Post by EmperorMyric on Apr 1, 2023 16:21:05 GMT
Fidun District: Lost Star
It had been two days.
A long two days for sure but given what they had been through they needed every bit of rest. Kirayee had mostly slept, and eaten, eaten a lot. Yuris had managed to help with most of the group’s wounds although they were still a little worse for wear and Dwight had managed to hook up a location to get Lewis extracted, there had not been much that Yuris could do for him, the man was so wounded it was a miracle he even held on.
The safehouse they were in wasn’t much. It was a garage basement for some apartment complex that the Order knew the lock key for. It had beds, washing facilities, clean clothes, stocked food and some strange esoteric symbols plastered everywhere. But it was safe, the perfect place for them to lay low and rest. Some of them had left at various intervals, out to get additional food or recce the area and learn if anything more had happened.
Thankfully the entire facility had been destroyed and seemingly devoured into a home in the ground.
Good riddance in the eyes of everyone really.
Still, they couldn’t stay holed up here forever. And Yuris wanted to get Kirayee to the Order, there they could help her abilities, learn more about what the Panopticon had done and more about what exactly she was. She walked over to the sleeping girl again and gave her a check over, poor thing was exhausted, no surprise given what she had been through, but she needed proper care.
“I recommend we leave soon, do any of you have a ship? If so, I can get us to the Order of Serenity, our home has more than enough ability to help nurse Kirayee back to full health. Maybe we can even teach you all how to withstand the mental influences of the Panopticon. I know you may not fully trust me still but I am trying to help believe me” Yuris sighed as she took a seat on one of the metal stools. With her previous Order robes destroyed and ruined she had taken some civilian clothes and now very much blended in as a normal Carnaithian.
It had been a hell of a couple of days. After getting Lewis on the first ship back to home space, he and Davis had busied themselves with making themselves busy and doing whatever had needed doing. The techie had mostly worked on getting the systems in the garage working a little better, and he had done the best he could with what little he had to work with here, and hey, he'd managed to get the air conditioning working properly. Dwight for his part had spent much of his time out of his power armor, heading out on reccees in just his combat armor, fatigues and a duster he'd picked up for a few credits in a second hand store.
In short, perfect camo for Lost Star. He was just arriving back at the hideout from his latest run for just plain hot food, something that wasn't an MRE. He'd managed to score some meatball sub sandwiches, and he set the bag down on the table, setting his, or rather Lewis' M81 on the table next to it. Davis nodded to him, and he nodded in return as he looked over to Yuris and shrugged, unpacking the food.
"I can call in to Maddox and see if we can get the Eagle to take us there, but that's a whole-ass cruiser, and she's not what you'd call subtle. I'd file it under a possibility, but not a sure thing. Good morning to you too, by the way."
"She's got enough guns to make a lot of eyes water," Davis pointed out.
"True," Dwight shrugged. "Alison, Kane, you here? You have any ideas?" he asked, looking around for the mercs.
Kane had kept mostly to himself in their new hideout and not returned to his true or human forms since the incident, for the time being he chose to stay in the form of a three legged coyote. He did not speak a word and his companions saw no point in trying to question a tired, injured animal. For the time being he preferred it that way as he lay silent in his makeshift nest near where Kirayee stayed. He would not let the girl out of reach, especially now. Kane had spent most of his time since getting his magic back resting, letting the occasional careless hand run through his fur as though he were some tame pet and not the unholy creature he truly was. He had no reason not to trust these mortals while he recovered, any betrayal on their part wouldve been done long ago as far as he was concerned.
The smell of food, however, caught the wily canine's nose as soon as it had entered the building and he could not pass up the opportunity to eat. With a wide stretch he rose from his bedding and laughed silently to himself as he wondered if he was more an animal or a drake, or if there was even a difference. Using his small size and silent paws he snuck past the distracted Dwight and his companion and buried his muzzle in the containers, successfully scarfing down several meatballs from the soldiers' sandwiches. He considered making off with more, but missing an entire limb threw off his balance enough as it was, he wouldnt be able to escape if he were caught and he was sure his sauce covered snout wouldnt be cute enough to save him from Dwight's hungry wrath. Once he had his fill he hid himself once more to clean his fur and with it all evidence of his own sinister betrayal.
The two days following the bloody grind through the Panopticon’s base on Lost Star had been far from the most pleasant experience of Alison’s life. Some of it was the garden variety unpleasantness. The ragged flesh where her ear had been needed to be cleaned up if a flash cloned replacement was to be sewed on later. Unfortunately the only anesthesia readily available was whiskey, codeine, and grit. Less than ideal to be sure, but it was a familiar unpleasantness. It was not the first time she’d needed cuts sewn up, or slugs dug out with minimal painkillers and she doubted it would be the last.
The less familiar unpleasantness was the cascade of conflicting emotions she got to stew on. There was a part of her that wanted to believe this was the end of her involvement with Kirayee. She’d gotten her off a derelict, taken her to Lost Star at Sol’s behest, and even gone to the trouble of ruining some nut jobs’ attempt at killing… well she wasn’t sure what, rescued Kirayee and was all but being handed an out by Yuris. She was a psion, and her Order seemed to know a fuck of a lot more about what was happening than she did. Kirayee would be far better off with her and her people than she would be gallivanting around the galaxy with a crew of shady mercenaries. This should have been it. Hand off the kid, job done.
So why was she having such a hard time doing that?
She glanced up from the flechette thrower when Dwight mentioned her name. She’d been doing maintenance, not because it needed it and more just to keep her mind occupied with something other than stewing on her emotions.
“I can get us a ship,” She said. “Subtlety wouldn’t be a problem either. I could get us a freighter registered to some shell corporations, could get us a warship with no registration at all…”
She shrugged.
“I have connections. Could steal a ship too for that matter. All really depends on how much noise we want to make getting where we need to go… though the bigger the ship the more people will be aware of where we are so if we’re going for subtlety we probably want something small we could crew with who we have,”
“Subtle would be better, I don’t think my fellows in the Order would feel too good about us turning up on a giant warship. If you can grab us something like a freighter or a cutter that would be ideal, I don’t want anyone being able to really come after us, not… After this” She shook herself slightly, Yuris still had not fully got over the feeling she had experienced when her powers had been cut from her like a whole piece of her body. She didn’t mind going near Kirayee, after all the girl had thankfully gained the ability to turn the field on or off, but that sensation gave her nightmares.
Kirayee herself woke up at the rustling of food, haven fallen asleep next to Kane and given the occasional pet the sound of movement and more caused her to stir. Dragging herself up she looked better than she had when they had gotten her out, but she was still looking worse for wear. It would be some time and with plenty of food and rest she would be ok again.
“I fell asleep again sorry, thank you for the food, Dwight” Shuffling over she took a stool and sat down at the table, helping herself with small bites. Yuris had warned her not to stuff her face despite the hunger, her stomach was still getting used to actual food again. But she quickly looked up realising she was in the middle of a conversation.
“Are we finally leaving?” Yuris nodded.
“Hopefully very soon yes, we were just discussing how to get a ship to get off this place”
“I’m very glad, are we still going to the Order? I would like that but… Is everyone coming too?”
“Freighter it is,” Alison said with a shrug. “I’ll make some calls. Won’t exactly be riding in luxury but we should be able to get off of Lost Star without anyone noticing. Just one more freighter amidst the hundreds that come and go every day…”
One of her men tossed her a communicator and she deftly caught it, sending some messages to Sol that she would need a transport. He responded promptly, his text messages easier to understand than that damn accent he put on at least.
“Do you want us to come with you?” Alison asked Kirayee once the wheels were in motion on the freighter. “I’ll get you the ship all the same but I’d understand if you didn’t want someone like me around…”
And even so she didn’t want to be sent away.
You would worry about her wouldn’t you? That annoying voice at the back of her mind whispered.
Kirayee smiled "You have saved me twice now, and come back for me... Of course I want someone like you around"
"Just give us a location and time, I wont lie im eager to be off lost star again" Yuris chipped in.
Alison smiled at Kirayee's answer, then quickly turned it intona yawn to cover it. She wasn't smiling. She wasn't...
But any astute observers could likely tell otherwise.
"Wheels are in motion. Probably won't be long to get the freighter... how concerned should we be about being traced? Either through mundane means or supernatural wibble wobbles?"
"You're not getting rid of us that easy, kiddo." Dwight said with a grin, setting his helmet aside and sitting down at the table to bite into his sandwich. He did just that, and there was a moment of consternation on his face.
"What the fuck... where's the--"
"What?" Davis asked, making his way over and peering over Dwight's shoulder.
"Oh. Missin' meatballs."
"Yeah, no shit genius." the man grumbled, setting down his sandwich and wrapping it back up before he looked up at Alison.
"I'd say we should be healthily on the lookout for that sorta thing, but if it's spooky stuff, I think Yuris is the one f'r that. I've got no complaints about a freighter, personally, it'll be easier to fly and easier to defend if we get boarded. And hey, less reason for people to look at us funny."
"Truthfully I'm not sure on the traced part, we should be fine for conventional but what the Panopticon can do, well we saw their power earlier I couldn't say for certain that they cant trace us somehow, I guess speed would be of the essence. Ill absolutely do my best if I sense anything strange to let you all know" She nodded to Dwight.
"I guess we start packing up to leave then" Kirayee smiled.
---
It took another 8 hours for the freighter to be prepared and logged, nothing but a generic bulkhauler carrying routine materials and consumer goods which was destined to leave Lost Star from one of the endless dock facilities across the ring. They had left the safehouse spotless, Dwight even topping up its supplies as a gesture of goodwill ready for whoever used it the next time. Yuris thanked him dearly for that. The group stayed low, Alison leading the way as they slowly went through bustling streets and took public transport twice, each time Alison paying with a different alias to throw off any conventional scent.
Yuris only detected strange things twice, but made it clear it was so faint that it could be other sources on Lost Star who had nothing to do with the Panopticon, so they kept going. Eventually making it to Dock 78/C, the huge brick shape of the Argus, their trust steed awaited them.
"That things ugly, but given my experience with passenger liners I think it will be much better" Kirayee smiled, Yuris wasn't entirely sure what she meant but the others likely did.
"Are your people aiding us from here Alison?"
Dwight shuddered when Kirayee mentioned the passenger liner, his entire suit rattling for a moment with the man within.
"Yeap nope I entirely agree. Not gonna lie kiddo, I don't think I've been on a liner since then."
"You're damned neurotic about it, man." Davis added.
"You saw them recordings bro, you know."
"Ain't sayin' your wrong..."
Dwight shrugged, and looked over to the rest of the team.
"Anywho, freighter's fine, ugly or not." he closed out, glancing over at Alison to see what she was going to say.
Kane followed the group , bobbing and weaving through pedestrians' legs still as a three legged coyote, he took some irritation at the occasional glances from those who've clearly never seen a coyote before. With one leg short he struggled to keep up with the others effectively, but when he finally did he sat loyally between Allison and Kirayee, never truly taking his attention off either. He was going to stay with them, even if they did leave Lost Star, even if they felt their contract with him was finished.
"Yeah they're helping us out," Alison said. "They're going to take us to your people and then they're going to punt that ship into the nearest star. Good luck to anyone trying to trace it after that."
She shrugged. Maybe vaporizing the ship wouldn't throw any psionic supernatural crap off of their scent but she doubted it would hurt.
"Anyway, she's not pretty but she'll get us where we're going. Hopefully without anymore supernatural fuckery. Come on, let's get the fuck off this station."
She lead the gang aboard the ship, nodding to a pair of Exiles done up like dock workers who were in the process of loading the cargo. Seemed they weren't cutting any corners on trying to make the display look convincing. Once aboard they were mostly left to their own devices while the last of the cargo was loaded and the ship got under way.
Yuris was impressed at the level of work Alison and her people were putting in to ensure that they would not be traced or followed. While she did think destroying the ship would be somewhat of a waste she couldn't fault the reasoning.
Thankfully they wouldnt have to seclude themselves in some dark and dreary corner of the cargo hold, but had access to the meagre bunkrooms of the ship proper in its small dedicated crew section. Kirayee eagerly explored the vessel, before finally settling down in one of the chairs on the bridge to watch them get underway. While the entire process was about as tedious and mind numbing as it could get for pilots or ships operators for Kirayee it was a new and interesting experience. Slowly but surely the Exiles asked for dock leave clearance, throttled the engines, activated RCS and slowly brought them out of dock. Then it was constant checking with dock control to ensure they had the right space lane and clearance for such and then endless speed limits to ensure no intersections or collisions until finally they were out of Lost Stars immediate vicinity. Thankfully, the virus the Exiles had installed earlier had taken care of the dock records about the Argus.
Kirayee however marvelled at the sight as they powered away, the monumental sight of the triple ringworld never failing to impress.
"Strange, I came here seeking so many answers. Given everything that's happened I suppose it makes sense I am leaving this place to find more"
Before long they had reached one of trillions of designated FTL entry and exit points not covered by passive civilian interdiction, and with a shift in colour the stars changed as the vessels warp drive engaged. They were underway, thankfully on a trip that would not last more than a day.
"Maybe I will fly a ship someday, what do you think Kane?" She grinned at the coyote who had kept close to her ever since the escape.
The coyote yawned in agreement and casually rolled over for Kirayee to rub his stomach. He was happy for himself, the boss, and Kirayee. As far as he was concerned she was the safest girl in the galaxy right now, even if she didnt know it, he only had to guide her to the boss. In the mean time, he was happy to consider this a well deserved vacation while things moved into place.
The Exiles aboard the ship had made some arrangements for their actual cargo. A decently supplied medical facility was present, with a flash cloned ear waiting for Alison. She spent the first part of the trip there with an unlicensed doctor getting the new ear sewn on the skin fused together. The rest of her team set themselves up at some tables to do maintenance on their equipment.
They'd taken a beating in the Panopticon facility, armour plates needed swapping out, holes needed patching, and all of their weapons could use a little TLC.
Alison joined Kirayee and Kane once her new ear was on, downing a few pills to help prevent rejection as she sat down. She idly watched Kirayee and Kane, not for the first time wondering just what Kane's deal was. Wondering if there was another shoe that was going to drop with him.
You're being paranoid. If he was going to betray you he would have done it by now,
"So what's next after we get where we're going?" Alison asked, turning her attention to Yuris and leaving Kane and Kirayee to their moment.
Kirayee smiled as she gave the coyote a rub and looked up at Alison as she came in.
"Well we wont be going to get you a new ear at least" The girl chuckled. Yuris seemed to lay back a little before replying.
"Well the Order will rendezvous with us at our destination and take us to one of their holds. There I expect they will want to examine Kirayee, find out more about her and if they can help her at all. If permitted we can teach you some techniques to help resist the hold of the Army too, nothing concrete but it might make the difference in a snap fight. After that..."
Yuris seemed to looked away thinking.
"I honestly don't know, it depends what the Order says and suggests, I guess we will have to see"
---
The journey was relatively calm, no interruptions or interceptions or drops out of FTL, allowing them to reach their rendezvous point. An empty system with an ugly older star. Nothing seemed present until a disturbance revealed the decloaking of a sleek and pearlescent space ship, flying close and coming in to dock.
"That's them, they came"
Connecting to the hull of the freighter the sleek vessel rocked as the airlock pressurised and the doors opened, revealing three white robed individuals who dressed like Yuris.
"Brother Camen, good to see you got my message" Yuris beamed, the human man at the head grinned as they hugged.
"Sister Yuris thank the psion your alive we didn't think you would come back"
"You would be surprised, this is the girl I told you about, and these are our friends, they wish to learn more. They helped defeat our foe" The three men looked the group up and down. The other two apart from Camen seeming like guards of somekind.
"Very well, I am Brother Camen of the Order of Serenity, well met those who would fight the Army of the Panopticon"
"more braincases?....perfect...." Kane sarcastically thought to himself, the three legged coyote eyed the newcomers wearily, assessing their potential threat to his mission, he stayed right behind Kirayee's legs to avoid immediate attention, his tail wagged in an anxious display. The new people made him feel locked in his current form, a purely psychological limitation from his decades of hiding among mortals, but one he felt truly hindered his ability to act in the moment should the need arise. Still, the drake was not going to allow more attention onto him than he already had.
Alison eyed the three men warily. She wasn't exactly the trusting type. Came with the profession she supposed. She glanced at Kirayee and Kane, hoping for some sign of their thoughts on the newcomers but nothing jumped out at her. People weren't her strong suit. She couldn't read them like a book. Perhaps she ought to keep someone close to her who could...
Food for thought.
She'd kept her larger weapons away, and refrained from wearing armour when they arrived, but a sidearm was still on her hip.
"I'm Alison," She said after no one else jumped in to do the introductions. "The guys who aren't Dwight's are mine."
Indeed, much like Alison had done, Dwight had shied away from his larger weapons, though he was wearing his power armor, helmet removed at at his side, and revolver in hoslter. The rest was in his bag, slung across his back as he stood there among the crew, Davis doing a headcount for what had to be the fourth or fifth time today. Both of them were a little antsy in the presence of so many psionics after what had happened down there in the Panopticon base, but Dwight wasn't about to show it. He nodded after Alison introduced herself, stepping forward alongside her.
"I'm Dwight, like she said. Nice t'meet you, Brother Camen. We've had a helluva ride to get here."
“I can more than imagine, Yuris informed us about how you got here and what you went through” He stepped forward, kneeling slightly to come eye level with Kirayee.
“And you must be the girl that Yuris was so insistent about. We have heard about you, welcome Kirayee” She nodded with a smile.
“Good to meet you Brother Camen” He stood back up gesturing with a hand to their ship.
“Please all of you come aboard, we will take you to the Order, those who won’t be staying there we can organise for transfer immediately whenever you like” Kirayee went first, somewhat stoic in her stance. She looked down to Kane.
“Don’t worry it will be ok” She turned to the others, the same look trying to reassure them.
“Here follow me” Yuris took them into the pristine almost clinically white interior of the Order vessel. Intricate patterns were inlaid into the walls which seemed to shimmer with energy, like one ship sized Mandala. Yuris led them to a section with multiple rooms, each with a simple bed and washing arrangements.
“I do apologise we tend to live rather spartan lives, I can’t offer much luxury in that department, but I can get you all some food if you like. We won’t be long to our destination; wormhole drives you see wait a while blink and your there” Kirayee picked one of the rooms but turned to Yuris.
“What do they expect of me?” The question was heavy and came seemingly out of nowhere. Yuris was taken off guard for a moment.
“The Order? Well, they want to know what made you, get insight into your unique gift and should you want, teach you to use it effectively. Maybe as a way to beat the Panopticon” Kirayee seemed conflicted on the answer but nodded.
“Thanks, maybe you can teach the others yoga” She chuckled.
Kane did not allow the others to get between him and kirayee as they followed. He took in their scents to learn more about them when they werent looking. They paid him no attention, almost to the point where he wondered if they even knew he was there. He did not like what they said they intended to do, Teneb got too close all those months ago and let the girl know too much already. The boss wouldnt be pleased if they got too nosy.
The first worry that flashed through Dwight's mind, weirdly, was not to get the deck of this clean, white, ship dirty. He hadn't had a chance to really scrub down his suit recently, and he didn't want to leave scratches on the floor. Despite that, nobody had seemed to raise a fuss about he and Davis' hammed-shit state, so he pushed the thought out of his mind as he trooped down the corridor, following Yuris and Kirayee closely. They were on allied ground here, but that didn't mean that they were going to be wholly safe from Panopticon. Or maybe they were. Time would tell.
"Yoga?" he chuckled, unloading his HAR and leaning it against the wall with a heavy mechanical clunk. "Kiddo, you should see Cap'n Maddox's PT course. Nobody needs yoga after that, but you do need a pizza and a nap. And speaking of pizza, food would be wonderful."
"Jeez Dwight, is food the only thing you ever think about?" Alison asked with a chuckle. "When I meet you, you're eating. When we're hanging out in the safehouse you're counting the minutes to the next food run, we get here and you're like 'eyo, what's a guy gotta do to get a pizza 'round here'?"
She shook her head with a chuckle. She was the last on the ship, taking the time for a few parting words with the Exiles on the freighter who had brought them this far before they headed out to dispose of their transportation.
"I'll pass on the Yoga I think. Brings back memories best left unremembered," Alison added sitting with a sigh. "Wouldn't mind better instruction on resisting mind fuckery if that's on the table,"
The mention of Dwight's food made the coyote lick his lips as he planned ahead. The general calm of the others meant he would be free on his own time to relax and Kane eagerly awaited the chance to do so.
“Ill grab us some food then” Yuris nodded. She left the room, coming back only a few minutes later with an assorted platter of various different coloured liquids.
“I know it might not look like much, but its extremely nutritious, and its keyed to taste like what you want” She used a spoon to eat a piece of the blue liquid “You think about how you want it to taste when you eat it, your mind is then sort of tricked into smelling and tasting such. Again we eat sort of spartan so just the taste of pizza is the best I can do” She shrugged awkwardly as Kirayee came forward, trying a bit.
“Wow that’s weird, the taste and smell are perfect but the textures kinda weird” Yuris nodded.
“Yea you sort of get used to it, nowhere near as good as the real thing though but it gets us by. As for mind fuckery, yea we can try help you resist that, its not fun though. The fuckery or the training”
There was a sudden dislocation, like everything had just been rearranged but yet nothing changed.
“Ah, I expect that was the jump. Feel free to eat, should be a short trip to our main home”
Yuris was right, only two hours after the jump and they arrived. It wasn’t a planet, but rather a singular asteroid in deep space. At least that’s what it had once been before being turned into what it was now. Beautiful white spires grew out of it now, covered it even as complex mandalas ringed some and spun around others. A small artificial star seemed to orbit around the small city as some ships like the one they were on came and went.
“Welcome to Bodlein, its our main place of residence and home of the Order” Yuris beamed as she gestured to the place out of the small window. They docked shortly after, stepping off the craft into yet more beautifully crafted white halls.
“Alright I suppose I should get us to where your going to be staying then we can go to some of the main halls, if you have any questions feel free to ask”
Alison had lots of questions about everything but they more or less all came back to where she fit in the grand scheme of things. Despite her best efforts she'd gone and gotten all emotionally attached to Kirayee. She could deny it, to other and to herself, as often as she liked... but you didn't spend as long as she had looking for and then fighting through a facility full of psionic homicidal maniacs to rescue a client who wasn't paying you just because you wanted send a message. Especially when the message was 'don't fuck with me' and the people you were sending it to were definitely going to ignore it.
She was in this now, and just trying to find a way to justify her continued presence without admitting she was in it because she cared about Kirayee. So she was looking for an angle. Psionic resistance was worth sticking around for. She was used to unpleasantness. Her whole life could be broadly summed up as 'A History of Unpleasant Situations'. But after the training was done she'd need a new reason.
Could she convince Yuris and her people that it was worth it to have some shady mercenaries around? Or maybe that the Exiles would one day be more than just shady mercenaries? It was a lot to think about, and she barely noticed the gleaming halls as she kept turning it all over in her mind looking for an angle... or several.
"So who's in charge here?" She asked finally.
Dwight had questions himself, and though he was not a mindreader he had to feel others might be having similar ones. He hadn't come all this way to satisfy Corps honor or anything inane like that, and now that he knew some of what they were up against he wasn't about to leave Kirayee, or Alison in the lurch against all this. It felt like they were up against the wall against something so completely out of their league, but there was heart to be taken in that they had faced the Army of the Panopticon, and won, for whatever it was worth this time. So he wasn't going to go anywhere, not if he could help it.
Getting help to face them again on more even terms also couldn't hurt at all, unpleasant training or not. While he might not have been as conflicted for a reason as the mercenary woman, he still had his mind made up, however many tangents and possibilities he was thinking of notwithstanding.
He looked around curiously as they stepped off of the ship, taking in the details of the halls they walked through. Part of him was conscious as usual of not leaving gouges in the floor from his armor, but he pushed that thought aside as he walked at a steady, if relaxed, pace.
"I find myself wondering the same thing," he remarked, nodding to Alison. "Place like this, can't imagine you guys don't have a big boss."
“Well, you see Dwight we don’t really have any one leader” She smiled to Alison “Sort of a council of the elder’s type deal, they come and go entirely on the discretion of both themselves and all of us in the Order. They debate our direction; help train others and maintain everything we have. Some in the council represent the librarians who tend to all of our knowledge in the archives, some represent the Wanderers who, like me, go out and deal with things in the galaxy, some represent the Shapers who build this place and maintain it and our ships, and some represent the Dancers, that’s those who delve into the psionic and do all the, as you would call it, weird shit”
“Will we meet any of them?” Kirayee asked, still quite amazed at the gleaming thoroughfares they walked down.
“Yes, as a matter of fact we are going to show you where you’re staying then its off to meet Elder Sellyx of the Dancers who wants to give you a bit of a look over, see what we are dealing with”
“You think he will know more about me?” Yuris shrugged to the girl.
“I don’t know but if anyone might he will”
Yuris led the group up impressive spiral staircases, down corridors inlaid with tapestries telling stories about ancient psions and the Overmind and to a series of rooms. Unfortunately, like the one on the ship the rooms were quite empty, a small desk, bed and chair were all they provided.
“Washrooms are communal I am afraid; everyone likes to treat each other like family” Kirayee grimaced.
“That’s pretty weird”
Alison glanced over the tapestries as they made their way through the halls, her heavy combat boots thumping with each step she took. She felt extremely out of place somewhere like this. It was… well… serene she supposed. Clean, organized, and with a storied history. All of it seemed meant to be calming and soothing…
And then here was Alison. A gene modded mercenary who dealt in death and chaos clomping through the hallways in her big black boots.
She could feel the cigarette cravings starting to rise already.
“Well things don’t have to be communal if you have a bully like me to make sure you get some privacy,” Alison commented in a humorous tone when Kirayee seemed put out by the communal nature of the showers. It didn’t bother Alison much, the lab she’d been made in hadn’t been big on privacy. She’d long since lost any sense of bashfulness about that sort of thing.
“Can I smoke in here?” She asked after a moment, turning her gaze from her surroundings to Yuris.
Dwight was actually taking notes as Yuris spoke, a little notepad mounted on the wrist of his armor next to his wristcom that he had flipped open with a thumb and was jotting down what she was telling them about the order's leaders with a plastam ballpoint pen in short, clipped, but descriptive sentences. Part of him had been hoping for a little grander of quarters all things considered, but compared to living in a garage, possibly being hunted by spooky shit and god knew what else, he would just deal with it. He could feel a craving for a smoke though, he wasn't a mind reader but if he was, he'd agree with Alison.
"No boys at the same time as the girls too," he chuckled, patting Kirayee very lightly on the back before pointing over at Alison. "What she said- We'll make do if'n that's a no. Looking forward to learning more about all this though."
"I am sure I can give you some times of day where they are pretty empty, besides for those not of the order I expect they can close one off just for you guys. Yuris then thought to herself "I... Don't know if we have any rules against smoking I don't think anyone here does but I would say keep it to quarters just to avoid any unseen issues"
"Yea yea very funny" Kirayee brushed off Dwights hand with a roll of her eyes. She was doing much better for the few days of rest, food and being free from her hellish confines within the base. The girl didn't talk about what she had seen or experienced, likely best to leave it that way.
"Well ill let you put your things in and we can get going. Sellyx is a man of punctuality we don't want to be late"
"Is he mean?" Kirayee asked. Yuris shook her head.
"He can be strict and very blunt but no, he never intends to be mean" Kirayee nodded but didnt look entirely convinced.
Soon Yuris was leading them back down to one of the large halls. It too, like most of the Orders home was white and brighly illuminated. Its roof was covered with more intricate detailing and large windows looked outside into space, it was very large almost half a mile across and many went about doing whatever buissness they had here. A group of the 'Dancers' stood around a raised circle, Elder Sellyx bowed as they approached. Yuris bowed back.
"Welcome to our home. You must be Kirayee, and you all must be her protectors." He looked Kirayee up and down inspecting her "Zelic, fascinating, it isn't too often I see one of your kind, please step onto the circle." Kirayee did so.
"I am the last of my kind after all Elder" Her tone was sombre.
"Nonsense. Others survived the destruction of your home by the Abberation. Not many mind you, but enough. Your far from alone" The news made Kirayees face beam with elation.
It didn't take Alison long to deposit her gear. She lived light, most of her life fit in a few bags these days. She dumped her gear, sucked down a cigarette, and scrolled through her messages to see what was new and exciting in the Organization...
Very little it seemed. The ongoing slow burn toward a gang war was continuing it's languid trek forward. Vagrants and Black Skull were arguing over turf. Syndicate was shuffling around it's smuggling operations after a crew turned State's Witness, and the Exile fleets were chasing shadows and rumours on behalf of shady clients with shadier motives.
Same shit as always.
She left her armour behind when she rejoined Kirayee, but she couldn't quite bring herself to go unarmed. Funny, she had no problem being naked in a communal shower, but walking around without a gun made her feel more naked and vulnerable than a lack of clothing ever could.
There was probably a word for that...
She made a token effort to at least appear unarmed. She kept the sidearm in a shoulder holster, and wore a faded denim jacket covered in patches for a variety of punk rock and metal artists she doubted anyone would be familiar with. The jacket, after some adjustments, concealed the weapon from view, but she felt reassured by its familiar weight.
She wasn't familiar with the Abberation the Elder mentioned. She'd inferred more than been outright told that some tragedy had befallen Kirayee's race, but she'd never felt comfortable pressing her for details.
"She's my client, yeah," Alison confirmed when the Elder referred to her as a protector. "Although the arms and experience at my disposal has proven... inadequate at times... Yuris indicated you may be able to assist with some aspects of that..."
Allison's response had caught Kane's attention from his post shadowing Kirayee, causing the three legged coyote to hop his way closer to remind her that he himself was short an arm, or leg in this case. In all this time the strange drake had not drawn attention to himself or visibly cared for the missing appendage, though it was hard to read the expressions of a wild animal and Kane had kept to himself the whole time since the assault on the base, not even once resuming his true form. To the unaware he would appear nothing more than the oddest choice for a "team mascot" or pet that the band could have acquired since gathering.
He had not bothered to introduce himself once to their new hosts, The drake was particularly shy in this place and despite them being connected to their "allies" he trusted nobody alone with Kirayee, causing him to be further determined in his protection of her. He clearly felt out of place in this environment and was stuck in a form that made communication difficult to the others.
Dwight as he had done before on Lost Star had left his power armor in their quarters, leaving himself in more or less typical Explorer attire and light combat armor as he had followed along to this meeting, revolver on his hip as it probably was always going to be. Though Explorers packed heavier than Alison's men probably did, the simple reality of it was that most of their gear had been left on the Eagle. Sorting out a change of clothes was a later problem. He hadn't yet checked up on the news from home, there had just been too much going on for it to really cross his mind. As it was, Davis was scrolling through his datapad as Dwight left, giving a lazy wave as the team leader left, following Kirayee and Alison to the meeting.
Like the merc, he didn't know much about the Aberration, though he'd heard ghost stories and wild tales in plenty of spacer bars from RANGSI to Exodus. So he couldn't comment on it, and didn't try. Many times in recent days he'd found himself outside of his experience, and he'd lost a man for it, and might be losing his friend too. Dwight, simply, didn't want to make a bad call.
"Helping with those aspects," he added, "Would be useful beyond words, I think. We're capable fighters and no mistake, I'd fight alongside boss here anytime," he gestured to Alison,
"But there's things we just can't do, and it almost got us killed in the last scrap we had. If you can help, I'd be glad to have it."
“I… I am not alone?”
“No. Zelic enclaves are rare, but I may be able to assist you in locating some should you wish” Kirayee was ecstatic as she stepped onto the circle. There was a gentle chime as she began floating only around a foot off the ground. She didn’t appear to be in distress, however.
“You have managed to get her this far; of that I am most impressed. But you are quite correct, the esoteric science of psionics allows abilities that standard combat techniques would be hard pressed to counter. This girl is likely your best defence given her abilities, but yes, we can assist you. Bear in mind we cannot turn you into a Psion if you don’t have the gift, but we can help harden your mind, teach you techniques which can assist in defusing mental assaults and confusion” Sellyx didn’t even look at the group as he focused on Kirayee, happily speaking to them while he made gestures with his hands. The others around the circle doing the same thing.
“How interesting. You have a regular mandala; your power is not psionic. Nor do I detect mana. But there is clear tampering with your DNA in ways I have not seen before. Kirayee would you be able to trigger your ability? If you can keep the area of it as small as you, it would assist us” Sellyx stopped his gestures and brought up several traditional holographic screens.
“Uh sure one second” The girl closed her eyes, creating the silence field just inches around her body. Sellyx frowned.
“Your entire body manifests it, like every cell in you projects the field. I have never seen DNA manipulation like this or complexity. Something truly ancient and complex must have done this to you, given the… Incident with your people it could be linked to the Abberation but I couldn’t tell you.” Kirayee sighed. She knew who this to her had done, she just wanted to know how it worked and what it meant.
“The Timecaster Shaw did this to me, I am a weapon” The Order members looked to one another, and Sellyx nodded.
“That makes logical sense. Especially given your companion here” He did turn to the party this time, and to the coyote “I never expected one of you to ever end up here. Do not worry we have no intention of conflict. Forgive me, but did your fellows know about this?”
“Do you know anyone who could understand this? The Army of the Panopticon seem to have studied my DNA, I don’t know if they can replicate this though” Sellyx frowned.
“That is most grave if they can shut down all powers at will, at the cost of their own. I know of one who could likely tell you.” Kirayee made a gesture with her eyes.
“Well, who is it?”
“Par’Lan Captain of the A’Zores”
If Dwight had a drink, he would have spat it out.
Every sailor he had ever met here in this galaxy be they foreign, a Corpsman like himself, a civvie hauler, a pirate or a Navy rate, friend, foe, or somewhere in between, everyone had heard of the Azores. It was a story that ran through nearly every spacer bar he'd been in or sailor's gathering the crew had come near, spoken in both hushed whispers of both respect and fear, and boisterous tales that seemed too ludicrous to be true, no matter how powerful the ship was. Battling a fleet of a thousand god-ships, snuffing out a star that threatened to go supernova, leading a vast empire so grand it put Corona at it's glory to shame. The stories were endless, the ways they were told were endless. Dwight, had he not seen the image captures from Voicon and seen a Navy intel assessment on it, wouldn't have believed the ship was real.
But it was, the proof immutable. Something of...
"...A ghost story without a ghost." he murmured, his eyes a thousand miles away. "I've uh... I've heard the stories about the Azores. I suppose the question on my mind is, how the hell do we find it?"
Alison audibly choked at the mention of the legendary Nakai ship and its equally legendary captain. She had felt before like she was hopelessly out of her depth with all the demi gods and psions feuding over Kirayee. But now that Nakai were involved or going to be involved... what the fuck was she doing here?
She was a pirate, charitably she was a shady mercenary. What business did she have being involved in any of this?
She coughed, and cleares her throat.
"Sorry that is uh..." She trailed off and rubbed the back of her head with her mechanical hand. "Man I am so not qualified for any of this... but yeah, what Dwight said. I'm guessing we don't just call up and make an appointment..."
She'd definitely take the order up on the offer of psionic resistance training. No way she was going further without it.
Kane tilted his head in confusion. The drake had heard tales in passing of the Nakai but rarely gave them heed, he could sense the fear his companions had felt at the mere mention of the ancient race and their ship. Kane was never interested in drake affairs so he did not personally know how to respond to any of this revelation, not that he was able to give a proper answer in the first place with his current form. He gave a quiet "yip" in response to let Sellyx fill in the blanks he couldnt himself. Kane was ultimately just a gun for hire, even now.
Sellyx smiled.
“There are many stories about the Nakai, I have found that only few have any semblance of truth. As for your question on how we contact Par’Lan, well we will simply send him a message. We of the Order specialise in long range memetic communications, we will do our best to call him to us. We know Par’Lan deals with things far beyond what we could handle I hope he will be interested enough in your condition to intercede. Informing him of Abberation engineering should do the trick I hope”
“What’s he like?” Sellyx looked up to the girl “Par’Lan I mean, what’s he like?”
“I have only met him once. But he was wise, poetic in how he speaks, like there is an artform in his every action. But I know he is incredibly old and has likely experienced things we could only dream of.” Kirayee nodded, turning off her ability as she was let to float down to the floor.
“Thank you for your time child” Sellyx took the yip and nodded understanding that Kane was clearly not in a position to properly assist.
“Later can you show me where my people are?” Kirayee asked.
“Of course, for now I suggest you all rest and maybe get some food. We can start on mental assisting training later if you wish?”
“I definitely think they need mentally assisting” Kirayee smiled.
"Is that a jab about me being a dumb mercenary?" Alison joked, using humour and bravado to hide the uncertainty. Sellyx's description of Par'Lan just read like 'aloof' to her. She didn't like aloof. Aloof was unpredictable.
She fidgeted with the lighter in her pocket as she ruminated, moving next to Kirayee as she finished up. Alison wasn't one for complicated plans. She'd always been more of a roll in heavy and let the bullets land where they may. But as impulsive as that may seem (Sol was always telling her she was too impulsive) she made a point to at least know what she was rolling into.
She liked reconnaissance. And intelligence.
She had neither. Again. And that made her anxious and stressed.
"The training will be much appreciated," Alison said finally. "But food and rest sounds nice..."
Maybe a drink too.
Maybe several drinks.
Kane yipped in agreement at the mention of food, but more importantly he saw an opportunity to stretch his legs while the others rested. He was tired of his current form and was eager to have thumbs again, no matter how brief, before he continued his watch over Kirayee. He did not want them to catch him while he himself relaxed in his true form.
"I'll take that as a 'I've got a long way to go,' young grasshopper." Dwight said with a chuckle to Kirayee, as like Alison, he hid his unease behind a grin and humor. It was his entire job to drop on to uncharted worlds feet first and help survey them, running up to the vast and wild unknown to poke it with a stick before running away and tallying the data. Or shooting at it if the vast unknown tried to have you for a mid-morning snack. But this was something entirely different to that, and so different that there was no way to describe just how different it really was.
He trusted Alison, even though she was, to be generous, not exactly on the level. He trusted his team. He trusted Kirayee, and hell, he even trusted Yuris. But this was getting way out of hand, and he had to wonder both where the rabbit hole ended, and who in this case was Alice. Had he been a mind reader, he would have agreed both with the want for intel, and for a drink. Or ten.
A single malt with lemon and salt sounded good about then.
But hell, they were here, so Dwight was going to keep being a ride or die sort of man.
"Won't say no to that," he said, nodding to Alison. "Just give us a ring and all when it's time to train, eh?"
"Maybe" Kirayee laughed.
"We will don't worry, but we cant promise it will be a short wait for the one we want. For her safety I would request Kirayee stay here with us, but the rest of you may come and go as you please. I would also request you share the co-ordinates for this system with no one, and never directly jump here. We are placing a great deal of trust in you, with current times we simply have no other choice" Sellyx nodded.
"It means you don't have to be cramped up here all the time at least" Kirayee shrugged "Don't worry I want to stay anyway but if you do go come back, I wont be happy otherwise"
--
As with all things, time was never on side. Repeated attempts to contact the A'Zores met with failure, but the Order did not stop trying.
Two years.
Two years and they finally succeeded. Connecting to the Nakai ship deep within the Expanse. The signal was sent, and everyone had been called back. But two years was a long time, and nobody had been idle in that time, Kirayee had grown, matured and trained. Honing her power, when to use it, how to use it and her physical body to learn martial arts and train to resist and protect herself where able. The Order was surprisingly flexible, and Kirayee had been an eager student, reading endless texts on galactic lore while honing herself. But as promised both the Exiles and Free Worlders were offered the training they wanted, it started almost comically, through yoga and meditation, something that Kirayee teased Alison about relentlessly given the privateers nature. But as time went on the Order helped to structure their minds, Sellyx would probe them, trying to gather surface thoughts or delve deeper into their consciousness. They would then attempt to resist or close off portions of their mind, and techniques were shown to help the group use their collective minds to resist the attempts of intrusion. Connecting each of the group over time so that they could feel each other in close proximity, share basic feelings between themselves and collectively defend each other mentally.
It was a long process, mentally gruelling too. But it was worth it. The Panopticon would not hesitate to ravage their minds and any lessons were a blessing.
Still, Par'Lan had been contacted.
Kirayee was eager, restless even. It had been 2 years, but now she was meeting who they needed to meet. She paced back and forth near one of the dock areas unable to stand still.
Alison was a fixture in the weeks, months, and then years that came and went. Perhaps it was out of a sense of guilt that Kirayee had been abducted on her watch, or perhaps simple affection. Whatever the case, she never left the facility. The other exiles who accompanied her came and went. Her initial team cycled out only a few weeks after arriving to be replaced with a new team that in turn cycled out a few weeks after that.
As the mental training progressed, Alison wished for a stable team, but there were challenges. Most of the Exiles, required expensive cocktails of medication to keep their frayed genetics stable. Alison was lucky. Like Sol, she was part of a select few with stable genetics. She didn’t need the constant supply of medication to function on a daily basis. The rest of the Exiles were less fortunate, and the cocktails needed constant tailoring and adjustment which made it near impossible for any team to remain with Alison for long before they’d need to return to the Exile fleets.
She complained to Sol constantly, emphasizing the fortification techniques they were being taught were far more effective with a stable team. But Sol was intractable. Tensions in the Organization were on the rise. Raiders and a smattering of independents on one side, advocating an expansion of raiding, theft, piracy, and shady mercenary dealings. Meanwhile on the other side Chemists, Black Skulls, and their own independants wanted to expand smuggling of contraband and drugs and back off the flashy displays of violence favored by their rivals. The whole thing was a powder keg, just waiting for something to touch it off. The Organization lurched uncertainly from one internal crisis to the next, a hair’s breadth away from a full on gang war and through it all Sol was reluctant to find Alison a permanent team and constantly pestered her to return to the fleets.
She was an Admiral after all.
[18:42]
But a year into her stay with the Order, Sol finally began to come around to the importance of what she was doing. The threat the Army of the Panopticon posed to the galaxy was becoming more apparent and Sol finally relented that Alison’s proximity to Kirayee and the Order was something that couldn’t be neglected. Especially not if the Exiles were to break off from the Organization and find some form of legitimacy and sovereignty in the eyes of the galactic community.
So finally, a year in, Sol gave Alison what she’d been asking for and found her a permanent team. The first of her new team to arrive was a pallid, glassy eyed subjugator who called herself Blackjack. Blackjack was a melancholy figure. She had apparently been one of Wolfgang’s subjugators, though she’d been discarded by the Black Sail overlord after a head injury rendered her mute and tremor addled. She was left to spiral into addiction and eventual death on a backwater Freeport until an Exile captain took pity on her.
With a great deal of therapy the tremors had subsided, and her addictions were under control for the moment. Even so, the blonde woman rarely socialized with Alison and her compatriots. She preferred solitude, and the company of her headphones and a seemingly infinite playlist to that of her comrades.
A few weeks after Blackjack, Alison’s second teammate had arrived. One of the Felixes. Alison found the Felixes incredibly off putting and was less than enthusiastic about Felix 77’s arrival. The Exiles counted among their ranks a large number of clones. Most of those clones went to great lengths to differentiate themselves from one another. Wild hair colours and styles, tattoos, piercings, and other affectations in an effort to appear different from the dozens of Exiles who looked identical to them were common. The Felixes on the other hand, had gone in the opposite direction. They dressed the same, had the same hair styles, spoke with the same mannerisms and slang. She wondered how it all functioned. Was there a newsletter or a group chat where they coordinated haircuts and clothing or did they all just aim for and maintain the same general image?
She wasn’t sure. She couldn’t say she’d ever seen two Felixes in the same room at the same time.
The remaining three members of her team trickled in over the coming months. The three of them were less notable, if no less capable than the first two. At last with a stable team she’d been able to make the most of the training the Order was providing her.
And not a moment too soon it seemed, as Par’Lan had finally been contacted, and a meeting arranged.
She was sat atop her kit bag, watching Kirayee pace back and forth with a bemused smirk and doing her best to ignore the acrid scent of the cigarette slowly burning down between Blackjack’s lips. Alison had given up smoking once more, but her proximity to Blackjack’s habit was testing her willpower and the stale air of the dock wasn’t helping.
Despite the time they remained growing longer and longer Kane's presence watching over Kirayee persisted. The drake never returned to his true form or recovered his lost limb, at least not in the presence of the others, and would randomly disappear during the day only for the three legged coyote to be waiting for Kirayee in her quarters come lights out. For the two years they were there he would come and go as he pleased, but he always returned to keep an eye on his charge as well as the one who "hired" him since she was one of the few who remained during that time.
Time was of little concern to Kane, or his true master. Following the events on Lost Star it was unavoidable that the Draconian gods had become aware of the girl. It was best they think of her as dead or else they would stop at nothing to collect her for themselves or end her story then and there. The Boss agreed, as with any great heist, it was better to lay low with the prize until the unwanted attention had moved elsewhere. While Kane would regularly contact his master when nobody was aware, he knew his lord's own eye kept close watch on the girl and him all these two years.
Allison's ever changing crew was a fascinating bunch to Kane. While he was no psyker his heritage allowed him to "see" certain things about individuals, things they might not even see themselves, and Allison's concerns over acquiring a permanent squad to aide her as well as her discomfort with those who would do so was quite entertaining, like the day they hired him. He remained aloof with the newcomers, even if Allison had told them about him, he still preferred the current arrangement as being seen as nothing more than a companion to Kirayee. He reminisced as he sat next to Allison on the floor, watching Kirayee pace.
“You know,” Alison commented, shifting the partially disassembled mechanical limb in her lap. “You’re always teasing me about patience and stilling the mind, and all that new agey stuff the Order goes on about and yet here you are wearing the paint off the deck with your nervous pacing,”
Two years was an awful long time. Many planetary survey jobs could run up to ten or more, and Dwight had been on one that had, but this was still up there. In any other circumstance, chances were that Dwight and Davis would have been called back to the Free Worlds and put on another run, but he knew the score, and Captain Maddox knew the score.
So it was the proverbial ride or die.
Like Alison, Dwight was an unchanged presence in those weeks that stretched into months. He made it a point to be a solid presence for the other, an older brother that anyone could talk to in down times or rough times, even when he was the one that needed to talk. It was a long road with no end in sight, and in all reality there was a lot about all of this that Dwight just didn't understand.
Psionic theory, training one's mind, it was all hieroglyphics to him. But he believed that Kiryaee believed it could help, so he stuck with it. Even when he felt like a total Smoothhead Louie, which was more than once. It sort of felt like basic all over again, repetition and constant practice until he had the theory down, then putting it into practice. It was nothing like learning his HAR or the constant PT, but in a way the idea behind it was similar, and he grasped on to that as an anchor point, something to work from.
Eventually, he had had to leave at one point, and that was to go back home to pick up Lewis. The messages from the docs back home for a long time had been worrying and encouraging both. Medical tech had come a long way since arriving in Ancerious, and the Corps had some of the best docs available, but there was still limits to what medical reconstruction could do. When Dwight saw Lewis again, the requisite jokes of looking like hammered shit really didn't seem to do it justice. He had burn scars, a lot of them.
Burns were nothing new, but ones that looked as gaunt and... blackened, twisted, as his did were new, and just plain unnatural. If anything though, Lewis was more determined than ever to get back in the fight, and Dwight was not one to tell him no.
Neither was it his place to tell Six-Gun Maddox to do much of anything, as the captain had made the call to throw his lot in.
So, Dwight had returned to the Order on a long and rambling course plus two, and the training had resumed. It was jarring again to come back to another new round of faces among Alison's crew, but that, it seemed was reality. He didn't know the reasons, Alison had never said, and he had never asked. Staying out of her very private business was a decent method to staying on her good side. These ones at least, Blackjack and Felix, had seemed to stay over the following months.
And then, word had come down the pipeline that Par'lan had at last been contacted. The rush in the dorm to get their kit together had been something legendary... or hilarious, they would debate later which.
"Ahh, if you're missin' the teasing then I'd be happy t'help with that." Dwight chuckled, leaning his rifle against his leg plates and waving away a cloud of smoke with one hand. Next to him, Lewis was going through one of the mantras again, eyes closed and head down. His scars were particularly stark today.
"Though she's right, kiddo, you keep going on like that and you're gonna go right through the deck. We'll be fine, you'll be fine."
Kirayee shot Alison a glance but didn’t reply because she was so obviously right, stopping her pacing and sighing.
“Yea I know, it’s just been ages I started to wonder if the mans real or not. Its just strange to be here, the anxiety is strong” She smiled, taking a few steps over to Alison and Dwight. Their teams were all ready and packed, and Kirayee sat herself down on her own small bag of clothing and items she had accumulated since being at the Order. She had grown, her blue skin taking on a much more developed sheen and her muscles and body had developed well with the training she was provided. Kirayee was still young, but she was going to make a fine person already.
The dock looked out into space, the high ceiling and decorated walls staring out into the emptiness of space and the twinkling of the stars. It was wonderous, and yet unnerving, there was so much galaxy out there to try and save.
A moment later there was a flash of light beyond in space.
Then a figure stood, arms behind back wearing white robes as its wings moved into a comfortable position.
Par’Lan captain of the A’Zores took several steps forward, looking around before focusing on the group in front of him. He was avian, a long bird like face contained six piercing blue eyes which seemed to survey everyone in front of him. His robes were brilliantly white with intricate lettering and symbols all over and allowed his feathered wings total freedom of movement. He was tall too, easily towering over even armoured humans, his emotions were unreadable.
Until he unmistakably smiled.
“You are the charges who called to me. It is an honour to meet you all. I am Par’Lan and it is time you came aboard yes? I apologise for the lateness, time can move differently deep within the Expanse and there is much to do. Come let us make haste”
There was no boarding, one moment the group were sitting in the docks, the next they sat perfectly as they were, in a room of pure whiteness, Par’Lan in front of them just as they had been. Kirayees mouth was agape trying to realise she had already moved.
”Welcome aboard the A’Zores. I am sure you have many questions”
Dwight was proud of how far Kirayee had come, remembering that she had had more patience for the lessons and the training than he had several times, though her anxiety was a solid reminder that despite it all, she was still only a person.
"Here's hoping, we've wa--" Dwight said, before there was a flash, and he was suddenly looking at a being that according to all stories and legends about the Nakai he had ever heard, he would never see. A real, living Nakai, and the captain of the quite literally mythical Azores at that. He could hear Captain Maddox almost choke on his water behind him and Lewis broke off halfway through the mantra as they all looked up at the massive, alien beyond alien and wondrous beyond wondrous creature in front of them. It was all Dwight could do to not spit out his toothpick in shock. There was a long moment as he looked up at Par'Lan and he wondered what the Nakai was thinking of before he raised his courage to ask something, and
Bam.
They weren't on the station anymore. Instead in a room of pure white, and with all his kit, all his things, and the whole team. Maddox muttered a curse, and he could hear Davis letting out a slow whistle before the question finally came to him.
"Sonnova..." Maddox muttered, looking around the pure white room curiously, scanning every angle.
"Uh... first things first, sir, how did you do that? Can't... say I've ever seen teleportation that accurate before. Or experienced it."
Alison gave Kirayee what she hoped was a reassuring smile once she finally sat down. She understood her nerves. Alison was nervous herself. The most important person she’d ever met with was an Echotian noble. Par’Lan was someone on a whole different scale and she didn’t know that she was ready to meet the legendary Nakai.
But, at least the focus wouldn’t be on her. Par’Lan’s interest was likely with Kirayee moreso than the ragtag band of mercenaries, special operators, and shapeshifting canines in her orbit. Alison suspected, expected even, that she’d be more of an afterthought to the Captain of the A’Zores.
She spotted the flash and muttered a curse, cutting short the maintenance on her mechanical limb and putting it back together as quick as she could. Felix glanced up from the impromptu poker game he’d started with the other men and then glanced her way.
“You think he’ll be here soo-...” He trailed off as Par’Lan abruptly appeared in their midst. Alison scrambled to screw the last plate on her arm into place and stood from her kit bag.
“Yes sir I’m-... FUCK,” She sat down again hard, disoriented by the sudden transit and blinked rapidly.
“That was trippy,” Felix commented.
Blackjack giggled, the only one among the mercenaries seemingly not disoriented by their sudden arrival. Her smile lasted only briefly before she sucked down one final drag and extinguished her cigarette on the underside of her boot. She deposited the remnants in a pocket and tucked the paperback she’d been reading under one arm before nudging Alison with a boot, bringing their leader back to the moment.
Alison coughed, cleared her throat, and shook her head.
“Dwight let Kirayee ask questions first,” Alison chided, busying herself with reattaching her mechanical limb to her shoulder. It would buy her a few more moments to gather her thoughts at least.
"Right yeah, sorry." Dwight said, giving the merc a thumbs up before offering her a hand up once her arm was back in place.
"Definitely can say this is a new one..." Lewis murmured softly, eyes wide and fixed on Par'Lan, the massive Nakai clearly the most distinctive thing in the room... and the most remarkable, to speak with absolute truth.
Kane growled as his location changed against his will. He was used to such things, though he naturally was against losing control of himself. The coyote's growl was interrupted by the sudden scratching behind his ear from his hind leg to loose fleas from his fur. Once he was finished he positioned himself protectively between Kirayee and Par'Lan, laying himself at Kirayee's feet.
"Rearranging positions and states of spacetime is somewhat of a common capability for my ship. This interior space we are in, we are both in and not in the A'Zores. Any facilities or quarters you so desire I can assure will be here when you need them."
Par'Lan seemed to wave a taloned hand, the white nothingness around them turning into a gorgeous tropical vista. The warmth of the sun was perfect upon skin, the lapping of blue waves and the touch of sand below their feet. It all seemed perfectly real, for all they knew it was.
"Sir... I-I have come to ask for your help. I have been... Altered in some way. I want to know how and for what purpose"
Par'Lan nodded beckoning them to follow him across the beach, the vista around them changing until finally they walked across a large circular space. The sun and blue sky were replaced with space, the Order sanctuary off to one side. Golden circles and runes crossed the floor below and above them, and runes seemed to hover in the air as Par'Lan brought them into the centre of the space.
"You have indeed been altered. Quite intrinsically at that, in that short span I have had my vessel analyse your distinctive genetic make up. Remarkable, whoever meddled with you child knew what they were doing. Your cells can emit a kind of scalar field, an energy field if you will, which appears to be able to counter any non standard ability or manipulation of physics. Be that psionic, magic or intrinsic. The engineering is highly precise, I doubt it would be replicated easily. However I can only surmise your use was to be a weapon."
Kirayee nodded.
"I believe that it was the Timecaster Shaw who did this to me" Par'Lan turned with a smile.
"That is a name I have not heard in a long time. That would also explain why you have a Draconian aligned entity in your entourage. Do not worry I have no ill will towards you" The Nakai gestured to Kane.
"So what do we do?"
"I believe you once had a purpose child, and while Shaw is dead your purpose has become your own future. But. I have need of your abilities, you will be tested by what I ask. And I will not force you to accompany me. If your power is truly this capable, I need you to help me cross the Maddening deep within the Expanse. Something is happening which is of grave danger to the galaxy"
Alison listened quietly while Par’Lan spoke. There was a lot that was lost on her. She didn’t know what or who a Timecaster was, much less one named Shaw… although it seemed a rather… mundane name for something that had apparently altered Kirayee into an entity of note to gods and legends the galaxy over.
The confirmation that Kane was in fact aligned with the Darconians didn’t come as a surprise to Alison. She had been there at the diner when Kirayee met Teneb after all, and the first time she’d met Kane she had noticed the similarities in appearance between the two. Maybe she could have written it off as mere coincidence… but Kane had seemingly returned from the dead on Lost Star, and then spent two years as a coyote snarfing bacon and fries off of Dwight’s plates when the explorer wasn’t looking.
It was not shocking to learn he did indeed share an affiliation with Teneb. Although it did lead her to wonder why he had concealed it for so long.
Maybe if he ever returned to a human form she’d ask.
“Maddening Deep?” She said when Par’Lan finished speaking. “Fucking hell, you take me to all the nicest places don’t you Kirayee?” She joked, all false bravado.
Blackjack at least picked up on her apprehension. She was the best at reading the Exile Admiral’s emotions. Alison would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried about facing another galaxy destroying threat.
“So who’s trying to destroy the galaxy this time?” She asked finally. “More of these Panopticon assholes?”
Dwight could not help but be in awe of the Nakai and what he had to say, following along and simply listening as Alison did. There was a lot mentioned that Dwight didn't know about and simply had never heard of before such as this Shaw individual, but the mention of what had been done to Kirayee, that he understood. Not as much as it may have been intended, of course, but it was a hell of a lot to take in. Added to the power Par'Lan held over this ship, it was already a hell of a story to tell in every spacer bar from here to the Hochlands, the sort of thing that if the others weren't here to back it up, he never would believe it if he heard it from someone else.
One thing that he did know about, though, was a Draconian. The stories he'd heard about them were not pleasant, especially not the Corp's first run-ins with such things... and he'd experienced part of that. Still, Kane had been solid so far... and he didn't seem all that harmless as a coyote. Still, he made a note to keep an eye on him, just in case.
"Sounds pleasant, eh?" Captain Maddox remarked on the Maddening Deep to Alison with a laconic sarcasm, seemingly taking notes as it seemed that Lewis was observing Alison's crew as they walked. Dwight though was focused again on Par'Lan's words now, and his companion's response to it.
"We're a lot better prepped for 'em if it is those bastards," he said, resisting the notion to spit. Old spacer superstitions didn't seem all that polite on the god damn Azores of all things.
"Should have enough ammo at any rate."
Kane wasnt happy, in fact he was quite anxious. His identity as a draconian demi-god had practically been revealed to everyone around him, people he had spent two years hiding that one fact from. He didnt know how much the others knew of the gods, his father, his boss, but he did know Kirayee still had that old book of drake fables Teneb had gifted her. He silently prayed to the boss that the book was written before he was born so it wouldnt have any tales of his own told within its pages, but his family was quite prolific with mythmaking. He knew he would have to explain himself, likely soon, and the coyote tensed in preparation for this uncomfortable and inevitable conversation.
Slowly, meekly, the coyote lifted his head to look up at Kirayee, almost like a pet who had been caught tearing up a carpet. He couldnt run. The boss wouldnt let him. He would have to deal with this himself.
Par’Lans avian face turned to Alison.
“I believe your assertions to be correct.”
Kirayee looked troubled.
“I’ve read about the Maddening; it drives any who cross it insane and destroys their mind or something. How would we have any chance against that?
”Simple child, we have you. This vessel is also equipped with potent Psychometric defences, but these have so far been insufficient, something which has both surprised and worried me. But combined with your abilities, you will be able to shield us as we travel through. Will you help me?”
Silence descended for a moment, Kirayee turned to the others, looking over their faces. She turned to Kane, where she gave a light smile trying to indicate that everything was ok, she has no issue with who he was. After all, were they all not puppets of some higher power or fate? At this point they were merely along for the rollercoaster ride.
“We will. What’s your plan?” Par’Lan bowed respectfully. And once again the room jolted, flying them through space, deep into the expanse and down winding tiny normalised corridors.
”We will make our way into the Expanse, reach the Maddening and cross it. I have no intention of letting these evil creatures carry out whatever plan they have going on there across the anomaly. We ascertain the nature of the current threat, and then I atomise it with the power of this ship. Once completed, you and your comrades may spread the word to the wider galaxy, and I will attempt to mop up identified remnants. I must thank you” Kirayee nodded.
“It sounds easy, we shouldn’t underestimate the Panopticon” Par’Lan nodded his head.
”I agree. Should somehow their abilities be beyond the terrifying ability and power of this ship, however unlikely, we will withdraw and use our knowledge to bring such a warning to the galaxy. Do you have any other questions?”
Alison had a lot of questions, but she doubted any of them had answers. She wanted to know how Panopticon had managed to cross the Maddening if even someone as powerful as Par'Lan with a ship as loaded as the A'Zores couldn't. But Par'Lan didn't seem to know. He didn't know what the Panopticon was doing in the Maddening how would he know how they'd got there?
And then there was everything else. Panopticon had picked a fight with Teneb to get Kirayee once before, then used her to pick a fight with one or more entities on Lost Star and only been foiled because they hadn't accounted for a bunch of criminals and adventurers to ruin everything with conventional arms.
It felt like a fluke. Like they'd pulled a royal flush when Panopticon had been stacking the deck and counting cards all night. So what if this was a trap? Some elaborate scheme to get Kirayee or Par'Lan or maybe both.
Not for the first time, the cloned super soldier wondered just who the hell was she to be involved in any of this? She was just some lab grown experiment who'd played at gangster and mercenary for decades, she was a nobody. And yet here she was, rolling the dice and hoping Panopticon hadn't accounted for a team of motivated mundane murderers to ruin their latest scheme...
"So how'd Panopticon get in there if you can't?" She asked finally. "What kind of opposition are we looking at?"
But she had a sinking suspicion the answers were 'we don't know' and 'we're winging it again'.
Dwight couldn't help but feel that he and Alison were asking a lot of the same questions. He had known fully well when he got involved with all this that it was going to end in ways he couldn't possibly account for, and so far he'd taken it all with a sort of 'we'll see when it gets there' sort of mentality. But now, he was starting to feel in over his head. It wasn't anyone's fault, and he was still laughing some days at how they'd pulled off what, by all means, should have been an unmitigated disaster back on Lost Star. Even then, it hadn't been a clean op by any means, and by all rights it shouldn't have worked.
Luck, it seemed, was a fickle thing.
Fortunately they had the training from the Order now, and he made it a point to practice whenever he had a moment, but he couldn't help but worry that where they were going, bullets weren't going to help. So he shared a lot of Alison's thoughts, and couldn't help but wonder if anyone at home was ever going to believe this, a single word of it, when the report came out at the end.
Assuming there was a report. He cleared his throat.
"Is there anything in specific we need to be worried about in there?" he asked, hands resting on his belt rig.
"Likely they are somehow in tune with the psionic emanations from the Maddening. That is... The simplest way of putting it. My attempts at masking myself using the same techniques however have been failures. As for what kind of opposition we face... I truly do not know. It may be forward elements scouting and using it as a small base of operations or it may be something more capable than what we can imagine. As for specific threats, let me worry about the spacial distortions and enemy vessels if we encounter them. Look to your minds, Kirayee's ability is truly unique, but I am sorry to say child it has never been tested like this. She will need each of you and we will need her"
Par'Lan made a gesture with his hand, the blackness of space outside the vessel suddenly disappearing.
"Take us as close as we can get"
It was only a few minutes or so until the view outside changed. The unmistakable roiling gold.
They had jumped into the Expanse. The chaotic energies outside showed that they were deep.
"We will be at the edge of the Maddening soon. Meditate, eat, rest, do whatever you must for when we cross our understanding of the galaxies situation will rapidly change"
Alison blinked rapidly as they suddenly became faced with the Golden Expanse. The sight of it, right there, live and in technicolour was really starting to hit home just how big of an order of magnitude there was between the A’Zores and every other ship she’d ever set foot on. They’d crossed the galaxy, into some of the most hazardous space in existence, in a matter of minutes. A trip that would have taken days, possibly even weeks on her own vessel.
It was disorienting just how quickly everything was happening. When she woke up this morning, she definitely hadn’t expected crossing the maddening deep to throw hands with Panopticon assholes to be where she was by lunch time. It wasn’t just the disorientation weighing on her, she’d felt out of her depth before, but now she felt down right powerless. Whatever they encountered, Par’Lan and his ship were going to do all the heavy lifting. And she was going to… what exactly?
Cheerlead for Kirayee? Try to keep the kid together while… whatever was going to happen happened?
She wasn’t a therapist, or a powerful psion. She was just a bad bitch with a flechette thrower. All of this was so, so far outside her realm of expertise.
It was enough to make her want a cigarette.
A feeling evidently shared by Blackjack. There was a click, a flick, and the acrid scent of burning tobacco soon began to fill the space while the Subjugator lit up a cigarette. She closed her lighter with a resound clack and Alison took a deep breath.
Put on a brave face at least. That much she could do.
“Felix?”
“Yeah boss?”
“Focus us in,”
“Groovy,”
Almost in unison Alison, Blackjack, Felix, and the other three Exiles sat on the floor in a circle. Each watched intently as Felix produced a well worn deck of cards from a pocket on his rig. The cards danced and moved across his nimble fingers, shuffling in and out of the stack with speed and precision.
“I’m going to go fast, dig?” He said.
“Yup,” Alison said. Blackjack nodded and stuck the cigarette between her lips resting both hands on her knees. Then he started. The cards flung out around the circle, landing in front of each of them in turn. Clearing her mind, tuning out the world and practicing mindfulness was something Alison struggled with. Her whole life felt like one adrenaline fueled gun fight after another. Guns, drugs, parties, war, more guns, more drugs, more parties, and yet more war. The simple act of sitting still didn’t come easily to her. It didn’t come easy to any of them.
So they came up with a strategy. A way to tune out and turn off, ease themselves into the meditative state the Order insisted was the cornerstone of everything. Focus on one thing and set the world aside until you could focus on nothing at all.
So they sat in a circle, and they counted cards. Twelve cards went out and Felix stopped, pointed at the man to Alison’s right.
“Count?”
“Plus two,”
More cards, she took a deep breath and let it out, condensing her world to watching the flash of reds and blacks as the cards flew from Felix’s hands to a place in front of each of the people in the circle.
“Count?”
“Negative one,” She answered.
It went on until the deck was dealt, then Felix gathered the cards and they did it again. With each card dealt the world slipped a little further away. The stress and the anxiety of the morning got a little more distant. Soon the group wasn’t even talking anymore. Felix would stop dealing, look to one person, and they’d all hear the count without ever hearing it at all.
Plus three.
Negative two.
Eventually, even the cards stopped. The circle was silent, reaching that state they were after, letting the thoughts and worries float by like leaves on a stream. Then they could really prepare themselves for what came next, focusing on their minds, and on each other’s minds. Going through all the techniques the order taught them to defend themselves and each other.
Because soon, sooner than any of them thought, they were likely going to need them.
Kane couldnt help but eavesdrop on the others' anxieties, though perhaps because of his nature, or his race, little really mattered to him. Despite all his time in the modern age, he still felt more at ease riding a horse than all this space travel nonsense, truly a view only an anachronistic drake could have had.
In an uncanny sight nobody either expected or wanted to witness the coyote stood on his hind legs and with a sudden unnatural contortion and twisting of his torso, the undulation and stretching of his canine body into a human-like deformity, Kane's form unnervingly shifted back to the man the crew had met all that time ago, still dressed the same and even had the same wry smile on his rugged yet scarred face. Had he not still been missing his arm it would be as if no time had passed since their meeting at the diner.
Kane, now fully in his human form, found a place to take a seat and removed his gun from its holster as he prepared to clean it for the mission ahead, Though he would have some difficulty with only one hand, it was still a display of his adaptation and dexterity.
Kane’s transformation caught Alison’s attention and interrupted the mediation and mental preparations of her and her people. She looked over to him, watching with morbid curiosity as it took place. She hadn’t got a good look at it when he’d turned into a coyote two years earlier.
“Gross dude,” Felix commented when Kane had finished.
“Nice of you to join us,” Alison said when Kane’s transformation had finished. She left her men, motioning vaguely for them to continue without her and sat across from Kane.
“Soooooooo…” She began awkwardly. She had so many questions to ask him. Could he turn into a coyote at will? Why had he stayed a coyote for two years? Was he immortal or did some power just bring him back from the dead when he kicked it?
But there was a lot going on and she couldn’t help the feeling that she didn’t have time to ask every question she wanted to.
“I don’t suppose you’d tell me what your angle on all this is?” She asked finally.
Par'Lan could not help but look down to observe the Exiles methods, he watched in total fascination intently observing every move and how they acted. Kirayee too watched with enjoyment but was interested in Par'Lans clear interest.
"Are you ok?" The question made the Nakai turn.
"Yes young one, I am sorry observing something like this reminds me of times no longer remembered by the galaxy. Of my compatriots, of the games I used to play with my children. They are all gone now, lost to history." Kirayee merely nodded, she could not understand the depth of the loss he felt, but she could empathise.
Kirayee then beamed as Kane too his previous form, Par'Lan affording himself a slight smile.
"Finally back with us properly?" She asked, clearly happy about it. Par'Lan simply turned to look at Alison, the golden clouds of Kolleronics passing them by at extreme speeds, they were going FTL. They were not in warp, or the Meridian, but they were going FTL in realspace.
"My angle? Ah forgive me I am not fully accustomed to the terms of the galaxy. My purpose now is to protect sentients. I fight threats which threaten to engulf and destroy everything we know. The Army, as your aware, possibly fit this aspect, thus I will attempt to protect the galaxy and destroy them"
Alison chuckled when Par’Lan answered her question. It had been directed at Kane of course but it amused her how out of touch the legendary captain seemed to be. Sort of reminded her of what she imagined talking to a grandpa would be like… Not that she had ever had a grandpa to talk to.
“That question was for Kane actually,” She commented with a shrug, turning to face Par’Lan. “He’s been with us a while. Ostensibly because I hired him on Lost Star years ago to help me find Kirayee but I never really bought that we ran into each other by chance, or that he stuck around all this time because he was waiting to be paid,”
She chuckled again and shrugged.
“Though it is sort of hard to pay a coyote,” She smirked, mostly to herself, as the image of a three legged coyote holding a stack of cash in its mouth flashed through her mind.
“Still, good to know your angle isn’t just like… cryptic metaphors and unknowable agendas of higher beings and all that…”
Kane stopped his chore for a moment to chuckle before answering.
"Well, ya heard from Par'lan first , I'm draconian spawn. Ya might've heard of my daddy, 'Crom Cruach'...though that name might not'a lasted like I have...humans live so short and Im still catchin up on the last few hundred years, 's just what I knew him as." Kane briefly trailed off before returning to the original subject.
"Boss told me to find Kirayee, keep her alive, protect her no matter what. Simple as that. The payday's just an added bonus. I wanted to avoid any...'complications' once ya found out I was a drake, so I thought y'all'd find the coyote more comfortable."
Everyone had their rituals for keeping their minds clear and focused. Dwight had once tried to keep up with the Exiles, but all he'd managed to do was get himself confused and lost. Which in all reality, was okay. What worked for him didn't work for them, what worked for them didn't work for him and so on and so on. Everyone was different after all. What was different now, was the sights outside. The Golden Expanse was one of those things that you heard about in the Corps, but most people in it never really had a reason to go there. More spacer tales, more bullshit legends and some that seemed just mad enough to be true. And here they were, sailing through that place of legend, myth and tall tale. When they got back, if they got back, he would have a few more stories of his own to share that people would never believe. It was almost too much to believe, again, that he wasn't dreaming, and this whole thing wasn't just the result of a bad bender and some hallucinogenic alien fish someone dared him to try.
Focus, Dwight. Focus on the sea.
He heard the click of a lighter beside him, and flicking his gaze away from the rolling fields of gold, he met the gaze of the captain.
"Long way from home, eh?" Maddox said, resting the smoke in his armored fingers.
"Yeah," he responded.
"Sea-thinking?" the captain asked, referring to Dwight's own little ritual.
"You know it."
"Get your game face on, trooper."
"Always, cap."
Maddox nodded, and smacked Dwight on the shoulder as they both turned around to look at Kane. They caught him at the tail end of his... transformation, and there was a moment of genuine worry as to what the hell was happening. Not to mention revulsion. But the moment passed, and a sight that Dwight had wondered if he would ever see again was standing there before them.
"Been a while, Kane." he said, blowing out the breath he hadn't for a moment realized he'd been holding. Just another menu item on the weirdness buffet that was the past two years. "Gotta say, last time I met a Drake was... rather damn unpleasant, so I do appreciate the thought of the whole coyote thing. Regarding the Army," he said, looking over to Par'lan, "If you ask me, then I'd certainly say they fit the bill. Everything we've seen about them screams bad, and then some."
"I see" Par'Lan did not reply but simply nodded to Dwights comment about the Army, his gaze turning to several floating runes which re-arranged themselves in complex geometric patterns.
He flicked his fingers between them, breaking them down and re-arranging them himself.
"We are here"
The 3D sphere of space they had stood in before had quickly during the transit turned into a much more 'conventional' room, with white floor and ceiling that gave off a simple ambient glow along with some seating and table arrangements. Now however the full surrounding sight of the Golden Expanse engulfed them placing them in what felt like open space despite their location within the ship, although whether that in itself was conventional or if they were in some kind of pocket dimension was unknown.
The Expanse felt cramped here, not like the huge open branches of Lode Trapananda, the roiling golden clouds seemed angry, churning with energy and power. Normally they were far off, but here in this choke point they felt only kilometres away. Kollers Trench, their current location, was a tiny path of access but what was before them seemed no different. The passage continued onwards, getting tighter and tighter before turning and going out of sight due to the opaque roiling chaos outside. It seemed for now the A'Zores had stopped moving, though it was hard to tell with the shifting surroundings.
No physical difference could be seen ahead, nothing visual that could indicate certain death or insanity.
But they could feel it, a gnawing at the back of their mind like a mental itch that made the body flinch to try scratch somewhere, like a barely felt dull headache that robbed the mind of its sharpness. It was the very limit of the Maddening, the invisible killer.
And now and again, they could hear whispers, faint words, of tongues unknown.
"For us to go further, Kirayee you must play your part. Beyond this point lies insanity and possibly something worse than we could ever fear. But if this galaxy is to one day see Serenity, we must be the torchbearers, we must discover what's beyond this madness and show it to the whole universe. A'Zores, all psychometric defences to maximum. Kirayee, whenever you are ready. Steel yourselves everyone, let us begin"
It had been two days.
A long two days for sure but given what they had been through they needed every bit of rest. Kirayee had mostly slept, and eaten, eaten a lot. Yuris had managed to help with most of the group’s wounds although they were still a little worse for wear and Dwight had managed to hook up a location to get Lewis extracted, there had not been much that Yuris could do for him, the man was so wounded it was a miracle he even held on.
The safehouse they were in wasn’t much. It was a garage basement for some apartment complex that the Order knew the lock key for. It had beds, washing facilities, clean clothes, stocked food and some strange esoteric symbols plastered everywhere. But it was safe, the perfect place for them to lay low and rest. Some of them had left at various intervals, out to get additional food or recce the area and learn if anything more had happened.
Thankfully the entire facility had been destroyed and seemingly devoured into a home in the ground.
Good riddance in the eyes of everyone really.
Still, they couldn’t stay holed up here forever. And Yuris wanted to get Kirayee to the Order, there they could help her abilities, learn more about what the Panopticon had done and more about what exactly she was. She walked over to the sleeping girl again and gave her a check over, poor thing was exhausted, no surprise given what she had been through, but she needed proper care.
“I recommend we leave soon, do any of you have a ship? If so, I can get us to the Order of Serenity, our home has more than enough ability to help nurse Kirayee back to full health. Maybe we can even teach you all how to withstand the mental influences of the Panopticon. I know you may not fully trust me still but I am trying to help believe me” Yuris sighed as she took a seat on one of the metal stools. With her previous Order robes destroyed and ruined she had taken some civilian clothes and now very much blended in as a normal Carnaithian.
It had been a hell of a couple of days. After getting Lewis on the first ship back to home space, he and Davis had busied themselves with making themselves busy and doing whatever had needed doing. The techie had mostly worked on getting the systems in the garage working a little better, and he had done the best he could with what little he had to work with here, and hey, he'd managed to get the air conditioning working properly. Dwight for his part had spent much of his time out of his power armor, heading out on reccees in just his combat armor, fatigues and a duster he'd picked up for a few credits in a second hand store.
In short, perfect camo for Lost Star. He was just arriving back at the hideout from his latest run for just plain hot food, something that wasn't an MRE. He'd managed to score some meatball sub sandwiches, and he set the bag down on the table, setting his, or rather Lewis' M81 on the table next to it. Davis nodded to him, and he nodded in return as he looked over to Yuris and shrugged, unpacking the food.
"I can call in to Maddox and see if we can get the Eagle to take us there, but that's a whole-ass cruiser, and she's not what you'd call subtle. I'd file it under a possibility, but not a sure thing. Good morning to you too, by the way."
"She's got enough guns to make a lot of eyes water," Davis pointed out.
"True," Dwight shrugged. "Alison, Kane, you here? You have any ideas?" he asked, looking around for the mercs.
Kane had kept mostly to himself in their new hideout and not returned to his true or human forms since the incident, for the time being he chose to stay in the form of a three legged coyote. He did not speak a word and his companions saw no point in trying to question a tired, injured animal. For the time being he preferred it that way as he lay silent in his makeshift nest near where Kirayee stayed. He would not let the girl out of reach, especially now. Kane had spent most of his time since getting his magic back resting, letting the occasional careless hand run through his fur as though he were some tame pet and not the unholy creature he truly was. He had no reason not to trust these mortals while he recovered, any betrayal on their part wouldve been done long ago as far as he was concerned.
The smell of food, however, caught the wily canine's nose as soon as it had entered the building and he could not pass up the opportunity to eat. With a wide stretch he rose from his bedding and laughed silently to himself as he wondered if he was more an animal or a drake, or if there was even a difference. Using his small size and silent paws he snuck past the distracted Dwight and his companion and buried his muzzle in the containers, successfully scarfing down several meatballs from the soldiers' sandwiches. He considered making off with more, but missing an entire limb threw off his balance enough as it was, he wouldnt be able to escape if he were caught and he was sure his sauce covered snout wouldnt be cute enough to save him from Dwight's hungry wrath. Once he had his fill he hid himself once more to clean his fur and with it all evidence of his own sinister betrayal.
The two days following the bloody grind through the Panopticon’s base on Lost Star had been far from the most pleasant experience of Alison’s life. Some of it was the garden variety unpleasantness. The ragged flesh where her ear had been needed to be cleaned up if a flash cloned replacement was to be sewed on later. Unfortunately the only anesthesia readily available was whiskey, codeine, and grit. Less than ideal to be sure, but it was a familiar unpleasantness. It was not the first time she’d needed cuts sewn up, or slugs dug out with minimal painkillers and she doubted it would be the last.
The less familiar unpleasantness was the cascade of conflicting emotions she got to stew on. There was a part of her that wanted to believe this was the end of her involvement with Kirayee. She’d gotten her off a derelict, taken her to Lost Star at Sol’s behest, and even gone to the trouble of ruining some nut jobs’ attempt at killing… well she wasn’t sure what, rescued Kirayee and was all but being handed an out by Yuris. She was a psion, and her Order seemed to know a fuck of a lot more about what was happening than she did. Kirayee would be far better off with her and her people than she would be gallivanting around the galaxy with a crew of shady mercenaries. This should have been it. Hand off the kid, job done.
So why was she having such a hard time doing that?
She glanced up from the flechette thrower when Dwight mentioned her name. She’d been doing maintenance, not because it needed it and more just to keep her mind occupied with something other than stewing on her emotions.
“I can get us a ship,” She said. “Subtlety wouldn’t be a problem either. I could get us a freighter registered to some shell corporations, could get us a warship with no registration at all…”
She shrugged.
“I have connections. Could steal a ship too for that matter. All really depends on how much noise we want to make getting where we need to go… though the bigger the ship the more people will be aware of where we are so if we’re going for subtlety we probably want something small we could crew with who we have,”
“Subtle would be better, I don’t think my fellows in the Order would feel too good about us turning up on a giant warship. If you can grab us something like a freighter or a cutter that would be ideal, I don’t want anyone being able to really come after us, not… After this” She shook herself slightly, Yuris still had not fully got over the feeling she had experienced when her powers had been cut from her like a whole piece of her body. She didn’t mind going near Kirayee, after all the girl had thankfully gained the ability to turn the field on or off, but that sensation gave her nightmares.
Kirayee herself woke up at the rustling of food, haven fallen asleep next to Kane and given the occasional pet the sound of movement and more caused her to stir. Dragging herself up she looked better than she had when they had gotten her out, but she was still looking worse for wear. It would be some time and with plenty of food and rest she would be ok again.
“I fell asleep again sorry, thank you for the food, Dwight” Shuffling over she took a stool and sat down at the table, helping herself with small bites. Yuris had warned her not to stuff her face despite the hunger, her stomach was still getting used to actual food again. But she quickly looked up realising she was in the middle of a conversation.
“Are we finally leaving?” Yuris nodded.
“Hopefully very soon yes, we were just discussing how to get a ship to get off this place”
“I’m very glad, are we still going to the Order? I would like that but… Is everyone coming too?”
“Freighter it is,” Alison said with a shrug. “I’ll make some calls. Won’t exactly be riding in luxury but we should be able to get off of Lost Star without anyone noticing. Just one more freighter amidst the hundreds that come and go every day…”
One of her men tossed her a communicator and she deftly caught it, sending some messages to Sol that she would need a transport. He responded promptly, his text messages easier to understand than that damn accent he put on at least.
“Do you want us to come with you?” Alison asked Kirayee once the wheels were in motion on the freighter. “I’ll get you the ship all the same but I’d understand if you didn’t want someone like me around…”
And even so she didn’t want to be sent away.
You would worry about her wouldn’t you? That annoying voice at the back of her mind whispered.
Kirayee smiled "You have saved me twice now, and come back for me... Of course I want someone like you around"
"Just give us a location and time, I wont lie im eager to be off lost star again" Yuris chipped in.
Alison smiled at Kirayee's answer, then quickly turned it intona yawn to cover it. She wasn't smiling. She wasn't...
But any astute observers could likely tell otherwise.
"Wheels are in motion. Probably won't be long to get the freighter... how concerned should we be about being traced? Either through mundane means or supernatural wibble wobbles?"
"You're not getting rid of us that easy, kiddo." Dwight said with a grin, setting his helmet aside and sitting down at the table to bite into his sandwich. He did just that, and there was a moment of consternation on his face.
"What the fuck... where's the--"
"What?" Davis asked, making his way over and peering over Dwight's shoulder.
"Oh. Missin' meatballs."
"Yeah, no shit genius." the man grumbled, setting down his sandwich and wrapping it back up before he looked up at Alison.
"I'd say we should be healthily on the lookout for that sorta thing, but if it's spooky stuff, I think Yuris is the one f'r that. I've got no complaints about a freighter, personally, it'll be easier to fly and easier to defend if we get boarded. And hey, less reason for people to look at us funny."
"Truthfully I'm not sure on the traced part, we should be fine for conventional but what the Panopticon can do, well we saw their power earlier I couldn't say for certain that they cant trace us somehow, I guess speed would be of the essence. Ill absolutely do my best if I sense anything strange to let you all know" She nodded to Dwight.
"I guess we start packing up to leave then" Kirayee smiled.
---
It took another 8 hours for the freighter to be prepared and logged, nothing but a generic bulkhauler carrying routine materials and consumer goods which was destined to leave Lost Star from one of the endless dock facilities across the ring. They had left the safehouse spotless, Dwight even topping up its supplies as a gesture of goodwill ready for whoever used it the next time. Yuris thanked him dearly for that. The group stayed low, Alison leading the way as they slowly went through bustling streets and took public transport twice, each time Alison paying with a different alias to throw off any conventional scent.
Yuris only detected strange things twice, but made it clear it was so faint that it could be other sources on Lost Star who had nothing to do with the Panopticon, so they kept going. Eventually making it to Dock 78/C, the huge brick shape of the Argus, their trust steed awaited them.
"That things ugly, but given my experience with passenger liners I think it will be much better" Kirayee smiled, Yuris wasn't entirely sure what she meant but the others likely did.
"Are your people aiding us from here Alison?"
Dwight shuddered when Kirayee mentioned the passenger liner, his entire suit rattling for a moment with the man within.
"Yeap nope I entirely agree. Not gonna lie kiddo, I don't think I've been on a liner since then."
"You're damned neurotic about it, man." Davis added.
"You saw them recordings bro, you know."
"Ain't sayin' your wrong..."
Dwight shrugged, and looked over to the rest of the team.
"Anywho, freighter's fine, ugly or not." he closed out, glancing over at Alison to see what she was going to say.
Kane followed the group , bobbing and weaving through pedestrians' legs still as a three legged coyote, he took some irritation at the occasional glances from those who've clearly never seen a coyote before. With one leg short he struggled to keep up with the others effectively, but when he finally did he sat loyally between Allison and Kirayee, never truly taking his attention off either. He was going to stay with them, even if they did leave Lost Star, even if they felt their contract with him was finished.
"Yeah they're helping us out," Alison said. "They're going to take us to your people and then they're going to punt that ship into the nearest star. Good luck to anyone trying to trace it after that."
She shrugged. Maybe vaporizing the ship wouldn't throw any psionic supernatural crap off of their scent but she doubted it would hurt.
"Anyway, she's not pretty but she'll get us where we're going. Hopefully without anymore supernatural fuckery. Come on, let's get the fuck off this station."
She lead the gang aboard the ship, nodding to a pair of Exiles done up like dock workers who were in the process of loading the cargo. Seemed they weren't cutting any corners on trying to make the display look convincing. Once aboard they were mostly left to their own devices while the last of the cargo was loaded and the ship got under way.
Yuris was impressed at the level of work Alison and her people were putting in to ensure that they would not be traced or followed. While she did think destroying the ship would be somewhat of a waste she couldn't fault the reasoning.
Thankfully they wouldnt have to seclude themselves in some dark and dreary corner of the cargo hold, but had access to the meagre bunkrooms of the ship proper in its small dedicated crew section. Kirayee eagerly explored the vessel, before finally settling down in one of the chairs on the bridge to watch them get underway. While the entire process was about as tedious and mind numbing as it could get for pilots or ships operators for Kirayee it was a new and interesting experience. Slowly but surely the Exiles asked for dock leave clearance, throttled the engines, activated RCS and slowly brought them out of dock. Then it was constant checking with dock control to ensure they had the right space lane and clearance for such and then endless speed limits to ensure no intersections or collisions until finally they were out of Lost Stars immediate vicinity. Thankfully, the virus the Exiles had installed earlier had taken care of the dock records about the Argus.
Kirayee however marvelled at the sight as they powered away, the monumental sight of the triple ringworld never failing to impress.
"Strange, I came here seeking so many answers. Given everything that's happened I suppose it makes sense I am leaving this place to find more"
Before long they had reached one of trillions of designated FTL entry and exit points not covered by passive civilian interdiction, and with a shift in colour the stars changed as the vessels warp drive engaged. They were underway, thankfully on a trip that would not last more than a day.
"Maybe I will fly a ship someday, what do you think Kane?" She grinned at the coyote who had kept close to her ever since the escape.
The coyote yawned in agreement and casually rolled over for Kirayee to rub his stomach. He was happy for himself, the boss, and Kirayee. As far as he was concerned she was the safest girl in the galaxy right now, even if she didnt know it, he only had to guide her to the boss. In the mean time, he was happy to consider this a well deserved vacation while things moved into place.
The Exiles aboard the ship had made some arrangements for their actual cargo. A decently supplied medical facility was present, with a flash cloned ear waiting for Alison. She spent the first part of the trip there with an unlicensed doctor getting the new ear sewn on the skin fused together. The rest of her team set themselves up at some tables to do maintenance on their equipment.
They'd taken a beating in the Panopticon facility, armour plates needed swapping out, holes needed patching, and all of their weapons could use a little TLC.
Alison joined Kirayee and Kane once her new ear was on, downing a few pills to help prevent rejection as she sat down. She idly watched Kirayee and Kane, not for the first time wondering just what Kane's deal was. Wondering if there was another shoe that was going to drop with him.
You're being paranoid. If he was going to betray you he would have done it by now,
"So what's next after we get where we're going?" Alison asked, turning her attention to Yuris and leaving Kane and Kirayee to their moment.
Kirayee smiled as she gave the coyote a rub and looked up at Alison as she came in.
"Well we wont be going to get you a new ear at least" The girl chuckled. Yuris seemed to lay back a little before replying.
"Well the Order will rendezvous with us at our destination and take us to one of their holds. There I expect they will want to examine Kirayee, find out more about her and if they can help her at all. If permitted we can teach you some techniques to help resist the hold of the Army too, nothing concrete but it might make the difference in a snap fight. After that..."
Yuris seemed to looked away thinking.
"I honestly don't know, it depends what the Order says and suggests, I guess we will have to see"
---
The journey was relatively calm, no interruptions or interceptions or drops out of FTL, allowing them to reach their rendezvous point. An empty system with an ugly older star. Nothing seemed present until a disturbance revealed the decloaking of a sleek and pearlescent space ship, flying close and coming in to dock.
"That's them, they came"
Connecting to the hull of the freighter the sleek vessel rocked as the airlock pressurised and the doors opened, revealing three white robed individuals who dressed like Yuris.
"Brother Camen, good to see you got my message" Yuris beamed, the human man at the head grinned as they hugged.
"Sister Yuris thank the psion your alive we didn't think you would come back"
"You would be surprised, this is the girl I told you about, and these are our friends, they wish to learn more. They helped defeat our foe" The three men looked the group up and down. The other two apart from Camen seeming like guards of somekind.
"Very well, I am Brother Camen of the Order of Serenity, well met those who would fight the Army of the Panopticon"
"more braincases?....perfect...." Kane sarcastically thought to himself, the three legged coyote eyed the newcomers wearily, assessing their potential threat to his mission, he stayed right behind Kirayee's legs to avoid immediate attention, his tail wagged in an anxious display. The new people made him feel locked in his current form, a purely psychological limitation from his decades of hiding among mortals, but one he felt truly hindered his ability to act in the moment should the need arise. Still, the drake was not going to allow more attention onto him than he already had.
Alison eyed the three men warily. She wasn't exactly the trusting type. Came with the profession she supposed. She glanced at Kirayee and Kane, hoping for some sign of their thoughts on the newcomers but nothing jumped out at her. People weren't her strong suit. She couldn't read them like a book. Perhaps she ought to keep someone close to her who could...
Food for thought.
She'd kept her larger weapons away, and refrained from wearing armour when they arrived, but a sidearm was still on her hip.
"I'm Alison," She said after no one else jumped in to do the introductions. "The guys who aren't Dwight's are mine."
Indeed, much like Alison had done, Dwight had shied away from his larger weapons, though he was wearing his power armor, helmet removed at at his side, and revolver in hoslter. The rest was in his bag, slung across his back as he stood there among the crew, Davis doing a headcount for what had to be the fourth or fifth time today. Both of them were a little antsy in the presence of so many psionics after what had happened down there in the Panopticon base, but Dwight wasn't about to show it. He nodded after Alison introduced herself, stepping forward alongside her.
"I'm Dwight, like she said. Nice t'meet you, Brother Camen. We've had a helluva ride to get here."
“I can more than imagine, Yuris informed us about how you got here and what you went through” He stepped forward, kneeling slightly to come eye level with Kirayee.
“And you must be the girl that Yuris was so insistent about. We have heard about you, welcome Kirayee” She nodded with a smile.
“Good to meet you Brother Camen” He stood back up gesturing with a hand to their ship.
“Please all of you come aboard, we will take you to the Order, those who won’t be staying there we can organise for transfer immediately whenever you like” Kirayee went first, somewhat stoic in her stance. She looked down to Kane.
“Don’t worry it will be ok” She turned to the others, the same look trying to reassure them.
“Here follow me” Yuris took them into the pristine almost clinically white interior of the Order vessel. Intricate patterns were inlaid into the walls which seemed to shimmer with energy, like one ship sized Mandala. Yuris led them to a section with multiple rooms, each with a simple bed and washing arrangements.
“I do apologise we tend to live rather spartan lives, I can’t offer much luxury in that department, but I can get you all some food if you like. We won’t be long to our destination; wormhole drives you see wait a while blink and your there” Kirayee picked one of the rooms but turned to Yuris.
“What do they expect of me?” The question was heavy and came seemingly out of nowhere. Yuris was taken off guard for a moment.
“The Order? Well, they want to know what made you, get insight into your unique gift and should you want, teach you to use it effectively. Maybe as a way to beat the Panopticon” Kirayee seemed conflicted on the answer but nodded.
“Thanks, maybe you can teach the others yoga” She chuckled.
Kane did not allow the others to get between him and kirayee as they followed. He took in their scents to learn more about them when they werent looking. They paid him no attention, almost to the point where he wondered if they even knew he was there. He did not like what they said they intended to do, Teneb got too close all those months ago and let the girl know too much already. The boss wouldnt be pleased if they got too nosy.
The first worry that flashed through Dwight's mind, weirdly, was not to get the deck of this clean, white, ship dirty. He hadn't had a chance to really scrub down his suit recently, and he didn't want to leave scratches on the floor. Despite that, nobody had seemed to raise a fuss about he and Davis' hammed-shit state, so he pushed the thought out of his mind as he trooped down the corridor, following Yuris and Kirayee closely. They were on allied ground here, but that didn't mean that they were going to be wholly safe from Panopticon. Or maybe they were. Time would tell.
"Yoga?" he chuckled, unloading his HAR and leaning it against the wall with a heavy mechanical clunk. "Kiddo, you should see Cap'n Maddox's PT course. Nobody needs yoga after that, but you do need a pizza and a nap. And speaking of pizza, food would be wonderful."
"Jeez Dwight, is food the only thing you ever think about?" Alison asked with a chuckle. "When I meet you, you're eating. When we're hanging out in the safehouse you're counting the minutes to the next food run, we get here and you're like 'eyo, what's a guy gotta do to get a pizza 'round here'?"
She shook her head with a chuckle. She was the last on the ship, taking the time for a few parting words with the Exiles on the freighter who had brought them this far before they headed out to dispose of their transportation.
"I'll pass on the Yoga I think. Brings back memories best left unremembered," Alison added sitting with a sigh. "Wouldn't mind better instruction on resisting mind fuckery if that's on the table,"
The mention of Dwight's food made the coyote lick his lips as he planned ahead. The general calm of the others meant he would be free on his own time to relax and Kane eagerly awaited the chance to do so.
“Ill grab us some food then” Yuris nodded. She left the room, coming back only a few minutes later with an assorted platter of various different coloured liquids.
“I know it might not look like much, but its extremely nutritious, and its keyed to taste like what you want” She used a spoon to eat a piece of the blue liquid “You think about how you want it to taste when you eat it, your mind is then sort of tricked into smelling and tasting such. Again we eat sort of spartan so just the taste of pizza is the best I can do” She shrugged awkwardly as Kirayee came forward, trying a bit.
“Wow that’s weird, the taste and smell are perfect but the textures kinda weird” Yuris nodded.
“Yea you sort of get used to it, nowhere near as good as the real thing though but it gets us by. As for mind fuckery, yea we can try help you resist that, its not fun though. The fuckery or the training”
There was a sudden dislocation, like everything had just been rearranged but yet nothing changed.
“Ah, I expect that was the jump. Feel free to eat, should be a short trip to our main home”
Yuris was right, only two hours after the jump and they arrived. It wasn’t a planet, but rather a singular asteroid in deep space. At least that’s what it had once been before being turned into what it was now. Beautiful white spires grew out of it now, covered it even as complex mandalas ringed some and spun around others. A small artificial star seemed to orbit around the small city as some ships like the one they were on came and went.
“Welcome to Bodlein, its our main place of residence and home of the Order” Yuris beamed as she gestured to the place out of the small window. They docked shortly after, stepping off the craft into yet more beautifully crafted white halls.
“Alright I suppose I should get us to where your going to be staying then we can go to some of the main halls, if you have any questions feel free to ask”
Alison had lots of questions about everything but they more or less all came back to where she fit in the grand scheme of things. Despite her best efforts she'd gone and gotten all emotionally attached to Kirayee. She could deny it, to other and to herself, as often as she liked... but you didn't spend as long as she had looking for and then fighting through a facility full of psionic homicidal maniacs to rescue a client who wasn't paying you just because you wanted send a message. Especially when the message was 'don't fuck with me' and the people you were sending it to were definitely going to ignore it.
She was in this now, and just trying to find a way to justify her continued presence without admitting she was in it because she cared about Kirayee. So she was looking for an angle. Psionic resistance was worth sticking around for. She was used to unpleasantness. Her whole life could be broadly summed up as 'A History of Unpleasant Situations'. But after the training was done she'd need a new reason.
Could she convince Yuris and her people that it was worth it to have some shady mercenaries around? Or maybe that the Exiles would one day be more than just shady mercenaries? It was a lot to think about, and she barely noticed the gleaming halls as she kept turning it all over in her mind looking for an angle... or several.
"So who's in charge here?" She asked finally.
Dwight had questions himself, and though he was not a mindreader he had to feel others might be having similar ones. He hadn't come all this way to satisfy Corps honor or anything inane like that, and now that he knew some of what they were up against he wasn't about to leave Kirayee, or Alison in the lurch against all this. It felt like they were up against the wall against something so completely out of their league, but there was heart to be taken in that they had faced the Army of the Panopticon, and won, for whatever it was worth this time. So he wasn't going to go anywhere, not if he could help it.
Getting help to face them again on more even terms also couldn't hurt at all, unpleasant training or not. While he might not have been as conflicted for a reason as the mercenary woman, he still had his mind made up, however many tangents and possibilities he was thinking of notwithstanding.
He looked around curiously as they stepped off of the ship, taking in the details of the halls they walked through. Part of him was conscious as usual of not leaving gouges in the floor from his armor, but he pushed that thought aside as he walked at a steady, if relaxed, pace.
"I find myself wondering the same thing," he remarked, nodding to Alison. "Place like this, can't imagine you guys don't have a big boss."
“Well, you see Dwight we don’t really have any one leader” She smiled to Alison “Sort of a council of the elder’s type deal, they come and go entirely on the discretion of both themselves and all of us in the Order. They debate our direction; help train others and maintain everything we have. Some in the council represent the librarians who tend to all of our knowledge in the archives, some represent the Wanderers who, like me, go out and deal with things in the galaxy, some represent the Shapers who build this place and maintain it and our ships, and some represent the Dancers, that’s those who delve into the psionic and do all the, as you would call it, weird shit”
“Will we meet any of them?” Kirayee asked, still quite amazed at the gleaming thoroughfares they walked down.
“Yes, as a matter of fact we are going to show you where you’re staying then its off to meet Elder Sellyx of the Dancers who wants to give you a bit of a look over, see what we are dealing with”
“You think he will know more about me?” Yuris shrugged to the girl.
“I don’t know but if anyone might he will”
Yuris led the group up impressive spiral staircases, down corridors inlaid with tapestries telling stories about ancient psions and the Overmind and to a series of rooms. Unfortunately, like the one on the ship the rooms were quite empty, a small desk, bed and chair were all they provided.
“Washrooms are communal I am afraid; everyone likes to treat each other like family” Kirayee grimaced.
“That’s pretty weird”
Alison glanced over the tapestries as they made their way through the halls, her heavy combat boots thumping with each step she took. She felt extremely out of place somewhere like this. It was… well… serene she supposed. Clean, organized, and with a storied history. All of it seemed meant to be calming and soothing…
And then here was Alison. A gene modded mercenary who dealt in death and chaos clomping through the hallways in her big black boots.
She could feel the cigarette cravings starting to rise already.
“Well things don’t have to be communal if you have a bully like me to make sure you get some privacy,” Alison commented in a humorous tone when Kirayee seemed put out by the communal nature of the showers. It didn’t bother Alison much, the lab she’d been made in hadn’t been big on privacy. She’d long since lost any sense of bashfulness about that sort of thing.
“Can I smoke in here?” She asked after a moment, turning her gaze from her surroundings to Yuris.
Dwight was actually taking notes as Yuris spoke, a little notepad mounted on the wrist of his armor next to his wristcom that he had flipped open with a thumb and was jotting down what she was telling them about the order's leaders with a plastam ballpoint pen in short, clipped, but descriptive sentences. Part of him had been hoping for a little grander of quarters all things considered, but compared to living in a garage, possibly being hunted by spooky shit and god knew what else, he would just deal with it. He could feel a craving for a smoke though, he wasn't a mind reader but if he was, he'd agree with Alison.
"No boys at the same time as the girls too," he chuckled, patting Kirayee very lightly on the back before pointing over at Alison. "What she said- We'll make do if'n that's a no. Looking forward to learning more about all this though."
"I am sure I can give you some times of day where they are pretty empty, besides for those not of the order I expect they can close one off just for you guys. Yuris then thought to herself "I... Don't know if we have any rules against smoking I don't think anyone here does but I would say keep it to quarters just to avoid any unseen issues"
"Yea yea very funny" Kirayee brushed off Dwights hand with a roll of her eyes. She was doing much better for the few days of rest, food and being free from her hellish confines within the base. The girl didn't talk about what she had seen or experienced, likely best to leave it that way.
"Well ill let you put your things in and we can get going. Sellyx is a man of punctuality we don't want to be late"
"Is he mean?" Kirayee asked. Yuris shook her head.
"He can be strict and very blunt but no, he never intends to be mean" Kirayee nodded but didnt look entirely convinced.
Soon Yuris was leading them back down to one of the large halls. It too, like most of the Orders home was white and brighly illuminated. Its roof was covered with more intricate detailing and large windows looked outside into space, it was very large almost half a mile across and many went about doing whatever buissness they had here. A group of the 'Dancers' stood around a raised circle, Elder Sellyx bowed as they approached. Yuris bowed back.
"Welcome to our home. You must be Kirayee, and you all must be her protectors." He looked Kirayee up and down inspecting her "Zelic, fascinating, it isn't too often I see one of your kind, please step onto the circle." Kirayee did so.
"I am the last of my kind after all Elder" Her tone was sombre.
"Nonsense. Others survived the destruction of your home by the Abberation. Not many mind you, but enough. Your far from alone" The news made Kirayees face beam with elation.
It didn't take Alison long to deposit her gear. She lived light, most of her life fit in a few bags these days. She dumped her gear, sucked down a cigarette, and scrolled through her messages to see what was new and exciting in the Organization...
Very little it seemed. The ongoing slow burn toward a gang war was continuing it's languid trek forward. Vagrants and Black Skull were arguing over turf. Syndicate was shuffling around it's smuggling operations after a crew turned State's Witness, and the Exile fleets were chasing shadows and rumours on behalf of shady clients with shadier motives.
Same shit as always.
She left her armour behind when she rejoined Kirayee, but she couldn't quite bring herself to go unarmed. Funny, she had no problem being naked in a communal shower, but walking around without a gun made her feel more naked and vulnerable than a lack of clothing ever could.
There was probably a word for that...
She made a token effort to at least appear unarmed. She kept the sidearm in a shoulder holster, and wore a faded denim jacket covered in patches for a variety of punk rock and metal artists she doubted anyone would be familiar with. The jacket, after some adjustments, concealed the weapon from view, but she felt reassured by its familiar weight.
She wasn't familiar with the Abberation the Elder mentioned. She'd inferred more than been outright told that some tragedy had befallen Kirayee's race, but she'd never felt comfortable pressing her for details.
"She's my client, yeah," Alison confirmed when the Elder referred to her as a protector. "Although the arms and experience at my disposal has proven... inadequate at times... Yuris indicated you may be able to assist with some aspects of that..."
Allison's response had caught Kane's attention from his post shadowing Kirayee, causing the three legged coyote to hop his way closer to remind her that he himself was short an arm, or leg in this case. In all this time the strange drake had not drawn attention to himself or visibly cared for the missing appendage, though it was hard to read the expressions of a wild animal and Kane had kept to himself the whole time since the assault on the base, not even once resuming his true form. To the unaware he would appear nothing more than the oddest choice for a "team mascot" or pet that the band could have acquired since gathering.
He had not bothered to introduce himself once to their new hosts, The drake was particularly shy in this place and despite them being connected to their "allies" he trusted nobody alone with Kirayee, causing him to be further determined in his protection of her. He clearly felt out of place in this environment and was stuck in a form that made communication difficult to the others.
Dwight as he had done before on Lost Star had left his power armor in their quarters, leaving himself in more or less typical Explorer attire and light combat armor as he had followed along to this meeting, revolver on his hip as it probably was always going to be. Though Explorers packed heavier than Alison's men probably did, the simple reality of it was that most of their gear had been left on the Eagle. Sorting out a change of clothes was a later problem. He hadn't yet checked up on the news from home, there had just been too much going on for it to really cross his mind. As it was, Davis was scrolling through his datapad as Dwight left, giving a lazy wave as the team leader left, following Kirayee and Alison to the meeting.
Like the merc, he didn't know much about the Aberration, though he'd heard ghost stories and wild tales in plenty of spacer bars from RANGSI to Exodus. So he couldn't comment on it, and didn't try. Many times in recent days he'd found himself outside of his experience, and he'd lost a man for it, and might be losing his friend too. Dwight, simply, didn't want to make a bad call.
"Helping with those aspects," he added, "Would be useful beyond words, I think. We're capable fighters and no mistake, I'd fight alongside boss here anytime," he gestured to Alison,
"But there's things we just can't do, and it almost got us killed in the last scrap we had. If you can help, I'd be glad to have it."
“I… I am not alone?”
“No. Zelic enclaves are rare, but I may be able to assist you in locating some should you wish” Kirayee was ecstatic as she stepped onto the circle. There was a gentle chime as she began floating only around a foot off the ground. She didn’t appear to be in distress, however.
“You have managed to get her this far; of that I am most impressed. But you are quite correct, the esoteric science of psionics allows abilities that standard combat techniques would be hard pressed to counter. This girl is likely your best defence given her abilities, but yes, we can assist you. Bear in mind we cannot turn you into a Psion if you don’t have the gift, but we can help harden your mind, teach you techniques which can assist in defusing mental assaults and confusion” Sellyx didn’t even look at the group as he focused on Kirayee, happily speaking to them while he made gestures with his hands. The others around the circle doing the same thing.
“How interesting. You have a regular mandala; your power is not psionic. Nor do I detect mana. But there is clear tampering with your DNA in ways I have not seen before. Kirayee would you be able to trigger your ability? If you can keep the area of it as small as you, it would assist us” Sellyx stopped his gestures and brought up several traditional holographic screens.
“Uh sure one second” The girl closed her eyes, creating the silence field just inches around her body. Sellyx frowned.
“Your entire body manifests it, like every cell in you projects the field. I have never seen DNA manipulation like this or complexity. Something truly ancient and complex must have done this to you, given the… Incident with your people it could be linked to the Abberation but I couldn’t tell you.” Kirayee sighed. She knew who this to her had done, she just wanted to know how it worked and what it meant.
“The Timecaster Shaw did this to me, I am a weapon” The Order members looked to one another, and Sellyx nodded.
“That makes logical sense. Especially given your companion here” He did turn to the party this time, and to the coyote “I never expected one of you to ever end up here. Do not worry we have no intention of conflict. Forgive me, but did your fellows know about this?”
“Do you know anyone who could understand this? The Army of the Panopticon seem to have studied my DNA, I don’t know if they can replicate this though” Sellyx frowned.
“That is most grave if they can shut down all powers at will, at the cost of their own. I know of one who could likely tell you.” Kirayee made a gesture with her eyes.
“Well, who is it?”
“Par’Lan Captain of the A’Zores”
If Dwight had a drink, he would have spat it out.
Every sailor he had ever met here in this galaxy be they foreign, a Corpsman like himself, a civvie hauler, a pirate or a Navy rate, friend, foe, or somewhere in between, everyone had heard of the Azores. It was a story that ran through nearly every spacer bar he'd been in or sailor's gathering the crew had come near, spoken in both hushed whispers of both respect and fear, and boisterous tales that seemed too ludicrous to be true, no matter how powerful the ship was. Battling a fleet of a thousand god-ships, snuffing out a star that threatened to go supernova, leading a vast empire so grand it put Corona at it's glory to shame. The stories were endless, the ways they were told were endless. Dwight, had he not seen the image captures from Voicon and seen a Navy intel assessment on it, wouldn't have believed the ship was real.
But it was, the proof immutable. Something of...
"...A ghost story without a ghost." he murmured, his eyes a thousand miles away. "I've uh... I've heard the stories about the Azores. I suppose the question on my mind is, how the hell do we find it?"
Alison audibly choked at the mention of the legendary Nakai ship and its equally legendary captain. She had felt before like she was hopelessly out of her depth with all the demi gods and psions feuding over Kirayee. But now that Nakai were involved or going to be involved... what the fuck was she doing here?
She was a pirate, charitably she was a shady mercenary. What business did she have being involved in any of this?
She coughed, and cleares her throat.
"Sorry that is uh..." She trailed off and rubbed the back of her head with her mechanical hand. "Man I am so not qualified for any of this... but yeah, what Dwight said. I'm guessing we don't just call up and make an appointment..."
She'd definitely take the order up on the offer of psionic resistance training. No way she was going further without it.
Kane tilted his head in confusion. The drake had heard tales in passing of the Nakai but rarely gave them heed, he could sense the fear his companions had felt at the mere mention of the ancient race and their ship. Kane was never interested in drake affairs so he did not personally know how to respond to any of this revelation, not that he was able to give a proper answer in the first place with his current form. He gave a quiet "yip" in response to let Sellyx fill in the blanks he couldnt himself. Kane was ultimately just a gun for hire, even now.
Sellyx smiled.
“There are many stories about the Nakai, I have found that only few have any semblance of truth. As for your question on how we contact Par’Lan, well we will simply send him a message. We of the Order specialise in long range memetic communications, we will do our best to call him to us. We know Par’Lan deals with things far beyond what we could handle I hope he will be interested enough in your condition to intercede. Informing him of Abberation engineering should do the trick I hope”
“What’s he like?” Sellyx looked up to the girl “Par’Lan I mean, what’s he like?”
“I have only met him once. But he was wise, poetic in how he speaks, like there is an artform in his every action. But I know he is incredibly old and has likely experienced things we could only dream of.” Kirayee nodded, turning off her ability as she was let to float down to the floor.
“Thank you for your time child” Sellyx took the yip and nodded understanding that Kane was clearly not in a position to properly assist.
“Later can you show me where my people are?” Kirayee asked.
“Of course, for now I suggest you all rest and maybe get some food. We can start on mental assisting training later if you wish?”
“I definitely think they need mentally assisting” Kirayee smiled.
"Is that a jab about me being a dumb mercenary?" Alison joked, using humour and bravado to hide the uncertainty. Sellyx's description of Par'Lan just read like 'aloof' to her. She didn't like aloof. Aloof was unpredictable.
She fidgeted with the lighter in her pocket as she ruminated, moving next to Kirayee as she finished up. Alison wasn't one for complicated plans. She'd always been more of a roll in heavy and let the bullets land where they may. But as impulsive as that may seem (Sol was always telling her she was too impulsive) she made a point to at least know what she was rolling into.
She liked reconnaissance. And intelligence.
She had neither. Again. And that made her anxious and stressed.
"The training will be much appreciated," Alison said finally. "But food and rest sounds nice..."
Maybe a drink too.
Maybe several drinks.
Kane yipped in agreement at the mention of food, but more importantly he saw an opportunity to stretch his legs while the others rested. He was tired of his current form and was eager to have thumbs again, no matter how brief, before he continued his watch over Kirayee. He did not want them to catch him while he himself relaxed in his true form.
"I'll take that as a 'I've got a long way to go,' young grasshopper." Dwight said with a chuckle to Kirayee, as like Alison, he hid his unease behind a grin and humor. It was his entire job to drop on to uncharted worlds feet first and help survey them, running up to the vast and wild unknown to poke it with a stick before running away and tallying the data. Or shooting at it if the vast unknown tried to have you for a mid-morning snack. But this was something entirely different to that, and so different that there was no way to describe just how different it really was.
He trusted Alison, even though she was, to be generous, not exactly on the level. He trusted his team. He trusted Kirayee, and hell, he even trusted Yuris. But this was getting way out of hand, and he had to wonder both where the rabbit hole ended, and who in this case was Alice. Had he been a mind reader, he would have agreed both with the want for intel, and for a drink. Or ten.
A single malt with lemon and salt sounded good about then.
But hell, they were here, so Dwight was going to keep being a ride or die sort of man.
"Won't say no to that," he said, nodding to Alison. "Just give us a ring and all when it's time to train, eh?"
"Maybe" Kirayee laughed.
"We will don't worry, but we cant promise it will be a short wait for the one we want. For her safety I would request Kirayee stay here with us, but the rest of you may come and go as you please. I would also request you share the co-ordinates for this system with no one, and never directly jump here. We are placing a great deal of trust in you, with current times we simply have no other choice" Sellyx nodded.
"It means you don't have to be cramped up here all the time at least" Kirayee shrugged "Don't worry I want to stay anyway but if you do go come back, I wont be happy otherwise"
--
As with all things, time was never on side. Repeated attempts to contact the A'Zores met with failure, but the Order did not stop trying.
Two years.
Two years and they finally succeeded. Connecting to the Nakai ship deep within the Expanse. The signal was sent, and everyone had been called back. But two years was a long time, and nobody had been idle in that time, Kirayee had grown, matured and trained. Honing her power, when to use it, how to use it and her physical body to learn martial arts and train to resist and protect herself where able. The Order was surprisingly flexible, and Kirayee had been an eager student, reading endless texts on galactic lore while honing herself. But as promised both the Exiles and Free Worlders were offered the training they wanted, it started almost comically, through yoga and meditation, something that Kirayee teased Alison about relentlessly given the privateers nature. But as time went on the Order helped to structure their minds, Sellyx would probe them, trying to gather surface thoughts or delve deeper into their consciousness. They would then attempt to resist or close off portions of their mind, and techniques were shown to help the group use their collective minds to resist the attempts of intrusion. Connecting each of the group over time so that they could feel each other in close proximity, share basic feelings between themselves and collectively defend each other mentally.
It was a long process, mentally gruelling too. But it was worth it. The Panopticon would not hesitate to ravage their minds and any lessons were a blessing.
Still, Par'Lan had been contacted.
Kirayee was eager, restless even. It had been 2 years, but now she was meeting who they needed to meet. She paced back and forth near one of the dock areas unable to stand still.
Alison was a fixture in the weeks, months, and then years that came and went. Perhaps it was out of a sense of guilt that Kirayee had been abducted on her watch, or perhaps simple affection. Whatever the case, she never left the facility. The other exiles who accompanied her came and went. Her initial team cycled out only a few weeks after arriving to be replaced with a new team that in turn cycled out a few weeks after that.
As the mental training progressed, Alison wished for a stable team, but there were challenges. Most of the Exiles, required expensive cocktails of medication to keep their frayed genetics stable. Alison was lucky. Like Sol, she was part of a select few with stable genetics. She didn’t need the constant supply of medication to function on a daily basis. The rest of the Exiles were less fortunate, and the cocktails needed constant tailoring and adjustment which made it near impossible for any team to remain with Alison for long before they’d need to return to the Exile fleets.
She complained to Sol constantly, emphasizing the fortification techniques they were being taught were far more effective with a stable team. But Sol was intractable. Tensions in the Organization were on the rise. Raiders and a smattering of independents on one side, advocating an expansion of raiding, theft, piracy, and shady mercenary dealings. Meanwhile on the other side Chemists, Black Skulls, and their own independants wanted to expand smuggling of contraband and drugs and back off the flashy displays of violence favored by their rivals. The whole thing was a powder keg, just waiting for something to touch it off. The Organization lurched uncertainly from one internal crisis to the next, a hair’s breadth away from a full on gang war and through it all Sol was reluctant to find Alison a permanent team and constantly pestered her to return to the fleets.
She was an Admiral after all.
[18:42]
But a year into her stay with the Order, Sol finally began to come around to the importance of what she was doing. The threat the Army of the Panopticon posed to the galaxy was becoming more apparent and Sol finally relented that Alison’s proximity to Kirayee and the Order was something that couldn’t be neglected. Especially not if the Exiles were to break off from the Organization and find some form of legitimacy and sovereignty in the eyes of the galactic community.
So finally, a year in, Sol gave Alison what she’d been asking for and found her a permanent team. The first of her new team to arrive was a pallid, glassy eyed subjugator who called herself Blackjack. Blackjack was a melancholy figure. She had apparently been one of Wolfgang’s subjugators, though she’d been discarded by the Black Sail overlord after a head injury rendered her mute and tremor addled. She was left to spiral into addiction and eventual death on a backwater Freeport until an Exile captain took pity on her.
With a great deal of therapy the tremors had subsided, and her addictions were under control for the moment. Even so, the blonde woman rarely socialized with Alison and her compatriots. She preferred solitude, and the company of her headphones and a seemingly infinite playlist to that of her comrades.
A few weeks after Blackjack, Alison’s second teammate had arrived. One of the Felixes. Alison found the Felixes incredibly off putting and was less than enthusiastic about Felix 77’s arrival. The Exiles counted among their ranks a large number of clones. Most of those clones went to great lengths to differentiate themselves from one another. Wild hair colours and styles, tattoos, piercings, and other affectations in an effort to appear different from the dozens of Exiles who looked identical to them were common. The Felixes on the other hand, had gone in the opposite direction. They dressed the same, had the same hair styles, spoke with the same mannerisms and slang. She wondered how it all functioned. Was there a newsletter or a group chat where they coordinated haircuts and clothing or did they all just aim for and maintain the same general image?
She wasn’t sure. She couldn’t say she’d ever seen two Felixes in the same room at the same time.
The remaining three members of her team trickled in over the coming months. The three of them were less notable, if no less capable than the first two. At last with a stable team she’d been able to make the most of the training the Order was providing her.
And not a moment too soon it seemed, as Par’Lan had finally been contacted, and a meeting arranged.
She was sat atop her kit bag, watching Kirayee pace back and forth with a bemused smirk and doing her best to ignore the acrid scent of the cigarette slowly burning down between Blackjack’s lips. Alison had given up smoking once more, but her proximity to Blackjack’s habit was testing her willpower and the stale air of the dock wasn’t helping.
Despite the time they remained growing longer and longer Kane's presence watching over Kirayee persisted. The drake never returned to his true form or recovered his lost limb, at least not in the presence of the others, and would randomly disappear during the day only for the three legged coyote to be waiting for Kirayee in her quarters come lights out. For the two years they were there he would come and go as he pleased, but he always returned to keep an eye on his charge as well as the one who "hired" him since she was one of the few who remained during that time.
Time was of little concern to Kane, or his true master. Following the events on Lost Star it was unavoidable that the Draconian gods had become aware of the girl. It was best they think of her as dead or else they would stop at nothing to collect her for themselves or end her story then and there. The Boss agreed, as with any great heist, it was better to lay low with the prize until the unwanted attention had moved elsewhere. While Kane would regularly contact his master when nobody was aware, he knew his lord's own eye kept close watch on the girl and him all these two years.
Allison's ever changing crew was a fascinating bunch to Kane. While he was no psyker his heritage allowed him to "see" certain things about individuals, things they might not even see themselves, and Allison's concerns over acquiring a permanent squad to aide her as well as her discomfort with those who would do so was quite entertaining, like the day they hired him. He remained aloof with the newcomers, even if Allison had told them about him, he still preferred the current arrangement as being seen as nothing more than a companion to Kirayee. He reminisced as he sat next to Allison on the floor, watching Kirayee pace.
“You know,” Alison commented, shifting the partially disassembled mechanical limb in her lap. “You’re always teasing me about patience and stilling the mind, and all that new agey stuff the Order goes on about and yet here you are wearing the paint off the deck with your nervous pacing,”
Two years was an awful long time. Many planetary survey jobs could run up to ten or more, and Dwight had been on one that had, but this was still up there. In any other circumstance, chances were that Dwight and Davis would have been called back to the Free Worlds and put on another run, but he knew the score, and Captain Maddox knew the score.
So it was the proverbial ride or die.
Like Alison, Dwight was an unchanged presence in those weeks that stretched into months. He made it a point to be a solid presence for the other, an older brother that anyone could talk to in down times or rough times, even when he was the one that needed to talk. It was a long road with no end in sight, and in all reality there was a lot about all of this that Dwight just didn't understand.
Psionic theory, training one's mind, it was all hieroglyphics to him. But he believed that Kiryaee believed it could help, so he stuck with it. Even when he felt like a total Smoothhead Louie, which was more than once. It sort of felt like basic all over again, repetition and constant practice until he had the theory down, then putting it into practice. It was nothing like learning his HAR or the constant PT, but in a way the idea behind it was similar, and he grasped on to that as an anchor point, something to work from.
Eventually, he had had to leave at one point, and that was to go back home to pick up Lewis. The messages from the docs back home for a long time had been worrying and encouraging both. Medical tech had come a long way since arriving in Ancerious, and the Corps had some of the best docs available, but there was still limits to what medical reconstruction could do. When Dwight saw Lewis again, the requisite jokes of looking like hammered shit really didn't seem to do it justice. He had burn scars, a lot of them.
Burns were nothing new, but ones that looked as gaunt and... blackened, twisted, as his did were new, and just plain unnatural. If anything though, Lewis was more determined than ever to get back in the fight, and Dwight was not one to tell him no.
Neither was it his place to tell Six-Gun Maddox to do much of anything, as the captain had made the call to throw his lot in.
So, Dwight had returned to the Order on a long and rambling course plus two, and the training had resumed. It was jarring again to come back to another new round of faces among Alison's crew, but that, it seemed was reality. He didn't know the reasons, Alison had never said, and he had never asked. Staying out of her very private business was a decent method to staying on her good side. These ones at least, Blackjack and Felix, had seemed to stay over the following months.
And then, word had come down the pipeline that Par'lan had at last been contacted. The rush in the dorm to get their kit together had been something legendary... or hilarious, they would debate later which.
"Ahh, if you're missin' the teasing then I'd be happy t'help with that." Dwight chuckled, leaning his rifle against his leg plates and waving away a cloud of smoke with one hand. Next to him, Lewis was going through one of the mantras again, eyes closed and head down. His scars were particularly stark today.
"Though she's right, kiddo, you keep going on like that and you're gonna go right through the deck. We'll be fine, you'll be fine."
Kirayee shot Alison a glance but didn’t reply because she was so obviously right, stopping her pacing and sighing.
“Yea I know, it’s just been ages I started to wonder if the mans real or not. Its just strange to be here, the anxiety is strong” She smiled, taking a few steps over to Alison and Dwight. Their teams were all ready and packed, and Kirayee sat herself down on her own small bag of clothing and items she had accumulated since being at the Order. She had grown, her blue skin taking on a much more developed sheen and her muscles and body had developed well with the training she was provided. Kirayee was still young, but she was going to make a fine person already.
The dock looked out into space, the high ceiling and decorated walls staring out into the emptiness of space and the twinkling of the stars. It was wonderous, and yet unnerving, there was so much galaxy out there to try and save.
A moment later there was a flash of light beyond in space.
Then a figure stood, arms behind back wearing white robes as its wings moved into a comfortable position.
Par’Lan captain of the A’Zores took several steps forward, looking around before focusing on the group in front of him. He was avian, a long bird like face contained six piercing blue eyes which seemed to survey everyone in front of him. His robes were brilliantly white with intricate lettering and symbols all over and allowed his feathered wings total freedom of movement. He was tall too, easily towering over even armoured humans, his emotions were unreadable.
Until he unmistakably smiled.
“You are the charges who called to me. It is an honour to meet you all. I am Par’Lan and it is time you came aboard yes? I apologise for the lateness, time can move differently deep within the Expanse and there is much to do. Come let us make haste”
There was no boarding, one moment the group were sitting in the docks, the next they sat perfectly as they were, in a room of pure whiteness, Par’Lan in front of them just as they had been. Kirayees mouth was agape trying to realise she had already moved.
”Welcome aboard the A’Zores. I am sure you have many questions”
Dwight was proud of how far Kirayee had come, remembering that she had had more patience for the lessons and the training than he had several times, though her anxiety was a solid reminder that despite it all, she was still only a person.
"Here's hoping, we've wa--" Dwight said, before there was a flash, and he was suddenly looking at a being that according to all stories and legends about the Nakai he had ever heard, he would never see. A real, living Nakai, and the captain of the quite literally mythical Azores at that. He could hear Captain Maddox almost choke on his water behind him and Lewis broke off halfway through the mantra as they all looked up at the massive, alien beyond alien and wondrous beyond wondrous creature in front of them. It was all Dwight could do to not spit out his toothpick in shock. There was a long moment as he looked up at Par'Lan and he wondered what the Nakai was thinking of before he raised his courage to ask something, and
Bam.
They weren't on the station anymore. Instead in a room of pure white, and with all his kit, all his things, and the whole team. Maddox muttered a curse, and he could hear Davis letting out a slow whistle before the question finally came to him.
"Sonnova..." Maddox muttered, looking around the pure white room curiously, scanning every angle.
"Uh... first things first, sir, how did you do that? Can't... say I've ever seen teleportation that accurate before. Or experienced it."
Alison gave Kirayee what she hoped was a reassuring smile once she finally sat down. She understood her nerves. Alison was nervous herself. The most important person she’d ever met with was an Echotian noble. Par’Lan was someone on a whole different scale and she didn’t know that she was ready to meet the legendary Nakai.
But, at least the focus wouldn’t be on her. Par’Lan’s interest was likely with Kirayee moreso than the ragtag band of mercenaries, special operators, and shapeshifting canines in her orbit. Alison suspected, expected even, that she’d be more of an afterthought to the Captain of the A’Zores.
She spotted the flash and muttered a curse, cutting short the maintenance on her mechanical limb and putting it back together as quick as she could. Felix glanced up from the impromptu poker game he’d started with the other men and then glanced her way.
“You think he’ll be here soo-...” He trailed off as Par’Lan abruptly appeared in their midst. Alison scrambled to screw the last plate on her arm into place and stood from her kit bag.
“Yes sir I’m-... FUCK,” She sat down again hard, disoriented by the sudden transit and blinked rapidly.
“That was trippy,” Felix commented.
Blackjack giggled, the only one among the mercenaries seemingly not disoriented by their sudden arrival. Her smile lasted only briefly before she sucked down one final drag and extinguished her cigarette on the underside of her boot. She deposited the remnants in a pocket and tucked the paperback she’d been reading under one arm before nudging Alison with a boot, bringing their leader back to the moment.
Alison coughed, cleared her throat, and shook her head.
“Dwight let Kirayee ask questions first,” Alison chided, busying herself with reattaching her mechanical limb to her shoulder. It would buy her a few more moments to gather her thoughts at least.
"Right yeah, sorry." Dwight said, giving the merc a thumbs up before offering her a hand up once her arm was back in place.
"Definitely can say this is a new one..." Lewis murmured softly, eyes wide and fixed on Par'Lan, the massive Nakai clearly the most distinctive thing in the room... and the most remarkable, to speak with absolute truth.
Kane growled as his location changed against his will. He was used to such things, though he naturally was against losing control of himself. The coyote's growl was interrupted by the sudden scratching behind his ear from his hind leg to loose fleas from his fur. Once he was finished he positioned himself protectively between Kirayee and Par'Lan, laying himself at Kirayee's feet.
"Rearranging positions and states of spacetime is somewhat of a common capability for my ship. This interior space we are in, we are both in and not in the A'Zores. Any facilities or quarters you so desire I can assure will be here when you need them."
Par'Lan seemed to wave a taloned hand, the white nothingness around them turning into a gorgeous tropical vista. The warmth of the sun was perfect upon skin, the lapping of blue waves and the touch of sand below their feet. It all seemed perfectly real, for all they knew it was.
"Sir... I-I have come to ask for your help. I have been... Altered in some way. I want to know how and for what purpose"
Par'Lan nodded beckoning them to follow him across the beach, the vista around them changing until finally they walked across a large circular space. The sun and blue sky were replaced with space, the Order sanctuary off to one side. Golden circles and runes crossed the floor below and above them, and runes seemed to hover in the air as Par'Lan brought them into the centre of the space.
"You have indeed been altered. Quite intrinsically at that, in that short span I have had my vessel analyse your distinctive genetic make up. Remarkable, whoever meddled with you child knew what they were doing. Your cells can emit a kind of scalar field, an energy field if you will, which appears to be able to counter any non standard ability or manipulation of physics. Be that psionic, magic or intrinsic. The engineering is highly precise, I doubt it would be replicated easily. However I can only surmise your use was to be a weapon."
Kirayee nodded.
"I believe that it was the Timecaster Shaw who did this to me" Par'Lan turned with a smile.
"That is a name I have not heard in a long time. That would also explain why you have a Draconian aligned entity in your entourage. Do not worry I have no ill will towards you" The Nakai gestured to Kane.
"So what do we do?"
"I believe you once had a purpose child, and while Shaw is dead your purpose has become your own future. But. I have need of your abilities, you will be tested by what I ask. And I will not force you to accompany me. If your power is truly this capable, I need you to help me cross the Maddening deep within the Expanse. Something is happening which is of grave danger to the galaxy"
Alison listened quietly while Par’Lan spoke. There was a lot that was lost on her. She didn’t know what or who a Timecaster was, much less one named Shaw… although it seemed a rather… mundane name for something that had apparently altered Kirayee into an entity of note to gods and legends the galaxy over.
The confirmation that Kane was in fact aligned with the Darconians didn’t come as a surprise to Alison. She had been there at the diner when Kirayee met Teneb after all, and the first time she’d met Kane she had noticed the similarities in appearance between the two. Maybe she could have written it off as mere coincidence… but Kane had seemingly returned from the dead on Lost Star, and then spent two years as a coyote snarfing bacon and fries off of Dwight’s plates when the explorer wasn’t looking.
It was not shocking to learn he did indeed share an affiliation with Teneb. Although it did lead her to wonder why he had concealed it for so long.
Maybe if he ever returned to a human form she’d ask.
“Maddening Deep?” She said when Par’Lan finished speaking. “Fucking hell, you take me to all the nicest places don’t you Kirayee?” She joked, all false bravado.
Blackjack at least picked up on her apprehension. She was the best at reading the Exile Admiral’s emotions. Alison would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried about facing another galaxy destroying threat.
“So who’s trying to destroy the galaxy this time?” She asked finally. “More of these Panopticon assholes?”
Dwight could not help but be in awe of the Nakai and what he had to say, following along and simply listening as Alison did. There was a lot mentioned that Dwight didn't know about and simply had never heard of before such as this Shaw individual, but the mention of what had been done to Kirayee, that he understood. Not as much as it may have been intended, of course, but it was a hell of a lot to take in. Added to the power Par'Lan held over this ship, it was already a hell of a story to tell in every spacer bar from here to the Hochlands, the sort of thing that if the others weren't here to back it up, he never would believe it if he heard it from someone else.
One thing that he did know about, though, was a Draconian. The stories he'd heard about them were not pleasant, especially not the Corp's first run-ins with such things... and he'd experienced part of that. Still, Kane had been solid so far... and he didn't seem all that harmless as a coyote. Still, he made a note to keep an eye on him, just in case.
"Sounds pleasant, eh?" Captain Maddox remarked on the Maddening Deep to Alison with a laconic sarcasm, seemingly taking notes as it seemed that Lewis was observing Alison's crew as they walked. Dwight though was focused again on Par'Lan's words now, and his companion's response to it.
"We're a lot better prepped for 'em if it is those bastards," he said, resisting the notion to spit. Old spacer superstitions didn't seem all that polite on the god damn Azores of all things.
"Should have enough ammo at any rate."
Kane wasnt happy, in fact he was quite anxious. His identity as a draconian demi-god had practically been revealed to everyone around him, people he had spent two years hiding that one fact from. He didnt know how much the others knew of the gods, his father, his boss, but he did know Kirayee still had that old book of drake fables Teneb had gifted her. He silently prayed to the boss that the book was written before he was born so it wouldnt have any tales of his own told within its pages, but his family was quite prolific with mythmaking. He knew he would have to explain himself, likely soon, and the coyote tensed in preparation for this uncomfortable and inevitable conversation.
Slowly, meekly, the coyote lifted his head to look up at Kirayee, almost like a pet who had been caught tearing up a carpet. He couldnt run. The boss wouldnt let him. He would have to deal with this himself.
Par’Lans avian face turned to Alison.
“I believe your assertions to be correct.”
Kirayee looked troubled.
“I’ve read about the Maddening; it drives any who cross it insane and destroys their mind or something. How would we have any chance against that?
”Simple child, we have you. This vessel is also equipped with potent Psychometric defences, but these have so far been insufficient, something which has both surprised and worried me. But combined with your abilities, you will be able to shield us as we travel through. Will you help me?”
Silence descended for a moment, Kirayee turned to the others, looking over their faces. She turned to Kane, where she gave a light smile trying to indicate that everything was ok, she has no issue with who he was. After all, were they all not puppets of some higher power or fate? At this point they were merely along for the rollercoaster ride.
“We will. What’s your plan?” Par’Lan bowed respectfully. And once again the room jolted, flying them through space, deep into the expanse and down winding tiny normalised corridors.
”We will make our way into the Expanse, reach the Maddening and cross it. I have no intention of letting these evil creatures carry out whatever plan they have going on there across the anomaly. We ascertain the nature of the current threat, and then I atomise it with the power of this ship. Once completed, you and your comrades may spread the word to the wider galaxy, and I will attempt to mop up identified remnants. I must thank you” Kirayee nodded.
“It sounds easy, we shouldn’t underestimate the Panopticon” Par’Lan nodded his head.
”I agree. Should somehow their abilities be beyond the terrifying ability and power of this ship, however unlikely, we will withdraw and use our knowledge to bring such a warning to the galaxy. Do you have any other questions?”
Alison had a lot of questions, but she doubted any of them had answers. She wanted to know how Panopticon had managed to cross the Maddening if even someone as powerful as Par'Lan with a ship as loaded as the A'Zores couldn't. But Par'Lan didn't seem to know. He didn't know what the Panopticon was doing in the Maddening how would he know how they'd got there?
And then there was everything else. Panopticon had picked a fight with Teneb to get Kirayee once before, then used her to pick a fight with one or more entities on Lost Star and only been foiled because they hadn't accounted for a bunch of criminals and adventurers to ruin everything with conventional arms.
It felt like a fluke. Like they'd pulled a royal flush when Panopticon had been stacking the deck and counting cards all night. So what if this was a trap? Some elaborate scheme to get Kirayee or Par'Lan or maybe both.
Not for the first time, the cloned super soldier wondered just who the hell was she to be involved in any of this? She was just some lab grown experiment who'd played at gangster and mercenary for decades, she was a nobody. And yet here she was, rolling the dice and hoping Panopticon hadn't accounted for a team of motivated mundane murderers to ruin their latest scheme...
"So how'd Panopticon get in there if you can't?" She asked finally. "What kind of opposition are we looking at?"
But she had a sinking suspicion the answers were 'we don't know' and 'we're winging it again'.
Dwight couldn't help but feel that he and Alison were asking a lot of the same questions. He had known fully well when he got involved with all this that it was going to end in ways he couldn't possibly account for, and so far he'd taken it all with a sort of 'we'll see when it gets there' sort of mentality. But now, he was starting to feel in over his head. It wasn't anyone's fault, and he was still laughing some days at how they'd pulled off what, by all means, should have been an unmitigated disaster back on Lost Star. Even then, it hadn't been a clean op by any means, and by all rights it shouldn't have worked.
Luck, it seemed, was a fickle thing.
Fortunately they had the training from the Order now, and he made it a point to practice whenever he had a moment, but he couldn't help but worry that where they were going, bullets weren't going to help. So he shared a lot of Alison's thoughts, and couldn't help but wonder if anyone at home was ever going to believe this, a single word of it, when the report came out at the end.
Assuming there was a report. He cleared his throat.
"Is there anything in specific we need to be worried about in there?" he asked, hands resting on his belt rig.
"Likely they are somehow in tune with the psionic emanations from the Maddening. That is... The simplest way of putting it. My attempts at masking myself using the same techniques however have been failures. As for what kind of opposition we face... I truly do not know. It may be forward elements scouting and using it as a small base of operations or it may be something more capable than what we can imagine. As for specific threats, let me worry about the spacial distortions and enemy vessels if we encounter them. Look to your minds, Kirayee's ability is truly unique, but I am sorry to say child it has never been tested like this. She will need each of you and we will need her"
Par'Lan made a gesture with his hand, the blackness of space outside the vessel suddenly disappearing.
"Take us as close as we can get"
It was only a few minutes or so until the view outside changed. The unmistakable roiling gold.
They had jumped into the Expanse. The chaotic energies outside showed that they were deep.
"We will be at the edge of the Maddening soon. Meditate, eat, rest, do whatever you must for when we cross our understanding of the galaxies situation will rapidly change"
Alison blinked rapidly as they suddenly became faced with the Golden Expanse. The sight of it, right there, live and in technicolour was really starting to hit home just how big of an order of magnitude there was between the A’Zores and every other ship she’d ever set foot on. They’d crossed the galaxy, into some of the most hazardous space in existence, in a matter of minutes. A trip that would have taken days, possibly even weeks on her own vessel.
It was disorienting just how quickly everything was happening. When she woke up this morning, she definitely hadn’t expected crossing the maddening deep to throw hands with Panopticon assholes to be where she was by lunch time. It wasn’t just the disorientation weighing on her, she’d felt out of her depth before, but now she felt down right powerless. Whatever they encountered, Par’Lan and his ship were going to do all the heavy lifting. And she was going to… what exactly?
Cheerlead for Kirayee? Try to keep the kid together while… whatever was going to happen happened?
She wasn’t a therapist, or a powerful psion. She was just a bad bitch with a flechette thrower. All of this was so, so far outside her realm of expertise.
It was enough to make her want a cigarette.
A feeling evidently shared by Blackjack. There was a click, a flick, and the acrid scent of burning tobacco soon began to fill the space while the Subjugator lit up a cigarette. She closed her lighter with a resound clack and Alison took a deep breath.
Put on a brave face at least. That much she could do.
“Felix?”
“Yeah boss?”
“Focus us in,”
“Groovy,”
Almost in unison Alison, Blackjack, Felix, and the other three Exiles sat on the floor in a circle. Each watched intently as Felix produced a well worn deck of cards from a pocket on his rig. The cards danced and moved across his nimble fingers, shuffling in and out of the stack with speed and precision.
“I’m going to go fast, dig?” He said.
“Yup,” Alison said. Blackjack nodded and stuck the cigarette between her lips resting both hands on her knees. Then he started. The cards flung out around the circle, landing in front of each of them in turn. Clearing her mind, tuning out the world and practicing mindfulness was something Alison struggled with. Her whole life felt like one adrenaline fueled gun fight after another. Guns, drugs, parties, war, more guns, more drugs, more parties, and yet more war. The simple act of sitting still didn’t come easily to her. It didn’t come easy to any of them.
So they came up with a strategy. A way to tune out and turn off, ease themselves into the meditative state the Order insisted was the cornerstone of everything. Focus on one thing and set the world aside until you could focus on nothing at all.
So they sat in a circle, and they counted cards. Twelve cards went out and Felix stopped, pointed at the man to Alison’s right.
“Count?”
“Plus two,”
More cards, she took a deep breath and let it out, condensing her world to watching the flash of reds and blacks as the cards flew from Felix’s hands to a place in front of each of the people in the circle.
“Count?”
“Negative one,” She answered.
It went on until the deck was dealt, then Felix gathered the cards and they did it again. With each card dealt the world slipped a little further away. The stress and the anxiety of the morning got a little more distant. Soon the group wasn’t even talking anymore. Felix would stop dealing, look to one person, and they’d all hear the count without ever hearing it at all.
Plus three.
Negative two.
Eventually, even the cards stopped. The circle was silent, reaching that state they were after, letting the thoughts and worries float by like leaves on a stream. Then they could really prepare themselves for what came next, focusing on their minds, and on each other’s minds. Going through all the techniques the order taught them to defend themselves and each other.
Because soon, sooner than any of them thought, they were likely going to need them.
Kane couldnt help but eavesdrop on the others' anxieties, though perhaps because of his nature, or his race, little really mattered to him. Despite all his time in the modern age, he still felt more at ease riding a horse than all this space travel nonsense, truly a view only an anachronistic drake could have had.
In an uncanny sight nobody either expected or wanted to witness the coyote stood on his hind legs and with a sudden unnatural contortion and twisting of his torso, the undulation and stretching of his canine body into a human-like deformity, Kane's form unnervingly shifted back to the man the crew had met all that time ago, still dressed the same and even had the same wry smile on his rugged yet scarred face. Had he not still been missing his arm it would be as if no time had passed since their meeting at the diner.
Kane, now fully in his human form, found a place to take a seat and removed his gun from its holster as he prepared to clean it for the mission ahead, Though he would have some difficulty with only one hand, it was still a display of his adaptation and dexterity.
Kane’s transformation caught Alison’s attention and interrupted the mediation and mental preparations of her and her people. She looked over to him, watching with morbid curiosity as it took place. She hadn’t got a good look at it when he’d turned into a coyote two years earlier.
“Gross dude,” Felix commented when Kane had finished.
“Nice of you to join us,” Alison said when Kane’s transformation had finished. She left her men, motioning vaguely for them to continue without her and sat across from Kane.
“Soooooooo…” She began awkwardly. She had so many questions to ask him. Could he turn into a coyote at will? Why had he stayed a coyote for two years? Was he immortal or did some power just bring him back from the dead when he kicked it?
But there was a lot going on and she couldn’t help the feeling that she didn’t have time to ask every question she wanted to.
“I don’t suppose you’d tell me what your angle on all this is?” She asked finally.
Par'Lan could not help but look down to observe the Exiles methods, he watched in total fascination intently observing every move and how they acted. Kirayee too watched with enjoyment but was interested in Par'Lans clear interest.
"Are you ok?" The question made the Nakai turn.
"Yes young one, I am sorry observing something like this reminds me of times no longer remembered by the galaxy. Of my compatriots, of the games I used to play with my children. They are all gone now, lost to history." Kirayee merely nodded, she could not understand the depth of the loss he felt, but she could empathise.
Kirayee then beamed as Kane too his previous form, Par'Lan affording himself a slight smile.
"Finally back with us properly?" She asked, clearly happy about it. Par'Lan simply turned to look at Alison, the golden clouds of Kolleronics passing them by at extreme speeds, they were going FTL. They were not in warp, or the Meridian, but they were going FTL in realspace.
"My angle? Ah forgive me I am not fully accustomed to the terms of the galaxy. My purpose now is to protect sentients. I fight threats which threaten to engulf and destroy everything we know. The Army, as your aware, possibly fit this aspect, thus I will attempt to protect the galaxy and destroy them"
Alison chuckled when Par’Lan answered her question. It had been directed at Kane of course but it amused her how out of touch the legendary captain seemed to be. Sort of reminded her of what she imagined talking to a grandpa would be like… Not that she had ever had a grandpa to talk to.
“That question was for Kane actually,” She commented with a shrug, turning to face Par’Lan. “He’s been with us a while. Ostensibly because I hired him on Lost Star years ago to help me find Kirayee but I never really bought that we ran into each other by chance, or that he stuck around all this time because he was waiting to be paid,”
She chuckled again and shrugged.
“Though it is sort of hard to pay a coyote,” She smirked, mostly to herself, as the image of a three legged coyote holding a stack of cash in its mouth flashed through her mind.
“Still, good to know your angle isn’t just like… cryptic metaphors and unknowable agendas of higher beings and all that…”
Kane stopped his chore for a moment to chuckle before answering.
"Well, ya heard from Par'lan first , I'm draconian spawn. Ya might've heard of my daddy, 'Crom Cruach'...though that name might not'a lasted like I have...humans live so short and Im still catchin up on the last few hundred years, 's just what I knew him as." Kane briefly trailed off before returning to the original subject.
"Boss told me to find Kirayee, keep her alive, protect her no matter what. Simple as that. The payday's just an added bonus. I wanted to avoid any...'complications' once ya found out I was a drake, so I thought y'all'd find the coyote more comfortable."
Everyone had their rituals for keeping their minds clear and focused. Dwight had once tried to keep up with the Exiles, but all he'd managed to do was get himself confused and lost. Which in all reality, was okay. What worked for him didn't work for them, what worked for them didn't work for him and so on and so on. Everyone was different after all. What was different now, was the sights outside. The Golden Expanse was one of those things that you heard about in the Corps, but most people in it never really had a reason to go there. More spacer tales, more bullshit legends and some that seemed just mad enough to be true. And here they were, sailing through that place of legend, myth and tall tale. When they got back, if they got back, he would have a few more stories of his own to share that people would never believe. It was almost too much to believe, again, that he wasn't dreaming, and this whole thing wasn't just the result of a bad bender and some hallucinogenic alien fish someone dared him to try.
Focus, Dwight. Focus on the sea.
He heard the click of a lighter beside him, and flicking his gaze away from the rolling fields of gold, he met the gaze of the captain.
"Long way from home, eh?" Maddox said, resting the smoke in his armored fingers.
"Yeah," he responded.
"Sea-thinking?" the captain asked, referring to Dwight's own little ritual.
"You know it."
"Get your game face on, trooper."
"Always, cap."
Maddox nodded, and smacked Dwight on the shoulder as they both turned around to look at Kane. They caught him at the tail end of his... transformation, and there was a moment of genuine worry as to what the hell was happening. Not to mention revulsion. But the moment passed, and a sight that Dwight had wondered if he would ever see again was standing there before them.
"Been a while, Kane." he said, blowing out the breath he hadn't for a moment realized he'd been holding. Just another menu item on the weirdness buffet that was the past two years. "Gotta say, last time I met a Drake was... rather damn unpleasant, so I do appreciate the thought of the whole coyote thing. Regarding the Army," he said, looking over to Par'lan, "If you ask me, then I'd certainly say they fit the bill. Everything we've seen about them screams bad, and then some."
"I see" Par'Lan did not reply but simply nodded to Dwights comment about the Army, his gaze turning to several floating runes which re-arranged themselves in complex geometric patterns.
He flicked his fingers between them, breaking them down and re-arranging them himself.
"We are here"
The 3D sphere of space they had stood in before had quickly during the transit turned into a much more 'conventional' room, with white floor and ceiling that gave off a simple ambient glow along with some seating and table arrangements. Now however the full surrounding sight of the Golden Expanse engulfed them placing them in what felt like open space despite their location within the ship, although whether that in itself was conventional or if they were in some kind of pocket dimension was unknown.
The Expanse felt cramped here, not like the huge open branches of Lode Trapananda, the roiling golden clouds seemed angry, churning with energy and power. Normally they were far off, but here in this choke point they felt only kilometres away. Kollers Trench, their current location, was a tiny path of access but what was before them seemed no different. The passage continued onwards, getting tighter and tighter before turning and going out of sight due to the opaque roiling chaos outside. It seemed for now the A'Zores had stopped moving, though it was hard to tell with the shifting surroundings.
No physical difference could be seen ahead, nothing visual that could indicate certain death or insanity.
But they could feel it, a gnawing at the back of their mind like a mental itch that made the body flinch to try scratch somewhere, like a barely felt dull headache that robbed the mind of its sharpness. It was the very limit of the Maddening, the invisible killer.
And now and again, they could hear whispers, faint words, of tongues unknown.
"For us to go further, Kirayee you must play your part. Beyond this point lies insanity and possibly something worse than we could ever fear. But if this galaxy is to one day see Serenity, we must be the torchbearers, we must discover what's beyond this madness and show it to the whole universe. A'Zores, all psychometric defences to maximum. Kirayee, whenever you are ready. Steel yourselves everyone, let us begin"