Star Wars Man Cubs

IC: Mischa, Child of Poseidon
Leaving Prakith

It was only when Elora entered the cockpit that Mischa realised she was still wearing that body armour. Oops. No wonder the crash restraints seemed unusually tight. Fat lot of good that armour had done her in a masquerade ball ... but it would be a bother to go take it off while the Storyteller accelerated towards the sky.

Plus Elora seemed to sense something in orbit. Curious, Mischa turned to her sister. What could it be? There had been only wrecked ships in orbit when they arrived. Another - Mischa grinned back, cheered by the joke - another bit of galaxy changing trouble?

Rather than ask or wait for Louie's scan, the younger Man Cub decided to try and see for herself. Surely it couldn't be difficult to find something you already knew was there. Mischa turned her Sight towards orbit, looking for whatever it was Elora had sensed ... anything that stood out among the derelict ships ...

TAG: Anne, Sirak, Wing

IC: Averagus Aniad II-Son of Theseus
Criton´s Point, The Obsidion Tower

Twas but yet a motion, a sensation that yet moved both world and other-wordly. His spirit eyed the motion of the guards, their presence a disdain to self and reason, and Cato would surely in his state stay true to word if here he yet found them.

So, yet he froze, standing there like nerf between two nexu, a Rancor between two Ronto's, or even yet an hound equidistant from two wounded birds knowing only can be caught and kept. And that delay would mean the loss of both. Stepping between them he spoke low, soft, and with a curious note "You were asked to leave? Yes."

A disembodied voice, sounding to both to come from the other. I approve my Son. Approve nothing, it is my life, I will lead it. Of course. Came the overly pleasant sounding reply.

Willing himself to be seen by these, he stood sideways between them with hands raised, fingers laid upon their mouths. "Go." he said in a voice deep and so full of gravel that he felt a pang that brought a grimace to his features. A pang at the pain he would of, should of felt from such a exertion of his vocal cords. Instead merely existance greeted him.

TAG: Winged

Gallia Tern
Prakith

Gallia glanced at Bakara. He was distressed. Suddenly weak again, despite his moment of power. Gallia swung her blaster carbine around from her back and primed it. She pointed at the spot on the radar where the lifeforms were concentrated.

"Bakara, take the ship to that location, and be ready for a fight if it comes to that."

Tag: Peng

Cato, Son of Achilles
Obsidian Tower, Criton´s Point

Dead ends. Century old dead ends. "For someone who claimed to be so knowing and wise, you have very little information I want. You use is exhausting pretty fast, tree." He turned to his host. "And I have yet to find a place to go. Which means I might stay here. Hautn my eldest enemy, in my new state of existence. become a ghost, a legend, a reaper. Would they hunt me? They did that before. but do Rakatans of this age have anything to oppose a warrior of old? Who studied them? No, I think in time I would exterminate these people. Especially after I found a way to get rid of you." Cato smiled. A calm smile. "Yes, you might be hard to kill with that purple flame, but in time, in time I would find a way. And your existence, all your knowledge, all your prupose would be lost. Like a driplet of rain in a raging river that is time." Dragging out his blade he hurled it around his hand. He felt stronger now, that he had tasted the brains of these creautres. he felt them fluidly in his veins. Like a soup. He chukled a bit at that thought. A soup, yes.

"So, do you prefer me to go elsewhere? You could name me a target of your choice, but if I find the advise not useful, I would come back and exterminate your people. So, name me a place. Tell me what your great wisdom holds for me? Where do I find the remains of Nergal´s legacy? Where do I find others of my . . ." kind? "Former species?" Cato neared the tree again. "You can always tell yourself you tricked me, outsmarted me. Something like that. you can rant to all eternity what a fool I have been. But now safe your people. Safe them, or doom them. You choice. It is really your choice, tree."

Cato felt that rage. That unsatisfied hunger. What had he forgotten? Nergal. Nergal. He had known Nergal, had he? Yes, he had known him. When? Why? Had he known any of his enemies by name? The impotence to remember made him angry and that rage searched for something to be unleashed at.

"Tell me, tree. Tell me." He whispered. "Or your purple flame will take away all you have. And leave you to rot here alone. In the dark. Even your precious library I would burn down. Making you watch all knowledge lost. While your precious skin grows black in the fire. A very real fire." He giggled almost. Loosing control over the tendrils for a moment, he could not keep them from shooting out of his face. But a single thought made them withdraw again. Controlled by his will.

"Tell me. Or your world will burn."

Tag: Winged

IC: Jin, Son of Perseus
Sicarii?s Villa, Ko Vari

Jin listened patiently as Rusudan made her way through the introductions. He?d chosen a smart but not overly elaborate robe, tied with sash and cape. Beyond the silver trim, little accented the garb. Likewise, beyond acknowledging his humanity, he?d tried to eschew any long titles. Powerful things needed little commentary.

?Do you have any questions?? Rusudan concluded.

?Only this,? he started. ?To each of you, and all of you, what was the price of bringing you here? What favors did Sicarii call in to recruit you here? To what does he owe your loyalty? Who paid to make you this way, and with what coin? If you were to sum all the cost of what you are, what would it look like, exactly? When is the point when you stopped being men for hire, and started being something more??

He began removing his jewelry as he continued.

?Then, further, tell me what it is you want. At the end of all your dealings, what will have made them worth doing? Where is satisfaction, that you think you?ll find it with a Hutt??

By now, he had removed the brilliant gold brooch that pinned his cape. He handed it off to an attendant before beginning to fold the silken outerwear.

?It is getting late in the day. In a moment, I?ll go running laps around the perimeter of this facility. Afterwards, I?ll be practicing marksmanship. When you have your answers, you?re welcome to join me. And then we?ll come to our real business.?

He was left standing in stripped, practical attire that revealed a lean, well-exercised frame. Folding the last of his robes gave him a chance to wait for a response without seeming to outwardly. Not that he intended to do so for long.

TAG: Winged

I'm back.

And with a resource thread, too.

SirakRomar, DarthXan318, JediMasterAnne, Penguinator-176, NickLitYouAFlame

Prakith

They met upon the furthest edges of Prakith's atmosphere.

Bakara and Gallia acted with warriors' caution, arming themselves for the worst. As their shuttle hurtled down towards the volcanic world below, an enormous ship, larger than anything the two humans had ever seen before, was on its way up. It looked like a child's drawing of a star, vast, angular and composed of conjoined triangular wings. Flying alongside it, as tiny as an insect beside a thranta, was a battered old freighter that looked remarkably like the Storyteller, the ship captained by Sarabi Sei'lar.

*

Meanwhile, aboard that very freighter, Elisthia, Mischa, Elora and Abu were crowded into the cockpit, staring up at the strange shuttle that was approaching in the distance. Taka and his Zabrak companions were waiting on the holodeck, and their bodyguard LOU-1E now trundled in to join his young charges.

"That," droned the battle droid, "is a Binary Brigade shuttle."

*

Before either set of cubs could fully grasp the implications of the unfolding situation, a voice crackled out across all channels, being transmitted from the colossal star-shaped vessel.

"Unidentified shuttle," rasped the voice, "This is Captain Vilevein of Her Majesty's Guard, speaking from the Worldship Citadel and on behalf of our companion freighter The Storyteller. Identify yourself immediately and tell us what business you have on the surface of Prakith."



To the Force-sensitive cubs: I leave it to you to decide what you are able to 'sense'. You may be able to feel nothing but other lifeforms, you may be able to feel a familiar presence, you may even be able to identify it exactly as your long-lost sibling(s). It doesn't really matter, as a face-to-face reunion is close at hand.

Sarge221

Kashyyyk


When the human woke, he was greeted by the somewhat intimidating sight of three Wookiees towering directly over him. They peered down, roaring in their incomprehensible language.

"Please remain calm."

The voice of the protocol droid. As Susul raised his neck, he would be able to see the droid standing in the corner of the room. They appeared to be in some sort of hut, and judging by the light that was streaming through the window to his left, they were back in the upper levels of the planet. But he was unable to see any more than that, or even move at all.

After a moment, he realised that he had been strapped to the bed. Thick ropes had been fastened around his arms, chest, stomach, thighs and ankles, keeping him firmly in place. It might as well have been durasteel, and barely allowed him a millimetre of movement in any direction.

But by far the strangest thing were the changes that had taken place in Susul himself. The Wookiees were watching him with some interest, and seemed to back off slightly as he opened his eyes. They somehow seemed smaller, now. Everything did, in fact. The hut, the droid.

Of course, if the world hadn't suddenly shrunk since he was last awake, then there was another explanation...


darthramza

Surface, Hoth

The bunker entrance hissed open, and a welcome gust of warm air greeted them from the doorway panels. Abandoned or not, it seemed the heating was still working.

It immediately became clear that much of the structure had been shaped around existing caverns, and the corridors that greeted them seemed more organic than man-made. There were no obvious clues as to who or what might have been living there.

[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080415124140/starwars/images/1/11/EchoBaseCavern.jpg]

"Smugglars, maybe," hazarded Arinna in her limited Basic, as she continu/>/>/>

Susul Damasca, Son of Heracles
Kashyyyk, Hut

I was betrayed.

Considering the the hysteria that had nearly overcome him down at the Shadowlands, the calm that came with the thought was somewhat surprising. Maybe that was because he was simply used to betrayal, death, and all that came with it to the point that the familiarity translated into comfort. Disturbing thought but Susul had other problems to worry about upon waking.

The light from one window hurt his eyes, apparently because of his time within the darkness of the Shadowlands, and his eyes tried to refocus. Soon enough, however, he saw what had come of his situation. Thus the thought of betrayal; that the Wookiees, upon him lashing out at them, had gotten angry and turned on him. And now they were keeping him held while contacting the Togorians to work out a deal with Rebacca.

Convincing as that thought was, however, Susul was yet to believe fully in that. He remembered what happened during his little rant, what had caused him to pass out in the first place. The other things he noticed pointed out to what had really gone on; how much smaller the hut was, the droid, even the Wookiees themselves. Somehow, Susul had grown much, much longer.

The artifact?

I'm a freak.

Despite how despair welled up at that thought, Susul found it in him to fight it down while a third thought came to his mind.

So I've grown an extra couple feet. So what?

With the image of Malacoda, Susul was more worried about his mind...which was probably what the Wookiees were afraid of.

"We're back at the Upper Levels?" Susul questioned, calmly, not only to assure the Wookiees but himself as well that he wasn't about go insane.

TAG: Winged

IC: Averagus Aniad II - Son of Theseus
The Obsidian Tower, Criton's Point

The Rakatan's shrieked, screaming in words or merely fear. He waited, waited for that feeling of glee that so visibly covered his. . .father's twisted face. Nothing. Their screams like unshed tears merely settled as a pooled memory in his consciuosness.

A couple or a few, he did not count them, tried to fight him. Some might of called that courage, he. . .merely raised a spectral brow as his eyes squinted as though to ask, Really? or What do you think you are doing?

Then he was alone, or at least he should of been, but one yet stood, gazing back upon him. Did you ever think of becoming a spectral ruler? came the words of his personal haunt, Just a thought.

Something was off though, delaying his reply as he looked upon the figure before him. Taking it in he soon noticed something fully odd, the Rakatan's feet did not touch the ground. Yet somehow stood unmoving opposite him. How!? he had to wonder, had not the tree said that in all the transformations it had borne witness to that none had been as drastic as Cato's and his own?

This Rakatan, this new spectre yet found his voice, before he his own could bring to bear, and this spectre brought it forth in full without reservation. It was enough to make him wince, though truly he was no stranger to the working of the bellows, but to hear it from one who already startles your comprehension is unexpected to say the least. So for a time he merely looked this spectre that claimed dominion of a realm the other of two betwixt he straddled so in being.

Before he gave a flinching reply, like one who has found his tongue as his personal haunter yet whispered in his ear, both two of Averagus well aware the singular words this new thing spoke. Meaning yet one, likely the one yet stuck by haunting the living dead, was not visible.

"Success is never final, and failure is never fatal. At least this is what I have found, perhaps my brother would say differently than I." he said with a distracted air he turned his head away listening to the rhythm of those retreating feet yet pounding down these stairs before a grin he fought that yet tried to tug at the corner of his lip. A knife edge yet he could dance, even in this living miasma that yet claimed him with a game of wits, so bound to the echoes of the living and apparently yet tied to those of the dead. "So answer me this, you who claim dominion of those yet faded from the living, what do you know of those Nergal and Kroni Kahn two so cheifly and justly named within these recent times I find myself? Answer fully and yet I will answer you fully as I am able your own request."

Luckily he does not know he faces two. yet was whispered in his ear.

TAG: Winged

IC: Mischa, Child of Poseidon
Aboard the Storyteller, Prakith

That thing in orbit turned out to be an intact, active ship.

Frowning, Mischa stared at it, through it - that was really weird. There was something exceedingly familiar about at least one of the two presences aboard that ship, but who could they possibly be? Who would come here - why? Sure, they themselves had stumbled upon this place by accident, but from what little Mischa understood of astrogation, that was unlikely -

"That," droned Louie, "is a Binary Brigade shuttle."

It took a moment for that to sink in. Then Mischa twisted around in her seat, an incredulous (and suspicious) expression on her face.

"Hang on - the Binary Brigade, here? I thought Steam let us go!"

TAG: Anne, Sirak, Wing, (Peng, Nick)

Gallia Tern
Prakith

Gallia grit her teeth. There was something very wrong with this situation. She stood stock-still considering the possible causes. Gallia had a sense of familiarity. She recognized something and the source of this sensation seemed to be the Storyteller. However, the presence of a major Togorian vessel was not only off-putting, but also extremely dangerous. Gallia opened the comm system and sent a reply over the universal channel.

?Captain Vilevein, you are speaking to Gallia Tern. My brother?s and my business is with the crew of the Storyteller.?

Gallia pinched the bridge of her nose and sat down in one of the cockpit chairs. She looked at Bakara, and sighed.

Tag: Wing, Peng, Xan, Anne and Sirak

IC: Elisthia, Child of Hermes
Aboard the Storyteller, Above Prakith

Elisthia spotted the shuttle before the sensors picked it up, and, not recognizing it at first, she grew uneasy, wondering if perhaps they?d been tricked somehow.

But when LOU-1E identified the vessel as a Binary Brigade shuttle, she relaxed?a little. Perhaps more accurately, her tensions were simply replaced by surprise and confusion. For the moment, the shuttle was not an enemy, but what was it doing here?

She had already opened the comm channel and was about to ask the shuttle that very question, but she wasn?t the only one wondering: Vilevein beat her to it, and the look Mischa was giving LOU-1E spoke volumes by itself, without the verbal protest that accompanied it. Elisthia was watching the droid as well, waiting for an explanation for the shuttle?s presence, when a familiar?albeit quite unexpected?voice sounded over the comm, coming from the Binary Brigade shuttle:

?Captain Vilevein, you are speaking to Gallia Tern. My brother?s and my business is with the crew of the Storyteller.?

?Gallia?!?

Elisthia had forgotten that her end of the channel was open, and her surprised reaction was very likely picked up by both the Citadel and those aboard the Brigade shuttle?specifically, Gallia and?from the sound of it--Bakara. Quickly closing the channel again, Elisthia sat back in her seat for a moment to digest the situation.

Bakara and Gallia were here. For a second, Elisthia felt a spark of elation at the idea of seeing her brother and sister again, but it was quickly replaced with concern. Bakara and Gallia were supposed to be with Colonel Hathi. The Gamorrean?s familiar gunship was nowhere in sight, but here Bakara and Gallia were in one of Viscount Steam?s vessels instead. So where was Hathi? How had Bakara and Gallia obtained one of the Brigade?s shuttles in the first place?if they had met Steam (which Elisthia assumed they had), how much had he told them? And how had they known where the Storyteller was? Elisthia seriously doubted that her brother and sister just happened to be in the area?

Only one way to find out? She leaned forward again and re-opened her end of the comm channel. Despite her concerns, Elisthia couldn?t quite keep her excitement out of her voice, and there was a slight smile on her face as she addressed her siblings for the first time in over a year. ?What are you doing here??

Tag: Peng, Nick, Xan, Sirak, Winged

IC: Mischa, Child of Poseidon
Aboard the Storyteller, Prakith

Mischa's mouth fell open. Gallia, here?

And if Gallia was here, with a brother - that must mean Bakara was here too!

A huge grin blossomed over Mischa's face. How they'd found them, she had no idea - Louie still wasn't off the hook there - but they were here. Gallia, her tall, athletic older sister; Bakara, her big brother and guardian. She had missed them both. Would they be as she remembered them?

No matter. They were here!

Elisthia sounded calm as usual over the comm, but excitement radiated off her in the Force - Mischa grinned even wider, if that was possible. She couldn't wait to see them again.

TAG: Anne, Sirak, Wing, (Peng, Nick)

ooc: I had this post from SirakRomar in my PM box. Considering she is in holiday I assume I shall post it. If I got you wrong, sorry Sirak.



Elora, Daughter of Ares
The Storyteller, Above Prakith

Bakara. Gallia. She felt their presence seconds before they identified themselves. Mischa was obviously excited. And so was Elisthia. Not matter how hard she tried to hide it. Elora felt nothing like this. Only the cool resignation that this meeting had probably been inevitable filled her heart. She had not forgotten her last meeting with Bakara. Or Gallia. How he had forbidden her to speak. How hungry for murder and revenge he had been. She had not forgotten her challenging him and him not answering. And that certainty that despite the fact they once loved each other, in time he would. He would have to. That probably too was the will of the force. It left you choices, but you had to life with their consequences.

Her brother had said it into her face. He did not wanted to be any better than Kahn. The man she had guarded while he had been crippled was gone. She kept her love for him in her heart. But now she would face another man. And that man had become an ally of Steam. Obviously he had found friends. Another consequence of her decision. Would she have stayed there, that ally might have been her. Now it was him. She had killed Kahn instead. Here on Prakith. Only to meet her long gone siblings once more.

What did it change?

Nothing.

With a sigh and a sad smile she turned around without a word and made her way back to the private quarters. In Sarabi´s room her equipment still was planted. And she closed her eyes there. The force was still there. It always seemed to be nearby. Surround her wherever she went. It gave her confidence. Trust. Strength. The two daggers did not needed to be taken from the bed. A single command, a will for them to move and they leaped into Elora´s hands. She pulled them into her belt and took the holdout blaster in addition. Then she pulled her coat over the weapons, looked around and whatever was spoken, arranged or done in the cockpit. She did not hear it. Did not even try to expand her perception to the cockpit. She simply sat down, closed her eyes and opened her inner self to the force. She waited for the force to reveal their breathens presence on the ship. Waited for fate to unfold once more. Waiting was all she could do. She would never be any more prepared than now. Prakith had taught her that. She was only a living creature, blessed and burdened with the will of the force. She had accepted it. Now it was the force that would lead her towards her path. All she had to do was follow it. And along the path, somewhere Bakara had to show up. And Gallia.

Then that was what had to happen.

Tag: Xany, Anne, Peng, Nick, Winged


Cato, Son of Achilles
Obsidian Tower, Criton´s Point

?I thought trees smell like flowers, only a little more herb. Why does it smell like fear here, then?? Cato asked and turned around. ?Leave? Leave?? He laughed out. ?I have nothing to loose. What have the rakatans done to me? Everything! They took my life and did not have the courtesy to take my breath and heart, but left me alive to suffer in eternal darkness of slumber! They killed my people. So why not? ?why not kill ´em all. What else is there for me? What else can I find or do? Hm?? He hissed. ?Revenge. Is a noble goal. More noble than passive waiting, I´d say.
It´s a warriors goal. I am a warrior. You knew that? I am a warrior. And my orders are the Rakatans are my enemies.? He hissed and came closer and closer to the tree. ?I could haunt them. Sneak around them. Kill a dozen at night and wait a month keeping them trembling in fear. Men. Women. Children.? He grinned. ?My god, especially children.? He added, with a whisper, the tendrils moving out of his face and his tongue licking his lips. ?I could . . . make you watch. How your people vanish. And when they´re all gone. . . all only soup in my veins, what will I do then? Take your library? Take your li/>

IC: Mischa, Child of Poseidon
Aboard the Storyteller, Prakith

It was good to hear their voices again. Bakara and Gallia's voices, Bakara's laugh - Mischa laughed as well, delighted. They sounded the same, even after a year. Their family was coming back together! It felt like something out of a dream: only a week ago she had been a guide in the Netherworld, living a half-life among the other souls of the dead trying in vain to prolong their time before they had to enter the Voids. Then Elisthia had rescued her, and Elora had been there to hug her tight, and now Bakara and Gallia were here too.

"I'll meet them," she said brightly, still grinning. Quickly, she unbuckled her crash harness and bounced down the hall to the airlock.

TAG: Anne, Sirak, Wing, (Peng, Nick)


Am working on the assumption that the comm won't pick up Mischa's words, for maximum impact...

IC: Elisthia, Child of Hermes
Aboard the Storyteller, Prakith

Elisthia nodded to Mischa as the younger girl went darting out of the cockpit to wait for their siblings?she suddenly wondered if Bakara and Gallia knew that Mischa was alive; Steam might have told them?

Her brow furrowed for a moment when she noticed that Elora had wandered off?what had?

Elisthia?s smile slipped into a frown as memories from over a year earlier surfaced in her mind?Mindor. The argument. How Elora and Bakara had barely spoken to anyone afterwards; Bakara hadn?t even said goodbye to the rest of his siblings. After months apart, how would Elora and Bakara react to each other?s presence again? Would tempers flare again, or would they let bygones be bygones?

If anything, this was probably going to get interesting?

?All right,? she finally responded to her brother. ?We?ll see you in a few minutes.?

She addressed Vilevein next, over on the Citadel: ?Captain, be advised?the shuttle?s passengers are our siblings, they are going to join us over here on the Storyteller, and once they?re aboard we will depart for Tython.?

Tag: Peng, Nick, Xan, Sirak, Winged

Gallia Tern
Above Prakith

Gallia watched Bakara closely as he responded on the comm himself. He was a battleground of confusion and pain and surprise and happiness that Gallia could sense, but did not understand. At the moment, Gallia saw this meeting as a chore. It was an act to satisfy her older brother and her sisters, but ultimately, it was just a stepping-stone to their goals. Whatever those goals might be.

As Bakara seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, Gallia gathered her equipment in silence. She strapped her rifle to the back of her light armor and holstered her slugthrower under her arm. Her long blade still rested in its sheath at her waist and her throwing knifes hadn?t moved from their place on the back of her belt. Gallia grabbed her helmet and held it under her arm. Without glancing back at Bakara, she led the way to the airlock, as the shuttle slowly began to dock with the Storyteller.

Gallia could feel a sense of familiarity just inside the other vessel. She set her lips and prepared for what should prove to be quite a reunion.

Tag: Peng (Everyone) Wing

SirakRomar, DarthXan318, JediMasterAnne, Penguinator-176, NickLitYouAFlame

Aboard the Storyteller


The Citadel drifts in Prakith's orbit, looking like a child's drawing of a star that had drifted too close to a planet. A few miles beneath its vast, gold-plated hull, two much smaller ships buzz towards each other.

The freighter lingers, the shuttle waits. The freighter cries out, and the shuttle returns the mating call. They find each other. Metallic claws reach out, and durasteel talons clasp together like the fingers of lovers' hands. They are joined within moments.

A hatch opens atop the freighter, and it extends an obsidian-coloured tube towards its new partner. Inside it is a ladder. Two bodies climb down, temporarily leaving the shuttle behind.

And now Bakara and Gallia, clad from head to toe in their customary armour, find themselves entering an unfamiliar ship and immediately encountering a familiar face.

Standing alone next to the airlock controls, beaming at them as they descend towards her, is a little girl who is the very image of their dead sister.

I'll sit back now and let you all play out your reunions, and when you're ready to depart again, I'll update for you.


Sarge221

Kashyyyk


The droid translated, its tinny voice seeming almost comically inappropriate in light of the thundering Wookiee exchange that preceded it.

"You are indeed back in the Upper Levels," it said. "We are safe. The Togorians have gone. Ecko is in Baloo's hut."

There was a pause, and one of the Wookiees reluctantly added a low rumble.

"If you make no sudden movements," continued the droid, "we will remove your restraints. You appear to have been affected by the artifact in the Shadowlands."


darthramza

Bunker, Hoth

They marched down the left fork, and into a much narrower passage. Vicious was sandwiched between Arinna and Tarhunt, and the Togorians were both so grand in stature that barely any light filtered down towards the boy. But his hearing remained unimpaired, and soon enough he was able to hear words echoing down the corridor.

"Round and round the garden, like a renda bear,
One-step...
Two-step...
...TICKLE YOU UNDER THERE!
Heeheeheeheeheeheheeehehee! Oho hahaha!"

The voice was high-pitched yet melodious, and carried an unnerving hint of lunacy to it.

As they drew closer, they came to the entrance to what appeared to be a large control room of some sort. Various large screens and holodecks had been mounted around a central command desk, at which stood four unidentifiable beings, all of them buried within layers of protective clothing. Three of the beings stood completely motionless, while the other one danced around them, singing the odd song they had heard in the corridor.

None of the quartet had yet noticed Vic and his escort arriving at the far side of the room, and Arinna glanced down at the young cub for instructions.


DarkLordOfTheFins

The Obsidian Tower, Criton's Point

Cato stomped back down the spiral staircase. He could almost smell the fear of the Gorgon behind him. The poor tree had been left quivering in the wake of Cato's horrific threats, and had withdrawn its branches into itself, shrinking as small as it possibly could. Perhaps it was some sort of defense mechanism.

At the foot of the stairs, the Rakatan guards were scurrying out. They had been spooked by something, whether that was Cato's monstrousness or Averagus's ghosting in and out of existence. Whatever the case, it seemed Cato's path was now clear, and he would not be troubled again on this strangest of worlds.


Mitth_Fisto

The Obsidian Tower, Criton's Point


Averagus meanwhile was still at the top of the staircase. He may have heard Cato call out to him, but it was more likely that his attention was focused upon the Rakatan apparition in front of him.

"You know of Nergal and Kr/>/>/>/>/>

Susul Damasca, Son of Heracles
Kashyyk

"Good to hear," Susul replied, his voice maintaining the calm that he knew was required; not only to let the Wookiees know that he was still in control but to let himself know of the fact as well.

"You appear to have been affected by the artifact in the Shadowlands."

"So I noticed but I'm fine; mentally anyway. It could be a lot worse."

The words caused Susul to think of Malacoda and how the artifact had affected the Barabel. Yes, the caution that his hosts were taking was not unwarranted. If it had indeed been worse - and maybe it was getting worse, a dreadful thought -, the first thing that Susul could've done when he awoken was stab himself or the others as Malacoda had done.

"What about Malacoda?" the young Damasca questioned, suddenly feeling wary of how the droid had not given him a status update on the alien. "Where is he?"

TAG: Winged

Sarge221

Kashyyyk


"The Barabel is preparing his ship to leave," explained the droid, while the Wookiees began unstrapping Susul from the bed. "With his comrades dead he has no reason to stay."

The last of the restraints were removed, freeing the impossibly-large human. It immediately became clear that he was as tall as any of the Wookiees, perhaps even somewhat taller.

"Er..." droned the droid, taken aback by the sheer size of Susul's frame. "The Barabel did request to speak with you before he departs."

Susul Damasca, Son of Heracles
Kashyyyk


"The Barabel is preparing his ship to leave."

Susul nodded in confirmation, at least a bit relieved that Malacoda seemed to be fine. Before passing out, after he had destroyed the temple, Susul remembered how the Barabel looked upon reawakening. Whereas his physical features - such as a lengthened tail - had been minor, it was like a disease had started to take over Malacoda upon a second helping of...whatever power that temple held. Considering Susul had not been affected after exposure - the signs only appearing shortly after - he had worried if Malacoda may've had a delayed reaction as well.

Once the last of the restraints had been removed, the soldier, remembering his hosts, slowly, carefully, sat upright and took a moment to examine his own body. He had grown, that much he had known but getting a full, good view of himself, the unnatural growth spurt was startling. Again, those whispers at the corner of his mind cursed out the change as an abomination. It was, Susul had to agree, unnatural. However, other then growing a few feet, he was perfectly normal. That was the least of what could've happened.

"The Barabel did request to speak with you before he departs."

"I see," Susul spoke, twisting atop of the table so that his legs hung over the edge. Slowly, the young Damasca slid off the table, his feet settling onto the floor as he stood to his full heigh-

"Woah."

His mind hadn't caught up with the physical changes. As soon as Susul righted himself, he wavered and nearly fell if not for the table that he immediately grabbed to keep him steady. Keeping his hands on the support, Susul focused on simply achieving the task of standing up which he managed, after a few seconds, with shaky legs. When he glanced back at the Wookiees, Susul was once again startled upon discovering that he was as tall as them!

There was something else too that he soon noticed, upon looking down at himself. Despite the situation, the human couldn't help but let a slow, shaky smile appear on his face as he looked back up at his hosts.

"Don't suppose I can have something to wear before my meeting?"

TAG: Winged