The Day the Sky Broke [M:Closed:Attn Xiscapia]

[Xiscapia]

Hibiki spoke as she moved, eyes always forward as she strode across the asphalt. "We put way too much into guarding all of these prisoners. I understand there's a need for labor and there's no better place to put them at the moment, but we're overworked and understaffed. I heard there's a large prison outside of Belle Glade to the north, but it's for high-value targets only. Controlled by the colonial government, so it's not under our jurisdiction."

The entire way, the vixen never stopped scanning her surroundings. She was reasonably sure that the Imperial forces and civilians who had scattered into the jungle weren't ready to start any serious operations yet, but there was no certainty in war. A landmine or a deranged civilian with a rifle or even a poorly-piloted vehicle could all kill just as easily as the enemy could. Hibiki knew that once the Imperial remnants reorganized and began their guerilla activities, nowhere in the world would be truly safe from them. These few days were the most honeymoon Fel'tethra was going to give her.

Inside, Hibiki came to a stop a couple of meters behind the Necrian talking to her commanding officer. It was an ostensibly respectful distance, but she was close enough to move in and restrain him if that proved necessary. She had never seen the man before, but his posture, fists balled and shoulders hunched, put her on edge, to say nothing of Elad's tone. After a beat, the one called Necraman whipped about with a toss of his cloak, stalking to the exit past Daliha and Hibiki like they weren't even there. Hibiki watched him without moving, face studiously impassive in a way that suggested she had not heard a word of the conversation.

"Phalanx Master Hibiki, reporting," she saluted Elad. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

----

Koiwa kept her head bowed but looking from side to side and over her shoulder, trying to keep track of where they were. Her heart sank as the complex loomed before her, prefab buildings and stiff-shelled tents laid out in orderly rows outside the stadium's gray mass. It was swarming with more Necrian soldiers and weaponry than she had ever seen since the Rookery, infantry and armored vehicles and drones everywhere she looked. It was cold comfort that they all looked to be professional soldiers, no men in camouflage or trenchcoats, particularly since it meant that these people wouldn't be easily fooled like the rabble at the docks. Heart starting to thud, Koiwa walked down the stairs after Nax, forced to take it slow due to her restraints, eyes boring into the back of the other Necrian in front of them.

Her mind was racing. If they got split up then they were done for, Nax and Yana's covers wouldn't last long under close inspection so they would be forced to leave, and she and Seito and Nagy would be swallowed up by the system. They had to act decisively before that could happen, and as they descended into the bowels of the makeshift prison she realized that they were in the perfect place. The ticketing booths were deserted, the guards somewhere deeper inside, and there was no one behind them. Koiwa tensed, staring at the back of the cybernetic Necrian's head. They had to kill him surgically. If they didn't, he might call for help, and they would all die.

Nax's hand had drifted closer to his pistol.

Koiwa tensed as the cyborg pried Nax's helmet off, forgetting to hide her stare. There wasn't much she could do effectively in this situation, so she just had to put her trust in Nax. Even if there was no way he could pull his sidearm without being seen, Yana might be able to take the shot. Nudging Seito, Koiwa glanced over her shoulder at Nagy and jerked her head, getting the three of them to step to one side. Yana had a clear path to their foe.

Then he hugged Nax.

Blinking, Koiwa exhaled slowly. Clearly, these two knew each other, and from the sound of it this was one of the mercenaries Nax could allegedly rely on. Brushing aside the question of who this Shanasha person was for now, Koiwa looked from Nax to Tarska. "Tribute?" she spoke up. There was no harm in it, at least as long as she shut up when she heard someone coming. "What kind of tribute?"

[Necrisis]

Base Six
Command Post

Deliha eyed Necraman as he swept out of the post, before turning her attention back to Elad.

He was a traditionally handsome Necrian, with black hair, angular face with strong noble features, marred by a single scar that ran into his hair, turning it white. His slightly pointed ears each had a pair of rings, and he wore a red marriage band-choker with a traditional silver pendant.
Deliha wore one too - only in black with a single ring to show a committed relationship outside of a formal union.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Elad rubbed at the bridge of his nose, pinching it. "Goddess, I hate that man. You'd think with a war on he'd leave soldiers to soldier." He sighed and tapped the portable holo unit on his desk. It displayed an overhead shot of the river, a small skiff making its way, with two dark figures for and aft, and two silver cocoons in the cargo pit in the middle of the ship.

"Got a report in from a Wraith flyover on the river, heading to Kela's Rest. Imaging isn't perfect, but it looks like two Nightguards - one pilot and one look out - and two unknown individuals, tied up in emergency blankets. Kela's Rest was marked by NFPers as 'a deviant colony.' The SIN does not share this viewpoint. I need you to intercept this skiff, barge, whatever, and then reroute to Kela's Rest and make contact with them. We cannot have them sheltering rebels or Imperial soldiers. Some Nightguard looking to make nice to some NFP political leech is going to fire bomb the place off the map. They need to know the SIN is here to secure civilians."
He looked through the hologram to Hibiki, meeting her gaze. "I know you and your unit have been running for thirty-six hours now. Medic reports say you've maxed your stim usage. But I need you on this one. Whatever team you need, take it. But you're the best I have for this Hibiki. If I have SIN Necrian soldiers roll up on this place, we are off on the wrong foot from the get go. Once you've made contact, report back. You and yours are off rotation for twelve hours. Get this done and rest up. Night Amber is expecting insurgent activity to start up soon. I need your boots back on before that happens."

* * *

"What kind of tribute?"

"He means you," Nax bit out. "Let me guess. Shanasha's contract with the SIN gets her a cut of the loot, right?"
"Includes indentured servants, yes." Tarska nodded. "She would be most interested in seeing these... 'prisoners'."
"Like hell," Nax said. "This is my crew. We aren't selling skin to get out of here."
"You don't have many options," Tarska said, eyes flicking over all of them. Koiwa would notice that they never stayed still, and when she had moved to give Yana a clearer shot, Tarska had shifted to put Nax between them again. "I have a ship waiting. It's got a few more crates of tribute to go, but I think Shanasha would consider you all fair trade." He glanced over Nax's shoulder to Yana. "Disguise you and your 'officer' there as Jha'Rhoun, your three friends as tribute. Deal with Shanasha when you get there. I'm sure you can parley with her for their indenture rights." Tarska's smile was more unnerving than most Necrian grins - it stretched back to his ears. "She will value you, Nauxan. Highly. Your flesh is worth a lot to her."

Nax snarled in his throat. He looked over his shoulder to Koiwa. "Thoughts? Indenture to the Jha'Rhoun... isn't bad. Better than a lot of situations, and most end it by joining. But it's also what it sounds like." Slavery.
"You're speaking from experience," Yana said, gazing at him.
Nax nodded, brow furrowed. "Yeah... how'd you..."
"Just... guessing." Yana, hugged Luck's bag, looking down and away again, ears turning dark with blush.

He hated it, the thought of it. But he couldn't think of a better deal. Koiwa had always been the haggler between them. If there was a better angle, she'd see it.
Nax shifted his confused stare from Yana back to Koiwa. He didn't say it, but he wore his feelings on his face, for once. There was worry, pain, an unspoken feeling that he just couldn't say, but wanted to.
I can't make this choice for you.

[Xiscapia]

Base Six, Command Post...

"Goddess, I hate that man. You'd think with a war on he'd leave soldiers to soldier."

Hibiki only nodded. Inside, she wasn't the least bit surprised. All wars had political elements, and that went double for civil wars. The colonial government and its security forces, the Night Guards, the NFP, the SIN, all had their own agendas and tensions even without adding in local politics and influence. Still, the vixen said nothing. She had not joined the SIN's military to voice opinions on its policies.

Turning to the matter at hand, Hibiki studied the boat and its crew. With starports destroyed or disrupted and long unsecured roads between settlements, travel by river was one of the safer and more reliable ways to get around Fel'tethra these days. She knew there were a few patrols out there, mainly police boats supplemented by Night Guard militias, but the barge was unmarked and not even flying the SIN's flag. The vixen eyed their cargo cacoons. Something was very off here.

"Understood, sir," she looked back up at Elad. "Don't worry about us, we can handle this op. We'll get there before the Night Guards do." She glanced back at the floating hologram. "Rules of engagement for Kela's Rest, sir? Are we expecting insurgent activity there?"

----

Koiwa's lip curled, and she didn't even need to see Seito's face to know he was making an ugly expression of his own. From pretending to be prisoners to the real thing. It wouldn't be the first time for any of them, the Rookery had seen to that, but it wasn't an experience any of them were eager to repeat. That Nax said it wasn't "too bad" was a small comfort. Most things weren't "too bad" compared to being enslaved by Hetaevans.

"The point is to get you to Var'kara," she looked at Nax, meeting his eyes. "If this will get us there, then we should do it. Besides," she glanced back at Tarska. "He's got us over a barrel here, and he knows it. Either they get us, or he turns us in and then we're all fucked."

She looked at Seito's back. Out of all of them, the tod would take this the least well. He had nearly died on the Rookery, after all. It didn't take him long to interject. "There's one other thing we need," he stared Tarska down. "Nutrient gel for a ship core. Get us that, and I'll do whatever you want."

[Necrisis]

Base Six
Command Post
"Rules of engagement for Kela's Rest, sir? Are we expecting insurgent activity there?"

Elad shook his head. “Not as of right now. But you know the field out there, Phalanx Master. It’s changing as fast as we can adapt. Voids Above, this stadium was supposed to be a forward hospital and secure landing site. Now I’m processing a hundred prisoners an hour.
“Engagement is to be non-hostile. We know there are elements there considered fringe by NID standards, so Xicapians, 'non-standard' family units, things like that. We cannot go in with heavy forces or they will clamp down and vanish into that jungle. People like that know how to survive out there.
“Take a force you deem necessary, approach with caution but nothing unnecessarily covert. Priority is to intercept this boat if you can. I don’t like the lack of insignia and Nightguard commanders are stalling as to if they have troops out that way. It's a problem waiting to happen.”

He paused for a moment then leaned forward, through the hologram. “I don’t think I need to specify here, Hibiki, but this whole theater is a war crime. The upper echelons are going to be rip shit over this. The Empress is already furious, and I've got Overseer Feldrak on my ass. I know I’m sending a soldier to do a diplomat’s job, but you’re a good leader. I need this to not become an incident. We all do.”

* * *

"Nutrient gel for a ship core. Get us that and I’ll do whatever you want.”

Tarska hissed out a laugh, clapping Nax on the shoulder. “Your crew indeed. A hard bargain. Not something you just come by. Why?”
But there was an undisguised gleam in Tarska’s eyes, sending an uneasy feeling down Yana’s spine.
Nagy shivered next to her - though from the man’s expression or the cold, she wasn’t sure.

Nax gestured with the marker. “Not your concern. I know the ins and outs of Parley, Tarska. You do too. Deal or not?”

Tarska took the coin and clasped it in his hand, hard. Blood welled up over it as nails like talons dug in. He offered the hand back, coin resting in the center of the palm.
Nax nodded and put his hand in his mouth, thumb and forefinger astride his teeth and bit down.

Tarska smiled as blue-black blood welled up from the teeth marks and they clasped hands. “I never saw it before. But it's true. You… are dead.”
“Let’s keep that between us, yeah?” Nax held Tarska's hand firmly until the other Necrian nodded.

He let the coin fall into Nax’s hand and flexed his palm. “Follow.”

They traveled further into the maze of hallways, various bisections leading out onto the bleachers. All at once, Tarska headed into a tunnel and the hot spice of a fire caught their noses - smells of meat fat on wood, coolant and tea vats.

They emerged into a camp that starkly contrasted the SIN base outside. There were tents, colourful explosions of riotous symbols and stylized depictions of people and places, animals and battles. A dozen or so people sat by small fires, each dressed in loose fitting, equally colourful and distressed clothing as their tents. Women and men stood as Tarska entered the camp, no two the same. Ragged ponchos draped over bare chests, tops that somehow revealed more than they covered, tight and baggy pants or skirts making the collection look more like merchants or nomads than warriors.
But no Xiscapian Kitsune worth their weight in cybernetics could miss the sub-dermal plates, hyper dense synthetic flesh, hidden blades, guns and who knew what else.

Behind them, resting on the field of the stadium, was a small Skipshot Courier ship, barely a dozen meters long and stripped down until it was a cargo pod, engines and a cramped cockpit. Boxes were piled neatly by the open hatch where two female Necrians and one male Hetaevan stood, watching the new arrivals who had interrupted some kind of inventory taking.
They stood out because they were distinctly undressed, with only loincloths - stained with chaotic reds, blues and yellows, scraps from other clothes or tents, all stitched together - and a smearing of black paint across their chests resembling a snake-wolf skull.

As they approached the center of camp, music - a flute and drums - came to a halt. A young Necrian male had been dancing in the center of a ring of the Jha'Rhoun, clad in translucent sleeves and swirling veils, leaving his chest - and the mark of these Jha'Rhoun - bare. A woman whistled to him from the side and he backed away to be pulled into her lap, slinging his arms across his knees as he sat down between her legs.
She played with his long hair - braided in a dozen strands with luminescent ribbons - as they entered the circle.

Yana could feel all their eyes settle on them, a stillness like the grave swallowing them up.

Then one of the Jha'Rhoun - a man with no limb not replaced with black metal - stood and gripped Tarska's arm.
"Hibiki treating you right, Tarska?"
"H' bthnkor r'luh, ahorr'eog ron," Tarska said. He made an hour glass shape with his hands, then signed 'tail'. The two exchanged a bark of laughter, interrupted by a piece of scrap metal that cuffed Tarska in the head. The woman with the Necrian dancer eyed him, gesturing with two fingers and signing something about inserting.

Tarska rubbed the back of his head and waved Nax forward. "This Blood Brother has returned. He has Parley with the Clan and will be taking the tribute to Shanasha. He and the girl need clothes, the three ahorr'eog ehyes are tribute to Shanasha. Find them something suitable. Not a word to -" he gestured the hourglass again, but ducked the scrap metal this time. He laughed and blew the woman a kiss who shook her head at him, with a restrained smile.

“Good luck, Blood Brother.” Tarska patted Nax’s shoulder as he made for the entrance to the camp, and his customary grin faded. “Sincerely. Those that knew you talked of you. We all hope you are home now.”
Nax nodded, but said nothing.

The woman with the dancer stood. She had a mane of red hair, cut with black ribbons, and stood eye to eye with Nax. "Strip," she said, casting an eye over Nax and Yana. "We need to burn those clothes. Thaenan, go get some spare clothes." The dancer nodded and rushed off and the woman turned to Koiwa, Seito and Nagy. "Haegaret? Get these chains off Shanasha's tribute, and give them something warm to eat. I assume you have to leave soon? Eat, then help Haegaret load the last tribute."

The Hetaevan by the ship strode over and with terrifying ease tore the collars and chains from the three Xiscapians.
"Tarska said he could find us nutrient gel," Seito said, never breaking eye contact with the woman.
She nodded. "Yes, yes. Load it with the others. Ship has an old Dreamer tube. Plenty of nutrient gel. No Dreamer though."

Nax and Yana quickly divested themselves of the Nightguard and police uniforms, pointedly not looking at each other. Just as it was starting to get cold, Thaenan returned with a pile of clothes. "Dress warmly," he said. "We've got warmth down here, but the ship's not well insulated." He smiled at both of them, unfazed by their state of undress. "Welcome back, Brother. Sister."

[Xiscapia]

Base Six, Command Post...

"Understood, sir." Hibiki straightened up. "My command element will round up 1st Squad, and I met a Night Guard earlier we can use as a guide. We'll go in a dropship, use a light touch, and interdict that boat before we move on Kela's Rest. I'll keep you updated." When it was confirmed that Elad had nothing more to say, Hibiki saluted and turned away on heel.

"Assemble 1st Squad and the rest of my command team here," she was already issuing orders to Daliha as they left the command center, referring to a group of Olacian mercenaries under Hibiki's command. "I want us ready to move in ten." Knowing that Elad would be sending a transport their way and Daliha knew what to do, Hibiki stepped outside of the building and keyed in her vox. The Jha'Rhoun were technically under Elad's command, not hers, but he had given her permission to use whoever she needed, so it was with authority that she contacted Tarska. They couldn't refuse her without breaching their contract.

"Jha'Rhoun Tarska," she called, waiting for his confirmation. "Phalanx Master Hibiki. Report to headquarters at once. Bring the Night Guard trooper we shared the Scarab with on the way here. I don't want to hear anything about chain of command from him, this is priority one. Get up here."

----

Koiwa stared at Nax's back as they walked. What else did she not know about him? How much of him was real, and how much was illusory, like his fascimile of life? Could she really love him if she didn't really know him?
Which was worse: loving a dead man, or loving a man who had never existed at all?

The swish of Seito's tail caught her eye, and when she realized he wasn't signing anything she felt a stab of guilt as she remembered that he and Nagy were here because of her. Seito she probably couldn't have stopped even if she had wanted to, but Nagy would have been as happy in Kela's Rest as someone could be in a warzone. The poor woman didn't deserve any of this. That went for Yana as well. Koiwa's jaw tightened. She might have damned herself, but she'd see those two out of this, at least.

The scent of cooking meat and boiling tea with the piping of flutes to the steady beat of drums wasn't what she had been expecting of a makeshift prison, but as they entered what had once been the stadium's field Koiwa realized that they were nowhere near the cells. The kitbashed camp and its heavily-modified inhabitants weren't what she would have expected from Necrian mercenaries, but even as her eyes traveled over the motley assortment of people she supposed that stark difference was probably part of why they were mercenaries in the first place. Unlike with the SIN soldiers outside, she freely met the stares of the Jha'Rhoun, refusing to shrink from them as all activity in the camp stopped. The trio who were nearly as naked as Koiwa and her fellows drew her eye, supposing they were more of the same but unsure as to the significance of their minimal clothing. It was to be expected from the barbaric Hetaevans, but Necrians?

She flinched back when the Hetaevan man bodily ripped the restraints off her, muscles aching even as she stretched her legs and massaged her arms. "Thanks, big guy," she rubbed at her neck as Seito spoke, watching the redheaded woman order her boytoy away. The tod just nodded when she confirmed that they had the gel, openly picking up the bag Nax had put down and holding it close. As Nagy leaned against Yana, Koiwa shook her head, looking at the Necrian who seemed to be in charge. "We don't need something warm to eat, we need to get off this fucking rock. I don't know if that's out of line for tribute to say, but it's the truth."

[Necrisis]

Base Six
Command Post

"Phalanx Master Hibiki. Report to headquarters at once. Bring the Night Guard trooper we shared the Scarab with on the way here. I don't want to hear anything about chain of command from him, this is priority one. Get up here."

Tarska's hissing reply came back after only a second. "Of course, Phalanx Master. But... he has gone. I dropped the prisoners off at processing and turned around. Him and the woman are gone. I have some Brothers looking now, but perhaps they were not free of guilt. I will let you know when we find them."

Jha'Rhoun Kitbash

"We don't need something warm to eat, we need to get off this fucking rock. I don't know if that's out of line for tribute to say, but it's the truth."

"Anxious, aren't you." But the woman nodded. "Help Haegaret load the last of the crates, ahorr'eog ehye. Cover up as you can. Space is cold."

Haegaret lead them back over to the two Necian women. One nodded to Koiwa, the other turned back to the list they had been working on. Haegaret grabbed a crate - as big as his chest - and started to heft it up the ramp.
The one reading off the list, gestured to Nagy. "You, small stuff. Grab that dolly over there. With your lot taking up space, we have to break this last crate down. Get as much of this tribute to Shanasha as we can. Not going to be much room. Hope you don't mind doubling up in there."
The other Necrian clicked her tongue. "A bit shit that Tarska's pulling rank like this."
"We'll be on the next one, Ahleta," the other Necrian woman said. "They obviously can't stay."
Ahleta popped the top of the crate they were working on. "I know, Nichta. Sorry," she said, giving Koiwa a sad and knowing look. "It's just been so long since I've seen Var'kara. But I understand what's going on here. At least no SIN soldier is looking at me like I might stab him. Come on, let's get the valuable pieces out and get you and yours out of here."

The crate was filled, as near as Koiwa, Seito and Nagy could tell, with junk. Scrap electronics, books, tools, broken pieces of armor - Nightguard, SIN and Imperial - food stuffs in sealed preservation packs. A few pieces of art or jewlery, but no credits, rins, or other direct forms of currency.
Nichta took Ahleta's chin in her hand and kissed her, then scanned the list. "Okay, find anything useful for... repairs and augments. Looks like with everything going on, some of us are getting our contracts broken early, made full Jha'Rhoun."

Across the camp, Nax had shouldered his way into a poncho, designed for a spacer with slits for arms to reach controls without getting the whole thing in the way. It was lined with some kind of synthetic fur, so that he only wore a thin shirt under it, and cargopants with what looked like new SIN combat boots - tall ones that strapped just below the knee.

Yana had dressed while watching the dancer kick the drum player - who had been chatting with someone behind him - and started to twirl around the fire again, the twin flutes piping away with an eerie lullaby.

As she pulled on the overly large jacket - her only top was some scrap wrapping she had fashioned together, and the jacket was spacer-lined - she felt something jingle in the bulky combat pants she had found.
It took her a minute to find the item, buried in one of the many pockets, and pulled out a small marriage necklace. The choker was a dull red, having lost its luster a long time ago, and the honor medal was still there. The script on the back looked like High Necrian, probably making it over three hundred years old.
She stared at it for a few minutes, before looking up at the dancing-boy as he whirled around.
She couldn't tell in the shadows whipping over his face, but she could have sworn he winked at her.
For your girl...
The whispers in her head made Yana shove the necklace back into the pocket and look over to Nax.
"Why did he call me Sister?"
Nax shrugged. "Term of endearment. You aren't a true Sister, but you might have to be when we reach Shanasha."
"And who's she?" Yana jogged to catch up to the older man as he made for the ship.
"Clan leader."
Old lover.
"You loved her?"

Nax stopped short and spun. "Enough, Yana. What the fuck? How...?" He scowled and grabbed her shoulders. "You had nightmares, recently. What were they of."
Yana tried to back off, but Nax held her still. "Just... nightmares. Black water, bone walls." Her breath caught as the memory of Nagy's corpse came to her. "Nagy. Dead."
Nax held her still for a minute, looking into her eyes until Yana couldn't take it and pulled away. "Get on the ship. Do the checklist, like I showed you."
Yana hurried by him, taking Luck's bag from Seito and rushing onto the ship.

Nax watched her before turning back to the circle. He found the woman with the red mane, clapping for the young man as he spun around the fire faster and faster.
"Sister," he said, nodding.
She turned with a smile of needle sharp teeth. "Nauxan?"
"I need... a favor."
"Already done parley with Tarska." She stood with folded arms.
Nax nodded. "I know. But I need a shaman. I think... the Necrian girl, with red hair. She might be a Dreamer. I need to know."
The woman's face fell from a smirk to a serious and calm look. "You think so?"
"Yes. I can't prove it though. Don't have any way to test it except shoving her in a pod and letting her into the Cascade."
"That's dangerous."
"I know."
"You need a shaman."
Nax glared at her. "I know."
"No shaman here."
"What?" Nax hissed out. "But the Jha'Rhoun... they never travel without a shaman. How is that ship getting out of here? On sublights? Tarska said he didn't have a Dreamer, but I figured there was a ship in orbit or something."
The red-haired woman shook her head. "No. Killed defending some kitsune children." She nodded up at the goal post. There, in the shadows of the fire, a man's body hung by the neck. He didn't have any boots on.
"Killed the man, but we are stranded. Was sending ship back on SIN frigate, but not possible with you needing to not meet the SIN. Thought you had ship core?"
"Luck's... a special case."
The woman nodded. "Figured. Well, Cascade is proving ground, Shanasha always says. If she lives, you all live. Die in the Cascade and... well none of this is a problem, huh?"

[Xiscapia]

Base Six, Command Post...

"Of course, Phalanx Master. But... he has gone. I dropped the prisoners off at processing and turned around. Him and the woman are gone. I have some Brothers looking now, but perhaps they were not free of guilt. I will let you know when we find them."

"Soon," Hibiki uttered, and severed the connection. Rolling her head with a sigh, she adjusted her lancer's sling and started to jog to the stadium's entrance. She didn't have long, and that meant no time standing around waiting on mercenaries to do their job. The vixen had been in close quarters with the Night Guard in question for an extended period, so it wasn't difficult to scent track him. Trotting down the stairs, Hibiki followed the trail.

Jha'Rhoun Kitbash...

Though Nagy cringed, she nevertheless scurried away to the dolly, eager to do anything that put distance between herself and Fel'tethra. Koiwa didn't lose any time either, picking up one of the heavy crates behind the Hetaevan and hauling it over as if she weren't half the giant's size. When Ahleta spoke to her, Koiwa nodded. "Thanks," she said, and surprised herself by meaning it. As the crate's lid was popped and she got the instructions she immediately began rifling through it, not pausing even when she glanced back up at Ahleta.

"If it's going to be cold like she said, then why are you wearing so little? And what does it mean to be a full Jha'Rhoun?"

While the other two worked, Seito busied himself with finding clothes for all of them. There were plenty in the pile, though the quality was questionable and nothing was going to be sized to fit any of them particularly well. Discovering a pair of fatigue trousers with only a few tears, he put them on before laying aside a jacket that wouldn't close and the bottom half of a jumpsuit for Koiwa and a tattered trenchcoat for Nagy. He tried not to think too hard about where all these clothes had come from, or what the dark stains on some of them might be. Mercenaries didn't tend to have particularly high life expectancies.

He had just gotten the secondhand outfits to his friends when Haegaret stepped behind him and Seito felt a meaty hand rest between his shoulder blades. Having not been expecting it, the mighty shove sent him stumbling onto his knees through a tent flap. "Hey!" Seito whirled, tail lashing, only to realize that there was someone in the tent with him. Languidly mashing something with a mortar and pestle, the woman halted just long enough to raise a slender finger to her lips. Eyes narrowing, Seito looked back through the crack in the tent's flap and had to restrain himself to keep from swearing.

He recognized the vixen in SIN armor who was striding into the Jha'Rhoun camp like she owned the place. She was the one from the docks, the traitor Hibiki. Longing for a weapon he could challenge her with was quickly replaced by worry as he realized that the others may not have been lucky as he had. The other kitsune seemed to be making a beeline for the Skipshot ship, moving swiftly and with purpose. He could only hope that the other four had found good places to hide...

[Necrisis]

Jha'Rhoun Kitbash

"If it's going to be cold like she said, then why are you wearing so little? And what does it mean to be a full Jha'Rhoun?"

The two Necrians looked at each other then back at Koiwa. "We're slaves," Nichta said, matter-of-factly. "Indentured, technically. It's why we have Shanasha's symbol painted on, as opposed to tattooed. We... were hoping to get placed on the ship. All three of us. It's why we sold ourselves to the Jha'Rhoun. Better with them than on some backwater or shaking tits for rins on some station."
"You earn your place with them," Ahleta said, picking up a small rotor device and giving it a look over. "You can take on duties and trials, earn marks of honor and pride. If you make them more difficult - taking on 'risks' and 'punishments,' like being mostly naked? - it increases the marks you earn."
"Me, Ahleta and Haegaret sold ourselves to the Jha'Rhoun to get back to Necrian space," Nichta said, scanning the device with the tablet she had and placing it in the smaller crate. "But then the SIN invaded and hired on seventeen clans, including Shanasha - she controls an additional five. I heard the Empress herself paid Nightside a visit to broker the deal with Shanasha personally. That's a big fucking deal."
"But, anyway," Ahleta interrupted by passing Nichta a data unit Koiwa had picked out of the crate. "When you earn enough marks, your contract is done. They make you Jha'Rhoun or gift you something and send you on your way. None of us have anything to live for out here. Me and Nichta are Houseless and Haegaret... I heard he was Garuuk. Those Hets that raided all those posts a while back. Whatever he did, he's clanless now. Looking for purpose. He's taken on every mark and task Red's put out there, with as many punishments and risks as she will let him take too."
"It's pretty hot," Nichta said with a grin. "Hets know how to make those muscles, just saying..."
"Focus," Ahleta admonished while trying to cover her own smile as Seito arrived, handing over the armful of clothes.

After a moment or two, just as Ahleta and Nagy were sealing up the much smaller crate, Nichta suddenly yanked Koiwa down behind a pile of unsorted goods, hand to her mouth. Ahleta must have seen the same thing because she hurried Nagy to grab the other side of the crate and hoist it up the ramp.

"Sinner," Nichta whispered, gesturing to the entrance to the camp. Noting Koiwa's confused look, she cuffed the back of her head. "Sorry, picking up on how they talk. SIN trooper, non-Necrian. A Sinner."

On the other side of the camp, the red-haired Necrian woman suddenly grabbed Nax, pulling him into a passionate kiss as they fell back into a tent.
"What in the Voids-"
She smashed a hand over his mouth. "Hush. Sinner. Ahorr'eog. She is smelling."
"What?" It took him only a moment to realize what she was indicating.
Nax felt his blue-black blood run cold. Koiwa had helped him locate a leaking fuel cell once, just by smell alone. He knew just how strong a sense it was.

No, they were so close. Not now.
Yana.
Nax instinctively looked toward the ship, even though he couldn't see it. He could feel the hum of engines run through him, skipping a beat or two then another pulse, harder, higher. She was testing engine coils, almost done with the flight checklist.

Yana.

Yana whipped around in the pilot chair, looking for Nax. But the whisper faded, along with the flash of rage and panic.
Taking a breath, Yana returned to the checklist, unaware of Hibiki meeting with a Jha'Rhoun outside.

The man was tall, wiry, with limbs that seemed a little longer than normal. His eyes had been replaced with four optics and as he spoke, a second pair of jaws worked inside the mouth.

"What do you need, Sinner?"

[Xiscapia]

Jha'Rhoun Kitbash...

"What do you need, Sinner?"

"I'm looking for a Night Guard, a sergeant," Hibiki wasn't even looking at the man, scanning from one side to the other. "He's important to my current assignment, and he was here recently. I can smell him." She stared at the ship before abruptly turning, following her nose right up to the tent Nax had been dragged into. With nothing and no one to stop her, Hibiki reached for the flap.

Having been peeking around the corner of her crate, Koiwa drew her leg back and kicked the nearest barrel, sending it rolling down the ramp to hit the dolly with a thud. In the stillness of the camp beset by an intruder, Hibiki couldn't fail to notice, and Koiwa slowly lifted her hands over her head. "Alright, alright, you've got me!" she shouted, hoping to all the gods that the distraction and all the noise she was making would be enough for Nax to escape. "I'm coming out! Just don't shoot me, okay? Say that you won't shoot me! I want to hear you say you won't shoot me!"

Hibiki had shouldered her lancer, drawing a bead on the crate. "I will not shoot you if you come out unarmed."

"I'm unarmed, I'm unarmed," Koiwa stood, hands in the air. "I surrender."

"Prisoner," Hibiki gazed at her, then jerked her tail. "Walk forward." Koiwa did so. "Stop. Strip."

Koiwa sighed. "With the number of times you people make me take my clothes off, I should start charging viewing fees."

"I told you to strip, not to talk."

"I'm going, I'm going." Considering how little she'd managed to get on, it wasn't long before Koiwa stood bare once more. She held her arms out, tail lashing. "There. Happy?"

"Where are the other two prisoners who were with you?"

"Oh, so now you want me to talk."

"Answer the question."

"Dunno."

"How did you escape your restraints?"

Koiwa's muzzle tightened in a hard line. She said nothing. Flicking her tail again, Hibiki beckoned her forward to the tent before taking a hand off her weapon to pull a thick, heavy collar from a compartment of her armor. Fastening it around Koiwa's neck and using a rope to attach it to her tail, Hibiki looked the other vixen in the eye. "I don't actually think you're psionic, but better safe than sorry." Koiwa presented her wrists, and Hibiki locked a pair of manacles around them, binding Koiwa's hands in front of her.

"What in Sei's sweet name are you arresting me for, anyway?"

"For one, unlawful flight. For two, murder." Hibiki kept her weapon trained on Koiwa. "My subordinate told me you killed a man on the river tonight. A Night Guard."

Koiwa just shrugged. "He had it coming."

"I've heard enough. Move."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Koiwa stepped past the other kitsune and began to walk back towards the camp's entrance. "You would have done the same if our positions were reversed."

"Unlikely."

Koiwa just shook her head. I wasn't talking to you.

[Necrisis]

"You would have done the same if our positions were reversed."

The Call pounded in his head. Nax could feel his body moving without him, like it was moving before he could think to move it. Instinct on hyperdrive.
His skin was crawling, his gut felt like it was on fire and his eyes seemed to be melting from his own head.
But all he could think of, amid the rushing torrent of the Call, was Koiwa.

In a haze, Nax fell to the floor, the heat spreading over his skin, his spine, into his brain.

Outside the tent, the Tall Man stepped in front of Koiwa, placing gentle but firm hands on her shoulders as he addressed Hibiki. "The Tribute stays. She has been promised to Shanasha. Our contract with the Empress supersedes your desperate war. If she has killed, we will see to her punishment."

Red pushed through the tent flap, her crimson mane flowing. "Besides, little Sinner, this is Jha'Rhoun Kitbash. Not SIN, not KEX. Here, where our shadows play, is our land. Necrian man came, with girl. He trade us uniform for clothes. He and girl, they leave. We burn useless clothes, keep good ones. Man you looking for, long gone. Stay, and only trouble will find you."

"Is that a threat?"

It would only take her a glance to realize the twelve or so Jha'Rhoun Necrians had stood, another fifteen or so appearing from the woodwork. Shadows leaped around them from the fire, where an old woman - her legs replaced with four spider-like ones - was dumping a sludge of herbs into it. Blue smoke began to roil up, like tobacco, but Hibiki would be able to tell from a passing whiff it was something much stronger.

They had blocked the entrance to the camp, the heavy smoke falling down in ankle deep fog.

There was a crash from inside Red's tent, who glanced over her shoulder before turning back to Hibiki. "Ha. Boys playing with boys."

Whatever the smoke was, it seemed to bypass filters and as Koiwa blinked, coughing on the thick smoke, shadows seemed to lengthen, shimmering eyes winking in the corners. The Jha'Rhoun seemed to disappear within the shadows, their faces splitting open like horrid mouths, giant snake eyes framed by fangs staring at Hibiki.

Inside the spider-woman's tent, Seito watched as the smoke filled the camp, holding the rag the old woman had given him over his mouth and nose. It smelled heavy, like oil, but with a sweet hint of lavender. Whatever the smoke was doing didn't seem to be effecting him as long as he kept the rag on. The spider woman had remained by the fireside, even as Jha'Rhoun surrounded Hibiki with frightening quickness.
Then he saw it.
Something slid out of the tent he'd seen Red drag Nax into. Was Nax heading for the ship?

[Xiscapia]

As the smoke from the fire billowed upwards and spread over the field, Hibiki sealed her armor, the helmet forming over her head where it seemed to grow up from the collar and enclose her in a hermetically-sealed shell, able to protect her even from the vacuum of space. It had its own reserves of oxygen and the vixen's Kukan subspecies could reuse air already breathed to make it last for many hours, but Hibiki knew that she didn't have that long. She couldn't possibly defeat this many Jha'Rhoun by herself. If this came down to a fight, she would certainly die unless they held back. Hearts pounding in stereo, Hibiki activated her vox. Daliha would hear everything that was about to happen.

Not for the first time, Hibiki wished that she had her old set of Imperial Marine armor. It would have afforded her all-around vision of her position and a wealth of other information besides, but the Imperial Navy did not usually let its troops take their armor with them. She had to rely mainly on her natural senses, ears quivering high within her armor as she kept track of the closest Jha'Rhoun and the ones that looked most threatening. Her tail coiled behind her. Extending one hand, she grabbed Koiwa by the scruff of the neck, not giving her up to the tall cyborg in front of her.

"I don't remember anyone carving out a Jha'Rhoun enclave in the middle of Korfel," she said, sounding more confident than she felt as she turned herself sidelong to the man and the redheaded woman behind her. "This is SIN territory now, and the prisoner is in the custody of the state. This vixen is not yours to take, no matter who gave her to you." Her eyes narrowed behind her helmet. She wouldn't put it past some Night Guards or police to start a slave trade, but this was far quicker than she would have expected.

"I am leaving with this prisoner now. Do not try to stop me. Unless she's worth more to you than your precious contract."

Inside the tent across the way, Seito draped the spiced rag over his snout as he watched unblinkingly. The SIN vixen might have been a traitor, but she also had giant brass balls to stand up to these mercenaries in their own camp. Waving away his mixing feelings of hatred and admiration, the tod's eyes found Nax's tent and the shape slithering out from under it. He knew that Nagy and Yana were already on the ship, and if Nax was about to make it there, that left only him. Every moment he waited was a moment they spent not escaping this blasted world.
But it would mean abandoning Koiwa.

Teeth gritted, Seito bit down on a curse and ducked out of the tent, lowering himself down onto his belly. The smoke stung at his eyes, but it provided good cover for him to crawl through the herbal fog without the traitor noticing him. Not that she didn't have bigger things to worry about. The only thing that kept him going, and not trying to sneak around and take the SIN soldier down from behind, was the knowledge that if they took Koiwa then he was the most combat-effective of their group -Yana, Nagy, and Nax would need him. Koiwa had made her choice, and as much as he hated himself for it, Seito knew that she'd rather have him on the ship than at her side.

[Necrisis]

"I am leaving with this prisoner now. Do not try to stop me. Unless she's worth more to you than your precious contract."

The Tall Man leaned down to Hibiki’s height. “You’re armored shell will not stop us from shucking you like siltclam. Already you cannot hit us. Already, you cannot see us.”

There was a low humming coming from the spider-woman, and from others in the camp, something that wormed into her helmet.
Was that smoke? Inside her suit?
No, there was no way.
Yet her suit’s oxygen levels were dropping fast and in the brief moment Hibiki turned her attention from the Tall Man, he was gone. Had she turned, or had he moved?

Koiwa’s vision swam with breathing shadows and scuttling ink. She couldn't keep her feet easily as the world whirled around her.
The smoke was some kind of hallucinogen, it had to be. The nightmare images she was seeing couldn’t be real. Above her, in the night sky, where the blue gas giant was supposed to be, a great mass of writing tendrils folded in on itself, over and over again, teeth and mouths and eyes birthing and swallowing whole each other. It was impossible, but the infra sound and the smoke seemed to be bypassing her senses and accessing her brain directly.

But there was something off about the smoke. It clung to her, and she could see it drag shadows out of the tents, wrapping them around Hibiki, like a viscous glue.
All around the Jha’Rhoun seemed undisturbed by the living shadows. Hibiki was too preoccupied with those surrounding her to realize that they were crawling up her armor, thousands of clawing, insectoid legs writhing over her.

As Seito crawled onto the ramp of the Skipshot, Nagy and Nichta grabbed him, hauling him into the hold. Crates were strapped tight and tall, with small tunnels leading through it to the cockpit.
“Hey, stop, don’t take that off yet,” Nichta said, putting a hand on Seito’s rag. “The vulgth sticks to stuff. Curses it. You might want to get those clothes off, let them air out. You crawled through it.”

As she spoke all three of them watched as spidery wisps of smoke fell away from Seito, falling to the ground and crawling away into the dark outside the ship. Coils and tendrils snapped at the edges of the ramp, like a hungry creature, but kept their distance as the low hum continued outside.

Hibiki had kept Red in her sights the longest, the woman watching the Phalanx Master with equal interest.

But then the shadows behind the tent bucked and there was a sound like ripping metal.
Out of the fog charged a form, almost humanoid, except that it was black as obsidian, with boney growths of chitin around the chest and head. It leaped at Hibiki, its face cracking open and masses of tentacles snaring to her face, chest, arms, even as its arms wrapped around her like a mass of boneless flesh. She was being crushed, the creaking of her armor very loud in her ears, along with the silence from her vox.

[Xiscapia]

Staggering, Koiwa coughed, head swimming as she did her best to keep her balance. The world seemed to be warping like some cyclopean horror was pushing its way into reality, and as much as one glance convinced her not to look at the sky, the smoke and shadows were almost as bad. She knew it wasn't real, it couldn't be, but that didn't help her keep steady when Hibiki's struggle with her attacker sent a flailing limb into her make to make the manacled vixen stumble, trip over a repurposed generator, and fall flat onto the field. The grass rippled against her fur, seeming to cling to her coat, and Koiwa's eyes rolled in her head as she tried to keep her vision from swaying. The bones of the earth seemed to call to her, never ceasing in their siren song for her to come and join the manifold dead nestled in Fel'tethra's embrace.

Grunting in pain as the horror caught her up in its embrace, Hibiki writhed as its tendrils constricted her limbs and cracked across her faceplate. She was strong, but she could do nothing against the tendrils that pinned her arms against her sides and pushed threateningly against her breastplate. Another pained groan came from the vixen as she thrashed with her legs, hanging in the air as the creature bodily picked her up to better crush her. As black spots burst across her vision and she felt her armor begin to buckle, she knew she had only one play left. Her tail, still free of the tentacles, swept across her belt as she used the dexterous limb to fling a small, round object onto the grass behind her attacker.

The detonation of the grenade was deafening, a shockwave of heat sending Hibiki flying, tumbling hard onto the field and rolling to a stop. Her internal diagnostics lit up with multiple warnings of shrapnel embedded in her body as well as burns, but most of the blast had been absorbed by the horror's body and her armor had taken much of the rest. Holed by shrapnel and cracked by heat, some of it was already starting to fall off, its ablative nature having done its job. As her hearing returned, Hibiki scrambled to her feet, seizing up and staggering as her wounds made themselves known but forcing herself forward. Her path wasn't to the entrance of the camp, but to run behind the freighter and put its mass between her and them as she made a break for the stadium's stands. She grabbed another grenade, this one a smoke canister.
If she could make it to the top, she might have a chance.

In the ship's cargo bay, Seito stared uncomprehendingly at Nichta, but only for a moment. All of his time around Nax and Yana, and traversing the colonies, had taught him that the Necrians had innumerable secrets and very strange ways. Some of the rumors about what they were capable of made even him shudder when he heard them. So, with only a nod, he undid the rope belt he'd been using and dropped his trousers, stepping out of them as Nagy politely averted her eyes. Not that it made much of a difference, given the past hour or so, but Seito had other things on his mind.

"Did Nax make it?" he asked from behind the rag.

Nichta never got the chance to answer, the explosion of Hibiki's grenade drowning out all else. Seito flinched, but Nagy, who had already been looking away, jumped half an inch with a scream that rose in pitch so quickly that it hurt Seito's ears even through the deafness of the explosion. He saw her lips form the word "Koiwa" and spun on heel as the abhuman dashed down the ship's ramp. There the vixen was, staggering and coughing violently with her hands shackled in front of her, eyes focused sightlessly forward with a thousand-yard stare, but alive. Heedless of the smoke, Nagy ran to her captain, pulling her forward and all but shoving her up the ramp and into the hold. It made Koiwa stumble forward, the only thing stopping her from colliding headlong into Nichta being Seito catching his fellow kitsune in his arms.

[Necrisis]

"What's going- Koiwa!" Yana shoved through the narrow tunnel in the crates and knelt next to Seito as he caught the Captain. "I saw..." she stumbled, not able to articulate but continued. "That Phalanx Master, from the Scarab. She's here. She had Koiwa but then the camp filled with smoke and then something attacked them all - the grenade. Is she alright?"

"Singed," Nichta said, running hands expertly over Koiwa, checking for damage. "A few nicks and bruises, but she avoided the center of that blast. Get her into the cockpit. There's some space next to the old Dreamer pod, we can rest her there."

"Where's Nax?" Yana looked around the outside of the ship, just as the SIN's Phalanx Master stormed by, trailing sparks and flames from the grenade.
A shadow loomed in the smoke and fog, then out stumbled Nax. His clothes were burned and torn, and the hand that held his head was black and shiny with blood. He let the hand drop as he tripped over the ramp, gathering his feet even as Yana moved to help him. "On the ship," he said, his voice a rasping echo. Half of his face and down the neck was the same black chitin, a soft blue glow under the plates.
"Nax... what?"
"Move," he said, shoving her inside. "We're leaving."

As Hibiki rounded the Skipshot's side, hand on the smoke canister, when the blue-black fog roiled up like a thing possessed. Shadows leaped from the ship's side and smashed her to the ground, drowning her in a pressing, gnawing mist. She could feel the skittering of thousands of tiny claws, picking at the holes in her armor, worming into her suit, through plates and plastoid fibers. She felt a hand, skeletal and clawed, reach from the dark in the back of her helmet and grasp her face, pulling and straining, clamping her muzzle shut.
It was like the nanite defense systems some KEX vessels supported, but the skeletal hands dragging her down, the inky tentacles snaking around her legs and prying at her suit, the webbing stitching itself around her in a solid mist - none of it was really like that.
It was even prying at her hand, peeling away fingers with animalistic dedication.

As she struggled, the distant sound of a ship's engines hummed to life. She couldn't see for the oily smoke, but somewhere overhead there were flickering lights, the soft hum of Thuumen engines, then the blasting pop as sublight engines sent the ship skyward.

Darkness closed around Hibiki, boney fingers rapping against the inside of her visor, the other, holding her mouth shut as if it had been welded close. Her armor creaked and popped from the weight of shadows, clicking and scurrying sounds drowning out beyond the beeping of her suit's vitals, going lower and lower, until darkness took her mind as well.

Orbital Edge

The Jha'Rhoun Skipshot courier ship blasted out of Korfel a bit faster than Nax wanted it to, but it was hard to pilot a ship with one hand, while the other twitched and responded slowly. His vision was blurry, half taken up with a world coated in blue energy, picking up heartbeats like drops of water on a still pond.

He pulled back on the thruster as they cleared the horizon zone, and the system's brutally yellow star showered them in light as the cockpit dimmed.
But he didn't relax just yet. They still had the SIN fleet to deal with, and getting out system.

He stood, leaning heavily on the pilot chair as he looked over the people who had sacrificed so much to get there.
Seito was just strapping Koiwa into the jump seat next to the old tank of nutrigel - the ship's Dreamer pod. The collar and manacles were not a design any of them recognized, and Nax had told Seito to just secure her until they could deal with it. Her eyes were clouded with the Jha'Rhoun vapor, slowly returning to normal.
Yana sat in the copilot's seat, Nagy on her lap, keeping out of the way as Nax stood. Nichta had hunkered down by the doorway to cargo hold, white knuckled on the straps by the door.

"We aren't out yet," Nax said, gasping for air. Breathing was hard, but getting better. He glanced over the half-naked Necrian woman. "What are you good with?"
Nichta looked up at him, shivering. They could all feel it. Heat was leeching out into the thin upper atmosphere of the moon-world. Space was cold indeed.
"I-I'm a-a-a medic..." Nichta got out, taking her arms to pull all her limbs as close to her as she could.
"Sorry for getting you wrapped up in this," Nax said, stumbling over to the Dreamer pod and activating the sensor feeds. "Do you know how to monitor vitals on this old tech?"
"Y-yes. T-t-tarska was pl-planing on it."
Nax took in a deep breath, pain flooding through cracked ribs and a punctured lung, even as he could feel the Revenant worms mending him, willing him to life once more.
He met Yana's eyes, hauntingly deep blue meeting her steely grey ones.
They shared that gaze for a moment, until the beep of the comm relay sounded.
"I'd never ask," he said.
"I know," she replied. "Just... will I come back? Can I?"
"You can," Nax said. The comms sounded again. "But once you're in, it's all up to you to get back out."
Yana nodded, her jaw set. She gently pushed Nagy off, stood, and kissed her lover deeply.
The comm unit agian.

Nax nodded to Nichta. "Get her situated, fast. I don't know if this will work." He answered the comms.
"Attention exiting vessel, state designation and purpose, on order of the Solar Imperium."
"This is Jha'Rhoun Skipshot," Nax said. "We are running tribute back to Var'kara. I was told Tarska had arranged transit, but the situation has changed. We can nav out under our own power."
There was a pause. "Please hold for confirmation."

While Nax handled the comms, Nichta waved Yana over to the pod. "Strip down."
"Again?" Yana pulled at her shirt. "This is getting ridiculous."
"Better than getting clothes spliced into your nervous system," Nichta said with a smile.

The pod was a slanted unit, with a single tank of murky white-blue liquid filling about half of it, about a meter and a half long and just under a meter wide. It seemed to have been built into the ship itself, with tubes and electronics on moving arms around it.

Nichta typed a few things into the console, as Yana handed her clothes to Nagy, who stood, confused, nearby.
"What's going on?" she asked, big eyes flicking between Nichta and Yana. "Please? Yana?"

"It's... complicated." Yana put her hands on Nagy's shoulders. "But... I'm our way to Var'kara. I... it's dangerous. I'm going to... I'm taking over for Lucky. But I can do it. I won't be far."
"Come on," Nichta said, shivering. "Pod's ready. Have you Dream-channeled before?"
"Nope," Yana said, tapping the pod's top hatch and sitting on the edge.
Nichta nodded. "Right... well... the ship's old, but used to be a one-man job. There might be some leftover tutorials in there somewhere."
She held a tube to Yana's back and with a thunk and the sound of fleshy punctures, Yana winced. She reached up and pulled down the breathing unit, fixing it over her mouth and nose.
Then she slid into the tube, curling up in the fetal position to fit.
Nichta pressed a button and the whole cockpit swapped to emergency lighting.

"Come in Skipshot. We are trying to hail Forceman Tarska right now, but we aren't getting any confirms. Please standby."

[Xiscapia]

Thrashing and snarling on the ground, Hibiki fought with everything she had even as the shadows oozed through the gaps in her armor and subjected her to their paradoxically crushing weight. Even with what felt like a hand holding her muzzle closed she still growled, back arching as she struggled fruitlessly against the esoteric force pinning her to the field. Realizing with the stark clarity that only imminent death could bring that she was doomed, Hibiki twisted one arm around to her belt, hooking a finger around the pin of her other thermal-fragmentation grenade. If she was checking out, she was going to take at least one of them with her. But the shadows seized on her hand, constricting that single finger, and though she put all of her will into it, the vixen couldn't manage to pull the pin.

Hating herself for that weakness, that final failure, Hibiki felt herself fading as she was crushed under the thing's bulk. She had pledged herself to the cause of the Sol Imperi Necrosa, declared herself willing to die in its defense, and now she was. Strangely, she felt calm. Even dying this way didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. She wondered if Necrisis would take her when she died. Did the Dark Lady even take aliens into her embrace? Hibiki didn't know, but her last thoughts weren't with the goddess.

Daliha...

Skipshot Courier...

Hugging her trenchcoat tight to herself, Nagy stared and shuddered as Yana lowered herself into the fluid-filled tank, meeting her eyes one last time before she submerged. She could still taste the woman on her lips. "Please come back to me, Yana," she breathed, breath fogging in the air once more. "Please."

Standing from where he had been kneeling by Koiwa, Seito gave his near-comatose captain one last look. As far as he could tell her injuries weren't any worse than what the Necrian woman had described, but he still wished the medic had more of a chance to look her over. He knew Yana had to take priority, and to that end, he looked to Nagy. "Hey, Nagy," he said, the abhuman nodding without looking at him. "The medic said something about our clothes getting cursed from the smoke. You were in that to get Koiwa. Lose the trenchcoat for now, and get to the co-pilot's seat. Nax needs your help."

It was a mark of her worry that Nagy didn't balk or blush at having to discard her only article of clothing. Still staring at the Dreamer tank, she slowly undid the buttons of her coat, letting it slide off her shoulders and drop to the floor. Even as her feet carried her, the abhuman craned her neck to keep watching the tank until it was fully behind her and she slid into the co-pilot's chair that Yana had vacated. Glancing at Nax, she flinched as she immediately saw why he needed the help: if she hadn't already known he was a dead man, she would have thought he was halfway there already. Jerking her head away, she forced herself to put that and Yana out of her mind and reached for the controls. She was a navigator by training, and her time since the Rookery had given her plenty of experience with heterodox Necrian subsystems, so her fingers flew over the keys as she began to input the coordinates supplied by the computer and prime the ship for its leap into faster-than-light.

Stepping up behind Nichta, Seito laid his hands on her shoulders. "Sorry about this," he said, putting their bodies in contact as he wrapped his arms around her middle. "Usually I ask somebody's name before I hug them, but we can't have you shivering too much. We need you to take care of our girl," he nodded to the Dreamer tank, his tail curling around Nichta's hands to envelop them in fluffy fur. "Don't mind me."

[Necrisis]

Skipshot

"Don't mind me."

Nichta grinned and looked over her shoulder with a flutter of her eyes, tawny gold with flecks of amber. "I don't mind at all," she said. "Nichta by the way."

Nax glowered at her as he shambled over. "Knock it off girl. You two can flirt all you want when we're out of here."

"Yessir." Nichta turned back to the control panel. "Beta is high, but she took the plunge. Give it a minute and she'll be synched up."

"Alright," Nax leaned against the tank, next to Koiwa. "We don't have a lot of time. Night Amber's going to get after us soon. Yana is our way out. She's going to link to this ships coral framework and enter the Cascade. It's dangerous, but I guided Lhuun through a dozen of these before. Nagy, I need you to get us a calculation to Bas'talok. Yana doesn't need extra strain right now. You take over astronavs, I'll pilot the ship, she just needs to get us into the Cascade and our again."

"She's into Alpha range," Nichta said. "Coral is lighting up. Nax, she doesn't have a voice, just a chat box."

Nax swore under his breath and glanced at Nagy. "You and me have to keep an eye on that then. It's like Luck's old unit - he couldn't talk for a long time, just a text relay. You're going to have to read out anything vital."

"She can hear you now," Nichta said, her voice getting quiet. "Alpha is stabilized at seven hzs. She's right on the edge."

Nax looked up instinctively as he made his way back to the pilot chair, a little ahead of Nagy's - in the small cockpit, she could have turned around and touch Koiwa from where she sat. "Yana? You hear me girl?"

The screen infront of Nagy beeped and lit up with amber-coloured text.

<I am scared.>
Nax leaned over Nagy's shoulder. "I know kid. It can be,,, a lot."
<Overwhelmed. Don't know where I am. Who?>
"Hey, listen to me Yana. I know who you are. You have a camera bubble at the center of the cockpit. Focus on that, okay? One thing at a time."
A pause. <I see you.>
"Good." Nax looked up and waved. "Everyone fucking wave." He turned back to the screen. "Okay, Yana. I need you to be brave for me. All of us. I'm going to ask you to open your eyes. It's going to be a lot, all at once. The vertigo and nausea will set in. But you have to focus on the biggest ship you can see. That's Night Amber. She's a ship, like you are. Use her as an anchor point and search out from there. Look for a river of light."
<It's too much... so mch... to.... all..jsut... lighlgihlight
Sounds. Overwhelmed, overwhel->
Nax looked back at Yana in the tank, but she was still, peaceful.
"I know, kid, I know. It's a lot. Focus though. Night Amber. River of Light."
<Too Much. Scared. Who?>
Nax swore blackly under his breath.
Over Nichta's shoulder, Seito could see a readout with wave patterns, a frequency meter with the number flickering between seven and eight.

Nagy started a little as Nax took her shoulder. "She needs you. She needs to ground or she'll lose herself in the Cascade. She loves you, I can see it. Talk to her, feed her memories with strong emotions. Sights, sounds, smells - anything you two shared that can help her ground in there."

[Xiscapia]

Skipshot...

"I don't mind at all. Nichta by the way."

"Seito," said Seito, before quieting. Nax was right: they couldn't afford any unnecessary chatter now.

It took Nagy a moment to realize what "get after us" meant when it came to the Night Amber. She slowed in her tapping for a second before her mouth tightened, eyes narrowing as she made up for it with even faster typing. The coordinates were unfamiliar to her, but she just nodded as Nax told her that Bas'talok was their destination. "Bas'talok, understood," she said, focused. By the time she was done, she realized that Nax was looking at her again. Nagy's shoulders hunched before she heard what he was saying.

"You and me have to keep an eye on that then. It's like Luck's old unit - he couldn't talk for a long time, just a text relay. You're going to have to read out anything vital."

Eyes widening, Nagy nodded again. "O-okay," she whipped her head back to the screen. Nax's presence over her shoulder meant she didn't need to read anything out at the moment, so she tracked the text silently as it came up. When Nax mentioned the camera Nagy looked up, eyes darting around the console until she spotted the little black bulb. She waved, able to see Seito's reflection behind her as the tod waved as well. She kept looking between the camera and the screen, chest heaving as Yana's confused words scrolled across the pane.

"She needs you. She needs to ground or she'll lose herself in the Cascade. She loves you, I can see it. Talk to her, feed her memories with strong emotions. Sights, sounds, smells - anything you two shared that can help her ground in there."

Swallowing hard, Nagy sat up in her seat and leaned over, peering into the camera. "Yana! It's Nagy. I'm here. Remember the time when I took you to meet my parents, and you met my younger brother and sister. Remember the taste of my mother's voidfruit pie and the bloodwine that you brought. Remember when Toya showed you echolocation and asked if you could do anything 'special' and you stuck your tongue out as far as you could and she and Tamma spent the rest of the night trying to do the same thing. Remember how hard you laughed and how hard they hugged you. R-remember the taste of mint on my lips when I kissed you that night."

Nagy inhaled, blinking back tears.

"Remember that was when I knew that I loved you."

[Necrisis]

Fel'tethra's sun glowed in the heart of the multicolored sea. Planet's danced around, shrouded in magnetic mists, solar winds creating little eddies and currents.
She could see the gravity well of the gas giant, how it played with the moon and how she and Night Amber swam amid them, engines unconsciously stabilizing them.

Night Amber was over two hundred kilometers out. She knew it.
There was a sub-audible hum. An open comm channel, linking them together.

There was so much information, she could feel herself slipping away, her mind overcome with information. It hurt to think about all the things she was seeing, feeling, tasting. It was so much easier to sleep. To fade away.

There was a hum in her head though. A vibration that tapped away, made sleeping hard.

...'ana...

The vibrations increased, tap tapping away. A vision of a face floated by, lost in the ambient cloud of information.

Yana... 'mem'...

Yana. Who was...? She was.
They knew her. Yana. She was. Yana.

...mint... love you...

The face. Big, brown eyes... that dark fur... Nagy. That was Nagy.

Yana... please...

She was crying? But why? Yana was here. Was with her.
All around. She could see her with a dozen spectrums, better than she had before... before.
There was a before.

River of Light

That's what she had been looking for. She was Yana and she was looking for a River of Light so she could save Nagy. She loved Nagy.

She saw the stars beyond Night Amber and beyond the giant and out and out... a night out, under the stars. Her and Nagy, on top of the ship. Star gazing on some alien world, neither had been there before.
She had watched the reflection of the stars in Nagy's eyes, before she had ever had the courage to kiss her.
A spacial phenomenon, a Pillar of Light. She had waited until then. Wanted it to be special.
We will come back here again
Promise
Yes

A Pillar of Light... of Light... a River.
Not a river. A ribbon. Luminous but without color. Light without light. It weaved through the worlds in great whorls, it was everywhere and yet their was a band, a ribbon, a thread, just there. She could reach out and pluck it, send vibrations throughout the cosmos...

<Found it>

- - -

Nagy had fallen silent, letting her last words hang in the air.

Seito felt Nichta glance down at the display and hiss through her teeth. The numbers had dropped, a steep spike down.
Ones and two flickered before a three ticked up.
Then five, flickering to six and holding steady.
"Necrisis' sexy knickers," Nichta breathed. "She did it. She's resting at six hzs."

<Found it> flashed onto the read out in front of Nagy.
<Love you too.>

Nax growled out a laugh and slouched back into the pilot's couch. "Damn it, Yana. You had me scared there."
<Me too.>
"You have the River?"
<In sight. It is... beautiful. Like a Ribbon of stardust.>
"That's the Cascade. Alright. We are getting out. Nagy, you have coordinates for Bas'talok entered?"
Nagy nodded.
"Yana, I need you to hold those coordinates in place then enter into the Cascade."
<Too far away.>
"I know. We're going to pilot you closer. I have exit points here. You just focus on that Ribbon. Lhuun said... it hurts to touch, but not to be in. So when we get close just dive in. Keep those numbers in mind and we will get to Bas'talok."

The comm unit bleeped. Nax thumbed it on as he punched the engines on and the Skipshot peeled out of high orbit, making for the dark of space.
"Skipshot, this is Night Amber."
"Hows it going Amber," Nax said, pushing shields to the rear of the ship.
"We just detected a Cascade charge at your location. We have Nightshades dispatched to your position. Please power down and prepare for boarding." There was a pause then- "Please. Don't make us fire on you."

But Nax merely pressed the engage on the Astral Driver.

Yana reach out and grasped the ribbon of light.

Then, they were gone.

[Necrisis]

Korfel
Fel'tethra
Day Eight of SIN Occupation

Commissioner Aevarnus Sork turned up his coat collar and squinted angrily at the rising sun.
The Long Night of Korfel was over. A new one had begun.

There would be almost a week and a half of twilight now, increasing to full day over the week after and a slow decline into another week of night almost a month later. In a week - less than, just over five days - the Solar Imperium of Necrosa had moved in and made themselves at home.

He'd lived on Fel'tethra for most of his life, having moved in his late thirties to marry a girl who's father owned a sugar farm.
It hadn't lasted. She'd run off with some tod at the reception and Sork had moved on, joining the father's security detail and eventually applying for Korfel's police department. He'd been favored by the mostly Necrian force, and had enjoyed busting tod drug dealers more than he should have, but as the years whiled away the bitterness had faded and a longing to return to Dominion space had come up.
But then Addrik had closed borders and Sork found himself getting a morning coffee from a young tod who always give him a smile and a free doughnut. Sork had been hard on the tod the first time - "Trying to bribe a security officer is a fine-able offense" - but the tod had a sister on the force. He was just saying thanks for the work they did.
Sork eventually met the sister - Kurshina - and had done his patrol route with her for the better part of two years before the sky fell around them and the SIN appeared.

Now, as Sork pulled a hat over his eyes and turned up his collar to the harsh twilight winds, he passed SIN patrols on the streets where kids had played in the snow. A Scarab tank sat at a checkpoint with a half-squad of soldiers, checking IDs of the Necrians who passed through and enforcing the binder IDs they put on everyone else.

Sork joined the line, eyes flicking over the defenses, probing them for something he could use.
"Next."
"Commissioner Aevarnus Sork," Sork said, exposing the ID barcode on his right forearm. The Necrian soldier - his rank badge wasn't one Sork recognized from his time in the Dominion's military, almost forty years ago - glanced over the barcode and sighed.
"Why do all you ex-pats do this?"
"What?" Sork said, not hiding his grin.
The barcode was decorated to near incomprehensibility with a detailed lancer carbine, the smoke from its discharge chamber resembling a subtle switch image. From one angle, it was a long toothed Necrian skull. From another, a dancing girl that left little to the imagination.
"You damn well know what." The soldier held out his hand. "Your secondary ID. Commissioner."
"Of course..." Sork took as long as he left safe to, searching his overcoat and undercoat and pants and finally feigned inspiration and pulled off his hat, plucking the photo ID card from the seam. "Sorry. Safest place for it."
"Right." The soldier looked it over. Sork could feel him scowling from inside the helmet. "Business?"
"Coffee run."
The soldier snarl-hissed quietly in his helmet, but he returned the card without saying anything and stepped aside. "Passed."

Sork continued down the road, his little rebellion fresh on his mind, but fading with each step. Firebombed shops and houses lined the little avenue, and evidence of looters was everywhere on the street. Broken glass, torn bags. Blood stains. The smell of charred fur and flesh hung in the air, overlaying the stench of ozone from lancer discharge.
Doing a poor job of covering the worst buildings were banners and signs, various slogans yelling quietly at him as he passed.

The Imperium is Here for You. Comply with Imperium Soldiers.

A Return to Work is a Return to Normalcy.

Report Suspicious Activity to the Nearest Imperium Soldier. You Could Save a Life.

Turning onto the next street, Sork ducked to the side as a crowd of Temple priestesses hurried by, averting his gaze from the naked form amid them. A Necrian woman, alive he hoped, with heavy scars and bruises around her neck and wrists.
Further down SIN soldiers were hustling a few Necrians into an unmarked van - local make, non military - before heading back into a house, leaving two outside. Across the road, civilians - mostly Necrian but with a few Xiscapians with worker bands around their wrists - tentatively watched.

But Sork knew what was going on. NFPers had been having 'judgement parties.' Doling out custom punishments for people they thought were degenerates. Some got real bad. At least the SIN was trying to crack down on it, but from what he'd heard, they were shipping NFPers off world to fight on the front lines. He didn't know what that looked like, but penal armies never worked well.

He crossed the street, heading down the road towards a mostly unmarred uptown hub. His police instincts were screaming at him to hop in and help out, but he had other plans, plans that needed him to keep as far off the SIN's grid as he could.

Arriving at the cafe he'd frequented over the last few years, Sork took note of the freshly cleaned windows, ash and cement dust covering the sidewalk, and a young kitsune behind the counter.
Not Kurshina's brother.

He entered, making another note of the white paint that had spelled 'fur freak' across 'Tandinishi's Place.'
A kitsune and Necrian sat at the window, the Necrian watching the raid down the street, while the vixen nursed a cup of something hot. Otherwise, the once bustling business was dead.
"Coffee, black," Sork said, nodding to the tod behind the counter.
There was no banter, no smile. Just a cold, carefully dead stare as the tod got to work.
He wasn't the local commissioner now. Not a beat cop.
He was Necrian. An invader, an occupier.
"Three-ten," the tod said, setting the hot cup down.
Sork pulled out his card and stopped halfway to handing the kitsune it.
"Ah... I-I'm sorry, sir. We don't... accept Imperial credits anymore."
The look of fear that spread over the kitsune's face made Sork's blood boil. There was a fresh bruise under the kid's eye, fresh scrapes along his muzzle and ears.
"Right," Sork said, putting the card back. "Right. Sorry. Forgot... ah, never mind then. Haven't..."

"Everything ok?"
Sork snapped a look over his shoulder. The Necrian woman who had been sitting with the vixen had gotten up, walking over. Sork noted the military gait at once.
"Yeah, yeah. Just... Didn't get to exchange creds for rins before the whole SIN army showed up," Sork said, not entirely able to keep the bitterness out of his tone.
"I understand," she said, reaching into a pouch pocket. "Three-ten, right?" She handed the kitsune a five rin coin - green metal with a hole in the middle, a moon cycle around the edge of the disc.
She handed Sork the hot drink, smiling at his suspicious glare. "We're all in this together."
"Yeah," Sork said slowly. "I... you didn't have to. I'm the KPD Commissioner for District Seven. Just... haven't seen my pay from the Overseer yet."
"All the more reason to help you out." The woman gestured to her kitsune companion. "Had some of the local STADs give us a hand a few days ago. Helped clear up that mess at the hospital."
"You're Imperium troopers?"
"Well, she's a Phalanx Master. Medical leave at the moment. Sorry," she said, offering a hand - a very non-Necrian gesture. "Daliha Vaedix, at your service."
"Sork," Sork said. "Pleasure. Thanks for the coffee. You come here often? I'll pay you back when I can."
"Don't think anything of it, sir."
"I hate debts." Sork started for the door. "I'll pay you back."

As Daliha watched the bedraggled man hurry off down the street, there was a small cough from behind her. "Uh, miss? Your change?"
"Keep it, kid," Daliha said, heading back to her table with Hibiki.
Sitting back down from her commanding officer and lover, Daliha returned to silence. "Hibiki?"
The vixen grunted, coming out of some deep thoughts.
"Love, I am here for you, you know? Elad placed me on administrative leave to help get you back on your feet. The faster we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can get back to the unit." She paused, finding the right words, tracing the lip of her tea cup with her finger. "I... I opened an official case with internal affairs, but its not going to go anywhere fast. But, I heard the tape, from your vox? It's all scrambled. There's an explosion towards the end and a lot of hissing. Techs think its static, but... I know you. Better than anyone. You would never have done those things. Attacking the Jha'Rhoun camp, ranting about escaped prisoners? It doesn't add. You were out for two days, Ki-ki. I sat there. I heard what you screamed about. You don't get nightmares."
She fell silent again, fingering the choker and engagement loop around her neck. "I have trusted you more than any other person, in my whole life. With everything." Her eartips darkened as she took Hibiki's hand. "You can trust me too. Talk to me. Please."

[Xiscapia]

The black-furred vixen stared out the window she sat next to, hands wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee that was slowly getting colder. She had never been to Korfel before the invasion, but even she could tell that despite its signs of life like this cafe, it was nowhere close to full recovery. The bombed-out gymnasium on the corner, the shuttered row of restaurants and shops across the street, and the way people hurried by each other without speaking or even looking up were all testaments to that. One Necrian woman who passed by glanced through the window and did a double-take at the sight of Hibiki, a sneer crossing her lips even as she walked out of sight. The show of emotion was somehow less hurtful than the impassive stare the tod barista had given her when she'd stepped into Tandinishi's Place.

Thinking about it made her inhale sharply, and Hibiki fought back a wince. Her body still hurt from the attack, despite the Necrian medical treatments that had brought her back. She hadn't expected to be alive, but then, she hadn't expected the Jha'Rhoun to attack her in the first place. The thought of it still disturbed her. Not so much that they had attacked her, but how it had happened. Even now, she had no explanation for it.

Shaken out of her revere from hearing her name, Hibiki looked over at Daliha. Her ears perked up as she listened, tail curling slowly. Right. Our unit. The one protecting the slave-smuggling mercenaries. She didn't let that show in her face, staring into her lover's eyes. Unavoidably, the vixen's visage softened, and she took her other hand off her cup to clasp Daliha's between her own.

"I know," she said. "I didn't attack the Jha'Rhoun. They attacked me. But it doesn't matter," the vixen shook her head slowly. "I think what they told me is true, their having a contract with the Empress herself. That means this investigation won't go anywhere. The SIN needs the Jha'Rhoun more than they need me, and a handful of prisoners is a small price to pay to keep their service. Nothing will come of this."

Hibiki stared into Daliha's eyes, squeezing her hand with both of hers. "I can't be involved in this. I won't be. I could resign my commission, run away with you, but even if the SIN accepted it, I can't turn my back on this. You know as well as I do that there's a lot of innocent people in those POW work details the administration is using, and I won't see them toil away here just to be trafficked into slavery. I have to do something."

[Necrisis]

"I can't be involved in this. I won't be. I could resign my commission, run away with you, but even if the SIN accepted it, I can't turn my back on this. You know as well as I do that there's a lot of innocent people in those POW work details the administration is using, and I won't see them toil away here just to be trafficked into slavery. I have to do something."

Daliha nodded. "And I'm with you. But do you think going it alone is going to get us anywhere? At least, as Phalanx Master, you have more range. Even if its more an honorific than anything. Those troops? The Irregulars? They are still yours, Hibiki. Elad needs you. Maybe we can leverage that."
She glanced over to the barista, who quickly busied himself with the counter. "If the Jha'Rhoun are taking slaves off world, Base Six is the place to start. I heard they were moving some prisoners out of processing today. Shipping them off to City Center, trying to get that power grid up and clear some streets. You're on medical, so we can't contribute directly, but the Temple is doing work around there too. Helping injured, providing rations, things like that. We could do some charity work and while we're there, keep an eye on the work details. Make sure nothing funny is going on."

Downtown Korfel
Luza District
The Revelry

Kalex Yavine pulled the blackout curtains closed as the twilight sun's cold rays stabbed into his penthouse. Day eight of occupation, and no one had bothered him yet. Not even Mother. Though, from what he'd heard, the visit from the Empress had left her bad tempered.
It didn't matter much. As long as she left him alone, he could try and do his part to resist the invaders. He'd never really seen himself as a freedom fighter - his father pointedly reminded him how bad a shot he was every chance he got. But he wasn't going to sit by and let this Solar Imperium run over the home he'd made with Eikichi.
What they had was executable in the NID. Just love between two men or women was enough to get you blacklisted, let alone fucking an alien.

Padding over to the kitchen in bare feet, silk shirt only done to his navel and the black pants he'd worn yesterday, Kalex prepared a quick meal of dried meat and mostly fresh fruit. Vesherno fruit was... unique.

Carrying the done up plate, Kalex entered the master bedroom, moving quietly so as to not wake Eikichi - the tod, tangled in the bed sheets as was his custom when Kalex got up, drooling a little onto his pillow - and into the panic room.
The penthouse took up the entire top floor of the apartment building, and at the heart of it was the master bedroom. But, not found on any floor plan of the building and only known to the Yavine family, was the panic room. Designed to outlast any home invasion, with top of the line defenses, two months worth of rations and medical equipment, Kalex had always considered it lavish and grotesque.
But now, as he shouldered into the entrance room and peeked into the medical room, he couldn't thank his family's paranoia more.

On one of the two beds lay Governess Tyrass, and asleep in the chair beside her was her son-by-law Shuji, his twin tails twitching in his sleep.
"Hey, Shuji?"
Shuji started at once, bolting upright. His eyes, nearly feral, flickered over Kalex, then the room and finally to Tyrass and her vitals. He rubbed a hand over his eyes before looking more intently at the readout, but Kalex put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "They are the same. I checked less than an hour ago. Come on. You need to eat something."

Kalex and Shuji were just sitting down in the dark living room when there was a knock at the door. Shuji instantly bristled, but as the knock rapped out a short pattern, Kalex waved him down. "It's Sork."

As Kalex opened the door, Sork's boot chucked itself into the crack. "Check its me next time. SIN have double plated boots. You could put a heavy pistol's kinetic round into one and it'd rebound. A door will not stop them."
"Right. Sorry." Kalex stepped aside, ushering Sork in.
"Kurshina here yet?"
"No. She got the other's out last night, through the service elevator. Had to pay off some of the night staff."
"That's dangerous."
"Two kitsune women? Didn't seem like SIN agents to me."
Sork snorted. "They aren't. But people can get desperate pretty quick. Ideology doesn't pay bill or buy food."

Walking into the penthouse, Sork pulled his coat off, glancing around. "How's Tyrass?"
"Stable, but still rough. We need a real physician. No offense to you or Kurshina."
"None taken. We know first aid. She's a bit beyond our expertise." Sork glanced toward the panic room. "Kelaetra talking yet?"
"No," Kalex said, slowly. "She's barely eaten either." He absently spun a bit of meat jerky in his fingers, thinking hard before speaking again. "Do you think its necessary to keep her tied up like that?"
"She a Thane, and a trained soldier," Sory countered. "We aren't chancing it. Me and Kurshina will have a go when she gets here."

[Xiscapia]

"And I'm with you. But do you think going it alone is going to get us anywhere? At least, as Phalanx Master, you have more range. Even if it's more an honorific than anything. Those troops? The Irregulars? They are still yours, Hibiki. Elad needs you. Maybe we can leverage that."

The changes in Hibiki's face were subtle, a relaxation of the lips and a settling of her eyes, but after so much time with her Daliha could see the expression for what it was: relief. Still, she shook her head slowly. "We don't know who we can trust with this. Elad might be able to give us cover, but the fewer people who know about our intentions, the better off we'll be. As you say, I might just have to rely on pulling rank and throwing my weight around to get things done."

"If the Jha'Rhoun are taking slaves off world, Base Six is the place to start. I heard they were moving some prisoners out of processing today. Shipping them off to City Center, trying to get that power grid up and clear some streets. You're on medical, so we can't contribute directly, but the Temple is doing work around there too. Helping injured, providing rations, things like that. We could do some charity work and while we're there, keep an eye on the work details. Make sure nothing funny is going on."

She listened as Daliha spoke, but she hadn't missed the barista's sudden surge of activity when the woman glanced his way. He had almost certainly overheard them. "Then what's where we should be," the vixen pushed back from her seat, biting down on a groan from the stab of pain that coursed through her back as she stood. Tossing a few rins onto the table by her untouched coffee, she held one finger up to Daliha before turning and approaching the counter. She wasn't wearing her armor -it was still being repaired- but in her black-gray urban fatigues, there was little doubt as to her occupation.

Looking the tod in the eye, she studied his black eye and the scars around his snout as she reached into her pocket and pushed a card with her name and contact information across the counter. "<If you think you're going to get jumped again, call me,>" she told him in Xiscapian. "<If I can't come, I'll send someone to help you.>" Hibiki held his gaze. "<We're headed over to the stadium where they're keeping prisoners. Is there anyone we should check on?>"

Downtown Korfel, Luza District, The Revelry...

Swallowing a bite of meat, Shuji only glanced at Sork before returning to stare at his meal. He knew he had to eat, but the appetite simply wasn't there. He could have told Sork that Kelaetra had barely said a word for more than a week, not to him or anyone else. Neither of them had left the penthouse in all that time, and whenever he was awake, Shuji had listened, but Kelaetra had kept her thoughts to herself. He wanted to hold her and to scream at her, to beat her and to hug her.
In the end, he did nothing.

Another staccato of knocks sounded, and this time Kalex carefully checked through the doorbell camera to confirm who was on the other side. Kurshina and Fusae were standing there, vixen and tixen alike heavily bundled to disguise their identities and panting in the heat that accompanied even the long twilight "days" of Fel'tethra. Both the officer's uniform and the soldier's armor were stashed in the safe room, and that was where Fusae made a beeline to as shi stripped off hir thick coat to reveal the bags shi was carrying underneath: plastic pouches of rich red blood, labeled by species and type. These were from a Necrian donor according to the labels, and Fusae lost no time in bringing them into the safe room. Governor Tyrass had woken up a few times throughout the week, but never long enough to take fluids or say much of anything. Fusae wasn't even sure if she remembered being awake, but at least she wasn't in a coma.

As Fusae refilled IVs and blood bags, Kurshina gave Sork a curt nod. "Sir. We managed to disperse most of our group back to their homes. The ones who still had homes opened them as safe houses to those who don't. Specialist Fusae is the only exception. We still need someone with medical expertise to monitor Governor Tyrass, and shi has nowhere safe to go anyway." The former officer left her own similar situation unsaid. It was too dangerous for her to put her uniform back on, much less return to her own apartment.

The vixen forced herself to look Sork in the eye, tail curling. "Was there any news...?"

"Man, that's a big haul." Leaning against the doorframe, Eikichi yawned, watching Fusae unload the medical supplies. "How'd you guys get your hands on that?"

Kurshina gave the tod a look, not saying anything for a moment. Her eyes scanned him up and down before going to his face. "You. Pants. Now."

He turned away with a grumble, and Kurshina looked back to Sork. His silence was all the answer to her question that she needed. Nothing about her seemed to change, but Sork could tell -the slight fall to her ears, the way her tail stopped moving. Ever the good officer, she didn't let that stop her. "Has Kelaetra spoken yet, sir?"

"You're wasting your time."

They both looked at Shuji. He was still staring at his plate, but after a few seconds he turned his head up, looking at each of them in turn, eyes dull. "She has nothing to say to you, and you have no leverage over her. I know my wife...I know this much, at least: she has been praying. When Necrisis lays it upon her heart, she will speak to me. Then, maybe, she will answer questions."

[Necrisis]

Tandinishi's Place

"<We're headed over to the stadium where they're keeping prisoners. Is there anyone we should check on?>"

The tob glanced over the card, then back up at her.
"Thanks," he said in Galactic Common. He didn't meet her eyes, but just as she was about to leave, he made a noise, halfway between pain and desperation.
"<Wait. Yeah. My... my neighbor. Nice couple. Necrian woman, tod, little boy. I... I sat for them sometimes. I think he was Imperial Army or reserves or something. Just... figured she might have gotten out of it all ok, maybe? She's Necrian. But then, the Necrian couple on the other side of them? Both got shot up. Nice guys. Sanjia, I think? Her husband was Kazuki. Aroji was their kit.>"

Daliha had stepped outside. Even if Hibiki was a SIN officer, she was still kitsune, and that seemed to be carrying a lot of weight right then. They'd have to manage who they talked to carefully. Between the two of them, they could cover a lot of people.
Her comm unit beeped and she pulled up the call on her holotool.
"Master Elad," she said, saluting her commander in miniature on her palm.
"Hibiki with you?" Elad asked, waving the salute away. He looked tired. Even in the blue tinged hologram, his eyes had dark circles under them and the slight creases in his forehead and cheeks had deepened.
"Yes, sir. Just touring one of the cleared zones."
"She's on medical, Miss Daliha."
"I know sir... she's a hard woman to keep down."
"Isn't that the truth. Look, if it gets her back to her unit faster, do what you need to. Just looked over the official report. Give her my condolences. Three ribs broken, numerous fractures all over. She's a lucky fox. If that grenade had been any closer... Should have killed her at that range. Otherwise, it was like she was crushed under ten tons of... something. Anyway, medics just wanted to point out that she should be dead. So good on her for keeping it together."
"I'll pass the sentiment along sir," Daliha said, glancing up as Hibiki exited the cafe. "Anything else?"
"Nothing good."
"Oh... ah, well-"
"Get her on her feet, Daliha. That's your standing order. Goddess give me strength, I need all the help I can get. I called off that mission to Keela's Rest. When she's up and running again, you head out there. Secure that position. Or tell me who I can send instead. We need that location locked down, fast."
"I'll let you know, Master Elad."
Elad grunted and the comm cut out.

Daliha turned off her holotool and cast Hibiki a look. "He's always so nice. Everything okay? Figured I'd be an uncomfortable presence for the poor boy." She nodded into the shop. "He okay? What'd he ask you?"

Downtown Korfel
Luza District
The Revelry

"She has nothing to say to you, and you have no leverage over her. I know my wife...I know this much, at least: she has been praying. When Necrisis lays it upon her heart, she will speak to me. Then, maybe, she will answer questions."

Sork's usual grim expression turned to stone, eye's darkening and a hiss in his throat. "That's not fucking good enough," he said, evenly. "She's the best lead we have here. Her mother isn't improving, and if Tyrass goes, this colony isn't far behind. She said she has a detailed invasion schedule. I just overheard some soldiers talking about frontlines on Alnokae, Fel'narsha, Kor'laesha. This isn't some petty land grab. This is full invasion and we are a staging area. We are not going into this blind. The NID abandoned us, the KEX walked over us and now the SIN wants to swoop in here like goddessdamned heroes. I'm sick of three-letter empires telling me who I salute."
He turned to Kurshina. "Good cop or bad cop? We're not leaving until we get answers. Something. Anything we can use to get the SIN out of here."

[Xiscapia]

Tandinishi's Place...

"<Wait. Yeah. My... my neighbor. Nice couple. Necrian woman, tod, little boy. I... I sat for them sometimes. I think he was Imperial Army or reserves or something. Just... figured she might have gotten out of it all ok, maybe? She's Necrian. But then, the Necrian couple on the other side of them? Both got shot up. Nice guys. Sanjia, I think? Her husband was Kazuki. Aroji was their kit.>"

Clamping down on her urge to wince when the barista mentioned the killings, Hibiki nodded. She got the physical descriptions and the address of their apartment before stepping back. "<We'll look for them,>" she promised. "<Let you know if we find anything. Stay strong.>" Tapping her card one more time in reminder, she turned away and pulled her hood over her head, letting it rest atop her upstanding ears. Hot air washed over her as she pushed the cafe's door open, well in time to catch some of Daliha's conversation with Elad.

When she heard about Kela's Rest, the vixen sighed. With the vast majority of forces having been moved on to other fronts, there simply weren't enough SIN troops to carry out every operation needed for Fel'tethra's security. Most of the burden fell on the local police and Night Guards, but they weren't reliable enough for this sort of mission. Still, she hadn't fully appreciated just how much her commanding officer had been relying on her and her unit.
It usually felt good to be needed, but not this time.

"He's always so nice. Everything okay? Figured I'd be an uncomfortable presence for the poor boy. He okay? What'd he ask you?"

"Probably wise," Hibiki said, unzipping the front of her jacket. "The kit's holding up as best as can be expected, as far as I can tell. He asked me to try to find a few of his neighbors he hasn't seen since the invasion. Kazuki, tod, probably Imperial Army, black fur. Sanjia, Necrian woman, raven-haired. And their child, Aroji, a young albino halfbreed kit. I figure if we don't find anything at Number Six, we might go by their home, see if I can't get a scent trail off some of their belongings."

It went unsaid that their hopes of finding any of the trio were slim. Being displaced, they could be anywhere, but it was most likely that they had already been killed and cremated or buried in shallow graves. Yet Hibiki didn't slow as she approached their vehicle, as intent on it as if she had just received orders from Elad himself. With a purpose, she didn't hurt so badly. With a purpose, she didn't have to spend so much time with her own thoughts.

Downtown Korfel, Luza District, The Revelry...

Shuji didn't say anything to Sork's retort. The tod looked back down at his untouched food, staring into space. For her part, Kurshina held her tongue. She was sure that Sork knew as well as she did that by now the invasions were already underway, and that there was little they could do to change the fate of Fel'tethra. If it was that or losing all hope, she would take the fight.

"Good cop or bad cop? We're not leaving until we get answers. Something. Anything we can use to get the SIN out of here."

The vixen inhaled. After everything she had seen and done in the past week, she badly wanted to play the role of bad cop. Something to vent her stress, to let out her anger, to let her feel in control of something again. Yet she knew that wasn't a winning move, no matter how good it would feel. Sork had already threatened to execute Kelaetra, and Kurshina knew that Kelaetra certainly hadn't forgotten that. A gentle approach would be more believable coming from her, and given Shuji, maybe Kelaetra had a soft spot for kitsune.

"I'll be the good cop," she exhaled. "You can go first if you want to try to soften her up. Then I'll try."

[Necrisis]

Korfel
Luza District
Base 6

Hibiki and Daliha arrived at Base Six just as the convoy of Hetaevan-made Rumblers moved out. Originally made for hauling mining goods and machinery, their cavernous holds had been refitted into prisoner transports.
If the image of the war wasn’t so grim, the Necrian co-pilot sitting next to the Hetaevan driver would have been comical. He had to haul himself up giant steps and into a cab where everything was twice his size, barely able to see over the dashboard.

Daliha drove the staff car into the base with little issue, and quickly found the Temple shuttles that had landed last night. The startling efficiency of the Sisterhood of Nichata was intimidating. Their corner of the camp had been a vacant lot the night before and now prefab temples and medical tents dotted the landing zone in neat and orderly rows.

There was a fenced off area as well, with Sisters tending to wounds of prisoners, under the watchful eyes of Sisterhood Vestals. Where Templar Orders often served the military outright, Vestals were always the militant arm of the Sisterhoods alone, and rarely engaged in open warfare. They protected temples and Sisters from harm, and from what Daliha had read about them, even some of the Templars were afraid of Vestal Orders.

She parked the car and hopped out.
Protocol was not something Hibiki’s unit observed regularly, but as her Master of Arms, Daliha insisted she drove Hibiki around, especially since her injuries.
However, she made no effort to get the door for her superior. Hibiki had made it very clear she didn’t like that much attention.

“Looks like the convoy is heading out,” she said, approaching the temple prefabs. “This way.”

As they entered the prefab, Daliha signed a crescent moon in front of herself, bowing her head in respect, before making her way to the left, keeping to the back of the room.
No one moved from their positions as the Sister continued her sermon to the kneeling congregation.

“Blessed are Her Children, whose Shadows clamor for succor and respite from this necessary horror. May our Flesh be quick and strong, so that our Shadows might be kept from the acts we must perform to secure our People.
“Blessed are those who sacrifice their own Shadows so that others might keep theirs light. She sees your Flesh, corrupted by war, and the weighty nature of your Shadows, brought low.
“She sees and she will lift your Shadows from you when She deems it time. Know that She has brought to me the best of her kind, know that She Watches and Tends to your Shadows and the Shadows of those who you must defeat.
“All are welcomed into Her Embrace. Perform the Rites upon the coming of the Night and see the Shadows of the Dead flee into Her Cloak, knowing that you have done what needed to be done.”

“Tu’lai,” came the somber reply.
“Tu’lai,” Daliha said, making the sign of the moon again. She gestured to the priestess. “That’s Mother Aesalmba. We’re going to talk to her when this clears out.”

It took a few minutes before the prefab had cleared out to only a handful of devotees. Daliha waited a few paces back from the soldier and Mother Aesalmba as she held him close, his shoulders shaking.

“It’s okay, my boy. You did what you had to do. The Goddess and Elad will forgive you.”
“But… they were Necrian, Mother. If… I-I hadn’t… they would have strung up that kit, but I broke the ten-tenants…”
“Young man, you held true to the beliefs of The People, and She guided you there to save that child, to smite those who would use Her name in such foulness.”
“My father…”
“Lost his way from Her. Pray for his Shade to return to Her, seek Her forgiveness. It is not your duty to take upon his sins and malcontents. You are to raise yourself and your family higher than he. To build on what came before. And if you find that foundation abhorrent, tear it down. Start again. But there is always something worth saving.”

The young man - who Hibiki now saw was wearing the grey and blue of a conscript uniform - dried his eyes and took a breath. “Thank you, Mother Aesalmba. I will.”

The older woman watched the young man depart the temple, leaving only Daliha, Hibiki and a few sisters, before she turned her attention to them.

“I did not expect to witness as much strife as the civil war. That should have been enough pain for this cycle. How can I help?” Her eyes were old, worn and grey, heavy with decades - maybe even a century. Yet, they flickered over Hibiki and Daliha like a scanning probe, even gleaming a little.
“Phalanx Master Hibiki. I did not expect to see you in my Temple today. Are the ribs knitting well? You likely don’t remember me. I treated your wounds after that… complication with the Jha’Rhoun. They can be a difficult and reclusive form of The People.
“How can I be of service to you two?”

Downtown Korfel
Luza District
The Revelry

"You can go first if you want to try to soften her up. Then I'll try."

With a nod, Sork headed into the back rooms.
The penthouse's safe room was luxurious by anyone's standards. The Yavine family clearly cared about their firstborn son, even if the reality of his life would likely fill them with horror.

Passing the medical room, Sork spared a glance.
Vitals, steady but low. Necrian blood was usually black or so richly red as to appear black. He didn't know the science of it, but the Necrians of Fel'tethra had much lighter blood color.
Maybe it was the vesherno fruit. It was popular among the common folk, as was the 'balewine' derived from it. A sort of vegetarian bloodwine.

He came to one of the bedrooms in the safe room - there were three, two singles and one double - and cleared his head before heading in.

Dominion peacekeepers had a record of what other races would call brutality. Not torture, perse, but no one cared about the beating of a traitor or two.
But that wasn't what he'd learned here, working the beat against drug dealers and con artists. Kitsune required a bit of finesse, or you could end up breaking your hand on their jaw.

He keyed open the room and closed the door behind them, shielding his eyes from the light inside.

Kelaetra sat on the chair, hands cuffed behind her, ankles cuffed to the legs of the chair. Both of them had trained in the Dominion, had been subjected to endurance tests like this. Sork had managed five days of confinement before he broke down. His commander hadn't commended him - five was pretty average, expected - but Kelaetra had manged seven.
She was tough.
But the recent events had already worn on her - her mother, her husband, the internal conflict. They trained such things out of you in the NID forces, but years of cushy Thane living tended to wear it away.

She hung there, head bowed, barely awake, or aware. They had stripped her down, partly to make sure she had nothing to use against them - or herself - but also as a way to push her deeper into the torment she was putting herself through.
Sork would have felt guilty if her actions hadn't resulted in the deaths of thousands.

He turned the lights off, leaving the two Necrians in near darkness, a calming and cool feeling. He saw her shoulders relax for a moment, before tensing.
"We are going to talk." Sork folded his arms and stood in front of her.
She said nothing, didn't even move.
Sork reached down, gripping her chin and pulled her face up to look at him. "No more of this silent shit. I want fucking answers."
She stared back at him, but the deadness in her eyes caught him a little. It had been a few days. Shuji had protested her treatment, but had backed down from Sork and Kurshina.

Sork stood up and Kelaetra's head bobbed back to her chest.
"So, you are broken? If we had the time, I'd just let the light wear on you a bit more. It's not as bad as an actual lightbox, so be thankful for small graces."
She flinched and Sork smiled.
"You know, it's been a bit for me and my Scriptures. Maybe you can refresh me. Necrisis... Her's is the Cloak of Night, the Dark Veil. The moons and stars Her eyes. But the light... that's the Lord of Fire, right? He who burns away impurity and is Her bane. Yet She would stand against Him, to protect us from His light."
He leaned down, taking her by her red hair, yanking her head back. "If She loved you, looked for you, She'd have kept the power out. You've no Goddess, no husband, and soon, your mother will pass as well. Because of you."

Her breath caught for a full few seconds, her jaw shook, but the unconscious look in her eyes did not abate.
Sork let go of her hair and shoved the chair over, sending her onto her back with a crash.
"Goddess Void you, Kelaetra. Neither me or you have enough time to fuck around like this. Just talk, just fucking talk-" He gripped the back of the chair and pulled it up again, just enough so that it slammed back down again when he let go. His voice got low, hands going to pockets. "Or I will find a way..."