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She wasn't okay, not at all, and that assault from Aelyn's message didn't help in the slightest. She felt like she was losing her mind slowly, that she had screwed up everything. She didn't know where to go next but she didn't want to ask anyone. She was beginning to doubt that any of this was real, since it was so unfathomably foreign. That pain in her chest lingered for what felt like hours, until she no longer saw the messages on her vision, or the map or the list, or even the hallway or the door to the ReSleeving Room. She stayed perfectly still until it seemed nothing existed at all. Just the light hum of silence, and the smell of sterile hallways. She began exploring her BrainPal until she figured out how to send another message. Her first thought was to contact Drakis, which she did.
Drakis. If you want to talk in person, I went back to the ReSleeving Room. And I need your help again.
She was taking him with her, whether he wanted to go or not. She would make him come along, help her leave, but she wouldn't leave him behind this time.

She finally replied to Aelyn, but this would be the last time: Then recreate me, why don't you? What's so important about me if I'm just a recreated consciousness in a fake body. She purposefully left out the question mark.

The reply came almost instantaneously - and this time it was, in a way, intense. BrainPal™ communications were unique in that very often a feeling could be added to text not unlike italics or bold.

[BECAUSE, you moron, I believe that you're from Mars, and that you're a real person who's been torn away from their home and family, and that I might be able to help you get back! Because I believe that you and I might not be so different! And maybe I'LL never get to see my brother again, but YOU might have a shot at seeing your family! Or at least your home... Because I remember what Mars was like, and I know what it feels like to go every day knowing I might never see it again. Because to sit and do nothing when there's even the slimmest chance is despicable. Because being lost, and alone, and afraid, and not knowing what to do or where to go next, and having nobody to help you along the way and no home to go back to, and having to pretend to be some kind of emotionless slab of stone just to survive is a TERRIBLE THING, and you don't deserve it, and if there's any one single thing in the Galaxy, no matter how unlikely or impossible, that I can do to try and spare you the fate of wandering aimlessly around a meaningless Universe for the rest of your life then I WANT TO DO IT!]

---

And back in the dark wood and crimson velvet office, an image straight out of the past was staring him in the face - the image of Hastam Martis - The Spear of Mars - the vessel constructed by the first ARES scientists that would ultimately bring peace to the Solar System, all those millennia ago. Surely this moment was a vital one - surely it must mean something...

Or maybe it was just an illusion. Maybe he and Alexia were just misreading those faded letters. Maybe it was just his mind showing him what he wanted to see. It could have been any ship after all. Maybe he was just mad.

And as this historic moment occurred over the vision screen mounted above the doorway, Aelyn-Paeryc failed to so much as glance up at it. Instead he leaned heavily on the desk, face in his palms and fingers entangled in black hair, clutching at his scalp with hands that trembled ever so slightly and biting his lip with a force great enough that, if not for his condition, would have surely drawn blood - and he was flickering.

---

Some minutes later, there would be another message.


{I had a feeling you'd go back there. I'll be there in just a minute. I'm guessing things didn't go too hot with the Captain.}

And, sure enough, it would take hardly any time at all for Drakis to arrive. He came through the door looking uncharacteristically, almost disturbingly sober - even despite the relatively comical appearance of the goggles. There was also one crucial difference about him now - that being the belt at his waist now holstering a small handgun in a latched holster.

Walking in, he looked tired. He sat down on one of the horizontal tubes inside which a body was growing, with not a care in the world for whether or not it might not be the best place to sit.

It was as if he had already anticipated the worst, and was just waiting to be told about it.

"Alright then Kid, let's hear it. What went down in there?" He said, and sounded, tragically, a little bit depressed.

She'd never expected to see that kind of emotion from The Captain, of all people. She knew he must have a long history of unfeeling, and she'd never met anyone who could lose his temper at the drop of a pin. She bit at her lip, and then sat down again to wait, hugging her knees up to her chest as she tried to understand the ridiculously complex map that she was given. This would prove practically useless. And then, there was another message, and she felt calm again, like she could function well enough to keep moving. She actually smiled to herself when Drakis said he'd come to help.

She got up and began pacing, and couldn't contain her smile when she saw him. Finally. But she had no answer for him.
"I answered a couple questions, and then realized Mars was probably gone.” She would then watch him, reading Aelyn's message through once again.

Because being lost, and alone, and afraid, and not knowing what to do or where to go next, and having nobody to help you along the way and no home to go back to, and having to pretend to be some kind of emotionless slab of stone just to survive is a terrible thing, and you don't deserve it, and if there's any one single thing in the Galaxy, no matter how unlikely or impossible, that I can do to try and spare you the fate of wandering aimlessly around a meaningless Universe for the rest of your life then I want to do it!

How the hell did he manage to read her mind? She needed to think about this reply, word it perfectly. She began, with the intent on leaving him an apology.

{I would've never expected that. I didn't see it from you. There is something incredibly different about us, though. You aren't awoken into a completely different world, where you can trust no one, and only a few people would believe you about your origin. So, you may feel connected to me in a small way, I can understand, since I feel about the same way, being from the same planet as you, having the same goal as you, feeling the same way about handling things as you. But as similar as we are, you must understand that waking up from Death after so long isn't going to make the same person, though I wish it did. Whatever woke me up, had no idea what it was doing, it might not even have known why, and as well, it might seem like I have no interest in getting home. But that isn't the case. It's just that the laws of how the Universe works says to me that our home is gone. If you want to call me a moron for believing the things that have been true for tens of thousands of years, go ahead. But while you try to dig up the past, I'm going to make a future for myself. Thank you for your time, Aelyn-Paeryc. I really hope you figure out what exactly happened, if only to get peace of mind.}

And that was it. It was apology, mostly. For wasting his time, making him angry, etc. It read like an apology to a brother or a close friend, and it was obvious she wouldn't reply to him anymore, no matter how annoying it got. She felt like she had righted things, then, and moved on to her next objective, her mind now clear. She looked at Drakis.

"The map the BrainPal gave me is confusing as all Hell, and it also says that all flights off the ship are currently canceled. I wasn't planning to go that way, anyway. Too many people.. But, the reason I asked you here is to help me with that problem. Do you know of anyway off the ship?" She asked. It was handy to have a higher-up, instead of just a rando' around. She felt she had an expert with her.
She stored her memories in the back of her mind, for later when she could look at them again. Now was time for living in the future. Or, in this case, the present.

Back in the office, Aelyn-Paeryc Petrovalyc was still leaning on his desk, now massaging his forehead with taut fingers. Alexia toyed soothingly with a lock of his hair.

"Come on Ael. Just because she's from Mars doesn't mean you should go getting all upset over it." She said it with the gentle, mildly teasing, but obviously affectionate tone that was so familiar between them. "I know seeing her really hits home for you, but if she doesn't wanna' go back, she probably has a reason."
He couldn't resist. "That was terrible phrasing." He said with a mild grin, keeping eyes locked downward. Alexia replied with a harmless whap to the back of his head before returning to playing with the hair.

"Come on. What happened to the nihilistic, nothing-matters-anyway man I know and love~?"
"Why don't you ever get homesick?"
"Because I'm your more emotionally stable other half. "

That got a chuckle out of him, which in turn got a satisfied grin out of her.

There was some silence between them for a moment. Then, abruptly, Aelyn-Paeryc lurched forward, wrapping his arms around Alexia and tugging her hard into a bear-hug embrace that dragged her right off the desk and into an admittedly awkward half-standing position. She squirmed around helplessly for a moment, until managing to return the hug, and the two stayed like that for a long while.

---

Drakis nodded knowingly. The short, curt reply as to what had happened in the office was not at all satisfying, but it seemed that he had not really expected a satisfying answer. "Yes, that's definitely one of the more likely theories." He said - so, even he seemed to think there were other possibilities? Well, old age and excessive open-mindedness could account for that. Or maybe he was joking? Though he did seem unusually solemn.

But when she asked about a way off the Stella, he raised a brow in bafflement. "Huh? Didn't the Captain tell you?" Then he shook his head. "We're in Notspace. It's physically impossible to leave the ship until we're back in Realspace, and as of now nobody's sure how long that'll be. "

Notspace. What the heck was that?

BrainPal™ searches would yield no results. Nothing.

And no matter how good at hiding her feelings Rya might have been - there would surely be enough of a reaction on her face or in her mannerisms to tell Drakis that she had no idea at all what Notspace was.

"He...didn't tell you about Notspace?" Drakis asked, in disbelief.

"Then what the jibbering @#$% were you talking about in there? No, nevermind. Look, this is something you're going to need to understand, and you're probably going to have to see it to believe it. Come with me - I'm pretty sure Nathans has quick access to one of the portside observation domes... And don't worry, we won't have to worry about anyone butting in on our conversations. This whole wing is about as popular as a necrotic whore with Super-AIDS."

And since Drakis Volo was not the kind to wait for others to decide whether or not they would follow him, he just started walking away - out of the resleeving room, and into one door over - it was placarded Administrator Beral Nathans, and it slid open for Drakis with no trouble at all.

There was a small waiting room, another door labeled the same as the first, and a third door, which was unmarked.

Now there was a long hallway stretching in either direction, Drakis turned left, two doors down, entered into an elevator.

It would be a long ride up. Drakis would not be talking anyone's ear off this time, though he would continue to speak with Rya if she so chose, having continued their conversation along the way.

Aelyn-Paeryc's reply had been a while delayed. He did not address the previous couple of messages they had exchanged at all - he regretted them terribly and wanted to pretend they never happened. Instead, it was concise and surprisingly informative.

{I tried earlier to unlock that other tech you mentioned having in your head for you. The Log. I ran into a sort of block I've never experienced before. I should be able to access anything that the BrainPal™ can, but I couldn't access your Log, nor grant you access to it, which is an issue I have never encountered before. It may be a glitch in the system, but that seems unlikely, because the lock appeared deliberately programmed. I'm not a BrainPal™ expert though. Your best chance will be talking to Doctor Harkahn Senior at BrainPal™ Headquarters - if you go to see him, tell him I sent you. Generally, anyone who knows my name can be trusted. I've secure-coded your 'backup' just in case anyone tries to copy it. I can't see any reason why someone would do this, but it seemed like a good idea. My "Speed dial" is included here. Feel free to contact me if you need anything else.} And good luck- it seemed to say, though it was not written there.

She follows Drakis closely, smiling when she reads the message from Aelyn. He's a nice guy, but he has a temper on him. She finds she quite likes him, despite his strange mission and obvious delusions, despite him calling her several different names that made her feel like an absolute waste of space when she remembered them. And so she didn't remember them.

"Beral Nathans? Strange name," she said softly. The elevator's silence made her nervous. "What is he Administrator of?"
It was a stupid question, and Rya hated stupid questions, but she hated the silence more. She had liked Drakis in the first place because he filled up the silence, and his change in demeanor disturbed her deeply. Of course, she would recognize Nathans when she saw him, but she'd never learned his name and so she wouldn't know it was the same guy she'd attacked. She actually remembered the man quite fondly now that she had her brain functioning correctly. He had been kind and polite, and she'd never actually seen someone with dark skin such as his, due to the constant fluorescent lights back on Mars.
She realized she hadn't called it 'home', just 'Mars'. She felt this was a slight betrayal to the place, but ignored it, and continued to listen to Drakis, whatever he was saying now. She found the man entertaining, despite his solemn demeanor at the moment.

"Oh!" She exclaimed suddenly, stopping him. "Drakis, do you know what clyonic fabric is?"

"Well, I imagine a lot of the names around here would sound kinda' weird to someone new, now that I think about it." He replied, "There's been a weird sort of 'tradition' for...Well, as long as I can remember, anyway, of switching first and last names every few generations. Not in any specific pattern or anything - but my great grandfather, for instance, his name was 'Volo John' which..." He grinned some "Actually it sounds pretty funny to me, heh."

If her question as to who Nathans was had come across to Drakis, he didn't show it. He had an interesting way of being utterly oblivious to that sort of thing, and a still more interesting manner of speaking which betrayed no judgement at all - probably also due to obliviousness.

"He's head of the Re-Sleeving department. Nice guy, only met him a few times. Guess he's been in the infirmary for a bruised lung, but they say he'll make a full recovery. Though how someone with a job like his ends up with a bruised lung I couldn't guess. OH, there was this one story I heard about..." The story went on for a time, bled into a different story before reaching any coherent conclusion, and then she stopped him.

"Clyonic fabric?" He repeated, and thoughtfully scratched at his beard. "Clyonic fabric...Clyonic... Oh! Well, no, not exactly, but the name definitely rings a bell. I found some old documents about it when I was back looking for the CD-Bravo schematics, back where the reeeeeal old stuff is. Stuff that never got digitized into the mainframe I guess. He was about to ask what it was, when the elevator made a soft ding and the doors slid open. "Oh, here we are. Boy, looks like nobody's been up here in ages."

It wasn't dusty or unkempt - but it had the untraceable essence of loneliness that came with the farthest back hallway in a library. Nothing tangible or even disturbing - merely an idea. This hallway looked more like something that belonged on a starship, rather than the majority of other hallways which looked like they belonged in a hospital or an outdated office block.

Then, through the door marked OBSERVATION DOME they stepped, and a vista of blackest black was opened up to them.

It was a large, cavernous dome of unmarred glass, save for the occasional, evenly spaced support brackets that curved up along into the center that were thin enough so as to not detract at all from the view. There was some furniture - some reasonably comfortable looking chairs and tables here and there - but the room was otherwise featureless. Why bother with features when one could view a panorama of space itself with the perfect clarity that only a glass window to reality could provide?

The difference was that the place lying on the other side of that glass was not reality.

It was Not Reality. (lol)

The dome was set on the port side of the vessel, mounted and half-embedded in the structure which constituted the upper regions of the Command Module. As such, it was not a 360 degree view - but only one side of the room was obscured by wall. As one approached the glass, even the floor became transparent along the rim, allowing one to stand on space itself - or at least, it looked that way.

In one direction could be seen an apparently endless vista of gilded golden towers. All different sizes and heights. many in hexagonal shapes but some in more traditional 'skyscraper' shapes. That's what it looked like, too - an expanse of clustered golden skyscrapers, set out over a dense city that seemed to go on forever. They were above most of the towers - and indeed, if one looked very carefully, they might perceive where the towers ended and the surface of the ship dropped off into space. It was a true city of the future - there were even windows, though they were mirrored and only reflected the shimmering images of other towers back from their sleek panes.

And on the other side, they could see a planet hanging among blackness - a planet which appeared green and alive, which harbored the illusion of seafoam jungles and emerald turquoise oceans - but was, in reality, a dead, desolate, desert Hell utterly devoid of life.

There was also the barely discernible shape of another starship - two, actually - though they were much too far off for their details to be recognized, it seemed that one was iron grey and the other a sunset orange. There was the occasional twinkle from that area - again, barely noticeable - though if one studied it carefully enough they might surmise that those minute sparks were actually the deadly lightspears of battle between a vessel of forsaken glory, and a peacemaker turned war machine.

But how could anyone focus on and of that, when the impossible realization came to them that there were no stars?

None. Not even a sun. No shadows anywhere - yet the exterior of the Stella, and the planet before them were both visible, as if no light was needed in this strange place.

No stars. None. Zero. The blackness was colder still than the eyes of the Captain, for at least those had bore the white pupils which gave the semblance of stars that hung there. This place was utter nothingness. Impossibility incarnate. It was simply impossible for one to look upon this infinite blackness, that was colder and lonelier and darker and infinitely vaster than any view of space in the real universe - and believe that they were staring at anything that had ever been known before.

"This," Drakis began, after a moment, "Is Notspace. It's kind of complicated, and I'm really not the best person to explain it to you but...It's...How does Dorin always describe it? A state of simultaneous existence and non-existence which is both separate and inaccessible from 'space' as it's conventionally known. Or...Something like that. Basically, we're nowhere and everywhere. We're..." He molded air between his hands, not exactly certain as to what he was trying to emphasize. "We're ideas...Or, potentials. Does that make any sense? No, of course it doesn't. At any rate, the Stella's got these unique Drives that, according to the Captain, were built by his brother Paeryc back when they still lived on...On...Ganymede, that was it. The technology is derived from an ancient alien race called the First People...Yeah, kind of a weird @#$%in' name, I know." He paused, crossed his arms. "According to the Captain, everything started when he and his brother lived in the Sol system. The way he tells it, is that one day Paeryc came along all freaked out and was talking about some kind of terrible danger to the whole system, and that there was only one chance to stop it. He was real incoherent I guess, didn't make a lotta' sense. So he ran off and left Aelyn on the Stella - it had just been finished by that time, y'see - and not long after that, the Captain says that the whole system, the sun and all the planets, all just disappeared from sight."

He gave this a moment to sink in.

"So it was just him, and the colonists who had signed on to live on the Stella - it was intended to be a colony ship, y'see, supposedly the first colony ship, because if you ask Aelyn it was he and a friend of his by the name of...What was it, Eeva? Eevee? I forget who actually invented the stardrive. So he and the colonists sat around for a few years or whatever waiting for the sun and planets to reappear.. And when they didn't, the Captain says he assumed that whatever terrible danger his brother had been talking about wasn't able to be stopped. The way he puts it, he figures that Paeryc had planned for the possibility of failing to protect Sol from the danger by preparing a colony ship to continue the human race. So, supposedly the Captain led the ship all over the Galaxy, using the traditional Stardrive, to populate a whole bunch of worlds." Again he paused, seeming to reflect on just how absurd this story sounded - especially to him.

After all, Drakis had been born on the Stella, eons after this story had supposedly taken place. He still wasn't sure what to believe.

"So, later the Captain discovered the Notspace Drives on the Stella. He figured out how to use them as instantaneous travel through the Galaxy, and he also discovered that they could transport the ship into this weird other universe called Notspace. So in hindsight, the idea is that he believes Paeryc did actually save Sol from the danger, by sucking the whole system into Notspace - but he for some reason wasn't able to get back out again - and he's been looking for the right place to transfer into Notspace and find it again for, well, a very long time. I mean, my great, great grandfather knew him and the way he described the man he hasn't aged a day."

Apparently finished - or mostly finished - with the preposterous story, he shrugged. "It's a pretty crazy story, but there's definitely good points to both arguments. I mean, this place we're in-" He gestured to the window "Is definitely a real place...Or, as real as Notspace can be, anyway. And the Captain has definitely been alive for a @#$% long time..." He turned to look at the planet. Then he spoke again, sounding once more subdued and solemn. "Apparently, that there is Isandril, the homeworld of the First People. I guess there was a huge Notspace Drive down there, but these aliens - Dendril, they're called - came along and tore the place to bits...A lot of people died."

So that, it seemed, constituted what had him so down. He spent a moment trying to reconstitute himself, then gave a huff, and put his hands together. "Whelp. That's the story. And now we're stuck here for a while. No telling how long. It's...All a pretty cagey business."

Caru was about to say he is a Dimensional Lord but soon found himself pinned up against the wall staring at a bundle of knives at his face. His face went wide as he looks at the weapon in fear as he has his hands in the air. "Y-yes I am a Dimensional Lord..." he looks at him with his beautiful blues eyes in fear. "I'm going to safely assume that this response has come from one of my colleagues? Is it Lord Ova, she is known to anger many beings in her encounters" he says in response and completely unknown that Kampfer is now a lord, Caru being one of the older Lords comparable to Arena and Kilwen.

"Please I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt me!" He pleads as his eyes began to tear up. "Plus if you stab me, your knives will be sticky and also I can't hurt you if I tried" he continues to plead as a few tears began to fall from his cheek. "Please if you have a little bit of love in you, don't stab or shoot me" he continues to plead as he closes his eyes and expecting to stabbed by this gruesome weapon he holds.

Notspace Isandril

As the space battle was raging up above the barren planet, the ancient Dendril mearly looked on alone seeing his compatriots in battle. It looks away and goes to bury itself back into the sands but as it does that it sends one message to his old ally.

"Dear Comrade, I wish you good luck on your goals for whatever our Lordship has granted you to do. I hope you realize that if she has allowed you free, you understand how important your mission is. I would join you, but you know the policy that a dendril must occupy a planet and if I was to join I risk being captured or killed by the enemy and uncover more secrets about this planet that will remain hidden. When you succeed in your mission, I would be glade to have you here, so we may guard this planet from any other threats together instead of you being locked away again. Good luck"

And with that the Ancient Dendril buries itself into the sand until another intruder is sensed and needs to be dealt with

The man blinked twice, as if someone had tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Previously he had been giving little shakes of the rifle for emphasis as he spoke, but this time it was still. Brows had raised ever so slightly in puzzlement.

"Wait. Ova? There's a Dimensional Lord named after part of the female reproductive anatomy? What is she, the Dimensional Lord of Fertility?" Likely it was a damned good thing that she wouldn't have been able to hear that.

But realizing that by some impossible feat, he had actually been distracted from his loathing for a second, he returned his expression to the full grimace.

"Nevermind. Now if you're so harmless, tell me why you opened up your little rift and snuck onto the Stella one room away from the @#$%ing armory?" With that, he nodded in the direction from which he had just come. He would not bother explaining how he knew the means by which Caru had appeared - that being his Defense-Specialist's mindframe, where checking the security cameras via BrainPal™ before entering every single room he entered while on the Stella was as natural to him as breathing or looking both ways before crossing the street.

Presumably, Caru would tell him what happened - about Ova having tossed him to certain doom under the premise that the other Lords had decided he was no longer required.

"Kampfer claimed that the Lords had a familial relationship." he muttered, and added to the likely expression of puzzlement on Caru's face "Dimensional Lord of Tech Support? No? Hm." So, this meant that the teary-eyed character pinned to the wall before him was, for one reason or another, unfamiliar with the Lord who was at present one of his peoples' most prevalent enemies.

And he certainly did look harmless. This might very well have been a guise - but Yascra doubted it...Though he was not quite sure why - since typically he would always assume the absolute worst.

After what seemed like a few years or so, he asked with poorly concealed curiosity "What are you the Dimensional Lord of, anyway?......You're @#$%ing kidding me......Seriously? Love. Friendship. And Compassion. This has got to be a @#$%ing joke. Volo, are you @#$%ing with me again? He called out, looking behind him - but Drakis Volo was nowhere to be seen, nor was he @#$%ing with him.

A few milennia passed - a few times one might swear the man's finger twitched in primal desire to shoot. The longer he glared at Caru, the more it seemed he might just go ahead and blast away anyhow.

Then, finnally, at long, long last, he lowered the gun. "Fine. You're on OUR side now. Right?...Hmh. Name's Yascra. Welcome aboard."

And the real question, he asked to himself, is what in the name of Space Everexpanding am I supposed to do with this...person?

Caru's face turned towards fright hearing Yascra making fun of Ova's name. "Shhhh! Don't make fun of her name, for your sake, I have seen what she has done to people to who make fun of her name and in for men it's usually intells turning the male jewels into taco by hand and it's incredibly painful" he says to him looking at him really caring for him seeing that he doesn't understand the full weight Lord Ova carries. "She is the Lord of the Undead" he adds even though that info is outdated since she is now the Lord of Dark, not the undead.

More outdated knowledge came from him exposing how old he his when he heard Kampfer's name and title. "Lord of tech support? The last time I heard of Grimmlock Kampfer's name is when he held the title as Head of Science and Research for Lord Ova, creating terrible ways to kill beings with his wonder weapons. Now he's the Lord of technology if that's what you are saying?! What happen to Lord Arena?! She was the lord of technology and now what happened???!!" He exclaims as he slowly begins to panic now knowing how long he's been away.

He looks at the man and says "I truly don't know how long I was away or how I got here but it seems I have been away for too long and if I were to guess I think the fabric between wherever we are and the void must have been thinnest and so I slipped through" as continues to look at him, calming down a bit. He explains who his and gives a nervous smile and asks "Volo is your friend, yes?" Seeing if he can ease the situation but luckily now the gun wasn't in his face and he made a loud sigh of relief as he bent down to grab his breath.

"I'm on the side of friendship and love" he says with a smile as he looks up at him and gives him a wink. "It's a pleasure to meet you Yascra" he rushes him to hug the man and not merely shake a hand or bow. When he hugs him, Yascra would see how strong he is even though his appearance says wimpy pretty boy but his strength was enough to hold at least 3 men.

He looks at him and says "Unless you would like to explain but is there a computer or terminal I can use so I can get a bearing in what era this is and what's going on?" As he looks at him with the warmest of smiles and puppiest of eyes.

ARDELLA

Iril calmly walked behind the tired crew, offering physical support here and there when one of the crew looked like they were about to fall over from exhaustion (which was mostly Kallenger at this point).
The halls were clean and sleek, doors unopened for many years looked like they had just been shut for a routine weekend off of work or something.
It creeped Iril out just a tad, like the place was frozen in time... surely there was a reason why nobody came back.
What creeped her out even more was that ever so slightly, she noticed that Papyus had a bit more perk in her step than usual. Surely Papyus didn't intend to forget that, despite their crew being ravaged, there was still a seven foot tall robot keeping an eye on them all? Though Iril had no idea what Papyus was thinking, she found her silence odd and her newfound buoyancy even stranger.
Perhaps she was being too critical of Papyus. After all, they had just escaped sudden death, why not be happy and celebrate survival?
As they entered a control room, Iril stood back as Kallenger and Kox brought the bunker's systems back to life. She dimmed her flashlight eye as lights began flickering on across the room, and Kallenger finaly caught a breath. It was... a welcome sight. After seeing them work tirelessly for hours on end, the rest of the group finally got a chance to recuperate.

She would stand as guard for the time being. It's what she did best, really. A robotic protector for these tired souls.
It made her feel important, which she liked. As Kallenger nodded off, she would monitor the screens to ensure that there were no break ins or unwanted visitors... but every so often, she would look over at a blank and empty screen that read [INSERT DEVICE] on a blue background.

Insert device, hm? She was certainly a "device", albeit a bit too large to fit inside a computer. She moved over to the computer screen and inspected it, viewing a number of different input ports.
Iril felt... compelled to somehow interact with the computer. Some buggy remainder code, perhaps? Maybe it was just that due to her being a prototype, she would have fixed her code by plugging into a computer somehow. Code fixing sounded nice... but how would she manage THAT?

A wire from her detached right arm caught her attention, somehow being one of the only wires not severed in the destruction of said arm. It ended in a few mismatched output cords and cables of different varieties. Scanning over the cord and the computer, she found one that looked like it was compatible and stuck it into the computer.

[DEVICE ACCEPTED. READING...] Read the monitor. Iril heard a faint beep from a little speaker attached to the monitor. She moved closer, curious as to what would happen.

To her surprise, a video started playing very quietly. A very nervous and stressed voice started coming from out of the speaker.

"T-This is- *static interruption*-. If you've managed to find this robot, please send help! We are being chased by -*static*- and we can't seem to shake -*static*- T-This is all my fault... I.." The video stopped entirely and the sound melted into chaos as what appeared to be an explosion rocked whatever was recording the message. Iril quickly removed the plug from the computer, not wanting to deliver some virus into the bunker systems.

Nonchalant, she resumed her duty as protector, slightly worried about the content of the video inside her.

---

KAMPFER BASE

Did Q have a choice? Really, it was either go with a trustable Kilwen, or possibly be dismantled by this creepy Kampfer fellow. There was really only one option.

"Y-Yes! I-I-I'd love to go to ruins! Ancient Hi-H-History is something I know plenty about! Hahaha!" She blurted out nervously. If it saved her from scrap, it was worth the bluff. Q really knew nothing about ancient history other than what happened to the Iridiites. Perhaps a few clues about their presence would be littered through the vast galaxy, but the chances were surprisingly low, if anything.

"L-Lead the way, Kilwen!" She said, doing her best to sound anything but scared. She kept looking between the Dimensional Lord and the Empirical Overlord that was Kampfer. The man creeped her out to no end. Was it possibly the fact that he was part robot himself or something?!

---

Z

"Yeah, B! Back off, will ya?" Z chuckled, watching her sister be forced off of her attack. B released her clamp on Arena with haste, calmly evaluating where to strike her sister next... and at what location would be a decent opening. Z's wings were out of the option, as they were blocked by Arena... and Z's legs would provide useless to damage, as Z could just fly anyways. The torso still seemed like a good option... she'd just need a moment of clarity to really do some damage.

As Arena attempted to claw her way through Z's armor, Z's chuckles merely grew into cold laughter. This was all too fun for her, thwarting her sister's every move... and hurting this mere pest while she was at it! All it did was inflate her pride and confidence in herself, the war machine to end all war machines.
"Do you really think it would be THAT easy to pierce my shell?! Do you know what I was designed to survive?!" She laughed aloud, a maniacal grin growing on her face.

B circled around Z, looking for an opening to strike her sister down, but Z kept turning with her, an impeccable defense against her every move.

"I was made to survive Armageddon! The end of all times! The end of EVERYTHING!! I can travel through tears in space, and you think you can stop me with angry-tantrum-clawing?!"

B moved in for an attack on Z's legs, hoping to maybe send her face first into the ground, but Z swiveled again, countering by smashing a foot into B's eye. Her legs might be thin, but they certainly weren't weak. B recoiled, briefly covering her eye with her maw hand to prevent another attack. Dust flew into the air.

"You see, I can survive so much more than BOTH OF YOU could ever imagine! I'm the perfect creation, the final product! There is NOTHING I cannot handle! NEITHER OF YOU ARE WORTHY!!!"

Z crouched low and then sprang upward with all of her might, managing to jump off the ground, sending a shockwave into the dust of the ruined city. She had enough of the pest on her back, keeping her down, holding her arms hostage.
At peak height, she angled herself ever so slightly... and began to plummet back down, with Arena facing the ground...

It was clear she intended to crush her opponent. Literally.

Christofer would keep and stay silent for most of the time that followed the little sharing of his words and opinions. There was nothing more he needed to say or do after that. Nothing. He'd just be there, like he had been for quite some time now, doing nothing much but looking as strange as a walking talking dog could and all that. Certainly seemed to be the only thing he was good for, and with that done and over, dealt with, there was nothing more for him to do in this moment...

Moving along the group and mainly Royanna, he'd finally be letting go of her hand at the table and move to the side. All done so that he wouldn't be on the way and she could do her thing. Cox was likely going to stand on the other side. Yeh, she was going to be much more helpful than he could be. Cox would be able to guide and aid the fellow Imperial, all the while he could only wish to understand any of it.
Boy placed his hands on top of each other on the table, got some support and looked towards the other two. He wanted to understand what was going on, even if the technology was far beyond him and he'd be of no help with it. At least he was trying to comprehend. He was trying...Tail swaying behind him, keeping part of his brain occupied to keep him from whining impatiently...

As things started happening, Christofer looked at the monitors, lighting up one by one, slowly, then with a steadier pace and soon all the screens that were going light up seemed to be on. Finally... Each of them showing the same sight: Emptiness.
He wasn't too sure if he liked the fact that nothing showed up. Sure, it was good to know that it wasn't likely they'd be ambushed, not was it showing signs of anyone or anything following them. They were safe. But at the same time, the feeling of absolute isolation - save for the other members of the haphazard group - and the unknown area they were in... Christofer truly felt uncomfortable, letting it be known or not. He'd try keeping it to himself, because what good was he, other than being the oblivious person who just tried to keep the mood on the positive scale.

Still, even with the emptiness, what the screens did show him and what he had been able to gather was that the place was big, abandoned, and relatively in the middle of nowhere. Even with the people around him he felt so small, insignificant and lonely. Alone...

The canid was able to feel the air in the room loosen up a little. Good. But also bad.
They weren't seemingly currently being tracked down by a hostile troop of strangers, they were safe. But... With them easing up and starting to grow weary... It would still be a good idea for them to figure which way was to the exit, in case something bad happened. To have that one last backup plan at hand even if all else would fail.

But... Maybe someone had already figured that out? Right, yes, that had to be it. He was always so lost, others knew so much more. They already had it under control.

Christofer was about to ask Royanna to interpreter, explain him what was in each monitor other than just a wall and an empty hallway. Explain to him which was the route out, where they'd continue. Confirm that thought that they had somewhere to go.
But the woman was beat. He saw it upon turning towards her to take a look at her. Right... It was not a good idea to go asking questions now... She needed some rest, and to be honest, others were probably tired too.
Him as well, even if he had had some stamina to burn earlier. Hunger was slowly catching up on him again and he'd be starving soon, right after he stopped paying attention to the ever so slightly heavier growing eyelids and the cold he was suddenly feeling. Truly, there had been way too much to pay attention to, so even the necessities were thrown out the window and only seen as secondary needs. He hadn't eaten since they left that... Big space ship... Yeah... It had been a while...

Still, he was ever so slightly more worried about Kallenger, looking towards the woman and nudging her a little. Or rather just gently pushing on her shoulder than an actual nudge.

"Hey... Your neck is gonna get all wonky..." The woman had taken a rather... Lazy way of being in that chair. Such way of sitting wouldn't do her any good.
Without a second thought taken to consider his moves, Christofer was already trying to fit himself on the chair Kallenger was occupying. Trying to fit in, get comfortable, somehow. Tail was taken and placed over lap and then wrapped behind Kallenger's neck, working as a pillow of sorts, being both warm and comfy. Was it a good idea from the woman to not shove him off the chair? Sure, they both fit on it, but... To Kallenger it would feel almost like having a dog her own size laying against her, be it a fluffy but thin dog however. And one that wore clothes. But it was definitely more dog than it was human in feels. Nothing awkward. Hopefully.

Especially hopefully when he placed his head over her shoulder, exchanging it with his tail so that they both had a pillow of sorts. Huddling his way ever so slightly closer, his arms would be pressed on his chest while hands made an attempt of tucking themselves somewhere around neck level, just so he'd not risk touching the woman. But it was a well packed seat now for sure.

Blame it on doggy instincts! Maybe he should have fought them. Was he going to turn into a dog? A whole normal dog? Perhaps not quite. He hadn't changed on the outside in a while, so it was likely that he wasn't going to be changing more anytime soon.

Awkward and packed, certainly for a person not used to closeness like this. But it was warm, and soft, so you couldn't really complain. And in the end, it helped the boy too. He was able to relax and feel a little more comfortable, knowing that someone was still there and that when he woke up he'd be certain that he wouldn't be left behind all alone.

He needed that. Needed the comfort, needed the closeness.
Needed the confirmation.

Please don't leave me.


An ear found itself twitching lightly at the quiet words spoken. Eyes had closed a little earlier though, and chose to stay closed. Things were fine.....
"I wouldn't stand being alone..." Canid spoke quietly, not bothering to raise his voice enough to let everyone in the room know what he was saying.
"I would go crazy... I don't like these kinds of places... Don't like these plain white walls..." Silent speaking continued. "They remind me of.... Things..." Head tucked a little further to the side, hiding his face against the feathery tail fur that managed to reach that side from beyond Kallenger's backside. Perhaps he should stay silent for now. It wasn't all that good of a time to mention it. Mention anything. At the moment he just wanted to be and leave it alone. Not think of it...

"Please... Rest easy....."

He'd fall silent after that, just trying to forget so that he'd manage to catch himself some sleep as well. All the sounds other than one's light breathing would be shut out. He couldn't hear them. Any action going on in the room until someone would shake him awake was nonexistent... There was nothing... .... ..... ....... ...........

The old lord gave a warm smile towards Q and placed his hand on her shoulder, to give some reassurance and whispers to her "Its alright I'm here, he isn't going to hurt you" as he could tell that she was a bit afraid of the white haired doctor. "Well Kampfer, we accept your proposal!" he declares at the other lord with his chest high, full of confidence. As the oldest living Dimensional Lord in existence, he wasn't afraid by what he considered a young child of a Lord with his fancy toys and large army. Of course, Lord Kilwin would usually stay out of the younger Lord's business, but with Q, he can't risk saying "No" and deal with the young Lord's childish rage and have the ancient bot caught up in it.

Kampfer grinned and said as he turned around, "Vell ze same ship is vaiting for you" as he glances over his shoulder with the most distrubing smile that will send anyone a shill down there spine "I can't vait to see vhat you uncover, Elder councilmen" and walks off, the door closing behind them. Once it was just them left in the armory, he gave a loud breath of relief and looks at her and smiles. "Well I guess we are in this together" he says as he walks towards the door they came in. "If there isn't anything you need, let's get going and explore the galaxy together" as he looks at her with a warm smile, really just trying to make her at ease as best as he can.

Ardella

As Kellenger did her thing with Cox, Paypus stood off to the side and did her own thing, reading messages that she was picking up from the empire and trying to see if she could messages from Ovan empire or the Galactic empire. Of course she had to cut her thoughts about how to kill everyone in the room short so she could think. She looks at them and just calmy says "I'm stepping into the hallway for a moment" as she calmly leaves needing sometime to think on what her next over would be, ignoring anyone would stop her for some reason. She leaned up against the wall as she delve into her thoughts trying to see if what the nearby base is up too.

What she wanted was info of Ova empire, which seems from all the detail seems to be punishing Kampfer's forces, really his ground with there new units, high mobile mech frames known as Knights. They swarm in take down more lumbering Universal Colossi and overwhelm Megalith units. Some reports also read that Kampfer's forces are quickly scrambling to get there own mech frames out on the battlefield as quickly as they can.

As Paypus was going through all the logs and data, she ended wondering down the hall and once she turned the corner, her heart sank. How could she not hear them?! How could she drop her guard and not know about them, there was 5 of them! How can she stoop so low to a Royanna Kellenger level of incompetence! Right in front of the Colonel was two High Inquisitors, equipped with dark plasma pistols pointed at her. They wore robes similar to regular inquisitors but with a purple slash over there shoulders identifying them as High Inquisitors. Two Cardinal Guardians, they were really tall pale women, with black armor plates and flowly skirts that show off there slender feminine frames, as they equipped what one can only describe as long bo staffs with add bonus in turning there staffs highly energize halberds. The fifth man is an Arch-Deacon, with his long staff with a dark blue gem on top surrounded by some strange tech on it. His face unlike the others is not covered and one can see his age on face as his eyes were red with a black background. His outfit was black with purple tinted ceremonial bishop attire with hate and cloak and all.

"**** me" she merely states as she raises her hand, since any offensive moves would cause her to be shot dead. One of the High Inquisitors spoke and asked calmly with his pistol drawn "Who is with you? And don't lie" The colonel rolls her digital eyes and spilled the beans after doing a large sigh "One special agent, a trooper, an anthropomorphic dog, and a large robot". The High Inquisitor, looks back at the Arch-Deacon and the Deacon nods. "Alright, we want you to show us and tell them to surrender, hands up" he explains as the other High Inquisitor moves to search her coat and pulls out what was left of her grenades and her pistols and knives.


It didn't them long to reach the room and the Colonel stands in front of the door frame and says "Uh guys we have been founded" as they see her, they would clearly see a gun pointed to her head. "They want you to surrender and and raise your hands and if not, well, I'll be dead and you'll all be dead as well, so in short a gun fight" she gave her "comrades" no fear in her tone nor express it, wanting to be a beacon of calmness in the face of danger as a leader even though being captured by the enemy. "If you are wondering who these guys are, they are the members of the Darken Church of the Ovan Empire, lead by Lord Ova herself" she heard a click from the gun pointed at her head and knew she shouldn't speak anymore.

Christofer had only managed to relax slightly in that seat, taking it easy and not worrying of things. As stated earlier, he'd not be hearing Papyus leaving the room, nor the words she spoke earlier about 'going to the hallway for a moment'. Nah, all of that was some spacedust in his ears. Nothing that bothered him.

Though... For some reason he couldn't sleep... Couldn't see dreams... It was just a blackness that consumed him and his thoughts.
There was nothing.

Until it grew, the feeling.

It was restless, made him toss and turn but only in his head, body was as unmoving as it could be. Canid could feel himself starting to stress up. He wanted it to stop. It to stop. Stop.
There was an ear ripping, piercing beeping sound that he heard. And. it. just. would't. stop. That stupid sound. He held his ears, twisted and turned again, gripped his head, took his hands through his hair, and screamed in his own head. Of course the others couldn't react to it. They couldn't hear it. It was just him and his thoughts. And that goddamn beeping sound. If he knew he wasn't quite the only one possibly going crazy, it might have helped. But as of this moment, he was alone with his thoughts. The only person.

Until the rush of adrenaline that his not-so-nice-dreams caused woke him up. Not quite throwing him off the chair or anything, but he did jump awake in a sense.
The sound he heard that had hurt his ears so was fading, but he still heard it. Boy swore that something was off. Why did he still hear that sound. Not lifting from the seat, he'd try to go and take a look around. Someone was missing. But... Somehow he felt that that wasn't it... That wasn't it...

Head turned back to face a little more comfortable direction, but that wouldn't mean he'd go back to sleep. Not just yet. The sound still bothered him. It was somewhat static. He could get used to it, if it stayed low like this and didn't start screaming again. But he wanted to know what caused it, what was it, where did it originate from, that sound.

What had he not looked at yet...
Oh, yes.
The monitors.

Monitors.

Floof.




At first, just the sight of seeing something in the monitors was enough. It completely froze him. It wasn't just what he thought he saw. It was what he actually saw. Not something he imagined here. He was sure of it. The screen. The monitor. He was stuck staring at the screen with something else but white and more white on it. That one screen was not like the others. It Had Others. But as he stared at the screen, he could only hear the slight static it made, feeling as if his feet would have been frozen and stuck somewhere and there was something heavy on top of him. His hands were cold. The situation was completely unclear to him now. How could they have missed them. Someone or something had been there, and they had not seen them. Not known of them.
Or had they? Faintly he could tell one of the figures apart, just barely.
Oh that person. That Person.
One of those he didn't trust. He could notice Papyus being with the strangers, and he was sure as heck not going to trust them in this state. Nope. Did not seem like a good idea. His head was rushing with thoughts all of a sudden as Papyus moved out of the screen and the others moved too.

Wait a bit... Moved. Moved... They were moving! Oh floof!!

They were moving and they had no escape plans.
His head did not register with negotiating with the weapon wielders as he heard the steps from afar. He was a canid. Canids had better hearing, but they were just pretty much dogs. Dogs never really did sleep fully, always at least a little aware... And dogs protected.

At this point, the sound from his head had silenced, the common feeling of fear having taken over it, but if he had reasoned with it he could have sworn it was the monitors, telling with some pitch that there was something out of order on the hallway or just on the screens. Having not been occupied for a while, it'd make sense that some sort of alarm went off with anything moving on a few of the monitors where as it had been empty for so long before that.
Maybe they were silently screaming when they arrived in the first place? But they had been too tense as is to even hear it. Or was he the only one hearing? Well he had been deaf to it at first too, so there was no knowing for sure. Or maybe they started only when the had turned them on?
Too much.
Just, too much for his head.

He was starting to get quicker with his movement, semi-frantic actually. Boy started shaking Kallenger awake, rather heavily at that.

".... We need to go. Sofort." Canid whispered strictly, the German word slipping from him, coming out like what it meant. Immediately.
There was no real time for him to wait if the others had time to notice him being awake again or if they heard him speak. The canid was up from that oh so comfy seat. He wanted to stay, and it was calling for him to lay down once more. But he denied it that attention, instead hauling the other snoozy person up as well. May Royanna hit him on the head, bite like some feral beast or kick him he'd not put her down. Her place was now on his shoulders, enough said, end of story. ".... We need to go!"

But his outright rudeness didn't end there. One hand to secure the other person, the other to steal her sword. Yes. He was a thief now.

If Kallenger was awake at this point she'd probably be swearing to skin him at this point, no matter if she meant those words or not. If the others were going to object him, then so be it. Cox? Go, do what you can, but you ain't stopping this dog. Iril? No, you do you big red friend, but this dog wants out. Now.
The sword he took... He'd then probably get even more rage from Kallenger by using it in a similar way to what she had done earlier.

By cutting a hole into the wall. A nice good circle, with a trembling and shaky pair of hands. Floof. FLOOF. Come on now!
The stress was getting to him, slowly but surely, it was getting to him.

In his hasty partly panicked state he couldn't quite think too straight. Just make a hole. Just make a hole. Any hole they could slip through. That's what the blade was for, right?

Surely enough he became mostly unaware of what else was going on behind or around him. If 'betrayer Papyus' could just stay away for a tad longer, he'd be thankful.

He could only hope that on the other side of the wall there was actually something. Maybe a nice clean corridor. That'd be nice. He'd manage to get a good head-start. He was a fast runner afterall. Little extra weight couldn't hold him down, adrenaline gave him a stamina boost. But heck if he'd wish to just gain some good distance, find a new hiding place and pass out. For real this time.

A R D E L L A – Abandoned Imperial Bunker

“Agent 47 this is Strike Team 1, do you copy? Repeat, AK-47, please respond.”
“AK-47, acknowledged. All squads in position?”
“Affirmative. Breach charges primed and all entry points covered.”
“Extraction 1 standing by.”
“Auxiliary Extraction standing by.”
“Gunship 1 ready.”
“Bomber 1, in position.”
“Bomber 2, in position.”
“AK-47 in position. Let’s show those freaks how to pull off a real operation.”

---

”We need to retreat!”

The jungle air was cold but humid. It sent shivers through her whole body that refused to abate. Her knuckles hurt where fingers gripped the pistol in her hand. Her jaw ached from the gritting of her teeth. There was snow in the jungle – a foot or more, and a generous coating of white on lush greenery in all directions.

”Order the retreat!”

Despite the bone-chill, Royanna’s guts were on fire. Her chest ached with hatred. She could feel lukewarm dampness and white fire from the shoulder that still bled through. He was here. He was so close, she could practically smell him.

”We’re taking heavy casualties!”

Nothing mattered now. So close, so close! The sky above was black as death but the world around her illuminated with the hazy red glow of bloodlust and adrenaline. So close CLOSE so close he’s here kill him KILL HIM kill

”We’re dying!”

It was a field now, wide and sparse of trees, and the snow was higher. It was over her head. It built walls round a large berth where she could see the others in the far distance. There he was! It was both of them. The heinous Devil Eye and his vicious @#$% bodyguard. Her blade was in her hand now. Palm sticky with cold sweat, blood trickling down her fingers to mingle with the ornate gold of the hilt.

”Please! Help us! Please! Royanna!”

She charged for them, ready to slay the enemies once and for all. Yet they did not grow closer. No matter how far or how fast she charged they were miles away. Lightyears away. Running felt like slogging through an icy river. She tripped, and was submerged in the ice, chunks biting and cutting at her flesh until the water began to turn crimson.

”WHY ARE YOU KILLING US ROYANNA!”

She was on her feet again. A harsh, overwhelming wind blew in her face and she could feel nothing. Her foes were still a million miles away yet she could see them clearly. But there was more – black-armored bodies swirled with the writing torrent of water and blood and entrails. Their helmets were gone and they watched her with wide, accusing eyes, guilty only in their utter acceptance of their eternal damnation.

”You did this! YOU DID THIS ROYANNA KALLENGER!”

The elf woman disemboweled one approaching man, slicing cleanly through his flesh like nothing, only to watch in sadistic delight as the entrails and viscera poured out of him like water into the rising flood in which they wallowed. The assassin turned to her and smiled broadly.

”You’re pathetic. You’ve always been pathetic. Worthless, good for nothing. Never good enough and you’ll never be good enough, not even close. You’re a child. Why don’t you save me the trouble and just kill yourself? It’s your fault these men all had to die screaming. You’re no better than him, no better than me. Never good enough no matter what you do. Pathetic. Useless!”

Another man’s disembodied head watched her sorrowfully as it went barreling toward her in the rush, slamming her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her, pushing her down beneath the writhing flood. Then there was another, a chunk torn out of his face where brain and eye fluid leaked into the filthy, gut-strewn miasma in which they were submerged. It grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

” We need to go. Sofort. We need to go!”

”Yyeagh!~!”

She awoke with a start and a barely-stifled cry of – what, terror? Eyes shot open wide – she did not look particularly refreshed from the nap. She sat up, looked around frantically, and only then remembered to mask her fear and keep control of herself. She was breathing heavily, sweating a little. Hair fell in her eyes.

Cox, who had also passed out from sheer exhaustion in another chair across the room, was stirring now too, looking much more alert than her Imperial counterpart, and entirely composed. She stood and readied her rifle, catching on quickly that, apparently, the doggo was now in charge – at least for the moment.

Because the doggo was presently not just hauling Royanna Kallenger to her feet, he was hoisting her over his shoulders. This was not going to be pretty, and the grimace on her face said that she knew it.

Finding herself lifted – was she really that light? – the woman immediately began to flail wildly and bark obscenities, stilted only initially by the general disbelief at what the actual @#$% was happening right now.

”Wh- h- y- P-put me down you mutt! I- what are you doing! I can walk on my own dammit I’m fine! Why- @#$%ing Space I swear- hey, hey! Ugh! Fine take the sword but put me the @#$% DOWN!!” With the last four words she gave a few solid kicks to…wherever she could hit him, still flailing with more and more furious fervor all the while.

As Christofer finished cutting his hole out of the wall, Cox rushed forward to assist in moving the chunk out of the way, motioning to Iril that she should do the same. Luckily, the wall there was only a thin plating of metal and mostly concrete otherwise – all the same to Royanna’s blade, but it would also mean that if the hole wasn’t initially large enough for Iril to fit through, the robot would not have too much trouble slamming through it anyway, at the expense of some unsightly scrapes and dents.

The wall chunk fell and crumbled. Beyond it, the room that faced them was apparently a lavatory – they were looking at the inside of a stall door.

Depending on how fast she was, Iril might have made it through before Pyrus and her ‘reinforcements’ arrived – not that Royanna had any idea what was going on – or she might have been just charging through, or still in the control room proper. Whatever the case, Christofer, hauling Royanna and with Cox close behind would be through immediately, kicking through the bathroom stall door and sprinting toward the exit.



But just as they were bursting out of the washroom into yet another corridor, a series of high explosions shook the whole facility, likely toppling Christofer and allowing Royanna to scramble to her feet. (Or not.)

The lights flickered once, and then went out completely. At the same moment, a blaring alarm began to cry out in rhythmic wailing, and dimly flashing red emergency lights flicked on down the halls.

EMERGENCY. THE BASE HAS BEEN BREACHED. REPORT TO DEFENSIVE STATIONS AND STAFF SHELTERS IMMEDIATELY. EMERGENCY.

All the monitors in the control hub were also displaying different emergency messages and protocols now, and would be useless as security cameras now.

It was all happening fast. Gunshots – the chatter of high-power, rapid-fire assault rifles, accompanied by the occasional THUMP of small, high-yield explosives detonating. The shouting of orders of men.

They had entered from four different points throughout the base, flooding in through the breaches in the ceiling that her entry charges had created for them – soldiers in black. Sleek, advanced looking combat armor from head to toe with black faceplates that concealed their individual identities and made them a single, faceless force of power. They dropped in from their entry points, high-end assault rifles, like their armor, equipped with the highest-end technology at their disposal.

They were not here to talk.

They stormed in guns blazing, mowing down anything in their path – assuming the Ova intruders had brought backup, it would turn the corridors all throughout the base into an absolute warzone of flying bullets and smoky detonations. Not invincible, but their coordination might have been intimidating in itself – and they were clearly a match for whatever lay in store for them in the corridors and hallways.

Things only got stranger when, seemingly from somewhere deeper within the complex, a flock of white robot birds came swarming around any given corner. There were hundreds of them, all throughout the base – and each self-destructed upon impact with a small, but potent explosion of superheated plasma. Birds. BIRDS!

Exploding white birds and soldiers in black armor. They were shooting to kill. No hesitation. They would take, and deliver casualties indiscriminately. Soldiers and explosive birds would come flooding in either direction at Pyrus and her 'backup'. The birds swarming, diving suicidal and the soldiers weren't waiting an instant to open fire and do their best to tear anything and everything in that hallway to shredded meat and thin red paste.

Some long minutes after the beginning of the assault, a single soldier in black would round the far corner from the K-Team’s present position. ”Target has been located! East wing!” He was followed by two of the small white birds, which Cox picked off with her rifle before they could get close enough to self-destruct.

”Halt your fire!” the soldier shouted, raising one arm – but the K-Team would already be booking it away.

A voice came over the intercom system, halting the emergency message – though the system had been severely damaged and the voice only came partly through, Royanna appeared to recognize the voice – and clearly she did not like what she was hearing, evident in the disbelief and dread in her face. It couldn’t be!

“At…t..is AK-47 of….G…r..peat…AK-47” It was a woman’s voice, sounding older in years but strong. And the intercom quit for good – but Royanna had heard enough.

”AK-47. No, it couldn’t be her. Did she change her…no way. @#$%.” Yet despite her reaction, the woman was still too dazed and out of it to be capable of making any real decisions – in something of a fog – and so it would be up to Christofer to keep….doing whatever they were doing now.

Why did things have to keep exploding all the time?

ARDELLA

The canid had started to move suddenly, hoisting up Kallenger onto his shoulders and booking it for a nearby wall.

"Hey! What're you doing?!-" Iril asked frantically, forcing the contraction through her poor voice box. Seeing how Toffi had dealt with Kallenger earlier, Iril's train of thought hit multiple switches at once, sending a panicked flurry of thoughts through her system. What was Toffi doing?! Was he trying to abduct her or something?!

Moving lights on the monitors next to them revealed the issue. Papyus had gone missing... and was returning with company. How did she not notice?! Better question, why did she not expect this to happen? As if Papyus's attitude earlier wasn't enough to give it away...

Cox motioned to Iril to get a move on through a smaller sized entry way. Quietly, she prodded Cox in before her and sized up the hole. She attempted to wedge herself through, but to no avail. She'd have to smash through.
"Get to the side!" She uttered through the hole in the wall, just as Papyus showed up with two goons.

There was a command to raise hands in the air, and there was the click of loaded guns. There was only Iril in the control room now, and an awkward silence between her and the enemy. She raised her left hand above her head slowly.
"Oh... I, uh..."

There was a brief pause, followed with a barely audible click. Iril's arm shot out to the side, her hand smashing into the lavatory wall like a grappling hook, followed by Iril, careening through the barrier wall and creating a friend-shaped impact into the bathroom tile. She was moving with the group in an instant. No time to waste.

The lights went out and Iril's eye-beam went back on, flooding the groups path with light through the smoke and sounds. Gunfire pelted off of Iril's armor as she scrambled to keep up with the group. She hastily grabbed a chunk of the floor just in case somebody aimed to take out her other arm. No sooner did she do this than a white bird exploded by her face, barely allowing her to block the plasma blast. Birds?! EXPLODING?! Birds didn't do that!! At least, none of the birds she had encountered during her time in the jungle!

She frantically swung the chunk of floor at any sort of bird, soldier in black, or Ovan Soldier that dared approach her, using her stretching arm like an elastic flail to pulverize anyone or anything that got too close for comfort. She followed closely to the rest of the K-Team, not wanting to get lost in the chaos... or worse, dismantled.

Her feet carried her to the glass silently, without her will to do so. The same with her arms, detached from herself, pressed wide-spread fingertips against the glass. She wasn't even listening anymore. Slowly, the sense of loneliness from the room seeped into her bones, as did a new feeling, one she'd actually never felt before, as far as she could recall, -- which wasn't very far, granted -- it was hopelessness. A blackhole opened up in her chest and the lights winked out in her eyes. She didn't wish, she didn't feel, she didn't.. hope. She calculated.

Just for those several seconds -- that would feel like minutes to her -- she thought as though she was on Mars again. Crystal clear, nothing fuzzy, just facts, data, things she'd learned and things she needed to learn. A list was fed to her without her even realizing it.

1.) She was never going home.
2.) She was losing her mind.
3.) As fond as she was of the Chief, she could not trust him. Only Aelyn, just Aelyn.
4.) She needed a new objective to follow.
5.) She needed to forget about her mother and that picture, immediately.

And, as if by some kind of magic, she forgot what number five meant. Her mother? What picture? Surely it wasn't that important if she couldn't remember what it meant. She quickly forgot about that objective. The first two, she skimmed over, and then slowly considered the next two.

Aelyn. She was crazy, too. Aelyn was just a little more so. Maybe number one was wrong. Number two was definitely correct, she was sure of it at this point. Slowly, she sucked in a breath. Minutes had begun to tick by at this point, her eyes staring off into the infinite darkness. Now she focused on the face in front of her.

Her own face.

She looked precisely like she had the day she'd died. The day she'd died. What had happened the day she died to make it that?


That question was answered immediately as something in her vision twirled like a tornado. She stumbled back from the glass, exclaiming.

"STORM!!"


Just minutes later, Aelyn would receive a message that included no spaces, as though it had been thought up so quickly that the BrainPal had thought it was only one word.

{IdiedinastormsolongagoandIjustrememberedwhydidn'tyoutellmeaboutthis'NotSpace'thingitseemskindaimportanttoyou,doesn'titImeanlikeIwasplanningonjustgettingthehelloutofherebutitwouldseemthat'soutofthequestion!!!!}

It would seem she'd had her brain moving so quickly that a mistake -- the fact that only the punctuation was emphasized -- had slipped through.


...This girl was very strange indeed.

Drakis yelped, startled, and turned in Rya's direction. The silence had been oppressive and it only made her sudden outburst that much louder.

Frowning, he gave that dubious brow-raise. "Y'okay kid?...What's that about a storm?"

-

It was a strange sort of message, not at all the sort of thing he was accustomed to recieving. It caught him off-guard and caused him to blink as though warding off his sudden, though mild headache.

He and Alexia exchanged a meaningful look - she was trying, and failing to keep from breaking into an amused smirk, as if someone might see. Aelyn gave her a disapproving swat of the back of a hand to one shoulder.

The reply was still almost immediate, and when it came, there was a sense of speaking patiently, pointedly, though not disrespectfully, and with an expression bordering on deadpan.

{That's because you left before I could get to that part.}

There was a lot more that the man was itching to say - but then, that was usually the case in this Galaxy where everybody and their mother seemed to prefer sudden, violent reactions over simply shutting up and listening for a minute.

But he left the message at that, saying no more, divulging no more information. From this point on, he decided, she'd have to ask questions if she wanted answers. Sure, she might be interested to know that a warship from Mars itself was floating not too far from her current position, presently locked in combat with a heavy artilliary cruiser. But then, she didn't want Mars. And besides, the warship wasn't from her mars anyway. Aelyn's mind shot back to the discovery that had been made just before Bravo and Arsinova exploded into useless heaps of crusty scrap.

Timelines which usually ran parallel were beginning to collapse in upon each other. There were multiple accounts of Earth and Sol, and now of Mars, the more he thought about it. The dates didn't add up, not as he remembered them. Six hundred years? No, that didn't make sense, the numbers didn't add up.

So then, perhaps she was another victim of the collapse. They were both from Mars - indeed, the same Mars, with the same rusty soil and heaving mountains - different only in the events that unfolded on the bone-cold surface. It didn't dampen that mild sensation of kinship he had with the girl - at least, on his side.

It was humorous, in retrospect; the time collapse had seemed such an immediate threat not too long ago. It had been a shocking discovery. Now it seemed distant and, while not harmless, certainly more like a thunderstorm on the horizon rather than a hurricane baring down.

She mentioned being killed in a storm, too - but that didn't seem right to Aelyn. How could her consciousness and biological blueprints have been transferred into the Stella mainframe if that had been the case? Sure, Eva's imprint had been copied down in the last seconds - she'd told him that gruesome story already - but the technology had been different all those decades before. And besides that, the biological blueprint was a different process entirely! No, it didn't add up. It must have been intentional.

But these theories also went unspoken - and that single line would be all Rya got until she went asking for more. He didn't even comment on her admission that she had been planning on immediately booking it off the ship - but then, it had been pretty obvious that was her plan as soon as she walked out of Aelyn's office.

And on the screen, the space battle raged. Aelyn got the feeling that they were all going to be stuck in Notspace until that conflict was concluded. But, then again, there was much to consider...

And all the time in the 'Verse to think about it.

-

Dorin Harkahn gave a dejected, defeated huff, and slumped down into one of the plush seats lining the interior of the railcar. He'd tried everything he could think of; fiddling with the control panel, feeling around for seams in the walls, jumping up and down, cursing it with exquisitely creative profanity - nothing.

All this vastly important stuff was going on around him, a guy who was about as important as the events unfolding around every corner...

And he was stuck in a broke-down subway car.

Half an hour before he'd been rushing to the Drives, feeling like he alone stood between the Kingsbane and certain doom. Now he was stewing in resentment over the poor maintenance and wishing for all of Space and Time that someone would answer their BrainPal!

But alas, it seemed to Dorin Harkahn that he was going to be out of the loop, at least for a little while.

Well, that was fine. These things tended to work out in the end.

-


"I don't have friends!" Yascra snapped at the rosy-haired Lord, sounding offended - as if the idea that he might have friends was insulting in itself. Still scowling, he gave a huff, muttering hatefully "The side of love and friendship yeah I figured you'd say something like that. Well, I guess we're the Starship of Love and Friendship then." He added the last bit with a distinct drawl of sarcasm, but seemed then to think better of it. "Don't actually call it that."

And then he was being crushed by an embrace with much more strength behind it than he might have expected. Eyes lit up with emerald fire and he stared off, as if through the walls and into the infinite Notspace itself. It seemed impossible for a scowl to become any more venomous.

After a moment he growled."Get the @#$% off me."

Once he was free, the man brushed his jacket off as if in the hope that he might dispel some of the invisible friendship dust.

So, he wanted a terminal.

"What, do the Dimensional Lords have a website or something?" he asked before he could stop himself, sounding a little more serious than he might have liked. It only occurred to him seconds later that Caru would want to catch up on other news as well.

Yascra considered this for a moment. Then he gave a dejected sigh, and began making his way down the corridor. "Alright, fine. I just gotta' drop this off then we'll see about getting you a...temporary BrainPal or something." Then he spun around and pointed an accusing finger at Caru's nose. "But I'm warning you, try anything and you're dead."

As Yascra continued through the door, the two entered into a more regal looking chamber with plush, crimson carpeting and clean, brushed gunmetal walls. Archaeic and antiquated weapons of all shapes and sizes hung in cases on the walls. Yascra's prized collection.

"Alright, tell me about the Lords." he said, rather abruptly. "That Kampfer @#$hole has been chasing us down for days now. He says the ship is 'forbidden technology'. Now this Codsworth chick is sending crazy metal cyborg bug aliens to eat us and it's getting on everyone's nerves. Is there, like, a Dendril Repellant or something? Or maybe Dimensional Lords flee at the sight of...I dunno', non-kosher salt? Believe it or not we're more interested in just keeping them away than we are in destroying them. If the @#$%heads would just leave us the @#$% alone there wouldn't be a problem."

As he spoke, Yascra approached an empty case. It slid open for him, and he carefully mounted the antique weapon, before closing the case again, standing back to admire it for a brief moment, then starting back for the door.

"And...how many Dimensions are there, anyway? If there's a Dimension of Love and Friendship does that mean there's a Dimension of Hate and Lonliness too? @#$% I hope so."

Aredella

The colonel when she arrived saw them leaving, she knew they would do this at the first sign of trouble, but unknown to her they all think she is a traitor even though she is now a POW under the Deep Church's authority. As they left, she would calmly wave goodbye seeing this would be the last time she would see them, hoping acting as indicator of her innocence in this situation.

Like all things on this journey with the K-team, things are cut short, some are cut short with a bang. With the loud explosions happening, the High inquisitor with the dark plasma pistol pointed at the Colonel's head, out of instinct pistol whipped Paypus knocking her unconscious and before she hit the ground, the man in black robes scooped her up and slinged her over his shoulder rushed back over to the Arch Deacon as the announcement was made. "Probably Imperial special forces" one of the Cardinal Guardians says to the Arch Deacon. Arch Deacon nods and turns towards the other High Inquisitor and says to him "Oh follower of the Church are you prepared to give your life to our Lordship?" The High inquisitor knew what this was and went to kneel and say "Yes, Arch Deacon Nelson" Arch Deacon continue "Than as the your last commandment, destroy these heathens who wish do us harm!". With that the inquisitor unsheathes a small knife and shoves it into his gut. Now with the inquisitor heaving and greaving on the ground in pain, Arch Deacon turns towards one of the Cardinal Guardians as one pulls out a warp transponder and clicks on it as it charges.

They birds would get to them before they could warp out, but the Arch Deacon raises his hand, his hand wearing a black glove as a small black flame was being produced from it, a so called "dark pyro glove", a catalysis for producing flame manipulated by dark matter . He snaps his fingers towards the incoming birds and as black flicker strips swirl in front of them and made a large explosion causing the rest of the birds to go off in a chain reaction, but if they didn't they will fly into the Arch Deacon's radius of continuous EMP field coming from his staff shutting those birds off. Soon the warp transponder was fully charged and so the Arch-Deacon, the two Cardinal Guardians and the High Inquisitor holding onto Paypus zipped away towards the nearby Kampferian base, leaving the other High Inquisitor behind.


Soon the Inquisitor began to mutate, growing larger in size and disfiguring his body so that he won't be identifiable as humanoid, soon he became this black beast full of straggly hair, almost taking up the entire hallway, its face in the shape of crocodile with rows of razor sharp teeth and with 3 glowing eyes on each side of its head. It can only be describe as a shadowy, wolf/crocodile hybrid monster that just has enough room to move around in. The beast gave a loud roar that would no doubt, stop the soldiers firing nonexistent beings that are just there to be all smoke mirrors. After giving it a loud roar, it charges down the hall intent in butchering these heathens bursting into the base unannounced.