Orion Spur

Arakawa nodded. "We have something similar called a Cyberbrain." He said, tapping his chin. "Could these devices be hacked? Interfered with?" He said, taking down some notes in Taiyou.

"Something to... say... make someone see things that aren't really there?" Arakawa asked. "Maybe use them to take control of someone's body?"

He shook his head. "It would be a novel idea in war and I would tell you if I knew but my field was propulsion, not biomechanical engineering. I don't think any of the implants have a receiver. The only one I know that transmits is the 'Turas' implant, the one that transmits consciousness. I believe it was developed by the Solari though I could be wrong.", he said and then scooted backwards to the wall so he could lean against it.

"I'll have more questions for you in the near future." The Prince said, nodding to the Imperial Soldiers and Dr. Miyagi, before he started out towards the exit, and once everyone had departed, the door closed behind them, latching shut while the other Taiyou ships began to spool up their hyperdrives.

Though he was by himself, he was by no means unsupervised, or allowed to move freely. Once the door shut behind them, the chains tightened back up, restraining him against the wall with arms and legs immobilized, and a small security camera could be seen in the corner of the room.

----

It was a matter of time before the coordinates were provided to Admiral Uremeshi, the Commanding officer of the fleet, and then promptly entered into the ships computer.

"We have a calculation?" The Admiral asked, and a Lieutenant nodded. "At full throttle, and with newer hyperdrive engines, the trip should take fifteen months."

The Admiral nodded. "Prepare the fleet, we jump in thirty minutes. Mark."

After he was yanked back to the wall and unceremoniously restrained... 'EGO', he thought. 'EGO? Are you there?'

'Integrity... five... percent...', came the female voice with a broken reply.

'I need overcharge.'

'Unable... Recovery...'

'Time?'

'Unknown... Sustenance... required...', EGO replied directly.

Letch just hung around at that point. He attempted to wrap one of the chains around his neck to choke himself to death but the restraints were pulled to the wall too tightly.

The large object advanced through the Orion Spur towards SOL. The object reflected the light of nearby stars, but seemed to have no lights of its own. It was massive and had the shape of a perfectly round ring with the diameter of the hole being impossibly large. Along the hull it had no markings to identify its maker and origin. There were no rocket engines, thrusters, or any form of propulsion that could be seen on the outside, but it continued towards SOL with incredible speed.

The large object advanced through the Orion Spur towards SOL. The object reflected the light of nearby stars, but seemed to have no lights of its own. It was massive and had the shape of a perfectly round ring with the diameter of the hole being impossibly large. Along the hull it had no markings to identify its maker and origin. There were no rocket engines, thrusters, or any form of propulsion that could be seen on the outside, but it continued towards SOL with incredible speed.




Finally it entered SOL space and was further into the Orion Spur, it had reached it's destination.

Barnard's Star is a very low-mass red dwarf star about six light-years away from Terra in the constellation of Ophiuchus, the Snake-holder. It is the fourth-closest known individual star to Sol in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite its proximity, Barnard, at a dim apparent magnitude of about nine, is not a star that any normal human can see unaided from Terra; however it is much brighter in the infrared than it is in visible light.

The star is named for the Terran astronomer E.E. Barnard but it is not an uncommon star. In fact a very large percentage of stars scattered across the Milky Way are just like Barnard but this star lays firmly within the local region of Sol and the leaders and rulers of Terra would eventually call it their sovereign space. The system posses a small planetary system consisting of three large barren planets.

A single Varden corvette exits warp and settles into an orbit around the first planet awaiting the Invictus envoy and investigating party.

"This is it." Captain Mishima said to his crew and his ship's passengers as the large Invictus ship he commanded entered Barnard's Star. After a moment it began inching deeper and deeper into the system.

"Scanning for other ships." One of the crew members said, "Alright. Tell Jade and Church to get up here." Mishima ordered, "On it, sir." Another crew member responded.

On the upper levels of the ship, Jade sat in it's mess hall with her crossbow right next to her food. She glanced up at an elevator opening on the end of the hall. "Jade, you're needed on the bridge." A woman said immediately once the doors opened to reveal her, "I'll hold this for you." She said to Jade, "Oui. Here I come." Jade responded, speaking with a distinctly French accent.

Back in the lower levels. Church sat in near-solitude in the ship's bowels. Every once in awhile an engineer would step through his space, but it was needed for them to make sure the ship wasn't going to blow up because there was some kind of leak. Or making sure the ship wasn't going to malfunction and shoot off towards a sun.

"Church!" A man shouted, "Head to the bridge!" He continued, "Finally." Church muttered, getting to his feet. The Scatterran intelligence agent slid on a black trenchcoat to go with his already black boots, fatigues and T-shirt before he began his trek up to the bridge.

"We've got something, Skipper. A ship, near that planet." A crew member told Captain Mishima, "We're already on course." Another said, "Good. Hail them when we're in range. Ready some weapons. I don't trust the Taiyou or Aschen not to have any forces in the area trying to spy. We're still Terra's neighborhood, so..." Mishima said.

Only moments later a nearby elevator's doors would open, Jade and Church stepping off to enter the bridge. "Are we ready to do this thing, or what?" Church asked.

Once the Invictus ship got into range for their hail communications were established. The Drift class CONCORD Corvette had a vertical construction that stretched on for little more than a kilometer. Its size and weapon compliment classed it as a battleship by the other empires, factions, organizations, companies, etc. of Ayenee and Eden. Though its purposes was not easily discerned from the outside as the CONCORD ships stowed their weapons within their hulls when they were not in use. It could pass as an exploration or diplomatic vessel in such a state.

"Greetings Invictus vessel. This is Admiral Aaric Arlan of the CONCORD ship Tiománaí. Close to ten kilometers and await further instructions. We have a titan preparing to make the jump. Estimated time to jump is five of your minutes."

The communications did not end and a female voice started to speak and if there was a visual component to the communication her blue iridescent form would be displayed. "Greetings. I am EGO, Environmental Guardian Online. You are about to embark on a journey that will catapult you out of the known universe and across it at relativistic speeds unimaginable." She went on to explain the basic concepts of the Ayen jump drive system, its side effects, and the implications of relocating across such distances so quickly. In effect you did move forward or backward in time relative to your previous position and your destination.

"A journey that would take a beam of light approximately one billion of your years is instead completed in neigh an instant with some preparation before the first step is made." She then went on about cynosural fields, titans, and jump bridges. Finally she stated the destination of the jump. "Your destination is the system of Ethernity, of the Odilis constellation, and the Everyshore region which is part of the Ardenian Federation where CONCORD is currently holding Letch Gordon for questioning." Ethernity just so happened to be relatively close to the last known location of John Rosenthal's daughter.

Aaric came back on the screen. "Alright. We are ready to light the cyno. Be on your toes. Everyone not throwing rocks and beating people with clubs will notice the beacon once it goes up. When the titan jumps through approach it and keep a range of two kilometers from its hull. You will be alerted before the titan pilot opens the bridge. You don't have to do anything at that point and your ship will be transported. Do you have any questions?"

"This is Captain Saito Mishima of the Invictus, captain of the Ripper-class ship the Vulpes. I read you loud and clear, ae are closing in now." Captain Mishima responded to Aaric, the ship beginning to close the gap between them and where they needed to be.

"We don't currently have any questions.Mishima added, "We are good to go when you all are." He said, looking back at Jade and Church. "You know your roles, right?" He asked them, "Yeah. We've got this." Church responded, "I'm just hoping this isn't a waste of time." He continued, taking a seat on the bridge not far from the captain's chair.

"Actually, I have a question." Church said loudly, making sure Aaric heard him. "Any large criminal organizations in your systems? I may need to follow some leads around. I want to do my homework before I go in blind and run into the wrong people." He continued.

"Indeed. There are as many criminal organizations as there are legitimate ones. We will provide you with a guide. You will also have the support of EGO. EGO will also be translating our communications over the net in real time." He smiled and paused before he opened the network to them. They were dumped into the broadband faster than light network on which he had been communicating with the titan pilot located in Ayenee.

"Federation Titan Bannockburn this is CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí, are you prepared to make the jump?"

A reply was short in coming. "CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí this Federation Titan Bannockburn, you are clear to drop the cyno."

"Inaya Inhibitor Control this is CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí, do we have a window?"

Another voice answered in reply. "CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí this is Inaya Inhibitor Control. Your window opens in ten seconds and will last two minutes."

"Federation Titan Bannockburn this is CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí, local scan is clear." Space lit as if a new star had been born. Cords of bright energy undulated around and within a brilliant orb to the front of the Tiománaí. "Green. Cyno deployed! Jump! Jump!"



Space balloon, stretched, and then ruptured. Spatial shock waves vibrated each vessel's hull as the massive vessel clawed its way out of phase space, a fourteen kilometer Erebus class Titan appeared on the grid. Even as the shockwave cleared the scanners detected incoming.

"Vulpes get in range of the titan now!", called Aaric across the channel. The Tiománaí was vulnerable with the cyno lit and he was waiting for the field generator to spool down. He could not move or use his offensive armament."

"Warning unidentified vessel. This is Federation Titan Bannockburn. Keep range! Keep range! If you persist you will be engaged!" Huge guns, 4,060 mm quad barreled neutron siege blaster unclamped from the ship's hull and sluggishly rotated on a target that was not yet visible on the grid. The inside of each barrel was more than four meters in diameter. The message repeated again and again.

"Orion Fleet this is CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí. Red. Prep. to jump. Prep. to jump.", Aaric announced over the network. The tension went from nothing to so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

The signature of the the field was one not ignored, even now the signature bloom of the UDW supercruiser Apophis fading into its wake, the gargantuan 30km length of the old hulk. Crystalline motes of flash frozen water shed from the heavy armor of the warship, yet for its size, the beast banked and decelerated with deceptive swiftness, the efficiency of its gravity drives none degraded over its long immersion in Terran waters. The banking maneuver to present its broadside was a risk, but the incoming signals were flagged, previous similar contacts flagged as friendly contact. And no self respecting captain of a supercruiser kept the massive bow lateral Abyss pointed at neutral targets.

A monster of engineering, the Kaiser-class supercruiser was a heavy capital ship, nearly 150m of armor generating her thick skin, the massive Mk I Abyss turrets that backed to stand-down position slow, unwieldy. "Skidding" as she was, the full silhouette was revealed, the bulky, heavy vessel as sluggish to respond in maneuvering as a wallowed whale, but from the sight of her guns, it was obvious as to her purpose.

"Fed Titan Bannockburn, you are heard and understood. UDW Supercruiser Apophis curbing acceleration, apologies on the drift." Deep within the recesses of the vessel, within the bridge surrounded by a fortress of metal, polymer, internal battlescreens and disruptor fields, Captain Jovis Korsican called to the bridge mikes, moving to stand aside the Comm officer. Old as Apophis was, the crew had elected to pass over the new bridge systems for nothing more than familiarity. Channel closed for the moment, he glanced to his officer. "Secure this line."

A moment and a nod later, he snapped the channel back.

"Bannockburn, be advised, I've been informed we've 10km more of drift left before absolute deceleration."

"You heard the guy." Mishima said, "Let's get moving." He ordered, "Yes, sir. Move in." The bridge commander ordered the rest of the bridge crew. In only a moment the Invictus ship was shooting off at high speeds to close the distance between itself and the Titan. There was a certain calmness that came from the Invictus crew that was not like many others.

The tension didn't bother them. Situations like this, or much worse, were what created the Invictus everyone knew.

"Be ready." Jade told Church, "I've been ready for awhile now. I can't wait to get there." He responded, "It's been awhile since we had to do something like this." He continued, "Buckle up." Captain Mishima told his passengers, Jade moving to take a seat while Church strapped himself into his chair.

"Should we be worried about turbulence?" Jade asked jokingly.

Four of the eight paired 4,060 mm quad barreled neutron siege blaster turrets were turned slightly off the Apophis. The other four were blocked by the vessel's own hull and the titan's ass more or less pointed in the direction of the newcomer.

They're are mechanical limitations placed on big guns like this that prohibited the swift tracking that smaller guns possessed so instead of taking the guns completely off the target they moved them only slightly off a firing solution on the Apophis. This meant that the pilot could quickly move the guns back on target while also not pointing the weapons directly at the Dark Rain super capital.

A communication came across the net as a female's voice broke in. "Federation Titan Bannockburn this is CONCORD Corvette Miotail. Green. Cyno deployed."

"Net this is Federation Titan Bannockburn, bridging in three... two... one... bridge." Space itself swept up to swallow the Vulpes and the ship vanished from time and space casting a small spatial shockwave across the grid that shook everything on it.

"Net this is Federation Titan Bannockburn, we are jumping." A split second later and space stretched to engulf the Federation super capital. Spatial lensing bent the light of Barnard's star that framed the massive ship from behind like only infinite gravity can do. The bubble collapsed and dispersed violent waves that vibrated the fabric of space-time as the ship vanished from the system and the universe.

The CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí remained. A moment after the titan vanished the cynosural field collapsed and the battleship sized vessel started to burn away from its original location before cloaking up. Aaric opened communications with the Apophis but the signal bounced off a few different subspace communication hubs that had been anchored by the Tiománaí before the meeting with the Invictus ship. "Greetings Apophis. Pardon caution of our assets and our allies safety. Your tact is appreciated. This system is compromised. It is only a matter of time before other entities come to investigate. Would you like to pursue peaceful diplomacy at another location?"

"Agreed, CONCORD Contact." Signal tracing turned up alternating stationary points on the tac-map, Korsican nodding his approval to the tactic. "Coordinates in mind?"

Transmitting through his implant to the Nav officer, he readied the woman to receive a location to enter into the TD system. While records showed friendly contact with the entity, he sent a second message, to keep a secondary randomized jump prepared in the capacitors.

"UDW Supercruiser Apophis this is Admiral Aaric Arlan piloting the CONCORD Corvette Tiománaí." Some talk went back and forth and they finally decided on an area of dead-space a few light-years away. There they would meet up and since the Tiománaí was considerably smaller than the Apophis he would request to dock if that were possible.

The Scientific Institute of Higher Learning

Or Sihl, as it was colloquially known, was a small, privately funded space-station constructed in a region of dead-space in the Orion Spur. It had no obvious military or strategic value and simply appeared to be some form of scientific facility that wanted to be kept out of the way of any official government involvement as much as possible. Legally, it was an institution focused around the care and continued study of a series of mental patients who had exhibited especially disturbing behaviour; higher learning referred to the tireless efforts of scientists and students alike to map and understand the nature of the mind and how it related to the 'paranormal' aspects of sapient behaviour - such as psychosis.

In reality, the 'patients' were not 'insane', but rather subjects who were gifted in the psychic arts. Demonstrating extraordinary mental abilities, these subjects were kept locked away where scientists had free reign to study their power without interruption or constant threat of legal ramification. It was a perfect setup; troublesome children and dangerous adults were removed from society and kept safe, while scientists had the opportunity to explore the psychic mind like never before. The downsides? Mistreatment, border-line physical and emotional torture, extreme stress for patients and what was essentially imprisonment.

Most didn't want to be there. But they couldn't leave.

The inside of the station had been modelled after early 19th century architecture. Large, sprawling ballrooms, dinner-halls, oak-furnished bedrooms and sitting areas all connected by hallways decorated by fantastic renaissance artwork. The modern scientific laboratories, testing facilities, staff-quarters, maintenance shafts, elevators and docks all existed behind locked doors, where strict security protocols and armed guards kept watch without the subjects barely knowing they were even there.

It was a prison designed not only to trap their bodies, but their minds. Many of them would barely recognize they were even in a space station - what with fake windows and highly sophisticated simulations of outside views keeping their fantasies alive.

-

It was a bright, sunny evening. At least, from what the subjects could tell inside their mansion prison. Children, teenagers, adults; most were docile and drugged and all had a metal collar around their necks, ready to apply a dose of electricity to keep any no-gooders in check at the wish of a single, smartly-dressed doctor or staff member who were kept on site.

The dining hall's long table had enough spaces for fifty chairs running down each side, with one more on the end for the Director. A white cloth had been thrown over it, and a mouth-watering feast lined the middle, with lit candles, fine cutlery and plates laid out for each subject. "Come in, my friends," the elderly man urged, a crooked yellow smile gleaming at them as they were all led in to take a seat at their tables. "We have a fine dinner prepared this evening, as you can see. How have your days been? Well, I presume? Come now, friends, speak up!"

The bell to signal the beginning of the meal didn't ring until after the Director placed some of the delicious food on his plate, then began to tuck in.

-

"Hold still!" Yelled the Doctor. Vallen struggled, growling through his teeth as he stumbled around the shuttle, and headbutting one of the nurses in his face before two armed men stepped in to hold his arms behind his back and subdue him.

"Subject 52, you would do well to remember that we respond to violence, and threats of violence, with extreme prejudice!"

"Go blow yourself, asshole!" Yelled Vallen, before he felt the needle in his neck. The liquid concoction began to fill his bloodstream, and as he peered out of the shuttle window he could see the hangar of the station fast approaching. They would land within seconds.

"You better not let me down," he murmured under his breath, before sleep overcame him.

Scientific Institute of Higher Learning: Lab 13

Most subjects, or "patients" as the Doctors sometimes called them, probably in some sad attempt to morally justify what they were doing, would be in the dining hall right about now. But Casper had been taken for "Ability Development and Diagnostic Study", or ADDS. Basically, they wanted to learn how his powers worked, and if they could enhance it to suit their needs. He could create tools, weapons, and an assortment of things out of pure energy that he drains from things. What they were trying to do was develop his power forcibly in a way that made it so he could create things out of pure energy but not made of pure energy. Something that would last.

And so, their recent attempt involved a new procedure. Casper was strapped to a chair, and there were at least seven different needles jabbed into him to give him a sedative. His powers only worked if he was conscious and aware, so they couldn't drug him or anything during the experiments. They thought that maybe, if they tried giving him more....traditional psionic abilities, it would bridge the gap and allow them, or at least him and therefore them via the collars and other safety features they put in, to control his gifts.

One of the scientists in the observation room brought in a briefcase holding three full vials of a red liquid drug, and one empty vial. "Is that everything? Are we ready to proceed?" one of the scientists said to the other. "I thought the Director was supposed to observe this".

"You know him, he has to keep up appearances. Now, is the drug in place?"

"Yeah. Do we really have to keep the patient awake though?"

"His powers only work when he is conscious and mostly aware. We cant drug him unconscious or even dull him for this part".

"Isnt this drug known to cause spasming when people take it? And who is to say it will give him a power that wont give us a bridge?"

"We closely examined the drug, and spliced out the key genetic sequences. Yeah, thats right. Genetic sequences. Whoever made this drug, used someone's blood to do it. Over 100 inactive powers in his code. Anyways, shall we begin?"

------------------------

Casper was trying to break free of the restraints. Which is why he wasn't pulling on them repeatedly. That would just get him shocked, and sort of futile. Plus, he could barely move anyways, probably to make sure none of their eight needles full of sedative got knocked out.

That is when he felt something get injected into him. He felt weird, and his chest started beating louder it felt like. Then, he wasn't quite sure why, but he started shaking unontrollably. In the room around him, four guards held tranquilizer guns. The scientists were under the impression he might be able to drain all the energy from his collar, and to be fair they were right. BUt they wouldn't take any serious action on that until they knew for certain, and he still had some bleak minor hope one day he would escape.

But for now, his actions mainly consisted of screaming and spasming as the drug took effect.

][OOC: Changed my character. Mostly the name and fixed up the profile. :P][

Sitting at a table with six other individuals, Alyssa attempted to focus on eating the slob the cooks passed off as food. It was revolting, but her stomach was betraying her by growling constantly. Sure, it looked good, but after everything they had done to her, the thought of eating something cooked by them pissed her off. Finally giving in, the red-haired female picked up the utensil and scooped up what was either oatmeal or mashed potatoes. Staring at it in slight irritation, the lithe teenager finally took a bite. Forcing herself to swallow, she felt her body shuddering slightly. Her already stick figure frame was slendering down even more and if it wasn’t for the ability to work out, she would probably be in really poor shape.

Shoving her fork into a piece of meat that was probably old and imitation, Callahan munched on it thoughtfully as several individuals were quick to answer the Director, though she just rolled her eyes. Over her time, she made a few friends with the staff and wondered if she could get information from them about what other things were going on and perhaps a way to get free for once. Finishing the slop on her plate, the seventeen-year-old climbed to her feet and grabbed it and her utensils before wondering where to take them. Was she supposed to keep them there? She for the life of her couldn’t remember what they normally did and that bothered her immensely. Paying no attention to anyone commenting towards her, Alyssa stepped towards a fair-haired staff member to converse with him. However, before she was able to reach the man, her left slender arm was grabbed by a butt-ugly, buck-toothed, whore-looking black haired woman.

“I don’t want any trouble, but I suggest you let go of me.”

“What ya gon’a do ‘bout it, skel’ton?”

Arching a brow, Alyssa stared the deranged woman down before shifting her attention back towards the staff, knowing at any minute she or the other woman could possibly be zapped. They were watching the two closely. It was obvious that if the crack-head attacked her first, she could easily dispatch the moron. Shifting her feet slightly so that they were shoulder width, Alyssa once again looked at the older woman, who others called Bertha.

“Unless you want to nurse a broken arm, you’ll remove your grimy fingers off my arm.”

Bertha let out a god-awful laugh that sounded like a donkey braying and dug her meaty digits harder into the orphan’s arm. Without wasting another breath, Alyssa grabbed a hold of piggy’s hand and as she removed it from her arm, squeezed together the fingers, grinding the bones as painfully as possible. Snapping around with her left leg, the fighter connected it against Big B’s side. Still holding onto bucky’s right hand the lithe female grabbed a nearby plate and slammed it against the woman’s face. Backing off, Callahan dropped the shattered pieces of the plate to the floor seconds before she felt a slam of electricity rampaging through her body. Gritting her teeth and dropping down to one knee, having almost managed to ignore the pain, Alyssa was extremely glad she hadn’t eaten a ton. Bertha previously known as Bartholomew cried like baby as she flopped around thanks to being zapped. Since the events happened in a blink of the eye, she managed to do quite a bit of damage before being shocked.

“I warned you to let go of me and now you know I wasn’t bluffing.”

Sliding back to her feet, she spit at Bertha’s feet as they pulled her away to get her looked at just in case the plate did any damage to her already disfigured face. Alyssa was also grabbed and moved back to her room. Before she could say a word, she was tossed inside with promises of her punishment to come. Snorting, the redhead sat down on her bed and crossed both legs beneath her, starting to mediate. This wasn’t the first time she had gotten into a fight with Bertha and despite her normally compassionate and innocent-like personality, the fat cow seemed to like to mess with her. Or perhaps it was because of that very thing. Either way, Alyssa was done letting the broad shove her around.

"She danced! And she's dancing! She danced again! And again, she will dance!" Shouted a shrill voice as a thin, pale-skinned, red-headed woman was led through the foyer of the dining hall. A stout man, ranging about the height of 5'7", held tightly onto the woman's arm, dragging her along as she pranced about, hopping through the hallways of the institution. It had been a while since she was sedated, and she was exhilarated to finally feel free once more from the drowsy feeling she got from the sedatives.

The man, who usually went by the name of Shenz, pulled her along more, and led her to a seat at the long table, where he assisted her with getting positioned properly in a chair. For a precautionary measure, he ensured that the woman was secured, wrapping a leather harness around her and strapping it to the back of the chair so that she was unable to leave the dining area until the entire group was dismissed.

"Ohhh, this is my favorite!" A common saying floated into the air as she stared down at whatever was sitting on her plate this time around. It was meal time, and it was the best time of the day - at least, that's what Tetri Plume thought. She couldn't be happier to get out of the padded room she had been recently relocated to, and she was even more ecstatic to see the faces of other patients.

Quick to dig in to the plainly oriented meal, she picked up an eating utensil and began to hastily consume all the pieces on her plate.

-------

After a while of sitting at the table and observing her surroundings, watching all of the other patients consume their own meals, it was time to get back to their rooms. They were dismissed according to ID number, and she was one of the last to be dismissed.

Tetri let out a small huff as she was release from the chair, she was led back down the hall to another room that wasn't quite what she remembered from her short time here. It certainly wasn't her new padded room, it wasn't anything even remotely familiar to the first cell she'd been brought to, and it sure as hell couldn't have been the therapist's office. Where was she, anyways?

Confusion engulfed her mind, and she instantly panicked. Her eyes shot open, widening at the atmosphere of the room and all of the foreign utensils sitting around a lone chair on metal shelves. The room was entirely white and mostly bare. The only thing aesthetically pleasing about the room was a large one-way mirror that was accented by a dull blue frame. A rush of fear bolted through her, and she backed away from the door, but was quickly caught by her escort.

"No! I won't let ya do this! Roger, I'm sorry! I never meant'ta hurt it! Sorry, sorry!" She screamed, her shrill voice echoing down the hallways of the institution.

A guard came around the corner to assist with pushing her into the room, but she Tetri fought against them the best she could. She kicked them both repeatedly, and swung her arms, hitting them all around their faces and shoulders.

"Stop it, girl," Shenz demanded, his gruff voice echoing into her eardrum.

"You think you're so smart," Tetri retorted, continuing to fight against them. The other guard finally grabbed a hold of her arms and crossed them behind her back. Still, the frail woman kicked at the two, sending a frenzy of force at Shenz's shin. She turned around and grinned when she felt him release her, but was struck with a sudden curse of dizziness as she she felt a slight pinch on the side of her neck.

With a small grunt, she fell forward into the second guard's arms, her vision slightly blurring at this point as the sedative began to take place. She could feel her body becoming limp, all of her weight succumbing to the drug and she was now motionless. Her foggy vision searched around the room as she was dragged over to the single chair and was hoisted onto it and then strapped into place.

Shenz recovered quickly from the kick and limped his way on over to the chair where he injected Tetri with another strong dose of the sedative, causing her to fall into an obscure abyss of oblivion. As she lay there, unconscious, she was equipped with a specific headgear that allowed her brain frequencies to be monitored, as well as dream patterns. She was also injected with another serum that initiated dream sequences to take place in her mind so that the research done on her could report a superlative wisp of information that would ultimately unleash her powers of mind control.

Her powers had only been witnessed twice, but never once by her own self. Tetri's powers were unknown to her, and when she was coaxed into this institution by a series of predatory doctors, she was told she would be able to channel this energy into something formidable, yet practical. What she didn't know, was that these people were using her for their experiments and that she would become a tool to them.

And although she was powerful, she was insane and ignorant. But it didn't stop her from dreaming. No one could stop her from dreaming...

Maneuvering into a stable position, the Apophis maintained a fixed point in space with expert precision, the combined harmony of the slight adjustments to its gravity array making the docking procedure, as the massive warship rolled to present its hard-link connections, far more akin to docking to a surface side docking platform that matching drifts.

Captain Korsican was already en route, leaving his bridge controllers to ensure the configurations were adjusted to accommodate a docking connection. En route, he was met by two of his onboard Agents, Si Vern and Logan Combs. Casually greeting each other, the trio made the necessary three tram transfers to reach the docking bay assigned to the Tiománaí. Waiting were two of the Supercruisers complement of Iron Hounds, armored only in their liner suits and armory drawn pistols, and the assigned Midnight operative, Jester. Awaiting the CONCORD contingent, the UDW party was prepared for the worst, and hoping for the best.

"Again." The doctor demanded of the girl.

The silver haired girl didn't even move. The target at the end of the range just suddenly had another hole about the size of a quarter in the middle of it. Her dead looking eyes kept to the floor, waiting for the order to repeat the test again. The probes and wires attached to her head made her look like a puppet on strings and the graphs were constantly monitoring her brain waves.

"Again."

Once again, a second after the order was given, a hole appeared. The order was repeated, the result was the same. Over and over this test was done, and she never grew tired of it, nor did she seem to care that it was essentially wasting her life punching holes in a piece of paper at the end of the 100 meter range. But she never missed.

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Dinner was served as it always was, and the girl sat in silence around the other 'patients' here. She spoke to no one, barely touched her plate. She was overly thin, and most could see the outline of her bones. She cared not of the people around her, of the food sitting in front of her, the constant runs of tests.

So when she finally looked up from her plate to the slurping boy down the way, it was odd she did reacted at all.

The spoon rose up out of the boy's hand and hovered in the air for a moment, perplexing the boy. Ruby tilted her head slightly and the spoon's thin end was stabbed into the boy's shoulder. Her handlers immediately were on her with the sedatives, poking the needle into her neck. But even before she fell into the hazy state, everyone could see in her eyes she did not care.

She didn't have a purpose of injuring the boy. She had no ill will towards him. She hadn't even cared that he was slurping his food.

She just did not care at all.

When he felt the floor move under him, Vallen woke from his slumber and mumbled something incoherent. He tried to raise his hand to wipe some drool from the side of his mouth, but discovered that his arms were bound behind his back and he could not move. Confined to a strait jacket and placed in a wheelchair for the purposes of getting him to his destination, a team of six handlers escorted him through the hallways of the furnished interior of the institution, the wheels of his chair rolling over the varnished wooden floors and occasional rug. His eyes tried to focus on the painted portraits lining the walls, but he found himself too disconnected to do anything but glance at them in passing.

Eventually, he heard the sounds of chatter grow in volume - and the distinctive clatter of knives and forks against plates through an open doorway. Eventually, the wheelchair was brought to a stop just outside and one of the Doctors stepped inside the dining room to address the Director.

"Director, we have him," he spoke with a nod.

"Good! Bring him in, let him meet his new family for a moment before his processing!" The Director replied with a cheerful clap of his hands.

The wheelchair was suddenly wheeled into the room, where Vallen suddenly felt quite a few pairs of eyes focused on him. He didn't bother to move, or speak, he just raised his chin and peered at them for a moment. Four of the five men stood around him were armed with sub-machine guns and the fifth held a metal briefcase containing syringes of 'medicine'.

"This, as you will come to know him in the future days and weeks, is Subject 52; or Vallen, if you prefer," the Doctor spoke with a slight smirk. "Quite infamous in our community, since for the past several years he was an escapee. A fugitive. But now he's back under the watchful, caring eye of the staff here at the Scientific Institute of Higher Learning and serves as a reminder why we must remain here at the institute not only for our safety, but the safety of the public. Is he docile, Doctor?"

"He is. We've pumped him with quite a few milligrams of relaxant, plus we've installed a shock-collar as a precaution. He won't be doing any harm here," the Doctor replied.

"Good," the Director grinned. "But I want two armed men and a doctor never more than ten metres away from him at all times. Understood? Anyway, get him out of here. Don't worry, friends, we'll be able to meet him properly at this evening's Free Time in the common room. Let's get back to eating, shall we?"

The dinner continued as normal, and eventually would end - each respective subject being taken back to their rooms for a few hours of rest and recuperation.

-

Roughly three hours later, as the fake, simulated windows showed the sun dipping into the horizon, the common room was opened for the subjects. It was a huge, sprawling library with comfortable seats, several recreational tables and, of course - thousands of books. Under the watchful eye of staff, the subjects at the Institution would be allowed in for exactly two hours of recreational activity and socialization.

Vallen was already there, before even the first. The three men assigned to him stood well back, and the young man himself seemed to be strolling the bookshelves with care, trying to find what looked like it could be an interesting read. He wore a padded, full-bodied suit - similar to the strait jacket of earlier, but his arms were no longer locked together and he had free reign of movement. The collar rose high, clearly hiding something around his neck, though he didn't seem too discomforted by it.

"When are the others arriving?" Vallen asked, out of casual curiosity.

"They're due any minute," the Doctor replied, not seeming to care for the conversation.

"So why am I already here, exactly?" He asked, as he slid a book from one of the shelves and opened it straight to the middle.

"Gee," the Doctor replied, sarcasm in his voice, "I can't imagine why the Director wanted to keep you away from a crowded hallway."

"Fine. I was just asking."

Suddenly the door opened and subjects began to enter, free to spend their time in any of the available ways.

At first, it was just screaming and spasming.

Then, electricity started coming out of every machine in the room, and towards Casper. It was like it was being drawn to him. It engulfed him, keeping him healed and reduced the spasming till he found himself gasping for air, then the energy disapating. One of the scientists looked at the other. "Did it work?"

"Neural Activity has increased, sharply. Thing is, the readings are...not what we expected. It might be what we wanted though. You better go in and check on his collar. The Director wanted to know if it ever got drained of power".

"Why me?"

"Because I am in charge".

And what if he...absorbs my energy? Kills me? Something horrible? Listen, that kid has been so far unable to drain energy from his collar. I think we are safe".

"Fine, but its your ass on the line" he said.

--------------------------------

Casper had been feeling sick for the past few hours, but he managed to keep it under control in the common room. He could feel the energy he drained. Clearly, they didn't realize how much he had drained, or they would make him dissipate the energy first. Instead, Casper was walking around with more power then they kn ew. He could use that eventually. But for now, he started to act casual.

Of course, acting casual was tougher for him today. Today, he felt sick still, like he was going to keel over. This ended up with him finding some corner of the library, looking through books. Whatever they had done to him, it felt like he was...unstable. Which might be a bad thing, considering he could use his energy to fire explosive blasts from his hands. Feeling unstable could be potentially disastrous.

He looked toward the new person, and suddenly an image glimpsed him, of a star. It was so random Casper didn't know what to make of it, but he bet this had something to do with whatever drug they put through his system. Ironicly, that same drug was canclling out the effects of whatever they tried to dope him with. His brain felt a bit...faster, actually.

He then looked over at the new guy again. He still didn't know his name, and he was curious. He looked fully aware, but not panicked. At all. This interested Casper greatly. So he positioned himself a little closer to the man, so he could overhear anything said. He had enough energy that he could spare a little bit enhancing his perceptive skills for a little bit, as the drain wasn't that taxing.