Colt's Story

Preston sat back on the couch, exhaling the grey smoke from the cigarette he just recently lit, the wisps fading into the dark room. His eyes fixed on the black screen of the television. What had he seen? Who or what was GEHENNA, and what reason did he want to destroy Stratevaria? These questions played in his mind as he rose up, taking another drag from his cigarette. He walked over to Colt's bedroom and knocked on the door. "Hey Colt, did ya see the shit on the TV?" A second later, the door opened up, Colt stood facing Preston, a typical, blank look on his face. "No shit, idiot. I tried changing the channels, same ugly fuck on them all."

There was a short moment of silence until Preston spoke again. "I think we should go find Mosa and James, see what they have to say." Preston walked back to the couch, putting out his cigarette in the ashtray. Colt followed behind, putting on his coat. "Whatever, let's just do this quick." With that, the two left the apartment complex and headed out.

There are four major orbital elevators nearby. There's so many people around him, Lekan inevitably gets shoved and pushed over and over. It is quite a struggle just to walk several meters. So many huge and powerful Beastmen were bumping into him. Some were quite rude, hurling him a myriad of racist insults regarding his squid-like appearances.

"Gah! Get outta my way, squidhead!"
"Hey, calamari brain! MOVE!"
"Oww! You stepped on my toe, octopi bastard!"

....Of course, the fact that Lekan hovers and flies seems to be lost on some of them.

Eventually, after quite a bit of struggle, Lekan can finally see the Northern Orbital Elevator. Yes! He's close. But suddenly, the people around him begin panicking. Seems like violence has broken out near the elevator. Not unexpected, perhaps. Even the skymobile police corps seems to be getting overwhelmed by the mass of humans, synthetics, and beastmen trying to make their way out of Nebulon. A massive, sumo-like man can be seen hurling away a synthetic skymobile officer a quarter his size.

But suddenly, there is a loud, humming noise. The city seems to be momentarily brightened by a yellow flash, and before Lekan can utter a word, people are suddenly being thrown back by an unrelenting force....and several brightly colored, yellow laser beams...

...coming from above. In the air, a strange looking insectoid woman hovers, seemingly guarding the elevator from a safe distance. Even though she's quite far, Lekan can see her many glowing yellow eyes.....and her opened, maw-like hands from which a smoking gun emerged.

The people around Lekan began to panic. Even though they can see that the blasts were mere concussives and set to stun, it clearly hurts, because the people are groaning. They proceed to turn tail, and run.

"AGHHH!!!!! THEY GOT A GENESIOR HE-"

Before that man could finish his sentence, another bright flash of yellow beam is fired at him, and Lekan can see him being dragged through the ground by the sheer impact of the blast.

The expressionless woman doesn't seem pleased. As more people begin to run, she turns to Lekan.....and raises her gun arm.

"This orbital elevator is closed."

And she fires.


-----

As Preston and Colt head out, they are immediately stormed by massive amounts of people. There is just way too many people on Nebulon. Though it seems like GEHENNA's challenge is going to change this. Thankfully, since they are heading towards the orbital elevators on the North and the South, Preston and Colt have a relatively easy path to take, towards Mosa's Seafood Services in the west side.

Mosa's Seafood Services. It's a medium sized building. Two storeys. A disturbing-looking representation of Mosa's head decorates the red, orange, and green "Mosa's Seafood Services" sign. It's those eyes. They look lifeless and fake. Like a doll's eyes...only orange. Since it's quite late at night by now, the restaurant has closed down.

Inside, Preston and Colt can see Mosa, tidying up the tables and chairs like nothing is happening, completely calm, with a natural smile on his crocodillian face.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Colt hissed, his ears flattened back in anger as the sea of people tried to move around them, but a few accidental bumps happened here and there. Preston looked around, trying to get a clear view of any possible routes that were not congested with traffic. "Relax, everyone is scared. Just stay calm and follow me. We'll cut west like we usually do..." Preston trailed off for a moment, taking in the scenery of chaos unfolding around them. "We should be fine, Colt. Do you want me to hold your hand?" Preston said in a playful tone. Colt slowly turned his head, an expression of hate on his face. "If you ever talk to me like I'm some fucking six year old, I'll fucking kill you." Preston smiled and started walking west, trying his best to keep an even pace so Colt wouldn't fall behind, while trying to avoid bumping into others as they passed. In what seemed like forever, well to Colt at least, they arrived at "Mosa's Seafood Service."

"We're here." Said Preston. "Wow, I had no idea. What gave it away? Was it Mosa's giant fuckin' head on the sign, or did you just guess?" Colt smiled, his tone obviously sarcastic. Preston took another glance at the restaurant. Mosa's head, well, the fake one, was perched atop the sign, that is, had something to it. It's fake expression, and dead, doll-like eyes didn't seem right. Nothing like the Mosa they knew. But it worked well enough to serve as an iconic beacon to the restaurant. Those thoughts aside, Preston and Colt walked up to the door, knocking on it as Mosa was busy closing up shop.

The Genesior seems expressionless as Lekan suddenly flew, and she fires a plasma blast from her right arm cannon, which hits a large abandoned car Lekan was hiding behind, and dents it severely, yet did not hit Lekan at all.

the Genesior continues firing, switching arms with every blast; left arm, right arm, left arm, right arm. She looks completely calm, almost like a marionette. But Lekan continues to succeed at dodging her, while Quin continues to succeed at causing considerable amounts of collateral damage. Cars flew into the air, a noodle merchant's cart is blasted off the platform, and an abnormally large fire hydrant is blown to bits, spraying water everywhere.

When Lekan suddenly fire his ink shots, the Genesior subtly widens her eyes in surprise. The first shot was his luckiest, as it hits her right on the upper chest and right face, but she quickly catches up with Lekan's speed, and dodges his next few shots effectively, flying through the air like a hornet.

If Lekan looks closely, he can see the Genesior vaguely narrowing the main eyes on her face. And suddenly, as she swerves and dodges another inkblot, she raises both arm cannons....

...And proceeds to fire a barrage of rapid fire plasma blasts. These blasts are longer, thinner, and far greater in number than her previous ones.

This is gonna suck.

--------

Mosa raises his head and looks to the window as hears Preston knocking. Seeing Colt's docked tail, Mosa does a deep, hearty chuckle, and walks over to the door.

He opens the door - which has been sized to be as tall and wide as him -, and looks down at the two.

"HEYY Colt! Preston!", his natural crocodilian smile turns into a huge grin as he bares his teeth happily.

"Come on in, come on in! Mosa was just cleaning, but I'm sure you know."

Mosa leads the two in, before closing the door again. Looks like he's almost done, the restaurant looks damn near spotless, with the chairs neatly placed upside down on top of the tables.

"I sent James to get some ingredients, but Mosa think he be back soon!", Mosa exclaims, his manly baritone voice audible throughout the entire restaurant.

The two enter Mosa's restaurant. Colt immediately walks over to one of the tables, pulls down a chair and sits. Preston glances over at Colt, and then clears his throat. "You sent him out? How long ago was that?" Preston said, his voice sounding concerned. "We came over to see what you and James felt on the situation, and what we should do."

Mosa walks over to the two, rubbing his two hands together. He walks pass Colt, heading to the kitchen. "Ohh? Right, right! You be talking about GEHENNA, yes?"

Some creaking and clanking noises ensues. A few seconds later, Mosa comes out with a large bottle of Veradoxian Valkjan; a kind of Beastmen hard liquor with an incredibly strong smell that already stings their noses the moment Mosa brought it out of the cupboard.

"Mosa....think this is good, actually...verryyy good.", Mosa proclaims, grabbing three shotglasses as he makes his way to Colt's table. He pulls a chair, and sits down. Even for a Beastmen, he is huge and heavy, and the high grade chairs creak under his weight. His enormous size is particularly noticeable next to the short Colt.

He pours the hard liquor into Colt's glass, then to one near Preston, giving him an inviting glance as he does. "Think of it this way... big bad monster equals big bad fame, big bad fame equals big bad BUSINESS!!!", Mosa exaggeratedly pumps his fist as he emphasized the 'business' part, accidentally crushing the hard liquor bottle, and dirtying his apron, causing him to scowl.

He stands up, preparing to wash his hands...and probably get another Valkjan bottle. "So, here be Mosa's idea: Four of us go to Megido and kick GEHENNA's ass." The way he says it, it's as if he's telling them to fetch the laundry, or something equally casual.

------

The Genesior dodges Lekan's shot repeatedly, every shot she dodges, she creates more distance between the two. She also begins countering with her own concussive blasts, but both the Genesior and Lekan are equally fast and agile in the air. An inkshot eventually hits her on her left arm cannon, stinging and startling her, and another hits her on the abdomen, where many of her eyes were.

As a results, she was successfully tackled by Lekan, both of them propelled into a building, cracking a window and creating quite a loud noise. Her head disoriented and her vision blurred, the Genesior begins firing plasma blasts with reckless abandon, with Lekan still on top of her. All of the shots miss him.

The people below panic and dives away, dodging her concussive blasts as a car is flipped over and thrown into another building. Many many holes erupt in the streets, a bum can be seen stealing a panicked man's wallet from his trouser pockets, and the Genesior continues squirming in the Ondari's grip.

...However, Lekan catches sight of a warning sign: the eyes all over her body. They're slowly glowing.

Preston and Colt watch as Mosa disappears and reappears with what seems to be a bottle of liquor. "Yea, GEHENNA." Preston said. "What do- oh God, Mosa. What the hell is in that? Mustard gas? " Preston covers his nose and coughs, just as Mosa sat down and poured the liquor into three shot glasses. Colt picked up his shot, sniffed it and smiled. Preston grabbed a napkin and cleared out his nose, stuffing it inside his pocket and clearing his throat, picking up the shot glass as well. Whatever it was, it burned, and probably tasted the part. Preston preferred tequila, even though that was strong in itself, it had a clean and slightly sweet taste that this liquid death, from what he could guess, lacked. But he didn't complain. Not with words, at least.

The two sat and listened as Mosa explained his plan, and then smashed the bottle. As Mosa got up, Preston looked down at the dark liquor. Colt sniffs his drink again. "Do you think if I poured this on someones eye, it would melt? Fuck, you could probably light this shit on fire..." Colt mused. Preston was about to answer, but Mosa's arrival at the table with another bottle halted his tongue. Mosa finished telling the two the plan of action. Colt glared at Mosa, and Preston remained silent, as in though, then spoke. "It's worth a shot. I'm in." Colt however, didn't answer.

"?!"

The Genesior visibly flinches at this choice of tactics. As Lekan strikes away at all her eyes, odd, beeping noises occur. She was about to release a full, concentrated blast through the floral pattern on her chest, but somehow...a combination of Lekan's ink and his prodding disrupts her focus, and she ends up blasting plasma beams from all of those eyes.

Lekan would've been thrown far and away from this attack. However, the disorganized, unfocused beams, coupled with the vice grip of his tentacles, means that Quin simply launches herself -and Lekan on top of her- from the building like a malfunctioning rocket. The bulletproof windows of the building shatters behind them, and tiny yellow particles trail behind the two, as they are hurled through the air with great speed, feeling the cold wind of Nebulon.

Below, the people of Nebulon praises their squid-like savior, and charges into the Orbital Elevator without restriction, towards their freedom. Quin, meanwhile, has a completely stoic and frozen expression a they are propelled through the air.

....As they keep flying and flying, Lekan catches sight of a strange building below....a strange building with a sign bearing a disturbing looking representation of a crocodillian head... and they are slowly plummeting towards that building...


-------

"Hahaha!! the Valkjan would make effective firebombs, yah!" Mosa proclaims, sitting down again, and pouring into his own shotglass. "Trust Mosa...I should know", and his face settles back into his natural crocodillian smile.

Mosa waits for the two to process what he said, sipping from his shotglass as he does.

"HAHAHAHAHA!", Mosa laughs boisterously and nods approvingly at Preston's comment...but then turns to Colt, still awaiting his response. However, before Colt could even answer, they hear a loud crash from above.....

....And a new skylight has been added to the restaurant, from which a strange squid and a bug-like woman falls - or rather, crashes - through. The two then obliterates another table on impact, causing dust and wooden splinters to be hurled into the air.Mosa looks on, speechless.

After a while, waiting for the smoke to clear, he finally finds his words, and simply says, quietly; "...I just cleaned that table...."

Preston and Colt immediately stood up at the loud crash of something smashing through the roof Mosa's restaurant, taking out a table with it. Both drew their handguns and circled around the tables, giving them a good degree of distance and cover, should whatever the object be, turn out to be hostile. Colt crouched down a bit, and signaled for Preston to move in closer. Preston nodded in acknowledgement, moving ever so closer with his gun trained on the table, or where the table used to be. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, Preston could make out the object, which it turns out, wasn't JUST an object. It turned out that what had crashed were two bodies, but none that he had ever seen before. From what he could make out, the first figure appeared to be some sort of squid, the second some sort of humanoid bug. Colt, getting a clear visual as well, moved in closer, cocking the hammer back on his revolver, pressing the muzzle against the bug's head. "Get the fuck up or I'll fucking blow your brains out," Colt hissed at the two. "Slowly."

Lekan was aching all over from that landing, even though the Genesior took most of the impact. He could feel her breathing, so he knew that she was still alive despite the two of them being flung into the stratosphere. He was still alive too, which came as a surprise to him more than anything else.

However, there was little joy in this revelation once Lekan noticed that there were people pointing guns at both himself and the Genesior, shouting threats at them. In the blink of an eye the room filled with inky black smoke as Lekan darted under the nearest intact table, dragging the Genesior with him.

When the smoke finally cleared, the building's occupants would have been able to see the Ondari cowering under one of the tables, holding onto the insectoid woman they had at gunpoint mere moments ago.

Mosa turned to Colt, and raised his right hand in a calming gesture. "Whoa! Colt!! Eaaaaasy pea-" Out of nowhere, he was interrupted by the sudden explosion of inky black smoke.

The Genesior lays, dazed from the impact of the crash. She barely registered her surroundings, and when she finally came to, she found herself under the table, Lekan's tentacles still all over her.

"WHAT THE?!", Mosa was caught off guard by Lekan's ink expulsion, and shook his head while clawing at the air. "BAH!!" He is audibly annoyed by the sight and smell of the smoke.

After the smoke cleared, Mosa looked around, eventually finding Lekan's bright blue tentacles conspicusouly under the wooden table. He then turned to look at the Genesior next to the space squid, who blinked twice. Mosa raised an eyebrow, and holds a hand up again, steadying the trigger happy Colt. "Wait....", before walking over.

The Genesior didn't need to look around. Her many eyes did the job for her. When she finally put together what just happened, she slowly turned to face Lekan...and very subtly widened her eyes.

Lekan heard a creak, as Mosa gently pushed up the table, and towered over the two with his enormous and imposing, stout crocodillian body. When he noticed the Genesior, he flashes a toothy grin. "HEEEYYY! QUIN OLD COMRADE!"

Quin Veta looked at Mosa. She stayed quiet for a few seconds, before replying monotonely and simply, "...Mosa."

Mosa turned to face Colt and Preston again. "IS OKAY! Is Okay! Quin was an old enemy! Ex-Federation, just like Preston! Now we are friends, yes?"

Quin stands up, grabbing Lekan and pulling him off of her, before holding him up like a piggy bank. Despite Lekan's main body being significantly larger than hers, she can hold him up well with the mandibles on her arm arm cannons. Without looking away from Lekan, Quin, again, simply replied, "Yes."

Mosa looked at Lekan, and raised an eyebrow, while saying, "...Who is that?"

Quin seems to have the same question in her mind. And eyes. Lekan can feel all her eyes focusing on him. Suddenly, she raised him over her head, turned him upside down, and began shooking him roughly.

"?!" Even Mosa, someone who apparently knew her, seems baffled by this course of action. He can only turn to look at Preston and Colt with a puzzled look on his face.

Unsatisfied, Quin then put Lekan on the ground, and began grabbing, feeling, and looking over each of his tentacles, like a jeweler appraising her diamonds.

"Go get this, go get that, fetch me this..." James spoke to himself with a slight tinge of annoyance in his voice as he walked out of the store, his hands full of bags filled to the top. Mosa always made him the errand boy, something he greatly detested since it was always such a dull task to complete. "I bet Mosa shoves all this food down his pie-hole and uses what's left for the diner." He was kidding of course, but it still didn't erase the fact that he was sent out almost daily to pick up large amounts food and supplies. Still, Mosa was a good friend and also the man who wrote his paycheck, so he couldn't complain too much.

As he walked out of the store, James froze suddenly in confusion; people were running all around screaming as if the world was about to end. He tried to stop a few of the delirious beings running past him but to no avail. Figuring something terrible was happening, James began to run back to the diner, hoping his brother, Colt, or Mosa would have an explanation for all the chaos and confusion. After what seemed like an eternity of shoving and jumping over people, James finally reached Mosa's diner and ran into the front door, nearly breaking it down in the process.

"Mosa, I'm back from your glorious adventure you sent me on! But could you please tell me why-" He froze. In the view in front of him was Preston and Colt aiming their guns at a bug-plant looking lady and some weird looking squid man. Dropping all the bags he had in his arms, James quickly grabs his rifle and shoulders it, wanting to join in on all the action unfolding. However, before he could fire, Mosa stopped the two and revealed the lady to be a friend. Shrugging, he readjusts him aim only at the squid.

"We having Calamari this time?" He asked.

Preston lowered his weapon for a moment, rethinking the situation. Mosa knew Quin as a friend, and that was now fact. However, he said nothing about the squid-like being, and to him, was a potential hostile. As Preston prepared to speak, the sudden movement of Quin picking up Lekan made Preston and Colt exchange quick, confused glances with Mosa, followed by the two of them raising their guns again, despite Quin lowering Lekan down a moment later. "You sure know some fucking weird people, Mosa," Colt said as he glanced at Quin, "but you don't know HIM," Colt adjusted his aim to Lekan, with Preston doing the same. At that moment, Colt's ears perked up at the sound of James entering the restaurant. "Just in time, James," Colt narrowed his eyes and smiled. Preston looked over to his brother, who he just noticed was standing next to him with his rifle drawn. "Glad to see your back, James. Maybe you could help us figure out who our second guest is."

It must have been an odd scene to see; two humans and a mouse holding a squid a gunpoint, while a bug and an alligator stood by and watched.

As time went on, fear subsided as the large, threatening-looking Beastman turned out to be friendly. Well, friendly to the Genesior who had lost interest in trying to kill Lekan, which was close enough. The human and the smaller Beastman remained unconvinced though. He was a little startled when Quin picked him up and shook him a bit, but when she placed him on the ground and started frisking him he realised it was more out of curiosity than anything else.

He had ten tentacles in all, two of which were longer than the others and seemed to serve as the main pair of arms. Quin's searching revealed that they were squishy, pliant flesh through and through. No trace of cybernetics could be felt underneath the skin. Lekan couldn't help but squirm a little, as the Genesior's hand-like appendages were tickling him.

At that point, another human had entered the room, evidently familiar to the others. Said human then proceeded to make a comment that could have been regarded by certain individuals present as... somewhat tactless.

"I am not food, and I am not an enemy!" Lekan protested indignantly. All eyes (and quite a few guns) were on him, and it was making him nervous. Explaining himself was the best thing to do right now.

"My name is Lekan, and judging by the looks on your faces I'm going to assume none of you have seen an Ondari before." It didn't come as much of a surprise to him, really. Although Ondari were present on several major worlds and star systems these days, they usually stayed within their own isolated communities. "I was following the crowds to one of the orbital elevators hoping to get off-world as soon as possible when this woman here opened fire on me. I had to defend myself, obviously, and... I'm not entirely sure what happened next, but we've somehow... ended up... here... I'm sorry about the roof," he finished meekly.

Mosa casually waved and grinned at James as he entered the restaurant into the bizzarre scene. "JAMES!! Oh good, you got Mosa everything-", before he could finish his sentence, though, James raised his weapon, and Mosa once again raises his hand to calm him down. "Hey, HEY HEY!....No, Mosa don't like calamari much. Too smelly...." Mosa stayed silent for a bit, then turned to Lekan with the biggest grin he's ever seen. "..Unless you fry them, of course."

Mosa nods at Colt's comment. "Plenty of weird people in Stratevaria. Like you, Colt! HAHAHAHHAHA!", Mosa said, laughing in a good natured and playful way. He glanced at Lekan, and strokes his chin, with a curious smile. "..That's right...who you be, blue squid?"

Quin paid particular interest to the two main tentacles, checking them incredibly thoroughly....and was visibly surprised when she found no traces of modifications. She then paid attention to Lekan as he nervously explained himself.

Quin stayed silent for a while, looking at Lekan with all her focused eyes. "......The Orbital Elevator was closed. That was why I shot at you."

A pause.

"....I may have been too harsh."

Another pause.

"...Are you hurt?", she suddenly asked in a voice with a very subdued tone. There is a hint of concern there......subtle, but genuine.

Mosa takes a moment to process Lekan's words. And then suddenly burst out laughing."BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!....awww.....so this is all about the orbital elevator, eh? My, my...", Mosa shook his head.

Quin blinks. "I was only doing my job. I did not mean to harm anyone.....much."It's always hard to tell with a Genesior, but Quin has a.....curious...look in her eyes, looking over Lekan from top to bottom.

"...you fought bravely. You should be proud.", she blurted out.

Mosa takes this moment to walk over and recover the groceries James dropped. "Baaah, James! You should've been more careful with these eggs!! They're all broken and gooey now....", Mosa said in an annoyed tone.

"Anyways...you going to the orbital elevators, eh.....well. Mosa was just thinking of going there, with Preston, Colt, and James too! Hahahahaha!", Mosa claimed. He hesitated for a bit, but being Mosa, it was only for a bit, before he suddenly asked, "Maybe you'd like to come with us, both of you?"

After hearing Lekan's explanation, Preston lowered his handgun and holstered it, walking back to the previous table they were sitting at. Colt held the gun at Lekan a while longer, before holstering his and tossing his arms up in the air, not exactly satisfied with the outcome of the situation, nor caring to listen while Quin, Mosa and Lekan talked on. As he was walking back to the table, he flipped Mosa off in response to being called weird. Despite it being used in a friendly manner, Colt wasn't one for shits and giggles. He muttered something under his breath, and sat down next to Preston grabbing the shot glass and drinking it.

James nodded to Colt and Preston. "Gracias, sorry I'm late to the party." He said. As he did so, he slowly began to squeeze the trigger, only to be stopped by the Ondari's abrupt explanation about itself and how it ended up in the diner. That, and Mosa's assurance finally made him lower his weapon, laughing at Mosa's cynical joke about fried squid as he looked at Lekan. "Sorry about that, Lekan. Heat of the moment." He shrugs slightly as if it was no big deal.

After a moment of awkward silence, James pulls up a chair next to his brother and Colt and takes a seat. Just as he does however, he see's Mosa walk over to the strewn groceries and begins to pick them up all the while chastising him for breaking the eggs. With his face was hidden behind his helmet, James was free to roll his eyes and mock Mosa's usual reprimand. "So sorry, your highnesssssssssssssssssss........." Came his only reply as he threw his hands in the air in a gesture of annoyance in return.

After hearing Lekan's explanation, the trio holstered their weapons. One of them even apologised for the trouble, despite the fact that he hadn't been around when Lekan and Quin made their... entrance. There was nothing to be afraid of now that safety was assured.

The Ondari listened as his former aggressor told her side of the story. Her short statements coupled with long pauses gave him the impression that she didn't exactly talk to people very often. Still, she seemed polite, even going as far as asking about his well-being.

"I'm fine. I feel like I've been used as a punching bag, but other than that I should be okay," he told her. "How about you? We should probably get that ink washed off of you before it causes any permanent damage." Lekan was about to try and free himself from being pinned to the floor when he caught that unexpected remark from the Genesior.

"B-brave? Me? I was scared out of my wits the entire time!" he replied. Still, what could have stopped him from simply trying to rush past the blockade? Asides from Quin's suppressive fire, of course. Either way, he was quite flattered by her comment.

Upon hearing Mosa's suggestion of them all heading to the elevator as a group, Lekan was quick to agree. "Of course! Just give us a few minutes to catch our breath and we'll be right with you."

Mosa shot James a stare upon his smart remark....and smirks in response.

Quin finally lets go of Lekan, finally looking at all the ink on her body. When asked how she is doing, she simply said, "...I am wet with ink." in her usual, neutral tone.

Quin frowned at Lekan's modest words, but other than that, says nothing. She turns around, and heads to the restroom, passing by the sitting Colt and Preston. Before she enters, she stops, and without looking at them directly, simply says, "No peeking." She proceeded to enter the restroom.

Mosa nods boisterously to Lekan. "Of course, of course! Mosa can wait. Mosa tidied up restaurant." He then reaches for his pocket, whispering. "Where are..those..thingies........Aha!", pulling out several deep blue cards with glowing rims. He looks at everyone currently in the room.

"Yesssss. Preston, James, Colt, and Quin, you all have these veteran passes too. They should allow us to bring squiddy along." He stops at Lekan, nodding again, before gazing at the new skylight on the ceiling, smirking.

"This will be fun journey."

"Don't flatter yourself," Colt remarks in response to Quin's comment. Preston said nothing, as he was busy conversing with James.

No longer being pinned to the ground, Lekan was able to get back up, floating gently in the air. Quin left him to go wash off the ink as per his suggestion, although he was puzzled why she said no peeking when she had an exoskeleton. Her attempt at a joke, perhaps?

Lekan's attention was then diverted to Mosa, by far the largest person in the room, as the Beastman rummaged through his huge pockets for something. Veteran passes, it turned out to be. Wait, all these people were veterans of the war?

The realisation hit him like a sledgehammer.

He had just fought against a Genesior veteran, and had not only survived without sustaining serious injuries but also been commended for his bravery by that very same individual. When Quin finally returned from freshening herself up, he gave her a nod of acknowledgement, making a mental note to have a chat with her in private later on.

When everyone was ready to leave, Lekan made sure to stick close to the party. He wasn't too sure about the two humans and the smaller Beastman yet, but he certainly felt a lot safer with Quin and Mosa around.

Quin looked at Lekan as she stepped out of the restroom. It's impossible to tell what she's thinking, with such a stoic face.

And with that, Mosa leads the group out of the restaurant, making sure to put up a sign on the front door with the words, "SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED" on it. Mosa and James do the heavy lifting, carrying bags upon bags of supplies for the journey; mostly food and clothes, being the two strong men. Colt was tasked with locking the doors, and Preston, Lekan, and Quin only have to carry their personal belongings.

Mosa walks with swagger, pride, and enthusiasm. One can just see his strength and experience, from the way he moves. He is the most obviously excited of the group. Determined to take down GEHENNA and spread the name of his restaurant, he leads the way.

Quin keeps her thoughts to herself. As they keep walking, Quin is reminded of her mother back home, who had been pestering her to get married for some time now. Somewhere in Quin's eccentric mind, she deduced that GEHENNA, the eldritch warrior who challenged all of Stratevaria, would be the perfect husband. All she needed to do is defeat him. She turned towards Lekan, looking at him curiously, wondering why a "coward" like him was so persistent in reaching the orbital elevators.However, she decided to save the questions for later.

They finally approach the Orbital Elevators, and with the passes, sucessfully left Nebulon. The Elevator is propelled to the skies, and Neopolis seems like it's getting smaller and smaller the higher they go. Eventually, the elevator completely left the atmosphere....entering the deep, dark space.

Mosa looks down, entranced by the beautiful sight of the green planet. From up here, the world seemed so small...

Quin, meanwhile, looks up, spotting the small space station, and around it, several small ships.

However, the one that would catch their eyes the most...is the ship that's even bigger than the space station itself: The Exodus-class Realta-Nua. The massive, off-white ship is quite a sight to behold, looking more like a city-sized ark than a space ship.

The orbital elevator finally stops, and the door hisses as it opens. The dull white and grey space station interior greets them. They can see travelers of various shapes, sizes, and colors walking about. A row of TV screens can be seen attached to the top of the walls. One of the screens have the words, 'F.S.S.REALTA NUA READY FOR DEPARTURE.' Mosa looked up at the screen, and smiles. That's their ship. He beckons everyone to follow him to the platform where the Realta Nua waits. Their journey has officially begun.


-CHAPTER 1 FIN.-

-CHAPTER 2: GILGAMESH-


Bright green flames burn in the Realta Nua's massive thrusters, located all over the massive ship's underside and stern. At last, the Exodus-class ark is ready to depart.

----

Mosa, James, Preston, Colt, Lekan, and Quin find themselves wandering about the second deck, looking over all of the second deck's amenities as they walk (or float, in Lekan's case) down several steps, having just entered the ark through the space station. From the north side, they immediately catch sight of the beautiful park. It's weird...walking around in such a stable, vast, and fresh interior, one wouldn't feel like they're in a spaceship at all.

Mosa turns towards the group, his right hand on his hip. "WELL! Mosa gonna check out the park. You guys can go down one deck to get to the lower class cabins. If anyone else wanna go with Mosa, you're welcome!" And with that, he heads towards the park.

Quin looks at Lekan, staring at him without saying anything. Her gaze feels quite....piercing. But she stays completely silent.


----

Gelon finds himself wandering about the second deck of the Realta Nua. Boris hasn't given him any orders. All he knows for sure is that this ship is stopping by Dagojouiise before it continues on Megido, as it apparently needs a specific equipment only developed in Dagojouiise to even hope to survive a strange barrier around Megido.

The journey to the desert planet will take approximately 2 days.....so he will have some time to relax. Now, where should he go? Find Mosa, perhaps? When he came to visit Mosa's restaurant, it was already closed. Knowing Mosa, he's likely to have taken up GEHENNA's challenge as well. And since this ship is the only public transportation heading over to Megido, he must be around here. Somewhere. Shouldn't be hard finding an eight foot tall crocodillian man.

----

Byatis, Sentinel, K2, Megahertz, and Clockwork are also in the second deck of the Realta Nua. They came from the entrance hatch closest to the upper class living quarters, and thus has the best and highest view of the second deck, seeing the beautiful park, the grey and cube-like training center north of it, and the open marketplace northwest of the park. Right in the middle of this second deck is a large and very decorative, high tech fountain shaped like an old timey ship wheel, constantly spinning as it sprays out water from the center.

Clockwork stretches and yawns. He didn't need to, but he felt like it.

Megahertz stands awkwardly next to Byatis, still. She is too terrified to even glance at him, and thus is clasping her fingers nervously. Suddenly, she asks, "So..uhhhh....w-w-w-what now?" Her glowing eyes blinks twice, and the antenae on the side of her head curls around her hair like an odd pair of ribbons.

"Yea, just gonna take care of something first. We'll catch up in a bit," said Preston as he waved James off. With that, Preston and Colt disappeared back into the ship. About 15 minuets later, the two emerged from the ship. "So... where did they say they were going?" Preston turned to Colt. "The park, just follow me, I know where it is," Colt replied. "It's because you can smell them, isn't it? With that nose of yours," Preston teased and poked Colt's nose. Colt, unamused, slowly turned his head and stared, while Preston pretended not to notice. Colt sighed, and started walking off towards the park.

A short while later, the two found the group walking around. Mosa, James, Lekan and Quin were all together. "Oh good, the gangs all here," Colt smiled and ran ahead, stopping next to James. "Hey, we're here."

The walk through the park was quite peaceful, barring the noise of the people in the background, and of course Mosa himself, but that was beside the point. The sound of rushing water from the fountain felt relaxing to Lekan as he drifted along after the others.

He became aware that Quin was beside him, yet she was hovering just above the ground the same as he was despite the fact that the Genesior had legs with which to walk. Why was she doing that? Did it take less energy than walking, or was she trying to mimic him for some reason? Lekan decided to refrain from commenting on it, at least for the time being. However, one thing that most certainly did warrant a comment was Quin's rather sudden and unexpected demand for burgers.

"Couldn't you just go and buy some yourself?" he asked her. She was a grown woman. She didn't need to tell someone to go buy burgers for her, perhaps unless...

"...Don't you even have any money on you?" The Ondari sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll pay on your behalf, but only just this once, got that?" He headed off in the direction of the marketplace, dragging Quin along by an arm. Hopefully some of the stalls there might be selling food. Whether that food was burgers was another matter entirely.

Mosa looked at Colt as he approached James. "Hee hee...." Smiling, he led James, Preston, and Colt through the park, taking in the wonderful greenery around them. He looked around, approving of the sight. His eyes stopped at the marketplace, noticing the many stalls. "We should open branch of Mosa's Seafood Services here. Earn some income.", he remarked, then glanced at the three, as if asking for their opinion.

-----

Ridley's red eye flared. He was clearly pissed off by that pun, but...instead, he scoffed. "HA! How original. You think I'm scared of you, shorty?" Ridley pointed at Gelon and nodded. "Hillarious. You piss me off, and yet amuse me at the same time."

Vlad shook her head. "Didn't you read the memo, Deskovitch? This ship is going to arrive at Dagojouiise in two days, and then spend the next few days getting its upgrades. In those next few days, we have practically nothing to do, so we might as well earn a little bonus....least that's how I see it."

-----

Clokwork and Megahertz followed Sentinel into the upper class living quarters.

It's a cozy looking home, with comforting brown furniture everywhere. The architects of this ship went to great lengths to give an authentic, homely feel to this house. There's even a little fireplace in the corner, along with several comfortable red sofas in front of it.

"Home sweet home.....heh...they even have a kitchen here. Cute.", Clockwork stated as he looked around. This is clearly the first time he's ever been in a place this fancy.

Megahertz, on the other hand, looked right at home....and considerably calmer, especially since the two she most feared; Keeton and Byatis, were not around. She stroked the walls of the house as she walked, feeling its smooth texture....and feeling right at home.

Clockwork and Megahertz stopped what they were doing and turned to Sentinel when he asked his question.

"Eh? You....would like to accompany me?", Megahertz asked, surprised. Even though Sentinel did spare her, just a few hours ago he was taking down all her men. This is still a bit surreal for her, personally. She thought for a while, her eyes darting and scanning the entire house as she did. "Uhhhh....I...don't know, actually....do you have anything you want to do in particular?", her tone awkward and a bit embarassed.

An amused Clockwork chuckled. "My, my.... I'm going to take a look-see at the marketplace. See if they have any interesting.....stuff...about.", he shrugged. He turned around, waved, and stated jokingly, "You guys take care now! Tell me how the date goes", before leaving.

Megahertz looked at the door closing as Clockwork left, scowling and twitching her left eye, whispering to herself. "That purple robot is so damn annoying...."

-----

Quin stayed silent awkwardly as Lekan dragged her to the marketplace.

Once there, they found several stalls selling burgers and other fast food. The smell in the air was very mouth watering....complimented by the unmistakeable sound of sizzling steak.

Quin ate a burger together with Lekan.She insisted he have some as well. It's hard to tell, but she seemed to be enjoying it.....judging by her quick chewing, that is. From time to time, she glanced to and away from Lekan.

Eventually, they finished the burgers. Quin turned towards him, and tilted her head.

".....You were surprisingly easy to persuade."

She sounded....genuinely confused.

Colt extinguished the cigarette he had lit a bit ago, looking over the decorative orange neckerchief. A moment of silence passed as he imagined himself wearing it, then he smiled. "If you really think it looks good... I'd wear it."

Megahertz was surprised by Lekan's presence. She did not expect to see an Ondari here. Then again, this ship DID came from Nebulon, the trading hub of the galaxy, so perhaps she should have. But that does not matter right now. She looked at the crowd as Lekan asked his question, hoping someone there would have an answer.

"Eh? A repair bay?"
"Welll...there's the hangar in the lower decks."
"Oh yeah, right! You gotta pay to use their services, though."

Quin blinked, and stated in her usual stoic way, "Let us hurry, then."

The four traveled to the lower decks, with Quin helping to carry Sentinel.

The hangar is quite dark, in contrast to most of the ship. Barely any lighting. Unused and/or broken speeders and hovercrafts are strewn about the dark brown metal floor. Quite the messy sight. Floating maintenance drones and single-wheeled repaired droids can be seen moving around without purpose.

The four placed Sentinel on a metal slab, and Megahertz turned to Lekan with a hopeful look. Quin gazed at the array of tools mounted on the walls. Wrenches, screwdrivers, fusion cutters....


-----

Mosa laughed loudly at Colt's unexpected smile. "HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!!" It was truly unexpected. He shoved Colt's left shoulder lightly, and then smiled himself with approval. "Then Mosa will pay for it." He turned towards the merchant, and paid for the scarf, before kneeling in front of Colt and handing it to him. Even kneeling, the eight foot tall Mosa still looked huge. Especially with that oversized arm holding the tiny neckerchief.

"....?"

He then glanced to the side, having seen Gelon's figure amongst the crowd.


-----

Ozma grimaced. "You're the kind who gets to the point, then? Good."

"I need you to make the killing look like either an accident or a consequence of battle. For both of our sake. Tensions have been rising between the north Beastmen tribes and the south Akarjii spiders. Tension which both you and I can exploit. "

Ozma folded his arms. "My fath-....Anguirre is heading there to pacify the situation as the goody two shoes Protector's Guildmaster he is. Of course, what I am tasking you to do will make this....a futile task."

He paused.

"Before we get to Anguirre's murder, I need you to assassinate two targets: the Beastman Chief Garush, and the Spider Queen Vitani. You need to make it look like they were killed by assassins of the opposing groups."

He glanced around, as if paranoid someone would interrupt or listen in on their discussion.

"If my predictions are correct, then the two groups will go to war, Anguirre will try to pacify them....and that's when you make your move."

Ozma held his hands behind his back and stood up straight.

"I will reward you handsomely for this, that I promise you - both your organization, and yourself....assassin. Now, are there any questions?"

Gelon got pointed to Mosa and smile as he was already looking in his his way and wave to him "he Mosa" he said and made his way through the park. when he got there he noticed Colt "oh now i see your not alone well, the name is Gelon" he said and stretched his hand out for a handshake. after the handshake he turn back to Mosa "how is it going Mosa? and i might have some nice news for you"

Colt smiled as Mosa playfully bumped his shoulder. "Thank you," Colt said quietly as he took the cloth from the blue alligator's hand, looking it over and began tying it around his neck. As he finished, he glanced up, waiting to hear any thoughts on it, but Mosa's attention was somewhere out in the crowd of people. Colt tried to see what had caught Mosa's attention. All he saw was people moving about their day, nothing unusual. It wasn't until a figure made his way over, past the crowd and over to them, that Colt noticed. The man walked over to the two of them, calling out to Mosa. Colt turned his head to Mosa, somewhat confused. "Do you know him?" He asked while slowly pulling out his butterfly knife from his back pocket, fanning it open and keeping it hidden while the man approached.

Before Mosa could answer, the man, to his surprise and slight annoyance, addressed himself as Gelon, and stuck his hand out for a handshake. Colt stared at Gelon's hand, and then up at Gelon himself. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Colt shook hands wit him. "Colt..." he replied. He kept his focus on Gelon when he turned away to talk to Mosa, his left hand still gripping the knife.

As the man approached and Colt asked his question, Mosa bore a puzzled look on his face, his jaws gaping and one of his brows raised.

Mosa looked at the handshake between Gelon and Colt, and then turned to look down at Gelon. Mosa looked utterly confused.

"Eeeeeeeeh.....does Mosa know you?", Mosa asked, genuinely oblivious about the man with the red arm in front of him. Was this one of his customers? Or perhaps an old enemy from the war? Mosa had traveled to so many places and met so many people that, to him, their faces became a bit of a blur. Unlike Colt, though, Mosa did not seem too worried. He stood upright, his oversized arms by his side.

Gelon look surprised at first to mosa and then snicker a bit later "oh yes you know me you can't forget these papers" Gelon said and grab his check book and showed the check, they are unique in their kind since gelon has a very specific print, the paper being a ruby red and the print emerald green with Gelon's logo a circle with the letter G drawn in a very fancy way. He always paid this way at Mosa's restaurant and if he had collected them all Mosa would have a few hundred of them "ringing any bells now?"

Mosa stroked his chin and raised his left eyebrow exaggeratedly as Gelon explained himself. He looked at the custom checkbook for a few minutes. And then, a lightbulb lit up in his head, his eyes widened and his mouth grinning. "HEY! I remember you now!", Mosa's posture leaned back slightly.

He then took a step back, and pointed at him, laughing in his usual hearty way.

"HAHAHAHHA! Yes! Gelon Ditkovitch, RIGHT? You always ordered that blue crab with oyster sauce special HAHA!"

Mosa folded his arms, his mouth grinning, and he turned to Colt."He liked to touch people, Gelon Derpolitch does. So much, that he chased out one of Mosa's old waitress! HAHAHAHHA!"

Mosa paused, then scratched the back of his head while glancing away, whispering. "Had to pay that girl extra and told her Gelon didn't mean it. Poor girl was terrified."

He looked back at Gelon. "So whadaya doing on a ship to Dagojouiise, Gelon? Can't find blue crabs in the desert after all! Hahaha!"

----

Megahertz folded her arms and looked away when Lekan asked what happened to Sentinel, and responded in a defensive manner, "D-does it matter?! Fix him!"

Megahertz's reaction earned a suspicious stare from Quin.

Megahertz and Quin turned to look at the other Ondari with the flashlight, but neither of them said anything. Megahertz was suspicious at first, though she calmed down when he seemed to infer he was a thief. Quin, on the other hand, tilted her head, finding his accent interesting.

Megahertz hovered over Lekan as he interfaced with the datapad. She looked between Lekan and the datapad while clasping both her hands and her two tentacles together, worried. "...You can help him? Right??"

Quin, meanwhile, began hovering around the dark hangar aimlessly. She is either keeping an eye out, bored, or just messing with them. Her floating slightly up and down as she hovered around made her look a bit like a balloon.


----

Clockwork was sitting on the barstool, when he heard K2's call, and turned to see him and his new friend walking towards him. He waved calmly. "Hey, buddy! Just in time, I was waiting for my fried garlic noodle soup.", his voice a bit flamboyant, as always. He looked at Cirl, and nodded back at the snake-like beastman, watching him and K2 sit down.

Clockwork glanced at K2. "Hey, hey, you sure you should be drinking right now?", his tone genuinely concerned. "You just downed an entire bottle of rum a few hours ago!"

He turned to Ciril, giving him a thumbs up in response to his question. "Yep, I kinda have to now, after a little, uh...incident....with my superiors at the Protector's Alliance. I swear, I didn't mean to sneak into that shower full of naked women! Someone must've switched the bathroom signs around to mess with me, the bastard!"

He paused. Despite his words, he didn't sound like he regretted his little accident. Or at least, he's trying to trivialize it with a joking tone.

".....Uhh...anyways...yeah. After receiving a couple of sandals to the face, I was told to go find GEHENNA and kick his ass. So, here I am. I ....don't really have a good idea how to even start taking on GEHENNA though. I mean, I know there's one or two Protector's Expedition to MEGIDO, but even they never got pass the Border."

The Border is a barrier on the skies of Megido. No mortal have ever managed to get through it, but the last attempt was years ago. Drakov Industries have apparently developed a special component for the Realta Nua to get over this barrier, which is why this ship is stopping at Dagojouiise.

"I met this one weird eldritch abomination back at Nebulon...but he never said anything about GEHENNA to me, so....", Clockwork stated and shrugged.

Colt looked over at Gelon, and then back at Mosa. "Guy's fucking weird," Colt whispered.

----

Preston took the cigarette from his brother, pulling out the lighter he had in his pocket and lighting the cigarette, taking a drag and exhaling. "A cigarette is a cigarette. Really can't be picky, but thanks." He looked around the park, taking in the scenery before sitting down. "What do you want to do?"

Gelon snicker a bit but look surprised when Mosa said he liked touching people "he that was your idea, you wanted to give her a good scare, so I delivered" Gelon said in his defense and watch Colt "I heard that" he said and smile "but yes I'm weird, so what? Don't you have any weird quirks?" Gelon asked Colt then watch Mosa again "I met your old girlfriend big crock, you sure have a kitty with claws" Gelon said and took a drag from his electric cigarette and exhaled "just met nothing else"

Mosa chuckled at Colt, agreeing somewhat. He then turned back to Gelon. "WELL, I didn't mean scaring her THAT way!", he stated. When Gelon mentioned meeting Vlad, Mosa's expression changed. At first, he widened his eyes in surprise, and slightly opened his mouth. As he replayed those words in his mind, a nostalgic, goofy, and sweet smile appeared on his face. His red eyes look oddly kind there. "Vlad certainly has sharp claws, she does...."

----

Clockwork turned to K2, and chuckled. He asked his question just in time, as a waiter appeared and placed a large bowl of noodle soup in front of Clockwork. He nodded at the waiter, and thanked him politely, "Xie xie." He looked at K2 again as he plucked a pair of chopsticks. "Watch and learn, cap'n~" After separating the chopsticks, he used them to stir and pick the noodles, lifting them to his face....and right on cue, his yellow visor suddenly snapped open in the middle with a ratcheting noise, revealing a beak-like mouth. He proceeded to pour the noodles into his open mouth, which did not bother to close or chew.

Clockwork continued talking with his 'mouth' open and noodles going inside. Which made for a ...jarring...sight, to say the least. "Unfortunately, my bright yellow and green parts made me a terrible sneak, khu khu khu...."

"Watch out for the upcoming hangover, Captain.", Clockwork teased.

Clockwork then turned to Ciril, considering his words. "Hmmm.....perhaps you're right. Finding Byatis would be pretty difficult, though. Despite being a 9 feet long rainbow lizard, he can turn invisible."

He paused.

"..Wait. Turning invisible." He glanced away, and whispered to himself. "Damnit! I'm sure there's a synthetic upgrade to do just that. Why didn't I think of looking for that before...."

He paused again, before continuing to answer Ciril's question. "Oh, uh..yeah, I'm a Protector. 10 years, and going strong." There's pride in his voice, and the way he pointed at the 'P.A.' on his left shoulder. He looked up in surprise as Ciril stated his ties to the Protector's Alliance. "Oh yeah? That where you get those shades? Khu khu khu....I remembered when we had free hat day. Not sure we ever had free shades day, though..."


----

Megahertz let out a long sigh as she folded her arms and turned her nose up. "Okayyyy, okay!....He....did take on one of my Gunsevers by himself...b-but that was hours ago! Before he....crashed, we were just walking in the park, talking about his past and stuff, y'know? And he just......fell." Her tone was defiant and pouty at first, but eventually became disheartened and guilty.

She glanced to the side, and went silent for a few moments. Thinking back, she suddenly recalled Sentinel telling her about his desire for, to put it simply.....life. She raised her head, and turned to Lekan. "WAIT! He told me...he told me how he wanted to......feel."

Megahertz felt like slapping herself on her head. How in the world would that help with anything, she thought. Still...it did stuck out to her, so perhaps telling Lekan that wasn't completely useless.

"you never specified so i did what i thought i meant and yeah, she wants to meet you, maybe to rekindle that old spark but I don't know, but I do know she wants to meet you" Gelon said and grab a syringe and inject himself "you know why I do this right Mosa?" Gelon asked and smile

Mosa was so deep in reminiscience, he didn't listen to Gelon. A few seconds pass, and he looked back at him, and blinked. "Uh- I'm sorry, what??"

"OH, yeah! Vlad!! Uh...maybe...maybe tomorrow? Or the day after?" Mosa glanced around nervously while twiddling his fingers. "Mosa....not ready yet. Yeah." He said that last part solemnly, almost with a whisper. And coming from Mosa, a whisper is...very rare.

"So ANYWAYS, me and Colt are goin' for ice cream....ya wanna come along? My treat.", Mosa changed the subject quickly.

----

Clockwork gave a thumbs up with his left hand, since his right hand is busy with the chopsticks. Pressing two fingers from his left hand to his left horn, he projected the coordinates to K2. It's a nice, comfortable upper class home in the upper class living quarters. "You sure you can make your way back in that state, captain?", Clockwork asked politely.

----

Megahertz sighed with relief, and waited, looking at Sentinel with a hopeful look.

Moments pass, and when she saw Sentinel waking up and twitching to move, she let out a sigh of relief. She almost smiled.....but at the last second, she remembered everyone else is in the room, and she turned away and folded her arms, her hair fluttering from the speed of her movements.

"Geeze, you had me worried for a second there, you cyber-jerk!", Megahertz said with an annoyed, overly pouty tone.

Behind them, Quin continued hovering around aimlessly.

----

Ozma paused, thinking it through.

"...I'm not sure this qualifies for a hazard, but......keep...keep my sister out of this. Let her not see my father die by your arrows. Please."

Ozma said that with a hesitant, yet sincere tone. Just by the look on his face, you could tell his sister meant the world to him. His father, on the other hand....

"I suppose that will be all.", Ozma nodded. "I wish you luck on this mission. The risk shall be great, but the reward shall be even greater."

Ozma narrowed his eyes for dramatic effect.

"...Especially since I am a very.

Good.

Tipper."

And with that, Ozma cuts his transmission, leaving Roza and Byatis alone. And Darkstar, in Byatis' head.

"I love to come along Mosa, but she is there as well and don't try to stay away from her, she was really happy to hear you are onboard, so don't disappoint her" Gelon said to Mosa and pat the tattoo "and why are you so nervous about meeting her? She won't harm you, right?" Gelon asked Mosa and watch him "after all I wouldn't let my favorite cook get harmed"

Colt hadn't exactly anticipated Mosa's reaction to Gelon. The seemingly gentle and friendly personality that was usually Mosa, had turned into something that Colt hadn't seen before. And for some reason, it made him happy. Very happy. Colt grinned wide, as he folded the knife back and slipped it away, his eyes locked on Gelon as Mosa finished chastising the man. Feeling the crowd gather, Colt and Mosa both took a glance at each other, knowing it was time to leave. Without saying anything, he let Mosa lead the two of them away, back to their rooms from the sound of it. As the two departed, Colt took a quick looked back at Gelon, still grinning. "I still have the shots from earlier. You up for a drink?"

As Gelon lay on the ground there while Colt and Mosa left him, he started to snicker and later laugh while still on the ground. Not knowing if the two would go and check on him or just go, he sit up and fix his hand "haha Mosa, so unpredictable but so readable" he said and got up "thinking you can hide something for me, while you crack as a nut" he said and started walking to the ice cream shop 'what happened between Mosa and Vlad? If I know that I might find something interesting' he thought and throw his electric smoker away and bought a pack of cigarettes "ever since I stopped with you guys I get thrown around" he said and snicker as he lit one "well then it seems it's not the time to stop yet" Some people thought Gelon had lost it or he was crazy but the truth is that he is like that, laughing in the face of pain and death, always pushing his boundaries and limits to the max

Mosa kept quiet for a few seconds as he thought of Colt's question. Then, his crocodillian smile returns as he turned to look at Colt. "Good idea."

And with that, Mosa and Colt retreated into their cabins for the day.


----

The ice cream shop owner greeted Gelon, but he can't seem to find Vlad anywhere. She must have gone somewhere else.


----

Quin stopped her hovering and glanced at Lekan. She quickly nodded, and obediently followed.

Megahertz looked at Sentinel for a few seconds with a relieved expression...before turning around and strutting away. "GOOD. let's go, then!"

She stopped suddenly.

And then strutted back towards Sentinel, and looked at him some more....

...before grabbing his hand and pulling it, forcing him to follow her as she strut back to their living quarters.

The four proceeded to head towards the upper class living quarters. For Lekan and Quin, This...sets up quite a standard for their own cabins. A standard that obviously won't be lived up to by the lower class living quarters.

Megahertz immediately dived towards the couch in front of the fireplace and laid there, yawning."Wonder if K2 and Clock are back already...", she mumbled sleepily, snuggling against the comfortable couch.

Quin kept quiet as she surveyed the house. She focused on a particularly nice sofa for a few seconds. And then she turned to Lekan, and said out of nowhere, "......I hope we have sofa as good as these."

----

Darkstar stayed quiet as he does his research. There's a good reason why Darkstar is a watchman and not just a killer anymore - somehow, someway, he has access to satelites around Stratevaria, and could tap into them to drain information quickly and secretly. After a few seconds, he replied, "Northern Dagojouiise canyons. Do'gaki caves. Chief Garush hunts there everyday approximately at noon from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Great place to stalk, hunt, kill. Things you like to do."

Darkstar paused, discovering more information.

"Alternatively, more straightforwardly: home invasion. Find him in his longhouse. Northern Dagojouiise plains. Do'gaki settlement. Man-bear tribe Half an hour away from this ship's designated landing position. Best strike at night. Body would be foundmore quickly found, if this route is taken."

James and his brother had spent a good few hours talking and smoking, while it gave them time to reflect on the previous war they had fought in and the current threat they now faced, it soon became dull and boring. Thus, the duo agreed that heading back to their quarters which they shared with Mosa and Colt. After what seemed like a never-ending journey back to their place of rest, the twins finally made it back home. Although, to their surprise, both Colt and Mosa were there, with Mosa looking extremely stressed and angry sitting at the table drinking.

Preston said nothing, but the look on his face could show he was concerned. James on the other hand, got straight to the obvious, "Let me guess, someone or something made you all emotional." James of course didn't mean any disrespect or indifference to his boss and friend, as he was concerned with what was usually a jolly Mosa. He just had a harder time coming off as sincere and kind than his brother.

"No shit, retard." Came the reply from Colt, who was busy twirling his knife around in his hand. "Some jerk-off named Gelon came up and bothered the poor bastard about his ex until he snapped. Mosa flipped the guy over onto the ground and then we left to come back here. Great deduction though, I'm impressed." Sarcasm was one of Colt's many strength's.

James really didn't like Colt's attitude, while they were friends without a doubt, James couldn't help but get a bit tired of his smart-ass mouth and cocky attitude.

"Is that a little scarf I see?" James asked, slowly walking over to Colt, staring down at him and the orange bandanna tied around his neck. "Would be a shame if something happened to it." With that said, James quickly grabbed the front end of it and pulled on it. Not hard, but forceful enough causing Colt to his his chin on the table as well as bite his own tongue in the process, drawing blood. James then pulled out his combat knife and quickly stabbed the bandanna into the table, tearing it slightly while also holding Colt in place, less he try to move and rip the bandanna even more.

"I'd suggest you watch your tongue, rat." James said calmly. "We may be friends, but your snarky little attitude won't be tolerated."

Preston gently placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, "Just relax, Mosa's already upset as it is, let's not add any more drama to the situation at hand." James sighed and nodded his head. Preston was always the more level-headed one of the two, something James appreciated and needed, especially in situations like this where he lets his emotions control his actions and thoughts.

"Yea, yea. You're right." James shrugged and walked over to Colt, ripping his knife out and gently placing it back in his belt sheath. James cared for Colt and his well-being, despite the ways he showed it. The constant fear that one day Colt's mouth would get himself killed always was in the back of his mind. Unlike his brother and Mosa, Colt tended to be very prideful and arrogant, many times these quirks almost causing him his life. To James, it was tough love that Colt sorely needed.

Colt swallowed the blood, laughing at James's comments, then smiled. "How sweet, you do love me." He got up and stretched, then adjusted the bandana on his neck. Preston remained silent, already having said his peace, though his expression conveyed annoyance. Fights like this were common, but easily prevented. So while it wasn't something to get worked up about, and honestly, sometimes the fights were fun to watch, the overall bad mood didn't give much tolerance.

----

Colt went back to the table and took another shot, then got up again and walked over to the front door. Looking back at his three other roommates, Colt decided that it was time for them to turn in for the day. "Since everyone is so fucking high-strung, we're gonna call it a day." With that, he locked the door and wandered into the bedroom, hopping on the top bunk-bed and turning on the TV. "Oh boy, my soap!"

"Next time, I'll rip your heart out! That will show you how much I love you!" James shot back with a slight laugh. He was glad Colt wasn't upset with him. But it still left one thing unsaid, what about Mosa, and what were they going to do on this ship?

After asking around, Gelon is eventually told that Vlad and Ridley have retreated into the upper class living quarters.

Since they work with Drakov, Gelon and his team were given a very nice, three-storey upper class house in the ship, with comfortable furniture and a very cozy, homely atmosphere.

Gelon found Ridley and Vlad drinking in the living room of their home, the two of them watching a boxing match on the TV, between a lumbering Beastman and a bulky synthetic.

"YEAH! GET 'EM!", Ridley roared out, rooting for the synthetic.

Vlad scoffed at Ridley's statement. "Clearly you don't know what a real Beastman can do."


----

Quin let out a simple, "Mmmm" of agreement, as she floated and followed Lekan to their quarters.

One room in the Lower class Quarters can only fit four people, but Mosa had enough tickets to buy 2 rooms. As Lekan entered the room for himself and Quin, they can already see just how different the standards of the two classes are.

Their room is quite narrow: a small, square living room, with two doors leading to a pair of bedrooms, each housing a bunk bed. a miniscule window is on the wall of the living room, exposing the ocean of stars outside, and a tiny television is stacked on top of wardrobes next to the bunk beds in both rooms. Quin remained stoic as she scanned the entire area.

The room is very simple. Sterile. Clean. It's mostly white in color, but there's touches of brown here and there, including the cheap carpet on the floor.

Quin hovered around for a while, but then stopped and turned to look at Lekan silently. She did not avert her gaze, no matter how long. Perhaps she wanted to talk?

"Why did you come on this vessel?"

...Yep. She definitely wanted to talk.

----

Megahertz waved at Lekan and Quin as they departed, without looking. Laying chin first on the couch, her tentacles uncoil from her hair, and began flexing and stretching. She glanced at Sentinel as he walked over and sat down.

"......"

Megahertz took a few moments to think over Sentinel's question. Her name, huh? As a Dark S1de agent, she always preferred to go by her nickname. She deals with so many suspicious people everyday, she can't afford to take any unnecessary risks. Still...it is just a name. And for some reasons, she felt like she could trust him.

"...Alphard.....Alphard Vi Dracynea."

Even though she'd thought it over, it still felt weird telling her real name to someone she met only hours ago. Someone who shot up her place and killed her minions. Perhaps even weirder is the fact that she did not regret this.

"Don'ttellanyoneelse.", she hurriedly followed up her statement, before glancing around nervously.

A few moments later, she caught sight of K2 walking inside, and her jaw dropped upon his blunt statement. She proceeded to flusteredly respond, "Y-you vulgar monkey! It was not a date! It was...j-just a totally-completely-supremely platonic walk! You...!"

"......."

Megahertz cleared her throat, sat up, and folded her arms before looking away poutily. "HMPH! Fine! I'll find someone to repair your gun!". She wondered if that squidhead could help her out again. Or maybe she should find someone else. She sneakily glanced at Sentinel to find out his reaction to K2's words, before quickly looking away away, her hair once again fluttering from the speed of her movement.

-----

Mosa looked towards the door hissing and opening as James and Preston entered. He let out a bitter smile upon his question. "Heyyyyyy, G. Bros!"

"Bwahahahhaha...", Mosa could only respond with an awkward laugh at James' question....and Colt's answer.

Mosa looked on as james approached Golt. He widened his eyes and stood up slightly as james pulled the bandana and stabbed it to the table.

"HEYHEYHEYHEY!", Mosa rushed towards the two, and used his enormous hands to separate them both. "Enough! Enough! No more, or Mosa take it out of your paycheck!" Mosa's tone is somehow both nervous and firm. He knew of the hostility between James and Colt, but both are always too fast for Mosa to react to. Quite handy in battle, but rather unfortunate to handle.

Mosa turned to Preston and nodded thankfully, appreciating his cool-headedness, especially compared to the hot headed Colt and James.....and Mosa himself, most of the time.

----

Mosa changed into a simple white T-shirt (though still keeping his tiger striped pants) as he prepared for bed, nodding at Colt. "You have a good night, Colt." He can hear Colt's soap opera playing through the door. He took a deep breath, his shoulders moving at least 6 inches up and down as he did, thanks to his massive size, and he looked at both James and Preston, his usual big hearted smile having returned to his lips. "You two, as well. Mosa gonna go check on our buddies."

There's a third door in the living room, which connected Mosa and his crew's room with Quin and Lekan's. He walked towards that door, and banged on it, before asking in his usual loud, hearty tone,

"You guys okay over there??"

-----

Clock chuckled at Ciril's statement, "Well, so did you two! Must be K2 being K2."

Clockwork folded his arms and listened to Ciril's vague explanation. "My, my...now you interest me~ I'll be keeping an eye...or.....eight....on you. Khekhekhekhekhekhe...."

Clockwork looked over to his shotglass, and grabbed it, before opening his "mouth" again with a ratcheting noise, and pouring the contents inside. "Still, I'm glad you're on our side, at least."

"Oh yeah! I know what you mean, bro."

Clockwork puts down his glass and closes his mouth.

"Such a nice, cozy ship. I guess it's a way to relieve the stress of a road trip to hell, khe khe khe..."

Preston returned the gesture to Mosa, then left for the bedroom. Colt was already in the room, his eyes fixed on the TV screen.

----

"You as well," Colt replied in a flat tone, as he was busy with his soap opera. Preston replied with a goodnight as Mosa made his rounds of checking on everyone. "By the way," Colt added, "would you open a fucking window? It smells like the seafood market on a hot day in here, and I'm getting nauseous."

Vlad turned to Gelon and stared at him for a few seconds. And then proceeded speak her mind bluntly, calmly, and without any hesitation. "...Are you stupid, or just ignorant?"

She stayed quiet for a while, before sitting up and facing him with a serious expression, figuring out that mere insults would not help at all.

"First; nothing happened between us. War brought us together...and when the war ended, so did our relationship. We found out we were better as friends. But I suppose he just wanted some time away from me for a while, and I am completely fine with that."

She paused, before propping her chin up by her left hand.

"Second; that tattoo of his is very valuable and....personal." For a brief moment, Vlad looked down sadly. "Not just between Mosa and I, but also between Mosa and....somebody else. Someone long gone." She kept quiet for a few seconds, before glaring up at Gelon fiercely. "You may be our team leader, but you don't have any right barging into either of our personal lives. You are Mosa's customer, and my boss. Nothing more, nothing less." Her words are harsh, but her tone are always calm and matter of fact.

"Third; Beastmen do not appreciate being touched by just anybody. Perhaps it is different for you humans, I do not care to know. But for us, touch is sacred...intimate. Some do not even allow family members to them, if they are not fond enpugh of them. Perhaps tis' because of us Beastman' greater sensitivity compared to you humans, but...let's just say that if this were Veradoxia, you would have a legion of Beastman chasing your tail everyday, with your overly friendly behavior."

Over in his couch, Ridley scoffed. "Basically Boss, she just called you a creeper." He said in a deadpan, yet insulting manner. Unlike Vlad, you can most definitely feel the icy contempt in his tone alone.

It is quite clear that Gelon has yet to acquire the trusts of either of his team members.

----

Quin floated up and down slightly as she listened to Lekan, keeping her usual poker face on. She didn't seem to have any opinion on his...anticlimactic explanation.

As she turned to look at the door, she can barely react to Lekan wrapping himself behind her. Then again, it is Quin, so perhaps this current stoicity is indeed her reaction.

"......"

"HOKAY THEN!", Mosa's loud voice can be heard again, and so can his footsteps as he walked away.

Quin continued to listen to Lekan's humble words as his tentacles coil around her dark green figure.

"....."

seconds pass. Quin seemed to be deep in thought. thinking Lekan's words over, while struggling to find an answer.

"....You were terrified, yet you continued fighting. You wanted to flee from GEHENNA, yet you followed me in this ship to hell. "

Turning her head, she faced Lekan eye to eye.

"You have the body of a weakling. The mind of a coward."

"......"

".....And the heart of a warrior."

Quin allowed a few minutes to pass, so that Lekan could process her words. There is sincerity and compassion behind them, and while her face is stoic and her words few, her bell-like voice is honest and passionate.





"I ask that you let me go now, before some voyeur with a hidden camera makes a hentai out of this.", she suddenly blurted out, while still wrapped in Lekan's tentacles.


----

Mosa returned to the main room of his, Colt's, and the Brothers' cabin, and walked to the door upon Colt's request. "No windows. We'd get sucked to space that way."

He opened the main door which leads to the corridors instead.

"This better. Don't worry, Mosa will guard the door."

Mosa's nose twitched, and looked at the door connecting their room and Lekan and Quin's.

"LEKAN, GOOD IDEA TO TAKE SHOWER SOON, YESSS?", he shouted out. He would sound polite and friendly, as Mosa usually does...were it not for the fact that he shouted that so loud that their neighbours 4 doors down would hear them.


----

Megahertz listened to Sentinel, with a flabbergasted expression on her face. "Geeze, Sentinel...that Pirate passed out when you and your buddies were fighting my Gunsevers, and you're not even going to scold him just a bit??" She pouted and furrowed her brows. "You have the patience of a saint."...

Megahertz turned a bit on the couch, staring at the velvet ceiling. When Sentinel reminded her of the walk on the park, she nearly fell off her couch as she jolted and stood up, clutching a pillow with a furious blush on her face. "?!" Y-you cyber jerk! Don't encourage him!"

A pause.

Followed by an indecisive whisper; "...Or maybe....you should...." Which is quickly halted with a rapid shooking of her head. "UH. IF... that means he'd not think about killing me anymore, then I suppose...."

She only dug herself deeper and deeper.

"Wait, what am I saying?! This discussion is over!", Megahertz childishly flung the pillow towards Sentinel....and missed him by two inches. She looked away and folded her arms to hide her pouty embarassment. Which didn't work at all.

Thankfully, Sentinel changed the subject again, which calmed her a bit. Though she still can't look at him. Sentinel claiming his complete faith in her was enough to fluster her again, though this time she was smart enough to kept quiet until he finished his words.

Glancing at another pillow on the sofa, she silently agreed with Sentinel's words. She proceeded to lay down, her bright blue tentacles splayed alongside her dark blue, nearly black, hair. With her face far away from Sentinel's eyes, her lips curved into a sweet smile. "You better live up to your name then....Sentinel.", she whispered, trying poorly to disguise affection with annoyance. How silly. She felt like a princess in a fairy tale. A mafia princess with a monstrous rogue, a flamboyant lancer, a drunken pirate, and a dark knight. The dark knight in rusted armor. She hated thinking about this. Or does she really? She haven't had a true friend in years. Indecisiveness is so frustating to her. But no matter. Now is the time to sleep.

With the dark knight nearby, she proceeded to fall asleep peacefully.


----
Clockwork waited for Ciril to finish his meal silently, reading a book he picked from the Neopolis Lower City library. It was an amateurly written book with terrible vampires and bizzarre characters. Nice cover art though, cliched as it may be.

Clock looked up at Ciril and nodded. "12 hours, you say? I will be sure to ask Byatis to find you~" His eyes focus on Ciril's face, and found himself...intrigued. As a synthetic with a face that could generously be described as...nonexistant, Clockwork had always been interested in the ways organics emote. Everyday, he has to compensate his lack of a 'face' with his flamboyant voice, but people like Ciril and K2 did not have such requirements. Even though he considered himself comfortable with his synthetic self, he can't help but feel a little jealous sometimes. He kept looking at Ciril as he walked into the distance, only looking away once Ciril was completely out of sight, disappearing amongst the crowds.

"...Oh well.", Clockwork said with a carefree tone. He stood up, and left his money on the table, before retreating to the upper class house.

Entering through the door, he spotted Sentinel on standby, and Megahertz sleeping peacefully. "Kheh...", he let out a tiny chuckle, before shutting the door. He walked a few steps to the side, and proceeded to lean on the wall and fold his arms, glancing at the fireplace. Dimming his main yellow visor, Clokwork proceeded to enter a standby mode like Sentinel, as the night fell on the Realta Nua.

Megahertz raised an eyebrow in surprise at Sentinel's claim. "Never got into music, huh...", she then smiled and made a mental note to share Sentinel some of her favorite music after this is all over with. He told her that he wanted to live....and living is certainly something a girl like Megahertz knew a thing or two about.

Deunan wasted no time in giving the audience what they came for. The background music began playing. The tune may be quite familiar to some, especially those with a love for ancient, retro music from a world long gone.

"This one's a classic.", Deunan spoke into the mic, before pointing at the audience. "Everyone needs a hero, right?" pumping a fist. "So let us all be HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO!"

The audience erupted into excitement, their hands in the air. Quite a few of them have stood up from their chairs, and waved their arms left and right following the beat.

"Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?

"Where's the street wise Hercules, to fight the rising odds?"

Deunan has..quite the vocal range. Fitting the song's powerful, yet steady beat is her mature, bold voice. She moved passionately through the stage, and it was not hard to see why so many people would get into the song. There is sincerity and spirit in her eyes....sincerity and spirit that was quite alluring and exciting.

Megahertz bobbed her head to the beat, while her hands remain on her lap. Quin, not too far away, remained static while supporting the leaning Lekan.

"Through the wind, and the chill, and the rain,

And the storm, and the FLOOD!"

The many spotlights above move around Deunan, changing their colors periodically. What normally would look random and messy synchronized perfectly with the dancing and singing Deunan.


----

Nearby, Mosa, James, Preston, and Colt were also seated. Mosa insisted that they all come here, since they (apparently) had nothing better to do. Also, Mosa promised to treat them later that afternoon if they went with him. He was getting quite into it. Waving his enormous arms around alongside the crowd.

As the song boomed, Mosa turned towards his companions, and grinned. "THIS IS FUN, YES?" His voice, though slightly drowned by the cheering crowd and the boldly singing Deunan, was still quite audible to his friends next to him.

----

Ridley stared down at K2, and saw how hard he seemed to be trying to hold back his tears. He proceeded to hesitate, glancing around as the snowflakes from his broken shield fall around them.

".......Man I feel like a bully.", Ridley whispered with a hint of remorse. Ridley may be an asshole, but he was an asshole with principles. And he hates it when he ruins someone's day. Unless that someone is Gelon.

The music continued playing not too far away from them. Loud enough to be audible, but not enough to be intelligible. Ridley crouched down in front of K2, and said with a slightly irritated tone, which he used to mask his remorse, "Look, sorry I ruined yer day. I was just in a bad mood. Why don't..why don't you pay Drakov later, so we can just go and enjoy some music and dancing?"

Ridley paused.

"I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night!"

"It's free.", he shrugged.

He then offered K2 his hand. His huge, icy, clawed hand. Even without a face, you can tell that he was feeling genuinely guilty, from the way he averted his gaze from K2.


----

Clockwork nodded at Ciril when he mentioned being 'assigned' to his group. He still felt rather suspicious about Ciril finding their home so quickly (Especially since they signed in under Megahertz and Dark S1de's tickets), but he felt like poor K2 could use another friend.

He then turned to Byatis, caught off guard by the genuine and mellow side the giant serpentine hunter was displaying. He seemed so sincere, it was completely unlike the cackling predator he fought back to back with in the libraries. Still, he remained quiet and folded his arms, listening as the two finish their conversation.

As the survivors pondered their fate, a small, but shiny object could be seen in the distant sky growing larger and larger as it flew over the now flooded moon. Aboard were James, Colt and Preston looking through the windows in shock and awe at what had transpired while they were gone.

"We leave home for a bit and look what happens." James said as he looked to his two comrades from the pilot seat. "Y'all see any survivors?"

"Who gives a shit, they probably died." Colt said in a bored tone. "Might as well move on."

"Don't be such an ass, we should at least look for..." Preston caught a glimpse of something in the water below, shimmering. "I think that's the survivors, take the ship down."

Colt groaned and looked away from the window, not too happy with the current situation. "If we HAVE to, just make it quick."

"Colt, have some compassion for once." James replied as he continued to scan the waters below. "But I agree, we shouldn't stay here for too long. I don't know what happened here, but I don't like it."

Just then, Preston called out that he had spotted a shimmering object a bit away below them. Hoping that maybe someone was still alive, James began to fly in the direction of the object and lowered the ship down gently on the surface of the water. "Open the hatch on the side and tell me what you see. If we have survivors, I'd like to get them on board now and get out of here as soon as we can."

"Oh I do, but I save it." Colt replied.

Preston opened the ship's hatch, ignoring the argument in the background. He squinted to get a better look, the reflection of the water making it a bit painful to stare below. Nevertheless, he made out some familiar shapes, then faces as his sight adjusted. "It's them. Let's grab them and go."

Mosa turned to Gelon, and gave a thankful smile and a vigorous nod as he allowed everyone into the shield. Still slugging Riley on his back, he swam into the shield with no trouble, huddling together with everyone else. The skies were completely dark, as if GEHENNA's influence had tainted the entire moon itself. The beach, warm and sunny just half an hour ago, was now a place of coldness and gloom. Even the enormous Mosa, radiating a considerable amount of body heat, shivered from the cold waters washing over him. Mosa looked up as Byatis landed on a nearby debris, grinning and baring all his massive teeth, silently appreciating the humor even in these dark moments.

Mosa lost his smile, glancing to his back, as Riley trembled. Oblivious to the source of her woes, Mosa patted her gently with his oversized hands, his snout forming a near-perfect upside down-'U' as he frowned. "There, there. Riley safe with us here. Right?". Mosa turned and looked at the others. It was as Gelon said. Like it or not, they were stuck together now.

Just then, he noticed Cubey finally, if barely, speaking, before crying. He pondered briefly whether or not to tell him the truth. But he quickly realized, that child or no, like him, Cubey was a beastman. And if nothing else, a beastman is strong. Durable. Both in body and mind. He would get over it. Lying to him would only make things worse in the long run. Still, Mosa spoke with a low, respectful voice. "Sorry, Cubey...Mo- I...saw Lekan and Quin die. Quin fell into the waters, and Lekan was dogpiled by fruit carts...."

Megahertz stirred on Kyra's arms. Her tentacles' glows were fading. It was unlikely she would survive the night without proper medical attention. Her skin, previously already pale thanks to being a corpse, was now as white as snow.

Inside the metal dome, Mosa's nostrills flared, and his eyes darted left and right, as he heard machinery outside. "Do you guys hear that? Sounds like...Federation engines...."

(OOC: Sorry for late reply, check OOC section for explanation)

The Federation ship lowered itself down to the stranded crew, the wide side hatch began to slowly open. A sturdy metal ramp unfolding from some compartment snaked it's way to the survivors, locking into place with a hiss of stead. From the ramp above stood Colt and Preston, waving the crew onto the ship.

Alphard scoffed at Byatis' remark, feeling the lights of the ship above as they hovered closer and closer. "Won't be any less smelly than the rest of the corpses in the waters!" She then turned to Gelon, and if she had eyes, she would have blinked. "Why...thank you for your...kind offer....I'll try not to make a mess, heh.", she chuckled to herself, as she made her way into the cylinder.

Mosa gazed towards the Federation ship, and the feelings of joy rushed through his systems, as he caught sight of two familiar faces - Colt and Preston! He couldn't help but flash a toothy grin. "TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!"

Coming behind Colt and Preston, his footsteps amplified by steel heels, was a cyan-colored, boxy-looking synthetic with a clear dark blue visor for a face. Bright blue dots of light emit from various sections of his body. His joints hissed and his servos whirred as he walked down the ramp, looking at each survivor. There were traces of what looked like Drakov Industries logos stamped on his right shoulder and left thigh, now faded and forgotten. His eyes focused on Gelon, and then Riley, and then Graves. He glanced at Mosa, who stared at him and nodded. Cyan-Bullet. An old friend.


Cyan-Bullet's head darted towards the others, and he gestured them to follow them inside the ship. "Come, come! Your comrades need immediate medical attention." With audible yet quick footsteps, he led them into the medical bay of the ship, immediately to the left of the main area. A gunmetal door hissed as it opened from left to right, and they were greeted to the sight of a small room, with three pearl-white pods raised slightly tilted from the floor and held together by hydraulics. Autodocs. Very convenient. Very expensive. Very much pirated, by the looks of the yellow price tag still stamped on one of them.

Cyan-Bullet's square steel fingers tapped into a keypad on the wall, which let out a pleasant beep and authorized the use of the auto-docs. The three pearl-white pods swung open from the middle, exposing a silver-grey interior with a pillow and some metallic fittings.

Mosa allowed everyone else to get inside first, before walking in last himself. He turned his head and focused on a sign near the doorway, naming this particular ship;

'The Iron Shadow'.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Remarked Preston as he waved back at Mosa. "Glad to see friendly faces again."

Colt stood back, letting the crew onto the ship. He hopped onto Mosa's shoulders as he passed by. "Good to see you too, you blue bastard."

As the ramp slowly retracted, Colt made his way to the cockpit, taking a seat next to James. "Let's get the fuck out of here. Take us home.

(Sorry for the VERY late reply. Government work has me very busy and tired.)

James put the ship on autopilot as he got out of the pilot's seat and turned to Colt. "Hang on, I need to figure something out. We'll leave, but not before I get some answers." As he made his way to the group of survivors he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Alright, first of all I want to say congratulations for still being among the living. God only knows how many people died down there." He pauses for a brief moment trying to see who was here and who was not. "But, before we do anything, I'd like to know what the fuck happened here and who didn't make it." Although James' helmet covered his face and any emotions he made, he was sure as hell frowning and upset on what basically could be considered the largest loss of life, especially counting the loss of innocent life.

Turning his head to Mosa, James smiled lightly and nodded his head, glad to see his boss and friend was still alive. "Glad to see you, you big blue bastard. As I recall, you still owe me my paycheck."

It seems a break from insanity was nigh impossible. Just as Riley had finally began to calm down, sitting on her lonesome, an explosion ruptured the back door of the ship. She jump in her seat, instinctively grabbing the arm of whoever was next to her, in this case it was Ophelia. But with the lack of eyesight, she had no idea it was her. This had caught Ophelia completely off guard. This woman trusted her of all people for protection? After what Riley had done? Did she have a clue? That...wasn't right. Ophelia looked at the intruder with a scowl, ready to absolutely tear him limb from limb. I would've been easy too. Just as she was about to take full control of his poorly made metal arm, he spoke. And she kept quiet, not wanting to move as Riley hugged her arm.

Byatis, obviously getting curious from the explosion and the yelling, walked into the room and stood behind K2. Byatis shoved his head in K2's face from behind and smiled. "K2! My my you've changed in the...day I last saw you! Hahaha, is this a phase?" He cheered as he slowly rested his chin on top of K2's head and hugged him genuinely. "Well anyway, GEHENNA's getting impatient so he slammed a planet at us like a biiiiiitch." He said so matter-of-factly.

The blast barely startled James, as his time in the previous war he fought in toughened him. At the sight of the hijackers before him boarding his ship, he quickly reached for his rifle slung across his back and aimed it at Keeton, his visor shielding his vision from the blinding blast.

"It looks like we've been penetrated by a bunch of seamen." James called out with a slight laugh. He knew the difference between a pirate and a sailor, but it was too good to pass up the innuendo. But that quickly was replaced with a more serious tone. "If you think I'm letting a washed-up pirate with a gimpy prosthetic take my ship, then you're sadly mistaken. I've fought AND killed much worse than you. The only way you're getting out of here alive, and that's not even a promise, is if YOU drop YOUR weapons and surrender." He placed his finger on the trigger, but didn't fire. "And the only way you're getting MY ship, is when I'm dead. And I'm sure as fuck I'll still be alive and standing when this is over. The question of the day is WILL YOU?"

Mosa scoffed and folded his arms while grinning at James' remark. "If we don't go kick GEHENNA's ass, there won't be any paycheck!", he stated with a light and somewhat joking, but still truthful manner.

Unfortunately, yet another downtime was rudely interrupted as a hole was blown into the ship by the finally returning K2 and his new cavalry. Mosa turned towards the source of the explosion, his posture tense and his head down, his eyes narrowed and all of his large and sharp teeth showing in a highly irritated snarl.

Megahertz shook in her jar as she heard the deafening explosion, and panicked. "N-no, I am most certainly NOT okay! We just survived a moon-wide catastrophe and now a group of pirates are kicking down our doors and-" Megahertz paused, her 'head' swiveling inside the jar. "W-wait. Gelon...turn the jar to the right please...is..is that...K2?" She was further baffled when Byatis went ahead and gave the pirate what some humans would call a 'glomp'. It was....a most bizzare sight.

Mosa, however, was unamused. His eyes tracked the ceiling, spotting a long false panel. He turned towards K2, and raised a finger. "Can you...... give Mosa one second?", Mosa asked simply. In half a second, Mosa's tail launched into the air and pushed back the false panel, and his long, well-toned arms grabbed onto something inside. Something big. Something vermillion. A portable gatling gun; looted from a Diesever Napishtim Gear and modified to be handheld by Mosa himself. The green laser tracking scope glowed brilliantly, as Mosa aimed it towards K2.

"One...second. Mosa and the others just want one....fucking...second." He walked to stand to James' side, and quietly glanced at Gelon and Ophelia's direction, as if inviting them for a chance to defend themselves, before staring back at K2, his seven-foot-tall figure casting a shadow upon the young pirate. "Byatis was right. We got planeted. It was not pleasant. GEHENNA hurt Mosa's feelings. And his friends. And girlfriend. And kitchen."

Pulling at his portable gatling's handles, the adamantium barrels poked under K2's chin. Mosa may not walk that fast, but his hands and eyes were swift enough, and his body large enough, that speed was rarely an issue in an interior location. "Point is, Mosa is pissed. And Mosa rarely gets pissed. Trust me, you don't want to see Mosa angry." His eyes seem to glow with a feral, yet tranquil, orange rage. "So you do what James say, you leave everyone on board this ship alone. You leave my friends alone."

Then, he softened a bit, lifting his chin to replace his snarl with a grin. "Friends with Mosa has great benefits. You may not be friends with one another. It's okay. Mosa don't expect everyone to get along. But you are all Mosa's friends here....or you are Mosa's food."

Mosa pulled back his gatling, and stared face to face with K2, his head looking absolutely enormous next to the shorter man. "So which one are you?"

Gelon did as megahertz requested and turned towards K2 "that is keeton alright and he is in trouble" he said to her and got up "Mosa ease up well not that much but still a little" he said and walk up to K2 "you have any idea what you have done? ANY IDEA!?" he said suddenly mad "you! fucked us all over you know cause where are we gonna find the materials to fix the ship and replace the door!?" he said and sit back down in anger "if it were up to me you would get a beating right now from mosa but that is up to him"

Graves grimaced as Gerald and Ryze lifted him from the ground, his eyes tracking the descent of the Federation ship. At the moment he did not believe it mattered to anyone what they were, and if they did care then they could have Graves. Assuming they even knew he was a mobster. He had taken care throughout his career to ensure the secrecy of his identity as the leader of one of the largest criminal organizations in the galaxy. Kyra followed behind the three, carrying the paltry equipment left among the small group.

Advancing with the rest of the survivors up the ramp in a hasty fashion, the mobsters moved to settle themselves in before conducting any type of further action. Eyeing the Federation personnel cautiously, Ryze and Gerald set Graves down in a corner, Kyra placing a cloth behind his head so that he would not have to rest against the bare metal of the wall. Looking towards Gelon, Graves called out, "You have my thanks. You saved my life with no pretext and despite my actions. For that, I am grateful and am in your debt."

With his small words spoken, the explosion ripped through the doors of the ship. The mobsters around Grave turned around swiftly, pointing their weapons in the direction of the door, awaiting for someone to break the stalemate. It appeared when Mosa ripped a massive gun from somewhere in the ceiling and began threatening Gelon with it. Despite that fact, the mobsters continued to eye the rest uneasily. So much for a respite.

While he sat uneasily from Byatis staring back at him, Cubey metaphorically jumped, being startled at the sudden squeakier voice of the tentacle hair lady, who he just managed to see why she smelled so differently from a human, as she revealed her odd shining, tentacled, featureless true form, which despite her reassurance there was no need to panic, Cubey began to panic nonetheless, with some hyperventilating to fit. The cubic beastman left it at that however, deciding to avoid saying anything to offend the tentacle lady person, in case the replacement body in question, would suddenly decided to be him.
He also noticed that Mosa was curious about Riley and Ophelia's odd gazes at each-other, where the smaller beastman began to wonder if he should that the larger reptilian one for telling the truth about what happened to his acquaintances.

His attention was snatched away however, at hearing the man apparently called Graves, accepted the needle from Gelon, the man who was earlier trying to kill him for killing his own friend. A fact that left Cubey utterly bewildered on why a good guy would help a bad guy, especially since they had so much hate for each other a few moments ago. Then again, anything could of been put on hold for what just happened to them. And that bad guy in question was pretty badly injured, it was clear to even Cubey's eyes, backed up all the more by the concern on his trio of friends that joined in the bubble, one robotic lady voicing her relief of the ships arrival. Even though he feared Graves, Cubey could feel a little concerned if he was going to pull through, especially since he wasn't too fond on the idea of being trapped in a bubble with a corpse. Well, technically two if you counted Megahertz's recently vacated other body.

Cubey was then startled a little at the sudden removal of a strip of metal that was around their odd little metal dome, being able to the ship outside to which he couldn't help but grin at the sight of.
"They are here to help us! Yaaaaayyyy! We're saved! We're all okay! We're gonna all be okay!", the green beastman kept chanting and babbling as he stared round at the others, though tried his best to avoid Byatis' and Graves' gazes. His own eyes focused on the sudden opening of the hatch in the ship above them however, where a white furred, rodent beastman and a human in some armored military gear emerge from it.
He was about to pint them out to Gelon, but he saw he was busy injecting Graves with that needle of his, as well as oddly offering a tube that popped out of his arm for Megahertz to sit around in for a while, who gratefully accepted it. Cubey decided he didn't need to let him know as he saw the ship too, and there was no mistaking that Mosa saw them, obviously pleased to see them, seeming even more ecstatic than Cubey was, and also seeming to recognize them.

Behind the two strangers, another emerged, this time a blocky, cyan coloured, visor faced synthetic, with hissing joint and bright lights from random parts of his body, casually making his way down the ramp, nodding towards Mosa, who nodded back in turn. Looks like they knew each-other as well.
The cyan synthetic then urged the survivors to clamber aboard, which Cubey didn't need much convincing of, as he quickly floated himself over to the ship, before shouting down at the rest; "Come one everyone, all aboard! I bet it's safe on here, the big crocodile man is friends with them so their not bad guys! Probably!", before landing shakily into the ship, watching the rest in relief of them wandering inside of the ship too, having his antennas sniff the place out to check none of the survivors got left behind, where he discovered there was another human aboard the ship, most likely the one piloting it.

As the ramp closed up behind them, Cubey couldn't help but nod in agreement to Preston's words, adding; "Home sounds lovely now.", before hearing Gelon speak up, demanding to explore the still functioning remaining wrecked piece of the ship they arrived in, before reluctantly agreeing with; "He's right, we need to check if there's still people here. We just have to. No one gets left behind.", he murmured at the pilot and co pilot nervously, before seeing Gelon check on Megahertz in the arm tube thing. It kinda made Cubey feel weird having seen her turn into something else entirely. Then the pilot himself got out of his seat, giving Cubey a mini heart attack before he realized the ship was flying by itself. Thank goodness for technology. James then asked what the hell happened on Nekrim, to which Cubey could only look down at his feet solemnly, half not wanting to talk about it, and half not having as much as the others to say thanks to passing out earlier, his eyes with a thousand yard stare and a heavy frown forming on his face as his lip began to quiver again.

Before he could say anything or begin sobbing again, there was sudden explosion at the ships entrance, which left Cubey to scream and run behind some survivors as Megahertz began panicking, peering past the fellow recently rescued folks fearfully to be met with the sight of four pirates storming in, demanding fire arms to be placed down now, before their leader wearing a bandanna and goggles moved them away to reveal he was in fact, Keeton, much to Cubeys and everyone else's surprise. He certainly didn't look the same, with his left arm and mechanical eye now replaced, as well as new tattoo on his neck, leaving Cubey to stare at him wide eyed in utter befuddlement as he too asked what happened. The green beastman couldn't fathom on how on earth Keeton managed to change so quickly after he last saw him. He looked towards Riley for help and heard Meghertz's confusion, but was then distracted by Byatis suddenly running over to him and hugging the fellow and explaining GEHENNA's attack.
James certainly wasn't happy about what had just happened, obviously furious at the pirates for invading his ship, demanding that they should lower their weapons, aiming a rifle of his own at Keeton. Mosa definitely shared his anger, as he took a gatling gun out of the ceiling causing extra utter befuddlement to Cubey at what was going on, continuing to stand dumbfounded at Mosa's speech, deciding against opening his mouth at the moment. He felt touched however that Mosa called them all his friend, well, apart from implying they would be food otherwise. Gelon then told Mosa to calm down, only for him to shout at Keeton himself, leaving Cubey even more puzzled. He was weird sometimes. He also seemed to be worried on what they could use to fix the door.

"Ummmm Gelon, we could got to the ship over there, ummm well part of it anyways. They might not want a door or two. I don't know though. Plus we should got look for people to see if there's anyone still alive and help them. Maybe Tep and that robot lady in Ozma's house are still alive! I don't think so though.", Cubey babbled nervously, his eyes having the habit of keep shifting to Graves and his henchmen, as well as Byatis, and back Keeton and his cronies.
"Please no more killing. Too much killing today. No more now. Killing gone bye bye for today.", the mutant man-child added on weakly, seeming to have little hope in the matter being even listened to as he went back to flicking his eyes about.

Keeton didnt move a muscle when Byatis embraced him, still aiming down the sights right at Jame's head. The real question was how had he not died already. The Illeyrian with the fucked up mutated arm she controlled metal, his gun, bullets, and even his new arm was made of such substance.

Keeton decided he liked some of the people on the ship Riley in particular, so he decided to spare them the gunfight. He whistled to his mates, and all four of the pirates lowered their weapons. He fastened the skull bandana on his head once again, as he listened to James drone on about some bullshit about him being able to kill the four. The only reply that Keeton mustered throughout the entire thing was a muffled chuckle when James mentioned something about killing worst then him.

"I think you should be glad that I lowered my weapons, I'll be damned if you think I am going to surrender them to the likes of you." Keeton said with an unrevealed smirk on his face.

The three men behind Keeton raise their pistols quickly as Mosa pulls out a mini gun. "OI! I said no guns!" Keeton shouts to his men. Carefully each one lowers their weapon with all three of them in proximity of the trigger. Mosa approaches Keeton towering above him. "Listen lizard breath I am not your friend, nor do I want to be your friend. However I would say I have "friends" in the same ship we are all standing in. Three of which just attempted to kill you if it was not for me."

The whole fuck you pirate act was getting old, especially when it came a third time from Gelon. At this point Keeton was thinking about killing all of them, but Cubey, who started to burst out whining that too many had died today. Keeton looked around the room one last time. Faces of the strong, the survivors, and Cubey. Keeton took a deep breath and laid his finger on the trigger he had made his decision.

"Holy shit, you made a huge fucking mess didn't you." Beatrice springs into action with her plasma blades killing all three of the pirates. Keeton turns around just in time to see Beatrice holding her signature hand cannon to his head. He quickly drops both of his weapons. Beatrice rips the bandana from off his face. "My my Keeton, you have changed quite a bit since we last saw each other." Looking into Beatrice's soulless eyes, Keeton spits in her face. "Bitch that is not my na-" Beatrice hits him with the end of her pistol and sends him straight to the floor.

"I don't believe you all have had the honor of meeting me formally, I am Beatrice Schwartz, and you all are what is left to kill GEHENNA. On behalf of Drakov industries I thank you for not dying."

James drowned out Keeton's rabble and and shook his head smiling as he watched Beatrice kill what was supposed to be Keeton's group and sent him to the floor in a flash. Lightly lowering his gun, he looked around at everyone and then at Beatrice. "You're welcome?" He then looked at the hole in his ship and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "So now that's over with, how about we fix my ship and get on with actually killing Gehenna? We've wasted enough time already dealing with Mr. Blackbeard and his dead crew and I'd rather not have Gehenna come back and kill us all in here."

Mosa didn't move a muscle as K2's friends pointed their weapons at him, though he gave out a deep snarl when K2 flat out refused his offer for peace. Despite this, he didn't do anything, glancing at Cubey's direction instead, and slowly calming down. The manchild softened Mosa back greatly, and he stepped back from K2. Just then, Beatrice arrived and figuratively dropped a bridge on all of K2's friends. Mosa blinked twice at how quickly it occurred. His head followed as Beatrice cannon-whipped K2 and ruined his dramatic entrance. Finding it oddly and darkly funny in a way, Mosa decided to snark a bit. "..Guess you run out of friends now."

Mosa then looked at Beatrice as she introduced herself formally. Mosa placed his hands on his hips, and nodded. "Mosa's name is Mosa! Pleased to meet you. Don't mind the whole on the ship."


Megahertz stared at Gelon inside her tank with concern. Feeling bad, she took a while to formulate a response. "...Ummm...Gelon, I am so sorry, but..I am all....tentacles...right now.", she raised two of her tentacles, each of them less than 0.1 centimeters wide. "I don't know how much good I would do..."


Mosa turned and gave a thumbs up to James, grinning and baring his oversized teeth. "Mosa can't agree more. Megido is a long way." He stared at Beatrice, and tilted his head. "..Maybe you can help out? We need to fix hole blackbeard just made...."

They would have to find a way to shield the ship against Megido's deadly atmosphere, as well. The Realta Nua was installed with state of the art technology for that purpose....but most of it was already underwater.

Mosa spun and walked over to a terminal on the wall, stuffing his oversized gatling gun back to its hidden compartment in the ceiling along the way, before pressing some buttons. "We gonna need extra hands patching everything up and getting ship ready to go too! Who here can and be willing to help?"

Ophelia kept on her annoyed sneer as more things just happened all at once. Suddenly that Beatrice woman came out of nowhere. She had a habit of doing that. Ophelia took note. She scoffed under her breath and stood up. "One moment." She said through her teeth and headed towards the hull breach, unflinching, not looking at anyone directly. Riley let go of her arm once she realized who she had clung to. She sat in silence. Only two things in her mind. One, surprised Ophelia hasn't done anything to her yet, and two, disappointed in K2. She remembered him telling her he was a pirate but she still thought he was a nice guy. Not anymore apparently. Upon hearing Beatrice's voice, she tensed up again. Just the sound of her cocky attitude made Riley uneasy, so she kept to herself.

Ophelia, now standing in front of the hull breach held out her untainted arm and the metal around the breach twisted and warped until it was once again, sealed off. It was thinner than the rest of the hull but it would have to do for now. Quietly she walked off on her own somewhere into the ship.

Byatis was cackling at how K2 went down so fast after his swashbuckling entrance. He was practically rolling on the floor. "Ahahhaha! Sucks for him!" Byatis playfully sat up like a dog and listened in on everyone's conversations.

Beatrice scours the ship for something to bind Keeton's hands. She ties the pirate up while he is still unconscious and kicks him in the stomach to wake him up. "Keeton, get up. It seems you have lost track of reality. These men would have killed you for what you were about to do. I don't fucking care what happened in the month that you were in prison. Jesus fucking christ look at your arm! It looks like even the Federation will do anything to get their hands on captain sullivan's treasure."

Keeton is kicked awake by the demon bitch herself Beatrice. Her words as insulting as they were, pretty accurate. Keeton had definatly changed from his visit. His second day there the guards payed off a group of guys to start a fight. It only got better after he was taken into solitary confinement and tortured, eventually they had to amputate the arm because it was rotting from all the drugs they had injected into him. The progression of the dead planet falling was a slow process. The inmates used this to their advantage. By this time Keeton was released from solitary confinement, and formed an alliance with all of the opposing gangs. Keeton was the front man for the revolt, and when it came down to it he killed everyone but his own men.

He starts to gasp for air looking around the room blurry eyed. Keeton locks eyes with Riley, dissapointment is all he can see.

He had only survived on the thoughts of his friends Byatis, Clockwork, megahertz, sentinel, Riley and Ciril. The more time he spent in that hell the less he strived to remember the ones closest to him. Eventually Keeton had given up all hope that he would see any of them again.

A tear ran down his face as he looked at Riley. He felt ashamed, for once in his life Keeton hated who he was and what he now stood for. However the realization changed nothing, his optimism and joy had been replaced with malice and revenge. Keeton was a brand new man, but one thing was still the same, the pink haired Illeyrian still made his heart skip a beat.

"I have a drive that will get us to Medigo I can take half of you on what's left of the NUA, not you." Beatrice says pointing to both Graves and Keeton. "Those brats are your problem James. I'll be back with the components to upgrade this excuse for a vessel, hold tight till then." Beatrice exits the ship as Opehlia seals the hole behind her.

"Byatis, did clockwork did he Uh..." Keeton swallows the lump in his throat trying to hold back his emotions. "Never mind, I think I already know the answer. Its Uh good to see you again."

After a few tense seconds, Cubey sighed in relief as Keeton whistled for his companions to lower their weapons, seeming relax himself at least a small change in the criminals that were boarding them, but the even more cybernetically enhanced pirate still didn't speak any more friendly to James, as he tied on his head band. Much to to Cubey's disappointment and worry, there was more hostility as the three goons raised there weapons at Mosa and his chaingun, while Keeton had some more harsh words in store, Mosa snarling in turn, but seemed to back off a bit after Cubey's rant.

Before thing could go even further, no doubt with plenty of laser fire involved, Beatrice suddenly leaped aboard and almost instantly slayed the three underlings of Keeton as soon as she appeared with her plasma blades, causing Cubey to scream as she aimed her hand cannon at Keetons head, who after they both had a less than polite exchange of words, was struck to the floor. Beatrice then gave a short introduction to the survivors, as well as announcing they were the ones chosen to take down GEHENNA. Once again with the familiar feeling of being dumbstruck, Cubey looked for Gelon for help, but it seemed he left the room shortly after Beatrice killed the three pirates, which probably also meant Megahertz did too, due to being stuck in a tube on his arm.

He saw James was just as puzzled as he was, but recovered quickly as he asked if anyone could fix the hole in his ship and seemed to be readily on-board with the idea of eliminating GEHENNA, as Mosa mocked Keeton's allies' sudden death to their boss. The colossal reptile beastman joined in the conversation between the Drakov industries representative and the ship's captain, introducing himself loudly and cheerfully to Beatrice, before agreeing on fixing the hole quickly asking if anyone wanted to lend a hand as he returned his gatling gun in it's place, while Byatis laughed at the deceased comrades of Keeton.

Beatrice suddenly then tied Keetons hands before kicking him in the stomach, which made Cubey wince, before throwing some more harsh words at him, where Cubey just realized something didn't add up.
Did she just say that the pirate was in prison for a month? But it hadn't even really been a day since he was taken away by the federation, and somehow he changed into this much meaner and more cybernetic version of himself. Beatrice also said something about treasure and the federation being the ones who hurt him, which made Cubey all the more confused, since the federation were supposed to be good guys right? What had happened to that pirate and where was he? Cubey could only wonder as he saw Keeton stare over at Riley miserably as a single tear fell down his face. His train of thought came to a halt as Beatrice announced she had some kind of drive thingy for James to use on his ship, and that she would fly most of the survivors aboard what was still left an functioning of the Realta Nua, though not without insisting that Graves and Keeton travel in James' ship, and announcing she was going to start on some upgrades for said ship.

A sudden wash of feeling left out suddenly came over Cubey, deciding to give his own voice to the situation.
"I'll help with the fixing! I just don't know anything about repairing ships or large holes in things or repairing anything at all! But I can make things float and stuff!", Cubey cried out suddenly with some amount of cheer, though still looked rather miserably and fearfully at the corpses of Keeton's fallen companions. He then watched as Ophellia walked over to the often mentioned elephant in the room, or hole in the room to be more accurate with confusion as he looked over to Riley, who seemed just as befuddled and uneasy as he was, though it seemed not just at Ophellia. His confusion switched to amazement as Ophelia suddenly crumpled the ships metal to seal of the hole entirely, that Beatrice quickly leaped out of just before it closed.
"Never-mind, the scary lady mixed it!", Cubey shouted out, before clapping and adding; "Good work Ophellia! You have cool powers!"

Cubey's attention to spectacle was diverted when he saw Keeton ask about someone called Clockwork, undoubtedly another victim in the terrible catastrophe brought on by GEHENNA, unless he was one of the survivors aboard Beatrice's ship, if there was any. Cubey really hoped so, and some hope would be nice right now. He tottered over to Rilely for a second with that though still in his mind before asking quietly. "Ummmm Rilely right? Do you have a pen I can borrow? Pretty please?", before looking at his feet nervously and reaching in his pocket for the fruit carton that Deunan signed.

(Sorry guys, I'm going to fast-track some scenes so we can get to the climax, since we've lingered on this scene for far too long. Feel free to add scenes of character development though, we have yet to pass the point of no return.)

Megahertz sighed with relief as she watched Gelon inject himself with the nanobots, just in time, apparently. "Well, I'm glad to hear that.", she said uncertainly, wondering if Gelon would even survive the final battle with that body of his. She pondered for a while, then slowly spoke, "....You..mentioned giving me control over your robot arm. Um. I feel bad about asking this since I couldn't help you just now, but...." She looked around in her tube, noticing the abundance of scrap metal around them. "...Can you, like, help me build a new body?" She never really tried a mechanical body before, but after witnessing GEHENNA's attack, and all the bodies left behind....it didn't feel right. Most Ishkavi did not really care for such a thing, but most Ishkavi aren't members of a ragtag bunch of misfits trying to take down an intergalactic warlord. Most Ishkavi stayed at their ivory towers, doing whatever it is they do to keep Nebulon up and running, keeping the lights on in the city that never sleeps.

Mosa quietly watched as Ophelia fixed the hole on the ship, smiling with approval. They would still have to reinforce that wall, especially considering where they were going, but all in good time. When Beatrice came with the Black Drive to help them get to Megido, Mosa proceeded to use it to replace their old hyperdrive. Bolts unscrewed, metal platings detached, engines reassembled. A few hours soon passed, and they were now ready to head to Megido.

Nekrim. Once a paradise for family and friends, now a graveyard for the lost and the damned. The skies were dark, gray, and rainy as the Iron Shadow departed the planet, their engines burning a determined azure. Mosa took a deeo breath in the cockpit, and he punched the button for hyperdrive, allowing the Iron Shadow to blaze the trail through the stars. With the speed of light, they will fight this evil. Some for a better tomorrow. Some to search a purpose in their lives. Some because they simply wanted to. Others, for a simple, basic, yet classical motivation:

To Avenge.

FINAL CHAPTER: AVENGER

In the blink of an eye, The Iron Shadow, and what's left of the Realta Nua, traveled through the space between spaces, and reached the edge of the Stratevarian rim. Megido was still far away, yet close enough that they could feel something simply....wrong in the air. Whispers in the darkest corners of space, whispers of regrets, losses, defeat. There is darkness in this part of the galaxy. Darkness older than Stratevaria itself, darkness lingering on the borders between worlds.

In the cockpit, Mosa leaned back on his seat, and took a deep breath. He glanced at the ceiling, and pressed the public announcement button.

"Good morning, comrades of the Iron Shadow. This is Mosa speaking, we will be arriving....there....in a few hours. If there's anything any of you want to say to each other....say it now. There may not be time later." Even Mosa, usually of high spirits and energy, slowly filled with uncertainty, as they approached Megido more and more. The end is nigh. But whose end - GEHENNA's...or theirs?