In Case of Emergency... (Open, FT/All, Read First Post!)

[Senkaku]

Chaktul District
West Chongnam
Taihan-di
Feuille d'Or System

---

Arkady yawned and rolled over, brushing a strand of his short dirty-blonde hair out of his eyes and staring out the window under the dim glow of the string of soft yellow LEDs hanging over the alcove. Reed was soundly asleep next to him, his chest rising and falling peacefully, as Arkady looked out over the city. The sandstorm that had swept through earlier had left behind swirling clouds of dust, scraping against the ancient plastiglass of the window and sweeping in bitter streams across the battered streets hundreds of feet below. The dark towers were once again beginning to fill with the squatters who had fled into the sewers to wait the storm out, fires slowly beginning to glow amidst their shattered windows and shapes moving in their now sand-filled husks.
He shook Reed a little, sitting up. Nothing.
"Hey." Still nothing. He was out cold. With a sigh, Arkady climbed over him, pulling on some pants and throwing a heavy parka over his bare chest. The auto-zipper was broken, so he zipped it himself as he threw some shoes on, peeking into their little aquarium as he headed towards the apartment door.
He stepped out into the hallway, heading to the door at the end and shivering slightly as the blast of cold air hit him. Chongnam might be broiling during the day, but at night the city's weather was as erratic as its drivers. Some nights, the acres of concrete and steel would just keep pumping the day's heat out, keeping things nice and toasty until the sun rose again and really started baking them. Others- like tonight- the frigid, inky blackness of space would just seem to leach away every ounce of warmth from the surface, with frigid winds galloping in off of the Chandraksar Range. Arkady could see his breath as he wound down the outdoor staircase, which now had a fine coating of sand and grit. He could still feel some of the flying particles whizzing by in the air, hissing on the cold steel of the stairs and stinging his exposed face.

He pulled a cheap throwaway vape from a pack in his pocket, switching it on as he hurried down the stairs and taking a long inhale of THC-nicotine vapor. As Arkady neared the ground floor, he frowned. I bet ten to one he wakes up now that you're gone and starts getting worried. He tapped his bracelet.
"Kiyaad," he said clearly to his personal AI, "if Reed wakes up and asks where I am, tell him I just went for a walk. Nothing work-related. I tried to wake him up, but he was sleeping really soundly so I decided not to."
Kiyaad's chirpy voice hissed a little as the wind swept over her microphone. "Of course, sir!"

In the eastern sky, there was suddenly a visible streak of light. It faded quickly enough as it fell, but Arkady frowned. Must be something fairly good-sized re-entering.
The tip of the streak, however, was not fading. If anything, it was only growing brighter as it shot across the sky from east to west, and Arkady blinked in surprise as the white line abruptly terminated with a flash in the western foothills. That can't be more than fifteen miles out. Sure enough, there was a distant boom a moment later.
Arkady took another drag of the vape before its cheap little battery died. Disgusted, he flicked it into the curbside gutter, watching it fall among the sand. They cut more and more corners with the batteries these days.
He looked off to the western foothills.
"Kiyaad, actually, tell Reed I went for a quick drive."

---

Arkady's Matsushita Peony had seen its fair share of scrapes and accidents. The whole driver-side was scratched and missing paint, along with a rear-view mirror and the passenger-side handle, where some idiot had cut a little too far across the divider line and come millimeters away from a full head-on collision. The windshield was currently covered in sand, the engine choked in it- but that was nothing the old machine couldn't deal with, if it gave itself a minute. Dust vomited from the radiator grille as the fans inside it started up, but Arkady knew no matter what he did the air conditioners would always leave a slight gritty taste in the cabin and there would always be a fine layer of dust on the seats.
Regardless, it worked, better since Reed had forced him to buy a new graviton repulsor under the hover's (apparently still-good) warranty. He now shot across the dusty landscape of abandoned suburbs and scrubland, the Matsushita's left jet rattling like it always did.

Sure enough, as he came up on the area where he'd seen the flash, a wispy column of smoke was rising against the indigo sky into the brilliant moonlight, distant orange specks growing into fields of burning scrub.
I wonder what hit?
He began to decelerate, bringing the hover closer to the surface and pulling up next to the crater that object had left. The door wouldn't open for a moment until Arkady remembered he had forgotten to unlock it. He then went to open it again, but thought better of it and quickly pulled on the cheap disposable respirator sitting on the passenger seat.
As soon as he stepped out of the hover, he was glad he had. The smoke of the burning shrubs made his eyes water a little, and he unzipped his jacket as he walked up near the crater's edge and peered down.

Ohhhh shit. The Center is gonna want to hear about whatever the hell this is.

[Communist and Socialist Unions]

CSU City, Merrysville, 12:44:45 PM

It was not a classic day in the empire as the unknown object that was presumed to be a nuke detected a few hours earlier started to enter the atmosphere into the direction of Merrysville, and was blazing slowly but clearly to the panicking city. "All citizens, enter the nearest fallout shelter until the unknown object is presumed safe." a melancholy and robotic voice said on the various radios, TVs and such.

CSU Command Bunker - Merrysville, 12:50:53 PM
The emperor was in the city's command bunker, planning on what to do if such thing was a nuke. "My liege, we must deploy our anti defense missiles now!" roared a adviser, then the object, viewed by the visual, deployed a parachute. "Wait a min..." said a adviser, "That's a cylinder! Not a bomb shaped!" continued the same adviser. "Well crud, that thing nearly caused a nuclear exchange..." said the emperor. "At this rate, when and where will it land?" he asked. "About two minutes sir, and it will land at the Merry Memorial Park." a calculations officer said...

Two minutes later...
The emperor was on the park, with various troops. "Get the 23rd and 12th Divisions to secure that thing!" he ordered. He then saw the respective divisions encircling the object. "It's some sort of a pod sir!" the commander of the 12th shouted. "Ok! Let's get a truck to escort that thing!" he said while a pickup truck rolled in and took the mysterious pod...

[-Resdayn-]

Resdayn...

"The fuck..." Allison dove for the ground, rolling onto her back and pointing the purloined pistol skyward in a frantic effort to protect herself from shapes that seemed like they were on the verge of nothing at all. A piercing caw shattered the air and her eyes tracked the very tail end of the larger flying form before realizing the sound had come from elsewhere and rolling over to point the weapon into the trees. There was something like a low rumble from her towering companion and it nudged her with a giant foot. Words followed though it was still impossible to tell what he - if it was a he - had said though Allison was apparently able to translate.

"Snakes? Why does it always have to be snakes? Well, I don't know," she rolled over onto an elbow and looked up at him as he returned her gaze with something that looked like a smirk, "And what does that mean, anyway?" With a sigh and a puff of breath that sent an errant strand of hair flipping high, she hauled herself back to her feet and put her hand on the back of the man who was still slung over N'Than's shoulder, "At least he's still out."

Her gaze went to one of the towering trunks and the woven nest of branches that wound upward and she walked forward seemingly oblivious to put one hand on the trunk and look upward to the crown. It was only a moment however, and then the gun was back in her hands and she swung it to point at a dark shape that held its place on a branch, "What is that?!"

Whether she was able to fully take in the red-eyed avian through the thin mist was one question, but that N'Than was apparently able to see it more-so and stepped forward to put himself between the odd bird and the girl; "What? Is it dangerous?"

The bird itself,whether dangerous or not, seemed to deem the large wood-like being as more so, and, just as it came lumbering forth, the bird came off the branch, took a swoop at the large creature's head cawing and stuff, and flew off, as did several others nearby, seeming to understand the universal language of "if its moving and it shouldn't be moving, run/fly away really fast."

Ofcourse not all the birds were that smart and some stayed behind either unphased by the large lumbering walking tree or just plain curious as to the why and how of it's existence and decided to stick around to find out, especially those hanging around the dead trees on the north eastern edge of the clearing crowding around a long winding, clearly recently used path or perhaps a hiking trail into the woods. Not that much unlike the small dirt roads through forests seen in mideval era places.

The large sky lizard and whatever it was chasing, long since gone, and yet, at least for the next few minutes, the area still holding the semi silence and feeling of forboding that cast over the place once most of the animals left. Rustling of the underbrush from small rodents and such that stayed around, shadows in the slowly lifting fog, the few crow/raven things that didn't flee at the sight of the large walking tree thing and seemed to watch it's every movement as it moved about, as if eyeing it for a new roosting spot... the spooky feeling one might find themselves feeling if they were in a cemetery or creepy looking forest with hardly any light or something of that nature.

Sure the fog was lifting bit by bit, what with the mist coming up from the cooling crashed pod having slowed down considerably in the half an hour or so that they had been there, indicating the possibility of the pod and whatever contents it might hide getting considerably closer to touchable temperatures as time went on and the fog or mist or whatever it was would lift just faintly enough to notice the crow/raven creature surrounded trail off in the distance in a couple minutes after they discovered that first bird and it flew off. Thus also making other objects and markings in the area bit more visible, the longer they stuck around.

And it wasn't exactly pretty to look at in the fog. Each species had marked their side of the land and seemed to have entrenched themselves there, like some WWII battlefield, if it was done by witches and voodoo witch doctors, as seemed the case given all the odd decorations and tribal markings set about on each side of the clearing.

Not to mention few obvious traps if someone were to strain themselves enough to look. snares, bear traps, trip wires attached to dangerous things, all sorts of primitive animal hunting traps and tricks most civilized people had long since evolved from using.
One would almost think these weren't civilized beings considering the traps, but given they weren't just tossed around any old place, littering up the land, and were in fact carefully and stragistically placed and hidden where they would cause the most damage or just generally be the most effective, and not just out in the open for everyone to see, seemed to give some indication to a level of intelligence in whoever or whatever set these traps. like one of those seemingly empty areas that are truely littered with hidden landmines or something. Or like those adventure movies where the person doesn't realize there is a trap there until they trigger it, and likely more littered around their area.

Though given the nature of the fog or mist or whatever it is, still lingering in the area, it would likely be difficult to spot even the more obvious traps, by the naked human eye unless one were to be overly cautious and careful where they stepped, though given their new-ness to the area, it was likely a good chance the group didn't know that off-hand.

Nor would it be inherently obvious at least to a naked human ear, that there was a soft humming/buzzing sound nearby, cut off only every so often by a whirring or clicking noise as a floating robot zoomed around in the shadows that the fog made, examining these new comers and their ship from a distance, scanning them, probing them from afar, gaining intel and what have you, doing its best to figure out exactly what just happened and why thanks to these crashed off-worlders, without being noticed as the crew of that pod went along, doing whatever it was they were doing out there.

[Excidium Planetis]

Excidium Planetis Navy carrier Ravenous Pack

The Marines were unsurprised by the weapons and armor of the pod's occupants. As a nation originally formed of space pirates and gradually civilized to privateers and nowawdays asteroid miners, Excidium Planetis had quite its fair share of thugs, soldiers of fortune, and outlaws. All in all, the gear was unimpressive.

"Looks like a bunch of low lives, Commander," one of the Marine sergeants remarked. "Nothing real interesting."

"Yeah. I mean, this many shivs and only two guns? What the heck is wrong with these people?" Another Marine remarked.

"Stay alert." Commander Traversi cautioned. "They could still be dangerous. Maybe they're gladiators, or have personal shields that only allow slow moving melee weapons through and blow up catastrophically when hit with lasguns."

"What?" All the marines and the Doctor asked simultaneously.

"Nothing." Commander Traversi replied. "Just something I read in a thousand year old fiction novel. Confiscate the weapons and armor until we know more about our guests."

As the marines moved to remove all possible weapons and defenses from the unknown pod occupants, a few guards stayed behind with weapons train, and the Doctor flipped the switches to awaken the two apparent thugs. Medics applied chemical stimulants intravenously to speed the process, and a technician set up a video and audio recorder in a discrete place. This was a first contact, possibly, and there was protocol to follow.

[Liivland Abufan Se Steorre]

Liivland Abufan Se Steorre,
Parvalough Barony,
Lesser Demesne of Abufalinn.

CLC Virsaitis

The CLC Virsaitis, the 'Civilian Livonian Craft', was neither the largest, nor the smallest of those which ploughed the stars in the Federated Demesnes. Roughly sixty by thirty by fifteen meters, it was a three-engined light freighter owned by the independently chartered Captain Kyander and his six crewmates, a regular sight in the Greater Demesne of Parvalough these last ten years. The darkened bridge of the Virsaitis was nearly silent apart from the occasional sound of fabric brushing against the metal control surfaces as the pilot entertained himself at the ship's helm. Not in an obscene manner of course (dear god, what were you thinking?), he just so happened to enjoy messing around with fabric and making simple clothing like dresses, tunics, cloaks and the like. Not for any real gain aside from simple enjoyment and distraction from the great nothingness beyond the windows on weeks-long space journeys like the one he was on - travelling from the furthest borders of Parvalourian space back to the skyplex in obit around Parvalough. A successful transportation of...cargo to a private research facility on a trans-Parvalourian object: something to give a substantial paycheck which would probably last him and his family for a good few months.

Before much more progress could be made on embroidering the article he'd recently finished, a light began to flash on the console. Moments later, as the helmsman tapped a few command icons on the console the room came to life, sensors indicating a rapidly approaching object of interest - almost miraculously on the vessel's route, considering the emptiness of space. With another successive set of taps the pilot had corrected the ship's course to meet with the object, alerted Captain Douglas Kyander, and started running through the database of possibilities as to what the object could have been. A minute later there were two men on the bridge of the freighter, one trying sheepishly to kick textiles under the control console and the other yawning in loose fitting casual clothes.

"So... What is it then?" Kyander asked eventually, staring at the holographic display.

"I'm not entirely sure, Doug." He said, waving at one of the displays. "Vikki seems to have marked it as roughly the size and shape of a pod..." He paused, "It could be cargo or personnel, no telling how long it's been there for. You think salvage is a good idea?" He added.

"We might as well." The Captain said, "It could be worth a few gills back home." He sighed and looked out the window. "I'm not arsed with getting my gear on to look at it outside, so catch it in the egg-net and bring it into the main bay, I'll take Eliisabet and Kalju down once you've grabbed it and brought it in." With that he pointed at the display on the other side of the cabin. "Check the velocity moving in, I don't want you to waste time coming back around for another pass." He said, before snatching something from under the pilot's chair as he turned to look at the screen.

"Right you are, boss." The man said, making a few adjustments on the controls before turning back to see the captain had padded barefoot out of the bridge without providing a warning. "Damnit, Doug..." He muttered, before following it with a more over the top curse when he realised that the knitwear was gone.

A few minutes later Douglas and two crew members stood by one of the doors to the empty cargo space, waiting for the go ahead from the cockpit to open it and have a gander at the salvage. While the Captain was still in what amounted to a tshirt, slippers and pyjama trousers with a newly stolen warm bear-evoking scarf-hat-glove combo the other two wore hardwearing and worn working clothes with tools, equipment and weapons harnessed, slung or attached to their gear. All of them were somewhat pale-skinned, with the shorter woman being blonde and the other two darker haired. None were especially dirty or overly unkempt, but then again the three were certainly not the sort of people which one would presume to even be noticed by high society. After five or so minutes standing there the unmistakable feeling of the mai bay doors shutting again could be felt through their feet so the Captain hardly needed the verbal clarification on the intercom before he opened the door and stepped in to look at his prize.

[Sunset]

OOC: Just a note - this is still going forward, I'm just in the middle of the holiday season so posting is slow. Replies are coming though!

[Sunset]

Uni Luxa

"...Aklo," the Woman paused, turning the word over in her mouth as though it was a distasteful morsel before turning it back out to rest at the bitter tree that had spawned it. "A tongue We have not heard in many eons. It is a dead tongue, a tongue spoken only in the places where We cannot reach. But you speak it and what - only a boy?"

Though by her appearance she was not far older herself. There was little to indicate age and that itself was a fair indication; Her skin was smooth and flawless with no sign of wrinkle or line. It was in fact an oddness that she would have none of these and yet no sign of concealment or appealing dress. Neither was she ashamed or indeed possibly aware of her near-naked state but the young August's gaze on the jewels that decorated her tracery instead brought her attention.

"Do you know of these, then?"

She held out a hand and on the back of it flashed a purple gem that seemed - nay, did - to reflect a light of its own making. Facets were cut into the surface but the shape and pattern was odd. A lapidary might cut a stone to enhance its fire or show the inner beauty but this was doped for yet another purpose entirely though the artists intent remained unknown.

"Do you understand the language they speak?" Something tugged at him as her lips moved, a flash in the gem seeming to imitate her words but yet not follow them as if they were speaking among themselves and echoing her words but yet in a tongue unseen and unspoken. "Where is this place? What strange shore have I been cast upon by the machinations of those who seek to travel on a sea they do not understand?"

[Sunset]

Republic of Vectors...

"A lawyer, huh?" Whether the young man had really been expecting one, or held some measure of suspicion, his own tone was more duplicitous than suspicious. "So you're an expert in international law? Then you know about other countries, right? Other than this... Republic of Vectors," he finished with a slight shake of his head and eyes looking to the side as though he somehow felt the name was a joke or a fake. "Have you ever heard of Sunset? Say, why do they call it Vectors, anyway? I didn't do so well in math, but I know that's some kind of math word."

Accepting the explination with a bit of a shrug, he continued, "So I want a lawyer cause this looks like an interrogation and Santa Claus," he pointed towards the door, "Said as much. Which means to me that they think I did something wrong. You don't lock someone up unless they did something wrong..."

Whether or not he had, in fact, done something wrong he left unasked.

"Say I did - theoretically - something wrong. Like... I dunno. Piracy. What would they do to me, and what kind of evidence do they have? If you're my lawyer you should know that already, right?"

[Primordial Luxa]

Uni Luxa
August took her extended hand and helped pull her over the lip of the crater while taking the moment to also inspect the gem which she indicated. He noticed immediately the strange color which seemed to reflect in the gem on the back of her hand. Its hue astounded him but not as much as the fact that the gem seemed to be part of her body or nearly part of it. The meddling of carbon flesh and carbon crystal was something that he himself and looked into on many occasions and imagine in his most wonderful dream but here it was in front of him in all of its glory. August worried he might have gone mad in the moment at the sight of something so close to his grandest dream laid out before his eyes.

“I don’t.” He said still trying to communicate in Aklo with some difficulty using short phrases and basic ideas it constrained him form expressing himself fully but it would be sufficient. “But it is beautiful and godly. I can’t understand your gems. I want to.”

Suddenly he turned his head and looked down the street to where a loud blaring sound was coming from, his eyes widened and he looked back at the strange girl with an obviously distressed emotion and tone. Down the street covered in dust and small clumps of debris was a set of boxy vehicles colored in a disturbingly authoritarian grey color and surrounding by a group of burly looking humanoids holding all manner of strange devices and conversing among themselves. “We need to leave, quick, and soon. You are in Luxa.” To anyone skilled at Aklo the word Luxan carried with it a large number of double meaning, literally it translated to, pets or slaves of the Great Ones, but a more artistic interpretation would claim that it meant, star hunters or perhaps enlightened weak race.

Regardless August began pulling at the womans arm and running towards one of the nearby alley ways which was a yawning gargoyle encrusted doorway. “Quickly we must leave. Luxa is not kind to strangers. Especially ones in your position.”

[Sunset]

Resdayn...

As it flew past, the giant raised a hand as if to ward it off but judging it harmless, he made no other motion towards them as the motion of the moment settled and he turned to take in the place. Below him, nearly ducked between his legs, the girl looked up through his arms like the branches of the same nearby and followed not where his gaze fell but the motions of his face and eyes; "People? A trail..."

One massive foot after another descended and he stepped over to where the thin path wound into the forest, an instinct as natural as turning one's face towards the sun to one of his species. Left in place for the moment she turned to the bundled form that lay at the foot of the tree. It was another man - one of her species - laid out thin with a bald circle of shiny skin above a ring of white and a matching beard and mustache. The side of his face sported a massive bruise as though he had been struck and Allison confirmed this as she knelt, "You should have been more careful."

Creeks and whispers answered but she did not look back to answer him and thus did not see as he stretched an arm out, fingers curling down so that he might present his thickly-covered forearm as a roost for a curious bird. By the time she had dug around in her pockets and uncovered a small spray bottle that was then applied with a hiss to the man's injury she had missed the moment and it was only after she asked her question, "Where do you think we are," that she turned to him and only caught the disappearing flight of the black-winged avian as it dove from his arm and nearly touched the bare ground of the trail with its claws before soaring skyward again. "No, I don't have a guess either. A battlefield?"

She looked around but to her eyes the forest looked like any other she had seen. To her the urban landscapes of the mega-cities and the claustrophobic interiors of spacecraft were home. Here was the home of strange things that flew and crawled and nested; Home to N'Than and his species but just as alien as she to him to her experience. Once again her fingers slid into her jacket and she walked to his side with her eyes on the forest and trees rather than on the thin fingers of the man behind her as they curled slowly and then relaxed unseen. The pack across his back was now at his narrow waist and with a gnarled hand her partner sorted through it until he came up with a squarish box marked off in orange and black.

"Emergency beacon? Are you sure?" And he shook his head in a most human-like gesture; "Right, just in case. If someone finds him with us, they'll figure it out quick enough. Maybe we should just," she patted the inside of her jacket meaningfully. "Ransom isn't worth much if you're in a cell or in the ground. Right, no... We'll bring him with us."

Her half of the conversation complete, she waited while a long arm again snaked out to lift the man to a slender shoulder and the pair set off down the trail to only barely miss the little robot that drifted out from behind a tree to watch as they walked away.

[NorSec]

MultiFlavor Regional Distribution Center · Suburbs of the Diuerez-Triln Megaplex · Northern Security Zone

Late afternoon, just after sunset

An icy wind swept across the empty streets and lifted a scrap of paper from one of the ubiquitous piles of rubbish, sending it fluttering gracefully past boarded up windows and broken streetlights. Ten years ago this massive building would have been a center of activity with trucks arriving and departing at all hours of the night, delivering the goods busily sorted and inspected by a workforce of hundreds. Now it was decrepit ruin covered in graffiti and faded pornographic advertisements.

The quiet was only barely disturbed when a car turned onto the street and parked itself on the sidewalk a few meters from the dimly lit main entrance. Despite the vehicles clear age and worn condition the sound of its engine was little more than a whisper. A door opened and closed as the driver Paul Inax, a short and thin man with dark hair and dressed in a warm, black coat exited and hurried towards the warehouse. He knocked once before rickety main door was opened by another man whose tall stature, broad build and neon green made a sharp contrast.

"Evenin', boss..." the giant began before he was brushed off by the smaller man.

"Spare me, just let me through. And get someone to watch over my car, I plusunneed to have a window smashed in by some junkhead."

Frowning at the barked order, the larger man still stepped aside and raised a hand to wave over an unseen guard from one of the room's dark corners. Paul simply continued inside without a further thought towards the security - it was after all not his problem. It was hardly warmer inside than it had been on the street, with badly sealed windows letting the winter air inside and the owners of the place being not very eager to pay for any decent heating. On the floor along the edges of the large room were piles of old clothing which at closer inspection contained people in various degrees of consciousness, some moving slightly or mumbling in their drug-induced rest. Like the security they were not his problem and so he simply walked on, passing through room after room and waved through by armed guards in makeshift armour until he had descended into the relatively undamaged basement.

He was ushered into a spartan back room with naked concrete walls and no furniture beyond a chair in which a woman sat strapped. Her head slumped down against her chest with her tangled, dirty hair hiding her face. The woman's bare arms were covered in scars, bruises and signs of abuse, other injuries could be glimpsed over her entire body through tears in her tattered clothes. Hovering over her stood Davith Celison, the infamous crimelord and questionable owner of the abandoned distribution center. Tall and clad in a fashionable suit he looked more like a manager at some office complex than a gang leader, yet there was a look in his green, bulging eyes that made Paul uneasy. When he now turned towards the shorter man there was even a thin smile on his lips which only served as another warning sign.

"Inax! About time you appeared, I thought you had bailed on me."

"I came as speedwise I could, I just wasn't expecting you to call me out here. Today." Eager to redirect Davith's intense gaze he gestured towards the bound woman. "Has it got anything to do with her?"

The crimelord turned away, walking a small circle around the chair. "You could say that, yes. Caught her snooping where she shouldn't be. I thought she was just some desperate junkie at first, but oh it was so much better" he grinned joylessly "she's Seepo."

"Secret Police? Why would they send someone in here?"

"A good question, one of many. Seepo must have scraped the bottom of the barrel to recruit her, but it still took me a nice long while to get some answers" he petted the captive's tangled hair affectionately, before turning to stare at Paul. "Plusgood answers even. About a number of data transfers and a ten thousand credits. Anything that rings a bell?"

Paul felt as if ice cold water had been poured down his spine and had to suppress an urge to shy away from the intense stare. Before he could answer, Davith had drawn a sleek looking pistol and pointed it at his temple.

"No need to waste any time with denials. I'm going to give you a chance to make your excuse, and it had better be a doubleplusgood one, 'zenny"

Staring into the barrel, Paul suddenly felt the world go dark.

---

On the roof a couple of guards had alerted each other to the odd light in the sky. What at first looked like a star had moved too fast to be one. And soon become too bright and big to be a plane. The question 'What the sick is that?' circulated around before one woman had the awareness to scream a warning. Moments after the large, dark shape she had spotted struck and the shockwave sent guards into the ground, deafened by the powerful boom. The shock sent ripples through the old building and walls in desperate need of repair crumbled and collapsed as the floors flew apart from the impact. Before the roaring of collapsing concrete had silence a massive explosion sent a new shockwave throughout the warehouse, throwing or maiming those caught by the debris from the blast.

When the dust finally started to clear it looked like more than half of the building had collapsed in on itself, the rubble forming a blood-stained caldera around the impact. From what was still standing rose a spiraling column of black smoke like a dark tower against the neon lit skyline of the distant city.

---

Paul Inax didn't know how long it had been since he lost his consciousness. After vomiting violently he tried to remember at all what had happened, but the entire afternoon seemed to have become a blur. It was only when he lifted his gaze and began to take in the destruction that the memories returned. The captive, the accusation, the gun. The back room was filled with debris from the floors above and dust lingered in the air, filling his lungs and causing him to cough painfully. He saw no sign of Davith or the girl but quickly noticed that the previously empty room now was dominated by a massive, metal... Thing.

It was big, covered with dust, splatterings of blood and was buried into the concrete floor of the basement. Just beneath it, under a pile of ruble, he spotted the girl, or rather what was left of her. He paused to vomit again before finally making an attempt to climb up on his feet, feeling a small relief that no bones appeared to be broken. Around him the air was full of confused shouting and the agonized screams of the wounded.

[The Imperial Frost Federation]

The Imperial Frost Federation...

"Captain? I..." There was a hesitancy in the young man's tongue though it didn't seem to be a question of a language barrier. Instead he was searching for something and perhaps he had found it, "Imperial Frost Federation? I've never heard of it..."

This seemed to bring a sense of calm to his face, as though the knowledge that he was someplace new or, perhaps, far away from someplace familiar brought a certain ease to him.

"Where is Kainshin? She was with me... What happened to her?"

The Captain shook his head somberly as he realized the dead woman in the cryochamber was his companion. "She's in critical condition. She's lost too much blood for our medics to revive her." Said the captain while the doctor also said, "We could use our experimental nano-technology to revive her, but it's too risky and the window of opportunity is a few minutes before rigor Mortis kicks in. It's possible that the chemicals that induced your coma could preserve the brain cell but that is a very remote possibility"

"Doc we really shouldn't give this kid unnecessary hope. Now can you tell me what happened to you and your companion?" Said the Captain as he looked at the young man.

[Republic of Vectors]

"Of course Sir. As you know, here in the outer regions, law is largely determined by sector. Now lucky for you, you landed in this Republic. Despite, ahem, Santa Claus, the Vectorians are actually very lax. Especially for events that do not affect them. Piracy is a vague issue, as long as they cannot prove that you disrupted a shipment to Vectors or the counties allies, then you cannot be charged under law in this sector. And get this, if they find out you actually did a service to them by affecting the cargo of one of their enemies, they will actually pay you! This sector is pretty weird that way."

The fake lawyer was almost laughing on the inside coming up with these crazy ideas, piracy was actually a severe crime that could result in death in the Republic of Vectors. David Rissan was concentrating very hard to commit this all to memory, it all had to sound believable, and possible in an earthly situation, but he could not let himself be caught in a lie later on. Every detail had to be perfect.

"Though, yes you are being detained. Thats why I am here. See, you did nothing wrong per say, but you are an illegal immigrant under Act 12 of the Citizens and Foreigners Law. That allows them to detain you for the purpose of information gathering and a small sentence if you did it on purpose."

The military officer took a moment to let his mouthful sink in to the man across from him.

"Well, it seems like I've been doing all of the talking! Now its your turn, tell me exactly how you ended up here."




In the command centre, the heat was starting to rise and discomfort began to spread, and with it, impatience. The major called down to the computer stationed officers,
"Is the woman stable enough to wake?" Two of the officers looked up from the consoles at the major, one shook his head and the other replied
"No Sir, she needs another ten hours at least. A day would be better."
"And the thing in room three?" The major cringed to ask, but this was going too slowly and armed with the knowledge that normal weaponry could harm the beast was comforting.
"It is capable of being awoken, Sir." The officer wisely did not input his opinion, it would have led to a quick demotion or a transfer to a guard duty somewhere dreary if he let his thoughts out unasked for.
"Prepare a group, we wake it in five minutes." Half of the room paled at the order, but loyally made preparations.

The door to the room opened upwards, creating a hole in the room where there had been but a microscopic seam to give away the door. Two men entered side by side, without firearms but each with a powerful 'zap stick', nothing more but a conductive guard baton with a amplified battery pack, capable of dealing out more shock than a police force taser weapon. Following several feet behind were two Military Police men. Unlike the two whom were going to be close and personal, these two men carried military rifles. Both were the MP mandated SQAM platform, but with their limited choice of caliber. One was chambered in 7.62x39, and the other in 6.8SPC. These men were nearly heartless, years of duty give them an innate ability to end life when required without impacting their nightly sleep. With a few thousand men like these, without heart , with solid determination, one could take over a continent. But alas, they were too few and far between to make a fighting force worth anything. But the two in this room would not hesitate to kill the two men in front of them if it meant stopping that alien from getting out. The door silently slid shut and sealed, the two rear guards separated to opposite sides of the room, and the two men in the front approached the restrained alien. Less than two feet away from the white patch that woke them from their slumber, they paused. Captain Kilgras and Captain Cedinate, both two stocky, decorated officers from the base took in the thing in front of them. Ugly. Female. Had a sour smell. Dangerous. Captain Cedinate, closer to the neck, extracted a shiny clamp, of which he ever-so-gently pried up a corner of the white material and slowly peeled it off. It came off very easily, it did not have much in terms of stick or suction, it was more like it specially bonded to the skin. Perhaps organic matter made it grab. Only years of experimentation would tell.

With the patch off, both Captains stood back and waited for the being to awaken.

[Sunset]

Senkaku...

If it had been an escape pod or life raft, the process that had involved its jettison from whatever ship had borne it had not gone entirely to plan. What was undoubtedly a system designed to smoothly eject the rounded capsule from the ship had somehow gone awry and the ensuing jam had resulted in a whole section of the ship's interior being torn away and wrapping itself around the central pod as it burned through the atmosphere of Taihan-di before crashing to the ground in a tangle of metal. Components designed to withstand the various rigors of space travel had 'merely' melted and now encased it like a a forkful of particularly poorly twirled spaghetti. Some of this had been torn free and pushed back by the force of the impact while others had similarly been burned away by the retro-rockets clustered on either side. These were useless now - not even a particularly clever mammal might get them to fire again - but that they had fired could serve as some positive indication that there was someone inside.

Possibly someone's; Even discounting the amount of hull required to keep those inside safe from the scorching heat of re-entry, some additional space for supplies, a compartment for a landing chute that had deployed and then ripped itself to shreds, and whatever mechanisms the former retro-rockets required, there would be room inside for three to five depending both on the size of the individual and the intimacy of their relationship. To do more would either require smaller individuals or a lot of red noses and large shoes. That the controls appeared similarly sized and shaped to Arkady's hand was a solid indicator that whoever was inside was similar in size. Whatever their number, they would not be opening the capsule very soon; Both the searing heat of the passage and the constraints of the melted structure conspired to keep those inside firmly in the capsule's grasp.

[Sunset]

Excidium Planetis...

It was only a few minutes before the pair began to wake up as the chemicals began to leech from their system. Heart rate increased and color returned to their skin and it was only after their eyes began to move under their eyelids that the realization was had that they were now asleep instead of comatose. A hand unconsciously scratched at his bare bottom under the concealing sheet and then he rolled over, tossing an arm around the woman and putting his rough hand on her breast to hold her possessively. Her own wrapped around his and he pulled close as she rolled onto her side, his face nuzzling into her neck. There was an awkward silence that lasted another two as the naked pair slept until someone - and no one was quite sure who - coughed.

The reaction was unpredictable and sudden.

Fabric rippled as the man shifted, a look of intense concentration on his face, and then a wave of the most foul air to grace the hangar bay rolled over the assembled men. If not for the disgustingly visible source of the emanation it might have been presumed as a gas attack of some kind but it was clearly non-lethal unless someone chose to light a match. Still for only a moment another followed it, then the woman giggled and rolled over to push herself up against him and barely open her eyes and whisper, "That's gro..."

Halted in mid-sentence, she stared at the armed Marine past her lover's shoulder with Commander Traversi just beyond him. Then she farted too; Enough to blow the sheet high and expose her pock-marked and scarred backside to the men on the other side.

'Heh, you farted too... Oh shit!"

[Scyllan Syndicate]

The Scyllan Syndicate
United in Defiance, Divided in Solidarity

The cool air inside the bridge of the aging vessel was still. It reeked of that mossy stale stench that the crew had become so familiar with. Even Captain Roden, who stood perched on the railing, had long forgotten what such an aroma smelled like. He'd forgotten a lot of things, really. They'd been out in this god-forsaken volume of space, with not an unfortunate soul in lightyears it seemed, and the crew was losing hope.

Even still, Roden urged the crew to press on. They were one of several Scyllan vessels in this area of space on the prowl for something to scavenge, like a pack of encircling vultures over a wounded animal. They just had to wait for it to fall, and draw its final passing breath, and they'd descend upon its carcass and peck it to pieces. Truthfully, it wasn't the most glamorous duty for the Syndicate's infamous. It did pay remarkably well, however.

The Scyllan pirates were a notorious bunch in this volume. Homogeneous, however, they were not. True to the stereotype of the vagabond ruffian, they were more of an assortment. Everything from the grizzly looking, large-foot Taurans, to the meek and cunning Baskene. You had your criminals: Your assassins, bounty hunters, thieves and cut-throats. Then you had those looking for adventure, a quick buck, or just having simply wandered into the Syndicate. If you weren't singing it out in the halls of a brothel over Eglog slime, you were boarding and overtaking Merchant vessels.

True to their motto, the Scyllans were definitely not a united bunch. Oh no, they fought each other incessantly. It was only in the face of a great threat did they decide to defy such rivalries by uniting together. But, Pirates being pirates will often challenge each-other the moment that threat has been defeated. It's all about your vanity, and when it comes to credits, the higher the risk, the better the pay.

And so, there was the Harg's Revenge, under the command of the scarred and rough looking Captain Roden. They had hailed from Haven, one of the Syndicate's largest pirate-havens out in the Hangman's Rest. A name as pleasant sounding as the port they considered home. Now, they'd been out without so much as a nibble, and when the Navigator announced that the Harg had received a distress beacon, the crew's spirits were suddenly lifted.

"Begin active-scans, I want the arms ready," Roden ordered as the Quartermaster immediately repeated the orders. The crew shuffled from the bridge. The creaking vessel came to life, as orders were announced over the intercomms, and the vibrations of the loose metal sheets in the floor signalled the movement of the Taurans. "All mates, battle-stations, battle-stations!" the robotic voice announced.

"It's about fucking time!" a man said, jumping into the cockpit of his speed-fighter as he started to flip switches. The engines came to life with a violent hum that rattled the bolts and pieces of metal on the dock beneath it. Across the sides of the ship, the large bay doors began to slide open, the rust scraping off inside like a fine snow. Deck-guns, torpedoes, and cannons lined these decks as the vessel turned towards the signal. "Prepare to jump," Roden stated as everyone grabbed for what they could. The ship held herself still, and then suddenly dissipated into the velvet backdrop of the Universe. Their destination, a potential victim.

[Sunset]

Scyllan Syndicate...

The unending nothingness of space resolved itself into a scattered something as the Harg's Revenge approached and something then revealed itself as what looked to be a tangled clump of debris from a ship of some sort - impossible to tell exactly what sort of vessel it had been without a closer look - that in turn found itself adrift from the source of the signal itself. Placing one before the other, the later was revealed to be on only the most casual inspection to be an escape pod. Wide and sleek, it might have been a little ship all to itself except that the emergency beacon had already identified it as such. That it was ornate and carefully decorated told something of the ship that had spawned it and the glittering white shell practically - and electronically - begged for rescue.

Or what passed for rescue in certain parts.

It would be a simple matter for all but the most incompetent of crews. The pod was by itself, having apparently launched itself away from the debris before coming to a stop with the former just visible from it by the naked eye. How it had come to stop when little in space stopped unless acted upon by an outside force was a question for the inquisitive, but that it had stopped was certain and it was, perhaps, because there was ass-all nearby. Not a planet nor moon nor star graced the heavens and aside from the light that played across its shiny white and chrome surface only the invisible illumination of radio waves cast their shadow. But a shadow did move there.

Away from the lonely escape pod and tucked in among the wreckage of the unknown vessel a half-dozen dark figures stood still, moving only occasionally as they too invisibly watched the approaching ship. They stood not in ambush but in apprehension - what were the intentions of the unknown ship and should they venture beyond the shroud of tangled debris to find out? One figure in particular stood at the front to judge, and wait, and watch...

[Sunset]

Primordial Luxa...

She did not seem particularly surprised by his statement, nor did she seem dismayed at the sight of what looked to be authority figures, but she did accept his hand and follow him at a careful pace. There was something odd about her; Virtually naked as she was, she seemed unashamed of both her body and more than casually interested in the world around her. Footstep followed footstep and her eyes swept over everything as she passed, pausing to place an inquiring array of fingertips on the stonework gargoyles as they passed. Fingers split to touch eyes and she drew them to her face to examine her fingertips closely as she followed, wiping them clean after a moment and flicking something away.

"You fear those with power - has it not always been this way where Aklo is spoken? It is not a tongue of those who are free. Why do you run? Why not stay to accept your just punishment?"

[-Resdayn-]

Resdayn...

As it flew past, the giant raised a hand as if to ward it off but judging it harmless, he made no other motion towards them as the motion of the moment settled and he turned to take in the place. Below him, nearly ducked between his legs, the girl looked up through his arms like the branches of the same nearby and followed not where his gaze fell but the motions of his face and eyes; "People? A trail..."

One massive foot after another descended and he stepped over to where the thin path wound into the forest, an instinct as natural as turning one's face towards the sun to one of his species. Left in place for the moment she turned to the bundled form that lay at the foot of the tree. It was another man - one of her species - laid out thin with a bald circle of shiny skin above a ring of white and a matching beard and mustache. The side of his face sported a massive bruise as though he had been struck and Allison confirmed this as she knelt, "You should have been more careful."

Creeks and whispers answered but she did not look back to answer him and thus did not see as he stretched an arm out, fingers curling down so that he might present his thickly-covered forearm as a roost for a curious bird. By the time she had dug around in her pockets and uncovered a small spray bottle that was then applied with a hiss to the man's injury she had missed the moment and it was only after she asked her question, "Where do you think we are," that she turned to him and only caught the disappearing flight of the black-winged avian as it dove from his arm and nearly touched the bare ground of the trail with its claws before soaring skyward again. "No, I don't have a guess either. A battlefield?"

She looked around but to her eyes the forest looked like any other she had seen. To her the urban landscapes of the mega-cities and the claustrophobic interiors of spacecraft were home. Here was the home of strange things that flew and crawled and nested; Home to N'Than and his species but just as alien as she to him to her experience. Once again her fingers slid into her jacket and she walked to his side with her eyes on the forest and trees rather than on the thin fingers of the man behind her as they curled slowly and then relaxed unseen. The pack across his back was now at his narrow waist and with a gnarled hand her partner sorted through it until he came up with a squarish box marked off in orange and black.

"Emergency beacon? Are you sure?" And he shook his head in a most human-like gesture; "Right, just in case. If someone finds him with us, they'll figure it out quick enough. Maybe we should just," she patted the inside of her jacket meaningfully. "Ransom isn't worth much if you're in a cell or in the ground. Right, no... We'll bring him with us."

Her half of the conversation complete, she waited while a long arm again snaked out to lift the man to a slender shoulder and the pair set off down the trail to only barely miss the little robot that drifted out from behind a tree to watch as they walked away.

The little floating robot continued to observe them, to record their movements and monitor them as they went about their business, only seeming to leave them be once they vacated the area and continued onward, with their new companion, down the trail. Likely unaware of the satellites in orbit around the moon, some of which would eventually be replacing the robot in monitoring them as the information from said little floating robot got relayed back to someone, somewhere with technology capable of tracking these odd off-worlders.

As the odd creatures continued onward, for awhile nothing seemed to happen, aside from the occasional twig snapping or rustle of a bush. But as time went on and they went further away from the place where all the animals had fled from their sight, the sounds and sights of life seemed to return.
Sure some fled at the sight of these strange beings not from this planet, as would be expected of creatures encountering the unknown, but more than a handful stayed, either just keeping their distance from this group and waiting till they passed by to go on their merry way, or, in the case of the more bold or uncaring beasts, hardly seemed to acknowledge them at all and just went ahead on with whatever they were doing as if the newcomers weren't even there.

Only the occasional bird that decided to try to make the large walking tree as a brief roost, seemed to try any actual contact with them, and even then it wasn't long before they flew off again to somewhere else. It was still day time for a majority of the time they walked, all sunny and bright and full of tweeting birds. the picture of tranquility and natural beauty after they managed to get far enough away from the fog and mist of the place they left.

And although there were a few instances when it appeared there might be some sort of danger in the form of a hungry or territorial beast during the time they walked, it was rare, and every time, they ran when they saw the towering behemoth that was the walking tree creature.
As if knowing it better to not mess with something who's mere foot was as big as if not more so than most of them.

Though as they walked, naturally the trail would bend and turn every so often and they would once again find themselves in the ever creeping fog and mist, though now away from the center, considerably less, though still enough to have difficulty seeing through on the occasion that they managed to pass through an area shrouded in it's shadow as it were. Perfect places for ambushes, though, aside from the noises in the underbrush perfectly timed to make a human jump out of their skin in surprise, nothing major seemed to happen to the group at this time as they traveled through the dense forest, constantly alternating between happy fairy tale forest and spooky fog, animals passing around them every so often, some friendly or indifferent, some not so much but easily scared away... at least for the time being anyways.

[Natuda]

Elkhorn mountain range, Iroquois region, Natuda

As the burning object shot through the atmosphere, most people didn't look twice at it to begin.
Mostly due to it coming down during a beautiful stary night meteor shower so it just seemed like any other shooting star.
At least until it became more obvious as time went on, that it wasn't just shooting across the sky and was indeed becoming a bright and shining star that eventually became a big flaming ball visible by the naked eye as it broke through the atmosphere.

One easily visible throughout the world for awhile for anyone outside looking up at the night sky until it got closer and dove into the landmass known as Natuda in general and disappearing from general view all together as it made a splashdown in one of the great lakes near the summit of the elkhorn mountain range in the Iroquois district. Naturally the media was all a buzz about this phenomenon all over the planet for awhile, but none moreso than natuda itself, no doubt having plans to investigate this strange occurance further if they ever managed to get the chance seeing as the summit lakes were difficult to get to.
But try they would over time, some official crews hired by the government and some more intrepid news and tabloid crews eventually.
But that very night, the only creatures in existence that seemed capable of doing anything about this oddity were the sea creatures in the interconnected lakes themselves.

Creatures, that, for the longest time seemed to avoid and dash away from the pod or ship or whatever odd space vehicle this was that had crashlanded here,
water flying everywhere, drenching the land around the edges of the lake it landed into, hissing and sizzling as it touched the vehicle, evaporating on impact but not enough to cause any damage to the water level itself, the water that quickly cooled the space contraption as it sunk into the murky depths, 2,943 meters deep.

[Primordial Luxa]

Primordial Luxa...

She did not seem particularly surprised by his statement, nor did she seem dismayed at the sight of what looked to be authority figures, but she did accept his hand and follow him at a careful pace. There was something odd about her; Virtually naked as she was, she seemed unashamed of both her body and more than casually interested in the world around her. Footstep followed footstep and her eyes swept over everything as she passed, pausing to place an inquiring array of fingertips on the stonework gargoyles as they passed. Fingers split to touch eyes and she drew them to her face to examine her fingertips closely as she followed, wiping them clean after a moment and flicking something away.

"You fear those with power - has it not always been this way where Aklo is spoken? It is not a tongue of those who are free. Why do you run? Why not stay to accept your just punishment?"

Uni Luxa
The two figures burst into an alleyway choked with ash and debris from the woman’s crash. The ground was littered with pieces of steel covered in broken Victorian designs which had been dislodged from nearby buildings. August leapt over these large pieces and offered the woman a hand when she needed it. The alley was short however and eventually it opened up onto a square with a dozen large grey tents surrounding a massive white and gold obelisk. August ran with increased urgency answering the woman’s questions as he did so.

“We’re free here,” he said with a tone of confusion and confidence “But you crashed here, and the Grey Enforcers won’t give you the benefit of the doubt.” August looked around the square for a few seconds with shifting eyes until he eventually found a sign which he recognized. “I personally don’t want to risk getting killed, so we run.”

As they passed the market and into another adjacent alley of metal between a pair of large two story shops. The sound of buzzing and bestial dog-like sounds could be heard coming from high in the air. “Don’t look up. My family has a house, not far from here we can hide there for a time.”

As they came to the end of this alley August and the woman could see that it terminated in an iron ladder which descended into a lower channel of some sort. The Luxan boy quickly slid down and his boots splashed in the shallow pool of viscous red fluid which covered the bottom of the pool. Surrounding him were large piles of glistening red skeletal bodies which seemed to have been haphazardly tossed into this passageway. August didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by them however and merely turned back and motioned the woman to follow him.

[Scyllan Syndicate]

The Scyllan Syndicate
United in Defiance, Divided in Solidarity

It was against the Universe's velvet backdrop once more, that the Harg's Revenge rematerialised as it arrived from slip-space. The crew on board the vessel was in high spirits; the promise of a rich bounty to be gained was something of ecstasy after months of deployment. The speed-fighters rumbled in the bays, their engines tossing out blue and lilac flames as their pilots quipped at each other. They constantly pressed the throttle, letting their vessels jerk at the restraints like caged animals thirsty for blood. This jerking caused the metal to cry and creak, and filled the bay with the loud clanking.

Captain Roden hadn't removed himself from his perch. His eyes were still peering at the scans, and though he shared in the crew's excitement, he was a quiet and reserved man. He tightened his hands around the railing, the sound of the leather gloves wrenching as he did. He took in a slow, reticent breath as he straightened himself up. The Quartermaster had arrived from the lower decks now, with the automatic door signalling her arrival.

"Any idea what it is, Cap?" the woman asked, who was also now entranced by the scans.

Roden merely shook his head, and then stepped back from the railing to address the Quartermaster. His eyes settled on her for a moment. She was filthy, covered in the grease and muck of the ship, and it looked as though she hadn't slept in months. Not that he himself looked any better. He peered back towards the screens, and then leaned on the railing.

"Possibly something that got blown to smithereens during some fight," he pointed out with a shrug. "Outside of the trash floatin' 'bout, there's a pod," he sighed.

"Escape pod?"

"Potentially," he said, causing her to give him an inquisitive glance. She twisted a bit with the tilt of her head, as if she was some snake waiting to pounce a prey. She squinted at him, thinking for a moment. "But?" she sniped, "We've been on this damn trip for months, and now you've not even sent out the speed-fighters. You've your doubts?"

He shook his head again, lifting himself from the railing. "Gut-feeling, love," he said, placing his hands on her hips to move her aside as he descended the perch. The room was always so still, especially after a call for stations. "Listen here you grease-monkey bastards!" That was one way to get their attention. Eyes inside the bridge shifted to Roden, as he twisted around, and then approached the table where there rested some fruits. He picked one up, and took a bite, the watery juices foamed from his mouth with speckle pieces falling across his beard.

"We seem to have found ourselves in the midst of someone who might be needin' our service!" he announced with a teasing grin, earning him a praise until he silenced the calls with his hands. "Now then, being the lovely upstanding citizens this side of the Galaxy... it'd be a shame to find ourselves in a position of rescuing these poor bimbos -- without some compensation!" he rubbed his fingers together at them, and tossed the fruit to one of the men in their chair.

He leapt from the floor to the forward perch, gazing out the dusty glass at the stars. "So, listen here ladies and slugs, the only way you aren't gettin' paid is if ya do somethin' stupid and find yourself begging for Scylla's mercy in your cold grave!" This drew a wide array of laughter from the crew who cheered, by now the Quartermaster had flipped on the intercomm, letting the rest of the ship here Roden's uplifting speech. Roden put his hand to his ear, and with a chuckle called out, "What do we say aboard the Harg's Revenge!?"

The crew erupted, not only in the bridge, but throughout the vessel. "Deadmen don't get paid!" Roden clapped as everyone started to laugh. The room was now alive, buzzing with energy like a hive of bees. He stomped his boot against the metal, causing it to rattle as he clapped more. "When ya get the blood on your mane, ya best not wash it 'cause we are vane! A Scyllan Pirate is what we be, and we'd have it no o'er way! So to battle-stations ya sluggin' bastards, we've a bounty to take!" Roden sung out, with the crew in follow as everyone rushed to their seats. The guns swivelled along the decks, the torpedoes were loaded, and the ship's lights went dark.

Roden rushed through the bridge, and leapt onto the perch once more. "Let's get ourselves some poor souls, and be home for a drink and a bite to eat!" he shouted to their cheering. He peered back at Feena, and gave her a face-wide grin. "Ya see, love? Nothin' to be worried about," he chuckled, and slid over the railing as he brushed his hair back. Feena shook her head, and descended the steps from the perch to watch the stations. "Navvy, keep us encirclin' the field, I don't want to have our fat-ass in the middle of debris if we need to leave. Send out the speed-fighters, and get the engineers," he called out.

With that, the clamps were soon released inside the bays and a dozen smaller vessels zipped from the bays in mass. The speed-fighters were agile, quick ships lightly armed to harass whatever unfortunate quip had decided to remain in such a debris field. The engineers were on the slower scavenger boats, these bulky vessels had smaller bays of their own, and they were meant to scoop up pods and debris, or anything else of value. The Harg only had two. They were often, jokingly called whales, and that name stuck. On-board, the engineers would wait until their orders to deploy. Anything that was of value, but attached to something too big to be scooped would be cut away so it would fit. In two sorties, these vessels moved towards the beacon. None knew of the shadows that lurked in the debris just eye-shot away. There was too much static for the scans to find these spectres.

[Renkovian Remenant]

The RSS Recusant, a Victory I class cruiser, exited lightspeed,its bridge glowed with life, the Remenant ship still not fully repaired, covered in dark plasma burns. However, Admiral Yasen was showing kindness to his crew as the ship hovered.

''Sir, weve detected a small craft, appears to be a escape pod of some sort''
Yasen nodded and said ''Dispatch a LAAT, bring it onboard, if the people inside are dead, we can at least return them home for burial''
''aye sir''

The LAAT gunship zoomed from the Recusants hanger, EVA troops inside. Its doors opened and they loaded the pod into the LAAT.
''Activate atmosphere''

The crafts life support kicked on and they opened the pod, not sure what they would find.

[Excidium Planetis]

Excidium Planetis Navy carrier Ravenous Pack

Commander Traversi was very grateful that he had earlier ordered all the crew in the hangar to wear Extra-vehicular Activity suits in preparation for possible toxins, pathogens, or just plain unbreathable atmosphere in the pod. It seems that call had unexpectedly saved them from having to smell whatever noxious gases had been released in the couples' flatulence.

When the two subjects spoke, they were understandable. It seems English was spoken wherever they came from, both unsurprising due to their human-like forms, and also unsurprising because human dominance of space in the Galaxy had seemingly made English the normal mode of interspecies communication in the absence of translators.

Traversi pointed a gloved hand at the two pod occupants. "You there! I want your name, species, and nation of origin!" He ordered, mustering up his 'authority' voice. "And then an explanation of why your pod crashed, and what you were doing before we found you in here."

Turning back to the Doctor, he said "Doctor, you have the equipment to run some tests on the air in here? I want to make sure we aren't breathing in small pox when these suits get removed. Or influenza. Or sarin gas. Or nabobots. Or... You get the picture."

"Yeah, I thing we have quite a few chemical analysis machines outside, and some microscopes. We can probably isolate anything known to man, but if whatever is in the air is too alien... Well, I couldn't tell you if was as harmless as the common cold or near-instantaneously fatal."

"Well... Give it your best shot. And goddamn, can someone get a pair of jumpsuits that fit these two?" Traversi turned back to the strangers, awaiting an answer from them.

[Sunset]

NorSec...

There was something else there, something that drew the gaze of the criminal and the common alike though it was hidden under the black streaked carbon and broken debris that had splashed away from the container as it had plowed through the roof, floor, and then the floor below that. It glittered and sparkled and would tumble through the fingers and buy both love and happiness. For the object was no mere discarded crate nor satellite torn from its orbit by the primal forces of entropy and solar wind but rather that which would give any - even Paul Inax - many a wet dream.

It was a safe.

But an unusual safe it was, though he understood the look of it. Familiar to anyone with a mind towards money, the six-sided rectangle with the heavy metal door on one side and the long ragged crack running up the nearest creaked dangerously as it settled into place. It was from the deep gash that the shiny objects had fallen to slip and spill into the corpse of the woman to issue a bloody diatribe against wanton greed and misused wealth as they mixed with her gore. There was something else as well but it was hard to put a finger on it, not least as the blackened exterior was still pinging with radiant heat. It had once been attached to something - that he was sure of, as most safes were - but it was not simply a sturdy set of bolts through the base but a strange set of latches built into the sides.

As he took it in, he became aware of something else as well. That something that, had he realized it earlier, would have inspired a more hasty course of whatever action he was about to embark on.

Someone inside the safe was talking.