Tyler Smith's Story

"Go forth, Nightgaunt." Gro'chal whispered into the Realm of Death. "Take the preliminary positions."

A stirring rippled across the spiritual plane as several entities attempted to traverse to the physical realm. Shadows churned and stretched within the cargo holds and other solitary sectors of the frigates and carrier that entered and approached the asteroid field. The shadows carried an eerie presence of calmed malice, like predators lurking in the darkness, as they slithered outward from their origins. They crept along walls, prowled the natural shadows of the ship, and stalked the ventilation systems before vanishing entirely to mundane sight. Only a frigid chill, cold as the grave, and an unexplainable sense of dread would mark their passing to those without the gift - or curse - of True Sight. Even then they strayed from the crew members as they scouted the interiors of the vessels.

Meanwhile, Gro'chal focused his consciousness on the vessels. He centered his attention on the ones with no discernible minds capable of psychic abilities. The pirate lord concentrated on the minds of a few officers and technicians and attempted to penetrate into their sub-consciousnesses like a hypodermic needle. Once passed their waking thoughts, he would subtly shuffle through their memories of the ships' layouts. Where were their communication centers? Where were the life support centers located? Hyper drive? Hangar controls?

Deathweaver immediately retracted his mind after extracting the information. He then directed his attention to the C'ran. His face-tendrils flicked in frustration at the subtle preliminary scan. A hive mind? Not too difficult to overwhelm, but frustrating to traverse while remaining undetected. The Necro Lord let out a low growl and began examining the outlying minds - the frayed edges. No defense was absolute, and Gro'chal knew the inner workings of the mind like the back of his hand. Only time would stall his indomitable will...

"Attention all ships" the captain of the Frigate, Scrying Light. "This is Pandorian Alliance Space. Please state your faction and intent. This is a distress beacon here, so attempting to salvage the ship at the time is considered illegal".

The ships themselves, as any psionic would discover, had a Psi-Regulator, which would defend all aboard against Psionic attacks, with only the strongest of the psionics being able to break through. Even then, those psionic abilties would be extremely painful, or not as effective. The Psi-Regulator would allow the Pandorians the use of their own abilities.

The boarding teams were on final aproach to enter the ship. Priorities would include bridge, engine, and weapons systems personnel, in case they attempt anything and because those systems had priority to make the ship functional. The strike team had their armor and PSEs on and active, so it should go just fine.

"If you are boarding to provide aid, perhaps co-operation would be in our best interested" one of the captains sent to the other fleets assisting.

"Commodore Huras, electronic signal received. Translating and uploading now," announced the Electronic Operations officer once again. The message converted quickly, streaming as sound into Huras's mind. So the first grouping of ships maintained sovereignty over this area of space did they? Perhaps it would be best to not aggravate them in any manner, then. However, none needed to know what happened inside the ship should it come to battle. Yet, 'twas not that way of T'au-var.

"Beam response physically. Message: 'We are of the Meritocracy of C'ran, intent is investigate distress and determine assistance. Boarding process will involve ship damage but atmosphere contained. Any information regarding vessel?'" Configured to an electronic version, Huras's response was sent to the Pandorian ship from which the C'ran had received the message. Ending approach near the stranded ship, the Light Bringer stabilized and turned a broadside towards the target. Plates came apart on the underside of the Fast Attack Ship, ionic screen containing the ship's atmosphere. Were the power to fail, emergency auxiliary power units would activate long enough to once again clos the breach and sustain the ionic field.

In the hanger, the drop-ships began to depart.

"Exarch-1, this is Boarding Team Osveti. Requesting clearance to begin approach to target vessel."

"Osveti, team cleared for approach. Keep clear of hull. Boarding lasers may be inaccurate in asteroid field."

"Understood, Exarch-1. Teams nearing target. Please advise."

"Hold position 5km out. Current discussion with other factions present. Maintain reactionary pattern, fall back if endangered."

"Holding pattern. Strange psychic feedback reported from vessel, source unknown as is effect. No clear danger, will continue holding."

"Observation noted. Await permission to board."

As Gro'chal probed the psychic dampeners, several of the team members shifted uncomfortably. The psio-coven identified it as only strange feedback yet the persistence of the intrusion was unsettling. Psych-net connections formed and broke between the boarding team members, ensuring that it wasn't any form of equipment problem. Despite the complexity of the system, however, Gro'chal would find a way through. A strong wall made up of various reinforcing points will always be weaker at one spot, in this case one of the infantry soldiers. Having only recently transferred to the group from training, the psychic dampener remained as of yet completely tuned to her mind and as such significantly less resilient to psychic intrusion.

Information would be afforded the Deathweaver lord, enough to know of techniques and basic ship information but because of he youth, no confidential or potentially damning knowledge. Standing from their seats, the teams on each ship began their respective preparations for a boarding procedure

Imperial Aschen Navy Responding to Distress Call
Iconoclast Class Battleship 'Vigilanti Eternas'
Commander Bryn Magus


Roughly 100,000 Kilometers away from the meeting fleets, a single contact flickered into existence. There was a brief flare of spatial energy as the ship jumped into the system; prominently displaying the markings of the Imperial Aschen Navy. The ship itself was a massive work of art, angular armor plating, massive gun emplacements, and the maneuverability of a cruiser. Though the Iconoclast was not as large nor as impressive as a Reverence; it was none the less a capable vessel befitting it's class as an Aschen warship.

"Commander." Lieutenant James spoke, turning to Magus.

"We've completed the jump, triangulating distress signal now." He reported, while Magus lowered himself into his chair, Wide-spectrum scanners making their pass through the system before them.

"Multiple vessels, unknown IFF." A Second Lieutenant reported, while Magus nodded. "Action stations..." He ordered, and the lights quickly dimmed to red, while several alarms began to blare.

"Commander, I'm detecting trace psychic energies." Lieutenant games reported, while Magus nodded. "Activate the Psionic inhibitors, bring us about."

With the Psionic inhibitors active, any attempts to psychically scan or interface with the Aschen ship or it's crew would be met with massive and painful feedback.

"Sir, the AI reports that the alien ship broadcasting the distress signal is of a similar origin and reading to a ship spotted by one of our Watchtowers a year or so back, this may be a trap, The alien vessels in the region are also converging on the alien ship broadcasting the Distress call." The Lieutenant added, while Magus made a face. "Full burn, bring shields and forward batteries online. Batteries one and two target the converging alien ships, Batteries three and four target the stranded alien ship."

Shortly after jumping in, the Aschen vessel engaged it's shields, which was signified by a milky white barrier washing over the Battleship, while four of it's gun batteries swiveled to life, coming to bear on the ships before it while it's engines kicked on, the Battleship starting towards the Reaper's Vengeance at nearly full burn.

"Get a TacOps team put together and prepare them for boarding actions; we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Tyler's head throbbed with pain until a blip on the hologram in front of him caught his attention. "Another one?" he asked as he starred at it.
"Commander, the new vessel is powering up it's main weapons, and shields!" Exclaimed the Sensor tech, as he turned around to face Tyler.
"Battle stations, seal all outer bulkheads! Turn to starboard 10 degrees!" Tyler shouted rising from his seat, grabbing his EXO helmet off the side of the chair. "Message the fleet, if they truly want a fight, we'll give them one." He placed his helmet on his head, securing the mask on his face as the visor slipped from the top of the helmet over his eyes.
"Commander, what about the other unidentified vessels?" Asked the Helmsmen, his attention locked on the C'ran and Pandorian ships.
"What about them?" Tyler responded, "They seem able to handle themselves, and should they prove otherwise, We'll step in and support them." He wasn't taking any chances any more, with the uneasy feeling he was getting from the derelict ship, now the appearance of a seemingly hostile ship, how could be afford to take any chances. "This is Commander Tyler Smith of the Amarian 5h fleet, to unidentified vessel, power down your weapons, we are here to provide support to the derelict ship. However, given your response to it's presence tells me my instinct on the ship was correct. Can we assume it is hostile?" he said over the comm on all channels, the translation system broadcasting it in all known languages. "I also request you lower you weapons and identify yourselves. The last thing we need here is the start of a pointless war."

Meanwhile back at the Fleet, "Prime Minister, we just received a message from Commander Smith." said the comm tech on board the Marauder class flagship. "He's ordering the fleet to mobilize, they might be in trouble."
Darius scratched his chin before turning around the face the Admiral. "This is your ship Admiral, you should give the order." he said, folding his left arm behind his lower back.
"This is Admiral Yo'jin to all ships, lock in Hyperspace coordinates and prepare to jump." the Admiral said as the ships turned to face the direction of the Carrier. Their shields rippled, slow at first but picked up speed rather quickly before vanishing in a flash of light.

Gro'chal pondered as the information flowed into him from his probing. The C'ranian private provided a decent foundation for the ship's layout, and the pirate lord deduced further information from her scraps and relayed it to his stowaways. Next, Gro'chal focused on the group mindscape itself. He examined the system from the inside via the soldier's subconscious and prodded a few nodes along the web. With luck, the pings would be seen as errant glitches in the new dampener caused by the supposed feedback.

"Now to turn the system against itself..."

Lord Deathweaver partitioned off a section of his mind with ease and wove a spell matrix of concealment, mimicry, subtlety, and fortitude thrown in to protect against possible backlash. He eased the partition through the soldier's mind and into the system. It would be almost entirely identical to the other nodes in the mindscape and behave like an echo or a minor glitch. If the trojan went undetected or unmolested, he would weave the same enchantment around the shades that continued to explore the C'ranian ships. Meanwhile, his own partition would bounce around the group mindscape and attempting to scry into the minds of officers or engineers for the needed information.

Gro'chal focused his attention on the Pandarians and furrowed his brow at the strong psychic defenses that protected them. Fortunately, the Naacani was most assuredly not a one-trick pirate. He lowered his hand to the sphere on his other armrest and pressed his finger against the glossy surface.

"Activate arcane instruments" he projected his will through the sphere. "Initiate with stealth subroutine."

A new and mystical energy flickered to life inside the ship, though a system of passive enchantments and runes muffled and camouflaged the energy to the point of it being hardly different from the residual radiation of space.

Gro'chal focused on the air in front of him and poured a bit of will and power into a short incantation. A bubble materialized in front of him, depicting the void of space dotted with starlight like a spherical canvas. A twitch of his left index finger caused the bubble to ripple into a view of one of the Pandorian vessels. With that he began several sweeps of the ship in search of the centers for their communications, FTL drive, life support, shields, targeting systems, and weapons.

A pang suddenly shot through Gro'chal's mind. He turned the scrying orb's focus to the origin of a massive disturbance to reveal the arrival of the Aschen battleship. Gro'chal released an audible growl and clenched his fist.

"I did not realize our signal traveled far enough to reach them..." he fumed. "This makes the situation far more complicated... Their inhibitors and planck field will remove several strategies and dwindle our options. I could manipulate the other ships into covering our escape and scavenge the leftovers... Let us see how it turns out."

With that, Gro'chal began to carefully and stealthily scry the Aschen iconoclast battleship. He worked layer by layer, figuratively tip-toeing his way after ensuring no defenses or alarms to magical probing barred his path.

The frigates, like clockwork, began reporting on the Aschen presence back to the main fleet. The main fleet reporting something back on a channel so secure, Captain Ellen Fields was not even sure she had authorization to use this channel under normal means, though the captain of the fleet, Ramora Bergi, had sent it. Though, given the message, she understood. Its good to know we have that in waiting, though lets hope it wont come to that.

"We read you Amarian Fleet. Please be advised, we find both the motion and position of this ship suspcious as well. We will now attempt to penetrate it with lifeform scanners to get a detailed state of the crew. Do you have any such instruments that can do the same?"

She broadcasted to the Aschen ships. "Attention, release your weapons locks immediately. There is no hostilities between us, and I have no intention of being the one to start it".

One of her bridge officers then came to her with something. They were not entirely sure yet, but they believe that psionic activity has been detected. orginating from the unknown ship, it seemed to test them, before going after the C'ran vessel.

"Attention unknown vessel with the distress beacon, we have detected unexplained psionic acitivity from your ship! Please explain at once!" she noted, and the boarding teams remained on standby mode, in position to board on a moments notice.

The ships also had its shields at max, and the rest of the fleets were on standby to jump right into the fray at a moments notice should trouble occur, but the Pandorians would do what they could to not enter conflict in the first place.

(If someone could please tag the characters I would be extremely grateful. Tagging doesn't seem to work on mobile devices and I don't have computer access until much later.)

Gro'chal's psychic ghost wriggles through the psychic defenced of the private, accessing he memory before heading on into the network between the different personnel of the detachment. Breaching through the unattuned psychic dampener had been a simple task as it was not yet perfect; the network responded actively. Each network took a life of its own, the collective sum intelligence of all people connected to it. In this way, AI-like constructs could be created at will with enough people, allowing machine efficiency for living beings. And as its own organism, the network had its defenses to rid itself of diseases. Having awareness of all, it already knew of the weakness presented by the private's mind. When Gro'chal's ghost entered, the anomaly encountered the presence of the network intelligence. Alerting several specially selected psychics to the presence, it continues to contain the ghost as the purgation unit began its inspection.

As the emergence of the Aschen ship registered on the scanners, Huras immediately requested and received control of the entire detachment, the lives of thousands now in here hands and mind. Synchronized, the three Orison's rotated to face the Iconoclast. Dual shield systems activated, encasing the three vessels in two layers of defenses, marked only by a slight ripple of electricity over the hull of each vessel. Engines throttled to full, yet the ship moved forward almost imperceptibly as all thrust dissipated into the time dilation field which had activated alongside the other combat systems. Weapons batteries revealed themselves, hovering out of their containment compartments. The weapons remained on-standby, unwilling to provoke conflict. Detecting transmissions from the Pandorians and Amarians. Activating a radio channel reserves for universal information, Huras said, "We request you deactivate your weapons and explain the hostile approach. Please comply."

The three drop ships boosted away from The Reaper's Vengeance, taking cover behind an asteroid which afforded a clear route to the Orison's should escape be required. Onboard, the infantry remained seated and unphased, even as a shield came into place over the vehicles. The psio-coven, wary of all contacts from the recent developments, began utilizing active protection fields to shield the group as the mage wove defensive spells, covering the drop ships in extra layers of protection

The Iconoclast continued on it's intercept course towards the alien vessel, while two of it's six massive MAC batteries continued to bear aim at the other alien fleets. And two more were locked cleanly on the Reaper's Vengeance

The Iconoclast's six Main Batteries consisted of what was designated to the Aschen as a SuperMAC, a weapon that fired a solid 2,000 ton ferric-tungsten slug at 12,000 kilometers per second. The weapon was as devastating as it was effective, capable of punching through shields and armor alike, while retaining enough kinetic energy to punch through several ships beyond.

These were but a fraction of the Iconoclast's combat capabilities, and the only ones that remained active at this time.

Magus pondered his next move, checking his display a moment before he turned to his Lieutenant.

"Open a channel to reply, and then signal the nearest fleet. If that ship's the same one as the one pulling this same crap near that watchtower, I want to seize that ship for further investigation." Magus ordered.

A moment later, Lieutenant Finn turned around at his station, nodding.

"We have a reply from Admiral Whitcomb, the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity will respond, their ETA is two millicentons. The Intrepid class scout ship that detected the signal originally is re-attaching to the Fleet of Tranquil Composure, they are also en-route to assist, and will arrive in.. Five Millicentons."

"Excellent." Magus said, gesturing to the fleets before them.

"Let'a give our new friends a warm introduction."

With the communication channels open, Bryn Magus cleared his throat, and spoke into the comm, sending a stern and clear message to the Pandorians, the Aramarians and the C'ran.

"Attention unidentified Xeno vessels.. This is Commander Magus of the Imperial Aschen Battleship Vigilanti Eternas. The Alien vessel you're approaching is to be seized under the Authority of the United Aschen Empire in relation to an investigation concerning a security breach in our space several Sectars back. If you interfere with any attempt to secure or destroy this alien vessel it will be construed as an act of aggression against the United Aschen Empire, and will be dealt with accordingly. Our weapons will remain active and locked until we ascertain the nature of your people, and have secured the alien vessel. We will not fire but if you attack us we will defend ourselves, and it will be seen as an act of war." Magus replied, before he turned to his XO.

"All weapon batteries online, bring us full burn to that ship. Once we're within range, Activate the Planck packs and launch Assault Condors for Boarding actions."

The XO Offered a prompt nod while a Lieutenant turned towards Magus.

"Sir, I'm detecting some minute magical anomalies attempting to enter our vessel, I would have missed them but they were registering on our shields."

Magus nodded, and made a face. "Activate the Antimana field."

The Lieutenant nodded, and as Gro'chal may have had some luck probing the Aschen ship at first, he would be met with static a few moments later as it's Anti-magic field activated, preventing any sort of magic from penetrating it's shields, or being used onboard. It would be only a matter of minutes before the Iconoclast was close enough that the Reaper's Vengeance would be encased in a Planck field as well.

"Commander Magus, This is Commander Smith of the Amarian Republic 5th escort fleet." Tyler said in response to Magus, "Be advised the rest of my fleet will be arriving shortly. We don't want a conflict, and as far as I'm concerned, you can have that vessel." he motioned to his comm tech to in the feed. Tyler sighed as she sat down on the steps leading up to the Captains chair, removing his helmet, "Damn this headache," he muttered to himself, rubbing his temple. Moments later 36 cruiser, four warships, and another Carrier, emerged form hyperspace. "Well, there's the fleet," Tyler said as the Marauder emerged. He motioned to the Comm tech to open a channel, "Prime Minister, the situation is under control. We'll be resuming out course home now." He said once the comm link was open.
"Roger that Commander," Darius replied from on board the Marauder class. "What about the derelict vessel?"
"The bigger ship on the other side of the Asteroid field," Tyler said as he looked at the Iconoclast, "They say it's a wanted Vessel, so it stays put." No more then a second after he said that his head started throbbing as images, visions flooded his mind. Soon, Tyler collapsed to the floor, leaving the Captain now in charge.
With Tyler now unconscious the fleet spooled up their hyper drives and just as fast as they arrive, they left in a flash of light.

Only organic material and traces of psionic energy - like echoes or faded imprints - registered aboard The Reaper's Vengeance when penetrated with the scanners. There were no heartbeats, no hoarse breathing of suffocating spacers, no reply to the hailing, nor the warmth of fresh bodies.

It was simply cold, silent, and dead.

Gro'chal's trojan continued to attempt evasion from the C'ranian "antibodies" of the network. He attempted to override the signature of a maintenance worker in a final effort. The trojan mimicked the worker's psychic imprint before melding with his consciousness, thrusting him out of the network, and assuming his place. The pirate lord hoped that the system's security would go after the worker's mind - which would be spiraling into the empty void of the mindscape.

The pirate lord's attention was suddenly grabbed by the intercepted Aschen message. His glowing blue eyes widened in alarm. He cursed in a blurt of audible clicks and vulgar psychic images.

"Abort!" he growled. "Abort! All agents back to the ships. Nightgaunt, return to the Vengeance. We need to be out of here before that planck field comes up!"

"ALL VESSELS!" Gro'chal slammed his hand on the psionic interface. "FLEE!"

At first, the asteroid field was just as cold and desolate as it was when the Pandorians arrived. Faint, barely perceptible psionic signatures bounced between the drifting mountains and continents like echoes. Then a tidal wave of psychic energy erupted from the supposedly derelict ship. While the previous signatures were barely embers, this explosion was a raging inferno. Engines thundered and shields materialized as the ship rocketed passed the Pandorian vessels.

Then all of Hell awoke.

Similar, yet significantly smaller, bonfires of psionic activity ignited across the asteroid field. Dozens of heat signatures flickered to life from within several of the asteroids. Less than a few breaths later, the armored hides of several modified corvettes emerged from the crags and canyons of the floating rocks like trapdoor spiders. Unlike most corvettes, these were more heavily armored and had several more cannons of unknown alien make. Layers of dust and rocks flew from their hulls as they broke into a mad gallop to the opposite end of field - furthest from the Aschen ships.

Meanwhile, aboard The Reaper's Vengeance, the psychic energies continued to build to terrifying levels. The Naacani were natural psychics. Psionics were as much part of their biology as a beating heart. Gro'chal, through decades of vigorous training, had surpassed nearly all of his kin. And yet he had found another way to empower himself.

The Necro Lord's gaze shifted shifted to the skeletons that filled the command bridge. The skeletal crewmen stirred with but a thought. A dim azure glow flickered in their empty eye sockets. Creaking bones shattered the dead silence of the bridge while the glows swiftly ignited into tongues of blue flame. Gro'chal felt each of their presences as an extension of himself - a limb of his indominable will. He reached out to the other Deathweaver ships that zoomed through the asteroid field at a breakneck pace and found similar clusters of tethered minds. Deathweaver harnessed their essences - the raw sorrow and suffering that plagued their restless souls - and channeled it into himself. After so long and so many times, the emotional and mental agony of so many broken lives was no longer overwhelming. Instead, he embraced the cold and unforgiving pain, and channeled it into dark hatred and fiery rage against the Aschen and their meddling - and his own failure at securing his goals. Then, empowering his will and focusing his mind, he channeled the emotions and his power through the psionic amplifiers of the Naacani vessel.

As one - the Deathweavers uttered a soul-rending cry that would leave every psionic quaking in their boots. The inferno bloated into a maelstrom that surrounded The Reaper's Vengeance like a shell. Then it coalesced into a concussive wave of kinetic energy that sent several of the asteroids flying between the fleeing pirates and the Aschen ships.

Gro'chal quaked in his captain's seat. Black blood dripped from one of his nostrils while his cranium pulsed with a vibrant blue light. He directed a single thought into the forgotten trojan within the C'ranian group mindscape, and routed a copy of the same message to the distant Commander Tyler Smith and the much closer Captain Ellen Fields.

"Do not trust the Space Tyrants, for they evoke the fury of the Damned and the vengeance of the Dead."

The void of space lay empty, the only sign of existence the twinkling of the stars in the background. If one listened closely with an electronic device, they would have been able to pick out the faint static and chatter that indicated a space-bound civilization spreading among the stars, filling the paths of emptiness with ideas and metal, bodies and hope. This particular area of space represented a stopping point for ships of C'ran and the Amarian Republic, acting as a point for customs inspection on both sides. Undisturbed, it waited patiently for an event to happen.

Far away on a C'ran freighter, Azan Boreal grunted as he guided the load of spices through the bay, straining as he managed the psyche extension device. All in C'ran were outfitted with psychic actuators yet that did not mean all were particularly skilled with utilizing the powers afforded them. Azan ranked among those in such a category. Limited solely to the link which all in C'ran shared and basic communication with others, manipulating a device created for dedicated psionics presented difficulties. Whoever had decided to charge with him with the task certainly had made a mistake, not something that was wont of any C'ran.

Heaving a small sigh as the cargo settled gently onto its lev-holder, he pressed the button which would activate the autonomous systems of the bay, guiding the crate to its designated position. Exiting the bay of the ship, he proceeded towards his room, a small affair set in the back of the ship. He hadn't been assigned there out of any sort of spite, it was simply the place he had chosen to inhabit. Out of sight, out of mind. He chuckled at the last thought. No one was ever "out of mind" in C'ran.

A small ripple passed through the ship, indicating that the vessel had dropped out of anti-space. The announcement came over the psych-link moments later, broadcast to hundreds of people in an instant. Azan regarded his identification papers. Perfect in all regards. Smiling, another message came over the link, stating that they would be stopping as an Amarian ship inspected them because of an unregistered IFF. Shrugging, Azan exited his room, more interested in meeting these Amarians than remaining in his room. Coming up to the docking suite, he stood next to one of the other crewmen, a Grecian by the name of Dhaunrysn. Nodding to the insectoid, Azan waited as the Amarian ship approached.

The Amarian Cruiser, Tao'wran, dropped out of hyper space with a small, but bright, burst of light. A routine Checkpoint turned into a search rather quickly when the C'ran freighter broadcasted an unregistered IFF. "This is Captain Hugh Ban'shun of the Tao'wran, to C'ran Freighter, we're detecting an unregistered IFF coming from your ship. We're required by Amarian law to preform a search of the vessel to confirm it's origins and cargo. Do you accept?" said the cruisers captain from his chair positioned high on the bridge. Any attempt to stall or avoid the search would have been seen as an act of hostility something made clear to the C'ran after First Contact. The reply to allow the search did not take too long, and the Tao'wran made his approach to the port side of the C'ran Freighter, flashing it's docking lights. Once the two ships had docked, the search party lined up at the air lock door. "Raven Squad, I know this isn't your normal job, but I appreciate your willingness to preform it none the less." Said Captain Ban'shun over the ships intercom.

As the Air lock door opened Tyler was the first to step across, though he was tall and in his Exo-suit and standing at least an inch shorter then the Grecian, most C'ran wouldn't find him too intimidating. However, the Amarian to step out behind him would have been a little intimidating, given the fact he had to duck just to fit in the hallway. "Commander, can we make this quick, these small ships make me feel claustrophobic." The over sized Amarian said as he tried to stretch out until his shoulders touched both walls of the corridor. Tyler simply chuckled and turned his attention to the two crewmen in front of him, "I'm Commander Tyler Smith of the CODOS Raven squad, this is Tarin Tu'cot, my lieutenant." he said introducing himself to the two. "Are you the ones that will be showing us around? Or are we to wait for the Captain like usual?"

As the Tao'wran dropped from hyperspace and picked up on the unregistered IFF, the captain of the C'ran freighter became thoroughly confused. Upon leaving port in C'ran space, codes had been provided to him, ones supposedly valid at the time of acquisition. What exactly had happened he did not know but it certainly annoyed him. As the message from the Amarian vessel came in over the communications system installed int he bridge, the captain consulted with the rest of the bridge crew quickly. A unanimous vote to allow the cruiser to investigate followed.

"Tao'wran, this is the C'ran freighter Litany of Time. We accept the inspection. There shall be two crew members to meet you at the docking port to show you around the ship," the captain responded. Maneuvering so that its side was presented to the Amarian cruiser, the freighter sat silently as the other vessel approached. A small shudder ran through the ship as the airlock connected with each other, signalling the beginning of the search.

With the opening of the airlock door and the entrance of Tyler and his squad, both Dhaunrysn and Azan made short bows towards the soldiers, welcoming them aboard the ship. Azan blinked at the height of the second soldier to enter through the portal. Taller than even most Grecian, he filled much of the small passageway with his bulk. Smiling, Azan took the lead in the conversation.

"Yes, Commander. Dhaunrysn and I will be your guides around the ship and answer any questions that you may have. If you would be so king as to follow us," Azan intoned, making another small bow as he spoke. Turning as the Amarian soldiers began to follow, he grimaced out of sight, annoyed at the presence of the soldiers onboard. Reaching the cargo bay in which he had been just a scant few minutes earlier, he began to lead the soldiers through the various cargo.

"Tell me," Tyler said as he glanced around scanning the cargo with his visor, nothing a few containers being shielded form his scans. "Those containers in that back corner, why are the shielded from scans?" He added as he stopped in his tracks and stared at them. "I am required to know what is inside as well."

"Commander," said the Lieutenant, "We do not need to ask, the treaty gives us the right to open them." The Lieutenant turned towards the containers as if he was going to open them. However, moments before his hand reached it, Tyler shouted "Stop! It's not a matter of rights, it's common curtsy to ask permission." He turned to face his Lieutenant as if demanding him to show some restraint. "Besides, the treaty also states that ships belonging to a faction must be treated as that factions territory. We don't have a right to do anything without permission in the C'ran Territory."

Entering the cargo bay, Dhaunrysn began to instruct the Amarian soldiers as to the different cargo carried, explaining any questions which were asked as to the content or effect of a particular item or container. The Grecian's antennae quivered softly as he spoke, words chittering from his mandibled mouth while also relaying the speech to Azan. Grecians commonly did not take auto-translators of any form, instead relying on others or natural understanding to communicate. As such, Azan translated all of Dhaunrysn's words to the Amarians. Nearing the end of the cargo bay, he noticed Tyler regarding several of the containers curiously, almost suspiciously.

Tyler and the Lieutenant began speaking, questioning the two C'ran in a manner. Dhaunrysn shifted uncomfortably, stepping slowly from side to side, 'feet' clicking against the ground. Courteous Tyler appeared yet it would not do Azan any good to attempt to defy the soldiers in any manner. Sucking in breath, Azan began to respond, "Our most sincere apologies, Commander Smith. Before we left there were several problems and as such not everything could be properly registered or secured. Follow me, if you would."

Motioning to Dhaunrysn to begin retrieval of one of the crates, Azan's eyes tracked one of the containers as they were lifted by one of the automated cranes, settling slowly to the ground. Air hissed as lev systems activated, stabilizing the massive box. Stepping forward to the small crease present on the otherwise smooth surface of the metal, Azan focused his mind onto the systems of the crate and ordered the doors to open. he addressed Tyler as the gates opened, "While not common, some of our cargo must be secured against outside effects through physical, magical, and/or psionic means. A side-effect of such methods is infrequent blockage of scans." Azan accessed the records of the ship to remind himself of the exact items contained in this particular crate. While he was speaking, the rest of the shielded containers began to move off, guided by cranes or lev platforms. "This crate in particular contains material which, when unrefined, is radioactive. All of the shielded crates contain such cargo. Short exposures should present no problem. In specific, these contain parts and fuel for nuclear and exotic energy sources. Everything was checked before leaving by Extranus agents to ensure safety during transport but extra precautions are desirable when ferrying such substances."

Behind the Kethan, the doors finished their opening, revealing a shimmering field behind which lay clear containers, seemingly empty yet filled with the aforementioned items. Such was the case in several of the containers, the others containing equipment for secure storage and utilization of the fuel.

Parem'Zel A bright orb of light illuminates the darkness as Parem steps through his soul fueled portal to find himself shrouded by darkness in the void of space. Stars surrounding him, shining in all their glory. He quickly surrounds himself in a sphere of pure soul energy. Hovering silently in the blackness his heart is full of sorrow. How in all the cosmos is he going to find the ones responsible for his families death. The Mortal God had been hopping from realm to realm seeking answers with no luck. As frustration overcame him he called upon the energies of his own soul to get a sense of the region around him. Feeling the presence of a small rocky body nearby.

Parem'Zel In a flash he once again called upon the energy of his soul to create another glowing orb of light. Manipulating the sphere of energy surrounding him to bring him into the portal.

Lord Xulganak watched with mild interest as the galaxy spun, and he observed the quantum dance between a nucleus and its electron consorts with a studious curiosity. His eyes and ears were spread across the cosmos, silently monitoring the happenings of the galaxy and the civilizations within from the darkness between the stars and the hidden places of the worlds.

A moon-sized space station cannibalized a barren planet in the uncharted galactic wilderness. What little life found there was collected, studied, cataloged, and then sanitized before the world itself was ripped apart and stripped of any valuable resource. The matter would fuel a new generation of droids and ships, which would further extend the Archiver’s reach across the universe. They would harvest, learn, adapt, and build. Xulganak was satisfied.

He turned his gaze outwards, beyond the galaxy. What other matters required his attention?