Disruption (IC)

Samir's face turned grim, although only one eye could be seen, as he had been scratched across the other one, and it was common knowledge that all head wounds bled profusely. "Are you familiar with the procedure of clipping a bird's wing?" He asked, after a long pause, seeming reluctant to actually say what the problem was. Most people did know what wing clipping was. It removed the very tip of one of a bird's wings, which caused its balance in flight to be lost, making it dangerous for the bird to attempt flying, and sometimes, making it so that the bird couldn't even leave the ground.

Already, it was obvious that it was very bad, whatever Samir was about to tell them. "When I was a chick, I accidentally burned myself on a candle, and wound up destroying a small portion of the tissue on my left wing, which never grew back properly. You can't tell, because all my feathers grew in, but just that one, single scar, makes it impossible for me to fly, without risking serious injury. In some cases, like when I was trapped in that pit, I couldn't get into the air at all, because there wasn't any sort of wind to help me.

His eye narrowed, "I never told anyone this, because I didn't want people to view me as helpless, but it seems that's happened, regardless of the precautions I took. For those who don't have wings, it's a hard idea to comprehend, but losing flight isn't just a terrible feeling for the person that can't fly, it's also a symbol of shame. Only fledgelings can't fly, and you could be treated that way regardless if you're an adult or not. That's why I try to show people I can do something worth their while. I'm sick of being treated like I can't do anything!"

He fell silent, and everyone caught up to Rune, waiting outside the cave entrance. "Come on, we need to plan some things." He said. With this, Rune entered, Ravage following.

The effort of the Mondarians was diminished as a huge Zraak Mechnawyrm drove out from underground where it had been burrowing. An enormous worm-like mech, about three hundred meters long, was obliterating many enemy forced through the use of crushing and spiking.

In outer space, Dominion ships were constantly pouring into the area from hyperspace. The Varmal had arrived. Admiral Calbus sitting in the leading ship. The Vaurik were still destroying comm connections. A Vaurik ship fired a beam of green energy at a large Samian cruiser. The entire cruiser then blasted with a bright white light and itself became a simple cloud of green in space.

Syprus' holographic face made a shocked expression. "What was THAT?" he shouted.

"It came from one of the ships in sector five of the battlefield" said one of the pilots. "The energy type is unknown, but extremely destructive material."

Syprus' eyes narrowed. "Is the Mass vulnerable?"

"It shouldn't be" said one of the pilots. Syprus nodded.

"Concentrate fire on those ships."

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The drop pods rained down. As a huge cluster of black metal pounded into the dirt if Dranus, the droids began detaching. A compartment burst open to allow a large creature to emerge. Mortemalo.

Aarin looked at Samir for a moment. His behavior made sense now. Still, Aarin wouldn't have called it justified. Aarin put the subject aside for the time being. This was something to discuss with Samir. . . and perhaps Ravage. . . at a later time.

Tevri looked up as they entered, looking quite relieved. "I was worried," he said. His eyes widened when he saw Samir, and then quickly lent a hand. Isbar carefully let down his charge, actually being gentle. He looked Samir in the eye a moment, his own eyes not quite as hard as they usually were, and then turned away. Allé went to help Rune with anything that might be needed to treat Samir's injuries.

"How are you feeling now?" Aarin asked Ravage.
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"I think I've managed to establish a network for our ships that gets under the jamming signal of those other ships, Sir," said the helmsman.

"Excellent!" said General Jenner. "See about getting all of the ships and our allies' ships hooked up immediately."

Suddenly there was a flash outside as the one Samian ship met its destruction.

"What was that?" cried Jenner.

"Those Dominion ships seem to have some sort of superweapon, Sir."

"I can see that! Are the new anti-matter cannon ships ready?"

"Charged and ready, Sir!"

"Good! Tell them to fire at those ships!"

The first anti-matter burst hit one of the Vaurik ships, breaking it clean in half.
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"Get back there, you cowards!" snarled Marr at some retreating Mondarian troops. "I want that thing destroyed! Use missiles!"

"But it moves around too much, Sir! It's impossible to get a good shot at it."

"Fools! Shoot at the ground around it and at its base! Destabilize it!"

Within a minute, a group of missile droids and mech droids began firing a salvo of missiles, and, in the case of the mech droids, a few plasma cannon bursts at the ground beneath the bottom of the Mechnawyrm, attempting to destabilize it and make it easier to hit.

Meanwhile, Jiiran's attention was distracted by the pods falling not too far away. He instantly recognized the one creature getting out of the one pod. Jiiran cast a glance back to where the battle was taking place between Kradus and Praedromus as an idea came to him; this might be a good opportunity to test the trap he had in mind for Kradus. He turned and began to make his way slowly to where Mortemalo was, not making any attempt to conceal himself from his enemy.

The remnants of the Vaurik ship immediately released a massive surge of green energy that caused several Samian ships to evaporate on sight. A few Mondarian ships were also caught in the wake. Several strangely shaped Vaurik ships came clashing together and attached themselves to each other, quickly creating a large ball of machines. Quickly the ball transformed into a large shape. It resembled some form of wasp or creature as it had a type of mouth filled with thousands of laser coated blades. It quickly zipped over to a Samian carrier and shredded the large ship to pieces. There was a strange, eerie, metallic signal sent to each Terminus ship. It caused their radar to freeze up and thus, allow them only sight by cockpit.

There was only a signal Vaurik within the large Dronix ship. It was large and looked unusual compared to most Vaurik. It of course, was a mergence of several Vaurik, from each of large ships that combined to make the Dronix. The Vaurik was encased in a metal exoskeleton kept at a nearly arctic temperature. The Vaurik had metallic implants everywhere and many long wire-like arms that grasped the walls and terminal outlets, sending signals into the enormous metal monster. It shot another green flare that caused a large group of Samian fighters to dissipate.

Within the Mass, Spyrus' hologram had turned dark red. "GRAH! SHOOT THAT THING DOWN NOW!"

As missiles fired at it, each was deflected back at the Mass and exploded as they hit the ship's bubble-like shield.

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The Mechnawyrm quickly shifted its structure. The legs folded inwards and smoothed out. It resembled a metal sausage. Quickly cracks opened and sprayed out a horrible red vapor that quickly heated the area around the machine into an inferno of flames. The sky was already dark from the storm, but with the smoggy black smoke of the flames lifting into the air, things worsened.

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Mortemalo gazed at Jiiran and laughed. He pulled out the pole which quickly materialized an enormous war-axe blade that glowed a laser of fine green. "Well look who we have here!" He shouted, leaping off of the pod and doing several flips in the air before his feet pounded to the ground. "If it isn't my little friend."

General Jenner considered this new development critically. "Have one anti-matter cannon fire at that thing and see what happens."
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Marr quickly sent instructions to three mech droids. The droids in question began to charge their plasma cannons, but kept the firing vents shut, causing massive pressure to build up within. The three immense droids then advanced on the Mechnawyrm, exploding spectacularly the moment it struck them.
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The double-blade unfolded itself from Jiiran's right arm and began to spin, becoming a blur.

"I see you still have some scratches your scales. What a shame, considering you never managed to do the same to my own armor."

Anyone who knew Jiiran would have been confused by this. Jiiran never taunted people; he just tried to kill them as quickly as possible.

Jiiran sprang forward, his spinning blades causing sparks to fly as they struck the war-axe.

Near the rendezvous point that the UFIAI and Mondarians fleets had converged at, an enormous slipspace portal opened, greatly distorting the fabric of space around it. Vrentus ships began to pour through, mostly large transportation vessels that allowed the Lessers and Greaters to combine themselves into ships mimicking those of their allies, though the larger vessels could not be copied. However, there were two noticeable anomalies. The first was a massive flagship that seemed to be of purely Vrentus creation. Its design was very angular, and the shape of the hull was generally a hexagon with the two sides elongated massively, and the sides faced horizontally. From the top of the hexagonal shape the structure was slight incline travelling the rest of the way to the back. Weapon systems and engines lined the surface of the beast - It was clear that this was a highly efficient and powerful vessel. This ship was known as the Vanguard. The second oddity, however, was what was truly important. It was shaped like a giant bacteriophage. However, a giant cannon extended out from the bottom, and at the "head" of the bacteriophage structure was extended. At the top of this was a giant device that sucked in thermal energy from a planet's star and processed this for use on the weapon. The result was an extremely efficient and powerful planetary bombardment device – Perfect for ripping apart a shield world.

A transmission carrying Abarron’s voice was sent to the Despotic and UFIAI vessels, coming directly from the shield world. “I have disabled the weaponry defense platforms for the shield world as well as its communication to the outside, but the actual shield remains intact. There are two primary energy shields within the structure of the shield. The first is very close to the surface separating it between the planet and the void. The Annihilation Parasite ship will be directly targeting the control mechanisms and devices for this section. The last part of the shield is below the final layer of the shield and before the surface of the planet, and will either need to be deactivated manually, or the entire shield will have to be destroyed. However, the more bombardment ships, the better – Ripping apart this shield only gets us closer to our goal. Follow the Vrentus fleet and begin the assault.” With this, the Vrentus vessels propelled themselves forward, rushing towards the planet at full speed. Little resistance came in the way of defenses. The Krathunian defense fleet surrounding Kvanun was quickly destroyed and the shield’s weaponry did not activate to begin with. The Annihilation Parasite opened up its four legs and slowly attached itself to the shell, opening up its thermal energy absorber. Taking in energy from the sun, the huge machine began to pound the shield with massive amounts of pure energy in the form of a single beam travelling into it. The rest of the Vrentus fleet went into formation, the Vanguard taking the lead in beginning the destruction of the planet.

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Unsilenced Retribution turned to Xej, staring for several seconds. “We have not been given new orders,” The Wreae explained, glancing back to observe the computer. “We are making a… small detour to Dranus to investigate this distress beacon. The Dranzoot have already been threatened by the Dominion – What if they decided to make their move and invade Dranus? If we investigate now, it could make all the difference.”

Svar slowly nodded in agreement. “It never hurts to have up to date intel,” He muttered, looking around at everyone else. “Besides, I’m sure Emperor Xonoc would be glad that we retrieved whatever information comes out of this for him instead of simply bringing Xerin back.”

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Praedromus acted quickly, creating a gravitational singularity in between the two opponents that sucked in the flames. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t surprised by Kradus’ transformation, but the warlord still did not understand the raw power of his enemy, nor his influence. “Your very words apply to the Vrentus and I as well. You ask if I have witnessed a glorious resurrection, Kradus, and yet, you ignore him who faces you in battle today.”

With this, Praedromus used his abilities to gather up the various pieces of debris surrounding him, and launch them at Kradus at devastating velocity, disabling the singularity as to not impede the path of his display of power. At the same time, Praedromus waved his right hand and a thin, white sword appeared – He had converted the dark matter around him into a makeshift blade, though this was the extent of what he could do with this ability – anything larger would be too much, and it was too imprecise a practice to create guns and other types of weaponry. He waited for Kradus to strike.

As the antimatter missiles were fired, a new energy emitted from the Dronix. The missiles slowed and stopped in their places, being held in place by some unseen force. As a strange green light was sprayed onto them, much like fog, they began to shift. The missiles quickly were coated with green energy and began to change shape. Their coatings changed to green metal and they grew long appendages of androids. They essentially become some horrid variant of droid. They then jetted back towards the Mondarians, where they'd come from.

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Mortemalo clashed against Jiiran. Blade against blade, there was a fierce look of fire in the Eraak's eyes. His white scales looked all the more eerie under the dark sky. They seemed to glisten with the infernal color of flames as the battlefield was lit ablaze. Some rising to the air, hissing flames coating the fields.

Mortemalo managed to up cut Jiiran, slamming him quit a distance away. "I feel sorry for you, Jiiran. If you can't best a simple Eraak, you'll never manage against my Master!"

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Kradus struck each piece of debris away with his iron-like arms. His reflexes were powerful. The remnants of his armor and clothing dissipated and allowed him for better transformations. Another set of limbs jutted from the sides and large array of tendrils emerged from his sides. Kradus approached, his feet enormously heavy.

"Then it seems, you and I, are not so different, Praedromus. Nevertheless, your mind is feeble. You strike the Dominion without truly knowing of what it is and what it shall become. Do you not see power before you?" He said gesturing to his transforming body. "Is this not the very face of life and death?" Several tendrils pounded into the dirt and quickly raised him up into the air. He hazed the field with more fire and looked down at Praedromus.

"Is this not true potential, my kúrn. Praedromus... count how wrong you are, with every drop of blood you spill..." Kradus dropped, his tendrils lashing out in such a speed they were nearly visible and in such a way that resembled a vortex of tentacles, thrashing straight towards Praedromus at lightning speed.

Xej's features morphed into a mild scowl. While Unsilenced Retribution did have a logical point, something else bothered him.
Another foreseen possibility of Overcharge. Now that the Wreae could think for himself, he could also act for himself. He was no longer subservient to his organic masters, having become organic himself, atleast in some ways, and his masters became his peers.

A machine with such potential could be a great asset.. and yet also a possible threat, given the right situations.

With the same scowl, Xej walked over to Unsilenced, and in a low tone spoke. "Be careful, Wreae, be careful." He hinted at the malfunction Retribution had suffered earlier, and one might almost think he knew something about it.. but he said nothing more on the subject, and began to pace around the bridge, metallic boots clanging on the "floor."

Xerin was silent, simply observing everything as he normally did. He agreed for the most part with Unsilenced Retribution and Svar, having a yearning for travel that was not quite satisfied. However, he sympathized with Xej, understanding fully his relentless obedience towards the Free Absolute, and his Emperor.

"Dranus, then. It's been a long time.." The Zealot suddenly said. "You will.. all have had experience, then, in war? In the midst of the battlefield? If the worst has come.. you will need to be prepared for it.. as I am."

"You haven't defeated me, either," replied Jiiran. He fired two missiles, one at Mortemalo's feet, and the other at his head.
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"Shoot!" cried General Jenner. Some well-aimed shots destroyed the morphed missiles before they could reach their targets.

"Are the new droids ready?" demanded Jenner.

"Ready and waiting!"

"Send them out!"

A large squadron of strange, five-limbed droids issued forth, each with a limb-spread of about fifty feet. Heading for the Vaurik machine, they began to link themselves together until the formed a large lattice-like structure. Coming up to the shield of the Vaurik Dronix, they all simultaneously extended a sixth appendage, which fed out long tentacle-like tendrils, touching the energy shield. As one, the droids began to initiate a feedback pulse in the shield, attempting to disable it.

"In the meantime," said Jenner, "get that radar back online!"

The Dronix emitted the same green energy that had morphed the missiles. It pulled away, to ensure the ships could not disable the shield and allowed the energy to seep out, moving towards them.

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Mortemalo formed a shield of green energy that came from the axe. It only lasted long enough to stop the missiles. He then rolled his eyes at Jiiran. "Fail once, try, try again." Mortemalo blasted a volt of green electric energy towards Jiiran.

The lattice of droids followed after the Vaurik Dronix. As it did, it encountered the green energy. Several of the droids began to converted. The others promptly send a signal that short-circuited their systems, disabling them. The lattice emitted a net-like stream of energy at the green energy, causing it to dissipate. Meanwhile, several Despotic vessels came behind the Dronix and fired at it with ion cannons.
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Jiiran held his double-blade in front of him, and spun it into a blur. The energy struck the spinning blades, and was deflected. Jiiran then charged again. As he came close, he fired a missile into the ground at Mortemalo's feet, sending up a cloud that obscured him for a moment, before he came through it in a flash, head-butting Mortemalo in the midriff with enough force to send him flying back a considerable distance. Jiiran then took up a defensive stance to await his enemy's counter-attack.

Back at the improvised command camp, an unimportant-looking guard was standing near a small control panel. He watched the battle with a small pair of binoculars.

This guards name was Gunthin Hamler. He was a secret member of the Mondarian Resistance, a secret society that opposed Jiiran's rule. However, this particular member did not have a lot of trust from his fellow Resisters. Gunthin's wife and child had both died in the battle that had put Mondar under Jiiran's fist, and it had done things to him. He seemed to have lost all sense of morals on that day, and lived for one thing; the downfall of Jiiran and Admiral Marr, the two people he hated most. Unlike the other members of the Resistance, he no longer cared for honor or ethics, and as willing to do anything to reach his goal. And this seemed like an opportunity to do so.

Carefully leaving his post, he went over to a certain tent. Hidden under the tent was the trap that Jiiran had arranged for Kradus and which he intended to test on Mortemalo. After a quick search, Gunthin located a few important looking wires. It was the work of a moment to sabotage them. He then quickly returned to his post.

The Dronix took a hit from one of the projectile fired, but the rest were decimated by a vapor of blue that sprayed from the machine's side, causing them each to explode. It managed to dodge the ionic energy and duplicate it, firing the same type of energy back at the Mondarians. The Dronix then released a powerful red fury of vapor that swirled much like an inferno. As it touched several Samian ships, they quickly evaporated in an almost liquid-like explosion.

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Mortemalo got up and gave a single laugh. He took the axe in hand and pointed it at Jiiran. The massive head of the axe came flying off and plunged at Jiiran. By that point a large Samian walker droid had come over to the area. It began firing at Mortemalo, thick darts of lavender. However it was silenced nearly immediately by the blast of flames from Mortemalo' throat.

Ravage, despite looking perfectly fine, had a somewhat ghostly pallor on her face, and the wound she had received on her upper arm, despite having stopped bleeding and sealed over, had clearly not healed enough for people to be visibly aware of it, like the last time she had been injured. It was clear that the fact that what Rune said--that Ravage couldn't heal as rapidly as she used to, because of the illness--was true, and that she wasn't taking it so well. Looking at the situation from her perspective, it would make sense, though. Ravage had spent more of her time as a warrior fighting with little regard to her own safety, which often led to her getting grisly injuries that would otherwise kill anyone else, although she could always just ignore them. She couldn't fight with a reckless disregard of her own safety, now, which meant that her whole form of combat, which distinguished her because she would take more daring risks, was no longer an option.

It was alarming, but Ravage tried to work out a logical response, although it was clear her heart wasn't in it, "I'm fine, Aarin, the worst I have is just a hint of vertigo." Her face was kept straight, in its regular, somewhat sullen expression, and she was good at it, but it was clear from how pale she was that she was acting. She didn't want to talk anymore, so she decided to busy herself with something else. She looked at Samir, "All right, we need to clean those wounds out, and get them bandaged." Her voice was lacking the sharp, abrasive quality it normally had when she spoke to him, she didn't seem to have the energy to make it so; it was a little bit depressing to see.

Rune, in the meantime, had gone in the back room of his home and come out carrying a bolt of a cream-white fabric in one hand, and a large, square brown bottle of sorts in the other. "I mastered the technique of brewing alcohol a long time ago, I use it for treating wounds if there's any sort of accident. It burns, however, so I will not waste time by saying it will not hurt." Ravage, despite how depressed she felt, gave him a look, the kind a mother would give to a child if he were doing something she didn't approve of. Rune seemed to take note of it, and oddly enough, seemed to value her opinion, as evidenced by what he said in response, "I use it for wounds, nothing more, I will not muddy my thoughts with spirits." He said quickly, just the faintest hint of tension appearing on his face, which quickly faded when Ravage gave the faintest nod of understanding.

Ravage looked at Samir, "Samir, we're going to have to hold you down, people tend to struggle and interfere if their wounds are disinfected with alcohol." He gave her a questioning look at this. He had never seen her disinfect her own wounds before, she had never needed to worry about infection. Ravage scowled a bit, a small hint of her usual personality coming through, "I didn't spend my entire life a mutant, there were times when I was a normal Chimerosu, and could die of infection, just like anyone else. Although both were considered expensive, it was easier for me to obtain alcohol to disinfect injuries, versus antibiotics." She winced at the memory.

Aolani looked like she was going to faint, apparently she was more squeamish than people thought she was, "Oh, dear..." She said to herself, as Lloyd, Watson, and Lucas all walked over to Samir and clamped his limbs down, making him look visibly disturbed by this news. Without so much as another warning, Rune went over and poured alcohol from the bottle on the largest, most severe-looking wound, a large bite on his front right leg. The reaction was instant. Samir cried out from the obvious burning sensation, and began to struggle, but he couldn't move, because he was being clamped down.

"Sorry, lad! We can't have you leaving these injuries untreated!" Watson raised his voice to be heard over the screams.

"Screamin' ain't gonna make it any easier!" Lucas grunted, responsible for more limbs because of his size and strength. Normally, his accent was hidden, but now that he wasn't thinking about using proper grammar, it came out thick and powerful.

"Hold on, buddy, the quicker we do this, the quicker it'll be over with!" Lloyd encouraged, the Vitisan practically supporting his entire body on Samir's other leg to keep it clamped down.

Overall, this was the first time that people had seen the three Cadets from Squadron Three truly behave like the young adults they were. Unlike Rune, who truly was a minor, Lloyd, Lucas, and Watson were all in their early twenties, though they often seemed like a bunch of teenagers, because they sometimes seemed to lack maturity. They were certainly behaving like adults, however, and one had to give them credit. Holding someone who was injured down and hearing them scream in agony wasn't easy. It was one of the most difficult things to do. All three were toughing it out, though, as though they did this every day.

Aolani wobbled, and Mira caught her as she almost fell over, and eased her into a chair. It seemed that she was in a bit of shock, watching all of this.

Rune, his normally wide eyes narrowed slightly, as though finding this whole thing unpleasant, continued to pour alcohol on the injuries. He handed Allé the roll of fabric, "Use those bandages to cover up the injuries, it should tear easily if you tug at it." He instructed, and continued on with disinfecting the injuries.

Jiiran executed a beautiful spinning dodge as the axehead flew towards him. As it continued onwards, he pointed his left arm at it and fired a grappling line at it, hooking it. Planting his feet firmly, he pulled it around in a circle before letting fly back at Mortemalo at full speed.
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Allé swathed the bandages on as instructed. He also took something like a medicine dropper and squirted its contents into Samir's mouth.

"It's some painkiller I brought along, just in case," he explained. "It might make you a little drowsy."

"So what was it you wanted to tell us, Rune?" asked Aarin as Samir's treatment was being finished.

Watching as Samir seemed to grow drowsy from the painkiller, Rune proceeded to speak with the others about what he wanted to tell them, "Although the situation may seem hopeless to some of you, there is a way to get the Thundarians and Pavolites to set aside their differences, and it is a plan so simple, in hindsight, it is a wonder that it has not been done, yet." He said, turning to look at everyone who was capable of processing what he was saying. He set down the bottle of alcohol and hopped onto a chair he had pulled aside, crouching down on it in his typical fashion, "In order to get the Pavolites and Thundarians to make peace with one another, we must make them accept their common heritage, and that they are related." He began tapping his finger on one knee, before suddenly stopping, and looking up at them and smiling.

Rune's smile, as it turned out, was a small, sweet one that was oddly endearing, before it sank back into his typical blank look, "All we have to do, is bring copies I have made of several important books, and then, with you present, show them corresponding history that you yourselves have. This includes proof that you are from space. Ultimately, logic will win over magic, if you show them that what they see as magic is within the realm of reality." His tail flicked, "Once they accept that, they should gladly accept the assistance of other Chimerosu."

Praedromus, moving with unnatural and almost robotic reflexes, diving to the side and creating a gravity field around him to repel the tendrils from harming him. He had effectively dodged the attack that Kradus had created. Praedromus stared back up at Kradus, not intimidated by any definition of the word. In fact, to Kradus, it would seem that the Vrentus Supreme had not changed his psyche at all since the beginning of this clash of giants, and remained completely detached from fear throughout it.

"If you believe my mind is feeble, you are greatly mistaken," Praedromus slowly said, the ghastly aura radiating around him. "This monstrosity you have created, this vile, chaotic mutilation of weak organic flesh is far from the embodiment of life and death. Who are you, to define both? Life is very diverse, Kradus. At times, organic minds cannot even comprehend other forms of life, explaining your ignorance." Praedromus paused, preparing an attack as he structured a large mass of dark matter behind Kradus. "I am beyond your understanding. How do you expect to fight that which you cannot even comprehend?" With this, Praedromus launched several small dark matter clusters at Kradus, travelling at devastatingly high speeds. These projectiles were extremely effective in that, in addition to initial firing speed, they were pulled in by the increased gravity from the mass behind Kradus.

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Unsilenced Retribution and Svar simply nodded, the former still observing readings on the computer system and the latter examining his railgun. A bridge engineer told the four that they would reach Dranus in approximately 5 minutes - They were growing closer. Unsilenced, after a while, walked to Xej neutrally. "What did you mean what you said that I should be careful, Jorro'kil?" He asked, rotating his head slightly.

Aarin mused on this. "The only question is, how do we convince them that it's not magic? And will they accept the documents we present to them?" He glanced at Rune thoughtfully. Rune seemed to think this idea was easy, but Aarin knew from experience that few things were so simple. It might seem simple to Rune, but how much did he actually understand about the way people thought? Some things can become deeply seated in people's minds, and they might not give them up so easily; Aarin wondered if Rune's isolation had caused him to miss this aspect of the way people thought. Aarin cast a glance at Ravage to see if she might be thinking the same thing, then turned to Rune.

"The fact of the matter is, we can present the truth to them, but will they accept it? I have no wish to be a raincloud and throw negativity on everything; we help you. But we might want to think over how we will do this with great care."
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The lattice of droids quickly pulled themselves together into a knot that reformed itself into a harpoon-like structure. They then created a beam from the back that worked itself forward towards the front gaining strength as the individual droids contributed to it. When it finally exited the front of the structure, it shot out towards the Dronix with a powerful amount of energy.

Kradus made a low growl as he was caught by several of the clusters. He then looked up at Praedromus. "You deceive yourself, drood. I am the embodiment of immortality and strength. You might live forever, but you rely solely on your manipulation of dark matter, whereas I could gladly fight you naked, and do so better anyways."

Kradus then let out a reptilian noise in his throat as his scales began to emit something. A material formed from them and soon grew rapidly. It formed a large black exoskeleton, covered in spikes. The lower half of his body burst open into a way that resembled a millipede. Many long legs and hundreds of spikes. More and more tendrils came out. Kradus' overall size increased. He then threw one of his massive fists down, hurtling it at Praedromus' head.

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Mortemalo caught the axe, but slid back many meters. He then held it up, kicked the center, and threw it. It landed between the two and a beeping began to emerge of it. It was soon obvious by steam it was letting off. It was an enormous bomb.


((Will post about the Dronix tomorrow))

Jiiran raised an arm and fired a missile at the bomb, detonating it prematurely. The explosion threw Mortemalo back a ways. When he picked himself up again, he could see Jiiran apparently fleeing, heading back to the Despotic base camp.

Rune, crouched down on his chair, looked like the least-likely person to deal with re-uniting two halves of a planet, and at the same time, convince the natives who lived there, people who believed in magic, to instead believe that they were descended from aliens. Indeed, everyone present, upon hearing his idea, looked at him rather doubtfully, and it was easy to do so, in accordance with his clear lack of social skills, as well as the fact that he neglected simple things such as his own personal hygiene. Rune, though, wasn't as naive as people believed, and he could prove it that his plan wasn't something based on innocent belief in a fairytale. He raised a hand and pointed a finger at Aarin, his wide, staring eyes very focused. "I would not be so quick to dismiss me as simple, though I openly confess my ability to interact with others is limited; perhaps I could have worded my previous statement differently." He said.

His eyes narrowed, just slightly, as he lowered the hand to rest on his knee, "What if I were to tell you that there are more hidden libraries scattered throughout Maozhu, though not as large as mine, and that, due to my talents, I have managed to contact and connect all of the people responsible for maintaining them, without ever having to reveal my identity, or show my face?" He began tapping one of his fingers on his knee, and pressed on, "What if I told you that I receive information from all over the planet, and that I know currently that the prince of Pavo and the princess of Thundaria have encountered one another, and have fallen in love?" The tapping of his finger increased, "What if I told you the prince and princess want the war to end, and that most of the people on the planet feel the same way, but don't have any idea how to go about it, and are also often too afraid to voice their desires?"

Mira's eyes widened, "What if we could use that?"

Rune looked at Mira, "Yes, what if we could?"

Immediately, Rune's idea suddenly didn't look so childish anymore. Ravage's eyes widened, "You mean to tell us you're in charge of an entire hidden network, and you didn't tell us until just now?"

Rune flicked his tail, and looked at her, his expression not changing, "Precisely, and I know why Thundarians raid the villages of Pavo, as well." A hint of amusement crept into his normally even voice, "The truth is, I am a very good liar. I simply wanted to make sure that you would be willing to assist, even if my plan seemed to have no real grounds for why it might work."

Lucas' beak dropped open, "You lied to us...I thought..." It was clear Rune had effortlessly fooled everyone.

Isbar gave a snort. "We don't care for being deceived," he began, but Aarin waved him off.

"So you're telling me there's other like you who are safeguarding records of your origins? Do you plan on summoning them?"

Rune raised his hand to his mouth and bit his thumbnail, "That is precisely what I plan on doing, but not here, or at any one library, in particular." He seemed to drift off into his thoughts, "The fact is, most of them would be quite anxious at the prospect of encountering me. I have kept my identity and location well-hidden, they do not know my full name, and they are not even entirely positive if I am male or female, either." he lowered his hand, "You view me far more differently than the natives of Maozhu, even the other librarians, as we've come to call ourselves. On this planet, the people who know of my existence know nothing about me, except that I have extensive knowledge of things that they do not understand, and that with the smallest amount of information I am able to draw a very thorough conclusion; this is largely because understanding a pattern or system is something that I enjoy, and naturally have a talent for."

He hopped off of his seat, and went over to the archway leading into the library, he looked over his shoulder at the group, "Right this way," He said, before leading them in. The library, which was accessed via a kind of carved stone staircase, was revealed to be enormous, as Rune had claimed it was. A large room with bookshelves so tall that they connected to the ceiling, possibly for the sake of helping support the structure, it would have rivaled a grander library on another planet. Most of the books were clearly ancient, their pages yellowed, and although well done, clearly hand-bound, the words done by hand. Rune led them down a series of bookshelves, near the end of which there were a small collection of newer-looking books, the pages less faded, and the wording having a distinctly typed sort of pages; clearly the few restorations that Rune had managed to do himself.

Rune came to an arched entrance, and led them into a distinctly empty-looking room. It was very clean, the floors so even and smooth they looked polished, as did the walls. In the center of the room, laid out on the floor, was a keyboard inscribed with strange symbols, connected to a large screen that was blank, as the computer was not being used. There was a mouse connected to the enormous main console, which was clearly well-maintained. Wires leading behind the computer's main screen led to six large screens on the wall, arranged in a two-by-three order, allowing displays for multiple data feeds. Although Maozhu seemed a very primitive place, as did Rune's home, the hybrid had somehow managed to set up what looked like a working supercomputer in his home.

Horus looked at it, and whistled, impressed, "You set all of that up? I was doubtful, but I have to admit, now I'm impressed." He said.

Rune seemed to ignore the compliment, perhaps he didn't hear it, because he walked up to the screen with the keyboard in front of it and crouched down on the floor, moving the mouse so that the screen came to life, revealing several panels that looked like various video feeds from somewhere else. On the wall on the opposing side of the room, several screens flickered to life, each displaying its own separate panel of video feed. Clearly, it was via this system that Rune was able to contact other people, and yet keep himself entirely anonymous. Through technology, all Rune had to do was not provide a video feed of himself, and he could use a voice synthesizer of sorts to completely alter the way his own voice sounded on the audio feeds of others. Rune flicked his tail, and looked over his shoulder at the group, "I advise all of you to remain silent until the meeting is arranged. We must approach this situation carefully, as they do not know who I am, nor do they know that you will be with me."

He pressed a button on his keyboard, "This is Cipher. Are you present and hearing this message now?" He asked. The voice that sounded on the audio feeds from the opposing rooms was one that was completely impossible to distinguish as male or female, hence the confusion regarding if Rune was a boy or girl.

Immediately, there was a response on several of the screens, as though people had been waiting to be called. There was a crashing sound that came from the screen on the far upper left, as though several books had been knocked off a shelf, as there was a scattering of papers, and an exclamation in Krylonian that, based on Ravage and Horus' reactions, was some sort of curse. "Coming, coming! You could give a little head's up, couldn't you?" An older-looking Pavolite appeared, "Cipher, it's been awhile since you contacted any of us. I was starting to think maybe you'd been captured by Thundarians, or worse, but then again, I don't even know if you're a Pavolite, so I might as well stow it." This man's feathers, despite perhaps having been white originally, had colored to a bit of a creamy yellow-brown sort of tinge, and he had more reds, yellows, and oranges in the iridescent feathers on his body. He wasn't ancient, but he wasn't young, either. One might have placed him to be in his mid-to-late thirties.

Rune flicked his tail, and did not respond, as more people arrived on their screens. It seemed that there were five other librarians aside from him, as that was the number of people that appeared. On a screen directly below the first Pavolite, another Pavolite stumbled in, looking very much like a genuine librarian. She was a bit younger, perhaps her early twenties, wearing a thick brown tweed sort of jacket, and having perfectly round glasses resting on her beak. Her base white color had a tinge that was pale pink, and the iridescence of her feathers consisted of more pinks, purples, and greens. She looked a bit too flustered, as though she had been doing something, and just nodded with a somewhat goofy grin on her face.

Beneath the sixth blank screen, yet another Pavolite appeared, this time, a sharp young man clearly in his early teens, wearing what looked to everyone like a black pinstripe suit with a red tie, well-dressed, despite his obvious youth. He didn't have any sort of tinge to the white of his feathers, but largely, the iridescence of his feathers consisted mostly of different shades of reds. He smiled, one that would have bared teeth, if Chimerosu had possessed them, "Ah, Cipher, it's about time you called us again, isn't it? It gets boring down in the capital, I'm finding myself in this old library more and more often." He had a cool, somewhat snooty personality, if that was what could be immediately identified from his appearance and the first few things he said.

The screens on the far right began winking into existence. The far upper right activated, to reveal a strong, aged, if not somewhat handsome face. It could only be a Thundarian, he had dark bluish-grey feathers that as a result of their tinge looked purple, and bright gold crescent-moon markings with teardrop-like shapes running down each side as markings, clearly the reason why Rune had patches of yellow in the iridescence of his own feathers. His beak, like Rune's, had a sharp hook at the tip, and serrations like teeth on the upper jaw, the beak and scales being bright blue, save for the purple at the very tip of the beak. The Thundarian had no horns to speak of, and lacked a mane, instead having what looked like a sort of flattened or lowered crest; his eyes were a characteristic bright gold color. The man did not smile, and kept an air of authority and bearing about himself, "Cipher, why are you calling us after being absent for over a week?" He asked, his voice somewhat stern.

Beneath the first Thundarian's screen, another arrived, though clearly looking different. The dark grey feathers of this Thundarian had a sort of brownish-yellow tinge, and in turn, the crescent-and-teardrop marks running down his side were a brassier color, though still identifiable as yellow. The blue of his scales and beak was a little bit more grey and muted, and the purple on the tip of his beak was more like a deep violet. The Thundarian tilted his head to one side, "Cipher, what exactly are you playing at? You had us all worried sick!" He exclaimed, finally, his golden eyes widening in an earnest sort of concern for this stranger he didn't know.

Rune flicked his tail, and pressed a button, the upper-center screen sparking to life, to reveal a plain white background with a symbol in the center, clearly meant to represent what the screen showing the video feed of Cipher looked like to everyone else. It was two circles connected by lines, so that the outer rim looked like a gear or video-reel. The very center of the circle was left blank, but around it there was another ring, and connected to this ring, which connected the inner and outer circles together, were four spokes, which were in turn connected to the wheel also by lines that came from the middle of each radius and connected to the outer rim, creating a kind of curved triangle shape. In a nutshell, it looked like an old-fashioned cipher of sorts, perfectly fitting the nickname Rune had given himself. Rune was completely anonymous to these people, although it was clear that they still greatly respected him.

Rune took a deep breath, and proceeded to speak, "Listen carefully, there has been a new development, and it is time to see if we can end this war between the two hemispheres." He said, his voice coming out completely unrecognizable thanks to the synthesizer. Everyone's eyes widened with surprise at this, but Rune didn't give them a chance to reply, "I am aware that as you do not know my identity, you have no reason for trusting me. You are going to ask if I can show myself, before we take action, am I correct?" A large majority of the librarians nodded a little, although a few looked even more surprised, while others looked somewhat interested. Rune took another deep breath, "I have considered doing so several times, although each time I decided that it wasn't appropriate."

Rune's eyes narrowed, "However, with these recent developments, there is no sense in continuing to hide my identity from the five of you. I am calling to arrange a meeting where we will see each other face-to-face. I am showing you the coordinates now. Please mark them out on any map you have at hand." He then changed the screen, and pulled up a map, hovering the mouse over what looked like a world-map of Maozhu. He drew a box over an area far to the north on the border between the hemispheres, and when he let go, the box zoomed in. Rune marked an X over the designated area. He spoke again, when everyone had drawn out marks on their own maps, "Please arrange it so that you arrive in two-day's time, one hour after the sun sets, which would be exactly nine." He said.

He tapped the map with his mouse, closing it, "I am sending each one of you specific routes and information that will assist you in arriving at the designated location on-time. Each set of instructions is tailored to the specific need for transport, as I am aware some of you have more complications in travel, or more distance to cover. You will arrive on-time, if you are prepared for what we are about to do. Think it over, before coming, because there will be no turning back once you participate in this meeting." He took a deep breath, and placed one talon over the key, "That will be all." He said, and pressed the key, the screen showing the symbol of Cipher going dark, along with all the other video feeds.

Rune got up from his crouched position, "I have had these plans in place for a long time, and not told anyone about them. Much technology is too old to work, but a very long time ago, my grandfather had a hobby of restoring or re-creating ancient vehicles, though for the sake of everyone involved, he only kept them hidden in the library. When I made my plans, I secretly managed, with the help of a few cart-animals that had gotten loose and gone feral, which I re-tamed, transported some of these vehicles and hidden them near the other libraries, as I managed to track down their locations. These secret deliveries were also how I was able to smuggle technology to the other librarians, and instruct them how to make them operate." He winced a bit, uncharacteristically expressive, at the memory, "It took quite some time for me to do all of it, and I also recall developing a touch of insomnia on my travels, until I was safely home."

Praedromus dove to the side, barely avoiding the enormous fist of Kradus' new form as it came crashing down. It was becoming increasingly clear that Kradus was completely underestimating his opponent, the warlord's personal vanity and greed getting in the way. Praedromus was not becoming increasingly frustrated, but rather recognized that this could be used against Kradus. Praedromus began to transfer and move more dark matter than he had ever before during the fight, building it up around him and increasing gravity to the point at which anything not specifically made to withstand such a high force would have been crushed if they had stood next the Praedromus. He then released all of this, sending a wave of dark matter directly at Kradus and exposing the gravitational energy that had been built up. An enormous shockwave would sweep through the area before the massive wall of matter hit Kradus, hopefully sending him sprawling and increasing the gravitational pull around him.

Allé and Tevri both stood a little open-mouthed, clearly impressed. Aarin smiled. Isbar, as usual, gave no sign, unless to twitch his quills and scuff the ground. Being more a creature of action, he most likely was starting to get bored.

"That's quite impressive," said Aarin. "You've done quite well. I assume we'll be there as well, two days from now?"

"That will be a surprise for the other librarians, all right," said Allé.

Suddenly a thought struck Tevri. "What about everyone up on the Majesty? Won't they be wondering what's happened to us in that time? They may already be wondering where we are right now, since we haven't exactly radioed them or anything. Shouldn't we find some way to contact them and give them an update on the current situation?"

Kradus felt the motions, having the gravity around him betraying him. He'd been pushed now, and pushed too much. His lip twitched suddenly, his pupils dilating. He stood up and looked at Praedromus, suddenly feeling rage stir inside him, more than his own wicked amusement. His body folded back into its normal form, the exoskeleton remaining though.

"Praedromus..." Kradus said with a gurgle in his throat. "Is this your idea of dominance?"

Kradus quickly threw his tail out, striking Praedromus up the side and knocking him over. The overlord took a jump, leaping straight over Praedromus and landing on the other side. His claws readied and he came out to swipe.

___________________________________

The Dronix suddenly self destructed, it blowing a massive blast throughout the space around and tossing strange green clouds everywhere. More Vaurik fighters were released.

Down below, Mortemalo stood. He grabbed the axe head and threw it at a squad if Samians and their walkers that approached. He ran quickly, evading the massive explosion that followed.