NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC:

This is the IC Thread for The Investigation. If you wish to participate follow the link below to sign up.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=539048

There really isn’t a proper introduction for this since it is basically a competition. I hope everyone has fun turning out the best story they can. I will be inserting some clues as to what happened to my missing people, both true and false clues. You might have to eventually meet with some of the other players to compare notes to get the whole picture.

Good luck.

Algol

There are many mysteries in the universe. Things that shrowd and that cannot be understood. These things could be witnessed everywhere too. The warp storm that had secluded the New Imperium for ages was one example, and another was why the battle barge Divinities Fury coasted along elegantly through the void, infringing upon yet another perfect stage where the mysteries of the universe began to play.

Reports had come in of a great Empire that had crumbled and dissappeared unexpectedly and unexplainably. It had been called Balrogga, and the closest planet to the New Imperium that resided within the confines of the now dissipated hegemony. It had been called Algol. And because of its location, and the fact that there was no longer a claim to the planet, it was the perfect starting point for future colonization efforts into the galaxy. But before civilisation could return to the world, a sweep would have to be conducted, and any filthy remains of the formers rulers purged from existence.

If a vacuum allowed sound, one would hear the machinery of the vessel as four drop pod bays slid open, and the sound of the clamps releasing as they fired the inhabited projectiles towards the planet, the craft glowing red as they stormed through the atmosphere. On the planet, were sound was enabled, resounding crashes could be heard perfectly as the pods smashed into the hard surface of a city street, the doors blowing off and the clunking of heavy boots attached to heavier armored men as the contents of the fast-transports emptied from the confines of they had been encassed within.

"This is Brother-Captain Emmalus," the single marine who did not wear the full faced helmets that the others around him had adorned spoke through a communication device attached to his ear. "We have made contact and deployed. Commencing scouting operations within the city designated Vidian."

He turned around to watch as two more drop pods hit the pavement with a crash, and nodded to the more lightly armored scouting parties that stepped out, bringing his company number up to seventeen. "Move out."

A curiosity, a minor fluctuation. That's all it would have had it not been for the Dominion's largest arms manufacturer, United WeaponsTech, raising suspicion. The corporation had always been known for shady dealings and was dubious at best, but when it called upon its largest and best customer for assistance, the Dominion government was hard-pressed not to refuse.

In private division of the Communications Wing at Starbase Waypoint, a note was made that the planet of Blackstone in the Balroggan Empire had abruptly gone silent. This should have gone unnoticed, but the corporation seemed quite alarmed that the planet failed to respond to their increasingly desperate hails. A team of EXO Troops, the company’s private military force, was dispatched but was lost shortly after landing, bloodcurdling screams and gunfire being the last thing heard over the ComNet before it went deathly silent. It was this sequence of events that brought Jack Stone, President of United WeaponsTech, before Grand Admiral Steven Graves of the Dominion Starfleet.

The walls of the beige office were covered with pictures and holoprojections of Dominion campaigns fought and long since won. Each wall was a testament to Dominion military prowess and indeed, not since its founding, had it suffered a loss. Here and there was a plant or two to add atmosphere while tables were covered with padds that were towered over by large mahogany models of the ships in active service to the Fleet. At the center of it all was a large oak desk covered in yet more padds that displayed fleet movements, intelligence reports, and any number of the expected clutter to be found on the desk of a high ranking officer.

The Admiral himself, the center of his domain, was a tall man in his sixties. His black uniform was sharply contrasted by the myriad campaign ribbons adorning his chest. His cap was hanging on a hat rack in the corner, leaving the silver-gray atop his head exposed. His rheumy blue eyes had seen half a century of evolution in arguably the most stable nation in the cosmos to date.

The door chimed, and he hit a button on his console to buzz the guest in. The man wore a dull gray suit and a red tie, adorned with a gold pin depicting the letters UWT descending vertically with a crossed sword and missile behind them. His black hair was graying at the temples and his once fit frame was now showing signs of a gut. His calculating brown eyes reflexively scanned the office as he walked to two chairs positioned in front of the desk. Smiling, the Admiral rose to greet him,

"Jack my boy, what can I do for you? I trust business is booming as ever. Pour you a drink? Bourbon perhaps? I've got a vintage that is just hitting its prime this month."

"No thank you Admiral, I am here strictly on business, which in this instance could be much, much better. Are you familiar with the Balroggan Empire? I assume you are. It seems we lost contact with one of their planets that we had...interest in. Upon further inspection we realized that the entire empire blacked out. We sent, er, representatives to investigate, but now they have gone silent. We're desperate quite frankly and would like you to assist us."

With smile and gleam in his eye, the Admiral asked the inevitable question, "What's in it for us?"

"I'm glad you asked. We are prepared to accept your proposal of making the government a partner in the company. I feel I need not say any more."

Sitting back and taking a prolonged swig from his flask, the Admiral held out his hand. Stone returned the shake, and the deal was sealed. At 0520 Dominion Imperial Time, a nondescript freighter (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/freighter.jpg) embarked toward the Balroggan system at transwarp. Aboard were fifteen of the Dominion's Black Operations squad: Element Shadow. With a constant link back to the Fleet via the TacNet, they would get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

Equipped with a heavily modified version of Dominion Defense Force armor (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/DarkTroopers.bmp) and the latest in weaponry, they were the best men and women for the job.

WERMZ (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13093104&postcount=3)

"This is the one." Shizra pointed to a pitiful wretch with the point of one of her scimitars. The man sat huddled against the wall with wrags wrapped around his shoulders, his knees pressed against his chest. Despite the shift from winter temperatures to a warmer spring time, this man shook violently rubbing his arms to ward off some invisible chill.

Mythrandir had its share of poor just like every civilization in the universe and they all funnelled into the lesser savory parts of the capitol city. Shanties were erected, leaning up against buildings in narrow alleyways. Others, like this man, simply slept out in the open with their meager positions as a comfort. Crime syndicates like the Velvet Gauntlet preyed on these poor souls and exploited them for cheap labor. Because of crime in this sector of the city, War Mistress Shizra had some of the house guards of Elder Sebastian's house to come along and escort him. Brad, captain of the house guards, came along personally to see that the job was taken care of to perfection. Despite his age, Sebastian was one of the most favored and loved Elder of the people. None of them would allow hope to come to the man that they believed was the hope for them all amidst the chaos of the universe.

But that is a story for another time. The young Elder squatted down to get a better view of the man that Shizra, the dark elf, had pointed out to him. What he saw was haunting, leaving an imprint in his mind that would disturb his sleep for nights to come. "What's his name?"

The dark elf unrolled a parchment that she retrieved from a leather bag at her side. Scanning the list of names and their duties, she found the ink mark encircling the man's name. "Stephen."

Nodding, the Elder look back into Stephen's face. His eyes were bloodshot and frozen in a wide-eyed trance. Skin hung loosely from his cheekbones a sign that the man had not eaten anything for days. The man's lips were broken and bleeding from dehydration. Stephen's chin trembled in fear as if he were on the verge of tears but could not scream out. Elder Sebastian looked at a man that was only a shell of his former self and took pity on him. Sebastian also realized that this man was greatly different than the average homeless individual down on their luck. This man was here because he was immobilized from some traumatic event.

"Hello Stephen. Do you know who I am?"

Stephen rocked back and forth, keeping a firm grip around his legs as he bobbed his head up and down acknowledging that he did in fact know who the man before him was as well as understand the question. Stephen's lip never stopped trembling as if he were shivering in the dead of winter in the tundra.

The Elder rose to converse with the War Mistress. "There is something different about him. Have some of the guards take him to the Healers and see if they can't get him to eat. If he is coming around, I'll be back to find out what happened. Something is amiss in the universe. I've sensed it for some time now and I want to know what is going on."

"...dead...all...dead...."

Sebastian stopped and turned towards Stephen who was mumbling something inaudible. The dark elf and the Elder shared a brief look before Sebastian knelt down before Stephen. "Stephen. Who's dead? What happened?"

Stephen's rocking intensified while he shook his head violently. "No...NO!!" Bolting at some unseen attacker, Stephen clawed at the air in front of him.

Sebastian fell back just as Shizra stepped up with the edge of her blade pressed up against Stephen's neck, aiming for the life line. "No! Wait. He is not attacking me...It's something else. Something in his subconcious."

Rising from the ground, the Elder looked to his guards. "Gently carry him to the nearest Healer. Stay with him and make sure he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else."

None of the guards looked too thrilled at the prospect of escorting an insane individual, much less attacking phantoms. Despite their reserves, four of them complied and hefted the tortured mind from the ground and began the march through the alleys and back out towards the city proper. The presence of one of the Elders, Sebastian himself being so loved, drew quite a crowd; but, the spectical of a man unleashing blood curddling screams and thrashing about drew an even larger crowd. Stephen's nails raked against metal armor or tore at capes that were gently gliding in the wind of their wake. Blood oozed from his fingertips as nails got caught in mail then ripped from their fleshy hold.

Kicking and screaming, the four guards carried Stephen through the city streets. A great divide ripped through the mass of people as they stepped aside out of fear and shock. Sebastian, Shizra, Brad, and the rest of the guards were not far behind though at a considerable step back. Clearly the man was disturbed and by the War Mistress's own accounts, he had a caused a number of incidents out on the streets ranting about something indecipherable but frightening the citizens in anycase. Enough complaints had eventually reached the higher ranks mandating attention. What Shizra had found made little sense to the woman.

Stephen reportedly had a family and was a wealthy merchant and explorer. All of which were valid reasons why he should not have been out on the streets. His home was near the walls of the city which was one of the wealthier parts of the capitol and he was in contract with what seemed to be every race that Mythrandir had to offer. The last job was an exploration job for potential artifact recovery. Power artifacts to be more precise. The name on the list was disturbing, disappointing, but not surprising. Shizra's mother had contracted the man's last job in exploring an abadoned sector. That would require one of their rare mother-daughter conversations which were never pleasant.

"What planet was he surveying?"

Sebastian's voice shook the dark elf from her contemplations. She stammered to remember its survey name. "Uh planet 14-56-3B. My mother commissioned the search. Artifact hunting it seems."

The Elder tried to smile to sort of lighten his dark elf companion's mood but he stopped in mid-stride. "What was the number of the planet again?"

"14-56-3B," replying with more confidence this time.

The color in Sebastian's face fled. "That used to be Balrogga territory..."

Shizra shrugged her shoulders not really seeing anything substantial to it. "Yes, so? They all died off, as far as we know, after Asfaltum was consumed. Their territories are unclaimed and free for to exploration and scavengers. Why so downcast?"

Sebastian's eyes slowly rose to meet the dark elf's. "A commercial team just received permission to setup a mining colony on an old Balroggan planet. By now they've already landed and have begun their surveys."

Brad fished around his armor looking for an orb. He finally found one tucked up under his armor. After freeing it, he sent into motion establishing connections with SIREN and all of its uplinks. The inky black orb hovered before the group as they continued on their walk. "This is Captain Brad of the House Guards requesting information on behalf of the Elder Sebastian and War Mistress Shizra."

There was a momentary pause before a response came back, heavenly in sound. "Access granted. State your inquiry."

Sebastian took control of the questioning. "Has the mining team reported in today?"

"Which mining team, Elder?"

"Mining team Hammer in Balroggan territory."

"Not at this time Elder. The last check-in was two days ago at 22:40 as is mandatory. Elapsed time of next scheduled check-in is at one hour and fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds."

Finished with the questions, Sebastian whirled around on Shizra. "Find your mother and find out what she wanted Stephen to look for."

Over an hour's worth of time had elapsed since the mining team was last due to check-in with Mythrandir. It was not a devastating gap between the time periods but with Stephen's gibbering and current state of mind after visiting old Balroggan territory, the tardiness warranted the attention of the Elders.

WERMZ (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13093104&postcount=3)

Um, you are supposed to be making up a story using the setting outlined in the OOC Thread, not linking a story plot in the IC Thread...

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Hind system

'... You almost got us killed you idiot!'

'May I remind you, I'm your Captain! How dare you speak to me like that!'

'Captain? Hah! You are not worthy of being Captain of this ship! You aren't worthy of being Capitan of a cargo ferry! I mean come on! You risked all our lives and to steal what? SOME CHOCOLATE!!!!????'

'Hey, how was I supposed to know that's what was onboard that Freighter?'

'Because, it was on the trade route from the Chocolate Planet you idiot!'

'It could have been from Moleland carrying starfighters. And how was I supposed to know that Frigate would be waiting for us?'

'You risked our lives for chocolate...'

'Look, no endeavours a contastrophe as long as we escape. And we did. So we'll leave at that. If you don't like my leadership, you know what you could do.'

The other Mole calmed down 'Aye, captain.'

He then salutated and left the Captain in his quarters. The captain sighed. Despite his arguements to the contrary, his first mate was correct. It had been a poor decision to attack that convoy and attempt to steal its cargo. They were lucky to have escaped from that Frigate. The Mole ship had sprung its trap too soon and the Modified covette the Captain called home survived, although bearly. They had been forced to flee with what little cargo they had looted to find somewhere to make repairs.

Now, the Captain found himself in this strange sector. He thought back to the 'Good old days' of Piracy. However, the Mole Government clamped down on it hard when the Kenut wars ended, and making a living out of it has become nearly impossible.

'Captain, can you come to the bridge'

'On my way'

A few moments later the Captain arrived on the bridge.

'Its a planet!'

'Take us into orbit, lets have a closer look'

Shizra moved through the streets like a phantom fleeing from the sun's rays. Her cloak, practically the largest article of clothing she ever wore, billowed up behind her. People moved aside for the dark elf as none dared cross her path out of fear of incurring her wrath. Deeper and deeper into the heart of Mythrandir she strode looking for one of the many hidden paths to the Underdark that the dark elves had crafted. Only her mother's family knew these secrets and where they were located. Secrets that came at a high price and risk.

Out of sight, the War Mistress knelt down near one of the small statues dotting the gardens around the White Tower. Her dark hands felt along the stone base, searching for a groove in the near flawless surface. There along the stone knight's foot was a slight indentation. Upon further investigation, Shizra found what she was looking for. An insignia of a spider.

Shizra bit down on one of her fingers until she could taste the warmth of her blood trickling out from the tip. A life essence that was required to identify the traveller. Blood filled the outlines of the spider and trickled down over the white stone. A brief red flash sparked then quickly died to the sound of stone scrapping against stone as the underworld passage was uncovered. Stairs wrapped around and down through the pitch black of the earth as they lead deep to the cities of the dark elves. A realm where none were welcome save those of like kind.

The stone entrance slid back into place once Shizra was safely heading down the stairs, seamlessly covering the ground she had just descended into. She had to take a moment to allow her eyes to shift back into the infra red vision spectrum. Darkness was peeled away to a glowing haze as color and light were replaced by degrees of heat. Perfect for the atmosphere that she was heading into.

Her walk was a long one allowing Shizra time to reflect on history between her and her mother. It was not one of fond memories and a solid relationship but more of disappointment and deceit. The dark elf begrudged every meeting she had with her mother but she was trapped as well for she had no where else to call home. Certainly no one on the surface would be willing to take her in and she could never ask the man she cared for to help her. So when her duties where finished and she was not staying in her temporary quarters, Shizra made her way through the network of deep caves to her old resting place.

It wasn't long before the cave walls gave way to an open chamber that was glowing with an orange haze from many of the artificial stalactites that were heated to give this underworld a since of night and day. Heat drifted throughout the vast chamber falling on many of the onyx carved palaces of the dark elves allowing any with a their particular vision to see the shapes in their world. Shizra knew the way home. Her mother's palace was one of the grandest in the Underdark and one of the strongest as well. It was built off to the east of where Shizra was and constructed from natural onxy fissures. Many of the stalactites had been left intact as a natural defense against attacking parties and warring families.

Shizra could see the many guards protecting the front gates, males all of them. As she arrived they called out to her for her to identify herself but as soon as they saw who she was, the guards fell out the way and rushed to inform the mother of the house that Shizra had arrived once again. Two guards quickly fell in behind her as escorts while they ascended the black stairway into the house.

Beatriz did not come down to greet her daughter for some time affording Shizra time to relax by pouring herself a drink. A spider cast pitcher rested on a dark wooden table in the middle of the main chamber. She poured herself a glass of the thick red substance into a glass with stylized cracks to give the appearance of webbing and took a long drink. Never a drinker, she nevertheless poured herself another glass. It wasn't until Shizra was sitting with her third glass, watching its contents swirl in the crystal glass, when her mother decided to grace Shizra with her pressence.

The dark elf glided down the winding staircase of the upper rooms like wraith. Her smile showed she was pleased as well as holding an essence of superiority in it. Wearing not much more than a simple white dress that was form fitting, her bare feet silently came to a stop at the foot of the staircase. "And to what do I owe this pleasant surprise? You are not due back here for another week or so. And drinking? Tsk. Tsk."

Shizra grunted and slammed her glass down on the table, spilling some of its contents. "I've come to ask about the merchant exploration team you commissioned."

Feigning innocence, Beatriz walked over to a sofa that was near Shizra's own chair. Dismissing the guards that had come along with Shizra, Beatriz reclined in the soft cushions and laid her head to rest on the sofa's arm. "Tell me daughter, why does this concern you? I am perfectly within my rights to commission such an expedition."

"Because you sent them into what was once Balroggan territory. Nevermind that we were once a part of the same alliance and allowing such an expedition could be viewed hostily. We are not grave robbers, mother and we shouldn't so quickly tread on soil that was once inhabited."

Beatriz smiled and pointed to a glass for her daughter to fill up. Growling with the request, Shizra handed a glass of wine over her to mother. The dark elf smiled her thanks and took a moment to taste its texture. A personal favorite of hers with the coating texture of blood. "Perhaps. Then answer me this. Why did the Elders allow a mining operation on one of their planets? If I am in the wrong then surly they must be as well. Or have you been blinded daughter?"

Shizra's eyes narrowed. "That's not the point. I want to know why you wanted an artifact hunt commissioned. You are scheming mother, and I want to know what you are trying do."

Giddly like a little girl, Beatriz rolled over on her back. She stretched her palm up to the ceiling to adore a little bauble she had on her finger. A golden spider wrapped its legs around her finger to show off a diamond crusted abdomen. "I get so lonely some times, especially since you come to see me so infrequently. I have to find some means to pass the time when you are not around. Even your brother comes to visit me more often than you."

"Just answer my question mother."

Smiling like she had a deep secret she wanted to tell, Beatriz rolled back over onto her side to better see her daughter. "I had taken one of the servants up to my room for the night. We had just crushed a whelp of a household that sought to asert themselves. Well I needed to relax so I took a plaything for the night. But while I was riding him," Shizra downed the remnants of her glass.

"I had the most spectacular vision. There was a light growing in the darkness and when I looked deeper into it, I saw a tablet in a cave. Crawling all over the stone slab were spiders blessed by our Lady of Chaos. Her hand was on this vision and it was calling me deeper. Scorched into the stone were runes of a great power, one that would put my house over all the others here in our underworld. I knew not what was to be found but I quickly dismissed the male and had a commission written up."

Disgusted by the more vulgar part of the story and her mother's complete disrespect for the males of their race, Shizra sort of understood her mother's motives. Ever loyal to the Chaos Queen, her mother would no doubt rush to seize any gift the Spider Queen presented. The War Mistress returned the glass to the table and rose from her chair. "I see. I will report this to Elder Sebastian as soon as I return. You may have to miss out on this one gift, mother but at least you have accumulated enough to not notice. Next time, don't make innocent people do your dirty work for you."

Beatriz looked quizzical at her daughter. "Why? What happened?"

"We found the leader of that expedition. He's gone mad and no one knows what happened to the rest of his crew. We're assuming the worst."

Acting shocked, "My that is a surprise. I should have paid him more then."

Finished with the conversation and time with her mother, Shizra left the palace and headed back towards the surface to report back to Sebastian. Two guards were sent to go along with her as a friendly gesture from her mother. She was a witch, but she was still a mother and Shizra was her only daughter.

Beatriz had more work to do though. The news her daughter unwittingly gave her, confirmed her vision. Out of one of the many halls branching off the man chamber, strode a dark elf clad in his light armor. His shock of white hair was cut back close to his scalp with a bit of excess braided in front of one of his pointed ear, dangling with a golden spider wrapping its eight legs around the lock of white hair. "I see her heart still beats for him."

It was a tired old conversation, one she would not spend on a male. "That is none of your concern. I brought you here to better serve me and to meet your own desires."

Tark stood there with a small smirk on his face. "Alright. What would you have me do?"

"There is a gift for you back in your own family's palace, waiting there for you on your bed. Take it with you to the Balroggan planet Bryce. Elder Sebastian will certainly send a team of warriors to try and recover the fools that were sent out on their mining venture. Go with them and bring back the essence of the planet. You will know what to do once you return home."

'Scans indicate it to have a warm climate, but it is inhabitible'

The Captain was pleased 'Is it safe to land?'

'There are no lifesigns sir.'

'Excellant. Take us into land!

The damaged corvette entered the atmosphere of the planet. After flying over the land, a suitable landing spot was found.

'Activate landing thrusters'

The landing thrusters engaged, and the ship was lowered painfully to the ground.

'Begin repairs, and keep an eye on the sensors. Whilst we are grounded, we are vulnerable!'

The freighter lurched out of transwarp, the effort to make it seem like a rundown civilian job had not stopped at the engines. Jarred from the rather abrupt halt, the soldiers inside had to brace themselves to keep from hitting the floor. The interior was sparce and metallic, looking every bit the civilian cargo carrier it was supposed to be, right down to the lack of instruments because the 'crew' couldn't afford them. This was all to keep other vessels from getting curious. Who would bother with a stripped down freighter with an empty hold? Of course, anyone who did would be in for a nasty surprise if they boarded...

"Damn, you'd think if this mission was so important to those corporate pukes they'd send us in their best executive cruiser. And yet, here's the Dominion's biggest and meanest stuck in this old rustbucket. Talk about the ass end of the stick..." a tall muscular man bearing the rank of Sergeant seated at the helm spat angrily.

"Aw stow it Higgins, no one wants to hear you complaining," this from a woman at the tactical station. Her blonde hair was cropped short and her otherwise very attractive face had a scar running from her forehead down past her deep hazel eyes, "Besides, they only gave us this pile of slag because they knew you'd be on it."

"Enough! Both of you!," yelled the Major in the captain's chair, or what was left of it. His gray eyes flashed before he continued, "Now, this is just going to be a simple mission: find out what happened to the UWT's wind-up toy soldiers and then as per the Admiral's orders, secure whatever that sleezebag Stone has hidden here. I couldn't give a rat's ass about what happened to everyone else."

He opened the ship's intercom. Smiling, he said, "Attention on deck you worthless station rats. This is your captain. I want all you grunts locked, cocked, and ready to rock in five at the main hold. Planetside in five. Let's haul ass ladies!"

He looked over at the woman at tactical and winked, "Oh sorry Sylvia, and men."

If looks were pulse rounds, he'd have more directed energy than person in him. All the same, she joined the others in suiting up in their fully enclosed body armor and checking pulse rifles. Everyone left the bridge except for the Major and the helmsman, who were needed to get the ship down in one piece.

There are many responses to a civilisation just vanishing, collapsing overnight, especially one as large and powerful as the Balroggans, fear, angst, even celebration amongst it's enemies but most of all greed. An empire like that just didn't go up and dissappear without leaving something behind, even if the world was purged of technology, there would be untold wealth somewhere on the world. Especially the world of Free Port which was once a vibrant intergalactic trading port.

This just one of the groups of people that had tried in the past and failed to unlock the wealth contained within, they were part of a specialised group, Re-claimers. Those that moved in after disaster or war had struck and re-claimed goods and technology for themselves and the corporate entity that they worked for, The Garbage Men.

"We're approaching Destination now, distance to destination 0.4 AU." reported the Helmsmen
"Good, Good, Start scans running, I want to know what's down there, atmosphere, vegeration, animal, as well as energy and metal scans." ordered the captain

"Yes, sir." reported the officer who was in charge of that, despite the Captain being female there were no distinction, Sir and other words that were usually masculine were totally gender neutral in The Garbage Men, genders meant nothing it was ability of the individual that meant everything and the captain and she had certainly earned her position.

Minutes passed as they got closer and closer, the debris field of the old orbital space ports were easily detected, normally a ship from the garbage men would sweep in and collect up the debris, but they had a much bigger cash cow, waiting for them on the planet's surface, "We'll pick that up on our way back, if we have room." the captain said, they were pretty guaranteed to have room and why not full empty cargo space as much, they would either have to come back and get it or leave for other people to find, so of course that was the best option.

"Scans complete" they had gone around the planet so that one full rotation of the planet had been completely scanned....

The atmosphere was what they expected quite friendly to humans, temperatures and pressures of the atmosphere were good and the gas makeup the of the planet was also well within tolerable ranges.As for the vegetation, there was alot of it, approximately a dozen years of absence had lead to growth of a whole range of things, including tropical jungles and rain forests. It was thick so they'd need to bring the appropriate gear, but that is what the scan was for, to prepare them for what lay ahead.

"No signs of animal or biological activity of anysort, apart from normal plant-life" The scans could differentiate between normal plant-life and most abnormal plant-life however it was never pefect especially with the usually preadtory ambush behavour of most of these plants.

"No energy readings, power must have long since gone cold." Hopefully that meant all security measures installed to protect against thievery had also been de-activated, which technically was not what they were doing as they no longer had any real owners, but little did they know that the planet was not as inhabited as they thought.

Shizra sat in one of the few chairs furnishing the grand main chamber of the White Tower. The War Mistress sat there with her legs crossed while she rubbed at the knife digging into the back of her skull. Drinking was never one of the dark elf's fortes but she had indulged herself with several glasses of wine. Being with her mother always brought out that annoying little twitch under her eye and the liquor calmed her agitated nerves. Unfortunately it had the side-effect of replacing a twitch with a dagger.

The room had transformed from its original pale white marble design to the illusionary image of a lush forest in spring time bloom. While Shizra could appreciate Sebastian's desire to change his surroundings to help his mind work, now was not the time for birds to be singing their gay songs or for insects to chirp. Every frequency of noise rang in her pointed ears, jarring her head. She let out a soft moan from the pain while rubbing the bridge of her nose. The pain had just gone from a knife digging to her head stuck between the heavy pounding of a dwarven mastersmith and his anvil. Even Sebastian's footfalls made the woman wince.

Sebastian looked at the War Mistress with a face of concern. "Are you feeling alright Shizra?"

The dark elf feigned a small smile for the man's comfort. "I'm fine Sebastian but thanks for asking."

Shizra had retold the story of the discussion between her and her mother which lead to nothing out of the ordinary. It was a small relief to both Shizra and Sebastian that Beatriz had no alterior motives but they were both assured that she had told them the whole truth about why she wanted some artifact. Regardless, Sebastian had decided to send a small team of Warriors to Bryce and discern the condition of the mining colony. Sebastian's concern for the miners was enough to drive him up a wall, hence his constant pacing and need for a forest sanctuary, and hence Shizra's dilema of her aching head and desire to not disturb this man and his thoughts.

"Are you sure these few will be enough?"

Unable to take the dilema anymore, Shizra got up and walked over to Sebastian. Even the figure of the alluring female figure before him always caused the married Elder to pause. There were few that could deny that Shizra was exotic in almost every shape and aspect, and her scantily clad body did not help the situation any. But Sebastian's worries kept him distracted until the dark elf placed a delicate hand on his broad shoulders to comfort him.

Shizra could feel the warmth of his skin and the contours of shoulder line even with the thin vest and cape around his shoulders. She offered him a small smile to try and help the young Elder to relax. Humans were curious creatures with their short lives. Always rushing about the place and wondering how quickly they could accomplish something. She supposed it was because their lives were so short even if such a hurried pace in life was viewed as a flaw. This one was different from the rest though. His thoughts and manners were timeless as if he believed he would go on forever. It was not he that would go on forever though, but what he could accomplish in his short time. It did not matter of the task he set out on was completed in his lifetime so long as it was eventually completed for the betterment of people overall. Such was something he said often to the dark elf during their many private conversations. Only patience and a sense of timelessness would preserve their people and keep them from falling, his greatest fear. It was possibly for that reason why Sebastian did not push his people out into the stars needlessly. They would go in greater force when they were ready and no sooner. Now was a time for healing old wounds and bringing all races together under an ideal they could all sympathize with.

"Sebastian, it is fifteen of our Warriors to bring back thirty miners with their families. There is no reason to suspect that they cannot handle this. All of them are expertly trained for years at the Warrior's Institute before even stepping foot onto the battlefield. There is nothing they cannot handle or overcome. Have faith in our own Warriors."

But still his concern would not leave him. "Something is wrong here though, I can feel it. And the Warriors we do have are few in numbers because we put such intensity in their training. Why do you think we were as hard pressed as were during the invasion?"

The great doors to the main chamber swung inward as fifteen varying armor clad soldiers walked into the great room. Shizra immediatly removed her hand from Sebastian's shoulder and took a step aside, prefering to cross her arms and rest them atop the hilts of her two scimitars. As each Warrior filed into the room, they lined up at attention.

Despite his concerns, Sebastian smiled at the display in variety of races. A number of Northmen had volunteered for this mission. Surely their great strength would be a bonus to this endeavor. Two of the light elves from Caeralfar had come as well to see to it that this mission was carried out properly. Their ability to feel a planet's natural being would help in sensing the overall atmosphere. Dwarves and a bulk of humans from the Institute were also present. Their fighting styles and team work was no small thing and it was a security that this team would surely need. Sebastian's eyes fell on the last member of the group. A lone dark elf male, standing in his light plated armor from the Underdark, stood at attention.

Sebastian's confusion was obviously one of confusion. "Lieutenant Tark? What are you doing here?"

The dark elf smiled his devilish grin, the one that had the potential of developing into insane laughter as the blood lust of his dark elf race took control in battle. "Someone has to lead our Warriors, Elder. I figured with my recent promotion that I should show my support of the Kingdom and my willingness to uphold the ideals of the Warrior's Institute."

Sebastian looked at the War Mistress for clarification. Shizra could only look back in mutual shock at the odd exclamation. The dark elf might have normally protested Tark leading this expedition but she could find no reason now and shock had simply jarred her from countering the offer. Sebastian shrugged and turned back to address the gathered Warriors instead.

Placeing his hands behind his back, Sebastian took on more of an authorative role distinct from the kind person who typically displayed. To those that were unuse to the transformation, it was disturbing to see the man so steele eyed and commanding. "The situation is this. A mining expedition was approved to begin surveying a world for all understanding is dead and abadoned. Today, that colony has gone several hours over its scheduled check-in. There has been no word from them since and we cannot reach them on any of the SIREN networks. It is possible that their equipment has malfunctioned and simply needs repairing. However, it is possible that the worse has happened. Information on the galactic stage calls this planet Bryce after the Balroggans controlled it."

There were a number of raised eyebrows but none spoke out of turn here. "Your mission is to land on Bryce, assess the situation, and either restore communications with Mythrandir and the mining colony or to bring all miners back."

"Excuse me Elder?"

Sebastian turned and saw that Tark had stepped out from the ranks. "Yes Lieutenant?"

"This was once Balroggan territory. It is possible that they may have come back to reclaim their planet. If we encounter them, what are your orders?"

It was the question that Sebastian and Shizra had been wrestling with for some time. There was no real easy answer for the Warriors. "You are to do nothing lieutenant. If the Balroggans have come to retake their territory, then your battle squadron will contact homeworld and I shall depart personally to handle the situation. Until I arrive, you are to take no aggressive measures beyond defending yourself. Inform them that you are there to bring home a few enterprising families and meant no harm. Otherwise do nothing. The Balroggans were once in an alliance with us and other nations. Despite its faillings, we have no reason to hold the Balroggans as hostile at this moment. Even with their allegiance now towards this Galactic Empire. Perhaps there is still hope that they will leave that lot and take up a more sensible life. In anycase, I doubt you will have to worry about it much. From all reports, they have not moved to even establish a pressence in that sector of space. Any more questions?"

The Warriors standing in a line simply stared back understanding their mission. "Your dropship has all the necessary weapon armaments you will need. One more thing," Sebastian looked squarely at Tark. "No needless slaughter."

Tark merely smiled back with his wolfish grin and fell out with the rest of the Warriors. Sebastian watched the dark elf go, the same dark elf whose wanton destruction slew many out on the Aztillan plains during the invasion. The Elder even remembered the site of the dark elf coming back into the city with the rest of the Warrior's upon their STEADs. Tark looked as if he had gone mad. Drenched in blood and gore, the dark elf's white hair was stained crimson for days and a tight smile was on his face while he sat atop his mount. Not insane. Word from the battlefield was that he had fought like a demon dismembering enemy soldiers and laughing at the howls of pain as they died. It took a month to wash his STEAD of all the blood and body parts and even longer to get rid of the smell. Sebastian could even remember the hush over the city as the citizens watched him pass, unsure what to think or say.

A small hand pressed up against the Elder's back. Sebastian didn't even turn around to see who it was, he knew who had come to comfort him. "Sometimes I wonder if we are doing the right thing. Will our dream of peaceful races living together on this one planet truly succeed? Or will we fall back to the chaos of the dark times?"

Shizra gently rubbed his back. "Whether it will fail or succeed is irrelevant at this time. Right now, all that matters it that we are trying to accomplish something greater for the people here and that alone is worth the event. Your father fought for this society that you reside over now. I believe he would be proud to see what you have become and what you have done."

"He also died for it. Remember?"

Shizra smiled a sad smile. "Yes. I remember." Changing the subject, the dark elf guided Sebastian towards the door. "Don't tell your wife of this little conversation or else she'll launch into a lecture about the rightness of our cause and the importance of living free."

The comment almost made the Elder forget his worries of a life time with a chuckle. Almost. "Point taken. Where is my wife anyways? I thought she would have been here by now."

"I believe she is out with the masses again. There are still problems with getting food to everyone and she is helping with the soup and bread kitchens. Come, I'll walk you to her."

There was no motion, nor abnormal heat signatures detected within the unusual forum of the city. It was not the square itself that was abnormal, nor was it the pavement nor the buildings that surrounded the center that were strange, but rather the contents.

"Sector twelve is clear, Brother-Captain."

Emmalus moved to the side of the scout marine who had finally stood from his vantage point. "Well done, Brother. But I do not sense all is well."

"Then we shall move ahead, and mark any enemy locations..."

"No," rebuffed Emmalus, "It's fine. We shall all move ahead. In the name of the Emperor we shall discover what forces of evil are at play here."

The party moved down the hill of debris that seperated the rooftop of a nearby building with the paved forum grounds. They moved slowly, their eyes and targeting equipement scanning constantly their surroundings, their bolters at the ready.

"By the Emperor, what heresy is this?" The marines stopped infront of the confusing obelisks that stood before them; great spires of ash that somehow stayed in form despite the harsh wind. There were eight in total, all positioned in obscure positions with seemingly no pattern to them. The wind picked up, a howling cry reaching their ears perfectly, an unintelligable utterance within, as if an ancient banshee from the stories of ancient Terra had followed them.

The planet of Kala-Kiehm, once a backwater colony of the Balroggan empire with a small population, now completely deserted. The space above Kala-Kiehm was just as peaceful as the planet's surface, no traffic activity, no ships coming in and out of the system, until this day. Coming out of hyperspace a Ganoxan transport interrupts the serenity. Floating through, battered and scarred, it came to a complete stop.

Ten minutes earlier, in the bridge of the GAS Transport Lucky Star, Captain Nicholas Truward was barely in his seat when the ship came out of hyperspace. "Goddam that was close."

"You're telling me," navigation officer Lieutenant John Yuglan said, "I thought we were dead meat when the forcestorm almost hit us. Thank god we jumped."

"So, where in the hell are we? This isn't the rendezvous point."

"According to our star charts, we jumped four lightyears away from Ganoxa. Sir, I think we are at Kala-Kiehm."

"Are you certain!?"

"Yes sir."

"In Balroggan territory eh? Try to hail them."

"I already tried no one is answering. Its like they're not there." Lt. Cindy Powell said, comms officer.

"Give me status report."

"Hyperdrive has been blown, sublights working at minimal, but won't last long."

"Damn," Truward sat back in his chair, thinking. "Alright we will have to make repairs on the surface. Set course for planetside."

'Yes sir."

Thirty minutes later the Lucky Star landed on the surface in an open field. It was a clear and sunny day. The Red Giant could be seen in the air, a spectacular sight to behold. "Report on environment."

"Not picking up any harmful radiation or biohazards, air is clean and breathable. The planet's fine."

"Alright. I want two Arm Slaves to patrol the area."

In the cargo bay housed the equipment brought from the evacuation. A total of 15 Savage class and 5 Arbalest class Arm Slaves were brought. "Alright you shit for brains, listen up. Captain wants two "volunteers" to patrol the area. So Johnson and Garcia you just volunteered," First Sargent Trey Morrison ordered.

"Shit why do I always get the boring jobs," Garcia said crossing his arms.

"Maybe you just suck at the real jobs hehe," Johnson said.

"Why motherf-."

"Enough you two! Now get the hell out there."

Johnson and Garcia got into their Savages and did their system checks. Ammo was being loaded and fuel. The ground crew gave them the go ahead. Their Arm Slaves got up and walked towards the cargo doors, as they were opening.

Johnson and Garcia started to move through the forested area. Along the was they saw nothing. "Nothing again, I knew this shit was going to be boring.:

"Thats just the thing Garcia, why is there nothing. What happened here? I mean this place is part of the Balroggan Empire why so empty."

'Maybe they hightailed it out of here like we did."

'Maybe, but I don't think thats the ca-," he looked over to the right and say something.

"What is it man?"

"Nothing."

Suddenly a fog started to set in. "Fog? The RADAR didn't pick up any fog," Garcia said.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

A branch fell down almost hitting Garcia's AS in its head. "You and your bad feelings!"

"Lets get the hell out of here!"

The two started to sprint their ASes towards the clearing, but the more and more they came closer the more thick it became. The fog made visibility almost nil on regular camera view. Suddenly Garcia stopped and later on Johnson. "What!? Whats the matter?"

"Don't you see them?"

"See who? I can barely see you."

"Switch to infrared."

He switched the view to infrared to show several blips of light. "What the hell are they?"

"I don't know but I'm not taking my chances."

The blips started to move closer to their position, gradually speeding up. "What in the hell?"

Garcia started to open fire on one of the blips. It did nothing, only going through one of them. Garcia's eyes widened at this, did he miss, or were these things ghosts. "Lets get out of here," Johnson said.

They resumed running but the blips coming in faster. Soon they would catch up with them. "Ahhhh!"

"Garcia!"

"They got my muscle packages with some sort of energy spike. Go on without me."

"NO! Im coming ba-"

"No go! I'm setting up SDM. I guess this shit wasn't boring after all."

Johnson started to run again, felling trees in front of him having no time to dodge them. In back ground he heard a large boom then a fireball erupted. It was Garcia's AS that self destructed. The blips resumed on chasing Johnson. "Attention Lucky Star I am being chased down by strange apparitions, come in," all he heard was static.

"Warning Muscle Packages are becoming very strenuous, tearing is imminent," the AI reported. The constant running through trees is tearing up the ligaments of the Arm Slave. Suddenly the last muscle tore and tripped his AS over. The cockpit opened and Johnson jumped out. He grabbed a rifle and a RADAR/Compass set. "AI initiate SDM, set for five minutes."

He ran as fast as he could through the forest, trying to get away from the blast that would ensue. Tripping over branches getting facefuls of mud and debris. Struggling to get his footing, his RADAR started to show blips. "Shit!"

He had gotten at least half a kilometer to the ship according to the RADAR. but the blips started to surround him. He kneeled in the mud and looked down in despair. The blips started to close in on him, floating around. Johnson looked at one of them. They seemed like lights in the fog, maybe some showings of a face or two. He grabbed his necklace talisman and began to pray, maybe a last ditch attempt or just a surrender, but it was the only thing he can think of instead fruitlessly firing his rifle. Suddenly the fog lifted and the apparitions just disappeared leaving the disheartened Johnson to himself.

Wondering in disbelief at what just happened, Johnson just sat there not moving. Petrified from fear or just confused to the point of insanity. Who knows.

Johnson was on a stretcher being rushed to the infirmary. Along the way he deliriously mumbled about ghosts everywhere over and over. "What the fuck happened to him?" First Sargent Morrison asked.

"We found him like this out in the woods. Garcia's AS, whats left it, was found two clicks from Johnson's position. We can only assume hes dead."

"Oh..they're everywhere, NO STAY AWAY, STAY...ugh...ahhhh," Doctor Sasuki administered some drugs into his system.

"He seems to be suffering from dementia and extreme schizophrenia."

"What was that before?"

"He been saying something about ghosts since we picked him up. I don't know what happened out there but hes shocked to shit."

"Ghosts? Well anyways Captain wants us to investigate a nearby town. Five Savages and one Arbalest. I'll be leading this expedition. Oh and doc take care of him for me will ya."

"Alright. Come back safe you hear."

"Always sweetheart always," he smiles.

"Higher ground!"

The air was pierced by the sounds of combat; bolter fire wailing its tune for all ears to hear. The properties of both waves and particles illuminating the darkness of the night-shrouded city as the rounds exploded from the barrels, holy sigils and markings adorning each munition in its own right. They howled in their journey downwards, the weapons they flew forth from departing ever faster from them as the marines attempted a desperate retreat up a steap bank of debris, back to the rooftop of the building they had perched upon when first encountering the circle of strange obelisks.

"Move! By the Emperor move! We shall not allow these abominations, these chaos-spawn to overtake us! By His divine guidance we shall defeat this evil!"

Emmalus was the last to reach the top, as it was he who was covering his brothers retreat, he who was risking his life in his most fierce long-range battle with the phantoms, the seemingly ephireal beings that were there but not, as if on a different plane of existance all together. He shouted his orders to his men, elaborating on his plans to take the higher ground. They took up positions behind fallen debris or anything else that afforded protection, but it didn't matter, for the approaching ghosts did not return any kind of fire. Nothing was returned in response to the bolters; only the glowing eyes as the banshees rapidly approached, their leg-less forms floating easily over the rough terrain below them. They were almost at the marines position, all of them still firing wildly, Emmalus revving his chainsword several times to be ready.

"For the Emperor!" he shouted as he lunged forwards and twirled, his blade slicing through the air without resistance. The demons raising their arms, great scythe-like claws extending to immense lengths, prepared to swipe, to finally counter-attack. The talons struck the body of the Captain just as his chainsword passed through the phantom's, hitting nothing but more air.

Everything was suddenly quite. No-one spoke, but simply looked about themselves in bewilderment. There was nothing but the dark city. The specter's that were so real, that had just reached the cornered marines position and had attacked, were now gone without a trace. No sign that they had even existed. Nothing.

"I have a feeling," spoke one of them, "That these relics are evil. Flowing with the power of the warp. It fills our minds with deception in order to spawn chaos. Let us destroy them, and clense this square of their presence in a burning flame of purity."

Emmalus turned to the marine and nodded. "I agree, Brother, but we are not ourselves prepared for such. I shall summon to our position our Librarian aboard the Divinities Fury. He shall preside over our purification."

Fine craftmanship and style graced the new blade, his gift, for it was of the some of the finest making that the dark elven smithes could muster. Tark studied the hilt and how its onxy black carving seemed to suck in light all around it. Crafted in the form of a spider's abdomen, the pommel and grip were as dark as night while the spider's legs branched up to form the god. Runes marking the body gave the wielder of such a blade the blessings of the chaos goddess.

Such were the subtleties of her presence. Even the Warp was a gift for them as only the dark elves could feel its essence while the other races sate mute to its awesomeness. The dark elf turned his new scimitar to look at the blade. Mythrandir ore had been labored over to forge a fine edge but a greater feat and one more artistic was the perversion of the veins that naturally flowed through Myth ore. Now it was patterened to form webbing to finish the syllization of his new weapon. How it had to come to be that the smithes grew in such knowledge, he knew not but only that it was a rare ability indeed.

"Lieutenant, we are approaching Bryce now and preparing to return to the normal realm."

Yes, it was so. Around him Tark could smell the woman's perfume that had come to inform him as well as hear her increased pulse. It was adrenaline coursing through her body that graced every warrior on the eve of battle. Even now he could feel the essence of the Warp slipping from him as their transport left its confines along with the rest of the attack squadron.

It was time. Tark thanked the young pretty thing and looked to his own personal. A weapons cache was at the rear of their shuttle and everyone had equipped themselves ready for battle. Everyone that was except Tark. Before him was a grand selection of weaponry on every scale from blades to a one man rocket system. While all were impressive and appealing in their own way, only a select few would suit his sense of battle style. Grabbing a pistol and its holster, he fastened the weapon to his swordbelt. Last, he grabbed a rifle from the arsenal and a few extra magazines.

Above the planet Bryce, the dimensions of reality shifted as the Myth fleet was expelled forth in blinding light. The ships fell into a comfortable orbit above the planet while fighters were sent out as scouts. It would be unwise to let anything come upon them and still the Captain of the fleet was curious as to if there were any other vessels in the area. Reports came back that this area of space was completely theirs to control.

It was all that was needed for the ground team to recieve their clearance. The shuttle dropped from its orbit and headed through the window within the atmosphere. Crews were locked down tight into their seats as the ship hit more than a few rough patches along the way. Finally the ride smoothed out and the planet's surface came into clear view.

The pilot's voice came over the comm systems. "We've picked up the mining settlement. We're gonna touch down outside the walls."

Out the windows, the crew and the warriors aboard the shuttle could see the metalic plating of the wall ringing around a small settlement. The housing building was the largest as it accomodated all of the workers in one area while the rest were for storing machines, materials, or to study minerals taken from the ground and then refine them. From such a distance nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Only there were no lights or signs of life down there.

Thrusters fired and landing prongs touched down on the ground. Systems shut down and there was silence for a time. That silence was broken as the side doors were thrown open. Dwarves set up a front line advanced shield along the edges of the perimeter. Northmen and the other humans followed suit with rifles. Last out of the hull was Leiutenant Tark flanked by the two elves that had volunteered for this mission. He smirked to himself believing that the only reason they probably came along was because they did not trust the dark elf.

Regardless, there was nothing in the immediate area that eyesight or scanner could detect. Tark gave the signal for his team to enter the compound. Key coding on the main gate was standard for an operation such as this which his team quickly sliced through. Out in the main grounds machinary sat unattended, windows were left open, and a number of plant samples sat in their pots soaking up the last remaining rays of sun. It looked as if everyone was going about their lives up until this point, then simply vanished.

"Think maybe we scared everyone off?"

Tark didn't even bother to acknowledge the question. It was rediculous question that did not deserve a response. There was no reason for them to be afraid since standard protocol would have mandated a team be sent to the planet to assess the problem during a lapse in communication. Something else was at work here.

Waving a gauntlet fist in the air, Tark circled up his team. "Teams one and two are to check out the research fascility. Three and four, I want you in the residential building looking for anyone that might be around. The rest of you I want checking out the equipment storage. See if anything is missing."

"What about you, sir?"

Loving the elf's obvious hatred, Tark smiled and scratched at a patch of dirt with his foot drawing the tower that was in the back of the settlement. "I'm going to stay right here and get our communications uplink working again. Anymore questions?"

Seeing that there were none, the dark elf barked at them all to get on the move then. His unit split up and begin clearing the area. The buildings were their target but the question on their minds was where were the miners? So far there was no sign of life here and no sign of struggle as they could tell so far.

Despite the burden of his armor, Tark was able to climb the wire frame supporting the relay dish at the rear of the settlement. The dish itself looked a little worse for wear but nothing showing any signs that the equipment was faulty. All electrical fittings seemed to be well in place and functioning properly. There was not much else the dark elf could do up there and decided to climb back down and look in the control room.

Steel doors released their locking mechanisms and groaned open as the lieutenant approached. Light seemed to be shunned from this place not that it mattered to the dark elf as his vision seamlessly switched over to the infra-red spectrum. Again, nothing seemed terribly out of the ordinary. The equipment and computer base were awaiting a reboot before powering up the station again. A curious matter but Tark wanted to bring communications back on line as well as power to ease the mood of the Warriors under his command.

Tark punched in the codes to bring the computer systems back on line and reestablish links back home. Lights flickered back to life and computer screens booted back up which quickly drove the dark elf into hiding in the shadows as he cursed his own stupidity. He waited a few moments allowing his eye sight to shift back and blink away the pain. The dark elf walked back over to the console and had the computers run with a diagnostic check to locate any errors. An energy anomonaly was reported two days ago but Tark simply figured it was a power surge in the system. It happens sometimes when there are intense lightning storms in the area. Everything else checked out though allowing the dark elf to send a message back to Mythrandir showing that communications had been re-established and the team was now on the search for the lost miners.

A black orb floated up from the dark elf's leather pouch at his side. It hovered before his face for a moment, pulsating with energy, then an image of the young female Warrior that had tagged along. "Lieutenant, did you turn the power back on?"

Tark saw the shock in the woman's eyes having been caught off guard by the sudden return in power. Most likely the dark buildings had all of their senses heightened for anything out of the ordinary. Light had dispelled such need for tension and it had left this young woman shaken. "Yes Amanda, I did. A message has been sent back home letting them know we have arrived safely and are now on the search for the missing miners."

The young woman nodded as her brown lockes bounced around her shoulders. "Can you meet us at the research facility then?"

Tark hefted his rifle and slipped the strap over his shoulders. "I'm on my way."

Back at the research facility, Tark gathered around a lab table with Amanda along with the two elves and a number of dwarves. Already he did not care for the company but there must have been something of worth here to show or else they would not have even bothered him. His violet orbs darted from Warrior to Warrior. "Alright, what is it?"

"We found a couple of orbs that have a few recordings from the miners on them. Most of them are mineral reports and the days mining logs. Nothing of particular interest but there is something that I think you should see."

Tark crossed his and leaned against the far wall. "Show me."

Amanda released the orb she had been holding and allowed it to float up to its automated programed elevation. There it hovered as the logs that the young Warrior desired were retrieved from its memory. Light began to build at a point until a holographic scene was brought to life in full. Slowly the scene began moving and voices drifted through the still air in the lab.

. . .It's the second time we've had a reported sighting in the last week but still no contact yet. One of the scouts said they saw this one hanging around some huge crater then walked across the open expanse in the ground. This cannot be though. Detailed readings of these significant craters on the planet's surface report to go down hundreds of feet.

I am concerned about the mentallity of our workers. Seeing visions likes these is uncommon and emotional stress should be low since miners are encourage to bring their families with them. I am beginning to think that perhaps there are toxins in the air like on Thralk but these must have a hallucinagen effect instead of the poisons back on the griffon homeworld. I think I'm going to start having our healers do tests on our miners at the end of everyday to try and put a stop to this. Otherwise, there are going to be more and more paranoid miners here.

Tark looked unimpressed. "That's great Amanda but that doesn't show me anything."

"Fast forward five days and play please."

The orb hummed as it worked through its expansive memory to retrieve the next set of logs. Images shimmered and melted away giving rise to new ones though these were of a much darker aura than the previous. Emotions were etched on the faces of the holographs. The looks of terror and concern gripped each figure in a cold iron grasp. Labored breaths came from the mouths of those that began to speak.

. . . Curtis is gone! Snatched away by one of those...demons! We lost another three workers due to equipment malfunctions and now we can't call home for help. The last shuttle crashed into the mountainside and no one dares go outside the walls after dark now. Mining operations have grounded to a hault thanks to equipment quirks and the hunt for survivors of the last shuttle. Kim the dwarf was the last miner to head outside but he has not been seen for days and we fear the worst.

So far nothing has been able to stop the phantoms everyone has been seeing but they have not ventured inside our walls yet. We've sealed the main gate as best we could and we keep everyone inside the mansion for safety. Hopefully we can last until the Elders send a retrieval team before we all go insane with fear and paranoia...

The message was ended and it left the dark elf shaking his head. "None of this makes any sense. There must be some life left on the planet that early scouts did not detect."

Tark turned to one of the male elves sitting at a lab table. "Do you feel anything?"

Closing his eyes, the elf took a moment to let go of the metallic surroundings of the building and the small settlement. The elf emersed himself into the life of the planet and searched out its beating heart.

"It's strange...The planet still holds the life it once did as many of the planets and wildlife still grows yet there is a mark upon the planet. A pain I felt as soon as we landed. This world is scarred from its former inhabitants which have passed beyond the mortal realm. It was not war or famine or exodus that removed these people, it was something else. Something darker. What more I cannot say."

Tark looked at the elf perplexed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Moving to the center of the room, the dark elf retrieved the orb Amanda had turned on and set his own into motion. It only took a few moments before it was reconnected with communication lines. "Teams three and four, report."

There was silence on the other end.

"Teams three and four report."

Again there was no reply sending a few worried glances around the room but Tark would not be deturbed by false notions of demons or phantoms. The dark elf had lived to see real demons and anything else would purely be a child's bed time story.

"Report I said."

This time a reply came but the message was garbled and the lieutenant could not get anything visual from the orb.

"Lieutenant...reached.....area.....assistance...."

The rest of the message went completely static. Tark threw his rifle around and shouldered it to his armor. Grunting, "What the hell is going on around here."

Tark lead the team in the research fascility outside through the ever growing darkness and to the front door of the residentual mansion. With a quick kick, the dark elf had the door open and his team began sweeping through the building.

They smashed the ground with fury, pavement and dirt being cast asunder, dust and debris flung aside with righteous force. The clasps unlocked, and the heavy doors of the drop pods flew off, revealing the mighty warriors that stood therein. The Librarian Ezekial stepped forth, flanked by an escort of twelve Space Marines, the unflinching and undefeatable warriors of Man, or New Man as it was in this context.

He sniffed the air. "What foul entities, spawned forth from the ruinous powers of chaos, reap these lands and shade our brothers from our most pious gaze? What evil does stalk the stone and brick and glass of this land?"

"Look there!" came the response to the rhetorical question, a squadmember pointing to the opposing alleyway, "Our brothers emerge from cover!"

The Librarian reached out, creeping into theminds of those approaching. there was something wrong with the situation, something eery about his brothers-in-arms. Their minds were there, it was true, and uncorrupted, as zealous and fervant as ever, but their forms were under the control of something else entirely.

"Stand firm, my brothers!" He rallied his force, "For the Emperor's guidance has been removed from them. They are no longer free to hear his word, but prisoners in their own holy flesh. Light them up, in His name I command you, clense their devout souls of the evil that has taken them!"

The sounds of battle picked up in the streets once more as bolters unleashed their heavy rounds, the odd lasgun adding a different note to the chorus of war. The Librarians force began to tear apart the approaching marines, who looked on in horror as they were cut down by their brothers as if they were heretics or even xeno filth.

"My brothers!" cried Emmalus as he felt his flesh pierced with hot metal, "We are ever in the Emperor's service, why do you oppose our forms?" He continued to plead with his friendly tormentors, but strangely enough it seemed his speech was not reaching their enhanced ears, and he felt himself returning fire against his will. He struggled against it, desperatly trying to regain control over his bodily functions, using all of his mental might, but his form wouldn't respond. "Fall back!" he cried, and it seemed only his company could hear him, and thankfully their bodies(as well as his) complied, falling back to the darkness of the alleyway, and moving them towards the city square once more.

Darkness engulfed the team as they entered the residential mansion which confused Tark. Power had been reestablished throughout the compound, yet this one was still shrouded in darkness. The dark elf moved quickly out of the entryway and moved to a light panel. Nothing.

Tark quickly switched on the light attached to end of his rifle, allowing him a better view of the main hall. Several lights turned on shortly after as the rest of his team followed suit. Tark gestured for the members of team two to scout at the main floor and its hall while the rest were to follow him up stairs. The missing teams' location was unknown but the scope of the residentual area was not so large that a team of Warriors could stay hidden for long.

As the teams separated, Tark and his men took one of the twin grand stairwells to the upperfloors. Boards creaked under the weight of the armored warriors as they ascended to the second level. The dark elf's fingers pointed for two members to break off and sweep the floor while they headed up to the top floor.

Looking back, the lieutenant found himself with Amanda and one of the elves- a male. An interesting combination by Tark's measure. They continued their climb higher into the darkness of the housing until they at last reached the top floor. Only a rose window at the main landing allowed any light to pour through. With clouds fast approaching, their rays of light were rapidly declining.

Plush carpet rolled up the stairs lining a path for Tark, Amanda, and Fruchesk as they reached the pinnacle of their climb. Only an oaken door blocked the trio from whatever lay on the otherside. Gesturing for them to take their positions, Amanda and Fruchesk flattened against opposite sides of the wall. The dark elf reached out for the doorknob and gently turned it.

Locked.

Tark took a step back to even his balance readying to kick in the door. His heavy armored boot came crashing down near the door jam where it should have broken and thrown open the door. The door didn't budge an inch.

"Nice one lieutenant."

"Oh shut up." Tark looked the door up and down. There should not have been any reason why the door didn't simply open. Groaning from the wood made the elf pull up short and take a couple steps back. The door was beginning to bulge...outward.

"What the hell?"

Wood exploded sending splinters out everywhere and some scoring cuts and scrapes on the team members. All three of them were stunned by the turn strange event but quickly regained their resovle. Tark mustered his team and urged them forward into the now open portal. The room itself was relatively small being one of the bedrooms in the mansion. Apparently someone had taste as the center bed was grand and sized with lavish coverings and lace drapes.

Furniture was midly spursed throughout the room with a rolltop desk being one of the more prominent pieces. The three moved through the room quickly scanning the area for any signs of recent use or someone hiding out here. Nothing to be found, Tark walked over to the desk and rolled back the covering.

Pens and papere were scattered over the desk. There were a few smaller drawers but nothing drawing a terrible amount of attention save an envelope in the middle of the mess. It was adorned with a wax seal on the back but the mark was smudged making the seal illegible. Apparently someone must have been in a hurry to have not let the wax properly dry. Tark picked up the envelope to better examine it. It was not addressed to anyone which seemed odd, perhaps they had not gotten around to it yet.

One of the orbs floated into the room. Tark turned around as it came to a stop. "What is it?"

An image danced to life of one of the Northmen that had accompanied Tark. "Lieutenant. We found some survivors. Two children down stairs in the kitchen."

"What about the other team? Has there been any sign of them?"

The Northman shook his head. "No sir. None so far."

"Alright, we're on our way."

The freighter descended clumsily, its spaceframe threatening to come apart at the seams. The landing struts lowered with a groan. It touched down unevenly; first the rear port strut, then the rear right, and finally the bow strut hit the ground. The rickety craft settled with a series of pops and groaning and a boarding ramp dropped in jerky motions, its servos in desperate need of oiling.

The fifteen men and women who disembarked were a stark contrast. Wearing the latest in Dominion powered armor technology, they were completely contained in a pressurized environment with energy on top the armor's energy dissipating capabilites. Each wielded a pulse rifle with a multi-use scanner pod mounted atop it for detecting any forms of life or even just movement. All of them looked inhuman from the outside, their helmets’ optical interfaces glowing like two icy blue eyes.

They fanned out slowly, carefully, looking for any sign of the facility or the team sent prior to them. Much of the city- it was clear this was a city with emphasis on was, was in ruins. Most of the buildings’ superstructures were intact, towering over the landscape like menacing skeletons.

“I thought this place was supposed to be a center of some huge empire. What could have done all this?” Higgins wondered aloud, “I mean, these guys were supposed to be badass right? I doubt our fleet could have done this without dangerously extra effort.”

“Higgins, shut up!” the Major yelled, “Look sharp, I’m seeing shit in this mist.”

“For that matter, what’s with the mist? InOps says this was supposed to be a really sunny planet. Reminds me of that place London on Earth but creepier and there’s no funny guards that have to stand still no matter what-“

“Alright,” the Major had everyone hold up, “For one thing, those guards are the ultimate picture of military discipline. Two, SHUT UP! That’s an order. Move out.”

Higgins grumbled something unintelligible and Sylvia chuckled. He made an obscene hand gesture toward her.

The Major grimaced under his helmet, Best of the best my ass, I’m a fucking babysitter...

A Sergeant perked up as a device atop his pulse rifle beeped, “Sir, we’ve got motion, could be the team. Some kind of structure up ahead too. It’s and iceberg style, small on top, huge underneath. Typical secret corporate installation right there. We’ve found it.”

Sure enough, a small bunker-like structure loomed through the mist. However, something else got the team’s attention: blood stains and enough composite armor chunks to equal about two EXO troops. Their weapons were nearby and quickly scavenged as the situation was assessed.

“Looks like the poor bastards never made it to the door,” Sylvia crossed herself, “Jesus, what DOES that?”

“Move now, ponder later,” the Major chimed in, “Thinking on the fly’s my job. Let’s just get inside, maybe the databanks will shed some light on this.”

An alarm sounded on their motion trackers again, this time whatever it was swooped in close. Very close. Hastily, the team ran through the remains of a checkpoint emblazoned with a Gold Eagle, the Dominion’s standard. One they hit the bunker the door lock was manually disabled, basically meaning it was blown clear out of the tritanium door. The team entered and muscled the door shut behind them. Darkness engulfed them and their night vision kicked in a second later. They wished it hadn’t.

(I should never have gotten away from this thread.)

Tark and his small group moved quickly back down the way they had come. Already the light from the windows were fading fast as clouds rolled into to snuff the light out. Soon trudging through this mansion would be practically useless for his warriors until they could return power to the place. Only Tark would be able to see thanks to the inherrant trait of all dark elves being able to switch their eye sight to infrared vision.

They made their way downstairs back to the main floor. The audience hall was ghostly quiet and empty. Light from their weapons peeled away areas of darkness to reveal furniture unused and a number of hallways. According to the last message, children had been found in the kitchen. Why only two children had been found in this mansion and why they were in the kitchen was beyond Tark.

The dark elf lead his team down one hallway lined with simple paintings of Mythrandir countryside. Ahead of them was the main kitchen area with pots and pans hanging on the walls. Stoves sat cold having not been touched in days. Tark's light swept to the right over a counter and down the side where a door stood open down to the food cellar. Flashing hand signals, Amanda and Fruchesk darted towards either side of the door. Each one flashed a light down in turn clearing the stair case.

Nothing so far.

Tark started heading down the middle when they heard a faint voice call up.

"Down here!"

The lieutenant nodded his head sending the elf and woman down the stairs into the cellar. Tark was right behind them as they touched down on cold earth.

"Over here lieutenant."

Tark spun around and headed towards the back of the cellar. The three of them swept the entire area until their light fell on two small children huddled close together with three warriors standing guard around them. The burly Northmen quickly saluted and stood aside for the dark elf.

"Why didn't you have your lights turned on?"

The big man shrugged and looked down at the children. "It was scaring the children so we turned them off."

Tark looked dumbfounded. "I figured human children would be more frightened of the dark than your little flashlights."

"Well something has them scared and our lights are not helping any."

The dark elf rubbed his temples for a moment. Humans were a nuissance at times. "Fine. Get them back to the research facility and see if there is any medical supplies. Check them for anything unusual."

"Right away lieutenant."

The big Northam hefted the kids up in his arms as if they were feather light. He lead the way for his other two team members to follow as they climbed up out of the cellar. Once all were out and the door down was shut, Tark had the orb that was constantly following his team try to make a connection with any of the others in the mansion.

"This is lieutenant Tark requesting a status report of all teams in the mansion."

Static.

"I say again. Requesting status report of all teams in the mansion."

The static began to subside as the connection came through.

"Lieutenant, we've finished clearing the second floor of the mansion. No signs of the team ordered in."

Tark rubbed his temples again. "That's impossible. Myth warriors don't just up and vanish. There has to be some sign of them here somewhere. Are you sure you checked everywhere?"

"Even lifted up the floor boards and behind the paintings."

Sighing, "Alright. Wrap it up and head back to the research facility. Two children were found in the food cellar. We'll question them and see if they can't help us solve this riddle. Lieutenant Tark out."

"Anything yet?"

So far the children had been unresponsive to any of the Warriors' questions but Amanda had managed to get them to eat a cup of warm soup each. Compared to the timid state that the young lad and girl were in, the two were starting to come out of their reclusive state. They just wouldn't talk.

"It's not as simple as interrogating a prisoner. What ever happened has traumatized them. They won't talk until they come out of it, but they do look to be improving. We'll just have to look elsewhere for clues to the whereabouts of the miners."

Tark ran his fingers through his stark white hair. The puzzle surrounding the missing miners was beginning to draw on the dark elf's nerves. "Alright. Have we found anymore recordings or data files that might be of use?"

Amanda walked over to a small workstation in the medical lab of the research facility and activated a small console on a desk. "These are the doctor's logs up to the time that we lost contact with the colony but there is nothing unusual about it. No deaths or anything. Mostly treating minor injuries from mining accidents or from dust in the lungs. It all appears normal."

"Wonderful." It seemed like it was just another dead end here. "So I have a missing two squads from my team and no idea where the miners are." Tark moved to the side of the room to check up on the squads in the storage. Already too many people had gone missing and he was not willing to risk more now.

"Storage team report in."

Unlike previous communication attempts with other sqauds, this one came back quickly and clearly. "Yar lieutenant. Whatchya needin'?"

A moment of relief flashed through the dark elf. "Give me a status report."

"Everythang 'ere lookin' as it should. No one 'ere dough but we's found an orb. Haven't looked at it yet."

Tark called the dwarf and his team back to the research facility. Perhaps the orb that they found might lead to some answers concerning this planet.

As the shuttle from the ship descended down towards the planet there was an eery silence for the party that would be 're-claiming' what was on the planet. It seemed no one wanted to talk, perhaps it was out of respect for the dead. The realisation that something could happen and they'd be dead or could simply be that for whatever reason they didn't want to talk.

Those on board was the mission leader, Enrald. Weird name; weird person. He would rather smack someone around than look at them, strange enough though he seemed to be able to know when he was going to get smacked down and managed to keep avoiding. The biggest of the group, his size and mental disspossition made many of his sub-ordinates scared of him.

Then there was light petite but nimble Rose, she was perhaps the 'pure' thief of the group if one might say. If it needed a dextrous hand, insane concortion or simply recognising that theres a trap up ahead she was your girl. Flirty and quite vervacious when off duty but when on duty watch out, if you cross her you'll probably find 2 knives in your back. She had lost several companions that way through "accidents".

Then there was perhaps the expert on cultures, Drake, quite unconfortable with weapons, Drake is the only unarmed participant on the mission. Adept at reading and understanding various forms of communication, including electronic forms of communication used in what was the Trade planet. If it was there he should be able to read it. Or failing that tell them at least the methods used to obfuscate the message.

Baines, a secondary muscle-man for the mission in charge of security for the whole group, though in reality he'd have to check everything he does through Enrald anyway. He is more concious of just how badly things can go wrong, infact he had suffered some time ago a strange incident on a mission like this. What happened was classified and Baines never wanted to speak about it.

The penultimate member was an IT girl, Louise, while mainly a support role, in that she keeps comms up with the ship, she is also able to help Drake, Rose and Baines in their tasks that have computer elements. There is not a computer system that she expects to come across that she hasn't at least had some experience with. She carries a gun but is not that skilled with it, though she can easily give the impression that she's inattely familiar with it.

And finally, the engineer,Peter, the guy that's up on all technology, he hopes he can come away with some sort of dimensional tech or perhaps something. He's not totally useless when it comes to fight but woe to anyone that relies on him. He gets to be the one who can take things appart for transportation to the ship. He's generally otherwise kept out of the way, and is frequently picked on by the others.

The shuttle pierced the atmosphere heating up to a red hot glow on re-entry... communications with their host ship temporarily lost from the interference generated by such heat but after 30 seconds were regained again. All of this was expected and while it made for tense moments nothing was wrong.

"Atmosphere readings are confirming breathable status, no toxins detected. Okay, let's find a place to land." Enrald spoke as he directed the controls of the shuttle, he was also the pilot.

"Ah, easy, We'll set her down in one of those Docking Bays..." he continued to speak, this time to no one in particular. The planet was strewn with docking bays some larger than others but quite a logical point to start, there wasn't really anywhere else to go anyway.

"Look for some of the locals repair shops, they'd be more likely to have some Balroggan ship tech there, and if you can, see if there is some ministry of science building or something like that we can find. They'd be likely to have at least something that would helps us copy their tech." Peter spoke as he started heading out of the shuttle onto the hard ground beneath his feet.

Drake had already started to scout around keeping close look out for anything un-toward, finding nothing he returned as the others descended casrrying whatever gear and whatever weaponry they had. The weapons where quite mixed, when you work for a company such as TGM, they don't generally have alot of one type.

"Okay, It's getting dark. I suggest we set up camp and then start all this in the morning." Enrald commanded.

"Rest now?! but we just got here."

"Exactly we need time to get used to our surroundings see the stars, being able to navigate by them." He looked up into the sky mesmerised by something for a moment before returning back. "I said start setting up camp, NOW!" the now reverberated around the dock only dampened by the craft that generally would be considered too small for the dock it choosen. Big white painted lettering shown this docking bay as number 37.

Soon a latern type object that radiated heat like a campfire and various tents made out of sturdy and protected materials were set up. Drake was on a look out for now but soon he too would need his rest...

That night they would all have dreams, dreams about their own death...

Dreams are perhaps the most powerful psychological tool of the brain as they allow the brain to deal subconsciously with unresolved issues of the day, perform it's sorting that it wasn't able to do before or simply just simply reflect the emotions and feelings of the day. However when your brain is not the one controlling, dreams can be a powerful weapon to destroy a person's psyche.

As Enrald dreamt he was in school, the teacher was berating him in front of everyone, he wanted to go up and smack her around but no he couldn't he was stuck to the chair until the moment where she said "Go to the Principal's office" and even then he had no choice. It was as if he was on auto-pilot with something else making the decisions for him. He got from his chair and walked to the principal’s office which weirdly was directly outside the classroom. "Come in" an ominous and scary voice called out before Enrald had even knocked on the door. The door opening without any seen human intervention, which for some reason seemed normal, took him to a man a large head an ugly man all bent, twisted and mutilated. He flashed his teeth, very unusual set a teeth... There was something stuck in one of them that he couldn't identify but it looked like meat of some kind perhaps chicken? "So you have been naughty in your teacher’s class, haven't you?" Enrald didn’t respond, he couldn't "Not answering my questions, my dear you have been a naughty boy. And you know what we do to Naughty Boys do you?" He didn’t; know what happened to naughty boys, he couldn't say anything, and he couldn't even shake his head. The principal smiled broadly once more, this time he could see something else... but it was too late the Principal grabbed him by the collar and easily lifted him up off the ground. The smiled changed so that he opened his mouth wide; it was open, so large, that he could put in the child Enrald whole. But no, he took three bites, one at the knees, one in the middle of the torso and finally the head and the rest of the torso and neck.

Rose meanwhile had a different dream she was suspended in water, struggling to get out, to rise to the surface. The more she struggled the more she seemed to get deeper and deeper into the water, yet somehow she wasn't drowning. The dream just kept on, finally she stopped struggling, as if realising that she's not drowning, but nether the less she is still stuck under the water unable to get herself out. Outside of the water is Baines, distorted by the surface of the water, but it's certainly Baines, he looks down into the water for a moment, an expression is on his face, she can't see it clearly but there is something odd about it. Soon his hand plunges down into the water. As soon as it does it seems that she is starting to have trouble to breath... a moment later to her horror she realises that she is drowning, she tries to clasp Baines hand that is in the water but she can't everything she does just slides away. Panic stricken she soon fades away into unconsciousness...

Drake was in an Octagonal room about 3meters across, the walls were covered with letters and runes of some unknown language, no matter what he tried he could not understand the runes. They were not of anything he knew of, The floor of the room was mirrored and every so often he'd get a peak of himself. He was aging incredibly fast and no matter what he did he couldn't understand the runes. He started to have a long white flowing beard and looked like a wizard, or perhaps Santa Claus. His skin was old and wrinkly and suddenly he seemed to notice a door. He hadn't noticed it before he opened the door and was met with a bright light. A knife came from no where from the light and stabbed him right in the heart. He collapsed on the floor.. dead.

Louise and Peter for some reason shared the same dream, they were holding hands, Louise in the other hand had a PDA and Peter a simple screwdriver in his other hand. They were walking along coming to a door. They worked together opening the door, Louise attempting to hack into the system and Peter using the screw driver in an attempt to take the door apart. Soon it seemed an alarm was triggered. Red lights flashed coming from no discernable source and klaxons blared. "Intruders Detected... YOU WILL DIE!!" the voice coming over the public address system apparently built in to wherever this was started off a nice calm feminie voice before transforming into the voice one would assume from a devil or some such creature.
From the other direction from the door masses of what looked like extremely large maggots streamed towards the two of them. The door would not budge. The maggots invaded their bodies and tore them apart piece by piece.

Baines on the other hand had a much different dream, he was standing on the exact spot he was sleeping, he recognised and knew it. It was as if this was his home, looking back he noticed a ship there, it was his ship but no it couldn't of been. Walking out of the docking bay he saw something in the sky. A red wave of something, who knows what it was, could be seen up in the sky. Other people around him were soon gazing up into the sky and then, almost as they saw it their faces changed to concern and from concern to fear... and then finally to panic. Everyone, except Baines was soon running away from the red wave... a wave that somehow seemed to be rage in a pure form. It swept over him and everyone else, no one was spared... he could see in the distance others succumbing to the same fate that he was. It seemed like an extreme heat passed over him so dense as to melt him to his component atoms and yet he stayed alive, the torture of this didn’t seemed to end but that wasn't all soon it felt as if his very soul was being consumed by the fire. Soon the wave went, his body crumbled into dust and blew away. There was nothing left.

All of them awoke with a startled look on their faces none of them were dead... however one of them was hardly normal.... "I'm dead." Baines screeched, jumping and acting all jumpy and fidgety he could not stay still. "It was only a dream Snap out of it!" commanded Enrald as he himself was coming to terms with his dream. "Burned alive" Baines said as he started to rave and rant so fast that no one could understand. "alright, that's it" he spoke as grabbed his weapon and hit Baines on the back of the head with the Butt of the gun.

It should have been a hard enough hit that he would collapse to the ground, but no Baines just stopped turned around looked around at all those that had assembled and spoke "You have trespassed and for that you will die!" he turned and fled cackling as he went. The voice was the same voice that Peter and Louise heard in their dreams. They shot each other a quick glance wondering… “were you really there” and the looks seemed to confirm. This was going to get weird.

"Bah nothin' be on it besides a bit of machine reports an' inventory. Some poor fool repairin' everything recorded himself on it. Wese was about te watch it all but then ye called us in."

Tark took the orb and sent it floating then waited for its recording to start. The dark elf quickly fast forward through all of it as he looked for the more up to date recordings. He finally stumbled upon the mechanics repair logs. Everything appeared to be normal with drill bits needing replacement and blades sharpened.

Grumbling at the idiocy of all this, Tark simply allowed the orb to play while he thought of what to do next.

"...Earth Flayer #3 has been acting up again. The last controller kept complainin' about how the drill bit was stuck and the roaters weren't smooth enough. I swear these mole rats keep gettin' more and more fickle about their machinery. If they would only just go easy on chewin' through rock, then I wouldn't have to repair it every damn day.

Well might as well see what they screwed up now." The mechanic went to work on the engine looking for any parts that had shorted out or tore during mining operations. Wiping grease from his hands, he layed down on his back and slid under the large contraption.

"Well here's yer problem right there. Power cuppling broke loose." The mechanic crawled out from underneath the machine and started wiping the cuppling off with his greased rag. Within the spand of a thought, the two blades on the Earth Flayer came sweeping down and pierced the helpless mechanic in both shoulders. Blood splurted everywhere as his muscles and bones were easily separated. There was a sick cracking noise as his arms were broken as he was lifted off the ground and pulled in.

From behind him, the sounds of the drill bit starting up started humming and growing louder. The screams as the drill tore into the mechanics abdominal were horrendous as blood and gore were thrown everywhere. Left for dead as his insides were torn completely apart, his body went into shock from the pain and the fact that there was now a giant drill bit sticking out from his stomach. The gathered warriors could see the man's eyes roll back into his head as he went limp.

Lieutenant Tark cringed at the sight of the poor mechanic loosing his life in such a gruesome manner. "How the hell did that happen?"

One of the dwarves nearby scratched his head, clearly a mystery to him as well. "Souldn'ta happened with dat power cupplin' out."

The dark elf rewound the message to try and figure all this out. Playing it all back, nothing appeared to be out of the norm until Amanda pointed something out to him. "Stop the image. Now magnify at fifteen times."

A blur appeared in the holographic view as there was some sort of apiration floating towards the Earth Flayer. Tark squinted hoping somehow it would clear up. "Must have been some dirt caught on the orb."

Amanda shook her head. "It couldn't be because a minute later before the accident happens, the apiration is gone."

"Are you telling me that this planet is haunted or someone is fooling with the recordings around here?"

The woman had no real answers now. "All I'm saying is that this doesn't look like anything that belongs to Mythrandir. Perhaps it is a new alien contact."

Tark snarled his lips. "If that's the case then it is hostile and should be dealt with accordingly. Anyways if this thing is actually alive, it just killed one of the workers. How much day light do we have left?"

One of the guards ran to check then returned a moment later. "The sun has already set lieutenant."

Tark rubbed the bridge of his nose and heaved a sigh. "Damn it. Most likely the previous owners of this planet simply found the miners settled here and had them removed. Either imprisoned them or sent them home and we are simply in the middle of transit here until they can figure out where they came from."

The dark elf took a moment to collect his thoughts. "In any case I want sentries walking the perimeter. Set up orbs to run scans of the complex and outside the walls. Make sure there are four of you up at all times and are staying fresh. The rest will get some sleep until their watch comes."

Four warriors chosen for the task set about gathering their gear and heading off to walk the perimeter. A number of orbs were taken and sent into the air to help scan the surrounding areas and keep an eye on anything that might be approaching. The rest of Tark's company searched out places to bed down and get some rest for the night.

Four Warriors walked the perimeter as they made sure the doors were secured to the mansion and storage sheds. Each one walked the line of the wall surrounding the little settlement and everything was secured. Orbs floated overhead scouting the outlying area as well running scans inside the perimeter looking for infiltrators or anything unusual.

All appeared quiet on the watch while six of the eight warriors in the complex slept. Only six, as two of them found the quiet of the night a perfect cover for a secret rendezvous. Back in the depths of the laboratory, away from all eyes, two warriors gave into their lustful desires.

Weapons and armor were tossed to the side as a lab table were cleared away. The man's muscled arms circled around her narrow waist and hoisted her off the ground and on to the table. Clawing at one another, their clothes were stripped down to the waist. Man and woman relished in the thrills of each others bodies. Years of training had honed both their bodies to tools of war and molded them to perfection. With the shrowding of clothing removed, both bodies were in full view to feast upon.

She softly moaned as his lips worked their way from her neck down to her chest. Legs wrapped around the young warriors waist and pulled him down closer. Skin against skin and the couple was lost in their carnal desires for one another. Clothes around their waists were torn away as lust took its final control. Deep within the dark complex, they were safe despite the sounds of love making that began to fill the room mixed with moans and grunts.

What they didn't know was something watched them in their pinnacle of love making with hungry eyes as well only these were not eyes of lust. Rage and hatred fed the desires within as it began to float overhead. With their minds distracted, the creature found it easy to settle in to the body of the man as he reached his climax. Back arching, the woman muffled a scream of pleasure trying to keep it at least a little down. Her desires fulfilled she settled back against the cold metal of the table and lay their panting as sweat slicked her body.

Together they lay their sweating, breathing heavy, at last content to go on with the day. The man's massive weight kept her pinned though she had no desire to move anywhere at the moment. She lay their still, staring up at the ceiling and unaware of the man's movements. Enough time had passed and they needed to get back to their bed rolls. She raised up on her elbows and kissed the man's head when she felt a sharp pain between her ribs.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she felt blood start flowing from her side. Confusion gripped her as she could not phathom how this was happening. At first she was making love to a man she cared about and now she was being stabbed. Looking down, she could see the hilt of dagger gripped by the big hands of the man that was atop her. He rose up above her with a toothy grin and a different look in his eyes than before. Lust had been replaced by unbridled rage and a thirst for blood.

She started to scream but the possessed man's free hand clamped down hard on her mouth. The life in her eyes were snuffed out as the dagger was taken and plunged straight down between her breasts with such a great force that it pierced the metalic table, pinning the dying woman to it. Satisified that no more sounds would be coming from her, the now possessed warrior gathered his weapons and armor and set off into the night.

Fully armed and armored, he took out one of the glass window paines in the lab then darted out into the cool night air. The sound of glass breaking easily woke Tark who was used to sleeping light. Taking a deep sleep often spelt a quick death for dark elves living in the Underdark. Rushing back to the source of the sound, he stumbled upon the naked dead body of a woman with a dagger piercing her heart.

"Damn it. Warriors to arms! To ARMS!!"

"How the hell could this have happened?"

Many of the remaining warriors were wondering the same thing as no Myth had ever been possessed before and a mind raping was unheard of since before the Clan Wars. Tark studied the dagger for a moment as he spun the tip around on his thumb. It was of simple design but definatly from one of the Northmen tribes judging by the elc horn handle.

The dark elf tilted his head at the half naked, dead woman. "We Myth are protected from such tricks as we hold to the ideals of reason and the freedom of the body and soul. It keeps our minds free, but there are times when we are vulnerable. Namely when we resort to primitive emotions and desires but it still takes a powerful force to overthrow a Myth's mind. It would seem that sex and a combination with something from this planet that is quite powerful, was enough to overthrow our once comrade."

While Tark spoke of a window into a Myth's mind, the prowling warrior possessed by an unknown forced creeped through the darkness that blanketed the compound. Since he was one of their own, none of the orbs were interested in tracking his movements. Only those that were of unknown origins. So it was that their missing companion was able to come upon the sentires at unawares. Stalking from shadow to building, the large Northman came upon the first sentry he saw. The lumbering man was a coil of fury and strength hunched down near the corner of the mansion.

As soon as the young warrior passed him by, the possessed barbarian struck. Clamping a meaty hand over his mouth, the sentry was kept from crying out while the other hand slammed into the back of his head. Muscles flexed and grew taught as he applied pressure. The sentry squirmed trying to get at his assailant or try and run but the large Northman was unmovable. It only made the man squeeze more until he heard the sound of bones popping as the sentrie's skull cracked and collapsed. Blood and brain matter greased the barbarian's hands as he let the lifeless body crumple to the ground.

Three were left and the Northman wasted no time in moving through the complex to the second one that was patrolling the ground. It wasn't long before he came upon a woman checking the machinary storage. The young woman finished checking the locks and chains on the doors when something quietly overshadowed her. She let out a short cry before a fist crashed against her jaw, shattering it. Dazed, the warrior was spun around while the possessed warrior ripped one of the chains from the door and wrapped it around her neck choking the life from her.

Walking along a section of the wall, one of the elves on patrol heard the cry and came running. Seeing the struggle below, he quickly leaped from the wall to try and break it up. Instead of possibly breaking up a drunken brawl or stopping a love affair turned sour, he came across one warrior gone mad with rage. He was already too late to help the woman as he arrived in the last moments of her life when her eyes slipped into the back of her head.

The elf's gauntlet came crashing down while his free hand drew his sidearm. Crimes committed by warriors of Mythrandir were not tolerated and dealt with harshly. Unfortunatly for the elf, he would not be the harbinger of justice in this case. The great Northman grabbed the elf's fist as well as the hand holding the pistol when it came around. With unnatural strength, the elf was left off his feet while the Northman pulled on his arms. Crying out in pain and protest, the elf could feel his shoulders dislocating. Tears streamed down his face from the pain while he cried out for help. Blood ran down his sides as the skin around his shoulders started tearing and breaking. With one last great tug from the barbarians iron hard muscles and the strength of a demon within, the elf's arms were ripped from his body.

Hearing the commotion, leiutenant Tark and a small team came upon the grisly scene of the armless elf. Seeing the great barbarian holding the appendages and drinking the blood that still dripped from the veins, it turned the stomachs of many of even the stoutest of warriors. Thinking he had seen it all, Tark added this to the list.

"Hem!"

Four warriors broke from behind Tark and quickly circled around the barbarian to prevent his escape. "Prepare to fire."

Each one unslung their rifles and pointed their muzzles at the seething Northman, but before Tark could give the order to fire the crazed warrior leaped several feet in the air to clear the ring of warriors. Once outside, he dashed off towards the mansion.

"Oh in the name of Chaos. What the hells is going on around here? Shoot him!"

Bullets rang out in the night but the barbarian was already in dead sprint clearing the wall in another mammoth bound. Dashing off into the night, the barbarian left behind a startled group of warriors wondering for the first time exactly what they were up against.

Leagues from the Mythrandir settlement and deep under the surface of the planet, the possessed Myth warrior found himself picking his way through a worked tunnel. Dark catacombs of a fresh design were as familiar to the enormous man as dirt was to a mole. If he had been in control of his concious state, he would have wondered how he knew where to go and why he was going deeper underground. That would not be his concern for now though as the demon in control of his mind was completely familiar with the surroundings.

Deeper he descended until only the roots of the trees above and the ever present dirt was his sole companion. Light was irrelevant as the sentient being guiding his every step was aware of all that surrounded him. It was a strange sensation for the etheral being to occupy a corporal form with limitations built into its very fiber. An odd hinderance that could be overcome with ease given the appropriate level of intellect. Strength was not the answer to every riddle that life presented and this creature had lived a long enough life to learn that lesson well.

Footfalls steadily began to even out as the tunnel down opened wide to a cavern. Hidden within the cavern was what looked to be the remains of a fallen city. A mere skeleton of its former glory really but still a symbolance of what once was on the small planet. Now it was simply a monument to a dark history that spelt the damnation of almost an entire race. This hollowed out city was a testament to the "glory" of war as its cold dark fingers had reached even to hearts of citizens living their lives in peace.

Alone and driven mad the ghost of its kind pushed the human further on. Up ahead was where miners had shaken the cavern ceiling loose from their constant drilling. Lidless eyes drifted up towards the rocky cavern over head where lifeless bodies hung from their ankles. Skin peeled away left a grisly scene as blood still dripped from the end of their fignertips towards the floor.

More had died soon after but none of it had sated the hunger of the growing demon which was why he found himself climbing up once more in a tunnel that lead into the food cellar under the mansion in the Mythrandir complex. Fur padded boots thudded along as the mountain of a man followed his destine path back up under the main complex. The earthen working along the tunnel walls began to smooth out as the man and demon came to a stop at a solid rock wall. The foundation to the main building.



The dark elf lieutenant, Tark, stood cursing in the middle of the complex while kicking at stones with his armored boots. For the life of him, he could not contemplate the ends of this riddles. All that he had to work with was one warrior gone berserk and two mute children that could not help discern the course of actions prior to their arrival. Only one course of action was open to the dark elf now, get the children aboard a transport and kill the berserked warrior.

Tark pointed to two of the remaining Warriors. "Secure the children and lock down the research facility."

Saluting, the two soldiers headed back to the complex that housed the only survivors of the original mining colony which left Tark alone with Amanda and a dwarven sentry. A pecular group but definantly functionable in the elf's mind.

"Alright, we're going back into the mansion to look for the lost squad. Anything that acts hostile, you put a bullet through the brain then one in the heart. Whatever is left will be decapitated as we leave. Questions?"

Amanda unslung her rifle while the dwarf took one of his throwing axes from his belt loop. Tark put his rifle along his shoulder and reached for his sword instead. Crafted in the forges of the Underdark, its abilities were yet unknown to him but it would be tested this night. The veins of Mythril ore coursed through the blade giving an eerie resemblance to a spider web, memorial to the spider chaos goddess. Running up to the door, Tark turned the handle to the great oaken door while Amanda flicked on her light.

Useless to Tark, the dark elf saw perfectly clearly without the light as his vision was based on the pitch blackness of the Underdark and the aquisition of night sight. Everything in the darkness appeared as clear as day to him. His voice drifted through the parlor barely above a whisper. "First floor."



As the crazed warrior reached the foundations of the mansion, his mere pressence caused the stone working to move aside revealing a bricked off wing of the food cellar. There rested his immoral shrine to his damned existance which would run slick with sacrfice after sacrifice. Now he returned to gather more for the harvest and the feeding. Only the blood of the living would soothe his unholy desire and he would have it once more before the night was out.

Walking towards the stairwell absorbed in his hunger, the demon was unaware of the diminitive figure sitting off in the dark of the corner.

"Been waitin' fer ya. Got a spot on me belt for a knotch wit yer name on it ya son of a orc."

Battleaxe in hand, the dwarf leaped at the imposter warrior with all his might. The creature lurking through the altar was surprised that someone had managed to infiltrate it so keenly without his knowledge. An underestimation that would appear to have cost the berserked warrior off guard but one that he was capable of accommodating. There would be one more sacrifice for this unholy altar. Postponing his continued feast on the warriors within the mining settlement, the creature met the dwarf’s charge head on.

Tark kept his small troop moving through the mansion as they retraced their steps into the kitchen area. Light from Amanda’s rifle swept through the main mess area and then on into the kitchen where pots and pans still hung from the ceiling awaiting their next use. The dark elf really had no need of the light and thus moved ahead of the others to inspect the surroundings more closely. With no signs of any recent activity within the immediate vicinity, Tark moved his team forward further in to where the two children had originally been found.

Moving quietly every step of the way despite their armor, Tark found the wooden door leading down a flight of metal stairs into a stone walled cellar. The coolness of the room still remained since its original construction along with all of its utensils for storing food and hanging meat. All of which was completely empty now. Creeping steadily down into the damp cellar, Tark's elvin ears quickly picked up on a slight rustling in the background. It was the sound of metal clanging against metal in the midst of a melee. Waving his team forward, Tark pressed his pointed ears up against the far wall to listen in. Grunts and curses drifted through the thick stone and the lieutenant's suspicions were confirmed. There was someone on the other end of the wall.

Drawing his wicked blade in a single motion, Tark motioned for the dwarf at his side to look for a lever that somehow caused the wall to open. Experts in the art of masonry and underground caverns, dwarves had the uncanny ability to locate any anomonolies in the stone work. The dwarf removed his thick glove and ran his fingers over the stone work feeling for every little nook and cranny. Cool air drafts brushed against his bare skin as earth gave way to an open cavern.

"Found it but ain't no switch. Gonna have to break it down."

Before Tark could ask how, the dwarf returned his throwing axe to his belt and brought out a mace. With a quick feel for the stone wall one last time, the dwarf gave a great swing with his mace which made a loud crack as it came into contact with the wall. Breaks in the stone working raced throughout the wall as a focal point in the stone working was broken bringing the rest of the supports low. Stone bricks fell apart and cleared the way for an open doorway to another cavern where the berserked barbarian was doing battle with an unknown dwarf.

From the looks of the battle, the dwarf was not fairing well as he sported more than one cut and bruise and his right arm looked limp, possibly broken. Seeing his brethren in danger, the dwarf rushed into help with axe and mace. The axe lead the charge as went soaring through the air which managed to clip the possessed warrior on the arm causing him to drop the dwarf while the other dwarf brought his mace in to crash against the warrior's knee. Those two attacks would have crippled any stout warrior and indeed, the dwarf heard the cracking of bone when his mace crashed against the Northman's knee. Unfortunately for the dwarf, that did little to deter the demon as he stalked on to the dwarf.

Arms shot out to grasp the dwarf by his head and hoisted him off the ground as his little legs kicked and squirmed to get loose. The dwarf continued thrashing as he clawed at the warrior's arms to try and break the iron hold over him. In sheer desperation, the dwarf brought his mace down hard against the barbarians face. Each stroke crushed the man's face as blood and skin went flying. For all his effort though, it did nothing to improve the poor dwarf's situation.

Mouth open wide, the demon controlled Northman brought his teeth down hard against the dwarf's skull. Skin broke sending blood dripping down the dwarf's face while bones broken giving way to the soft pink flesh of the dwarf's brain. From the sturdy little creature came a scream so great and terrible that it shook the very walls of the cavern and threatened to bring them down. Brain matter dribbled out of the side of the dwarf's open skull as the Northman feasted on his flesh.

Amanda did all she could to hold back the bile building up in her throat. No stranger to demons and the vile ways, Tark stalked in with his chaos blessed sword ready to deal the lethal blow as the possessed man devoured his meal. His kill was spoiled though as a small hand axe whistled through the air and sunk into the back of what remained of the dwarf's skull. Tark looked off to the side to see the second dwarf had managed to retain his conciousness and spare his comrade the pain of a gruesome death. A second later the dark elf lieutenant was foiled once again as a shot rang out behind him slamming home into the Northman's head, dropping him to the floor.

Tark muttered quietly under his breath. "Damn it."

His only surviving companion on this venture walked up slowly to the lieutenant's side. "What's happening here?"

"A monster moves about this planet. Now let's see what is so special about all this." As an after thought, Tark looked over at the dwarf slumped against the wall. "Tend to his wounds."

Saluting, Amanda rushed off while leaving Tark to inspect the surrounding scene. Kneeling down, the dark elf looked at tracks that covered the floor which told him how the barbarian warrior walked while under the influence and exactly where he had been. Following the tracks further, the elvin lieutenant found a site that even surprised him.

"Amanda, I think I found the first team I sent in."

Turning from her attention on the dwarf, the young warrior rushed over with her rifle in hand and light bouncing along the way. When the light finally settled on what Tark was staring at, the woman could no longer hold back the contents of her stomach. On a stone altar were what appeared to be the grisly remains of human parts. Intestines and other organs were strewn all around while blood ran as water from the top of the stone slab shrine. Nothing discernable remained of the once whole individuals, only their parts. Tark had to take a step back as the stench of the exposed innards assaulted his nostrils and the sickening warmth of the body parts washed over his face.

"Never in the temples of the Chaos Goddess have I seen such a sacrifice."

It was all too much for Amanda to look upon as she averted her eyes. "Lieutenant, what do we do now? Do you think we killed it?"

"Were it so easy to slay a demon. No, we must prepare to leave immediately. Grab the dwarf and head back to the laboratory and call for the shuttle to evacuate us."

Amanda looked at the dark lieutenant with suspicion. "Lieutenant? What about you?"

Tark was already moving off following the original tracks of the once living Northman. "I am going to see where our monster lives."

OOC: Dug out my latest post, really regretting letting this thread go as long I have...
IC:

The lobby was engulfed in a reddish tinge, a very odd anomoly considering any flaw in the artificial representation the Troopers saw through their helmet interfaces was eliminated centuries ago. By all rights they should have seen what the room what the room would look like with adequate lighting for the Slaughterian eye to see optimally.

They discovered all too quickly that the red tinge was not equipment malfunction but the remaining EXO troops. Rather, what was left of them. Blood covered the walls and furniture, smearing the once-bronzed UWT logo on the front desk. One of the Shadows was automatically injected with a stomach settling agent through his armor's onboard medical system to keep from retching. Sylvia mumbled a prayer as Higgins bluntly summed it all up,

"Jeeeesus Kee-rist! These boys've seen better days! I gotta say this is looking more like they were up against animals than anything else! I mean damn!"

He walked over and picked up a blood-encrusted helmet, "Alas, poor corporate scumbag, I knew ye not. To flee, or not to flee: that is the question."

The Major walked over and smacked him upside the head, "Shakespeare's turning in his grave and dozens of Dominion citizens are obviously dead in here and you think it's a time for JOKES?!?!? Get over yourself!

"Everyone fan out! whatever's in here may have taken down those EXO's no problem, but I'll be damned if they get us! I want two man fireteams, one per floor. A map is in your tactical network. Move out!"

Higgins grumbled, "Relax, just tryin' to lighten the mood you overbearing..."

His grumbling became unintelligble as he manned up with another Trooper and set off. They all went down the emergency staircase, an archaic but necessary part of any facility. They found the remaining EXO troops in the stairwell. One was intact, a blaster in his hand and a hole in his unhelmeted head. This was disconcerting, as the only thing UWT flunkies valued more than money was life. Even they realized money is no good to a corpse. From the stairwell they departed, two by two to their assigned floors. They had no idea what this charnel house would hold for them, but hey were sure as hell going to find out.

The halls of the dead rose up all around the dark elf as he moved silently through the remains of a sunken city. Nothing remained of its former glory but only a mere skeleton of what was. To his trained eyes, the movements of all those that had been through the city in the last days were easily spotted by him. A footprint or a torn piece of cloth was all that was needed for Tark to put together a scenic picture of life disturbed.

Miners had come and accidently disturbed these hallowed halls which ultimately lead to their demise. Rubble from their breakthrough lay off to the side, the only other sign of violation. Tark was certain that whatever demon that had possessed the Northman was not dead. It takes more than a bullet to kill such beings. His only concern now was where had the elusive creature gone to.

By walking through the remains of what the dark elf could only assume was the beast’s home, Tark had hoped to find the creature taking a moment of reprieve. Unfortunately Tark could not find this demonic force nor would it come to him as he walked alone. On and on he walked through dilapidated frames that had been stripped of everything they once stood for. Coal colored fingers brushed against remaining metal and stone as the destiny of such worlds closed in on him. A great scar is what one of the elves had said, but the planet was not devoid of life.

Something still walked this world though driven mad by whatever catastrophic event that brought the destruction of an entire population. Drawing the blade that had been gifted to him by Beatriz, Tark wondered what good such a blade would do against an ethereal being of this nature. No doubt it was soundly forged in the Underdark but Tark had seen normal blades go against demons with no avail only to lead to the bane of their wielders. There was something more to the blade besides its exquisite craftsmanship.

Despite his long meandering stroll through the cavern, nothing came. Nothing appeared to challenge the lieutenant as he had hoped. Options exhausted, the dark elf had little else to do but resign himself to the withdrawal of the Mythrandir presence in the area. Tark sheathed his sword and headed up the path that lead to the foundations of the living quarters. Disappointed, lieutenant Tark ignored the mounds of bodily organs left over from the sacrifices of the early miners. Unaffected by the smell and flies buzzing over the half eaten carcasses, he continued onwards pass the blood stains where the dwarven warrior had crumbled to the floor dead. Both his body and that of his wounded kin had been moved to the research facility where most likely everyone was waiting for the shuttle that would get them off this pit of hell.

Stone stairs and empty halls passed him by as he walked out into the dawn of a new day. The sun had just begun to creep over the distant horizon and peel away the darkness. Tark winced as the sun clashed with his own eyes which were attuned to no light at all. It took a moment for him to adjust and wipe away the pain that was still sending little dots of light to the back of his eyes. Walking with his thoughts building into a storm, Tark found himself outside the door to the research facility. It was possible that maybe he could talk them into leaving him behind and sending a shuttle back a few days later given that he had enough supplies to manage until then.

The dark elf was certain it wouldn’t be a problem. None of them wanted to remain here anyways, not that he could blame them. It was so dull. The door in front of him opened at his approach and Tark followed the narrow hall into the wider rooms of the facility. All of it looked ordinary with the metal walls, floor, and ceiling. In the dark elf’s mind there was nothing ornate about it once so ever. The only striking feature about the place was that there was no one here, at least no one alive. On the cold metal tables were the dead bodies of the warriors that had fallen in this expedition. Each of their bodies was laid out in similar fashion. Arms were folded over their chests as they clasped the handle of their weapon. Their bodies were fully armored and polished for a respectful look.

Figuring that their keeper was further in, Tark pressed on through a series of doors. Lights came to life as he walked and lit the dark elf’s path. The dark elf hurried into the room that had been used as their barracks the night before as he was getting tired of walking through empty halls while his team remained no where to be seen. Tark came upon the door to the makeshift barracks which opened at his presence.

As the door opened, lights were already on so Tark received the full scene as it played out in front of him. Suspended from the ceiling were two bodies stripped of all their clothing as well as their skin. Amanda stood off to the side, her face pale and shock painted on her every feature. Tark let his rifle fall to the floor as he moved into the room fully.

Judging from the looks of the woman off to the side, he knew that she was unaware of him in the room. So transfixed was she on the mutilated horror hanging from the ceiling that she did not know Tark was there until he placed a hand on her shoulders.

Amanda startled at the touch. “L-Lieutenant.”

Tark looked up at the two bodies, a man and an elf. “It seems our friend is not finished with us just yet. Where are the children?”

“Next door in the kitchen. I gave them something to eat to keep them occupied. They were huddled in a storage bin before I found this.”

The dark elf pushed a few wisps of white hair away from his face. “Get them on the shuttle and prepare to leave. I believe we have overstayed our welcome.”

Amanda slowly nodded her head then headed out of the room to collect the children and call the shuttle down. Once she was gone, Tark took a closer inspection of the bodies. Both were badly beaten with a force greater than that of any human or elf. The wounds were consistent with that of the rest of the bodies and the way the possessed Northman had killed the sentries along the perimeter of the base. What body that killed, was still the greater mystery.

Pulling a dagger from his belt, Tark took one of the ears from the high elf and cut it loose. At least the trip wouldn’t be a total loss. One more elf’s ear to add to his trophy collection.

After spending some time searching the halls and neglected rooms of the research facility, Tark came to the stunning conclusion that he had been viewing his adversary in the wrong light. This was not some demon spawned from the bowels of hell that enthralled this planet. Far from such a connection. Given the methods that this creature employed, the dark elf saw that it resembled a predator in the way it neutralized its opposition.

Recalling how this creature had possessed the Northman and set about killing sentry after sentry with ruthless effenciency, only atested to how cunning a predator Tark was dealing with. If that was not enough, then the remains of twenty-eight dead Mythrandir Warriors was a sobering number. Trained to be the best that the Kingdom had to offer and deal with any eventuality, they were as rare the red dragons of Thralk. Twenty-eight dead Warriors was a tragedy that would take time to recover from and they had been brought down by a single creature albeit crazed and twisted.

Certainly this phantom had the dark elf's respect as a worthy adversary. Unfortunately, the lieutenant's time was up as Amanda had a shuttle called and was due to touch down outside the main gate of the miner complex any minute now. Tark grabbed the remainder of his gear and headed towards the exit, sealing the doors as he went.

Darkness engulfed him as he passed through the last series of doors and stepped out onto the barren surface of the planet. Tark reached into a leather pouch at his hip and pulled out a black orb. Life pulsated within the small creation as it floated up from his hand. Once at eye-level, a holographic image of Captain Shazir folded into existance. The cover of night hid much of the dark elf's features but the white teeth of his devilish grin and the yellow in his eyes betrayed his position. "Lieutenant Tark... godd to see you are still alive. I would hate to see harm come to one of the Matron's favorites."

Tark frowned slightly. "Your concern is appreciated. I want you to take your fleet back home."

Captain Shazir's smile faded almost instantly. "Why? What do you have planned?"

"Nothing. I want to keep the shuttle and your fleet separate. Whatever this creature is down here, it highly volatile and is capable of jumping power sources. If it gets to a ship, it could spell disaster for the fleet and no telling what it could do to our home. We will isolate ourselves on the shuttle and go through a period of decontamination once we return."

There was a moment of silence as the dark elf captain contemplated the wisdom of the lieutenant's words. "Very well. The shuttle is yours to do what you will with. I will take the fleet back home with me. I shall inform my mother of your adventure and let her know that you will be returning."

Tark simply bowed as the holographic image of the elven captain faded away like dust in the wind.

Not a moment too much longer after the dark elves finished their conversation, the lone shuttle made its descent outside the walls of the complex. Amanda had her gear in hand as she ushered the two children aboard the ship. She quickly ran back to fetch the injured dwarven miner and pushed him up the ramp on a mobile medical table. Once finished with her charges, Amanda stood outside the shuttle waving at Tark.

"Come on Lieutenant. Let's get the hell out of here while we still can."

Something seemed amiss to Tark as he grabbed his gear and rifle. As he ascended the ramp inside the shuttle, much to the relief of Amanda, there was still the mystery of discovering the possessed body that killed the last two Warriors under his command. Everything was virtually accounted for in his mind, but something still sent a shiver down his spine as the ramp of the shuttle closed behind him and they dusted off.

The shuttle climbed higher until it broke through the atmosphere. The rest of the Myth fleet was already gone so the shuttle entered into the Warp all alone for the long ride home.

Higgins and a Shadow Trooper bearing the rank of Staff Sergeant were assigned the informary. If there were any survivors, chances are they'd be there in the stasis bays. the sarge was on point with Higgins constantly checking the rear. Ever since seeing the transient contacts outside, similar readings had been plaguing the proximity sensors all throughout the building. Everyone was on edge, with the involuntary rush of adrenaline not helping.

"Even if there were survivors," Higgins joked, "We're wound up so tight we'd pop 'em before we even realized someone walked in front of us."

His statment was put to the test as a shadow passed across an intersection behind them. He raised his rifle and ordered the sarge to hold position. Jogging back with his rifle ready, he swung down the passage. Sweeping back and forth, he saw it was a maintainance corridor. There was nowhere to hide, as the walls were covered by conduits and pipes. He continued for a few meters, and found the hallway deserted, save the brown smears covering the walls at irregular intervals, with the occasional torn cloth or chunk of composite littered about. He found a pulse rifle on the ground; it was shattered into multiple pieces. He was pndering how that could have happened when a scream broke the silence.

Higgins darted back down the corridor and almost dropped his gun and ran. The sergeant was splayed out on the ground, his chestplate ripped open. A small, childlike form was perched delicately on top of him. The soldier whimpered soflty as the creature, it certainly wasn't Slaughterian or Balroggan, tenderly picked up a piece of intestine and cut it out with razor-sharp claws.

Without thinking, Higgins charged his rifle and levled it. The creature turned (it looked so much like a child!) and with a blood-curdling shriek retracted its lips, revealing mandibular jaws lined with ro upon row of needlelike teeth. Wasting no time, Higgins put a burst into it. The rounds of pure blue energy ripped through the space between them, illuminating the corridor in a brilliant light show before impacting on the creature's skull. The force sent the beast flying down the hall, its flesh charred and skull split open. Suddenly, in midflight, it vanished into thin air.

Not stopping to take stock of what just transpired, Higgins ran up to his downed comrade, pulling a silver medical canister from his belt. Inserting it into the wound, he pushed the trigger and the tears filled with self-sealing biofoam laced with millions of nanites. They would begin to repair the tissue damage and keep him held together until more advanced facilities could be found. His hands shaking, Higgins got on the com,

"Th-this is Charlie t-t-two. M-m-man down!"

Atmosphere flowed into the shuttle as the ramp finally locked tight returning the outter hull to its seamless appearance. The dark elf breathed in the fresh oxygen as it washed over his body and tossed his long white hair back. For a moment, Tark allowed himself the simple pleasure of taking a deep breath followed by a sigh. Regaining his composure, the lieutenant marched up the slight slope with the sound of his armored boots clanging against the metal floor accompanying him as he walked.

Weapons and armor belonging to the fallen Warriors that had graced this acursed planet with their blood, still remained in storage. A few items of their personal positions had been returned, with what remains they could find. It would all have to be sorted later and sent off to their kin, a sentimental task that the stoic dark elf did not relish. For now, he had to bring what was left of his team back home. All one of them. Still, at least part of the mission was a success a very minor one at that. Three of the colonists had been rescued and were now well on their way home.

One unresolved matter still haunted the dark elf though as he found his personal armory and locked his battle rifle into place and fastened the latch keeping it tight. They had never really uncovered the mystery of the planet and why it lay barren now or how his entire team had been slaughtered without so much as a gun shot. He had experienced the awesome power of the enraged spirit first hand as it ripped dwarves apart and crushed the skulls of Northmen. Such raw strength was not to be underminded. Even then it had executed its targets with extreme precision before striking at their heart.

A predator.

Like a predator that had a lifetime of experience, they could wait for the perfect moment to strike. This last thought is what troubled Tark the most as whatever prey that they hunted had done exactly this. Air locks to the belly of the shuttle opened to reveal the layout of the crew on board. The two children that had been rescued huddled together off in the corner with one asleep and the other watching while the dwarven miner lay on a cot with Amanda applying a salve and bandages as she tended to his wounds.

Tark thumbed the jeweled pommel of his blade as he walked through the next bulkhead into the cockpit of the shuttle. Something still felt very wrong to the dark elf as he sat down to the controls. His years of living on the edge between life and death in the Underdark had helped develope a very fine combat instinct. Every fiber of his instincts were telling him something was not right. The dark elf simply could not figure out what it was though.

Moving the controls from manual to auto pilot, Tark sent the ship in a precalculated course to enter the depths of the Warp. At least there in that chaotic realm he would feel some measure of peace and perhaps arrive at an answer to his dilemma. The dark elf kicked up his feet onto the dash and leaned back in the pilot's chair. Eyes closed, he felt the smooth transition from the normal realm to the Warp and felt the swirls of chaos assault the vessel and sooth his body.

Certain aspects of their mission played over in his mind as he recounted the loss of almost every member of his team. He felt no real remorse for their deaths though perhaps he should have as their leader but their deaths may still yet serve a purpose so he would not let their passing bog him down just yet. Tark called upon the horrific encounter with the damned Warrior as it was controlled by a demonic spirit. Everything ran through his mind with the discovery of the children and the fate of his lost company. Still his mind searched on all the way up to the moment he boarded the shuttle for home and plopped down into the seat. His surroundings were all familiar as he took every aspect of the insides of the ship in a single glance. A sick dwarf, two children in the corner, and the only other Warrior alive tending to them all. It all had its place.

Then the most miniscule of details struck him like a dwarven hammer. Something he had so easily missed that he berated himself for letting it slide. A foolish mistake that would have ended his life long ago in the Underdark as there was no tolerance for the slight of a warrior in their culture. Tark threw his feet back over to the floor and leaped from his seat just about the same time he heard a blood curdling scream come from the back of the cabin.

"Damn." Tark through open the hatch to see the conclusion he had reached only a moment ago painfully obvious in front of his eyes. The fallen dwarven miner was still on the medical table passed out from his wounds and oblivious to the entire scene playing out in the shuttle. Where once the two children had been huddled in the corner, Tark saw the error in his qiuck scan of the room. What he had believed to be one of the children sleeping, was actually dead.

Recalling the image as he had walked into the cabin, Tark remembered now that the little girl was wide awake with her hand clamped firmly around the little boy's throat. There was a pale color to his complexion that wasn't noticeable at first but now the dark elf realized it was the sign of all life having left his body. In their shock state, the childrens' minds were completely vulnerable to an assault. Tark now realized that instead of worrying about hunting down the demon spirit of the planet, he should have killed off the only two immediate vessels for it. It would not have been a favored option amongst the rest of the Warriors but the dark elf held little doubt that he could have dealt with them quietly in their sleep. Now his mistake was magnified a hundred fold here aboard the shuttle as the little girl stood as tall as her lithe frame would allow while holding the dead little boy by his neck like a rag doll.

Her strength was inhuman as she brought the limp form up and then swinging his dead body down onto the metallic floor with a sickening crack. She repeated the process a number of times as if she were still a child throwing a tantrum. Amanda stepped back in horror shaking her head at the gruesome scene. Blood began splattering the walls as bone tore through skin. A long crimson gash of gore and blood adorned the young girl's face as she smiled through it all.

Warrior training finally overtaking the shock of her body, Amanda reached for her rifle that was slumped against the wall. Unfortunately for her, the possessed child was too close and too quick even for a trained Warrior. The boy's dead body came swinging around like a mace, the heels of his feet connecting with her chin. Mind numbing pain shot throughout her body as she was sent spinning halfway across the cabin. Amanda's body finally slumped to the floor in a heap as she lay there unconcious.

Tark watched the entire transaction with reserved judgement, studying his opponent even as Amanda was knocked unconcious. With only one more threat in the demon's way, her once innocent brown eyes locked onto the dark elf. Blood had turned the whites in her eyes and grisly red as the apparent force behind the mind control was indeed a powerful one. But strength for this beast was only on the surface as it was cunning also. No doubt the demon knew the shuttle was returning to whatever planet these beings came from and there would most likely be more of them there. More for it to feed on and torment. The lieutenant knew this as well and though he was not a champion of the unity that many Myths strived for, he had no intention of letting something like this reach his home.

With rifle far out of reach, Tark grabbed a hold of the only weapon he had available to him. The sound of metal ringing as it cleared its sheath echoed throughout the shuttle's cabin. Lieutenant Tark let the blade twirl in his hands, feeling the weight and its balance. Now it was time for Tark to see what gift Beatriz had bestowed upon him or if it would bring him to utter ruin.

With the deck cleared of any obstacles, the two opponents squared off with one another in close quarters. Thinking that its opponent would not strike with the body of one of its kind coming in as a weapon and shield, the possessed girl once again used the boy's body as a club of sorts to take on Tark. Whatever creature this was, apparently had never encountered a dark elf before. With the boy already did, Tark felt no remorse in readying an attack of his own. Even if the boy was alive, he still wouldn't have changed his mind.

Tark's blade swept out in one fluid blinding motion. Crimson mist filled the air as the boy's carcass was cut in half. His lower remains sailed off to the side while streaming endtrails as it flew. Moments later there was sick smack followed by a muffled thud as the remains slammed into the wall and slumped to the floor. Tark had never taken his eyes off his opponent though a slight hint of surprised registered in the girl's eyes. Using the time alotted to him, the dark elf grabbed a shield from his belt and ignited the protective energy. Red bands of energy expanded to circular diameter of half of the dark elf's tall frame.

Regaining its lost momentum, the demon sent the remains of the boy sailing at the warrior like a missle which was deflected harmlessly off to the side by his shield. Tark felt a jarr of pain creep into his arm. He had not expected such a force behind the blow which could have broken the arm of a lesser man. Tark gritted away the pain and readied for a follow up attack.

Her speed was fast, amazingly fast. So much so that Tark barely registered the movement as she bolted past him. By the time he reregistered his target, she was to the side of him and kicked out with her leg at the knee joint sending the lieutenant down to one knee. Tark followed up with a swipe of his sword but his blade found only air. Now on his opposite side, the girl assaulted him with her fists as she pounded away at his shield sending him down to both knees. Like the last time, she was gone before he could ever bring his weapon to bare.

Their encounters went on in similar manners for several minutes as the dark elf came to realize that she was simply picking away at his defenses until he was too tired to defend himself or made a mistake where she could exploit it. He had categorized his opponent correctly when he thought of the spirit behind all this a predator. In a few minutes and with little effort, it had brought a larger target down to a more manageable size and was slowly working away at Tark's last bits of energy.

After centuries of living and countless battles with monsters so unimagineable and gruesome that not even a child's worst nightmares could phathom what he had seen, Tark denied this being its prey.

"New rules."

Concentrating deep within himself and bringing out his kind's rare ability, Tark summoned a globe of darkness around himself that engulfed the entire cabin. Light was vanished entirely from the ship as nothing could penetrate its form and there was no way of removing it until its energy had all been used up. Tark did not believe his little trick would thwart all attacks by the demon but he was confident it would not be aware of his own ability to see perfectly in utter darkness.

His gamble paid off as the monster forsook its randomized attack pattern and come straight on the Warrior, hoping to finish him off quickly. Tark could hear her muscles flexing with the effort, her madly quickened heart rate and rapid breathing. He saw through the darkness to the heat of her body as it came on for him leaping through the air.

Tark held his kneeling position as long as possible so as to not let on that he saw every moment she had made until it was too late. As her body came crashing down Tark took his sword and stabbed straight out for the center of his target's being. The Mythral ore encased blade plunged deep into the little girl's chest. Her face pulled up in shock then revulsed in horror as some unseen hand appeared to reach for her. She flailed at Tark's armor and peeled at his fingers trying to pry herself loose. Finally, the lieutenant simply let her fall to the floor and let her kick out the last moments of her and the demon's life.

With the dust of the battle settling, the misty globe of darkness dissipitated and disappeared. In front of him was the figure of the little girl with his sword sticking straight up from her chest. The horror of the act was still etched on her face for eternity attesting to the utter revulsion of her death. Tark looked around the room at what was left with his charges knowing that there was still work to do. He gathered up the dead child's remains and stuffed them into the nearest air-lock. It was not the most dignified burial but he had no parents to miss him as they were most likely already dead so no one would look for his body back on Mythrandir.

Pressing sending the green air-lock light to red, his remains were sent off into the best burial that Tark could think of. Endlessly drifting through the Warp embraced in its chaotic realm. Tark turned to others in the cabin. The dwarf had seen nothing of the final battle and could help attest to some of the details in the dark elf's future report. Perhaps there was still some use for keeping him alive. Deciding that the dwarf could be more useful alive, the lieutenant moved off to the other figure.

Amanda still lay on the floor unconcious from the blow to her jaw. Tark knelt down next down to her to feel for a pulse. Still very much alive, the dark elf looked over her injuries. Having been trained in the arts of war and their uses and having lived through the Clan Wars, Tark was well versed in the human anatomy along with others. Her jaw was broken and some minor bleeding in the brain resulting in a concussion but nothing terribly serious unless neglected. With her unconcious, the dark elf knew he could easily remove her from the picture and there would be no one to contest his story.

Still, something held him back as he overlooked her body. She was a fine specimen of the females of the human race and she had been a solid follower of his leadership while the elves and dwarves were more hesitant. Amanda had never questioned him and instead made herself quite useful. Tark wondered, could she say anything that would draw too much attention on himself? She had been unconcious throughout the fight and would not know what had happened to the rest of the bodies.

No, she couldn't say anything to discredit his actions on the mission so there was no purpose in killing her. He still had his uses for her. That left only one other body to dispose of. Tark walked over to the prone figure and reached out to the hilt of his sword to pull it free. Upon contact, the dark elf was assaulted with a powerful force and sent sprawling backwards.

Landing with such a force, a permanent dent had been put in the metallic floor. Tark eased up on his elbows and looked at his sword. Originally he had wondered at the purpose of the gift that the Matron Beatriz had given him. Now its full potential dawned on the dark elf and an evil smile spread on his lips. Tark staggered back to his feet and looked down at the blade as he circled it.

"So this is the blade blessed by the Chaos Goddess herself and forged within the inferno fires of the Underdark."

Tark reached out to his blade once again though not as casually this time. As soon as his fingers closed around the handle, a wave of anger and primal lust washed over him and assaulted his mind. It was to no avail though as it found attempting to overthrow the mind of Myth Warrior futile. Eventually the unbridled ocean of emotions subsided but Tark knew that it had simply receeded behind a damn that was ready to break at any moment. Pulling the blade free from the girl's chest, Tark stared at the length of his sword. The once crimson life blood of the girl that soaked the blades edges, now seaped into the veins of the mythral ore as the blade drank.

"You hunger and thirst for blood, driven mad by your own animal instincts." At Tark's words, the fate of this once lush planet played out before him. Great cities full of technological wonders were reduced to ashes over night as a great darkness swept across the planet sending the inhabitants of the world mad. They killed one another consumed by their hunger until there was only one left. All that once remained of that proud race on the planet was now enthralled within his sword.

More.

Tark smiled devilishly, the first time the spirit had communicated with anyone. "At my side, you feast upon much flesh. Know this though. Only the servant feeds when the Master has had his fill. I am your master now demon and it is I that holds your fate in the palm of my hands. There is no question for you to obey or not to, there simply is obedience."

The mind quieted, apparently thinking over the predictament it had found itself in. It was a moment that Tark took to mean acceptance for now which was good enough for him. He sent the blade home to its sheath and set about disposing of the remains of the little girl. After she was through the same air-lock her friend had exited only moments before, Tark tended to Amanda's wounds and laid her out on another medical. He forced enough healing agents into her body to fight off the bleeding and trauma to the brain then set about repairing her broken jaw.

With everything finally attended to, Tark headed back to his seat in the pilot's chair. The dark elf eased into the seat and rested for what would be a long trip. He patted his sword at his side knowing that there would be at least a day of quarantine and a number of scans to weed out any dangers to Mythrandir. None of it would find his new reluctant companion.

"Now you shall have a whole new world opened up to you. Together, we will share many bloody adventures and conquests that will go on long after my life force has expired and spirit has passed on."

Tark eased back to close his eyes, perfectly at peace, while the shuttle stayed its course to Mythrandir and the countless questions that he was sure to encounter once finally home.

After days of sitting in the dead of space as their shuttle was quarantined for a standard period of time, Tark once again found himself feeling the pull of gravity at his feet. His dark violet eyes squinted in the brilliant sunlight that flared in reflection upon the Mythral ore vein, encased, white stones that were the building blocks of Mythrandir. Light reflected off the polished armor of a score of heavily armed citadel guards that escorted the surviving members of Lieutenant Tark's Warrior team that was dispatched to Bryce in search of lost miners. Upon his return, all were dismayed to see that only one minre had been found at the cost of thirteen highly trained Warriors.

Now the sounds of Tark's padded feet were muffled by the loud din of armor scraping against armor as he was escorted to the hall of the Elders inside the White Tower. Certainly they wanted to know what befell the other members of the dark elf's team and Tark's report was the only one that accounted for the end of a number of the Warriors. Luckily for the dark elf, he had been able to fabricate his own story for the time that Amanda had been unconcious. The Elders would be left with little choice other than accepting his testimony of the events that unfolded on the acursed planet.

Great oaken doors opened wide for the dark elf lieutenant as guards ushered Tark into the great hall where the four Elders of Mythrandir were seated. It had been a last minute decision to leave his new found friend and blade in his quarters. Looking up at the host before him, and witness to the majesty of the Elders, he knew it had been a wise choice on his part. More than one of them would have likely picked up on the new aura eminating from his persona should he have been accompanied by the blade and soul.

The arrangement was typical in the pressence of the Elders when local administrators came to seek an audience with the leaders of the Kingdom though now the dark elf tried to see them in the eyes of foreign diplomats who gazed upon them for the first time. Elder Thrandur of the dwarf clan sat with his feet dangling off the edges of a floating tear drop shaped seat while his beard ran down to his knees in curly brown loches. Golden buckles decorated the thick leather belt wrapped around his waist while heavy furs over his muscular shoulders and barrel chest. A massive warhammer, measuring nearly his own height, rested with the hilt against his seat. Elder Alurial was next in line as she was a figure of exquisite elven beauty. Her fiery brown hair cascaded straight down past her shoulder as it perfectly melded into the fine fabrics that made her evening dress. Earthen colors gathered around her shapely figure as her chest and hips were accentuated in perfectly tailored folds. Finely muscled legs stuck out from the long slit in her dress as she crossed her legs and sat imperially in her seat.

Elders Sebastian and Raigar made up the last two seated before the dark elf who were in many ways different but yet still the same. It was a dichotemy that confused Tark sometimes as it did many others. The human Elder sat on his levitating seat with both boots planted firmly on the ground. As always, his appearance was rather plain with brown trousers and a sleeveless blue shirt that revealed tight chords of muscles in his arm. Short brown hair adorned his head while cold blue eyes watched the dark elf enter the room and come to attention. In all other sense he was not overly muscular like the Northmen tended to be nor did he share their height at near seven or eight feet tall, Sebastian topped just over six. Judging by appearance, he looked like the average human living in Mythrandir or any of its other cities but the lieutenant was aware of more than appearances. Rumors abounded about the human Elder and the common want was to compare him to his father, the first human Elder that helped bring an end to the Clan Wars. While some dismissed them as rumors, they were possible leads to a dark elf and he knew somewhere someone knew the truth behind this interesting human.

Far more exotic in appearance was Elder Raigar in all of his feathery glory with a mixture of brown and white feathers. A golden chain hung around his neck with a swirling red jewel that was used as a translator for the griffon since most could not understand the meanings behind the squaking or screeches of the vocal chords within their species. Talons gripped the arm rests of his chair as a claw ticked absently as he awaited for the guards to leave. His raptor gaze swept the room as his eyes blinked quickly taking in the sight.

A long wooden table had been brought out and set up for Tark's use as well as Amanda, who had been interviewed minutes before him. Pitchers of water, juice, and wine had been laid out along with a number of clear crystal goblets to hold whatever contents he desired. Sebastian cleared his throat now that they were alone. "Please have a seat lieutenant."

Tark grasped the back of an oak chair in his gauntlets and slid it out. Seating himself in his armor, Tark was aware of the history that filled the hall. Tapestry after tapestry lined the marble walls showing ancient battles that had been fought to bring Mythrandir into peace or to keep its freedom. Captions of the White Tower being constructed as the dwarves and elves came toghether with men to build the monument to all they had accomplished. Seeing it all, the lieutenant was determined to make his mark on history for good or evil.

"As you may know, we have just recently questioned the only other surviving member of your team. Both of your reports match up for the most part but that does not account for the few minutes that she was unconcious or you were out with other members of your squad. If you could, we would like for you to relate the events that caused the first casualties to your team."

The dark elf sat there listening to Sebastian speak as he recalled all that he wanted to say and omitt. Once the Elder was finished, Tark went into detail about how the young lovers came to their unfortunate end with the only survivor of the pair coming under powerful possession. After which the lieutenant went on to expound about how the sentries around the small mining complex were dispatched with brutal effeciency. Tark detailed the raw strength and hatred within the creature as it tore limbs apart and crushed skulls then displayed unnatural agility by clearing the building and outpacing their bullets as they fired in pursuit.

Every Elder seemed to be listening to his words and analyzing each point he made in turn. It was Thrandur that broke the silence as he heaved a heavy sigh. "Me own kin were on that rock and fell to that demon."

"You must understand lieutenant, Mythrandir has lost twelve good Warriors this day and we would like to know how one creature was able to that. Since you were in command, the burden of questioning falls to you."

Tark nodded at Elder Sebastian's words. "I understand Elder but I must reassert my point that this was not some corpreal being. It was possessed of the Underdark Planar where normal weapons would have no avail on it. Aside from the freak chance of possession of a Warrior's body, it possessed abilities to link up with technologically advanced equipment."

Alurial leaned forward at his remark. "Yes lieutenant. We've all viewed the orb that you recovered. How can you be certain that another one of those creatures did not make it onto the shuttle that brought you back home?"

It was a question Tark loathe to answer because he had no real solution that would not truly give away the idea that he might be hiding something. "From the experience on the ground at Bryce, this creature was highly aggressive and would have wasted no time in attacking or destroying the ship. Since we made it home in one piece, then I can only assume that the ship is clean."

Mostly a lie since Tark had no real way of knowing whether or not something else had snuck on board but he was fairly confident that there were few if any of those creatures left.

Sebastian alleviated the worries among the council. "All scans of the shuttle showed no anomonalies. Judging by the data we picked up from the records of the mission, we would have been able to detect its energy signatures."

Alurial was less than satisfied but remained silent, conceding Sebastian's point. Sebastian in the mean time continued on. "Tell us about the last moments aboard the shuttle, Lieutenant. What happened to the children?"

Tark was well aware of the Elder's fondness for children coupled with his overall concern for his people, any slip up in relating the events could spell disaster. The dark elf had no desire to stoke the Elder's inner fire and bring him to wrath. "It was as I stated in my report. One of the children had become possessed by the demon, most likely due to her overall state of shock from the butchering of mining team, murdered the young boy and proceeded to attack the survivors of our mission. The dwarf being wounded posed no problem and Warrior Amanda tried to fight but was knocked unconcious. My rifle was locked away in storage so I was armed only with my sword. I managed to fight her back into hold then opened the air lock. There was no other option left to me. If I could have saved the little girl, then I would have sacrificed everything to do so."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the Lieutenant while judging his response. Slowly the Elder leaned back into his chair as his shoulders slumped. "I see. A tragic day then, one that will lay heavy on our hearts and minds for some time."

"Indeed Elder. They were all good Warriors. It saddens me that they perished."

Sebastian waved a hand dismissively, perhaps sensing that Tarks response was less than sincere. "Lieutenant, are you certain that there are no more of those creatures on that planet?"

Something struck the dark elf like a dwarven warhammer. He was still carrying the sealed envelope he had retrieved from the desk in one of the living spaces within the mansion. Tark took a steadying breath. "No Elder, I cannot be certain. All I am certain was that we encountered only one of these creatures."

------

Questioning had gone on for several hours as the Elders had tirelessly checked and rechecked the Lieutenant's story. Now that it was finally finished, Tark was convinved that they had at least accepted his story and would question him no further. The familiar walls of the Warrior's Institute loomed around him as his own private quarters greeted him from an unpleasant stay on the surface world. Located within Mythrandir's Spine, the Institute had the convenience of accomodating both the humans and elves that preferred the sunlight but also the dwarves taking to the mountain tunnels and the dark elves that enjoyed life without light.

Promotion had also brought an increase in the size of his room as well as its lavishing. A large bed took up most of his bedchamber along with a number of weapons and armor racks dotted his living space. The blade itself was safely hidden in a chest that was enchanted with a dimensional hole. Stored away from prying eyes on this plane of existance, Tark moved to unlock the iron clad chest. Reaching down deep up to his shoulder, Tark could feel the familiar leather grip and mental connection of the soul trapped within the blade.

He tied the sheath off on his belt and sat down on the soft bed. Tark unfastened his armor and propped it up on a rack. He reached in one of his pockets and produced the sealed envelope with a family crest. The crest itself was unfamiliar to him though he payed little attention to the human families in the first place. Still curiosity drove him as his fingers wiggled in between the wax and the paper and broke the seal. Folded within was a letter but addressed to no one in particular. It appeared as if someone had wrote it urgently and had expected someone to find it.

It has been five days since we sent a message back home asking the Elders to send help but with the recent activity of these creatures, I am concerned that they have interferred with our transmission equipment. If we are forced to wait here until we are overdue for the standard communications check-in, I doubt we will live to see help arrive. There are so many of them that we have taken the liberty of destroying the circuitry in all of our equipment. We cannot afford any more accidents like we have had in the past.

Still we are not without hope, while there is no way for our weapons to harm them I have discovered a means to kill them. The process is extremely dangerous but we managed to capture one and....

Tark looked down at the blade and could feel the passiveness in the creature. "You lied to me. You said you were the only one left."

There was no answer but given the time that he and the sword has spent alone on the shuttle, they had come to a mutual agreement. That did not mean that Tark trusted his new companion and it seemed that now his reservations were founded as true. "If you want to profit from your new existance, we are going to have to work out some new rules. First I'll..."

A soft knock was hear at his door."

Confused Tark took the sheath from his belt and leaned it against the dresser next to his bed. Walking over to the door, he eased the knob and opened the door a crack so he could see in the pitch blackness who was outside. Surprisingly enough to him, Amanda had come knocking. Tark had plans for the woman but she was interferring with his own musings at the moment.

"Amanda, it's late. What can I do for you?"

"May I come in?"

Tark opened the door wider so the woman could come in. Amanda hurried through and found her way to Tark's bedroom and plopped down. It was an odd manuever as Tark stood staring at her dressed only in his trousers. Realizing he was still holding the letter, he stuffed it back into his pockets. "Are you alright my dear?"

Amanda sat staring at the floor while she fumbled with her hands. "I uh-never thanked you for protecting me on the way home. It's just been with some of my friends dying to that monster and my own mother a part of the mining team, I've just felt alone these passed few days."

Walking over to the bed, Tark had to wonder whether or not the family seal on the back of the envelope belong to her house. It was an odd coincidence if it was but one Tark would have to check as he sat down on the bed next to her. "You are young and not entirely use to the horrors of battle but you will find your nerve."

"I know but I still feel so alone. I have no one really to turn to right now."

Tark gently brushed a finger against her cheek. "You are never alone. The Warriors are your family as well."

Amanda melted into Tark's touch while easing him back into the bed. The dark elf threw off the cloak she was wearing and pushed her onto her back. He could still feel the mental link between the sword and his own mind. A small grin pulled back on his lips as he began to unravel the clothing covering her body. He was not off his mark when he surmised that she was a creature of beauty. Indeed Amanda had every quality that made a woman desirable. As she wrapped her arms around Tark's neck and pulled him closer, the dark elf sent a small mental message to the blade.

Trust in me and I shall show you how to live.

------

After the interrogation of Lieutenant Tark, most of the Elders had left leaving Sebastian alone in the halls of the White Tower with War Mistress Shizra. The dark elf woman sat at the wooden table and grabbed a pitcher of water and poured two glasses. She handed one to Sebastian who took it with a smile and his thanks.

"So, what did you think of the Lieutenant's report?"

Shizra took a small sip from her goblet then returned it to the table. "I don't trust him. It sounded to me as if he was hiding something."

Sebastian nodded his agreement. "Yes but what is the question. I mean what could he possibly gain from hiding information about this creature or the planet?"

The dark elf could only shrug her slender shoulders in response. "I don't know but I am afraid one day we will find out one way or another. Tark has a heart for the theatrics so it will be known to all when he does."

"Then what does the War Mistress recommend we do?"

Shizra took a long gulp before bothering to answer. "There is not much we can do. I will keep an eye him as best I can to see if he is acting strange or holding secret councils with anyone. Aside from that, I would send a probe to the planet with a warning signal to keep everyone away from the planet."

"I am forced to agree. For now, that is all we can do but I have the feeling we are not finished with the Lieutenant nor with these strange creatures."

Several days later, a lone probe tore free from the Warp and settled into orbit of the former planet Bryce of the Balroggan Empire. Within its electrical heart it carried the message for all to stay away from the planet lest they fall to an unspeakable horror. Only death and ashes await those that thread on the planet below.


~The End

(For those that have bothered reading this, I hope you have enjoyed. Horror is not exactly my forte when it comes to writing but thanks to Balrogga for the ideas and information he has supplied me with. I had originally hoped to make this longer but time has not allowed me to do so. It has been left purposefully unfinished so that the story can continue on down the road and develope further.

Again thanks and hope everyone enjoyed it.)