The Disruption (IC)

Ravage barely had time to escape the electric shock before it came, her heightened sense of smell was to thank, this time. Smelling something burning in her nose, she detected the charge, and jumped away from the mech, using her wings to break her fall and keep her away from it as she slid all the way down its side, only the very tips of her claws cutting through. These cuts weren't deep enough to cause much damage, but did provide a break in the droid's defenses for anyone else to shoot at. Past all that armor, wires and circuits were pretty vulnerable targets. Regardless, as she landed, she winced with pain as the plated scales on her belly had been burned through her armor, which was rather low-tech, compared to everything else. She would just have to keep moving, it would heal pretty quickly, though it would sting and itch the entire time.

Perhaps it was best for her to abandon the droid, it was already pretty damaged, thanks to her piercing of its outer shell, and Xenos needed her assistance immediately. The Spiromander was being attacked from all angles by the units, who were completely oblivious to the Chimerosu's presence. Still invisible, she darted over, and jumped onto Xenos' back, lowering one claw to deflect a plasma blast. It seemed to bounce off of thin air, but it was clear something was riding on the Spiromander, from what could be seen, and unknown handler. She crouched low on Xenos' back, deflecting blasts away from her companion, and using her wings to keep herself from falling off his back as he moved. She would have to make a saddle of sorts, later, but she didn't have that luxury, at the moment. Unfortunately, despite her efforts, blasts still grazed Xenos' body, and it was only the fact that his thick skin was covered in special slime that prevented him from being severely wounded. Red marks were on the beast, but they only seemed to fuel his fighting spirit.

Ravage picked up her Com. the moment Prince Vey called, "Not good, sir! Safe houses are compromised, civilians are getting killed over here! Looks like the enemy knew we were going to be here, it was an ambush!" Her voice was harsh. "Can't talk right now, I'm in the thick of this!" She clipped the com. back into place and failed to dodge a plasma blast. It grazed deep into her shoulder, and she gritted her teeth, as bright blood poured down her arm. She gave up her camouflage, and appeared before the enemy. However, as bad as the wound was, it would soon heal, and she didn't behave as though injured at all. Hissing, she commanded Xenos to wipe out a whole row of enemies with a swipe of his long, flat tail.

The ground commander was none other than Admiral Rakluth. It was rare for the commanders of ships such as the Dreadnought to join other soldiers in ground combat, but Rakluth was renowned for his skill in fighting, wielding a large and exquisite hammer. He also had a unique set of armor - like Sentinel Theranis's, it altered its form and plating to adapt to current battle situations. However, this one had two large jet boots at the bottom to increase mobility, and his gauntlets had flamethrowers hidden inside to weaken or kill large numbers of enemies quickly. These upgrades signified Rakluth's ground specialization as a vanguard.

The admiral first knelt, the Vathoris sun reflecting harshly off the dark grey armor. He then touched his open palm on the ground, and looked forward to Lirr due to the difference in size. "Greetings, Admiral. May the spirits of the gods grant you and those around you victory, and bless us all in battle." Standing up, he then accepted one of Lirr's blades, examining it closely. "This is a well made sword, Admiral. Though I prefer blunt weaponry, one cannot help but admire such fine smithing." He then held the sword out to Lirr to accept.

As he spoke, more troops arrived from the fleets, and some ground vehicles and mechs also arrived. These varied in size and form, but the most notable was a large mech in the shape of a Krathunian. The mech was made in a joint project between the Covenant and the RWF, creating a machine that combined both the defense prowess of the Krathunians and the hyper offensive style of the Federation. It was capable of flight using jets and wings. In addition, it sported two mini magnetohydrodynamic cannons in its hands and auto plasma turrets on the shoulders. It's shield generator was modeled after UFIAI technology. It was truly a sight to behold, and it stood tall above the troops, a symbol of power.

In space, Krathunian ships increased shielding as the torpedoes hit. A couple of the smaller ships were damaged badly by the assault but repair drones came to the rescue. The fleet adjusted itself according to the Mondarians new position.

On the Dreadnought, the new commanding officer, a Captain by the name of Skelga Yveralun, recieved Aarin's message and quickly responded. "It is not an problem, sir." She stated in a neutral tone. "I am Captain Skelga Yveralun of the Intragalactic Krathunian Covenant of Sethega. We are here on behalf of the Markovans and to fight off our enemies, the UFIAI. It is an honor - I presume I am talking to a commanding officer of Vathoris, but nonetheless, it is an honor."

Warmind turned the Limos facing away from the planet, and launched its main engines to detach from the planet’s gravity-well and join with the ships waiting at upper orbit. As Limos rose from the orbit, gigantic blast-doors started to open at its prow, revealing a gap large enough for a cruiser to fly in. In the gap was a white-hot furnace, the heart of the machinery located inside the front part of the ship. Suddenly the space in a narrow sector in front of the Limos wrinkled violently towards the hellish furnace. It was yet another application of UFIAI’s wormhole-tech.

The strong, artificial gravity well disrupted the path of passing projectiles and caused serious problems to any oncoming fighters, almost immobilizing them in place. One of the attacking Markovian ships was caught in the grav-well while trying to use its close-range weaponry. The well nailed it in place while Limos’ frontal lasers located around the furnace started to systematically strip the ship from its shields and engines. Slowly the helpless ship was drawn closer to the furnace while being disassembled by the lasers, and finally just before it entered the furnace it was crushed by the grav-well to better fit the gap. The ship disappeared to the furnace accompanied by white sparkles and multicoloured flames.

After devouring the Markovian ship Limos concentrated its gravity-well to the oncoming torpedoes, pinning them on place for elimination while using its all eight magnetic cannons to pump nukes at the Krathunian fleet. While two of the four “claws” were accompanying the Limos, two of them had changed their course and attempted to flank the Krathunians.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Warmind noticed the suddenly rising energy signature coming from the Vey, and had just enough time to raise one of the Moloch’s shields between the two. However, there was nothing that could have prepared Warmind for the nature of the attack. It knocked Moloch off the ground and turned it upside down in the air. Warmind managed to use the thrusters to turn the uncontrolled flight to a full flip, landing the Moloch in its feet. It had to kneel and support itself with its left arm to avoid falling over.

Warmind gave a good look at its opponent from the Moloch’s current position. Going through several sensors and filters Warmind clearly noticed the mysterious energy source, and also noticed the air’s unusual behavior around that person. Warmind would have to inspect more closely on this interesting creature, but obiviously he was not going to willingly let Warmind scan and disassemble he’s earthly vessel. Moloch engaged its thrusters, sending dust flying and sending the mech itself dashing towards Vey. When there were only few feets between them Moloch lowered its feet back to the ground, changing the direction of the flight and dashing left, past Vey. Just past Vey Moloch hit its feet to ground again, jumping at Vey diagonally from the back-right. The cement crumbled under the Moloch’s two-toed feet and the thrusters sent a large cloud of dust flying as it changed direction. It attempted to slash waist-high with its right wrist-blade, following up with a stab from its left blade.

General Bozzle ducked as several droids and troops went flying over his head. "What's this?" he said, "the Vathorin cavalry?" He turned to the mega-mech droid "Kill that overgrown newt!"

Blades came out of the droids arms, with on of which it aimed a slash at Xenos neck.
________________________________________

Admiral Lirr took his sword back and deftly sheathed both blades across his back. "Our scans indicate this city is under attack in two locations. Any particular preferences on how we divide the forces?"
___________________________________________

The Markovan ships veered off from the giant furnace; a bunch of Mondarian fighters emerged and began to engage in a dogfight with the Markovans.

Aarin took note of the furnace possessed by the Limos. He gave orders for the modification of a torpedo. The result was launched and headed straight for the opening, picking up speed as it approached. Just as the gravity-well activated on the missile, it exploded violently, flinging molten shards at the surrounding portions of the Limos.
______________________________________

Vey barely had time to receive Ravage's reply before he had to defend himself. He telekinetically blocked the right blade and sent it wide. When the left came, he deflected it downward, driving it into the cement. He then aimed a telekinetic slash at one of the robotic limbs joints. Meanwhile, several soldiers took advantage of the fact that the Moloch had its back to them, and fired at it with the assault rifles.

Elsewhere, it was chaos. The Admiral did the best he could to organize defenses. A group of plasma throwers met the oncoming tide of Despotic and UFIAI forces coming through the breaches in the walls. Meanwhile, troops on the wall fired upon the archangels and the forces outside the wall still.

The blade hit Xenos' neck, but much to the shock of everyone watching, it had no effect. Instead of breaking, the skin stretched slightly, because it was so loose, and as a result of the pressure, but there was not even a single scratch where the mega-mech droid had tried to slit the Spiromander's neck. Meanwhile, Ravage gave the droid a malicious smile, a complete one in which she bared all of her long, sharp teeth. It was clear that a grievous error had been made in deciding to attack in this way. Not only did the weapons have no effect, but the machine also had to get extremely close to use them. It was very dangerous to get close to a Spiromander, because it was so fast, once you got near one, you weren't likely to get away. Xenos whirled around to face the droid, and aimed a lightning-quick downward slash with his two front-most claws at the arm, slamming it into the ground, ignoring the blades, as they couldn't pierce his skin. While the machine was off-balance, Ravage jumped off of Xenos' back and onto the mech, this time not blindly stabbing, but plunging her claws deep into the base of the machine's main cannon, to disable it.

The Admiral thought for a moment before responding. "I will lead half of my forces and half of yours to one source, and you can do the same for the other half? This way, our squads have diversity, and our people will better bond."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Krathunian ships continued to fire, the magnetohydrodynamic cannons automatically targeting each nuke and taking them out before they hit the fleet. One of them hit a squadron of fighters escorted by a corvette, which was evaporated in the ensuing explosion. The Dreadnought focused its main weaponry on the Limos, while the Destroyers had noticed the UFIAI's flanking attempt and fired at the approaching claws.

General Bozzle gave a snarl. Grabbing a small rocket, he attached it to his gun, then taking aim, fired straight at Xenos' flank.
_________________________________________

Admiral Lirr nodded. "Right. If you take the force on this near side of the city, I'll take the one on the far side." He then gave orders for the division of his forces.
______________________________________

As they moved to meet the UFIAI, the Krathunian destroyers were fired on by the Despotic ships, who launched shock torpedoes followed by ionic ones.

Xenos was smarter than most animals, and few things had senses that surpassed his. Therefore, when the rocket came, making a whistling noise as it flew, he did something few would expect an animal to do. He quickly grabbed a limb of the mega-mech droid in his mouth, and with a single great tug, flung the machine behind him, to the side of his flank, right into the path of the incoming rocket. Ravage jumped onto his back moments before the explosive device hit. The rocket exploded upon impact, and both fighters recoiled at the close proximity, but because it was so heavily armored, the droid absorbed practically all of the damage itself. Not only had Xenos' action saved him and his rider, but it had also succeeded in severely damaging the droid. That was one less thing they had to worry about, and the fact was that the enemy had destroyed their own machine. Dashing out from behind the smoldering wreckage of the droid, It was clear they had hardly been injured at all, thanks to the Spiromander's quick thinking. By this point, it was obvious that Xenos was far more dangerous and clever than anyone had first thought.

Xenos turned to face the direction in which he had heard the rocket come from. Although he had no eyes, the slits on the side of his face closed up slightly, as though he were making a narrow-eyed expression. He then roared at the soldiers in that general direction, and spun around, slapping down more soldiers with his flat tail, and then tearing one apart with a front claw. Ravage, meanwhile, continued to deflect plasma shots away from the animal while he battled.

Damaged though it was, the mega-mech wasn't finished yet. It had other weapons besides its blades and plasma cannons. Staggering to its feet, it began firing missiles from its shoulders and arms, as well as a pair of cutting beams from each of its hands (not that it actually had hands).

Xenos screeched when a laser beam left a gash through one shoulder, and had to leap out of the way to dodge the missiles. His tail tip got hurt, regardless, but he was able to escape lethal injuries. He snarled, and darted behind the droid, before rushing it, and jumping right on top of its back, forcing it down again. Even though he was smart, he didn't have a very good idea of what machines were. Right now, the thoughts going through his head probably consisted of wondering why this thing wasn't dying, when it had sustained what he would have considered a fatal wound. Regardless, he was still intent on killing it, and he wasn't going to let whatever these exploding devices it shot off stop him. He drove his two front-most claws into the joints, always the most vulnerable part of anything, and his second-most pair of legs shot between the first, pinning down the thing's body. Xenos leaned on it with all of his weight, which, while less than one would expect, would probably be enough to keep the droid from rising up again.

Ravage deflected one more blast of energy away from Xenos, and again jumped from his back, once more driving her claws into the heart of the machine, her claws digging deep into the back, which for the most part was unscathed by damage. Perhaps an attack from the rear would prove more effective. They could only fight for so long, they would have to rest at some point, and while Ravage could recover rapidly from her injuries, Xenos could not. In addition, Ravage had not eaten in days, and she needed to, she needed food to provide the nutrients she needed to repair her damaged tissues. They needed to kill the droid, and then the other soldiers could probably hold off the rest.

The Samian ships entered the atmosphere and began to approach lands untouched by cities, rocky places. Their loud booming flight could be heard miles and miles away. Finally they hovered and awaited permission to drop. Many tiny ships and probe had already detached and were swarming the ground below like bees after honey.

As Vey drove Moloch’s stab to the ground, Warmind quickly noticed that what was supposed to be flank attack had been changed to falling head-first against the enemy. While that maneuver’s offensive power was rather low, it also opened Moloch to any attacks. Warmind was well aware of this, and therefore used Moloch’s thrusters to transform the face-plant to a full somersault over Vey. Unknowingly Warmind saved Moloch’s leg, as Vey’s telekinetic slash hit one of Moloch’s leg armour instead of the knee-joint. The armour dented several inches inward, giving some insight what the slash could have done to the joint. Only couple of shots from the assault rifles hit before Moloch launched in the air, sending a thick cloud of dust in the air, obstructing the soldiers view.

Moloch turned in the air and landed a dozen feet away from Vey. It had its force-fields active again, creating barely visible blue bubble. Suddenly Moloch opened its arms, revealing its carapace lasers and shoulder-mounted missile pods. Before anyone had time to admire the arsenal Warmind launched its full potential at Vey, six rapid-lasers firing like gatling-guns and two missile-pods sending all six missiles at once.

Meanwhile rest of the ground forces were storming through the holes in the wall, tanks and walkers of all sizes flowing in and engaging the defenders with staggering rate of laser fire, while long-legged spider-tanks strode over them giving suppressive fire with their plasma-cannons and beamers. Large flamer walkers were engulfing everything in napalm, emptying bunkers and driving enemies from cower.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Most of the shards from the modified torpedo were swallowed harmlessly to the furnace, as it was designed to be able to consume even plasma. Few shards hit the area around the furnace, causing minor damage to one of the lasers. This didn’t slow the Limos down, and it opened the hangars in its mid-section, releasing a thousand lance-fighters. They were armed with powerful plasma-lance capable of fast anti-fighter firing and charged piercer-shot capable to damage capital-ship systems at close range.

About two thirds of the fighters charged at the Krathunian fleet, while rest engaged the enemy craft around the friendly ships. Meanwhile the flanking ships synchronized their firing with the Despotic allies, sending torpedo salvos and firing their weapon-batteries at common targets. Warmind noticed that the nukes were effectively deflected by the Krathunians, and changed ammunition to smaller ones that were fired in clusters and at greater speeds than the bigger nukes.

The mega-mech struggled to rise, its movements impeded by the weight of Xenos as well as his claws in its shoulders joints. Ravage's claws were damaging a few motor processors in its left arm as well. Unable to rise, the machine began to prepare to deliver a second electric shock to its exterior in an attempt to get the two creatures off.

Meanwhile, the focus of the Despotic forces now concentrated mainly on Xenos and Ravage. Plasma droids, quick-fire droids, and troopers prepared to fire. They were joined by three turret droids, which aimed their substantial cannons at Xenos.
___________________________________

Vey vanished from view in a cloud of smoke and dust as Moloch fired on him. When the dust cleared, he was still standing there, unscathed, having surrounding himself with a telekinetic force field. Then he made his move.

Moloch suddenly found itself dangling in the air as Vey telekinetically lifted it off the wall. He then took it, and flung it outwards. Moloch collided with one of the legs of the spider tanks, causing it to fall and crush quite a few smaller infantry units.

Unfortunately, the Daro defense couldn't hold back much longer. Vey quickly ordered a systematic retreat. As they went, several troopers flung a few grenades into the UFIAI forces; however, the grenades were specially programmed not to explode until a fair number of enemy were standing around them, causing a maximum amount of damage. In the wake of this, the Daro military launched a salvo of missiles, slowing the robotic forces a bit.
________________________________________

The smaller Markovan ships soon found themselves dealing not only with Despotic fighters, but with those of the UFIAI as well. However, they were every bit their equal in terms of speed and maneuverability, if not their superior. The smaller ships and fighters fought valiantly, destroying great numbers of them with their ion pulses and cutting beams. The larger ships continued with their torpedoes and blasters. However, they were not quite as durable in make as their enemies. Once again, they made up for this with superior speed and maneuverability.

The Vathorin fleet began to make their own moves. Splitting relatively equally, they attacked the forces of the UFIAI and the Imperial Despot with their special piercer torpedoes, opening ships up often with just a few torpedoes. They also employed long-ranged high-intensity cutting beams, combined with salvos of seismic pulses. Several ships concentrated on the Limos, being careful to avoid the furnace.
_____________________________________

The sounds of battle were audible all through the city, including around the power plant. The fake guard licked his lips nervously. He nearly jumped when three figures suddenly beamed down near him. Two of them were Markovans wearing black cloaks, obscuring their features. The other was a towering figure in black armor, obscuring all of his features, though his general form could still be made out.

The Vatarri gulped. He knew who this was. Quickly he searched out the pass that he had taken from the real guard and inserted it into the slot. The security system accepted the I.D. and opened the back door.

The Vatarri never saw Jiiran's fist. There was a sickening crunch, and the guard slid to the ground,followed by what was left of his head. Without a word, Jiiran and his two accomplices passed inside.

A plasma beam struck Xenos' flank, and without Ravage to deflect it, it stung like fire, even though the slime on Xenos' body offered some resistance to the type of energy. His powerful vision allowing him to see that his enemies were turning towards him, pointing those devices that sent off something he could only perceive as a beam of sunlight or lightning. Xenos could also see through the shell of his opponent, and saw the strange energy like lightning gathering inside it. He knew it was planning to do something, and reacted to escape the attack, as well as save his partner in combat. He quickly used one paw to grab Ravage off the droid, ripping her claws free, and kicked off with his five free legs, leaping high into the air, and flying forward, landing to an area where soldiers were not turned to. The beast clenched his teeth, his body was covered in injuries from the sailing blasts. He couldn't keep this up much longer.

Ravage gritted her beak, also having received injuries from the attacks. She couldn't handle this anymore, they needed to rest. She immediately turned to the closest Vathorian soldier, "You guys, you have to hold them off, their mega-mech droid is damaged, but we can't take any more, we gotta rest. We're counting on you!" She said, before leaping onto her Spiromander's back, wincing as her feet touched open wounds. She then ordered Xenos to dart away from the fighting, and into the rubble beyond, where they could hide, for a time.

The Vathorin soldiers held the droids and troops back as best as they could.

General Bozzle took note of where Ravage and Xenos had gone. He ordered the troops to move forward against the Vatarri. Meanwhile, he began making some modifications to his own gun.

As Ravage and Xenos were hiding behind the rubble, a Vatarri stumbled upon them. He was outfitted in a disheveled guard's uniform, and looked more than a little shell-shocked. When he saw Ravage, he half-ran half stumbled towards her with his arms extended.

"Please," he gasped in a delirious voice, grabbing at her uniform. "Please, you must listen to me! He's a fake, I tell you, I just know he is!"

Ravage narrowed her eye, and dislodged the stranger's hands from the grooves of her armor. "Sir, you must speak coherently! I cannot understand a word of what you have just said!" She then took in the man's uniform, which then sparked a memory. She had seen guards dressed like this Vatarri once before, at the power plant. Her eyes widened, "You're from the power plant? What happened?!" She then shook her head, "Never mind, stay hidden! We'll handle this!" She then jumped onto Xenos' back, and directed him to carry her over to the Power Plant. As they rode, it didn't take long for her to puzzle out the rest of what the Guard didn't say. Somehow, Jiiran had managed to sneak one of his men into the guard rotation. Meaning, the convertor was being stolen at this very moment.

She had to stop them, for the sake of Vathoris. She wasn't going to let someone get away with tearing apart a peaceful planet, no matter what their reasons, or how mentally tormented they were.

General Bozzle had finished the modifications to his gun; he had converted it into a sniper rifle. He was just about to make his way over to where he suspected Ravage was hiding, when he saw her riding off on Xenos. It was now or never. He lifted his rifle and took aim.

With a shower of sparks, his rifle fell from his arms in two pieces. Staggering back, he stared in astonishment. Standing there before was a Markovan wielding two swords. Snarling, Bozzle reached for a medium-sized blade he had close at hand. Suddenly he heard yelling, looking up he was astonished to see his own forces under attack by both Markovans and Krathunians, along with the war machines they had brought with them. Lirr grinned. "Good day for a battle, eh?"

Bozzle backed away, a little frightened. Lirr brandished his blades. "Tut tut, you're not backing down from a fight are you? You're not afraid are you?"

Bozzle bristled. "Of course not. I can handle a shrimp like you any day!" He swung his blade.

The Markovan forces attacked the Despotic troops and droids, their swords, composed of special alloys made just for this purpose, cutting through armor and metal like cheese. Two turret droids went up in flames as they were hit with Markovan missile launchers.
_______________________________________________

Jiiran and his two associates entered the main chamber where the cylinder was being kept. He nodded to the Mondarians, and they went over to the cylinder and waited. Jiiran took up station by the main door and listened.

Ravage arrived at the plant with Xenos, quite quickly, easily dodging any attacks that came, thanks to the Spiromander's blazing speed and agility, and the fact that most of the attackers were soldiers, who couldn't as accurately lock onto them as targets like machines. Sliding off the massive beast's back, Ravage commanded Xenos to lie down behind some rubble, where he wouldn't be seen. She wasn't going to force him to fight in this battle just yet, he was still recovering from the fight with the droid, whereas Ravage's wounds had already become pale scars, now concealed in bloody feathers. Regardless, Ravage knew better than to think her healing alone would save her in a fight with advanced enemies. She was used to fighting living soldiers, not machines that could take damage and keep going. She could kill things easily, destroying droids was another matter, they wouldn't stop working until she ripped out something vital.

Camouflaging herself, Ravage entered the hallway, moving with slow, steady silence, and low to the ground, as she approached the room that contained the Dark Matter Convertor. She knew better than to rush in on this blindly, whoever was in that room was dangerous, because they were in charge of stealing the convertor. Vey had specifically told her that one stray blow could cause catastrophic damage, and Jiiran would have known that, because the people of Vathoris had taught him almost every secret they had. It truly was a shame, that someone who sounded as though he had much potential had been so greatly manipulated, from the moment he had been born, that he no longer had a true sense of who was a friend or foe. Regardless, he would have made sure the ones stealing the convertor had the skills to get it away from the planet unscathed.

The Vathorin forces had retreated back inside the city. Vey knew where the enemy forces were trying to get to; the power plant. Eventually the forces of defense were centered on it. The enemy at this point didn't seem interested in advancing, but simply hammered the defenses.
_________________________________________

Jiiran heard what he was listening for; the sounds of battle outside. He knew Vey would be with there; he always lead from the front, something that had one him the admiration of his soldiers.

Jiiran went over to the cylinder. A laser-emitter unfolded itself from the armor in his hand and fired into one of the heat sensors around the cylinder. Instantly a security alarm began to blare. Jiiran nodded to the Mondarians, and they began to make a show of trying to ope the cylinder. Jiiran returned to the main entrance. Jumping up he perched head hanging down, waiting.
_______________________________________________

Vey wiped sweat and grime from his brow. "What are they waiting for?" he muttered. "They certainly have the strength to break through if they wanted to." Without warning, the security alarm for the power plant began to blare. Vey looked back in shock. How could someone have gotten through?

"Admiral, take charge," he commanded. Taking the two guards at the door, he rushed inside.

Ravage paused for a moment, staring at what she had stumbled upon, though she didn't drop her camouflage for a single second. It was a guard, dead, but something highly suspicious about him. True, he looked like one, uniform and all, but his scent was wrong. The guards should have possessed a scent similar to the area they were guarding, and this one did not, though the difference was faint. This must be the fake guard, no doubt yet another poor soul forced to work for Jiiran against his own free will. They had killed him, that could be the only reason why, he hadn't done his job of his own choice. Nevertheless, looking at the slain body did not twist her stomach as it had once done. She had long since grown too cold to be affected in battle by a corpse. It still sickened her, however, that she felt not a single twinge of grief or sadness. Was she even a person, anymore? How hard could her heart be before she lost the right to be called a civilized being? Pushing these thoughts aside, she pressed on.

She walked lightly, but regardless, did not move slowly on tiptoe as she had done earlier. The sounds of conflict had grown closer, and completely masked the faint sounds of her talons clicking on the floor. She would attempt to take care of these thieves the way she preferred to deal with criminals or traitors: Quickly, quietly, and with no remorse, but with perhaps just the tiniest speck of savage glee. Some part of her, however much it horrified Ravage, or how she tried to deny it, felt a thrill that seemed to always be connected with killing. This was when she was not in a fit of madness, which she had been experiencing much less, lately. Some part of her brain had become stronger upon mutating, the primal, animal part of the brain that drove a predatory desire to hunt. Perhaps it was the power of dominance, Ravage did not always know the workings of her own mind.

Ravage finally approached the room where the Convertor was held, and saw, still invisible, the two Mondarians, who were struggling to open the cylinder. Perhaps she had been wrong about the thieves being well-equipped and skilled. They actually looked like they were having much trouble, and whatever they succeeded in, it was a sloppy job. At this rate, there wouldn't even need to be a well-aimed blow, they might destroy the convertor just by shaking up its storage container. This was going to be very easy, to the point that she felt alarmed. Something was highly suspicious about all of this. From what she knew about Jiiran so far, this was too shoddy for him. He would know better than to let clumsy people like this handle the convertor. She best not reveal herself, not even as she dispatched the two.

Almost casually walking up to the Mondarians, she stood for a moment next to them, before in a lightning-quick motion, she reached out with both arms and slit their throats with her claws. Quick, fatal wounds, for she knew they might be mind slaves, also. She didn't have time for these decoys, where was the real threat? Turning, she moved a short distance from the corpses, in case something tried to attack where she had been standing.

It was in turning that she saw the main entrance, or namely, what was perched upon it like some huge evil lizard.

Jiiran saw his two associates go down. He peered over there, startled and disturbed. He adjusted the sensory input in his helmet (this was done with special connections that eliminated the need to touch anything with his hands), highly developed ones that further enhanced is already super-acute senses. He detected quite breathing, a heartbeat, the faintest click of talons, and a heat signature. Someone else was in the room!

Without warning, Vey entered with the two guards in tow. They stopped short in surprise at the two bodies on the ground. Jiiran put aside the concern of someone else being in the room for the time being. He had to act now, or his plan would fail. Out of the gauntlet of one armored hand slid a crystalline blade. A poisoned blade. Despite his hatred of them, Jiiran still maintained some contact with the Liirlith, mainly to secure supplies of the venom they produced naturally, a venom more toxic than anything else. Once a lethal dose was administered, only the very strongest creature could survive. There was no anti-toxin.

With Vey standing beneath him and his blade at ready, Jiiran dropped downwards towards his target without a sound.

A loud, keening screech pierced the sounds of battle outside, and broke the stunned silence inside the room. Like a bolt of midnight-blue lightning, Ravage propelled herself into the air using her wings with blazing speed. Before anyone could react, she collided with Jiiran before he was able to land on Vey and cut him with his blade, which smelled acidic, and clearly identified as a toxin. To most creatures, it would probably be odorless, but it was as plain as day to her that this reptilian stranger had made an attempt on the Prince's life. It was a sudden thing, one moment, nobody had been there, and the next, a furious Chimerosu had materialized, tackled Jiiran out of the air, forcing him away from the Prince, and then taken up a position between Vey and the would-be assassin. Ravage brandished her claws threateningly, their gleaming metal catching the light like chrome. Her second set of eyelids had once again closed, making her gaze a terrifying mask. Her four nostril-slits flared, and her beak scrunched up, baring row upon row of saw-like teeth. The feathers not covered by her armor stood on end, making her seem gigantic, and her wings were spread, the tips angling down, suggesting even the slightest twitch might send her off on another strike. She did not speak, but merely produced a harsh, bird-like growl deep in her throat.

On one side of the fleshy part of her beak, a fresh cut slowly dripped blood. Ravage could feel it tingling, and knew she had accidentally cut herself on the toxic blade. When it began to burn, she knew that it was a powerful venom, one that would have killed almost instantly. However, a second later, the burn returned to tingling, and it stopped. The cut did not heal as quickly, but as soon as her immune system had dealt with the toxin, it started to visibly close, having just been a nick. A nick with that toxin for anyone else would have clearly been a lethal dose, but Ravage was not a typical creature. Her power lied in biological advantages, not in technology. One such advantage, was an immune system that had never failed to deal with anything. Even the most powerful of toxins had almost no effect at all, and this was one of those occasions. As long as this stranger possessed the deadly blade, Ravage was the only one who could fight him, get hurt, and not be killed.

After a moment, finally deciding that the toxin wasn't going to kill her, after all, spoke. Her voice did not come out as it usually did, clear, fluid, and polished; instead, it came out harsh, cold, and grating, a savage voice, filled with cruel, angry contempt. "Thought you could kill the Prince with a toxic blade?" She rhetorically hissed, the question a cutting, stinging remark. "Don't forget, you're dealing with me."

Prince Vey gave a hiss. He knew who this was.

"Jiiran!"

When Ravage had knocked him to one side he recovered rapidly, landing neatly on all fours. Then he stood up to full height. In full armor, he looked like something from a nightmare.

The two guards who had accompanied Vey started to fire their guns, the force caused Jiiran to flinch a bit, but otherwise, he was unharmed. Faster almost than the eye could follow he lunged forward between Ravage's arms and swung a punch, his armored fist striking her in the chest. Ravage's feet left the floor as she was sent flying upwards into one of the walls.

Out of Jiiran armor on his right hand unfolded a double-bladed sword, with which he swiftly slew the to guards in the space of one second. Without warning, Jiiran was suddenly flung against the wall himself. Vey had hit him with a telekinetic bast.

Just as rapidly as Jiiran had recovered moments before, Ravage was once more on all four of her feet. It was clear that this was going to be a very difficult fight, his strength was enough to rival hers, and the armor he wore didn't appear to receive any damage from the blasts of the guns. The only result from using them had been the two men getting slaughtered in all but one second. Ravage wouldn't be dispatched so easily, and against Jiiran, it was perhaps the most even battle she had ever fought. Her ribs ached for a moment, but if they had been cracked, they mended, just as they always did when hurt. Broken limbs seldom hindered Ravage's progress, they could slow her down, but she healed so quickly that shattering bones didn't win her foes a victory. She suspected she had been punched hard enough for something to be broken, though. Rather impressive strength, she had to confess. There was no lacking in speed, either, but she could match that quite easily.

In a sudden flicker of movement, she appeared next to Jiiran and delivered a strong punch of her own, at where she could hear his heartbeat in his chest. Another advantage she had when it came to fighting organic creatures, was their inner workings made noises that made her attacks more accurate. Almost everything in machines buzzed or hummed, but she couldn't tell the difference between the main circuit or a small gear, sometimes. She was surprised when her claws didn't rip through the armor, like they normally did, even with the strongest known materials. Instead of piercing straight through, they left scrapes on the surface, not ripping it, but still damaging it. Her punch wouldn't kill, though it was enough to do the equivalent to Jiiran what his punch had done to her. Even the best of armor wasn't going to do a good job at absorbing shock, the denser it was, the more powerfully that shock was felt.

Regardless of what she knew, Ravage used her wings to propel herself backwards, putting some distance between her and Jiiran. Behind her milky-looking second set of eyelids, her pupils widened slightly. It was still shocking, that there was finally a certain material that could withstand her claws. However, it wasn't completely invulnerable, either. Regardless, that armor was a problem, this would not be easy. They both had to get close to one another to use their weapons, and they both likely knew that. Both of them were equal in strength and speed, it seemed, so the question was who reacted fast enough to gain an advantage. Perhaps it depended on what natural skills or weapons they possessed. Ravage shook off the shock of seeing such powerful armor, making sure it didn't hinder her.

Instead of continuing without speaking, she made a comment, "Quite an interesting set of armor, Jiiran." She said, shifting in various directions to keep him from figuring out what direction she might move in. "Never before has any material successfully survived a single blow from my claws." Talking helped Ravage keep a clearer mind, sometimes. She kept her thoughts from shifting so much to battle that she lost distinction of her allies from her enemies. That happened, sometimes, and she didn't need to do that now.

To say Jiiran was shocked was an understatement. On his armor were three scratches. Nothing had ever done that to his armor before. Who was this Chimerosu, and what were those claws made of? No time to wonder. He was obviously going to have to be cautious. The Chimerosu, in his mind, was a minor concern. Vey was the real danger.

Just then Vey drew a hypnomelder from his belt and shot it at Jiiran. Jiiran almost smiled. Almost. "I have made adjustments since we last fought, Prince." He said. Then he made his move.

Out of his left gauntlet unfolded a small missile flinger. He aimed upwards and fired. A blinding shower of debris and rubble fell around Vey and Ravage. Almost faster than the eye could follow. Jiiran gathered himself together and sprang. A savage blow to Ravage's face sent her spinning. Jiiran's helmet smashed into Vey's torso as he head-butted into the wall. Though his armor had taken the worst of it, Vey still received broken ribs. Jiiran lunged in wit his toxic crystal, intent on finishing him before he could react.