Disruption (IC)

The Masquetilan had a choice between two targets, one had gotten close by, but overall, something else was trying to attack it from a distance. It's incredible senses that made up for its blinded eyes didn't lie, so instead of going after Isbar, it chose to go after Xerin, who was firing something extremely painful into each of its wounds, making them worse. It had already reasoned by now that it could get out of the way, so that is exactly what it did. From now on, it wasn't going to be a stationary target for everyone to attack, and this time, no matter what they did to distract it, it wasn't going to stop targeting whatever it went after. They were dividing its attention, and it learned its lesson the hard way. It wouldn't fall for it again. It slithered, lightning quick, constantly changing where its coils were, making it nearly impossible for any blasts to hit their mark, because it moved so much. It came right at Xerin, and this time, when Haku, having recovered from the powerful blow from the beast's tail, attacked it, pecking at its back with his long, sharp beak, it flinched with pain, but didn't stop coming. It was going to hurt someone, and if it had to get injured in the process, well, it was already injured enough.

Ignoring a recovered Haku, who was now trying to peck and claw at its back, the Masquetilan slammed its skull into Xerin's side, a blow that would send him flying at least a short distance. It then reached up with its injured tail and gripped Travis, who had been attempting to ram its lowered head with his horns, and brutally lifted him up, and slammed him down where it heard yet another attacker. Both Blair and Travis both were sent sprawling away in a tangle of limbs, Travis having become a flung projectile to stop Blair from attacking with his powerful limbs. It then proceeded to do the same thing to Haku, it snared the Vitisan before he could get away, and flung him at Kerr, both knocked out of the sky as their flight patterns were subsequently ruined. In this way, the serpent had temporarily thrown five attackers off of balance, leaving them vulnerable until they recovered. It was clear that the predator was figuring out how to effectively deal with them, despite their teamwork, and the fact that it was blind.

It then continued to move, never stopping to pause, it kept increasing in speed, weaving in circles and figure-eights, making it ever-more difficult for anyone to accurately hit their mark. All the while, Haku, the closest to the beast, and the first to attempt to rise, was continuously swept off his feet by the Masquetilan's tail, as it tried to keep anyone from ever re-gaining their footing. Something had to keep it from doing anything, if only just long enough for everyone to get back up and fight it again. Ravage swooped in, Samir flying close behind, and they both took advantage of the movement. Ravage lowered her four clawed feet and allowed the movement of the serpent to create a deep gash running along its back, and Samir, following behind, and having no sharp talons of his own, simply drove his feet into the wounds, causing them to widen. Soon, the Masquetilan's entire back was coated with blood, and there was a certain amount of slowing in its movement. Blood loss was making it weak.

Svar, after the Masquetilan had gotten dangerously close to impacting him, had watched the battle, occasionally helping the others by weakening the beast's scales. However, it was at this point in time that he decided that it was ready to pull out all the stops. Svar went down from branch to branch, quickly adjusting his plasma beam. He had created a pre-set alternate configuration for the device in case of combat situations but had never gotten the chance to test it or use it. Svar got down to the elevation where the Masquetilan was rather quickly for his size. He landed in front of Xerin, slowly backing up to help him to his feet while further adjusting the beam cannon.

As he got right in front of the Jorro'kil, he held out his left arm, revealing that he had been able to shift the armor and weapon into a miniature, highly powerful plasma railgun. Slowly it began to charge, and the Krathunian steadily aimed it at the center part of the side where some injuries had become worsened by the other's efforts.

"Might want to move about now!" He shouted in an almost guttural manner before activating the railgun and shooting it. The plasma acted as the armature in this instance, speeding out between the two rails incredibly quickly before rocketing towards the Masquetilan. Svar held his breath in anxiety, unsure if it would work.  

((Again, sorry, been very busy. I guarantee the next Continuum Corrupter post will be out tomorrow, been editing it a bunch and still not happy with it.))

Isbar, once he saw how things were going, quickly scrambled back up the tree, until he was once again higher than the Masquetilan. The creature was clearly learning from its mistakes, and repeating the same attack pattern he had used before would probably not work. He noticed that the creature seemed to be keeping more focused with its attacks, coming straight for one target and ignoring everything else until it had made a hit. Isbar decided to use this to his advantage. Leaping down on to a lower branch, he opened his guns and fired to get the creatures attention. "Come to Papa," he said.

In this case, whatever the one creature had hit the Masquetilan was too much. It was struck dead-on in one of its wounds, and it screeched so loudly that it rattled the tree branch, and the sound, at such a volume, sounded eerily like someone screaming in agony; it wasn't far from the truth. It decided, with its wounds ripped so that they leaked blood profusely, that this is not a fight that it would win. It needed to escape, quickly, before anymore damage could be done. It needed to retreat so it could heal its wounds, if blood loss did not kill it. It was already blinded, and badly hurt, if 'badly hurt' even justified how severe its injuries were. It frantically seemed to look around, and, after seeing that it had no way out, did something nobody expected it to do. It seemed to just give up, surrendering to these creatures to do with it as they saw fit. It was not stupid, but it was just growing too tired and too weak to keep fighting like this. It had slithered up here from the very forest floor, and had not, in fact, eaten anything since its arrival. If it surrendered to these strange creatures in the canopy, perhaps they would spare it, as it knew they were intelligent things, just like it was. They used strategy, it could tell, and if it was lucky, they would see that it was done fighting and leave it alone.

The creature, keeping with its decision, stopped moving, and slowly coiled up, its head laying flat on the ground, with a deep rumbling in its throat that became high-pitched near the end of each growl. It was rather clear that it wasn't doing any more fighting. Xenos padded right up to its face, and roared at it, and it immediately moved its face away from him, refusing whatever challenge the Spiromander had voiced. Arrow came up, then, and barked at it, and it repeated the action, until finally, it tucked its face under one of its coils, so that its head was hidden. By this point, everyone had found the behavior strange. Blair got to his feet, helping up Travis as he did so, he looked over at the Masquetilan, "Make no mistake, the creature's surrendering. The decision is up to us if we kill it or spare it. Either way, it will die of blood loss if it escapes into the wild, now." He said. At this time, help arrived, bringing with it a ton of hovercrafts that stayed above the branch. Something was shot out of a platform hovering above. A rain of syringe darts hit the Masquetilan, and the coils relaxed. It was unconscious from the tranquilizers.

One of the hovercrafts landed, and a male Vitisan stepped out, wearing a brown uniform with a golden badge on it. Other Vitisans piloting the vessels were wearing a similar uniform. The Vitisan walked over, and held up his hands so people would stop trying to fight, and then watched as another platform filled with scientists, judging by the scrubs they were wearing, got off and ran over to the sleeping creature to examine it. Samir landed, covered in the reptile's blood, and walked over to the man in charge, "Alright, so where were you earlier?" He demanded, angry that the help they needed didn't come, as expected.

The stranger held up his hand, "I am Chief Hill, head of the wildlife troopers in this area, and it is my department to deal with wild animals. In this case, we have a very special Masquetilan, here. Usually aggressive males come up here, but those researchers over there claim that this one is actually a female. Also, we've received no reports of anyone disappearing, meaning this one hasn't had the chance to become a man-eater. That means legally, we don't have to kill it if we contain it. The scientific community of Vitis is actually thrilled, they only recently finished designing a building that can be used to contain one of these beasts." He folded his arms, and looked over at it, "If she doesn't die of blood loss, first. Look, honestly, I would rather kill it myself, but these scientists have more authority than I do, and they've never had a captive one to study before."

Everyone had come up by this point, and Travis scowled, "So you're telling me, that they want to cart this thing off to some special facility so they can study it? That thing attacked us!"

Hill nodded again, "Yes, I am aware of that, and I know that you probably have mixed feelings about this, but it looks to me like it gave up right when we arrived. These creatures have used that behavior before, when they decided their situation was pretty much hopeless. The difference is the ones we killed had already eaten someone, and we can't allow them to live if they're man-eaters, once they get a taste of our blood, they aren't allowed to survive. We don't exterminate the population, but we don't permit ones preying on our people, either, because Masquetilans can kill so many at once. We'll take this thing off your hands, and it's going to be kept in captivity for the rest of its life, I think that's punishment enough for it coming up here. Besides, it looks like you taught the creature a big lesson about not attacking intelligent beings. It probably won't try the same thing again."

By this point, the scientists had wrapped a sterile white cloth around the creature's face, to cover its damaged eyes eyes, and they had also put a sack over its snout, so it couldn't smell properly or bite. It was a standard procedure for keeping animals from panicking or growing aggressive, they didn't usually attack if they couldn't see how to move. It was then somehow eased, coil by coil, onto some sort of gigantic lowered square of a gurney or net, which was then lifted by a bunch of platforms. "We're going to airlift it to the facility." Hill looked between everyone, "In the meantime, I would offer if you would like to come to the hospital for a bit, to make sure you're alright. I know it's probably frustrating to interrupt the battle, I know some people get mad when we break up fights, but you really have done Vitis more of a favor if you let the thing live."

By this point, Aolani had piloted the craft back, after receiving word that the Masquetilan was being airlifted away. "Guys, what happened?" She asked, stepping off the platform after landing it.

Samir scowled, "Animal rescue happened."

Isbar scowled, looking disappointed. He turned away. Aarin hopped off the returning platform.

"Is everyone all right?" he asked.

Eventually, the shuttle landed on a multilevel docking pad at the outskirts of the Ra’anian, the capital city of Sethega. After everyone had checked in at the city’s customs center and were vaccinated, they were left to wander the streets of the city. Despite having been under Krathunian control again for only ten years, Ra’anian was booming. Huge skyscrapers jutted from the snowy plateau on which it rested into the gray sky. Thousands of consumer air vehicles methodically buzzed slightly below the tops of the buildings like swarms of insects. This was at the center of the metropolis – As you got further from it, the buildings got shorter but the hustle of the city never died down.

Admiral Rakluth turned to Q’ren, who looked disappointed at the sights. “What exactly are you looking for?”

The older Krathunian shook his head, astounded not at the scale of the city but from the fact that the old Ra’anian had been annihilated by the Karthla. He seemed to whisper, “it’s such a shame…” before looking up at Rakluth and speaking aloud. “I’m looking for the Archives of the Ancients, according to the military records I hacked into you hide it from the Karthla and it’s still here.” He began, scanning the area with what seemed to be a disc. Theranis growled at the last statement, and Rakluth seemed to stifle a laugh. “There should be certain energy signals coming from the inside that we would be able to detect.”

“I doubt it’s in this area,” Theranis grumbled, still disgruntled from the incident before. “Why don’t we all take one a split up?”

“That’s a good idea, Sentinel.” Q’ren grinned. “Ok, each of you take one of these.” Out of a compartment in Q’ren’s armor came three silver, disk shaped devices. “These are scanners. They’re already pre-set to the energy level we need to find because, well, I’ve had to look for this Krathuin CENSORED signal before. Just tap the center to activate it and hold it so the curved side is facing you. Simply rotate your arm around where you are. If you’re pointing at the signal, the disc will change slowly into a sphere until you’re right above it.”

Rakluth nodded. “Ok. Admiral Lirr, you go with the Sentinel. Zizo, you go with Q’ren – At the least you’ll get to ask him about the Corrupter. Teglin, you can go with me. Any objections?”

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Svar approached the platform with the rest of the group, witnessing the exchange between Chief Hill and Samir. Like Isbar, he was disappointed, though was glad that he had been able to test his railgun, and that it worked very well.

He looked to Aarin, and responded, "I'm fine, though I can't speak for everyone else."

Xerin walkd over to where the discussion between Hill and Samir was taking place, and responded to Aarin's question.

"I'm fine. No Masquetilan can break these bones." He said, patting the side of his body that was hit by the Masquetilan.

"Now..Even in its awful state, I think we should kill this thing. But I suppose the uh...officials know best." He said with a slight smirk that quickly disappeared.

Chief Hill narrowed his eyes, "It wasn't my decision to make, pal, don't mock me for something I have no control over. The scientific community sticks its nose into everything on Vitis, there's still a million times I could list where we got a call to deal with a wild animal, and it turns out it's a new species that hasn't ever been kept in captivity before. In that case, they can give me orders and I lose my job for not obeying. That thing is aggressive, and I truly believe that everyone will have quite the time trying to handle it once it wakes up, but if it can lead to a solution that will eventually allow us to better deal with more Masquetilan attacks in the future, then why not?" He flicked his tail, and watched the departing platforms that were air-lifting the gigantic serpent, "I'm aware that scientists can be clever, but you'd be amazed how many of them lack common sense. I hope they remember to be cautious when dealing with it, we had to put down an escaped primate earlier this morning because of an inexperienced assistant that forgot to close the door to its pen." He then looked back at everyone else, "Now, that set aside, you have much merit and authority on Vitis, now, because you've just stopped one from killing someone, and the scientific community can legally keep it without conflicting with higher parts of the law. Because of that, you're going to be quite famous, and you're already going on a mission to discover our lost cousins, am I right?"

Travis' tilted his head to one side, "And your point?" He asked.

Hill shrugged, and turned, slowly walking back to his hovercraft, "It means that you guys are going in history and science books that will be read in schools all throughout the UCN." He called over his shoulder, as he piloted his hovercraft, and left, soon the troopers only leaving Samir's hovercraft, and those in the group with the exploration mission.

Samir stared after where they went, and seemed to grow angry, his beak turning bright red, "The nerve," He then sighed, trying to calm himself down, "Ah, I probably shouldn't be angry with him. It's the scientific community of Vitis, not the wildlife troopers. The troopers are the ones that get put at risk, the scientists got the easy part. Hill probably constantly has to deal with people in the same boat as us, it's hard to feel sympathy when you've simply grown sick of getting upset over what you can't control. We have plenty of species on this planet that we know of, but there's plenty more appearing all the time that we haven't discovered, yet. My neighbor actually caught a new species of squirrel last year in her pantry. That was in the neighboring area, though, so I'm not familiar with Hill. The chief there had a similar attitude, though."

He stepped back on his hovercraft, taking the controls from Aolani, and Arrow slowly limped up beside him, the creature stiff from the bruises. "Alright, I think everyone had enough excitement for one day, and it'll be sunset soon. Let's get back to the Majesty so we can clean up a bit, we look like we murdered someone, with all this blood. People are going to stare if we don't hurry up and wash it off."

All on the ride back, Isbar stood apart, his face bearing a look of angry disappointment, as if he had been denied something he had wanted dearly.

"My goodness," said Mott, looking over at him from where everyone else was. "What a sour-puss. You'd think that you guys lost the fight."

Aarin looked thoughtful. When Isbar had first jumped out to join the battle, Aarin had noticed a strange look on his face; but it was one Aarin had seen before, and recognized. "Poor fellow, I wonder why?" he said quietly to himself.
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"Righto, old fellow," said Zizo. He turned to his companion. "Shall we?"

Teglin seemed about to make an objection, but then shut his mouth.

Ravage was was glad when the hovercraft landed by the Majesty and allowed everyone to get off. She was already frustrated that nobody could kill the Masquetilan, considering it had clearly been a highly aggressive animal, and everyone would probably be better off if that creature was dead. However, the more she thought about it, and tried to stay angry, the more difficult she found it to achieve that goal. She couldn't find it in her heart to actually hate the serpent, even though it had tried to kill her, along with everyone else. Trying to hate an animal like it was like trying to hate Xenos, and hadn't everyone thought the same thing about the Spiromander when he had escaped from his shipping crate? In the end, he wasn't a mindless beast, but an extremely intelligent creature who was almost like another person, and a very close friend, at that. He had a temper, and was protective, but Xenos was always willing to tolerate people, and take food from others. He would let people who proved they could be trusted ride on his back, and hadn't even remotely protested when Ravage had put the saddle on him. This patience was shocking to the wild, out-of-control anger he had behaved with when he had gotten loose, and he had quickly learned how to properly behave around others. Finally, Ravage decided that there was no point staying angry about the Masquetilan remaining alive. It was a smart creature, capable of learning from its mistakes, and hopefully, if it would take food in captivity from others, it would learn to tolerate the scientists around it. It was also interesting that if most of the ones that came to the canopy were male, that this one was female. What was she doing up here, anyway?

As Ravage stroked Xenos' nose while she thought, Blair walked up behind her, "Ye still angry about that Masquetilan living?" He asked.

Ravage sighed, and shook her head, "No, it would be wrong, and if there's anyone who should have faith in that creature being allowed to live, it should be me. Everyone wanted to kill Xenos when I first got him, but he was out of control because his captors didn't even care how he was treated. They starved him, and didn't give him enough water to keep him healthy. He behaved as though he were out-of-control, but I thought he could be tamed, and taught to behave properly around intelligent beings. I was right, and now I can't think about that Masquetilan without thinking that if I condemn it, it would be like me deciding that Xenos wasn't worth the risk I took to try to keep him alive. I tried being angry, but it feels wrong."

Blair nodded slowly, "So ye believe in the impossible. That's good, because the best people believe that anything can be done. We can't control what those scientists do with that Masquetilan, but we'll probably get news once in awhile about that beast. If ye believe that they can tame it, and that it'll do good for people, in the end, then I will believe that, as well. Then, I can be satisfied with things the way they are, instead of being upset over what I can't control. Life is filled with surprises, the real challenge is overcoming all of them and still believing that there's a better side to all of it. It turns out the better side to life is remembering that it's wonderful, all the different things that ye can do."

Ravage stopped stroking Xenos, and looked at Blair, "That is good advice, so why, do you think, do people choose not to listen, when they would be much better off?"

Blair could see that she already knew the answer to her own question, she was testing to see if Blair actually knew what he was talking about. "Everybody is flawed by nature, and many are proud, they think they're the best at everything, and even the most vain of individuals would claim to be humble. We are protective of our mistakes, so we refuse to trust the judgement of others, because we stubbornly hold on to the illusion that we're perfect."

Ravage nodded, "Good answer, that's true." She said. She then walked back up the ramp into the large spaceship, Xenos by her side.

As she did so, she passed a group of Vitisan workers who were sitting on crates around a radio of sorts, a news report was being mentioned on it,

"In breaking news, representatives from the exploring cruiser the Majesty encountered a female Masquetilan while touring the local district. They proceeded to engage it in combat, and it stopped struggling upon the arrival of local authorities and scientists. This Masquetilan, not having been linked to any disappearances or deaths, was rushed to a specially-built containment facility where it is currently being treated for its injuries. Scientists claim that in the fight the representatives blinded both eyes, but with current medical technology, it appears to be possible to restore sight to its left eye. The Masquetilan, now affectionately named 'Old Sal' by the veterinarians, is expected to make a full recovery, and will spend the rest of her life in captivity to be observed by scientists..."

Ravage flicked her tail, sighing. Old Sal isn't a name she thought somebody would give that creature, but at the same time, it's seemingly ornery personality might be fitting. Now hopefully Sal wouldn't kill anyone during her stay.

Aarin also heard the radio broadcast. "Old Sal, eh?" he said. "Interesting choice for a name." He went to see if he could help with loading.

Before Ravage went back into the Majesty, Xerin had been walking by, and overheard her and Blair's conversation. He stopped walking to hear Blair's answer to Ravage before she went back up the ramp. "I concur with Ravage." After she had made an answer to Blair's. "You seem very wise. Earlier, when I remarked about the officials deciding what is best, though I suppose I understand why that Hill fellow might not appreciate it...heh, I was poking fun at myself, somewhat, being a commander on the Jorro'kil Councils, I think it can be good to laugh at yourself, even if the situation might be frustrating. "

He walked closer to Ravage, and dipped his beak. "Hello, I don't think we have been properly introduced. I'm Xerin Grei." He said with a small smile.

Svar had walked past Ravage and Blair during their conversation, overhearing nothing in particular before heading up the ramp to the majesty. Upon entering he decided to go immediately to the forge to continue work on his armor.

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The groups all set off to go to work. At the time, they had been in a plaza, with hundreds of Krathunians going about their day around them. Q'ren and Zizo went to the north, towards the central area of the Ra'anian. This is where Q'ren stated that he had recalled the Archives being on the hacked records. Rakluth and Teglin went south towards the governmental buildings, while Theranis and Lirr headed west to a more consumer based section. The Wreae, undetected by Rakluth previously, stalked unseen to the east, scanning with its own machinery.

Q'ren held his device out, focusing on the small hologram it projected that showed the energy thresholds. He occasionally bumped into a Krathunian or two, who gave him either a distasteful look or one of surprise that such a figure would be wearing armor that either belonged in archives or a laboratory. He beckoned for Zizo to come to the side, still scanning.

"Now, you had question about how the Corrupter works earlier," He said in a low tone. "What we're searching for is the first of a couple parts of its power source. This source allows the Corrupter to fire a beam of incredibly powerful energy at its target. It's known as the Seraph Core - You may be familiar with a basin-like structure on board my ship. That's where the Seraph Core will be held. It's composed of three parts, the first being the Seraph Device. This is what we're looking for at the moment." He looked back to his scanner in disappointment. "The archives here have energy signals from pre-Karthla Krathunian technology. This technology was purposefully lost when we escaped from Sethega so the Karthla couldn't trace us. That's how we're going to find it."

The Sentinel and Lirr walked down through a street that was, relative to the one that Q'ren and Zizo were on, desolate. There were still many Krathunians, though they were all government officials or representatives. The Sentinel held out gauntlet, which had a scanner similar to that of Q'ren built in. He looked down at Lirr, and attempted to make small talk while searching. "So, tell me about your empire, Admiral. The Covenant and the Markovans have encountered each other before but not much in a diplomatic way."

Rakluth and Teglin continued on as well. Rakluth's scanner was malfunctioning, and he grew frustrated at it before resetting the device. While it was processing this, he turned to Teglin. "You don't seem very happy with Zizo or the mission in general," he began, showing his Admiral insignia to scare off anyone who gave the Vatarri a strange look. "Is there an issue?"

Ravage turned to look at Xerin, tilting her head off to one side, her eyes squinting, as though she were trying to piece something together. "Ravage," She said, giving a small nod of her beak, though she continued to watch the Jorro'kil warrior closely. "So your last name is Grei?" She thought a moment longer, before her eyes widened with recognition, "I know you, I have not the slightest doubt about it, now." She said. Her eyes then narrowed again, with suspicion, this time, "So how many times will I run into people I've known in the past, do you suppose?" She kept noticing that she was often running into people she used to know, but Xerin had known her before her mutations, he knew her actual identity, if he had put the pieces together about the ship she piloted, and all the things she had supposedly dealt with in the past that she had allowed others to know.

Xerin was slightly hesitant, hesitant because he had eavesdropped during Ravage's conversation with the other Chimerosu, but now he was also sure he knew her.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer your question, but I suppose it must happen fairly frequently. Who knows, maybe you will run into others from your past. Such as my cousin, you would know him I think, a Zealot."

His smile had disappeared but breifly returned before his expression turned to one of remembrance.

"But, I think I do know you as well. I was quite young, and in a different profession...."

He turned to stare at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Ravage. "Strange, isn't it? So much has happened and yet here we are. We made it through." He stretched out his arm pet Xenos, before standing back up to go up the ramp to the Majesty.

"Righto," said Zizo eagerly. "Let's go find this thing. My my," he chuckled. "To think I'm going to be looking at something so advanced. That old stuffed-shirt Mott Gatiir would be mad with jealousy right now."
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Lirr took a breath. "We are a militaristic empire by nature, though military activity has petered out a little of late. Most of the current empire was founded on conquest, but very little of that has been going on of late. The size of the empire is starting to get a little unwieldy." He was silent for a moment.

"That's not the main issue if you ask me though." He sighed and looked at the Sentinel. "In many ways, my people are very passionate and driven. When they believe in something, they'll work tirelessly to achieve it, even if they know it can't be achieved in their lifetime. And that," continued Lirr, "is something that sets us apart. We are able to have a great many children very quickly (I was the one-thousand-four-hundred-and-fifty-third in my own family), but we also are extremely short-lived compared to other space-faring races. Even with improvements in medicine and increased standards of living the average lifespan of Markovans is only about thirty years." Lirr shrugged. "That seems to be the way of nature. Those races that live long have only a fairly small number of offspring; those that have many children, though, pay for their productivity with a shortened lifespan."

Lirr paused for a moment, lost in his own musings. Then he continued. "It's often been the belief in our culture that we are destined to dominate the galaxy someday. I myself think that's a little unrealistic for various reasons. However, we strive for justice and honor as well. That was how the Code of Honor was born, to ensure that we would be better than our enemies, and not fall to their level."

A troubled look came into Lirr's face. "That's how it used to be anyways. It seems that more and more of my people are denouncing the Code of Honor as old-fashioned, a hindrance that should be thrown aside. These people seem to be gaining more influence all the time, and they also seem to have a tendency to be rather corrupt in my opinion." He paused again. Then there's another issue. As I said before, my people are very passionate; unfortunately, they can also be very hot-headed as well, flaring up and fighting over small things. In the past, with common enemies to fight, we've gotten on with each other fairly well, but now differences are starting to come to the surface, and tensions are growing. If this isn't resolved somehow, I fear the empire may start to crumble."
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Teglin seemed to be surprised and rather frightened by the question at first, but then scowled. "There certainly is," he said. "With everything. My whole life." He moodily kicked a pebble. "All my life I've been compared to my father, the big business man, the generous do-gooder always participating in every charity, giving away such big donations. Oh he's so wonderful, they gush, so generous with his money, such a great benefactor to society." Teglin scowled some more. "He has everything, money, respect; in other words, he's a great man, someone whom I could never live up to, so why bother trying?"

Teglin sighed. "Not that anyone expects it of me anymore. I stopped trying to lease him (my father) long ago, and just did whatever. I've been in prison a few times. While everyone praises my father, they all talk about how big a disappointment I am, how terrible it must be for father to have me."

Teglin was obviously getting more angry as he continued to vent. "My father doesn't care about me. He never did. He was always just concerned with his own reputation. I can't stand him. I hate him! And to make matters worse," he continued, "that idiot Zizo had to take me in. Let me take the fellow of your hands, Sir, he says to my father. I'll have him back in shape in no time. And let me tell you, father was only to happy to get rid of me."

Teglin ground his teeth. "That Zizo makes me sick, always acting so friendly and saying how much promise I show, and blah blah blah. The stuffed shirt! He doesn't understand me anymore than Father did. And now I'm being dragged off on this silly mission, trotting around to goodness knows where, chasing some stupid piece of junk. Why can't everyone just leave me in piece?!" He suddenly turned and punched a wall, and then stood there breathing hard.
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Aarin peered over from where he was at Ravage and Xerin. Was Ravage looking a little uncomfortable? Then Allé strolled up. "Did you notice those markings on her wings? I didn't think Chimerosu bore such things."

"They don't normally," said Aarin. "But let's not forget our Ravage is special. And let's also remember to keep it down if we have to discuss such things near her. She can probably hear you." Allé put a hand to his mouth.

"I know you didn't mean anything, Allé," said Aarin, "but we must be careful. Ravage is sensitive, and I suspect she may not have really wanted anyone to see those marks, judging by the way she had been holding her wings of late." Mott then strode up.

"What were you up to?" asked Allé. "I noticed you seemed to be bargaining with that one Vitisan."

"Just buying a few things I might need for something," answered Mott. "Although I'm hoping it won't be necessary." With that, he headed back onto the ship.

"Have you seen Isbar lately?" Aarin asked Allé.

"Yeah," said Allé. "I saw him go on board and head to his quarters just ten minutes ago with a face that would have brought the rain on. I'd should think he'd be happy, considering he's a historical figure around here, along with everyone else."

Aarin frowned. "Perhaps that's not something he really cares about," he murmured.

Allé looked at him. "You look like you've guessed something about him."

"I'm not sure yet," said Aarin. "Only time will tell. I just hope it's not too late by then," he added quietly to himself. "Help me with this crate, will you?" he added to Allé.

Ravage frowned, and then sighed, before gesturing for Xenos to follow. She led him back through the now fully-stocked cargo hold, and through the airlock waiting room. She then brought him back into the room leading to the labs and spaceship airlocks, before entering the one where her Stealth Strider was. There, she found something that angered her, somewhat. It seemed Snow and Grove had quickly recovered from their defeats, and had decided to plot a bit of revenge. Why else would they be whispering in such hushed voices outside her spaceship? Snow had a bandage around one arm where Ravage had bitten him, and overall, both captains seemed to have regained their irritating, arrogant manner, just judging by their conversation. It seemed that they were doing something rather questionable, and thanks to Ravage's natural tendency to silence, she had caught them red-handed.

"-But how are we going to get into her ship? It's keyed in so that it only recognizes commands that she sends, we haven't had technology like that in ages!" Grove was saying, looking frustrated with Snow.

"Ah, forget the subtle approach, we can pry that hatch open, there shouldn't be any difficulty." Snow responded, folding his arms and flicking his tail, "Besides, I want back at her for what she did to my arm, and I'm sure you want to pay her back for embarrassing you in front of your men." He said, beginning to thrum his talons on his good arm.

Grove's eyes narrowed, "I would like you to think carefully about this, Snow, you can't just break stuff, you have to be subtle to dig things up about people-"

Just this exchange, and the fact that Ravage knew she had the ability to perfectly mimic and play back conversations like a parrot, made her decide to make her presence known. She stepped into the room, Xenos following behind, and purposefully letting the toes of her feet dip downward, so that the dangerously sharp talons clicked against the metal floor. In mostly-empty room, the sound echoed, and both turned to look at her, their eyes widening with the looks of terror characteristic of those who thought they were about to die, guilt and regret because they had been caught. "Planning a little breaking and entering, were we?" Ravage asked, her voice filled with scorn. At this, Xenos began to menacingly growl at the two from her side. This made the color drain from their beaks, and Grove tried to talk them out of this situation.

"No, no! We were just waiting for you to get back, to say we were sorry about the way we treated you-" The words were so rushed they couldn't be taken seriously.

Ravage cut him off, "I could court-marshal you both for this! Is this how respectable officers behave, planning to break into someone's home and assault them with slander and libel? I would certainly hope not, you should be glad I don't slit your throats for this, by the way, I almost could, and it would be legal if you were inside my ship when I caught you, and even if you had been inside and gone, I would have recognized your scent and tracked you down!" Her screeching at the two officers immediately drew attention from people who were making their way back up to their stations into the ship, and soon, everyone was gathered around the airlock door, the crowd taking in the scene.

Snow held up his hands, palms out, "Easy, there's no need to cause a scene," He began, his beak turning slightly pink with embarrassment, as the entire ship could probably hear this, "We're going to humiliate ourselves if we keep this up-"

Ravage cut him off again, "Who should be embarrassed, here? Me? I have nothing right now to be ashamed of! You're the only ones right now who have something evil and wicked to hide! I keep my secrets so they don't fall into the hands of corrupt men like you! There's people I trust with that information, and I keep it from anyone who would abuse it, and you two would clearly plaster every aspect of my life on the walls, and feed everyone lies in the place of truth, all because you lost a fight! That's pathetic!" Then, in a blur of movement, she stood between the two and her ship, and roughly grabbed both by the shoulders, shoving them out the airlock door, sending them skidding along the floor. "Get out, and if someone else doesn't have you taken off this mission for your plotting, you'd better learn respect, or I'll make you into honest men if I have to humiliate you in front of your peers a million times to to it. You will learn how to be decent officers, I will not tolerate criminals representing good people!" She hissed. With this, she punched a button, closing the airlock, and sealing the room, forcing the two officers to stand in front of the crowd that had gathered.

The two captains, beaks turning bright red with shame, scrambled to their feet and immediately tried to flee.

Aarin and Allé were passing by when they heard Ravage yelling and saw the two officers come sliding out. They heard Ravage's final words. As the two officers tried to escape, Aarin came forward. "What's going on here?" he demanded. "What were you two doing in there?"

Svar was just coming out of the forge after examining his equipment when the scene unfolded. He walked forward after Aarin had, and stood beside the other representative. Svar wore his full, dark silver armor, and he was taller than the other representatives. He said nothing, though he hoped to intimidate Grove and Snow or at least prevent them from fleeing.

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Admiral Rakluth watched silently as Teglin talked, starting to understand the Vatarri more and more. When he was done, Rakluth knelt beside him, his helmet disabled, and let him breath for a moment before speaking. "Teglin," he began, his icy blue eyes staring directly of the Vatarri's. "I understand, something similar has happened to me, though not in the same context. What you need to do, my friend, is carve out your own niche. Show your father and everyone else that you're not supposed to be like him - You're a different person entirely. You can choose what differentiates yourself from others, and though this is subjective, committing crimes and going to prison is not the way to do that." He looked around for a second casually, and stood up. "Stand up for yourself. Tell Zizo how to treat and understand you. Tell those who call you a disappointment to hold their silence. Show your father that you can be a great person in your own right. This mission is the perfect time to do that. You're not only aiding myself, but you're aiding entire civilizations in restoring galactic peace. The Krathunian Covenant. The Jorro'kil Confederacy. The Forlarm. The Dranzoot. The Ryun-Wreae Federation. The Lumeriana. The Confederacy of Vathoris. Your father's actions may be good for a community or two, but your actions here, today, will be praised among billions within our galaxy for years to come. You will not only be known for being great on your planet, but among thousands and thousands of planets. People who have previously never even heard of Vathoris will know your name." Rakluth knelt once more. "Now, are you going to give up, or will you let your voice and your name be heard?"  

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The Sentinel listened carefully as Lirr spoke, though occasionally looking down at his scanner. He turned to the Markovan. "Our flaws are what define us, Admiral. I can't speak for your people or your empire, but I would think that you should not focus on what will make your civilization collapse, but what will make it thrive. If you need any help supporting the Markovan Empire, however, the Covenant will be by your side." Looking down at his scanner, he noted that it had turned into a sphere and the hologram projector was showing the correct energy levels at that location. "Now, I think we've found our archives."

Xerin had gone into the Forge when the encounter happened, adjusting his armor components and working with a few other Chimerosu scientists in an attempt to hide its metallic nature.

Most of the imrovements suggested by Svar were completed and the armor functioned more smoothly when connected and powered on, though the attempted camouflage effect was not so effective, and finding something to assuredly fool the Arachnarche proved difficult.

Xerin stopped the work for the time being, and gathered up the armor components into his pack, thanking the scientists for their help, and he left the Forge area to return to his room on the Majesty.

The Jorro'kil stood about a foot taller than most of the Chimerosu, being roughly seven feet, but was not particularly intimidating, though he could be. Many would mistake him for being weaker than he looked, being very thin as Jorro'kil are, but his strong bones made up for any lack of muscle and would provide a very formidable force if engaged in hand-to-hand combat, this also being the reason he was hardly hurt by the blow from the Masquetilan.
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Xej regained a permanent footing on the deck of the Wrath, and folded his arms to watch the glowing destruction below on the UFIAI planet, his purple, silver and gold armor lightly reflecting the various energies which happened around the Wrath, and the lights from computers and system moniters. This surely would be a turning tide in the war, and one much needed, he thought.
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AK 10,029

Grove and Snow were floundering, the appearance of Aarin, Allé, and Svar enough to stop them in their tracks, and effectively seal off their way of escape. Suspicious muttering ran throughout the room in every direction, as people slowly began to whisper about the entire scene. The presence of Chimerosu, Vitisans, Frigians, and Cavernains alike, blocked all exits, and forced Grove and Snow to remain in the area, where they were unable to grasp any words that could explain the situation without incriminating them both. Ravage was already someone that people regarded as a mystery, and most had decided that despite their incredible curiosity about her, regarding her strange appearance and the patterns on her wings (She no longer folded them oddly, and people could see the undersides, now), that they would be better off not asking questions. Although they had only known her for a short period, most of the people on the Majesty were already in awe of her incredible strength and cunning. However, they were still ambivalent about how to regard her presence, if she should be feared or liked, as she had given them reasons to see her in both ways. It seemed that Snow and Grove had wanted to find something about her that they could tell everyone else, and tip the scales so that nobody would trust her. The concept of such manipulation would disgust those that held tightly to the moral values kept by their cultures, and sicken anyone who thought highly of the two captains.

Just then, Captain Silver made his way through the crowd, the only one who had not fought Ravage, but in a short time had proven himself worthy of his rank, showing regret for ever agreeing to fight with her, and revealing an incredible willingness to change for the better. Among the mentors for the soldiers on the great explorer ship, the Cavernian Silver was the only one whose reputation still remained intact, and Silver intended to show that he was worth everyone's respect. The battle with the mentors had opened his eyes, and his entire character had changed, something everyone noticed. Everyone thought it was an improvement, however, and he had never been more loved by his students, or held with higher esteem. Because of what he was, he had naturally heard the entire exchange between Ravage and his two fellow captains from a long distance, and he stopped close to the two and the alien representatives, "I heard the entire thing, for shame on ye both." He said, his eyes narrowing as he glanced between Snow and Grove.

"Ye two had yer chance, and neither of ye succeeded, and I am grateful that I do not have to fight her. Ye knew the risks, but ye took them, and now ye seek revenge for it? Every word that came from her beak was true, and had ye been caught trespassing on her ship, she could kill ye, and the law could not prosecute her for it, because ye entered her home without consent. To think that officers such as ye would even consider such a thing. Violating the privacy of a lady, going through her things just because ye be sore about getting yer tails handed to ye in a battle, that be unacceptable behavior for a captain. Did ye think ye could plot a wicked and evil deed and not be caught when the one ye was targeting was a seasoned Lieutenant Colonel who perhaps could have earned the rank of Colonel or even Brigadier by now?" He folded his arms and flicked his tail, "The lass has secrets, nobody doubts this, but they be her story to tell, no one else!"

Just then, Travis and Blair arrived, "Captain Silver, what be all this commotion about?" Blair asked, folding his arms and flicking his tail. He was a good few inches taller than the captain, almost as tall as Corey was, though it seemed he never quite had a terrifying, imposing aura about him. It was hard to be intimidated by someone known for kindness and understanding, and Silver was not at all frightened by Blair towering over him, looking down, though the other two captains, even Snow, who was about the same height, if not taller than the Cavernian representative, seemed to quake with fear, guilt clear on their faces. Although Blair asked the question casually, he had the knowing look on his face that he, too, had also heard the exchange. There was an unusual glint of anger in his eyes, as though this had truly made him furious, though he did nothing else to express it. Such rage, even hidden or suppressed, was not usually Blair's reaction to a bad situation. Perhaps he was just angry that such a thing happened while he was present, or was there something almost protective about it?

Travis took over, "Yes, please explain to us what caused this scene." He said, looking at Silver with an intent gaze.

Silver, however, having no guilt, did not show any sort of wavering confidence, and met the Major's interrogating look, "Yes, Major Travis," He said, addressing him by rank, to show he was serious and official about the situation. He gestured to Snow and Grove, "These two were in the airlock where the Stealth Strider is, and Ravage, as everyone knows, lives in that ship. She caught them both trying to figure out a way to break in, with the intent of rummaging through her things to find something they could tell everyone that would be harmful to her. Although Ravage likely keeps many secrets, it is not fair for them to violate the lass' privacy, as what she does with her secrets is her choice, and she clearly stated that she was keeping secrets for personal safety reasons, though she will tell them to those who are trustworthy. It seems to me, Major, that Captains Snow and Grove be guilty of dishonest deeds, and are deserving of punishment, for intending to violate personal rights."

Travis nodded, and looked over at the alien representatives, "They were trying to run off before someone in charge came up, eh? Thank you for stopping these two, it makes life much easier for everyone else, we won't have to go scrambling about the ship looking for them." He then turned to the two Captains, and gestured for them to come over, which they both reluctantly did. Travis loomed over them, his authority clearly announcing that they were in deep trouble, now. "It would seem to me that Captain Silver is being completely honest about the current situation, and ever since the incident with the sparring matches, he has been a changed man. I trust him more right now than I did before, and I will believe his story." He flicked his tail, and then gestured for them to follow, "You two, come with me, now!" The harshness of the last two words made them jump.

"W-what are you going to do with us, Major?" Grove asked, his voice quivering.

"Simple, I am going to give you two the ranks you deserve. Consider yourself court-marshaled, here and now. You're going to come with me and sign the paperwork. You are going to be stripped of your ranks, and demoted down to the lowest possible rank that any officer can have. Forget regarding yourselves as Captains. Snow, Grove, from now on, you are Officer Cadets, both of you!" This caused a bit of a gasp from a few people nearby. Travis wasn't finished, yet, however, "Furthermore," He began, "I am hereby placing you under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ravage, from now on, she will be overseeing your training, both in combat and in studies that you apparently need to re-learn." He then turned, and Blair and Travis began leading them away, before Travis stopped again, he looked over his shoulder, "Silver!" He barked, "I expect you to assist Ravage in dealing with these two, perhaps you can teach them to follow your example and learn some humility, for once! Don't make me regret keeping these two in the force." He said. Silver nodded, and then the four were led away.

After they were gone, there was some more murmuring, but then the crowd dissipated, as though nothing had happened, though there was some sort of general unease about the area. Silver looked on, and sighed, shaking his head, "How can I humble those two? I knew they would get in trouble, but to be made responsible for people like them..." He shook his head, his spirits sinking.

Aarin patted Silver on the shoulder. "You'll be alright, I'm sure. And you'll have Ravage to help you."

"Those two should count themselves lucky it was Ravage who got to them first," said a voice. Isbar dropped down from where he had been perched, unnoticed amongst some ceiling pipes. There was an angry glint in his eye. "Shameful behavior from both of those two. They passed by my quarters on the way to the airlock, and I heard them planning to break in to Ravage's ship, so I followed them. Lucky for them Ravage was there before me. I would not have been nearly as gentle with them."

Aarin looked in surprise at Isbar. It had always seemed that Isbar was not fond of Ravage; why was he suddenly deciding to stick up for her? This is indeed someone of complex character, he thought to himself.
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Teglin's face was inscrutable; it was hard to say if he really took in anything Rakluth had said to him. He sighed. "Let's just get this over with," he said.
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Lirr peered around. "Where do you suppose it is? Perhaps I just don't recognize it or anything, but I'm not sure where this archive is."

Theranis gestured to the building to their right. This was a relatively medium-sized building with several rings attached to it, and at the top of the building, a small plaza area. There were no windows that could be seen. This was due to the feature of Krathunian architecture that allowed them to use the same technology as their shifting armor to show or hide windows for various reasons. "It's at the bottom of this structure, underground." With this, he used his armor's transmitter to send a message to everyone else that they had found the archives.
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Rakluth breathed in sharply at Teglin's words, about to respond when he received the message. "Ah, here we are. Let's go." He remarked, heading off toward The Sentinel and Lirr with Teglin beside him.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q'ren chuckled a bit, and the pair continued to search. After a while, this proved inconclusive, and he was about to return to the plaza to search a different sector when they received the message as well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Within time, everyone was gathered around the entrance of the building. Theranis was closest to the door, and began to speak. "The archives are supposed to be underneath this structure. I don't think our ancestors would have left it completely sealed off, so there's a way in somewhere, probably within this building. Let's try to get in here, and if necessary, we might have to use force." With this he turned to the door, made up of reinforced metal. When the Sentinel put his palm on it, it projected a hologram upon the door. When read, it showed that he was denied access.

Obviously the Sentinel was confused at this, being the highest possible rank in the military, and after trying several more times to no avail, he became jaded. "That's not going to work. We also can't break that door down, it's too durable." He stood there for a bit, thinking.

The Lieutenant spoke up. "This building has a plaza at the top. Part of this structure is a large fountain. The fountain is fed through the irrigation and piping system of the building. Judging by the architecture and size of the fountain, each of us would be able to fit in the pipe that feeds it and break through it within the building. We can then seal it off and continue to the archives."

The Sentinel nodded. "That sounds reasonable..." he trailed off, partially due to doubt. "...I think. We need to find a way to get up there, at any rate."

((About to leave, will continue this in the next post)).

There came a bit of laughter from across the room, as Samir walked up to the others, Arrow trotting by his side, "Ravage isn't being gentle on those two, she's set them up so she can beat some sense into them without anyone objecting to her methods. I traveled with her for five years, do you think she didn't teach me a few things that she knew? She put me through the wringer, and now I've found that Basic Training was easy compared to how harsh her training was. Those two men will have more than enough punishment by the time she's finished with them. They'll wish they never set foot in the military. She'll shatter them and everything they've known into pieces, and build them back into what they're supposed to be." There was another bout of laughter, and Kerr walked up, scowling, having been hidden in the crowd for a bit, and taken in the entire scene. Having the lowest rank among the representatives, he was not a Major or any greater rank, and thus didn't have the power to court-marshal anyone.

The Stagnumian looked over at Samir, "Ravage sounds like a rather severe mentor." He said, flicking his tail and tilting his head to one side, "So you think her training them is a better punishment than simply kicking them out of the military?" He asked.

Samir flicked his tail, "If you ask me, compared to being trained by her, kicking them off the mission would be an act of mercy. She doesn't compliment people for being average, there isn't some elaborate congratulations if you get something right, she tells you you did it right, and gives you the next exercise. If you do something wrong, she'll discipline you for it, and make you repeat the action until it's done correctly. She doesn't compliment you for doing what's expected of you, there isn't time for compliments on a battlefield. She'll frighten you and make you do exercises under extreme stress and pressure, and the only thing she shows any sort of admiration for in her students is thinking outside the box and developing a creative way for dealing with a problem. Until she's absolutely positive you won't die on a battlefield as soon as you set foot on it, she treats you in such a manner. She expects you to follow orders, and not question them, because of the simple fact is that only a few short seconds of delay in reaction time can mean the difference of life and death. You don't have time to look for the missile when you decide to follow orders and dodge it. Either you duck so it misses, or you stand there staring at it like a fool. If someone tells you to jump, you do it, you don't stand there and ask why."

Kerr seemed to think this over, and nodded, "Alright, then, it seems to me that perhaps this form of training would suit those two. If what you say is true, and Ravage can truly hammer the arrogance out of them, and force them into the mindset of a soldier on the battlefield, then perhaps we will not have to worry about any further issues with them in the future." He flicked his tail, and scanned the faces of those around him, "In the meantime, we are going to make a brief rendezvous with the Markovans, we have some volunteers that we said we would pick up on our way to the Fifth arm, and the stop is on the way there."

(Okay, timeskip now, tony, just post as though everyone is already at the rendezvous point)

Aarin and Mott peered out the viewport on the bridge of the Majesty. The ship had reached the rendezvous point to meet the two Markovan representatives, and a shuttle was even now approaching the Majesty, having receiaved permission to dock.

"Sheesh," said Mott looking out. "Quite an entourage, considering they were only conducting two people." No less than eight Markovan warships had escorted the passenger ship to this point.

"Indeed," said Aarin thoughtfully. "I wonder who it is they sent?"

"Well," said Mott, "only one way to find out."

On their way, they passed the lab. Mott poked his head in to see Allé and Corey. "markovan representatives comin' on board, if you two are interested," he said.