The Village Cantina

((occ: Sorry guys, My internet has been alittle glitchy))
Ic:

Sai watched as more raised their weapons at her, and one even shot at her. Her fast reactions alowed her to dodge the first two bullets but the third hit the middle of her tail, she let out an almost human scream but instantly regained her wolfish state of mind again, "Why? I have not touched you yet you fired at me." Her voice raised in curiosity, "I have eaten my fill. I am not going to attack anyone else, why are you trying to provoke me more?" she asked, trases of her human self littered her voice. These pepole were losing interest in her, some were even backing away, 'good' she thought, 'maybe I can get home before I turn back.'

((occ: sorry for such a short post.))

Surael stands upright from that final position, and brings his blade up "to the roof", with the blade settled next to his head, blade pointed towards the ceiling. He's ready for another attack, and he in fact seems to already be focusing Aether into the blade. However, he finds himself in a problem. A Beast before him, and a valuable suspect being captured behind him. Lord knows to where, and what could happen to him. He knows of Eudemonia's practices.

"Jessi, see if you can hold this...thing here for a while."

At that very moment, the Sentinel's blade vanishes from his grip once again, and he turns on one foot. It's almost like a pirouette, but what's interesting is that as he spins, he moves his hands down to two holsters at the small of his back. From there, he pulls out a pair of sturdy looking, vaguely rectangular pistols which, at the end of his motion, find themselves directed towards Tiresias and the Werewolf. This position, with both legs stretched out wide, and his body somewhat lower to the ground than usual and his head staring at neither target in particular should tell someone with a familiarity with the Aiden arts the sort of danger his 'targets' are in.

"Eudemonian. Where are you taking this man? I have pressing matters with him, and I will not allow you to sneak off with him until my business is done. I do not care what you do with him after the fact, but he will not leave Aiden stewardship until my comrade is returned."

Meanwhile, in the Blue Realm Maximilian is in a whole different sort of position. Indeed, he's actually decided to kneel down upon the bare floor, palms resting against each other while he bows his head towards his fingertips. A look of total serenity is simply aided by the presence of his slight smile. Indeed, it's very reminiscent of him 'praying' to a god of some sort. Which of course wouldn't be too far from the truth, as in this position he's focusing himself, and "reading" the Aether around him. He's having something of a hard time of it though, as it just doesn't feel 'right' here. Something is 'off' with the natural flow of energy. This disconcerts him even more than the howling and baying which seems to surround him.

Jessi watched the large beastie as it spoke, edging out a bit further so she would be clear of the tables and those who lay curled on the floor. As her boot touched the surface of the floor, Jessi said “I am not provoking you creature, I am interested in understanding you and your kind. Why did you feed on that man?”

The amber energies coalesced in her eyes and streamed away from the eye sockets, swirling around her head before drifting off and dissipating into the substance of the room. As Jessi moved, she eased her cloak back and over her shoulder exposing the handle of the second sword. The crackling and flowing white-silver glow of the electrical energy that flowed along the sword created a very audible hum that continued to fill the small room. The darshan flowed and swirled around the Xindhi, touching the elements in the room, understanding them each in their relation to the other objects and elements of the tavern.

“Surely you can see the reason for drawing weapons, people entering and exiting the reality of this existence at will a mysterious beast of obvious power and a consistent element of unknown have provoked the display of weapons.” At that moment the sound of a gun shot from somewhere behind echoed. With a thought the patterns of darshan detected the path of the bullets as they crossed the room, two embedding themselves in to the structure of the room, one striking a girl and killing her.

Jessi traced the life energies of the girl as it dissipated and was absorbed into the darshan and prana of this holon. Before the Xindhi could move another shot, a single bullet raced through the air, causing minute ripples as the energy of the projectile transverses the distance from barrel to target.

“As you can see it is difficult to tell friend from foe at this point.” Jessi says to the wolf being and with a nod of her skeletal head turns to face the events that are occurring behind her. The electrical energy continuing to build along the surface if the blade.

Tiresias re-directed his gaze from the wounded Matt to the treasonous Ardren, never shifting his weapon from its mark. Ignoring the obvious ploy on Matt’s part he gave the Ardren threat some consideration before stepping back from the wounded man and easing his weapon at his side, giving a sweeping gesture with his free hand as if to wipe away the clouds of barbarous treason before him

Ah! More veiled threats from a possible traitor, no less. I shall delight in your execution as your nation renders justice upon you! Here take the man, but rest assure that Eudemonia shall have their say in his interrogation and judgment, and I will most assuredly find the supervision on this role particularly delicious.

He added with a venomous, almost lyrical quality. Taking several steps away from the man, he found some sort of newfound confidence in the circumstances, tipping his hand in a manner most obvious. Inching away from the door, he could still be seen basking in his own righteous judgment as the faint, muffled sound of some sort of heavy weight impacting the street behind him was heard. Through the windows, two Hypaspist mechanized panoply could be seen, augmented in a manner most imperceptible and of obvious Sacred Band construction. Indeed, the sight of those two armored warriors would next signal the emergence of an armored APC to those who knew the standard Eudemonian procedure, tinting the scenario with a further tension. With the simple call Tiresias placed earlier, he had solidified Eudemonia’s vested interest in the matter and significantly raised the stakes as well as the level of involvement regarding his master. Indeed, while the operation was destroyed beyond all recognition, the presence of backup did bring some hope back to the cornered Eudemonian.

With a renewed zeal, he made another, significantly smaller gesture towards the outside where the Hypaspist stood, commenting on the now confounded situation of the Ardren

It appears my master has found some interest in the outcome of this little… discussion of ours. Pray that you are as true to your nation as you play, Aiden.

In one swift movement, Surael pulls himself up into a different stance altogether. This time, he's standing straight up, with both pistols directed forward. One fixed upon the Eudemonian, and the other upon the Stranger who absconded with his comrade.

"You. Get over here."

He then demands, while offering a slight waving gesture with that pistol. The Aiden then looks up, towards the sounds of the powered armor outside. It seems that even this doesn't shake the Sentinel's resolve, however. Despite his current situation, he keeps a steely gaze fixed upon the Eudemonian.

"I will tear apart everything and everyone who blocks my way to my Brother. This man is instrumental to finding out where he is, and getting him back."

He then barks towards Tiresias, while aiming the pistol right in between the Stranger's eyes. It is plain, however, that even as he does this he's still equally focused upon his other target. Just another unique benefit to his aether enhancements. It's at this point that he glares at the Stranger in particular.

"You. Bring him back. Do it now."

It seemed that Matt had surrendered, a fact made more and more obvious as the Eudemonian shot him in the hand that wasn't being clamped down upon in a vice-like grip. Now, as two panoply arrived as backup and the dark garbed Aiden trained his newly brandished guns at both Tiresias and the subdued stranger, Skogul released her grip – slowly. She slid those wicked circi from Matt's wrist and ankle, noting as she did the bruising and dermal irritation her temporary hold had begun to cause and pulled her headtails back so they rested behind her as she stood, backing off the sidewalk and the curb to get out of the way of any shots the Ardren might take. Despite the fact she was outside and away from the confined chaos of the cantina, she didn't attempt to make a break for it, as the angry Surael or one of the Hypaspists would more than surely train one of those weapons on her if she did. She could regenerate limbs, but not organs.

Skogul stood there, watching all three men caught in a sort of stand off before her. She glowered at them, particularly the Eudemonian and the Ardren: the sources of her being caught up in all this in the first place. No doubt she'd have to be taken in by one of them for questioning as well at this point, since she was not only a witness, but intimately involved in the whole debacle as well. She inhaled deeply, holding it for a fraction of a second before releasing it all at once in a deliberately loud sigh. Obviously, she was displeased by her situation and those responsible, and helpless to do anything about it but mildly protest.

As she brooded, she silently hoped one of them would just kill the other. At this point, she didn't really care who did who in, so long as it gave her a chance to either get out of this madness or to hasten the process of her being questioned and sent on her way. After a moment's thought, she decided she'd rather see the Ardren go down; she didn't care for their flashiness much and the Eudemonian was more her type anyhow. Picturing this hypothetical destruction of parties caused a subtle smirk to spread across her lips, softening the agitation in her features just a little with slight amusement.

Nikolai was tiring of this situation, and the sounds of powered armor outside could only mean bad things. He fumbled around in his robes, and produced a small blue cube. He depressed the top of the cube, and in a flash of light, he was back on the bridge of the Destroyer "Verdant Abandon"

Matthew was lowered onto the ground slowly, and as he regained control of his limbs he placed his unwounded hand onto the one that had been shot, covering it and stopping the blood from flowing too dramatically. Matthew took silent yet deep breaths while he walked towards Suraell, obviously to alleviate the pain. As the blood trickled languidly down from the side of his hand, the blood flow stopped abruptly. Revealing what was once a wounded, the injury seemed to have stopped completely, the only noticable evidence of the suffering being the bullet hole blown through his gloves. He flexes his hands for a second, and then leaned over to pick up his cigarettes before he continued walking towards Surael.

"So, where we going?" Matthew questioned as he placed a cigarette between his lips. Matthew had decided that it was best not to fight back, seeing as doing so could leave him with a bullet in the head.

Meanwhile, within the blue area, the sounds of the mysterious creatures seemed to grow louder and louder as time progressed, and one could feel that the orgin of the screeches may very well be on the other side of the door. Finally, one of the creatures peered its head in the doorway for a moment, revealing a shadowy head similar to that of a octopus, yet far more menicing. The creature quickly returned to its hiding area, though the frightening image could burn the memory in one's skull.

Nikolai franticly told the Captain, who was surprised by his appearance on the bridge, about what was happening in the Catina below/ He only paused for breath once, speaking in a rate that was hard to understand. He paced the bridge as he talked, thinking about what he could do down there.

Captain, we've got ourselves a standoff down there... I suggest we send troops to help what appears to be the friendly forces... 5 marines should do the job, all with armor, mind you. Send them at once, we don't have time to waste... And damn, I really need a nap...

With that, Nikolai stammered out of the bridge, drunk from his time at the bar, and in the early stages of felling crappy that accompany the nice feelings of being drunk. The Captain brought up a Com screen, and ordered the immediate assignment of 5 Peace keepers to the last Transmat location.

Just do it, this isn't an act of war.

Inside the bar, about 10 minutes after Nikolai had left, there were multiple flashes of light. Once the light faded, it was revealed that 5 marines, all armed in sleek crimson power and holding Plasma Rifles had teleported into the Catina. They fanned out, keeping their aim trailed on the combatants. The Sergeant's voice was tinny, but it carried the point perfectly well.

Alright, what do we have here?

Events seemed to turn as the appearance of mechanical transports and shortly after that the appearance of the five-armed men. Apparently the beings of technology had some aversion to seeing things that were distinctly beyond their normal experiences. That being the case, Jessi warped the light around her again, bending the waves so that she appeared to vanish.

Moving over towards the bar where the werewolf stood, Jessi merely watched the proceedings. The technologist would prefer to engage in a contest of arms, with their weaponry pointed at one another. The charged energy that coursed along the sword began to dull and mute, finally extinguishing to a barely visible humming sound that vibrated along the surface.

As she watched the proceedings, Jessi reached out and followed the tendrils of communication that had been opened by the one called Surael, trying to access the same wave that had reached her, “Surael I have concealed myself again. I shall embrace you and your captive in the same bent wave of energy; it shall afford you a moment to speak.”

With that, Jessi concentrated on the darshan, feeling the wave motion of light that was in the room, wrapping her control around the light Jessi began to bend it way from Surael and the one who appeared to be injured. As the light shimmered and warped away, creating the illusion they had disappeared, Jessi infused more darshan into the bending, able to refract lased light away from them.

Realizing that such an event might incur a response from the armed men, the Xindhi began to thrum a magnetic wave that swirled and spun around the Aiden knight, the thrum of wave resonance began to subtly grow in strength every thrum would increase the magnetic field. Jessi peered at the technologist, she would studied them more, and it was now simply an application of their technology that she would employ.

The creature vanished before the marines, causing a shift to thermal imaging by their HUD systems. A overlay appeared that showed the cloaked creatures, which still had a heat signiture... except for Jessi, who had to be tracked with a sensitive EM filter. The two marines who had trailed their weapons on Jessi stepped backward, keeping their aim on the EM signiture as they moved.

The remaining Marines kept their weapons focused on the other clocked figures, in case anyone made a move and attacked them. They were on edge, and certainly trigger-happy, due to their peacekeeper status and the fact that three creatures had cloaked.

The sergeant walked toward Jessi in a slow and cautious advance, keeping his gun trailed at chest level... He raised his hand palm forward, so if he dropped it, the marines would execute the creature in a hail of Plasma.

Creature, uncloak, we're not here to harm you, just to keep the peace.

Tiresias paused at the sudden disappearance of the three individuals, still in the midst of getting to grips with the situation when several armed and armoured marines teleported into the bar. Realizing something was definitely awry he quickly jumped in through the opening door Skogul happened to produce in such a timely manner, the man rolling into the street in a manner most ungraceful. Huddling up against the stony wall of the building, he sought refuge from the inevitable crossfire that would most likely erupt as he gave a visual signal for the Hypaspists to engage. Without hesitation both of the machines raised their massive arms, the sizeable weapons platforms on each containing a heavy particle beam weapon and two 7mm rail machine guns.

The target acquisition itself was a cinch, considering the close range of the Red Technocracy soldiers combined with highly advanced sensory and targeting systems aboard the mechanized panoply, even the group hiding in the corner showed up on the IR spectrum, though they were of secondary concern. The particle beam systems on each of the suits suddenly hummed with activity, causing any object within proximity to the suits to rattle to a small extent. The capacitors for the rail guns too began to stir, letting out a low electrical hum that could have been easily heard to careful ears had the particle beam systems not drowned them out. The right-most suit activated its PA system, loudly announcing itself and its intentions for the intruders.

ATTENTION UNKNOWN COMBATANTS, LOWER YOUR WEAPONS AND SUBMIT TO EUDEMONIAN AUTHORITY OR BE LIQUIDATED

The mechanical voice billowed through the streets and into the cantina proper, causing those in the street that had not yet run away from the spectacle to suddenly take flight. Indeed, it was understandable why they would so given the lethal situation before them, with even the likes of Tiresias hunkering down further, almost squeezing himself into the stone wall as to make himself as small a target as possible

The Technocracy soldiers lowered their weapons, and the sergeant spoke up. These mechs were too much to fight, and the Sergeant mused to himself about the overkill involved before talking

We have no hostiles intentions, and we operate only as peacekeepers! Men, Lower your weapons!

The Sergeant hoped that this would work, but just in case, he slowly lowered his hand toward the Anti-Matter charge on his belt. A "Suicide Charge" they called it, due to it's massive blast range and small detonation time. He hoped that wouldn't have to use it, but it could always come to that

The 4 Marines were standing there, hoping that mechs could take on the that creature and it's friends who had cloaked, just in case...

"Just get over here."

Surael states towards Matthew bluntly, while keeping one weapon trained upon him at all times. The rapid souring of the situation even prevents him from taking much notice that Matthew didn't even follow his second command.

"This situation is getting worse and worse..."

Surael thinks to himself openly, turning his gaze from Jessi, to the newly arriving Red Tech marines. They're a problem, though not as much as the Eudemonian forces outside. He knows even that bit of invisibility which Jessi affords him won't help, as the suits most likely have alternative methods of sight. He won't be able to do this alone, he suddenly realizes. So, he calms himself, even despite the sudden altercation between the marines and the Eudemonian powered armors.

"Heinrich..."

He starts, before being cut off by a sudden interrupting thought.

"I know. I've been watching, and I'm on my way. Renaud is already with you.

The thought comes with such firmness that Surael stumbles in his next thoughts, and it takes him a moment to cohere himself. Heinrich is...something else. If ever there were a person closest to the ideals of the Aiden, it would be him. This thought alone soothes Surael's thoughts, and he quickly returns to a state of total composure.

Nearly a kilometer away, the one known as "Renaud" stares down the width of a scope attached to a particularly large rifle from one of the top floors of a large office building. The weapon plainly not of a normal construction, and perhaps even custom made. The rails particularly powerful, and the barrel specially made to resist just such power. Despite this, without a significant "altering" of the rounds, he doubts they could do much against the heavy armor of the Hypaspists. So, he keeps his aim upon the armored marines in particular. They seem to be a more immediate concern, anyway.

"Renaud here. I've got a lock on the unknowns, if they pull something suspicious they'll be dead before they can pull a stupid face."

He "thinks" towards Heinrich, before aiming towards the center most Aether signature relating to the Marines. This one strikes him as interesting, as it's lowering it's hand down to something which he can only assume to be a threat to not only his Brothers, but his Eudemonian allies. His aim fixes solely upon that one Marine's elbow, ready to blow it apart even through the wall separating them.

Confident in his cover, Surael takes these moments of distraction with the Red Tech marines distracted by Eudemonian machinery to quickly grasp Matthew by the back of that furred jacket. Then, he turns to face Jessi before transferring a single thought to the two of them.

"We're getting out of here. Jessi, forget the werewolf! Stranger, bring back Maximilian as soon as we're out of the firing lanes!"

It is then that he waves a hand, which allows a sudden burst of aetherial energy to literally explode several meters in front of him, casting off what would look like a miniature sun right there in the middle of the room, throwing off far more than enough heat to obscure his form, and Matthew's. This flare not only offers several hundred degrees of heat to bleed into the residual heat signatures around him, but also a large electromagnetic disturbance around it. It's a very temporary solution though, as it only lasts a few seconds. This is more than enough time for him to turn, and actually make his way straight past the idle werewolf. and down the hall it had previously come out of.

Once he reaches the end of the hall however, he doesn't stop, and actually rams himself into the door, smashing it at the hinges and opening itself based upon his pure momentum. From there, he continues running, making sure to keep a firm grip upon Matthew's jacket. He doesn't even stop when he gets to the back wall, at which point he once again gives another 'Ramming' motion. This time though, even before he touches it one can see the wall crack, and bulge outwards as a powerful Aetherial force pushes it. Just before he makes impact, it then blows outwards, leaving him landing right upon the back street with Matthew in tow.

Maximilian's eyes open quite suddenly once he feels the presence of those creatures so close by. Yes, it is true that the sight of that cthulu-esque being might shake a person, but to his mind, it only arouses curiosity, and a degree of suspicion. However, by no means does even he fool himself into thinking that the creature is friendly or even cordial. If what Matthew said is true, they wish him nothing but harm. As such, he breaks from his position, and stands up abruptly. For the past few minutes he's been trying to find a way to contact the outside, and it's surprising that he finds that the only consciousness he can reach is that of Matthew's. But only slightly, so he tries a wild gambit.

"Friend, tell me, can you hear me? What's going on back there?"

He thinks, trying to transmit towards the other fellow. It's difficult, because at these presumed distances things like this just don't work.

Matthew, a bit miffed at being dragged across the floor for nearly a minute, struggles to release Surael's grip by punching and kicking the air behind him to loosen the hold, yet does not succeed. Abruptly he stops struggling, having recieved Maximilian's message at this time. Though faint, the worlds spread across his mind with legible clarity.

"What is happening? How do I speak with him? Ah..."

Matthew contacts Maximilian once more, yet is unable to do so telepathically. In this such case, most of his kind are able to simply join with the other in that wretched blue zone, however at the moment that sort of option was grayed out. In this instance, Matthew went on a limb and decided to attempted something rather difficult, not to mention unpracticed. Instead of transferring his entire body within the "other room," such an action requiring more of his special brand of energy than is available at the moment, Matthew coughed up a small orb from his mouth, and at which point his head rested downward, his body seemingly without life.

Meanwhile, the orb buzzed into the Cantina, zipping this direction and that, until it reached the middle of the room. At this point it faded from the normal world, and into the blue world. At which point, the petite white orb flew towards Maximilian, every once and a while fading slightly. This sort of procedure was difficult even with an adequate supply of energy, and the orb was without stability.

"Maximi...lian? C... Ca... Can y.. you he..ar my voice?"

The voice echoed from the orb, and at this sound, the Shrieks scurried away with the familiarity of Matthew's voice.

Sure as truth, Surael probably didn't even notice those unfocused, ungrounded punches and kicks as focused upon the task as he was. However, he quickly stops in his tracks the moment Matthew slumps down, seemingly lifeless. At that point, he actually moves to brace the other man against him while he hobbles down the street. As he does this, he actually cusses aloud

"Damn it! If he's fainted this is going to be a lot more difficult than it needs to be!"

Back in the Blue Realm, Maximilian awaits a response to his message. Anything would do, and he was actually considering giving up on the possibility the moment before that little orb appeared in the air before him. At that point, he cants his head to the side and peers at it curiously right up until it starts to "speak" to him. Then, he stands straight and tall

"Matthew!"

He states with surprise, though his composure never breaks.

"What's happening? Is everything alright? Where is Surael? I don't think it's wise for me to be here alone."

He questions, though with a methodical pause between each inquiry.

The Marines, not knowing what else to do and taking the thermal blinding as an act of hostility, doved behind cover while wildy opening fire at the doorway toward the presumably escaping men. Bolts of plasma turned the walls into slag, and the air reeked of ozone. This wasn't the best idea, but it would hopefully stop the escaping men.

STOP!

The Sergeant yelled, this was not how to go about this with hostile and overpowering forces around. The barrage stopped, and once the smoke cleared, the Catina was a scene of utter devastation and chaos. It's walls were covered molten metal, and anything flamable had been ignited by the heat of the plasma/

It seemed at this point whenever Skogul thought things were at their absolute worst, they then had a tendency to spiral even further into the bowels of awful situation hell. From mysterious disappearances and disgruntled, murderous lycanthropic beasts munching on hapless barkeeps it plummeted, only to be forced further down by the arrival of not only Eudemonian powered armor units, but also by armored troops from some outfit she'd never seen before, who obviously did not have dominion on a blatantly neutral trading planet, but insisted they were there to “keep the peace”. A ludicrous proclamation if she'd ever heard one. And now Tiresias, although not proven to be the most courageous or selfless individual present, had finally decided to pull out properly, and was not only fleeing the cantina, he was taking cover from the imminent firefight.

She didn't need much more than this to know she should follow suit. Despite being outside of the building, she knew she wasn't hardly safe from stray fire or whatever other unexpected sorts of weaponry or aethereal nonsense those gathered within would pull out of their noses, and with no hesitation at all, hunkered down and scurried to her own spot on the wall, flattening against it as much as she was able to to keep as low a profile as she could. At this point, she could care less about the Aiden and the lanky stranger with a propensity for making people vanish, disregarding them as Surael dragged the kicking and screaming stranger back into the cantina in some suicidal attempt to get out of danger. It would have been occasion for her to laugh, if she had not been concerned with more pressing, dire matters. Times like these made her seriously lament her mostly solitary profession; she could certainly use the backup of her fellow salvagers to cover her ass, but even should she submit some sort of request for such assistance, her pleas would fall on deaf and apathetic ears if any at all.

As the blinding flash washed out everything in the room, even eluding the careful and discriminating nature of the IR compensators, the Hypaspists made not a motion, still fixated on the marines through the other sensors such as laser proximity, electro-optical target discrimination, and standard enhanced optics. As the flare illuminated the cantina a faint glow could be detected on the Hypaspists, the scene appearing almost tranquil if one ignored the context. That was, until the Red Technocracy marines opened fire on the Ardren, who happened to be members of the Selekusion Commonwealth. The soldiers of the Sacred Band knew what to do immediately, bathing the innards of the Cantina with what must have amounted to well over a thousand 7mm rail slugs directed towards the marines. The loud hum of the 7mm rail machine guns resonated through the street as the stonework, door frame, and old fashioned oak bar turned to dust in the wake of the brutal assault. Common furniture and wooden fixtures too were obliterated in the endless hail of gunfire, the loud drone of which only broken by the occasional particle beam destroying whatever cover the marines could possibly find. Blue-hued beams of immense intensity ripped through the walls of the building, smashing masonry with ease and passing through to the other side. Indeed, the marines were trapped and had nowhere to run nor hide, the establishment collapsing around them as if their tomb.

Tiresias was uncharacteristically shocked by the assault, going into a prone position on the ground and crawling away as fast as he could. A foot soldier he was not, to be sure, and the better of valor he did appreciate greatly.

((So... Who the hell are the "Evil" folks here?))

Only one of the small Marine group survived, the Sergeant, who had called upon his trigger happy squad to stop in the first place. As the barrage started upon the Cantina, he had trigger his emergency teleport out, standard issue for all officers operating in a peacekeeping squad. The man appeared on the bridge, out of breath, but with an emotionless expression thanks to his polarized visor. He told the captain of his disaster on the surface... But the captain went with the escalation approach, wanting to deliver an apology while still having the upper hand...

More flashes of light appeared on the planet, and this time two of them were much larger. The flare died off, revealing two Heavy Assault Troops, and the aforementioned Sergeant, flanked by the aforementioned Troops. These were very heavy Troopers in powered armor, the kind that you mostly see in the Heavy Armor Brigades in other nations. Their armor was a good 3 inch thick, and they carried the kind of weapons that destroyed tanks with one shot. The Sergeant stood there unarmed, flanked by two larger and more powerful guards.

We apologize for this, and my marines.

Just in case, his finger hovered over the trigger of the Transmat beacon.

Jessi nodded when Surael spoke, in an instant she dropped the wave-bending illusion and unleashed the magnetic field she had created around the Aiden knight, as she did so the low frequency energy that had resonated on the sword sprang to life. The blade erupted once again into the massive electrical charge.

The thrum of the magnetic resonance filled Jessi’s being, as everything seemed to slow down, the flash of light, the shouting, the plasma bursts, followed by a thunderous roar of heavier weapons unloading their hellish payload into the cantina. The massive electrical discharge infused the incredible magnetic field.

But as Jessi had time to understand the reality she was currently in, the massive magnetic force that she unleashed and swirled around the room. The immense field spread out, from the point of origin to a distance of thirty feet outside the room in all directions. The plasma bursts from the small arms and any heavier weapons would be deflected by the immense electromagnetic field that suddenly emerged. The highly charged particles of the weapons would become diffused in the electromagnetic field.

As the immense ionized particles interacted with the heavily charged magnetic field, an adiabatic deceleration occurred. The ionized gasses expanding under adiabatic conditions, its pressure and temperature both decreased without the gain or loss of heat. It was a simple reversible thermodynamic process that would occur to the intense charged particles being discharged in the magnetic field. An understanding of technology Jessi had acquired as she had been framing the events that had occurred over the last few minutes. The kinetic force of the plasma burst would continue, the searing ionized particles that charged the bursts however would not.

Jessi reached the Aiden knight and said in her gravelly voice, “Come I shall aid you in carrying this being.”

The orb flew around the room as it spoke, trying to fight away the urge to return back into the human world. It was difficult for Matthew's "soul" to be within another plane of existance from his host, and doing so for too long may result in the soul being destroy and his body lifeless forever. With that in mind, the orb echoed with frantic activity, jumbling all of its words together. Additionally, the room began to fall apart, just as it was doing so in the human realm, causing the orb to grow in its panicked speech.

"Suraelisescapingwithmybody,youmustfollowhim.Dowhatyoumusttofindhiminthisworld.Whenyoudo,youmustthinkabout-"

The orb soon faded from existance, but not without uttering one last phrase.

"Whatyou....desire....mostrightnow."

And with that, the orb was gone entirely within the blue room. Meanwhile, it reentered the Cantina at this moment, and through the destruction it quickly zipped in all direction, phasing through the damaged room and into its host. At this moment, Matthew's head reared upwards, his eyes opening abruptly for a short second, his dark eyes filled with a bright light. However, His head soon returned to its lifeless position, and his body was unconscious once more. The use of such a great deal of energy had caused him to enter a temporary hibernation state.

The hulking beasts of the formidable Eudemonian infantry arm hardly skipped a beat as they immediately ceased fire upon the previous EM anomaly suddenly causing their weapons to become ineffective within the vicinity. Their target was neutralized for now, despite the innate disturbing nature of the anomaly as well as the obvious energy spike signaling some kind of active teleportation system within the vicinity. Both of the Hypaspists immediately reverted to a steady position, as if awaiting further orders, that was until two more energy spikes were read on the sensors, signifying yet another teleportation nearby. Reverting right back to an alert mode, the panoply began searching around for their target, immediately tracking onto the armored infantry and commenting on their appearance with their characteristic booming mechanical voice

UNIDENTIFIED MECHANIZED INFANTRY, IDENTIFY YOURSELVES AND LAY DOWN WEAPONS OR BE LIQUIDATED

Tiresias, however, had enough of this whole mess, he slowly stood up and dusted himself off. Standing some 20 feet behind the panoply, he began quickly walking over to them, waving for them and the other armored infantry to lay down their arms

That is quite enough!

He added to his frantic arm waving, scolding the Hypaspist as if they were misbehaving children. Tiresias knew full well the bravado many of the Hypaspist corps took as virtue above all else, seeing as he was a Hypaspist for some time, but this very element could also lead one into trouble during more sensitive moments, a lesson Tiresias carried with him much to the pleasure of his superiors and chagrin of fellow soldiery.

The Heavy Assault Troops lowered their weapons, as per the instruction of the Mechanized infantry. The sergeant, already shot at enough today, lowed his Plasma rifle, and stated what he was doing here.

Well, at least were not being shot at? Now... The Red Technocracy would like to issue an official apology for what just happened.

The dust had begun to settle, the air going from an unbearable cacophony of gunfire and commotion to a deafening silence that unsettled one's very core. Skogul opened her eyes, raising her head to look around slowly through the haze of pulverized stone, masonry and smoke. She saw no sign of the werewolf girl, the Aiden, Matthew or the Xindhi woman, instead only finding a few new Red Technocracy soldiers with weapons lowered and Tiresias, aggravated as ever, marching over to his fellow Eudemonians and chastising them like puppies who piddled on his favorite rug. This perturbed her, as he was the one who called for them and signaled them to be prepared to open fire in the first place, and now he was telling them to stand down.

Sensing no more immediate threats, she stood slowly, still inspecting the damage to the poor little cantina as she half-heartedly brushed the dust and debris from herself. She was absolutely coated in it, which in of itself didn't bother her much at all; on a regular work day, she would be in the same condition, minus the whole fearing for her life part. She kept part of her attention on the three men present in front of her and the new group of Red Tech troops, still scanning the ruins of the establishment for signs of survivors, friendly or not. Even the previously omnipresent energy patterns of the Surael and Jessi were not to be found anywhere in the immediate vicinity. Part of her was greatly disturbed by this, but the other part was relieved as constantly being exposed to that much of it was giving her quite the headache.

Skogul approached Tiresias, still maintaining a somewhat safe distance, should his Hypaspist friends decide to turn their weapons on her for whatever reason. These Eudemonians could be jumpy and just a touch trigger-happy, in her limited experience and she didn't want to take any chances. She coughed a few times to clear the dust from her throat, still patting her sleeves and pants to dislodge the build up of dust from them when she spoke, a noticeable tinge of irritation peppering her voice.

Hey! What now? Those two Ardren guys are gone along with those two weirdos with the magic tricks. Besides that, seems I left that nifty little datapad in the cantina and I'm sure it's as useful as anything else in that dump at this point.