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

[Necrisis]

Nax's Luck
Medbay

Nax lay still as Koiwa synched the restraints and Seito left.

He was quiet for a time, in which there was only the soft sounds of the idle power supply to the medical machines around them and the occasional groan of the straps as he clenched and unclenched his hand.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked, after a long while. But he didn't lift his head.

When Koiwa said nothing, Nax continued anyway.

"We've crewed together for a while now. I'm not an easy man to get to know. I don't... talk about myself much. We never really talked much besides business. But Yana and Nagy... Goddess, that girl. I thought she'd put me in an early pyre, besides all this shit in my head."
He turned to look at her, leaning against the wall, only a few feet from him.
"If... if Ahulu says that it is Mind Death. Or these worm things are dangerous. I need you to do it. I don't want to burden you with this. It's not something I ask lightly, however. She's like... she's just like her. Older. But soft. In a good way. Var'Kara hardens you - at least the one I grew up on. Yana's a colony girl. Lived in space her whole life. Found love out here.
"If there is no other option, no other way... she's going to volunteer to perform the rites. You cannot let her.
"Koiwa, I need you to kill me."

Rest Homestead

Ahulu didn't turn when Seito entered through the small, rounded door, but did nod gently.
"In a moment, Master Seito. There now, child. Easy does it."
He helped Nigi prop the young vixen up on some pillows - her gaze a thousand miles away - and then stood to wash his hands in a small basin.
"Has Master Nax calmed himself?"
He turned with a glint in his eyes and a curious smile that through Seito a little.
"I assume he is ready for treatment? Any... interesting developments I should be made aware of?"

Ship Core

"Does that mean it's terminal? We can't do anything to help Nax?"

Yana nodded. "Yes. It's a long and slow way to go. There are... rites. To send his soul to the Embrace and spare him the torture of going mad. But there's no... reversing it."

She let go of Nagy's hand and stood up, putting her hand on Lucky's phylactery. "I'm sorry Luck. I think... I think you are. You and Nax..."

"Oh." Lucky's voice dimmed. "Well... How will you all get off world? I... I don't think I can monitor the Slipcore like this."
Yana was silent for a moment before smiling sadly and nodding. "We'll figure it out. Would you like me to... turn you off again? I need to talk to Nax."
Lucky paused. "I don't suppose I will... miss much. Time doesn't pass for me... when I'm... 'off', I suppose..."

Without preamble, Yana flipped the switch and the lights that glimmered in Lucky's capsule faded away. She roughly swiped at her eyes and sniffed.
"I'm going to talk to Nax. I understand if you don't want to come. But I need to talk to him."

They heard Seito hurry by the core room, his feet clanging on the ramp and out into the cold.

[Xiscapia]

Nax's Luck, Medbay...

Koiwa stared at Nax for a long time. The man hadn't said anything since Seito had left, not even looked at her, and still she gazed at him almost without blinking. She took him in, the lines on his face, how his dark hair had turned silver, of the years of stress, pain, and disappointment etched into his features. Nax had always seemed old, but under the harsh, unforgiving light of the medbay, restrained and with his head hanging, he looked like he'd succeeded in pulling the trigger. When he spoke she inclined her head, and though he didn't see it he still sensed it was alright for him to continue.

Despite her ears being low to her head, she listened. She didn't know who he was referencing apart from Yana when he spoke of "her" who Yana was like, but she didn't interrupt. When Nax looked to her she locked eyes with his, and clenched her jaw as she bit down on the urge to cry. Her fists clenched, because it was better than letting her hands shake. Eyes narrowing, she swallowed before she uttered the word.

"Why?"

Rest Homestead...

As Nigi tended to her daughter Seito looked at Ahulu and frowned, on the verge of a scowl. He saw nothing to smile about. I am getting tired of old Necrian men. He held his tongue, watching Ahulu clean his hands. If he didn't know better he would have guessed that the village doctor somehow knew what had happened.

"Nax has some breed of worms inside of him," Seito said. "We extracted one, and where there's one, there's more. His instability seems to be growing, so we had him strapped down. None of us are doctors. We need your help."

Ship Core...

"I'm going to talk to Nax. I understand if you don't want to come. But I need to talk to him."

The abhuman stayed where she was, staring off into space where Yana had been standing. Visibly shaking herself out of it, Nagy looked up at Yana. "I'll come," she said, taking a moment to rise to her feet. "I don't know what else to do. I guess that's all I can do."

[Necrisis]

Nax's Luck
Medbay

"Why?"

"Because there's no going back from all this. I'm going mad or worse. Someone has to do it. And... I'd rather it be you."

Neither of them - preoccupied as they were - seemed to hear the bare feet of Yana and Nagy stop outside the door.

Nax swallowed hard. "I don't want to ask, Koiwa. But I have to. She might be the closest thing I have to a daughter, but you... you're the closest I have to a..." he trailed off. "If you cannot or won't perform the Rite, then Ahulu will. And that's ok. I just... I don't know. I shouldn't have asked. It was too much. I'm... sorry..."

There was a noise from out side the door just as feet were heard on the entry ramp.

Rest Homestead

"Nax has some breed of worms inside of him. We extracted one, and where there's one, there's more. His instability seems to be growing, so we had him strapped down. None of us are doctors. We need your help."


Ahulu cocked an eyebrow but his smile didn't fade. He dried his hands and grabbed a satchel and backpack from the corner, before gesturing for Seito to follow him.

The older Necrian strode with purpose to the Luck, forcing Seito to jog to catch up. "Worms? What kind?"

Seito shrugged. "Blue sorts of things. Ate a piece of shrapnel."

Ahulu nodded as if it that was a normal thing and continued up the ramp to the Luck.

Finding Yana and Nagy outside the medbay door, he bowed briefly but didn't stop. "My Ladies. You're welcome to join. This won't take long I hope."

Ahulu entered the medbay, dropping the pack to one side and searching through his satchel blindly while he approached Nax.
"Well, Master Nax. It seems you are posing more problems than solutions."

Nax tore sad, worried eyes from Yana where she stood in the doorway, and bared his teeth at Ahulu but didn't say anything.
Ahulu ignored it, pulling out a simple knife, sheathed in a wrap of alien leaves. As he pulled it out, the shredding of the plant fibers coated it in a thin layer of green slime.
"Marvelous plant," Ahulu said as he activated the overhead operation lights. "Anti-bacterial elements. Perfect for field work. If I still worked with the Var'Karan University League, it would make a terrific paper."
He glanced over Nax's straps and then up at Koiwa from under furrowed brows. "Cautious. Good. Makes the next part easier."

With one hand he pulled Nax's shirt up, exposing his stomach. With the other he plunged the knife deep into Nax's gut.
Before anyone could react, he had pulled it out and placed it on the table next to him, before expertly pulling a simple scalpel out of his bad and used it to pry open the wound.
Nax had barely made a sound, but they could hear his teeth grinding.
"Just as I thought," Ahulu said after a moment, leaving the scalpel standing upright in the wound. He turned to Nax. "How old are you, Master Nax?"

They all watched as the scalpel was slowly pulled into the wound, churning skin and blue-ink blood dissolving it then sealing the wound.
Nax looked up from it to meet the wide eyes of his crew then stared at Ahulu. "What?"
"How old are you?"
"Why does that fucking matter?" Nax looked back down at the healed and now scarred gut wound. "The fuck is... what's wrong with me?"

Ahulu sighed and gestured widely. "I have plenty of theories as to why, Master Nax. But in short, you are a Revenant. I need to know when you were given the Hallownite Virus so I can determine the genus of colony you harbor."

Nax blinked a few times, a slow realization coming over his face. "I... I'm about forty years old. But I was told I spent a hundred and fifty in stasis."
"Born to Var'Kara?"
"Yes. Lower Wards."
"And you came to work on a ship? Impressive, Master Nax."
"I Mastered for a science cruiser," Nax said, his head falling back. "You think...?"
"Yes, Master Nax," Ahulu said, undoing the straps on Nax's wrists. "You likely died in stasis, or soon afterwards. I've worked with your kind before. Wrote my Mastorial Thesis on Reventry actually. About two-hundred years ago... that would have been the Imperious Strain. Highly adaptive. Meant to reconstitute from significant damage, increased strength and endurance. Builders and Guardians."

He helped Nax sit up and glanced around at the crew of the Luck. "No doubt you all have questions. Revenants are uncommon, especially beyond Var'Kara. Perhaps I can clear some of it up for you. But then," he peered into Nax's eyes, then examined his hand. "But then I suggest you allow him to return to Var'Kara. The Call will only get worse, Master Nax. You have likely ignored it for a long time. With the Necropolis so close, it's psionic signature has likely made it worse."

[Xiscapia]

"Because there's no going back from all this. I'm going mad or worse. Someone has to do it. And... I'd rather it be you. I don't want to ask, Koiwa. But I have to. She might be the closest thing I have to a daughter, but you... you're the closest I have to a...If you cannot or won't perform the Rite, then Ahulu will. And that's ok. I just... I don't know. I shouldn't have asked. It was too much. I'm... sorry..."

Koiwa was silent for a moment. At long last, her eyes met Nax's own, and she nodded her head. She felt like she was reeling, but she knew they didn't have much time before the others returned. "I'll do it," she uttered. "After I've tried everything else.

The rest of the crew entered then along with Ahulu, and Koiwa moved out of the way to give the doctor clear access to Nax. Nagy couldn't bear to watch, staring at a nearby bulkhead instead, but Seito and Koiwa both closely monitored what the other Necrian did. The vixen bit down on a gasp when Ahulu stabbed Nax, but judging from the man's expression it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have -and no wonder. Koiwa didn't recognize what the seething flesh roiling beneath the incision was, but she was sure that Necrian organs weren't supposed to look like that. Wondering at Nax's gut apparently having absorbed the weapon, not sure if she should be concerned or not, Koiwa did her best to follow along.

"No doubt you all have questions. Revenants are uncommon, especially beyond Var'Kara. Perhaps I can clear some of it up for you. But then I suggest you allow him to return to Var'Kara. The Call will only get worse, Master Nax. You have likely ignored it for a long time. With the Necropolis so close, it's psionic signature has likely made it worse."

Sharing a look with Seito, Koiwa turned back to Ahulu. "So, you're saying he's like a...walking dead man? Like an intelligent zombie?" She squinted at Nax and then looked back again. "And he's got a psychic connection with that mothership and Var'Kara? And what about the worms? Are they part of the virus?"

Shaking her head, Koiwa pinched the bridge of her snout. "Okay, look, I do want more information, but there's only one thing I really care about," she stared at Ahulu. "How do we save him? Is there some way to revive him? Or at least get this shit to stop eating his mind?"

[Necrisis]

"How do we save him? Is there some way to revive him? Or at least get this shit to stop eating his mind?"

Ahulu frowned. "What would you be reviving, Miss Koiwa? As near as I can tell, Master Nax is more Hallownite than Necrian. The flesh is an oddity - potentially a side effect of death during stasis? Maybe the virus didn't convert all of you. It would explain your apparent mortality until just now. With the Necropolis so close, the viral agent would have awoken.
"As for his mind, this is the best physical state Master Nax likely has ever been."

"What about the Mind Death?" Yana said, piping up from the doorway, where she had stayed the whole time, watching intently.

Ahulu waved his hand. "The Hallownite would have mended that genetic defect. No, what you have self-diagnosed as 'Mind Death' - horrid colloquialism - is likely what research has dubbed 'The Call.' It is an overwhelming desire - manifesting as hallucinations or errant thoughts, accompanied by mood swings - to return to the Primary Vector. In Master Nax's case, Var'Kara."
Ahulu slapped Nax on the shoulder. "As for your other questions, Miss Koiwa, yes. Master Nax is all but dead. His very being is wrapped up in the collective cognosus web of the Hallownite complexes - the worms. They simulate muscular tissue as well as produce numerous, self sustaining fluids and tissues. The connection to the Necropolis and Var'Kara is poorly understood. During the Dominion days, interfering with or defacing a Hallow Servitor was blasphemy and could result in punishment up to and including execution."
He paused, watching the crew's reaction. "I should specify, the Hallownite Virus is a bit of a misnomer from a less informed time. He is not contagious - at least, as long as he doesn't start to drool black and bite people. It is more of an... organic nanite. A living metal, if such a thing can be called alive."

Packing up his bag, Ahulu caught Koiwa's eyes again. "He isn't... not Necrian, Miss Koiwa. He isn't less Nax. But The Call is intense. My thesis including a trial where a Reverent allowed themselves to be detained in a sealed room. His otherwise normal existence, isolated as it was, degraded as The Call grew more intense. He eventually attacked someone and then tried to tear open the wall. If it is ignored or acted against directly, the effects can increase. Find a way back to Var'Kara. It will quiet The Call for a while. As for removing it? I don't know. But the answers might lie within the Catacombs or The Vaults."

[Xiscapia]

Koiwa's head was spinning, but she focused on Ahulu intently. By the end of it, her tail was lashing, flicking back and forth with the same restless irritation as a trapped panther. The man she thought she knew, was not what she had thought he was. Or what he had thought he was, apparently. As a result of that, something inside of him had awoken, compelling him to return to what was ultimately his home. A home they couldn't get to.
Not to mention that it was a virus.

"Wait, hold on," the vixen took a step towards the doctor. "So he might start drooling black and biting people? How do we know if that's going to happen? What the fuck are we supposed to do if it does happen?" Koiwa shook her head, unable to believe how unconcerned he seemed. Maybe he couldn't do anything for Nax since Nax wasn't really alive, but she still had the rest of them to worry about.

"And there's no way we can get him to Var'Kara. This ship isn't operable, and we've got no way of repairing it. And even if we could somehow get there, isn't that where the SIN came from?" Koiwa glanced between Nax and Yana. "We'll be lucky if they don't destroy us on sight! How are we supposed to do that?!"

Her voice was rising, and Nagy cringed as she heard something she'd never heard in Koiwa's voice before: desperation, on the verge of panic. Brow furrowing, Seito stepped up. "Captain," he raised a hand. "Calm down. We solve nothing by-"

"Shut up, Seito!" She shot that tod a glare before rounding on Ahulu again. "Give me answers, damn you!"

[Necrisis]

"Give me answers, damn you!"

"Were it for me to give them to you," Ahulu said, meeting her gaze with a directness that most would find unnerving. That same gaze drifted to Nax. "You need not worry about him regressing to a mere ghoul, unless you remain within the influence of the Necropolis. The battlemeld it's adepts are projecting would convert him, but given his Reventry, I think he should be past the point of return. Of course, I could be wrong. And if he does regress..."

"You would put me down." Nax stood from the table, his own gaze distant.

"As for your stranded nature, I might actually be able to help." Ahulu said. He produced a handful of coins from his pocket.
Nax's eyed widened. "I'm not selling you the Luck."

"Master Nax, I don't think you have much of choice. Besides, the important part of your vessel is its rather unique Ship Core, if I am not mistaken. Not the ship itself. But perhaps its something you should discuss with your crew."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Yana said. "So we sell you the ship, we're even more stranded than before. Like Koiwa said. The SIN would jail us. At best."

Ahulu smiled, returning all but a silvery blue coin to his pocket, which he then began to roll across his fingers, absently. "Consider, for a moment if you will, what a war brings. Strife, chaos, opportunity for the right kind of person. The SIN has likely just come out of a civil war. We aren't unknown for those. That would imply a certain amount of armed forces that they would be lacking. Perhaps the difference is made up with allies like the Hetaevans. But no sensible government would start a war without also securing freelance types in their territories. Like the Jha'Rhoun."

Nax, who had been staring off into the middle distance, suddenly pinned Ahulu with a glare. "You think the Rhoun would get mixed up in the shit that just went down? Their standards are low, but they don't kill civvies."

"Perhaps," Ahulu said, turning to go, flipping the coin over his shoulder towards Nax. "The SIN doesn't either."

Nax snapped the coin from the air. Turning it over, between his fingers, the snake-wolf skull, pinned by a skalla sword, glinted in the meb-bay's harsh lighting.

"I left them a long time ago," he called after Ahulu.

"So did I," Ahulu called back. "But family is family, Nax. I've found synthetic blood to be much thicker than the water of our mothers' wombs. My offer stands at eighty thousand Imperial Rins. Probably still worth something out there. It's not worth much to me here."

As he departed, Nax looked at each of his crew in turn. "I... this isn't my call to make. You don't have to come."

"I can't think of a good reason to come," Yana bit out. "What's even the plan?"

Nax looked back at the coin. "Ahulu is right. There is a good chance that the Jha'Rhoun are being paid by the SIN. If I can make it to the city, I might be able to find some. This is a marker. I lost mine a long time ago. But this is proof that I am Jha'Rhoun. You cannot refuse a brother or sister in need. Ahulu mentioned something about the Catacombs. The Jha'Rhoun know the most about them. Maybe there's something down there that can help Lucky. Or me."

[Xiscapia]

"Hold on," Koiwa put a hand out as if motioning for Nax to stop. "Who or what are the Jha'Rhoun?"

"Mercenaries," Nagy said, which made everyone look at her. The abhuman seemed to shrink a little under so many gazes. "I mean, that's what I heard." She glanced at Yana before looking to Koiwa and then Nax. "Right?"

"And you trust these people, working for the SIN?" Koiwa's stare returned to Nax. "How many decades have you been away? How do you know things haven't changed?"

"I don't think they have," Seito said slowly. Now it was him the crew were looking at in surprise. The tod just shrugged. "Necrian society doesn't change quickly. I've been around long enough to know that. And that old man did just help you, and us, and asked for nothing in return," he looked at Nax and folded his arms across his chest. "Good enough for me."

"Okay, I guess," Koiwa sighed heavily. "Sure. Let's assume they're honorable and won't sell us out to the SIN right away. We still have to get into the city and find one of them without the SIN catching us. And then, assuming we do make it to Var'Kara to one piece, and they're nice enough to show us to the Catacombs, what then? We just wander around inside the SIN's capital planet, poking whatever looks interesting?"

"Um, you're talking about this like you're already going. Captain," Nagy pointed out.

The vixen gave her a withering look. "Of course I'm going. No offense, Nax, but I don't think this is something you can or should do by yourself," she glanced at him, then back to the rest of her crew. "Even if the best thing would be for you to come," she pointed at Yana, "I can't ask you to do that. I don't even know what's down there, much less whether we'll come back. But I'll be damned if I won't try."

"What about Lucky?" Seito said. "I know you're not selling him, Nax."

"Her," Koiwa interrupted.

"What?" Seito cocked an ear at his captain. "Okay, whatever. What about her? We can't just leave her here. She's not even connected to the ship, so she's defenseless, surrounded by strangers, in a ship bound for the scrapheap. Can we take her with us?" Seito fixed Nax with a look. "That answers whether or not I go."

Koiwa stared at him. "So, what, if she can't come, you'd stay her?"

"Someone has to protect her," Seito shot back. "You don't understand, Koiwa. She might as well be in a coma right now. She's as defenseless as you or I would be if we you scooped our brains out of our heads. I wouldn't leave any of you in that kind of state."

"Er, we could protect her," Nagy volunteered with another glance at Yana.

Seito sighed. "Nagy, I appreciate it, but," he paused. "You're not a fighter. Neither of you are. I know you can get your hits in when it counts, but that's not the same. I just...I wouldn't feel right if it wasn't me. Lucky's saved my life over and over, same as you," he nodded to Nax. "I owe her more than I could ever repay. And I owe her a hell of a lot better than what she's got right now."

[Necrisis]

Nax watched his crew discuss their future, and for the first time in a long while, he smiled.
It was brief, a mere twitch of the corners, but he felt a glimmer of comradery.
Just like a real crew.

"I owe her more than I could ever repay. And I owe her a hell of a lot better than what she's got right now."

"Thank you." The words felt foreign for Nax, but he pressed on - not the least for the lessening of the rushing sounds in his head. This was the right choice. This is what the Call wanted. "Thank you. Seito. But we can take Luck with us. The Phylactery is portable, and as long as I refresh the nutrient gel every few weeks, Luck will be okay."

Nax walked around the table to place a hesitant hand on Koiwa's shoulder. He removed it just as quickly, putting both in his pockets and squared his shoulders. "I appreciate your faith in me," he said with a grin, half-hearted as it was. "You don't have to. But I can see that there isn't much hope of talking you out of it."

He turned to Yana, still leaning against the doorway, arms folded. "I won't ask, Yana. I won't order. But if we can get you all to Var'Kara, it's the best place to weather out this war. It's never been invaded and it's nearly impossible to even find without heading through Bas'Talok. And the Jha'Rhoun don't care about species - they are outcast enough for other things. You and Nagy..." He stumbled, trying to find the words. "You'll be safe there. Both of you. All of you. If nothing else, if you don't come with me into the Catacombs, you will have people to protect you."

Yana was silent for a while and Nax took a step forward, but she held up a hand. "I'm coming. One condition." She looked at Koiwa, then Seito, Nagy. "And I think everyone here can agree. No more secrets. No lies. I don't care how painful it is, how long ago it was. Transparent honesty, Nax. Or... or..."

Nax crossed the distance between them wrapping her in a tight and sudden embrace. Yana tensed for a second, before her eyes welled up with tears and she threw herself into the hug, shaking quietly.

The rushing in Nax's head quieted to a small brook, as opposed to a raging river, and he held Yana tightly. "Done. I... I promise. I've been a damned fool, I can see that now. I didn't... I wanted..."

"Just shut up, you old bastard," Yana said, squeezing him.

After a minute, both released the other - Nax running a hand over his face and straightening his coat, while Yana swiped at her eyes, turning away from him.

"Well," Nax said.

"We're never talking about that again," Yana said, waving her hand between the two of them. She glared at the three Xiscapians. "Ever."

[Xiscapia]

"Thank you. Seito. But we can take Luck with us. The Phylactery is portable, and as long as I refresh the nutrient gel every few weeks, Luck will be okay."

"Good," the tod nodded. He watched as Nax, unstrapped from the table, edged around it to place a tentative hand on Koiwa's shoulder. The vixen gave him a ghost of a smile but wrapped an arm around the man, not giving him a chance to pull away.

"I appreciate your faith in me. You don't have to. But I can see that there isn't much hope of talking you out of it."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Koiwa told him with a crooked smile. She listened to what he said next, ears high, and glanced around at the rest of the crew and Yana in particular. Nax wasn't wrong as far as she knew, but she still wasn't sure she liked the idea of trying to ride out the war in the SIN's capital. Any misgivings she had were rolled over as Yana spoke up, and everyone there nodded in agreement with her before Nax threw his arms around the younger Necrian. Stepping up with a flutter of her wings, Nagy ducked her head and gave Yana an almost sheepish smile.

"If you're going, then I'm going," she told her.

"Sounds like everybody's going, then," Koiwa looked around for confirmation and then nodded. "Alright. Honestly, staying on Var'Kara wouldn't be my first choice, but if we can't find a way out then I guess there are worse things," she sighed. "Still, we have to actually get there, which means getting into Korfel. We might be able to borrow a boat and take it as close to the city as we can."

"In that case, we should send in Nax, maybe Yana too, while the rest of us wait outside the city," Seito put in. He looked at Nax. "I know what you said about tolerance, but I also know a bunch of people I thought I knew tried to kill us yesterday. I'd rather not take my chances. So, we get close, and you two find these mercenaries and come back to collect us once you do. Sound like a plan?"

[Necrisis]

"I know what you said about tolerance, but I also know a bunch of people I thought I knew tried to kill us yesterday. I'd rather not take my chances. So, we get close, and you two find these mercenaries and come back to collect us once you do. Sound like a plan?"

* * *
Galis River

The small skiff scooted down the river, Yana at the helm.

It hadn't taken much time to pack up the essentials and find a boat to borrow. The most amount of time was when Ahulu and Nax bartered over Nax's Luck.
More a show of saving face than an actual negotiation, as Ahulu kept raising the price he would pay, while Nax argued the ship wasn't worth that much.

At the frustrated and confused glances, Yana had explained the Necrian tradition was common among family and friends as a way to express friendship and care without actually saying it out loud - a bit of a taboo when it came to, as Yana put it, 'bastard old men.'

Koiwa had given them both a stern glare, and Nax had hurriedly accepted the deal.

Now, as they made their way toward Korfel's river ports, a chill mist clinging to the water and lining the trees with ice, Nax sat down next to Koiwa, tossing a blanket over her shoulders.
"It's going to be a bit of a ride," he said, rubbing his hands together. "And we should expect a larger presence of SIN troopers the closer we get. I still don't like you three sticking out in the freezing jungle. Ahulu said the frost mist can get really bad in the middle of the Night. But I understand not wanting to gamble with invading soldier's either. The guy who lent us this boat said there's a bend in the river just before the port. If we stop there and let you off, you can cut through the jungle and find someplace to shelter - there's a few warehouses and such nearby."

"Aren't they going to be patrolled?" Yana asked from her perch behind them, having put down the pilot house's front window. They were all bundled in some kind of winter clothing as the temperatures dropped, but Nax still felt fine in just his greatcoat and gloves.

"Not likely," Nax replied. "Guarded maybe. But we're only a seventy-two hours into this occupation. I doubt they are going to be devoting a ton of resources to patrolling shipping houses on a little used river port."

Yana was about to say something else when Nagy, who had been curled up in the pilot house as well, pointed above them. "Look!"

All eyes turned up to see the Necropolis super-dreadnought shift, clouds that had gathered about its still form dispersing rapidly.
Silver-white energy flooded the aft vanes, and then catapulted forward, seeming to strike into infinite space itself before dragging the massive vessel into a rupture, slinging it and some of its tender ships into the Cascade.
A moment or two later, a deep, rushing boom roared over them as air moved to fill the space where the ship had been.

"Off to conquer another world," Yana muttered.

Nax grunted. He hadn't noticed just how oppressive a feeling had been in his head since before the invasion started. Was that really all from just one ship? It must have covered the whole planet if he could feel it before the attack even happened. Or was it because of what he was?

Seito jerked him from his revere with a low growl of, "Light on the water."

Nax turned in time to see a small boat - a shallow bottom, wide river boat like theirs - turn the bend of the river.
His Necrian eyes, accustomed to the dark of the night already, found the three black armored forms quickly.

"Down," he hissed, shoving Koiwa behind some of the crates in the bottom of the boat and hauling a tarp up and over her and Seito as he dove to ground as well.

Just as Nagy had tucked in under the pilot house's control console, a search beam swept over them.

"Halt in the name of the Empress!"

Nax put his arms up to shield his eyes. "Goddess damn," he swore loudly. "Could blind a man with that."

"Stay where you are," the voice said from the pitch blackness of the light-blinded night. "Prepare to be boarded."

[Xiscapia]

Scrambling under the tarp, Koiwa crouched down next to the crates and tried to make herself as small as possible. One of the containers was open on its side, and she pushed back against it as she used her own flexibility to squeeze herself into the gap. It was too tight of a fit for her to move, sitting there with her tail coiled around her middle and her knees to her chest, but at least she was out of sight even if someone looked under the tarp. The same could not be said for Seito, who had dragged Lucky's containment tube under the tarp with him. Holding it between his legs protectively, the tod tried to control his breathing as the searchlight swept over their boat.

The police boat's engine revved a few times as it crept up to their own, a couple of the men tossing grappling hooks to catch against the raft's deck and pull the two ships together. The driver in her Korfel City Police Department uniform stayed hunched over the wheel as the three men jumped across onto Nax's boat, jackboots tromping on wood as they landed. Each was clad in the dark armor of the Night Guard militia, rifles cradled as they went in different directions. One Necrian started to walk along the crates, inspecting the cargo while another went in the opposite direction, heading for the stairs to the pilot house. "Stay where you are!" that Guard reiterated as he reached the stairs and began to climb.

The last of the militiamen made a beeline for Nax. It was hard to tell with the face-concealing helmet, but he seemed to be studying the elderly man. "State your name and business."

[Necrisis]

"State your name and business."

Nax rounded on the Night Guard, drawing himself up to a not inconsiderable height. "Naxan Thath. Stand down, dung-boot. What right do you have to board my vessel without-"
There was a crack as the Night Guard back handed Nax, followed by an awkward silence as the soldier tried to hide the fact that it had hurt - possibly even bruising the bones - while Nax's head had barely moved with the strike. He stretched his jaw, sharp teeth gnashing shut inches from the militiaman's face. "Want to strike me again? Boy?"

"Nax!" Yana called from the pilot house. "Don't!" She stepped out of the pilot house, hands in the air to meet the Guard on the balcony. "We're... just traders. From the Rest, up river. Please, leave my father alone. He's just on edge. We all are. We don't know what's-"

The Guard hopped up the last step and slapped her across the face, spinning Yana around and shoving her against the glass side window of the pilot house.
He pinned her there with a hand on the back of her head. Though he leaned in close to her, his low voice carried in the still, wintry air. "No one asked you to talk, chetcha."

The Guard who had confronted Nax was now cradling his hand, flexing it a little. The one who had been touring the crates - his booted feet inches from Seito's nose, at the edge of the tarp - had stopped and leveled his rifle at Nax's back.

The Korfel officer hadn't moved from her post, but had pulled her pistol, leveling it across the way at Nax as well.

Nax felt something in his gut churn, something more than anger or hatred. Just, utter vitriol for these militiamen. It grew worse, the rushing in his head starting to break apart into four pounding, rushing rivers.
His ears pricked at the slur, but with one look at Yana's pleading eyes, he quashed it and turned back to the Guard.

The Night Guard shook his hand out and Nax could hear the sneer in his voice. "Name and business."

"Naxan Thath," Nax bit out. "Tell your oh-so-honorable lancer there to unhand... my daughter. We're just traders," he added, sensing the Guard might be a stickler. "Just. Traders."

"Who's 'we?'" the Night Guard who was holding Yana said.
The one trained on Nax grunted. "Kela's Rest? Isn't that the community of deviants? Think Watcher Haurak would want to know about them?"

"What the Watcher doesn't see won't trouble him." The Guard in front of Nax undid his helmet, revealing a young face with angry, fresh cuts down one side, like he had been scratched a dozen or more times by kitsune claws. He tossed his navy-black hair and placed the helmet under one arm. "Well, Master Nax? Care to explain why you're heading from such a cesspool of scum?"

"There are finer people there," Nax snarled. "than you dare dream. I am merely trying to get to Night Market, recoup something on these supplies. Are you going to tear through the boat, waste everyone's time for nothing, or do your job and protect the Necrian population?"

[Xiscapia]

"I am doing my job, Master Nax," replied the Night Guard who seemed to be in charge. "Maybe you haven't heard in whatever hamlet you came from, but thousands of aliens and Imperial soldiers fled from the cities into the jungle. It's up to us to guard against their kind slipping back into Necrian society. A job," he took a step closer, face twisting in a grimace around his scars, "that you are making much harder than it has to be."

The policewoman and the other two guards watched the confrontation, weapons pointed in Nax's direction.

"But then," the soldier's voice grew louder, "what would someone like you know about the work we're doing to build a more perfect civilization? While you and your spawn were hiding out in the backwaters, me and mine were fighting and bleeding for this land. Now you come here, to benefit from all the good we've done, and you spit in our faces! You have no respect for your betters. Do your ancestors the tiniest bit of credit and-"

The soldier to Nax's left, just in front of Seito, knelt down. He had heard a spiel like this before, apparently. No sooner had he put a hand down to lift the tarp than the tod's arms wrapped around him and yanked the man under it with a surprised cry. Limbs thrashed and shapes moved under the cover as they wrestled with grunts and thuds, all attention turning to it. "Mort!" the sergeant in front of Nax cried, pivoting around with his rifle raised.

Koiwa burst from her own cover then, having heaved herself out onto the deck and scrambled forward. She could smell the Necrian on the boat, the vixen's thermographic vision outlining her body heat in the cold night air, and she knew the cop couldn't be allowed to escape and report. Launching herself off the side of the boat, Koiwa plummeted in a full-body tackle on the surprised woman. She just had to trust that the others could handle the rest of the soldiers. Even as Koiwa fell threw the air, the sergeant's lancer barrel turned, tracking her as his finger tightened on the trigger.

Despite all of that, the soldier pinning Yana to the side of the pilot house got the worst of it. Intent on roughing up the girl, he had slung his rifle, only to be distracted by the showdown between his sergeant and Nax and the eruption of combat following. The man went for his gun and was promptly knocked off balance as Yana shoved him away. Staggering, he turned to find Nagy running out of the cabin, not even able to process the sight before the abhuman let out a hypersonic screech directly into his visor. The vibrations reverberated through the confined space of his helmet, and the man screamed as his ears bled, rifle dropped as his hands scrabbled at the clasps to his helmet.

[Necrisis]

As the Night Guard Sergeant tracked Koiwa, Nax had a perfect opening. The man's helmet had fallen and his attention was on the vixen. A quick neck snap and he'd be down.

But as Nax reached for him, his hands flew around and grabbed the rifle itself, hefting it up, sending a scarlet lancer blast into the sky.
"What?" the Guard started, but Nax spun him around, sending the lancer into the water before wrapping arms around him and bringing him into an embrace that pinned his arms.
"Unhand me in the name-"
Nax squeezed and the Guard gurgled as armored back plates snapped and squealed from the immense pressure.

He let the man fall to the deck, pain wracking his scarred face, even as his legs gave out at an odd angle. "Ah... m-my legs..."

Yana's attacker, gasping in pain and clutching his ears through his helmet, stumbled a little from Nagy's attack, but managed to recover at the edge of the ladder-stairs, drawing his lancer pistol. "Damned Xiscaps." The pistol flashed as Yana swept Nagy's feet out, sending a red flash into the jungle with the hint of burned fur behind it, and rolled herself up into a jump kick, launching him off the platform to the deck below.
Not waiting to see if he was still mobile, Yana turned to Nagy.
"Nagy? Are you alright?"

Mort, who had been wrestling with Seito - landing a good punch before having his helmeted head crashed into a crate by the tod - grabbed the tod's wrists and hauled him overhead, rolling them both to the edge of the boat, astride the kitsune, his hands on Seito's throat. "Goddess, just... give... up," Mort grunted.

The ship pilot, managed to get off two near misses and one hit before Koiwa was on her. She was wearing police cloths - a coast guard patch on her shoulder - and only had a simple breastplate on.
A quick strike and her lancet was spinning across the deck.
Without missing a beat, the police woman took up a martial stance, gauging Koiwa from behind ready fists.
"Why do criminals always choose the hard way?" she said, eyes cold and narrow but without the hatred Koiwa had seen only a night or two ago.

[Xiscapia]

"Goddess damn it!" The Night Guard Yana had launched onto the deck rolled over, coughing as he looked frantically for his pistol. "Chet, chet, chet," golden eyes flicked over the deck before he spotted the weapon and dove for it. Scrambling to his feet, the man let off a wildly-aimed blast at Yana, blazing over her head as Nagy cringed at her feet. Grabbing Yana's arm, Nagy yanked her down before the soldier could fire again. She couldn't help but see the abhuman's big green eyes, wide and terrified, staring into her own as the soldier's labored breathing and stamp of jackboots signaled his charge back up the stairs.

Grunting under Mort's weight, Seito squirmed and tried to slip out of the pin as knees locked around his sides. Deceptively thin, strong fingers wrapped around his throat and Seito choked, trying fruitlessly to shove the Necrian off him. The man had plenty of experience subduing unruly prisoners, that much was clear, but as black spots began to form in his vision from oxygen loss, Seito realized that the soldier hadn't brawled with that many kitsune. He would have been wise to the technique of Seito's tail coiling around his bayonet and yanking the knife free from its sheath, hilt flipped around into his hand to brace the blade against Mort's body. Seito didn't press in, as easy as it would have been for the vibro-knife to pierce armor, and with the last of his breath he choked out a response.

"Don't want to...kill you..."

Gasping where she had landed on the police boat, Koiwa resisted the urge to clutch her side where the lancet had grazed her side, jumpsuit burned and the fur beneath scorched by the weapon's heat. She made do with just wrapping her tail around herself, tightening it over the wound as she widened her stance and relaxed her knees. Hands raised in a defensive posture, she stared past them at the Necrian policewoman, her own eyes narrowed. "I wasn't a criminal before you made me one," the vixen panted, visibly wavering. "But if that's how it has to be-"

She struck mid-sentence, a dirty trick to distract as she swung one boot around in a high kick to the temple.

[Necrisis]

As Yana and Nagy's assailant crested the ladder-stairs, pistol in hand, Yana wrapped her arms around Nagy. "Don't look," she said, presenting as much of a target between the abhuman and herself.

But the burning pain of a lancer blast never blossomed between her shoulder blades. Instead, they heard a gasp, a thud and then a long yell before more sounds of crashing.
Peering over the edge of the platform, Yana and Nagy could see Nax, still holding their attacker's booted foot, looming over the destroyed crates and the groaning form of the Night Guardsman.

Letting him go and striding over the semi-conscious body, Nax then gripped Mort's shoulder.

"I think," he said, voice light but dripping with menace. "You'll want to back off there..."

Seito couldn't see the Necrian's eyes for his helmet, but the fingers tightened ever so slightly in frustration. Feeling the bayonet against his stomach armor, and the steady hand of someone behind him, Mort shoved off of Seito's throat, staggering back against Nax's grip, who quickly deposited him next to the sergeant.

Koiwa's Guardswoman rolled with the kick like a trained fighter, and lead into a fast and heavy punch. Not waiting to see how the blow landed, she stepped forward, pushing Koiwa back with a flurry of professional jabs, waiting for an opening

[Xiscapia]

Nagy clutched at Yana, ears scrunched into her hair as she trembled and tried not to cry. She hated that she was helpless, again. She hated that she didn't have a gun. She hated that Yana was about to be shot because she was too much of a coward to carry one. It seemed like she stood there for minutes, hugging the Necrian close and yet wrapped in self-loathing.

Yet soon it was obvious that they were both still alive. Blinking, Nagy peeked over Yana's shoulder and saw where the soldier had ended up courtesy of Nax. Smiling despite herself, she glanced over to where Koiwa was fighting and then back to Yana before taking the woman's head in her hands and giving her a quick kiss. "Thank you, Yana. I'll be right back." Heart pounding, she whirled around and ran to the boat's railing, clambering up until she was crouching on it. Eyes on the police boat, Nagy launched herself off the side and spread her wings.

Climbing to his feet, Seito grunted in pain as he tossed the bayonet away into the water. "Thanks," he told Nax, and tossed him a line of rope. "Make sure they're all restrained." With no time to lose, he turned around and yanked his pistol from its holster, taking aim at the Necrian cop. He had to be careful to avoid hitting Koiwa, so he'd rather not fire at all. "You're outnumbered! Give up-"

Having blocked the haymaker punch, Koiwa caught the next blow with her other hand only for another jab to hit her belly, making the vixen grunt and wince. In her wounded state, she was rapidly forced onto the defensive, doing all she could just to absorb the strikes aimed at her vitals. She only caught sight of Nagy just before she glided in, leaving Koiwa almost as surprised as the woman as she was bowled over by an angry abhuman who promptly started beating her with clumsy fists. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Koiwa went low and wrapped her arms and legs around the officer, sandwiching her between the two of them. "Stop resisting!"

[Necrisis]

The Necrian Guardwoman was just as surprised as Koiwa when an angry abhuman soared into her.
She shielded her face as Nagy started raining blows on her, however ineffectually.
Before she could regain herself and find some counter to the assault, Koiwa had grabbed her legs.

Nax finished the loop on the knot and pulled it tight around the two Night Guards, having bound the hands of the Sergeant, leaving his useless legs off to the side. Pain still contorted his face, but there was anger and hatred in his eyes, behind the pain.
"You've injured... agents of the SIN," he bit out. "They might... have let you off easy before... but now... now I'll see you burned... personally..."

Nax didn't respond, merely striding towards the wrestling mass on the other boat.
He pulled out his lancer pistol and knelt down next to the Guardwoman just as she grabbed Nagy's wrists and and trying to leverage her off.
He held it to her head and let the chamber hiss with vented gas.
"We're clearly not going to fall in line," he said, tone polite, conversational. "We've got places to be. I've got plenty of blood on my hands - a little more black isn't going to change much.
He pressed the pistol into her temple.

There was a tense moment, with only the jungle's winter cracking hanging over the still river and the two boats.
Then the Necrian relaxed a little, slowly letting go of Nagy's wrists. If looks could kill though, Nax would never had stood a chance.

After they had finished tying the last of the Night Guards up with the others, Nax glanced over at Koiwa. The police woman had gotten in a good kick, and her nose was bleeding a little.
Awkwardly, he handed her a rag from his coat pocket. Without looking away, he spoke to all of them. "Everyone alright?"

"Not really," Mort muttered from where he and his fellows were bound, among the rest of the cargo. "You've broken my Sergeant's back, Orik's deaf in one ear and we're prisoners of extremists."

Nax squatted down next to him. "Well, consider yourself lucky to still be salient enough to complain about it." He cuffed the Night Guard about the ears. "I wasn't talking to you."

He stood back up and ushered Koiwa and Seito towards the back of the ship, where Yana was bandaging Nagy's hands. The abhuman had done a number on the Necrian's face - black blotches and some staunched cuts marking her now - but the untrained blows had left her own hands banged and bruised.

"So..." Nax said, fingering a scanner he'd picked up from the Sergeant's belt, a concerned frown on his face. "This went... badly. We don't have long before they are missed. Not with two lancer blasts skyward. You can see that shit for kilometres." He powered the scanner on and shook his sleeve up.
They had all seen the tattoo before - a snake-wolf skull, melded with two others so that they each shared an eye-socket, the whole thing run through with a curved skalla sword with a double-long handle. He never talked about it - only to say it covered his identification barcode.
Yana, and many other expatriated Necrians, had similar tattoos over their barcodes, often disguised amid intricate geometry, animal figures or floral patterns.

But this was similar to the coin Ahulu had given him, a symbol of the Jha'Rhoun.

The scanner flashed and beeped. An error message appeared in the air above it. Nax smiled to himself. "Thought they'd have cracked the ink by now..."

"I... have a plan..." Yana didn't look up from bandaging her beloved's knuckles, but Nax, Koiwa and Seito looked to her.

"We need to get into the city and the gates are probably watched, docks too. We need a way in." She nodded to their prisoners. "Nax, that one - Orik - he's about your size, right? She's mine..."

Nax cast a quick look over the Night Guards then back over Koiwa, Seito and Nagy. "Aeltara's Gambit... disguise me and you like them, and you three like prisoners. It can work, but its dangerous. And them?" He nodded at the prisoners.
"This boat has a return beacon," Yana said. "It's crude, definitely jury-rigged from an older model and new parts, but it should home back to The Rest. Or we leave them here and hope we're out of here in short order."

Nax folded his arms and sighed. " Let's put it to a vote. I don't like it, and I'm open to other ideas, but at least its a plan."

[Xiscapia]

"Everyone alright?"

"Just a little burn," Koiwa uncurled her tail from her side, peeling the charred remains of jumpsuit fabric from scorched fur. Seeing the wound, Seito put Lucky's core down and took some of the bandages from Yana, pressing them to the vixen's side with their cool antisceptic. The vixen grunted in annoyance but didn't resist, focused on Nax to keep her mind off the pain. Seito kept one eye on the prisoners at all times, watching for any sign that they were about to attempt an escape. Across from them, Nagy fought to control her breathing as Yana wrapped her bleeding knuckles in gauze, the batlike abhuman's wings flexing anxiously.

"Let's put it to a vote. I don't like it, and I'm open to other ideas, but at least it's a plan."

"It's probably the best we've got," Seito said, inspecting his work on Koiwa's side before looking up. "We can explain the lancer blasts by saying we," he waved his hand at Koiwa and Nagy, "resisted. If you say you left two troopers on the ship to guard it, that'll buy us some time. Gets us all into the city with a decent cover."

"I don't like it either," Koiwa interjected. "It's risky. Too many moving parts. Not to mention we're kidnapping those poor bastards and then making it Kela's Rest's problem."

"We could just kill them."

Everyone looked at Nagy. For once, she didn't have a bashful smile, and she didn't flinch when she met Koiwa's eye. The woman was deadly serious, staring her captain down, and for a moment no one spoke. "Kela's Rest helped us. I don't want to give them any trouble. We can shoot the four of them and dump them in the river. No one has to know."

Seito stared at the young navigator while Koiwa's eyes narrowed. "No, Nagy. Those Necrians surrendered to us based on the understanding that we weren't going to just execute them. We're not killing unarmed prisoners."

"They tried to kill us!" Nagy glared. "You think they'd hesitate to shoot all of us if they got the chance? And you want to make it the village's problem just so you have a clear conscience?" She shot a look at Seito. "That could get them killed! How can you choose these thugs over the people who helped us?!"

"There's nothing linking them and us," Koiwa said, tail swishing. "The government has no reason to go after Kela's Rest. Knowing them, they'll help the soldiers, and by the time they treat them, we'll be long gone. Hopefully," she exhaled, breath wafting in the cold air as she looked at Nagy. "That's the logic of it. Don't get so emotional-"

"Easy for you to say!" Nagy was shaking where she stood, bandaged hands balled into fists. "You fought and you made a difference. I thought I was going to die! Me and Yana! I am so sick of being h-helpless," she choked on the word, tears starting to stream down her face. "I-if we just kill them, they can't kill any more of us. If we...just..."

She leaned her head down, sobbing against Yana's shoulder. After a moment, Koiwa pushed off from the wall and gingerly put her arms around Nagy. "Listen, you're alright. Okay? You're alright. You're just at the end of your rope, now. But you're the deciding vote. Do you have a better idea than just killing them?"

Despondent, Nagy just shook her head.

"So, are we going ahead with this?"

Swallowing hard, she nodded. "Don't have a better idea."

"Alright," Koiwa sighed and gave Nagy one last pat on the back. "Yana, Nagy, get that homing beacon ready. You two," she pointed to Seito and Nax, "we'll strip those Necrians and get you and Yana suited up. Got to move fast here. The longer we're gone, the more suspicious they'll be..."

----

A chill wind passed over the crew as the police boat drew close to Korfel's docks. The brilliant fog lights turned the frigid fog behind them into opaque splotches of darkness, loomed over only by the largest of the city's lit buildings. Their concerns were closer to ground level as Yana slowly edged the boat into its berth in a fenced-off section of the marina, Nax tossing a length of rope to a waiting dockhand who tied it off. He wore the most intact set of Night Guard armor, complete with rifle and a pack containing Lucky's core, while Yana had dressed in the police pilot's uniform. It seemed their gambit passed first-glance inspection, but that was the easy part.

At the top of the gangway loitered a small group of men and women in long trenchcoats, furred hats clamped to their heads and lancers cradled in their arms. They wore no insignia at all, instead strapping themselves with combat webbing and plate carriers that looked to have been salvaged off Night Guards and Imperial soldiers. The Necrians seemed preoccupied with some sort of game, bouncing an opalescent white ball and studying it intently for the numbers it displayed, muttering what sounded like bets to each other as money changed hands. That lasted until one of them caught sight of the five coming up the catwalk, the woman's face breaking into a leer as she called out. By the time they were at the top Nax, Yana, and the others were completely surrounded.

"Hey Sarge," a towheaded Necrian man called to Nax, pushing his way to the fore. "Don't ya know all the prisoners have to be stripped coming in? Commissioner's orders. They've got all kinds of ways to smuggle weapons, ya know." He gave Koiwa a hungry look, and that seemed to be the signal as his fellows started to tear at their clothes, hands worming into pockets and feeling around crevices as the Necrians roughly tore jackets away and yanked boots right from the feet of the trio.

"See?" The man held up Seito's knife in one hand and Koiwa's pistol in the other, a wicked grin on his face. "Just when you weren't expecting it, they would have turned on you. Bastards," he kneed Seito in the stomach, dropping the naked tod to the ground with a gasp. As the others laughed, their leader was passed Koiwa's billfold, casually removing the credit bills from her wallet as he studied her license cards. "Pilot and mechanic. Better keep a close eye on her," he shot Koiwa a crooked grin as she was divested of the last of her clothing. All she could do was stare at the ground, resisting the urge to glare. The last thing they needed was for this to turn into a confrontation.

As Nagy started to shiver, arms wrapped around her bare shoulders, the man waved up the woman who had originally spotted them. She handed three collars and shackles over to Nax, designed to cuff wrists and ankles alike, chains clinking together as they were extended. "Gotta keep them restrained too. Take 'em down to the stadium, they're holding prisoners for processing there."

"Hey Sarge, you left here with two other militiamen, right?" The towheaded man turned back to Nax, having finished looting Koiwa's wallet and moving on to Nagy's. "Where they at?"

[Necrisis]

"Hey Sarge, you left here with two other militiamen, right?" The towheaded man turned back to Nax, having finished looting Koiwa's wallet and moving on to Nagy's. "Where they at?"

Nax glared at the silver-haired Necrian from behind his visor.
Metal collars clinked shut on Koiwa, Seito, and Nagy and he felt his stomach churn even as the Call rushed in his head.

He thought about the officers on the boat, heading down the river towards the Rest.
About the giant river snakes that plied those same waters.
He found himself imagining what the towhead would sound like, being swallowed whole by the blasted things.

“Hey? Sarge?” The Necrian bastard rapped on Nax’s helmet. “Anyone-”
Nax snarl-hissed, his hand clamping down on the Necrian’s wrist. There was a tense moment where they looked at each other through the visor.

“Had an altercation,” Nax said, letting go of him. “Both dead. Fox that did it is floating down the river in two pieces. These three came real quiet after that. Had the cop-” he nodded to Yana. “Check them. Have to talk to her commander about that sloppy work.”

“Huh,” one of the women snorted, long tongue flicking out only to caress her sharp teeth as she smiled. “What, don't you have the stomach to get them to strip down? Fucking peacekeepers. Didn’t have the stuff to deal with these fur-freaks before the war, can’t trust them to keep up now.”

Yana had ducked her head. Unlike Nax, she only had a winter cap to hide her face. The two women had been similar, but Yana’s red hair was a give away, compared to the pilot’s dark blue.
Tucked under the cap as it was, only careful inspection would reveal a portion of their ruse.

The Necrian woman ducked under Yana’s cap with a grin and popped it off with her lancer. “Nothing to say-”

“What in Her Black Name are you doing!?”

There was a brief flash of confusion as the woman spotted Yana’s hair, quickly superseded when four figures emerged from the chilling mist.

A Necrian soldier stormed forward, followed closely by two more - one with strangely glowing green-blue eyes - and a massive, hulking Hetaevan, dressed in heavy black robes, unnervingly quiet as he approached.

She was of average height, and sans helmet, her short, rich chocolate hair gathered ice crystals. Her armor was a shiny black, similar to Nax’s but definitely newer, except the torn chunk out of the left shoulder plate - kinetic round damage.
Her insignia was that of a Lance Commander, but there was another emblem he didn’t immediately recognize.
Overlapping circles, Khanthic runes, that took him a moment to translate.
Sol Imperi Necrosa.
The SIN.

Yana quickly pulled her cap back down, taking a step back as some of the NFPers came to attention, but the woman and the silver-blond merely doubled down on a sneer.
Yana could feel the panic coming of the woman though, as she saw the Hetaevan.
Watcher Heurek...
Yana shook her head, not sure how she had just knew that, knew that the woman was afraid of him.

She drew herself back into the situation as the new soldier grabbed the silver-haired man’s piecemeal armor and nearly yanked him off his feet, holding him up on the tips of his boots, a head above her own.

“Can’t leave you cursed First Party bastards alone for one minute, can I? You should have all been hung from the Tower.”

The man’s sneer grew and he leaned into the SIN officer. “But without us, you’d never have taken the city, Deliha.”
“Lance Commander,” Deliha corrected. “One true SIN soldier is worth a thousand like you. We would have been fine.”
“Calm down ‘Lance Commander’” the man said, gripping her hands and trying to dislodge them, to no avail. “We’re just following procedure.”
“So those aren’t her trade credits in your pocket? Are you just stealing from detainees now?”
“Ah…”
“I can confirm,” said the Hetaevan in a quiet tone, like distant thunder. “The Scriptures are very clear on the treatment of prisoners during wartimes, as were the war-laws and provisions laid down by the High Court during the declaration of war. Their belongings are property of the Throne, not to be gambled with on the docks. You disgrace Her intentions and the name of the Empress.”

“She’s not even your Goddess, carcass brains,” the woman snapped, taking a step closer.
A step too close, as it turned out.
The two Necrians behind the Lance Commander hissed in unison, but one - with flaring green eyes - lunged like a feral dragon.
As she drove the woman to the ground, knocking Nagy over, her hood fell away, revealing sunken skin, chitinous black plates along the cheekbones and ocular ridge, jaw unhinging and splitting apart, black-green tendrils snaking out to flicker over the woman’s face.
The low humming growl coming from her chest could be felt in the base of everyone’s skull.

Watcher Heurek, with practiced calm, gestured in the air. "Blessed are the Revenants, keepers of Her Will."
"Get it off of me," the woman screamed, fear clear on her face.

The silverhaired Necrian struggled a little as the rest stepped away from them, gazes averting.
"Get your undead bitch off her!"
"Or what scummer?" Deliha snarled. "When Phalanx Master Hibiki hears about this, The Twins will be the least of your worries.''

[Xiscapia]

All the commotion gave Seito the chance to regain his feet. He stood slowly, hunched from the roiling in his gut where the man's knee had impacted, unable to even massage his aching belly due to the chains that restricted his range of motion. All he could do was watch, intent on the pack slung over Nax's shoulder. An errant lancer blast or a fall in the water wouldn't be good for Lucky's core, he was sure. If it fell for any reason, he might be able to shield it with his body.

Behind him, Koiwa inhaled as she felt Nagy press against her back. The abhuman's shivering was intensifying with the jingle of her chains -unlike Koiwa and Seito, Nagy's fur was thinner and not so adept at keeping her warm in the frigid air. Leaning back as much as she dared, Koiwa put as much of their bodies in contact as she could, trying to trade heat and comfort. They needed to move, and soon, if they didn't want Nagy to get frostbite. Yet she couldn't say anything, and as the altercation unfolded, she began to wonder if they had made a fatal mistake.

"When Phalanx Master Hibiki hears about this, The Twins will be the least of your worries.''

"When I hear about what?"

The vixen's voice carried over them all like a whip's lash, making even the partisans straighten up. Her armor was that of the SIN, similar to Daliha's, but there was no mistaking the long muzzle, upstanding ears, and swishing tail of a kitsune. Golden eyes gleamed through the dark as they swept across the group of people, passing over the Necrians on one side and the prisoners on the other. Her rifle was slung over one shoulder, but she was flanked by a couple of SIN troopers who held their lancers at the ready. For a second, nobody moved until Daliha pivoted, still holding the hapless Necrian.

"Phalanx Master, we caught these people stealing from these captives."

"I see." Hibiki looked down at where the husk of a woman was crouched over the Necrian's body, firmly atop her despite her struggles. "Vesha, get off of her."

For a moment it looked like the walking corpse was going to ignore her, but then the other trooper accompanying Daliha muttered something and the creature promptly stood, stepping back but staring at the partisan woman with pitiless green orbs. As the partisan scrambled to her feet, swearing as she frantically brushed herself down, Hibiki turned back to Daliha. "Who's in charge here? Is it him?" she nodded to the towheaded man. He didn't say anything, gaze contemptous despite her rank, but the rest of his fighters backing away a little further was answer enough. The kitsune sighed, breath fogging the air.

"Tavatha," she addressed the other soldier with Daliha. "You and Vesha take him down to the police station for stealing rightful property of the Throne. Make sure they actually incarcerate him. The rest of you," she looked back at the group of NFP insurgents, "clear out. This is police property. If I ever hear that you're here again, I'll have you all arrested for tresspassing. Understood?"

However much the irregulars might have despised Hibiki, they couldn't argue. Not when she had a Hetaevan and a Hollow on her side. With only a few furtive looks, the NFPers scattered, dispersing and scurrying for the gates while they still could. "You can't arrest me!" the towheaded man cried, even as he let Tavatha take his lancer without resistance. "I was only taking from these animals! They're not even people!"

Hibiki ignored him as the two women dragged him away, protesting all the while. Shoulders dropping, she exhaled and turned back to Daliha. "You have to be careful," her eyes met those of her subordinate and her lover. "There's more of them than there are us, and they're not all craven. We got lucky this time."

Clapping Daliha on the shoulder, Hibiki gave a nod of thanks to Heurek before turning her gaze on the prisoners and their guards. "My apologies, Sergeant," she inclined her head. "The Party members seem to think they own this world. Prisoners are being processed at the old football stadium. My troops will escort you."

She flicked her tail at Daliha, a clear signal, before taking in the prisoners properly for the first time. Nagy had her face buried in Koiwa's back, the vixen once again averting her eyes, but Seito was not so careful. He scowled at Hibiki, ears flattening against his skull as his own tail lashed. "Traitor," he uttered, the word as venonmous as a Necrian's bite, and spat. The gob of spittle landed on Hibiki's cheek, but she did nothing to wipe it away as it began to dribble through her fur. The vixen held his gaze for a moment before turning away.

A Scarab pulled into the dock's parking lot, the armored vehicle maneuvering slowly and carefully among the smaller patrol cars parked here and there. The war machine hovered a foot or so off the ground as it smoothly turned to face away from them, rear ramp lowering to expose its interior. Hibiki's soldiers climbed aboard, and she swept a hand at the cabin, nodding to Nax and Yana. "Go ahead and embark. Wouldn't want any of your prisoners to freeze to death out here."

[Necrisis]

"Go ahead and embark. Wouldn't want any of your prisoners to freeze to death out here."

Nax allowed himself to breath again. He wasn't close enough to the Goddess to thank her for good fortune, but at least he didn't have to curse Her out.

As Seito, Koiwa and Nagy were ushered on board, Heurek stopped Yana. "Here," he said, handing her a small package. "The Goddess would not let even enemies suffer this cold, and I feel these three are merely caught in something greater. Shelter them, as She does with Her cloak of stars."

Yana took the three emergency blankets he handed her, looking up at the massive alien as if for the first time. "You're... they called you a Watcher... you're a priest?"
"I am. The Goddess spared me the cold embrace of the lifeless void," Heurek said, his giant hand grasping the Khanthic symbol around his neck. "She said I had other work before She would claim me. How could I not seek her out, and be her eyes amidst this war?"

Yana boarded the Scarab last, still a little shocked, and handed the blankets out to Koiwa, Seito and Nagy, getting it around their shoulders. She resisted the urge to cradle Nagy, to rub her hands - blue was starting to set in around the nails - but she couldn't risk it.
Instead, she sat next to Nax in the cramped space, across from Daliha and Hibiki, keeping her eyes down and cap even more so.

As the Thuumen engines kicked the Scarab up another foot or so and set out, Nax could hear another two peel in behind it.

Daliha sighed, pushing hands through her hair, dislodging some ice crystals. Nax thought it odd for her to not have a helmet, but then he glimpsed one sitting in a supply cubby above them. It was missing a sizable chunk of plasteel plate, and at a quick glance he could line up the near-miss with the Lance Commander. A long, thin burn-welt was plastered with healing gel. Even now, Hibiki had pulled her head over to check it.

He glanced over at Koiwa. It was worse than he'd hoped, but better than he'd expected. Though she couldn't see his face, he hoped his body language communicated confidence, even as he wracked his brain on how he could get them out of this. Processing meant they could be separated, and who knew how they could recover from that.

"Ow," Daliha said, playfully, sporting a sad smile. "Thanks."
"Don't attract sniper fire next time," Hibiki said.
Daliha leaned back. "I mean, its not as bad as the one I got from the Rookery. Het rounds don't mess around. At least this was just a lancer burn."
"Situation is a lot worse though."
"True," Daliha said ruefully. "More civvies..."

Nax and Yana's ears perked up, and they both saw their three Xiscapian friends resist the reflex.

Folding his arms, Nax leaned back too, clamping Luck's bag between his feet. "How... how bad is it?"

Daliha glanced over at him. "You don't know?"
"Was visiting my folks in a village, south of here." Nax lied. "Small place. Not even on a map. Got the emergency call from my chief. I got back as soon as I could, but that was yesterday. Been running around, wherever needed. Putting out fires. Haven't really heard what's happened. Just... bad news."

[Xiscapia]

Sitting on the bench of the IFV, Koiwa wrapped her tail around Nagy's waist and leaned against her, still trying to impart what body heat she could. The Scarab's heating was minimal, and the seats were uncomfortably cold even with the shelter from the elements. Nagy curled her own wings against her body, teeth chattering as she curled up as much as she could. Koiwa very deliberately did not look at Nax, not wanting to give even the slightest hint that she knew the Necrian "soldier." She just had to hope that some kind of opportunity presented itself.

Though she was staring at the floor of the vehicle, she didn't miss the reference to the Rookery. At first, she could hardly believe that these two had also been on that barbarian's asteroid, but then, hundreds of thousands of people had taken part in the joint Necrian-Xiscapian effort to clear the rock. Bizarre to think that the same people who had saved them from captivity all those years ago were now threatening their freedoms and their very lives. Including a fellow Xiscapian, no less. Koiwa gritted her teeth at the idea.

"Was visiting my folks in a village, south of here. Small place. Not even on a map. Got the emergency call from my chief. I got back as soon as I could, but that was yesterday. Been running around, wherever needed. Putting out fires. Haven't really heard what's happened. Just... bad news."

"Odd." Hibiki gazed at Nax for a long moment. "The SIN is in control of Fel'tethra now, Sergeant. Technically, the colonial administration is still in place, but they have sworn allegiance to the Necrian Throne. Kor'laesha fell yesterday. Well, it declared independence after ejecting AXIS forces, anyway. I've heard that our troops are even now fighting on Niisho and Fel'narsha, and there have been uprisings against the Imperials as far away as Alno'kae." Despite the litany of successes, the vixen's face was grim.

"We took heavy casualties here. Police, Night Guards, insurgents, SIN regulars -all of us. Tens of thousands dead and many more wounded. Thousands of civilians killed and wounded and displaced. Korfel's starport is completely gone, it's just a giant crater now. And that was when we already had people on the ground and the element of surprise. This was the easy part. It will get much worse. Thank the goddess that the 6th Night Guards probably won't be deploying off Fel'tethra, Sergeant, because I do not envy our men and women at the front. Or anyone caught between them and Imperial forces."

[Necrisis]

"Thank the goddess that the 6th Night Guards probably won't be deploying off Fel'tethra, Sergeant, because I do not envy our men and women at the front. Or anyone caught between them and Imperial forces."

Nax nodded and lapsed into silence.
He shouldn't have drawn attention to himself. He'd met some dumbass kitsune, but never a fool.
But if the Lance Commander and the trooper next to Yana hadn't caught anything, maybe she'd let it go.

After what felt like an eternity, he felt the Scarab slow and there was some voices from outside. The gunner's hatch at the front of the troop bay popped open and another SIN trooper slid out.
Though he was dressed like a SIN trooper, Nax felt his breath catch.
The man had a shaved head, with a few days of stubble going, but the tattoos and augmentation scars were visible. But they all paled in comparison to the split mechanical jaw he had, fused perfectly with his skin, revealing gleaming needle-pointed fangs when he spoke - drawing out his a's and s's.
He was Jha'Roun. There was no mistaking it.

"Phalanx Master," he said, nodding to Hibiki, voice a hint above rasping. "We have arrived at Prisoner Processing. Gate guards wanted to pass on to you that Battle Master Elad wishes you to report in. Immediately."

"Thank you Forceman Tarska," Hibiki said, no one missing the twitch of her tail. No one liked their direct superior calling them up.
Tarska nodded, a bobbing motion like a snake-wolf, and Nax caught a glimpse of a triple conjoined skull on his neck.

"Deliha, with me. We'll bale out here and get the Battle Master over with." Hibiki stood, and the Scarab's bay hatch slid down as it started to move forward again. "Tarska, help these two officers into processing with these three then signal the unit to meet up at the gatehouse. We move out again in fifteen - as long as Elad doesn't chat my ear off."
And with that Hibiki and Deliha hopped out, making for a prefab command post.

As the Scarab pulled up its door again and moved into the compound, the gatehouse raising its own, Deliha made sure to keep pace with Hibiki.
The stadium had seen better days. A downed Xiscapian fighter had crashed into the upper levels, its payload detonating and bringing down chunks of masonry. Even so, the stadium had held, and was still largely defensible, with its retractable dome and deep basements.
It had a large parking lot - now occupied by Base 6, a forward command post and prisoner processing site - that allowed for Wraith landings and Scarab maintenance, but was vulnerable to the mess of buildings surrounding it. Patrols and hunter swarms watched them constantly. If rebels wanted to hit hard, they'd do it here, before this group of prisoners could be moved out.

They passed a squad of soldiers huddled around a heating unit - mostly wounded, but those that could stand did so, as Hibiki passed by. Those that could, saluted.

She was one of six Phalanx Masters under Battle Master Elad, the most diverse SIN unit in operation. Hetaevans in SIN armor, designed for their giant frames, moved equipment with Necrians, and a pair of Sythians kept overwatch above Elad's command post.

The two women entered the post to a quiet hum of activity. Officers and force-personnel monitored readouts and field reports. A few nods or truncated salutes followed them as Hibiki reached Elad's open command pit at the back, but they could hear him as soon as they got within ear shot.

"I don't report to Callas, Necraman. I report to Overseer Feldrak. Those are my orders, straight from the Empress. If you want to dare ask for an audience with her, go ahead. I'm sure she'd love to be interrupted mid fleet battle to answer your questions about 'indentured consent.' Now get out."

"Battle Master, I feel that you don't grasp-"

"I have just had to correct civilian death counts three times since you walked in," Elad interrupted, his calm tone strained. "It keeps going up. You know why that is Necraman? Because Necrian First Party trigger jocks keep gunning down groups of refugees making their way into the city. I've arrested more Partiers than Imperial soldiers. Do you know what my battlefield reports look like to the Empress? Failure. Increasing failure. So if the next words that fall out of that slack jaw of yours aren't 'goodbye Battle Master' I'll charge you with wasting the Throne's time and incarcerate you myself. And I don't give a dragon's blue balls who your accursed uncle is. Get out."

Hibiki and Deliha flanked Necraman, making him jump a little.
"Want me to throw him out, Master Elad?" Deliha asked.

* * *

Tarska moved with a languidness down the ramp that belied the quick eyes that accosted each of them - running up and down Koiwa, Seito and Nagy not with lust or crudeness, but the calculating eye of a hunter.
"Come on... This way Sergaent."

Nax handed Yana Luck's bag and nodded to Nagy, bringing up the rear of their party. "Keep an eye on the abhuman." Stay at the rear. I need to talk to him.
"Yes. Sir."

Tarska hissed out a laugh as they made their way across the lot, passing soldier tents and a dozen Wraiths in walker mode - either watching or being repaired. A Spider infantry support drone was hunkered down, having burrowed into the asphalt, its Swarmers alighting now and then before rotating out into the larger cloud overhead. "Abhuman... Mistress Hibiki would like you, Sergeant. Most would call her 'bat'. 'Fox'. Not accurate. Kitsune. Dangerous hunters, all of them. Would kill to send some as tribute to Shanasha."

"Sh-Shanasha?" Nax's blood ran cold for a minute. There was no way she was still alive.

Tarska stopped and whipped around - his head first followed by his body, jaw splitting, long tongue whipping out, while his hand split along the joints, a blazing white-blue shard of light leaping forward from the forearm. There was a glint to Tarska's eyes, a smile on his... where his lips used to be.

Nax took a half-second to take account of their surroundings. They had passed the bulk of the tents and prefabs, heading into the stadium itself. There were no other soldiers, nothing but deep shadows and small drifts of detritus in the patron's entrance hallway.
They were all but alone.

"I knew I smelled you, Nauxan." Tarska leaned closer, the hissing light-blade almost touching the helmet. "It's been... awhile."

Nax raised the Jha'Roun marker coin in his other hand, away from his sidearm side. "I left that name behind with that life."
"You never leave the Jha'Roun," Tarska said, the blade fading away, hand folding back together from a hundred plates and filaments. The long fingers caressed the helmet, prying it off slowly. "You left us, but you never left the Clan." Tears welled up in his strange eyes and before anyone could move, Tarska had embraced Nax, pulling him off his feet.

"T-Tarska... down please..."

"Let me have my moment." Tarska released Nax after a few seconds, kissing him deeply on the forehead. "Goddess... Shanasha's going to kill you if you're lucky."
"I'd like to avoid that, but that involves us getting out of here. Hence-" Nax fingered the coin.

Tarska's eyes flickered over Koiwa, Nagy, and Seito. "You want to Parley. I want tribute. We can talk."