NationStates Jolt Archive

Logan saw Ursel make the move, and automatically assumed that he had seen an enemy.
"Cover!" he yelled, temporarily forgetting that the vox was down. He assumed that the Greywatch and Xiscapian troops would do what he did anyway. He made a dive for cover and quickly came back up in a crouch, his weapon ready. Ursel was doing...something...with the consol. There was no enemy. He turned his weapon and pointed it squarely at Ursel.
"What the fuck is coming over you, sergeant?"

The Corporal saw that the Greywatch droid had picked up on the newcomers.
"Shit...how do we talk to them?" He wondered rhetorically. He made gestures that the rest of the squad should cover him, held his rifle under the forward sight, and approached, arms spread. He sure as hell hoped they were friendly.

Tempest

Miken picked up the vox, amused.
"The fault is mine, Captain. We have entered atmosphere on the Xiscapian colony to pick up a vast amount of water in order to power the ship we found. We have reason to believe it can be moved out of the way of the colony without destroying it." He put the vox down.
"Water levels?"
"We have enough, Captain. Just waiting for your permission to exit the atmosphere."
"Alright. Tell Dolosus control we are leaving."
"Aye aye!"
"Helm! Think you can get us back out of here without destroying too much?" The helmsman grinned.
"Define 'too much', Captain!" Miken laughed.
"You cheeky bastard. Alright, get us out of here."

The massive thrusters in the back of the ship kicked back into life from their idle setting and rocketed the Setulanite ship back out of the atmosphere. For the second time in several hours, the citizenry off the planet would once more see a blazing meteor, this time leaving orbit. It burst through some clouds, burning off the moisture, and exited orbit once more. Spontaneous rain showers burst out all over the planet as the vaporized water fell back to the surface.
Miken let out a heavy sigh.
"Well...let's not do that again anytime soon. Set course back to the ship."
With a farewell hail to Dolosus control, Tempest powered away from the planet and engaged their FTL drive.

Habitat Control...
Keela immediatly made the same assumption as Logan and pressed up against a bulkhead, unsure of what the man had seen or where the attack would be coming from. After a moment she saw the Setulan break cover and begin to walk back to the control room. She stepped out and glanced down the hall, wondering what he was doing, when the astmosphere began to flow though the derelict ship, same as last time. She held up her weapon cautiously as she saw Logan point it at his own man, ready to shoot Ursel if he tried any funny business. What in all the Forgotten Realms is going on?

The rest of her team was also standing in the corridor, obviously unsure of what was happening. They were all looking back to the Control room, weapons pointed at the deck, waiting for new developments.

Sorrow...
Captain Kull glanced over at the viewscreen as his Scanning Officer pointed out two tears in the hull of the Kof-Mojy apparently venting gas. "But not the main hole?" he asked. The Bridge Officer shook his head. "It is most curious, especially because our team entered the slit so recently."
The Communications Officer spoke up. "Transmission incoming from the Kitaan!"
Kull waved a hand. "Patch it though."

The lead Drone had its weapon lowered, unlike the others, and was holding it in one hand. Its other hand, however, was raised with the palm facing Ursel and its arm extended. For anyone who knew the typical Drone or Elden fighting style, this was much worst than having a gun pointed at you; this gesture meant if you made a false move, you were going to be hit with Cryption. The other Drone followed its leader with its weapon ready while the Droid stayed back.
-----------
The other two droids couldn't do too much, there wasn't much they could push off of to change the way they were floating. They also weren't equiped with any boosters, so that was a bust as well. All they could do was nod to the Corporal and kept their weapons ready for the worst.
-----------
John nodded to the message,
<Ah, I see. Well that's good to know. So we may be able to study that ship, eh? And we're gonna power it with water?>

Habitat Control

Ursel saw through two pairs of eyes. He'd done it.

"Es makanir," he heard his voice say. It must be.

No, he thought as realization hit him. No! NO!

But the nerve impulses were already going out. His muscles twitched. Slowly, resisting it more successfully now - now that he knew there was an it to resist, an other, some external force not his own, and this gave him hope because he'd thought he was just going insane - but inevitably his weapon was rising and would come to bear on its targets.

He couldn't stop it. But...

"Stop... me... Major..." he managed to say through jarringly gritted teeth.

Kitaan

"This is Beral. I'm assuming you noticed it too? The only explanation I can think is that someone activated the atmospheric controls. Might even be a pressurized atmosphere inside the ship now. Have you managed to get into contact with your team yet? No, we lost contact with them a few minutes ago. I think... I think now might be a good time to find out where that derelict has been for the last few hundred years..."

He thought to himself: But if any more aliens enter into this bloody story...

The Drone took no time in responding; a gun was being pointed at the team, a threat had been identified. A powerful bolt of electricity ripped throught the air, aimed directly at Ursel's chest. To add to that, the Drone also began firing on the man, shooting more to disable than to kill, but shooting nonetheless. "Threats must be nuetralized." It stated while firing its weapon.

Logan opened fire without thinking, the last words of his sergeant ringing in his ears as he let loose with a blurt of thirty bullets in a split second, unerringly targeted towards Ursel's chest.

Tempest

Miken picked up the vox again.
"About right, Captain. Apparently it is a hydrogen-run engine, and our ship is equipped to pick up water directly from a body of water. Or rather, it has equipment meant for a totally different purpose that can be put to that use. Anyway, the hope is that we can manuever the ship out of the way of the colony."

Keela's rifle came up as she saw Ursel's gun wavering...he seemed to be fighting himself, struggling against some voice or impulse, and for a crazy moment she wondered if all those stories about mind control were really true...
But then the shots were fired, the flash searing her ultra-sensitive eyes, and she had to turn away for a moment. When she looked back...

Sorrow...
"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Kull. He honestly had no idea, they could predict where the ship was going, but thet had no way of knowing where it had been, especially since none of them save these Clomatans knew the origin point.
OOC: Sorry for the crappy post, but RL has been busy lately and I've found I've had to direct my energies elsewhere...

Habitat Control

Ursel was pushed violently back in the low gravity, blood spraying through his punctured suit. At this close range, the wounds gaped mortally as his body spun in the oxygenated atmosphere.

Breach

"I'm alright," said Egute. "Nothing broken, I think."

"It seems we have atmosphere," Dietrel commented dryly.

The Setulan corporal was approaching, hands up. Egute got his footing (and handhold) square and raised his right hand to show peaceful intent. But there was still no power to the suits.

"Looks like we do," Egute replied, and then in a moment of daring unlocked his visor. The air rush was mild - unlike the rushing gasp his suit would make, emptying into vacuum - and he breathed in.

"Commander!" a team member said, part in shock, part in awe.

"It's breathable," Egute said, his voice carrying both over radio and in the compartment. "Identify yourselves?" he said to the droids and suits with an air of unintended politeness.

Kitaan

"I think that the circumstances demand we find a way, Captain," Beral said with quiet urgency. "For I am certain now that things are not as they should be aboard that ship. Prior interference by a third party is the only explanation."

The droids went first, "Greywatch investigation party. Please identify yourself."

The Corporal breathed a sigh of relief as the alien raised its visor...and didn't blow him away. He raised his own after seeing that the atmosphere was breathable.
"Aye. Corporal Maloy, Setulanite Republican Guard. We were sent in to find out what the hell this thing is. Who are you?"

Keela watched as Ursel's armored corpse slowly twisted, uncontrolled, though the low-gravity atmosphere, leaking blood in shining, rolling dollops that floated like evil red stars in a gray void. She gave the slightest nod, turning to Logan. "You want to bring his body with us?" she asked quietly.

Sorrow...
"Obviously. But I know nothing of your history, society or technology," Kull shrugged helplessly. "I will assist you if I can, but until I can receive a full briefing on the situation and events surrounding your lost vessel, I'm afraid I and my men will be more of a hindrance than a help."

"I am Commander Egute of the Agnals warship Kitaan," he replied. He gestured to the others. "This is Junior Subcommander Dietrel, Master Sergeant Karn, Lieutenant Rellim and my engineering team. We're here to repair the ship so we can move it off the planetary intercept vector it's currently on. Your commanders know as much but communication appears to be down."

He looked about him slowly. "But we seem to have pressure and atmosphere. Hmm. That wasn't in the plan. What's your status?"

Kitaan

Beral listened and hesitated. Of course he knew more than he was telling, but he didn't think it was necessary for the aliens to know. "Acknowledged," he said. Then: "Standby."

Maybe there was an alternative.

The Drone moved forward to Ursel's corpse and picked it up, "Well, we can always use him as a shield. A light one at that, thanks to the low gravity."
---------
The droids waited a moment before responding, "We are currently cut off from the rest of our group, which is still inside. We need to contact our ship."

Logan took the corpse from the drone with a dirty look.
"I'll take care of it." He slung his SAW and pulled out his pistol, carrying Ursel easily over his one shoulder.
"I'll stay in the middle of the squad. Let's leave. Now."

Maloy nodded.
"By 'contact our ship,' my friend here means get the hell off of it. Strange shit keeps happening, commander. And I mean strange shit. Our sergeant walked away. No idea where, he was just...nutty. Something came over him. We lost one of our guys, got blown away when power went out and Ursel started firing randomly." He shook his head.
"If I were you, I'd turn right back around. This is a death trap."

Keela nodded, shooting the Drone a death look as well. His attempt at humor, if indeed that was what it had been (you could never be sure with the damn things) had not been apprechiated. "Squad," she held her fingers in a V shape, "diamond formation, let's blow this joint."

Sorrow...
Captain Kull just nodded and waited for Beral to get back to him. He had no idea what the Clomatan was doing, seeking permission perhaps? No matter: Kull was a patient kitsune.
He could wait.

Egute

He looked at the droids, wondering just what their capabilities were. But the Setulanite was in charge. He addressed the Corporal:

"I appreciate that you've lost a man to friendly fire, Corporal Maloy, but we've got a mission. If we turn back now, either this ship slams into a densely populated Xiscapian colony world at a few kilometers per second, or they start launching nukes to try and blow the ship up before it does so. Neither outcome is exactly appealing. Where was your sergeant last seen? And what's this about power outages?"

Beral

"Well, Captain," he beamed in the next transmission, "I suppose you should know.

"This ship wasn't just a big warship. It was the most advanced ship in the days of the Empire; the Emperor's Flagship. And it wasn't just lost in any battle, but in the Last Battle of the Empire. The Emperor himself was aboard when it was heavily damaged and presumed destroyed. The Empire itself subsequently collapsed within weeks, and since then the Clomata have never been a unified state. The existence of this ship... could be immensely important to everyone in the Sector. And its survival is immensely important to my leaders. Not to belabor the point, but, if this ship were to be destroyed by alien forces - even to save millions of innocent beings - it would be... seen in a very negative light by a very many Clomatans.

"I'm sending you the coordinates of the star the Last Battle took place around. Now, apparently they blind-jumped to escape, instead of being destroyed. Since they burned all their propellant to get this fast, and we know how many years it's been traveling, this gives us a search distance extending out into interstellar space. Now my guess is, somewhere on the way from that hyperspace exit point to here, the ship encountered something or someone, which killed or removed the crew and possibly set course directly for this star of yours.

"In addition to waiting for the team, I propose we send a ship or two out to investigate."

Kof-Mojy

The air was cool now that it was moving. But there was a stale scent to it. Keela couldn't help but notice. And she had a bad feeling, opening the next hatch, even before she saw what was inside.

Stasis chambers. Inoperative, now. Some broken, all of them empty. Two long rows of them - she counted thirty. At the end of the chamber there was a rusty-red colored splash amidst a chaos of shattered glass and metal components. The droids could first tell what it was at this distance - a human-like corpse, no decomposition, lying on a broken table, eyes frozen solid, the mouth open in perpetual scream.

XIW Sorrow...
Kull listened in amazement, the importance (and complications) of this operation rising several notches in his mind. Upon the suggestion though, suspicion rose in his mind: What if it was a ploy, to draw ships away from here so they could take the Kof-Mojy for themselves, or there was a trap at this star to destroy any incoming ships?
He'd just have to trust the others were watching well, and he knew his own crew and the Captains of the other vessels were competent and loyal.
"Very well," he said finally. "I will send the Destroyer Triple Zero to that star to see what we can find. Is that acceptable?"

Kof-Mojy...
Keela stepped forward warily, rifle pointed ahead of her, safety still off. She pointed to a broken form she could barely see far down the hall amid the wreckage. "What is that? Can anyone get readings on it?"

The droids thought for a moment before one of them said, "Our captain will want be notified of the situation change immediately. We do not possess communication capabilities. If you do, contact your ship and tell them to contact the Setulans with a message for the Greywatch captain onboard..."
-------------
The Drone shrugged as Logan took the body away from it. The fact that humans cared for the dead was such a... bother. But that wasn't the Drone's concern at the time and so it let the droid take point while it stood behind it, leaving the second Drone to take the rear.
-------------
Upon entering the next room the team was presented with an interesting sight. So many statis chambers, all aparently out of service. The lead Drone wondered for a moment what kind of vessel this was, a science vessel perhaps? The Droid zoomed in on something at the other end of the room and then lifted a finger to point at it, "A corpse. Humanoid, definately dead." The lead Drone moved forward a few steps, "Interesting..." It muttered.

ooc: Just to clarify: It's not a star Beral wants to investigate, but some random position in interstellar space where the Kof-Mojy jumped out of hyperspace. The theory being the Kof-Mojy jumped out there and then, with no more jump fuel, just set course at sub-light speeds towards the nearest star... namely Dolosus.

Kitaan

"Quite acceptable, Captain," replied Beral.

Kof-Mojy

The corpse gaped up at the newcomers. The sheer horror of his expression told much. The ragged tear in his throat and blood-soaked tunic told more. Hands lay at the sides with fingers dipped in pools of blood.

The Drone noticed the next hatch had a steadily glowing security console and was sealed shut.

The Drones and droid looked over the corpse and the lead Drone quickly moved on without so much as a car. The next hatch was sealed, looked like either a security measure or someone didn't want to be followed. The security console next to it was interesting, it didn't recall seeing those before. "Droid, hack this." The droid looked up from the corpse that it was performing scans on and moved to the LD's position. It placed a placed a hand over the security console and prepared to try and open the door.

Sorrow...
Kull nodded. "They are moving out now."
His words proved prophetic as the XIW Triple Zero moved from her position on the other side of the Kof-Mojy and, moving into a clear patch of space, flickered with pseudomotion and made the jump to lightspeed. The Destroyer was heading towards the position Commander Beral had indicated, to see if she could find any evidence of an attack or manipulation of the vessel.

Kof-Mojy...
Ssskrill stood behind the droid as it hacked the console, covering to door, ready in case something nasty came out and decided it would like to munch some faces. Jake joined him and Keela walked up to the body. "Looks like he bought it in a hurry," she murmured, looking at the twisted face as Nichole knelt to examine the corpse. "I think the subject was killed by a slash, probably a claw but maybe a jagged blade, to the throat. He likely died of blood loss," she forced herself not to look at the pool of crimson liquid, forcing down the thirst she felt. "but how long ago I can't say. In a vacuum environment a body can stay preserved for a long, long time, he could have died thousands of years ago, or yesterday." She shrugged under her armored suit. "The blood seems fresh though, nice and wet and still a little warm..." she muttered, and no one was about to argue that point with the vampire.

Logan gave the body a once over before returning to his vigil, pistol held loosely by his side. He gave Nichole a hard look as she made that statement about the blood. Something was bothering her-but what?

Tempest

In a flash, the SRV Tempest reunited with the Kof-Mojy.
"This is Tempest. We have all the water we need. Tell us where you want us."

The Drones were very interested in how much Nicole was able to desribe the body. Anyone could probably figure out the same with any amount of examination but she took such care in describing everything, especially the part abou the blood being fresh. She sounded like someone who had quite a bit of... experience. The Drones both registered this as he being someone to watch closely.

OOC: Um...hello? Clomata? You still alive down there?

Kof-Mojy, Bloody Console

The door itself had bloody smears from someone's bloody hands.

The droid succeeded in gaining access to the door security, but reported it couldn't override the lock mechanism. An intelligent program was actively defending the system.

Meanwhile the corpse continued to stare upward with it's bulging, glassy eyes. And it's bloody hands.

Kof-Mojy, Engineering

The team of Clomatans and the survivors of the first... attack... finally made it into engineering, where Keela and the others had already been.

But now the engineers, who had been taking careful note of the damage on the way in, began their work, mainly in getting the reaction control systems back online, and then repairing the needed physical systems - the coolant, propellant tank systems, on and on and on. And all this was assuming the aliens could get and retrieve enough propellant to make this thing move. And that any of this could even be done, given the timespan.

Egute began to consider sending someone to investigate the hyperspace systems.

ooc: Sorry, yes, I'm here but I'm kinda in a dry spell with Clomata at the moment.

OOC: Can I assume you ignored the droid that asked you to contact its captain?
IC:

The Droid looked back, the middle eye focusing on the leading Drone, "I am into the security network. However, something else is here, it is trying to block me from accessing the locking mechanism." The Drone looked to the door, it, like most Drones, was inhumanly strong. It wondered if it could simply kick the door hard enough that it just fell over, or just use some Cryption and effectively tell the program it could fuck off... but that was too risky. The Drone regretted not bringing the engineer's Energy Saw. Then the Drone could just cut the door down and move through that way. "Do not go further, chances are program will respond with hostility if we keep messing with it... I don't feel like taking that chance." The droid nodded and severed the connection, "Perhaps we should think of another way." The Drone nodded.

(Assuming this is a handprint scanner, I don't think there's been a description to tell me otherwise...) The other Drone picked up the body, holding it tightly, and moved forward, grabbing the forearm and holding the hand out. The Drone put the hand onto the security console, hoping it might be activated by handprint, or something similar, allowing further access.

Keela looked amused at the actions of the Drone, while Nichole stumbled back, very obviously trying to avoid the spray of blood as the body was dragged. "Doubt it'll work that way," she told it, "if the guy's been dead for more than a few hours the scanner won't read his prints correctly," She shrugged. "At least, if they're like the scanner's I've seen in the museums back home."

Logan too watched the droids with something akin to amusement. He shot a look at Nichole and wondered what her deal was. The reaction to blood, the strange thing when she was being restrained...it was all wierd. He shrugged to himself, shifting the corpse of Ursel on his shoulders. If she could fight, he was fine with it.

The lead Drone turned around, its hand glowing as it gathered Cryptic energy. "I'm deciding between me blowing the entire door down with something possessing the subtlety of an RPG, or trying this." The Drone pointed to the other Drone, "Which one do you prefer?"

"Blow the damn thing down," Keela chuckled. "I don't think the owners are going to be coming back demanding you pay for damages."

ooc: Greywatch - Oops, I missed the reply earlier to the droids. Sorry, he didn't ignore him, I was just absent. Minded.

Earlier - Kof-Mojy Breach

The droids thought for a moment before one of them said, "Our captain will want be notified of the situation change immediately. We do not possess communication capabilities. If you do, contact your ship and tell them to contact the Setulans with a message for the Greywatch captain onboard..."
-----

Egute shook his head. "We can't communicate with the ship nor, I expect, they with us. I'm not sure why that would be."

"The Subcommander reported the working hypothesis as the high density of the hull and armor," noted Dieter. "But I do not believe that can be the case. It would affect our transmissions, but not theirs, nor their sensors, to such a degree as this."

"Someone could go back," he offered, "But you'd have to find a functioning airlock. It appears as if someone has re-pressurized the ship, and that means that compromised hatches were sealed shut."

"If we hadn't gotten here just when we did, we might not have ever gotten inside," Lieutenant Rellim commented grimly.

"Well, we would have tried to carve our way inside, thus depressurizing the place," Master Sergeant Karn said, not to be outdone for grimness.

"I want to see who did this, and why. Meanwhile we're conserving our oxygen as long as the ship's environment seems to working alright, and we're going to engineering to see if we can prepare this ship to move. You're welcome to come along..."

Kof-Mojy Engineering Control (Present)

"Analysis?"

"Hmm... well, we need some helium-3 and deuterium to get this fusion reaction going. As we suspected, there isn't a drop of propellant in the tanks, so we'll have to hope our new alien buddies can come through with the refuel."

"That's enough, now," Egute was a little wary himself, but there was no need to tolerate cheekiness from the young lieutenant. "What about the thrusters?"

"They too need propellant, but otherwise I'm getting green all down the primary propulsion. Of course, we'll have to check everything physically, because this system is rather old."

"Everything?" he didn't like the sound of this.

"Yes sir, it would be dangerous otherwise. We need to check the main engine exhausts -"

"We did do that from outside. Do you have the data?"

"Yes, but we need an internal check. Also for the trio thrusters, the magnetic field generator, the fuel tanks - the works. And we'll have to do some preliminary testing of the systems individually. And-"

"I get the picture. What do you need and how long will it take?"

He always enjoyed posing that sort of question to an engineer. Rellim was feeling overshadowed by Dieter, and this was an opportunity for him to shine. He shook his head, though. "Everyone who can be spared. Including all of us, it would take us no less than a hundred, hundred fifty hours."

Everyone who could be spared. Yeah, that was the problem. There just weren't enough bodies to go around.

Somewhere in Space

The XIW Triple Zero jumped near a hitherto uncharted system. But here in the interstellar space, there seemed to be nothing to find. What had Beral been thinking?

OOC: Ah, okay then

The Droids nodded, "For now, then, we will accompany you."
-----
The Drone gave a look that screamed, 'get the fuck back, now now before looking to the door. "It's times like these I'm glad Greywatch made these suits resistant to Cryption..." The Drone began to gather more Cryptic energy around its hand, now actually causing an artificial breeze to build up. The other Drone and the droid moved away from the door with haste, this wasn't anything to get close to. Anyone nearby would be able to feel the force of the Cryptic energy pushing again then. "I suggest you all cover your eyes and ears. This will not be pleasant."

The Xiscapian team, with bemused looks at each other, moved back, activating flare-shields and sound dampeners. They stood expectantly, as if waiting for a show to begin, rifles held casually against their shoulders, as the Drone prepared itself.

Unknown System...
The XIW Triple Zero sat posed at the edge of the system, sleek hull glittering dully with reflected starlight. On the bridge the Executive Officer snorted. "Damn aliens must be a bit mad, there ain't nothing here."
"Silence, Lutientant," commanded the Captain. "Run a full scanner sweep of the system. If there's so much as a nanobot floating around out there, I want to know about it."
So the Destroyer began it's scans, thermal, wavelength, communications-interception, radiation, energy-output, and so on. Given time, it could, and would, make a accurate map of the entire star system, every celestial body carefully sculpted on a holofield, named and cataloged.

The Drone began to squeeze the Cryptic energy, causing a sudden blast of light and sound. Anyone and everyone nearby would feel the sudden squeeze, an unnatural tightness, in their chests. The Drone turned to face the door which was blocking its way. It continued to concentrate its energy, there was certainly a lot of it. Chances were it wouldn't be able to use any more Cryption for at least a hour or two after this, and that was saying a lot for a creature that was, essentially, Cryptic energy with sentience. The other Drone and droid had now moved to the other side of the room and were up against the wall, they knew what was coming and braced themselves for what was next. The Drone clentched the energy tighter, sending another blast of light and sound as well as a wave of force that pushed everything around the Drone back just a little. The Drone knew that the power behind what it was holding was somewhere between a tank round and cruise missile. If this didn't do something, there was a good chance nothing would. Finally, after a few minutes, it was ready. A small, intensely hot fireball was now in the Drone's hand. It brought its hand back at gave a full-force, blow to the door, directing the entirity of the explosive energy into it. There was a loud boom, enough to shatter glass, and a massive bright flash of light. To add on to this, everything that wasn't bolted down was thrown back, everything. Even the Drone itself went flying across the room after performing the technique, the other Drone and droid were pinned against the wall, unable to move for a few seconds. It was a tad excessive, but the Drone hoped the door would be destroyed.

Unknown System

Soon several artificial masses were detected, strewn throughout an asteroid field. The hulking relics of some long-ago warships, their wreckage and debris. Everything was cold and appeared completely inert... but then again, so had the Kof-Mojy.

Their hulls were mostly unidentifiable. But a few of them seemed starkly familiar... built along modern Xiscapian forms.

Kof-Mojy, Engineering Control

Egute had just decided to send a team to investigate the whereabouts of the aliens, starting with the habitat control room, when everyone heard the loud, reverberating sound of an explosion aboard ship.

"Okay. You two," he pointed to two engineers and with a jerk of his hand got them to come jetting along to him.

"Take these men and yours, Corporal," he pointed to the Setulanite. "Try to find the source of that explosion, and then find the rest of your team. I'd start with the Habitat Control, since obviously someone's been there and there aren't exactly many guesses as to whom. We need to coordinate this engineering effort from here, get in contact with them, get them to stop whatever they're doing and help. Millions of lives are at stake. Here's a map of the ship. Understood?"

Kof-Mojy, the Bloody Console's Remains

Right before it happened, a voice in Keela's head yelled to her to stop it, that it was a bad idea.

The blast of energy sent vicious shards of metal and rock-like chunks of twisted plating flying in all directions, clattering against the bulkheads and decks, becoming fast, unpredictable little comets in the zero-gee environment. Light sources were knocked out and broken glass added to the environmental composition.

Luckily, no one seemed hurt, although the noise left a ringing in more than one set of ears.

When the debris began to clear up you could see that the door was gone, along with an ellipsoid zone of destruction surrounding it. In the murky darkness beyond it was hard to see anything. But to Keela and others who, like her, had a sensitivity to such things, there was a sense of impending doom, that some evil was growing, feeding.

The feeding became audible. It wasn't animalistic, the gnawing of flesh and bone, or even organic... it sounded synthesized, like someone was playing with sound FX... but all the same there was the sense of consumption. More, there was the sense of drawing power, draining, a 'drinking' to go along with the 'eating.' And now that drinking sound became audible, too... a sipping, zapping chirp that made hairs stand on end. (And sounded familiar, though warped, to Nicole...) All sound grew in volume, and now clearly came from more than one source in that room.

Keela was startled when the voice in her head screaming for her to stop, began to get louder... a high-pitched, anguished shriek that went on and on, and she could see that everyone but the droids could hear it, too. Like the strange, electrical feasting... something was shrieking, in pain or rage or madness, and getting louder and louder.

Logan backed up from the Droid, amused and not a little relieved that they would finally get a chance to blow something up. That was when the voices in his head started.
"Gnnnn!" he grunted, releasing Ursel's body as it floated away, and clutching his head. He fumbled around, dropped his pistol, and unslung his devil desperately.
"What the hell is that!"

Control Room

The Corporal nodded and beckoned his troops to him.
"Let's go!" They hustled out of the room, making towards the habitat control.

OOC: Clomata, you forgot the Tempest. She got back from Xiscapia's planet and requested instructions on where to put the water.

OOC - I didn't forget, but none of the Clomatans on board the Kof Mojy know that the Tempest returned with water. Remember they still don't have external communications either.

OOC: The transmission was to your ship, not the guys on the Kof-Mojy

OOC: Oh, right. Sorry about that, I thought it was just sent to the Sorrow, the general notion being that they're the ones more or less in charge still. Reply forthcoming.

Kitaan

"This is Tempest. We have all the water we need. Tell us where you want us."

Beral's voice, as translated and output by the computer, came in response to both the Sorrow and the Tempest.

"Acknowledged, Tempest. Our records show that refueling requires you to dock a 120 centimeter high-pressure hose to one of two receptacles in the mid part of the aft section. We're sending those exact coordinates now."

A moment later: "But for obvious reasons, doing so won't just send anything directly to the tanks unless the process is also initiated from the inside. Unfortunately, we don't have communications with our team just yet, so we're going to have to wait for them to re-initiate contact. Hopefully they will do this soon."

OOC: Considering "modern" Xiscapian warship design is very new (only a few years old in some cases) I'll bring it back to the most recent classes...
IC:
Unknown System...
The readings were beginning to come back, and the Captain didn't like what he saw. He stroked a tiny purple pointed goatee, trimmed to perfection, as he looked over the data, identically colored hair swinging slightly where it was free from his cap as he cocked his head this way and that, frowning. "I could swear some of those look like the old Hummer class Cruisers..." But that was, as he and every other kitsune knew, impossible. The Hummer class had been the first class to be retired in favor of the modern Wasp class, literally months after the Korr war had ended. No expedition of any kind had gone out between the end of the war and the decommission, and no Emperor or Empress in centuries past would have diverted combat vessels from the war for exploration...unless they'd picked up a distress call of some kind?

"Launch the probes, I want close-ups of those hulks, interior views if possible." The Xiscapian ordered. He wasn't about to risk the Triple Zero flying in among those dead ships in this deserted system light years from anywhere, out of close contact with his superiors. Some ships only looked dead, as they had found, and the probes were plenty fast.
Or at least that was what he told himself.

A dozen tiny probes (http://anbuxitachi.deviantart.com/art/probe-001-11511493) spilled out from various hatches and ports on the Destroyer, little engines flaring as they rushed away into the asteroid field. On the bridge cameras showed the bridge crew though monitors everything the probes were seeing, down to the intricate scans. The group flew to the closest ship, two staying behind to watch both the ship and the space around it as the other ten began to make runs along the battered hull and search for openings they could exploit. The officers watched with expectation; surely the answer they were looking for, some kind of evidence, was here.

Kof-Mojy...
The voice was so sudden and loud Keela herself yelled, but behind her helmet no one heard her, and even her own voice was drowned out by the blast as the door was blown open. In her suit, as in the others in her team, little alarms went off informing them that there had been a nearby detonation of unknown energies, advising they move to avoid further blasts and search for the cause so they could eliminate or neutralize it. This was ignored as the agonized shrieks became louder and louder, making Nichole scuttle back from the hole in terror and Jake to moan and clutch his head like Logan. Keela was dazed and truly scared, it struck her that she didn't want to know what was in that room, that all she wanted was to be as far away from this room and this compartment and this ship as possible. Only Ssskrill, the huge Korr, seemed to have his wits about him, large automatic blaster pointed at the door as he approached. "Demenz came forth so I mays punish yous now..." he growled, stepping into the room, weapon up and ready to fire.

The two Drones didn't find the new sound unnerving as much as they found it annoying. Purely annoying and nothing more, an alarm of some sort? No, the droid didn't seem to hear anything. The lead Drone didn't bother moving for the time being, it had to recover after using that technique, it had seriously overestimated the door's strength. The other Drone put up with the sound and raised its weapon. The Droid also began preparations, combat protocols were already taking over its basic programming as it readied its own weapon for whatever hostile creatures were to come forth.

The wrecks were badly damaged and quite old. But from a closer view one could see the sleek, angular style of Xiscapian warships along with the cylindrical, blocky elements of the Clomatan designs. Visible machinery was strikingly familiar to both as well - that is to say strikingly familiar to the bridge crew, but with alien bits, and all a bit rough-hewn and comparitively primitive, as if constructed with limited resources and laborious, inefficient construction.

Kof-Mojy

Ssskrill saw two rows of barrel-like opaque containers, connected to machinery and piping of various kinds, and two long consoles which resembled handrails in a museum. Handrails with glowing lights, controls and readouts.

The closest containers were shattered, the closest machinery blasted apart, with dangerous-sounding sparks and zaps resulting from the damage. The Korr couldn't see anyone else in the room but felt a presence of some kind just ahead, felt it watching him, and sensed that gnawing, alien hunger/thirst/compulsion radiating from it like heat.

It was coming closer.

As the probes got closer, there was no doubt about it; these were last generation Xiscapian warships. In addition to the 2 Hummer Class Cruisers (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/Star%20Wars/lancer.jpg) they saw, there was also the remains of
30 Runner Class Gunboats (http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf/images/X2_Pix/D_Gunboat2.jpg), about one hundred
100 Blade Class Fighters (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/Star%20Wars/Skipray-Blastboat.jpg), four Spark Class Destroyers (http://www.ffcompendium.com/misc/12-catoblepas.jpg), and even, in the middle of it all, a Revolver Class Battleship (http://www.newimperium.org/gallery/MAJESTIC.JPG). There was silence on the bridge, some in shock, some curious, all very interested in the situation. The Executive Officer was the first to speak:
"I don't understand. What was a fleet doing all the way out here?"

The system was close to Xiscapia, but it could have been reached easily by the ships they'd found here, if given a few hours. However, it was common knowledge that, for the last millennial, the Xiscapians had been fighting a long, costly war against their neighbors the Korr, and had only (a little over a decade ago) managed to finally defeat them. During this time, all ships would have been needed for the war effort, and no civilians knew of anywhere else to go; certainly the space outside of the Xiscapian System had been virtually uncharted. Dolosus was a relatively new colony, only a year old, settled before them by the remnants of the Calaverians, and then by no one. During a time of war, lightyears from home, these ships had no reason to be out here; besides, given that they were, why was this battle not in Naval records, why was this system not on their starmaps, why were the destroyed ships not stricken from the Naval register, why were the kitsune who had died on these ships not recorded anywhere?
A mystery wrapped in an enigma.

"I have a theory," the Captain sighed heavily, "maybe, during the time of Cái chết nhanh chóng, a fleet was secretly sent out to find a new world for us, in case we lost the war. It's not listed because it was kept a secret, if Xiscapia were to fall to the Korr we wouldn't want them using our records to find the refugees. While they searched this fleet met with the Clomatans," he gestured at the screens, displaying the destroyed alien ships, "and, for some reason, we decided to try and destroy them. Apparently destruction was mutual, except for Kof-Mojy, which I suppose escaped the battle..." He shrugged. "From there, I don't know."

The probes were inside the ships now, the Xiscapian ones, searching for bodies. They also looked for any active systems of any kind; if any data terminals were still functional, they might be able to jack into them and find out from the logs what had happened. Furthermore, if they could identify the Admiral who had been leading the fleet, they might be able to trace him or her in the Naval archives and see if this had been declassified. Though the dark, airless corridors the probes went, throwing up dust, lights glaring though. It looked like some of the modifications were downright crude, and one would have guessed they would be incompatible with the existing technology.

Kof-Mojy...
With a rush of fear, anger and adrenaline, Ssskrill opened fire with his rifle, crimson laser bolts flying from the barrel with astonishing speed, spraying across the room with a yell. He sought to destroy the thing, and had not thought that perhaps it could not be killed by normally lethal energy. Worse, he had not stopped to consider what the containers might contain, and what rupturing them might mean...

There were remains. Burned, frozen, battered, severed, sometimes shockingly unmarred, the crews' corpses floated amidst the wrecks. Mostly Kitsune, but Clomatans, humans, a few Korr all seemed jambled together whenever they were found. There were exceptions - the battleship (mangled - it's port and starboard sections blasted away and a long, wide charred gash along the forward section) had almost all Kitsune remains. But there, too, were anomalies as the probes made their way through the blasted bulkheads.

The damage done to the ships seemed of two types. Variable-yield nukes or some kind of explosive warhead had caused spherical zones of destruction ranging from 2 to 250 meters or so in radius, and was the primary killer of the fighters and gunboats. It had peppered the hulls of the larger ships.

The congruent, linear gashes through the hulls pointed toward a high energy laser or particle beam firing in continuous-wave mode. They varied in diameter by a factor of ten - either the enemy had varying calibers of weapons, or it was the same size laser operating at long, medium and close ranges. It was hard to tell if this weapon had hit the fighters, but if it had, the energy would likely have obliterated them. Many gunboats seemed to have their engine sections carved off, and this weapon was probably the cause.

Kof-Mojy

Almost immediately as he triggered his laser, Ssskrill felt the... thing, draw toward his weapon. The laser pulses seemed to hit the opposite bulkhead, but they also seemed to impact into some visual distortion like a shield - only a shield made out of jelly, and which grew warmer very quickly. His laser, too, became hot in his hand, and then cold, and stopped firing just two heartbeats after he'd began.

Then he felt something like a gush of hot air pass through him.

Disoriented, he found himself growing weaker.

It was like wandering though a half dug-up graveyard, ghostly shapes rising from the dust, some bodies blasted apart, others looking virtually untouched, spinning slowly in space. However, what interested the Xiscapians was the composition of the corpses: Korr, humans and Clomatans as well as kitsune, on Xiscapian ships. Boarders, perhaps? But where had the humans come from, and why was there Korr here? There was no evidence of any destroyed Korr vessels, so the probes began to take a closer look at the uniforms all races were wearing. At least this way they could figure out if there had somehow been four separate sides, or three, or two...
Or one?

Six of the probes drifted out of the hatches, airlocks or holes in the hulls and began to make for the Clomatan ships, in hopes of finding more answers there. The battle scars were examined in detail; nuclear weapons and some kind of powerful, concentrated laser. The corpses and damage on the bulky, squarish Clomatan vessels would at least tell if they had been hurt by Xiscapian lasers, ion cannons and missiles, or if there was a third party at work here.

Kof-Mojy...
With a bellow of defiance the Korr turned and staggered away, tripping out into the corridor as his dazed teammates and comrades began to get to their feet and recover their wits. He clicked the trigger of his weapon, aiming it back at the door, but there was nothing: It appeared to have not only had the power cells drained, but also the targeting readouts, ammunition and composition displays, and pretty much everything. It had been like some kind of vengeful spirit, and it seemed to have sucked all the energy out of Ssskrill's gun.

The Droid, being the only one that was completely unaffected by all of this, found the actions of everyone else very confusing. It was scanning many of them and could detect increased heart rates, quicker breathing... all signs of stress, but from what source?The Droid armed its weapon and moved forways to Ssskrill, "What is it you detect?"

The Clomatan ships were in the same shape, with similar damage. And as the probes approached, they could detect the remains of long dead Kitsune and humans mixed in with the Clomatans. As far as they could tell, a powerful third party had methodically taken apart the combined fleet and left.


Kof-Mojy

The Droid got its answer all too quickly. As it was asking the question its sensing technologies gave distorted, conflicting images, as if it had just entered a bubble of distortion. And then its power systems failed completely.

The presence seemed to surge forward now, pursuing Ssskrill - who, despite his determination and stamina, had only a shaky hold on his consciousness, Keela realized.

The two Drone looked over to their now deactivated companion, fitting. It wasn't as if they didn't see it coming, they'd been waiting for something to randomly come along and take out the only truely mechanical being in the group. Well that was that, the Drone both 'reverted,' severing their hive minds for the time being and sparing their brothers the pain of that horrible sound. The lead Drone still wasn't doing anything, but had its weapon ready; if anything bad came towards it, that bad thign would have its head blown off in a second. Meanwhile, the other Drone simply began focusing its Cryptic energy to its eyes, there was something else here, and it wanted to find that something.

"Identical combat damage reading in Clomatan vessels..." One of the officers muttered on the bridge. "Homo Sapien and Homo Vulpes remains are evident along with the dead crew."
The Captain shook his head. "Make a full detail of all the uniforms every body is wearing, and have the probes make a general sweep for any active systems of any kind. I don't intend to leave," his eyes were fixed on the monitor before him, "until we get some answers."

Kof-Mojy...
Keela was upright, firing blindly into the room at something she couldn't see. "Seal that door, damnit!" she shouted at the Drones, who seemed to be least affected by all the commotion. Nichole joined in with her rifle as Jake staggered to his feet, helping Logan up as well. Ssskrill was leaning against the bulkhead furthest from the door, groaning unintelligibly, one hand weakly feeling for his sidearm.

OOC: Correct me if I'm wrong but, last I checked there was no door between this room and the next.

"What door?" The second Drone asked blandly.

OOC: Yes. And your point is...?
IC:
"I don't care how you close it, just use some of that magic stuff!" Keela screamed. "Weld it shut or something!"

OOC: I was making sure I didn't miss something is all.
IC:

The two Drones looked to each other, biologicals were funny in their own way. They treated Cryption like it was a joke before, now Keela was acting like Cryption was the magic key to solving everything. When had they become so dependant on the Drones to solve their problems? It must've been the nature of the situation. It was times like these that the Drones appriciated not feeling things like fear and panic. The lead Drone still wouldn't move, its recovery wasn't finished. Instead, the secondary Drone began looking around the room for any large objects that could be gathered together to make a barrier and possibly a seal.

Kof-Mojy, Engineering

With his remaining men, Egute and the engineers checked the propellant tanks for leaks or breaches. This had to be done manually, and it took time, and with two men off investigating that explosion it took every body remaining. Even the Commander could not be spared from nearly constant work - he was happy to do it, and he thanked his lucky stars they hadn't come across anything they couldn't immediately patch up or safely ignore until after the crisis.

They spent precious minutes sending a man up into the guts of the machinery near the outer hull, outside of the habitable zone. Then they had to wait for him to return, as even short-range communications seemed to be causing difficulty still. Then they confirmed that the other ships had pulled through, and that they were ready to begin refueling the propellant tanks.

Easy enough to do. Now it would just take time as the propellant was pumped through the hoses. There was still much else to do, though. Egute was glad - he didn't want to have to think about what might be happening in the other parts of the ship, beyond his control or even knowledge.

Unknown System

The uniforms were slightly unusual. There seemed to be a good number of orange, robe-like uniforms. Rank insignia looked familiar, but as if modified in subtle ways. There were a number of civilians, techs looked like. The Clomatans were dressed in what looked like their normal uniforms (based on the Kitaan and her crew), except closer analysis revealed changes there, too. And, too, there were odd, orange-cloaks.

The wreckage was badly damaged, however, in most ships. It looked like most of the unbroken parts were at least irradiated during the battle, and not a single working power source could be found.

Kof-Mojy

Two engineers from the Kitaan quietly led the way through the silent, dangerous corridors. They knew the ship's schematics, at any rate, or so the first one - a young Clomatan with a smoothly-shaven head - claimed. The Setulan corporal seemed satisfied with their going so far when more loud noises came from ahead.

They'd skipped through the Habitat Control (taking note at the damaged control console, and the bits of blood and signs of combat) and, more cautiously now, were heading towards the sound of the explosion from earlier. It was, bald engineer said, probably in the vicinity of the large and (for its time) advanced hospital facilities.

The other engineer remained silent, his lips stretched tight and thin. "We're headed for the bio labs," said his partner in a hushed voice.

From just ahead and around the junction in the corridor, there came a high-pitched, keening wail so alarmingly alien as to be almost unrecognizable - was that a siren or some alert, even? But then there came the sound of screaming.

---


Whatever it was or had been, a dark, buzzing mass resembling an angry nest of electric, invisible wasps now came through the blasted entryway. It visibly blocked the light, cast shadows - but it was hard to see clearly, as if space was distorting around it. The lights went out as it approached.

Keela began to feel strangely weak after her desperate shouting, and she realized that it (whatever it was) had noticed her. And was drawn toward her.

The two other droids followed the engineers without a word, time to reunite with the other team, hopefully.
---------
The secondary Drone saw the thing enter and immediately put up its guard. It was difficult to tell what the thing was, but at this point it was probably safe to assume it wasn't friendly. The Drone prepared its weapons for a fight and began activating its own Cryptic abilities just in case.

"For the love...of Qonn..." Keela panted, exhausting the energy cell of her rifle. The bolts of superheated energy had not apparently done anything to the thing, so Keela cast the weapon to the deck and drew her blade, stance defensive. Before the beast could come any closer Ssskrill, with his last ounce of energy, hurled himself at the monster, arms out as if to embrace it, weighing in at upwards of half a ton.

Unknown System...
"Those look like priest robes." The Captain muttered. "Insignia looks mostly the same, but the uniforms...?"
"Captain, all systems within range are offline, no power signatures have been detected." reported the X.O. The Xiscapian wracked his brains, trying to figure out something else he could investigate, something that would give them a clue as to who, or what, had attacked these ships. But he could think of nothing: Uniforms showed a strange conformity, combat damage was the same, the mixture of beings was nonsensical but they were apparently not enemies, and he could not see a single dead crewmember who might be an enemy or a destroyed vessel or fragment that was not Xiscapian or Clomatan.

"Move the probes on that Revolver class to the bridge." He said finally. The kitsune wasn't sure why he was bothering; it was doubtful that the command center of the craft would show anything the others hadn't, but perhaps there was something, datapads, recorders, any kind of record to tell them what had transpired.

The presence seemed to thrive on the energy, and when Ssskrill desperately leaped toward it there was an almost irresistable urge to warn him, to tell him to come back, to run - but it was too late. The Korr's strength didn't prove any more effective than weapons fire, and as he made contact with it he passed through it, as if there was nothing for him to hit with his bulk. He hit the floor beneath the thunderstorm-thing and lay motionless.

Meanwhile, the shrieking presence howled in what sounded like bloodthirsty, gleeful triumph.

Unknkown System

The probes found nothing unusual, but their operators did. One of the corpses on the bridge of the old warship looked familiar... it looked, in fact, strikingly similar to one of the team members sent to the Kof-Mojy. At least, according to one sensor officer - the other didn't see it, saying that even if you ignored the ravages of time this individual was surely quite a few years older.

Team Location

Logan shouted in pain and opened fire. He sent streams of bullets hurtling into the dark mass, seemingly to no effect. His machinegun stopped firing, locked open on an empty box.
He drew his sidearm desperately. This thing had to die.

Relief Team Location

The Corporal froze at the scream, and then gave a sharp look to his team.
"Let's go!" he shouted, and the group started to run, weapons ready, to the sound of the gunfire.

The Drone's eyes began searching for anything that could be of use. Energy weapons did nothing, physical force did nothing. The secondary Drone wondered if Cryptic energy would have an effect, this presence was like some sort of ghost. But it had to have a weakness of some sort; it was most likely something electrical or magnetic in nature, otherwise it couldn't have effected the droid at all. The Drone began to concentrate raw Cryptic energy around its right hand, this thing seemed supernatural. Why not fight fire with fire? It was dangerous but Cryptic energy could be perfectly described as supernatural or paranormal, and chances were this was going to be the only way to combat this creature... thing. The Drone waited just a little bit, it want to gather more information before ludging out and attacking.

"Son of a bitch!" Keela backed up, staring at the body of her soldier on the deck, lying sprawled still. "Fall back!" She yelled, motioning wildly to Logan, her team and the Drones., sword still held across her person, as if it could protect her from the deadly force. The Warrant Officer hated to leave behind Ssskrill, but they couldn't fight the thing and she had a sickening feeling that he would never get up...

Unknown System...
"Hey, would ya look at that."
On the bridge in the depths of the ship a probe pivoted around a face as a body floated, following the corpse as it pinwheeled uncontrolled across the room. It was a kitsune, fair-skinned with standard orange fur and short, even tomboyish purple hair, looking to be in her early forties, face frozen in an expression of permanent surprise. "Don't ya think that looks like Warrant?" The Scanning Officer asked his counterpart.
"Who?"
"Warrant. Ya know, Warrant Officer Keela?"
There was a moment of silence as the face was examined by the other. "No. She's a lot younger and better-looking than that-"
"This one's dead, ya shitface, don't ya think that makes some kinda diff'rence?"
"I don't see the resemblance, it ain't nothin' like her."
The Scanning Officer sighed loudly. "'Ey Capt'in, looka what we got." He called to the Master and Commander of the Triple Zero.
The kitsune came over, bending to look over their shoulder's anxiously. "What is it?"
"Don't ya think that-"
"Qonn no, that don't, Captain, tell 'em-"
"What in all the Forgotten Realms are you two on about?"
"'e thinks she looks like Warrant Officer Keela, b't I say it don't."
The Captain looked at the body again. "Maybe there is a passing resemblance there...so she had an ancestor in the Navy. So what? If you break this probe because you're following dead people around saying they look like your dear old Uncle Harry, it's coming out of your paychecks." That delivered, he walked off to another monitor.
Both kitsune looked at each other, then the screen. "I dunno..." Said the Scanning Officer doubtfully. "What are the chances?"

As the drone began to concentrate, the attention of the thing again switched, from Keela to the Drone. Keela felt it back off and at the same time, felt as if some weight had been lifted from her chest, and mind, now that it was.

But now it moved - if drifting inexorably, shape changing, through the distorted fish-lens nightmare vision could be called simply 'moving' - toward the Drone, part in rage, and part in that same compulsive, powerful thirst...

Outside, the Clomatan engineers followed the corporal, weapons at the ready. Both sported the standard-issue weapons but neither looked particularly comfortable with them. They were all totally unprepared for the sight that greeted them - a long room, a bloody body at the far end, near where some great explosion had torn open the hatch into the next room. But in the center of it all, some alien... thing... was shrieking and howling. Another body lay further away, and everyone was shouting and there was gunfire as the entity came closer. At one end they could see Keela, and heard her shout to fall back.

They looked to the Setulanite corporal only briefly before raising their weapons and opening fire at what everyone else was shooting at. But of course it did no good - as near as anyone could tell, there wasn't anything solid for them to hit, and the presence did not slow down at all.

The first (baldy) quickly ceased fire and moved away from the door, keeping his weapon trained but trying desperately to think. "We need to get the fuck out of here!" he shouted to no one in particular.

The Drone was unphased byu the presence shifting its attention. That thing was about to meet something very unpleasant. The Drone remembered its earlier studies, those that refered to ghosts, demons, and the ancient Wraiths. When a Leanorian wasn't available to banish these creatures with light-base Cryption, the next best thing to do was use darkness-base Cryption. If no one had the dark element, which was known to eb quite rare, the final resort was to use non-elemental Cryption, pure hostile energy. The Drone remembered this well, in the rare case that it ever encountered such a creature. Studies showed that even the ethereal and paranormal could be easily contained using the right kind of Cryption. The image of the Drone's entire right arm began to distort as the final preparations were made. Oh fallen ones, bless this humble servant with the power to banish those that would threaten it and its companions. Bestow upon me the power to dispell the hostile, silence the threat, and finish the battle. Allow this strike to be the first and final. Guide me for I am your soldier, use me as the vassal for your might, make me your weapon, use me as you see fit. The Drone finished its preparations and ludged forward, swinging its arm as it did so, "Ethereal Rend!"

OOC: Sorry folks, I just don't really have time to RP anymore. This is on hold indefinitely or, if you want to continue without me that's cool too. Again my apologies.

OOC: I'd already abandoned this thread myself, I only just happened to see it in the II box. I won't be returning unless this starts up again, but my best wishes to you all, and I hope we get to RP again some time Clomata!

[To avoid continuity issues we'll just say the 'monster' was killed by the teams and FC was established with the Clomatans, who took their ship and mysterious secrets and were never heard from again. Until next time. Maybe. :p]