food and medical attention from somebody who knows what they are doing. Come, come! The hoard will come later, you're coming with me to the doctor!" With that, Tarral went to practically pull and push Myrsa towards the exit, undisturbed by touching her if needed to get her moving along.
As that occured, Ezron rubbed the back of his neck with one of his claws, "Ah, yes, that's Tarral. Worry not, she is right that we have a doctor. My personal doctor in fact. He's aboard the ship we used to get here, as well as various bits of medical equipment. He'll have to give a checkup to all of you, make sure you're all in good condition after being in here so long." He then turned to Ymira, looking down and smiling at the youngling, "Also, greetings Ymira! I recognize your name as well, part of the Valxaryen family, yes? One of the heads in fact if I remember right! It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Ezron. My companion handling your aunt is Tarral. Past Tarral's bluster, she's a good Dragon, intent on her duties and whatnot. She'll be fine. Now, as for you and Sarxaxa, you can come with me to the ship as well. The doctor will need to look over you two as well. I'll have some of my Watrike guards secure this place while we are gone, until we can properly move the hoard to a secure location. As you are in charge however Sarxaxa, I will need to inform you that it is likely that my friend Tyfrondor will want to speak to you about this whole affair. Something tells me this is gonna have some consequences, but in any case he's the one you'll have to speak to. But worry not! Heord will accept you, and you will have proper guides assigned to help out. You have my word on that!" He then smiled widely, and gestured for them to follow him out.

The small-built Sofya stepped ahead of the majestic Taurus elegantly while smirking and crossing her arms ..she finally had managed to think of a good comeback "No need to frighten the weak Appa, after all ..he is wrong! He missed the part where the dragons were total Eskalivi and did a great bunch of terrible things, like eating mothers with their kids! ..was it right to have them all killed? No, but it's not like you're portraying it. And also siar, I do not have to apologize for what some ancient Ghashyr did ...I do not take advise from their ghosts while I go to the bathroom or when I get stuck in the palace like your High Lord does every morning! Hah!" she felt certain of her flawless logic, turning her head back, seeking again confirmation from her bovine best friend.

Sarxaxa would follow suit after Ezron's reassurances, after all what else choice she had? Certainly not to stay in that cave until her avatar's death. She took a last look at her hoard "Hmm, we'll see about that, I've heard peculiar things about your Valxarx ..but it will be in his best interests and mine either way that Saherod and Heord cooperate. I hope your nestworld has some decent mountain caves at least. Let's go" with that she was ready to leave the Valxaryen cave.
Young Ymira on the other paw was still pleasantly surprised by all that was happening, trotting over to Ezron "Oh yes! I'm the Myr of Urva ...tho it gets very boring signing documents at times and besides, mother is in charge of us all she is the Valxarx ..do you have ponies in Heord? ...are there really any huge male dragon-warriors like in the Holomentaries?" Sarxaxa rolled her eyes huffing some smoke from her snoot "Ymira, cease.." the young dragoness pouted "Yes, your tyrranic authoritarianess"
Myrsa was shocked by Tarral's brave and noble gesture, more than that she was quite aroused and awkward which helped her overcome her massive shame. She did not object to being pulled by her at all, following her while smiling ..even though she tried to avoid much eye contact. Once the two dragons where out of the combound and Sarxaxa's hearing distance, Myrsa would stop and turn to finally look at Tarral with her own actual eyes "Thank you, this means a lot to me ...I need to come into terms with this body, leaving the avatar behind is hard for me ...you can understand there's a certain attachment, but you helped me a lot. You are a good dragoness Tarral ..and hot, I could gaze at those shiny thigh scales and shapely tail all day"

With the proper greetings out of the sky, the last Valxaryens could all now depart for their new home in a more hospitable planet ..with their hoard intact of course!

The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

L empire wrote:Doctor Peckrind, would take the note of his surroundings, and they were...demented, resembling something from a esoteric painting, or a feverish nightmare, then the surface of a habitable planet. Around him twisted trees, birch long peeled off, sat, their twisted brownish branches, wrapping themselves into twisted macobric webs of nightmarish wood, which seemed to stretch miles into the rust colored clouds which covered the haunting dark purple sky, which stretched on for eternity. The tree’s screamed with radiation, gaping holes pouring out mysterious liquids of green and pink, which drenched and melted into the ground, as what looked cancerous fleshy warts grew across half of the tree’s linking up at times into thin pulsating veil of flesh which draped across the forest. It was a visceral image, which showed a world either dying or dead.

Or so he thought, as he then heard the faintest wails through wind. Wails which sounded like a crying infant. Wails which sounded like it came from someone, experiencing only the cruelest forms of torture. These wails echoed and bounced around the forest, screams of absolute anguish and fury which pierced his ears and seemed to only get louder and louder, almost deafening in its pitch. Then the Doctor spotted it, a lone tree in the clearing, it was as pink as fresh flesh and was pulsating violently. He then saw the tree begin to squirm, muscles inside squirming to life, as he saw it started to wist, bounds of fleshy wood?, bounding together, as the “tree’s” horrific face turned towards him. It was a skinny thing, with stretched flesh and holes where eyes should be, its mouth was five feet long, and five feet wide, and let out a single long wail as it looked at the Doctor.

It then moved, jerking suddenly, its roots breaking out from the dead dirt and forming into horrendous twelve toed clawed webbed feet, as the tree ripped itself from the ground, its flesh unravelling and twisting into limbs, as its “branches.” merged into hideous claws, which flopped towards the ground. The creature breathed heavily, the corrosive toxic air filling the beast lungs. It then let out a roar, which shook the tree’s around it, and charged forward, its arm’s stretching out, looking to tear the doctor to pieces as it came dashing forward.

With the Team

Gregor kept his silence, the only noise coming to his ears was once again his breathing, and the muttering prayers of the Father, who guided them. It was always a good idea, to stay quiet on the surface, to not alert the many dangers of the surface, this was especially true in the twisted forest, things both known and unknown lurk in its twisted deafs. From the tree’s that wail and scream, to the horrific flailings walking green pus balls that were the zelenyy shar, and of course the ever present threat of the surface, the Belyye Koshmary. Gregor only shivered at the thought of encountering them. Nightmares piercing the veil of his waking mind, as he pictured the giant four armed beast, roaring up from the ground and enacting his demonic judgement upon his team.

Those visions haunted his every step forward, and he could feel the clashes between himself. Part of himself wanted to tell the priest to shut up, in fear of alerting the beast of the forest, the other was glad for the prayers, knowing that maybe the prayers would bring Gabriels protection upon them and that the demons which sat in the crust and core of the world would not rise.

They then caught the glimpses of smoke, about two hundred feet ahead. Gregor was happy that finally they reach the odd object the father had such interest in. Then came the wail, the deafening, but all to familiar wail, and Gregor sighed to himself. It never could be easy he thought, as he looked up and saw the father dash forward, shouting behind the, “Come brothers, it seems our blessing is under threat!” and Gregor could only sigh run after him, stealth be damned with Dryzislav and Jargon following shortly behind.

When they came to clearing, Gregor was in shock, even paralyzed. Nobody said anything, but he could guess they were all thinking what he was, there standing in a crashed ship. Sat a creature pale in complexion, it resembled the cypherians, but more worryingly, its complexion, its body, its skull. They resembled then, the Belyye Koshmary, he could feel his breath picking up, as he stared. This was broken with a shout by the father. “Focus on the xeno later, handle the wailing tree.” he shouted, as he raised his electro gauntlets and let a ferocious blast of green electricity forth at the fleshy stretching beast, who let out a wail of pain, as it turned its focus to the kryss.

With the Doctor

The beast would continue to charge forward, but was struck. Massive volts of green electricity wrapping around its body, and striking it, causing it to wail in pain and turn its focus to a ghastly sight. Four creatures stood, one was of short stature, frail and jittery, upon his form was a suit which covered most of his body, with a slight opening letting out thick rodent like fur. Upon its rat-like snout, was a gas mask, and upon its back a massive werring battery. Beside him a giant of a being stood, rifle slung around his back, he wore the same gas mask as the other man. A Third man of the same size, carried in his hand a muzzle to some odd tool slung around his back. In front of them all stood a hunched over rat man, draped in robes of purple, the green electricity arcing from a gauntlet on there hands, as they spoke there foreign tongue

The moment the mighty beast ambushed the doctor he slipped on his helmet and raised his carbine. Knowing he was too weak to really make a dash, Peckrind stood. The planet had an atmosphere, though tainted, so he could rely upon his ethersuit’s air supply before he would need to rely upon the filtration system. Bashing out the window of the pilothouse he fired four shots in rapid succession at the beast’s face and centre of mass. Hoping to probe its body to see where it was weakest. The doctor quickly realised the situation when with each shot his body reacted with sharp pain across his abdomen. Gritting his teeth he recalled the battle of Wide Field Bluff, in a similar situation, when faced down with a detachment of confederate mechs, the Bezannins were forced to retreat. As a combat surgeon returning from the eastern front lines to the massacre at the bluff, Peckrind had been blown from his vehicle and nearly crushed. Surviving without losing much more than his right foot to the fire. This doctor knew pain and how to push through for survival. He began controlled bursts of shots to various points on the tree. He simply paid no mind to the murine like folk who entered the scene with their energy weaponry, hoping he wouldn’t have to turn his rifle to them.

The Celestial Imperium of The Alicorns

Iammelon wrote:Masquif was sneering at the missiles almost making their mark, near-misses seemed to irritate the Psion more than full misses did. All the same, Aurea was right in guessing that the Psion's mental powers were the true danger here, as it was quite powerful. However that surface thought seemed to give the Psion pause. But after a brief wait, Masquif threw his head back in laughter, a hand coming to his face as he failed to contain his pure malicious amusement at the implication of the thought, "Ahahaha! That's positively hilarious! Are you trying to deceive me with such delusions!? Look around you, this world is conquered! The rest of this Nebula will fall once the rebellion here is quelled, and then we'll follow along those handy little 'ether-lanes' as you call them. Straight to the other slave civilizations! The ones that resemble your kind further west, and the disunited mess that is south. With the slaves and power gathered here, those will fall easily. Victory here is assured, and it will see my glorious ascendance. I was personally interested in setting up my realm a bit south in fact. I think they called the planet Sennoshima? I ripped some memories of it out of some rebels, it looked pleasant. It'll make a grand slave estate. Or perhaps, maybe I'll visit your homeworld instead..." That was when the Ego smashing into her mind tried to pull that particular information. His physical body wasn't inactive either, with his right hand forming another collection of psionic energy, this time into the shape of a whip, which he then lashed out at Aurea with.

Unfortunately for Quifsy, Aurea was not so entirely stupid as to leave her knowledge of basic reality back at her home's coffee table. On the contrary, the knowledge that Iammelon was completely fine actually and that Sennoshima was not whacked by a creature bearing an ego nearing the size of Masquif's (or any other of his kind) was freely given. "Pfft, well, there's a reason you're a stupid ghost stuck on repeat, and I'm a very much alive... uh... troubleshooter? Yeah, let's go with that title," Aurea shouted back, charging again at the Psion. With less brainpower needed to protect such obvious information, she noticed the energy whip headed her way. Not missing a beat, she rolled under it with seemingly instinctual ease and even slicing it apart with a swing of her sword.

Angelarium, Triporea, and House of vengeance

L empire

Triporea wrote:The moment the mighty beast ambushed the doctor he slipped on his helmet and raised his carbine. Knowing he was too weak to really make a dash, Peckrind stood. The planet had an atmosphere, though tainted, so he could rely upon his ethersuit’s air supply before he would need to rely upon the filtration system. Bashing out the window of the pilothouse he fired four shots in rapid succession at the beast’s face and centre of mass. Hoping to probe its body to see where it was weakest. The doctor quickly realised the situation when with each shot his body reacted with sharp pain across his abdomen. Gritting his teeth he recalled the battle of Wide Field Bluff, in a similar situation, when faced down with a detachment of confederate mechs, the Bezannins were forced to retreat. As a combat surgeon returning from the eastern front lines to the massacre at the bluff, Peckrind had been blown from his vehicle and nearly crushed. Surviving without losing much more than his right foot to the fire. This doctor knew pain and how to push through for survival. He began controlled bursts of shots to various points on the tree. He simply paid no mind to the murine like folk who entered the scene with their energy weaponry, hoping he wouldn’t have to turn his rifle to them.

The bullets of the Doctors gun whizzed through the contorted fleshy bark beast, it let out hisses of pain, as bark and flesh regrew over its wounds. One of its contorted, convulsing, throbbing, hands swiped at Doctor, as it refocused its attention towards the rat men, clearly seeing them as a greater threat. It let out another ear piercing, blood chilling shriek, as it seemed to contort more. It’s bodying twisting into abominable, unnatural shapes, gross appendages, which throbbed and almost blinked extended from its fleshy bark, its flesh branches morphing into hideous roaring mouths, with teeth which vibrated and pulsed in its horrendous mouths.

The preacher among the rat men, continued its ferocious assault upon the tree beast. The Green electricity ripped through the beast, burning limbs and cutting massive holes in the creature, which seemed to only heal seconds later as its mass continued to grow as it shot forward. The large rat man, would be the first to open fire. His gun releasing a dozen shots rapidly. The bullets crashing into various parts of the beast, which then began to puff up. The beast roared in confusion, as many of its limbs grew thicker and thicker, poars opening up the creature and green puss spewing out, it shrieked in pain as the limbs got more bloated and bloated, before they exploded. Sending green putrid goop, which stunk of feces, everywhere. The Tree beast fell slightly, as it roared, as the giant ran man began to reload his gun, as the green electricity toar and ripped through the monster. It let out a shriek, as from its mouth more branches came form, jagged and sharp, like rock, and launched forward at the Preacher and the Giant. To only be intercepted, by the jittery dwarf rat creature, who jumped and let out a cackle of madness, as it pulled from its back a tubular device, which then spewed out a substance made of only purest white, the substance shrieked and compelled, seeming to bend reality around it, before it struck the beast, ripping through its new limbs and seeming to utterly disentrate them, with something almost deeper also being disintegrated in the process.
The Tree beast, tried to back away, try to escape from the rat men's advance. The Doctor could see the creature try to skitter away, in fear, in panic, and the rat men pushing forward each one taking great...pleasure in its suffering. He could see the Preacher smirk, with sadistic pleasure as he heard the creature roar in pain from its green electricity, which ripped its limbs apart. He could see the Giants eyes, show delight and wonder as each limb exploded, from its sickly bullets. He could hear the erratic laughter of the other rat man, as the beast roared in pain and seemed to almost be...begging for mercy, as more limbs roze from the creature, trying to defend itself as struck at the rat men. It then shrieked as purple light crashed against it, the moderately sized rat men walking forward, holding the muzzle of his gun out, which produced a massive purple beam which incinerated through the beast.

And before the Doctors eyes, he could see the Rat men all encroach on the creature, blinding fury, joy, hatred, pleasure in all there's, as the creatures body was ripped apart, from electricity, bullets, white reality substance and the purple beam, before all that was left, was a simple twig which tried to crawl away, like a pathetic, fear filled worm. It tried to crawl, before being stepped on by the moderately sized rat man, who then looked up at the Doctor, soon followed by each of rat men also looking at the Doctor. The Preacher was the first one to step forward, and spoke in the most broken basic he had ever heard. “Gree-Greetings, O-oh-Bless-blessing Of -Gabriel, yo-your fo-rm highly intrigues m-e.” he said, as he took several steps forward, his hands still clenched together, as he stared the doctor right in his eyes.

The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

Honour guard wrote:Harlock looked the the human for a moment, her voice brought a chill that Jazmin confirmed. She definitely created that insane AI, so what kind of person was she to not only get arrested but lose control of her AI. He found it suspicious... "Hold of on us leaving." He says as he looks directly to Elise. "How do we know that she didn't figure out her work was going to get taken from her and made this meltdown happen? For all we know its why they locked her up, to find out how to stop it before it started spreading."

Filia raised an eyebrow to this, she didn't believe it... But they didn't have any timeline of events for this planet. All they know is that a meltdown happened, made mutants, massacred humans and drove them to near extinction. "... Okay clearly you needed more rest. I'm sorry I woke you up now."

"I'm being serious. How do we know that taking her topside will not stop us from getting off this damned rock?" Harlock says as he looks to them both.

-----

The chance to experience the Bez equivalent of Cinema was certainly something he wanted to see, though he'll have to save that for when they both have something to get invested in. Once she gets to them wearing their dress uniforms, he couldn't help but smile as he keeps beside her as they walk the streets. Though hearing the term 'Stripes' was a surprise to him, was that derogatory term for the Creach? Must be. Though at the very least he got to know that they were a people that valued honour, that means he can at least gauge them. Though only as far as what honour truly means to the Creach. "So money still works. I don't get it. Money doesn't mean much to us Firstborn."

He had certainly seen alot of these structures on his tour, seeing all this grand structures devoted to wealth confused him. Especially when they were so frequently seen, he could see three or 4 on nearly every street near enough. Moreso then when Liline was showing him around her home. "I can only hope to impress then, I don't know how far my rank will hold in this country even if I am the Lord Commander."

Jazmin seemed just as confused as Filia was, “Harlock, I really don’t think that’s what happened. It’s one thing to have your work being taken from you and then have the end of the world fall on your shoulders, it’s another to actually cause the end of the world yourself!”
Elise actually seemed somewhat offended but remained quiet. “I’m not sure what fuels your theory but nothing I can say will disprove you. I’ve learned people don’t really listen to me anyways. If you don’t trust me that’s fine leave me here.”
Jazmin spoke again, “Even if she caused the end of this world I don’t think just abandoning here down here is the solution though. She still deserves saving along with the rest of the survivors. And speaking if which maybe one of them can confirm your theory?”

-

The mighty and grand architecture of these downtown establishments showed a sort of power and prestige wielded by the people who operated out of these mighty buildings and towers. Liline would offer some comfort however, explaining that as long as he acted like a true well-to-do he’d fit in perfectly.

Their day marched on slowly and quietly. Liline would eventually muse around a park and enjoy a social outing with Sephus in a more private setting. The park they found was a large greenhouse that served as a botanical garden. The large decorative exterior was only matched by the humidity and somewhat uncomfortable heat of the interior. This botanical garden seemed to specialise in the tropical and warm environment plants and foliage. Brilliant flowers and vines hung over all. As well as species of birds and insects that buzzed and fluttered nearby. Liline would hug Sephus’ arm while inside the garden and as they strolled through the various pathways.

As the day came to a conclusion, the two would find their way back to the train station and take the express rail back to their little home. The green train’s elegant design ferrying them down the Bidean Moran. In rapid time it arrived back at the station they began their day from and the two were able to stroll past the statue in the plaza and to their room back at the public house in which they resided for an early retirement.

“Sephus, would you be so kind as to fetch us some supper? I’m going back to the room to ready myself for bed. And you can join me once you give the inn-keep our order.” She handed him some coins and purpura notes before smiling and heading back to the room.

Honour guard

Honour guard

Triporea wrote:Jazmin seemed just as confused as Filia was, “Harlock, I really don’t think that’s what happened. It’s one thing to have your work being taken from you and then have the end of the world fall on your shoulders, it’s another to actually cause the end of the world yourself!”
Elise actually seemed somewhat offended but remained quiet. “I’m not sure what fuels your theory but nothing I can say will disprove you. I’ve learned people don’t really listen to me anyways. If you don’t trust me that’s fine leave me here.”
Jazmin spoke again, “Even if she caused the end of this world I don’t think just abandoning here down here is the solution though. She still deserves saving along with the rest of the survivors. And speaking if which maybe one of them can confirm your theory?”

-

The mighty and grand architecture of these downtown establishments showed a sort of power and prestige wielded by the people who operated out of these mighty buildings and towers. Liline would offer some comfort however, explaining that as long as he acted like a true well-to-do he’d fit in perfectly.

Their day marched on slowly and quietly. Liline would eventually muse around a park and enjoy a social outing with Sephus in a more private setting. The park they found was a large greenhouse that served as a botanical garden. The large decorative exterior was only matched by the humidity and somewhat uncomfortable heat of the interior. This botanical garden seemed to specialise in the tropical and warm environment plants and foliage. Brilliant flowers and vines hung over all. As well as species of birds and insects that buzzed and fluttered nearby. Liline would hug Sephus’ arm while inside the garden and as they strolled through the various pathways.

As the day came to a conclusion, the two would find their way back to the train station and take the express rail back to their little home. The green train’s elegant design ferrying them down the Bidean Moran. In rapid time it arrived back at the station they began their day from and the two were able to stroll past the statue in the plaza and to their room back at the public house in which they resided for an early retirement.

“Sephus, would you be so kind as to fetch us some supper? I’m going back to the room to ready myself for bed. And you can join me once you give the inn-keep our order.” She handed him some coins and purpura notes before smiling and heading back to the room.

Harlock looked to everyone as they gave their own say on his theory... Maybe he was still jittery from everything that's happened. For a moment he just grits his teeth as he speaks up, some cracks appearing in his body with small trickles of light seeping through. "But is it even worth it to try and save them when we know its all a story? Something made for that thing's entertainment? Nothing we do here matters..."

Filia's eyes widened when she heard him say that, just the other day he was all gung-ho about saving these people and stopping whatever happened here. She hated thinking about that monstrous thing again... But Harlock had a point. That thing had power beyond their understanding, was it even worth it when for all they know they were standing on a work of fiction? This planet, its apocalypse... It's people... It could all be fake and this torture was the only thing that was truly real.

But...

Could they seriously just stand here and do nothing?

Filia looked to the prince with a soft frown on her face, she could see his point but this felt more like a cry for help than anything else. Harlock didn't know what to do anymore and he was scared that he would never get to see his family again. And to be honest she was very much in the same boat, likely Jazmin was too. "So we're supposed to let this go on? We have to see this through until its ready to let us g-"

"AND WHAT IF THAT NEVER HAPPENED?! WE GET STUCK ON THIS ROCK FORVER AND WE NEVER GET TO GO HOME BECAUSE IT DECIDED IT HASN'T HAD ENOUGH! I-..." Harlock's back hits a nearby wall and he just slides back down to the ground again. He never wanted to be thrown into a deep end of something so grim... He was the spoilt son of a ruler who wanted a nice peaceful life and the occasional chance to play hero. An idiot who was sheltered by a protective father who bled at every chance to he took so his kids would grow safe. "I just wanted a quiet day out with my friends..." Now, desperate ripples of Psionic energy permeated from his body, an SOS from a son who wanted nothing more than to get rescued by his father.

Filia wanted nothing more than to join the prince in that pit he was digging himself but she just ruffled her short hair and looked back to Elise and Jazmin. Likely Elise had no idea what they were on about since she never met that stag faced reality writer they met in the cafe before being forced on this journey all that time ago. Being forced away from her lover was something she didn't take well which is why she wanted to bury that bastard in the middle of a neutron star and watch him get ripped apart under the unfashionable weight.

With a sigh she just ruffled harder, thinking on what they could do to end this torment and get this over with quickly... Killing themselves would certainly ruin his fun but she doubted he would allow it to happen. "Let's... Just find a way to get back to the surface. Harlock will catch up. He needs abit to calm down."

-----

With the day marching on for them both, Sephus was certainly enjoying walking around the city with Liline, once they reached the botanical garden he was actually alright with the heat. Seeming to enjoy the tropical weather, telling Liline that it 'just felt like home' to him. Though Castameer was more of a Garden world. Though the original Zerg homeworld was a primal Jungle, perhaps that side of him still had sway deep down.

As the day started to reach its close, once they got back to their room in the public house they were staying at, Seph stretched out his back with a low yawn. Tired from the train ride yet still full of energy, he decided he was going to try and really tire himself out with some training exercise outside but then he looks to Liline as she hands him some money.

"Eh? Oh, sure I'll fetch us some supper! Be right with you love!" He says after her before he pockets the cash and the notes as he headed to find the Inn-Keeper. Though on his walk through the hallways, a ripple of energy washed over him before it was directed outwards again, a sharp shiver and the sense of fear washed over him before he looked over his shoulder at nothing. "Prince Harlock...? Wha-? M... Must be nothing." He says with a furrowed brow, his body feeling more on edge than before since he was made to protect the royalty, not knowing he already played his part. He keeps walking to the Inn keeper before he gets the notes back out. "Hey I'm here to order supper for myself and my partner."

Taurgha

The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

L empire wrote:The bullets of the Doctors gun whizzed through the contorted fleshy bark beast, it let out hisses of pain, as bark and flesh regrew over its wounds. One of its contorted, convulsing, throbbing, hands swiped at Doctor, as it refocused its attention towards the rat men, clearly seeing them as a greater threat. It let out another ear piercing, blood chilling shriek, as it seemed to contort more. It’s bodying twisting into abominable, unnatural shapes, gross appendages, which throbbed and almost blinked extended from its fleshy bark, its flesh branches morphing into hideous roaring mouths, with teeth which vibrated and pulsed in its horrendous mouths.

The preacher among the rat men, continued its ferocious assault upon the tree beast. The Green electricity ripped through the beast, burning limbs and cutting massive holes in the creature, which seemed to only heal seconds later as its mass continued to grow as it shot forward. The large rat man, would be the first to open fire. His gun releasing a dozen shots rapidly. The bullets crashing into various parts of the beast, which then began to puff up. The beast roared in confusion, as many of its limbs grew thicker and thicker, poars opening up the creature and green puss spewing out, it shrieked in pain as the limbs got more bloated and bloated, before they exploded. Sending green putrid goop, which stunk of feces, everywhere. The Tree beast fell slightly, as it roared, as the giant ran man began to reload his gun, as the green electricity toar and ripped through the monster. It let out a shriek, as from its mouth more branches came form, jagged and sharp, like rock, and launched forward at the Preacher and the Giant. To only be intercepted, by the jittery dwarf rat creature, who jumped and let out a cackle of madness, as it pulled from its back a tubular device, which then spewed out a substance made of only purest white, the substance shrieked and compelled, seeming to bend reality around it, before it struck the beast, ripping through its new limbs and seeming to utterly disentrate them, with something almost deeper also being disintegrated in the process.
The Tree beast, tried to back away, try to escape from the rat men's advance. The Doctor could see the creature try to skitter away, in fear, in panic, and the rat men pushing forward each one taking great...pleasure in its suffering. He could see the Preacher smirk, with sadistic pleasure as he heard the creature roar in pain from its green electricity, which ripped its limbs apart. He could see the Giants eyes, show delight and wonder as each limb exploded, from its sickly bullets. He could hear the erratic laughter of the other rat man, as the beast roared in pain and seemed to almost be...begging for mercy, as more limbs roze from the creature, trying to defend itself as struck at the rat men. It then shrieked as purple light crashed against it, the moderately sized rat men walking forward, holding the muzzle of his gun out, which produced a massive purple beam which incinerated through the beast.

And before the Doctors eyes, he could see the Rat men all encroach on the creature, blinding fury, joy, hatred, pleasure in all there's, as the creatures body was ripped apart, from electricity, bullets, white reality substance and the purple beam, before all that was left, was a simple twig which tried to crawl away, like a pathetic, fear filled worm. It tried to crawl, before being stepped on by the moderately sized rat man, who then looked up at the Doctor, soon followed by each of rat men also looking at the Doctor. The Preacher was the first one to step forward, and spoke in the most broken basic he had ever heard. “Gree-Greetings, O-oh-Bless-blessing Of -Gabriel, yo-your fo-rm highly intrigues m-e.” he said, as he took several steps forward, his hands still clenched together, as he stared the doctor right in his eyes.

Peckrind kept his rifle trained on the tree creature even as it was bombarded with lasers and other forms of energy weaponry. He did conserve his ammunition and let the other aliens continue to kill it in place of his own bullets. Moving to grab his rifle and hold it barrel towards the ground he looked to the preacher who had approached him. The ratman would be unable to see the doctor's eyes behind the glass and metal plate of the ethersuit he wore, but Peckrind looked down at the man.
"Well met, my name is Ernest Peckrind, doctor. Many thanks for saving me from that dreadful beast. Would you chaps be willing to direct me to the nearest shelter. As you can see my lifeboat suffered a crash upon entry of the atmosphere. My fellow crew was killed in the crash or captured by pirates and I think I've been pretty injured myself." The doctor spoke quickly and professionally, not wanting to be rude to the aliens who stood before him yet he did not want to undersell the severity of the situation he was in now.

The Empire of Bezannia of Triporea

Honour guard wrote:Harlock looked to everyone as they gave their own say on his theory... Maybe he was still jittery from everything that's happened. For a moment he just grits his teeth as he speaks up, some cracks appearing in his body with small trickles of light seeping through. "But is it even worth it to try and save them when we know its all a story? Something made for that thing's entertainment? Nothing we do here matters..."

Filia's eyes widened when she heard him say that, just the other day he was all gung-ho about saving these people and stopping whatever happened here. She hated thinking about that monstrous thing again... But Harlock had a point. That thing had power beyond their understanding, was it even worth it when for all they know they were standing on a work of fiction? This planet, its apocalypse... It's people... It could all be fake and this torture was the only thing that was truly real.

But...

Could they seriously just stand here and do nothing?

Filia looked to the prince with a soft frown on her face, she could see his point but this felt more like a cry for help than anything else. Harlock didn't know what to do anymore and he was scared that he would never get to see his family again. And to be honest she was very much in the same boat, likely Jazmin was too. "So we're supposed to let this go on? We have to see this through until its ready to let us g-"

"AND WHAT IF THAT NEVER HAPPENED?! WE GET STUCK ON THIS ROCK FORVER AND WE NEVER GET TO GO HOME BECAUSE IT DECIDED IT HASN'T HAD ENOUGH! I-..." Harlock's back hits a nearby wall and he just slides back down to the ground again. He never wanted to be thrown into a deep end of something so grim... He was the spoilt son of a ruler who wanted a nice peaceful life and the occasional chance to play hero. An idiot who was sheltered by a protective father who bled at every chance to he took so his kids would grow safe. "I just wanted a quiet day out with my friends..." Now, desperate ripples of Psionic energy permeated from his body, an SOS from a son who wanted nothing more than to get rescued by his father.

Filia wanted nothing more than to join the prince in that pit he was digging himself but she just ruffled her short hair and looked back to Elise and Jazmin. Likely Elise had no idea what they were on about since she never met that stag faced reality writer they met in the cafe before being forced on this journey all that time ago. Being forced away from her lover was something she didn't take well which is why she wanted to bury that bastard in the middle of a neutron star and watch him get ripped apart under the unfashionable weight.

With a sigh she just ruffled harder, thinking on what they could do to end this torment and get this over with quickly... Killing themselves would certainly ruin his fun but she doubted he would allow it to happen. "Let's... Just find a way to get back to the surface. Harlock will catch up. He needs abit to calm down."

-----

With the day marching on for them both, Sephus was certainly enjoying walking around the city with Liline, once they reached the botanical garden he was actually alright with the heat. Seeming to enjoy the tropical weather, telling Liline that it 'just felt like home' to him. Though Castameer was more of a Garden world. Though the original Zerg homeworld was a primal Jungle, perhaps that side of him still had sway deep down.

As the day started to reach its close, once they got back to their room in the public house they were staying at, Seph stretched out his back with a low yawn. Tired from the train ride yet still full of energy, he decided he was going to try and really tire himself out with some training exercise outside but then he looks to Liline as she hands him some money.

"Eh? Oh, sure I'll fetch us some supper! Be right with you love!" He says after her before he pockets the cash and the notes as he headed to find the Inn-Keeper. Though on his walk through the hallways, a ripple of energy washed over him before it was directed outwards again, a sharp shiver and the sense of fear washed over him before he looked over his shoulder at nothing. "Prince Harlock...? Wha-? M... Must be nothing." He says with a furrowed brow, his body feeling more on edge than before since he was made to protect the royalty, not knowing he already played his part. He keeps walking to the Inn keeper before he gets the notes back out. "Hey I'm here to order supper for myself and my partner."

Elise seemed to almost be in a mix of apathy and shock to Harlock's reaction to the situation and fearing that the prince's anger be somewhat directed at her she remained quiet and out of the way of the group. Jazmin for the most part was a little horrified by Harlock's sudden turn to despair and crestfallen attitude. So she was just trying to keep her body language relaxed and welcoming despite whatever fear she held in her mind. Jazmin felt a little too... unsophisticated to really comment or speak her mind to Harlock. Not being a comforting or motherly type, she had no words to try and soothe the prince. Just trying to stand in support of Filia and be accommodating to Harlock she tried for a weak smile.

Despite the psionic ripples that permeated from his own body, Harlock could perhaps feel that his energies were like a coin being tossed down a well. A pit of darkness all too willing to swallow whatever was tossed into it only offering the perception of a granted wish. Natrually his energies rippled throughout space-time like they should have. Harlock's father and all his kin may yet feel this SOS, but faintly. Unable to precisely pinpoint the prince's actual location. But Harlock knew that this signal was nothing more than a hopeless gesture. Sure the tossed coin made ripples in the water at the bottom of the well, but who's to say anything at the bottom of the well could see the top and vice versa. Yet the well as an entity facilitated all of this. Playing host to the coin and praying on the wishes of the one who threw the coin. Passively naturally, no one was forced to toss a coin and no one promised that the wish behind the coin would ever come true. Yet the coin still fell through the well and still landed at the bottom as one would expect. But a darkness that lay between the surface and the water at the bottom created an intense mystery. Making you believe that perhaps something really happened to the coin on the way from the top to the bottom. But in reality it just fell through and landed in water at the bottom.

Jazmin sighed and rubbed her head, looking to Filia. "I suppose that's true. Come on Elise. Let's get back to the surface." Elise and Jazmin started heading into the facility and headed for a set of emergency elevators that would take one from the bottom of the facility to the surface. Revealing that they were actually inside the northern most Nuclear Powerplant on the mountain overlooking the settlement. Perhaps the survivors had been mislead as to this facility's purpose as a powerplant and was in fact a missile base. Looking at it from this angle, it made sense. THe massive walls at the base of the mountain was a military base. The plant up here was clearly a weapon's research facility that used the spent nuclear waste of the central facility to be turned into rockets. Also explaining why the AI needed this facility. It would be her new source of weapons, detonating her virus all over the north and finally allowing her access to missiles that could even spread her virus to new worlds if the missiles were Intergalatic. The military must have covered up the true purpose of this facility from the public and the AI was conning Harlock into giving her control of a facility that would have fulfilled her victory.

-

The Inn-Keep looked up from her duties and nodded, "aye we got some fish in from the monger. Hope you aren't too picky about fish, and I'll grab some of the red wine you lot had the other night." She'd accept the money Liline had provided Sephus and informed him that she would bring the food to their room when it was ready. This left Sephus sometime to himself before he had to return to the room when the grub would be ready.

Honour guard and Taurgha

Czagarn

A Codex of Entreaties by the Sublime and Leal Arch-Duke Therhon Florenix, Lord of Taneth and Servant to Emperor Ghilad nas Mirad, to the Mighty and Influential Cambrian Extraction Conglomerate, Keepers of the Three Jewels

Let it be known to all and sundry that I, Arch-Duke Therhon Florenix, Lord of Taneth and loyal servant to the Emperor Ghilad nas Mirad, have written this codex for the sole purpose of establishing amiable and prosperous relations between the potent Hizdahrian Empire and the bountiful Cambrian Extraction Conglomerate, for in the course of solar history, our great and mighty powers have not once crossed each other upon the field of battle nor deliberately acted with intent to insult or provoke one or the other. In all past dealings, our powers have, with dignity and grace, adhered to our mutual treatises with the utmost faith and respect and as such, I am pleased to submit for the inspection and hopeful acceptance of the Board of Directors of the Conglomerate, a codex of agreements with which our two powers may further prosper in this benighted system and attain greater glory and peace than either of us may yet attain alone. It is known to the Emperor and the Imperial Court that our two powers are plagued by vile rapscallions and ruffians of the same stripes and feathers, that they are one in the same and blight both of us with magnanimous cruelty and rapine torment, such that the once bold and intrepid peoples of our powers are now afflicted with dread at the idea of sailing through territory that was once free for all to ply. Therefore and thusly, it is the hope of the Emperor and His Court that, if nothing else in this codex be to your liking, that our two powers can unite in the singular purpose of eradicating this hooligans from our respective territories and ensure the stable and swift resumption of trade between our two realms. For this purpose and task, it has been deemed of such importance that even the Ancient and Wise Consorts of Hegi have been consulted and their services sought out, their dread majesty known to all within the system and their awesome might feared by even the mindless Vulstrians. We wish not to drive these brigands from our space only for them to settle within your own and inspire amongst your people an enmity against us for the sudden scourge, but rather a mutual effort to eradicate this mutual menace once and for all. Furthermore....

Taurgha, Triporea, and House of vengeance

Czagarn

Over the Earth, Through the Trenches, Under the Sky

Mira, Bloody Mira in popular parlance, a curse on the tongues and through the lips of those who know of the bloodstained killing fields of the arid moon. Home to madmen and warlords alike and all that lies in between, naught but fodder for the two who stand above all on that accursed moon. Home to the poor souls just trying to survive on what could have a veritable paradise only for ambition, greed and worse to soak the dry earth and drip poisoned blood down its parched throat. Before the Red Witch came and rent the moon asunder, before the Bolt Cutter thugs slipped in through the cracks left behind by Her and fed like maggots upon the living corpse that was Mira, there still was nothing but dust and blood. Dozens of men and women raised hundreds of thousands to arms and warred amongst each other, content in their bubble of bloodshed and chaos, unaware of eyes that roamed over and deemed the moon insignificant for their own purposes. Until the Red Witch. Until She came and broke the backs of the warlords, slaughtered most of their number and sent them reeling to the banner of the strongest left, the Bone Breaker, the Grand Marshal, the Baron, Geril Sjil, Warlord. Host to an unbridled ambition and a terrible lust for power, Sjil is the apex of his warlord brethren, kept in check by the continued raids of the degenerate Prismaniacs at the behest of their mad god, the Bolt Cutters and their rotting poison in the flesh of his Mira and CamEx, money grubbing pencil pushers who hurl mercenaries upon his moon. He reserves his utmost hatred for Her, the Red Witch that denied him and dares to continue breathing, let alone roost upon his moon and sate Her bloodlust on what should rightfully be his subjects, his to rule, his to break, his to slaughter if need be.

If it were to grant him victory, he would funnel every last one of the wretches that cling to him into the furnace and not look back as they screamed and writhed in the flames and behind the closed grate. All save those who proved themselves to him in all things, his loyal Guardsmen who had shed so much blood, theirs or others, for him and him alone. With them at his back, Mira could be a bastion of the strong, a monolith that may just be able to finally unite the system and destroy those who had wronged him. At the end of the day, however, he is just first amongst equals and his warlord brethren continuously pluck and snip at his power, unable even with their backs against the wall to stand firm against the oncoming night. He inspires no loyalty, only a terrible fear and a seed of hatred in the hearts of men, and only his success keeps him as secure as he is atop his throne. Things must change, yet for all of his grandiose and arrogant words, the way remains hidden to him, the plan obscured, the gate shut. Those who think themselves his masters in the Syndicate grow more useless by the day and the domain of the Red Witch grows ever more, heralded by red clouds on a world that has never once borne clouds of its own. Other voices remain to be heard, however, ones more pleasing to the inner bloodthirst of the man who willingly and proudly bears the title of the Bone Breaker, who whisper of victory in exchange for all the blood he can spill. Gerit has plenty of that to give, if nothing else.

Taurgha and Triporea

The Nebulean Union of Iammelon

Taurgha wrote:The deer was completely enraged at the foolish Psion's assumptions and arrogance, clear proof that she was right and that it would be unwise to further tease the powerful ghost about how right she was. Nevertheless, and while completely terrified by the sudden outburst of the evil Psion within Zia, she kept her calm and remained at the soul-beast's side up to the moment that the Ialao form manifested itself. It seemed clear to her that it would take all her mental strength to achieve stabilizing the creature, but she had to ..if not to survive, then to show the Psion that Iammelonians were smarter and stronger than any foolish eskali invader! She would lower her tone and smile back at the now more stable Ialao-shaped being, patting it continuously "Aha! I knew you were a true-blood Iammelonian deep down, and a fine-looking one too! Though... ..perhaps now you can remember more yes? You're obviously an Ialao ..do you remember Delviatu's message to our people? Like, that life is sacred? That's a beautiful message, yes? And trees, do you remember how nice trees look in Freeforest?" dismissing the angered scarlet Psion she turned to Raaus "Good, we'll try our best ..we have to, I guess. Keep channeling boss ...I'm too scared to even act scared now." She obviously didn't mean to let Raaus, Zia or the Psion know, but at this point May's thoughts and words were one and the same, almost as a defense mechanism due to being trapped in this uneasy situation. Despite all however the Psion's words came back to her mind ...the sheer audacity! She turned at him with a dominant tone in her voice "And you ..you talk too much, shut up and keep focusing on not being blown up, you're obviously not too good at it." probably a really unwise way of talking to a Psion.

Zia at first seemed to shrink away at the patting, but as she accepted it she began to calm down some more. The creature was clearly quite afraid, but the Ialao look was getting stronger and more stable, gaining a look of determination. She gave some small nods at the questions, "Yes, I remember... I remember a pretty tree. Outside my house. Tall and pretty, lovely green..." It was hard to tell thanks to her spectral look, but one could see a small smile emerging on her face as she remembered her own life and past amidst the turmoil in her mind. The Psion within seemed to be suppressed right now as well.

The angry Psion, Masquif, remained quite angered at that passing comment, but he did indeed need to focus on what was important right now. Rauus kept up his own work, and it began to bear fruit. Zia began to leak bits of energy, as little strands of blue soul-matter began to escape from her spectral form. Zia got worried for a bit at this, but then closed her eyes. Over time, the leaking intensified, cracks appearing on Zia's body as the many trapped souls of Eelserion were unbound from the mess that was Zia. And as the souls began to escape, if Mayflower looked out the windows of the building, she would see that as the souls fled and faded away, the spectral battlefield of Eelserion was beginning to fade as well. The echoes of Iammelonians long dead faded away as their souls were let free, as well as those of the Psion-aligned invaders. And then came the greatest one to break free. A massive, blood-red streak of red soul energy was ripped from Zia's body, with an angry shriek ringing out as it was forced out. But with that done, Zia's form settled even further, and Mayflower would get to see a perfectly normal Ialao woman, with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Gone was the confused body parts and spectral clouding. The last thing Zia did was open her eyes, smile at Mayflower, and then look to the skies as her form faded away entirely.

Rauus fell over at the expenditure of energy on his part, with the Anubite Lord collapsing to the ground. Still alive, but utterly exhausted from what he had done. So much so that his ghostly grandparent's form returned to the soul-gem on Rauus's staff, unable to be sustained by the Anubite's energy. But they were all alive, and they could see the world around them for what it really was now. A ruined, dead planet. But while the buildings hung silent, devoid of all life and activity, they were quiet. Gone was the conflict, it was all silent. But there was one soul who was still here. The red Psion creature that was outside was still there. Masquif's ghostly form clenched his hands, his form shifting from red to green, and then gave a low chuckle, "Hohoho... Finally. I am free, no longer bound to this corpse of a world. No body yet, but that is nothing a Psion cannot overcome. I'll just make a new one. I wonder if Tulam'run is still around, he made good vessels... Ah, but first..." He turned towards Mayflower, energy gathering in his right hand as the powerful creature looked down upon her with murderous intent, "Time for you to learn that your words have consequences, slaveling. I'm going to enjoy this!"

But as Masquif pointed his hand towards Mayflower, he got distracted. A red claw had ripped from the ground and grabbed Masquif's leg. He began trying to shake it off, confused as to what was going on, before he realized he was being pulled down. From the ground emerged a red face, that of the Psion which was within Zia, which roared out in rage, "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE THIS HELL! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU YET. BURN WITH ME!" And then the pulling got stronger, Masquif beginning to disappear into the ground, feet first, and then slowly his body. All the way down he blasted at the spectral Psion, screaming out, "No, no, no! Traitor! Infernal thing! Your treason knows no end! Aaaaagh!" With a final scream, he was pulled down into the depths. His psionic presence disappeared, and for the first time in hundreds of years, Eelserion finally knew peace.

On the ground, the exhausted Rauus looked to Mayflower and chuckled, "Well... Seems we survived. I don't think this was quite the goal of our expedition however. I'm going to have to spend quite a while preparing my explanation to Lady-Lord Tarset. But, I think, we have done something much better... Ugh... I could use some help moving to our rescue team." He pointed up at the sky, where from the larger ship in orbit a shuttle was being sent down to investigate what had just happened, as the entire ghost world of Eelserion had been let free of its spiritual imprisonment.

-

Taurgha wrote:The white watrike looked oblivious to what these folks meant by schooling, she was far more interested in training and becoming even better at slicing things up; while she did not necessarily enjoy killing people, it felt very satisfying the moment she achieved her perfect moves, almost intoxicating! Nia shook her head negatively, looking a bit clueless "No, this one does not know much about schooling, but if it matters, mother talked of Grand Drake being good and wants all Watrike to be good too, and if more Watrike like Nia then the Grand Drake would be very very happy indeed, because this one's mother said is very good and can never be bad ..uh ..gon ...gen ..genetiously!" she then wagged her tail and focused on Cendri's suggestion "As for training, YES! This one wants to know more how to beat bad attackers ...can do already but could do with more grace and consciously, this one thinks. Then this one could guard Cendri, not other way around, trained female watrike are more ferocious and scary after all, this one thinks as well." She seemed very happy, as for her last remark it felt more as a playful joke than her actual beliefs.

Ani seemed as if her entire world had come to crumble upon her, it felt as if she had done a foolish deed by admitting everything so truthfully and that Watrike could not understand her points ..not in their current state at least. She complied and calmly followed the two officers, bowing her head. If only Watrike understood her concerns and idealism! They'd certainly consider her a hero of Tyrfrondor, not a blasted traitor!

Cendri listened, although he did smile at the information that Nia's mother apparently did speak good of the Grand Drake in that way. Although he took it more with a bit of caution about her moth not being bad, considering she had worked with Cyboar. Still, it answered his question about schooling, or the lack thereof. Cendri cocked his head to the side a bit however at the joke, "This one is unsure about this assessment of combat prowess, but will note for later. Training however is very much easy process. Many facilities on Trikorn for this. Barracks, gym, military academies, park, all can do. School is out, military academy training centers open for use. Can go there for training and learning, facilities open for use, instructor potentially present too. Come." With that, Cendri turned to go outside.

The two Watrike officers led Ani into a large armored car. With reinforced glass, a slick black paintjob, and a large gun on top, it was a more properly Watrike design for a vehicle. Fenfuos opened the back door, and Asmalia got in. He then gestured for Ani to get in alongside her. Once both were in, he closed the door and moved around to the driver's seat, soon after starting up the vehicle to drive along in the city. In the back, Asmalia looked to Ani and spoke again, "This one intent use ride for evaluation. Decide Ani is misguided good one, or dangerous bad one. But this one is not evaluator. Only set up. Please wait." Asmalia then moved herself to the side a bit, so there was a full seat between her and Ani. She then hit a few buttons on her handheld comm unit, and placed it in the empty seat.
After a few moments, the unit came to life, and activated its holoprojector. And within the empty seat appeared another Watrike sitting down. It was a blue Watrike in a suit of grey armor, and a person most Watrike would recognize. It was Charka, the highest ranking Watrike of them all and one of Tyfrondor's most trusted subordinates. Her holographic form sat there calmly, likely sitting on a seat of her own on her own side. She looked to Ani, sizing her up, before speaking, "So you're the one who set all of this off. Normally, this sort of thing goes through a whole chain. But the Watrike that were sent to find your modified clone were my subordinates, and my responsibility. And yes, I was listening to your explanation to Asmalia there of your reasons, to decide if this was worth my own intervention. But because I heard all that, I will admit that your proposal is something the Grand Drake would be interested in. Has some potential to solve some issues he has been thinking about. But allow me to ask you, Ani. If you were given the sanction to work on this project of yours officially, with Trikorn's support, how would you go about doing this to better all Watrike? So far you have one very dangerous clone that we have been able to get, and one of my soldiers is the one being her minder right now. I can already see some issues with her based on the remains of some who tried to unlawfully acquire her. A matter that you will not ask of, it'll be handled. Focus on your pitch. Convince me, and I might decide to let you talk to the Grand Drake."

-

Taurgha wrote:Mica, was caught off guard by the shots, phasing out in thoughts as Zirona had just saved her "Zhank you for saving my life ..I guess I shall return zhe favor and explain.." With a swift movement she turned and pointed her IAAR-6.4 rifle at Zirona, staring the Watrike intensely in the eyes, it was uncertain if it was sadness, determination or regret, but it was one look Zirona would probably not forget for a long time. The Boethan had already pressed the button on her uniform beneath her thumb.. ...Zirona would feel all her limbs and muscles freezing, turning numb, forcing her to fall down like a ragdoll; She could not speak, or move, only witness a betrayal "I'm sorry ..really am, but I do zhis for zhe Nebula. Zhe Union cannot afford mistakes anymore.. ..you vere zhe primary objective" said the traitor, almost trembling in her voice. Before leaving she approached the helpless lizard, picked up the infostick and gave a last look at Zirona "I vas to kill you, but I cannot ...good luck"
With her objective accomplished, Mica run out of the building shooting and advancing towards the fence at no apparent target to give the appearance of fighting, she would attempt to rendevouz with the team in the designated location for immediate extraction.

Zirona glared down at Mica as she aimed the rifle at her, her hands already preparing to move for her own weapon to turn on the Bothean for the betrayal. She was however quite shocked when she suddenly lost all control of her body. That was a far more foreign and terrifying experience for her. The only thing she had control of now was her eyes, which bored into Mica with burning hate. But she could do nothing, and so was left in the doorway to be found by the Confederates when they searched the base after the chaos died down.
Meanwhile, across the base, multiple explosions went off at once. Then a second batch, again many explosives all across the base going off at once. For all his eccentrics, it seemed Creerisk was a very talented explosives expert indeed. This base was being reduced to rubble rapidly. There was some more shooting as well, and Mica would see in the distance a squad of Confederate Soldiers drop dead, holes carved into their chests with well aimed plasma fire. She would be able to see the figure of Wilioa slinking away near the scene, the Watrike showing that her clumsy nature did not come into play when on the battlefield. A reminder of what Watrike were built to do. And finally, the last member of the team, Selequ, was nowhere to be seen. Neither among the dead or the living, so it could be assumed the human had already left with the others by now. The Confederates were far too busy to notice Mica, and any who did look over just saw another confused soldier. Her getaway was clean.
At the extraction site, Mica would see all three other members of the team, as well as the ship moving in to pick them up. Creerisk seemed quite pleased with himself, as the Ialao Demolitions Expert hummed a prayer in a cheery tone, with one of his hands still playing around with a trigger. Selequ looked tired, but was content. Wilioa was the one diligently standing look out, rifle still at the ready just in case. She was the first to notice Mica, and waved her up. As the Bothean got closer, Wilioa smiled, "Safe return, very good. This one and others are unharmed." She then looked confused, looking around Mica for a bit, then into the distance, and then back down at Mica, "Where Zirona?"

-

Taurgha wrote:As the Ghashyr Talmyr and her Zantine Prince made the jump they could feel the mighty heat of the fire beneath them, for a moment it felt as if they floated; Myrafiora gazing in Zenos' eyes in mid-air, she was now certain amidst her drunken state and the flames that this short pink Ghashyr was definitely something more than just a diplomatic asset. As they landed on the other side, the Talmyr shocked everyone by grabbing Zenos' head and kissing him ...a rather non-traditional and unorthodox way for a holy momarch to behave. For a moment the hall gasped, chuckled and muttered all at once, though as she was the Talmyr, no one dared to actually keep their attention pinned on them, while the announcer proved his worth "Let no one say that our great Talmyrox is not led by a mighty dragonhearted soul, in companionship of a dragonstrong groom! Flying above the flames, the couple that will lead us to Light and Greatness shows to us all the way of the dance ..and of life! Let the dance commence!" As the crowd begun dancing and getting quite more vivid, her drunken greatness looked at Zenos once more "Hahaha ..we did it! L-Let's leave this ...stupid gathering, I'm dizzy ..find Baart ..Haarfi ..focking stupid Othosian names ...Haarti, yes"
Some however did not appreciate this show of affection much, especially not a lady dressed in white robes without even a dragonsuit attending at the back, but this was a dragonball and all was permitted!

Seridhor the Astanian minor lord (probably glorified janitor) took Lovise by the hand while making a bow ..and suddenly pulled her closer as the dance commenced, the Taurus while not really feeling much of strong pull would certainly not expect that kind of boldness from a human-looking species "Well your big starry eyes sparkle with passion, lovely Lovise ..I hope your body is as well! let's dance!" he would guide her through the hall, much to the amazement of many a lords and ladies who would cheer at the even more exotic couple ...the big Taurus and her Ghashyr suitor would draw even more attention than the Talmyr herself!

Zenos was caught rather off guard by the sudden kiss. For his part, he was just happy to have made the jump successfully, so the show of affection was not one he expected. Though he didn't stop it either, the prince let it happen and even reciprocated. When the kiss was broken off, he gave her a smile, before looking around in awkwardness at the fact everyone had clearly noticed, even if they were smart enough to not stare. He was quite thankful for the announcer however in that moment. Around the room, the Rangian Vanguard members contributed to the announcement with a coordinated pounding of their chests, to make their own addition to the festivities. Zenos looked back to Myrafiora and chuckled, "Yeah, we did it. But that's enough party for me, I would say, so I agree with your idea. Let's find Haarti and go." He put an arm around her, both as a sign of affection from himself and to help keep her drunken majesty from falling over. With that however, he looked around the room for Haarti, so they could grab her and get out of there.

Meanwhile, Lovise was indeed impressed with this Seridhor's boldness. So while he could not drag her around so easily, she decided to go along with it and see where this was going. As they moved, she responded, "I would hope my body can handle a simple dance! I wouldn't be a very good Rangian if I didn't have control over my movements. Still, good to know your eyes are focused up here, rather than on my body. Such discipline is commendable." Around the room, the other members of the Rangian Vanguard also took notice of the couple, and a couple gave a smirk. Truly it did seem these human-looking types were similar to the ones back home, and that meant the children of Minos could whip them into shape yet. Such was the duty of the Taurus to their smaller friends.

-

Taurgha wrote:The small-built Sofya stepped ahead of the majestic Taurus elegantly while smirking and crossing her arms ..she finally had managed to think of a good comeback "No need to frighten the weak Appa, after all ..he is wrong! He missed the part where the dragons were total Eskalivi and did a great bunch of terrible things, like eating mothers with their kids! ..was it right to have them all killed? No, but it's not like you're portraying it. And also siar, I do not have to apologize for what some ancient Ghashyr did ...I do not take advise from their ghosts while I go to the bathroom or when I get stuck in the palace like your High Lord does every morning! Hah!" she felt certain of her flawless logic, turning her head back, seeking again confirmation from her bovine best friend.

Sarxaxa would follow suit after Ezron's reassurances, after all what else choice she had? Certainly not to stay in that cave until her avatar's death. She took a last look at her hoard "Hmm, we'll see about that, I've heard peculiar things about your Valxarx ..but it will be in his best interests and mine either way that Saherod and Heord cooperate. I hope your nestworld has some decent mountain caves at least. Let's go" with that she was ready to leave the Valxaryen cave.
Young Ymira on the other paw was still pleasantly surprised by all that was happening, trotting over to Ezron "Oh yes! I'm the Myr of Urva ...tho it gets very boring signing documents at times and besides, mother is in charge of us all she is the Valxarx ..do you have ponies in Heord? ...are there really any huge male dragon-warriors like in the Holomentaries?" Sarxaxa rolled her eyes huffing some smoke from her snoot "Ymira, cease.." the young dragoness pouted "Yes, your tyrranic authoritarianess"
Myrsa was shocked by Tarral's brave and noble gesture, more than that she was quite aroused and awkward which helped her overcome her massive shame. She did not object to being pulled by her at all, following her while smiling ..even though she tried to avoid much eye contact. Once the two dragons where out of the combound and Sarxaxa's hearing distance, Myrsa would stop and turn to finally look at Tarral with her own actual eyes "Thank you, this means a lot to me ...I need to come into terms with this body, leaving the avatar behind is hard for me ...you can understand there's a certain attachment, but you helped me a lot. You are a good dragoness Tarral ..and hot, I could gaze at those shiny thigh scales and shapely tail all day"

With the proper greetings out of the sky, the last Valxaryens could all now depart for their new home in a more hospitable planet ..with their hoard intact of course!

Appa relented in her death-stare towards the Anubite, putting her hands on her hips and smirking. Sofya still had her bite, and so the Taurus gave her a nod of approval before looking back to the Anubite, this time less in intimidation and more in smug assurance, deciding to throw her hat into the word war as well, "Nor do we need to ask ghosts whether or not it's okay to call somebody an old fart. On that note, your hairs are greying." The Anubite Historian frowned at the rebuttal, going quiet for a moment. Then after his moment of silence and thought, he came up with his own retort, "The High Lord does not need to ask the ancestors for such trivial things. The ancestors come only to speak when we decide to take actions that will reverberate throughout the ages. Such as the choice of whether or not to doom an entire species because you were scared. Perhaps if your people had such an ability to sit down and think for a moment instead of act on base emotions, you might not have made the wrong choice in killing them all. But I suppose you are right that you are not your ancestors. You are quite divided from them. Their sins are not yours... But neither are their achievements. A good thing perhaps, as they were eskalivi in more ways than one, those Taggaren ancestors of yours. Some day you should speak to one of those ghosts you are so quick to dismiss, ask a few Anubite spirits about things they saw in that war. Then you might learn some damn respect for the wisdom of the dead."

Ezron had a smile on his face as he walked along, looking back to Sarxaxa and nodding, "Cooperation is very much a good idea. And don't worry about mountain caves. We got a lot of those! My own cave is a quaint place, very spacious. Probably a bit closer to the ground in comparison to others, but there's plenty up high in the mountains. Tyfrondor's old one is an example even! Though he lives in the Golden Mountain nowadays. I'm going to assume that Valxarx means Grand Drake if you're in charge, and if so, Tyf is a bit odd, but he's smart and good! I am sure he will be open to cooperation and working together." He then looked back to Ymira, still smiling, and decided to answer her questions anyways, "I can't say there are many ponies on Heord. Only a few from Tordelia as diplomats from time to time. But as for the warrior dragons, those I can confirm I've seen a fair few of! Especially among Mountain Dragons and the ranks of our Combat Drakes. Bit of a tradition on Heord to have a good fight. Not really my own style, but I've been in a few fights myself, just how it goes on Heord. But others like Azdergin have it as their trade, and the Draconic Smiths like Xorkai build for them mighty suits of magical armor! So there is some truth in those holomentaries. I do wish they stopped disturbing Grumpy though. But I guess you'll have to meet some of those dragon warriors for yourself!"
Tarral, for her part, smiled at Myrsa's words... Up until she brought attention to her thighs and tail again. At that, she simply sighed and rolled her eyes, but she gave a nod, "Yes, I can understand that there will be some difficulties. But we are Dragons! There is nothing too difficult that we cannot overcome it! But what matters right now is getting you back to Heord, and restored to good health. I said I would help, and my word is stronger than Heord Gold! Therefore I will be overseeing your healing process myself. What that means for you is that you'll be seeing plenty more of me in the coming times. So, I guess that means you'll have plenty of time to gaze, so tainted you are by softskin lewdness." She smirked there, showing it was in jest, and continued moving on towards the ship. Said ship was preparing itself for the return trip to Heord, its engines roaring to life as it awaited its new passengers.

The Alicorns, Taurgha, Angelarium, and Triporea

Zobertevia

In the Zober System, in one of the planets in Adokwf’s jurisdiction, Adokwf Terismomalto was hunting down bandits in the many forests of that planet, slaughtering most of them one by one with his twin great axes, his enhanced strength, and his men.“Yesssss, die you scum lords, die for the many local villages you attempted to pillage.” Said Adokwf Terismomalto as he decapitates five bandits all at once. When the dusted settled, the locals were glad that all of those bandits were dead and they paid five thousand Deazies for the trouble.

Meanwhile, in a toxic planet in Safodeski’s jurisdiction, Safodeski was making a new outfit for himself, the outfits is reminiscent of a plague doctor, with syringes filled with the toxic water as part of his gauntlets and the lens in the mask is glowing green. “This outfit will fit me perfectly” said Safodeski Terismomalto.

While all that was going down, Grandapx Sherifte Fospspfke Terismomalto was preparing plans to find a spot for an outpost outside of their system. “Well, we need to find other nations or have other nations try to contact us, if the second thing comes, we need to have precautions for this, that way, we could have a calm first contact” said Grandapx Sherifte Fospspfke Terismomalto.

Taurgha

The Celestial Imperium of The Alicorns

Equus, Imperial Palace
The suitcase clicked close, and a green-haired empress breathed a sigh of satisfaction. The things she'd need for the long trip were packed, falsified identification readied, and discreet messages sent out to various contacts throughout the East. As the sun set outside, Terra knew that the last thing to do was get a good night's rest and catch the first civilian ship to the Talmyrox tomorrow.

"Ya sure we're ready for this, sis?" said a familiar rough tomboyish voice, "I was there when she brought it up, the others weren't exactly happy with the plan."

"I've read the minutes, Cyn," replied Terra, "Though nobody really was happy with anyone else's plan there."

"Point," said Cynder, who then grinned as she scratched her hair, "Though I do have to admit, I like doing a little trolling myself."

"So we know what we're both doing?" said Terra with a smile.

Cynder coughed, then grinning and saying in Terra's softer and more demure voice, "Oh hello Ambassador... er... Watsyorneim, how's your family back on Cuthia? Oh, I hope they've been having a ten-tacular time there!"

The sisters had a laugh, before Terra nodded. "I think that's going to fool them long enough, and the sealed orders?"

"Already sent sis, all you gotta do is have a nice working vacation," replied Cynder quickly.

============================

The rest of the evening was spent on some last minute discussions, backup plans, and general ribbing, but soon Terra and Cynder retired for the night, each ready to take on the coming months. And for Terra, her first journey would be to Sion, a region in the capital of Taurgha...

Iammelon, Taurgha, and Triporea

Taurgha

Episode III: Revenge of the Sionese

Prologue
Dark times plague the Talmyrox once more as the rebellious cities of the Triple Alliance have openly declared their arms against the Talmyr and the Triad criminal institution running the drug trade all over Sion and the Empire.
The troubles begun with the Vathang murders of two key reformist Sionese politicians and secret Seven-Cities League members by Triad assassins, a crime that was covered up by Talmyrene institutions for reasons yet unknown. The rest mayors of the then underground Seven-Cities League network voiced their dissatisfaction and warned that if the Talmyrox did not take measures to limit the Triad's power in Sion they would act directly and extra-judicially. For a few months the situation remained tense until the attempt of a Triad assassin to murder Sen Yet-Soon, grand mayor of the Pau-Pavan metropolis and defector from the Triad criminal syndicate run by his sister who ordered his very assassination; what was that enraged most of the people was that the Martax-Generalcy of Sion had an organized meeting with Lady Sen and the Triad a day after the event, while at the same time Triad gang raids in the countrysides intensified and resulted in what truly sparked the fire of revolution...
The Baikatan, normally a peaceful valley adorned with Nala Orchards, it soon became the sight of the first battle of the revolt: There, in the purple and orange orchards of the valley, Triad raiders were for the first time in years repelled by a militia of merely 1000 brave Riuriu hunters. The Martax-General ordered the immediate disbandment of the militia, but instead of giving up their weapons, Sen Yet-Soon openly supported the creation of similar militias in all of the Pavan region and called the populace of his own mega-city to defend themselves, raiding the Talmyrene armory and handing rifles to more than two hundred thousand people. The following day, Pau-Pavan along with other two major cities of the "Old Seven" declared anew the League of the Seven Cities openly and in direct defiance of Talmyrene and Triad authority.
The League of the Seven Cities was for a while willing to put down arms if the Martax-General was to accept their Four Directives:
I. Direct Action against the Triads by Talmyrene Forces
II. The return of Triad-owned plantations to the original owners
III. The institution of a Sionese Gendarme controlled by an independent civic-controlled authority
IV. A Halt of all trade on Narcotic Substances for a period of a single month to cripple the Triad economy
Enraged however as he was, the Martax-General; a Velseran noble named Raendor Szaarse, in his lack of wisdom (and worrying shortage of Talmyrene military presence in Sion) called the forces of the Triads to back what existed of a Talmyrene constabulary in Sion. Thus the Triad-Talmyrene forces marched united from the grand capital of Preah Iava to Pau-Pavan to force the League Militias to rethink and put down their weapons. There in the Talabao Fields the two armies met and for the first time in long, rebel forces managed not only to route the Talmyrene forces but obliterate them and force them to surrender unconditionally thanks to a massive ambush by General Maryon-Nac's irregular countryside Riuriu Tirailleur regiments and General Fe-Baratanu's regular and civic Purple-Mandalay Banner(Army), who surrounded the Triad mercenary "Bloodsnakes" Army and the Talmyrene 1st Sion Guard Retinue. The battle saw widespread use of traditional Firearms-focused Lazaryn doctrine warfare, with firing lines, dug up positions and heroic bayonet charges.
After the battle, Pau-Pavan was declared as the provisional capital of the Seven-City League, while the league was officially joined by the cities Batalang, Preah Palil and Koh-Tham. Simultaneously a major revolt errupted in the countryside by a farmers' organization of militia known as the Xianaites; said revolt came under the protection of the Seven-Cities League along with its leaders, the rebel peasant couple of Bao and Salay Jai-Taibang. The following month the Samargh in Sion declared its full recognition of the Seven-Cities League and formed together with the Xianaites and the Seven-Cities League the Triple Alliance for the Restoration of Liberty, sending the Othosian veteran general Tilkoz Jorthaari with a force of 7000 Othosian elite and veteran Volunteers.

The Rebels
Following Yet-Soon is Maryon-Nac Rakasay, a deposed baroness and lifelong anti-Triad fighter with rebel Seyn connections who has often annoyed the Talmyrox and Ymbrel-Triad trade routes with her acts of land piracy in the past; Now she is leading proudly the feared ghosts of the jungle, the "Riuriu" Tirailleurs!
The third most important figure is the grand mayor of Batalang metropolis and Provisional Consul Jiava U-Nang whose great skills in orating and passionate republican speeches elevated her as the official head of state of the rebellion. While the battle-couple of Bao Taibang along with his wife Salay have been the representatives of the Xianaites, a brave league of rebel farmers and the second member of the Triple Alliance.
Last but not least stands the Pan-Shyrite Samargh political and democratic organization that chose to fully support the rebellion by sending an Othosian volunteer expedition led by famous baron Tilkoz Jorthaari and in the meantime organized unrest in already aggravated Othos and Urva -in direct coordination with the Seyn after many years nonetheless!- baron Jorthaari was eventually declared as the provisional Magistrate of Martaen Affairs (War Ministry) due to his experience as a veteran of the Concordat War and was given full direct control of not only his Othosian Volunteers but also the newly conscripted Green-Dragon Banner, the newest of the Banner military formations of the Seven-City League.

Southern Sion, Shyr, Winter of 4745
Currently Martax-General Aezje Szaarse has been amassing troops in the city of Iavana to defend Talmyrene Sion against the incoming rebels; Supporting the Martax-Generalcy is the 4th Imperial Moonguard-Army dispatched from Gal and the 12th and 1st Imperial Velseran Guard-Armies under the leadership of experienced Urvan-Galen General Jaegaxa Mirandal (under the direct supervision of Grand Admiral Haarti herself). The Talmyrene armies, totalling more than 600'000 soldiers and many artillery batteries are supported by the entirety of the currently Shyr-orbiting Moonfleet who have yet to be ordered to orbitally bombard Sionese rebel positions but are preparing for the devastating and destructive event.
Major unrest has been noticed in not only Othos and Urva in Shyr but also many of the colonies (primarily Velsera, which is the headquarters of two of the three armies stationed in Sion), with people disapproving any orbital bombardment or cruel action to be taken against Sion. Margan Mayors have voiced their dissatisfaction with the entire treatment of the crisis by Talmyrene authorities and have addressed her Divine Greatness in a quite emotionally charged communique as the "League of Margan Cities" for her to "Reign-in the Fool-Generalcy of Sion".
The Triad on its own has instigated a series of murders of reformist low-ranking leaders all over the realm to intimidate the rebels, while they have also paid for the services of the 5th Arcal Army of the Velseran Company Military. In total more than 700'000 rebels led by grand mayor Yet-Soon are heading towards the capital of Preah Iava, increasing their numbers and equipment each day as they pass from friendly territory.

All this brings us to today, as a small Tordelian vessel approaches the alert great capital of the Talmyrox, carrying in secret a rather important dignitary...
The large planet is surrounded by five majestic Azgorlanor behemoths and many cruisers of the Moonfleet, there seems some commotion has been caused in its orbit; countless small ships waiting in lines, or in the many space stations surrounding the planet. Suddenly a scripted message can be heard in the Tordelian ship's EtherCom organs: "Unidentified Vessel, welcome to the Taurghan System and the great home-world of Shyr, grand capital of the Talmyrox Ghaen Shyryen. Due to recent foreign terrorist activities all unregistered arrivals to the planet are subject to Legat III, paragraph CXXIV of the official Ethercode of the Talmyrox. Halt your engines and await the establishment of direct communications with one of our Etherlane officers that will explain the procedure for your safe landing in the planet. Wait warmly and have an enlightened day!" * beep beep beep beep * ...a cracking sound can be heard for a while and then the tired voice of a male humanoid speaking through a translator device, his Urvanyen can be heard in the background of the language the device translates in "Hello and welcome, this is lieutenant-captain Faedor Raelgalyen of the Talmyrene Orbital Homeguard of Shyr, please switch your engines off and identify your vessel ...do you copy?"

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