\| Divided Paths |/ - Chapt. 3 - Resolute - Biome (IC)

Nvarn followed the pair, he too jumping to the entrance of the scaffolding stairs, and made his descent. Due to the difference in height between the others and the Krathunian, he was able to see what was ahead clearly. As they began their descent he extended his rifle once more, putting it on its medium range setting due to the environment. He readied the other hand to grab one of his combat knives as well.

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The Enigma approached Rivul, stealth systems engaged. The frigate began scans of the area over the course of a couple hours, recording energy signatures, the surface of the planet below, and more. The data collected was analysed and soon Ilinya was able to observe it on the bridge. She concluded from everything collected that this was indeed a former member of the Dominion - The Nevarzians.

((Whoster, you can have them find and try to contact the craft))

"I am Azra min Dinrac," said Azra. "On behalf of the Markovan Empire, I greet you in friendship."

Haslin gave the Romm salute. "I am Haslin Benvi of the nation of Romm, of the Confederacy of Vathoris. This is my aid, Nira Tai."

Nira peered down at the Felinite with her big black eyes. "Wow, and I thought the Markovan feller' was short!"

Haslin looked horrified, and extremely embarrassed. Azra looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.

"Aha, yes, male. Boy, I'm on a roll today," Vise said, trying to spark some humor.

"Aaanyways, while we're doing this tour, we'd like you to consider letting us create an embassy on your planet. It will allow more advanced and, well, immediate diplomacy. Perhaps, later on, we can even begin a... trade route of sorts? Xikarian spices are the best in the galaxy."

"We also trade goods other than spice," another Xikarian diplomat pointed out gruffly.

Jeez, I'm horrible at this, Vise thought to himself. I'm not a space captain nor a diplomat. I am a special agent... I should ask Yil to reconsider my roll.

Krim just laughed "Its a pleasure to meet you three. Come with me. We can discuss matters in my dining room if you like. What diets do your people have?
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Ilmire responded "An embassy sounds like I great start. But it will need to get approved by Krim before you can build it. I would be very eager to get some trade going between our races.
Now we have something very important that we need to ask you. Do you know anything about..." Ilmire was interrupted by a loud explosion sound.

"Its that stupid conduit again. I'm terribly sorry about this but I have to get this resolved. You guys can have a look around if you like but don't touch the button on that machine over there. We haven't worked out the bugs yet." And with that she grabed an odd tool and rushed to the elevator.

Nira's eyes popped open even wider at the mention of food. "Who, me? I'll eat anything that doesn't bite back."

Haslin cleared his throat. "Nira is an omnivore. Vatarri like myself are vegetarians. I believe our Markovan ambassador here is also an omnivore, is that correct?"

"It is," replied Azra.

"Good. We have a wide assortment of salads and fruits including a delicacy from our homeworld. A sweet fruit called an Enarken. For our other guests there is all that of cause but we also have a nice assortment of meats including another delicacy. A very nice species of fish we call a Kreluck. I hope it will be satisfactory."

Vise, slightly surprised, crossed his arms.

"Well. An explosion. It make me kinda want to... Find out what it was. I'm not satisfied by that exclamation."

"Mm hm," A diplomat responded. "Keep calm and lean against the wall. Wait until they've solved the problem. If it's not solved, we have a space ship to escape in." Moments later, he leaned against the wall.

Vise looked at the diplomat, "You're not very bright, are you?" The diplomat frowned, obviously offended, but kept quiet. Sighing, Vise took a few steps towards the place that Ilmire went, then stopped. "I... I don't know what to do."

About twenty minutes later Ilmire came back. "Sorry about that. This station is still under construction as I said so there are still a few problems. And ser. can you please step away from that wall. Your right next to the button I warned you about."

At the sight of the food, Nira fell to like she hadn't eaten in years. Haslin and Azra ate more sparingly.

"Thank you for your generosity," said Haslin when he had finished. He practically had to physically pull Nira away from the food. "Now, shall we get down to business?"

"Indeed," agreed Azra. "I think I speak truthfully when I say that there is much to be discussed."

Krim gave a prayer to the animals that were sacrificed for the meal, dabbed his mouth and responded: "I agree. We have matters that we need to discuss as well. So ambassadors, what would you like to bring up first."
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Somewhere in an unknown location at a rundown space station an unusual and unfamiliar ship was docking. A hooded figure stepped out onto the station, whaling past all kinds of thugs and riffraff she went into a very shady looking hotel and asked for a room. The figure paid with money they had taken from one of the thugs along the way and then ordered a drink and sat at one of the tables in the hotels bar area.

Rivul's recently established orbital facilities, which had only the bare necessities to be able to function, were able to detect small anomalies in the space surrounding Rivul. This data was immediately sent back to the capital of the planet, where several of the leaders, apppointed because of their skill and knowledge within the Meritocracy government used by the Nevarzians, came to the conclusion that ships must be sent to investigate, and if possible, remove any threat.

Soon, cruisers, already headed to Rivul, were redirected to the section of space in which the orbital stations had become aware of the oddities, and from the bridge of one of the three cruisers a message was broadcast to the surrounding region. The voice used was metallic, but also reptillian, having a somewhat coarse sounding.

"Make yourselves known now, we will do no harm unless harm is done to us."

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Xaer, on a whim, looked up at the scaffolding above the group, and noticed dark shadows quickly descending the stairs - towards them. They had been found, he was sure of it. Lightly tapping Velsen on his unwounded arm, he gestured for him to look up. Understanding and following the gesture, the Purist leader also saw the movement up above. Almost whispering to Dolos, he said, "It's time to pick up the pace, we have company."

Haslin looked at Azra, who nodded at him. "You first by all means."

Haslin cleared his throat. "Well, we had heard that a new race had entered the galaxy, and we wished to see you and possibly strike an alliance of some sort. We at Vathoris are strong believers in the strength of diversity, having more than a few different species living in peace on our world. We had heard that you also sought peace at large, so we thought it might be advantageous to formally recognize each other and form diplomatic relations."

Nai, leaving the holding facility with an air of eagerness, set himself at an even pace. Using the elevator across from where he emerged from the now locked stairway, Nai ascended from the second floor to the third, and walked through several hallways, these the same color and texture as the corridors on the first floor. The walls were layered with a plaster, and the floor was a checker-patterned tile, with grey and blue-grey squares forming the pattern. The base of the walls, and at the ceiling, also had the same aluminum lining, covered with plastic.

The Complex had recently had several budget cuts, and certain supplies, including specialist troops, were taken from it and relocated to a military base several star systems away from Ekest. The explanation for such action was hazy at best, something about the military being better able to coordinate their forces with the information they could gather from the supplies and soldiers, as part of some sort of exercise. There were even promises to return them, though no such promises had been kept. Nai hated these obscure movements, and had tried to get better answers out of official behind them, to no avail.

As the Commander moved down the last corridor leading to the room he had in mind, his pace quickened. If it were possible, he almost burst through the automatic door leading to the Council chamber. Inside, the room was rectangular, with light panels situated on the walls in place of windows. Just as he had hoped, a meeting was already in session, though some of the Councilors looked startled when Nai abruptly entered. Nai saluted, regardless.

With a look of incredulousness, one of the Councilors started, "Nai, what are you-"

"The Purist we're holding, Xeva, refuses cooperation. I have the perfect punishment in mind and I need your approvals... I know this is very soon, but with the various.. aah, unpleasant events lately, I think a speedy delivery of justice is appropriate."

The same Councilor who had just spoken, Kal Enas, happened to be a friend of Nai's. He knew of the Commander's rude tendencies, but was able to convince the other Councilors this downside was beaten by Nai's good properties.

"Are you sure she will not cooperate?" He asked. "I trust you, but.."

"But? Sir, with all do respect, you know how these Purist types work. How their mind rejects any ideas except its own."

"I suppose so... What is the punishment you have planned?" He asked.

"Exile." Nai replied.

"Interesting. I approve it." He looked round to the others. They all slowly nodded, realizing the irony of the punishment. "Surely, though, this could have waited, despite events?" Kal asked.

"Yes Sir, but there is something else. Something I need all of you to consider. We have had soldiers, weapons and vehicles taken from this Complex. We were told it was for analysis, but now with this display of violence caused by the Purists, we are certainly in no lack of need for those supplies. I urge you all to take this into serious consideration..." He paused, opened his beak just slightly to continue, but then closed it again. No-one said a word.

"That is all, thank you." He saluted again, dipped his beak, and left the room.

After a few moments had passed, Kal looked around the room, at each of the Councilors. They were all seated at a silver, oval-shaped table. His face had an expression that said "You know I'm right."

With a smile, he spoke. "So, you can see, even Nai agrees with my sentiments. We do indeed have reason to be suspicious."
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Meris, dressed in a black, white and purple suit, similar to what government and military officials would wear, approached Silus Koluntus.

"Krathunian, it is an honor. If I may address you by name?" Meris' attitude was only that of the most humble and meager.

Najii pulled himself out of the vent, dragging his burden with him, and looked around. Good, he was exactly where he wanted to be; his route, if all went well, have dropped him ahead of both the Purists and their pursuers. A quick scouting around revealed a room good for his purposes; the floor wasn't even finished yet, with dirt poking up everywhere. Stashing the ambassador in what would be a maintenance closet someday, he quickly made his way to the main hall and waited. While he did so, he sent his coordinates to the creature who had contacted him earlier, requesting he make his way there as quickly as possible.

Najii chuckled a little. He had made a deal with this creature earlier, but had decided to alter it. The poor fellow would be in for an unpleasant surprise when he discovered Najii's change in plan.
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Tissin peered down at the Purists, and noted the fact that they seemed t have quickened their pace.

"I think they have seen us, Sir," he said to Straus.
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As Nai was heading back upstairs, he almost ran into Gettrav vin Dastic heading towards the entrance of the building. "Please excuse me," he said. "I was just heading out for a walk to clear my mind a bit. It's been quite a stressful day, hasn't it?" With that, he was out the door.

"Dear ambassador of the Vathoris. We would be glad to send an ambassador to one of your worlds if you are interested. Or you can set up an embassy here to if you would prefer."
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The hooded figure just sat there sipping at their drink and reading through some information on a small pad when a group of thugs approached.
"Well" said a stalk-eyed green alien that seemed to be their leader. "I haven't seen the likes of you around here before. What is a person with a ship like that doing in a place like this?"

"I needed somewhere quiet to stay and research some things. This place seemed fun so I thought I'd hang out and maybe pic up a job or two."

"What kind of jobs might this be exactly?"

"Retrieving objects and artifacts, capturing people dead or alive and another hired gun if you require it."

The alien suddenly burst into a clicky laugh. "You here that. This little alien thinks he's some kind of mercenary or something. I don't know where you got that ship but we'll just be taking it off your hands okay."

From beneath the strangers hood a smirk could be seen on a somewhat furry muzzle. "I was hoping this place would be fun. But all I see is a bunch of wannabe thugs that probably couldn't even throw a few decent punches." The stranger removed the cloak revealing a tall, female felinite.
"How about about we see what you can do."

"Look at this. The little runt is a female. This won't be very long at all will it." The lead thug tried to hit the felinite with a kick but she grabbed his leg and dug her claws in. She then jumped for his arm and then sliced the thugs stalked eye. In about ten seconds their boss was on the floor in pain. The other three thugs moved in to attack. She then through a dagger into the second thug's chest and shot the third. The first thug stopped and ran. She pulled the dagger out of the dead thug and walked over to their leader. "I'm sorry but I did not get your name. I'm Flufferellia Novarna but you can call me Fluffy if you like." The leader said something through the pain of his blinded eye and then tried to lash out at her. She kicked his rib and moved back to her seat with everyone else in the bar looking completely dumbfounded.

"We have no objection to an ambassador on our world," said Haslin. "We could get it set up quite quickly."

Azra pressed is hands together. "That might not be advisable for the my own Empire. There's some. . . tension going on right now, and I'm personally not sure how some of my own people would react to the presence of another race on Markova."

"That is excellent news ambassador Haslin."

Krim turned to the Markovan ambassador. "Ambassador Azra, I can understand your race's weariness. We can set up an embassy for your ambassador here if you would prefer."

Silus slowly stood to greet Meris, a deliberate action, as if it were some type of protest. He was not particularly fond of the Jorro'kil's beliefs, especially since Silus was agnostic himself, but believers of the Following of Personified Light were useful. He had been able to manipulate Meris and others into working for the Alkisuns. It had been rather easily - Though Silus possessed excellent persuasion skills, being a businessman, the fact that those particular Jorro'kil thought him to be a deity made it all the easier. Silus was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his personal goals, even if it meant working with zealous, delusional fanatics. Still, Meris was not a threat, and he could be eliminated quickly should it be necessary.

"Meris, you really do not need to address me in that manner," Silus told the Jorro'kil in his cold, calm tone. "You may choose your own path to follow, in regards to religion. However, you and I walk on divided paths. I am not a god. I am an emperor." Silus gestured to his surroundings, taking care to ensure the movement was not pompous. "This, the Alkisuns, is my empire. It has ascended under my reign, spreading its wings to the furthest stars from Protun, its origin. This is not the works of divines, this is the result of a mortal's toil. Again, though, believe what you would like to." Silus sat back down, lightly coughing for a second. "But, I digress, Meris. If it makes you feel better, you may address me by name. To whom or what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?"

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Nvarn, with his augmented hearing, had been able to hear the Purists from their position in the scaffolding. He would have sprinted after them, but with his strength, speed, and position in their formation, this would have meant either death or severe injury for either Tissin or Straus if they had not been able to get out of the way. Instead, he confirmed Tissin's remark by quietly growling, "They have. We better get going."

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The transmission from the Nevarzian cruiser only confirmed Ilinya's suspicion of whom these aliens were. She leaned forward, about to contact the Federation to send a fleet to obliterate their former enemies, but hesitated. The transmission made it clear that they were not hostile. The Nevarzians, as she recalled, had been almost completely annihilated after the war - Maybe, because of this, they had changed?

Taking on a different approach, Ilinya deactivated the ship's tactical cloak and sent a message back to the cruisers. "This is Commander Ilinya of the Ryun-Wreae Federation frigate Enigma. We're currently on a patrol run to this sector." She made sure to make the message succinct as to not arouse suspicions in the Nevarzians.

"That would be preferable," agreed Azra. He paused a moment. "My good Sir," he said. "I can't help but notice there doesn't seem to be a lot of military here Is that really safe? There is quite a lot of fighting going on in this galaxy right now."

After a period of time that he had not kept track of, Suflet Călit had amassed a great fortune of food. A literal mountain stretching nearly half a mile high, the pile contains every different type of meal and dish the Nisip could create, and all preserved with the best preservation technology Nisipian fast-food joints could provide. 

A tight square formation surrounds the pile. Each guard equipped with the best weaponry in the military's arsenal. Anything that crosses the bright red line surrounding the guards is shot fifty times and twenty times more to make sure.

Suflet Călit had taken every precaution to ensure that the trade between he and the Nevarzians goes well. Greeting new recruits had been passed to someone else, and Suflet Călit has recently become Arenam's chief executive in anything related to aliens. This was due to his short encounter with them.

He has been waiting eagerly and fearfully for the Nevarzians to come. He often worried if this would be enough food to satisfy them and their likely exotic tastes.

"Not to worry. We may not have military but we do have defences in place. For example there is a dampening field around this planet that sets all energy weapons on a very low charge."

Krim's experiment now went very serious. "Now I need to ask about these Orbs. We have heard quite a bit about the power of these artifacts and this worries us a lot. So how much do your people know about them?"

Two days ago


Kesh had once again been sent to Teren Aspru, this time to secure the items of trade promised by the Nevarzians, and also to deliver some technology to the leaders, specifically Suflet Călit. He was sent from Rivul on a simple Nevarzian Cruiser, and once he arrived at the planet, set the cruiser into orbit. Using a shuttle similar to the one he had originally visited the planet on, Kesh was careful not to land it too near a settlement, remembering how easily scared the Nisip were.

After landing out a short distance from the city which Suflet had appointed for the meeting, Kesh and several soldiers made a trek towards it. It happened to be the same city which Kesh had originally entered, along with his former peers.

Kesh made sure to remember where the items would be placed, knowing that anyone other than Suflet Călit would be nervous when dealing with them. This was consistently evident as he walked through the city, being the center of suspicious attention.

Soon he and the soldiers accompanying him found themselves in the area of the city where the food was being kept.
Kesh stared at the pile of food, in awe of the Nisip's work. The three visors on his mask glinted as they reflected the sun, a side effect of studying the pile up and down.

He saw Suflet Călit standing near it, and approached him.

"You have done great work. We have also brought our end of the agreement, though it is not on the planet yet. It may take a while to transport all of this.. food, in which time we will bring the technology that was promised."
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"Silus," Meris began. "I have recently heard about a Purist uprising on one of the fringe colonies, Ekest. I am opposed to their beliefs, and these radicals should surely be eliminated. I ask your permission to take extra resources and silence their heretical movement, seeing as my own... former government has failed to do the job... yet."

Captain Terrin opened the comm again, sending a request to the Nsip he had speaking with if they might come down to the planet, specifically, Teren Aspru.

Dolos tilted its head, listening to the sounds coming from the scaffolding above. Dolos had been occupied researching on the city schematics for best escape route, and had not noticed the sounds of their pursuers before. Dolos recognized two lighter steps, and one set of heavier ones. It figured that one of the lighter ones belonged to the Jorro’kil from before. The other light steps were probably a new pursuer. But it were the heavier ones that worried Dolos, as they definitely belonged to that cyborg Krathunian.

Dolos picked up speed and pulled out its pistol. Dolos had a rail rifle hidden in its left arm, but due being undercover it would have to settle with the plasma pistol. While it was enough for most encounters it clearly lacked the power to effectively punch trough military grade protection. Unfortunately the most dangerous pursuer, the Krathunian, was most probably made from such. While dashing down the scaffold Dolos slid a single nanofibre from the tip of its index finger inside the pistol. It was meant for reaping information from organic nervous-systems, but worked as a precision mechanics tool as well. Dolos deactivated all the safeguards and loosened the plasma-feed from magazine. Result was that the pistol would empty the mag in three shots, but each shot would be like a blast than a bolt.

Dolos managed to do the reconfiguring in time it reached the bottom floor with the purists. Dolo swept the floor with its gaze, locating the doorway to the maintenance area. As the purists climbed off the scaffold, Dolos showed the light on the hands of first Kil that passed by and pointed at the doorway and hissed: “Take the lead for a moment, I’ll cover our backs!” Having said this Dolos grabbed the pistol firmly with both hands and aimed up the scaffolding. Dolos slowly backed away from it and soon caught a glimpse of movement between the metallic supports. Backing slowly towards the doorway Dolos aimed with all its inhuman accuracy and fired towards the largest shadow moving amongst the metallic struts. Painful flash of light illuminated the building, drawing razor-sharp shadows across the floor and round walls. Fist-sized bolt of brilliant white plasma launched from the weapon, leaving the barrel-tip glowing bright red from heat.

Azra shook his head. "Nothing more than rumors, I'm afraid."

"What the orbs?" said Nira, sneaking a piece of fruit from what was left of the food. "Aren't they those things the Confederacy's holding on to?"

"That would be them," said Haslin. "All we know is that they are very powerful, especially the one, and that the Confederacy (not ours, mind you) holds them. I've heard that there are powers such as the UFIAI and the Imperial Despot of Jiiran, that want to get their hands on them as well. Other than that, I'm afraid I can't tell you much."
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"Look out!" cried Tissin as the bolts blasted by, singing him slightly.
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Najii heard cries and the sound of a gun going off faintly down the corridor. He readied in his hand a cloth loaded with a knockout drug, the same he had used to knock out Nazzi.