The Starstream Adventures! (Sci-fi RP)

[Dahlexpert]

Part 3


"Do I look... okay?" Titania asked, blinking with a skin-colored mechanical eyelid.

“You look perfect I gotta admit Sunny I can barely tell she was injured.”

“I hope so, because this was a pain. First I had to cut into the new healed skin and clean it out, then I had clean the bone as well. After that I just had to adjust the eye and like it with her brain, over all it was easier then doing your stuff.”

The foxgirl however wasn't listening to this, as she took out her laser sword, activating it on it's lowest setting which made the blade grow to a singular foot. She twirled it around carefully, making sure not to accidentally hit anything, but fast enough to test out if the eye could keep up with the blade.

Satisfied after a few moments, she deactivated the sword, and tapped it against her side. "I'll make sure to pay you back with as much money as I can, as soon as I can, Sunny."

“You can pay me back now, Look there’s a monster out there and it’s kinda ruing things for us hunt it down accept the reward money and we’ll be even.”

Titania offered a predatorial smile. "Which direction is it?"


“Go to the hunts marshal he’ll tell you, Ou tri not to die on this hunt.”

“Yea yea I got it come on foxy time to test your new eye.”

Titania offered a friendly smile towards Sunny as she followed Blisk out. When they got far enough away, Titania started to speak. "So... Sunny did bring up something that makes me curious: if you don't bring other people when they get hurt, why am I a special case?"

"Because based off my last bounty there's something coming and we need all the people we can get, not to mention seeing you all sad because of a missing eye is just miserable to watch. Now you got and eye again and don't you feel so much better?"

"I do. But..." She booped his nose. "Sixty thousand credits, or an equivalent hunt, is a lot to spend on a relative stranger. Not that I mind too much, but it is a little weird." She twirled her handle around, playing with it absentmindedly.

Blisk growled at having his nose touched. "Call it a future investment, besides the monster here shouldn't be as bad. Well I say shouldn't be but the things we hunt could tear apart most of the other races. So in saying that keep on your toes."

"I will. I don't intend to die today, so I guess you'll be stuck with me bothering the hell out of you." She took out her pistol from between her cleavage and looked over her weapons. "Besides, cutting into it and then firing multiple times inside should weaken it significantly, whatever we're fighting."

“Ou you have no idea what we’re getting into, if a monster is giving us trouble it means we might be in a hell of trouble. But hay I got your back no matter what.”

"I know. You'd be depressed if you couldn't keep watching my ass all the time." She teased, her tone becoming a little more serious. "Besides... I'm very, very pissed off already. That means I'm going to tear thing thing apart, and I'm not going to let any wound stop me from killing it. So don't worry so much. I'll be fine fighting on a Kotavorg's world."

“Works for me. The two made there way to the hunting marshal office were they took the Bounty for what was called a wraith. Since Blisk didn’t have his weapons the provided him with a assault rifle and smg, and escorted them to the gate.

"So what got you scared, Blisk? You've been more paranoid ever since you came back from the mission in the station." Titania extended her blade to three feet and held it to the side, ready to use it at a moment's notice.

“Because if you knew who those two worked for you would be to.” As the forcefeild opened revealing the massive jungle in front of them Blisk loaded his weapons and went into the dence trees with Titania behind him.

"And who do they work for?" Titania pressed, scanning around for any potential threats.

Blisk looked around and saw some weird claw marks along the trees and ground.” A terrible pirate woman possibly the worst Tamarin in the galaxy.”

"So if I fought her, who would win?" Titania asked, her ears perking up at the distant sounds of rustling leaves.

“I don’t know I fought you but never fought her.” Blisk sniffed the air and started to run forward after a few seconds he saw a corpse of another Kotavorg and a local animal. “Hum poor young one, you weren’t ready for what was out here.” Blisk looked him over and saw that he was strangely pail as well as the pray.” Looks like our monster is a vampire type predator.”

"Tarsaw le Granti, homzin... Fraxin?" Titania asked, as her translator finally burned out and rendered her into her normal language.

“Great and I don’t speak Dondondari, Hum ou.” Blisk then tried to figure out how the could communicate all while finding tracks along the way.” Alright so Titania pretty sure you don’t understand me but I will explain as best I can, if you’re attacked I need you to scream. He explained by flicking Titania head and yelling. If you find tracks.” Blisk pointed to the pail corpses and showed her a club he made and waked it on a tree.

Titania nodded, pausing a few moments before opening her mouth. "Raxim... Is... hard to speak... but can. Can understand. Study. V'lek... I'm... r-r-rusty." She said a bit slowly, her voice far more timid and shy than it usually was.

“It’s ok we can figure this, just be patient and we can. Move!” Blisk quickly grabbed Titania and brought her closer to him as he used the springs in his leg to jump back a great distance. As a scythe like claw came down behind Titania, Blisk continued to dodge the attack until his back was against a tree. The monster in question had two scythe like claws on its back along with two regular arms, it’s body was very slim and ghostly with tentacles as it’s legs. It screams could be heard all around the forest as it went in for another attack.

Blisk still holding Titania close to his chest, quickly switched to the marriage carry position as the attack cam it cut through the tree causing it to fall. Blisk used the falling tree as a distraction to use his leg and spine augmentation to there fullest, he jumped fifty feet into the air onto the top of another tree. As he looked down he could see the monster looking for them.” Sorry about that.” As he looked down at Titania who was lightly shaken.

She booped his nose, deactivating her sword to do so.

"Dantamir... thank you, Blisk." (Cute... thank you, Blisk.) Titania offered a rather cute smile, while her organic eye showed some of the nervousness she had at nearly being impaled.

Spoiler: Wraith

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 4


“Well looks like we found our monster this thing is gonna be a pain to fight. Look Titania it might be bes that you stay up here while I fight this thing.”

She had an unimpressed look on her face as sh raised an eyebrow. "So I'm a dainty flower to take care of, is that it?" Without waiting for an answer she continued, "I'm faster than you, Blisk. I'm better suited to fighting up close, given your gear and mine." She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you trying to keep me away from the fight?"

Before Blisk could answers the tree they were on started to fall, Blisk who was still holding Titania jumped off the falling Tree toThe ground. Once landed Blisk put Titania down, but he didn’t see the monster.” Great it can also turn invisible wonderful.”

Titania glanced back towards a deep thicket of trees. "If we move to tree, we can light tree... and see smoke move if monster come. Good?" Titania asked, inching back slowly with her blade raised, ready to defend herself in a moment's notice.

"We could do that as much as I don't wan to set the forest on fire, but." Blisk used his thermal vision to find the monster, eventually finding it's heat signature he then used his flamethrower to burn the monster. The monster roared in pain as it charged Blisk using it's large scythe like appendage to try and slice into Blisk but he jumped out of the way, and decided to try and attack Titania.

With the flames giving her a clear idea of where it was, Titania twirled her blade to act as a shield while she dashed around it, firing her laser pistol at it as she did so.

However, a scythe descended down and managed to rip a bit into her back destroying her shirt. "I just got this top a week ago..." She growled in Dondondari, turning her lightning-fast laser sword on the appendage, severing chunks off of it.

The monster roared and then turned whit and the monster started to swing it limps rapidly faster then what Titian could keep up with and left cuts all over her body.

Blisk then started to fire his rifle and Smg at the monster getting it's attention and started attacking Blisk but he used his skin augmentation to make his skin a makeshift armor. Blisk then continued to fire both his weapons at the monster doing some decent damage on the beast.

Titania quickly climbed up a nearby tree and then jumped from it onto the creature's back, maximizing the length of her laser sword to full as she buried six feet into it... but failed to hit anything critical. "You be shitting me." Titania murmured, as she prepared for it to flail and attempt to get her off its back.

The monster tossed Titania off it and then wrapped it's self around her and then it teleported away.

"NO!" Blisk fallowed the scent of the monster and tried to catch up with it.

Away from Blisk the creature slammed Titania to the ground, and circled around her.

Titania glared and tried to think if she had anything of use on her that could help and the only thing that would work was a flashbang that if she used would deafen her. She growled, turning off the laser sword and flipped the handle up, placing the start of where the blade would come out between her fingers. Activating it as six feet she made sure any body part the vampiric creature was using to pin her was severed.

In a fit of do or die, she lunged forward, blade ready to cut a hole through the creature's innards while her laser pistol would sear the insides and help kill it faster.

The beast looked at Titania and charged forward but instead of using it scythe like limbs, it incaced it’s self ina circle with black circles surrounding it. The circles then explode driving Titania back as it quickly tried to gut her.

The foxgirl, as soon as she saw the monster charge, used her speed and the force of the explosion to climb up into a tree. She fired her laser pistol a couple times before jumping into a new tree, the old one toppling over due to being cleaved by the creature.

"Tch..." the energy pack the pistol used soon beeped at her, letting her know it had run out of energy to keep firing. "I have to fight this thing with just a sword? Great..." She grumbled in her native language.



The wraith quickly turned around and looked to impail Titania, until a large rock hit the monsters face. When Titania turned around she saw Blisk but he had this crazed look in his eyes.

When the wraith saw Blisk it immediately changed at him, Blisk quickly moved out of the way and quickly used both his rifle and his flamethrower to destroy whatever armor the monster had.

The foxgirl and jumped down, while the creature focused on Blisk. She turned off her sowrd, waiting to activate it in the weak spot Blisk had just made. A twinge of pain, caused her to briefly glance down and notice her left foot was facing the wrong way. "Kah'ten... (Damn it...)" Titania murmured under her breath, before promptly landing.

She wobbled unsteadily and nearly fell, but activated the six foot blade to create a large gash across its neck. She smiled as she leapt back, but upon landing her left foot gave out, causing her to drop to a knee for a brief moment, one she knew the creature would capitalize on.

The monster saw Titania limp but before it could do anything, Blisk jumped on its head and punched one of its eyes, and yanked it out of its head.

The wraith yelled in pain and threw Blisk off it and sliced off his left arm, since it was augmented Blisk didn’t care. He jumped back on the monster and bit into it, his jaw acting like a vice keeping a grip on the monster while he used his other his flamethrower on the monsters eye sockets.

Titania looked down at her sword. Her prized possession, one that her mother had given to her and one of the few weapons she upgraded constantly. She briefly started weighing her options but as Blisk's arm flew nearby, she made up her mind. She aimed at the creatures head and threw the sword with all of her genetically modified strength, the laser beam aimed for the creature's head. "Ternam Vi! (Die already!)" She yelled, her hands clenched in anger.

As the sword hit the monsters head along with the laser shot and Blisk Fire, the beast fell to the ground with Blisk pouring more fire into its head causing a loud bang to come from its head its brain pouring out. Blisk then yelled almost roaring one that could be heard all across the jungle for their victory.

Titania tried to stand, merely falling back down. It would take several days for her healing factor to repair breaks this bad, and she knew she would be in no way ready for a combat mission anytime soon.

Still, despite being injured, the foxgirl stubbornly made her way to Blisk, using her hands and her good leg to animal walk there. Her matted tail briefly brushing against Blisk. "Tinsiv... er... G-good job... Blisk."

Blisk looked at Titania and growled at her, the Blisk she knew clearly not home mentally. Blisk then sniffed the wounded Titania decided whether to eat her or not, he then looked down at to see that his arm was missing and saw Titania leg was broken. With his one good arm he grabbed his arm her grabbed his missing arm and put Titania on over his shoulder.

"Yelti? Deenem Tocal'tabal? B-blisk? (Friend? Are you okay?)" She asked, slightly panicking that something had affected Blisk.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 5


Blisk didn’t say anything but continued to walk to the colony, but it was starting to get dark and Blisk went into a nearby cave. He put Titania down on the ground and looked at her leg, he then used his only arm and twisted her busted leg back in place.

The foxgirl swore as quietly as she could; not very. A tear formed in her organic eye at the pain, but it did not fall. "B-blisk? Are you... angry? At me?"

Blisk then looked up at Titania, and whipped the tear off her cheek, he then kissed her forehead and rubbed her head.” Ugh no I’m not angry I care for you I could never be mad.”

As his hand went over her ears, she let out an involuntary purring sound before briefly looking away in embarrassment. "You do? Why?" She asked, her voice more quiet than normal.

“Because you’re my friend and could never fully hate you. I care for you very much, could you give me a minute.” A needle came out of Blisk arm, and he injected himself with the blue liquid.” Ugh damn it lost myself for a good while there.”

Titania merely tilted her head as she looked back. "Kota...v-vorg thing?" She pointed at the needle.

Blisk dropped the needle and his demeanor went back to normal. "Ugh yea it's a Kotavorge thing, But we can't be that far off from the settlement. And your leg's still broke, so for now you get some sleep well head to the colony in the morning."

Titania nodded, before reaching for her sword, only to realize it was back at the monster, buried in its head. A flurry of angry-sounding Dondondarian words flew from her mouth as she started crawling for the entrance of the cave.

"And were in the galaxy do you think your crawling off too huh? what's the matter with you?"

"Sakin waza. My... mother's sword." She grabbed onto a rocky outcropping and hoisted herself up to a standing position. "Stay. Is okay. I'll find." She said softly as she looked for the area where a good chunk of forest had been destroyed.

She could feel herself being picked up, and on the shoulders of Blisk. "Your not going there by yourself, especially on this planet. The animals here will more then likely smell the blood coming from you and attack you, so I will carry you there wither you like it or not."

"You're missing arm. Not good for... fighting. Leg no big deal." Titania protested, frowning at the man beneath her.

“Titania you’re a crawling easy meal, and you have no ammo. We’re as me my bit can tare into most thongs neck and spine, and my one good arm still has a flamethrower We’re you don’t. So Shut up, I’m carrying you.”

"Fine... stop winning argumen-nts." Titania let out a low growl, as she looked away, more than a bit irritated. She took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. Blisk was, unfortunately, correct. She wasn't in the best shape and Blisk was strong enough to protect her, moreover, he could get her there and back relatively quickly.

Blisk then heard several sounds surrounding them, but for the moment Blisk ignored it. As they continued to walk they then saw the wraith corpse, a horrible stintch coming from it.” Alright I’ll drop you near it so you can grab your sword.”

As soon as he did so, Titania used her three remaining limbs to propel her forward and onto the creature. Gagging at the smell, she searched for the hidden blade, looking at the glowing hole in its head. She gagged again as she reached in, grabbing the handle with triumph as she pulled it out. Promptly before vomiting into the empty cranium. She briefly wiped her mouth before looking back calling out only loud enough for Blisk to hear, "Found it!"

Blisk quickly looked behind her and fired a flair gun into the air. “Great now I need you to hide quickly so you won’t be in the bay.”

She looked around for a place to hide, only to realize the only place she could hide was inside the dead creature. "Come for me?" She asked, slicing a more sizeable hole into the creature's head. She started backing up into it, hesitating only long enough to ask her question, before she tossed herself into the Wraith's skull.

Blisk then looked around and saw a red scaled monster coming out of the forest, the monster itself looked like a giant k nine with eight claws on each paw. When the beast roared it changed Blisk with incredible speed.

Blisk quickly used his skin augmentation to armor himself up and then fired his rifle at the beast, but it jumped on a nearby tree and the jumped down to slash Blisk stomach.

It, however, was impaled by a familiar laser sword that now reeked of rotten meat and decay. "No dying!" Came Titania's voice, however, if Blisk were to look over, he would find that she had already duck back into the skull, hiding once more.

Blisk ran at the beast while it was distracted and grabbed the sword and shoved it into its chest, this made the best roar in pain until it bit down on his shoulder. As Blisk yelled in pain his stabbed the monster again.

It was then hit with plasma fire and was forced to retreat, the hunts marshals with other Kotavorg showed up before Blisk passed out from the pain.

The sound of plasma weaponry caused her to poke her head out as she saw Blisk laying on the ground, "Ta, ta, ta! (No)" She cried out, as she scrambled from her hiding spot to Blisk, uncaring of being shot.

The hunts marshal looked at Titania hugging Blisk and ordered his men to take them both to the colony and to give Titania a shower.

As they made there way to the colony the hunts marshal gave Titania the money for the wraith.” There you go mam fourth five thousand credits, and don’t worry about your friend he’ll be fine.”

"Kraxen Xan-ta... Blisk... Telu fortis, Sunny. (If only I hadn't... Better go pay, Sunny...)" Titania muttered to herself, only paying half attention to the Marshal as she looked over to where Blisk was being carried.

Sunny came into the marshal office with her equipment.” We’re is my client!” The marshal pointed to We’re Blisk was And she immediately pooled out her tools and got to work on fixing Blisk arm.

“You fucking idiot how many time must I fix you Blisk, how often must I do this before I can’t anymore and you’re to broken to fix!” Sunny said hitting a table.

Titania limped over to the two of them from where they had propped her up. She passed that payment over to Sunny, not bothering to look at her as she watched Blisk's chest rise and fall in unconscious bliss. "Payment." Titania said softly, her tired eyes finally staring at the Kotavorg tinkerer.

Sunny wasn't paying much attention to Titania, as she was pulling out her tools. It wasn't until she looked up, and say the money on the table. "Ou thank you for the payment, ugh honestly what am I gonna do with this man. Always giving parts of yourself to save others what is wrong with you Blisk."

"If not... would've died." Titania said softly, brushing a hand through his hair.

“I know it’s always like this with him, no matter what happens he does this he would rather hurt himself then be to selfish.”

"Than I'll... m-make... sure that... he does." Titania promised, speaking slow and methodically as if she were reading the sentence off a board.

“Well I appreciate that, it would be nice to have someone look over him while I can’t. I’ll also be sure to fix your translator I kinda did that to make sure you didn’t run off and didn’t pay me.”

A hard smack across the back of Sunny's head, one with enough force to nearly hit Blisk with the woman's head, let the tinkerer know exactly how displeased she was. "Never again. Nearly killed." If the woman cared to look up, she would see a foxgirl baring her teeth with a supremely annoyed look on her face.

Sunny then grabbed the metal table and forced it to bend.” Lady just because I don’t have cybernetics doesn’t mean im defenseless, don’t do that again.” Sunny then regained her composure.” Beside I’m sure you did that because you car for this big guy.”

Titania took a moment to calm down before she responded. "I do. You put in danger. Why smack."

“I know Blisk if he couldn’t handle it I wouldn’t have done it, you should have seen him years ago when he fought a monster on our home world he looked worse than this.”

Titania continued brushing her fingers through his hair. "Animals still can kill. Doesn't matter... where they come from." Titania warned softly, looking down at Blisk before looking up at Sunny. "Do something like... this again, I hit harder. Fair?"

"Alright that sounds fair, Look I can make a quick fix to his arm but I need to go to my shop and get my things to fix his augmentations properly and maybe fix his skin augmentation do you mind looking over him for me?"

"Sure. Hurry back." She said as she sat down next to Blisk.

As Sunny left to get her tools, after a few minutes Blisk eyes opened and he slowly stood up.


Titania, upon realizing that he was standing, stood, wincing in pain as she did so. She gently tried to push him down. "Rest, Blisk. Stay."


Blisk tried to resist but couldn’t a sign that he lost a lot of blood.” I’m fine it’s just a flesh wound.”


She kept her hands pushing him down. "No. Rest." She paused and gave him a weak smile. "For me?"

Spoiler: Red scaled monster

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 6

“I swear to the stars I’m gonna hurt you and most of the crew for making me this soft.” Blisk said laying back down.

"Big talk for one arm. Now rest." Titania smirked, as she sat back down and ran her fingers through his hair. "Sunny be back soon."

Blisk growled but relaxed, he then realized that Titania was playing with his hair. “Um Titania is there a reason you’re playing with my hair, I mean I don’t really mind just questioning it?”

She growled in response, her hand pausing for a moment before she went back to what she was doing. "Shut up."

“You other races are so weird, you get embarrassed of the slightest thing, just be honest and say you were scared for me.”

"Not scared. Annoyed now. And yes. Was scared, back then." Titania answered, flicking his head gently in annoyance.

“Look I’m sorry for scaring you but it’s fine, I faced bigger beast on my home world. Non quit as agile as that wraith but tougher.”

A harder flick to his head was what greeted him. "Still. Nearly died. Not okay."

Blisk turned around and hit Titania stomach with his tail.” You worry to much.”

A more fluffy and matted tail smacked him back. "Good reason. Not first time. Sunny told." Titania poked his tail, becoming even more irritated with the Kotavorg.

“That damn woman mentioning my old battles, I will survive no matter what happens to me!” Blisk tail hit Titania again.

A quick hand grabbed it, as Titania frowned. "So you.... let yourself... get mauled... repeatedly, Blisk? Until there's... nothing left? Until all those... who care about you... get to pick up the... scattered pieces?" She asked, her voice soft as was her touch on his shoulder.

Blisk was silent for a minute.” No one would care for me, now leave me be.” Blisk removed his tail from Titania.

Titania bit back a response, before she started limping away towards the door. She stopped before she reached it and turned to watch her charge, hoping Sunny would arrive soon.

Sunny barged In with all of her tools.” Alright Blisk time to fix you.” Sunny looked at Titania and back at Blisk.” I’m you ok fox girl?”

"Yeah. I am fine... just giving Blisk... his space." Titania set her translator onto a nearby table. "For when you... get around to... fixing it. Send it to... the Golden Wind." With that, Titania limped out, a very neutral face that hid her emotions and a hand on her sword handle being her only possessions.

Sunny turned to Blisk with a annoyed expression.” What did you say to her Blisk?!”

“The truth, no one would care for my death.”

“what is wrong with you of course people will care, you’re more than some mercenaries you help ours and other races because you want to!”

Blisk feel silent and Sunny knew he was done talking and went about fixing him.

 

[Black0ut]

Black0ut & Frostlich1228 present:
Two Warring Cultures


A bar within the megastation's commercial hub had a very strange air to it: There was no decorative signs, no bouncers to block unruly guests, and the decoration for it felt like it would've been suited to a backwards rural world. It was this then, that made it more interesting: It was a space for bounty hunters, pirate hunters, and other independent law enforcers to congregate en-masse.

However, it was unusually quiet. This was due to the woman who walked in, wearing a tight, red skin-suit that left nothing to the imagination; a series of harness tried to intervene in her rather lewd attire but failed to curb any of the lustful looks coming her way- accompanied by the disgusted and jealous ones. She held in her hand her trusty sword handle, her side pistol holstered.

She sauntered up to the bar, ordering a Transderry Shuffle - A dondondari drink that was known to make less hardy races drunk. Her eyes finally peered over the room, causing most to avert their gaze and pretend that they had conversations to attend to or drinks to nurse. She sighed, strapping her handle into one of her sheaths. She hadn't meant to draw this much attention, but given what she had done recently- and that she knew she was beautiful- she couldn't exactly be upset with her effective coworker's reactions. She silently prayed for something, anyone, to approach her and offer a friendly chatting face to combat the current mood of the establishment.

"Hello." A voice next to her spoke out as if to answer her proverbial prayer. Sitting a few rows over was an extremely tall Insectoid Woman, a Laepaede if her memory was correct, it was rare to see them in places like this, especially ones that colorful... She has actually heard rumors of a Royal Laepaede that has joined the Golden Wind's crew, could this be that one? "I think I've seen you around..."

Titania raised an eyebrow, but offered a sweet smile to try to be polite. "Perhaps. I do get sent to some new and weird places." She paused, eyeing the other woman up, trying to decide if the insectoid was the one Aya had told her about. Deciding to be more cautious, she offered her bounty hunting name, "My name's Ronin. What's your name?"

"Yyashtra'kari." She gave her real name.

"Y-... I'm sorry, but do you have a nickname I could call you instead? I don't want to be rude and mess up your name..." Titania asked, giving a winning smile.

"Yasha is fine." She stated plainly, looking up at the bartender. "Just give me one of everything with fruit juice..."

"Yasha it is." Titania looked eager as her own drink slid down the bar towards her. Catching it she took a sip and all the tension seemed to ease out of her body. "So... what brings you here, Yasha? Checking up on old friends or trying to make some new ones?"

"Trying to relax. I don't really make friends." She sighed as the bartender set at least ten glasses in front of her, filling them all with various cocktails from his shaker.

"And why is that?" Titania asked, taking another sip from her drink.

"Because most people want nothing to do with me. My previous outfit didn't do nearly as much chatting and this one." She downed a lavender colored shot.

"The big, tall, beautiful girl who could probably throw me through a wall... you're intimidating without meaning to be." Titania shrugged. "Just means you have to open up a bit more to those you like and take a chance with them. That's how all friendships start."

She slid her glass down towards the bug woman, a peace offering that potentially could get her rather drunk.

She shrugged and downed it, suddenly coughing and slamming the table. "I... Ugh..."

Titania chuckled nervously and stood up walking over to the bug girl. "Probably should've warned you that one was strong... you okay?"

She cleared her throat hard. "I think you may have burned away my taste buds..."

"Don't be so dramatic... Bartender, can you get us a Tin-Tin Tonic?" Titania sat next to her and rubbed her back gently, sometimes missing and rubbing a wing instead. "I'm sorry... that tonic should help soothe your throat..."

"I will admit though... It was an..." She stopped to cough some more. "And interesting... Experience..."

The tonic arrived hastily, caught from nearly shattering by Titania. "Oh? How so?"

"Burning... Isn't really in our taste repertoire... " She chuckled lowly, her voice slightly raspy.

"So what you're saying is that you can't hold your liqueur?" Titania teased light-heartedly, passing the tonic over. "I'll make sure to let you have some less 'hard' drinks."

"I like... Fruity Stuff... Sweet..." She pointed to the dozen full shot glasses in front of her.

"It was fruity, just very, very, very alcoholic." Titania gently rubbed her new drinking buddy's back. "Drink the tonic. I promise this one'll soothe your throat."

"Yeah... Fine..." The Insect actually opened her mouth, using her long prehensile tongue to pick up the glass and drop the shot down her throat.

Titania actually paused, looking at the appendage with curiosity. "That's pretty cool..." Titania murmured audibly, before clearing her throat. "So... I'm not too familiar with your culture or species. I mean, I doubt I've seen too many people who were literally colorful and bigger than me. So, uh, could I bother you for a bit of a lesson on that front?"

"Well. I'm happy to talk about my people. Even if I have already explained it about seventy times..." She shrugged.

"As a Dondondari, I could give you some info most people don't know about my species. I'm pretty sure you'd be surprised about our history, given people think us a meek trader people." Titania offered, giving her a smile.

"Go ahead and I'll tell you whatever you want to know about us in return." She nodded, "I'll admit Dodondari fall a bit outside my realm of expertise."

"Like most space-faring people, we were warriors. The reason our prowess in trade is even possible is due to massive shortages in resources on our home planet." Titania started off, taking one of Yasha's drinks for herself. "War was constant in the days before we gained ships; families did their best to survive in warring states that needed more resources to keep their populations alive instead of pillaged. Children were sold for an extra day's worth of rations, and far more horrible and unpleasant things that happened due to that. That is, until one brilliant man, simply known as... it's hard to say in the universal galactic language, but something like 'Lysartro' comes close. Anyways, Lysartro realized that if we utilized space and its vast resources, war would not be necessary. He tricked a warlord into developing a mining platform -which he put numerous defensive measures into- and with new reserves of precious metals, he made a deal with all of the warlords: abandon the martial trade and reap the powerful benefits of peace, or refuse and be destroyed by those who did. Naturally, all accepted but one: the strongest nation, Dartan."

"With their vast armies, they tried to crush their smaller opposition, but with so many against them, it only took a couple years of heavy, bloody fighting before it ended due to attrition. Dartan got divided up and ceased to exist pretty much immediately. With the war over, the governments wanted to coalesce; they had all fought, bled, and died for each other after all. They kept their individual nations but, overall power was given to the High Trader, who in turn established a meritocracy oligarchy; or in simpler terms, you work hard at trading, you get to the top. Of course, when we discovered Earth, we found them cute and charming- and perhaps more important- biologically compatible with our species. We had been through a hell of a war and with many of our people dead, it would take a while to repopulate. Even if we did threaten the Earthlings with our superior tech, we would've lost sorely in a war, especially with the Demigor already having failed and started them out with Tamear as an ally. But luckily they had copper, silver, and gold and decided to trade with us instead of politely telling us to fuck off. At that point, we were already pretty affluent traders with our own scary fleet simply called... ugh, I hate translating... the B-baying Hounds? I think that's right... so yeah, predatory mercantile warriors to wealthy reliable traders. Is... there anything else you wanna know?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as she downed her friend's drink and caught another glass that threatened to burn Yyashtra's throat if she tried it.

"That... Is very facinating... And quite specific... I could share my own story about one of my people's greatest leaders, if you so choose." Yasha offered, rotating in her seat to face her.

"Go ahead." Titania took a sip from her drink and it was evident in the way it relaxed her it was the burning Transderry Shuffle. "I'm betting your people got a rich history too."

"I could tell you of the great Altarea'Una, the Queen who brought our people together as one for the first time. We weren't always the cooperative culture that you see today." The Laepaede offered.

"I'll take it. So this great queen... how did she unite your people?"

"Long Ago... Before our people discovered space travel, we were separated into numerous hives that fought for territory with eachother. To one hive, referred to as Hive Una, Altarea was born. Una was a extremely weak and minor hive, being pressured on all sides by their enemies, their Royal at the time of her birth was also dying, having reached her thousandth year of life. Hive Una placed all of its hope on a single generation, and from that Generation of children, Altarea was born.

 

[Black0ut]

Two Warring Cultures, pt.2


She was a Sharei of the brightest golden carapace, so golden and white were her wings that records say she blinded the unworthy that gazed upon her, for their eyes could not handle the truth of her splendor." Yyashtra recites the story like it was something she had heard time and time again.

"How did she defeat her enemies and save her hive?"

"Altarea, through countless trails against her fellow Sisters, was crowded Royal of her Hive. However, her idea to save her people wasn't to fight back, but instead she saw all Laepaede as her people, and all worth saving. She had so much faith in her people that she merely walked into enemy territory on her own. She was a shining, radiant ball of light and warmth in the fierce battle. It was said that no one was brazen enough to strike her down, for every one they met sensed something in her, it is a concept in common... Like... The Divine Right to Rule... Only not Divine... 'Alharana Torovi', they saw her as a true leader, bound to change the future, in that shining light of hers."

"So they surrendered one by one... I admit that is an impressive feat. What did she do next after dealing with her rival?" Titania asked, her bushy, soft tail brushing against the giant insect woman.

"She convinced the Royal of the hive that they need to fight, it was said that her words flowed so elegantly and perfectly that she could have convinced the cruelest pirate lord to put down his Weapons." Yyashtra'kari explained. "Then she would travel to the next, and to the next, her entourage of Royals growing larger and larger as all heard the undeniable truth of her words."

"What happened next? Did she get them all that way or was there one Royal who didn't agree?"

"There was one. A greedy selfish Royal who desperately hoarded her land and her prizes. They say she hated Altarea and the unity she stood for, so she fought back, however, her people defended her with their bodies, and seeing this, the selfish Royal was removed from power by her own people." Yyashtra'kari nodded. "Afterwards, all the Laepaede Hives came together, Altarea and her gleaming wings stood before them all. And thusly she would be named the first Shara'Sharei, The First Grand Royal, entrusted to guiding her people into the future. And she did. Under her guidance and with all Royals working towards one goal, we reached the stars, and then reached beyond, the first to settle the galaxy. Some stories say that when Altarea passed, they buried her body in the earth on our Homeworld where she was first born. Other stories say her body was cast off into space, where her light and glow became a star. But one thing that is the same is that a glorious monument was built on the site of her birth, of the Shara'Sharei Altarea holding up the stars in the night sky, to remind us how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go, as long as we are United."

Titania smiled. "That's a beautiful history of your people... thank you for sharing that with me." Her face was slightly red however, the now three empty glasses of her native drink neatly lined up on the bar. "I'm sorry if I bothered you by asking but... I didn't want to be an ass and just assume things about your people."

She chuckled, the alcohol not affecting her as much, probably due to her size. "It's fine, of course. It is a lovely story. I wonder if the statue still stands on our Homeworld..."

"If it was made to be resplendent and opulent, but constructed to be hard to tear down, it might still stand... Probably a lot of its luster would be gone but still standing." Titania pet her wings gently. It seemed that despite being a bit tipsy, the foxgirl stil had some modicum of sweetness in her, evident by what she said next, "But, hey... We could take a trip over to your homeworld… I got a ship and I could fly us over..."

The Laepaede laughed sadly. "Our Homeworld is Fee Space now... And they wouldn't let me within a hundred miles of the planet."

"Well... foreign diplomats are allowed to go, and they can't say no to bodyguards going with said diplomats..." Titania thought aloud, "I could see about getting in touch with a Dondondari diplomat and paying him to hire you on for the trip... but you'll have to give me something equal in value in return." Her eyes looked mischievous as the foxgirl stared at her wings. "I don't weigh too much, so you could pick me up and fly with me right?"

"I could... But you don't really understand the Fee's zealous hatred of my people, do you?" Yyashtra shook her head.

"The Andromeda AI thingie. Yeah, I know why, but they can't so anything to you if you're a bodyguard to a diplomat. An attack on a bodyguard might as well be an attack on the diplomat. So they wouldn't risk it. You just would have to deal with racists and assholes, which is the easy part..." Titania's expression seemed to darken somewhat, palpable anger that disappeared as fast as it came in lieu of her happy, albeit slightly drunk, smile.

"You Haven't met many Fee then. Bringing a Laepaede to 'their' world would be taken as a huge insult." She added.

"Again, diplomats. The Fee still have to honor the fact that a trade consortium like the Dondondari are worth more as allies than enemies. They would allow it. Maybe for a single cycle of work, but they would. They can't very well do the whole 'We'll kill everyone and start a war with some of our closest allies' thing, so you'd be fine. Unhappy and somewhat hated, but fine." Titania started before leaning on Yasha's side. "So warm..." She murmured, closing her eyes as she did so.

Yyashtra gently placed a hand on her head and pushed her off. "Right... Well... I'm not sure it's a good idea..."

"Probably not, but what are the chances you'll ever get to go? Fee hate La...pae… de... so chances are if you wanted to see your home planet, you'd have to either raise an army and enact a galactic war or go with a foreign delegation there." Titania answered, somewhat pouting over being denied the chance to lay on the warm bug woman. "So what's the harm? You could get to see something not many other tall, beautifully colorful bug women get to see."

"You have only just met me, and I feel I need to remind you that you are extremely intoxicated." She pointed out. "Besides, are you even actually a diplomat?"

"Not extremely intoxicated..." Titania giggled loudly, causing several other patrons in the bar to look at her with more lusty expressions. Her voice dropped a few octaves as she continued. "And technically I am. Not for the whole Consortium, just for Tradeship Krieg... but that does allow me to essential barter within the Consortium to see if I can do that. Besides, I wanna fly and you can fly without having to use chemicals or cybernetics... that and I got a good feeling about you, Yasha. You haven't been a dick and you've been honest and forthright. You haven't tried to manipulate me which means that I can trust you a little bit..." Titania smiled, but it felt more genuine; it was a soft gentle smile one might give to a close friend, a smile without all the social and mental shields one might put in place to protect themselves.

"You make it sound like you don't like cybernetics or augmentation. Is that true?" The Insect seemed curious.

"I'm augmented, so its not like I hate it..." Titania raised an eyebrow as she scanned a good deal of the room, noting a lot of cyborgs. She returned her gaze to Yyashtra, wanting to see how the bug girl would react to her words.

She seemed to squirm a bit, giving her a suspicious look. "How augmented...?"

"I can crush cybernetics with my hands." Titania raised an eyebrow. Is her new found friend was going to be suspicious of her, it would be best to limit what she knew about her capabilities. "Yasha, do you hate augments, genetic or cybernetic?"

"I... Am not fond of them... No... We feel similarly to the Tamaerin, Evolution has made us perfect already, why would we try to take that into our own hands?" Yyashtra'kari looked off to the side. "Besides, after the events with the Andromeda AI, the thought of modifying myself only seems that much more unpleasant."

"Then a more simple question: Do you hate me because I'm modified?" It was softer than what was normal for the fox, but she managed to hold a pleasant smile. "And be honest. I'm not going to be upset if you do."

She sighed. "You seem like a good person. For what it's worth. Maybe misguided. Why did you get them, if I may ask?"

Titania's gaze darkened, as she looked away, bitterness and anger fighting for dominance on her face. "I'd... rather not talk about it. It's a sore subject for me, and like you said earlier, we're still strangers to one another."

Her gaze narrowed. "Very well. My answer, I suppose, is I don't hate you... It just makes me uncomfortable..."

"That I could probably carry you back to the ship with both hands makes you uncomfortable? Fair enough. I'm a pilot, so most, if not all, my augments are to help me fly better and endure more so I can keep myself, and any passengers I have at the time, alive." Titania shrugged, getting another hard-hitting drink. "Still, you're not the first person to be wary of me. Aya was very much the same way. Still is wary, but she's getting better."

"You're a pilot? I'm done my fair share of pilot training in my two hundred or so years..." Yasha smirked proudly.

"I am. I have my own ship and... did you say two hundred years? That's, uh... wow. Make me feel like more like a rookie, huh?" Titania started, rubbing her neck as she looked at the other woman. She felt incredibly awkward around someone she thought was around her age and was far older. "Still, that black ship in the hangar? That one's mine. I've tweaked it and modified it so that it can do quite a bit more than what the standard version can do... umm..."

 

[Black0ut]

Two Warring Cultures, pt.3


"Ah yes! I've seen it! It's quite the vessel, w- what are you looking at?" Yyashtra'kari followed her eyes.

Titania blinked a couple times, her eyes focusing on the bug woman. "Nothing." She shrugged, downing her entire drink, her face turning a very bright red as the alcohol hit her system hard. "Just was thinkin' about stuff..."

"I... Don't believe... Drinking that much is... Good for you..." Yyashtra noted.."Perhaps you should stop?"

"And why do you care?" Came the drunken response. Titania looked at her array of glasses in front of her. "Maybe... Maybe I should just keep drinking..." It was a whispered response, soft and contemplative.

"I don't think you should. Perhaps I should just to take you home." Yyashtra offered, showing very little emotion.

Titania waved a dismissive hand towards the Laepaede as she stumbled out of her chair, taking her cred-stick out to briefly swipe over the counter to pay for her drinks before trying to sit back down. "Joke's on you, I don't have a home..." She mumbled, her eyes a little glazed.

"The ship then? We can fly there."

"But I can't fly..." Titania murmured, looking at the bigger women with a confused expression.

Yyashtra stood up, using her middle arms to wrap around Titania's waist, "Alright. We're going."

"But why...?" Titania protested, struggling slightly. "I thought we were having fun..." As if to further her protest, the fox's tail wrapped around Yyashtra's waist.

"This is what you've been reduced to Yyashtra..." She looked back over to the bar, downing any leftover shots before leaving a pile of credits on the counter. "Right. Come here girl."

The foxgirl quickly broke out of her grip, catching her rapid descent to the floor with her face. Despite a fair amount of blood leaking out of her forehead, she managed to get up and cross her arms. She took a few steps away, her tail swishing irritably from side to side. "Why?"

The Laepaede growled, obviously getting slightly fed up. "Or you could stay here and let one of these fine folks take care of you. Your choice."

Titania glared at Yasha, obviously drunkenly fed up with her good samaritan. However, she seemed to get the message and turned around, heading over to the door. Wiping the blood out of her eye, she took out a small pendant that held a picture on it.

Yasha quickly followed her out, staying a few feet behind.

Titania trudged on, her eyes never leaving the pendant which had a picture of a rather handsome Shinso man. Surprisingly, she weaved around people not once colliding with anyone, more than likely due to her rather acute hearing.

As they reached to door the establishment, Yyashtra offered her a hand. "Still want to fly?"

Titania finally broke her gaze away from the pendant. Looking up, she offered a cautious smile. "Sure... Just don't drop me..."

“I'll... Try not to..." She grabbed her, with two sets of arms, almost cradling her before beginning to flap her wings, spreading out dust around them. She was having some difficulty though, "I'm... It's been a while since I've done this..."

Titania sighed, but nodded. "You don't have to if I'm too heavy..."

"Nooo! I got it!" She flapped harder, the two of them beginning to pick up off the ground, the two of them gathering quite the crowd with their show.

"Are you sure?" Titania asked, looking down at the crowd, trying to see if she spotted a familiar face.

Not flapping her wings with a more even rhythm, she began to fly towards where she knew the ship was. "Alright... Don't struggle too much or get antsy, I need to beat my wings with a certain tempo to keep steady."

"Okay." The fox murmured, looking around with drunken delight at her newly shifting perspective. "So cool..."

The buildings and the people seemed so small from the air, the wind in the city being quite pleasant against her face. Yyashtra began ascending higher, the arms around her waist still gripping her tightly.

"Whoa..." Titania stared awestruck at the beautiful city beneath her, reveling at the sights she had access to. "Yasha, this is so cool!"

"You're welcome. This isn't exactly a small amount of effort." Yyashtra shook her head slowly.

Titania's smile dropped into a frown, shame seemingly emanating out of her. "I'm sorry... I didn't wanna make it hard for you to fly..."\

"It's fine. I need practice anyway." She assured.

Despite the reassuring words, the foxgirl still looked sad. They traveled in silence for a few seconds before a soft question emerged. "Yasha... have you ever been in a bad way, like you fucked up and someone you cared about paid for it?"

She was quiet for a few moments before answering. "Yes. Yes I have..."

"Then you know how it feels... when it keeps getting rubbed in your face..." Titania looked down at the ground intently. "How much you'd do anything to fix it. And how tired it makes you..."

"I can't fix it. I can never fix it. I just... Have to try and find some other meaning..." The Royal let out a somber sigh.

Titania looked at her pendant, her voice stilling for a few minutes. When it returned, it was a dead, joyless voice, "At least, yours isn't on life support."

"At least yours is still allowed to think about you. Or talk about you. Or see you... She might even very well hate me, and I can't blame her..." Yyashtra'kari looked down at the Dodondari in her arms. "I deserve it too."

"I doubt it... you're a nice person. I don't think you deserve to be hated." Titania looked away. "I fucked up and he's in a coma. So... no, you're good."

"I'm not. I can never be seen around other Royals ever again. It's a crime for me to enter another hive." Yyashtra let out a single sad chuckle.

"Why is it a crime?"

"Because my Royal Pheromones allow me to control people. It isn't exactly something I can turn off, either. They don't want me doing other things like that either." Yasha told her simply.

"So they banned you because of something you were born with? That's... bullshit." Titania frowned, shaking her head slightly.

"That's... Not the reason they banned me. Just why I can't go back." Yasha corrected.

"Why did they ban you, then?"

"I was selfish and foolish. I put the entire hive in jeopardy. I only cared about myself, not what was best for the hive." She repeated, almost like she was reading off a script.

"Okay...? That still doesn't explain what you did that was so wrong..." Titania replied, frowning somewhat.

After a long silent pause that the two of them almost felt lasted forever, the Laepar blurted out. "I grew too attached...! To the Ashara'Sharei... We are not supposed to be attached... We are meant to focus on our Hive and I neglected mine to... To hoard the Grand Royal to myself..."

"Were you asking for her advise or trying to understand how you could act more like her?" The fox looked up at the bug girl, unable to see more than her chin, but still expectantly looking up at her.

"No! I simply... Wanted her company... And for no other reason than that..." Yyashtra'kari shook her head, saying it out loud made her even more disgusted with herself.

"So you were lonely and found a friend in her or you had a crush on her. I'm finding it hard to see the problem with wanting to talk to someone." Titania frowned.

"A. Crush? What is this? I did not want to hurt her." Yyashtra seemed perplexed.

"Attraction or maybe you wanted to be more romantically involved." Titania explained, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "That's what 'crush' means."

"I'm... I think my translator may be malfunctioning..." Yyashtra began to slowly descend. "Like... Sexual Attraction? No, not that, Royals cannot mate with other Royals."

"Lesbians still go after each other despite no children result from them 'mating'." Titania replied, shrugging slightly. "And if you didn't have feelings for her, then what was she to you?"

"I said... I got too attached... Is that what you mean by feelings? And I understand a little of this... Lesbian... Concept, but it does not translate well culturally as all of our mating is 'same sex', Royals do not mate with other Royals. Only Courtesan mate with Royals." Yyashtra continued trying to explain.

"So let me get this straight: You got in a lot of trouble for talking too much with your leader, you can't do anything with royals but you can with courtesans, and you can no longer return home because you were banished." Titania frowned. "First off, getting into trouble for talking to the one who guides you shouldn't be a punishable crime. Secondly, that seems a tad excessive of a punishment. Banishment for that seems like you had rivals who just hated you and wanted you gone, which is utter shit."

"I... Am not sure you fully understand... I'm not sure I fully understand... All I know is they were right, I am selfish..."

"How are you selfish? You are flying me back to the ship and started it when I was too drunk to think." Titania pointed out, shaking her head. "If anything, you're selfless to a fault. That's at least as far as I've seen."

"I... Couldn't in good conscience leave you there to potentially get taken advantage of sexually by those bar patrons" She huffed.

"See? You're selfless and a sweet person, contrary to what they think."

"But they were still right. I hurt my hive..." Yyashtra'kari finally landed, her two feet gently touching the ground, the docked ship in walking distance.

"How?" Titania looked up at the woman inquisitively, still held within her grasp.

"Because I should've been one hundred percent devoted to them as their Royal. That is my purpose." Yyashtra'kari hid her face behind her hands.

 

[Black0ut]

Two Warring Cultures, pt.4



"Was that how the first Ashara'sharei made her way through the world? Complacent and accepting of her lowly position? You're banished, and now you feel you have to be ashamed?" Titania crossed her arms. "You are a Royal, as was the First. Use your talents and skills to build-up renown so that they eventually acknowledge the greatness you possess. Do it to honor those you had to leave. Forge a legacy just as great so that thousands of years later, they still remember your name." The Fox's mismatched eyes held confident fires as well as a gentle smile.

"This is but a trial in your life you must overcome."

"But they are right... Why don't you understand that?"

"Because just because someone says you're in the wrong doesn't necessarily mean you are." Titania gently grabbed one of the hands still holding her. "You've basically disproven everything they said about you."

"Look. You're nice. But I haven't. And ferrying you home doesn't fix all I've done." Yyashtra pulled her hand away.

"Fine. You're apparently this horrible, hardened criminal who deserves punishment for talking to her Ashara'sharei too much. You sure are terrifying, Yasha." Titania stepped away to look at her properly, raising an amused eyebrow.

"Like I said you don't get it. Our culture doesn't translate well to yours. I accepted the verdict, my punishment, I'm not so deluded to not admit when I've done wrong by my people." The Royal gave her a serious look.

Titania rubbed her temples. "Okay. Fine. You're guilty. I'm not going to argue this point anymore because I'm starting to realize it's a lesson in futility." She turned around and started walking away, trying to deal with the headache she was getting.

"What a strange person..." She sighed. "Why did I offer to fly her...? I'm exhausted..."

 

[Black0ut]

Black0ut & Frostlich1228
Ghosts and Spectres...



Noise was impossible in space. There were gene mods and cybernetic enhancement that gave the impression of sound. Such sounds would occur with the docking of a shuttle to a station. However... assault shuttles and decrepit stations aren't always the best.

"I wish Ghost gave us more info before deploying..." Graeme murmured, looking at the team of fifteen. This was a pretty rookie squad with some more seasoned elements among them. They had a Fee technician who was handy with a blaster, but shit with a rifle: A cyber-Quin Bruiser who had been on dozens of operations before and finally, a psionic human who reminded him of Jerry. A hiss reminded him that they were now able to enter the abandoned station. "Alright, men, move forward and keep an eye out."

The entire structure was haunting from where they had docked and it was clearly abandoned and falling apart. Large holes riddled the space station, it didn't take much deducing that the structure wouldn't have working oxygen. Why would anyone want to meet here?

"Captain, I don't like this place..." Murmured the Fee, nervously aiming her laser pistol around.

"Keep your eyes open and nothing will think you're a delicious snack." Graeme replied, his own rifle raised as the group stuck together to delve within the wreck. He, however, knew that they would be stranded within six hours if his code wasn't inputted I to the ship.

"Where are you, you little fucks...?" The Quin whispered, his gatling leader's barrels spinning but not yet firing.

As they entered the vessel, they could hear the metal around them creaking in their minds, despite there being no chance of collapse in space, they were making that sound up themselves.

The first thing they came across though was a number of strange symbols carved into the side of the metal nearby, most likely with a knife. Any Human would recognize it immediately as Japanese Kanji, but they were many sectors away from Earth or anyone that would speak that dead language.

"Cool. There's someone else here..." Graeme groaned, before gesturing for everyone to go ahead.

The psychic looked at the markings as she passed, frowning heavily at it. "I've got a bad feeling..."

"We're on a wreck. Of course you have a bad feeling." Graeme called back, his eyes scanning and memorizing everything he saw.

Once they got past the open dock, they found that the only way in was a narrow hallway, nearly pitch black. Next to the opening of the hallway was another set of Kanji, the same ones as before, carved more erratically however.

Graeme frowned. Just like the others even his nerves were starting to get to him and as a Tamearin, that was bad. He took a deep breath and looked at three of his more rookie men. "Stay and guard this area. If anything happens, message us on the comms. We'll come as fast as possible." He ordered before proceeding down the hallway. He briefly felt his powers flare up as he recalled his secondary color, hoping this job wouldn't require him to use it.

The Hallway stretched on farther than they expected, it was hard to tell in the dark but it was just continuing and continuing deeper into the blackness. The only thing that revealed that they were even moving at all was the ever increasing Kanji along the walls, more and more erratic and bunched together.

All of them had their guns trained in two directions: in front of them and behind them, save the Fee, she looked up and had her gun trained towards the ceiling, her grip shaking a little.

Graeme's comms buzzed a little, then a noise came through, he thought it was a glitch at first, a strange distorted whistling. When he went to check it instinctively, he and the rest of the squad began to hear what sounded like a woman's voice, softly 'oooo-ing' in their ears.

"Whoever has hacked our comms: cease and desist. You are interrupting a military procedure and will be deemed hostile, even if you happen to look cute." Graeme said playfully, his undertone a bit more threatening.

"What the hell..." The Quin murmured, clearly unnerved. The rest of the squad followed suit, noting their discomfort save for a random grunt in the back, the Fee, and the Psychic human, who all doubled down on a shoot first and be stoic mentality.

The distorted whistling got even louder, it wasn't the whistling of a person, but akin to what you'd hear as a heavy wind ripped through a home, haunting and discordant. The soft, playful 'oooo-ing'' began to grow... Almost pained? Like it was turning into a sort of moan of pain.

"Squad, shoot to kill. There shouldn't be any breathable atmosphere left to hear these things. So be ready for a fight." Graeme's eyes began glowing as he summoned his psionics powers to the fray; One eye glowing intensely as if was a gateway to hell and the other glowing a golden yellow.

Another feed tried to cut through the static, "Gr----me. U----al ac---ti- -----tiga--ing. S--an-e Wo--n..."

"Halt!" The procession stopped some guns shaking more starting to go steady as their training kicked in. "Jameson. You lead the way.

"Y-yes sir." The small-ish Cartus proceeded forward, not realizing his squad merely stood still and observed what would happen to him.

Eventually, as he walked farther up the tunnel, he didn't seem to see anything, nothing happened to him either. He was about to look back towards his team to report, but he could've sworn that he suddenly saw a hand on his shoulder out of the corner of his eye, but he turned around, there was nothing.

He then proceeded to sprint back, clearly freaked out. "Sir! Sir! We need to go, we need to go!" He screamed, only to be stopped by Graeme's hand.

"Report! What's wrong, soldier?" Graeme asked as the Cartus struggled.

"There's something in here with us! We need to go!"

"And that is what?" Graeme looked ahead, his psionics powers ready to be used at a moment's notice.

As he looked past him, he noticed what appeared to be a woman standing at the end of the hall, smiling at them. She was a fair skinned Human with tones of an Asian descent. Her long black hair was straight as could be, falling down to her shoulders, she also seemed to be dressed in a plain and unassuming black shirt and pants.

"Jameson. Arrest that woman or I will personally put some plasma into your head." Graeme barked, his gun leveling at the scared recruit who hesitantly approached the woman in question.

"Hey... m-m-ma'am..." The young man asked, his gun shaking quite vigorously. "C-c-could you come with m-me? P-p-please?"

She tilted her head curiously, the terrible sound through their comms only getting worse. As the man neared, she chuckled, the body of the woman turning into dust and disintegrating from head to toe, then even the dust vanished.

He paused, shaking rather badly at the creepy scene. He turned around, "C-c-captain..."

"Keep going, Jameson. We'll be right behind you." Graeme ordered, a small smile growing on his face.

Jameson creeped forward towards where the woman had disintegrated, calling out, "M-m-ma'am?"

Graeme looked over, to his left, his eye catching something, seeing the haunting Woman right next to him, hanging on his arm. "So you came. How Interesting."

Graeme paused, evaluating his options. He offered a sigh before using his telepathy. And you are... a V.I. or something? He didn't give a hint of the fact that he was looking at her.

"Hmm. Psing at me, are you?" The Woman walked though his arm. "I was watching you. I do much watching."

Why are you watching us? Graeme asked, tilting his head to the side. "Secure position!"

"Nervous huh?" She laughed, the giggle echoing in all of their comms. "You should be. You're in my world now."

Sorry, Lady. Only women I'm afraid of is mah girlfriend and mah mother. Last I checked, I'll single and you ain't the one who brought me into this world. Although... you could definitely try and correct that first option... Graeme flirted lightly, as he got into position.

Her face dropped to an unamused expression as a giant metal door slammed down further up the hall, completely separating the Man he had sent ahead from the rest of the group. "Come on... Talk to me so everyone here can hear you..."

And why would I do that? Everyone can already hear you, so I'd need a good reason to do so. And killing the kid won't make a difference to me, so don't use that as your bargaining chip. Graeme looked around and issued an order, "reverse slow."

"You're really starting to piss me off. You really don't want to do that." Her eye twitched and she let out an inhuman screech, nearly blowing out their ears through their comms and causing a number of cables to explode out of the walls in a shower of sparks. "TALK TO ME."

"Fine." Graeme grumbled irritably, as he looked directly at the woman. "What?"

"Hehe..." Her smiled returned. "Good boy."

"Troop, head back to the shuttle bay." Graeme looked at the woman with some mild irritation. He was on the job, and whatever she was tried to harm him. He knew he could handle her if need be. "Is there a reason you wanted me to speak?" He asked, ending the last word in both normal speak and psing to her.

 

[Black0ut]

Ghosts & Spectres… continued



"Because I want to hear you... Is that you wrong..." She chuckled creepily. "I've been watching you for some time."

"I doubt you did it because of my good looks... mind telling me why?" Graeme resisted the urge to take a step back and merely offered up a flirtatious smile to hide his nervousness.

"Because I think you'll play a big part in events to come..." She whispered, vanishing and then appearing behind him to lean over his shoulder. "And I have a deal for you."

However, before Graeme could say anything, something that look like a robot shot a dart into his back, breaching his suit and knocking him out.

"Please refrain from propositioning my underlings. I really, really hate it when people do that." The robot, or rather the speaker through which the voice came through, said. However it was to be noted that this voice was distinctly female and that the robot itself was being controlled, evident by its screen-like face that showed a section of the assault transport.

"Humph. Rude. And who's you?" She looked over at the robot.

The voice paused, and the figure raised a finger to where the side of their head would be. After a few moments, they responded. "I am Ghost. Now come on, share your name, otherwise this is going to get confusing with you being a ghost and me..."

"My Name..." She tapped on her chin. "I have a lot of names. Names are pretty, but useless."

"Then what do I call you? Ooh, does this mean I get to name you?" Ghost asked excitedly, the robot's unmoving nature contrasting the cheery tone.

"No. Many refer to me as Shitagau Josei..." She interrupted.

"Awwww... okay. I'll call you, Josey for short." Ghost pouted dramatically, before their tone grew sharper. "Could you explain why you're trying to draw me to you... Ms. Shitagau?"

Her smile became slightly crazed as she stepped closer. "Because I know what's going to happen to you... I know you're destined for great things.. "

"You see... I can see the future..." The Asian Girl whispered.

"I apologize, but that's a little hard to believe..." The image of ghost faltered, offering an apologetic smile before the image returned a few seconds later. "How about a little test to prove it? Although..." The robot looked down. "Time is running short and I don't want to lose a skilled minion."

"Oh? So I have to prove it? What exactly do you expect me to predict in here?" She mocked.

Ghost paused, the robot bring a finger up to the monitor in thought. "How about you predict how I'll attack you? Obviously I'm aiming to miss, but you should be able predict whatever I'm planning to do. So, before I do so, how am I going to attack you?"

She examined his body and as she did he noticed his visuals glitching slightly. She then poked the robot in the chest, "Hmm... This thing?"

"Correct." Ghost said with a curious tone. "Fair is fair. You may ask me a question if you so choose, and I will answer it honestly. You only get one, so choose your words carefully."

"One Question? Hmm... Who are you, really? Under that metal suit? Who is 'The Master'?"

"Biologically or my name? And don't say both..." The robot tilted its head, as the figure in the screen finally moved, looking slightly unnerved.

"No. Who are you? Where do you come from?" She repeated.

"I am a woman named Daisy Elentra." A pause. "Ooooooh! That sent shivers down my spine! I haven't been so unnerved by sharing my information before... it's great!" A giggle soon followed, before the figure raised a gloved hand. "Don't tell anyone though... well, feel free to do so. My information is long gone in all galactic databases."

"You didn't strike me as a Woman. Facinating." She part the robot's shoulder. "Now. I have a deal for you."

A somewhat maniacal laugh echoed through the speaker. "Alright... what's this deal that hopefully should be worth my time coming here?"

"I will guide you on a path that will shirk your bonds of fate... In exchange... I want you to bring me things." Shitagau Josei looked up at her. "They are called Relics... Ancient Pieces of Technology from before the first races ever found themselves travelling the stars. I want you to bring them to me."

"If we are going to make a deal, I request one thing and one thing only: a meeting. Face to Face, in a neutral location." Daisy leaned back, raising a hand to her face. "After all, you did scream at my men in anger. I think it only fair that you do this small favor for me."

She giggled, for a lot longer than would probably be normal. "But this is face to face. Or, do you not think this is what I really look like little girl? Don't worry. Accept this deal of mine, and I'll never be far. Also keep that in mind if you have any thoughts of betraying me. You can't kill me. But I can most assuredly kill you."

Ghost actually laughed, but it was neither insane nor menacing. It was simply heartfelt. "This isn't face to face. I'm not actually there. And as for your threat... many people have tried to kill me. Many have failed. Besides, if I wanted to try and kill you, I would've blown up the station instead of sending my people to investigate." The image of Ghost cut out as the screen filled with a smirk. The robot offered out a hand.

"I accept your deal... and I will admit hearing your particular voice giving me a death threat is surprisingly... cute, for lack of a better word." Daisy flirted lightly, mostly trying to see if this spectre could blush.

"That's funny you think blowing up the station would kill me. I think I've had a lot more people try to kill me then you... But who's counting..." She yawned, stretching. "But I've talked long enough. Do we have a deal or not?"

"We have a deal... I think I'm going to codename you Spectre just for shits and giggles." The insanity had soon returned to Ghost's voice, making her words become more sing-song.

She held out her hand, "Then shake on it. Remember. I'll always be watching you. I'll tell you what you want. But don't get greedy, if you don't bring me what I'm after... Well... Let's just say people who cross me don't last long."

The robot shook her hand. "Why do you want old tech? There must be a reason, right?"

"Ah-Ah! That I won't tell. Let a girl have her secrets." She pushed her hand into the robot's chest suddenly, all the visuals and controls glitching and spasming until she removed it.

"That was rude... it took me a while to build this particular model..." Ghost complained, before the robot leaned up against the wall. "Well, I best be dragging him off before he dies in... four minutes."

"That might make cleaning up your guards at the entrance a little hard." She laughed, then vanished. The hallway suddenly distorted violently, almost snapping back into a normal length hallway. They turned around to see that they had barely even left the opening to the corridor and at the front of it were the corpses of the several guards they had left at the front, all of them having seeming been skinned like a hunted animal. At closer inspection though, it was their hands covered in the blood, and their knives that showed any of the gore, stuffed back into their sheaths with viscera still on them, did his men do this... To themselves?

The robot raised a hand to its head, a little irritated before shrugging. It grabbed the downed Tamearin Man, dragging him through the bodies and gore. "Just so you know, simply asking for me is a better way to get my attention instead of killing the peons." The robot chastised, then the tone became far too calm and serious. "Do not touch the man named Jerry, if you must kill some of my forces. Doing so will break any ties I have with you. And try not to kill the asshole my robot is dragging. You may maim him but not kill. Understand?"

"Ahaha... Mister Jerry huh? Well that's up to you. Remember our deal." Her voice spoke sourcelessly around them.

The robot started sprinting as the image of Ghost faded away for a normal screensaver of Water. "I will. But if you harm him before or after our deal ends... well, I have money and I can research how to deal with you. I'd rather not, given that I think your threats are really cute. Its almost like your trying to flirt with me on my insane level of understanding..." Daisy tried again to see if she could unsettle the ghostly woman.

"You're cute. But I've been around far longer than you and seen far worse monsters." She chuckled.

"That's the thing dear, Spectre. I don't have to be a monster. All I have to do is herd them." A malevolent aura seemed to radiate off of the speaker. "Why waste so much hard work when there'll always be someone stronger and more proficient in killing? No... just simply control the killers and keep them bound by their own secrets and you become more powerful than the monsters themselves."

"Then let's see who controls who. My dear." The voice just fizzled out into static, the station almost feeling like it went quiet.

"I didn't mean... okay, whatever. I'm going to get Solex to blow up something..." She groaned irritably dragging Graeme into safety aboard the assault ship where everyone else had gone.

The mastermind let out a sigh as they left, a little irritated but otherwise ready to enact a plan that would result in several of Golden Wind's crew… dying.

 

[ShadowHounder]

Black0ut and ShadowHounder: Mysteries Aplenty

Tobias tossed his deck of virtual cards between his hands as he walked into the tavern. He deformed the cards as he sat down at the bar. "Nice place ya got here." The inventor remarked as he looked at the various ornaments surrounding the walls.

The bartender nodded as he washed a shot glass. "What brings you here, kid?"

"Depends..." Tobias gave him a small grin. "Got any openings for a show?"

----
"Magic?" An old man stated as he looked at the poster. "Doesn't anyone know that stuff don't exist no more?"

"I don't know father, his act seemed pretty convincing to me," The young farmer stated from the other side of the house's window. "He can create things, out of nowhere."

"I'll believe it when I see it..." The stubborn man muttered.

His father's reaction prompted the farm boy to smirk. "We can arrange that."

----
"Thank you all for attending this fine evening," Tobias stated with a bow.

The young Magician started to walk off of the stage, only to have an old man yell, "What kind of trickery is this?!" towards him. Tobias turned his head towards the man, who was being prompted what looked to be his son to sit down. He smirked as he walked up to the old man. "Trickery? Isn't that what magic is? Something that we cannot explain, regardless of how hard we try? The functionality of my magic is my secret... and I must inform you that a Magician... never reveals his secrets."

The crowd roared with excitement as Tobias walked back into the bar area of the tavern. The owner gave the young man an intrigued look. "I don't know which part is the magic there... your gloves or your ability to work the crowd like that."

"Maybe it could be both," Tobias shrugged playfully. "That's for me to know and you to one day find out."

Or you just decided to use science on these townies' primitive minds. 'Magic', indeed. A man said in his head before said man, no, plant, standing at an impressive eight-foot five, sat down next to the Magician. Its coloring was midnight black, with gold-like embellishments over certain areas like a faceplate that went over where a mouth would be. It needed no chest piece as what looked like a black exoskeleton went over its chest and looked very durable. It's two Golden eyes gazed down at him as it mentally asked aloud, May I acquire some of a substance called 'Whiskey', Barkeep?

The bartender, not sure how to process the speaking plant, nodded nervously and prepared a bottle of whiskey. Tobias, seemingly unphased by the being in front of him, took a sip of his coffee. "Call it what you will, I'm still not going to tell anyone the secret."

I didn't ask, did I? That's your secret to keep. I'm just pointing out what the 'magic' actually was. The plant poked at the gauntlets with one of its four sharp fingers. Since I figure you're projecting it out of this... thing. I think. Anyways, not the reason I decided to seek you out. My name's Bar.

"Tobias," The magician replied. "If you're not here about my constructs... then why are you looking for me? Most people who are looking for me specifically are either trying to prove I'm a hoax or are trying to steal my gauntlets."

If I wanted your gauntlets, I'd just rip your arms off to get 'em. I just wanted to meet someone who joined around the same time I did. The plant man's faceplate opened to show a dark hole where a mouth should be. He picked up the glass and took a sip, his body shaking slightly. A raspy voice, that was as androgynous as it was rough, came from the plant. "That's... good..."

"A part of Captain Kitty's crew eh? Well, a pleasure to meet ya then." The magic man offered a hand towards the creature. "Though, I do have to inform you that it wouldn't as easy as just ripping off my arms."

Well, that's good that I don't want them, then. Seem like too much of a hassle. Bar shook his hand, offering a mental smile in the process. So... why'd you join her crew?

Tobias shrugged. "She asked and I decided to accept... Nothing much beyond that."

Okay... what about the rumor you have a crush on her? Is that true or is it bullshit? Bar downed the entire glass, his faceplate closing shut.

"The Captain may be a ball of fun, but she ain't my type," Tobias stated with another sip of coffee. "Whoever been saying that needs to keep their facts straight or shut the hell up." Even with his harsh word choice and threatening tone, Tobias seemed rather relaxed... As if nothing anyone could say would bother him.

Interesting... for the sake of not being led astray again, are you interested in Aya, JJ, or any of the other females on board? Or are you more interested in your own sex, instead? Bar tilted his head as he looked down at the human, intrigue in his eyes.

"I'll answer your question... If you explain to me why you want to know," Tobias remarked towards Bar. "Intimate relationships aren't exactly a common goto conversation starter."

Human. I'm literally a plant. You're incredibly foreign to me, as is most everyone else in the galaxy. The question is why I haven't asked you sooner. Bar held a hand out before it started to move forward; what Tobias had thought was skin underneath his arm was, in actuality, part of the same arm, only coiled up, that easily snaked over to the whiskey bottle before bringing it back to pour another glass of it. Besides, I can see some curiosity as to what I am, so ask away.

"Ask? I wanna see if I can figure it out myself first." Tobias laughed confidently. "Maybe in the next couple of months, I'll ask ya a few questions, Barber."

My name is not barber, it is... Bar's face plate and bone-chilling clicking and soft clacks that seemed to echo despite there being no way for them to. The face plate closed after a bit before, Bar merely projecting a raised eyebrow at Tobias. Or you can translate it as Bark of Green. Or Bar will do.

"If I'm being honest with ya, Bark rolls off of the tongue more." He shrugged in a relaxed manner. "But hey, I'll call ya whatever you're okay with me calling ya."

I do not mind being called Bark. So you may continue to do so if you wish. His face plate opened up for him to dump the contents of his drink in, before shutting. So... 'Magician'... could you... teach me a little more about your kind of creatures, the more meaty traditions you all have?

"Let's see here..." Tobias remarked as he created a screen in front of himself and scroll through a list of interestingly named files. "That's for the ship, that's for a project, that's something I need to move soon... nope, I've got nothing."

You're a human. What do humans do besides their typical biological functions? Bar asked, extending his arm again to place the bottle of whiskey back on the shelf.

"I think the question you should be asking is what haven't we done yet." Tobias downed the rest of his still burning coffee. "Humans often don't like playing by the rules. Ya give us a box, tell us that we can only keep what fits in the box... we'll just build a bigger box."

Adaptive and also... 'Lone wolves'? Are there any other qualities humans possess? Bar stood up and put down a cred stick to pay for his drink, gesturing towards the door.

"A phrase I like to use to describe my race is, 'If there is a will, there is a way.' Cunning, inventive and tenacious, sometimes to the point of being stubborn, Humans are not designed around the idea of a 'cookie-cutter' race. You challenge us, we fight harder. You try to kill us, we just get back up. You question our capabilities, we ain't afraid to shove the facts down your throat." Tobias smirked as he spoke to the plant. "That is what makes humans special. Not our technology, not our politics, our ability to stand back up and keep fighting... no matter the odds."

 

[ShadowHounder]

Black0ut and ShadowHounder: Mysteries Aplenty Part 2

Huh... I never thought about it that way... Bar closed his eyes in deep thought, digesting the new information presented to him. I know you said you'd rather wait and find out with time about me, but you still can ask any question you want.

Tobias chuckled. "Oh please, if I were you ask now, I would be giving up too early. I've got plenty of time to observe and go digging for records."

Good luck trying to find it. You're most certainly going to need it. Considering there are no records to be had. A mental smile accompanied the words as Bark started for the door. Feel free to come with if you want, Tobias.

"Why am I getting the feeling you want me to ask..." Tobias grinned as he stood up himself.

Because that would be a more... natural response to a very tall plant talking to you telepathically. Just saying. Bar walked out of the doors, still mentally communicating with the Magician.

"I'll have you know that I like to work outside of the box that is called 'the social norms.' Everyone's gotta take their own risks and pick their own battles... otherwise, there would be no point in dreaming big." Tobias walked past the plant man as he spoke. "But I have been called reckless and overly optimistic by most people I meet, so you're free to take what I say with a grain of salt."

But wouldn't that make you a prime example of your species? I mean, given your race's qualities... Bar trailed off, his head looking up at something. He suddenly extended his arm quickly and pushed Tobias into a nearby alley before a plasma beam tore through his chest, dropping the plant man to the ground.

A cheery voice came over their comm pieces. "Little birds, Little birds, I spy, fluttering to and by. Little bird, all alone, after I picked clean his friend's bones." A pause. "Little bird... why don't you come out of the alley? I promise I won't eat you too..."

"That... Happened..." Tobias muttered as he stepped out of the alleyway, a project barrier facing where the plamsa round was fired from. He crouched in front Bar, poking his cheek. "Yo Bark, you still alive? Well... You are a plant man, so I could potentially plant you and you'll just revive yourself. But, at the same time, there's no guarantee that it's be the same Bark. I would also need to explain this to Captain Kitty and Lady Aya..." Tobias mumbled to himself, ignoring the voice on the intercom.

Several plasma shots struck the barrier, all aimed around Tobias, but none directly aimed at him. The voice returned, a man on the line laughing maniacally. "Little bird~... why did you put up a barrier~? I guess I should test a new weapon out... I hope you like Dark Matter..."

I am alive. Hurt, but alive. Bar mentally responded, a groan evident in the psychic voice.

"Better hurt than dead, do you know who the hell is shooting at us?" Tobias stated, still ignoring the man on the speaker. "Also, we should probably look to get out of here... Got a ship?"

No, and I'd appreciate it if you could find one. I've just been shot with plasma weaponry, and it is... unpleasant to say the least... Bar replied, a little pained sarcasm in his voice.

A spike of an unidentifiable substance -more likely the dark matter weapon they spoke of- lodged itself into the shield. "Little bird, if you keep ignoring me, I'll have to rip out that heart of yours and feed it to my pets." The voice started before adding in a colder tone, one akin to a bully sneering. "Or are you just afraid of a Ghost, Tobias?"

"Lucky you, I came here in one," The magician moved his fingers in a unique motion, causing the shield to encase the spike while being replaced with a fresh barrier. He moved to pick up Bar. "Let's get out of here before this wannabe vengeful spirit starts to get agitated."

Several more spikes struck his new shield. "Tobias. Stop running... I might have to do something unpleasant if you don't." The voice had stopped being joyous and was now merely cold.

Bar stood up, and instead grabbed Tobias with surprising strength, sticking him in the crook of his arm. Just make more shields while I run. I'd hate to be forced by damage to drop you or, y'know, die, so...

"The plant is alive? Guess I need to kill you both. Shame. I wanted a pet..." The voice said ominously, as the plant took off at a fairly quick speed.

Tobias kept creating shields and converting into storage units for the spikes. However, while one hand was focused on keeping barriers up, his other hand was in front of him with a screen. "Let's see if we can locate whoever is shooting at us..." Tobias muttered as he pulled up what looked to be a radar on his constructed screen.

A building marked for demolition was where their sniper was hiding, but where said sniper actually was a mystery in itself as the system struggled to pinpoint the exact area. It instead was able to give a general area where this 'Ghost' was.

"Are you trying to find me, Tobias? If you keep that up... I might have to blow up something. Actually, yeah, an explosion at a toy store sounds more fun than trying to kill you..." The shots from the weird weapon ceased, as the two crewmembers' comm line returned to normal.

Tobias pushed a few buttons on his gauntlet and the contained spikes to a formation behind Bar. "The hanger is just north of here, I took a small shuttle with black and red markings on it. There should be a container you can place the Dark Matter in, just be sure to do that before you leave orbit. Go back to the Golden Wind and let Lady Aya know about what happened here... in the meantime, I'm gonna pay our little spirit friend a visit. I'll meet back with ya in a bit." Before Bar could respond to Tobias, a gust of wind rushed through him... and the young Magician vanished.

Ghost giggled, yet didn't activate the speaker for the robot they were controlling. They would play with their toys at a later date... and to ensure that the heroes couldn't use their gun, it sat burning on a neo concrete pillar, two bombs attached and rigged to explode within a minute, one inside of the gun itself and the other merely attached.

The robot sat down and waited, either for destruction or for one of the heroes to arrive.

Tobias teleported to where his radar last picked up Ghost, a rush of wind making his reappearance audible. "Alright, if I were an undead lunatic with an experimental weapon, where would I go..." He let out a sigh when he saw the giant robot and the bomb. "Ya couldn't have at least given me a friendly hello?"

"No. Because you would've shot me on sight if I did." Ghost replied, as the chest cavity opened up and fired a laser directly at the bomb, detonating both of the explosive devices, vaporizing the robot and leaving Tobias to deal with a massive explosion.

The explosion consumed the building. Among the aftermath, Tobias stood in place, his body scorched, his gauntlets melted and his life slowly fading. There was the smell of ash and death everywhere, the sights of destruction surrounding him. He looked up at the blazing sun, remembering the story his grandfather once told him. "The phoenix is a strange creature. A bird, but also a man, legends say they were birthed by the fires of creation... giving them the ability to be reborn from the ashes of their demise. Many believe to them be a myth, but I know they are still out there, for nothing can truly kill creation." That last line echoing through his head before his body crumbled into dust.

Bar shuddered as he felt the explosion and watched with dismay. All the resources, labor, and sweat wasted. His former job made him clench his hands into fists as he kept running. You better still be alive, Tobias... He murmured aloud, extending his arms out to pull him forward and increase his speed as he ran. He eventually made it to the hangar bay area and quickly located the ship, retracting his arms back as he began stuffing the trailing dark matter into the storage compartment. A thought suddenly struck Bar, one he had never considered before: He didn't know how to fly a ship. Even when he had gone underneath the waves, he never piloted the hover submarines.

Regardless, the plant man hopped into the craft and waited. Tobias said he would come and Bar would not abandon him. He would wait for as long as it took.

Moments later, Tobias appeared in front of Bar, the gust of wind sending ash particles flying everywhere. He attempted to brush the soot out of his hair, his gauntlets no longer being visible on his arms. "Woke up in the remains of an explosion, have a massive pain in my spine, and my gauntlets are missing... what the hell was in that coffee?"

You mean the sniper you went off to go find, and then an explosion happened that leveled the building that they were probably in. That explosion? Bar tilted his head as a psionic impression of worry flowed over Tobias.

 

[ShadowHounder]

Black0ut and ShadowHounder: Mysteries Aplenty Part 3

Tobias' gaze shifted towards the plant man. "And who are you?"

I'm your crewmate aboard the Golden Wind...? We met today and chatted at a bar before we left...? Bar frowned mentally. You wanted to use my full name because you preferred Bark to Bar? None of this is ringing a bell?

"All I remember is drinking a nice cold brew of coffee after putting on a show," Tobias muttered, placing a hand on his chin. "Now that I think about it, I could've sworn there was some mention of a little bird, but I doubt that was important."

So you really don't recall the sniper calling you that as they shot at us? Bar seemed taken aback. He raised a hand as he asked, Would you allow me to... probe your memory? It seems like you suffered severe mental trauma to your head...

"Sure, I don't see why not." Tobias sat down and shrugged.

Bar put his hand on the Human's head, and closed his golden eyes as he focused on reading the Human's most recent memory.

As Tobias had stated, his memories from the tavern were intake. It was just as Bar showed up that it became clear, his memories weren't just repressed... they were gone. Between Tobias sitting down at the bar and when he woke up at the explosion sight, all that remained were small shards. A sentence here, figuring out the inner workings of teleportation during a gun chase there, but almost every important event they went through together was nowhere to be seen.

Bar quickly retracted his hand. What... how...? You should have the memories... even if you were knocked unconscious and your brain grew amnesia... they still should... The plant stared at him with a mixture of growing nervousness and morbid curiosity. There... is something you called Dark Matter in the back that you had me store...

"Dark matter... you were able to get those stored up, right, Bark?" Tobias asked as if he still knew who he was talking to... one of the shards that had remained untouched. "Been looking forward to studying something of that magnitude."

Bar nervously stared at the man, as more unease washed over him. Something wasn't right; between the explosion, the lost memories, and the relatively uninjured nature of the man had made him nervous and suspicious of him. There should be some wound he would have... and yet there were none.

The giant plant took a seat wordlessly and closed his eyes. He would check up on Tobias later. Right now, he needed to get back to the wind and rest, maybe warning JJ as he did so.

Tobias stretched his arms as he took on the pilot's seat. He pushed a few buttons and moved his right arm to create a second pair of hands, only to be reminded of what was missing. "Shit... so much for not needing a co-pilot."

I do not know how to fly a spacecraft, Tobias. Bar, however, moved to the co-pilot's seat.

"Don't worry about it, I can teach you as we go," Tobias muttered as he got the ship into orbit. "You said your name was Bark, right?"

That is part of my name, yes. Bar nodded, tilting his head at the man.

"Alright, we can save the details for when we get out of here," Tobias stated cheerfully. "I'm sure Lady Aya would like to know I've returned in one piece."

Yes... Bar frowned.

 

[Dahlexpert]

The fallowing is done by Dhalexpert & ZombieSpliter53

Were more then just mere pirates

On board Solex ship

Roberta was in the training room looking over her weapons and picked up her two pistols and two swords then pushed a button on her wrist with it nanobots came out of her sports bra and pants and covered her in armor. “Miranda activate level ten of training.” The simulation started and twenty five well trained men and woman stood in front of her. Roberta cracked her neck and fired six shots into the crowd of people and quickly pulled out her sword and quickly kicked the gun out of one of the soldiers hands while decapitating him and fired her gun at another the rest fired their weapons at Roberta but she used the man she just decapitated to use him as a human shield so she could use a flash grenade and toss it into the crowd blinding those in front of her, but with her ESP she could tell it didn’t get all of them. She grabbed a grenade off the human shield and tossed it into the crowd, once it exploded killing a more of them Roberta could since the fear of the remaining soldiers. Roberta then used her mind control on one of the soldiers and she pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin killing herself and those closest to her while injuring the others. Roberta then looked around at the survivors picked up one of the rifles and slowly started to execute the remaining survivors.

“Ugh it’s so boring god I hate training simulators, it’s like practicing with training wells there’s no risk no bite!” Roberta said while reloading her weapon.

“Then perhaps I can give you something that will give you more of a challenge.” Solex said at the side of the room.

At the sight of Solex Roberta instantly dropped to a knee and bowed her head.” My lord Solex do you have use of me?”

"Yes our allies if you wish to call them that, since they gave us back Mei and Guther. I think it's time we make a nice little hub for us and them, so were gonna attack the space station that you robbed and we will send our dogs of war. So your job Roberta is to go to our home station and bring back our murderers and our robots and we will make quick work of that station.

Roberta smiled at the thought "Yes my lord I will be a quick about it I'll be back with our fleet as quick as possible." Roberta got on a ship and made her way into dark space.

The comms lit up. When Roberta hit a button, a stern voice said, "You are entering protected territory. Turn back now or you will be utterly destroyed. There will be no second warnings."

"Is that any way to treat the second in command of our great leader Solex." Roberta said with some irritation in his voice.

"R... Roberta?" the one on the other line asked. "Put on the visuals, you idiot!" he yelled to someone, and his image, that of a stern, if somewhat small, Fee appeared on her computer. He laughed nervously. "Oh... hello. I mean... greetings, Commander Roberta!"

"Open the damn docking bay to my ship, I have a broadcast for the fleets we have work to do."

"Y-yes sir... ma'am... yes Commander!" The image quickly disappeared. As an enormous fleet came into view, the largest of the ships pulled ahead, its forward docking bay opening up with no hesitation.

Roberta got off the ship and made her way to the ship and went into her her quarters, were she went to her bathroom and got a bottle of white hair die. After a few hours Roberta emerged out of her room and opened communication with the rest of the fleet.

“My fellow pirates this is your second in command speaking, things have gotten interesting in the past few months. First of all we have a mysterious new ally don’t know who this person is but they seem to want an alliance with us, second there’s a new group of hunters that’s popped up this golden wing company. They are a small bounty hunting company but so far they managed to put up a fight against Mei and Guther, we also robbed a space station that belonged to a mob family Ou the riches they had from one bank was outstanding. Which brings me to today, we’re gonna go back to that station and not only rob it and kill every man and not useful woman there but we’re gonna take the station as a small base of operations, so who’s ready to take a station!?”

There was cheering all around the station, loud enough to hear from every corner of the ship, along with cheers over the communicator from the other ships in the fleet. The Fee from before, Captain Fent, smiled at Roberta nervously.

“Alright then lads get the engines moving, and let go meet with the captain.” Roberta then looked down.” Fent come and see me In my quarters.”

Fent flew up and quickly followed back to her quarters. "I-I am sorry for the misunderstanding, Commander, it... it was the navigator! H-he didn't recognize the signal from your ship. If you wish, I will have him executed right away..."

"I'm not gonna execute anyone I need you to get the damn war droids ready and make sure the heavy mechs systems are up to date and they can't be hacked."

Fent tried to hide his sigh of relief. "Yes, Commander. The droids will all be armed and operational before we arrive. And do not worry about the computer systems. We have a new programmer that assures us that it would take a genius to hack her systems. It better if she wants her family to remain in good health."

"That's nice to know, there's nothing more obedient then someone that cares for there family to much and would do anything to help them. Make sure our guns and the boarding drills are ready then."

Fent nodded eagerly, the cybernetic pixie eager to please. "Of course, of course. Anything else? Please, do not hesitate to ask. Er, uh... order." He was also quite the kissup.

"There's nothing else, i'm going to train come and get me when we reached Solex."

Fent saluted. "Yes ma'am. Please, feel free to visit any station to make sure everyone is working their hardest. I run a tight shift, worthy of Solex's praise... er, uh... if he wants to give it, of course." He flew out before he put his foot in his mouth any more.

Roberta eyes squinted but she payed him no mind as she made her way to the training simulator and prepared herself mentally for the coming battle, once she was done training she checked on everyone to make sure they were getting everything done before they got to Solex.

Everything was in top form as promised. The residents of the ship looked more like a group of trained soldiers then mercenaries and pirates, disciplined and hard at work training.

The droids were all in top condition. With A.I. illegal across the system, even Solex couldn't get true artificial intelligence for them, but they had the best virtual intelligence his deep, deep pockets could buy.

In the computer section of the engineering bay, a Shinso woman, short and slender with Cheetah-like patches on her fur, ran back and forth, yelling out orders to the staff. "Make sure everything is up to date! Get that crap Solex had in them before and put my programs in now. This should have been done a week ago. Now we only have a few days because the Big Cheese's errand dog came to bark out orders to practically be ready for war with no warning. One slip up, and I'll rip your fucking hearts out and shove them up your ass myself!"

The bosses lap dog huh, see this is why I don’t leave you in charge. Because I’m thinking about ripping out your tongue for that.” Roberta said behind the woman.

The Shinso woman turned around and gave her a bored look. "Is that you then? What do you want? I'm busy making sure your boss doesn't have a fit."

“First of all he’s our boss get that right, second why wasn’t this done months ago, has my absence made you lazy because I have a way to fix that.”

Pft..." The shinso woman shook her head.
"Don't try and threaten me. Before I met you guys, I had a loving pair of parents, a beloved brother and sister, and the two most loyal Cheri in the galaxy that WEREN'T under threat of being delivered to me one piece at a time if I fail. They are my life. You can't threaten someone who already has their life threatened by another."

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 2

She turned away. "And it wasn't done because the previous head of this department was an idiot who didn't know the difference between programming a Mech suit and programming your favorite dish into a replicator. Isn't that right, Galary?"

One of the human men at the computers turned and flipped her off. "Fuck you, Bethany! You're going to try and throw me to the wolves in front of Roberta?" He looked at Roberta nervously. "Sh-she's full of crap, ma'am. My programs were j-just as good as hers."

Bethany scoffed and walked up to Roberta, whispering, "His firewall was so great it took me a whole 7.8 seconds to breach it... and I was barely trying."

Roberta sighed and rubbed her head." I tell you what i'm in a good mood today because my friends were rescued and I recently domesticated a former mob bosses wife, if you get these robots up to date awe survive this I will personally give you back one of your family members completely intact. Now I can't speak for there mental state but you will get one of them back permanently, and you must work with that human that flipped you off. Now you say that I can't threaten you." Roberta got in Bethany face. to were her forehead was touching hers." If you think what has been done to you was bad you don't what to know what I’ll do to you are we clear?"

Bethany's heart sank, thoughts of her family being tortured making her a bit pale. "A-alright. Just... I've done e-everything you people have asked of me. I know these machines will do terrible things and I don't care. Just promise me you won't hurt my family and I swear, these machines will be ready if I have to program everyone of them myself."

"That's a good girl now then Galary could you come with me for just a few minutes, I need to speak with you in private."

The human programmer shot Bethany a dirty look and walked out with Roberta. "Sorry about her. She has a big mouth and talks a lot of shit. She... my programs were fine, she's just... honestly, I'd get rid of her and her back talking and put me in charge again. You know that I'm loyal."

Roberta lowblowed the man bringing him to the ground Roberta then brought out a dagger and placed it on his neck." Allow me to make this point very clear, I don't care what you have to say she hacked through your systems in seven seconds. So I suggest that you learn from her and not waist my time with excuses understand!"

"Y-yes, Commander!" he quickly said. "Understood!"

"Good boy because if you do not learn I will take your fingers, one by one and then i'll break your mind. No better i'll find a way to put your brain in a servant robot and force you to obey do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Commander! P-perfectly clear!"

Roberta then let the man go."Good now then get your ass to work, because we have a week to get to Solex come up with a plan to take the station and then finally get there so hurry it up." Roberta said leaving engineering, and made her way to the armory as she looked around and say plenty of weapons and armor being made.

"Good day, Commander." Another Shinso, this one male and much larger, walked up. "Did you need anything or were you just checking on us?"

"Both Listen in order for us to even stand a chance against the outer defenses and make sure that whatever defenses don't devastate us, we need a massive E.M.P to not only take down their shields but also take down their power and give us a few minutes of precious time to give them a walloping and get some people on board. Think we have something that big or do we need to make it from scratch?"

The Shinso rubbed his chin. "Come with me, m'lady. I think I have something you'll like." He guided her over to pile of missiles. They were much smaller then the usual ship-used missiles, no bigger then the ones you would usually see for a RPG. "With these, we can penetrate their shields."

"Hum a good mix of each, but we would have to get in very close for these to work. Hopefully my ship here can hold from the attack is there anything else you got for me, because the hardest battle for us will be getting into the station."

"You're going to like this one, boss." He led her over to another group of four smaller missiles, these ones tethered together with a wire to make a square, next to a ship missle. "The problem with getting threw that darn shield is the shield generator is on the other side of the shield, right?" He tapped the large missle. "So, you launch this momma..." He motioned to the four smaller missiles. "Which itself launches these. They spread out, hit the shield, and boom! They send out a modulating frequency jamming signal that makes a window in the shield. Not a very big window, but big enough to fit, say... an emp missile?"

Roberta smiled at the idea.” This will work perfectly, this might actually work will reach Solex in a few days see if you can make as many of these as you can.”

"You got it. Hey, Eddie!"

A small figure, who couldn't have been older then twelve, hung from a pole above them by his tail. He almost looked like a Tamearin but was more monkey like. "Sup, doc?"

"How many of those big EMPs can we have made?"

"The Heart Stoppers? Probably no more then eight. The material for them is reeeeeally expensive."

"Alright." The Shinso looked at Roberta. "So I'll make sure we have about twenty-four of these window makers ready. Then you'll have eight chances to get an EMP through. Suggest you use your best pilots, including yourself of course."

"Ou of course make sure there ready, and trust me this station is worth it. It's controlled by the local mob in that part of the galaxy so you know it gets a bunch of traffic, Hell one bank had enough money to give the most bonks on most plants a run for there money imagine the hole station worth of credis and other kinds of goods."

"They'll be ready," the monkey boy said, climbing back up. "Just remember to tell Mr. Solex ymthat Eddie helped!"

They Shinso chuckled and shook his head. "Good luck out there, Commander. And be careful. No amount of credits from that station are worth losing you or the other of Solex's top men and women over."

"Don't worry i'm not gonna die any time soon and i'll be sure to mention to Solex that Eddie helped." As Roberta left the armory she went to the deck of her ship and went to the pilots chair." Ou it's been forever since I've maned this ship, don't worry my lord I will take this station for you no matter what."

After a week Roberta reached Solex ship when the two ships connected Roberta bowed to Solex." I am home my lord I have made the proper preparations to ready our forces."

"That's a good girl you make me very proud Roberta, now then bring the rest of your brothers and sisters so I can give you all your orders for the station."

Roberta nodded her head and brought Mei, Guther, A kotavorge named Torvold and a human named Emile.

Guther stretched. He was back up to 100% and ready to cause some destruction.

Mei looked more adjatated than normal, Torvold and Emile stood in attention ready fly there orders.

“Ah it’s good to see all my warriors in one place again, now then as for this plan to take this station.” Solex brought up a hologram of the target.” As you can imagine its heavily shielded, now then Roberta has informed me that Eddie has made eight e.m.p missiles and few that can pierce right through their shields. So the plan for now before the boarding crew can get on is for my pilots to weaken the shields so Emile and Roberta can fire off the widow makers, and get through the shield just enough to hit the shield generator. Now the rest of you will be in charge of the boarding team, Guther you and Torvold will deploy with our Mechs.”

"Alright!" Guther punched his fists together. "Sounds like I get to cause extra destruction."

"Keep yourself in check Guther, we won't be destroying needlessly after all were goanna be moving in. So if destroy to much I’ll be sure to make you fix it." Torvold said firmly to Guther to keep him in line.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 3

Solex ignored the two bickering and went back to the hologram. "Now as for the shields Roberta Mei you you are in charge of taking down those shields, Once that's done Roberta you will go further in and cause some damage with your ship and take out some of their defense While Emile Leeds and some of our artillery units. Now Roberta once you’re done you will find me and help with the main assault."

"Yes of course my lord I look forward to fighting with you."

"Good now then get into battle formations, it's time for us to take a station.

Guther looked exited as he saluted Solex, and rushed off to find his mech.

Torvoled rolled his eyes and fallowed him Mei and Emile went to their stations While Roberta and Solex stayed in the holo room. "Boss man I know we've taken stations before well I say take more like raze them into planet side, but i'm surprise that you wanna take a station and keep it."

"I'ts mostly because we can't keep roaming around forever, we keep most of these ships to keep the slaves on. At least this way we can keep them all in one place and put them into proper work, now then enough talk we have a station to take."

"Yes sir." Roberta went to the hanger bay to get into her star ship readying it for the coming battle.

Station LXS-3443, Cassiopeia
Three Days Later

A tired security guard was yawning and drifting off when a red light started blinking. He flipped a switch and turned turn the monitor. "Unidentified Ship, this is Cassiopeia. Please identi-holy shit!"

Outside the the station, opposite the planet it orbited, Solex's fleet dropped out of warp one after another, filling up the sky.

"Crap, crap, crap!" The guard smashed a big, red button, alarms starting to blare. He grabbed a station-wide intercom and yelled, "Mass pirate attack! This is not a drill! All citizens off the streets! Raise all shields! Everyone to battle stations! Launch all fighters, manned and unmanned! I repeat, launch ALL FIGHTERS!"

“I think they noticed us.” Roberta said smiling as she saw the sheilds being raised.” Yep they defanetly noticed us time to go to work.”

Roberta and Mei got in their star ships, while Guther Torvold and Emile were on the guns of their main ship. Solex flag ship started firing at the station.

The shields absorbed the shots from the front as, from the back of the station, a small army of fighter ships poured out and attacked Solex's fleet head on.

From Solex ship and the others came fighters as well the rest also started to shoot at the fighters.

"Woo hoo!" Guther yelled as he hit one ship after another. "Fuck yeah!" He was clearly enjoying himself, and was specifically targeting ships he knew were manned.

Torvold on the other hand rolled his eyes at Guther as he fired at any ship that got close.

On the outside Roberta and Mei were shooting Dow ships left and ready right.” Ou come on now this is to easy you would think they would try harder.”

“Stay focus Mei they already took down several of our ships.” Roberta replied shooting down two unmanned ships.

In the mothership, the Shinso engineer rapidly typed on a computer. "Keep hitting the shields. I almost got it... there!" He pumped his fist. I traced the energy flow from the hits and found the location of the shield generators. I'm sending the quadrants now. Hit the shields in that area with the window missiles and fire an emp into the station. Remember, we only have eight emps but only one needs to get through."

“Copy That Mei you hear that you and the other fighters give me a clear spot I can handle the rest.”

“You got it boss.” Mei and about ten other fighters mobilized to the quadrants, some getting shot in the process. Mei and Roberta stayed on course bother doing their best to doge fire, Mei ship then got clipped by the station guns and was forced to fall back. Roberta thrusted forwarders to ramming speeds and fired the window makers at the shield, she saw the shield broke on that one are and she fired one of the emp missiles.

It was shot down. She fired a second and it hit another fighter instead. Frustrated, she shot two more together. Finally, as the shield opening was about to restore, the missiles made it though. They exploded with the shield near the station itself, sending out a powerful electromagnetic pulse. The entire section of the station went dark, and the shields dropped.

“Now now now!” Roberta yelled as she broke away allowing the fleet to hammer away at the station causing significant damage to the outer hull, it was then that Guther Torvold and Emile went to their battle station and there borarding drills. Torvold and Guther were the first ones to be deployed into the station the drill peircing through the station, Mei fell back to the main ship while Roberta also fell back to regroup with Solex.

"Light 'em up!" Guther emerged from his boarding vehicle with a brand new minigun and went to town, mowing down a group of police and mob enforcers that showed up to confront them.

Torvold came behind him and lead the heavy and normal mechs to cover Guther, Torvold then pulled out a gernade launcher and started to blow up the surrounding vechels.” Remember Guther we’re moving in, so don’t damage the place to much.”

"I know, I know!" Guther jumped in his mech and picked up an anti-tank gun. "You're like my mother."

“Yes because someone has to keep you in check when you go nuts.” Torvold saig firing into a group of mobsters.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be a good boy. Just let me have a little fun!" Guther's Mech's arm flipped to be replaced with a massive chainsaw he used to saw several cars in half. The other arm flipped to reveal a flamethrower he used to roast o group of innocent officers, most of which were fleeing.

Torvold shook his head, he then ordered the other Mechs to guard Guther while he ordered the heavy mech to provide covering fire. Torvold then fired at one of the station guards that was to the side of Guther.” Idiot watch your corners damn it.”

Guther grinned at him. "But I have you to watch my back! You are so helpful!" Another officer ran up to try and get a good shot. He was rewarded with a heavy swat that literally sent him flying and crashing on a squad car. Solex's forces continued their assault nonstop, so of their ships able to squeeze in threw the outer backup shields and provide air support. It wasn't easy, but Solex's troops were pushing back the forces on the station, many abandoning the slaughter and running away.

On the back of the station Emile was leading the artillery and the little air support, he lead these forces through what would be the shield generator. “Now then let’s see if we can’t take those shields down for good.”

Several gaurds, officers, and mobsters stood in the way, severely outnumbered. "Why are you doing this?!" one cried out.

“Because I’m a pirate and I don’t really need an answer for that.” Emile said firing into the crowd of officers and mobsters, until rockets came from behind him and exploded the door behind them as well as killing more then a few. Unfortunately for Emile some more reinforcements came from behind the door and opened fire on him.

"Need so back up?" Even more of Solex's men ran up and opened fire. Within minutes, the station's men were so outnumbered, most through down their guns and surrendered.

Emile walked to the surrender officers and mobsters and shook his head.” Ou see that wasn’t a good option.” Emile looked back at his men.” Keep the young woman alive and kill the rest.” He ordered as he lowered the sheilds for the station permanently and was guarding that location.

In the center of the station we’re the fighting was heaviest. Roberta and Solex made their way down and they’re very present motivated the men to fight harder.” Why haven’t you taken this area yet?” Roberta asked.

One of the women saluted. "I-I'm sorry! W-we didn't expect a mech tank to be here. It... it is piloted by the same mob boss that gave you trouble before..."

“Ou he’s still alive and here I thought Mei killed him.” Roberta giggled to herself.” Ou that’s wonderful now I get to harm him again.” Roberta got on top of one of the cars and fired a plasma round at the Mec.” Hay fuck head remember me?” She yelled at the mech tank.

The bipedal tank turned to face her. It was two stories tall, sporting a rail cannon on its left shoulder, a raidome on its right, machine guns under its 'head', a laser cannon in the front, and missile launchers in the back. "I believe we have some unfinished business!" he yelled out through the Mech's speakers. "First thing is first; wear is my wife!?"

Roberta smiled looking at the Mech tank like she was about to burst into laughter.” Ou she’s been properly broken, fucked and turned into the play thing of the crew. As a matter of fact she’s been turned into the ships baby maker, and is already pregnant with a pirate baby, she’s become such a good meat hole.” Roberta said laughing like she heard a great joke.

A laser burst forth from the tank. Roberta barely dodged in time, and the car she had been standing on was sliced in half. "You're dead!"

Roberta then laughed again at the attempt on her life, then started to fire at the giant mech to keep it occupied.

Spoiler: Mech tank

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 4

Solex then hailed Emile and Mei. “Emile Mie I need you two to mine and Roberta position, looks like that mob boss Mei shot is still alive and is piloting a huge mech with heavy ordnance. We’ll keep it busy, and if you can get Guther and Torvold.” Solex ended the call and fired missiles at the giant bot.

It seemed to barely notice the fire. The mobster was clearly in a rage, and unleashing hell. Missiles, gattling fire, and laser beams fire at them wildly.

Roberta and Solex both ran for cover while everything around them was exploding and getting destroyed. All around them was destroyed buildings and roads, Solex then fired multiple rockets at the giant mech while Roberta fired at the mech while getting closer to it

The raidome moved around wildly until it located them. "I'll fucking crush you!" he yelled, stomping towards them.

He was then hit with multiple missiles and Mei flew past the Mech and fired several go the fighters guns at the Mech." Man I should have shot this damn bastard more, but at least we get a shiny new mech at the end of this hopefully. On the ground Level Guther and Torvold showed up the Hevy Mech as well as the others fired at the giant mech.

Guther pointed forward. "That dish thing on its shoulder. Destroy it and he'll be blind."

"On it." Mei flew towards the Mech but the Alexander would did not let it be that easy. he fired at Mei and forcing her to fall back, Solex fired more missiles at the giant beast." Guther Start firing at this damn things weapons his weapons got to be over heated with all those attacks."

"On it!" Guther fired his oversized mimgun at Alexander's weapons. He drew fire, allowing the others to get close while the bipedal tank's weapons over heated. The tradeoff was the destruction of Guther's mech, the man barely getting out in time.

"Damn it." Roberta yelled as she and some of the mechs got closer she fired her Plasma machine gun at the overheated weapons along with the others. Mei on the other hand fired at the disk of the giant Mech tank, launching several missiles at the giant Mech.

The Raidome was tough, tougher then it looked, but after enough sustained fire, it finally shut down. After a string of curses, Alexander opened the cock pit so he could continue fighting by targeting manually.

He then saw Roberta looking up at him." I see you little gnat." Roberta said firing at the cock pit with her plasma machine gun, most of her shots hitting his shoulder and the rest hitting glass.

He cried out in pain as the internal components of the cockpit were fried. An explosion behind him sent Alexander flying out of the cockpit and onto the ground. Already unable to use his legs, he could only lay there and wait.

Roberta jumped down and looked at the mob boss and started to walk towards him giggling to herself." Well hello little gnat, aw your now defenseless heh heh." Roberta pulled out her sword and twirled it around.

Alexander laughed lightly, then louder and louder. "The jokes on you, bitch! I'm about to get the last laugh!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a detonator. "This whole station is rigged! All I have to do is push this but-!"

He felt a sharp pain. Looking over, a screamed in pain at the sight that his hand was missing. A few feet away, holding the hand with the detonator, a man in a dark blue men's kimono with a big straw hat and glasses sheathed a sword. "Sorry I'm late, boss," he said in a soft, stoic voice. "Murasaki at your service."

"Better late then never go forth and secure the station, go an capture the others kill the elderly and any men that resist. Those that enslave them and send any young fertile woman to ether the breeding grounds or recruit them, and Tell Emile to look for this bomb and defuse it." Solex said while he also walked to the mob boss.

Alexander held his severed stump, looking up. "Why are you doing this to me? To us?" He tried to crawl away but couldn't. "J-just... go away!"

"Why because were pirates." Solex looked at Roberta." Roberta do whatever you will with this thing, I will look over our soldiers." Solex left and left Alexander to Roberta.

Roberta looked down at the mob boss." Now then what do I do with you, sell your kids or them. Ou maybe I can strap you down and watch your wife getting fucked. Ou the decisions.

Alexander shut his eyes. "If you do not kill me... I will spend every waking second of my life looking for a way to kill you. Just get it over with. But please... my children are innocent. Leave... them... alone."

Roberta looked down at them man and her expression went from crazy to serious." Kids are not innocent, everything is a recourse especially children they could be great pirates or slaves if trained enough." Roberta put her sword down into Alexander’s leg. As she went into his house to find his kids.

He cried out, holding the hilt of the sword in pain. "Stop! STOP!" He yanked the sword out and crawled after her, even as he was bleeding to death. "I'll fucking kill you! Stay away from my kids! Give me back my wife! My life! The fuck you think you are!? I'll fucking gut you, you fucking bitch! You whore! Filthy pirate piece of shit!"

Roberta ignore the man and kicked his house door down and she went in, after a few minutes late she walked out with his kids.

"Daddy!" they cried out together, a boy and a girl, both dressed in tidy school uniforms. They tried to pull away from Roberta but her grip was too tight.

"Lady, please!" Alexander looked up at her. He was actually crying. "You have me. Their mother. Their home. Let them be. Don't punish them for a crime they didn't commit."

“Then stand up and do something about it, fight for them.” Roberta said letting the kids go.

"Your friend crippled me, I can't stand! But I'll... fight for them... until my dying... breath!"

A shot rang out, a hole punching into his back, followed by another as Guther walked up. "You destroyed my custom mech, you bitch!"

Roberta fired a laser pistol at Guther leg and another at his shoulder.” That was not your shot to take, you rabid beast.”

Guther's lip quivered. "B-but... my custom mech..."

Alexander weakly looked up, reaching for his children as they reached for them. "D... dad... daddy loves you... always... and forever... more..." His hand slowly lowered, and he closed his eyes, taking his last breath.

“Damn it!” Roberta looked at Guther in anger but calmed down.” Guther I know you’re angry over your bot, but this was my kill besides.” Roberta to the giant one they fought.” Now you got that to play with now if you excuse me I got these two to talk to.”



Guther nodded. "You... didn't have to shoot me," he mumbled, limping off

Roberta rolled her eyes and will apologize to him later, for now she looked down at the two kids crying for their dad. Roberta knelt down.” Why are you crying?”

The girl, about ten, held her brother tightly, him about eight. "Y-you killed daddy," she said angrily. She stroked her brother's hair, who was absolutely wailing.

“I didn’t he did, Roberta pointed to Guther.” But Yea I was gonna kill him.” Roberta got on one knee and looked at the kids.” So what are you gonna do about it?”

The little boy kept crying, but the girl's eyes wandered over to the sword lying next to her father.

Roberta looked down at the boy and the girl. And saw the girl pick up the sword.” Ok come along then little girl.” Roberta said with her arms open.

The girl struggled to pick up the heavy sword, but she was able to lift it, and ran at Roberta with it pointed out, intending to run her through.

Roberta easily dogged the attack and smacked the young girl face and picked her up." well you have sprite you might be worth something after all." Roberta then looked down boy who was still crying.

He looked at her and started shaking, afraid she was going to hurt him. "Don't touch him!" the girl yelled.

"Quiet you." Roberta then knelled down at the boy and raised her hand at his and used her Empathy ability on him to turned his fear and sadness, and made him calm and he stopped crying. Roberta then put the girl down. "Now then you say you love your daddy, but I want you both to look at his hand that's over there the one with the detonator in it. Your daddy was gonna blow up the station and kill everyone here including you two."

They both looked over, the girl gasping. She balled her hands into fist and said, "That... th-that's because... h-he knew you were going to do bad things to us. Like he said you did to our mommy."

"You would rather die and have your short lives snuffed out? I won't do to you what I did to your mother, I see children as a precious resources. Children could be used to become whatever you make them to be."

"Then... w-what are you going to do with us?" the boy asked, speaking for the first time.

"You are my property, my resources you will be educated trained and handle any labor that I see fit. Now then come along were going to your new home."

They both looked over at their father once more, as well as the nice home they were leaving behind. The girl looked over at her father's Mech were Guther was examining it, murderous intent in her eyes. Finally, they looked up at Roberta. The girl finally nodded and took her brother's hand, following her.

“Good now then come along.” Roberta escorted the kids past Guther and made their wad to a shuttle we’re Roberta took them to her ship, once on board Roberta took them to engineering.” Eddy were are you?”

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 5

The monkey boy flipped down from the ceiling. "Hello, beautiful. Who are these two?"

“The children of that mob boss who’s mom I took, I need you to well educate them put them to work. Basically give them something to do as kids go.”

Eddie saluted and took their hands. "Come along, kids. What are your names?"

"I'm... J-Jessica... Jessie," the girl said as they walked away. "My brother's name is Alexander... but we call him Alex."

Roberta went to the slave pits and brought everyone that Bethany loved and went to robotics.” Bethany get your ass up here.”

Bethany hurried over. "Machines worked like a charm, didn't... they...?" She stopped when she saw her family. "W-what's going on?"

"I'm keeping my word, I said if your machines would keep us alive and I lived I would give you a choice with which of your family members you want back. And since i'm in a good mood you can pick three of them, so take your pick but choose wisely."

Pick... th-three?" She looked at each of them. "W-well, my brother and sister, and... a-and, um..."

"Take your mother," her father insisted. "I and the Cartus will be okay." Surprisingly, the pair of Cartus nodded in agreement.

"O-okay... m-my mom then."

Roberta let those three go and they hugged Bethany.” Aw isn’t that just sweet, see I keep my word.”

Bethany nodded. "Thank you. "I-I will continue to work hard so I can get the other three."

"Ou I think you mean the other two." Roberta pointed her pistol at the father and shot him in the head. "Ou that's just unfortunate, my finger must have slipped."

Everyone screamed, Bethany's mother dropping to her husband’s side, the two siblings bursting into tears. "Why?!" Bethany cried out in anguish. "I did everything you asked of me!"

"Why come one now any other pirate would have killed them a long time ago and would have given you force hope of saving the, I gave you three of your family members back. But most importantly he was old, the elderly are a terrible recourse, they can't work well and they can't have children. Would you want me to have tortured him to death, ou but better yet." Roberta then walked to the two Cartus. "I can seed these two to the breeding farms, they would make great whores."

The cartus whimpered. Bethany stepped forward and said, "They are prized Cheri because their virginity is intact. Do that and you waste them! You've already taken one thing precious to me, and you threaten to do more!?"

"Ou this is nothing, I could take everything from you right now. I could kill your hole family right now and send these two lovely ladys to the breeding farm, I can do whatever I want. But if you continue to do the amazing work you have been doing, I promise you you can have your Cartus back and what's left of your family and go free. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Bethany's lip quivered in anger, tears rolling down her cheeks. It was clear she didn't believe Roberta would keep her word, but she had no choice. "Y-yes... Commander."

"See that's a good girl, now then take these two precious Cartus to the holding cells. And by the way if anyone does touch them and take their virginity, you will be slowly tortured by me am I clear on that?" The pirates nodded their head in fear. Roberta then looked back at Bethany and her tears, so she patted her head jokingly. "Cheer up love don't cry love, everything will be alright."

Bethany's eyes glazed over. In her head, she pulled Roberta gun and shot her, again and again and again. But then she would put her remaining family in danger. So she dried her eyes and nodded, saying nothing.

"That's a good girl, Take them to the holding cells." Roberta left robotic leaving Bethany with her family.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Frostlich1228 & ZombieSplitter53
The Collector and the Laepaede

Captain Jetstorm and Aya waited patiently as they waited for someone to great them. They had been invited onto a Laepaede Hiveship, a rare honor as far as they knew, though that made them wonder all the more what this could be about. What mission could they possibly have for them.

They found themselves in a well decorated space, almost like an office. The walls were made of metal, a copper colored metal that they couldn't place, paneled in a hex-grid with faintly glowing spaces between them, lighting the room dimly. There was a large, ornate door on the other side, separated from them by a pane of thick glass and a tough looking security gate. The occasional potted plant brightened the room up, but it was clear this area was meant to meet foreign delegation, as demonstrated by the more moderate oxygen levels that most other races breathe.

A delegation of four large male soldiers entered first, all holding intimidatingly large weapons in their arms, holding them at the ready as they stood on the other side of the glass. Stepping through next was a number of brightly colored Courtesan, four to be exact, taking seats in front of the glass, leaving a space in the middle. Lastly, a glorious looking Laepaede, her shell a vibrant pink and white with starlike marks of the same color, being carried in by a large male of her own, in an ornate throne filled with gems and made of what appeared to be gold, was gently placed on the spot.

"Greetings." She nodded at them. "I am the Shara'Sharei Ath'lhyeah-Sarra, welcome to the Hiveship Sarra."

The women stood up and bowed deeply. "It is a great pleasure to meet you," Aya said sincerely. "And to be invited here."

JJ search for something to say without putting her foot in her mouth. "It... i-it is a very nice ship..."

She motioned for them to sit, "You are the ones that were sent here to look for my missing Sharei?"

"That is correct." They sat, and Aya sat forward. "Please, give us the details."

She wordlessly motioned over to an almost candy apple red Laepaede to her left.

She nodded, "Yes My Lady. I am Iaehvaelta'Sarra (I-HaH-Val-Ta). I am the one who send you our message. The Missing Sharei is Oealaerha'Sarra (E-Oh-Lair-ah), my clutchmate, or my sister, to use the closest equivalent for your kind. She went missing from my Royal's court two days ago, looking over our docking records and every ship, we had eventually discovered a ship that had used Illegal and falsified documentation in order to dock. The actual register of the ship marks it as a trading vessel called, 'The Menagerie', research into it has led us to believe it acts as a mobile collection and base of operations for an individual who barters his various animals for the highest price."

"Barters for... animals?" JJ rubbed her chin. "Why would he take your sister? To cover up... some crime?"

"Possibly, but it might go deeper than that," Aya suggested. "What kind of animals does this person deal with?"

"The Rare Kind. We almost overlooked it at first too, until we asked our Tamearin and Shinso allies for any documentation on the craft." Iaehvaelta reached over and looked through a few papers. "It is wanted for illegal trading of cargo that's of... The Sentient Variety."

"Sentient?" JJ thought for a moment. "You mean, like... us?"

"I've heard rumors of people like this," Aya stated. "I had hoped it wasn't true. People who trade in rare species of people." She looked at her hostess. "Because of how close knit your people are, getting just one of you isn't common. So she could be considered a rare find."

"Especially not a High Sharei. Just getting even close to a Royal is nearly impossible." Iaehvaelta'Sarra motioned to the various guards and the bulletproof glass.

"And what with our fading numbers. Not to mention many other races find us insufferable. They likely want an opportunity to show us our place..." The Royal spoke with an obvious vitriol. "To think all we have sacrificed for them..."

Aya nodded. "Well... we only have one option then... to get her back."

JJ smiled and nodded. "That's right. We'll track this Menagerie down for you. Though if you have any ideas where to start looking, it would be a big help."

"We last saw it heading into nearby Fee space. So, you can imagine why we didn't go ourselves." The Apple Red Courtesan explained. "You will likely need to board. But we would like to remind you that you only need to bring her back. If it is too much of a risk, you could simply buy her back."

"Either way, our best bet is to at least pose as buyers," Aya noted.

"I guess if we have to, we can just do that," JJ said, then punched a fist into her palm. "But if possible, I'd like to shut this slimeball down!"

The Royal nodded, looking at Aya as she stood up and bowed, "Thank you... Captain Aya. It is also customary for our servants to bow to each other as well..."

Aya blinked, and said, "Oh, no... I'm not..."

JJ stood up and bowed. "She is quite a modest captain," she said. "But we thank you so much for your time."

The Royal servants also bowed back, nodding between them. Iaehvaelta'Sarra whispered into her Royal's ear and she responded, "It seems my servant would like to speak to the two of you privately. Know, however, that you are always being watched. We do not wish to offend, we simply want to be safe."

"Of course." Aya bowed her head. "We understand completely. Especially with what happened."

The rest of the retinue all bowed and made their way out of the room, only leading two of the giant guards. The Laepaede Courtesan stepped up to the other side of the door and upon pressing a few buttons, opened it up to a whooshing of air as the two environments combined.

"Thank you two so much for coming." She smiled. "I was frightened we wouldn't find anyone to help."

JJ and Aya exchanged a look and nodded. "We understand the galaxy hasn't been the... kindest to your people," JJ stated.

"Just know that not everyone is like that." Aya smiled. "We work with all kinds. I work with a Kortovog. JJ works with Shinso. We even work..." She trailed of, wondering if mentioning their disgraced Laepaede member was a mistake.

"We have a Laepaede member too!" JJ blurted out. "She used to be a noble."

"With...?" The Laepaede raised an eyebrow. "She used to be...? But a Sharei to leave her hive is..."

Aya avoided shooting a dirty at JJ. "She... had a falling out with her people. But from what little I have been known, it was unjust. But she is a royal... and a friend. We trust her completely. In fact, she will likely be a big help on the mission."

"A Royal... Outside her hive...? That... Is not possible..." She gave them a visibly confused and disturbed look. "Can... Where is she?"

"She should be on our ship?" JJ said worriedly, realizing her mistake. "We... can call her here or... go there and see her."

"Call her here. Although I'm warning you. If this is some trick..." She said with obvious nervousness.

JJ just as nervously pressed a button on her wrist communicator. "Yyashtra? You have been... invited onto the Hive Ship. Can you meet us in their meeting room?"

"What... Did you do?" The Laepaede spoke through the comm. "Very well..."

JJ looked up. "She's on her way. Um... why do you want to see her?"

"Because I don't believe you. What is her Hive Name? Because a Shara-Sharei born outside a Hive is impossible. She must have one."

"Yyashtra'kari," Aya answered simply, having a bad feeling about this.

"Yyashtra... Kari...?" She searched her mind, "Do you mean... The stories of Hive Kari banishing their own Royal is true? There is a rumour among us High Courtesan that the Royals held a meeting and secretly banishing one of their own. Is it really true?"

JJ scratched her head. "Um... yeah, I guess so. But it must have been a mistake. An unjust banishing. I-I mean... why else would it have been done in secret?"

"It wasn't a mistake." A voice called out behind them. "I told you it wasn't."

Yyashtra stood there, covered in a beaten up brown cloak, trying to look as unassuming as possible.

JJ frowned. "But... but it wasn't fair..."

"It was! I deserved it!" Yyashtra pulled her hood down.

The Courtesan gasped, covering her mouth. "You're really... I've seen you before..."

"Of course you have. I was friends with your Royal... Before..." Yasha admitted.

Aya shook her head, walking over to Yyashtra. "I'm sorry. JJ accidentally mentioned you and they insisted..."

They looked back at the Courtesan, holding a hand over her nose and mouth and backing up against the nearby wall. Yyashtra sighed, "There's a reason I didn't want to come aboard. Royals unconsciously produce a pheromone that makes them irresistible to their lesser kin. This helps them to insure their word as the leader of the hive is not contested and to prevent infighting. But having two Royals in a hive..."

JJ nodded and looked back at the other Laepaede. "Is it okay if she goes before it creates a problem?"

"Please... Please just... Remove her. I'm so so sorry I asked." Iaehvaelta said, almost shaking in fear.

"Let's go." The Exiled Royal sighed, looking back at the cowering Courtesan.

Aya nodded sadly. As they took their exit, she looked back and said, "We'll be back with your sister."

"This is why I didn't come in with you." Yyashtra'kari looked over at them as they walked.

JJ slumped her head. "I'm sorry. It was my fault. I thought mentioning you would make them trust us more... not less..."

"I'm a bit of an unknown quality. A Royal hasn't been banished... Well, since back before the AI War." Yyashtra told them. "I'm also technically banned from entering another Hiveship. Hopefully she feels grateful enough not to tell Ath'lhyeah of this."

Aya tried her hand at an encouraging smile. "Well, we are on a mission to find her sister. I'm sure there should be a degree of gratefulness there."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

The Collector and the Laepaede
Part Two

"A Rescue then? Let's hope this one goes a little smoother than the last one we did." She chuckled.

JJ chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah. We were hoping you would join us on this one."

Aya rubbed her chin in thought. "I have an idea... if you're willing to hear me out."

"Of course. What's your plan?" Yyashtra asked, suddenly getting a bad feeling.

"What if we pose as customers?" Aya suggested. "We'll be honest about your status as a banished Royal, and say you are looking for a servant of your own kind. And we heard a rumor he just acquired a Courtesan."

"Oh... That was... Not what I thought you were going to say." Her eyes widened. "I thought you were going to offer me up to sell."

Aya's eyes widened themselves. "No! No, no, I would never do that to you, even if it was just a ruse, nor would I ever expect you to agree to it."

JJ kept her mouth shut, though clearly had something on her mind.

Yyashtra noticed her expression. "Yes?"

"Well, um..." JJ rubbed her neck. "Aya's plan is good... unless he questions how we got that info or... simply doesn't want to sell her yet. Or already has a buyer in mind. It might not guarantee an audience. But... your plan would..."

"But what if you can't get me back out? Or he leaves with me? Criminal Ships tend to have untraceable warp drives." She pointed out. "And if I do get in... What next? They'll strip me of my weapons and lock me up. I don't know what'll do from there."

"I-I was only suggesting it as a means to get a meeting, not actually selling you!" JJ pouted and sank her head down even further than before. "B-but you're right, it... i-it's a stupid, dangerous idea..."

"You seem... Less... Confident than usual Captain. Is something wrong?" Yasha raised an eyebrow.

JJ rubbed her arm lightly, her ears slightly twitching. "You... you were right about that last rescue mission. We got lucky. What if I screw this mission up?"

"Perhaps it's better to just let her go then. If we fail and die we'll never be able to save anyone ever again." Yyashtra'kari shrugged.

"How can you say that!?" JJ suddenly cried out. "She's one of your kind! Besides, she needs our help! If... i-if it were you, I would do anything to save you!"

"But we don't know her. I appreciate the sentiment but you know me. Sometimes its better to just accept your losses than lose more trying to recoup them." The Insect stated matter-of-factly. "Unless you want to stop thinking in what-ifs and doubting yourself."

JJ stood up straight and took a deep breath. "If that's what it takes, consider my doubts gone."

"Then we'll do what we have to. I like Ms. Aya's plan. But we could always fall back on yours JJ." The Insectoid Woman smirked.

Aya nodded. "Sometimes throwing caution to the wind is needed, but only when there are no other options." She sent another subtle nod to Yyashtra'kari to thank her for giving JJ that short pep talk. "I'll set coordinates for the dealer's last known location. We never know when we'll find him, so be prepared at a moment's notice."

"Can do." Yyashtra agreed.

*****

Five Days Later

"Captain." Aya looked back. It was late at night and only she and JJ were on the bridge, Aya working the controls. We're approaching the meeting location, and there is a single ship on sensors."

Jackie-Jackie sat up in her new, incredibly comfortable captain's chair that she had been gifted, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Alright. Um... bring it on the viewer as soon as we are close enough."

Aya nodded, doing just that after a few minutes and magnifying to get a good look at what they were dealing with.

What they saw was a large, blocky ship made of many squares, however some of the squares had spheres built into them. It was only until they got closer that they saw that the square pieces were from Yorin ships, the round pieces looked similar to Laepaede Hiveships. The general hull was a patchwork of multiple different metals, but they didn't look damaged as if they were salvaged, more like they had been bought from different places as wings and then we're added.

"Interesting." Aya raised her eyebrows. "Meant to be different environments perhaps? Or possibly to give them the best of different ships? I wonder how they got part of a Hive Ship..."

"Can we fight them?" JJ asked. "Or outrun them if need be?"

"Hard to say," Aya admitted. "Their shields are making it difficult to get a read out of their systems, weapons, propulsion, or otherwise, and if I probe to hard they'll be asking us why we're scanning them."

The captain nodded. "Hail them."

Aya pressed a few buttons. "This is the Golden wind calling the Managerie. Do you read me?"

The Screen came up quickly, a robotic looking creature standing before the screen. It was hard to tell if there was anything organic and even harder trying to tell what species it might've originally been. Thick ropes of metal cable formed an almost muscle structure between solid plates of space age armor, large canisters with small windows revealed glowing contents of Red, Blue, Green, and Purple.

Curiously, it's large, metallic head was shaped like an alien skull, elongated in the back, like the Grey Aliens of Earth Myth, no mouth to speak of, and four eyes, all matching the colors of the canisters, a few inches apart, arranged in a square.

A Deep Mechanical Voice belched out of it, a faint synthetic screech echoing after each sentence. "The Golden Wind? You're the ones who arranged this meeting then. Good. I've been watching waiting."

JJ rubbed her chin in thought. This wasn't what she expected, but then, she wasn't sure what she expected. "We would like to purchase one of your animals. One of your animals of a... higher order of species?"

"Ah... I see..." He turned to the side, typing into a holo keyboard. "It says you're a mercenary ship. What would you want with one of my animals?"

"There is a rumor circulating that you acquired an animal of the insect variety lately," Aya stated. "We have such an... animal... on board, though of a higher status. We'd like to give it to her as... let's say a service animal. Her kind needs a lot of attention, as you might know." Aya kept a straight face despite feeling sick inside from what was coming out of her own mouth.

"Really? Are you saying you have a Royal aboard? That raises a few red flags... Not only do Royals not leave their hives often, but they usually already have a full retinue of servants." The Robot Mentioned, looking over at her. "Where is this Royal?"

"Guess we're dropping that subtlety..." JJ pressed a button on her chair. "Yyashtra'kari, please come to the bridge."

"Our royal was banished," Aya explained. "As such, you can imagine it isn't easy for her to get servants, particularly of her own kind. Your Laepaede presents her with a very unique opportunity I doubt we'd be able to find again if we missed out."

Yyashtra stepped out, wearing no clothes and extending her wings. "Is this the merchant?"

"Hmm... Well. That is a Royal." He tapped his chin. "Hive Kari you say? Let me look this up..."

After a number of minutes, "Yeah. Rumor has it in my contacts that Hive Kari recently replaced it's Royal suddenly. Pretty rare stuff. So let's say I believe you... You want my Courtesan?"

"That's right." JJ smiled, a rather sinister looking one few who knew her would say she was capable of. "We are new to the bounty hunter racket and we are always looking for new recruits... by any means possible. And if I have to spend some money to make my top hunter happy, well..."

"Very well. Is this for Sale... Or Trade?" Each of his multicolored eyes 'blinked' individually, really just turning on and off.

"I suppose that depends on how much she costs, and what we have that could equal that," answered the captain.

"Hold on, don't get over zealous." Aya stood up. "We would like to see the merchandise before we make any kinds of offers. Can we come aboard?"

He let out what appeared to be a digitized sigh. "You can tour the Zoo. But you'll pay an up front entrance fee like everyone else and you will be watched, understand?"

"Understood." JJ rose from her own seat. "We wouldn't expect it any other way. We'll come in a shuttle right away."

He replied in a bored tone, "Yes... Will do,” before cutting out.

"Well... that went okay, I think." JJ looked back at Yyashtra. "You ready? I hired to people to act as your current servants to add some believability to our story. We'll talk more in the shuttle ride over."

"Right. Who is coming? Just you two and these fake servants?" She clarified.

"And you of course." Aya walked over to the door. "We need to keep the party small. Any more then five and they start to wonder if letting us on board is a good idea."

"Good idea. We'll take this tour normally until we find her."

The three made their way towards the back of the ship to the dock. There were two people there waiting for them. One stepped forward, a large human with a big smile. "William Kirchmeyer," he said. "Call me Will. Demolition is usually my game, but I'll be playing the part of your muscle." He offered his hand.

"It's good to meet you William." Yyashtra'kari held out a hand. "This is the customary greeting for Humans, correct?"

William shook it with a strong grip. "It is a pleasure to meet a royal. Always wanted to say I did. Now I can brag about it."

Behind him stepped forward a young reptilian woman, a younger reptilian girl peaking out from behind her leg. Yyashtra recognized them as Syzoth, a rare species of reptilian aliens that lost their planet in the A.I. war and were to this day nearly extinct. "Aeshleigh Regus," she said, her tongue briefly flicking out.

"Yyashtra'kari... I've read about your people but I didn't know they still existed..." The Insectoid Woman stated with a surprised tone.