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Rebirth - To Biraak
Posted By: KnightmareWolf, Shadow, Archangels_Blade, Spartan415<WinterStarfall@aol.com>
Date: 30 April 2003, 3:50 AM
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Hey, folks. Thought you might enjoy some sort of formatting or something for our series so far, since we probably haven't gotten it right yet Here's a list of what we, the not so punctual 'MM' have managed to put together.
Rebirth - Shadow's Prologue - Parts 01 to 03
Rebirth - Tras'Lok; Small Deception
Rebirth - Tras'Lok/Weilan; Gallant Claw
Rebirth - Shade; Mind Games?
(More to come soon, excluding this one of course.)
RCE: Uzumri - Shade's Quarters
Course ETA 0004 Hours / 0072 Hours remaining to re-Entry
Her way was easily paved by the ornate thick doors, which lead into her quarters. First she passed her common room, larger by far than any so-called mainstream prophet's dwelling. There were tapestries, many of them. A soft-flowing fountain, tropical birds, and harsh cryptic whispers that might very well be called music; she knew what their true purpose was. Cleverly woven behind each beat were various spell-song wards. These would work with brutal efficiency to repel any unwanted guests. Something learned from experience of sorts. Light tread carried her across countless stepping stones (the number changed every ten minutes) as the water level rose and fell, either consuming; or revealing, simply inching by slight units. None of the stuff went so far as to touch her garments or skin, something she approved of immensely. Tras'Lok's holographic pad shimmered as the surrounding temperatures changed.
All conclusions accounted for her quarters were among those that many photographers would like to attain a visual of, the kind that royal artisans aspired to create.
Regulars, the slim amount of dock preparation staff, which the Doomharrow kept in close circle, knew very well where to place that odd loose soil packet. However her intentions did not include menial labor. It began to rain... a side effect of 'natural terra-formation' in an artificial gravity environment, realism.
Shade navigated the data; oblivious to the atmosphere, ambient wildlife and the physics surrounding it all as she seated atop a rock set under an Orrinna tree. Frowning, she analyzed what was about with smell and ear. Nothing could compare with nature's work, the little Shade inside concluded. Quietly the young woman bisected what she could, scrolling through countless headings and paragraphs until something caught her eye.
Agniashan Segrazu
She tapped it with the vertex of her fingernail.
Cackling with eerie delight, the data pad scrawled a giant glowing sight apparatus into her field of vision. Immediately she threw it. Threw the pad very, very hard. It landed with a satisfying crack, damaged very little despite this. The pad slid into configuration, and morphed cleanly into nothing less that 424 Gallant Claw. With a more than hearty chuckle, he proclaimed his immediate superiority. "I am a genius." He sized up his new Reclaimer, who was presently displaying her prowess with inappropriate verbs and nouns. A creature quick to temper, nonetheless a creature categorized as the most potentially capable specimen he had ever scanned. The Reclaimer spun about and spat a string of foreign words.
Acting off mechanical precision Gallant Claw barked his disapproval as her carefully shaped ice spear sliced through the air where he had been only moments before, frost parting the air "Lunas Cravaen Dural, Hecr!" She roared, vocal teetering on demonic. In hasty response, he seemed to flutter his aperture, floating in range of yet another salvo of deadly energies. This time, they did not come. Of all the unintelligent things he might have done, all the most cliché responses, the Monitor simply chuckled again. "Initiate preparedness protocols, Reclaimer. This action will likely cause disorienting side effects."
Shade was ready. The volatile wave struck her like a solid wall, and rolled around a barrier of its own as she uttered whisper-thin replies. Her mental barrier had been made reality by instinctive reaction, however no matter how hard she tried; it simply wouldn't stretch to the capacity that she needed. The pulse of 424 Gallant Claw struck her full on, followed in quick succession by several glowing metallic darts pulsing with binary codes, little ones and zeros. But Shade was ready. "Attasu Havthos Calten!" Her hand moved as if to whip some random card, fingers halting when they finally pointed in the path of still menacing threats. Folded molecule thin wires enclosed each one, sprouting out with arachnid foray. Frowning, Shade watched three glowing, binary clasping, Monitor-fired darts fall; contact her dwelling floor and liquefy, casting a rotten scent into her face. Slowly, Sloooooooooooooowly she turned to face the mechanical upstart.
Gallant Claw burst forth, all slate gray majesty. He was going to crack her skull open! Any traces of rational logic forgotten, she raised her left knee, pivoted off her right foot and felt the electric tingle building in intensity as her heel whipped out and cracked off his smooth, seamless carapace.
"Oh." Was all he managed to mumble, detecting, but untouched by the agonized scream that passed her lips as fluctuating violet-azure 'lightning' rippled across her body and felled her to the floor, seizing up her nervous system. Shade could not move. Could not cease the scream, which was presently ripping her vocal chords apart. Meanwhile, three glowing, binary-coated Monitor-fired darts picked themselves up off the floor, reassembled their molecules, and dove down her throat. Shade was not conscious enough to feel them enter. The first thinned out, becoming no smaller than a proton, and drove toward her spine. The second and third both repeated identical gestures, only these moved for her brain. Gallant Claw hovered inches over her shoulders, scanning the walls. His signatures came back positive, concluding that his initial hypothesis had been correct. These walls were soundproof. Perfect! His aperture flickered once again as his Reclaimer convulsed. It was beginning now; the drugs were taking effect.
Her dreams were joyrides, filmy with clarity and precision. She had never really dreamed as such. Ever...
They were grand adventures with every slumbering moment, but of every moment there was one eternity. One single dashing of all enjoyment which might have come to pass. He was in all of them, a green-clad knight with a shining golden-white aura, a face like the midsummer star in daytime sky. Light meant to dispel what darkness she represented. He failed, naturally. Everyone did. If there was certainty in anything, it was that she always won. Always!
His arm grew with each passing second, grasping for her, clothing, a toe, an ankle, anything with which he might pull her down into the depths of his shining goodly world. His free hand held a rifle, solid matte-black, rugged, an all-terrain ballistic menace. Shade could do nothing to avoid the inevitable death, the 7.62mm trio sliced toward her at what seemed to be sonic speed. She traced their every motion, tried to move. Could not move, could imagine his self-satisfied smirk. He knew those rounds would hit their mark.
He was forgetting the most critical rule. Shade always won. Calmly enough she focused her mind, concentrated on the bullets and whispered something arcane. They burst into flame. They kept coming. Hesitant but not undaunted, she whispered something else arcane, stopping them cold in their tracks!
But...
They kept coming.
Yet again, she knew fear, for another round, she faced it, took a step back. She had no control, however she would not display any weakness in face of her plight. Rewarded for her efforts, she began to gain confidence as the rounds slowed, stalled and dropped. A scornful grin replaced her open-mouthed awe. He was too far below her to even cause any inkling of harm! And she had feared him so?
A commoner's emotion! She spat on the apparition below, correcting her momentary fault.
Footfalls interrupted her victory. She turned to face this new threat. None could stand in her way, because Shade always won. The coldly shimmering projectile struck her hard in the shoulder, spraying forth a distinctive, fluid white misty spray. Her blood! Grunting in an effort to stall what was obviously preordained, she fell from her perch, the massive, horned head of a shadowed dragon-
-and toward the waiting arms of her mortal enemy. The apparition below!
From above he watched, with serene golden eyes that flowed like midnight fog into watery blue graves. There was no expression, only a momentary spark of memory; he had seen this many times, the failure of his enemy, it seemed. A still heated sidearm was in his hand.
Screaming in rage she whipped about 180 degrees; her scream dying in her throat, choked by overwhelming dread. She'd been winded. But this fall wasn't going to stop the Daughter of Covenant, the one left to history as a merciless tyrant. Shade knitted an intricate pattern in the air and shouted to whatever greater authority might be listening. Her descent slowed, but she still fell. Faster and faster! But she... always won. So... why was she screaming?
She knew the answer even before the babble left her mind, because she was losing.
Deep in trance her mind detected unwanted activity. It knew what message to send. Shade received it. The poison was killing her.
"No!" She wouldn't let this happen. "Wake up!" She commanded her helpless, unconscious body. The cybernetic, armor encased apparition below regarded his new prey with some enthusiasm.
"WAKE UP AND FIGHT!"
RCE: Uzumri - Course ETA 0003 Hours / 0072 Hours remaining to re-Entry
Oblivious to any unordinary happenings, Uzumri the Mighty, invincible flagship of the Doomharrow war fleets 'felt' the cold recesses of hard vacuum upon his thickly armored skeleton. He did not see the rift that he so clumsily passed. The wave 'hurt' his armor to no small degree. Penetrated it, as if it was some intangible antitank shell. He lost all senses for five milliseconds. His internal chronometer devices had just been frozen. One of his many denizens triggered a systems diagnostic.
RCE: Uzumri - Control Center (Bridge)
Course ETA 0003 Hours (- 05 Milliseconds) / 0072 Hours remaining to re-Entry
Tras'Lok inhaled, however slight his motion was, it was still detectable. Barely...
He had taken note of the Uzumri's power flicker and quickly ordered a diagnostic. Should the main core fail they would all have a few precious fractions of a second to attempt to figure out what the cause of their death was about to be.
His limbs in fresh dressings, Weilan returned an 'all systems normal.'
Tras glanced at his chronometer, the common term for timepiece. It was frozen. Weilan had apparently come to the same conclusion, since he was the first to begin speaking again. "My Lord, the only logical conclusion would be to reset our chronometers and continue. Since we cannot be certain until we procure proper evidence, we should forge on and attempt to ascertain what stage the Biraak situation has reached." Sighing, the warrior within accepted his friend's logic. "Maintain course. Doubtless everyone else has also learned of our situation by now." He replied.
Chronometers simultaneously freezing in a vessel completely impervious to electromagnetic pulse... there could only be so many possibilities.
RCE: Uzumri - Shade's Quarters
Course ETA 0003 Hours (- 010 Seconds) / 0072 Hours remaining to re-Entry
Her motion might as well have been a nuclear explosion. Precision sifted her body upward, onto its knees. Chaos coughed up clotted blood; muscles expelled green bile from her lungs. Weakness, more weakness shown!
There were yet things to do; better things than berating herself for what was best. She knew who, or more appropriately what, had the answer she wanted. Quietly Shade stood, and leveled her gaze. "How might I ensure that this beast does not harm me?" She whispered.
Quietly, Gallant Claw's impassive sight component flickered, breaking into being a hologram.
"A green bar," - "An Index." Gallant Claw corrected. - "How would such things aid me, cur?" Shade knew only that she needed answers, for if the sputtering robotic annoyance dared cross her once again, she told herself that she would personally incinerate every last proton. No matter her thoughts, her attention remained on the object which so gladly provided an answer. He still believed her to be one of his refugees it seemed. Another hologram, a ring... a HALO. A Halo that faded away, and was replaced with stars. Stars... whereupon it could be seen the birth of a planet from beginning to end of infancy. After some time, and much silent thinking, She understood.
An alarm flared shrill wail and went silent. A section of the vessel's hull folded out to reveal a large panoramic window. Her quarters had been turned into a viewing gallery. All eight rooms. The view might have been vomit inducing to some. Not so for her, she enjoyed the illusionary sense of freedom. Below her, spinning in its usual manner, was Biraak, not unlike now molten Earth. She had ordered Tras to dispose of it. Unlike many Shade knew; Tras'Lok was a faithful warrior in her mind. Not even a pang of regret crossed her as she regarded the sphere below, always in motion. It really did look like Earth. Perhaps this was why she did not like the planet. Regardless, there was more work to be done. She turned and stole her way into the corridor, glancing up at one of the many chronometers. She quickened her pace.
The others needed to be alerted of the sudden changing of events.
Still floating in Shade's quarters, Gallant Claw muttered something. "Hope, Reclaimer. Round one to me, my pretty little puppet." Wasting no more of his precious time on speech, he followed in her wake.
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