NationStates Jolt Archive

It was the perfect place for meetings of the sort that couldn't stand too close an inspection, much less being known of at all...

It was a lonely solar system, not too far and no too close to any others. The stellar primary was a puny red dwarf, sputtering along on it's last bands of hydrogen - just like millions of other insignificant red dwarf stars. The system had nothing to make it of any interest to any one.

Save for ones looking for just such a place.

The fourth of seven unremarkable moons about the equally unremarkable gas giant looked just like the other six did. Outwardly….

Inside, behind the best spoofers, jammers, cyber sentience’s redirective efforts, simply the best – magical, psionic and scientific – tech available – lay Karak Drakkön, the utterly private base of the Omegas.

Each of the people who would be contributing resources to the hunt for Lady Tomasuza had been given the coordinates.

Torgatai and Astarte had already arrived. And they instantly began to assimilate and coorelate all the data that had been collected - made use of all of Omega's very impressive abilities. And that included the services of many groups it is better left unspoken of.

The pair worked silently, having fallen into a comfortable understanding with one another. They were of similar dispositions and one mind, though their reasons for wanting Lady Tomasuza destroyed were very different.

At last though Astarte stretched and looked over at Torgatai who was just reaching his own stopping point. "Dinner"

"Aye" Came his low growl in reply. It wasn't so much that the Kami needed to eat - he didn't - but he enjoyed the pleasure of dining, and Astarte was a good conversationalist. But then again she was one of the more outgoing of her siblings and enjoyed hunting nearly as much as he did. She didn't have his multiple millennia of experience, but she had sound instincts to build on and a sharp curiosity with an agile mind.

The sprawling base was comfortable, well laid out and furnished, though no attempt at making it some sort of showcase had ever even been thought of. It was a working site and while well maintained and kept clean, its walls and furnishings showed the tiny nicks and dings of ongoing use.

Side by side they headed to the perpetually open refectory, and made their selections from the day’s menu displayed at their table. Neither bothered to comment on the fact that they both made the same selections. Heavy on proteins – raw meats in fact and highly spiced, barely steamed fresh vegetables, with extra peppers.

“A new update” Astarte commented as her link with the base's C.S. advised her of the additions. “We’re getting a pair of Hunters from Greywatch. They’ve got some of their folk missing as well, and so they’re sending one Greyknight and a Twilight Demon.”

She passed along additional information mentally and Torgatai nodded. “Interesting., some one who might be as old as I”

Davidson was sitting on the floor meditating, his eyes closed controlling his emotions and getting in touch with the Force.

Aziel and Frt'grk were playing cards, Aziel was winning, he always won, Frt'grk however was totally different from the othe two.While they were human, or at least easily mistakable for being Human, Frt'grk wasn't.

A reptillian being, more specifically very dinosaur-looking. He was a Sauron (OOC:From Dinotopia) he seemed quite spindly for a dinsosaur but he had a large back-pack and due to the fact that he had 4 "legs" the fore of which could duplicate as hands if necessary. He had a long thin body, and sharp teeth though very much.

"Alright, Alright I believe you. Strange though all that we know is that we're looking for someone. I can understand you two but me?" He was about to say I wonder what we are doing but Aziel interrupted

"We'll find out soon... and anyway Davidson." He didn't need to say anymore, they talked more for Frt'grk's benefit it would needlessly strain to constantly engage in two-way telepathic conversation,especially since one wasn't a psion.

"You are right it is time." Davidson stood up and started heading to where they would meet the three of them.

A ship passed dropping a pod containing the three of them, the pod was collected within the Omega base and soon they were wherever they needed to be.

OOC: Tanaran & Nova Hunters & Ships (http://perigrinemoore.googlepages.com/thehunt)

Karak Drakkön's support staff was also handling the simultaneous arrival of Travis Noel Tenkiller, his partner and their starcraft, Damnthing and Tora't'su~ki T'sai and her ship, Warlock.

Zen, the C.S. of the Damnthing and Warlock immediately began wrangling over the terms of a 5D chess game. They were old frienemies and would eventually settle on ISFIDE formal rules. It went without saying that both would be keeping a sensor on 'their' biologicals - when one was a C.S., and could divide oneself and one's attention even more effortlessly than a Grendel could, little escaped ones attention.

Travis, mostly known as Ten, gave Tora an exuberant pick up and spin hug – he was close to a foot taller than the petite smuggler. They'd been lovers once but their official personas made it too dangerous and so they'd remained close, if clandestine, friends. While the base’s staff maneuvered the TGM pod into the immense hangar bay, they quickly caught each other up on their lives and doings.

Nervous, Tens partner, settled on making her laugh as he twined about her ankles then jumped into her arms for some shamelessly indulgent tummy rubbings. Men' dhek's himmone' aur Navris - better known to all and sundry by the much more pronounceable monkier of 'Nervous' closed his currently emerald hued eyes and simply purred loud enough to be heard through out the cavernous space.

He looked at the moment, for all the universe like nothing more than roughly fifteen pounds of furless feline. But then again in mere seconds he could look like anything he chose. Ten had seen him assume the shape and manners of a Tanaran Kodiak Maximus – two tons of raging fury with claws that would give a Raptor nightmares. But then again Nervous's normal attitude generally scared the pickens out of any one who didn't know him well. But Grendels were like that. Ten privately suspected that as bad attitudes resulted in more fights - and if there was anything Grendels loved more than a good fight, they'd never mentioned it to the rest of the universe - it was deliberate. But he'd never put that suspicion to the test.

As the pod cracked open and the three agents from TGM exited Ten stepped forward. Ten looked pretty much like people always expected a soldier to look like – extremely fit, a few faint scars here and there, though nothing really noteworthy, and with that air of military competence that most beings translate into 'dangerousness' about him. And every bit of that was camouflage. Cadre were the Phoenix Empire's elite, the best of their best, and less than one in a million soldiers had the basic qualities that were the Cadres minimum requirements. And Captain Travis Noel Tenkiller was one of the Cadre's best. A multiply decorated veteran - most of his awards couldn't be openly worn - he'd been Cadre for over eleven decades, even if he only looked in his early thirties at best.

“Hi I’m Ten, and” he hooked a thumb at Tora and Nervous “The lovely lady is Tora and the boneless lump imitating an antique diesel engine is my partner Nervous. Or at least he answers to it.”

"Much more pro-nouncable than "Men' dhek's himmone' aur Navris". I agree Travis" Aziel said knowing their names.

"Don't worry he's just showing off, Nice to meet you Tens, Tora and Nervous" Frt'grk said extending his claw. He kept his mouth shut, didn't want to scare them but there was just a miniscule fraction of a smile the tips raised slightly

"This is Aziel, you're friendly neighbourhood mind reader and Davidson, you might say he's one with the force. Though what the force is stilll undefined. And I'm Frt'grk."

"A Strange Gathering don't you think?" commented Aziel

At first there is nothing but black, velvet darkness. I am immersed, drifting, paralyzed. I see nothing, I hear nothing, I taste nothing, I smell nothing, I feel nothing.
I know nothing.
Am I awake or asleep, am I dead or alive, am I here or there or am I nowhere? My mind is not muddled, but razor-sharp, the problem isn’t that I cannot remember anything; the problem is that I remember nothing.
Only nothing.
I know who I am: I am Silvertooth Rose, son of James, nephew to the Emperor. I know I am (was? will be?) six feet and three inches in height and weigh a hundred and forty-six pounds; my hair is scarlet, the color of blood and flames, just like my father and uncle. I have only two ears, on the top of my head, and there is a small black ring pierced though the right one, near the top, an equally tiny black chain loping to a stud at the bottom, which ends in a dangling cross. They are much larger than a human’s, triangular, and far more animal, but infinitely better at hearing and perceiving sound.
Oh yes, I’m also covered in fur.
It’s a sort of cream color, somewhere between a dirty white and a very light gold. A large fox tail also extends from just above my buttocks, lending me balance and grace unknown to any human.

Slowly, an image, a single snapshot of memory, trickles into my mind.
It depicts a number, perhaps the size of a battalion, of soldiers, framed against an iron sky. Behind them I can vaguely make out buildings and the indistinct shapes of what might be vehicles. The troops stand, kneel and crouch behind a low, three-foot concrete barrier, weapons resting on it, obviously waiting for an attack to come. They are not uniform, and seem composed of those from different services, or perhaps even separate nations or organizations all together. Some have medieval armor-like dress, and the weapons they carry are both highly advanced and ancient and arcane, strange sights on the modern battlefield. These are human-shaped, but somehow, despite all outer appearances, you can tell they are not human in the sense that you know them. Something is different, but one cannot discern exactly what.

Those who seem to make up the majority are dressed in gray battle armor and uniforms, carrying easily identifiable energy weapons and ballistic, kinetic launchers. Some have the same face as the others, and these are not biological, but not droid either, a curiosity.
Finally there are those I know, not necessarily well, but they are familiar to me. Their uniforms are red and gray, and they stand professionally at attention for lack of anything else to do, rifles strapped across their backs. Each soldier is a study in rigid discipline, faces blank, staring straight ahead. One gets the sense that while there are people underneath, they will methodically and effectively do their job, and let emotions come in later, for better or worse.

As soon as I glimpse it, the picture is gone, and I am alone in the dark once again.
I consider this, but no names or events surfaced to link with what I saw. It was just a random scene pulled from my subconscious, unconnected with any of my personal information. A few moments later, though, another image surfaces from the bog of my mind like a corpse rising from the bottom of a lake, and like a corpse, it is rather unpleasant.
Across a field ringed by forest, coming from the hills, is a horde of shapes. At the front of the pack are diseased-looking, mutilated canine creatures, faces frozen in the grimace of snarls, eyes flashing red. Behind them are what seem to be humans, some heavily armored, others wearing only rags, and they don’t seem to be much more intelligent or sane than the wolf-like creatures. All are armed in some way, but they are no more uniformed than the soldiers I saw before, gaunt and hollow-eyed and often bloody, without the flicker of sentience. At the back of the mob, however, I can see a small but blinding light, like the gleam of murder in the eyes of a lover or the explosion of a dying galaxy, outlining a single man standing on a hill. A sword is lifted high, and even as this distance I can tell he is grinning for the bloodshed about to be unleashed.
And then, as quickly as it came, this too vanished.
Perplexed, I wait.

Faster than the last comes another, but unlike the former two, this one was more like film, with movement and sound, albeit in slow motion. It showed the horde of creatures charging the line of soldiers, and weapons fire mutely thundered in my ears. Humans and canines twisted and fell, but they kept coming, bounding forward uncaring for their safety as they attacked in a physical wave. They lurched over the wall and bulled into the line of defenders, sending some flying and burying others under crushing biological mass. Shouts and screams came as if from a great distance, and my hearing was filled with heavy panting and a quickening, excited heartbeat.
Mine.

Even as this faded I had no time to reflect, as another followed it almost immediately. It was the same field I saw the enemy coming across, but now it was littered with the bodies of both sides. The grass had been torn up into barren dirt and the ground soaked with blood and bodily fluids as men and beast alike lay dying around me. Directly ahead in my field of vision the man I had seen on the hill was on his knees, a katana buried up to its hilt in his stomach. He was looking straight at me, eyes wide with pain and madness, a slow, feral grin spreading across his lips. His eyes glazed as he sagged onto his side, still gazing at me, and my vision shifts behind me to see pure Chaos. It was a black portal ringed with a violent, explosive orange, dark forms flashing across it, howling like a world of damned. In the middle of the darkness I could see a tiny shape, black cloak disintegrating, almost physically identical to myself tumbling into the maw. I saw, just barely distinguishable to my vision, a flash of green eyes flecked with gold, staring into mine-

And everything became clear.

It hit me like a sucker punch, as the memories slammed back. All of them: My tender, loving care from my mother and father until the age of ten, and then the impossible betrayal: I was sold to a interstellar group of professional torturers for several years before being captured by a cruel race of fascist aliens, then sold again to a gangster for his sick pleasure in having such a unique being as a slave. My breakout from my prison, my murder of the gangster and all of his partners, the destruction of the former fascist battleship I was held on, my arrival at my uncles’ home of rule, Xiscapia. The battle against Chaos that had brought me here, the portal that…
It had stolen her away from me.
It had stolen her!

My eyes opened, but despite my nocturnal vision, I saw nothing. Reaching out, I could sense four beings in a room beyond, and a greater space above and beyond that. I could feel my body now, locked into position inside a box perfectly conformed to my height, with barely an inch of space between me and the steel sides. Drawing my left arm back though the wall behind me, ripping a hole in it, I plunged my fist forward, slamming out the front of my enclosed cell into open air. I ripped my arm back in, twisting it, and the door fell, clanging to the floor. Nutrient gases which had kept me alive poured out in a foggy vapor, obscuring my form but not before I was able to spot four men. The first, closest to me and on my left, was a scientist in a bulky white bio hazard suit, and the other on my right was an armed guard with a black uniform, navy blue helmet and holstered pistol sidearm. Two soldiers with assault rifles could be seen at the door beyond them. The scientist stepped back, surprised, and his guard went for his pistol as I stepped out.

Two thoughts went though my head as I viewed this:
They are between her and I.
This is unacceptable.

I seized the scientist, tearing into him with suddenly clawed hands, and his blood splattered the walls as I mutilated him, allowing the corpse to sink to the floor, long gashes ripped in his suit. He didn’t even have time to scream, emitting only a few gasps before he died. The guard managed to get his sidearm out, but I stepped up to him, grabbed the man by the shoulders, and proceeded to rip his throat out with my teeth, shaking him like a dog shakes a bone. His screams echoed in the small room and turned to gurgles of horror as he lost his vocal cords. The guard’s helmet bounced out of the vapor and spun to a halt before the two soldiers by the door, shown to be bloodstained and empty.

For a moment both soldiers stared at the helmet, then leveled their rifles and sprayed fire into the fog, trying to hit me. I crouched low as the bullets whined around me, lunging out, rolling and standing before the soldier to the right of the door. He jerked in surprise but my hand plunged into his chest, fingers splayed as they ripped though his flesh, shattered bone and punctured his right lung and grabbed hold of his heart. For a moment we stood, his face frozen in a grimace of horror and pain, a grin spreading over mine as I looked into his eyes. Then I tore away his heart from his chest, veins twisting and breaking, blood pouring from the gaping wound in his chest.

To the fucker who let me have a life in the dark,
I slammed my hand, still holding the heart, into the other soldier’s mouth as it opened to scream into his radio for help. The heart was halfway into his mouth, bits sliding down his throat, making him choke and gag until I kicked him in the stomach, my bare foot going though, shattering his spine and causing his corpse to sag against the wall as the other man dropped.
‘Till the day my life ran out
I turned to the door and kicked again, my leg up to my knee covered in blood and fragments of flesh, the metal denting and collapsing under my power, sliding across the floor into the room beyond. There are more soldiers here, apparently some kind of barracks, bunks lining the sides, rifles leaning against walls to be cleaned, equipment seen in strongboxes or lockers. Three men to my left, four to my right, all surprised.
Well a day in the dark, a bloody lust of wind, wanna know what it's about?

A pointed black spike of shadow erupted from the floor under the first soldier on my left, impaling him from between the legs up to burst out the top of his head, rigid and stuck on it like a butterfly to a pin. The second trooper started to move, but a black whip of the same substance dotted with fire snapped out from my outstretched arm across his throat, leaving a black burn mark and causing him to topple over onto his bunk, eyes wide, dead before he knew what had happened. I darted over to him, coming directly at the third human, before abruptly flipping away beside him. He turned, but as he did so a katana sword materialized seemingly from the wall behind him and sliced him in half as it traveled to my hand, landing with my fingers grasping the hilt as I spun and turned, landing before the first soldier who had been on my right.
It's not like your gonna need me or I'm gonna miss you
when the world’s so cold out there
I stabbed him though the belly, wrenching my sword away as I past to the second man. He only had time for a wordless yell before I decapitated him, blade flashing, and cleaved the third soldier in half down the middle. The fourth soldier actually had his wits about him, and opened fire, but his bullets seemed to meet some kind of resistance around me. They stopped, hovered, and seemed to travel backwards evenly to the barrel of the gun, except by this time the man had shifted his rifle to aim at my head. The slugs slammed into him, making him shudder and shake involuntarily with the force, before a final one sparked into his helmet and he fell.
So dumb, what the fuck am I doing here?
All I need to know

I looked around, and realized that everyone in the room was now dead. The floor, walls and even the ceiling were splattered with gore, and nothing moved aside from the expanding pools of blood, the only sound the spent shells of the bullets bouncing onto the floor. It came to me that I wasn’t wearing any clothes, but I hadn’t for most of the past nine years, so it didn’t bother me in the slightest and impeded me even less. Still, I waved a hand and a light black cloak settled around my figure, sheath for my sword resting comfortably on my back.
That was better.
There was another door, but I didn’t bother with it, thrusting my hand, palm out, to the wall next to it. The concrete crumbled and I stepped though the hole in front of a man in a white lab coat. He gaped at me before a sword stroke laid his bleeding remains out on the floor. Up the hall another human like him turned and began to run for a door, but I grinned and from my hand spun a shuriken, cutting though the back of his neck to sever his head and bury itself in the wall beyond. Striding up the hall, I turned in at the doorway he had been trying to escape to.
Three armored men stood by a squat, stubby gunboat of some kind propped up by steel supports. A large fuel cell sat beside it, tubes connecting them together. These troopers were much faster on the uptake and more heavily armed than those I had left dead in the room behind me, and they actually managed to be pointing their weapons at me when I acted. A short snarl escaped my lips and I made as if to push, and the gunship suddenly flew off its supports, colliding with the fuel cell and detonating, covering the soldiers in a ball of fire.
I'm sorry and I’ll let you go by the reign you built for me
To the other side a soldier and technician stared out from behind glass panels in a control room, but a sweep of the hand and the glass exploded inward, lacerating them terribly and driving hundreds of tiny shards into vital organs. There was a huge metal door in front of me, the size of several garages put together, obviously meant for security.
Still a god but, don't wanna even know what's waiting for me
Another smile and I drew back my arm, balled my hand into a fist, and punched.

The entire steel door burst outward like a tin can hit by a bullet, flipping though the air, sides bent and crumpled. Before me I could see rows of buildings and sheds surrounded by tall fences with barbed wire along the top, guard towers at the corners manned by soldiers on machine gun tripods. Soldiers were everywhere, patrolling or fixing equipment or standing at their stations. The door twisted a final time and crushed a squad beneath it, and there were shouts, yells and screams as I came under the attention of the men. Searchlights on the towers swiveled to illuminate me where I stood as teams of soldiers ran about and vehicles started up with growls and thrums, and a thousand lights banished the night.

I'll be waiting here for always
I raised my hands and a guard tower collapsed, falling across the fences, wood splintering and steel bending as it hit the ground. A shining blade flashed across the nearest group of humans and they were taken off their feet in a spray of blood.
Wanna go? Yeah, hang that rope
Another squad fell, screaming, as the earth opened under them and swallowed them up.
Every thought breaks down in my head
Tanks rumbled out of their motor pools, but I clenched my fists and one was crushed between invisible walls, and sweep of the arm send the other flying like toys, crushing roofs of buildings, going though walls or pin wheeling across the ground before exploding and bursting into flames.
Best to run, blinded soul
Troopers scurried in a panic now as officers screamed orders and even as a rain of fire fell around me I stood without having yet taken a hit. In a two story building directly opposite me I could see snipers setting up in windows, three men trying to construct a MG nest with rushed, nervous movements and sweaty brows. I nodded, admiring their persistence, before clasping my hands and bringing them down. The roof smashed inwards on top of them, burying the men under debris as the structure collapsed before I ruptured gas lines and the rubble caught fire.
Bring me back on my feet and let me go I'm fine alone


Wheeled vehicles of some kind roared out, turrets swiveling and spitting fire at me, swerving to run me down. I sidestepped, and ended up on top of one. The gunner began to frantically try and turn his weapon but I ripped him from it, crushing his neck in my grasp, and threw the corpse away. The driver brought the car to a screeching halt, but I merely stepped off and easily picked the armored vehicle up. Maneuvering it over my head, I threw it into the path of another, the two crashing together, out of control, before ending up in a smashed heap by the side of a building. The third accelerated directly for me, but I pointed at it and the rear fuel tank exploded spectacularly, flipping it up to fly over my head and land upside down, cabin crushed, behind me. The final fourth turned sharply to run; I shook my head and a spire of living rock erupted from the ground, bending and slamming into it, ripping though the metal sides, pulverizing the driver and gunner before sending the wreckage tumbling away into a building.
In this shell of life you left me hanging dry
I only saw him from my peripheral vision, a dark shape out of the corner of my eye. A man, wearing a casual off-duty uniform and holding a pistol, shot at me. The slug buried itself into my skull, burrowing though the flesh of my forehead to stop upon encountering bone. I turned, expressionless, to face him. More shots were fired, but they missed or I did not feel them. Blood leaked out into my eyes, and though a literal crimson haze I seized him by the shoulders, white teeth exposed in a snarling smile, flecked with blood.
With a smile on my face I'll watch you cry
The man’s grunts of pain as I gripped him became screams, high pitched and long as his own internal organs devoured him from the inside out. He shook in my grasp as his belly burst and intestines spilled out, wrapping around his legs, tiny jawed mouths tearing though cloth and armor to eat flesh. The soldier, still screaming, began to fall apart even as he tried to stagger away, and his heart was revealed in his chest as a black, insect-legged thing. It tore up his chest though his neck, scaling his face, mandibles plucking out his eyes and claws ripping away his tongue, ceasing the horrible noise.
Moments later he became entirely inert, a mound of flesh surrounded by a puddle of blood and scattered, lifeless gore. His organs collapsed in on themselves around the horrid mass with a sigh, and it was all still.



Soldiers began to run straight for me, seeking to bury me under the stocks and bayonets of their weapons if their bullets and machines of destruction would not. Blood speckled my grin as they fell in a pile around me, struck down by the blade, coloring the ground red. None had come any closer than three feet. By this time I was alone, more or less. All the remaining soldiers and what I suppose were base personnel were in hiding, had fled or were masking their movements very carefully.

From there until a minute or so later I remember little. What I could was shattered and disjointed, like my earlier visions: The overloading, all-consuming taste of rage and pain, the animal scent of fear, the sound of screams, shouts and the unrelenting, ineffective chatter of gunfire, the patterns the flames made on my vision, dancing on rubble, wreckage and still forms, the smooth, clean feel of my sword easily cleaving flesh and muscle from bone and the hot, wet blood on my fur. Structures were inexplicably crumbling around me, collapsing towers bringing down other buildings with them, beaten down by some force I could feel and touch but was not able to see. Why I cannot recall this with perfectly clarity as I have all else in my life is a mystery to me. It was supposed that the brain blocks out painful memories, but I have done and had inflicted upon me worse than I did on that day, and my memory from those other times is sharp with a clarity I often wish I did not posses.

The next time I could remember sight, sound, taste, touch and smell all at the same time I was standing at the gate, the metal torn apart as though some great beast had charged though it, prone, often even mauled, forms and pieces of wreckage littered the ground. Framed against the fires that raged from detonated munitions, ruptured gas lines and those flames which I had put there, I stopped where I was at the line separating the base from the rest of whatever world this was. Beyond me there was a row of tanks, huge treaded monstrosities with cannons swiveled to point at me, silently carrying out a malicious threat. Behind them were ranks upon ranks of soldiers, black armored and toting huge weapons on their shoulders, barrels pointed at me from behind the bulk of their vehicles. In the sky above, blocking the stars where the smoke had not, helicopter gunships and manned weapons platforms hovered, cannons, missiles and long-barreled turrets all aimed for me.

Overall there was probably well over a thousand men there, reinforcements I suppose, sent, it would appear, to kill me. Troopers stared though sights, gunners leaned forward to hunch over their weapons; targeting screens glowed with my body heat and locks were acquired. In that moment, that all important moment where everything is about to happen, when everyone is frozen for some order or sign to take action, the moment of total stillness and silence, the moment of infinite possibilities when anything could happen, the moment of choice, I smiled. From their perspective all that could be seen was a dark shape with pitiless, staring predators’ eyes, foretelling their doom. My sword was sheathed, I had no weapons out, there was nowhere to run and the firepower about to be unleashed would erase any trace of my existence.

So, I disappeared.
I vanished from their sight, though I did not become invisible; I merely took where I was and put myself where I wanted to be. I was above the tank in the exact middle of the line, my blade out now, and as I fell my sword plunged downward. Naturally such a vehicle is armored to the extreme, but my katana passed though the metal as if it was as substantial as dust, slicing from the cannon holding a explosive shell all the way back to the fuel tanks, flipping to land behind it. The tank exploded violently and erupted into flames, and I spread both my arms outward, tiny sparks and unfortunate mass malfunctions causing the same to occur as if in a chain reaction to all the others. None of them had a chance: All those inside perished before they had any idea of what had happened.
I'll be waiting here for always


Flying machines turned and banked above me, but I ignored them for now. In front of the burning, twisted piles of metal that had used to be fighting machines, between me and the peace and darkness of wilderness night, was the soldiers. They hadn’t had time to react, and were only now turning, stumbling and crying out with the destruction of their heavy weapons.

Wanna go? Yeah, hang that rope
Men screamed out, dropping their guns, clutching their heads in pain. Some who wore no helmets clasped hands over ears that now bubbled with blood, some force pushing their eardrums out of their heads. Many dropped to their knees and curled into the fetal position, some died on the spot, still others seemed unaffected by the same their comrades experienced.
Every thought breaks down in my head
These began to beat each other with their fists, some vomited, filling their helmets with fluids and drowning in them. Mad laughter erupted from a few, stumbling unwary for the danger into flames or fights. I saw soldiers remove their helmets, pick up their weapons, put them in their mouths, and pull the trigger. Others simply pulled the pins off all their grenades and stood with vacant expressions until they detonated, spraying blood and limbs everywhere.
Best to run, blinded soul
Few remained now, gibbering unintelligibly and shaking wildly, wandering among the dead without an aim. I forgot them and turned my attention to the sky above.
Bring me back on my feet and let me go I'm fine alone
Fire burst around me, bullets tearing into grass, metal and flesh, rockets throwing up dirt and rocks, but they shot at shadows. The last few infantry died now, killed by friendly fire, as those in the air desperately searched for me.

In this shell of life you left me hanging dry
I stood in full view, and as they turned to rip me apart with their weapons I raised my hands into the air, almost like a gesture of surrender. But looks can be deceiving, and this was far from it.
With a smile on my face I'll watch you cry
Like a musical conductor I slowly brought my hands down, and a couple of helicopters came down, spiraling to crash among the flames and bodies of my attackers. More seemed to bank unwillingly, as if buffeted by a strong wind, dipping low like they were tethered to the ground.
Watch you cry!
I brought my arms down fully in an abrupt, swift movement. They began to fall, out of control, pilots frantically punching and pushing controls, passengers and gunners screaming in fear as they plunged to the ground. They exploded on contact as they landed on the tanks, and they began to land on each other, burning the occupants, tearing them apart with flying glass and metal, exploding apart.
Watch you cry!
The last went down to its fate, forming the final bit of a massive wall of flame. If left unchecked it would spread and burn the base and all bodies and wreckage to ash. Most likely there were firefighters and medical teams on standby somewhere, but they would need to work around the clock just to control the blazes, and no medic or doctor in the universe could undo what I had done to those who were in and around the base. I left, walking away though the forest as the sights died away from my vision to be replaced by the cool darkness, at peace. Now, I knew, I needed to find her.
Wherever she was, no force in the universe, not from man or alien, not from angel or demon, not from any god or deity, not from nature or Chaos would stop me from finding her. I would walk the length of every universe, fight though any dimension and not stop, even if Time itself expired, until we were reunited.

What was this?
A stream running though my head, endless loop, repeating...
Numbers.
How did they get there?
What do they mean?
Starchart...coordinates, then.
I inhaled, letting the smell of terror and death filter in, along with other scents, fainter but no less pungent. I breathed out...
And found myself elsewhere.

'Oh great. They not only gift us with a pissed off psychopath, but an out of control pissed off psychopath."

Those were the first words Silvertooth heard. They weren't amused.

"And I don't care if you believe you are the second coming of the mythical Jesus Christ or the second to last manifestation of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Now, you want to find your sister. I want to find my brother. To find either one we’re going to have to work together. Capiche?” Those were the next set from the lips of a tall, human appearing – though the Xiscapian might swear he saw a ghostly underlay of a second form shrouded with black feathered winds and tailed – woman who regarded him with level grey green eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A Strange Gathering don't you think?"

Ten snorted “Around this group, this is the norm. Nothing out of ordinary yet” He shook the extended claw without the slightest bit of hesitation “Frt'grk, Aziel, Davidson” He nodded to the other two.

Nervous contented himself with good behavior. He merely nodded before launching himself from Tora’s arms to Ten’s shoulder. His no holds barred landing did not jostle the Cadre in the least, and Tora just shook her head at him before giving the three a shy smile and a murmured greeting.

She wore the more skin less clothes fashion that many of the less reputable freelance ship captains wore, and the heavy blaster slung gunslinger fashion low on one hip was in a quick draw rig. Her hair was currently a dark iridescent blue, her eyes matching. Aziel would notice a odd psionic dead zone about her. Not any sort of shielding, natural, or artificial, but a null spot, a hole in the psychic aether.

“I think every one else who has arrived is in the refectory, taking a meal break, and I’m starved myself. Your packs will be taken to your suites. I don’t know how many more are yet to arrive though” Ten led the way out of the hanger bay.

The wide corridors weren’t marked, there were seldom outsiders here, and those who lived and worked here didn’t need markings. But Ten had worked out of here before and knew the way

Wonderful. As if I don't have enough problems.
"Out of whose control, exactly? Mine? I think not," I rasped. I kept the same stance, as non-threatening as possible, cloaked and hooded, calmly waiting, the other side of me suppressed for now. "Who the hell are you and where was I?" I don't know where I am now, or how this bitch knows about Nightshade, but she was both offering her help and hadn't threatened to kill me yet, both pluses as far as the class of people I usually meet go. She had the advantage for now, and I had to play along until I figured out the game.

"Oh, then extreme and unnecessary over kill is your normal modus operandi." Came the quick retort. "And my name is Astarte Omega, out of Perigrine by Abaddon of Omega Pride ...a small but very elite Pride" There might have been the faintest of self depreciating smiles quirking her lips but then again there might not have been.

"And 'here' is Karak Drakkön, my Pride's home base one might say. Where you were I wouldn't begin to know, but your uncle said you'd be coming." She studied the cloaked figure with a sardonic eye. 'Well to be precise you're rather in an antechamber, as I really don't want you causeing that same sort of mayhem on my people. So you can have the biggest hard on for the entire universe, in the end I don't care. But for now you have to set it aside and at least pretend to play nice and work well with others."

She flashed white teeth at him "Yeah I know, the angst you will have to suffer. But it's for a good cause, right? Your sister, Nightshade."

"Why must people share my name?" Said a voice in an annoyed tone. A male figure appeared, slowly approaching the group. "Wow, fuckin' group of misfits I see. Well then, I suppose you guys could be allies, but you never know, eh?" The man spoke with a lax tone, his white hair went down to his waist. His pale skin was hidden behind his pants and acoat. He wore a pair of flexible boots, protection was good but movement was better. His solid white eyes didn't give any indication as to who he was looking at. He didn't appear to have weapons, but this was a Greyknight, you could never really tell. "So, what're you all going on about now?" He looked around at the group, the cloaked figure looked a little familiar but he didn't really take any interest.

Oh, then extreme and unnecessary over kill is your normal modus operandi...
...your uncle said you'd be coming...
So you can have the biggest hard on for the entire universe...
"Since you appear to know so much about me let us dispose of the pleasantries. What do you have or know that I cannot buy, steal or otherwise obtain that would force me to help you? Alone or with others it doesn't matter to me, I can do teamwork and play like a good little freak."
I paused to take in this new person emerging from the shadows.
Typical...
"I don't know, you appear to be able to emerge from nowhere at will, with that kind of power I'd expect you'd already know." My voice was like ice, but I don't have time to deal with idiots.

"'Appear from nowhere,' I like that, but no. By the way, the way you talk is a little familiar... as if I know you from somewhere." Nightshade brushed off the feeling, "But that's impossible. Isn't it?"

"Why must people share my name?"

"Because there are only so many good names in the universe? And not nice to meet you too. You must be from Greywatch." Astarte commented acidly. She hadn't voted for the Greywatchers taking part. She'd never worked with any and really didn't want to start, but she'd been over ruled. Astarte hated that.

The half Nietzschean looked back at Silvertooth, the only other being in the rather formless gray nothingness of the 'antechamber'.

What do you have or know that I cannot buy, steal or otherwise obtain that would force me to help you? Alone or with others it doesn't matter to me, I can do teamwork and play like a good little freak."

"What do I have? The ability to find them. And if you want to consider yourself a freak go right ahead. I'm not here to alter either of your's egos. We're here to find my brother, your sister, his missing buddies" She gestured to the Greywatcher "and speaking of missing - your partner? I was given to understand that two of you would be joining our not so merry band"

Nightshade gave a faint smile, "So much hostility. This is gonna be a fun group. I guess you're right about the names though, Nightshade is a nice name. Though let me make this clear, Greywatch has very little hold on me, I am a wanderer by nature. And whatever do you mean? Two of us, I suppose if there is another he'll make his appearance soon enough." Nightshade's expression remained more neutral than anything else, and his body language gave off the sense he really didn't care too much about anything this person had to say.

"Thank you." Frt'grk said, Both Aziel and Davidson smiled and nodded as they followed down the corridoor to the dining hall.

"The lack of something is sometimes more telliing than it's prescence, and there are others about, that I feel we'll meet soon enough." The comment was vague enough to communicate to Tora what Aziel knew but still keep the others that didn't know about it in the dark.

"I suppose you know where we are from?" queried Davidson curious as to how much they knew about them.

"By the way, the way you talk is a little familiar...as if I know you from somewhere. But that's impossible. Isn't it?"
"I'm afraid there's very little that is actually impossible." I let the hood fall with a flick of my finger, wondering if he would still recognize me. It wasn't as if I'd changed any since I'd been sucked into that damn portal. I suspected there must have been some Greywatch soldiers that had been taken with us, the thing had covered half the field of battle before it had dissipated. He was here for them.
"What do I have? The ability to find them. And if you want to consider yourself a freak go right ahead. I'm not here to alter either of your's egos."
"Humor on my part. So you can find these missing persons, and we are here, so what are we waiting for?"

Nightshade took a moment examining the man's face, Well he can't of been all that important since I don't recognize him. Maybe we did something together at some point. Meh, guess it doesn't matter. Nightshade shrugged, "Sorry, if I did know you at some point, I don't anymore." He sat down on the ground, his legs crossed. He looked to the others with a blank expression, his solid white eyes giving no indication of where he was looking. "Well, I suppose it'll be fun working with you all one way or the other."

Two of us, I suppose if there is another he'll make his appearance soon enough."

Astarte's shrug wsa as noncomital. She didn't care wether the other showed or not herself, and it wouldn't affect her abilities, or her part in the mission.

"Humor on my part. So you can find these missing persons, and we are here, so what are we waiting for?"

She filed his looks away, her thoughts on them utterly private and if there was one thing she'd noted about the universe was it's utterly preverse sense of humor. Good looks bad attitude, though with his abilities..., with a Nietzschean's female's ruthless practicality she wondered what a genetic sample might look like.

"Well, I suppose it'll be fun working with you all one way or the other."

"If you like taking on bad odds and worse people, it should just be a riot." Astarte grin was more closely akin to a predators bareing of teeth. Half turning she sketched a sigil that left a glowing trail of light hanging in mid air.

"We're still waiting for some to arrive, but at this point we can easier wait in full Reality." She gestured again and the doorway opened with a surge of energies those knowledgeable would label as arcane. "You need to meet those whove arrived already."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I suppose you know where we are from?"

"You've been sent by TGM corporation, supposedly your their best." Ten said as he turned one last corner.

Tora just gave Aziel a slight frown, feeling that his comment had been directed at her but having no idea why, or what exactly he meant by the comment. She seldom worked with others - having very special reasons for that that she didn't mention to any one, but that her handlers knew of.

Ten though nodded "I understand that we have a, Xiscapian, a pair of Muri and a pair from Greywatcher as well, though I don't know if they've arrived yet. I know abit about the Muri, but I know very, very little about those of Greywatch, they aren't some one we've had any contact with. Though I think the Xiscapians have. I don't know who the kitsune are sending - they're good people to work with I'm told, though I haven't directly worked with them." He'd met a few but that was nothing like working with them, but he had heard good things about their special forces and their other operatives.

I walked towards the doorway erected for us, a somewhat feral smile gracing my lips for a fraction of an instant before I stepped though. I don't think it would be right to say I enjoy killing, but I do enjoy the benefits it brings, namely that whoever you've killed are now gone from this universe, at least for a while. Not the same at all. Right, still as self-delusional as ever. I thought dryly. Others? Just how many people lost someone down the maw of that portal? I don't care if they're brought two more or an entire fucking army...as long as they don't get in my way.

Nightshade got up, "You're kidding right? Going up against bad odds is what I do." He nearly gave a small laugh but decided anyone with a stick shoved that far up their ass wouldn't appriciate his lightening the mood. He simply walked forward as the portal appeared, "Well whatever happens, happens." He said as he followed the Kisune through.

Walking though the 'doorway' led them into a very ordinary looking room, apparently some sort of office if the furnishings were any indication. There was no one within at the moment.

Astarted stepped through after them, collapseing the portal behind her. She moved past the two, and activated gthe sliding door in the wall that was otherwise filled with bookshelved. It opened on to a wide corridor, where a fair amount of traffic could be seen and heard.

She stepped though and greeted some one just beyond the visual field of the pair still in the office "Travis, Tora...and these are the trio sent by Tee Gee Emm? Yes?" She cocked her head slightly, then made a minimal gesture to the two she'd collected "I've got Silvertooth Rose of Xiscapia and Nightshade from Greywatch"

She looked the other group over as she made introductions. "Torgatai is in the refectory, we'll join him and start hashing out the details." The half Neitzschean lead the way into the spacious well appointed room where the Novan Kami relaxed at a round table that would hold a dozen easily. He was sipping from a cup, the fragrant scent steaming from it identifying it as Jasmine tea. Hooded eyes watched the others arrive.

Astarte took the chair to his right.

Nightshade looked over at the mention of SIlvertooth's name, "Now I remember you. You and your sister were with Redemption and I on that other planet awhile back... right. That's why I'm here." Nightshade looked to the other group and gave a nod, "Sup. Lay it on us when you're ready."

"Best? Hah - Mean's nothing except that you have an extremely large ego which usually makes you think you can never get caught. We each have different abilities and those abilities go well together in this case so yes, we're different, good at what we do. But the best?! Well we'll leave that to others to decide." Davidson sort of ranted but it was a calm deliberate almost emotionless in it's tone despite the emotion inherent in the words.

Aziel saw the slight frown, and it was the only thing that she had to go on, it didn't seem that it was a knowing frown, that someone had worked out her secret. There was something else, something weird. Could it be an unknowing frown? that she somehow realised that he was talking about her but had no idea why? Yes, there was a hint of confusion in their too, the benefits of being able to read someone's thoughts was that you also get to understand the visual markers too.

Well, this would be interesting indeed, he would have to do some testing see how it affected his abilities, oh of course he wouldn't be able to target her but what about those beside, going through his void. What if he was next to her? This would be interesting indeed to find out. This was before being brought out of his own mind world by meeting with the others.

"Davidson, Aziel and I'm Frt'grk"

Bookcase door? How quaint and cliche...I guess there's some things that every secret base has to have. I chuckled to myself.
I merely nodded at the Greyknight's words. I doubted it would change anything that he knew me, we hadn't exactly worked together.
"Davidson, Aziel and I'm Frt'grk"
"Silvertooth Rose," I murmured, bowing but keeping my eyes on them even as I did so, straightening up fluidly. I immediately distrusted the one called Aziel, there was something shifty about him, like he knew something you didn't. I knew that trying to probe my thoughts would be akin to running repeatedly into a brick wall, but you never knew with these types, something new everyday. I took my seat, separated from those who had already sat by a chair on the right side, tail wrapped close to the chair.

The ship was a silver orb, without features, it's surface a shimmering silver that reflected all-much not wished seen by observers. The Three Oaks Clan had obtained it for a song, and Humbaba had treated it's surface with various alchemicals and darkest sorceries. The orb was a mirror reflecting that which the observer least wished to see-usually their truest self, but there were exceptions.
--Are we even in the right place?--He asked his servant, a homunculus he called "The Shape".
Homunculi-artificial life forms-were frowned upon by the muri. Their unorthodox upbringings, usually raised in a lab by asocial experimenters, made their socializing difficult, but Humbaba had created the Shape and immediately placed it among his sisters' children. Although it's mind was stunted, it had an affection for children and an understanding of muri culture from the grass roots. It also loved it's father dearly, and knew it's odd nature made it difficult to accept, but Humbaba had tended it carefully, often taking it out into the world and demanding it be treated as all Life at all times.
--This is where we should be, Father--the Shape replied, oozing into the hairless pink gorilla-like form it preferred when circumstances did not require another. The Shape was a topological metamorph,able to adjust it's form as desired, though things like color eluded it-it remained a fleshly pink no matter what it's outward dimensions.
--Let's send out a signal, then. Daddy is quite lost--Humbaba keyed in the frequency supplied by the Tanaran Peregrine, and sent:"I'm here, apparently. Where are you?"

I'm here, apparently. Where are you?"

The reply came swiftly and included the coordinates to the landing hanger of the base. "Welcome to Karak Drakkön." He wasn't that far from the fourth, apparently entirely unexceptional, moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But the best?! Well we'll leave that to others to decide."

Ten shrugged at Davidson's little rant. It didn't faze him. Cadre were the best, there was no ego involved.

He and Tora took seats next to one another. Nervous hopped down to take a chair of his own, the Grendel shifting shapes as he did so, into something resembling humanoid. Their part in this was going to be limited unless things changed - but things always changed.

Astarte introduced Torgatai to the others, then paused for a heart beat as her commo system passed along the arrival of the Muri. "Please feel to partake of the bases hospitality as you like. I'll be back shortly, the Muri contengent has arrived"

Ten and Tora placed orders from the menu padds by their seats. Nervous chose not to. "The cooks here are good. Nothing universe shaking but still, good." Ten commented. "And I'd suggest eating now, once things gets going we tend to moce fast, and quality food might not be rreadily availabel where we're headed."

"Actually our intitial stop will be at Heavens Gate" Torgatai named the most infamous casino and pleasure spot in the Barrens.

The three each ordered Chicken meals and started to eat as whatever what would happen would happen.

Humbaba flipped on the autopilot, and sent:"Just guide me in-these Streib spheres can turn on a dime, so minimal directions will get me in your bay." He locked on the signal and turned to his wardrobe.
"Tell me, Shape-what should I go for? Function or Presence?"
"I always like when you do the Great and Powerful Sorceror bit, Father-the black robes with the white feather collar and glossy skullcap."
"Bit flashy, but you have better fashion sense than I. Fetch it while I check my systems-can't be too careful among aliens."

Nightshade looked around, Lotta people here... interesting. Must be something special. He shrugged and sat on the floor, cross legged.

I ordered a steak, raw, devouring it quickly, wondering about this 'Heavens Gate' pleasure casino. I haven't had much experience with such things, I avoid even my uncle's social functions. I wasn't much for the whole stealth or undercover element, my features made me instantly recognizable, but I could if I had to. Why we were going there I didn't know, but I would follow the lead of the others for as long as I thought was necessary.

The orb delicately bobbed into the bay and landed, or perhaps rolled, to a stop. The featureless sphere gave little indication, until a fissure opened so rapidly as to appear suddenly, and extended a ramp.
The bay was still frigid from space as Humbaba walked out-deadly to a human or even a muri, but Humbaba was a sea troll, and had not lost trollish immunity to cold. He was tall, a little over seven feet, and lean, his hairless hide a smooth greenish grey, though his lower jaw was stark white, as was his throat. This entire front of his torso was white, as in all sea trolls, though his robes covered it.
He was all in iridescent black, save for a collar of white feathers that reached his shoulders and halfway down his back and chest, and he wore a smooth skullcap that seemed to shine. As he glided down the ramp, no ripple showed his legs moving, and the Shape, a lumpish pink hairless ape to the eye, did not move either as they descended the ramp, Humbaba's foreclaw protectively on his homunculous's shoulder.
Humbaba reached out with his arcane senses, gauging the defenses here, and found them adequate. He allowed the corners of his mouth to pull up slightly-to a troll, it indicated smelling something foul, but outsiders regarded it as friendly.
"Sorry I'm late" he apologised. "Are the others all here? We should probably get to business..."

"Have heard of it, it's a big place..." commented Aziel who in reality didn't know but started to pick off surface thoughts of those in the area.

Ten grinned sourly. "If extreme everything is your fun, then they have it in spades and charge accordingly. And they'll happily take you for everything you've goe, including your 'self'."

Tora had never been there hearself, her work took her mostly into even farthur flung and less known spaces but she'd been in enough like it.

"It's our first link in the chain" Torgatai said as he slowly sipped more of the fragarent tea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are the others all here? We should probably get to business

Astate entered the hanger as environmental paramaters changed, and gave the Muri sorcerer a bow "No Lord Humbaba, you are not late, Lord Morga has yet to arrive and only one of the pair from Greywatch has arrived. But if you'd like to meet the others. They are in the Refectory, they just recently arrived themselves. If you prefer to rest I have a suite prepared for you"

"Lord Morga is away on Blue Moon business (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlLOAJy0kyI), training new recruits with Muritan or quieting one of the Gang Wars that inflame Tenfour in his absense." Humbaba replied blandly. "While your suite is doubtless comfortable with amenities too numerous to name, I fear the business at hand will prevent me from enjoying any. The Lady Tomasuza is acting, and I fear the Dead travel fast.
"Take me to the Refectory-are you hungry, Shape?" this last was directed at his odd companion, who was shifting oddly, though maintaining it's form. "If it's no bother, bring some food for poor Shape-and perhaps a bit of mint tea with honey and cream for me. I've quite a bit to go through, and that's thirsty work.
"Please, lead on..."
(OOC: Forgive the lateness of my reply, but my baby brought the grandkids by before the school year starts, and until I wear all the cute off my grandbabies, I'm preoccupied)

"Excuse me for sounding... 'normal,' but when the hell do we actually get to move out and do something worth while? I mean, do offense to all of you, but I'm bored." Nightshade said with a yawn.

Astarte nodded at Humbaba's request and signaled to an assistant to forward the desired comestibals to that the meal and the tea would be waiting for the Muri and Shape when the arrived in the Refectory.

She escorted the pair there, moving briskly and showing no discomfort over the Muri's odd companion. "We have our transporteres here already along with Lord Silver Tooth from Xiscapia, and a trio from TGM, and a Greywatcher. I had been given to understand that there were to be a pair from Greywatch, but apparently not, so with your arrival we are all gathered and can proceed."

Once they reached the Refectory a servant had delivered tea and food for them to the table.

'normal,' but when the hell do we actually get to move out and do something worth while? I mean, do offense to all of you, but I'm bored."

Torgatai was giving Nightshade a 'down the length of his nose' look "Your patience is dubious, it has been a scant twenty minutes and you are bored? If you are bored already you are certainly welcome to go Hunt on your own" The dark Kami's voice was cold and his lips turned up in a faint sneer.

"So the question is what's our target doing there? It could be a simple as an attempt to lose persuers but I get the sense that they'd more likely lead us into an alley then blow up the alley."Aziel spoke almost without any extraneous muscle movement, almost a dead, flat tone

"Either way, a Casino like that would have the whole place wired, video & sound protecting their investment from card counting, and all the various types of cheating. Advanced and probably propriety security system, should we gain access we'd be able to know everything that our target is doing and has done while there at the Casino." Davidson was much more expressive and active in his part of the conversation, and seemed to think that gaining access to the security system was going to happen despite the previously aformentioned tight security.

"Generally I find, if people have defenses then there is something they want to keep hidden." Aziel added a quick addednum, while it might not of been quite appropriate in the context it seemed to be in, a few moments later Aziel shot the Xiscapian a quick look. He didn't like the fact that absolutely everything had been shut down including surface thoughts. You mose well have a giant flashing sign above your head saying "I am hiding a sercret."

Aziel didn't trust Silvertooth, and it seemed that Silvertooth didn't trust him, well, we'd just have to wait how these things play out.

Greyknights... they can move godly fast if you give them a reason to. Just another ability that comes with being part demon. As soon as Torgatai finished his statement, Nightshade was in front of him. "You... are... too... kind..." he said with a wide grin and sincere glee, "Gimme some transport and I'll be on my way."

I watched the Greyknight move himself from his seat to in front of the one called Torgatai in an instant. Not a team player at all, this one. I sensed the telepath, the one I had faintly marked as a mind reader, had ceased his probings, at least as far as I could tell, and was glad for it. Even while watching this man with the name of my sister I heard the words spoken and did not miss the glance in my direction, even if my eyes were focused elsewhere.
"Defenses are for protection," I said quietly, "those with secrets conceal them. To put an armed man in front of a building is to advertise there is something valuable in that building, but to make the building appear decrepit and unused is to hide what it contains."
A quick, quirky smile, yet devoid of humor.

Humbaba entered the Refectory, staring at each of those assembled with a Sorceror's Sight.
"Gimme some transport and I'll be on my way."
"Don't be foolish." he responded. "The Lady would eat you alive and discover our attempts to unravel her schemes-you are part demon, boy, and easily bound by your name. I would rather destroy you now as a pointless display of power than face you as one of her minions. Do not use her name, now, nor none of her minions. That sort of thing is easy to scan for, and I'd rather she not be part of the proceedings."
He looked over each, then he saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxRr2wSt3B8) the bekko Silvertooth.
"You have a great destiny, child, and many wondrous paths stretch before you." He said, ignoring all others. "But you also have a dangerous condition, a mange of the soul-it riddles your being like cancer.
"Many paths lie before you, for you are young, but all lead to one of two possibilities. You may be healed: You must send Love away, trust One you have no reason to Trust, sacrifice all you hold dear for that you most despise, spare your greatest foe, and deny your closest heart from it's natural path to avoid this fate. Otherwise..."
Silverfang put on a haughty experssion. "Otherwise what?"
Humbaba looked him straight in the eyes. "Do as I suggest, and you will be revered as one of the Great Emperors. The other path leads to a great hand stretched over Komor-it is your hand, for I hear a multitude calling out your name..."
Silverfang drew himself up, disdainfully snorting:"My followers..."
"Your victims."

Nightshade looked to Humbaba, "Piss off dipshit, I'm not here for a pissing contest. And FYI, you know shit about me and my abilities so don't get uppity 'cause I don't bother to take shit from people like you."

"Perhaps you are right." Humbaba shrugged. "Give him his ship, and allow him to leave, to go a'haring on his own. He is far too foolish to be of use, and the Lady could use a bit of idiocy to trip her up."
He settled into a chair, and slowly regarded the young cambion. "You are impatient, and hasty, young one. The Lady has hunted those much older than yourself for Time Immemorial-you would be but a detriment. What I know would serve you little, so go about on your own-you would best be served by not having to plod among we tortoises."

"Glad you agree, I'd really like to see this fancy 'Lady' in all her glory, should be something special. And I haven't got to test out all my new stuff as of late." He gave a smile like that of a madman, his solid white eyes lacked any sense of humanity.

"Then come, boy-come against me, the most minor of apprentices." Humbaba smiled, and leaned across crossed foreclaws. "I can be no threat to you-Nightshade, is it? A name of power, doubtless...
"Once you have bested me, it is a simple matter to crush the Lady Herself. I happily offer my life to he who will smite her."

Nightshade looked at the man for a moment and then shook his head, "One: You would not be here if you didn't have something kick-ass about you. That's a given. Two: I'm old... I don't have a clue how old you are but I know that I've been around long enough to know that anyone pulling that trick obviously has some trick up his sleeve. Three: I doubt you really mean any of the bullshit you're speaking...." Nightshade shrugged, "Also, I doubt we really wanna mess this place up. I have this odd feeling everyone will come at me if I attack you, and that wouldn't be good for me now would it?"

Humbaba shrugged. "Rationalise it how you will. "
"Have any of you had contact with the cybermats who run Babylon?-Heaven's Gate to the Tanarans, but our term has stronger holds on the psyche, and is more reflective of the place's nature..."

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration...

"You presume to know any of my fates?" I said softly to Humbaba. "I cannot part with my Love, I trust but one, I hold nothing but what I have brought with me, my foes are as many and varied as the stars of the universe and I have long since ceased listening to the useless thing that is the heart. What you say, I cannot ascertain the truth of it, but one and one alone controls my destiny as I control hers. In this fashion, I control my doom, and no other."

This Muri disturbed me greatly, not only because of his words to me but the absolute, overriding certainly with which he uttered them. Watching him engage the Greywatcher I could tell he was one of cunning, things would not go well for the fool if he elected to attack the troll. I would not have stopped this Nightshade if he assaulted the one named Humbaba, but that was myself and for what I knew the others might have attempted to force him to back down if such a thing came to pass.

Torgatai had continued to sip meditatively at his tea while the Greywatcher postured and spewed verbal diarrhea. Though to those who knew him - and none here fell into that catagory - the look in his eyes was one of utter distain. Though he would have just let the Muri kill the fool. It would save him the trouble.

However he shook his head minutely as the Bekko tried to refute the utter truth of Humbaba's words to him. He too had much to learn.

Astarte, her arms folded across her chest, kept her silence too. Her money, and she was a Neitzschean female, was on Humbaba. Do I kick him off the team now, or report his death as a training accident? She mused as she rolled her eyes at Nightshades stupidity. Her lip curled at his cowardliness.

"Nightshade" Her eyes loked with Nightshades, showing no discomfort at their inhuman appearance. "Sit down and shut up. Be an asshole on your own time. Not the time of my father, my brother, or his" She nodded to Silver Tooth "sister"

Nightshade gave a smile to the girl, "Ooh, yes ma'am." He took a slight bow to her and moved, as quickly as he'd come, back to his original location, sitting down with his legs crossed and closing his eyes. Proby, proby, proby...

"Can we get back to the Job now? Do we have a plan, and what exactly is our objective at the casino?" Aziel queried purposely asking questions to get people back on track "We must put these other things aside, we are all here for the same reason and purpose, different people may be doing our paychecks but they sent us here to work together. From what I know if we can't work together then we should just pack up and head home. We've got enough to worry about apart from having to worry about each other."

"The ships of the assassins had a peculiar energy signature unique to the processing plants of the Barrens." Humbaba replied softly, gesturing to fill his cup with tea, honey, and cream before it floated to him without a whisper of Force energies. "This means dealing with the cybermats, the mechanical species that runs much of that dread region.
"The cybermats were once flesh and blood, but they managed at their apex to produce a sociopath obsessed with his own uniqueness who introduced a disease that killed them all. They managed to escape the deaths of their bodies by transferring their considerable intellects into robotic bodies.
"Once, they kept untainted tissue preserved as they sought a cure, but the desire to reproduce had them create artificial intelligences to act as surrogate children.
"As the natural intellects fell to mishaps, the artificial intelligences grew in number, eventually resulting in a civil war that destroyed their planet and created the Barrens.
"The cybermats are the survivors-some natural intellects, most artificial. The artificial intellects are obsessed with medicine-a programming installed during their creation and continued as core programming, despite the loss of all the original flesh in their war.
"We thought them destroyed, but a few criminals and outlaws discovered them in secret places, bases that survived, satellites, that sort of thing.
"The cybermats took them apart to improve their medical knowledge, and set up various enterprises to draw more unwanted types in. If the cybermats know of your species, you may enrich them by gambling, enjoying their hospitality, purchasing such goods as they manufacture-all no questions asked. If they are unaware of your race, they will examine you-it begins as a biopsy, but ends as an autopsy.
"We knew them as a fleshly race-attempted to aid them in curing the plague-but we failed, and the cybermats are strangers to us-artificial intelligences in usuform bodies, obsessed with curing a disease that died out with the last bits of the original race's flesh.
"The cybermats welcome all-they are cunning and desperate. If you have medical knowledge, they will barter for it fairly, but if you are anomalous they will seek to examine you.
"The Lady's men are there, or perhaps a thread left there will aid us in tracking the Lady herself-the cybermats may be aiding her, or may not, but they encourage trade and will know all that occurred in their domain, possibly more than the Lady realizes..."

"So if these things are machines..." Nightshade began, "they would be... vulnerable to electricity, correct? Or at least electromagnetic weapons?" Nightshade didn't change his expression but was knew if his hunch was correct he'd have an edge.

"How do they see?" It was a simple question but one that change a whole lot of things.

"So if these things are machines..." Nightshade began, "they would be... vulnerable to electricity, correct? Or at least electromagnetic weapons?" Nightshade didn't change his expression but was knew if his hunch was correct he'd have an edge.

The original design was a life support system for a disembodied intellect." Humbaba answered. "It had surge protection, and the crystalline network safeguards against an EMP effect. They've doubtless improved on the model since then, so do not expect any such vulnerability to manifest. When they blew up their sun, the release of energies would have killed them and wiped their circuits clean had they not some safeguards."
"How do they see?" It was a simple question but one that change a whole lot of things.
"The original race were telepaths-fairly powerful ones, and their intelligences will have access to that ability yet-it is how they survived, after all, by astral projection into the machine bodies. The artificial intelligences can perceive the entire spectrum of electromagnetic energy, including visible light, through their sensors, as well as sound to a degree surpassing even a muri's ears. The actual mechanics are their little secret, as we've never dismantled one to see how it works-it would be abhorrent to us to treat a sentient species so. They were friends, once."

"Well then, I'll just have to devise a way to get around that..." Nightshade said as he delved into his mind for other posible weak points.

"Be careful-if you destroy one, the Central Processing Unit will transmit the intelligence to a Main Data Base, and the method used to dispatch them will be fed to the computer factories to be safeguarded against. Since their form is tied to their function, the CPU is not located uniformly, even in similar models. The humanoids will carry it in their heads, their chests-I've even seen a few where the dominant hand contained the CPU-it's a black box about the size and dimensions of a deck of playing cards, though some are smaller-in some cases a round sphere no larger than the area encompassed when one places thumb and forefinger together.
"If you must slay, ascertain where the CPU is and target it-if the transmission is prevented, the cybermats will not know how they died. Do not strike to incapacitate or the intelligence will flee, and you will be targeted as a threat."

"Basically the same thing as a fucking Drone, brilliant..." Nightshade muttered to himself. He thought for amoment, "What about an instant-kill attack form behind? If one does it quickly enough, they go down and still shouldn't know what the hell hit them, correct?"

“And unfortunately we have been concentrating on Central Worlds space forces, and their problems, rather than the ground based forces."

Both Astarte and Torgatai sat back silent, listening to the exchanges between Nightshade and Humbaba, as did Ten and Tora - Ten had been to the casino before but knew very little of the shadowy race who were it's real masters. Tora's face carefully blank about ending up as a vivisection subject - that was not something she cared to contemplate.

She had no idea of Silvertooths background, but not much was worse than hers so she had just shrugged and figured he'd grow and life; or stagnate and die. So far it looked like stagnating was more attractive to him. Though she wondered what it would be like to have a sibling. Somehow the voice in her head just didn't equal one she had a feeling.

And the eyes in the back of her mind blinked and a tart voice agreed with her before submerging once again. Though they took a moment to look out of Tora's eyes at Aziel, and snicker. Wouldn't he like to know.

I listen, wondering to myself if we'd actually have to fight the things. Whatever the outcome, I know thousands of ways to kill, dismantle, disassemble, discorporate, erase, obliterate or annihilate a target, and I have certainly come up against worse than these cybermats. They sound too much like the SASM for my taste, melded with machines, driven by knowledge, obsessed with medicine, intent on dissection. But the SASM were stupid, foolish, blind, and if the same would apply to these or not remains to be seen. I don't care about these cybermats; they could freeze in the depths of the Forgotten Realms for all that it matters to me, all that I wanted was the next link, the next piece of the puzzle that would take me closer to her.

Aziel focused a moment on this newcomer, "Humbaba". He liked to read surface thoughts, it wasn't very obtrusive and it gave a good deal of insight into the character. However for Humbaba, this was weird. His surface thoughts were simple, focusing on mushrooms, the cultivation and harvesting of them, and occasionaly on the financial side too. Now this was obviously a front, being here and with what he obviously knew.. he was no Mushroom farmer.

Aziel just suddenly burst into laughter... "I have a sudden hankering for mushrooms" he managed to squeak out during his laughter. Catching his compatriats and perhaps most people surprised wondering what the heck he was thinking about.

"Allllriiiiight..." Frt'grk commented... "I think I have something that can help... Well 2 things..." Frt'grk had a small knapsack that had a strap round his neck and another behind his forelegs, securing it to himself, the actual knapsack sat on his back. "Davidson, The small black ball and the sunnie's"

Davidson reached in and pulled out the devices that were described. "This it's basically a Flash & Bang grenade without the bang... It lasts for 5 seconds, and not only does it output bright light, but UV, Infra-red... X-Ray. A wide range of EM Signals. Becareful, it could do permanent damage. Also these sunnies will help you cope with the flash of light, but they also have heat sensors. These are designed to locate things like CPU's and other Integrated Circuits that output heat in a similiar manner. It will add an overlay of a CPU's location in realtime. The Flash will obviously cause disruption to this but at least you won't be temporarily blind. Any questions?"

Humbaba looked over the device. "Remember, this is a last resort, for when things go poorly. The cybermats will probably barter freely if they are not part of this scheme."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Nightshade said, "Avoid fighting them at all costs."

"I sought to warn you of dangers, not encourage your more violent impulses." Humbaba replied. "This mission is still one of intelligence gathering, to locate the Lady. I have a delivery to make on behalf of my huntbrother's intended.
"However, bear in mind the Lady will have many dealings going on, and we may be fortunate enough to discover one or more of her schemes, if we are careful and clever.
"We should properly appear tourists, so try and keep your weaponry discrete-anything detected will be confiscated at the door, and the clientele at Babylon are largely pirates and exiles, who tend to carry their own secret arsenal. The only warrior impulse we should bear is the desire for a proper end to this business-while I am sure you are all badasses, so are many there, and they will want their sanctuary intact."
He pointedly cast his gaze between Nightshade and Silvertooth. "This place is a sanctuary for those cast out-we all may one day require it."

Nightshade nodded, "Understood. My weapons are summonable so that's taken care of. And I'll be sure not to jump the gun, even though I'm really bored... Meh. If only Ghost were here... he's better at the intel job than I am... can I just stand in the background looking like a generic henceman kind of guy, being generally unfriendly whilest you all do the talking?" Nightshade paused for a moment while thinking about Humbaba's last statement, "Are we gonna have bounties on our heads after this or was that just a general statement?"

I just nod. I could do quiet, weapons weren't a problem. There was a chance we wouldn't have to fight at all, but I was inclined to doubt it. Even if there was a one-in-a-million chance we'd enter combat, one-in-a-million chances are successful nine out of ten times. I doubted I would ever go back to Babylon, but if it kept them happy I would do my best to confine any damage I might do to those attacking me.
If such occurred at all.

Nightshade nodded, "Understood. My weapons are summonable so that's taken care of. And I'll be sure not to jump the gun, even though I'm really bored... Meh.
"You're not bored, you're just anxious to prove your manhood. Either accept you're a man and deal with it like an adult, or let us orchestrate a proper Gotterdamerung so we can succeed in our mission. You should invest in a pill to deal with your testosterone or learn there's more to manhood than the size of your surrogate penis. Success is what is important here, not who can kill most efficiently."
If only Ghost were here... he's better at the intel job than I am... can I just stand in the background looking like a generic henceman kind of guy, being generally unfriendly whilest you all do the talking?"
"Man up, it's not as if one of us will handle anything. A wayward word, cast on the fickle winds, may strike any of our ears. That includes you-more likely you, since you're so obviously a brute our foes will be less cautious about you. I don't intend to wetnurse any of you-I intend to go about gathering information and relay it to you through the expedient of a high-stakes poker game to keep innocents out, and expect you to do the same. It's a big casino, too much for a single frontman-we will all be frontmen here. I am hardly likely to hear about the cage matches, nor the intense Arena competition.
"We have no idea of what the Lady is doing, and she multitasks well-we will all be involved on the front line, and expecting your warbrothers to take up the slack is childish."
Nightshade paused for a moment while thinking about Humbaba's last statement, "Are we gonna have bounties on our heads after this or was that just a general statement?"
"I have no idea-I suspect, but knowledge eludes. A cybermat bounty is nothing to laugh at-they may refuse to leave transmission range of their Data Bases, but they have allies who do not-and they provide a valued and respected service to them all."

"You're not bored, you're just anxious to prove your manhood. Either accept you're a man and deal with it like an adult, or let us orchestrate a proper Gotterdamerung so we can succeed in our mission. You should invest in a pill to deal with your testosterone or learn there's more to manhood than the size of your surrogate penis. Success is what is important here, not who can kill most efficiently."

"Man up, it's not as if one of us will handle anything. A wayward word, cast on the fickle winds, may strike any of our ears. That includes you-more likely you, since you're so obviously a brute our foes will be less cautious about you. I don't intend to wetnurse any of you-I intend to go about gathering information and relay it to you through the expedient of a high-stakes poker game to keep innocents out, and expect you to do the same. It's a big casino, too much for a single frontman-we will all be frontmen here. I am hardly likely to hear about the cage matches, nor the intense Arena competition.
"We have no idea of what the Lady is doing, and she multitasks well-we will all be involved on the front line, and expecting your warbrothers to take up the slack is childish."

"I have no idea-I suspect, but knowledge eludes. A cybermat bounty is nothing to laugh at-they may refuse to leave transmission range of their Data Bases, but they have allies who do not-and they provide a valued and respected service to them all."

"Nope, I'm pretty sure it's boredom, I've kinda been like this for awhile. Though I honestly don't expect you to know that since you,'re like everyone else here. You honestly seem to believe that:
1) I give a shit what you think
2) That you've achieved such status in the uiniverse that you know everyone and can read people at a glance
3) That everyone is weaker than you.
Case in point being the fact that you bother to throw out insults right, left, and center which is the most childish display I've seen so far. Notice something different about me: I'm not really wanting to fight any of you, hence my backing down... twice. And, I'm not going off on you like I was before, since I'm actually trying to play nice.

Now then, onto my intel comment. Whatever part of the brain is used to reconize humor, you seriously need to develop it. I don't have a problem gathering intel, I just don't like it. Why? Because of things that have happened in my past when I tried. Again, this is something you wouldn't know, but, because you're extra concerned about racking up kudo points, you jump to conclusions anyway. I may be a brute, but you're winning the jackass award here, whether or not anyone else is inclided to agree with me. I've stood alone before, this isn't all that different.

Again, That's kinda why I was asking. Now then, if I honestly felt like penis wagging I would going around making a name for myself by intentionally pissing all sorts of people off for no reason. Why do I not do that? 'Cause having people shooking at me 'til the end time isn't an appealing thought to me. Therefore, I'm keeping low, and not doing things that would otherwise get me a wanted poster." Nightshade paused for a moment, "Y'know what? Fuck it. No point actually arguing with you because every insult you feel so inclided to say just rots this already failed relationship more and more. Forget it, say what you will, I'm not even gonna bother anymore."

"Very well."

"Alright, that's the addendum... use only if necessary to escape. Though I think I won't tempt fate. I have no idea if the cybermats have ever met my species and I'd rather not want to find out. I'll come along but no way will I enter the casino." Frt'grk was visibly nervous about what might happen to him, the others were basically bog-standard humans as far as he knew, though Aziel did have a penchant of saying weird things at odd times. He just thought that he was just... weird.

"If you aren't certain if your species has encountered them in the past, it might be wisest to bring some medical journals consistant with your government and cultural policies on availability of information.
"Bring it in book form-the longer they take to assimilate the information, the longer it will take them to get curious about you personally. If it's in your native tongue, all the better-their translation will take a bit longer, and this tactic would buy more time.
"If you have underworld informants, it might be best to query them as to your criminal contact with the Barrens. Several smugglers use the casinos as drop points and for vacation, and if you can arrange a reservation through a regular customer, things will be that much safer.
"Babylon has a regular shuttle to the Arena, where high stakes wagering on combat takes place. The Arena also does a brisk trade in bodyguards and assassins, so it is likely the Lady will be operating there.
"However, unless you've a hot trail you do not wish growing cold, do not go there alone. Do not go anywhere in Babylon alone if it can be avoided.
"Anything is on the market there, but be wary-if you're going to torture or kill a Courtesan, be sure to stipulate that first. The cybermats spend years training their Courtesans in subtle psychological techniques as to provide quality companionship as well as the physical aspects of their Art, and they do not like their investment wasted.
"And please do not think a Barrens Courtesan is a whore-they are steeped in psychology and observation, and they are protected by a powerful union, with ties wherever prostitution is plied. Many powerful men have nearly bankrupted themselves for a Barrens Courtesan on their staff, and this practice has enriched not only the coffers of the cybermats, but their intelligence gathering capacity.
"Be wary around them, for they garner far more than you'd think."

I was glad to hear of the words of the troll. Though I am more confortable working alone or with my sister, if he says I should 'play nice with others', as Astate put it and get a partner or join the group, I could do so. I wondered if I was repeatedly confirming this to reassure or convince myself. Though the Palace and some of my old haunts on business I had contacts in the criminal elements of the galaxy, although nearly all of them had no idea who I was, and the others only suspected by identity was one of royalty at best. They would become useful to me again here. To the Courtesans, I have no hold with the 'pleasures of the flesh', not, I believe, though lack of interest, but merely lack of trying on my part. Most of the females I meet are either running from me, trying to kill me or handing out mission briefings. However, I knew it might be nessecary to bed one of these prostitutes to gain information, though I would not if I could avoid it.

OOC: Falls out of chair laughing - ST just has to meet some other females, flat out, just has too...
***********************

I'm known there I can make reservatioons for a small group, and can appear to recomment to Tora here. Know you've not been into that area, but your name goit mentioned once in my hearing so not too far fetched" Ten nodded at the Muri's comments about not going anywhere alone

"Humbaba is correct on that on not going alone. I'm more known to the Arena odds makers. I've fought a round or two there. And the Painted Ladies, be more than just careful, be very careful. Humbaba, I've read a very little about the ones called...what is it.. sister...no Daughters of Borlak. I think some of them are operating out of there." He shook his head at a memory that still raised his hackles.

OOC: Agreeing with Tanara on this one...
IC:

Nightshade nodded, "So no going anywhere alone. Shadow will serve as my partner then. Since I'm kinda out of the loop, what exactly are we looking for? I mean, what qualifies as something of interest to this mission?" Nightshade still didn't open his eyes, sight wasn't important at the moment.

"Two simple words-Black Lotus." Humbaba replied. "It's an ancient recipe, a powder combining the venom of the pufferfish, juices from the daitura-a sort of potato from the Heart of Chaos, and several inert ingredients needed to dilute it, or modify it's effects.
"This secret is held most dear to the Lady, and it's presence indicates hers. Certain mystics claim it can separate the soul from the body, and use it to plumb those psychic realms where great mysteries are held. The Lady laces other black market consumables with it, for it is as addictive as it is deadly, and by flooding that market, she has an army waiting on her word to erupt in a cannibal frenzy, succumbing to the mixture and her prompting to become a zombie infestation.
"However, if you should hear of incongruous events transpiring in your governments' spheres of influence, this, too, may indicate her. She has honed her political maneuverings in the murky dealings of the muri, and is a master at the Butterfly Effect, I believe it's called. Any unusual activity should be reported-some will be blind leads, others will be of value. While terrorists do purchase weaponry from the various criminal enterprises of your nations, crime is a business, and terrorism is generally bad for business. Any massive influx to terrorism should be noted, as it is possibly the Lady's influence, especially if it is sweeping or grandiose.
"If any of the Daughters of Borlak are in the Barrens, avoid them at all costs. They are always women of transcendant beauty for their species, clad in the richest robes-and they have been alchemically altered so their very nature is poison. Contact with their skin or breathing in their breath is death, and they may have other tricks as well. I would doubt their presence in the Companion Guild, however-they couldn't perform their duties nor their training without leaving a trail of corpses, though some Daughters may have had this training prior to their transformation. Not many, however-the Companions and the Blue Moon have a long history, and the Lady is a Blue Moon concern, moreso since she went into hiding after the Order of Vaneekara declared blood feud on her.
"I do not know what she is up to-yet. Her assassination attempt was a personal, family matter. Whatever she is doing will be revealed only by painstaking work."

"Just stay with us Frt'grk and you'll be fine... though yes something to keep those cybermat's busy would be good too." Aziel could sense the fear, it had been an all to familiar emotion and sometimes he knew just what buttons to push to get the desired out come.

"Well, I do have something that is written in a language that hasn't been in this universe for at least a thousand years... so that should suffice."

"Yes, Frt'grk that should be right, Still seems like a bit of a needle in a haystack but we won't have much time until the trail goes cold."

"We are tracking two needles in particular" Astarte spoke up to give them some more information " Both are direct accomplices of the Lady's. One is new, a Veela." She told them of the severely reclusive race from Alversia and went on to the next.

"Zhaamen the Serpentine is Lady Tomasuza's personal assassin. A herpimorph, with the ability to control any reptile, or those evolved from such species, psionically. He's also quicker than thought with his blades, and dangerous as a cornered rat. One must move very carefully around him - his bite is a deadly venom, and he has no compunctions about spitting it. He always has a snake companion, and the two of them train extensively, so expect to fight both at once, if you get into a confrontation with him."

She continued "He is a master of disguise, and can shapeshift within his limitations in an instant. But he likes the company of women; we don't have any information on gratuituious torture or sadism on his part in the sexual arena."

She stopped to see if any had any questions

"The Lady's alchemist handles torture-Zhaamen justs kills or captures as he's told." Humbaba replied calmly. "Sexually-well, he has no known partners nor preferences, but trolls are very circumspect in this matter."

"These poisons... would you happen to have a sample of any of them? If so, I could try to create an antidote... no telling if I'd succeed but it would be worth a try." Nightshade was good at creating poisons and antidotes. But it was rare that he found others who used his style, it had also been awhile since the last time he sat down and did some alchemy.

"What of this Veela?" I ask quietly. "What is her exact purpose, and is she likely to be there? They may be isolationist, but they are connected to the Alversians, who are connected to the Xiscapians, who are in turn connected to me. It may be a slight chance, but I don't think anyone wants to risk her recognizing me." I doubted the Veela would, but it was nevertheless a possibility, and I could unintentionally blow this entire operation with my mere presence.

"I...I still don't know... Zhaamen might control me... If you hadn't noticed I am reptillian. Can you ensure that he won't succeed?"

"Frt'grk if he uses his mind to attack you, I can use mine to defend... none of the others even raised it as an issue. Don't worry."

He created an empathic link with Frt'grk calming and re-assuring him directly by creating those emotions inside and it seemed to work meanwhile he created a telepathic link with Astarte.

Astarte... Is there going to be an issue with Frt'grk getting controlled?

He kept the link open allowing for a response and a further private conversation with him.

"Actually, I should worry more about the demonic members of our little group." Humbaba smiled-actually that quirking of the lips that passed as a smile among aliens. "I have prepared an amulet to protect the Tanaran cambion, and perhaps may provide similar protection to you. I was present when Zhaaman drove several of your folk to madness and riot, and I have a fairly good memory."
He tossed a small golden orb on the table. "That will contain your name-binding you to the possessor of the amulet. As long as you hold it yourself, you cannot be bound, as you already are-by yourself, admittedly. I only knew of one part-demon among us, the Lady Peregrine's child, so only made one-it requires only your blood to activate it, but be warned-whosoever holds the amulet will command you completely. Keep it close and keep it well.
"As for you, friend, we can work something out-if you're not psionically aware, it will hinder you little, but it will have to be nuetralized for you to use your psionic abilities, and these times will render you vulnerable.
"I fear it is the best I can do, barring the Spider's Sons appearing."

Astarte... Is there going to be an issue with Frt'grk getting controlled?

"There might be" Astarte had been present when the assassin had incited the Anagonians in the aftermath of the beleaguered wedding. She replayed to Azael her memories of the incident, and the other data surrounding it. "We have items that we will gladly supply Frt'grk. While they aren't a hundred percent effective - nothing in the universe is - they along with your own workings should suffice unless Zhaamen is at his side and concentrating solely on controlling him"

She broke off their mental conversation as Humbaba began addressing her specifically.

"-it requires only your blood to activate it, but be warned-whosoever holds the amulet will command you completely. Keep it close and keep it well."

Astarte stretched out a fore finger and touched the gold orb lightly, spinning it for a second before scooping it up in her palm. And for those with eyes to see something comprised of a multitude of shadows stirred and stretched wings of living hematite, for a heartbeat their silvery blackness reflecting a million facets, then absorbing the light as if it never existed. Then the afterimage vanished.

They may be isolationist, but they are connected to the Alversians, who are connected to the Xiscapians, who are in turn connected to me. It may be a slight chance, but I don't think anyone wants to risk her recognizing me."

“We know little about the Veela” she turned to answer Silver Tooth’s question. She was a student of the Vindrex. Why she has joined Lady Tomasuza’s organization we have no information. And if you are concerned about being recognised, I can change your appearance in a manner that will not be questioned"

Ten nodded "Lots of those there were pseudo masks, psi inhibitors and such, it's almost taken for granted that most there look nothing like they do there."

Nightshade sighed, knowing his question had been ignored. He simply took it as a 'no' and thought about anything else that might be a concern. As soon as Shadow showed up, they could probably get down to business.

“We know little about the Veela” she turned to answer Silver Tooth’s question. She was a student of the Vindrex. Why she has joined Lady Tomasuza’s organization we have no information. And if you are concerned about being recognised, I can change your appearance in a manner that will not be questioned"

Ten nodded "Lots of those there were pseudo masks, psi inhibitors and such, it's almost taken for granted that most there look nothing like they do there."
"I shouldn't worry-our friend here will be recognised whatever his guise-his dharma outshines any outward appearance." Humbaba softly replied, turning to Nightshade. "I apologize, but we've never milked Zhaamon. Had we the opportunity to do so, we'd doubtless have killed him then. Like it would do any good."

I listened to both beings, grimacing. The Muri was probably right, I have never gone out of my way to make myself anything more than inconspicuous, never mind attempting to fully disguise myself and hide my identity. And I'd found no need for it: If I needed to get past people I didn't want to alert to my presence and would rather not kill, I would simply draw their minds to another point until I was safely away. Now it could, possibly, be a problem. I doubt anyone would recognize me, I'm not exactly famous, and despite my features I am close enough in appearance to any of half a dozen furred races to be mistaken for them. In any case, I'll just have to go and be mindful and ready for whatever happens.

"I see." Was all Nightshade chose to say to Humbaba's response, he was more concerned with the odd presence he was now feeling, "And if, say, I were to mask his 'dharma' with my own Cryptic aura, would that serve as a way of making him harder to recognize?" A new voice asked, it came from Nightshade's direction even though he wasn't the one who spoke. Despite his sitting, he had the shadow of a standing man. Nightshade didn't so much as move, he knew who it was already.

Humbaba produced a small sphere, filled with a sickly green fluid. "This is concentrated scorpion queen venom-the deadliest poison in Komor. Those it does not kill become scorpion folk. It is incurable, and horrifically effective. I had been charged with delivering it to the Lady herself, but am incapable of doing so-the First Mother wants us, and I must answer."
He rose and bowed. "Skin contact should be adequate-best wishes to you." He turned, and headed for the door. "Shape, come along-we must be on our way."
The odd pair walked to the orb, which parted for them. It rose and flew off into the darkness of Space...

"Yes, I think we have talked enough about this situation, and it's now time to act... lest the trail get cold." Azael commented.

"Mmmhhmmmm" Davidson nodded in agreement as they all got up, Frt'grk and Davidson started to leave while Azeal commented that would catch up with them... "Astarte?"

Astarte stared after the Muri, hiding a cold anger that welled from deep within. They had been assured of the Muri's help, had counted on their near encyclopedic knowledge of the Lady Tomasuza - not a quarter of which they had passed along.

Her lips tight but with no other outward sign she looked toward the newly arrived other half of the Greywatch pair. Just what she didn't need, two with not a jot of courtesy about them, but it was what she was beginning to expect from Greywatchers, arrogance in abundance and what appeared to be a singular inability to work and play well with others.

And if, say, I were to mask his 'dharma' with my own Cryptic aura, would that serve as a way of making him harder to recognize?"

"Pseudo masks get ignored because they are so common place, I doubt your abilities are and would raise eyebrows among those we should not" Ten said "As will arriving via non 'standard' transport - only handful of those acknowledged as holding favored status arrive by method other than starcraft. Astarte whom do you want traveling with whom?"

Astarte looked at the Greywatchers "They'll and Torgatai will go with you and Nervous Ten. Take the Arena first. Tora, Silver Tooth, Azeal, Frt'grk and Davidson and I will start in the Casino itself."

Ten looked over at the pair of Greywatchers and nodded "The Damn Thing is ready anytime you like gentlemen" Then turned back to Astarte “I’ll send introductions for you all and Tora, my recommendation should some weight since I am known there.”

"Astarte?"

“Yes” Her face lightened slightly as she and Tora stood.

Tora heading briskly out to get Warlock informed of their guests.

From the shadow came forth a being dressed in black with dark purple hair and stone-gray skin. It's solid black eyes looked around.

"Pseudo masks get ignored because they are so common place, I doubt your abilities are and would raise eyebrows among those we should not."

"A valid point. I'll be sure to suppress my Cryptic Aura. And if needed, I'll change my appearance to something less... noticeable. But I'm afraid you'll have to help me there, it's been a while since I mingled in non-FM society."
Nightshade rose to his feet, "I guess I'm under your command now..." The being nodded, "Yes, that is correct."

"The Damn Thing is ready anytime you like gentlemen."

"Very well," said the being, "I imagine we do not want to waste any time. Let's move. And the name is Shadow, or Umbra. Whichever one suits you." The pair moved to follow Ten.

I take little notice of the latest arrival, watching the Muri, and his strange prophecy, leave. The Greywatchers would prove no more a pleasure to work with than any other, and I suspect they are prone to acts of heroism, impulses, unnecessary force and overreaction, though I was not one to critique in the last two categories. However, Astarte had indicated I would be joined with those agents from the company The Garbage Men, a competent group to say the least, if I was any judge, and this one called Tora, the Kami. If her words were to be believed, we would be infiltrating the casino directly while the others took on the gladiatorial combat pitch known as the Arena. I wait silently to be directed to the vessel we will be using to go to this casino with those who will be infiltrating that area.

"You'll meet us at the ship with additional supplies we may need?"

Impling the device that they telepathicly communicated about, Davidson and Frt'grk had just left the room as he finished and were on their way. Azael would soon follow after he received that verbal confirmation. There were somethings that you needed.

OOC: Just for clarifactaion -

Damn Thing - Ten & Nervous with Torgatai ( the Kami), Umbra, and Nightshade - Arena

Warlock - Tora with Astarte, Silvertooth, Azael, Davidson and Frt'grk - Casino

************************

Tora moved quickly back to her ship. The CS, Warlock, was not one for being comfortable with passengers of any sort. It'd take down a few minuted to lay down the law so he'd behave and then to check and makre sure that all the tricks and needs for this operation had been loaded.

"Quite odd for a ship." Azeal off-hand commented as he boarded along with his companions.

"What's odd?" queried Frt'grk who still had to yet get used to Azeal's weird way of coming up with things to say that make no sense what so ever without being put in it's proper context.

"Just forget it, he's not going to tell you." Davidson retorted

"Hey, I'm a telepath obtuse statements without context is my forté." Azeal was having a bit of fun stirring people.

"Yeah, but remember to not draw attention to yourself at the Casino, if there is anything we don't want to do is draw attention to ourselves." Davidson warned

"Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight." Azeal broke into a wide smile. "Oh, and before I forget... Frt'grk, Astarté gave me something for you, it's a necklace. Which will help you against the Hermimorph."

It was handed over yet Frt'grk didn't seem interested in putting it on right now. He was more interested in it's design.

I got aboard the vessel Warlock behind the Garbage Men team, settling into the nearest seat. For now there was little to do but wait until we lifted off and arrived at our destination, so I simply closed my eyes, leaning back, opening my mind in a meditative trance. Of course, this would leave it exposed to that one who fancied himself a mind reader, but at the moment I didn't care. If he probed at all, he would find what he would find, and how he acted on that information was his choice. I needed to put myself in the appropriate way of thinking to deal with this operation, and if doing so caused my allies to learn a little about me, so be it. Some things were more important than secrets.

Warlock's defensive nano swarms hovered about the passengers for a moment, thier aggressive warning hum a low end audible grump, but they withdrew before Tora could make a direct comment on their presence. Warlock had no great liking for strangers, and not much in the way of politeness.

The Damn Thingwas less blood thirsty - or maybe just more subtle about it's capabilities, but quickly both starcraft left the hidden base and quickly made their way to the jump point.

"Tora, I'll take you through on my bubble, that way you'll register as coming in on my say so and you'll have no ..well lets be careful and just say most likely less trouble getting a docking bay or berth which every you choose. I'd suggest a berth, more expensive but more upscale." Ten advised as he made the final settings for the DeSitter Space Translation.

"Agreed, and thanks for the down load of other information" Tora replied as she settled in off of the Damn Thing'sport side.

A DeSitter Gate would cover millions of LY in just moments.

"We're just going to get to know each other aren't we Warlock." Azeal commented as he patted the side of the room.

He sat down and entered a medatative trance, letting his mind wander. Sometimes it would delve into his own subconcious, sometimes it would look into others concious or sub-concious mind, sometimes it would skim over everyone barely causing a ripple and other times it would just sit there and be blank.

Who knows what it would do this time.

While Azeal was doing his thing Frt'grk was quite concerned. "You didn't tell me this shuttle was deadly!"

"Don't worry Frt'grk... Nothing will happen, yet anyway."

The rest of the trip was quiet from the three of them

OOC: Xis - I was sort of thinking that since both our characters are Trancing, with Azeal's abilities they could enter a weird mindscape together. Or Azeal could just learn about Silvertooth

Shadow and Nightshade began their own preparations in the meantime. Shadow had to find some way of looking less EDT and more human. That was going to be a challenge, first he'd have to suppress the Cryptic Aura and them he'd have to work on his appearance. Both of those tasks would be easy enough to perform, but there was always something else. Shadow found an open space, somewhere he wouldn't be bothered by the others, and began performing his ritual. A circle of black runes appeared around his body as he sat in whatever open space he could find. Nightshade had to attend to his own business. He had some catching up to do, mainly practicing with his Stormhand but there was also some other Cryptive and Encryptive arts he had to perform and sharpen. Also, if he had the time, he'd have to summon up his alchemy kit and make some more poisons and antidotes, something told him this mission would call for them. He still had no real reason to be there, he really only came because Shadow told him to, and Shadow isn't one to reveal information. Shadow couldn't give less a damn about this 'Lady' character, he only wanted his Drones back, that was all. This entire thing sounded like nothing more than a bullshit excuse to group together a bunch of misfits for some rather obscure cuase, but as long as he got what he wanted, he would be fine. Hopefully he wouldn't have to engage in combat, he hated displaying his abilities.

OOC: Sure, TGM, you want to start it? Just with a simple little probe, perhaps?

As Azeal entered the trance he knew that when he did so he was effected by those around and he usually couldn't quite control what happened in his own mind as a result. As with Silvertooth his mind opened right up which initially didn't affect anything until...

He was surrounded in a shifting rainbow psychadelic colours changing and interacting with each other, the colours were bright, along on the same dimensional plane as him he saw a cat. Looking back at his hands he saw himself suddenly become a pile of stinking rubbish, banana peels, package plastic and other rotten food. He must of stunk, but good thing that pile of Rubbishes don't have noses. What the heck was going on here? and where was 'here' anyway? was he in his own mind?

I was so deep into my trance, I was unaware of anything happening around me except for the most basic of movements by others. I sunk low into my psyche, settling in...

Around Azeal the kalidescope of colors suddenly shattered like glass, fracturing into a million shards, reflecting unseen light as they twisted and dropped with infinite slowness into darkness below. The cat was gone, as was the garbage, and Azeal was in a void, one that must look like the gulf that seperates galaxies. It was complete and utter blackness, surrounding and pressing against him, threatening to choke the telepath, before it began to recede, leaving a long plane of a fiberous red. Abruptly it zoomed past, disorienting and washed-out as a horizon appeared, where the red met black above, empty and desolate. There was no sound, no lights, no smells or sensations, just the murky hint of objects or possibly beings in the darkness, indistinct and formless.

For an instant it stayed like this, then a voice like that of a god growled out of the vacuum immediatly before him:
"Waste of my seed!"
Azeal never saw exactly what it was: It could have been a cane, a whip, a club, a belt or even a fist, but something lashed out and appeared to hit him. Though the telepath felt no pain the view tilted, spinning and blurring, and by the time it had stopped he was no longer in the same place he had started out in. This was at least recognizable, but no less strange.

It appeared to be a holding cell of some time, white walls with white bares and harsh white lights, contrasted only by a dark figure. Beetle-like black armor covered the form and a slug-thrower assault rifle could be made out slung in the arms. Behind it, in the same indistinct abyss that had been the darkness previously, there was a kind of mist, with sudden flashes of bright red, greens or yellows punching though before being swallowed up again. For a part of a second something could be heard, short but ear-piercingly loud, with no apparent rythem or beat that would suggest music, just noise, and below it, someone spoke half a word,
"Anim-"
The view shuddered and panned, and the figure was thrown up against the bars of the cell, the metal actually denting under the impact, limbs bent at odd angles, before crumpling to the floor on top of its gun.

Then it was all washed away in a tide of angry orange, black and red, and for a moment Azeal was able to think about what he had seen.

Azeal awoke with a start, taking in a deep breath in before starting to almost hyper-ventilate.

"Az? What's going on?" queried Davidson... "I sensed.. something." he couldn't explain it. Azeal almost couldn't explain it any further.

"I dreamt, no, it was more like remembering something that's never happened."

"Whatever it was, there was some sort of disturbance, perhaps a better word would be change, in the force, I don't know if it was good or bad."

"What do you remember?"

"It was very vague, getting hit by things I couldn't see, an undescernible figure and 4 words... Do the words 'Waste of my seed' mean anything to you?"

Davidson shook his head, "I could take a guess at what it means but that's all."

"Strange, thanks, You've been helpful."

Of course that wasn't the complete picture but that bit disturbed him, it seemed obvious to him what the full word was. Animal, which seemed to indicate raw animal aggression. It was caged and wanted to get out but couldn't.

He'd have alot to think about during the course of this operation.

Time had no meaning in DeSitter space, but for those that used it to cross distances there was one aspect that those used to it never thought to mention to those who weren't used to it...Sometimes you lived portions of your fellow travellers lives. But that effect didn't come into play this time for those aboard either the Damnthing or Warlock. The conditions weren't quite right.

Long seconds later, maybe a full two minutes, and several hundred million LY farther from where they had been, they came into existance in the 'real world' again.

Before they lay a system, muddy with ion storms, roiling with a hair raising array of normal space navigational hazzards.

"Okay folks we're here and it's ten hours with n-space enginges given the mess thaqwt this system is. And yes before you ask some if this is nor natural - they like to have arrivals to come in slow and easy to target. There's only a couple of safe lanes through this and they have all of it under weapons. So catch a nap, have some of the prepaked meals in the break room, read a holonovel, whatever." Ten said and transmitted that very information to Warlock who was matching points of the starboard.

"This is the local news channel - it's worth watching to get the local flavor.

The streaming holo-newscast was a smorgasboard of less than reputable journalism - it made the Galactic Enquirer, heir to the ages old pulp newspaper The National Enquirer -look mainline.

Talon came to a swoop, pulling up at the last minute to land gently on the spaceport at Tenfour's landing bay.
Showoff Morga psent his ship irritably.
I want them to think you're a good pilot The ship's thoughts dripped a cheerfully false contrition, but Morga knew Talon well, so some familiarity was permitted.
Blandly, he opened the small case that held five Gadbladdi Repair Kits and the Pain Knife he'd promised Sticks. All was in place, so he closed the case and carefully slid his credstick into his bracer-the tube he routinely kept hydrochloric acid in, just so he could scan the crowd for observers when he made his first purchase.
The customs was brisk and efficient-despite the First Mother calling back all the muri to Pamaltela for Her Grand Purpose, the men remembered him and wasted no effort in trying to ascertain exactly which of his innocuous possessions was lethal.
Morga permitted himself a true, trollish smile-Field Marshall Gort had claimed once that "ANYTHING in the hands of a Zorak Zorani is a WMD", and for all the martinet's blustering, he wasn't far off. Of course, Morga was Ordo Annilla, but he could usually manage a fatality or two with whatever was at hand.
He stopped at a trinket stand and purchased a few weapons-he doubted he'd need them, but the watchers trailing him needed something to report. One careless observer had received a small bruise from a thrown pebble, but Morga had done that out of a sense of duty-the man's superior would know what the bruise meant, and deal with the incompetant appropriately.
Morga's keen hearing picked out Sticks' voice:
"So's dis big-ass Korr Imperial Marine is covered wid dese small wriggling tentacles like worms in him, screaming, 'I want da bitch what give me VD!' and Little Keisha screams back, 'I no give! You buy! You buy!'" His laughter was joined by that of another, and Morga rolled his eyes.
He hated that story-it had cost him a great deal in medical expenses, but the leaping houses of Tenfour now had a complete cross-reference of various diseases and their effects on the many species of Known Space as a result.
Casually, he walked up behind the kitsune. "Gentlemen" his bolongo began. "Perhaps we should dine al fresco-I have much to do, and your repair kits are but the tip of the iceberg."

Ooc: Tg, od.