Blue energy crawled over the air vent around them, and ripped them down to the ground. The landing was somewhat painful, but not particularly bad.
“These Outsiders really don’t know how to build air vents, do they?” A man with white hair in a black ghost suit covered in pulsing blue lines said. “No offense.” he added as he turned to a man in a gray uniform.
Rakah slowly rose to her feet, a quick mental scan of the room revealed her intended target, and 10 other people in the room, most of which were busy pointing the wrong end of a gun at her.
{I would strongly recommend that you ask your men to lower their weapons, I am not here for a fight, but I can not guarantee their safety from my companions should they keep them at the ready}
As if on cue Rakah felt Marrhe claw at her for control so she could show them just how outmatched they were.
Nick Reyd looked at her and smiled.
“Have a coffee break, guys.”
“I’d rather not.” Arcus said, not lowering his rifle.
“I can handle her, Arcus. But I guess you can stay if you want to. But lower your gun.”
The ghost lowered his rifle. The others in the room were confused.
“You heard the boss.” Arcus said. “Lower your guns and piss off.”
The soldiers, some wearing Arcus’ dark blue and others the Outsider gray, did as they were told and left the room. Only Nick, Arcus and the man in the gray uniform remained.
“So... I’m Nick. This guy is Arcus, and that guy is Colonel Ian Smith. It’d be nice if you introduced yourself, and maybe explained why you were crawling around in my vents.”
Rakah nodded.
{I have a rather interesting dilemma, and due to this dilemma I cannot remain with my own kind, as I pose a direct threat to their mental health, I basically have developed a rather contagious case of multiple personalities, and any Protoss that gets to close tend to catch whatever I am infected with, the two other “Me” are rather violent, and after seeing your little display I figured that you wouldn’t mind have someone like me around, no offense, Mr Nick}
As she finished talking she let her mental self float back and after a brief struggle Khinu gained control.
Immediately Khinu’s mental energies changed the color of the psionic energy in her eyes from blue to a brilliant emerald green, and in less than the blink of an eye she was behind Arcus and patted him on the shoulder.
{Smart choice to lower your gun Mr. Blue, Ms. Grumpy was really wanting me to gut you if you didn’t, anyway I am Khinu, I am the fun one of the the three of us, Pleased to meet you Mr. Potential-Boss-Sir}
“Well, she’s definitely fast.” Arcus said, turning to face Nick, not Khinu.
“That she is.” Nick said and turned to Khinu. “And Miss Fun, I highly recommend you do not try to gut me, it wouldn’t end well for either of us. You seem like you could be a quite remarkable asset, and I’m sure neither of us would like it if you were... Well, not here anymore.”
Nick accompanied the mild threat with a glimpse of his mind. All she could sense was a being filled with fire, bloodlust and rage - And that being was definitely no the one looking at her with a smile right now.
Khinu seemed unphased by the spectacle and just made a mental whistling sound.
{And here I thought Ms. Grumpy was broody, whatever you're lugging along makes her seem rather cheerful, Mr. Potential-Boss-Sir, no wonder she likes you}
Not only did her mental voice seem unphased, but it “sounded” like she was commenting on a rather interesting portrait, and not a bloodthirsty otherworldly entity.
{She’s weird.} The devil commented.
That she is. Nick agreed.
{I like her.}
You’re weird.
“Well then, what are you girls good at? And why should I trust you?”
Khinu was just about to answer when Marrhe took a hold of her mental “Self” and gave a powerful yank, and then grasped the reins, immediately the psionic energy took on a crimson hue and started giving off a rather bloodthirsty vibe.
{Trusting us would be a very bad idea, as for what we are good at, the Weakling of an original can take quite the beating, attacks what would kill me or the Child outright would hardly phase her, the Child is, as you saw, extremely fast, i dare say nothing can keep up with her once she starts running, as for me, I specialises in long distance bombardment, I can take out missile turrets and other such defenses from extreme range, the “Malfunctions” in this base’ defense grid over the last half an hour has been my doing to secure an easy entry into the base}
Marrhe’s voice was stone cold, yet held barely masked murderous intent, clearly the statement that she was not to be trusted was an honest one.
{Oooh... I like her.}
Didn’t expect any different.
“Interesting... Still, what reason do I have to believe that you will not just turn around and kill all my men as soon as I walk away? If I have to babysit you three all of the time, you’re useless to me as I can pretty much all you can myself. Well, without any subtlety. I’d just wreck shit.”
“You’re seriously considering having this lunatic work for us?” Smith asked.
“We can use every advantage we can get.” Nick said. “And they seem quite skilled. They got this far, didn’t they? If they turn on us, we can just leave them on the planet and let them and our enemies kill each other.”
“And if she turns while on a ship?”
“We’ve got more than one. And I’m sure she’ll understand that I’m the stronger of the two of us, so she won’t cause us any trouble as that would get her killed. The only other option she has it to use the hypothetically hijacked ship to cause trouble for our enemies, so I wouldn’t really count it as a loss.”
“We’d lose a lot of men.”
“We will one way or another. Wars can’t be won without casualties.”
{Lots and lots of casualties.} The devil whispered to Marrhe with an image of a burning smile.
Marrhe responded in kind to the Devil, finally someone she could relate too, she was just about to give the answer when a rather insistent Rakah demanded the drivers seat again, and Khinu, who had gotten annoyed at her immediately stepped up to back Rakah in her demand.
{see you around, handsome}
She whispered to the devil as she let herself float to an observing position and rakah seized control.
The psionic energy changed again as Rakah took control, and it became calm, like a river flowing through a wide valley.
{While I can not give any guarantees where Marrhe is concerned, Khinu is simple, keep her entertained and your safe, cause her to become bored, and your life is in peril as she finds it amusing to think up ways to kill things, which is one of the reasons Marrhe even tolerates her childish antics, I myself prefer to discuss things peacefully rather than having to become violent, granted this does not mean I won’t kill if I have to, but I prefer a peaceful solution, or at least the solution with the least casualties}
She paused for a bit and seemed to be in an internal discussion with the two others, and suddenly the three voices could be heard at once.
{We have all our own reasons for joining, so going against you would be counter productive to our goals, and while we cannot guarantee no casualties should we get too bored or too stressed, we will at least try to keep the bloodshed to a... minimum.}
Rakah opened her eyes again and the dark blue pools of her eyes bored into Nicks, a steely resolve that would not bend for anything.
{I seek a cure for my condition Mr.Reyd, and I don’t care who I have to align myself with, nor what I have to do in order to achieve this, I would align myself with even the Zerg if that would help me, as for a ship, I wouldn’t worry about losing one of your own, I have one already, it’s a bit empty at the moment, but if I could get a crew in and some troops she’ll be fully operational}
With that she simply sat down and closed her eyes.
“Arcus, Smith, any comments?”
“As I said, I’m not comfortable with this.” Smith said. “But I guess we can use help, especially if you want to stay in the back lines as you’ve said.”
“She seems volatile.” Arcus said. “But I picked you up on Deiliri as well, didn’t I?”
The ghost just left the room.
“I guess you’re hired.” Nick said. “Welcome to the Black Hand. I’d name you my Right Black Hand, but I already promised that one to Arcus, and Smith here got leftie. If I know Arcus as well as I think I do, which isn’t actually that well, we only met a few weeks ago, then he’s probably putting together a crew for you right now.”
{I don’t like the main chick.}
Well, I do. And I don’t care what you think. Besides, without her we would have no way to ensure that the other two only kill people when its in our favor.
{I don’t care about whose favor it is.}
Nick just sighed and shut out the devil. He could keep him away as long as he had control. As long as no one angered him, or irritated him.
SoA
Rakah, Khinu and Marrhe have a chat with Nick Reyd.
“Cap’n, got a busy day ahead of me.” Kenny said as he walked onto the bridge with a crate of rum.
“Oh really?” Doom asked as he pulled a bottle out of the crate.
“Outsider signals bounced off one of our relays. I can track where it came from, and possibly estimate where they were going. With a bit of luck we’ll catch em.”
“And how is this different than any other day?” Doom asked, opened the bottle and gave Kenny a suspicious look.
“Dagganoth wants to come in contact with the Quantum Legion.”
“Well, we’ve been delaying that conversation for a while now. That all?”
“No... I got invited to tea.”
Doom raised an eyebrow - The wrong one, above the eyepatch.
“Orloth.” Kenny said, as if it were self explanatory.
“The guy in Dvergar?”
“No, that hot guy I met in the bar on Domus. Of course I mean Dvergar!”
“Well, how do you wanna handle that one?”
“I was thinking of going. He might have found something useful on the Auruleans. Plus maybe he can tell where the coordinates we got off Dagganoth’s communicator lead to.”
“Well, I’m guessing we aren’t telling Keeva he went deep into zerg space for unknown reasons, are we?”
“Kenny doesn’t know.” Kenny said.
“Alright. Can you get me a channel to Keeva?”
“I’ve already begun rotating the relays so that we have a clear line to Zeta relay outside the nebula, should be able to reach Myrym in two minutes, and the Arken should be capable of contacting us inside the nebula.”
“Do that, then grab the Andrumeda and make your way to Dvergar. I’d rather have my ship here though for when we find the Outsiders, so do some hitch-hiking if possible. And go update Waiter.”
“Aye aye, cap’n.” Kenny said and left the room.
Doom twirled the bottle around in his hand, thinking, as he waited for the relays to line up. Getting the Legion in touch with Dagganoth would end up making things a bit easier, no more worrying about the cerebrate slipping up and leaving a trace. On the other hand, he was far too busy in the nebula right now, tracking down the Outsiders. He would’ve preferred being present, or at least having Waiter or Kosh present.
“What do you want, Doom?” Keeva asked as her hologram appeared in front of Doom.
“Ye look hot today.” Doom said, looking at her - She was wearing her ghost uniform, and he was reminded why she was called the most stunning woman in Eurim.
“And you don’t. I’m busy, get to the point.”
“Remember the asset we talked about?”
“Yes...?” Keeva asked, looking very suspiciously at Doom.
“He wants to talk.”
“What about?”
“Do I look like a cerebrate to you?”
“So you didn’t ask?”
“Girl, do I ever ask if you tell me to do something? I wouldn’t have the job I have if I asked questions all the time. The guy said he wanted to talk to ya guys, I trust him enough to not ask him why.”
“Well, as I said, I’m busy. I’m taking part in the quick response fleet, I can’t really just leave and meet a cerebrate at the moment.”
“So what should I tell him?”
“If he wants to talk to me, he should make himself useful, and prove his faith and trust in our relationship. Tell him to scout Bysdoch - No one has an idea what is going on there. But more importantly, tell him what Bysdoch is - The strong Outsider system we know of, likely filled with half a dozen ships that want to blow his face of. And tell him that none of your ships will help him if he gets in trouble - I will make sure he is supported by proper Coalition forces. And the last thing he should know is that I already killed a cerebrate with my own hands. If he wants to be an asset to the Coalition, he should learn to work with us instead of you.”
“Well, I wasn’t planning on leaving the nebula soon anyway. I’ll let him know.”
SoA
Kenny gets invited to tea by Orloth, and makes his way to Dvergar. 12 ICs/Days travel time.
Doom informs Keeva about Dagganoths request, and she gives him the terms.
“Captain!” The Lieutenant yelled, looking somewhat scared. “Two more ships incoming!”
“What!? How!?” The Captain yelled back.
“It was a trap - They were hiding behind the moon.”
“Hail the Aegis, tell them to hurry up with cracking the systems, we need all the support we can get.”
“Sir... The Coalition seems to be heading directly for the Aegis.”
“Shit. Inform Weckam of our situation.”
JI-03 Bridge Low Ekson Orbit
“Fire!” Weckam yelled, and the bridge vibrated lightly. “Engineers to check on stabilizers. NOW!”
“Sir, it seems their--” Someone said, but was rudely interrupted by the entire ship shaking violently. “The cannons are up, sir.”
“Pull away.” Weckam said. “And if those stabilizers aren’t fixed soon, someone’s getting fired.”
“Captain, transmission from Delios!”
“What is it?”
“Coalition reinforcements have arrived, and seem intent on taking over the Aegis.”
“Can our troops there take them?”
“Unlikely, sir. It’s four on three, and the Aegis is more likely to fall into Coalition hands than ours.”
“Tell them to pull out. We make our stand on Ekson.”
The Aegis High Delios Orbit
“We’re being boarded!” The marines yelled.
“Bravo squad requesting assistance!” Came a voice over the comms.
“Fall back! Surrender fighter bay, meet up with Bravo in the first corridor!” The squad leader yelled and the marines and firebats back away from the landing Coalition medivacs.
After the last of the soldiers left the bay, the doors were sealed shut and metal bars came out of the wall to reinforce the heavy door even further.
“Bravo squad, Charlie squad at entrance N4--” The squad leader was flung headfirst against a wall hard enough to cave in his helmet, crushing his skull.
The other soldiers panicked and started running, but one of the firebats was grabbed by the invisible force and thrown at the running soldiers with such force that the napalm tanks exploded, killing half the marines, the other half running away screaming.
“Too easy.” Xavier said as he unlocked the doors.
---
Not thirty minutes later, Xavier stood on the bridge, in front of two dozen outsiders on their knees with their hands on their head.
“It’s too bad I have to let you live.” Xavier said, glancing at everyone individually with his cold, blue eyes, his suit - and especially hands - covered in blood and gore. He didn’t even bother to wipe the dead Outsiders from his face.
“How long are you going to take?” The ghost asked the Collective’s marines.
“Almost done, sir.”
“Tell your men to take them away.”
Half the collective marines did as they were told, forced the prisoners on their feet and led them out of the room, while the other half continued going through the security measures necessary to reactivate the Aegis.
RR-13 Bridge Leaving Delios Orbit
“Captain, Aegis engines are powering up and medivacs are returning to their host ships.”
“Shit, hurry up.”
“Warp engines almost ready.” The lieutenant said.
The Captain stared at the hologram of the situation, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead.
“JI-01 jumped.” The Lieutenant said as the Patrol ship disappeared from the hologram.
“Construction of warp field beginning.” The Lieutenant said, and the hologram showed how a strange bubble was beginning to be formed around the ship.
The Aranov ships were closing in, the Tirions close behind.
“BYS5 Jumped.” The second ship was gone. They were alone now.
Alone for just a few more second.
“Warp field halfway constructed.” The bubble was finally beginning to take shape.
The ships were coming awfully close.
“Warp field building up around APM1.” The Lieutenant said, and the Captain saw a similar bubble building up around the Aranov Patrol that was coming awfully close.
“Warp field almost complete, engines ready for jump.”
The Captain looked at the Aranov ship - The warp field around it was building up incredibly fast.
Damn our outdated tech! He swore in his mind. He could feel his hands shaking.
“Jump in three...” The Lieutenant said.
The Captain closed his eyes. The last ten seconds had been the longest in his life.
They would make the jump. Of course they would. The Patrol would not catch up in time.
“Two...”
The patrol’s bubble was complete, as was theirs.
“Jump initiated.” The Lieutenant said.
The Captain sighed, and was for once happy to feel as if he were being turned inside out as Warp travel began.
And then it happened again, with the addition of the lights dimming shortly.
He looked at the hologram. Delios was gone. But Ekson wasn’t there either. No moons, no asteroids, nothing. Just a high tech Patrol ship flying blue colors standing right in front of them.
SoA:
The Coalition ambushes the Delios forces.
Planetary Defense Cannons on Ekson are operational again. Coalition ships defending them are lightly damaged from the Outsider’s siege attempts. -1 to the Patrols armor stat until it undergoes maintenance at a major planet. (5 instead of 6)
The Collective retakes the Aegis
The Outsiders abandon Delios and head towards Ekson.
The Outsider Assault “JI-03” is intercepted by the Aranov Patrol “Sokol” 2,500,000 kilometers away from Delios. (Distance to Ekson is roughly 196,000,000 kilometers)
"They're repairing the cannons." A Wraith pilots voice came over the comms.
"Dammit!" Captain Weckam swore. "We need to stop them. We may outnumber them three to two, but if there's one thing those Coalition cowards know how to do it's how to sit tight and be untouchable. If they get those cannons up, our ships are screwed."
"What are your orders, sir?" A lieutenant asked.
"Ready our forces. We need to use numbers to our advantage, seeing as that's all we got running in our favor. Then we hit them hard."
RR-13 Bridge Janan Orbit
"Captain, Coalition forces are hitting Delios right now."
"What? I knew we shouldn't have trusted that intel!"
"Captain, it is still mostly correct - It's an Aranov and a Tirion ship, and Ekson was hit by two Aranov ships. Our spy just got the location for one attack wrong, or it was changed last second."
"Doesn't really matter anymore, does it? Pack everything up, we're going to Delios."
"Understood, captain."
"Actually, scratch that. Leave half of our deployed forces here, just in case."
Ekson Surface
{ On my mark. } Weckam's voice came through every soldiers comms.
{ Three. }
{ Two. }
{ One. }
{ Mark! }
Marines, firebats and medics rushed through the forest, heading for their enemies. Wraiths soared above them, on their way to overpower the Aranov Air Forces. It took the army thirty seconds to reach a clearing.
And that's when all went wrong.
The frontline was blown into the sky in a series of massive explosions, leaving the clearing aflame.
Screams shot through the forest from all the wounded soldiers.
But the soldiers kept running.
{ Retreat! } Weckam yelled after the second volley of tank shots.
The survivors were confused - There were still many of them. Why retreat?
One of them looked up to see Wraith missiles prematurely explode as they were struck by lasers.
"RUUUUUUUUUUN!" He yelled, and people followed.
Shots came out of nowhere, from empty space in the sky, and started tearing through the marines. Volley after volley of missiles flew overhead at the fleeing Wraiths, ripping them apart.
A dozen vikings landed in front of the soldiers, blocking their escape paths. The soldiers fought back, trying to shoot their way out. Four vikings fell before the siege tanks tore the squad apart, and the vikings returned to the skies.
The Flying Drunkman Jinnings Orbit
Doom walked into the fighter bay. Vikings, Medivacs, Banshees and even two Ravens were in it, and if you judged by their paintjobs you'd probably think they were about to fall apart. But any mechanic could tell you after a single glance that the aircraft were in perfect condition, and upon closer inspection they'd tell you that they were actually in better than a perfect condition: Advanced armoring, weapons customized for higher efficiency - They'd tell you they never saw such an advanced air force in terran space. The sloppy and damaged paintjobs were more of a trademark than anything else, a symbol - Just like the skull'n'bones they included.
But Doom wasn't here because of his airforce. In the middle of the fighter bay, on the launch tracks, were lined up seven men, kneeling. Eight marines stood guard, Darth Waiter and Kenny were leaning on a nearby banshee while Kosh carried in a crate of rum.
"As you seven know, the Outsiders ran as soon as they heard I was coming to Karibia." Doom said as he was beginning to pace in front of the kneeling men. "The thing is, no one apart from my crew, Keeva Lane and Domovoi Aranov knew I was coming. Which means someone tipped them off."
Waiter made sure that the seven could sense the joy he was getting out of this.
"Now Waiter here keeps a very close eye on my crew, and has determined that it was none of you."
They all sighed in relief.
"But there obviously is a reason why you seven are here, and that's because you are weak lings, people that need to be made an example out of."
Doom took a sip of rum from his bottle.
"I need to make sure my crew is loyal, that none of them would betray me. I may be a pirate and may have the strongest fleet in the Coalition after the Arken itself, but we operate in secret. When we do a job, no one is supposed to know that we did it. But you all know this. Yet, in one way or another, you betrayed me. I can't have people leaking sensitive information about events that officially never happened. If someone feels like they can't work with me, I'm fine with that, you can leave as soon as we dock. But you guys didn't, you all put me in situations that could have proved harmful if Waiter over there wouldn't have kept an eye on you."
Doom took the massive revolver out of his holster and walked up to the first.
"You were loading the protoss scrap we got from the guys from Barkanos onto the Drunkman. You're good friends with an information broker, who asked you about a guy called "Adam" and such scrap material, and while you told him you weren't allowed to talk about it, you did tell him that we actually had something to do with it. I had to send sticks'n'stones out to keep him quiet. We only managed to trade the dog food we made out of him for three bottles of rum, that's how worthless he was. And you too."
The man fell to the ground, a quarter of his head missing, as Doom walked to the next.
"You boasted about how you took on three Outsider marines by yourself when we intercepted that ship a couple months back. While that information wasn't particularly sensitive, it did tell the Outsiders where I was, or more importantly, wasn't. You know what happened next? An attack was launched on Dunar."
Another bloody mess hit the floor.
"You actually didn't do anything yet. But you've been thinking about it a lot, you were thinking about how it was only a matter of time until you don't get out of a fight alive, or on the wrong side. You kept thinking about what would happen if you were captured, and you swore to yourself that you'd do anything to survive, even rat me out. I just can't have that."
Thud.
"You boasted about how you took on four zealots by yourself, even though we never fight protoss, and you weren't part of that little mission we had a while back either. Is that right?"
"Yessir, but please, I was just trying to impress--"
"False information is still information. If anything had happened in Protoss space involving terrans or not, and the protoss heard of your little story, they could easily point the finger at me, and with me at the Coalition. Whether they are blaming the right person or not does not matter."
Doom took another gulp of rum as he walked over blood to reach the next person, the red pool already having spread to that mans knees.
"Please--"
"You counted my airships and sold the numbers to an information broker on Domus, who then gave them to some people I expect were Outsiders. I... Uh..."
"You threw em out the airlock, Cap'n." Kenny said.
"Right, I threw em all out the airlock. Luckily for you I just chose the relatively painless bullet."
Doom fulfilled his promise and walked on to number six.
"You were on vacation half a year ago, and apparently spent it on Apoca, doing a heist. While officially you weren't part of my crew then, you weren't breaking any of my promises to the Coaliton. But you sold out your accomplices for some additional cash. They were picked up by an Aurulean ship, and I presume all executed on the spot, but apparently not before giving up your name. There were people nosing around about you for months now, and I took care of that, but apparently you're planning another such heist. The Auruleans have some really good ghosts, and I'm sure they'd love to find out more about me if you were caught. So not only is this preemptive self protection, but I also can't officially support the way you work. If you ratted out your previous team, who says you won't do that to me?"
Doom walked over to the last person, covered in blood spatters from the previous shot.
"Your sister is an information broker, and apparently has a request for some blueprints of the inside of the Drunkman. While you told her that was impossible, that number she told you kept going 'round and 'round in your head, so much in fact that you actually drew some blueprints. You haven't given them to her yet, but you were planning to do so, and then retire. Don't worry, we've given her a rough torture session so that she would give up her employer, and then we got a hefty sum for their organs."
Click.
"Oh, I'm out of bullets." Doom said and the prisoner sighed in relief.
Doom threw the revolver to Kenny, then grabbed the mans head. The man started to scream in pain. After about five seconds, there was a loud crack, and the screaming stopped. Doom let go of the now slightly disfigured head and the corpse collapsed on the floor.
Doom handed everyone a bottle of rum from the crate, emptied one himself, and then picked up the crate with one hand before leaving the fighter bay. As everyone walked out, the metal plates on the far end of the launch track seperated and retracted, showing the planet of Jinnings behind a field of plasma.
After everyone was out, the shield dissipated, the air was ripped out of the bay, and the bodies and blood with it. All that was left of the exacution were the bullets, now stuck to the floor. And those were ejected soon after the bodies as well.
SoA:
Outsiders on Ekson try a head-on assault on the Coalition forces with little to no scouting. They panic after the tanks blow a hole into their frontline and PDDs nullify their air forces, and retreat.
Outsiders lost 20 marines, 10 firebats, 5 medics and 20 Wraiths. Coalition loses 4 vikings.
Outsider forces on Janan leave behind half their deployed troops and head for Delios, where they immediately begin deploying troops.
Doom takes out the trash.
He looked around casually, making sure there was no-one close. He checked his watch - 8:29. In one minute the security shift would change, and no one would be looking at the camera feeds for at least a minute, more than enough time. He kept casually walking down the corridor, waited until ten seconds past the minute mark, then quickly paced back to underneath the camera.
A panel was quickly removed with the use of a simple screwdriver, revealing some wiring. The man pulled out a small device with a couple of cables attached to, grabbed the cables with clamps at the end and attached them to the ones he just uncovered. The screen on the device lit up, and he pushed a couple of buttons for a loading bar to appear, together with a pile of jumbled letters and numbers. It took only five seconds for the bar to fill up, after which he quickly disconnected and pocketed the device, put the panel back and walked out the corridor.
He took two turns and was back at the Janitor's cart. He took the mop and continued cleaning the floor, just a couple of seconds before a pair of marines walked by him.
Outsider Assault JI-03 Naran System
"Captain Weckam, we're receiving a message."
"From where?"
"The closeby nebula. Message seems to have been sent in plain text, no encryption on the signal itself, but the text itself seems encrypted."
"Run it through encryption processes. See if it matches up to any of the encryption codes useable by the ship on Elos."
"None of the standard decryption methods work." The tech-lieutenant said after half a minute. "Trying out all secondary methods now. This may take a minute."
The captain sat in his chair, thinking. Hoping that their Elos ship had somehow survived was the most he could do - The Coalition was bound to show up here soon, and he would need all the help he could get. They had a large force already here in Naran, but the Coalition had far more ships than all the Outsiders put together twice over.
Suddenly holographic text showed up a few meters in front of the Captain.
Elos fallen. Ship destroyed.
Taken prisoner, tried to turn me. Pretending to cooperate.
Eavesdropped. Attack on Naran system imminent.
3 Arnv + 1 Tir/Mag
2 Arnv -> Ekson/Delios, unsure
Tir/Mag+Arnv -> Jaran, confirmed.
"Is this message authentic?"
"Encrypted using one of the Elos ships crew members first, middle and last name, date of birth, date of enrolling in the military, date of joining that ship and personal ID code. While the Coalition would be able to find out such things, encrypting a message with all those things - and in the right order - would be too much of a long shot for them to try it."
"What if a ghost dug the information out of him?"
"I'm sure they would have just sent it with some of the more standard primary or secondary encryption codes, this method is really obscure - I almost didn't check for it. And even if, we're expecting an attack anyway, now we at least know it's about to hit."
"What do we do, captain?" Another man asked.
"Send half the ships to Jaran to set up base and prepare themselves. Our and the other two ships will wait for the Coalition to hit before moving out."
Multiple members of the bridge crew started talking, coordinating the fleet.
Aranov Tower Zagrov, Dinari System
"Good day, Lady Lane." Aranov adressed Keeva with her title of choice. "What can I do for you today?"
"The Outsider situation is getting stranger. Some civilian ships say they noticed some ships moving, large ships. Battle ships, and it seems they belonged to the Outsiders. Then Doom's intel on Jinnings is strange as well... There's a lot of Outsider ships currently unnacounted for, and Bysdoch seems to have gone dark as well."
"Something is definitely wrong." Aranov agreed. "I take it we aren't taking the pacifistic approach for once?"
"We swore to protect the Coalition, and if it's under attack, guns seem like the only way to resolve that issue."
"So, what exactly do you want me to do? Where do you need my troops?"
"I don't know. The ship sightings were near Fyrd, direction unknown. It could all be a distraction, or they could be readying a frontal assault on one of our homeworlds. We may outnumber them by a massive degree, but we are also very spread out. They could devestate our homeworlds before we would have enough time to react if they grouped all their forces."
"Well, if our Naran intel is correct, they have six ships there, and from what I hear the Collective is about to make its move. The Outsiders could be heading there, expecting us to send a large force which they could then destroy to cripple us."
"I think it would be best if you assembled a small fleet ready to reinforce Naran."
Aranov looked onto the coffee table further behind him in his room, which had a file lying open on it.
"I think I know just the person to send." He said.
"Oh? And who would that be?"
"A recent graduate from my military academy."
"You want someone with no experience to command such an important army?"
"He won't get the experience he needs any other way. And don't worry, I've got my best man in Naran, and the Collective seems to be competent as well, plus each of the ships there has an at least halfway competent leading staff. My commander will have enough people to point out any mistakes before he makes them. If he makes them."
"You seem pretty confident of him."
"He shows a lot of promise. He may even be a second me."
Keeva raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised at that statement.
"Talking of you, why would you not lead that group yourself?"
"We both know what my father was like, you can imagine what kind of commanders he left me with after he died. I need competent commanders, people who can work effectively alone. This is a great chance to test my top candidate. If you insist, I will go, but I'd rather see how my people do on their own. I won't be able to lead every fight, every war, and I sure as hell won't be around forever. My military needs to learn to think for itself again, learn to show initiative."
"Fine." Keeva said. "Tell your commander I'm putting one of my ships to his use if he wants it. Do not tell him that I will be on that ship."
Aranov smiled as the hologram disappeared. He had been wondering how long it would take that ghost to use her trigger finger again.
Xavier, Keeva... There was one more ghost that could be worth adding to the team. He walked back to the console and typed out a message.
Orion Nell's Office Onilon, Rasalin System
Orion paced angrily through his office. He had not anticipated how much trouble another failed experiment would bring - Not only were they lacking majority of their funds now that Aranov pulled out, the bastard, but now he's even missing one of his few ships, and it just had to be the one with his top ghosts and advanced equipment on it.
He didn't know what to do. He felt like sending an attack against the Zerg, but he knew that wouldn't solve anything - He didn't have the forces to deal a substantial amount of damage, let alone win a battle. He didn't have the money acquire more ships and equipment, or mercenaries. And he hated the damn pirates anyway, he wouldn't trust them to do as they're told.
No... He had to earn himself some money. And the best way to do so was to get it out of the Coalition. If the pirates could ask for money in return for their aid, why shouldn't he be able to? Once he would have some new funds, he could continue his projects, maybe restart the X-Series project. But a new lab, new scientists, new... "resources"... It would all cost a lot.
And then, as if a sign from god, a message lit up on his screen. He smiled.
"Computer, get me Operative X-3N on the line."
"Connecting." The female hologram said. It looked like a young woman, very young, and not particularly tall or strong. Sometimes when he got angry, he'd need a... Punching bag, and it was always safest to let your anger out on an innocent hologram than get an actual person...
"Sir." The girl turned into a ghost with the code X-3N printed on the uniform.
"Are you up to date with the happenings on Deiliri?" Orion asked the ghost.
"Of course, sir."
"Then you probably know that we are no longer receiving funding from Aranov, leaving our budget rather thin."
"What would you have me do? I could probably do some shady deals on Domus, covertly. Or orchestrate some chaos there and "acquire" unsupervised objects while things are being sorted, without drawing attention to myself."
"No, no. Very risky and might jeopardize our relationship with the Coalition. I thought about something more straightforward, something that would not only not have the risk of pissing off our allies, but actually make them like us more."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"The newly formed Magrathean-Tirion Collective is trying to reclaim Naran, and a lot of Outsider ships seem to be moving, last seen close to Fyrd, but they are possibly moving to Naran, or maybe even Magrathea. Aranov is setting up a fleet to quickly reinforce any location the Outsiders may hit, and he wants you on it."
"So... You want us to play mercenary?"
"The Coalition does not have many infiltration teams, which is mostly because only the Technocracy is able to supply them. It's in their interest to supply us with the funds for more ships and crews like yours, isn't it?"
"Indeed it is." Xen said. "Consider it done. We will make our way to Dinari."
"Good. Make sure to impress, to show we are worth investing in."
SoA:
An Outsider spy reveals Coalition attack plans for Naran. A force of 3 Aranov ships and a Tirion/Magrathean ship will perform the attack. Two Aranov ships will hit either Delios or Ekson while the remaining Aranov will hit Janan with Tirion/Magrathean support.
Lord Domovoi Aranov and Lady Keeva Lane have a conversation about suspicious ship activity around Fyrd and make plans.
Orion Nells sends Operative X-3N to Dinari by Aranov's request.
"So... Why are you staying?" One of the ex-Outsider soldiers asked as he sat opposite another one in the cantina.
"Seems to be a common topic in the last few days..." The other soldier answered.
"I'm Carl."
"Jeff."
"So, why are you staying?"
"You first." Jeff said with a full mouth and pointed at his almost empty plate. "Eating."
"Well, that speech inspired me. This sector is a pretty fucked up place, so much wars and so much killing, us Outsiders are a prime example of it. I joined the Outsiders because I wanted to help defend our systems, seeing as Aranov and the Coalition wouldn't. And I also agreed that those bastards need to be taught not to abandon their own kind as they did in the Zerg war... But that Reyd guy made a good point. All of this bloodshed, the betrayal, corrupt alliances, it will all just continue and repeat itself over and over again. Oh, we might succeed in breaking the Coalition, we might not. But what does it matter? In another one hundred years there'll be wars for another reason, if the Zerg haven't killed all of us by then. His plan makes sense - Force not only the terrans to be unified under a single banner - ours - But also take control over the other races. As long as we're all seperated the way we are, there are going to be unnecessary wars. We will never evolve if we don't get our shit together and work together."
"And you think violence is the way to do it?"
"Well, us humans are stubborn beings. It'll be impossible to get all factions to unite completely just by asking them nicely, they will all still want to keep their autonomy and relative independence, they'll still want to keep their secrets, just like the Coalition does now. Taking it over by war may not be the prettiest solution, but it seems the only one that will work. And once that is achieved, we can resort to more peaceful methods. Imagine it, all humans united, sharing knowledge and resources for the advancement of our entire kind, instead of all of us fending for our selves, keeping secrets even from our allies."
"Eh, sounds like I'd be out of a job then." Jeff said.
"Why's that?"
"Same reason I'm staying. I'm a gun for hire, I got hired. End of story. Can't say a sort of utopia won't be nice, but I wouldn't bet on the ideal case."
"So you don't think we'll make it?"
"I don't know." Jeff said. "No way I can say, really. I'm just a soldier, I don't know that much about what's going on and what not, I don't even know how many others I'm fighting with. I hope we do make it, means it's more likely I'll be alive as well, plus I'll probably be able to retire then, find a girl and live happily ever after while the rest of you build your utopia."
"To each his own I guess." Carl said.
SoA
Two turned Outsider soldiers discuss their motives for joining Nick Reyd
Xavier watched the barricades ahead intently, waiting for the signal. He was one thousand five hundred eighty four meters away from the closest science vessel, underneath which a group of marines together with a siege tank waited. And even though tall buildings blocked the view, he knew the main road was littered such groups, prepared for battle.
{ Wraiths incoming in 15 seconds. Proceed with maneuver. } A voice said into Xavier's ear.
He took his rifle and looked down the road, towards the barricades. There was a car used to block the road roughly eight hundred meters away from the science vessel.
He started counting to ten. He could already hear the Wraiths coming - but that did not mean the Outsiders could. He continued counting and waited, the buzz in the air from the Wraiths growing louder and louder.
Ten.
As he started running, he pushed a button on his rifle, and it began to hum and glow. He ran as fast as he could, covering most of the distance between him and the car in less than two seconds.
The turret of the tank started turning towards him as he was a fifty meters away from the car - The science vessel detected him.
Twenty metres to the car, the turret locked on.
He let himself fall, stretching his legs out in front of him and aiming his rifle upwards at a low angle. He hit the ground and slid incredibly fast towards the car.
The tank calculated his trajectory.
Xavier heard a click, followed by a comparatively incredibly loud explosion.
As he reached the car, an explosion hit it, flinging it up spinning in the air. He slid underneath it, one of the side mirrors almost grazing his head.
Once the flying car was no longer in his way, he pulled the trigger. The air rippled as the projectile tore through it, even the flames and smoke from the explosion were cleared.
Xavier was so composed that time passed slowly enough in his eyes that he could see the bullet tear a hole through the science vessel, before it went up in flames and rained debris onto the soldiers below.
He got up, and as he ran for cover behind a building, out of sight of the science vessel that was coming to detect him, he fired two shots at the tank standing there, turning it into a pile of scrap.
{ Wraiths on site in two. Take out the backup vessel, now. }
Xavier waited a second, watching the Wraiths come closer and closer, then walked out of his cover and towards the Outsider baricade. The marines were all ready to shoot down the Wraiths, and it would not take them particularly long to do so.
He pushed the button on his rifle again. The Wraiths were almost in range. A couple of the marines noticed him and changed their aim, but one second was far more to Xavier than it was to them. He raised his rifle and aimed at the science vessel. A premature shot was fired by one of the marines, missing all of the Wraiths.
The next shot was taken by the Ghost.
The Wraiths disappeared from sight completely rained down hell on the blinded marines, immediately picking off two of the nearby Siege Tanks. Xavier made his way to the next position as he saw two friendly Siege tanks rolling up near where he started his sprint.
-
An exhausting four hours later, the Collective had achieved its goal. Like a wrench prying open a door, Xavier and the Aranov air troops had continued to poke holes into the Outsider defenses, forcing them to fall back while the Collective's tanks had inched their way forward. At this point, all that was left of the Outsider army was a host of Marines, Medics and Firebats, a couple of Wraiths, seven Siege Tanks and three Science Vessels. These forces had dug in at the city square, which was roughly four hundred square meters in size. They were surrounded by Coalition forces at every angle, and their outlook was bleak.
Though the Collective's outlook was better, the situation aboard the Link's bridge was tense as well. The ship had followed the Aranov Patrol and both of them were now positioned halfway over the city. Just outside of weapon range of both ships the Outsider Assault flagship could be seen, while the tiny grey clutter of dots on the planet's surface indicated the position of the Outsiders' ground forces. The Outsider flagship was their one saving grace, Tenara knew. And while they could win the two-on-one battle, he'd prefer not having to fight it.
"Open a channel", he ordered. The Outsider ship responded quickly as a strict looking captain became visible on the bridge's big screen. He remained silent and looked at Tenara sternly.
"Captain...", Tenara started. "Your forces are surrounded. You are outnumbered, there is no way out and your supplies have to be running thin by now. Lay down your arms and surrender, and I promise you will not be harmed."
The Outsider captain laughed grimly. "Not be harmed? Hah, of course not. We'll just get to spend the rest of our lives in a Coalition prison for rejecting your authority and fighting for our freedom!"
Tenara sighed. "We are not your enemy... Only if you want us to be. Your situation is hopeless, you have to recognize this. You are throwing away the lives of your men. You owe them this!"
The Outsider captain remained silent for a few seconds before looking back at Tenara. "The day we surrender to you is the day we distance ourselves from all our hopes and dreams... we will NEVER bow down to you, dogs!".
With that, the channel closed itself. A few seconds later, machines on several ends of the bridge started bleeping.
"Captain, they're on the move!", yelled one of the crewmen.
"Take us in!", captain Tenara shouted out.
SoA
-Xavier and the Aranov airforces spend four hours picking off Science Vessels, Siege Tanks and Marines until what's left of the Outsider army has been pushed back onto the city square, where they are surrounded by the Collective's tank-line. The Outsiders suffer heavy Siege Tank, Marine and Science Vessel losses but replenish some of them from their flagship as the fight is moving along slowly.
-The Aranov Patrol loses 10 Vikings during the poking exchanges, but no Collective forces are lost so far.
-Captain Tenara hails the Outsider flagship and asks them to surrender. The Outsider captain does not comply and orders an all out attack. The flagships approach eachother for aerial combat as the Outsider ground forces rush out from the city square in all directions, charging at the Collective tank-line.
As soon as the Link exited warp space to meet up with the Aranov Patrol ship, a transport ship left the Aranov vessel and requested docking permissions - No form of identification was sent. Tenara looked at his advisors before making a decision.
"Let them dock." He said after a short while, and watched the transport ship get closer.
"Who do you think it is, sir?" One of the crew members asked him.
"I don't know." Tenara said after some consideration - Coming to his ship in person was completely unnecessary, no matter who it was.
{ Ship has docked. } A voice said over the radio.
"Who is it?" Tenara asked.
There was a short pause before the reply.
{ He wishes to see you. Looks like a ghost operative, ID X-01 according to his suit and gun. Wears mostly black with minor pieces of Aranov colors. }
"Escort him to me." Tenara said, somewhat wary. Ghosts were never a good sign.
One of the crew members pushed a few buttons and a holographic screen with the security camera feed showed up beside Tenara, showing the ghost. He was rather tall, athletically built and had a heavy sniper rifle on his back. His hair was black, he seemed to have blue eyes and his face showed no emotion whatsoever. It didn't take him particularly long to reach the Captain.
"My name is Xavier Origin. Aranov has asked me observe and evaluate how you handle the Elos situation." The ghost said bluntly.
"Greetings, Xavier." Tenara replied and extended his hand. Xavier did not take it. "I'm Captain Moranno Tenara. These are two of my officers, Synna Akirano and Joshep Barage. Aranov asked you to "observe and evaluate" us?"
The ghost had been calmly observing the room, taking in details rapidly while Tenara had been talking.
"He is always looking for new talent." The Ghost said, returning his gaze to Tenara, looking at him with his cold blue eyes. It was unnerving, even for a ghost. "His father focused too much on protocol and rules in his opinion, so there are very few high ranking officers at the moment who can use their own heads instead of blindly following instructions to the letter."
He paused for a second, examined Tenara, re-read his file in his mind, and then continued.
"He fully spports your independence," He said, knowing that that was what the Captain was worrying about. "He just wants to know how good you are at your job, should you ever request support or be requested to support us."
Moranno looked at Akirano and Barage, the latter of which lightly nodded. He then replied "I would not like to have to start this mission with Aranov looking over our shoulders, but if you put it like that, I can see where the man is coming from. How can we help you?"
"Just do your job. The Patrol ship I came from is under your command. A couple of rules regarding me:
1.) I do not exist, so there is no point of talking about me with anyone, not even Domovoi himself.
2.) I am not in charge nor just an observer. If you require my assistance, ask for it."
Akirano and Barage looked at each other for a second before the first spoke up. "That's all fine and good, but how do we know we can trust you, then? An illusive ghost who does not exist and who's alleged credentials should not be backtraced to his alleged commander. You could be an Outsider spy for all we know."
"If you've ever trusted a ghost, you've been doing your job wrong." The ghost said, complete unfazed by the accusations. His calm- and directness was becoming really unnerving.
"I don't know... None of them have ever asked for my trust... I think they were doing their job right" Akirano shot back with a grin.
"Well then, I take it we are done?"
Akirano wanted to reply, but Tenara cut her off. "I guess we are. Will you be staying on this ship or return to the Patrol?"
"It would be hard to observe your actions and thought process from the Patrol, wouldn't it?"
"That seems fair, but if you want to remain on my ship, I need to know that you will not get in the way of my operations. Can I at least trust you on that?"
"As I said, I am not in charge of anything. If you need my assistance you may ask for it, otherwise I will just observe."
"Very well". Moranno pushed a button on the bottom side of the projection table he was standing in front of and a guard entered the room. "Can you please assign this gentleman a room?"
"I will not require one."
"If you say so. Dismissed, then."
Xavier was the first to leave the room, but Akirano stopped the others from following.
"Why did you cut me off?" She asked Tenara. "We need to know who we are dealing with!"
"I agree, but argueing with the man isn't going to be of much use. Barage, acompany me to the bridge. Akirano... try and run a background check on the man. Ask our sources, ask Dent or Lass if you have to... Anything that can confirm he's not with the Outsiders."
SoA
The Link has an uninvited guest
OOC: Too tired and lazy to put into a spoiler button. Also, my writing today is pretty bad >.>
Nick stood in the sandstorm, waiting, sand flying into his face. But he did not care - No amount of sand in his eyes could irritate him. Oh, it irritated him shortly, but it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds for his body to devise an acid that would vaporise anything that touched his eyes and his nerves adjusted themselves to no longer feel irritated unless the acid couldn’t finish its job.
It wasn’t the hot kind of desert - It was freezing, forty degrees below the freezing point. There just simply wasn’t any water at the north pole of Dones to turn into snow or ice. But Nick did not feel the cold, and it wasn’t the black ghost suit with blue lines he needed to thank for it. He did not wear the visor and helmet as it seemed to worsen his sight, instead of enhancing it. He could already see everything naturally - Angles, distances, heat, UV, infrared, and the dark did not prove challenging either. If the stars weren’t so bright to him, he wouldn’t be able to tell if it was day or night.
A few hundred meters behind him lay the Wychata. He covered it with sand, so it merely looked like a hill. After they had landed - undetected, of course - He had asked Arcus to transmit a video, a speech he had recorded prior to their arrival, asking the Outsiders to join him, and then giving them his coordinates. Even now his suit was broadcasting a signal on a massive range of frequencies.
He ran a hand over the blade of his “X-04 Katana”. He did not expect the Outsiders to join his cause. Not many at least, not before he showed them his power.
Not before he finally got to kill.
He could hear the sound of dropships, roughly ten kilometers away, and smiled. Even through the thick sandstorm, he could see the Outsider flagships in the distance.
I AM HERE. His mind was heard for tens of kilometers. I DO NOT FEAR YOU. JOIN ME, OR DIE BY MY HAND.
It was not him talking. Well, it was... But mostly his other him. His fun him. Not like he minded, it was himself he was talking about afterall.
“This is Commander O’Connor.” He heard over the radio. “Surrender now, Mr. Reyd, and your lives will be spared. And don’t think we don’t see your ship under that sand.”
Make me.
A set of dropships stopped a good distance further away and began to deploy its troops at a safe distance.
Or so it thought.
Nick ran over the terrain at a speed that would put a hellion to shame. He cut off the first marines head before its feet reached the floor. He clenched his fists, and made a motion as if he were throwing something at the ground.
Blue energy enveloped the dropship, pulling it to the floor and shattering it to a million pieces, a lot of which flew straight into Nick. But he did not care, nothing could hurt him.
He took out his rifle, and a single shot tore an entire dropship apart. Another motion of his hand, and a gravity well formed in midair, dragging in dropships and the few troops they already dropped into it. Screams echoed across the desert as men and women were crushed. A wave of his hand, and it all exploded, raining blood, fire and shards of metal on the ground.
The voice inside his head laughed, and he laughed with it.
Siege tanks had already deployed themselves and fired at him, but blue energy absorbed their projectiles. He turned to them, and shot down three of them before they could fire a second shot. A wave of his hand and they flew into the air and towards him. Another flick and they all shattered in a massive blue explosion.
He ran over to a large squadron of firebats, marines and medics. A wall of solid blue energy appeared behind them, and a shockwave of blue emanated from Nick, slamming the entire squad against the wall resulting in a massive explosion of blood.
Blood running down his hair, face, over his mouth and entire body as he turned to the rest of the amassed army, grinning like the madman he was. Blood, fire and metal covered a large section of the desert already, and Nick was far from done...
“What is it this time, Aranov?” Arthur Dent of the Magrathean Empire asked as the Coalition Conference started.
“Keeva, do you mind if I do this?” Lord Aranov asked.
“Not at all.”
“We all know that the Outsiders have been a thorn in our side for very long now, and are just causing us many unnecessary problems. Their acts of terrorism force our people to live in fear, and the Quantum Legions stance on peace prevented us from taking any action against them.”
Orion of the Aurulean Technocracy just let out a loud “pfft”, and Aranov shortly shot him a dangerous look.
“But the recent attack on the Naran system finally changed Keeva’s mind. We are going on the offensive.”
“Define “we”.” Doom said. “I’m getting the awful feeling it isn’t plural.”
“We are all--”
“I’m not gonna do this alone.”
“That’s not what I was--”
“Alright, fine, I’ll do it.”
“Will you just sh--”
“But there better be a good paycheck.”
“SHUT UP.” Aranov yelled at the filthy pirate. “You’ll get paid as usual. You’ll be in charge of clearing the eastern systems, in and close to the nebula. I’ll send my own troops and any support I get from the Tirion and Magratheans to conquer and defend our border with the zerg.”
“What about the southern central ones?” Doom asked.
“You’ve got Ratar there. Once we’re done with Naran, we can help out there if necessary.”
“When do we start?” Doom asked.
“The sooner the better.” Aranov said.
“Alright, I’ll finish loading up these crates of rum and then it’s off to Karibia for me.” Doom said, draining his bottle.
Lord Domovoi Aranov's Penthouse Zagrov, Dinary Sytem
After the conference ended, Aranov walked over to the table and poured himself a glass of wine. He tasted it, decided he was satisfied with it and then walked back to the communications station in his room. He pushed a few buttons with his free hand, sending out a call to the Auruleans, and then walked to his floor to ceiling windows to admire the view. As he took another sip of wine, Orion’s hologram appeared behind him.
“What is it?” He asked, sounding annoyed. But annoyed at something else, not Aranov.
“I received some bad news.” Aranov said, not turning around to the hologram. The time to play nice with the Auruleans was over, it was time to show them who the dominant person here was.
“And what would those be?” Orion asked after Aranov didn’t continue, somewhat annoyed at Aranov as well now.
“I’ve always liked the name “Wychata”.” He said. “How’s that stealth cruiser been doing lately?”
“It’s absolutely fine. We haven’t really had much use for them because we are forced to be peaceful.” Orion practically spat the last word.
“Oh, alright then. I was already worried because I heard it was gone. But if you say it’s fine, it’s fine.” Aranov took another sip of wine. “If I may ask, how is our project going?”
Orion took a while to answer, Aranov smiled and took another sip.
“Our test subject is showing much progress, he should be ready within a couple of weeks.”
“Good. I was already worried that he... I don’t know... Somehow blew up an entire high tech lab or something, killed all the military personell and then hijacked an expensive stealth cruiser with high tech equipment for him and some of the most valuable ghosts in the Coalition after Xavier.”
Orion did not know how to answer. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, and made some light noises that sounded as if he were very offended.
“Orion, fix this.” Aranov said, not sounding even remotely polite anymore. “Or the two of us are done.”
“Don’t you--”
“Don’t I what?” Aranov said as he turned around to face Orion’s hologram. “Threaten you? As far as anyone is concerned, I’m not paying you any money whatsoever. So please tell me, what am I threatening you with?”
Aranov ended the call, and smiled as he took another sip of wine.
SoA:
Coalition goes offensive on the Outsiders
Doom Bonecrusher with his 3 ship fleet (Flying Drunkman, Andrumeda, Black Pearl) is leaving for the Karibia system. 7 IC travel time
Aranov sends a fleet consisting of one Aranov Standard, one Aranov Patrol and one Aranov Light towards Naran to meet up with the rest of the troops. Chaos, if you still want to do this, please hurry up. Otherwise I'm putting Xavier in charge of one of the ships and he'll take care of it. 3 IC travel time to meet up with the other ships one hex above Naran, will wait a couple of ICs/until I hear from Chaos before taking control of this myself.
“You’ve been in here a while.” Arcus said as he walked into the pitch black storage room, in the middle of which Nick said in meditation. “Two days, to be exact.”
“And?” He asked without opening his eyes, not sounding too happy.
“My bosses are beginning to realize something is wrong.” Arcus said. “They’re searching for us. If you don’t make a decision on what to do, I will.”
“I see.”
“What were you doing here all the time anyway?”
“Thinking.” Nick said. “Mostly about how broken life is nowadays.”
“What do you mean?”
“Life is trying to destroy itself. They are even willing to create new lifeforms, monsters, like me to achieve that goal - The destruction of another life form.”
“Life’s shit, what can I say?”
“Yet it doesn’t have to be. While I may have been created to destroy, they have also created perfection - A combination of the three dominant species. We do not know much about the Xel’naga, if they existed, but there was one theory that I found interesting - That the Xel’naga were an ever reincarnating and evolving species. They would modify the genes of lesser lifeforms, like the ancestors of the Zerg and the Protoss, and make those species advance. But the Xel’naga’s life cycle doesn’t last forever: They die out. But the new races they created were outfitted with the ability to merge, combine. They would have to get past their differences first, they would have to evolve psychology so that they would not only accept the other species in their community, but inside their very genes. And so the Xel’naga would be reborn, from the genes of a couple of new species mixed in with their own original genes, and the cycle would begin anew.”
“Interesting theory.” Arcus agreed. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“I am a human with the best genes of both the protoss and the zerg, who are supposedly the descendants of the Xel’naga. Life has reached the technological level to reach perfection, but as I said before: Everyone is trying to kill everyone. We may technologically be able to ascend to the next form, to perfection, but life is not ready to accept that yet.”
“I take it you want to do something about that?” Arcus asked, interested.
“Are you?”
“Honestly, I don’t have any plans of my own. But I am sick of people treat each other nowadays - Everyone is fearing attacks from the Zerg or Protoss, fearing another war. And once that day comes, the Arken will leave even more planets in shards. Don’t get me wrong, I was trained to kill and will continue to do so. It is hypocritical, but I am not going to change. But I might as well have a cause to kill for.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to stop killing.” Nick said. “Control is extremely difficult to achieve with pacifism, and control is what this sector needs. Life has been free for very long now, but as we see they have only caused destruction. It is time to put an end to that.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“We try to control the chaos, to nudge it into the right direction - If we do it well, eventually the chaos will be too organised to still be chaos, and that would be the first step to ascenscion, perfection. As for what we do immediately - We need to be a force to be reckoned with. I believe the crew is good at infiltrations?”
“I’ll tell the captain to set course to the Outsider systems, their ships should be easy to take over.”
“Good.” Nick said and smiled. He liked having a man with a similar mind to his.
It probably isn’t that similar. He said to himself.
Shut up.
Can we finally kill somebody? The kitchen lady seemed tasty to me.
We will get to cause enough damage soon, don’t worry.
Just outside the Var'Shiri nebula close to the Lidrim system
Adam had just gotten out of the jacuzzi in his makeshift bathroom, still both amused and amazed that one even existed aboard this Zerg behemoth. As he dried himself up and put on some clothes, he noticed a faint buzzing from the corner of the room. As Adam walked over there to check what it was, he recognized the object as the communications device Kenny had given him in what seemed years ago. As he picked it up and pushed a button, Kenny's voice came through:
"About time someone picked up... we've been trying to reach you for ages. Entered the Var'Shiri nebula, I take it?"
"You can say that again", Adam replied. "We found the Tribes, and more... in the end we had to set up a rescue expedition to save a bunch of them".
"Yeah, keep the niceties for later, Sparkles. We've got an unsavory looking Terran asking around about Dagganoth. He may be in with some more unsavory looking fellows, too. Ended up leaving in the direction of Barkanos."
"What?!", Adam exclaimed, shocked and confused.
"You heard me. We're not sure who the big guy got upset, but something's going on."
"Hang on Kenny... I need to talk to Dagganoth.". Kenny could clearly hear the discomfort and fear in Adam's voice.
Adam lowered the device and turned, not fully knowing why - it wasn't like he could really 'address' the Cerebrate or look at him. As he opened his mouth, he heard its voice in its head.
{It's alright, Adam. I shall not give up on Barkanoss...}
A minute later Kenny heard Adam's voice again, seemingly reassured by whatever Dagganoth had said to him.
"I've talked to Dagganoth. He wants to help the people on Barkanos, but we aren't in a position to do so. He wanted me to ask you to send ships over there to protect the colony and keep whoever's after us there so we can talk to him. He realizes we cannot offer much compensation, but at this moment you're our only hope."
Kenny remained silent for a few seconds before replying. "Well, we don't like people sniffing around our business, and I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea if we kept him grounded until you deal with that."
"Thank you Kenny... I appreciate it. We appreciate it, I mean."
"I'll deduct it from your next paycheck.". With that, Kenny disconnected the call.
SoA:
More Nick Reyd Stuff
Dagganoth changes course to Barkanos; 5 ICs/days until arrival
A Pirate Patrol is sent from Domus to Davir, 4 ICs til arrival, it will attempt to keep the Gambit grounded. All the crew knows is that they got wired a large sum of money to do so from person called "Adam" - Pirates don't question large sums of money.
Wychata Stealth Cruiser Deiliri Orbit, Rasalin System
“So... I’m a superhuman?” Nick asked.
“Well, close enough. The “human” part isn’t altogether accurate.” Arcus answered. “Follow me.”
The ghost walked out of the cafeteria and led Nick through the ship.
Now do we kill them? He asked himself.
No. They could be useful. He answered.
Arcus led them to the armory. He walked to a large black cupboard, and had to go through various security measures to open it - Fingerprint, voice and iris recognition, in addition to multiple passwords, and Nick was fairly certain a psionic test was in there somewhere as well.
Inside the cupboard - Well, calling it a wall was more accurate considering its size - was a black and blue ghost suit that looked very... Different. Unique. Special. The materials were very strange. Then there were many black metal weapons - Handguns, a sniper rifle, shotgun, hell even a sword.
“Your equipment.” Arcus said.
“Mine?”
“As I said, you were designed to be a ghost operative. And considering the problems and delays the project X ran into it before you were finally done, you shouldn’t be surprised that all your equipment is already ready. Try it out?”
“I find it somewhat odd that you trust me.”
“I can’t expect to earn your trust any other way, can I?”
We don’t trust him, do we?
Of course not.
So we kill him, yes?
Shut up already.
Nick took off his clothes and started putting on the ghost suit. Saying it fit perfectly was an understatement - He could feel the suit shifting to perfectly encase him. It was quite literally a second skin to him. It took him less than half a minute to put it on, and he couldn’t find any seams on it afterwards.
“How do I take it off?” He asked.
“Just try to tear it up.”
Nick grabbed his collar and tore it away, and the suit split up. He put it back into position, and it melded back into its original shape - his shape.
“Seems weak.”
“You underestimate your strength.”
“So... What next?” Nick asked.
“Well, the plan is to report to the Shadow Ops HQ on Onilon...”
“But?”
“I’m getting the feeling that isn’t your plan.”
“To be honest, part of me wants to kill everyone here.”
“Expected as much.”
“Then why did you let me come aboard?”
“I have my reasons.”
“So I take it we aren’t going to Onilon?”
“You tell me.”
“I’ll have to think.” Nick said as he took the sword out of the cupboard. “But let’s leave the system for now.”
You promised blood.
I didn’t. But I’m sure some will be spilled eventually.
The Arken Gallifrey Orbit, Myrym System
Keeva walked into the lab, and was surprised to find no liquidized apples all over the place.
“Did the apple thing finally work?” She asked.
“No.” Neal Smith said, sitting in front of multiple computer screens and analyzing data. “Gave up on that. Need to think about things a bit more before I continue those experiments.”
“Then what’s that?” She pointed at two sets of metal rings rotating around each other at opposite ends of the room with a blue light in the middle.
“Sort of warpgates or pylons.”
“Mind telling me what you’re doing if it’s not blowing up apples?”
“Research.”
“You either start talking or I’m going to slap you so hard you’ll forget your own mothers name.”
“Orphan.”
Keeva raised her hand.
“Alright, alright.” He said and turned away from the screens. “I’m trying to find out more about the warp matrix. Not the technology, but... The sort of warp dimensions. It might give me some insight into what I’m doing wrong.”
“And what’s up with those rings then?”
“I’m transferring information from one to the other. Just simple strings of data, some audio and video files, so on, so that I can see what happens to it.”
“Anything interesting?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. There’s some sort of static in the warp matrix. Like the background radiation of the universe. Just that the Warp Matrix did not undergo some form of Big Bang, and this static noise is far too irregular. I would say that it is remnants of old data sent through the warp matrix, small bits and pieces overlapping.”
“I don’t see how that helps you with anything.”
“It doesn’t, but it’s incredibly interesting. The data in the static is potentially thousands of years old, if not millions. Imagine what we could discover if I were able to decrypt and clean merely part of it - Images, sounds, even thoughts of ancient civilizations that came before us, the Zerg and the Protoss, perhaps even before the Xel’naga. We might intercept a history book. None of it is of real practical use, but... It’s just far too interesting to let go of.”
“It does sound pretty interesting.” Keeva had to agree. “Made any progress?”
“Kenny is devoting a lot of resources to spotting patterns and storing some of the static for future analysis, but even with all the processing power built into the Arken, progress has been somewhere between slow and non-existent. A couple of patterns popped up here and there, but it’ll be weeks at this rate before we can come to any conclusions.
“Cool.” She said and pecked him on the cheek. “Now, shower and lunch. Don’t make me make Kenny drag you again.”
Neal stood up, then saw Keeva’s shocked face.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“You actually stood up. Immediately.”
“Yea, all of this data is going to be stored anyway, I won’t miss anything.”
“And you aren’t going to blow something up or so?”
“No, shower and lunch.”
Keeva pinched herself.
SoA:
Nick's story continues
Dr. Neal Smith voluntarily leaves his lab for once
Sorry for not posting in a while, but to make up for it, here's a nice 2k word post. But I wrote this starting at 2 AM, so please forgive any terribleness :p
The giant, sleek black ship drifted out of warpspace almost undetected. It was clearly a protoss vessel, yet it looked extremely different. It was far more angular and followed none of the traditional designs, it’s shape somewhat similar to the terran battlecruiser, yet without the hammerhead front and wings more similar to that of the protoss carrier. And it was black, a color almost never seen on protoss vessels. It was so black, it was only possible to see it with the naked eye if something less black was behind it. Combined with the fact that it was undetectable by scans made it the perfect stealth craft.
But this was not a stealth mission. Spotlights lit up on the outside of the hull, painting a skull’n’bones logo onto its sides. The Flying Drunkman, the second most powerful ship in the Coalition’s fleet, drifted towards the most powerful one: The Arken.
Triangular in shape and of silver color, there was only one more thing to say about it: It was fucking huge. The Flying Drunkman itself was a good deal larger than the Aranov Heavy Battlecruisers, but was still dwarfed by the Arken. Doom and Kenny knew all too well that under the massive array of metal plates was hidden a just as massive array of powerful weapons, and near its back-center lay the famous Graviton Cannon that shattered the planet of Apoca.
As the Drunkman came close and slowed down, a single medivac flew out of its side and towards the Arken, landing inside its fighter bay a minute later. Keeva Lane was waiting for it, and out of it stepped Cap’n Doom Bonecrusher, who prepared for the meeting with this beautiful woman by not washing his hair, not combing it, not trimming his beard, not brushing his teeth, not changing his clothes, and to keep this short, not doing anything out of the ordinary.
“Keeva, ya still look great.” The pirate that was over two feet taller than her said.
“Wish I could say the same about you.” She smirked. Doom smiled back and took a large gulp out of his large bottle of rum. Keeva nodded at the second bottle in Doom’s belt. “That one for me?”
“Wha? No. I know no alcohol’s allowed here, so I made sure to take a spare in case I ran out before I got back.”
“Only one spare?” Keeva smiled and raised an eyebrow.
“What makes you say that?” The pirate said and turned slightly, revealing four more bottles around his waist, totalling in about fifteen liters altogether.
“Why am I not surprised...” She mumbled. “So, to what do I owe this meeting?”
“Let’s go somewhere more... Secure.” Doom said, lifting up his eyepatch and looking through the entire room - and the back of his head - with the robotic eye hidden underneath.
“This is the bloody Arken, Doom. If anyone here even thought about leaking information, I’d have their balls. Possibly literally.”
“I’m not really worried about leaks, but reactions.” Doom said.
“Fine, Neal’s lab should be perfect.”
“Aye.”
The two of them walked through the squeaky clean corridors of the Arken for over half an hour before they reached the lab, and Doom had already finished two of his bottles. While the lab was much tidier than it used to be, there were multiple crates of apples in a corner, Kenny and Neal were covered in apple innards, and Kenny was standing beside a large pile of cleaning supplies. And there were still dozens of taken apart machines strewn across the room.
“Three... Two... One... Go.” Neal said and flipped a switch, an apple on a small platform in front of him was enveloped in green energy.
Green energy appeared on a platform on the other side of the lab, and then quickly turned into a ball of plasma ready to explode. Before any damage could be done, Keeva thrust her palm at it and a sphere of purple energy contained it.
“Kenny, how the hell are you allowing this?” Keeva said angrily as she worked on turning the ball of plasma into something... Less explosive.
“The last time I tried to forbid him to do something, he sent me out to fetch a sandwich and did i anyway.”
“Then don’t get him a sandwich!” She said.
“I tried that too.” Kenny said. “Then he ended up just rushing the experiment and pressing the button before I could stop it. I just decided to give up.”
“Would never happen with my Kenny.” Doom said. “Cheeky little bastard would just shut the power off.”
“Nice to see you too, Doom.” Neal said and extended his hand.
“Listen, kid, I’m no real fan of personal hygiene either, but I think you’re taking it a bit too far.” Doom said, looking all the apple remains, half of which were covered in burn marks, strewn across Neal’s lab coat and hair.
Neal looked down, only now realising what a mess he was. “Sorry, I keep getting carried away.”
“When did you last eat?” Keeva asked in a way a mom or babysitter would.
“About an hour ago?” He said, shrugging.
“He’s off by eight hours.” Kenny added.
Keeva mumbled a string of swears that made even Doom raise an eyebrow.
“Gotta write that one down.” He said, and surprised everyone by actually having a pen and some paper with him.
“Before I die of disappointment, Doom, what did you want?” Keeva asked.
“Well... There’s this asset I have.”
“I’m listening.”
“It’s not really a normal asset. It’s been pretty useful, got us some protoss salvage at first, then helped out with that Erana job we had absolutely nothing to do with, used ‘em to scout Dvergar, and right now Kenny’s off on a little field trip with them, which could end up fairly interesting.”
“What are you not telling me?” She asked.
“Well, first of all, he’s a great guy. And by “he” I mean “it” and by “guy” I mean “cerebrate”.”
Keeva gave Doom the death glare. She actually tried attacking him psionically, but generations of permanent intoxication altered the Bonecrusher’s brain and thought structure so much that they had become immune to psionic attacks from people that weren’t equally intoxicated, and no one could drink as much as Bonecrusher.
Keeva kept the death glare up for a full minute. Doom returned the gaze casually, and finished another bottle over that time. Neal’s and Kenny’s eyes darted from one to another. Eventually Keeva gave up, pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked Doom back in the eyes. Well, eye.
“A cerebrate.” She said, far too calm.
“Yes.” He answered, casual as always.
She got up, put the chair back where it belonged, walked up to Doom, stood tiptoe, and slapped him hard enough to send him stumbling back a step. He in return pushed at her chest, sending her stumbling backwards and crashing into a steel table designed to hold heavy machinery, and it crumpled beneath her as she and it damaged the floor with her weight.
“Shouldn’t have done that.” Keeva said quietly as she stood back up.
“What did you say?” Doom asked, genuinely not having heard it.
“I shouldn’t have slapped you.” She said. “I forgot about your inherited barfight reflexes.”
“Yea, sorry ‘bout that. Also, you need a diet. You must weigh a bloody ton.”
“Seven hundred kilos.” She said. “Diet won’t fix that.”
“It’s a joke, girl.” Doom said and laughed. “What’s up with you?”
“Sorry.” She said and rubbed her eyes. “It’s just... First these two almost get themselves killed.”
“I can’t die.” Kenny corrected.
“And then you tell me you’re working with a cerebrate?”
“Right, yea, that. I’m here ‘cause he’s useful. Or it. Or she for all I know.”
“Have you talked to the cerebrate?”
“Directly? No. Kenny and Waiter have, I’ve been too busy doing your patrols and whatnot, and psionics are Waiter’s job anyway.”
“What does he think?”
“Trustable. The cerebrate is different, he’s far more... Peaceful.”
“...and he works with pirates. Why does that sound strange?”
“Hey, we’re the only ones who don’t give a damn about anything but profit, and all they offered was profit.”
“Point taken. So... Why are you informing me of this? Don’t we have an agreement?”
“Yes, yes. I don’t tell you anything you don’t want to know. As far as you are concerned, we aren’t working on things we shouldn’t be.”
“So why are you telling me this?”
“The cerebrate was the one that organized the zerg attack on Erana’s convoy as a distraction for us. It itself did not participate in the fight and instead chose to collect protoss escape pods to save them. That’s where the protoss on Domus came from. The reason I’m telling you all this is because I want this kid to become official sometime, so that we can give him more support and protection. He'll be far more useful if we can make sure he has all the resources he needs.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Keeva said.
“If done right, it is.” Neal interjected. “It shows the zerg can be peaceful. And I’m sure Aranov wouldn’t mind having someone working for us that can easily infiltrate zerg systems. Yes, this is a really delicate matter, but it might be very beneficial.”
“Point taken.” Keeva said. “So... What now? I guess I should talk to him?”
“Sounds reasonable. Kenny’s with him right now. Once their business is done, I’ll see if he can organize a meet.”
“Also, what did you really find in Dvergar? I’m fairly certain that the footage Kenny gave us is only what you want us to see.”
“As you said, you don’t want to know what we’re up to. Delicate matters and all that. The important thing is that we don’t want to touch that system. Maybe the reasons I gave you aren’t the real ones, but you don’t have to worry about it.” Doom said with a smile as he opened the next bottle. We may have also found some information on the Auruleans, and possibly you... He thought to himself, knowing that revealing that information would only cause problems right now.
Regon City Deiliri, Rasalin System
Nick Reyd was walking down the streets, minding his own business, as he saw a broken down car on the side of the road.
“Sir, could you help me perhaps?” A woman asked. She wasn’t too young, nor too old, and Nick decided to walk over to her.
“Thanks.” She said. “It won’t start anymore.”
Nick looked at the open engine, and for some reason it all made sense to him.
“Can you try and start it again?” He asked, and the woman walked back into the car and started it up.
The engine rumbled and coughed as he examined it. He could see all the heat and energy shift, forces being created, destroyed and counteracted. And yet he knew what was wrong without having to rely on those senses.
“You got a tool kit?” He asked and the woman stopped trying to turn it on.
“Yea, right here.” The woman said and got a toolbox from the trunk.
He opened it, and somehow knew exactly what tool he needed. And it wasn’t some form of supernatural sense.
Maybe it’s my past? He asked himself.
He took the... Tool, used it to unscrew the... Thingy, so that he could look at the... Other thingy which connected to the... Stuff, which led to him finding the problem in the... Third thingy. He took out another tool, hammered the other stuff a bit to loosen a whatchimacallit inside the whatitsname connected to the third thingy, and then he put it all back together.
“Try turning it on now.” He said and looked at the woman, who was staring at something behind him in fear.
He turned around, and saw a dozen of marines. Anger welled up inside him, and he could feel the forces of the universe around them, ready to obey his command, and the insane laughter in his mind returned.
Kill them. The voice called, but he ignored it.
“You’re coming with us.” A ghost uncloaked and said.
“Who are you?” Nick asked, ready to destroy them all.
“Commander Arcus.” The ghost said. “I’m sure you have many questions about... Yourself. If you want answers, you’ll come with me.”
No one tells us what to do. The voice said angrily. Kill him!
No. Nick thought to his... Other self? I want to know what the fuck is going on. Once I have that, then we see what has to be done.
SoA:
Doom has a talk with Keeva and Neal of the Quantum Legion.
Nick Reyd is found by the Aurulean Spec-ops team.
As the pirate templar walked onto the bridge, Kenny’s hologram appeared.
“So, what’s going on?” Doom asked as he spun around in his chair and knocked a rum bottle over the edge of his platform, shattering it. He shrugged and pulled a new one from the crate.
Shit’s happenin’. Waiter said. Someone seems to have blown up the Imperium council, but I wasn’t able to find out much.
“Our zergy friends seem to know about something interesting on the edge of Imperium space,” Kenny said. “A supply drop point if I understand right.”
“And why’s that of interest to us?” Doom asked.
“They want to go there, but not alone.”
“I see...” Doom said and thought for a second. “Grab one of the ships on Domus and go there. The Imperium should be too busy to do anything, and even if we get caught, it seems they are without leadership. It will be far easier to talk our way out of it with a new council if this one truly got blown up, and they will have far bigger problems than a single terran ship that may or may not belong to the Coalition showing up in their neighbourhood and causing some minor mischief. Also, while you’re there you could find some info on whatever is going on.”
Dagganoth seems to be becoming a useful asset. Waiter said, and Doom knew exactly what he meant.
“Kenny, tell Kenny we’re coming to Gallifrey, there’s something I need to discuss with Keeva and Neal. In person.”
“Aye aye, cap’n.” Kenny said.
“Oh, and--”
“I’m not he--”
“Then tell Kosh!”
SoA:
Kenny is told to accompany Dagganoth on his next mission, taking a Pirate Patrol with him from Domus.
The Flying Drunkman heads towards Gallifrey, Myrym. 2 IC travel time.
OOC: This one is a bit short, wanted to get it done so that Mozared can continue, so I decided not to continue the Nick Reyd side story in this one as it would take too long for me to write the next part.
He was sitting in a chair in the police office, waiting for the officer to get back. He looked around.
It was a fairly simple office, filled with mostly grays and whites and many men in uniforms, and even the occasional woman. There was an open file on the desk in front of him, and his mind instinctively flipped the image, corrected the angle and then read the entire page in a second. Apparently no one knew what the hell burnt down - The desert was supposed to be empty.
He looked around once again. He saw heat coming from the far corner, and when he focused on it he could hear someone complain about how long it took to cook the coffee. He immediately noticed a large box that was cold - He guessed it was a fridge.
“Hey Nick, ready for the raid?” He heard someone yell at the watercooler, and immediately looked at the men.
“Yea, I’ll be right there.” The man called Nick answered. He saw that the man was scared. How he knew that, he didn’t know. He guessed he knew it because he saw the heart speed up and some of the heat shift around a bit. The man was hiding something, he was sure of it.
How he knew what was what surprised him. He had no memories whatsoever. As far as he knew, his life started two hours ago in front of a burning building. What he also didn’t know was why... He wasn’t supposed to be like he was. He knew what a human was, how a human should see, hear, smell and feel. He didn’t even know what made him alter his weight using his... He didn’t even know what it was.
He raised his hand and pointed at a pen, and with a single, simple thought the pen shot into his hand. Another thought and it started spinning in the air. A third thought and it disintegrated. What the hell was he?
“Hey, sorry I took so long.” The officer said.
“No problem.” He answered.
“So, you have no idea what your name is?” The officer asked.
“None whatsoever.”
“And where you came from? Anything?”
“Not a clue. No hits in the database?” He asked. The man from earlier worried him a bit. Whatever he was hiding wasn’t going to end well.
“You’d expect that an albino would be easy to find, but no, no hits.”
“So...”
“I need you to sign this statement, but you don’t have a name... I talked it over with one of the lawyers here, and he said that I should just make you a new ID.”
“Sounds reasonable.” The man called Nick left through the backdoor. He was certain that something was going to go wrong in the raid.
“What do you want your name to be then?” The officer said and opened a program on his computer.
“Uh...” He thought for a second, then said the first two things that came to mind. “Nick Raid.”
“Alright.” He said and started typing. “Hey, how about a fancy spelling for “Raid”?”
“Sure, why not.”
“There we go. Nick Raid. R-E-Y-D.”
“Sounds good.”
“Alright, I’ll go print out this form, head over to immigrations and ask them to get me an ID for you. Shouldn’t be more than half an hour.” The officer said as he hit print and stood up.
Nick took a pen and signed the statement, then handed it to the officer.
“Almost forgot that, thanks.”
“No problem.”
The Illuminus Deiliri Orbit
“Captain, I think we have a problem.” The yeoman said.
“What is it?” The ghost asked.
“Multiple reports are coming in, something burned down in the middle of the desert, only one survivor--”
“Why am I not surprised.” He said. “Bring us down, we need to secure the survivor.”
“How bad do you think this is?”
“Let’s just hope he’s sane and rational. Contact headquarters, tell them what’s going on.”
SoA:
Nick Reyd got himself a name.
The Auruleans have been notified about what happened to their research facility. One of their spec-ops ships is going to secure Nick Reyd.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Dones Surface, Bysdoch system
Blue energy crawled over the air vent around them, and ripped them down to the ground. The landing was somewhat painful, but not particularly bad.
“These Outsiders really don’t know how to build air vents, do they?” A man with white hair in a black ghost suit covered in pulsing blue lines said. “No offense.” he added as he turned to a man in a gray uniform.
Rakah slowly rose to her feet, a quick mental scan of the room revealed her intended target, and 10 other people in the room, most of which were busy pointing the wrong end of a gun at her.
{I would strongly recommend that you ask your men to lower their weapons, I am not here for a fight, but I can not guarantee their safety from my companions should they keep them at the ready}
As if on cue Rakah felt Marrhe claw at her for control so she could show them just how outmatched they were.
Nick Reyd looked at her and smiled.
“Have a coffee break, guys.”
“I’d rather not.” Arcus said, not lowering his rifle.
“I can handle her, Arcus. But I guess you can stay if you want to. But lower your gun.”
The ghost lowered his rifle. The others in the room were confused.
“You heard the boss.” Arcus said. “Lower your guns and piss off.”
The soldiers, some wearing Arcus’ dark blue and others the Outsider gray, did as they were told and left the room. Only Nick, Arcus and the man in the gray uniform remained.
“So... I’m Nick. This guy is Arcus, and that guy is Colonel Ian Smith. It’d be nice if you introduced yourself, and maybe explained why you were crawling around in my vents.”
Rakah nodded.
{I have a rather interesting dilemma, and due to this dilemma I cannot remain with my own kind, as I pose a direct threat to their mental health, I basically have developed a rather contagious case of multiple personalities, and any Protoss that gets to close tend to catch whatever I am infected with, the two other “Me” are rather violent, and after seeing your little display I figured that you wouldn’t mind have someone like me around, no offense, Mr Nick}
As she finished talking she let her mental self float back and after a brief struggle Khinu gained control.
Immediately Khinu’s mental energies changed the color of the psionic energy in her eyes from blue to a brilliant emerald green, and in less than the blink of an eye she was behind Arcus and patted him on the shoulder.
{Smart choice to lower your gun Mr. Blue, Ms. Grumpy was really wanting me to gut you if you didn’t, anyway I am Khinu, I am the fun one of the the three of us, Pleased to meet you Mr. Potential-Boss-Sir}
“Well, she’s definitely fast.” Arcus said, turning to face Nick, not Khinu.
“That she is.” Nick said and turned to Khinu. “And Miss Fun, I highly recommend you do not try to gut me, it wouldn’t end well for either of us. You seem like you could be a quite remarkable asset, and I’m sure neither of us would like it if you were... Well, not here anymore.”
Nick accompanied the mild threat with a glimpse of his mind. All she could sense was a being filled with fire, bloodlust and rage - And that being was definitely no the one looking at her with a smile right now.
Khinu seemed unphased by the spectacle and just made a mental whistling sound.
{And here I thought Ms. Grumpy was broody, whatever you're lugging along makes her seem rather cheerful, Mr. Potential-Boss-Sir, no wonder she likes you}
Not only did her mental voice seem unphased, but it “sounded” like she was commenting on a rather interesting portrait, and not a bloodthirsty otherworldly entity.
{She’s weird.} The devil commented.
That she is. Nick agreed.
{I like her.}
You’re weird.
“Well then, what are you girls good at? And why should I trust you?”
Khinu was just about to answer when Marrhe took a hold of her mental “Self” and gave a powerful yank, and then grasped the reins, immediately the psionic energy took on a crimson hue and started giving off a rather bloodthirsty vibe.
{Trusting us would be a very bad idea, as for what we are good at, the Weakling of an original can take quite the beating, attacks what would kill me or the Child outright would hardly phase her, the Child is, as you saw, extremely fast, i dare say nothing can keep up with her once she starts running, as for me, I specialises in long distance bombardment, I can take out missile turrets and other such defenses from extreme range, the “Malfunctions” in this base’ defense grid over the last half an hour has been my doing to secure an easy entry into the base}
Marrhe’s voice was stone cold, yet held barely masked murderous intent, clearly the statement that she was not to be trusted was an honest one.
{Oooh... I like her.}
Didn’t expect any different.
“Interesting... Still, what reason do I have to believe that you will not just turn around and kill all my men as soon as I walk away? If I have to babysit you three all of the time, you’re useless to me as I can pretty much all you can myself. Well, without any subtlety. I’d just wreck shit.”
“You’re seriously considering having this lunatic work for us?” Smith asked.
“We can use every advantage we can get.” Nick said. “And they seem quite skilled. They got this far, didn’t they? If they turn on us, we can just leave them on the planet and let them and our enemies kill each other.”
“And if she turns while on a ship?”
“We’ve got more than one. And I’m sure she’ll understand that I’m the stronger of the two of us, so she won’t cause us any trouble as that would get her killed. The only other option she has it to use the hypothetically hijacked ship to cause trouble for our enemies, so I wouldn’t really count it as a loss.”
“We’d lose a lot of men.”
“We will one way or another. Wars can’t be won without casualties.”
{Lots and lots of casualties.} The devil whispered to Marrhe with an image of a burning smile.
Marrhe responded in kind to the Devil, finally someone she could relate too, she was just about to give the answer when a rather insistent Rakah demanded the drivers seat again, and Khinu, who had gotten annoyed at her immediately stepped up to back Rakah in her demand.
{see you around, handsome}
She whispered to the devil as she let herself float to an observing position and rakah seized control.
The psionic energy changed again as Rakah took control, and it became calm, like a river flowing through a wide valley.
{While I can not give any guarantees where Marrhe is concerned, Khinu is simple, keep her entertained and your safe, cause her to become bored, and your life is in peril as she finds it amusing to think up ways to kill things, which is one of the reasons Marrhe even tolerates her childish antics, I myself prefer to discuss things peacefully rather than having to become violent, granted this does not mean I won’t kill if I have to, but I prefer a peaceful solution, or at least the solution with the least casualties}
She paused for a bit and seemed to be in an internal discussion with the two others, and suddenly the three voices could be heard at once.
{We have all our own reasons for joining, so going against you would be counter productive to our goals, and while we cannot guarantee no casualties should we get too bored or too stressed, we will at least try to keep the bloodshed to a... minimum.}
Rakah opened her eyes again and the dark blue pools of her eyes bored into Nicks, a steely resolve that would not bend for anything.
{I seek a cure for my condition Mr.Reyd, and I don’t care who I have to align myself with, nor what I have to do in order to achieve this, I would align myself with even the Zerg if that would help me, as for a ship, I wouldn’t worry about losing one of your own, I have one already, it’s a bit empty at the moment, but if I could get a crew in and some troops she’ll be fully operational}
With that she simply sat down and closed her eyes.
“Arcus, Smith, any comments?”
“As I said, I’m not comfortable with this.” Smith said. “But I guess we can use help, especially if you want to stay in the back lines as you’ve said.”
“She seems volatile.” Arcus said. “But I picked you up on Deiliri as well, didn’t I?”
The ghost just left the room.
“I guess you’re hired.” Nick said. “Welcome to the Black Hand. I’d name you my Right Black Hand, but I already promised that one to Arcus, and Smith here got leftie. If I know Arcus as well as I think I do, which isn’t actually that well, we only met a few weeks ago, then he’s probably putting together a crew for you right now.”
{I don’t like the main chick.}
Well, I do. And I don’t care what you think. Besides, without her we would have no way to ensure that the other two only kill people when its in our favor.
{I don’t care about whose favor it is.}
Nick just sighed and shut out the devil. He could keep him away as long as he had control. As long as no one angered him, or irritated him.
SoA
Rakah, Khinu and Marrhe have a chat with Nick Reyd.
The Flying Drunkman
Deep in the Var'shiri Nebula
“Cap’n, got a busy day ahead of me.” Kenny said as he walked onto the bridge with a crate of rum.
“Oh really?” Doom asked as he pulled a bottle out of the crate.
“Outsider signals bounced off one of our relays. I can track where it came from, and possibly estimate where they were going. With a bit of luck we’ll catch em.”
“And how is this different than any other day?” Doom asked, opened the bottle and gave Kenny a suspicious look.
“Dagganoth wants to come in contact with the Quantum Legion.”
“Well, we’ve been delaying that conversation for a while now. That all?”
“No... I got invited to tea.”
Doom raised an eyebrow - The wrong one, above the eyepatch.
“Orloth.” Kenny said, as if it were self explanatory.
“The guy in Dvergar?”
“No, that hot guy I met in the bar on Domus. Of course I mean Dvergar!”
“Well, how do you wanna handle that one?”
“I was thinking of going. He might have found something useful on the Auruleans. Plus maybe he can tell where the coordinates we got off Dagganoth’s communicator lead to.”
“Well, I’m guessing we aren’t telling Keeva he went deep into zerg space for unknown reasons, are we?”
“Kenny doesn’t know.” Kenny said.
“Alright. Can you get me a channel to Keeva?”
“I’ve already begun rotating the relays so that we have a clear line to Zeta relay outside the nebula, should be able to reach Myrym in two minutes, and the Arken should be capable of contacting us inside the nebula.”
“Do that, then grab the Andrumeda and make your way to Dvergar. I’d rather have my ship here though for when we find the Outsiders, so do some hitch-hiking if possible. And go update Waiter.”
“Aye aye, cap’n.” Kenny said and left the room.
Doom twirled the bottle around in his hand, thinking, as he waited for the relays to line up. Getting the Legion in touch with Dagganoth would end up making things a bit easier, no more worrying about the cerebrate slipping up and leaving a trace. On the other hand, he was far too busy in the nebula right now, tracking down the Outsiders. He would’ve preferred being present, or at least having Waiter or Kosh present.
“What do you want, Doom?” Keeva asked as her hologram appeared in front of Doom.
“Ye look hot today.” Doom said, looking at her - She was wearing her ghost uniform, and he was reminded why she was called the most stunning woman in Eurim.
“And you don’t. I’m busy, get to the point.”
“Remember the asset we talked about?”
“Yes...?” Keeva asked, looking very suspiciously at Doom.
“He wants to talk.”
“What about?”
“Do I look like a cerebrate to you?”
“So you didn’t ask?”
“Girl, do I ever ask if you tell me to do something? I wouldn’t have the job I have if I asked questions all the time. The guy said he wanted to talk to ya guys, I trust him enough to not ask him why.”
“Well, as I said, I’m busy. I’m taking part in the quick response fleet, I can’t really just leave and meet a cerebrate at the moment.”
“So what should I tell him?”
“If he wants to talk to me, he should make himself useful, and prove his faith and trust in our relationship. Tell him to scout Bysdoch - No one has an idea what is going on there. But more importantly, tell him what Bysdoch is - The strong Outsider system we know of, likely filled with half a dozen ships that want to blow his face of. And tell him that none of your ships will help him if he gets in trouble - I will make sure he is supported by proper Coalition forces. And the last thing he should know is that I already killed a cerebrate with my own hands. If he wants to be an asset to the Coalition, he should learn to work with us instead of you.”
“Well, I wasn’t planning on leaving the nebula soon anyway. I’ll let him know.”
SoA
Kenny gets invited to tea by Orloth, and makes his way to Dvergar. 12 ICs/Days travel time.
Doom informs Keeva about Dagganoths request, and she gives him the terms.
Turned Outsider Assault Ship
Dones Orbit, Bysdoch system
"So... Why are you staying?" One of the ex-Outsider soldiers asked as he sat opposite another one in the cantina.
"Seems to be a common topic in the last few days..." The other soldier answered.
"I'm Carl."
"Jeff."
"So, why are you staying?"
"You first." Jeff said with a full mouth and pointed at his almost empty plate. "Eating."
"Well, that speech inspired me. This sector is a pretty fucked up place, so much wars and so much killing, us Outsiders are a prime example of it. I joined the Outsiders because I wanted to help defend our systems, seeing as Aranov and the Coalition wouldn't. And I also agreed that those bastards need to be taught not to abandon their own kind as they did in the Zerg war... But that Reyd guy made a good point. All of this bloodshed, the betrayal, corrupt alliances, it will all just continue and repeat itself over and over again. Oh, we might succeed in breaking the Coalition, we might not. But what does it matter? In another one hundred years there'll be wars for another reason, if the Zerg haven't killed all of us by then. His plan makes sense - Force not only the terrans to be unified under a single banner - ours - But also take control over the other races. As long as we're all seperated the way we are, there are going to be unnecessary wars. We will never evolve if we don't get our shit together and work together."
"And you think violence is the way to do it?"
"Well, us humans are stubborn beings. It'll be impossible to get all factions to unite completely just by asking them nicely, they will all still want to keep their autonomy and relative independence, they'll still want to keep their secrets, just like the Coalition does now. Taking it over by war may not be the prettiest solution, but it seems the only one that will work. And once that is achieved, we can resort to more peaceful methods. Imagine it, all humans united, sharing knowledge and resources for the advancement of our entire kind, instead of all of us fending for our selves, keeping secrets even from our allies."
"Eh, sounds like I'd be out of a job then." Jeff said.
"Why's that?"
"Same reason I'm staying. I'm a gun for hire, I got hired. End of story. Can't say a sort of utopia won't be nice, but I wouldn't bet on the ideal case."
"So you don't think we'll make it?"
"I don't know." Jeff said. "No way I can say, really. I'm just a soldier, I don't know that much about what's going on and what not, I don't even know how many others I'm fighting with. I hope we do make it, means it's more likely I'll be alive as well, plus I'll probably be able to retire then, find a girl and live happily ever after while the rest of you build your utopia."
"To each his own I guess." Carl said.
SoA
Two turned Outsider soldiers discuss their motives for joining Nick Reyd
Pinegrove, Elos capital, Magrathea
Xavier watched the barricades ahead intently, waiting for the signal. He was one thousand five hundred eighty four meters away from the closest science vessel, underneath which a group of marines together with a siege tank waited. And even though tall buildings blocked the view, he knew the main road was littered such groups, prepared for battle.
{ Wraiths incoming in 15 seconds. Proceed with maneuver. } A voice said into Xavier's ear.
He took his rifle and looked down the road, towards the barricades. There was a car used to block the road roughly eight hundred meters away from the science vessel.
He started counting to ten. He could already hear the Wraiths coming - but that did not mean the Outsiders could. He continued counting and waited, the buzz in the air from the Wraiths growing louder and louder.
Ten.
As he started running, he pushed a button on his rifle, and it began to hum and glow. He ran as fast as he could, covering most of the distance between him and the car in less than two seconds.
The turret of the tank started turning towards him as he was a fifty meters away from the car - The science vessel detected him.
Twenty metres to the car, the turret locked on.
He let himself fall, stretching his legs out in front of him and aiming his rifle upwards at a low angle. He hit the ground and slid incredibly fast towards the car.
The tank calculated his trajectory.
Xavier heard a click, followed by a comparatively incredibly loud explosion.
As he reached the car, an explosion hit it, flinging it up spinning in the air. He slid underneath it, one of the side mirrors almost grazing his head.
Once the flying car was no longer in his way, he pulled the trigger. The air rippled as the projectile tore through it, even the flames and smoke from the explosion were cleared.
Xavier was so composed that time passed slowly enough in his eyes that he could see the bullet tear a hole through the science vessel, before it went up in flames and rained debris onto the soldiers below.
He got up, and as he ran for cover behind a building, out of sight of the science vessel that was coming to detect him, he fired two shots at the tank standing there, turning it into a pile of scrap.
{ Wraiths on site in two. Take out the backup vessel, now. }
Xavier waited a second, watching the Wraiths come closer and closer, then walked out of his cover and towards the Outsider baricade. The marines were all ready to shoot down the Wraiths, and it would not take them particularly long to do so.
He pushed the button on his rifle again. The Wraiths were almost in range. A couple of the marines noticed him and changed their aim, but one second was far more to Xavier than it was to them. He raised his rifle and aimed at the science vessel. A premature shot was fired by one of the marines, missing all of the Wraiths.
The next shot was taken by the Ghost.
The Wraiths disappeared from sight completely rained down hell on the blinded marines, immediately picking off two of the nearby Siege Tanks. Xavier made his way to the next position as he saw two friendly Siege tanks rolling up near where he started his sprint.
-An exhausting four hours later, the Collective had achieved its goal. Like a wrench prying open a door, Xavier and the Aranov air troops had continued to poke holes into the Outsider defenses, forcing them to fall back while the Collective's tanks had inched their way forward. At this point, all that was left of the Outsider army was a host of Marines, Medics and Firebats, a couple of Wraiths, seven Siege Tanks and three Science Vessels. These forces had dug in at the city square, which was roughly four hundred square meters in size. They were surrounded by Coalition forces at every angle, and their outlook was bleak.
Though the Collective's outlook was better, the situation aboard the Link's bridge was tense as well. The ship had followed the Aranov Patrol and both of them were now positioned halfway over the city. Just outside of weapon range of both ships the Outsider Assault flagship could be seen, while the tiny grey clutter of dots on the planet's surface indicated the position of the Outsiders' ground forces. The Outsider flagship was their one saving grace, Tenara knew. And while they could win the two-on-one battle, he'd prefer not having to fight it.
"Open a channel", he ordered. The Outsider ship responded quickly as a strict looking captain became visible on the bridge's big screen. He remained silent and looked at Tenara sternly.
"Captain...", Tenara started. "Your forces are surrounded. You are outnumbered, there is no way out and your supplies have to be running thin by now. Lay down your arms and surrender, and I promise you will not be harmed."
The Outsider captain laughed grimly. "Not be harmed? Hah, of course not. We'll just get to spend the rest of our lives in a Coalition prison for rejecting your authority and fighting for our freedom!"
Tenara sighed. "We are not your enemy... Only if you want us to be. Your situation is hopeless, you have to recognize this. You are throwing away the lives of your men. You owe them this!"
The Outsider captain remained silent for a few seconds before looking back at Tenara. "The day we surrender to you is the day we distance ourselves from all our hopes and dreams... we will NEVER bow down to you, dogs!".
With that, the channel closed itself. A few seconds later, machines on several ends of the bridge started bleeping.
"Captain, they're on the move!", yelled one of the crewmen.
"Take us in!", captain Tenara shouted out.
SoA
-Xavier and the Aranov airforces spend four hours picking off Science Vessels, Siege Tanks and Marines until what's left of the Outsider army has been pushed back onto the city square, where they are surrounded by the Collective's tank-line. The Outsiders suffer heavy Siege Tank, Marine and Science Vessel losses but replenish some of them from their flagship as the fight is moving along slowly.
-The Aranov Patrol loses 10 Vikings during the poking exchanges, but no Collective forces are lost so far.
-Captain Tenara hails the Outsider flagship and asks them to surrender. The Outsider captain does not comply and orders an all out attack. The flagships approach eachother for aerial combat as the Outsider ground forces rush out from the city square in all directions, charging at the Collective tank-line.
Magrathea System
As soon as the Link exited warp space to meet up with the Aranov Patrol ship, a transport ship left the Aranov vessel and requested docking permissions - No form of identification was sent. Tenara looked at his advisors before making a decision.
"Let them dock." He said after a short while, and watched the transport ship get closer.
"Who do you think it is, sir?" One of the crew members asked him.
"I don't know." Tenara said after some consideration - Coming to his ship in person was completely unnecessary, no matter who it was.
{ Ship has docked. } A voice said over the radio.
"Who is it?" Tenara asked.
There was a short pause before the reply.
{ He wishes to see you. Looks like a ghost operative, ID X-01 according to his suit and gun. Wears mostly black with minor pieces of Aranov colors. }
"Escort him to me." Tenara said, somewhat wary. Ghosts were never a good sign.
One of the crew members pushed a few buttons and a holographic screen with the security camera feed showed up beside Tenara, showing the ghost. He was rather tall, athletically built and had a heavy sniper rifle on his back. His hair was black, he seemed to have blue eyes and his face showed no emotion whatsoever. It didn't take him particularly long to reach the Captain.
"My name is Xavier Origin. Aranov has asked me observe and evaluate how you handle the Elos situation." The ghost said bluntly.
"Greetings, Xavier." Tenara replied and extended his hand. Xavier did not take it. "I'm Captain Moranno Tenara. These are two of my officers, Synna Akirano and Joshep Barage. Aranov asked you to "observe and evaluate" us?"
The ghost had been calmly observing the room, taking in details rapidly while Tenara had been talking.
"He is always looking for new talent." The Ghost said, returning his gaze to Tenara, looking at him with his cold blue eyes. It was unnerving, even for a ghost. "His father focused too much on protocol and rules in his opinion, so there are very few high ranking officers at the moment who can use their own heads instead of blindly following instructions to the letter."
He paused for a second, examined Tenara, re-read his file in his mind, and then continued.
"He fully spports your independence," He said, knowing that that was what the Captain was worrying about. "He just wants to know how good you are at your job, should you ever request support or be requested to support us."
Moranno looked at Akirano and Barage, the latter of which lightly nodded. He then replied "I would not like to have to start this mission with Aranov looking over our shoulders, but if you put it like that, I can see where the man is coming from. How can we help you?"
"Just do your job. The Patrol ship I came from is under your command. A couple of rules regarding me:
1.) I do not exist, so there is no point of talking about me with anyone, not even Domovoi himself.
2.) I am not in charge nor just an observer. If you require my assistance, ask for it."
Akirano and Barage looked at each other for a second before the first spoke up. "That's all fine and good, but how do we know we can trust you, then? An illusive ghost who does not exist and who's alleged credentials should not be backtraced to his alleged commander. You could be an Outsider spy for all we know."
"If you've ever trusted a ghost, you've been doing your job wrong." The ghost said, complete unfazed by the accusations. His calm- and directness was becoming really unnerving.
"I don't know... None of them have ever asked for my trust... I think they were doing their job right" Akirano shot back with a grin.
"Well then, I take it we are done?"
Akirano wanted to reply, but Tenara cut her off. "I guess we are. Will you be staying on this ship or return to the Patrol?"
"It would be hard to observe your actions and thought process from the Patrol, wouldn't it?"
"That seems fair, but if you want to remain on my ship, I need to know that you will not get in the way of my operations. Can I at least trust you on that?"
"As I said, I am not in charge of anything. If you need my assistance you may ask for it, otherwise I will just observe."
"Very well". Moranno pushed a button on the bottom side of the projection table he was standing in front of and a guard entered the room. "Can you please assign this gentleman a room?"
"I will not require one."
"If you say so. Dismissed, then."
Xavier was the first to leave the room, but Akirano stopped the others from following.
"Why did you cut me off?" She asked Tenara. "We need to know who we are dealing with!"
"I agree, but argueing with the man isn't going to be of much use. Barage, acompany me to the bridge. Akirano... try and run a background check on the man. Ask our sources, ask Dent or Lass if you have to... Anything that can confirm he's not with the Outsiders."
SoA
The Link has an uninvited guest
OOC: Too tired and lazy to put into a spoiler button. Also, my writing today is pretty bad >.>