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

Fluffy slowly slipped out of her cloak. With a dagger in hand. She turned on her boots and walked slowly towards the Liirlith.

"So you ugly little cortrark. You finally decided to show yourself.
So what hurts more. Your foot or your arm?" She said while maintaining a nasty smirk.

Emperor Tius clicked a button on his desk that opened a hole in the floor which brought up a comfortable seat for him to sit on. For a moment he pondered on where to begin, as to not bore the alien with unnecessary details. "Well, our empire prides itself on its technological advances and just how quickly we discover new technologies. In only hundreds of years we have advanced from simple villages and bug-eating to the civilization we are today."

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Suflet Călit clasped his hands together and said with relief, "Then its settled! I'll arrange a wonderful feast in our finest establishment!"

A quick thought raced through his mind and he added, "Oh and if there are any allergies or things like that, now is a good time to tell me."

The remnant Purists were shocked to see Xaer fall to the ground dead, an unsuspected retribution, seemingly for his final words. As Nvarn spoke, they exchanged solemn glances, and looked at him with a burning hatred for a moment. This passed to resignation, and they held up their hands in defeat.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Yes, ve have zem here, ve need extraction immediately." A small *click* followed as Straus shut off his personal COMMs, having just finished a brief situation report to Ekest's military complex.

He turned, still with a limp, to glance at Velsen and the treacherous Markovan. Velsen sat, arms folded around his legs, on the hard concrete floor. He knew the Kil hated the Markovan, and yet both had the potential to wreak havoc. Maybe they weren't so different, but the Purist would never admit that.

Straus opened his beak, was about to say something, when he halted, choosing to keep silent. The moment didn't need words, and they would be wasted on its participants. Instead, he sat down to examine his wound. Releasing the armor clamps, he pulled the segment over his wound off, not feeling any pain from the action. It was only when he pulled up the nanocomposite undersuit that he cringed and sharply exhaled, revealing underneath a bloody burn. Dried and drying purple blood was all around the wound, and it had started to clot in the center. Straus determined it could wait until the medics arrived, but pulled out a sterilized gel cloth from one of the compartments in his chest armor, wrapped it around the wound, making sure to fold more of it over the actual injury, and rolled down the undersuit, following with the armor segment.

Mere minutes passed before multiple squads appeared down in construction site, and began to gather up the bodies. The Liirlith's in particular was treated with more caution, and all of this with a more complete report from Straus, though it was a mere summary.

Hours later, the next day, news reports began to surface on the Absolute Network, of all that had happened in the previous night, including the Purists' conspiracies, the assassinations, and the subsequent arrest of the radicals' leader and remaining members. Lists of the fallen accompanied this.

This was not only a victory for the Confederacy, but a call to action for the other side.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Four years later..

Ekest's Military Complex

Nai Xeranil's Office

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes."

Straus left the room, leaving on the metal table infront of Nai a datapad, underneath it neat papers.

Both contained his requested honorable discharge.

Zara's tongue slid in and out of her beak, her eyes gazing balefully at her target.

"Ssssssilly childish tauntsssss will get you nowhere, Felinite," she said as the two began to circle each other. Zara flexed her long fingers in anticipation.

"I will enjoy thissss, to be ssssure."
______________________________________

"None that come to mind, no," said Hissin. He cast a glance at the others, but they all shook their heads.
_____________________________________

Ariz completed the program silently. He looked over at one of the Jorro'kil standing watch over him and the ones with him.

"Well, anything else?"
_____________________________________

Gettrav had been handed over to the Markovan Empire, and was now sitting in a small cell as a high-ranking military official questioned him. However, the officer found Gettrav's answers little to his liking. Indeed, Gettrav seemed to put on an air of being bored of the whole affair.

"I'm warning you," the officer growled dangerously, "I expect you to take this seriously, or there will be severe consequences."

"Believe me," replied Gettrav, "I take this quite seriously. However, it is all quite pointless. I'm not going to cooperate. You see, Sir, times are changing. Power is shifting. The old order is beginning to crumble. It's all simply a matter of being on the right side when the new one comes."

The officer was not able to get anymore information out of him, and left. A few hours later, Gettrav's cell was found empty, and a guard was found dead with Liirlith venom in his veins.

Suflet Călit grabbed a small radio device from one of the Nisipian guards and told the Markovians, "Just a moment then please."

He turned away from them and then tuned the device to a frequency that goes to one of the finest dining establishments in the Nisipian capitol not far away and said, "Hello. Am I speaking with the staff of Placebant?"

The Nisip on the other end replied with a yes. "Great," Suflet said, "I need you to clear the place, get the best food we have, and... erm.. get the sand out of the restaurant."

Due to the majority of the Nisipian population believing sand to be holy, that last request was met with shouts and angry questions. "Look! Will.. Stop shouting! Confutuere et claude!" A few guards widened their eyes at those last words Suflet said in their own language, due to it being a Nisipian curse phrase.

"Listen," Suflet said, losing his patience, "I believe the sand is holy just as much as the next Nisip, but we are having... guests.. over and I don't think they want to eat a freaking sand sandwich!"

The staff of the resturant agreed to set up a feast and clean the sand out of the place. Before Suflet could say bye, they hung up.

Suflet Călit told one of the Nisipian soldiers to go find a large sand crawler to bring everyone into town in. The soldier saluted Suflet Călit and ran off as Suflet turned back to the Markovians.

Several other instructions and tests followed for those who had volunteered for the Engineering department, and most of them were simple aptitude tests. After each cadet had completed their training, they were monotonously returned to their quarters.

Another period of waiting ensued, and the Survivor and Avlex were called down to one of the ship bays to assist with large spare parts that needed to be hauled in to cargo containers. The mechanized arms in the bay could easily have done the job, but they had become defunct due to excessive usage. Engineers such as Corena and Keo would later be sent to repair these, but they weren't employed at the same time due to the redundancy that would inflict the two Xliveiens, and as well as the Captain, Xavre, not wanting to give them too much control at the same time.

As the Survivor worked moving the large chunks of scrap metal and sections of deactivated weaponry into the dark blue and silvery, rectanguler containers, Avlex was given the duty of guiding his brother to the correct parts and their respective containers from an overseer platform. He was able to do this with a holographic highlighting system, which would create a digital blue periphery around the areas Survivor needed to attend to. Soldiers watched them both from catwalks above, and from the overseer platform. All of them held heavy-duty ballistic rifles, and were ready to kill the Xliveiens should they attempt to run or disobey, and all were especially wary because they had removed the power dampeners from both Avlex and the Survivor's cybernetic arms, to allow them greater efficiency in their work, and, indeed, the potential to work.

Meanwhile...

Lucean was ordered to the Eternal Devotion's bridge for her new task. Guards escorted her as usual, and they passed through many of the dark blue and silvery corridors, both before and after taking an elevator to the bridge level.

Two automatic sliding doors unlocked and opened to allow Lucean and her guard to pass through into the bridge. From the doorway, one could see the bridge was pentagonal, with wide hexagonal viewscreens at the front. For the moment, they had been overlaid with dark metal slats, denying Lucean the ability to see even the stars, another sign of mistrust.. or security.

One Jorro'kil approached her, and was the first to speak to her since Captain Xavre had addressed all of the recruits.

"Third Mate Jex Kavel. I'll be assisting you in your jobs." His voice was innately young and rather high-pitched, though it would be hard for Lucean to know if this was the norm or not, atleast until more of the crew spoke to her.

He wore a uniform alike to that of Captain Xavre's. It was a two-piece, tight-fitting outfit, grey, with dark-blue highlights in the form of semi-circles over the shoulders and the outer thighs. The rest of the bridge crew were in similar attire, though with varying colors and some different highlights and insignia.

"You'll be learning how to use basic COMs and navigational equippment today." He said to her. He treated the time as "day" because it was past the sleep curfew, and it helped him personally to act as if it were a day on Irooscin, his home planet.

When his dampener was taken off and told what to do Survivor immediately made his arm untangle into its multiple limbs so he could carry more. While he worked Survivor scanned the bay in search of his vessel of course no success. This didn't bother him though because he doesn't want those guards to get suspicious though with his natural high jumping he could easily get to them. But for now he was going to suck it up and be a good little peon. That thought made him want to vomit.

Avlex sighed and went to work. His sleeve made it hard for him to carry much stuff but he was happy to have his dampener off because he could finally fully close his hand. He worked silently and continued to wonder what his brother was going to do. Was he going to try to escape and get killed? Or is he going to think of some awesome plan? Either way you know you have to tell him of the cargo on your ship. If you two escape, you need to escape with that cargo intact.

"Well, then," said Hissin. "Lead the way, Mr. Călit."

(@Whoster Would you mind having a member of the crew do something with Ariz? There's a post further up for him. Thanks)

Following what would be known as the Ekest Incident, Sentinel Nvarn Reventus stayed planetside on the Jorro'kil colony for seven days to ensure immediate stability. However, his obligations to the Krathunian government forced him to leave to Sethega for a Convergence meeting regarding the Jorro'kil radicals that had been encountereds other seperatist factions within the other Confederate nations, though a number of troops would remain stationed on Ekest and the surrounding colonies. The Sentinel was commended for his actions by his fellow members of the council. Despite this, the meeting was one of solemn grief and worry. The Krathunians mourned their losses, but the Ekest Incident served as a sinister warning. Groups such as Velsen's Purists existed elsewhere in the Confederacy, and information obtained regarding Gettrav only exemplified the need to eliminate them. The reported presence of a UFIAI infiltrator machine added to this, as it was clear that the enemies of the Confederacy could and would support these groups to destabilize the Confederacy.  In addition, the Purists had been able to gain enough support and supplies from somewhere, clearly an entity or being that had the resources and ideology to do this. It became clear that it was necessary to further investigate Ekest and discover who exactly allowed for the Purists to execute their plan. Nvarn expressed his interest in not only leading the Krathunian efforts against splinter factions within the Confederacy, but also his investigation of the Ekest Incident and Purist faction.

Three days later, ten days after that rainy day when the blood of Krathunian, Jorro'kil, and Markovan spilled, Nvarn returned to Jorro'kil territory. His first objective was to interrogate Velsen. He travelled to one of Irooscin's barrier worlds, the one where Velsen was being held.

__________________

Ilinya listened carefully to Tius, taking note of what the Silonian had to say and recording the entire conversation with the ships's database for future reference. Despite her intentions to dissolve any modesty or humility that he had, she was quite interested in this new race and how it was able to survive on and adapt to the extremely hostile environment below. Besides, she needed to gather information anyways.

"That is most fascinating, Emperor," Ilinya responded, speaking in a kind tone. "Tell me of your people's technology and advancements. I'd imagine them to be quite grand." Ilinya, notably, had decided not to speak of her own empire until Tius asked her.

Lucean walked down the corridor, glancing back at her guard every now and then. It was so tempting to just use her luciferase to temporarily blind him and then run... But she knew it would be useless on this ship. If she were to try such a thing right now, she would quickly be caught. This would take away many, if not all, the privileges she currently has as well as strip away any hope of escape. For now she had to cooperate, then.

Lucean's lights slightly reflected off the silvery walls as she passed through them, creating a show of lights around her. When she arrived in the room, the lights seemed to brighten slightly in alert, her heartbeat quickening as she looked around in the new atmosphere. They had covered up the screens to prevent her from seeing outside. It slightly angered her, in truth- she knew it was just for precaution, but she should at least be allowed to see some sign of life aside from these Jorro'Kil beings she was coming to despise a bit.

One of the Jorro'Kil then introduced himself as Jex Kevel. He seemed younger, though for Lucean it was a bit hard to tell. She noted that his and te rest of the crew's outfits were alike, only in different colors, highlights, and insignias.

Apparently this Jex Kavel guy that spoke to her is going to be assisting her in learning how to use the COMs and navigational equipment. That was something she could definitely learn to do, having some past experience. Lucean nodded slowly, a sly smile appearing on her face.

"I'm ready to start whenever you are, sir."

Planet - Mivra
Classification - Barrier World
Location - High Security Penitentiary Alpha-C

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An automatic door flashed green, then slid open silently to allow the Sentinel to enter the interrogation room. It shut behind him, and locked, and the light panels on it glowed an unforgiving orange. In a simple chair, Velsen Arkel sat opposite the Krathunian. He stared at the floor, which was a deep onyx color, synonomous with the rest of the room.

The chair in which he sat was built to accomodate Jorro'kil leg structure, and a similar, though larger chair was resting alone in the other end of the room, waiting for Nvarn to take his place in it. Velsen, with arm aloft, gestured to the seat, yet did not lift his gaze. A bright, white light panel was attached to the middle of the ceiling, and emanated harshly upon the Kil. He fought a slowly rising headache.

"Can you ask them to darken the panel?" He said this very casually, as if Nvarn were a good acquintance.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Keo, Corena, and Ariz were later called down to the loading bay after Avlex and Survivor had finished loading the various scrap items into the cargo containers, and were given the task of fixing the hydraulic arms meant for most of the heavy-duty lifting in the bay.

Most of the hydraulic circuits, fuses and valves had either outright broken, or were simply worn down from continuous use. The cadets' guards brought them supplies to repair the machinery to the largest extent, though warned them that improvisation may be required. As ever, they vigilantly watched the recruits work.

Ariz worked hard. One would have thought him dedicated, except for one thing; the looks he kept shooting at the guards. The look of someone no longer desiring life, but just waiting for an opportunity to throw their life away.

The Sev System - 23 Years Ago

Docking Shuttle to the Yearning Solace

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Docking Sequence Initiated."

I heard that often, and by then was quite familiar with the automated voice. It, like most of them, had a metallic echo to it, and was there only out of what I would call "gratuitous necessity." The crew were perfectly capable of informing us when we were to dock; we would have felt it regardless. I suppose part of the reason was to increase convenience.

In the cramped seating area of the shuttle, there were five of us. Myself included, there was Srenov Xavre J'kol, Commander Vais Treiv (We all knew him by another title, but he preferred we refer to him as "Commander"), Our leader, Xavez K'roneques, and another soldier of my rank, Xrius Xilonki.

A rather subtle reverberation passed through the shuttle, and we knew we were inside the Yearning's ship bay. A few moments passed, then the dull noise of metal striking metal could be heard, and then light poured in through the primary exit and entrance aperture, directly facing our seats. As the aperture continued to outwardly recede, my eyes began to adjust to the better light of the exterior ship. Xavez stood up, followed Xavre, then the rest of us, and we walked out of the shuttle.

Inside the Yearning Solace, everything seemed to be new and sturdy, a stark difference from the rather emaciated frame we had arrived in. We came out into a hallway, though I passed through a doorway, out onto a catwalk, and was able to observe the aforementioned details. The entire bay was fully crewed, everything seemed to be in working order, and for a moment I was awed at the efficiency of it all. Xavre stepped out behind me, watched for a moment, then told me we were heading to the ship's bridge. I lingered on the catwalk for a moment before complying.

Minutes passed as we walked through silvery grey corridors, then into an elevator of the same tint, before we finally came to the ship's bridge. The room was shaped like a pentagon, with the doors through which we entered being one of the "angles." It was much the same silvery-grey, except for the various consoles that illuminated the room with their holographic panels. The captain was at the front of the bridge. He wore the special insignia on his uniform to designate him as the ship's commander, and currently sat peacefully in his chair. Little scrutiny was required for me to see the chair was ornately crafted, fittingly unlike the rest of the simple seats which the crew inhabited.

Xavez walked confidently towards the Captain, who I believe stood up because of the footsteps becoming increasingly louder and nearer. Vais and Xavre waited for them.

I was too far away to hear them talk, as was Xrius, but the commonplace greeting of dipping beaks ensued, and I assume whatever was said was an indication for the other two high-ranking officers to approach them. They too dipped their beaks, and all four of them entered into a hushed conversation. Xrius looked over at me, I nodded back. It's not our business. I thought.

Except it was.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Eternal Devotion - 23 Years Later

The Bridge

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good." Jex replied. He trotted back down an aisle, crew consoles flanking either side, and gestured for Lucean to follow. "For now, you'll practice denying COMs requests. Hailing will come later."

"Keep in mind, we are observing your progress, so if you attempt misinformation, we will know."

Jex sat down in another seat, and told Lucean to do the same for hers. On top of the consoles, Mic frames sat waiting to be used. Though they were not built for Nevalrok skulls, they were pliable and could be made to fit the head of practically anyone.

On the console in front of Lucean, alien symbols scrolled down its holographic screen, but were translated into the galactic standard, an ancient text from the days of the Loccalians, and that most races had been able to find scattered on many planets.

An alarm bleeped, and the screen showed that the ship had recieved an incoming message.

"Remember, call out any new information." Jex said.

Nvarn stared at Velsen with both curiosity and disgust as he silently prowled to the seat opposite the Jorro'kil, the manner in which he did this almost like a predator stalking its prey in the bush. He was quiet for several more seconds, simply observing the Purist, before he began to speak. "I'm not here to accommodate you, Velsen," He remarked. "After all, you are within a penitentiary..." Nvarn hesitated, considering his actions. Perhaps he could alter the opinion of the extremist sitting opposite of him. "...However, it might be a nuisance at the moment given my purpose here today. In addition, you have already suffered much, and an excess only adds fuel to the fires of hate." He turned to a security camera overlooking the room and nodded. The device was linked to the control room for the chamber, and the Jorro'kil present there heard and saw what had taken place. The light was dimmed soon after. In a sense, Nvarn had seen this as an opportunity to show to the Purist that he too was capable of morals and altruistic behavior.

"Now," Nvarn started, leaning forward. "Velsen Arkel, born on the planet of Ekest in 9,979 S-XI. You were present for the Dominion invasion of the colony." He inhaled sharply, his eyes slightly downcast. "Is this experience where your beliefs originate from?"

____________________

Corena worked diligently, only pausing for short amounts of time to observe reports from Mischief and her new companions. She realized, at this point, that she had not yet introduced herself to the Markovan - Perhaps he would be more receptive, given Keo's hesitation and wariness and the fact that the Markovans were a part of the Confederacy (Though, again, Corena remembered the she had escaped the Federation). She slowly worked her way towards Ariz before speaking. "I don't think we've met," She began, glancing from the damaged circuit board she was repairing. "I'm Corena."

On the way back to his quarters Survivor remained as his usual silent self. He would rather these aliens think him as a mute. It ticked him off a bit to know that the power suppressor was on. Though right now he felt like he should take out his guards and hide in an air vent. He resisted all urges to until an idea came to his head and he decided to slowly move his fingers to ask a question.

"I have a request. My species tends to get very....frigidity when we are in enclosed spaces for to long so may I request that me and the other of my species have an occasional sparing to calm ourselves?"


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Avlex was hesitant to ask a question to his guards on the way back to his room. He needed to know if they had his ship in here and if they removed any cargo from it. It really bugged him and he is bug-like so he should know but despite all self efforts he remained quiet make small mumbles to himself all the way back to his quarters.

Ariz paused in his work and slowly looked at her, with the appraising air a commander might give a new recruit.

"Ariz," he said at last. "Ariz min Darrin. I would give you the customary gesture of greeting of a Markovan warrior, but it requires my sword, and that was taken from me, amongst other things," he added, more quietly.

Velsen looked up at Nvarn slowly, eyes first, then his beak elevated so his face was fully towards the Sentinel. "If I may ask..." He started. "What is the purpose of this 'investigation'?" He mocked the word, as if it were all a sham. "You're not a psychologist. I can tell." He smiled, like he knew a secret that everyone but Nvarn knew. "You'll ignore my comments, won't you? Well then... Do you know what it's like?"

He leaned forward in his chair.

"To see a friend ripped apart.. in front of you? To see her morph into some.."

He stopped, pausing to make sure he hadn't given too much away.

"Then.. to be taken from the jaws of death.. by your own people? By their power?" What he spoke of was much more personal than it sounded. He had had an encounter with a Karthla form, and would have died, were it not for the swift intervention of Ekest's military forces.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


One of Survivor's escorts broke the silence. "Frigidity? You stammer. And I cannot grant your request, not now, you must wait."
It was another walk of silence thereafter.

The guards had broken Survivor and Avlex apart, now a mandatory act for escorting multiple recruits at the same time. One of them became annoyed by Avlex's mumbling, and once they arrived at Avlex's quarters, he gave the Xliveien a light kick into his bunk. The other guard simply watched with disdain, and soon they had both left the area.

Those watching over the engineers were there strictly due to orders, and most of them couldn't have been less interested in them, most likely to the disappointment of Ariz.

Aside from the sharp, echoing sounds of the recruits' work, the loading bay was rather empty and quiet, a reflection of the condition into which most of the Eternal Devotion had deteriorated into.

Avlex did not treat that kick into his bunk well. In fact after the guards left his mind started to race many thoughts. This is going to be my life... This is where I am going to die. I am never going to get out of here. Never going to see my mom or my dad and never going to see the beautifully terrifying homeworld of Xion again... As the thoughts raced on Avlexs' body started to pour a special liquid into his body. A liquid his species nicknamed Survival Instincts. Starting to see the bio-luminescent start in his eyes. Avlex tries to stop his thoughts and think about other things. Hoping it would work.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Survivor made a small growl hearing that his request was denied for now but he dealt with it. When he was left alone in his quarters he started to look around again. He then walked up to each wall and tapped on it lightly. He even tried the ceiling. He had high hopes that somewhere there was a loose panel he could exploit. Course that could just be wishful thinking.

Keo paused for a second before s responding to Corena.
"Elaanipos, " He responded.  "Kind of in the middle of nowhere space..."

Later, the engineers were called down to the loading bay. Keo, surprisingly,  found himself enthusiastic about the hydraulic arms; this was one of the few areas of engineering that he had any experience in. However,  he hit a wall of sorts: Vil-Nolwikkans and Jorro'kil were very different creatures, and as such, their... engineer methods... we're also different. Some parts of the hydraulic arms were built for the grasp of a Jorro'kil hand. Keo had claws. It was still able to be done,  but he figured that he may have to learn some new techniques.

Oh! I know what I'm doing later.  
9
Though he wasn't familiar with this Jorro'kil design, he continued to fumble, teaching himself in the process. The outside world melted away, and all he could sense was himself and his objective.

"The childish taunts have served me well in the past Liirlith. And unfortunately for you I'm not like the one you got me to kill. I don't play fair, I have no stupid sense of honour and loyalty in the end only gets you killed." Upon saying this fluffy activated her cloak.

"Hey Liirlith. What happens if the organ that makes the venom in your claws is punctured?"

Nvarn returned Velsen's stare, the eyes of both meeting, and for the first time Velsen could truly see the extent of Nvarn's augmentations, at least those within his face. The Krathunian's black sclera and pupil glowed with the light of an electronic red grid, each line very thin. Surrounding the Sentinel's gray iris were luminescent rings of red. Upon the surface of each eye, one could see Nvarn's HUD - Information, reticules, and more were laid about it.

The Krathunian, speaking in a low voice, making sure to maintain his calm and collected mood, uttered, "Yes." He sat up in his seat, and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, calling upon memories he wish he never had to, but did every day. He released, opening his eyes, and began to speak. "I was twenty five years old when the planet of Trelvuin was hit by the Karthla. Trelvuin was the homeworld of a local civilization that the Covenant had been trading with. We had attempted to evacuate civilians from its surface, but it quickly became clear that the planet was doomed. It was also apparent that if specific precautions were not taken, the Karthla would be able to spread to the New Worlds." Nvarn took another deep breath in, full of pain and sorrow, and released once more. "The Covenant sent in a bombardment fleet to purify the surface of the planet and get rid of the Karthla, but there was an issue. A device planted by the Zraak on the ground disrupted our targeting mechanisms. My squad, along with several others, were sent down to deactivate it."

Nvarn leaned forward, still gazing intensely at Velsen. "They were my brothers and sisters. My biological family perished at the hand of a different virus, so the men and women in my squad were my family, all those who I cared about most. Our mission succeeded, but..." He trailed off, his stare temporarily staggering. "I watched my entire squad perish at the hands of the Karthla, mutilated and transformed into monsters. I tried to save them, but there was nothing I can do. Then, Velsen, do you know what happened?" Nvarn stood, his expression of grief turning to one of fiery anger. "My communicator malfunctioned, and the fleet assumed that we had all deceased. They began the bombardment. I was caught in the blasts, buried under debris. I had been accidentally betrayed by my own people, and they had destroyed my body. Somehow, I survived, and was able to activate a radio beacon, and it saved my life."

Nvarn shook his head, walking slowly forward to Velsen and kneeling so that his face was directly in front of the Jorro'kil's. "Anybody else, they would have sent off to retirement or allowed them to die an honorable death. But they saw something, some kind of "potential" in me." Nvarn's left gauntlet retracted into the rest of his arm plating, revealing a midnight black cybernetic arm. He held it up for Velsen to see. "I never asked for this, but I never had a choice to begin with. I was forced to watch as my family was slaughtered at the claws and tendrils of the Karthla, made to kill them as they corrupted, and then my own people blasted my body to nothing and recreated me into a machine with the purpose of more killing." He stood again, walking slowly back to his seat. "So, Velsen, yes. I do know what it is like. I did not, however, allow my experience to corrode and corrupt my morals and ethics."

________________________________________

Corena nodded at Ariz, quickly glancing at her work before looking back to the Markovan. "I'm sorry. All of us have had something stolen from us..." She trailed off, thinking not only of her home, a retrofitted frigate where she did her work, but also of her homeplanet, of the family and friends she once had. She had stolen those things from herself in a rebellious and radical attempt at freedom, one which had clearly failed. Everything she had worked up to in her life had been taken from her by these Jorro'kil.

Zara grinned and reactivated her own cloak. "You have ssssome admirable qualitiessss, Felinite, and it hassss been a pleassssure doing bussssinessss with you. However, I cannot sssstay and play. Jussssst two minutessss ago, I recccceived sssssome new inssssstructionsssss from my own command. I wassss going to be reposssssted to look out at ssssome rogue Jorro'kil, but it hasssss been decccided that I will be more usssseful elssssewhere."

With that, she activated her personal teleport, which she had previously used to get from Fluffy's ship down to the planet. However, her destination was the control room right nearby. The room was empty, the usual operators having been evacuated so that Fluffy could do her work.

Zara quickly shut the door and locked it, something which would be visible to Fluffy standing outside. The door would hold the Felinite just long enough for Zara to do what she meant to do. Taking her teleporter, she opened a control panel and began to rig something up.
____________________________________

Ariz scrutinized Corena carefully. "Perhaps we can speak more later. It might be advisable to to see if we can contact others taken by these Jorro'kil and see if we can form some sort of resistance. In the meantime, let's 'act casual,' so to speak."

He returned to work, looking more concentrated than before.

Velsen peered up at Nvarn's face, observing both the miniscule and the more noticeable augmentations.

"It doesn't hide those scars."

He inhaled deeply, and looked away, then laughed suddenly and sharply. "Who says it corroded my morals?" Velsen was a stoic for the moment.. or atleast that's how he viewed himself. Even older Purists would have been more intimidated, but Arkel was so doggedly headstrong that he disregarded the feeling.

Just then, a short buzzing sound could be heard as two guards, clad only in nanocomposite undersuits and basic combat armor, entered the room through the automatic door. They informed Nvarn that he was to follow them and leave the interrogation room, due to what they claimed to be "a change of plans."

"I'll miss you." Velsen said in a derisive manner.

"Your not getting away from me you disgusting mistrifilin."

Fluffy activated the spring mechanism in her boots that lets her jump over seven times her normal jumping height. She then activated the frontal climbing spikes on her boots and clung to the wall.

Halfway up the building now, she smirked and swiftly climbed up up the wall.

Zara looked up, unperturbed as Fluffy came in the window. Her cloak was down, so she was visible; she herself saw the window opening, and knew who was coming in. Zara had put together a strange bit work. She was at the main power source, and was wiring her personal transport into it, along with a few to other parts of the control room. She had not even touched the panel controlling the energy field.

"I ssssuppossse you're here to sssstop me? Well, you're too late. It'sssss been fun, but I've been called away to other work, and I musssst be on my way. Goodbye, and give my regardsssss to your new friendssss. Oh, by the way, I do hope you'll enjoy my little gift I'm leaving you here."

With that, she pressed a button, and vanished. By connected her personal transporter to the power source, she had increased its range, and thus transported herself to the Liirlith ship waiting for her outside of the neutralizing shield the Felinites had erected.

Strangely, the transporter seemed to get left behind when she beamed away. Then it started to beep. Zara had rigged it to explode.

Meanwhile. . .

Haslin drummed his fingers impatiently.

"I sure hope that Fluffy knows what she's doing. She's taking a long time."