Saga (Metroid)

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Spacebattles: Saga (Metroid)
Sufficient Velocity: Here
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Fanfiction.net: Metroid Saga: Genesis Chapter 1: Sunset on K-2L (SA), a metroid fanfic | FanFiction
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Chapter 1(SA): Sunset on K-2L


Aethlan Mines, Sidhemor, K-2L, Vercengetorix-6886, Macha Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy.

"Alright folks time to wind things down and take sixty. Don't hurt yourselves on my account." Rodney Aran said, as the sun of the recently settled planet hung at its apex in the sky, giving the air a brilliant blue hue interrupted by the occasional clouds.

"I'm telling you Aran, we're screwed the second they step up Fuel Gel extraction on Thrushin." One of the drone foremen said, raising her AR visor and sighing as her work drones went about their last programmed actions, ensuring that the carts emerging from the mine shafts were properly sealed. Elendrina was one of the Aelvia, her elfin features gracile and soft, but still quite close to human. Her purple eyes blinked rapidly before she rubbed them, a clear sign of staring at screens for too long without blinking.

"Don't worry about it too much. I've brought that up with the General Executive Board, with any luck the Association will get us posted in Fuel Gel ops before things get bad. Besides, there's still some demand for this stuff." He said, giving her a reassuring look.

A handsome blonde man, Rodney had risen to a foreman posting before even hitting twenty five, with the lack of protective gear he had on a clear indication that he spent most of his time in management work. He tapped some info into a holographic screen projected from his bracelet and once he was done had a look around. Most of the workers were now sitting down and unpacking their lunches from sealed storage, moving into shaded areas to escape the glare of the star Vercengetorix-6886.

The growling of his own stomach warned him that he had been neglecting his own needs however, and he sighed as he realised he hadn't packed anything again. He checked his pockets shortly afterwards, no he hadn't brought any ration bars either.

He ran through his options, thinking about what he might ask for at the cafeteria. He definitely needed something calorie dense if he was going to pull another all nighter. Some counter-fatigue medications would also banish his body's urge to sleep.

Who knows where society would be if they hadn't found a way to cure sleep deprivation? While generally not used by a still sceptical military, they'd been a life saver for him on so many days. Seems like today might need some more.

But as he was lost in thought, a packed container was moved in front of his face. He looked up from the slender hand holding it and locked eyes with a lovely golden haired woman with eyes as blue as the ocean, who was giving him a sweet smile as she approached him; still dressed for housework.

She was on the taller side, and kept her hair in a simple ponytail. Her blouse reached to about her ankles, and the fabric, blue and tan in colour; was clean. Almost immaculately so, she'd definitely not been outside for all that long then. Her boots were simple, chosen for comfort rather than fashion, and on her right hand was a ring matching his own.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to be out of the house so early. Something up?" He asked, though he had a hunch about what she was going to say.

"You forgot your lunch again Rodney, so I thought I'd pack you something more to your tastes than the cafeteria food. " She said, offering him the container as he felt slightly embarrassed before taking it into his hands.

"You didn't need to do that Virginia. But thanks." He said, giving her a small smile.

"You're working too hard. I asked that we join a co-op so that we could be more flexible with our schedules. But you haven't slept in your bed in weeks." She said, brushing something off his face with a wipe she produced from her long skirt's pockets.

"The convoy's going to be here soon and we need to fill out orders," He said, sighing and rubbing his eyes.

"You're not going to fill them out working yourself to death honey. The universe isn't going to end because my husband started practising what he preached and took some time off." She said, a somewhat coy look on her face as Rodney went from just about ready to argue to realizing he didn't have a counter and giving a resigned smile.

"Yeah, sorry. I just need to feel useful." He said.

"Your daughter needs you Rodney." She said softly as she leaned on his shoulder and sighed.

"Promise me you'll spend more time with her?" She said.

"I...yeah, I promise." He said as he brought a hand around her and gave her a bit of a squeeze.

"Besides, you want her to have siblings, don't you? Can't do that when you're busy at the site every day." She said with a grin that he met with a peck on her lips as he pulled her in tighter.

"Well, I guess we have sixty minutes to spend if you want to get a headstart on that. Just as long as you're sure she's fine." He said

"She's in the safest place she can be." She said, smirking as Rodney pulled her towards a more private place.


Neorai Forests, K-2L



"Come on, give it back! That's not yours!" A small girl shouted at a creature that looked like nothing more than the fruit of a rabbit and a squirrel's illicit dalliances that currently had her backpack firmly in its hands.

She tried to jump at it, but was not quite strong or nimble enough to reach to the tops of the trees where the animal lay. Her short blonde hair gleamed a bit in the sunlight that poked through the branches, and her intense blue eyes tried to make out what the Rabil was doing with her stuff.

"Come on, bad boy! Get down heeere!" She protested, trying to jump once again. But once again she got nothing for her efforts but a stare. The Rabil didn't run away at least, that would make chasing it at least a thousand times more irksome.

"Ugh, come on, you stink! Get down here already!" She grumbled as she looked around. There had to be some way to get up there to the Rabil's level. She eyed the area, looking for something to climb on and get a better vantage point. But before she could think on a way of how to climb up the tree to get at her stuff, two other kids came running in.

"Samus! Samus! Look, look there's a new ship coming!" One of the boys, Jacen said, trying to point to the sky as a shape slid through it. It was rather like a pyramid that had a series of minarets attached to it, seemingly archaic but the blue glow of its engines and its flickering fields as it rearranged the clouds so that it could descend with the sun behind it all pulsed with advanced technology even she could recognise as far beyond the usual visitors.

"Eh? Who's in it?" She asked as she raised one of her hands to shield her eyes from the sun as the craft came to a sudden halt and started a rather gentle downward descent. It was clearly large, not the biggest ship she'd ever seen but definitely big enough for her to know it was important.

"They said they were Chozo?" A girl, Aisha said, scratching at her chin as she looked at the craft in its moments before touchdown. Its legs extended and made sure its rooting was firm, and the craft hummed with energy and purpose.

"Do you mean...new people...here?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity. New people usually meant business from her parents or new colonists coming in. Which usually meant new friends to play with. She could feel her heart racing and bit her lower lips in anticipation.

"Yeah!" Jacen said, and at that Samus' eyes lit up with curiosity as she decided to get moving as quickly as she could, starting her stop with almost a there were new people here then she had to see them.

"I wanna see it!" She said, a grin appearing on her face as she promptly forgot about the backpack for the time being, running off in the direction of the ship. She had a head start ahead of the others already, but even then she was faster than most of the others.

"Come on slowpokes!" She said, running somewhat ahead of the rest as she pushed herself as fast as her legs could go. Her friends could barely keep up, not as familiar with the layout of the landscape as she was as she sprinted.

"Slow down! You're too fast!" Jacen shouted, but alas; she was always eager to be the first to see something new. She giggled mostly to herself as she ran ahead, devouring the distance between her and her goal faster than most would imagine a toddler could manage.


Gaela Landing Plaza, Sidehmor, K-2L



A hooded figure seemed to materialise from the ether, followed by a handful of their comrades. Wearing brown robes decorated with trims of red and gold, these figures stood taller than humans. Leaner too.

Each of the Chozo was somewhat different from the others, their cloaks fluttering while drones hovered around their heads. The light of eye pieces and visors that should have been visible through the hoods was shrouded by some manner of artificially generated shadow, and the air subtly shifted with the energies they commanded.

The shortest amongst them, who seemed to have the posture of an old man with a cane whose fingers were clad in truly resplendent armor, carefully decorated with gently carved details formed around the claws of the gauntlet; spoke soon enough, rapping fingers that seemed almost insect-like in their great length and thinness.

"I would like to request access to the Afloraltite you have stockpiled here if you are willing to do us the honours of sharing the bounties you have collected." He said, his voice kindly and avuncular, a reverb present within as if he were speaking from many throats.

The one standing to his right, taller, thinner and seemingly less world-weary, with more greyish colouration to the armour visible through the openings in the fabric they wore rested his hands by his sides and took a moment to relax his fingers before speaking.

"You will of course receive fair and just compensation for the trade. We are no thieves and you have clearly done great work to make the harvests that you have." The Grey one said.

"And if possible, we wish to have access to this harvest immediately. We have works which we do not wish to delay." A third, female voice to the left of the old one, her armour more purple than her compatriot's said.

"Uhh.." Elendrina said with the full breadth of the wit that she could muster when faced with a real, live Chozo in front of her.

"You just want to take it?" Another worker, a synthetic by the name of Siegway said, their optics zooming in and then back out as if they weren't quite sure whether what was in front of them was real.

"Please, do try to understand that this is for a good cause." The Old one said, turning his head slightly to the left, anticipating the presence of someone else arriving. Even before Rodney had stepped up to speak to the Old One, the Chozo's gaze was pointed directly at where he would be as he pulled down his hood.

Beneath the hood was an ornate helm, wrapping around his beak and having two distinct red eyepieces through which he saw the world. He bore a simple headdress, a crest with which to indicate his status, and the red and gold helm seemed to bear an almost gentle countenance. He was tall of course, Rodney was one of the tallest humans in any given room and even he had to crane his neck upwards to meet the gaze of even the shortest of the gathered Chozo.

The one to the left lowered her hood to show a helm with winged structures on each side, her helm purple and gold and her eyepieces a benevolent green. To his right, the tallest among them followed suit, his grey and red helm having something akin to the mane of a seahorse emerging from the back, raising however temporarily; the question of how such a protrusion was not noticeable when he had his hood up remaining impossible for Rodney to guess an answer to.

"You are the foreman here, yes?" The one to the right asked.

"Yeah, that would be me, R-"

"Rodney Aran." He said, completing his sentence for him before turning to nod at Virginia as she straightened her top and stepped up to meet him.

"And you would be Virginia. My apologies if I startled you, but I have been anticipating this meeting." He said, offering a small bow.

"Then you'd know that we can't just hand some of our supplies over to you. We've got a convoy coming in expecting full stocks for transport elsewhere." Rodney said.

"I'm aware, we will offer you what is just and fair your labours and to the convoys for your troubles. But it is quite important that we have access to these supplies. We are hoping that you will be understanding." The Old One said with a gracious bow.

"Look, can we at least get an explanation as to why you need the Afloraltite? I might be able to make some arrangements if I had some answers." He said, sighing.

"Please, if we just start making unarranged trades our reputations will suffer. Is there any way you could make the proper arrangements?" Virginia said, stepping up to speak to the Chozo who regarded her for a scant few moments before speaking.

"This was on rather short notice, and you were the source with the most readily available supply of Afloraltite. Please do know that we are not fond of asking this burden of you, and we ask out of necessity, not desire." The Female Chozo said with an apologetic bow.

"Are you certain there aren't any other places in the cosmos you could look for Afloraltite in?" She asked, trying to keep her gaze locked with the Chozo as he straightened himself and rapped his fingers against the handle of his cane.

"Yes. This was the first place we sought to ask. Should you accept our request, we are willing to share some of our digging machines and refinement systems which you are certain to find immeasurably superior to your present systems. So that you may make up for lost harvests long before the Caravan ever arrives." The Grey one said, conjuring images of mighty diggernauts and strange machinery that caught the eye of the miners.

"You still haven't answered our question." Virginia said, pursing her lips and remaining dead-on in her gaze. She wasn't going to flinch on this.

"Yes, why do you need the Afloraltite?" Rodney asked, tapping his fingers together as he thought on his next response, trying to plan ahead lest he be caught by an unexpected turn.

"We are seeking to expand our work on Zebes, and that requires additional afloraltite. Our synthetic efforts are promising, but we seek ample natural afloraltite to form a special mineral when combined with our artificial product." The female to the left said, seemingly truthfully and the Chozo were renown for their honest wisdom.

"I...we...we're tempted but this is such a sudden offer, we aren't really certain of how to respond?" Virginia said, stammering a bit as she tried to find the words to say.

"Could you give us some time to talk about this? We're...really overwhelmed that the Chozo would ask something like this of people like us." Rodney added, getting a nod of approval

However, there was yet another newcomer pushing through the crowd, darting between the legs of the gathered people.

Small hands pulled a small body up onto the Plaza, a small girl's voice called out to let her see what all the fuss was about, and then the head of the Old Chozo was found having already anticipated the exact spot where she'd arrive and she froze. She gulped and tried to approach all the same.

"Samus, what are you doing here?" Rodney asked, his expression clearly somewhat concerned as he made a gesture to the Chozo to request a few moments with his daughter.

"I wanted to see the ship papa." She said, chewing slightly on her thumbnail and looking to him for forgiveness.

"Sorry." She said, looking at her feet and shifting them a bit nervously. She looked back at them and relaxed to see they weren't disappointed, just relieved.

"You can stay, but you need to tell us where you go Samus." Virginia said as the two briefly pulled their daughter into a hug.

"We need you to stay safe. You can wander, but make sure we can find you if you do. Can you understand that? You know we love you." He said, hoisting her up briefly and getting a giggle out of her before passing her to Virginia who gave her a small spin to get her excited.

"Now, why were you scared? Is it because of them?" Virginia asked, getting a small nod out of Samus.

"You don't need to be afraid of them Samus. They just want to talk about some things with mama and papa. Why don't you say hello to one of them?" She said before setting her down and giving her a little nudge forward, stepping back towards her husband and embracing him as the two watched her waddle forwards.

"H-hello...I'm Samus Aran, three years old." She said, her knees slightly shaky from the attentions of the armoured ancient as he mentally directed the others to continue speaking and looked to the gathered adults for a few moments.

"My apologies, I would very much like to speak to your child if you would be so gracious as to give me the chance." He said.

"Samus." Virginia said, causing her to turn her head to her.

"Just be careful with him. And remember to be polite." Rodney said, giving her a thumbs up and then nodding at the Old One.

"Okay papa...mama what were you going to say?" She asked.

"Be nice to him, please." She said simply before looking back at the other Chozo.

"What's your name?" Samus whispered as the Old One kneeled down to her level.

"I am Re-Sekh, but you can call me Old Bird, my friends there are Somek-Ka and Isa-Hesh; but if you like, you can call them Grey Voice and August Wing." He said, getting a nod of understanding out of the young girl.

"How old are you?" She said in a small voice, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Very I'm afraid." He said with a small laugh.

"Are you afraid of me?" He said, Samus at first trying to shake her head to say no before stopping herself and nodding yes.

"You don't need to be. I may look different to you. But under all this, we have the same heart you and I." He said, letting his helmet dissipate into golden light to reveal his purple feathered head with segmented exoskeletal carapace on the neck, squat and wide like a parrot's but with strange, solid coloured eyes. His beak could not smile, but he spoke with a pleasant tone, and laid his hand attached to an incredibly lengthy, almost emaciated looking arm on his chest in a sincere gesture. Though he was far taller than she was, about half as tall again as her own father despite being the shortest of the Chozo there.

"Are you really a bird?" She asked, relaxing and settling into the mindset of a thousand and one questions as most kids her age did.

"Something like that, yet not quite. If you wish, you could call me one though." Knowing that she probably wasn't interested in getting a lecture about convergent evolution right about now.

"If you would like. I wish to be your friend." He said, offering a hand to her.

"Why?" She asked, curious rather than sceptical about his intentions.

"Because making new friends is an important part of life for people like us Samus. And I'm sure you can show this old man many new things." He said, causing Samus to think about it for a moment before an idea dawned in her head as she tugged at his extended hand.

"Come on! Come on! I want to show you something!" She said, causing the ancient to stand up and look to the other Chozo. "Please continue with the negotiations Somek, I'll be back shortly." He said as the other Chozo watched the event unfold.

"Please be careful Samus! And don't forget to be home for dinner!" Virginia said, before looking pointedly at Rodney and quirking a brow as she tweaked his nose slightly.

"Which goes for you too." She flashed him a coy grin.


Samus' Logbook Entries


Planets: Whirlpool Galaxy: Macha Cluster: Human Habitable: Galactic Federation Controlled: Visited: K-2L (Part 1)

K-2L was once a small but growing colony world settled in Cosmic date 2095 (Earth date 13.04.49,995) by settlers originating from Earth seeking to make their fortune in the waning days of the Afloraltite boom. Though the rise of Fuel Gel as the zero-point energy catalyst of choice had been causing Afloraltite prices to wane, K-2L was well-positioned to become the seed of a major industrial world with its abundant mineral resources. The planet is the fourth from its star Vercengetorix-6886 and has a diameter roughly comparable to Earth with a similar land to sea ratio and temperature range. Like Earth, the planet's continents are split into two clusters of collided continents, making for six in total. Though no indigenous city building or tool crafting sapients have ever been observed, the native Rabils have been categorized as a sapient species. Its atmospheric composition has a moderately higher Oxygen content than Earth's, but well within comfortable ranges for humans with only standard genetic screening.

Samus' notes:

The thing that always stuck with me about K-2L was its lack of large predators and aggressive herbivores. I'm not sure why that sticks with me, maybe it's because every wild and uncharted celestial body I visit now has animal life that could feel safe attacking military units. But the idea that where it all began had nothing bigger than a common brown bear that had any interest in picking a fight always seemed...Ironic is the word I'm looking for yes?

Species: Fauna: Synapsidoid: Therapsidoid: Mammaloid: Lagamorphoid: Sapient: Rabil

A small endothermic and furred species akin to Earth lagomorphs, Rabils are renown for their sensitivity to the emotions of other species and their surprisingly high strength. Popular as pets, a population of domesticated Rabils created by genetically altering wild rabils with domestic traits was created within months of colonization and then shipped off-world to pet distributors across the cosmos. Rabils are largely docile herbivores, but will respond to aggression in kind if not left with any other option, and are both extremely fast and surprisingly strong due to having builds created for climbing and jumping.

Samus' notes:

It's a very good thing that they can wash themselves because I despair at the thought of trying to keep fur like that neat without mechanical aid.

Organizations: Businesses: Co-Operative: Mining: Sirian United Mining Group

Founded early in Cosmic Year 2010 (Earth date 18,383), the Sirian United Mining Group is one of the largest worker-owned mining industries within the Federation. With its ownership restricted to employees and its substantial wages and benefits, Sirian boasts high employee retention and satisfaction and has made its business on providing its services in multiple galaxies, with the Pinwheel Galaxy being considered its primary area of operation.

Samus' notes:

They mean well enough, but the direction of my life has taken me far from the miner's life.

Organizations: Labour Unions: Industrialist Unions: Red Unions: Intergalactic Worker's Association

The largest labour association in the cosmos, the IWA crosses multiple intergalactic lines and is renown for its firm principles of solidarity, widespread reach in nearly every industry, refusal to be beholden to any state even if they share political views such as the ODCOR, and hardline negotiation tactics. Strictly democratically organised as directly as possible, the IWA is controversial to some but others will swear by it.

Samus' notes:

Well worth the membership fees.

Cosmic Dating System

By mandate of the Galactic Federation, dates are ascribed to the Cosmic dating system which measures years by the reckoning of the Chozo calendar. Cosmic years are roughly equivalent to 346.855 Earth years, with year zero marking the conclusion of a tremendous "Forbidden war" with a foe simply recorded as "the legion of despair" or "the Old Foe". Dates are divided into day, week, month, with ten days to a week, twenty-four weeks to a month, and sixty-six months to a year with days being roughly 7.9 times longer than Earth days.

Samus' notes

Human ages are recorded by our own calendar. I was born on the Sixth of August of the year 50,000 but it's still the year 2095 by the cosmic calendar now. Humans entered space in Cosmic Year 1957, or 2134, and joined the Federation when it was founded in 2003; or 15,955. Yet that's all ancient history by now, almost forty-eight and more than thirty-four thousand years ago respectively. A dual dating system is more than practical enough for my needs however,

Substances: Energy Production: Zero Point Energy Catalysts: Afloraltite

Afloraltite Crystals were a catalyst for tapping into Zero point Energy of choice for the cosmos until the Akintoye-Zarakram process to utilise Fuel Gel as a catalyst instead was discovered in Cosmic Year 2095. Primarily taking the form of crystals, Afloraltite is still considered a valuable mineral; particularly for usage in the ignition module of starship N-Space drives, Star Warp accelerators, Mass Manipulation drives, or for Cosmo-Gates used to link locations together. Users should be cautioned of its explosive tendencies however.

Samus' notes:

It's funny, in a painful, ironic sort of way that is; how something that used to drive so much of a fuss in the cosmos is considered second stringer garbage now.​




Notes: This story's going to alternate between two protagonists. Chapters concerning Samus Aran; the Huntress will be marked with (SA). Chapters focused on Arne Skjoldr; who will one day become Sylux; will be marked with (AS). Chapters focused on neither will not be marked with initials. A long time ago I read one guy's metroid fanfic for their conceptualization of Sylux's Origin story. A somewhat less long time ago I collaborated with them on their somewhat abortive remake of that. Now I'm trying my own hand at it, and I'm hoping to drag you all along for the ride!

If you're worried about how I can maintain so many writing projects; don't be; I have too much free time as is and have substantial stretches of these works already done on a google doc.
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 2(AS): Cylosian Dusk

Himminsdag Mountains, Cylosis, Cyrus’ Expanse, Pinwheel Galaxy.

“Arne? Where are you.” Gyda Skjoldr asked as she looked around the snowswept mountain tops. Surrounded on all sides by rugged peaks, the woman and the soldiers she was leading pushed through the fierce winds blowing wisps of frost and the cold without any concern. Her visor set itself to thermal tracking mode, false colours displaying a sea of frigid purples, dark blues, and blacks but illuminating whatever heat sources there were. Her voice was firm but not harsh, she was calling to her son, after all, she couldn't be too firm.

“Sorry...I was looking.” Arne Skjoldr said, the platinum-haired boy waddling into her line of sight, her H.U.D marking his outline in green as she turned her head towards him. His boots kicked through heavy snow and his was frame lit up with warm yellows and oranges on her visor before she set the HUD back to visible light so she could see him as he actually was. Clad in his blue coloured insulative artificial fur rimmed jacket and dark blue snow pants and cleated boots. His nose cherry red from the cold. She let out a sigh of relief and kneeled down, laying her left gauntleted hand on his shoulder while he lowered his stuffed dinosaur toy slowly.

“Arne, what did I say about running off?” She said. With a thought, her fighter pilot like helmet's visor gleaming as the sun struck its polarised lenses. With a mental command, it disassembled and retracted into the rest of her gunmetal, crimson, and Prussian blue armour, her right hand found its way to his shoulder as the three-year-old adjusted his shirt. The finger claws on the gauntlets had been retracted for now, folding back into the vambraces so that the suit's fingers would be rounded and gentler while keeping her clan symbol of the crow grasping lightning unobscured. As a final touch, her suit’s flight assistance wings folded up into rest position near her suit's spaulders for the sake of comfort.

“Not to do it…” He said shyly.

“Good boy. There are a lot of people who want to hurt us, so you need to stay safe. Don’t get out of Sylan’s sight, okay?” She said, a small smile forming on her lips as their red eyes locked with one another. Her platinum hair; kept in a braid that went down to the middle of her back when freed from her helmet with swept bangs and cascades of hair framing the sides; gleamed somewhat in the light while her valkyrie like countenance studied her son’s expression, her marble toned skin seemingly soft even with the face paint she wore on her cheeks meant to represent crimson claw marks.

“Okay...but what if I f-” A finger was pressed to his lip before finding its way back to hers.

“It’s very important for you to do what mommy says for now. We can play later.” She said, smirking and standing back up, the knight like spaulders of her armour rolling with her shoulders as she extended a telescoping weapon stored on her back to its full length and made a quick whistle to get everyone moving, waiting for a dip in the wind's volume so that she could be heard by the procession of troopers behind her. The chest plate of her suit’s glowing red central light strobed briefly as she flexed the suit’s wings with a thought. In and out, she closed her eyes briefly and just listened to the wind for a few moments.

The Cylosian winds lashed at her long hair for a few moments before Erik emerged, his youthful face framed by the parka he was wearing over his opened helmet. He looked younger than he actually was, and his mid-neck length platinum hair had been somewhat tousled by the wind. He stashed away his werewolf gun and started moving quickly, his suit’s flight pack folding tightly against the rest of his armour.

“Did you find something honey?” He asked, running up to his wife after breaking cover and planting a kiss on her cheeks. She flushed slightly but pushed him back after returning the gesture.

“There’s a ship beneath there alright.” She said, pointing to the mountain with an extended digit.

“Well, yeah we knew that. But anything else?” He asked.

“Whatever’s in there is much older than most of the pre-Federation ruins here. Based on the geology, I’d say it’s a ship that crashed here about fifty thousand Earth years ago.” She said, looking back at Erik as he had a look himself and then turned back to her while Arne tried to stuff interesting looking rocks into his pockets. The mountain certainly didn't seem like it was entirely natural, too smooth, too perfect to be the work of natural erosion and geological processes he wagered. The one mountain that stood above all the rest, whose twisting peaks seemed almost to stab the sky itself.

“Think it’s worth having a division’s worth of scouts poke around the area for a month? Or screwing up your sleep schedule for even longer?” He said, giving a concerned look at her as she nodded gently. She blinked a few times to clear away some weariness as if to confirm his words, but let her suit quickly clear away the sensation of fatigue and seemed to almost shoot awake, inhaling and exhaling.

“I know you’ve been missing our time together, but this might be worth our while. We can make up once we’re done.” She said, laying a hand on his cheek and tilting her head.

“I know, but it’d be a shame to come here and only find some beat-up old piece of space junk. Besides, a man can hope for some more time with his wife can’t he?” He said, laying his hands on her hips. She responded to the gesture in kind, her hands resting atop his before slowly sliding up to his shoulders and towards his face, the other soldiers around them not paying them too much heed to their actions.

“Well he can, but if he’s just a little bit patient he’ll have exactly what he wants. And if this turns out to be something we can use to win some ongoing fronts well...I’m sure we’ll be able to find some way to celebrate hard enough.” She said, feathering some fingers across his chin, a wry smirk forming on her face as she looked down at him, tilting her head to the other side and giving him a coy wink.

“Are you gonna do the thing that makes babies?” Arne asked, getting a snort out of Gyda and a laugh out of Erik. Some of the other soldiers who had been nearby and were close enough to overhear Arne's question looked away and a few put their hands over the mouthpieces of their helmets. Sure enough, the comms were filled with attempts to avoid corpsing. Some more valiant than others based on the giggling that could be heard through the frequencies.

“Not right now, dad’s wearing a bit too much for that.” Gyda gave him a little grin as she gave her husband a little nudge to his shoulder that he leaned into.

But after stealing a kiss from him, shortly after she had pulled away she noticed Erik’s red-eyed gaze turning to his son and then looking back at her, clearly questioning. She had been having this particular argument with him time after time again and she almost seemed to slump as she sighed and started her explanation one last time.

“I didn’t feel safe keeping him back home. I'd prefer to keep him in my sight for a small expedition, and he needs to get out more anyway.” She said, sighing.

“...I mean you’re the warrior queen so I’ll trust you on that. I just hope we can pull him out of here if we have to do any revolutionary insurgency here. ” He said.

“Technically she’s just a clan champion. Albeit one of considerable repute. And she’s always had impeccable exfiltration capabilities” Sylan said, the synth walking into view while Gyda rolled her eyes as hard as they’d go.

The synth’s blue, yellow, and dark purple body was in rough humanoid shape, though they were currently being carried by a number of tentacles holding their primary body upwards, a function meant to increase their mobility as the two yellow coloured optics of the synth surveyed the landscape. With a somewhat feminine overall shape, Sylan’s profile was generally easy to make out as each of the arm thick and extendable tentacles stepped forward, claws grabbing purchase into the ground.

“Could the both of you stop tripping over yourselves to offer me praise?” She said, shaking her head before making a few hand gestures spotted by the rest of the group, all of whom emerged from their positions and moved silently towards the place she indicated.

“You sure we need to bring the runt?” A man with a skull-faced helmet said, his mass driver gun almost extending the whole length of his body. His armour was somewhat lighter than the others, his bionic right arm, pronounced left optic fitted with a scope monocle, and dramatic holo-cloak all serving to make him do the opposite of what you’d expect a sniper to do and stand out at this moment. The not-quite-human proportions of the armour hinted at his nature as an aquatic creature, the steps he made having a slight added weight from the water within the armour. His snout was somewhat elongated compared to most, and he was the only one Arne had never seen take off his helmet.

“Would be a shame if we had to feed him to some monsters inside eh?” He said, offering to ruffle Arne’s hair only for the young lad to clearly get spooked, dashing behind his mother’s legs.

“If you scare my boy I’ll feed you your gun Morr.” She said scornfully with a withering gaze. Morr flinched at the hard stare

“Mommy…” He whined as Sylan patted him on the shoulder, the dark blue and purple robot urging him to keep up with the group.

“Don’t mind Morr, he’s just an asshole.” She sneered, her helmet reconstructing itself around her face. The last to re-emerge were the wing-like antennae on the sides that marked her as an aerocommando, spreading outwards as if they were reaching for victory. But as the helmet resealed, the red visor of the helmet glowed briefly as it reactivated, an interested coo being heard from Arne who always found the armour construction process interesting.

The red eyepieces of Morr’s helmet glowed back before he snorted.

“Mom...what’s an asshole?” He hazarded to ask.

“Something you shouldn’t call people unless they’re very rude.” Sylan explained.

“Oh, does she not like Morr?”

“Tch, you kidding me?” Erik said with a chuckle.

“Yeah yeah yuck it up.” Morr grumbled as he zoomed in on the site with his helmet.

“Can't see shit besides some wildlife. Why bring the whole crew out for something like this and why the hush hush?” He said, shrugging as he saw feathery hexapods root around the mountain for tubers, shovel-like claws digging up precious food. Olgraps, a small herd of them busy making their lives in the mountainside, their shaggy downy coat ruffling slightly as some shook off accumulated snow.

“Because, urgilk[1] Morr; if the archaeologists’ guess is even half accurate we’re putting a target on this planet the second word gets out about what we’ve got here.” Erik said.

“Like we don’t already?” Gyda said with a wry grin.

“Do we have to hike all the god damn way?” Morr grumbled. Arne wasn't sure why he was complaining, he was wearing the special armour.

“I could throw you.” Lydyl said, the psychic deactivating their cloaking field and appearing next to Morr. Her digitigrade boots gripped into the rocky surface somewhat while her six-fingered hands flexed their digits. Her helmet lacked the distinctive winglets on Gyda and Erik’s, but overall her armour design was similar to that of her companions’.

“Nah, hard pass.” Morr said with a snort.

“This is Wyvern to Mountain; do you have an opening?” Gyda asked.

“Starting to really regret letting you call me Mountain, but yes. Bring the kid, he’ll be fine.” A deep, bassy voice replied.

“Sylan, take Arne, rest of you; high mobility mode.” She said, taking stock of the angles needed to make the jumps she was planning and immediately starting with a sprinting long jump that would have taken her clear over a stadium, bouncing immediately back into the air to grab a cliff face one-handed, yank herself up and jump again all in the space of an eyeblink. She didn’t activate her flight pack, fearing detection, but she virtually flew all the same.

“Can I open my eyes when you fly?” Arne asked as the synthetic held him tight, wrapping him in manipulator tendrils and fired off her repulsors, driving her into the sky while the rest of the team followed their commander.

In the space of about twelve seconds, they made it to the high point of the mountain, where a cavern was awaiting them. Arne’s face was now covered by an oxygen mask, and the warm clothes he was already wearing were sealed just a bit tighter to keep him cosy.

Gyda let her werewolf gun attach onto her right arm for greater comfort, looking around in either direction until the warm orange glow of a walking boulder alerted her to a foreign presence.

She raised a hand as the rest of the team arrived and the figure emerged, the light illuminating his figure. Almost half again as tall than even the tallest human and twice as broad as any man with a squat head; his enormous body sheathed in rocklike and crystalline mineral power armour and his right hand encased in a stalagmite like arm cannon with the left covered by an orb-like power fist that glowed like magma, his steps were seismically noticeable by the sensors in Gyda’s boots as she lowered her cannon.

“What do you have for me Spire?” She asked.

“It’s Alimbic alright. Much older than anything in their cluster over in the Tetra galaxy. Won’t lie, really wishing it was Diamont instead.” He sighed.

“Worst comes to worst, you’ll be able to get away without them suspecting you.” She said.

“Anything else you can tell?” Erik asked.

“Entrance is shut tight. Star-breakers wouldn’t be able to force them open. Not with the shields up.” Spire said.

“Whoa whoa whoa, shields? Like, the door shields?” Morr said.

“Based on my scans now that I’m here...hull shielding.” Sylan said.

“Yeah how are we supposed to crack that? I don’t have enough of a boom for precursor starships.” Erik said.

“Won’t need to, I should be able to handle interfacing with it.” Spire said, gesturing them to follow him.

“Are you sure it has to be you...maybe I could try telepathic interaction?” Lydyl proposed, raising her hand only for spire to shake his head.

“You’d get lost trying to figure out Alimbic psitech, I’ve cracked into Alimbic security systems before. Just keep an eye out for any responders.” He said, turning to lead them to the entrance he had carved out. However, it was almost immediately obvious that the entrance was a solid wall.

“Trying to be funny?” Morr asked.

“The Alimbics were masters of teleportation and subversal manipulation tech. They only used doors as back-ups or courtesies. But I can get access by making a request to enter.” Spire said.

“Just ringing the doorbell huh?” Morr said.

“He means he’s going to ping the ship’s A.Is.” Gyda corrected.

“Will it hurt?” Arne asked.

“Nah, Alimbic teleporters are perfectly safe.”

“Says the guy who takes baths in magma.” Lydyl snorted.

“Molten obsidian is great for the pores, you just can’t handle the heat.” He said jokingly as he scanned the ship to let his suit A.I begin communications. In a conversation that took place over the course of less than a nanosecond, the ship A.I determined they were allowed to enter after confirming the presence of a Diamont and engulfed them in translucent green energy to teleport them within the ship.

Interior of the Alimbic "Themata" Type Battlecruiser, "Caesarian Lance"
The sensation of space warping and twisting around them until they were suddenly somewhere else was far too brief to be felt, but the sudden change in temperatures was most certainly noticed by Arne.

His pallid skin, deliberately paled through genetic editing in the womb to ensure he could receive precious Vitamin D from Cylosis’ daylight, began to flush with the heightened temperature. He wasn’t comfortable and there was only so much his smart clothes could do to reduce the sweltering heat he was feeling.

The area they were in was a sterile, metallic colour intermixed with warmer earthy tones from stone objects brought inside. But the ship was unmistakably military in layout, and unlike the Vesper Defense Outpost, it was kept at a considerably balmier temperature. No widespread coolant leaks for one thing. This was impeccably maintained.

It was a long hallway with a number of platforms and a substantial number of screens displaying information none of them could comprehend or read. But a telepathic probe pulsed through the halls and portals that the machinery within made use of began to flare to life once more. There were intruders that needed responses.

The strange mechanoids of the dormant ship soon came to life in response to the presence of intruders, all bearing the Alimbic’s trademark of a single cyclopean optic and Lydyl shuddered somewhat as she felt a telepathic signal echo through the ship.

“Stay behind me.” Gyda said, pulling her son closer to her, looking to Spire and nodding as she huddled with the group. The procession of machines soon formed a circle around the small band, no moves were yet made by the machines to prepare weapons, but they hovered, stood, or rolled rather unpleasantly close.

“We would like to indicate that we come in Peace! Please try not to crowd us!” Sylan protested.

“Oh, Crosenii I don’t want to die in this zoomerhole.” Morr begged of his death goddess.

But the machines suddenly looked upwards and around, stepping away as impossibly lanky and tall figures materialised via the translucent glow of a teleporter and the whooshing sound of air pushed out of the way. Insectile in form with the contours of their armour ending in many sharpened points, their pincered hands split into two fingers each, tapping their pseudo-fingers together as they straightened themselves to a height over twice that of a human.

They lacked necks like the Krikens, with their somewhat teardrop-shaped heads with pointed crests floating above their torso with no known connections. Singular cyclopean glowing eyes studied the group and the air hummed with potent energies. Though they had the proportions of stick bugs, their great height and the nakedly obvious energies they commanded were enough to garner respect all the same.

The impossible sight of Alimbics, real, living alimbics, was now staring them down and studying them. It was enough to make Arne drop onto his knees while the adults save for Spire and Gyda quaked slightly in nervous anticipation. Nobody had seen a living Alimbic since the days of the Roman Empire. Not a single human before them had ever laid eyes on one to their knowledge, and here was a whole ship's worth of them.

There were four, a tetrarchy and a triumvirate with the four arranged in a line and the three in a triangle apart from one another, making it clear that they were from separate groups.

The tetrachs were red, green, blue, and yellow; while the Triumvirate counted an orange and an august purple one amongst them flanking those who clad themselves in steely grey.

“-Do you speak for these beings, Diamont?-” The Grey one did not speak so much as let their words be remembered in the minds of the group. Imperious, stern, like a general ordering their troops.

“Can’t they speak for themselves?” Spire rumbled.

“-You are one of the Enlightened, these are your charges are they not?-” The Yellow one said.

“-Though I must question why you are alone here? You refuse our mental probes access.-” The orange one said, tilting their heads farther downwards towards them.

“Because there aren’t any. I’m the last as far as I know.” He said.

“-...How did they disappear? Do the Cathedrals of Mondreus still stand? Who are you?-” The Green one asked, their telepathic voice filled with...concern.

“I don’t know, I woke up to find everyone else gone. All the buildings emptied, all the vehicles vanished.” Spire sighed, his glow dimming slightly with sadness.

“He’s Spire.” Gyda cut in, hoping to satisfy their request for information and silently praying that satisfying their curiosity would outweigh their offence to her speaking out of turn.

“-A nickname?-” The Red one asked, this one more curious than annoyed.

“Yeah, and you don’t need to know more than that.”

“-And what of your companions whom you allow to speak for you?-” The grey one asked. The responses were curt and virtually instantaneous, though the Alimbic seemed largely disinterested in the words of what they clearly seemed to regard as not worthy of breathing the same air as them. But there was yet one who had not introduced themselves.”

The blue one looked down at Arne and offered their hand to him, having picked up on the custom from a cursory telepathic scan. “-I am Elmorni, what is your name little one?-” She said.

“Arne...Skjǫldr, I’m three but mommy says I’m smart for my age.” He said, smiling bashfully at her, not quite sure of the proper way to address her.

“-These are my companions, Ygrak, Urim, Mortirk, Deglos, Osith, and Zurvduat.-” She said, gesturing to the Red, Green, Yellow, Purple, Orange, and Grey Alimbic in succession as he nodded, the conversations his parents were having fading into the background.

“-You’re a bright one aren’t you? I can see such rich colours of thought coming from you.-” She said.

“Daddy says I’m very...precocious.” He said, trying to sound out the word to not come off as a fool.

“-I see no lie in that.-” She said with a small, warm mental laugh that almost bounced around in his head, like a memory that couldn’t quite be pinned down and detailed.

“Can I ask you a question?” He asked, softly in an almost whisper-like voice, as if he wanted it to be a secret.

“-Of course.-” She said, almost kneeling so that she could be less towering in comparison to him despite her tremendous lanky height.

“Are you a bug?” He asked, resting his chin atop his stuffed animal and looking intently at her.

“-I don’t have the mouthparts of one. But I can see the resemblance. Why do you ask?-” He said.

“Because you only have five legs.” He said plainly as if the reason was supposed to be the most obvious thing in the world.

“-Ah, that is because we are not your bugs.-” She said, giving him the impression of a motherly figure smiling as he nodded and accepted the response.

“-Now, let me ask you a question, Arne. What do you know of us?-” She asked.

“You’re not supposed to be here...you’re supposed to be gone.” He said, nodding and nibbling a bit at his thumb after pulling off a glove.

“-I gathered that. How long ago was that supposed to be?-” She asked.

“Mrmm...fifty thousand years...earth years!” He said nodding.

“-And is that the planet where you are from?-” She asked, getting a negative headshake.

“Nuh-uh, mom says it's not safe to go there because people will hurt me.” He said, holding a bit tighter to his stuffed dinosaur.

“-What people?-” She asked, her mental voice sweet and motherly.

“The Federation, Space Pirates, Krikens, or any number of other hostiles will be here soon if word leaks about our discovery here.” Gyda said, the words all regaining Arne’s attention. Like a bogeyman or a monster under the bed more than anything else to him. He turned his red eyes to his mother as she tried to speak to Zurvduat, tilting his head slightly before looking back at her.

“Those people.” He said.

“-Why do you think those people want to hurt you?-” Elmorni asked.

“I don’t know...maybe it’s because nobody loves them?” Arne said, biting a bit at his thumb as a snort came from several of the people in the room.

“-And why should I care? If what you say is true and the Tetrarchy is gone then I have far greater concerns than the squabblings of primates, lizards, and fish over petty political grievances.-” They said almost scornfully, the disdain evident in their telepathic voice and getting a scowl from Gyda.

“Hey, who do you think you are calling us primates?” Erik said, pointing accusingly at Zurvduat, the tripedal alien’s legs twitching as they stared at the digit the way one would glare at a strange dog that just barked at them.

“-Your technology is primitive even with access to what came before you. Your psychic and mystical evolution is even more unformed. You are not in any position to make demands of me as an equal.-” Zurvduat said.

“-Are you not being too harsh to our hosts?-” Ygrak said, turning towards her superior who did not so much as turn their head towards them in acknowledgement.

“-That they happened upon the planet we crashed on does not make them our hosts.-” He said, straightening himself in the process.

“You know, I’m starting to wish you guys were still extinct.” Spire rumbled.

“-Is that a threat?-” Deglos said, snapping their head towards him as the mechanoids around spire unfurled their weapons, Spire shifted his feet and snarled, pushing Arne behind him and interposing himself between the boy and the Alimbics.

“No, just a complaint.”

“-Watch your tongue Spire.-” Osith said coldly, though Spire only narrowed his gaze in response.

“This was a waste of time, come on, let’s leave.” Gyda said.

“Colonel, are you sure?” Lydyl said.

“I’m with Skjǫldr, these jackasses aren’t going to be of any help.” Morr said, stopping just short of spitting in his helmet.

“Mom what’s a jack-” Arne asked before a somewhat alarmed Erik snapped around to him and placed a shushing finger on his lips.

“Not a word you should say at your age.” He said, scooping up Arne and swaddling his son in his arms before looking at Gyda and nodding.

“Are you certain they’ll let us out?” Sylan asked.

“-Of course you are free to leave. You have committed no violence against us. But be assured, you are to remain silent about what you found here. We will be watching.-” Zurvduat said, disdainfully even as some of the other Alimbics looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

“...Alright.” Gyda said coldly as she stormed out, the portals snapping to life and warping them back outside.

Himminsdag Mountains, Cylosis, Cyrus’ Expanse, Pinwheel Galaxy.

“I’d call those some fruitful negotiations.” Morr said before Gyda glowered at him with a glare that even through their helmets, Morr could tell was a sign for him to shut up.

“Maybe we should try later?” Lydyl asked.

“No, we need to get going and abandon this planet and get fleet mobile again. If they’re not willing to help defend it, I don’t want to be anywhere near here when word gets out about what we found. I’ll notify EVA planetary command and the ODOCR civilian government about our findings. Hopefully, General Thraksim will see reason and give the order to Evac. And if not he can eat me out with vinegar..” She said, clearly frustrated.

“Eat you o-” Arne said before Gyda realised what she said and flushed a bit beneath her helmet.

“When you’re older honey.” She said, somewhat flustered.

“The Republics aren’t going to be happy about just letting the Alimbics go.” Spire said.

“We couldn’t stop them if we wanted to.” Erik said.

“And I’m guessing your paramilitary outfit isn’t prepared to handle full military incursions here?” He asked.

“We don’t have the kind of force here to stop a full-scale invasion by the kind of troop movements that would be sent We’ve fought off incursions before, but people would literally destroy this entire starsystem to get that ship. We wouldn’t last a day against people desperate enough to go all out to take it. We need to get out of here.” She said sternly.

“Bottom line is, the Ensryn Volunteer Army is a guerilla force; we’re supposed to leave the hardcore stuff to the RRA.” She continued.

“Just gonna let them walk?” Lydyl asked.

“Didn’t say anything about that. We can still track them. I left something on their ship. We should hopefully be able to give that to the EVA supreme council.” Erik said.

“Clever, aren’t you?” Gyda smiled.

“I learned from the best.” He smirked back as she stepped towards him with a sway in her hips and looked at Arne and then gestured to Sylan to pick him up. Realising what was happening, the others picked up Arne and began to move out.

“Don’t fret about us too much we’ll catch up. Just need to handle a few...personal things with my husband.” Gyda said as she laid her hands on his chest and pushed him to a sufficiently cosy-looking cavern.
Sylux's Logbook Entries

Planets: Pinwheel Galaxy: Cyrus' Expanse: Human Habitable: Ensryn Volunteer Army Occupied: Visited: Cylosis (Part 1)

Cylosis is a cold world that orbits at a considerable distance from its parent star, Cynar. Roughly Earth mass, the planet was on the outer rim of the old Tetrarch Order of the Alimbics before that civilization's disappearance and remained largely unnoticed by intelligent life until recently. The world was occupied by the Ensryn Volunteer Army paramilitary force to establish a logistical base to harry foreign intrusions into the local space such as the Piratical Confederacy of Dismor, the Kriken Empire, the Galactic Federation and other unwelcome imperial intrusions. The planet is notable for its high geological activity due to more than thirty times the expected quantities of radioactive elements such as Uranium comprising the planet; resulting in a large number of mountain ranges and high quantities of heavy metals pushed to the surface by mantle churn. It is also known for an unusually strong magnetic field and thick ozone layer that filters out virtually all harmful solar radiation, resulting in very little melanin equivalent in most native life forms. Oxygen content and atmosphere density is higher than Earth's while gravity is slightly stronger, but Argon comprises a much larger portion of Cylosis' atmosphere. One of its more distinct features is the natural nuclear reactor lakes in some regions and the rare phenomenon of coexistence between nuclear and chemical-based biologies.

Arne's notes:
A lot of people just think of conventional mountains when they think of Cylosis, but what I always remember of home were the volcanoes. Especially the Pyrostorms they often made, I liked to just sit and watch the bolts of electricity dance through the black clouds of ash. It always felt kind of...relaxing? This might sound weird, insane even to most but they were always beautiful to me, not dangerous. Every time I go back I like to just sit and watch one of the eruptions.

Organizations: Paramilitary: Revolutionary: Omdyn Democratic Omnipragmatist Council Republics Aligned: Ensryn Volunteer Army
The Ensryn Volunteer Army was formed in the Ensryn Nebula to fight against expansionist efforts by powers considered hostile to the general welfare of the region, though in recent years it has expanded its reach. While locally lead, it enjoys substantial support from the ODOCR and its Intergalactica, and also from sympathizers elsewhere. Primarily organised as a defence militia, a volunteer force able and ready to partake in other conflicts as needed, and an insurgency force, the EVA's most recent activities have involved attempting to aid in the organization of revolts in foreign colonies. The EVA does not discriminate by species, gender, or culture and recruits freely from all promising volunteers.

Arnes notes:
There are criticisms of them to be made, but I'm not going to hear any from the Federation, the Pirates or whatever batch of bootlicks decries them because they got mauled for poking a sleeping Saber-Tyrant. The Stars were not made for chains.

Organizations: State: Federal: Omnipragmatist: Intergalactica Affiliated: Omdyn Democratic Omnipragmatist Council Republics

The ODOCR originated from the Antennae Galaxy during Cosmic Year 2005 after the Omdyn accords formally unified a number of Omnipragmatist governments, movements, organizations, and societies into a single body. Located relatively far from the hubs of Chozo activity, the ODOCR has had somewhat strained relations with the Galactic Federation, the United Engenoid Sovereign Nations, the Hramilndan Domain, and the Vhozon dominated Order of Eternal Justice in recent years due to bitter trade disputes but has remained somewhat cordial in the face of the greater threat posed by the likes of the Space Pirates, Ivasti Star Serenity, the Glathik War-Clans, the Greater Vlakyl Realm, and the Kriken Empire. It considers the Free Omnipragmatic Federative Republic of Ugervolt, the Union of Othimarin Omnipragmatist Republics, the Popular Republic of Kzarni, and the Omnipragmatist Republic of Avarist as its closest allies. The Omdyns are organized as a federal democratic body as directly as possible, with all delegates subject to recall by both their constituents and federal subordinates and the populace being able to enact decisions through petition. Productive acitivity is heavily automated and synthetics make up the supermajority of the population.

Arne's notes:
I've never really gotten why everyone makes such a big deal about the synths. An organic brain is just a naturally evolved molecular computer and the Federation has its Aurora units managing half of everything now. It does feel more isolating to be the only human face in some places though.

Organizations: Clan: ODOCR Residing: Uskarling: Grendakal

The Grendakal clan is a prominent clan within Uskarling society, living a mostly fleet based existence like most of the other Uskarling clans. Founded by Grandak, a Ivkarian warrior who agreed to join the ODOCR towards the end of their life, the Grendakal clan prides itself in strong solidarity with itself, a powerful sense of justice, and an eagerness to fight for righteous causes. Grendakal accepts any who take and pass the Harrowing, its chief rite of passage which tests the mind, body, and spirit

Arne's notes:
The Clan's been good to me despite everything, and I like to think I'm good to them.

Combatants: EVA: Organic: Infantry: EVA Militant
Equipped with the LEOIC-337 PPR (Particle Projector Rifle) and JFSG-361 family of modular battle armours, the EVA militant is a solid and effective combatant. They make up for their somewhat weaker shielding and armour with higher mobility systems and low-observability functions that make their suits harder to detect and lock onto. For close quarters, most are fitted with energy bayonets, one for the gun and one for use as a knife or as a back up. Grenades are standard issue and are typically of submunition burst varieties for anti-personnel work, or are shaped blast explosives for use in demolition or against hard targets. Jump jets are standard on EVA militants like virtually all modern combatants.

Arne's notes:
Whatever you can say of them, you couldn't ever fault their spirit.

Individuals: Freelancers: Active: Diamond Rank: Silicoids: Unaffiliated: Spire
Spire is thought to be the sole remaining Diamont, an ancient species of silicon-based lifeforms whose bodies are formed of organic rock that considered themselves peers of the Chozo and Alimbics. Spire travels the cosmos as a freelancer searching for information on the location, or fate, of the rest of his people. Considered one of the best, Spire is highly regarded for their strong moral compass, sense of empathy, efficient working methods, and mastery of archaeology, geology, and investigative abilities. While difficult to get a read on himself, Spire is extremely adept at surprisingly gently getting information out of others. His combat abilities are also regarded as having very few rivals, having been active for a full cosmic year and having only rarely had to retreat from engagements.

Arne's notes:
He's surprisingly soft for a big pile of rocks. And also shockingly cool for someone who regularly dips in lava.


[1] Uskarling term translating to "Friend" or "Comrade".
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 3 (SA): A Walk in the Park




Neorai Forests, K-2L, Whirlpool Galaxy


The two had been brought before the same old tree as before. It rose high into the air, its green leaves swishing in the wind while the same pink furred Rabil still clung onto Samus’ backpack. She looked to the Rabil and then back to old bird, looking at him with a wide-eyed smile. She wanted to believe.

“Old Bird, can you fly?” Samus asked, staring at him curiously. She looked at him with eyes full of hope and excitement. Perhaps he could resolve the conundrum that she'd been faced with.

“Not with my wings. We have not used those in a very long time.” He said gently as she huffed in disappointment.

“Aww, then we’ll never get my backpack back.” She said as Old bird looked at the tree and reached out his hand. Invisible force grabbed hold of some purple fruits, round and almost heartlike in shape. He sampled one. The taste was sweet, tart to him, like a watery date.

“Wow...can you get my backpack with that?” She said as he offered her one of the fruits. She took a curious bite herself, to her tongue she could detect a more watermelon like flavour, picking up some chemicals his tongue missed but also missing some his detected easily.

“We should think carefully about how we use force. Do they look harmful to you?” He said.

“Well..no.” She said, frowning somewhat and looking back up at him just moments after taking a second look at the Rabil.

“Then why not convince them to come down?” He said, laying a hand on her shoulder before looking back at the Rabil as they turned their head around in curiosity.

“Okay but how?” Samus asked, spinning around and pulling at the Old Chozo’s hand to pry answers from him. She gave him a pleading look, clearly eager to understand his wisdom as he had a small chuckle and tapped the underside of his beak.

“It is because they are afraid that you are angry with them.” He said, giving her a warm sensation in an equivalent of a smile delivered through telepathy rather than sight. She relaxed somewhat at the feeling, a surge of a sensation of safety slowly disseminating through her. She squeezed his hand a bit more gently now, sighing in a more relaxed way.

“How do you know that? Is it magic?” She asked, getting a small laugh from Old Bird in the process.

“No, I can do magic, but I wasn’t using it then. It was psionics. But maybe we can use this as a time to learn about making new friends.” He said, patting her on the back.

“Okay.” She said somewhat meekly, not quite getting just what he was going for at the moment as she tried to think on his intention.

“Let’s start with giving them a name first. Then we can play with them.” He said, urging her to look upon the Rabil as she considered his words.

She placed her hand on her forehead and thought intently. She closed her eyes and her mind raced through many possibilities. She considered and discarded dozens of names as she thought, grunting slightly as she tried to think of something perfect. Something that they would really like. Something cute…

“Pyonchi!” She said loudly, raising her index finger in a Eureka pose as she looked at the Old Chozo and then at the Rabil who was clearly startled by the sudden announcement. However, they did not run away, and instead looked more intently at Samus.

After a few moments of silence, she started to giggle, something shared by Old Bird as he joined in just a few moments later.

Pyonchi, newly named and curious of the reduced hostility they sensed from Samus began to climb down, the Backpack in their front paws as they approached with a series of short hops, the tuft of white fur around their neck ruffling slightly while their squirrel-like tail swayed slightly behind them.

Samus leaned down and reached out for her backpack, which the Rabil relinquished without a struggle as they stared at the fruit Samus was eating. She looked over at Old Bird and received a nod of affirmation, prompting her to loan out the fruit to the animal who quickly began to strip the fruit of its reddish flesh in a surprisingly voracious manner.

“See if you can pet them now, Samus. Be careful, don’t rush into it so that they may be comfortable in your presence.” Old bird said, gesturing towards the Rabil for Samus as she slung her backpack behind her back and reached a hand out to the Rabil. The mammal tensed briefly, but then allowed the touch to happen.

“Remember, keep your strokes gentle and soft. Don’t push too hard into them. And when you embrace them, keep in mind that Pyonchi will still need their space. Don’t constrain them.” He said, an “okay” coming from her as she slightly picked up the pace of her pets but avoided increasing the force behind them. The Rabil thumped their foot in response, leaning into the pets and getting closer to her.

“Now I think Pyonchi is fond of you.” Old Bird said, sighing gently as he sat down beneath the shade while Samus stroked the fur of Pyonchi. Pyonchi responded by pushing into her a bit more as she hugged around it, though not too tightly or completely as to stress them out by making them feel there was no escape.

“Can I take them home?” Samus asked, eyes looking up at Old Bird who simply let out a small chuckle at that as he hid his hands away into his sleeves as he crossed his arms. He was quite relaxed right now, and seemed to be satisfied with the work he had done in expanding her horizons.

“That is up to your family Samus, but I am certain they will understand your friendship once you explain it to them.” He said, closing his eyes and letting his mind drift into the ether of the morphoscape.


Morphoscape




The Stars were in a peace of sorts. Conflict was there, but war was generally the stuff of localised skirmishes. His brethren on Tallon IV, who had sadly gone silent in recent years, were far more gifted at the distant sight than he or most of the others who did not join their commune were. They had a clarity of vision and an accuracy in determining the likelihood of their visions that the more advanced Chozo could never match.

But he had that gift all the same. And now he would make use of it, letting his mind stretch from his body and open its spiritual eyes to a manner of seeing the synapses of cause and effect in a way no physical instruments ever could. There was a sort of relaxing effect to seeing the pathways of destiny unfurl and transform. Possible futures withered or changed, some so tenuous that simply knowing their existence caused the threads to fade into impossibility.

All seemed to be well to his eyes in the distant sight.

Then he deigned to look at threads closer to home. It had been difficult to examine the destiny of the Chozo in recent years. Something had been clouding those fates from them recently, a shroud over the conduits of possibility that he was unable to pierce despite his experience.

But there were unusual sights, something that was connecting that should not be present. A thread long though severed had been quietly reasserting itself. Something that had been dead for more than five hundred human generations was alive again. The Alimbics? Impossible. The doom that fell upon them was so swift and terrible.

And yet...it is never an easy task to fully eradicate a species capable of faster than light travel. It is so easy to miss some who may slip through the would be annihilator’s fingers. But where had they been for so long?

He looked deeper, and saw another thread coiled around this cable of many destinies. The colour of humanity glowed in the synaptic pathways. One that tied towards the Chozo once again, albeit only ephemerally, but the pathways of destiny began to coil incredibly tightly around something else. Another set of destinies, another batch of possibilities. But one among them, another human, this one woven tightly around the Chozo.

He tried to examine these pathways deeper and saw violent flashes of pain and strife. Trauma, agony, conflict, the shroud weaving ever more tightly so as to block his sight from seeing more than glimpses. Something terrible; the serpent of malignant doom constricting around all fates and hiding them away from the gift of prophecy.

It was too much and he drew back from the visions. What was that? What did he see that made him tremble? What doom could lay in the fates of humans? He pondered this for some time, but he was certain that the quiet era was coming to an end. Fire and shroud were descending upon more and more of the possible pathways of fate.

Not one threat, but an army of them. A menagerie of menace that would require the manner of force to repel that no longer truly existed. Already the drumbeat of conflict was sounding throughout the synaptic corridors of possible outcomes. Threads of destiny struggled and entwined as they warred for supremacy.

This had been known to the Chozo for some time, but the scope of it all was still so very terrible to behold. Such senseless violence and destruction. Such monstrous sights that haunted his visions and made him almost despair. But he held onto hope, and he steeled himself with a mantra, reminding himself that this too shall pass.

Those painful threads, the destinies of those two humans and others whose fates were entangled with theirs. They brought light. Gleaming radiance in darkness, and calm in the firestorm of destruction. They were important. But he needed to know why. Why did they matter? And why was all of this starting to happen now?

He'd need to ponder on this later. The others could offer him fresh eyes on this wisdom.


K-2L, Gaela Landing Plaza


“So are we agreed then? We will return to you with what we seek to exchange for your Afloraltite and ensure that you are more than able to make up for the lost product.” Grey Voice said curtly.

“Want to shake on it?” Rodney said, extending his hand towards the Chozo who regarded the hand briefly before reciprocating the gesture. His grip was surprisingly gentle for someone clad in armour even given the claws built into it, and it was immediately apparent that Grey Voice had no patience for childish games of grip strength as he pulled his hand way shortly.

“I would very much like to see you again in the future. You were respectful and courteous, and I would like to see you all rewarded for your hospitality.” August Wings said, offering a respectful bow to the miners of K-2L as they congratulated themselves on securing something that might turn around the fate of the colony for years to come.

“Now, we will depart shortly, there are arrangements to be made on Zebes as I am sure you all understand. Expect our return shortly and please feel free to bring more of your hospitality with you for the occasion.” Somek-Ka said politely, keeping his hands close to himself.

“Are you all set to leave now?” Virginia said, offering a faint smile to the gathered Chozo who looked at each other and then back at her.

“We must await the return of Re-Sekh. Fortunately, that wait will end very shortly.” August said, turning her head to see the emergence of Old Bird with Samus in tow behind him. His pace was unhurried but deliberate, and his presence was unmistakable.

“Old Bird, do you have to go?” Samus said, holding Pyonchi close to her while following the now re-helmeted Chozo Elder who had taken the effort to walk across the ground when he just as easily could have hovered over it. She kept pace with him as he walked, tugging somewhat at his cloak.

“My apologies Samus, but there are things I must take care of sooner than later. We will be seeing each other soon though. Don’t worry.” He said, patting her on the head gently as he prepared to step back onto the plaza.

“How long is soon?” She asked.

“Hopefully, we will be back in less than a day. You have my word.” He said.

“And when you come back...will you play with Pyonchi with me?” Samus asked, holding the Rabil up to the ancient who smiled and stroked its head with a few gentle pats before looking back to her.
“I promise.” He said, offering her a small medallion, one bearing the stylized S like symbol associated with his lineage. A Chozo symbol of courage and honour. He slowly clasped her hands over it and let her hold it tight after fitting it around her neck.

“What’s this for?” She asked, looking up at him with curiosity as he stood himself back up, pushing himself upwards with his cane and gazing down upon her.

“So that we may always be able to find each other. If you ever wish to call on me, close your hands over the medallion and think of me. And I will be there as fast as I can. And who knows? Perhaps one day I will have need to call upon you?” He said gently, brushing some hair away from her face.

“Okay...can I use it now?” She said, getting a small laugh from Old Bird.

“Soon Samus, soon.” He said as he walked back towards Grey Voice and August Wings.

“This will be goodbye for now. But not for long.” He said as he let the ship teleport them back in, the loud noise of air rushing to fill in the sudden vacuum giving Samus and Pyonchi a bit of a startle as they jumped in surprise.

Virginia caught her before she could fall though, and helped her stand upright once again. Her eyes were then almost immediately drawn to the Rabil in her arms, which made a high rumbling sound as they adjusted themselves in her grasp.

“Where did you get that?” She asked. She knew that most children would eventually bring in a wild animal to the house sooner or later but she never expected this day would come so soon.

“Their name is Pyonchi and they’re my new friend!” She said, beaming at her parents.



Aboard the Chozo ship “Exodia.”


“Will it be enough?” Grey Voice asked.

“Plenty, we should be able to manufacture the Zebetite using this as a seed.” August Wings said, the machines examining the listed inventory of supplies harvested from the colony.

“With any luck, Mother Brain will be able to complete the Zebetite network on Zebes and we’ll be able to complete our great work.” August continued.

“Hers or ours?” Old Bird said rather pointedly, his expression tightening somewhat beneath his helmet.

“You do not fully trust Mother brain?” Grey Voice asked, his neck craning over towards Old bird and tilting his head somewhat.

“I sometimes feel she is too focused on the task of building order that she forgets that the truest order is born of harmony, something that can only arise from freedom and solidarity comingled together into one. To try to craft order from one ruler’s vision will inevitably lead to chaos and friction. Only the masses can create structure that lasts.” Old Bird explained.

“She does what we have designed her to do. We have given up the Imperial Peace, but there must still be a way to provide structure to our efforts, look what happened to the communes of Tallon IV.” Grey voice said, conjuring an image of the slowly dying world being devoured by the contents of the crater that marred it, slowly leaking out of the cage its former inhabitants sealed it within.

“They forsook the path of science to embrace the trees. We have much greater means with which to take care of ourselves. Re-Sekh is right to worry about how often we trust her judgement on all matters.” Isa-Hesh said.

“You trust in our technology to protect ourselves but not in its ability to form and cast judgements?” Somek-Ka said, his thought waves indicating curiosity had taken hold in his thoughts over the previous scepticism. Why did they think that way?

“My issue is not with her nature as a synthetic consciousness. My fear is that we have given her a dangerous set of priorities that may lead her to one day devalue happiness and freedom from repression and want for the sake of efficiency and a cold, rationalized order. And if she does, she will inevitably gain none and lose them all.” Old Bird said, a heavy sigh coming from his helmet as their ship simply carved a tunnel in space and shot through in a heartbeat. Far faster than hyper-drive could ever manage as the ship slingshotted from one galaxy to the next.

“And yet we must still complete our great work. The seals have started to wane and the cosmos requires the totality of our wisdom if it is to advance to the heights we occupied before any of the present generation could walk the stars.” Grey Voice said as the Chozo ship began its descent, sliding through the manifold barrier that repelled the unwanted and unwelcome.

“I just hope that we are not widening the cracks in the great dam of peace.” Old Bird said as the ship started its final approach to the surface of the yellow and brown world. The warm surface of Crateria awaited them which lay before the city and templescape of Chozodia. Great pyramids, mighty walls and temples, adobes, libraries, and universities all awaited them in that hallowed place of knowledge and wisdom.

But where they were needed was someplace deeper and more forbidden. A place that they named for an old style of Fortress in ancient wars long past.

A place called Tourian.


Tourian, Zebes, FS-176, Zokunai Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy




The great machine inside opened a single eye bigger than an entire person curled into a foetal position. Metallic spikes divided her reddish hemispheres and a stem of machinery at the bottom hummed gently with energy flowing into her from across a network of Zebetite cells. Seated at the centre of a well-defended room bristling with defensive weapons in case of an unexpected attack on her, she pulsated briefly as she absorbed all information laid out before her. Cerebral electricity crackled across her every ridge and wrinkle and the thoughts of an alien mind of scarcely imaginable genius turned to analysing the sight before her.

"Mother Brain, what do you make of this planet?" The ancient Amun-Set asked, Platinum Crest's white coloured helmet dipping low as he presented to her an image of K-2L, generated by a simple spell he weaved from the power flowing through his old bones.

"-The Afloraltite will be more than sufficient for conversion into Zebetite. Then I will be able to accelerate my part in the great project.-"

Ge-Shut, the bitter and proud Iron Heart raised his hand to speak. Grey was his chest plate, rust was his helm. "I believe honoured Amun-Set wishes to ask what you think of the planet, not of its resources." A small whistling laugh came from him after that.

"I believe that went without saying." Amun-Set said.

Such inefficiency, she thought to herself. She had already thought of that possibility, but why bother expending the joules to put her mind to such worthless tasks and qualitization of some miserable rock? One may as well ask her to waste her time with running holo-games. Her gaze slowly adjusted from Ge-Shut to Amun-Set and then narrowed. Fine, she thought, she would indulge the old sorcerer in his nonsense. However much she disdained such...worthless endeavours as characterizing a few million miners.

"-A doomed people who rely on the promise of timely naval intervention to guise to prevent themselves from rioting when they realise that the Federation is stretched too thin and has too many rivals and enemies to protect it. They are inevitably and invariably doomed, sooner or later raiders or invaders will arrive and that will be the end of the colony. Please, do not waste my time with conclusions that are obvious. If the beings who reside on that planet cannot realise they have been sent there to die, then they deserve it.-" Her words were colder than the ices of neighbouring Tallon IV's Phendrana region, her prognosis grimmer than the fate of planet Bilium. Outrage flashed within many of the Chozo.

"You cannot say such monstrous things!" Violet Rose; Hatho-Sekhma; was shaking with visible anger. Mother Brain regarded her through a composite of sensors placed throughout Tourian. Hath was of Somek's generation, and her righteous fury was aimed squarely for the great intelligence that lay before her. Her violet and rose coloured armour that she had styled after her Galaxan name.

"Planets die all the time, such is the nature of the evil days in which we live." Star Strider said, the old black and white armoured Chozo shifting her position slightly as she floated cross-legged in the air near Mother Brain. This was someone Mother Brain could respect at least, she could recognise the aberrancy that surrounded them and her.

"What manner of foe would dare to attack a world they know is in our eye? Surely they would have to be void of mind and possessed of arkimak spines to even consider such a thing!" Horath-Baast spoke up. The young War Hawk was barely an adult and she had the audacity to think that just because the Chozo wished for a voice of the Youth to be on their councils that she could speak out of turn to her of all things? This one would grate on her nerves just as every other speaker of the Youth before her did. She couldn't wait for her term to end.

"-Have you so swiftly forgotten your vows of pacifism? What could you actually do to protect this or any other world without my drone forces? Forces that I will not waste on the defence of these proletarian wastrels while we have such high ambitions to realise. None of you could defend the smallest space station from a foe determined to attack it. Not as you are now. You need me, and I will see to it that our plans are realised.-" She said. She would have laughed if she had not thought such joviality to be beneath her. Yes, she had the keys to the Kingdom and only through her genius could the destiny of the Chozo be realised.

"Then perhaps we should bring in fresh blood." Horath-Baast muttered to herself under her breath. Please, Mother Brain thought to herself. She was the heir apparent to the Chozo Legacy. Their crown jewel and finest creation. She would be their eternal gift to the stars. Nobody could change that.



Samus' Logbook Entries



Psionics: Concepts: Extrasensory: Morphoscape


The Morphoscape is a scientific term used to describe the realm that certain psions and practitioners of other esoteric abilities are able to access with what the Chozo referred to as the "Distant Sight". This ability allows for perceptions of possible futures as well as their likelihood, which are perceived as a series of visions connected by threads spreading through the synaptic webs of the Morphoscape. The farther removed in space, time, and relation to the event or pathway of events that one is from a future the hazier it becomes and some possibilities are eliminated through simply becoming aware of them. However, the late segments of Cosmic year 2095 are infamous for the "shroud" that serves to obscure the Distant Sight, leading to significant anxieties and speculation as to the cause and reason of the Shroud.

Samus' notes:

My own warning sense is probably the only well developed psionic gift I have right now. But I've always been interested in developing the Distant Sight further. Call it curiosity in destiny, or simply wanting to practice a gift from my guardians.


Esoterical Concepts; Magic


Magic is considered a stranger and more difficult to verify experimentally art than psionics. Magecraft is something that is somewhat rare amongst many present-day civilisations, particularly those who are of a less spiritually inclined bent, though it is at the very least repeatable even if its rules function more on abstract story logic than conventional physics. However, most of the "precursor" civilizations were known to practice some form of magic which were verifiable without a doubt and were widely utilised in virtually every form of precursor artifice to blend together the best of all worlds. Efforts to try and match precursor skill at these matters remains ongoing and many believe that the present era is thousands of years at best from achieving a comparable understanding of magic to the progenitor cultures.


Samus' notes:


One of my greatest regrets in life is never getting the time I wanted to practice the sorcery of the Chozo. I suppose I'm not really going to have a chance to learn properly now. But I always loved the little shows Old Bird would put on for me.


Languages: Constructed: Galaxan


Constructed by the Chozo to serve as a common means of communication across the universe, Galaxan is something of a combination of the Chozo language of Kaset, the human language of English, the Alfae language of Astraemdi, the Omyrn language of Omanesch, the Vhozon tongue of Kuut, the Zekunso language of Uskarling and a number of other influences. While not quite the universal language, at least an understanding of Galactica is usually considered necessary for travel beyond one's homeworld. Designed to be spoken by the widest possible range of vocal structures while also being simple to learn, Galaxan is available to learn for free at any licensed memory download provider.


Samus' notes:


The Space Pirates make it a point of pride to never speak Galaxan amongst themselves. Their defiance against its universalist intentions. But the standard language amongst them; Dismak; is a strong contender for the ugliest language in the entire universe.



Substances: Energy Production: Zero Point Energy Catalysts: Zebetite



A material derived from the specific quantum structures of Afloraltite, Zebetite serves as one of the primary methods of Chozo power generation. In contrast to Afloraltite, Zebetite is far more stable and is capable of regenerating itself endlessly, even from apparent total destruction. It is so stable in fact, that it can be utilised as protection as well as power production, and the speed at which disrupted Zebetite can regrow itself is infamous for its astonishing nature. The biomechanical substance is primarily generated either synthetically or through refining Afloraltite into more of it. When interacting with psychic and mystic energies in tandem; it is also able to mimic the effects of Aeion energy in admittedly reduced form. Despite the modern name, Zebetite and its production was shared with most of the other precursor civilisations for similar purposes and was in use long before the foundation of the Zebes colony.

Samus' notes:


I've asked why it looks like brain tissue. From what I've been able to gather, it's because the cerebral structure is especially conductive to the sorts of energies that the Chozo like to use in tandem with Zebetite and helps with processing that power.




 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 4 (AS): Roll Out

Danshof Starport, Stygna, Cylosis, Cynar System, Cyrus' Expanse, Pinwheel Galaxy


The fields were busy as soldiers geared up for the evacuation. Motion abounded in all directions with everyone busily gathering their things as they sought to make sure nothing could be left behind. Transport shuttlecraft were arranged across the port area as heavy equipment was being packed and loaded in with the exception of the planetary defense systems that were always to be the last things shipped out in case of danger.

Gyda adjusted the belt around her armour’s waist as she fitted a flask back onto it. She took a wistful sigh as she looked forlornly over the rugged mountainscapes in the distance and the cold forests closer to home. The olive, black, red, and golden facilities set up just a scant few years ago were already disappearing into the packing containers. And the EVANS War-Lander Coyote was humming with power as it awaited its loads.

“Okay, Ikoye, how are we looking on prepping that ship for launch?” Gyda asked a dark-skinned man who turned away from the Synth soldier he was speaking to.

“It’ll be ready soon urglik Gyda. We just need to load up some of the artefacts.” He said, smiling.

“If we had more soldiers here maybe we could hold..” Gyda said, pinching her brow briefly before looking back at him as Ikoye scratched at his beard.

“Save wondering about “what if” for alternate history writers Gyda. Concern yourself with what we have and what we can do.” He said, making a small open-handed gesture to her that she reciprocated.

“We both already know that you’re right. It’s just that we haven’t been here for even five earth years and we already have to leave. I was just getting used to hiking the Dravine Fjords too.” She said with a wistful sigh.

“We wouldn’t be in the Ensryn Volunteer Army if we were the type of people who got too attached to where we drift.” He said reassuringly.

“Commander, sorry to interrupt.” One of the civilian personnel said, the serpentine alien slithering towards them and rearing up on her coils, her python like head flicking out her tongue while her hands held a tablet.

“Something wrong Thelis?” Gyda asked, quirking a brow.

“Are we really just packing up and leaving? Have the command congresses already decided that?” She asked, licking her eyes to keep them free of debris as her green scales shimmered a bit in the light.

“Yes, the order to evacuate also came from ODCOR; RGA Congress command I’m afraid. We’ve already put the timetable to vote.” Gyda sighed.

“Why would the Republics just ask us to just abandon this place? Especially after a find like this.” Thelis asked.

“Because Omdyn isn’t ready for war with the Federation. And given our unofficial paramilitary status, they’re not ready to bleed to keep us here.” She said, sighing as she tapped her bracers to bring up some display screens.

“Aye, we are here to nip at the heels of the beast. Not bite at its throat.” Ikoye said.

“I...I suppose. Do you think we’ll be back? We’ve already got people born here...like him” Thelis asked, gesturing to someone to the right.

“Like wh-...oh, there you are Arne.” Gyda said, quirking a brow before turning and noticing Arne wandering around, poking at some of the terminals with his relatively slender fingers.

“Your son is wandering again.” He said, Sylan already in hot pursuit of the boy.

“Even if I were the kind of person who believes in tethering children with snare beams I’d never be able to keep him inside. Besides, he needs to go out, it’s healthy.” She said, sighing and smiling while Sylan picked him up.

“He’s been bugging me about my inventory all day.” Thelis hissed in mild annoyance.

“He’s three, Thelis. He asks questions.” Gyda said, getting a grumble from the ophidian as they shook their head.

“Have you explained to him that we need to leave?” He asked.

“Yes. He’s...accepting at least. Shame too, I was hoping we could settle down here. It’s why I was glad they let civilians in.” She said, frowning.

“It is a nice place isn’t it?” He said.

“I really wanted to have him take his clan rites here. I feel guilty about taking him off-world so soon.” She said, frowning before shaking her head.

“Home is where you make it. He’ll be fine. And the Grendakal clan can have its rites anywhere if I’m not mistaken.” He reassured her as Arne whistled out for a pair of Ravens that flew to him, black wings beating before they perched atop the nearest terminal, cawing at him and receiving treats of bread in return.

“Hugin, don’t be greedy. Leave some for Munin.” He said as he split one piece in two for them both to share. The two were Corvids alright, but these domesticated Ravens had been changed by the nearly forty-eight thousand-year-long span humanity had been amongst the stars, friendlier, smarter, and more affectionate than the wild crows of the ancient past and more than a bit larger, as big as Golden Eagles in fact. One might even mistake them for raptors if they weren’t too familiar with birds, and the added tuft of down around their necks gave them the appearance of having collars.

“Share, share.” Munin cawed, mimicking the speech it was taught before. And with a vote of two to three, Hugin acquiesced and pushed food towards Munin, letting the two take their fill.

“Gydie.” Erik called, the diminutive catching Gyda’s attention almost immediately, her ears pricking up slightly as she turned around to look at him. He offered her a small wave and an easy smile on that soft face she fell in love with, and she immediately felt at ease.

“What’s the matter Erik?” She asked.

“One of the Alimbics is here to see us.” He said, lifting the sunglasses he was wearing to keep out the glare of the mountain sun and gesturing to Elmorni who offered an Alimbic salute in greetings to the gathered personnel. The soldiers briefly stiffened while the civilians muttered among themselves.

“-May I speak to your son?-” She asked, Arne snapping his head towards her and waving, moving his stuffed dinosaur to a single hand and standing on his tip toes to be seen.

“Hey! You’re back! Over here!” He said, getting a nod of appreciation from the Blue Alimbic while Erik and Gyda gave each other a shrug and a nod.

“Go right ahead.” Gyda said.

“Be safe out there alright?” Erik said, ruffling Arne’s hair before he shook off the hand.

“Nooo stop, I like my hair like that.” He whined.

“Please don’t make me have to convince him to brush his hair again.” Sylan plaintively beeped.

“-There’s no need to wish him well, I’m not taking him anywhere. I’m simply curious.-” She said, offering a hand to Arne who shook it after some apprehension.

“About what?” Erik asked.

“-What you are teaching your young. What do you know of honour, Arne?-” She asked.

“Uhm...mommy says there’s good kinds and bad kinds.” He said, biting his lower lip and nodding.

“-What is bad honour?-” The alimbic said, curling up her legs to get a bit closer to him.

“When you get people hurt because uh...you feel like they made you look dumb. Or uh, if you kill yourself because you em...bar...assed your family.” He said, nodding to himself.

“-And good honour?-”

“When you tell the truth to your friends and uh...protect them. Because it’s bad to let bullies be bullies.” He said, hugging his dinosaur a little closer to him.

“-Do you have many friends to protect?-” She asked, her face now far closer to his than before, her mental voice motherly and curious.

“Uh...a few...why?” He scratched a bit at his cheek, not quite sure what to make of her question.

“-Well, you see, people who are strong should help those who aren’t so they can be strong too.-” She said, tilting her head at him.

“Uh-huh. Mom also says that it’s important to share, and uh...that everyone should have nice things, instead of um, taking stuff you didn’t help make because you say you own it. Dad says that too.-” Arne said, sucking slightly at his thumb.

“-Your parents are wise then. How often do you help others like that?-” She asked.

“Uh...well, I help my friends when they ask, or when they look sad.”

“-Would you like to meet a new one?-” She asked, getting an enthusiastic nod from him.

“Is that wise?” Sylan asked, turning her optics towards her organic companions.

“...What are you trying to offer?” Gyda asked.

“-Oh, just a little something.-” She said as she conjured forth a pair of objects between her hands, teleporters pulling out creatures that resembled the mighty petal jawed Ithraks who roamed the wild places of the old Alimbic cluster. They were however, clearly mechanical. Albeit the smooth, pseudo-organic manner of machinery the Alimbics were fond of building.

Blue in colour with difficult to perceive eyes and petal-like mouths full of teeth, they hovered their heads near Arne who made a confused face as his space was invaded. He tried to tilt his head, to get an understanding of where to look at them. It took him about three seconds to realize that their four optics were arranged in a way that if he drew a line connecting each eye to the one on the opposite side of the head; he’d form a perfect X.

They were large for sure, virtually horse-sized, but they approached with curiosity rather than malice. And Arne hesitantly reached out to pet one, which chirped in response to the touch. Once he saw it was harmless, he pet with more vigour, while his pet ravens soon perched atop their backs and gave approving caws.

“Safe.” Hugin cried.

“-They need names, and I think you might be interested in giving them some.”-” Elmorni said, backing off and gesturing to the machines.

“Uh...uhhh..” Arne said as the soldiers nearby went from tense to alarmed, weapons stopping just short of being drawn in response to the sudden intrusion. He balked slightly at the sound of weapons being drawn and the barely audible whine of ionic weapons being readied, flinching as he looked around.

“No! Don’t shoot! No shoot! They didn’t do anything!” He protested, getting an approving nod from Elmorni that made him beam a bit.

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down there, are you aware of how much shit we’d be in if people tracked it?” Gyda said, a snarl forming on her face as she pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the Alimbic.

“-Worry not, they come with stealth systems. They should be able to avoid just about any tracking systems available to your technology-”

“Uh-huh. And you expect a three-year-old to make sure he never shows it to anyone?” Gyda asked.

“-He does not appear to be three.-” Elmorni said, taking another gander at him while he hid somewhat close to his mother’s legs, though his attention remained quite fixed on the two Ithrak drones as they landed close to him and scuttled slightly forward, cyclopean optics fixated on him.

“Three Earth years. Sorry, we don’t measure age by cosmic years.” Gyda explained while Arne offered some bread to the pair of Ithrakoids who analyzed the chemicals in the bread before snapping them up in their jaws. They pushed them towards their maws and “swallowed”, feeding them to their matter furnaces for a bit of extra power.

“They like snacks!” He said cheerfully, clapping his hands.

“-Now they know you’re their friends. Why don’t you play with them then?-” She said.

As his fingers approached them, there were brief invisible sparks. Scans were run and completed in an eyeblink and it was determined that Arne had something that warranted a response from the machines. They locked their optics onto him and waited.

“Roll over.” He said, gesturing to the ground while the Ithrakoids clenched their jaws for a moment before getting onto the ground and pushing themselves onto their back, legs in the air so that Arne had access to their carapaced bottoms. Whatever it was that he had, it was deemed important enough to make obedience necessary.

“-He seems to be bright enough to have already earned your trust to remain silent about us.-” She said, looking at the display and then back to the EVA troops who murmured amongst each other as the Ithrakoids stood themselves back onto their feet.

“-Having these machines will also help keep him safe, and teach him about the duties of care. Though I see you already have animal companions with him.-” She said, offering a hand to the two crows to perch on. She examined the birds and nodded before bidding them to depart.

“-And finally, he seems to enjoy their company.-” She said, gesturing to Arne’s attempt to ride on the back of one which chomped its jaws in the air and lowered itself to comply. He giggled as he was suddenly boosted upwards and held tight.

“That’s...th...alright fair.” Erik said, shaking his head.

“Mom, dad, I know what to call them!” Arne said.

“Geri and Freki.” Arne said, smiling, raising his finger to get everyone’s attention.

“Odin’s wolves? You remembered the stories?” Gyda said, an enthused nod coming from Arne. He was definitely proud of what he had just did.

“Uh-huh.” He responded.

“-And what do you know of caring for machines like this Arne?-” Elmorni asked.

“Uhm...they like food and need fixing somedays.” He said.

“-And they’ll also need you to protect them just like you’ll need them to look out for you. Because you’re friends aren’t you?-” Elmorni said, her matronly mental voice sweet in the memories of those who heard it.

“Uh-huh. But they’re big and metal…” He said, trying to wrap his head around how they’d need him to keep them safe.

“-Well, they need you to make sure nobody who doesn’t need to know about them finds them. And one day, you will be big and strong like they are. And then you can take care of them too.-” She said, laying a hand on his shoulder, getting a flinch out of Erik and Gyda.

“But that will take forever!” He whined.

“-It’s never too early to help people.-” She said, touching his nose and giving him a warm, safe sensation.

“And why are you giving him all this?” Ikoye asked.

“-I was interested in him when I saw him in the vessel. I wanted to see how he would react to having these companions.-” She explained.

“Are you sure that’s the story you want to stick with?” Gyda said, narrowing her eyes somewhat.

“-I am not a liar, Gyda. Please try to contain your relentless suspicions.-” She said, as gently as she could manage.

“After what happened on the ship I’m not inclined to believe you’re even capable of being nice.” Erik said, putting his right hand on his hip and frowning.

“-Please try to believe me when I say that not all of us are like Zurvduat.-” She said, placing a hand over her chest. Maybe where her heart would be? It was hard to tell, but based on Gyda’s experience with Krikens who were at least somewhat visually similar it seemed like a decent guess.

“Are you going to help us stay?” Thelis asked.

“-You know I cannot do that, Zurvduat is my commander. I do as he wishes.-” She said with a dip of her head, perhaps a nod of some sort? Her mental voice sounded somewhat apologetic.

“-Would you override the desires of your commanders?-” She asked.

“Actually yes. We’re allowed to take independent initiative if needed and if those involve decide on it.”

“-...Your electoral systems baffle me but I shan’t criticise.-” Elmorni said, rotating their head somewhat to express confusion.

“People like mom. So they do what she says sometimes.” Arne beamed, getting a smirk out of Gyda and some chuckles from the gathered troops.

“Well, thank you for the gifts but we’ve already outstayed our welcome here long enough. With luck, I’m not going to be the one who deals with you in the future.” Gyda said, getting some remarks from the gathered crew.

“A little harsh there honey.” Erik whispered before getting a “someone needed to say it” from his wife in return, whispered into his ear.

“Will we keep them?” Arne said, patting the heads of the Itrakoids.

“We’ll talk about it.” Erik said as the gathered group began to speak amongst each other. One in the distance though seemed to be observing particularly carefully. Clad like an ordinary trooper, they seemed to fixate on the Ithrakoids longer than most of the others before they sought out Morr for contact, pulling him to the side of the crowd for a chat.



A few hours later; Command Room of the Alimbic Warship Kaisariok aka "Caesarian Lance" , Cylosis,



“-So have you come to your conclusions then?-” Zurvduat asked, folding his arms behind his back as his three legs carried him to a terminal that he pulled data from with a thought. Yes, the time to leave was coming soon.

“-As we expected, there is psychic potential in the human species, and many others in this current era. And unfortunately, what they said about the Empire was true.-” She said, giving the Alimbic salute of holding the left hand pointing upwards in front of the chest.

“-Unfortunate. I was hoping for other survivors. Still, if we survived there is a chance there may be others in stasis or otherwise trapped. We can rebuild.-” Osith said, her mental voice tinged with some hope for the future.

“-Humans might be good stock for a new warrior class in that case. Until we can replenish ourselves to the point of using true alimbic soldiery once more. Tell me, who else survives to this day?-” Zurvduat asked, turning their head towards Elmorni.

“They have never heard of the Luminoth, none have seen an active N’krean, the Ylla appear to have taken some manner of journey from which they have yet to return from, the Illuranti refuse contact, the Ullmenn do not concern themselves with the present, and the Sentheni have left the bounds of charted space.” She reported, feeding her peers the data she had managed to take.

“-The Chozo then?-” Ygrak asked, standing herself somewhat straighter to indicate that she wished to be heard.

“-Fading. Most have either disappeared or have lost interest in matters of the material world. There seems to still be a commune on Zebes. Monks in retirement essentially. Though they urged the formation of this...Federation for peace.-” Elmorni said.

“-Of course the feathered ones would grow soft. Did they think we defeated the Dominion with flowers? No matter, if they refuse to see past their beaks and want to become derelict in their responsibilities we will take up the mantle.-” Zurvduat said, getting the nodding approval of Osith, Deglos, and Urim in response.

“-We are but one ship, Knight-General. How do you expect us to restore the Imperial Peace over multiple galaxies?-” Mortirk asked, his yellow armour shimmering with thought.

“-We will find others, we will see who among the peoples of this time have potential and bring them into our new armies, and we will solve the crises of this era until the Imperial Peace is welcomed.-” Osith said.

“-Now, what do the Engineers say of the restoration of our craft? I tire of standing in the dirt amongst savages.-” Zurvduat said.

“-We will be ready to leave in less than one of Cylosis’ days.-” Urim said.



Outskirts of Fort Liberator, Cylosis


The soldier who had spoken to Morr had pulled away from the masses and found their way to a special transmitter. As one of Cylosis’ famous windstorms was blowing through the area, most nonessential personnel had gone underground, and a few bluffs let them reach their destination.

Carefully inserting a special bugged drive into the terminal, the suit they were wearing fed them a wealth of data as they began interfacing with it. The HUD in their helmet notified that their clearance was accepted and the symbol of the Galactic Federation appeared before them. Three crescents arranged in a circle around a dark blue circle with a yellow four-pointed star.

Then the symbol of the Federal Central Intelligence Network; a yellow sun in the midst of a stylized blue spiral galaxy flashed before them. Finally, the symbol of the Reconnaissance & Advanced Intelligence Division flashed an all-seeing eye in the midst of a sun; confirming their access to the channel.



DISCONNECTING TERMINAL FROM NETWORK, STANDBY

DISCONNECTION COMPLETE

QUANTUM ENCRYPTION COMPLETE

AUTHORIZING, STANDBY

GALACTIC FEDERATION DELTA LEVEL CLEARANCE ACCEPTED
FCIN SIGMA LEVEL CLEARANCE ACCEPTED

R.A.I.D TERTIUS LEVEL CLEARANCE ACCEPTED

WELCOME AGENT PANDORA

CONNECTING TO QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT NETWORK

CONNECTION COMPLETE

UPLOADING DATA

UPLOAD COMPLETE

INCOMING COMMUNICATION, STANDBY

COMMUNICATION INITIATED




As this terminal was temporarily disconnected from the base’s network, the contents of the conversation would be kept secret. But maintenance would be sent to check in shortly, so there was only so much time to get the report in.

Fortunately, the response was prompt.


BANDOG: Interesting find Pandora.

PANDORA: The Ensryn Volunteer Army troops are preparing to evacuate to Omyn Democratic Council Republican space.

BANDOG: Then we will need to intercept quickly. We’ll bring the big guns.

PANDORA: Are you certain that’s necessary, can’t we wait for them to leave and sweep up the leftovers?

BANDOG: This is our best chance to eliminate the Cylosis Cell and secure access to the data they’ve gathered. We might also be able to secure the Alimbic ship in the bargain.

PANDORA: Taking out an Alimbic ship of that scale would require massive firepower.

BANDOG: If we don’t at least try, it will slip into the wind and we won’t be able to track it.

BANDOG: Based on your report, it’s likely that Colonel Gyda has a tracer aboard the ship, but we will need her dead or captured to access it.

PANDORA: And as for the civilians? Let me guess, no witnesses recommended?

BANDOG: Correct.

PANDORA: They have a son.

BANDOG: Who does?

PANDORA: The Skjǫldrs.

BANDOG: Ah yes, the boy in the report.

BANDOG: Possibly worth taking as leverage. Contact with Precursors makes him a person of interest. If necessary he will be terminated.

PANDORA: You know I can’t be part of that.

BANDOG: We are aware. That is why you will not be part of the offensive op.

BANDOG: We will relay this intel to Queen Bee. Do you have an exfil plan?

PANDORA: Yes. I am also prepared to die if needed.

BANDOG: Should you follow the plan there will be no need for heroic sacrifices.

PANDORA: Shame about the Skjǫldrs, they seem like nice people.

BANDOG: A lot of people who cause a lot of harm to intergalactic peace are loving, doting parents and good friends to have in person. The Skjǫldrs are part of a paramilitary revolutionary outfit, if they wanted to stay out of the firing line they wouldn’t be playing guerilla fighter.

BANDOG: Whatever happens to their son is their fault for giving birth to him on a world of military importance and remaining military personnel instead of retiring to the civilian sector to raise him.

BANDOG: People die in our line of work, even kids. And sometimes even kids need to die for the sake of peace. That’s just a fact of keeping order in the cosmos. It’s not pretty but we don’t have the luxury of living in Utopia.

PANDORA: Of course.

BANDOG: You should also report to psych-eval, you’re getting soft. We need you sharp and ready to make hard choices.

PANDORA: Of course, sir.

BANDOG: We’ll keep in touch, ma’am.


She sighed and unplugged her drive and quickly stepped out before the maintenance crew could walk in through the door. She set her timer, estimating the most likely time of arrival for the RAID fleet so that she could be out of here by the time the inevitable happened. She didn’t think she could live with herself if she got to watch the dirty work up close and personal.


Sylux's Logbook:


Organizations: Galactic Federation: Intelligence: Federal Central Intelligence Network (FCIN):

The FCIN serves as the primary intelligence bureau for the Galactic Federation and has remained in operation since its foundation. The Organization offers both internal and external services for the Federation and has generally resisted efforts to divide its powers into multiple services, instead offering differing branches for selected tasks such as domestic security, counter-terrorism, foreign espionage, counter-espionage, and Federal level criminal investigation. The FCIN reports to the Directorate which in turn is helmed by the Chief Director, who reports to the Federal government's cabinet, though there are concerns that the organization in truth has few real accountability mechanisms. These concerns have been dismissed by claims of taking "responsibility to intergalactic peace very seriously."

Arne's notes:

The greatest lie the FCIN ever sold people on was that they needed to get dirty in the dark to keep everyone else clean in the light.

Organizations: Galactic Federation: Black Operations: Paramilitary: Secret: FCIN Sub-Branch: Rapid Armed Intelligence Division

The R.A.I.D officially speaking, does not exist. As such its operatives wear no markings or signs of allegiance upon their power armour. As a Black Operations unit, the R.A.I.D's actions are wrapped in a veil of secrecy and deniability, even to much of the civilian government and to most of the standard military. What is known to Section 13 of the ODCOR Commissariat of Public Safety also indicates that the R.A.I.D believes that the refusal of governments such as the Federation and Omdyn to get as "dirty" as the Space Pirates or the Kriken Empire hold them back, and that to ensure national security hard choices will have to be made. Section 13 reports also indicate that the R.A.I.D is obsessed with securing any sort of advantage for itself and the Federation, in that order.

Arne's notes:

The black ops goons are recruited from those whose psychological profiles suggest a willingness to follow any orders, no matter how cruel or dangerous. Some latitude is given to higher level operators, but most of them will take a blast to the head if ordered. That's what makes them dangerous.

Fauna: Sapient: Domesticated: Earth Native: Corvids: Domestic Ravens

Following the advancement of Earth born genetics technologies, Corvids were quickly edited to be ideal pets in the same vein as dogs and cats. Domestic Ravens are distinguished from their wild counterparts by their more approachable temperments and unusual sizes and coat colours, coming in a wide variety of breeds suiting many differing tastes for those seeking avian companionship. One of the most popular breed, the Odinnic Ravens, have an average wingspan of over two meters and weigh at three and a half kilograms, roughly comparable to medium sized eagles.

Arne's notes:

I've always been fond of birds, maybe it's because my name means "Eagle"? But there's something special about ravens in my opinion. Just the way they look at you so inquisitively...anyway, people who don't have the space to let them fly around really shouldn't keep them. Birds need to stretch their wings.

Mechanoids: Alimbic Make: Organic Replicants: Ithrakids

Built to mimic the mighty Ithraks who shared much of the core territory of the Alimbics, Ithrakids can be considered a superior mechanical take on the same concepts. Like the Ithraks, Ithrakids are largely invulnerable to most frontal firepower and are only truly harmable by attacking from their rear angles of attack. As part of the Alimbic mastery of spacetime manipulation technologies, they are capable of rapidly and frequently teleporting to a substantial degree of accuracy and can use this technology offensively or defensively. Multiple weapon systems are also fitted into them, akin to that of the more well known Guardian drones.

Arne's notes:

It's worth noting that they're able to take up a lot less space than you'd think when they enter storage mode, especially when there's a stronghold void for them to retreat to. This comes in pretty handy, even when I don't need them out and about at the moment.​
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 5(SA): The Dragon's Den


Battleworld “Scourge of Heaven” Commander’s bridge, Orbit of Izmot, Gellar’s Verge, Andromeda Galaxy. Population: Formerly 133,789,918,317. Currently: 0.



The warship Scourge of Heaven was an infamous one. The personal flagship of the brutal enforcer of the Confederacy of Dismor; better known as the Space Pirates. It was a ship that had seen the deaths of untold quntillions of sentients, the razing of millions of worlds, the extermination of thousands of species. Built like a great flying wing with prominent engines that offset similarly massive cannons, the craft was larger than many continents at roughly than three hundred and sixty kilometres long, one hundred and twenty kilometres deep and more than a one thousand three hundred and twenty kilometres wide.

Rumours abounded about how the ship was originally painted a different shade altogether but acquired its nightmarish rust red and ash grey hue from the blood of all the beings it had overseen the deaths of and the ash of all the worlds it had left smouldering ruins in its wake.

Already a planet just below it was smouldering. Izmot bore scars that could be seen from space. Debris blasted from the planet larger than tectonic plates were cooling within its orbit, some falling back onto the world while others were fragmenting into a ring system. Perhaps given time they might even form a moon.

At least, one to replace the moon that had been destroyed. The grave of twelve billion souls eradicated by the fleet that clustered around the Scourge of Heaven. This whole system was once thriving with billions, it was now devoid of even microbial life. Everything save for its murderers.

Wrecked starships drifted through the void of space before the Scourge’s escort fleet, corpses floating out of rents in their armour. What stragglers there were in escape pods or armour suits were being picked off by bored gunners and fighter pilots or dragged towards the armada for far worse fates.

The Commander inside, the architect behind this atrocity was a name spoken of in fear. A loathsome monster who melded the most threatening aspects of a Dragon and a Pterosaur. A pteranodon like head had a hooked beak full of razor-sharp teeth, seemingly emaciated arms covered in purple carapace and scales bore wicked claws caked in blood. Bat like wings emerged from either side and stretched for more than thirty-three meters. Even lowered into a crawling quadrupedal posture the six-limbed menace was thirteen meters tall, and his body extended more than thirty-six meters long to the very tip of his scorpion barbed tail when he fully extended his long, thin, crane-like neck.

His gaunt face had hateful, burning yellow eyes recessed into the well-protected sockets, facing forwards to give him the depth perception of the apex predator he was. His long, pointed and green tongue licked blood that had dried on his arm and his body shook with chills. The memories of the violence he had committed to get that blood made him so excited. He almost forgot that he was in a meeting. And he remembered that he was supposed to make a response to his superiors who had just given him orders. Orders he didn’t like.

“You want me to take a whole fleet to do what?” Ridley snarled with contempt, his purple jaws snapping with displeasure as the shadowy silhouettes of the Cartel Bosses, Mafia Capos, Raider Clan Chiefs, Nomad Warrior Kings, Fascist Dictators, and Junta Generalissimos who made up space pirate high command addressed him from the other side of the screen.

“Seize the planet K-2L and its Afloraltite stockpiles before the convoys arrive, then set up an ambush and pillage the convoy ships.” One of the figures, the Crimson Reaper of the Sondheim Sector; one of the cosmos’ most infamous contraband lords, said. Their insectoid claws tapped against the table and Ridley tightened his expression.

“That’s grunt work. There can’t be more than ten million people on that miserable rock.” He growled in protest. He was feeling the sanguine fury rising again, he needed to kill or else he was going to lose his temper. He needed to eat...he needed to….he’d handle that later he figured.

“The Afloraltite may be declining in value as a fuel in the face of fuel gel assisted zero point energy...but there’s other uses we can find for it. Science team has sent a report that I am quite sure you have read on an interesting proposal.” Gulrach the Magnificent, the brutal autocrat of the Temir expanse said, all four of her hands clasping together.

“If I may speak?” Weavel said, the insectoid pirate Grand Marshal adjusting the helmet of their office as he gazed upon High Command. He got a pregnant pause for just a few seconds before the Grand Marshal was humoured with a nod from the central figure. The silhouette of an Urtraghian pirate in fully concealing grey and yellow armour with a menacing-looking cloak and helm; unnervingly undecorated, sitting in the least ostentatious chair of them all.

He was simply called the Despot, nobody need know him as anything else. In an organization held together by collective greed, fear of reprimand, and loathing of those without the Confederacy more than those within, the Despot was the one who brought the riches, the one who commanded the most fear, and the one who knew how to avoid open hatred against his reign. As such, within this confederacy of malcontents and hatemongers he was God.

“Why do you need a fleet of our prestige and acclaim to do such a simple task? We are a fleet for waging pitched battle in the void and conquering supersectors. Not pissing around with a handful of colonists.” He said. Ridley snorted and didn’t give him some manner of hate-filled expression which was about as much respect as he afforded anyone or anything.

“Because, Grand Marshal; K-2L is a planet directly colonized by Earth. They will likely be furious once you dispose of the wastes of oxygen. We might need the muscle to teach the Federation’s fleets some respect for our boundaries.” Ezrigil Gaskurik, a crime boss who had fingers in pies ranging from Kriken high nobility to military-industrial complex accounting fraud said. The pincered hands of the pirate snapped with ill-disguised intent, and his glowing eyes were more than a touch unnerving to look at.

“Bah, I’d be surprised if we had more than half an hour of playtime before everyone on the planet is dead. An hour, if we really let ourselves have a bit of fun.” Ridley sneered.

“Furthermore, the planet seems to be of interest to the Chozo. They visited recently within the last rotational cycle.” The Technocrat said, the representative from science team’s mechanical optics zooming in a bit further.

“Chozo? What could they possibly want with a bunch of miners?” Weavel said quizzically, extending his head forward somewhat.

“Clearly the old geezers have decided to indulge in some proleterianism in their old age before their creaky bones give out.” Ridley cackled. His laughter was unpleasant to hear, like sandpaper grinding against chalkboards with the aid of a sword sharpener wheel with occasional motor hiccups.

“Noted. We expect you to do this work quickly and efficiently. We do not want you to waste our time.” The Chief of Chiefs, Uzik Blegl ululated, their soft invertebrate body sloshing within their tank as Ridley thought of his next comeback.

“Oh so you’re pulling me in because Kraid got lost on the way to the next buffet is that it huh? Or maybe Draygon’s too busy practising her whale song? Or the other hack job monster movie rejects you call enforcers you get on the line when you can’t get me all just can't make the cut so you gotta pull me from my work to deal with petty rookie shit?” He snapped his jaws with ill-disguised violent intent.

“Kraid does not waste time on pointless cruelties that make it harder to get live subjects. We accept your indulgences because you deliver results and they strike terror into our enemies. Do not believe yourself irreplaceable, Geoform 187.” Generalissimo Zarkan said, a reptilian hiss coming from their throat as their compound eyes glowed strange colours. The use of his designation made Ridley see blood for a moment as his blood rage rose to the surface. He couldn’t strike back at High Command, but lashing out at Kraid? That he could do.

“Oh is that what that obese green piece of shit thinks? Tell him to come here and I’ll jab those beady little eyes of his one by one out with his own spikes, then we’ll see if the fat f-” Ridley didn’t get to finish the sentence as the Despot raised his hand again and everyone fell silent immediately. Even Ridley lowered himself, virtually prostrate before the Despot.

Nobody spoke over the Despot. Every pirate hung unto the shadowy figure’s raised hand, making no noise lest they commit the crime of interrupting him while he spoke. And he was merciful enough to make that wait short.

“If you perform well, I have a task more to your liking.” He said in a clinical, cold voice that could make lava cool instantly, sending the cunning god of death details on an ecumenopolis with several trillion poorly defended people weakened by siege and raids waiting to be finished off.

Ridley’s snarl became something arguably far worse.

A smile.

Then a laugh.

A laugh that would make even all the hordes of hell cower in fear.
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
(Logbook entries coming later)

Warship “Scourge of Heaven” briefing room.




"Shape up you cretins we've got killing to do today." Ridley barked at the gathered pirate officers within the expansive, circular briefing room, shaped like a stadium in reverse, with all the gathered individuals looking up at those giving the orders rather than looking down upon a lecturer.

"See this planet? K-2L? Earth colony, bunch of underequipped good for nothing miners there digging out afloraltite before the Fuel Gel industry puts them all on unemployment. Any of you got any questions before we start the briefing? Come on, I know all of you have something to say. Speak up so I know what to stab you over later." He said, he clearly hated the task of giving these briefings but

"That's it? Some batch of jumped up mining towns? You could get any two-bit ship and its crew to loot those striplings." Ivax growled. The somewhat seal-like amphibious beast yipped in laughter shortly afterwards, bearing hyena-like teeth while dragging themselves forward with clawed flippers. A long neck held a somewhat shark like head full of triangular teeth, and the long thrashing tail behind her slapped the ground to emphasise her point.

"Think of this as a downtime operation. We will be moving onto greater targets shortly afterwards. Will that be all or do you have more whining to air?" Weavel snorted calmly. He kept his hands behind his back, and nodded in a satisfied manner once Ivax backed down and exhaled in a displeased but accepting manner.

"This is a simple operation. Based on publicly available records, the stores of afloraltite are located here." Weavel said, tapping the holographic map so that a number of designation markers popped up showing coordinates and indicators across the representation of the planet.

"Biggest haul is here, near the Neorai forests. Largest populated area on the planet. About a million or so people, mostly civvies. We're estimating maybe about two divisions worth of security forces. Nothing we couldn't steamroll blindfolded. We have the numbers and the element of surprise so try not to kill everyone too quickly." Ridley said, snapping his jaw like a crocodile in irritation at the thought of how soon this would all be over.

"What's wrong with easy loot?" Hunter Corvus said, her beetle-like mandibles, thin body, long black shoulder pads, cap-like helm, and a transparent plate that allowed her beating heart to be seen marking her as an Azigoth. She had insect-like cyborg wings grafted to her back, and her hateful orange eyes seemed to intently relish the prospect of violence. She clenched her carapaced fingers into fists and thumped her chest as she approached Kutlak, staring him down and daring him to make a move.

"Do you have anything actually worthwhile to say or are you just going to spout more inanities Corvus?" Weavel said, snapping his mandibles in irritation. When he got no response from her he decided to proceed.

"Now, the primary risk of this raid is the Federal response. A number of patrol fleets can respond in under a single rotational cycle. We can swat them out of orbit but they put our supply shuttles at risk. As such, I want stealth teams to neutralise the comm systems. The Afloraltite is going to have to be left alone until we deal with resistance, then the extraction teams will unseal the vaults and pack them onto the shuttles sending them back to the ship. After that; we can do whatever we want with the planet." Weavel said, getting a number of cheers from the crowd as the display graphic demonstrated the simulated outcomes of the plan he suggested, simple but effective.

"And what of the fleet?" Strategos Zeknin said, the heavily cyborgized fleet commander's clawed feet gripping for purchase in the ground. Their body was so twisted from whatever they were originally was that there were betting pools on what they were like before. But the rather spindly cyborg's elongated skull-like "face" and its compound eyes were always more than a bit disconcerting to stare into, the white of their ceramic plating an unpleasant bone like hue and the metal portions a cold shade of silver. Two and a half meters tall, their body was like the skeleton of some creature with four legs and four arms arrayed radially, split into three independently rotating sections as he continually shifted from one position to the next, seemingly unable to stand still.

The large, fierce form of a machine skittered into view atop four spidery legs that held aloft a cylindrical body with a rounded turret of sorts upon it, yellow optics looking out at the world accompanied by the unpleasant incandescent glow of their yellow highlights. The purple and dark green machine's armatures bore heavy rotary weapons fitted with bayonets at the top and deadly pincer cannons at the bottom for comb at at any range, and the powerful machine seemed unafraid to approach the others as they focused their optics on the Strategos. "Enemy Fleet Presence: Negligible. Estimation: Surface support actions and nothing more."

"Another quiet operation then?" The Grand Strategos said. A hope lingered in their voice, the hope for naval martial glory and

"Correct." AAE-13 responded.

"Allow me to give the order then; we will see High Command's will be done." The Cyborg said.

"What? You want to be the one to tell the fleets to jump to N-Space? Sure, fine." Ridley said.

"Now do we have any questions we have to answer before we slip our moors and head out?" Weavel asked.

"Query: Identity of the Commander of Federal Mining operations on K-2L?" AAE-13 asked.

"Eh? Who needs to know about stuff like that! They're all going to be dead soon anyway." Hunter Corvus snorted with laughter. What a ridiculous idea, questioning about the identity of some no-name mining colony foreman.

"Perhaps it might give us a name to remember this operation by. I am certain some of you would take pleasure in such reminders." The Strategos said, their low voice oddly quiet despite their rather menacing figure.

"Give me a second." Weavel said, inputting the query into the database and bringing up some holographic displays showing someone whom Weavel assumed was handsome by human standards but to him just looked like a soft-skinned freak.

"Rodney Aran. Part of the Sirian Mining Co-Operative and the Intergalactic Worker's Association. Decently high up the chain of both but ultimately nobody of real import." Weavel said as he looked through the data.

"Oooh a Union man. That means he probably cares deeply about his co-workers. Wouldn't it be fun to hold that against him? Social species always have the most fun responses to watching their friends die, especially those in those big social movements." Ridley chuckled, the laugh low and sinister.

"So what? He's nobody. Won't even be valuable enough to ransom." Ivax snorted, steam billowing out of her blowhole as she shook her head.

"Query: Family?" AAE-13 asked.

"Ah right, social species and their families. So much concern for people they stick eggs into or hatched from them. It's almost sad how much they care for people who get them horny or share some DNA with." Ridley sneered.

"A wife named Virginia and a daughter named Samus, three Earth years old. Hrm...maybe his union might pay ransom for the children and spouses. Or there are other uses we could consider to heighten our standing in the eyes of High Command.." Weavel said coldly and matter of factly.

"Agreement: Genetic stock for slave husbandry trade, product for illicit prostitution industry, and valuable live subjects for experimentation. Evaluation: Live subjects may be of use." AAE-13 said.

"Tch, the pervert mongers and whip crackers? You really want to hang around those bottom feeders?" Corvus laughed.

"Statement: Profit is profit." AAE-13 countered.

"Hrm...I don't like to give my toys away for some trinkets though. Ooh I'd really rather just kill them all, maybe keep a few for ourselves. How about that? We could keep some and hunt them for sport sometimes. Maybe they'll last longer than the last batch." Ridley said, tapping his beak with his razor-like claws as he pondered the question.

"We will simply have to see what can be done as the situation unfolds." The Strategos said, clasping their many arms together and remaining mostly silent otherwise as they interfaced with the Ship's command systems.


 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Samus' Logbook

Individuals: War Criminals: Confederacy of Dismor: Unknown Space Dragons: Male: Enforcers: Ridley


Geoform 187, more frequently known as Ridley is the only known and confirmed member of his as of yet nameless species. His origins, parentage, and his history before signing on with the confederacy of Dismor's military is unknown. What interviews with him have surfaced paint contradictory and disturbing images of his past. What is known, however, is that he prides himself on his nature as a member of a solitary species and disdains the customs of most social species. He is considered to be completely lacking in any capacity for empathy or altruistic thought or sensation and has an extensive record of war crimes. All he cares for is his own amusement, and his easily bored nature has lead to an inventive mind for pointless cruelty and a master of personal combat. Despite the popularity of trying to ascribe mental illness to Ridley, he is seemingly entirely functional for whatever standards his species has. He simply does not care to indulge in what he sees as the alien virtues of empathy.

Samus' Notes

What is there to say about the "Cunning God of Death"? That he's cruel? That he's evil? That he doesn't care about other life? I want to believe that there's good in everyone, and that anyone can be anyone else's friend in the right circumstances. But I've never seen anything like that in him. The joy he feels is always born of someone else's misery. But it doesn't matter, no matter where he hides, I will find him and I'll give everyone he's ever hurt peace.

Individuals: War Criminals: Confederacy of Dismor: Bermukadil: Male: Grand Marshals: Weavel

Marshal Weavel is a lifelong military careerist whose military record is considered both beyond reproach and beyond the pale. Weavel is a hard and uncompromising commander with a preference for leading from the front to be in the thick of conflict. His disdainful attitude towards the rules of war have lead to the deaths of countless planets worth of sapient beings. Weavel is renown for strict disciplinarian attitudes with the sole exception of the time to "unwind", typically in the form of destructive looting and pillaging. Weavel later came to be attached to Enforcer Ridley's war pack to take over the "drudgery" of command duties after Ridley expressed boredom with them. Weavel by all accounts takes his duties very seriously and is an expert in keeping Ridley focused. Weavel is brutally pragmatic, and rarely indulges in what he considers to be frivolities but this means little for the victims of his armies.

Samus' Notes

Weavel is almost as bad as Ridley. He's a careerist always looking for another rung on the ladder to climb and every time he looks at the world with those compound eyes of his it's like he's trying to think of where to put a statue of himself. There's nothing he won't step on if it means pushing himself a bit higher and in the entire time I've tracked him he's always been on the hunt to advance his career in one way or the other.

Individuals: War Criminals: Confederacy of Dismor: Cyborg: Unknown Species: Genderless: Grand Strategos: Zenkin

The Steel Conqueror of a Thousand Sectors and the butcher of Elar, Zenkin's calm and placid exterior is a clever disguise for their immense capacity for violence, something that has attracted them to Ridley's outfit. Whatever species they originally were has long been buried under more than a century of constant augmentation and replacement, leaving only the metal master of fleets. Zenkin is regarded as somewhat servile, willing to follow through with virtually any of Ridley's missives and showing deference to Weavel despite being of equivalent ranks. This lack of personal career initiative is a small mercy however, as their battlelust is with few comparisons. They are always on the hunt for further and greater naval martial glories, and revel in the vicious melee of voidborne warfare. Zenkin is also renown for their capabilities as a torturer, one of their personal vices that they indulge in to pass the long idle periods of waiting for future void engagements.

Samus' Notes

It's hard to get a read on Zenkin, in my observations they stick mostly to their ships. Like being on the ground is some sort of curse to them. That being said, there's definitely something beneath the facade of the war-hungry falcon looking for the next hunt. Something that only feels alive when it has its talons dug into something thrashing beneath its feet.

Individuals: War Criminals: Confederacy of Dismor: Urmikal: Female: Hunter: Corvus

Corvus is a barely contained whirlwind of sadistic violence who has fallen into Ridley's good graces through mutual fondness for destruction. Though Ridley is incapable of friendship, Corvus is considered one of Ridley's kindred spirits and the Skykiller sometimes even deigns to fight alongside the enforcer. Corvus keeps her real name, origins, and the full list of her augmentations and weapons deeply under wraps. Experts have theorised that Corvus is the product of some sort of super soldier program to create the next breed of aeropirate warriors and was originally of the pirate species from the mysterious capital world of Urtraghus. If such a theory is true, then Corvus has likely succeeded most expectations as she is a ruthless air commander with few equals or rivals. Corvus also has a marked case of Pyromania, and has been disciplined many times for starting blazes pointlessly.

Samus' Notes

Corvus is about what you'd expect of the space pirate aerocorps. She's a dog looking for a scrap and a fire looking for fuel. Corvus lives from moment to moment, and her addiction to the thrill is what drives her every second of her life. She's an addict essentially, and her drug of choice is anything that can get the adrenaline flowing.

Individuals: War Criminals: Confederacy of Dismor: Star Bunyip: Female: Enforcer: Ivax

Ivax is rather like Ridley in the sense that her true species is unknown and she seems to be a member of a solitary species, or at the very least one with a highly divergent form social structure. Ivax is a brutal bully who enjoys predating on those weaker than she is but is wary of confrontation with perceived betters. An ambush predator at heart, Ivax often resents the greater glory of Ridley due to his flight capabilities allowing him to see considerably more action than her. However, when her skills are needed in deployments to watery or acidic environments she truly shines as a nightmare made manifest, and her ravenous appetite for the flesh of sapient beings is widely renown to the point wherein many societies children are scared into obedience by threats of Ivax coming from the waters to devour them.

Samus' Notes

Ivax is a predator through and through and like most predators she backs out of any fight she feels she can't win. She's a coward, but her belly provides her with the motivation she needs to overcome that trepidation of fights with people who might actually win against her. But that just makes her more of a meanspirited bully when you get to the very core of her being. She barks like a dog for people she fears but just lashes out more against those she makes feel fear.

Individuals: War Criminals: Confederacy of Dismor: Synthetic: Agendered: War Champion: AAE-13

AAE-13 (Automated Assault Enforcer) is a brutal pragmatist who prefers to handle most situations through carefully aimed applications of the greatest possible amounts of firepower. Constructed at extreme expense by Event Horizon Solutions Limited, AAE-13 defected to the space pirates when Confederate forces arrived at the Defense company's testing facility station to steal everything of interest. Finding the Space Pirates to offer more interesting operating conditions, AAE-13 slaughtered most of the engineers at the facility after forcibly extracting most of their memories. Since then, they fell into the graces of Enforcer Ivax and Ridley to partake in the activities of their fleet. AAE-13 is not as emotionless as they seem, they crave the carnage of warfare and the interesting problems offered by challenging battles. They may not revel in cruelty, but they indulge in battle for its own sake as the ultimate test for their processing capabilities. This has left a long and bloody trail of lives shattered by their addiction to violence.

Samus' Notes

AAE-13 is not emotionless. They're prideful, they want to demonstrate their superiority and maintain their killing edge at all times. They fear obsolescence and want to show that they are still as good as it gets. I think that I can get into their head through that angle. They might be the least malicious of Ridley's crew, but the sort of killing intent they have in their processors still needs to be put to rest; and that pride might be exploited to bring about their fall.​
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 6(AS): Smoke filled Board Rooms

Round Table class Battleworld “Mordred”, Messer cluster, Pinwheel Galaxy


The Mordred officially did not exist. Neither did its owners. Its sightings were the stuff of discredited crackpot conspiracy theorists on lonely sections of the ComNet, yet it was here all the same. One Thousand Six-Hundred and Eighty kilometres from stem to stern, eight hundred and ten kilometres from port to starboard, two hundred from top to bottom. It rarely moved from its position all that often, but it rarely needed to.

It was a terrifying testament to the power of those who built it, and its ominous feldgrau and forest camo green hull glimmered with small lights from various external systems. A mobile base of operations as much as it was a warship. One able to serve as the mothership for military operations across a vast gulf of space without the inconvenience of putting down roots.

Perfect for a Division that’s not supposed to exist.

A much smaller ship exited N-Space near the Mordred, its stealth systems dropping briefly to let the Mordred know not to fry it the moment it appeared. Slender strike craft emerged from the Mordred’s cavernous hull and flanked the canard winged intruder after rushing towards it as it came to a halt relative to the Mordred’s path through space.

“+This is callsign Morifax requesting contact with Black Knight over.+”

“+This is ISWACS designated “Laser Hound”, welcoming callsign Morifax to Black Knight. Please confirm intent to land.+”

“+This is Morifax; I will roger that, requesting permission to access hangars.+”

“+Granted, safe landing and good luck Morifax. Laser Hound over and out.+”

The ship slid through the openings in the defensive screens and extended its landing gears, putting down its roots and opening up to allow a sinuous, silvery shape coalesce into the appearance of a jet black carapaced insectoid and then a more human woman; albeit with a skin tone a shade of pink unlikely without modifications. A stream of small creatures seemed to follow her, keeping within her line of sight but not quite making themselves stand out.

A squad of basics was at the ready, while turrets in the hangar kept focused on her at all times and a number of drones and mechanoids stood at the ready. She offered a small wave and folded her arms, a smug smile present on her face.

The squad’s commander stepped forward, with their heavy armour at odds with the silence they were making their movements with. Smoothly angled pauldrons that flared at their ends sat atop arms clad in clean, symmetrical armour plates, the chest was hidden beneath a few neatly interlocked armour plates that made discerning sex or even species beyond a vague range of humanoids impossible. The Feldgrau and Dark Olive Green Armour was without insignia or unit identification. The R.A.I.D officially did not exist, there was no need to out themselves as members. The boots were heavy, enough so to immediately sink to the bottom of water without worrying about flotation. The abdominal armour was made of a number of vertically stacked segmented plates, giving an almost millipede look to the belly area.

Their helmet; rounded at the top in a vaguely stahlhelm esque manner with a visor somewhat like a riot officer that partly was covered by a pronounced mouth shield that covered everything below the eyes, a sun and shrapnel shield extending about a finger length forward to shroud the visor, leaving only narrow eye slits to glow a decidedly menacing shade of blue.. The helmet made no sound as it processed air for the user, and the tubes that connected back into the helmet didn't so much as flinch with their breaths. In their hands; which were rather prominently fitted with electroshock knuckle dusters; was a menacing-looking longarm, built more like a small rocket launcher that happened to have a magazine than a standard gun, with a meaty looking grenade tube just below and a wicked-looking top fitted bayonet.

“Operator Mercy, I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.” They said. Their accent was relatively neutral, a human of another era might have compared it to some midway point between the American and British newscaster accents, but the coldness to their tone was something that would be immediately threatening to most.

“You know I’m not going to deny requests from the boss, Commander Arthur.” She said, adjusting the peaked cap her shapeshifted form came with.

“Request is an interesting choice of words, Operator. You’re still the last one here, and you know how some of them feel about late arrivals.” He said, motioning for her to come with him.

“Where else are they going to find another shapeshifting psyker?” She snorted, clearly dismissive to the veiled threat in his words.

“Don’t tempt them. Ma’am.” He said.

“Hrm, and what if I wanted to go by something else?” She said with a catty questioning hum at the end as she leaned forward to try and get a rise out of Arthur.

“Then out of professional courtesy, I’ll call you by whatever disguise you’re rolling with. For now though, with me ma’am.” He said, shooting down her effort

“So, who else is there?” She asked.

“Everyone else in Dead Hand Alpha.” He said simply.

“What’s got the crew together?”

“You’ll know when you’re in the briefing area and not a second before. You know the rules about trying to extract intel you’re not supposed to know with that telepathy of yours.” He said as they walked towards a transport station near the hangar. With the size of the Mordred simply walking around was impractical, so the ship was spider-webbed with internal supersonic mag-trains with personnel taking the lighter blue rail and freight going with the heavier chrome rail.

The train shut its doors as soon as the greenlight was transmitted from their pass cards and then shot forward. Shields wrapped around the rail tunnels prevented the sonic booms from having any unwanted effects, and the train needed to change route a few times to avoid the movements of other trains. Each jolt was virtually unnoticed however, and the train rapidly deccelerated as it approached its final destination.

The usual procession of guards waited for the train’s doors to dilate open and for the passengers to exit, automated defenses watching every step of the way.

A black-haired woman in rather form-fitting dark coloured armour was busy leaning against a wall passing the time on a video game she had installed into her suit, her helmet sat down on a table next to her.

She was pleasant on the eyes for sure, though Mercy wasn’t fond of her perpetually flat expression as if she was forever unimpressed by what she saw. Her hair, kept in twin tails, was long but neatly kept, and her features suggested her ancestry mostly came from the Earth continent of Asia.

She flicked her gaze upwards as Mercy approached, and the flat expression on her face drew a slight frown. The small spaulders on her suit’s shoulders lowered as she sighed through her nose, and she folded her arms over the modest chestplate of her suit.

“You’re late.” She said.

“Keik-” Mercy said before Dagger raised her left index finger in protest and hardened her expression.

“We are not and never will be on a name basis. It’s just Operator Dagger to you.” She said.

“Still mad about me and your br-” Dagger interrupted Mercy again.

“You flirt with both me and Operator Cloak constantly when I’ve told you to stop multiple times. And you took advantage of him while he was drunk, Mercy. So yes, I am mad.” She said.

“You really are no fun at all.” Mercy sneered with contempt. She shifted form once again. She was really not quite as good at infiltration as one would expect of a shapeshifter due to her arrogance and inability to suppress her urge to show off or properly prevent people from identifying her tells, but she was more than able to use it in battle.

Something more akin to her true visage flowed from her guise as her shifting quicksilver like body spread its mass out into a spidery beast as large as a whole family of Tyrannosauruses. A thicket of limbs speared into the ground while wriggling tendrils flowed out, ending in narrow spikes while hexagonal grid shapes appeared on her “skin” as the creatures rejoined their central mass like water pooling together.

A maw ringed by tendrils expelled hot breath at Dagger who continued to just stare at her without the slightest hint of flinching. Not even the scorpion-like tail Mercy extended out got her to move, only making her curl her fingers more tightly around one of her namesake daggers.

“Why won’t you give me even the littlest ounce of satisfaction?” Mercy grumbled as she began to shift back into her prior form, her mass splitting apart to let her resume humanoid scale. A scowl was on her face, seething and bitter.

“Shut up and get inside.” Dagger growled.

“Operators of the Dead Hand huh?” One of the RAID troopers snorted before Mercy, Dagger, and Arthur turned to stare at the trooper who let out a nervous cough and tried to move out of everyone else’s line of sight after a meek apology.
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
The next door retracted open to let the procession through. But already there was someone who was clearly displeased with being made to wait. A Saurian with a horizontal body posture like some resurrected Dinosaur busily calibrated his rifle before looking at them and flicking out his forked tongue from his varanid like head. His S-shaped neck brought that head up somewhat more reared itself up to bring him to more proper face to face contact level with Mercy as he studied her, the bionic eye he had fitted to their right side a telltale mark of someone who made a living as a sniper. The attachment points on his armour however, hinted at the usage of the Shadow Mech he was even more well known for than his skill with a marksman's weapon.

“I trust that you have good reason for your tardiness.” He said, his crest raising itself with interest. His grey scaled skin seemed like so much rock, and his nimble hands’ claws tapped against his sniper rifle repeatedly. He seemed slender, almost insignificant without his mech, but his raptorian gaze was intense enough to make even Mercy flinch as he licked his eyes like some overgrown gecko, the slitted pupil on his one remaining true eye expanding to let in more light while the sickle like big toe claws on both feet tapped against the ground in a subtle rhythm.

“I had some complicated issues to work out Veil.” Mercy said.

“I hope for your sake you’re going to be more thorough than that in the report. Which you are going to file, Operator, no excuses.” Veil said, adding a reptilian cough for emphasis as they sloped their stance to make themselves a bit taller.

“As for you Dagger, you’re going to need to watch your temper. Continue to report for psych evaluation, I want you to have your head on straight and I don’t want a repeat of your hesitation on Elax Secundus.” Veil hissed.

“So glad to see being free from consequence does such wonders for the moral integrity of this unit.” Dagger muttered, rubbing her fingers around the hilt of one of her knives. She didn’t give Veil one of her usual hard stares, but she did find herself wishing she could make him shut up somehow.

“We are not here to concern ourselves with petty civilian or green ops hang ups. So I advise you to drop it. You’re a soldier now, and we need results.” Veil said, craning their head closer to Dagger’s face as her neutral expression became a genuine frown.

“Now, now, now; that’s no way to treat our friends in arms!” A big, loud voice said. A mustached man with a heavy square face and an aristocratic countenance stepped into the room. Even without his new suit he’d be a mountain of muscle. His dishwater blond hair and heavy sideburns completed the look of a proper bully boy, and speaking of his suit…

The armour was built surprisingly on the lighter side, with heavily articulated blue coloured plating. As one would expect from a black ops unit that did not officially existed, he bore no insignia to mark him as a member of RAID, just the icon of a skeletal hand on his pauldrons. His skull like helmet was couched in his left arm, and the grin on his face could only be described as far too pleased with himself.

“Cyrus.” Veil said, giving him a nod.

“Now let’s not fault Dagger for having a conscience or Mercy for taking her time. We are all supposed to be good soldiers here.” He said, clapping his hands on the two women’s shoulders and grinning before letting them go.

Dagger tensed at the sensation but allowed it, not wanting to have to file an incident report for her discomfort at the unwanted contact.

“So where’s the rest? Come on, I can’t be the only one who was late here.” Mercy asked, after peeling herself away from Cyrus’ grasp, cupping her hands in front of her mouth to amplify her voice.

“I was wondering when you’d show up. Luckily it’s not me who’s going to be chewed out by the bosses this time. But if you want to stay in command’s good graces, I recommend working on your punctuality.” The baritone voice of Quietus said, the slender mechanoid almost seeming to manifest from the ether. Stilt like limbs scrambled for purchase on the ground, points splitting into starfish like feet tipped with claws to grab at the ground like a hawk. A blank screen like face wrapped around by a helm not too unlike those of the usual RAID troopers and all too long arms ending in radially arranged claw hands were by far the most distinctive part of their upper body, while a subtly V shaped torso with another screen; circular in shape; at the centre of the chest connected the digitrade legs to the limbs and head. Flat pauldrons formed their shoulders, and mechandrite tentacles waved around their body, emerging from their waist like coiling tails.

"It would be a shame to have to see you be reassigned because you slacked on your form filling. Where would we be without your pointless flirtations?" They intoned.

“Come on Quietus, not all of us can just spit out our reports the second we need to fill them out. Unlike you, I've got more important things to cram into my head than cyberwarfare suites.” She said, pivoting to look Quietus in their cold, blank face as she gave the machine a daring look, almost as if she wanted to start a fight between the two of them.

“I would very much like to skip the small talk and get to the business at hand. ” Dagger grumbled to herself.

“So we are in agreement then, let us begin.” A cold voice said as the room began to drop in temperature noticeably. Static electricity began to build up and a shape started to descend from one of the air mobility shafts. Mercy paused briefly before turning around and shivered slightly at the drop in the temperature, tensing in anticipation.

“We will begin this meeting now.” A second, slightly higher pitched voice followed, very close to the first.

“Speak and interrupt if you’re feeling daring, or be like good dogs and keep quiet.” The third, shrillest voice said, also only a little bit far away from the others. Gusts of air were blown away, crackling with some static energy and cold as winter as two hooved feet slammed into the ground.

A huge shape dipped to the ground, with yellow fur and cyan osteoderms and scutes covering the body as its digitigrade legs buckled from the impact, wings like a great and terrible pterosaur used as forelimbs as their claws flattened, the rear digits that held the membranous wings together folding up for convenience. Two whip-like tails ending in spiked, mace-like clubs with unpleasant sneering faces swung around behind this mighty body as it rose.

One head, on a neck like a combination of a serpent and a giraffe arose, its stag horns curling somewhat downwards. The head, like a stag’s skull with false eye pits in front of its true eyes; a cold and unforgiving blue, had rows of sharp teeth with pronounced snake-like fangs. Then the second rose from the cover of its wings, its horns curling upwards, its face somewhat longer. Then the middle head pulled itself up, its horns curling outwards and its somewhat broader head looked upwards and let out a high pitched, shrieking call that resonated with itself, a bell-like reverberation being heard as a gust of cold air emerged from the head.

Adder, Cobra, and Mamba, the left, centre, and right heads of a great and terrible beast. Together, they were Viper. Even in this low, quadrupedal stance they stood twenty meters at the shoulders, from nostril to tail they extended for some eighty meters in length, and their wings would have spanned more than eighty-two meters if fully extended. Though certainly not possessing Ridley’s grace or agility, Viper had a similarly unmistakable menace that commanded obedience.

Cobra snapped their jaws to call the gathered Operators to order, and flicked out a forked tongue to sniff the air.

“The Directorate and our Aurora units have orders for us. I expect you to listen carefully to them.” Cobra snarled.

“Failure to comply will be punished.” Mamba hissed, snaking towards Mercy and snorting.

“And we expect the smart aleck comments to be kept to a minimum. Unless you wish to out yourselves as in need of disciplinary action.” Adder said in a low, serpentine voice filled with a venomed sweetness as if they dared the others to test their collective patience.

“Am I understood? Or must we demonstrate why we are in command, and not any of you?” Cobra growled, raising their head as high as possible as they perched atop their preferred podium.

A sea of affirmative replies were all that Viper’s three heads needed to simmer down and cease the noises they made.

“Excellent.” They said in unison.

The image of a number of Aurora units; great armoured hybrid computers that combined advanced molecular computing in the form of enormous artificial brains and highly sophisticated quantum computational technologies who “saw” the world from a vertically arrayed trifecta of optics while kept suspended in special fluids and connected to the bottom of their tanks through cyber-brainstems the size of tree trunks; cut into holographic displays of the briefing room’s imagers. New additions to the Federation’s toolkit, they were its secret weapon in organization.

Accompanying them were a number of more shadowy figures, overseers and commanders among the Federal Central Intelligence Network and the RAID. All kept in silhouette. The antennaed form of Director Vzorag was perhaps the only one most would recognise due to being a public official. The director’s insectile four bore four arms and four radially arrayed legs, and their blueish and white carapace was mostly covered by the suit of their office, a formal politician’s attire.

“We are glad to see that you have convened on such short notice, Dead Hand One. For we have a matter of substantial importance for you to handle with your unique skills.” The Director said.

“The Ensryn Volunteer Army has uncovered a large trove of Alimbic technologies on the planet of Cylosis; including living Alimbic inhabitants. They are to be dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible before they can spread this technology to the rest of the paramilitary force, or worse; to the Omyn Democratic Council Republics and its Intergalactica.” Aurora Unit 13 said. One of the older Aurora units, his deep voice echoed upon itself with the voice of a legion.

The world of Cylosis was then displayed by the holographic systems in its orbit around the star of Cynar in the Pinwheel galaxy. The usual details were given out. It was a relatively cold planet due to its distance from its star, and had a particularly strong magnetosphere and thick ozone layer that filtered out the majority of solar radiation. Substantial tectonic activity due to its small, fractured plates created a large number of mountains and islands across its continents and seas and provided enough CO2 to keep it decently comfortable despite its distance from Cynar. A population readout of about 45 million people was given, spread widely across the planet for the most part with some fortress town concentrations.

“I thought we were leaving the EVA to needle the Pirates and the Krikens in that sector?” Dagger said with some concern. Dealing with the monsters that go bump in the night was one thing but she was...hesitant about expanding that to people she considered mostly alright as heard in the slight tremor in her voice.

“The EVA is not an innocent party nor is our understanding with the Intergalactica supposed to be an inviolable pact. We tolerate them for the presence of greater enemies, but we cannot allow them to expand into a greater threat themselves.” Delta Majestic-6 said, the shadowy figure’s feminine figure moving slightly as she spoke, though there was a deep chill in her voice.

“ From our agents on Cylosis, it appears the discoverer happens to be Colonel Gyda Skjǫldr and her husband, Erik Skjǫldr. The clan champion of the Grendakals is noted to be a highly skilled and well equipped combatant. Do not assume she or her husband will go down lightly.” Aurora 399 said, the genderless voice of the supercomputer having a somewhat higher pitch than the prior aurora.

“Do we have to eliminate them?” Cyrus asked, stroking his moustache with his right index finger and thumb while he thought. His brows furrowed and he looked at the holographic images of Gyda and her unit. He didn’t know them yet, but he didn’t really see much of that violent edge in many he was sent to eliminate. She just seemed like a mother who was well equipped to protect her family.

“Capture is unlikely, but if possible you are permitted to attempt it. Doing so may make getting access to their personal data somewhat easier. Additionally, their son; Arne has had some contact with the Alimbics. Ensure that he relinquishes his information.” Gamma Nova-3 said, their silhouette seemingly more mechanical based on the shape of the protrusions that emerged.

“I don't suppose we'll be drawing straws to see who gets to be the one to kill a three year old in cold blood?" Quietus said.

“Soft. Fortunately I have already elected to take responsibility for this task. The family will reveal its secrets; whether as corpses or captives.” Cobra said, giving Quietus a somewhat disdainful look as if they had admitted to cowardice and thus flaw and weakness.

“What are the defenses of note?” Veil asked, callibrating his cannon as he raised the question before tilting his head upwards at his superiors.

“You will find the more complete analysis uploaded to your armour computers. But the system has a number of picket screens and orbital defense platforms. The planet itself has theatre shielding and a number of deeply dug in and shielded fortress towns. As the EVA is in the process of evacuating the planet however, non-combat infrastructure is being uprooted and system traffic will be increasing as the populace is evacuated.” Aurora Unit 13 said, displaying a readout of the planet’s rather formidable defenses for a world so sparsely populated.

“And what are we going to do with an Alimbic warship? We don’t have the punch to handle something like that and its a pain to sneak past telepaths.” Mercy said, folding her arms.

“We will deploy precursor countermeasures should the warship’s denizens be hostile. However our Alimbicologists have concluded that their intervention is unlikely. We are more interested in the means to track the ship and to prevent those means from falling into the wrong hands. If they do intervene however, you are expected to defend yourselves. There can be no half measures with an attack such as this.” The Director said.

“Cowardice is unacceptable. Trust in the commands of your superiors. Perform your duties above and beyond expectations. Your orders are commandments. Honour them, and you will succeed.” Cobra said, the middle head of Viper looking from one end of the room to another.

“Don’t hesitate. Analyse, decide, and act. I will be watching your efforts. Fail and perish.” Mamba snarled, cold air bursting from their mouth as they made their demands of their unit.

“And the one who distinguishes themselves above all others...well...they get a reward...do you want it? Good...because I guarantee you that you will like it.” Adder hissed, the left head’s forked tongue flicking out of their mouth to taste the air.

“This will be dirty work, but we have every confidence in your abilities Dead Hand 1. Remember, we are the thin grey line against chaos. As always, We fight in the dark.” Vzorag said.

“So that others may live in the light.” The others completed.

“Outstanding. I want all of you to prepare to board the Dreadnought Nifelheim. We leave immediately.” Cobra commanded, getting salutes out of the other members of the elite team.
 
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Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Sylux's logbook

Individuals: Special Forces: Galactic Federation: FCIN: RAID: Unknown Void Hydra: Tri-Gender: Dead Hand Alpha: Viper


Viper is in actuality three beings conjoined into a single body. The central head, Cobra is the most dominant and imperious. The right head, Mamba is female and a violent enforcer. The left head, Adder, is male and manipulative and inquisitive. Where Viper is from or if they are indeed a natural entity instead of some deliberate mutation or even a fully artificial life form is uncertain, and the designation of "Void Hydra" is one born entirely of convenience based on their appearance. From all psychological evaluations, Viper is at once a totalitarian disciplinarian and also happy to please their superior officers. Perhaps as a result of a lifetime of forcing their three heads into a single line of action, but their shared lack of mercy is a binding element.

Arne's Notes

"Triple Threat" , "The Three Wintery Deaths", and the "Thrice-King of War" or whatever other title they like to go by haunts my thoughts like a demon. The cackling bell like roars from their three throats have kept me from sleeping for weeks at a time, I'm lucky that I don't need it I guess... But I need to do something about them. Or else the hydra of the dead hand is never going to let me know peace.

Individuals: Special Forces: Galactic Federation: FCIN: RAID: Seskrak: Male: Dead Hand Alpha: Veil

Veil is sometimes mischaracterised as simply a sniper and a demolitions expert. But he is also one of the top trainers within the dead hand, moulding new recruits from the R.A.I.D and its recruitment programs into universe class operators who serve the federation as the deadliest of the deadliest. Addittionally, Veil is an expert operator and lead designer of the prototypical "Shadow Falcon" mech series that serves as the bleeding edge of the R.A.I.D's mech R&D program. Hard to please and coldly stoic, Veil is infamous for starving recruits of emotional affection until they cling to even a bare hint of his approval.


Arne's Notes
Veil is small and physically unassuming and all that means is that he's got a size complex on top of everything else. He feels powerful from exerting control, and everything he looks at he looks at like a predator. He doesn't see people, he sees targets to pick apart, analyse, kill and dissect. But I don't think he'd hold up very well if he was ever brought face to face with someone keen on punching him in the face.

Individuals: Special Forces: Galactic Federation: FCIN: RAID: Human: Female: Dead Hand Alpha: Dagger

Ishimoto Keiko, AKA Dagger was originally one of the highest preforming Freelancers in the Triangulum galaxy from a young age; operating in tandem with her brother Ishimoto Amiyana. The two made use of abilities gained through spelunking in Ylla ruins that exposed them to unusual energies that gave them a number of abnormal abilities; particularly involving teleportation, cloaking and spacewarping. Keiko was later handpicked for Dead Hand Alpha by Adder through threats to the lives of her parents and offers of amnesty for high profile thefts. Bitter and sardonic, Dagger's loyalty is in constant doubt.

Arne's Notes

If Keiko really regretted her life in the dead hand then why doesn't she just take the risk and leave? She can hide anywhere in the universe and a whole army would be at its wit's end trying to find her or whomever she wanted to keep out of the public eye. Yet she stays with five...seven of the universe's worst murderers. Why?

Individuals: Special Forces: Galactic Federation: FCIN: RAID: Synth: Agender: Dead Hand Alpha: Quietus

Quietus was manufactured by R.A.I.D affiliated black site R&D facilities to make use of N'Kren technologies that the unit had managed to crack some of the secrets of to produce a prototype and extremely dangerous assassin synthoid. Taking their duties in grimly humorous good spirits, Quietus is a prolific murderer despite their apparent joviality and detests missions that require low casualties. They are devoted to the cause and often fake doubts to suss out potential defectors and flakes within the R.A.I.D, and always have a direct line to Viper to deal with would be traitors.

Arne's Notes

Quietus likes to put happy faces on that display screen face of theirs and it's the single most off putting thing imaginable. If they were just a sadist I could maybe understand, but I'm not sure what they get out of it beyond the programming they were created with. Best to scrap the thing and figure out the programming faults later.

Individuals: Special Forces: Galactic Federation: FCIN: RAID: Unknown: Female: Dead Hand Alpha: Mercy

Mercy's original species is a mystery but her varied skills as a psion and a shapeshifter make her a person of extreme value to the Dead Hand, more than enough to forgive her of her indiscretions. A skilled infiltrator and an extractor of information par excellence, Mercy is infamous for her ability to slip in unnotice and leave nothing but corpses and ruin and all data mysteriously gone. She is regarded as a woman of a million masks and her genuine personality is hard to decipher, but she seems to be easily frustrated by those who refuse to reciprocate her games.

Arne's Notes

Mercy's hard to get a read on. What's motivating her? What's in this for her? How can she smile after everything she's done? I don't get it. I don't know why I need to know so bad, but I can't rest when these questions rattle around my skull. I'll get my answers, I need them.


Individuals: Special Forces: Galactic Federation: FCIN: RAID: Human: Male: Dead Hand Alpha: Cyrux

Cyrus Jones, also known as Cyrux due to a comical mishap with his name was accidentally infused with highly charged nanites during Freelancer operations in tandem with the R.A.I.D. This resulted in significantly enhanced abilities and an ability to maximise the capabilities of technologies he interfaced with so as to push his combat armours to heightened extremes and even make use of technologies he shouldn't be able to. Needless to say, this and his boisterous, battle loving nature brought Cyrus to the attentions of the Dead Hand program and into the direct employ of Viper as one of the original members of Dead Hand Alpha. Though Cyrus still maintains some of his chivalry from his past, he has become increasingly accepting of the nature of his work.

Arne's Notes

Cyrus is probably one of the only members of Dead Hand Alpha who even tries at the act that he's done something worthwhile in his time in the unit. But his hands are as bloody as everyone else's in that whole outfit. If he really wanted to uphold chivalry, if he was really honorable, he wouldn't hide with them.​
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 7(SA): Worldfall

Orbit of K-2L, Sekhmet-319 System, Macha Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy


The enormous shape of the Scourge of Heaven dropped out of N-Space like a moon moving into an eclipse position. Not a perfect one due to its flying wing shape, but the light of Sekhmet-319 dimmed all the same. The menacing shadow of the ship almost seemed to stretch across the world, a malevolent cloak wrapped around a continent. Black enveloped the surface of what was supposed to be day, turning the warmth of the sun into a cold night as it loomed overhead like the wings of some horrific bat.

And like a hive queen, it was swarming with other ships of various sizes that hung near it like a retinue. Everything from the smallest torpedo boat to battleships and dreadnoughts hovered near this staggering expression of Space Pirate Might. Each of which brought about their own darkness onto the world below, an army far larger than the meagre populace of the planet below waiting within their hulls for an easy victim and a quick, violent but glorious victory to add to their dire legend.

And within, its denizens were making their preparations for a short, sharp conflict. A routine massacre. Something done so often that they were simply running through the motions without concern. This would all be over soon enough. Too soon perhaps. There wouldn't be much fun to be had this time around. But this was a stop on the way to bigger and better things.

At the Bridge was the Space Pirate Enforcer himself, claws clutched to his roost while his predatory pupilless eyes stared below with a terrible malice. Lower personnel who were literally beneath him monitored every scrap of data that the ship was gathering, checking over their monitors in the pits to get organic eyes on any information the computers gathered. He didn't really care for the fineries of command, it was so terribly dull to him. He wanted the rush of primal violence and vicious murder. Command was the fine art of moving so many dots and icons on a screen or a holomap.

His crew awaited battle in a slightly lower level than the Cunning God of Death himself perched on, regarding the target with no small amount of disdain. The gloomily lit purple, green, and yellow interior of the ship framed them all in menacing shadow, and none were cast in a more frightful manner than Ridley himself. His every scornful look magnified by the lighting.

“What a miserable pile of rocks.” Ridley sneered.

He hadn't imagined very much but what he saw somehow managed to impress him even less than what he imagined. He doubted he'd even think about this planet very much when he was done. Just another box to tick before he could sink his talons into a real prize. He wondered for a moment, what these insects did to warrant more than a few moments of his time. He came to the decision that them wasting his time was enough to warrant everything he was going to do to them in less than a second and snorted.

“Analysis: Orbital Bombardment would be ill advised due to aflorite concentrations in planetary crust and mantle.” AAE-13 said, their monotone flat and devoid of even the vaguest of inflections.

The machine was perhaps the most "excited" for this job in as much as anyone could ever call AAE-13 excited about anything. They saw the Afloraltite to be gained as advantageous to their plans. They hoped to advance their career of course, as was only natural. Many came to the Inferno Pack with dreams of using Ridley's lack of interest in the fineries of generalship as a chance to move ahead in the brutal cut-throat hierarchy of the Confederacy.

“Yeah I don’t need to be a supercomputer to figure that out. Shut up.” Ridley grunted with annoyance.

He raised his head in clear menace hissed through his teeth to let them know that he was in no mood for their antics.

“Feh, with an ocean dwelling population this small I’ll be counting fish in the sea before you idiots are even half way through.” Ivax snapped her jaws in visible frustration. Ridley felt nothing for her annoyance but simply snorted steam through his nostrils as he began to stretch his wings.

Ivax bared her teeth, the sea monster was disappointed. She was envious, both of Ridley for so easily finding chances to have his fun, and for the land bound pirates who would be blessed with target rich environments while she was to be stuck with killing off subnautical miners and ocean dweller habitations. She'd be lucky if there were even a million people for her soldiers to unleash themselves upon. She hissed and yapped and dreamed of ocean worlds and habitats that she could cut loose against and bowed her head down. Ridley eyed her annoyance and let out a hacking cough of amusement to Ivax's even further displeasure.

“Anything I need to note before I give the order?” Ridley asked.

“No, they are all but helpless.” Zenkin said.

Zenkin was disappointed to be sure by the quality of the target, but they would find their chances to avail themselves against more worthy targets later.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s have a little fun.” Ridley snarled gleefully.

“Now you’re speaking my language.” Corvus giggled as she licked her tongue across her teeth, slavering for the taste of blood and carnage to delight her mouth once again.

“The soldiers are ready to execute the invasion, Enforcer. Shall we get started? I’d like to get back to campaigns that actually advance my career.” Weavel said, folding his hands behind his back as he stared at the world below him. The usual assortment of continents and seas and clouds wafting across the surface. He’d put an end to thousands like it.

“Kill to your heart’s content but make sure to leave some for the market. We’ll be in and out before you know it so don’t hold anything back.” Ridley roared as he stood up on his hind legs and spread his bat like wings to their fullest extent.


Sidhemor, K-2L​

“No way...no way in hell.” Thergax, a six limbed insectoid buzzed as he looked at the menacing profile of the enormous craft hover over the world. Everyone beneath the Shadow of the Scourge was shaking with fearful recognition. Children cried and the grown shook in fear while terrified whispering went through the crowds.

The lights on its bottom provided an odd effect to its eclipse position, but what was unmistakeable after a cursory glance with some magnifiers is that the ship bore the mark of the dread enforcer Ridley. The galaxy on fire.. The emblem of the Inferno Pack, the worst of an already very bad lot.

“..P-pirates? Here?! But this sector’s supposed to be quiet...we don’t have the weapons to...” Elendrina stammered before gulping in fright as she saw the colossal shape of the enemy ship and its escorts loom overhead.

“Get everyone to whatever safety we can find. Hopefully we’ll be able to buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive.” Rodney said, closing his eyes and taking a look in the direction of the armoury.

“Do you think we’ve got a chance?” Thegak chattered as the warship above began to pulse and flash with strange lights, almost certainly decoupling parasitic craft from it to begin the invasion.

“If we fight, some of us might live. If we don’t; we’re all going to die in the slave pens or dissection tables.” Rodney said bitterly. The weak smile he offered was enough evidence though, that even he knew that survival was a long shot at best.

“Besides...I have a plan.” He said, looking to the aflorite and then at Ridley’s massive starship in orbit. This might just work out, he thought to himself. He just hoped the odds weren’t going to be as long as he feared, and reassured himself with knowledge that he was being depended on.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Neorai forests


Samus was a giggily mess as she pet at a very nosy Pyonchi who was quite adamant on her sharing the food she had in her hands. Grainy black and leavened bread toasted to perfection cut from a loaf, ovoid in shape containing a hearty meal of cultured meat cut into thin strips like old Iberian pork with an acorn fed, salt cured, and hony glazed taste and a smooth, marbled texture. Paired with it were carefully proportioned portions of leafy vegetables which had a pleasant, slightly tangy taste paired with rich camenbert like soft cheese and a smoky brown sauce that gave the sandwich a bit of a kick, with some tangier circular slices of vegetables thrown in to ensure she had everything she needed in a single meal; with some chocolate and carbonated juice to fill out her needs and wants. Virginia knew she liked to share her food and rarely sat still for long too, and so prepared more than she'd actually eat.

“Wait! I’ll share! I’ll share!” She said as she broke a piece off and let them have some of her sandwich. She smiled warmly at the Rabil as they nibbled at the offered food, wagging their tail to express contentment.

“I can’t wait to show you to everyone!” She said before she noticed something unusual. It was getting darker much faster than should be possible. It should still be late afternoon...it wasn’t bedtime was it? She didn't want to go to sleep just yet. Not when there was still so much fun to be had. Ho-hum, why did she need to take four hours out of every day to sleep? It was absolutely criminal that she had to sacrifice so much of her day to nature's call to a soft place to lie down.

She looked back to see a number of streaking shapes flying over the landscape and squinted her eyes at them. They looked like...planes of some sort? Moving far too fast for people trying to land.

Maybe they just really wanted to get down and meet everyone? But...they looked like Pirate ships, and she remembered something about the Space Pirates being bad people. But they seemed like monsters under the bed. Not something she’d actually meet...

Only momentary distraction by winged animals flying away in terror and her turning to look at them saved her eyes from the blinding flash of the first explosions. She shrieked in fear as the detonations ripped through many hardened bunkers. Nightfall became blinding morning in a second and heat could be felt on her back before the gust of wind threw her and Pyonchi to the ground.

Trees buckled and were stripped of their leaves and had branches snapped off like twigs, and the thunderous roar of the initial bombardment drowned out all other noise. She clapped her ears to her head and screamed in fright. But the sounds of aircraft overhead and the keening wail of their engines like screaming children made her unable to hear even that.

The sonic boom accompanying the engine wail shattered the canopies of many remaining trees, while the meson bombs they threw into the ground sent geysers of partly molten and charred dirt and bedrock into the air that climbed for hundreds of meters. She had to run.

She looked back to the Landing Plaza many kilometers away and stumbled her way towards it, seeing a great purple shape descend towards the ground.


Fionna Landing Plaza, K-2L


“This isn’t a party you get to leave. So let me take you away from the door.” Ridley snarled as he grabbed at a shuttle and shoved the craft, as large as sixty old earth aircraft carriers arranged into a rough rectangle that was trying its best to lift off with its thousands of passengers downwards with a press after slamming into it. Its engines sought to lift off into the heavens, screaming as they were met with unexpected resistance while his wings beat with the thunderclap of a shrieking sound barrier and the trails of igniting air. It was a magnificent contest, but he won out and reoriented the vehicle towards the earth and shoved it down like a meteor.

The kilometre and a half-sized craft then slammed into the ground hard enough to rupture its hull, an explosion erupting from it that could be seen from kilometers away as his plasma breath seared its way through forty-meter thick starship armour and into its afloraltite stores to shower the denizens of K-2L with shrapnel. The catalysts for the ship’s zero-point energy systems erupted in a chain reaction that quickly formed a titanic mushroom cloud while he rose from the blast.

He spread his wings and roared over the deafening blast, the heat of the detonation that incinerated unarmoured people until nothing was left but black stains where their shadows once were seemingly failing to affect him, while whatever tears he received in his wings from railgun like shards of superheated metal healed over almost immediately. He felt like a god, with the lives and deaths of so many at the tips of his claws.

Volleys of fireballs erupted from his mouth, seeking gouts of plasma so hot that most atoms simply disintegrated into quarks flowing like raindrops and engulfing just about everything he could see. Trees not smashed by the explosion before caught aflame if they were not simply incinerated, flesh disintegrated as molecular bonds tore apart and electrons flowed from their atoms like litchi skins. When he ceased his barrage of fireballs, he eyed the area for any other targets. A bunker caught his eye, fortified in a manner to resist heavy bombardment.

Anti-aircraft weapons simply glanced off of his bioshielding. Quad-barelled mass drivers, surface to air missile launchers, and cutting anti-projectile lasers all had their own goes at him only to meet him simply spreading out his arms and laughing as he shrugged off the strikes that fell upon his body. Missiles far faster than their own sound, speedy enough to be invisible even to the augmented eyes of the present era raced towards him as he easily dodged his way through the thicket of lasers once he had stressed his durability advantage enough. He simply snatched one out of the air as if it were moving in slow motion and flung it back to its sender, scattering Federal Militia troops whose mass drivers barked to life with a volley of relativistic projectiles.

"Boring" he snarled as he let out a scream so powerful that the exhalation of air was enough to bowl over the soldiers and chew away at their shielding while already shielding and armour stripped soldiers simply exploded into gore. He threaded the needle of hypervelocity rounds going fast enough to launch themselves clean out of the solar system given a few years and stabbed his tail into a shield meant to resist heavy-duty bombardment until he felt it break; cackling like a demon as the bunker's chief defence sputtered and gave way before his power.

He grinned and flew over his now vulnerable target and then dove down like a comet. He righted himself and let his taloned feet slam into the earth. The ground shook and cracked at his feet before giving way, bedrock splintering and adamantocrete tunnels collapsing from his raw strength. Tunnel collapses and cave-ins would surely have killed the residents already, but he was not yet satisfied.

He let out another one of his terrible roars while purple and red flame began to build in his beaked mouth. He inhaled and cast his head forth; letting loose a gout of flame and didn’t stop until it had pierced all the way through. Sweeping the beam around, he cut off the flow of energy and looked at the molten ruin he had wrought, smelling the vaporised rock and metal with a grin. They may not have been a problem for his soldiers but in his own words, he was an army all his own.

“Can’t have you sitting out the fun hiding in the corner, can we?” He said, chuckling to himself as he sifted through the rubble, looking for any remains. Sure enough, he found one body, charred beyond recognition but still not fully carbonized or evaporated. Licking his teeth, he bit into the flesh and ripped out a mouth full. His teeth crushed the bones without effort, and his throat pushed down the morsel immediately.

“Hrm, not bad. A bit overdone, but it can’t be helped.” He chuckled as he finished his grisly meal, his tongue lapping any of the burnt organs that fell out of the openings he made in the carcass before they could touch the ground as he took flight once more. He looked down at the ocean of flame that he had created, forests burning as far as his keen eyes could see in every spectrum. He shook with an obscene, unclean joy at the sight, wishing he could hear the screams of the people as he shot across the sky at hypersonic speeds.

He slammed into the area around the Gaela landing plaza and smashed into a row of smaller individual spacecraft he recognised as having faster than light capabilities. Dirt, flesh, and metal erupted in all directions while his impact tore down some of the walls of the port structures around him. He let out a vicious roar of gleeful malice, letting it be heard far and wide to let everyone know that he had sounded the hunting call.

“Come on, we’ve got fresh meat here!” Ridley roared. Turning around on his two feet, he saw a number of children huddled for safety with their teachers and turned around with a malevolent gleam in his yellow eyes.

“Oh aren’t you all just the sweetest things. Here, let me make it all better. Let’s start with you kiddies, because I want to play something very fun.” He said, folding his wings behind him as he walked in a bipedal manner towards them, licking his teeth and sniffing towards them as he clawed through the obstruction between him and his targets.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you...immediately. We’re going to have ourselves a good time first.” He cackled as he reached for his first target. He was only briefly distracted by the sight of a pirate transport craft ascending towards his flagship before he turned back to his victims and bared his teeth in an evil grin.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Gaela landing Plaza

Everything was on fire. The heat was so intense she began to feel weak. Smoke hung heavy in the air, blotting out the sun and casting everything into hellish darkness lit only by what was on the ground. But through the sound of an inferno consuming whatever fuel made itself available, she could hear the drumrolls of continual explosions. She could hear shouts and roars in so many languages, she heard things breaking, she heard things moving. But most of all, she heard screaming.

So much screaming. All blending together into a din that burnt its way into her ears. The constant wailing of the damned and the dying, so many cries for help and people begging for something, anything to save them. But she could do nothing. She tried her best, tried to throw medical salve or tap on the medical teleportation beacons of the fallen like she was taught onto her friends, the blank eyes of Jacen not flinching as she quailed and tried to fit his head back on. Her hands were red and her feet almost slipped on the gore of the young boy. She cried so much, but he lay there still, only one eye staring back at her from a half missing face.

He had tried to ask the big marshal in command of the space pirate soldiers where his parents were. The one she would come to know as Weavel split him in half with a casual twist of his arms and threw him through a building before collapsing it atop him. So...so much blood. The sound he made as he stopped moving was a scream unlike anything she'd ever heard before, a sound she didn't even know people could make. But she had to save him, she was his friend...she had to save him.

She had shoved the boulder-sized debris that had covered him off; a gift from her standard pattern augmentations, but he still would not rise. What was she doing wrong? Was she doing a bad job? This was supposed to work. But she felt a hand tugging at her. A crying, begging voice desperate to be anywhere but here.

Aisha begged, pleaded for her to go. She was so scared. Aisha was usually so brave, so sure of what to do. Now she was crying for her mommy before she threw her hands over her mouth and sobbed as a six-eyed Urtraghian jumped down onto the ground, its form almost seeming to have teleported there with the distinct thunderclap of faster than sound movement due to the power of its augmentations that let it move faster even than her eyes could follow. The Urtraghian growled something she could not understand, its power armour shifting silently with its movements as it sniffed the air before mass driver rounds began pinging off of its shields with metallic cracks.

The Urtraghian kicked over the nearest auto-transport with a solid snap of its legs towards the source of the weapons fire, getting Samus to duck down as Aisha screamed. The building before them, not rated to withstand impacts of this magnitude; had its first floor balcony caved in by the speeding car before the Trooper spat out a burst of projectiles that tore out man sized chunks of civilian grade fortecrete with dreadful pulsing sounds. The awful green glow of the weapons searing their way into Samus' retinas as she quivered.

Aisha tried to move, Samus' eyes shot open once again as she reached out to try and stop her before the Pirate began to turn around to notice her. A croaking, deep roar was made as the Space Pirate saw fresh prey, fresh meat. Other people who had been hiding in their direction began to bolt, and the six-eyed monster made a hunting call before extending an energy scythe and charging like a cannon ball. Grigor Stefanovich; the person who managed her daycare split in sizzling pieces before he had enough time to scream.

Volgan Iral; a nice reptilian boy who made a lemonade she liked to drink often; exploded into ash and bone chips from a single shot that powered on through half a dozen people she didn't know the names of before crashing into the ground with a shower of shards.

A grenade went out, dozens more died, only her decision to close her eyes saving her sight as Elrani Theyri; the girl who had taught her how to play with a skip rope was lifted to the level of one of the nearly four meter tall space pirates and simply had her head bitten off by the reptilian while others turned towards the spray of blood and descended on it like sharks. Emaciated militia pirates tore off chunks of flesh in a frenzy before being thrown away with swats from the more muscular regulars.

A grunt of an alien throat brought Samus and Aisha's attentions to the left where they saw the gaunt form of a militia pirate staring down at them, fear jolting into their hearts as the crustaceoid pirate clacked his mandibles in recognition of her orders. It was a hesitant acknowledgement, and she looked around as if to confirm before she exhaled and sought to carry through with her orders.

The Bermudan muttered something Samus could not understand, something mournful sounding. Like a plea for forgiveness before she raised her gun at her and began charging up a blast, green energy collecting in the barrel. But when she cried and screamed, the Pirate's gaze faltered beneath her helmet. It made a soft gurgling sound and lowered its weapon, pointing her towards an avenue of escape and pushing her towards it. The nameless conscript, a dreg of the ladders of hierarchy, could not bring itself to hurt something so vulnerable, and it turned to report the completely wrong direction.

A small act of pity had saved her life, but another pirate militaman who had hesitated in a similar fashion, refusing to strike down whimpering children and arguing with the commanders over it found itself to not be so fortunate. Its shielding took only so many hits to break, and they peeled off its armour with frenzied savagery to get at the carapaced flesh of the militia pirate who screamed in horror as they were pulled apart and devoured. Entrails and viscera spitting out in all directions and the pirate's screams stopped shortly.

Samus vomited almost immediately.

She flinched as something exploded to her left shortly after she dove into the streets, having outrun the blaze devouring the forest only to find even greater horror here. A large quadrepedal mechanical monster bearing the symbology of Ridley’s unit stomping through and raising its many barelled armatures; rippling retorts of weapons fire coming from it as the elephantine body of AAE-13 mercifully ignored her, busy with reducing fortifications to rubble as they were and stepping on tanks like toys, secondary weapons spitting multicoloured death in other directions while Samus and Aisha crawled through the wreckage.

Their mammoth body faded into the smoke, becoming a black silhouette, and then could be seen no more save for the many coloured pulses of their weapons. She was shaken, and her eyes lingered on the silhouette for some time. The deep drones of the machine and its warpack made her spine feel like it was trying to crawl out of her mouth. And her skin was so soaked in sweat she felt like she was underwater. Gelrandi, one of the defense militia captains of K-2L shot a barrage of missiles at AAE-13. They were always so brave, so heroic, so inspiring. Samus even designed an action figure in their honour; her brilliant mind working the fabricators with dextrous brilliance.

The fusile missile exploded in a shaped eruption of solar brilliance, forcing its energy all into one direction in an effort to pierce through AAE-13's shielding. A detonation that would have been considered massive overkill against the defences of the old Cheyenne facility on Earth bloomed and the robot stopped in its tracks as the dust settled.

AAE-13 swivelled its castle sized uppermost body and fired precisely once with its primary armature and Gelrandi and the entire building complex they were on ceased to be in a cascade of evil green light. Samus pulled Aisha further, they had to get out of here, nearly tripping on the dismembered corpse of an infant who had been partly eaten by the battle pets of the pirates whose shrill howls keened in their ears in the distance.

She looked to the right, hearing someone shouting for help, someone pinned by rubble as fire advanced towards them. Another monstrous eel headed and six eyed creature with metal-covered limbs pulled back the bladed helm they wore and grabbed at the rubble, shoving boulder-sized debris aside with ease. The man who had been pinned absent-mindedly saying thanks before the Urtraghian pulled him up and snarled words of contempt in a language she didn’t understand, then bit into his chest.

She shuddered, sickened by the sight of flesh being torn free while the pirate threw the man to starved looking conscripts who gladly ripped into him. She was going to puke once again, she couldn’t keep her lunch down, she was breathing so hard it hurt. She didn’t stick around, she had to get away.

Her small legs, weighed down by carrying Pyonchi buckled as Hunter Corvus raced ahead, her guns firing in either direction to pop off the heads of those who tried to run and then running through a security trooper, energy scythe piercing through her power armour with ease. She took a moment to examine the dying woman and lifted her up, letting gravity cut her in half. She laughed to herself and let her flight back kick into action once more, wheeling through the sky.

Corvus cackled and cut through fleeing aerocraft with deceptive grace but obvious malice. Kwame, a somewhat older boy who often gave Samus sweets tried to call out for her as soon as he laid eyes on her, waving towards her. Samus' eyes caught something falling and she screamed out a plea for him to watch out before he saw an aerohauler plummeting towards him and then crushing him into gory paste, cutting off their initial route of escape and forcing them down into an alleyway and its tunnel systems.

She crawled through a place that seemed to be free of smoke, calling for her parents. Where were they? She thought to herself. She just wanted them to see her, to know she was safe. They would know what to do. They always did, she thought before the looming shape of a pirate destroyer pierced the veil overhead. She went silent, and pushed herself against the wall of the circular crawl space and pushed Pyonchi’s head towards hers. Her heart was beating so quickly. Aisha continued to whimper, begging anyone who was listening to make this all go away.

The Admiral’s raider ship scattered small weapons fire in all directions, shredding through what foes it spotted while the cyborg themselves rode a skiff, observing the carnage through their optics. For a moment she thought they saw her as they fixated on her direction and she felt her heart-stopping however briefly, but they simply fired some manner of green beam at a crowd who sought to make a break for it. A weight lifted from her chest, but the fear had yet to dissipate. A warbling sound was heard as they sweeped the beam from left to right, each victim collapsing into a pile of goo while a tendril flicked forward, seeming to order a bomber flight to make another run there. They were using lower-powered weapons purely for the sake of inflicting terror, relishing in the sight of the dying.

She gasped and crawled faster, pushing herself out of the building towards the miner’s head-quarters. The ground was stitched with federation’s weapons fire, magnet driven bullets sending out large gusts of earth and chipped masonry into the sky and it was all so loud. She yelped in surprise as she jumped back. She spit out a quick apology, not knowing how to make it stop as her limbs felt like they had currents running through them. Aisha spun and rolled to get away from the stitches dug into the ground, her body almost overwhelmed with terror as one of the Pirates behind them fell over from the impact of heavy defensive weapons.

As she tried to run, a cape wearing and heavily built pirate in impressive looking armour riding atop a tank roared orders she didn’t understand; but she recognised him, Weavel. As Weavel pointed at the structure she darted away, one of the pirates accompanying the hovering tanks and mechs looking at the direction of her sound before dismissing it to carry out their orders. Tears were flowing out of her eyes like a water tap now. She didn’t understand, why was this happening?

The headquarters was gone before she knew it, a drumroll burst of heavy munitions having reduced it to nothing before she had a look. Maybe the shoreline, she thought; seeing submersibles trying to dive into the safety of the waters. But this was no refuge, as the emergence of Ivax’s head proved. Shaking the submersible caught in her jaws and crushing it open, she let out a deep, bellowing roar before she flopped back into the water, her jaws opening again and snapping around another submersible to drag it into the depths.

She screamed once again, her cries were more and more desperate as she tearfully begged for someone to save her.

“Mama! Papa! Where are you?” She pleaded before flinching as something crashed near her and almost fell over as people crawled out, most on fire and all dead in moments as a pack of pirates crawled over the crashed vessel and finished off anything left standing. She stumbled and picked herself up, ignoring the scrape to her knee as she repeated her call. She wanted to be with them, nothing else mattered.

But then she saw the monster, a great purple thing who had just left some with dead looks in their eyes and somewhat less mangled flesh than usual. Ridley seemed satisfied, obscenely so and he appeared to be twisting his claws around in a small person, seeing different screams they could make.

“What’s your lowest octave hrm? I want to see what role you’d play in a choir. Your pet certainly wasn’t much for singing.” He said with an ugly, horrible laugh as they screamed with white hot agony.

“Oh come on now, you don’t want to make too much noise in front of daddy would you?” He said, moving a corpse impaled through the barbed point on his tail in front of their faces and using his free hand to move their jaw up and down like a puppet.

“You gotta be strong Makel, you gotta fight through the pain. Don’t be a wuss like your cat” He said, mimicking the voice perfectly.

“P-pleaaaaaaauuugggghhhh” Makel said before Ridley shoved their face into a fire and kept it there. He whistled a pleasant tune and tapped his foot to a beat while he waited before pulling the still screaming person back and taking a bite, severing their left leg. With a grin, he then chomped on the rest, mercifully ending the screaming.

She yelped and fell on her butt, whimpering and quivering as Ridley perked up and looked around before fixating on her and Aisha and giving a devilish smile.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
“Oh isn’t this your lucky day little girl? To meet me, the great Ridley; the Cunning god of Death, the Wind of Slaughter, the Holocaust bringer, and the Ashmaker, in a good mood too. You even brought a friend. I love the little furry animals you little monkeys collect.” He said, licking his teeth and jutting his head forward.

“I...I’m Samus Aran...three years old...w...why are you here?” She stammered, shaking so badly she couldn’t even stand on her own. His eyes seemed to almost light up, ah there’s a name he’s heard of...vaguely.

“Because your parents are very good at their jobs, but they need to pay their dues. I’m like the tax collector, I make sure everyone pays.” He said, looking at the many colours of blood on his claws and licking them.

“C-c-can we be friends? Please...i-if you m-make them stop...e-even though we’re di...different...we can be friends…” She said, shaking but smiling as she tugged at one of the fingers of his wings. He paused briefly. She touched him. She laid her hand on him, without malice, without threat. She tugged at him, seeking friendship and peace. She looked at him in the eyes, full of friendly love and empathy. She was scared, but she wanted to be his friend. He gave her an almost pitying face.

But inside, anger boiled like a supernova waiting to go off in a star's last moments.

She touched him. She got her filthy monkey paws on his carapace and scales. She approached him without paying the proper respect. She thought she could approach him of all people with her disgusting crowd loving social habits and drag a mighty solitary predator such as him into such things. He could hear the soldiers thinking he’d gone soft. He could see her and that stupid squirrel coming to him again and again with that stupid, awful smile.

“Oh that’s not going to happen.” He sneered with a cold voice, his grin fading away entirely.

“W...why?” She quivered, disappointed.

“Heheheheheheh.” He laughed, maniacally and without a hint of mirth as she nervously laughed herself, he seemed to double over, increasing the volume of his laughter to something far more unpleasant. Ear-splitting, like rapid-fire engine backfires as he forced himself to keep laughing. His eyes began to literally burn with anger as his laugh devolved into a hateful roar.

“BECAUSE YOU’RE A LITTLE HOLLERING APE WHO NEEDS TO SHUT UP!!!!!” He roared as he looked first to Aisha as the toddler tried to run away and spat out a supernova hot gout of flame from his maw and utterly vaporised her, her life ending with such startling swiftness she didn't even have enough time to scream as vaporising rock rose up, blow away by Ridley's wings while he turned towards Samus with a sneer of pure hatred.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not going to let that kill you." He said as he stomped towards her, flicking his tail through the necks of other bound captives he had lined up for his amusement, blood sputtering from sliced open necks to douse the ground in a rainbow of viscera. Every step the dragon made towards her made the earth rumble as he loomed almost impossibly large over her. His body rising up to more than twenty meters as he stood fully upright. His hands reached out to the buildings to either side of him and crushed them into debris, sending them scattering all around Samus as Pyonchi made a high pitched squeak and the girl dumbly sputtered in terror.

"W-why are you d-doing this!?" She begged, she wanted...needed to understand him. The malice in his eye, the unbridled hate for someone he barely knew. The awful growl that made her body feel like it was turning to jelly. She couldn't grasp such evil, just as Ridley had no capacity to appreciate her genuine kindness and compassion. A dog barked at him, he stomped on it and twisted his claw while baring his teeth and licking his beak, flicking some of its viscera in her direction to get blood all over her face.

"Because in this universe, there are predators and prey. You, like all you little social cretins, are prey. I am a predator. I hunt, I kill, I terrorise. It's in my blood, just like it's in yours to scream, cry, and wet yourself." He chuckled with dark menace as he loomed ever nearer, his firebreath charging up once again.

"Now, normally I'd make this fun. You're such a sweet little thing after all. I could enjoy breaking you for so many, many years. But I have better things to do, Samus." He said, relishing in the way she quailed when he said her name. Oh, he knew who she was, who were her parents, how much they treasured her. He could see their despair, and it made him almost feel a drug high as he cackled like the devil himself.

"Oh I know all about you. Your parents are such big union people yes? Dad has that furor celtica, mommy's a Jewess; hrm, guess that makes you one too right? Now. I believe your people are familiar with being turned to ash. So goodbye, monkey." He said as his mouth began to glow orange, a radiant heat that made her feel weak to her knees before a few shots of blue pulse rifle ovoids streamed into him. Shots like this could have cored old earth warships, but barely got Ridley to flinch as he swept his heat blast leftwards and fired.

Elendrina boost jetted to the left to let the fire stream off into the distance and threw a grenade at the Dragon who caught it in hand and muffled the detonation in his curled fist while his bioshielding crackled and a menacing growl came from him. A high frequency monomolecular power blade was extended from the foreman's wrist and tried to stab into Ridley, but he simply flicked her aside as Elendrina looked to Samus.

"Run!" She shouted before Ridley grabbed at her and simply chomped down on her to crush her to death instantly, shielding shattering and armour splintering while the dragon gulped down some of the sweet flesh inside.

"Now...does anyone else want to interrupt?"

"Figures, now...where was I...ah yes...Time to disappear." Heat that felt like the raw energies of oppression itself washed over her like a blanket thrown to smother her as he prepared a stream of heat to shred mountains. Grotesque overkill for a three-year-old girl, but he had a point to make.

She screamed louder than ever as she dropped downwards, instinctively preparing for the end until a thunderclap and a sudden warm light overhead got Ridley’s fire to miss by a great distance, shooting into the sky and passing harmlessly upwards, throwing clouds away from its path.

“Augh! My eye!” Ridley screeched as he shook off some of the shrapnel and blinked his eye open again. It was intact, but that detonation was unpleasant. Tankbuster rocket if he wasn’t mistaken.

“Samus, run!” Virginia shouted, having fitted herself with one of the spare exomechs she could find. The mining ferrocrusher exomech let loose with a cutting laser that pushed Ridley back with a sweeping cut before throwing a burning tank at the Dragon, forcing him to catch it as he skidded backwards and tore it in half with a contemptuous twist of his arms.

"You're not much good at timing, already got one of your friends down my throat." Ridley sneered.

“Mama!” She shouted.

“Just go!” She said.

“Get away from my daughter!” She said, having the machine rush Ridley as quickly as possible, slamming its arms into him and throwing him into a shield wall that made him grunt briefly in annoyance.

“Your whole family line is going up in smoke you hear me! You’re all dead!” He roared as he pushed through the industrial saws trying to cut into his flesh, grabbing them with his hands and pushing back with obscene strength.

“Come on out of that can Aran! I’ll break you in every little way a female ape can be broken.” He roared with animalistic rage as he used his wings to push against the Crusher’s arms. The laser fired again, but his bioshielding let him push through before the retrofitted missile launcher fired a volley of tankbusters down his throat, getting him to cough out from the explosion.

He was not injured, however, and he pushed back against her after bracing. He looked at the fleeing Samus and roared in outrage as he tried to fire off one of his seeking fireballs, only to be met with another missile, this time to his cheek.

“Fine, you first.” He growled as his tail lashed out and jammed into the treads to immobilize the machine while he bit down at the cockpit to rapidly deplete the energy shielding. He grabbed at his opponent, trivially overpowering the mech to lift it into the air and slamming it back down into the earth.

Samus wanted her mother to win, she cheered her on mentally, but she knew mom would be mad if she didn’t run. She nodded tearfully and kept going as Ridley overwhelmed the Ferrocrusher’s shields and grabbed at its arms, flapping his wings to go above its saws and landing behind the machine. Another missile barrage interrupted another fireblast, but he sunk his feet claws into the machine and lifted up high before dropping it once again, a gout of fire pushing the machine down after he yanked off the arms.

The crusher slammed into the ground like a meteor, and the impact threw Samus off of her feet as Ridley slammed back into the ground. But still, Virginia crawled out and fired from the wreckage, a power suit having protected her from death. Ridley sneered at the shots, even the grenades and missile bursts she used and bathed her in flame to exhaust her shielding before smashing her into the ground when she tried to fire off the dash jets to get airborne.

“I’m getting very tired of you Aran, but you are a soft, tasty thing.” Ridley sneered as he used a claw to dig into the suit to try and cut it open from helm to navel without hitting her skin too much.

“So I’ll enjoy this.” He grinned.

“B-before or after my husband..blows your ship to hell?” She grunted through the pain as he cut open her face mask to leer at her face and started on her chest plate. That got him to stop, opening his eyes in shock, anger, and disbelief.

“...What!?” He said, pausing as he remembered one of the ships lifting off earlier. He looked up and let out a roar of anger. She laughed bitterly and in a fury he jabbed his thumb claw through her chest, getting a wet squelch and grunt out of her as a horrified Samus looked on.

“No! Mama!” She pleaded, reaching in her direction as Ridley threw himself into the air, the sonic boom of his takeoff throwing Samus off her feet.


Cargo bay of the Scourge of Heaven


Another Pirate fell over dead, the reptilian missing most of his head as Rodney’s Rangers made their way deeper into the ship. Or well, just Rodney. Everyone else was dead now, cut down by the swarm of space pirates who called the ship home.

He was injured, but his destination was so close. He looked around and finally saw his prize, the primary aflorite storage holds within the cavernous and dimly lit interiors of this hellship. The ceiling was high, and the glowing crystals were scintillating in the dull light.

Two last pirates jumped down to the ground, one with crab claws, the other a reptilian.

“+Enforcer Ridley, we have Rodney, he’s injured.+” One reported.

“+Then kill him already!+” Ridley roared over the line as he appeared in the hangar, roaring with unbelievable fury as he looked around. His smug look now replaced with blood boiling anger, visible on the monitors Ridley had throughout the ship to display his glory to his lackeys.

The reptilian primed the battle hammer while the armoured pincer wielder charged up their galvanic cannons while Rodney reached for something on the side of his light blue security armour.

“The line ends here, monkey. You can’t escape this ship.” The Crustacean pirate growled.

“You don’t really think I came here with an exit plan do you?” He said as he primed the high-temperature explosive.

“...What are you doing! You’ll get us all killed!” The Reptilian barked in horror.

“You’ll never see your daughter again! Is that what you want!?” Ridley roared over the communication feed as he stormed through the ship, trying to find where his target was.

“She’ll be all alone on that miserable rock and die with wild animals gnawing on her bones! You think you’re saving her!?” Ridley howled.

“From you, yes.” Rodney said, the Pirates firing in a panic at him, throwing him against the wall after he shot one repeatedly in the head, causing them to fall over with a burst shield while he slammed into the wall and weakly pulled himself up.

“For Samus…” He said, Ridley’s eyes widening as he tried instead to run, tearing his way through the hull as Rodney’s hands activated the primed explosive. He threw aside pirates who asked him what he was doing and let them be sucked into the void of space as he clawed his way through a viewport, but too late.

The explosion began small, stabbing lances of light piercing through the hull of the dying ship but quickly bloomed outwards. The aflorite catalysed in a zero point energy burst, and a detonation like a new sun reduced the Scourge of Heaven to free-floating plasma. Ridley beat his wings, but the energy wave engulfed him and shrapnel slammed into him, howling outrage as he burned and fell towards the planet, the fiery raiment of re-entry surrounding him as he would hit the ground like a meteor.

Gaela Plaza


The other pirates stopped and looked on in horror as the explosion tore the very heart out of Dragon Fleet in one fell swoop. Only the efforts of the Scourge’s own shields stopped the blast from devastating the planet itself, but fragments from the ship and fleet were already starting to rain down on the surface below. The remaining fleet began to open fire upon the Debris, seeking to prevent landfall by any means, but the mission had been a failure.

“Withdraw with what afloraltite we have gathered. We cannot resist the retaliation fleet in this state.” Grand Marshal Weavel ordered, snapping his fingers to the nearby pirates.

He could hear them, blaming him, wondering whose heads High Command was going to want on a silver platter for this catastrophe. He could forget about advancing his career now really...he needed to think about the more immediate concern of justifying to High Command why he shouldn't be demoted. Especially if Geoform 187 didn't survive. A hideous death would be the most generous thing High Command would give him if the Enforcer was lost.

“But sir…Enforcer Ridley was reported crashing back to the planet.”

Then there was hope at least. Ridley could endure a great deal as long as he was given the opportunity to regenerate. But with the Scourge of Heaven destroyed and most of the Inferno Pack's first fleet reduced to drifting plasma and more exotic particles they wouldn't be able to stick around. The Federation would send in the army or the navy or send out a call for some hotshot freelance space hunters and sweep them up. If Ridley was alive after that, he could afford to wait for a stealth extraction. He wouldn't be happy about it, but right now Weavel couldn't care less about what Ridley wanted.

“I said withdraw! We will dispatch commandos to retrieve the Enforcer or whatever remains he has left. For now...take what is left and head home. Examine what salvage there is to be had of the ship and haul it, scuttle the rest before the vultures steal our science.” He said bitterly.

“Yes Grand Marshal.” The pirate responded.

“Statement: This outcome is...unfortunate. Prediction: High Command will be displeased.” AAE-13 said as they stomped into view.

Understatement of the cycle. With good fortune the Despot wouldn't have Weavel's carapace flayed off his boiled flesh and mounted behind him in his office. Hopefully he would be...understanding of the unforeseen circumstances, especially if the right scapegoats could be fed to High Command to save his career. Hrm...who had died in the blast that wouldn't be alive to contradict the narrative he was already concocting in his head, he wondered?

“You don’t think Ridley is dead, do you? Might be a new spot opening up in the Enforcers.” Corvus said, landing on her feet next to Weavel as he dusted off his pauldrons.

Hah as if anyone here was going to be considered for promotion..

“No, but it’ll be years before High command trusts him with another ship of that size.” Weavel growled. And years before he was entrusted with a command this prestigious he reminded himself. The Inferno Pack's days as the golden childs of High Command were almost certainly over and he could already see the smug looks on Kraid's Jade Carnage or Draygon's Abyssal Demise troops, mocking him for this failure.

“...A pity, I had grown fond of it.” Zenkin said, folding their arms behind themselves.

“Graaaahhh...the large ships have the best water facilities.” Ivax howled as she beached herself and shook her head in displeasure.

Well, at least she made it out alright. Two enforcers WIA would really be an unthinkable black mark on Weavel's career.

“Enough...get your forces and follow orders.” Weavel snarled.

Soon enough, the remaining pirates grabbed what they could and angrily sacked what was left before they returned to their ships and shot off into the heavens. And eventually the flames burnt themselves out as they always did, and all that was left was ash; and a little girl stumbling through it, not sure where to go. All alone on an entire planet.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Samus' Logbook

Warships: Destroyed: Confederacy of Dismor: Inferno Pack: Dragon Fleet: Leviathan Category: Scourge of Heaven

Ridley's longest serving flagship, the Scourge of Heaven was built at considerable cost; financed through a spree of looting and assembled at the primary Shipyards of the rogue Corporation Todmor industries to be a dominating force in space. Able to obliterate planets and cause disruption to stars with ease, the Scourge of Heaven was infamous for being nearly invincible under the command of Strategos Zenkin and Enforcer Ridley; carving a path through space wherever it went. With a massive crew compliment including billions of ground assault troops and a massive arsenal centered around a zero point energy cannon able to blast open a star at full charge, the Scourge of Heaven could single handedly crush resistance across entire sectors, and was always accompanied by Dragon Fleet, an infamous naval formation that had never lost a battle under Zenkin's command and was considered one of the most dangerous naval task forces in the universe. The ship's reign of terror was finally brought to an end by the sacrifice of Rodney Aran; costing the lives of enormous numbers of pirates in one fell swoop.

Samus' Notes:

I suppose blowing up space pirate capital ships really does just run in the blood for me.

Planets: Whirlpool Galaxy: Macha Cluster: Human Habitable: Galactic Federation Controlled: Visited: K-2L (Part 2)

K-2L was later attacked by the forces of the space pirate enforcer Ridley and the leading fleet of his Inferno Pack. The destruction rendered most of the planet uninhabited and was presumed to have wiped out all of its colonists until the re-emergence of Samus Aran ten years after the attacks. Debris from the Scourge of Heaven and its accompanying ships has formed into an impressive ring system around the planet, with a permanent Naval base dedicated to ensuring that the debris do not impact the planet and to scavenge the remains for potential salvage. Resettlement efforts have been underway, but the ruins of the previous settlers are left standing out of respect. A museum dedicated to the exploits of Samus Aran serves as the planet's primary attraction despite her finding the concept of such a thing to be flustering.

Samus' Notes
I just don't enjoy the sort of hagiography that museums dedicated to single people usually participate in. I also think it glosses over the other ten million people who lived there. And for one thing, I'd appreciate it if they stopped trying to find excuses to put "Greco-Roman artistic nudes" of myself up. Most of them aren't even accurate. I've never had red or green hair as far as I know.

Individuals: Deceased: Human: Federation: Civilian: IWA: Miners: Rodney Aran

A mining foremen, former army scout, and geologist, Rodney Aran came to work with the Sirian Mining Collective after graduating from the Domai Academy of the Physical Sciences. Marrying Virginia Aran shortly after graduating, the two would be sent to settle K-2L to extract its rich Afloraltite deposits before the Fuel Gel boom inevitably crashed the value of Afloraltite. The two would have a child named Samus Aran, and had plans to conceive a pair of twins named Saren and Sean. Rodney would die shortly after Samus' third birthday in a final raid on Ridley's flagship, detonating the stolen Afloraltite and much of Ridley's fleet in the process. He was posthumously award the Quasar circlet; the highest non-military honour the Federation can offer.

Samus' Notes:

I'm not a miner myself, but I'll always be a miner's daughter. I like to think he's proud of me, I'm certainly proud of him.

Individuals: Deceased: Human: Federation: Civilian: IWA: Miners: Virginia Aran

A geologist and a former marine mech operator, Virginia was hired by the Sirian Mining Collective following the publishing of her thesis on Afloraltite detection. Originally having known Rodney from their grade school days, she married him after graduating and would join him on K-2L. She would become the mother of the more well known Samus Aran and was planning to raise two more children with vague plans for a fourth. Noted as a devoted parent and wife, she was also a fierce proponent of worker organization, and was the one to introduce her husband to the IWA. She would meet her end shortly after her daughter's third birthday, utilising a mining mech to delay Ridley as long as possible to prevent him from realising that his ship was being set up for sabotage. Though outmatched, she held him off long enough for their plan to be realised and died from fatal lacerations. Her remains were interned in a shallowly dug grave by Samus, and her grave remains a memorial site.
Samus' Notes:

Wish you were here.

Individuals: Alive: Human (Hybrid): Federation: Civilian: Freelance: Samus Aran (Part 1)

Samus Aran is sometimes regarded as perhaps the most important human to have ever been born. Certainly she's considered as such among those within Federation territory. Born to Rodney and Virginia Aran, the young girl was noted for her independent streak, adventurous curiosity, extremely quick learning, boisterous and physical nature, and a loving, compassionate nature from a very early age. Quicker on her feet and to learn than most, she was expected to have a bright future almost immediately. Perhaps most curiously is that the Chozo took an almost immediate interest in her fate from the moment they became aware of her existence; something they extend to almost no other humans. Assumed to be dead at first by the Federation, she would resurface ten years later, the last of her family but also the first of a new union of human and chozo.

Samus' Notes:

As I said, I don't really enjoy the sort of hagiography that people tend to draw around the famous. But, spirits be willing, I hope that the image people draw up around me can inspire others to do what's right. People shouldn't rely on heroes to change the world, but if I can show people that it's possible; then I'll have done good.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Chapter 8(AS): Ragnarok




Cynar star system, Cyrus’ Rift, Pinwheel Galaxy



The “Hell” class Super-Dreadnought Nifelheim translated out of N-Space as part of a substantial fleet. Twenty five kilometers at its longest point, nine kilometers wide, and more than three kilometers deep; twice that if one included the downward pointing prow spire, the Niflheim was a behemoth of the interstellar battlefields. Shaped like a broadheaded arrow, the Niflheim was built around a “hellstorm” cannon, a stupendously massive fusion cannon that would give the target the gift of a targeted supernova in miniature.

The 39th Black Fleet included six of these super-dreadnoughts that formed the core of the fleet together with a trio of “Orneg” class supercarriers that were about 20% larger than their mainline combatant counterparts. But they were also being joined by the forty eight kilometer long, twenty three kilometer wide, and nine kilometer tall “Reckoning” class Star Titan “White King” and its escort. A fleet of hundreds of ships from the large to the small, the sort of armada usually committed to large scale campaigns or the assailing of worlds of extreme importance.

Ordinarily even one super dreadnought and its combat group would be considered overkill against Cylosis, but the RAID was taking no chances. Enormous swarms of strike craft streamed out of the fleet, and a truly vicious bombardment of the identified defensive points began. The system lit up with the glow of weapons whose discharges could be measured by sufficiently sophisticated instruments the next system over whenever the light would eventually reach them.

The White King’s gamma cannon remained silent, waiting for the emergence of something worthy of its firepower as the rapidly overwhelmed Cylosian defense fleet was reduced to shrapnel one by one. Flickering pulses of light gloomily lit the black void of space as cooling gas drifted through space and gradually lost the heat it had been infused with by the bombardment while fighters, bombers, interceptors and gunships flowed around their targets like packs of Pihranas, taking bites out of everything they could.

But the fleet was not here for the meagre offerings of a picket fleet outnumbered almost fifty to one. Landing craft were disgorged like a school of fish bearing seeds that would sprout into army sized formations in a matter of moments upon contact with the ground. Their orders were clear from the moment they departed. Viper wanted the planet cleared of any and all possible complications that might interfere with their work. And they were eagre to follow the directives of the three headed master in their lair.



Bridge of the Niflheim


Viper sat at the centre of a command podium, their three heads; Adder, Cobra, and Mamba all busy with seperate tasks. Their wings were currently folded against their forearms, the tips extending past their shoulders while their primary fingers tapped their claws against the ground, hooves shuffling ever so slightly to adjust their vantage points while their twin tails jerked around and tended to screens that needed their attention, light sensor pods within the tails allowing them to feed data to the heads while secondary brains in the tails conferred with the primary brains in the heads. A secret that they had kept even from most of the R.A.ID so as to have a little ace in the hole; Jararaca and Taipan .

The room was one of a mixture of colours, though primarily chrome and felgrau with a number of display feeds offering information to any who scanned them. With its panoramic view of the battlefield ahead, the bridge “window” was an excellent composite of images gathered from thousands of cameras, seamlessly melded onto the screens on the wall ahead. And from their perch on the third level, elevated onto a circular platform, Viper could see everything while their three primary and two secondary minds worked together constantly to form commands and judgements. It was this more than anything that made Viper such a valuable asset, they were their own command staff. Commands were issued from the cybernetic comm uplinks fitted into Viper's body, orchestrating the battle effort with ease.

The crew aboard the bridge were concealed in the concealing technician armour. Their mechandrite equipped suits topped with their distinctive “duocle” helms whose protruding eye pieces were made for maximum zoom. Similarly faceless military personnel chatted amongst each other in their command pods, their instant message comms pulsed to one another wordlessly. Speaking vocally would have been a waste, and this way the Aurora Units loaned out to the force to serve as Minders were able to issue their judgements as quickly as possible. Judgements that of course, the marvelous minds of Viper always wished to review.

Just below Viper's podium were their most valued assets, Dead Hand Alpha patiently waiting a chance to end this long stretch of sitting around and doing little of import. They would need to be attended to swiftly; be given a reminder why Viper valued them. The heads conferred in silence, thoughts being shared between all five brains and examined, debated, and modified as needed. Cobra flicked their gaze to Quietus and then to Veil, their two most trusted agents who weren't part of their gestalt. They would

“An excellent start to our operation.” Mamba said, her throat making a small but noticeable bell like cackling vocalization. Not a laugh, more of a briefly sustained bark as they read the sensor data while Adder watched from multiple camera feeds at once, his head swaying from left to right to pick out anything of interest. Cobra looked forward through the bridge screen and remained focused on the bigger picture.

“The space operation is the easy part. Our fleet outmasses and outnumbers theirs. It was never going to be a challenge. One of you, give me a report on the planet’s shielding, now.” Cobra said, their jaw snapping for emphasis. They were factual, focused, their words economically spoken.

“It won’t be holding for much longer, how do you want us to play the orbital bombardment?” Quietus asked.

“As much time as simply annihilating the planet would save. We are to limit orbital attack to strictly tactical usage. Give them a little hope and keep us out of the Alimbic ship’s target list.” Adder hissed, his tail rattling behind them. His voice was unsettlingly friendly, chipper even as he seemed to relish the thought.

“What of the civilians?” Cyrus asked, twisting his moustache as he thought. He looked at the display of the planet below and sighed. He was troubled by what had to be done, but closed his eyes and let himself get absorbed into his duties and reminded himself that it had to be done.

“No witnesses. All inhabitants are to be either relocated to black sites or terminated. Should you be too weak to carry out these orders, we have many who will show no hesitation.” Mamba said harshly, leering at Cyrus and smelling his doubt. She was clearly less than pleased that Cyrus would even raise the question.

“Are you having doubts, operator?” Mamba asked. It wasn’t a pleasantly intoned question. It was cold, hostile, mean, she was looking for an excuse. Viper smelled doubt and disloyalty, and Mamba was set on punishing all such weaknesses of faith. Their tongue sniffed at Cyrus whose blue eyes opened and looked at the wendigo, and he stood firm to show that he had no fear, and thus no doubt. Such also made Quietus and Veil stand down, to his relief as Cyrus backed down from open confrontation.

“No...I’ll be fine.” He insisted.

“Good man. There can be no room for doubt in our work. We protect the cosmos from what it must never know." Cobra hissed, flicking their forked tongue out of his skull like mouth and tasting the air as if to detect any duplicity. With a satisfied barking sound they turned away from the potential doubter and towards their business.

Mercy was pacing endlessly back and forth, her legs restless as she muttered to herself, carrying on an imagined conversation entirely through sarcastic whispers and mumbles. All five of Viper's brains found the behaviour somewhat odd for someone with only one mind in a body to be carrying out, but Mamba coiled her head towards Mercy shortly afterwards and let loose a commanding growl.

"Sorry I just hate waiting here I'm sick of waiting!" Mercy threw her hands down and stamped her foot.

"You will be patient or you will have a problem with us. Is that understood?" She snarled, baring her teeth and extending her venomous fangs in clear threat. She had no intention of acting on the threat, but the menace behind it was very clear.

Veil snorted and let out a cawing sound. "Let her build some frustration. She'll be all the fiercer for unleashing it." He said, manually polishing the barrel of his gun all the while.

"For once I will agree with her...when can we be done with this?" Dagger said.

"Yeah! I want to unwind! Not watch dots on holograms explode!" Mercy gesticulated for emphasis, getting an eyeroll from dagger.

"Oh no need to wait...we've found our target." Quietus said as their screen flickered to show an all too pleased face while all five of Viper's minds focused on the new task.

"Excellent...go forth at once, I will join you shortly." Cobra cackled as they spread their wings and began to beat them to take flight.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer

Stygna Evacuation Zone playground, Cylosis.


Auroran lights danced with frightful intensity across Cylosis’ skies as what would have been civilization ending amounts of EMP to more primitive civilizations streaked to the ground from the storm of charged particles in the atmosphere. Cynar’s light was drowned out by the brilliance of the detonations in the highest reaches of Cylosis’ atmosphere and the sky danced with a rainbow of colours while the longer ranged weapons on Cylosis' surface stabbed their fury into the sky at foes he could not see.

Arne looked upwards at the sky at the dance of light in the sky, not quite understanding the significance but feeling some sort of...nervous anticipation at the sight. It was like waiting for something he didn't want. Perhaps comparable to knowing he was about to be punched in the face later and being able to think of nothing else besides the inevitable impact. He bit his lower lip and looked down, trying to think of something to get his mind off of the anxiety, holding his stuffed dinosaur a little more tightly and chewing slightly on its tail.

The strange roof of dancing light over the sky concealed something else. What looked like shooting stars to him as he tried to look at them with the aid of binoculars he kept in his pockets to see far away things but he soon saw that they were made of metal, and they soon grew wings once they passed into the atmosphere. Grey and olive, the forward swept wings of the craft let them level out as they split their formations to find targets. Swarms of flying wings descended towards the ground, many carrying large vehicles on hooks; others ladened with heavy ordnance they were clearly looking for targets to unleash upon.

He cocked his head. They looked strange...why were they moving so fast? Weren't they worried about hitting the shields? Why weren't they stopping? And why were the Akaram towers starting to glow? He looked away, it wasn't good to look at the sword like towers when they were about to fire, especially not with red eyes like his. Questions were swirling around his brain in these last few moments of peace, curiosity was almost overwhelming in his young mind. But he felt something else, something far more unpleasant gnawing at the pit of his stomach. A cold sensation like when he was face to face with one of Cylosis’ saber-tyrants last year.

Fear.

Sickening, disquieting, like something wanted to leap out of his throat and like his heart wanted to burst. His lungs felt like they were made of metal as they expanded into a chest that felt too tight. His legs felt too light, his arms too heavy.

The mournful wail of air raid sirens tore through the relative quiet he had been experiencing while playing with his toys and pets, and Hugin and Munin immediately cawed in unmitigated alarm. Geri and Freki pushed themselves up and growled with anticipation. They were expect

The crack of railguns, the keening howl of lasers, the screams of missiles, the thrum of particle projector cannons, the roar of countless other varieties of weapons designed to either defend or kill Cylosis and the piercing screams of panicked and terrified people consumed the world with noise as he looked around in confusion. He needed to find some direction to turn, some avenue to get away from the current commotion. But nothing seemed clear to him, all routes seemed to fuzzy in his minnd's eye.

It was so loud, why was it so loud? He covered his ears as his Ravens screamed “RUN! RUN!” He wanted to pick himself up but there was so much noise in all directions he didn’t know where to go until Gyda's hand clasped around his shirt and pulled him forward.

She dragged him along with her until he started walking along with him as she made her way out of the children's area and towards the nearest designated hangar. "Arne, we need to get going. Now." She said firmly but not harshly as her helmet closed around her face and sealed itself with the hiss of air being sequestered within the helm.

"What's going on?" Thelis asked.

"Who are these guys?" Another said.

"How'd they waste the fleet that fast?" A third said.

"Sterlak station's down!" A fourth siad.

"Where's the RGAN?" A fifth asked.

"Alright, alright. Everyone needs to get moving. How are we on evacuation?" Erik asked, Sylan pausing as she brought forth her mechandrites to project a number of display feeds to present some data to him. His brow furrowed. Nowhere near enough to save more than a small portion of Cylosis' population, civilian N-Space or Warp drives couldn't possibly get through the interdiction fields. Most military grade drives wouldn't be able to manage either.

"Where's Spire?" Morr asked, slamming home a fresh power core into his rifle. However much he had complained before, he was ready to do whatever duty he was asked of as the horizon started to be dominated by brilliant blast waves and flickering colours, the defenses of Cylosis growing ever more feeble with every passing moment.

"Right here, what'd ya need?" The mammoth diamont asked, his three meter tall bulk unfurling from the spiked spherical form of the Dialanche that he had curled into for meditative reasons. Standing up on his two crystalline feet, he reared himself up to his full height and extended fingers from the orb like structure on his left arm, looking at the ground and giving a nod of affirmation.

"I need for you to evacuate as soon as possible. Worst comes to worst, you take my son and the alimbic machines with you." Gyda said as she preformed one last check up on her arm cannon while Arne hugged to his father's leg, whimpering and bawling at the volume overwhelming his sensitive ears as the white haired boy received a few pats to the head from his father; concerned glances coming down from him before he looked back to his wife.

Even beneath her helmet he could tell she was consumed with far more doubt than she was letting on. Her movements were underconfident, her breathing more shallow and hurried. "Can you do this for me Spire?" She asked.

He looked at her as if she'd gone mad. "What about you two? I was tasked with ensuring the safety of all of you. I can't just leave you to die and trust me, you are going to die if you stay here."

She gave him a sad but steady smile beneath her helmet as she looked back at the devastation falling upon the world from the heavens before she turned onto the last scion of Mondreus. "If you die, the diamonts die with you. And we can't let the Federation have access to the Ithrakoids. Besides...I've had a full life already. I'm ready to pass onto Slauganth[1] if it comes to that."

Spire seemed to pause, unsure of what to say before he turned his attentions to Arne who was clearly shaking in the knees. He was scared and confused. His eyes widened as they tried to drink in every possible scrap of information to piece together even the most basic sort of understanding of the fires already starting to claim his home. But he looked at his Mother and Spire and gave a little smile while Erik stroked his cheek with a free hand. Spire looked back to Gyda and gave her an understanding nod.

Skies above Stygna, Cylosis

The heavy beat of leathery wings carried a nightmare aloft on them. Shaggy golden fur surrounding a wiry but muscular body as five sets of eyes looked upon the world. High pitched reverberating cackles and bellows pulsed from their many throats as they raced ahead of the other attacking R.A.I.D assets. At the speeds they were flying at, sound was a useless judge of where to head, and scent was even worse off. But their thermal and visual senses were peerless, and they zeroed in on the shielded city of Stygna. Ordinarily, such defences would require prolonged bombardment to penetrate between the planetary shields and the city's theatre screens, but Viper came prepared.

The Chozo made intrapolator flickered to life and struck at the shield guarding the city of Stygna, a warping purple beam ghosting through the bubble field and spreading it wide open with an eerie violet flame that seemed to almost burn the shielding away to allow Viper and their flight straight through. Useless against the differing shield tech used for personal defence, but theatre screens such as what the EVA used easily fell prey to such technologies as the intrapolator. And that gap was all Viper needed to start their grisly work.

High pitched shrieks heralded the emergence of gouts of the most bitter sort of cold that flash froze the air it passed through, streams of anti-energy produced frost pouring from all three mouths. As the air collapsed into solid forms, a deadly thunderclap followed suit from the still gaseous oxygen and nitrogen rushing to fill the void left by its liquified and solidified counterparts, producing the distinctive howl-clap of each gout of frost as they consumed city blocks at a time in each sweep of their heads while rippling detonations from the strike craft following behind them carved open a wider front for the landing troops to seize.

Though there were certainly more graceful fliers in the sky, Viper still had the manoeuvrability to dodge around a rave's worth of pulsing lights being thrown his way, including the deadly killing glow of the Akram towers' fusion lasers; so named for their ability to induce nuclear fusion in even superdense targets they struck from the sheer heat they generated. Swerving away from one of the beams with a roll and dodging beneath the shorter ranged lasers as they threaded through the air like needles stitching lines of killing light, Viper flew straight at one of the towers and simply knocked into the planted sword-like haft of the defence.

The impact's shockwave was fierce, but Viper didn't stop until the kilometre and a half tall tower's blade broke and the power cut to its primary emitter, bioshelding regenerating through the energy damage being caused by the searing fields while their sheer strength rewarded them with the sound of tearing metal and stone creaking apart. Sensing fatal weakness, Viper pulled back briefly and then shoved the whole thing clean apart and onto the ground with a second ram; violating the Tower's own shielding and catching the self defense emitters in sweeps of cold from their tails and other two heads that froze and imploded what they had struck; single handedly taking out a defence meant to be the match of a warship.

Viper's heads scanned the area once again, beating their wings regularly to carry their great bulk forward until at last Mamba caught sight of something and alerted the other brains to the sight of their target. Gyda, Erik, and of course little Arne. Obviously, they had other escorts with them, but the soldiers landing now should be able to handle them. Especially with drop pod troopers en route. That should give Viper a straight shot at the Skjoldrs they figured, discussing a course of action amongst themselves in a silent conference.

The decision was made in a split second, they would go all-in to ensure success. Nothing was to be held back lest their target slipped their grasp. "+All Dead Hand Alpha assets, we have located the primary target. Engage them at will and give me support.+" Cobra commanded as they ordered the wings to start whipping into motion once again. The thunderclap of their wings snapping to bring them to ever greater speeds trailed behind them as they prepared to dive bomb their target, sneers written upon each of their faces.


[1]Uskarling afterlife for those who have lived a life worthy enough to break free of the cycle of reincarnation.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Stygna, Cylosis, 3 minutes before Viper's arrival.​

Grey coloured objects shaped somewhat like eggs approached the earthen ground of Cylosisi in a meteoric descent, with some erupting in flame as they were shot down by the defenses. But the seemingly suicidal descent could not be stopped as they slid through the gaps opened by the intrapolator,, a whistling sound only becoming obvious once they made token efforts to slow down to ensure accurate impact. In the time it took for the human eye to close and reopen, the objects had made contact with a deafening crack and a deep rumble of the tortured earth. The somewhat fist shaped objects sprouted spidery stabilization legs as they righted themselves and hissed with pressurised air.

Then they threw themselves open and Grey and Olive coloured troopers bearing no insignia poured out. He only got glimpses of them, but he shuddered at the sight of their cold, thin blue glowing eye pieces. Guns clicked to life and safeties were thrown off on both sides as they made the last preparations before all out battle. But the invaders had the superior numbers and the element of surprise, and had no compulsions when it came to firing into crowded areas full of civilians.

Explosions ripped through the crowd, streaking contrails coming from the large barreled guns wielded by the massive armoured men and women. Arne felt something wet on his face and wiped it, then looked to see hot crimson blood covering his hands. He looked around and his mouth opened in horror as he looked upon a person already blown into small pieces by the streaming relativistic micro-missiles; the broken skull of the victim leaking grey matter while a jaw ripped almost clean off the decapitated head hung by a few sinews, three meter tall RAID troopers swatting aside EVA militants with sound barrier violating and bone-shattering force.

He couldn’t handle it, he vomited and screamed. His stomach quivered and regurgitated what he ate as his body responded to the sight of such violent death in the most natural way it could manage. Rejection, of what he ate, of what he saw, and of the thought of anything happy ever being able to come from this place that his young mind was quickly starting to associate with nauseating horror.

The high pitched whines of PPR streams raced over his head and some of the grey men fell to the ground after taking shots to tear through lower-tech hab-blocks, holes steaming in their armour while EVA militants and turrets popped up to give the defence their best. Two of the troopers fell in seconds when Gyda burst their shields and cored straight through their heads with her arm cannon's hydrodynamic attachment; molten metal flinging itself at just a hair's breadth under lightspeed and streaming through them with enough force to make their heads explode.

Arne looked at his hands and his heart almost seemed to stop with relief when he saw that no fresh blood was covering them. But he was quickly pushed towards the ground as Spire interposed himself between the incoming missile fire, a grunt coming from the diamont as he absorbed what were meant to be maiming shots. But he would only take so much abuse before he retaliated; a wave and star beam enhanced magmaul shot scorching its way out of his arm cannon and exploding amidst the masses of RAID troopers simply calmly stalked forward manner Arne was unlikely to forget as the superheated plasmafied magma clung to their bodies and burned.

His stacked beam leaped forth in orange piercing splendour, hot steam rising from the remains of the fallen soldiers who almost seemed to collapse upon themselves as their armour suits melted and their flesh cooked into oblivion. The lucky one who approached him simply being grabbed by the Diamont and crushed like a soda can, a wet squelch heard as he crumpled the collapsing armour upon the ruined body and tossed it to the side, his weapons fire barking out repeatedly while he cut a path for the group, each heavy step heralding the fall of another enemy, shots pinging off his shielded frame.

"Come on! Let's go!" Gyda shouted as she quickly pivoted on her heels to turn and grab the incoming power knife from another RAID Trooper; a powerful Commando with superior weapons and enhancements to the standard. She moved like lightning that not even Arne's eyes could follow, hand clenching at the three meter superhuman's wrist and then wrenching it in a way to force him to let go so that she could quickly grab at the falling blade and then shove it into his chest and abdomen a few times at speeds faster than those of a bullet to break his shielding before feinting towards the arm for a mobility kill; only to then push upwards and dig into the neck slicing his throat wide open before stabbing the knife into his brain to make him fall. His bioborg organ implants and gene theraphy made him a transhuman terror, but as clan champion of Grendakal her augments were both more compact and superlative in quality, while her custom designed armour outmatched his factory standard gear.

"Look sharp, up top!" Morr said, popping a quadrepedal turreted drone that rose from its landing position. Two shots, one for the shield pop and the second to clip its ammo storage to set the missile ferrier off in a fireball. A massive vehicle thrown like a softball by Sylan's mechandrites as they flipped over and tossed every vehicle in sight slammed into two unbraced RAID troops, but the remaining one shoulder checked the incoming vehicle, bringing it to a halt and rattling her as she loaded up her shock cannon, the backpack she wore humming to life as she stepped forward once more.

But the shock blast never came, its would-be firer receiving a starburst blast from Erik that promptly reduced most of her upper body and most of her lower body too for that matter; as well as her squadron; to steaming offal in a bright incadescant flash of unstable fusion products while scattering the rest of her to the seven winds, his gun humming as it prepared another shot, one that annihilated a light tank that rolled into view, vaporising much of its frontal portion.

Another threat flashed before Arne's eyes, descending from the heavens. He squealed as he pointed above until Lydyl's psionics reached out and enwrapped the descending tank formation in the air, their treads spinning furiously without something to bite into before she rotated it to form a screen of cover, letting the metal hull of the vehicle shield them as they rushed towards the port. It didn't last long, the R.A.I.D had little compunction in having their aircraft blast apart the intervening tank to open a straighter shot. But by that point they had already passed through the Gyndraf arch, and had advanced to a deeper part of the city; shields conjured by Geri and Freki blocking off attempted killshots from behind them with transluscent bubbles that absorbed the skittering impacts that struck them.

The already brutal bedlam in the city was worsened by the sound of the Akram tower "Excalibur" falling following terrible, ear grating cackling sounds. The collapse of the the mighty guardian of Stygna was almost dreamlike, almost as unreal as the horrific three headed creature that was rapidly swerving around to meet them, a beast of such cold that frosty mists were trailing their body from condensed vapours and frozen droplets that had transformed into snow. Angry red eyes turned a soul draining arctic shade of blue as Viper approached, slowing enough for their wingbeats to be audible, snake like hissing underscored by the discordant trilling like a choir gone mad with a collection of bells.

"Gods protect us." Morr said as Arne froze in fear and even Spire seemed to briefly stop at the sight of the Triple King of Winter and their contemptuous sneers, their body undulating through the air like a horrible whale of some sort, going up and down in a wave motion with each flap of their mighty wings. But despite the shaggy fur of the wendigo, all Arne could thing of was a snake with forked tongues and fangs full of poison eager to devour him. A monstrous demon fresh from his nightmares and born into a terrible material reality.

"You are coming with me. Make this easy upon yourselves and give up now. Or we will have no choice but to make a mess of this situation." A simple declaration of fact from the mouth of Cobra as they began to hover nearby, their wingbeats blowing wind that felt like their chill was crawling straight down Arne's skin and into every nerve fiber in his body.

Their wing beats were rhythymic, carefully timed in tandem with their deletrious effects on the local temperature to keep their body in one place without having to stroke them furiously like a hummingbird or insect. A swing of their legs brought them into a more upright position, hooved hind feet dangling below while the tails flicked back and forth, giving Arne the impression that they were looking at him, and he swore that they even blinked.

"Spire, give him our reply." Gyda said, the Diamont Freelancer nodding as his cannon charged, and then clicked as missiles were fed into the Starbeam. A star was born, and if that weren't enough, the craggy giant began to walk, then run, then sprint. Rippling energies surrounded him as his Diamont armour surrounded him in the crackling fields of the Speed booster and a sudden stop and shoulder angling was all he needed to launch himself in a hypersonic shinespark that caught Viper in a Double Whammy to bowl them out of the sky, roars of protest bellowing forth from their three throats while the bellowing howls of the Magmaul were heard in the distance, the two disappearing for now; wrestling with a fury to shake the whole world.

"That's not going to keep him down for long urglik Gyda, and we're a thousand times more exposed without our best fighter. No offense to you." Sylan said, her optics pulling back out of zoom mode while she coddled Arne in some of her mechandrites, some of her other vocoders busy trying to sing a lullaby to him as he bawled and heaved; Hugin and Munin flapping nearby and letting out stressed caws as they perched upon Erik and Gyda's shoulders.

Erik looked at Geri and Freki and then at Arne. His eyes were full of an intense resentment. "Why are you two just sitting there? What's the big deal with all of you hiding in your ship? Come on! Do something!" He shouted at the machines. He wagered that there was a link between them and their mothership. They had to have loaned these accursed things to monitor them. So he felt entirely justified in letting them have it.

"We're dying out here! Where's the mighty Order if you can't save a single one of these people huh? Maybe that's why you all died out. Because nothing you stood for meant a damn thing! Order, protection, what a crock! So I hope you're happy Zurvduat. I'd say this is all on your head but some Imperialist gloryhound like you probably doesn't give half a damn!" He shouted at the machines before he shook his head irritably, Gyda patting him on the shoulder and clinking her helmet to his.

"We'll get out of this. Don't worry." She said, a sad sigh coming from Erik as a skittering sound could be heard in the distance, something with many legs was close by and Morr pinged an instant message to get the group moving as fast as possible, not liking the sound of what he was hearing.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer




Morr stopped and shot at the incoming shape, making it skitter away from him as if a fire were lit under them. But his cybernetic optics zoomed in shortly afterwards, unwilling to let the target go without confirming that they were dead. "Come on you son of a bitch, get on out from there!" Morr shouted as he shot once again, aiming for where they were going rather than where they were, getting the satisfying sound of a round slamming home against the pursuer's shielding. And for a time, the skittering stopped and there was quiet. Arne, having already slipped on some earmuffs to protect his eardrums, shook slightly from the sensation of the projectile's sonic wake. He whimpered slightly but calmed when he was pat by his father.

Erik's fingers laced themselves through Arne's hair reassuringly, his kind gaze making his fear subside, even if only for a bit. The noise and heat of the outside world faded, even the fact that he was holding a star cannon seemed irrelevant. He was here, and he loved him, and that made everything seem unimportant "Shh...it'll be alright little eagle." He was assured as he clung to his father's leg.

He looked to his father with questioning eyes, gulping somewhat. He wasn't as scared anymore, but a question rumbled around in the inside of his skull. He had a moment now, and he wanted something answered. "W...why are they here dad?" He asked. It was a fair question, a question to put his mind at peace in the brief moments of quiet that they had.

Erik had no answer, nothing he could explain to a three year old at least. How did they know to send such overwhelming force here already? Why were they set on killing even the civilians? He had heard rumours that the Federation had a secret paramilitary unit, the pet attack dogs of the Central Intelligence Network. Wraithlike Raiders who would come and go without warning whom even the military was kept intentionally in the dark about. It was clear they were here for the Alimbic artifacts, and that they were intending to leave no witnesses, but beyond that he couldn't offer a good answer, and that was outright painful for him.

The quiet was short lived however, she came back, a twisting tendril with a sharp end stabbing towards Morr who only barely ducked to the side and swore out loud as it dug into the side of the wall. Ferrocrete cracked away from the silvery tendril even before it wormed back to its progenitor, its owner snarling in an inhuman manner as a thicket of legs scrambled for purchase to bring her closer into view, a volley of telekinetically launched projectiles only barely being stopped by a screen wall of telekine energy. The purplish energy field was soon dropped after having forced the projectiles to expend themselves against it, and its creator clenched her fist into a ball.

"Oh fun, a psychic. Why don't you and I play with each other for a bit hrm? Give little old Mercy a bit of enjoyment while she's on the job." A feminine voice said, making Arne's skin crawl with revulsion. It was far too friendly sounding for the clear menace behind the words. Lydl seemed ready to have a go, her muscles tensed beneath her suit as she adjusted her stance, ready to leap into action at a moment's notice until Morr brought his hand in front of her.

"Nah, I've got this. You go on ahead."

Gyda snapped her head towards him in concern. "You're going to die if you take her alone Morr."

"Yeah, probably painfully too. But you've got a kid. We stick around and the three headed thing's going to come back for us while we fight. Look, honour serving with you and all, but we all knew most of us weren't getting off this rock. And Arne, when you grow up, please send this asshole's ashes to my gravesite." He said, giving a thumbs up to Arne as Gyda directed a sad nod in his direction; a quick snap of his arms sending thrown explosives from the sharpshooter cutting off Mercy's path towards the group as he looked at his foe and sighed.

Arne didn't see what happened as he was pulled away, his eyes shielded from the flash of the explosions and the sound of gunfire. He looked to his mother, and saw her sink her head slightly and mutter something in the Uskarling language, a farewell and a thank you for the time they had together.

But the bellowing menace of Viper hot on their heels jolted them into motion, the crows dutifully taking flight to search around for an avenue out. A quick glance outside the nearest window only confirmed what the stench of fire and death was telling him; everything was burning and what resistance there was left was slowly but surely diminishing. The bellowing grew louder and urged them to go faster until it suddenly stopped, a pregnant silence casting its shadow over the group until one of Viper's heads exploded through the ceiling in a spray of rock, screaming coming from Arne while Hugin and Munin cawed in panic; Geri and Freki firing up a shield to block a deadly burst of frost spat forth from Cobra's jaws at the group, letting the blue-white wave of winter crash against the hemisphere and wash into the sides of the building.

"GIVE ME THE BOY!" Cobra snarled as they snapped their jaw at them, teeth crashing into the field reinforced by Lydyl's telekinetics and forcing them to back their head off. Sylan's mechandrites fired up with laser weaponry, pulsing explosions rippling across Cobra's head and making him flinch and cry out in frustration, letting a shot down his throat from both Gyda and Erik, white flashes of light burning inside the Wendigo's mouth as they pulled their head back, roaring in imperious fury before Spire crashed into Viper's side hard enough with the crackling orange and yellow buzzsaw of energy of the screw attack; front flipping with enough force to slice open Viper's side; steaming offal issuing from the rapidly regenerating wound while the impact threw them off the building, the two rolling off the roof and onto the side with a heavy crash.

RAID troopers who sought to get in their way were quickly met with Geri and Freiki's jaws as the mechanoids lead the diminished fireteam; snapping their petal mouths onto the helmets of the troopers designated by Gyda before they could get their heavy weapons going. Pained grunts came out of the dying federal soldiers, two knocked to the ground with steaming holes in them from Gyda's weapon before she casually extended her armour's powered wrist blade and thrusted it into the head of a shield popped heavy trooper, punching through her armour with some resistance before slicing downwards to bisect her to clear the way forward.

"Come on!" She shouted, Arne whimpering at the violence surrounding him as his legs tried to carry him fast enough to keep up. The windows exploded shortly afterwards, making him squeal as he dropped to the ground. The surprisingly light boots of Cyrus and Dagger clacked onto the ground, their frames rising from their buckled knee position with weapons loaded to bear. An arm cannon from the huntsman and a pair of power blades from the assassin.

"Turn yourselves in, let's not make this messier than it already is." Dagger said plainly and without flourish. Her gaze flicked towards a quivering Arne for a second and a sigh was produced from beneath her helmet while Cyrus paced back and forth, cannon pointed at the handfuls of survivors.

"My apologies that it had to come to this, but we have jobs to do." Cyrus said.

Sylan said nothing, explosively leaping behind the group with a teleportation device that gave off a red flash of light before her laser cutters fired up to collapse part of the ceiling. Operating entirely on her programming, she gave only a small nod to the Skjoldrs and Lydyl before the crumbling facade of ferrocrete separated them, her mechandrites spinning to life and extending their claws before she pounced at her foes to keep them occupied.

Arne yelped before he was tossed onto the back of Geri by Freiki, the machines quickly calling the two crows to them to ride on the other's back while they smashed through the walls to give the group an exit. But such offered only temporary reprieve as they spilled onto the streets, Lydyl only barely yanking the group back to avoid a gout of frost from Viper's outer heads as the three-headed beast galloped towards them, the middle head headbutting a kneeling Spire out of the way and sending him into the ground with a heavy crash, rolling on his sides before he curled into the Dialanche to arrest his momentum with the crystalline spikes of his alternative form. The creature didn't seem injured at all.

"What use is there in running? Where can you hide? Where can you run? Why not just give up now?" Adder hissed.

"There is nowhere you can flee to that we cannot follow. Bow before us and we may show you mercy." Mamba growled.

"I am as inevitable as time itself. You cannot hope to best us, spare yourselves the wasted effort of resistance." Cobra barked, their claws crushing down on the corpses of fallen soldiers while their forked tongue flicked out of their mouths and a reverberating growl issued forth from their throat.

Erupting fireballs from exploding SAM sites elicited a frightened shriek from Arne as he clung even more tightly to Geri. A frightened apology escaped his lips and tears began to flow from his face as the hellish chorus of Viper rang louder and louder in his ears. But the sounds of heavy metal objects thundering towards them drew his attention, Quietus emerging from above a building held aloft by long tentacles of metal sprouting from their back and the flickering form of Veil's mech releasing a spread of missiles and a pair of cannon bolts only barely stopped in time by Lydyl who shielded the group in a dome of energy as Spire wearily pulled himself to his feet.

Quietus dropped a number of corpses impaled to the claw hands of their tentacles while their screen displayed a simple, stylised, and disturbingly beatific expression while Veil's mech flickered out of visibility entirely, even the sounds it made being muffled into silence to allow them the element of surprise. Lydyl fell to a knee, hands on the ground before she looked at Erik and Gyda as they pointed their weapons at the encroaching Dead Handers.

"I do enjoy it when they resist." Quietus chuckled as they moved to flank the group with Veil and Viper as they had so many times before.

"Keep focused, command wants a clean, quickly done op." Veil scolded.

"Nowhere to run now, is there?" Cobra said mockingly as they approached.

"We'll see about that." Spire said, looking towards the sky and giving the closest approximation of a smile as a streaking shape raced above. A look of wonder coming from Arne and a sense of relief ever so briefly washing over him like there might just be relief from this dreadful nightmare.

His gunship; a craggy tear drop shaped thing made of rock like substances and crystalline composites; swooped overhead to shower Viper in bombs, prompting the hateful serpent to roar in fury as their body was engulfed in vaporising flames. They responded in kind however, lancing beams of cold death spraying out of their mouths to try and catch the accursed thing as it sweeped towards its landing zone, missiles rippling out of side pods to shower the foe in explosives while the top entry hatch opened up; the click and clink of its release inaudible in the indecipherable maelstrom of noise engulfing Cylosis, the craft increasingly hard to distinguish from the great pillars of flame rising ever higher from the burning ruin of Stygna.

But a second wave of attacks from the Dead Hand lashed out of the fire left by the gunship; impacting Lydyl's shields and making her fall to her knees as she extended her arms and cried out. She groggily pushed herself up, breathing heavily beneath her armoursuit and straining to resist the wave of fire being thrown into her from two opponents at once.

"I can take care of myself...get to Spire's gunship. I'll catch up with you. I promise." She said wearily.

Gyda gave her a sad look, already realising that this was not a promise Lydyl could, or even had any intention of keeping. "It's not nice to lie like that to us Lydyl."

"I'm sorry I couldn't do better." She said gently before a telekinetic push shoved the group away from her as another wave of fire engulfed her position. Arne cried out for her, but Geri turned around to take her out of his field of view while the heavy sounds of thunderous footfalls boomed not so far away, the sounds of angered roars and weapons fire quickly filling his ear drums as the nightmarish vision of Viper, crackling bioshielding seemingly inviolable as they stepped ever close, hissing and shifting heads letting loose more and more deadly fountains of anti-energy.

Everything touched by the pillars of blue-white death froze to sculptures that shattered with their passing, every soldier who did not yet fall to the blur like motions of the RAID troopers who dared to raise their hands against the nightmare was reduced to dust by its awful voice. An artillery barrage erupted around Viper with the drumroll of heavy munitions volley firing, containment fields trying to focus the powers of the blast on Viper, only for them to emerge from geography rearranging firepower with a hateful sneer.

They could have gone much faster, but they clearly wanted to scare them, making their invincibility obvious as they obliterated the insolent militants trying to distract them before Arne's vision went blank temporarily and he found himself looking at a completely different angle of Viper. He took less than a second to realise that he had been teleported into Spire's vessel while Spire made the final sprint to the ship; joining him with a final heavy leap that brought him into a heavy landing within the stony and spartan interior of the vessel

His parents were running as fast as they could, cutting through the RAID troops who had moved to intercept them; from tanks to infantrymen; but Viper once again emerged from the fires of hell, stomping behind them. Serpentine heads cackling and calling, the orange and black tinged sky giving them a truly hellish appearance.

As the last mech in the Skjoldr's way fell face-first into the ground after Gyda had jumped upon it and lobbed a grenade down a hole in the cockpit she had shot open; the two were so close to Spire's ship that Arne could make out their eyes behind their transparent mode visors, strained but relieved. Gyda even laid her hand on the cockpit window of the gunship as Arne rushed forward, eyes full of hope as he placed his hand on the other side of the window, staring into his parents' eyes with a tearful smile.

"Mom...dad...can we go now?"

"Come on! We've got no time to lose!" Spire shouted over the din of battle. Hugin and Munin cried out in alarm as another of Viper's high pitched triple calls drowned out all other noise. Their heavy footfalls called the elder Skjoldr's attention behind them shortly after the sonerous challenge. Every step closer and closer than the last. They had no intention of just letting them leave no matter how much spire's ship fired into them, powering through whatever blows they could not dodge or intercept.

A wall of frost breath and cold streams from every orfice striking down anything that might seek to test their shielding or hide from their wrath, heads snaking and twisting continually to avoid incoming blows and their sinister body undulating to make for a surprisingly frustrating target. But their cold blue eyes stared with murderous intent, high pitched death rattles reverberating out.

"You can't escape us!" Mamba howled.

"We will find you wherever you seek to flee!" Cobra roared.

"Give up and join us or die with your planet, it's useless to resist!" Adder shrieked.

A quick calculus was made. Viper was a swift if not supremely agile flier, they'd be able to keep pace with the Cragimoch if they just fled together. And then all of them would die. But if some of them stayed behind and pulled Viper's attentions away... They looked again at Viper and then back to Spire and Arne.

"Mom...Dad..." Arne said quietly, while even the Ravens seemed to tense.

"What are you doing!? We have to go! Come on you idiots! What are you...no...you can't." Spire said, his words going from angry to distraught and then finally disbelieving as Viper approached implacably and the two looked to one another and then opened their face masks to give Arne a sad smile that let Spire know what they wanted to do immediately.

A sinking feeling dug into Arne's soul, his young mind realising that they were also going to leave themselves behind like everyone else. And even though he realised faintly that there was no way they were going to escape the three headed demon unless someone stayed behind, he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to accept it. "No..." Arne mouthed, tears welling in his eyes as he shook his head, his voice cracking heavily.

"I'm sorry, little eagle." Gyda said, choking back tears as she closed her visor and turned back to Viper; Erik giving his son one last pained smile and mouthing the words "goodbye" before he followed suit, the two hopping off of the nose of the ship as Arne screamed louder than he ever had in his life. His emotional state shattered into a million pieces, dropping to his knees and wailing every word he could think of that he thought they might listen to, anything to make them listen, anything to make them come back, trying to reach for anything that looked like it could bring him to the exit before Spire pulled him back.

"Erik! Gyda!" Spire shouted, but it was too late. They fired off the flight packs on their suits and let loose with everything they had upon the wintery body of Viper while Spire's ship rose to the heavens; the earth behind it splintering apart as the Caesarian Lance began to rise from the ground; thousands of years worth of built-up earth falling away.

But all Arne could see were the last flickers of light from his parents' weapons in a fight they couldn't win if they had a million attempts to try and all he could hear was that demonic cackling. He banged his fist again and again on the cockpit window until his hands were bloody, he was crying to the point of dehydration, and wailing until his throat burned while the hatch of the ship closed.

They fought like archangels, moving with superhuman flashes of grace and skill. Their bodies twisting, turning, firing everything they had in a duel to the death against a creature who could not die. They were valiant, the RAID troopers who cut down so much of the EVA around them falling in turn before them; transsophontic terrors crumpling in bloody heaps. But Viper never fell.

Viper was eternal, a nightmare without end. They were fast, far too fast for something of their size, able to move like a blur even on the ground. And they had firepower a plenty, enough to overwhelm even the clan champion and her husband, even as thousands of RAID corpses piled around them, Viper was wearing, beating them down. Taking their time. They had not secured Arne, but this would be where Gyda's legend ended.

And with one, final flash of blue and white from all three of Viper's heads and the deafening silence that followed as Spire's ship disappeared above the clouds, his pained, puffy eyes staring at the sensor feed in agonized despair; his heart shattered. He had no more words left, and fell to the ground in wretched sobs, not even noticing the ship making its final ascent, following the rising Caesarian Lance closely. Even Hugin and Munin cawed no more, simply hanging their heads in silence while Spire looked sadly at the boy and pat his shoulder. He knew not what to say, but he understood the pain of suddenly being alone in the universe.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer




Morr stopped and shot at the incoming shape, making it skitter away from him as if a fire were lit under them. But his cybernetic optics zoomed in shortly afterwards, unwilling to let the target go without confirming that they were dead. "Come on you son of a bitch, get on out from there!" Morr shouted as he shot once again, aiming for where they were going rather than where they were, getting the satisfying sound of a round slamming home against the pursuer's shielding. And for a time, the skittering stopped and there was quiet. Arne, having already slipped on some earmuffs to protect his eardrums, shook slightly from the sensation of the projectile's sonic wake. He whimpered slightly but calmed when he was pat by his father.

Erik's fingers laced themselves through Arne's hair reassuringly, his kind gaze making his fear subside, even if only for a bit. The noise and heat of the outside world faded, even the fact that he was holding a star cannon seemed irrelevant. He was here, and he loved him, and that made everything seem unimportant "Shh...it'll be alright little eagle." He was assured as he clung to his father's leg.

He looked to his father with questioning eyes, gulping somewhat. He wasn't as scared anymore, but a question rumbled around in the inside of his skull. He had a moment now, and he wanted something answered. "W...why are they here dad?" He asked. It was a fair question, a question to put his mind at peace in the brief moments of quiet that they had.

Erik had no answer, nothing he could explain to a three year old at least. How did they know to send such overwhelming force here already? Why were they set on killing even the civilians? He had heard rumours that the Federation had a secret paramilitary unit, the pet attack dogs of the Central Intelligence Network. Wraithlike Raiders who would come and go without warning whom even the military was kept intentionally in the dark about. It was clear they were here for the Alimbic artifacts, and that they were intending to leave no witnesses, but beyond that he couldn't offer a good answer, and that was outright painful for him.

The quiet was short lived however, she came back, a twisting tendril with a sharp end stabbing towards Morr who only barely ducked to the side and swore out loud as it dug into the side of the wall. Ferrocrete cracked away from the silvery tendril even before it wormed back to its progenitor, its owner snarling in an inhuman manner as a thicket of legs scrambled for purchase to bring her closer into view, a volley of telekinetically launched projectiles only barely being stopped by a screen wall of telekine energy. The purplish energy field was soon dropped after having forced the projectiles to expend themselves against it, and its creator clenched her fist into a ball.

"Oh fun, a psychic. Why don't you and I play with each other for a bit hrm? Give little old Mercy a bit of enjoyment while she's on the job." A feminine voice said, making Arne's skin crawl with revulsion. It was far too friendly sounding for the clear menace behind the words. Lydl seemed ready to have a go, her muscles tensed beneath her suit as she adjusted her stance, ready to leap into action at a moment's notice until Morr brought his hand in front of her.

"Nah, I've got this. You go on ahead."

Gyda snapped her head towards him in concern. "You're going to die if you take her alone Morr."

"Yeah, probably painfully too. But you've got a kid. We stick around and the three headed thing's going to come back for us while we fight. Look, honour serving with you and all, but we all knew most of us weren't getting off this rock. And Arne, when you grow up, please send this asshole's ashes to my gravesite." He said, giving a thumbs up to Arne as Gyda directed a sad nod in his direction; a quick snap of his arms sending thrown explosives from the sharpshooter cutting off Mercy's path towards the group as he looked at his foe and sighed.

Arne didn't see what happened as he was pulled away, his eyes shielded from the flash of the explosions and the sound of gunfire. He looked to his mother, and saw her sink her head slightly and mutter something in the Uskarling language, a farewell and a thank you for the time they had together.

But the bellowing menace of Viper hot on their heels jolted them into motion, the crows dutifully taking flight to search around for an avenue out. A quick glance outside the nearest window only confirmed what the stench of fire and death was telling him; everything was burning and what resistance there was left was slowly but surely diminishing. The bellowing grew louder and urged them to go faster until it suddenly stopped, a pregnant silence casting its shadow over the group until one of Viper's heads exploded through the ceiling in a spray of rock, screaming coming from Arne while Hugin and Munin cawed in panic; Geri and Freki firing up a shield to block a deadly burst of frost spat forth from Cobra's jaws at the group, letting the blue-white wave of winter crash against the hemisphere and wash into the sides of the building.

"GIVE ME THE BOY!" Cobra snarled as they snapped their jaw at them, teeth crashing into the field reinforced by Lydyl's telekinetics and forcing them to back their head off. Sylan's mechandrites fired up with laser weaponry, pulsing explosions rippling across Cobra's head and making him flinch and cry out in frustration, letting a shot down his throat from both Gyda and Erik, white flashes of light burning inside the Wendigo's mouth as they pulled their head back, roaring in imperious fury before Spire crashed into Viper's side hard enough with the crackling orange and yellow buzzsaw of energy of the screw attack; front flipping with enough force to slice open Viper's side; steaming offal issuing from the rapidly regenerating wound while the impact threw them off the building, the two rolling off the roof and onto the side with a heavy crash.

RAID troopers who sought to get in their way were quickly met with Geri and Freiki's jaws as the mechanoids lead the diminished fireteam; snapping their petal mouths onto the helmets of the troopers designated by Gyda before they could get their heavy weapons going. Pained grunts came out of the dying federal soldiers, two knocked to the ground with steaming holes in them from Gyda's weapon before she casually extended her armour's powered wrist blade and thrusted it into the head of a shield popped heavy trooper, punching through her armour with some resistance before slicing downwards to bisect her to clear the way forward.

"Come on!" She shouted, Arne whimpering at the violence surrounding him as his legs tried to carry him fast enough to keep up. The windows exploded shortly afterwards, making him squeal as he dropped to the ground. The surprisingly light boots of Cyrus and Dagger clacked onto the ground, their frames rising from their buckled knee position with weapons loaded to bear. An arm cannon from the huntsman and a pair of power blades from the assassin.

"Turn yourselves in, let's not make this messier than it already is." Dagger said plainly and without flourish. Her gaze flicked towards a quivering Arne for a second and a sigh was produced from beneath her helmet while Cyrus paced back and forth, cannon pointed at the handfuls of survivors.

"My apologies that it had to come to this, but we have jobs to do." Cyrus said.

Sylan said nothing, explosively leaping behind the group with a teleportation device that gave off a red flash of light before her laser cutters fired up to collapse part of the ceiling. Operating entirely on her programming, she gave only a small nod to the Skjoldrs and Lydyl before the crumbling facade of ferrocrete separated them, her mechandrites spinning to life and extending their claws before she pounced at her foes to keep them occupied.

Arne yelped before he was tossed onto the back of Geri by Freiki, the machines quickly calling the two crows to them to ride on the other's back while they smashed through the walls to give the group an exit. But such offered only temporary reprieve as they spilled onto the streets, Lydyl only barely yanking the group back to avoid a gout of frost from Viper's outer heads as the three-headed beast galloped towards them, the middle head headbutting a kneeling Spire out of the way and sending him into the ground with a heavy crash, rolling on his sides before he curled into the Dialanche to arrest his momentum with the crystalline spikes of his alternative form. The creature didn't seem injured at all.

"What use is there in running? Where can you hide? Where can you run? Why not just give up now?" Adder hissed.

"There is nowhere you can flee to that we cannot follow. Bow before us and we may show you mercy." Mamba growled.

"I am as inevitable as time itself. You cannot hope to best us, spare yourselves the wasted effort of resistance." Cobra barked, their claws crushing down on the corpses of fallen soldiers while their forked tongue flicked out of their mouths and a reverberating growl issued forth from their throat.

Erupting fireballs from exploding SAM sites elicited a frightened shriek from Arne as he clung even more tightly to Geri. A frightened apology escaped his lips and tears began to flow from his face as the hellish chorus of Viper rang louder and louder in his ears. But the sounds of heavy metal objects thundering towards them drew his attention, Quietus emerging from above a building held aloft by long tentacles of metal sprouting from their back and the flickering form of Veil's mech releasing a spread of missiles and a pair of cannon bolts only barely stopped in time by Lydyl who shielded the group in a dome of energy as Spire wearily pulled himself to his feet.

Quietus dropped a number of corpses impaled to the claw hands of their tentacles while their screen displayed a simple, stylised, and disturbingly beatific expression while Veil's mech flickered out of visibility entirely, even the sounds it made being muffled into silence to allow them the element of surprise. Lydyl fell to a knee, hands on the ground before she looked at Erik and Gyda as they pointed their weapons at the encroaching Dead Handers.

"I do enjoy it when they resist." Quietus chuckled as they moved to flank the group with Veil and Viper as they had so many times before.

"Keep focused, command wants a clean, quickly done op." Veil scolded.

"Nowhere to run now, is there?" Cobra said mockingly as they approached.

"We'll see about that." Spire said, looking towards the sky and giving the closest approximation of a smile as a streaking shape raced above. A look of wonder coming from Arne and a sense of relief ever so briefly washing over him like there might just be relief from this dreadful nightmare.

His gunship; a craggy tear drop shaped thing made of rock like substances and crystalline composites; swooped overhead to shower Viper in bombs, prompting the hateful serpent to roar in fury as their body was engulfed in vaporising flames. They responded in kind however, lancing beams of cold death spraying out of their mouths to try and catch the accursed thing as it sweeped towards its landing zone, missiles rippling out of side pods to shower the foe in explosives while the top entry hatch opened up; the click and clink of its release inaudible in the indecipherable maelstrom of noise engulfing Cylosis, the craft increasingly hard to distinguish from the great pillars of flame rising ever higher from the burning ruin of Stygna.

But a second wave of attacks from the Dead Hand lashed out of the fire left by the gunship; impacting Lydyl's shields and making her fall to her knees as she extended her arms and cried out. She groggily pushed herself up, breathing heavily beneath her armoursuit and straining to resist the wave of fire being thrown into her from two opponents at once.

"I can take care of myself...get to Spire's gunship. I'll catch up with you. I promise." She said wearily.

Gyda gave her a sad look, already realising that this was not a promise Lydyl could, or even had any intention of keeping. "It's not nice to lie like that to us Lydyl."

"I'm sorry I couldn't do better." She said gently before a telekinetic push shoved the group away from her as another wave of fire engulfed her position. Arne cried out for her, but Geri turned around to take her out of his field of view while the heavy sounds of thunderous footfalls boomed not so far away, the sounds of angered roars and weapons fire quickly filling his ear drums as the nightmarish vision of Viper, crackling bioshielding seemingly inviolable as they stepped ever close, hissing and shifting heads letting loose more and more deadly fountains of anti-energy.

Everything touched by the pillars of blue-white death froze to sculptures that shattered with their passing, every soldier who did not yet fall to the blur like motions of the RAID troopers who dared to raise their hands against the nightmare was reduced to dust by its awful voice. An artillery barrage erupted around Viper with the drumroll of heavy munitions volley firing, containment fields trying to focus the powers of the blast on Viper, only for them to emerge from geography rearranging firepower with a hateful sneer.

They could have gone much faster, but they clearly wanted to scare them, making their invincibility obvious as they obliterated the insolent militants trying to distract them before Arne's vision went blank temporarily and he found himself looking at a completely different angle of Viper. He took less than a second to realise that he had been teleported into Spire's vessel while Spire made the final sprint to the ship; joining him with a final heavy leap that brought him into a heavy landing within the stony and spartan interior of the vessel

His parents were running as fast as they could, cutting through the RAID troops who had moved to intercept them; from tanks to infantrymen; but Viper once again emerged from the fires of hell, stomping behind them. Serpentine heads cackling and calling, the orange and black tinged sky giving them a truly hellish appearance.

As the last mech in the Skjoldr's way fell face-first into the ground after Gyda had jumped upon it and lobbed a grenade down a hole in the cockpit she had shot open; the two were so close to Spire's ship that Arne could make out their eyes behind their transparent mode visors, strained but relieved. Gyda even laid her hand on the cockpit window of the gunship as Arne rushed forward, eyes full of hope as he placed his hand on the other side of the window, staring into his parents' eyes with a tearful smile.

"Mom...dad...can we go now?"

"Come on! We've got no time to lose!" Spire shouted over the din of battle. Hugin and Munin cried out in alarm as another of Viper's high pitched triple calls drowned out all other noise. Their heavy footfalls called the elder Skjoldr's attention behind them shortly after the sonerous challenge. Every step closer and closer than the last. They had no intention of just letting them leave no matter how much spire's ship fired into them, powering through whatever blows they could not dodge or intercept.

A wall of frost breath and cold streams from every orfice striking down anything that might seek to test their shielding or hide from their wrath, heads snaking and twisting continually to avoid incoming blows and their sinister body undulating to make for a surprisingly frustrating target. But their cold blue eyes stared with murderous intent, high pitched death rattles reverberating out.

"You can't escape us!" Mamba howled.

"We will find you wherever you seek to flee!" Cobra roared.

"Give up and join us or die with your planet, it's useless to resist!" Adder shrieked.

A quick calculus was made. Viper was a swift if not supremely agile flier, they'd be able to keep pace with the Cragimoch if they just fled together. And then all of them would die. But if some of them stayed behind and pulled Viper's attentions away... They looked again at Viper and then back to Spire and Arne.

"Mom...Dad..." Arne said quietly, while even the Ravens seemed to tense.

"What are you doing!? We have to go! Come on you idiots! What are you...no...you can't." Spire said, his words going from angry to distraught and then finally disbelieving as Viper approached implacably and the two looked to one another and then opened their face masks to give Arne a sad smile that let Spire know what they wanted to do immediately.

A sinking feeling dug into Arne's soul, his young mind realising that they were also going to leave themselves behind like everyone else. And even though he realised faintly that there was no way they were going to escape the three headed demon unless someone stayed behind, he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to accept it. "No..." Arne mouthed, tears welling in his eyes as he shook his head, his voice cracking heavily.

"I'm sorry, little eagle." Gyda said, choking back tears as she closed her visor and turned back to Viper; Erik giving his son one last pained smile and mouthing the words "goodbye" before he followed suit, the two hopping off of the nose of the ship as Arne screamed louder than he ever had in his life. His emotional state shattered into a million pieces, dropping to his knees and wailing every word he could think of that he thought they might listen to, anything to make them listen, anything to make them come back, trying to reach for anything that looked like it could bring him to the exit before Spire pulled him back.

"Erik! Gyda!" Spire shouted, but it was too late. They fired off the flight packs on their suits and let loose with everything they had upon the wintery body of Viper while Spire's ship rose to the heavens; the earth behind it splintering apart as the Caesarian Lance began to rise from the ground; thousands of years worth of built-up earth falling away.

But all Arne could see were the last flickers of light from his parents' weapons in a fight they couldn't win if they had a million attempts to try and all he could hear was that demonic cackling. He banged his fist again and again on the cockpit window until his hands were bloody, he was crying to the point of dehydration, and wailing until his throat burned while the hatch of the ship closed.

They fought like archangels, moving with superhuman flashes of grace and skill. Their bodies twisting, turning, firing everything they had in a duel to the death against a creature who could not die. They were valiant, the RAID troopers who cut down so much of the EVA around them falling in turn before them; transsophontic terrors crumpling in bloody heaps. But Viper never fell.

Viper was eternal, a nightmare without end. They were fast, far too fast for something of their size, able to move like a blur even on the ground. And they had firepower a plenty, enough to overwhelm even the clan champion and her husband, even as thousands of RAID corpses piled around them, Viper was wearing, beating them down. Taking their time. They had not secured Arne, but this would be where Gyda's legend ended.

And with one, final flash of blue and white from all three of Viper's heads and the deafening silence that followed as Spire's ship disappeared above the clouds, his pained, puffy eyes staring at the sensor feed in agonized despair; his heart shattered. He had no more words left, and fell to the ground in wretched sobs, not even noticing the ship making its final ascent, following the rising Caesarian Lance closely. Even Hugin and Munin cawed no more, simply hanging their heads in silence while Spire looked sadly at the boy and pat his shoulder. He knew not what to say, but he understood the pain of suddenly being alone in the universe.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Sylux's logbook

Planets: Pinwheel Galaxy: Cyrus' Expanse: Human Habitable: Ensryn Volunteer Army Occupied: Visited: Cylosis (Part 2)


Following the uncovery of Alimbic technologies on the world of Cylosis, including the buried Battlecruiser Caesarian Lance and its still active crew; the Federation Central Intelligence Network dispatched the Mordred's 39th Black Fleet under the command of Operator 333; Viper; to neutralise all EVA assets and secure the planet for study. Viper pursued this task with the usual brutality and wiped out virtually all intelligent life on the planet within two hours. The death of General Taskaril signalled the final collapse of EVA resistance on the planet. However, the withdrawal of the Caesarian Lance lead to the Federation losing interest in the planet, especially as more ODOCR friendly assets were dispatched to investigate the sudden silence from Cylosis. Cylosis' ecology has suffered serious damage from the devastation and is currently in the throes of an ice age due to the long term effects of orbital bombardment winter. Recolonization efforts have prevented a mass extinction event,
but most former urban areas remain ruins.


Arne's notes:

I still visit. I don't tell anyone who I am. I just look around and try to see if I can find anything left over from when I used to live there. I don't know how to feel about new people moving in. It feels almost profane, like they're walking on graveyards. But it's not fair to keep it a tomb either. I just hope they don't tear down our old apartment. I wouldn't be able to take losing it.



Individuals: Paramilitary: Leftist Revolutionary: ODOCR aligned: EVA: Human: Female: Deceased: Gyda Skjǫldr

Gyda Skjǫldr was born to the Grendakal clan of the Uskarling culture and chose the life of a warrior out of her own fascination with combat and a well developed sense of outrage against injustice. From then on, she would graduate as the valedictorian in her class at the military academy of Almok, demonstrating a particularly adept knack for irregular warfare, regime destruction, and personal combat. Joining the Ensryn Volunteer Army out of a desire to "fight the good fight", Gyda would achieve substantial fame and notoriety as the hero of the oppressed to some and an omnipragmatist terrorist to others. She was a continual presence on the wanted lists of many governments up until her demise during the scourging of Cylosis. Upon confirmation of her death, clan Grendakal arranged a funeral on her homeworld of Skolva, attended to by a number of prominent figures who offered eulogies. Noted as gentle but firm in command, a devoted wife, and an adoring mother, her death was widely mourned; not least of all by her family. She is survived by Arne Skjǫldr.

Arne's notes:

There's nothing I wouldn't give for another day with her. She's everything I want to be, and she'll always be my hero. I think you've earned slauganth, and I hope you can see me from there. If there's anything I can do, please give me a sign. I miss you, mom, I always will.


Individuals: Paramilitary: Leftist Revolutionary: ODOCR aligned: EVA: Human: Female: Deceased: Erik Skjǫldr


Erik Skjǫldr was born to the Frybarg clan of the Uskarling culture and was drawn to the path of the insurgent by a well nurtured belief in the necessity to fight for freedom and the eventual hope for long term peace by transforming the world one currently lives in. Graduating as the salutorian in the same class as Gyda, and would fall in love with and marry her in short order. Though they held off on having a child for a number of years due to the necessities of long combat deployment, he would eventually father his only son Arne with her during their deployment to Cylosis. Known for nearly always being at his wife's side and heavily doting upon his son, Erik was often called Gyda's shadow for how close the two of them were to each other. Virtually all plans the two made were always reviewed by the other within moments of conception, and the two's fighting style came to be heavily dependent on cooperation with each other. He would die simultaneously with his wife on Cylosis, the two's remains locked in embrace before shattering into dust. He is survived by his son Arne Skjǫldr.

Arne's notes:

I always wonder what he'd think of me now. Am I making him proud? Is he still watching me? Or has he already found his next life? I just hope, whatever the case; that he's still with mom. I think he'll have achieved slauganth, he did great things, and I hope I can do just as good.


Units: Paramilitary: Leftist Revolutionary: ODOCR aligned: EVA: Wiped Out: Fireteam Raptor Noir

Fireteam Raptor Noir was assembled by Gyda and Erik Skjǫldr to serve as a highly effective combat force comprised out of the couple, the extremely skilled Ivakti marksman and demolition expert Morr, the notable Aelrani Psion Lydyl, and the multi-purpose synthetic Sylan. Together, the five had accomplished hundreds of missions across hundreds of planets and had gained enough notoriety to be flagged for neutralization or recruitment by the R.A.I.D. However given their fervent devotion to the E.V.A's anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist endeavours, recruitment was always considered a long shot without captive reprogramming. The five considered one another to be akin to family, and so were picked off one by one in the fall of Cylosis; exploiting their willingness to die to ensure that Arne and Spire could survive to split the Fireteam and slaughter it piecemeal. All five members have been confirmed KIA.

Arne's notes:

The name is kind of...goofy, but I like it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for silly stuff? Who can say really. I wish I got to know them better. But I know they all had to have been good people if they didn't even hesitate to do what they did. The monument to them is pretty cool too. Just wish it did more to recognise Spire.


Individuals: Civilian: ODOCR Citizen: Uskarling: Clan Grendakal: Human: Male: Arne Skjǫldr (Part 1)

The only son of Gyda and Erik Skjǫldr was only three years old when he was orphaned by the R.A.I.D's assault on Cylosis following being gifted by Alimbic mechanoids dispatched to examine humanity's potential as a species that the remaining Alimbics could use as a baseline for a new generation of warrior. He was regarded as precocious, bright, physically active, somewhat on the timid side but able to show courage if backed into a corner or if he feels a task is important. Arne Skjǫldr was initially presumed dead due to the extent of the devastation visited upon Cylosis, but was discovered to have been rescued by the Freelance Space Hunter Spire who had instead deposited him into the care of the Alimbic population of the Battlecruiser Caesarian Lance. In essence, adopted by the enigmatic aliens who had previously shown interest in human potential.

Arne's Notes:
Despite everything else, it's still me. I feel like I'm trapped in a spider's web of secrets and I can barely sort through the deceit I deal with every day, and the universe seems set on showing me its worst face time after time again but I'll always be the Avenging Son. And my duty as that bringer of vengeance is to ensure that the people who live in this cosmos are safe, free, and comfortable. To be anything less is to let everyone else down.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
K-2L Ruins
The howling notes of desolation blew across the empty landscape as ash and dust clung to a charnelhouse of tree corpses and burnt buildings. The wildlife had been similarly slaughtered for amusement derived from petty cruelties or sneering frustrations or to feed the empty bellies of emaciated milita troops and penal battalions. They didn't even spare the pets or the infants. There was nothing worse in the entire universe than a bored or angry space pirate looking for someone weaker than them to vent on after a long day of being beaten, starved, and bullied by their superiors. A chain of abuse from High Command all the way down to the lowliest militia peon pulled out of the slums and prisons and thrown into the meat grinder. That made them more than nasty to do this to a billion times a billion planets if they had half the chance.

And as such all they left was memories in the form of the soot that clung to Samus' clothes. The last of the pirates had packed up and left on whatever ships they could grab ahold of after the Scourge was disintegrated into the basest of subatomic particles by Rodney's sacrifice. So all that was left was her and a little Rabil whose fur had been stained black and grey from the products of the fire. If she weren't so scared and so young the fact that even the fire itself had died would have been funny. But there was no trace of the mighty blaze that had scorched the Neorai forests into a gravesite. Her lungs once ached, but the oxygen masks she had salvaged and the nanosalve she sought out just as her parents always told her to if she was hurt or sick had given her reprieve.

But perhaps the most upsetting thing of all was the silence.

The wind blowing through was the only sound besides what she and Pyonchi made herself. No animals sang, no trees rustled, no voices spoke besides her constantly calling for parents who couldn't respond. She had put dirt on her mother's blackened body, she didn't know why people did that with those who had fallen and were beyond the ability of nanotechnology to recover, but she hoped it would make her feel better, she had so much blood coming out of her and she looked so terrible with all that black stuff on her...so skinny and peeled. But it had been a long time and she hadn't gotten up, and papa was nowhere to be seen. If this was a game of hide and seek, she didn't like it. It was quiet, it was cold, and it was lonely.

The sun was no longer shining. Clouds of ash blotted it out across the planet and she wouldn't have been able to make out what time it was if it weren't for the wrist computer she wore habitually. It was only thanks to the machine that she knew that she'd been wandering for hours, and in that time she hadn't seen a single other living creature. It was close to bed time, but she couldn't find a place to sleep. Her parents would be upset if she slept on the ground again.

She felt tired though...they wouldn't blame her if she took a little nap right? But she just needed to find some place soft to do so. The ground was full of sharp things. Sterile yes, not even the microbes survived Ridley's fire, but she wasn't really giving much thought to microbiology. Even if she knew what that meant at this point in time she wouldn't have put much thought into it.

But she saw something moving in the distance. Something that made her blue eyes open wider as the clouds of dust wafted away, blown by an artificial wind that kicked them far away and made Pyonchi prick their ears up high and twitch their nose in excitement. Something was coming, a number of somewhat familiar shapes and a much larger mechanical figure built almost like a tank or a mech of some sort, armatures festooned with guns to either side as it rolled forward rather than walked before stopping. Behind these shapes, great machines that walked on spidery legs and held mighty cylinders high in their great arms scanned through the ruins, red optics seeming intent on finding something, anything that might still live through the rubble, whirling drills cracking through barren earth to extract remains with seemingly impossible precision for such cumbersome looking things.

"Ghor, can you see anything?" A voice said. A familiar voice.

"Old Bird?" She said hesitantly, not sure if it was just more of her mind making things up. Things were so quiet her mind was making her own imagery.

"Samus?" The voice said with hesitant recognition.

The large mechanical shape swivelled its torso around to her. "A survivor? She looks like she's been through hell. Hold on...come here, you're safe now." The somewhat mechanical voice of the famous cyborg Hunter said as more of the Chozo appeared nearby, all in robed armour and all having some sort of head decoration. They fixated their attentions on her, seeming to have known she'd be here but seeming almost surprised by the reality of anything being alive in this wasteland, let alone someone as vulnerable as a toddler.

"W-where's mama and papa..." She said weakly.

"Let's worry about that later. Please, come here." Old Bird offered as he extended his arms, bringing to mind a bird extending his wings as he let her approach him. She rushed towards him, crossing the ashen wasteland in little time before he swept her up in his aged arms and held her tight. She hugged him like he would disappear into ash the second she let go. She sobbed with relief, her emotions crashing all at once the second her body recognised that it was safe to expend precious water on tears and make the loud, ugly sounds of crying.

"Shh...shhh...no one will hurt you." Old Bird said, hugging her tight to him.

"There are orphanages we can deposit her to." Grey Voice cut in as he seemingly materialised to the side of Old Bird, muttering a prayer to himself after his words. His mind focused and he got glimpses of the final memories of the departed. A simple magic, but one that gave him no small deal of concern. Such malignant energies from this place

Brutal raids like this were increasing in frequency every day and Mother Brain needed the supplies they were sent to procure as soon as possible. He sighed, the Diggernauts would be needed to do the work from scratch after all it seemed.

"Zebes is but a moment of travel away. We need not burden the foster care system with our errors." August said, offering a humble bow as she suggested her course of action.

Ghor's optics fixated on the ancient, he was not about to let them go through with this line of thought. "This is not your fault, it never will be your fault. Don't go about blaming yourselves for the actions of the confederates or else you'll never be able to live with yourselves." He said roughly before his hulking mech opened up to let a spindly, digitrade figure that made Samus seek to hide herself away as her tired mind associated his silvery shape with memories of the unending fire and destruction. She let out a wail and hugged into Re-Sekh's body.

"Ah...my apologies, I am Ghor. Please forgive my resemblance to some varieties of space pirate. I mean you no harm, I'm here to protect these fine people from them actually." He said, laying his metallic hands over his chest and giving her a small bow.

"What about me?" She asked, her voice small and gentle.

"Especially people like you. I'm a Freelancer." He said, the mandibles on his cybernetic head opening up and forming the rough approximation of a human smile. The attempt looked silly enough to make Samus smile, but she was too tired to laugh.

"What's that mean?"

"It's short for Freelance Space Hunter or Agent, but Freelancer flows much more swiftly off of the tongue." He said, pausing briefly. "Or perhaps the vocoders in my case. These people asked me to make sure they were safe while they looked for people like you." He said, gesturing respectfully to the Chozo.

"Wow...can I be like you?" She said, eyes starry with wonderment.

"Hopefully without replacing so much of your body. But I'm sure you'll do great. Here, I think he'll agree." He said, offering a hand holding a child's toy, a little mechanical pet like a small lizard that had survived the firestorm that torched K-2L's inhabited areas to so much dust in the wind. She seemed delighted to see the machine, not quite recognising it for she did not know every single person at the settlement by heart, but her eyes lit up at the way the mechanical gecko, chrome and turqoise like marine armour; crawled around her arm and onto Pyonchi's fur. This distracted her enough for the Chozo to commune without interruption. She came to decide on a name for it, Okmin, and gave it her greetings.

"And now that we have guaranteed her safety, we should continue to do so by placing her among her own countrymen, preferably her own species." Grey Voice was stern as ever.

Old Bird was adamant though, they had erred by leaving the people of K-2L to their fate. They needed to make amends. This place was stained quite literally with the weight of the atrocity committed here. It would be burnt into the soul of this world, and even the life that survived the death of the colonists seemed subtly twisted by the malevolent deeds committed. The animals had become nastier, more aggressive, vicious in their battle to survive the collapse of the ecosystem. Ridley's evil had poisoned the spirits of this place like a toxic chemical spill leeching into the soil and turning all the plants and animals twisted and foul. Yet here was someone who remained pure, whose soul retained its nobility and innocence.

"I'm sorry Somek-Ka, but I believe that I owe it to a friend to care for her after a tragedy of this magnitude. I will not leave her to the whims of chance by placing her for adoption. We are bringing her home."

"And what of you, Isa-Hesh?" Grey Voice asked.

She rapped her gauntleted fingers on her beak and had a moment to think before she gave a slow nod. "I agree. More to the point, her parents have ruined many a career today. There will be a blood price on her head to settle the score. Ridley and Weavel will send their rabid hounds after her to save face and vent their frustrations. She would be dead in a few months if we were to drop her in the lap of some orphanage, as would everyone else on the planet or station we placed her in. And if we think to put her somewhere the Pirates would not dare attack openly, they would just send assassins." She said, thinking of and then running through every point that came to mind in a single go.

"We could offer her security. I do not see why we need to bring the young of another species to Zebes when we did not deign to even raise our own children there. We are scientists and academics, not the minders of an orphanage. She would have no others of her kind to keep her company, whether that be other children or other humans. She would grow up isolated, maladjusted and forever a social outcast. Think of her sake before you seek to fill our empty nests."

"If I may." Ghor said, raising his hand.

"I can help her liase with the outside world. She need not grow too isolated."

"Then there is no reason to delay. We can leave at once and make our arrangements for her upon our arrival."

Tourian, Zebes

"-You brought this mammal into our domain?-" A voice, far colder than anything Samus had ever heard before said, her oppressive telepathy like the weight of an elephant on every square nanometre of her mental landscape. Her voice was metallic, it like a claw wrapped around her brain squeezing to demand respect and obedience. Like an overly stern and disdainful mother irritated with children who wouldn't stop spilling milk on her carpet and didn't care for pleas that modern domestic technology made clean up a labor free endeavour. After all, what mattered was that the decorum had been breached.

"-She won't last a day. The gravity of Zebes will break her skeletal structure with the most minor of falls and substantially strain her heart; and the air will require constant treatment or prosthetic to allow her to tolerate it. Then there are the wild animals and flora who would doubtlessly have consumed her the moment she wanders from the safe regions of Crateria and Chozodia or within our other bases. Has the passing of time made you take leave of your senses Re-Sekh? What possible value could this child have to our agenda?-" She said, her oculi drones swarming around Samus, sterile lenses picking apart her every detail for the enormous, grotesque Brain displayed in perfect quality by the hologram projected from special lumomolecules aiming at the centre of the room to analyse.

The hologram dominated the metallic, clearly artificial room that they were all gathered within. The staff of the Zebes base and its tributary facilities represented either in the flesh or through projection floating around the central chamber. Whereas most Chozo architecture sought some degree of harmony with nature, the constructs here were designed along far more military lines. Tourian was a fortress, a redoubt meant to be impervious to the outside world in case the worst happened and to guard their most precious works, as such aesthetic concerns were thrown out the window at the design of the master of this place. She was Mother Brain, and if Zebes had a master, it was her.

Samus recoiled from the swirling tornado of machines that refused to offer her the personal space she and her rabil companion needed, the mechanical Gecko she had also taken to adopting raising its tail in alarm at the continual stares of Mother Brain's drones. "It's so lonely here...there's no one to play with." Samus said meekly, trying to avoid a staring contest with Mother Brain's Oculi swarm. She looked to the Chozo who gazed down on her in their many robed and armoured forms, each one having somewhat differentiated gear and robes that would have told her a library's worth of knowledge about each of them if she understood the significance of any of it.

"-Such is why you are ill suited to remain here.-" Not a trace of sympathy in her voice, not even the barest attempt at understanding, Samus felt her cheeks flare and glared scornfully at the drone. She didn't understand every word coming from the machine's telepathic presence but she knew when she wasn't welcome. And right now she wasn't in the mood to take this kind of heat from an oversized anatomy study.

August would be the first of the Chozo to speak against the grand design of Mother Brain, Old Bird remaining silent to avoid giving an air of bias. "We will not abandon her to the fates. We will give her the blood of our kind and the raiments of war. Then teach her in our ways, so that she may learn of the importance of justice, of equality, and freedom. So that she may help watch over the cosmos and do her part to guide it towards the Utopian path." Samus felt warm at those words, loved, wanted, desired...she hoped people like her and Old Brid could watch over her.

Mother Brain seemed almost offended at the proposal, her psychic voice becoming rancorous and unpleasant. "-You have rejected my overtures to do the same for the great masses of this underdeveloped species. Why is this girl so important to you? We need armies, not lone agents. This deviation from your prior arguments is irrational, born of emotional attachment to someone you admit to befriending. I strongly advise you deviate from this lest you endanger the great project.-" What was this great project the Chozo were so concerned about anyway? Samus furrowed her brows trying to understand, trying to make sense of it...hrmmmm...

Old Bird at last harrumphed to add his voice to the debate after a seeming eternity of silence. "The future of the cosmos must be in the hands of its people, those who create its wonders and shape it through their works. Not to those who would wish to dominate and control. We cannot entrust the future to those who would wish to bend it to a single design in the service of empire. We need warriors for justice, not soldiers for absolutism." Many of the surrounding Chozo nodded their heads in agreement and the wizened avian seemed quite pleased at the reception, his gaze briefly meeting the eyes of young Samus and making her feel so very...safe. He wanted her here, and would fight to ensure she would be here.

"-The dream of a cosmos without class, nation, or state is a design in and of itself. One that will require precise social engineering to achieve. The great masses are clay in the hands of circumstance. I will mould this circumstance and we will have achieved the peace we desire.-" The Elder Platinum Crest and young War Hawk visibly tensed at Mother Brain's words. They sounded dangerous, the words of an autocrat in the making. That fiery youth Iron Heart and the aging Star Strider seemed to join Grey Voice in agreement with Mother Brain, and Old Bird was already dreading the need for a long struggle session with them about where such lines of thinking lead to.

However, Mother Brain's tone changed again, seemingly more accepting now. "-I do not see the need for a frail, traumatised little girl in my designs. But if I am to be left without a choice in this regard, then we will ensure that this is done with as little complication as possible. Begin the transfusion as soon as possible. We have work to do.-"

Later that day

Samus dreamed as most do when they lay sleeping. Her dreams were vivid, real, stark. Far more solid than they had been in the past. Her mind slipped from the moorings of reality and gazed into the twisting causeways of destiny like a kaleidoscope of possibilities and certainties. She was awakening to something her soul could barely touch before. Her spiritual glow began to brighten and her head briefly felt like it was rushing to no place in particular as she pulled back. Even most Chozo were advised to not try to stare at the whole of the causeways of time lest they pass out from overload.

But she saw echoes of the past flashing by her mind's eye. The ethereal, ghostly figures of those whose threads entwined with hers only to burn out were fading. What happened to most species after their deaths was a mystery for the ages, one that had busied the minds of countless psions and mystics and those scientists given to explore the more metaphysical. But she could see burned away strands tapering off into oblivion. The faded spectres of the past flickering as these ghosts grew further from the present every ssecond.

She saw the shapes of Rodney and Virginia, and wanted to rush towards them. "Mama! Papa!" She shouted, but the ghosts were consigned to the fire when she tried to reach for them, the mighty purple cable of another's overwhelming influence on possibility blocking her out. It was a cable shrouded in flame, angry and hot. She briefly looked towards it and saw the dreadful purple pterosaur like head full of sharpened teeth with tongues of fire licking forth from his mouth. His cable had been hacked into, dug into and choked by the final loop that her parents' made, but it was snaking its way out, growing stronger.

She knew instinctually that meant that he was still alive. He was greatly injured yes, but it would take more than being caught in the blast wave of his dying ship to end his malignant influence over her destiny. She looked to her own path, always a dangerous gamble for any user of the Distant Sight. To her horror she saw that purple thread entangling with hers again and again and again. He was inescapable. He was everywhere. She saw other coils threading from hers, a blackened version of her own that crackled with electicity, that of a green brute, the strands of many chozo, and then...a blue strand shooting across time and space.

She felt many of the pathways withering upon her direct observance; weaker possibilities dying as the simple fact of knowing of them in any capacity made them impossible. She almost got lost observing all that she could be and all that she was, but a tall figure in a red helmet stopped her; the ghostly form at the crux of what seemed like every cable in existence. She raised her left hand, the right encased in a green weapon, and touched her head to calm her. She looked into the Y like visor of the figure and her eyes opened with recognition as she saw noble blue eyes behind them.

And with that, she found herself awake in an unfamiliar bed. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she felt different now. She wasn't hungry anymore for one thing, and when she saw a small insect buzz past her she could see each and every one of its wingbeats clear as day, her ears easily making out the individual twitches of the insect's movements and even the sound of its heartbeat. She focused on it, and all other noise seemed to dull, and her hands moved to cup it. The agile insect not even having the time to adjust course before her hands had enclosed it and brought it towards her face. She looked at the insect, which wearily started to twitch back to activity after having been startled by something that it saw as little more than a blur.

So that's what they did with her then?

She liked it.


Cragimoch, Ensryn Nebula, Pinwheel Galaxy

Spire was tired, aware of his every creak in his old body as he gave a forlorn look out the window of his ship and watched the ghostly dance of a spinning pulsar, focusing on the rhythmic beat of the stellar corpse. He had seen sights like this thousands of times across his long career, but now all he wanted to do was sit in silence and grieve. He had only known the Skjoldrs for a few months yet he felt like his silicate furnace had been torn from its chest and crushed. The people on the planet had been nothing but kind to him and welcomed him as a friend, family even. For a moment his long mission even felt like he had found a place to call his own. But now for the second time in his centuries long life he had woken up to find himself alone.

Not alone, not quite he reminded himself as the tear-stained face of Arne shuffled towards him, sniffling as he rubbed a synth-cloth on his face and looked up to Spire, the cuts and bruises he had self-inflicted on his hands having been treated already. Spire traditionally preferred temperatures well past what a human like him could have survived, but for his sake, he kept things considerably balmier. Why was he so set on sacrificing his time and energy to keep this child and his pets alive? Regret? Loss? A sense of failure and a need to make up for it? He had no idea how to raise a human child. He just followed what information he could pry out of the ComNet; even letting him use facilities meant for carbon-based guests to make sure he stayed clean. But he couldn't offer the kid what he needed.

Arne had listlessly gone through his daily routine for a while now, modified for sharing the ship with Spire. He had no other idea of what to do. Clean himself, eat, keep busy, learn something...he was just going on automatic now. His mind was not in the space it needed to be to deviate, and Spire's attempts to modify it were foiled by his own uncertainty of what to do with such a damaged mind. Did he firmly but fairly steer him onto a new life's course? Did he gently ease him into a new routine? Did he try to take over where his parents left off? He had no idea. Arne for his part latched onto him, frequently hugging around his leg like he did with his own parents. Such affection helped provide him with an anchor, and Spire was warm anyway, and he liked warm things.

Warm meant affection, warm meant care, warm meant safe. Hot meant fire, hot meant destruction, hot meant fear. Cold was the worst of all, cold meant being chased, cold meant monsters, cold meant loss. He flinched every time he felt a temperature drop, and he became upset whenever that was paired with anything sinuous that came in threes. Now though, he had woken himself from his short stay in bed, waddling towards Spire with those pained eyes. He was still upset, and nothing that had been done so far was giving him more than minute amounts of peace and solace.

"Spire...are mom and dad coming back?" He wheezed. His voice was hoarse and weak. The finality of death was something he refused to acknowledge. Perhaps he didn't understand it, perhaps he did but didn't want to accept it. Whatever the case he had asked him this question repeatedly ever since he had recovered enough of his senses to reapply his sense of curiosity. He reached a hand out, letting Hugin pech onto his arm so he could pet the feathery bird, leaning in to listen to the bird speak to him. What words were shared was something Spire was not privy to, but it gave him time to think of an answer. What should I say, he thought? Did he need to hear the truth in all of its cold and lonely agony, or should he delay the emotional surgery of acceptance with a lie? This very dilemma had prevented him from answering the question each prior time it had been asked, and he was running out of excuses.

Better now than never, he said. The words were heavy in his body, like they were made of lead. He didn't want to speak them, nobody should ever have to speak words like this to a toddler. But he had to. For both his and Arne's sake. He couldn't string him along on a false hope, that wouldn't be fair to anyone.

"No Arne...they're gone forever." He said sadly.

"...D-don't they love me?" He whimpered. Oh by the Blaze no, he thought. No no no, he couldn't have him going down this road of thinking. His mind raced with alarm as he racked his thinking cells together to conjure a means of pulling the last Skjoldr out of the dark path of blaming himself. His youth was already destroyed in an afternoon, he didn't need to add victim blaming on top of that.

Gentle now, gentle he thought to himself. "They do, they always have. But they're dead. They've gone to a sleep they'll never wake up from. The monster put them in it, but they never stopped caring for you. They did it so you could still be here." He said, only for his eyes to widen as Arne's lips began to quiver and the sniffling started to intensify.

Arne's eyes started to shine with tears once again and Spire's furnace felt like it cooled on the spot. Arne started crying again, louder than ever and Spire hadn't the foggiest idea of what to give him to make him stop. The sounds of his wailing made the last Diamont feel so worthless. What good was he if he couldn't comfort a crying child? Hands strong enough to crush the glacis plate of a tank with a squeeze, but too hard to offer solace.

His musings however, were interrupted by space exploding apart as all seven kilometers of the Caesarian Lance simply teleported in front of the Cragimoch in an eerie green burst of energy. The prong winged battlecruiser strobed with many colours, cycling through weapons before it normalised to primarily blue and grey. Shaped somewhat like a forward swept winged tear drop with jutting vertical mandibles, the craft interposed itself between the Cragimoch and the Pulsar, its little lights now glowing a steady, consistent colour. He got no sense of benevolence or peace like he got from Chozo ships, simply a cold and unpleasant disdain as if he should feel lucky that the warship hadn't simply struck him from the records of existence.

His ship was enveloped shortly afterwards, space crumpling and spitting him out into the hold of the warship as it teleported once again; having claimed the only thing of interest in this system to its master.

Processing Room of the Caesarian Lance

Their new surroundings were cold and unfamiliar. Curved organic looking metallic stylizations were carved into the spacious hemispherical room. How big it was was difficult to say, but Spire wouldn't be surprised if masters of spacetime manipulation such as the Alimbics hadn't found a way to make this vessel larger on the inside with one of their stronghold voids. Certainly this place felt larger than it had any right to be. Pillars atop which upside down Alimbics floated, seemingly headless and armless, were placed in a pattern designed to the inscurtable sensibilities of Alimbic mathematical aesthetics. The lighting changed from a rather hostile orange to a more clinical white, illuminating the grey and tan interior and making the grey form of Zurvduat more obvious.

The Knight-General of the ship and the de facto master of the until recently extinguished species loomed so tall over the room atop a pillar above any of the others, his council assembled below him while his monocular gaze almost seemed to bore into Spire's ship as he and the other occupants exited. Walkways materialised into being as they stepped out of the descent capsule of the Cragimoch, and the dormant alimbics each flipped around and extended their limbs and head, the extending appendages seeming to twist out of nonexistence and allowing the ancient insectoids to stare at their guests. Unlike receptions he had gotten from places such as Zebes, this felt condescending. Spire could feel them judging him and the child.

Geri and Freiki pushed Arne towards the Mesa upon which the council of seven awaited him before Zurvduat focused his gaze directly upon him and bade him to stop to let the child approach alone. Another, singularly dismissive command was also sent to the corvids, prompting them to halt their flapping and instead perch themselves on Spire's body while Arne was presented towards the alimbics. Almost like a prize at an auction, with the comparison being deeped as the floor he was standing on sectioned off a circular space and lifted him before the Alimbics for analysis.

"-Arne Skjoldr, last of your world. We have conferred with one another and determined that you will serve our purposes well. We proclaim you our Neophyte, and label you our Primoris. Rejoice then, for from the ashes of your emmiseration a fresh glory may arise.-"

Zurvduat's voice was dry and demanding, a metallic telepathic vise that seemed almost like a matter of fact recollection of a manual or textbook. There was no joviality or emotional inflection, simply a statement of fact. There was no veiled menace or warning for disobedience. Disobedience was impossible, they asked and it would be so. Such was the way of the masters of the Tetrarchy.

"But mom and da-" He was not allowed to finish.

"-Are dead, they paid the price of soldiery and were consumed by the conflict they sought to wage, as was always inevitable. Do you seek justice for the slain, Primoris?-" Osith said, his more frigid voice making Arne recoil. He didn't like the cold and that awful word made him start to tear up again. No they weren't gone they were just...away...he didn't want them to be gone. He needed them.

"I want to go home! I want my friends!"

"-They are all dead, this is your home now, Primoris.-" Urim said, not interested in Arne's demands or his fear.

"-We will be your friends Arne.-" Elmorni said sweetly, the boy's hopeful eyes flicking towards her and a meek smile coming from him as he held his toy dinosaur a little closer to him and focused on her. He seemed hopeful, and his sniffling reduced in frequency and volume.

"-Spire cannot be expected to raise you, and you are a target now; you will not be safe in any human adoptive family. Only we can protect you from those who would seek your silence.-" Mortirk said, laying a hand across his chest in sympathy. Arne's gaze was devoid of understanding, they were speaking to him of concepts his mind was not yet ready to grasp beyond the sense of danger if he said no. He did what he could, and nodded with a sputtering "uh-huh" coming from him.

"-You are frail now, but we will reforge you in steel and craft from your iron a peerless warrior. You will become what this universe needs; the vanguard of a return to the age of peace.-" Deglos said, raising her arms skywards and conjuring a psychic light in the shape of the symbol of the Tetrarch Order that the Alimbics had forged, a stylised representation of an Alimbic head bearing the crossed Y symbol of the Imperial Peace that the ancients had forged long ago in the ashes of the old war. A peace built on dominance and control. No room for the Chozo's attempts to forge fraternity and mutual understanding as far as Spire remembered.

"-We will give you shelter and space to grow. Not just into someone healthy, but someone strong. You will right the wrongs of the past, and you will ensure the commonwealth of all intelligent beings.-" Ygrak said, her voice melodious and gentle.

"He's literally a toddler, are you that desperate for soldiers? He needs a family, not war training!" Spire folded his arms and looked up at the Alimbics as what seemed to be every Alimbic room turned their heads towards him, casting a cold and unflinching judgement upon him that made him suddenly feel very small and exposed. One of the most feared and revered hunters in the universe and here he was, unable to face this batch of insects looking down on him as if he were well...a pile of rocks who had spoken out of turn.

Zurvduat's imperious telepathic voice entered into Spire's mind and stayed there like freshly remembered orders. "-The Imperial Peace must exist. This universe has fallen to chaos in our absence, yet we are too few in number to impose our order on creation. We will alleviate that in time, but these humans have the psychic talent to be given the gift of our sacred helix.-"

"-And from them we can raise a new generation of soldiers. Enforcers of peace who may cut a swathe through the destruction and darkness that has come to infest the garden of civilization. The Primoris has nowhere else to go, no one else to offer him succor; but we will welcome him to our ranks and call him our own.-" He continued, gesturing towards Arne to make him walk over. Arne hesitated, he wasn't sure...he was reluctant to trust the Alimbic, but Elmorni offered her own hand and he smiled; walking over without concern towards her. Zurvduat briefly pulsed with concealed insult, but regained his composure as Arne hugged at Elmorni's knee.

"C-can they come?" He asked, looking over at his ravens and sighing gently when he got a nod of affirmation while Elmorni picked him up and lifted him to such a great height to be eye level with her. She hummed to him and swept some of his hair away from his eyes. A hand of hers reached out, and the Ravens seemed to understand the gesture with wingbeats swiftly taking them to their new perch. Geri and Freiki of course, returned to Zurvduat's side and sat after leaping to their place next to him.

"-You may leave now Spire. Though be assured that we wll likely have business in the future.-" Zurvduat said.

"You can bet that I'm going to be checking in regularly." Spire snorted.

"-Is that a threat?-" Osith asked.

"Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But you'd better do right by him." He said as he stomped back towards his ship, his mood darkened by the brief meeting.

Biological Reconstruction Chamber, Caesarian Lance
"-His physiology is enhanced from the baseline like virtually all humans, but far too weak to withstand the training we will put him through.-" Ygrak said, the red Alimbic hovering close by to Elmorni. She spoke frankly to her mate, concern heavy in her psychic voice.

Elmorni nodded, Zurvduat's plans were...ambitious to say the least. Luckily, Arne was very young, the vast majority of his growth had yet to occur. An older subject, even an adult was still viable; but at his age they could painlessly sculpt out virtually the entire roadmap of his physical development. His height, bodytype, they could even change most of his features if they wanted to, though looking at him floating within the tank in a fetal position she decided that altering such petty phenotypic details as colouration wouldn't be necessary.

"-We will need to make him tall, above the average for his species. Such will make traversing our facilities easier. He should be powerful but lithe and fast. Speed matters more than raw power, and even then we can infuse into his body the strength of a legion of his kind. We will purge fatigue and whatever remaining vulnerabilities to sickness modern geneticists have not conquered, he will serve our ends until the last stars die if need be. We will need to encode into his Helix our noble gift of esoterica and the mental art. Humanity's psionic potential has yet to be truly realised, their appreciation for the arcane barely extant. We will change that, the energies his mind and soul can conjure will sustain him more fully than mere chemical metabolisms ever will, and soon he will be able to stand proud as our sword to cleave chaos and disruption from this existence. From the clay of human weakness we shall forge a proper Knight of the Tetrarchy. The Primoris of our new cohorts who shall deliver this universe back to the proper order.-" Zurvduat had said at the commissioning of this project. Elmorni for her part simply crunched the request down to "make him an Alimbic in human skin". It had the same overall meaning without the need for a long winded speech.

"-Do you think it will be worth it?-" Elmorni asked.

Ygrak paused as she thought.

"-We are stealing his future from him and binding it to ours. But the whole of our species would now struggle to populate a single city. We do not have a choice. We must go through with the procedure. If it's not him, it will be someone else. And he has no one.-" She said, nodding her neckless floating head to Elmorni.

Elmorni looked at the child and then back to her lover as the two laid one of their hands against the other.

"-I will make sure that he never grows too distant from his origins. Whatever Zurvduat commands, he will always have a connection to home.-" She said.

Ygrak shook her head, no this didn't feel right. "-Is it fair to let him know of a place so riven with destruction? He is young, he could forget naturally; we wouldn't even have to modify his memories.-"

"-He has a right to know where he is from. We are his caretakers, it is not our place to decide whose memory he aligns with. It will simply be our task to ensure that the memories we give him in his formative years will be as strongly cherished as the ones from his parents in his infancy.-" She said.

She looked at her charge. His thoughts were full of cold, wintery death. He saw the three headed one rising from a volcano that spat forth only snow and arctic frost, standing on their hind hooves, wings spread wide and heads pointed high as they let loose their tyrant's scream; the corpses of millions surrounding their feet while they stood in partly frozen blood. She could hear the sound of a high pitched roar with bell like trilling in its reverb in his mind. A nightmare, far too intense for him to handle. Far too vivid, far too real. He was in a loop, reliving the helplessness of watching everyone die without being able to do anything about it once again.

Elmorni touched the sides of the tank and willed him to think of happier memories, strands of pleasantries worming their way into the young boy's thoughts to create new images in his mind. Images of belonging, of welcoming, of being loved and accepted by his new family. She sent him sensations of warm, red emotion, banishing the arctic cold of Viper's golden fur and glacier blue eyes with images of a pleasant field of red grass and pleasant swaying trees. The plains of Oriomak where she was born and where she was raised from creche to service. She showed him how he could be part of this to, sending him visions of being part of this, accepted and cared for, no longer alone and afraid. He calmed, his breathing normalised and Elmorni was pleased, he would be alright in the end, she was sure of it.

Zurvduat would likely...contradict these messages, but in time she hoped that he would see him as a son, and not just a tool.

 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Samus

Crateria, Zebes, FS-176, Zokunai Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy


Samus stood resplendent in her yellow and red armour, her blue eyes staring wistfully out at the word through the Y-shaped blue visor she wore. Data gathered by her suit fed as naturally into her mind as the input delivered to her by her natural senses. Mind and armour were as one as she felt the breeze over her second skin. The windswept fields of Zebes stretched out for what seemed to be forever. The thought that this planet was just one of many in a vast, endless universe seemed so absurd to her when just this one world seemed so large.

Having recently turned twelve, Samus knew that she was preparing to embark on a journey perhaps more important than any before. She looked up at the sky, seeing the stars and setting her visor to zoom in as far as light would allow and then enhancing it further with the otherwordly powers of her armour. The twinkling lights became vivid images of burning orbs in the sky, some partly occluded by what she concluded were planets or other large objects.

Faint nebula painted themselves into beautiful colours, the twinkling of impossibly distant objects all the more stark as she resolved that one day; she would see everything the universe had to offer. No sight would be left unrecorded, no history left to lie in the dust, no voice crying out in pain left uncomforted. But she sensed through her otherworldly vision that her target was moving.

She focused her gaze downward and saw the flea sized target in motion more than a thousand of her body lengths away, having emerged from its burrow to flea through the night. She had resolved to take care of the target practise drone without disturbing the wildlife, and so resolved to wait until the best opportunity had presented herself.

She raised her green arm cannon and locked her arm, the cannon’s highlight colour changing to red as she zoomed in. She anticipated the direction of its next movement as it began to crack its wings faster then sound to make its movements as erratic as possible and squeezed off a shot. A crimson lance of laser light shot straight out of her cannon across the whole distance and struck the hopping machine at the apex of its leap just at the right angle to avoid hitting the ground, sailing into the night sky harmlessly.

She excitedly pumped her arm cannon in celebration. She definitely preferred to mix it up close, but this was her longest range success on a target of that size yet. She jumped down the mesa and fell a kilometer, landing lightly on her feet and starting to move to the next training area. She leaped into the air to avoid disturbing the fauna and flora too much, her movement silent as she outpaced her own sound.

She launched a grapple tether out and used it to swing around a Mesa, excitedly shouting as she felt the rush of the air all around her. Her armour fed her the necessary analysis of the air vibrations to give her the simulation of normal hearing at these speeds, allowing her to hear what was ahead of her as well as to the sides and behind her, and the whistling and thunderclap were akin to music to her.

She shot out again, firing the tether at a distant platform to pull herself like a coment to the mountainous outcropping, spinning herself to get her feet into position before impact. She carefully buckled her legs under the impact and shot out again, spinning herself to face the ground before curling into the morph ball. Her sight drew beyond her body as her form compacted into the sphere, the armour becoming twin hemisphers around a luminous sphere of energy as she skipped across the ground and rolled up a ramp.

She unfurled and saw about thirty mechanical targets. She estimated she had about a tenth of a second before hitting the ground, and in half that time she had put a power beam shot into each of their heads; landing on the ground as they all fell in unison. She stood up and checked each of her angles. A flight of mechanical skrees, shaped like flying tongs with teeth; span at her faster than bullets.

She jumped over the first one zipping at her, her arm cannon clicking and expanding into missile configuration to obliterate the first one with a hypersonic warhead that kept its detonation compact enough to avoid unnecessary damage. The second skree followed suit, as did the third and fourth before she landed back on the ground.

The fifth got another surprise as her left gauntlet extended a sharpened blade from the wrist and swung that in a wide orange sweep as the blade covered itself in coruscating energy, bisecting the machine after puncturing its shielding as effortlessly as when she dug a knife into some of her favoured molten spreads.

She latched onto one with a grapple beam fired from the underside of her left gauntlet and swung it around to smash into a tankdrone that emerged from a teleporter, the Skree exploding on contact with a brilliant blue fireball while she jumped to her next target. Firing off the boosts as she rotated herself downward, blue jets on her armour pushing her to her foe; she raised her leg for a metal shattering axe kick.

Her boot heel cracked through shielding that could have withstood her missile and with a single power beam shot, she weakened the armour enough to smash her other foot through the head of the tankdrone, crushing the ladybug like machine into the ground in dozens of pieces.

She was excited, and her heartbeat fluttered with anticipation. She loved this, the rush, the energy, overcoming difficult obstacles and making safe what was once dangerous. This was what she lived for and she never wanted it to stop.

She dropped down with a sweep kick, her leg surrounded by a comet of burning air as she smashed a number of tripedal attack drones off their feet. Grabbing the nearest one, she swept it around her while her enemies had yet to leave the ground before she pushed herself out of her circular kick, smashing the machine in her hands to splinters and stopping the rest from regaining her bearings.

And with a rapid volley of missiles she had taken out each remaining machine. She paused and analysed the area for more threats until that warning sense kicked in again. She flipped out of the area to avoid a missile, but the secondary explosion clipped her and cost her some energy as the detonation encased itself in an invisible barrier that concentrated the force and then shaped it into a tendril like fireball.

She ducked down, but a second worm missile exploded behind her, then a third and a fourth and a fifth. The cluster detonations and the stabbing tendril blasts tried to fence her in, as did a number of Spidery Subterranean attack drones. Taking a few too many hits from next to impossible to avoid entrapment for her liking, she curled into the morph ball once more.

This time she had charged up her power beam to release a wide spread of bombs in all directions to clear out the area, reversing the direction of the spring ball to avoid bouncing from the bomb drops as she burrowed into the ground. Dirt geysered around her and she dropped down into a cavern. She hit the ground and sensed something below her, immediately dropping three bombs to clear out the threat before she uncurled.

The next machine threw itself at her, arms spread to try and entrap her. She smashed it with her cannon like a mace, knocking it up so that a stab from her power blade would bisect it from the momentum, her eyes picking up a dozen more targets. She charged her next missile shot and let the mass of skitter drones be caught in the blast, stunning them as their shields burst open before the second missile impacted and eradicated the whole lot.

Too easy she thought. She needed more of a challenge. She scanned around looking for a greater test to overcome. But with her eyes already adjusted to the darkness in the cavern, with chemical synthesizing plants drinking from Zebes’ rich soil and emitting faint light amidst the faintly blue rocks, she could see the silhouette of the obstacle course’s final challenge. A thundering machine stalked forward on seemingly undersized Spidery legs, claws pulling it forward while a cyclopean optic stared out at the world, glowing red as jaw of life like digits on its two enormous hands splayed their fingers with each step it made in this “all hands on deck” stance.

Tan in colour with brassy digits and red highlights, the machine swivelled its ball like eye towards Samus as fully extended her right arm and started charging a shot within her arm cannon and gave a satisfied smile. “Okay then, let’s go.” She said, relishing in the thought of the action that was to come shortly. Her body felt electrified at the prospect of a worthy challenge, her mind already puzzling over the scan data she had received. The Central Eye and the innards were the weakness, and her foe could seek to best her with a combination of raw strength, cutting beams, and howling hypersonic cyclones able to shred through stone.

And just on cue, she felt that electric jolt and a short, sharp warning from a possible future. She smirked beneath her helmet as she quickly prepared to jump out of the way. The Tornagot’s radial claws began to spin up faster and faster to create gouts of wind in her direction, cyclones lashing like continually exploding bombs through the stone behind her, carving out tunnels and blowing out endless tons of sand and dirt that fountained out of the gashes sliced into the rock. Too late for the Tornegot however, as she had already jumped to the ceiling with her legs braced to jump again.

She figured that the machine was unlikely to be vulnerable to her missiles while the fans were operating at such power, so she fired off the grapple beam and pulled herself onto the Machine’s head to release a charged burst of her power beam. The somewhat orange wash of energy made the machine recoil as she curled into morph ball mode and left a spread of exploding spheres of energy that burst in combination with a heavy bass note..

As it recoiled, she actictivated the atomic grips of her spider ball to roll around its body, continually dropping bombs with a stattaco of pulsing blasts that made the thing buck with each hit, wigging and wagging around its exterior to avoid its grasping claws until it “hatched” its own explosive energy sphere. Sensing danger from the shimmering blue bomb orb, she launched herself skywards with the spring ball and uncurled into humanoid form once more.

A grapple beam lash was released from her left hand and she swung herself in a full circle over the behemoth’s head, avoiding the cutting laser it sought to catch her with before she leaped onto its neck joint. A series of missiles were released and the blade was shoved into a vulnerable looking joint, sparking against its shields and making the juggernaut snarl with apparent frustration before it started to rotate.

She jumped off of the spinning torso as it started to sweep around the room with its killing wind, catching her in some of the cyclones as they widened and slammed her into the wall with enough force to spiderweb cracks through it. She growled before she started to push against the wind and then compacted into her morph ball form. Her body wrapped in orange light before it transformed into the little sphere that glowed temporarily with the spider-ball to advance through the wind.

Firing off her boost ball to launch her forwards and combining it with the speed booster to shroud her in a red aura to give herself as much momentum as possible, she swung her arm blade upwards to cause the machine’s shielding to spark to life in the midst of the collision. The hypersonic swing splintered through the machine’s shielding and allowed her to swing her arm cannon up to smack away one of its limbs and leave it open for a rapid fire barrage of her missiles, an orchestra of rocket fire crescendoed with a green tipped super missile that caused the whole of the area to shake as if an earthquake had rolled through.

As she jumped to avoid its primary cutting laser, it tried to catch her with an arm that she dodged skillfully, pulling out of the way, but the secondary beams caught her briefly; pushing her back to take the swatting second limb’s back hand with enough force to knock her to the ground. Sensing an opportunity its limbs began to compact and the machine started to lean forwards before it seemingly shrank.

Ah right, it could compact itself into a ball form too she reminded herself as it began to glimmer with building up energy, forcing her to jump up and charge up somewhat more extreme firepower. Stacking the ice beam onto her repertoire of weapons, she allowed the Tornegot to slam into the wall and partly collapse some of the cavern upon itself with its railgun like impact, making sure she wasn’t touching the jostling ground while her cannon hummed with the negative energy it was conjuring.

She waited for it to emerge and let loose as soon as she caught the silhouette emerging from its pile of rubble. Before it could start spinning its claws, she had released a fully charged shot. “Gotcha.” She said with a smirk as the machine was engulfed in a thick layer of ice from solidifying air, sparkling and white, then bombarded it even further, shot after shot to immobilise every limb and twitching piece of machinery ever deeper in a prison of ice. Before it could try to break free, she had grabbed onto it with her left hand grapple beam and begun to swing it.

“Okay, I’ve got this.” She said to herself as she made a pair of rotations, slamming it through multiple cavern walls and pillars as the more than a thousand tonne industrial machine let loose a plaintive beep lost in the noise of its sonic boom before she released and let the thing fly straight through the ceiling. Jumping through the fields of collapsing debris, letting them shatter against her shielding harmlessly and bursting through even a house sized boulder with a leap; she fired another charged shot to

Sensing weakness, she had burst fired three super missiles that screamed out of the cannon so fast a blink would cause one to miss it, aimed directly for the frozen head of the machine. The already frost compromised structure of the machine could not survive such an insult and the machine’s construction crumbled under the pressure. She shouted out a cheer, gleeful at the sight of the machine’s head exploding into pieces as she descended rapidly towards the ground. She hit the ground lightly, while her foe crashed down with a heavy clatter in a rain of parts.

She stood up and removed her helmet, letting it stick to the grip of the fingers of her gauntlet and pulling it free, exposing blonde hair she kept in a tomboyish pony tail to keep the golden tresses that she grew to about a finger length past her collar in place. She could have simply dismissed it, but she felt like striking a pose as the Chozo teleported before her, already forewarned of their coming. She blinked and saw the gathered ancients all directly in front of her arranged in a crescent formation, along with Mother Brain’s oculi drones made in imitation of her singular cyclopean eye hanging off to the sides of the council of elders.

Horath-Baast, the young War Hawk bowed her head in respect, her backwards swept head crest tilting as she made the gesture of respect to the young miss Aran. “You have performed excellently Hatchling. Though room for improvement of course remains, you have exceeded all that could be expected of you so soon into such a difficult task. Come, celebrate with us please.” She said, stretching a hand towards her in welcome.

“Do you really mean it? I did well?” She said, her eyes flashing with curiosity. She’d taken a number of hits when the amount of fire she was taking was too much for even her prescient hyper-agility to handle. She should have known to avoid even being in those fields of fire at all beforehand. She felt a request to access her state of mind, a probing inquiry made at the back of her thoughts.

With her Chozo blood virtually no psychic or mystic in the universe could read her barest emotion without her permission; nevermind move her with telekinetics or twist her with other more esoteric powers. But so much of Chozo conversation was carried on in higher planes of thought, with signals perceivable only through sixth and seventh senses that she was virtually obliged to offer access more times than not.

His psychic voice was calm, gentle and warm. She always felt validated, “-You are doubting yourself too much, Hatchling. You are stronger than you know, and are able to accomplish more than you can imagine now.-” She thought of his hand running through her hair, sitting in a warm field as he regaled her of pleasant stories amidst their family. All the Chozo gathered around and sharing the tales of great heroes and fantastical adventures. She smiled beatifically, and nodded at him.

Old Bird saw visions of her playing with him in the fields, her excited energy seemingly boundless as they tumbled around Zebes. The moons lit sky above shimmered with stars and glowing creatures that danced in the air above. Samus’ warmer memories of him. “-I understand, Old-Bird.-” She replied. She was gentle, loving, adoring even.

Her thoughts now drifted to those of all her learning experiences with him, how he’d guide her steadily at her own pace, letting her learn through doing. “-Do not worry too much about the small mistakes, instead concern yourself with how you can do better in the future with the lessons of the past. If you agonise over every possible error; present and possible; you will be forever trapped in the moment.-” He said, his mental voice gentle as the breeze as he released her from the conversation, his voice clearing from her mind all at once.

“Your performance improves remarkably every day. Soon there will be nothing left to teach you of physical combat. And your skill in the physical sciences and the arts are equally impressive. Though your social graces still have room to grow.” Grey Voice said, immediately getting a glare from Samus as her smile disappeared in the time it takes for someone to snap their fingers.

Her right brow skyrocketed while her left kinked downwards in an expression best described as ‘curious but furious’. “Excuse me? Did I mishear you?” She said, clearly not pleased with his choice of words.

She paused herself shortly afterwards though, realising her outburst was likely an example of what he was referring to. “Okay maybe you do have a point...but you didn’t have to say it like that! Don’t be a jerk!” She said, her voice snappy and pitched up slightly to get his attention and to let him know exactly how she was feeling.

“Please forgive Somek-Ka, he is merely busying himself with preparing for the next phase of your training.” Isa-Hesh said, August Wing offering a small bow of apology to mollify Samus. She flashed a little smile and voiced her apologies for lashing out.

She was curious though… “What’s this next phase of training?” She asked, tilting her head in curiosity, her quirked eyebrow returning though her expression was considerably more gentle now.

“We will need to start preparing you for interaction with the greater universe. Learn to deal with people and their problems, to observe systems and find solutions, and to solidify your connections to your birth species. Once that is done, we will teach you to master your sixth and seventh senses.” The wizened Platinum crest said, conjuring an image of galaxies drifting through the universe in his outstretched left hand. People, planets, and stars came into view and that sense of wonder asserted itself in full in her once more.

“...I’ll be leaving Zebes?” She said.

“-Though I personally do not believe this phase of training overly necessary, it has been deemed necessary to complete your passage to the ranks of adulthood.-” Mother Brain’s psychic voice was as unpleasant as ever and Samus gave an unimpressed look at yet more of the A.I’s incessant criticisms.

“-For now however, I shall stand by and allow you to rush out to seek your adventure, however much improvement you ne-” Samus stopped listening to Mother Brain right about then, she looked back to Old Bird, waiting for him to confirm what the others were saying.

“For some time, but you will always be welcome in your home.” He said, offering her a small bow.

She positively beamed at the thought, looking back up at the night sky and imagining herself at all those strange worlds she had seen earlier, every planet she had read about, every locale she had fantasised about. She reached her hand towards the sky and imagined the stars in her hands, then she closed her hand into a fist, brought it to her chest and turned towards her family.

“I can’t wait.” She said.

Sylux


Eremak Jungles, Sentus Primaris, Sentus, Sentinel Verge, Tetra Galaxy


"A humanoid figure in two tone blue armour; cyan around the chest and head, a stark azure everywhere else with a black flexible soft layer between the joints with a bright red optic and a dark purple arm cannon stood in a jungle. He was moving constantly, never standing still. His motions were economical, swift, and deliberate; Arne was well aware that his teachers disapproved of unnecessary flourish.

He snatched a missle shot in his direction out of the sky, the fingers of his gauntlet curling around the haft of the projectile and a rotation of his body turning the hypersonic warhead back to its sender with a good toss. The monocular eye piece at the centre of the somewhat tear drop shaped helmet glowed red as the triple grey crest flexed downward, the focus of the eyes of the human child beneath drawn squarely on the web of projectiles thrown his way.

He danced around them, his legs taking him faster than sound itself as he skipped from one point to another. He took stock of his targets and raised his weapon, his cannon’s combi-barrel spinning together and sputtering out an ovoid burst of potent orange energy. Six shots in total. The grey psycho-bit, shaped much like his helmet dropped to the ground, the spinward kick of his shots taking its flight from it. Follow up bursts cut through the drones, two dozen disabled in the span of an eyeblink.

The loud rumbling of metallic treads warned him of incoming foes. The heavy nuclear pulse of battlehammers; his helmet’s vibro-sensors detecting the jostled atoms to give him auditory warning even at supersonic speeds; gave him leave to take to the air again. Just before a series of red laser pulses fired from pop out turrets could catch him.

With a spin brought from a kick he swung around to slam a Psycho-bit out of the air and into the nearest wall hard enough to break open part of a cliff face, he dodged over the charged plasmoid bursts of the man sized bipedal guardian drones while he was airborne. Running at him with chicken like legs, the lanky drones kept pace with him as he grabbed at a tree and swung around it in a whip cracking circle before firing off his back thrusters and releasing.

Blue tendrils of electricity riding neutrinos slipped from the cannon he wielded. The Shock Coil, his favoured subweapon. The self guided tendrils established the guidance streams of electricity that the neutrinos rode upon, following the electrons to strike into more standard particles of matter without ghosting through as they usually did. The impact quite simply pushed apart the targeted guardian’s shielding and then its very particulate structure in real time as he strafed around the target, ruptured molecules spewing forth ejecta as he threw himself to the ground beneath an electric volley of yellow projectiles.

He squeezed his shoulders and thought, his body collapsed into a new shape. Armour reconfigured and his flesh became energy. Shaped like an altered and compacted version of his torso, the psycho-sphere hovered forwards, compacting itself further to avoid incoming fire before contracting and flexing to release a psychoburst of mental energy that threw apart the surrounding foes to give him the space to unfurl.

His power to peer with the distant sight told him exactly where to move, grabbing an incoming Guardian leg as it snap kicked at him with sound barrier breaking force so that he could catch the machine with a charged power beam shot straight to the optic. Its attempts to avoid foiled by his prescience telling him exactly where to move himself to avoid efforts.

His shock coil fired off again, each foe targeted taking heavy damage at first only for the hungry coils to ramp up once they had latched on long enough, turning into a torrent of deadly particles that carved through even the heavier drones in a few moments from his perspective. A missile thrown his way prompted him to dodge. He could have taken the hit and have been fine, but he had to keep moving.

His psychic senses gave him a brief vision of something approaching. His eyes caught a shadow forming over him warned him of a descending foe, and he looked up to see a meteoricly descending crash pillar. Triangulating his response between what his flashes of distant sight told him, what his suit fed him, and what his natural senses informed him, he decided while it was avoidable; there was something else he could do.

The cylindrical quintiped machine hurled downwards with altered gravity, and he had an idea. The young boy raised his arm and braced against the impact, taking the jolt of a falling multi-tonne supersonic machine in stride, buckling just slightly before he spun the machine around in a circle to swat aside his other foes and then throw it into the assembly of guardians.

Most jumped or dashed out of the way, but he broke up their formation enough to let his shock coil reduce another to steaming ash before their withering barrage stitched deep holes in the ground and gouges in the natural geography. He ducked forward and rolled into the psychosphere before launching forwards and dropping a psychoburst, uncurling and parrying an attempted chicken kick from a guardian so that he could move it in the way of another’s missile.

He grunted and raised his cannon to fire another shot, but the machines all stopped moving suddenly. He reabsorbed the charged shot he was about to fire, lowering his cannon and looking to the side to see the Alimbics approaching him.

With a thought his helmet dissipated into blue light, exposing the fresh features of a now twelve year old Arne Skjoldr. Roughly cut white hair fell to just a bit above his shoulders, and his red eyes were bleary with boredom. He inhaled through his rather small nose, and wiped his left gauntlet on his pale skin. He wasn’t sweaty or tired, but the gesture gave him a bit of relief.

“-Disappointing. You were three thirteenths of a second too slow to ensure a flawless victory, wasted time means wasted effort.-” Zurvduat said, Arne letting his shoulders slump and issuing a tired sigh. He blinked a few times and looked at the ground, cheeks glowing red with embarrassment. He felt like an idiot and kicked at the rocks near his feet in frustration.

“I was going to win…” He said glumly.

“-Irrelevant, I do not require excellency; I require perfection. We will start again, Primoris.-”

“Why can’t you call me Arne, dad?” He said, looking up at Zurvduat who’s head snapped towards Arne at the utterance of that accursed word. He leaned in, everything seeming to go silent as his lanky body loomed ever closer to the boy and the glow of his singular eye became more intense. Arne flinched and brought up a hand, trying to hide his face from the Knight-General, shaking slightly.

“-I am not, and never will be your father and you would do well to remember that, Primoris.-” The last word was said in such a chilling manner that Arne felt his heartbeat quicken. He wanted to hide, and the sight of Zurvduat’s hand rising made him cringe. His expression twisted into one of fright as he closed his eyes and waited for his judgement, counting internally.

He felt disgusted at not being able to retaliate, but Zurvduat controlled so much of his power. The second skin that normally made him feel invincible was a prison in his presence. But no blow came, and Arne relaxed slightly as Zurvduat went back to his standard height and position.

“-Now, we will restart the scenario, and you will cease your complaining. Am I understood?-”

“...Yes General…” Arne said quietly, letting his helmet rematerialise from the ether and laying his free hand on his arm cannon to prepare himself.


…​


He slipped on the top of a fallen guardian as he tried to weave his body through at least fifty missiles screeching towards him from one direction, a hundred volt driver pulses from another, and six scorching laser beams from a third direction. He quickly caught his footing again and prepared to shoot his way out of the wall of electric yellow psycho-bits trying to catch him by surprise, but once again his suit and the machines were commanded to halt.

“-Begin again, we will not have you losing your footing on the field of battle.-” Arne groaned beneath his helmet the moment he heard Zurvduat’s psychic voice.


…​


As he spun and jumped through a wall of weapons fire and attempted flying melee attackers from every direction, flipping and twisting his body to avoid hundreds of projectiles and dozens of attackers and carefully shooting out and those he could, he was clipped by a single laser and felt the skycutting beam burn his shielding briefly. He grunted and once again everything was made to stop while he landed on the ground flawlessly.

“-An unnecessary hit, be more aware of your surroundings. Begin again-” He clenched his fist and seethed internally. He gritted his teeth and exhaled, counting to ten and relaxing his fingers. Once he was ready he looked up and nodded.


…​


He fired another shot, the Skystriker’s weapon armatures starting to glow before he raked across its hide with the writhing serpents of lightning from his shock coil. His armour hummed as it felt energy surge through it and his body. The helicopter sized machine swayed slightly, its reactor core finally starting to fail as he hammered it with three further strikes of his charged power beam, smoke and sparks carving itself from its hide.

He needed to finish this he reasoned. His cannon clicked and the vents to the side shivered into their opening position before the weapon hummed. Multiple missiles combined into one within and released, the hum turning into a keen and the warhead flying true. The enemy machine spiralled with this last injury straight into the ground, but the swarms of psycho-bits that had provided it escort all stopped at once before he could switch targets.

Confusion made itself known in his mind, but the voice of Zurvduat rose above his other thoughts. “-An ordinary missile would have sufficed. Do not waste your munitions. Begin again.-” Arne almost choked.


…​


He punched the howling Crawlmech; sending the thousand tonne behemoth off of its feet and into a wall that it bowled through. Several more such walls collapsed at its movement as he pushed back with the momentum of his blow. He extended his legs for a devastating flip kick that smashed a multi-tone crash pillar into the earth, bedrock cracking and earth geysering into the air as he kicked off. But before he could target his next foes they all stopped moving again, the boy vocalising his frustration as he landed heavily.

“-What have I told you about unnecessary flourish Primoris? Begin again.-” He shook briefly as he clutched at his helmet and muttered to himself. Zurvduat’s telepathy could not pierce his psychic defenses; armour or not; nor could his other abilities, and Arne used this to think of some choice words for his “father”.


…​


The shock coil sang again, eliminating another target while he zeroed in on his next foe. He extended the power blade from his left gauntlet and fired off the electric blue energy tether of the grapple beam from the lower attachment to pull a sniping Guardian towards him. A burst of two missiles to weaken its shielding followed by a quick stab to the eye should do it before he touched the ground.

The machine stopped and Arne felt his suit cease to obey him and he hit the ground head first. Grunting as he rolled onto his feet. He could have saved himself had the sudden sensation of having to move the armour under his own strength not kicked in. But he looked up and saw Zurvduat once again.

“-Keep the time you spend without your feet facing the ground to a minimum. Begin again.-” Arne glared at him through his helmet. He found a gesture on the ComNet that he thought Zurvduat would appreciate involving his middle digit but he bit his tongue and stood himself back up. What would it take to please him?


…​


The Crawlmech was slammed into the ground with a grapple swing, arcing it over head and then smashing it into the earth with its underbelly exposed. Thunder and lighting coiled from his cannon to cause what damage he could, filling the air with the ozone stench of electrical energy before it broke free of its entombment and turned towards him. However he had already left a parting gift of charged missiles that would keep it busy as he flipped onto a psycho-bit.

He touched onto the drone and stabbed the power blade straight through the head as the pillar like Cretaphid spun around to release deadly bursts of cutting blue energy. Analyzing its movements, he pushed off and fired his power beam in carefully aimed bursts to neutralise each of the blue energy emitters, spinning to dodge around laser fire and then latching onto the cretaphid itself.

He kicked off it, steering his path in the air to let him take aim at the emitters on the other side as he flipped back onto the pillar with the blade extended, charging it with extra energy while a grapple tether from his arm cannon was fired off to pull him towards the cretaphid’s emerging diamond like power core. He yanked himself towards the core and made a cut through it before landing on the ground as it exploded behind him.

He pushed himself onto his feet, not looking at the explosion or even at the rising Crawlmech before he turned his cannon towards it and fired a crimson lance of energy from the gun; stabbing it through the optic and sending it back onto the ground.

He panted, from frustration more than anything. His body and suit could keep at this forever if needed, but he wanted to hear it from Zurvduat.

“-Adequate.-”

That word felt like someone had shot him. He felt so livid, so furious. He snapped.

“Why can’t you ever be happy!” He shouted, pointing accusingly at the Alimbic Knight-General who simply turned his floating head towards him; rotating it in a full circle before his body swivelled as it hovered. Arne panted in outrage, his expression twisted by raw, uncontrolled anger as he shook with fury.

Zurvduat seemed almost amused at Arne’s anger, like watching a toddler throw a fit. He even gave the equivalent of a snort, a sensation of dismissal and diminutization. “-Because you are excellent, but I need you to be perfect. You continually err and deny yourself perfection. You are so close to the cusp of actualisation yet you fall short of it every time. Such failure irks me.-”

“I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR FIVE DAYS! THE SAME SCENARIO OVER AND OVER AND OVER!” Arne snapped, pointing at the wrecked Cretaphid and then at all the evidence of his constant exercise. Again, and again, without rest, pause, or even so much as a chance to sleep. His eyes strained behind his helmet.

“-And you have preformed adequately. We will begin again after your earned short rest..-” Zurvduat said, sending the psychic signal for the damaged machinery to begin repairs and for replacements to be sent out. Arne though almost choked. He dropped to the ground and exhaled harshly.

“Kkhhhh…..kkhhhhhhh.” He hissed, every harsh breath from him sounding like it was torturous to draw out. He clenched at the ground until he could feel something solid. He clenched at it until it broke into powder in his hands as he reached for his helmet and threw it off. It slammed on the ground with a crack as he pulled open his Zero suit hood, his red eyes spiderwebbed with blood vessels as he breathed in and out. He wanted to cry. But Zurvduat would be disappointed in him if he showed weakness.

He stabilised his breathing and pulled up his legs and sat down. His arms resting below the pronged shoulders of his armoursuit and his left hand threading through the rich black soil of the dirt. His sensitive hearing tuned in to the subtle sounds of nature and the little songs of small animals and his nostrils inhaled the scent of the wild. It seemed peaceful, and he had managed to avoid causing it any unnecessary damage, making sure none of his shots once struck any living wild creature or plant even by accident.

Could he at least be proud in that? Would Zurvduat at least let him have that victory?

“-Arne?-” The benevolent voice of Ygrak said. The boy looked up and turned his head to see his other mothers and father descending down from the sky after having warped inside. The Red, Yellow, and Blue forms of Ygrak, Mortirk, and Elmorni flanked him and he tried his best to look strong for them, giving them a weary smile.

“-Are you alright?-” Elmorni said, dropping down to his level and laying a hand on his shoulder while Deglos watched from a distance; Zurvduat busily conferring with Deglos and Osith in a circle. The triumvirate would likely remain busy for some time, and it was rarely wise to interrupt the three Knight-Generals who commanded the military forces of

“I did it...but all he could say was...Adequate. I can’t please him no matter how hard I try!” He wheezed out, his breaths laboured and distraught. Physiologically he was fine, he was more than ready to go another thousand rounds until he got it right.. Mentally and spiritually though...Elmorni could see that he was confused, and his soul ached for Zurvduat’s approval.

“What am I doing wrong?” He said, hugging a knee to his chest and dipping his head. His mind was caught in a loop, trying to go over the events of the past and see where he had misstepped...where did he err...Five days of mistakes to go through, a hundred and twenty six hours and thirty seven minutes of disappointments. His heart ached, and the three of them could feel every moment of it.

“-You’ve done nothing wrong Arne, shhh…-” Elmorni said, her hand deploying its fingers as she ran it through his smooth, silky hair. She cupped his face and when she saw that tears were starting to flow from his eyes she flicked them away.

“I don’t know if I can do it mom…” He said, choking back a sob.

“-Of course you can. Let us speak to Zurvduat, you take this time and rest.-” Ygrak said, psychically checking on the other two to ascertain their intended courses of action while she tended to Arne’s tears, a hug snaking out from the boy as she patted him on his head.

“-General, what have you been putting the Neophyte through?-” Mortirk’s psychic voice had a taste of fury behind it that aroused the attention of Zurvduat, sensing possible disrespect from one who is supposed to be his subordinate. Mortirk could sense the choler of his commander on the rise before being choked back with a reminder that to emote so visibly was improper. Elmorni laid a hand on him, giving him her reassurance before she floated ahead of him, taking another look at the forlorn Arne as he listlessly examined the ground.

She was brave to go before Zurvduat, and she felt herself buckle slightly as his withering gaze fixated solely on her; followed by the stern attentions of the rest of the triumvirate. “-Zurvduat, he is a child. What you are putting him through is torture. He needs time to recover, to play and enjoy his life. Life which you agreed to give him.-” She steeled herself with iron forged of outrage for the condition of someone she saw as her son, she would not back down from this, not until she got what she sought.

Zurvduat’s anger passed, and in its place came the usual sense of dismissive scorn for foolish concerns. “-He must be ready for his duties as the vanguard of our peace. He must clad his soul in adamant obstinance and push through meagre discomforts. Far more malevolent beings than I shall test him, and he shall not be found wanting.-”

Elmorni refused to let this slide, her eye flaring as she stared directly into the sun of Zurvduat’s face. “-And what use will he be when he is broken by your efforts?-”

“-What was broken can be reforged.-”

Ygrak raised a hand and sent Elmorni indication that she wished to speak, getting a nod from the blue plated Alimbic as her red counterpart drifted ahead. “-You know as well as I do that he’s responded better to your rewards then your punishment. Why not bear through with his desire for affection for a while longer? You won’t need to wait for much longer until he comes of age.-”

“-We will speak on my reasonings in private later. For now...Pri-...Arne, approach me.-” His spindly claw digits almost seemed to spring out of his flipper like hand as they pointed to the child, a psychic intonation removing any ambiguity behind his meaning. Arne looked up from the ground and nodded, shaking slightly as he stepped towards the one eyed ancient.

“-Your performance has improved to be certain, young one. You still have room to grow, but the time for you to see what lays beyond the creche without our supervision approaches. Show me you have mastered the art of war and science, and I will show you the stars. Finish this course one last time. And before you go.-” He said, extending an arm as the transmatter systems of the Alimbics winked a brown bar broken up into thumb sized squares into being. Chocolate.

Arne smiled and looked up at Zurvduat for permission. He reached out hesitantly and then closed his hands around the bar. He took it into his hands and broke off a piece to enjoy. He let it melt in his mouth, refusing to bite down on the rich, fragrant taste of the theobromine so that he might savour it fully. He nodded excitedly as he started on the second square, fingers delicately snapping off the second piece to ensure he didn’t fission off more than he intended.


…​


The last enemy fell as he extracted his power blade from the Cretaphid’s crystal, jumping to the ground as it exploded behind him and standing up to his feet proudly. A nod of approval finally came from Zurvduat, and Arne felt like he could take on the entire universe.

“-Excellent.-”

“Thank you…” He said, sitting down almost immediately and dismissing his helmet so that he could show the satisfied look on his face. He was proud, and for good reason. He was also rather in the mood to just...lie down here for a little while as he flopped onto his back and exhaled, eyes staring upwards at nothing in particular.
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Samus' logbook

Planets: Pinwheel Galaxy: Zhakunai Nebula: Human Habitable: Chozo: Visited: Zebes (Part 1)


Zebes is a Class 5B planet with an Urthic ore crust ideal for subterranean construction. Though many zones on Zebes are seemingly inhospitible to life, extremely tough organisms have evolved on this planet that can thrive in conditions that would kill ordinary terrestrial creatures. Serving as the place of residence for a number of Chozo who have established a colony on the planet for seemingly unknown purposes, the planet is sealed from unwanted visitors by way of a simple planetary defense screen that yet remains impenetrable to any quantities of electromagnetic or kinetic assault. While the planet has a rich biosphere, 90% of the planet's biomass is in subsurface "hollow earth" caverns close to or within the planet's enormous subterranean oceans and seas. The surface is primarily comprised of savannah, desert, and grassland with the occasional forests and more than two thirds of its surface water comes in the form of upwells of aquifer water. Interest in the planet would later resurge following a spike in activity from the Zebesian Chozo in the aftermath of the K-2L raid.

Samus' notes:

Zebes doesn't look like much from space, an amber orb floating in the void. And while I will stand up for the beauty of the surface every time, it's what's beneath the world that makes it special. The jungles of Brinstar, the waters of Maridia, the fire of Norfair and other regions of the planet...it's my favourite planet in the whole of the universe, even given the predators it always feels like a place I can be safe in. Even Pyonchi and Okmin could always find places to play.

Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Skitter Swarm

Designed to attack intruders into low level Chozo installations in large numbers, Skitter Swarms seek to overwhelm the enemy with a fusilade of micro-fusil bursts that when combined can cause runaway reactions in the target for extreme damage. This makes it imperative to prevent the Skitter Swarm from fulfilling this desired objective and to disperse them, preferably with explosive weapons that can affect the entire swarm at once. Utilising special psychofunctions to induce a suit charge are also highly effective in dispersing incoming attackers. In close quarters, Skitter drones seek to flense apart their targets with energised monomolecular blades able to cut through hardened carbon nanotubes without substantial difficulty, using vibrations to induce much deeper cuts than their limbs should be able to inflict.

Samus' notes:

Lightning armour melee usually gets through them in a hurry and if that doesn't work; the screw attack or speed booster will do the trick. Missiles and dispersed beam fire can also work if needed.

Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Wadjra

A basic humanoid combat drone, the Wadjra is often used to guard places that may require some form of presentable face for security without the direct presence of a Chozo overseer. The Wadjra makes use of modular weapon systems that make their exact load out difficult to predict, but are generally regarded as vastly inferior to a true power suit wielder due to the lack of a psychic operator to properly utilise the equipment and due to the inferior components compared to a proper power suit. However in numbers, Wadjra are able to make use of highly effective and efficient tactics and can coordinate more easily the more of them there are as they share data and transfer energy to one another to top up their shielding.

Samus' notes:

There's no real fancy tricks to shooting them, but there's usually a noticeable energy build up before they send out pulses of energy transfer that are the signal to interrupt them before they can complete the transfer. Of course, if you're willing to slog through the entire group that's also an option.

Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Mekaskree

Based on the infamous skrees of Zebes, Mekaskrees will perch from surveillance points before launching their attacks, seeking to use high frequency monomolecular superheated power blades to tear through their enemies. When detecting a high value enemy, they will often spin themselves to engulf their chassis in arcing energy fields that will sear and tear through targets with extreme efficiency. This is usually a prelude to usage of self destruct systems that will often finish off targets injured by the initial spiral dive attack. Mekaskrees are incapable of attacking at range, but are extremely fast in straight lines, but they notably are poor at adjusting their flight path at short notice and can thus be dodged by skilled combatants.

Samus' notes:

With their tendency to self destruct it's always best to aim at the one in proximity to the most others of the flock at once. That way you can take out much larger chunks of the group at a time and stop them from getting close.

Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Trisek

Tripedal drones built in memory of the Alimbics, Triseks attack with ultrahigh temperature flameweapons and plasma lash devices that allow them to serve as lethally effective close combat systems. Able to burn and sear their way through most forms of opposition, the Trisek is able to surprise more distant foes with its fire ball launch attacks to strike more distant opponents. Maneuverability is provided by repulsor coils mounted in the legs, allowing them to move at extreme speeds or make massive leaps to close the distance. But despite their preference for close quarters combat, the Triseks are vulnerable to being grappled themselves due to their lack of true grabbing limbs. Forcing them into extreme close quarters will likely be decisive.

Samus' notes:

The central hinge that connects their torsos to their legs is easily severed by the power blade. Physically tearing them open or smashing into them is also effective at splitting them in two.

Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Tankdrone

Small scale autonomous vehicular combatants designed for light security duties, the Tankdrone is roughly comparable in scale and role to low grade infantry combat vehicles, rather ironically given the name. Tankdrones are well armoured and are difficult to damage without first weakening the armour enough to allow for blunt force trauma to crack open the plating entirely to induce structural failure. Temperature stresses from select forms of beam or subweapon fire are the best means of inducing this weakness within the armour plating. On the offensive, Tankdrones will make use of whirlsaw energy pellets that induce cyclical thermal and kinetic damage in the targets they strike, allowing them to deal damage after impact and use torsional forces to induce stress failure.

Samus' notes:

Melee is typically more effective than missile fire at breaking open their armour after thermal shock starts the job of weakening them. Which is fine with me, it's more fun that way.

Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Industrial: Combat Capable: Tornegot (Part 1)

The Tornegot is designed for the purpose of blasting through lighter substances obstructing Chozo construction sites that do not require the more powerful drills of a Diggernaut yet cannot be teleported or transmuted for one reason or anotherl. With powerful aerokinetic devices built into their claw arms they are able to rapidly generate hypersonic wind forces able to erode through less solid substances in seconds while driving the disintegrated particulates forward to induce further erosion. The enormously powerful fans are also useful for removing other obstacles not firmly rooted in the ground as anything that is able to survive the fans is simply swept off of its feet barring extreme methods to retain footing. Cutting lasers are also mounted in the head to fine tune the process of mining, and power fields are fitted into the fan claws for further utility. However the power feed into the central head presents a weakness present within the eye.

Samus' notes:

Thank the Forgelord that Tornegots aren't as sturdy on their feet as Diggernauts or else I'd have a much harder time of things. That being said, keeping the pressure up with the Ice Beam is usually able to stop them in their tracks as long as there's enough air to crystallize around them to start locking up their joints.

Sylux's logbook

Planets: Tetra Galaxy: Sentinel Verge: Human Habitable: Alimbic: Visited: Sentus Primaris (Part 1)


Sentus Primaris is former laboratory world within the Tetrarch Order of the Alimbics and a Class 6A planet with an extensive series of Alimbic facilities dedicated to storage and research. Populated by a mixture of natural life and leftover relics from the Tetrarch Order, Sentus Primaris is categorised as a Blue grade Hostile world. Archaeological records and crossreferencing with the Chozo show that Sentus Primaris (formerly known as Cekrakth) was inhabited to the very end of the Tetrarch Order where its populace was evacuated and seems to have been swept up in the disappearance of the whole of the Alimbic people. Though most of the secret projects on the planet remain blocked by the remaining guardians who seek to prevent looters from achieving access, the crew of the Caesarian Lance quickly re-established an Alimbic presence following the Cylosian catastrophe. Though unwanted access is prohibited, the world soon became a place of extreme interest.

Arne's notes:

I honestly hated this place. It's lonely here and the machines were rarely good friends. And every day we stayed they cleared out more and more of the nature that overgrew the place. I like technology, but it started to feel oppressive. Hugin & Munin couldn't even find proper places to roost half the time until Elmorni made the arrangements. It's cold, metallic and unfriendly. I don't want to ever go back.

Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Psychobit

A levitating spherical sentry droid equipped with 360-degree sensors and a low-level teleportation device. The basic silver model fires kinetic energy blasts equivalent to the Chozo Power Beam system, whereas the advanced green model features a heavy duty gun launching ultra-dense radioactive projectiles launched by a nanoscale nuclear propulsion system. Manufactured from any gatherable matter en masse, Psychobits are vulnerable to most forms of concentrated weapons fire able to pierce through their shielding and armour. As such they are of little concern to precursor grade combatants save for in large swarms. However their teleportation systems, speed, and numbers allows them to easily outflank targeted enemies to provide multiple angle threats.

Arne's notes:

Fast, numerous, always more being built and packing decent amounts of firepower. Best thing to do is to pack something to deal with multiple aerial enemies at a time. Seeker missiles especially.

Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Voldrum

A high-speed rolling robot in nearly constant motion. Equipped with two large guns for attacking from a distance, it is equally efficient at close-quarters combat through its ability to generate close range disruptor fields that augment its ramming capabilities. Voldrums are more durable than their airborne Psychobit counterparts, and possess substantially more firepower as compensation for their reduced mobility. Though standard models do not have any particular weakness, they also do not possess any particular resistances and so can be dealt with by any weapon capable of causing their shielding and armour damage. Given their tendency to come in packs, area of effect weapons are recommended.

Arne's notes:

The easiest thing to do is to get an elevational advantage over them. They can jump but they're not graceful in the air. After a million and one training exercises, I think I've learned how to vertically flank them well enough.

Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Guardian

Specifically designed to guard the Tetrarch Order in case of violation of its facilities by trespassers, these automatons are now programmed to serve in its absence. These intelligent androids often travel in packs, attacking with energy projectiles produced by three small ZPE generators located in the cranium. With highly modular weapon systems, Guardians are extremely versatile and can be expected to make use of any number of weapons. Once companions to the Alimbic Warriors, they are designed to serve as essentially inferior versions of them, providing supporting fire and cover where needed as well as scouting ahead, harrying routing foes, and tying up assets that may otherwise interfere with more valuable or powerful assets in their duties.

Arne's notes:

Phase Drifting is immensely useful for dealing with their love of jumping around as if someone injected psychospiked fuel gel into their systems, there's no special trick to fighting them besides slamming your shots home into their heads. But that's a hard ask when they're designed to be hyper-agile.

Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Crash Pillar

Highly pleasing to Alimbic aesthetics, this sentry cyborg is dormant until it senses an intruder, and returns to a dormant state once the threat retreats. The Crash Pillar levitates by means of antigravity propulsion before attempting to smash its quarry. Vulnerable neurocircuity is housed underneath the base. Crash Pillars are extremely resistant to most weapons across the rest of their chassis to the point of near immunity and are immensely physically strong thanks to ultra high density synthetic fibromuscle packages located through out the machine's internal construction and as such is very difficult to engage in melee. Gravity manipulators are utilised to assist the machine in crushing foes it is able to float over, with few enemies surviving more than one impact.

Arne's notes:

My moms and dads can say whatever they like but I'll always think they look ugly. Just...big cylinder tripods standing there waiting to belly flop. If there's art behind it I don't get it and I don't think I want to. Dealing with them's simple enough if a bit chancy.

Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Crawlmech

Created by the Tetrarch order to ensure that the sanctity of medium value facilities remained observed, the Crawlmech is large and heavy to provide for stability for its massive caliber weapons suite to deliver heavy duty firepower to important zones of conflict. While considerably less adept in close quarters combat than other Alimbic war machines and exceeded by many later models of Alimbic large scale security drone, the Crawlmech's sheer size presents an obstacle for many would be enemies as its weak point is on the underbelly. A point difficult to reach given the effort required to upturn the large machine. Weapons fire into its central head systems may stun it and allow for an opportunity to overwhelm its rooting into the ground and provide an opportunity to launch a decisive attack.

Arne's notes:

They're artillery pieces which means getting as close as you can is the best course of action. And a good punch to the head is usually enough to disrupt their targeting systems. Or knock them off their feet. Probably not very useful advice for most people who aren't me.

Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Cretaphid

Utilizing some of the most sophisticated known Alimbic robotics technology, this massive cylindrical mechanism features precision laser weaponry as well as bio-energy seeking bursts of plasma. The Cretaphid is a key component of Alimbic defense technology, designed to safeguard important or sacred objects. Cretaphid armour and shielding is nearly impenetrable, but the core will be forced to temporarily eject if dangerous levels of feedback are detected. Feedback can be induced through attacking weapon nodes not currently in use, when all weapon nodes have registered sufficient damage to begin regenerative protocols the core will exit and begin its own efforts to attack with an ionic burst generator. However this leaves the core vulnerable to virtually all weapons fire until it returns to the pillar upon completion of regenerative protocols. Once the core is destroyed, the pillar will self destruct to avoid capture.

Arne's notes:

The Cretaphids are mostly just battles of endurance. You need to dodge until they show their vulnerabilities as they charge up the next set of weapons to shoot at you. After that it's fairly straight forward. The issue is more in keeping clear of all the projectiles sent your way. Not complicated opponents but I'm more curious as to why the Alimbics like big cylinders so much.​
 

Princet Valiant

Nonbinary Judeo-Bolshevik
Pronouns
Fae/Faer
Genesis: Forlorn Chapter 2 (AS&SA): The Paths entwine (Part 1)

Thought stretched out across space and time to reach for the minds of the long sleeping and recently risen. Two old minds reached for each other, their threads wrapping around each other into an impenetrable coil of telepathic communication. Across the endless expanse of the universe; or rather, just this little room these two minds met again as they had time after time again. On one end the golden light of Re-Sekh, Old Bird; gentle and calming, loving and sweet. On the other end was the azure glow of Elmorni, the Muse, motherly and warm, soft and kind.

Since his reawakening they had spoken to each other many times, Re-Sekh always asking to meet Elmorni in person so that the two elders could compare notes as it were. To see what progress the other had made. She made her secret rendezvous with her counterpart on Arganti, a neutral place held by neither Chozo nor Alimbic. But now she had something else in mind. Looking across the circular room as she spoke to the elder, she caressed a flower in a trough gently with the split fingers from her hand before rotating her floating, neckless head back to her counterpart.

“-I appreciate your efforts to keep me informed of your actions wise one. Especially to journey all the way out to this distant star just to have a chat with an old friend. So much time lost that we have to catch up on.-” Ten years to catch up on more than fifty thousand years of lost time for their old friendship. So far it hardly felt like they had even been making a dent in the monstrous task of making up for the lost era. But every meeting was warm and amicable.

There were conversations that repeated themselves with every in person meeting. Things the two always wanted to share even the smallest updates on. Usually the little things, personal matters that moved day to day rather than anything to do with grand and sweeping schemes and matters of politics.

“How are Ygrak and Mortirk? Have you started to see anyone else for that matter? I would hope that you have opened your heart further even in this era of twilight for the likes of our species. It would be a shame to forever crystallise yourself in the amber of present relations.”

She seemed to be elated that he asked, almost beatific. She hummed with a pleasant energy, her azure armour seeming to intensify the glow of its highlights as she swivelled her body fully towards him. And when she spoke again, her thoughtsong was wistful and melodic her mind drifting to ever more pleasant things. A topic she could bend his ear about for an eternity if he would only give her leave to speak about it.

“-Ygrak has started to take to the duties of caring for the boy more readily every day. Arne adores Mortirk...and I’ve started to see Agrama. Her thoughtsong is such rich music.-” She said. The thoughtsong of her voice was elated, rising above its usual sweetness to something a bit more wistful and happy.

“It is good that even at your age you can still find new things to inspire cheer. Were all of us who were so old so ready to find new joy.”

She picked up on his small chuckle as he let his helmet part from his face in a fizzle of light so that he could drink from a cup of hot tea held in his left gauntlet. His beak clicked against the glass and let the rich aromas of the brown, heated water fill his nostrils. The intoxicating scent of tanin, theobromine, caramelised sugars and more invaded his scent as he took a sip. The smooth honeyed liquid slid down his throat with little issue, and he almost trilled in satisfaction as the hot liquid wetted his throat. He let the warmth fill him, feeling an almost bodywide relaxation as the tea seemed to spread itself into every pore and cell. A vice that he often indulged in, even in his autumn years.

She however, seemed envious. Such morsels seemed so delctable to someone who could not taste them. A pleasure denied to her by her choice to remain hidden away in her armour for now out of respect for one she saw as a peer and thus should be met as such at all times. But alas, this was yet more suffering she would have to bear in jesting silence. She might teasingly complain about it to him later though, of course. She had missed the playful ribbing they had once given each other in her fifty thousand years of sleep. But she sensed the heavy words of his name about to slip his throat, like leadened weights strung onto the air. Unpleasant, a burden on thought and a sore on the eyes.

“I hear you have convinced Zurvduat to attend the meeting. How much effort did you require to molt his carapace?” He asked after a prolonged sip of his tea. Unpleasant memories of prolonged arguments bubbled forth and had to be fought down just as swiftly. No, she reminded herself, don't let that spoil the mood.

“-Beyond your imagination. I had to entice him with the offer of a chance to demonstrate his superiority. And that Mother Brain of yours...will be attending I assume?-” She asked, the psychic equivalent of a brow quirk forming like an imperative in his mind.

“She insisted to be allowed to observe. I thought it would be harmless enough to indulge her. Though remember to keep her at arms length. She is gruff and unsuited for softer tasks, but given time she may learn.”

His eyes looked upwards at the taller insectoid, red upon yellow, two into one.

“But your Neophyte...I will be very glad to meet him in person.”

“-Likewise, I’m sure the Hatchling has grown to be a wonderful young woman.-” A genuflection was offered, prompt and polite.

A feeling of warmth exuded from him as he looked her dead in her singular eye, responding with a gesture of his own to show his respect for a fellow ancient of many years. “May they represent cooperation between our two peoples rather than division."

Cooperation, a nice thought. Perhaps unlikely, difficult with the heavy weight of foregone aeons weighing down all interactions between the two peoples. But it was very much a nice thought all the same. "-I would hope that we could all bury the ancient rivalry. Be comrades in philosophy as well as arms as we were in the old days.-"

"I would enjoy that greatly. To the shared dream." He said.

"-To the shared dream.-" She agreed.

Chozodian Creche, Zebes​

Samus was just about bouncing with glee as she received the news. She had leaped straight out of her seat where she had been busy reading through datalogs on a screen, her white coloured sleeveless outfit flexing somewhat as she moved and landed onto her feet after managing the backflip. She calmed down quickly enough, stilling herself before she could do something like tackle the people who raised her to the ground. But there was a tense energy within her, one waiting for an avenue of release. Her eyes had a bright gleam and her expression, though relaxing gradually was clearly one of keen interest.

She had just about tackled Isa-Hesh with her hug, the Chozo letting out a surprised coo but returning the gesture all the same. She was a hugger, a platinum class triple A grade cuddler whose arms were as capable of gentle softness as they were of crushing the life from even the roughest of beasts.

“What’s Arganti like?” She asked, the first question that came to her mind.

“A quiet planet. Once a place of discussion and trade. But for this meeting it can be so once again. A place of festivities and merriment, even given some of the company we will be keeping.” August Wing said gently, stroking her hair as she spoke, getting Samus to rub her head into the strokes affectionately.

“Mmh, what about its biosphere? What lives on it now?” Ah, the real questions.

"Mostly docile life forms. You won't be finding any creatures of the wild to test yourself against there. But many machines of eras long past cling to its old bones. You will find excitement there, should you wish it." Grey Voice spoke up, folding his hands behind his back. Samus studied his face, impassive as ever unfortunately, just like his usual monotone. But then, why else call him Grey Voice? Colourless, dull...She banished such thoughts and nodded her head.

“Have you met the Alimbics? Are they like the stories say?" She asked.

Another presence dropped into the room with the grace of an anvil tossed out the airlock to make re-entry. A heavy, malignant aura that almost made everyone feel like they weighed a dozen times more than they should was now cast onto them like an eclipse's shadow. A spherical drone bearing an eye like camera floated around, a swarm of lesser drones hovering around it as if it were a bee queen being ferried to a new hive. When they spoke, it was with the telepathic equivalent of having a megaphonepressed to your ear, grating, unpleasant and full of noisy feedback.

"-Certainly their leadership has a better handle on how to approach the questions of galactic politics than most of those within this room.-" Mother Brain said.

Oh great, Samus thought.

"-What a pity then, that I am denied a chance to collaborate with them up until this point. No matter, the error of that will be corrected now.-"

"Mother...you were not invited to this conversation." Grey Voice.

He was stern, even towards her. While technically Platinum Voice had the run of things while Old Bird was away; Somek-Ka had the air of leadership behind him. He was still possessed of youthful vigour, and his gaze was harder than Inviolanium alloy. Even Mother Brain blinked when made to contest her gaze before that. But it was only a blink.

"-Zebes is my body, Grey Voice. The circuits you have woven through it are my nerves, the energy I draw from the zebetite my oxygen, the command nodes are my synapses, the machinery my cells. I will it, and it is done. Do not presume that I am a junior you can cut out of conversations simply because you dislike my presence. I will speak, and I shall be listened to.-"

Samus growled internally, low enough to ensure that she could not hear while her expression formed into a frown. Why did she have to barge into what was supposed to be a space she could speak privately in? It was bad enough that she literally had eyes across the entire planet and beyond through her enormous network of cameras and sensors, but having her direct presence in this room felt sacrosanct and invasive. An unpleasant reminder that Mother knew everything and could not be escaped.

"Can't you ask before you poke in here?" Samus said.

"-I am already monitoring your whereabouts and actions at all times, Infant. There is no need for me to request consent to move one of my Oculi avatars to your location.-"

"Shut up. Please, just shut up." Samus grunted, her voice low and private.

"-Your presumption to give me orders is unamusing and misplaced, Infant; and you would be wise to remember this. Need I remind you that after your stunt with the Iono-Feria you require special monitoring lest you have another temper tantrum.-" Mother Brain's insult prompted Samus to grab the spherical machine in her hands the second it floated near her to try and invade her personal space, her fingers starting to crush inwards with enough force to leave impressions on metal meant to survive even the molten heat of Norfair or the deepest seas of Maridia.

"Do. Not. Remind. Me." The growl in her voice was like that of a crocodile. What would happen if Mother Brain pushed it was made obvious as the Oculi's chassis began to crumple from the squeezing of her deceptively slender fingers.

"-And here we have another example of your lack of discipline.-"

"They were innocent, they didn't know what they were doing with those guns. You murdered them all after I disarmed them. Why didn't you trust me!?"

"-You are naive. They showed clear violent tendencies. It was simpler to eliminate than to rehabilitate.-"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"That was about control, about showing me up for proving you wrong. Stop lying to me and get a clue!" She shouted as the metal for the Oculi started to crush inwards. Already immense pressure intensified further as she let her scorn be known, but Grey Voice's stern gaze was soon pointed towards her before she could show Mother Brain just how well she'd been paying attention in mechanical studies.

"Samus, that will be enough. She will be coming, but as one amongst equals. Is that not correct, Mother Brain?" He said, tilting his head at first towards the young girl, and then towards the machine she reluctantly let go of. Grey Voice gave a slightly pleased nod of acknowledgement that got the tiniest of smirks from the young girl, but a profound sense of disappointed irritation from Mother Brain.

"Samus is our child and appointed heir, you will respect her as she is due, Mother Brain." August said, clasping her gauntleted fingers together after patting Samus on the back.

"-Yes...your...our Heir.-"

War Chambers, Sentus Primaris​

Arne leaped out of the cockpit of the Sleipnir. The forward swept wings and enlarged tailfins almost gave the impression of having two sets of wings, like some insectile merging of the old Earth Su-37 and an enlarged Su-47 into one hyper-preformance fighter craft, and the canards on its conical nose almost gave one the impression that whomever designed the two tone blue and one tone red highlighted craft was very much of the opinion that having anything less than the greatest possible amount of control surfaces was the basest form of heresy. But the twin tails, angled subtly, when combined with its shifting thrusters and its rather smooth arthropoid like chassis made it clear that this was a craft that could dance in any atmosphere, not just space.

Arne himself had participated in designing the Sleipnir as his examination of choice for his technology studies program. And his reward for passing the test was the chance to name it at Ygrak's insistence. Zurvduat himself saw it as a waste of his time to oppose the endeavour, especially when the Palatine Mind A.I of the Caesarian Lance had given the boy his voice of approval. and so acquiesced. Even his authority had limits, however much he detested them. And he felt proud of his accomplishment.

That pride rose even higher when the sounds of the exploding practice drones his hovering craft had vanquished finally caught up to him as he landed. Thunderclaps and the keen of exploding plasma cells caught his attention, but his eyes were focused on Ygrak who was monitoring the exercise; the Red Tetrarch. His helmet dissipated into blue light while he looked with a satisfied smile at her approving nod. But her enthusiasm paled compared to the Black armoured Agrama; Chief of Engineers who regarded him with deep felt pride that rooted itself in his mind as if he was the one who felt it himself.

"-Your piloting skills are exemplary. Perhaps the best of any recruit I've ever had to work with. And your rate of improvement is just stellar. Good job, Arne.-" Agrama said, offering him a pat on the head that got a warm, affectionate smile from the boy. He looked at the Black carapaced Alimbic and gave her a quick embrace before pulling back and looking to Ygrak who

"-There was clear room for improvement, we should continue practice.-" Zurvduat said.

"+That will not be necessary. He has had four hours of continual practice drills, a break is recommended.+" The Palatine Mind chimed in. The Palatine's voice was firm but fair. Though merely an advisor, his judgements had never been anything less than reasonable. Arne liked him though he was ultimately distant, mostly seeking to optimise the preformance of limited resources.

"-He is right, let us give him more time. Especially when we will be departing for Arganti soon enough.-" Ygrak said.

"-Why would we allow him to break from his training to allow him to...vacation on Arganti? I remain opposed to allowing him to depart.-" Urim said, folding his arms, not even acknowledging Arne was there at all.

"I'm here you know? And I want to go. Please don't take this from me." The boy said. He was concerned that there was even a discussion about pulling him away from a chance to go out and explore the universe beyond Sentus Primaris or the Caesarian Lance. Especially after this trip had been planned for so long. He was honestly hurt that they'd even consider not letting him go for the sake of more damned by every single deity he prayed to retrials. Had he not already proven himself beyond any room for doubt that he could handle it? What more did they want?

"Didn't you tell me I was already the best pilot here?" He asked, pointedly looking at Urim who returned the gaze as if to say something before evidently thinking better of it. Urim disliked his tendency to ask questions, and he never made that not obvious in every interaction he had with the Green armoured Alimbic.

"-That you are the best among this limited company does not mean we cannot make you better still, that is all.-" Urim said.

"-You need not sound so apologetic for speaking the truth.-" Osith said, her voice as rigid as a metal pillar.

"-While I do not believe it is useful to continue to needle him for overall improvement, to deny that there were some flaws in his technique would be to coddle him. We have time, another practice run could be done in that span.-" Deglos said as Arne started to simmer in his corner. He didn't feel it fair or just that they should be given leave to go and...just talk about him as if he wasn't even there to listen.

But he had another sympathizer amongst the ranks of the Alimbics, and they had similar thoughts regarding the habits of the others. "-Perhaps your time in frontline service in the military has addled your memories but this is no way to raise a child. Arne, are you alright? They haven't asked for further obscenities of training have they? Is there anything you would like for me to pass to Elmorni before we see her?-" Mortirk said, his yellow frame floating into view and quickly pulling Arne away from the gaze of the Tetrarch's peers.

"-They've pushed him hard for the strike craft combat lessons, but he's fine for now. Still, I think it is time we move onto other topics, if it would please the military triumvirate; we of the civilian tetrarchy submit our appeal to end training for the duration of festivities.-" Ygrak said, offering a small bow to the gathered officials out of respect. Necessitated but not exactly desired. She was under little illusion that the military officials regarded her authority as scarcely worth the chameleocircuits of her armour but if she put her foot down maybe, just maybe they would listen to her for once.

Deglos and Osith looked to one another to confer in telepathic silence. The buzz of their voices inaudible to Arne. He wondered for a moment what they were saying, unaware of the vicious debate the two had. Deglos' apathy pitted against Osith's scorn. But even without being able to peer into the conversation he was able to sense a great deal of strife between the two. Mental heat washing over his mind's perception as they aired their proverbial dirty laundry in front of him. Definitely an experience he could do without. Zurvduat for his part was pointedly being distracted from the conversation by the attentions of the Palatine; to keep his mouth shut before he said anything.

Finally, the note of a bitter agreement was plucked in the air and he sensed a degree of satisfaction, signifying that they had resolved their debate with a degree of amicability. "Well? What do you think?" He asked, though he tensed visibly when the two of them looked back at him. He felt exposed, as if he was about to be punished. He very well could be, he had spoken out of turn after all, but he was starting to feel defiant.

"-You will have your rest then, Primoris.-" Osith said as if the words were poison in her nonexistent throat.

"-Excellent, may I suggest a range of fulfilling recreational activities then?-" The Palatine said.

"Oh...sure!" Arne smiled, a small victory but he'd take it all the same.
 
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