No Euthanasia (FT, Closed, Mature, see OOC thread)

[Karaig]

"You could undoubtedly use my help. I'm one of the strongest people in this room. I could be a valuable asset in a fight. Besides, I'm somewhat familiar with firearms so I could help our chances."

Revas laughed internally at the reptilian's pride. regardless of his suppossed strength, the dino had just tipped his hand. He's a fighter, skilled with weapons, Revas made a mental note of this. he had from the start, the massive bug was aggressive, the man helping the girl across the room could be many things, and the de facto leader wasn't a stranger to taking charge. He again scanned the room, picking out the threats, which was about all of them. Karaigan humans were stronger than the average human, their chromosomes slightly mutated, but Revas doubted that he'd hold up to the massive dragonoid without weapons. The insect didn't worry him, the leader, Sei apparently, had easily taken him down. But, it seemed that a few knew each other, so fighting anyone could tempt their wrath, and Revas was low on allies as it was.

He slowed walked forwards, his arms at his sides, not hidden, but in a stance that posed little threat. he could have raised his hands, but that could have been a sign of weakness. As slowly made his way through the crowd, he looked around. A blue feline, the dragonoid, and others. these people brought a whole knew meaning to rag-tag. He stooped in front of the crowd, staring up at Sei. The light in here brought out a pale blue glow from the tattoos that crossed his body, but nothing to bright. All the prisoners had there area of expertise, and Revas knew he wasn't the cream of the crop. There was no point in bragging about kills, his strength or his time in teh 31st Shock. It would be a waste and it would tip his hand to the others, which at this point, could be enemies.

"Hey. Your planning to bust out? Well, I'm not going to brag, but I think I can be of service. I would ramble off what I'm better at than everyone in this room, but that would be arrogant, and probably wrong considering anyone could argue that. I'm just here to help, and if you choose to take me on, I promise I will be of service to this cause. We're up against massive odds, we're unarmed for the most part, and the enemy is highly trained and proffessional. You'll need help in some way."

With that Revas took a step back crossing his armes. Not much of a sales pitch, but then again, shock troops never were taught how to sell anything that wasn't a steel spike. he just hoped they'd hit the lock up on board the ship, he had some valuables he'd like to reaquire.

[Huerdae]

ACV Spinor, Detention Block Z

Tutukiku's target proved to be more powerful than he had expected. The thing was larger than he, much taller, but Tutukiku had gauged that his own body's semi-hunched position gave him the advantage, as well as his strength. He had been right - and wrong.

The battle went quickly, and Tutukiku easily bore him into the ground, smashing apart some console that had reached it's end of life. The sparks and smoke confused him for a moment, blinding his senses as the reptile began to fight back, slamming a fist into the side of the Ikittitl's head, enough to give them room to truly fight. The thing's meatfists slammed against his carapace, jolting the ant-like insectoid roughly. Twice, he stumbled from a hit low on his thorax, but immediately pressed in again, his arms slamming into the sides of the chest of the beast. Three times, he was able to aim blows toward the lizard's neck, though in the turmoil of combat, whether they did damage or even hit was difficult to tell. The discharge of a weapon behind him indicated that he was universally disliked, but it met the same fate as the others used against him, and he barely registered other than that one of the two would need to be directly confronted.

Finally, the creature simply gave up, forcing the violent Winger off him, and bringing the fight to a close. Tutukiku was about to rise up and declare victory when a twinge of pain struck just between his thorax and abdomen. There, where the heavily armored plates normally slid together, something had been stuck to prevent him from hunching down again. Forced to uncomfortably arch his back, his many-faceted gaze focused downward, to the creature that had slipped in during his fight, and pressed that petty little weapon where it ceased to be petty. The creature even took the time to crank his head toward her, using his sensitive antennae like reigns.

But the point was well made. As she stepped away, he lowered his whole body, abdomen and stinger high in the air in case he needed it, and the protective, interlocking plates over his back held carefully without such weaknesses. His head was near the ground, mandibles opened threateningly, in case the woman tried it again. Unfortunately, the chance had passed. He had been forced to give up the control of this...disgusting amalgamation of scum to a little, blue-furred softflesh with a piddly weapon barely able to damage his eyes. It was clear, however, the others thought him dumb, or simply unable to understand them - it was a grave error. He understood every word they said, and having backed away to let the woman speak, he opened his shell, revealing the long-unused wings, and allowing more of his vile-smelling stink to spread throughout the room. The six wings were gossamer, and almost beautiful, if they had not been attached to the monstrous ant, and with a tender, testing use of them that had almost the same sound as a helicopter idling very near, he returned them to their shell.

Those all around him saw him with contempt, and that was something he was sure could be survived. They did this because they feared him, hated him for his superior abilities and superior strength. They were envious, and only together, had they defeated him. He would bide his time for now, waiting on the moment when he could choose his own destiny - only Tutukiku chose his destiny. He would not allow others to do so for him. The others showed clearly who they belonged to, following the orders of the Sei, who had given her name already, a fact not escaping him. Even the large dragon followed her lead, and it was here that he determined his mistake. He had assumed that the largest was the one in charge. It was clear that was the core of his failure. He would not fail should the chance come again.

But for now, he needed escape. Waiting for the slow-moving softflesh to clear his path, he scurried into the lift, his long and wide bulk forcing others to be uncomfortably near him. He stayed away only from the Sei, however, and even forced another into an unpleasant corner, almost pinned between a wall and two of the ant's legs in doing so. Who that being was, it was almost as unimportant as what it thought of the position.

Clacking twice at the others, he allowed his gaze to take in the entirety of the lift, watching each and every person present with a damning, unblinking gaze. He stayed toward the rear, in case their destination was defended, to avoid taking the brunt of enemy fire, and possibly even earn himself a weapon before he had to slaughter the white-clad drones.

[Alversia]

"Star Destroyer, smack in the middle of fuck-all,"

“Oh,” Syona fell silent at the terse tone from the blue-furred Anthro whose attention appeared to be flicking from one person to the other who had been released from their cells. She melted into the background, looking nervously from one person to the other who had emerged from captivity. Some of them looked relatively harmless, she said relatively because none of them actually looked like the sort of person she would ever actually approach under any other circumstances. It said a lot about the company in which they kept that this collection of intimidating and brutal looking people were made to look harmless compared to others. Just immediately within her gaze she could see a Reptile of some sort, a large one, that was holding what was unmistakably a rib. She stared at it for a long second, wondering who or what had had the misfortune of sharing a cell with the killer, who had not only ended their life but also stripped their bones clean of meat, destroying virtually all evidence of their existence, just a collection of pearl white bones she reckoned. The thought sent shivers through her spine.

The others seemed a mixed collection, a number of humans, a small number of humans, then a variety of reptiles, bugs and others. She was one of the tallest here but she had no doubt that any of the Reptiles could destroy her in an instant, shattering bone and breaking limbs simply using their weight. She had a key advantage over them, she hoped anyway, but they were not to know that, and something in the back of her mind convinced her that telling them would not be a good idea.

At least she knew that the instinct at the back of her mind that had told her the name of her prison had been correct. Any other thought was instantly thrown from her mind by the screaming and commotion on the floor from which she had come. The feline turned to stare at the action, seeing one of the Reptilian beings and the Ant-like creature in the middle of a fight, punches were being thrown, the sound of impacts echoed up to her sensitive ears while the yells and clicks of the combatants were unmistakeable. The blue Anthro, who had named herself as Sei, jumped down to intervene on the side of the reptile, jamming her weapon into the weak point of the bug’s hard exterior casing and grabbing it’s antennae for control. Syona’s eyes widened in amazement and shock. She had not anticipated that the small blue female would get so heavily involved against a being clearly her superior in terms of size, strength and weight. It said a lot for her and Syona gawped as it seemed to accept whatever she whispered at it, backing down from its challenge.

Then she came back, as if she had never been away, still holding power over the group by virtue of having one of only two weapons available. In her absence, the single crowd had separated into two camps, one group who clearly knew each other and stuck close, offering mutual support, and another who clearly did not know each other and remained as far away from each other as they could, evidently not trusting their new friends not to stab them in the back or, in the case of the Reptile, eat them. Syona found herself uncomfortably with this group, feeling very much alone and vulnerable even while the voices in her mind whispered in her ear.

”Fascinating. So many individuals. Fierce and independent. I wonder who they are. So many emotions. So much power!” Syona felt almost a craving for them, for their knowledge, for the unknown, but she managed to repress it. It would do her no good now to start giving in to that side of herself. She needed to stay in control.

Sei had returned and stood in the centre of the group, speaking in a strong confident voice, filling in the group together rather than answering a hundred little questions from each individual person. Syona was willing to listen.

"For those of you who don't know or forgot, we're on a Star Destroyer called the Spinor. I'd guess Alignment affiliation; it doesn't really matter. Right now the power's off, so we have our chance to get out. We five," she gestured around to herself and the rest of the Charnel group, "are heading for the hangers to see if we can't steal a transport. We could use the help, these ships have tens of thousands of crew, and I can't exactly stop you from coming. Should be plenty of ships for everyone anyway. That said, if you decide to try to kill one of us, like fugly over there, I'll make sure you don't leave this ship alive."

She winced at that promise and knew that it was not an idle threat. She really meant what she had said. Others began offering their support, speaking of their talents and abilities, some spoke to the point of arrogance, so assured were they in their own capabilities. Syona did not speak up. She let the others take the limelight, as she always had done, and instead waited until there was silence.

“I don’t really have anywhere else to go.” She said meekly, aware that the eyes of the group were on her, she shifted a little uncomfortably under their attention, “and I think I could help.”

’Stop being a pussy and voice your strength.’

“I know I can help.” She said confidently, not entirely aware of where that confidence had come from, “Can I take a ship with you then? I don’t really know were I am…”

As everyone pressed into the lift, she found herself wedged uncomfortably close to the massive insect, pinned uncomfortably between its legs and at the back of the lift. She tried not to look at the being behind her, its putrid smell filling her nostrils, focusing on the back of the person in front of her. Slowly, and for reasons not entirely her own, she turned to face the being, looking at it through the corner of her milky white eye.

The pupil, which only Tutukiku could see, was not longer just a blank, milky white but there seemed to be fire burning within, a deep dark, menacing fire that burned with the power of a thousand burning stars and it seemed to bore right into him, beyond his shell, beyond his defences, beyond even his own comprehension.

In his mind, there were words forming. Words he could understand but words that he could not consciously place as his own.
”I’m watching you.”

[LTPugh]

Paul sat and watched as the blue fox-appearing creature jumped in the fight between the insectoid and the large dragon thing. He was impressed how quickly she found a weak spot and jammed the blaster into the thing and grabbed its antennae.

"Now you listen to me," she snarled, "the only reason you're not already dead is because I think you'd smell worse dead than alive. I don't know if you can understand me, but you should be able to understand that this," she jammed her blaster deeper into its body, "means you're on your back with your legs in the air if you threaten one of my friends like that again. Now, I'm going to let go, and if you're smart, you'll step back, shut up and listen. If you're not, you'll attack me, and then I'll kill you and cut off your stinger to put on my mantle." Releasing him, she stepped back herself, and looked around at the group in general. "That goes for the rest of you, too."

Nice lady thought Paul; I should probably stay on her good side. Immediately after that thought she made a little speech;

"For those of you who don't know or forgot, we're on a Star Destroyer called the Spinor. I'd guess Alignment affiliation; it doesn't really matter. Right now the power's off, so we have our chance to get out. We five," she gestured around to herself and the rest of her group, "are heading for the hangers to see if we can't steal a transport. We could use the help, these ships have tens of thousands of crew, and I can't exactly stop you from coming. Should be plenty of ships for everyone anyway. That said, if you decide to try to kill one of us, like fugly over there, I'll make sure you don't leave this ship alive."

The fact that she was willing to trust the unknown people she was with, up to a point, meant to Paul that his chances of getting the hell off the ship, The Spinor he reminded himself though he had no clue who the hell the Alignment was, had just went up about a thousand-fold.

He started moving forward just in time to hear her say "Sei Vydam, by the way." to a large augmented looking man. He stood back as many of the group went forward and bragged/told of their achievements/talents to Sei before the group as a whole started moving towards the large elevator that was the first step towards freedom. Paul moved along with the group and eventually got close enough to Sei to say quietly.

“I know you don’t exactly trust anyone here except for your friends, that’s obvious. But if you’ll let me I’ll help get us off this thing.”

With that Paul got into the crowded elevator, sandwiched between a couple of the others and a wall.

[Setulan]

Standing squarely behind Sei, chain held loosely in his hands, Iron Man was more than willing to let the dragon and the blue-furred creature teach the ant a lesson. If it came down to it, he'd crush the thing himself; for the time being, however, it was clear that it had given up the fight.

Still wordless, he peered into the darkness and tried to pick out the eldar-thing from Charnel. Unable to find her, he returned his attention to the rest of the gaggle of freed prisoners.

Nothing special.

While it would be a pleasure to fight and kill them, the big man restrained himself. If nothing else, more bodies to throw at the storm troopers was always a bonus. As Sei began to move to the elevator, Terramo thought to grab her arm and speak to her...but something held him back. He wasn't entirely sure what-it certainly wasn't one of the voices-but he realized that it wasn't the time yet. For the time being, he contented himself with a nod...and a small smile, much to his own surprise.
Still silent, he got on the elevator.

[Necrisis]

Spinor

"We're not in charge of anything, just passing through," the fox said.

Rili snorted, and glared over her shoulder at the man behind her. His leering visage was endearing in a 'I want to punch you until your face is on the other side of your head' kinda way.
But until she got the damned Re-Flux collar off, Rili could not risk making enemies. But she could also not show weakness. "Hey! You close enough? Practically up my ass. Damn fucker..."
Rili started to move toward the wall when the bug attacked.
She did not catch the fight. She tended to black out during fights - instinct was more reliable than thinking she found - but when her vision cleared the bug was hissing at the dragon, obviously cowed.
But there was something in its reaction. Rili thought hard, trying to regain the memory. Fights happened fast in her head. It hurt sometimes. But she remembered the little blue fox pulling on it, jabbing it with the rifle.
Rili rubbed the chaffing the collar caused at the back of her neck, absently thinking.
The Necrian military had once contacted an Insectoid species. The Eechon. There was always more to them than there seemed. Even the Eechon, who were hive minds to the queen, thought for themselves on some level. They were individuals all living in one mind. Rili wasn't buying the bug's act. The way it acted was too animalistic. If it were truly instinct run it would have not comprehended the blaster's threat.
Rili was no xenobiologist, but she was positive the bug had more going on in that tiny head than it was letting on. Insectoids were hard to read, but it didn't seem to like the fox or the dragon too much - good thing to keep track of.
But that was secondary. Primary objective was to blow as many of those stormtroopers to Hell and back as possible, and then commandeer the Spinor.
If that was possible, she couldn't do it alone, and she could not do it with the bloody Re-Flux collar on.
Sticking with the fox- Sei was it? - seemed to be the most efficient plan right now. They wanted out, and Rili wanted dead. One in the same on a jail break.

She strutted over to the lift, shouldered her way into the crowd and glared at the bug and then at the Fox - to her right and left respectively. "You need to call me anything, Rile will do. You don't look like you need help, Sei, but you want out and I want out. We have a similar game plan. So where we off to first? chances are that they might as well lock down the shaft. You sure blowing the roof and climbing up aren't better plans?"
She cast an approving look at the bug. Strong, powerful and determined, but not stupid. It knew when to lay low.
Just like Malcane.
Rili shook her head and folded her arms. No sense in thinking about the dead - Necrisis had him now. No point in dragging up old ghosts. Not without reason.

[North Calaveras]

The Great Leader kept up his course through the vessel. Avoiding detection here and there, he had been lucky he had not been seen yet. He knew that eventually the clone's luck would run out, they all seemed to. The cold face and blue eyes of the man peered around every corner. He wore a almost skin-tight clothing over his body, this was supposed to be worn under the GOU suit to help sweating among other things, but now he was basically naked. His stomach growled and he knew that he had not eaten for some time, how long he did not know but he needed something soon. The thirst was worse, but was quickly satisfied by a kind of drinking fountain he found, it took him a second to find the button but it works.

After he was done filling his gut with the element of life he continued his quest through the cold Imperial hallways. A few small droids skittered away from him when the clone passed by. It wasn't long before he heard the iconic chatter of Stormtrooper communications. The Dear Leader quickly moved into an open closest of some kind. He peered through the small holes as he saw the soldiers walk passed him. They were chatting quite fast and were in a bit of a hurry. He overheard them talking about a prison break and that a large group of prisoners were gathering in one area. They were headed the opposite way he was however, so the clone didn't feel like he was going to be running into any prisoners really soon. After they passed he creaked out and moved forward. Finally, he found a map on the wall.

His eyes ran across the display and he saw a blinking light, this indicated where he was. The writing was a bit foreign but he knew where the bridge of a star destroyer was and according to the map he was still a bit away from his destination, but with his current pace he would reach it soon enough. Now, if he only had a weapon...

[Vipra]

It was like everyone and their uncle was piling out of the cells. Tattoo clad humans, a fugly cyborg, a couple saurians and an assortment of other crazy bastards. She almost felt at home, tightening her grip upon her impromptu weapon in case they were too much like her compatriots of old. Still, she had an oddly good feeling from a few of them, notably from the blue furred woman that had her weapon trained down the hall. She reminded Isthammi of an old warlord back in her home country, a capable leader. Of course, that warlord had met a grisly demise after Isthammi has user her as a distraction for some special-forces soldiers that had been sent to butcher their warband while she made good her escape. Whether she was a good leader or a distraction for those that hunted her, both boded well for Isthammi.

"If that's the way you wanna look at it, then yeah, sure. There's no more blasters around here though, and you're not getting mine."

Isthammi nodded her assent to Sei with a sly smile upon her face, eyeing up the blaster that Sei held so tightly for only a moment before turning elsewhere. She listened to Sei speak to the others, watching the avian and black furred man as they approached with dark thoughts on just what the avian tasted like fluttering in the back of her head, “A fur coat and a meal to go, talk about lucky,” the words only barely left her lips, instantly lost in the tumult of blows and clacking as the draconian and wasp-man fought. She turned to watch, sometimes being the outsider of a fight being just as much fun. The fight was quick, too quick to truly enjoy, though the draconian made an impressive display of his strength.

It amused Isthammi to watch the little blue furred woman to boss around the wasp-man, sticking a gun in what amounted to its ribs and grabbing its antenna. It was quite the show, and proved that she had more balls than most men. The creature backed down quickly, relenting to the blue furred woman. Isthammi made a couple mental notes; the wasp-man was aggressive and not to be trusted, a liability to be fed to the dogs at the first opportunity. That and the commanding fox-woman didn’t just outright kill it on the spot with what would have been a rather horrific gut shot. Isthammi would have, if for no other reasons than it reeked and it’s chittering was annoying.

When the woman levelled her gun at the crowd Isthammi was in and made her little speech it made the atoran smile. It was nice when people were plain and open. However when the wasp-man scuttled like a roach passed Sei, as the woman has identified herself, and huddled like a hurt puppy into the corner of the elevator Isthammi couldn’t help but openly laugh at it before quickly regaining her composure.

Her gaze switched from the insect to Sei, “I’ll come to the hangers with you, I know jack shit about the layout of these vessels and at the very least you seem acquainted with them. So if we have wasted quite enough time with introductions and watching the lizard and bug bitch slap each other, let’s get off this fucking ship.”

Isthammi waited for a path to open to the elevator before striding in, making sure it had enough head room before ducking in to stand beside the wasp-man. She looked down at it, and then at the cat-woman between its legs. The image was hilarious to Isthammi, but then again she also found cries for mercy comedic. She planned how to quickly put down the bug if it lunged at her like it had the large reptilian man, deciding that ramming the shiv into one of its eyes would work best. All the while she studied the bug, and the rest of the assembled criminals and madmen, smiling with the corner of her mouth. For all she knew one of them might try something violent, and a large part of her wanted them to after so long without a proper fight.

[Old Tyrannia]

Nefer's law dropped when Sei called out his brother's name, but as he rushed forward to question her further, they were interrupted by the massive, scarred reptilian who seemed to be with her. Turning round, Nefer saw that he was struggling with some sort of large insectoid of an unfamiliar species. Not members of the Empire. Nefer tried to fight his way through the chaos as the crowd suddenly surged forward to see what was going on, but felt a clawed hand grasp the back of his collar and pull him back. He turned to Ratak in amazement.

"What are you doing?" the Avios snapped. "You'd be crushed in there! You're no use to me dead-"
"The fox-creature, she knew my brother!" he cried. "She called me-"
It suddenly occured to him that he and his brother weren't the only Seti in the universe, and that his brother was not the only one called Inpu. In fact, it was a common name. His disappointment at the realisation must have been clear, as Ratak softened. The old soldier knew only too well what it was like to lose a sibling, even a disillusioned one.

"We will have to talk to her again later," he said.
"For those of you who don't know or forgot, we're on a Star Destroyer called the Spinor," said Sei. Nefer realised that the excitement was over. "I'd guess Alignment affiliation; it doesn't really matter. Right now the power's off, so we have our chance to get out. We five," she gestured around to herself and the rest of the Charnel group, "are heading for the hangers to see if we can't steal a transport. We could use the help, these ships have tens of thousands of crew, and I can't exactly stop you from coming. Should be plenty of ships for everyone anyway. That said, if you decide to try to kill one of us, like fugly over there, I'll make sure you don't leave this ship alive."

Ratak smiled.

"I like her," he said.

"Should we go with her?"

"Yes. They seem like our best shot to get out of here, and if she does know about your brother..."

Sei seemed a natural leader, and the majority of the other prisoners quickly fell into place behind her. Nefer couldn't help but think about how she might get on with his brother. Not very well, he thought. Inpu didn't like natural leaders. Well, not live ones...
"Nefer," hissed Ratak, and Nefer fell silent. He picked up a conversation with his fine ears...

"... not going to brag, but I think I can be of service. I would ramble off what I'm better at than everyone in this room, but that would be arrogant, and probably wrong considering anyone could argue that. I'm just here to help, and if you choose to take me on, I promise I will be of service to this cause. We're up against massive odds, we're unarmed for the most part, and the enemy is highly trained and proffessional. You'll need help in some way."

"He seems to know a lot about 'The Enemy'," commented Ratak. Nefer nodded. The man speaking to the blue-fox creature was definitely one to watch. But then, he didn't really trust anyone in this crowd. Even Ratak. Any one of them could slit his throat at any time. He shivered at the thought. Turning to Ratak, he whispered, "this might be a good time to mingle."
The Avios agreed, and disappeared into the crowd. Nefer looked around, and saw, not far away, a tall cyborg, humanoid. He remembered seeing it stand next to the blue creature. As it stepped into the elevator, he slipped in next to it.

"Hi," he said, "I'm Nefer. You seem to know our blue furry friend. What's her name?"

Meanwhile, Ratak also got into the elevator, but instead stood near the blue creature and a tall, slim human. He thought it was probably male.

“I know you don’t exactly trust anyone here except for your friends, that’s obvious," said the human. "But if you’ll let me I’ll help get us off this thing.”

Ratak nodded.

"That goes for me, too," he added in his croaky, deep voice. "And anyway, seems like an opportunity to have a good fight. You seem to have had a big influence on my canine friend. Seems you called him by another name. What was it again? Ah, yes. Inpu."

[The City Of Aurora]

ACV Spinor, Detention Block Z, Solitary

On the one hand, or eye rather, Kyzburg was not fond of metaphors which could be substituted for a more suitable literal interpretation of the curr-

Get on with it for heavens sake!
You're rambling Kyzburg, give us some peace.
It's not me you peons.

The electronic blue eye firmly lodged into their shared skull spun around erratically, pausing to stare in the direction of a particular object or individual, limited night vision, heat vision and x-ray vision allowing auxiliary sight to be provided from under the shrouded hood their face was hidden under. On the plus side, whilst they were weapon less, employing x-ray vision against someone whom they didn't like for seven continuous hours would probably give them a malignant cell; you had to be evil in the little ways after al-

Whose narrating this!
I'm trying to listen to that furry!
Steven is it you?
-l else you could be mistaken fo- Oh, sorry.
You will be, now hush everyone.

Kyzburg groaned softly to himself for a moment, focusing intently on the scuffling of several of his fellow jail breakers, whilst listening to the anthropomorphic fox giving what was supposedly the lower class equivilant of an enthralling speech.

The giant bug, the dinosaur, the others were... human... pretty much, even Sei, as she introduced herself, looked vaguely human... my his initial hypothesis was incorrect, perhaps we was merely in some bizarre laboratory, kidnapped to a place where they did bizarre experiments; and the other occupants had been driven mad or brainwashed.

Still, it was a peculiar scenario, indeed, he was slightly concerned as to the actual intellectual capacity of his fellow prison breakers; was he the only one considering that the sudden loss of power and lack of formal response was unnerving?

I'm thinking it too.
Shut it.

However, collectively they seemed pretty eager to escape, and more than willing to boast about their skills and how they were the best at a particular task, if one more person deemed themselves "invaluable" he would make a personal note to kick them down a shaft. Still, cannon fodder. With that in mind he squeezed himself into the lift, wrinkling his nose at the peculiar smells, but otherwise saying nothing, keeping his cowl pulled well over his head, he squeezed himself into the lift; beginning to wonder in dread as to when the zombies would begin rattling through the air vents.

[Esternial]

"Come on love... lets get you out of here, the floor is no place for a pretty lady. hows the Empire doing then no ones heard of them for quite a while"

Even though she heard his voice clearly, the words didn't seep into her for a few moments. Only after a short while did she fully comprehend his words, but still didn't answer to his inquiry. It just happened that Frank's questioned unlocked a memory she had sealed away in her mind for reasons she could no longer remember, reasons she was about to find out once more...

"You mustn't let our daughter become one of them, Ezekiel! I beg you!"

The woman fell onto her knees and grabbed for the armoured man's legs, tears rolling across her cheeks as two other men appeared from behind him and stepped straight past her, straight towards Ninian. Their hands reached for her, but she didn't want them to touch her, to take her away from her family. Before she knew it, one of the two men was lying on the floor, yelling as he stared at the bloody stump where his hand use to be, his comrade staring at Ninian in disbelief with a weapon aimed straight at her.

"No! Don't! She's my little girl" Her mother shouted, jumping towards the man in a desperate attempt to save her daughter. For a few moments they struggled before a high-pitched shot was heard and Ninian's mother fell down on the ground, a gaping hole scorched into her stomach. All Ninian could so was scream before even more men ran into the small room, grabbing her, touching her and covering her eyes with a thick cloth. She could hear screams, but they weren't hers. Something was responsible for them, but it wasn't her. Whatever it was, it paralysed her body with fear...

"Ezekiel..." Ninian muttered, her body once again paralyse with fear as her arms clutched around Frank. Closing her eyes, she tried to hide her tears and lock away the memory, make her forget.

[Xenohumanity]

Warden's Compartment...

Nasrys had shaken out the adrenal heeby-jeebies and chuckled to himself as Sei gave the bug a good talking to at gunpoint. When she released him, and it stretched out its shimmering wings for a few moments, the Drakon stood alongside his comrades as the eclectic group of strangers stood before them. Psychics, lizards, a cat, and more awaited permissions and instruction from the blue-furred stranger, her situational control palpable as she pushed up her hat and spoke.

A Star Destroyer? A more typical Xenohuman would have started laughing right there: “Space Triangles” were thought of nothing more as the paper-mache copy-pasta of weak, stupid, or cash-strapped powers that couldn’t be bothered to take the 0.1 seconds it would take to think of a more useful, cost-effective design. However, Nasrys knew less about the stacking order of ships than your average civilian knew about the fastest method for a serial killer to completely destroy a body using only a pneumatic switchblade and a under-charged plasma cutter (Nasrys knew a damn sight more about that than most), and he simply figured it to be a “really big warship”.

As Sei entered the turbo-lift and motioned for his ear, he took a knee and tilted his head towards her muzzle…

"Hurry up and get Olstaneth from her cell, I don't care if you have to drag her out with her fingers up her slit, if she's coming it's now or not at all. And yes, that was a poorly thought-out sentence," she glared at him, "just save the puns and get there or we leave without her."

“Sure. Gimme a sec. Don’t want our favorite Eldar rotting in a cell,” he answered with a sarcastic tone as he began heading back and checking the cells. Sure enough, there she was, lying placidly against the wall in one of the closer cells. The only way she could have possibly stayed put would be with light narcotics and sleeping meds laced in the food, which lay half-eaten in a corner. *Drugs? Really? Really now.* With a sigh and a grunt, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder in the same way he had done many times before. He quickly jogged back into the lift, which he saw was going to be far too small to fit everybody comfortably. Standing awkwardly, being the hulking reptile with the elf over his shoulder like some strange, self-aware revival of the old children’s fairy tales about the dragon and the maiden, he eyed the Winger suspiciously as everyone began entering…

"You could undoubtedly use my help. I'm one of the strongest people in this room. I could be a valuable asset in a fight. Besides, I'm somewhat familiar with firearms so I could help our chances."
“‘One Of’ the strongest won’t cut it. When you’re with folks like me, you better be a bit more than strong. Guns help, but good luck if we’re fighting folks like the bug who are naturally weapons-proof.”

"So, what are you lot in here for?" He muttered, prodding the still bleeding cut on his head.
“Me and my friends got picked up off of a Hell Planet. Not gonna’ talk about it. Guess this is only a good deal better instead of infinitely so…”

“Well, once everyone’s on board, we’ll be off, so if everyone would just pile on, we can get out before they send in a termination squad or shut off the lifts and send jet-jumpers down…”

[Xiscapia]

Warden's Compartment...

"You could undoubtedly use my help. I'm one of the strongest people in this room. I could be a valuable asset in a fight. Besides, I'm somewhat familiar with firearms so I could help our chances."

"Yeah?" Sei looked skeptical at best; the derision from the other prisoners didn't exactly help the lizard's case. "Did I ask you? No? Shut up and get on the lift." She rolled her eyes.

"So, what are you lot in here for?"

Sei half turned to regard one of the humans with a cocked ear. It was almost amusing. "Existing," she said, and left it at that. It was probably as close to the truth as she'd ever get. When she turned back around, the big, thick man had crossed the lift on suspiciously quiet steps towards her. Just his close proximity made her want to point the blaster at him. Giant ants she could take, but something about this one made her decidedly uneasy. He put out his hand, but she ignored it until he dropped it back to his side. She didn't like his tone.

“You are an interesting minx, aren't you? A pretty little creature that I do not recognize is indeed a rarity.”

"Keep talking to me like that and I'll show you interesting," she growled. "Keep your paws to yourself, Caligulus, as we'll be just fine." She didn't bother responding to his question about the guns, there weren't any more down here and as she'd already said, no one was getting hers.

“Either way, based on what I can pick up from nearby transmissions, there are lots and lots of people on this ship, and, frankly, killing the entire crew serves nothing.”

"I can at least agree with you about that. You said you can pick up messages?" She looked at him again. "Do you have some sort of specialized implants up there?" She tapped the side of her own head.

"I don't like this one bit Foxy. It's just to easy."

"You see any other way out, you'd better point it out to me," she muttered back, and then he was gone, back up to the cell block. She watched him go, wondering what he could be going back for. A moment later the tattooed man spoke up, and she faced him. The anthro smirked slightly at his speech, he at least wasn't going to boast but... "You talk too much," she told him bluntly, and jerked a thumb behind her. "If you can keep up, you're welcome to stay. Just get on the fucking lift."

“Can I take a ship with you then? I don’t really know were I am…”

She turned her eyes on the feline, raising one white eyebrow. "I told you where you are, pussy-cat. As far as I'm concerned, if you're still with us when -if- we make it to a ship, you can come along. Provided there's enough room." She looked her up and down. "My friends come first."

The insect scurried past her, and she noted with some satisfaction that it was staying well away from her. Clearly, it had gotten the message, though it still smelled like hell -Sei had smelled worse, recently even, on Charnel, but the stink bug was up there. She looked at it for a long moment, appraisingly. It was not as stupid as it looked, she thought, sure that at least one of its multi-faceted eyes was focused on her. She would have to make sure she didn't turn her back on it -or, if she did, ensure that Terramo or Nasyrs was between her and it.

“I know you don’t exactly trust anyone here except for your friends, that’s obvious. But if you’ll let me I’ll help get us off this thing.”

Another human. Nothing remarkable about this one, at least not at first glance. Yet she approved of his concision, and he had a certain world-weary air about him -not necessarily the hardened cynicism of a veteran, but a look that said he had seen and done worse than this. She liked him already. Nodding, Sei gestured at him with her blaster, barrel sidelong towards him. "Good man. Shut up, stick close and stay sharp and you'll make it out."

As Terramo boarded the elevator he would feel something pressing into his midsection. When he looked down he would find Joanna was standing beside him, beckoning for him to lean to her. As he craned his head she stood on tiptoe, cupped a hand around her mouth and uttered two whispered words into his ear:
"He's here."

The tattooed woman -Sei had decided she wasn't related to the man with the tattoos- was glaring at her. Sei scowled right back as "Rile" introduced herself, realizing that glaring seemed to be the human's default expression. So be it. She listened to what she said, then shook her head.

"That's a no-joy. These lifts aren't actually connected to anything, they use the ship's anti-grav to go up and down, or even side-to-side in some of the bigger areas. All that's up there," she gestured to the ceiling of the lift, "is a long, dark tunnel. Too smooth to climb, and while I'm sure some of us can fly one way or another I'm not about to let someone try to carry me up only to let me splatter against the shaft floor. This is the only way in or out."

That strikingly tall woman of some species Sei had never seen before was talking to her. She got a crook in her neck from trying to keep her face in focus. Dead gods damnit. It's like trying to talk to a Setulanite here.

“I’ll come to the hangers with you, I know jack shit about the layout of these vessels and at the very least you seem acquainted with them. So if we have wasted quite enough time with introductions and watching the lizard and bug bitch slap each other, let’s get off this fucking ship.”

"Long as you can keep up," was all Sei said. She got the same nasty vibe from this one as from Caligulus. It wasn't just someone who killed, it wasn't just someone who enjoyed killing -there were plenty like that here- it was someone who actively sought out combat just so they could kill. For people like that, ripping other sapients to shreds was the end goal, and all the money associated with it just a nice bonus at the end of the day.
They also, she knew, tended to be backstabbers.

"You seem to have had a big influence on my canine friend. Seems you called him by another name. What was it again? Ah, yes. Inpu."

It was the creature that had been accompanying the one she thought was Inpu. She still didn't know if it was, and found the Seti in another part of the lift, saying something to Terramo. It was still hard to tell; yet she knew she had seen Inpu get blown apart by a tank shell on Charnel. But she also thought Joanna had been killed by a marauding gunship...

"Case of mistaken identity, probably," Sei shrugged. "I knew someone once who looked like him. No relation, I guess." She sighed, half wishing it was Inpu despite the impossibility. She could have used him and his knives.

By this time Frank had returned carrying a little girl. Sei stared for a moment, and just shook her head. The depravity of these people knows no bounds. Never thought of Frank as the fatherly type though. She grimaced as she saw Nasrys also come lugging someone, Olstaneth in this case. The two of them trying to protect both themselves and a defenseless other during the combat that was sure to come didn't bode well for their chances, hopefully Olsaneth would stir from her drug-induced haze soon. As for the human child, she wondered if it might not be better to mercy-kill her now...

“Well, once everyone’s on board, we’ll be off, so if everyone would just pile on, we can get out before they send in a termination squad or shut off the lifts and send jet-jumpers down…”

"You said it," she muttered, and looked around. Everyone had crammed aboard, so she signaled to Joanna. The woman punched in the next level up -there was only one level- and the doors closed. A shuddering hum overtook the car as it began to slide upwards, with the unfortunate side-affect of the lights going out, plunging the entire party into utter darkness. Sei closed her eyes, taking a breath, and suddenly wished she had killed the bug when she'd had the chance. Normally she would have just sniffed everyone out, but the insect's stench was overpowering everything else, making trying to track by scent useless.
Then there was a skittering, cracking noise, the sound of something liquid splattering, and the interior of the lift was generally disturbed as people on the other side swore, groaned and shifted away from one particular spot.

"It just threw up all over her," Sei heard Joanna mutter as a new, equally-horrible-in-a-different-way odor filled the compartment.

"Fucking hell," she sighed, covering her nose to keep her from doing the same. At least her eyesight was adjusting now, turning what would be pitch black to a human into a gray gloom with her nocturnal vision. A second later the car shuddered to a halt, and Sei started elbowing people out of the way to get to the doors. Across the lift Joanna was doing likewise.

"Get out of the way, I'm the one with the gun. Unless you want to go out first and get blasted? That's what I thought. Move your ass."

Eventually they took up position on opposite sides of the door, Joanna directed to the right position by Sei. The doors opened and they sprang out almost as one. Sei knew that if there was a team of soldiers waiting on the outside to kill everyone in the lift, they would direct all their fire, and probably a few grenades, into the center, so the idea was to get out of the line of fire and blast radius first. Yet as they both charged out, blasters up and swiveling, they found nothing and no one to greet them with blaster fire or otherwise.

The passage they emerged into was dark and empty, stretching for meters into dim nothingness on either side. With Joanna on the right Sei turned to the left, and stopped dead. There was something just on the edge of her vision, she thought she could make out a loosely humanoid figure and something white-beige on the top...a head? Shadows moved around it, twisted black bars, segmented, in the ceiling, near the floors and walls, and she felt a sudden, creeping dread-
Then it was gone. She squinted, but there was nothing but the deserted hall.

She exhaled.

"Sei?" Joanna said quietly. "Which way?" By this time the others had piled out behind them.

"That way," Sei half turned, starting to move in the opposite direction. "We go this way."

Away from the...thing.

Got to find a map, she thought. Just wandering off in some random direction would get them into trouble, she didn't have much of an option now but she at least needed to know where they were, she could figure out the rest from there. I know we're deep in the ship, probably at some point near or under the antimatter engine. We'll want to head to the rough middle of the ship, where the main bay is, or failing that, to the forward shuttle hanger near the bow. But where were they now?

It was frustrating, because the designers weren't going to just post maps everywhere. The crew were supposed to know how to get to their quarters, duty areas and the like by heart, and visitors got escorted everywhere they went so they didn't have to worry. Those that were new or entering an area they hadn't been before, usually stormtroopers, followed mouse droids, but that was no good because no mouse droid was going to lead their ragtag band anywhere, except maybe into a trap. If they had a captive stormtrooper, or better yet, a set of armor, it might work, but-
Wait a minute.

Moving to the side of the corridor, Sei looked along the edge for a nearly thirty seconds before suddenly halting, throwing her hand out to stop the others. "Nobody move," she whispered, watching a small, low hole that ran a meter or so along the bottom of the bulkhead. They probably thought she was crazy, but she was too intent on what she was about to do to care. Her ears perked as she heard it, the click-click of wheels on metal and a distinctive chattering not unlike that the bug made. A moment later a mouse droid shot out of the tunnel it used to get from deck to deck and swiveled abruptly to face her. Wasting no time she seized it, feeling its wheels scrap against her fingers as it tried to escape, and viscously slammed it against the bulkhead. Shooting it wouldn't help and it would melt its processors on impact if she wasn't fast enough, and if that happened she'd have to start over again.

A couple more blows and a sad squeak later its main casing had broken open and the little machine was silent. Prying it open, she examined the interior, fishing around until she found what she was looking for: A tiny key card. If she plugged this into a terminal she knew she could get a deck plan of the ship off of it, which would not only tell them where they were currently but also allow them to draw a path to the hangers. Holding the bit of metal and plastic up, she smiled, kissed it, and slipped it into her pocket. Then she noticed the others were staring.

"It's got an internal map on that removable storage device that will tell us where we are and how to get to the hangers," she explained. "Now we just have to find a console to plug in to."

Up the hall they went again, and she kept a sharp lookout for any crew. She knew they probably wouldn't have a lot of staff around a solitary detention center, but she thought they would have posted at least a token guard or at least a few droids. But there was nothing, and that made her uneasy. Sei's tail flicked back and forth until they finally reached a hatch on the right side of the corridor, plain bare metal with no indication of where it led. Motioning Joanna to get into breaching position again, she tensed, hit the button to open the door and stepped in.

A row of bunks greeted her, strongboxes at their feet, and she realized they'd just walked into a barracks area. Yet even as she tensed, ready to retreat, she saw it was completely empty, no stormtroopers lay slumbering in their racks or sat around the back table gambling away their wages. Yet the covers were thrown aside on the beds and there were the remains of a Sabacc game on the table, cards, interference field, a small pile of credits, but no one tended to them. It was as if the platoon or so of men that had lived here had been called out suddenly and not come back. Curious, she kicked open one of the lockers.

Black dress uniform, boots, a change of civilian clothes and a holo-mag with a naked Twi'lek on the cover -nothing useful. The other boxes proved to be empty or similarly bare of weapons or equipment. There was a terminal in the corner though, on sleep mode, and she went to it, tapping it to find that the last user hadn't bothered logging out before leaving. Putting the USB into a port, she took a few moments to figure out the interface and layout before uploading what she needed and viewing the map on the screen. The anthro studied it closely.

According to it they were currently in a small section wedged between the antimatter engine housing and a series of boarding tube launch compartments. The deck they were on consisted of nothing more than the detention block they had just left, a couple of barracks areas and a machine shop for the mouse droids. They would have to go up several decks and cross the ship in order to reach the main hanger; there were no accessible areas behind them and directly above was a series of decks that let to duty areas which in turn went up and back further to the main crew quarters, recreation, medical, the computer core, armory and bridge. Trying to go for the armory was tempting, but it would take them even further away from the hangers than they were now, and would probably be heavily guarded. Better to try to take the direct route and pick up weapons on the way.

"What do you think?" She consulted the original group -Joanna, Frank, Terramo and Nasrys- as she read out her findings. "I think we should just make a straight run for it now, while the power's down and they're probably still confused."

[Saurisisia]

Charlie was taken aback by Sei's response and a frown appeared on his snout. Kathy nudged him, wanting for the two to enter the lift. The Tyrannosaurus and the Dragoness stood out quite dramatically among the people in the lift, which made them quite uncomfortable, especially for Charlie, there being no other Dinosaurs around.

Kathy looked around the inside of lift, noting the diverse array of different species. There weren't just Humans, there was a cat, the hideous bug, that Dragon-like creature that made her feel nervous when she was around him, various Human-like creatures, and whatever the hell Sei herself was, though of course she figured she was some kind of a Canine. One being that truly intrigued her was a Jackal-like creature that reminded her much of the Ancient Egyptian God Anubis.

Kathy sighed as the lift doors closed, sealing the multispecies group inside and felt the lift move upwards, causing the lights inside to suddenly go out, causing everyone to be encased in a shroud of darkness. However, once again, the two Saurisians' keen nightvision allowed them to see clearly, despite being enveloped in blackness. Of course, the stench from the bug was basically unbearable and both Reptiles hoped that the lift would stop soon.

Suddenly, they heard a loud splashing noise and an even more foul odor consumed the interior of the lift, the unmistakable stench of someone having just vomited. The couple's snouts wrinkled as they were mentally tortured by the horrific scents filling the air.

Finally, the lift came to a sudden stop, causing Sei and someone else, undoubtedly her Human companion, move up to the lift doors. As the doors swung open, Kathy and Charlie watched as the two females step out, blasters at the ready in case they suddenly encounter any soldiers that came their way. However, the two Reptiles could tell they had yet to encounter anybody as they kept moving down the hallway, not having yet fired at anybody or anything. Sighing as everybody decided to head out to follow the pair, the Reptilian couple went with the flow and walked out of the lift, staying behind the two Humans, knowing that they were the only ones armed with weapons at the moment.

Catching up with them after heading down to the right hallway that branched off a four-way intersection, Kathy and Charlie watched as the two females were trying to figure out where they were. Then, Sei moved ahead of the group, glancing at a little hole in the wall before a little mouse droid came out before lunging at it and slamming it against a nearby bulkhead. They watched as she put the machine down and took it apart, finding a little key card inside.

After giving it a kiss, she put it in a pocket before telling the others why it was so important. After doing so, the two Reptiles watched her move further ahead, using the key card to gain access to an adjacent room. Following them, Kathy and Charlie stood outside the room, watching Sei do various things inside. Because she was the leader, they were the followers, and thus all they could do was watch, listen intently, and follow, hoping that doing so would be their tickets to freedom.

[Vipra]

The elevator ride was uncomfortable. There seemed to be elbows everywhere, and it didn’t help that some of them were crotch height for Isthammi. She attempted to brow beat her way into a comfortable position, roughly shoving those that pressed in too closely, but with the near claustrophobic clustering that soon proved impossible. It was all she could do not to outright cuff people around the ears for drawing too close. She had never dealt with proximity well, and if what had been left of her cellmate could still speak he would have attested to her violent mannerisms when stressed. Her mechanical eyes swivelled within their sockets as her eyes flickered from person to psycho to abomination.

As the lift hummed upwards the roach’s reek began to suffocate the seemingly tiny elevator with its stench. Isthammi removed one of her impromptu handwraps and tied it around her mouth and nose to combat it. As she finished the knot behind her head the familiar scent of blood filled her nostrils and the tang of iron played across her tongue in all too familiar patterns. She was quickly distracted from her irritation by the memories the flavour brought back. Still she smirked as someone vomited and the other crooks and killers were forced to tough out the combined nasal atrocity of the insect and half digested food sprayed upon gods knew who.

The lift came to a standstill mercifully quick, the doors sliding open and the presumed leader of the group and her companion pushing and forcing their way past anyone in their way. Isthammi was glad for this, they had the guns after all and could hopefully kill a few guards before being taken down themselves; leaving her to reap the spoils. There was the chance the guards would throw grenades in, but this didn’t worry her. One or two of the dregs could be easily thrown atop any explosives and slow the shrapnel to acceptable levels. It would also have given her some breathing room.

The grenades and blaster fire never arrived, “Oh come one, right when things could have gotten interesting,” she sighed elbowing her own way passed the not-so-merry band cramped within the lift. As she extricated herself from the mass of flesh, chitin, and cybernetics that the lift had become Isthammi dusted her clothes off, flicking a stray fleck of sputum off her shirt and trying to pick out the culprit that had thrown up. She was out of luck in that regard though, the lift still broiling and bursting with beings wishing to escape cruel fate.

Clarity was something that Isthammi’s cybernetic eyes granted, and sometimes it was annoying, even painful. She cringed as her eyes adjusted, the internal mechanisms expanding and retracting with the changing lighting and causing her to bleed slightly from the corners of her eyes as the prototype augments settled once more. While dabbing at the edges of her eyes with the wrapping of cloth on her free hand Isthammi continued to follow Sei, watching every nook and cranny for what she assumed was an inevitable ambush. She only stopped when Sei threw her hand out and called for everyone to do such, stiffening in place and tensing to leap upon whatever she might have spotted.

Isthammi’s hearing was far from perfect, it wasn’t even good for that matter, so she could not hear what Sei did as the leader of the group waited for the mouse droid. All the atoran could do was wait, hoping that this strange woman had not cracked and was actually doing something of use. Isthammi was coming close to calling it quits and simply moving on when the droid skittered out of its hole, whirring and clacking like a proper machine.

Sei was upon it like a cat upon a pigeon that had grown far too fat; it stood no chance and its end was gruesome. The slams of metal upon metal shrieked into the air as Sei slammed the little machine against the bulkhead. She pried it open and gutted the droid like any other prey, and showed her knowledge of these vessels and their associated technology with her precision. Isthammi was not so much staring at as admiring Sei as she kissed and the pocketed the chip, no small part of her wishing to have such keen senses and speed.

A chuckle passed Isthammi’s lips, muffled by her impromptu mask as Sei gave her explanation and then turned down the hallway without further ado. Isthammi followed a couple paces behind, not wanting to be offensively close to the blue furred woman but close enough to snatch a choice weapon when the opportunity presented itself. As they walked down the empty halls the lack of guards wore upon Isthammi’s mind? Is this some kind of test? A crude social experiment? Maybe the scientists that had installed her augments were exacting the sort of cruel revenge the rumours stated about them, everyone around her under constant surveillance and given near free reign just to see what they would do and who would be the last one standing. It wouldn’t have surprised her, at this point just about anything was possible.

Her mind flashed back to reality and away from fanciful speculation as the barracks lay before her. It was underwhelming, but that much was to be expected from a military vessel’s interior. The way it had been seemingly abandoned was disquieting though, no soldiers left behind their winnings at any game unless there is some serious shit going down. The thought of snatching up the credits briefly passed through Isthammi’s mind, but she thought better of it; tracking devices seemed to be in everything these days, especially money, and she wanted at least a fair chance at a clean getaway.

Instead she focussed more upon the contents of the lockers, lagging behind Sei as she began to work upon the console with her precious chip. Isthammi threw aside most of the clothing, feeling the texture and thickness between her fingers before settling upon the dress uniform’s shirt and a casual shirt. She tore the sleeve off the black uniform and ripped the shirt into rough strips which she wrapped up and down her arms. The rag she had taken from the uniform she tied around her mouth and nose, over the bloody cloth she already had there, and tightened it down. If they there was any fire or dust she would at least have a few moments of cleaner breathing before her battle worn filtration augments had to kick in and started damaging her innards.

Prepped and at least slightly more ready than she had been Isthammi peered over to the schematics Sei was obsessed with. It was all one confusing blob to Isthammi though, she was too far away to make out proper details and the telescopic vision of her eyes were difficult to control. At the very least she could make out it was a map, and that much put her at ease.

“What do you think?" She consulted the original group -Joanna, Frank, Terramo and Nasrys- as she read out her findings. "I think we should just make a straight run for it now, while the power's down and they're probably still confused."

Never one not to say her piece, Isthammi butted in to what she knew was a private conversation, “The power is down, no one is here, and we haven’t even heard people running around trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. Either this ship is seriously fucked and they abandoned it or they are all rushing to a breach elsewhere. So b-lining to the hanger and getting out of this tub before either they deal with what is going on or whatever is giving them woe finds us would be the best option.” She expected to be rebuked, but if that stopped them from fucking around exploring all the better in her opinion.

[Necrisis]

Rili felt herself squished between the bug and the large creature to her left. It was strangely familiar, reminding her of the cramped transport shuttles of the old minestations she had worked with Malcane. Except there was hard chitin on one side and a strange amalgam of fur and flesh on the other as more people shoved into the lift.
Rili was small, though and squeezed into the gap between the bug's legs and the wall.
In retrospect, there could have been better places.
As soon as the lift started up the light went out. Rili sniffed, the pungent odor of the bug bringing a sense of nostalgia of the mines and the sweaty occupants - though it did seem like a years worth concentrated into a few seconds. But then she felt the bug's sides shift, almost ripple.
Then it retched and a viscous, foul spelling spew washed over her. She must have moved at some point of everyone getting into the lift, or the bug had moved. But whoever or whatever was supposed to get hit with the bug's stomach/bowel contents were not hit with it.
Rili was drenched, and her stomach convulsed. If it were not for the fact that she had trained herself not to throw up, she would have done so right there. But with her attention on not vomiting everywhere, she did not realize the lift had stopped until everyone started to push passed her. She stumbled through the crowd of scales, fur and flesh before falling to her hands and knees just outside the lift and away from everyone else before her stomach gave up.
She was sick for what felt like hours, but was probably no more than a few seconds. It had been years since she had been this bad. The last time she remembered was when the Knights had injected the first cocktail of serums into her. She had been sick for days, couldn't keep anything down. That was when she had trained her body to not throwup.
At a guess, the most recent was when the guards on the prison station had beat her up, something about a lesson. Most of it was blacked out for her own sanity, but she remembered one punching her in the gut until bile came up.
Rili wiped her mouth clean with the back of her hand, and spitting a few times. Then she stood up and followed the others. She had a mind to kick the bug's ass - not that it seemed to have one, given the contents of its vomit...
"Don't think about it," she muttered, feeling her stomach twist at the thought.
Instead she occupied herself with the room, a barracks by the looks of it.
Rile kicked open one of the footlockers and pawed through the contents. Not much in the way of usefulness - there was a keycard looking thing, but it was not nearly thick enough to try and break the Collar - but she did find a pilot's spare black jumpsuit, clean and pressed. It did not smell like vomit, blood, or sweat - a kind of sterile clean that was far too familiar for Rili to completely ignore the images of lab rooms and testtubes.
"Fuck you," she said to herself and tossed the jumpsuit on the bunk before stripping off her old clothes - still soaked and now caked with bug vomit - and tossing them aside. Her pale skin set off the black and red tattoos that covered her upper back and arms. They were symmetrical tribal designs, etched into her skin with the old Necrian tradition of scaring. One section of design came down over her left shoulder, down and around her left breast before swirling down over her stomach to end at her navel. Her right arm was bare of design, except the metal bands that pressed mercilessly into the skin. Dried blood caked them, and Rili examined them before pulling the jumpsuit up. Not infected - good. The bile from the bug had not gotten into them, but it had slipped into the Collar. It had done something to it. The buzz in the back of her head was lessened - maybe the acids had carroded some of it? She did not know.
Rili growled as she zipped the jumpsuit up - if they were going to be fighting something no sense if banging around. The suit was tight enough that it would help some.
She did not think about the Others in the room. She and the other prisoners had been in closer quarters than this, and had less than privacy in the prison station. Being naked in the presence of a dozen others was not new.
It was cold, the jumpsuit, and starched into stiff, rigid lines. Rili hated it and instantly after pulling it over her bare shoulders rolled up the sleeves and the pant legs. Her bare feet padded on the cold metal as she ducked through the bunks to arrive at Sei's side.

"What do you think?" She consulted the original group -Joanna, Frank, Terramo and Nasrys- as she read out her findings. "I think we should just make a straight run for it now, while the power's down and they're probably still confused."

"Hey, not to break up the little party you have going, but where is the bloody reactor in this thing? Or the bridge. Either will do. And where the fuck are all the troops? They have some payback due."
Rili's glare was slightly less intense now, less focused anger and frustration. There was something else there, a madness, a feeling of being able to do anything to anyone. It was a feeling that she enjoyed. If she could just get the damned collar off then she could start tearing things apart. The bands on her arm needed to go too. They were not reflux bands - they were just solid metal. But the constant pain flowing to her brain from them made it hard to think, and thus hard to destroy things.
So Rili folded her arms and smirked, her eyes running over the console while she waited for Sei to respond.

[North Calaveras]

The Great Leader continued his push down the dark Imperial corridors. He had almost reached the bridge now but it was still some distance before he would actually reach the outside of it. There was no way he was going to infiltrate the bridge without a disguise of some kind, not only that but he was unarmed. It was then that he came up with the decision to ambush one of the stormtroopers. This was a very difficult task in itself since they often moved in patrols with five or more troopers each. To take on a squad would be suicide by oneself, even two would be very difficult. He would need make it very fast and quiet. Like a predator the Great Leader would need to separate one of them from there herd. His adrenaline pumped as he pushed himself up next to a corner, knowing that eventually a patrol was probably going to make it's way through.

It wasn't long as he had expected. Within minutes he could hear the sound of boots and radio chatter coming his way. It was far out, echoing before the sound rose and got louder and louder. The clone gritted his teeth and readied to pounce upon the last man in line. " Here it comes" he thought...3...2...1. The sound was right on top of him before he saw a white blur of storm trooper armor. He stepped out and yanked the last man on the line, wrapping his arms around the troopers neck. The others kept running towards there destination not knowing what happened to there comrade. Meanwhile the struggle ensued as the trooper dropped his baton to reach his neck. The strong arms of the clone gripped tightly, the trooper flailing about before he finally used what oxygen he had left to throw the Great Leader over his shoulder slamming him into the ground as the Great Leader tore off his helmet revealing a young man with blond hair. The clone quickly rolled back up onto his feet. Both men rose there fists in the air ready to fight as the Trooper coughed trying to get air back into his system.

The Great Leader waited for the blond troopers next move and he got exactly what he wanted. The Trooper ran forward and attempted to tackle the clone diving down at him. The Great Leader sidestepped and kicked the man in the face causing him fall flat on his stomach. The young trooper rolled over disorientated, blood running from his mouth, spitting out a few teeth. The clone quickly jumped on top of him, riding his waist. Again the Great Leader wrapped his hands around the mans neck attempted to squeeze the life out of him. The young Trooper swung his fists, this caused the clone to get in close and bite the mans neck. A shriek of a scream came out of the trooper before a piece of flesh was ripping from his neck, blood spraying on the floor. The mans screaming came to a halt when the Great Leader drove a right hand into the mans face knocking him out. He then re assumed choking him to keep his death quiet.

After sensing lifelessness from the corpse the Dear Leader dragged the young troopers body around the corner and stripped him of his clothes. Once he got settled in the storm trooper armor the clone picked up the helmet and put it on as well as grabbing the dropped the baton. He immediately heard the chatting from other troopers some just chatting others in a fight with prisoners and some other chatter he couldn't quite make out. Now he was disguised and even better he was armed with some kind of weapon instead of his fists. It was now proper that he finished making his way to the bridge.

He wasn't quite sure about what he was going to do when he got there but he liked to improvise. He would really need to get a hold of a blaster once inside, that seemed easy enough. Now he marched his way to the bridge, some troopers passing by him without a thought in the world about what was beneath the armor. Charnel had now come to this Star Destroyer...

[Boico]

“Me and my friends got picked up off of a Hell Planet. Not gonna’ talk about it. Guess this is only a good deal better instead of infinitely so…”
"Existing,"

Calo looked noticeably surprised by the two responses. What in God's name was a 'hell planet' and was it as terrible as it sounded? It certainly looked as though Sei and her compatriots had been through through hell and back, they had the look of those who had seen so much death and destruction that it just didn't register any more. Calo knew that feeling well, and he empathised with the group.

Pressed-up against numerous beings, it was more than a little uncomfortable in the lift. He didn't particularly like being this close to Humans that he didn't know, let alone these monsters. Who knew what parts of their anatomy were pressing against him? It wasn't just the discomfort that was an issue, the boredom was also unbearable. He was at least entertained by his fellow prisoners attempting to flirt, threaten and impress Sei. It was clear to him that she really didn't give a damn about any of the new additions to the party, so why should they even try to get on her good side? He wasn't going to beg like some urchin in the alleys of Tsaro for her to help him, he'd either prove he was useful and get out with the group, or he'd find his own way out. To hell with the rest of them.

The smell in the cramped lift suddenly got much worse. "It just threw up all over her," someone said, followed by numerous groans and curses. Trying to manoeuvre into a position where he could see what was going on, which was not at all easy, he shuffled in place, elbowing one of his fellow passengers in the process. When he did finally see, he wished he hadn't bothered. The giant insect had, presumably, regurgitated the contents of its stomach over at least one unfortunate member of the party. Thankfully the lift stopped shortly afterwards, instinctively moving as far away from the door and towards the edge of the lift, Calo again shuffled between the party members. If there were soldiers on board the vessel, and if they had decent weaponry, it probably wouldn't matter where in the lift he was stood, it'd just take slightly longer for him to die, but it was worth a try.

Almost to his disappointment, there were no personnel waiting for them at all. It was starting to worry him. A battle he could handle, killing he could handle, but the constant waiting for an ambush he most certainly could not handle. It was made worse by the fact they were in constant low-light meaning he couldn't see as well as he would have liked. But it seemed Sei knew where she was going and as he was following her anyway, it didn't matter that much, at least not yet.

As they continued down the corridor, Calo was hit by the shear size of it. On all but the largest Imperial vessels the corridors were cramped and the crew had to constantly duck to avoid the various pipes and structural supports. Even on the largest ships, the corridors only allowed for about two crew members to walk side-by-side. It all seemed to confirm Sei's earlier suggestion that the ship was crewed by tens of thousands, but where in-the-hell were they?

"Nobody move," Calo readied himself, for what he didn't know, he had no weapons to fight with, no where to run. But as it happened it wasn't a soldier that came through the bulkhead, instead it was some squeaking black box on wheels, quite what its purpose was he didn't know, but from the reaction of Sei he assumed it was some kind of observation device. Slamming the poor... whatever it was against the bulkhead repeatedly, she eventually caused the casing to break. Picking up an obviously useful component, she kissed it. "It's got an internal map on that removable storage device that will tell us where we are and how to get to the hangers," she explained. "Now we just have to find a console to plug in to."

The party moved on, coming to the barracks area. He immediately smiled at the thought of getting his hands on some of their weapons. Hell, if their ships are this large, they're likely to have weaponry much more advanced than the Empire. When the lockers proved to be empty, he was more than a little disappointed. He grabbed one of the uniforms lying around. It didn't look particularly comfortable and it wouldn't offer much protection, but it was clean and looked better than the underclothes he was presently wearing, at least he wouldn't look as though he'd just got out of bed. As he thought, the collar was stiff and the shirt was rough against his skin. Still, it reminded him of the Free Corps uniform and if he could could endure years sitting around in the same stiff, itchy uniform in the damp fields and muddy trenches he had on Xaril, then he could endure the slight discomfort he was feeling now.

Looking around him, he thought about possible alternatives to a conventional weapon. Seeing the chairs, he realised that if he broke one of the legs off one of them, it could be used as some form of club. Probably useless if they've got decent armour, but maybe I'll be lucky. Picking up a chair, holding it by one leg, he slammed it repeatedly against the wall of the room. At first it just bent at the weld that connected it to the the seat, resulting in it being slightly shorter than Calo would have liked, but putting the chair on the floor and using his weight to bend the leg beyond the point the flimsy metal could withstand, it snapped. As his attempt at snapping it off showed, the leg obviously wasn't strong enough to do serious damage, but it would hopefully stun an opponent long enough for Calo to figure out what to do next. If nothing else, it looked like it could do some damage. Perhaps that would be enough to keep potential enemies away from him, though he doubted it.

“The power is down, no one is here, and we haven’t even heard people running around trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. Either this ship is seriously fucked and they abandoned it or they are all rushing to a breach elsewhere. So b-lining to the hanger and getting out of this tub before either they deal with what is going on or whatever is giving them woe finds us would be the best option.” Calo couldn't help but agree with the large woman, it would be foolhardy to do otherwise.

"Hey, not to break up the little party you have going, but where is the bloody reactor in this thing? Or the bridge. Either will do. And where the fuck are all the troops? They have some payback due." Calo shook his head, there were too many people wanting to get killed in this group.

"And how exactly do you intend to get payback? If there really are tens of thousands of personnel on this ship, you'll be killed before you kill even a few, we all would. We'd do well to avoid any unnecessary confrontations, and if possible, any confrontations at all. As," he motioned to Isthammi, realising he did not know her name "said, we should head straight to the hanger."

[The City Of Aurora]

Kyzburg found himself wedged against the back, in the best of circumstances neither him nor his fellow personalities did well in close quarters with others, and that was with humans; this on the other hand was somewhat beyond him.

Oh for the love of all that isn't holy, they're touching me, dirty, disgusting, mongrel commoners; oh god. Kyzburg clenched his fists, leaning against the back wall to get as much personal space as possible.

It was however no use, his bubble of personal space was being infringed by at least two meters, he clenched his jaw and tilted his head back slightly, holding his breath as he felt his heart pounding and an impending case of hyperventilation.

Kyzburg, no, don't you dare!
"Nyurgh"

Kyzburgs normal eye rolled up into his skull as he promptly passed out, their body slumped slightly, and even though passing out onto the floor was impossible, the electrical impulses through their electric eye shot into their motor system, jerking the body upright slightly. There was a brief mental jostle as everyone else either tried to stay out of their frontal conciousness or get in control.

I'LL DEAL WITH IT I'LL MURDER THEM ALL WE'LL HAVE SPACE I'LL MAKE SPACE!
Don't let me near that bug!
God sakes, I'll deal with-

"-it." A slight gasp escaped through their collective lips as Drake seized control, bringing them all back to conciousness; he felt several people jostling him.

"Eurgh..." This is intolerable.
Sure I can't murder them?

They were distracted by a giant cockroach vomiting over one of their fellow detainees, their collective stomach lurched as they felt another wave of dizziness pass through them.

Oh please no. Drake groaned.
Glad I'm not in there... came Kyzburg's echoing gloat in their subconscious.

Managing to hold it together long enough for everyone to bundle out of the lift they all held back, Drake to regain control of his stomach, and the rest of them urging him to regain their composure. They weren't the only ones to hang back, the girl, presumably the receptivitent of the vomiting, hurled over the floor.

Drake groaned again and exited, following the others as the one called Sei caught what appeared to be a small droid and went about pillaging it's memory; a smart move they collectively noted. Their electronic eye scanned briefly over the girl as she stripped naked to change into a jumpsuit, otherwise they listened in on the conversation; it appeared some of them new each other previously.

Thaddeus, do you have no respect for other peoples privacy at all?
These people are practically animals, some of them are apparently; what does it matter.
Silence you two, we have bigger priorities here. Drake, you need to get hold of that map or get us into that computer system; preferably both, then we can plan our moves to get home.
Home? From what can be inferred from the current conversation it would be indicated to us that we are, shall we say, in space?
How about we blow the hull and find out huh! We'll either find a theatre on the other side, an ocean, or end up sucking vacuum!
Good point... perhaps we need... a test subject?

[Setulan]

As Joanna whispered into Terramo's ear, his blood ran cold. Or rather, it would have if he still had blood in his cybernetic skeleton. He looked at her sharply.

"How can you-"

Before he could finish, he had already been pushed aside by the tangle of people moving in on the elevator. That was when Nefer started speaking to him.

"Sei. Her name is Sei." He looked at the dog-man skeptically for a minute. "You know, I saw someone who looked like you once." He didn't have a chance to extrapolate, as the next second the elevator door opened and the whole mess of people scrambled outside, asking to be gunned down by the Storm Troopers...that weren't there.

Not good.

Unslinging the chain from his shoulder, he scanned the darkness and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Multiple light spectrums, no enemy around. Yet still, there was a presence of evil that surrounded the entire place. Something wasn't right, not by a mile, and he kept expecting...something...to attack them out of the darkness. He had the distinct impression he was being watched.

He hated it. He much prefered to be the one watching. He started to spin the chain gently in his hands, a soft whirring accompanying the motion. He joined the group of Charnel survivors as they gathered for an impromptu meeting.

"Agreed, Sei. Something...is not right here. Something is badly twisted. There is evil in this place."

[Belkaros]

"Keep talking to me like that and I'll show you interesting," she growled. "Keep your paws to yourself, Caligulus, as we'll be just fine."
A smile slid smeared itself across the ex-Belkan's face. "Promise?" he said in an innocent tone while winking suggestively.

"I can at least agree with you about that. You said you can pick up messages?" She looked at him again. "Do you have some sort of specialized implants up there?" She tapped the side of her own head.

"At this point the implants have me, I suspect," mused Caligulus running a hand through his thinning grey hair. "I've got an entire empire up here and a little more, a souvenir from my time with the lovely Mundelli Horace, who thought stuffing his most valuable servant with experimental biotech was a good idea. Though if you want to see all the places I'm upgraded, you will have to change your tune about the keeping of hands to oneself."

The darkness did not bother Caligulus, who could see well beyond the visual spectrum. He put as much distance as possible between himself and the insect, who's biometrics proved an all too accurate indicator of its imminent vomiting.

"Just lovely," he mused, "Can we kill it now? It bites and stinks."

As the elevator stopped, Caligulus moved as far to the side of the lift car as he could and readied himself to dodge fire, and possibly use a few of his new friends as human shields. He was a bit let down when the hall was empty, and continued to follow the group.

"Our hosts are quiet as a grave on this level. That or their communications are down," he said, 'listening' to the frequencies around them.

A couple more blows and a sad squeak later its main casing had broken open and the little machine was silent. Prying it open, she examined the interior, fishing around until she found what she was looking for: A tiny key card.

"Remember a second ago how we discussed those implants? I could have made that little toaster take us straight to the hangar bay, and avoid all his little friends, who usually are leading squads of guards," said Caligulus, his words dripping with disdain. As the group moved on, he picked up the smashed droid, pocketing a sensor node and its power source before putting it back down and rejoining the group in the barracks. His own suit, though bloody, was far superior to the garments available, though he did help himself to the missing soldier's cigarettes, pocketing two packs and a lighter. He lit one as he listened to the group talk, then spoke.

"As fun as it is to speculate about what boogeymen await us on this delightfully geometric space fortress, I think we should continue to head towards the hangars," he said, taking another drag of his stolen cigarette.

[Huerdae]

Spinor

If the others could see into the mind of the Winger, they would likely have become lost in the myriad passages of though and senses, so different were they from those of a simple mammal. Dozens of eyes each reported only slightly different variations of the same information, flooding the insectoid's brain with information, while his antennae flawlessly sought out information where his eyes failed. The very thought processes were different, as his mind did not focus on the trivialities of smell, or lack of comfort or how small the lift was. His mind focused on immediate needs.

Win.

Immediately, this came with a series of steps which would be required. Each of them broken down into immediate needs. Perform. Survive. Kill. Escape.

Perform. He had to be sure he was at his height. At the very best he could be. He could not be weighted down by the annoyances of clothing, or unneeded equipment - none of which he had, thanks to the guards. But he had excess waste. In a single, barely-warned-of movement, the Winger's meal, mixed with the fully digested remains of the last one, was expelled from his mouth. It was acrid - an acid that could break down the most complex of materials into little more than a tasteless slop now poured over a nearby female, a fact which was not entirely unplanned. If the female had a particularly potent smell, his own would be less noticable. It gave him more of a chance of avoiding detection. Antennae confirmed that the slop covered her, nearly head to foot, and even recognized a chunk that had not been fully digested - still possible sustenance if needed.

But the weight was the important thing. He now weighed slightly less, increasing his acceleration and maneuverability, particularly in the air. Performance. Capability now increased, he would required offensive ability to perform. That would come in time. One of his eyes focused for an instant on the apparent lesser of the gun-women. Soon, but not now.

And the lift opened. The two armed females made intelligent decisions, clearing the opening immediately. He had no such option, and instead hunched down, lining up his chitinous exoskeleton to deflect any impacts, and using one of the reptilians as partial cover. However, no fire approached, and soon the others stumbled and poured out, while the female emptied the contents of her own stomach - smart, she learns from those around her. The others were not so intelligent. The catching of the small droid was of little interest to him - instead, the layout of the ship was. In Ikittitl vessels, each hall, each tunnel, had a particular curve or pattern to it. But here, the dead cold of metal was as faceless and forgettable as the hiveless Huerdaen. Their stink did not permeate these halls, though - the rumble of their guns and the healthy weight of their steps was nowhere to be heard. It was...quiet, like prey who found themselves atop a hive.

It was clear that these creature knew not what they faced. They feared to even confront him and his new group of escapees. His eyes turned to the display, memorizing it flawlessly as the blue-fur shot through the screens, only to suddenly be interrupted.

I'm watching you.

It was his own mind, but not. The gaze registered something, and his mind was drawn to it. One of the females had her eyes to him, and one had changed. The information was stored. For a moment, his own eyes considered his form, as if following an order from the unknown thought, but they were quickly re-tasked, returning to purpose. But it left something new to consider. Each of the others was investigated in turn for what defenses were placed upon them - specifically, the collared woman. That bore some purpose, and bore no leash. Perhaps a cyborg, like the Huerdaen. Regardless, it seemed to be an inhibitor. If possible, he needed to acquire it for his own purposes.

Gaze returned to the eye that bore into him, and for a moment, he paused there, considering whether or not this one needed to die. It was wrong. Not correct. The hive would not accept it. But it was not his issue - and he suspected that with that one's form, it would take no less than four shots to eliminate it. It was useful, not to be harmed. Yet.

Clacking his mandibles together, he tore into the trunks, seeking weapons, as all the others did. Like all the others, he came up with nothing of value for that purpose, but he sat, quietly, with a half-bent trunk-lid in his strong hands. He paused a moment, then bent it violently, lifting it to his mandibles to tear a hole in each side. Using one of the abandoned uniforms, he tied the bent trunk-lid around his torso to cover where the carapace was weak, the very spot that Sei had shoved her weapon to threaten him. It covered low on his body, between his 'arms' and the forward set of legs, but it was not enough.

Survive.

Four more times he did this, Once high on his back, to cover the vulnerable strap for the previous, important plate. Another lay low, between his two rearmost sets of legs, while the others covered his back, blocking each of the major weaknesses in his carapace along his main body. Soon, he was even more heavily armored than before, with his weaknesses covered by plate metal, to protect against fragmentation, or melee-range blaster usage. His head swivelled very purposefully toward Sei, but he made no motion to attack, even became silent. It was clear the thought was there, but he silently turned away. One trunk, he simply carried with him, a shield to be used to protect parts of himself that could not otherwise be protected. He would not want to risk flying if he could avoid it, but as he was, he was now much more difficult to hurt unless they suddenly found a somewhat more dangerous weapon.

A fact that Tutu was entirely aware of.

Survive.

[Alversia]

Syona stood crammed to one side of the lift, trying to ignore the smell that emanated from the bug-like being directly to her left. A difficult task, given that her sense of smell was considerably better than many of those around her and she had the unfortunate pleasure of suffering it first hand. She tried to think of something else, tried to find something else to engage her mind and found herself drifting back to the echoes in her mind, those that sounded in her voice and yet did not belong. The voices that rebounded off her psyche, spoke to her, encouraged her, rebuked her, and comforted her. Her only friends in the entire world were locked where others could not see and could not comprehend. Normally they were only background whispers, noises that she could ignore while her mind was engaged in better and more productive things but now that she was desperately looking for a distraction, she found them coming to the fore, joining her own thoughts until it felt like a conversation taking place in her own mind, every voice having its own emotions, logic, morals and thoughts. In a way it was scary. In a way it was comforting because it was all she had ever known.

Right now, it was one of the voices that spoke, the more majestic of the two other voices, ”The insect is interesting. It appears primitive but there is more there than meets the eye.”

The third voice chipped in, sounding more arrogant, confident, more powerful, ”It is a threat to me. I know I could kill it with one wave of my hand. So powerful and yet so fragile. I could remove the problem just like that.” A mental click.

”I can’t do that!” Syona thought in horror, trying to repress the thought that had suddenly become so much more inviting, particularly when the thing appeared to vomit into the middle of the lift, accompanied by a cacophony of groans and moans from the group. Syona no longer heard the voices as she put all her effort into not being sick.

The feline could quite safely say that she had never been more relieved to have a door open in her life. She did not care if there were a hundred Stormtroopers or even a thousand waiting with blaster muzzles trained on the lift, ready to gun them all down, so long as she could be spared from the putrid smell of insect discharge. As it turned out, there was no one waiting for them, no alarms were sounding, no guards were waiting. It was as if their breakout had gone entirely unnoticed which of course it should not have. Syona was content to wait a couple of minutes before she put some thought into why this was, preferring instead to vacate the lift and into the comparatively fresh air of the life support system.

Once she was clear of the lift though, and the smell had rescinded enough for her to think properly, the Alumina wondered what had happened to the crew and, as normal, the other voices started to creep into her mind. Other people were looking for weapons. She was content to stand and watch them, hands behind her back, innocently minding her own building, keeping her tail curled around one leg to avoid tripping other people.
”Aren’t Destroyers like this supposed to be full of people?” she asked in a bemused tone.

”Many thousands of people. Something is terribly wrong with this ship.” The voice echoed in her mind.

Syona did not get a chance to answer before the blue Anthro…Sei her name was, ambushed a mouse droid whizzing past and in a surprisingly brutal act, tore into the creature, triumphantly removing a memory chip from its core. Syona nodded in agreement of the act. Once they found a terminal capable of uploading it, then it would give them all the information they would ever need. Could she examine the chip and the internal network and somehow find a way to concatenate the two together? Possibly. Would she be volunteering in this group to do that? No way.

So they wandered on in a rather aimless manner, looking for the hangar when they stumbled upon a room, evidently living quarters for the crew. Syona peered at the beds and tables with interest while the rest of the team, predictably, went looking for weapons, Syona examined the tables and beds of the barracks and then wandered over to peer over the shoulders of the people watching the terminal. All the while, the voice echoed in her mind.

”Signs of a general quarters call without any visible sign of an alert. Items left where they lie as if the user simply got up and left. Something is not good.”

Syona studied the map along with the others knew it by heart within minutes, something which a photographic memory tended to help with. Even while the others chipped in with their own suggestions, Syona was happy to stand on the fringes of the group, letting the stronger personalities dominate, content to follow their lead.

It was only then that she was hit by a sudden realisation, deep down in her gut, something not of her own making, an artificial warning.
”They’re not here because they’re dead.”

“We need to leave this ship immediately.” Syona spoke not in her normal soft tone but a much harsher one, stronger, clearer, less hesitant, her one good eye fixed on each member of the group in turn, “there is a terrible, terrible evil on this ship. It will kill us all.”

[Xenohumanity]

Music to Mood By - No Such Thing As The Promised Land

Nasrys piled into the back of the lift alongside what would likely be the most insipidly random assortment of sentient beings in the universe. More sane, orderly, traditionally genist Xenohumans just wouldn’t have had it, and might have started dropping the hammer of ‘gene-pollution’ accusations in an attempt to thin out the group and genohomogenize the rabble. However, the Drakon was a very tolerant fellow (relatively speaking), and so he tolerated the smells, sounds, and sights of a bunch of ugly future-corpses.

As the lights went dark and the wretched inertia of the lift gave way and the party began rising towards ‘up’, the Xenohuman’s eyes began adjusting more slowly than the others. He had great hunting eyes, but not tuned for nocturnal work, and so the lift stayed black. This was rather fortunate, for the insect’s wretched crinkling, followed by the launching of poop and stomach acid at someone, was best left as an unknown. With a loud, deep grumble of disapproval, he pushed a few others out of the way with ease as he got himself back to the door…

“Watch yourself, prawn. I will trash you like a New Saigon whore if you even think about that with me.”

The elevator stopped, and Nasrys stood like a rock as people were pushed and moved around him futilely. He took to all fours in a sprinter’s position, directly behind the door, ready to shrug off / repay any blaster shots, catch and return any thermal detonators, or simply dismember any door-breachers or Dark Troopers they would have sent or prepared for them. When the doors opened, he leapt forward into empty, unguarded space.

He peeled himself back onto his feet, heard Sei give the orders to head to the right, and gladly joined them. The ship seemed like a hopeless Cretan labrynth, and it would likely stay that way if they didn’t get a map or hostage guide-

"Nobody move."

Halting and hugging the wall, the Drakon traced Sei’s line of sight and found the hole she was watching. Perfect: Just like where the first M-Droid came out of. She grabbed it with the skill of a natural predator, and Nasrys couldn’t help but smirk as she began to smash its pitiful frame against the wall. He’d done the same to quite a few skulls in his time, and, honestly, it never got old. Watching intently as she tore out a scrap component, his obvious question was answered promptly.

"It's got an internal map on that removable storage device that will tell us where we are and how to get to the hangers," she explained. "Now we just have to find a console to plug in to."

“Well, perfect.”

The party advanced to a hatch, and Nasrys again took his line-man’s position. The two girls went in first this time, and the party entered the barracks of what would have presumably been guards. Half expecting either an ambush or a room of bloodied beds and dead bodies (at least it would have given credence to the latent fear of a big-bad-enemy-monster that resulted in a lack of resistance), he sighed with relief when there was nothing inside save for inanimate objects. Looking around, and peering into the boxes that Sei left open (“Twi’Lek? Boring as fuck. Poor guys don’t know any better. At least Xeno-Tech can breed interesting stuff to pork...”), he tagged along and watched as the mystery mammal get the map opened up.

“Lessee… Near the engines, don’t touch those… Boring deck to start on. Good.”

"What do you think?" She consulted the original group -Joanna, Frank, Terramo and Nasrys- as she read out her findings. "I think we should just make a straight run for it now, while the power's down and they're probably still confused."

Never one not to say her piece, Isthammi butted in to what she knew was a private conversation, “The power is down, no one is here, and we haven’t even heard people running around trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. Either this ship is seriously fucked and they abandoned it or they are all rushing to a breach elsewhere. So b-lining to the hanger and getting out of this tub before either they deal with what is going on or whatever is giving them woe finds us would be the best option.”

Nasrys turned and snarled at the interloper, his expression a combination of shock and indignation. “I was going to say the same thing, titless wonder. Whatever. If you fit on the ship, good for you. If not, don’t blame us.”

"Hey, not to break up the little party you have going, but where is the bloody reactor in this thing? Or the bridge. Either will do. And where the fuck are all the troops? They have some payback due." "And how exactly do you intend to get payback? If there really are tens of thousands of personnel on this ship, you'll be killed before you kill even a few, we all would. We'd do well to avoid any unnecessary confrontations, and if possible, any confrontations at all. As," he motioned to Isthammi, realizing he did not know her name "said, we should head straight to the hanger."

“You’re joking. You’re joking, right? I’ve seen some powerful people, but I’d like to go ahead and see you try and take this ship over single-handedly, ‘cuz I’m not helping.”

"As fun as it is to speculate about what boogeymen await us on this delightfully geometric space fortress, I think we should continue to head towards the hangars," he said, taking another drag of his stolen cigarette.

“Eeeeyup. So how about everybody quit trying to take over the ship and just come with us? One sec. I need a weapon.”

Heading back over to the heart of the barracks, he began feeling, testing, and pulling on the durosteel bunks. Not heeding the strange looks he may have been garnering, and rolling his eyes at the fact that the bug got well-armored before he did, he pulled, really pulled on one of the loosest corner-pillars that held up the bunk until it was torn violently from its place. Now, Nasrys had a great metal whacking stick, and clearly, he was happy about it. The smile on his face was quickly driven out by some very pessimistic speech…

“We need to leave this ship immediately.” Syona spoke not in her normal soft tone but a much harsher one, stronger, clearer, less hesitant, her one good eye fixed on each member of the group in turn, “there is a terrible, terrible evil on this ship. It will kill us all.”

“This situation is bad enough as it is, Xenan. We don’t need your depressing bally-hoo about monsters. Fuck monsters. That’s what I do: I beat them up, steal the virginity of what orifices I can fit in, and leave them to die, with stuff like this whacking stick driven through the body. That's what I do. Keep your worrying to yourself.”

Admittedly, that was the old Nasrys, but it got the point across all the same; he was not in the mood to hear crap like this from people. Especially not now, and most definitely from someone who bore a striking resemblance to the disgusting Felix-Xeno of old that the Drakon themselves had seen to absolute annihilation through genetically driven, beautifully perfect genocide.

Clearly, this was going to be an antagonistic relationship, if even that had been reached...

[Belkaros]

“This situation is bad enough as it is, Xenan. We don’t need your depressing bally-hoo about monsters. Fuck monsters. That’s what I do: I beat them up, steal the virginity of what orifices I can fit in, and leave them to die, with stuff like this whacking stick driven through the body. That's what I do. Keep your worrying to yourself.”

Caligulus laughed to himself at the dragon-man's threats. Here was a kindred spirit.

"You and I are going to get along quite well, I suspect. Gaius Caligulus, hedonist," he said, extending his hand towards Narsys. "I realize more and more that, as detestable as I find it, cooperation may be the key to our survival here, and who better to cooperate with than someone who shares your hobbies?"